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diff --git a/16164.txt b/16164.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8975ec4 --- /dev/null +++ b/16164.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6009 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient +Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon, by George Rawlinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon + The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, + Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian + or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. + +Author: George Rawlinson + +Illustrator: George Rawlinson + +Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16164] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES + +OF THE + +ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD; + + +OR, + + +THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA + +BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN, + +OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE. + + +BY + +GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., + +CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD + + + +IN THREE VOLUMES. + + + +VOLUME II. + + + +WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + + + +THE FOURTH MONARCHY + + + +BABYLONIA. + + +[Illustration: MAP] + + + + +CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. + + +"Behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was +great; the tree grew and was strong: and the height thereof reached unto +heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth."--Dan. iy. +10, 11. + + +The limits of Babylonia Proper, the tract in which the dominant power +of the Fourth Monarchy had its abode, being almost identical with those +which have been already described under the head of Chaldaea, will not +require in this place to be treated afresh, at any length. It needs +only to remind the reader that Babylonia Proper is that alluvial tract +towards the mouth of the two great rivers of Western Asia--the Tigris +and the Euphrates--which intervenes between the Arabian Desert on the +one side, and the more eastern of the two streams on the other. Across +the Tigris the country is no longer Babylonia, but Cissia, or Susiana--a +distinct region, known to the Jews as Elam--the habitat of a distinct +people. Babylonia lies westward of the Tigris, and consists of two vast +plains or flats, one situated between the two rivers, and thus forming +the lower portion of the "Mesopotamia" of the Greeks and Romans--the +other interposed between the Euphrates and Arabia, a long but narrow +strip along the right bank of that abounding river. The former of these +two districts is shaped like an ancient amphora, the mouth extending +from Hit to Samarah, the neck lying between Baghdad and Ctesiphon on the +Tigris, Mohammed and Mosaib on the Euphrates, the full expansion of +the body occurring between Serut and El Khithr, and the pointed base +reaching down to Kornah at the junction of the two streams. This tract, +the main region of the ancient Babylonia, is about 320 miles long, and +from 20 to 100 broad. It may be estimated to contain about 18,000 square +miles. The tract west of the Euphrates is smaller than this. Its length, +in the time of the Babylonian Empire, may be regarded as about 350 +miles, its average width is from 25 to 30 miles, which would give an +area of about 9000 square miles. Thus the Babylonia of Nabopolassar +and Nebuchadnezzar may be regarded as covering a space of 27,000 square +miles--a space a little exceeding the area of the Low countries. + +The small province included within these limits--smaller than Scotland +or Ireland, or Portugal or Bavaria--became suddenly, in the latter half +of the seventh century B.C., the mistress of an extensive empire. On the +fall of Assyria, about B.C. 625, or a little later, Media and Babylonia, +as already observed, divided between them her extensive territory. It +is with the acquisitions thus made that we have now to deal. We have to +inquire what portion exactly of the previous dominions of Assyria fell +to the lot of the adventurous Nabopolassar, when Nineveh ceased to +be--what was the extent of the territory which was ruled from Babylon in +the latter portion of the seventh and the earlier portion of the sixth +century before our era? + +Now the evidence which we possess on this point is threefold. It +consists of certain notices in the Hebrew Scriptures, contemporary +records of first-rate historical value; of an account which strangely +mingles truth with fable in one of the books of the Apocrypha; and of a +passage of Berosus preserved by Josephus in his work against Apion. +The Scriptural notices are contained in Jeremiah, in Daniel, and in +the books of Kings and Chronicles. From these sources we learn that the +Babylonian Empire of this time embraced on the one hand the important +country of Susiana or Elymais (Elam), while on the other it ran up the +Euphrates at least as high as Carchemish, from thence extending westward +to the Mediterranean, and southward to, or rather perhaps into, Egypt. +The Apocryphal book of Judith enlarges these limits in every direction. +That the Nabuchodonosor of that work is a reminiscence of the real +Nebuchadnezzar there can be no doubt. The territories of that monarch +are made to extend eastward, beyond Susiana, into Persia; northward to +Nineveh; westward to Cilicia in Asia Minor; and southward to the very +borders of Ethiopia. Among the countries under his sway are enumerated +Elam, Persia, Assyria, Cilicia, Coele-Syria, Syria of Damascus, +Phoenicia, Galilee, Gilead, Bashan, Judsea, Philistia, Goshen, and Egypt +generally. The passage of Berosus is of a more partial character. It +has no bearing on the general question of the extent of the Babylonian +Empire, but, incidentally, it confirms the statements of our other +authorities as to the influence of Babylon in the West. It tells us that +Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, were subject to Nabopolassar, and +that Nebuchadnezzar ruled, not only over these countries, but also over +some portion of Arabia. + +From these statements, which, on the whole, are tolerably accordant, we +may gather that the great Babylonian Empire of the seventh century +B.C. inherited from Assyria all the southern and western portion of her +territory, while the more northern and eastern provinces fell to the +share of Media. Setting aside the statement of the book of Judith +(wholly unconfirmed as it is by any other authority), that Persia was at +this time subject to Babylon, we may regard as the most eastern portion +of the Empire the district of Susiana, which corresponded nearly with +the modern Khuzistan and Luristan. This acquisition advanced the eastern +frontier of the Empire from the Tigris to the Bakhtiyari Mountains, a +distance of 100 or 120 miles. It gave to Babylon an extensive tract +of very productive territory, and an excellent strategic boundary. +Khuzistan is one of the most valuable provinces of modern Persia. It +consists of a broad tract of fertile alluvium, intervening between the +Tigris and the mountains, well watered by numerous large streams, which +are capable of giving an abundant irrigation to the whole of the low +region. Above this is Luristan, a still more pleasant district, composed +of alternate mountain, valley, and upland plain, abounding in beautiful +glens, richly wooded, and full of gushing brooks and clear rapid rivers. +Much of this region is of course uncultivable mountain, range succeeding +range, in six or eight parallel lines, as the traveller advances to the +north-east; and most of the ranges exhibiting vast tracts of bare +and often precipitous rock, in the clefts of which snow rests till +midsummer. Still the lower flanks of the mountains are in general +cultivable, while the valleys teem with orchards and gardens, and the +plains furnish excellent pasture. The region closely resembles Zagros, +of which it is a continuation. As we follow it, however, towards the +south-east into the Bakhtiyari country, where it adjoins upon the +ancient Persia, it deteriorates in character; the mountains becoming +barer and more arid, and the valleys narrower and less fertile. + +All the other acquisitions of Babylonia at this period lay towards the +west. They consisted of the Euphrates valley, above Hit; of Mesopotamia +Proper, or the country about the two streams of the Bilik and the +Khabour; of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Idumasa, Northern Arabia, and +part of Egypt. The Euphrates valley from Hit to Balis is a tract of no +great value, except as a line of communication. The Mesopotamian Desert +presses it closely upon the one side, and the Arabian upon the other. +The river flows mostly in a deep bed between cliffs of marl, gypsum, and +limestone, or else between bare hills producing only a few dry sapless +shrubs and a coarse grass; and there are but rare places where, except +by great efforts, the water can be raised so as to irrigate, to any +extent, the land along either bank. The course of the stream is fringed +by date-palms as high as Anah, and above is dotted occasionally with +willows, poplars, sumacs, and the unfruitful palm-tree. Cultivation +is possible in places along both banks, and the undulating country on +either side affords patches of good pasture. The land improves as we +ascend. Above the junction of the Khabour with the main stream, the left +bank is mostly cultivable. Much of the land is flat and well-wooded, +while often there are broad stretches of open ground, well adapted for +pasturage. A considerable population seems in ancient times to have +peopled the valley, which did not depend wholly or even mainly on its +own products, but was enriched by the important traffic which was always +passing up and down the great river. + +Mesopotamia Proper, or the tract extending from the head streams of the +Khabour about Mardin and Nisibin to the Euphrates at Bir, and thence +southwards to Karkesiyeh or Circesium, is not certainly known to have +belonged to the kingdom of Babylon, but may be assigned to it on grounds +of probability. Divided by a desert or by high mountains from the valley +of the Tigris, and attached by means of its streams to that of the +Euphrates, it almost necessarily falls to that power which holds the +Euphrates under its dominion. The tract is one of considerable extent +and importance. Bounded on the north by the range of hills which Strabo +calls Mons Masius, and on the east by the waterless upland which lies +directly west of the middle Tigris, it comprises within it all the +numerous affluents of the Khabour and Bilik, and is thus better supplied +with water than almost any country in these regions. The borders of the +streams afford the richest pasture, and the whole tract along the flank +of Masius is fairly fertile. Towards the west, the tract between the +Khabour and the Bilik, which is diversified by the Abd-el-Aziz hills, +is a land of fountains. "Such," says Ibn Haukal, "are not to be found +elsewhere in all the land of the Moslems, for there are more than three +hundred pure running brooks." Irrigation is quite possible in this +region; and many remains of ancient watercourses show that large tracts, +at some distance from the main streams, were formerly brought under +cultivation. + +Opposite to Mesopotamia Proper, on the west or right bank of the +Euphrates, lay Northern Syria, with its important fortress of +Carchemish, which was undoubtedly included in the Empire. This tract is +not one of much value. Towards the north it is mountainous, consisting +of spurs from Amanus and Taurus, which gradually subside into the desert +a little to the south of Aleppo. The bare, round-backed, chalky or rocky +ranges, which here continually succeed one another, are divided only by +narrow tortuous valleys, which run chiefly towards the Euphrates or +the lake of Antioch. This mountain tract is succeeded by a region of +extensive plains, separated from each other by low hills, both equally +desolate. The soil is shallow and stony; the streams are few and of +little volume; irrigation is thus difficult, and, except where it can be +applied, the crops are scanty. The pistachio-nut grows wild in places; +Vines and olives are cultivated with some success; and some grain is +raised by the inhabitants; but the country has few natural advantages, +and it has always depended more upon its possession of a carrying trade +than on its home products for prosperity. + +West and south-west of this region, between it and the Mediterranean, +and extending southwards from Mount Amanus to the latitude of Tyre, lies +Syria Proper, the Coele-Syria of many writers, a long but comparatively +narrow tract of great fertility and value. Here two parallel ranges of +mountains intervene between the coast and the desert, prolific parents +of a numerous progeny of small streams. First, along the line of the +coast, is the range known as Libanusin the south, from lat. 33 deg. 20' to +lat. 34 deg. 40', and as Bargylus in the north, from lat. 34 deg. 45' to the +Orontes at Antioch, a range of great beauty, richly wooded in places, +and abounding in deep glens, foaming brooks, and precipices of a +fantastic form. [PLATE VII., Fig 2.] More inland is Antilibanus, +culminating towards the south in Hermon, and prolonged northward in the +Jebel Shashabu, Jebel Biha, and Jebel-el-Ala, which extends from near +Hems to the latitude of Aleppo. More striking than even Lebanon at its +lower extremity, where Hermon lifts a snowy peak into the air during +most of the year, it is on the whole inferior in beauty to the coast +range, being bleaker, more stony, and less broken up by dells and +valleys towards the south, and tamer, barer, and less well supplied with +streams in its more northern portion. Between the two parallel ranges +lies the "Hollow Syria," a long and broadish valley, watered by the +two streams of the Orontes and the "Litany" which, rising at no great +distance from one another, flow in opposite directions, one hurrying +northwards nearly to the flanks of Amanus, the other southwards to the +hills of Galilee. Few places in the world are more, remarkable, or have +a more stirring history, than this wonderful vale. Extending for above +two hundred miles from north to south, almost in a direct line, and +without further break than an occasional screen of low hills, it +furnishes the most convenient line of passage between Asia and Africa, +alike for the journeys of merchants and for the march of armies. Along +this line passed Thothines and Barneses, Sargon, and Sennacherib, +Neco and Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander and his warlike successors, Pompey, +Antony, Kaled, Godfrey of Bouillon; along this must pass every great +army which, starting from the general seats of power in Western Asia, +seeks conquests in Africa, or which, proceeding from Africa, aims at the +acquisition of an Asiatic dominion. Few richer tracts are to be found +even in these most favored portions of the earth's surface. Towards the +south the famous El-Bukaa is a land of cornfields and vineyards, watered +by numerous small streams which fall into the Litany. Towards the +north El-Ghab is even more splendidly fertile, with a dark rich soil, +luxuriant vegetation, and water in the utmost abundance, though at +present it is cultivated only in patches immediately about the towns, +from fear of the Nusairiyeh and the Bedouins. + + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.] + + +Parallel with the southern part of the Coele-Syrian valley, to the west +and to the east, were two small but important tracts, usually regarded +as distinct states. Westward, between the heights of Lebanon and the +sea, and extending somewhat beyond Lebanon, both up and down the coast, +was Phoenicia, a narrow strip of territory lying along the shore, in +length from 150 to 180 miles, and in breadth varying from one mile to +twenty. This tract consisted of a mere belt of sandy land along the sea, +where the smiling palm-groves grew from which the country derived its +name, of a broader upland region along the flank of the hills, which +was cultivated in grain, and of the higher slopes of the mountains +which furnished excellent timber. Small harbors, sheltered by rocky +projections, were frequent along the coast. Wood cut in Lebanon was +readily floated down the many streams to the shore, and then conveyed +by sea to the ports. A narrow and scanty land made commerce almost a +necessity. Here accordingly the first great maritime nation of antiquity +grew up. The Phoenician fleets explored the Mediterranean at a time +anterior to Homer, and conveyed to the Greeks and the other inhabitants +of Europe, and of Northern and Western Africa, the wares of Assyria, +Babylon, and Egypt. Industry and enterprise reaped their usual harvest +of success; the Phoenicians grew in wealth, and their towns became great +and magnificent cities. In the time when the Babylonian Empire came +into being, the narrow tract of Phoenicia--smaller than many an +English county--was among the most valuable countries of Asia; and its +possession was far more to be coveted than that of many a land whose +area was ten or twenty times as great. + +Eastward of Antilibanus, in the tract between that range and the great +Syrian desert, was another very important district--the district which +the Jews called "Aram-Dammesek," and which now forms the chief part of +the Pashalik of Damascus. From the eastern flanks of the Antilibanus two +great and numerous smaller streams flow down into the Damascene plain, +and, carrying with them that strange fertilizing power which water +always has in hot climates, convert the arid sterility of the desert +into a garden of the most wonderful beauty. The Barada and Awaaj, +bursting by narrow gorges from the mountain chain, scatter themselves in +numerous channels over the great flat, intermingling their waters, and +spreading them out so widely that for a circle of thirty miles the +deep verdure of Oriental vegetation replaces the red hue of the Hauran. +Walnuts, planes, poplars, cypresses, apricots, orange-trees, citrons, +pomegranates, olives, wave above; corn and grass of the most luxuriant +growth, below. In the midst of this great mass of foliage the city of +Damascus "strikes out the white arms of its streets hither and thither" +among the trees, now hid among them, now overtopping them with its domes +and minarets, the most beautiful of all those beautiful towns which +delight the eye of the artist in the East. In the south-west towers +the snow-clad peak of Hermon, visible from every part of the Damascene +plain. West, north-west, and north, stretches the long Antilibanus +range, bare, gray, and flat-topped, except where about midway in its +course, the rounded summit of Jebel Tiniyen breaks the uniformity of the +line. Outside the circle of deep verdure, known to the Orientals as El +Merj ("the Meadow"), is a setting or framework of partially cultivable +land, dotted with clumps of trees and groves, which extend for many +miles over the plain. To the Damascus country must also be reckoned +those many charming valleys of Hermon and Antilibanus which open out +into it, sending their waters to increase its beauty and luxuriance, +the most remarkable of which are the long ravine of the Barada, and the +romantic Wady Halbon, whose vines produced the famous beverage which +Damascus anciently supplied at once to the Tyrian merchant-princes and +to the voluptuous Persian kings. + +Below the Coelo-Syrian valley, towards the south, came Palestine, the +Land of Lands to the Christian, the country which even the philosopher +must acknowledge to have had a greater influence on the world's +history than any other tract which can be brought under a single +ethnic designation. Palestine--etymologically the country of the +Philistines--was somewhat unfortunately named. Philistine influence may +possibly have extended at a very remote period over the whole of it; but +in historical times that warlike people did but possess a corner of +the tract, less than one tenth of the whole--the low coast region +from Jamnia to Gaza. Palestine contained, besides this, the regions of +Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea, to the west of the Jordan, and those of +Ituraea, Trachonitis, Bashan, and Gilead, east of that river. It was a +tract 140 miles long, by from 70 to 100 broad, containing probably about +11,000 square miles. It was thus about equal in size to Belgium, while +it was less than Holland or Hanover, and not much larger than the +principality of Wales, with which it has been compared by a recent +writer. + +The great natural division of the country is the Jordan valley. This +remarkable depression, commencing on the west flank of Hermon, runs with +a course which is almost due south from lat. 33 deg. 25' to lat. 31 deg. 47', +where it is merged in the Dead Sea, which may be viewed, however, as a +continuation of the valley, prolonging it to lat. 31 deg. 8'. This valley is +quite unlike any other in the whole world. It is a volcanic rent in +the earth's surface, a broad chasm which has gaped and never closed +up. Naturally, it should terminate at Merom, where the level of the +Mediterranean is nearly reached. By some wonderful convulsion, or at any +rate by some unusual freak of Nature, there is a channel opened out from +Merom, which rapidly sinks below the sea level, and allows the stream to +flow hastily, down and still down, from Merom to Gennesareth, and from +Gennesareth to the Dead Sea, where the depression reaches its lowest +point, and the land, rising into a ridge, separates the Jordan valley +from the upper end of the Gulf of Akabah. The Jordan valley divides +Palestine, strongly and sharply, into two regions. Its depth, its +inaccessibility (for it can only be entered from the highlands on either +side down a few steep watercourses), and the difficulty of passing +across it (for the Jordan has but few fords), give it a separating power +almost equal to that of an arm of the sea. In length above a hundred +miles, in width varying from one mile to ten, and averaging some five +miles, or perhaps six, it must have been valuable as a territory, +possessing, as it does, a rich soil, abundant water, and in its lower +portion a tropical climate. + +On either side of the deep Jordan cleft lies a highland of moderate +elevation, on the right that of Galilee, Samaria, and Judsea, on the +left that of Ituraea, Bashan, and Gilead. The right or western highland +consists of a mass of undulating hills, with rounded tops, composed of +coarse gray stone, covered, or scarcely covered, with a scanty soil, but +capable of cultivation in corn, olives, and figs. This region is +most productive towards the north, barer and more arid as we proceed +southwards towards the desert. The lowest portion, Judaea, is +unpicturesque, ill-watered, and almost treeless; the central, Samaria, +has numerous springs, some rich plains, many wooded heights, and in +places quite a sylvan appearance; the highest, Galilee, is a land of +water-brooks, abounding in timber, fertile and beautiful. The average +height of the whole district is from 1500 to 1800 feet above the +Mediterranean. Main elevations within it vary from 2500 to 4000 feet. +The axis of the range is towards the East, nearer, that is, to the +Jordan valley than to the sea. It is a peculiarity of the highland that +there is one important break in it. As the Lowland mountains of Scotland +are wholly separated from the mountains of the Highlands by the low +tract which stretches across from the Frith of Forth to the Frith of +Clyde, or as the ranges of St. Gall and Appenzell are divided off from +the rest of the Swiss mountains by the flat which extends from the Rhine +at Eagatz to the same river at Waldshut, so the western highland of +Palestine is broken in twain by the famous "plain of Esdraelon," +which runs from the Bay of Acre to the Jordan valley at Beth-Shean or +Scythopolis. + +East of the Jordan no such depression occurs, the highland there being +continuous. It differs from the western highland chiefly in this--that +its surface, instead of being broken up into a confused mass of rounded +hills, is a table-land, consisting of a long succession of slightly +undulating plains. Except in Trachonitis and southern Ituraea, where the +basaltic rock everywhere crops out, the soil is rich and productive, the +country in places wooded with fine trees, and the herbage luxuriant. On +the west the mountains rise almost precipitously from the Jordan valley, +above which they tower to the height of 3000 or 4000 feet. The outline +is singularly uniform; and the effect is that of a huge wall guarding +Palestine on this side from the wild tribes of the desert. Eastward the +tableland slopes gradually, and melts into the sands of Arabia. Here +water and wood are scarce; but the soil is still good, and bears the +most abundant crops. + +Finally, Palestine contains the tract from which it derives its +name, the low country of the Philistines, which the Jews called the +_Shephelah_, together with a continuation of this tract northwards to +the roots of Carmol, the district known to the Jews as "Sharon," or "the +smooth place." From Carmol to the Wady Sheriah, where the Philistine +country ended, is a distance of about one hundred miles, which gives the +length of the region in question. Its breadth between the shore and the +highland varies from about twenty-five miles, in the south, between Gaza +and the hills of Dan, to three miles, or less, in the north, between +Dor and the border of Manasseh. Its area is probably from 1400 to 1500 +square miles, This low strip is along its whole course divided into two +parallel belts or bands-the first a flat sandy tract along the shore, +the Ramleh of the modern Arabs; the second, more undulating, a region +of broad rolling plains rich in corn, and anciently clothed in part with +thick woods, watered by reedy streams, which flow down from the great +highland. A valuable tract is this entire plain, but greatly exposed to +ravage. Even the sandy belt will grow fruit-trees; and the towns which +stand on it, as Gaza, Jaffa, and Ashdod, are surrounded with huge groves +of olives, sycamores, and palms, or buried in orchards and gardens, +bright with pomegranates and orange-trees. The more inland region is +of marvellous fertility. Its soil is a rich loam, containing scarcely a +pebble, which yields year after year prodigious crops of grain--chiefly +wheat--without manure or irrigation, or other cultivation than a light +ploughing. Philistia was the granary of Syria, and was important doubly, +first, as yielding inexhaustible supplies to its conqueror, and secondly +as affording the readiest passage to the great armies which contended in +these regions for the mastery of the Eastern World. + +South of the region to which we have given the name of Palestine, +intervening between it and Egypt, lay a tract, to which it is difficult +to assign any political designation. Herodotus regarded it as a portion +of Arabia, which he carried across the valley of the Arabah and +made abut on the Mediterranean. To the Jews it was "the land of the +south"--the special country of the Amalekites. By Strabo's time it had +come to be known as Idumsea, or the Edomite country; and under this +appellation it will perhaps be most convenient to describe it here. +Idumasa, then, was the tract south and south-west of Palestine from +about lat. 31 deg. 10'. It reached westward to the borders of Egypt, which +were at this time marked by the Wady-el-Arish, southward to the range of +Sinai and the Elanitic Gulf, and eastward to the Great Desert. Its +chief town was Petra, in the mountains east of the Arabah valley. The +character of the tract is for the most part a hard gravelly and rocky +desert; but occasionally there is good herbage, and soil that admits of +cultivation; brilliant flowers and luxuriantly growing shrubs bedeck the +glens and terraces of the Petra range; and most of the tract produces +plants and bushes on which camels, goats, and even sheep will browse, +while occasional palm groves furnish a grateful shade and an important +fruit. The tract divides itself into four regions--first, a region of +sand, low and flat, along the Mediterranean, the Shephelah without +its fertility; next, a region of hard gravelly plain intersected by +limestone ridges, and raised considerably above the sea level, the +Desert of El-Tin, or of "the Wanderings;" then the long, broad, low +valley of the Arabah, which rises gradually from the Dead Sea to an +imperceptible watershed, and then falls gently to the head of the +Gulf of Akabah, a region of hard sand thickly dotted with bushes, and +intersected by numerous torrent courses; finally a long narrow region +of mountains and hills parallel with the Arabah, constituting Idumsea +Proper, or the original Edom, which, though rocky and rugged, is full +of fertile glens, ornamented with trees and shrubs, and in places +cultivated in terraces. In shape the tract was a rude square or oblong, +with its sides nearly facing the four cardinal points, its length from +the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Akabah being 130 miles, and its width +from the Wady-el-Arish to the eastern side of the Petra mountains 120 +miles. The area is thus about 1560 square miles. + +Beyond the Wady-el-Arish was Egypt, stretching from the Mediterranean +southwards a distance of nearly eight degrees, or more than 550 miles. +As this country was not, however, so much a part of the Babylonian +Empire as a dependency lying upon its borders, it will not be necessary +to describe it in this place. + +One region, however, remains still unnoticed which seems to have been +an integral portion of the Empire. This is Palmyrene, or the Syrian +Desert--the tract lying between Coelo-Syria on the one hand and the +valley of the middle Euphrates on the other, and abutting towards the +south on the great Arabian Desert, to which it is sometimes regarded +as belonging. It is for the most part a hard sandy or gravelly plain, +intersected by low rocky ranges, and either barren or productive only +of some sapless shrubs and of a low thin grass. Occasionally, however, +there are oases, where the fertility is considerable. Such an oasis is +the region about Palmyra itself, which derived its name from the palm +groves in the vicinity; here the soil is good, and a large tract is +even now under cultivation. Another oasis is that of Karyatein, which +is watered by an abundant stream, and is well wooded, and productive of +grain. The Palmyrene, however, as a whole possesses but little value, +except as a passage country. Though large armies can never have +traversed the desert even in this upper region, where it is +comparatively narrow, trade in ancient times found it expedient to +avoid the long detour by the Orontes Valley, Aleppo, and Bambuk, and +to proceed directly from Damascus by way of Palymra to Thapsaeus on the +Euphrates. Small bands of light troops also occasionally took the same +course; and the great saving of distance thus effected made it important +to the Babylonians to possess an authority over the region in question. + +Such, then, in its geographical extent, was the great Babylonian Empire. +Reaching from Luristan on the one side to the borders of Egypt on the +other, its direct length from east to west was nearly sixteen degrees, +or about 980 miles, while its length for all practical purposes, owing +to the interposition of the desert between its western and its eastern +provinces, was perhaps not less than 1400 miles. Its width was very +disproportionate to this. Between Zagros and the Arabian Desert, where +the width was the greatest, it amounted to about 280 miles; between +Amanus and Palmyra it was 250; between the Mons Masius and the middle +Euphrates it may have been 200; in Syria and Idumsea it cannot have been +more than 100 or 160. The entire area of the Empire was probably from +240,000 to 250,000 square miles--which is about the present size of +Austria. Its shape may be compared roughly to a gnomon, with one longer +and one shorter arm. + +It added to the inconvenience of this long straggling form, which made +a rapid concentration of the forces of the Empire impossible, that the +capital, instead of occupying a central position, was placed somewhat +low in the longer of the two arms of the gnomon, and was thus nearly +1000 miles removed from the frontier province of the west. Though in +direct distance, as the crow flies, Babylon is not more than 450 miles +from Damascus, or more than 520 from Jerusalem, yet the necessary detour +by Aleppo is so great that it lengthens the distance, in the one case +by 250, in the other by 380 miles. From so remote a centre it was +impossible for the life-blood to circulate very vigorously to the +extremities. + +The Empire was on the whole fertile and well-watered. The two great +streams of Western Asia--the Tigris and the Euphrates--which afforded +an abundant supply of the invaluable fluid to the most important of +the provinces, those of the south-east, have already been described at +length; as have also the chief streams of the Mesopotamian district, the +Belik and the Khabour. But as yet in this work no account has been given +of a number of important rivers in the extreme east and the extreme +west, on which the fertility, and so the prosperity, of the Empire very +greatly depended. It is proposed in the present place to supply this +deficiency. + +The principle rivers of the extreme east were the Choaspes, or modern +Kerkhah, the Pasitigris or Eulseus, now the Kuran, the Hedyphon or +Hedypnus, now the Jerahi, and the Oroatis, at present the Tab or +Hindyan. Of these, the Oroatis, which is the most eastern, belongs +perhaps more to Persia than to Babylon; but its lower course probably +fell within the Susianian territory. It rises in the mountains between +Shiraz and Persepolis, about lat. 29 deg. 45', long. 52 deg. 35' E.; and flows +towards the Persian Gulf with a course which is north-west to Failiyun, +then nearly W. to Zehitun, after which it becomes somewhat south of west +to Hindyan, and then S.W. by S. to the sea. The length of the stream, +without counting lesser windings, is 200 miles; its width at Hindyan, +sixteen miles above its mouth, is eighty yards, and to this distance it +is navigable for boats of twenty tons burthen. At first its waters are +pure and sweet, but they gradually become corrupted, and at Hindyan they +are so brackish as not to be fit for use. The Jerahi rises from several +sources in the Kuh Margun, a lofty and precipitous range, forming the +continuation of the chain of Zagros. about long. 50 deg. to 51 deg., and lat. +31 deg. 30'. These head-streams have a general direction from N.E. to S.W. +The principal of them is the Kurdistan river, which rises about fifty +miles to the north-east of Babahan and flowing south-west to that point, +then bends round to the north, and runs north-west nearly to the fort +of Mungasht, where it resumes its original direction, and receiving from +the north-east the Abi Zard, or "Yellow River"--a delightful stream of +the coldest and purest water possible--becomes known as the Jerahi, and +carries a large body of water as far as Fellahiyeh or Dorak. Near Dorak +the waters of the Jerahi are drawn off into a number of canals, and the +river is thus greatly diminished; but still the stream struggles on, and +proceeds by a southerly course towards the Persian Gulf, which it enters +near Gadi in long. 48 deg. 52'. The course of the Jerahi, exclusively of +the smaller windings, is about equal in length to that of the Tab or +Hindyan. In volume, before its dispersion, it is considerably greater +than that river. It has a breadth of about a hundred yards before it +reaches Babahan, and is navigable for boats almost from its junction +with the Abi Zard. Its size is, however, greatly reduced in its lower +course, and travellers who skirt the coast regard the Tab as the more +important river. + +The Kuran is a river very much exceeding in size both the Tab and the +Jerahi. It is formed by the junction of two large streams--the Dizful +river and the Kuran proper, or river of Shuster. Of these the Shuster +stream is the more eastern. It rises in the Zarduh Kuh, or "Yellow +Mountain," in lat. 32 deg., long. 51 deg., almost opposite to the river Isfahan. +From its source it is a large stream. Its direction is at first to the +southeast, but after a while it sweeps round and runs considerably north +of west; and this course it pursues through the mountains, receiving +tributaries of importance from both sides, till, near Akhili, it turns +round to the south, and, cutting at a right angle the outermost of the +Zagros ranges, flows down with a course S.W. by S. nearly to Sinister, +where, in consequence of a bund or dam thrown across it, it bifurcates, +and passes in two streams to the right and to the left of the town. +The right branch, which earned commonly about two thirds of the water, +proceeds by a tortuous course of nearly forty miles, in a direction a +very little west of south, to its junction with the Dizful stream, which +takes place about two miles north of the little town of Bandi-kir. Just +below that town the left branch, called at present Abi-Gargar, which +has made a considerable bend to the east, rejoins the main stream, which +thenceforth flows in a single channel. The course of the Kuran from its +source to its junction with the Dizful branch, including main windings, +is about 210 miles. The Dizful. branch rises from two sources, nearly a +degree apart, in lat. 33 deg. 30'. These streams run respectively south-east +and south-west, a distance of forty miles, to their junction near +Bahrein, whence their united waters flow in a tortuous course, with +a general direction of south, for above a hundred miles to the outer +barrier of Zagros, which they penetrate near the Diz fort, through a +succession of chasms and gorges. The course of the stream from this +point is south-west through the hills and across the plain, past Dizful, +to the place where it receives the Beladrud from the west, when it +changes and becomes first south and then southeast to its junction with +the Shuster river near Bandi-kir. The entire course of the Dizful stream +to this point is probably not less than 380 miles. Below Bandi-kir, +the Kuran, now become "a noble river, exceeding in size the Tigris and +Euphrates," meanders across the plain in a general direction of S.S. +W., past the towns of Uris, Ahwaz, and Ismaili, to Sablah, when it +turns more to the west, and passing Mohammerah, empties itself into the +Shat-el-Arab, about 22 miles below Busra. The entire course of the Kuran +from its most remote source, exclusive of the lesser windings, is not +less than 430 miles. + +The Kerkhah (anciently the Choaspes) is formed by three streams of +almost equal magnitude, all of them rising in the most eastern portion +of the Zagros range. The central of the three flows from the southern +flank of Mount Elwand (Orontes), the mountain behind Hamadan (Ecbatana), +and receives on the right, after a course of about thirty miles, the +northern or Singur branch, and ten miles further on the southern or +Guran branch, which is known by the name of the Gamas-ab. The river +thus formed flows westward to Behistun, after which it bonds to the +south-west, and then to the south, receiving tributaries on both hands, +and winding among the mountains as far as the ruined city of Rudbar. +Here it bursts through the outer barrier of the great range, and, +receiving the large stream of the Kirrind from the north-west, flows +S.S.E. and S.E. along the foot of the range, between it and the Kebir +Kuh, till it meets the stream of the Abi-Zal, when it finally leaves the +hills and flows through the plain, pursuing a S.S.E. direction to the +ruins of Susa, which lie upon its left bank, and then turning to the +S. S. W., and running in that direction to the Shat-el-Arab, which it +reaches about five miles below Kurnur. Its length is estimated at above +500 miles; its width, at some distance above its junction with the +Abi-Zal, is from eighty to a hundred yards. + +The course of the Kerkhah was not always exactly such as is here +described. Anciently it appears to have bifurcated at Pai Pul, 18 or 20 +miles N.W. of Susa, and to have sent a branch east of the Susa ruins, +which absorbed the Shapur, a small tributary of the Dizful stream, and +ran into the Kuran a little above Ahwaz. The remains of the old channel +are still to be traced; and its existence explains the confusion, +observable in ancient times, between the Kerkhah and the Kuran, to each +of which streams, in certain parts of their course, we find the name +Eulseus applied. The proper Eulseus was the eastern branch of the +Kerkhah (Choaspes) from Pai Pul to Ahwaz; but the name was naturally +extended both northwards to the Choaspes above Pai Pul and southwards to +the Kuran below Ahwaz. The latter stream was, however, known also, both +in its upper and its lower course, as the Pasitigris. + +On the opposite side of the Empire the rivers were less considerable. +Among the most important may be mentioned the Sajur, a tributary of +the Euphrates, the Koweik, or river of Aleppo, the Orontes, or river of +Antioch, the Litany, or river of Tyre, the Barada, or river of Damascus, +and the Jordan, with its tributaries, the Jabbok and the Hieromax. + +The Sajur rises from two principle sources on the southern flanks of +Amanus, which, after running a short distance, unite a little to the +east of Ain-Tab. The course of the stream from the point of junction is +south-east. In this direction it flows in a somewhat tortuous channel +between two ranges of hills for a distance of about 30 miles to Tel +Khalid, a remarkable conical hill crowned by ruins. Here it receives an +important affluent--the Keraskat--from the west, and becomes suitable +for boat navigation. At the same time its course changes, and runs +eastward for about 12 miles; after which the stream again inclines to +the south, and keeping an E.S.E. direction for 14 or 15 miles, enters +the Euphrates by five mouths in about lat. 36 deg. 37'. The course of the +river measures probably about 65 miles. + +The Koweik, or river of Aleppo (the Chalus of Xenophon), rises in the +hills south of Ain-Tab. Springing from two sources, one of which is +known as the Baloklu-Su, or "Fish River," it flows at first eastward, +as if intending to join the Euphrates. On reaching the plain of Aleppo, +however, near Sayyadok-Koi, it receives a tributary from the north, +which gives its course a southern inclination; and from this point it +proceeds in a south and south-westerly direction, winding along the +shallow bed which it has scooped in the Aloppo plain, a distance of 60 +miles, past Aleppo to Kinnisrin, near the foot of the Jebel-el-Sis. Here +its further progress southward is barred, and it is forced to turn to +the east along the foot of the mountain, which it skirts for eight or +ten miles, finally entering the small lake or marsh of El Melak, in +which it loses itself after a source of about 80 miles. + +The Orontes, the great river of Assyria, rises in the Buka'a--the deep +valley known to the ancients as Coele-Syria Proper--springing from +a number of small brooks, which flow down from the Antilibanus range +between lat. 34 deg. 5' and lat. 34 deg. 12'. Its most remote source is near +Yunin, about seven mites N.N.E. of Baalbek. The stream flows at first +N.W. by W. into the plain, on reaching which it turns at a right-angle +to the northeast, and skirts the foot of the Antilibanus range as far as +Lebweh, where, being joined by a larger stream from the southeast,130 it +takes its direction and flows N.W. and then N. across the plain to the +foot of Lebanon. Here it receives the waters of a much more abundant +fountain, which wells out from the roots of that range, and is regarded +by the Orientals as the true "head of the stream." Thus increased the +river flows northwards for a short space, after which it turns to the +northeast, and runs in a deep cleft along the base of Lebanon, pursuing +this direction for 15 or 16 miles to a point beyond Ribleh, nearly +in lat. 34 deg. 30'. Here the course of the river again changes, becoming +slightly west of north to the Lake of Hems (Buheiret-Hems), which is +nine or ten miles below Ribleh. Issuing from the Lake of Hems about lat. +34 deg. 43', the Orontes once more flows to the north east, and in five or +six miles reaches Hems itself, which it leaves on its right bank. +It then flows for twenty miles nearly due north, after which, on +approaching Hama (Hamath), it makes a slight bend to the east round +the foot of Jebel Erbayn, and then entering the rich pasture country of +El-Ghab' runs north-west and north to the "Iron Bridge" (Jisr Hadid), +in lat. 36 deg. 11'. Its course thus far has been nearly parallel with +the coast of the Mediterranean, and has lain between two ranges of +mountains, the more western of which has shut it out from the sea. +At Jisr Hadid the western mountains come to an end, and the Orontes, +sweeping round their base, runs first west and then south-west down the +broad valley of Antioch, in the midst of the most lovely scenery, to the +coast, which it reaches a little above the 36th parallel, in long. 35 deg. +55'. The course of the Orontes, exclusive of lesser windings, is about +200 miles. It is a considerable stream almost from its source. At Hamah, +more than a hundred miles from its mouth, it is crossed by a bridge +of thirteen arches. At Antioch it is fifty yards in width, and runs +rapidly. The natives now call it the Nahr-el-Asy, or "Rebel River," +either from its running in an opposite direction to all other streams of +the country, or (more probably) from its violence and impetuosity. + +There is one tributary of the Orontes which deserves a cursory mention. +This is the Kara Su, or "Black River," which reaches it from the Aga +Denghis, or Bahr-el-Abiyad, about five miles below Jisr Hadid and four +or five above Antioch. This stream brings into the Orontes the greater +part of the water that is drained from the southern side of Amanus. It +is formed by a union of two rivers, the upper Kara Su and the Afrin, +which flow into the Aga Denghis (White Sea), or Lake of Antioch, from +the north-west, the one entering it at its northern, the other at its +eastern extremity. Both are considerable streams; and the Kara Su on +issuing from the lake carries a greater body of water than the Orontes +itself, and thus adds largely to the volume of that stream in its lower +course from the point of junction to the Mediterranean. + +The Litany, or river of Tyre, rises from a source at no great distance +from the head springs of the Orontes. The almost imperceptible watershed +of the Buka'a runs between Yunin and Baalbek, a few miles north of +the latter; and when it is once passed, the drainage of the water is +southwards. The highest permanent fountain of the southern stream seems +to be a small lake near Tel Hushben, which lies about six miles to the +south-west of the Baalbek ruins. Springing from this source the Litany +flows along the lower Buka'a in a direction which is generally a little +west of south, receiving on either side a number of streamlets and +rills from Libanus and Anti-libanus, and giving out in its turn numerous +canals for irrigation, which fertilize the thirsty soil. As the stream +descends with numerous windings, but still with the same general course, +the valley of the Buka'a contracts more and more, till finally it +terminates in a gorge, down which thunders the Litany--a gorge a +thousand feet or more in depth, and so narrow that in one place it +is actually bridged over by masses of rock which have fallen from the +jagged sides. Narrower and deeper grows the gorge, and the river chafes +and foams through it, gradually working itself round to the west, and so +clearing a way through the very roots of Lebanon to the low coast tract, +across which it meanders slowly, as if wearied with its long struggle, +before finally emptying itself into the sea. The course of the Litany +may be roughly estimated at from 70 to 75 miles. + +The Barada, or river of Damascus, rises in the plain of Zebdany--the +very centre of the Antilibanus. It has its real permanent source in a +small nameless lake in the lower part of the plain, about lat. 33 deg. +41'; but in winter it is fed by streams flowing from the valley above, +especially by one which rises in lat. 33 deg. 46', near the small hamlet +of Ain Hawar. The course of the Barada from the small lake is at first +towards the east; but it soon sweeps round and flows-southward for about +four miles to the lower end of the plain, after which it again turns to +the east and enters a romantic glen, running between high cliffs, and +cutting through the main ridge of the Antilibanus between the Zebdany +plain and Suk, the Abila of the ancients. From Suk the river flows +through a narrow but lovely valley, in a course which has a general +direction of south-east, past Ain Fijoh (where its waters are greatly +increased), through a series of gorges and glens, to the point where the +roots of the Antilibanus sink down upon the plain, when it bursts forth +from the mountains and scatters. Channels are drawn from it on either +side, and its waters are spread far and wide over the Merj, which it +covers with fine trees and splendid herbage. + +One branch passes right through the city, cutting it in half. Others +irrigate the gardens and orchards both to the north and to the south. +Beyond the town the tendency to division still continues. The river, +weakened greatly through the irrigation, separates into three main +channels, which flow with divergent courses towards the east, and +terminate in two large swamps or lakes, the Bahret-esh-Shurkiyeh and the +Bahret-el-Kibli-yeh, at a distance of sixteen or seventeen miles from +the city. The Barada is a short stream, its entire course from the plain +of Zebdany not much exceeding forty miles. + +The Jordan is commonly regarded as flowing from two sources in the +Huleh or plain immediately above Lake Merom, one at Banias (the ancient +Paneas), the other at Tel-el-Kady, which marks the site of Laish or +Dan. But the true highest present source of the river is the spring near +Hasbeiya, called Nebaes-Hasbany, or Eas-en-Neba. This spring rises in +the torrent-course known as the Wady-el-Teim, which descends from the +north-western flank of Hermon, and runs nearly parallel with the great +gorge of the Litany, having a direction from north-east to south-west. +The water wells forth in abundance from the foot of a volcanic +bluff, called Eas-el-Anjah, lying directly north of Hasbeiya, and is +immediately used to turn a mill. The course of the streamlet is very +slightly west of south down the Wady to the Huleh plain, where it +is joined, and multiplied sevenfold, by the streams from Banais and +Tel-el-Kady, becoming at once worthy of the name of river. Hence it +runs almost due south to the Merom lake, which it enters in lat. 33 deg. +7', through a reedy and marshy tract which it is difficult to penetrate. +Issuing from Merom in lat. 33 deg. 3', the Jordan flows at first sluggishly +southward to "Jacob's Bridge," passing which, it proceeds in the same +direction, with a much swifter current down the depressed and narrow +cleft between Merom and Tiberias, descending at the rate of fifty +feet in a mile, and becoming (as has been said) a sort of "continuous +waterfall." Before reaching Tiberias its course bends slightly to the +west of south for about two miles, and it pours itself into that "sea" +in about lat. 32 deg. 53'. Quitting the sea in lat. 32 deg. 42', it finally +enters the track called the Ghor, the still lower chasm or cleft which +intervenes between Tiberias and the upper end of the Dead Sea. Here the +descent of the stream becomes comparatively gentle, not much exceeding +three feet per mile; for though the direct distance between the two +lakes is less than seventy miles, and the entire fall above 600 feet, +which would seem to give a descent of nine or ten feet a mile, yet, as +the course of the river throughout this part of its career is tortuous +in the extreme, the fall is really not greater than above indicated. +Still it is sufficient to produce as many as twenty-seven rapids, or +at the rate of one to every seven miles. In this part of its course +the Jordan receives two important tributaries, each of which seems to +deserve a few words. + +The Jarmuk, or Sheriat-el-Mandhur, anciently the Hiero-max, drains the +water, not only from Gaulonitis or Jaulan, the country immediately east +and south-east of the sea of Tiberias, but also from almost the whole +of the Hauran. At its mouth it is 130 feet wide, and in the winter it +brings down a great body of water into the Jordan. In summer, however, +it shrinks up into an inconsiderable brook, having no more remote +sources than the perennial springs at Mazarib, Dilly, and one or +two other places on the plateau of Jaulan. It runs through a fertile +country, and has generally a deep course far below the surface of the +plain; ere falling into the Jordan it makes its way through a wild +ravine, between rugged cliffs of basalt, which are in places upwards of +a hundred feet in height. + +The Zurka, or Jabbok, is a stream of the same character with the +Hieromax, but of inferior dimensions and importance. It drains a +considerable portion of the land of Gilead, but has no very remote +sources, and in summer only carries water through a few miles of its +lower course. In winter, on the contrary, it is a roaring stream with a +strong current, and sometimes cannot be forded. The ravine through which +it flows is narrow, deep, and in some places wild. Throughout nearly +its whole course it is fringed by thickets of cane and oleander, while +above, its banks are clothed with forests of oak. + +The Jordan receives the Hieromax about four or five miles below the +point where it issues from the Sea of Tiberias, and the Jabbok about +half-way between that lake and the Dead Sea. Augmented by these streams, +and others of less importance from the mountains on either side, it +becomes a river of considerable size, being opposite Beth-shan (Beisan) +140 feet wide, and three feet deep, and averaging, in its lower course, +a width of ninety with a depth of eight or nine feet. Its entire course, +from the fountain near Hasbeiya to the Dead Sea, including the passage +of the two lakes through which it flows, is, if we exclude meanders, +about 130, if we include them, 360 miles. It is calculated to pour into +the Dead Sea 6,090,000 tons of water daily. + +Besides these rivers the Babylonian territory comprised a number of +important lakes. Of these some of the more eastern have been described +in a former volume: as the Bahr-i-Nedjif in Lower Chaldsea, and the Lake +of Khatouniyeh in the tract between the Sinjar and the Khabour. It was +chiefly, however, towards the west that sheets of water abounded: the +principal of these were the Sabakhah, the Bahr-el-Melak, and the Lake +of Antioch in Upper Syria; the Bahr-el-Kades, or Lake of Hems, in the +central region; and the Damascus lakes, the Lake of Merom, the Sea of +Galilee or Tiberias, and the Dead Sea, in the regions lying furthest to +the south. Of these the greater number were salt, and of little value, +except as furnishing the salt of commerce; but four--the Lake of +Antioch, the Bahr-el-Kades, the Lake Merom, and the Sea of Galilee-were +fresh-water basins lying upon the courses of streams which ran through +them; and these not only diversified the scenery by their clear bright +aspect, but were of considerable value to the inhabitants, as furnishing +them with many excellent sorts of fish. + +Of the salt lakes the most eastern was the Sabakhah. This is a basin of +long and narrow form, lying on and just below the 36th parallel. It +is situated on the southern route from Balis to Aleppo, and is nearly +equally distant between the two places. Its length is from twelve to +thirteen miles; and its width, where it is broadest, is about five +miles. It receives from the north the waters of the Nahr-el-Dhahab, or +"Golden River" (which has by some been identified with the Daradax of +Xenophon), and from the west two or three insignificant streams, which +empty themselves into its western extremity. The lake produces a large +quantity of salt, especially after wet seasons, which is collected and +sold by the inhabitants of the surrounding country. + +The Bahr-el-Molak, the lake which absorbs the Koweik, or river of +Aleppo, is less than twenty miles distant from Lake Sabakhah, which it +very much resembles in its general character. Its ordinary length is +about nine miles, and its width three or four; but in winter it is +greatly swollen by the rains, and at that time it spreads out so widely +that its circumference sometimes exceeds fifty miles. Much salt is +drawn from its bed in the dry season, and a large part of Syria is hence +supplied with the commodity. The lake is covered with small islands, and +greatly frequented by aquatic birds-geese, ducks, flamingoes, and the +like. + +The lakes in the neighborhood of Damascus are three in number, and are +all of a very similar type. They are indeterminate in size and shape, +changing with the wetness or dryness of the season; and it is possible +that sometimes they may be all united in one. The most northern, which +is called the Bahret-esh-Shurkiyeh, receives about half the surplus +water of the Barada, together with some streamlets from the outlying +ranges of Antilibanus towards the north. The central one, called the +Bahret-el-Kibliyeh, receives the rest of the Barada water, which enters +it by three or four branches on its northern and western sides. The most +southern, known as Bahret-Hijaneh, is the receptacle for the stream +of the Awaaj, and takes also the water from the northern parts of the +Ledjah, or region of Argob. The three lakes are in the same line--a line +which runs from N.N.E. to S.S.W. They are, or at least were recently, +separated by tracts of dry land from two to four miles broad. Dense +thickets of tall reeds surround them, and in summer almost cover their +surface. Like the Bahr-el-Melak, they are a home for water-fowl, which +flock to them in enormous numbers. + +By far the largest and most important of the salt lakes is the Great +Lake of the South--the Bahr Lut ("Sea of Lot"), or Dead Sea. This sheet +of water, which has always attracted the special notice and observation +of travellers, has of late years been scientifically surveyed by +officers of the American navy; and its shape, its size, and even its +depth, are thus known with accuracy. The Dead Sea is of an oblong form, +and would be of a very regular contour, were it not for a remarkable +projection from its eastern shore near its southern extremity. In this +place, a long and low peninsula, shaped like a human foot, projects +into the lake, filling up two thirds of its width, and thus dividing the +expanse of water into two portions, which are connected by a long and +somewhat narrow passage. The entire length of the sea, from north to +south, is 46 miles: its greatest width, between its eastern and its +western shores, is 101 miles. The whole area is estimated at 250 +geographical square miles. Of this space 174 square miles belong to the +northern portion of the lake (the true "Sea"), 29 to the narrow channel, +and 46 to the southern portion, which has been called "the back-water," +or "the lagoon." + +The most remarkable difference between the two portions of the lake is +the contrast they present as to depth. While the depth of the northern +portion is from 600 feet, at a short distance from the mouth of the +Jordan, to 800, 1000, 1200, and even 1300 feet, further down, the depth +of the lagoon is nowhere more than 12 or 13 feet; and in places it is +so shallow that it has been found possible, in some seasons, to ford the +whole way across from one side to the other. The peculiarities of the +Dead Sea, as compared with other lakes, are its depression below the +sea-level, its buoyancy, and its extreme saltness. The degree of the +depression is not yet certainly known; but there is reason to believe +that it is at least as much at 1300 feet, whereas no other lake is known +to be depressed more than 570 feet. The buoyancy and the saltness are +not so wholly unparalleled. The waters of Lake Urumiyeh are probably +as salt and as buoyant; those of Lake Elton in the steppe east of the +Wolga, and of certain other Russian lakes, appear to be even salter. But +with these few exceptions (if they are exceptions), the Dead Sea water +must be pronounced to be the heaviest and saltest water known to us. +More than one fourth of its weight is solid matter held in solution. Of +this solid matter nearly one third is common salt, which is more than +twice as much as is contained in the waters of the ocean. + +Of the fresh-water lakes the largest and most important is the Sea of +Tiberias. This sheet of water is of an oval shape, with an axis, like +that of the Dead Sea, very nearly due north and south. Its greatest +length is about thirteen and its greatest width about six miles. Its +extreme depth, so far as has been ascertained, is 27 fathoms, or 165 +feet. The Jordan flows into its upper end turbid and muddy, and issues +forth at its southern extremity clear and pellucid. It receives also the +waters of a considerable number of small streams and springs, some of +which are warm and brackish; yet its own water is always sweet, cool, +and transparent, and, having everywhere a shelving pebbly beach, has +a bright sparkling appearance. The banks are lofty, and in general +destitute of verdure. What exactly is the amount of depression below the +level of the Mediterranean remains still, to some extent, uncertain; but +it is probably not much less than 700 feet. Now, as formerly, the lake +produces an abundance of fish, which are pronounced, by those who have +partaken of them, to be "delicious." + +Nine miles above the Sea of Tiberias, on the course of the same stream, +is the far smaller basin known now as the Bahr-el Huleh, and anciently +(perhaps) as Merom. This is a mountain tarn, varying in size as the +season is wet or dry, but never apparently more than about seven miles +long, by five or six broad. It is situated at the lower extremity of +the plain called Huleh, and is almost entirely surrounded by flat marshy +ground, thickly set with reeds and canes, which make the lake itself +almost unapproachable. The depth of the Huleh is not known. It is a +favorite resort of aquatic birds, and is said to contain an abundant +supply of fish. + +The Bahr-el-Kades, or Lake of Hems, lies on the course of the Orontes, +about 139 miles N.N.E. of Merom, and nearly the same distance south of +the Lake of Antioch. It is a small sheet of water, not more than six +or eight miles long, and only two or three wide, running in the same +direction with the course of the river, which here turns from north to +north-east. According to Abulfeda and some other writers, it is mainly, +if not wholly, artificial, owing its origin to a dam or embankment +across the stream, which is from four to five hundred yards in +length, and about twelve or fourteen feet high. In Abulfeda's time the +construction of the embankment was ascribed to Alexander the Great, and +the lake consequently was not regarded as having had any existence in +Babylonian times; but traditions of this kind are little to be trusted, +and it is quite possible that the work above mentioned, constructed +apparently with a view to irrigation, may really belong to a very much +earlier age. + +Finally, in Northern Syria, 115 miles north of the Bahr-el-Kades, and +about 60 miles N.W.W. of the Bahr-el-Melak, is the Bahr-el-Abyad (White +Lake), or Sea of Antioch. [PLATE. VIII., Fig. 1.] This sheet of water +is a parallelogram, the angles of which face the cardinal points: in its +greater diameter it extends somewhat more than ten miles, while it +is about seven miles across. Its depth on the western side, where it +approaches the mountains, is six or eight feet; but elsewhere it is +generally more shallow, not exceeding three or four feet. It lies in a +marshy plain called El-Umk, and is thickly fringed with reeds round the +whole of its circumference. From the silence of antiquity, some +writers have imagined that it did not exist in ancient times; but the +observations of scientific travellers are opposed to this theory. The +lake abounds with fish of several kinds, and the fishery attracts and +employs a considerable number of the natives who dwell near it. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.] + +Besides these lakes, there were contained within the limits of +the Empire a number of petty tarns, which do not merit particular +description. Such were the Bahr-el-Taka, and other small lakes on the +right bank of the middle Orontes, the Birket-el-Limum in the +Lebanon, and the Birket-er-Eam on the southern flank of Hermon. It is +unnecessary, however, to pursue this subject any further. But a few +words must be added on the chief cities of the Empire, before this +chapter is brought to a conclusion. + +The cities of the Empire may be divided into those of the dominant +country and those of the provinces. Those of the dominant country +were, for the most part, identical with the towns already described +as belonging to the ancient Chaldaea, Besides Babylon itself, there +flourished in the Babylonian period the cities of Borsippa, Duraba, +Sippara or Sepharvaim, Opis, Psittace, Cutha, Orchoe or Erech, and +Diridotis or Teredon. The sites of most of those have been described in +the first volume; but it remains to state briefly the positions of some +few which were either new creations or comparatively undistinguished in +the earlier times. + +Opis, a town of sufficient magnitude to attract the attention of +Herodotus, was situated on the left or east bank of the Tigris, near the +point where the Diyaleh or Gyndes joined the main river. Its position +was south of the Gyndes embouchure, and it might be reckoned as lying +upon either river. The true name of the place--that which it bears in +the cuneiform inscriptions--was Hupiya; and its site is probably marked +by the ruins at Khafaji, near Baghdad, which place is thought to retain, +in a corrupted form, the original appellation. Psittace or Sitace, +the town which gave name to the province of Sittacene, was in the near +neighborhood of Opis, lying on the same side of the Tigris, but lower +down, at least as low as the modern fort of the Zobeid chief. Its exact +site has not been as yet discovered. Teredon, or Diriaotis, appears to +have been first founded by Nebuchadnezzar. It lay on the coast of the +Persian Gulf, a little west of the mouth of the Euphrates, and protected +by a quay, or a breakwater, from the high tides that rolled in from the +Indian Ocean. There is great difficulty in identifying its site, owing +to the extreme uncertainty as to the exact position of the coast-line, +and the course of the river, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Probably it +should be sought about Zobair, or a little further inland.. The chief +provincial cities were Susa and Badaca in Susiana; Anat, Sirki, and +Carchemish, on the Middle Euphrates; Sidikan on the Khabour; Harran on +the Bilik; Hamath, Damascus, and Jerusalem, in Inner Syria; Tyre, +Sidon, Ashdod, Ascalon, and Gaza, upon the coast. Of these, Susa was +undoubtedly the most important; indeed, it deserves to be regarded +as the second city of the Empire. Here, between the two arms of the +Choaspes, on a noble and well-watered plain, backed at the distance +of twenty-five miles by a lofty mountain range, the fresh breezes from +which tempered the summer heats, was the ancient palace of the Kissian +kings, proudly placed upon a lofty platform or mound, and commanding +a wide prospect of the rich pastures at its base, which extended +northwards to the roots of the hills, and in every other direction as +far as the eye could reach. Clustered at the foot of the palace +mound, more especially on its eastern side, lay the ancient town, the +foundation of the traditional Memnon who led an army to the defence +of Troy. The pure and sparkling water of the Choaspes--a drink fit for +kings--flowed near, while around grew palms, konars, and lemon-trees, +the plain beyond waving with green grass and golden corn. It may be +suspected that the Babylonian kings, who certainly maintained a palace +at this place, and sent high officers of their court to "do their +business" there, made it their occasional residence, exchanging, +in summer and early autumn, the heats and swamps of Babylon for the +comparatively dry and cool region at the base of the Lurish hills. But, +however, this may have been, at any rate Susa, long the capital of a +kingdom little inferior to Babylon itself, must have been the first of +the provincial cities, surpassing all the rest at once in size and in +magnificence. Among the other cities, Carchemish on the Upper Euphrates, +Tyre upon the Syrian coast, and Ashdod on the borders of Egypt, held +the highest place. Carchemish, which has been wrongly identified with +Circesium, lay certainly high up the river, and most likely occupied a +site some distance to the north of Balis, which is in lat. 36 deg. nearly. +It was the key of Syria on the east, commanding the ordinary passage +of the Euphrates, and being the only great city in this quarter. Tyre, +which had by this time surpassed its rival, Sidon, was the chief of all +the maritime towns; and its possession gave the mastery of the Eastern +Mediterranean to the power which could acquire and maintain it. Ashdod +was the key of Syria upon the south, being a place of great strength, +and commanding the coast route between Palestine and Egypt, which was +usually pursued by armies. It is scarcely too much to say that the +possession of Ashdod, Tyre, and Carchemish, involved the lordship of +Syria, which could not be permanently retained except by the occupation +of those cities. + +The countries by which the Babylonian Empire was bounded were Persia on +the east, Media and her dependencies on the north, Arabia on the south, +and Egypt at the extreme southwest. Directly to the west she had no +neighbor, her territory being on that side washed by the Mediterranean. + +Of Persia, which must be described at length in the next volume, since +it was the seat of Empire during the Fifth Monarchy, no more need +be said here than that it was for the most part a rugged and sterile +country, apt to produce a brave and hardy race, but incapable of +sustaining a large population. A strong barrier separated it from the +great Mesopotamian lowland; and the Babylonians, by occupying a few +easily defensible passes, could readily prevent a Persian army from +debouching on their fertile plains. On the other hand, the natural +strength of the region is so great that in the hands of brave and active +men its defence is easy; and the Babylonians were not likely, if an +aggressive spirit led to their pressing eastward, to make any serious +impression in this quarter, or ever greatly to advance their frontier. + +To Media, the power which bordered her upon the north, Babylonia, on the +contrary, lay wholly open. The Medes, possessing Assyria and Armenia, +with the Upper Tigris valley, and probably the Mons Masius, could at any +time, with the greatest ease, have marched armies into the low country, +and resumed the contest in which Assyria was engaged for so many hundred +years with the great people of the south. On this side nature had set no +obstacles; and, if danger threatened, resistance had to be made by means +of those artificial works which are specially suited for flat countries. +Long lines of wall, broad dykes, huge reservoirs, by means of which +large tracts may be laid under water, form the natural resort in such +a case; and to such defences as these alone, in addition to her armies, +could Babylonia look in case of a quarrel with the Medes. On this side, +however, she for many years felt no fear. Political arrangements and +family ties connected her with the Median reigning house, and she looked +to her northern neighbor as an ally upon whom she might depend for aid, +rather than as a rival whose ambitious designs were to be watched and +baffled. + +Babylonia lay open also on the side of Arabia. Here, however, the nature +of the country is such that population must be always sparse; and the +habits of the people are opposed to that political union which can alone +make a race really formidable to others. Once only in their history, +under the excitement of a religious frenzy, have the Arabs issued forth +from the great peninsula on an errand of conquest. In general they are +content to vex and harass without seriously alarming their neighbors. +The vast space and arid character of the peninsula are adverse to +the collection and the movement of armies; the love of independence +cherished by the several tribes indisposes them to union; the affection +for the nomadic life, which is strongly felt, disinclines them to +the occupation of conquests. Arabia, as a a conterminous power, is +troublesome, but rarely dangerous: one section of the nation may almost +always be played off against another: if "their hand is against every +man," "every man's hand" is also "against them;" blood-feuds divide and +decimate their tribes, which are ever turning their swords against each +other; their neighbors generally wish them ill, and will fall upon them, +if they can take them at a disadvantage; it is only under very peculiar +circumstances, such as can very rarely exist, that they are likely even +to attempt anything more serious than a plundering inroad. Babylonia +consequently, though open to attack on the side of the south as well +as on that of the north, had little to fear from either quarter. The +friendliness of her northern neighbor, and the practical weakness of her +southern one, were equal securities against aggression; and thus on her +two largest and most exposed frontiers the Empire dreaded no attack. + +But it was otherwise in the far south-west. Here the Empire bordered +upon Egypt, a rich and populous country, which at all times covets +Syria, and is often strong enough to seize and hold it in possession. +The natural frontier is moreover weak, no other barrier separating +between Africa and Asia than a narrow desert, which has never yet proved +a serious obstacle to an army. From the side of Egypt, if from no other +quarter, Babylonia might expect to have trouble. Here she inherited from +her predecessor, Assyria, an old hereditary feud, which might at any +time break out into active hostility. Here was an ancient, powerful, and +well-organized kingdom upon her borders, with claims upon that +portion of her territory which it was most difficult for her to defend +effectively. By seas and by land equally the strip of Syrian coast lay +open to the arms of Egypt, who was free to choose her time, and pour +her hosts into the country when the attention of Babylon was directed +to some other quarter. The physical and political circumstances alike +pointed to hostile transactions between Babylon and her south-western +neighbor. Whether destruction would come from this quarter, or from some +other, it would have been impossible to predict. Perhaps, on the +whole, it may be said that Babylon might have been expected to contend +successfully with Egypt--that she had little to fear from Arabia--that +against Persia Proper it might have been anticipated that she would +be able to defend herself--but that she lay at the mercy of Media. The +Babylonian Empire was in truth an empire upon sufferance. From the time +of its establishment with the consent of the Medes, the Modes might +at any time have destroyed it. The dynastic tie alone prevented this +result. When that tie was snapped, and when moreover, by the victories +of Cyrus, Persian enterprise succeeded to the direction of Median +power, the fate of Babylon was sealed. It was impossible for the +long straggling Empire of the south, lying chiefly in low, flat, open +regions, to resist for any considerable time the great kingdom of the +north, of the high plateau, and of the mountain-chains. + + + + +CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. + + +The Babylonian Empire, lying as it did between the thirtieth and +thirty-seventh parallels of north latitude, and consisting mostly of +comparatively low countries, enjoyed a climate which was, upon the +whole, considerably warmer than that of Media, and less subject to +extreme variations. In its more southern parts-Susiana, Chaldaea (or +Babylonia Proper), Philistia, and Edom---the intensity of the summer +heat must have been great; but the winters were mild and of short +duration. In the middle regions of Central Mesopotamia, the Euphrates +valley, the Palmyrene, Coele-Syria, Judaea, and Phoenicia, while the +winters were somewhat colder and longer, the summer warmth was more +tolerable. Towards the north, along the flanks of Masius, Taurus, and +Amanus, a climate more like that of eastern Media prevailed, the summers +being little less hot than those of the middle region, while the winters +were of considerable severity. A variety of climate thus existed, but a +variety within somewhat narrow limits. The region was altogether hotter +and drier than is usual in the same latitude. The close proximity of the +great Arabian desert, the small size of the adjoining seas, the want of +mountains within the region having any great elevation, and the general +absence of timber, combined to produce an amount of heat and dryness +scarcely known elsewhere outside the tropics. + +Detailed accounts of the temperature, and of the climate generally, in +the most important provinces of the Empire, Babylonia and Mesopotamia +Proper, have been already given, and on these points the reader is +referred to the first volume. With regard to the remaining provinces, it +may be noticed, in the first place, that the climate of Susiana differs +but very slightly from that of Babylonia, the region to which it is +adjacent. The heat in summer is excessive, the thermometer, even in the +hill country, at an elevation of 5000 feet, standing often at 107 deg. +Fahr. in the shade. The natives construct for themselves serdaubs, +or subterranean apartments, in which they live during the day, thus +somewhat reducing the temperature, but probably never bringing it much +below 100 degrees. They sleep at night in the open air on the flat roofs +of their houses. So far as there is any difference of climate at this +season between Susiana and Babylonia, it is in favor of the former. The +heat, though scorching, is rarely oppressive; and not unfrequently a +cool, invigorating breeze sets in from the mountains, which refreshes +both mind and body. The winters are exceedingly mild, snow being unknown +on the plains, and rare on the mountains, except at a considerable +elevation. At this time, however--from December to the end of +March--rain falls in tropical abundance; and occasionally there are +violent hail-storms, which inflict serious injury on the crops. The +spring-time in Susiana is delightful. Soft airs fan the cheek, laden +with the scent of flowers; a carpet of verdure is spread over the +plains; the sky is cloudless, or overspread with a thin gauzy veil; the +heat of the sun is not too great; the rivers run with full banks and +fill the numerous canals; the crops advance rapidly towards perfection; +and on every side a rich luxuriant growth cheers the eye of the +traveller. + +On the opposite side of the Empire, in Syria and Palestine, a moister, +and on the whole a cooler climate prevails. In Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon +there is a severe winter, which lasts from October to April; much snow +falls, and the thermometer often marks twenty or thirty degrees of +frost. On the flanks of the mountain ranges, and in the highlands of +Upper and Coele-Syria, of Damascus, Samaria, and Judsea, the cold is +considerably less; but there are intervals of frost; snow falls, though +it does not often remain long upon the ground; and prolonged chilling +rains make the winter and early spring unpleasant. In the low regions, +on the other hand, in the _Shephelah_, the plain of Sharon, the +Phoenician coast tract, the lower valley of the Orontes, and again in +the plain of Esdraelon and the remarkable depression from the Merom lake +to the Dead Sea, the winters are exceedingly mild; frost and snow are +unknown; the lowest temperature is produced by cold rains and fogs, +which do not bring the thermometer much below 40 deg.. During the summer +these low regions, especially the Jordan valley or Ghor, are excessively +hot, the heat being ordinarily of that moist kind which is intolerably +oppressive. The upland plains and mountain flanks experience also a +high temperature, but there the heat is of a drier character, and is +not greatly complained of; the nights even in summer are cold, the dews +being often heavy; cool winds blow occasionally, and though the sky is +for months without a cloud, the prevailing heat produces no injurious +effects on those who are exposed to it. In Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon the +heat is of course still less; refreshing breezes blow almost constantly; +and the numerous streams and woods give a sense of coolness beyond the +markings of the thermometer. + +There is one evil, however, to which almost the whole Empire must have +been subject. Alike in the east and in the west, in Syria and Palestine, +no less than in Babylonia Proper and Susiana, there are times when +a fierce and scorching wind prevails for days together--a wind whose +breath withers the herbage and is unspeakably depressing to man. Called +in the east the Sherghis, and in the west the Khamsin, this fiery +sirocco comes laden with fine particles of heated sand, which at once +raise the temperature and render the air unwholesome to breathe. In +Syria these winds occur commonly in the spring, from February to April; +but in Susiana and Babylonia the time for them is the height of summer. +They blow from various quarters, according to the position, with respect +to Arabia, occupied by the different provinces. In Palestine the worst +are from the east, the direction in which the desert is nearest; in +Lower Babylonia they are from the south; in Susiana from the west or the +north-west. During their continuance the air is darkened, a lurid glow +is cast over the earth, the animal world pines and droops, vegetation +languishes, and, if the traveller cannot obtain shelter, and the wind +continues, he may sink and die under its deleterious influence. + +The climate of the entire tract included within the limits of the Empire +was probably much the same in ancient times as in our own days. In the +low alluvial plains indeed near the Persian Gulf it is probable that +vegetation was anciently more abundant, the date-palm being cultivated +much more extensively then than at present; and so far it might appear +reasonable to conclude that the climate of that region must have been +moister and cooler than it now is. But if we may judge by Strabo's +account of Susiana, where the climatic conditions were nearly the same +as in Babylonia, no important change can have taken place, for Strabo +not only calls the climate of Susiana "fiery and scorching," but says +that in Susa, during the height of summer, if a lizard or a snake +tried to cross the street about noon-day, he was baked to death before +accomplishing half the distance. Similarly on the west, though there is +reason to believe that Palestine is now much more denuded of timber than +it was formerly, and its climate should therefore be both warmer and +drier, yet it has been argued with great force from the identity of the +modern with the ancient vegetation, that in reality there can have +been no considerable change. If then there has been such permanency of +climate in the two regions where the greatest alteration seems to have +taken place in the circumstances whereby climate is usually affected, +it can scarcely be thought that elsewhere any serious change has been +brought about. + +The chief vegetable productions of Babylonia Proper in ancient times +are thus enumerated by Berosus. "The land of the Babylonians," he +says, "produces wheat as an indigenous plant," and has also barley, +and lentils, and vetches, and sesame; the banks of the streams and the +marshes supply edible roots, called gongoe, which have the taste +of barley-cakes. Palms, too, grow in the country, and apples, and +fruit-trees of various kinds. Wheat, it will be observed, and barley are +placed first, since it was especially as a grain country that Babylonia +was celebrated. The testimonies of Herodotus, Theophrastus, Strabo, and +Pliny as to the enormous returns which the Babylonian farmers obtained +from their corn lands have been already cited. No such fertility is +known anywhere in modern times; and, unless the accounts are grossly +exaggerated, we must ascribe it, in part, to the extraordinary vigor of +a virgin soil, a deep and rich alluvium; in part, perhaps, to a peculiar +adaptation of the soil to the wheat plant, which the providence of God +made to grow spontaneously in this region, and nowhere else, so far as +we know, on the whole face of the earth. + +Besides wheat, it appears that barley, millet, and lentils were +cultivated for food, while vetches were grown for beasts, and sesame +for the sake of the oil which can be expressed from its seed. All grew +luxuriantly, and the returns of the barley in particular are stated at a +fabulous amount. But the production of first necessity in Babylonia +was the date-palm, which flourished in great abundance throughout the +region, and probably furnished the chief food of the greater portion +of the inhabitants. The various uses to which it was applied have been +stated in the first volume, where a representation of its mode of growth +has been also given. + +In the adjoining country of Susiana, or at any rate in the alluvial +portion of it, the principal products of the earth seem to have been +nearly the same as in Babylonia, while the fecundity of the soil was but +little less. Wheat and barley returned to the sower a hundred or even +two hundred fold. The date-palm grew plentifully, more especially in the +vicinity of the towns. Other trees also were common, as probably konars, +acacias, and poplars, which are still found scattered in tolerable +abundance over the plain country. The neighboring mountains could +furnish good timber of various kinds; but it appears that the palm was +the tree chiefly used for building. If we may judge the past by +the present, we may further suppose that Susiana produced fruits in +abundance; for modern travellers tell us that there is not a fruit known +in Persia which does not thrive in the province of Khuzistan. + +Along the Euphrates valley to a considerable distance--at least as +far as Anah (or Hena)--the character of the country resembles that of +Babylonia and Susiana, and the products cannot have been very different. +About Anah the date-palm begins to fail, and the olive first makes its +appearance. Further up a chief fruit is the mulberry. Still higher, in +northern Mesopotamia, the mulberry is comparatively rare, but its +place is supplied by the walnut, the vine, and the pistachio-nut. +This district produces also good crops of grain, and grows oranges, +pomegranates, and the commoner kinds of fruit abundantly. + +Across the Euphrates, in Northern Syria, the country is less suited for +grain crops; but trees and shrubs of all kinds grow luxuriantly, the +pasture is excellent, and much of the land is well adapted for the +growth of cotton. The Assyrian kings cut timber frequently in this +tract; and here are found at the present day enormous planes, thick +forests of oak, pine, and ilex, walnuts, willows, poplars, ash-trees, +birches, larches, and the carob or locust tree. Among wild shrubs are +the oleander with its ruddy blossoms, the myrtle, the bay, the arbutus, +the clematis, the juniper, and the honeysuckle; among cultivated +fruit-trees, the orange, the pomegranate, the pistachio-nut, the +vine, the mulberry, and the olive. The adis, an excellent pea, and the +Lycoperdon, or wild potato, grow in the neighborhood of Aleppo. The +castor-oil plant is cultivated in the plain of Edlib. Melons, cucumbers, +and most of the ordinary vegetables are produced in abundance and of +good quality everywhere. + +In Southern Syria and Palestine most of the same forms of vegetation +occur, with several others of quite a new character. These are due +either to the change of latitude, or to the tropical heat of the +Jordan and Dead Sea valley, or finally to the high elevation of Hermon, +Lebanon, and Anti-Lebanon. The date-palm fringes the Syrian shore as +high as Beyrut, and formerly flourished in the Jordan valley, where, +however, it is not now seen, except in a few dwarfed specimens near the +Tiberias lake. The banana accompanies the date along the coast, and +even grows as far north as Tripoli. The prickly pear, introduced from +America, has completely neutralized itself, and is in general request +for hedging. The fig mulberry (or true sycamore), another southern form, +is also common, and grows to a considerable size. Other denizens of +warm climes, unknown in Northern Syria, are the jujube, the tamarisk, +theelasagnus or wild olive, the gum-styrax plant (_Styrax officinalis_), +the egg-plant, the Egyptian papyrus, the sugar-cane, the scarlet +misletoe, the solanum that produces the "Dead Sea apple" (_Solanum +Sodomceum_), the yellow-flowered acacia, and the liquorice plant. Among +the forms due to high elevation are the famous Lebanon cedar, several +oaks and juniper, the maple, berberry, jessamine, ivy, butcher's broom, +a rhododendron, and the gum-tragacanth plant. The fruits additional to +those of the north are dates, lemons, almonds, shaddocks, and limes. + +The chief mineral products of the Empire seem to have been bitumen, with +its concomitants, naphtha and petroleum, salt, sulphur, nitre, copper, +iron, perhaps silver, and several sorts of precious stones. Bitumen was +furnished in great abundance by the springs at Hit or Is, which were +celebrated in the days of Herodotus; it was also procured from Ardericca +(Kir-Ab), and probably from Earn Ormuz, in Susiana, and likewise from +the Dead Sea. Salt was obtainable from the various lakes which had no +outlet, as especially from the Sabakhab, the Bahr-el-Melak, the Dead +Sea, and a small lake near Tadmor or Palmyra. The Dead Sea gave also +most probably both sulphur and nitre, but the latter only in small +quantities. Copper and iron seem to have been yielded by the hills of +Palestine. Silver was perhaps a product of the Anti-Lebanon. + +It may be doubted whether any gems were really found in Babylonia +itself, which, being purely alluvial, possesses no stone of any kind. +Most likely the sorts known as Babylonian came from the neighboring +Susiana, whose unexplored mountains may possess many rich treasures. +According to Dionysius, the bed of the Choaspes produced numerous +agates, and it may well be that from the same quarter came that "beryl +more precious than gold," and those "highly reputed sard," which Babylon +seems to have exported to other countries. The western provinces may, +however, very probably have furnished the gems which are ascribed +to them, as amethysts, which are said to have been found in the +neighborhood of Petra, alabaster, which came from near Damascus, and the +cyanus, a kind of lapis-lazuli, which was a production of Phoenicia. No +doubt the Babylonian love of gems caused the provinces to be carefully +searched for stones; and it is not improbable that they yielded besides +the varieties already named, and the other unknown kinds mentioned by +Pliny, many, if not most, of the materials which we find to have +been used for seals by the ancient people. These are, cornelian, +rock-crystal, chalcedony, onyx, jasper, quartz, serpentine, sienite, +haematite, green felspar, pyrites, loadstone, and amazon-stone. + +Stone for building was absent from Babylonia Proper and the alluvial +tracts of Susiana, but in the other provinces it abounded. The Euphrates +valley could furnish stone at almost any point above Hit; the mountain +regions of Susiana could supply it in whatever quantity might be +required; and in the western provinces it was only too plentiful. Near +to Babylonia the most common kind was limestone; but about Had-disah on +the Euphrates there was also a gritty, silicious rock alternating with +iron-stone, and in the Arabian Desert were sandstone and granite. Such +stone as was used in Babylon itself, and in the other cities of the +low country, probably either came down the Euphrates, or was brought +by canals from the adjacent part of Arabia. The quantity, however, thus +consumed was small, the Babylonians being content for most uses with +the brick, of which their own territory gave them a supply practically +inexhaustible. + +The principal wild animals known to have inhabited the Empire in ancient +times are the following: the lion, the panther or large leopard, the +hunting leopard, the bear, the hyena, the wild ox, the buffalo (?), the +wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex or wild goat, the wild sheep, +the wild boar, the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the hare, and the rabbit. +Of these, the lion, leopard, bear, stag, wolf, jackal, and fox seem to +have been very widely diffused, while the remainder were rarer, and, +generally speaking, confined to certain localities. The wild ass was +met with only in the dry parts of Mesopotamia, and perhaps of Syria, the +buffalo and wild boar only in moist regions, along the banks of rivers +or among marshes. The wild ox was altogether scarce; the wild sheep, the +rabbit, and the hare, were probably not common. + +To this list may be added as present denizens of the region, and +therefore probably belonging to it in ancient times, the lynx, the +wildcat, the ratel, the sable, the genet, the badger, the otter, the +beaver, the polecat, the jerboa, the rat, the mouse, the marmot, +the porcupine, the squirrel, and perhaps the alligator. Of these the +commonest at the present day are porcupines, badgers, otters, rats, +mice, and jerboas. The ratel, sable, and genet belong only to the north; +the beaver is found nowhere but in the Khabour and middle Euphrates; +the alligator, if a denizen of the region at all exists only in the +Euphrates. + +The chief birds of the region are eagles, vultures, falcons, owls, +hawks, many kinds of crows, magpies, jackdaws, thrushes, blackbirds, +nightingales, larks, sparrows, goldfinches, swallows, doves of fourteen +kinds, francolins, rock partridges, gray partridges, black partridges, +quails, pheasants, capercailzies, bustards, flamingoes, pelicans, +cormorants, storks, herons, cranes, wild-geese, ducks, teal, +kingfishers, snipes, woodcocks, the sand-grouse, the hoopoe, the green +parrot, the becafico, the locust-bird, the humming-bird (?), and +the bee-eater. The eagle, pheasant, capercailzie, quail, parrot, +locust-bird, becafico, and humming-bird are rare; the remainder are all +tolerably common. Besides these, we know that in ancient times ostriches +wore found within the limits of the Empire, though now they have +retreated further south into the Great Desert of Arabia. Perhaps +bitterns may also formerly have frequented some of the countries +belonging to it, though they are not mentioned among the birds of the +region by modern writers. + +There is a bird of the heron species, or rather of a species between +the heron and the stork, which seems to deserve a few words of special +description. It is found chiefly in Northern Syria, in the plain of +Aleppo and the districts watered by the Koweik and Sajur rivers. The +Arabs call it Tair-el-Raouf, or "the magnificent." This bird is of a +grayish-white, the breast white, the joints of the wings tipped with +scarlet, and the under part of the beak scarlet, the upper part being of +a blackish-gray. The beak is nearly five inches long, and two thirds of +an inch thick. The circumference of the eye is red; the feet are of a +deep yellow; and the bird in its general form strongly resembles the +stork; but its color is darker. It is four feet high, and covers a +breadth of nine feet when the wings are spread. The birds of this +species are wont to collect in large flocks on the North Syrian rivers, +and to arrange themselves in several rows across the streams where they +are shallowest. Here they squat side by side, as close to one another as +possible, and spread out their tails against the current, thus forming a +temporary dam. The water drains off below them, and when it has reached +its lowest point, at a signal from one of their number who from the bank +watches the proceedings, they rise and swoop upon the fish, frogs, etc., +which the lowering of the water has exposed to view. + +Fish are abundant in the Chaldaean marshes, and in almost all the +fresh-water lakes and rivers. [PLATE. VIII., Fig.] The Tigris and +Euphrates yield chiefly barbel and carp; but the former stream has also +eels, trout, chub, shad-fish, siluruses, and many kinds which have +no English names. The Koweik contains the Aleppo eel (_Ophidium +masbacambahis_), a very rare variety; and in other streams of +Northern Syria are found lampreys, bream, dace, and the black-fish +(_Macroptero-notus niger_), besides carp, trout, chub, and barbel. Chub, +bream, and the silurus are taken in the Sea of Galilee. The black-fish +is extremely abundant in the Bahr-el-Taka and the Lake of Antioch. + +Among reptiles may be noticed, besides snakes, lizards, and frogs, which +are numerous, the following less common species--iguanoes, tortoises of +two kinds, chameleons, and monitors. Bats also were common in Babylonia +Proper, where they grew to a great size. Of insects the most remarkable +are scorpions, tarantulas, and locusts. These last come suddenly in +countless myriads with the wind, and, settling on the crops, rapidly +destroy all the hopes of the husbandman, after which they strip +the shrubs and trees of their leaves, reducing rich districts in an +incredibly short space of time to the condition of howling wildernesses. +[PLATE. VIII., Fig. 3.] If it were not for the locust-bird, which is +constantly keeping down their numbers, these destructive insects would +probably increase so as to ruin utterly the various regions exposed to +their ravages. + +The domestic animals employed in the countries which composed the Empire +were, camels, horses, mules, asses, buffaloes, cows and oxen, goats, +sheep, and dogs. Mules as well as horses seem to have been anciently +used in war by the people of the more southern regions-by the Susianians +at any rate, if not also by the Babylonians. Sometimes they were ridden; +sometimes they were employed to draw carts or chariots. They were +spirited and active animals, evidently of a fine breed, such as that for +which Khuzistan is famous at the present day. [PLATE. VIII., Fig. 4.] +The asses from which these mules were produced must also have been of +superior quality, like the breed for which Baghdad is even now famous, +The Babylonian horses are not likely to have been nearly so good; for +this animal does not flourish in a climate which is at once moist and +hot. Still, at any rate under the Persians, Babylonia seems to have been +a great breeding-place for horses, since the stud of a single satrap +consisted of 800 stallions and 16,000 mares. If we may judge of the +character of Babylonian from that of Susianian steeds, we may consider +the breed to have, been strong and large limbed, but not very handsome, +the head being too large and the legs too short for beauty. [PLATE IX., +Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE IX.] + + +The Babylonians were also from very early times famous for their +breed of dogs. The tablet engraved in a former volume, which gives a +representation of a Babylonian hound, is probably of a high antiquity, +not later than the period or the Empire. Dogs are also not unfrequently +represented on ancient Babylonian stones and cylinders. It would seem +that, as in Assyria, there were two principal breeds, one somewhat +clumsy and heavy, of a character not unlike that of our mastiff, the +other of a much lighter make, nearly resembling our greyhound. The +former kind is probably the breed known as Indian, which was kept up +by continual importations from the country whence it was originally +derived.[PLATE. IX., Fig. 2.] + +We have no evidence that camels were employed in the time of the +Empire, either by the Babylonians themselves or by their neighbors, the +Susianians; but in Upper Mesopotamia, in Syria, and in Palestine +they had been in use from a very early date. The Amalekitos and the +Midianites found them serviceable in war; and the latter people employed +them also as beasts of burden in their caravan trade. The Syrians of +Upper Mesopotamia rode upon them in their journeys. It appears that +they were also sometimes yoked to chariots, though from their size and +clumsiness they would be but ill fitted for beasts of draught. + +Buffaloes were, it is probable, domesticated by the Babylonians at an +early date. The animal seems to have been indigenous in the country, and +it is far better suited for the marshy regions of Lower Babylonia and +Susiana than cattle of the ordinary kind. It is perhaps a buffalo which +is represented on an ancient tablet already referred to, where a lion +is disturbed in the middle of his feast off a prostrate animal by a man +armed with a hatchet. Cows and oxen, however, of the common kind are +occasionally represented on the cylinders [PLATE IX., Fig. 4.], where +they seem sometimes to represent animals about to be offered to the +gods. Goats also appear frequently in this capacity; and they were +probably more common than sheep, at any rate in the more southern +districts. Of Babylonian sheep we have no representations at all on the +monuments; but it is scarcely likely that a country which used wool so +largely was content to be without them. At any rate they abounded in the +provinces, forming the chief wealth of the more northern nations. + + + + +CHAPTEE III. THE PEOPLE. + + +"The Chaldaeans, that bitter and hasty nation."--Habak. 1. 6. + + +The Babylonians, who, under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar, held the +second place among the nations of the East, were emphatically a mixed +race. The ancient people from whom they were in the main descended--the +Chaldaeans of the First Empire--possessed this character to a +considerable extent, since they united Cusbite with Turanian blood, and +contained moreover a slight Semitic and probably a slight Arian element. +But the Babylonians of later times--the Chaldaeans of the Hebrew +prophets--must have been very much more a mixed race than their earlier +namesakes--partly in consequence of the policy of colonization pursued +systematically by the later Assyrian kings, partly from the direct +influence exerted upon them by conquerors. Whatever may have been the +case with the Arab dynasty, which bore sway in the country from about +B.C. 1546 till B.C. 1300, it is certain that the Assyrians conquered +Babylon about B.C. 1300, and almost certain that they established +an Assyrian family upon the throne of Nimrod, which held for some +considerable time the actual sovereignty of the country. It was natural +that under a dynasty of Semites, Semitic blood should flow freely into +the lower region, Semitic usages and modes of thought become prevalent, +and the spoken language of the country pass from a Turanian or +Turano-Cushite to a Semitic type. The previous Chaldaean race blended, +apparently, with the new comers, and people was produced in which the +three elements--the Semitic, the Turanian, and the Cushite--held about +equal shares. The colonization of the Sargonid kings added probably +other elements in small proportions, and the result was that among +all the nations inhabiting Western Asia there can have been none so +thoroughly deserving the title of a "mingled people" as the Babylonians +of the later Empire. + +In mixtures of this kind it is almost always found that some one element +practically preponderates, and assumes to itself the right of fashioning +and forming the general character of the race. It is not at all +necessary that this formative element should be larger than any other; +on the contrary, it may be and sometimes is extremely small; for it does +not work by its mass, but by its innate force and strong vital energy. +In Babylonia, the element which showed itself to possess this superior +vitality, which practically asserted its pre-eminence and proceeded to +mold the national character, was the Semitic. There is abundant +evidence that by the time of the later Empire the Babylonians had become +thoroughly Semitized; so much so, that ordinary observers scarcely +distinguished them from their purely Semitic neighbors, the Assyrians. +No doubt there were differences which a Hippocrates or an Aristotle +could have detected--differences resulting from mixed descent, as +well as differences arising from climate and physical geography; but, +speaking broadly, it must be said that the Semitic element, introduced +into Babylonia from the north, had so prevailed by the time of the +establishment of the Empire that the race was no longer one sui generis, +but was a mere variety of the well-known and widely spread Semitic type. + +We possess but few notices, and fewer assured representations, from +which to form an opinion of the physical characteristics of the +Babylonians. Except upon the cylinders, there are extant only three or +four representations of the human forms by Babylonian artists, and +in the few cases where this form occurs we cannot always feel at all +certain that the intention is to portray a human being. A few Assyrian +bas-reliefs probably represent campaigns in Babylonia; but the Assyrians +vary their human type so little that these sculptures must not be +regarded as conveying to us very exact information. Tho cylinders are +too rudely executed to be of much service, and they seem to preserve +an archaic type which originated with the Proto-Chaldaeans. If we might +trust the figures upon them as at all nearly representing the truth, +we should have to regard the Babylonians as of much slighter and sparer +frames than their northern neighbors, of a physique in fact approaching +to meagreness. The Assyrian sculptures, however, are far from +bearing out this idea; from them it would seem that the frames of +the Babylonians were as brawny and massive as those of the Assyrians +themselves, while in feature there was not much difference between the +nations. [PLATE IX., Fig. 3.] Foreheads straight but not high, noses +well formed but somewhat depressed, full lips, and a well-marked rounded +chin, constitute the physiognomy of the Babylonians as it appears +upon the sculptures of their neighbors. This representation is +not contradicted by the few specimens of actual sculpture left by +themselves. In these the type approaches nearly to the Assyrian, while +there is still, such an amount of difference as renders it tolerably +easy to distinguish between the productions of the two nations. The eye +is larger, and not so decidedly almond-shaped; the nose is shorter, and +its depression is still more marked; while the general expression of the +countenance is altogether more commonplace. + +These differences may be probably referred to the influence which +was exercised upon the physical form of the race by the primitive +or Proto-Chaldaean element, an influence which appears to have +been considerable. This element, as has been already observed, was +predominantly Cushite; and there is reason to believe that the Cushite +race was connected not very remotely with the negro. In Susiana, where +the Cushite blood was maintained in tolerable purity--Elymseans and +Kissians existing side by side, instead of blending together--there was, +if we may trust the Assyrian remains, a very decided prevalency of a +negro type of countenance, as the accompanying specimens, carefully +copied from the sculptures, will render evident. [PLATE IX., Fig. 6.] +The head was covered with short crisp curls; the eye was large, the nose +and mouth nearly in the same line, the lips thick. Such a physiognomy +as the Babylonian appears to have been would naturally arise from an +intermixture of a race like the Assyrian with one resembling that which +the later sculptures represent as the main race inhabiting Susiana. + +Herodotus remarks that the Babylonians wore their hair long; and this +remark is confirmed to some extent by the native remains. These in +general represent the hair as forming a single stiff and heavy curl at +the back of the head (No. 3). Sometimes, however, they make it take the +shape of long flowing locks, which depend over the back (No. 1), or +over the back and shoulders (No. 4), reaching nearly to the waist. +Occasionally, in lieu of these commoner types, wo have one which closely +resembles the Assyrian, the hair forming a round mass behind the head +(No. 2), on which we can sometimes trace indications of a slight wave. +[PLATE X., Fig. 1.] The national fashion, that to which Herodotus +alludes, seems to be represented by the three commoner modes. Where +the round mass is worn, we have probably an Assyrian fashion, which the +Babylonians aped during the time of that people's pre-eminence. + + +[Illustration: PLATE X.] + + +Besides their flowing hair, the Babylonians are represented frequently +with a large beard. This is generally longer than the Assyrian, +descending nearly to the waist. Sometimes it curls crisply upon the +face, but below the chin depends over the breast in long, straight +locks. At other times it droops perpendicularly from the cheeks and the +under lip.15 Frequently, however, the beard is shaven off, and the whole +face is smooth and hairless. + +The Chaldaean females, as represented by the Assyrians, are tall +and large-limbed. Their physiognomy is Assyrian, their hair not very +abundant. The Babylonian cylinders, on the other hand, make the hair +long and conspicuous, while the forms are quite as spare and meagre as +those of the men. + +On the whole, it is most probable that the physical type of the later +Babylonians was nearly that of their northern neighbors. A somewhat +sparer form, longer and more flowing hair, and features less stern +and strong, may perhaps have characterized them. They were also, it +is probable, of a darker complexion than the Assyrians, being to some +extent Ethiopians by descent, and inhabiting a region which lies four +degrees nearer to the tropics than Assyria. The Cha'ab Arabs, the +present possessors of the more southern parts of Babylonia, are nearly +black; and the "black Syrians," of whom Strabo speaks, seem intended to +represent the Babylonians. + +Among the moral and mental characteristics of the people, the first +place is due to their intellectual ability. Inheriting a legacy +of scientific knowledge, astronomical and arithmetical, from the +Proto-Chaldaeans, they seem to have not only maintained but considerably +advanced these sciences by their own efforts. Their "wisdom and +learning" are celebrated by the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and +Daniel; the Father of History records their valuable inventions; and an +Aristotle was not ashamed to be beholden to them for scientific data. +They were good observers of astronomical phenomena, careful recorders of +such observations, and mathematicians of no small repute. Unfortunately, +they mixed with their really scientific studies those occult pursuits +which, in ages and countries where the limits of true science are not +known, are always apt to seduce students from the right path, having +attractions against which few men are proof, so long as it is believed +that they can really accomplish the end that they propose to themselves. +The Babylonians were astrologers no less than astronomers; they +professed to cast nativities, to expound dreams, and to foretell events +by means of the stars; and though there were always a certain number +who kept within the legitimate bounds of science, and repudiated the +astrological pretensions of their brethren, yet on the whole it must +be allowed that their astronomy was fatally tinged with a mystic and +unscientific element. + +In close connection with the intellectual ability of the Babylonians +was the spirit of enterprise which led them to engage in traffic and +to adventure themselves upon the ocean in ships. In a future chapter +we shall have to consider the extent and probable direction of this +commerce. It is sufficient to observe in the present place that the same +turn of mind which made the Phoenicians anciently the great carriers +between the East and West, and which in modern times has rendered +the Jews so successful in various branches of trade, seems to have +characterized the Semitized Babylonians, whose land was emphatically "a +land of traffic," and their chief city "a city of merchants." + +The trading spirit which was thus strongly developed in the Babylonian +people led naturally to the two somewhat opposite vices of avarice and +over-luxuriousness. Not content with honorable gains, the Babylonians +"coveted an evil covetousness," as we learn both from Habakkuk and +Jeremiah. The "shameful custom" mentioned by Herodotus, which required +as a religious duty that every Babylonian woman, rich or poor, highborn +or humble, should once in her life prostitute herself in the temple of +Beltis, was probably based on the desire of attracting strangers to +the capital, who would either bring with them valuable commodities +or purchase the productions of the country. The public auction of +marriageable virgins had most likely a similar intention. If we may +believe Curtius, strangers might at any time purchase the gratification +of any passion they might feel, from the avarice of parents or husbands. + +The luxury of the Babylonians is a constant theme with both sacred +and profane writers. The "daughter of the Chaldaeans" was "tender and +delicate," "given to pleasures," apt to "dwell carelessly." Her young +men made themselves "as princes to look at--exceeding in dyed attire +upon their heads,"--painting their faces, wearing earrings, and clothing +themselves in robes of soft and rich material. Extensive polygamy +prevailed. The pleasures of the table were carried to excess. +Drunkenness was common. Rich unguents were invented. The tables groaned +under the weight of gold and silver plate. In every possible way +the Babylonians practised luxuriousness of living, and in respect of +softness and self-indulgence they certainly did not fall short of any +nation of antiquity. + +There was, however, a harder and sterner side to the Babylonian +character. Despite their love of luxury, they were at all times brave +and skilful in war; and, during the period of their greatest strength, +they were one of the most formidable of all the nations of the East. +Habakkuk describes them, drawing evidently from the life, as "bitter and +hasty," and again as "terrible and dreadful--their horses' hoofs swifter +than the leopard's, and more fierce than the evening wolves." Hence they +"smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke"--they "made the +earth to tremble, and did shake kingdoms"--they carried all before them +in their great enterprises, seldom allowing themselves to be foiled by +resistance, or turned from their course by pity. Exercised for centuries +in long and fierce wars with the well-armed and well-disciplined +Assyrians, they were no sooner quit of this enemy, and able to take an +aggressive attitude, than they showed themselves no unworthy successors +of that long-dominant nation, so far as energy, valor, and military +skill constitute desert. They carried their victorious arms from the +shores of the Persian Gulf to the banks of the Nile; wherever they went, +they rapidly established their power, crushing all resistance, and fully +meriting the remarkable title, which they seem to have received from +those who had felt their attacks, of "the hammer of the whole earth." + +The military successes of the Babylonians were accompanied with needless +violence, and with outrages not unusual in the East, which the +historian must nevertheless regard as at once crimes and follies. The +transplantation of conquered races--a part of the policy of Assyria +which the Chaldaeans adopted--may perhaps have been morally defensible, +notwithstanding the sufferings which it involved. But the mutilations of +prisoners, the weary imprisonments, the massacre of non-combatants, the +refinement of cruelty shown in the execution of children before the eyes +of their fathers--these and similar atrocities, which are recorded of +the Babylonians, are wholly without excuse, since they did not so much +terrify as exasperate the conquered nations, and thus rather endangered +than added strength or security to the empire. A savage and inhuman +temper is betrayed by these harsh punishments--a temper common in +Asiatics, but none the less reprehensible on that account--one that led +its possessors to sacrifice interest to vengeance, and the peace of +a kingdom to a tiger-like thirst for blood. Nor was this cruel temper +shown only towards the subject nations and captives taken in war. +Babylonian nobles trembled for their heads if they incurred by a slight +fault the displeasure of the monarch; and even the most powerful class +in the kingdom, the learned and venerable "Chaldaeans," ran on one +occasion the risk of being exterminated, because they could not expound +a dream which the king had forgotten. If a monarch displeased his court, +and was regarded as having a bad disposition, it was not thought enough +simply to make away with him, but he was put to death by torture. Among +recognized punishments were cutting to pieces and casting into a +heated furnace. The houses of offenders were pulled down and made into +dunghills. These practices imply a "violence" and cruelty beyond the +ordinary Oriental limit; and we cannot be surprised that when final +judgment was denounced against Babylon, it was declared to be sent, in +a great measure, "because of men's blood, and for the violence of the +land-of the city, and all that dwelt therein." + +It is scarcely necessary to add that the Babylonians were a proud +people. Pride is unfortunately the invariable accompaniment of success, +in the nation, if not in the individual; and the sudden elevation of +Babylon from a subject to a dominant power must have been peculiarly +trying, more especially to the Oriental temperament. The spirit which +culminated in Nebuchadnezzar, when, walking in the palace of his +kingdom, and surveying the magnificent buildings which he had raided on +every side from the plunder of the conquered nations, and by the labor +of their captive bands, he exclaimed, "Is not the great Babylon which +I have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my +majesty?"--was rife in the people generally, who, naturally enough, +believed themselves superior to every other nation upon the earth. +"I am, and there is none else beside me," was the thought, if not +the speech, of the people, whose arrogancy was perhaps somewhat less +offensive than that of the Assyrians, but was quite as intense and as +deep-seated. + +The Babylonians, notwithstanding their pride, their cruelty, their +covetousness, and their love of luxury, must be pronounced to have been, +according to their lights, a religious people. The temple in +Babylonia is not a mere adjunct of the palace, but has almost the same +pre-eminence over other buildings which it claims in Egypt. The vast +mass of the Birs-i-Nimrud is sufficient to show that an enormous amount +of labor was expended in the erection of sacred edifices; and the costly +ornamentation lavished on such buildings is, as we shall hereafter find, +even more remarkable than their size. Vast sums wore also expended on +images of the gods, necessary adjuncts of the religion; and the whole +paraphernalia of worship exhibited a rare splendor and magnificence. The +monarchs were devout worshippers of the various deities, and gave much +of their attention to the building and repair of temples, the erection +of images, and the like. They bestowed on their children names +indicative of religious feeling, and implying real faith in the power +of the gods to protect their votaries. The people generally affected +similar names--names containing, in almost every case, a god's name +as one of their elements. The seals or signets which formed almost a +necessary part of each man's costume were, except in rare instances, of +a religious character. Even in banquets, where we might have expected +that thoughts of religion would be laid aside, it seems to have been the +practice during the drinking to rehearse the praises of the deities. + +We are told by Nicolas of Damascus that the Babylonians cultivated two +virtues especially, honesty and calmness. Honesty is the natural, almost +the necessary virtue of traders, who soon find that it is the best +policy to be fair and just in their dealings. We may well believe that +this intelligent people had the wisdom to see their true interests, +and to understand that trade can never prosper unless conducted with +integrity and straightforwardness. The very fact that their trade did +prosper, that their goods were everywhere in request, is sufficient +proof of their commercial honesty, and of their superiority to those +tricks which speedily ruin a commerce. + +Calmness is not a common Oriental virtue. It is not even in general +very highly appreciated, being apt to strike the lively, sensitive, and +passionate Eastern as mere dulness and apathy. In China, however, it +is a point of honor that the outward demeanor should be calm and placid +under any amount of provocation; and indignation, fierceness, even +haste, are regarded as signs of incomplete civilization, which the +disciples of Confucius love to note in their would-be rivals of the +West. + +We may conceive that some similar notion was entertained by the proud +Babylonians, who no doubt regarded themselves as infinitely superior +in manners and culture, no less than in scientific attainments, to the +"barbarians" of Persia and Greece. While rage boiled in their hearts, +and commands to torture and destroy fell from their tongues, etiquette +may have required that the countenance should be unmoved, the eye +serene, the voice low and gentle. Such contrasts are not uncommonly +seen in the polite Mandarin, whose apparent calmness drives his European +antagonist to despair; and it may well be that the Babylonians of the +sixth and seventh centuries before our era had attained to an equal +power of restraining the expression of feeling. But real gentleness, +meekness, and placability were certainly not the attributes of a people +who were so fierce in their wars and so cruel in their punishments. + + + + +CHAPTEE IV. THE CAPITAL. + + +Babylon, the capital of the Fourth Monarchy, was probably the largest +and most magnificent city of the ancient world. A dim tradition current +in the East gave, it is true, a greater extent, if not a greater +splendor, to the metropolis of Assyria; but this tradition first appears +in ages subsequent to the complete destruction of the more northern +city; and it is contradicted by the testimony of facts. The walls of +Nineveh have been completely traced, and indicate a city three miles in +length, by less than a mile and a half in breadth, containing an area of +about 1800 English acres. Of this area less than one tenth is occupied +by ruins of any pretension. On the admitted site of Babylon striking +masses of ruin cover a space considerably larger than that which at +Nineveh constitutes the whole area of the town. Beyond this space +in every direction, north, east, south and west, are detached mounds +indicating the former existence of edifices of some size, while the +intermediate ground between these mounds and the main ruins shows +distinct traces of its having been built upon in former days. + +Of the actual size of the town, modern research gives us no clear and +definite notion. One explorer only has come away from the country with +an idea that the general position of the detached mounds, by which the +plain around Hillah is dotted, enables him to draw the lines of the +ancient walls, and mark out the exact position of the city. But the very +maps and plans which are put forward in support of this view show that +it rests mainly on hypothesis; nor is complete confidence placed in the +surveys on which the maps and plans have been constructed. The English +surveys, which have been unfortunately lost, are said not to have placed +the detached mounds in any such decided lines as M. Oppert believes them +to occupy, and the general impression of the British officers who were +employed on the service is that "no vestige of the walls of Babylon has +been as yet discovered." [PLATE XI.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XI.] + + +For the size and plan of the city we are thus of necessity thrown back +upon the reports of ancient authors. It is not pretended that such +reports are in this, or in any other case, deserving of implicit +credence. The ancient historians, even the more trustworthy of them, are +in the habit of exaggerating in their numbers; and on such subjects as +measurements they were apt to take on trust the declarations of their +native guides, who would be sure to make over-statements. Still in +this instance we have so many distinct authorities--eyewitnesses of the +facts--and some of them belonging to times when scientific accuracy had +begun to be appreciated, that we must be very in credulous if we do not +accept their witness, so far as it is consentient, and not intrinsically +very improbable. + +According to Herodotus, an eye-witness, and the earliest authority on +the subject the _enceinte_ of Babylon was a square, 120 stades (about 14 +miles) each way--the entire circuit of the wall being thus 56 miles, and +the area enclosed within them falling little short of 200 square miles. +Ctesias, also an eyewitness, and the next writer on the subject, reduced +the circuit of the walls to 360 stades, or 41 miles, and made the area +consequently little more than 100 square miles. These two estimates are +respectively the greatest and the least that have come down to us. The +historians of Alexander, while conforming nearly to the statements of +Ctesias, a little enlarge his dimensions, making the circuit 365, 368, +or 385 stades. The differences here are inconsiderable; and it seems to +be established, on a weight of testimony which we rarely possess in such +a matter, that the walls of this great town were about forty miles in +circumference, and enclosed an area as large as that of the Landgraviat +of Hesse-Homburg. + +It is difficult to suppose that the real city--the streets and +squares--can at any time have occupied one half of this enormous area, +A clear space, we are told, was left for a considerable distance inside +the wall--like the _pomaerium_ of the Romans--upon which no houses +were allowed to be built. When houses began, they were far from being +continuous; gardens, orchards, even fields, were interspersed among +the buildings; and it was supposed that the inhabitants, when besieged, +could grow sufficient corn for their own consumption within the walls. +Still the whole area was laid out with straight streets, or perhaps one +should say with roads (for the houses cannot have been continuous +along them), which cut one another everywhere at right angles, like the +streets of some German towns. The wall of the town was pierced with a +hundred gates, twenty-five (we may suppose) in each face, and the roads +led straight to these portals, the whole area being thus cut up into +square blocks. The houses were in general lofty, being three or even +four stories high. They are said to have had vaulted roofs, which were +not protected externally with any tiling, since the climate was so dry +as to render such a protection unnecessary. The beams used in the houses +were of palm-wood, all other timber being scarce in the country; and +such pillars as the houses could boast were of the same material. The +construction of these last was very rude. Around posts of palm-wood +were twisted wisps of rushes, which were covered with plaster, and then +colored according the taste of the owner. + +The Euphrates ran through the town, dividing it nearly in half. Its +banks were lined throughout with quays of brick laid in bitumen, and +were further guarded by two walls of brick, which skirted them along +their whole length. In each of these walls were twenty-five gates, +corresponding to the number of the streets which gave upon the river; +and outside each gate was a sloped landing place, by which you could +descend to the water's edge, if you had occasion to cross the river. +Boats were kept ready at these landing-places to convey passengers from +side to side; while for those who disliked this method of conveyance +a bridge was provided of a somewhat peculiar construction. A number +of stone piers were erected in the bed of the stream, firmly clamped +together with fastenings of iron and lead; wooden drawbridges connected +pier with pier during the day, and on these passengers passed over; but +at night they were withdrawn, in order that the bridge might not be used +during the dark. Diodorus declares that besides this bridge, to which he +assigns a length of five stades (about 1000 yards) and a breadth of 30 +feet, the two sides of the river were joined together by a tunnel, which +was fifteen feet wide and twelve high to the spring of its arched roof. + +The most remarkable buildings which the city contained were the two +palaces, one on either side of the river, and the great temple of +Belus. Herodotus describes the great temple as contained within a square +enclosure, two stades (nearly a quarter of a mile) both in length and +breadth. Its chief feature was the _ziggurat_ or tower, a huge solid +mass of brick-work, built (like all Babylonian temple-towers) in stages, +square being emplaced on square, and a sort of rude pyramid being thus +formed, at the top of which was the main shrine of the god. The basement +platform of the Belus tower was, Herodotus tells us, a stade, or rather +more than 200 yards, each way. The number of stages was eight. The +ascent to the highest stage, which contained the shrine of the god, was +on the outside, and consisted either of steps, or of an inclined plane, +carried round the four sides of the building, and in this way conducting +to the top. According to Strabo the tower was a stado (606 feet 9 +inches) in height; but this estimate, if it is anything more than a +conjecture, must represent rather the length of the winding ascent than +the real altitude of the building. The great pyramid itself was only 480 +feet high; and it is very questionable whether any Babylonian building +ever equalled it. About half-way up the ascent was a resting-place with +seats, where persons commonly sat a while on their way to the summit. +The shrine which crowned the edifice was large and rich. In the time +of Herodotus it contained no image; but only a golden table and a large +couch, covered with a handsome drapery. This, however, was after the +Persian conquest and the plunder of its principal treasures. Previously, +if we may believe Diodorus, the shrine was occupied by three colossal +images of gold--one of Bel, one of Beltis, and the third of Rhea or +Ishtar. Before the image of Beltis were two golden lions, and near them +two enormous serpents of silver, each thirty talents in weight. The +golden table--forty feet long and fifteen broad--was in front of these +statues, and upon it stood two huge drinking-cups, of the same weight as +the serpents. The shrine also contained two enormous censers and three +golden bowls, one for each of the three deities. + +At the base of the tower was a second shrine or chapel, which in the +time of Herodotus contained a sitting image of Bel, made of gold, with +a golden table in front of it, and a stand for the image, of the same +precious metal. Here, too, Persian avarice had been busy; for anciently +this shrine had possessed a second statue, which was a human figure +twelve cubits high, made of solid gold. The shrine was also rich +in private offerings. Outside the building, but within the sacred +enclosure, were two altars, a smaller one of gold, on which it was +customary to offer sucklings, and a larger one, probably of stone, where +the worshippers sacrificed full-grown victims. + +The great palace was a building of still larger dimensions than the +great temple. According to Diodorus, it was situated within a triple +enclosure, the innermost wall being twenty stades, the second forty +stades, and the outermost sixty stades (nearly seven miles), in +circumference. The outer wall was built entirely of plain baked brick. +The middle and inner walls were of the same material, fronted with +enamelled bricks representing hunting scenes. The figures, according to +this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of a great +variety of animal forms. There were not wanting, however, a certain +number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two--a +man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback aiming +at a leopard with her javelin--which the later Greeks believed to +represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis. Of the character of the +apartments we hear nothing; but we are told that the palace had three +gates, two of which were of bronze, and that these had to be opened and +shut by a machine. + +But the main glory of the palace was its pleasure-ground--the "Hanging +Gardens," which the Greeks regarded as one of the seven wonders of the +world. This extraordinary construction, which owed its erection to the +whim of a woman, was a square, each side of which measured 400 Greek +feet. It was supported upon several tiers of open arches, built one over +the other, like the walls of a classic theatre, and sustaining at each +stage, or story, a solid platform, from which the piers of the next tier +of arches rose. The building towered into the air to the height of at +least seventy-five feet, and was covered at the top with a great mass of +earth, in which there grew not merely flowers and shrubs, but tress +also of the largest size. Water was supplied from the Euphrates through +pipes, and was raised (it is said) by a screw, working on the principal +of Archimedes. To prevent the moisture from penetrating into the +brick-work and gradually destroying the building, there were interposed +between the bricks and the mass of soil, first a layer of reeds mixed +with bitumen, then a double layer of burnt brick cemented with gypsum, +and thirdly a coating of sheet lead. The ascent to the garden was by +steps. On the way up, among the arches which sustained the building, +were stately apartments, which, must have been pleasant from their +coolness. There was also a chamber within the structure containing the +machinery by which the water was raised. + +Of the smaller palace, which was opposite to the larger one, on the +other side the river, but few details have come down to us. Like the +larger palace, it was guarded by a triple enclosure, the entire circuit +of which measured (it is said) thirty stades. It contained a number of +bronze statues, which the Greeks believed to represent the god Belus, +and the sovereigns Ninus and Semiramis, together with their officers. +The walls were covered with battle scenes and hunting scenes, vividly +represented by means of bricks painted and enamelled. + +Such was the general character of the town and its chief edifices, if we +may believe the descriptions of eye-witnesses. The walls which enclosed +and guarded the whole--or which, perhaps one should rather say, +guarded the district within which Babylon was placed--have been already +mentioned as remarkable for their great extent, but cannot be dismissed +without a more special and minute description. Like the "Hanging +Gardens," they were included among the "world's seven wonders," +and, according to every account given of them, their magnitude and +construction were remarkable. + +It has been already noticed that, according to the lowest of the ancient +estimates, the entire length of the walls was 360 stades, or more than +forty-one miles. With respect to the width we have two very different +statements, one by Herodotus and the other by Clitarchus and Strabo. +Herodotus makes the width 50 royal cubits, or about 85 English feet, +Strabo and Q. Curtius reduced the estimate to 32 feet. There is still +greater discrepancy with respect to the height of the walls. Herodotus +says that the height was 200 royal cubits, or 300 royal feet (about 335 +English feet); Ctesias made it 50 fathoms, or 300 ordinary Greek feet; +Pliny and Solinus, substituting feet for the royal cubits of Herodotus, +made the altitude 235 feet; Philostratus and Q. Curtius, following +perhaps some one of Alexander's historians, gave for the height 150 +feet; finally Clitarchus, as reported by Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, +who probably followed him, have left us the very moderate estimate of 75 +feet. It is impossible to reconcile these numbers. The supposition that +some of them belong properly to the outer, and others to the inner wall, +will not explain the discrepancies--for the measurements cannot by any +ingenuity be reduced to two sets of dimensions. The only conclusion +which it seems possible to draw from the conflicting testimony is that +the numbers were either rough guesses made by very unskilful travellers, +or else were (in most cases) intentional exaggerations palmed upon them +by the native ciceroni. Still the broad facts remain--first, that the +walls enclosed an enormous space, which was very partially occupied by +buildings; secondly, that they were of great and unusual thickness; +and thirdly, that they were of a vast height--seventy or eighty feet at +least in the time of Alexander, after the wear and tear of centuries and +the violence of at least three conquerors. + +The general character of the construction is open to but little doubt. +The wall was made of bricks, either baked in kilns, or (more probably) +dried in the sun, and laid in a cement of bitumen, with occasional +layers of reeds between the courses. Externally it was protected by a +wide and deep moat. On the summit were low towers, rising above the +wall to the height of some ten or fifteen feet, and probably serving as +guardrooms for the defenders. These towers are said to have been 250 in +number; they were least numerous on the western face of the city, where +the wall ran along the marshes. They were probably angular, not round; +and instead of extending through the whole thickness of the wall, they +were placed along its outer and inner edge, tower facing tower, with +a wide space between them--"enough," Herodotus says, "for a four-horse +chariot to turn in." The wall did not depend on them for its strength, +but on its own height and thickness, which were such as to render +scaling and mining equally hopeless. + +Such was Babylon, according to the descriptions of the ancients--a +great city, built on a very regular plan, surrounded by populous suburbs +interspersed among fields and gardens, the whole being included within a +large square strongly fortified enceinte. When we turn from this picture +of the past to contemplate the present condition of the localities, we +are at first struck with astonishment at the small traces which remain +of so vast and wonderful a metropolis. "The broad walls of Babylon" +are "utterly broken" down, and her "high gates burned with fire." +"The golden city hath ceased." God has "swept it with the bosom of +destruction." "The glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' +excellency," is become "as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha." The +traveller who passes through the land is at first inclined to say that +there are no ruins, no remains, of the mighty city which once lorded it +over the earth. By and by, however, he begins to see that though ruins, +in the common acceptation of the term, scarcely exist--though there are +no arches, no pillars, but one or two appearances of masonry even yet +the whole country is covered with traces of exactly that kind which it +was prophesied Babylon should leave. Vast "heaps" or mounds, shapeless +and unsightly, are scattered at intervals over the entire region where +it is certain that Babylon anciently stood, and between the "heaps" the +soil is in many places composed of fragments of pottery and bricks, and +deeply impregnated with nitre, infallible indications of its having once +been covered with buildings. As the traveller descends southward from +Baghdad he finds these indications increase, until, on nearing the +Euphrates, a few miles beyond Mohawil, he notes that they have become +continuous, and finds himself in a region of mounds, some of which are +of enormous size. + +These mounds begin about five miles above Hillah, and extend for a +distance of about three miles from north to south along the course of +the river, lying principally on its left or eastern bank. The ruins on +this side consist chiefly of three great masses of building. The most +northern, to which the Arabs of the present day apply the name of +BABIL--the true native appellation of the ancient citys--is a vast pile +of brick-work of an irregular quadrilateral shape, with precipitous +sides furrowed by ravines, and with a flat top. [PLATE X., Fig.,3.] Of +the four faces of the ruin the southern seems to be the most perfect. +It extends a distance of about 200 yards, or almost exactly a stade, +and runs nearly in a straight line from west to east. At its eastern +extremity it forms a right angle with the east face, which runs nearly +due north for about 180 yards, also almost in a straight line. The +western and northern faces are apparently much worn away. Here are +the chief ravines, and here is the greatest seeming deviation from the +original lines of the building. The greatest height of the Babil mound +is 130 or 140 feet. It is mainly composed of sun-dried brick, but shows +signs of having been faced with fire-burnt brick, carefully cemented +with an excellent white mortar. The bricks of this outer facing bear the +name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar. A very small portion of the original +structure has been laid bare enough however to show that the lines +of the building did not slope like those of a pyramid, but were +perpendicular, and that the side walls had, at intervals, the support of +buttresses. + +This vast building, whatever it was, stood within a square enclosure, +two sides of which, the northern and eastern, are still very distinctly +marked. A long low line of rampart runs for 400 yards parallel to the +east face of the building, at a distance of 120 or 130 yards, and a +similar but somewhat longer line of mound runs parallel to the north +face at rather a greater distance from it. On the west a third line +could be traced in the early part of the present century; but it appears +to be now obliterated. Here and on the south are the remains of +an ancient canal, the construction of which may have caused the +disappearance of the southern, and of the lower part of the western +line. [PLATE XII., Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XII.] + + +Below the Babil mound, which stands isolated from the rest of the ruins, +are two principal masses--the more northern known to the Arabs as EL +KASR, "the Palace," and the more southern as "the mound of Amran," from +the tomb of a reputed prophet Amran-ibn-Ali, which crowns its summit. +The Kasr mound is an oblong square, about 700 yards long by 600 broad, +with the sides facing the cardinal points. [PLATE XII., Fig. 2.] Its +height above the plain is 70 feet. Its longer direction is from north +to south. As far as it has been penetrated, it consists mainly of +rubbish-loose bricks, tiles, and fragments of stone. In a few places +only are there undisturbed remains of building. One such relic is a +subterranean passage, seven feet in height, floored and walled with +baked brick, and covered in at the top with great blocks of sandstone, +which may either have been a secret exit or more probably an enormous +drain. Another is the Kasr, or "palace" proper, whence the mound has +its name. This is a fragment of excellent brick masonry in a wonderful +state of preservation, consisting of walls, piers, and buttresses, and +in places ornamented with pilasters, but of too fragmentary a character +to furnish the modern inquirer with any clue to the original plan of the +building. The bricks are of a pale yellow color and of the best possible +quality, nearly resembling our fire-bricks. They are stamped, one and +all, with the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar. The mortar in which +they are laid is a fine lime cement, which adheres so closely to the +bricks that it is difficult to obtain a specimen entire. In the dust +at the foot of the walls are numerous fragments of brick, painted, and +covered with a thick enamel or glaze. Here, too, have been found a few +fragments of sculptured stone, and slabs containing an account of the +erection of a palatial edifice by Nebuchadnezzar. Near the northern edge +of the mound, and about midway in its breadth, is a colossal figure of a +lion, rudely carved in black basalt, standing over the prostrate figure +of a man with arms outstretched. A single tree grows on the huge ruin, +which the Arabs declare to be of a species not known elsewhere, and +regard as a remnant of the hanging garden of Bokht-i-nazar. It is a +tamarisk of no rare kind, but of very great ago, in consequence of +which, and of its exposed position, the growth and foliage are somewhat +peculiar. + +South of the Kasr mound, at the distance of about 800 yards, is the +remaining great mass of ruins, the mound of Jumjuma, or of Amran. [PLATE +XII., Fig. 3.] The general shape of this mound is triangular,107 but it +is very irregular and ill-defined, so as scarcely to admit of accurate +description. Its three sides face respectively a little east of north, +a little south of east, and a little south of west. The south-western +side, which runs nearly parallel with the Euphrates, and seems to have +been once washed by the river, is longer than either of the others, +extending a distance of above a thousand yards, while the south-eastern +may be 800 yards, and the north-eastern 700. Innumerable ravines +traverse the mound on every side, penetrating it nearly to its centre. +The surface is a series of undulations. Neither masonry nor sculpture is +anywhere apparent. + +All that meets the eye is a mass of debris; and the researches hitherto +made have failed to bring to light any distinct traces of building. +Occasionally bricks are found, generally of poor material, and bearing +the names and titles of some of the earlier Babylonian monarchs; but the +trenches opened in the pile have in no case laid bare even the smallest +fragment of a wall. + +Besides the remains which have been already described, the most +remarkable are certain long lines of rampart on both sides of the river, +which lie outside of the other ruins, enclosing them all, except the +mound of Babil. On the left bank of the stream there is to be traced, +in the first place, a double line of wall or rampart, having a direction +nearly due north and south, which lies east of the Kasr and Amran +mounds, at the distance from them of about 1000 yards. Beyond this is a +single line of rampart to the north-east, traceable for about two miles, +the direction of which is nearly from north-west to south-east, and a +double line of rampart to the south-east, traceable for a mile and a +half, with a direction from northeast to south-west. The two lines in +this last case are from 600 to 700 yards apart, and diverge from one +another as they run out to the north-east. The inner of the two meets +the north-eastern rampart nearly at a right angle, and is clearly a +part of the same work. It is questioned, however, whether this line of +fortification is ancient, and not rather a construction belonging to +Parthian times. + +A low line of mounds is traceable between the western face of the Amran +and Kasr hills, and the present eastern bank of the river, bounding a +sort of narrow valley, in which either the main stream of the Euphrates, +or at any rate a branch from it, seems anciently to have flowed. + +On the right bank of the stream the chief remains are of the same kind. +West of the river, a rampart, twenty feet high, runs for nearly a mile +parallel with the general line of the Amran mound, at the distance of +about 1000 yards from the old course of the stream. At either extremity +the line of the rampart turns at a right angle, running down towards the +river, and being traceable towards the north for 400 yards and towards +the south for fifty or sixty. It is evident that there was once, before +the stream flowed in its present channel, a rectangular enclosure, a +mile long and 1000 yards broad, opposite to the Amran mound; and there +are indications that within this _enceinte_ was at least one important +building, which was situated near the south-east angle of the enclosure, +on the banks of the old course of the river. The bricks found at this +point bear the name of Neriglissar. + +There are also, besides the ramparts and the great masses of ruin above +described, a vast number of scattered and irregular heaps of hillocks +on both sides of the river, chiefly, however, upon the eastern bank. +Of these one only seems to deserve distinct mention. This is the mound +called El Homeira, "the Red," which lies due east of the Kasr, distant +from it about 800 yards--a mound said to be 300 yards long by 100 wide, +and to attain an elevation of 60 or 70 feet. It is composed of baked +brick of a bright red color, and must have been a building of a very +considerable height resting upon a somewhat confined base. Its bricks +are inscribed along their edges, not (as is the usual practice) on their +lower face. + +The only other ancient work of any importance of which some remains are +still to be traced is a brick embankment on the left bank of the stream +between the Kasr and the Babil mounds, extending for a distance of +a thousand yards in a line which has a slight curve and a general +direction of S.S.W. The bricks of this embankment are of a bright red +color, and of great hardness. They are laid wholly in bitumen. The +legend which they bear shows that the quay was constructed by Nabonidus. +[PLATE XIII.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII.] + + +Such then are the ruins of Babylon--the whole that can now with +certainty be assigned to the "beauty of the Chaldees' excellency"--the +"great Babylon" of Nebuchadnezzar. Within a space little more than three +miles long and a mile and three quarters broad are contained all the +undoubted remains of the greatest city of the old world. These remains, +however, do not serve in any way to define the ancient limits of the +place. They are surrounded on every side by nitrous soil, and by low +heaps which it has not been thought worth while to excavate, but which +the best judges assign to the same era as the great mounds, and believe +to mark the sites of the lesser temples and the other public buildings +of the ancient city. Masses of this kind are most frequent to the north +and east. Sometimes they are almost continuous for miles; and if we take +the Kasr mound as a centre, and mark about it an area extending five +miles in each direction (which would give a city of the size described +by Ctesias and the historians of Alexander), we shall scarcely find a +single square mile of the hundred without some indications of ancient +buildings upon its surface. The case is not like that of Nineveh, where +outside the walls the country is for a considerable distance singularly +bare of ruins. The mass of Babylonian remains extending from Babil to +Amran does not correspond to the whole _enceinte_ of Nineveh, but to the +mound of Koyunjik. It has every appearance of being, not the city, but +"the heart of the city"--the "Royal quarter" outside of which were the +streets and squares, and still further off, the vanished walls. It may +seem strange that the southern capital should have so greatly exceeded +the dimensions of the northern one. But, if we follow the indications +presented by the respective sites, we are obliged to conclude that there +was really this remarkable difference. + +It has to be considered in conclusion how far we can identify the +various ruins above described with the known buildings of the ancient +capital, and to what extent it is possible to reconstruct upon the +existing remains the true plan of the city. Fancy, if it discards the +guidance of fact, may of course with the greatest ease compose plans +of a charming completeness. A rigid adherence to existing data will +produce, it is to be feared, a somewhat meagre and fragmentary result; +but most persons will feel that this is one of the cases where the maxim +of Hesiod applies--"the half is preferable to the whole." + +[Illustration: PAGE 182] + +The one identification which may be made upon certain and indeed +indisputable evidence is that of the Kasr mound with the palace built +by Nebuchadnezzar. The tradition which has attached the name of Kasr or +"Palace" to this heap is confirmed by inscriptions upon slabs found on +the spot, wherein Nebuchadnezzar declares the building to be his "Grand +Palace." The bricks of that part of the ruin which remains uncovered +bear, one and all, the name of this king; and it is thus clear that +here stood in ancient times the great work of which Berosus speaks as +remarkable for its height and splendor. If a confirmation of the fact +were needed after evidence of so decisive a character, it would be found +in the correspondence between the remains found on the mound and the +description left us of the "greater palace" by Diodorus. Diodorus +relates that the walls of this edifice were adorned with colored +representations of hunting scenes; and modern explorers find that the +whole soil of the mound, and especially the part on which the fragment +of ruin stands, is full of broken pieces of enamelled brick, varied in +hue, and evidently containing portions of human and animal forms. + +But if the Kasr represents the palace built by Nebuchadnezzar, as is +generally allowed by those who have devoted their attention to the +subject, it seems to follow almost as a certainty that the Amran mound +is the site of that old palatial edifice to which the erection +of Nebuchadnezzar was an addition. Berosus expressly states that +Nebuchadnezzar's building "adjoined upon" the former palace, a +description which is fairly applicable to the Amran mound by means of a +certain latitude of interpretation, but which is wholly inapplicable to +any of the other ruins. This argument would be conclusive, even if it +stood alone. It has, however, received an important corroboration in the +course of recent researches. From the Amran mound, and from this part +of Babylon only, have monuments been recovered of an earlier date than +Nebuchadnezzar. Here and here alone did the early kings leave memorials +of their presence in Babylon; and here consequently, we may presume, +stood the ancient royal residence. + +If, then, all the principal ruins on the east bank of the river, with +the exception of the Babil mound and the long lines marking walls +or embankments, be accepted as representing the "great palace" or +"citadel" of the classical writers we must recognize in the remains west +of the ancient course of the river-the oblong square enclosure and +the important building at its south-east angle--the second or "smaller +palace" of Ctesias, which was joined to the larger one, according to +that writer, by a bridge and a tunnel. This edifice, built or at any +rate repaired by Neriglissar, lay directly opposite the more ancient +part of the eastern palace, being separated from it by the river, which +anciently flowed along the western face of the Kasr and Amran mounds. +The exact position of the bridge cannot be fixed. With regard to the +tunnel, it is extremely unlikely that any such construction was ever +made. The "Father of History" is wholly silent on the subject, while +he carefully describes the bridge, a work far less extraordinary. +The tunnel rests on the authority of two writers only--Diodorus and +Philostratus--who both wrote after Babylon was completely ruined. It +was probably one of the imaginations of the inventive Ctesias, from whom +Diodorus evidently derived all the main points of his description. + +Thus far there is no great difficulty in identifying the existing +remains with buildings mentioned by ancient authors; but, at the point +to which we are now come, the subject grows exceedingly obscure, and it +is impossible to offer more than reasonable conjectures upon the true +character of the remaining ruins. The descriptions of ancient writers +would lead us to expect that we should find among the ruins unmistakable +traces of the great temple of Belus, and at least some indication of the +position occupied by the Hanging Gardens. These two famous constructions +can scarcely, one would think, have wholly perished. More especially, +the Belus temple, which was a stade square, and (according to some) a +stade in height, must almost of necessity have a representative among +the existing remains. This, indeed, is admitted on all hands; and the +controversy is thereby narrowed to the question, which of two +great ruins--the only two entitled by their size and situation to +attention--has the better right to be regarded as the great and +celebrated sanctuary of the ancient Babylon. + +That the mound of Babil is the _ziggurat_ or tower of a Babylonian +temple scarcely admits of a doubt. Its square shape, its solid +construction, its isolated grandeur, its careful emplacement with the +sides facing the cardinal points, and its close resemblance to other +known Babylonian temple-towers, sufficiently mark it for a building +of this character, or at any rate raise a presumption which it would +require very strong reasons indeed to overcome. Its size moreover +corresponds well with the accounts which have come down to us of the +dimensions of the Belus temple, and its name and proximity to the other +main ruins show that it belonged certainly to the ancient capital. +Against its claim to be regarded as the remains of the temple of +Bolus two objections only can be argued: these are the absence of any +appearance of stages, or even of a pyramidical shape, from the present +ruin, and its position on the same side of the Euphrates with the +palace. Herodotus expressly declares that the temple of Belus and +the royal palace were upon opposite sides of the river, and states, +moreover, that the temple was built in stages, which rose one above the +other to the number of eight. Now these two circumstances, which do not +belong at present to the Babil mound, attach to a ruin distant from it +about eleven or twelve miles--a ruin which is certainly one of the most +remarkable in the whole country, and which, if Babylon had really been +of the size asserted by Herodotus, might possibly have been included +within the walls. The Birs-i-Nimrud had certainly seven, probably eight +stages, and it is the only ruin on the present western bank of +the Euphrates which is at once sufficiently grand to answer to the +descriptions of the Belus temple, and sufficiently near to the other +ruin to make its original inclusion within the walls not absolutely +impossible. Hence, ever since the attention of scholars was first +directed to the subject of Babylonian topography, opinion has been +divided on the question before us, and there have not been wanting +persons to maintain that the Birs-i-Nimrud is the true temple of +Belus, if not also the actual tower of Babel, whose erection led to the +confusion of tongues and general dispersion of the sons of Adam. + +With this latter identification we are not in the present place +concerned. With respect to the view that the Birs is the sanctury +of Belus, it may be observed in the first place that the size of the +building is very much smaller than that ascribed to the Belus temple; +secondly, that it was dedicated to Kebo, who cannot be identified with +Bel; and thirdly, that it is not really any part of the remains of the +ancient capital, but belongs to an entirely distinct town. The cylinders +found in the ruin by Sir Henry Eawlinson declare the building to have +been "the wonder of Borsippa;" and Borsippa, according to all the +ancient authorities, was a town by itself--an entirely distinct place +from Babylon. To include Borsippa within the outer wall of Babylon is to +run counter to all the authorities on the subject, the inscriptions, the +native writer, Berosus, and the classical geographers generally. Nor +is the position thus assigned to the Belus temple in harmony with the +statement of Herodotus, which alone causes explorers to seek for the +temple on the west side of the river. For, though the expression which +this writer uses does not necessarily mean that the temple was in the +exact centre of one of the two divisions of the town, it certainly +implies that it lay towards the middle of one division--well within +it--and not upon its outskirts. It is indeed inconceivable that the +main sanctuary of the place, where the kings constantly offered their +worship, should have been nine or ten miles from the palace! The +distance between the Amran mound and Babil, which is about two miles, is +quite as great as probability will allow us to believe existed between +the old residence of the kings and the sacred shrine to which they were +in the constant habit of resorting. + +Still there remain as objections to the identification of the great +temple with the Babil mound the two arguments already noticed. The Babil +mound has no appearance of stages such as the Birs presents, nor has it +even a pyramidical shape. It is a huge platform with a nearly level +top, and sinks, rather than rises, in the centre. What has become, it is +asked, of the seven upper stages of the great Belus tower, if this ruin +represents it? Whither have they vanished? How is it that in crumbling +down they have not left something like a heap towards the middle? To +this it may be replied that the destruction of the Belus tower has not +been the mere work of the elements--it was violently broken down either +by Xerxes, or by some later king, who may have completely removed all +the upper stages. Again, it has served as a quarry to the hunters after +bricks for more than twenty centuries; so that it is only surprising +that it still retains so much of its original shape. Further, when +Alexander entered Babylon more than 2000 years ago 10,000 men were +employed for several weeks in clearing away the rubbish and laying bare +the foundations of the building. It is quite possible that a conical +mass of crumbled brick may have been removed from the top of the mound +at this time. + +The difficulty remains that the Babil mound is on the same side of the +Euphrates with the ruins of the Great Palace, whereas Herodotus makes +the two buildings balance each other, one on the right and the other +on the left bank of the stream. Now here it is in the first place to +be observed that Herodotus is the only writer who does this. No other +ancient author tells us anything of the relative situation of the two +buildings. We have thus nothing to explain but the bald statement of a +single writer--a writer no doubt of great authority, but still one not +wholly infallible. We might say, then, that Herodotus probably made a +mistake--that his memory failed him in this instance, or that he mistook +his notes on the subject. Or we may explain his error by supposing that +he confounded a canal from the Euphrates, which seems to have +anciently passed between the Babil mound and the Kasr (called Shebil by +Nebuchadnezzar) with the main stream. Or, finally, we may conceive +that at the time of his visit the old palace lay in ruins, and that the +palace of Nerig-lissar on the west bank of the stream was that of which +he spoke. It is at any rate remarkable, considering how his authority is +quoted as fixing the site of the Belus tower to the west bank, that, in +the only place where he gives us any intimation of the side of the river +on which he would have placed the tower, it is the east and not the west +bank to which his words point. He makes those who saw the treachery of +Zopyrus at the Belian and Kissian gates, which must have been to the +east of the city, at once take refuge in the famous sanctuary, which he +implies was in the vicinity. + +On the whole, therefore, it seems best to regard the Babil mound as the +ziggurat of the great temple of Bel (called by some "the tomb of Belus") +which the Persians destroyed and which Alexander intended to restore. +With regard to the "hanging gardens," as they were an erection of less +than half the size of the tower, it is not so necessary to suppose that +distinct traces must remain of them. Their debris may be confused with +those of the Kasr mound, on which one writer places them. Or they may +have stood between the Kasr and Amran ruins, where are now some mounds +of no great height. Or, possibly, their true site is in the modern El +Homeira, the remarkable red mound which lies east of the Kasr at the +distance of about 800 yards, and attains an elevation of sixty-five +feet. Though this building is not situated upon the banks of the +Euphrates, where Strabo and Diodorus place the gardens, it abuts upon +a long low valley into which the Euphrates water seems formerly to have +been introduced, and which may therefore have been given the name of +the river. This identification is, however, it must be allowed, very +doubtful. + +The two lines of mounds which enclose the long low valley above +mentioned are probably the remains of an embankment which here confined +the waters of a great reservoir. Nebuchadnezzar relates that he +constructed a large reservoir, which he calls the Yapur-Shapu, in +Babylon, and led water into it by means of an "eastern canal"--the +Shebil. The Shebil canal, it is probable, left the Euphrates at some +point between Babil and the Kasr, and ran across with a course nearly +from west to east to the top of the Yapur-Shapu. This reservoir seems to +have been a long and somewhat narrow parallelogram, running nearly from +north to south, which shut in the great palace on the east and protected +it like a huge moat. Most likely it communicated with the Euphrates +towards the south by a second canal, the exact line of which cannot be +determined. Thus the palatial residence of the Babylonian kings looked +in both directions upon broad sheets of water, an agreeable prospect in +so hot a climate; while, at the same time, by the assignment of a double +channel to the Euphrates, its floods were the more readily controlled, +and the city was preserved from those terrible inundations which in +modern times have often threatened the existence of Baghdad. + +The other lines of mound upon the east side of the river may either be +Parthian works, or (possibly) they may be the remains of some of those +lofty walls whereby, according to Diodorus, the greater palace was +surrounded and defended. The fragments of them which remain are so +placed that if the lines were produced they would include all the +principal ruins on the left bank except the Babil tower. They may +therefore be the old defences of the Eastern palace; though, if so, +it is strange that they run in lines which are neither straight nor +parallel to those of the buildings enclosed by them. The irregularity +of these ramparts is certainly a very strong argument in favor of +their having been the work of a people considerably more barbarous and +ignorant than the Babylonians. [PLATE XIV.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. ARTS AND SCIENCES. + + +That the Babylonians were among the most ingenious of all the nations of +antiquity, and had made considerable progress in the arts and sciences +before their conquest by the Persians, is generally admitted. The +classical writers commonly parallel them with the Egyptians; and though, +from their habit of confusing Babylon with Assyria, it is not always +quite certain that the inhabitants of the more southern country--the +real Babylonians--are meant, still there is sufficient reason to believe +that, in the estimation of the Greeks and Romans, the people of +the lower Euphrates were regarded as at least equally advanced in +civilization with those of the Nile valley and the Delta. The branches +of knowledge wherein by general consent the Babylonians principally +excelled were architecture and astronomy. Of their architectural works +two at least were reckoned among the "Seven Wonders," while others, not +elevated to this exalted rank, were yet considered to be among the most +curious and admirable of Oriental constructions. In astronomical science +they were thought to have far excelled all other nations, and the first +Greeks who made much progress in the subject confessed themselves the +humble disciples of Babylonian teachers. + +In the account, which it is proposed to give, in this place, of +Babylonian art and science, so far as they are respectively known to us, +the priority will be assigned to art, which is an earlier product of +the human mind than science; and among the arts the first place will be +given to architecture, as at once the most fundamental of all the fine +arts, and the one in which the Babylonians attained their greatest +excellence. It is as builders that the primitive Chaldaean people, the +progenitors of the Babylonians, first appear before us in history; +and it was on his buildings that the great king of the later Empire, +Nebuchadnezzar, specially prided himself. When Herodotus visited Babylon +he was struck chiefly by its extraordinary edifices; and it is the +account which the Greek writers gave of these erections that has, more +than anything else, procured for the Babylonians the fame that they +possess and the position that they hold among the six or seven leading +nations of the old world. + +The architecture of the Babylonians seems to have culminated in the +Temple. While their palaces, their bridges, their walls, even their +private houses were remarkable, their grandest works, their most +elaborate efforts, were dedicated to the honor and service, not of man, +but of God. The Temple takes in Babylonia the same sort of rank which it +has in Egypt and in Greece. It is not, as in Assyria, a mere adjunct +of the palace. It stands by itself, in proud independence, as the +great building of a city, or a part of a city; it is, if not absolutely +larger, at any rate loftier and more conspicuous than any other edifice: +it often boasts a magnificent adornment: the value of the offerings +which are deposited in it is enormous: in every respect it rivals the +palace, while in some it has a decided preeminence. It draws all eyes +by its superior height and sometimes by its costly ornamentation; it +inspires awe by the religious associations which belong to it; finally, +it is a stronghold as well as a place of worship, and may furnish a +refuge to thousands in the time of danger. + +A Babylonian temple seems to have stood commonly within a walled +enclosure. In the case of the great temple of Belus at Babylon, the +enclosure is said to have been a square of two stades each way, or, +in other words, to have contained an area of thirty acres. The temple +itself ordinarily consisted of two parts. Its most essential feature +was a _ziggurat_, or tower, which was either square, or at any rate +rectangular, and built in stages, the smallest number of such stages +being two, and the largest known number seven. At the summit of the +tower was probably in every case a shrine, or chapel, of greater or +less size, containing altars and images. The ascent to this was on the +outside of the towers, which were entirely solid; and it generally wound +round the different faces of the towers, ascending them either by means +of steps or by an inclined plane. Special care was taken with regard to +the emplacement of the tower, either its sides or its angles being +made exactly to confront the cardinal points. It is said that the +temple-towers were used not merely for religious purposes but also as +observatories, a use with a view to which this arrangement of their +position would have been serviceable. + +Besides the shrine at the summit of the temple-tower or ziggurat, there +was commonly at the base of the tower, or at any rate somewhere +within the enclosure, a second shrine or chapel, in which the ordinary +worshipper, who wished to spare himself the long ascent, made his +offerings. Here again the ornamentation was most costly, lavish use +being made of the precious metals for images and other furniture. Altars +of different sizes were placed in the open air in the vicinity of this +lower shrine, on which were sacrificed different classes of victims, +gold being used occasionally as the material of the altar. + +The general appearance of a Babylonian temple, or at any rate of its +chief feature, the tower or _ziggurat_, will be best gathered from a +more particular description of a single building of the kind; and the +building which it will be most convenient to take for that purpose is +that remarkable edifice which strikes moderns with more admiration than +any other now existing in the country, and which has also been more +completely and more carefully examined than any other Babylonian +ruins--the Birs-i-Nimrud, or ancient temple of Nebo at Borsippa. The +plan of this tower has been almost completely made out from data still +existing on the spot; and a restoration of the original building may be +given with a near approach to certainty. [PLATE XV., Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XV.] + + +Upon a platform of crude brick, raised a few feet above the level of +the alluvial plain, was built the first or basement stage of the great +edifice, an exact square, 272 feet each way, and and probably twenty-six +feet in perpendicular height. On this was erected a second stage of +exactly the same height, but a square of only 230 feet; which however +was not placed exactly in the middle of the first, but further from its +northeastern than its south-western edge, twelve feet only from the one +and thirty feet from the other. The third stage, which was imposed in +the same way upon the second, was also twenty-six feet high, and was a +square of 188 feet. Thus far the plan had been uniform and without any +variety; but at this point an alteration took place. The height of the +fourth stage, instead of being twenty-six, was only fifteen feet. In +other respects however the old numbers were maintained; the fourth stage +was diminished equally with the others, and was consequently a square of +146 feet. It was emplaced upon the stage below it exactly as the former +stages had been. The remaining stages probably followed the same rule +of diminution--the fifth being a square of 104, the sixth one of 24, and +the seventh one of 20 feet. Each of these stages had a height of +fifteen feet. Upon the seventh or final stage was erected the shrine +or tabernacle, which was probably also fifteen feet high, and about +the same length and breadth. Thus the entire height of the building, +allowing three feet for the crude brick platform, was 150 feet. + +The ornamentation of the edifice was chiefly by means of color. The +seven stages represented the Seven Spheres, in which moved (according +to ancient Chaldaean astronomy) the seven planets. To each planet fancy, +partly grounding itself upon fact, had from of old assigned a peculiar +tint or hue. The Sun was golden, the Moon silver; the distant Saturn, +almost beyond the region of light, was black; Jupiter was orange the +fiery Mars was red; Venus was a pale Naples yellow; Mercury a deep blue. +The seven stages of the tower, like the seven walls of Ecbatana, gave +a visible embodiment to these fancies. The basement stage, assigned to +Saturn, was blackened by means of a coating of bitumen spread over the +face of the masonry; the second stage, assigned to Jupiter, obtained the +appropriate orange color by means of a facing of burnt bricks of that +hue; the third stage, that of Mars, was made blood-red by the use +of half-burnt bricks formed of a bright red clay; the fourth stage, +assigned to the Sun, appears to have been actually covered with thin +plates of gold; the fifth, the stage of Venus, received a pale yellow +tint from the employment of bricks of that hue; the sixth, the sphere of +Mercury, was given an azure tint by vitrifaction, the whole stage having +been subjected to an intense heat after it was erected, whereby the +bricks composing it were converted into a mass of blue slag; the seventh +stage, that of the Moon, was probably, like the fourth, coated with +actual plates of metal. Thus the building rose up in stripes of varied +color, arranged almost as nature's cunning arranges hues in the rainbow, +tones of red coming first, succeeded by a broad stripe of yellow, the +yellow being followed by blue. Above this the glowing silvery summit +melted into the bright sheen of the sky. [PLATE XVI.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XVI.] + + +The faces of the various stages were, as a general rule, flat and +unbroken, unless it were by a stair or ascent, of which however there +has been found no trace. But there were two exceptions to this general +plainness. The basement stage was indented with a number of shallow +squared recesses, which seem to have been intended for a decoration. The +face of the third stage was weak on account of its material, which was +brick but half-burnt. Here then the builders, not for ornament's sake, +but to strengthen their work, gave to the wall the support of a number +of shallow buttresses. They also departed from their usual practice, +by substituting for the rigid perpendicular of the other faces a slight +slope outwards for some distance from the base. These arrangements, +which are apparently part of the original work, and not remedies applied +subsequently, imply considerable knowledge of architectural principles +on the part of the builders, and no little ingenuity in turning +architectural resources to account. + +With respect to the shrine which was emplaced upon the topmost, or +silver stage, little is definitely known. It appears to have been of +brick; and we may perhaps conclude from the analogy of the old Chaldaean +shrines at the summits of towers, as well as from that of the Belus +shrine at Babylon, that it was richly ornamented both within and +without; but it is impossible to state anything as to the exact +character of the ornamentation. + +The tower is to be regarded as fronting to the north-east, the coolest +side and that least exposed to the sun's rays from the time that they +become oppressive in Babylonia. On this side was the ascent, which +consisted probably of abroad staircase extending along the whole front +of the building. The side platforms (those towards the south-east and +north-west)--at any rate of the first and second stages, probably +of all--were occupied by a series of chambers abutting upon the +perpendicular wall, as the priests' chambers of Solomon's temple abutted +upon the side walls of that building. In these were doubtless lodged the +priests and other attendants upon the temple service. The side chambers +seem sometimes to have communicated with vaulted apartments within +the solid mass of the structure, like those of which we hear in the +structure supporting the "hanging gardens." It is possible that there +may have been internal stair-cases, connecting the vaulted apartments +of one stage with those of another; but the ruin has not yet been +sufficiently explored for us to determine whether or not there was such +communication. + +The great Tower is thought to have been approached through a vestibule +of considerable size. Towards the north-east the existing ruin +is prolonged in an irregular manner and it is imagined that this +prolongation marks the site of a vestibule or propylaeum, originally +distinct from the tower, but now, through the crumbling down of both +buildings, confused with its ruins. As no scientific examination has +been made of this part of the mound, the above supposition can only be +regarded as a conjecture. Possibly the excrescence does not so much mark +a vestibule as a second shrine, like that which is said to have existed +at the foot of the Belus Tower at Babylon. Till, however, additional +researches have been made, it is in vain to think of restoring the plan +or elevation of this part of the temple. + +From the temples of the Babylonians we may now pass to their +palaces--constructions inferior in height and grandeur, but covering a +greater space, involving a larger amount of labor, and admitting of more +architectural variety. Unfortunately the palaces have suffered from the +ravages of time even more than the temples, and in considering their +plan and character we obtain little help from the existing remains. +Still, something may be learnt of them from this source, and where +it fails we may perhaps be allowed to eke out the scantiness of our +materials by drawing from the elaborate descriptions of Diodorus such +points as have probability in their favor. + +The Babylonian palace, like the Assyrian, and the Susianian, stood upon +a lofty mound or platform. This arrangement provided at once for safety, +for enjoyment, and for health. It secured a pure air, freedom from the +molestation of insects, and a position only assailable at a few points. +The ordinary shape of the palace mound appears to have been square; +its elevation was probably not less than fifty or sixty feet. It was +composed mainly of sun-dried bricks, which however were almost certainly +enclosed externally by a facing of burnt brick, and may have been +further strengthened within by walls of the same material, which perhaps +traversed the whole mound. The entire mass seems to have been carefully +drained, and the collected waters were conveyed through subterranean +channels to the level of the plain at the mound's base. The summit +of the platform was no doubt paved, either with stone or burnt +brick--mainly, it is probable, with the latter; since the former +material was scarce, and though a certain number of stone pavement slabs +have been found, they are too rare and scattered to imply anything like +the general use of stone paving. Upon the platform, most likely towards +the centre, rose the actual palace, not built (like the Assyrian +palaces) of crude brick faced with a better material, but constructed +wholly of the finest and hardest burnt brick laid in a mortar of extreme +tenacity, with walls of enormous thickness, parallel to the sides of the +mound, and meeting each other at right angles. Neither the ground-plan +nor the elevation of a Babylonian palace can be given; nor can even +a conjectural restoration of such a building be made, since the small +fragment of Nebuchadnezzar's palace which remains has defied all +attempts to reduce it to system. We can only say that the lines of +the building were straight; that the walls rose, at any rate to a +considerable height, without windows; and that the flatness of the +straight line was broken by numerous buttressses and pilasters. We +have also evidence that occasionally there was an ornamentation of the +building, either within or without, by means of sculptured stone slabs, +on which were represented figures of a small size, carefully wrought. +The general ornamentation, however, external as well as internal, we +may well believe to have been such as Diodorus states, colored +representations on brick of war-scenes, and hunting-scenes, the +counterparts in a certain sense of those magnificent bas-reliefs which +everywhere clothed the walls of palaces in Assyria. It has been already +noticed that abundant remains of such representations have been found +upon the Kasr mound. [PLATE XV., Fig. 2.] They seem to have alternated +with cuneiform inscriptions, in white on a blue ground, or else with a +patterning of rosettes in the same colors. + +Of the general arrangement of the royal palaces, of their height, their +number of stories, their roofing, and their lighting, we know absolutely +nothing. The statement made by Herodotus, that many of the private +houses in the town had three or four stories, would naturally lead us +to suppose that the palaces were built similarly; but no ancient author +tells us that this was so. The fact that the walls which exist, though +of considerable height, show no traces of windows, would seem to imply +that the lighting, as in Assyria, was from the top of the apartment, +either from the ceiling, or from apertures in the part of the walls +adjoining the ceiling. Altogether, such evidence as exists favors +the notion that the Babylonian palace, in its character and general +arrangements, resembled the Assyrian, with only the two differences, +that Babylonian was wholly constructed of burnt brick, while in the +Assyrian the sun-dried material was employed to a large extent; and, +further, that in Babylonia the decoration of the walls was made, not +by slabs of alabaster, which did not exist in the country, but +mainly--almost entirely--by colored representations upon the +brickwork. + +Among the adjuncts of the principal palace at Babylon was the remarkable +construction known to the Greeks and Romans as "the Hanging Garden." The +accounts which, Diodorus, Strabo, and Q. Curtius give of this structure +are not perhaps altogether trustworthy; still, it is probable that they +are in the main at least founded on fact. We may safely believe that a +lofty structure was raised at Babylon on several tiers of arches, which +supported at the top a mass of earth, wherein grew, not merely flowers +and shrubs, but trees of a considerable size. The Assyrians had been in +the habit of erecting structures of a somewhat similar kind, artificial +elevations to support a growth of trees and shrubs; but they were +content to place their garden at the summit of a single row of pillars +or arches, and thus to give it a very moderate height. At Babylon the +object was to produce an artificial imitation of a mountain. For this +purpose several tiers of arches were necessary; and these appear to have +been constructed in the manner of a Roman amphitheatre, one directly +over another so that the outer wall formed from summit to base a single +perpendicular line. Of the height of the structure various accounts are +given, while no writer reports the number of the tiers of arches. Hence +there are no sufficient data for a reconstruction of the edifice. + +Of the walls and bridge of Babylon, and of the ordinary houses of the +people, little more is known than has been already reported in the +general description of the capital. It does not appear that they +possessed any very great architectural merit. Some skill was shown in +constructing the piers of the bridge, which presented an angle to the +current and then a curved line, along which the water slid gently. +[PLATE XV., Fig. 3.] The loftiness of the houses, which were of three or +four stories, is certainly surprising, since Oriental houses have very +rarely more than two stories. Their construction, however, seems to have +been rude; and the pillars especially--posts of palm, surrounded +with wisps of rushes, and then plastered and painted--indicate a low +condition of taste and a poor and coarse style of domestic architecture. + +The material used by the Babylonians in their constructions seems +to have been almost entirely brick. Like the early Chaldaeans, they +employed bricks of two kinds, both the ruder sun-dried sort, and the +very superior kiln-baked article. The former, however, was only applied +to platforms, and to the interior of palace mounds and of very thick +walls, and was never made by the later people the sole material of a +building. In every case there was at least a revetement of kiln-dried +brick, while the grander buildings were wholly constructed of it. The +baked bricks used were of several different qualities, and (within +rather narrow limits) of different sizes. The finest quality of brick +was yellow, approaching to our Stourbridge or fire-brick; another very +hard kind was blue, approaching to black; the commoner and coarser +sorts were pink or red, and these were sometimes, though rarely, but +half-baked, in which case they were weak and friable. The shape was +always square; and the dimensions varied between twelve and fourteen +inches for the length and breadth, and between three and four inches +for the thickness. [PLATE XVII., Fig. 1.] At the corners of buildings, +half-bricks were used in the alternate rows, since otherwise the +joinings must have been all one exactly over another. The bricks were +always made with a mold, and were commonly stamped on one face with +an inscription. They were, of course, ordinarily laid horizontally. +Sometimes, however, there was a departure from this practice. Rows of +bricks were placed vertically, separated from one another by single +horizontal layers. This arrangement seems to have been regarded as +conducing to strength, since it occurs only where there is an evident +intention of supporting a weak construction by the use of special +architectural expedients. + + +[Illustration: PLATE XVII.] + + +The Babylonian builders made use of three different kinds of cement. The +most indifferent was crude clay, or mud, which was mixed with chopped +straw, to give it greater tenacity, and was applied in layers of +extraordinary thickness. This was (it is probable) employed only where +it was requisite that the face of the building should have a certain +color. A cement superior to clay, but not of any very high value, unless +as a preventive against damp, was bitumen, which was very generally used +in basements and in other structures exposed to the action of water. +Mortar, however, or lime cement was far more commonly employed than +either of the others, and was of very excellent quality, equal indeed to +the best Roman material. + +There can be no doubt that the general effect of the more ambitious +efforts of the Babylonian architects was grand and imposing. Even now, +in their desolation and ruin, their great size renders them impressive; +and there are times and states of atmosphere under which they fill +the beholder with a sort of admiring awe, akin to the feeling which is +called forth by the contemplation of the great works of nature. Rude +and inartificial in their idea and general construction, without +architectural embellishment, without variety, without any beauty +of form, they yet affect men by their mere mass, producing a direct +impression of sublimity, and at the same time arousing a sentiment +of wonder at the indomitable perseverance which from materials so +unpromising could produce such gigantic results. In their original +condition, when they were adorned with color, with a lavish display of +the precious metals, with pictured representations of human life, and +perhaps with statuary of a rough kind, they must have added to +the impression produced by size a sense of richness and barbaric +magnificence. The African spirit, which loves gaudy hues and costly +ornament, was still strong among the Babylonians, even after they had +been Semitized; and by the side of Assyria, her colder and more +correct northern sister, Babylonia showed herself a true child of the +south--rich, glowing, careless of the laws of taste, bent on provoking +admiration by the dazzling brilliancy of her appearance. + +It is difficult to form a decided opinion as to the character of +Babylonian mimetic art. The specimens discovered are so few, so +fragmentary, and in some instances so worn by time and exposure, that +we have scarcely the means of doing justice to the people in respect of +this portion of their civilization. Setting aside the intaglios on +seals and gems, which have such a general character of quaintness and +grotesqueness, or at any rate of formality, that we can scarcely look +upon many of them as the serious efforts of artists doing their best, we +possess not half a dozen specimens of the mimetic art of the people in +question. We have one sculpture in the round, one or two modelled clay +figures, a few bas-reliefs, one figure of a king engraved on stone, +and a few animal forms represented the same material. Nothing more has +reached us but fragments of pictorial representations too small for +criticism to pronounce upon, and descriptions of ancient writers too +incomplete to be of any great value. + +The single Babylonian sculpture in the round which has come down to our +times is the colossal lion standing over the prostrate figure of a +man, which is still to be seen on the Kasr mound, as has been already +mentioned. The accounts of travellers uniformly state that it is a work +of no merit--either barbarously executed, or left unfinished by the +sculptor--and probably much worn by exposure to the weather. A sketch +made by a recent visitor and kindly communicated to the author, seems to +show that, while the general form of the animal was tolerably well hit +off, the proportions were in some respects misconceived, and the details +not only rudely but incorrectly rendered. The extreme shortness of +the legs and the extreme thickness of the tail are the most prominent +errors; there is also great awkwardness in the whole representation of +the beast's shoulder. The head is so mutilated that it is impossible +to do more than conjecture its contour. Still the whole figure is not +without a certain air of grandeur and majesty. [PLATE XVII., Fig. 3.] + +The human appears to be inferior to the animal form. The prostrate man +is altogether shapeless, and can never, it would seem, have been very +much better than it is at the present time. + +Modelled figures in clay are of rare occurrence. The best is one figured +by Ker Porter, which represents a mother with a child in her arms. The +mother is seated in a natural and not ungraceful attitude on a rough +square pedestal. She is naked except for a hood, or mantilla, which +covers the head, shoulders, and back, and a narrow apron which hangs +down in front. She wears earrings and a bracelet. The child, which +sleeps on her left shoulder, wears a shirt open in front, and a short +but full tunic, which is gathered into plaits. Both figures are in +simple and natural taste, but the limbs of the infant are somewhat too +thin and delicate. The statuette is about three inches and a half high, +and shows signs of having been covered with a tinted glaze. [PLATE +XVII., Fig. 2.] + +The single figure of a king which we possess is clumsy and ungraceful. +It is chiefly remarkable for the elaborate ornamentation of the +head-dress and the robes, which have a finish equal to that of the best +Assyrian specimens. The general proportions are not bad; but the form is +stiff, and the drawing of the right hand is peculiarly faulty, since it +would be scarcely possible to hold arrows in the manner represented. +[PLATE XVIII., Fig. 2.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE VXIII.] + + +The engraved animal forms have a certain amount of merit. The figure +of a dog sitting, which is common on the "black stones," is drawn with +spirit; [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 1.] and a bird, sometimes regarded as a +cock, but more resembling a bustard, is touched with a delicate hand, +and may be pronounced superior to any Assyrian representation of the +feathered tribe. [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 3.] The hound on a bas-relief, +given in the first volume of this work, is also good; and the cylinders +exhibit figures of goats, cows, deer, and even monkeys, which are +truthful and meritorious. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XIX.] + + +It has been observed that the main characteristic of the engravings +on gems and cylinders, considered as works of mimetic art, is their +quaintness and grotesqueness. A few specimens, taken almost at random +from the admirable collection of M. Felix Lajard, will sufficiently +illustrate this feature. In one the central position is occupied by +a human figure whose left arm has two elbow-joints, while towards the +right two sitting figures threaten one another with their fists, in the +upper quarter, and in the lower two nondescript animals do the same with +their jaws. [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 4.] The entire drawing of this design +seems to be intentionally rude. The faces of the main figures are +evidently intended to be ridiculous; and the heads of the two animals +are extravagantly grotesque. On another cylinder three nondescript +animals play the principal part. One of them is on the point of taking +into his mouth the head of a man who vainly tries to escape by flight. +Another, with the head of a pike, tries to devour the third, which has +the head of a bird and the body of a goat. This kind intention seems to +be disputed by a naked man with a long beard, who seizes the fish-headed +monster with his right hand, and at the same time administers from +behind a severe kick with his right foot. The heads of the three main +monsters, the tail and trousers of the principal one, and the whole of +the small figure in front of the flying man, are exceedingly quaint, and +remind one of the pencil of Fuseli. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 3.] The third of +the designs approaches nearly to the modern caricature. It is a drawing +in two portions. The upper line of figures represents a procession of +worshippers who bear in solemn state their offerings to a god. In the +lower line this occupation is turned to a jest. Nondescript animals +bring with a serio-comic air offerings which consist chiefly of game, +while a man in a mask seeks to steal away the sacred tree from the +temple wherein the scene is enacted. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 4.] + +It is probable that the most elaborate and most artistic of the +Babylonian works of art were of a kind which has almost wholly perished. +What bas-relief was to the Assyrian, what painting is to moderns, that +enamelling upon brick appears to have been to the people of Babylon. The +mimetic power, which delights in representing to itself the forms and +actions of men, found a vent in this curious byway of the graphic +art; and the images of the Chaldaeans, portrayed upon the wall, with +vermilion, and other hues, formed the favorite adornment of palaces and +public buildings, at once employing the artist, gratifying the taste of +the native connoisseur, and attracting the admiration of the foreigner. + +The artistic merit of these works can only be conjectured. The +admiration of the Jews, or even that of Diodorus, who must be viewed +here as the echo of Ctesias, is no sure test; for the Jews were a people +very devoid of true artistic appreciation; and Ctesias was bent on +exaggerating the wonders of foreign countries to the Greeks. The fact of +the excellence of Assyrian art at a somewhat earlier date lends however +support to the view that the wall-painting of the Babylonians had some +real artistic excellence. We can scarcely suppose that there was any +very material difference, in respect of taste and aesthetic power, +between the two cognate nations, or that the Babylonians under +Nebuchadnezzar fell very greatly short of the Assyrians under +Asshur-bani-pal. It is evident that the same subjects--war scenes and +hunting scenes--approved themselves to both people; and it is likely +that their treatment was not very different. Even in the matter +of color, the contrast was not sharp nor strong; for the Assyrians +partially colored their bas-reliefs. + +Tho tints chiefly employed by the Babylonians in their colored +representations were white, blue, yellow, brown, and black. The blue was +of different shades, sometimes bright and deep, sometimes exceedingly +pale. The yellow was somewhat dull, resembling our yellow ochre. The +brown was this same hue darkened. In comparatively rare instances the +Babylonians made use of a red, which they probably obtained with some +difficulty. Objects were colored, as nearly as possible, according to +their natural tints--water a light blue, ground yellow, the shafts of +spears black, lions a tawny brown, etc. No attempt was made to shade +the figures or the landscape, much less to produce any general effect +by means of _chiaroscuro_; but the artist trusted for his effect to +a careful delineation of forms, and a judicious arrangement of simple +hues. + +Considerable metallurgic knowledge and skill were shown in the +composition of the pigments, and the preparation and application of +the glaze wherewith they are covered. The red used was a sub-oxide of +copper; the yellow was sometimes oxide of iron, sometimes antimoniate of +lead--the Naples yellow of modern artists; the blue was either cobalt or +oxide of copper; the white was oxide of tin. Oxide of load was added in +some cases, not as a coloring matter, but as a flux, to facilitate the +fusion of the glaze. In other cases the pigment used was covered with a +vitreous coat of an alkaline silicate of alumina. + +The pigments were not applied to an entirely flat surface. Prior to the +reception of the coloring matter and the glaze, each brick was modelled +by the hand, the figures being carefully traced out, and a slight +elevation given to the more important objects. A very low bas-relief was +thus produced, to which the colors were subsequently applied, and the +brick was then baked in the furnace. + +It is conjectured that the bricks were not modelled singly and +separately. A large mass of clay was (it is thought) taken, sufficient +to contain a whole subject, or at any rate a considerable portion of +a subject. On this the modeller made out his design in low relief. The +mass of clay was then cut up into bricks, and each brick was taken and +painted separately with the proper colors, after which they were all +placed in the furnace and baked. When baked, they were restored to their +original places in the design, a thin layer of the finest mortar serving +to keep them in place. + +From the mimetic art of the Babylonians, and the branches of knowledge +connected with it, we may now pass to the purely mechanical arts--as the +art by which hard stones were cut, and those of agriculture, metallurgy, +pottery, weaving, carpet-making, embroidery, and the like. + +The stones shaped, bored, and engraved by Babylonian artisans were +not merely the softer and more easily worked kinds, as alabaster, +serpentine, and lapis-lazuli, but also the harder sorts-cornelian, +agate, quartz, jasper, sienite, loadstone, and green felspar or +amazon-stone. These can certainly not have been cut without emery, and +scarcely without such devices as rapidly revolving points, or discs, of +the kind used by modern lapidaries. Though the devices are in general +rude, the work is sometimes exceedingly delicate, and implies a complete +mastery over tools and materials, as well as a good deal of artistic +power. As far as the mechanical part of the art goes, the Babylonians +may challenge comparison with the most advanced of the nations of +antiquity; they decidedly excel the Egyptians, and fall little, if at +all, short of the Greeks and Romans. + +The extreme minuteness of the work in some of the Babylonian seals and +gems raises a suspicion that they must have been engraved by the help of +a powerful magnifying-glass. A lens has been found in Assyria; and there +is much reason to believe that the convenience was at least as well +known in the lower country. Glass was certainly in use, and was cut into +such shapes as were required. It is at any rate exceedingly likely that +magnifying-glasses, which were undoubtedly known to the Greeks in the +time of Aristophanes, were employed by the artisans of Babylon during +the most flourishing period of the Empire. + +Of Babylonian metal-work we have scarcely any direct means of judging. +The accounts of ancient authors imply that the Babylonians dealt freely +with the material, using gold and silver for statues, furniture, and +utensils, bronze for gates and images, and iron sometimes for the +latter. We may assume that they likewise employed bronze and iron for +tools and weapons, since those metals were certainly so used by the +Assyrians. Lead was made of service in building; where iron was also +employed, if great strength was needed. The golden images are said to +have been sometimes solid, in which case we must suppose them to have +been cast in a mold; but undoubtedly in most cases the gold was a mere +external covering, and was applied in plates, which were hammered into +shape upon some cheaper substance below. Silver was no doubt used +also in plates, more especially when applied externally to walls, or +internally to the woodwork of palaces; but the silver images, ornamental +figures, and utensils of which we hear, were most probably solid. The +bronze works must have been remarkable. We are told that both the town +and the palace gates were of this material, and it is implied that the +latter were too heavy to be opened in the ordinary manner. Castings +on an enormous scale would be requisite for such purposes; and the +Babylonians must thus have possessed the art of running into a single +mold vast masses of metal. Probably the gates here mentioned were +solid; but occasionally, it would seem, the Babylonians had gates of a +different kind, composed of a number of perpendicular bars, united by +horizontal ones above and below [as in PLATE XIX., Fig. 2.]. They had +also, it would appear, metal gateways of a similar character. + +The metal-work of personal ornaments, such as bracelets and armlets, and +again that of dagger handles, seems to have resembled the work of the +Assyrians. + +Small figures in bronze were occasionally cast by the Babylonians, which +were sometimes probably used as amulets, while perhaps more generally +they wore mere ornaments of houses, furniture, and the like. Among these +may be noticed figures of dogs in a sitting posture, much resembling the +dog represented among the constellations, figures of men, grotesque +in character, and figures of monsters. An interesting specimen, which +combines a man and a monster, was found by Sir R. Ker Porter at Babylon. +[PLATE XX., Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XX.] + + +The pottery of the Babylonians was of excellent quality, and is scarcely +to be distinguished from the Assyrian, which it resembles alike in form +and in material. The bricks of the best period were on the whole better +than any used in the sister country, and may compare for hardness and +fineness with the best Roman. The earthenware is of a fine terra-cotta, +generally of a light red color, and slightly baked, but occasionally of +a yellow hue, with a tinge of green. It consists of cups, jars, vases, +and other vessels. They appear to have been made upon the wheel, and +are in general unornamented. From representations upon the cylinders, it +appears that the shapes were often elegant. Long and narrow vases with +thin necks seem to have been used for water vessels; these had rounded +or pointed bases, and required therefore the support of a stand. Thin +jugs were also in use, with slight elegant handles. It is conjectured +that sometimes modelled figures may have been introduced at the sides as +handles to the vases; but neither the cylinders nor the extant remains +confirm this supposition. The only ornamentation hitherto observed +consists in a double band which seems to have been carried round some of +the vases in an incomplete spiral. The vases sometimes have two handles; +but they are plain and small, adding nothing to the beauty of the +vessels. Occasionally the whole vessel is glazed with a rich blue color. +[PLATE XX., Fig. 3.] + +The Babylonians certainly employed glass for vessels for a small size. +They appear not to have been very skilful blowers, since their bottles +are not unfrequently misshappen. [PLATE XX., Fig. 3.] They generally +stained their glass with, some coloring matter, and occasionally +ornamented it with a ribbing. Whether they were able to form masses +of glass of any considerable size, whether they used it, like the +Egyptians, for beads and bugles, or for mosaics, is uncertain. If we +suppose a foundation in fact for Pliny's story of the great emerald (?) +presented by a king of Babylon to an Egyptian Pharaoh, we must conclude +that very considerable masses of glass were produced by the Babylonians, +at least occasionally; for the said emerald, which can scarcely have +been of any other material, was four cubits (or six feet) long and three +cubits (or four and a half feet) broad. + +Of all the productions of the Babylonians none obtained such, high +repute in ancient times as their textile fabrics. Their carpets +especially were of great celebrity, and were largely exported to foreign +countries. They were dyed of various colors, and represented objects +similar to those found on the gems, as griffins and such like monsters. +Their position in the ancient world may be compared to that which is +now borne by the fabrics of Turkey and Persia, which are deservedly +preferred to those of all other countries. + +Next to their carpets, the highest, character was borne by their +muslins. Formed of the finest cotton, and dyed of the most brilliant +colors, they seemed to the Oriental the very best possible material for +dress. The Persian kings preferred them for their own wear; and they +had an early fame in foreign countries at a considerable distance from +Babylonia. It is probable that they were sometimes embroidered with +delicate patterns, such as those which may be seen on the garments of +the early Babylonian kings. + +Besides woollen and cotton fabrics, the Babylonians also manufactured +a good deal of linen cloth, the principal seat of the manufacture being +Borsippa. This material was produced, it is probable, chiefly for home +consumption, long linen robes being generally worn by the people. + +From the arts of the Babylonians we may now pass to their science--an +obscure subject, but one which possesses more than common interest. If +the classical writers were correct in their belief that Chaldaea was +the birthplace of Astronomy, and that their own astronomical science was +derived mainly from this quarter, it must be well worth inquiry what the +amount of knowledge was which the Babylonians attained on the subject, +and what were the means whereby they made their discoveries. + +On the broad flat plains of Chaldsea, where the entire celestial +hemisphere is continually visible to every eye, and the clear +transparent atmosphere shows night after night the heavens gemmed with +countless stars, each shining with a brilliancy unknown in our moist +northern climes, the attention of man was naturally turned earlier than +elsewhere to these luminous bodies, and attempts were made to grasp, and +reduce to scientific form, the array of facts which nature presented to +the eye in a confused and tangled mass. It required no very long course +of observation to acquaint men with a truth, which at first sight none +would have suspected--namely, that the luminous points whereof the sky +was full were of two kinds, some always maintaining the same position +relatively to one another, while others were constantly changing their +places, and as it were wandering about the sky. It is certain that the +Babylonians at a very early date distinguished from the fixed stars +those remarkable five, which, from their wandering propensities, the +Greeks called the "planets," and which are the only erratic stars that +the naked eye, or that even the telescope, except at a very high power, +can discern. With these five they were soon led to class the Moon, which +was easily observed to be a wandering luminary, changing her place among +the fixed stars with remarkable rapidity. Ultimately, it came to be +perceived that the Sun too rose and set at different parts of the year +in the neighborhood of different constellations, and that consequently +the great luminary was itself also a wanderer, having a path in the sky +which it was possible, by means of careful observation, to mark out. + +But to do this, to mark out with accuracy the courses of the Sun and +Moon among the fixed stars, it was necessary, or at least convenient, to +arrange the stars themselves into groups. Thus, too, and thus only, was +it possible to give form and order to the chaotic confusion in which +the stars seem at first sight to lie, owing to the irregularity of +their intervals, the difference in their magnitude, and their apparent +countlessness. The most uneducated eye, when raised to the starry +heavens on a clear night, fixes here and there upon groups of stars: in +the north, Cassiopeia, the Great Bear, the Pleiades--below the Equator, +the Southern Cross--must at all times have impressed those who beheld +them with a certain sense of unity. Thus the idea of a "constellation" +is formed; and this once done, the mind naturally progresses in the same +direction, and little by little the whole sky is mapped out into certain +portions or districts to which names are given--names taken from some +resemblance, real or fancied, between the shapes of the several groups +and objects familiar to the early observers. This branch of practical +astronomy is termed "uranography" by moderns; its utility is very +considerable; thus and thus only can we particularize the individual +stars of which we wish to speak; thus and thus only can we retain in +our memory the general arrangement of the stars and their positions +relatively to each other. + +There is reason to believe that in the early Babylonian astronomy +the subject of uranography occupied a prominent place. The Chaldaean +astronomers not only seized on and named those natural groups which +force themselves upon the eye, but artificially arranged the whole +heavens into a certain number of constellations or asterisms. The very +system of uranography which maintains itself to the present day on our +celestial globes and maps, and which is still acknowledged--albeit under +protest--in the nomenclature of scientific astronomers, came in all +probability from this source, reaching us from the Arabians, who took +it from the Greeks who derived it from the Babylonians. The Zodiacal +constellations at any rate, or those through which the sun's course lies +would seem to have had this origin; and many of them may be distinctly +recognized on Babylonian monuments which are plainly of a stellar +character. The accompanying representation, taken from a conical black +stone in the British Museum [PLATE XX., Fig. 2.], and belonging to the +twelfth century before our era, is not perhaps, strictly speaking, a +zodiac, but it is almost certainly an arrangement of constellations +according to the forms assigned them in Babylonian uranography. [PLATE +XXI.] The Ram, the Bull, the Scorpion, the Serpent, the Dog, the Arrow, +the Eagle or Vulture may all be detected on the stone in question, as +may similar forms variously arranged on other similar monuments. + + +[Illustration: PLATE XXI.] + + +The Babylonians called the Zodiacal constellations the "Houses of the +Sun," and distinguished from them another set of asterisms, which they +denominated the "Houses of the Moon." As the Sun and Moon both move +through the sky in nearly the same plane, the path of the Moon merely +crossing and recrossing that of the Sun, but never diverging from it +further than a few degrees, it would seem that these "Houses of the +Moon," or lunar asterisms, must have been a division of the Zodiacal +stars different from that employed with respect to the sun, either +in the number of the "Houses," or in the point of separation between +"House" and "House." + +The Babylonians observed and calculated eclipses; but their power of +calculation does not seem to have been based on scientific knowledge, +nor to have necessarily implied sound views as to the nature of eclipses +or as to the size, distance, and real motions of the heavenly bodies. +The knowledge which they possessed was empirical. Their habits of +observation led them to discover the period of 223 lunations or 18 years +10 days, after which eclipses--especially those of the the moon--recur +again in the same order. Their acquaintance with this cycle would enable +them to predict lunar eclipses with accuracy for many ages, and solar +eclipses without much inaccuracy for the next cycle or two. + +That the Babylonians carefully noted and recorded eclipses is witnessed +by Ptolemy, who had access to a continuous series of such observations +reaching back from his own time to B.C. 747. Five of these--all eclipses +of the moon--were described by Hipparchus from Babylonian sources, and +are found to answer all the requirements of modern science. They belong +to the years B.C. 721, 720, 621, and 523. One of them, that of B.C. 721, +was total at Babylon. The others were partial, the portion of the moon +obscured varying from one digit to seven. + +There is no reason to think that the observation of eclipses by the +Babylonians commenced with Nabonassar. Ptolemy indeed implies that the +series extant in his day went no higher; but this is to be accounted for +by the fact, which Berosus mentioned, that Nabonassar destroyed, as +far as he was able, the previously existing observations, in order that +exact chronology might commence with his own reign. + +Other astronomical achievements of the Babylonians were the following. +They accomplished a catalogue of the fixed stars, of which the Greeks +made use in compiling their stellar tables. They observed and recorded +their observations upon occultations of the planets by the sun and moon. +They invented the _gnomon_ and the _polos_, two kinds of sundial, by +means of which they were able to measure time during the day, and to +fix the true length of the solar day, with sufficient accuracy. They +determined correctly within a small fraction the length of the synodic +revolution of the moon. They knew that the true length of the solar +year was 365 days and a quarter, nearly. They noticed comets, which they +believed to be permanent bodies, revolving in orbits like those of +the planets, only greater. They ascribed eclipses of the sun to the +interposition of the moon between the sun and the earth. They had +notions not far from the truth with respect to the relative distance +from the earth of the sun, moon, and planets. Adopting, as was natural, +a geocentric system, they decided that the Moon occupied the position +nearest to the earth; that beyond the Moon was Mercury, beyond Mercury +Venus, beyond Venus Mars, beyond Mars Jupiter, and beyond Jupiter, in +the remotest position of all, Saturn. This arrangement was probably +based upon a knowledge, more or less exact, of the periodic times which +the several bodies occupy in their (real or apparent) revolutions. From +the difference in the times the Babylonians assumed a corresponding +difference in the size of the orbits, and consequently a greater or less +distance from the common centre. + +Thus far the astronomical achievements of the Babylonians rest upon +the express testimony of ancient writers--a testimony confirmed in many +respects by the monuments already deciphered. It is suspected that, when +the astronomical tablets which exist by hundreds in the British Museum +come to be thoroughly understood, it will be found that the acquaintance +of the Chaldaean sages with astronomical phenomena, if not also with +astronomical laws, went considerably beyond the point at which we should +place it upon the testimony of the Greek and Roman writers. There is +said to be distinct evidence that they observed the four satellites of +Jupiter, and strong reason to believe that they were acquainted likewise +with the seven satellites of Saturn. Moreover, the general laws of the +movements of the heavenly bodies seem to have been so far known to +them that they could state by anticipation the position of the various +planets throughout the year. + +In order to attain the astronomical knowledge which they seem to have +possessed, the Babylonians must undoubtedly have employed a certain +number of instruments. The invention of sun-dials, as already observed, +is distinctly assigned to them. Besides these contrivances for measuring +time during the day, it is almost certain that they must have possessed +means of measuring time during the night. The clepsydra, or water-clock, +which was in common use among the Greeks as early as the fifth century +before our era, was probably introduced into Greece from the East, +and is likely to have been a Babylonian invention. The astrolabe, an +instrument for measuring the altitude of stars above the horizon, which +was known to Ptolemy, may also reasonably be assigned to them. It has +generally been assumed that they were wholly ignorant of the telescope. +But if the satellites of Saturn are really mentioned, as it is thought +that they are, upon some of the tablets, it will follow--strange as it +may seem to us--that the Babylonians possessed optical instruments of +the nature of telescopes, since it is impossible, even in the clear and +vapor-loss sky of Chaldaea, to discern the faint moons of that distant +planet without lenses. A lens, it must be remembered, with a fair +magnifying power, has been discovered among the Mesopotamian ruins. +A people ingenious enough to discover the magnifying-glass would be +naturally led on to the invention of its opposite. When once lenses +of the two contrary kinds existed, the elements of a telescope were in +being. We could not assume from these data that the discovery was made; +but if it shall ultimately be substantiated that bodies invisible to the +naked eye were observed by the Babylonians, we need feel no difficulty +in ascribing to them the possession of some telescopic instrument. + +The astronomical zeal of the Babylonians was in general, it must be +confessed, no simple and pure love of an abstract science. A school of +pure astronomers existed among them; but the bulk of those who engaged +in the study undoubtedly pursued it in the belief that the heavenly +bodies had a mysterious influence, not only upon the seasons, but upon +the lives and actions of men--an influence which it was possible to +discover and to foretell by prolonged and careful observation. The +ancient writers, Biblical and other, state this fact in the strongest +way; and the extant astronomical remains distinctly confirm it. +The great majority of the tablets are of an astrological character, +recording the supposed influence of the heavenly bodies, singly, in +conjunction, or in opposition, upon all sublunary affairs, from the fate +of empires to the washing of hands or the paring of nails. The modern +prophetical almanac is the legitimate descendant and the sufficient +representative of the ancient Chaldee Ephemeris, which was just as +silly, just as pretentious, and just as worthless. + +The Chaldee astrology was, primarily and mainly, genethlialogical. +It inquired under what aspect of the heavens persons were born, or +conceived, and, from the position of the celestial bodies at one or +other of these moments, it professed to deduce the whole life and +fortunes of the individual. According to Diodorus, it was believed +that a particular star or constellation presided over the birth of each +person, and thenceforward exercised over his life a special malign or +benignant influence. But his lot depended, not on this star alone, but +on the entire aspect of the heavens at a certain moment. To cast the +horoscope was to reproduce this aspect, and then to read by means of it +the individual's future. + +Chaldee astrology, was not, however, limited to genethlialogy. The +Chaldaeans professed to predict from the stars such things as the +changes of the weather, high winds and storms, great heats, the +appearance of comets, eclipses, earthquakes, and the like. They +published lists of luck and unlucky days, and tables showing what aspect +of the heavens portended good or evil to particular countries. Curiously +enough, it appears that they regarded their art as locally limited to +the regions inhabited by themselves and their kinsmen, so that while +they could boldly predict storm, tempest, failing or abundant crops, +war, famine, and the like, for Syria, Babylonia, and Susiana, they could +venture on no prophecies with respect to other neighboring lands, as +Persia, Media, Armenia. + +A certain amount of real meteorological knowledge was probably mixed +up with the Chaldaean astrology. Their calendars, like modern almanacs, +boldly predicted the weather for fixed days in the year. They must +also have been mathematicians to no inconsiderable extent, since their +methods appear to have been geometrical. It is said that the Greek +mathematicians often quoted with approval the works of their Chaldaean +predecessors, Ciden, Naburianus, and Sudinus. Of the nature and extent +of their mathematical acquirements, no account, however, can be given, +since the writers who mention them enter into no details on the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. + + +"Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon +their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the +Babylonians of Chaldaea, the land of their nativity."--Ezek. xxiii. 15. + + +The manners and customs of the Babylonians, though not admitting of that +copious illustration from ancient monuments which was found possible in +the case of Assyria, are yet sufficiently known to us, either from the +extant remains or from the accounts of ancient writers of authority, to +furnish materials for a short chapter. Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, and +Nicolas of Damascus, present us with many interesting traits of this +somewhat singular people; the sacred writers contemporary with the acme +of the nation add numerous touches; while the remains, though scanty, +put distinctly and vividly before our eyes a certain number of curious +details. + +Herodotus describes with some elaboration the costume of the Babylonians +in his day. He tells us that they wore a long linen gown reaching down +to their feet, a woollen gown or tunic above this, a short cloak or cape +of a white color, and shoes like those of the Boeotians. Their hair they +allowed to grow long, but confined it by a head-band or a turban; and +they always carried a walking-stick with a carving of some kind on +the handle. This portraiture, it is probable, applies to the richer +inhabitants of the capital, and represents the Babylonian gentleman +of the fifth century before our era, as he made his appearance in the +streets of the metropolis. + +The cylinders seem to show that the ordinary Babylonian dress was +less complicated. The worshipper who brings an offering to a god is +frequently represented with a bare head, and wears apparently but +one garment, a tunic generally ornamented with a diagonal fringe, and +reaching from the shoulder to a little above the knee. The tunic is +confined round the waist by a belt. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.] Richer +worshippers, who commonly present a goat, have a fillet or headband, not +a turban, round the head. They wear generally the same sort of tunic +as the others; but over it they have a long robe, shaped like a modern +dressing-gown, except that it has no sleeves, and does not cover the +right shoulder. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.] In a few instances only we see +underneath this open gown a long inner dress or robe, such as that +described by Herodotus. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 2.] A cape or tippet of the +kind which he describes is worn sometimes by a god, but is never seen, +it is believed, in any representation of a mortal. + + +[Illustration: PLATE XXII.] + + +The short tunic, worn by the poorer worshippers, is seen also in a +representation (hereafter to be given) of hunters attacking a lion. A +similar garment is worn by the man--probably a slave--who accompanies +the dog, supposed to represent an Indian hound; and also by a warrior, +who appears on one of the cylinders conducting six foreign captives. +[PLATE XXII., Fig. 4.] There is consequently much reason to believe that +such a tunic formed the ordinary costume of the common people, as it +does at present of the common Arab inhabitants of the country. It left +the arms and right shoulder bare, covering only the left. Below the belt +it was not made like a frock but lapped over in front, being in fact +not so much a garment as a piece of cloth wrapped round the body. +Occasionally it is represented as patterned; but this is somewhat +unusual. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 3.] + +In lieu of the long robe reaching to the feet, which seems to have +been the ordinary costume of the higher classes, we observe sometimes +a shorter, but still a similar garment--a sort of coat without sleeves, +fringed down both sides, and reaching only a little below the knee. The +worshippers who wear this robe have in most cases the head adorned with +a fillet. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 1.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.] + + +It is unusual to find any trace of boots or shoes in the representations +of Babylonians. A shoe patterned with a sort of check work was worn +by the king; and soldiers seem to have worn a low boot in their +expeditions. But with rare exceptions the Babylonians are represented +with bare feet on the monuments; and if they commonly wore shoes in the +time of Herodotus, we may conjecture that they had adopted the practice +from the example of the Medes and Persians. A low boot, laced in front, +was worn by the chiefs of the Susianians. Perhaps the "peculiar shoe" of +the Babylonians was not very different. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 1.] + +The girdle was an essential feature of Babylonian costume, common to +high and low, to the king and to the peasant. It was a broad belt, +probably of leather, and encircled the waist rather high up. The warrior +carried his daggers in it; to the common man it served the purpose of +keeping in place the cloth which he wore round his body. According to +Herodotus, it was also universal in Babylonia to carry a seal and a +walking-stick. + +Special costumes, differing considerably from those hitherto described, +distinguished the king and the priests. The king wore a long gown, +somewhat scantily made, but reaching down to the ankles, elaborately +patterned and fringed. Over this, apparently, he had a close-fitting +sleeved vest, which came down to the knees, and terminated in a set of +heavy tassels. The girdle was worn outside the outer vest, and in war +the monarch carried also two cross-belts, which perhaps supported his +quiver. The upper vest was, like the under one, richly adorned with +embroidery. From it, or from the girdle, depended in front a single +heavy tassel attached by a cord, similar to that worn by the early kings +of Assyria. + +Tho tiara of the monarch was very remarkable. It was of great height, +nearly cylindrical, but with a slight tendency to swell out toward the +crown, which was ornamented with a row of feathers round its entire +circumference. The space below was patterned with rosettes, sacred +trees, and mythological figures. From the centre of the crown there rose +above the feathers a projection resembling in some degree the projection +which distinguishes the tiara of the Assyrian kings, the rounded, and +not squared, at top. This head-dress, which has a heavy appearance, was +worn low on the brow, and covered nearly all the back of the head. It +can scarcely have been composed of a heaver material than cloth or felt. +Probably it was brilliantly colored. + +The monarch wore bracelets, but (apparently) neither necklaces nor +earrings. Those last are assigned by Nicolas of Damascus to a Babylonian +governor; and they were so commonly used by the Assyrians that we +can scarcely suppose them unknown to their kindred and neighbors. The +Babylonian monuments, however, contain no traces of earrings as worn by +men, and only a few doubtful ones of collars or necklaces; whence we +may at any rate conclude that neither were worn at all generally. +The bracelets which encircle the royal wrist resemble the most common +bracelet of the Assyrians, consisting of a plain band, probably of +metal, with a rosette in the centre. + +The dress of the priests was a long robe or gown, flounced and striped, +over which they seem to have worn an open jacket of a similar character. +A long scarf or riband depended from behind down their backs. They +carried on their heads an elaborate crown or mitre, which is assigned +also to many of the gods. In lieu of this mitre, we find sometimes, +though rarely, a horned cap; and, in one or two instances, a mitre of a +different kind. In all sacrificial and ceremonial acts the priests seem +to have worn their heads covered. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 6.] + +On the subject of the Babylonian military costume our information is +scanty and imperfect. In the time of Herodotus the Chaldaeans seem to +have had the same armature as the Assyrians--namely, bronze helmets, +linen breastplates, shields, spears, daggers, and maces or clubs; and, +at a considerably earlier date, we find in Scripture much the same +arms, offensive and defensive, assigned them. There is, however, one +remarkable difference between the Biblical account and that given by +Herodotus. The Greek historian says nothing of the use of bows by the +Chaldaeans; while in Scripture the bow appears as their favorite weapon, +that which principally renders them formidable. The monuments are on +this point thoroughly in accordance with Scripture. The Babylonian king +already represented carries a bow and two arrows. The soldier conducting +captives has a bow an arrow, and a quiver. A monument of an earlier +date, which is perhaps rather Proto-Chaldaean than pure Babylonian, yet +which has certain Babylonian characteristics, makes the arms of a king +a bow and arrow, a club (?), and a dagger. In the marsh fights of +the Assyrians, where their enemies are probably Chaldaeans of the low +country, the bow is the sole weapon which we see in use. + +The Babylonian bow nearly resembles the ordinary curved bow of the +Assyrians. It has a knob at either extremity, over which the string +passes, and is thicker towards the middle than at the two ends; the bend +is slight, the length when strung less than four feet. [PLATE XXIII., +Fig. 2.] The length of the arrow is about three feet. It is carefully +notched and feathered, and has a barbed point. The quiver, as +represented in the Assyrian sculptures, has nothing remarkable about +it; but the single extant Babylonian representation makes it terminate +curiously with a large ornament resembling a spearhead. It is difficult +to see the object of this appendage, which must have formed no +inconsiderable addition to the weight of the quiver. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. +3.] + +Babylonian daggers were short, and shaped like the Assyrian; but their +handles were less elegant and less elaborately ornamented. They were +worn in the girdle (as they are at the present day in all eastern +countries) either in pairs or singly. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 3.] + +Other weapons of the Babylonians, which we may be sure they used in +war, though the monuments do not furnish any proof of the fact, were the +spear and the bill or axe. These weapons are exhibited in combination +upon one of the most curious of the cylinders, where a lion is disturbed +in his meal off an ox by two rustics, one of whom attacks him in front +with a spear, while the other seizes his tail and assails him in the +rear with an axe. [PI. XXIII., Fig. 5.] With the axe here represented +may be compared another, which is found on a clay tablet brought from +Sinkara, and supposed to belong to the early Chaldaean period.30 The +Sinkara axe has a simple square blade: the axe upon the cylinder has a +blade with long curved sides and a curved edge; while, to balance the +weight of the blade, it has on the lower side three sharp spikes. The +difference between the two implements marks the advance of mechanical +art in the country between the time of the first and that of the fourth +monarchy. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 4.] + +Babylonian armies seem to have been composed, like Assyrian, of three +elements--infantry, cavalry, and chariots. Of the chariots we appear +to have one or two representations upon the cylinders, but they are too +rudely carved to be of much value. It is not likely that the chariots +differed much either in shape or equipment from the Assyrian, unless +they were, like those of Susiana, ordinarily drawn by mules. A peculiar +car, four-wheeled, and drawn by four horses, with an elevated platform +in front and a seat behind for the driver, which the cylinders +occasionally exhibit, is probably not a war-chariot, but a sacred +vehicle, like the tensa or thensa of the Romans. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 2.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.] + + +The Prophet Habakkuk evidently considered the cavalry of the Babylonians +to be their most formidable arm. "They are terrible and dreadful," he +said; "from them shall proceed judgment and captivity; their horses +also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening +wolves; and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen +shall come from far; they shall fly, as the eagle that hasteth to +eat." Similarly Ezekiel spoke of the "desirable young men, captains +and rulers, great lords and renowned; all of them riding upon horses," +Jeremiah couples the horses with the chariots, as if he doubted whether +the chariot force or the cavalry were the more to be dreaded. "Behold, +he shall come up as clouds, and his chariot shall be as a whirlwind; his +horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled." In the +army of Xerxes the Babylonians seem to have served only on foot, which +would imply that they were not considered in that king's time to furnish +such good cavalry as the Persians, Medes, Cissians, Indians, and +others, who sent contingents of horse. Darius, however, in the Behistun +inscription, speaks of Babylonian horsemen; and the armies which overran +Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, seem to have consisted mainly of horse. +The Babylonian armies, like the Persian, were vast hosts, poorly +disciplined, composed not only of native troops, but of contingents +from the subject nations, Cissians, Elamites, Shuhites, Assyrians, and +others. They marched with vast noise and tumult, spreading themselves +far and wide over the country which they were invading, plundering +and destroying on all sides. If their enemy would consent to a pitched +battle, they were glad to engage with him; but, more usually, their +contests resolved themselves into a succession of sieges, the bulk of +the population attacked retreating to their strongholds, and offering +behind walls a more or less protracted resistance. The weaker towns were +assaulted with battering-rams; against the stronger, mounds were raised, +reaching nearly to the top of the walls, which were then easily scaled +or broken down. A determined persistence in sieges seems to have +characterized this people, who did not take Jerusalem till the third, +nor Tyre till the fourteenth year. + +In expeditions it sometimes happened that a question arose as to the +people or country next to be attacked. In such cases it appears that +recourse was had to divination, and the omens which were obtained +decided whither the next effort of the invader should be directed. +Priests doubtless accompanied the expeditions to superintend the +sacrifices and interpret them on such occasions. According to Diodorus, +the priests in Babylonia were a caste, devoted to the service of the +native deities and the pursuits of philosophy, and held in high honor by +the people. It was their business to guard the temples and serve at +the altars of the gods, to explain dreams and prodigies, to understand +omens, to read the warnings of the stars, and to instruct men how to +escape the evils threatened in those various ways, by purifications, +incantations, and sacrifices. They possessed a traditional knowledge +which had come down from father to son, and which none thought of +questioning. The laity looked up to them as the sole possessors of a +recondite wisdom of the last importance to humanity. + +With these statements of the lively but inaccurate Sicilian those of the +Book of Daniel are very fairly, if not entirely, in accordance. A class +of "wise men" is described as existing at Babylon, foremost among whom +are the Chaldaeans; they have a special "learning," and (as it would +seem) a special "tongue;" their business is to expound dreams and +prodigies; they are in high favor with the monarch, and are often +consulted by him. This body of "wise men" is subdivided into four +classes--"Chaldaeans, magicians, astrologers, and soothsayers"--a +subdivision which seems to be based upon difference of occupation. It is +not distinctly stated that they are priests; nor does it seem that +they were a caste; for Jews are enrolled among their number, and Daniel +himself is made chief of the entire body. But they form a very distinct +order, and constitute a considerable power in the state; they have +direct communication with the monarch, and they are believed to possess, +not merely human learning, but a supernatural power of predicting future +events. High civil office is enjoyed by some of their number. + +Notices agreeing with these, but of less importance, are contained in +Herodotus and Strabo. Herodotus speaks of the Chaldaeans as "priests;" +Strabo says that they were "philosophers," who occupied themselves +principally in astronomy. The latter writer mentions that they were +divided into sects, who differed one from another in their doctrines. He +gives the names of several Chaldaeans whom the Greek mathematicians +were in the habit of quoting. Among them is a Seleucus, who by his name +should be a Greek. + +From these various authorities we may assume that there was in Babylon, +as in Egypt, and in later Persia, a distinct priest class, which enjoyed +high consideration. It was not, strictly speaking, a caste. Priests +may have generally brought up their sons to the occupation; but other +persons, even foreigners (and if foreigners, then _a fortiori_ natives), +could be enrolled in the order, and attain its highest privileges. +It was at once a sacerdotal and a learned body. It had a literature, +written in peculiar language, which its members were bound to study. +This language and this literature were probably a legacy from the old +times of the first (Turano-Cushite) kingdom, since even in Assyria it +is found that the literature was in the main Turanian, down to the very +close of the empire. Astronomy, astrology, and mythology were no doubt +the chief subjects which the priests studied; but history, chronology, +grammar, law, and natural science most likely occupied some part of +their attention. Conducting everywhere the worship of the gods, they +were of course scattered far and wide through the country; but they had +certain special seats of learning, corresponding perhaps in some sort to +our universities, the most famous of which were Erech or Orchoe (Warka), +and Borsippa, the town represented by the modern Birs-i-Nimrud. They +were diligent students, not wanting in ingenuity, and not content merely +to hand down the wisdom of their ancestors. Schools arose among them; +and a boldness of speculation developed itself akin to that which we +find among the Greeks. Astronomy, in particular, was cultivated with a +good deal of success; and stores were accumulated of which the Greeks in +later times understood and acknowledged the value. + +In social position the priest class stood high. They had access to the +monarch: they were feared and respected by the people; the offerings of +the faithful made them wealthy; their position as interpreters of the +divine will secured them influence. Being regarded as capable of civil +employment, they naturally enough obtained frequently important offices, +which added to their wealth and consideration. + +The mass of the people in Babylonia were employed in the two pursuits +of commerce and agriculture. The commerce was both foreign and domestic. +Great numbers of the Babylonians were engaged in the manufacture of +those textile fabrics, particularly carpets and muslins, which Babylonia +produced not only for her own use, but also for the consumption of +foreign countries. Many more must have been employed as lapidaries in +the execution of those delicate engravings on hard stone, wherewith the +seal, which every Babylonian carried, was as a matter of course adorned. +The ordinary trades and handicrafts practised in the East no doubt +flourished in the country. A brisk import and export trade was +constantly kept up, and promoted a healthful activity throughout the +entire body politic. Babylonia is called "a land of traffic" by +Ezekiel, and Babylon "a city of merchants." Isaiah says "theory of the +Chaldaeans" was "in their ships." The monuments show that from very +early times the people of the low country on the borders of the Persian +Gulf were addicted to maritime pursuits, and navigated the gulf freely, +if they did not even venture on the open ocean. And AEschylus is a +witness that the nautical character still attached to the people after +their conquest by the Persians; for he calls the Babylonians in the army +of Xerxes "navigators of ships." + +The Babylonian import trade, so far as it was carried on by themselves, +seems to have been chiefly with Arabia, with the islands in the Persian +Gulf, and directly or indirectly with India. From Arabia they must have +imported the frankincense which they used largely in their religious +ceremonies; from the Persian Gulf they appear to have derived pearls, +cotton, and wood for walking sticks from India they obtained dogs and +several kinds of gems. If we may believe Strabo, they had a colony +called Gerrha, most favorably situated on the Arabian coast of the gulf, +which was a great emporium, and conducted not only the trade between +Babylonia and the regions to the south, but also that which passed +through Babylonia into the more nothern districts. The products of the +various countries of Western Asia flowed into Babylonia down the courses +of the rivers. From Armenia, or rather Upper Mesopotamia, came wine, +gems, emery, and perhaps stone for building; from Phoenicia, by way +of Palmyra and Thapsacus, came tin, perhaps copper, probably musical +instruments, and other objects of luxury; from Media and the countries +towards the east came fine wool, lapis-lazuli, perhaps silk, and +probably gold and ivory. But these imports seem to have been brought to +Babylonia by foreign merchants rather than imported by the exertions of +native traders. The Armenians, the Phoenicians, and perhaps the Greeks, +used for the conveyance of their goods the route of the Euphrates. The +Assyrians, the Paretaceni, and the Medes probably floated theirs down +the Tigris and its tributaries. + +A large-probably the largest-portion of the people must have been +engaged in the occupations of agriculture. Babylonia was, before all +things, a grain-producing country--noted for a fertility unexampled +elsewhere, and to moderns almost incredible. The soil was a deep and +rich alluvium, and was cultivated with the utmost care. It grew chiefly +wheat, barley millet, and sesame, which all nourished with wonderful +luxuriance. By a skilful management of the natural water supply, the +indispensable fluid was utilized to the utmost, and conveyed to every +part of the country. Date-groves spread widely over the land, and +produced abundance of an excellent fruit. + +For the cultivation of the date nothing was needed but a proper water +supply, and a little attention at the time of fructification. The male +and female palm are distinct trees, and the female cannot produce fruit +unless the pollen from the male comes in contact with its blossoms. If +the male and the female trees are grown in proper proximity, natural +causes will always produce a certain amount of impregnation. But +to obtain a good crop, art may be serviceably applied. According to +Herodotus, the Babylonians were accustomed to tie the branches of +the male to those of the female palm. This was doubtless done at the +blossoming time, when it would have the effect he mentions, preventing +the fruit of the female, or date-producing palms, from falling off. + +The date palm was multiplied in Babylonia by artificial means. It was +commonly grown from seed, several stones being planted together for +greater security; But occasionally it was raised from suckers or +cuttings. It was important to plant the seeds and cuttings in a sandy +soil; and if nature had not sufficiently impregnated the ground with +saline particles, salt had to be applied artificially to the soil +around as a dressing. The young plants needed a good deal of attention. +Plentiful watering was required; and transplantation was desirable at +the end of both the first and second year. The Babylonians are said +to have transplanted their young trees in the height of summer; other +nations preferred the springtime. + +For the cultivation of grain the Babylonians broke up their land with +the plough; to draw which they seem to have employed two oxen, placed +one before the other, in the mode still common in many parts of England. +The plough had two handles, which the ploughman guided with his two +hands. It was apparently of somewhat slight construction. The tail rose +from the lower part of one of the handles, and was of unusual length. +[PLATE XXIV., Fig. 3.] + +It is certain that dates formed the main food of the inhabitants, The +dried fruit, being to them the staff of life, was regarded by the Greeks +as their "bread." It was perhaps pressed into cakes, as is the common +practice in the country at the present day. On this and goat's milk, +which we know to have been in use, the poorer class, it is probable, +almost entirely subsisted. Palm-wine, the fermented sap of the tree, was +an esteemed, but no doubt only an occasional beverage. It was pleasant +to the taste, but apt to leave a headache behind it. Such vegetables +as gourds, melons, and cucumbers, must have been cheap, and may have +entered into the diet of the common people. They were also probably the +consumers of the "pickled bats," which (according to Strabo) were eaten +by the Babylonians. + +In the marshy regions of the south there were certain tribes whose +sole, or at any rate whose chief, food was fish. Fish abound in these +districts, and are readily taken either with the hook or in nets. The +mode of preparing this food was to dry it in the sun, to pound it fine, +strain it through a sieve, and then make it up into cakes, or into a +kind of bread. + +The diet of the richer classes was no doubt varied and luxurious. +Wheaten bread, meats of various kinds, luscious fruits, fish, game, +loaded the board; and wine, imported from abroad was the usual beverage. +The wealthy Babylonians were fond of drinking to excess; their banquets +were magnificent, but generally ended in drunkenness; they were not, +however, mere scenes of coarse indulgence, but had a certain refinement, +which distinguishes them from the riotous drinking-bouts of the less +civilized Modes. Music was in Babylonia a recognized accompaniment of +the feast; and bands of performers, entering with the wine, entertained +the guests with concerted pieces. A rich odor of perfume floated around, +for the Babylonians were connoisseurs in unguents. The eye was delighted +with a display of gold and silver plate. The splendid dresses of the +guests, the exquisite carpets and hangings, the numerous attendants, +gave an air of grandeur to the scene, and seemed half to excuse the +excess of which too many were guilty. + +A love of music appears to have characterized both the Babylonians and +their near neighbors and kinsmen, the Susianians. In the sculptured +representations of Assyria, the Susianians are shown to have possessed +numerous instruments, and to have organized large bands of performers. +The Prophet Daniel and the historian Ctesias similarly witness to the +musical taste of the Babylonians, which had much the same character. +Ctesias said that Annarus (or Nannarus), a Babylonian noble, entertained +his guests at a banquet with music performed by a company of 150 women. +Of these a part sang, while the rest played upon instruments, some using +the pipe, others the harp, and a certain number the psaltery. These same +instruments are assigned to the Babylonians by the prophet Daniel, who, +however, adds to them three more--viz., the horn, the sambuca, and an +instrument called the sumphonia, or "symphony." It is uncertain whether +the horn intended was straight, like the Assyrian, or curved, like the +Roman cornu and lituus. The pipe was probably the double instrument, +played at the end, which was familiar to the Susianians and Assyrians. +The harp would seem to have resembled the later harp of the Assyrians; +but it had fewer strings, if we may judge from a representation upon +a cylinder. Like the Assyrian, it was carried under one arm, and was +played by both hands, one on either side of the strings. [PLATE XXV., +Fig. 3.] + + +[Illustration: PLATE XXV.] + + +The character of the remaining instruments is more doubtful. The sambuca +seems to have been a large harp, which rested on the ground, like the +harps of the Egyptians. The psaltery was also a stringed instrument, +and, if its legitimate descendant is the modern santour, we may presume +that it is represented in the hands of a Susianian musician on the +monument which is our chief authority for the Oriental music of the +period. The symphonia is thought by some to be the bagpipe, which is +called sampogna by the modern Italians: by others it is regarded as a +sort of organ. + +The Babylonians used music, not merely in their private entertainments, +but also in their religious ceremonies. Daniel's account of their +instruments occurs casually in his mention of Nebuchadnezzar's +dedication of a colossal idol of gold. The worshippers were to prostrate +themselves before the idol as soon as they heard the music commence, +and were probably to continue in the attitude of worship until the sound +ceased. + +The seclusion of women seems scarcely to have been practised in +Babylonia with as much strictness as in most Oriental countries. The +two peculiar customs on which Herodotus descants at length--the public +auction of the marriageable virgins in all the towns of the empire, and +the religious prostitution authorized in the worship of Beltis--were +wholly incompatible with the restraints to which the sex has commonly +submitted in the Eastern world. Much modesty can scarcely have belonged +to those whose virgin charms were originally offered in the public +market to the best bidder, and who were required by their religion, at +least once in their lives, openly to submit to the embraces of a man +other than their husband. It would certainly seem that the sex had +in Babylonia a freedom--and not only a freedom, but also a +consideration--unusual in the ancient world, and especially rare in +Asia. The stories of Semiramis and Nitocris may have in them no great +amount of truth; but they sufficiently indicate the belief of the +Greeks as to the comparative publicity allowed to their women by the +Babylonians. + +The monuments accord with the view of Babylonian manners thus opened to +us. The female form is not eschewed by the Chaldaean artists. Besides +images of a goddess (Beltis or Ish-tar) suckling a child, which are +frequent, we find on the cylinders numerous representations of women, +engaged in various employments. Sometimes they are represented in a +procession, visiting the shrine of a goddess, to whom they offer their +petitions, by the mouth of one of their number, or to whom they bring +their children for the purpose, probably, of placing them under her +protection [PLATE XXV., Fig. 5.], sometimes they may be seen amusing +themselves among birds and flowers in a garden, plucking the fruit from +dwarf palms, and politely handing it to one another. [PLATE XXV., Fig. +4.] Their attire is in every case nearly the same; they wear a long but +scanty robe, reaching to the ankles, ornamented at the bottom with a +fringe and apparently opening in front. The upper part of the dress +passes over only one shoulder. It is trimmed round the top with a fringe +which runs diagonally across the chest, and a similar fringe edges the +dress down the front where it opens. A band or fillet is worn round the +head, confining the hair, which is turned back behind the head, and tied +by a riband, or else held up by the fillet. + +Female ornaments are not perceptible on the small figures of +the cylinders; but from the modelled image in clay, of which a +representation has been already given, we learn that bracelets and +earrings of a simple character were worn by Babylonian women, if they +were not by the men. On the whole, however, female dress seems to have +been plain and wanting in variety, though we may perhaps suspect that +the artists do not trouble themselves to represent very accurately such +diversities of apparel as actually existed. + +From a single representation of a priestess it would seem that women +of that class wore nothing but a petticoat, thus exposing not only the +arms, but the whole of the body as far as the waist. + +The monuments throw a little further light on the daily life of the +Babylonians. A few of their implements, as saws and hatchets, are +represented. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 2]; and from the stools, the chairs, the +tables, and stands for holding water-jars which occur occasionally on +the cylinders, we may gather that the fashion of their furniture +much resembled that of their northern neighbors, the Assyrians. It is +needless to dwell on this subject, which presents no novel features, +and has been anticipated by the discussion on Assyrian furniture in the +first volume. The only touch that can be added to what was there said +is that in Babylonia, the chief--almost the sole-material employed for +furniture was the wood of the palm-tree, a soft and light fabric which +could be easily worked, and which had considerable strength, but did not +admit of a high finish. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. RELIGION. + + +The Religion of the later Babylonians differed in so few respects from +that of the early Chaldaeans, their predecessors in the same country, +that it will be unnecessary to detain the reader with many observations +on the subject. The same gods were worshipped in the same temples and +with the same rites--the same cosmogony was taught and held--the same +symbols were objects of religious regard--even the very dress of the +priests was maintained unaltered; and, could Urukh or Chedorlaomer have +risen from the grave and revisited the shrines wherein they sacrificed +fourteen centuries earlier, they would have found but little to +distinguish the ceremonies of their own day from those in vogue +under the successors of Nabopolassar. Some additional splendor in the +buildings, the idols, and perhaps the offerings, some increased use +of music as a part of the ceremonial, some advance of corruption with +respect to priestly impostures and popular religious customs might +probably have been noticed; but otherwise the religion of Nabonidus and +Belshazzar was that of Urukh and Ilgi, alike in the objects and the mode +of worship, in the theological notions entertained and the ceremonial +observances taught and practised. + +The identity of the gods worshipped during the entire period is +sufficiently proved by the repair and restoration of the ancient temples +under Nebuchadnezzar, and their re-dedication (as a general rule) to +the same deities. It appears also from the names of the later kings and +nobles, which embrace among their elements the old divine appellations. +Still, together with this general uniformity, we seem to see a certain +amount of fluctuation--a sort of fashion in the religion, whereby +particular gods were at different times exalted to a higher rank in the +Pantheon, and were sometimes even confounded with other deities commonly +regarded as wholly distinct from them. Thus Nebuchadnezzar devoted +himself in an especial way to Merodach, and not only assigned him titles +of honor which implied his supremacy over all the remaining gods, but +even identified him with the great Bel, the ancient tutelary god of the +capital. Nabonidus, on the other hand, seems to have restored Bel to his +old position, re-establishing the distinction between him and Merodach, +and preferring to devote himself to the former. + +A similar confusion occurs between the goddesses Beltis and Nana or +Ishtar, though this is not peculiar to the later kingdom. It may perhaps +be suspected from such instances of connection and quasi-convertibility, +that an esoteric doctrine, known to the priests and communicated by +them to the kings, taught the real identity of the several gods and +goddesses, who may have been understood by the better instructed to +represent, not distinct and separate beings, but the several phases +of the Divine Nature. Ancient polytheism had, it may be surmised, to a +great extent this origin, the various names and titles of the Supreme, +which designated His different attributes or the different spheres of +His operation, coming by degrees to be misunderstood, and to pass, first +with the vulgar, and at last with all but the most enlightened, for the +appellations of a number of gods. + +The chief objects of Babylonian worship were Bel, Merodach, and Nebo. +Nebo, the special deity of Borsippa, seems to have been regarded as a +sort of powerful patron-saint under whose protection it was important +to place individuals. During the period of the later kingdom, no divine +element is so common in names. Of the seven kings who form the entire +list, three certainly, four probably, had appellations composed with it. +The usage extended from the royal house to the courtiers; and such names +as Nebu-zar-adan, Samgar-Nebo, and Nebushazban, show the respect which +the upper class of citizens paid to this god. It may even be suspected +that when Nebuchadnezzar's Master of the Eunuchs had to give Babylonian +names to the young Jewish princes whom he was educating, he designed to +secure for one of them this powerful patron, and consequently called +him Abed-Nebo--the servant of Nebo--a name which the later Jews, either +disdaining or not understanding, have corrupted into the Abed-nogo of +the existing text. + +Another god held in peculiar honor by the Babylonians was Nergal. +Worshipped at Cutha as the tutelary divinity of the town, he was also +held in repute by the people generally. No name is more common on the +cylinder seals. It is sometimes, though not often, an element in the +names of men, as in "Nergal-shar-ezer, the Eab-mag," and (if he be a +different person) in Neriglissar, the king. + +Altogether, there was a strong local element in the religion of the +Babylonians. Bel and Merodach were in a peculiar way the gods of +Babylon, Nebo of Borsippa, Nergal of Cutha, the Moon of Ur or Hur, +Beltis of Niffer, Hea or Hoa of Hit, Ana of Erech, the Sun of Sippara. +Without being exclusively honored at a single site, the deities in +question held the foremost place each in his own town. There especially +was worship offered to them; there was the most magnificent of their +shrines. Out of his own city a god was not greatly respected, unless by +those who regarded him as their special personal protector. + +The Babylonians worshipped their gods indirectly, through images. +Each shrine had at least one idol, which was held in the most pious +reverence, and was in the minds of the vulgar identified with the god. +It seems to have been believed by some that the actual idol ate and +drank the offerings. Others distinguished between the idol and the god, +regarding the latter as only occasionally visiting the shrine where he +was worshipped. Even these last, however, held gross anthropomorphic +views, since they considered the god to descend from heaven in order to +hold commerce with the chief priestess. Such notions were encouraged by +the priests, who furnished the inner shrine in the temple of Bel with a +magnificent couch and a golden table, and made the principal priestess +pass the night in the shrine on certain occasions. + +The images of the gods were of various materials. Some were of wood, +others of stone, others again of metal; and these last were either +solid or plated. The metals employed were gold, silver, brass, or rather +bronze, and iron. Occasionally the metal was laid over a clay model. +Sometimes images of one metal were overlaid with plates of another, as +was the case with one of the great images of Bel, which was originally +of silver but was coated with gold by Nebuchadnezzar. + +The worship of the Babylonians appears to have been conducted with much +pomp and magnificence. A description has been already given of their +temples. Attached to these imposing structures was, in every case, a +body of priests; to whom the conduct of the ceremonies and the custody +of the treasures were intrusted. The priests were married, and lived +with their wives and children, either in the sacred structure itself, +or in its immediate neighborhood. They were supported either by lands +belonging to the temple, or by the offerings of the faithful. These +consisted in general of animals, chiefly oxen and goats; but other +valuables were no doubt received when tendered. The priest always +intervened between the worshipper and the deities, presenting him to +them and interceding with uplifted hands on his behalf. + +In the temple of Bel at Babylon, and probably in most of the other +temples both there and elsewhere throughout the country, a great +festival was celebrated once in the course of each year. We know little +of the ceremonies with which these festivals were accompanied; but +we may presume from the analogy of other nations that there were +magnificent processions on these occasions, accompanied probably with +music and dancing. The images of the gods were perhaps exhibited either +on frames or on sacred vehicles. Numerous victims were sacrificed; and +at Babylon it was customary to burn on the great altar in the precinct +of Bel a thousand talents' weight of frankincense. The priests no doubt +wore their most splendid dresses; the multitude was in holiday costume; +the city was given up to merry-making. Everywhere banquets were held. In +the palace the king entertained his lords; in private houses there was +dancing and revelling. Wine was freely drunk; passion Was excited; and +the day, it must be feared, too often terminated in wild orgies, wherein +the sanctions of religion were claimed for the free indulgence of the +worst sensual appetites. In the temples of one deity excesses of this +description, instead of being confined to rare occasions, seem to have +been of every-day occurrence. Each woman was required once in her life +to visit a shrine of Beltis, and there remain till some stranger cast +money in her lap and took her away with him. Herodotus, who seems to +have visited the disgraceful scene, describes it as follows. "Many women +of the wealthier sort, who are too proud to mix with the others, drive +in covered carriages to the precinct, followed by a goodly train of +attendants, and there take their station. But the larger number seat +themselves within the holy inclosure with wreaths of string about their +heads--and here there is always a great crowd, some coming and others +going. Lines of cord mark out paths in all directions among the woman; +and the strangers pass along them to make their choice. A women who +has once taken her seat is not allowed to return home till one of the +strangers throws a silver coin into her lap, and takes her with +him beyond the holy ground. When he throws the coin, he says these +words--'The goddess Mylitta (Beltis) prosper thee.' The silver coin may +be of any size; it cannot be refused; for that is forbidden by the law, +since once thrown it is sacred. The woman goes with the first man who +throws her money, and rejects no one. When she has gone with him, and +so satisfied the goddess, she returns home; and from that time forth +no gift, however great, will prevail with her. Such of the women as are +tall and beautiful are soon released; but others, who are ugly, have to +stay a long time before they can fulfil the law. Some have even waited +three or four years in the precinct." The demoralizing tendency of this +religious prostitution can scarcely be overrated. + +Notions of legal cleanliness and uncleanliness, akin to those prevalent +among the Jews, are found to some extent in the religious system of the +Babylonians. The consummation of the marriage rite made both the man +and the woman impure, as did every subsequent act of the same kind. +The impurity was communicated to any vessel that either might touch. To +remove it, the pair were required first to sit down before a censer of +burning incense, and then to wash themselves thoroughly. Thus only could +they re-enter into the state of legal cleanness. A similar impurity +attached to those who came into contact with a human corpse. The +Babylonians are remarkable for the extent to which they affected +symbolism in religion. In the first place they attached to each god a +special mystic number, which is used as his emblem and may even stand +for his name in an inscription. To the gods of the First Triad-Ami, Bel, +and Hea or Hoa--were assigned respectively the numbers 60, 50, and 40; +to those of the Second Triad--the Moon, the Sun and the Atmosphere--were +given the other integers, 30, 20, and 10 (or perhaps six). To Beltis was +attached the number 15, to Nergal 12, to Bar or Nin (apparently) 40, as +to Hoa; but this is perhaps doubtful. It is probable that every god, +or at any rate all the principle deities, had in a similar way some +numerical emblem. Many of these are, however, as yet undiscovered. + +Further, each god seems to have had one or more emblematic signs by +which he could be pictorially symbolized. The cylinders are full of such +forms, which are often crowded into every vacant space where room +could be found for them. A certain number can be assigned definitely to +particular divinities. Thus a circle, plain or crossed, designates the +Sun-god, San or Shamas; a six-rayed or eight-rayed star the Sun-goddess, +Gula or Anunit; a double or triple thunderbolt the Atmospheric god, Vul; +a serpent probably Hoa; a naked female form Nana or Ishtar; a fish Bar +or Nin-ip. But besides these assignable symbols, there are a vast number +with regard to which we are still wholly in the dark. Among these may + + +[Illustration: PAGE 229] + + +tree, an ox, a bee, a spearhead. A study of the inscribed cylinders +shows these emblems to have no reference to the god or goddess named +in the inscription upon them. Each, apparently, represents a distinct +deity; and the object of placing them upon a cylinder is to imply the +devotion of the man whose seal it is to other deities besides those +whose special servant he considers himself. A single cylinder sometimes +contains as many as eight or ten such emblems. The principal temples +of the gods had special sacred appellations. The great temple of Bel +at Babylon was known as Bit-Saggath, that of the same god at Niffer as +Kharris-Nipra. that of Beltis at Warka (Erech) as Bit-Ana, that of +the sun at Sippara as Bit-Parra, that of Anunit at the same place as +Bit-Ulmis, that of Nebo at Borsippa as Bit-Tsida, etc. It is seldom that +these names admit of explanation. They had come down apparently from +the old Chaldaean times, and belonged to the ancient (Turanian) form of +speech; which is still almost unintelligible. The Babylonians themselves +probably in few cases understood their meaning. They used the words +simply as proper names, without regarding them as significative. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY. + + +The history of the Babylonian Empire commences with Nabopolassar, +who appears to have mounted the throne in the year B.C. 625; but to +understand the true character of the kingdom which he set up, its +traditions and its national spirit, we must begin at a far earlier date. +We must examine, in however incomplete and cursory a manner, the middle +period of Babylonian history, the time of obscurity and comparative +insignificance, when the country was as a general rule, subject to +Assyria, or at any rate played but a secondary part in the affairs of +the East. We shall thus prepare the way for our proper subject, while at +the same time we shall link on the history of the Fourth to that of +the First Monarchy, and obtain a second line of continuous narrative, +connecting the brilliant era of Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar with the +obscure period of the first Cushite kings. + +It has been observed that the original Chaldaean monarchy lasted, +under various dynasties from about B.C. 2400 to B.C. 1300, when it was +destroyed by the Assyrians, who became masters of Babylonia under the +first Tiglathi-Nin, and governed it for a short time from their own +capital. Unable, however, to maintain this unity very long, they appear +to have set up in the country an Assyrian dynasty, over which they +claimed and sometimes exercised a kind of suzerainty, but which was +practically independent and managed both the external and internal +affairs of the kingdom at its pleasure. The first king of this dynasty +concerning whom we have any information is a Nebuchadnezzar, who was +contemporary with the Assyrian monarch Asshur-ris-ilim, and made two +attacks upon his territories. The first of these was by the way of +the Diyaleh and the outlying Zagros hills, the line taken by the great +Persian military road in later times. The second was directly across the +plain. If we are to believe the Assyrian historian who gives an account +of the campaigns, both attacks were repulsed, and after his second +failure the Babylonian monarch fled away into his own country hastily. +We may perhaps suspect that a Babylonian writer would have told a +different story. At any rate Asshur-ris-ilim was content to defend his +own territories and did not attempt to retaliate upon his assailant. It +was not till late in the reign of his son and successor, Tiglath-Pileser +I., that any attempt was made to punish the Babylonians for their +audacity. Then, however, that monarch invaded the southern kingdom, +which had passed into the hands of a king named Merodach-iddin-akhi, +probably a son of Nebuchadnezzar. After two years of fighting, in which +he took Eurri-Galzu (Akkerkuf), the two Sipparas, Opis, and even +Babylon itself, Tiglath-Pileser retired, satisfied apparently with his +victories; but the Babylonian monarch was neither subdued nor daunted. +Hanging on the rear of the retreating force, he harassed it by cutting +off its baggage, and in this way he became possessed of certain Assyrian +idols, which he carried away as trophies to Babylon. War +continued between the two countries during the ensuing reigns of +Merodach-shapik-ziri in Babylon and Asshur-bil-kala in Assyria, but with +no important successes, so far as appears, on either side. + +The century during which these wars took place between Assyria and +Babylonia, which corresponds with the period of the later Judges in +Israel, is followed by an obscure interval, during which but little is +known of either country. Assyria seems to have been at this time in +a state of great depression. Babylonia, it may be suspected, was +flourishing; but as our knowledge of its condition comes to us almost +entirely through the records of the sister country, which here fail +us, we can only obtain a dim and indistinct vision of the greatness now +achieved by the southern kingdom. A notice of Asshur-izir-pal's seems +to imply that Babylon, during the period in question, enlarged her +territories at the expense of Assyria, and another in Macrobius, makes +it probable that she held communications with Egypt. Perhaps these two +powers, fearing the growing strength of Assyria, united against her, +and so checked for a while that development of her resources which they +justly dreaded. + +However, after two centuries of comparative depression, Assyria once +more started forward, and Babylonia was among the first of her neighbors +whom she proceeded to chastise and despoil. About the year B.C. 880 +Asshur-izir-pal led an expedition to the south-east and recovered the +territory which, had been occupied by the Babylonians during the period +of weakness. Thirty years later, his son, the Black-Obelisk king, made +the power of Assyria still more sensibly felt. Taking advantage of +the circumstance that a civil war was raging in Babylonia between the +legitimate monarch Merodach-sum-adin, and his young brother, he marched +into the country, took a number of the towns, and having defeated and +slain the pretender, was admitted into Babylon itself. From thence he +proceeded to overrun Chaldaea, or the district upon the coast, which +appears at this time to have been independent of Babylon, and governed +by a number of petty kings. The Babylonian monarch probably admitted the +suzerainty of the invader, but was not put to any tribute. The Chaldaean +chiefs, however, had to submit to this indignity. The Assyrian monarch +returned to his capital, having "struck terror as far as the sea." Thus +Assyrian influence was once more extended over the whole of the southern +country, and Babylonia resumed her position of a secondary power, +dependent on the great monarchy of the north. + +But she was not long allowed to retain even the shadow of an autonomous +rule. In or about the year B.C. 821 the son and successor of the +Black-Obelisk king, apparently without any pretext, made a fresh +invasion of the country. Mero-dach-belatzu-ikm, the Babylonian monarch, +boldly met him in the field, but was defeated in two pitched battles (in +the latter of which he had the assistance of powerful allies) and was +forced to submit to his antagonist. Babylon, it is probable, became at +once an Assyrian tributary, and in this condition she remained till +the troubles which came upon Assyria towards the middle of the eighth +century B.C. gave an opportunity for shaking off the hated yoke. Perhaps +the first successes were obtained by Pul, who, taking advantage of +Assyria's weakness under Asshur-dayan III. (ab. B.C. 770), seems to +have established a dominion over the Euphrates valley and Western +Mesopotamia, from which he proceeded to carry his arms into Syria and +Palestine. Or perhaps Pul's efforts merely, by still further weakening +Assyria, paved the way for Babylon to revolt, and Nabonassar, who became +king of Babylon in B.C. 747, is to be regarded as the re-establisher +of her independence. In either case it is apparent that the recovery of +independence was accompanied, or rapidly followed, by a disintegration +of the country, which was of evil omen for its future greatness. While +Nabonassar established himself at the head of affairs in Babylon, a +certain Yakin, the father of Merodach-Baladan, became master of the +tract upon the coast; and various princes, Nadina, Zakiru, and others, +at the same time obtained governments, which they administered in their +own name towards the north. The old Babylonian kingdom was broken up; +and the way was prepared for that final subjugation which was ultimately +affected by the Sargonids. + +Still, the Babylonians seemed to have looked with complacency on this +period, and they certainly made it an era from which to date their later +history. Perhaps, however, they had not much choice in this matter. +Nabonassar was a man of energy and determination. Bent probably on +obliterating the memory of the preceding period of subjugation, he +"destroyed the acts of the kings who had preceded him;" and the result +was that the war of his accession became almost necessarily the era from +which subsequent events had to be dated. + +Nabonassar appears to have lived on friendly terms with Tiglath-Pileser, +the contemporary monarch of Assyria, who early in his reign invaded the +southern country, reduced several princes of the districts about Babylon +to subjection, and forced Merodach-Baladan, who had succeeded his +father, Yakin, in the low region, to become his tributary. No war seems +to have been waged between Tiglath-Pileser and Nabonassar. The king of +Babylon may have seen with satisfaction the humiliation of his immediate +neighbors and rivals, and may have felt that their subjugation rather +improved than weakened his own position. At any rate it tended to place +him before the nation as their only hope and champion--the sole barrier +which protected their country from a return of the old servitude. + +Nabonassar held the throne of Babylon for fourteen years, from B.C. 747 +to B.C. 733. It has generally been supposed that this period is the same +with that regarded by Herodotus as constituting the reign of Semiramis. +As the wife or as the mother of Nabonassar, that lady (according to +many) directed the affairs of the Babylonian state on behalf of her +husband or her son. The theory is not devoid of a certain plausibility, +and it is no doubt possible that it may be true; but at present it is +a mere conjecture, wholly unconfirmed by the native records; and we may +question whether on the whole it is not more probable that the Semiramis +of Herodotus is misplaced. In a former volume it was shown that a +Semiramis flourished in Assyria towards the end of the ninth and the +beginning of the eighth centuries B.C.---during the period, that is, +of Babylonian subjection to Assyria. She may have been a Babylonian +princess, and have exercised an authority in the southern capital. It +would seem therefore to be more probable that she is the individual whom +Herodotus intends, though he has placed her about half a century too +late, than that there were two persons of the same name within so short +a time, both queens, and both ruling in Mesopotamia. + +Nabonassar was succeeded in the year B.C. 733 by a certain Nadius, +who is suspected to have been among the independent princes reduced +to subjection by Tiglath-Pileser in his Babylonian expedition. Nadius +reigned only two years--from B.C. 733 to B.C. 731--when he was succeeded +by Ghinzinus and Porus, two princes whose joint rule lasted from +B.C. 731 to B.C. 726. They were followed by an Elulseus, who has +been identified with the king of that name called by Menander king of +Tyre--the Luliya of the cuneiform inscriptions; but it is in the highest +degree improbable that one and the same monarch should have borne sway +both in Phoenicia and Chaldaea at a time when Assyria was paramount +over the whole of the intervening country. Elulseus therefore must +be assigned to the same class of utterly obscure monarchs with his +predecessors, Porus, Chinzinus, and Nadius; and it is only with +Merodach-Baladan, his successor, that the darkness becomes a little +dispelled, and we once more see the Babylonian throne occupied by a +prince of some reputation and indeed celebrity. + +Merodach-Baladan was the son of a monarch, who in the troublous times +that preceded, or closely followed, the era of Nabonassar appears to +have made himself master of the lower Babylonian territory--the true +Chaldaea--and to have there founded a capital city, which he +called after his own name, Bit-Yakin. On the death of his father +Merodach-Baladan inherited this dominion; and it is here that we first +find him, when, during the reign of Nabonassar, the Assyrians under +Tiglath-Pileser II. invade the country. Forced to accept the position +of Assyrian tributary under this monarch, to whom he probably looked +for protection against the Babylonian king, Nabonassar, Merodach-Baladan +patiently bided his time, remaining in comparative obscurity during the +two reigns of Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser his successor, and only +emerging contemporaneously with the troubles which ushered in the +dynasty of the Sargonids. In B.C. 721--the year in which Sargon made +himself master of Nineveh--Merodach-Baladan extended his authority +over the upper country, and was recognized as king of Babylon. Here he +maintained himself for twelve years; and it was probably at some point +of time within this space that he sent embassadors to Hezekiah at +Jerusalem, with orders to inquire into the particulars of the curious +astronomical marvel, or miracle, which had accompanied the sickness and +recovery of that monarch. It is not unlikely that the embassy, whereof +this was the pretext, had a further political object. Morodach-Baladan, +aware of his inability to withstand singly the forces of Assyria, was +probably anxious to form a powerful league against the conquering state, +which threatened to absorb the whole of Western Asia into its dominion. +Hezekiah received his advances favorably, as appears by the fact that he +exhibited to him all his treasures. Egypt, we may presume, was cognizant +of the proceedings, and gave them her support. An alliance, defensive if +not also offensive, was probably concluded between Egypt and Judaea on +the one hand, Babylon, Susiana, and the Aramaean tribes of the middle +Euphrates on the other. The league would have been formidable but for +one circumstance--Assyria lay midway between the allied states, and +could attack either moiety of the confederates separately at her +pleasure. And the Assyrian king was not slow to take advantage of his +situation. In two successive years Sargon marched his troops against +Egypt and against Babylonia, and in both directions carried all before +him. In Egypt he forced Sabaco to sue for peace. In Babylonia (B.C. +710) he gained a great victory over Merodach-Baladan and his allies, +the Aramaeans and Susianians, took Bit-Yakin, into which the defeated +monarch had thrown himself, and gained possession of his treasures and +his person. Upon this the whole country submitted; Merodach-Baladan +was carried away captive into Assyria; and Sargon himself, mounting the +throne, assumed the title-rarely taken by an Assyrian monarch of "King +of Babylon." + +But this state of things did not continue long. Sargon died in the year +B.C. 704, and coincident with his death we find a renewal of troubles in +Babylonia. Assyria's yoke was shaken off; various pretenders started +up; a son of Sargon and brother of Sennacherib re-established Assyrian +influence for a brief space; but fresh revolts followed. A certain +Hagisa became king of Babylon for a month. Finally, Merodach-Baladan, +again appeared upon the scene, having escaped from his Assyrian prison, +murdered Hagisa, and remounted the throne from which he had been deposed +seven years previously. But the brave effort to recover independence +failed. Sennacherib in his second year, B.C. 703, descended upon +Babylonia, defeated the army which Merodach-Baladan brought against him, +drove that monarch himself into exile, after a reign of six months, and +re-attached his country to the Assyrian crown. From this time to +the revolt of Nabopolassar--a period of above three quarters of a +century--Babylonia with few and brief intervals of revolt, continued +an Assyrian fief. The assyrian kings governed her either by means +of viceroys, such as Belibus, Regibelus, Mesesimordachus, and +Saos-duchinus, or directly in their own persons, as was the case during +the reign of Esarhaddon, and during the later years of Asshur-bani-pal. + +The revolts of Babylon during this period have been described at length +in the history of Assyria. Two fall into the reign of Sennacherib, +one into that of Asshur-bani-pal, his grandson. In the former, +Merodach-Baladan, who had not yet given up his pretensions to the lower +country, and a certain Susub, who was acknowledged as king at Babylon, +were the leaders. In the latter, Saos-duchinus, the Assyrian viceroy, +and brother of Asshur-bani-pal, the Assyrian king, seduced from +his allegiance by the hope of making himself independent headed the +insurrection. In each case the struggle was brief, being begun and +ended within the year. The power of Assyria at this time so vastly +preponderated over that of her ancient rival that a single campaign +sufficed on each occasion of revolt to crush the nascent insurrection. + +A tabular view of the chronology of this period is appended. + + +[Illustration: PAGE 237] + + +Having thus briefly sketched the history of the kingdom of Babylon from +its conquest by Tiglathi-Nin to the close of the long period of Assyrian +predominance in Western Asia, we may proceed to the consideration of the +"Empire." And first, as to the circumstances of its foundation. + +When the Medes first assumed an aggressive attitude towards Assyria, +and threatened the capital with a siege, Babylonia apparently remained +unshaken in her allegiance. When the Scythian hordes spread themselves +over Upper Mesopotamia and wasted with fire and sword the fairest +regions under Assyrian rule, there was still no defection in this +quarter. It was not till the Scythic ravages were over, and the Medes +for the second time poured across Zagros into Adiabene, resuming the +enterprise from which they had desisted at the time of the Scythic +invasion, that the fidelity of the Southern people wavered. +Simultaneously with the advance of the Medes against the Assyrian +capital from the east, we hear of a force threatening it from the south, +a force which can only have consisted of Susianians, of Babylonians, +or of both combined. It is probable that the emissaries of Cyaxares had +been busy in this region for some time before his second attack took +place, and that by a concerted plan while the Medes debouched from the +Zagros passes, the south rose in revolt and sent its hasty levies along +the valley of the Tigris. + +In this strait the Assyrian king deemed it necessary to divide his +forces and to send a portion against the enemy which was advancing from +the south, while with the remainder he himself awaited the coming of the +Medes. The troops detached for the former service he placed under the +command of a certain Nabopolassar? (Nabu-pal-uzur), who was probably +an Assyrian nobleman of high rank and known capacity. Nabopolassar had +orders to proceed to Babylon, of which he was probably made viceroy, and +to defend the southern capital against the rebels. We may conclude that +he obeyed these orders so far as to enter Babylon and install himself +in office; but shortly afterwards he seems to have made up his mind +to break faith with his sovereign, and aim at obtaining for himself +an independent kingdom out of the ruins of the Assyrian power. Having +formed this resolve, his first step was to send an embassy to Cyaxares, +and to propose terms of alliance, while at the same time he arranged +a marriage between his own son, Nebuchadnezzar, and Amuhia, or Amyitis +(for the name is written both ways), the daughter of the Median +monarch. + +Cyaxares gladly accepted the terms offered; the young persons were +betrothed; and Nabopolassar immediately led, or sent, a contingent of +troops to join the Medes, who took an active part in the great siege +which resulted in the capture and destruction of the Assyrian capital. + +A division of the Assyrian Empire between the allied monarchs followed. +While Cyaxares claimed for his own share Assyria Proper and the various +countries dependent on Assyria towards the north and the north-west, +Nabopolassar was rewarded by his timely defection, not merely by +independence but by the transfer to his government of Susiana on the +one hand and of the valley of the Euphrates, Syria, and Palestine on +the other. The transfer appears to have been effected quietly, the +Babylonian yoke being peacefully accepted in lieu of the Assyrian +without the necessity arising for any application of force. Probably +it appeared to the subjects of Assyria, who had been accustomed to a +monarch holding his court alternately at Nineveh and at Babylon, that +the new power was merely a continuation of the old, and the monarch a +legitimate successor of the old line of Ninevite kings. + +Of the reign of Nabopolassar the information which has come down to +us is scanty. It appears by the canon of Ptolemy that he dated his +accession to the throne from the year B.C. 625, and that his reign +lasted twenty-one years, from B.C. 625 to B.C. 604. During the greater +portion of this period the history of Babylon is a blank. Apparently the +"golden city" enjoyed her new position at the head of an empire too much +to endanger it by aggression; and, her peaceful attitude provoking no +hostility, she was for a while left unmolested by her neighbors. Media, +bound to her by formal treaty as well as by dynastic interests, could be +relied upon as a firm friend; Persia was too weak, Lydia too remote, to +be formidable; in Egypt alone was there a combination of hostile feeling +with military strength such as might have been expected to lead speedily +to a trial of strength; but Egypt was under the rule of an aged and wary +prince, one trained in the school of adversity, whose years forbade his +engaging in any distant enterprise, and whose prudence led him to think +more of defending his own country than of attacking others. Thus, while +Psammetichus lived, Babylon had little to fear from any quarter, and +could afford to "give herself to pleasures and dwell carelessly." + +The only exertion which she seems to have been called upon to make +during her first eighteen years of empire resulted from the close +connection which had been established between herself and Media. +Cyaxares, as already remarked, proceeded from the capture of Nineveh to +a long series of wars and conquests. In some, if not in all, of these he +appears to have been assisted by the Babylonians, who were perhaps bound +by treaty to furnish a contingent as often as he required it, Either +Nabopolassar himself, or his son Nebuchadnezzar, would lead out the +troops on such occasions; and thus the military spirit of both prince +and people would be pretty constantly exercised. + +It was as the leader of such a contingent that Nabopolassar was able +on one occasion to play the important part of peacemaker in one of the +bloodiest of all Cyaxares' wars. After five years' desperate fighting +the Medes and Lydians were once more engaged in conflict when an eclipse +of the sun took place. Filled with superstitious dread the two armies +ceased to contend, and showed a disposition for reconciliation, of which +the Babylonian monarch was not slow to take advantage. Having consulted +with Syennesis of Cilicia, the foremost man of the allies on the other +side, and found him well disposed to second his efforts, he proposed +that the sword should be returned to the scabbard, and that a conference +should be held to arrange terms of peace. This timely interference +proved effectual. A peace was concluded between the Lydians and the +Medes, which was cemented by a royal intermarriage: and the result +was to give to Western Asia, where war and ravage had long been almost +perpetual, nearly half a century of tranquillity. + +Successful in his mediation, almost beyond his hopes, Nabopolassar +returned from Asia Minor to Babylon. He was now advanced in years, +and would no doubt gladly have spent the remainder of his days in +the enjoyment of that repose which is so dear to those who feel the +infirmities of age creeping upon them. But Providence had +ordained otherwise. In B.C. 610--probably the very year of the +eclipse--Psammetichus died, and was succeeded by his son Neco, who was +in the prime of life and who in disposition was bold and enterprising. +This monarch very shortly after his accession cast a covetous eye upon +Syria, and in the year B.C. 608, having made vast preparations, he +crossed his frontier and invaded the territories of Nabopolassar. +Marching along the usual route, by the _Shephilah_ and the plain of +Esdraelon, he learned, when he neared Megiddo, that a body of troops was +drawn up at that place to oppose him, Josiah, the Jewish king, regarding +himself as bound to resist the passage through his territories of an +army hostile to the monarch of whom he held his crown, had collected his +forces, and, having placed them across the line of the invader's march, +was calmly awaiting in this position the approach of his master's enemy. +Neco hereupon sent ambassadors to persuade Josiah to let him pass, +representing that he had no quarrel with the Jews, and claiming a +divine sanction to his undertaking. But nothing could shake the Jewish +monarch's sense of duty; and Neco was consequently forced to engage with +him, and to drive his troops from their position. Josiah, defeated and +mortally wounded, returned to Jerusalem, where he died. Neco pressed +forward through Syria to the Euphrates; and carrying all before him, +established his dominion over the whole tract lying between Egypt on +the one hand, and the "Great River" upon the other. On his return three +months later he visited Jerusalem, deposed Jehoahaz, a younger son of +Josiah, whom the people had made king, and gave the crown to Jehoiakim, +his elder brother. It was probably about this time that he besieged and +took Gaza, the most important of the Philistine towns next to Ashdod. + +The loss of this large and valuable territory did not at once arouse the +Babylonian monarch from his inaction or induce him to make any effort +for its recovery. Neco enjoyed his conquests in quiet for the space +of at least three full years. At length, in the year B.C. 605, +Nabopolassar, who felt himself unequal to the fatigues of a campaign, +resolved to entrust his forces to Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and to send +him to contend with the Egyptians. The key of Syria at this time was +Carchemish, a city situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, probably +near the site which was afterwards occupied by Hierapolis. Here +the forces of Neco were drawn up to protect his conquests, and here +Nebuchadnezzar proceeded boldly to attack them. A great battle was +fought in the vicinity of the river, which was utterly disastrous to the +Egyptians, who "fled away" in confusion, and seem not to have ventured +on making a second stand. Nebuchadnezzar rapidly recovered the lost +territory, received the submission of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, restored +the old frontier line, and probably pressed on into Egypt itself, hoping +to cripple or even to crush his presumptuous adversary. But at this +point he was compelled to pause. News arrived from Babylon that +Nabopolassar was dead; and the Babylonian prince, who feared a disputed +succession, having first concluded a hasty arrangement with Neco, +returned at his best speed to his capital. + +Arriving probably before he was expected, he discovered that his fears +were groundless. The priests had taken the direction of affairs during +his absence, and the throne had been kept vacant for him by the Chief +Priest, or Head of the Order. No pretender had started up to dispute his +claims. Doubtless his military prestige, and the probability that the +soldiers would adopt his cause, had helped to keep back aspirants; but +perhaps it was the promptness of his return, as much as anything, that +caused the crisis to pass off without difficulty. + +Nebuchadnezzar is the great monarch of the Babylonian Empire, which, +lasting only 88 years--from B.C. 625 to B.C. 538--was for nearly half +the time under his sway. Its military glory is due chiefly to him, while +the constructive energy, which constitutes its especial characteristic, +belongs to it still more markedly through his character and genius. +It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Nebuchadnezzar, the +Babylonians would have had no place in history. At any rate, their +actual place is owing almost entirely to this prince, who to the +military talents of an able general added a grandeur of artistic +conception and a skill in construction which place him on a par with the +greatest builders of antiquity. + +We have no complete, or even general account of Nebuchadnezzar's wars. +Our chief, our almost sole, information concerning them is derived from +the Jewish writers. Consequently, those wars only which interested these +writers, in other words those whose scene is Palestine or its immediate +vicinity, admit of being placed before the reader. If Nebuchadnezzar had +quarrels with the Persians, or the Arabians, or the Medes, or the tribes +in Mount Zagros, as is not improbable, nothing is now known of their +course or issue. Until some historical document belonging to his time +shall be discovered, we must be content with a very partial knowledge +of the external history of Babylon during his reign. We have a tolerably +full account of his campaigns against the Jews, and some information +as to the general course of the wars which he carried on with Egypt and +Phoenicia; but beyond these narrow limits we know nothing. + +It appears to have been only a few years after Nebuchadnezzar's +triumphant campaign against Neco that renewed troubles broke out in +Syria. Phoenicia revolted under the leadership of Tyre; and about the +same time Jehoiakim, the Jewish king, having obtained a promise of aid +from the Egyptians, renounced his allegiance. Upon this, in his seventh +year (B.C. 598), Nebuchadnezzar proceeded once more into Palestine +at the head of a vast army, composed partly of his allies, the Medes, +partly of his own subjects. He first invested Tyre; but, finding that +city too strong to be taken by assault, he left a portion of his army to +continue the siege, while he himself pressed forward against Jerusalem. +On his near approach, Jehoiakim, seeing that the Egyptians did not care +to come to his aid, made his submission; but Nebuchadnezzar punished his +rebellion with death, and, departing from the common Oriental practice, +had his dead body treated with indignity. At first he placed upon the +throne Jehoia-chin, the son of the late monarch, a youth of eighteen; +but three months later, becoming suspicious (probably not without +reason) of this prince's fidelity, he deposed him and had him brought +a captive to Babylon, substituting in his place his uncle, Zedekiah, +a brother of Jehoiakim and Jehoahaz. Meanwhile the siege of Tyre was +pressed, but with little effect. A blockade is always tedious; and the +blockade of an island city, strong in its navy, by an enemy unaccustomed +to the sea, and therefore forced to depend mainly upon the assistance of +reluctant allies, must have been a task of such extreme difficulty that +one is surprised it was not given up in despair. According to the Tyrian +historians their city resisted all the power of Nebuchadnezzar for +thirteen years. If this statement is to be relied on, Tyre must have +been still uncaptured, when the time came for its sister capital to make +that last effort for freedom in which it perished. + +After receiving his crown from Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah continued for +eight years to play the part of a faithful vassal. At length, however, +in the ninth year, he fancied he saw a way to independence. A young and +enterprising monarch, Uaphris--the Apries of Herodotus--had recently +mounted the Egyptian throne. If the alliance of this prince could be +secured, there was, Zedekiah thought, a reasonable hope that the yoke +of Babylon might be thrown off and Hebrew autonomy re-established. The +infatuated monarch did not see that, do what he would, his country +had no more than a choice of masters, that by the laws of political +attraction Judaea must gravitate to one or other of the two great +states between which it had the misfortune of lying. Hoping to free his +country, he sent ambassadors to Uaphris, who were to conclude a treaty +and demand the assistance of a powerful contingent, composed of both +foot and horse. Uaphris received the overture favorably; and Zedekiah at +once revolted from Babylon, and made preparations to defend himself with +vigor. It was not long before the Babylonians arrived. Determined to +crush the daring state, which, weak as it was, had yet ventured to +revolt against him now for the fourth time, Nebuchadnezzar came in +person, "he and all his host," against Jerusalem, and after overcoming +and pillaging the open country, "built forts" and besieged the city. +Uaphris, upon this, learning the danger of his ally, marched out of +Egypt to his relief; and the Babylonian army, receiving intelligence +of his approach, raised the siege and proceeded in quest of their new +enemy. According to Josephus a battle was fought, in which the Egyptians +were defeated; but it is perhaps more probable that they avoided an +engagement by a precipitate retreat into their own country. At any +rate the attempt effectually to relieve Jerusalem failed. After a brief +interval the siege was renewed; a complete blockade was established; and +in a year and a half from the time of the second investment, the city +fell. + +Nebuchadnezzar had not waited to witness this success of his arms. +The siege of Tyre was still being pressed at the date of the second +investment of Jerusalem, and the Chaldaean monarch had perhaps thought +that his presence on the borders of Phoenicia was necessary to animate +his troops in that quarter. If this was his motive in withdrawing from +the Jewish capital, the event would seem to have shown that he judged +wisely. Tyre, if it fell at the end of its thirteen years' siege, +must have been taken in the very year which followed the capture of +Jerusalem, B.C. 585. We may suppose that Nebuchadnezzar, when he quitted +Jerusalem and took up his abode at Eiblah in the Coele-Syrian valley, +turned his main attention to the great Phoenician city, and made +arrangements which caused its capture in the ensuing year. + +The recovery of these two important cities secured to the Babylonian +monarch the quiet possession thenceforth of Syria and Palestine. But +still he had not as yet inflicted any chastisement upon Egypt; though +policy, no less than honor, required that the aggressions of this +audacious power should be punished. If we may believe Josephus, however, +the day of vengeance was not very long delayed. Within four years of the +fall of Tyre, B.C. 581, Nebuchadnezzar, he tells us, invaded Egypt, put +Uaphris, the monarch who had succored Zedekiah, to death, and placed +a creature of his own upon the throne. Egyptian history, it is true, +forbids our accepting this statement as correct in all its particulars. +Uaphris appears certainly to have reigned at least as late as B.C. +569, and according to Herodotus, he was put to death, not by a foreign +invader, but by a rebellious subject. Perhaps we may best harmonize the +conflicting statements on the subject by supposing that Josephus has +confounded two distinct invasions of Egypt, one made by Nebuchadnezzar +in his twenty-third year, B.C. 581, which had no very important +consequences, and the other eleven years later, B.C. 570, which +terminated in the deposition of Uaphris, and the establishment on +the throne of a new king, Amasis, who received a nominal royalty from +Chaldaean monarch. + +Such--as far as they are known--were the military exploits of this great +king. He defeated Neco, recovered Syria, crushed rebellion in Judaea, +took Tyre, and humiliated Egypt. According to some writers his successes +did not stop here. Megasthenes made him subdue most of Africa, and +thence pass over into Spain and conquer the Iberians. He even went +further, and declared that, on his return from these regions, he settled +his Iberian captives on the shores of the Euxine in the country between +Armenia and the Caucasus! Thus Nebuchadnezzar was made to reign over an +empire extending from the Atlantic to the Caspian, and from the Caucasus +to the Great Sahara. + +The victories of Nebuchadnezzar were not without an effect on his home +administration and on the construction of the vast works with which his +name is inseparably associated. It was through them that he obtained +that enormous command of "naked human strength" which enabled him, +without undue oppression of his own people, to carry out on the grandest +scale his schemes for at once beautifying and benefiting his kingdom. +From the time when he first took the field at the head of an army +he adopted the Assyrian system of forcibly removing almost the whole +population of a conquered country, and planting it in a distant part +of his dominions. Crowds of captives--the produce of his various +wars--Jews, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Syrians, Ammonites, Moabites, were +settled in various parts of Mesopotamia, more especially about Babylon. +From these unfortunates forced labor was as a matter of course required; +and it seems to have been chiefly, if not solely, by their exertions +that the magnificent series of great works was accomplished, which +formed the special glory of the Fourth Monarchy. + +The chief works expressly ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar by the ancient +writers are the following: He built the great wall of Babylon, which, +according to the lowest estimate, must have contained more than +500,000,000 square feet of solid masonry, and must have required +three or four times that number of bricks. He constructed a new and +magnificent palace in the neighborhood of the ancient residence of the +kings. He made the celebrated "Hanging Garden" for the gratification of +his wife, Amyitis. He repaired and beautified the great temple of Belus +at Babylon. He dug the huge reservoir near Sippara, said to have been +140 miles in circumference, and 180 feet deep, furnishing it with +flood-gates, through which its water could be drawn off for purposes +of irrigation. He constructed a number of canals, among them the Nahr +Malcha or "Royal River," a broad and deep channel which connected the +Euphrates with the Tigris. He built quays and breakwaters along the +shores of the Persian Gulf, and he at the same time founded the city of +Diridotis or Teredon in the vicinity of that sea. + +To these constructions may be added, on the authority either of +Nebuchadnezzar's own inscriptions or of the existing remains, the +Birs-i-Nimrud, or great temple of Nebo at Bor-sippa; a vast reservoir +in Babylon itself, called the Yapur-Shapu; an extensive embankment along +the course of the Tigris, near Baghdad; and almost innumerable temples, +walls, and other public buildings at Cutha, Sippara, Borsippa, Babylon, +Chilmad, Bit-Digla, etc. The indefatigable monarch seems to have either +rebuilt, or at least repaired, almost every city and temple throughout +the entire country. There are said to be at least a hundred sites in +the tract immediately about Babylon, which give evidence, by inscribed +bricks bearing his legend, of the marvellous activity and energy of this +king. + +We may suspect that among the constructions of Nebuchadnezzar was +another great work, a work second in utility to none of those above +mentioned, and requiring for its completion an enormous amount of labor. +This is the canal called by the Arabs the _Kerek Saideh_, or canal of +Saideh, which they ascribe to a wife of Nebuchadnezzar, a cutting +400 miles in length, which commenced at Hit on the Euphrates, and was +carried along the extreme western edge of the alluvium close to the +Arabian frontier, finally falling into the sea at the head of the Bubian +creek, about twenty miles to the west of the Shat el-Arab. The traces +of this canal which still remain indicate a work of such magnitude +and difficulty that we can scarcely ascribe it with probability to any +monarch who has held the country since Nebuchadnezzar. + +The Pallacopas, or canal of Opa (Palga Opa), which left the Euphrates +at Sippara (Mosaib) and ran into a great lake in the neighborhood of +Borsippa, whence the lands in the neighborhood were irrigated, may also +have been one of Nebuchadnezzar's constructions. It was an old canal, +much out of repair, in the time of Alexander, and was certainly the +work, not of the Persian conquerors, but of some native monarch anterior +to Cyrus. The Arabs, who call it the Nahr Abba, regard it as the oldest +canal in the country. + +Some glimpses into the private life and personal character of +Nebuchadnezzar are afforded us by certain of the Old Testament writers. +We see him in the Book of Daniel at the head of a magnificent Court, +surrounded by "princes, governors, and captains, judges, treasurers, +councillors, and sheriffs;" waited on by eunuchs selected with the +greatest care, "well-favored" and carefully educated; attended, whenever +he requires it, by a multitude of astrologers and other "wise men," who +seek to interpret to him the will of Heaven. He is an absolute monarch, +disposing with a word of the lives and properties of his subjects, even +the highest. All offices are in his gift. He can raise a foreigner +to the second place in the kingdom, and even set him over the entire +priestly order. His wealth is enormous, for he makes of pure gold an +image, or obelisk, ninety feet high and nine feet broad. He is religious +after a sort, but wavers in his faith, sometimes acknowledging the +God of the Jews as the only real deity, sometimes relapsing into an +idolatrous worship, and forcing all his subjects to follow his example. +Even then, however, his polytheism is of a kind which admits of a +special devotion to a particular deity, who is called emphatically "his +god." In temper he is hasty and violent, but not obstinate; his fierce +resolves are taken suddenly and as suddenly repented of; he is moreover +capable of bursts of gratitude and devotion, no less than of accesses of +fury; like most Orientals, he is vainglorious but he can humble himself +before the chastening hand of the Almighty; in his better moods he shows +a spirit astonishing in one of his country and time--a spirit of real +piety, self-condemnation, and self-abasement, which renders him one of +the most remarkable characters in Scripture. + +A few touches of a darker hue must be added to this portrait of the +great Babylonian king from the statements of another contemporary, the +prophet Jeremiah. The execution of Jehoi-akim, and the putting out of +Zedekiah's eyes, though acts of considerable severity, may perhaps be +regarded as justified by the general practice of the age, and therefore +as not indicating in Nebuchadnezzar any special ferocity of disposition. +But the ill-treatment of Jehoiakim's dead body, the barbarity +of murdering Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, and the prolonged +imprisonment both of Zedekiah and of Jehoiachin, though the latter had +only contemplated rebellion, cannot be thus excused. They were unusual +and unnecessary acts, which tell against the monarch who authorized +them, and must be considered to imply a real cruelty of disposition, +such as is observable in Sargon and Asshur-bani-pal. Nebuchadnezzar, it +is plain, was not content with such a measure of severity as was +needed to secure his own interests, but took a pleasure in the wanton +infliction of suffering on those who had provoked his resentment. + +On the other hand, we obtain from the native writer, Berosus, one +amiable trait which deserves a cursory mention. Nebuchadnezzar was +fondly attached to the Median princess who had been chosen for him as +a wife by his father from political motives. Not content with ordinary +tokens of affection, he erected, solely for her gratification, the +remarkable structure which the Greeks called the "Hanging Garden." +A native of a mountainous country, Amyitis disliked the tiresome +uniformity of the level alluvium, and pined for the woods and hills +of Media. It was to satisfy this longing by the best substitute which +circumstances allowed that the celebrated Garden was made. Art strove +to emulate nature with a certain measure of success, and the lofty rocks +and various trees of this wonderful Paradise, if they were not a very +close imitation of Median mountain scenery, were at any rate a pleasant +change from the natural monotony of the Babylonian plain, and must have +formed a grateful retreat for the Babylonian queen, whom they reminded +at once of her husband's love and of the beauty of her native country. + +The most remarkable circumstance in Nebuchadnezzar's life remains to be +noticed. Towards the close of his reign, when his conquests and probably +most of his great works were completed, in the midst of complete +tranquillity and prosperity, a sudden warning was sent him. He dreamt +a strange dream, and when he sought to know its meaning, the Prophet +Daniel was inspired to tell him that it portended his removal from the +kingly office for the space of seven years, in consequence of a curious +and very unusual kind of madness. This malady, which is not unknown to +physicians, has been termed "Lycanthropy." It consists in the belief +that one is not a man but a beast, in the disuse of language, the +rejection of all ordinary human food, and sometimes in the loss of the +erect posture and a preference for walking on all fours. Within a year +of the time that he received the warning, Nebuchadnezzar was smitten. +The great king became a wretched maniac. Allowed to indulge in his +distempered fancy, he eschewed human habitations, lived in the open air +night and day, fed on herbs, disused clothing, and became covered with +a rough coat of hair. His subjects generally, it is probable, were not +allowed to know of his condition, although they could not but be aware +that he was suffering from some terrible malady. The queen most likely +held the reins of power, and carried on the government in his name. The +dream had been interpreted to mean that the lycanthropy would not be +permanent; and even the date of recovery had been announced, only with +a certain ambiguity. The Babylonians were thereby encouraged to await +events, without taking any steps that would have involved them in +difficulties if the malady ceased. And their faith and patience met +with a reward. After suffering obscuration for the space of seven years, +suddenly the king's intellect returned to him. His recovery was received +with joy by his Court. Lords and councillors gathered about him. He once +more took the government into his own hands, issued his proclamations, +and performed the other functions of royalty. He was now an old man, and +his reign does not seem to have been much prolonged; but "the glory of +his kingdon," his "honor and brightness" returned; his last days were as +brilliant as his first: his sun set in an unclouded sky, shorn of none +of the rays that had given splendor to its noonday. Nebuchadnezzar +expired at Babylon in the forty-fourth year of his reign, B.C. 561, +after an illness of no long duration. He was probably little short of +eighty years old at his death. + +The successor of Nebuchadnezzar was his son Evil-Mero-dach, who reigned +only two years, and of whom very little is known. We may expect that the +marvellous events of his father's life, which are recorded in the Book +of Daniel, had made a deep impression upon him, and that he was thence +inclined to favor the persons, and perhaps the religion, of the Jews. +One of his first acts was to release the unfortunate Jehoiachin from the +imprisonment in which he had languished for thirty-five years, and to +treat him with kindness and respect. He not only recognized his royal +rank, but gave him precedence over all the captive kings resident at +Babylon. Josephus says that he even admitted Jehoiachin into the number +of his most intimate friends. Perhaps he may have designed him some +further advancement, and may in other respects have entertained projects +which seemed strange and alarming to his subjects. At any rate he had +been but two years upon the throne when a conspiracy was formed +against him; he was accused of lawlessness and intemperance; his +own brother-in-law, Neriglissar, the husband of a daughter of +Nebuchadnezzar, headed the malcontents; and Evil-Merodach lost his life +with his crown. + +Neriglissar, the successful conspirator, was at once acknowledged +king. He is probably identical with the "Nergal-shar-ezer, Rab-Mag," of +Jeremiah, who occupied a prominent position among the Babylonian nobles +left to press the siege of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar retired to +Riblah. The title of "Rab-Mag," is one that he bears upon his bricks. +It is doubtful what exactly his office was; for we have no reason to +believe that there were at this time any Magi at Babylon; but it was +certainly an ancient and very high dignity of which even kings might +be proud. It is remarkable that Neriglissar calls himself the son of +Bel-sum-iskun, "king of Babylon"--a monarch whose name does not appear +in Ptolemy's list, but who is probably to be identified with a chieftain +so called, who assumed the royal title in the troubles which preceded +the fall of the Assyrian Empire. + +During his short reign of four years, or rather three years and a +few months, Neriglissar had not time to distinguish himself by many +exploits. So far as appears, he was at peace with all his neighbors, and +employed his time principally in the construction of the Western +Palace at Babylon, which was a large building placed at one corner of a +fortified inclosure, directly opposite the ancient royal residence, and +abutting on the Euphrates. If the account which Diodorus gives of this +palace be not a gross exaggeration of the truth, it must have been a +magnificent erection, elaborately ornamented with painting and sculpture +in the best style of Babylonian art, though in size it may have been +inferior to the old residence of the kings on the other side of the +river. + +Neriglissar reigned from B.C. 559 to B.C. 556, and dying a natural death +in the last-named year, left his throne to his son, Laborosoarchod, +or Labossoracus. This prince, who was a mere boy, and therefore quite +unequal to the task of governing a great empire in critical times, was +not allowed to retain the crown many months. Accused by those +about him--whether justly or unjustly we cannot say--of giving many +indications of a bad disposition, he was deposed and put to death by +torture. With him power passed from the House of Nabopolassar, which had +held the throne for just seventy years. + +On the death of Laborosoarchod the conspirators selected one of their +number, a certain Nabonadius or Nabannidochus, and invested him with the +sovereignty. He was in no way related to the late monarch, and his claim +to succeed must have been derived mainly from the part which he had +played in the conspiracy. But still he was a personage of some rank, for +his father had, like Neriglissar, held the important office of Rab Mag. +It is probable that one of his first steps on ascending the throne was +to connect himself by marriage with the royal house which had preceded +him in the kingdom. Either the mother of the late king Laborosoarchod, +and widow of Neriglissar, or possibly some other daughter of +Nebuchadnezzar, was found willing to unite her fortune with those of the +new sovereign, and share the dangers and the dignity of his position. +Such a union strengthened the hold of the reigning monarch on the +allegiance of his subjects, and tended still more to add stability to +his dynasty. For as the issue of such a marriage would join in one the +claims of both royal houses, he would be sure to receive the support of +all parties in the state. Very shortly after the accession of Nabonadius +(B.C. 555) he received an embassy from the far north-west. An important +revolution had occurred on the eastern frontier of Babylonia three years +before, in the reign of Neriglissar; but its effects only now began to +make themselves felt among the neighboring nations. Had Cyrus, on taking +the crown, adopted the policy of Astyages, the substitution of Persia +for Media as the ruling Arian nation would have been a matter of small +account. But there can be little doubt that he really entered at once +on a career of conquest, Lydia, at any rate, felt herself menaced by the +new power, and seeing the danger which threatened the other monarchies +of the time, if they allowed the great Arian kingdom to attack them +severally with her full force, proposed a league whereby the common +enemy might, she thought, be resisted with success. Ambassadors seem +to have been sent from Sardis to Babylon in the very year in which +Nabonadius became king. He therefore had at once to decide whether he +would embrace the offer made him, and uniting with Lydia and Egypt in +a league against Persia, make that power his enemy, or refuse the +proffered alliance and trust to the gratitude of Cyrus for the future +security of his kingdom. It would be easy to imagine the arguments pro +and contra which presented themselves to his mind at this conjuncture; +but as they would be destitute of a historical foundation, it is perhaps +best to state simply the decision at which he is known to have arrived. +This was an acceptance of the Lydian offer. Nabonadius consented to join +the proposed league; and a treaty was probably soon afterwards concluded +between the three powers whereby they united in an alliance offensive +and defensive against the Persians. + +Knowing that he had provoked a powerful enemy by this bold act, and +ignorant how soon he might be called upon to defend his kingdom, from +the entire force of his foe, which might be suddenly hurled against him +almost at any moment, Nabonadius seems to have turned his attention at +once to providing means of defence. The works ascribed by Herodotus to a +queen, Nitocris, whom he makes the mother of Nabonadius (Labynetus) +must be regarded as in reality constructions of that monarch himself, +undertaken with the object of protecting Babylon from Cyrus. They +consisted in part of defences within the city, designed apparently to +secure it against an enemy who should enter by the river, in part of +hydraulic works intended to obstruct the advances of an army by the +usual route. The river had hitherto flowed in its natural bed through +the middle of the town. Nabonadius confined the stream by a brick +embankment carried the whole way along both banks, after which he built +on the top of the embankment a wall of a considerable height, pierced +at intervals by gateways, in which were set gates of bronze. He likewise +made certain cuttings, reservoirs, and sluices at some distance from +Babylon towards the north, which were to be hindrances to an enemy's +march, though in what way is not very apparent. Some have supposed that +besides these works there was further built at the same time a great +wall which extended entirely across the tract between the two rivers--a +huge barrier a hundred feet high and twenty thick--meant, like the Roman +walls in Britain and the great wall of China, to be insurmountable by an +unskillful foe; but there is ground for suspecting that this belief is +ill-founded, having for its sole basis a misconception of Xenophon's. + +Nabonadius appears to have been allowed ample time to carry out to the +full his system of defences, and to complete all his preparations. +The precipitancy of Croesus, who plunged into a war with Persia +single-handed, asking no aid from his allies, and the promptitude of +Cyrus, who allowed him no opportunity of recovering from his first false +step, had prevented Nabonadius from coming into actual collision with +Persia in the early part of his reign. The defeat of Croesus in the +battle of Pteria, the siege of Sardis, and its capture, followed so +rapidly on the first commencement of hostilities, that whatever his +wishes may have been, Nabonadius had it not in his power to give any +help to his rash ally. Actual war was thus avoided at this time; and +no collision having occurred, Cyrus could defer an attack on the great +kingdom of the south until he had consolidated his power in the north +and the northeast, which he rightly regarded as of the last importance. +Thus fourteen years intervened between the capture of Sardis by the +Persian arms and the commencement of the expedition against Babylon. + +When at last it was rumored that the Persian king had quitted Ecbatana +(B.C. 539) and commenced his march to the south-west, Nabonadius +received the tidings with indifference. His defences were completed: his +city was amply provisioned; if the enemy should defeat him in the open +field, he might retire behind his walls, and laugh to scorn all attempts +to reduce his capital either by blockade or storm. It does not appear to +have occurred to him that it was possible to protect his territory. With +a broad, deep, and rapid river directly interposed between him and his +foe, with a network of canals spread far and wide over his country, with +an almost inexhaustible supply of human labor at his command for +the construction of such dikes, walls, or cuttings as he should deem +advisable, Nabonadius might, one would have thought, have aspired to +save his land from invasion, or have disputed inch by inch his enemy's +advance towards the capital. But such considerations have seldom had +much force with Orientals, whose notions of war and strategy are even +now of the rudest and most primitive description. To measure one's +strength as quickly as possible with that of one's foe, to fight one +great pitched battle in order to decide the question of superiority +in the field, and then, if defeated, either to surrender or to retire +behind walls, has been the ordinary conception of a commander's duties +in the East from the time of the Ramesside kings to our own day. No +special blame therefore attaches to Nabonadius for his neglect. He +followed the traditional policy of Oriental monarchs in the course which +he took. And his subjects had less reason to complain of his resolution +than most others, since the many strongholds in Babylonia must have +afforded them a ready refuge, and the great fortified district within +which Babylon itself stood must have been capable of accommodating with +ease the whole native population of the country. + +If we may trust Herodotus, the invader, having made all his preparations +and commenced his march, came to a sudden pause midway between Ecbatana +and Babylon. One of the sacred white horses, which drew the chariot of +Ormazd, had been drowned in crossing a river; and Cyrus had thereupon +desisted from his march, and, declaring that he would revenge himself +on the insolent stream, had set his soldiers to disperse its waters into +360 channels. This work employed him during the whole summer and autumn; +nor was it till another spring had come that he resumed his expedition. +To the Babylonians such a pause must have appeared like irresolution. +They must have suspected that the invader had changed his mind and would +not venture across the Tigris. If the particulars of the story reached +them, they probably laughed at the monarch who vented his rage on +inanimate nature, while he let his enemies escape scot free. + +Cyrus, however, had a motive for his proceedings which will appear +in the sequel. Having wintered on the banks of the Gyndes in a mild +climate, where tents would have been quite a sufficient protection to +his army, he put his troops in motion at the commencement of spring, +crossed the Tigris apparently unopposed, and soon came in sight of the +capital. Here he found the Babylonian army drawn out to meet him under +the command of Nabonadius himself, who had resolved to try the chance +of a battle. An engagement ensued, of which we possess no details; our +informants simply tell us that the Babylonian monarch was completely +defeated, and that, while most of his army sought safety within the +walls of the capital, he himself with a small body of troops threw +himself into Borsippa, an important town lying at a short distance from +Babylon towards the south-west. It is not easy to see the exact object +of this movement. Perhaps Nabonadius thought that the enemy would +thereby be obliged to divide his army, which might then more easily be +defeated; perhaps he imagined that by remaining without the walls he +might be able to collect such a force among his subjects and allies as +would compel the beleaguering army to withdraw. Or, possibly, he merely +followed an instinct of self-preservation, and fearing that the soldiers +of Cyrus might enter Babylon with his own, if he fled thither, sought +refuge in another city. + +It might have been supposed that his absence would have produced anarchy +and confusion in the capital; but a step which he had recently +taken with the object of giving stability to his throne rendered +the preservation of order tolerably easy. At the earliest possible +moment--probably when he was about fourteen--he had associated with him +in the government his son, Belshazzar, or Bel-shar-uzur, the grandson +of the great Nebuchadnezzar. This step, taken most likely with a view to +none but internal dangers, was now found exceedingly convenient for +the purposes of the war. In his father's absence Belshazzar took +the direction of affairs within the city, and met and foiled for a +considerable time all the assaults of the Persians. He was young and +inexperienced, but he had the counsels of the queen-mother to guide and +support him, as well as those of the various lords and officers of +the court. So well did he manage the defence that after a while Cyrus +despaired, and as a last resource ventured on a stratagem in which it +was clear that he must either succeed or perish. + +Withdrawing the greater part of his army from the vicinity of the city, +and leaving behind him only certain corps of observation, Cyrus marched +away up the course of the Euphrates for a certain distance, and there +proceeded to make a vigorous use of the spade. His soldiers could +now appreciate the value of the experience which they had gained by +dispersing the Gyndes, and perceive that the summer and autumn of the +preceding year had not been wasted. They dug a channel or channels from +the Euphrates, by means of which a great portion of its water would be +drawn off, and hoped in this way to render the natural course of the +river fordable. + +When all was prepared, Cyrus determined to wait for the arrival of a +certain festival, during which the whole population were wont to engage +in drinking and revelling, and then silently in the dead of night to +turn the water of the river and make his attack. It fell out as he hoped +and wished. The festival was held with even greater pomp and splendor +than usual; for Belshazzar, with the natural insolence of youth, to +mark his contempt of the besieging army, abandoned himself wholly to the +delights of the season, and himself entertained a thousand lords in his +palace. Elsewhere the rest of the population was occupied in feasting +and dancing. Drunken riot and mad excitement held possession of the +town; the siege was forgotten; ordinary precautions were neglected. +Following the example of their king, the Babylonians gave themselves +up for the night to orgies in which religious frenzy and drunken excess +formed a strange and revolting medley. + +Meanwhile, outside the city, in silence and darkness, the Persians +watched at the two points where the Euphrates entered and left the +walls. Anxiously they noted the gradual sinking of the water in the +river-bed; still more anxiously they watched to see if those within +the walls would observe the suspicious circumstance and sound an alarm +through the town. Should such an alarm be given, all their labors would +be lost. If, when they entered the river-bed, they found the river-walls +manned and the river-gates fast-locked, they would be indeed "caught in +a trap." Enfiladed on both sides by an enemy whom they could neither +see nor reach, they would be overwhelmed and destroyed by his missiles +before they could succeed in making their escape. But, as they watched, +no sounds of alarm reached them--only a confused noise of revel and +riot, which showed that the unhappy townsmen were quite unconscious of +the approach of danger. + +At last shadowy forms began to emerge from the obscurity of the deep +river-bed, and on the landing-places opposite the river-gates scattered +clusters of men grew into solid columns--the undefended gateways were +seized--a war-shout was raised--the alarm was taken and spread--and +swift runners started off to "show the King of Babylon that his city was +taken at one end." In the darkness and confusion of the night a terrible +massacre ensued. The drunken revellers could make no resistance. The +king paralyzed with fear at the awful handwriting upon the wall, which +too late had warned him of his peril, could do nothing even to check +the progress of the assailants, who carried all before them everywhere. +Bursting into the palace, a band of Persians made their way to the +presence of the monarch, and slew him on the scene of his impious +revelry. Other bands carried fire and sword through the town. When +morning came, Cyrus found himself undisputed master of the city, which, +if it had not despised his efforts, might with the greatest ease have +baffled them. + +The war, however, was not even yet at an end. Nabonadius still held +Borsippa, and, if allowed to remain unmolested, might have gradually +gathered strength and become once more a formidable foe. Cyrus, +therefore, having first issued his orders that the outer fortifications +of Babylon should be dismantled, proceeded to complete his conquest by +laying siege to the town where he knew that Nabonadius had taken refuge. +That monarch, however, perceiving that resistance would be vain, did +not wait till Borsippa was invested, but on the approach of his enemy +surrendered himself. Cyrus rewarded his submission by kind and liberal +treatment. Not only did he spare his life, but (if we may trust +Abydenus) he conferred on him the government of the important province +of Carmania. + +Thus perished the Babylonian empire. If we seek the causes of its fall, +we shall find them partly in its essential military inferiority to +the kingdom that had recently grown up upon its borders, partly in the +accidental circumstance that its ruler at the time of the Persian attack +was a man of no great capacity. Had Nebuchadnezzar himself, or a prince +of his mental calibre, been the contemporary of Cyrus, the issue of the +contest might have been doubtful. Babylonia possessed naturally vast +powers of resistance--powers which, had they been made use of to the +utmost, might have tired out the patience of the Persians. That lively, +active, but not over-persevering people would scarcely have maintained +a siege with the pertinacity of the Babylonians themselves or of +the Egyptians. If the stratagem of Cyrus had failed--and its success +depended wholly on the Babylonians exercising no vigilance--the capture +of the town would have been almost impossible. Babylon was too large to +be blockaded; its walls were too lofty to be scaled, and too massive to +be battered down by the means possessed by the ancients. Mining in the +soft alluvial soil would have been dangerous work, especially as the +town ditch was deep and supplied with abundant water from the Euphrates. +Cyrus, had he failed in his night attack, would probably have at once +raised the siege; and Babylonian independence might perhaps in that case +have been maintained down to the time of Alexander. + +Even thus, however, the "Empire" would not have been continued. So soon +as it became evident that the Babylonians were no match for the Persians +in the field, their authority over the subject nations was at an end. +The Susianians, the tribes of the middle Euphrates, the Syrians, the +Phoenicians, the Jews, the Idumseans, the Ammonites and Moabites, would +have gravitated to the stronger power, even if the attack of Cyrus on +Babylon itself had been repulsed. For the conquests of Cyrus in Asia +Minor, the Oxus region, and Afghanistan, had completely destroyed the +balance of power in Western Asia, and given to Persia a preponderance +both in men and in resources against which the cleverest and most +energetic of Babylonian princes would have struggled in vain. Persia +must in any case have absorbed all the tract between Mount Zagros and +the Mediterranean, except Babylonia Proper; and thus the successful +defence of Babylon would merely have deprived the Persian Empire of a +province. + +In its general character the Babylonian Empire was little more than +a reproduction of the Assyrian. The same loose organization of the +provinces under native kings rather than satraps almost universally +prevailed, with the same duties on the part of suzerain and subjects and +the same results of ever-recurring revolt and re-conquest. Similar +means were employed under both empires to check and discourage +rebellion--mutilations and executions of chiefs, pillage of the +rebellious region, and wholesale deportation of its population. Babylon, +equally with Assyria, failed to win the affections of the subject +nations, and, as a natural result, received no help from them in her +hour of need. Her system was to exhaust and oppress the conquered +races for the supposed benefit of the conquerors, and to impoverish the +provinces for the adornment and enrichment of the capital. The wisest of +her monarch's thought it enough to construct works of public utility +in Babylonia Proper, leaving the dependent countries to themselves, and +doing nothing to develop their resources. This selfish system was, like +most selfishness, short-sighted; it alienated those whom it would have +been true policy to conciliate and win. When the time of peril came, the +subject nations were no source of strength to the menaced empire, On +the contrary, it would seem that some even turned against her and made +common cause with the assailants. + +Babylonian civilization differed in many respects from Assyrian, to +which however it approached more nearly than to any other known type. +Its advantages over Assyrian were in its greater originality, its +superior literary character, and its comparative width and flexibility. +Babylonia seems to have been the source from which Assyria drew her +learning, such as it was, her architecture, the main ideas of her +mimetic art, her religious notions, her legal forms, and a vast number +of her customs and usages. But Babylonia herself, so far as we know, +drew her stores from no foreign country. Hers was apparently the genius +which excogitated an alphabet--worked out the simpler problems +of arithmetic--invented implements for measuring the lapse of +time--conceived the idea of raising enormous structures with the poorest +of all materials, clay--discovered the art of polishing, boring, and +engraving gems--reproduced with truthfulness the outlines of human and +animal forms--attained to high perfection in textile fabrics--studied +with success the motions of the heavenly bodies--conceived of grammar +as a science--elaborated a system of law--saw the value of an exact +chronology--in almost every branch of science made a beginning, thus +rendering it comparatively easy for other nations to proceed with the +superstructure. To Babylonia, far more than to Egypt, we owe the art +and learning of the Greeks. It was from the East, not from Egypt, +that Greece derived her architecture, her sculpture, her science, her +philosophy, her mathematical knowledge--in a word, her intellectual +life. And Babylon was the source to which the entire stream of Eastern +civilization may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that, but +for Babylon, real civilization might not even yet have dawned upon the +earth. Mankind might never have advanced beyond that spurious and +false form of it which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Peru, +contented the aspirations of the species. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +A. STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. + + +The Inscription begins with the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar. It +then contains prayers and invocations to the Gods, Merodach and Nebo. +The extent of N.'s power is spoken of--it reaches from one sea to the +other. + +An account is then given of the wonders of Babylon, viz.: + +1. The great temple of Merodach. (The mound of Babil is the tower or +ziggurat of this.) + +2. The Borsippa temple (or Birs). + +3. Various other temples in Babylon and Borsippa. + +The subjoined description of the city follows: "The double inclosure +which Nabopolassar my father had made but not completed, I finished. +Nabopolassar made its ditch. With two long embankments of brick and +mortar he bound its bed. He made the embankment of the Arahha. He lined +the other side of the Euphrates with brick. He made a bridge (?) over +the Euphrates, but did not finish its buttresses (?). From... (the name +of a place) he made with bricks burnt as hard as stones, by the help +of the great Lord Merodach, a way (for) a branch of the Shimat to the +waters of the Yapur-Shapu, the great reservoir of Babylon, opposite to +the gate of Nin. + +"The _Ingur-Bel_ and the _Nimiti-Bel_--the great double wall of +Babylon--I finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I +built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father +had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I +built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu-the reservoir of +Babylon--by the grace of Merodach I filled completely full of water. +With bricks burnt as hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like +mountains (?), the Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of Mula as far as Nana, +who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship +(i.e. Merodach) I strengthened. With that which my father had made I +joined it. I made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries. +The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel-the reservoir of +Babylon, at the time of the flood (lit. of fulness), inundated them. +These gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with brick +and mortar I built. [Here follows a description of the gates, with +various architectural details, an account of the decorations, hangings, +etc.] For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides +the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon. I constructed +inside Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such +as no king had ever made before me, viz., a long rampart, 4000 ammas +square, as an extra defence. I excavated the ditch: with brick and +mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head (?) I strongly built. +I adorned its gates. The folding doors and the pillars I plated with +copper. Against presumptuous enemies, who were hostile to the men of +Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of +abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did +not allow the waters to overflow, but the fulness of their floods I +caused to flow on, restraining them with a brick embankment.... Thus I +completely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last forever!" + +[Here follows a similar account of works at Borsippa.] "In Babylon--the +city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified--when +the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great +palace called Taprati-nisi, or 'the Wonder of Mankind;' (a palace) with +many chambers and lofty towers; the high-place of Royalty; (situated) in +the land of Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon; stretching from the +Ingur-Bel to the bed of the Shebil, the eastern canal, (and) from +the bank of the Sippara river, to the water of the Yapur-Shapu; +which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and raised up; when the +reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were flooded. +I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its +platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations (of +the palace) I protected against the water with bricks and mortar: and I +finished it completely. Long beams I set up to support it: with pillars +and beams plated with copper and strengthened with iron I built up its +gates. Silver and gold, and precious stones whose names were almost +unknown [here follow several unknown names of objects, treasures of the +palace], I stored up inside, and placed there the treasure-house of +my kingdom. Four years (?), the seat of my kingdom in the city..., +which....did not rejoice (my) heart. In all my dominions I did not build +a high-place of power; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not +lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself and the honor of my kingdom I +did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord, the joy of my heart +(?), in Babylon, the city of his sovereignty and the seat of my empire, +I did not sing his praises (?), and I did not furnish his altars (i.e. +with victims), nor did I clear out the canals." [Here follow further +negative clauses.] + +"As a further defence in war, at the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable outer +wall, the rampart of the Babylonians--with two strong lines of brick and +mortar I made a strong fort, 400 ammas square inside the Nimiti-Bel, +the inner defence of the Babylonians. Masonry of brick within them (the +lines) I constructed. With the palace of my father I connected it. In a +happy month and on an auspicious day its foundations I laid in the earth +like.... I completely finished its top. In fifteen days I completed it, +and made it the high-place of my kingdom. [Here follows a description of +the ornamentation of the palace.] A strong fort of brick and mortar in +strength I constructed. Inside the brick fortification another great +fortification of long stones, of the size of great mountains, I made. +Like Shedim I raised up its head. And this building I raised for a +wonder; for the defence of the people I constructed it." + + + + +B. ON THE MEANINGS OF BABYLONIAN NAMES. + +The names of the Babylonians, like those of the Assyrians, were +significant. Generally, if not always, they were composed of at least +two elements. These might be a noun in the nominative case with a verb +following it, a noun in the nominative with a participle in apposition, +or a word meaning "servant" followed by the name of a god. Under the +first class came such names as "Bel-ipni"--"Bel has made (me)"--from Bel, + +[Illustration: PAGE 263] + +[Illustration: PAGE 264] + +[Illustration: PAGE 265] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The +Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon, by George Rawlinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES *** + +***** This file should be named 16164.txt or 16164.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/6/16164/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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