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diff --git a/37411.txt b/37411.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a70d20e --- /dev/null +++ b/37411.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2906 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Primer of Assyriology, by Archibald Henry Sayce + +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: A Primer of Assyriology + +Author: Archibald Henry Sayce + +Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37411] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRIMER OF ASSYRIOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: CLAY CYLINDER OF TIGLATH-PILESER I.] + + +_Present Day Primers_ + + +_Primer of Assyriology_ + + +BY + +A. H. SAYCE, LL.D. + +PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY, OXFORD +AUTHOR OF 'FRESH LIGHT FROM THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS' +'ASSYRIA, ITS PRINCES, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE,' ETC. + + +WITH SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY +56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD + +_First Edition, September, 1894._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I + +THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE + +Geography--Population and Language--The Chaldaeans--The Kassi-- +Natural Products--Canals--Architecture--Asphalt and Naphtha-- +Character of the Babylonians and Assyrians 7 + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCOVERY AND DECIPHERMENT OF THE INSCRIPTIONS + +The Site of Babylon--The Site of Nineveh--Excavations--The +Decipherment of the Inscriptions--The Decipherment tested-- +Sumerian--Vannic--Other Languages--The origin of the +Cuneiform Syllabary--Simplification of the Syllabary 18 + +CHAPTER III + +BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN HISTORY + +Different States in Babylonia--The first Empire--The monuments +of Tello--Chronology--The United Monarchy--The rise of Assyria-- +Babylon a sacred city--Tiglath-pileser I--The First Assyrian +Empire--The Second Assyrian Empire--The Babylonian Empire--Cyrus +and the Fall of Babylon--Belshazzar--Decay of Babylon 42 + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION + +The religions of Babylonia and Assyria--Differences between +Babylonian and Assyrian religion--Sumerian religion Shamanistic-- +Two centres of Babylonian religion--Semitic influence--The goddess +Istar--Bel-Merodach--Other deities--Sacred books and ritual--The +Priests--The Temples--Astro-theology--Sacrifices and offerings--The +Sabbath--Monotheistic tendency--The future life--Cosmology 80 + +CHAPTER V + +BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE + +Aids to the reading of the texts--The libraries--Varieties of +literature--The texts autotypes--Astronomy--Mathematics--Medicine +and law--History and mythology--The Chaldaean epic and the +Deluge--Epic of the Creation 95 + +CHAPTER VI + +SOCIAL LIFE + +The Contract-tablets--Married Life--Burial--Slavery--Lowness of +Wages--Property--Taxes--Prices--Usury--The Army--Navy--The +Bureaucracy 109 + +APPENDIX + +Assyrian Measures of Length--Measures of Capacity--Measures of +Weight and Coinage--The Months of the Year 118 + +Babylonian Kings--Assyrian Kings--High Priests of Assur--Kings +of Assyria 120 + +Synchronisms between Assyrian and Biblical History 125 + +The Principal Deities of Babylonia and Assyria 126 + + + + +A PRIMER OF ASSYRIOLOGY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE + + +Geography.--The civilizations of Babylonia and Assyria grew up on the +banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Tigris was called Idikna and +Idikla in the Sumerian or primitive language of Babylonia, from which +the Semites formed the name Idiklat, by means of the feminine suffix +_-t_. In later times the name was shortened into Diklat, and finally +assimilated by the Persians to the word Tigra, which in their language +signified 'an arrow.' It is from Tigra that the classical name Tigris +is derived. In Genesis (ii. 14), however, the ancient name Idikla, +there written Hiddekel, is still preserved. The Euphrates was called +Pura-nun, or 'great water,' in Sumerian, and was frequently known as +simply the Pura or 'Water,' just as the Nile is known to-day to the +modern Egyptians as simply 'the Sea.' Hence it is often spoken of in +the Bible as 'the River,' without the addition of any other name. From +Pura came the Semitic Purat, with the Semitic suffix _-t_; and Purat, +the Perath of the Old Testament, was changed by the Persians into +Ufratu, with a play upon their own word _u_ 'good.' The Persian Ufratu +is the Greek Euphrates. + +The alluvial plain of Babylonia was the gift of the two great rivers. +In the early days of Babylonian civilization they both flowed into the +Persian Gulf. But salt marshes already existed at their mouths, and as +time went on the marshes extended further and further to the south. +What had once been sea became dry land, the silt brought down by the +rivers forming an ever-increasing delta in the north of the Gulf. +To-day the two rivers flow into one channel, and the point where they +unite is eighty miles distant from the present line of coast. The +marshes are called 'the country of Marratu' or 'the salt-sea' in the +inscriptions, a name which reappears as Merathaim in Jer. 1. 21. + +One of the oldest of Babylonian cities was Eridu, 'the good city,' +which was originally built on the shore of the Persian Gulf, though +Abu-Shahrein, which now marks its site, is far inland, the sea having +retreated from it for a distance of 100 miles. In early times, however, +it was the chief Babylonian port, and through its intercourse with +foreign countries it exercised a great influence on the culture and +religion of Babylonia. Further to the north, but on the western side of +the Euphrates, was Ur, the birth-place of Abraham, whose ruins are now +called Mugheir or Muqayyar; and still further to the north, but on the +opposite side of the river, were Larsa (probably the Ellasar of Gen. +xiv. 1) now Senkereh, and Uruk or Erech (Gen. x. 10) the modern Warka. +Considerably to the north of these again came Nipur (now Niffer), which +played a leading part in the history of Babylonian religion. Nipur +stood at the spot where the Tigris and Euphrates tended to approach one +another, and northward, in the narrowest part of the territory which +lay between them, were the important cities of Babel or Babylon, Kutha, +and Sippara. Babylon, called Bab-ili, 'the gate of God,' on the +monuments, lay on both sides of the Euphrates, its south-western suburb +being Borsippa. The great temple of Bel-Merodach, called E-Saggila, +rose within it; that of Nebo, the prophet and interpreter of Merodach, +being at Borsippa. E-Zida, the temple of Nebo, is now known as the +Birs-i-Nimrud. Kutha (now Tell-Ibrahim), to the north of Babylon, was +surrounded by vast cemeteries, which were under the protection of its +patron-god Nergal. Sippara, still further to the north, was a double +city, one part of it, the present Abu-Habba, being termed 'Sippara of +the Sun-god,' while the other half was 'Sippara of the goddess Anunit.' +It is in consequence of this double character that the Old Testament +speaks of it as Sepharvaim 'the two Sipparas.' + +Northward of Sippara the Tigris and Euphrates again trend apart from +one another and enclose the great plateau of Mesopotamia. To the east +of the Tigris come the mountains of Elam, 'the highlands,' and to the +north of them the Kurdish ranges, which were known to the primitive +Babylonians under the name of Guti or Gutium. At the foot of these +ranges, and northward of the Lower or Little Zab, the kingdom of +Assyria arose. It took its name from its original capital of Assur, now +Kalah-Sherghat, on the western bank of the Tigris, not far to the north +of the junction of the latter river with the Lower Zab. The supremacy +of Assur afterwards passed to Calah and Nineveh, which lay northward +between the Tigris and the Upper or Greater Zab. Calah (now Nimrud) was +close to the junction of the two rivers; Nineveh (now Kouyunjik and +Nebi Yunus opposite Mosul) was built along the bank of the Tigris, the +stream of the Khoser flowing through the middle of it. Some miles to +the north, under the shelter of the hills, Sargon built a palace which +he called Dur-Sargon (the modern Khorsabad), and between Nineveh and +Calah lay Res-eni 'the head of the Spring,' the Resen of Gen. x. 12. + + +Population and Language.--Babylonia already had a long history behind +it when the kingdom of Assyria first arose. The main bulk of the +Assyrian population was Semitic, and the common language of the country +was Semitic also. But it was otherwise in Babylonia. Here the pioneers +of civilization, the builders of the great cities, the inventors of the +cuneiform system of writing, of astronomy, of mathematics, and of other +arts and sciences, belonged to a non-Semitic race and spoke an +agglutinative language. It is in this language that the earliest +records of the country are written and that the older clay-books were +compiled. For want of a better name scholars have called the language +and people to whom it belonged Accadian or Sumerian, or even +Accado-Sumerian. Accad and Sumer were the names given to the northern +and southern divisions of Babylonia respectively, and as it was in +Sumer that the old race and language lingered the longest, 'Sumerian' +would appear to be the best title to apply to them. Indeed it is +possible that the city of Agade or Accad, from which the district of +Accad seems to have derived its name, was of Semitic foundation. In any +case the Semitic element in Accad was from very early times stronger +than that in Sumer, and consequently the Sumerian dialect spoken in the +north was more largely affected by Semitic influence and the resulting +phonetic decay than was the dialect spoken in the south. Sumerian was +agglutinative, like the languages of the modern Finns or Turks, the +relations of grammar being expressed by suffixes (or prefixes) which +retain an independent meaning of their own. Thus _dingir_ is 'god,' +_dingir-ene_ 'gods,' _dingir-ene-ku_ 'to the gods;' _mu-ru_ 'I built,' +_mu-na-ru_ 'I built it.' + +The Semitic dialects of Babylonia and Assyria differed very slightly +from one another, and they are therefore called by the common name of +Assyrian. We can trace the history of Assyrian by means of contemporaneous +monuments for nearly 4,000 years, beginning with the records of Sargon +of Accad (B.C. 3800) and ending with documents of the Parthian epoch. +Assyrian belongs to the northern group of Semitic languages, being more +closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic than it is to Arabic or Ethiopic. + + +The Chaldaeans.--When the Semites first obtained political power in +Babylonia we do not know. The earliest Semitic empire known to us is +that of Sargon of Accad. Babylon did not become the capital of a united +kingdom till much later, Khammurabi (B.C. 2350) being apparently the +first who made it so. Strictly speaking, it is only after this event +that the name of 'Babylonia' is applicable to the whole country. In the +Old Testament the Babylonians are called Kasdim, a word of uncertain +origin. It is rendered 'Chaldaeans' in the Authorized Version; the +classical Chaldaeans, however, took their name from the Kalda, a tribe +settled in the salt-marshes, of whom we first hear in an inscription of +the twelfth century B.C. One of their princes was Merodach-baladan +(Isaiah xxxix) who made himself master of all Babylonia. It is probable +that Nebuchadrezzar was also of Kalda descent. After the time of +Merodach-baladan the Kalda formed so integral a part of the population +as to give their name to the whole of it in the writings of the Greeks +and Romans, and after the fall of Babylonia, when Babylonian astrologers +and fortune-tellers made their way to the west, 'Chaldaean' became +synonymous with 'diviner.' + + +The Kassi.--Another element in the Babylonian population consisted of +the Kassi (the Kossaeans or Kissians of the Greeks), who came from the +mountains of Elam. They spoke originally a non-Semitic language, and +gave a dynasty of kings to Babylonia which lasted 576 years and nine +months. The dynasty was reigning in the century before the Exodus when +the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna were written, and we learn from +them that the Babylonians were at that time called Kassi (or Kasi) in +Canaan. + + +Natural Products.--The soil of Babylonia was exceedingly fertile. It +was the natural home of the wheat which still grows wild in the +neighbourhood of Anah. Herodotus tells us that 'the leaf of the wheat +and barley is as much as four fingers in width, and the stalks of the +millet and sesame are so tall that no one who has never been in that +country would believe me were I to mention their height.' It was +calculated that grain produced on an average a return of two hundred +for one on the seed sown, the return in favourable seasons being as +much as three hundred. The chief tree of the country was the palm. +Prices were frequently calculated in corn and dates, and the dates +among other uses served to make wine. Though vines seem to have been +grown, most of the grape-wine drunk in the country was imported from +abroad. + + +Canals.--The whole country was intersected by canals, and carefully +irrigated by means of machines. The canals thus regulated the supply of +water and enabled it to be carried beyond the reach of the rivers. The +two principal canals were called the Nahar-Malcha or Royal River and +the Pallacopas (Pallukat in the inscriptions). + + +Architecture.--Babylonia was devoid of stone, which had to be brought +from the mountains of Elam or elsewhere. In this respect it offered a +striking contrast to Assyria, where good stone was plentiful. To this +absence of stone may be traced some of the peculiarities of its early +culture. It caused clay to become the common writing material of the +country, the cuneiform characters being impressed with a stylus upon +the tablet while the clay was still moist. It further obliged every +building to be of brick. This led to a great development of columnar +architecture, the wooden columns which supported the roof being +subsequently imitated in brick. The use of brick further led to the use +of stucco and painting. The walls of the Chaldaean houses, as we learn +from Ezekiel (xxiii. 14), were decorated with 'images portrayed with +vermilion,' unlike those of the Assyrian palaces which were lined with +slabs of sculptured alabaster. Assyrian art was, however, borrowed from +that of Babylonia; hence the colouration of the Assyrian bas-reliefs on +stone; hence also the great mounds on which the Assyrian palaces were +built. Such mounds were needful in the flat country of Babylonia where +inundations were frequent; in Assyria they were not required. + + +Asphalt and Naphtha.--Besides clay, Babylonia also furnishes asphalt +and naphtha. According to Poseidonios the naphtha was partly white, +partly black, the latter being that which was used for lamps. Naphtha +is still found near Hit, 130 miles to the north of Babylon. + + +Character of the Babylonians and Assyrians.--The contrast between the +physical characteristics of Babylonia and Assyria was paralleled by a +contrast between the characters of their inhabitants. The population of +Babylonia was pre-eminently agricultural and peaceable, that of Assyria +pre-eminently military. Babylonia was the land of letters; in Assyria +the power to read and write was mainly confined to the scribes. Both +Babylonians and Assyrians, however, were keen traders and merchants, +but while 'the cry of the Chaldaeans was in their ships,' the Assyrians +had no taste for the sea. The Babylonians seem to have been a gentler +people, more pious and superstitious; the Assyrians, on the other hand, +had a genius for organization and administrative work. Such differences +may be traced as much to a difference in the conditions under which +they lived as to a difference in race. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCOVERY AND DECIPHERMENT OF THE INSCRIPTIONS + + +The Site of Babylon.--The site of Babylon was never forgotten. In the +twelfth century, Benjamin of Tudela describes the ruins of +Nebuchadrezzar's palace which he saw there, and in 1573 the English +traveller Eldred visited the spot, and found the Tower of Babel in the +Birs-i-Nimrud, which he states to be a mile in circumference and about +as high as St. Paul's Cathedral. Other travellers have left notices of +the ruins. But the first to explore them scientifically was Rich, the +Resident of the East India Company at Bagdad, who surveyed and made a +map of them. His work on the site of the old city was published in +1811. But it was not until 1850 that the first excavations were made +by Sir A. H. Layard, which were followed in 1851-4 by the French +expedition under Fresnel, Thomas, and Oppert. The fruit of the +expedition was an elaborate memoir by Oppert, which marks an epoch in +the history of cuneiform decipherment, and determined the ancient +topography of Babylon. The excavations were resumed by Sir H. Rawlinson +in 1854, who discovered the architectural records of Nebuchadrezzar, at +the same time that other ancient sites of Babylonian civilization were +being excavated by Loftus and Taylor. At a much later period (in 1879 +and 1882) the work of excavation was again taken up by Mr. Hormuzd +Rassam, who discovered the site of Sippara, and disinterred the ancient +temple there of the Sun-god. Equally important were the discoveries +made by the French consul, M. de Sarzec, in 1877-81 at Tello (the +ancient Lagas) in southern Chaldaea. Monuments of the early Sumerian +period of Babylonian history were brought to light, including seated +statues and bas-reliefs, which are now in the Museum of the Louvre. + + +The Site of Nineveh.--The identification of Nineveh was less easy than +that of Babylon. Its site was lost, although the natives of the +district had not altogether forgotten the name of Nunia, and Niebuhr in +the last century, believed that it marked the site of the Assyrian +capital[1]. But its real discovery was due to Rich. Shortly before his +visit to Mosul a bas-relief had been found on the opposite side of the +Tigris, which the Mohammedans had destroyed as being the work of the +'infidels.' His examination of the mounds from which it had come led to +the discovery of walls and cuneiform inscriptions, which left no doubt +in his mind that the site was that of Nineveh. He accordingly drew up a +map of the ruins, which he sent to Europe along with his collection of +Babylonian and Assyrian antiquities. A single case, three feet in +diameter, was sufficient for their accommodation in the British Museum. + + [1] In Dapper's _Circumstantial Description of Asia_, it is + stated that opposite Mosul is 'a little town called up to the + present day by Arab writers Nennouwi, and by the Turks Eski + Mosul,' or Old Mosul. + + +Excavations.--These antiquities, however, inspired the French _savant_, +Mohl, with the conviction that if excavations were undertaken at the +place where they had been found, important results would follow. +Accordingly, he induced Botta, who had been sent as French Consul to +Mosul in 1842, to commence digging there the following year. Botta was +led by a native to the mound of Khorsabad, and his labours were soon +rewarded by the discovery of Assyrian sculptures covered with cuneiform +writing. The French government granted funds for the continuation of +the work, and before 1845 the palace of Sargon was laid bare. + +Meanwhile Layard had arrived on the spot, and with the help of funds +principally supplied by Sir Stratford Canning, had opened trenches in +the mound of Nimrud (the ancient Calah). The spoils of the palaces he +found here were transported to England in 1847. Among them was the +famous Black Obelisk, on which mention is made of Jehu of Israel. At +Kouyunjik also, among the ruins of the palaces of Sennacherib and +Assur-bani-pal, excavations had been begun. But it was only after the +return of Sir A. H. Layard to Mosul in 1849, with a grant from the +British Museum, that a systematic exploration of this mound took place. +Assisted by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, he discovered here the libraries of +clay books from which most of our knowledge of Assyria and Babylonia +is derived. Excavations were further undertaken at Kalah Sherghat +(the ancient Assur), where the records of Tiglath-pileser I were +disinterred, in the ruined palaces of Sennacherib and Esar-haddon at +Nebi Yunus, at Arban on the Khabour (the ancient Sidikan), and at +several other places. When the work was closed in 1852, a new world of +art and literature had been revealed. Nothing further was done till +the beginning of 1873, when George Smith was sent to Nineveh by the +proprietors of the _Daily Telegraph_ in order to search for the missing +portions of the Deluge-tablet, and a year later he was again sent out +to excavate by the British Museum. After his death, near Aleppo, in +1876, the excavations were entrusted to Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who, in +1878, discovered the bronze gates of Balawat, and three years later the +site of Sippara in Babylonia, as well as a library in the temple of its +Sun-god. A similar library has since been discovered (in 1891) by the +American expedition in the mounds of Niffer, where monuments of Sargon +of Accad (B.C. 3800) have been brought to light. + + +The Decipherment of the Inscriptions.--The decipherment of the +cuneiform texts has been one of the scientific triumphs of the present +century. The key was given by the inscriptions on the ruined palaces +and tombs of ancient Persia. Travellers at an early date had noticed +these inscriptions at Persepolis and elsewhere, and while some compared +the forms of the characters composing them to arrows, others considered +them to be wedges, _cunei_ in Latin. The latter comparison was the +origin of the term 'cuneiform,' ordinarily applied to them. We find it +already used by Hyde in his _Historia Religionis veterum Persarum_, +which was published at Oxford in 1700[2]. + + [2] Hyde's words are 'ductuli pyramidales seu cuneiformes.' + +The Italian traveller, Pietro della Valle, in 1621, was the first who +made the characters known in Europe by printing a few of them; at the +same time he put forward the correct suggestion that the inscriptions +were to be read from left to right. A more important collection of +signs, however, was published in 1693, in one of the early volumes (No. +201) of the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the Royal Society from the +papers of Mr. Flower, who had been specially charged by the East India +Company with the duty of investigating the antiquities of Persia. But +it was not till the middle of the eighteenth century that Cornelius van +Bruyn (1714) and Carsten Niebuhr (1774-8), the father of the historian, +first copied and published the inscriptions in anything like a complete +and accurate manner. Niebuhr further pointed out that they comprised +three different systems of cuneiform writing, which in the case of +every text followed one another in a regular order. The first system of +writing was the simplest, as it consisted of only forty-two different +characters, whereas the number of characters in the second and third +systems was very large. + +With Niebuhr's publication the work of decipherment became possible. +In 1798, Professor Tychsen, of Rostock, discovered that in the first +system an oblique wedge was used to divide the words from one another, +and in 1802 the Danish Bishop, Muenter, starting from this basis, +showed that the language possessed suffixes, pointed out that certain +characters denoted vowels, and even divined the word for 'king,' as +well as the value of two letters, one of them being _a_. He also +maintained that while the first system of writing was alphabetic, +the second was syllabic, and the third ideographic, and that as +the inscriptions were found in Persia and on the buildings of the +Achaemenian kings, the text which always comes first must represent +the language of ancient Persia, which he identified, though +erroneously, with Zend. + +It is, however, to George Frederick Grotefend, of Hanover, that the +discovery of the key which has unlocked the secrets of cuneiform +literature is really due. On September 4, 1802, he read before the +Royal Society of Goettingen a Memoir, in which he announced his +discovery of the names of certain Achaemenian kings in the cuneiform +inscriptions, and explained the method by which he had arrived at his +results. By a curious coincidence it was at the same meeting of the +Society that Heyne described the first efforts that had been made +towards deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Grotefend first showed +convincingly that the inscriptions must be read from left to right, a +portion of a word which ends a line on the right side in one of the +texts beginning the next line on the left side in a duplicate copy of +it. He next pointed out that the analogy of the Sassanian inscriptions, +which had just been deciphered by de Sacy, indicated that the +Persepolitan texts must commence with the names of the kings who had +erected the monuments, followed by their titles, and that a comparison +of the texts one with another made it pretty evident that such was +actually the case. In this way he succeeded in finding (like Muenter +before him) the word for 'king,' and in addition to this the royal +names preceding it. Those on the Persepolitan monuments represented a +father and a son, though in certain cases the father added his own +father's name, but without the royal titles. Thanks to the classical +writers, it was known that the monuments were of Achaemenian origin, +and the names of the Achaemenian kings had also been preserved. It only +remained to fit them to the characters in the cuneiform texts. +Hystaspes, Darius, and Xerxes alone suited, since Cyrus was too short +and Artaxerxes too long; moreover, the letters _a_, _r_, and _sh_, in +the names of Darius and Xerxes appeared in their right places if these +names were adopted. So, too, did _a_ and _sh_ in the name of Hystaspes. +Such a coincidence was sufficient to prove that Grotefend was right in +his guess that the words in question represented proper names, for +guess it was, though founded on strong probability and scientific +induction. He had noticed that two of the names (those of Darius and +Xerxes) occurred separately on two particular groups of monuments, +whereas the word which followed them was always the same. It was +natural to conclude that the latter word denoted 'king,' while those +which preceded it were proper names. + +The alphabet Grotefend had constructed out of the proper names enabled +him to read the word for 'king,' and thus to show its near affinity to +the corresponding word in Zend. But he was a classical scholar rather +than an orientalist, better known by his Latin grammar than by his +knowledge of Eastern languages, and consequently as soon as his +pioneering work of decipherment was accomplished, he lacked the +philological knowledge which would have allowed him to continue it. +Moreover, he was hampered by the false theory that the language of the +inscriptions was identical with Zend. The next step of importance was +taken by Rask in 1826, who discovered the termination of the genitive +plural and the true reading of the title 'Achaemenian.' Rask was +followed in 1836 by the great Zendic scholar Burnouf at Paris, and +by Lassen at Bonn. Burnouf demonstrated that the language of the +Achaemenian texts was not Zend, but a sister dialect spoken in western +Persia, and his discovery of the names of the satrapies, in one of the +inscriptions copied by Niebuhr, enabled him and Lassen simultaneously +almost to complete what we may henceforth call the Old Persian +alphabet. A few corrections in it were subsequently made by Beer, +Jacquet, Holzmann, and Lassen himself. + +Meanwhile a young English officer in the East India Company's service, +now Sir Henry Rawlinson, had been working in Persia unassisted, and at +a distance from libraries, upon the Old Persian texts. He knew that +Grotefend had discovered in them the names of the early Achaemenian +monarchs, and with this clue he set himself to construct an alphabet +and interpret the inscriptions. He soon found means of providing +himself with fuller materials for the work of decipherment than those +at the disposal of scholars in Europe, by copying the great inscription +which Darius had caused to be engraved on the sacred rock of Bagistana +or Behistun in commemoration of his accession to the throne of Persia, +and re-conquest of the empire of Cyrus. The task of copying the +inscription--by far the longest Persian one known--was an arduous +one, and not unattended with danger, and it occupied several years. +Rawlinson first saw the inscription in 1835; it was not till 1839 that +the whole of it was copied. A few years later he revised it again, but +his memoir upon it and upon the other Old Persian texts was not ready +for publication till 1845. In the following year the text was published +by the Royal Asiatic Society, and the translation and commentary +followed in 1849. Dr. Hincks, of Dublin, had already (in 1846) given +the last touch to the decipherment of the Old Persian alphabet by the +discovery that the consonants composing it contained inherent vowels. + +As we have seen, Niebuhr had perceived that the Persepolitan +inscriptions were in three different systems of writing. But it was +only after the decipherment of the Persian texts that it was found that +the three systems of writing embodied three separate languages, and +belonged to three separate countries. As in modern Turkey a governor +has to issue an edict in agglutinative Turkish, Semitic Arabic, and +Aryan Persian, so too in ancient Persia a king who wished to be +understood by all his subjects had to appeal to them in the Aryan +language of Persian itself, in the Semitic language of Babylonia and +Assyria, and in the agglutinative language of Susiania or Elam. When +the second and third systems of writing came to be read it was +discovered that the second contained the script and language of +Elam--sometimes, but incorrectly, called Scythian, Medic or Protomedic, +sometimes, more properly, Amardian or Neo-Susian--while the third was +Babylonian. The three capitals of the empire, Persepolis, Susa and +Babylon, were thus each of them represented. + +The number of characters used in Amardian, though large, was limited, +and accordingly, with the help of the proper names occurring in the Old +Persian texts, a syllabary, or list of characters each expressing a +syllable, was soon formed and the work of translation commenced. +Westergaard, the Dane, who had already travelled in Persia, and there +copied the inscription on the tomb of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustem, led the +way in 1845. He was followed by Hincks, de Saulcy, and above all Edwin +Norris, the learned Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, who +published in 1853 the Amardian (or as he called it the 'Scythic') +version of the Behistun inscription, with an elaborate translation, +commentary, and vocabulary. Further progress, in the study of the +language was made by Oppert, whose book _Le Peuple et la Langue +des Medes_ (1879) is a monument of systematic research. Sayce's +decipherment of the inscriptions of Mal-Amir, south-east of Susa, in +1884 (in the Proceedings of the Sixth Oriental Congress), showed that +we must look to that part of Susiania for the origin of the Amardian +syllabary and dialect. The language was, in fact, one of the +agglutinative dialects spoken in Elam, the native language of Susa +itself being closely related to it. Unfortunately, however, there is no +known language with which the dialects of ancient Elam can be compared, +and consequently our knowledge of them hardly extends beyond the help +afforded by the trilingual Persian texts. + +The decipherment of the third system of writing long seemed to baffle +the inquirer. The characters were multitudinous, some of them were +plainly ideographs, denoting ideas and not letters or syllables, while +the same character did not always appear to have the same value. +Moreover, the belief that the characters must represent alphabetic +letters long stood in the way of the decipherer. Grotefend had already +observed that they resembled in form the characters found on some of +the antiquities which came from Babylonia, but it was not till after +the excavation of Nineveh that any serious effort was made to decipher +them. Botta and Layard, at the very outset, pointed out that the script +used in Assyria was the same as that of the third Achaemenian system, +and thus attracted fresh attention to the latter. Loewenstern was the +first to attack the problem in 1845. His first essays, however, were +unsuccessful, like those of de Saulcy in 1847, and his second +publication (in 1847) did little more than establish the fact that the +same name might be written with different signs. In the same year de +Longperier correctly deciphered the words and ideographs denoting +'palace,' 'king,' 'great,' and the like, though without being able to +read phonetically any one of them. But in 1848 Botta published the +numerous inscriptions he had discovered at Khorsabad, at the same time +subjecting them to a careful analysis. He divided them into words, +wherever it was possible, noting the variations in writing the same +word, and drawing up a list of 642 classified characters. He further +proved that the terminations or suffixes of words in the Assyrian texts +agreed with those of the third Achaemenian system, an indication that +the language was the same as well as the script. Finally he made it +clear that the script contained not only phonetic characters, but also +ideographs, and he correctly determined many of these ideographs, +including that which denotes plurality. All that was now needed was to +discover the phonetic equivalents of the characters. + +This was done half a year later by de Saulcy, who analyzed the +Babylonian transcript of the Achaemenian inscription at Elwend, and +gave phonetic values to 120 characters. He was, however, still under +the belief that they represented letters instead of syllables, and was +consequently obliged to admit the existence of 'homophones.' The fact +that they really represented syllables,--_ba_, _bi_, _be_, _bu_, +&c.--was discovered by Dr. Hincks immediately afterwards (1847 and +1850). Hincks also discovered the name of Nebuchadrezzar in the +Babylonian inscriptions, and by the further discovery that an +inscription brought from Babylon by Sir Robert Ker-Porter, which was +written in the complicated characters of early Babylonia, was a +duplicate of one in the 'Neo-Babylonian' characters of the Achaemenian +era, he made it possible to read the oldest forms of Babylonian script. +From this time forward the work of decipherment went on apace. The +Semitic character of the Assyro-Babylonian language, which had been +guessed at by Loewenstern, was now put beyond question, and the +well-known laws of Semitic grammar came to the help of the student in +reading the text. In 1851 Rawlinson published the Babylonian text of +the Behistun inscription, and in his commentary upon it announced to a +wondering and incredulous world the existence in Assyrian of +'polyphones.' If the method of decipherment were right, it was +necessary to assume that the same character could have more than one +phonetic value. The cause of this extraordinary fact--which, however, +is paralleled in Old Egyptian as well as in Japanese--was soon made +clear by Oppert, Hincks, and Rawlinson himself. The Assyrian syllabary, +which had originally been a collection of pictorial hieroglyphs, was +not the invention of the Semitic Babylonians, but of an earlier people +who spoke an agglutinative language, and to whom the name of Accadians +or Sumerians was given. When the script was adopted by the Semites, the +Sumerian words denoting the objects or ideas for which the characters +stood became phonetic values; thus _du_ 'to go' and _gub_ 'to stand' +became the phonetic values of the character which had originally been a +picture of a human leg. + +The interpretation of the Assyrian and Babylonian texts now advanced +rapidly, in spite of the smallness of the body of students, and the +incredulity of Orientalists, especially in Germany. In 1847 Rawlinson +was able to give a fairly complete account of the several varieties of +cuneiform writing, and in 1850 he published a translation of the long +inscription of Shalmaneser II on the Black Obelisk of Nimrud. The +translation is on the whole marvellously correct, and proves +conclusively the soundness of the method on which it was based. The +proper names, however, were still but imperfectly read, and it was not +till Hincks discovered the names of Jehu and Omri in the inscription +(in 1851) that the age of it could be fixed. Shortly afterwards Hincks +deciphered the names of Hezekiah and Jerusalem in the texts of +Sennacherib, as well as the name of Sennacherib himself, and thus +showed that Longperier had been right in his conjecture that the king +of the Khorsabad monuments was Sargon. The foundation of Assyrian +grammar was next laid by Hincks in 1855 in a series of remarkable +articles on the Assyrian verb, to which the progress of discovery has +since added little that is important. A complete and systematic grammar +itself was first written by Dr. Oppert in 1860, and eight years +afterwards M. Menant analyzed his results and tested their correctness. + + +The Decipherment tested.--Orientalists, however, still looked askance +at the new science which threatened to dwarf the older Semitic +learning. The Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, accordingly, +determined to subject it to a conclusive test. Copies of the annals of +Tiglath-pileser I, which had been found at Kalah Sherghat, were sent to +Rawlinson, Hincks, Fox Talbot, and Oppert; they were asked to translate +them independently of one another, and send the translations under seal +by a given date to the Secretary of the Society. When the translations +were opened they were found to be in substantial agreement. This was in +1857, a year which we may therefore regard as closing the first epoch +of decipherment. + + +Sumerian.--The decipherment of the Assyrian texts brought with +it the decipherment of the Sumerian texts. The library of Nineveh was +stocked with tablets intended to facilitate the study of the old +language of Chaldaea. Among them are grammars, vocabularies, and +reading-books, as well as interlinear or parallel translations of +Sumerian texts in the Semitic language of Babylon and Assyria. Oppert +in his _Expedition scientifique en Mesopotamie_ led the way to the +use of them in 1859, and the outlines of Sumerian grammar were first +sketched by Sayce in 1870, followed by Lenormant in 1873. Since then +the labours of Lenormant, Haupt (who demonstrated the existence of two +Accado-Sumerian dialects), Hommel, Amiaud, Ball and others, have given +us an extensive knowledge of the primitive language of Babylonia. + + +Vannic.--Northward of Assyria, in Ararat, the modern Armenia, the +cuneiform script of Nineveh had been borrowed in the ninth century B.C. +As the characters of the script continued to preserve their Assyrian +values there was no difficulty in transliterating them, and as early as +1852 Hincks read the names of the kings they had been employed to +write, and even used them in determining the values of the characters +found at Nineveh. The majority of the inscriptions, which had been +copied by Schulz at the cost of his life in 1829, and published in +France in 1840, were met with in the neighbourhood of Van; hence the +term 'Vannic' which is usually applied to them. The language in which +they are written was however utterly unknown, and bore no obvious +relationship to any with which we are acquainted; consequently though +the texts could be transliterated they could not be translated. More +than one attempt was made to decipher them, but to no purpose, until +1882 when Guyard pointed out that the formula with which many of them +end corresponds with the imprecation often attached to the Assyrian +inscriptions, and Sayce, following up this clue, with the help of the +ideographs borrowed from Assyria, finally succeeded in solving the +problem. A bilingual text (Assyrian and Vannic), recently discovered by +M. de Morgan in the pass of Kelishin in Kurdistan, has verified the +correctness of his results, which have been further modified or +extended by D. H. Mueller, Belck, and Lehmann. + + +Other Languages.--Yet two more languages written in the cuneiform +syllabary have lately been revealed by the cuneiform tablets found at +Tel el-Amarna in Upper Egypt. One was the language of Mitanni, the +Aram-Naharaim of the Old Testament, in which there is a long letter +from the king of Mitanni to the Egyptian Pharaoh. The other language, +which is quite distinct from that of Mitanni, was spoken at Arzawa in +northern Syria. Both languages are still undeciphered[3]. + + [3] For the language of Mitanni, called that of Su(ri) in the + Assyrian lexical lists, see Jensen, Bruennow, and myself in the + _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, v. 2, 3 (Aug. 1890), and for + that of Arzawa see my letter to the _Academy_, Aug. 20, 1892, + pp. 154, 155. + + +The origin of the Cuneiform Syllabary.--As we have seen, the pictorial +origin of the cuneiform characters was perceived in the early days of +Assyrian decipherment, as well as the cause of their polyphony. Their +wedge-like forms were due to the use of clay as a writing material. The +impression made by the stylus upon it resembled a wedge; curved lines +became angles, and after a time the original picture passed into a +conventional form. In the course of centuries the characters grew more +and more simplified by the omission of unnecessary wedges, the least +complicated being those of the official hand of Assyria, and the later +Babylonian or Persepolitan script. It must not be supposed, however, +that when the system of writing ceased to be pictorial it was already +complete. Down to a comparatively late period new characters were +invented or old characters combined in a new way, while new phonetic +and ideographic values were assigned to the characters which already +existed. Though the syllabary is essentially of Sumerian origin there +is much in it which is traceable to a Semitic source. Many of the +values given to the characters as well as many of their ideographic +meanings are Semitic. Moreover the Sumerians and Semites lived in +contact with one another long after the adoption of Sumerian culture by +the Semitic nomads; consequently not only did the Semites borrow +Sumerian words, the Sumerians borrowed Semitic words, more especially +in the northern part of the country. The early date at which some of +these were borrowed is shown by their having undergone the phonetic +changes which distinguished the northern Accado-Sumerian dialect from +the southern. False etymologizing also has given rise to new values +just as it has given rise to new spellings in English. The Semitic +scribes of a later day were as fond of deriving Semitic words from +Sumerian as our own etymologists used to be of deriving Teutonic words +from Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. Thus the purely Semitic _sabattu_ +'Sabbath,' from _sabatu_ 'to rest,' is derived from the two Sumerian +words _sa_ 'heart' and _bat_ 'to complete,' and interpreted to mean 'a +day of rest for the heart.' + + +Simplification of the Syllabary.--The script used at Susa before the +overthrow of the kingdom of Elam was the same as the archaic script of +Babylonia. But the Amardian syllabary was a selected one. Not only were +the forms of the characters simplified, a comparatively small number +of them was employed to each of which one value only was assigned. In +the Vannic texts also polyphony was similarly avoided. Characters +expressing open syllables like _ba_ and _ab_ were chosen, to which a +few more denoting closed syllables and ideographs were added; but in no +case was a character allowed to possess more than one value. Large use +was further made of the vowels, the syllable _ba_, for example, being +written _ba-a_, so that the syllabary tended to become an alphabet. +This step was taken in Old Persian, where the forms of the letters were +often so simplified as to lose all resemblance to their primitive +forms. Apart from its alphabet of thirty-six letters Old Persian +retained only one syllabic character (_t[r.]_) and a few ideographs. + +The pictorial origin of the syllabary has proved of important +assistance in reading the texts. Certain of the ideographs were used as +'determinatives' for indicating the generic character of the word to +which they are prefixed or affixed. Thus there is a determinative to +denote that the word which follows is the name of a 'city,' and another +which shows that the preceding word is a plural. In this way a glance +at an Assyrian, an Amardian, or a Vannic text will enable us at once to +distinguish the names of men, women, towns, countries, animals, trees, +metals, stones, and the like. It is a help which we look for in vain in +Phoenician or Hebrew inscriptions. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN HISTORY + + +Different States in Babylonia.--More than one kingdom originally +existed in Babylonia. Not only were there separate kingdoms in Accad +and Sumer, or northern and southern Chaldaea, many of the great cities +also once formed separate states. The excavations at Tello, for +instance, have revealed the existence of a dynasty which had its seat +there, and the ancestral kingdom of Sargon of Accad does not seem to +have extended beyond the territory of its chief city. The smaller +states were, however, absorbed by the larger ones, and a time came when +the whole of Babylonia was united into a single monarchy, whose ruler +assumed the imperial title of 'king of Sumer and Accad.' As in Egypt, +therefore, a recollection of the original dual character of the kingdom +was preserved in the title of its kings. + +It is probable that the various states of Babylonia were more than once +brought into temporary union before the final unification of the +monarchy took place. Sargon of Accad, for instance, seems to have +claimed supremacy over the rest of Chaldaea, and the dynasties which +subsequently arose at Urand other places adopted the imperial title, +although the country was not finally united under a single head until +the reign of Khammurabi. It was to this early period that the maritime +trade and civilizing influence of Eridu chiefly belongs. + + +The first Empire.--Sargon of Accad founded the earliest Semitic empire +of which we know. According to Nabonidos he lived more than 3,200 years +before the time of the last Babylonian king, that is to say about 3800 +B.C. His father, Itti-Bel, had no royal title, and legend gathered +around his birth. His uncle, it was said, ruled in the mountains, and +his mother concealed her child in an ark of rushes, daubed with pitch, +which she entrusted to the waters of the Euphrates. Here he was found +by a peasant, who brought him up as his own son. But the goddess Istar +loved the peasant lad, and the time at last came when he was able to +declare his true character and ascend the throne of his fathers. + +A copy has been preserved of the historical annals of Sargon and his +son Naram-Sin, which must have been compiled in the reign of the +latter, as they break off in the middle of it. We learn from them that +Sargon not only established his rule over Babylonia and the adjoining +districts, he also defeated the Elamites, and made four expeditions +into Syria, 'the land of the Amorites.' The last of these expeditions +occupied three years, and ended with the erection of images of the +Chaldaean king on the shores of the Mediterranean, and with the +conquest of the countries 'of the sea of the setting sun,' which he +united 'into a single empire.' His last campaign was against the +Aram-Naharaim of Scripture in north-western Mesopotamia. Babylon is +already mentioned as one of his seats of power; his capital, however, +was at Agade or Accad, where on one occasion he was unsuccessfully +besieged by his revolted subjects. Here, too, he founded a famous +library, for which the standard work on astronomy and astrology was +compiled in seventy-two books. A translation of it into Greek was made +in later days by the Chaldaean historian Berossos. + +Sargon's son and successor Naram-Sin continued his father's victorious +career, and Palestine being already secured behind him, marched into +the land of Magan, by which name Midian and the Sinaitic peninsula were +known, and captured its king. A record of the conquest was engraved on +an alabaster vase discovered by the French Expedition to Babylonia, but +unfortunately lost in the Tigris. Naram-Sin, like one or two other +Babylonian monarchs of the same early epoch, received divine honours. + + +The monuments of Tello.--The oldest monuments found at Tello in +southern Chaldaea belong to the age of Sargon and Naram-Sin. But +whereas the court of Sargon was Semitic, that of the kings of Tello was +Sumerian. At a later date Tello lost its independence, and its rulers +became merely _patesis_ or high-priests. One of these was Gudea, whose +statue may be seen in the Louvre. In his time building-materials were +brought to Chaldaea from all parts of Western Asia; thus cedar beams +were imported from Mount Amanus, and diorite from the land of Magan. It +was out of this diorite that the statues were cut. Another of the +_patesis_ of Tello was the vassal of Dungi, king of Ur, whose father +had built or restored the great temple of the Moon-god in that city, +and had claimed sovereignty over the whole of Babylonia. + + +Chronology.--These early sovereigns are known to us by the bricks and +other objects which they have left behind, but we cannot arrange them +in a chronological order. Chronology begins with what is called by the +native historians 'the dynasty of Babylon.' From this time forward the +tablets have preserved the names of the Babylonian kings divided into +dynasties, together with the length of each reign as well as of each +dynasty. The sixth king of the dynasty of Babylon was Khammurabi, who +reigned fifty-five years (B.C. 2356-2301)[4], and whose reign marks an +epoch in Babylonian history. + + [4] The date partly depends upon the number of years assigned + to the dynasty to which Nabonassar belonged, which unfortunately + is not stated by the native historians. Consequently, other + Assyriologists make it, sometimes a little higher, sometimes a + little lower. For the justification of my date see the _Records + of the Past_, New Series, pp. viii-xi. + + +The United Monarchy.--When Khammurabi ascended the throne, Babylonia +was either wholly or in part under Elamite suzerainty. That portion of +it of which Larsa was the capital was governed by Eri-Aku (probably the +Arioch of Genesis), who was a son of the Elamite prince Kudur-Mabug. +Kudur-Mabug was not himself king, but as he has the title of 'father of +the land of the Amorites' he must have held rule in Syria. Khammurabi +succeeded in overthrowing Eri-Aku and his Elamite allies and in making +himself sole king of Babylonia. Babylon, his capital, thus became, and +remained, the capital of the united kingdom. It was soon the scene of +a great literary revival. The older literature of the country was +re-edited, new authors arose, and the court of Khammurabi revived the +literary glories of that of Sargon. As his great-grandson still calls +himself 'king of the land of the Amorites' we may infer that the +conquests in Syria were not lost. + + +The rise of Assyria.--The dynasty of Khammurabi was followed by one +which came from Tello, whose kings bear Sumerian names. Then Babylonia +was conquered by Kassite princes who ruled over it for 576 years and +nine months (B.C. 1806-1229). While the Kassite dynasty was reigning, a +new kingdom arose in the north, that of Assyria. The high-priests of +the city of Assur became kings, the first of whom seems to have been +Bel-Kapkapu. The kingdom rapidly grew in power, and although Babylonia +exacted tribute from it, its kings began to ally themselves by marriage +with the rulers of the southern monarchy. In the fifteenth century B.C. +Assuryuballidh of Assyria, like his contemporary Burna-buryas of +Babylonia, sent letters and presents to the Egyptian Pharaoh and begged +in return for Egyptian gold, and a century later the city of Calah was +built (or restored) by Shalmaneser I. His son Tiglath-Uras in the sixth +year of his reign marched against Babylonia, captured Babylon and +governed it for seven years. He was then driven out of the country and +subsequently murdered by his own son. The Kassite dynasty, however, did +not last long after the Assyrian invasion. The Assyrian king had +entered Babylon in B.C. 1291, and in B.C. 1229 the dynasty came to an +end. + + +Babylon a sacred city.--From this time forward for many centuries +Assyria, and not Babylonia, occupies the chief place in the history of +western Asia. It needed a Nebuchadrezzar to make Babylonia once more a +conquering power. But Babylon itself remained the sacred city of the +cultured nations of Asia. Its old _prestige_ and hallowed associations +clung to it, and it became what Rome was to mediaeval Europe. An +Assyrian king, however powerful he might be, could not claim the +imperial title until he had 'taken the hands of Bel' and thereby been +adopted as a son by the god of Babylon. Indeed it was only in this +way that usurpers like Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon obtained any +recognition of their legitimate right to the throne. The sanction of +religion remained with Babylon, though the sword had passed to Assyria. + + +Tiglath-pileser I.--One of the most famous of the early Assyrian +conquerors was Tiglath-pileser I (B.C. 1100). He carried his arms in +all directions. Eastward he chastised the Kurds, northward he +penetrated into the mountains of Armenia and engraved his image at the +sources of the Tigris; and in the west he overthrew the Moschians, the +Meshech of the Bible, ravaging the land of Komagene, laying Malatiyeh +under tribute, threatening the Hittites in their stronghold at +Carchemish, and making his way to the shores of the Mediterranean. Here +he sailed over the sea in a ship of Arvad, and received presents from +the terrified Pharaoh of Egypt which comprised a crocodile and a +hippopotamus. Southward he invaded Babylonia, and though repulsed in +his first attack he avenged himself by subsequently over-running the +country and capturing Babylon. He was also mighty in the hunting-field +as well as in war, and in the neighbourhood of Harran boasts of having +slain the wild elephants which then existed there. His own capital +Assur he adorned with the spoils of his victories and restored its +temples. + + +The First Assyrian Empire.--We have to pass over an interval of two +centuries before we find another Assyrian monarch who emulated the +distant campaigns of Tiglath-pileser. Assur-natsir-pal (B.C. 883-858) +was the first of a line of conquerors who may be regarded as the +founders of the first Assyrian empire. From henceforth, too, Assyrian +chronology is accurately fixed. The Assyrians counted time by means +of certain officers called _limmi_, who were changed from year to +year. The name of a particular _limmu_ consequently indicated the year +during which he had held office. Lists of the _limmi_ have been +preserved which begin with the reign of Assur-natsir-pal's father +and carry us down to that of Assur-bani-pal. As the annals not only +of Tiglath-pileser I, but also of an older king, the father of +Shalmaneser I, are dated in the years of office of certain _limmi_ it +is clear that the institution went back to an early period, and that +lists of the older _limmi_ may yet be recovered, carrying us, it may +be, to the very foundation of the Assyrian kingdom. + +Calah, instead of Assur, had become the royal residence, and from Calah +accordingly the Assyrian armies marched forth year after year to +conquer and spoil. The fastnesses of the Kurdish mountains were +explored, and the Kurdish tribes compelled to pay tribute to the +Assyrian king. The cities of Armenia south of Lake Van were ravaged in +repeated campaigns, one effect of which seems to have been the +introduction of Assyrian culture and writing, and the rise of the +Vannic monarchy. The merchant princes of Carchemish bought off the +Assyrian attack with rich gifts, but the states on either bank of the +Euphrates were overrun, and Assur-natsir-pal made his way across Amanus +to the Gulf of Antioch, and across Lebanon to the Mediterranean. Here +he received the tribute of the Phoenician cities, among them being Tyre +and Sidon. In imitation of Tiglath-pileser I he hunted in northern +Mesopotamia, but the elephant had disappeared from the region, and he +had to content himself with the wild bull. + +Assur-natsir-pal was succeeded by his son Shalmaneser II, whose reign +ended in B.C. 823. His long reign was a series of military campaigns. +Countries previously untrodden by Assyrian feet were subdued or ravaged +with fire and sword. Assyrian armies made their way through the passes +of Kurdistan as far as Lake Urumiyeh and the land of the Minni. The +newly-founded kingdom of Ararat was shaken, the Tibareni (called Tubal +in Scripture) paid tribute, and Tarsus in Cilicia was compelled to open +its gates. The passage of the Euphrates was secured by the capture of +the Hittite fortress of Pethor at the junction of the Euphrates and the +Sajur, and the whole weight of the Assyrian power was hurled against +Syria. The Phoenician cities made their peace with the invader by +offering gifts; so too did Jehu (Yahua) of Samaria, whose ambassadors +are represented on the Black Obelisk. Hamath and Damascus, more +especially the latter, had to bear the brunt of the Assyrian attack. In +B.C. 853, thirteen years before the embassy of Jehu, Israel and Assyria +had already met in the battle-field. A league had been formed by +Hamath, Arvad, Ammon, and other states under the leadership of +Hadadezer of Damascus--the Ben-hadad of the Old Testament--to resist +the Assyrians, and one of the most important of the allies was 'Ahab of +Israel,' who brought into the field 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men. But +the confederacy was shattered at the battle of Qarqar, though +Shalmaneser's own losses were too serious to allow him to follow up the +attack. In B.C. 847 Hadadezer and his allies were again defeated, but +without any result on the Assyrian side. Seven years later Hazael +appears in the place of Hadadezer. Shalmaneser drove him from his camp +into Damascus, where he 'shut him up,' taking from him 1,121 chariots +and devastating the country as far as the Hauran. It was on this +occasion that Jehu offered homage to the conqueror. Shalmaneser had +already overrun Babylonia and sacrificed to the gods in Babylon, +Borsippa, and Cutha. The Babylonian king was put to death, and the +Assyrian troops penetrated into the salt-marshes of the Kalda in the +extreme south. For a time, therefore, the larger part of western Asia +lay at the feet of 'the great king.' + +A time came, however, when Shalmaneser could no longer lead his armies +in person, but had to entrust them to the Tartan or commander-in-chief. +His own son Assur-dain-pal rebelled against him, and led the chief +cities of his kingdom, including Nineveh and Assur, into revolt (B.C. +827). The revolt lasted for more than six years, and during its +continuance the old king was succeeded by his son Samsi-Rimmon who +eventually suppressed the insurrection. Assur-dain-pal seems to have +been the original Sardanapallos of the Greeks. The campaigns of +Samsi-Rimmon were principally directed against the Kurds and Medes, but +towards the end of his reign he invaded Babylonia and defeated its +king, Merodach-balasu-iqbi, the Greek Belesys. His successor +Rimmon-nirari III (B.C. 810-781) claims to have overcome Media and +Kurdistan, Tyre, Sidon, Samaria, and Palastu, 'the land of the +Philistines,' under which title the Jews would be included. But his +chief exploit was the conquest of Damascus, whose king Marih opened its +gates to him and became an Assyrian vassal. + +The older Assyrian dynasty, however, was fast coming to an end. In B.C. +753 its last representative, Assur-nirari, mounted the throne. +Insurrection had already broken out at the beginning of his +predecessor's reign, and pestilence had been added to insurrection. The +old capital Assur had led the revolt, a solar eclipse on June 15, B.C. +763 coinciding with its outbreak. The northern provinces had followed +the lead of Assur, and though the revolt was crushed for a while, the +flame of discontent still smouldered beneath the surface. The greater +part of Assur-nirari's short reign was passed in inaction, but in B.C. +746 Calah rebelled, and on the 13th of Iyyar in the following year Pulu +or Pul, who took the name of Tiglath-pileser III, after that of the +great conqueror of the older dynasty, was proclaimed king. With him +begins the history of the second Assyrian empire. + + +The Second Assyrian Empire.--With the second Assyrian empire a new +political idea entered the world. Most of the campaigns made by the +earlier Assyrian kings were mere raids, the object of which was booty +and captives. It is true that in some cases cities and districts were +annexed to the Assyrian kingdom and Assyrian colonists were planted in +distant localities. But this was the exception, not the rule. The +conquests made in one year by the Assyrian armies had to be made over +again in the next. The campaigns of Tiglath-pileser III and his +successors had a different object in view. They aimed at bringing the +whole civilized world under the rule of 'the great king.' A great +political organization was to be built up, which should bring the +wealth of Western Asia into the imperial treasury of Nineveh and divert +the trade of Phoenicia and Babylon into Assyrian hands. Trade interests +had much to do with the wars of the New Empire. + +Accordingly, while the frontiers of the kingdom were secured from the +wild tribes on the east and north, expedition after expedition was sent +westward and southward which pushed steadily forward the Assyrian +domination. Satraps and colonists followed in the wake of the generals; +and the amount of annual tribute to be paid by each province was +defined and rigorously exacted from its governor. The latter was +appointed by the king, and held his office at the royal pleasure. At +his side were military officers, and under him a body of officials who +were responsible to the governor as he was to the king. + +The New Empire was thus governed by a vast bureaucracy, at the head of +which stood the king. But the bureaucracy was military as well as +civil, and the military and civil elements formed a check one upon the +other. The military element was, however, predominant, the result of +the fact that the empire itself was based on conquest. + +The army was carefully trained, well disciplined, and well armed. It +thus soon became an irresistible weapon in the hands of a competent +master. Before Tiglath-pileser's reign was half over there was no force +in western Asia which was capable of resisting it in open fight. + +Tiglath-pileser reigned eighteen years (B.C. 745-727), and his +organizing abilities proved to be as great as his military skill. An +invasion of Babylonia first tested the strength of his army, and +resulted in the subjection of the Aramaean tribes in that country to +Assyrian rule. Then followed an expedition into Kurdistan. The Medes +were massacred, and the Assyrian army pushed its way far eastward to +Bikni, 'the mountain of the rising sun.' Next Tiglath-pileser turned to +the north-west. Here he was met by a powerful confederacy, at the head +of which was the king of Ararat. But the forces of the northern nations +were cut to pieces in Komagene, and Arpad, which had become the centre +of a hostile Syrian league, was captured after a siege of three years. +The league had included Hamath and Azariah of Judah, and Hamath was +consequently annexed to the Assyrian empire. The princes of the West +hastened to offer homage to the conqueror, among them being Rezon of +Damascus and Menahem of Samaria (B.C. 738). Tiglath-pileser was now +free to march against Ararat, which had extended its power at the +expense of Assyria in the later days of the old dynasty. The country +was ravaged up to the gates of its capital, and the Vannic kingdom +received a blow from which it never recovered. The Assyrian army next +turned eastward to the southern shores of the Caspian, and made its way +through Medic and other districts which neither before nor since were +trodden by Assyrian feet. The exploit struck terror into the Kurdish +tribes, and secured the Assyrian lowlands from their attack. + +Meanwhile Ahaz of Judah had been threatened by Rezon of Damascus and +Pekah of Israel, and he now appealed to the Assyrian king for help. +Tiglath-pileser, nothing loth, marched against the assailants. Rezon +was blockaded in his capital, while Samaria, Ammon, Moab, and Philistia +were overrun (B.C. 734). Two years later (B.C. 732), Damascus was taken +and sacked, Rezon put to death and his kingdom placed under an Assyrian +prefect. Pekah, too, had been murdered, and Tiglath-pileser had +appointed Hosea king in his place. About the same time Tyre was +compelled to purchase peace by the payment of 150 talents. + +With his empire consolidated in the west, and the road to the +Mediterranean open to Assyrian trade, Tiglath-pileser was now free to +legitimize his right to the throne by occupying Babylon and there +becoming the adopted son of Bel. It was in B.C. 731 that the Babylonian +campaign began; in B.C. 729 Tiglath-pileser, under his original name of +Pul, 'took the hands of Bel,' and two years later, in the month of +December, he died. He had introduced into history the idea of imperial +centralization. + +On his death the crown was seized by Ulula, who took the name of +Shalmaneser IV. His reign lasted only five years, and when he died +(December, B.C. 722) he was pressing the siege of Samaria. The capture +of the city and its annexation to Assyria were the work of Sargon. The +upper and military classes, amounting in all to 27,280 persons, were +carried into captivity; but only fifty chariots were found in the city. + +Sargon was a usurper like his two predecessors, but, more fortunate +than they, he succeeded in founding a dynasty. He was one of the best +generals that Assyria ever produced, and under him the extension and +organization of the empire went on apace. The death of Shalmaneser, +however, had been the signal for revolt in Babylonia as well as in the +west. Merodach-baladan, a Chaldaean from the sea-marshes, had seized +Babylon in conjunction with the Elamites, and there reigned as +legitimate monarch for twelve years. One of the first tasks of Sargon +was to drive the Elamite forces from the Assyrian frontier. Hamath +moreover rose in insurrection; but this too was speedily crushed. So +also was a league between the Philistines and the Egyptians; the battle +of Raphia decided, once for all, the question of Assyrian supremacy in +Palestine. + +Sargon now had to face a more formidable coalition, that of the +northern nations under Ursa of Ararat. The struggle lasted for six +years and ended with the complete victory of the Assyrians. Carchemish, +the Hittite stronghold on the Euphrates, fell in B.C. 717, leaving the +road clear to the west and thus uniting Assyria with its rising empire +on the shores of the Mediterranean. In the following year the Minni (to +the east of Ararat) were overthrown, and two years later Ursa and his +allies were utterly defeated. The fortress of Muzazir near Lake +Urumiyeh was captured, thus extending the Assyrian frontier far to the +east, and Ursa, in despair, committed suicide. Media was completely +subdued in B.C. 713, and Ellip, where Ekbatana afterwards stood, became +the vassal of Nineveh. In B.C. 711 a league was formed between +Merodach-baladan and the nations of southern Syria to resist the common +foe, and to this league Egypt promised assistance. But before the +confederates were ready to act, Sargon had fallen upon them separately. +Ashdod, the centre of the Palestinian confederacy, was besieged and +taken (Isaiah xxi), and its ruler, a certain 'Greek,' who had been +raised to power by the anti-Assyrian party, fled in vain for refuge to +the Arabian desert, while Judah, Edom, and Moab were compelled to pay +tribute. In B.C. 709 Merodach-baladan was driven out of Babylonia into +his ancestral kingdom of Bit-Yagna. Sargon entered Babylon and there +'took the hands of Bel.' Henceforward he ruled by divine right as well +as by the right of the sword. + +It was by the sword, however, that he perished, being murdered by a +soldier in B.C. 705. His son Sennacherib succeeded to the crown on the +12th of Ab (July). Sennacherib was a different man from his father; +boastfulness and vanity took the place of military skill, perhaps also +of courage. There seems to have been some resemblance between his +character and that of Xerxes. + +Babylonia was the new king's first object of attack. Merodach-baladan, +who had re-entered Babylon on the news of Sargon's death, was driven +back to the marshes, and Bel-ibni, an Assyrian vassal, appointed king +in his place. The next campaign was against the Kassi or Kossaeans, +some of whom were forced to descend from their mountain fastnesses and +placed under an Assyrian governor. From the Kossaean mountains the +Assyrian army marched into Ellip which was wasted with fire and sword. +Then, in B.C. 701, came the campaign against Palestine where Hezekiah +of Judah, in reliance upon Egypt, had revolted from his Assyrian lord. +Elulaeus of Sidon fled to Cyprus, and Phoenicia, Ammon, Moab, and Edom +submitted to the Assyrians. Sennacherib thereupon proceeded against the +Philistines. A new king was set over Ashkelon, and Hezekiah was +compelled to restore to Ekron its former prince whom he had imprisoned +in Jerusalem on account of his faithfulness to Assyria. The priests and +nobles of Ekron who had abetted Hezekiah were impaled on stakes. + +[Illustration: CAPTURE OF LACHISH BY SENNACHERIB.] + +Tirhakah, the Ethiopian king of Egypt, and the king of Melukh (the +Arabian desert), who had come to the assistance of the Jewish prince, +were defeated at Eltekeh, and Hezekiah vainly endeavoured to buy off +the vengeance of his offended suzerain by rich and numerous presents, +including 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver. The surrender +of Jerusalem alone would content Sennacherib, who accordingly +devastated Judah, destroying its cities and carrying into captivity +200,150 of its inhabitants. Jerusalem itself was blockaded, Hezekiah +being shut up in it 'like a bird in a cage.' Then, however, came the +catastrophe which obliged Sennacherib to retire without punishing his +rebellious vassal, and of which, of course, nothing is said in the +inscriptions. But there is no further record of a campaign in the West. +In the following year Sennacherib was in Babylonia, where he drove +Merodach-baladan out of the marshes and obliged the Chaldaean prince +and his subjects to fly in ships across the Persian Gulf to the +opposite coast of Elam. Assur-nadin-suma, the son of Sennacherib, was +now made king of Babylon. Six years later he was carried off to Elam +and a new king, Nergal-yusezib, appointed in his place by the Elamite +monarch. This was in return for an unprovoked assault made by +Sennacherib on the Chaldaean colony in Elam, to which he had crossed in +boats made by Tyrian workmen, and whose inhabitants he sent captive to +Assyria. + +For a time Elam was all-powerful in Babylonia, though Nergal-yusezib +had been defeated and captured in battle by the Assyrians. But in B.C. +691 Sennacherib descended with the full might of Assyria upon the +country. The Babylonians had sent the treasures of the temple of Bel to +the Elamite monarch, begging his help. The Babylonian and Elamite +forces met the army of Assyria at Khalule, and a hard-fought battle was +the result. The slaughter was great on both sides, and Sennacherib +claims a complete victory, though the Babylonian Chronicle--a cuneiform +document compiled from a Babylonian point of view--implies that such +was not altogether the case. At all events about two years were needed +for the subjugation of Babylonia. In B.C. 689 Babylon was taken, its +houses and temples destroyed, the images of its gods broken in pieces, +and the ruins of the city thrown into the Arakhtu, the canal of +Babylon. For some years Babylon lay desolate, and as there was no +longer a temple or image of Bel to legitimize the rule of the Assyrian +conqueror, Babylonia remained 'without kings.' + +On the 20th day of Tebet or December, B.C. 681, Sennacherib was +murdered by two of his sons who seem to have been jealous of their +brother Esar-haddon. Esar-haddon had been given the new name of +Assur-etil-mukin-abla ('Assur the hero is the establisher of my son'), +perhaps because he had been destined for the throne, and at the time of +his father's murder he was commanding the Assyrian army in a war +against Ararat. For forty-two days the conspirators held the capital; +then they were compelled to fly to Erimenas of Ararat and seek his help +against their brother. The decisive battle was fought on the 12th of +Iyyar (April) near Malatiyeh in Kappadokia; the veterans of Assyria won +the day, and at the close of it saluted Esar-haddon as king. He +returned to Nineveh and on the 8th of Sivan (May) formally ascended the +throne. + +Esar-haddon was great in counsel as well as in war, and knew how to +conciliate as well as how to conquer. At the outset of his reign he +restored Babylon, rebuilt its temples, brought back its gods and +people, and made it one of his royal residences. For twelve years he +was king alike of Babylonia and Assyria. + +A revolt of Sidon, which was easily put down, next occupied his +attention. Then came a more formidable event. The Gimirra, called Gomer +in Genesis, Kimmerians by the Greeks, suddenly appeared out of the +north and menaced the civilized world. Esar-haddon met them on the +frontier of his empire, defeated their chieftain, the 'Manda' or nomad +Teuspa, and drove his hordes westward into Asia Minor. It now became +necessary to secure the Assyrian frontier on the south. The Assyrian +king accordingly marched into the very heart of Arabia, through burning +and waterless deserts, and struck terror into the Arabian tribes. The +march must have been one of the most remarkable ever made. + +Esar-haddon was at last free to complete the policy of Tiglath-pileser +III by conquering the ancient kingdom of Egypt. Palestine gave no more +trouble; Manasseh of Judah was already an obedient vassal of the +Assyrian king. In B.C. 674 'the Assyrians marched into Egypt.' But two +more campaigns were needed for its subjection. In B.C. 670 Esar-haddon +drove the Egyptian forces before him in fifteen days (from the 3rd to +the 18th of Tammuz or June) all the way from the frontier to Memphis, +thrice defeating them with heavy loss and wounding Tirhakah their king. +Three days later Memphis fell, and Tirhakah fled to Ethiopia, leaving +Egypt to the conqueror. Egypt revolted two years afterwards (B.C. 668), +and while on the march to reduce it Esar-haddon fell ill, and died on +the 10th of Marchesvan or October. Assur-bani-pal, who had already +been named as his successor, became king of Assyria, his brother +Saul-suma-yukin taking Babylonia as his share. The king of Babylonia, +however, was required to admit the supremacy of the Assyrian monarch. + +The Egyptian revolt was quickly suppressed and the country was again +divided into twenty satrapies, each satrapy being placed under a native +prince. But the arrangement answered badly. The satraps quarrelled +with one another, intrigued with Tirhakah, and rebelled against +Assur-bani-pal. Time after time Assyrian armies had to be sent to +reconquer the land. Once Necho, the satrap of Sais, was brought in +chains to Nineveh, there, however, to be pardoned and restored to his +city. Twice Thebes was captured, once after it had been made for a time +the seat of Tirhakah's government, a second time after the defeat of +Urdaman (Rud-Amon), the step-son and successor of Tirhakah. On this +occasion the city was utterly destroyed. Its temples and palaces were +overthrown, its statues mutilated, and an immense spoil carried away to +Nineveh. Among the spoil were two obelisks, over seventy tons in +weight. The destruction of Thebes is alluded to by the prophet Nahum +(iii. 8). + +Assur-bani-pal, the Sardanapallos of the Greeks, was the 'Grand +Monarque' of Assyria, and a generous patron of literature and learning. +But he lacked the warlike instincts of his fathers, and preferred to +remain at home while his generals fought in the field. His long wars +drained the country of its fighting-men and prepared the way for its +downfall. They were waged mainly with Elam, the only civilized country +of Western Asia which still preserved its independence, and lasted for +several years. At last, however, Elam fell; its capital Shushan was +sacked and burned, and a desolated country was added to the Assyrian +dominions. + +The fame of Assur-bani-pal spread far and wide. Ambassadors came to his +court from Ararat, as well as from Gyges of Lydia. At first no +interpreter could be found for the latter. Gyges wanted help against +the Kimmerians, which, however, 'the great king' does not seem to have +afforded. The tribute of Gyges was accordingly withdrawn after a time, +and he took part in the great rebellion which now shook the Assyrian +empire to its foundations. + +Saul-suma-yukin put himself at its head, and proclaimed the +independence of Babylonia. Psammetikhos, the son of Necho of Sais, +imitated his example in Egypt, and with the assistance of Gyges put +down the rival satraps, shook off the Assyrian yoke and founded the +Twenty-sixth dynasty. Saul-suma-yukin was less fortunate. After a +desperate struggle he was captured and put to death by his brother, and +Babylonia was once more reduced to servitude. Punishment was also taken +upon the tribes of northern Arabia who had joined the rebels. + +But the empire was terribly weakened. Egypt was lost to it for ever, +and though Elam was added instead, it proved to be a barren possession. +When Tuktamme the 'Manda' appeared upon the scene he was resisted with +difficulty. The empire was tottering to its fall. + +Of its closing days we know but little from the monuments. Among the +successors of Assur-bani-pal were Assur-etil-ilani-yukin (who still +claimed rule in Babylonia), and Sin-sar-iskun. The latter has sometimes +been identified with Sarakos, said by the Greek writer Abydenos to +have been the last king of Assyria[5]. At all events the fall and +destruction of Nineveh may be placed in B.C. 606. + + [5] A contract-tablet exists dated at Sippara in the second + year of Sin-sar-iskun, which shows that the rule of the king + was acknowledged in Babylonia. + + +The Babylonian Empire.--On its ruins rose the Babylonian empire of +Nebuchadrezzar, the son of Nabopolassar. The battle of Carchemish +placed him in possession of Syria, which the Egyptians had occupied +after the fall of Nineveh. The battle was scarcely over when +Nebuchadrezzar was recalled to Babylon by the death of his father (B.C. +605). Unlike the Assyrian kings, he cared but little about recording +his successes in war. His inscriptions are occupied with the account of +his building operations, of his gifts to the gods, and of his devotion +to Bel-Merodach. Under him Babylon became one of the most splendid +cities in the world. Its palaces, its temples, its hanging gardens and +its walls were alike on a vast and magnificent scale. The temples were +roofed with cedar of Lebanon, overlaid with gold and silver, and the +ramparts of the royal house were finished in fifteen days. The suburb +of Borsippa was included within the fortifications of the city, which +were so strong as to be practicably impregnable. At the same time the +other cities of Babylonia were not forgotten, and their temples were +enlarged and beautified. + +In B.C. 568 Nebuchadrezzar marched into Egypt, defeated the Pharaoh +Amasis and occupied a part at least of the Delta. 'Phut of the Ionians' +is mentioned in connexion with this campaign. It is the only military +expedition mentioned in the texts we possess; even the monuments of +Nebuchadrezzar found in Syria (at the mouth of the Nahr el-Kelb near +Beyrout and in the Wadi Brissa near the ancient Riblah) are silent +about his wars. + +He was a great organizer, a great builder, and above all a man of +genuine piety, which breathes through all his inscriptions. When he +died, B.C. 562, he was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, who +reigned only two years. Then the throne was usurped by a certain +Nergal-sharezer (the son of Bel-zakir-iskun) who had married the +daughter of Nebuchadrezzar. Nergal-sharezer built himself a new palace +and died B.C. 556. He was followed by his infant son who reigned only +three months, when he was murdered and the throne seized by Nabonidos +(Nabu-nahid), the son of Nebo-balasu-iqbi, who was not related to the +royal family. Nabonidos was a man of some energy, but he offended a +powerful party in Babylonia by attempting to do what Hezekiah had done +in Jerusalem--centralize the religious worship of the country and +therewith the political power in the capital. Nabonidos was also an +antiquarian and caused excavations to be made in the different temples +of Babylonia in order to discover the records of their founders. + +We are now well acquainted with the history of Nabonidos and the fall +of his empire, thanks to three cuneiform documents which have been +found in Babylonia. One is an inscription of Nabonidos himself; another +an edict issued by Cyrus shortly after his conquest of the country; and +the third the annals of the reign of Nabonidos, compiled the year after +his overthrow. The empire of Nabonidos, we learn, extended as far +westward as Gaza, but the 'Manda' or 'Nomads' of whom Astyages +(Istuvegu) was king had devastated part of Western Asia and had +destroyed the temple of the Moon-god at Harran. It was not until Cyrus, +'the little servant' of Astyages, had overthrown the Manda that +Nabonidos was able to enter Harran and rebuild the ruined shrine. + + +Cyrus and the Fall of Babylon.--Cyrus, like his fathers, was king of +Anzan in Elam, not of Persia. Anzan had been first occupied, it would +appear, by his great-grandfather Teispes the Achaemenian. The conquest +of Astyages and of his capital Ekbatana took place in B.C. 549, and a +year or two later Cyrus obtained possession of Persia. In B.C. 538 the +population in the south of Babylonia revolted, and Cyrus entered the +country, where he was assisted by the native party which was hostile to +Nabonidos. The Babylonian army was stationed in northern Babylonia, but +it was utterly defeated at Opis in the month of Tammuz or June, and +on the 14th of the month Sippara opened its gates to the conqueror. +Gobryas, the governor of Kurdistan, was then sent by Cyrus against +Babylon, which also opened its gates 'without fighting,' and Nabonidos, +who had concealed himself, was taken prisoner. Gobryas placed the +temple of Bel under a guard, and the daily services there proceeded as +usual. The contract-tablets show that there was equally little +cessation of business among the mercantile classes. But it was not +until the 3rd of Marchesvan (October) that Cyrus himself arrived in +Babylon and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by +Gobryas to 'all the province of Babylon' of which he had been made +governor. Shortly afterwards the wife of Nabonidos died; lamentation +was made for her throughout Babylonia, and Kambyses, the son of Cyrus, +conducted her funeral in one of the Babylonian temples. + +[Illustration: THE CYLINDER INSCRIPTION OF CYRUS.] + +Meanwhile Cyrus had assumed the title of 'King of Babylon,' thus +claiming to be the legitimate descendant of the ancient Babylonian +kings. He announced himself as the devoted worshipper of Bel and Nebo, +who by the command of Merodach had overthrown the sacrilegious usurper +Nabonidos, and he and his son accordingly offered sacrifices to ten +times the usual amount in the Babylonian temples, and restored the +images of the gods to their ancient shrines. At the same time he +allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to +return to their homes along with the statues of their gods. Among these +foreign populations, as we know from the Old Testament, were the Jews. + + +Belshazzar.--One of the sons of Nabonidos was Belshazzar, who is +mentioned in the contract-tablets as well as by his father. He seems +to have been 'the king's son' who commanded the Babylonian army in +its camp near Sippara. If so, it would appear that he had died or +been slain before the final invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus, since +no reference is made to him on that occasion, and the pretenders +who afterwards rose against Darius in Babylonia called themselves +not Belshazzar but 'Nebuchadrezzar, the son of Nabonidos.' + + +Decay of Babylon.--It was after the death of Kambyses and of the +Pseudo-Smerdis that these revolts took place in B.C. 521 and 515(?). +The first was a serious one, and was suppressed only after two +engagements in the field and a siege of Babylon. The second revolt also +needed a long siege for its suppression, and at its conclusion Darius +partially destroyed the walls of the city. But in the reign of Xerxes, +during the absence of the king in Greece, Babylon revolted again under +a certain Samas-erba, who reigned for about a year. On the fall of +this champion of Babylonian independence, the temple of Bel, the +rallying-place of Babylonian nationality, was in part destroyed. From +this time forward the only kings mentioned in the cuneiform tablets are +foreigners, Persians, Greeks, and Parthians. The last dated tablet at +present known to us is almost as late as the Christian era. It is an +astrological text which is dated in the 168th year of Seleucus and the +232nd year of Arsakes, that is to say in B.C. 80. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION + + +The religions of Babylonia and Assyria.--The religion of Assyria was +borrowed from that of Babylonia. The deities worshipped in the two +countries were the same, as also were the ritual and the religious +beliefs of the people. Almost the only difference observable in the +religion of the two kingdoms was that whereas Bel-Merodach was the +supreme god of Babylon, Assur, the impersonation of the old capital, +was the supreme god of Assyria. + + +Differences between Babylonian and Assyrian religion.--But the +different characters of the two populations were reflected in their +religious conceptions. The Assyrians were a nation of warriors, the +Babylonians of traders, agriculturists, and scribes. Assur is +accordingly 'a man of war'; it was in reliance upon him that the +Assyrian armies marched into foreign lands, and compelled their +inhabitants to acknowledge him. Not to believe in Assur was a crime, +since Assur represented Assyria. Assur, too, admitted no rival at his +side: wifeless and childless he stood alone. Once or twice, indeed, an +Assyrian scribe ascribes to him a wife or a child, but this is in +imitation of Babylonian usage and the belief never took root in +Assyria. + +Bel-Merodach, on the contrary, was a god of mercy. He is 'the merciful +one' who hearkens to those that call upon him and who 'raises the dead +to life' through trust in his power. Belat, or Beltis, 'the lady,' +stood at his side, a reflection of himself, and the gods were his +children who recognized him as their father and creator. + + +Sumerian religion Shamanistic.--Babylonian religion was a compound of +Sumerian and Semitic elements. Sumerian religion had originally been +'Shamanistic' in character. That is to say it had no conception of +deities or priests in the usual sense of the words. Each object or +force of nature was believed to have its _zi_ or 'life' like men and +beasts; the _zi_ was a sort of vital principle which caused the arrow +to fly, the knife to wound, or the stars to move through the heaven. A +personality was given to it, and it thus became what we may term a +spirit. With these spirits, accordingly, the sky and earth were +peopled; they were in fact as multitudinous as the objects and forces +of nature to which they owed their birth. Necessarily the greater +number of them were harmful, if not always at any rate at certain +times and in certain places. Magical charms alone could protect man +from their malevolence or bring down their blessing upon him, and +these magical charms and ceremonies were known only to a particular +class of persons. To such sorcerer-priests the name of 'shamans' has +been assigned, the form of religion represented by them being termed +'Shamanistic.' + + +Two centres of Babylonian religion.--In prehistoric times two great +religious centres existed in Babylonia, from which two divergent +streams of religious influence flowed over the country. One of these +was Nipur in the north, the other Eridu in the south. Nipur was the +seat of Shamanism, and its patron deity in later days still retained +the title of Mul-lil or El-lil, 'the lord of the ghost-world.' Eridu, +on the other hand, was brought by its trade and situation into contact +with foreign culture. It thus became the source of a higher and more +spiritual form of faith. The spirit of the water, who had been its +special object of adoration, became the culture-god Ea, the lord of the +abyss, who is called Oannes in the Greek history of Berossos and was +believed to have been the author of Babylonian culture. To him its +laws, its arts, and its sciences were alike traced back. Through his +wisdom his son Asari-mulu-dugga, 'Asari who benefits mankind,' was +enabled to cure the diseases and troubles of men, and teach them how to +avoid evil. His teachings were embodied in writing, and so a sacred +book grew up, half Bible, half Ritual, which contained hymns to the +gods as well as rubrics for the performance of the ceremonies +accompanying their recitation. + +Under the influence of Eridu the religion of Babylonia ceased to be so +purely Shamanistic as it once had been. Certain of the spirits tended +to take rank above their fellows and thus to pass into gods. How long +this process of development lasted we do not know. + + +Semitic Influence.--But a time came when the Semites entered the +country and were brought into close contact, hostile or peaceable, with +its Sumerian inhabitants. The result was a fusion of Sumerian and +Semitic religious ideas. An official religion came into existence which +consisted of a Semitic form of faith grafted upon a Sumerian root. + +The religion of the Semite was essentially different from that of the +Sumerian. The primary object of his worship was the Baal, Bel, or +'Lord,' who revealed himself in the sun. Each tribe and each locality +had its own Baal; when the tribes coalesced or when the same tribe +occupied more than one locality the various Baals were regarded as so +many forms of the supreme God. + +Each Baal was the father of a family. At his side stood his wife, a +colourless reflection of himself, as the wife was of the husband in the +Semitic family on earth. Like the father of the family on earth, Baal +too in heaven had his children. + +Where the religions of the Semite and the Sumerian met and combined, +the Sumerian spirits who had emerged above the rest like Ea of Eridu or +El-lil of Nipur, were assimilated to the Semitic Baalim. El-lil, in +fact, was known throughout the Semitic period as Bel of Nipur. Wherever +it was possible a solar character was given to them; in other cases the +general characteristics of the Semitic deity were attached to the old +Sumerian divinity. The great body of the spirits which had fallen into +the background was grouped together as the 300 spirits of heaven +(_Igigi_) and the 600 spirits of earth (_Anunnaki_). + + +The goddess Istar.--In one instance, however, it was the Semite rather +than the Sumerian who was affected by the contact between the two forms +of faith. The spirit of the evening star became the goddess Istar, who +retained her independent position by the side of the male deities. +While the other goddesses were absorbed in the persons of their divine +consorts like the wife in the Semitic family, Istar, having no consort, +remained like the wife in the Sumerian family on a footing of equality +with the man. When the name and worship of Istar were passed on to the +Semitic peoples of the West, the anomaly led to more than one change in +her character. In southern Arabia and Moab she was identified with a +male deity; in Canaan her name received the feminine suffix _-th_ +(Ashtoreth), and she thus became in large measure an ordinary Semitic +goddess. + + +Bel-Merodach.--After the rise of Babylon as the capital of the kingdom, +its patron-god Merodach became the supreme Baal or Bel of Babylonia. He +had already been identified with Asari-mulu-dugga, the son of Ea, and +the attributes of the latter were accordingly transferred to the new +Bel. It was to him that the great temple of E-Saggil was erected in +Babylon, while the interpreter of his will to men, Nebo, the divine +'prophet,' had his temple E-Zida in the neighbouring suburb of +Borsippa. At Nipur a god whose name has been variously read Uras, +Nin-ip, Bar and Adar, but the true pronunciation of which is still +unknown, stood in much the same relation to El-lil that Nebo did to +Merodach. He was, however, regarded as a solar warrior instead of as a +prophet. + + +Other deities.--Nergal was worshipped in Kutha and its cemeteries; +Samas, 'the Sun,' at Sippara; Sin, 'the Moon,' at Ur and Harran; Anu, +'the Sky,' at Erech, where he was associated with Istar. Along with Ea +and Bel of Nipur, Anu formed a triad which represented in the official +religion the three elementary deities of the sea, the earth, and the +heavens. The sea, however, was rather the primordial 'deep' out of +which all things arose than the sea of the actual world, while 'the +heaven of Anu' was beyond the visible sky, and Bel was the prince of +the air and the underworld. + +[Illustration: WINGED BULL OR HOUSE-GUARDIAN.] + + +Sacred books and ritual.--Along with the growth of the official +religion went the growth and completion of the Chaldaean Bible and +Prayer-book. The festivals of the gods were numerous; the ceremonies to +be performed by the priests were more numerous still. The ceremonies +were usually accompanied by the recitation of one or more hymns; these +hymns were written in Sumerian, which had now become the sacred +language of Chaldaea just as Latin is the sacred language of the Roman +Church, and since Sumerian was no longer understood by the majority of +the people they were provided with interlinear translations into +Semitic Babylonian. From time to time the pronunciation of the old +Sumerian words was indicated, for just as it was needful that the +inspired words should be handed down without the slightest alteration, +so also was it needful that they should be pronounced aright. An error +even in pronunciation was supposed to invalidate the ceremony. Among +the hymns is a collection of penitential psalms of which the following +lines will give some idea:-- + + 'O lord, my sins are many, my transgressions are great! + O my god, my sins are many, my transgressions are great! + O my goddess, my sins are many, my transgressions are great! + + + The lord in the wrath of his heart has regarded me; + God in the fierceness of his heart has revealed himself to me. + The goddess has been violent against me, and has put me to grief. + + + I sought for help and none took my hand; + I wept and none stood at my side; + I cried aloud and there was none that heard me. + To my god, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter my prayer. + + + O my god, seven times seven are my transgressions: forgive my sins!' + + +The Priests.--The existence of a hierarchy of gods, of a Bible, and +of a Prayer-book implies the existence of a priesthood. The sorcerer +of prehistoric times became the priest of later Babylonia. The +priests were distinguished into several classes. At the head came the +High-priest who was often the monarch; in Assyria indeed this was +commonly the case. Subordinate to him were other high-priests, and +under them again the 'anointers' (who cleansed the sacred vessels of +the sanctuary), the priests of Istar and the 'elders.' By the side of +them stood the 'prophets' (_asipi_) under a 'chief.' The prophets +could predict the future and were consulted on matters of state. We +hear of armies being accompanied by them into the field, and when +Assur-bani-pal suppressed the revolt of the Babylonians 'by the +command of the prophets,' he says, 'I purified their shrines and +cleansed their chief places of prayer. The angry gods and wrathful +goddesses I soothed with supplications and penitential psalms. I +restored and established in peace their daily sacrifices which they +had discontinued.' + + +The Temples.--The temples were provided with towers which served for +the observation of the stars, and stood within large courts. In the +shrine was a 'mercy-seat' whereon the god 'seated himself' on certain +occasions. At Balawat near Nineveh the mercy-seat had the form of a +coffer or ark, in which two written tables of stone were placed. In +front of it stood the altar approached by steps. In the court was a +'sea' or large basin of water, which like that of Solomon was, in one +case at all events, supported on bulls of bronze. The images of the +gods were almost invariably of human form. + + +Astro-theology.--The prominence given to the study of astronomy had +much to do with giving Babylonian religion an astral character. The +stars were worshipped; Istar herself was originally the evening star, +and most of the principal deities were identified with the planets and +chief fixed stars. The importance of the stars for the regulation of +the calendar, moreover, kept them constantly before the eyes of the +priests. But whether Babylonian astrotheology was not really primitive +or whether it went back to the pre-Semitic period we do not yet know. + + +Sacrifices and offerings.--Sacrifices were offered to the stars, as to +the other divinities. Besides the sacrifices, offerings were also made +of meal, dates, oil, and wine. The sacrifices and offerings must have +been numerous since in the larger temples there was not only 'the +daily sacrifice' but also constant services both by day and night. On +the great festivals, moreover, there were services of a special +character, as also when days of thanksgiving or humiliation were +ordained. The sacrifices and offerings were provided partly by +endowments, partly by voluntary gifts (sometimes called _kurbanni_, +the Hebrew _korban_), partly by obligatory contributions, the most +important of which were the 'tithes.' + + +The Sabbath.--Besides the festivals of the gods there was a _sabattu_ +or 'Sabbath,' observed on the 9th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th day of +the month, on which various kinds of work were forbidden to be done. +Food even was not allowed to be cooked, or medicine to be taken. The +_sabattu_ is described as 'a day of rest for the heart,' and a +'free-will offering' had to be made in the night of it. + + +Monotheistic tendency.--Among the educated classes religious feeling +seems to have been fervent, and at times the language used approaches +that of monotheism. Thus in an early hymn to the Moon-god which was +composed in the city of Ur, we read:-- + + 'Father, long-suffering and full of forgiveness, whose hand upholds + the life of all mankind!... + First-born, omnipotent, whose heart is immensity, and there is none + who may fathom it!... + In heaven, who is supreme? Thou alone, thou art supreme! + On earth, who is supreme? Thou alone, thou art supreme!' + +So, again, Nebuchadrezzar prays as follows to Bel-Merodach:-- + + 'O prince, thou art from everlasting, lord of all that exists, for + the king whom thou lovest, whom thou callest by name, as it seems + good to thee, thou guidest his name aright, thou watchest over him + in the path of righteousness. I, the prince who obeys thee, am the + work of thy hands; thou hast created me and hast entrusted to me + the sovereignty over multitudes of men, according to thy goodness, + O lord, which thou hast made to pass over them all. Let me love thy + supreme lordship, let the fear of thy divinity exist in my heart, + and give what seemeth good to thee, since thou maintainest my + life.' + + +The future life.--The mass of the people, however, were sunk in the +grossest superstition, and the future to which they looked forward was +sufficiently dreary. Hades lay beneath the earth, where the spirits of +the dead flitted about like bats in darkness with dust only for their +food. A happier lot was reserved for the few, and a prayer is made for +an Assyrian king that after death he should ascend to 'the land of the +silver sky.' + + +Cosmology.--In early Sumerian days the heaven was believed to rest on +the peak of 'the mountain of the world,' in the far north-east, where +the gods had their habitations (cf. Isa. xiv. 13), while an ocean or +'deep' encircled the earth which rested upon its surface. With the +progress of knowledge truer ideas of geography came to prevail. The +later cosmogony is represented in the first tablet of the Creation +story where the old gods are resolved into cosmical elements. The +'deep' is said to have been 'the generator' of the heavens and the +earth, 'Mummu-Tiamat' (the chaos of the sea) being 'the mother of them +all.... At that time the gods had not appeared.... Then the [great] +gods were created, Lakhmu and Lakhamu issued forth the first.' Next +came the creation of An-sar and Ki-sar, 'the upper' and 'lower +firmament,' who in their turn gave birth to Anu, Ea, and Bel. The +struggle between Merodach, the god of light and order, with Tiamat, the +dragon of darkness, chaos, and evil, occupied a prominent place in the +Epic of the Creation. Along with Tiamat there were ranged in battle the +evil creatures of night and destruction, most of whom had composite +forms. The belief in them had been inherited from the age of Shamanism, +and they were regarded as the products of a first and imperfect +creation. Some of them came to symbolize the powers of darkness, others +were transported to the skies, certain of the allies of Tiamat being +the Zodiacal animals, while out of the skin of Tiamat Merodach +constructed the heaven itself. In the Epic Tiamat is identified with +the source of the fountains of the great deep. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE + + +Aids to the reading of the texts.--The origin of the cuneiform system +of writing has been already described, as well as its chief +peculiarities. We must now say something about the causes which have +led to our being able to read an ordinary Assyrian text almost as +easily as a page of the Old Testament. + +(1) The 'determinatives' have already been mentioned which define so +many words and names. + +(2) The ideographs often prove a great assistance, as words of unknown +meaning interchange with ideographs the signification of which is +already known. + +(3) The fact that the characters express syllables gives us the precise +pronunciation of the words, and so enables us to read them with a +certainty which is impossible in Hebrew or Phoenician where the vowels +are not denoted in writing. + +(4) Assyrian is a Semitic language, and the Semitic languages are as +closely related to one another as are the Romanic languages (French, +Italian, Spanish, &c.) in modern Europe. Consequently most of the words +and grammatical forms found in Assyrian recur in one or other of the +Semitic idioms. + +(5) But above all, the Assyrian scribes themselves have provided us +with the most abundant materials for interpreting the inscriptions. + + +The libraries.--The amount of Assyro-Babylonian literature already +known is very large. If all the texts at present in the museums of +Europe and America could be published, they would rival in extent the +books of the Old Testament. Most of the texts are on tablets of clay +and have come from the libraries of Nineveh and Babylonia. Every great +Babylonian city had at least one library, and the Assyrian kings +established other libraries in their own country in imitation of those +of Babylonia. About two-thirds of the library of Nineveh, which was +largely the creation of Assur-bani-pal, is now in the British Museum. +Scribes were kept constantly at work there copying and re-editing old +texts, and sometimes writing new ones. A considerable proportion of the +texts was brought from Babylonia: a colophon attached to each tablet +usually states from what library the text had originally come. The +texts were carefully edited; when there was a lacuna in the original +the scribe tells us so, and whether it was old or recent; also if the +Babylonian character were one which he did not recognize he confesses +that he could not read it. Besides the clay tablets, the libraries +contained papyri which have now perished. + + +Varieties of literature.--The texts related to all the branches of +knowledge studied at the time. Astronomy and astrology, mathematics, +geography, medicine, law, history, religion, and mythology, private and +public correspondence, mercantile transactions, political documents, +the pseudo-science of omens, lists of beasts, birds, vegetables, and +stones, are all represented in it, and last, but not least, philology. +The necessity of translating and explaining the Sumerian texts +doubtless gave philology so prominent a place. Under the head of +philology come interlinear and parallel translations of Sumerian +documents, together with commentaries and exercises, reading-books and +grammars of the two languages, endless lists of characters with their +phonetic values and significations, and numerous vocabularies partly +bilingual, partly containing catalogues of Semitic synonyms. The +decipherer thus has at his command a most elaborate system for learning +the Assyrian and Sumerian languages compiled by the Assyrians +themselves. Time after time the signification of a new word is given by +its synonym or synonyms in the lexical lists, and words of uncertain +meaning in Hebrew have more than once been settled by means of their +Assyrian equivalents. + + +The texts autotypes.--The cuneiform texts further possess an advantage +of which the student of the Old and New Testament Scriptures might well +be envious. They are the autotypes of the scribes who wrote them for +the libraries in the ruins of which they have been found. The texts +have never passed through the hands of later copyists little acquainted +with the language in which they were composed. The corruptions of the +text, such as they are, go back to the scribes of Assur-bani-pal or +Nebuchadrezzar, in some cases to the scribes even of the pre-Semitic +period. + +[Illustration: PART OF AN ASSYRIAN BOOK.] + + +Astronomy.--The great work on astronomy and astrology in seventy-two +chapters or books was originally compiled for the library of Sargon of +Accad. It contained chapters on the eclipses or conjunction of the sun +and moon, on the planets, the fixed stars, and the comets, and proves +that observations of the heavens had been made for a long while +previous to its composition. The path of the sun through the signs of +the Zodiac had already been mapped out: in fact the Zodiacal Signs owe +their origin to the astronomers of Babylonia. At the time they were +first named the vernal equinox began with Taurus. + + +Mathematics.--Among the mathematical treatises may be mentioned tables +of cube and square roots from the library of Senkereh. The Babylonian +system of notation resembled that of the Romans, but by an ingenious +application of the sexagesimal system high numbers could be expressed +in a very small number of figures. + + +Medicine and law.--The standard work on medicine was voluminous like +that on astronomy. It contained a vast number of prescriptions for +different diseases, which read very much like modern ones. Law occupied +a large space in Babylonian and Assyrian life, and codes of law, which +protected the slave as well as the woman, went back to Sumerian times. +A considerable part of the law was based on cases which had already +been decided by the judges. The judges were appointed by the king, and, +at all events in a later age, were under a president. Important cases +were heard before several judges at once; thus a case which was tried +at Babylon in B.C. 547 was heard before six judges and registered by +their two clerks. + + +History and mythology.--Historical documents are numerous and include +the lists of Assyrian eponyms, after whom the successive years were +named, as well as of the dynasties of kings and the number of years +each king reigned. Religious literature, however, was still more +largely represented. As has been stated, a considerable portion of it +consisted of hymns to the gods, psalms, and ritual texts. But there +were also lists of the multitudinous deities and their temples, and +more especially religious myths and legends. One of these described the +visit of the goddess Istar to Hades in search of her dead husband +Tammuz, the Sun-god, and told how she left some of her adornment at +each of its seven gates, until at last she stood stripped and bare +before the mistress of the Underworld, where the waters of life gush +forth. In another the adventures of the first man Adapa are related, +and how he was summoned to heaven to answer the charge of having broken +the wings of the south-wind. We possess two fragments of this myth, the +earlier part being written on a broken tablet which was found in the +library of Nineveh, while the latter part of it has been found on one +of the cuneiform documents discovered at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, where +it had been copied for Egyptian or Canaanite students some eight +centuries before the library of Nineveh was in existence. + + +The Chaldaean epic and the Deluge.--One of the most famous of the +legends is the Chaldaean account of the Deluge, which was discovered by +George Smith in 1872. Its close resemblance to the Biblical account of +the same event is well known. It embodied at least two earlier versions +of the story, and in its present form is inserted as an episode in the +great Epic of the Babylonian hero Gilgames. The Epic was composed by +a certain Sin-liqi-unnini in twelve books, and was arranged on an +astronomical principle, the subject of each book corresponding with the +name of a Zodiacal sign. Thus the account of the Deluge is introduced +into the eleventh book, which answers to Aquarius the eleventh sign of +the Zodiac. + +Gilgames, it was said, was the fated child of whom it had been +prophesied that he would slay his grandfather. Though his mother had +been confined in a tower, he was nevertheless born and conveyed to +safety on the wings of an eagle. When grown to man's estate he saved +Erech from the enemy and made it the seat of his dominion. He overthrew +Khumbaba the tyrant of the forest of cedars, and found a friend and +guide in the satyr Ea-bani. The goddess Istar wooed him in marriage, +but he reproached her with the woes she had already brought on her +hapless lovers and scorned her beauty. In revenge she besought Anu, her +father, to create a winged bull, which should attack the hero. +Gilgames, however, slew the bull and returned in triumph to Erech with +his spoils. But misfortune fell upon him. Ea-bani was killed by the +bite of a gad-fly, his soul rising up from the ground to the heaven of +heroes, and Gilgames himself was smitten with a sore disease. To heal +it he sailed beyond the mouth of the Euphrates and the river of death, +and here conversed with Xisuthrus, the Chaldaean Noah, who, like Enoch, +had been translated without seeing death. Xisuthrus told him the story +of the Deluge, and instructed him how to cure his malady. + + +Epic of the Creation.--The Assyrian Epic of the Creation, the discovery +of which was also due to George Smith, has already been alluded to. Its +parallelism with the account of the Creation, in the first chapter of +Genesis, was noticed from the first. The first tablet opens with a +description of the deep or watery chaos, while the fifth tablet +describes the appointment of the heavenly bodies for signs and for +seasons, and in the seventh comes an account of the creation of the +animals. The second and third tablets, however, and possibly the +fourth, were occupied with the story of the struggle between Tiamat the +dragon of darkness, and Merodach the Sun-god, which finds its echo in +the Apocalypse (Rev. xii. 7-9). Out of the skin of Tiamat, Merodach +formed the firmament which 'divided the waters which were under the +firmament from the waters which were above it.' Other accounts of the +Creation existed, which differed essentially from that of the Epic. +Thus there was one that was written for the Library of Kutha and +described an imperfect creation which foreshadowed as it were the +present one. Mr. Pinches, again, has discovered a Sumerian legend of +the origin of things which seems to have been current at Eridu. But in +the Epic a considerable number of the older cosmological legends were +embodied and combined, and a gloss of materialistic philosophy put upon +them. It is this gloss which makes it difficult to believe that the +Epic can be of much antiquity. The materials of which it is composed +doubtless go back to an early period, but in its present form it +belongs to an age when the deities of the old faith were resolved into +philosophical abstractions and the forces of nature. At present, at all +events, we have no reasons for thinking that it is earlier than the +time of the Second Assyrian Empire. + +[Illustration: CONTRACT-TABLETS.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SOCIAL LIFE + + +The Contract-tablets.--We have learnt a great deal about the social +life of Babylonia and Assyria from the contract-tablets which have been +found in enormous numbers in Babylonia. A few have also come from the +library of Nineveh, relating for the most part to the sale and lease of +house property. Some of them have Aramaic dockets attached to them, +giving the names of the persons mentioned in the contract and the +nature of its contents. These dockets serve to verify the method of +cuneiform decipherment, and are an indication that in the time of +Tiglath-pileser III and his successors Aramaic was the common language +of trade. + +Some of the Babylonian contract-tablets go back to the time of +Khammurabi and his dynasty, and are in Sumerian. But the larger number +are of much later date, and extend from the reign of Kandalanu, the +predecessor of Nabopolassar, to that of Xerxes. For many years we have +a continuous series of documents dated month by month in each year. A +contract-tablet was often enclosed in an envelope of clay, on which its +principal contents were inscribed. They were kept in large jars which +answered to our modern safes. + + +Married Life.--From the contracts relating to matrimony we learn that +polygamy was very rare, and that the wife enjoyed a considerable amount +of independence. The dowry she brought with her on marriage had to be +restored to her in case of divorce. Moreover the woman could act apart +from her husband, entering into partnership, trading with her money and +conducting law-suits in her own name. In B.C. 555 we find a father +transferring all his property to his daughter, and reserving only the +use of it during the rest of his life. On the other hand wives, like +concubines, could sometimes be purchased, though in this case if the +husband married again he stipulated that he would send his first wife +back to her home along with a certain sum of money. Children could be +adopted, and there was the utmost freedom as regards the devolution of +property, which could be 'tied up' by will. + + +Burial.--The dead were buried after complete or partial cremation. With +the exception of the kings they were interred in cemeteries outside the +towns, tombs and tombstones being erected over them, with rivulets, +which symbolized 'the water of life,' flowing at their side. + + +Slavery.--Slavery was an ancient institution, but the slave was +protected by law as far back as the Sumerian period. In later times he +could even appear as party to a suit, and could recover his freedom by +manumission, by purchase, by proving that he had been unlawfully +enslaved, or by his adoption into the family of a citizen. Slaves could +be impressed into the royal service, so that in selling a slave it was +usual to stipulate that the seller should be responsible for any +trouble arising from such a cause. Poor parents sometimes sold their +children into slavery, and the Sumerian law ordered a son who denied +his father to be shorn and sold as a slave. + + +Lowness of Wages.--Few persons were so poor as not to be able to keep +one slave at least. But the existence of slavery caused wages to be +low, and lowered the character and position of the free labourer. Thus +we find that a skilled labourer, like a coppersmith, received only six +_qas_ (about 8-1/2 quarts) of flour for overlaying a chariot with a +lining of copper, and that only 1_s._ 6_d._ was paid for painting the +stucco of a wall. + + +Property.--The tenure of a farm was of various kinds. Sometimes the +property belonged half to the landlord, half to the tenant, the tenant +doing all the work and handing the landlord's half of the produce to +his agent. Sometimes while the tenant gave his work, the landlord +provided him with carts, oxen, and other necessaries. At other times +the tenant received only a third, a fourth, or even a tenth of the +produce, besides paying a fixed rent of two-thirds of the dates +gathered from the palms on the estate. The landlord could dismiss the +tenant, who was also required to build the farm house if one did not +already exist. + +When house property or land was let or sold it was minutely described, +and numerous witnesses to the deed of sale or lease were required. The +length of the lease as well as the rent had to be stated, any +transgression of the terms of the lease being punished with a severe +fine. The tenant had to return the property in the state in which he +found it. The rent of course depended on the size and value of the +property, and could be paid half-yearly as well as three times a year. +Houses, further, might be bought and sold through the intervention of +an agent. + + +Taxes.--Taxation was probably heavy. In the time of Sennacherib, +Nineveh had to pay the treasury 30 talents a year, while Carchemish +was assessed at 100 talents. Taxes were also levied in kind, and there +was an _octroi_ duty upon goods entering the town. The metal,--gold, +silver, and bronze,--was measured out by weight, a coinage not making +its appearance until late in Babylonian history, though, as in Egypt, +rings of gold or silver, which took the place of coins, were used at +an early time. + + +Prices.--The value of grain and dates necessarily varied from time to +time. Under Nebuchadrezzar, the quart of sesame cost a little over a +penny, in the twelfth year of Nabonidos it was a little less than +1-1/2_d._ In the seventh year of Nebuchadrezzar dates were about a +halfpenny a quart, in his thirty-eighth year the quart was only 1/25 +of a penny. In the reign of Cambyses a quart of corn cost 2-1/2_d._ + +The prices of other things were higher. In the reign of Darius a lady +sold 200 sheep for L135, in that of Nebuchadrezzar an ox, sacrificed +in the temple of the Sun-god at Sippara, cost L2. We hear of asses +sold for L7 10_s._, and L2, and of five casks of wine purchased for L1 +10_s._ + + +Usury.--Deeds of partnership are common; so also are deeds relating +to money-lending. The usurer, in fact, was a prominent person in the +trading community of Babylonia. Under Nebuchadrezzar and his successors +the usual rate of interest was 20 per cent., the interest being paid +each month, though we also hear of 13-1/3 per cent. In concluding a +bargain, it was usually stipulated that if the money were not paid by a +specified date, interest should be paid upon it until it was paid in +full. + + +The Army.--By the side of the commercial class stood a numerous body +of military and civil officials. At the head of the Assyrian army was +the Tartan (_turtannu_) or Commander-in-chief, and under him came a +large staff of officers. The army itself was highly organized. In +addition to the infantry and cavalry there were numerous chariots, in +one of which the king rode when he commanded in person. In the time of +Tiglath-pileser III, saddles, leathern drawers, and high boots were +introduced for the cavalry, and a corps of slingers and pioneers was +created by Sennacherib. The infantry were divided into heavy-armed and +light-armed, many of the heavy-armed wearing coats of mail formed of +metal scales sewn to a leather shirt. Helmets were largely used, as +well as shields. The army carried with it on the march various engines +for attacking the walls of a town--battering-rams, ladders, crow-bars, +and the like--as well as tents. The royal tent was accompanied by a +cooking and a dining-tent, and was elaborately furnished. We learn +from the contract-tablets, that in the reign of Nabonidos, rather more +than 2-1/2 bushels of wheat were furnished to each of the bowmen, +while 54 _qas_ (75 quarts) of beer were provided on a particular day, +'for the troops which had marched from Babylon.' + + +Navy.--A fleet was kept in Babylonia, and the king had a State-barge on +the Euphrates. The Assyrians, however, were not a naval people, and the +biremes, employed by Sennacherib when he attacked the Chaldaean colony +in the Persian Gulf, were built and manned by Phoenicians. + + +The Bureaucracy.--The prefects or satraps of the Assyrian provinces +and subject cities were appointed by the king, like the military +officers, and were responsible to him. A certain number of them were +eligible for the post of _limmu_, or eponym, after whom the year was +named--an honour which they shared with the monarch. The office does +not appear to have existed in Babylonia. + +Among the tablets which have come from the library of Nineveh are some +which contain long lists of Assyrian officials. They were a very +numerous body, but we need mention only the Rab-shakeh (_Rab-saki_), +'chief of the princes,' or Vizier, the Rab-saris (_Rab-sa-resi_) or +'chief of the nobles,' and the Rab-mag (_Rab-mugi_) or 'chief +physician.' The identification of the two last is due to Mr. Pinches. + +The priests and judges have already been alluded to, as also the clerks +or scribes, many of whom, at least in Babylonia, were also priests. +Poets and musicians were attached to the court, and we hear of a grant +of land being made to a court-poet, in Babylonia, for some verses in +which he had doubtless flattered the king. Society, in short, was +highly organized, and the principle of a subdivision of labour was +fully understood. + +In one important respect, however, the basis upon which society rested +in Babylonia and in Assyria was different. The government of Babylonia +was theocratic, that of Assyria was military. While Assyria with its +bureaucratic centralization is an anticipation of imperial Rome, +Babylonia with its theocratic constitution is an anticipation of papal +Rome. The king was the adopted son of Bel, and his right to rule was +based on the fact that Bel, the true lord and ruler of the State, had +delegated to him his power. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +ASSYRIAN MEASURES OF LENGTH. + + 60 Uban ('fingers') 1 Ammat ('cubit'). + 6 Ammat 1 Qanu ('reed'). + 2 Qanu 1 Gar. + 60 Gar 1 Sussu ('soss'). + 30 Sussi 1 Kaspu. + + +MEASURES OF CAPACITY[6]. + + 10 GAR[7] 1 QA. + 27 QA 1 AP. + 36 QA 1 PI (or Persian Ardeb). + 60 QA 1 Homer. + 3 Homers (or 5 Ardebs) 1 GUR (about 250 quarts). + + [6] As determined by Dr. Oppert. + + [7] Capitals denote that the Semitic pronunciation of the + ideograph is unknown. + + +MEASURES OF WEIGHT AND COINAGE. + + 60 Shekels 1 Silver Mana ('Mina') = L9. + 60 Silver Manas 1 Silver Talent. + 60 Gold Manas 1 Gold Talent (L8400). + + The silver shekel was worth about 3_s._ + + +THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR. + + Assyrian Name. Sumerian Name. + Zodiacal Sign. Corresponding Months. + + (1) Nisannu (Nisan) Month of 'the dweller in the Asherah[8] + Aries March-April. + + (2) Aaru (Iyyar) 'The directing bull' + Taurus April-May. + + (3) Sivanu (Sivan) 'Bricks' (?) + Gemini May-June. + + (4) Duzu (Tammuz) 'The growth of seed' + Cancer June-July. + + (5) Abu (Ab) 'The fiery-hot' + Leo July-August. + + (6) Ululu (Elul) 'The message of Istar' + Virgo August-September. + + (7) Tasritu (Tisri) 'The holy mound' + Libra September-October. + + (8) Arakh-savna 'Opposite the foundation (of the year) + (Marchesvan, 'the eighth month') + Scorpio October-November. + + (9) Kisilivu (Chisleu) 'The cloudy' + Sagittarius November-December. + + (10) Dhabitu (Tebet) 'The cave of the dawn' (?) + Capricornus December-January. + + (11) Sabadhu (Sebat) 'The curse of rain' + Aquarius January-February. + + (12) Addaru (Adar) The month of 'cultivation' + Pisces February-March. + + (13) Arakh-makhru (Ve-Adar), the intercalary month. + + [8] _Zaggara_, rendered by the Semitic _bit ili_ (Beth-el), + 'house of God,' as well as by _asirtu_, 'the symbol of the + goddess Asherah' (mistranslated 'grove' in the Authorized + Version of the Old Testament). + + +BABYLONIAN KINGS. + B.C. + + Sargon of Akkad 3800 + + Naram-Sin his son 3700 + + (1) The Dynasty of Babylon: 11 kings for 304 years 2478-2174 + The sixth king of the dynasty was Khammurabi 2356-2301 + + (2) The Dynasty of Lagas: 11 kings for 368 years 2174-1806 + + (3) The Kassite Dynasty: 36 kings for 576 years 9 months 1806-1229 + +Among the kings of this dynasty were Burna-buryas (cir. B.C. 1420), +the contemporary of the Egyptian Pharaohs Amenophis III and Amenophis +IV, and Kuri-galzu (cir. B.C. 1400). + +The last six kings were: + + Rimmon-nadin-suma 1297 + Conquest of Babylon by Tiglath-Uras of Assyria 1291 + Expulsion of the Assyrians; Rimmon-suma-natsir king 1284 + Meli-sipak 1261 + Merodach-baladan I 1246 + Zamama-nadin-sumi 1233 + Bel-suma-nadin 1232 + + (4) The Dynasty of Isin: 11 kings for 72 years 6 months 1229-1156 + + (5) The Dynasty of the Sea-coast: 3 kings for + 21 years 5 months 1156-1135 + + (6) The Dynasty of Bit-Bazi: 3 kings for + 20 years 3 months 1135-1115 + + (7) An Elamite usurper for 6 years 1115-1109 + + (8) The 31 [kings] of the Dynasty of Babylon[9] 1109- 730 + + Among them were: + + Nebuchadrezzar I 1109-1096 + Merodach-nadin-akhi 1096-1090 + Merodach-sapik-zirrat cir. 1075 + Nebo-baladan cir. 880 + Merodach-balasu-iqbi cir. 820 + Nabu-natsir (Nabonassar) 747 + Nabu-nadin-ziri (Nadios) his son 733 + Nabu-suma-yukin his son 731 + + (9) The Dynasty of Sape: Yukin-zira (Chinziros) 730 + + (10) The Assyrian Dynasties: + Pulu (Pul, Poros), called Tiglath-pileser III in Assyria 727 + Ulula, called Shalmaneser IV in Assyria 725 + Merodach-baladan II, the Chaldaean from the Sea-coast 721 + Sargon of Assyria 709 + Sennacherib his son 704 + Merodach-zakir-sumi for 1 month 702 + Merodach-baladan III for six months 702 + Bel-ebus of Babylon 702 + Assur-nadin-suma son of Sennacherib 700 + Nergal-yusezib 694 + Musezib-Merodach 693 + Sennacherib a second time 689 + Esar-haddon his son 681 + Samas-suma-yukin (Saosduchinos) 668 + Kandalanu (Kineladanos) 648 + Nabu-pal-utsur (Nabopolassar) 626 + Nabu-kudurri-utsar (Nebuchadrezzar) his son 605 + Evil-Merodach his son 562 + Nergal-sarra-utsur (Nergalsharezer) 560 + Laborosoarchod, his son, for 3 months 556 + Nabu-nahid (Nabonidos) 556 + Cyrus conquers Babylon 538 + Cambyses his son 529 + Gomates (Gaumata) the Magian (the pseudo-Bardes or Smerdis) 521 + Dareios (Darayavaush) the son of Hystaspes (Vishtaspa) 521 + Xerxes I (Khshayarsha) his son 485 + Samas-erba, rebel-king 480 + Xerxes restored 479 + Artaxerxes I (Artakshatra) Longimanus his son 465 + Xerxes II, his son, for two months 425 + Sogdianos, his half-brother, for seven months 425 + Dareios II, Nothos (or Okhos) his brother 424 + Artaxerxes II (Mnemon) his son 405 + Okhos (Uvasu) the son of Artaxerxes 362 + Arses his son 339 + Dareios III, Kodomannos 336 + Conquered by Alexander the Great 330 + + [9] The fracture of the tablet makes the arrangement of this + Dynasty not absolutely certain. + + +ASSYRIAN KINGS. + +Sargon asserts he was preceded by 330 Assyrian kings. + + +HIGH PRIESTS OF ASSUR. + + B.C. + + Isme-Dagon cir. 1850 + Samas-Rimmon I his son 1820 + + Igur-Kapkapu ? + Samas-Rimmon II his brother ? + + Khallu ? + Irisum his son ? + + +KINGS OF ASSYRIA. + + B.C. + + Bel-Kapkapu 'the founder of the monarchy' ? + + Ada'si ? + Bel-basi his son ? + + Assur-bil-nisi-su, cir. 1450 + Buzur-Assur, 1440 + Assur-nadin-akhi, 1420 + Assur-yuballidh his son, 1400 + Bel-nirari his son, 1380 + Pudilu (Pedael) his son, 1360 + Rimmon-nirari I his son, 1340 + Shalmaneser I his son (founder of Calah), 1320 + Tiglath-Uras I his son, 1300 + Assur-natsir-pal I his son, 1280 + Assur-narara, 1270 + Nebo-dan his son, 1265 + + Bel-kudurri-utsur, 1230 + Uras-pileser, 1215 + Assur-dan I his son, 1185 + Mutaggil-Nebo his son, 1160 + Assur-ris-ilim his son, 1140 + Tiglath-pileser I his son, 1115 + Assur-bil-kala his son, 1090 + Samas-Rimmon I his brother, 1070 + + Assur-irbi ? + + Tiglath-pileser II, 950 + Assur-dan II his son, 930 + Rimmon-nirari II his son, B.C. 911 + Tiglath-Uras II his son, 889 + Assur-natsir-pal II his son, 883 + + Shalmaneser II his son 858 + Assur-dain-pal (Sardanapallos), rebel-king 825 + Samas-Rimmon II his brother 823 + Rimmon-nirari III his son 810 + Shalmaneser III 781 + Assur-dan III 771 + Assur-nirari 753 + Tiglath-pileser III, Pulu (Pul, Poros), usurper 745 + Shalmaneser IV, Ulula, usurper 727 + Sargon usurper 722 + Sennacherib (Sin-akhi-erba) his son 705 + Esar-haddon I (Assur-akhi-iddina) his son 681 + Assur-bani-pal (Sardanapallos) his son 668 + Assur-etil-ilani-yukinni his son ? + Sin-sarra-iskun (Sarakos) ? + Destruction of Nineveh 606 + + +SYNCHRONISMS BETWEEN ASSYRIAN AND BIBLICAL HISTORY. + + B.C. + + Battle of Qarqar; Shalmaneser II defeats Hadadezer of + Damascus, Ahab of Israel, &c. 853 + Campaigns against Hadadezer of Damascus 850-845 + Campaign against Hazael of Damascus; tribute paid + to Shalmaneser by Jehu 'the son of Omri' 41 + Damascus captured by Rimmon-nirari III; tribute paid + by Samaria 804 + Pul, who takes the name of Tiglath-pileser III, usurps + the throne, April 745 + War with Hamath; submission of Uzziah; fall of Arpad 843-840 + Tribute paid to Tiglath-pileser (Pul) by Menahem of + Samaria and Rezon of Damascus 738 + Damascus besieged; the tribes beyond the Jordan carried + away; Jehoahaz (Ahaz) of Judah becomes an Assyrian vassal 734 + Pekah put to death; Hosea succeeds 733 (? 729) + Damascus captured; Rezon slain; Ahaz at Damascus 732 + Capture of Samaria by Sargon 722 + Embassy of Merodach-baladan to Hezekiah 712 + Capture of Ashdod by the Assyrians 711 + Campaign of Sennacherib against Judah 701 + Murder of Sennacherib 681 + Manasseh of Judah tributary to Esar-haddon 676 + Destruction of Thebes (No-Amon) in Egypt by the Assyrians 665 + Babylonian invasion of Egypt 567 + + +THE PRINCIPAL DEITIES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. + + Arm (Sumerian Ana), the sky-god of Erech, and wife Anat. + + Bel the elder (Sum. Mul-lil or El-lil), the earth-god of Nipur, + and wife Beltis. + + Ea, the water-god of Eridu, and wife Dav-kina. + + Bel-Merodach (Maruduk) of Babylon, the son of Ea, and wife Zarpanit. + + Istar, the goddess of the evening-star, the daughter of Sin. + + Sin, the Moon-god of Ur, the son of Bel of Nipur. + + Samas, the Sun-god, the son of Sin; also called A. + + Rimmon (Rammanu) or Barqu (Sum. Mer), the air-god. + + Uras[10], the warrior-god of Nipur, the minister of the elder Bel. + + Nebo (Nabu), 'the prophet' of Borsippa, the minister of Merodach. + + Tasmit, 'the hearer,' the wife of Nebo. + + Nusku, a Sumerian deity identified with Nebo. + + Nergal, the warrior-god of Kutha. + + Assur, the national-god of Assyria. + + [10] The reading of the name of this god is doubtful. It has + been variously transcribed Bar, Nin-ip, and Adar, the last of + which, however, is certainly wrong. + + +Oxford + +HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Primer of Assyriology, by Archibald Henry Sayce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRIMER OF ASSYRIOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 37411.txt or 37411.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/1/37411/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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