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 Sgstem of Universal ISnofolctigc: 
 
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//“ y) 
 
 EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY: 
 
 THE HISTORIES 
 
 EGYPT, ASSYRIA, PERSIA, 
 
 LYDIA, PHRYGIA, AND PHCENICIA. 
 
 JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE TO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GRIFFIN AND CO. 
 
 53 BAKER-STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE ; 
 
 AND RICHARD GRIFFIN & CO. GLASGOW. 
 
 1852. 
 
GLASGOWS 
 
 PRINTED BY BELL AND BAIN, ST. ENOCH SQUARE. 
 
ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITANA: 
 
 OK, 
 
 Sbpstem of 23mbersal Bnofoletrge: 
 
 ON A METHODICAL PLAN 
 
 PROJECTED BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED, 
 
 Writ Dinision. Itstnq cell ^Gingrnpljir. 
 
 EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GRIFFIN AND CO. 
 
 S3 BAKER-STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE; 
 
 AND RICHARD GRIFFIN & CO., GLASGOW. 
 
 1852. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE TO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This volume comprises the early annals of Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, 
 Persia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Phoenicia. The object has been to 
 present ancient and authentic history in an accurate and popular 
 form. It has not been deemed enough to compose a meagre and 
 succinct narrative of the more familiar and striking events, but the 
 geography of the various countries has been prefixed, and the more 
 remarkable of their scenes and cities have been separately described 
 in fuller detail. Special prominence has, at the same time, been 
 given to monumental antiquities, both as objects of curious and 
 enlightened research, and as illustrative of the social progress and 
 history of the people to whom they belong. The tombs and temples 
 of Egypt, the marbles and sculptures of Nineveh, and .the columns 
 and friezes of Persepolis, form a suggestive and permanent record of 
 national character, and afford us glimpses of common fife, as well as 
 of princely splendour and achievement. Uniform care has been taken 
 to consult the best authorities,—such as Heeren, Wilkinson, Birch, 
 Bunsen, Lepsius, Gliddon, Rosellini, Champolfion, Botta, Layard, and 
 Rawlinson. In cases of difficulty, such as the chronology of Egypt, and 
 the succession of its various dynasties, the sources of information have 
 been given, and an independent judgment has been formed and recorded. 
 When the insertion of any incident depends on the separate authority 
 of Strabo, Herodotus, Diodorus, Plutarch, or other classical writers, 
 the reference is usually marked. The chief sections of geography, and 
 the entire topography, are revised abridgments of the able original 
 articles by Renouard, which appeared in several volumes of the 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 quarto edition. The dynastic history of Egypt, after the reign of 
 Ptolemy Soter, was composed by the late Bishop Russell; but the other 
 portions of the first edition, such as the biography of Sesostris, Cyrus, 
 Darius, and Xerxes, which are incorporated into the present volume, 
 have not their authors names attached to them. The treatise on 
 hieroglyphics, of which use has been made in our last chapter on 
 Egypt, was furnished also by Renouard to the original edition of the 
 Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. With such exceptions, the other chap¬ 
 ters of this book, containing not only common history, but also an 
 account of the social antiquities, religion, and language of these 
 ancient countries, are original contributions by the present editor; 
 and the biographical sections referred to in the preceding sentence, 
 have been revised, altered, enlarged, and confirmed from recent 
 authorities. The reader will find, in many places, that the Hebrew 
 oracles have received a new and surprising illustration from these 
 historical and antiquarian researches. The pictorial embellishments 
 have been derived from the most authentic sources, principally from 
 the antiquities of the British Museum. 
 
 Glasgow, 1s< October , 1851. 
 
 JOHN EADIE. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, with Ethnographical Chart, , . 1 
 
 HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks.7 
 
 CHAPTER I_Geography of Egypt . . . . . . .10 
 
 Physical Peculiarities.13 
 
 Climate—Productions ........ 26 
 
 CHAPTER II.—Topography of Egypt ...... 30 
 
 Upper Egypt.33 
 
 Middle Egypt.. 49 
 
 Lower Egypt.03 
 
 CHAPTER III.—Dynastic History of Egypt ..... 62 
 
 First Dynasty—Thinite ....... 77 
 
 Second Dynasty—Thinite..78 
 
 Third Dynasty—Memphite . . . . . . .78 
 
 Fourth Dynasty—Memphite.78 
 
 Fifth Dynasty—Elephantine ...... 79 
 
 Sixth Dynasty—Memphite.79 
 
 Seventh to Seventeenth Dynasties ..... 80 
 
 Eighteenth Dynasty—Theban.86 
 
 Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties—Theban . . .99 
 
 Twenty-first to Twenty-fifth Dynasties . . . .100 
 
 Twenty-sixth Dynasty—Saitie . . . . . .101 
 
 Twenty-seventh Dynasty—Persian.113 
 
 Twenty-eighth Dynasty—Saitie . . . . . .113 
 
 Twenty-ninth Dynasty—Mendesian . . . . .114 
 
 Thirtieth Dynasty—Sebennytic ..114 
 
 Thirty-first Dynasty—Persian . . . . . .115 
 
 Ptolemaic Dynasty.116 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER IY.—Social History of Egypt.151 
 
 Government . ..151 
 
 Priesthood . . . . 153 
 
 Military Affairs . . . . . . . . .154 
 
 Classes of Society ..154 
 
 Constitution and Laws . . . . . . .155 
 
 Manners and Customs . . . . . . . .156 
 
 Occupations . . . . . . . - .163 
 
 Fine Arts .......... 171 
 
 Hieroglyphics . . . . . . . . .183 
 
 Theology .......... 195 
 
 ASSYRIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I.—Geography of Assyria ...... 207 
 
 CHAPTER II.—History of Assyria . . . . . . .211 
 
 First Assyrian Empire . . . . - . .212 
 
 Second .Assyrian Empire . . . . . . .213 
 
 CHAPTER III_Nineveh ......... 234 
 
 CHAPTER IY.—Babylon ......... 256 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I.—Geographical History of Persia and Medea . . 273 
 
 CHAPTER II.—Topography and Monuments of Persia . . . 288 
 
 CHAPTER III.—Social History of Persia.304 
 
 Religion .......... 304 
 
 Language .......... 308 
 
 Government ......... 308 
 
 Arts and Sciences . . . . . . . .314 
 
 CHAPTER IV_Political History of Persia and Media—Cyrus .316 
 
 CHAPTER V.—Cyrus and Crcesus—History of Lydia . . . 326 
 
 CHAPTER VI.—Conclusion of the History of Cyrus . . . 345 
 
 CHAPTER VII.—Cambyses ......... 350 
 
 CHAPTER VHI.—Darius ......... 358 
 
 CHAPTER IX.—Xerxes. .382 
 
 CHAPTER X.—Conclusion ........ 406 
 
 PHRYGIA. 
 
 Political and Social History of Phrygia . . . . . .415 
 
 PHOENICIA. 
 
 Political and Social History of Phoenicia . . . . .425 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 page 
 
 Eastern Inn or Caravansary. Sir II. K. Porter . . . xiv 
 
 Ancient Indian Zodiac. Bailly ..... 6 
 
 Emblematical Headpiece. Egtpt. Sargent . 7 
 
 Pathros. Ruins of Cnubis, Nubia. Denon .... 9 
 
 General View or the Pyramids of Egypt . . , .10 
 
 Cataracts op the Nile. Denon . . . . .13 
 
 The Overflow of the Nile—E gypt under Water . . .22 
 
 Obelisks in Front of Gate at Luxor. Description de I’Egypte , 30 
 
 Rock Temple of Abou-Simbel . . . . . .33 
 
 Island of Phil^e . . . . . . .35 
 
 Temple of Edfu . . . . . . .37 
 
 Colossal Sitting Statues of Memnon . . . .41 
 
 Interior of the Temple of Kap.nak . . . . .43 
 
 Colossal Head of Memnon. British Museum . . . .49 
 
 Ruins of Thebes . ...... 61 
 
 Portrait of Tirhakah. Rosellini . . . . .62 
 
 Egyptian Gods ........ 72 
 
 Egyptian Gods, Rosellini . . . . . .74 
 
 Egyptian Masons. Description de VE'gypte . . . .78 
 
 Egyptians conveying Stones. Champollion . . . .79 
 
 Hebrews making Bricks. Mural Painting . . . .83 
 
 Hieroglyphical Representation of Thothmes III. . . .87 
 
 Egyptian Siege. Rosellini . . . . . .88 
 
 Egyptian War Chariot . . . . . . .90 
 
 King returning with Captives. Mural Painting . . .95 
 
 Egyptian Ship of the Age of Solomon. Description de VEgypte . 98 
 
 Bronze of the God Apis. British Museum . . . .110 
 
 Mummy Cave . . . , . . . .112 
 
 Coin of Ptolemy Euergetes . . . . . .128 
 
 Egyptian Portico, with Pillars of the form of the Palm Tree. Denon 150 
 View of the Sphynx . . . . . . .151 
 
 Egyptian mode of Anointing. Willdnson . . . .152 
 
 Egyptian Efhod. Description de VEgypte . . . .154 
 
 Egyptian Hand Mill . . . . . . .157 
 
 Egyptian Burden-bearers. Chambeaud . . . .157 
 
 Ancient Seals . . . . . . . .158 
 
 Sandals and Shoes . . . . . . .159 
 
Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Metallic Mirrors . . . . . . .159 
 
 Egyptian Servant . . . . . . .160 
 
 Ancient Musical Instruments . . . . . .161 
 
 Egyptian Sacred Dance. From the Monuments . . .162 
 
 Sowing, Reaping, Winnowing, and Storing .... 163 
 
 Egyptian Wine Press . . . . . . .164 
 
 Egyptian Well . . . . . . . .164 
 
 Gardeners Planting and Sowing. Chambeaud . . .164 
 
 Netting Birds . . . . . . . .165 
 
 Fishing . . . . . . . . .165 
 
 Spinning. Champollion . . . . . . .166 
 
 Workers in Metals. Champollion ..... 166 
 
 Potter at Work. Description de VEgypte .... 167 
 
 Egyptian Balances. Rosellini . . . . . .167 
 
 Egyptian Soldiers . . . . . . .168 
 
 Egyptian Censers . . . . . . .168 
 
 Mummy Case . . . . . . . .170 
 
 Egyttian Funeral . . . . . . .171 
 
 Wooden Gods of Egypt . . . . . .173 
 
 Hieroglyphical Characters . . . . . .188 
 
 Obelisk at Heliopolis ....... 190 
 
 Amun-ra ... ...... 196 
 
 Egyptian Gods. Rosellini ...... 198 
 
 Mystic Ferry-Boat. Rosellini ...... 202 
 
 Final Judgment. Weighing a Soul. Wilkinson . . . 202 
 
 Judgment and Future Destiny. Sarcophagus of Alexander . . 203 
 
 Serpent Charmers. From an Original Sketch .... 205 
 
 Egyptian Dresser and Pots. British Museum . . . 206 
 
 Emblematical Headpiece. Assyria. Sargent . . . 207 
 
 The Caspian Sea. Sargent . . . . . .210 
 
 Assyrian Warriors Hunting the Lion. North - West Palace , Nimroud 211 
 Portrait of Esar-iiaddon. Assyrian Sculptures . British Museum . 214 
 The King. North-West Palace , Nimroud . . . .216 
 
 Supposed Walls of Babylon. From an Ancient Coin . . 221 
 
 Cedar Work. North-West Palace , Nimroud .... 233 
 
 Winged Bull. North - West Palace , Nimroud .... 234 
 
 Assyrian Warriors. North-West Palace , Nimroud . . . 238 
 
 Heads and Trappings of Eoyal Horses. Assyrian Marbles . . 239 
 
 Assyrians Besieging a City. Assyrian Marbles . . .241 
 
 Moveable Tower. Assyrian Marbles ..... 243 
 
 Assyrian Cavalry. Assyrian Marbles ..... 244 
 
 Assyrian War Chariots. Assyrian Marbles .... 245 
 
 King of Nineveh. Assyrian Marbles ..... 246 
 
 King and Eunuch. Assyrian Marbles ..... 247 
 
 Assyrian God. Assyrian Marbles ..... 249 
 
 Winged Horse. North-West Palace , Nimroud .... 249 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cuneiform Letters. From a Slab in the British Museum 
 
 
 . 251 
 
 Excavation of the Palace of Nimroud. Botta 
 
 
 . 255 
 
 Babtlon ....... 
 
 
 . 256 
 
 Ancient Eastern Seats. British Museum and Rosellini 
 
 
 . 258 
 
 Babylonish Idol. From Sir 11 . K . Porter , $ fc . 
 
 
 . 260 
 
 Plain of Dura. Sargent .... 
 
 
 . 262 
 
 War Chariots of Iron armed with Scythes. Calmet 
 
 
 . 265 
 
 Birs Nimroud. Sargent ..... 
 
 
 . 270 
 
 Entrance to an Eastern House 
 
 
 . 272 
 
 Hall of Xerxes Restored. Botta 
 
 
 . 273 
 
 Eastern Bazaar. Sargent .... 
 
 
 . 287 
 
 Mount Ararat. Martin and Corbould 
 
 
 . 288 
 
 Engraved Bricks from Babylon. British Museum 
 
 
 . 289 
 
 Junction of the Tigris and Euphrates at Chebar 
 
 
 . 290 
 
 Tomb of Cyrus. Sir II . K . Porter 
 
 
 . 291 
 
 Persian Bull. Sculptures at Persepolis . 
 
 
 . 296 
 
 Ancient Kings. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 
 . 297 
 
 Sepulchres in Rocks at Naksh-i-Rustam. Sir 11 . K . Porter 
 
 
 . 299 
 
 Takht-i-Bostan. Sargent .... 
 
 
 . 300 
 
 Behistun. Sargent ..... 
 
 
 . 301 
 
 Ispahan. Sargent ..... 
 
 
 . 303 
 
 Persian King on his Throne. From a Persian Painting 
 
 
 . 304 
 
 Persian Counsellors before the King. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 . 309 
 
 Wine Bearers. Persian Sculptures . British Museum . 
 
 
 . 310 
 
 Coat, Hosen, and Hats. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 
 . 313 
 
 Painted Arabesque Hall. Alhambra 
 
 
 . 315 
 
 Princes of Persia. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 
 . 316 
 
 Gate of the Sun. Palmyra. Cassas 
 
 
 . 325 
 
 Amasia in Pontus. Sargent .... 
 
 
 . 326 
 
 Ephesus ...... 
 
 
 . 338 
 
 Sardis ....... 
 
 
 . 338 
 
 Philadelphia ...... 
 
 
 . 343 
 
 Tomb among the Rocks. Laborde 
 
 
 . 344 
 
 Head Dresses and Neck Chains. Sculptures at Persepolis . 
 
 
 . 345 
 
 Castle of Tyridates. Sargent .... 
 
 
 . 349 
 
 Treading on the Neck. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 
 . 350 
 
 Bedouin Battle. Composition .... 
 
 
 . 352 
 
 Damascus ....... 
 
 
 . 357 
 
 Ancient Persian Noble on Horseback. Sir R. K. Porter 
 
 
 . 358 
 
 Hunting. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 
 
 . 368 
 
 Ancient Crosses ..... 
 
 
 . 374 
 
 Tokat-Berissa, the “ Comana Pontica ” of Strabo 
 
 
 . 376 
 
 Miltiades. Visconti. — Iconog. Grecque . 
 
 
 . 377 
 
 Eastern Crowns. British Museum 
 
 
 . 382 
 
 Acropolis of Athens. Martin and Corbould 
 
 
 . 383 
 
 Mount Athos. Sargent ..... 
 
 
 . 389 
 
XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Suppliant before a Persian Monarch. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 Source of the Scamander, Mount Ida. Sargent 
 Ancient Persian Cup-Bearer. Sir R. K. Porter 
 Persian Officer. Sculptures at Persepolis 
 Delphi, with the Oracular Cave. Sargent . 
 
 Themistocles. Visconti. — Iconog. Grecque 
 Greek Warriors. Bronzes in the British Museum 
 Greek Warrior. Panof. Bild. Antik. Leh. 
 
 Emblematic Figure of Phrygia .... 
 
 Coin of Ilium, in the Troad ..... 
 
 Ajax, Hector, and Patroclus. Panof. Bild. Antik. Leb. 
 
 Aeneas escaping from Troy. Roman Coin 
 
 Mount Lebanon and Cedars .... 
 
 Tyre ........ 
 
 Ancient Costumes. Sargent ..... 
 
 Catapulta, for Discharging Arrows 
 
 PAGE 
 
 391 
 
 393 
 
 394 
 
 397 
 
 399 
 
 401 
 
 407 
 
 414 
 
 415 
 
 421 
 
 423 
 
 424 
 
 425 
 
 429 
 
 430 
 
 448 
 
 [Eastern Inn or Caravansary —Sir R K. Porter .] 
 
EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The ethnographical chart contained in the tenth chapter of origin of 
 Genesis, presents a broad and interesting field of investigation. It Natl0ns - 
 carries us back to a dim and remote era—when colonization was 
 rapid and extensive, and the princes of successive bands of emigrants 
 gave their names to the countries which they seized, occupied, and 
 divided among their followers. This ancient record has not the 
 aspect of a legend which has risen no one can tell how, and received 
 amplification and adornment in the course of ages. It is neither a 
 confused nor an unintelligible statement. Its sobriety vouches for 
 its accuracy. As its genealogy is free from extravagance, and as it 
 presents facts without the music and fiction of poetry, it must not 
 be confounded ■with Grecian and oriental myth, which is so shadowy, 
 contradictory, and baseless—a region of grotesque and cloudy phan¬ 
 toms, where Phylarchs are exalted into demigods, born of Nymph 
 or Nereid, and claiming some Stream or River for their sire. The 
 founders of nations appear in such fables as giants of superhuman 
 form—or wandering and reckless outcasts and adventurers, exhi¬ 
 biting in their nature a confused mixture of divine and human 
 attributes, and the very names of Ouranos, Okeanos, Kronos, and 
 Gaea, the occupants of this illusory Cloud-land, prove their legendary 
 character. In this chapter there is, on the other hand, nothing 
 that lifts itself above vulgar humanity, nothing that might not, 
 nothing that did not happen in those distant and primitive epochs. 
 
 The world must have been peopled by tribes that gave themselves 
 and their respective regions those several names which they have 
 borne for so many ages; and what certainly did thus occur, may 
 have taken place in the method sketched in these Mosaic annals. 
 
 No other account is more likely, or presents fewer difficidties; and 
 if we credit the inspiration of the writer of it, we shall not only 
 receive it as authentic, but be grateful for the information which it 
 contains. Modern ethnology does not contradict it. Many of the 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Early 
 
 Tradition. 
 
 Ethnogra¬ 
 
 phical 
 
 Chart. 
 
 2 
 
 proper names occurring on this roll, remain unchanged as the appel¬ 
 lation of races and kingdoms. Others are found in the plural or 
 dual number, proving that they bear a personal and national refer¬ 
 ence, 1 and a third class have that peculiar termination, which in 
 Hebrew usage signifies a sept or tribe. 2 
 
 The general truths contained in this biblical statement have woven 
 themselves into the traditions of all the eastern nations. Arabia, 
 India, Persia, and China are replete with them. Their people 
 believe in an early tripartite occupation of the world,—the sons of 
 Ham passing southward from the region of the Caucasus to the 
 distant extremities of western Asia and into burning Africa—those 
 of Shem lingering about the Euphrates and the central portions of 
 the Asiatic continent—while the race of Japhet colonized the 
 northern plains of Asia, marched over to the Grecian Isles, and 
 thence to the European territory. Much exists in features, colour, 
 history, and language corroborative of this first and brief fragment 
 of geography and statistics. “ By these were the nations divided 
 in the earth after the flood ”—“ after their families, after then- 
 tongues, in their lands.” 3 We cannot identify every portion of the 
 chart, but we are at no loss in recognizing all its leading divisions. 
 The following table is based on the researches of Bochart, Rosen- 
 muller, Michaelis, Tuch, Gesenius, Pott, von Bohlen, Winer, and 
 other scholars, and its conclusions are strengthened by the recent 
 deductions of comparative philology, and the advanced results of 
 physiological investigation and discovery. 
 
 JAPHETHITES. 
 
 I. Gomer : Cimmerians north of the Black Sea. K ipiyApioi, Diodorus 
 Siculus, v. 32. Homer Odyss. xi. 14. B&Wojoj Kipt^ipoe, 
 Herodot. iv. 100. By a common transposition of letters, the 
 name may be realized in the term Crimea. Tuch’s Kommentar 
 liber die Genesis 205. To the same source may be traced the 
 Cirnbri of ancient Jutland, and the Celtic nations, who called 
 themselves by the cognate term Kymr. Related to them are, 
 
 1. Ashkenaz: perhaps between Armenia and the Black Sea. The 
 
 Hebrew term scarcely disguised may be found in the former 
 name of the Black Sea, tv&iuo;, or, as Pliny says, Pontus 
 Euxinus, quondam Axenus, iv. 24. 
 
 2. Riphath: the inhabitants of the Riphsean Mountains. ' Ynr&i*. 
 
 opy, Strabo vii. 341. “Amnem ex Riphaus montibus deflu- 
 entem,” Pliny iv. 24. The name is somewhat laxly used 
 to signify a chain of northern mountains,— 
 
 Mundus ut ad Scythiam, Rhipaeasque arduus arces 
 Consurgit.— Virgil Georg, i. 240. 
 
 1 Gen. x. 13. 
 
 - Gen. x. 17. 
 
 3 Gen. x, 31, 32. 
 
ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 3 
 
 3. Togarmah: Armenia. Ezekiel xxxviii. 6. Tlie Armenians 
 call themselves the “ House of Thorgom.” 
 
 II. Magog: Caucasus and vicinity—Scythians or the Mongolian 
 
 tribes, Ezek. xxxviii. 2. “ Gog the prince of Magog.” In 
 
 the word Gog, pronounced gutturally, we have the first 
 syllable of Caucasus. 
 
 III. Madai : the Medes. Mij do/. 
 
 IV. Javan or I5 n: Ionians or Greeks. ’Ixoves, Horn. II. xiii. 685. 
 
 In Sanscrit, Javana is the name of the far west, or Greece. 
 Allied to them are, 
 
 1. Elisliah: ' E'a’ax; —Elis or Hellas—the Greeks, dwelling on the 
 
 west coast of the Peloponnesus. 
 
 2. Tarshish: Tartessus, in the south and east of Spain. Txpryiaaos 
 
 the region where the Phoenicians first planted colonies— 
 <J?oiu!x,u!/ nrlrjpien Arrian ii. 16. 
 
 3. Kittim: the inhabitants of Cyprus, and other Greek islands. 
 
 Citiaci, Cicero de finibus, xirtou nobis in Cyprus, Ptolem. v. 
 14. to ui’N is explained by Kmev; —Bcickli. Corp. Inscrip, 
 i. 523. 
 
 4. Dodanim: Dodonau, hi Epirus. 
 
 V. Tubal: the Tibareni, in Pontus. Tifix^nvol, Strabo ii. 129. 
 
 VI. Meshech: the Moschi, in the Moschian Mountains, between 
 
 Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis. Herod vii. 78.—M 6ax ov s 
 
 xai Ti/ix^Yiuovs. 
 
 VII. Tiras : 0(A|, the Thracians, or perhaps the dwellers on the 
 
 river Tiras, the Dniester. The names are identical, the 
 Oriental Samecli being replaced by % in the Greek alphabet. 
 Bocharti Phaleg, 151. 
 
 HAMITES. 
 
 I. Cush : the ^Ethiopians and Southern Arabians. Luther renders 
 this term by the expressive German word Mohrenland—land 
 of Moors—Negroland. It is plain that in Jeremiah xiii. 23, 
 a Cushite means a man of colour. “ Can the Ethiopian 
 change his skin ? ”—Can the Negro change his colour ? 
 Ethiopians, says Josephus, are by all the Asiatics named 
 Xovaxioi- That the Cushites were partly in Arabia as well 
 as Africa, and that the Ethiopia of Scripture is used with 
 this wide significance, appears from the following table of 
 the descendants of Cush, and is verified also by Herodotus, 
 who speaks of Ethiopians from Asia and from Libya— 
 vii. 70. Then descendants were, 
 
 Race of 
 Ham. 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 1. Nimrod , the first king of Shinar, i.e. Babylon and Mesopotamia. 
 
 In Genesis x. 8, Nimrod is mentioned as a son of Cush; but 
 the mode of allusion is not in the usual form. It seems to 
 imply that Nimrod was audacious and adventurous—that he 
 refused to follow the rest of his race in them southward 
 progress, but went eastward to found a kingdom for himself; 
 and at Babel to establish a central monarchy, in order to 
 frustrate the divine command to disperse and populate the 
 world. The design of the builders of Babel is expressed in 
 these words—“ lest we be scattered abroad on the face of 
 the whole earth.” Nimrod resisted the purpose of heaven, 
 but his efforts were defeated by the special intervention of 
 the Almighty Legislator. 
 
 2. Seba: Meroe. It is joined with Cush and Egypt in Isaiah xliii. 3. 
 
 3. Havilah: Chaulotad, in Southern Arabia, or A i/ateim; on the 
 
 Persian Gulf, referred to by Ptol. iv. 7. 
 
 4. Sabta: Sabota, in Southern Arabia. Pliny, vi. 32. 
 
 5. Raamah: Khegma, in the south-east of Arabia—' IV/««, Ptol. 
 
 vi. 7. 
 
 a. Sheba, probably a tribe in South Arabia. 
 
 b. Dedan: Daden, an island in the Persian Gulf. 
 
 6. Sabtecha, on the east coast of ^Ethiopia. 
 
 II. Mizraim: the Egyptians. The name is yet preserved in the 
 word Misr, the city of Cairo. Allied by blood and descent 
 to them were, 
 
 1. Ludim, ) African tribes on the frontiers of Egypt and Barbary. 
 
 2. Anamim .j Ludim is associated with Cush and Phut in 
 
 Jeremiah xlvi. 9, but the word is in our English version 
 improperly rendered “ Lydians.” Pliny speaks of “ flumen 
 Laud" in Tingitania, v. 2. 
 
 3. Lehabim or Lubim: the Libyans. 
 
 4. Naphtuliim: the inhabitants of the province of Neplitys. 
 
 5. Pathrusim: the inhabitants of the Egyptian nome of Pathures, 
 
 Uci&au jiK—Pathros. 
 
 6. Casluhim: the term cannot refer, as is ordinarily supposed, to 
 
 the Colchians of Asia Minor, as, according to tradition, they 
 were a military colony planted by the Pharaoh whom the 
 Greek authors term Sesostris—Herodotus ii. 104. According 
 to some Egyptologers, the Hebrew word KSLHim, woidd, 
 in the phonetic Hieroglyphics, read as Sliillou-kah, the land 
 of the Shilloughs,—dwellers among the Oases and in portion 
 of Barbary. The Berbers, says an eastern author, descend 
 from Kesloudim, son of Mizraim. Gliddon’s Otia AUgyptiaca, 
 p. 127. Herodotus ii. 104. Their offspring are noted as, 
 
 a. Philistim, the Philistines. 
 
 b. Gaphtorim, the Cretans. 
 
ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 0 
 
 III. Piiut: Mauritania. The name is now softened, as in so 
 
 many of these southern tongues, into Fez. Cush and Phut 
 stand in Jeremiah xlvi. 9 as a general term for Africa, or 
 at least such portions of it as are not comprehended in 
 Egypt. Pliny v. 1, where he says one of the rivers was 
 named “Phaut.” 
 
 IV. Canaan, gave Iris name to the coirutry between the Mediter¬ 
 
 ranean Sea and the Jordan. His colonies were, 
 
 1. The Sidonians, on the northern borders of Canaan. 
 
 2. The Hittites in the country of Hebron, south of Jerusalem. 
 
 3. The Jebusites , in and around Jerusalem. 
 
 4. The Amorites on the east and west side of the Dead Sea. 
 
 5. The Girgasites hr the middle of the country. 
 
 <1. The Ilivites on the river Hermon and in the valleys of Lebanon. 
 
 7. The Arkites, at the foot of Lebanon. 
 
 8. The Sinites, in the district of Lebanon. 
 
 9. The Arvadites, on the Phoenician island of Aradus and the 
 
 opposite coast —' Apxhoi. 
 
 10. The Zema?'ites, the inhabitants of the Phoenician town of 
 Simyra. Strabo xvi. 
 
 11. The Hamathites , the inhabitants of the Syrian town of Epipha- 
 nia on the Orontes, the eastern limit of Northern Palestine. 
 
 SHEMITES. 
 
 I. Elaju : the inhabitants of the province of Elymais—Persia. 
 
 II. Asshur: the Assyrians. 
 
 III. Arphaxad : the inhabitants of the northern part of Assyria, 
 
 ’ Apponra-xiTi;, Ptolem. vi. 1. One of his descendants was 
 Salah , from whom sprung 
 
 Eber , Progenitor of the Hebrews, and from him 
 
 a. Peleg , and 
 
 b. Jolctan , called by the Arabians Katchtan, ancestor of the 
 
 following Arab tribes: 
 
 1. Almodad —middle of the province of Yemen. Ptolem. vi. 7. 
 
 2. Sheleph, the Selapenes hi Nedj or Tehama in Southern 
 
 Arabia,—SceAcs'z-npo/. 
 
 Hazarmaveth , the inhabitants of the Arabian province of 
 Hhadramaut, Atramitae. Pliny vi. 32. 
 
 Jerah, the inhabitants of the mountains of the Moon. 
 Hcidoram; unknown. 
 
 Used; the country of Sanaa in Southern Arabia. 
 
 Diklali. ^ 
 
 Obal. j 
 Abimael. 
 
 not fully recognized. 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 10. Sheba, Sabians in Southern Arabia. 
 
 11. Opliir, El-Opkir, in the Arabian Province of Oman. 
 
 12. Havildh, the province of Chaulan, in Southern Arabia. 
 
 13. Jobab, the Jobabites, on the Gulf of Salachitis, between 
 
 Hhadramaut and Oman. 
 
 IV. Lud : Lydia, anciently called Maeonia. Aovlxioi, Avooi —Jose¬ 
 
 phus i. 6. 
 
 V. Aram : of Syria and Mesopotamia. Claiming affinity of blood 
 
 and descent were, 
 
 1 . Uz, the inhabitants of a district in the north of Arabia Deserta. 
 
 2. Hul, perhaps the inhabitants of Coelo-Syria. 
 
 3. Geiher; unknown. 
 
 4. Mash, the inhabitants of a part of the Gorditean Mountains, 
 
 —probably Mons Masius. Strabo si. 
 
 [Ancient Indian Zodiacs.— Bailly.~\ 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 OcR relation to the past not only gives us a peculiar interest in study of 
 its facts and occurrences, but naturally invites to inquire into their 1!lol0r - v - 
 origin, character, development, and effects. As the memory ranges 
 over bygone periods of time, the imagination not only pictures out 
 the scenes and actors—-but analysis and investigation are called into 
 exercise, in order to ascertain what were the leading principles of 
 belief and action—what class of motive predominated—how events 
 originated, and in what they resulted. For though our views 
 of the history of the world must be governed by the actual state 
 of its annals, yet unless we have most widely mistaken some of 
 the greatest uses of history, they are not to be confined to those 
 precincts. With the actual state of historical records it is the first 
 duty of the annalist to be acquainted; but the motive that leads 
 him to this duty will urge him beyond the collection of mere dates 
 and details. The philosopher must be a student of history, and the 
 real historian must be a philosopher. History, as a mere collection 
 of facts, may supply a correct out fine of what man has been; but 
 philosophy must add the light and shade, the colouring and the 
 keeping of the picture, to show him what man ought to be, and what 
 he might have been, had he understood his nature and his destiny, 
 and been able to profit by the circumstances in winch Providence 
 had placed him. Rational investigation must also afford us many 
 views of one event, show us every element and phasis of prominent 
 characters and circumstances, and invest the whole pursuit with 
 
8 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 varied and living interest, or the facts themselves will fall from our 
 remembrance, and the record at last become as neglected as it has 
 been unprofitable. Biographical views of history are therefore 
 warmly and generally preferred, as they reach nearer the heart, 
 and belong more to the whole man. We are not unaware, however, 
 of the necessity of gathering up the fragments of history at intervals; 
 and our materials must here be their own apology. We only aim 
 to give in these chapters a connected view of kingdoms and states; 
 their relations to each other; topographical details; national manners 
 and customs, opinions and creeds, along with such facts in the general 
 history of man, as are interesting themes of specrdation and memo¬ 
 rial. 
 
 Rival claims When an inquiry is made into the origin of the most distinguished 
 countries to states ) those which are acknowledged to be of very early date spring 
 extreme up into a competition for antiquity, with pretensions equally bold 
 antiquity. an( j e q ua ]iy uncertain. It becomes, therefore, a difficult task to 
 decide upon their respective claims, to make an election among so 
 many rivals. Egypt, Phoenicia, and Assyria, are alike prepared to 
 assert then- primal superiority. All the nations of the old world 
 may be traced, as we have seen, upward and backward to the 
 sons of Noah as their progenitors, and to the plains of Shinar 
 as the place whence they were dispersed into different regions. 
 But while Phoenicia, identified with the Canaanites, claims to have 
 descended from the younger son of Ham; Assyria, to be derived 
 from Asshur; Babylon, to be founded by Nimrod; and Egypt, 
 to originate with Ham himself, it is obvious that the history of these 
 several states is necessarily intermingled; that their destinies are 
 interwoven; that many of the most dazzling events which have been 
 respectively claimed by them in later times, are, in fact, common 
 property; and that the incidents which have been assigned to the 
 parts with so little precision belonged only in truth to the whole. 
 The annalist must often transfer the same action from hero to hero, 
 and from nation to nation, if he listen to the ancient writers of dif¬ 
 ferent countries; but if he seek after truth only, he must be some¬ 
 times satisfied to record the mere fact, with fidelity and simplicity, 
 without undertaking absolutely to fix its period, or certainly to 
 decide its application. In the earliest histories of all nations, we can 
 easily trace fragments of the Mosaic records, and obtain satisfaction as 
 to the important point that all nations have had a common origin. To 
 determine the priority of then.’ several after-claims is not so easy a 
 task; and it is rendered still more difficrdt by the alternate influence 
 which each exercised over the other, as their respective physical and 
 political powers increased or diminished, as well as by the common 
 interests which linked them together in the earlier stages of their exis¬ 
 tence. Where it is impossible to settle the precedence, it may be more 
 prudent not to enter at all into the controversy, but as it is allowed 
 by all writers, ancient and modern, that Egypt has as high and just 
 
ITS ANCIENT FAME. 
 
 9 
 
 pretensions to antiquity as any other nation which has laid claim to 
 it, it is judged proper to follow the usual order of history, and begin 
 with this illustrious state. Other reasons, too, might dictate our 
 preference. Egypt was long the crown and glory of the nations, and 
 no territory in the ancient world possesses so many attractions to the 
 antiquarian and philologist. Her temples, with their sphinxes and Antiquity 
 colonnades, their painted chambers and mystic scrolls—her palaces Egypt. 1 ° 
 and tombs, with their symbolic paintings and mythological delinea¬ 
 tions; her long lists of early dynasties and sovereigns, reaching back 
 to mythical heroes and demi-gods; the strange descent of her 
 beneficent river, with its annual flood; her sombre pyramids—her 
 early advancement in art and science, in statuary, architecture, and 
 manufactures; her annals, pictured in artificial and perplexing hiero¬ 
 glyphics; the connection of her Pharaohs with Moses and his people, 
 and of her Ptolemys with Greece and its literature,—all these 
 invest Egypt with a peculiar mystery, and give her a renown and 
 an interest which past and present ages have alike felt and acknow¬ 
 ledged. “Not only,” says Herodotus, “does the climate differ 
 from all other climates, and the river from all other streams, but the 
 customs and laws are contrary on almost all points to those of the 
 rest of mankind.” 1 
 
 We propose in the foliowing pages to give our readers, first, a 
 general view of the geography and physical history of Egypt, along 
 with a brief sketch of its topography; a history of its kings and 
 dynasties will follow, based on the most recent critical researches; 
 and lastly, we shall endeavour to depict the social life, the arts, 
 religion, and monuments of its ancient people. 
 
 Herodot. II. 35. 
 
 [Pathro.s—Ruins of Chnubis—Nubia. — Denon.] 
 
Ancient 
 names of 
 Egypt 
 
 General View of the Pyramids. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 A brief sketch of the geography of ancient Egypt will form an 
 appropriate and necessary introduction. The origin of the name 
 itself has been keenly disputed. The most ancient appellation is that 
 perhaps which is still preserved in the Coptic language, Chemi, 
 (Kliame, or Klietni, in the northern, and Kame, or Kami, in the 
 southern dialect,) and is found in various portions of the sacred Scrip¬ 
 tures. 1 Mistram, the Coptic name of Fostat, or Old Cairo, has a close 
 resemblance to the Hebrew word Mizraim; and the Arabic Misr, 
 is only the singular form of the same dual proper name, the name of 
 one of the sons of Noah. 2 This, as well as Mestraea, the most ancient 
 Egyptian name, according to Eusebius, seems to indicate a tradition, 
 which ascribed the first occupation of Egypt to that patriarch. 3 The 
 first name in use among the Greeks was Aeria, or Eeria, an appellation 
 also given to Thessaly; it signified “ darkness, or blackness;” is said to 
 have been taken from the colour of the soil, and may be considered 
 
 1 Psal. lxxviii. 51, cv. 23, &c. 2 Champollion, l’Egypte, i. 110. 
 
 3 Chron. Temp. Mosis. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 TERRITORY. 
 
 11 
 
 as a translation of the Egyptian word Ckemia , which, as Plutarch 1 
 observes, signified the black part of the eye, and was given to 
 Egypt on account of the dark colour of its land. Mazor, or 
 Matzor, 2 another Hebrew name of Egypt, may either be considered 
 as the singular form of Mizraim , and as having special reference to 
 Lower Egypt, or it may be regarded as an epithet signifying “ the 
 well guarded,” and descriptive of the pecrdiar security of the valley 
 of the Nile, which is so well protected by mountains and deserts. 
 
 Egypt, the name which among Europeans has supplanted every 
 other, is a word of very uncertain origin. Eusebius, probably from hVyuire-,. 
 Manetho, says, that Eamses, also called iEgyptus, one of the ancient 
 kings of Egypt, gave his own name to his territories; and Diodorus 
 Siculus states that the Nile was called riEgyptus, after one of the old 
 sovereigns—a name it had even in Homeric times. 3 From riEgyptus, 
 the Arabs seem to have formed the term Cobti; and since the time 
 of the Crusaders, the aboriginal inhabitants of that country have 
 been named Copts by European writers. 
 
 The exact position of Egypt seems to have perplexed some of the 
 older geographers, and they were not decided whether it should be 
 assigned to Asia or Africa. The language of Herodotus 4 varies on 
 the subject—as if he had thought that Egypt properly belonged to 
 neither quarter of the world, but was common to both—a species of 
 extra-continental region, or intermediate territory. Though its 
 erudition and physical peculiarities invited many inquisitive pilgrims 
 to visit it, yet from the account which Strabo gives, it does not 
 appear to have been known to the ancients higher up than the city 
 of Elephantine. This was the frontier town between Egypt and 
 Ethiopia; and, according to Tacitus, in his Annals, was the boundary 
 of the Roman empire in this direction: “ claustra olim Romani 
 imperii “ forming the limits of the Roman power.” The cataracts, 
 which are situated above Elephantine, must have formed an invincible 
 barrier against Grecian or Roman enterprise; and we are not sur¬ 
 prised to find, from these difficulties being exaggerated by Cicero, 
 
 Seneca, and Lucan, that the ancients considered it useless to attempt 
 to penetrate further into the coimtry. 
 
 The natural boundaries of the country are well defined. Egypt Boundaries, 
 lies in the valley of the Nile, extending from the parallel of 24° N., 
 where the river appears to force its way through the mountains of 
 Nubia, to the neighbourhood of Damietta, in 31° 35' N., where its 
 principal stream is poured into the Mediterranean Sea. The natural 
 limits of Egypt are so distinctly marked, that its nominal or terri¬ 
 torial limits have rarely included a larger area. Just above the 
 Cataracts of Syene, or Aswan, there is a little island, called Phil® by the 
 Greeks, and Bilac by the Arabs, both which names are corruptions of 
 
 1 De Iside et Osiride. 
 3 Odyss. i. 300. 
 
 2 2 Kings xix. 24, Isa. xix. 6, Micah vii. 12. 
 4 Rennell’s Geography of Herodot., II. 5. 
 
12 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Extent. 
 
 Internal 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 the Coptic word Pi-lakh, i.e. the extremity, because that island 
 had from the earliest times been the southern limit of Egypt . 1 The 
 eastern and western boundaries are well described by the author of 
 the Merasid-el-atlad. 2 “The Said or Upper Egypt,’’ he says, “is 
 enclosed by two mountains, one on the east, and the other on the 
 west; and those mountains form the wings of the Nile from the 
 commencement of its course till the eastern chain reaches Mocattam, 
 where it is cut off, and there is nothing beyond it but the Arabian 
 Desert and the Sea of Colzum, or the Red Sea. The western chain 
 extends to the sea.” The whole length of Egypt, from the isle of 
 Phil 33 in 24° 3' 45" N. to the northernmost point of the Delta in 
 31° 32' N., amounts to about 450 geographical miles; but its mean 
 width between Syene and Cairo is not more than nine miles . 3 From 
 the southern extremity of the Delta, where the mountains recede 
 eastward and westward, and the river divides into two large branches, 
 the breadth of Egypt gradually increases. The opposite chains of 
 mountains form at this point an angle of about 140°, and the 
 western hills extending to the sea, near AJexandria, create a natural 
 boundary on that side; but the cliffs on the east smk gradually to 
 the north of the “ Valley of the Wanderings,” into the level of sand 
 and shingle which unites Egypt with Arabia, and constitutes the 
 Isthmus of Suez. 
 
 The superficial extent of Egypt has been variously estimated, 
 according as more or less of the adjoining Desert was comprehended 
 within its limits. Though some habitable spots in the mountains 
 between the Nile and the Red Sea on the east, and the Oases on the 
 west, including that of Ammon, have, at various periods, been 
 annexed to Egypt, they do not, physically considered, form a part of 
 of it; for, as ivas before observed, it consists properly of the valley 
 formed by the Nile, between the last cataract and the Mediterranean 
 Sea. The whole length of the river in a straight fine is only seven 
 degrees and a half of latitude ; 4 but as it makes a considerable bend, 
 the absolute length of its course below the cataracts is probably 
 little short of 600 miles, and the whole area fit for cultivation may 
 be estimated at about 11,000 square miles. 
 
 The internal divisions of the country are as clearly and singularly 
 defined as its outer limits, and they have always regulated its artificial 
 or political sections. The Upper and Lower Egypt, i.e. all above or 
 below the fork of the Nile, were the two leading divisions under its 
 ancient riders. Upper Egypt was again subdivided into the Thebais, 
 extending from the Cataracts to the neighbourhood of ITermopolis, 
 and the Ileptanomis, reaching from that place to the vertex of the 
 Delta. The former of these subdivisions corresponds to the Said, 
 
 1 Quatremfere, Memoires Geog. sur l’Egypte, i. 388. 
 
 3 Schultens, Index Geog. in Bohadinui Vitam Saladdin, v. Thebais. 
 
 3 Girard, in Mem. in sur l’Egypte, iii. 14. 
 
 4 Ritter Erdk. i. 835. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 MOUNTAINS AND CATARACTS. 
 
 13 
 
 or highlands, of tlie Arabs; the latter to their Wustani, or midlands; 
 but the Said, according to the more ancient Arabian geographers, 1 
 comprehended all the country above Fostat, as the Rif did all below 
 it. The Delta of the Greeks and Egyptians did not, strictly speaking, 
 extend beyond the outer branches of the Nile; but the Rif of the 
 Arabs comprehends all the lowlands of Egypt between Alexandria 
 and Colzum. 
 
 PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES. 
 
 The mountains which form so picturesque a boundary to the great Mountains, 
 valley of the Nile are remarkable not only in their general aspects 
 but in theu productions. From them, under the Pharaohs, the 
 Ptolemies, and the Antonines, were drawn the materials not only for 
 the stupendous monuments winch still make Egypt a land of wonders, 
 but also for many of the public buildings in Italy, the remains of 
 which attest the genius of the artists, and the munificence of the 
 Emperors. About the 24th degree of north latitude, a granite 
 chain closes in on each side of the river, so as to wear the appearance 
 of having been rent by the stream which forces its way through 
 fragments of rock. Hence the almost innumerable islands to the 
 north of Philas as far as Aswan. The Cataracts, a little to the south 
 of that toAvn, are nothing more than rapids, which might be produced 
 by a mere contraction of the bed of the stream. The bold, but wild cataracts, 
 and gloomy precipices which here overhang the stream, as well as the 
 roar of its waters rushing through a multitude of channels, (for even 
 when the inundation is at its height there are twenty large islands 
 in the midst of the river,) 2 were well calculated to work upon the 
 
 [Cataracts of tbe Nile.] 
 
 1 Abd-al-latif par De Sacy, 397. 
 
 2 Jomard, Descript, de l’Eg. Ant. i. 5. 
 
14 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 imagination of the early inhabitants. Their belief that Osiris remained 
 buried hi those abysses, 1 as long as the stream was confined within its 
 banks, but rose from the grave to scatter his blessings over the 
 land, as soon as the accumulated waters were poured forth on all 
 sides, was fostered, if not created, by the physical peculiarities of 
 this overawing and desolate region. The granite or southern district 
 2 „ 4 °8' i c " extends from Phi he to Aswan, and is formed, for the most part, by 
 rocks of syenite or Oriental granite, in which the quarries may 
 yet be seen, from which the ancients drew the stupendous masses 
 required for their colossal statues and obelisks. Between Aswan 
 and Esna, is the sandstone, or middle district, which supplied sla.bs 
 in 25° 19' 39" for most of the temples; and beyond it, the northern or calcareous 
 district stretches to the southern angle of the Delta. This last chain 
 of hills furnished not only the solid part of the Pyramids, but 
 materials also for many public buildings long since destroyed, because 
 they proved excellent stores of lime and stone for the Arabs and other 
 barbarians by whom Egypt has been desolated for so many centuries. 
 Quarries. The quarries of Phil®, Elephantine, and Syene, produced the beautiful 
 oriental, or rose-colomed granite, called Syenites by Pliny, from the 
 city near which it abounded, but differing from the Syenite of 
 modem geologists. Two-thirds of its mass is a species of felspar, 
 varying in colour from a pale pink to a brick-red, the remainder 
 consists of mica with a metallic lustre, and translucent quartz. 
 Sometimes it also contains a small quantity of hornblende, and it 
 then becomes the Syenite of geology. It is called Thebaic-stone 
 by Pliny, 2 from the frequency of its occmrence in the monuments at 
 Thebes, not from any quarries of it in that neighbourhood, 
 valley of the On each side of the river below Aswan, ( Syene ,) steep, abrupt, 
 Nlle ' J “- sandstone cliffs, presenting a continued line of ancient quarries, hem 
 in the stream; and the valley, which opens gradually, closes again 
 at the distance of 12 leagues, (about 36 geographical miles,) where 
 it is reduced to one-fourth of its former width, and lofty walls of 
 rock on each side barely leave a passage for the water. Below these 
 narrows, the valley gradually widens, but the eastern bank continues 
 to present one uninterrupted, perpendicular wall, while on the west 
 there is a gradual, and generally an easy ascent to the Desert. 
 Another contraction of the valley occurs about 56 geographical miles 
 lower down, ten miles to the north of Esna, where the rock does not 
 leave even a footpath near the river, and the traveller by land must 
 make a considerable circuit in order to reach the third place where 
 the hills again recede. 
 
 At Denderah, ( Tentyris ,) 12 leagues north of Thebes, the Nile, 
 again hemmed in by the hills, turns nearly at right angles, and runs 
 directly from east to west, as far as the site of Abydus. Near the latter 
 place, the Libyan chain begins to bend toward the west; and the 
 
 1 Oeuzer Symbolik, i. 2G6. 
 
 Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 8. 
 
Chap. I.j 
 
 VALLEY OF THE NILE. 
 
 15 
 
 descent from the Desert becomes so gradual, that the country is on that 
 side much exposed to clouds of sand, by which it would have been 
 overwhelmed long since, but for the canal called Bahr Yusuf, (Joseph’s 
 River,) which seciu’es the irrigation of the land between itself and 
 the Nile, and thus prevents the further encroachment of the Desert. 1 
 Here the Said, or upper division of Egypt, terminates, and the 
 Wustani or middle region, extending as far as the fork of the Delta, 
 commences. The more the valley of the Nile gains in width, and its 
 western mountains lose ha height, the greater is the danger from its 
 proximity to the Libyan Desert, ([El Sahra .) That remarkable 
 portion of Africa is, for the most part, covered with sand, or very 
 fine gravel, the minuter particles of which are, at certain seasons, 
 carried by tempestuous gales over a great extent of country. 
 
 Beyond Beni Suwe'if, the Libyan chain of hills again closes in in 29°» i 
 towards the north-east, and forms the northern boiuidary of the N- 
 large basin between Derut-el-sherff and Atfih; but at El Ilahun, 
 to the north-west of the first of those places, it is broken by one of 
 the many transverse valleys, and thus opens a passage into the pro¬ 
 vince of Fayyum. Beyond that vale, which is merely a large bay 
 or sinuosity in the border of these mountains, they approach the 
 river with a steeper declivity, and have a nearly lea r el summit, over¬ 
 looking the country below. This table-land, between the Nile and 
 Fayyum, was chosen for the site of the Pyramids. On its north¬ 
 western side, the hills shelve off in that direction, and terminate in 
 the cliffs and promontories which mark the coast of ancient Cyren- 
 a'ica. The eastern or Arabian chain has generally more transvei’se rx 
 breaks and ravines, is more lofty and rugged, and comes closer to A ? ai ‘ 3,z “- 
 the river than the hills on the opposite side. The northern part of 
 it is called El Mocattam, (the hewn,) probably from the quarries 
 formed in its sides; and is connected by several inferior ranges with 
 the mountains of Arabia Petriea. 
 
 Each of these chains, as has been already observed, is intersected 
 by valleys running from east to west; those on the right side of the 
 river leading to the Red Sea, and those on the left to the Oases. Of 
 the formei', those best known are the valley of Coseir, and that of 
 the Wanderings of the children of Israel, tlie first being the most 
 freqiaented road between the Upper Egypt and the sea; and the 
 other the route probably follorved by the Israelites on then return to 
 the promised land. But besides these, there are five or six others at 
 present known, and several, probably, unexplored. 
 
 The name Nile seems comiected with the Indian term Nilas,— xi!o. 
 black. The native appellation was Yeor, 3 which signifies a channel or 
 stream, and was specially given to the one river of the kingdom. The 
 Hebrew name, Sihor, 3 sometimes employed in Sci'ipture to denote 
 the Nile, is expressive of its dark and turbid waters. This river, 
 
 1 Girard, loc. cit. p. 189. 
 
 3 Exod. i. 22. 
 
 3 Isa. xxiii. 3. 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 16 
 
 revered as a god, 1 possesses many interesting features, which formed 
 a subject of universal wonder in ancient times. Its origin, its 
 periodical overflow, its fructifying influence, and its many mouths, 
 were not only subjects of philosophical discussion, but were fond and 
 frequent themes of poetical allusions and exaggeration. 
 
 Virgil thus mentions the Nile in iEneid, 1. vi. 800:— 
 
 Et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili. 
 
 The same poet describes the river in /En. 1. ix. 31:— 
 
 -----Aut pingui flumine Nilus, 
 
 Cum refluit campis, et jam se condidit alveo. 
 
 The Nile, when it has flowed back from the fields with its fertilizing stream, 
 and now has buried itself in its own channel. 
 
 Dionysius Periegetes, speaking of the Nile, says— 
 
 snuivuv Atiraeov x'ioov n Aiywvroto. 
 
 Fructifying the delightful land of Egypt with its stream. 
 
 zEschylus says too— 
 
 ”Omn vrXarv^Xs NnAa; afiiuu Eschy. Prom. 853. 
 
 As much land as the broad-flowing Nile waters. 
 
 Again, in the Persm, 
 
 'AAAJg 3’ b ftiyx; kgu Tro\u§p.y.fj.wv 
 
 NefAog V. 33. 
 
 And others whom the mighty and much-nourishing Nile had sent. 
 
 The river Nile was an object of worship amongst the ancient 
 Egyptians; hence AEschylus says again, in his Supplices, 
 
 Mud' in Ne/X'a ■TT^o^oa; trsCapiv ‘(xvois. 1032. 
 
 We shall no more worship the mouths of the Nile with hymns. 
 
 Upon the banks of this fertile river grew the papyrus, a kind of 
 reed, from the flags of which paper was afterwards made, and which 
 was called byblus. 
 
 Nondurn flumineas Memphis contexere byblos 
 
 Noverat. 
 
 Memphis did not yet know how to fashion the watery byblus.— Lucan. 
 
 Sources of The ancients never discovered the source of the Nile, and the 
 expression “ quccrere caput Nili,'" became a common proverb at Rome, 
 to signify a difficult or impossible undertaking. Princes and states 
 fitted out large armaments to discover its source, but in vain. 
 Alexander and Ptolemy Philadelphus were equally baffled in this 
 enterprise. The ancient geographer Pomponius Mela placed the 
 source of the Nile in the antipodes, and Pliny dreamed of it as being 
 in farther Mauritania. It was an exciting theme for the license of 
 poetr and romance. Virgil’s imagination brought it from the East. 
 
 1 Herod. II. 90. 
 
Chat. I.] 
 
 RISE OF THE NILE. 
 
 17 
 
 “ Quaque pharetratae vicinia Persidis urget, 
 
 Et viridem /Egyptum nigra foecundat arena, 
 
 Et diversa ruens septem discurrit in ora 
 
 Usque coloratis amnis devexus ab India. ”— Georg, iv. 290- 
 
 “And where the stream from India’s swarthy sons 
 Close on the verge of quiver’d Persia runs, 
 
 Broods o’er green Egypt with dark wave of mud, 
 
 And pours through many a mouth its branching flood.” 
 
 Lucretius is more lucky in liis safe conjecture, 
 
 “ Ille ex mstifera parti venit amnis, ab Austro, 
 
 Inter nigra virum, pereoctaque secla calore, 
 
 Exoriens penitus media ab regione diei.”—I.ib. vi. 721. 
 
 * “ While rolls the Nile adverse. 
 
 Full from the South, from realms of torrid heat,— 
 
 Haunts of the Ethiop tribes ; yet far beyond, 
 
 First bubbling distant o’er the burning line.” 
 
 Modern travellers have been more successful. The labour's and 
 researches of Bruce, Russegger, Riippell, Werne, and others, have not 
 been without their reward. Two distinct streams have been discov¬ 
 ered, which flow into the Upper Nile, the one of which, usually termed 
 the Blue Nile, has been traced to a considerable distance, but the 
 sources of the other, named the White Nile, remains unexplored. 
 
 Herodotus vainly attempts to explain the cause of the immdations Rise of the 
 of this river. According to him the periodical deluge commences Nlle ' 
 about the end of June, and continues until the end of Septem¬ 
 ber; it then gradually decreases. The height of the inundation is 
 estimated by Pliny at sixteen cubits; but it sometimes rose only twelve 
 cubits, at other times more than sixteen. The day on which this event 
 took place was always considered by the Egyptians as auspicious; and 
 the overflowing of the river diffused joy and gladness throughout the 
 whole community. The Emperor Julian, in common with the Egyp¬ 
 tians, considered the god Serapis as the cause of this phenomenon. 
 
 Modern research speaks more minutely and truly on the periodical Annual 
 increase of the Nile. At Cairo, the river begins to rise early in overflow - 
 July, in consequence of the periodical rains in Central Africa; at 
 first, almost imperceptibly, but soon with a continually increas¬ 
 ing rapidity. By the middle of August it has reached half of 
 its greatest height, which it attains usually in the last days of 
 September. It then appears stationary for about a fortnight, but by 
 the 10th of November has sunk to half its altitude. From that 
 period it subsides very slowly till the middle of the following May; 
 and its water becomes extremely pure, clear, and agreeable to the 
 taste. The depth, at the period of its greatest altitude, may be 
 estimated at 7’419 metres, (24-^ feet nearly,) or 13 cubits 17 inches, 
 according to the Nile metre at Cairo; but 14 cubits according 
 to that at Elephantine, which is graduated by an ancient Greek 
 scale. It was suspected by Niebuhr, but ascertained by the French, 
 
 [e. o. h.] C 
 
18 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT, 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Mouth3 of 
 the Nile. 
 Canals. 
 
 that the number of cubits stated in the daily proclamation of the 
 height of the river, as observed at the Mikyas, is not to be relied 
 upon. The real state of the inundation is concealed for political 
 purposes; and, in 1801, when the public crier had announced that 
 the water had attained 23 cubits 2 inches, it stood in reality at 
 only 18 cubits, hence it appears how erroneous the calculations 
 founded on such data must have been; and yet they were the only 
 ones which, before that tune, could be obtained. We leam from 
 Herodotus, 1 that unless the river rose 15 or 16 cubits, it did not over¬ 
 flow its banks; in such cases, therefore, a dearth ensued, and no 
 contributions were levied, because there was notliing produced to 
 afford the means of paying them. The same ride was observed by 
 the Arabs, whence 16 cubits, the lowest elevation which would 
 allow of an assessment, was called Ma-el-Sultan, “ the Sultan’s 
 water.” 2 The accumulation of the soil, however, has changed the 
 standard; and unless the water rises much higher, there is no chance 
 now of an abundant harvest. In 1799, which was a very bad year, 
 the water rose at the Mikyas to 16 cubits 2 inches; but in 1800 
 it reached 18 cubits 3 inches. Supposing this height to be now 
 equivalent to the standard of 16 cubits, fixed at the time when the 
 Mikyas was erected, (a.d. 847,) the difference between the two 
 numbers ( i.e . 2 cubits 3 inches,) will give the increase in the 
 elevation of the bed of the river since that period; so that we 
 have 3'77 feet, for the accumulation of soil near Cairo, in nine 
 centimes and a-half, or nearly 4 inches in a century. At Elephan¬ 
 tine, near the southern extremity of Egypt, the ancient Nilometer, 
 mentioned by Strabo, 3 is still remaining, and the highest measure 
 marked upon its scale is 24 cubits; but the water now rises, when 
 at its greatest elevation, nearly 8 feet above that mark, while, as 
 appeal's from an inscription on the wall, at the beginning of the 
 third century of our era, it rose only 1.01 foot above that level. 
 The difference between these numbers being 6'9 feet, gives the 
 accumulation of the soil in the bed of the Nile, at that place, 
 during 1600 years, and it amounts to 0'434 of afoot, or rather more 
 than five inches in every hundred years. 
 
 The termination of this wonderful river—this minister of good to 
 the country, and “ so constantly at work,” 4 is no less remarkable 
 than its source. At Bahr-el-bacareh (anciently Cerccisorum ,) 5 the 
 Nile divides into two nearly equal branches, one running to the 
 north-west, and falling into the sea below Rosetta, ( Haschid ,) the 
 other having a course almost due north, and passing by Damietta, 
 (Dhnijut.) The latter divides the Delta, properly so named, into two 
 nearly equal parts. The first of these branches was anciently named 
 the Bolbitinic; the latter, the Phatnitic, or Bucolic. It is remark¬ 
 able that these are the two mouths expressly said by Herodotus 
 
 1 II. 13. 2 Abd-al-latif par De Sacy, 330. 3 xvii. i. 
 
 i Kz; Suras ifyxTixi ’ j . Herod. II. 5 Herod, ii. 15—17. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 ALLUVIAL SOIL. 
 
 19 
 
 to be artificial. 1 The five natural channels mentioned by him 
 are now obstructed or absorbed in the lakes of Etku and Menzaleh. 
 
 The westernmost was the Canopic , flowing into the sea near Canopus, 
 a town situated 120 stadii (15 miles) to the east of Alexandria, not 
 far from the site of Abukir. The second was the Bolbitic , or Bolbi- 
 tine, from Bolbitine, a town near its banks. It was formed by the 
 Taly, a canal drawn in a straight line from the Canopic branch to 
 the sea. The third, called Saitic, was the western branch of the 
 Sebennytic canal, and derived its name from Sa'is, confounded with 
 Tanis, by Strabo. The fourth, or Sebennytic , was named from 
 Sebennytus; an appellation still, perhaps, to be traced in Shibln-el- 
 kum, a town by which the canal, bearing that name, flows. That 
 canal, therefore, is supposed .to mark the course of the Sebennytic 
 branch. The fifth branch, called the Phatnitic , Pathmetic , or Bucolic , 
 passes by Damietta, and now forms the eastern arm of the Nile. 
 
 The Mendesian, or sixth mouth, named from Mendes, a town sacred 
 to the Egyptian Pan, was the outlet by which the eastern branch of 
 the Sebennytic canal discharged its waters into the sea. This is now 
 called the canal of Ashmun, and is lost in the Lake Menzaleh, after 
 a course of about 30 miles. The seventh, and easternmost, anciently 
 named the Pelusiac arm, flowed into the sea near Pelusium, and is 
 now called the canal of Abu Munejjl. In the time of Herodotus, it 
 appears that the river divided near the point of the Delta into three 
 principal arms: the Canopic, on the west, the Pelusiac, on the east, 
 and the Sebennytic, nearly in the middle; from the latter issued 
 two smaller arms, the Saitic, on the west, and the Mendesian, on 
 the east. These were considered as natural channels, the two 
 remaining arms were artificial, the Bolbitinic, between the Canopic 
 and Saitic, and the Bucolic, to the west of the Mendesian. 2 
 
 The river supplies the soil fit for cultivation as well as irrigates it. Alluvial soil. 
 It was well named “Nilus Benevolus.” 3 There were no data for deter¬ 
 mining the depth of the alluvial bed, or the process by which it 
 was apparently formed, till the French, during their occupation 
 of that country, ascertained, by means of wells sunk at intervals, the 
 order and depth of the different strata. From these observations, 
 four vertical sections of the valley of the Nile were deduced: 4 1st, at 
 Monfalut, (in 27° 26' N.;) 2dly, at Siyut, (27° 13' N.;) 3dly, at 
 Keneh, (in 26° 11' N.;) and 4thly, at Esna, (in 25° 19' N.;) and 
 from them the following results were obtained:—1st, That the sur¬ 
 face of the soil descends more or less rapidly towards the foot of the 
 hills, which is exactly the reverse of that which occurs in most other 
 valleys; 2dly, that the depth of the bed of mud is unequal; it is 
 generally one metre and a half (about five feet) near the river, but 
 increases gradually at greater distances from it; 3dly, beneath the 
 mud there is a bed of sand similar to that always brought down by 
 
 2 Herod, par Larcher, ii. 5, 17, n. 55. 
 
 4 Girard, loc. cit. p. 207, Tab. fig. 2, 3. 
 
 1 II. 17. 
 
 3 Armnian. Marcell. xxii. 15. 
 
20 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Depth of the river. The peculiarity first mentioned is satisfactorily explained 
 deposit. i the absence of rain, which in other countries washes down the 
 soil from the hills, and carrying it to the stream in the bottom of the 
 valley, forms a basin, the sides of which have a concave surface; but 
 in Egypt the soil is conveyed by the inundation from the river into 
 the valley; the deposits, therefore, will always be greatest near its 
 banks, and least in places more remote, which the water, in defective 
 seasons, cannot reach. The greater, also, the rapidity of the current, 
 the smaller will be the quantity of mud deposited; for, as that is the 
 lightest of all the substances brought down by the river, it is mingled 
 with the fluid, and is, in that state, carried onwards, except where 
 any obstacles check the course of the stream. 1 When condensed 
 into a solid body, the mud of the Nile is black; but when diluted 
 with water, it has a reddish tint. It rests upon a bed of quartzose 
 sand, 36 feet in depth, and placed upon the calcareous rock which 
 forms the basis of tliis part of Egypt. At the Catacombs, near Siyut, 
 this last rock is found at the depth of only 21'33 feet, so that it 
 slopes down to the bed of the stream. Similar results were obtained 
 at Keneh and Esna; but at the latter place the surface of the valley 
 rises more abruptly towards the hills. The river above that point is 
 so hemmed in by cliffs on each side, that little or no level is left to 
 form a basis for its deposits; there are, therefore, beyond that place 
 few cultivable spots on its banks, and only some small alluvial islands 
 within its channel. In every part of its course, its waters filter 
 through the bed of sand, and springs are found as soon as the borer 
 has reached any considerable depth. 2 
 
 Chemical The water which the Nile so bounteously, and with such periodical 
 of the°water. regularity spreads over the country, is charged with the richest 
 manure, and saves the husbandman no little trouble and expense. 
 Herodotus said truly, that Egypt was the “ gift of the Nile.” Its 
 river compensated its lack of rain—gave it a soil deep, dark, and 
 prolific; filled its granaries with the means of ample subsistence; 
 opened up a cheap and speedy navigation; and supplied argillaceous 
 material to its potters, masons, and artists. Its chemical composi¬ 
 tion is not, and cannot be precisely the same at every spot. The 
 Blue Nile or eastern branch sends clown the principal supply of the 
 fertilising mud, while the White Nile, though it has its annual 
 inundations, contributes almost nothing of this alluvial deposit. 
 According to Regnault the analysis of the water is as follows:— 
 
 11 Water. 
 
 9 Carbon. 
 
 6 Oxide of Iron. 
 4 Silica. 
 
 4 Carbonate of Magnesia, 
 18 Carbonate of Lime. 
 
 48 Alumen. 3 
 
 1 Girard, Mem. sur l’Egypte, iii. 17. 
 
 2 The reader may consult Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. I.; Ukert, Geographic, v. 
 Africa, I.; Hartmann, do.; Mannert, Geog. X. 
 
 3 Meinoires sur TEgypte, vol. I. 351. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 DELTA. 
 
 21 
 
 The Delta, so named from its resemblance to the A of the Greek Delta, 
 alphabet, is formed by the division of the Nile into two branches, 
 the Canopic, or that of Rosetta, and the Phatnitic, or that of 
 Damietta. Its length from the point where the river bifurcates on 
 to the sea is about ninety miles, and it varies in breadth from 
 seventy to eighty miles. Many rivers have created a similar forma¬ 
 tion at their mouth, by the accumulation of sand and debris, which 
 they have for ages rolled down their com’se; but none of them can 
 be compared in importance and fame with this mud island of Egypt. 
 
 The fertility of the Delta depended of old, as it yet does, upon the 
 overflow of the river which formed it, and numerous canals were 
 excavated for the purpose of irrigation. At one season of the year 
 it exhibited a landscape of varied beauty and luxuriant verdure, but 
 during the annual inundation it resembled a prodigious marsh, 
 gemmed with numberless islets, villages, and planted eminences barely 
 raised above the water. The appearance of the flooded country must 
 indeed have been striking, and the ancients compared it to the 
 Aegean Sea in miniature, which is studded with the Cyclades and 
 Sporades, and the crests of numerous other islands. Virgil thus 
 describes the Deltaic farmer visiting his fields in a papyrus skiff— 
 
 “ Nam qua Pellfei gens fortunata Canopi 
 Aecolit effuso stagnantem thimine Nilum, 
 
 Et circuiu pictis vehitur sua rura faselis.”— Georg, iv. 2S7. 
 
 We can easily imagine with what anxious anticipations the ctdti- Annual 
 vators of the land waited for the yearly flood; how the first dis- flood - 
 coloration of the water and its incipient swellings gave them 
 unalloyed satisfaction; how they willingly saw their fields gradually 
 overspread with the dark-brown current; and submitted without a 
 murmur to the annual imprisonment of the beneficent deluge. Need 
 we wonder that superstition led them to offer oblations to the god of 
 the Nile, accompanied with music, dancing, and sacerdotal mysteries; 
 and that the period of the first rise of the waters should be a sacred 
 season of national festival and rejoicings ? 1 The people who derived 
 their sustenance from the river must have looked with peculiar 
 veneration upon it, when it indicated the approach of its periodical 
 increase of volume, and their hearts were full of joy when the wide 
 waste of waters lay around them—the whole territory submerged— 
 for— 
 
 The glorious stream 
 That late between the banks was seen to glide, 
 
 With shrines and market cities on each side, 
 
 Glittering like jewels strung along a chain— 
 
 Has now sent forth its waters, and o’er plain 
 And valley, like a giant from his bed, 
 
 Rising with outstretched limbs, superbly spread. 
 
 1 Heliodor. Ethiop. IX. 
 
22 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Bustle. 
 
 Silt Lakes in 
 the Delia. 
 
 Mareotis. 
 
 It is plain, too, that no little damage must have been sometimes 
 caused by any sudden or extraordinary overflow. Villages were 
 buried under water, and the houses, formed of dried clay, crumbled 
 down to ruins. When a dike or embankment burst, the scene 
 became one of animated hurry and bustle—the population in earnest 
 and anxious struggle—each man securing his own property, swim¬ 
 ming his cattle to land, carrying to a dry eminence the produce of 
 his fields, or loading his boat with the wreck of his household. The 
 safety of the country depended on the strength of the embankments, 
 and therefore those national works were under charge of a military 
 patrol; neither trouble nor expense was spared in their formation 
 and repairs. 
 
 The salt lakes in the Delta were numerous, and their existence 
 gives probability to the hypothesis, that the Delta was originally an 
 immense estuary, which has been gradually filled up with sedi¬ 
 mentary deposit. 
 
 1. The first of these towards the west is now called Sabakah or 
 Birket Mariyut; it was the Mareotis of the ancients, and is separated 
 from the second only by a narrow isthmus through which the canal 
 of Alexandria passes. This lake was formed by the superabundant 
 waters from the canals higher up in the Delta, and the greater part of 
 its bed had for ages been dry, when the dikes between it and the 
 Lake of Abu-kir were cut through by the English army in 1801. 
 By that oppressive, but perhaps unavoidable act, more than forty 
 villages, with all the lands surrounding them, were overwhelmed by 
 a flood of salt water rushing in from the sea. 2. The Lake of 
 
Chap. I.J 
 
 SALT LAKES. 
 
 23 
 
 Madiyeh, or Abu-ldr, was also separated from the sea only by a very Madiyeh or 
 narrow strip of calcareous rock, the last point of which is a small Abukir - 
 island near the fort of Abu-kir, twelve miles to the east of the 
 Pharos. Beyond that point the shore is formed by downs of sand 
 thrown up by the sea, and further inland the waters collecting 
 between the Canopic arm and the Taly not drained off after the 
 inundation, have formed the lake or rather present morass, of Etku, 
 one extremity of which comes within a few miles of Rosetta; it is a 
 part- of the Canopic arm of the Nile. 3. Between the Rosetta and 
 Damietta arms of the Nile, but nearer to the former, is the Lake of Burios. 
 Burullos or Burios, which stretches nearly across the present basis 
 of the Delta. The name of this lake is derived from that of a town 
 on the narrow neck of land which separates it from the sea. 
 
 Paralos , (Maritime ,) the Greek name of that town, has been changed 
 into Burullos by the Arabs, and Parallu by the Copts. It is named 
 Paralion in the catalogue of the Episcopal Sees under the patriarch 
 of Alexandria, printed by Bishop Pococke. 1 It was on the western 
 side of the Phermuthiac or Sebennytic mouth of the Nile, and was 
 probably a place of some magnitude, as under the Christian emperors 
 it became an episcopal see. The Arabian name Burullos-er-rimal, 
 
 “ Burullos of the sands,” shows the nature of the soil on which it 
 stands; and to that perhaps the peculiar excellence of its water¬ 
 melons, 2 said to be the best in the world, may be in part ascribed. 
 
 It is the Buto of the ancients, and also occupies the coast of the 
 Elearchia or Bucolia , a -wide extent of morass, contained between Buto or 
 the Bolbitinic and Phathmetic mouths of the Nile, to the east of that Butos - 
 lake. The city near it, which bore the same name, had several 
 splendid temples, particularly one dedicated to that goddess, the 
 nurse of Horus, called Beta by the Greeks, and Latona by the 
 Romans. An island near the edge of the lake also contained another 
 celebrated temple dedicated to Ilermes , whence it was called Cliem- 
 mis or Hermopolis. The only communication between the lake and 
 the sea is the channel which was anciently the Sebennytic or Pher¬ 
 muthiac mouth of the Nile. Its greatest length from south-west to 
 north-east measures thirty-six miles, and its greatest breadth 
 eighteen miles. It contains a great number of islands, the refuge of 
 fishermen, not of herdsmen as of old. 3 4. Between the Phathmetic 
 (or middle) and the Pelusiac or eastern arm of the Nile, another Lake of Ei 
 large lake has now been formed in the lowlands near the sea. To Menzal « h - 
 the east of which, there was then another lake called Bohe'iret-el-zar 
 by Idrisi. Both are now united in the lake of Menzaleh, and the 
 canal of Aslimun appears, from its uniform depth, to be the Mende- 
 sian arm of the Nile. 4 The outlet of the first, which is close to 
 Dibeh, is the Mendesian mouth; that of the second, at Omm-me-fer- 
 
 5 Descr. of the East, iv. 17. 2 Cucurbita Citrullus. 
 
 3 Heliodorus, ASthiop. i. c. ii. p. 9, 10, ed. Coray. 
 
 4 M£m. sur l’Egypte, i. 212. 
 
24 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 rej or Om-Farej, the Tanitic. 1 “ This lake begins,” says the accurate 
 Sicard, 2 “ half a league to the east of Damietta, the ancient Thamia- 
 tis , and ends at the castle of Tlneh, anciently Pelusiurn. It is twenty- 
 two leagues in length from east to west, and five or six broad from 
 north to south. Its bottom is muddy and full of weeds. It com¬ 
 municates with the sea by three mouths; that of Tineh, the eastern¬ 
 most, anciently called the Pelusiac; Omm-me-ferrej, the Tanitic; 
 and Dfbeh, or Pescliiera, the Mendesian. In summer, during the 
 inundation, its waters are sweet; during the rest of the year they 
 are salt. There are also two smaller inlets from the sea, the 
 ■Jfiv'hooTopa.Tci of Strabo, closed by dams. 
 
 Lake Moeris. In connection with the Nile may be mentioned Lake Moeris, in 
 the province of Fayyum, a term which seems in Coptic to denote 
 “ well-watered,” and probably got its name from its possession of this 
 great artificial inland sea. Fayyum in liieroglyphical language 
 is distinguished as the “ land of the crocodile,” a name retained in 
 Grecian usage. The lake, however, takes its common appellation 
 from an ancient sovereign. According to Pomponius Mela it was 
 from seven to eight leagues in circumference, and communicated 
 with the Nile by means of a canal four leagues long and fifty feet 
 broad. Herodotus says it was about seventy-five leagues in circuit. 
 Sluices opened and shut the canal and lake at pleasure. This lake 
 was excavated for good reasons: for, if the Nile rose too high, the 
 sluices were thrown open, and received the waters of that river. 
 By this plan the lands were relieved of the superflux of water, which 
 became a reservoir against a time of deficiency; when it was supplied 
 to the grounds from the lake by means of drains, and irrigated 
 370,000 acres between Fayyum and Alexandria. Strabo says that 
 in tliis manner Egypt was preserved in a state of plenty even when 
 the Nile did not rise more than twelve cubits. It is not easy, how¬ 
 ever, to identify the precise situation of the lake. Birket-el Quoom 
 its locality, has been sometimes fixed upon, but it is said to be more than one 
 hundred feet below the level of the Nile, and of course could not 
 give back to the river the waters which had once flowed into it. 
 M. Linant de Bellefonds 3 is supposed to have discovered its true 
 position, and to have traced for many miles the ruins of the massive 
 masonry by which it was surrounded. Lepsius, who recently 
 examined the spot, appears to agree in the statements of M. Linant. 
 The excavation of this immense lake, which was aided, and perhaps 
 first prompted, by many physical facilities, was a national enterprise 
 of immense utility and beneficence, far surpassing in worth and 
 grandeur the huge piles of the pyramids or cunning intricacies of 
 the labyrinth. The fisheries in the lake were very extensive, and a 
 source of considerable revenue; according to Herodotus, the daily 
 sum received when the flood was retiring being nigh £200, and 
 
 1 Sicard, Lettres Edifiantes, vi. 233. 2 1. c. vi, 233. 
 
 3 Memoires sur le Lac Mcer. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 OASES. 
 
 25 
 
 when the reservoir was filling upwards of £60.' This princely sum, 
 as Diodorus relates, was given to the Queen of Egypt as a species of 
 pin-money. 
 
 Nor can we omit to notice briefly another physical peculiarity in oases, 
 connection with Egyptian territory. We refer to the Oases. 3 
 
 Oasis or Auasis, 3 is, as Strabo observes, 4 an Egyptian word, signi¬ 
 fying a small inhabited tract entirely surrounded by vast deserts, like 
 an island in the ocean. There are many of them, he adds, in Libya, 
 but three are adjacent to Egypt, and subject to it. In the language 
 of the Kopts, wake signifies “ an habitation,” 5 and the Arabs, whose 
 written character was better calculated for the expression of Egyptian 
 sounds than the Greek, have preserved the word unaltered; for these 
 tracts are still called by them Wdh, or with the article, El- Wdh , and 
 in the plural, El-Wdhdt , i.e. the Oases. They were usually divided 
 into three groups: 6 the first, or greater, nearly in the parallel of 
 Abydus, 7 but separated from it by a distance of three days’ journey 
 across the deserts; the second, or smaller, in the parallel of the 
 Lake Moeris; and the third at the oracle of Ammon. The latter 
 also, says Strabo, “ are veiy excellent places of abode, and the former 
 had abundance of Avater, wine, and other necessaries of life.” 
 
 The Greater Oasis, the only one to which Herodotus gives that 
 name, 8 was, according to him, seven days’ journey Avest of Thebes. 
 
 Strabo says 9 it is at the same distance across the deserts, from 
 Abydus. It is therefore the Wah-el-kharijah or outer Wahh of 
 the Arabs. Its fertility and luxiuiance, enhanced probably by the 
 dreariness of the surrounding deserts, are distinctly implied by its 
 Greek denomination of the “ Isle of the Blessed.” 10 Its excellent 
 fruits, harvests tAvice in the year, and delightful climate are extolled 
 by Olympiodorus, who lived in the fifth century. 11 
 
 On the Greater Oasis stood the famed Temple of Jupiter Ammon Geological 
 Avith its renoAvned oracle, and many gigantic ruins strike the eye of formation, 
 the traveller in the same region. The Oases are not to be regarded 
 as islets which the ocean of desert sands has accidentally spared. 
 
 Geology has rejected the long current fables as to then- formation, 
 and has decided that they are merely depressions hi an elevated 
 plain. The limestone cliffs and barren rocks which surround them 
 plainly sIioav that they have been formed by the denudation of the 
 superincumbent calcareous strata, so that water rises easily to the 
 surface and fertilizes them. 
 
 1 II. 149. 2 Herodotus, iii. 26. 
 
 3 Strabo, ii. p. 130. xidi. p. 813. 4 xvii. p. 791. 
 
 5 M. Champollion, the younger, ( L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, ii. 283.) has ably 
 illustrated this subject, anil shown the true meaning and etymology of the word. 
 
 a Strabo, xvii. 7 Id. ib. p. 813. 8 iii. 26. 
 
 9 xvii. io m «»«;«« n Photii Bibliotli. Cod. lxxx. p. 191. 
 
26 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Dry atmos¬ 
 phere. 
 
 Vegetable 
 
 productions. 
 
 CLIMATE-PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 The climate of Egypt is remarkable for its dryness. At some 
 seasons the hot wind was oppressive, especially in April and May. 
 Moist exhalations during the period of the Nilotic overflow, and 
 especially after it has subsided, gave rise to certain forms of diseases. 
 Immense quantities of dust were created by the dryness of the atmos¬ 
 phere, and occasionally swept along in dense clouds by the whirl¬ 
 winds. But it is in consequence of this extreme dryness of the climate 
 that the monuments have been so well preserved, with unfaded 
 colour and uninjured sharpness of outline. Perfumes taken by 
 modern travellers from an ancient tomb are found not to have lost 
 their odour; and fruits and bread that have been deposited for 
 centuries hi the reahns of the dead, are yet fresh and undecayed. 
 Inscriptions upon columns and obelisks are as bright as on the day 
 that -witnessed the carver at his task. And when you enter a tomb, 
 the decorations of which had not been completed, you are apt to 
 fancy that the workmen are only absent at their meals, and are soon 
 to return to their daily toil. Gliddon mentions that he has seen 
 animal food “ harden without putrefying from solar action alone.” 1 
 
 The deep soil, abundant moisture, and genial warmth, gave Egypt 
 unexampled fertility. Every month had its own productions. Two 
 crops of grain and pulse were often reaped, and vast quantities of these 
 were exported in later periods to Rome and Constantinople. The 
 beneficence of the Creator had also bestowed on the country the 
 olive, orange, pomegranate, vine, sugar-cane, sycamore, palm, citron, 
 tamarind, fig, and carob, which yielded their increase in great 
 profusion. The herbage was also luxuriant; flax, rice, cotton, 
 cloves, cabbages, cucumbers, melons, onions, lupins, radishes, leeks, 
 and garlic, grew in ample harvest, while the air was laden with the 
 perfume of the rose, the lily, and the acacia. Flags and reeds 
 sprang up by the river; the castor berry yielded oil; from the cypress, 
 fir, and cedar, was obtained a hard and durable timber; several 
 fungi afforded materials for dyeing; and the pods of the acacia 
 Nilotica, and various barks were employed hi the process of tanning. 2 
 This abundance of food supplied an important element of national 
 greatness, the great works of the country were the more easily built, 
 for the tolling myriads were fed at small expense to the state. 
 Vegetables were the chief popular diet, and so quick was the growth 
 of all kinds of pulse, that Pliny affirms they appeared above ground 
 on the thud day; 3 and according to the same authority, Egypt sur¬ 
 passed every other country in the quick and spontaneous growth of 
 herbs. Four thousand persons are said to have been engaged in the 
 
 1 Otia Egyptiaca, p. 60. 
 
 2 A long and minute description of the Botany of Egypt will be found in an 
 Appendix to “ Pickering’s Races of Man,” London, 1850. 
 
 3 XVIII. 7. 
 
Chap. I.] ANIMALS AND MINERALS. 27 
 
 sale of vegetables in the markets of Alexandria, when it was besieged 
 and taken by the Arabian host of Omar. 
 
 Egypt was also famed of old for the variety of its drugs and medi- Drugs, 
 cinal preparations. One of the Hebrew bards sings, “ 0 virgin, 
 the daughter of Egypt, in Vain shalt thou use many medicines, for 
 thou shalt not be cured.” 1 Homer too describes the great variety 
 of medicines which the queen of Egypt had in her possession, and 
 gave to Helen. 
 
 ic Tolu. A/oj S-uyurqg £%& (fiocgyaxa. y.r,<riozvra, 
 
 ’ErtfXa, to. oil II o\uba,y,vac, orogzv Qouvos vraguxoirie, 
 
 A lyt/omy- e TY, t ff'k'ii<TTu, Qz^zi ^zlocu^os oi^ou^a, 
 
 ^u.oy.a.ica, woWa. yizv IcCXa. yzyiyyAvtc, oroXXcc £6 T^uy^a,” — OdySS. iv. 22/. 
 
 Such sovereign and precious medicines were possessed by the daughter of 
 Jove, 
 
 Which Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, had given her— 
 
 The queen of Egypt—a land whose kind soil produces 
 
 An immense variety of drugs—some a healthful mixture, and others indeed 
 pernicious. 
 
 The country likewise abounded with sheep, goats, gazelles, oxen, Animals, 
 geese, widgeons, ducks, and quails. Sheep, according to Diodorus, 
 bore lambs twice in Egypt, and were twice shorn. 2 On a painting in 
 a tomb below the pyramids, nine hundred and seventy-four rams 
 are represented as being brought to be registered as part of the 
 wealth of the deceased. 3 The zoology of Egypt also gives us the 
 horse, camel, giraffe, cat, ichneumon, jerboa, hyaena, hippopo¬ 
 tamus, dog, and ape; the cerastis was prominent among its reptiles, 
 and the beetle among its insects; the ostrich, ibis, vulture, pelican, 
 and quail were noted principally among its feathered races. Its 
 rivers and waters abounded in fish of more than twenty different 
 species. 
 
 Nor was the mineral kingdom unproductive. The topaz, emerald, Minerals, 
 and amethyst were found in abundance, with rock crystal, alabaster, 
 and lapis lazuli. Natron, or native carbonate of soda, was got in 
 profusion at the Natron Lakes. Mines of various metals were anciently 
 wrought in Egypt. The gold mines mentioned by Agatharchides seem Gold, 
 to have been identified by Linant and Bonomi, and lie in the Bisharee 
 desert, a tract of the upper country. The gold was found in veins of 
 quartz. Diodorus gives a lull and minute account of the mining opera¬ 
 tions. He speaks of the dark schists, traversed by veins of quartz, 
 which he terms “ bright marble.” This ore was burnt in furnaces, 
 then broken to pieces by hammers, and ground in mills to a fine 
 powder. The pulverised matter was then spread upon a board, and 
 repeatedly washed with water, under careful and delicate manipula¬ 
 tion, till all the earthy matter was gradually abstracted, and, lastly, 
 
 1 Jeremiah xlvi. 11. 2 I. 36. 87. 
 
 3 Wilkinson, II. 368. 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 28 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 the gold which remained behind was patiently melted and purified 
 in earthen crucibles. 1 
 
 Mining The miners were slaves, criminals, and prisoners, fettered and 
 
 operations. c ] ose jy g Uar( }ed, while the lash was held over them by a hard¬ 
 hearted taskmaster. The silver mines, according to the same author, 
 produced annually 3200 myriads of rninae. 2 Mines of copper, iron, 
 and lead were also wrought in the deserts which lay in the vicinity 
 of the Red Sea, and there were also procured chalk and srdphur. 
 Egypt was thus richly furnished with the elements of greatness, in its 
 abundance of food and of the precious metals. Supported by its 
 agriculture, and enriched by its commerce and conquests, it was pre¬ 
 pared to advance in arts and science, to erect those works of wonder 
 which its climate has so marvellously preserved, and which bear upon 
 them a record of the history of the kings and people who dwelt in 
 this wondrous river-land—in the valley of the Nile. 
 
 Drought and But, on the other hand, it is plain that any great inequality in the 
 i amine. periodical floods of the Nile must have always produced disastrous 
 
 consequences to Egypt. Strabo, indeed, says, that through various 
 contrivances of canals, reservoirs, and embankments, any irregulari¬ 
 ties in the inundation were rectified. 3 Yet occasionally all art failed, 
 and the wisdom of Egypt coidd not save it from dearth. The 
 famine in the days of Joseph is plainly attributable to Nilotic varia¬ 
 tion or failure; and in later times similar seasons of scarcity have 
 afflicted the country. In the reign of Trajan a horrible calamity 
 of this nature occurred. Pliny, hi his panegyric on that emperor, 
 Lib^rai'it ^as depicted it with peculiar terseness and power, and has not 
 neglected to glorify the idol of his own imagination, while his 
 Roman pride proves its characteristic insolence, over the crouching 
 vassals of a distant and degraded province. “ The Egyptians,” says 
 he, “ who gloried that they needed neither sim nor rain to produce 
 then- corn, and who believed they might confidently contest 
 the prize of plenty with the most fruitful countries of the world, 
 were condemned to an unexpected drought and a fatal sterility, 
 from the greatest part of their territories being deserted, and left 
 unwatered by the Nile, whose inundation is the source and standard 
 of their abundance. They then implored that assistance from their 
 prince, which they had been accustomed to expect only from their 
 river. The delay of them relief was no longer than that which 
 employed a cornier to bring the melancholy news to Rome; and one 
 would have imagined that this misfortune had befallen them only to 
 display with greater lustre the generosity and goodness of Caesar. 
 It was an ancient and general opinion, that our city could not subsist 
 
 1 3.11—18. Agatharchides, an author of the time of the Ptolemies, wrote a 
 treatise on “ the Erythraean Sea,” in the reign of Ptolemy Soter II. In this book 
 he furnishes an account of the gold mines of Egypt, which Diodorus seems to have 
 copied. 
 
 - A mina was 1 lb. 5 oz. 6 dwt. English. 3 xvii. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 DROUGHT AND FAMINE. 
 
 29 
 
 without provisions drawn from Egypt. This vain and proud nation 
 boasted, that, though conquered, they nevertheless fed their con¬ 
 querors ; that, by means of their river, either abundance or scarcity 
 were entirely at their own disposal. But we now have returned the 
 Nile his own harvests, and given him back the provisions he sent us. 
 
 Let the Egyptians be then convinced by their own experience, that Roman 
 they are not necessary to us, and are only our vassals. Let them pnde ' 
 know that their ships do not so much bring us the provision we 
 stand in need of, as the tribute which they owe us. And let them 
 never forget that we can do without them, but that they can never 
 do without us. This most fruitful province had been ruined, had it not 
 worn the Roman chains! The Egyptians in their sovereign found 
 a deliverer and a father. Astonished at the sight of their granaries 
 filled without any labour of then' own, they were at a loss to know 
 to whom they owed this foreign and gratuitous plenty. The famine 
 of a people, though at such a distance from us, yet so speedily 
 stopped, served only to let them feel the advantage of living under 
 our empire. The Nile may in other times have diffused more plenty 
 in Egypt, but never more glory upon us. May heaven, content 
 with this proof of the people’s patience, and the prince’s generosity, 
 restore for ever back to Egypt its ancient fertility.” 1 
 
 1 We have taken this free version from the “ Ancient History ” of Rollin, 
 Vol. I., page 51; hut we subjoin the pithy and eloquent original.—“iEgyp- 
 tus alendis augendisque seminibus ita gloriata est, ut nihil imbribus coeloque deberet: 
 siquidem proprio semper amne perfusa, nec alio genere aquarum soiita pingves- 
 cere quam quas ipse devexerat, tantis segetibus induebatur, ut cum feracissimis 
 terris quasi nunquam cessura certaret: base inopia siccitate usque ad injuriam 
 sterilitatis exaruit, quia piger Nilus cunctanter alveo sese ac languid^ extulerat: 
 ingentibus quoque tunc quidem ille fluminibus conferendus. Hinc pars magna 
 ten-arum mergi palanti amne consueta alto pulvere incanduit. Frustra tunc 
 jEgyptus nubila optavit, coelumque respexit, quum ipse foecunditatis parens con- 
 tractior et exilior iisdem ubertatem ejus anni angustiis quibus abundantiam suam 
 cohibuisset. Neque enim solum vagus ille expanditor amnis intra usurpata semper 
 collium substiterat atque hasserat, sed supino etiam ac detinenti solo, placido se molli- 
 que lapsu refugum abstulerat: nec dum satis humentes terras addiderat arendibus. 
 Igitur inundatione, id est ubertate, regio fraudata, sic opem Cassaris invocavit, ut 
 solet amnem suum: nec longius illi adversorum fuit spatium qu&rn dum nuntiat. 
 Tam velox, Cassar, potentia tua est, tamque in omnia pariter intenta bonitas et 
 accincta, ut tristius aliquod seculo tuo passis ad remedium salutemque sufficiat ut 
 scias. Omnibus equidem gentibus fertiles annos gratasque terras precor: credi- 
 derim tamen per lumc jEgypti statum tuas fortunam vires experiri, tuamque vigi- 
 lantiam expectare voluisse. Nam quum omnia ubique secunda merearis, nonne 
 manifestum est, siqirid adversi cadat, tuis laudibus, tuisque virtutibus materiem 
 campumque prostemi, quum secunda felices, adversa magnos probent? Percre- 
 buerat antiquitus, urbem nostram nisi opibus fEgypti ali sustentarique non posse: 
 superbiebat ventosa et insolens natio, quod victorem quidem populmn pasceret 
 tamen, quodque in suo flumine, in suis manibus vel abundantia nostra vel fames 
 esset. Refudimus Nilo suas copias: recepit frumenta quas miserat, deportatasque 
 messes revexit. Discat igitur iEgyptuscredatque; experimento, non alimentase nobis 
 sed tributa prasstare: sciat se non esse P. R. necessariam, et tamen serviat. Post 
 hasc, si volet Nilus, amet alveum suum, et fluminis modum servet: nihil hoc ad 
 urbem, ac ne ad iEgyptum quidem, nisi ut inde navigia inania et vacua et similia 
 redeuntibus, hinc plena et onusta et qualia solent venire, mittantur, conversoque 
 munere maris hinc potius venti ferentes, et brevis cursus optentur,” &c. 
 
[Obelisks in front of the Gate at Luxor .—Description de VEgypt.] 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Our object here is only to admit a very brief sketch of the most 
 famous localities and towns of ancient Egypt—places of note either 
 from their situation, history, or monuments. Our imaginary pil¬ 
 grimage will carry us to— 
 
Chap. II."| 
 
 POPULATION AND PROVINCES. 
 
 31 
 
 - “ the eternal pyramids ; 
 
 Memphis and Thebes, and whatsoe’er of strange. 
 
 Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, 
 
 Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx : 
 
 Dark Ethiopia on her desert hills 
 Conceals, among the ruined temples there, 
 
 Stupendous columns, and wild images 
 Of more than man, where marble demons watch 
 The zodiac’s brazen mystery, and dead men 
 Hang their mute thoughts on the mute walls around, 
 
 We linger.” 1 
 
 Egypt was of old very populous, and swarmed with towns and Population, 
 villages. According to Diodorus it had 18,000 cities in more ancient 
 times, but numbered 30,000 in the days of the Ptolemies. The 
 priests assured Herodotus that prior to the Persian conquest 20,000 
 inhabited towns filled their prosperous country. Josephus affirms 
 that in Vespasian’s time Egypt contained seven millions and a-half 
 of population over and above that of Alexandria. The Greek poet 
 Theocritus has displayed his ingenuity in crowding into three hexa¬ 
 meter verses the numeration of 33,333 cities that owned the sway 
 of Ptolemy Philadelphus— 
 
 T^Ts fji.il/ ot oToXlo/v s xoirovru^is ev^sdfcyvra/, 
 
 Tgus S’ %/Xiu.^zs TQitrffuis fot/g/adio’o'iv, 
 
 Aoiai Se Tf/iabt:, fczra. Ss ffCpitriv ivvzcc$z$ 
 
 To/v oru.vTov TlroXifca/os uydvo/g IftfZao'tXzuii. — Idyll. XVli. 83, 
 
 The climate, fertility, and opulence of the kingdom are proofs 
 that it was populated by myriads, though there be without doubt 
 some exaggeration in the preceding statements. Egypt was tridy a 
 busy world; the great artery of the nation’s life was the Nile; and all 
 along its banks, city, town, village, and hamlet were crowded with 
 an active, ingenious, and industrious people. It was a teeming hive of 
 soldiers, farmers, artizans, and labourers. Alas! what a contrast 
 now; its larger cities are squalid in aspect, and its poor and scanty 
 rural population often finds an awkward and comfortless home among 
 the hoary ruins of— 
 
 ‘ ‘ The oldest fabrics reared by band of man, 
 
 Built ere Art's dawn on Europe’s shores began ” 
 
 Under the Ptolemies, and probably at a very early period, the Provinces, 
 whole country was divided into thirty-six Nomes or Provinces, 2 and 
 that division was maintained till the invasion of the Saracens. The 
 number and extent of the Nomes, however, fluctuated a little at 
 various periods. The following table gives the Greek, Egyptian, 
 and Arabian names of these Provinces, in the order in which they 
 occur along the course of the Nile; and the same order is observed 
 in the subjoined account of the most remarkable places which they 
 contain. 
 
 Shelly’s Alastor. 
 
 2 Diod. Sic., i. § 54; Strabo, xvii. 1. 
 
32 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 I. UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 I. Thebais, Mares, El Said. 
 
 }- Ciis. 
 
 Greek. Egyptian. Arabic. Present Name. 
 
 Ombos,.Ktim-ombb,.~| 
 
 A mST 1 .". } Atb4 .°“. 
 
 Letopolis, .Sne,.Isna or Esne,.. 
 
 Hermonthis.Erniont, ..Erment,. 
 
 D1 S£,"..} .Medinet Abu,. 
 
 Pathures or > T ,, 
 
 Pathros,...; .El-ocsorem,.... 
 
 Coptos.Iveft,.Kift,. 
 
 Tentyris,.Tcntore or Kentore, Dendera,. 
 
 Diospolis parva,Hii or Ho,.Huw. 
 
 Abydus. 
 
 Oasis Major, ...Wake,.El-wah. 
 
 Ptolemais,.Psoi,.Ibsai. 
 
 ^Chemmis 01 j" Khmim or Shmin, ...Ikhmim,.Ikhmim. 
 
 Apliroditopolis,.Idfeh. 
 
 Antaiopolis,.Tkoii,.Cau. 
 
 Hypselis.Shdtp...Sbotb,.) ^ 
 
 Lycopolis.Sibut,.Osyiit.[ 0s y ufc ' 
 
 Hormopolis.Shmun,.Oshmunei'n,. 1 
 
 Theodosiopolis, Tuho,.Taba.>■ Oshmunei'n. 
 
 Cynopolis, .Kais.El-ka'is.) 
 
 Oxyrrhynchus, Pemje,.Behensa or Behnesa, f 
 
 Oasis Minor,_Wahe,.El-wah,.v Behnesa. 
 
 Hcracleopolis,.. Hnes.Elinas,.) 
 
 cmcodiiopoiis,! phiom ’. Fa yy' um . Fa yy (im ' 
 
 Aphrodriopolis, Tpeh,.Atffh,.Atfih. 
 
 Memphis,.Memfi,.Menf,.Jizeh. 
 
 II. LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 1. Pharbcethus, . 
 
 ...Pharba'it,. 
 
 
 
 2. Tanis,. 
 
 ..Jani. 
 
 
 .Daeahliyveh. 
 
 3. Mendes,. 
 
 ...Shmiin anerman,. 
 
 ...Oshmum. 
 
 
 4. Prosopis,. 
 
 ..Pshati. 
 
 
 
 5. Sal's,. 
 
 .. Sa'i,. 
 
 
 
 6. Busiris,. 
 
 ..Pusiri,. 
 
 
 
 7. Sebennytus, ....Shemnuti,. 
 
 8. Onuphis. 
 
 9. Buto or Butus, Pteneto. 
 
 
 
 10. Cabasa,. 
 
 ...Khbehs,. 
 
 
 
 These ten Nomes ivere all comprehended witliin the limits of the 
 Delta; but there was also a considerable territory on each side 
 beyond the Canopic and Pelusiac arms of the Nile. This was, in 
 the same manner, divided into several Nomes, formed probably after 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 ABOUSIMBEL. 
 
 33 
 
 the kingdom of Egypt had been extended beyond its original boun¬ 
 daries, and, therefore, not comprehended in the six-and-tliirty men¬ 
 tioned by Diodorus and Strabo. 
 
 These additional territories were— Additional 
 
 Territories. 
 
 I. The Eastern —Praefectura Arabica, Ti-arabia. 
 
 1. Heliopolis,.On. C ^ bi ^ 
 
 2. Atkribis,.Athrebi,.Atkrib,.Sbarkiyyeb. 
 
 3. Bubastis.Pubasti.Tell-Basteh,. 
 
 4. Arabia,.Ti-arabia,.Tarabiyab,...Calyubiyyeb. 
 
 5. Setbrum.Psariom.Daeabliyyeb. 
 
 II. Tbe Western.—Praefectura Libyca, Nipba'iab. 
 
 I Iskanderiyyeli. 
 
 1. Alexandria.Racoti,.A1 Iskanderiyyeli,... J Bobeircb. 
 
 (Ba'bireb. 
 
 2. Menelaus. 
 
 3. Andropolis. 
 
 UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 The description of Nubia lies not within ovu - province, yet in it Nubia, 
 there is much that yet speaks of ancient splendour. Many magni¬ 
 ficent ruins abound in it. The following illustration gives a view of 
 the interior of a temple at Abousimbel, of vast proportions, cut out 
 of the solid rock. 
 
 [e. o. h.] 
 
 11 
 
34 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Philse, Bilac, 
 or .Teziret- 
 el-birba. 
 
 24° 1'34" N. 
 32°.'54'31" E. 
 
 Temple of 
 Isis. 
 
 On leaving this scene of splendour, entering Egypt from the 
 south, and following the course of the Nile, the first place which 
 occurs is the Island of Philse., about six miles to the south of 
 Syene, and nearly thirty-four to the north of the Tropic of Cancer. 
 With an area of barely 900 yards in circumference, and 100 in 
 breadth, this diminutive islet still offers a variety of objects deserv¬ 
 ing admiration, and calculated to revive a multitude of historical 
 and classical recollections. Considered as the burial-place of 
 Osiris, and adorned with magnificent temples, one of which was 
 believed to have been built by Isis, in honour of her husband, 
 every thing which antiquity and sanctity could give to warm the 
 imagination, and inflame the devotion of the worshippers, seemed 
 concentrated on tins holy soil. Jezfret-el-birba, i.e. the Temple- 
 Island, one of the names by which it is at present known, sufficiently 
 indicates the magnitude and character of the ruins by which it is 
 covered. Though the surrounding cliffs are of a dark granite, 
 the temples are built of a bright sandstone, which contrasts sin¬ 
 gularly with the neigliboiu’ing cliffs; and nearly the whole island is 
 cased with walls of hewn stone, which give it the appearance of a 
 modern escarpment. These walls form quays, concave toward the 
 stream, but convex landwards, a mode of building peculiar to ancient 
 Egypt. 1 The whole island is covered with temples in the largest 
 groups and highest state of preservation of any now remaining in 
 Egypt. On its south-west side there are two large ones, adorned 
 and connected by long colonnades, but manifestly of different ages. 
 On the right is the small Temple of Isis, and an isolated, unfinished 
 building, supposed to have been destined for the same object; on 
 the left, are an Obelisk, and long porticoes leading to a large Temple 
 of Isis, near a smaller one dedicated to ^enus. The great Temple 
 of Isis is the southernmost of all; in front of it are two colon¬ 
 nades, with as many obelisks and pylons, or portals, of vast dimen¬ 
 sions. The capitals of the columns are in the pure Egyptian taste, 
 having the foliage borrowed alternately from the flower of the 
 lotus, 2 or the leaves of the palm. 3 One of these majestic pylons, 
 flanked by two square tower-like masses of masonry, rising pyra- 
 midically to the height of fifty-four feet, leads to the second court 
 of the temple, and beyond the third court is the adytum , or 
 sanctuary. These pylons are richly ornamented with sculpture and 
 hieroglyphics, relating to the service of the gods to whom the 
 temple was dedicated. As one side alone of the great pylon measures 
 5400 square feet, and all of them are entirely covered with hiero¬ 
 glyphics, the number of those symbolic inscriptions is exceedingly 
 large. Fragments of obelisks and lions of red granite are strewed 
 upon the ground in front of the great temple, which was itself, 
 in part, from similar materials. 
 
 1 Descript, de l’Egypte, Ant. i. 12. 2 Nelumbinm speciosum. 
 
 3 Lancret, in Descript. de l’Egypte, Ant. i. i. p. 25, 8, 10. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 PHIL/E. 
 
 35 
 
 At some distance from these temples, near the water’s edge, there 
 is a large hall, the walls of which are covered with sculptiu’es relat¬ 
 ing to the death of Osiris, over which inscriptions of various ages 
 and in various characters are scattered, recording the names of 
 pilgrims who had come to perform their devotion to the deities of 
 the place. 
 
 On the left of the great temple which was dedicated to Isis, there 
 is an uncovered enclosure, formed by a colonnade, of which the 
 intercolumniations are filled up to more than one-third of their 
 height. This was considered as an unfinished temple by the French 
 architects, and called “ the eastern,” or “ the Temple of Isis.” 
 
 Before it lay a small obelisk of granite, which, though displaced, obelisk and 
 was little injured. The hieroglyphics on the obelisk itself, and the inscr ‘P tlon - 
 Greek inscription on its base, have been faithfully copied, and the 
 inscription, which has been ably illustrated and explained by M. 
 
 Letronne, is one of the most curious monuments of antiquity found 
 in Egypt. It is a petition from the priests of Isis at Philas, to 
 Ptolemy Euergetes II., in 125 or 126 B.C., praying him to release 
 them from the exactions of the magistrates and military officers 
 stationed in the Thebais, and to allow them to erect a stele or cippus, 
 on which they might commemorate the equity and beneficence of 
 their sovereign. The existence of this commemorative obelisk is, 
 therefore, in itself a proof that the prayer was granted; and the 
 hieroglyphics on the shaft, when interpreted, will doubtless be found 
 to refer to this beneficent act of Ptolemy Euergetes. 
 
36 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Elephantine. 
 
 Syene, 
 Aswan. 
 24° 8' 6" N. 
 32° 55' E. 
 
 Ombos. 
 
 Just below the cataracts there is another small island in the Nile, 
 little inferior in celebrity to Phil®. It was called by the ancients 
 Elephantine, and has been named by the Arabs Jeziret-el-zahir, he. 
 the Flowery Island, a name which it well deserves, from the luxu¬ 
 riance of its vegetation. In the time of Psammetichus, 1 it was the 
 last fortified place in his dominions, and under the Romans it was 
 garrisoned by three cohorts. 2 Heaps of rubbish mark the site of the 
 town, and there are remains of two temples, covered, like most of the 
 public buildings in Egypt, with hieroglyphics, but approaching in 
 their form and plan to the earliest temples of Greece. The quarries 
 of Elephantine were worked in a very early age, and furnished the 
 materials for many celebrated buildings, among which the famous 
 monolithe temple at Sais peculiarly deserves to be noticed. It was 
 formed from a single block of granite, and its removal from 
 Elephantine to the Delta employed 2000 men for the space of three 
 years. 3 This monolithe measured twenty-one cubits hi length, four¬ 
 teen in breadth, and eight in height. It was placed at the entrance 
 of the Temple of Minerva. On the wall of an ancient quay, over a 
 flight of steps down to the river, the Nilometer, mentioned by 
 Strabo, may still be seen. Elephantine, physically considered, is 
 more properly the extremity of Egypt than Phila?, for it is the last 
 projection of the granitic rock which forms the natural division 
 between Egypt and Nubia, and beyond it the limestone tract of 
 country begins. 
 
 On the eastern side of the Nile, nearly opposite to Elephantine, 
 stands the town of Aswan or Oswan, the Syene of the Greeks, and 
 Suan of the Copts, hi whose language it signifies “ the Opening.” 
 Being so near the tropic, it was chosen by Eratosthenes as the point 
 of departure for his admeasurement of a degree, which was to form 
 the basis of his calculations, hi ol der to determine the circumference 
 of the earth. 
 
 Twenty-seven or twenty-eight miles below Aswan, on the western 
 bank of the Nile, lies Kum-Ombo, on the site of Ombos. All the 
 lower part of the ancient town, except what has been washed away 
 by the river, is covered with a mount of sand, as its modern name 
 implies; but two temples surrounded by a brick wall of great thick¬ 
 ness still remain. This temple was devoted to two principal deities, 
 Apollo, typified by a hawk, and Saturn, by a crocodile. Hence 
 that symbol of the latter god was supposed by the Romans to be the 
 favourite idol of the Ombites, whose fanaticism is so strongly painted 
 by Juvenal. 4 
 
 “ Labitur bine quidam, riimia formidine cursum 
 Praecipitans, capiturque : ast ilium in plurima secturn 
 Frusta ct particulas, ut multis mortuus unus 
 Subficeret, totum conrosis ossibus edit 
 Victrix turba. 
 
 ! Herod, ii. 30. 2 Strabo, xvii. i. 469. 
 
 3 Herod, ii. 175. 4 Sat. xv. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 EDFU. 
 
 37 
 
 “ An Ombite wretch (by headlong haste betray’d, 
 
 And falling down i’ th’ rout) is prisoner made ; 
 
 Whose flesh torn off by lumps the rav’nous foe 
 In morsels cut, to make it further go ; 
 
 His bones clean pick’d, his very bones they gnaw; 
 
 No stomach’s baulk’d, because the corpse is raw.”— Dryden's Juv. 
 
 Edfu, the Apollonopolis Magna of the Greeks, is thirty-two or Apoiionopo- 
 thirty-three miles lower down the Nile, on its western side, and about Edfu. asna ’ 
 two miles from the water’s edge. The ancient quay, with a flight 
 of steps down to the river, and two temples at right angles to each 
 other, are still remaining: the latter, though half buried in sand, 
 are among the finest and most perfect remains in Egypt. The roof 
 of the largest, as at Pliilse, Denderah, and other places, is covered 
 by peasants’ huts, and the openings intended to give light to the 
 temple serve as sinks for the reception of filth. The temple is twice 
 as long as it is broad, and measures about 440 feet by 220; its 
 largest columns are six feet four inches in diameter, twenty-one feet 
 in girth, and forty-two in height. The two lofty pylons, which are 
 
 very conspicuous from the river, and the thirty-two columns of the 
 peristyle to which they lead, form a magnificent perspective. The 
 sculptures are executed in the most perfect style of Egyptian art; 
 
38 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Letopolis, 
 or Esneh. 
 24°58| f S. 
 32° 35' E. 
 
 Thebes. 
 
 Medeenet- 
 
 aboo. 
 
 25° 43.V N. 
 32° 37'E. 
 
 Mem non’s 
 Statues. 
 
 Description 
 of Vocal 
 Memnon 
 by Strabo, 
 
 Pausanias, 
 
 and none of the remains in Egypt give a juster notion of the distri¬ 
 bution of their temples than this, where the sanctuary, temple and 
 ante-temple, pylons and propylons, 1 are all remaining, and the wall 
 of the sacred enclosure can be traced. 
 
 Esna, Sna, or Letopolis, the present capital of Lower Egypt, about 
 thirteen miles below El-kab, is placed in a large plain where the 
 valley is nearly four miles and a-half wide. Esne is remarkable on 
 account of a very large Coptic convent, probably founded by the 
 scholars of St. Pachomius, and sitpposed to possess the bones of the 
 martyrs who were victims of the persecution mider Diocletian, 
 a.d. 383. 
 
 In the broadest part of this section of the valley, where the Kile 
 has a width of 1300 feet, and rims from south-west to north-east, 
 between Cumali or Gurnah on the north, and El Nahariyyah on the 
 south, the splendid remains of Thebes are spread over a veiy large 
 area occupied by nine distinct townships. 2 'Jlie most remarkable of 
 these places are Medinet Abu, Giimah, and Kamak. 
 
 On the edge of the desert, to the north and west of Medmet Abu, 
 there are almost innumerable fragments of statues, pillars, &c., and 
 a quadrangular enclosure of brick walls filled with broken remains of 
 colossal figures and hieroglyphical tablets finely executed. A 
 grove of mimosas, wherein similar relics of ancient sculpture occur 
 at almost eveiy step, occupies the site of the Memnonium. 3 At the 
 eastern boundaiy of this wood stood two colossal statues of Memnon, 
 one of which was the object of much superstitious credulity, on 
 account of the sounds issuing from it once every day. Strabo 
 thus describes them, 4 “ On the opposite side of the Nile is the 
 Memnonium, where there are two monolithe colossi near one 
 another. One of the statues is entire, but the upper part of 
 the other has fallen from its chair, owing, as they report, to 
 an earthquake. It is believed that once a day a sound, like 
 that produced by a moderate blow, proceeds from that part of the 
 statue which remains on the seat and the pedestal. I happened 
 to be on the spot with iElius Gallus, and many of his Mends and 
 soldiers, about the first horn’, when I heard the sound; but whether 
 it came from the base, or from the colossus, or was made by some 
 one of those around the base, I cannot affirm. For as the cause 
 was not visible, one is inclined to adopt any conjecture rather than 
 believe that the sound came out of the mass of stone. Above the 
 Memnonium are the tombs of the longs cut in the rock, forty in 
 number, very wonderful in their construction and well worth 
 examining.” Pausanias seems to have the same seene in view, when 
 he says, 5 “ I was most surprised with the colossus at Thebes in 
 
 1 The Secos or Celia, Naos, Tronaos, and Propylcea of the Greeks. (Letronne, 
 Recherches, 22.) 
 
 2 Plan des Ruines de Tkfebes; Descript, de l’Egypte Ant. ii. pi. 1. 
 
 3 Strabo, xvii. i. 462. 4 Ibid. 3 i. 42, 3. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 VOCAL MEMNON. 
 
 39 
 
 Egypt, which you come to after crossing the Nile in your way to 
 the tombs. I saw still throned on Ills chair a statue which is 
 generally called Memnon. Tradition reports that he came out of 
 Ethiopia into Egypt, and carried his expedition as far as Susa. But 
 the Thebans say, this is not a statue of Memnon but of Phamenoph, 
 a native of the country. I have also heard some say that this is a 
 statue of Sesostris, which Cambyses mutilated; at present all from 
 the head as far as the middle of the body is thrown clown, but the 
 remainder is still seated, and daily at sun-rise produces a sound, 
 which you may best compare with the snapping of a harp or lute 
 string.” Another ancient author, 1 going deeper into the old mytho- and philo¬ 
 logy, speaks as follows :—“ About Memnon, Bamis writes as follows: stratus ' 
 
 He was the son of Aurora, and did not die in Troy, for he 
 never even went there, but he ended his days in Ethiopia, having- 
 been king of the Ethiopians for five generations. And the people 
 of this country, who are veiy long-lived, lament the death of Mem¬ 
 non, considering him to have died very young, and to have been 
 taken off by an untimely fate. The place where his statue stands 
 is, as they say, like an ancient forum, such as we see in deserted 
 cities, where there are fragments of columns, traces of walls, seats, 
 and door-jambs, and statues of Hermes, partly broken by violence, 
 and partly impaired by time. The statue of Memnon is turned 
 towards the sun: it has no beard, and is of black stone. Both the 
 feet are close together, according to the style of sculpture in the age 
 of Da3dalus, and the hands are pressing on the seat, for the figure is 
 in readiness to rise. This attitude, and the intelligence of the eyes, 
 and all the wonders they tell about his speaking, produce, as they 
 say, only a partial effect, while the statue is inactive. But when the 
 rays strike the stone, which is at sunrise, then the spectators cannot 
 restrain their admiration; for the statue utters a somid as soon as 
 the beams have touched his lips; and his eyes seem to gaze on the 
 light, as men do who are fond of looking at the sun. They say, 
 moreover, that the attitude of the statue produces the impression of 
 his appearing to rise up to do honour to the sun, as men do who rise 
 to pay them respects to a superior.” This last sentiment is truly 
 the dictate of a senile and credulous superstition. 
 
 Antiquity seems to have been well acquainted with the existence Allusions to 
 and powers of the vocal Memnon. Juvenal refers to it in his fifteenth ‘ emnon - 
 Satire, and Tacitus also alludes to the “ Memnonis saxea effigies,”— 
 
 Ann. II. 61. Nay, the beauty of Memnon is celebrated in the 
 Odyssey; nor is he forgotten by Pindar in his third Nemean Ode, 
 
 111. Inscriptions also are found on the statue itself, testifying to 
 its vocal powers. The following is one of them copied by Mr. 
 
 Salt:— 
 
 1 Philostratus, Apollonii vita, vi. 1. 
 
40 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Nature of 
 the sounds. 
 
 Various 
 
 solutions. 
 
 “ IMP. DOMITIANO 
 CAESARE AVGVSTO GERMANICO 
 TPETRONIVS SECVNDVS. PR 
 AVDITMEMNONEM HORAI PR. IDVS MART.” 
 
 This inscription records the fact that Petronius heard the mysteri¬ 
 ous sounds in the reign of Domitian. Mr. Long in his Egyptian 
 Antiquities, 1 has given a corrected copy of a Greek inscription from 
 Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, which reads thus,— 
 
 ExXuov uu$r,cravTos \yco YIotXiv; B xXfijvo; 
 
 @covo:$ rras hia; M t/xvovos 'h 
 r,\6ov o[jloZ lV IgccrZ p>a.<ri\nibi r*$s 2a.fz>lva, 
 
 Be a.\io$ t<r %s ^poftov, 
 
 xoigavu * ASoigcvw ‘zri/u. < 7r<rM ^txarw iviavru. 
 elfACcru, % ''Aduo iljtoffi net) ‘Trttru^a.. 
 
 This inscription avers that the Lady Balbina, in the company of 
 the Empress Sabina, spouse of Adrian, heard the divine sound of the 
 Memnon on the twenty-fourth day of the month Atkur, and in the 
 hfteenth year of the emperor’s reign. 
 
 The accounts vary too much to inspire any confidence in the 
 vocal power ascribed to the statue, and yet are too numerous, and 
 were too generally received, not to demand some attention. The 
 sounds have been described as cheerful and harmoniorrs upon the 
 appearance, and as plaintive upon the setting of the sun. Others, 
 again, have spoken of the sound as sharp and sudden, like the 
 brealdng of the string of a harp from too great tension. Many 
 ingenious philosophical solutions of this phenomena, on the supposi¬ 
 tion of its reality, have been attempted. Those who reason upon 
 the description of it, as a sharp and sudden sound emitted from the 
 statue, suppose it to have been constructed of some kind of sonorous 
 stone, capable of being expanded or contracted by the rarefaction of 
 the air, or the general temperature of the morning and evening. 
 Others, who receive the more enlarged account of its varied tones, 
 have conjectured that some strings, easily affected by heat or cold, 
 might be concealed within the statue, which the warmth of the 
 morning might brace, and that the breeze which usually accompanies 
 the rising and setting of the sun might have access through some 
 small and artfully-contrived apertures, acting upon these strings as 
 upon an rfEohan harp. Humboldt speaks of peculiar sounds rising 
 from the rocks at sunrise on the banks of the Orinoko, and modern 
 geologists have occasionally heard similar music. But if the fact be 
 conceded, there seems to be no good reason why we may not sup¬ 
 pose that the sound was conveyed to the statue, or its pedestal, 
 through concealed pipes, from some vault or cavern, which may long 
 since have been filled up, so that the notes would appear to come 
 from the statue itself; since we know that such contrivances were 
 
 1 Yol. i. p. 2G4. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 TOMB OF OSYMANDYAS. 
 
 41 
 
 subsequently common to tlie several oracles of Greece. Wilkinson 
 describes it as proceeding from a stone in the lap of the statue, which 
 might be easily struck with an unseen hammer, for behind the stone 
 a person might be concealed, there being a recess evidently formed 
 for the purpose. 
 
 These statues, called by the Arabs Tamah and Shamah, might 
 be seen twelve miles off, rising like solitary rocks in the midst 
 of the plain. The surprising length of their shadows at sunrise 
 long rendered them an object of curiosity at that hour, though, like 
 their kindred oracles, they had become mute. The hieroglyphical 
 inscription on the throne of the vocal colossus shows that it repre¬ 
 sents Amenophis or Phamenoph II., who reigned nearly 1700 years 
 before the birth of Christ. 1 
 
 To the north of the grove of Acacias, there is another mass of 
 ruins, as stupendous in their dimensions as they are admirable in 
 their execution. They are supposed to mark the site of the Tomb 
 of Osymandyas, the mighty conqueror, whose sepulchre was to sur¬ 
 pass in splendour every thing upon earth. 2 The Temple of Isis, and 
 the Syrinx or Labyrinth, to the north-west, though diminutive when 
 compared with the gigantic structures just described, are not less 
 remarkable for ingenuity of contrivance and for rich and finished 
 decorations; and the porticoes, courts, and statues at Luxor and 
 Karnak present a rich spectacle to the artist and the antiquary; 
 green and cultivated islands in the foreground, with obelisks, pro- 
 pykca, and palaces, diversifying by their broad lights and shades the 
 
 Tomb 
 
 Osy 
 
 dyas. 
 
 2 Diod. Sic. i. 47. 
 
 Champollion, Prdcis, 233. 
 
42 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Karnak. 
 25° 44' N. 
 32° 40' E. 
 
 Architec¬ 
 
 tural 
 
 splendour. 
 
 palm groves, of which the waving boughs give continual glimpses of 
 the neighbouring mountains, bounding the scene on the east. Two 
 obelisks, each hewn out of one block of granite upwards of seventy 
 feet high, two colossal figures, measuring forty-four feet from the 
 ground, and the same number of pylons, fifty feet in height, suc¬ 
 ceeded by long peristyles, lead to the main body of this palace of 
 the Pharaohs. Some of the columns of the peristyle are nearly 
 eleven feet in diameter. The sculptures on the pylons, like those 
 at Medfnet Abu, represent the victories of Sesostris. These won¬ 
 drous nuns show us the glory of ancient Egypt. What collec¬ 
 tion of palaces, temples, and tombs can vie with those—whose ruin 
 tells what Thebes has been. What records of past heroic deeds! 
 gods, conquerors, captives, battles, and offerings. 
 
 A second Hippodrome appears to have been formed about 
 a mile and a-half to the south-east; and to the north a broad, 
 raised causeway, adorned with columns and sphinxes, leads to 
 the Kafr Karnak, another splendid quarter of the ancient Diospolis. 
 For the space of nearly 6200 feet, a road, bordered by more 
 than 600 colossal sphinxes, leads from one temple to another. 
 Another similar road, branching off from this, passed between 
 figures of rams on lofty pedestals to a triumphal gateway leading 
 to a temple, apparently the most ancient in Thebes,—an infer¬ 
 ence fully justified by a hieroglyphic inscription over its entrance, 
 ascribing it to Osymandyas. From the ruins -within its area, many 
 fine specimens of Egyptian art were recovered by the exertions of 
 M. Belzoni, several of which are now in the British Museum, and 
 among them, according to M. Champollion, is a statue of that con¬ 
 queror, whose magnificence was almost proverbial. The great 
 palace, at which the right branch of the avenue of sphinxes ter¬ 
 minates, is the most surprising of all among these venerable monu¬ 
 ments. From most points of view it appears a boundless, confused 
 wreck of splendid buildings, scattered in every direction, without 
 any order or perceptible design; but from the north-west end of the 
 principal group the eye can survey the whole at once; and the 
 great entrance from the west then displays all its extraordinary 
 dimensions and magnificence. An unfinished pylon, succeeded by 
 an avenue of columns more than seventy-five feet high, all of one 
 block, but only one of them standing; a second pylon, leading to a 
 hall, nearly 338 feet hi length, and 167.23 feet in breadth; a third 
 pylon, opening into a court, hi which there are two obelisks more 
 than seventy-two feet high; and in the midst of another hall, to 
 which a fourth pylon leads, the largest obelisk probably ever formed 
 from one stone,—are all seen following exactly in the same line, and 
 forming a perspective, the effect of which cannot be conveyed by 
 any draught, much less by any description. The great obelisk is 
 very nearly one hundred feet high, and the walls are everywhere 
 covered with hieroglyphics, or sculptures representing the battles, 
 
Chap. IT.J 
 
 KARNAK. 
 
 43 
 
 triumphs, sacrifices, processions, and festivals of the ancient Egyp- Variety of^ 
 tians; and the colours with which they were decorated are still m 
 many places extremely vivid. On the northern side of these build¬ 
 ings there were also triumphal arches, colonnades, sphinxes, and 
 other monuments of architectural splendour in vast numbers; but 
 they have all suffered, more or less, from the barbarism under which 
 Egypt has so long groaned. The liieroglypliical inscriptions hitherto 
 noticed at Thebes, strongly corroborate the observations of artists, as 
 to the various ages of the buildings on which they are found, and 
 show, in perfect consistency with ancient history, that these build¬ 
 ings were erected principally by kings of the eighteenth dynasty. 
 
 Eastward toward the Arabian chain is the so-called temple of Artificial 
 Typhon, and close upon it are the remains of an artificial lake, 
 enclosing on three sides what was once a palace of the Pharaohs. 
 
 The beauty of the locality, as it once appeared, may be easily 
 
44 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IT. 
 
 Catacombs. 
 
 Ruins of 
 Thebes. 
 
 recalled. One can readily imagine a scene of old—of dance and 
 song, and gay festivity—a happy promenade of the daughters of 
 Egypt, when—- 
 
 “ In drapery, like woven snow, 
 
 These nymphs were clad ; and each below 
 Her rounded bosom loosely wore 
 A dark blue zone, or bandelet, 
 
 With little silver stars all o’er, 
 
 As are the stars of midnight set; 
 
 While in their tresses, braided through. 
 
 Sparkled that flower of Egypt’s lakes— 
 
 The silvery lotus ! in whose hue 
 As much delight the young moon takes, 
 
 As doth the day-god to behold 
 The lofty bean flower’s buds of gold : 
 
 And as they gracefully went around 
 The worshipped bird—some to the beat 
 Of Castanets, some to the sound 
 Of the shrill Sistrum—timed their feet; 
 
 While others, at each step they took, 
 
 A tinkling chain of silver shook.” 
 
 The catacombs in the western mountains are not less abundant in 
 treasures illustrative of the ancient history of Egypt. Not only are 
 the walls of these subterraneous abodes of the dead covered with 
 paintings, which the mrparalleled dryness of the atmosphere in 
 Egypt has preserved uninjured, but besides mummies, these sepul¬ 
 chres often contain vessels of various kinds, utensils, and other 
 works of art; the most extraordinary articles, however, and some¬ 
 times the most valuable of all, are the deeds and other documents 
 written on papyrus in the Egyptian and Greek languages, and buried 
 with their possessors. Belzoni discovered here the burial-place of 
 Psammis, son of Necos, the Pharaoh-Necho of scripture, who reigned 
 more than six centuries before the beginning of our era. Triumphal 
 processions, in which Jewish captives are distinctly recognized, have 
 a distinguished place in the decorations of this royal sepulchre, and 
 thus there has been preserved, through the long interval of more 
 than twenty-four centuries, a contemporary verification of some of 
 the great events recorded in sacred and profane history. 
 
 That the magnificent ruins hi Karnak, El-ocsor, or Luxor, and 
 Medinet Abu, are the remains of the hundred-gated Thebes, the earliest 
 capital of the world, cannot be doubted. According to the admea¬ 
 surement made by the French, the distance of these ruins from the 
 sea, one way, amounts to 850 miles, and from Elephantine, the other, 
 225 miles, corresponding exactly with the 6800 and 1800 stadii men¬ 
 tioned by Herodotus. 1 Without including the Hippodrome and Meda- 
 mud, the circumference of the ruins is from 14,000 to 15,000 metres, 
 equally agreeing with the 140 stadii (17 miles and a-half) mentioned 
 by Diodorus Siculus, 2 as the circumference of Thebes. The origin 
 
 1 ii. 9. 2 i. 45. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THEBES AND TENTYFJS. 
 
 45 
 
 of the name of this celebrated city, as well as the date of its founda¬ 
 tion, are unknown. Tliebce is perhaps derived from the Egyptian origin of 
 word Thbaki, “ the Cityand the No-Ammon 1 of the Hebrews, 2 and " 
 Hiospolis of the Greeks, are mere translations of Thbaki-antepi- 
 Amoun of the Egyptians, i.e. City of the Most High. 3 Its stupen¬ 
 dous ruins spread over many an acre, in hoary majesty and sublime 
 contusion, remind us vividly of its ancient grandeur—such as it was 
 when the prince of Grecian bards thus sang of it:— 
 
 otra 
 
 A lyw7rrl(£s, o0t ?TA.u<T<rcc ^ 0 /U.oi; iv y.tira.i, 
 
 «V it s HU.Tafj.'Zu'koi shri, Sr/iKoirtoi S’ a,v 
 avigi; i^ot^viucri auv 'iwrotffi ’Aat —Iliad , ix. 381. 
 
 -All proud Thebes’ unrivalled walls contain 
 
 The world’s great empress on the Egyptian plain, 
 
 That spreads her conquests o’er a thousand states, 
 
 And pours her heroes through an hundred gates! 
 
 Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars. 
 
 From each wide portal issuing to the wars. 
 
 The Hebrew prophet, in the verse referred to already, describes By Nahum, 
 graphically and truly the position and advantages of ancient Thebes. 
 Challenging Nineveh, he says,— 
 
 Art thou better than No-Ammon, 
 
 Situated on the Nile-branches— 
 
 The waters flowing round her, 
 
 Whose bulwarks were the sea, 
 
 And from the sea her wall? 
 
 Cush and Egypt were her strength, 
 
 And it had no limit; 
 
 Phut and Lubim were thy allies ; 
 
 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: 
 
 Her children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street; 
 
 And over her nobles they cast lots. 
 
 And all her magnates were bound in fetters. 
 
 On the sandy bank of the river, between Thebes and its greatest Apoiiono- 
 bend to the west, he Cus, Kelt, and Keneli on the eastern side, and pohs Parva - 
 nearly opposite to the latter, Denderah on the west. Cus, called Kos- 
 birbir by the Egyptians, is the Apollonopolis Parva of the Greeks. 
 
 The ruins of Tentyris occupy an area of more than a mile in Tentyris, 
 length, about half a-mile in breadth, and nearly two miles and yj' 111 ’ 
 a-half in circumference. There are two temples, a larger and a smaller 32 ° 41 ' E - 
 one, supposed to be the Typhonium , both nearly buried in rubbish; 
 and both are not only the first remains of antiquity of any magnitude 
 occurring above Cairo, but finished in the best style, and worthy of 
 admiration even after the finest works at Thebes have been examined. 
 
 The largest of them is in plan similar to the eastern temple at Philo;. 
 
 Description 
 of Thebes 
 by Homer, 
 
 1 Nahum iii. 8. 2 Rosenmulleri Scholia in loc. 
 
 3 Cliampollion, l’Egypte sous les Pharaons, i. 218. 
 
40 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. li¬ 
 
 lts portico and pronaos or ante-temple, are peculiarly striking. 
 Planisphere. Upon the roof of tlie latter was the celebrated planisphere now at 
 Paris, and so long the subject of ivild speculations. Several chambers 
 attached to the interior of this temple, are covered with astronomical, 
 or rather astrological decorations; and the calculations deduced from 
 them had occasioned so powerful a prepossession in favour of their 
 extreme antiquity, that very obvious proofs of the contrary were 
 entirely overlooked. The basis of the largest of these temples for 
 example is upon a terrace still nearly fifteen feet above the level of 
 the neighbouring country, while similar terraces at Thebes are only 
 on a level with the surface of the Nile, above which they were 
 beyond a doubt once greatly elevated. Visconti, therefore, and 
 after him Belzoni, justly inferred that the temple at Denderah was 
 not older than the time of the Ptolemies, or perhaps that of the 
 Romans. The hieroglyphics on the walls of the temple completely 
 confirm the evidence afforded by the Greek inscription over the 
 entrance of the pronaos; for they contain the names of Tiberius and 
 Augustus, for the preservation of the former of whom, this latter 
 building was erected by the inhabitants of the Nome, when Publius 
 Avillius Flaccus was Prefect of Egypt, about a.d. 34. 1 Mr. Salt, 
 whose inquiries Avere coeval with, but independent of, those of M. 
 Champolhon, has observed the names of Trajan, Hadrian, and the 
 Antonines on different parts of these temples. 2 The capitals of the 
 pillars in the Pronaos are formed by the face of Venus, (Nephthys,) 
 to whom the temple was dedicated, and who was the principal object 
 of the devotion of the Tentyrites. 3 Behind it stood the temple of 
 Isis, one of the propylons of which was erected, as appears from 
 another Greek inscription, by the inhabitants of the Nome in the 
 thirty-first year of the reign of Augustus, 
 rower over The power possessed by the Tentyrites over the crocodile was 
 crocodile, amazing. Pliny tells us how they displayed their surprising feats 
 in presence of the Roman people, 4 and Strabo confirms the report. 
 The former author affirms that they entered the water, sprang upon 
 the animal’s back, and forced it ashore; while they sometimes, by mere 
 poiver of voice, compelled it to disgorge the dead bodies it had 
 sAvalloAved. Sir Gardner Wilkinson suggests that the crocodile in 
 such a case only abandoned the dead body at the sound of its 
 pursuers, and ere it had time to tear and SAvallow it. 
 
 1 Letrorme, Rech. 180; Champollion, Precis, 387. 
 
 2 See Salt’s Tract on Hieroglyphics, London, 1825. 
 
 3 Strabo, XAdi. i. 
 
 4 Tlie following is a portion of Pliny’s statement, Nat. Hist. lib. viii.:—“ Quin 
 et gens hominum est huic belluoa adversa in ipso Nilo Tentyritae, ab insula, in qua 
 habitat, appellata. Mensura eorum parva, sed prtesentia animi in hoc tautum usu 
 mira. Terribilis h®c contra fugaces bellua est, fugax contra insequentes: sed 
 adversum ire soli hi audent. Quin etiam flumini innatant: dorsoque equitantium 
 modo impositi, hiantibus resupino capite ad morsum, addita in os clava, dextra ac 
 Leva tenentes extrema ejus utrimque, ut fi-aenis in terrain agunt captivos: ac voce 
 etiam sola territos, cogunt evomere recentia corpora ad sepulturam.” 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 ABYDOS. 
 
 47 
 
 The inhabitants of Tentyris also hated and warred against such as t ^ tred of 
 worshipped the crocodile. Juvenal has not overlooked this in his crocodile, 
 fifteenth satire:— 
 
 Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas, 
 
 Immortale odium, et nunquam sanabile vulnus 
 Ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra. Summus utrimque 
 Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum 
 Odit uterque locus, cum solos credat habendos 
 Esse Deos, quos ipse collit. 
 
 Ombos and Tentyr, neighbouring towns, of late 
 Broke into outrage of deep-festered hate— 
 
 A grudge in both—time out of mind begun, 
 
 And mutually bequeathed from sire to son, 
 
 Religious spite and pious spleen bred fast 
 This quarrel, which so long the bigot nursed ; 
 
 Each called the other’s god a senseless stock— 
 
 His own divine—though from the self-same block 
 One carver framed them.— Tate' s Juvenal. 
 
 Below Denderah, the Nile changes its course, and for nine miles runs 
 due west, after which it returns to its original direction. Near to the 
 latter elbow lay the town of Abydos. 1 According to Strabo, it was Abydos. 
 the residence of Memnon, an ancient king, called by the Egyptians 
 Ismandis, though reduced to a miserable village even hi his time. 
 
 The remains of a fine building, perhaps the Memnonium , are still exist- Memnonium. 
 ing; whence the place is now called El-birba, i.e. the Temple. In 
 one of its inmost chambers, Mr. W. J. Bankes discovered, in 1818, a 
 large liieroglypkical tablet containing a long series of royal names, 
 as is evident from the well-known ring, or border, which encloses 
 them. On further examination, it proves to be a genealogical table 
 of the immediate predecessors of Bamses the Great, the Sethos or 
 Sethosis of Manetho, Sesoosis of Diodorus, and Sesostris of Herodo¬ 
 tus ; it has been called the “ Doomsday Book of Egyptian Chrono¬ 
 logy.” A careful comparison of it with other documents, enabled 
 the Champollions to ascertain, with a considerable degree of proba¬ 
 bility, the period in which the sixteenth and following dynasties, 
 mentioned by Manetho, reigned; and if their calculations are correct, 
 
 Sesostris, under whom the sculptures were made, ascended the throne 
 b.c. 1473. 2 The ruins at El-kherbeh, a neighbouring village, are 
 supposed by M. Jomard to be those of the Memnonium. 
 
 On a rising ground, scarce twelve miles south of Ptolemais, Panopoiis. 
 about a mile from the river, lies the ancient Panopoiis. It is on the 
 eastern side of the river. Few towns can boast of a greater anti¬ 
 quity ; and in none was Pan, the donor of generative, fructifying, 
 and productive powers—for Pan in Egypt corresponded to Priapus 
 in Greece—more ardently worshipped. The Splendid temples of 
 Ikhmfm, which in the days of Idris! and Abu ’l-feda excited the 
 
 1 Strabo, xvii. i. 
 
 2 Champollion, Precis, 244, 245. 
 
48 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Antseopolis. 
 
 Lycopolis, 
 Osyoot, 
 27° 10' N. 
 31° 13' E. 
 
 Hermopolis 
 
 Magna. 
 
 admiration even of Mussulmans, 1 have long since been reduced to a 
 few fragments. Cliemmo or Chemmis, whence the Khmim or 
 Shmim of the Copts, was, as Diodorus informs us, 2 the Egyptian 
 name of Panopolis, where, according to Strabo, 3 the principal linen 
 weavers and masons had their abode. 
 
 The Nile, like the Ganges and all overflowing streams, often 
 changes its bed, and the Great Cau, which in the tune of Ptolemy 
 was at some distance from the river, is now close to it. Its Coptic 
 name Tkou, shows that the Arabians have preserved the old Egyp¬ 
 tian denomination; for which the Greeks substituted A ntceopolis, 
 because the Egyptian deity Antseus was peculiarly worshipped there. 
 The Nile in this part of its course is constantly advancing to the 
 eastern side of the valley; and the Pronaos or vestibule of a fine 
 temple, once at some distance from the stream, is now upon an island 
 severed by it from the eastern shore. “ Near this place,” says 
 Diodorus, 4 “ the battle was fought in which Typhon and his abettors 
 were defeated.” The Pronaos, as appears from an inscription skil¬ 
 fully restored by M. Letronne, 5 was dedicated to Antams, and the 
 gods worshipped in the same temple, by Ptolemy Philometer and 
 Cleopatra, his sister and queen, about 150 b.c. ; while its cornice 
 was repaired by the emperors Aurelius, Antoninus, and Verus, 
 A.D. 164. 
 
 Osyut, Asyiit, or Suyiit, which may now be considered as the 
 capital of Middle Egypt, is the Siout of the Copts, and the Lycon- 
 polis or Lycopolis of the Greeks. The latter name was derived from 
 the worship of the jackal, to which its inhabitants were peculiarly 
 devoted. Some mounds of rubbish outside the town, and an abun¬ 
 dance of sepulchres in the neighbouring mountains, are the only 
 monuments of antiquity that remain; but the surrounding country 
 is rich and well watered, and the modern town is one of the prin¬ 
 cipal emporiums in Egypt, being the rendezvous of all the caravans 
 from the south and west. 
 
 The next city noticed by the ancients is Hermopolis Magna. Its 
 remains, which cover an area of nearly four miles in circumference; 
 and a portico with a double colonnade, in a massive and uncommon 
 style of architecture, give some idea of the former splendour of this 
 seat of the Egyptian Muses; for as Thoth, or Hermes, was the 
 inventor of arts and sciences—the Egyptian god of -wisdom—so was 
 Isis considered as the first of the muses, and the source of wit and 
 genius, 6 and both were peculiarly adored by the Ilermopolites. The 
 stately Ibis 7 which, year after year, measured off on the fresh mud 
 a cubit at each step, first gave the Egyptians an idea of number and 
 mensuration, 8 and was for that reason consecrated to Thoth, the 
 
 1 Geograph. Nub. 42; Arab. 48; Abulf Egypt, 14. 2 i. 18. 
 
 3 xvii. i. 4 i. 21. 
 
 6 Rech. 42—51. 6 Plutarch, de Is. et Osirid. 
 
 7 Tantalus Ibis. 8 iElian, Hist. Animal., ii. 38. 
 
HEPTANOMIS. 
 
 49 
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 reputed inventor of both. 1 The Ibeum , or city of the Ibis, wherein ibeum. 
 those sacred birds were generally buried, a little to the north of 
 Minyeh and Oshmune'in, is now called Taha-el-amudein—Taha of 
 the Two Columns. The decline of Iiermopolis may be dated from 
 the building of Antinoe, on the opposite side of the Nile. The Antinoe. 
 remains of that city, founded by Hadrian in honour of his favourite 
 Antinous, its colonnades, triumphal arches, baths, and amphitheatres, 
 form a singular contrast to all the surrounding objects, and are as 
 foreign to the soil on which they stand, as was the new Capitol raised 
 by the Romans at Treves on the banks of the Moselle. 
 
 [Head of Memnon .—British Museum.] 
 
 MIDDLE EGYPT. 
 
 The northern part of Middle Egypt, which, from its seven Nomes, Heptanomis. 
 was called Heptanomis by the ancients, contained the Nomes of Her- 
 mopolis, Cynopolis, Oxyrrynchus, Heracleopolis, Crocodilopolis, Aplirodi- 
 topolis, and Memphis. Though little of the cities which once flourished 
 in this part of Egypt can now be traced, yet quarries and catacombs 
 continually mark the neighbourhood of the spot whereon they stood. 
 
 Of these, the most remarkable are the caverns of Beni Hasan, a 
 
 [e. o. h.] 
 
 1 Clemens Alexandria. Stromat. i. 361. 
 E 
 
50 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Rpnee 
 
 Hu&an. 
 
 Heracleopo- 
 lis Magna. 
 
 Crocodilo- 
 
 polis, 
 
 Arsinoe, 
 
 Fay,yooin. 
 
 Labyrinth. 
 
 deserted village on the eastern side of the Nile, nearly eight 
 miles north-west of Antinoe. Many of these excavations are richly 
 adorned with paintings, as fresh as when newly executed, except 
 where they have been intentionally defaced by the Arabs. There 
 grottoes too are very ancient, even adopting the lowest calculations. 
 The name of Osirtasen I. is read upon them, and according to 
 Lepsius he belonged to the twelfth dynasty, while Bunsen gives him 
 a vast antiquity. The fluted columns of these excavations have a 
 resemblance to the Doric order. Many Egyptian trades are depicted 
 on the walls and pillars, such as the manufacture of linen and glass, 
 and the fabrication of metallic ornaments, along with gymnastic 
 games and other characteristic amusements. Egypt life is beauti¬ 
 fully pictured—the scene is the vivid resuscitation of long past 
 centuries. 
 
 Heracleopolis Magna lay further north, at the entrance of Fayyum; 
 but no traces of it can now be found. The diminution of its waters 
 by the obstruction of the smaller canals, while most of those from 
 the Nile are carried by branches of the Bahr Yusuf into the Lake 
 Maris, doubtless contributed largely to its ruin. 
 
 The Nome of Arsinoe, one of the most celebrated in Egypt, is 
 now called Fayyum; the Arabs having in this, as in other instances, 
 preserved the Egyptian name, (PJiiom or P'iom , the sea,) for which 
 the Greeks substituted one derived from their own language. 
 Before the age of the Ptolemies, its principal city was called Croco- 
 dilopolis ; but that name was exchanged for Arsinoe, in honour of one 
 of their queens. To the north of the village of Hawarah-el-Sogheir, 
 there is a pyramid, near extensive ruins, which probably marks the 
 labyrinth. This pyramid, built of sun-burnt bricks, made of clay and 
 chopt straw, measures 122 yards square at its basis, and is 197 feet 
 in height. In the interior of the pyramid, to which a subterraneous 
 passage was discovered by the French, there is a salt spring and 
 a sarcophagus. To the north-west of this pyramid there is a large 
 mass of ruins buried in earth and rubbish, and forming an oblong 
 parallelogram of about 984 feet in length, and half as much in 
 breadth. This seems, almost beyond a doubt, the site of the labyrinth 
 so much celebrated by the ancients. 
 
 The labyrinth, according to Strabo, 1 was a structure equal to the 
 pyramids. Adjoining to it was the tomb of the kings by whom it 
 was erected. They were near a village on a. level table-land, through 
 which the canal passed, at the distance of thirty or forty stadii (two 
 and a-half or three miles) from its entrance into the valley. This 
 palace was the work of several kings, at that early period when 
 there seem to have been as many as there were Nomes. That is, as we 
 learn from Herodotus, 2 when the Egyptians, having regained their 
 liberty after the death of Sethos, king, and also priest of Vulcan, chose 
 
 1 xvii. l. 
 
 3 ii. 147. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE LABYRINTH. 
 
 51 
 
 twelve kings, to whom they delivered up the twelve portions into 
 which the whole country was then divided. These princes resolving to 
 leave behind them a common monument, erected the labyrinth. 
 
 “ I have seen that building,” says the historian, “ and it exceeds all Description 
 description. The same, indeed, may be said of the pyramids, and Herodotus, 
 each of them taken separately is equal in value to many of the great¬ 
 est works of the Greeks taken together; but the labyrinth, in truth, 
 excels even the pyramids. It consists of twelve courts surrounded 
 by covered porticoes, and having their gates opposite to each other. 
 
 These courts are all contiguous, and six of them are turned to the 
 north, and six to the south; they are all likewise enclosed by the 
 same outer wall. There are two suites of chambers, one under, and 
 the other above ground, over the former; they are three thousand 
 in number, fifteen hundred above, and as many below.” The upper 
 chambers he went through and examined, but the lower ones he 
 knew only by description; for the Egyptians who had the care of 
 them refused to show them, alleging that they were used as sepid- 
 chres for the sacred crocodiles, and the kings Avho erected the whole 
 of the labyrinth. The chambers above ground, which lie himself 
 had seen, “ are,” he adds, “ greater than any other human works. 
 
 For the communication through the corridors, and the winding 
 passages from one court into another, are so varied as to occasion 
 infinite surprise. These passages lead from the chambers into 
 porches, from the porches into other apartments, and from them 
 into other halls. The roof of all of them is made of stone, as are the 
 walls, which are full of sculptures. Each court is surrounded by a 
 colonnade of white stone, the blocks of which are as closely joined 
 as possible. At the angle which terminates the labyrinth, there is a 
 pyramid of 40 orgyae, or 261 feet, on which large figures of beasts are 
 sculptured. The way to it is under ground.” Such is the account 
 of this extraordinary building given by Herodotus, from whom 
 Strabo does not materially differ: but other ancient writers seem to 
 be at variance with them on this subject. Some attempt to reconcile 
 them by supposing that the work was executed at intervals by 
 different princes; having been commenced by Mendes, continued 
 by Titlioes or Petesuccus, and finished by the twelve kings and 
 Lackaris, son of Sesostris. This great labyrinth was identified by 
 Dr. Lepsius in June, 1843, and on reading a cartouche found in it, 
 he discovered it to have been built by the same monarch who reared 
 the labouring pyramid—the former his palace, the latter his tomb. 
 
 The name itself has been variously interpreted. Diodorus calls it origin of 
 the tomb of Macros; and Manetho speaks of it as the work of a king name ' 
 Lamaris. By a slight and common interchange of letters, M is 
 altered into B, and the same king is named Labaris—Labar-inthe 
 will signify the tomb of Labar —inthe being a term cognate with the 
 Greek dauciro; —death. 
 
 To the north of Heracleopolis (Almas) was Aphroditopolis on the 
 
52 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Aphrodito- 
 
 polis. 
 
 Pyramids. 
 
 Memphis, 
 
 Manf. 
 
 Era of its 
 foundation. 
 
 eastern side of the Nile, the capital of a Nome bearing the same 
 name, and lying between those of Heracleopolis and Memphis} A 
 white cow kept there as the living symbol of Hathor or Athyr, the 
 Egyptian Venus, was an object of fervent devotion. Tpeh, or Pet- 
 p'iehh, is the Coptic name of Aphroditopolis, whence the Arabs have 
 formed Atfihh. Opposite to it there is an island, called Eutfeeg 
 (i.e. Utfihh) by Norden, which has a village and a mosque sur¬ 
 rounded by palms, 2 but as the channel between this island and the 
 shore of the river is little frequented,® few travellers have visited the 
 town near it, which, as a capital of a province, is still a place of some 
 consideration. Between Aphroditopolis and Memphis , but nearer to 
 the latter, and at some distance from the western shore of the river, 
 was the town of Acanthus , and a celebrated temple of Osiris in a 
 grove “ of the Thebaic thorn,” 4 “ by which the gum (Arabic) is 
 produced.” 5 To the north-west of Acanthus , near the edge of 
 the flat summit of the Libyan hills, stand the pyramids so justly 
 numbered among the wonders of human art. Several others 
 are still extant higher up the Nile; and thei’e are some, as has 
 lately been discovered, as far south as the ancient Meroe; but 
 as those monuments have a claim to a larger space than can be 
 allotted to them here, nothing more than their position is now 
 mentioned. 
 
 On the western bank of the Nile, at the distance of one schoenus 
 or cord, “ 5 Roman miles from the pyramids, and 15 Roman 
 miles from the fork of the Nile, stood Memphis , the second capital 
 of Egypt. The name is supposed by Sir Gardner Wilkinson 6 to be 
 derived from Me-n-nofri, meaning the “ abode of good men.” Some¬ 
 times it appears in the hieroglyphics as the “ land of the pyramid.” Its 
 foundation was ascribed to Menes, their first king, 7 who succeeded 
 in diverting the course of the river from the Libyan mountains, at 
 the foot of which it ran, by an embankment, and thus gained the 
 soil on which liis city was built. To the same prince also, the for¬ 
 mation of the Lake Mceris was ascribed, and the erection of a mag¬ 
 nificent temple of Vulcan (Phtha) in his new capital. As three 
 hundred and thirty-one of his successors were recorded in the 
 Egyptian annals, if those documents could be trusted, the period 
 elapsed between the beginning of his reign and the time of Herodo¬ 
 tus would amount to 3320 years, allowing only ten years as the 
 average of each reign; and the foundation of Memphis would then 
 be carried back to the thirty-eighth century before the beginning 
 of our era, and the fifth before the commonly received era of 
 the deluge. Synesius also 8 ascribes the foundation of Memphis to 
 Menes. His successor, Atliotis I., made it the royal residence, 
 
 1 Strabo, xvii. 1 
 3 Soiinini, 508. 
 
 5 Strabo, xvii. 
 
 7 Herod, ii. 99. 
 
 2 Norden, ii. 22. 
 
 4 Acacia vera or Nilotica. 
 
 e III. 278. 
 
 8 Epist. p. 198, 258, &c. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 53 
 
 according to Manetho, 1 and its principal decorations are ascribed 
 by the same 'writer to the third, foru'th, sixth, seventh, and 
 eighth dynasties; especially the two Suphises and Mancheres, 
 who caused the pyramids to be built. Diodorus, however, 2 
 ascribes the foundation of Memphis to Uchoreus, eighth suc¬ 
 cessor to Busiris II. Adjoining to the temple of Vulcan, was a 
 splendid one in honour of Osiris, in which the sacred bull Apis was 
 kept. The temple of Apis was close to the spacious and mag¬ 
 nificent Hephastemi , or temple of Vulcan. In the course, or 
 area, before which there was a colossus made of one block, bull¬ 
 fights were exhibited, hi which bulls, kept for that purpose, were 
 the only combatants, and a prize was given to the victor. Venus, 
 who was considered as a Grecian deity, had a temple in Memphis, 
 and, according to some, the Moon also. The Serape'um , or temple 
 of Serapis, stood in a place wherein the sand was so loose and deep, 
 that the sphinxes forming an avenue in front of it were buried, some 
 of them one-half, and others up to the neck, and a person going to 
 the temple ran a great risk, if overtaken by a tempest. In the time 
 of Strabo, (about a.d. 20,) this city was in size and populousness 
 next to Alexandria, having, like it, a population drawn from various 
 nations. There were ports for shipping before both the city and 
 the palace, the latter being then unoccupied and in ruins. It was 
 built on a rising ground, near the lower part of the city, and had its 
 own grove and port adjoining. The site and name of this ancient 
 city were well known in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But 
 the mud of the Nile, the sand of the desert, and the barbarity of 
 invaders have done their work, and at length the doom of an inspired 
 prophet has been fulfilled,—“ Noph shall be waste and desolate 
 without an inhabitant.” 3 
 
 LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 The most remarkable places occurring along or near the two 
 branches of the Nile are these:— 
 
 Below the mouth of the canal of Damanhur, on the eastern side Sais. 
 of the Rosetta arm, is Sa-el-hajar, on the site of the ancient Sais. 
 
 A spacious area surrounded by mounds of rubbish, and having a 
 conical heap in its centre, marks the site of that city, about a mile 
 from the river’s edge. 4 
 
 Alexandria, by the Turks now called Scanderia, a celebrated city Alexandria, 
 of Lower Egypt, and once its capital, was situated on the shores 0 f bltuatlon - 
 the Mediterranean, at the western extremity of Egypt, in N. lat. 
 
 31° 12', E. Ion. 30° 18', between the Lake Mareotis and the harbour 
 formed by the isle of Pharos, about twelve miles west of the Canop- 
 tic branch of the Nile, with which it communicates by a canal. 
 
 J In Georg. Syncell. Chronograph. 
 8 Jer. xlvi. 19. 
 
 2 i. 50. 
 
 4 Clarke's Travels, V. 286, 8vo ed. 
 
54 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IT 
 
 Founder. Alexander the Great founded this city in the year B.c. 332, and 
 had he realised his projects for becoming the undisturbed master of 
 the world, it was hardly possible for him to have selected a more 
 convenient situation for commanding and concentrating its resources. 
 Passing over to Egypt, from the severe check to his ambition which 
 he had received in the siege of Tyre, he evidently designed to divert 
 into a more propitious channel that commercial greatness which he 
 found so difficult to subdue. He is stated to have sketched the plan 
 of the new city with his own hand. The walls were traced out in 
 small quantities of meal, strewed along the ground, a circumstance 
 which his soothsayer, Aristander, interpreted as an omen of the 
 future abundance of the city. Dinocrates, the celebrated restorer of 
 the temple of Diana at Ephesus, was engaged as the architect, and 
 in twelve months from its foundation, while Alexander proceeded 
 into Upper Egypt, amazing progress was made in the buildings. 
 
 The old city The ancient city, according to Pliny, was about fifteen miles in 
 circuit, peopled by 300,000 free citizens, and at least equal that 
 number of slaves. Diodorus Siculus and Quintius Curtins make its 
 circuit somewhat smaller; but all historians agree in the nobleness 
 of its appearance, and the beauty of its general plan. From the 
 gate of the sea ran one magnificent street, 2,000 feet broad, through 
 the whole length of the city, to the gate of Canopus, and command¬ 
 ing at each end views of the shipping in the port, whether sailing 
 north in the Mediterranean, or south in the noble basin of the Lake 
 Mareotis. 
 
 Harbour. But its harbour was its cliief boast. The island of Pharos, stretch¬ 
 ing from east to west across a bay of three leagues wide, was joined 
 to the main land by a mole of about a mile in length, and thus 
 divided the inner harbour into two deep and commodious basins, 
 nothward and southward; the former being called Eunertus, or Eunos- 
 tus, now the Old Port, the latter the Great Port, now the New Port. 
 Upon this island Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander’s generals, and 
 first of the celebrated line of the Ptolemaic kings, erected the 
 
 riiaros. famous lighthouse, called the Pharos —from a word signifying 
 the strait.” This beacon, from its importance to this harbour, 
 and to the general interests of commerce in the early ages of 
 Greece and Rome, gave the name to many other similar lights. 
 The Pharos was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 
 Formed of white marble, and four hundred feet in height, the fires 
 for ever burning on its summit cast their bright gleam far over the 
 sea. Mirrors placed in its upper galleries reflected the ships that 
 floated aromid it. According to Pliny’s account, Ptolemy allowed 
 the architect to place his own name, rather than his sovereign’s, on 
 
 itsArchitect the portico of the edifice. Lucian, however, says, that the architect 
 carved his own name deep in the stone, covered it with stucco, and 
 inscribed Ptolemy’s name on this perishable and showy material. 
 But the chalky layer soon peeled off, and the vanity of the builder 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 55 
 
 in so slyly perpetuating his own fame was unexpectedly discovered. 
 
 The brief inscription ran thus:— Sostratus Cnidius Dexiphanis Films 
 Diis Servatoribus, pro navigantibus —Sostratus the Cnidian, son of 
 Dexiphanes, to the guardian gods, for seafaring men. 
 
 To Ptolemy Soter also is attributed the foundation of the cele- Library, 
 brated museum and library of Alexandria, and of the Ptolemaic 
 palaces, which occupied, according to Strabo, a third or fourth 
 of the city; and the enlargement of its commercial relations 'with 
 Syria and Greece. His successors well supported his designs: 
 tire library grew into one of the most extensive depositories of 
 ancient learning, containing from 700 to 800,000 volumes, and 
 the port of Alexandria became the commercial centre and capital 
 of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The various productions of Arabia 
 and the east, and of all the known parts of the neighbouring con¬ 
 tinent, were first conveyed to the western nations through this 
 channel; its manufactures of glass, linen, and papyrus, were 
 everywhere celebrated; and a long dynasty of feeble monarchs sus¬ 
 tained their’ personal authority and magnificence, to the time of 
 Cleopatra, chiefly on the lucrative commerce and extensive conrrec- Extensive 
 tions of its enterprising inhabitants. To facilitate the conveyance of commerce - 
 merchandise to Alexandria, the canal of Necos, from the Red Sea to 
 the Nile, was completed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, by whom also the 
 temple of Serapis was added to the attractions of the city; and it 
 was not until their own voluptuousness and treachery had prepared 
 them for any chains, that the arms of Julius Caesar, after some 
 severe repulses, finally subjugated it to the Romans. During this 
 siege the principal branch of the public library, situated in that 
 quarter of the city called the Bruchion, and containing at that time 
 400,000 volumes, was accidentally consumed. 
 
 The palace of the Caesars is marked by two obelisks of granite obelisks, 
 from Syene, sixty-five feet in height; one still standing, and known 
 as Cleopatra’s needle, with another lying by its side. The names of 
 Thothmes III. and Ramses are engraven on them. Another obelisk 
 which once adorned the city was removed to Rome and set up in 
 the Forum. The magnificent shaft named Pompey’s Pillar stands 
 between Alexandria and the lake. It is one hundred feet high, 
 and was erected by the Roman prefect in honour of Diocletian. 
 
 Alexandria, as may be expected, was a voluptuous city. Quin- Luxury and 
 tilian alludes to the Alexandrinae deliciae. Such luxury was the learmnp ' 
 result of its excessive wealth. In splendour it was second only to 
 Rome, and it enjoyed many favours from the Roman emperors. 
 
 It was the birthplace of the Eclectic philosophy, and it contained in 
 the second and third centimes a famous Christian school, planted by 
 Pantaenus, and successively governed by Clement and Origen. The 
 general of the Caliph Omar describes this city as having 4000 palaces, 
 
 4000 baths, 400 theatres, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetables, 
 
 and 40,000 tributary Jews. Of its varions fortunes in later times, overthrow. 
 
56 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. [Chap. II. 
 
 it is not our province to write, nor yet to describe Cairo and other 
 towns more modern in age. Suffice it to say, that Alexandria was 
 finally overthrown by the Arabs in the year 640, and that its 
 libraries afforded fuel for six months to the four thousand baths 
 which the city contained. Its commercial prosperity was finally 
 prostrated by the discovery of the passage to India and the East by 
 the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Heliopolis, Another of the most distinguished cities of ancient Egypt was 
 Beth she- Heliopolis, about six miles to the north-east of Memphis. Its Greek 
 
 mesh. name, “ the city of the sun,” shows to what deity it was peculiarly 
 dedicated; and the antiquity of its Egyptian appellation On, which 
 had the same signification, 1 is manifest from its occurrence in the 
 Old Testament. 2 3 It was at a very early period adorned with some 
 of the most splendid temples in Egypt, and its priests were so cele¬ 
 brated for their learning, especially in astronomy, that Heliopolis 
 was visited by strangers for the purpose of profiting by their instruc¬ 
 tions, which they gave only to such as paid assiduous court to them. 
 Plato and Eudoxus spent several years among them; and the 
 observatories in which the latter made his astronomical observations, 
 were either at or near this place. As Apis was adored with peculiar 
 devotion at Memphis , so was the Bull Mnevis, at Heliopolis. Its 
 temples suffered greatly from the brutality and madness of Cam- 
 byses, but were still entire and frequented when the city was visited 
 by Strabo, 8 who has given a description of one of them. The 
 largest was adorned witii an avenue of sphinxes, and with several 
 obelisks, two of which had been removed to Rome before lie wrote, 
 obelisks and The obelisk near the church of St. John Lateran in Rome, was 
 inscriptions, brought from Heliopolis by Constantine and bis son. It is one 
 hundred and five feet high, and covered with beautiful sculptures. 
 To show what species of theology was cultivated in the “ City of the 
 Sim,” we subjoin a translation of some of the inscriptions on the sides 
 of this, the largest obelisk in existence:— 
 
 The first part of the inscription, which is on the south side, is this :—- 
 
 “ This says the Sun to King Rhamestes; we have given to thee all the world 
 to reign over with joy-—thee whom the Sun loves and Apollo : the strong 
 truth-loving son of Heron, born of the gods, the founder of the world whom the 
 Sun has chosen, strong in war, King Rhamestes, to whom the whole earth is 
 subdued with strength and courage : King Rhamestes of eternal life.” 
 
 Second inscription:— 
 
 “ Apollo the strong, he who stands upon truth, the lord of the diadem, who 
 possesses Egypt in glory, who has adorned the city of the sun, and founded the 
 rest of the world, and has greatly honoured the gods established in the city of 
 Helios, whom the Sun loves.” 
 
 Third inscription :—- 
 
 “ Apollo the mighty, the blazing son of the Sun, whom the Sun has chosen, 
 and Ares the valiant has favoured ; whose good things last for ever, whom Am- 
 
 2 Gen. xli. 45, xlvi. 20; Ezek. xxx. 
 
 3 xvii. 1. 
 
 1 Cyrill. Comm, in Oseam. 14,5. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE PHCENIX—HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 57 
 
 mon loves; who fills the temple of the Phoenix with good things, to whom the 
 gods have given length of life ; Apollo the mighty, the son of Heron, to Rha- 
 mestes the king of the world, who has protected Egypt by conquering foreigners; 
 whom the Sun loves, to whom the gods have given long life, the lord of the 
 world, Rhamestes of eternal life.” 
 
 Fourth inscription :— 
 
 ‘ 1 The Sun, the great god, lord of the heaven, I have given to thee life free from 
 sorrow, Apollo the mighty, the lord of the diadem, the incomparable, to whom 
 the lord of Egypt has erected statues in this royal town, and has adorned the 
 city of the Sun, and the Sun himself, the lord of the heavens. He has com¬ 
 pleted his noble work, the son of the Sun, the everliving king.” 
 
 Heliopolis, the seat of such idolatry, has long ago felt the doom Ruin, 
 pronounced against it by the prophet Jeremiah, (xliii. 13,)— 
 
 “ Nebuchadnezzar sha-ll break also the images of Betlishemesh, 
 that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the 
 Egyptians shah he burn -with fire.” 
 
 Among the principal remains of the ancient city are some frag¬ 
 ments of colossal sphinxes and an obelisk, covered with hieroglyphics, 
 of which Norden and Shaw have given plates. It appears, front the 
 hieroglyphic inscription upon it, to have been erected by Osorthon 
 or Osorthos, son of Petubas, the second king of Manetho’s twenty- 
 third dynasty, who reigned three centimes and a-half before Cam- 
 byses, one before the foundation of Rome, and rather more than 
 one after the death of Solomon. Sesoosis, (Sesostris,) as Diodorus 
 informs us, carried a wall across the uninhabited country, from 
 Pelusium to Heliopolis , a space measuring 1500 stadii, (187-^ miles,) 
 exactly the same distance as that mentioned by Plerodotus. 
 
 In fine, Heliopolis has a famed connection with the traditionary pheenix. 
 story, or rather myth, of the phoenix. Pliny and Tacitus, as 
 well as Herodotus, refer to it. It furnished Juvenal with his 
 bitter metaphor of a perfect woman,— rara avis in ten'is, 1 and 
 Seneca, under a similar feeling, speaks of a good man— tanquam 
 phoenix. 2 The old Christian father, Clement of Rome, thus turns 
 attention to the prodigy:—“ Let us consider that wonderful symbol 
 of the resurrection, which is seen in the eastern countries; to wit, in 
 Arabia. There is a certain bird, named a phoenix, of this there is 
 never but one at a time, and that one lives five hundred years; and 
 when the time of its death approaches, it builds for itself a nest of 
 frankincense, myrrh, and other spices, into which, ivhen its time is 
 fulfilled, it enters and dies. But its flesh putrifying, breeds a certain 
 worm, which being nourished with the juice of the dead bird, sprouts 
 feathers; and when it is come to maturity, it takes up the nest in 
 which the bones of its parent repose, and carries it from Arabia into 
 Egypt, to a city called Heliopolis, and flying in open day, in the 
 sight of all men, lays it upon the altar of the sun, and so returns to 
 the region whence it came. The priests then search into the 
 
 1 Sat. vi. 
 
 2 Ep. 40. 
 
Meaning of 
 the myth. 
 
 Sebennytus, 
 
 Semennood. 
 
 Busiris, 
 
 Booseer- 
 
 Benna. 
 
 Buto, 
 
 l'teiieto. 
 
 Tanis, 
 
 Zoan. 
 
 Peluslum, 
 
 Sin. 
 
 58 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. [Chap. II. 
 
 records of the time, and find that it returned precisely at the end of 
 five hundred years.” 1 
 
 The phoenix is represented on the monument as a bird with its 
 wings partly raised, seated upon its open claws, a tuft of feathers on 
 the back of its head, and two human arms in front, lifted as in prayer. 
 Job is supposed to refer to it, when, in xxix. 18, he says, “ I shall die 
 in my nest, and shall multiply my days as the phoenix.” 2 3 The precise 
 period of the return of the bird is variously stated, and without 
 entering into any detailed account of the symbolic fable, it may be 
 briefly stated, that it is now generally supposed to represent the 
 well-known Sothic period—the great year of the Egyptians—the 
 last of the 14G1 years that elapsed ere the solar year of 365 days 
 coincided with the fixed year of 365j days. 
 
 Semennud, on the west side of the Damietta arm, to the north¬ 
 east of Mehalleh, is the ancient Sebenni/tus , whence the arm of the 
 Nile on which it stands was called the Sebennytic. It also gave its 
 name to the Nome, of the southern part of which it was the metro¬ 
 polis ; that of the northern was Pachnamunis? 
 
 At Busfr-Bena, there are some traces of the ancient Busiris , (in 
 Coptic, Busiri or Pusiri, i.e. the Osiris;) and Bohbe'it-el-hhijarah, 
 near the Isle of Xo'is, just below Semennud, has a large enclosure 
 full of sculptured fragments, and is the site of the Iseum , or Town of 
 Isis, the Na'isi of the Copts. 
 
 The place of Buto , the oracle of Latona, may still be traced in the 
 marshes on the south side of the Lake of Burullos. It is the Pteneto 
 of the Copts, and was the capital of a Nome called Ptenethu by 
 Pliny, 4 and Phthenothes by Ptolemy. 5 Its ancient splendour, and 
 wonderful monolithe temple, are well portrayed by Herodotus; but 
 little now remains even of the wreck of all this magnificence. 
 
 Tanis, called San by the Arabs, and Jani by the Copts, was placed 
 near one of the arms of the Nile, called from it the Tanitic branch. 
 It is the Zoan of the Scriptures, 0 and was on the eastern side of the 
 river, not far from its mouth. Its nuns cover a vast extent of 
 ground; and fragments of no less than seven obelisks were observed 
 by the commission sent from Cairo to examine it in 1800. The 
 remains of a colossus, of monolithe temples, and other Egyptian 
 buildings of vast dimensions, were also foimd there. 
 
 Pelusium, the last town in Egypt on the confines of Palestine, lay 
 a little to the east of that mouth of the Nile which bore its name, and 
 twenty staclii (two miles and a-half) from the sea. Its circumference 
 measured the same distance, 7 and it was guarded, not only by solid 
 walls, but also by extensive morasses ( barathra ) on every side; so 
 
 1 Ep. ad Corinth, 25. 
 
 2 The word rendered “ sand ” in our version is translated by the Seventy, De 
 Wette, Heligstedt, and other critics, the phoenix. 
 
 3 Ptolemy, Geogr. iv. 5. 4 v. 9. Geogr iv. 5. 
 
 G Num. xiii. 22; Isa. xix. 11. 7 Strabo, xvii. 1. 
 
Chai\ II.] 
 
 BUBASTIS AND GOSHEN 
 
 59 
 
 that it was justly called by Suidas, “ the Key,” and by Ezekiel, 1 “ the 
 strength of Egypt.” It was situated in the midst of a naked level, 
 between the sand-downs, the sea, and the morasses, which now form 
 a part of the Lake of Menzaleh. Its walls are still remaining, but 
 they are now ten miles, and consequently four times as far, from the 
 sea, as they were in the time of Strabo. Peremun, the Egyptian 
 name of Pelusium , whence the Arabs formed Furama, Farama, or 
 Ferma, signifies “muddy,” as Pelusium does in Greek, Sin in 
 Hebrew, 2 and Tineh in Arabic; so that all the denominations of this 
 celebrated fortress on the eastern frontier of Egypt, referred to the 
 peculiar character of the soil on which it stood. 
 
 The road from the sea to Memphis , along the Pelusiac arm of the Bubastis, 
 Nile, passed by Bubastis , a town, the foundation of which was 11 
 ascribed to Bochos, the first king of the second dynasty. 3 It pos¬ 
 sesses a temple, distinguished by the beauty and richness of its 
 sculptures, surrounded by a lofty grove, and occupying an island in 
 the Nile. 4 It was the capital of a Nome, and its annual festivals 
 brought together more than 700,000 persons; 5 and, according to 
 Diodorus, 6 the hieroglyphical inscription on the monumental columns 
 of Isis, alleged that Bubastis was built in honour of her. In 
 Tell-bastah—the hill of Bastah—the Arabs have preserved a part of 
 the ancient name Pu-basti , Pi-bctsti, or Phi-basti; whence the Greeks 
 formed Bubasti , and the Hebrews 7 Pi-beseth; some remains of it 
 may still be seen half a league distant, on the south-eastern side of 
 the canal of Moezz, where it throws off what was anciently the 
 Tanitic arm of the Nile. 
 
 And now, it may be asked, where among all those places of Goshen, 
 famous note and reputation, was the Goshen assigned to the ancient 
 Israelites? We read, Gen. xlvii. 11, “And Joseph placed his father 
 and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, 
 in the best of the land, in the land of Ilameses, as Pharaoh had 
 commanded.” The probability is that Goshen lay toward the north¬ 
 eastern extremity of Egypt, and upon the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, 
 between Canaan and the capital of the Pharaohs. Neither was it 
 far from the royal metropolis. Joseph’s message to his father was, 
 
 “ Thou shaft dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near 
 me." Gen. xlv. 10. Major Rennell places it in the Nome of Heliopo¬ 
 lis, and certainly its other name, Raineses, which signifies “ son of the 
 Sun,” has some resemblance to this Greek name of a district, which 
 denotes “ city of the Sun.” This supposition is also credible on the 
 hypothesis, that the dwelling of the Egyptian long was at Memphis; 
 for it is plain, that on the night of the slaughter of the first-born, 
 
 Moses and Aaron travelled from the court of Pharaoh to their breth¬ 
 ren in a space of not more than thirty hours. That Goshen was 
 
 1 xxx. 15. 
 
 3 Jnl. Afrie. in Syncelli Chron. 
 
 5 Id. ii. 50. c Id. i. 27. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxx. 15,1C. 
 4 Herod, ii. 137. 
 
 7 Ezek. xxx. 17. 
 
GO 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Its position. 
 
 Pithom. 
 
 Raamses, 
 
 Ramuses. 
 
 not at the same time very far from the Red Sea is apparent from the 
 fact, that the Israelites—a confused and -undisciplined mass of men, 
 women, and children, with a mixed multitude, and cattle—performed 
 the journey from their dwellings to the Arabian Gulf in about three 
 days. The Septuagint renders Goshen by Tsoi/* ietg, and also 
 by Ileroopolis, a place which Strabo says was near the extremity of the 
 Arabian Gulf. This district is perhaps too remote from the Phara¬ 
 onic capital, if it was Memphis; and to solve the difficulty, I)r. 
 Wilson 1 proposes to regard Zoan as the Egyptian metropolis at the 
 period of the Exodus. No decisive support to this theory can be 
 derived from Ps. Ixxviii. 12, where the Psalmist speaks of marvellous 
 things done “ in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan,” for the 
 latter clause may be only a poetical variation of phrase, as is the 
 appellation “ tabernacles of Ham,” in the same sacred hymn; or the 
 name may be used with a considerable latitude of meaning. Goshen 
 may have comprehended a portion of Zoan, or at least it lay in its 
 vicinity. It was thus a rich tract of border-land, stretching between 
 the eastern branch of the Nile and the countries of Palestine and 
 Arabia. Dr. Robinson 2 fixes upon the province now called esh- 
 Shurldyeh—a province reaching from the desert to the Tanaitic arm 
 of the Nile—or that which watered the field of Zoan. The language 
 of Scripture concerning the Israelites in Egypt, that they practised 
 irrigation; that they lived in a land of abundant fruit; that they 
 eat fish freely, and had plenty of onions, leeks, and garlic, alludes 
 plainly to such a locality on the fertile Delta. They mixed freely 
 with the native inhabitants, as the distinguishing symbol of the 
 pascal blood implied, and they took jewels of gold and silver from 
 their neighbours when they emigrated from the house of bondage. 
 Goshen was indeed the “ best of the land.” Ritter speaks in lan¬ 
 guage ecpially emphatic of the luxuriant verdure of this part of 
 Egypt, “ it resembles a European garden.” 3 
 
 We are told again, (Exod. i. 11,) that the Hebrews, during the 
 period of then- Egyptian servitude, “ built for Pharaoh treasure 
 cities, Pithom and Raamses.” The Septuagint renders “ treasure 
 cities” by walled cities— o%vpd;. If the edifices were intended 
 to hold treasure, there is little doubt that they would be secured 
 with strong walls and fortifications. Pithom has been identified with 
 the Patumos of Plerodotus, which is styled by him an Arabian city. 4 
 It lay at the beginning of the canal, which joined the Nile with 
 the Red Sea, and was therefore close upon the Pelusiac arm of the 
 Egyptian river. 
 
 Raamses is plainly the same with Rameses-—the name of 
 Goshen in Gen. xlvii. 11, Exod. xii. 37. The city and the entire 
 district had the same appellation, the difference of spelling in our 
 English version being only a slight variance in the Masoretic punc- 
 
 1 Lands of the Bible, I. 122. 2 Robinson’s Researches, vol. I. p. G6. 
 
 3 Ritter, Africa, p. 827. 4 ii. 358. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 RAAMSES. 
 
 61 
 
 tuation. This usage may be explained by supposing that the 
 district was called the “ land of Kameses,” because Raamses was its 
 principal city. It was a central point in the country—the scene of 
 rendezvous from which the Hebrews took their departure. The 
 Seventy identify it in their version with Heroopolis—a name given 
 to it during the Grecian domination. It lay in the same valley with 
 Pithom. Eameses, the name of some of the most famed Egyptian 
 monarchs, is well translated by “ city of Heroes.” These fortifications 
 were built in this locality to obstruct the entrance of an enemy 
 from Asia, and perhaps to awe the Israelites into subjection. The 
 soldiers of the Pharaohs were principally quartered in Lower Egypt, 
 close upon Goshen and in it, and this explains why an army could 
 be collected so speedily to chase the Hebrew fugitives. Lying on 
 the route of the caravans, the two cities, Pithom and Raamses, being 
 perhaps a species of entrepots, might be called “ treasure cities.” 
 
 Thus have we briefly sketched the most famous localities of this 
 ancient country. Many, if not all, of the places famed hi more 
 recent times have been omitted in our account. All the art and 
 wisdom of Egypt could not save it from desolation—it is now studded 
 with majestic ruins— 
 
 Weeds and wall-flower grow 
 Matted and massed together ; hillocks heaped 
 On what were chambers, arch-crushed columns strewn 
 In fragments, closed-up vaults and frescoes steeped 
 In subterraneous damps; where the owl peeped, 
 Deeming it midnight,—temples, baths, and halls, 
 ****** 
 ****** 
 
 ’Tis thus the mighty falls. 
 
 [ Thebes.] 
 
[Tirhakali.— flosellini.] 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Obscurity of The early history of Egypt is wrapt in deep obscurity. The 
 early history, rlark shadows of fable and legend lie upon it. The annals which 
 the priests showed and recited to Herodotus are sufficiently startling 
 and contradictory, full of wonder and national vanity. The first 
 and most remote period of Gods and demigods was supposed to have 
 long preceded that of common humanity. Whether the priesthood, 
 who were the conservators of the national literature, possessed any 
 authentic traditions of the first settlement of the country, we cannot 
 tell, or perhaps if they did retain, among their cherished xeififaiu, 
 any vestiges of their earlier annals, they threw the veil of Isis over 
 them, and concealed them from vulgar gaze, 
 source of That civilization descended the Nile, from the regions of Nubia 
 civilization. an( ^ t ] ie southward, has been an opinion often entertained and warmly 
 advocated. Though Rosellini, Heeren, Champollion, and others, 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 COMPLEXION OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 63 
 
 hold such a theory, yet we deem it utterly devoid of foundation. 
 
 Egypt was originally peopled from Asia; and, indeed, according to 
 old geographers, a large portion of it was supposed to belong to the 
 Asiatic continent. It is true that the ancient Meroe was highly 
 cultivated at a very remote period, but it cannot be proved that its 
 pyramids are older than those of Memphis. Nay, it is affirmed by superior 
 those who have thoroughly examined the subject, that the oldest Memphis.° f 
 monuments are to be found on the north of Egypt, and that those in 
 Ethiopia are inferior in conception and execution. It is also natural 
 to suppose that the most fertile portions of the country would be 
 first occupied, and those are found in the alluvial soil of the Delta. 1 
 The Delta, though it owes its formation principally to the river, is Age of 
 not of yesterday. Geological investigation will give it an era prior Delt£L 
 to man’s creation. It was quite habitable immediately after the flood, 
 for it was the product of ante-Adamic centimes. So we find that Tanis 
 or Zoan was built very early, seven years after Hebron in Canaan. 
 
 Hebron was a favourite resort of the patriarch Abraham, and was a 
 Canaanitish town of note prior to his day; and Tanis was in 
 existence in the age of Ramses the Great. Now during a lapse of 
 more than 3000 years from that period, the deposit of the Nile has 
 made almost no change in the vicinity of Zoan. Nor could it; but 
 the globe was long in preparation for its human inhabitants. It is Delta first 
 therefore vain to suppose that Ethiopia must have been peopled at inhablted 
 an earlier period than Lower Egypt, because the Delta was then 
 only in the process of formation, and therefore marshy and uninha¬ 
 bitable. And if the sons of Ham left in a body the region of 
 Shinar, which all the children of Noah filled for a season after the flood, 
 it would seem that Canaan, the eldest, took possession of a country 
 lying on the confines of Asia, and the deserts of Sinai were seized 
 by Cush; while Mizraim, the third son, marched yet farther, and 
 planted his followers in the valley of the Nile, and Phut, the 
 yoimgest, was driven still to a greater distance, and settled among 
 the Libyan wastes. Neither is there any African configuration in 
 the faces of the men painted or sculptured on the Meroitic tablets; 
 they belong to the same race that built the wonders of Middle and 
 Lower Egypt, and not to the Negro or Berber. The Negro face, as 
 painted on the monuments, i's always distinctly characteristic, and 
 has no resemblance to the Egyptian coimtenance. 
 
 This question cannot be settled by any appeal to the nature of Egyptian 
 the Egyptian complexion, as described by ancient authors. Egypt com i 11frsion - 
 and Ethiopia were sometimes confounded, as the inhabitants of both 
 must have had a duskier colom of face than belongs to the nations 
 of Europe. Virgil alludes to 
 
 -nigri Memnonis arma.— JEn. i. 4S9. 
 
 The arms of the black Memnon. 
 
 1 Osbum, 28. 
 
64 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chat. III. 
 
 Speaking of Ethiopia, 1 lie refers its situation to the torrid zone, 
 when he sings, 
 
 ADthiopum verseraus oves sub sidere Cancri. 
 
 -We keep 
 
 Oil Meroe’s burning plains the Lybian sheep.— Dryden. 
 
 It is obvious that the Greek word AA/o-J/ meant “ a person with a 
 sun-burnt faceand that the skin of the Ethiopians, or, perhaps, 
 Egyptians, was dark even to a proverb. 
 
 So well-known was the complexion of the Ethiopians, or Egyp¬ 
 tians, to be of a dark colour’, that all nations possessing this tincture 
 of skin were called by the ancients Ethiopians. Thus Juvenal:— 
 
 Loripedem rectus derideat, /Ethiopem albus.— Sat. ii. v. 23. 
 
 The straight-limbed man laughs at the crouked one, the fair-complexioned 
 person at the Ethiopian. 
 
 Duskyeoiour Herodotus expressly calls them M^xyx^oss “ having 
 
 of natives, black s kfns an d ciu’ly hair.” In another passage he informs 
 us, that he infers the Egyptian origin of the priestess who 
 founded the oracle at Dodona, from the circumstance of her being 
 represented as a black dove—MlAan/oti/ §e Asyoi/rsy hvou tviu 7i'0\uaAu. 
 anyiu.'ivaoi oTt At'/y.TTTtYi ij yuu'/i 7 \]/~—“saying that the dove was 
 black, they signify by this that the woman was an Egyptian.” 
 iEschylus, also, in his “ Supplices,” 3 recording the expedition of 
 Danaus from Egypt into Greece, describes the Egyptian mariners, 
 and applies to them the expression fii’Axyxiyoi; yvloiaiu, “having black 
 limbs in contrast with white robes.” But all that can be gathered 
 from such allusions is, that the Egyptian sun had bronzed the coun¬ 
 tenances of the dwellers on the Nile. The colour red is employed 
 upon the monuments when native Egyptians are pourtrayed. 
 
 Asiatic The Asiatic origin of the first dwellers hi the Nilotic valley, is clearly 
 
 origin of demonstrated by concurrent and independent testimony. Cuvier 
 
 ear iy j a j 
 
 Egyptians, and Blumenbacli affirm that all the skulls of mummies which they 
 had an opportunity of examining presented the Caucasian type. 
 A recent American physiologist (Dr. Morton) has also argued for 
 the same conclusions. The following is the result of his examina¬ 
 tion of one hundred ancient Egyptian crania: 4 — 
 
 Proved by The Table speaks for itself. “It shows that more than eight- 
 physioiogy. t en th s 0 f the crania pertain to the unmixed Caucasian race; that 
 the Pelasgic form is as one to one and two-thirds, and the Semitic 
 form one to eight, compared to the Egyptian: that one-twentieth of 
 the whole is composed of heads in which there is a trace of Negro 
 and other exotic lineage; that the Negroid conformation exists in 
 
 1 Eel. x. 68. 
 3 719. 
 
 2 ii. 57. 
 
 4 Crania iEgyptiaca, Philadelphia, 1844. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 EGYPTIAN CRANIA. 
 
 65 
 
 eight instances, thus constituting about one-twentieth part of the 
 whole; and finally, that the series contains only a single unmixed 
 Negro.” 
 
 “ Ethnographic Table of One Hundred ancient Egyptian Crania. Egyptian 
 
 Crania. 
 
 Sepulchral 
 
 Localities. 
 
 No. 
 
 j Egyptian. 
 
 1’elasgie. 
 
 Semitic. 
 
 Mixed. 
 
 1 
 
 Negroid. 
 
 Negro. 
 
 Idiot. 
 
 Memphis,. 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 Maabdeh. 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Abydos. 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thebes,. 
 
 55 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 2 
 
 Ombos,. 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Philse,. 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 Debod,. 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 49 
 
 29 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 
 From these and a variety of other details Dr. Morton has drawn Results of 
 the following among other conclusions :— 
 
 “ The valley of the Nile, both in Egypt and Nubia, was originally 
 peopled by a branch of the Caucasian race. 
 
 “ These primeval people, since called the Egyptians, were the 
 Mizraimites of Scripture, the posterity of Ham, and directly affiliated 
 with the Libyan family of nations. 
 
 “ The Austral-Egyptian or Meroite commiuiities were an Indo- 
 Arabian stock engrafted on the primitive Libyan inhabitants. 
 
 “ Besides these exotic sources of population, the Egyptian race 
 was at different periods modified by the influx of the Caucasian 
 nations of Asia and Europe,—Pelasgi, or Hellenes, Scythians and 
 Phoenicians. 
 
 “ The Copts, in part at least, are a mixture of the Caucasian and 
 the Negro, in extremely variable proportions. 
 
 “ Negroes were numerous in Egypt, but then social position in 
 ancient times was the same as it now is, that of servants and 
 slaves. 
 
 “ The present Fellahs are the lineal and least mixed descendants 
 of the ancient Egyptians; and the latter are collaterally represented 
 by the Tuariks, Kabyles, Siwahs, and other remains of the Libyan 
 family of nations. 
 
 “ The modern Nubians, with a few exceptions, are not the 
 descendants of the monumental Ethiopians, but a variously mixed 
 race of Arabs and Negroes.” 
 
 Again, Lepsius, Benfey, Meyer, Bunsen, Birch, and other philo- Ancient 
 logists, have proved that the ancient Egyptian tongue is fall of affi- Egypt*. 6 ° f 
 nities with the Shemitic or Syro-Arabic languages, and that it 
 
 [e. o. h.] f 
 
66 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 occupies a kind of middle place between them and the Indo-Ger- 
 manic dialects. Quaatremere showed the relation of the present 
 Coptic to the early tongue, and we find it in sisterly contact with 
 these classes of languages which have spread so widely over the 
 world. The first book of Bunsen exhibits tins relationship in a 
 variety of illustrations, and he had been preceded by Lepsius, in his 
 famous “ Essay on the Egyptian Numerals.” It is only of late 
 years that any relationship was allowed between Hebrew and San¬ 
 scrit; but Fiirst and Delitzseh have abundantly proved it, and it is 
 now universally acknowledged. The old language of Egypt is found 
 
 Not isolated, to be a connecting link between all these great varieties of human 
 speech; and even the Celtic, in points where it differs from the 
 Sanscrit, nearly corresponds with the ancient Coptic—the language 
 of the pyramids and monuments. If the old Egyptian tongue have 
 so many analogies with other and remote tongues; if they often 
 resemble it in forms and flexions where they do not bear much 
 likeness to one another, the plain inference is, that it is older than 
 any of them, and has retained much of its original shape and 
 character, while they were constantly subject to a process of 
 development. “ The Egyptian language,” Bunsen affirms, “is as 
 certainly the primitive formation of the Euphrates and Tigris terri¬ 
 tory, fixed in Africa, and preserved by the Egyptians, as the 
 Icelandic is the old Norse fixed in that island.” 1 There are also 
 many points of analogy between the temple ceremonies and mytho¬ 
 logy of Egypt and those of Asia. Juba, as quoted by Pliny, 2 was 
 of opinion “ that the dwellers in Egypt, from Syene to Meroe, were 
 not Ethiopians but Arabs.” 
 
 LowerEgypt It seems to us, therefore, the only rational opinion, to suppose 
 
 colonized, that Mizraim, the son of Ham, and the first colonists, passed out of 
 Asia into Lower Egypt, and settling at Heliopolis or Memphis, laid 
 the foundation of that marvellous kingdom, whose wisdom, arts, and 
 labours have given to it a singular and imperishable fame. The 
 pyramids in the vicinity of Memphis are the most ancient of the 
 monuments, while those of its rival Thebes scarcely go beyond the 
 eighteenth dynasty. Besides, the Isthmus of Suez offers the most 
 natural and probable passage from Asia into Africa, (it has been the 
 pathway between the continents for every important expedition,) and 
 it plainly would conduct the emigrants into Lower Egypt. 3 The most 
 distinguished Egyptologers now adopt this or a similar view, such 
 as Bunsen in his recent and popular production. 4 Hieroglyphical 
 records show that Egypt was named the “land of Ham” from the 
 earliest period, and Egypt and Cairo are universally named Misr or 
 Musr, at the present day. Phoenician story speaks also of Miser, 
 who is evidently Mizraim, being the ancestor of Tautus, Thoth or 
 
 1 Report on Ethnology, British Association, 1847. 3 Lib. vi. 34. 
 
 3 See Wilkinson, i. p. 2. 
 
 4 Egyptens Stellung in der Welt-gesckichte. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 67 
 
 Hermes-Trismegistus. Nay more, one of the gods of the first-class 
 was named Kham, whose name and mystic attributes seem to identify 
 him with Ham, the father of the Egyptians. 1 
 
 The long periods of chronology to which the ancient history of chronology. 
 Egypt lays positive claim are sufficiently startling. Manetho demands 
 many thousands of years as the prior period of his country’s dura¬ 
 tion, while Herodotus, in referring to the alluvial deposit which the 
 Nile had spread over the country, speaks of its accumulation as 
 capable of being effected during twenty thousand years—a period 
 which he plainly reckons as nearly equal to the ages which had 
 preceded his own birth. Definite epochs cannot be ascertained -with 
 satisfactory precision. That Egypt arrived at comparative civiliza¬ 
 tion at a very early period, cannot be questioned, and that it was far 
 advanced in social order as early, as Abraham’s days, is now uni¬ 
 versally admitted. That patriarch found in it a king—a Pharaoh, 
 with a court, nobility, harem, and great wealth, joined to other 
 indications of a fixed state of society. But this fact is scarcely con¬ 
 sistent with the chronology commonly received. The years sup¬ 
 posed, in ordinary computation, to elapse between the flood and the 
 Abrahamic era are certainly too few for such national progress and 
 improvement. Even the Septuagint chronology, which is the longest, 
 seems to have scarcely sufficient space. We are, therefore, inclined 
 to elongate the so-called chronology of Scripture, and cannot bind 
 ourselves to the calculations and epochs of Archbishop Usher. The 
 inspired record does not settle early dates, and it withholds full data, 
 prior to the age of Saul and the building of the temple. At least 
 three thousand years elapsed between Menes and Alexander. But 
 Usher’s chronology places the flood B.c. 2348, while Josephus says 
 that Solomon ascended the throne b.c. 1015, and Menes, king of 
 Egypt, reigned 1300 years before him—a calculation which leaves 
 only a very few years for the colonization and progress of the race 
 of Ham. 
 
 Early chronology is thus wrapt in deep and perplexing uncertainty, Conflicting 
 and as it is not of itself a matter of divine revelation, we are at views ' 
 liberty to form our own opinion after careful and deliberate scrutiny 
 and comparison. If the Bible had positively settled these primitive 
 dates, our reception of them would have been a matter of faith. 
 
 But we are plainly left to oiir own earnest and candid inquiries on 
 all such points of remote chronology. Now to show that we are 
 not Avithout authority in speaking of its obscure and unsettled state, 
 we may refer to the conflicting opinions held by eminent men, as 
 to the period of the creation and the deluge. More than two 
 hundred different opinions have been published. The world was 
 created before Christ, according to— 
 
 1 May not Ham, Cham, Chem, Chemmis, have some connection with the term 
 CHEMistry, whose hidden wisdom was possessed by ancient Egypt ? 
 
68 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. III. 
 
 The Hebrew modern Text,.4004 years. 
 
 The Samaritan,.4305 n 
 
 The Septuagint,.5586 » 
 
 Rabbi Lepmann,.3616 n 
 
 Indian Chronology,.6158 » 
 
 Clement of Alexandria,.5624 » 
 
 Hales,.5411 » 
 
 various Several discrepancies might also be noted as to the year of the 
 systems. flood, and the period elapsing between the creation and the deluge. 
 
 Usher, coinciding with the Masoret Jews, places the flood 1656 
 years after the creation, but Hales makes it 2256—an immense 
 disparity. The four great scriptural authorities stand thus:— 
 
 From the creation to the deluge— 
 
 Hebrew Text,.1656 years. 
 
 Samaritan Penta.,.1307 t> 
 
 Septuagint,.2262 n 
 
 Josephus,.2256 « 
 
 Now we cannot receive any of these systems as possessing divine 
 authority, though they claim to be founded on the inspired records 
 of the Hebrew scriptures. Numbers were expressed in Hebrew by 
 alphabetic letters, and these, from their frequent similarity to one 
 another, might be, and were often, carelessly interchanged. But 
 Formed on besides, these four different modes of computation proceed upon dif- 
 princfpies. ferent and opposing systems. Then methods of calculation are 
 peculiar to themselves, and this seem to have led to the various 
 results. The 2262 years between the creation and the flood, 
 according to the Septuagint, is the result in lunar years of 2200 
 solar years. The three texts, Hebrew, Samaritan, and Greek, when 
 w r e take in also the epoch of Abraham’s call, are plainly formed 
 upon a chronological system, to which the minor dates of birth, 
 posterity, and death, recorded in the fifth chapter of Genesis, have 
 been conformed. 1 As regards the Samaritan Pentateuch, the 
 
 1 “ The assumptions of the Hebrew text, that the first two periods exactly 
 comprise 2000 solar years, (2056 lunar years,) 1600 of which go to the first 
 period, and 400 to the second; the assumption of the LXX., that the first 
 period should be fixed at 2201) solar years, (2262 lunar years,) 1600 of which 
 elapse before the birth of Noah, and 600 from then to the flood, and that the 
 second period is made up of 1200 years; the assumptions of the Samaritan Penta¬ 
 teuch, that the first period to the birth of Noah’s sons embraces 1200 years, and 
 the second period 1200 years likewise—these assumptions, what are we to call 
 them? Are they not actually the results of chronological systems, which supply 
 the deficiencies of historical tradition by general computations and assumptions? 
 And these assumptions did not soon settle down to fixed and inviolable dates in 
 the tradition of the Israelitic nation. Later generations must have known on what 
 an unstable foundation they rested; for, had they not possessed that knowledge, 
 the discrepant statements in the three recensions would have been utterly inex¬ 
 plicable.”— Bertheau, translated in Kitto’s Journal, II. 127. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 TRUTH ON THE MONUMENTS. 
 
 69 
 
 genealogies are so constructed that no one living before the flood 
 begets his first son after he is 150 years of age. In the Hebrew 
 text a first son is born to Jared when he is 162 years old, but the 
 Samaritan deducts 100 years from his age, and gives him his 
 eldest born when he is sixty-two. Again, after the flood, no one is 
 said to beget a son till he is beyond fifty years of age, so that if in 
 the Hebrew text one is affirmed to have had a child born to him 
 ere he was half-a-century old, a hundred gratuitous years are 
 usually added to his chronology. Such manifest corrections are not 
 in accordance with that honest and simple narration of dates which 
 must have distinguished the original Iiebretv chronicles. The Sep- 
 tuagint or Alexandrian version is corrupted by a similar system, and 
 bears upon it the marks of its Egyptian origin; for to the period 
 elapsing between Adam and Abraham, the translators have added 
 1460 years, or the famous Egyptian Sothic period. Perhaps this 
 was an early attempt to synchronise the Hebrew epochs with the 
 long and traditionary periods of Egyptian antiquity. On the whole, 
 then, it is plain, that where Jewish Masorets, Samaritan Separatists, 
 and Greek versionists, have so plainly modelled their chronology 
 according to a foregone conclusion, and where accounts of time 
 have been so plainly “ cooked,” their dates, epochs, and intervals Not to be 
 cannot be implicitly trusted. The truth seems to be somewhere trusted 
 among them—between the longest and shortest chronology—though 
 we incline to the longer, and that which might be expressed simply 
 in general round numbers. We are thus furnished with “ scope 
 and verge enough” for calculating the Egyptian chronology, and are 
 not bound and hampered by any deference to the systems which 
 have falsely professed to base themselves on the divine oracles, 
 which they have “ handled deceitfully.” We are in this way 
 induced to listen with candour to the testimony of the Egyptian Truth on the 
 monuments, for they tell their own story without prevarication Monuments - 
 or suspicion. Egypt contains the best history of its kings and insti¬ 
 tutions, and the foreigners who have written about it are not to be 
 implicitly trusted. 
 
 Herodotus was in Egypt about 431 years before Christ, when the Herodotus, 
 country was under Persian rule. His curiosity led him to avail 
 himself of all the sources of information within his reach. But the 
 glory of Egypt was waning before he saw it, and its sacerdotal caste 
 had lost its pristine celebrity. Pie must have gathered his know¬ 
 ledge by means of interpreters, 1 and so may have been occasionally 7 
 imposed on. The priests read to him from their sacred books 
 portions of their ancient annals. The section of his history which 
 refers to Egypt, gives us the following statement, as virtually 
 extracted from the sacerdotal records, in reference to the kings and 
 epochs of ancient Egypt. There was, according to Herodotus, 
 
 1 That he was not acquainted with the language of the country, is evident 
 from the mistake he falls into about the word Piromis, II. 143. 
 
His List of 
 Kings. 
 
 70 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. III. 
 
 Menes, the first king, to whom is ascribed the building of 
 Memphis, the embankment of the Nile, and the erection of 
 the temple of Vidcan. 
 
 330 kings, successors of Menes. Of these, 
 
 18 were Ethiopians; 
 
 One was a queen, a foreigner—all the rest were Egyptians. 
 
 The last (the 331st lung therefore) was 
 Moeris, who built the northern propylsea of the temple of 
 Vulcan at Memphis, excavated the lake that bears his 
 name, and built pyramids. There are no great works 
 recorded of the others. “ Moeris,” says he, “ had not 
 been dead 900 years at the epoch of my visit to 
 Egypt.” 
 
 After these lungs came 
 
 Sesostris, the great conqueror and lawgiver, who by his troops 
 dug many canals. He was succeeded by 
 
 Pheron, his son, whom the god Nile struck with blindness 
 during ten years, but he recovered and built two obelisks. 
 
 Proteus, a Memphite, succeeded him—the Proteus of the 
 Greeks, and the severe judge of Paris: he erected a 
 splendid building on the south side of the temple of 
 V tdcan. 
 
 We have next Rhampsinitus, the miser, who built the western 
 gate of the temple of Vidcan: and played at dice with Ceres 
 in the lower world. 
 
 “ With him ended the GOOD old time.” 
 
 Builders of pyramids are then introduced by Herodotus, such as 
 
 Cheops, who reigned fifty years, built the largest pyramid, and 
 was a godless and merciless tyrant. 
 
 Chephren, who reigned fifty-six years, and built the second 
 pyramid. 
 
 Mykerinus, the son of Cheops, an upright judge and merciful 
 ruler, to whom is ascribed the third pyramid. 
 
 Asychis succeeded, a wise lawgiver, who built the noble pro- 
 pyla^a of the temple of Vulcan, and a brick pyramid. 
 
 Statements then follow respecting the Dodecarchy and Psamme- 
 ticlius. Then comes 
 
 Anysis, the blind man, from the city of Anysis. He was 
 dethroned by 
 
 Sabakon, and fled into the marshes, where he lay concealed 
 during the fifty years’ ride of the Ethiopians. After him 
 reigned 
 
 Sethos, priest of Vidcan: and then happened the expedition 
 against Sennacherib. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 71 
 
 Herodotus also relates that from the first king to the priest of HisEgyptian 
 Vulcan were 341 generations, or about 11,140 years, and dining MjthoIogy - 
 that period “ no god had assumed the form of a man.” But Hercules, 
 according to the account he received from the priests, reigned 17,000 
 years before the reign of Amasis. The historian says, 1 “ Among 
 the Greeks the most recent of the gods are thought to be Hercules, 
 
 Bacchus, and Pan; but by the Egyptians Pan is esteemed the most 
 ancient, and one of the eight gods called original; Hercules is 
 among the second, among those called the twelve; and Bacchus is 
 of the third, who were sprung from the twelve gods. I have 
 already declared how many years the Egyptians say there were from 
 Hercules to the reign of Amasis; but from Pan a still greater 
 number of years are said to have intervened, and from Bacchus 
 fewest of all; and from him there are computed to have been 
 fifteen thousand years to the reign of Amasis. The Egyptians say 
 they know these things with accuracy, because they always com¬ 
 pute and register the years. Now from Bacchus, who is said to 
 have been born of Semele the daughter of Cadmus, to my time is 
 about sixteen hundred years, and from Hercules the son of Alcmena, 
 about nine hundred years; but from Pan, born of Penelope, (for 
 Pan is said by the Greeks to have sprung from her and Mercury,) 
 is a less number of years than from the siege of Troy, about eight 
 hundred, to my time. Of these two accounts, each person may 
 adopt that which he thinks most credible.” Now Herodotus natu¬ 
 rally associated the Egyptian divinities with his own Grecian gods, His errors, 
 though there was little resemblance in the form of the idol, or in its 
 supposed attributes. The deities of Hellas were in later tunes the 
 embodiment of personal character—beauty, stateliness, -wisdom or 
 majesty—while those of Egypt were grotesque and inhuman, often 
 a combination of various animal forms, each monstrosity perhaps 
 intended to shadow out some obscure and ancient truth. Besides, 
 
 Bunsen seems to establish clearly that Herodotus has not only 
 blmidered among the gods, but that he was puzzled with two dif¬ 
 ferent forms of computation, and that he has joined them together 
 with awkward and tasteless confusion. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus travelled in Egypt immediately before the fall Diodorus, 
 of the dynasty of Lagus, about 58 years b.c., but his account of its 
 history, taken from various and contradictory sources, are greatly 
 more confused than those of Herodotus. 3 Hecataeus of Miletus 
 and Hecataeus of Abdera, made also pilgrimages to Egypt, the one in 
 the reign of Darius and the other after the inroads of Alexander. 
 
 Syncellus of Byzantium has preserved some fragments of Eratosthenes 
 in reference to the kings of Egypt. Eratosthenes himself was con¬ 
 servator of the famed Alexandrian library, 200 years B.C., and was 
 
 1 II. 145. 
 
 3 Compare the treatises of Heyne, “ De fontibus et anctoribus Diodori,” &c., 
 appended to the last volume of Dindorf’s edition of the Greek historian. 
 
72 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Manetho. 
 
 His 
 
 Chronolog; 
 
 Osiris. Horus. Isis. Osiris with Hawk’s Head. Anubis. Cow Tsis with 
 
 Infant Horus. 
 
 a devoted and accomplished scholar and critic, the guide in geography 
 to Strabo and Ptolemy, and to Apohodorus in chronology. Eratos¬ 
 thenes lias given us a list of thirty-eight kings of the Theban 
 dynasty, comprising a period of 1076 years. But our most important 
 ancient authority is Manetho, the priest of Sebennytus, who lived at 
 the court of Ptolemy Soter. According to Eusebius he reduced all 
 Egyptian history to a Greek form. Several of the Greeks, as 
 Plutarch, Aelian, and Porphyry, refer to him. Josephus lias also 
 given us several excerpts from his tomes. Manetho’s system 
 resembles that of Herodotus, for he computed the entire period as 
 24,900 years. That period comprises, however, the reign of gods, 
 heroes, and manes, or such worthies as were held in peculiar esteem 
 as the ancestors of various houses. 
 
 Bunsen gives Manetho’s chronology as follows:— 
 
 1. Dominion of Gods in two divisions, the first 
 of which ended with Horus, the second 
 
 with Bitys,.13,900 years. 
 
 2. Dominion of Heroes in two divisions,. 1,255 
 
 3. Heroes and Kings of the primeval Race— 
 
 transition from divine to human history, 5,813 
 
 4. Purely human history—provincial Prince: 
 
 a. Kings without particular notices 
 
 (of Thebes?).1817^ 
 
 b. Thirty Memphites (Lower Egypt,) 179 Op 3,957 
 
 c. Ten Thinites,. 350^ 
 
 Sum total,.24,925 years. 
 
 Manetho makes especial mention of thirty-one dynasties, the most 
 of them having several kings, as may be seen in the following table, 
 
EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES. 
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 73 
 
 compiled out of his writings, sanctioned by Rosellini, Champollion 
 Figeac, and revised by Gliddon:— 
 
 Order of 
 Dynasties. 
 
 1st, 
 
 2d, 
 
 3d, 
 
 4th, 
 
 5th, 
 
 6th, 
 
 7th, 
 
 8th, 
 
 9th, 
 
 10 th, 
 11th, 
 
 12 th, 
 13th, 
 14th, 
 
 15 th, 
 
 16 th, 
 
 17th, | 
 
 18th, 
 
 19th, 
 
 20th, 
 
 21st, 
 
 22d, 
 
 23d, 
 
 24th, 
 
 25 th, 
 
 26th, 
 
 27th, 
 
 2Sth, 
 
 29th, 
 
 30th, 
 
 31st, 
 
 31 
 
 Their Origin. 
 
 Number 
 
 Kings. 
 
 Thinite,. 
 
 8 
 
 Thinite. 
 
 9 
 
 Memphite,. 
 
 9 
 
 Memphite,. 
 
 8 
 
 Elephantinite,. 
 
 9 
 
 Memphite,. 
 
 6 
 
 Memphite. 
 
 5 
 
 Memphite,. 
 
 5 
 
 Heracleopolite. 
 
 4 
 
 Heracleopolite. 
 
 19 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 17 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 7 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 60 
 
 Xoite,. 
 
 76 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 5 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 6) 
 
 Hykshos, . 
 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 17 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 6 
 
 Theban,. 
 
 12 
 
 Tanite,. 
 
 7 
 
 Bubastite,. 
 
 9 
 
 Tanite. 
 
 4 
 
 Saitic, . 
 
 1 
 
 Ethiopian,. 
 
 3 
 
 Saitic,. 
 
 9 
 
 Persian,. 
 
 8 
 
 Saitic, . 
 
 1 
 
 Mendesian,. 
 
 5 
 
 Sebennitic, . 
 
 3 
 
 Persian,. 
 
 3 
 
 347 
 
 Length of 
 their Reign 
 
 Monumental Parallels. 
 
 Years. 
 
 252 
 
 297 
 
 197 
 
 448 
 
 248 
 
 203 
 
 75 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 185 
 
 59 
 
 245 
 
 453 
 
 484 
 
 250 
 
 190 
 
 1 Pvn’iOs iMemphite 
 | vyia ids, 
 
 j Tombs, (i el0e • 
 
 Copper Mines, 
 
 | Quarries, 
 
 J Relies and Papyri. 
 
 Great Number of 
 unplaced Kings. 
 
 Obelisk of Heliopolis. 
 
 260 
 
 Karnak. 
 
 348 
 
 194 
 
 178 
 
 130 
 
 120 
 
 89 
 
 44 
 
 44 
 
 Temples, Tombs, 
 Palaces, Tablets, 
 J- Papyri, Relics, tkc. 
 
 &c. &c. all over 
 I Egypt and Nubia. 
 
 J 
 
 150 
 
 120 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 38 
 
 8 
 
 HisEgyptian 
 
 Dynasties. 
 
 The long and fabulous period of the reign of God and demi-gods Egyptian 
 must be first of all discarded, as an idle and vain-glorious legend. Mytbology 
 According to the “ old Chronicle,” Phtah reigned for a period to 
 winch no limit can be assigned; Helios his son occupied the throne 
 for three myriads of years; Kronos, and other twelve divinities, 
 for about four thousand years; while demi-gods and heroes succeeded 
 for many centuries. There may have been some important truths 
 conveyed in such symbols, but them epoch belongs not to history. 
 
 At best they are the dream of an artificial and secular theology, for 
 
74 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Ciiap. III. 
 
 Sources of 
 information. 
 
 Papyrus of 
 Turin. 
 
 Tablet of 
 Abydos. 
 
 even tlie forms of the Egyptian divinities were moulded and adorned 
 with hieroglyphic symbols, which may have been intended to embody 
 some truths—the wreck and remnant of an earlier and purer faith. 
 
 [Egyptian Gods.] 
 
 Lepsius is now labouring on the intricate theme of Egyptian 
 chronology, and has already indicated the leaning of his thoughts,' 
 which in many points are directly opposed to Bunsen. Our sources 
 of information are, however, numerous, and deeper investigation 
 may lead, in course of time, to seciu’er and more definite results. 
 The royal papyrus of Turin, with its copious catalogues, from 
 Menes down to the nineteenth dynasty, b.c. 1400, when itself 
 was inscribed; the Tablet of Abydos, containing the ancestry of 
 Kamses the Great, and now deposited in the British Museum; 
 that of Karnak, taken from its temple-palace, with its long list 
 of kings of the eighteenth dynasty and backwards; with the 
 “ Book of the Dead,” and other scrolls of minor importance, will, 
 when thoroughly collated and correctly interpreted, lead to larger 
 and more accurate views of Egypt’s olden time, and its royal 
 lords. 
 
 The papyrus in the royal museum at Turin, consisting of 
 twenty-two fragments, was first examined by Champollion in 1824, 
 and discovered to contain a list of Egyptian dynasties, with the 
 names of more than two hundred kings. Lepsius has lately gone 
 over it anew, and with peculiar care and success, having availed 
 himself of the results of previous examinators, such as Salvolini and 
 Seyffarth. The kings are divided into dynasties, and the reign of 
 the gods and heroes is first described and calculated. The rings in 
 which are found the names of the human sovereigns represent, 
 according to Lepsius, fifty-four lungs for the old empire, reaching to 
 the thirteenth dynasty, and sixty-five Icings for the middle empire, 
 or down to the eighteenth dynasty. 
 
 Tire Tablet of Abydos was found by Mr. Bankes in 1818, and 
 though it is now greatly disfigured, yet we have correct drawings of 
 
 1 Die Chronologie der iEgypter. Einleitung. Kritik der Quellen. Berlin, 1849. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DISCOVERIES OF LEPSIUS, 
 
 75 
 
 it by Burton and Wilkinson, with a fac-siniile by Lepsius. The 
 tablet is a sculpture in fine limestone, and the royal rings are fifty- 
 two in number, comprising many sovereigns of a period as remote 
 as the twelfth dynasty. 
 
 The Tablet of Karnak, now in one of the halls of the royal library Tablet of 
 at Paris, was discovered by Burton, in a chamber situated in the Karnak - 
 south-east angle of the temple-palace of Thebes, and was published 
 by its discoverer in his “ Excerpta Hieroglyphica.” 1 The chamber 
 itself was fully described by Kosellini, hi his “ Monumenti Storici.” 
 
 The kings are in two rows, overlooked each of them by a large figure 
 of Tuthmosis or Thothmes III., the fifth king of the eighteenth dynasty. 
 
 In the row to the left of the entrance are thirty-one names, and in 
 that to the right are thirty, all of them predecessors of Tuthmosis. 
 
 The Theban kings who ruled in Upper Egypt during the usurpa¬ 
 tion of the Hyksos invaders are also exhibited among the lists. 
 
 Over the head of each king is his ring, containing his royal titles. 
 
 Such are some of the monumental auxiliaries we have, in our 
 endeavours to unfold the mysteries of Egyptian chronology. By the 
 investigations already made, we are led to adopt the division of 
 Egyptian history which divides Egyptian history into the old, middle, 
 and new empires; the last, according to some, embracing a period of 
 1300 years, and the two former, according to Bunsen, after Manetho, 
 comprising a series of 2250 years. 
 
 Lepsius, too, has discovered an int eresting fact, that the length of Discoveries 
 a king’s reign may be measured by the height of his pyramid, the of Lepsius ' 
 structure having been usually commenced in the first year of his reign. 
 
 Nor are these monuments few or far between, for on a range of 
 fifty-six miles sixty-nine pyramids have been discovered; the 
 remains or substructures of thirty-nine of which have been brought 
 to light by Lepsius and the recent Prussian expedition. The great 
 pyramid, according to this theory, must represent a king of extra¬ 
 ordinary longevity—a fact fully attested by the Turin papyrus, 
 which records his age as ninety-five years, and vouched for by 
 Manetho, who states that his reign lasted through an unwonted 
 period of sixty-three years. Even a minute and discriminating analysis 
 of the progress of mummification may be a help hi the settlement of 
 the early chronology. The form of the coffin and shape of its 
 symbolic drawings, the bandages employed, and the materials used 
 for embalming, present different stages in the social progress and 
 refinement of the people. Woollen envelopes are found to have 
 preceded those of flax; and the employment of funereal spices and 
 perfumes marks a period of commercial intercourse with foreign 
 nations. Nay more, the names of reigning sovereigns are borne by 
 vast hosts of their subjects, and we never, says Mr. Birch, find “ an 
 Apries in the epoch of the twelfth, or an Osortesen hi the twenty- 
 
 1 It may be seen also in Wilkinson’s “ Materia Hieroglyphica.' 
 
Uncertainty 
 of early 
 dates. 
 
 Dynasties 
 not all 
 consecutive. 
 
 Epoch of 
 Menes. 
 
 76 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. III. 
 
 sixth dynasty.” 1 The Egyptian whose coffin bears a royal name, 
 must have been born in the time of the king whose cognomen he 
 had adopted. 
 
 We feel, then, that we are not warranted in pronoimcing 
 a decided opinion on many of those difficult points in ancient 
 Egyptian chronology. The process of discovery is so rapid, how¬ 
 ever, that many years cannot elapse without bringing us the materials 
 of a full and determinate judgment. Our safest path lies, in the 
 mean time, between extravagance on the one hand, and bigoted 
 adherence to Usher’s calculations on the other. The restricted 
 period contended for by such as Nolan 2 cannot, we think, be justi¬ 
 fied by the facts of the case, for we must allow time for the Mizraim- 
 ites to grow and gather in strength before the Jewish patriarch 
 visited a cotmtry which seems never to have had an infancy. Yet 
 we are not obliged to adopt the notion, that all the dynasties of 
 Manetho were consecutive. There are no grounds for maintaining 
 such a view. Indeed, from the twelfth dynasty downward, there 
 may have been regular succession; but in the old empire, analogy 
 might lead us to believe that some of the dynasties were contem¬ 
 porary. Large empires often appear in their commencement under 
 the form of several small and divided monarchies, which are gradually 
 absorbed into one general government. England had its Heptarchy 
 for many years before one throne governed it; and both Scotland 
 and Ireland were long independent kingdoms, ere they owned 
 the dominion of sovereigns crowned in Westminster. In like 
 manner, the dynasty of Elephantine probably ruled in Upper Egypt 
 at the same time with that of Memphis in the lower provinces. May 
 not the common title, “ lord of Upper and Lower Egypt,” hnply that 
 all the previous sovereigns did not possess united sway over both 
 portions of the kingdom. 3 Dates which do appear extraordinary 
 may be, and in all likelihood must be, on this principle, considerably 
 shortened. 
 
 One main difficulty is to settle upon a starting point for the com¬ 
 mencement of our calculations, as the real epoch of Menes, the first 
 king, is a matter of no little uncertainty. Various points in past 
 time have been fixed on. If the numbers of Manetho, some of which 
 are doubtful, be corrected by Syncellus, Menes, the first sovereign, 
 might be placed 439 from the deluge, supposing the deluge had 
 happened, according to the Septuagint, 3154 b.c. Bunsen places 
 him b.c. 3643; Prichard, b.c. 2214; and Wilkinson, b.c. 2320. 
 With such conflicting views, his epoch is yet enveloped in compara¬ 
 tive darkness. 
 
 1 Birch in Gliddon’s Otia Egyptiaca, p. 78. 
 
 2 The Egyptian Chronology Analysed, &c. London, 1848. 
 
 3 Some good papers on this and kindred Egyptian topics, written by R. S. Poole, 
 nephew of Mr. Lane, and printed in various numbers of the “ Literary Gazette ” 
 in 1849. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 FIRST DYNASTY—MENES. 
 
 77 
 
 The reader may be pleased to see the results which Gliddon gives various 
 in the following table:— Uates ' 
 
 “ 1st, By the astronomical reduction of Plerodotus, accord¬ 
 ing to Professor Renwick, we obtain the accession 
 
 of Menes, about. b.c. 2890 
 
 2d, By Syncellus—Manetho agrees with general (or Sep- 
 tuagint) clmonology, if we cut off 656 years before 
 the flood, and 534 afterwards—the true period of 
 
 Egyptian history, according to him, would place 
 
 the accession of Menes—Renwick’s calculation,_ 2712 
 
 3d, By Rosellini’s reduction of Syncellus, page 15, vol. 1, 
 
 Menes would fall about. 2776 
 
 4th, By Champollion Figeac, page 267, the epoch of Menes 
 
 would be—Freret’s calculation,. 2782 
 
 5th, By Dr. Hales’ calculation,. 2412 
 
 6th, By my reduction of the ‘ Old Chronicle,’. 2683 
 
 7th, By my reduction of ‘ Manetho,’. 2715 
 
 I have before stated, that we could not define with precision the 
 epoch of Menes within 500 years—but all differences considered, 
 between the extreme of 2890 B.c. for remoteness, and 2412 b.c. for 
 proximity, which added to Rosellini’s and Champollion’s esthnates 
 
 of the accession of the sixteenth dynasty,. b.c. 2272 
 
 Addition,. 478 
 
 Would place Menes about the year. 2750 b.c. 
 
 Which I am inclined to adopt, as within a hundred years’ approxi¬ 
 mation of the truth: thus affording abundance of interval, between 
 the flood and Menes on the one hand; and possibly sufficient for 
 the erection of the works now existing at Memphis—the pyramids 
 —between Menes and the accession of the sixteenth dynasty, on the 
 other.” 1 
 
 On all such abstruse points, approximation to the truth is all that 
 can be obtained. 
 
 We shall now recount in rapid and succinct narrative the various 
 dynasties of ancient Egypt, contenting ourselves with a brief sketch 
 of the more illustrious of its Pharaohs. 
 
 Of the First or Thintte Dynasty of eight kings, Menes was the First 
 great representative. Menes, a name signifying one who “ walks with Menef y 
 Amon,” and therefore an appellation symbolic of piety, was the first 
 king of Egypt. He belonged to the city of This near Abydos. His 
 name stands sculptured on the walls of the Theban palace, and the 
 same priority is assigned him by all the early annalists, and by the 
 
 1 Ancient Egypt, p. 51. 
 
78 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Second 
 
 Dynasty. 
 
 Third 
 
 Dynasty. 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Dynasty. 
 
 famed papyrus in the Museum of Turin. He laid the foundations of 
 Egyptian greatness. His reign is signalised by his erection of the 
 Temple of Vulcan at Memphis—the Egyptian Vulcan or Pthah 
 being the peculiar symbol of creative power and goodness. His 
 philanthropical labours also raised a mound against the influx of the 
 Nile, the results of which are yet attested by the locality; and he 
 ordered the excavation of those canals on which the safety and fer¬ 
 tility of the country so much depend. The theocratic form of 
 government, which seems to have previously existed, was overthrown 
 by him, and he was the first to assume the name of Pharaoh. A 
 large portion of his life was spent in warlike expeditions—defending 
 the frontiers of his kingdom from the assaults of surrounding tribes. 
 He appears at the same time to have founded those civil, sacred, and 
 military institutions by which his people were afterwards so singu¬ 
 larly distinguished. His successor, Athothis, is historically con¬ 
 nected with the palace of Memphis, while some of the pyramids are 
 ascribed to the fourth lung of the same dynasty. 
 
 Second Dynasty—Thinite, consisting of nine lungs.—Only of 
 the second and third kings, Kaiclius and Binothris, a little is 
 known, such as the connexion of the former with the introduction 
 of that brute-worship which prevailed so extensively in Egypt. 
 
 Third Dynasty —of nine Memphite kings.—The second of its 
 kings, Sesosthris, is found in connexion -with improved masonry, 
 the art of writing, and the science of medicine. 
 
 Fourth Dynasty—Memphite. —Of its eight kings the most cele- 
 brated is its second, Supliis or Cheops, the builder of the large pyramid. 
 His name has been found in the huge structure, while it also occurs 
 in the Thebaid, and even in the peninsula of Sinai, where copper 
 mines were wrought imder his control. He is said, however, to 
 have been a merciless tyrant. What myriads of toiling slaves 
 laboured to erect the pyramid; 100,000 men drudging for twenty 
 years, in order to erect a monument twenty miles from the quarry 
 that furnished the materials, and six hundred and forty miles from 
 the red granite that lines the interior of the structure—a monument 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 ROYAL BUILDERS OF PYRAMIDS. 
 
 79 
 
 containing, as has been computed, 89,028,000 cubic feet of masonry, 
 and 6,848,000 tons of stone. The third king, Chephren, is also famed 
 as the founder of a pyramid; and the fourth, Menkeres or Mycer- Mycc-rinus. 
 inns, has a similar honour. Of these early sovereigns, “ the bones 
 of the two oppressors, (Cheops and Chephren, builders of the first 
 and second,) who for two generations tormented hundreds of thou¬ 
 sands day after day, have been torn from their sepulchral chambers, 
 which were destined to defy the curiosity and destructiveness of 
 men, and preserve their bodies for ever from the annihilation which 
 they dreaded. But the good and philanthropic king, (Mycerinus, 
 builder of the third,) who put an end to the inhuman oppression of 
 the people, and in consequence of this, lived in poetry and song, 
 even to the latest times, as the people’s darling, has, even to our 
 days, although his coffin has been broken open, remained in his own 
 pyramid, and has now, rescued from the mass of ruins, found a 
 resting-place worthy of him, in the British Museum. A notable 
 destiny! The old monarchy of the Pharaohs, of which he was the 
 eighteenth ruler, has passed away; two other monarchies have 
 followed it, and the destroyers of the most ancient have also made 
 their exit from the stage of history. The gods of Egypt have 
 crumbled into dust; ‘ son of the Pharaohs’ is a name of reproach in 
 the Pharaohs’ land; even the language has grown dumb among the 
 people. The body of Mencheres, (Mycerinus,) however, now rests 
 more securely than it did 5000 years ago—in the world-ruling 
 island which is protected by the might of freedom and civilization, 
 still more than by the waves which encircle it—amid the treasures 
 of every reahn of nature, and the most sublime remains of human 
 art.” 1 
 
 Fifth Dynasty—Elephantine. —Only three names of its nine Fifth 
 kings have been preserved, and it is supposed that they reigned for L>ynasty ' 
 above two hundred years. 
 
 Sixth Dynasty — Memphite. —One of its six sovereigns, Nitocris, sixth 
 built the sixth pyramid, and was besides the handsomest woman ofNitocrs 
 her time. The fact of a woman’s occupying the throne, shows the 
 
 1 Bunsen. 
 
80 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Dynasties 
 Seventh to 
 Sixteenth. 
 
 Hyksos. 
 
 Manetho's 
 
 account. 
 
 high degree of civilization and refinement to which the nation had 
 attained. Of some succeeding dynasties little is known, for the 
 pages of Manetho have been sadly mutilated. The seventh and 
 eighth dynasties were Memphite, and these were followed by two 
 which were Heracleopolite, while the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth 
 were Diospolite. The third sovereign of the twelfth dynasty is 
 supposed by some to be the Grecian Sesostris, the famous 
 conqueror, a man of gigantic bulk, six feet ten inches in stature. 
 Asia and Europe, as far as Thrace, were subdued by him in nine 
 years. 1 Another king of this dynasty, the fourth in order, built the 
 famous labyrinth, as a royal sepulchre. The fourteenth dynasty is 
 said to have consisted of seventy-six Xoite kings, of whom nothing 
 has been preserved. According to Manetho, the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
 and seventeenth dynasties were the Hyksos or shepherd kings—a 
 race of foreign invaders. They did not occupy the whole of Egypt, 
 birt were contemporary with some Diospolite dynasty, who ruled 
 the upper provinces. Though they did not reign for so long a time 
 as Manetho ascribes to them, yet it is probable that the shepherd 
 invasion took place previous to the time of Osirtasen I., the foiuth 
 among five Theban monarchs. According to Sir Gardner Wilkin¬ 
 son, this was the king who elevated and rewarded the Hebrew youth 
 so unexpectedly brought into his notice. 
 
 At all events, about the period of the seventeenth dynasty are 
 usually and rightly placed the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. This 
 clan of warriors appears on the page of history like a dark and 
 mystic cloud, that thunders and soon disappears. Some have 
 doubted their existence altogether, and others, like Josephus, 
 have supposed that they represent only the captive Jews in 
 Egypt. Sir Gardner Wilkinson once held this opinion, but 
 ampler evidence has compelled him to abandon it as untenable. 2 
 The Jewish historian strives hard to identify the “pastors” 
 with his own national ancestry. There are some features of 
 resemblance, it is true, but there are also many points of strong 
 dissimilarity. As we learn from Josephus, in his book against 
 Apion, Manetho says, that the eruption of the Hyksos mto Egypt 
 took place under a king named Timaeus, that they came from the 
 east, that they brunt the cities, demolished the temples, and com¬ 
 mitted terrible ravages in the country. Their warlike chief, he 
 adds, lived at Memphis, and laid the whole territory under heavy 
 tribute. Long and fierce wars were carried on between the daunt¬ 
 less intruders and the native Egyptians, till at length the kings of 
 the Thebais mustered a brave and numerous force and expelled 
 them. In their ignoble flight they entered Judaea on leaving 
 Egypt, and built the city of Jerusalem. It may be that this 
 last statement was held by Josephus as fully corroborative of his 
 
 1 Herodotus, Wilkinson. 
 
 2 I. 55, note. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 HYICSOS. 
 
 81 
 
 views. Yet it affords no argument in favour of his theory— Theory of 
 that the expulsion of the Hyksos and exodus of the Jews are Josephlls - 
 the same event—for the Jews did not, as is affirmed of the 
 Hyksos, build Jerusalem, nor even did they capture its citadel, 
 till long after their flight from Egypt, whereas the Pah or Hyksos 
 on taking possession of the country may have erected its earlier 
 fortifications, and afterwards retired more to the sea r board, 
 where they were known in subsequent periods as the Philistines. 
 Manetlio’s account of the expulsion of the Jews is indeed mixed -with 
 fable. It was an humbling epoch to a Pharaoh’s vanity, and the 
 actual circumstances may have been disguised in the national records. 
 
 The Egyptian priest speaks of the exiles as impure and leprous, 
 a statement not to be altogether impugned. From the minute and 
 repeated statutes of Moses concerning leprosy, its colour, treatment, 
 and contagious virulence, it would seem that this frightful malady 
 was endemic—was hi truth the scourge of the Hebrew tribes. It is 
 plain, on the other hand, that the Jews when they were in Egypt 
 never held any rule—were unable to conquer for themselves any 
 portion of the country, or take up arms against their oppressors, 
 but were for a long period in the most revolting and helpless vassalage. 
 
 This foreign race reigned at least two centuries in Egypt, and it 
 must have been at some period during their domination that Josephs Shepherds, 
 kindred settled in the land of Goshen. Joseph enjoined his 
 brethren to tell frankly to the reigning sovereign that they were 
 shepherds in occupation ; yet we are informed that “ every shepherd 
 is an abomination to the Egyptians.” The Hebrew vizier of Egypt 
 advised his brethren to report their profession as shepherds, in order 
 to secure a portion of the land. “Ye shall say, Thy servants’ 
 trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both 
 we and also our fathers; that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen: 
 for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” Gen. xlvi. 
 
 34. Now if these Egyptian rulers abominated shepherds, the 
 comisel of Joseph was the most preposterous that could have been 
 given; it would have led to their immediate expulsion. But their 
 trade gained them Pharaoh’s favour, and he requested Joseph to 
 place the most active of them over his own flocks. Surely, then, 
 shepherds were no abomination to this reigning prince and his 
 court. It follows as an undoubted inference, that he belonged not 
 to any native Egyptian dynasty, but was one of the foreign Hyksos. 
 
 The incidental note, “ that every shepherd is an abomination to the 
 Egyptians,” refers to the keen dislike of the Egyptian natives, who had 
 been subjugated by these Asiatic marauders. What was distasteful 
 in the highest degree to the princes of the sixteenth dynasty, was 
 relished by the usurpers, who occupied their throne in Memphis. 
 
 Our hypothesis gives also a peculiar point to Joseph’s feigned 
 accusation of his brethren—“ ye are spies”—the pioneers of another 
 shepherd band who might come and divide the spoil. 
 
 [e. o. h.] g 
 
82 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Some, indeed, suppose that the shepherd was an abomination to 
 the Egyptians in the time of Joseph, because the shepherd despots 
 had already been expelled, and the natives entertained a lively 
 reminiscence of their cruelties. On this ground, Hengstenberg and 
 others allege, that Joseph advised his brethren to tell their occupa¬ 
 tion to Pharaoh, that the king in disgust might order them away 
 from his presence to the distant province of Goshen. But, on the 
 other hand, we find that Pharaoh was highly satisfied with the account 
 of Joseph’s kindred, for they were of his own race. Besides, the nar¬ 
 rative implies that Goshen was a fertile province, and it is not likely 
 that the hated clan shoidd receive so favourable a location. It lay 
 on the road from Palestine to Egypt, and if the Iiyksos had been 
 already expelled, the settlement of the Hebrews in Goshen was 
 providing them with allies of their own occupation and of their own 
 blood. For if the Iiyksos were descendants of Eber, they might be 
 Hebrews and named Hebrews as well as the offspring of Jacob. The Egyptians felt 
 Hyksos. p e an abomination to eat with the Hebrews, 1 not specially with 
 
 Joseph’s brethren, with whom they had never come into contact, 
 but with Hebrews generally, as if the term described a whole race, 
 greatly larger than the small family of Israel. Joseph too speaks of 
 his being stolen out of the “ land of the HebreAvs.” Would he have 
 gjven Palestine such a name because his father’s family—a family of 
 foreigners—wandered in it ? Is it not natural to suppose that by 
 the term “ Hebrew” he meant to designate the majority of the 
 inhabitants, and that he called the land after them ? 2 May we not 
 then conjecture with high probability that the Hyksos and the 
 Israelites received from the Egyptians the common appellation of 
 Hebrew; and is it not probable that the “ mixed multitude” which 
 left Egypt along with the Jews, was a remnant of the kindred 
 sheplierd-race, which had remained hi the country after their war¬ 
 like lords had been expelled? 
 
 The new At length “there arose a new king that knew not Joseph.” 
 
 He was probably either the last sovereign of the seventeenth or the 
 first of the eighteenth dynasty. Knowing that the Hebrews had 
 enjoyed special favours from his Hyksos rivals, he was naturally 
 jealous of their growing numbers, and as they were located toward 
 the north-eastern frontier, he was afraid of their forming an alliance 
 with the shepherd tribes which had been so recently expelled. The 
 motives of his policy are clearly stated, Exod. i. 9, 10, “ He 
 said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are 
 more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; 
 lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out 
 any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and 
 so get them up out of the land.” The opinion of Pharaoh was, that 
 
 1 Gen. xliii. 32, xl. 15. 
 
 3 Jost, Allgemeine Geschichte des Israelitiscken Volkes. Berlin. Henry, 
 I.'Egypte Pharaonique. Paris. 
 
 Another 
 
 Theory. 
 
 Mentifica- 
 
Chap. III.] MONUMENTS OF HEBREW SLAVERY. 
 
 83 
 
 if the Hyksos should return and threaten Egypt with an invasion, 
 the Hebrews, who had been so much indebted to them, would make 
 common cause with them against the native population. Therefore 
 the restored Pharaoh and his government oppressed them,— 
 
 “ They made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in 
 brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, 
 wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.” Exod. i. 14. The 
 biblical history is thus satisfactorily explained by a reference to the 
 usurpation and final overthrow of these mysterious Hyksos. 
 
 The duration of the Hyksos reign in Egypt is known too by the 
 erection of the Theban pyramids, inferior in size and splendour to 
 those of Memphis. There are also found in one of the chambers of 
 Karnak the royal rings of thirty sovereigns who reigned in Upper contem- 
 Egypt, while the “strangers and wanderers” 1 were swaying their 
 sceptre over the lower country. But none of the names of the 
 royal Hyksos given by Manetho is found upon the monuments, nor 
 does any of them occur on the Tablet of Abydos. The shepherd 
 race had no invention or love of art, and no monuments were 
 erected during their reign. Their occupation of the country was 
 entirely military. They were merely encamped in Egypt. They 
 felt that it was not their home, and so they wantonly despoiled the 
 masonry of the earlier Pharaohs. This neglect of architectural 
 embellishment on the part of the Hyksos may account for the absence 
 of reference to the Hebrew colonists on the Egyptian monuments. 
 
 It has been asserted, indeed, that some monuments of Israelitish 
 slavery still remain in Egypt. At Thebes there exists a mural Monument 
 painting, which Rosellini describes as 
 a picture representing the Hebrews 
 engaged in brick-making. The whole 
 process is carefully depicted,—carry¬ 
 
 ing clay—kneading it with straw— 
 moulding, dryin 
 
 the bricks, and 
 finally conveying away such as were 
 finished and fit for use. Two Egyp¬ 
 tians stand over the workers, each 
 with the rod of a “ taskmaster.” The 
 tomb of Roschere contains this pictorial 
 scene, and he seems to have been a 
 
 crown officer of high rank placed over the national works. 
 
 The 
 
 position of the painting does not hinder us from identifying it with 
 the Hebrew bondage, for the Hebrew slaves were scattered over the 
 country—“ throughout all the land of Egypt.” Exod. v. 12. Though 
 their first home was in Goshen, under the Plyksos, they were soon 
 dispersed over the kingdom by their oppressors of the native 
 dynasty. That the slaves in these pictures are Asiatics or Syrians, 
 there is no manner of doubt, though to decide their nationality with 
 1 “ Hvksos ” is said bv Rosellini to have this meaning. 
 
84 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Departure of 
 the Hebrew?. 
 
 dogmatic certainty, would indeed be presumptuous. All we can 
 affirm is, that the scene on the tomb of Roschere represents men 
 with a Syrian countenance engaged in hard bondage, and we know 
 that the Hebrews laboured in similar drudgery. The probability is, 
 that the children of Israel, as national bondsmen, may be there 
 depicted, for we see somewhat of the Hebrew physiognomy in the 
 painted labourers—a yellow skin and an aquiline nose. It is a 
 trite objection to this view, that the slaves do not all wear beards, 
 for they might either voluntarily, or from compulsion, have adopted 
 the custom of the country, and shaved themselves. 1 The represen¬ 
 tation is true to the life, and forms a vivid illustration of the state¬ 
 ments of the Book of Exodus. 
 
 But though these narrations appear on the whole to be fully 
 authenticated, we feel that much still remains to be done in the 
 work of Egyptian discovery, especially in the “ field of Zoan,” where 
 the sons of Jacob sojourned. Who can tell what buried treasures 
 may yet be exhumed, what obelisks and tombs may yet be 
 uncovered ? The entire dynasty of shepherd kings reigned, accord¬ 
 ing to Eusebius, 259 years, but others, with less probability, extend 
 the term of their domination to above 500 years, nay, Bunsen 
 claims for their occupancy a period of 929 years. The whole sub¬ 
 ject is confessedly smTounded with difficulties, and we can but 
 dimly discern the mere outline of a dark shadow that lay for many 
 years on the glory of Lower Egypt, and obscured the succession of 
 its legitimate sovereigns at Memphis. 
 
 The oppression of the Hebrews became at length intolerable, 
 and Moses received a divine commission to effect their liberation. 
 The Pharaoh who occupied the throne scowled upon the request 
 which the son of Amram made for Ids people, and multiplied the 
 burdens of the foreign slaves who were groaning for freedom. But 
 divine judgments fell in thick succession upon the Egyptian despot. 
 His spirit sometimes quailed before them, but immediately on the 
 removal of the plague he suddenly relapsed into his former obstinacy. 
 The Nile was changed into blood; the land was covered with frogs; 
 insects swarmed in the ah'; a deadly and infectious murrain seized 
 the cattle; burning rdcers covered the population; the crops were 
 laid waste by a tornado; the whole herbage was devoured by 
 locusts; a dense gloom of three days’ duration covered the country; 
 and at last, in one night, the first-born were destroyed, and the 
 pride and hope of Egypt perished. Pharaoh relented, and in that 
 awful morning the posterity of Abraham left the house of bondage. 
 But the hosts of the enraged tyrant hastened after the fugitives, and 
 would soon have overtaken them, while by a propitious miracle the 
 Arabian Gulf was parted before them, and they crossed it in safety. 
 Their Egyptian pursuers, in their vehement rage, entered the 
 channel of the sea, and were drowned in its returning waters. 
 
 Gen. xJi. 14. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 85 
 
 Again the prophet stretched his awful wand— 
 
 With one wild crash, the thundering waters sweep, 
 
 And all is waves, or dark and lonely deep; 
 
 And strange and sad the whispering surges bore 
 The groans of Egypt to Arabia’s shore. 
 
 To identify the lung under whom the exodns took place is 
 perhaps impossible in our present state of information. At the same 
 time, we see no insuperable objection to the opinion, that he was the 
 third Thothmes. 
 
 Some again, such as Gosse, 1 suppose that the exodus took place Theory of 
 under a king of the name of Osirei-men-phtah, and he says, on the c ' 
 authority of Champolhon Figeac, that the tomb of the prince was 
 never finished, that the first bas-reliefs are well executed, but that 
 the rest are merely sketched in red chalk and so remain. His 
 inference is, that this Pharaoh never occupied his sepulchre, for he 
 was drowned in the Red Sea. There is, however, no distinct intima¬ 
 tion in the sacred narrative that Pharaoh himself was drowned, 
 while his host, his chosen captains, and his chariots are specified. 
 
 Though he had been drowned—an event which is perhaps implied— 
 still his corpse might have been conveyed to its last resting-place. 
 
 There are other objections too against the theory. The period of 
 the monarch Osirei-men-phtah is too late by many years for the 
 epoch of the Jewish liberation. 
 
 The most illustrious of all the dynasties was the eighteenth, which Eighteenth 
 was Theban or Diospolite. According to Rosellini its sovereigns Dj llast) ' 
 were as follows:— 
 
 Order. 
 
 i. 
 
 ii. 
 
 iii. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Name on Monuments. 
 
 Amunoph I. 
 
 Thothmes I. 
 
 Thothmes II. 
 
 Amense, queen, .... 
 
 Thothmes III. 
 
 Amenemhe IV. 
 
 Thothmes IV. 
 
 Amunoph II. 
 
 Thothmes V. 
 
 Amunoph III. 
 
 Hor,. 
 
 Tmauhmot, queen, 
 
 Ramses I. 
 
 Menephtha I. 
 
 Ramses II. 
 
 Ramses III. 
 
 Menephtha II. 
 
 Menephtha III. 
 
 Remerri, Uerri,.... 
 
 Name in Ancient Writers. 
 
 Amosis, Thetmosis, . 
 
 Chebros, . 
 
 Amenophis,. 
 
 Amenses,. 
 
 Successive husbands of 
 
 queen Amense, . 
 
 Mephres, Moeris,. 
 
 Mephrathutmosis,. 
 
 Tmosis, . 
 
 Amenophis, Memnon,.... 
 
 Horus, . . 
 
 Akencheres, . 
 
 Rathotis, Athoris. 
 
 Two Akencheres,. 
 
 Armais, Armesses,. 
 
 Ramses, Sesostris, Se- 
 soosis, Osymandias, 
 Armessis, Miammun, ... 
 Amenophis, . 
 
 Length of 
 Reign 
 
 26 
 
 M 4 
 
 13 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 25 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 68 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 Monuments of Ancient Egypt, 147. 
 
86 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 The kings of this list occupy a prominent place among the monu¬ 
 ments, such as at Medinet-Abou, the Tomb of Goumah, the Tablet 
 of Abydos, and the Ramsessnun. The first of these is supposed by 
 Wilkinson to be the new king that knew not Joseph, and under 
 Thothmes III. he places the exodus of the Israelites. At least 
 somewhere under this dynasty must be placed the epoch of their 
 departure. 
 
 Splendour Under this eighteenth dynasty Egypt reached the zenith of its 
 eighteenth splendour. The great works of Thebes present us with the wreck 
 dynasty. of its glory. Its sovereigns were all distinguished in arts and arms, 
 and their names or shields occupy prominent and frequent places on 
 the national monuments. The Tablet of Abydos offers a useful 
 comparison with the lists of Manetho and Eusebius. Some place a 
 name before Amunoph, and according to such a theory the first king 
 of the dynasty was Amosis, a warrior both by land and sea, who has 
 left records of his prowess in Nubia, and of his patriotic industry in 
 the quarries of Masarah. According to our view the first king of 
 Amunoph. the dynasty was Amunoph, who excelled in martial glory. He is 
 found in Aboosimbel, sitting in luxuriant state, 1 and ha other places 
 he is depicted in the centre of numerous groups of captives, gathered 
 from various distant nations, and clothed in the opposite costumes 
 of Ethiopia and Asia. Religious honours of an inferior grade appear 
 to have been sometimes paid to the conqueror 3 as a great national 
 Thothmes I. benefactor. He was followed by Thothmes I., a prince of distin¬ 
 guished valour and munificence, who founded the great temple at 
 Karnak, to which vast additions were made by successive monarchs. 
 His conquests seem to have extended to Assyria—to the land of 
 Naharaina—a name which may be identified with the scriptural 
 Thothmes ii. designation of that country. 3 The second Thothmes was equal in 
 fame to his predecessor, and about this period a queen seems to 
 have occupied the throne for a season. Her usual name, Amense, 
 as given by Rosellini and Champollion, should be read, according to 
 Lepsius, Set-Amen. By him also she is said to be a sister of Thoth¬ 
 mes I., while Amenemhe read by the same author as Nemt Amen, 
 is affirmed by him to have been sister of Thothmes II. Her monu¬ 
 mental portraits are robed in a man’s dress, while the prefixes are of 
 Thothmesiu. the feminine gender. The thud Thothmes siupassed liis royal pre¬ 
 decessors in splendour. Memorials of his reign are very frequent in 
 mural pictures and obelisks. Remote nations of various colours are 
 pictured as bringing him tribute, gold, ivory, ebony, precious stones, 
 vases, apes, leopards, and a giraffe. Some of these products are 
 from Northern Asia, whither the arms of Thothmes seem to have 
 penetrated. The statistical table of Karnak is a register of his 
 Thothmes rv glories. Thothmes IY. continued and sustained the fame of his 
 family, and triumphed in battle over Cushites and Libyans. On a 
 
 1 Rosellini M. R. tav. xxviii. 2 Rosellini, Mon. Stor. iii. 682. 
 
 3 Aram Naliaraim, Aram of the two rivers—Tigris and Euphrates. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 
 
 monument at Goumah nine foreign captives, seemingly of Asiatic 
 origin, surround the king. 1 Amunoph the second has left little to Amunoph 
 illustrate his name, though he appears to have walked in the steps IL an(t 111 
 of his predecessors, while Amunoph the third has bequeathed many 
 
 [Hieroglyphic Representation of the Names and Titles of Thothmes III.] 
 
 monuments of his warlike grandeur. In the Temple of Soleb in 
 Nubia, occurs a picture which represents forty-five nations conquered 
 by this prince. The couching lion at the entrance of the Gallery of 
 Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum bears on it his royal 
 name. The noble pile of buildings at Luxor seems to have been 
 commenced by him. In its chambers are deposited in striking and 
 appropriate hieroglyphics, the birth, nursing, and inauguration of 
 the royal youth, who is also mythically connected with the famous 
 Memnon and the vocal statue. His tomb has been also well pre¬ 
 served, and is a good specimen of the size and elaboration of the 
 royal sepulchres. In his reign Egyptian sculpture seems to have 
 reached its perfection. Hor, his son and successor, has left charac- H6r. 
 teristic records of himself in the quarries of Silsilis, attesting his 
 warlike achievements, and the city of Thebes owed him many archi¬ 
 tectural embellishments. Ilis daughter Tmaulimot is sometimes 
 associated with him on his statues, as if she had shared with him 
 the honours and functions of royalty. 
 
 The succession after Hor is surrounded with some difficulties, but 
 according to the best authorities Ramses I. follows. 2 His reign Ramses i. 
 appears to have been brief, and not specially distinguished by any 
 great events. Whether from piety or from policy, he was generous 
 in his donations to the priesthood, and the “ Country of the Nine 
 
 1 Lepsius Auswahl, pi. xiii. 
 
 2 Rosellini Mon. Stor. i. 204. 
 
88 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Menephthai. Bows” was vanquished by his arms. Menephtha who succeeded, 
 and in whose name the demon- god Typhon is ominously incorporated, 
 added to the architectural splendoiu - of Thebes. Foreign and dis¬ 
 tant nations are pictured as vanquished by him, and among them 
 
 Ramses ii. may be recognised some of the tribes of Asia Minor. Ramses II. 
 
 next ascended the throne. Pictures of splendid invasions attest his 
 martial prowess, while groups of African and Asiatic captives 
 tremble before his frowning majesty. 
 
 Ramses III. But the most famous sovereign of this dynasty is the king 
 Ramses III.; Egypt reached under him the zenith of its glory. The 
 country rejoiced in its architectural adornment, and foreign nations, 
 Arabia, Ethiopia, and Libya, bowed to its valour, and paid tribute 
 into its exchequer. Ramses is supposed, on good grounds, by many 
 to be the Sesostris of Grecian story. This Egyptian hero carried his 
 triumphant arms far into Asia, and near Beyroot is a rock bearing 
 upon it the record of his powers. The walls of the Memnonium are 
 covered with the exploits of a reign which lasted sixty-eight years. 
 The tribes of Canaan are there pictured as opposing him, and as 
 being utterly routed by his chariots and infantry. The scaling- 
 ladder, battering-ram, and process of mining under a besieged city, 
 are faithfully depicted. Tire graphic language of Virgil describes 
 with peculiar accuracy such a scene, as is presented in the following 
 illustration from Rosellini:— 
 
 “Hie vero ingentem pugnam, ceu caetera nusquain 
 Bella forent, nulii tota morerentur in urbe ; 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 RAMSES III. 
 
 89 
 
 Sic Martem indomitum, Danaosque ad tecta ruentes 
 Cernimus, obsessumque acta testudine limen. 
 
 Hferent parietibus sealae, postesque sub ipsos 
 Nituntur gradibus ; clipeosque ad tela sinistris 
 Protecti objiciunt, prensant fastigia dextris. 
 Dardanidoe contra turres ac tecta domorum 
 Culmina convellunt: his se, quando ultima cernunt, 
 Extrema jam iu morte parant defendere telis ; 
 Auratasque trabes, veterum decora alta parentum, 
 Devolvunt.”— Virgil. vEneid. II. 438. 
 
 Their targets in a tortoise cast, the foes 
 Secure, advancing to the turrets rose ; 
 
 Some mount the scaling-ladders, some more bold, 
 Swerve upwards, and by posts and pillars hold. 
 
 Their left hand gripes their buckler in the ascent, 
 While with the right they seize the battlement: 
 From the demolished towers the Trojans throw 
 Huge heaps of stones, that falling crushed the foe ; 
 And heavy beams and rafters from their sides— 
 
 Such arms their last necessity provides. 
 
 This king’s fleet also traversed the Indian Ocean, and many of his His fleet, 
 vessels seem to have been ships of war. To facilitate navigation he 
 cut a canal from the Nile to Suez, and he also built numerous 
 embankments to prevent the irruption of the sea. That this Nilotic 
 sovereign gloried in his victories, and was careful not to conceal his 
 martial successes, may be gathered from the poem which is inscribed 
 in hieroglyphics over one of the mural pictures of the Memnonium, 
 and which has been thus translated:— 
 
 “Tire discourse of these conquered who worship the good god His vaunted 
 [Ramses], powers ' 
 
 “ Behold us! give us our breath, 0 merciful king! 
 
 “ We are fast bound beneath thy sandaLs through thy smiting. 
 
 “ The land trembles in her petition,” i.e. presents her petition 
 with trembling. 
 
 “ [The spirit of] her king is cast down before thy spirit, 
 
 “ Like hares before horses— 
 
 “ Or before the spring of a raging Hon.” 
 
 The next verse is over Ramses in his chariot, and contains the 
 subject:— 
 
 “ The good god, the victorious Icing, 
 
 “ Subduing in foreign lands them that are before the fenced 
 double walls; 
 
 “ Crushing the hearts of them that are within them [i.e. the 
 defenders of the fort] with anxiety. 
 
 “ He guides his young horses. 
 
 “ His eye is intent upon Ins chariot. 
 
90 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 “ He hath taken his bow and arrows. 
 
 “ He brought together in procession the smitten of the- 
 
 “ Whom he had smitten, scattering them like straw before the 
 wind. 
 
 “ He stamped to powder [their fortresses beneath his feet.] 
 
 “ He gave forth his spirits with himself every day [i.e. he infused 
 His own courage into his troops]. 
 
 “ He bears victory in Iris limbs. 
 
 “ He is like a fire. 
 
 “ He fights as a bull upon his borders. 
 
 “ He fills them that speak to him with awe. 
 
 “ He rejoiceth in the desolations of his hand. 
 
 “ He hath not left unstamped to powder two shelters from the 
 rain in their lands. 
 
 “ He hath trodden upon many chiefs. 
 
 “ His hand conquereth Bel. 
 
 “ He desolateth the lands of the princes, 
 
 “ Making all their dwellings into tombs of terror. 
 
 “ His arrows were in their quivers like the fire of god [i.e. he 
 consumed their arrows in their quivers, he made them powerless to 
 resist]. 
 
 “ He saves the breath of their mouth.” 1 
 
 Identified 
 
 with 
 
 Sesostris. 
 
 False 
 
 hypotheses. 
 
 Memorials of this prosperous sovereign are not only found in the 
 Memnonium, but in the large additions which were made to the 
 temples of Luxor and Karnak, where two magnificent obelisks 
 of red granite perpetuate his memory. Similar monumental records 
 occur in various portions of Egypt. 
 
 It is supposed, as we have already intimated, by many, that this 
 Egyptian king was the famed Sesostris of the Greeks. Wilkinson 
 
 says, however, with some plausibility, 
 “ I suppose that Sesostris was an 
 ancient king famed for his exploits, 
 and the hero of early Egyptian his¬ 
 tory; but that after Eemeses had 
 surpassed them, and had become the 
 favourite of his country, the renown 
 and name of the former monarch 
 were transferred to the more con¬ 
 spicuous hero of a later age; and it 
 is remarkable that when Germanicus 
 went to Egypt, the Thebans did not mention Sesostris, but Rhamses, 
 as the king who had performed the glorious actions ascribed in olden 
 times to their great conqueror.” 2 This hypothesis appears correct, 
 though Josephus, Marsham, Sir Isaac Newton, and Sir John Stoddart 
 
 1 Osburn’s Ancient Egypt, p. 84. 
 
 2 Ancient Egyptians, i. 64. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 SESOSTRIS. 
 
 91 
 
 wrongly, and in defiance of all proof, suppose him to have been 
 the Slnshak who invaded Judea and plundered Jerusalem in the 
 reign of Rehoboam. Some are also disposed to identify Sesostris 
 with one of the sovereigns named Osirtasen. Ramses is said to 
 have divided the land on peculiar principles among the peasantry, who 
 paid a fixed tax to the govermnent. Now we are told that the 
 Pharaoh under whom Joseph ruled made a similar arrangement, 
 bought, by the advice of his Hebrew counsellor, all the lands save that 
 of the hierarchy, and required a rent of a fifth part of the annual 
 produce. 1 Because of this resemblance in royal measures, some 
 suppose that Sesostris was the ldng under whom Joseph was pro¬ 
 moted and patronised. The basis of such a conjecture is, however, 
 too slight and uncertain. The likelihood is that Sesostris is a 
 mythical hero, who has gathered around him the renown of many 
 actual Egyptian conquerors and kings. His history, gleaned out 
 of Greek writers, may be summed up in a few paragraphs. 
 
 The various names by which he has been designated, furnish Names of 
 evidence of the difficulty which has been felt in fixing his identity, Sesostris - 
 and of the intermixture of fable with his story. By Pliny, he is 
 called Sesosis; by Diodorus, Sesoosis; by Tacitus, Rhampses; and 
 by Scaliger, both Rhamesses and iEgyptus. According to Herodotus, 
 he succeeded to the throne upon the death of Mmris; though Dio¬ 
 dorus, whom we regard as inferior authority, represents him as 
 posterior to Moeris by seven generations. 
 
 Whether by the direction of a dream or an oracle, his father His 
 devoted him to military glory from his earliest years. Having Elllic ' atl0n - 
 collected together all the male children in his dominions, who 
 were bom on the same day with his son, he had them brought 
 to court, to be placed imder proper nurses and tutors, like his own 
 offspring. His idea was, that they who were the companions of his 
 son’s childhood, would be most likely hereafter to prove his faithful 
 and devoted soldiers; and surely it must be admitted, that this 
 novel plan was no inconsiderate evidence of the monarch’s sagacity. 
 
 This system of education was of course adapted, not only to the 
 character of the times, but to the particular destination of these 
 nurslings of military genius. The first care of their superintendents 
 was to habituate them to toil and manly exercise; they were never 
 permitted to partake of any food till they had gone over a course 
 of upwards of twenty-two miles on horseback, or had undergone a 
 proportionate exercise on foot. Often they were engaged in hunting; 
 and thus, while the body was inured to labour, and the mind to 
 discipline, they were gradually training to the enterprises of the 
 warrior. H£lian represents Sesostris as taught the arts of government 
 by Mercury, which may probably refer to the Egyptian custom, 
 mentioned by Jamblicus, of publishing all new books or inventions 
 
 1 Gen. xlvii. 20—25. 
 
Sent into 
 Arabia. 
 
 Ascends the 
 throne. 
 
 Popular 
 
 conduct. 
 
 92 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chat. III. 
 
 ■under the name of Hermes or Mercury. Whatever works or 
 writings were put into the hands of these youths by their preceptors 
 having this signature, they might be said to receive their instructions 
 from Mercury. 
 
 No sooner was this course of education in some degree completed, 
 than the king determined upon giving Sesostris and his juvenile 
 companions an opportunity of displaying their abilities, by sending 
 them upon a warlike expedition into Arabia. The mode of warfare 
 to which they were thus introduced, was, of all others, the best cal¬ 
 culated to call forth their mental and corporeal energies. The 
 enemy were vigilant, active, daring, and hitherto unconquered. 
 It was in this war that Sesostris learned to endure every priva¬ 
 tion, and to brave every danger; and notwithstanding the dif¬ 
 ficulties of all kinds which beset his career, he returned trium¬ 
 phant to his country. After this he was sent westward, sub¬ 
 dued Libya and the greatest part of the African continent, and was 
 arrested only by the waters of the ocean. It was during this period 
 of military splendour that his father died, and he was invested with 
 the supreme authority. 
 
 When Sesostris was elevated to the throne, he showed himself 
 alike capable of wielding the sceptre and the sword. His first care 
 was directed towards those internal regulations in which consist the 
 security, no less than the glory and happiness of empires. His 
 policy was, perhaps, dictated by prudence as much as by zeal for 
 the public welfare. He seems to have cherished the most ambitious 
 ideas, and to have meditated, as some assert, at the instigation of 
 his spirited daughter Athyrte, the subjugation of the whole world; 
 but he had sagacity enough to perceive that so mighty a project 
 could never be carried into execution, unless he could adopt mea¬ 
 sures to promote the prosperity of his own people during his absence, 
 and to confirm the stability of his throne. He felt it necessary to 
 guard against the subversion of his authority by civil commotions or 
 foreign foes—precautionary considerations which have not always 
 influenced the minds of conquerors in the zeal of their insane 
 ambition. 
 
 Sesostris determined to begin by such acts of generosity, and 
 justice, as should tend to rivet the affections of his subjects; he 
 therefore distributed lands and money amongst them, remitted 
 fines and punishments, and manifested in public the most obliging 
 attention to all who applied to him for bounty, or surrounded 
 him as friends. Thus he aspired to be the idol of the people, 
 and seems actually to have acquired that proud pre-eminence. 
 His next arrangement consisted in dividing the kingdom into 
 thirty-six; provinces or Nomes, over each of which he constituted 
 a governor of approved fidelity and well-tried merit; these, by 
 serving as a check upon each other, prevented any individual 
 attempt at usurpation, and by satisfying a reasonable ambition, 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 HIS CONQUESTS. 
 
 93 
 
 bound them more effectually to his interests. Still further to answer 
 the same purpose, he confided to his brother Armais the supreme 
 authority during his absence; but with the express stipulations that 
 he should offer no injury to the queen and her children; form no 
 connection with the royal concubines; and abstain from the use of 
 the diadem. His last and chief object of solicitude, was the selec¬ 
 tion of an army that should correspond in numbers and in bravery 
 with the extent of his projects. Such a host he succeeded hi 
 raising, to the amount of six hundred thousand foot; twenty-four 
 thousand horse; and twenty-seven thousand chariots of war: placing 
 his early companions, who were no fewer than seventeen hundred, 
 as officers in the different brigades. These were all devoted to his 
 service, trained to the utmost hardihood, and inflamed with military 
 passion. To confirm his supremacy in the hearts of his troops, he 
 settled portions of land upon them by lot, in the most fertile part of 
 Egypt. This military occupation of territory was designed to pre¬ 
 clude the necessity of either the soldiers themselves or their descen¬ 
 dants having recourse, for subsistence, to mechanical or mercantile 
 occupations, so that by this means a race of soldiers might be raised 
 in perpetual succession. Thus prepared, in the full maturity of his 
 ambition, and the plenitude of his hopes, Sesostris stood like an 
 eagle perched upon a rocky eminence to look round for a prey. 
 
 With or without a plausible pretence, he was resolved to proceed; 
 his ambition must be gratified, and his swarming legions employed. 
 
 ^Ethiopia was the first object of his attack, nor did it prove capable Attacks 
 of having any formidable resistance. Immediately upon the re'duc- jEthl0pia ' 
 tion of the country he made it tributary, compelling its inhabitants 
 to furnish, annually, a specified quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold. 
 
 Having reached the promontory of Dira, he erected a pillar with an 
 inscription in hieroglyphics. Other monuments of his progress, of a 
 similar description, testified his advance to still farther conquests; 
 monuments which, according to Pliny 1 and Strabo, 3 were visible 
 after the lapse of several centuries. 
 
 With the view of extending his conquests yet farther, he pre¬ 
 pared a naval armament, which, from his successes, soon dispelled 
 the ancient prejudices of the Egyptians upon this subject. Two 
 fleets being equipped; the one, consisting of four hundred sail, was 
 stationed in the Arabian Gulf, the other in the Mediterranean: the 
 former subdued all the islands and cities upon the coast, advancing 
 till the navigation was intercepted by shoals. The Mediterranean 
 fleet conquered Cyprus, the sea-coast of Phoenicia, and several of the 
 Cyclades. With his army, Sesostris overran Asia with a rapidity Overruns 
 that must excite the utmost astonishment, were it not considered Amj ' 
 that his force was so immense, and the nations whom he vanquished 
 
 1 Hist. Nat. lib. vi. c. 29. 
 
 2 Lib. xvi. xvii. 
 
94 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Monuments 
 of his 
 victories. 
 
 so unprepared for an attack. The later historians assign to him the 
 conquest of India, affirming that he left memorials of his success on 
 the banks of the Ganges, and pursued his desolating march to the 
 ocean, eastward; but Herodotus, whose information was derived 
 from the priests of Memphis, Heliopolis, and Thebes, and who has 
 related his life with a considerable degree of circumstantiality, does 
 not give the least intimation of such a progress. The probability is, 
 that this achievement was attached to his name, by writers who 
 lived between the age of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, for the 
 sake of superadding a grandeur to his career, already marked with 
 sufficient memorials of vastness and aggression. He passed over, 
 however, from Asia to Europe, and invaded Scythia and Thrace, 
 where it seems that he was but partially victorious. He even fled 
 before the Scythians, after sending ambassadors with a summons to 
 surrender. His message was contemptuously rejected. Pliny even 
 represents him as being totally defeated by the Colchians; and a 
 tradition preserved in Valerius Flaccus, describes him as vanquished 
 by the Getas, who were the most warlike people among the Thra¬ 
 cians. It is generally admitted, however, that he left a colony in 
 Colchis; though whether it arose out of the soldiery who loitered 
 behind through fatigue, or disgust at the war, or in consequence of 
 being dispersed in different engagements, or whether it was merely 
 a detachment of troops quartered in Colchis to secure a retreat, are 
 questions which have not been satisfactorily answered. During the 
 expedition into Thrace, Sesostris was in great danger of losing his 
 army; and, either in consequence of the difficulties in which he was 
 involved, from the failure of provision and the intricacies of the 
 country, or on account of information he received from the priests of 
 Egypt of an insurrection at home, here his progress ceased west¬ 
 ward. No monuments of his victories were ever traced beyond 
 this region, and in every other part of his career they were erected 
 usually with this inscription, “ Sesostris, king of kings, and lord of 
 lords, subdued this country by the power of his armies.” It is 
 remarkable that he added an intimation of the spirit with which the 
 inhabitants had nobly defended, or shamefully yielded their liber¬ 
 ties. He also erected statues of himself, the greatest number of 
 which, as well as the pillars he raised in commemoration of his 
 victories, had perished even at so early a period as the tune of 
 Herodotus. That historian, however, mentions two such figures 
 cut out of a rock in Ionia; one on the road from Ephesus to 
 Phocasa, the other betwixt Smyrna and Sardis. Both of them 
 represented a man five palms in height, the right hand holding a 
 javelin, the left a bow; the remaining part of the armour was partly 
 Egyptian and partly Ethiopian. Across the breast, from shoulder 
 to shoulder, an inscription was written in the sacred characters of 
 Egypt, to this effect, “ I conquered this country by the force of my 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 RESULTS OF HIS WARS. 
 
 95 
 
 arms.” As these statues have neither the name of any person 
 or country inscribed upon them, some mistook them for images of 
 Memnon. 
 
 It has been remarked as a peculiarity of this conqueror, that he 
 never adopted measures to secure his acquisitions, but contented 
 himself with the glory of subduing and ravaging distant nations. 
 This work of havoc occupied him for nine years, without extending 
 the ancient limits of Egypt beyond a few circumjacent provinces. 
 Such, at least, is the statement of Justin; but others have not 
 coincided in this opinion. What then, it may be reasonably 
 inquired, was the result of those mighty operations to which his 
 military genius impelled him, during so many years of activity? 
 He returned, indeed, laden with spoils from the different nations he 
 subdued, and followed by a multitude of captives"; and in con- 
 
 [King returning with Captives.] 
 
 sequence of his successes, he was enabled to gratify his officers and 
 soldiers with magnificent donations, which placed them in circum¬ 
 stances of ease and comfort after their toils. The hero himself 
 obtained nothing but glory, a glory, however, polluted -with blood, 
 and disturbed both by the recollection of some past reverses, and 
 by the eternal detestation of entire kingdoms, the peace and liberties 
 of which had been immolated at the shrine of his fierce ambition. 
 That he possessed some great and good qualities, we shall have 
 occasion to remark; but these must not render us indifferent to the 
 miseries which he inflicted upon the unoffending, or reconcile us to 
 the folly and the guilt of trampling the fertile earth into barrenness, 
 in the toilsome pursuit of a phantom. Nothing, indeed, but the 
 indication of some balancing virtues could redeem such a character 
 from utter infamy, or render him worthy of any distinguished place 
 upon the historic page, except as a necessary link in the chain of 
 events, or as an instructive record deduced from the worst aspect of 
 
DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 96 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 human nature: for where in creation shall we find a more hideous 
 sight than the mere conqueror ? 
 
 Conduct of Disregarding the solemn injunctions of Sesostris, his brother had 
 assumed the diadem during liis absence, violated the queen, and 
 taken the royal concubines. On his arrival at Pelusium, Armais, or 
 as he is sometimes called, Danaus, received him with every external 
 evidence of gladness and congratulation; but, at the same time, 
 contrived a plan to deprive him, at one stroke, of his crown and life. 
 Having invited the king and the royal household to an entertain¬ 
 ment, in which they drank freely, he surrounded their apartments 
 where they retired to rest 'with a quantity of combustibles, to which 
 he caused fire to be applied in the night. This villany, however, 
 did not succeed to his expectation. Sesostris was soon roused by 
 the conflagration to a sense of his danger, and, according to 
 Herodotus, adopted, at the suggestion of his queen, a most cruel 
 expedient to save himself. Two of them six children were placed 
 across some passage that was in flames, in order to form a bridge 
 for the escape of the rest of the family. Diodorus Siculus, however, 
 gives a miraculous character to this deliverance. Sesostris, he says, 
 implored the assistance of the gods, and thus fortunately escaped; 
 the guards, who had been intoxicated, being unable to render him 
 any assistance. For the honour of humanity we woidd indulge the 
 hope, that the account of the former historian is foimded in some 
 misrepresentation. Armais was of course destined to feel the weight 
 of his brother’s indignation; and, being driven out of Egypt, retired 
 into Greece. The gods, particularly Vulcan, received on this 
 occasion large donations, as thank-offerings for the king’s escape. 
 
 Disbands the The latter years of Sesostris, from this period, were signalized by 
 
 army- works of art, which have more deservedly become the means of 
 transmitting his fame to posterity than his military achievements. 
 It is not a little singular, that having apportioned out to his soldiers 
 rewards suited to the different degrees of individual merit, he 
 disbanded the army, and relinquished all intentions of future con¬ 
 quest and spoliation. To what principle this is to be attributed it 
 may not be easy to determine with precision; but some portions of 
 his subsequent conduct renders it probable, that the love of glory 
 was by no means extinguished in his breast, and that it only 
 operated in a different manner; or we may suppose that pride 
 rather than ambition, with which it is so intimately connected, 
 became henceforth the ascendant passion. Of this we have a 
 striking exmplification in his mode of treating the tributary kings. 
 When they came at stated times to do homage, and to pay the 
 arrears of tribute, he displayed the most ridiculous insolence; and 
 when he entered his capital, or went into the temple, he unhar¬ 
 nessed his horses, yoking these princes four abreast to his car, and 
 highly valued himself on being thus drawn along by the sovereigns 
 of kingdoms. It is said that he was restored to some sense of 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 WORKS OF SESOSTRIS. 
 
 97 
 
 justice and humanity in the following manner. On one of these 
 occasions a king, who was degraded to the office we have men¬ 
 tioned, was observed to look with peculiar earnestness at one of the 
 wheels of the chariot, and being asked what it was that so rivetted 
 his attention, he replied significantly, “ 0 king, the turning round 
 of the chariot wheel reminds me of the vicissitudes of fortune; for 
 as every part of the wheel is uppermost and lowermost alternately, 
 so is it with men, who sit on a throne to-day, and the next, per¬ 
 haps, are reduced to the vilest degree of slavery.” 
 
 One of the first labours of the retired conqueror was to build 
 temples, to the number of at least a hundred, which exhibited in 
 those cities where they were erected, his gratitude to the tutelary 
 god of every place for the renown he had acquired; but he showed 
 an unusual solicitude to enrich the temple of Vulcan, to express his Temples and 
 acknowledgments for the protection which he believed that divinity °f se^ostris S 
 had afforded him at the period of his brother’s treachery at Pelu- 
 sium, as well as to perpetuate the glory of his successes. Six 
 gigantic statues of stone appeared in front of the edifice; two of 
 them thirty cubits in height, representing himself and his queen, 
 and four others of twenty cubits each, representing his four sons. 
 
 Some ages posterior to this, Darius, king of Persia, and father of 
 Xerxes, was desirous of placing his own statue at Memphis, before 
 that of Sesostris, which was strenuously opposed by the priest of 
 Vulcan, who, in an assembly of his order, asserted as a reason for 
 his resistance, that the actions of Darius were not yet equal in splen¬ 
 dour to those of the Egyptian prince; for that the latter had sub¬ 
 dued the Scythians, who had never yielded to the arms of the 
 Persians. He pleaded that it would be highly unjust to supersede 
 the statue of his illustrious predecessor, or to claim a pre-eminence 
 without having even equal claims to distinction. Darius acquired 
 greater honour by nobly pardoning this remonstrance, than he 
 could have done by causing the erection of the most magnificent 
 monument. Sesostris also raised two obelisks of marble, a hundred 
 and twenty cubits in height, upon which inscriptions were 
 written, expressing the extent of his power and revenues, and the 
 number of nations he had vanquished. He also took care to state 
 in all his inscriptions, as their distinguishing feature, that his 
 own subjects were exempted from the toil of working in these 
 mighty undertakings, which his captives alone were employed to 
 complete. Diodorus Siculus mentions the following sentence as 
 most usual on these splendid erections—“ No native laboured hereon." 
 
 Herodotus assures us that Sesostris made a regular distribution of Distribution 
 the lands of Egypt, apportioning to each person a square piece of of tlle Ian(I 
 ground, deducing his revenue from a small rental paid for these 
 divisions. If any one suffered by the inundation of the Nile, he was 
 allowed to send information of this calamity to the king, who com¬ 
 missioned proper officers to inquire into the extent of the damage 
 
 [e. o. h.] h 
 
98 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Ciiap. III. 
 
 which had been sustained, and remit a proportionate part of the 
 rent as a compensation, so that no one might be taxed beyond his 
 ability. 
 
 To secure Egypt from foreign invasion, particularly from its war¬ 
 like neighbours the Syrians and Arabians, all the eastern coast, 
 from Pelusium to Heliopolis, was fortified by the erection of a wall. 
 Some of the captives, however, grew refractory, and the Babylonians, 
 resolving to disengage themselves from the galling servitude to 
 which they had been compelled, seized upon a stronghold, and 
 desolated the country. They were, however, pacified by the offer 
 of forgiveness, and of a settlement. Thus originated their city of 
 Babylon. 
 
 The numerous canals with which the country was intersected 
 may be justly considered as the greatest work of Sesostris. The 
 entire distance from the city of Memphis to the sea was dug for a 
 canal, so that artificial connections were formed with the Nile. By 
 this means the communication between the cities was facilitated, 
 the interests of commerce advanced, and the canals were filled with 
 barges. Those injurious inundations also, of which the inhabitants 
 
 [Egyptian Ship of the age of Solomon .—Description de l'Egypte.] 
 
 frequently complained, were prevented, and water was conveyed 
 to the villages and towns in every direction. Still farther to 
 promote the comfort of the people, their sovereign caused an 
 immense number of embankments of earth to be raised, upon which 
 towns were erected, and made inaccessible to the overflowings of 
 the river, while others were removed which had previously sustained 
 injury in consequence of their low situations. These canals really 
 changed the aspect and the very character of the country, and 
 though they rendered travelling inconvenient on horseback, and 
 impossible in carriages, Egypt was, by this contrivance, defended 
 from the cavalry of its enemies by which it had been before 
 
Ciiap. III.] NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH DYNASTIES. 
 
 99 
 
 repeatedly annoyed. Sesostris, as in other instances, made use of 
 the involuntary labours of his captives from different nations to 
 perform this work. 1 
 
 The entire life of Sesostris was one of continuous and splendid Death of 
 successes, and his subjects rejoiced in his glories. At length disease Sesostris - 
 deprived him of sight, the dimness and languor of a blind old age 
 were insupportable to him, the great conqueror quailed before a 
 physical malady, and committed suicide. The priests are said to 
 have applauded the imworthy and cowardly deed. 
 
 Ramses III. was succeeded by the thirteenth of his twenty-three 
 sons, Menephtha II. The successor of Sesostris is called Sesoosis II. Menephtha 
 by Diodorus, and Nuncoreus by Pliny. Herodotus calls him Pheron a 
 —a name seemingly founded on a mistaken pronunciation of the 
 common royal cognomen Pharaoh. His sight had been enfeebled 
 like his father’s, but having recovered perfect vision he dedicated 
 two obelisks to the god of medicine. 3 Menephtha’s name is not 
 associated with any gigantic enterprise, save the masonry and paint¬ 
 ing of his tomb at Bab-el-Melook. During his reign occurred the 
 commencement of one of the famous Sothic periods, which seems to 
 have terminated in the age of Diocletian, a calculation which places 
 Menephtha’s accession to the throne about 1322 B.c. s Menephtha Menephtha 
 III. is spoken of by some as commencing the nineteenth dynasty. m ' 
 Pheron, according to Greek authority, was succeeded by Osymandias, 
 who built a magnificent monument at Thebes, which Hecataeus 
 affirms was employed as his tomb. Diodorus describes it at great 
 length, and with surprising minuteness. 4 Wilkinson supposes on 
 good grounds that the building described by the historian is the 
 well-known Memnonium. Remerri, the last king of the eighteenth Remerri. 
 dynasty, reigned but a brief period, if he reigned at all, and was the 
 father of Eamses IV., with whom properly begins the nineteenth 
 dynasty. 
 
 The nineteenth and twentieth dynasties, according to Manetho, Nineteenth 
 consisted, the one of six and the other of twelve Theban kings. The Twentieth 
 last king of the former dynasty, all of whom were named Eamses, Dynasties, 
 was known to foreigners by the Greek appellation of Proteus—a Proteus, 
 name that occupies a place too hr the Grecian mythology. 5 Accord¬ 
 ing to Herodotus, Proteus was concerned in the events which led to 
 the Trojan war. After Paris had abducted Helen, contrary winds 
 drove him into Egypt, and his servants revealed the nefarious enter¬ 
 prise in which he had been engaged. King Proteus summoned 
 him to Memphis, heard his story, and pronounced against him a 
 severe but equitable sentence. 6 The historian adds, that Menelaus 
 came to Egypt in search of his wife after the siege of Troy was con¬ 
 cluded, that he received her, and that on the eve of his departure 
 
 1 Herod, lib. ii. c. 108. 
 3 Bunsen B. iii. 
 
 5 Odyss iv. 460. 
 
 2 Herod, ii. 111. 
 4 i. 47. 
 
 8 Herod, ii. 115. 
 
100 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Twenty-first 
 
 and 
 
 twenty- 
 
 second 
 
 Dynasties. 
 
 Shishak. 
 
 Twenty- 
 
 third and 
 
 twenty- 
 
 four tli 
 
 Dynasties. 
 
 Twenty-fifth 
 
 Dynasty. 
 
 So. 
 
 Tirhalca. 
 
 lie cruelly and. ungratefully sacrificed two Egyptian children to 
 secure himself a favourable voyage to Greece. Another of the 
 kings of this period, whom Herodotus names Eliampsinitus, intro¬ 
 duced religious mysteries. 
 
 The twenty-first dynasty was composed of seven Tanite kings, 
 one of the latest of whom must have been the Pharaoh who gave 
 Solomon his daughter in marriage. The twenty-second dynasty 
 consisted of nine Bubastite sovereigns, whose shields have all 
 been discovered on the monuments. The first king of this dynasty 
 is Shesonk I., and was the Shishak, who in the fifth year of 
 Ilehoboam invaded Palestine, and took and plundered Jerusalem. 
 “ It came to pass, that, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, 
 Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they 
 had transgressed against the Lord, with twelve hundred chariots, 
 and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without 
 number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, 
 and the Ethiopians.” (2 Cliron. xii. 2—12.) The representa¬ 
 tion of this warfare is found at Karnak, the king presenting his 
 captives to the god of the temple. To each figure is joined an oval, 
 telling what city or country he represents, and on one is found in 
 hieroglypliical character the words—“ Beloved of Amon—Sheshonk” 
 —and then—“ King or Kingdom of Judah ”—a province he had 
 overrun and spoiled. The names of several Jewish towns are also 
 found on the same cartouch, such as Taanah, Shunem, Lelii, Elon, 
 Megiddo, Hinnom, and Hebron. The twenty-third dynasty includes 
 four Tanite kings, and the twenty-fourth has one sovereign, Saitic Boc- 
 choris—the Wise. The next dynasty was an Ethiopian family, the first 
 of whom, named Shabak, Sua or So is referred to in Scripture, 
 2 Kings xvii. 4. Hoshea formed an alliance with So, and refused tribute 
 to Assyria, so that the northern potentate invaded Israel and carried 
 captive the ten tribes. The shield of Sabak is depicted over one of the 
 gates of the temple-palace of Karnak. Herodotus and Diodorus load 
 him with eulogies for his piety and generosity. Another monarch of the 
 same race is supposed to be the Setlion of Herodotus, who defeated 
 Sennacherib when he invaded Egypt, an army of rats having eaten 
 the bow-strings and shield-straps of the Assyrian invaders. Tahraka, 
 or Tirhaka, another member of the same royal house, is also found 
 in the sacred writings, (2 Kings xix. 9,) where he is termed king of 
 Ethiopia. His prowess is noticed on one of the walls of a Theban 
 temple. The following paragraph on the chronology of those 
 events is full of interest:— 
 
 “The invasion of Judaea by Sennacherib took place 713 b.c., and 
 this fixes a date for the reigns of Sethos at Memphis and Tirhakah 
 in the Thebaid and Ethiopia. The chronology of the two centuries 
 and a half between the invasion of Sheshonk and that of Sennacherib, 
 cannot be settled in detail, from the variations in the lists and the 
 chasms in the series of the monuments. Supposing Sheshonk to 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY. 
 
 101 
 
 have invaded Judaea in the beginning of his reign, the 21st dynasty 
 to have lasted 116 years, according to Manetho, the 22d, 89 years, 
 the 24th, 6 years, and the 25th, 40, these numbers (116 + 89 + 6-)- 
 40) amount to 251, a coincidence sufficiently close to show that 
 Manetho is substantially correct.” 1 
 
 According to Herodotus, great confusion took place after the Dodecarchy. 
 death of Tirhaka, and the nation chose no less than twelve sovereigns, 
 each nome having its own monarch. The most powerful of these 
 royal chiefs was Psammitichus, who soon, by policy and prowess, 
 usurped the functions and territories of his royal colleagues. 
 According to the authority we have mainly followed, ten Saitic 
 kings formed the twenty-sixth dynasty. Among these Psammitichus Twenty- 
 is included as the fourth. This prince imitated his predecessors in Dynasty, 
 making additions to the great temples. He had been indebted, 
 however, for his power to foreign auxiliaries, jealousies between Psammiti- 
 them and the native troops were of constant occurrence, so that on chus ' 
 one occasion a large body of his soldiers deserted. It was under 
 the reign of this sovereign, that a ridiculous attempt was made to 
 discover which was the original language. It is thus told with 
 peculiar naivete by Herodotus, “Psammitichus gave two new-born 
 children of poor parents to a shepherd, to be brought up among his 
 flocks in the following manner: he gave strict orders that no one 
 should utter a word in their presence, that they should lie in a soli¬ 
 tary room by themselves, and that he should bring goats to them at 
 certain times, and that when he had satisfied them with milk he 
 should attend to his other employments. Psammitichus contrived 
 and ordered this, for the purpose of hearing what word the children 
 would first articulate, after they had given over their insignificant 
 mewlings; and such accordingly was the result. For when the 
 shepherd had pursued this plan for the space of two years, one day 
 as he opened the door and went in, both the children falling upon 
 him, and holding out their hands, cried ‘ Becos.’ The shepherd, 
 when he first heard it, said nothing; but when this same word was 
 constantly repeated to him whenever he went and tended the chil¬ 
 dren, he at length acquainted his master, and by his command 
 brought the children into his presence. When Psammitichus heard 
 the same, he inquired what people call any thing by the name of 
 ‘ Becos; ’ and on inquiry he discovered that the Phrygians call 
 bread by that name. Thus the Egyptians, convinced by the above 
 experiment, allowed that the Phrygians were more ancient than 
 themselves.” 2 It is plain that, as language is learned from imitation, 
 the cry of the children tortured into a dis-syllable, becos, was only 
 an imitation of the bleating of the goats by which they were 
 nursed. 
 
 Under the same reign intercourse with Greece and Phenicia was Necho. 
 
 1 Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt, ii. 377. 
 
 2 Herod, ii. 2. 
 
102 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 carried on to a considerable extent. Neko, Neclius, or Necho was 
 the next sovereign—the Pharaoh-Neclio of Scripture. 1 Collecting 
 an immense army the Egyptian sovereign resolved to check the grow¬ 
 ing power of Babylonia, and to attack the enemy in his own terri¬ 
 tory lying on the Euphrates. With this view he entered Palestine 
 by the usual route, while Josiah, offended at such unceremonious 
 intrusion, opposed his march. Necho hearing of the intended assault 
 despatched an embassy to Josiah, disavowing any hostile intentions 
 josiah. against him or his kingdom. The Hebrew sovereign was not 
 persuaded to disband his army, but met the Egyptian warrior at 
 Megiddo. Josiah’s troops were routed with great slaughter, and 
 himself mortally wounded. 2 This expedition of Necho is thus told 
 by Herodotus,—“ Neco, having put a stop to his excavation, turned 
 his attention to military affairs; and triremes were constructed, some 
 on the northern sea, and others in the Arabian Gulf, or the Eed 
 Sea, of which the docks are still to be seen. These he used as he 
 had occasion; and Neco, having come to an engagement with the 
 Syrians on land at Magdolus, conquered them, and after the battle 
 took Cadytis, which is a large city in Syria. The garments he wore 
 during these actions he consecrated to Apollo, having sent them to 
 Branchkke of the Milesians. Afterwards, having reigned sixteen 
 years in all, he died and left the kingdom to his son, Psammis.” 3 
 
 The Egyptian sovereign pushed on after the battle of Megiddo 
 towards Carchemish and invested it. After this victorious expe¬ 
 dition, which occupied him only three months, he returned to 
 his own kingdom. As he was passing through Palestine he was 
 -ifchoaimz. made aware that Jehoaliaz had ascended the vacant throne, -without 
 soliciting his sanction, so he summoned him to Riblah, and there 
 ordered him to be fettered and sent as a prisoner to Egypt, where 
 he died. Necho marched from Eiblah to Jerusalem, raised to the 
 throne another son of Josiah, Eliakim; changed his name into 
 Jehoiakim, and exacted a large tribute from the oppressed and 
 unfortunate country. Three years after this campaign, Nebuchad¬ 
 nezzar, who had been associated with his father, Nabopolassar, in 
 the government of Babylonia, resolved to wipe away the disgrace at 
 Carchemish, assembled for that purpose an immense army, invaded 
 Egypt and overran it, so that, in the simple and striking phraseology 
 of the sacred annalist, (2 Kings xxiv. 7,) “ And the king of Egypt 
 came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon 
 had taken, from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all 
 that pertained to the king of Egypt.” This signal discomfiture had 
 been foretold by Jeremiah. 4 
 
 Psammiti- Necho was succeeded by his son Psammitichus II. of whom few 
 
 clius II. 
 
 1 2 Kings xxiii. 29. 2 2 Chron. xxxv. 22, 23, 24. 
 
 3 ii. 159. Magdolus evidently points to Megiddo, and Cadytis is intended for 
 
 Jerusalem the Holy City, being a Greek term formed from Kadesh, —Holy. 
 
 4 Jer. xlvi. 1. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 PHARAOH-HOPHRA. 
 
 103 
 
 memorials remain. After an expedition to Ethiopia he died, and 
 was succeeded by his son Hophra or Apries, about b.c. 588. 
 Pharaoh-Hophra is also connected with biblical history. Jerusalem Hophra. 
 had now been sacked by Nebuchadnezzar, and Zedekiah was its 
 vassal-king, but in hopes of retaliating upon his Chaldean master, 
 he concluded an alliance with Hophra. The Egyptian monarch gladly 
 acquiesced, longing for an opportunity to curb the ambition of 
 Babylon. An Egyptian army was accordingly sent into Judea, 
 the siege of Jerusalem was raised, and the Israelitisk sovereign 
 exulted in his liberation. But his joy was short—a stronger 
 Assyrian host invested the city, the Egyptian troops retired, and the 
 Hebrew capital was left to its fate. Herodotus describes the proud 
 and imperious temper of Hophra, in language which so far illustrates 
 the oracle of Ezekiel ft— 
 
 “ Thus saitll the Lord Jehovah — Oracle of 
 
 Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt; Ezekiel. 
 
 Thou, great dragon, that liest in its stream ; 
 
 Who has said, My river is my own, and for myself have I made it. 
 
 But I will fix a hook in thy jaws, 
 
 And I will stick the fish of thy river to thy scales, 
 
 And I will drag thee out of thy rivers, 
 
 And all the fish of thy rivers shall cling to thy scales. 
 
 And I will hurl thee into the wilderness, 
 
 Thee, and all the fish of thy streams. 
 
 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, 
 
 Because thou hast been the staff of a reed to the house of Israel. 
 
 When they took hold of thee by the hand, 
 
 Thou didst break and tear all their shoulder ; 
 
 And when they leaned on thee, thou brakest 
 And causedst all their loins to reel. 
 
 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste. 
 
 Behold, then I am against thee and thy rivers, 
 
 And I will make the land utterly waste and desolate, 
 
 From Migdol to Syene, and to the border of Ethiopia,” 
 
 Ezek. xxix. 3—10. 
 
 The Cyrenians, a Greek colony in Africa, had appropriated a 
 large portion of the Libyan territory, the inhabitants of which placed 
 themselves under the protection of Hophra. He despatched an 
 army to succour them, but it was defeated and shattered. On 
 hearing the melancholy news, the Egyptians, imagining that the 
 army had been sent away on purpose by the king to ensure its 
 destruction, revolted. Hophra sent Amasis, an officer of high rank, Revolt, 
 to appease the rebels, but during his harangue, a soldier from 
 behind placed a helmet-crown upon the orator’s head. The sym¬ 
 bolic nature of the sudden act was at once and universally recognised; 
 and the mob saluted the royal deputy as their sovereign. The mes¬ 
 senger of Hophra was easily seduced from his allegiance, and consented 
 
 i ii. 16. 
 
104 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Oracle of 
 Ezekiel. 
 
 Am a sis. 
 
 to lead against Inis lord the army lie had been sent to recover. On 
 learning this startling report, Hophra despatched a new courier to 
 Amasis, but on his return from his bootless errand, his maddened 
 master commanded his nose and ears to be cut off. This senseless 
 and cruel outrage upon a man so popular as Patarbemis completed 
 the insurrection, for the nation rose at once to arms and joined 
 the insurgents. Hophra was after some time defeated, carried to 
 his capital a prisoner, and at length strangled in his palace by the 
 infuriated populace. Jehovah had said, “Behold, I will give 
 Pharaoh-hophra the king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, 
 and into the hand of them that seek his life.” 1 
 
 During this period, that is, after the siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchad¬ 
 nezzar laid siege to Tyre, and invaded and overran Egypt. The 
 siege of Tyre was long indeed, and the Assyrian soldiers found no 
 compensation in its spoils. The inhabitants had fled away with their 
 wealth. 3 But Providence ordered it, that Egypt should be the 
 reward of the luckless besiegers. 
 
 “ Son of'Man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon carried his army, 
 
 To serve a great service against Tyre. 
 
 Every head was made bald, 3 and every shoulder was peeled, 4 
 Yet nor he nor his army had wages from Tyre, 
 
 For the service that he had served against it. 
 
 Therefore, saith the Lord Jehovah, 
 
 Behold I will give the land of Egypt 
 Unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, 
 
 And he shall take her multitude, 
 
 And share her spoil, and plunder her booty, 
 
 And she shall be wages for his army. 
 
 For his wages, wherewith he served against it, 
 
 I have given him the land of Egypt.”— Ezek. xxix. 18, 19. 
 
 Aahmes or Amasis, ascended the throne about. 5G9 b.c. Of 
 common birth, he yet commanded esteem. As a symbol of his 
 own elevation, he melted a golden footbath into the statue of a 
 god, showing, that by a slight change, what was once used for 
 ignoble purposes, may soon gain universal homage. His reign 
 was crowned with prosperity; but though he did the duties of 
 sovereignty, he fell into some of its vices. His hours of pleasime 
 were as gay as his hours of business had been toilsome. 5 Solon 
 seems to have visited Egypt during his reign, and to have introduced 
 into Greece some elements of that legislation which Amasis had 
 established. He courted and cultivated friendly alliance with the 
 Greeks, and decorated his capital with many noble piles of archi¬ 
 tecture. The beauty of a monolithe shrine, 30 feet in height, of 
 
 1 Jer. xliv. 30. 2 Jerome on Ezek. xxix. 18. 
 
 In consequence of the continued use of the heavy helmet. 
 
 4 From carrying the constant loads of stone, earth, and faggots during the siege. 
 
 5 Herodotus ii. 171. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 CAMBYSES. 
 
 105 
 
 granite from Elephantine, has been often admired. Other works of a 
 similar nature, such as obelisks and sphinxes, were erected by him 
 at Memphis. 1 The ancient glory of Egypt was revived for a brief 
 period under this plebeian prince, who died after a reign of 44 years. 2 
 He was succeeded by his son Psammenitus, and had scarcely been Psammeni- 
 entombed, when the country was invaded by a Medo-Persian host, tus ' 
 under the command of Cambyses, son of Cyrus. It was at the 
 deceased Amasis that Cambyses was enraged, and historians vary as 
 to the causes of this hostility. 
 
 According to one account, on which Herodotus' relies, Cambyses cambyses. 
 had sought in marriage the daughter of Amasis, king of Egypt, who 
 both dreaded and detested the power of Persia. He was thus un¬ 
 willing to accept, yet fearful of declining the proffered alliance. 
 
 Under these impressions he sent, instead of his own daughter, Nitetis, 
 the daughter of Apries, the former king of Egypt, whom he had 
 dethroned and imprisoned. Cambyses married this princess, who 
 was elegant and beautiful, supposing her to have been the daughter 
 of Amasis. She, however, soon undeceived him; when he prepared 
 to revenge the insult by immediate hostilities against Egypt. Such 
 is the Persian account. 
 
 On the contrary, Herodotus says, the Egyptians claim Cambyses Quarrels 
 for their own, by asserting that this incident did not happen to him 
 but to Cyrus.” 3 He disputes this statement; but Polynaeus, in his Egypt. 
 
 “ Stratagemata,” relates that Nitetis lived a long time with Cyrus as 
 daughter of Amasis: till, after bringing him many children, besides 
 Cambyses, she acknowledged herself the daughter of the deposed 
 king Apries, whose wrongs she persuaded her husband to avenge ; 
 but he dying before he could accomplish that design, she urged her 
 son to retaliate the injuries his grandfather had suffered from Amasis 
 and the Egyptians. There is still another story. Nitetis is said to 
 have been the wife of Cyrus, but not the mother of Cambyses. 
 
 His mother, Cassandane, complaining in her son’s presence, of 
 Cyrus’s neglect, Cambyses, at ten year’s of age, vowed hostility to 
 the country of Nitetis, and, on ascending the throne, made war 
 against Egypt. Yet, after all, the most probable account is, that 
 the Egyptians had become, in some measure, tributary to the Per¬ 
 sians, in consequence of their alliance with the king of Lydia, and, 
 on the death of Cyrus, had refused to acknowledge his successor. 
 
 Whatever might have been the occasion of the war, the reign of 
 Cambyses commenced with numerous preparations for the invasion 
 of Egypt. 
 
 He engaged ships from Phoenicia and Cyprus, and attached to his preparations 
 native troops a numerous body of Ionians, iEolians, and Greeks. for war ' 
 
 Of these Greek auxiliaries, the principal part had revolted from 
 Amasis, under the conduct of their commander, Phanes of Halicar- 
 
 1 Champollion, Egypte, &c. ii. 114. 2 Rosellini Mon. Stor. ii. 152. 
 
 3 jii. 2. 
 
106 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Phmies. 
 
 Peculiar 
 
 ceremony. 
 
 Death of 
 Amasis. 
 
 Pelusium 
 taken by 
 stratagem. 
 
 nassus, whom Herodotus describes as “ distinguished by mental as 
 well as military accomplishments.” 1 That general, on some affront 
 which he had received from Amasis, determined to revolt, and escaped 
 in a vessel from Egypt, with a design of offering his services to 
 Cambyses. Amasis ordered him to be vigorously pursued, by the 
 most faithful of his eunuchs in a three-banlced galley. He was 
 overtaken in Lydia, but he contrived to intoxicate his guards, and 
 so escaped into Persia. There he found Cambyses projecting his 
 expedition. He was, however, deterred by the difficulty of supply¬ 
 ing his army with water on its march through the desert, which 
 Herodotus describes as a three days’ journey. 
 
 Phanes first explained to Cambyses the resources and situation of 
 the enemy, and the nature of the country he was about to invade. 
 To secure the most accessible entrance into Egypt and a supply of 
 water for his army, he recommended an alliance with the Arabian 
 Prince who ruled over the intervening country. The ceremonies 
 observed in forming such an alliance Herodotus has described. 
 They are sufficiently curious to warrant their insertion. 
 
 “ On these occasions, some one connected with both parties stands 
 between them, holding a sharp stone. With this he opens a vein 
 of the hand, near the middle finger of each of the contracting 
 parties. He then takes a piece of the vest of each, which he dips 
 in their blood. With this he stains several stones, purposely placed 
 in the midst of the assembly, invoking, during the ceremony, 
 Bacchus and Urania. When this is concluded, he who solicits the 
 compact pledges his friends for the sincerity of his engagements.” 
 The alliance being thus ratified, the Arabian Prince “ ordered all 
 his camels to be laden with camel-skins filled with water, and to be 
 driven to the Deserts, there to wait the arrival of Cambyses and his 
 army. 2 
 
 The Persian Prince had entered the fourth year of his reign, 
 when, his formidable preparations being at length completed, he set 
 forward at the head of his army. On reaching the borders of Egypt, 
 Cambyses was apprized of the death of Amasis, but he learned that 
 Psammenitus, his son, who had succeeded to the precarious throne, 
 was now advancing against him with a powerful army. 
 
 Psammenitus had garrisoned Pelusium, the key of Egypt towards 
 the Mediterranean. The possession of that place became essential 
 to the projects of Cambyses, as the only means of securing a com¬ 
 munication with his fleet. Understanding that the garrison consisted 
 entirely of Egyptians, he availed himself of their peculiar supersti¬ 
 tions, according to the advice of Phanes, for the Greeks probably 
 held in contempt all superstitions except their own. Cambyses, 
 therefore, as Polya-nus relates in his “ Stratagemata,” ordered a 
 number of cats, dogs, sheep, and other animals esteemed sacred by 
 
 1 iii. 4. 
 
 2 Herodotus iii. 8. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 PSAMMENITUS DEFEATED. 
 
 107 
 
 the Egyptians, to be ranged in the front of his army as he advanced 
 to the assault. The besieged, not daring to employ a hostile weapon 
 against their gods, could offer no opposition to the besiegers, and 
 thus the city of Pelusium was taken without any resistance. 
 
 Psammenitus advanced towards the Pelusian mouth of the Nile, 
 and encamped opposite to the Persians. The Greeks and Carians, 
 who had remained faithful to their alliance with Egypt, now punished 
 the defection of Phanes, by indulging a barbarous retaliation upon 
 his unoffending family. On his flight from Amasis, he had left his 
 sons in Egypt. These were now brought out before the camps, and The sons of 
 singly put to death, in sight of their father. A vessel had been ^® t “ sputt0 
 prepared for the purpose of receiving their blood. This was after¬ 
 wards filled with wine and water. The auxiliaries, having drank 
 the horrid potion, 1 and probably sworn to avenge the treason of 
 Phanes, immediately engaged the Persians. The army of Psam- Egyptians 
 menitus was, however, soon discomfited, and the greater part (Uteuu ‘ 1 - 
 destroyed, only an inconsiderable number of the fugitives escaping 
 to Memphis, whither Cambyses prepared to follow them. 
 
 Herodotus relates, from his own observation, a curious circum¬ 
 stance connected with this battle. The people of the place where it 
 was fought pointed out to him two distinct heaps of bones, into 
 which those belonging to each army had been separated. The 
 skulls of the Persians were soft, and would yield to the slight 
 impression even of a pebble, while those of the Egyptians were so 
 hard that the blow of a large stone would scarcely break them. To 
 account for this diversity, it was remarked that the Egyptians, from 
 an early age, shaved their heads, and rendered them hard by a 
 constant exposure, uncovered, to the action of a fervid sun, while 
 the skulls of the Persians became soft by being always sheltered 
 under caps and turbans. 2 
 
 After thus routing the army of Psammenitus, the Persian Prince 
 appears to have sought the completion of the conquest of Egypt, 
 without the further effusion of blood. With this design, as Mem- Memphis 
 phis, to which the fugitives had retired, was seated on the Nile, he taken ' 
 sent a Persian herald up the river, in a vessel of Mitylene, to demand 
 their submission. The infatuated people, soon as they saw the 
 vessel enter the harbour, disregarding the sacred character of a 
 herald, rushed from the citadel, destroyed the vessel, tore in pieces 
 the crew, consisting of two hundred, and carried the mangled limbs 
 into the citadel, probably to deprive them of the rites of sepidture. 
 
 The Persians immediately besieged the place. After an unavailing 
 resistance, the Egyptians surrendered, when Cambyses proceeded to 
 execute a most rigorous vengeance, of which Herodotus has given a 
 very interesting description. 
 
 On the tenth day after the surrender of the citadel, Psammenitus 
 
 Herodotus iii. 11. 
 
 ‘iii. 12. 
 
108 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Disgrace of 
 Psamraeni- 
 tus. 
 
 Death of his 
 son. 
 
 Psammeni- 
 tus put to 
 death. 
 
 Cambyses’ 
 revenge oil 
 Amasis. 
 
 was conducted without the walls, that, while himself a public spec¬ 
 tacle, he might feel the distress and mortification of the following 
 scene. His daughter, robed as a slave, was sent with a pitcher to 
 draw water accompanied by young women in the same servile 
 attire, who were the daughters of the first families in the place. 
 The children and parents loudly expressed their grief, while Psam- 
 menitus merely fixed his eyes upon the ground. Next, he beheld 
 his son, with two thousand Egyptians of the same age, passing in 
 procession, with ropes round their necks and bridles in their mouths. 
 These were selected for execution by the counsellors of Cambyses, 
 to avenge the destruction of the Mitylenian crew. They had 
 determined that, for each man massacred, ten Egyptians should be 
 put to death. Psammenitus witnessed the whole scene; yet, while 
 the Egyptians around him wept and uttered loud lamentations, he 
 remained unmoved as before. Then appeared a venerable old man, 
 who had formerly been a guest at the royal table, but was now in 
 the garb of a mendicant. After being made to pass through the 
 ranks of the army to ask charity, he was conducted to Psammenitus, 
 to beg alms of him, and the Egyptians around him. The King 
 could not suppress his emotions, but, calling on his friend by name, 
 beat his head and wept aloud. To an inquiry, by Cambyses, why 
 such scenes as he had before witnessed had failed to excite any 
 lamentations, the captive Prince thus replied: “Son of Cyrus, the 
 misfortunes of my family were too great to be thus lamented; but 
 it became me to shed tears for the sad condition of a friend, who, in 
 his old age, has fallen into indigence, from the possession of rank 
 and fortune.” It is added that even Cambyses was affected by this 
 reply, and that Croesus, who attended the Persian King in this 
 expedition, and all the Persians who were present, wept at the 
 affecting incident. 
 
 Cambyses, thus softened, would have saved the life of the son of 
 Psammenitus, and issued his orders to prevent the execution, but 
 Ins mercy came too late. The young Prince had suffered among 
 the first of the two thousand victims. He spared, however, the fife 
 of the wretched father, till he was shortly after convicted, or at least 
 accused, of encouraging attempts for the recovery of his crown. 
 Psammenitus, who was put to death by being forced to drink bull’s 
 blood, thus closed a disastrous reign of only six months’ continuance. 
 
 From Memphis Cambyses proceeded to Sais, and entered the 
 palace of Amasis, on whose corpse he projected a mean revenge. 
 He ordered it to be taken out of the tomb, and treated in his 
 presence with every possible indignity. The corpse was then 
 burned, as if in direct opposition to the Egyptian custom of preserv¬ 
 ing the bodies of the deceased; though also, as Herodotus remarks, 
 in defiance of the veneration paid to fire in the religion of the 
 Persians. He adds, however, that Amasis, warned by an oracle, or 
 rather naturally apprehending this violation of his tomb, had directed 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 FURY OF CAMBYSES. 
 
 109 
 
 his interment in the interior recess of the sepulchre, while another 
 corpse, on which Cambyses now gratified his revenge, had been 
 placed at the entrance. Thus, in the language of the prophet, did 
 “ the sceptre of Egypt pass away,” while the whole country sub¬ 
 mitted to the conqueror. The neighbouring people, also, the Bar- 
 ceans, Libyans, and Cyreneans, sent presents, and imposed on 
 themselves an annual tribute. 
 
 In the mean time the Persian conqueror planned an expedition Expedition 
 into Ethiopia, and detached 50,000 men for this purpose. After t0 Ethl0 P la - 
 they had reached the city of Oasis, they were never more heard of. 
 
 A mountain of sand is said to have suddenly covered them; at all 
 events, they perished in the desert. Cambyses prepared to follow, 
 but after a few days’ march was compelled from famine to desist; 
 his army, in their extremity, being reduced to the expedient of 
 cannibalism, selecting every tenth man, and slaying him for sus¬ 
 tenance. The king’s table was supplied all the while with the richest 
 delicacies. 1 Afraid to carry farther his insane project, Cambyses 
 returned with his shattered and decimated troops to Thebes. 
 
 Thebes was famous for the wealth and magnificence of the temples plunder of 
 there dedicated to the gods of Egypt. These temples Cambyses now Thebes - 
 pillaged of their moveable riches, which amounted to three hundred 
 talents of gold, and two thousand three hundred of silver, and then 
 commanded them to be burned to the ground,—probably instigated 
 by the Persian abhorrence of temple-worship. He also, according 
 to Diodorus, took away from the tomb of king Osymandias, the 
 celebrated circle of gold, which was in circumference three hundred 
 and sixty-five cubits, and represented on its surface all the motions 
 of the heavenly bodies. The Persian prince also visited the famous 
 statue of Memnon; the mutilated remains of which modern travellers 
 have discovered among the ruins of Thebes. This wonderful pro¬ 
 duction he began to break in pieces, under pretence of discovering 
 some magical secret which might have occasioned the extraordinary 
 musical sounds. 
 
 Leaving Thebes, Cambyses returned to Memphis, where he dis- cambyses at 
 missed the Greek auxiliaries. The Egyptians were now celebrating Mem P lns - 
 a most solemn and joyful festival on the discovery of their god Apis. 
 Whatever emblematical designs may have been ascribed to “the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians ” in worshipping the sacred ox, the follow¬ 
 ing were his natural qualites:— 
 
 Herodotus describes this supreme deity of Egypt as a calf, whose Apis, 
 “skin is black, on its forehead is a white star of a triangular form, 
 the figure of an eagle on the back, the tail divided, and under the 
 tongue an insect like a beetle.” According to Pliny, this sacred 
 bull must have “ a white spot resembling a crescent on the right 
 side, and a lump under the tongue.” When a calf was found, 
 
 1 Among these Seneca enumerates game-—generosae aves. 
 
110 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 really, or according to the pretences of the priests, answering tire 
 proper description, they announced to the people the birth of Apis 
 and fecundity. 
 
 Bronzes of the God Apis .—British Museum.'] 
 
 It was in the ceremonies of this festival that Cambyses found the 
 Egyptians so unseasonably employed when he returned to Memphis, 
 disappointed and dispirited, from his Ethiopic expedition. 
 
 Killed by The Persian prince apprehended that these festivals were excited 
 
 Cambyses. py t p e j 0 y 0 f tp e Egyptians on the knowledge of his disasters. He 
 interrogated the magistrates, and disbelieving their story, com¬ 
 manded them to be put to death. He then sent for the priests, who 
 also assured him that they were rejoicing because they had found 
 their god Apis. This deity he commanded them to bring into his 
 presence, when, seeing a calf, he burst into laughter, or rather into 
 a rage, and drawing his sword, gave the animal a mortal wound. 
 He ordered the priests to be severely scourged, and forbad the 
 people of Memphis, on pain of death, to persist in the worship of 
 Apis. The god, according to Herodotus, “ died in the temple, and 
 was buried by the priests without the knowledge of Cambyses.” 
 Plutarch says, that, by the king’s order, Apis was exposed and 
 devoured by dogs. “ Of the ox Apis,” he well remarks, that, 
 “ though revelling in every delight that he can desire, yet he longs 
 after the liberty which nature gave him, wants to bound over the 
 fields and pastures at his pleasure, and discovers a manifest uneasi¬ 
 ness under the hands of the priest who feeds him.” 1 
 
 1 Cleomenes ad fin. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEATH OF SMERDIS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 To this outrage on their religion, the Egyptians, as we learn from insanity of 
 Herodotus, 1 were ready enough to attribute as a judgment, the Camb> ° es ' 
 insanity of Cambyses. That historian, however, says, 2 that “ from 
 the first hom’ of his birth he laboured under what by some is termed 
 the sacred disease.” This disease (the epilepsy, according to Hip¬ 
 pocrates), the historian further supposes to have produced his mental 
 derangement, of which, indeed, he had given some proofs before his 
 adventure with Apis. “ The madness of the heart,” at least, he had 
 amply discovered; and his story will soon afford us some additional 
 examples. 
 
 The brother of Cambyses, whom we have already mentioned, Death of 
 attended him on his expedition into Egypt, and was the only officer Smeidis - 
 in the army who could bend, within two fingers breadth, the bow 
 which the king of Ethiopia had tauntingly presented to the Persian 
 prince. This superiority naturally excited jealousy in such a dis¬ 
 position as Cambyses indulged. He could no longer bear the com¬ 
 pany of his brother, but on some pretence sent him back to Persia, 
 
 Dreaming, however, that a messenger arrived to inform him that 
 Smerdis had ascended the throne, and touched the heavens with his 
 head, his jealousy was awakened. He sent into Persia his favourite 
 courtier, Prexaspes, who executed his bloody commission, and 
 quieted the apprehensions of Cambyses, by putting his brother to 
 death. The manner of his death is differently related. Some report 
 that Prexaspes drowned the prince in the sea; others that he 
 watched an opportimity, and assassinated him during the diversion 
 of the chase. 
 
 This murder soon gave occasion to a second. Cambyses had a Marriage and 
 sister called Meroe, who accompanied him on his expeditions, and yJSoef ° f 
 whose name he gave to an island in the Nile. He indulged a 
 passion for this princess, and was desirous of marrying her. He 
 therefore consulted the royal judges whether the Egyptian laws 
 would allow such a marriage. The interpreters of the law shrewdly 
 replied, that there was no law to authorize a marriage between a 
 brother and sister, but they had a law which declared that a king of 
 Persia might do what he pleased. Herodotus attributes to “ the royal 
 judges the most approved integrity,” yet he admits that “ in this 
 answer the awe of Cambyses prevented their adopting literally the 
 spirit of the Persian laws,” and that “ to secure their persons, they 
 took care to discover what would justify him who wished to marry 
 his sister.” Thus Cambyses gratified his inclination, and afforded 
 the first example of those incestuous marriages which became 
 common in Persia. 
 
 Meroe still affected by the cruelty of Cambyses in putting their 
 brother to death, could not suppress her grief and resentment, which 
 forced from her a dangerous application of the following occurrence, 
 
 1 iii. 30. 
 
 2 iii. 33. 
 
112 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. Ill 
 
 Excesses of 
 Cambyses. 
 
 Prexaspes. 
 
 related by Herodotus on the authority of the Greeks. Cambyses 
 diverted himself, in the presence of Meroe, with a combat between 
 the cub of a lioness and a young whelp, which another whelp of the 
 same litter presently flew to assist, and they thus overcame the 
 young lion. Cambyses enjoyed the sight, but the princess wept; 
 because, on seeing one whelp assist another, she remembered Smer- 
 dis, who was unsupported, and whose death she feared no one 
 would avenge. Herodotus adds another account from the Egyptians; 
 that Meroe divided a lettuce, and then accused Cambyses of thus 
 dividing the house of Cyrus. In whatever way the provocation was 
 offered, the enraged husband aimed a blow at the princess with his 
 foot, which produced a miscarriage and her speedy death. 
 
 Cambyses, indeed, appears, at this period of his reign, to have 
 indulged his cruel disposition to an excess of frenzy. He caused 
 several of his principal nobles to be buried alive, and daily sacrificed 
 some of the courtiers to his fury. Prexaspes, his obsequious agent 
 in the murder of his brother, was now rewarded as his guilty com¬ 
 pliance with the tyrant’s pleasure had so justly merited. He was 
 one day asked by the king what opinion the Persians entertained of 
 him. The courtier replied, that they admired his wisdom, but 
 regretted that he indidged to excess in wine. “They think,” 
 replied the king, “ that wine disturbs my understanding, but you 
 shall judge.” Then, after drinking more freely, he ordered the son 
 of Prexaspes, who was his cupbearer, to stand upright at the further 
 end of the room in which the king was feasting. “ Now,” turning 
 to Prexaspes, he said, “ if I shoot this arrow through the heart of 
 your son, the Persians have slandered me; but if I miss, I will allow 
 that they have spoken truth.” He drew his bow, the youth fell, 
 and, on his body being opened, it was found that the arrow had 
 pierced his heart. Cambyses asked the -wretched father if he had 
 ever seen any one shoot with a steadier hand. Prexaspes, either 
 from the base servility of a courtier, or from apprehensions for his 
 own life, but who, as Rollin remarks, “ought not to have had 
 voice or life remaining,” replied that Apollo liimself could not have 
 aimed more correctly. Seneca, who attributes the answer to 
 flattery rather than to fear, thus condemns the monstrous adulation, 
 Sceleratius telum illud laudatum est , qudm 
 missum. 
 
 It was at Memphis, according to Hero¬ 
 dotus, that Cambyses was abandoned to 
 these cruel extravagancies; there, also, 
 he employed himself in forcibly enter¬ 
 ing the sacred recesses of the temples, 
 violating the tombs, and, as if to indulge 
 an inhuman curiosity, examining the 
 bodies of the dead. After other wild 
 freaks of cruelty, he returned to Persia, 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 TWENTY-SEVENTH DYNASTY. 
 
 113 
 
 but died on his journey, from a wound inflicted by his sword, which Death of 
 had slipped from its scabbard, and pierced him in the thigh as he Camb J' S( -‘ s - 
 was mounting his horse. 
 
 The twenty-seventh dynasty began with Cambyses. Smerdis, the Twenty- 
 Magian, who succeeded him, had usurped the sovereignty only a 
 few months, when Darius Hystaspes ascended the throne. A short 
 space after his coronation, Darius visited Egypt as one of his satra- Darius, 
 pies, and put to death Aryandes, who had been left by Cambyses as 
 lieutenant-governor. In the pride of Oriental egotism, the Persian 
 king and conqueror wished to erect a statue of himself at Memphis, 
 in front of the temple of Yulcan, but the influence of the priesthood 
 restrained him. He acquired, however, great popularity among 
 the Egyptians by his just and humane legislation, and his name 
 is found with the same hieroglyphical accompaniments as those 
 of the legitimate and native Pharoahs. Darius did not tarry 
 long in Egypt. Schemes of ambition led him at length to in¬ 
 vade Greece, and his troops were beaten at Marathon, that cele¬ 
 brated spot of Athenian valour. Egypt seized the opportunity 
 to rebel against its foreign master. Persian pride was roused 
 by the affront, and preparations were all but completed against the 
 revolted nation when Darius died, after a reign of thirty-six years, 
 and was succeeded by Xerxes. One of Iris first operations was to Xerxes, 
 reduce Egypt to obedience, and he immediately placed it under a 
 stricter yoke, by appointing Achasmenes to be its governor. This 
 captain ruled for twenty-foiu years—a period during which the 
 quiet of Egypt was but the forced repose of servitude. Xerxes 
 being assassinated, Artaxerxes Longimanus succeeded him. The Artaxerxes 
 terror of the Persian arms had, in the meantime, been greatly Lonsimanus ' 
 lessened, by the complete failure of Xerxes’ expedition into Greece; 
 and in the early part of the reign of his successor, the Egyptians, 
 headed by Inarus, revolted a second time against the Asiatic despot. 
 Achasmenes was slain, and the Persian garrison routed with great 
 slaughter. The Egyptians now concluded an alliance with the 
 Athenians, and forty tiremes were sent to them, a detachment from 
 the Grecian fleet which was investing Cyprus. But the Persian 
 hosts mustered with greater vigour, defeated the Egyptian troops, 
 and dispersed their Greek auxiliaries. Inarus was crucified, and 
 Egypt sunk again into prolonged and bitter bondage. Xerxes II., Xerxes n. 
 successor of Artaxerxes, was murdered immediately on his accession, 
 and the Persian sceptre was grasped by Ochus, or, as he is often 
 named, Darius Nothus. 1 Egypt again rose to arms and with better 
 success, and the Persian dynasty was for a while superseded. 
 
 The twenty-eighth dynasty was included in the person of Amyr- Twenty- 
 tffius, the Saite, who reigned six years, and laboured in many ways “ynasty. 
 to remedy the evils which Persia had inflicted on his country, espe- 
 
 1 Notlius—illegitimate. 
 
 I 
 
 [e. o. h.] 
 
114 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Twenty- 
 
 ninth 
 
 dynasty. 
 
 Thirtieth 
 
 dynasty. 
 
 Nectanebes. 
 
 361 B.C. 
 Tachus. 
 
 Nectanebus. 
 
 cially in restoring the sacred edifices which they had so wantonly 
 mutilated and defaced. His sarcophagus, formed of green breccia, 
 was one of the trophies of the British expedition to Egypt, and was 
 long supposed by many to belong to Alexander the Great. 
 
 The twenty-ninth dynasty consisted of four Mendesian sovereigns. 
 During all this period of perhaps twenty years, Persia made no 
 effort to regain the ascendancy, being frilly occupied with matters 
 nearer home—an insurrection of the Medes and the expedition of 
 the famed ten thousand Greeks. Nofreopli or Nepherites, the first 
 king of this new race, sent supplies to the Spartans, who rvith other 
 Grecian states, were preparing to invade Asia; but the ships were 
 seized by a Persian fleet, which covered the port of Rhodes. Acho- 
 ris sat on the Egyptian throne, when Pharnabazus raised a new levy 
 to invade the country, and memorials of this monarch are found at 
 Medinet-Abu, and in the quarries of Mokattam. 
 
 The expedition of Pharnabazus, the satrap of A rtaxerxes Mnemon, 
 at length mustered at Acre. Its force was very great in allies and 
 in galleys—each of thirty oars. The thirtieth dynasty of Sebennytic 
 sovereigns had begun to reign when the Persian armament entered 
 Egypt. Nectanebes the first of these, lost no time in concerting mea¬ 
 sures to repel this formidable invasion, by the erection of fortified 
 works along the mouths of the Nile. Memphis was also garrisoned, and 
 other towns placed in a state of defence. The Nile aided the valour 
 of the Egyptians, and the Persian troops were obliged to retire 
 before its rising waters. Nectanebes employed the repose which 
 followed in social benefits and reforms. His name given as Nacht- 
 ef-neb, 1 is found at Philai and at Medinet-Abu. Mention is made of 
 a beautiful obelisk, which this sovereign caused to be cut, but which 
 lay in the quarry till Ptolemy Philadelphus brought it down the 
 Nile, and set it up in honour of his sister. Teos or Taclios had 
 scarcely been crowned, when the report of another Persian invasion 
 filled the country with terror. The Egyptian king took immediate 
 advantage of the commotions prevailing in the Persian empire, 2 for 
 a general league had been formed of many of the states of Asia 
 Minor, and Taclios prepared a levy for the invasion of Persia. This 
 armament consisted of 200 ships, 80,000 Egyptian troops, and 10,000 
 Greek auxiliaries. The Grecian portion of the host were under the 
 command of Agesilaus, an old and restless adventurer, who soon 
 quarreled with Chabrias, the admiral of the Egyptian fleet. The 
 plan resorted to for the purpose of augmenting the warlike finances, 
 gave general dissatisfaction to the people. The leaders of the army 
 in their jealous rivalry could not agree upon any bold and decisive 
 measure; the excited nation was ripe for revolt, and accordingly in 
 the absence of the king and his troops, they rallied round Nectane¬ 
 bus his nephew, and invested him with the sovereignty. The gen- 
 
 1 Eoselliui Mon. Stor. ii. 200, 
 
 - Didor. 15—90. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 THIRTY-FIRST DYNASTY. 
 
 115 
 
 erals, who could not agree in other matters, were at one in patronis¬ 
 ing this new revolution. The aggrieved, disgusted, and indignant 
 Tachos, the dismissed and abandoned monarch, left his country and 
 travelled to the metropolis of Persia, where he presented himself to 
 Artaxerxes Mnemon, as a fit instrument for conducting a venge¬ 
 ful invasion against the people who had betrayed and deserted him. 
 
 But the expedition prepared for this purpose was retarded by the 
 death of the Persian monarch. lie was succeeded by his son Darius 
 Ochus, at whose luxurious court the royal refugee from Egypt soon Darius 
 died, the victim of indolence and debauchery . 1 Egypt in the mean 0chus - 
 time was distracted with a civil war. A Mendesian had unfurled the 
 standard of revolt, and gathered around him large masses of the 
 people. But his career was brief; his bands were soon routed and 
 dispersed. Persia, in the course of the next few years, made more 
 than one attempt to regain possession of Egypt, but was thwarted by 
 the skill and bravery of the Spartan and Athenian generals, who led 
 the Egyptian forces. Ochus at length made a last and resolute effort. 
 
 His name had become proverbial in Egypt for tardiness and stupidity, 
 
 Ochus they had changed into Onos—the ass. He determined to 
 redeem his character. The islands and countries around were first 
 subdued or gamed over, while Athens and Sparta pledged them¬ 
 selves to neutrality. Nectanebus immediately prepared against 
 this mighty host of invaders. The Persians blockaded Pelusium invades and 
 which was vigorously defended; but a portion of the foreign troops, E^t ers 
 by means of information derived from the Egyptian hostages, man¬ 
 aged to occupy a position in the rear of Nectanebus. Alarmed at 
 this manoeuvre, he hastily fought a battle and lost it, and was obliged 
 to retreat in disorder upon Memphis. Pelusium surrendered, 
 
 Bubastis was reduced, the infection of cowardice spread rapidly, 
 the whole country placed itself at the feet of the merciless conqueror, 
 and Nectanebus, the last of the long line of Pharoahs, fled in 
 disgrace to Ethiopia. The ravages of Ochus in Egypt were as cruel 
 and despotic as those of Cambyses. Apis was butchered and cooked, 
 the temples were plundered of their wealth, and the country groaned 
 beneath the load of a rapacious tyranny. Having appointed Pher- Thirty-first 
 endates his satrap, Ochus returned in triumph to his own dominions. Qcim? 7 ' 
 
 Little is known of Egypt under the administration of Arses and 
 Darius Codomannus, the successors of Ochus. The liberties of Greece 
 were now swallowed up by the growing power of Macedonia, and 
 the victorious Philip prepared to invade Persia. Alexander carried 
 his father’s intentions into effect, crossed the Hellespont, won the 
 battles of Granicus, Issus, reduced Tyre and Gaza, and was at 
 once master of all Western Asia. After a week’s march from Gaza, 334 B c 
 his troops stood before Pelusium, which opened its gates to him. Alexander. 
 Heliopolis was visited and garrisoned, and he next arrived at 
 
 1 /Elian. Hist. v. 1. 
 
Government 
 of Alexander. 
 
 Accession of 
 
 Ptolemy 
 
 Soter. 
 
 116 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. III. 
 
 Memphis, where his fleet had been appointed to join him. Pie 
 conciliated the Egyptians by honouring their divinities and doing- 
 homage to Apis. The nation was so thoroughly wearied with 
 Persian supremacy, that they felt relief in a mere change of masters. 
 During his stay in the country, Alexander founded that new city 
 which bears his name, made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Ammon, 
 arranged the administration of the national affairs, appointed two 
 viceroys, with Cleoinenes at then’ head, and commanded that the people 
 should be governed by their ancient and time-honoured institutions. 
 The tax-gatherers were native Egyptians, but the troops were 
 entrusted only to Macedonian officers, and the garrisons were given to 
 special friends. Alexander left a fleet of thirty tiremes and four 
 thousand soldiers to guard his conquest. Cleomenes had the prin¬ 
 cipal charge of the provinces, but gradually enlarged his authority, 
 till he seems to have been recognized as chief governor. The priest¬ 
 hood hated him for the exactions he made upon them, and therefore 
 were the more ready to welcome to the throne the son of Lagus 
 after Alexander’s death. The great conqueror left Egypt early in 
 331 b.c. In two years afterwards he died, and his mighty empire, 
 raised and enlarged in such speed, fell at once to ruin. Its crude 
 materials prevented its consolidation, and amidst the general con¬ 
 fusion and scramble, Ptolemy obtained possession of Egypt, Again 
 the country changed masters. How sudden and how terrible had 
 been its reverses. Its Pharoahs were now but a name—its glory 
 had waned—and what had once been the wonder of the world, was 
 now a poor victim to any royal robber that chose to appropriate the 
 booty. Egypt had lost the power of self-defence, and, at length, 
 
 She whom mighty kingdoms curtsied to, 
 
 Like a forlorn and desperate castaway 
 
 Did shameful execution on herself. 
 
 Ptolemaic Dynasty. —As we have already stated, Cleomenes, an 
 officer who had enjoyed the confidence of the Macedonian Prince, was 
 already in Egypt, charged with the superintendence of its finances, 
 and it would appear that the council of generals who sanctioned the 
 division of their late master’s territories, had resolved that this faith¬ 
 ful envoy should continue to exercise his wonted authority, and 
 divide the cares of administration with the new governor. But 
 Ptolemy, whose ambition very soon aspired to the sovereignty of 
 Egypt, determined to have no rival. He speedily procured the 
 murder of Cleomenes; seized upon the treasury at Alexandria, 
 which contained eight thousand talents; added to his army, and 
 increased the number of his ships; and in a word left no means 
 unemployed whereby he might strengthen his own interests, and 
 defeat the designs of his enemies. He laboured, at the same time, 
 to gain the affections of the natives, and to secure their co-operation 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 PTOLEMY SOTER. 
 
 117 
 
 in his great designs: and anticipating the dissensions that were about 
 to burst out among his military colleagues in the other provinces, 
 he fortified his dominions so strongly against every species of assault 
 from abroad, that, when the eventful struggle did take place among 
 the successors of Alexander, Egypt alone remained almost entirely 
 unmoved by those tremendous convulsions which shook every other 
 part of the Macedonian empire to its very centre. 1 
 
 War was fiercely carried on first between Perdiccas and Ptolemy, His early 
 and afterwards between the latter and Antigonus. Twenty years wai ' Si 
 had passed away amidst the labours of the camp, or in the uncertain 
 tranquillity of an occasional truce, until at length the victory obtained 
 at Ipsus confirmed so completely the power of the Egyptian ruler, 
 that he was enabled thenceforward to devote a large share of his 
 attention to the internal improvement of his country, and to the 
 furtherance of learning and of the arts. 
 
 It has been said of Ptolemy, that, like the founder of the Roman 
 empire, he exhibited at different periods of his fife a remarkable 
 diversity of character. As long as his fortunes were suspended on 
 the casualties of war, or were menaced by the intrigues of his ene¬ 
 mies, he showed himself very little scrupulous as to the means which 
 he employed to ensure success: but no sooner was his kingdom 
 placed on a firm basis, by the defeat of Antigonus, and by the 
 acquisition of such frontier provinces as he deemed necessary to its 
 defence, than he laid aside the stern policy which had theretofore 
 distinguished his measures, and turned all his thoughts to the happi¬ 
 ness of the people, and to the decoration of his capital. 2 
 
 It may seem somewhat paradoxical to observe, that these benevo- Hisy-iiaracter. 
 lent and liberal views on the part of Ptolemy were greatly promoted 
 by the unsettled state of the neighbouring nations. But this is not 
 the only occasion on which a wise and moderate government has 
 profited by the anarchy of surrounding states. Thousands of in¬ 
 genious persons who were driven from home by the violence of war, 
 or by the dread of domestic insurrection, found an asylum in Egypt, 
 and they carried with them the arts which promote the general 
 wealth of every community, as well as the love of literature and 
 science, which are the most lasting basis of national glory. 
 
 Among the more illustrious of the exiles who sought the protec¬ 
 tion of Ptolemy, we have to place the name of Demetrius Phalereus. 
 
 This distinguished scholar, after having governed Athens ten years, 
 with singular ability and zeal, found himself compelled to seek for 
 refuge in the new capital of Egypt; and being kindly received by 
 Ptolemy, he soon rendered his literary knowledge of the greatest 
 avail in forwarding the schemes which that wise monarch had already 
 devised, for extending among the higher classes of his subjects a 
 desire for elegant amusement and philosophical research. At the 
 
 1 Pausanias, Attic, c. 6. Arrian apud Pliotium. Diodorus, lib. xx. 
 
 2 Justin, lib. xv. c. 4. Diodorus, lib. xx. Plutarch, in Demetrium. 
 
118 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Alexandrian 
 
 Library 
 
 Museum. 
 
 School of 
 Criticism. 
 
 Of 
 
 Mathematics, 
 
 suggestion of the Phalerean he resolved to establish a library on such 
 a liberal and magnificent scale as that he might deposit in it not 
 only the various literary works with which the genius of Greece had 
 begun to enrich the shores of the Mediterranean, but also such ancient 
 and curious books as his growing intercourse with more eastern 
 nations might enable him to collect. The fame of this institution 
 has reached even to our own times; and it has contributed in no 
 ordinary degree to exalt the reputation of the first Ptolemy, and to 
 confer upon his reign the character of a more generous and lofty 
 spirit than has been bestowed upon the government of any of his 
 contemporaries. 1 In connection with the library, the king of Egypt 
 was in like manner pleased to found a museum; of which the main 
 object appears to have been to supply to studious men at once the 
 means and the encouragement to follow out their several pursuits. 
 The members lived together and partook in common of the bounty 
 of the sovereign; who, in addition to the munificence of a liberal 
 establishment, stimulated their researches by his example; animated 
 their discussions by listening to their arguments, or by taking a side 
 in their philosophical hypotheses; creating respect for their associa¬ 
 tion by condescending to share in its labours, and to accept of its 
 honours. 2 
 
 We must rest satisfied with referring the reader to Eusebius, 
 Strabo, and Quintilian, for a list of the poets and dramatists who 
 adorned the court of Ptolemy. It is of more consequence to men¬ 
 tion that this renowned prince established at Alexandria four separate 
 schools for the advancement of science. The first of these was the 
 school of critics and commentators; which numbered among its 
 members the celebrated names of Eratosthenes, Aristophanes, Aris¬ 
 tarchus, Apollodorus, and Aristodemus; and which continued to 
 shed a light more or less constant on the annals of literature, from 
 the period now under consideration down to the full ascendancy of 
 Roman power in the reign of Augustus. 
 
 Mathematics occupied the attention of the second school founded 
 by Ptolemy. This important science had made considerable pro¬ 
 gress at Athens, in the academy of Plato, whose pupils carried the 
 love and reputation of their favourite study into all the principal 
 cities of Greece. The Alexandrian school has transmitted to pos¬ 
 terity, in the works of Euclid, Apollonius, and Archimedes, the 
 most satisfactory evidence of the singular success with which the 
 abstract truths of geometry had been pursued by the older philo¬ 
 sophers of Attica: accompanied, at the same time, with a pleasing 
 and most convincing proof, that the patronage of the Egyptian king 
 had not failed to accomplish its object. The ingenuity of modern 
 times has added nothing to the elementary principles of Euclid; and 
 
 1 Diodorus, lib. xx. c. 45. .Elian, Var. Hist. lib. iii. c. 17. Josephus, Antiq. 
 Jud. lib. iii. c. % 
 
 2 Strabo, lib. xvii. 
 
Chap. III.] PHILOSOPHICAL LIBERALITY OF PTOLEMY. 
 
 119 
 
 the most successful experimenters in the most improved of the phy¬ 
 sical sciences have despaired of equalling the splendid results which 
 were effected by the apparatus of Archimedes. 1 
 
 The third School was devoted to the study of practical Astronomy. 
 
 Of the labours of this distinguished association we have given a full 
 account in another place, and narrated how the sages of Alexandria 
 undertook to calculate the distances and magnitudes of the planets, or 
 the rate of their movements, and to trace the causes, and estimate Astronom r- 
 the quantity of that apparent irregularity, which shows itself in the 
 revolution of all the heavenly bodies. Timocharis and Aristillus 
 first began to collect those valuable observations which were after¬ 
 wards so much increased, and so ably employed by Aristarchus of 
 Samos, and Hipparchus of Nictea, and on which was ultimately 
 founded the reformation of the Roman Calender under the auspices 
 of Julius Cresar. 2 
 
 The School of Medicine, which was the last of the four institutions of Medicine, 
 established by the king of Egypt, proved of great advantage to his 
 people. By an indulgence extremely rare in that age, the teachers 
 of anatomy were allowed to illustrate their lectures by the dissection 
 of human bodies. Tertullian, in his work De Anivid , assiu’es us 
 that Heropliilus, one of the first professors in the Alexandrian 
 school, dissected six hundred men, in order to make himself fully 
 acquainted with the structure and offices of the various parts of the 
 human frame. He showed his contempt for mankind, says the 
 venerable father, by the means which he used to obtain a complete 
 knowledge of then- physical nature. “ Herophilus Me medicus—qui 
 hominem odiit ut nosset 3 
 
 Though Alexandria was afterwards celebrated for the zeal with Philosophical 
 which her philosophers recommended the doctrines of Plato, the ptoiemy ° f 
 royal patronage was not confined to the tenets of that eloquent 
 writer. On the contrary, he himself appears to have inclined to 
 the opinions of Aristotle; whilst there is no doubt that Demetrius 
 Phalereus, his favourite minister and literary confidant, had openly 
 avowed his preference for the dogmas of the latter school. But 
 whether Platonists, or Pythagoreans, or Peripatetics, all men of 
 ingenuity and research found a safe retreat and a liberal protection 
 at the Court of Ptolemy. He was too much a lover of learning to 
 yield a bigoted attachment to any one sect; and he was much more 
 desirous to extend among his subjects the general principles of 
 science, than to indulge his own partiality in favour of any particular 
 system of opinions. 4 
 
 1 Pappus, Collec. Math. lib. vii. Diogenes Laertius. Proclus. Euclid, lib. ii. 
 c. 4. Philopon. Commentar. in Analyt. Poster. Valerius Maximus, lib. viii. c. 12. 
 
 2 Ptolemy, Syntag. Mag. lib. vi. c. 3. Celsus, in Pra?f. Fulgen. Mytholog. Galen, 
 
 tom. iv. -y 
 
 3 Galen, ut supra. 
 
 4 Diogenes Laertius, in Pythag. Athenteus, lib. iv. 
 
120 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 The example of Ptolemy himself would stimulate the industry of 
 the historian. His work is unfortunately lost to literature; but we 
 learn from the narrative of Arrian, that the favourite general of 
 Alexander was not less distinguished by his abilities as an author, 
 than by his skill as a commander. The ravages of time and of 
 barbarian conquerors have, indeed, allowed but few memorials to 
 remain of the historic muse; and it is only from references which 
 are found in scattered volumes, that Ave are enabled to form some 
 judgment, in regard to the treasures of learning which were buried 
 in the ruins of Alexandria. 
 
 In fine, the arts as well as the sciences had sought a refuge in the 
 enlightened society of Alexandria; and they never fail to repay the 
 protection under which they are permitted to flourish. The 
 advanced state of Egypt in regard to the fine arts in particular, 
 Coronation of received a remarkable illustration in the coronation festival of the 
 Phiiadei- young Ptolemy, which was celebrated by the king two years before 
 phos. his death. 
 
 This solemnity is said to have drawn to Alexandria crowds of 
 strangers from the greater part of Asia. The native of India joined 
 the piountaineer of Caucasus and the swarthy inhabitant of Ethi¬ 
 opia, to witness the magnificence of the Egyptian princes. The 
 pavilion in which the Ptolemies received the more illustrious of the 
 visitors, was elevated on pillars seventy-five feet high; imitating in 
 their form the elegance of the palm tree and the fantastic thyrsys of 
 Bacchus. Its centre was overshadowed by a rich canopy of scarlet; 
 the floor was adorned with the carpets of Babylon or of Persia. The 
 hall exhibited a hundred marble figures of different kinds of animals, 
 and a great variety of the most choice paintings of the Sicyonian 
 masters. Two golden eagles, each above twenty feet in height, 
 towered on the summit of this splendid edifice. It would be tedious 
 to describe the tripods, the vases, the couches, and the tables, formed of 
 gold, and adorned with precious stones; the materials alone are said 
 to have exceeded in value the amount of two millions sterling. 
 
 In the following details, which are translated from Callixenus of 
 Rhodes, we use the version of Dr. Gillies. In the procession which 
 Procession, ensued, says the Rhodian, and which lasted from morning to sun-set, 
 the superstition of Greece was recommended to the Egyptians and 
 Asiatics by whatever could please the fancy or soothe the senses. 
 The image of each divinity, always of a colossal magnitude, was 
 accompanied by his emblems, his altar, and his car of triumph: while 
 the dramatic representation of his attendants, or paintings nearly 
 as impressive, exhibited the laboius which he had encountered, and 
 the benefits which he had conferred. The pomp of Bacchus is 
 described circumstantially, and this part may help the imagination 
 to grasp the magnificence of the whole. His car, crowned with 
 vines and ivy, Avas preceded and followed by troops of satyrs, 
 mimics, and priests, Avith all the inferior votaries of that jolly god. 
 
Chap. III.] PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS. 121 
 
 Golden censers diffused around the most precious perfumes. Behind 
 the image of the god followed that of his nurse Nysa; at first re¬ 
 clined in her chariot, but afterwards rising spontaneously and pour¬ 
 ing forth libations of mill?;. Wine distilled from innumerable foun¬ 
 tains, and particularly from a moveable wine-press drawn by three 
 hundred men, and trodden by sixty satyrs, who enlivened their work 
 by chanting the vintage hymn. 
 
 This procession, however, was only a prelude to one still more Pomp, 
 extraordinary, in which Bacchus appeared in his character of an 
 eastern conqueror; represented by an idol eighteen feet high 
 mounted on an elephant, attended by five hundred nymphs in purple 
 tissues, and a proportional number of satyrs completely armed. 
 
 Twenty elephants adorned the most splendid of the Roman triumphs, 
 that of the emperor Aurelian; but twenty-four chariots, each drawn 
 by four of these huge quadrupeds, appeared in one scene of this 
 gorgeous procession, in which the Ptolemies had united the rarest 
 objects in nature with the most exquisite productions of art. It is 
 sufficient to mention eight hundred waggons laden with spices and 
 perfumes; negroes bearing ebony, ivory, and gold; the natives of 
 Hindustan displaying in captivity the elegant clothes and rich jewels 
 of their native country; birds of various plumage hovering round 
 artificial grottoes; innumerable yokes of fierce panthers and beauti¬ 
 ful zebras; white oxen from India; the camelopard and rhinoceros 
 from Ethiopia; Numidian lions and savage tigers, with Hyrcanian 
 and Molossian dogs, rivalling in ferocity and strength those tyrants 
 of the desert. The pageant of Bacchus was followed by that of the 
 other divinities. Alexander the Great, alone more godlike than 
 the whole hierarchy, came the last of all. His statue was of piu’e 
 gold, and his car was drawn by elephants of unrivalled magnitude, 
 while Pallas and Victory attended their favourite hero. 1 
 
 We have introduced this abridgment of a description, the full Prosperity, 
 details of which would have fatigued the patience of the reader, in 
 order to give some idea of the costly magnificence which illustrated the 
 court of the first Ptolemies, and thereby to afford the means of judg¬ 
 ing as to the condition of the arts which ministered to that royal 
 display. The paintings and sculptures, which mingled with the 
 other ornaments of this gorgeous solemnity, certainly justify the 
 inference that the coarser and more useful productions of the arts 
 were likewise at that period sufficiently abundant in Egypt. The 
 perfumes, too, and the multitude of other foreign commodities which 
 were lavished during the procession and entertainments, prove the 
 extensive commerce which had already rewarded the wise policy of 
 Alexander and his first successor. In short, the coronation festival 
 of Ptolemy affords the most satisfactory proof that Egypt was, at the 
 accession of Philadelphus, in a state of prosperity equal at least to 
 
 1 Callixen. Khod. in Athenasa. 
 
122 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 any epoch under the Pharaohs; powerful in its natural resources, 
 enriched by trade, adorned by the arts, and secured in all its posses¬ 
 sions by able councillors and by numerous fleets and armies. 
 
 Removal of There is one proceeding in the reign of this sagacious prince, for 
 sempis^' which we find it somewhat difficult to account, particularly when 
 Pontusto invested with the importance which he chose to attach to it. We 
 
 Alexandria, allude to the removal of the image of Serapis from Pontus to Alex¬ 
 andria; a measure which was preceded by more negotiation, and 
 accomplished with greater solemnity, than the transference of all 
 the states which arms or treaties had added to the Egyptian domin¬ 
 ions. Tacitus in his “History” deigns to take notice of this event, and 
 to ascribe the conduct of Ptolemy to a supernatural cause. The 
 god appeared to him in a dream, and exhorted him to obtain from 
 the king of Sinope the sacred emblem under which he was worship¬ 
 ped in Pontus, persuading the Egyptian monarch that he would 
 thereby ensure for his country a high degree of felicity and honour. 
 Ptolemy forthwith obeyed the celestial admonition, and sent ambas¬ 
 sadors to Sinope. But so greatly were the people of that district at¬ 
 tached to the divine effigy of Serapis, that they refused for more than 
 two years to listen to the proposal of their potverful neighbour. 
 Famine at length accomplished that which the entreaties and bribes of 
 the king of Egypt had failed to effect. The inhabitants of Sinope con¬ 
 sented to barter the image of their god for a certain quantity of corn. 
 A temple was built for it at Alexandria, called the Serapeion, a struc¬ 
 ture on which so much cost and skill was lavished, that, as Ammianus 
 Marcellinus maintains, it surpassed in beauty and magnificence all 
 the temples in the world, except the capitol at Rome. To the 
 Serapeion, moreover, was attached that library, which we have 
 already noticed, and which has been celebrated in all succeeding 
 ages for the value and number of the books which it contained . 1 
 Death and Ptolemy the First died in the eighty-fourth year of his age, about 
 Ptolemy' of two years, as we have already observed, after he had admitted his 
 Soter. son to a share in the government. He was unquestionably the best 
 and ablest prince of all Iris race; and left for the direction of his 
 successors such examples of prudence, justice, and clemency, as 
 very few of them had firmness to imitate. He presided over the 
 affairs of Egypt for about forty years subsequently to the death of 
 Alexander; in which time he raised it to a height of grandeur and 
 power far above that of any other contemporary kingdom. He 
 retained on the throne the same simplicity of manners by which 
 he had been distinguished when he was yet a Macedonian soldier; 
 and so little was his mind accessible to the temptations of avarice, 
 that he shunned the accumulation of any personal property. His 
 maxim on this subject is said to have been, “ that it is more honour¬ 
 able in a king to enrich others, than to be rich himself.” 
 
 1 Tacitus, Hist. lib. iv. c. 83, 84. Plutarch, de Isid. et Osir. Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus, in Protrept. p. 31. Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxii. c. 16. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 STATE OF EGYPT. 
 
 123 
 
 The dominions to which Philadelphus succeeded were extensive 
 and powerful, and so well connected, in the event of an attack from 
 abroad, as to afford mutual and immediate assistance. Besides 
 Egypt, he found subjected to his authority the important provinces 
 of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Arabia, Lybia, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Pam- 
 pliylia, Cilicia, Lycia, Caria, and the Cyclades . 1 
 
 It is said that he disgraced the beginning of his reign by the murder Death of 
 of Demetrius Phalereus, who had given the young prince offence by 
 the counsel which he offered to his father, the late Ptolemy, in 
 regard to a successor. He ordered the philosopher to be seized and 
 confined in a remote fortress, until he should determine in what 
 manner to treat him. The bite of a poisonous reptile put an end to 
 the life of that great man, to whom Egypt owed so much, and who 
 had certainly merited even at the hands of Philadelphus, a very 
 different fate . 2 
 
 The wars which Ptolemy the Second carried on, both against his state of 
 brother Magus and the king of Syria, need not be here narrated. n!e acces- 
 The reader will find greater pleasure in surveying the outlines of a pic- 
 ture hi which the prosperity and happiness of Egypt have been deli- phus. 
 neated by several authors of good information and veracity. We have 
 already referred to Theocritus, who in his “ Idylls” assures us, with 
 the fervour of patriotism, that Egypt, under the sway of Ptolemy, all Description 
 was governed by mild and equal laws; was defended by invincible Theocritus, 
 armies; and was at once the best cultivated and the most commercial 
 country on the face of the earth. He subjoins, in a tone of innocent 
 exaggeration, that the regal authority of his patron was acknowledged 
 in more than thirty thousand cities or towns, all flourishing and 
 wealthy; that the fleets on the Red Sea and Mediterranean were 
 employed in conducting a most extensive traffic; and that a nation 
 which had long languished under the yoke of the Persians, and 
 had sunk into the degraded condition of a province, once more 
 raised its head hi its original splendour, and exercised a secure 
 dominion over the islands of Greece, the seaports of Asia, and the 
 remote regions of Lybia and Ethiopia. 
 
 The narrative of Appian, an historian of great fidelity, and who Appian’s 
 possessed the most ample means of information in regard to Egypt, f“mffita°ry 
 is less inflated than that of Theocritus, but is nevertheless fitted to resources, 
 excite in the mind of the reader the most elevated notions respect¬ 
 ing the power of Ptolemy. He tells us that his army consisted of 
 two hundred thousand foot, forty thousand horse, three hundred 
 elephants, and two thousand armed chariots. His magazines were 
 filled with all sorts of military stores and engines, and contained 
 armour for three hundred thousand soldiers, in addition to those 
 which he maintained in a state of equipment. Nor was his navy 
 less numerous or efficient; for, it consisted of a hundred and twelve 
 
 1 Theocritus, Idyll, xvii. 
 
 3 Diogenes Laertius, in Demet. Cicero, in Orat. pro Rabir. 
 
124 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Treasure. 
 
 Sources of 
 wealth. 
 
 Commercial 
 
 policy. 
 
 ships of an extraordinary size, some of them having thirty-five tiers 
 of oars; fifteen hundred tireme and quadrireme galleys; besides two 
 thousand armed vessels of smaller dimensions. Four thousand 
 Egyptian merchantmen are said to have navigated the Mediterranean; 
 and eight hundred barges, decorated with gold and silver, are 
 described as plying on the Kile, and ministering to the pleasure of 
 the Avealthy inhabitants who occupied its banks. The public 
 arsenals, too, were stored with an inexhaustible supply of marine 
 equipments, being equal, at least, to all the wants of a navy double 
 the amount of that which Avas at any time actually ready for sea . 1 
 
 The treasures of Ptolemy Avere in full proportion to his mighty 
 fleets and armies. At his death the number of talents which he 
 had accumulated from the national revenue, amounted to seven 
 hundred and forty thousand, a mass of wealth, of Avhich the extent 
 Avill be more easily comprehended by the reader, Avhen Ave mention 
 that it is equivalent to about tAvo hundred millions sterling. Such 
 indeed Avere the reA r enues and magnificence of the second Ptolemy, 
 that even in the very height of Roman greatness, they Avere still 
 spoken of as proverbially singular; and the epithet Philadelphian was 
 employed in the capital of Italy to characterise those extraordinary 
 and splendid undertakings, in which the expensiveness of the 
 materials could only be rivalled by the nobleness of the design, and 
 the exquisite beauty of the workmanship. 
 
 Various causes have been assigned Avith the vieAv of accounting 
 for that uncommon tide of wealth which flowed into Egypt during 
 the reign of Philadelphus. The possession of a long line of sea- 
 coast, furnished Avith excellent harbours, and communicating Avith 
 countries naturally very rich, secured to his subjects a lucrative 
 traffic. Above all, the occupation of Arabia, and the maritime 
 parts of eastern Africa opened to him a valuable trade as Avell in 
 spices and perfumes, as in the precious metals. Timosthenes the 
 Rhodian, Avho commanded the Egyptian fleets in the Red Sea, is 
 knoAvn to have examined the seaports of Adel, beyond the Straits of 
 Babelmandel, and to have explored the African coast as far as Ophir, 
 or Sofala, the land of gold, situated, as is iioav ascertained, nearly 
 opposite to the island of Madagascar. EA T en the wild regions of 
 Ethiopia Avere found accessible to the adventurous spirit of Ptolemy’s 
 lieutenants; and the city Avhich they built nearly four hundred miles 
 farther south than Syene, attests at once the splendid objects Avhich 
 their master had in view, and the great progress which he had 
 made towards the final execution of his design . 3 
 
 Strabo informs us, that Ptolemy traded directly to India, with 
 the view, it Avould seem, of rendering himself independent of those 
 Arabian tribes Avho in his time, as well as at a more early period, 
 employed themselves in carrying spices doAvn into Egypt. It does 
 
 1 Appian, Hist. Roman, in Prooem. Atlienoeus, lib. v. 
 
 - Strabo, lib. xaT. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND LITERATURE. 
 
 125 
 
 not appear, however, that his intercourse with the people of India 
 was carried to any considerable extent. He had to encounter many 
 ancient habits and usages, which opposed a serious obstacle to his 
 innovations. He could overcome the physical difficulties which 
 presented themselves, both on the northern and eastern shores of 
 his kingdom; and he joined by a canal the waters of the Red Sea to 
 those of the Mediterranean; a work which first engaged the enter¬ 
 prise of Sesostris, and afterwards exhausted the resources or defeated 
 the skill of Darius the Persian. But the inveterate habits of man 
 are less pliant than the rocks of the mountain or the sands of the 
 desert. Ptolemy effected a navigation across the isthmus of Suez, 
 but he failed in his attempt to induce the Ethiopians to relinquish 
 their caravans between Abyssinia and Egypt, and to trust their 
 treasures to his numerous ships. 
 
 It appears to have been the policy of the first Grecian kings of 
 Egypt to divert the wandering tribes which were used to traverse 
 the deserts between that country and the Red Sea, from the traffic 
 in which they so much delighted, and to direct their attention to 
 agriculture, for which both their land and their habits were extremely 
 ill adapted. The priests at that period were the chief patrons of connection 
 trade; and their temples, both in Egypt and Ethiopia, were fire-priesthood 
 quently used as the magazines or the entrepots of the valuable com- with the land 
 merce in which the caravans were engaged. But whilst Ptolemy 
 was pursuing his favourite object, and labouring to place in the 
 hands of his sailors the migratory trade of the Ethiopian wilderness, 
 the priests of that country were all inhumanly massacred; an event 
 which could not fail to excite some suspicion that the assassin co¬ 
 operated in this horrid deed with the avowed policy of the Egyptian 
 monarch. The barbarous act now mentioned, is, no doubt, ascribed 
 to the king of Meroe, who is said to have obtained, through the 
 medium of the Greek philosophy, certain new views on the subject 
 of religion; and who, to signalize his conversion to more rational 
 tenets, is reported to have immolated the unfortunate priests, as 
 being the main supporters of the abandoned superstition . 1 It is 
 nowhere said that Philadelphus had any share in this -wicked trans¬ 
 action; yet the ruin of the priests who, as we have already mentioned, 
 were the main adventurers in the Ethiopian trade, at the very time 
 that an attempt was making to reduce the people of the desert to 
 fixed settlements, would appear to indicate that all these measures 
 were parts of one great design for bringing the traffic into a new 
 channel. 
 
 The reign of this Ptolemy was greatly illustrated by the numerous state of 
 and distinguished authors who had repaired to Alexandria. Among 1 ' 1 eia me ' 
 the poets, the names of Aratus, Callimachus, Theocritus, and Lyco- 
 phron, are known to every reader. Philosophy also continued to 
 
 1 Diodorus, lib. iii. s. 6. 
 
126 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Astronomy. 
 
 receive the most marked encouragement; and the king, after the 
 example of his father, promoted the love of knowledge by extending 
 his countenance to all, without attaching himself exclusively to any 
 particular sect. The objects of moral science were not indeed wisely 
 selected; and the doctrines maintained in regard to both body and 
 mind were extremely absurd. Fable, too, mixed with their history; 
 which at best was calculated rather to gratify the silly pride of bar¬ 
 barians, than to instruct the curious or to inform the ignorant. 
 Their discussions more frequently respected the mysterious powers 
 which were supposed to reside in plants and minerals, than the 
 qualities of matter which reveal themselves to the senses. Their 
 knowledge of astronomy was greatly debased by its intermixtm-e 
 with those absurd opinions, which traced the history of nations and 
 the fortunes of individuals to the influence of the stars. Them books 
 were full of wonders and prodigies; nature was studied by them in 
 her exceptions rather than in her general rules; and they noted her 
 apparent aberrations, and gave them a place in then’ philosophy, 
 whilst they neglected that smooth and even tenor of her operations, 
 which is regarded as the basis of all true science . 1 
 
 It is blit justice to mention, at the same time, that the astrono¬ 
 mical school of Alexandria arrived at very considerable attainments 
 both in regard to fact and to principle. Aristarchus is the author 
 of a Avork on the distance and magnitude of the sun and moon, in 
 which he greatly enlarged the boundaries Avhich had been formerly 
 assigned to the solar system; and though his conclusions did not 
 approach to the magnificence of the Copernican theory, they yet 
 satisfied him that the sun was the centre of revolution to the earth 
 and its accompanying satellite . 2 He encountered a variety of objec¬ 
 tions, some of which arose from entire ignorance, others from the 
 imperfect state of the science. Of the latter class we may mention 
 the difficulty suggested by one of his antagonists, who observed 
 that, on the supposition of the earth’s annual motion, the fixed stars 
 as viewed from it Avould be found to be continually changing their 
 position with regard to each other. His ansAver deserves our par¬ 
 ticular attention, on account of the sublime vieAVS which it implies, 
 relative to the system of Avhich our globe makes a part. The Avhole 
 orbit of the earth, said he, is little more than a point in comparison 
 of the heavens; and by this remark, Avhich appears at once hi the 
 light of a principle and of an inference, he both Aveakened the force 
 of his opponent’s argument, and also slioAved that, in forming his 
 theory, he had fully anticipated the whole Aveiglit of the objection. 
 Such doctrines, however, Avere found much too bold for that ignorant 
 and superstitious age. Aristarchus Avas forth ivith accused of impiety: 
 he was charged Avith shaking the throne of Vesta, an ancient and 
 venerable goddess; but as he shook more rudely the settled opmions 
 
 1 /Elian, Var. Hist. lib. xi. Strabo, lib. vi. Fabricius, Bibl. Griec. 
 
 2 Aristarchus, de Magui. et Dist. Solis et Luna;. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH ROME. 
 
 127 
 
 of the schools, in regard to the heavenly bodies, his tenets were pro¬ 
 scribed as at once dangerous and unphilosophical. His conclusions, 
 accordingly suppressed for the time, remained unpatronized during 
 several centuries; till at length in an age hardly more propitious to 
 science, they were once more revived, to become once more the 
 object of persecution, and of an ignorant and groundless calumny . 1 
 
 We cannot finish our sketch, however brief, of the reign of the Septuagint. 
 second Ptolemy, -without adverting to the controversy regarding the 
 Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, which is said to have 
 been effected under his auspices. It is certainly extremely probable 
 that the version in question was made at Alexandria whilst Phila- 
 delphus was on the throne; both because a great multitude of Jews 
 were resident in that city during his government, and also from the 
 obvious circumstance, that such families of them as had removed 
 thither, in the former reign, must have so far forgotten their native 
 speech, as to require a translation of their sacred books into the 
 language which they were now accustomed to use. The well-known 
 story of Aristeas with regard to this version is an evident forgery. 
 
 The translation was made at different times, and by men far from 
 equally qualified for their responsible task. That the translation 
 was made in the time of the Ptolemies is not to be doubted, for we 
 still have the book, and it is the same which was in use in our 
 Savioru’s time. But the fiction of Aristeas, which is the ground¬ 
 work and foundation of all that is said of the manner of making 
 this translation, by seventy-two elders sent from Jerusalem to Alex¬ 
 andria in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, is altogether crude and 
 incredible, though it has given its distinctive and common name to 
 this ancient Greek version . 2 
 
 But the era of Philadelphus, clouded as it may have been by 
 ignorance, and obscured by fable, was notwithstanding the brightest 
 period of Egyptian literature. The same reign was likewise distin¬ 
 guished by the first act of political intercourse between Egypt and 
 Pome. When the Romans, on the defeat and death of Pyrrhus, 
 had clearly established their reputation as a military people, it 
 seemed expedient to Ptolemy to send a chosen embassy to the intercourse 
 senate, in order to congratulate them upon them success, and the " Ith Kome ' 
 return of this civility which was performed on the part of the 
 commonwealth with suitable pomp, afforded to the Romans a desir¬ 
 able opportunity for making themselves knoAvn to the government 
 of Alexandria. Nor was it long before an occasion occurred to 
 secure to them all the advantages of it. The terms of amity which 
 such a mission seemed to imply, were made by Ptolemy a pretext 
 for refusing to the Carthaginians all assistance, either of men or of 
 
 1 Plutarch, de facie in orb. Lunas. Hesiod, Theogon. Ovid, Fasti, lib. vi. 
 
 3 Davidson’s Biblical Criticism, p. 31. Walton’s Polegomeua, ix. Hody, De 
 Bibliorum textibus originalibus, Frankel, Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta. 
 
 Leipzig, 1841. 
 
DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Ptolemy 
 
 Euergetes. 
 
 Ptolemy 
 
 Philopator. 
 
 128 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 treasure, in tlie bloody and protracted Avar which soon aftenvards 
 ensued between the two republics . 1 
 
 At the age of sixty-three Philadelphus yielded to the natural 
 weakness of Iris constitution, and the effects of an increasing intem¬ 
 perance ; leaving to his son a throne which he had filled Avith no 
 small ability and reputation during the period of tAventy-eight 
 years. 
 
 The third Ptolemy Avas scarcely invested with the regal authority 
 Avhen he found himself involved in hostilities Avith Seleucus 
 Callinicus, the king of Syria. He invaded Syria, and advanced into 
 the province of Upper Asia. He headed an expedition also into 
 Ethiopia, in the course of which he betrayed glaringly the Aveakness 
 and rapacity of his character. A marble slab, discovered among 
 the ruins of Axum, attests the historical truth of this enterprise, 
 and proves that the Egyptian army had succeeded in reaching 
 the ancient capital of Abyssinia. 
 
 Euergetes was folloAved in the government of his native dominions 
 by his son Philopator, avIio ascended the throne in the tAvo hundred 
 and twenty-first year before Christ. He disgraced the commence¬ 
 ment of his reign by inflicting severe crudities on the family of 
 Cleomenes, the Spartan king, who had taken refuge at Alexandria, 
 Avhere he perished in an attempt to rouse the subjects of Ptolemy to 
 a sense of their degradation and serAntude. The death of his mother, 
 his Avife, and his sister, threwacloud over his domestic history; and it is 
 even asserted that he Avas sarcastically denominated Philopator, from 
 a nefarious conspiracy in Avhich he Avas engaged to take aA\ r ay the 
 life of his father by poison. The infamy of his private character Avas 
 in some measure redeemed by the success of his arms against the 
 king of Syria. In the field of Eaphia he gained a splendid victory, 
 which secured to his dominions the provinces of Coele-Syria, 
 Phoenicia, and Palestine. But Ins debaucheries brought him to his 
 grave in the thirty-seventh year of his age, and seventeenth of his 
 ignoble reign. 
 
 1 Valerius Maximus, lib. iv. c. 7. Appian. Excerp. de rebus Sirulis. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 PTOLEMY EPIPHANES. 
 
 129 
 
 On the occurrence of this premature demise, the eldest son of 
 Philopator was only four years of age; but his title to the crown 
 was immediately recognised, and the affairs of the kingdom were 
 placed under the administration of wise and faithful guardians. 
 
 This important charge was committed to the hands of Sosibius and 
 Aristomenes, who acquitted themselves of then- trust ably and 
 conscientiously, both to their prince and then- country. They 
 secured to the nation the valuable provinces of Coele-Syria and 
 Palestine, and renewed an alliance with the Romans, immediately 
 after their successes over Hannibal, at the conclusion of the second 
 Punic War. But Ptolemy, who was surnamed Epiphanes, having Ptolemy 
 reached his fourteenth year, which, according to the laws and customs Epiphanes - 
 of Egypt, was the age of maturity, took the reins of government into 
 his own hands, and gave speedy proof of his incompetence to dis¬ 
 charge aright its difficult and important duties. He rejected the wise 
 counsels of the men who had managed and improved the kingdom; 
 he gave himself up to the vices, and practised the cruelties which 
 had rendered infamous the memory of his father; and after a 
 tyranny of fifteen years, he fell a victim to his own extravagance, 
 being poisoned by his ministers in the twenty-ninth year of his 
 
 age - 1 ... 
 
 In justice to his memory, it may be esteemed worthy of remark, 
 that the Grecian annals are much more favourable to his reputation 
 than the Jewish. We know not whether it will be regarded as 
 corroborating this view of his character, if we mention that Epi¬ 
 phanes was raised by the adulation of the Egyptian priesthood to 
 the rank of the gods. It appears from a monument lately recovered 
 in that country, that the decree for the deification of Ptolemy was 
 passed in the ninth year of his reign, or when he was about to 
 assume the personal direction of his government. The idol of the 
 long was to be duly worshipped; his shrine of gold adorned with 
 crowns and protected by amulets, was to be carried in sacred 
 procession with the shrines of other gods; his name was to be 
 celebrated by games and festivals; and the decree establishing these 
 ceremonies was to be inscribed on solid stone, in the sacred language 
 of religion, in Egyptian, and also in Greek characters. 
 
 His son Ptolemy, surnamed Philometor, succeeded him on the Ptolemy 
 throne. At the death of his father he was only six years of age, from PMometor 
 which period until he reached the term of maturity, the kingdom 
 was governed by his mother Cleopatra, and, after her decease, by a 
 favourite eunuch. Engaging in a war with Antiochus Epiphanes, he 
 was defeated and made prisoner; and the Egyptians in his absence 
 raised his brother Physcon to the throne. The Syrian monarch, 
 however, wishing to retain the influence which he had acquired over 
 his captive, degraded the usurper, and restored Philometor to the 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. xii. c. 4. Polybius, lib. xxiii. c. 1. Maccab. ii. c. 3. 
 [e. O. H.] K 
 
130 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Jewish 
 
 Colony. 
 
 exercise of the regal functions. But this measure did not effect the 
 object which Antiochus had in view. Aware of the policy of that 
 prince, the king of Egypt recalled his brother to a share of the 
 sovereign power and honours; in order that through their united 
 counsels and exertions, they and their country might be delivered 
 from foreign domination. Notwithstanding, the power of Syria still 
 seemed to threaten the royal house of Egypt; and accordingly, to 
 avert the impending destruction, Ptolemy repaired to Rome, and 
 implored the Senate to assist him against his insidious and determined 
 enemy. Through the intervention of the Romans, Egypt was 
 guarded against the hostile designs of Antigonus, and both the 
 royal brothers were provided with distinct and independent king¬ 
 doms ; the younger reigning over the Lybian Cyrene till the death 
 of the elder, when Egypt with its appendages came also under his 
 dominion . 1 This arrangement was not, however, acceded to, until 
 after a long war between Philometor and Physcon. The latter 
 was in general worsted in the field; but, whether owing to the 
 clemency of his brother, or to the weighty interposition of the 
 Romans, he was not stripped of the territories with which his 
 ambition had been temporarily allayed. Ptolemy having employed 
 his arms to drive an usurper from the throne of Syria, was 
 offered the magnificent remuneration of the vacant crown. He 
 wisely and generously declined so great a reward; recommending 
 to their affections their lawful prince, whom he undertook to 
 assist in his efforts to recover Iris rights and power. The 
 fate of Syria was determined in a great battle, in which the 
 king of Egypt and his allies found themselves concpierors. But 
 Ptolemy received a mortal wound, which in the course of eight days 
 put an end to his life and to his reign, in the hundred and forty- 
 sixth year before the Christian era . 2 
 
 It was in the nineteenth year of his government, that Philometor 
 established a colony of Jews in the district of Heliopolis, and granted 
 them permission to build a temple after the model of that at 
 Jerusalem, and to appoint Onias to be their high priest. The 
 gratitude of the colonists was proved by a sincere attachment to his 
 interests, and by undergoing much labour and suffering in promot¬ 
 ing his cause, during the civil war with his brother Physcon. 
 Amidst repeated persecutions they continued to maintain their 
 ground in Egypt, venerating the institutions of Moses, and exercising 
 their peculiar worship in them colonial temple, till at length, in the 
 reign of the emperor Vespasian, orders were issued to level it with 
 the dust, about five years after the destruction of their capital and 
 government in Judea . 3 
 
 1 Valerius Maximus, Livius, lib. xlvi. Polybius, lib. xxxi. c. 5. 
 
 2 Strabo, lib. xvi. Livius, lib. li. 
 
 3 Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib, ii. Diodorus, Excerp. Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. 
 vii. c. 30. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 PTOLEMY PHYSCON. 
 
 131 
 
 At the death of Philometor, his only son being yet an infant, the Ptolemy 
 reins of government were seized by Physcon, the brother of the Fhyscon ' 
 late king, who had so long disputed with him the right to fill the 
 throne of Egypt. The army continuing in Syria some time after 
 the loss of their royal commander, the opportunity of usurping the 
 crown, which was thereby afforded him, was eagerly embraced by 
 this unprincipled usurper; who, advancing towards Alexandria at 
 the head of a mercenary force whose services he had purchased, 
 soon possessed himself of that capital, married the widow of his 
 deceased brother, and, on the very day of these disgraceful nuptials, 
 murdered his nephew, the lawful heir of the kingdom . 1 
 
 A reign begun under such auspices, was not likely to be either His cruelty, 
 happy or glorious. The cruel tyranny with which their king pur¬ 
 sued his mad career, drove his subjects at length into actual rebel¬ 
 lion ; and he found it necessary to take refuge from their indigna¬ 
 tion in the island of Cyprus. Previously to this, however, he had 
 repudiated Cleopatra, the widow of Philometor, and married her 
 daughter, born to a former husband. On the abdication of Physcon, 
 the Princess now named was called to the throne by the people of 
 Alexandria; upon which the barbarous exile, in order to wound her 
 feelings in the tenderest point, murdered two sons whom she had 
 born to him, and sent the head of the youngest to her, in a casket, 
 on the anniversary of her birth-day. This act of studied cruelty, 
 confirmed against him the hatred of his Egyptian subjects, who, His invasion 
 upon hearing that he intended to attempt a descent upon their of Egypt 
 shores, with the view of reinstating himself on the throne, made 
 immediate preparations for opposing his invasion. The inhabi¬ 
 tants of Alexandria took arms under the direction of Marsyas, 
 whom the queen had appointed commander; and at length meet¬ 
 ing the troops of Physcon, which had succeeded in making good 
 then' landing, they trusted the fortune of their country to the 
 issue of a general battle. Hegelochus, who led the invaders, 
 proved superior to the patriotic general to whom he was opposed; 
 he defeated the Alexandrians, took Marsyas a prisoner, and shut up 
 the queen within the walls of her capital. 
 
 In this extremity, Cleopatra applied to her son-in-law the king of 
 Syria; using the strongest arguments to induce him to defend Egypt 
 against the brutal vengeance of Physcon. Demetrius listened to 
 her entreaties, and forthwith made preparations for besieging Pelu- 
 sium ; but the unsettled state of his own country soon requiring his 
 presence, he was obliged to desist from his undertaking, and to lead 
 back his troops, in order to suppress a formidable insurrection, 
 which had been abetted by the king of Egypt, and organized by an 
 impostor, Alexander Zebina. Alarmed by the progress of Hege¬ 
 lochus, the queen-regent of Egypt embarked with all her treasures, 
 
 1 Valerius Maximus, lib. ix. c. 1. Justin, lib. xxxviii. c. 8. 
 
132 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 His 
 
 restoration. 
 
 Ptolemy 
 
 Lathyrus. 
 
 and sailing for Ptolemais, where her daughter, the wife of Demetrius, 
 had fixed her abode, she resolved there to await the issue of events. 
 Physcon meanwhile recovered his abdicated dominions, where he 
 soon afterwards enjoyed the fullest gratification to his vindictive 
 feelings, in finding that Demetrius had fallen a victim to the scheme 
 which he had formed for his destruction . 1 
 
 This profligate and sottish prince seems still to have retained a 
 portion of that hereditary love of letters, which has illustrated the 
 family of the Ptolemies. He is said to have studied so assiduously 
 under the grammarian Aristarchus, that, as Epiphanius informs us, 
 he merited some of the highest honours of philology. He wrote 
 twenty-four books of historical commentaries; and farther signalised 
 his zeal for learning, by composing a laboured criticism on the text of 
 Homer. To enrich the Alexandrian library, he spared no pains, 
 and left no means unemployed, whether just or unjust; and in pro¬ 
 secution of this favourite object he is represented as having dis¬ 
 graced the cause of literature, by the tyrannical measures which he 
 adopted for its accomplishment. He caused all ships touching at 
 any of his ports to be searched for books and manuscripts; and 
 either to encourage the manufacture of the proper material at home, 
 or to prevent other countries from rivalling Egypt in the extent of 
 their libraries, he issued a command that no papyrus should be 
 exported from his kingdom. 
 
 After a reign of twenty-nine years, in the com’se of which he 
 had repeatedly exhausted the patience of his subjects, Physcon died, 
 in the midst of peace and a comparative popularity. He left Cleo¬ 
 patra as regent of the kingdom, and intrusted her with the choice of 
 either of their two sons, Lathyrus or Alexander, to succeed him on 
 the throne . 2 Actuated by the love of power, the cpieen selected the 
 younger, Lathyrus having been sent into Cyprus in quality of 
 viceroy, but obviously with the intention of excluding him from the 
 succession. The voice of the people, however, prevailed, and the 
 eldest son of the late sovereign was called by them to assume the 
 sceptre. 
 
 The enmity of his mother disturbed the reign of Lathyrus. 
 Having taken part with the king of Syria against the Jews, who, 
 under their able leader Ilyrcanus, had recently become formidable 
 to their ancient oppressors, he exposed himself to the resentment of 
 his unnatural parent, who chose to grant her countenance to the 
 arms of the Israelites. She resolve to replace on the throne her 
 favourite son, Alexander, who had been sent to succeed his brother 
 as governor of Cyprus. To accomplish her purpose she had recourse 
 to a stratagem, by which she hoped to stain the character of the 
 king with the guilt of intended parricide. She instructed her 
 eunuchs to rush out of the palace streaming with blood, and to 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jucl. lib. xiii. c. 9. Diodorus, Excerp. 
 
 2 Pausanias, Attic. Justin, lib. xxxix. c. 5. Ibid. lib. xxxix. c. 3. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 ALEXANDER PTOLEMY I. AND II. 
 
 133 
 
 implore the aid of the citizens of Alexandria against Lathyrus, whom 
 they with difficulty had prevented from imbruing his hands in the 
 blood of his mother. A tumult ensued, the injured monarch fled 
 on ship-board to seek refuge beyond sea, and Alexander arriving 
 from Cyprus, was once more invested with the supreme authority . 1 
 
 But the furious passions of Cleopatra, and her inordinate love of Alexander 
 dominion, permitted only a subordinate power to rest in the hands thefSst. 
 of the new king. Finding himself condemned to be her instrument 
 in the most tyrannical measures, he soon relinquished altogether the 
 external possession of a power which was in fact exercised by 
 another. She, however, perceiving that she would not be allowed to 
 reign, except through the medium of one of her sons, induced him 
 again to accept the regal honours. Their interests soon proved 
 incompatible, and a miserable catastrophe put an end to their 
 jealousies and mutual dislike. Alexander employed a dagger 
 against his mother, and thereby opened a way for the restoration of 
 Lathyrus, who still continued at the head of a powerful army. A 
 battle decided the cause of the brothers; Alexander was taken 
 prisoner and put to death, and the reins of government passed once 
 more into legitimate hands. 
 
 The remaining years of Lathyrus are distinguished by only one 
 event, which has claimed the attention of history. A rebellion broke 
 out at Thebes, the ancient capital of Egypt, to suppress which an 
 army was despatched into the south, with orders to inflict a severe 
 punishment upon the insurgents. A siege of three years completed 
 the demolition of that celebrated city, which was immediately stripped 
 of every monument of its former grandeur . 2 3 Ptolemy VIII. survived 
 this memorable expedition but a very short time. Fie died, bequeath¬ 
 ing to a natural son the isle of Cyprus, and leaving Berenice, his only 
 legitimate daughter, to inherit the crown of Egypt. 
 
 Alexander, the brother of the late king, left a son of the same Alexander 
 name, who had been educated in the island of Cos, and had after- ^second 
 wards fallen into the hands of Mithridates, the ruler of Pontus. 
 
 Having escaped from captivity, he placed himself under the protec¬ 
 tion of Sylla, the Eoman dictator, through whose mediation, as well 
 as on the ground of some personal claims to the throne of Egypt, he 
 obtained the hand of his cousin Cleopatra, and was associated with 
 her in the government of the kingdom. But this union, apparently 
 so auspicious, was soon dissolved by the death of the queen, who, it 
 is said, was murdered by the order of her barbarous husband, nine¬ 
 teen days after their marriage . 8 His possession of the throne, how¬ 
 ever, was not of long duration; for he soon disgusted his subjects by 
 the atrocity of his conduct, and, like many of his predecessors, was 
 removed by a violent death. This event paved the way for the suc- 
 
 1 Pansanias, Attic, c. 9. 
 
 3 Pausanias, Attic, c. 9. Strabo, lib. xvii. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. ii. c. 67. 
 
 3 Appian, de Bell. Civil, lib. i. c. 102. 
 
134 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Ciiap. III. 
 
 Alexander 
 Ptolemy 
 the Third. 
 
 Ptolemy 
 
 Auletes. 
 
 Is expelled 
 and repairs 
 to Rome. 
 
 cession of his brother, who, on his elevation to the throne, assumed 
 the distinctive appellation of Alexander Ptolemy III. and reigned, it 
 is said, during a short period, hi considerable tranquillity. Dissen¬ 
 sions, however, at length arose, which compelled him to seek refuge 
 in the city of Tyre, where he died about sixty-five years before the 
 Christian era, having previously named the Romans as heirs of his 
 kingdom as well as of all his personal property. 1 In consequence 
 of this testament, the triumvirs, in the consulate of Osesar, received 
 six thousand talents from the next Egyptian king, to secure him in 
 the possession of his dominions. 
 
 On the abdication of Alexander Ptolemy III. the prevailing fac¬ 
 tion in the capital placed on the throne his cousin Ptolemy Auletes, 
 so named for his excellence as a player on the flute. This prince 
 was a mere tributary under the Roman senate, and was compelled 
 not only to pay large sums of money to purchase the protection of 
 the consuls and commanders, who directed their affairs in the East, 
 but even to relinquish all claims upon Cyprus, one of the most valu¬ 
 able dependencies of Egypt, and to see it wrested from the possession 
 of his family. Clodius, the tribune, whose resentment had been 
 accidentally inflamed against the viceroy of that island, stimulated 
 the avarice of the people in power, and prevailed with them to send 
 Cato as their accredited agent in this disgraceful robbery. The 
 austere envoy, arriving at Cyprus, seized the spoils of the unresist¬ 
 ing governors, and afterwards carried home with him to Rome a 
 sum of com not less in amount than fifteen hundred thousand 
 pounds of our coin, besides various other booty. 2 3 To ensure 
 the countenance of Pompey and Ca3sar, the king of Egypt was 
 necessitated to make large demands upon his subjects, who, at 
 length tired of his exactions, rose against him and drove him 
 from his capital. Meeting Cato in the island of Rhodes, the 
 fugitive monarch informed the ambassador that he had resolved to 
 repair to Rome, with the view of soliciting aid from the senate; and, 
 notwithstanding the arguments of the latter, who endeavoured to 
 divert him from his intention, he actually took up his residence in 
 that city, and paid his court in person to the haughty, avaricious 
 senators. 8 
 
 Auletes had no sooner fled from Alexandria, than the Egyptians 
 placed on the vacant throne his daughter Berenice. To confirm her 
 government, she was induced to marry first one of the princes of the 
 Syrian family, who is known by the name of Seleucus Cybiosactes, 
 afterwards Archelaus, the Cappadocian, whom Pompey had invested 
 with the hereditary priesthood of Comana, in Pontus. But these 
 arrangements, it should seem, did not answer the piupose of the 
 
 1 Cicero, cont. Rull. 
 
 2 Florus, lib. iv. c. 3. Plutarch, in Catone. Dion Cassius, lib. xxxix. Strabo, 
 lib. xix. 
 
 3 Plutarch, in Catone. 
 
Chap. III.] ACCESSION OF DIONYSUS AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 135 
 
 leading men at Rome. It ivas resolved to reinstate Auletes; and is restored 
 with this view he was sent into Syria, with a recommendation from Romans, 
 the two consuls, Cassar and Pompey, addressed to Gabinius; in¬ 
 structing him to despatch a part of his army towards the Egyptian 
 frontier, to act in concert with the friends of the exiled king. The 
 proconsul sent Antonius, his master of the horse, with orders to 
 surprise the principal fortress at the mouth of the Nile. The Romans 
 succeeded in their attempt. Archelaus, the husband of Berenice, 
 was killed fighting at the head of Iris guards; and the queen herself, 
 expelled by the invaders, was shortly afterwards put to death. 
 
 Gabinius left rvith Auletes a large body of horse and foot to over¬ 
 awe his reluctant subjects, and to enable him to extort from them 
 the enormous sum of ten thousand talents, for which he had become 
 bound to his Roman creditors and patrons. He reigned four years 
 after his restoration; and previously to his death, which took place 
 in the fifty-first year before the Christian era, he settled the succes¬ 
 sion to his kingdom in a manner corresponding to the dependent 
 condition in which it had long subsisted. By his will, he left Egypt 
 under the guardianship of Rome; and while the original of this 
 document was retained in Alexandria, a copy of it, duly authenti¬ 
 cated, was transmitted to Pompey, who placed it in the Roman trea¬ 
 sury, as a warrant for future demands on the sovereignty or wealth 
 of that devoted kingdom. He named his son and daughter, who, 
 according to the Egyptian usage, were to marry together, as his 
 successors on the throne; and as both these princes were still under 
 age, Pompey was appointed by the senate to act the part of guar¬ 
 dian, and to see all the provisions of the late king’s testament duly 
 fulfilled. 
 
 The daughter, mentioned in this royal will, was the celebrated Accession of 
 Cleopatra, who was at that time in her seventeenth year. Her ana nySUb 
 brother, who shared with her the nominal sovereignty of their king- Cleopatra, 
 dom, was named Dionysus, and is known to historians as Ptolemy 
 XII. the last of that family and patronymic. 
 
 The affairs of Egypt were now so closely connected with the 
 policy of Rome, that the principal events which characterised the 
 government of the expiring power of the Grecian kings, may be 
 traced either to the intrigues or the ambition, the avarice or the 
 licentiousness of the Italian commanders. The youth of Dionysus 
 was altogether unequal to the cares of State, which at that period 
 would have oppressed the maturest age; and the talents of his 
 sister, it would appear, were not steadily or wisely directed to con¬ 
 solidate their tottering power, as vassals of the Roman Senate. An 
 insurrection at Alexandria, which occasioned the mrn’der of two 
 sons of the Proconsul Bibulus, at that time commanding in Syria, 
 disturbed the very commencement of them reign; and we find that 
 Cleopatra could not oppose the tide of popular fury connected with 
 that occurrence, but was compelled to resign the splendour of. 
 
136 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Expulsion of royalty, and seek protection in a temporary exile. 1 The abdication 
 cieopatia. 0 p this p r i nce ss, though probably arising from the tumult just 
 mentioned, was unquestionably accelerated by the designs already 
 entertained by the young king and his ambitious ministers. Their 
 object became manifest when Cleopatra, after a few months’ residence 
 in Syria, returned towards her native country to resume her seat on 
 the tlrrone. Dionysus prepared to oppose her by force of arms, 
 and a civil war would inevitably have ensued, had not the rival 
 pretensions of the children of Auletes been speedily determined, by 
 an authority which neither was at liberty to dispute. 
 
 Csesar sails to It was while their respective armaments were stationed near 
 pivSult of ITIusiurn, that Casar sailed to the coast of Egypt in pursuit of 
 
 Pompey Pompey. Upon his arrival on the shores of the Nile, he was 
 
 cieopata™'' presented with the head of his vanquished rival; and he almost 
 immediately afterwards landed with his troops at Alexandria, in 
 quality of consul, attended by Lictors bearing the fasces. This 
 display of authority, as belonging to the representative of the Roman 
 senate and people, could not fail to create suspicion and alarm; and 
 Caisar, accordingly, found that the safety of his person could not be 
 secured, except by taking possession of the strongest part of the 
 palace, of which he made haste to increase the fortifications. 2 
 
 Empowered by the official rank which he held in a kingdom 
 
 which could not now be viewed in any other light than that of a 
 
 Roman province, Cassar issued an order to the two royal persons 
 who were disputing for the throne, commanding them to suspend 
 their hostilities, and to submit the several points which had armed 
 them against each other, to his arbitration. In compliance with this 
 injunction, both parties sent suitable representatives to wait upon 
 the consul, and to state their respective claims and grievances. 
 
 Meanwhile, the army of the young Ptolemy remained before 
 Pelusimn, and Cleopatra had not yet returned from Syria. The 
 latter, however, trusting more to her personal influence, than to the 
 eloquence of her ministers, resolved to plead her own cause in the 
 presence of Caesar. She therefore put herself on a board a small 
 skiff, under the protection of Apollodorus, a Sicilian Greek, and 
 having reached the harbour of Alexandria in safety, gave instructions 
 that she should be conveyed into the chamber of the Roman general 
 in the form of a large package of goods. The stratagem gave 
 Character of infinite pleasure to the hero of Pharsalia, who is said to have been as 
 and her 6 "’ much delighted with the wiles of love, as with those of war; and 
 device to if the beauty and wit of Cleopatra be viewed in connection with the 
 
 obtsin an * ^ t i > 
 
 audience of amorous character of Cassar, the result of her visit may be easily 
 Csesar. anticipated. This princess was now in her twentieth year, distin¬ 
 guished by extraordinary personal charms, and surrounded with all 
 the graces which give to those charms their greatest power. Her 
 
 1 Valerius Maximus, lib. iv. c. 1. 
 
 3 Plutarch, in Ca3sar. Hirtius, de Bell. Alexan. 
 
Chap. III.] PROPOSITIONS OF THE ROMAN CONSUL. 
 
 137 
 
 voice sounded like the sweetest music; and she spoke a variety of 
 languages Avith propriety and ease. She could, it is said, assume all 
 characters at will, which all alike became her; and the impression 
 which was made at first by her beauty, was confirmed by the fasci¬ 
 nating brilliancy of her conversation. It is knoAvn that she bore to 
 the consul a son, who, from the name of his father, was called 
 Caesarion. 1 
 
 The day after this singular meeting, Caasar summoned the king, as Propositions 
 Avell as the citizens of Alexandria, to listen to certain propositions which consul ° m ‘ m 
 he had to make for restoring peace to their country. The Avill of 
 Ptolemy Auletes was read; after which the Roman commander 
 assured them he had no other object in view than to ensure a full 
 compliance Avith its injunctions. For this purpose, he suggested, 
 not only that Dionysus and Cleopatra should resume their joint 
 sovereignty in Egypt, but also that the younger brother and sister 
 should likewise be married, and reign together over the island of 
 Cyprus, in the possession of which he undertook to guarantee them. 
 
 No measure could have been either more popular or more just 
 than that which Ctesar proposed as the basis of the new arrange¬ 
 ment. The adherents of the king, hoAvever, had proceeded too far 
 against Cleopatra not to have reason to dread her resentment; and 
 Pothinus, in particular, in whose intriguing spirit all the dissensions 
 of the court had originated, saAv no safety for himself but in the 
 continuance of the civil war, and the ultimate defeat of the Roman 
 faction. The army of Pelusiimr was accordingly placed under the 
 command of Achillas the murderer of Pompey, Avith instructions to 
 advance suddenly upon Alexandria, and crush the handful of soldiers 
 whom Caesar had stationed round his person. 
 
 But the movement of the Egyptian army did not deceive the Opposed by 
 vigilance of the Roman consul. He detained the young king in his£°yj^ sand 
 custody, and thereby threw upon the troops opposed to him, the 
 guilt, or at least the appearance of rebellion; and Avhen Achillas did 
 at length arrive in the streets of the capital, the palace was so well 
 defended, that tAventy thousand soldiers could make no impression 
 upon its walls. An obstinate battle was at the same time fought 
 between the fleets, Avliich, OAving to the gallantry and skill of the 
 Rhodians, terminated in a decided victory for Cassar; but as the 
 contest took place almost in the very harbour, the conflagration of 
 the vanquished ships communicated to several magazines, and 
 finally reached the royal library, in which were consumed about 
 four hundred thousand volumes. 2 But the advantage obtained on 
 this occasion did not break the spirit, nor impede the exertions of 
 the Alexandrians. The Avar raged with unabated Any, and the 
 situation of Ctesar became every day more perilous. 
 
 Besides Cleopatra, and the king her brother, the Romans had 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, and Plutarch, in Cassar. 
 
 2 Seneca, de Tranquillitate. 
 
138 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Arsinoe 
 escapes from 
 the palace, 
 and 
 
 Ganymede 
 assumes the 
 command. 
 
 He cuts off 
 the water. 
 
 C&sar’s 
 
 danger. 
 
 detained in tlie palace Arsinoe the youngest sister of these princes; 
 who, availing herself of an opportunity presented by the incessant 
 tumult, escaped from the restraint of Cassar’s quarters, and offered 
 the advantage of her authority and countenance to the army under 
 Achillas. She was accompanied in her flight by Ganymede, an 
 ambitious eunuch, who eagerly seconded the aspiring designs of his 
 mistress. Nor did the enterprise altogether fail of success. The 
 Alexandrians received with rapture the spirited daughter of their 
 late king; and to make way for her favourite Ganymede, they found 
 no difficulty in sacrificing their commander Achillas. Cassar, at the 
 same time, suspecting the faith of Pothinus, condemned him to 
 death; an event which placed the conduct of the Alexandrian war 
 under auspices completely different, from those under which it had 
 commenced. 1 
 
 Ganymede, now at the head of the army, resolved to attack the 
 Komans with a new weapon. Alexandria was supplied with water 
 from the Nile; to cut off the usual resource, therefore, it was only 
 necessary to stop up the conduits by which it was conveyed, and to 
 let in the sea-water by means of the drains which communicated 
 with the shore. The consternation at first was excessive; many of 
 the inhabitants threatened to quit the city; and it was with the 
 greatest difficulty that Caesar could prevail upon them to dig wells, 
 which he assured them would yield an abundant supply, as they 
 were almost on the level of the sea. At length his counsel was 
 listened to, and all their expectations were gratified. 
 
 The scene of warfare was now transferred almost entirely from 
 the land to the water. To protect a convoy which brought to him 
 from Asia his thirty-seventh legion, with ample supplies of provi¬ 
 sions and military stores, Ctesar put to sea and engaged the Egyp¬ 
 tian fleet. The brave and skilful Rhodians were never deserted by 
 victory; and the Roman soldiers accordingly entered the harbour 
 in triumph, and gave a decided superiority to the cause of their 
 general. Repeated defeats, however, did not depress the courage 
 of Ganymede. He equipped a larger fleet than before, and again 
 defied the strength of the Romans and the naval science of their 
 allies. Fortune once more declared for Caesar; the Egyptians were 
 worsted, and compelled to take refuge under the fortifications of the 
 isle of Pharos. 2 
 
 The island now named was protected by two castles of consider¬ 
 able strength, which, as they afforded a retreat to his enemies, Caesar 
 had determined to reduce. In this attempt he nearly lost his life; 
 for after he had taken one of the forts, and was preparing to attack 
 the other, the citizens of Alexandria assailed him so furiously, that 
 he was compelled to throw himself into a boat, in order to reach the 
 opposite side of the harbour. A crowd of fugitives instantly sank 
 
 1 Hirtius, de Bell. Alexan. c. 5—9. Plutarch, in Caesar. 
 
 2 Hirtius, de Bell. Alexan. Dion Cassius, and. Plutarch, in Caesar. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF DIONYSUS. 
 
 139 
 
 the boat; upon which CfEsar plunged into the waves, and swam 
 across the strait which divided him from his ships, whence he im¬ 
 mediately sent a reinforcement to assist such of his men as were left 
 behind. It was on this occasion that he is said to have carried in 
 his teeth, while he swam toAvards his fleet, some valuable papers 
 which he held in his hand at the moment of the attack; and also to 
 have dragged after him, in a similar way, the purple garment worn 
 by the Eoman generals in battle, and thereby to have saved from 
 the disgrace of capture, the proud ornament which distinguished 
 liis rank. Dion Cassius, hoAvever, mentions a different rumour 
 which had reached his ears, in regard to the purple; that it had 
 fallen into the hands of the enemy, who displayed it on a trophy, 
 which they hastily erected to commemorate their success. 
 
 During these events Ptolemy Dionysus, impatient of the restraint 
 under which he had been so long detained, contrived a plan for 
 obtaining the consent of Caesar to his liberation. He made the 
 Eoman believe that the Alexandrians, no longer able to bear the 
 government of Arsinoe and the eunuch, were desirous to have their 
 king at their head, under whose auspices they would willingly enter 
 into such terms of accommodation as Cassar might be pleased to 
 dictate. The artifice succeeded, and Ptolemy soon found himself in 
 the camp of his army, acknowledged as a sovereign, and obeyed as 
 a commander. 
 
 But the issue of the war was no longer to remain doubtful. A Defeat ana 
 strong reinforcement w T as already on the march from the Syrian Ptolemy 
 province, under Mithridates and Antipater. These commanders Dionysus, 
 having reduced Pelusium, advanced into the country by the Avay of 
 Memphis; whilst Ca?sar and Ptolemy hearing of their approach, 
 sailed at the same time, the one to co-operate with the invaders, the 
 other to check their progress. The king of Egypt could by no 
 means compete Avitli the conqueror of Pharsalia in the art of Avar. 
 
 Caesar surprised his camp in the night, put his troops to the route, 
 and forced him to attempt his escape in such terror and confusion, 
 that the boat into Avhich he threAV himself Avent to the bottom, 
 and he was drowned. In this manner died Ptolemy XII., in the 
 eighteenth year of his age, and after an unhappy reign of three 
 years and eight months; a youth Avhose talents were superior to 
 his fortune, and whose ambition Avas not umvortliy of the rank 
 Avliich he was born to possess . 1 
 
 Caesar was noAV master of Egypt, and nothing remained to employ 
 his time and his genius, but to distribute the political power of the 
 kingdom into those hands by which he Avished it to be exercised. 
 
 Every thing was settled agreeably to the inclinations of Cleopatra; 
 for having associated Avitli her in the government her youngest 
 brother, a child of eleven years of age, he constituted her sovereign 
 
 Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. xiv. c. 2. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. 
 
140 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Cleopatra’s 
 
 splendour. 
 
 Her 
 
 fascinations. 
 
 of Egypt and of Cyprus, and gave her three Roman legions to sup¬ 
 port her authority. Her sister, Arsinoe, was banished from the 
 country which she had presumed to govern; and after being carried 
 captive to Rome, was allowed to find an asylum in one of the Greek 
 temples of Asia. The blandishments of the accomplished queen had 
 nearly subdued even the ambition of Ctesar, and made him forget 
 that the world was at his feet. At length he tore himself from her, 
 and resumed his victorious career in Asia; whence he afterwards 
 repaired to Rome, to endure temptations and to encounter enemies 
 still more formidable than those from whom he had escaped. 1 
 
 During the six years ivhich immediately followed the events now 
 described, the reign of Cleopatra seems not to have been disturbed 
 by insurrection, nor to have been assailed by foreign war. The 
 dissension among the rival leaders, who divided the power of Caesar, 
 had, no doubt, nearly involved her in a contest with both parties; 
 but the decisive issue of the battle of Philippi relieved her from the 
 hesitation under which some of her measures appear to have been 
 adopted, and determined her inclinations, as well as her interest, in 
 favour of the conquerors. 
 
 To afford her an opportunity of explaining her conduct, Antonius 
 summoned her to attend him in Cilicia; and the meeting which she 
 gave him on the river Cydnus has been well described by our great 
 poet— 
 
 The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, 
 
 Burn’d on the water : the poop was beaten gold ; 
 
 Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that 
 
 The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver, 
 
 Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 
 The water which they beat, to follow faster, 
 
 As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, 
 
 It beggared all description : she did lie 
 In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue) 
 
 O’er-picturing that Venus, where we see 
 The fancy out-work nature. 
 
 The artifices of this fascinating princess so far gained upon Anto¬ 
 nius, as not only to divert his thoughts from his original purpose of 
 subjecting her kingdom to the payment of tribute, but entirely to 
 lull his ambition asleep, and make him sacrifice his great stake as a 
 candidate for the empire of the world. After a fruitless attack upon 
 the territory of Palmyra, he hastened, hi order to forget his dis¬ 
 grace, into the arms of the Egyptian queen, passing several months 
 at Alexandria in the most foolish and puerile dissipation. The 
 death of his wife, and his subsequent marriage with Octavia, the 
 sister of his colleague in the triumvirate, delayed, for a time, the 
 crisis which his ungoverned passions were preparing for him. But 
 
 1 Plutarch, in Caesar. Dion Cassius. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 WAR AGAINST CLEOPATRA. 
 
 141 
 
 though he had thus extricated himself from the snares of Alexan¬ 
 dria, his inclinations too soon returned to that unhappy city; for we 
 find that when he left Rome to proceed on an expedition against the 
 Parthians, he despatched, in advance, his friend Fonteius Capito to 
 conduct Cleopatra into Syria. His military enterprise ended in a 
 disastrous retreat; several thousands of his men perished from fatigue 
 in an unseasonable and hasty march; after which, the infatuated 
 commander returned to meet Cleopatra, and to submit himself once 
 more to that willing bondage which had already rendered him con¬ 
 temptible in the eyes of most of his followers. 
 
 Cleopatra soon after prevailed upon him to invest herself and the 
 boy, whom she bore to Caesar, in the free and unrestricted posses¬ 
 sion of the kingdom of Egypt. He decked one of her sons, born to 
 himself, in the insignia of the Syrian kings, having resolved to raise 
 him to the throne of the Seleucidas, now at the disposal of the 
 Romans; and arrayed another in the splendid robe and tiara which 
 distinguished the great monarchs of the East, not doubting but that 
 he would, in due time, have the pleasure of conferring upon him the 
 sovereignty of Media or of Parthia. 1 
 
 War was immediately declared against Cleopatra, and in this War declared 
 declaration Augustus deemed it neither prudent nor, indeed, neces- cfeopatra. 
 sary to include his rival by name, being satisfied that the first move¬ 
 ment of the Roman arms to attack Cleopatra would bring the 
 troops of her paramour into the field. Antonius made earnest and 
 immediate preparations for the approaching contest, was met by 
 Cleopatra and a large reinforcement in Asia Minor, and sent his 
 fleet to winter in the Ambracian gulf, while his paramour and 
 himself, repairing to Athens, relapsed into their usual luxury and 
 extravagance. This silly procrastination allowed his rival to meet 
 him on more than equal terms. 
 
 In the meantime, the latter commander put into action all the Dispositions 
 resources with which experience and the military character of the of Auguatus ' 
 Romans supplied him, in order to bring to a successful issue the 
 momentous struggle in which he was about to engage. He assem¬ 
 bled his land forces at Brundusium and Tarentiun, to which places 
 he summoned such of the citizens as he thought too powerful to be 
 left at home unemployed, or too little attached to his interests to be 
 trusted in his absence. Availing himself too of the procrastination 
 which ruined the councils of the opposite party, he resolved to fix 
 the theatre of the war in Greece; for Avhich pmpose, having embarked 
 his troops, he directed his course for the shores of Acarnania, and, 
 finally, landed at no great distance from the Gulf of Ambracia, 
 where the enemy’s fleet had passed the winter. He next took 
 possession of Toryne, a town of Epirus, situated on the northern 
 shore of the gulf already named; whilst Antonius, having placed 
 
 1 Plutarch, in Antonio. Dion Cassius. 
 
142 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 his head-quarters at Actium, commanded the southern shore of the 
 same entrance, and watched the movements which he no longer had 
 it in his power to prevent. 4 
 
 Both armies were unwilling to risk an action, and only engaged 
 in a few preliminary operations, and the greater part of the summer 
 was thus spent, when at length Antonius, finding himself distressed 
 for want of provisions, avowed the necessity either of making a 
 retreat, or of risking a general action. He resolved to fight, but the 
 timid Cleopatra strongly dissuaded him. Her influence prevailed, 
 Antonins and he consented to retreat into Egypt with Cleopatra, and to avoid 
 resolves on a a rencontre with the enemy, unless he were actually compelled to 
 sustain an attack. The combined fleet was accordingly prepared 
 for sea, and equipped both for fighting and for sailing, while not to 
 impede the movements of the squadron, one hundred and forty of 
 the least serviceable ships were burnt. 
 
 These preparations did not elude the vigilance of Augustus. He 
 perceived that his opponent meant to quit his station, and whether 
 the object might be to fight or to retreat, he resolved to be in readi¬ 
 ness to meet him. 
 
 In regard to the plan of the action, Augustus was disposed to let 
 the enemy get under sail, and even to allow them to pass unmolested 
 the promontory of Actium; upon which he intended to attack their 
 rear with such vigour, as would instantly convert their retreat into 
 a flight, and thereby secure to him all the credit and advantages of a 
 victory, without incurring the hazard of a more regular engagement. 
 Agrippa, his chief officer, recommended a different method of attack, 
 which promised to be at once more certain in its aim, and more 
 decisive in its effects. He proposed to meet the hostile fleet in front 
 at the mouth of the bay, to direct the onset against the strongest 
 part of their line, and in this way to throw them into confusion 
 before the larger ships could be brought into action, in which case, 
 if a victory should be obtained, the enemy would find it impossible 
 to renew the Avar either in Asia or in Europe. Augustus yielded to 
 the reasoning of his admiral, and proceeded to strengthen still 
 farther the crews of his ships, by drafting from the land forces an 
 additional body of men expert in the use of all lands of missile 
 weapons. 1 
 
 Preparations In the distribution of authority on board his fleet, Antonius 
 for battle. placed the centre under the direction of Marcus Justeius and Marcus 
 Octavius, the left under that of Ccelius, reserving for himself and 
 Publicola the command of the right. Both fleets being now in 
 readiness, each waited with anxiety the first motions of the other. 
 A storm which continued four days, and which was succeeded by a 
 heavy sivell running directly into the gulf, compelled them to 
 seek shelter in their respective harbours, but on the fifth day, the 
 
 1 Strabo, lib. vii. Diou Cassius, lib. i. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius, lib. i. c. 23. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 FLIGHT OF CLEOPATRA. 
 
 143 
 
 wind having abated, and the sea becoming smooth, Antonius 
 advanced with his division towards the mouth of the strait. He Scene of 
 appeal’s to have been desirous to bring on the action in the entrance 
 of the bay, rather than trust his unwieldy galleys in more open 
 water, being aware that where there is sufficient room for manoeuv¬ 
 ring, the smaller ships compensate by the rapidity of their motion 
 for their deficiency of weight. But Antonius was not allowed 
 to deliberate any longer. His antagonist immediately got under 
 sail, and passing the promontory of Toryne, formed his fine 
 opposite the entry of the straits, at the distance of about a thou¬ 
 sand yards from the combined fleet. Both armies were at the 
 same time drawn out on the shore to witness the impending- 
 conflict, upon which hung at that moment the future destiny of 
 the Roman commonwealth, and perhaps the mastery of the world. 
 
 Still it remained somewhat doubtful whether Antonius would 
 advance, or retire once more into the recess of the gulf, whither 
 he knew the enemy would not deem it safe to follow him, 
 nor was it till noon that his ships began to clear the straits, and 
 thereby afforded a certain indication that he at length meant to 
 force his way through the opposing line. 1 
 
 Upon observing the movement now mentioned, Agrippa extended The tattle, 
 his front with the intention of surrounding the galleys which had 
 already advanced, before they could be supported by the main body. 
 Publicola, who commanded under Antonius, performed a similar 
 manoeuvre, and spread out his division so as to equal the line of the 
 enemy. Immediately upon this the battle began between these 
 detached portions of either fleet, extending its course to the whole 
 annament, in proportion as the several ships came in contact with 
 one another at the outside of the bay. On the part of Augustus, 
 the vessels being small and manned with able rowers, had a con¬ 
 siderable advantage over the lofty and more unmanageable quinque- 
 remes of Antonius, sweeping round them with inconceivable rapidity, 
 and brushing away then - oars and outward defences by the mere 
 velocity of their movement. It was in vain that the Egyptian sailors 
 endeavoured to run down their diminutive opponents, or to ward 
 off theft assault by means of poles and grappling-irons, for the 
 activity of the Romans eluded every impression attempted to be 
 made by weight of hull and strength of timbers. Agrippa, it was 
 obvious, placed his chief confidence in the dexterity of his rowers, 
 and on the steadiness and certainty with which the soldiers on board 
 discharged clouds of javelins, darts, and spears. 
 
 In this manner the battle continued about two hours without any cieopatra 
 decisive advantage on either side, when at length the terror of an A is 
 Cleopatra threw the victory into the hands of Augustus. In the Antonius. 
 beginning of the action the queen’s galley had been stationed near 
 
 1 Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii. c. 84. Plutarch, in Antonio. 
 
144 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Disorder 
 and defeat. 
 
 Loss. 
 
 Submission 
 of the army 
 to Augustus. 
 
 the front line where she witnessed the progress of the contest with 
 some degree of firmness, but finding that the issue was becoming 
 more and more doubtful, and overcome by anxiety and fear, she 
 gave orders to be removed to a greater distance from the scene of 
 conflict. This partial retreat soon became a general flight. Her 
 vessel, distinguished by its gilded poop and purple sails, was seen by 
 the whole fleet making all haste to escape from the hazard of dis¬ 
 comfiture, and displaying, it is said, signals to the other ships to 
 follow her example. Sixty Egyptian galleys, either in obedience to 
 the queen or under pretext of defending her person, immediately 
 quitted the line and joined the fugitives, whilst Antonius, now in 
 despair of his fortunes, or with the intention of checking this unfore¬ 
 seen defection, threw himself into a swift-sailing vessel and pursued 
 the path of Cleopatra. Being observed from the queen’s galley, he 
 was invited to go on board, where, without attempting to rally her 
 fleet, which was still comparatively entire, he at once became the 
 companion of her flight. It is added, indeed, that though for her 
 sake he consented to relinquish the chance of victory, and to 
 resign the hope of governing the greatest people in the world, he 
 could not at that moment endure her presence, but turning his eyes 
 from her, and throwing himself with violence on the deck, he ex¬ 
 hibited the deepest symptoms of shame, anguish, and despondency. 1 
 But the flight of Antonius did not immediately put an end to the 
 combat. His officers continued to exert themselves with a degree 
 of courage worthy of better auspices, till four in the afternoon; 
 when, after having been exposed sometime to the discharge of 
 ignited weapons, and finding their vessels severely damaged in their 
 oai's and rigging, the greater part srurendered to the enemy. Three 
 hundred gallres were either taken or destroyed. 
 
 The loss in men has been variously reported; Plutarch stating 
 the amount at five thousand, while Orosius maintains that twelve 
 thousand were killed and six thousand wounded. The neighbour¬ 
 ing shores were covered with dead bodies, and the fragments of 
 broken ships; and, in a word, every thing announced to Augustus 
 that his victory was complete and apparently decisive. To secure, 
 however, all the advantages of conquest, he remained the succeed¬ 
 ing night on board his ship; having first detached a squadron in 
 pursuit of such of the enemy’s vessels as had escaped, and used all 
 other means for prosecuting his ulterior views against Antonius and 
 his Egyptian ally. 2 The hasty retreat of the vanquished triumvir 
 prevented him from issuing orders to direct the future motions 
 of his army. Having witnessed his defeat from the adjoining 
 heights, the soldiers retired to their camp, expecting either to see 
 their commander reappear amongst them, or to receive such 
 
 1 Floras, lib. vi. c. 11. Velleius Paterculus. 
 
 2 Orosius, lib. vi. c. 19. Dion Cassius, and Plutarch, in Antonio. Suetonius, in 
 Octavio. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 MEASURES OF CLEOPATRA. 
 
 145 
 
 instructions from him as might seem most likely to retrieve 
 their common fortunes. Canidius retained them in their - duty 
 seven days, during which they would not listen to any terms on the 
 part of the enemy; but at the end of this period, their hopes and 
 allegiance gradually gave way, and the greater number both of 
 Eomans and provincials prepared to make their peace with Augustus. 
 
 It was the policy of Augustus to secure the friendship, or at least 
 the neutrality, of all the princes who had ranged themselves under 
 the banner of his rival. For this purpose he willingly recognised 
 the titles of the three kings who had been created by Antonius; 
 
 Herod of Judea, Archelaus of Cappadocia, and Amyntas of Galatia. 
 
 He likewise interposed in behalf of such of the Grecian states as had 
 suffered from the pressure of the war, and the extortion of the Egyp¬ 
 tian officers; confining all his resentment to the ambitious projects 
 of Cleopatra, and the foolish co-operation of his late colleague and 
 brother-in-law. 1 
 
 The news of his disasters reached the coast of Africa before An- Pinarius. 
 tonius could arrive there with the remains of his fleet. Pinarius, to 
 whom he had committed the government of Cyrene, refused to let 
 him land, or to supply him with the most needful succours. Em¬ 
 bracing the interests of the successful party, he surrendered to Cor¬ 
 nelius, an officer in the service of Augustus, not only the important 
 province of the Pentapolis, but also four legions, which had been 
 left to defend it. Antonius, thus repelled by the treachery of his 
 Lieutenant, joined Cleopatra in Alexandria, whither he immediately 
 proceeded to concert measures for the approaching campaign, which 
 was to decide finally all his pretensions to a share in the government 
 and territory of Eome. 
 
 When Cleopatra, on her return from Actium, approached the Measures of 
 harbour of Alexandria, she gave orders to display all the ensigns of CIe " lut1- ' - 
 victory, and proceeded into the harbour with shouts of triumph and 
 congratulation. But she could not long conceal her reverses; and, 
 resolving to obviate their worst effects, she instantly began to repair 
 her navy, though she was compelled to derive her means from the 
 plunder of private citizens, and the riches of the temples. Under 
 the impression of fear, she projected a powerful naval establishment 
 on the shores of the Arabian Gulf; and with this view she caused a 
 number of gallies to be conveyed over land, and others to be built 
 in the several ports of the -Eed Sea; trusting that a long time woidd 
 elapse before the fleets of Eome could threaten her safety in that 
 remote part of her dominions. But after this project was partly 
 carried into execution, the jealousy of the Arabs defeated her views 
 of success. They demolished the docks, plundered the stores, and 
 burnt the ships upon which her treasures had been expended, and 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. c. 10. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 2. Dion Cassius, 
 lib. li. p. 443. 
 
 [E. 0. IT.] 
 
 L 
 
Offers of 
 submission. 
 
 Results. 
 
 Advance and 
 successes of 
 Augustus. 
 
 140 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. III. 
 
 reduced her to the necessity of making her defence on the banks of 
 the Nile. 1 
 
 Augustus appears to have passed part of the following winter at 
 Rome, in arrangements connected with the civil government of the 
 republic, as well as in soothing the minds of his veteran soldiers ; 
 who having now endured the fatigues and privations of war, were 
 eager in their demands for the usual recompense. 
 
 The queen of Egypt, meanwhile, in conjunction with her lover, 
 adopted various means for diverting or mitigating the calamity with 
 which they were threatened. They made offers of a conditional 
 submission to the conqueror; they addressed him with flattering 
 messages and splendid gifts, professed to receive him as a friend, 
 and were eager to apologize for whatever appearances in their past 
 conduct he might regard as not quite in unison with their present 
 declarations. But the penetration of Augustus was too acute, and 
 his resolutions too firmly taken, to be deceived by such diplomatists. 
 Nor was he impeded in his designs by a measure of a more impor¬ 
 tant nature, which suggested itself to Antonius in the midst of his 
 difficulties. Csesarion, the reputed son of Julius Caesar by Cleopatra, 
 was now of sufficient age to take a part in public affairs; and him 
 accordingly, Antonius presented to the Romans, as the rightful heir of 
 his father’s inheritance, and the proper representative of his family 
 and claims. This stratagem, however, only involved in an untimely 
 fate the youth who was made the object of it, as well as the eldest 
 son of the triumvir himself by his first wife. 
 
 There is reason to believe that the agents of the queen at the 
 camp of Ca;sar, did not fail to put in practice all their arts, both to 
 ascertain his intention relative to the person of their mistress, should 
 she fall into his power, and also the extent of his inclination to treat 
 with her as the sovereign of Egypt, without any reference to the 
 views and conduct of Antonius. The prudence of the Roman 
 commander kept him from committing his faith on these delicate 
 points. He indeed encouraged Cleopatra to hope for a separate 
 treaty, but he advised her in the meantime to break off her connec¬ 
 tion with his rival, and to surrender herself and kingdom to the 
 generosity of the conqueror; insinuating that her charms would have 
 more influence upon his mind than the justice of her cause, and that 
 neither she nor her subjects would have cause to repent the un¬ 
 bounded confidence which he expected her to repose in him. 2 
 
 The season for active operations having arrived, Augustus began 
 the compaign by attacking Egypt as he had arranged, both on the 
 side of Pelusium and on that of Peritonium. A glimpse of good 
 fortune attended the arms of Antonius when he sallied forth from 
 Alexandria at the head of his cavalry to check the enemy’s horsemen 
 on their approach to the eastern frontier. His spirit revived, and he 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, lib. li. p. 447. Zonaras, lib. x. c. 35. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius, lib. li. c. 9. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEATH OF ANTONIES. 
 
 147 
 
 seemed once more about to retrieve the character for valour and 
 military skill which had made him the friend of Julius Ctesar. But 
 his exertions were not seconded. The arts of Augustus had, it is 
 presumed, so far prevailed with Cleopatra, that she was led to con¬ 
 ceive her interests to be more closely connected with the failure of 
 Antonius than with his success. Pelusium fell into the enemy’s Antonius 
 hands without even a show of resistance. It was impossible not to tle,eated - 
 suspect treachery, and the deluded triumvir complained to the 
 queen that her arms were turned against him ; but she, delivering to 
 his resentment the officer who had surrendered the stronghold, assured 
 him of the constancy of her attachment to his person, and of her 
 firm resolution to oppose the invader even to the last extremity . 1 
 Encouraged by these representations, he collected all his forces by 
 sea and land, and resolved to make one great effort to recover at 
 once the power and the reputation which he had lost since the battle 
 of Actium. He met his opponent in the field, under the walls of 
 Alexandria, whilst he gave orders to his fleets to attack the gallies 
 and transports which were at anchor near the harbour; but hardly 
 was the action begun when the Egyptian sailors struck their flags, 
 the cavalry deserted to the enemy’s ranks, and the infantry fled into 
 the city in the utmost trepidation. The fate of Egypt was now 
 decided; resistance was become equally impracticable and useless; 
 and Antonius had only to pour into the ear of the queen unavailing 
 complaints that he had been deceived, insulted, and betrayed . 2 
 
 Whilst these scenes were passing, Cleopatra had shut herself up, Devices of 
 with a few attendants and the most valuable part of her treasure, in and death of 
 a strong building, which appears to have been intended for a royal Antonius. 
 sepulchre. To prevent intrusion by friend or enemy, she caused a 
 report to be circulated, that she had retired into the monument to 
 put herself to death; and a rumour soon followed that she had 
 executed her threat, and was already dead. Antonius, not less 
 unhappy in his love than in his ambition, resolved to follow the 
 example of the queen; and, giving his sword to the freed slave, 
 whom he had retained for the express purpose of ending his life 
 when he should no longer wish to retain it, desired him to strike 
 the fatal blow. The affectionate freedman turned the point of the 
 weapon against himself, and inflicted a mortal wound; upon which, 
 the Eoman commander, snatching the sword from the body of the 
 slave plunged it into his own. He did not, however, immediately 
 expire; and while he lay bleeding on the ground, some one told 
 him that Cleopatra was still alive and safe in the upper part of the 
 tower. He desired that he should be carried into her presence, and 
 his wish was gratified. He was drawn up by means of machinery 
 to the top of the wall; and rvhen he was laid at the feet of the 
 queen, streaming with blood and about to draw his last breath, 
 
 1 Plutarch, in Antonio. Orosius, lib. vii. p. 268. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius. Plutarch, in Antonio. 
 
148 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Interview o 
 
 Augustus 
 
 with 
 
 Cleopatra. 
 
 Conduct of 
 Augustus. 
 
 she tore her hair, and beat her breast in the deepest distress; agitated 
 by a variety of passions, which, though perhaps real on so painful 
 an occasion, she had long learned to atfect and employ for the 
 accomplishment of very questionable purposes . 1 
 
 Cleopatra sent to Augustus a formal notice of Antonius’s death; 
 hoping, it may be, that the main obstacle to a compromise with the 
 victor was now removed. But the views of Cassar, in regard to her 
 person and wealth, were not to be affected by the little arts ■which 
 she thought it expedient to employ; the former he meant should 
 grace his triumph, and the latter recruit his exhausted coffers. 
 That such were his motives, the queen herself appears from the out¬ 
 set to have suspected; and it was for this reason that she had pro¬ 
 vided her retirement with several kinds of poison, by which she 
 might, in case of necessity, put a gentle termination to her life. To 
 divert her from this fatal resolution, which had by some means 
 become known to the conqueror, he from time to time renewed the 
 hope that she might yet obtain from the senate such terms of agree¬ 
 ment as would leave her sovereignty unimpaired, and at length he 
 even condescended to pay her a visit in her own apartments. When 
 this intention was made known to her, she prepared for the recep¬ 
 tion of the master of Rome with all the pomp of which her circum¬ 
 stances wotdd admit. Her chamber was decorated in the most 
 elegant manner; she gave a prominent place to the picture and 
 bust of Julius Cassar; and placed before her on a table a bundle of 
 letters which she had received from the amorous dictator. Her 
 person was arrayed in mourning; a dress which suited at once her 
 complexion, and the solemn occasion of the interview which she was 
 about to hold. When Augustus presented himself, she rose to 
 meet him with an air of melancholy. She called him her master, 
 and reminded him that to his father she owed all her fortunes, 
 and now willingly resigned them into the hands of the son. The 
 memory of the great Julius, she declared, would be a sufficient 
 comfort to her in all her afflictions; she would even take pleasure 
 in considering him as revived in the distinguished hero who now 
 inherited his fortunes and his name. But “would to God,” she 
 exclaimed, bursting into tears, “ that I had died before him, so 
 should I have escaped the evils which his death has been the means 
 of bringing upon me .” 2 
 
 The conduct of Augustus, during this conference, confirmed her 
 worst fears. She saw that he meant to carry her to Rome, and 
 expose her to the gaze of the populace at his triumph; upon which 
 she finally determined to disappoint his unmanly and vindictive 
 pride. But she found it necessary, meantime, to disguise her pur¬ 
 pose; being closely watched by the agents of Augustus, who had 
 received the strictest orders to preserve her life. She therefore 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, lib. li. c. 10. Zonaras, lib. x. c. 30. Plutarch, in Antonio. 
 
 3 Plutarch, in Antonio. Dion Cassius, lib. li. c. 12. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEATH OF CLEOPATRA. 
 
 149 
 
 affected more than usual lightness of heart; pretended to pack up 
 her jewels as if on the eve of a long journey; and even to select 
 such of them as might be esteemed suitable gifts for the wife and 
 sister of Augustus, which, she said, she meant to deliver with her 
 own hand. Having completed her arrangements, she wrote a letter 
 to the conqueror, which she sent under the charge of a faithful ser¬ 
 vant, acquainting him with her knowledge of his designs, and also 
 of the means which she had taken to render them for ever abortive. 
 
 She added several expressions of triumph and delight, that she had 
 been able so to thwart his cruel purpose concerning her, and thereby 
 to escape from the hands of enemies whom she could not in any other 
 way disarm . 1 
 
 Augustus was at no loss to perceive the import of her remarks Death of 
 and the subject of her congratulation. He gave instant orders to cleopatli1 ' 
 prevent the accomplishment of her intentions; but they were too 
 late. Before his injunctions could reach the sepulchral tower, the 
 queen was already dead. One of the two women who attended 
 her lay lifeless at her feet; the other was just expiring. The 
 latter, however, upon seeing the messenger of Augustus enter the 
 chamber, cast her eyes on her mistress, and observing that the crown 
 had fallen from her head, exerted the last feeble remains of her 
 strength to replace it. A small puncture in the arm was the only 
 mark of violence which could be detected on the body of Cleopatra; 
 and it was therefore believed that she had procured death either by 
 the bite of a venomous reptile or by the scratch of a poisoned bodkin. 
 
 She was in her thirty-ninth year, having reigned twenty-two years 
 from the death of her father. Augustus, it is said, though deprived 
 by this act of suicide of the greatest ornament of his approaching 
 triumph, gave orders that she should have a magnificent funeral, 
 and that her body, as she had desired, should be laid by that of 
 Antonius. 
 
 In the grave of Cleopatra was deposited the last of the royal race Character of 
 of the Ptolemies, a family which had swayed the sceptre of Egypt cleop ‘ lt1 ' 1 - 
 two hundred and ninety-four years. Of the real character of this 
 celebrated queen herself, it is not possible to speak at this distance 
 of time with any degree of confidence. That she had beauty and 
 talents of the highest order, is admitted by every historian who has 
 undertaken to give the annals of her reign, and that she was accom¬ 
 plished in no ordinary degree, is established by the fact that she was 
 a great proficient in music, and mistress of nearly all the languages 
 which were cultivated in her age. She was well-skilled, for example, 
 in Greek and Latin, and she could converse with Ethiopians, Tro¬ 
 glodytes, Jews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, and Persians, without an 
 interpreter, always giving an answer to such individuals of these 
 nations as had occasion to address her in the tongue or dialect which 
 
 1 Plutarch, in Octavio. Dion Cassius, lib. li. c. 19. Orosius, lib. vi. Velleius 
 Paterculus, lib. ii. c. 87. 
 
150 
 
 DYNASTIC HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 they happened to employ. Her conduct was far from being pure, 
 but we may find some apology in the religion and manners of her 
 country, and must ascribe the most glaring of her frailties to the 
 absurd institutions which regulated the matrimonial connections of 
 Egyptian princes, and paid no respect to the age, affections, or 
 temper of the parties. Her lot too was cast in a time when the 
 civil commotions and military power of Rome shook the foundations 
 of society over the greater part of the civilised world, and when no 
 policy pursued on her part could have saved the independence of 
 her kingdom, or even have long delayed the subjection into which 
 she had the misfortune to see it fall. 
 
 [Egyptian Portico, with Pillars of the form ot the Palm Tree.— Denon .] 
 
[The Spliynx.] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 The original form of government seems to have been a kind of Government, 
 theocracy. At least prior to the age of Menes, the supreme power 
 was lodged in a hierarchy, which claimed to be intimately connected 
 with the elder divinities. After Menes, the government became a 
 pure hereditary monarchy , 1 though in cases of emergency a new 
 sovereign was elected out of the priests or soldiers, and inaugurated 
 amidst the acclamations of the people. The king was surrounded 
 with a stately ceremonial, hallowed by primeval tradition. The 
 most minute regulation as to dress, diet, hours of business, repose, 
 and religious worship, were solemnly prescribed to him—orations 
 from the books of Hermes on the duties of royalty, and the 
 functions of legislator and judge were daily chanted to him. 
 
 His power, however, was unbounded. A priest by formal initia¬ 
 tion , 2 and a military commander in virtue of his elevation to the 
 throne, this combination of the mitre, crown, and sword, in one who 
 was regarded as a “ mortal god,” enabled him to compel submission 
 
 1 Diodorus i. 43. 
 
 2 Plutarch de Isid. ix. 
 
Pharaoh. 
 
 152 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. [Chap. IV. 
 
 to regal edicts, where it might have been justly withheld. The 
 populace seem to have had no franchise, though their lives and pro¬ 
 perty were well guarded. The immense armies which were levied, 
 and the stupendous national works which were executed, prove that 
 the masses were drilled, and laboured without much regard to per¬ 
 sonal comfort or social relations. 
 
 Great princes have great playthings. Some have played 
 At hewing mountains unto men, and some 
 At building human wonders mountains high. 
 
 Some have amused the dull sad years of life 
 With schemes of monumental fame, and sought 
 By pyramids and mausoleum pomp, 
 
 Short-lived themselves, to immortalize their bones. 
 
 Some seek diversion in the tented field, 
 
 And make the sorrows of mankind their sport. 
 
 Though the people could not control the living sovereign, their 
 forced passivity was compensated at his death. They sat in review 
 upon the actions of his career, and decided whether the rites of 
 royal sepulture should be awarded to his corpse. It is plain, that 
 under such an administration, the happiness of the nation depended 
 not a little on the sovereign’s personal character. His power of 
 oppression, within verge of law, must have been great, unless re¬ 
 strained by generosity and patriotism. The kings of Egypt, how¬ 
 ever, do not appear to have used their influence in wanton tyranny. 
 A sovereignty so long lived as that of Memphis and Thebes is 
 unparalleled: internal revolutions were rare indeed, and many of 
 the kings were adored in after ages as divine benefactors. 
 
 The royal cognomen was Pharaoh for many ages. The Egyptian 
 word is Phra, 1 —denoting the sun. As the sun in the sky, so was 
 the monarch among his subjects. Usually each king represented on 
 the monument has two oval rings or cartouches, one of which con- 
 
 1 Phra is the same as Ra with the article prefixed. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 CLASSES OF SOCIETY. 
 
 153 
 
 tains his distinguishing title and the other his proper name—such 
 as Pharaoh, son of the sun—sun offered to the world; Pharaoh, 
 avenging lord of Upper and Lower Egypt; Pharaoh, vigilant 
 in justice, son of Sethos. After the union of Memphis and Thebes, 
 the king wore a double crown, and was installed with vast 
 magnificence, anointed with great solemnity, and put in possession 
 of the emblems of majesty from the gods. Two vases, symbols of 
 life and purity, were placed in his hands. Sometimes the gods 
 themselves are represented as setting the double crown on the 
 sovereign’s head; then they blessed him, and as he assumed the 
 government, they handed him the insignia of life. Princes of the 
 blood formed his train, and fanned the flies from his sacred person. 
 
 The country was divided into thirty-six nomes , 1 and each had its Division of 
 governor. His will was extensive—the lands were under his charge, the S0lL 
 and the taxes were levied by his direction. The soil was pos¬ 
 sessed by the king, the priesthood, and the soldiery. The husband¬ 
 men who cultivated the farms paid a portion of the produce as rent. 
 
 Prior to Joseph’s time, the people appear to have been independent 
 yeomen, but the crisis of famine prompted them to renounce their 
 rights, and yield their lands to the crown, paying as rent a fifth part 
 of the produce . 2 The proportion thus paid as rent was not exor¬ 
 bitant. The priesthood, however, retained their lands, being too 
 strong to be compelled or tampered with, as they could easily secure 
 the dismissal of a hostile adviser, or even the deposition of his royal 
 master. 
 
 The people were divided into various classes, or, as they have Orders of 
 sometimes been termed, castes. Perhaps this name is inapplicable societ> ' 
 to the various orders of Egyptian society, for those classes were not 
 irrevocably separated by a hereditary and perpetual wall of parti¬ 
 tion. The different ranks might intermarry. The children of the 
 soldiers might enter the priesthood, and sons of the same family 
 might either be initiated into a civil or military occupation. Birch, 
 
 Ampere, Gliddon, and others, stoutly contend that caste, in the 
 Indian sense and application of the term, was not found in Pharaonic 
 Egypt . 3 
 
 The first and highest order was the priesthood, which possessed Priesthood, 
 a mighty and ramified organization. The key of authority was 
 with them. They were the bards who, from trained and retentive 
 memory, recited ancient lore 4 —the historians who composed the 
 annals of the kingdom—the oracles of law, and at the same time 
 the repository of medical and philosophical science. Their power was 
 
 1 Strabo, xvii. ^ 
 
 2 Gen. xlvii. 26. Kenrick (Ancient Egypt) remarks, that rent with us is about 
 a fourth part of the produce, ii. 29. 
 
 3 Gliddon’s Otia TEgyptiaca, p. 90. Ampere, in Eeveux des deux Mondes, Sept. 
 
 1848. The Sanscrit word for caste, varna, has a primary reference to colour or 
 complexion. 
 
 4 Herodotus ii. 77. 
 
154 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Soldiers. 
 
 Other classes 
 of the 
 population. 
 
 unbounded, and their possessions were immense. They claimed and 
 occupied the largest portion of the country, 1 and they paid no taxes. 
 Every temple had its numerous sacerdotal bands, who presided over 
 its ritual, and dispensed medicine, equity, and knowledge. 2 No 
 class in the state could cope with them, and they often held royalty 
 itself in pupillage. Then- own ceremonial was simple—frequent 
 ablution, careful shaving, and the use of flax and papyrus for garments. 
 The chief pontificate seems to have been hereditary, for the priests 
 affirmed to Herodotus that they had a list of their sacred chiefs— 
 son succeeding father—for 340 generations. 
 
 [Egyptian Ephod .—Description de VEgypte .] 
 
 The military order ranked next in importance. It was divided 
 into two grand classes, the Calasirians and the Hermotybians; the 
 former perhaps the youth disciplined to active service, and the latter 
 the veterans, to whom the garrisons of the country were intrusted. 
 Their principal location was in Lower Egypt, the part of the country 
 most open to invasion. Each soldier possessed six acres, exempted 
 from taxation. The army was prohibited from following any trade, 
 but allowed of course to cultivate their lands. While some brigades 
 were in garrison, others formed the royal life-guards, and wore for 
 the time richer dress and accoutrements. 3 The lung was often 
 chosen from the army. Troops of men so segregated from the rest 
 of society, and enjoying peculiar immunities, must have formed a 
 powerful phalanx, bound together by peculiar habits and associations. 
 
 The rest of the population was unenfranchised, and constituted 
 the general industrial class. A numerous peasantry tilled and reaped 
 the soil, and as many more were employed in the extensive meadows 
 
 1 Diodorus i. 173. 2 The Levites liad a similar extent of service. 
 
 3 Rosellini Mon. Real. 90, 100. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 OCCUPATIONS AND LAWS. 
 
 155 
 
 and hills as herdsmen. The swine herds were a race of outcasts, 
 universally despised, denied admission into the temples, and only 
 allowed to marry among themselves. The pilots and boatmen 
 of the Nile were leagued together by similarity of habits and occu¬ 
 pation. Finally, after the ascendancy of the Greeks, there sprang up 
 a class of interpreters, a species of bilinguists, in whose families, as 
 a natural consequence, the gift of tongues would descend. 
 
 But besides these classes, there must have been a large town Towns’ 
 population in Egypt, composed of artizans and tradesmen, such as P eoI,!e - 
 architects, masons, weavers, painters, sculptors, embalmers, with 
 workers in metal, leather, and wood. Such occupations are often 
 depicted on the monuments. The Egyptians seem to have had a 
 slavish reverence for antiquity and established order—every day and 
 every craft had its wonted routine—submission to the higher powers, 
 at least in early times, was a pervading and unreasoning instinct— 
 and life was a species of mechanism whose acts and enjoyments 
 revolved with as punctual and periodical exactness as did the inun¬ 
 dations of the Nile. 
 
 Laws were administered by the judges of the various provinces, constitution 
 the king being supreme dispenser of equity. In particular, thirty and lawSl 
 judges were chosen from Memphis, Heliopolis, and Thebes,—ten 
 from each of these cities formed a high bench of judicature. It is 
 probable that many of these officers belonged to the sacerdotal order. 
 
 Justice was administered free of charge to the suitors. Oratory 
 was forbidden in their courts, and the whole procedure was in the 
 silent form of writing. The presiding judge wore a chain of gold 
 and precious jewels, having attached to it an image of the goddess 
 Thmei, to which the Hebrew Urim and Thummim has sometimes been 
 compared. The laws of Egypt were an object of veneration to many 
 ancient legislators. It is probable that they were simple and well 
 defined, direct in language, not cumbrous in quantity, and meant 
 to be administered without learned technicality. In cases of Laws 
 debt, the statute did not allow of the incarceration of the debtor, it pCTsonand 
 only gave the creditor a claim upon his property. The justice and property, 
 humanity of such an enactment are apparent, for how can a prison 
 discharge the pecuniary obligations of its victim ? Herodotus 1 relates 
 that a man might pledge the embalmed bodies of his ancestors; and 
 that in critical periods of distress, mummies became a circulating 
 medium. It was provided, however, that if the unfilial pledger did 
 not redeem them prior to his death, he himself was deprived of 
 sepulchral rites. Murder, peijury, and refusal to assist a man when 
 his life was in danger, were punished with death; the infanticide 
 was sentenced to sit three days and nights with the child in Ins arms 
 which he had murdered; while the parricide, first lacerated by thorns, 
 was then thrown among them and burnt to death. False witness 
 
 1 ii. 236. 
 
156 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Dwellings 
 
 and 
 
 furniture. 
 
 brought upon the liar the same punishment as would have fallen od 
 the wrongously accused, had the crime been proved against him. 
 Usury was condemned, and the interest of a debt was never allowed 
 to grow to more than double the original sum. The adulterer was 
 doomed to a thousand stripes, and the nose of the adulteress was muti¬ 
 lated, so that her charms might not tempt to a similar crime. The 
 informer had his tongue cut off—the forger lost his hand. Thieves 
 were placed under a chief, who gave back stolen property, receiving 
 in return a fourth of its value. He who was convicted of rape was 
 for ever precluded from a repetition of the offence. 1 It was death 
 by law to kill any of the sacred animals. The bastinado was the 
 most frequent of their minor or secondary punishments. Egypt 
 was governed by the rod. Every citizen was bound at stated times 
 to present himself before a magistrate and tell his name, abode, 
 occupation, and means of livelihood. 2 Polygamy was allowed to all 
 classes, with the exception of the priesthood; even brother and sister 
 were permitted to marry, and female slaves were admitted to the 
 harem. But the children, no matter of what mother, inherited 
 equally, as they were all equally related to the father. They were 
 bound to treat their parents with peculiar respect, and to support 
 them in case of their destitution in old age. The education of the 
 young was well-guarded, though we know nothing of its minutiae 
 We have the authority of Plato, however, for saying, that they were 
 accustomed from their earliest years to beautiful forms and fine 
 music. The mere children were gither very simply, dressed, or 
 were both barefooted and naked, and usually wore round their neck 
 an amulet, to ward off evil. Infants were carried in a shawl, sus¬ 
 pended either in front of the mother or at her back. Circumcision 
 was generally practised as among other oriental nations, and was 
 indispensable to initiation into the sacred mysteries. The want of it 
 is called in Joshua 3 “ the reproach of Egypt,” a phrase implying two 
 things—that circumcision was regarded in Egypt with peculiar 
 honour, and that the Hebrew slaves, for their neglect of it during 
 their servitude, were spurned as a race of impure and degraded 
 foreigners. 
 
 The houses of the people were usually built of crude bricks, a 
 species of material suited to the soil and climate. Brick making 
 was consequently an employment for thousands, and the manufac¬ 
 ture seems at length to have become a royal monopoly, for the 
 royal signature is usually found upon the cubes. The houses in 
 towns seldom exceeded two stories, and were often in oriental style 
 surrounded by an area or court. The ground floor was the scene 
 of all culinary preparations; the work of the butcher, baker, and 
 
 1 Diodorus i. 77. 
 
 2 The mode of enrolment was very precise and formal. Wilkinson, ii. 34. 
 
 3 v. 9. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 DWELLINGS AND FURNITURE. 
 
 157 
 
 miller was done in it. Female slaves were usually employed in the 
 drudgery of these apartments, and she of the lowest occupation is 
 referred to in Scripture as the “ maid servant 
 that is behind the mill.” 1 The roof of the 
 house was flat, and formed an agreeable pro¬ 
 menade in the dusk. The owner’s name, often 
 accompanied with some brief and propitious 
 motto, was inscribed on the door, which was 
 either of a single piece, or had two halves secured by a bar. The 
 doors were often painted in imitation of the colour of the finer woods, 
 and over them was the decoration of a cornice. The floors were 
 formed of stone, or a composition of earth and lime, and the ceiling 
 and walls were covered with stucco, often elaborately painted. Some 
 roofs were made of wooden rafters, others were simply arched with 
 the brick of which the walls were constructed. The apertures 
 that served for a window were generally small, and the shutters were 
 carved or painted with many curious devices and patterns. The 
 furniture, such as tables, chairs, and couches, bore no little resem¬ 
 blance to the style which prevails at the present day. The tables 
 were either round or square, supported on a single pedestal, which 
 was ornamented with a carved imitation of the lion’s head or paw. 
 
 A distinguishing article of their bed-room was the wooden pillow, a 
 semicircle of polished wood, supported by a short stalk. 
 
 The dress of the common people was scanty, for the climate did not Dress, 
 require heavy clothing. The labouring men wore a sort of apron 
 or philabeg round their loins, and some had a species of short 
 
 1 Exodus xi. 5. 
 
158 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chai*. IV. 
 
 Personal 
 
 ornaments. 
 
 drawers, which did not extend more than half way down to the 
 knees. The garment of the women of the lower class consisted of a long 
 loose dress, that reached to the ankles, and was fastened at the neck; 
 over it they wore a petticoat, clasped to their waist with a girdle. 
 The men of better rank wore above the apron a ■wide dress of linen 
 with ample sleeves. Cotton was sometimes worn, but linen was 
 preferred. Herodotus 1 describes some dresses as having fringes, 2 and 
 as being named Calasiris, over which was thrown a white woollen 
 cloak, Avhich was laid aside when they entered a temple. Priests 
 and persons of high condition wore a similar dress, to wit, the apron, 
 and the spacious robe which covered it, sometimes so made that 
 the right arm was exposed and ready for action. The sacred scribe, 
 the princes, and the sovereign, were arrayed in characteristic official 
 costume. The Icing’s crown was seldom put off—the Pschent, or 
 double diadem, was highly prized. Ladies of the upper circles of 
 society wore a petticoat richly dyed and ornamented, bound to the 
 waist by a sash of different colours, or secured to the person by 
 straps over the shoulders. Above this was flung a roomy linen 
 robe, tied in front beneath the bosom. The men shaved their 
 heads and wore wigs—a custom which gave coolness to the 
 head, and excluded the injurious effects of the sun. These wigs 
 were made with great taste and care, usually of curled hair, 
 with plaited locks down the sides. They were used on all 
 occasions, and only in seasons of mourning did the Egyptian men 
 allow the natural growth of the beard and head. All this indicated 
 extreme regard to personal cleanliness and health. Caps were worn 
 by many classes, and artificial beards were attached to the chin; the 
 form and length of this appendage indicating its owner’s rank in 
 society. Women wore their own hair, and ladies took peculiar 
 pride in having it long and braided. 
 
 Their earrings—large and massive hoops of gold—were some¬ 
 times wrought into elegant and fantas¬ 
 tic forms. Both sexes wore numer¬ 
 ous finger rings, especially on the left 
 hand, and the third finger possessed pe¬ 
 culiar honour and pre-eminence. 3 Some¬ 
 times the thumb, too, was girt with its 
 heavy ring. These rings bore upon 
 them numerous devices, borrowed from 
 their mythology, such as the sphynx, 
 lion, or asp—the scarabaeus being the 
 favourite form. Anklets, armlets, and 
 bracelets were also in fashion. Wilkin¬ 
 son says that a bracelet of Thothmes III. 
 is in the museum at Leyden, and he 
 adds, “ we may suppose it to have been 
 ’ii. 31. Numbers xv 38. 3 Pliny xxxiii. 1. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 159 
 
 seen by Moses himself, if Thothmes was the Pharoah who oppressed 
 the Israelites, and into whose presence the Jewish legislator was so 
 often summoned.” 1 Men and women 
 dressed with collars or necklaces, 2 
 richly ornamented with jewels, and 
 formed of beads or of tiny gold figures 
 strung together in great variety. Both 
 sexes bestowed great attention upon 
 their sandals, which were often shaped 
 with a sharp and up-turned point. 
 
 Leather was employed for this pur¬ 
 pose, as well as the papyrus and the 
 palm leaf. But persons of all ranks 
 often appear barefooted. The use of 
 gloves was unknown, though foreign 
 captives drawn upon the monuments be sometimes seen to wear 
 them. 
 
 The Egyptian toilet was distinguished by its metallic mirrors. Egyptian 
 These were generally formed of bronze, were round in form, toUet ' 
 fixed into a handle of wood or stone 
 fancifully carved, and their smooth 
 surfaces were beautifully polished. 
 
 Some of the Israelitish women, who 
 seem to have formed themselves into 
 a sisterhood of divine service, gave 
 their mirrors to Moses, and out of 
 them he formed the “ laver” 3 and its 
 pedestal. The armoury of the toilet 
 consisted of combs, vases, and phials, 
 for holding ointments and cosmetics. 
 
 Boxes are also found, made of ebony 
 or other precious wood, and of various 
 
 fantastic forms, such as birds and fishes. The combs were four 
 inches long and six deep, and were usually made of wood, with 
 teeth on each side, the one row of larger and the other of smaller 
 dimensions. The Egyptians were very fond of ointments, as are all 
 inhabitants of warm countries, for the lubricated body resists the 
 oppressive heat, and the skin is preserved in smoothness and fresh¬ 
 ness. The use of such perfumes is refreshing to the exhausted 
 traveller, and oils, extracted from various plants, and different prepa¬ 
 rations of animal fat, were employed for this purpose. Egyptian 
 ladies also stained their eyelids and brows with a preparation named 
 stibium or kohl. 4 Many bottles for holding this dark powder have 
 been found in Egypt, some having four or five compartments, 
 
 1 Ancient Egyptians, iii. 375. 2 Genesis xli. 42. 3 Exod. xxviii. 8. 
 
 4 The practice was not confined to them, 2 Kings ix. 30; Ezek. xxiii. 40. It is 
 spelled on the monuments stim. It is derived chiefly from plumbago or manganese. 
 
160 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Social life. 
 Banquets. 
 
 Viands. 
 
 Strange 
 
 custom. 
 
 evidently meant to contain varying shades of the colouring material, 
 which was applied to the eyebrows with a bodkin. Those essential 
 implements, needles and pins, were of considerable length, and made 
 of bronze. Specimens of all these articles are found in the museums 
 of Europe. The British Museum in particular contains cups, vases, 
 jars, goblets, pots, spoons, ladles, trinkets, with bijouterie made of 
 alabaster, basalt, porphyry, ivory, bone, earthenware, gold, silver, 
 bronze, and iron. 
 
 The Egyptians were fond of social entertainments, which were 
 often of great variety and sumptuousness. They sat at their meals 
 —not reclining like many eastern nations—and their round tables 
 were raised but a small distance above the ground. The guests were 
 of both sexes—female seclusion was unknown in these ancient times 
 —and at their repasts they used spoons and ladles, but were 
 strangers to the luxury of knives and forks. On entering the house 
 of the entertainer, they were presented with water, anointed with 
 copious perfumes, and crowned with chaplets of flowers. The hour 
 of dinner was noon; 1 and the guests, according to their means or 
 their choice, came in palanquins, or chariots, or on foot. The 
 pedestrian gentlemen had each his cane or walking-stick, from 
 three to six feet in height, with his name engraven upon it. 2 This 
 he left at the threshold, there being generally a band of poor 
 attendants lounging in the porch, and ready to take charge of the 
 staves for a very trifling remuneration. The viands were not costly 
 or rare, but consisted principally of fish, beef, geese, veal, pastry, and a 
 greatvariety of vegetables. Wine wascooled in jars, andhandedround 
 in cups of porcelain, silver, or bronze; nay, as 
 appears from the monuments, the ladies some¬ 
 times drank too heartily. A liquor fermented 
 from barley was also in use. The prepara¬ 
 tion for the banquet had all been completed 
 previously to the arrival of the guests. The 
 animals were killed, their throats cut, and 
 their blood often preserved for the purposes 
 of cookery. The various portions of the 
 animals were then prepared for use; the 
 head being usually given to the poor. Geese 
 and fish were cooked and served entire. No cloth was placed 
 upon the table, but it was wiped with a sponge. To each guest as 
 he drank a napkin was presented, for the purpose of wiping his 
 mouth. Loaves and bread were placed before him, and some¬ 
 times rolls and cakes sprinkled with seeds. When the meal was 
 over the eaters washed again, for their greasy hands must have 
 needed such an ablution. As the feast proceeded, the figure of a 
 mummy was handed round among the guests, and the bearer of it 
 
 1 Gen. xliii, 16. 
 
 3 Num. xvii. 2. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 161 
 
 said to each at the festive board —“ Looking on this, drink and 
 enjoy thyself, for thou shalt be such when thou art dead.” This 
 practice would awe some minds, and place them under restraint, but 
 others it might provoke to great recklessness. It must have often 
 been an unwelcome memento to the gay revellers. 
 
 O, were it not for this sad voice! 
 
 Stealing amid our mirth, to say 
 That all in which we most rejoice, 
 
 Ere night may be the earth-worm's prey ; 
 
 But for this bitter—only this— 
 
 Full as the world is brimmed with bliss, 
 
 And capable as feels my soul 
 Of draining to its depth the whole, 
 
 I should turn earth to heaven, and be— 
 
 If bliss made gods—a deity. 1 
 
 Ladies are seen at these parties chatting about their dress and Amusements, 
 jewels. A mythical dirge, called the hymn of Maneros, was also 
 chanted at their festivals. Bands of music played during the enter¬ 
 tainment—the players using the harp, lyre, and tambourine. 
 Gymnastic exercises and games were also introduced, with balls, 
 dice, and mora. Nor was the dance forgotten; and the pirouette, 
 says Wilkinson, delighted an Egyptian party 3500 years ago. 
 
 As an illustration of the sumptuousness of an Egyptian feast during 
 the Ptolemaic period, we may refer to Lucan’s description of the 
 banquet given by Cleopatra to Caesar:— 
 
 “ Infudere epulas auro, quod terra, quod aer, Sumptuo 
 
 Quod pelagus, Nilusque dedit, quod luxus inani banquet. 
 
 Ambitione furens toto quaesivit in orbe, 
 
 Non mandante fame : multas volucresque ferasque 
 Aegypti posuere deos: manibusque ministrat 
 Niliacas crystallus aquas : gemmaeque capaces 
 
 1 Moore’s Epicurean, p. 9. 
 
 [e. O. H.] 
 
 M 
 
 2 Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. 333. 
 
1G2 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Common 
 
 diet. 
 
 Excepere merum, sed non Mareotidos uvae, 
 
 Nobile sed paucis senium cui contulit annis 
 Indomitum Meroe cogens spumare Falernum. 
 
 Accipiunt sertas nardo florente coronas, 
 
 Et numquam fugiente rosa: multumque madenti 
 
 Infudere comae, quod nondum evanuit aura 
 
 Cinnamon, externa nec perdidit aera terra.”— Lucani, x. 152. 
 
 Now, by a train of slaves, the various feast 
 In massy gold magnificence was plac’d ; 
 
 Whatever earth, or air, or seas afford. 
 
 In vast profusion crowns the labouring board. 
 
 For dainties, Egypt every land explores, 
 
 Nor spares those very gods her zeal adores. 
 
 The Nile’s sweet wave capacious crystals pour, 
 
 And gems of price the grape delicious store ; 
 
 No growth of Mareotis’ marshy fields. 
 
 But such as Meroe maturer yields; 
 
 Where the warm sun the racy juice refines, 
 
 And mellows into age the infant wines. 
 
 With wreaths of nard the guests their temples bind. 
 
 And blooming roses of immortal kind ; 
 
 Their dropping locks with oily odours flow, 
 
 Recent from near Arabia, where they grow; 
 
 The vigorous spices breathe their strong perfume, 
 
 And the rich vapour fills the spacious room. 
 
 [Egyptian Sacred Dance.] 
 
 I he principal food of the lower classes was vegetables, which 
 kgypt produced so freely. This diet was highly relished by the 
 inhabitants. The Hebrew tribes during the privations of their march 
 through the desert, remembered “ the cucumbers, and the melons, 
 and the leeks, 1 and the onions, and the garlic.” 2 The lotus, papyrus, 
 
 In the passage cited, it is supposed that by the word leek, lettuce, salads, or 
 savoury herbs generally, may be intended; and perhaps with more probability, and 
 m accordance with its common meaning, the word may denote a species of grass 
 peculiar to Egypt, and used as human food. Schubert speaks of clover whose younc 
 shoots and leaves he saw eaten in many ways by the Egyptians. Mayer also speaks 
 ot piles of grass being greedily devoured by the Egyptians, both master and 
 servants; and he adds, “I was afterwards, when hungry, in a situation to lav 
 1 Num. xi. 5. J 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 163 
 
 and palm, also afforded a varying sus¬ 
 tenance to the population. So abun¬ 
 dant and cheap was this vegetable diet, 
 that the expenditure of a family, even 
 with numerous children, was a mere 
 trifle. 
 
 The occupations of the people were 
 manifold both in town and country. 
 The prime business of the rustic popu¬ 
 lation was agriculture. The soil was 
 rich, the work was light, and the harvest 
 exuberant. 1 The implements of hus¬ 
 bandry were few—the hoe and the ox- 
 drawn plough were of the simplest con¬ 
 struction. The sower followed the 
 plough, and the hoofs of cattle did the 
 work of the modem harrow. As the 
 operation of thrashing by means of oxen 
 was going on, the peasant relieved his 
 labom's and cheered on the animals with 
 a species of song, the hieroglyphical 
 record of which was discovered by 
 Champollion in 1828. It has been thus 
 translated,— 
 
 Tread ye out for yourselves. 
 
 Tread ye out for yourselves, 
 
 O oxen! 
 
 Tread ye out for yourselves, 
 
 Tread ye out for yourselves, 
 
 The straw; 
 
 For men, who are your masters, 
 
 The grain. 
 
 The processes of sowing and reaping, 
 of winnowing and storing, as depicted 
 on the monuments, are seen in the 
 accompanying illustrations. The soil 
 and climate rendered gardening also a 
 
 myself on the field where it grows and jjraze with pleasure.” Sonnini says, 
 “ But that which appears very extraordinary is, that in this singularly fertile 
 country, the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much that it can properly 
 he called the food of men. In the month of November, they cry, ‘ Green helbeh 
 for sale’ in the streets of the town. It is tied up in large bunches, which the 
 inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with an incredible 
 greediness, without any species of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet 
 is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery; in fine, a pre¬ 
 servative agains: a great number of maladies. Finally, the Egyptians regard this 
 plant as endowed with so many good qualities, that it is, in their estimation, a 
 true panacea.”— Eddie''sBib. Cyclop. “ Leek" 
 
 1 See page 26. 
 
164 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV- 
 
 Gardening, 
 
 &c. 
 
 Vines. 
 
 favourite pursuit. The gardens had fine flower-beds, raised terraces, 
 and arbours of trellis work. The vine was cultivated from an early 
 period, and the entire process of wine-making is depicted on the 
 
 monuments. Egypt produced different kinds of wine, of which 
 the light pale whies of Mareotis and Tenia were among the most 
 famous. 1 Figs, sycamores, and pomegranates were extensively 
 crdtivated, and monkeys were sometimes trained to climb the 
 branches, pluck the fruit, and throw it down into a basket 
 beneath the tree. The principal delight of the horticulturist was 
 to secure a plentiful supply of water to his trees, herbs, and 
 flowers. Moses says to his people, Deut. 
 xi. 10, “ The land, whither thou goest hi 
 to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, 
 from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst 
 thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, 
 as a garden of herbs.” The god Khem pre¬ 
 sided over the gardens, and he was the 
 symbolic representation of the life and fresh¬ 
 ness of nature in spring. 
 
 [Gardeners Planting and Sowing.] 
 
 1 Pliny, xiv. 3. Horace, i. Od. xxxi. Strabo, xvii. Virgil Georg, ii. 91. The 
 statement of Grote, (History of Greece, vol. iii. 42.) that Egypt had not vines is not 
 correct. It was not, indeed, a wine country, and therefore imported large quanti¬ 
 ties of wine from neighbouring countries. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 RURAL OCCUPATIONS—TRADES. 
 
 165 
 
 Richer proprietors had also well-stocked preserves, to secure The chase, 
 themselves the pleasures of the chase. They hunted the wild goat, 
 the gazelle, the onyx, the hare, and the porcupine, for their flesh; 
 the leopard, fox, and wolf, for their skin; and the ostrich for its 
 eggs and feathers. They had dogs of various kinds, and even Hons 
 trained for the chase; and the huntsmen were armed with bow and 
 spear. Wild animals were sometimes noozed with a lasso, and the 
 capture of the crocodile and hippopotamus was also an exciting 
 amusement. Immense flocks of fowls were sheltered among 
 
 o 
 
 [Netting Birds.] 
 
 the reeds and aquatic plants ot the Nile, and large nets were 
 employed'to snare them. In such efforts decoy birds were employed. 
 
 Poultry was hatched in profusion by artificial heat. The fisheries of Fishing-. 
 Egypt were also very productive. 1 In 
 some parts of the Delta, the inhabitants 
 subsisted almost wholly upon a fish 
 diet. We remember, said the Israel¬ 
 ites, “ the fish that we did eat in 
 Egypt freely.” Num. xi. 5. Not only 
 were they found in the Nile and lake 
 Moeris, but they were also fed in artifi¬ 
 cial ponds, and were caught with line, 
 net, 2 and spear. The angler used bait 
 only; fly-fishing was unknown, and the 
 fishes were cured and salted, after being divided from head to tail with 
 a short wide knife. On the ninth day of the first month of the year, 
 every person, with the exception of the priests, was obliged, as a 
 religious ceremony, to eat a fried fish in front of his dwelling. 
 
 The finer kinds of mechanical art early arrived at high perfection, Trades, 
 such as weaving, dyeing, painting, engraving, metallurgy, and 
 pottery. The Israelites learned these operations in Egypt, and 
 employed them in the erection of the tabernacle. The cultm’e and 
 manufacture of flax are often depicted on the tombs. Flax and Flax 
 cotton were spun and woven by rude and simple processes, princi- and Cotto "' 
 pally by female servants or domestic slaves, but bleached and 
 dried, pressed and folded by men. The warp usually contained 
 double the threads of the weft. Some pieces of fine linen, still pre- 
 
 1 See page 24. 
 
 2 Isa. six. 8. 
 
166 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Spinning and served, have in the inch 270 double twisted threads of warp, and 
 weaving. ] ] (j 0 f w00 £ The fineness of such threads is an amazing specimen 
 
 of the elegance and dexterity of 
 manual labour without the appliances 
 of modern machinery. In Glasgow 
 cotton is spun so fine and woven 
 so closely, that in a common class 
 of cambrics, manufactured for ordi¬ 
 nary sale, there are 350 threads 
 in the square inch. In the north 
 of Ireland linen is produced, vary¬ 
 ing from 200 to 300 threads per 
 inch; but a piece of cambric has 
 been made for the great London 
 exhibition of 1851, having in the same space no less than 500 
 threads; and which, after all, is not much finer than the Egyptian web 
 already referred to. Golden and silver threads were often interwoven; 
 and indigo was freely used in dyeing, the modes of which display 
 considerable knowledge of chemistry. Patterns were also 'wrought 
 in the loom. Many references to these arts occur in the book of 
 Exodus. Flax was also used in rope-spinning, and so were the fibres 
 of the date-tree. The entire business of leather manufacture, from the 
 raw skin to the finished shield or sandal, is depicted on some of the 
 Metals. tombs. The processes of metal¬ 
 
 lurgy are also found similarly 
 illustrated — the bellows being 
 worked with the feet, and plating, 
 gilding, moulding, beating, were 
 well understood and executed. 
 These arts, so prominently displayed 
 in the furniture of the taber¬ 
 nacle, the Israelites must have 
 learned also in Egypt. Specimens 
 of excellent cabinet work are pre¬ 
 served in the British Museum. The 
 Woods. carpenters’ tools did not differ much from the modern implements 
 of the craft, the adze, however, supplying the place both of a plane 
 and a turning-lathe. Veneering and inlaying with ivory or 
 precious wood, were common among the Egyptian joiners and 
 cabinet makers. The manufacture of glass, porcelain, and pottery, 
 Glass. was upon an extensive scale in Egypt 3000 years ago; and the 
 numerous tints and colours employed, prove the workers to have been 
 acquainted with the properties of metallic oxides. A purse has 
 been found knitted with small glass bugles; and ladies of high 
 rank are seen in the act of stringing beads. The Egyptian artist 
 could successfully counterfeit precious stones, such as the emerald 
 jewels. and amethyst. The cutting or engraving of precious stones was 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 TRADES—MERCHANDISE. 
 
 367 
 
 [Potter at Work .—Description de VEgypte .] 
 
 executed with delicate beauty and precision; and the tasteful vases 
 and urns used for a variety of purposes, have commanded intense 
 admiration, equally with those of the best epochs of Greece. 
 
 In their merchandise the Egyptians used rings of gold and silver, Merchandise, 
 and the value of the money was ascertained by weight. They had 
 no extensive commerce by sea. In earlier times they had no ships 
 for foreign traffic, but the busy inland navigation was characteristic 
 of the country. Barges and boats were seen everywhere on the Boats. 
 
 Nile, and their solemn processions were generally made on 
 water. The richer citizens seem all to have kept their pleasure 
 wherries, the sails of which were sometimes painted and embroidered. 1 
 
 [Egyptian Balances.— FoseUini. 
 
 Ezek. xxvii. 7. 
 
168 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 The army. 
 
 Bill’den or 
 Egypt. 
 
 They had also boats of lighter materials, which men could carry 
 on their shoidders past the rapids. The papyrus was employed in 
 the manufacture of such skiffs, 1 while punts and canoes were also 
 made of osiers and reeds. 
 
 The army is said to have amounted to 410,000 men. The 
 enrolment, recruiting, and drilling, are seen on the walls of several 
 sepulchres. The national troops were infantry armed with shields, 
 bows, and lances. Some companies had slings; and the battle axe, 
 club, falchion, javelin, and dagger, were among their weapons of 
 assault. The shield, formed of wood, was covered 
 with tough bull hide; was half the height of 
 the body, and occasionally of a larger size. The 
 head was defended with a helmet, and the 
 soldier also wore a cuirass or coat of mail. 
 The army was divided into regiments, accord¬ 
 ing to the arms borne by the respective corps 
 —such as archers, swordsmen, slingers. One chief 
 division of the army was its force of war-chariots, 
 each of which had two wheels with a pair of horses, 
 and contained two persons, a soldier and a charioteer. Pharaoh 
 pursued Israel “ with 600 chosen chariots.” The Egyptian 
 besiegers do not seem to have had engines to serve the purpose of 
 heavy artillery, though the battering ram and testudo were con¬ 
 stantly employed, as well as the scaling ladder, and the process of 
 sapping and mining. The military ensigns were usually emblems 
 of the Gods—the hawk, ibis, crocodile, and other figures—and the 
 signal both for march and battle was the sound of trumpet. The 
 archers began the combat, followed by the heavy infantry, which 
 was flanked by the chariots. Captives were treated with great 
 severity, being often bomrd together in the most painful posi¬ 
 tions, and if not mortally mutilated, were finally employed as slaves 
 in the royal service. The triumphant army, on its return, made a 
 pompous procession to one of the temples, and engaged in cere¬ 
 monies in which the king and the priests acted a prominent part. 
 
 [Egyptian Censers ] 
 
 The majority of these Egyptian occupations are grouped together 
 by the prophet Isaiah 2 in his oracle, significantly named the “ Burden 
 of Egypt:”— 
 
 1 Exod. ii. 3. 
 
 2 xix. 13. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 MEDICAL PROFESSION. 
 
 169 
 
 The spirit, too, of Egypt shall fail in her ; 
 
 And I will destroy her tact; 
 
 And they will seek to idols and mutterers, 
 
 To the diviners, and to the wizards. 
 
 The meadows of the river, by the river’s mouth. 
 
 And all the sown ground by the river 
 
 Shall wither, driven away, and shall be no more. 
 
 The fishermen shall lament, 
 
 All that throw hook into the river shall mourn, 
 
 And those who cast nets upon the waters shall languish. 
 
 The flax-dressers shall be confounded, 
 
 And so shall the weavers of fine linen. 
 
 Her pillars are shattered, 
 
 And all her hired labourers are grieved in soul. 
 
 When an Egyptian was seized with sickness, a host of physicians sickness, 
 were at his service. “ Every place swarms with doctors,” says the Pb y sic ' an 
 Greek historian; 1 and we know that Hermes wrote six books on 
 medicine. Whatever the nature of his malady, some medical man 
 had made it his special study. The physician was allowed to practise 
 only in one branch of his profession; the business of the arnist, 
 oculist, dentist, surgeon, and druggist, as well as the curing of 
 diseases in the heart, stomach, or any other organ, was carried on 
 by distinct and separate practitioners. Accoucheurs were almost 
 always women. 2 Such a division of labour could not but lead to skilful 
 medical treatment. The physicians had a public salary from the 
 state, but might also receive private fees. According to Herodotus 
 the Egyptians paid peculiar and punctual attention to their health, 3 
 and frequently applied to themselves the simple remedy of an emetic 
 or a purge. A post mortem examination was occasionally resorted 
 to, in order to ascertain the nature of the disease of which a patient 
 had died. Nor was there a rarity of prescriptions; the country 
 abounded with drugs, the fame of which went through many lands. 4 
 When every remedy had failed, the superstitious sufferer was wont to 
 offer a votive oblation to the gods, pledging himself perhaps, in case 
 of recovery, to defray wholly or partially the maintenance of one of 
 the sacred animals. If health should be restored, a model of the 
 organ which had been recovered from its ailment was often laid up 
 as a sacred gift in the nearest temple. 
 
 But if the patient happened to die, not only might an inquest be Death, 
 held as to the nature of the medical management to which he had 
 been exposed, but his dwelling became a scene of frantic sorrow and 
 desolation. His female relatives, with mud-covered heads, stream¬ 
 ing hair, and exposed bosoms, ran shrieking through the streets, and 
 were imitated in then - wailing frenzy by the men, while the noise of 
 the clamorous dirge was augmented in many cases by the artificial 
 
 1 Herod, ii. 84. 2 Exodus i. 15. 3 ii. 77. 4 See page 27. 
 
170 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Embalming. 
 
 Burial. 
 
 Origin of 
 embalming. 
 
 piping of liired minstrels. The funeral often took place on the day 
 of death; the procession, in the case of a person of rank, being not 
 only long and magnificent, but characteristic at the same time both 
 of the religion of the country, and the life and occupation of the 
 deceased. 
 
 But previous to its sepulture the body was embalmed. The 
 Taricheutae, or men employed in the work, formed a peculiar class 
 of society, and seem to have laboured in buildings allotted to 
 themselves, and severed from other dwellings. In this process the 
 body was opened and the intestines were removed, though sometimes 
 they were replaced. The brain was usually extracted through the 
 nostrils, and the cavities were filled with drugs and spices. The body 
 appears to have had great heat applied to it, as if it was baked in an 
 oven. By this means the humours were imbibed and absorbed, and 
 the form preserved from decay. The corpse, after being steeped for 
 seventy days in a solution of saltpetre, was swathed in linen ban¬ 
 dages, which had also been soaked in some resinous substance, and 
 then covered with a profusion of aromatics. A thousand yards of 
 cloth were sometimes employed to form this bandage, and the linen 
 was often of the finest texture. A case was next fitted to it with 
 peculiar accuracy, and painted with symbolical delineations of the name, 
 occupation, and creed of the dead Egyptian. The mummy was last of 
 
 all deposited in a coffin of stone or syca¬ 
 more wood, on which was sometimes 
 drawn a likeness of him whose corpse 
 had been so carefully preserved. Among 
 the poorer classes a cheaper and simpler 
 process of mummification was used; 
 cedar oil and natron were injected, and 
 the body steeped for the usual period. Sometimes the mummy was 
 kept in the house, but usually it was placed in subterranean vaults, 
 which in many parts of the country were of great extent. The 
 necropolis at Memphis is twenty-two miles in length, and about 
 half-a-mile in breadth. The cost of embalming must have been 
 great. The preparation sometimes cost £100, and frequently from 
 £40 to £60, so that above half-a-million sterling must have been 
 annually expended on this posthumous decoration. The quantity of 
 linen cloth required must have amounted to some hundreds of 
 thousands of pounds; the requisite shrouds must have consumed 
 yearly nigh a million of square yards. No inconsiderable portion of 
 this expenditure went to the priesthood, under whom all funereal 
 preparations and arrangements were conducted—the burial-places 
 were leased by them to the population. The origin of this strange 
 process of embalment has been variously accounted for, some 
 tracing it to the religious creed of the country, and others viewing 
 it as a wise expedient, suggested by the annual inundation, during 
 the continuance of which in so many parts of the land sepulture was 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 BURIALS AND TOMBS. 
 
 171 
 
 impossible. 1 Both causes perhaps co-operated. Bodies were often 
 transported for interment to a great distance, and in a warm country 
 a mummy admitted of easy and lengthened carriage. That the 
 process was not unconnected with notions of a future state of being 
 might be inferred from some of the inscriptions on the coffins. On 
 that of Mycerinus, who built one of the great pyramids—a king of 
 an early dynasty—is found the hieroglyphical legend, — “Hail 
 Osirified king Menke-ra, ever-living—born of heaven, sprung of 
 Nu-t-pe—flesh of Seb—thyinother Nu-t-pe is over thee, she has raised 
 thee to the rank of a god . . . king Menke-ra living for ever.” 
 
 An undecayed body might serve as a symbol of the everlasting 
 spirit that once dwelt in it, and might return and claim its former 
 habitation. A species of formal judgment preceded the burial; 
 forty-two judges assembled on the bank of the lake of the nome 
 where the deceased had lived, the baris or skiff for carrying the 
 coffin was brought close to them, and accusations against the dead 
 man were then allowed. 2 If he was 
 arraigned, and the indictment proved, 
 sepulture was denied; if freed from 
 all charges, he was loaded with eulogies 
 and carried to his long home. Within 
 the tombs, tables of a small size were 
 placed, and on them offerings to the 
 dead were deposited by the affectionate care of survivors. 
 
 The tombs of Egypt were strange edifices, for they are the best Tombs, 
 representations of Egyptian life. On the walls of the family vault 
 are registered the names, rank, and occupations of the household. 
 
 Trades, feasts, funerals, and religious rites are painted in these 
 realms of rest. Fruit, grain, eggs, pens, and books, with the utensils 
 and perfumes of the toilet, are still got in these “ houses of life.” 
 
 Wars are there pourtrayed, and the distant nations conquered are 
 depicted in their national costume. In short, the grand book in 
 which to study Egyptian social life is the Egyptian sepulchre. 
 
 From it has come the greater part of our knowledge of their 
 ancient manners, pursuits, enjoyments, and religion—yes, from 
 this vast library and museum of death. 
 
 The general characteristics of Egyptian sculpture are extreme sculpture, 
 simplicity or uniformity in the composition of the lines, want of 
 variety of action, and the absence of sentiment or expression in the 
 heads. Their statues are standing quite upright, or sitting with all 
 the limbs at right angles to the body, or kneeling on both knees; 
 the arms are generally attached to the body, the hands close to the 
 thighs, though in female figures one hand is frequently placed 
 
 1 Pariset, Henry, Champollion Figeae, and Cherubini suppose that embalming 
 was resorted to in order to keep away the plague. The plague, however, is a recent 
 malady, later by many hundred years than the art of embalming. 
 
 2 Diodorus, ii. 100. 
 
172 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Basso- 
 
 relievo. 
 
 across the breast; in the kneeliug figures, the hands are brought a 
 little forward on the front of the thighs, and support a box con¬ 
 taining idols; the backs are uniformly supported by a sort of block 
 or pilaster, which is generally covered with hieroglyphics; the feet 
 are for the most part parallel and joined together, though this is not 
 always the case, for in standing figures one foot is sometimes 
 slightly advanced before the other. The statues of men are entirely 
 naked, excepting that a sort of apron is folded across the loins; 
 those of females were dressed in one long and simple garment, 
 fitted close to the body; there are no folds in it, and it is only to be 
 distinguished from the figure by a slightly raised border at the neck 
 and feet; the form of the breasts is sometimes indicated by their 
 natural projection being circumscribed by an indented line. It has 
 been remarked, and with great justice, that the Egyptians appear to 
 have paid great regard to decency, and have preserved more 
 modesty in then’ figures than any other people who have practised 
 the arts; occasionally, works of a different character are met with, 
 but they may always be fairly attributed to a late period. The 
 heads, when they are human, are sometimes uncovered, but more 
 frequently they are surmounted either by an emblematical head¬ 
 dress, in which are distinguished the lotus, a globe, a serpent, or 
 some sacred symbol, or that more generally found in representations 
 of the human figure in Egypt, consisting, as is well known, of a sort 
 of close cap or head-piece, entirely concealing the hair, and falling in 
 broad flaps upon the shoulders. The foregoing observations are 
 principally applicable to their statues; but the Egyptians also worked 
 a great deal in basso-relievo , as almost all the tombs and temples which 
 have been discovered are richly decorated with sculpture of this 
 sort. They do not of course differ very materially from the statues 
 as far as regards general character, but they are somewhat varied in 
 treatment. It will be found that there is frequently greater atten¬ 
 tion paid to the nice and varied details of costume, and a 
 bolder attempt at action is observable in them, as if the artists were 
 not so strictly confined in their works in this style as in statues. 
 This is particularly striking in some bassi-relievi on one of the great 
 temples at Thebes. The principal of them represents a battle, or 
 the exploits of a hero who is destroying his enemies; he is made of 
 colossal proportions compared with the other figures in the scene, 
 and there is an attempt at composition, and even beauty of form, in 
 the heads of some of the combatants, which offers ground for curious 
 speculation as to the period at which the work Avas executed, and 
 the subject to which it relates. One peculiarity in the execution 
 of some of the Egyptian bassi-relievi still preserved to us is worth 
 notice. A ground was sunk below the face of the stone to be 
 employed, preserving, however, a margin of the original face all 
 round; the figure or subject to be represented was then worked 
 within this, so that there was no relief or salient part beyond the 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 SCULPTURE. 
 
 173 
 
 original plane, which formed as it were a protecting frame round it. 
 
 It may be observed, too, that it was by no means uncommon amongst 
 this people to paint their bassi-relievi , and indeed their sculpture in 
 general; as has been ascertained by the discovery of works either 
 accidentally buried or enclosed in tombs; on which, from the 
 atmosphere having had no influence in decomposing them, the coloru’s 
 have been found as vivid as when first applied. Although the 
 additional splendour of effect obtained by it for decorative works, 
 was probably the principal cause for introducing painting upon their 
 scrdpture, other and considerable advantages were also gained by 
 its adoption: first, the sculpture was longer preserved, from its sur¬ 
 face being so defended: and next, their works, by the union of the 
 two arts, became much more complete, as by painting them the 
 artists were enabled to add many details, which were altogether 
 omitted in the scrdpture. 
 
 The Egyptians used a variety of materials for the purposes of Materials, 
 sculpture; we find works in wood, baked clay, some few in ivory, in 
 metal, in a variety of marbles, in basalt, granite, alabaster, sand¬ 
 stone, and serpentine. For then: colossal works they employed 
 sandstone, basalt, porphyry, and granite; and Herodotus says, 
 that at Sais and Thebes there were also colossal statues in wood , 1 
 There are none of large dimensions in bronze; the works in the 
 other materials are for the most part very small, having the appear¬ 
 ance of lares or household gods, either under the human form, or 
 that of animals. 
 
 The clean execution and exceedingly fine surface so remarkable 
 in Egyptian sculpture has excited general attention; and it leads 
 
 [Wooden Gods of Egypt ] 
 
 Herod, ii. 
 
174 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Painting. 
 
 Architec¬ 
 
 ture. 
 
 Forms. 
 
 to the belief that their knowledge in hardening metals must 
 have been very far beyond ours, to have enabled them to produce 
 such carefully finished works in materials which almost defy our best 
 tempered instruments. It is a remarkable fact, that when the 
 colossal head, called that of the young Memnon, was placed in the 
 British Museum, and it was found necessary to make some holes in 
 it for the insertion of irons to join two of the pieces together, the 
 hardness of the granite was so great that six or eight blows rendered 
 the tools employed perfectly useless. 
 
 Egyptian painting did not boast a great variety of colours, but 
 was content with red, black, green, blue, and yellow. These were 
 principally composed of metallic oxides, and seem to be of imperish¬ 
 able lustre. Little of the variations of fight and shade, however, was 
 practised, and the art was greatly hampered by the traditional usage of 
 appropriating certain colours to peculiar classes of objects. The wall 
 to be painted, if it was rough or unequal, had first a coating of lime 
 given it, and over this smoothed surface the outline of the proposed 
 figures were sketched in red chalk. The Egyptian artists had no idea 
 of perspective. “ Objects on the same plane, instead of being shown 
 one behind another, were placed in succession, one above the other, 
 on the perpendicular wall.” 1 Formality reigned in Egyptian art; 
 it never emerged from the swaddling-bands of infancy, and every 
 artist was bound by the models of his predecessors. Their represen¬ 
 tations of the human figure are therefore stiff and constrained, the 
 expression of the countenance never varies, and proportion and 
 harmony, either in grouping or drapery, are wholly neglected. The 
 style was altogether conventional, and it permitted no deviation save 
 in the size and position of the central figure. It never attained, 
 therefore, to the beauty, freshness, and nature of Grecian art, but 
 always presents the same cramped and monotonous aspect. 
 
 In the Egyptian architecture almost every consideration yielded 
 to that of strength, though beauty was not neglected, and the edi¬ 
 fices of that country possess a species of magnificence from their 
 bulk, independently of the delicacies of art with which many of them 
 were adorned. The quarries of Egypt afforded blocks of the 
 greatest size ; and the labour of a multitude of slaves, aided perhaps 
 by the simplest of the mechanical powers, accomplished the removal 
 of the heaviest masses to then' place of destination. According to 
 Herodotus, the stone which served for the roof of the temple of 
 Latona, at Butos, was forty cubits long in each direction; and if we 
 suppose the cubit to be equal to 20jr inches, that block must have 
 contained above 300,000 cubic feet of stone. This enormous mass 
 was transported on rafts, from the island of Phils to Butos; a space 
 of 150 leagues. 
 
 Calcareous stone was generally employed in the walls of build- 
 
 1 Wilkinson, vol. iii. 314. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 175 
 
 ings, and granite in the obelisks and statues. The skill of the work¬ 
 men was exhibited in squaring the blocks with precision, and fitting 
 them accurately with each other. Plugs of wood seem to have been 
 occasionally employed to connect them together, but there is no 
 appearance that metallic cramps were used for that purpose; nor 
 does the art of constructing vaults seem to be at all known. The 
 hieroglyphics and figures were sometimes executed in relief, but 
 generally they were sunken and embellished with colours. The 
 walls of the temples invariably have their exterior faces considerably 
 inclined at top towards the centre, so that the figure of the whole 
 edifice resembles a frustum of a pyramid. 
 
 At all the angles formed by the faces of the walls, instead of Manner of 
 leaving a sharp edge, the artists executed a reed moulding, equal to the temples 5 
 about three-quarters of a cylinder, with fines cut obliquely upon it, 
 very much resembling a pole having a string wound about it; 
 and the same kind of moulding was continued, horizontally, along 
 the tops of the walls. This seems to have been an imitation of the 
 system of poles which might have been originally constructed to 
 form an outline of the edifice, and guide the workmen in building 
 the walls; though possibly it might have originated in the desire to 
 ornament the angles, as the Greeks, for the same purpose, employed 
 pilasters, and the Italian artists rustic quoins. The tops of all the 
 walls were crowned by a sort of cornice, of a concave form on the 
 exterior, and having its summit projecting forward; the front of this 
 member was covered with sculpture, generally resembling a series of 
 reeds parallel to each other, and directed from top to bottom; while 
 both the exterior and interior faces of the walls were crowded with 
 hieroglyphics. 
 
 Where windows occur, they are generally in the shape of a long windows, 
 square, without any ornament, but splayed on the interior side. The 
 windows of Egyptian temples are, almost in every case, extremely 
 small; and the only example, perhaps, in which they approach the 
 magnitude and proportions of those found in Grecian or Roman 
 buildings, is the temple at Dendour in Nubia; and, probably, this is 
 the work of a late period of Egyptian architecture. Its outline is 
 pyramidal, as usual, and in the facade is a doorway crowned by a 
 cavetto; but, above this, are three rectangular windows occupying 
 nearly the whole breadth of the faqade. Over the middle one is 
 the winged globe, and the whole pier between the two windows has 
 the form of a pilaster with a capital resembling those of the Corin¬ 
 thian order. The capitals do not reach to the level of the tops of 
 the windows, and appear as if placed there, in bad taste, for no 
 purpose but that of ornament. 
 
 The ceilings of the Egyptian buildings are generally smooth; but, Ceiling?.' 
 in some cases, they seem formed in hollow panels by the architraves 
 of stone, which cross each other at right angles over the tops of the 
 columns. Frequently there are traced upon the ceilings what are 
 
176 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Columns. 
 
 The 
 
 eutablature. 
 
 called zodiacs; that is, representations in piano, of the zodiacal con¬ 
 stellations, disposed in a circular order about the centre of the com¬ 
 partment. 
 
 That the Egyptian columns were copied from the form of certain trees 
 is probable, not only from their appearance, but from the testimony 
 of Herodotus, who says, 1 that King Amasis actually caused columns 
 to be made resembling palm-trees. They are without bases, or have 
 only a plinth, and that is frequently circular. The capital is gener¬ 
 ally of the bell-shape, and is either quite plain, or is ornamented 
 in several varying modes; frequently it is surrounded by rows of 
 lotus leaves, either simply marked by lines, or sculptured in relief; 
 in the latter case, the capitals resemble some of those of the Corin¬ 
 thian order. On the columns of the temple at Pliilffi, the capital is 
 sculptured to represent three rows of plants, the tops of which are 
 like palm-leaves; and in some examples, as in the temple at Ten- 
 tyris, it has the form of a female head. But, what is very different 
 from the practice of the Greeks, is that in the same building, and 
 even in the same row, the capitals of the columns do not resemble 
 each other. In the Egyptian temples the intercolumniations are 
 generally small, not exceeding 1'5 diameters. 
 
 The height of the column, from the bottom of the plinth to the 
 top of the capital, is equal to from three to eight diameters, and the 
 tallest column is above fifty feet high; in some cases the shaft dimin¬ 
 ishes gradually from bottom to top, and is sculptured as if it were a 
 bundle of reeds bound together, at intervals, by three or more turns 
 of cordage; these intervals are either plain, channelled, or reeded, 
 and sometimes all the three kinds exist upon one column. Two 
 circumstances are peculiar to the Egyptian columns; the first is, that 
 there are often cubical blocks of stone between the capitals and the 
 entablature; and the second, that the lower part of the shaft is some¬ 
 times cut away, so that the part which rests upon the plinth is 
 smaller than the part above; such is the case with the columns of 
 the temple at Latopolis. It is difficult to assign any reason for the 
 latter practice, since it can only tend to weaken a column in a part 
 where it ought to be the strongest; the lower parts of these columns 
 are rounded and ornamented with sculptured foliage, which makes 
 them appear as if they stood upon the roots of plants. 
 
 In general, the entablature of the Egyptian buildings consists of 
 an architrave, either plain or ornamented, with a cornice over it; 
 but in some examples, as in the tombs of Silsilis, the entablature con¬ 
 sists of an architrave, frieze, and cornice, each projecting over the one 
 below it, like an inverted step; the upper part of the cornice pro¬ 
 jects still further, and the projection is supported by a sort of 
 modillon. The height of the entablature is about one-third of that 
 of the columns. Over the architrave of the interior range of 
 
 1 ii. 171. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 THE OBELISK. 
 
 177 
 
 columns in the great temple at Karnac, is a wall with rectangular per¬ 
 forations, like windows, immediately over the intervals of the columns 
 below. Above the capitals of the Egyptian columns is an abacus, Cornice, 
 sometimes resembling that of the Greek orders; but, at other times, 
 it consists of a cubical block, either plain or sculptured. Over these 
 blocks is placed the horizontal beam parallel to the line of columns, 
 and corresponding to the architrave of the Greeks: and above all, 
 is what may be called the cornice, the section of which is concave 
 outward, and which has its top projecting beyond the face of the 
 architrave. The concave front of this member is adorned with 
 sculpture, in some cases consisting of a series of reeds parallel to 
 each other from top to bottom of the cornice, in other cases the 
 reeds are in groups of three or six in each group; the intervals, or 
 metopes, if they may be so called, are sculptured with winged 
 globes, as on the portico of the temple at Tentyris. These reeds are 
 disposed with regularity, but not over the middle of the front of the 
 columns as in the Greek temples; for, in the portico of the temple 
 at Latopolis, each group is equally distant from the next, and one is 
 placed over the middle of the intercolumniation, but the middles of 
 the other groups fall over the sides of the columns. The interval 
 between every two groups is occupied by a channel cut in a ver¬ 
 tical plane down the face of the cornice. The Egyptian reeds 
 differ also from the Greek triglyphs in an essential circumstance, 
 viz., that the latter are so situated as evidently to indicate the 
 supports of the roof; whereas the others are ornaments in the front 
 of the roof itself, above which there is generally nothing to be 
 supported. The entablatures are frequently sculptured with figures 
 of animals, and it is possible that the zophorus or frieze, in the Greek 
 architecture, received its name from this circumstance; winged 
 globes and the scarabeus are, almost invariably, the ornaments of 
 the Egyptian architraves. 
 
 The obelisk is a frequent characteristic of Egyptian architecture, oiwiisk. 
 These “needles 1 ” were made of exquisite proportions and of stupendous 
 dimensions, and the red granite of Syene furnished a hard and durable 
 material. They were generally placed in pairs at the entrance of 
 the public edifices. The shaft was commonly ten diameters in height, 
 and a fourth narrower at the top than at the base. Few of them are 
 quite square, two sides being broader than the other two. 2 Some of 
 these beautiful monoliths have been transported to Europe, as we 
 have already stated in our topographical account of Egypt. 
 
 The word wgapls, pyramis , has often been derived from (°f Pyramids, 
 
 fire,) but the quantity of its first syllable is unfavourable to that sup¬ 
 position, and as a heap of wheat has not a spiral form terminating in 
 a point, the term cannot with any probability be derived from %vgo;, 
 
 (triticum.) It is therefore more reasonable to suppose that the Greeks 
 
 1 ipiX'urxcs —diminutive of Sfiixis —a needle. 
 
 2 Burton, Excerpta Hieroglyphica. Zoega, de usu et origine obeliscorum. 
 
 [E. O. II.] N 
 
178 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Pyramids of 
 Geeza or 
 Cheops. 
 
 Pyramid of 
 Ghiza or 
 Cephren. 
 
 Pyramid of 
 Mycenns. 
 
 in this, as in many other cases, adopted the native name of an object 
 not invented by themselves, accommodating it, by a Greek termina¬ 
 tion, to the grammar of their own language; so that the Egyptian 
 pehram ,' i.e. the “sacred place,” was converted into the Greek 
 Pyramis. Of the most ancient and remarkable pyramids several 
 are still remaining in Egypt, and others, apparently unknown to 
 the Greeks and Romans, have been lately discovered in the ruins 
 of Napata and Meroe, the capitals of Ethiopia. 
 
 1. The pyramids of Jizeh, called by the ancients “the pyramids 
 of Memphis,” 2 from their position on a rocky height projecting from 
 the western mountains near the outskirts of that city, are the most 
 remarkable, and as far as can be proved by historical testimony, the 
 most ancient of any which ever were in existence. They are dis¬ 
 tinctly noticed by the oldest Greek historian, who was informed that 
 they were erected in a very early age, as sepulchres of the sovereigns 
 of Egypt. Three, lying in a diagonal line from north-east to south¬ 
 west, are of a stupendous magnitude, especially the two most 
 northern. The position of the second and pointed pyramid, as 
 determined by M. Nouet, 3 is in 29° 59 ; 49" N., and 31° 11' 41" E., 
 on a terrace projecting from the rock, partly levelled by art, and 
 having an elevation of 137f feet. It extends from east to west 
 about l jr mile, and from north to south more than \ of a mile. 
 The base of the great pyramid was found to measure 763 feet 
 7 inches, and its height 450 feet 9 inches. Its diameter from 
 north to south deviates 20' from the true meridian. Its basis, 
 as well as the two lowest steps, is hewn out of the rock on which 
 it stands. Its base does not form an exact square. The whole 
 mass amounts to nearly 9,000,000 cubic feet. It covered an area 
 of more than 13 acres, and its masonry amounts to 6,848,000 
 tons. The vast magnitude of this truly stupendous work will be 
 more distinctly perceived, when it is recollected that the area of its 
 base nearly coincides with that of Lincoln’s Inn-fields. It is 43 feet 
 higher than St. Peter’s at Rome, and 126 feet higher than St. Paul’s 
 in London. 
 
 The second pyramid, of somewhat smaller dimensions, is about 2-§- 
 furlongs south-west of the first. Its base, according to M. Grobert, 4 
 measures 700 feet, and its height 425 feet. Its summit is uninjured, 
 and still retains its ancient casing, a plaster formed of gypsum, sand, 
 and a few small pebbles. The third, somewhat nearer to the 
 second, has an apparent base of 300 feet, and a height of 173 feet. 
 This pyramid was cased with sienite from Elephantine, fragments of 
 which are still found near its base. The form and approaches to 
 
 1 This etymology, which was discovered by the' learning and acuteness of the 
 Baron de Sacy, (Observations sur le Nom des Pyramides. Mag. Encyelop. VI. 
 annd, vi. 452. seq.) was suggested by the Arabic name of the pyramids, ahram, 
 compared with the Hebrew haram, “ forbidden, prohibited, sacred, consecrated,” &c. 
 
 2 Herod, ii. 8. 3 Mdm. sur. T Egypte, iii. 297. 
 
 4 Descript, des Pyram, p. 94. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 PYRAMIDS. 
 
 179 
 
 their internal chambers are nearly the same in all the pyramids 
 hitherto opened: and consist of one or more galleries, at first inclined 
 to the horizon at an angle of 26° or 27°, and afterwards in either an 
 ascending or perpendicular direction leading to a chamber nearly in 
 the centre of the building. These chambers are quadrangular, and internal 
 roofed with large blocks of stone laid either flat or obliquely so as to chambei! " 
 meet and form an angle. Two have long been accessible in the 
 great pyramid, called after its reputed founder, Cheops, the lower 
 immediately below the upper; and in the next, or pyramid of Ceph- 
 ren, two likewise have been lately discovered, equally in the centre; 
 but one of them at the base of the pyramid, and the other in the 
 rock below the base, at the distance of about one-third of the per¬ 
 pendicular drawn from the side of the pyramid to its centre. At 
 the extremity of the descending gallery all further ingress is barred 
 by a portculhs of solid granite 1^ feet 3 inches thick, sliding in 
 grooves of similar stone. In the great pyramid, originally explored 
 by men of no skill or science, a way was forced round the portcullis, 
 but in the second it was, by dint of excessive labour for nearly a day 
 and a half, raised by levers so as to open a passage onwards. At a 
 small distance beyond the portcullis there is a perpendicular shaft 
 15 feet deep in the second, but much deeper in the first. This 
 shaft, hitherto known as “ the well in the great pyramid,” was 
 explored for the first time by an English gentleman, Mr. Davison, 
 who visited Egypt with the celebrated Wortley Montague in 1763. 
 
 His labours, and those of Caviglia, Vyse, Belzoni, Richardson, 
 
 Perring, and others, have made us well acquainted with the internal 
 formation of the pyramids. 
 
 It appears that each pyramid had a double entrance, by means of 
 which a constant circulation of air could be maintained; and that 
 the principle on which the chambers and passages were formed was 
 precisely the same as that which regulated the excavation of the 
 catacombs hewn out of rocks, as at Bfban-el-muluk, 1 where the 
 “ long passages which lead to nothing” were doubtless, before the 
 ravages of the Persians, filled with mummies of the younger 
 branches of the Pharaonic families, while those of the sovereigns 
 themselves, and perhaps of their children, were deposited in the 
 central chambers. Around the principal pyramids are the remains 
 of many smaller ones in various stages of decay. The sepulchral 
 chambers, apparently more modern, which are close to these pyra¬ 
 mids, were perhaps built at the expense of the rich casing with which 
 the pyramids themselves once were covered; but all, when exam¬ 
 ined, are found to cover an approach by a shaft to a subterranean 
 apartment similar to those in the centre of most of the pyramids : 2 
 every thing, in short, conspires to prove that these extraordinary pyramids 
 edifices were, as the ancients affirm, 3 erected as sepulchres for the se P ulchraI - 
 
 1 Passalacqua Cat. p. 199. 2 Quart. Rev. xix. 404. 
 
 3 Herod, xi. 124. Diod. Sic. i. 64. 
 
180 
 
 SOCIAL HISTOEY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IY. 
 
 Exterior 
 
 coating. 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Pyramid. 
 
 Summit of 
 the Great 
 Pyramid. 
 
 History and 
 use of the 
 Pyramids. 
 
 sovereigns of Egypt, whose capital was the adjoining city of Mem¬ 
 phis. That the angles between the successive courses of stone were 
 anciently filled up, so as to present a plane surface, and that the 
 summit of each pyramid was pointed, may be inferred from the 
 second, which is still terminated by a point, and retains its smooth 
 coating for about forty feet downwards: 1 and it is evident from the 
 account of Abdu-l-latif, 2 that, in the thirteenth century, the outer 
 covering of the pyramids, crowded with hieroglyphic inscriptions, 
 was still extant. There is likewise a fourth pyramid near the third, 
 but it is so much smaller than the others as to attract little notice. 
 Many others have been discovered by the late Prussian expedition. 
 Sixty more, at least, are now known. The walls of many of the 
 tombs near the pyramids are adorned with very interesting paint¬ 
 ings and bas-reliefs, several of which are represented in the plates in 
 the great French work, and in Professor Rosellini’s “ Monument! 
 dell’ Egitta.” We have here delineations of various manufactures 
 and implements of art, the most ancient, perhaps, now in existence; 
 some of these tombs, however, were constructed from the ruins of 
 more ancient buildings, themselves posterior to the invention of 
 hieroglyphics; them antiquity, therefore, is not perhaps so great as 
 has been supposed, and probably far inferior to that of the pyramids 
 in which no hieroglyphics have been found. The regular order in 
 which these tombs were placed (another remarkable feature) is 
 clearly perceived, as before observed, from the summit of the great 
 pyramid, the sides of which form a sort of rude staircase. of 203 
 steps, varying in height and breadth, and occasionally interrupted 
 by breaches. The truncated summit presents an area of about 30 
 feet square, irregular in its outline, from the removal of a few of 
 the stones belonging to that course. 3 
 
 That the great pyramid was cased, and had a level surface, is 
 evident from the express testimony of Herodotus; 4 who says, “ The 
 sums expended in radishes, onions, and garlic, for the workmen, 
 were marked in Egyptian characters on this pyramid, and amounted, 
 as I well remember what the interpreter who explained these char¬ 
 acters said, to 1000 talents of silver,”—£345,000. 
 
 The age of these stupendous monuments, and the purpose for 
 which they were erected, are involved in great obscenity; various, 
 consequently, and conflicting have been the opinions to which those 
 questions have given rise. The remote antiquity of the pyramids 
 near Memphis, celebrated from a very early period as some of the 
 wonders of the world, is indisputable. They are distinctly men¬ 
 tioned by the oldest Greek historian, Herodotus; 5 and the three 
 largest are ascribed by him to Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus, 
 three Pharaohs who succeeded each other. These structures had 
 
 1 Grobert, p. 24. 
 
 3 Lepsius iiber den Bau der Pyramiden. 
 
 2 Pages 175. 177, 221. 
 
 * ii. 125. ' «ii. 8. 124—134. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 USE OF PYRAMIDS—SCIENCE. 
 
 181 
 
 also an astronomical reference. Sir John Hersckel remarks, that Observations 
 “ at the date of the erection of the great pyramid of Gizeh, which 1 
 precedes by 3970 years (say 4000) the present epoch, the longitude 
 of all the stars were less by 55° 45' than at present. Calculating 
 from this datum 1 the place of the pole of the heavens among the 
 stars, it will be found to fall near A Draconis; its distance from that 
 star being 3° 44' 25". This being the most conspicuous star in the 
 immediate neighbourhood, was therefore the pole star of that epoch. 
 
 And the latitude of Gizeh being just 30° north, and consequently 
 the altitude of the north pole there also 30°, it follows that the star 
 in question must have had at its lower culmination, at Gizeh, an 
 altitude of 26° 15' 35". Now it is a remarkable fact, ascertained by 
 the late researches of Colonel Vyse, that of the nine pyramids still 
 existing at Gizeh, six (including all the largest) have the narrow 
 passages by which alone they can be entered, (all which open out 
 on the northern faces of their respective pyramids,) inclined to the 
 horizon downwards at angles varying from 26° to 28°. At the 
 bottom of every one of these passages, therefore, the then pole star 
 must have been visible at its lower culmination—a circumstance which 
 can hardly be supposed to have been unintentional, and was doubt¬ 
 less connected (perhaps superstitiously) with the astronomical obser¬ 
 vation of that star, of whose proximity to the pole at the epoch of 
 the erection of these wonderful structures, we are thus furnished 
 with a monumental record of the most imperishable nature.” 
 
 No one now doubts that the pyramids were royal sepulchres, nay, 
 as we have already remarked, the height of those royal monuments 
 corresponds with the length of the monarch’s reign under whom it 
 was erected. 2 Structures so vast are indeed right royal ideas—the 
 massive means of a posthumous immortality. However, as Sir 
 Thomas Brown remarks,—“ Only to subsist in bones, and to be but 
 pyramidally extant, is a fallacy in duration.” 3 The edifices them¬ 
 selves may last as long as the framework of the globe, and tra¬ 
 vellers on entering Egypt for many centuries to come, will hasten to 
 admire and explore these characteristic wonders,— 
 
 Time’s gnomons rising on the banks of Nile, 
 
 Unchanging while he flies, serene and grand, 
 
 Amidst surrounding ruins—’mid the works 
 Of man unparalleled—’mid God’s how small, 
 
 Besides His alps, the pigmy works of ants,— 
 
 The mole-hills of a mole. 
 
 Science in the modern acceptation of the term can scarcely be Science, 
 said to have existed in Egypt. Much was learned from long practice, 
 but little was based on first principles. The priesthood knew some- 
 
 1 Outlines of Astronomy, page 191. London, 1850. 
 
 2 See page 75. 2 Urn Burial, p. 26. 
 
182 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 thing of the motions and changes of the heavenly bodies, and of the 
 length of a solar year, but their astronomical knowledge was limited 
 and confused; and though eclipses were noted by them, they did not 
 form the basis of calculations. The astronomical paintings on the 
 monuments, such as at Thebes and Dendera, were evidently connected 
 with the dreamy purposes of astrology. The elements of chemistry 
 were well known, and Moses displayed his skill in dissolving the 
 golden calf, and causing the people to drink the nauseous potion. 1 
 The exact partition of the soil necessitated some acquaintance with 
 geometry and mensuration. The great buildings owe their vastness 
 and height, not to mechanical power, but to the united elfects of 
 Months. human strength. The months were regulated by the phases of the 
 moon, and the year was reckoned to consist of twelve months of 
 thirty days. But they intercalated live additional days at a period 
 prior to the Hyksos invasion. These five Epagomenae were given to 
 the gods, as special seasons of natal consecration. The twelve months 
 were as follows:— 
 
 1. Thoth,. 
 
 
 1. Ehaophi,. 
 
 .28 September. 
 
 1. Athyr,.. 
 
 
 1. Choiak,. 
 
 
 1. Tybi,. 
 
 
 1. Mechir,. 
 
 
 1. Phamenotli,. 
 
 
 1. Pharmuthi,. 
 
 
 1. Pachon,. 
 
 .26 April. 
 
 1. Payni,. 
 
 
 1. Epiphi,. 
 
 
 1. Mesori,. 
 
 
 Epagomente,. 
 
 
 Sothic period. To the famous Sothic period we have more than once referred. 
 
 A similar canicular period was known at Rome, and which consisted 
 of 1461 years—the same as that of Egypt, which consisted of 1460 
 years. 2 But the Egyptian years were vague terms of 365 days, 
 while the Roman year included 365^ days. The Sothic circle was 
 always reckoned from the time when the first day of the first month, 
 Thoth, corresponded with the heliacal rising of Sirius in Egypt. 
 Every Egyptian year was six hours shorter than the actual time, 
 consequently the first day of Thoth fell back a day every four years, 
 so that in 1460 years it fell successively on every day of the calendar, 
 and at the expiry of this epoch had just returned to the point whence 
 it had started. 
 
 Literature. Learning seems to have been confined chiefly to the priesthood. 
 
 Books of science and literature were under their peculiar custody. 
 
 1 Eadie’s Bibl. Cyclop., “ Calf.” 
 
 3 Ideler, Handb. 27. Boeckli, Manetho und die Hundstemperiode. Berlin, 1845. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 
 183 
 
 The library in the Memnoniiun bore upon its portal the appropriate 
 inscription—“ Pharmacy for the Soul.” The art of writing was an 
 acquirement of Egypt in periods so early as to be beyond computa¬ 
 tion, and as fragments of papyrus abundantly testify. The papyrus 
 afforded an invaluable material for the record of literary labour. 
 
 The inner bark was used, being cut into thin stripes, from 10 to 15 
 inches broad, the edges of which were cemented together, dried 
 in the sun, and then pressed with a glass cylinder. 
 
 The characters used by the ancient Egyptians, before their con- Egyptian 
 version to Christianity, (after which they adopted the Greek alpha- 
 bet with a few supplementary letters,) were threefold; 1. Hiero- *; h P ievogly " 
 glyphic; 2. Hieratic; and 3. Demotic. The first, was formed by 2 . hieratic, 
 images of visible objects; the second , by very coarse and indistinct 3 ' Demotlc ' 
 outlines of the whole or of parts of such images; and the third , by a 
 farther reduction of such outlines in a similarly crude and negligent 
 style. The first, from which the others were derived, was originally, 
 beyond a doubt, a simple system of picture-writing, representing 
 ideas by their visible images, when possible, or by obvious symbols, 
 when any direct representation was impossible. It is manifest that 
 such a method was calculated only for a nation in the first stages of 
 civilization, and that men would soon discover some more compli¬ 
 cated, but more perfect, mode of representing what is usually 
 expressed by words, of speaking, in short, by means of visible signs. 
 
 But words are a combination of sounds, the next step, therefore, 
 would be to devise some method of expressing sounds; and as soon 
 as such a device had been adopted, any combination of sounds, i.e. 
 any word, whether significant or not, whether the name of a visible 
 object or of a mere abstraction, could be immediately represented to 
 the eye. Thus far the Egyptians had advanced at a very early 
 period. They selected several common and well-known hiero¬ 
 glyphics, such as immediately suggested some word of frequent 
 occurrence, and used them to express the initial sound of that word, 
 or, as we should say, its first letter. The more simple outlines or 
 fragments of these hieroglyphics, used in the hieratic character, 
 would therefore have the appearance, as well as perform the func¬ 
 tions, of letters; and when rounded off in the Demotic, or running 
 hand, would lose all resemblance to the figures from which they 
 were originally derived. It is plain that these last characters might 
 entirely supersede the use of hieroglyphics, or other symbols; from 
 the facility with which they were formed, it is probable that, for 
 ordinary purposes, they would, and it will appear on further 
 inquiry, that they actually did so; and that the demotic, or enchorial 
 character of the Egyptians, was nearly, if not strictly, alphabetical. 
 
 I. The hieroglyphic character, therefore, was thus rendered cap- Hieroglyphic 
 able of expressing sounds, and, consequently, words , independently characters - 
 of the ideas pictured to the eye; and as soon as this method 
 prevailed, these symbols were divisible into three distinct classes. 
 
184 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 1. Such as were the images of the things expressed; 2. Such as 
 were merely symbolical; and 3. Such as were simply Phonetic, or 
 expressive of sound, and might, therefore, be considered as the 
 letters of a hieroglyphical alphabet. At a later period, probably, 
 a fourth class was brought into use; that of enigmatical symbols, 
 derived either from some very remote affinity between the object 
 represented and the idea implied, or formed by a combination of 
 different figures, apparently incapable of being thus united. The 
 examination of hieroglyphical tablets of very different ages, shows 
 that these four classes of symbols were used promiscuously, accord¬ 
 ing to the pleasure or convenience of the artist, for hieroglyphics, 
 being pictures, were always either sculptured or drawn. All 
 hieroglyphics, therefore, may be classed either as (1.) images, 
 or (2.) symbols; as (3.) phonetic, or (4.) enigmatical. Bunsen 
 has given us an Egyptian vocabulary, and a complete fist of 
 hieroglyphical signs, according to their classes, and arranged in 
 natural order. 
 
 Number of As every visible object, with any of its parts, and in almost any 
 characters. p OS [Uon, besides an endless variety of arbitrary combinations, comes 
 within the scope of the hieroglyphic draughtsman, it might at first 
 be supposed that the number of those symbols would be almost 
 unlimited, but the necessity of limitation must soon have been felt; 
 for unless the sense assigned to each symbol were fixed, the reader 
 would be lost in vague conjectures, and unless the number of 
 symbols were confined within certain bounds, no memory could 
 retain them all. The whole number, therefore, observed by M. 
 Champollion, after more than twenty years’ constant study, was only 
 champoi- 864, and of those many are probably duplicates. He arranges them 
 arrangement. in the eighteen following classes:— 
 
 1. Heavenly Bodies,. 10 
 
 2. Man in different postures,.120 
 
 3. Limbs of the Human Body,. 60 
 
 4. Wild Quadrupeds. 24 
 
 5. Domestic Quadrupeds,. 10 
 
 6. Limbs of Beasts,. 22 
 
 7. Birds and Limbs of Beasts,. 50 
 
 8. Fish,. 10 
 
 9. The whole or parts of Reptiles,. 30 
 
 10. Insects,. 14 
 
 11. Plants, Flowers, and Fruit. 60 
 
 12. Buildings,. 24 
 
 13. Works of Art, Furniture, <fcc.100 
 
 14. Weapons, Dress, Ornaments, &c. 80 
 
 15. Tools and Utensils,.150 
 
 16. Cups, Vessels, <fcc. 30 
 
 17. Geometrical Figures,. 20 
 
 18. Fantastic Figures. 50 
 
 864 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 PURE HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 
 185 
 
 The figures were arranged in columns, vertical or horizontal, and order, 
 grouped together as circumstances required, so as to leave no spaces 
 unnecessarily vacant. The order in which the characters are to be 
 read, is shown by the direction in which the figures are placed, as 
 then* heads are invariably turned towards the reader, or which is 
 the same thing, to that side of the tablet at which the inscription 
 begins, whether it be right or left, for either was admissible in the 
 pure hieroglyphic, though not in the Demotic character. To this 
 general rule M. Champollion has met with only one exception in a 
 hieroglyphical MS. in the Eoyal Collection; 1 the figures, therefore, 
 as he observes, form a sort of procession, and seem from their relative 
 position to be connected with each other. 
 
 1. The characters, which were images of the things signified, as Pure 
 being most obvious, were of frequent occurrence, either in an entire gH^phics, 
 or an abridged but intelligible form, and some of that class were Ima e es - 
 often used merely to determine the sense of the preceding figures, 
 just as capital letters are employed by us to distinguish proper 
 names or words of peculiar import. Of such determinatives Bunsen 
 has given a list of 163. This expedient was the more necessary 
 among the Egyptians, as their names were all significant, and liable 
 to be taken as such, unless accompanied by some indication of their 
 peculiar use; the hieroglyphic of “man” or “woman,” “god” or 
 “ goddess,” was consequently subjoined according to the sex of the 
 person or deity named. Thus the characters expressing Amon-mai, 
 when alone, signify “ Beloved by Amon,” but when followed by 
 that which stands for man, represents a proper name nearly resem¬ 
 bling Ammonophilus, or Philammon in Greek. “ Temple, image, 
 statue, child, asp, and monumental pillar,” were in like manner 
 expressed by figures evidently representing the things meant. In 
 the bas-reliefs at Medfnet-abu, the scribe, recording a victory, has a 
 hand with ciphers expressing 3000 placed in the hieroglyphic 
 column over his head, plainly indicating 3000 hands of men slain or 
 conquered in battle. Above this is the figure of a man, followed by 
 1000, evidently signifying 1000 prisoners taken. 2 The figure or 
 outline of a boat, followed by a fine, signifying n, (i. e. of) and the 
 name of a god, signifies the vessel of that god, in which his image 
 or shrine was carried on solemn occasions. 3 “ Sun, moon, star, 
 vessel, scales, bed, bull, loaf, sistrurn, fish, goose, tortoise, ox, cow, 
 calf, haunch, antelope, bow, arrow, dish, altar, censer, flower-pot, 
 enclosure, chapel, shrine,” &c. are among the words expressed hiero- 
 glyphically by images of the objects themselves. Other terms, such 
 as sky or firmament, and the names of the different gods, are rendered 
 by very obvious symbols, still in some degree representing the object 
 expressed; the former by the section of a flat roof, with or without 
 
 1 Precis, 319. 
 
 2 Precis, pi. xix. fig. 1, 2. Hieroglyphics, pi. xv. A, h, i. 
 
 3 lb. fig. 3.45. 
 
186 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Symbols. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 stars subjoined, the latter by an outline of the idols by which those 
 gods were represented in the temples. Sometimes nothing more 
 than a part or section of the thing meant was given, and these char¬ 
 acters, which form a third division of the first class, may be termed 
 conventional hieroglyphics. After great research, and with corrobo¬ 
 rative proof, Bunsen, with the assistance of Birch, has made out a list 
 of 620 ideographic signs. 
 
 2. Abstract ideas, however, could not well be expressed by images 
 of visible objects, recourse was therefore had to symbolical figures; 
 and metaphors, common in spoken language when clothed in a 
 visible form, gave birth to a second class of hieroglyphics, that of 
 images used in a symbolical or figurative sense. These, as being 
 more abstruse and difficult of interpretation, are the characters 
 generally alluded to by the ancients when they speak of hierogly¬ 
 phics, and that circumstance was the occasion of the prevalent but 
 mistaken notion, that all the figures on the Egyptian monuments 
 are strictly symbolical-—an error to which the extravagant and con¬ 
 tradictory interpretations of those sculptures given by learned men 
 may easily be traced. Almost all the figures of speech are, if we 
 may so express it, placed before the eye by this class of hieroglyphics. 
 “ Two arms stretched up towards heaven” express the word “ offer¬ 
 ing;” “ a stream of water flowing from a jug” signifies “ libation 
 “ a censer with some grams of incense,” “adoration;” and a man 
 throwing arrows,” “tumult;” these instances, therefore, furnish 
 examples of synecdoches. Metonymies are exhibited in “a crescent 
 with its horns bent downwards” for “ month,” 1 in a “ pencil and a 
 palette, or a reed and an inkstand” for “ writer,” “ writing,” “ letter,” 
 &c. The “ bee” is to signify “ an obedient people;” “ fore-quarters 
 of a lion” for “ strength;” “ a hawk on the wing” for “ the wind;” 
 “ an asp” for “ the power of life and death;” and a “ crocodile” for 
 “ rapacity,” are so many metaphors symbolically expressed. As 
 many of these symbols were derived from fanciful and remote analo¬ 
 gies, among them will those characters probably be found which 
 defy the skill of the most diligent and ingenious inquirers. If not 
 informed of it by an ancient Egyptian miter, 2 who could have 
 divined that “ paternity” and “ the world” were expressed by the 
 figure of a “ a beetle,” “ maternity” by “ a vulture,” “ the coruse of 
 the stars” by “ a serpent,” 3 and “ a physician” by “ a duck?” 4 Yet 
 these, as will be seen hereafter, are not the least intelligible of all the 
 hieroglyphics. As almost all the proper names used by the Egyptians 
 expressed their devotion to some particular god, no symbols are of 
 more frequent occurrence, nor are any more useful to the hieroglyphi- 
 cal student than those which express the titles and appellations of their 
 
 1 Horapollo, ii. 12. 2 Horapollo, i. 20. 3 Clem. Alexandr. v. 4. 
 
 4 What relation is there between the Egyptian symbol for a physician—a duck— 
 and the English term used to denote a medical pretender, derived from the cry of 
 the same animal—a quack ? 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 PHONETIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 187 
 
 deities. Tims, a man with a rain’s head signifies “ Ammon-Cnnphis; ” 
 a man with a hawk’s head bearing a disk represents “ Phre a man 
 with a jackal’s head, “ Anubisan ibis-headed man, “ Thoth one 
 with the head of a crocodile, “ Suchus or Sevekh.” But these being 
 merely sketches of the idols by which those gods were represented in 
 the temples, are perhaps rather to be called images than emblems, and 
 ought for that reason to be ranked in the first class of hieroglyphics. 
 
 The animals sacred to each deity, adorned with his distinctive 
 ornaments, formed another set of images more truly symbolical; 
 such, for example, was a liaAvk crowned by a disk for Phre; a ram 
 with a pair of lofty plumes, or a disk between his horns for Cnuphis; 
 a mitred hawk for Harsiesi, ( i.e . Horus, son of Isis;) a jackal with a 
 scourge for Anubis; an ibis, or a cynocephalus, (i.e. a dog-headed 
 monkey,) for Thoth, the Hermes of the Greeks: “ not,” says 
 Plutarch, 1 “ that this (i.e. dog) is his proper appellation, but that by 
 this metaphor the Egyptians ascribe to this most wise deity, care, 
 watchfulness, and discernment, as Plato says.” An eye was the 
 emblem of Osiris and the Sun; a Nilometer that of Phtha; and an 
 obelisk that of Ammon; but these symbols were not often used, nor 
 are the hieroglyphics of this class by any means of such frequent 
 occurrence, as those which are employed in a more obvious sense. 
 
 3. It is manifest, as was before observed, that these two classes of Phonetic 
 hieroglyphics are inadequate to express every part of speech. charactei 
 Except at its very commencement, every language must have some 
 words, which, taken alone, are void of meaning, and unless those 
 who speak it are entirely separated from other nations, they must 
 have occasion to express foreign names and foreign terms in their 
 own tongue, as well as write them in them own character, if suffi¬ 
 ciently advanced in civilization to possess the art of writing. Now 
 the Egyptians were the most civilized nation on earth at the earliest 
 period from which any of their monuments now existing can be 
 dated, and though they were prohibited from commerce with 
 foreigners, 2 before the time of Psammetichus, 3 they were often at 
 war with their southern and eastern neighbours, to say nothing of 
 the conquests of Sesostris, which carried them at least as far as Asia 
 Minor. Their language, therefore, must have then possessed such 
 terms and inflections as could only be expressed by characters 
 expressive of sounds; and as necessity is the mother of invention, 
 this want of figures merely representing sounds, may be reasonably 
 supposed to have led to the invention of the third class of hiero¬ 
 glyphics, viz. those called by M. ChampoUion, phonetic, i.e. expres¬ 
 sive of sound. That a certain number was so employed, has now 
 been placed beyond a doubt, and the principle on which these 
 figures were selected for that purpose, has been ascertained. It 
 was simply this, that the names of things, (i.e. the words) sug- 
 
 1 De Iside et Osir, sec. 11. 
 
 3 Strabo, xvii. 1. 6. 
 
 3 Herod ii. 154. 
 
188 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chai>. IV. 
 
 Specimen o 
 
 Phonetic 
 
 Alphabet. 
 
 gested by these hieroglyphics, began by the sound or letter which 
 they were taken to represent. This will be more distinctly 
 seen by a reference to the following table, the first column of 
 which gives the letter expressed by a hieroglyphic; the second, the 
 English name of the object represented; and the third, the corre¬ 
 sponding word in the Coptic or Egyptian language. 
 
 A Tuft, 
 
 called Ake, 
 
 stood for A. 
 
 An Eagle, 
 
 — Akliom, 
 
 — A. 
 
 A Field, 
 
 — Koi, 
 
 — K. 
 
 A Cup, 
 
 ■— Klapht, 
 
 — K. 
 
 A Hand, 
 
 — Tot, 
 
 — T. 
 
 A Lion, 
 
 — Labo, 
 
 — L. 
 
 A Beetle, 
 
 — Thore, 
 
 — Th. 
 
 An Egg, 
 
 — Souhe, 
 
 — S. 
 
 An Owl, 
 
 — Mouladj, 
 
 — M. 
 
 A Mouth, 
 
 — Eo, 
 
 — R 
 
 A Water-tank 
 
 , — Sheii, 
 
 - Sh- 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 189 
 
 Thus, if I wish to spell the last name of Sir Walter Scott, in illustration 
 three hieroglyphics, I take the Egg, the phonetic power of which is S, 
 
 and may express the generative might of his intellect; then the 
 
 Field, the phonetic power of which is.K, 
 
 and which would refer to his domain of Abbotsford, of which he 
 was so proud; and, lastly, (the vowel not being expressed) the 
 
 Hand, the phonetic power of which is...T, 
 
 and which woidd at the same time show the fame and number of 
 
 his publications. Or, if I wish to depict London in English hiero¬ 
 glyphics, I take a figure of 
 
 The Lion, .L, 
 
 The Oak, .0, 
 
 Tire North Star, N, 
 
 The Deck, .D, 
 
 The Owl,.0, 
 
 The Nave of 1 
 a Temple, J ’ 
 
 (which would symbolize 
 (the same time, 
 
 at | Bravery. 
 
 Ship building. 
 Wide dominion. 
 Maritime power. 
 Science, Wisdom 
 
 Keligion. 
 
 Or, in fine, if I wish to represent the city of Glasgow on the same 
 phonetic principles, I woidd take and depict 
 
 a p..' D „ J the initial or phonetic 
 
 T ’ ( sound of which is 
 
 [> G, and its symbol, Exchange. 
 
 A Loom, — 
 
 L, 
 
 — 
 
 Manufacture. 
 
 An Axle, — 
 
 A, 
 
 — 
 
 Machinery. 
 
 A Steam Engine, — 
 
 S, 
 
 — 
 
 Motive power. 
 
 A piece of Gauze, — 
 
 G, 
 
 — 
 
 j Textile 
 ( Fabrics. 
 
 An Oar, — 
 
 o, 
 
 — 
 
 Shipping. 
 
 A Warehouse, — 
 
 w, 
 
 — 
 
 Business. 
 
 It is plain that this method of writing is at once expressive and 
 vague, for it is only a species of half-formed alphabet. It perhaps 
 presents a specimen of the very earliest form of writing, when only 
 the rudiments of an alphabet were understood. Other eastern 
 nations made progress towards a complete alphabet, but the proud 
 conservative spirit of Egypt confined it to this primitive and awkward 
 mode of literary delineation. It served also to throw an air of 
 mystery around its boasted wisdom, and it formed an effectual 
 barrier to the inquisitive eye of the foreign traveller. The veil 
 that had been impenetrable for ages was only removed by a patient 
 and sagacious Englishman of the nineteenth century, aided and 
 followed up by illustrious scholars of France 
 
SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 190 
 
 The Horus. 
 
 Living of Men. 
 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 Sun Presented to the World. 
 
 Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt. 
 The Living of Men. 
 
 Son of the Sun. 
 
 Osirtasen. 
 
 Lord of Spirits in Pone. 
 
 Ever-living. 
 
 Life of Men. 
 
 Resplendent Horus. 
 
 Good God. 
 
 Sun Presented to the World. 
 
 Who has begun the 
 Celebration of his two Assemblies 
 
 to his Creator. 
 
 Life-Giver for ever. 
 
 The preceding illustration represents the obelisk at Heliopolis, 
 
LIMITATIONS OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 191 
 
 connected with the Osirtasens of the 16th dynasty. Being in the 
 city of the sun, it is dedicated to Phre, the sun-god. 1 
 
 This phonetic principle being admitted, it follows that the number of Necessary 
 figures used to represent one sound, might be increased almost [^phonetic* 
 without limit, as any hieroglyphic might stand for the first letter of s y stem - 
 its name; so copious an alphabet, however, even to a native, would 
 have been a continual source of error. The characters, therefore, 
 thus applied, were soon fixed; and, as far as has been hitherto ascer¬ 
 tained, eighteen or nineteen simple and syllabic is the largest number 
 assigned to any one letter; while few have more than five or six 
 representatives, and several only one or two. The pronunciation of 
 the Egyptian language was, probably, rapid and indistinct; conso¬ 
 nants belonging to the same class, and uttered by the aid of the same 
 organs, were easily interchanged; the initial, final, and when medial 
 the long vowels only, were clearly uttered, and the consonants were 
 separated almost at the speaker’s pleasime by an imperfect articula¬ 
 tion, like our u, in “ but, rut, &c.,” or the French e, in “ le, me, te, 
 
 &c.,” but even the long vowels appear to have been liable to fre¬ 
 quent permutations: the Egyptian, in this respect, and in its whole 
 system of orthography, bearing a great resemblance to the Semitic 
 dialects. This paucity of vowels, it should be observed, is not 
 peculiar to the texts expressed in the sacred or enchorial characters; 
 it is also found in the Coptic, (i.e. Egyptian written in Greek 
 letters,) especially in the Sa’idic or Theban dialect, where mn, 
 
 “ and,” mnt, “ belonging to,” rm, “ inhabiting,” snt, “ to create,” tin, 
 
 “ to shut,” ntk, “ thee,” &c., continually occur. By the variety of 
 these phonetic characters, the Egyptians were also enabled to exer¬ 
 cise a faculty held in high esteem by their Eastern neighbours, and 
 probably by themselves—that of conveying a double meaning by 
 the same signs, and of expressing secret and recondite allusions, 
 scarcely discoverable except by the adept. The goose, or chenalo- illustrations, 
 pex, we find usually representing the S of Si, the word for “ son,” 
 because, as Horapollo tells us, 2 “ that animal is remarkable for the 
 love of its offspring.” The ram always stands for B in the name of 
 Chnubis, because it was sacred to that god, and his usual symbol. 
 
 He was represented with a vessel of earth at his feet, and for that 
 reason, it may be supposed, a vessel is used, by preference, to repre¬ 
 sent the N in his name. The lion is put for L in Ptolemy and 
 Alexander, because they were powerfrd kings; and the frequent use 
 of the eagle for A, in the name of Eoman emperors, seems to con¬ 
 vey a covert allusion to the eagles on then’ ensigns. Something 
 analogous to this takes place in the Chinese, where particular Hing- 
 shing, or phonetic characters, are chosen, because calculated, 
 from their own meaning, to convey a favourable or unfavourable 
 impression as to the thing or person named. In short, the 
 
 1 Gliddon’s Ancient Egypt, p. 29. 
 
 2 i. 53. 
 
192 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Enigmatical 
 
 Hiero¬ 
 
 glyphics. 
 
 Hieratic. 
 
 habit of representing certain words by certain phonetic char¬ 
 acters would soon prevail; and that alone would prevent the per¬ 
 plexing variety to which the system might have given birth. But 
 this habit would also render it possible to use abbreviations for very 
 well known terms; and, accordingly, we find that such abbrevia¬ 
 tions are by no means uncommon, e.g. st for souten , “ king s for 
 si, “ son Amend for Amenothph , &c. The extent to which these 
 contractions were used in Egypt, is plainly shown by the registries 
 of deeds, drawn under the Ptolemies, and published by Dr. Young. 1 
 All these three classes of hieroglyphics were used simultaneously. 
 
 4. The fourth class, or enigmatical hieroglyphics, might be con¬ 
 sidered as a second division of those which were strictly symbolical. 
 A complicated and obscure kind was formed, probably, by the 
 “ Anaglyphs,” or allegorical sculptures, mentioned by Clement of 
 Alexandria. 2 They appear to have been bas-reliefs, or tablets, con¬ 
 taining mythological or historical subjects, expressed in allegorical 
 delineations, or implied by the monstrous figures of human beings, 
 with heads of birds and beasts, such as those with which the Egyp¬ 
 tian temples were filled, and among which we must rank the 
 sphinxes forming avenues at their entrance. Symbols such as these, 
 grouped and combined according to certain rides, might be so dis¬ 
 posed as to form an allegorical representation of the religious and 
 philosophical doctrines of the Egyptians. None but the initiated 
 were suffered to dive into these mysteries; and the key to them was 
 kept exclusively in the hands of the priesthood. 
 
 II. The origin and characteristics of the hieratic or sacred char¬ 
 acter, so denominated to distinguish it from the demotic or popular, 
 have already been briefly stated. It consists of nothing more than 
 imperfect and dashing sketches of the hieroglyphics, which thus 
 assume the form of a flowing and rapid hand. For figures and 
 si/mbols, it often substitutes phonetic groups, or arbitrary characters, 
 which bear no resemblance to the hieroglyphics for which they 
 stand. Eeligion and science seem to be the only subjects for which 
 this character was used; nor did it undergo any material change in 
 its form or structure, during the many ages through which it was 
 used. Though the agreement between corresponding hieratic and 
 hieroglyphic texts is scarcely perceptible at first sight, it becomes 
 manifest on a careful inspection. But it must always be remem¬ 
 bered that the linear hieroglyphics, considered as the hieratic char¬ 
 acter by Dr. Young, bear a much closer resemblance to the perfect 
 forms of the figures, than the real hieratic—a hand resembling the 
 Chinese, and written with as much rapidity. 3 One peculiarity in 
 this character deserves to be noticed here, as being likely, at first 
 sight, to mislead and give much trouble. In hieratic texts the oval 
 
 1 Discoveries, &c. p. 149. 2 v. 657. 
 
 3 See Dr. Young’s Comparison of Manuscripts; Encyclopaed. Britann. Supple¬ 
 ment, pi. lxxviii. fig. N; and Champollion’s Prdcis. pi. xii. xviii. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 DEMOTIC. 
 
 193 
 
 frame (probably an extension of the ring, which seems to have been 
 a symbol of royalty) enclosing the names of kings, is expressed by a 
 semicircle at the beginning of the word, as might be expected; but, 
 at the end, instead of a corresponding curve followed by a straight 
 line, expressive of the remainder of the frame, as is usually the case 
 in the demotic character, three, four, or five dashes, either straight 
 or slightly curved, are substituted for it. How it came to pass that, 
 in a mode of writing in which rapidity was the great object, the 
 number of characters should have been thus needlessly multiplied, 
 it seems at present impossible to explain. 
 
 III. The common Egyptian character, called demotic from its Demotic, 
 poprdar use, epistolograpldc from its fitness for letter-writing, and 
 enchorial from its being peculiar to that country, and distinct from 
 the Greek, so familiarly known there under the Ptolemies, seems to 
 have been derived from the hieratic by nearly the same process as 
 that was from the hieroglyphic. It is, however, more simple; not 
 strictly alphabetic, because a small number of images or figures are 
 still found in it; some symbols also, connected with religious sub¬ 
 jects, occur; but these figures and symbols are almost invariably so 
 curtailed and simplified, as to lose all resemblance to the objects 
 expressed. The whole, therefore, has the appearance of a written 
 alphabetic character, and the greater part of its elements may be 
 considered as belonging to such a system, being phonetic hiero¬ 
 glyphics reduced to a few lines and dots, a few dashes, curves, and 
 angles, and forming a series of words with little or no relation to 
 the objects which they each, individually, represent. In the direc¬ 
 tion of the lines from right to left, and in the suppression of many 
 vowels, this system of writing resembles that of the Phoenicians and 
 Hebrews. In having a variety of signs to represent the same sound, 
 it is like the hieratic and hieroglyphic characters, which are its 
 immediate sources. 
 
 We subjoin a brief account of what was known on this subject in Description 
 early times. We refer especially to Clemens Alexandrinus, who, as a 11 ■' 111 muit ' 
 native of Egypt, has a peculiar claim on our attention, and is the only 
 writer by whom any distinct account of the various modes of writing 
 prevalent in Egypt is given. “ That which the Egyptians who are 
 educated,” he says, 1 “learn first, is that kind of writing called 
 
 1 A vrty.a. ot orao A 'lywrriots oratbsuofLivoi, orgourov fxiv oruvrtuv ryjv ktyvon'toiv 
 y(>a[X[xu.rojv pzOobovlxfxavPu.voutrt, t'/jv ’EniSTOAOrPAIUKHN xocXoupivviv’ Szvregbtv 
 rvtv 'IEPATIKHN, yj ^ojvtcci ot \i^oy^a(xfX'jOTz7i' vtrraryjv Ss xa) rtXzvra'av rhv 
 TEPOPAT’&IKHN, yjs '01 pzv l tti ’Slot rcuv orpruv KTPIOAOPIKH y] Ss 2TMB0AIKH. 
 
 Tijs 'SufxfboAtxvis vt ptv ffror^ziuv KTPIOAOPEITAI KATA MIMH2IN, r 7i 
 TPOniKfiS ygutytrai, Yt S’ avrtx^us u.'k’kvtyofptTu.t KATA TINAS ’AINIPMOT2 
 “HXiav yovv yppat (ZovA.bu.zvoi, xvxXov ffotoutrr mXwvvjv o'%yj/xoo [xvtvoetbXs, KATA 
 TO KTPIOAOrOTMENON ’EIAOS- TPOniKUS Tz xccr oix&OTYirx. /xtrbiyovTZ; xa.) 
 [xzru.Tt6'zvrz$, to: d' z'^aXXarrovrzs, ru dz oroX\x%ais f/.ZTao'^yi/xar'povrz? %aprTov- 
 <nv. T ov; yovv ruv fbocatXtoiv zorct'tvovs (hoXoyovpzvotz fjov&ots •7rapcobtbovrz$, avxyox- 
 
 [E. 0. H.j O 
 
194 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Language of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Epistolographic; next, they learn the Hieratic, which is used by the 
 sacred scribes ( liierogrammateis ;) lastly and finally, the Hieroglyphic 
 (character;) of which one (kind) is cyriologic, or proper, expressing 
 the first elements of speech, and the other symbolic, or figurative. 
 Of the symbolic (characters) one (sort) represents objects in their proper 
 form, (i. e. cyriologic,) by imitation; the other, as it were, paints them 
 tropically or metaphorically; and the third, on the contrary, represents 
 them allegorically, by means of certain enigmas. Thus when they 
 wish to express the sun they make a circle, for the moon they put 
 the figure of a crescent, according to the cyriologic or proper method, 
 (?'. e. by imitation,) but when the (text) engraved is in the tropical 
 or metaphorical style, the characters are taken in a metaphorical and 
 altered sense according to their respective analogies, being sometimes 
 diverted from their original meaning, at other times transformed in 
 various ways. Thus when they deliver down to posterity the praises 
 of their kings in t heological fictions, they express them by Anaglyphs, 
 (i. e. tablets sculptured in bas-relief.) Of the third (or enigmatic) 
 sort (of hieroglyphics) this may serve as an example: the other stars 
 ( i. e. planets) they represent by the figures of serpents on account of 
 the obliquity of their course; but the sun by that of a beetle, because 
 it forms a round ball of ox-dung, and then rolls it forward before 
 itself. They say, likewise, that this animal lives for six months 
 under ground, and for the remainder of the year above ground; 
 that it impregnates the ball which it has made, and engenders by 
 means of it; and that it has no female.” 
 
 This is not the place to give any account of the discovery of the 
 hieroglyphical alphabet, the blunders of Kircher and Warburton, 
 the Rosetta stone, the ingenuity of Young and ChampoUion, or the 
 additional discoveries of successive scholars, down to the famed 
 Egyptologers of the present day. Our object has only been to give 
 a succinct view of the science, nor can we refer to the numerous 
 publications connected with the deciphering of those mystic records 
 which bore upon them the wisdom, religion, and history of ancient 
 Egypt. Nor can we enter into any detailed philological account of 
 the primeval tongue of this wonderful race, that have left behind 
 them so many monuments on the banks of the Nile. The Coptic of 
 more modern times is its legitimate descendant, and bears many 
 marked resemblances to its linguistic ancestry. It has, however, 
 been corrupted principally by its large incorporation of such foreign 
 terms as the necessities of conquests and commerce, from time to 
 time, imposed upon it. Such indeed is our present English when 
 
 ifovn 2;i ™ ’ANArAT$fiN. Toy 2s KATA TOT2 AINITMOT2 r^'nov eT&ot 
 "bz'tyfaa. iart to2s* ra [/lev yu-e rTUV tekkojv cccr^a>v, 2A ryjv erogeiav ri/v ?±a£ ) '/iv oipeojv 
 crdjfxaffiv aveixaZov, rev di C, H ktov ru rou xuvOdfiov' ETSi2s? xuxXoreps ex tsjs fioztas 
 ovQqv rrkaadfjeevos^ avri'r^otru/oros xuktvhzr (Qaa) 2s xai e%u//.'/jvov [/.sv urro ybs, 
 
 danoov 2s rod zrovs rpr/pa., ro ^uov rouro iorzo yy,s 'liouruaQu.r aori^a.\vuv re els rbv 
 o-i pxioav xai yavvav xai Hr,\vv xavla^ov fan yivealai _ Stromat. V. 657. Ed. Potter. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 THEOLOGY. 
 
 195 
 
 compared with the pure undiluted Saxon of Wycliffe and Chaucer. 
 
 Still more than 500 radical etymons of the ancient tongue have now 
 been disinterred. 1 It has affinity with both the Syro-Arabic and 
 Indo-European languages, but of such a kind as to show, that at a 
 period of early and unfixed antiquity, it had been isolated from its 
 sister dialects, and fixed among a singular people, with whom its 
 Hexional development was retarded, since every generation, for several 
 centuries, nay millenniums, thought, felt, spoke, walked, and acted 
 in the hallowed and unvaried routine of its revered predecessors. 
 
 The theology of Egypt was, like every thing else in the country, Theology, 
 quite peculiar. The Pantheon had a numerous popidation, and was 
 not very nice in its selection. The mythology was vast and hide- 
 finite, full of symbol and hidden meaning, yet gradually debased 
 into the most ignoble animal worship. It is beyond a doubt that 
 the priests had among themselves esoteric doctrines as to the nature 
 of the divine Being, and a future state; and Plato and Pythagoras 
 may have gathered from them some of their tlieosophic notions. The Glimpses of 
 tenets of the ancient patriarchal faith were not wholly obscured for earliertrutl1 
 ages, but were gradually buried beneath the uncouth and grotesque 
 symbolism of Egyptian ritual. The expositions of their religion 
 given by Egyptians themselves, after it came in contact with Grecian 
 philosophy, are not to be trusted, for they are plainly accommoda¬ 
 tions to the fashionable belief. 2 Plutarch tells us of an inscription 
 on a temple at Sais which ran thus—“ I am all that was, is, and shall 
 be, and my veil no mortal yet uncovered:” and in his famous 
 treatise on Isis and Osiris, he says that philosophers honour the 
 image of God wherever they find it—the animals venerated in Egypt 
 being regarded as mirrors of divinity. Whatever poetry or symbo¬ 
 lism may be detected in the earlier native worship of Egypt, though 
 we may discover in its various forms— 
 
 The fair humanities of old religion; 
 
 The power, the beauty, and the majesty, 
 
 That had their haunt in dale or piny mountain, 
 
 Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly fountain,— 
 
 though such a view may be entertained, yet when we look at the Corruptions 
 common conceptions and daily adorations of the masses of the people, 
 we are at once convinced that the whole system, in its practical 
 operation and result, was a low and disgusting Fetichism. Still, 
 amidst this wretched polytheism there appear glimpses of faith 
 in one supreme and sovereign power, while his various attributes 
 were deified in the rank and person of minor divinities. In such 
 
 1 Hinck’s Ancient Hieroglyphic Alphabet. Lanci, Paralipomeni all’ illustrazione 
 della sagra Scritura, Paris, 1845. Peyron, Lex. Copt. Schwartze, Do., &c. See 
 also page 65, supra. 
 
 2 Corrie’s Ancient Fragments, p. 283. Jablonski, Proleg. p. lxxi. 
 
196 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 
 a country, where so much depended on the climate and annual over¬ 
 flow of the river, the excited fancy was soon led to deify these 
 operations of nature. The earliest legends of the country, also, 
 moulded and modified by the priesthood, were soon represented in 
 some embodied shape—the division of the body of Osiris being 
 plainly an allusion to the original number of provinces. Symbols 
 borrowed from then’ astronomy have also originated a number of 
 deities. The generative power of nature, personified in Athor as 
 a woman and a mother, pervaded the entire mythology. It would 
 seem too that one of the earliest forms of their Godhead was a Triad, 
 consisting of Osiris, Isis, and Horus—the remnant of an earlier and 
 purer creed, in which was contained the primeval truth, that 
 Great gods, plurality in unity constituted the divine essence. The great gods 
 were eight in number, four male and four female. 
 
 Male. Female. 
 
 Amun or Amunra, the sun God,.....Maut. 
 
 Khem,.Athor. 
 
 Kneph,.Neith. 
 
 Phthah,.Pasht. 
 
 [Amun-ra.] 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 GODS OF SECOND ORDER. 
 
 197 
 
 Each notne had indeed its own god, but these were the principal 
 divinities, and they seem to have been embodied symbols of nature, 
 in its grandeur, power, variety, and life, conceived of under the 
 idea of male and female appetencies and adaptations. The earlier 
 Jove, Pan, Venus, and Vulcan of the European mythology have 
 some resemblance to them. The sphinx, at once so common, and Sphinx, 
 yet so characteristic of Egypt, was a symbol illustrative of these and 
 similar truths; and is of the same class of emblematic creatures, as the 
 Hebrew cherubim, the griffen of the middle ages, and the multiform 
 sculptures of Assyria. Compound animals are common to all 
 ancient and eastern religions, and seem to shadow out the great 
 lesson, that God is to be revered with the united powers of creation, 
 with the combined energies of the highest class of intellectual and 
 physical endowments. There were also twelve gods of the second Gods of 
 order. sscondo 
 
 The child of Ammon: 
 
 I. Khunsu (Chons,) Hercules. 
 
 The child of Kneph: 
 
 II. Tet (Thoth,) Hermes. 
 
 The children of Phtah: 
 
 III. Atumu, Atum, Atmu. 
 
 IV. Pecht (Bubastis,) the Cat-headed Goddess of Bubastis, 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 The children of Helios: 
 
 V. Hat-her (Athyr,) Aphrodite. 
 
 VI. Mau. 
 
 VII. Ma (Truth.) 
 
 VIII. Tefhu, the Lioness-headed Goddess. 
 
 IX. Muntu, Munt (Mandulis.) 
 
 X. Sebak, Sevek, the Crocodile-headed God. 
 
 XI. Seb (Chronos.) 
 
 XH. Nutpe, Netpe (Rhea.) 
 
 There were also seven gods of the third order. 
 
 I. Set, Nubi, Typhon. 
 
 II. Hesiri, Osiris. 
 
 III. ties, Isis. 
 
 IV. Nebt-hi, Nephthys, the sister of Isis, “ the Mistress of the 
 
 House.” 
 
 V. Her-her, Aroeris, “ Hor the elder.” 
 
 VI. Her, Horus, child of Isis and Osiris. 
 
 VII. Anupu, Anubis. 1 
 
 1 Bunsen, 367. 
 
198 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Osiris and Isis, Horas, Nephthys, and Anubis, were popular 
 divinities; the last was connected with the under-world, while the 
 dark and malignant Typhon was a prince among their demon-gods, 
 to propitiate whom human sacrifices were presented. These multi¬ 
 
 farious divinities held sway over various parts of Egypt, each province 
 paying respect to its own tutelar genius. While in their shape and 
 character one may detect the remnant of ancient truths symbolically 
 pictured, yet it admits not of a doubt that the populace bowed before 
 the idol, and did it homage as a real divinity. 
 
 Animal The animal worship which prevailed was of the most debasing 
 
 worship. nature. Many of the hypotheses as to the origin of this species of 
 religious service are as silly as itself. All we can affirm is, that some 
 quality for which the animal was distinguished, made it an object of 
 homage. How powerless does the boasted wisdom of Egypt appear, 
 when the veil is lifted from off its national brute adoration! The glory 
 of its sculptures, paintings, conquests, pyramids, and tombs, is sadly 
 dimmed by the thought, that the ox, cat, dog, hawk, and ibis, were 
 prime divinities all over the country; that in several provinces the 
 lion, sheep, goat, ape, and mouse, had each its shrine, its guardians, 
 its ritual, and its votaries—was fed by sacred hands with the choicest 
 dainties, embalmed when dead, and its mummy laid in a conse- 
 ciement's crated cemetery. Clement of Alexandria truly says, 1 —“ Among the 
 Egyptians the temples are surrounded with groves and consecrated 
 pastures; they are furnished with propylsea, and their courts are 
 encircled with an infinite number of columns; their walls glitter 
 with foreign marbles and paintings of the highest art; the naos is 
 resplendent with gold and silver and electrum, and variegated stones 
 from India and Ethiopia; the adytum is veiled by a curtain wrought 
 with gold. But if you pass beyond into the remotest part of the 
 enclosure, hastening to behold something yet more excellent, and 
 seek for the image which dwells in the temple, a pastophorus or 
 
 1 Paedag. iii. 2. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 ANIMAL WORSHIP. 
 
 199 
 
 some one else of those who minister in sacred things, with a pom¬ 
 pous air singing a Ptean in the Egyptian tongue, draws aside a small 
 portion of the curtain, as if about to show us the god; and makes us 
 burst into a loud laugh. For no god is found within, but a cat, or 
 a crocodile, or a serpent sprung from the soil, or some such brute 
 animal; the Egyptian deity appears a beast rolling himself on a 
 purple coverlet.” Such a puerile insanity as sought gods, even in 
 the herbage of their gardens, could not escape the satire of Juvenal, satire of 
 
 “ Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens 
 rEgyptus portenta colat? Crocodilon adorat 
 Pars hsec : ilia pavet saturam serpentibus Ibin. 
 
 Effigies sacri nitet aurea Cercopitheci, 
 
 Dimidio magic* resonant ubi Memnone chordae, 
 
 Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis. 
 
 Illic cceruleos, liic piscem fluminis, illic 
 Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam. 
 
 Porrum et cepe nefas violare, ac frangere morsu. 
 
 O sanctas gentes, quibus hate nascuntur in hortis 
 Numina!”— Juven. Satir. xv. 
 
 Who has not heard where Egypt’s realms are nam’d, 
 
 What monster gods her frantic sons have fram’d? 
 
 Here Ibis gorged with well-grown serpents, there 
 The crocodile commands religious fear : 
 
 Where Memnon’s statue magic strings inspire 
 With vocal sounds that emulate the lyre ; 
 
 And Thebes, such, fate, are thy disastrous turns, 
 
 Now prostrate o’er her pompous ruins mourns ; 
 
 A monkey-god, prodigious to be told ! 
 
 Strikes the beholder’s eye with burnished gold : 
 
 To godship here blue Triton’s scaly herd, 
 
 The river progeny is there preferr’d : 
 
 Through towns Diana’s power neglected lies, 
 
 Where to her dogs aspiring temples rise : 
 
 And should you leeks or onions eat, no time 
 Would expiate the sacrilegious crime, 
 
 Religious nations sure, and blest abodes, 
 
 Where every orchard is o’er-run with gods! 
 
 The religion of Egypt partook of the character of its creed, for Religion, 
 the character of the divinity adored, regulates alike the faith 
 and practice of his votaries. But here again we meet with 
 obscure forms of older truths, derived from a purer and higher 
 source. Oblations were offered to all the gods; and processions 
 in their honour formed the great national festivals. Oracles also, of 
 no mean repute, were to be found in Egypt—dark and dubious in 
 their responses like those of Greece. There were mysteries, too, open 
 only to the initiated—mysteries shadowing out the sufferings and 
 adventures of Osiris. The mysteries were divided into the less and Mysteries, 
 the greater. The higher mysteries were intrusted only to a few 
 favourites. Novitiates passed through a severe regimen; the 
 
SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Sacred book? 
 
 
 200 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 ordeal of initiation was one of terror, and demanded no ordinary 
 courage.— 
 
 “ Ay, even the wisest and the hardiest quail 
 To any goblin throned behind a veil.” 
 
 The Greek mysteries seem to have been brought from Egypt. 
 What was the inner truth of the Egyptian theology we know not— 
 what was the great and coveted secret tve cannot now divine. The 
 Greek mysteries soon degenerated into licentious free-masonry, and 
 perhaps those of Egypt ran a similar course of degradation,—yet 
 one can almost realise such a scene of splendour and mystery as 
 Alciphron has depicted from the “ Harper’s Tomb” of Bruce.' 
 
 And 0, be blessed! ye men of yore, whose toil 
 Hath for her use scooped out of Egypt’s soil— 
 
 This hidden paradise—this mine of fanes, 
 
 Gardens and palaces, where pleasure reigns 
 In a rich sunless empire of her own, 
 
 With all earth’s luxuries lighting up her throne— 
 
 A realm for mystery made, which undermines 
 The Nile itself, and ’neath the twelve great shrines 
 That keep initiation’s holy rite, 
 
 Spreads its long labyrinths of unearthly light— 
 
 A light that knows no change—its brooks that run 
 Too deep for day—its gardens without sun, 
 
 Where soul and sense by turns are charmed, surprised, 
 And all that bard or prophet e’er devised 
 For man’s Elysium, priests have realised. 1 
 
 Of what are called the sacred books of the Egyptians, we have 
 some account in Clement of Alexandria. Their canon, accord¬ 
 ing to his report, consisted of forty-two sections. In six of these 
 the art of medicine was discussed and illustrated. The other 
 thirty-six books seem to have been arranged into five grand classes. 
 In the front of the first division stood 6 u'hos —the minstrel— 
 a collection of sacred hymns, and it was followed by a treatise 
 on the functions and prerogatives of royalty. In the second grand 
 section were comprised the four books, named the “ Astronomer,” 
 treating of the fixed stars, and of the motions, phases, and conjunc¬ 
 tions of the heavenly bodies, and perhaps not altogether free from the 
 vague speculations of astrology. The third division of the sacred 
 code formed the ten books of the “ Hierogrammatist,” one of which 
 contained a notice of the art of writing and of hieroglyphics, another 
 was a tract on geography—remnants of which have been preserved— 
 and others again related to the planetary system. These were followed 
 by geographical sketches of Egypt and its boundaries, its rivers and 
 its temples, and weights and measures were also included. The 
 
 > Alciphron, page 67. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 SACRED BOOKS. 
 
 201 
 
 fourth division of the sacred collection was also composed of ten 
 books, which had special reference to ceremonies and observances— 
 sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, and religious processions. The 
 last class were named generally the Hieratic writings, and were con¬ 
 fided to the charge of the prophets, a chief rank hi the sacerdotal order. 
 
 They contained instruction in reference to laws, gods, and the complete 
 education of the hierarchy. The contents of these ancient books are 
 lost to us, and the references to them by Diodorus Siculus, Herodo- Reports by 
 tus, Stobaeus, Apollonius Rhodius, are not always so accurate as to be authors, 
 confidently trusted. There can be no doubt, however, that sections 
 of these old writings found their way into general circulation, and 
 that them sacred guardians, in a moment of liberality, occasionally 
 gave an oral description of portions of their contents. Herodotus 
 and Diodorus refer to the “ learning” of the Egyptians, to their long- 
 lists of kings so scrupulously preserved. The learned men of the old 
 world looked ibpon Egypt as a country of portents and marvels, and 
 while they gleaned a little information as to its legends, annals, and 
 customs, their credulity was sometimes imposed upon by the start¬ 
 ling stories of their guides and instructors. The Egyptian priest¬ 
 hood dazzled the eyes of an inquiring foreigner by the fictitious 
 glare they threw around their books and institutions. They amazed 
 him with the rehearsal of glowing wonders, appalled him with the 
 idea of a vast antiquity, and silenced his scepticism by an appeal to 
 mystic rolls he could not decipher, and hoary books, the sight of 
 whose strange pictorial pages only heightened his admiration, but 
 increased his perplexity. 
 
 A portion of these sacred books has been preserved down to our The Book of 
 own time. It was found in the royal tombs at Thebes, and one the Deart ' 
 similar to it was discovered by Champollion in the Museum at 
 Turin. Champollion thought it a species of liturgy —Rituel funeraire. 
 
 Lepsius, after abler and more thorough examination, has named it 
 das Todten-buch —the Book of the Dead. Lepsius supposes the 
 papyrus to belong to the fifteenth or sixteenth century before the 
 Christian era, and Bunsen imagines that it formed one of the ten of 
 the fourth class to which we already adverted. Lepsius says in his 
 preface, 1 “ This book furnishes the only example of a great Egyptian 
 literary work, transmitted from the old Pharaonic time—a compila¬ 
 tion, indeed, made at various times and probably in various parts of 
 Egypt, but one, the original plan of which unquestionably belongs 
 to the remotest age, and which doubtless, like the other sacred books, 
 was ascribed to Hermes or Thoth. This figurative authorship is no 
 invention of later times, for in the text of the work itself mention 
 repeatedly occurs of ‘ the Booh ,’ as well as of the ‘ Books of Thoth,’ 
 
 (chaps. 68, 6. 94, 1, 2.) and in the vignette to chapter 94, the 
 deceased himself is offering to Thoth the Hermetic Book to which 
 
 i p. 16. 
 
202 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Its contents. 
 
 Scene of the 
 last 
 
 judgment. 
 
 these allusions apply.” The document presents a full series of 
 the funeral observances of the ancient Egyptians, and exhibits 
 their brutish Pantheon from Osiris, the final judge, to the 
 ever-recurring beetle, with its inextricable functions and relations. 
 There too, in different and succeeding sections, we have the funeral 
 solemnities, the procession with its windings, the mummy under 
 a canopy, mourning attendants, the vessel which is to waft the 
 
 [Mystic Ferry-boat.— Rosellini.] 
 
 corpse over the sacred lake, and the tomb with its usual emblems. 
 But as the last libation is emptied, Anubis is pictured laying 
 his hand on the dead body, and beyond the grave the departed 
 re-appears, unshrouded and in lowly adoration before the Sun-god. 
 In the other world the Shade , in his second life, appears now as 
 a suppliant, and now he is pictured as combating with monstrous 
 shapes of scorpions and crocodiles, but he gains the victory. 
 Elysian fields are then rudely sketched, and in them the “ Immortal” 
 appears in all the various processes of successful husbandry. 
 But nigh him is the last Hall of Judgment, where sits the stem 
 ai’biter, Osiris, with the small tablet on his breast, and before and 
 around him are his balance, his secretary, and his forty-two assessors. 
 It is remarkable that this balance has in one of its scales a 
 statue of divine justice, and in the other the heart of the deceased. 
 
Chap. IV.] PLEADING BEFORE THE LAST TRIBUNAL. 
 
 203 
 
 This scale the dead man watches himself, but Anubis guards the 
 other. Each of the forty-two judges records his own decision—a 
 separate verdict. Horus examines the plummet, and Thoth records 
 the sentence. The person at the bar of these solemn judges is 
 allowed to plead in his own behalf. “ I have defrauded no man; Pleading 
 I have not slaughtered the cattle of the gods, I have not prevaricated fasttribunai. 
 at the seat of justice, I have not made slaves of the Egyptians, 
 
 I have not defiled my conscience for the sake of my superior, 
 
 I have not used violence, I have not famished my house¬ 
 hold, I have not made to weep, I have not smitten privily, I have 
 not changed the measures of Egypt, I have not grieved the spirits of 
 the gods, I have not committed adultery, I have not forged signet 
 rings, I have not falsified the weights of the balance, 1 have not 
 withheld milk from the mouths of my children.” “ I have not pierced 
 the banks of the Nile in its annual increase, I have not separated to 
 myself an arm of the Nile in its advance.” These passages render 
 it probable that in ancient as in modern times, an important part 
 of the revenue of Egypt was raised by imposing a tribute upon the 
 lands overflowed by the annual inundation; so that to obtain any 
 portion of these fertilizing waters secretly was to defraud the state. 
 
 This singular disavowal concludes thus: “ I have not disturbed the 
 gazelles of the gods in their pasturage, 1 have not netted the water- 
 fowl of the gods, I have not caught the sacred fishes.” It may be 
 inferred from this and other sections, that there were parks or pre- 
 
 Judgment and Future Destiny, from the Sarcophagus of Alexander.'] 
 
204 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 serves around the Egyptian temples where the sacred animals were 
 kept, and that it was sacrilege to take them. “ I have not despised 
 the gods in their offeringsin other words, “ I have not offered 
 to the gods that which is imperfect, I have not bound the cattle 
 of the gods, I have not pierced the god in his manifestation.” It is 
 plain that there are shadowed out in many of these hieroglyphs, the 
 Various hopes and fears of a guilty bosom; for should the spirit when judged 
 sentences. p e <j[ SC0V ered unworthy of admission to paradise, it is ignominiously 
 driven off to a darker world, and made to assume a bestial form, 
 typical of its sensual character and grovelling pursuits. Thus, as in 
 the preceding illustration, a glutton is condemned to assume the 
 form of a hog, and is sent off under the guidance of a fold spirit to 
 wallow in a stye, and feed upon “ husks.” But if the spirit has been 
 acquitted, it rises higher in glory and in susceptibility of enjoyment. 
 It joins the happy throng who bathe in the pure river of water of life 
 that encircles their dwelling. Above them stands the memorable 
 inscription—“ They have found favour in the eyes of the great God, 
 they dwell in mansions of glory, and enjoy the celestial life—the bodies 
 which they have forsaken shall sleep for ever in their sepulchres, 
 while they shall rejoice in the presence of God most High.” Many 
 momentous truths belonging to the faith of an early world, 
 to which, with all its aberration, the human spirit clings so tena¬ 
 ciously, are in those symbols rudely and impressively sketched. The 
 ideas of immortality and retribution are singrdarly masqued under 
 such quaint memorials. 
 
 Connection of Thus the Egyptian theology embraced much that remained of 
 Jutoa. wlth patriarchal faith—the first religion of the world. In fact the name 
 of the great god, Amon, Hamon, or Khem, is but a disguised form 
 of the name of their prime father—Ham. The Mosaic economy had 
 many similar elements—in its ark, cherubim, and priesthood. Not 
 that there was a direct imitation on the part of Moses, but in 
 Egypt the worship of very ancient times had been perpetuated to 
 some extent, though it was disfigured with many corruptions, so that 
 those rites which had been polluted by idolatrous abuse had to be 
 repurified and set apart to their original purpose. This reconsecra¬ 
 tion of portions of the Egyptian ritual was the more necessary among a 
 people who had been so long trained to the national superstitions of 
 the land of the Pharaohs, and needed to be gradually weaned from 
 their seductive idolatries. The manners and peculiarities of Egypt 
 shed a new light over many portions of the sacred volume. The 
 Egypt of Scripture is a real country, and every allusion to it has 
 been amply verified. Pharaoh serves Jehovah; and in hundreds 
 of instances the wonders and monuments of the great valley of the 
 Nile confirm and illustrate the Hebrew oracles. 
 
 Ancient ami In conclusion, what a startling contrast modern Egypt presents to 
 Egypt' ancient Egypt! What a melancholy change has passed over the 
 country from the period of the visits of Plato and Pythagoras to those 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 205 
 
 of Wilkinson and Lepsius! From Sesostris to Mehemet Ali, how The contrast, 
 terrible its reverses—from Cambyses to Bonaparte, how proud and 
 unsparing its invaders! Its meagre population have sunk into 
 degradation and slavery, while a series of foreign despots have 
 robbed the trembling peasantry of the fruit of then - toil. The works 
 of ancient and patriotic art, so essential to agricultural prosperity, 
 have been long neglected; and the national,monuments fast crumbling 
 to ruin, are desecrated and plundered by the inquisitive stranger. 
 
 The abodes of the dead have been eagerly ransacked, and the coveted 
 relics occupy a cherished and prominent place in the great museums 
 of Europe. Nay, mummies and coffins, not excepting those of the 
 Pharaohs, and their royal kindred, form a frequent and favourite fuel 
 to the Arab squatter, who prepares his meals on these strange and 
 sacrilegious fires. The world’s greatness is transient—man’s glory 
 speedily fades— 
 
 “ Nor man alone, his breathing bust expires— 
 
 His tomb is mortal—empires die.” 
 
 And yet what country attracts such notice as this scene of wide 
 and varied ruins. Even at the Exhibition of the Industry of all 
 Nations in London, one of the objects of foreign artistic curiosity is 
 a book on “ Ancient Egypt,” by Dr. Schwartze, and published by 
 Barth at Leipzig. It is described in the catalogue as “ printed in 
 twenty-seven languages—being the first instance of hieroglyphics 
 executed in prints—the work having been accomplished by means of 
 more than three thousand stamps cut for the purpose.” 
 
 [Serpent Chafers, from an original sketch.] 
 
[Egyptian Dresser and Pots.— British Museum.] 
 
 * 
 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 The mighty empires of the East equal, if they do not surpass, the Antiquity, 
 splendours of the Egyptian monarchy; and they lay claim to an 
 equal antiquity. Satisfied •with those tracts of country which formed 
 the original haunts of mankind, and lay so close upon the mountain 
 whence Noah descended from the stranded ark, their founders needed 
 not to perform a long or tedious pilgrimage in search of new settle¬ 
 ments. The Gordiaean mountains are probably the Ararat of Scrip¬ 
 ture, 1 and they lie in the vicinity of Nineveh. The fertile plains 
 watered by the Tigris and Euphrates naturally attracted the post¬ 
 diluvian tribes, and Babylon and Nineveh soon came into existence. 
 
 Assyria, properly so called, in 36° N. lat. was bounded on the Boundaries, 
 north by Armenia, on the west by the river Tigris, on the south by 
 Babylonia, and on the east was separated from Media by a chain of 
 mountains, called Mount Zagrus, now Tag-aighi. The dominions of 
 the Assyrian monarchy consisted of many small provinces, the most 
 noted of which were the following:—1. Arapachitis, bordering on 
 Armenia. 2. Corduem, a mountainous territory, the ancient resi¬ 
 dence of the Carduchi, mentioned by Xenophon in his “ Anabasis.” 
 
 3. Adiabene, in Strabo’s time the most considerable province in 
 
 1 Bochart, Geograpliia Sacra, cap. iii. 
 
208 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Chaldaea. 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 Appearance 
 ot' the 
 country. 
 
 The Rivers. 
 
 Assyria. 4. Calachene, lying between the mountains of Armenia 
 and Zabus Major. 5. Apollianatis, watered by the river Ganges. 
 6. Settacene, by some reckoned a portion of Babylonia. 7. Chalo- 
 nitis, separated from Media by a branch of Mount Taurus. 
 
 On the other hand, Chaldaja is frequently used in the sacred 
 ■writers for the whole of the Babylonian empire, but is taken in a 
 more limited sense by the Greeks; and Ptolemy restricts it to the 
 western bank of the Euphrates, between Babylon (near Hillah) 
 and the mouth of that river; Babylonia being, according to him, 
 that part of the peninsula between the Tigris and Euphrates, (now 
 Irak, Arabi, or the Arabian Irak,) which reaches from the isthmus, 
 near Seleucia, to the Persian Gulf. The latter stream also gave 
 rise to the two primary divisions of the Babylonian empire; the 
 regions on either side being called Aram and Aram Nahara'im 
 (Aram between the two streams) by the Hebrews; Syria and 
 Assyria by the Greeks. The latter, which seems to be the 
 country usually meant as that inhabited by the Casdim or Chal- 
 dasans of the Scriptures, was the space comprehended between 
 the Mount Niphates, 1 near the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris 
 on the north, and the Persian Gulf on the south, while Mount 
 Taurus, with the Syrian deserts, were its western, and the Cardu- 
 cliian mountains (Kurdistan) and river Tigris its eastern boundaries. 
 It was divided into four natural subdivisions:—1. Mesopotamia, the 
 northern part of the peninsula comprehended between the two rivers, 
 and bounded on the south by the isthmus, near Ctesiphon, (Mada- 
 yin.) 2. Adiabene, anciently called the plains of Aturia, 2 a name 
 which had probably the same origin as Assyria. 3. Babylonia, the 
 southern part of that peninsula, from the isthmus to the confluence 
 of the two streams. And 4. Chaldsea Proper, the limits of which 
 have been already mentioned. 
 
 From the 38tli parallel of northern latitude, where the Euphrates 
 forces its way through Mount Taurus, not far to the south and west 
 of the sources of the Tigris, those lofty mountains which separate 
 Armenia from Syria and Mesopotamia sink rapidly into vast plains, 
 rich and fertile where watered by those mighty streams, but forming 
 one boundless desert wherever the distance from the river is con¬ 
 siderable. The most productive part of these plains is the peninsula, 
 enclosed between the Tigris and Euphrates, and deriving its names 
 of similar import, Mesopotamia and Al-Jezirali, from its position 
 between them. The latter river not only has a much longer course, 
 and consequently a larger body of water, but flows through a more 
 level tract of country than the former, which runs between steep 
 and rugged banks, till it approaches its point of junction with the 
 Euphrates. This stream, therefore, being always nearly on a level 
 with its banks, overflows as soon as the snows melt in the northern 
 
 1 Ptol. vii. c. i. 
 
 2 Strabo, xvi. 
 
Ciiap. I.] 
 
 CANALS—RESERVOIRS. 
 
 209 
 
 mountains, and to devise some method for the dispersion of its super¬ 
 abundant waters was so indispensable to the existence of the Chal- 
 dseans, that no country in the world, probably, was so soon 
 intersected by canals and reservoirs as theirs. To divert the over- Canals, 
 flowing waters into new channels; to raise embankments for the 
 protection of their fields; to form tanks, lakes, and marshes, or 
 rather to confine the latter within due limits, were labours of which 
 this people soon felt the utility; and as was the case with the Egyp¬ 
 tians, then' powers of mind were called forth at an early period of 
 the world by the peculiar condition of their country. The canals, 
 several of which reached from one stream to the other, served not 
 only to prevent the lands from being flooded, but enabled the culti¬ 
 vator to distribute the water equally, and were employed in time of war 
 as a protection against the enemy. The largest of the canals was the 
 Royal River, which joined the Tigris and Euphrates above Babylon, and 
 was wide and deep enough to be navigated by trading vessels. The 
 embankments were among the most ancient of these public works, 
 and several of them were ascribed to Semiramis; others were formed 
 by order of Nitocris on both sides of the stream, and had an extra¬ 
 ordinary height and breadth. 1 The quays and wharfs, also within 
 the city of Babylon, excited the admiration of strangers. One of the 
 reservoirs dug by Nitocris, was not less than five miles in circum- Reservoirs, 
 ference, and entirely lined with stone. 2 The Pallacopas, a large 
 navigable canal on the west side of the river, beginning about eighty 
 miles below Babylon, and one hundred and sixty from the sea, drained 
 the wide morasses through which it passed. Tins great work was 
 executed by one of the Babylonian Satraps, and occupied 10,000 
 men for three months. It was, however, soon choked up in conse¬ 
 quence of the soft loamy nature of the soil; a circumstance which, 
 together with numerous draughts into the Tigris, has caused the 
 original bed of the Euphrates to be gradually filled up, so that the 
 latter has for many ages changed its course, and uniting with the 
 Tigris, about sixty miles above the Persian Gulf, flowed in one 
 stream to the immediate neighbourhood of the sea. Besides these 
 numerous canals and outlets, there were machines to raise the water 
 and convey it to higher levels, so that the soil, which was generally 
 a rich loam, was everywhere abundantly supplied with moisture. 
 
 Babylonia, thus irrigated, could not fail to be, as Herodotus 3 Fertility, 
 assures us it was, “ the best and most fertile in grain of any 
 country known.” It produced, indeed, neither figs, vines, nor 
 olive-trees, but to make up for this deficiency, it yielded all sorts of 
 grain in such abundance as always to give a return of two hundred 
 for one, and in favourable years, as much as three hundred for one 
 on the seed sown. “ The leaf of the wheat and barley,” (probably vegetables, 
 different kinds of sorghum , the dhurrah of the Arabs,) says the same 
 
 1 Herodotus, i. 184, 185. 2 Herod, ibid. " 3 i. 193. 
 
 E. O. H.] 
 
 I- 
 
210 
 
 GEOGKAPHY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 historian, 1 “ is as much as four fingers in width, and the stalks of the 
 millet (Panicum Miliacum ,) and sesamum so tall, that no one who 
 has never been in that country would believe me were I to mention 
 their height.” But trees were as rare as smaller vegetables were 
 abundant; scarcely any but cypresses and palms were to be seen; 
 with the latter the plains round Babylon were covered, and part of 
 their fruit was eaten, part made into wine and honey, like the tari 
 {toddy) and jagari of the Indians. Sesamum was another valuable 
 plant, much cultivated in Babylonia on account of its oil. Though 
 ill-provided with stone, Babylonia afforded abmidance of clay for 
 building, and in more than one place was found asphaltus or mineral 
 pitch, an admirable substitute for lime and mortar. Some springs 
 near the Euphrates yielded the dry sort winch could be easily con¬ 
 gealed. The liquid species, called naphtha, was also got in Babylonia; 
 and Posidonius says that some of the Babylonian springs of naphtha 
 are white and others black, the former yielding liquid sulphur and 
 attracting flames, the latter liquid asphaltus, which is used for lamps 
 instead of oil. Is, now called Hif, about one hundred and thirty 
 miles to the north of Babylon, was the place whence the asphaltus 
 used in building the walls of that city was brought, and the springs 
 near it still produce abundance of that mineral. 
 
 i i. 193. 
 
 The Caspian Sea.] 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 One of the first projects of men after the flood was the attempt to Early Origin 
 erect a colossal tower. The purpose of this huge structure was not and Hlstor> 
 to afford a sure refuge to its builders in case of a second deluge, for 
 had such been the object, it would have been placed on the summit 
 of a mountain rather than founded on a low alluvial plain. Nor can 
 we regard the tower as a gigantic observatory for the purpose of 
 exploring the heavens, or look upon it simply as a temple for the 
 worship of the celestial luminaries. It seems to have been constructed 
 as a central rallying point—a fort of common defence—the symbol 
 and cradle of a universal monarchy—a protest against the dispersion 
 and colonization of the early world. The architects thus express 
 their audacious purpose—“ G-o to, let us build us a city, and a tower 
 whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name lest 
 we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” They 
 ■wished to constfuct a monument of enduring fame, and chose the 
 best materials their cotmtry could afford: “ And they said one to 
 another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And 
 they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.” That this 
 tower was the commencement of Babylon we are inclined to believe. 
 
 The similarity of the names and uninterrupted tradition alike confirm 
 the hypothesis. That Shinar, or Sennaar, was the plain on which 
 Babylon afterwards stood, appears from various passages in the 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Tower of 
 Babel. 
 
 Nineveh. 
 
 Nimrod. 
 
 Scriptures, as well as from Josephus. That historian ascribes the 
 building of the tower to Nimrod; 1 and the traditions still current in 
 Asia have, as we shall see presently, affixed the name of that prince 
 to some of the remains of Babylon. Abydenus (as quoted by 
 Eusebius 2 ) tells us that the first men, contemning the power and 
 authority of the gods, and relying on their own extraordinary 
 strength, built a lofty tower, which nearly reached the sky, in the place 
 where Babel then stood. But the winds coming to the assistance of the 
 gods, they overturned the whole mass upon the heads of its builders, 
 and from its ruins Babylon was afterwards built. The gods, also, at 
 the same time, caused mankind, who had before all spoken the same 
 language, to speak henceforward in different tongues. A tradition 
 of a similar tendency is also mentioned by Plato, who says, that in 
 the golden age one common language was spoken both by men and 
 beasts, but that Jupiter confounded them tongues as a punishment for 
 their insolence in claiming immortality and eternal youth. s These 
 traditions show that traces of the Mosaic account were scattered far 
 and wide among the nations of Asia. The immediate consequence 
 of this confusion of tongues was the separation and dispersion of 
 the different branches of the great patriarchal family; and the build¬ 
 ings which they had begun were discontinued: “ they left off to 
 build the city,” says Moses; 4 but it must have been continued sub¬ 
 sequently, for he adds, 5 that the name of it was called Babel, (for 
 Balbel, confusion,) in consequence of this confusion of the tongues of 
 its builders. It is also mentioned as the chief city in the kingdom 
 of Nimrod the son of Cush; but it is never again spoken of till the 
 time of the captivity of the Israelites under Iloshea, 730 years before 
 the birth of Christ. So that for an interval of at least 1515 years 
 we have no account of this city in the Scriptures. 
 
 The second and rival city was Nineveh, 6 which, according to 
 Diodorus Siculus, was the most magnificent and the largest city in the 
 world. We are inclined to doubt the historian’s entire accuracy the 
 more, because he fixes the site of Nineveh upon the Euphrates, whereas 
 it stood upon the eastern bank of the Tigris. It appears, however, 
 that the walls of this city were an hundred feet high, and so thick 
 that three chariots could easily drive abreast upon them; and that 
 they were fortified with 1500 towers, two hundred feet high; these 
 are, perhaps, the only particulars upon which any reliance can be 
 placed. To Nimrod is also attributed, by the sacred historian, the 
 foundation of this early branch of the Assyrian empire. He was 
 the son of Cush, and is called in the Scriptures “ a mighty hunter 
 before the Lord; ” by which is generally understood an impious and 
 enterprising conqueror. It is further said, according to the better 
 reading of the margin of our Bibles, that he went into Assyria and 
 
 1 See Bocbart’s Phaleg. i. 10. 2 Prtepar. Evangel, ix. 14. 
 
 3 Plato, Polit. p. 272. ed. Steph. 4 Genesis xi. 8. 5 ver. 9. 
 
 The name Nen-i-u. was found by Champollion on the tablet of Karnak. 
 
Ciiap. II.] 
 
 KINGS OF NINEVEH. 
 
 213 
 
 took possession of that country; from which it is universally con¬ 
 cluded that he was the founder of the Assyrian empire. The original 
 Hebrew will admit of another rendering, but the one given appears 
 preferable. 1 Upon the same authority he is distinctly stated to be » 
 the builder of Nineveh, which city his son Ninus probably finished; 
 and the class of his achievements may be easily inferred, when, with 
 these specified works, so brief but accurate a record says of him, 
 
 “ he began to be a mighty one in the earth.” Ninus 2 succeeded his Ninus. 
 father Nimrod, and, according to Diodorus, marched with a numer¬ 
 ous army against the Bactrians. In this war he would have been 
 unsuccessful, but for the advice of the famous Semiramis, whom he 
 afterwards married. Ninyas was the fruit of this marriage. Semi¬ 
 ramis ascended the throne after the death of Ninus, and is said to succinct 
 have adorned and enlarged Babylon beyond all former precedent, hlstory ' 
 and to have caused the erection of those edifices which rendered it 
 the most magnificent city in the world. Ninyas succeeded her; 
 after whose death the names even of those who followed in the 
 empire have not reached us. During thirty generations we have no 
 history until we come to Sardanapalus, who flourished, according to 
 the Greek historians, b.c. 767. He reigned twenty years, was noted 
 for his luxury, and was dethroned by two of his officers—Arbaces, 
 governor of Media, and Belesis, governor of Babylon. With this 
 monarch ended the first Assyrian empire. 
 
 Out of the ruins of this unwieldy monarchy were formed three Second 
 kingdoms—the kingdom of Media, the kingdom of Babylon, and the Empire" 
 kingdom of Nineveh. About this period reigned Pul, to whom 
 Menahem, king of Israel, gave tribute, that Assyrian influence might 
 “ confirm” him in that kingdom which he had won by conspiracy 
 and assassination. Belesis was king of Babylon, b.c. 747, and is 
 the same with Nabonassar. He was succeeded by his son Mero- 
 dach-baladan. Tiglath-pileser (Lord of the Tigris) may have 
 reigned in Nineveh, b.c. 747, and he was succeeded by Shal¬ 
 maneser, b.c. 728, who reigned fourteen years. Sennacherib 
 his son came to the throne b.c. 717. This prince made war 
 upon Hezekiah, but was foiled by divine interposition; and re¬ 
 turning to Nineveh discomfited, he was there slain by his sons 
 whilst worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch. Esar-haddon, Esar-haddon. 
 the assassins having fled, ascended the vacant throne, B.c. 710, 
 and added Babylon to his father’s conquests. Thus the two king¬ 
 doms of the second Assyrian empire were united. Esar-haddon 
 reigned thirty-nine years, and left his sceptre to his son Saosdu- 
 chinus, B.c. 669. Prideaux supposes him to have been the Nebu- 
 
 1 Onkelos, Bocbart, Ciericus, Rosenrniiller, and Tuch, defend the marginal 
 reading, but the other has in its favour, von Bohlen, Michaelis, Perizonius, and 
 others. 
 
 2 Ninus is at least an eponymous cognomen. Nineveh signifies the abode of 
 Ninus. 
 
214 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 [Esar-haddon—Assyrian Sculpture.— Brit. Mus. ] 
 
 chadonosor of the book of Judith; but Chyniladan, who succeeded 
 him, and was an active and warlike prince, was this Nebucha- 
 donosor of the Scripture. Saracus succeeded Chyniladan, B.c. 
 648. Under this prince Nineveh was taken and utterly destroyed 
 by Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, and Nabopolassar usurped the 
 sovereignty of Babylon, b.c. 626, from which period Babylon 
 became the only capital of the second Assyrian kingdom. Such 
 is the brief and scanty history of the Ninevitic empire. Some 
 ancient writers have attempted to supply the chasm prior to the 
 era of Sardanapalus. A list of sovereigns is given by Ctesias, though 
 little reliance can be placed upon it. The authority of Ctesias is 
 bluntly set at nought hy ancient authors, such as Aristotle, Plutarch, 
 and Aulus Gellius. But Ctesias, from his long abode in the East, 
 must have had ample opportunities of gathering varied information, 
 and he is scarcely to be judged of by the brief extracts which other 
 writers have preserved of his histories. The subjoined list is from 
 Eusebius and Syncellus:— 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 NAMES OF KINGS. 
 
 215 
 
 According to Eusebius : According to Syncellus : 
 
 Ninus,.. 
 
 ..reigned 52 years. 
 
 Belus, . 
 
 .reigned 55 years. List of kings. 
 
 Semiramis,. 
 
 
 42 
 
 n 
 
 Ninus,. 
 
 
 52 
 
 n 
 
 Zameis or Ninjas,. 
 
 .. If 
 
 38 
 
 fi 
 
 Semiramis,. 
 
 . If 
 
 42 
 
 ir 
 
 Arius,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 IF 
 
 Ninyas,. 
 
 
 38 
 
 ii 
 
 Aralius,. 
 
 
 40 
 
 ir 
 
 Arius,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 ir 
 
 Xerxes or Baleus,. 
 
 .. w 
 
 30 
 
 n 
 
 Aralius,. 
 
 
 40 
 
 ir 
 
 Armamitres,. 
 
 . . » 
 
 38 
 
 if 
 
 Xerxes,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 ii 
 
 Belochus,. 
 
 
 35 
 
 n 
 
 Armamithres,. 
 
 . II 
 
 38 
 
 f? 
 
 Balseus,. 
 
 . . ’I 
 
 52 
 
 ii 
 
 Belochus,. 
 
 . If 
 
 35 
 
 i» 
 
 Altadas,. 
 
 If 
 
 32 
 
 rr 
 
 Balteus,. 
 
 
 52 
 
 n 
 
 Mamitus,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 ii 
 
 Sethos,. 
 
 . If 
 
 32 
 
 if 
 
 Manchaleus,. 
 
 
 32 
 
 ii 
 
 Mamythus,. 
 
 . If 
 
 30 
 
 ir 
 
 Spherus,.. 
 
 
 20 
 
 n 
 
 Aschalius,. 
 
 . If 
 
 28 
 
 w 
 
 Mamitus,.. 
 
 
 30 
 
 ii 
 
 Sphterus,. 
 
 . u 
 
 22 
 
 if 
 
 Sparetus,.. 
 
 
 40 
 
 n 
 
 Mamylus,. 
 
 . If 
 
 30 
 
 n 
 
 Astacadis,. 
 
 
 40 
 
 n 
 
 Sparthseus,. 
 
 , 1* 
 
 42 
 
 if 
 
 Amyntes,.. 
 
 
 45 
 
 n 
 
 Ascatades,. 
 
 . 'f 
 
 48 
 
 if 
 
 Belochus,. 
 
 
 25 
 
 if 
 
 Amyntes,. 
 
 II 
 
 45 
 
 if 
 
 Bellepares,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 ir 
 
 Belochus,. 
 
 . If 
 
 25 
 
 ii 
 
 Lamprides,. 
 
 
 32 
 
 if 
 
 Belatores,. 
 
 . If 
 
 30 
 
 if 
 
 Sosares,. 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 n 
 
 Lamprides,. 
 
 , If 
 
 30 
 
 ir 
 
 Lampares,. 
 
 
 30 
 
 n 
 
 Sosares,. 
 
 . H 
 
 20 
 
 ii 
 
 Panyas,. 
 
 
 45 
 
 ir 
 
 Lampraes,. 
 
 . If 
 
 30 
 
 » 
 
 Sosarmus,. 
 
 
 19 
 
 ii 
 
 Panyas,. 
 
 . If 
 
 45 
 
 if 
 
 Mitreus, . 
 
 
 27 
 
 ir 
 
 Sosarmus, .. 
 
 . If 
 
 22 
 
 if 
 
 Tautanes,... 
 
 
 32 
 
 ii 
 
 Mithraus,. 
 
 . If 
 
 27 
 
 it 
 
 Teuteus,.... . 
 
 
 40 
 
 ii 
 
 Teutamus or Tautanes, » 
 
 32 
 
 if 
 
 * # 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Teutaeus, . 
 
 . If 
 
 44 
 
 if 
 
 # * 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Arabelus, . 
 
 , If 
 
 42 
 
 if 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Chalaus, . 
 
 . If 
 
 45 
 
 if 
 
 Thinaeus, . 
 
 
 30 
 
 r> 
 
 Anebus, .. 
 
 II 
 
 38 
 
 if 
 
 Dercilus, . 
 
 
 40 
 
 ii 
 
 Babios, . 
 
 If 
 
 37 
 
 ii 
 
 Eupales, .. 
 
 
 38 
 
 ir 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Laosthenes, . 
 
 
 45 
 
 ii 
 
 Dercylus, . 
 
 , If 
 
 40 
 
 if 
 
 Pyriatides, . 
 
 
 30 
 
 ir 
 
 Enpacmes, . 
 
 , If 
 
 48 
 
 ir 
 
 Ophrateus, . 
 
 
 20 
 
 if 
 
 Laosthenes, . 
 
 , If 
 
 45 
 
 if 
 
 Ophratenes,. 
 
 
 50 
 
 » 
 
 Pertiades,. 
 
 . If 
 
 30 
 
 if 
 
 Ocrazapes,. 
 
 
 42 
 
 w 
 
 Ophratseus,. 
 
 0 
 
 21 
 
 if 
 
 Tonos Concoleros, "| 
 
 
 
 
 Epheceres. 
 
 If 
 
 52 
 
 ir 
 
 by the Greeks ( 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 Acraganes,. 
 
 If 
 
 42 
 
 if 
 
 called Sardana- f 
 
 
 
 
 Thonos Concoleros,... 
 
 n 
 
 15 
 
 fi 
 
 palus,. J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 
 ,1460 years. 
 
 Still during this period the monuments seem to prove that a race Proof from 
 of mighty longs and conquerors had their seat in Nineveh. These monuments, 
 monuments, when fully examined, may enable us to catch a glimpse 
 
Names from 
 the 
 
 monuments. 
 
 Assyria and 
 Scripture. 
 
 216 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 of the early continuous history of ancient Assyria; and on the oldest 
 group yet discovered some names have been deciphered: 1 — 
 
 Beltechus, perhaps the same as Belus. 
 
 Temenbar I. 
 
 Hevenk I. 
 
 Katibar. 
 
 Assar-adon-pal, builder of the north-west palace at Nimroud. 
 
 Temenbar II., his son. 
 
 Shemin-Her. 
 
 Hevenk II., his son. 
 
 We wait for the results of ampler investigation, for the dis¬ 
 coveries which have been so unexpectedly and successfully made 
 warrant us to hope that they are but the first-fruits of an ample and 
 magnificent harvest. What was once treated as fable now appears 
 to be fact; the haze has been cleared away, and the eye rests with 
 delight on the spectacle of the recovered history of a people 
 whose antiquity was a proverb to the classic nations of Europe. 
 
 The connection of early Assyria with Scripture may be described 
 in a few sentences. The country derives its name from Asshur, the 
 
 1 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. xii. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 EARLY ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 217 
 
 second son of Shem. The rivers Tigris or Hiddekel 1 2 and Euphrates References 
 are referred to in Genesis, as having been connected with the garden Scripture ' 
 of Eden. The prince of Shinar was but a petty chieftain in the days 
 of Abraham, and had not been overshadowed by the rising power in 
 his vicinity; or perhaps Amraphel may have been an Assyrian 
 viceroy. The monarchy of Nimrod was an intrusion among the 
 Semitic tribes, and probably did not last many years. In the days 
 of Balaam, Assyria had risen into importance, and in one of his 
 oracles he warned the Kenite tribe, that they should be surprised 
 among their rocky fastnesses, and “ Asshur should lead them captive 3 
 —an oracle fulfilled in the reign of Pul and Tiglath-pileser. Cushan- 
 rishathaim is referred to in the period of the Judges, as having held 
 Israel eight years in servitude. 3 Mention is not made of Assyria 
 again till the invasion by Pul, under the reign of Menahem. Perhaps 
 under this sovereign may be placed the mission of Jonah to Nineveh, Mission of 
 which by this time had become a flourishing and dissolute metropolis. Jcma l ' 
 The repeated and solemn warning of the unknown foreigner had a 
 startling etfect on the great city, and its merited doom was in Divine 
 clemency postponed. The other allusions in the Bible to the Assyrian 
 power have been given in a preceding paragraph. 
 
 Ancient Assyria was also connected with Egypt. The tablet of 
 Karnalc seems to prove it. During the bright period of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, the Egyptian arms had penetrated to the Euphrates. Birch 
 has even attempted to identify several names of the twenty-first and 
 twenty-second dynasties, with familiar Assyrian appellations—the 
 Egyptian Osorchon, Nimrot, and Takilutha, being the Hamite form 
 of the eastern Sargon, Nimrod, and Tiglath. 
 
 We shall now present in fuller details some portions of the early Semiramis. 
 annals of Nineveh. Ancient writers dwell at length on the history 
 and character of queen Semiramis. 4 Their descriptions show that her 
 history is to a large extent a tissue of legendary traditions. The 
 outline of her history may be mythical, and yet the story itself 
 seems to contain some unquestionable facts. She was descended, Her fabled 
 according to mythical report, from the celebrated goddess Der- deSLtnt ‘ 
 ceto, to whom a temple was erected in the vicinity of Ascalon in 
 Syria. Derceto having incurred the displeasure of Venus, was 
 punished by the offended goddess, in causing her to indulge a violent 
 passion for a youth who was presenting sacrifice to her. The con¬ 
 sequence of the amour was, that she had a daughter by him; but 
 feeling the deepest shame on account of the crime she had committed, 
 
 1 The river is still named as in Scripture by many tribes on its banks, and both 
 it and the modern name Tigris seem to have originated in allusion to the swiftness 
 of the current. The Euphrates is named Perath in Hebrew—a name referring to the 
 sweetness of its waters. The Tigris has a course of about 1042 miles, and the 
 Euphrates one of about 1700, while the basin of both streams comprises an area of 
 230,000 square miles. 
 
 2 Numbers xxiii. 22. 3 Judges iii. 8. 
 
 4 Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 she had recourse to the still more criminal expedient of attempting 
 concealment, by murdering her paramour, and exposing the infant 
 in a desert. Driven to distraction by the consciousness of what she 
 had done, she endeavoured to get rid for ever of the remorseful feel¬ 
 ing by throwing herself into the lake, when she was instantly trans¬ 
 formed into a fish. Her child is said to have been miraculously 
 preserved alive by a flock of pigeons, which fed it with milk, and 
 whose downy wings afforded it shelter from inclement skies. The 
 birds were observed to procure cheese, as a more substantial food, 
 when their little protege seemed to require it, till the neighbouring 
 shepherds took the infant under their protection. The king’s principal 
 shepherd, Simma, having no family, at length adopted her under the 
 Origin of her name of Semiramis, a Syriac term, signifying doves or pigeons, in 
 allusion to the circumstances of her preservation. Bryant has 
 remarked, that the name is compounded of Sama and Bamas or 
 Bamis, implying a divine token, the type of Providence; and that, 
 as a military ensign, it consisted of the figure of a dove, probably 
 encircled with the iris—these emblems being frequently represented 
 together. Those who marched under that standard, or paid defer¬ 
 ence to the emblem, were styled Semarim and Semorim. One of 
 the gates of Babylon was called the gate of Semiramis, from having, 
 as he believes, the sacred emblem of Sama-rama, or the dove, 
 engraven over it by way of distinction; and most likely the lofty 
 obelisk of Semiramis, mentioned by Diodorus, derived its name from 
 the same hieroglyphic. We may, at least, ascertain thus much, in 
 point of fact, that Semiramis was born at or near Ascalon. 
 
 Time when According to the same antiquarian, the diversity of opinion that 
 Senuramis p reva j] s am0 ng authors with regard to the time when Semiramis 
 lived, is such as must necessarily discredit her entire history; but 
 without admitting so large a conclusion, the following list will 
 exhibit a very extraordinary variation. At the same time we have 
 already intimated, that the widest chronological deviations do not by 
 any means disprove the existence or the alleged actions of celebrated 
 ancient heroes. The course of our history assigns her to the age of 
 Ninus, and the record of her achievements brings her into contact 
 with certain remarkable events of indubitable occurrence. 
 
 According to Syncellus, Semiramis lived before Christ, 2177 years. 
 
 _ 
 
 Petavius, — — 
 
 2060 
 
 rr 
 
 — 
 
 Helvicus, — — 
 
 2248 
 
 ii 
 
 — 
 
 Eusebius, — — 
 
 1984 
 
 B 
 
 — 
 
 Jackson, — —- 
 
 1964 
 
 II 
 
 —- 
 
 Archbishop Usher, — 
 
 1215 
 
 II 
 
 — 
 
 Philo Bibfrus, from Sanclioniathon, 
 
 1200 
 
 11 
 
 Tradition has given to Semiramis surpassing beauty and captivat¬ 
 ing talents, which we must of course expect to find after reading the 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 SEMIRAMIS. 
 
 219 
 
 account of her romantic infancy. It would be a sad defect in the 
 story to describe the heroine of such adventures as any thing less 
 than a demi-goddess. It will be sufficient to admit that she did 
 possess certain interesting and great qualities of mind. Be this as it 
 may, Menon, a principal person in the king’s council, and governor 
 of Assyria, having been commissioned to inspect the cattle, saw 
 Semiramis at the house of Simma, and falling deeply in love per¬ 
 suaded her to accompany him to Nineveh, where his attachment was 
 rewarded in marriage, and from this propitious union proceeded two Hermamage. 
 sons. She possessed an uncontrolled influence over her admiring 
 husband, whose own celebrity was enhanced by the suggestions of 
 her wisdom, and who, consequently, on every occasion, paid an 
 implicit deference to her judgment. 
 
 In the progress of the conquests of Ninus in Bactria, and when visit to the 
 he was besieging the capital of the empire, Semiramis resorted to the Badxiu!*™ 
 camp, at the call, as it is said, of her impatient husband, who was a 
 close attendant upon the king. Having acquired that ascendancy 
 which superior understandings soon obtain over those of less pene¬ 
 tration and sagacity, she ventured to express herself freely upon the 
 methods which were adopted in conducting the siege, pointing out 
 what she deemed to be errors, and suggesting especially the advan¬ 
 tage likely to ensue from attacking the citadel, one of the chief places 
 of strength, instead of confining their efforts to more vulnerable, 
 indeed, but less important parts of the defence. She prevailed so 
 far as to be appointed to lead a division of picked men, who were 
 particularly skilled in climbing, and with these she at once suc¬ 
 ceeded in seizing on the fortress, and opening a passage for the 
 Assyrians. 
 
 The extraordinary chivalry displayed in this action, and the sue- Ninus 
 cess of her spirited efforts, aided by her beauty, excited in Ninus so mame! ’ ' 
 ardent and irresistible a passion for her, that he used every means 
 to induce her husband to relinquish her to him. In vain, however, 
 did he solicit; in vain did he even promise Menon his own daughter, 
 
 Sosana, in marriage; till at last, proceeding from entreaties to threats, 
 and particularly the cruel one of putting out his eyes, her husband 
 committed suicide in despair, and the infamous conqueror possessed 
 himself of Semiramis, and exalted her to an ill-acquired sovereignty. 
 
 After the return of Ninus from this war, in which he had accumu- Ninyas tom. 
 lated immense treasures, Semiramis brought him a son, who was 
 called Ninyas. Soon after Ninus died, leaving the government in 
 the hands of his queen. Some have attributed his death to assas¬ 
 sination, and that by her who was indebted for her honours solely to 
 his partiality. They represent Semiramis as requesting the king to 
 intrust her for five days with the sovereign power. His ardent 
 affection soon induced him to comply. No sooner was she in this 
 situation, than having already secured the interests of the principal 
 persons of the state by her unbounded liberalities, she put Ninus to 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Death of 
 Ninus. 
 
 Babylon 
 
 built. 
 
 Description 
 of Babylon. 
 
 death, or at least immured him in prison for the remainder of his 
 days. This act of perfidy can scarcely, however, with any proba¬ 
 bility be imputed to her, especially as she paid her husband extra¬ 
 ordinary sepulchral honours, rearing over his tomb a mound of earth, 
 nine stadia in height and ten in breadth—a monument which was 
 visible from every quarter to a considerable distance in the sur¬ 
 rounding country, and which continued for many ages. 
 
 The ambitious and aspiring Semiramis now determined to com¬ 
 mence some mighty undertaking that should transmit her name to 
 succeeding generations, and effectually conceal the meanness of her 
 birth. Collecting, therefore, out of all the numerous provinces of 
 her empire, no fewer than two millions of men, she set about the 
 building, or rather enlarging and adorning, of Babylon—a city whose 
 magnitude and magnificence have excited the astonishment of all 
 subsequent times. The natural propensity of mankind, however, to 
 exaggeration, ought, perhaps, to induce us to receive with some 
 abatements the wonderful descriptions of the ancient writers. By 
 some this work is ascribed to Belus, and Nebuchadnezzar is admitted 
 to have completed the labour. A minute description of the city 
 would by no means be proper in this place; nevertheless it is due 
 to Semiramis as the alleged original projector, 1 to give the reader 
 some general idea of its most striking peculiarities and the magnifi¬ 
 cence of its design. 
 
 Babylon was erected on both sides of the river Euphrates, in the 
 midst of an extensive plain, and surrounded with walls, which, 
 according to the dimensions given by Herodotus, who had visited 
 this famous city, were eighty-seven feet in thickness, three hundred 
 and fifty feet in height, and four hundred and eighty furlongs, or 
 sixty miles, in circuit. These walls encompassed the city in the form 
 of a square, each side of which was fifteen miles in length, and were 
 built of bricks cemented with bitumen. On the outside was a vast 
 ditch, filled with water and lined with bricks. Twenty-five gates were 
 in every side of this square, amounting in the whole to one hundred, 
 all of solid brass. Between every two were four towers, and there were 
 four additional ones at the four corners. From all the gates proceeded 
 streets in straight lines, fifty in number, and crossing each other at 
 right angles, each street being fifteen miles in length. Other minor 
 divisions also occurred, and the whole city contained six hundred 
 and seventy-six squares, each two miles and a quarter in circumference. 
 The river ran through the city from north to south, and on each 
 side was a quay of the same thickness with the walls of the city, and 
 
 1 Grotius (de Ver. Rel. Christ § xvi. in not. 63.) opposes this representation. He 
 says, “ It is a false tradition of the Greeks that Babylon was built by Semiramis; 
 and this error is refuted by Berosus in his Chaldaics; Josephus in his first book 
 against Appion and others.” Falso autem a Grcecis proditum conditam a Semira- 
 mide Babylonem, etiam Berosus in Chaldaicis prodidit, ut nos Josephus docet 
 contra Appionem primo; eundemque errorem turn ex Philone Biblio, turn ex 
 Dorotheo Sidonio refellit Julius Firmicus. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 221 
 
 [Supposed Wallsoi Babylon, from an Ancient Coin.] 
 
 a hundred stadia in length. In these walls were gates of brass, and 
 from each of them steps descending to the river. A bridge was Bridge, 
 thrown across the stream of great beauty and admirable contrivance, 
 a furlong in length and thirty feet in breadth. The arches were 
 constructed with large stones fastened together with chains of iron 
 and lead. As the Euphrates overflows during the summer months 
 through the melting of the snow on the mountains of Armenia, two 
 canals were cut to turn the course of the waters into the Tigris, and 
 vast artificial embankments were raised on each side of the river. 
 
 On the western side of the city an immense lake, forty miles square, 
 was excavated to the depth, according to Herodotus, of thirty-five 
 feet, and into this lake the water was turned till the work was com¬ 
 pleted. 
 
 The ancient palace, on the eastern side of the river, was The ancient 
 thirty furlongs, or three miles and three quarters, in the circuit paIflu ' 
 of its walls; and the one at the opposite, or western side, was 
 sixty furlongs, or seven miles and a half. It was encompassed by 
 three walls, one within the other, all of which were adorned with 
 curious sculpture, representing, in the most accurate and striking 
 manner, different species of animals. Among these was a hunting- 
 piece, exhibiting wild beasts, each four cubits in height, and in the 
 centre a portrait of Semiramis on horseback, in the act of throwing 
 her javelin at a leopard; while her husband, Ninus, appeared in close 
 contest with a lion which he had pierced. This place contained, 
 among other specimens of magnificence, three rooms of brass, one 
 
222 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Temple of 
 Belus. 
 
 Ascent. 
 
 under each gate, where certain festivals were celebrated, and which 
 were opened by a mechanical contrivance. To this palace, the 
 hanging gardens, so often mentioned by the Greeks, and with such 
 admiration, were afterwards attached. 
 
 In honour of Belus, Semiramis chose the middle of the city 
 for the erection of a temple, which stood in the immediate vicinity 
 of the ancient palace. It was remarkable for the height of one 
 of its towers, of which there Avere eight in the whole, built 
 one above the other. According to Herodotus, it was a square 
 at the foundation, of a furlong on each side, or half a mile 
 in the whole circuit, and a furlong in height. The Avriters of 
 the Universal History have observed, that “ the words of Hero¬ 
 dotus are ’Ei/ fxiau ot too i(>is irv^yog ersgeog oixohofxriTcti, aroeoin xcei 
 to /xvjxog xai to ev(>og, xou it'i tutu tu pru^ya clKhog Trv^yog iprifiefirixe, xul 
 
 iTepog ixa.'hx. stti t8to>, fxtx^g a oxtoi ttv^/uv. In the midst of the temple 
 a solid tower is built , of a furlong in length , and as much in breadth; 
 and upon this tower another tower is erected , and another again upon 
 that , and so on to the number of eight towers. It is true, the Avord 
 fxvjxog which Ave here translate length , may also signify height; but 
 some authors have supposed, as the construction seems to require, 
 that the first tower Avas a furlong high, and concluding the other 
 seven to be of equal height, have made the Avhole a mile high. 
 To avoid this extravagant consequence, it seems more reasonable 
 to understand Herodotus as Ave have rendered the passage, unless 
 the furlong be taken for the height of all the eight towers.” 1 It 
 appeal’s to us, that the construction of the passage Avill not alloAV this 
 last conclusion; for Avhether the word pyxog be rendered height or 
 length , it evidently refers to the first toAver; and it is expressly said, 
 that “another Avas built upon this,” and so on. We conclude, 
 therefore, that these words of Herodotus refer to its length and its 
 breadth, Avitliout adverting at all to its height, Avhich Strabo says 
 Avas also a furlong, or 660 feet. According to this last-mentioned 
 author, it was exactly a furlong every Avay. As this erection must 
 have exceeded the elevation of the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, 
 Bochart considers it as the identical tower Avhich Avas built there at 
 the confusion of tongues. The ascent to the top was by stairs on 
 the outside round it. In the different stories Avere rooms of great 
 extent, having arched roofs supported by pillars ; and over the whole 
 was an observatory, which suited the astronomical turn of the 
 Babylonians. The chief purpose, however, to Avhich this temple Avas 
 devoted, was that of the Avorship of the god Belus, or Baal, as Avell as 
 several other gods, _, whom chapels Avere appropriated in different 
 parts of the tower, which contained immense riches in statues, 
 censers, cups, and sacred vessels of massy gold. On the top 
 Semiramis placed three golden statues, of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea. 
 
 1 Anc. Univ. Hist. vol. i. b. i. c. 2. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 TEMPLE OF BELUS. 
 
 223 
 
 That of Jupiter was forty feet high, and weighed a thousand statues. 
 Babylonish talents, each talent being equal to seven thousand Attic 
 drachmas. The statue of Rhea was of the same weight, placed 
 on a golden throne, with lions at each knee, and two serpents of 
 silver, weighing thirty talents each. The statue of J lino was erect, 
 like that of Jupiter, and weighed eight hundred talents, grasping a 
 serpent by the head with her right hand, and in her left holding a 
 sceptre enriched with gems. A table of beaten gold was common to 
 these three divinities, forty feet in length and fifteen in breadth, of 
 the weight of five hundred talents. On the table were two goblets, 
 of thirty talents, and two censers of five hundred talents each, and 
 three vases, or bowls, of prodigious magnitude and value: the one 
 appropriated to Jupiter is said to have been twelve hundred Baby¬ 
 lonish talents in weight. The calculation of Diodorus makes the 
 riches contained in this temple to amount to six thousand three 
 hundred Babylonish talents of gold. Rollin observes, the sixth part 
 of six thousand three hundred is one thousand and fifty; consequently, 
 six thousand three hundred Babylonish talents of gold are equivalent 
 to seven thousand three hundred and fifty Attic talents of gold. 
 
 Now seven thousand three hundred and fifty Attic talents of silver 
 are worth upwards of two millions and one hundred thousand pounds 
 sterling. The proportion between gold and silver, among the 
 ancients, we reckon as ten to one; therefore, seven thousand three 
 hundred and fifty Attic talents of gold amount to above one-and- 
 twenty millions sterling—an incredible expenditure. 
 
 Semiramis further adorned her capital with a remarkable obelisk, Obelisk, 
 which was hewn out of the mountains of Armenia, and which, 
 having been conveyed to the river by an immense number of oxen 
 and asses employed for the purpose, was transported to the city, and 
 made to occupy a conspicuous place in the vicinity. Its dimensions 
 were a hundred and twenty-five feet in height, five in breadth and 
 five in thickness. Although the construction of so stupendous a 
 place as Babylon might seem, to all ordinary calculators, amply 
 sufficient to occupy the time and attention of one reign, however 
 distinguished, and however prolonged, yet this extraordinary woman 
 built several other cities along the banks of the Tigris, for the pur¬ 
 poses both of magnificence and utility, as they afforded facilities of 
 intercom’se with the different parts of her empire. 
 
 Peaceful and laborious occupations did not long- furnish scope Passage 
 enough for the enterprising ambition of that mind which now ruled Media”, 
 the Babylonish empire. Assembling a numerous army, Semiramis 
 marched at the head of it into Media, and at her first considerable 
 encampment, near a mountain called Bagistan, she arranged a 
 beautiful garden twelve stadia in circumference. At the base of the 
 mountain she had a statue erected representing herself attended with 
 a hundred of her guards. It is reported of her, that she ascended 
 from the plain to the summit on the packs and loads carried by the 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Intrepidity. 
 
 Tersia. 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 India. 
 
 beasts of burden in her train; a circumstance by no means unlikely, 
 being quite in unison with her adventurous and heroic character, 
 and eminently calculated to advance her reputation in such an age 
 and country. Always intent upon whatever might conduce to throw 
 a magnificence around her name and dominion, at the next encamp¬ 
 ment, which was at Chaon, a Median city, she formed another gar¬ 
 den, on the summit of a lofty hill or rock, and added several splendid 
 edifices, from which she might command a view of her army and of 
 the widely-extended prospect that stretched before the eye in every 
 direction. She is accused of having devoted much time at this place 
 to voluptuousness; a voluptuousness, too, which was associated with 
 wanton brutality; for whoever acquiesced in her criminal solicita¬ 
 tions was immediately afterwards put to death, no doubt with the 
 political design of preventing all possible chance of accession to 
 influence and empire. Ecbatan, or Ecbatana, was the next halting 
 place, in the way to which the queen cut a passage through a pre¬ 
 cipitous mountain, called Zarcseum, or, as some represent it, levelled 
 it to the earth, and upon her arrival at the city, she proceeded upon 
 her usual magnificent plan of erecting something to perpetuate her 
 name and glory. In the present instance, it was a palace of great 
 extent and splendour; to which work she added others of more im¬ 
 portance, as the formation of aqueducts to supply the city with water, 
 of which it had hitherto been in extreme need. 
 
 Semiramis proceeded next into Persia, and traversed the rest of 
 her Asiatic provinces, everywhere erecting palaces, towns, and 
 cities, levelling hills that obstructed her course, or were calculated 
 to impede the progress of the future traveller, and, in the more level 
 countries, raising up hills to diversify the scene, and to serve as 
 memorials of her principal commanders. These were generally 
 called the “Works of Semiramis,” and long survived her. 
 
 From Asia she passed into Egypt and the sandy tracts of Libya. 
 Her curiosity induced her, while in these parts, to pay a visit to the 
 celebrated temple of Jupiter Ammon, for the particular purpose of 
 making inquiry of the oracle how long she had to live. The answer 
 was little calculated to afford her satisfaction, unless her personal 
 comforts were reckoned by her of inferior moment to her posthu¬ 
 mous reputation. She was told, as Diodorus Siculus reports, that she 
 should die when her son Ninyas conspired against her life; and 
 that, after her decease, some of the nations of Asia should render 
 her divine honours. 
 
 At length she marched back again to Bactria, after settling the 
 affairs of ^Ethiopia; but her restless spirit was unable to remain 
 inactive and tranquil. New projects presented themselves to her 
 imagination, which she hastened to carry into execution. India, of 
 whose immense riches and boundless fertility she had been informed, 
 attracted her first, and as it proved her last attention. She appointed 
 Bactria as the place of rendezvous for an army of prodigious magni- 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 PREPARATIONS OF STABROBATES. 
 
 225 
 
 tude, which she assiduously collected out of every province of her 
 empire. The choicest men were everywhere chosen, and ship¬ 
 wrights from Phoenicia, Syria, Cyprus, and other places, were em¬ 
 ployed to frame vessels, which she proposed to transport overland 
 in detached pieces, in order to cross the Indus. The reason of this 
 measure seems to have been the information that the banks of that 
 river, and the vicinity in general, were destitute of timber, a circum¬ 
 stance which might have occasioned a formidable hinderance, if not 
 a final frustration of her enterprise. 
 
 Having found that the Indians relied upon their elephants as a imitation of 
 chief source of warlike strength, Semiramis devised a very singular tlie ele P hants - 
 expedient. To meet her adversary on equal terms, she determined 
 to attempt an imitation of these elephants, since she had no means 
 of procuring them, and accordingly caused three hundred thousand 
 oxen to be slaughtered, distributing their flesh among her necessi¬ 
 tous subjects. This being done, she ordered their hides to be stuffed, 
 and so placed upon camels that these animals might resemble 
 elephants in their size; and to complete the delusion each one was 
 to lie led by a man, according to the Indian method of advancing to 
 battle. Perseus, long after, is said to have employed a similar 
 stratagem against the Eomans. 
 
 Such preparations for war could not long remain concealed from The 
 the party against whom they were destined; and accordingly, the P™P aratl0ns 
 Indian king, by name Stabrobates, as soon as he obtained informa- stahrohates. 
 tion of the projected invasion of his territory, diligently applied 
 himself to every precautionary measure. He assembled an army 
 which he thought might be competent to meet the sharp encounter 
 of Semiramis, and, in fact, which greatly exceeded it in point of 
 numbers; and having despatched his hunters in every direction, 
 procured a fresh and large supply of elephants. That nothing might 
 be defective, he constructed four thousand boats of the bamboos 
 which the rivers of India furnish in abundance. Thus prepared 
 for the attack, Stabrobates, however, did not neglect any pro¬ 
 ceeding which might tend to avert the threatened calamity and 
 spare the fatal consequences that must necessarily attend upon 
 the commencement of hostilities. He accordingly despatched 
 ambassadors to the invading army to demand the reason of the 
 meditated attack, to inquire who she was that led the armed hosts, 
 and to upbraid her for this unprovoked act of aggression. A private 
 letter was communicated at the same time to the queen, in which 
 her character was by no means spared, and in which, in case ox 
 victory, she was threatened with the most cruel death. This only 
 excited a smile, and she desired the king’s ambassadors to return for 
 answer, that she would, in a little time, let him know who she was, 
 that her actions would soon make him better acquainted with her. 
 
 Advancing to the river Indus, she immediately attempted the 
 passage by means of boats prepared for the piupose, notwithstanding 
 
 [e. o. II.] Q 
 
226 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 the show of resistance which the enemy made on the opposite shore. 
 The two fleets encountered each other, and animated with an equal 
 courage, the contest was long and sanguinary; the one party was 
 fighting for glory, and stimulated by the recollection of a splendid 
 succession of past achievements, the other, for hereditary empire, 
 which an insatiable ambition was endeavouring to wrest from a just 
 victory over possession. Victory for a considerable time seemed to hover between 
 .tuo a es. eac j 1 } 10 s tjl e armament, but at length the invaders triumphed, sunk 
 a thousand of the Indian boats, and captured an immense multitude 
 of prisoners. Before quitting the vicinity of the river, the conqueror 
 had taken from the various villages and towns no less, it is said, 
 than a hundred thousand captives. Success stimulating her activity, 
 Semiramis pressed forward into the country in pursuit of her fugitive 
 enemies,—fugitive, as some report, by stratagem, and for the purpose 
 of decoying the queen into circumstances from which she would not 
 be able to extricate herself. It seems probable, however, had this 
 been the real plan of the Indians, the passage of the river and the 
 possession of the opposite banks would not have been so fiercely 
 contested, and consequently, that necessity, rather than cunning, 
 dictated a hasty withdrawment of the Indian forces. Be this as it 
 may, the queen, having left a division of sixty thousand men to 
 guard the bridge of boats which she had constructed to cross the 
 river, marched into the heart of the country. Her array of counter¬ 
 feit elephants at first struck terror into the Indian army; but their 
 fears were soon dissipated by the treacherous information of certain 
 deserters, who gave them an account of this stratagem, and re-in¬ 
 spired them with courage. Facing about, therefore, to meet their 
 pursuers, they risked a second battle. Some advantage was at first 
 obtained on the side of Semiramis; the horses of the enemy being 
 thrown into confusion by the unusual scent of the hides which dis¬ 
 guised the camels. The queen perceiving this disorder, commenced 
 a furious attack, and drove back the cavalry upon the main body. 
 The Indian infantry, however, under the immediate command of Sta- 
 brobates, and supported by their elephants, advanced to battle with 
 great regularity and firmness. The conterfeit elephants of Semiramis 
 soon proved not only useless, but obstructive, and contributed mate¬ 
 rially to a speedy and most disastrous defeat. The two chiefs of 
 Combat of the respective armies now met in single combat, the Indian prince 
 ^iththe 18 having advanced at the head of his right wing, on a stately elephant, 
 Indian lung. while Semiramis charged in front of her left. The king wounded her 
 in two places, first in the arm with an arrow, then in the shoulder, 
 as she was turning to retreat, finding the day irretrievably lost. 
 The swiftness of her horse, however, enabled the wounded heroine to 
 escape, and she hurried back with her whole army to the river which 
 she is she had so lately passed amidst shouts of triumph. She was indebted 
 wounded and to two c i rcums tances for her successful retreat; the one was the 
 superstition of her pursuers, (Stabrobates having been warned, as he 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 DEATH OF SEMIRAMIS. 
 
 227 
 
 gave out, against crossing the river, by an oracular interdiction;) 
 the other, by a judicious manoeuvre of her own; for so soon as the 
 main body of the army had effected the passage, and many of the 
 Indians were rushing over in pursuit, the queen ordered the bridge 
 to be destroyed, which instantly placed her in circumstances of secu¬ 
 rity, while great numbers of the enemy perished. She suffered a 
 prodigious loss, not only in the battle, but on the brink of the Indus, 
 in consequence of the excessive crowd of her fugitive army, who 
 trampled each other to death, or forced multitudes of their compan¬ 
 ions into the river. An exchange of prisoners now took place, and 
 the disappointed invader retreated with a miserable remnant of only 
 one-third of her original army. 
 
 Thus ended the glory of Semiramis, and soon after her life. One Her death, 
 of the eunuchs of her palace had inspired her own son with the 
 design of poisoning his mother. When she discovered the conspiracy, 
 she did not proceed to punish the offenders, for she recollected the 
 oracular prediction of Jupiter Ammon, and deemed it the express 
 appointment of heaven that at this time she should die. She accord¬ 
 ingly relinquished the government in favour of her son, and issued 
 proclamations to her subjects intimating her desire that he should be 
 received as king. Her retirement seems to have been partly com¬ 
 pulsory and partly ambitious, for she wished to have divine honours 
 paid to her, in consequence, as the oracle had expressed it, of 
 “ vanishing from the sight of men.” It was given out that she left 
 this world in the form of a dove, attended by a flock of those birds 
 which settled on her palace at the very crisis of her departure. She 
 died at the age of sixty-two, after having reigned forty-two years 
 over the greatest portion of Asia. 
 
 Justin gives a different account. He represents Semiramis, after Justin's 
 the decease of her husband, as being fearful of intrusting the govern- her°deat!f 
 ment to her son because of his youth, and equally apprehensive of 
 incurring danger should she venture openly to assume the empire for 
 herself. Accordingly she ruled in the name of Ninyas, but at length 
 falling violently in love with him, she was slain by him in consequence 
 of her attempts to engage him in a compliance with her criminal 
 intentions. There is something, however, both unnatural and im¬ 
 probable in this statement, although she must be allowed, by the 
 corresponding testimony of all historians, to have been sufficiently 
 addicted to all the guiltiest forms of pleasure. 
 
 The life of Semiramis is attended with no inconsiderable dif¬ 
 ficulty, from the extraordinary actions attributed to her, for they 
 appear to be incompatible with the general state of military science 
 at the time; indeed, they rather assume the air of romance than 
 harmonise with the sober realities of genuine history. It is not unlikely 
 that the Greek writers may have ascribed to one heroine the actions 
 of many warriors, and, partly from ignorance and misconception, 
 and partly from the inveterate love of the marvellous, invested a 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Her character. 
 
 Anecdote of 
 Semirarais. 
 
 Her character. 
 
 Xi liras. 
 
 His peculiar 
 policy. 
 
 single reign with the splendour and glory which, in point of fact, 
 ought to have been distributed over a much more extensive surface. 
 It is well known that they did this in reference to most of their 
 distinguished characters; the achievements of many eminent men, 
 even of different ages and centuries, being concentrated in one 
 favourite personage. 
 
 Whether the actions recorded of this remarkable woman be truly 
 attributable to an individual, or form rather a concentrated view of 
 the achievements of several distinct sovereigns, enough may be 
 gathered to prove the general spirit and character of Semiramis. 
 Whatever be her precise chronology and history, it is evident she 
 possessed a masculine mind, and that native force of character which 
 gives to certain persons an unquestionable superiority over others 
 by whom they are sm'rounded, and enables them, when elevated to 
 commanding situations, in some degree, to direct the destinies of 
 empires. It is said of Semiramis, by Valerius Maximus, that her 
 very presence was sufficiently overawing at once to quell sedition 
 among her people. One day, in particular, when she was engaged 
 in dressing, she received information of a tumult in the city. Upon 
 this she sallied forth with her head half-dressed, and in that condition 
 addressed the populace, and completely tranquillized the crowd, and 
 dispersed them. A statue was erected in commemoration of this 
 singular achievement, representing her in the attitude and habit in 
 which she is stated to have gone to the scene of riot and confusion. 
 
 Ambition was obviously the predominant feature of her character, 
 and to the imaginary glory with which it adorns the career of con¬ 
 quest, she devoted the principal years of her life. Eegardless of the 
 welfare of others, her chief delight seemed to consist in conquering 
 nations, and in sending her name to the remotest corners of the 
 globe. Every thing was subordinated to the gratification of her 
 passions, but especially her love of fame. No risk was thought too 
 considerable, no expense too extravagant, no trouble too prodigious, 
 to secure empty distinctions, to impress her contemporaries with a 
 sense of her greatness, and to leave the traces of her magnificence 
 for the study and the wonder of an admiring posterity. 
 
 Ninyas was the successor of his mother Semiramis in the govern¬ 
 ment of the Assyrian empire, and according to the concurrent 
 testimonies of Diodorus Siculus, Atheneus, Justin, and other 
 historians, abandoned himself to the most slothful inactivity, and 
 most vicious self-indulgence. Averse to martial exploits, and intent 
 only upon the pursuit of every means that might be supposed 
 capable of conducing to his own gratification; he withdrew from his 
 subjects, with whom he only held occasional intercourse by messages, 
 shut himself up in his palace with his eunuchs and concubines, and 
 cherished a perfect indifference with regard to the happiness of his 
 people or the prosperity of his empire. As a necessary measure of 
 policy, however, he is represented as raising, out of the different 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 REBELLION OF ARBACES. 
 
 229 
 
 provinces of his empire, by conscription, an army which he placed 
 under the direction of proper officers. This force was kept at 
 Nineveh, and the vicinity, and was annually dissolved and renewed 
 by the substitution of new troops, who were engaged only for a year’s 
 service. The design of this arrangement is sufficiently obvious; an 
 army was requisite to his security in case of foreign invasion or civil 
 commotion, and the periodical change provided for in its constitution 
 was calculated to prevent the mischiefs that might otherwise have 
 arisen from a regularly organized conspiracy against his person or 
 power. To an inglorious life succeeded an unlamented death. His 
 successors, however, during the long period of twelve hundred years, 
 and thirty reigns, so closely imitated his example, that their history 
 is buried in total obscurity, not even traceable by a single instance 
 of honourable character or great achievement. All is a total blank 
 and waste, till we reach the not less contemptible, though more 
 known conduct of the last, perhaps the basest of them all. 
 
 Sardanapalus succeeded to the empire only to present a more per- Sardanapa- 
 fect specimen of effeminacy, sloth, luxury, cowardice, crime, and U6 ' 
 elaborate folly, than was perhaps ever before exhibited to the 
 detestation of mankind. Like his inglorious predecessor, the first of 
 this effeminate dynasty, he secluded himself in his palace, assumed 
 the dress of a woman, and imitated her voice, painted his face, spun, 
 and in short utterly disgraced his nature by the most unbounded 
 licentiousness and the most outrageous depravity. 
 
 Arbaces, the governor of Media, having gained access to the palace, Rebellion of 
 personally -witnessed some of his excesses, and was immediately Art>aces - 
 inflamed with the resolution to put an end to his dominion. He 
 instantly entered into a confederacy for the purpose with Belesis, 
 viceroy of Babylon, who strengthened him by the assurance, which, 
 as a priest and an astrologer he considered himself entitled to give, 
 that he should be the instrument of dethroning the infamous 
 Sardanapalus, and ascending his throne. Thus supported, as they 
 both believed, by heaven itself, they began the revolt; the one by 
 stirring up the Medes and Persians, the other by exciting dissatis¬ 
 faction among the Babylonians. Having also gained over the king 
 of Arabia, and secured his active co-operation, the conspirators 
 secured the army, which was now newly raised at the expiration of 
 the year, and which amounted to about four hundred thousand men. 
 
 The king being apprised of these proceedings, was somewhat roused 
 from his voluptuous dreams by a sense of personal and immediate 
 danger, and concentrating all the forces he could combine in this 
 emergency, led them out to encounter his rebellious subjects. He 
 was victorious in three successive battles, in the last of which, after 
 using every effort in vain to prevent defeat, with all its consequent 
 calamities, Arbaces was severely wounded. After the first victory, its partial 
 a reward was offered of two hundred talents of gold to any man who su PP ressltm - 
 should kill him or Belesis, and twice that amount to any one who 
 
230 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Arbaces 
 joined by the 
 Bactrians. 
 
 Death of Sar- 
 danapalus. 
 
 should bring either of them alive to the emperor. But from all the 
 impending dangers with which the two rebels were threatened, they 
 effected their escape. 
 
 The discouragement which oppressed the mind of Arbaces would 
 now have totally prevented any further attempt, and had, in fact, 
 occasioned great hesitation, during the intervals of these successive 
 victories on the part of Sardanapalus, had not the astrological predic¬ 
 tions of his coadjutor saved him from despair. Belesis persisted 
 every night in consulting the stars, and after the last engagement, 
 most solemnly assured the confederated troops, the next morning, that 
 in five days they would be aided by a support which at present they 
 were unable to imagine or anticipate, the gods having given to him 
 a decided intimation of so desirable an interference. Whatever were 
 the sources of his information, the truth was, that in a short time the 
 Bactrians, breaking the fetters of servitude, sprang into the field, and 
 joined Arbaces and Belesis. It is stated that this assistance was 
 procured, as indeed it is most likely, by the urgent and reiterated 
 applications of the confederated princes. Of this transaction Sar¬ 
 danapalus remained ignorant, and occupied himself in the meantime 
 in arranging a sacrifice, and a festival for the army with whom he 
 had conquered his enemies. This account of his proceedings revved 
 the hopes of Arbaces, who having taken his measures with a char¬ 
 acteristic sagacity and prudence, surprised the camp of the emperor, 
 and rushed forward almost to the very gates of the city. 
 
 Sardanapalus now escaping from immediate danger, intrusted the 
 conduct of the army to his brother-in-law, shutting himself up 
 within the fortifications. After being twice defeated, the army was 
 nearly annihilated, and the emperor was, in consequence, closely 
 besieged, while the conpiraters received large accessions of strength 
 from the revolt of other provinces; but he buoyed up his spirits by 
 confiding in a prediction that “ Nineveh could never be taken, till 
 the river became her enemy.” 
 
 The city being abundantly supplied with provisions, the confeder¬ 
 ate forces remained two whole years before it without producing any 
 visible impression, till the Tigris, at length, being swollen by unusual 
 quantities of rain, overflotved twenty stadia, or two miles and a-half 
 of the wall, and thus made a practicable breach, which the whole art 
 . of the besiegers before had been unable to accomplish. Sardanapalus 
 at once comprehended his danger, and, his last' hope being thus 
 unexpectedly extinguished, he fled into his palace, and ordered a 
 vast pile to be reared in the court, on which he accumulated all his 
 treasures, amounting to a prodigious value , 1 and close to these he 
 placed his eunuchs, his concubines, and, lastly, himself, then set fire 
 to it, and perished amidst the splendid ruins. The conquerors 
 
 1 Athenceus represents these treasures as worth a thousand myriads of talents of 
 gold, and ten times as many talents of silver; that is, fourteen hundred millions 
 sterling. Tiiis is, however, utterly incredible. , 
 
Chap. II.] END OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. 231 
 
 destroyed the city, but treated the inhabitants with great modera¬ 
 tion. Such was the termination of the Assyrian empire. 
 
 Sardanapalus is said to hare ordered two lines to be put upon his His epitaph, 
 tomb, which imply his having taken with him all he had eaten and 
 all the pleasures he had enjoyed, leaving the rest behind; an epitaph, 
 as Aristotle very justly observes, lit for a hog. These lines were as 
 follow:— 
 
 Hsec habeo qme edi, quteque exsaturata libido e 
 
 Hausit: at ilia jacent multa et praeclara relicta. 
 
 Plutarch, in his comparison of Semiramis and Sardanapalus, in 
 1ns second treatise, written in praise of Alexander the Great, men¬ 
 tions a statue erected to the latter after his death, representing him 
 in the posture of a dancer, with an inscription, in which he addressed 
 himself to the spectator in the following sentence:—EoAs, vive, 
 
 'cS.'KKa. Ik iltv. i.e. “Eat, drink, and be merry: every 
 thing else is nothing.” 
 
 Thus perished the first great Assyrian empire. In a former para- End of the 
 graph we have said that out of the ruins of this kingdom were formed ^fp™ n 
 two independent sovereignties—that of Babylon, and that of Nineveh. 
 
 We have also given a succinct history of the sovereigns of the latter 
 dominion, till, under Saracus, it was finally overthrown by Cyaxares 
 the Mede, and Nabopolassar king of Babylon. Any further detailed 
 account of the later sovereigns of Nineveh would be superfluous, 
 and the Scriptures give us some information as to the most famous 
 of them. It is not easy to tell the order of succession, or identify all 
 the royal names. Some, for example, take the Sargon of Isaiah for 
 Sennacherib, and others for Shalmanezer. The apocryphal book of 
 Judith alludes to the reign of Nebuchadonosor, and tells how he 
 reduced Arphaxad, and resolved to overrun and conquer the west of 
 Asia; how he despatched Holofernes on this enterprise, and gained Holofernes. 
 possession of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Idumea; how the Assyrian 
 captain encamped at length in the great plain of Esdraelon, while the 
 Jews kept a fast and invoked the aid of heaven ; how Holofernes 
 laid siege to Bethulia; and how Judith, the widow of Manasseh, 
 introduced herself in her pride of beauty into the general’s tent, won 
 his heart, tempted him into inebriety, and then cut off his head. 
 
 Great and insuperable difficulties oppose the credibility of this nar¬ 
 rative, and some critics regard the whole legend as an allegory. 
 
 The chronology and geography are equally at fault. A previous 
 captivity of the Jewish nation is spoken of, but it could not have 
 been the great captivity of Babylon. It might be some brief 
 period of servitude, such as may have happened under Manasses. 
 
 Bfit the,whole story has the aspect of a romance, in which ideas of 
 tim^^hd locality are carelessly disregarded. 
 
 "'The various sculptures and mythological symbols which have been 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 [Chap. II. 
 
 Two distinct 
 Dynasties. 
 
 Dates. 
 
 Clinton's 
 
 Chronolog}'. 
 
 Predictions 
 of Scripture. 
 
 excavated from the ruins of Nineveh are so different, as to warrant 
 the conclusion, that two distinct dynasties existed in Assyria, and 
 that the earlier palaces were in ruins before the latter were founded. 
 Intercourse with Egypt seems also to have had considerable influence 
 on the manners and customs of Assyria. Various opinions have 
 been hazarded as to the duration of the monarchy. That it arose 
 more than two thousand years before Christ, seems proved from 
 the united evidence of Scripture and the monumental records both of 
 Nineveh and Egypt. The accession of Cyrus occurred b.c. 560. 
 The Median epoch preceded this—commencing with Arbaces, b.c. 
 821. We thus approach the lower Assyrian epoch, dating from 
 Ninus, (?) b.c. 1341, and at length reach the old Assyrian period, 
 originating with Nimrod, b.c. 2000, or b.c. 2300. The Syncellus 1 
 places this event b.c. 2284, the Armenian Eusebius b.c. 2116, the 
 astronomical observations brought by Caflisthenes from Babylon set 
 it down at b.c. 2237, and the biblical chronology at B.c. 2218. On 
 the other hand, our great English authority, Clinton, in his “ Fasti 
 Hellenici,” thus arranges these various dates:— 
 
 Assyrian monarchy lasted 1306 years: 
 
 Years. B.C. 
 
 Before the empire,.675 1912 
 
 During the empire, 24 kings,.526 1237 
 
 After the empire, 6 kings,.105 711 
 
 1306 
 
 Capture of Nineveh,.. 606 
 
 But early dates, like these, are wrapt in great uncertainty, and 
 the reader may turn to the remarks we have made on Egyptian 
 chronology. 3 
 
 The predictions of the Bible against Nineveh were at length ful¬ 
 filled, with minute and terrible accuracy. The ruin and degradation 
 of that metropolis are graphically sketched by Zephaniah in the 
 following oracle, 3 published at least four-and-twenty years before the 
 catastrophe occurred:— 
 
 “ He will stretch his hand against the north, 
 And shall destroy Assyria ; 
 
 He will indeed make Nineveh a desolation— 
 An arid region, like a wilderness. 
 
 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her; 
 All the wild beasts of the nations— 
 
 1 Syncellus was an ecclesiastical title, denoting the companion and successor of 
 the Byzantine patriarch. The term, from being so often referred to in the case of 
 the chronologist quoted, has become, in ordinary usage, his simple name. 
 
 2 Page 67. 2 ii. 13. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 HEATHEN AUTHORITIES. 
 
 233 
 
 Both the pelican and the porcupine— 
 
 Shall lodge in her upper lintels. 
 
 A voice shall sing in the windows— 
 
 Desolation shall be in the thresholds— 
 
 For the cedar work is uncovered. 1 
 
 This is the rejoicing city which dwelt securely, 
 
 Which said in her heart, 
 
 I am, and there is none besides me. 
 
 How she is become a desolation— 
 
 A lair for wild beasts. 
 
 Every one that passes by her shall hiss, 
 
 He shall shake his head.” 
 
 It may be mentioned, in conclusion, that the heathen authorities 
 for the annals of Assyria, Herodotus, Diodorus, and Ctesias are at 
 variance with one another, and are not easily reconciled with the 
 facts of Scripture; perhaps fuller investigation may yet find among 
 the sculptured ruins a more satisfactory native history of this ancient 
 empire. 
 
 1 The following illustration is a specimen of what the prophet refers to 
 
 d c -rs- 
 
 [From North-West Palace, Nimroud.] 
 

 Name. 
 
 The city. 
 
 [From North-West Palace, Nimroud.] 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 To the origin of the name we have already alluded. Fletcher, in 
 a recent work, labours to prove, that as Nin, the first syllable of 
 Nineveh, signifies a floating substance, or a fish, therefore the city so 
 named was erected nigh to the spot where the ark of Noah rested, 
 and as a memorial of the preservation afforded by the wondrous 
 vessel. 1 The derivation is very fanciful, but at the same time base¬ 
 less. The cities in the vicinity of Nineveh—Rehoboth, Caleb, and 
 Resen—it is impossible to identify, though Kaleh Shergat has been 
 looked upon as the ancient Caleb, and Resen has been found by some 
 in Nimroud. Though Nimrod was a Hamite warrior, and seems to 
 have made the tribes on the Tigris his vassals, still the people were 
 Shemites, and their architecture, manners, worship, and language 
 proclaim their descent. 
 
 Nineveh, like many oriental cities, was of vast dimensions. Its 
 compass amazes one accustomed to the narrow streets and crowded 
 edifices of the western world. But these eastern cities never lost 
 their rural aspect—were as pleasant as our own suburban residences. 
 The country was blended with the town, municipal privilege har¬ 
 monised with rustic salubrity. The passenger on the street might 
 behold the sheep on the meadow and the plough in the furrow, while 
 the breeze loaded with fragrant odours might also bear upon it the 
 yell of the distant chase. Nineveh was a very “ great city.” It was 
 built in the form of a parallelogram, its longer sides being thirty-six 
 
 1 Notes from Nineveh, &c., by the Rev. J. P. Fletcher, vol. ii. 90. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 THE CITY. 
 
 235 
 
 miles in length, and its shorter about twenty-four. Its circumference 
 was therefore about sixty miles, affording ample space for the 
 “ three days’ journey” of the prophet Jonah—a day’s journey being 
 estimated at about twenty miles. London does not, indeed, occupy 
 more than the fourth part of such an area; but Nineveh had within 
 its boundaries gardens, parks, vineyards, orchards, corn fields, and 
 royal demesnes. Jehovah in addressing Jonah speaks of the spared 
 city as having “ much cattle.” The whole surface of the country is 
 now covered Avith fragments of bricks and pottery—the Avreck and 
 remnant of past and fallen magnificence. If young children be 
 estimated as a fifth part of the population—then the Assyrian 
 metropolis had over its Avide civic territory not much more than 
 half a million of inhabitants. 1 The walls of this royal capital Avere a 
 hundred feet high, and so broad as to form a pathway for three 
 chariots driven abreast. These city Avails had upon them 1500 
 towers, all of them two hundred feet in height. 
 
 But the destruction of this mighty city had been foretold by several 
 of the Hebrew prophets. Nahum’s oracle is a peal of wo against Oracle of 
 Nineveh, bold, thrilling, and terrible:— Nahum ' 
 
 “ The shield of the warriors is red. 
 
 The men of valour are in scarlet; 
 
 The Avar-chariot gleams with flashing scythes 
 In the day of his preparation ; 
 
 And cypress spears are brandished. 
 
 The chariots rage in the streets, 
 
 They dash up and down on the broad paths; 
 
 Their appearance is like that of torches, 
 
 They flash like lightnings. 
 
 (The king of Nineveh)—he remembers his nobles : 
 They stumble on their march; 
 
 They haste to her wall, 
 
 And the breast-work is prepared. 
 
 The flood-gates are opened, 
 
 And the palace is dissolved, 
 
 Though it was securely founded. 
 
 She is stript bare—she is led off. 
 
 And her maidens moan like doves, 
 
 And strike upon their breasts. 
 
 Nineveh was like a pool of water of old. 
 
 Yet they are fleeing ! 
 
 Stop ! stop ! but none looks behind : 
 
 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold ; 
 
 There is no end to the treasure, 
 
 1 In the census taken for the city of Glasgow this year (1851) the cliildren under 
 five years of age, bear a proportion to the general population of 9T9 per cent. Such 
 a calculation would give Nineveh a million of inhabitants. But it is impossible to 
 fix on the precise age specified by the idiom employed in Jonah—“ persons that 
 cannot discern between their right hand and their left band.” 
 
236 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Ruin. 
 
 Modem 
 
 research. 
 
 Site and 
 buildings. 
 
 Abundance there is of all costly vessels. 
 
 Desolation, devastation, and ruin ; 
 
 Melting of heart, and shaking of knees. 
 
 With pangs in all loins, all faces flushed with panic.” 1 
 
 The overthrow of Nineveh, as early as b.c. 606, is attested by ancient 
 writers. A thousand years ago it was reckoned an old city of ruins. 
 It was to the ancient world—a city—as if it had never been. It had 
 sunk below the earth’s surface—“ I will,” says Jehovah, “ make thy 
 grave, for thou art vile”—and so it has long appeared a huge 
 unshapen mound. Rank vegetation fed upon its ruins. It was a 
 scene of desolation—“ a place for beasts to lie down in.” Travellers 
 passed near it, but failed to recognise it. Xenophon was on it, but 
 knew it not,— 
 
 “ Her walls are gone, her palaces are dust, 
 
 The desert is around her, and within 
 Like shadows have the mighty passed away ” 
 
 Modern research, however, has been able to identify it and exhume 
 many of its wonders. The earth has been removed from its palaces; 
 their chambers and their sculptures have been brought to light; the 
 strange-shaped inscriptions have been deciphered; gods, conquerors, 
 kings, scenes of war, hunting processions, and national customs 
 have been found on slabs and walls; vases, cylinders, ivories, and 
 bronze are among the spoils. Nineveh has risen from her tomb, 
 pale and ghastly it is true, and with the sad traces of a violent 
 death upon her features, but still so marked as to be easily identified 
 with her former living self. M. Botta began his labours in 1842, 
 Layard’s noble enthusiasm removed the first spadeful of earth in 
 1845, and during the three following years his labours were prose¬ 
 cuted with inimitable sagacity, untiring industry, and unparalleled 
 success. The results of his excavations have astonished the western 
 world, and given us a new insight into the character and manners of 
 the renowned mistress of the east. 
 
 The site selected for the city was favourable—the eastern bank 
 of the Tigris, near its junction with the Zab. 2 Nimroud, according 
 to old and good tradition, acquiesced in by Strabo, Ptolemy, and 
 Abulfeda, was the first edifice, with a royal park and a cluster of 
 hamlets around it. Other structures, the work of various sovereigns, 
 or the monuments of several dynasties, arose in course of years by 
 its side. According to Layard, the son of the founder of the first 
 palace added a second, the ruins of which are in the centre of the 
 mound. Another monarch added to the same pile of palaces, and 
 recorded the fact on the slabs which formed its pavement. And at 
 
 1 ii. 3. 
 
 3 Zab, signifying a wolf, is naturally rendered Lycus by tlie classical geographers. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 TEMPLE-PALACES. 
 
 237 
 
 length, when these older palaces were laid in ruins, other royal 
 structures were reared on the spots now named Khorsabad and 
 Karamles. The son of their founder erected the great edifice at 
 Ivouyunjik. Now if these four mounds—Nimroud, Kouyunjik, Khor¬ 
 sabad, and Karamles—be taken as the corners of a great square, the 
 space thus marked will be found in measurement to correspond with 
 the descriptions of the book of Jonah, and that of the historian 
 Diodorus. 
 
 These temple-palaces were built on mounds, carefully formed of Temple- 
 bricks, such as are found at Khorsabad and Kouyunjik. At three pa aces- 
 different sites, such royal substructures have been discovered. Con¬ 
 sequently, if destruction came upon the edifice, rain, sand, dust, and 
 vegetation soon render it a mass of lonely ruin, not unlike the ballast 
 hills along the banks of the Tyne. The walls, which were built of 
 bricks, and from five to fifteen feet in thickness, were panelled with 
 slabs of coarse alabaster or gypsum; great abundance of which was 
 found in the neighbourhood. On the back of each of the slabs was 
 engraved an inscription, recording the titles and genealogy of the 
 king under whom the work was constructed. The slabs being fixed 
 upon the walls by artificial means, such as iron and copper cramps 
 and plugs, then surface was then sculptured and inscribed. The 
 entrances to the chambers were guarded by symbolical monsters— 
 bulls and lions, with eagles’ pinions and human heads, from ten to 
 sixteen feet in height, while small images of the gods were deposited 
 under the threshold. The roof was composed of beams supported 
 by the walls, twigs and branches being laid across them, and then 
 plastered with clay. Timber is scarce in Assyria, and as there were 
 no great trees fit for extended roofing, the rooms are all very narrow 
 —the most famous hall at Nimroud being nearly one hundred and 
 sixty feet long, and only thirty-five in breadth. The ceilings were 
 beautifully painted, and often inlaid with ivory. The mode of light¬ 
 ing these palaces has baffled the ingenuity of inquirers. No traces 
 of windows are to be found. The conjecture is that light came in 
 through the roof 1 —a conjecture, as Layard remarks, confirmed by 
 the fact, that a small drain leads from every chamber, as if water 
 needed to be carried off. What discomfort in the midst of such 
 splendour—no contrivance to admit light and exclude the shower! 
 
 The same practice prevailed in Egypt. The founder of Khorsabad 
 says, in the inscriptions found on its slabs, “ I have built this 
 after the manner of Egypt.” The plates of M. Flandin and of 
 Layard, in his larger work, give us a pretty correct idea of the 
 general appearance and splendour of these Assyrian edifices. They 
 were remarkable for their ample size, their emblematic ornaments, 
 
 1 A different idea of roofing and lighting is plausibly advocated in a volume of 
 great ingenuity and beauty of illustration. The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis 
 restored, by James Fergusson, Esq. London, 1851. 
 
NINEVEH. 
 
 Chambers of 
 imagery. 
 
 Verification. 
 
 238 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 their vivid historical sculptures, then- lofty roofs, and their gilded 
 columns and ceilings. 
 
 The chambers of these palaces were covered with historical 
 sculptures, and formed the records of the empire, each chamber 
 being the pictorial history of a different scene. In short, these 
 mural representations furnish an accurate and graphic comment 
 on the language of the prophet Ezekiel, 1 —“ She doted upon 
 the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most 
 gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable 
 
 Assyrian Warriors in a Chariot, North-West Palace, Nimroud.] 
 
 young men. Then I saw that she was defiled, that they 
 took both one way; and that she increased her whoredoms: for 
 when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the 
 Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon 
 their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them 
 princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, 
 the land of then’ nativity: and as soon as she saw them with her 
 eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into 
 Chaldea.” That the seer saw the imagery described by him, can scarce 
 admit of a doubt, for he was a captive on the banks of the Chebar at 
 no great distance from the capital. The “ vermilion,” or red colour 
 prevails in all their decorations—it is the favourite hue. “ Captains 
 and rulers clothed most gorgeously”—they are all dressed in the richest 
 and grandest style of oriental magnificence. “Horsemen riding upon 
 horses”—these equestrian figures are often exhibited—the horses are 
 of high spirit, noble form, and bold attitudes, and are decked with 
 showy trappings while the men that ride them are in aspect, courage, 
 and demeanour “as princes to look to.” “Girded with girdles upon 
 their loins”—every figure has its belt or sash so necessary for one 
 wearing such loose and roomy vestments. “Exceeding in dyed 
 
 1 xxiii. 12—16. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 TEMEN-BAR II. 
 
 239 
 
 [Heads and Trappings of Royal Horses,f rom the Assyrian Marbles. ] 
 
 attire upon their heads”—the figures have hair arranged in immense 
 curls, and the beard and hair seem to have been dyed of brilliant 
 colours. Many of the scenes are those of war, in which are shown 
 “ captains and rulers.” The various modes and stratagem in a siege, Martial 
 crossing a river, manoeuvring with chariots, chasing the enemy, and customs - 
 leading home chained captives, are frequently represented. Castles 
 are depicted with shields hung round about them, as referred to in 
 Ezekiel, xxvii. 11,—“The men of Arvad, with thine army, were 
 upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims' were in thy 
 tourers; they hanged theirs shields upon thy walls round about; 
 they have made thy beauty perfect.” The miserable prisoners 
 were sometimes impaled by their “ bitter and hasty” conquerors, and 
 occasionally are seen to be dragged along by a rope fastened to rings 
 inserted in the nose and lip. Thus God threatened Samaria, that 
 her Assyrian conqueror would “ take her away with hooks, and her 
 posterity with fish-hooks.” The pride of the Assyrian warriors 
 equals that of the Egyptian conquerors. On a small obelisk 
 Rawlinson reads the following inscription, commemorative of the 
 triumphs of Temen-bar II.:— 
 
 “ At the commencement of my reign, after that I was established Triumphs of 
 on the throne, I assembled the chiefs of my people and came down if e ’ 1 
 
 1 Gammadims has been wrongly rendered in our version as a proper name. It 
 denotes troops selected for their fearless courage, and placed in such towers as a 
 kind of “ forlorn hope.” 
 
NINEVEH. 
 
 Victories in 
 first year. 
 
 Second year. 
 
 Third year. 
 
 Seventh year. 
 
 240 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 into the plains of Esmes, where I took the city of Haridu, the chief 
 city belonging to Nakharni. 
 
 “ In the first year of my reign, I crossed the Upper Euphrates, 
 and ascended to the tribes who worshipped the god Husi. My ser¬ 
 vants erected altars (or tablets) in that land to my gods. Then I 
 went on to the land of Khamana, where I founded palaces, cities, 
 and temples. I went on to the land of Malar, and there I established 
 the worship (or laws) of my kingdom. 
 
 “ In the second year, I went up to the city of Tel Barasba, and 
 occupied the cities of Ahum, son of Hateni. I shut him up in his 
 city. I then crossed the Euphrates, and occupied the cities of Da- 
 bagu and Abarta, belonging to the Sheta, 1 together with the cities 
 which were dependent on them. 
 
 “ In the third year, Ahuni, son of Hateni, rebelled against me, 
 and having become independent, established his seat of government 
 in the city of Tel Barasba. The country beyond the Euphrates he 
 placed under the protection of the god Assarac, the Excellent, while 
 he committed to the god Rimmon the country between the Euphrates 
 and the Arteri, with its city of Bither, which was held by the Sheta. 
 Then I descended into the plains of Elets. The countries of Elets, 
 Shakni, Dayini, Enem, (?) Arzaskan, the capital city of Arama, king 
 of Ararat, Lazan, and Hubiska, I committed to the charge of 
 Detarasar. Then I went out from the city of Nineveh, and crossing 
 the Euphrates, I attacked and defeated Ahuni, the son of Hateni, in 
 the city of Sitrat, which was situated upon the Euphrates, and which 
 Ahuni had made one of his capitals. The rest of the country I 
 brought under subjection; and Ahuni, the son of Hateni, with his 
 gods and his chief priests, his horses, his sons and his daughters, and 
 all his men of war, I brought away to my country of Assyria. After¬ 
 wards I passed through the country of Shelar (or Kelar,) and came 
 to the district of Zoba. I reached the cities belonging to Nikti, and 
 took the city of Yedi, where Nikti dwelt. 
 
 “ In the seventh year, I proceeded to the country belonging to 
 Khabni of Tel-ati. The city of Tel-ati, which was his chief place, 
 and the towns which were dependent on it, I captured, and gave up 
 to pillage. I went out from the city of Tel-ati, and came to the land 
 watered by the head-streams which form the Tigris. The priests of 
 Assarac in that land raised altars to the immortal gods. I appointed 
 priests to reside in the land to pay adoration to Assarac, the great 
 and powerful god, and to preside over the national worship. The 
 cities of this region which did not acknowledge the god Assarac I 
 brought under subjection, and I here received the tribute of the 
 country of Naliiri,” &c. 
 
 1 The Sheta are often mentioned on the Egyptian monuments of the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth dynasties. They seem plainly to represent the Khita or Hittites of 
 Scripture. They were the principal tribe of Canaan, and the country is named 
 after them—“ the land of the Hittites.” Josh. i. 4. 
 
242 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Description 
 of the 
 
 illustration. 
 
 The arts. 
 
 As an illustration of some portions of this long and monotonous 
 royal record, we refer our readers to the plate on the preceding page, 
 taken from one of the bas-reliefs in the British Museum. 
 
 On this slab, the king, in his chariot, leads the van of the battle, 
 accompanied by his charioteer and shield-bearer, both of them with 
 uncovered heads. Two quivers full of arrows are affixed to the sides of 
 the chariot, and in front is fixed a bow-case, extending over the horses’ 
 backs. The king’s shield hangs behind the chariot along with his 
 spear. The horses have beads on their necks. The shield-bearer 
 extends his bossed shield to protect the king, who is clothed in a 
 richly-embroidered tunic, with the truncated cap, and rosette-clasped 
 bracelets, and his bow-arm is protected from the recoil of the string 
 by a close-fitting shield, fastened above the elbow and wrist. The left 
 arms of his officers are similarly guarded. Above the chariot is 
 a human-bodied divinity, with wings, but without legs; he wears a 
 cap with two bull’s horns laid close round the head. A broad flat 
 ring encircles this figure, passing immediately above the feathery 
 termination of his person, and behind and above his shoulders. This 
 divinity sends his winged arrows against the enemies of the king. 
 Directly in front of the king, a leader of the enemy is falling from 
 his chariot, one of the horses of which is down, whilst the others are 
 still plunging and endeavouring to extricate themselves; the chario¬ 
 teer, having lost control, is precipitated in front. Beyond, one of 
 the king’s soldiers is about to kill a flying foe, in spite of the efforts 
 of a comrade to drag him off to the security of the city, the out¬ 
 works of which extend to the banks of a shallow stream running 
 through a wooded country. One of the enemy lies dead, and others 
 are flying before the conquering Icing, who pursues them to the very 
 confines of the city. The city has embattled towers, and an arched 
 gateway likewise embattled, and is protected by a ditch and double 
 wall, from behind the second and inner of which the defenders are 
 discharging their arrows. From the towers they are also shooting 
 arrows and throwing stones, imder cover of wicker shields. The 
 last figure, as far as the fracture allows us to see, shows one endeav¬ 
 ouring to obtain a parley: for his slackened bow is in his left hand, 
 and his right is upraised, as if in the act of bespeaking attention. 
 
 The arts had arrived at high perfection in ancient Nineveh. 
 The sculptures are full and life-like, freer and more natural 
 than those of Egypt, and many of the articles of furniture afford 
 models worthy of imitation at the present day. The vases, formed 
 of clay, are moulded with exquisite taste, and the metallic orna¬ 
 ments are of similar skill and beauty. Elaborate embroidery dis¬ 
 tinguishes the robes of the king, and the ear-rings, bracelets, and 
 clasps, worn by the court and the upper classes, are all of elegant form. 
 The arms of the warrior, such as the hilt of his dagger and sword, were 
 beautifully ornamented. Chairs and couches were formed of wood, 
 the feet being constructed of metal, and were often inlaid 'with 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 THE ARTS—ARMOUR. 
 
 243 
 
 ivory. 1 The lion seems to have been the most frequent ornament Lions, 
 on the furniture, personal jewels, public edifices, and the throne of 
 the king. 2 Smaller forms of the same animal are found in great 
 abundance, and may have been used as weights. This characteristic 
 national usage seems to have suggested the bold interrogation of 
 the prophet Nahum, 3 —“ Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the 
 feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, 
 walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid ? The 
 lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his 
 lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.” 
 
 This striking accumulation as well as repetition of the names of the 
 lion pictures Nineveh with peculiar appropriateness; and the prophet 
 also meant to insinuate, that the boasted heroism and prowess which 
 had made the royal quadruped the prime figure in the national heral¬ 
 dry, would shrink at length into degrading and ruinous cowardice, 
 and that this cherished device would be found to be but a caricature 
 in the day of defeat and overthrow. The drinking-cups were not 
 unlike those of ancient Etruria, 4 and some of them closely resemble 
 the same articles of Egyptian manufacture. The garments of both Dress, 
 king and people were loose flowing drapery, that gave a graceful and 
 often a majestic appearance to the wearer. Linen, wool, and silk 
 were employed in the production of these fabrics, and designs were 
 wrought upon them with peculiar ingenuity and splendour’. The 
 Assyrian stole was woven with oriental magnificence, and worn with 
 a stately carriage. 
 
 The spear, sword, dagger, and bow were the early Assyrian Armour, 
 weapons. The soldiers, especially such as fought in chariots, were 
 clad in close tunics of scaly 
 armour. The archers wore an 
 embroidered tunic, and the 
 common soldiers, armed with 
 spear and shield, had their head 
 defended by a helmet. Referring 
 to such military equipment, Jere¬ 
 miah cries, 5 “ Order ye the buck¬ 
 ler and shield, and draw near to 
 battle. Harness the horses; and 
 get up, ye horsemen, and stand 
 forth with yotu- helmets; furbish 
 the spears, and put on the brigan- 
 dines.” In besieging a city, the 
 army was first occupied in raising 
 “ a bank against it,”—forming an 
 inclined plane, which reached up 
 to the foot of the wall. Move- 
 
 1 Song of Solomon iii. 9, 10. 2 See also 1 Kings x. 19, 20. 
 
 3 ii. 11, 12. 4 Muller’s Haudbuch, s. 287. 5 xlvi. 3, 4. 
 
244 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Sie^e. 
 
 Cavalry. 
 
 able towers were sometimes employed, the tops of which were on 
 a level with the walls of the besieged fortress. Thus, Ezekiel says, 1 
 “ lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount 
 against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering-rams against 
 it round about.” Various modes of assault are in this verse described, 
 and they are all illustrated by the Ninevitic sculptures. The batter¬ 
 ing-ram, scaling-ladder, and catapult, were the common engines; 
 mines were often dug, and staves shod with iron were frequently 
 used for forcing stones out of the walls and turrets. 
 
 But the chief brigade of the Assyrian army was its squadrons 
 of cavalry and chariots. The same species of military force was 
 highly prized by other eastern nations. Horsemen are often 
 sculptured on the monuments, and archers often appear mounted 
 on steeds. The horsemen were also armed with swords and long 
 spears. Originally they wore a jacket, and sat on the bare back 
 of the animal, with their legs and feet exposed. Saddles were 
 introduced at a later period, so were quivers; but stirrups 
 never seem to have come into use. When the mounted archer 
 was in actual combat, his horse was held by another soldier. The 
 horses were adorned with martial trappings, and great care was 
 
 exercised in their training and equipment. The Assyrian horses were 
 celebrated at an early period. They were of a noble breed, and 
 realise the description of Job—“ strong in limb, their neck clothed 
 with thunder; pawing the valley, and smelling the battle afar off, 
 the thunder of the captains and the shouting.” 2 The prophet Hab- 
 akkuk characterises with terrible energy the dashing power ol a 
 charge of Assyrian cavalry, 3 —“ Their horses are swifter than the 
 leopards, and axe more fierce than the evening wolves: and their 
 
 1 iv. 2. 
 
 2 Job xxxix. 19. Horses, especially brood-mares, appear or. the tablet at Ivarnak, 
 as part of the spoil brought from Naharaina, Mesopotamia. 
 
 3 i. 8. 
 
WAR-CHAEIOT. 
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 245 
 
 horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come 
 from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.” 
 
 The war-chariot is often represented on the Assyrian sculptures. War-chariot. 
 On its sides were borne two quivers, a bow, javelin, and battle-axe; 
 three horses were often attached to it; the wheels had six spokes, and 
 the warriors stood in it as they engaged in combat. The chariots were 
 sometimes profusely decorated with ornaments, and the harnessing of 
 the horses was a matter of peculiar pride with the charioteers. Plumes 
 and streamers waved over their heads, tassels were hung round their 
 
 From the Assyrian Marbles.] 
 
 necks, and embroidered cloths often covered their backs. These vari¬ 
 ous modes of warfare in actual and successful operation are powerfully 
 grouped and described by the prophet Ezekiel, 1 —“ Thus saith the Description 
 Lord God, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king b ' EzekieI ' 
 of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and 
 with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. 
 
 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he 
 shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, 
 and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines 
 of war against thy walls, and with his axe he shall break 
 down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their 
 dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the 
 horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall 
 enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made 
 a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy 
 streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garri¬ 
 sons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of 
 thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall 
 break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they 
 
 1 xxvi. 7—12. 
 
246 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Ships. 
 
 Slabs in 
 British 
 Museum. 
 
 Treaty of 
 peace. 
 
 shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust, in the midst of 
 the water.” The Assyrian monuments show that this description is 
 not a fictitious representation, but a vivid account of the usual 
 employment of the various battalions of a besieging host. 
 
 On the bas-reliefs at Nimroud, ships are found of a rude con¬ 
 struction, and on those of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik are pictured 
 naval engagements. Representations are also discovered of the 
 Assyrian army attacking and taking maritime fortresses, and the 
 form of the galleys belonging to the conquered enemy proves them 
 to have belonged to some Syrian people. 
 
 It would far exceed our limits to offer even a brief sketch of 
 the slabs or relievi which are now safely lodged in the British 
 Museum. They are conceived with admirable spirit and bold¬ 
 ness, and tell their story with graphic and amusing fidelity. The 
 figure of the king and his beardless eunuchs may be easily dis¬ 
 tinguished. Eunuchs often rose to high stations in oriental courts, 1 
 and the chief offices both in military and civil affairs devol¬ 
 ved upon them. They are readily recognised on the sculptures 
 by their rounded form and “ double beardless chin.” An umbrella 
 or parasol was usually carried over the king. The following illus¬ 
 tration, verifying our statement, from a relievo in the British 
 
 [King of Nineveh, from the Assyrian AfarZ'Zes.] 
 
 Museum, represents a “ treaty of peace.” The king is on foot, about 
 to meet a brother sovereign. Both kings are, indeed, on foot, but the 
 conqueror still retains the implements of war, and holds in his right 
 
 1 Eunuchs are often referred to in Scripture. Rabsaris, an officer under Senna¬ 
 cherib, was, as his name implies, chief of the eunuchs. The term at. length came 
 to denote in general high officers of state. Rabshakeh signifies prince of the cup¬ 
 bearers, and the Assyrian feasts were often conducted in great style. 
 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 247 
 
 hand two arrows perpendicularly—perhaps a mystical sign of friend¬ 
 ship—whilst his adversary raises his right hand in the act of sup¬ 
 plication. That the conditions of the treaty are favourable to the 
 conqueror, may be inferred by the surrender of the prisoners, inti¬ 
 mated by the captive in the conical cap kissing the feet of his 
 king and deliverer. Immediately behind the great king are two 
 eunuchs, each holding bows with quivers full of arrows and the whip¬ 
 shaped instrument; one of them also holds an umbrella over the 
 king’s head. Behind the eunuchs is the king’s groom, armed with a 
 sword, and having also a quiver filled with arrows. 
 
 On the following illustration the king again appears—the eunuch, King and 
 armed with a fly-flapper, behind him. eunuch. 
 
 The religion of Assyria had fallen very soon into a corrupted Religion, 
 species of Sabaism. The host of heaven occupied the worship which 
 was due to their Creator. Nature was deified—its various powers 
 and parts assumed the form of subordinate divinities to the oriental 
 fancy. The lustrous orbs of the sky—so regular, so distant, so 
 auspicious to the globe they smiled upon, attracted wonder and 
 homage. Wordsworth has beautifully depicted the process of 
 degeneracy:— 
 
 “ Chaldsean shepherds, ranging trackless fields, 
 Beneath the concave of unclouded skies 
 Spread like a sea, in boundless solitude, 
 
 Looked on the polar star, as on a guide 
 And guardian of their course, that never closed 
 His stedfast eye. The planetary Five 
 With a submissive reverence they beheld ; 
 Watched, from the centre of their sleeping flocks 
 Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move, 
 Carrying through ether, in perpetual round, 
 Decrees and resolutions of the Gods ; 
 
 And, by their aspects, signifying works 
 Of dim futurity, to Man revealed. 
 
248 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Sacred fire 
 and tree. 
 
 Idols. 
 
 The imaginative faculty was lord 
 Of observations natural: and, thus 
 Led on, those shepherds made report of stars 
 In set rotation passing to and fro, 
 
 Between the orbs of our apparent sphere 
 And its invisible counterpart, adorned 
 With answering constellations, under earth, 
 
 Removed from all approach of living sight 
 But present to the dead ; who, so they deemed, 
 
 Like those celestial messengers, beheld 
 
 All accidents, and judges were of all.”— Excursion , book iv. 
 
 Thus we find the sun, moon, stars, and zodiacal signs frequently 
 engraven on the Assyrian cylinders. The patriarchal association of 
 fire with Jehovah’s presence, led in course of ages to the selection of 
 the sacred flame as a symbol of the divine essence—a mode of 
 worship very prevalent on the banks of the Tigris. One peculiar 
 symbol—a winged deity enclosed in a circle—is usually associated 
 with the figure of the king, and is also connected with the sacred 
 tree—originating in the Edenic “ tree of life,” found also in the 
 thyrsus of Bacchus; and perhaps allied to the “groves” of 
 Israelitish idolatry. 1 This symbol, which may be seen hovering over 
 the king in the illustration which fills page 241, has a close resem¬ 
 blance to a similar mythological form among the Egyptians—the sun 
 with the wings of a scarabaeus. 2 It may represent Baal, the great god 
 of the Shemitic nations. The other divinities were embodied in 
 various shapes, more grotesque than tasteful in appearance. The 
 spirituality as well as the unity of the Divine Being was soon 
 forgotten. The reasoning of the great Apostle was not felt in its 
 cogent and striking power—“Forasmuch then as we are the off¬ 
 spring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto 
 gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” These 
 idols, made of wood and plated with gold, are often seen carried in 
 procession, as Isaiah describes one of them,—“ They bear him upon 
 the shoulders, they carry him.” 3 When a city was taken, the con¬ 
 querors broke the idols, weighed them in scales, and divided them as 
 favourite booty. “ Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and 
 set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, 
 Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are con¬ 
 founded, her images are broken in pieces.” 4 Astarte, Ilera, Beltas, 
 or Mylitta, was the Assyrian Venus, often represented as standing 
 on a lion, and her head surmounted with a mural coronet. The 
 goddess Rhea appears surrounded with lions, while a bright star 
 sparkles on her head. 5 
 
 1 Recherches sur la culte du Cypres, &c. Annales de l’lnstitut Archeologique, 
 vol. xix. 
 
 2 M. Lajard derives tbe .Egyptian from the Assyrian form.—Mem. de l’Acad. 
 vol. xvii. 
 
 3 xlvi. G, 7. 4 Jeremiah 1. 2. 5 Amos v. 2G. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 CHERUBIM. 
 
 249 
 
 But the composite animal forms are the most striking among the Hawk- 
 sacred sculptures. Sometimes the deity is a hawk-headed figure, and headed s° d - 
 sometimes an eagle and lion are united—symbols of wisdom, courage, 
 and serene elevation. The god Nisrochwas 
 a hawk-headed figure—Nisr meaning a 
 hawk, and och being an intensive aug¬ 
 ment. An oracle of Zoroaster has been 
 preserved in Eusebius, which says, “ God 
 is he that has the head of a hawk.” 
 
 Nisroch may be the same as Assarak, 
 found on the monuments. A fish-god 
 similar to Dagon is also seen on a slab 
 from Khorsabad. The worship of this 
 form of divinity could be specially culti¬ 
 vated only in maritime countries, such as 
 Syria and Philistia. The mythic account 
 of the birth of Semiramis at Ascalon, and 
 her connection with the fish-god, Der- 
 ceto, may be connected -with this intro¬ 
 duction of Ichthyolatry. 1 Winged human¬ 
 headed lions and bulls are also of very 
 frequent recurrence. They seem to have 
 been the guardians of the Assyrian palaces 
 and temples, and correspond in position 
 and character to the Egyptian sphynx. 
 
 Perhaps they were the traditional repre¬ 
 sentation of the cherubim which were 
 stationed at the eastern gate of Eden. 
 
 Writing in the land in which such patri¬ 
 archal symbols were so common, Ezekiel 
 the prophet often refers to them, and so 
 
 far describes the mysterious and complicated emblems—the wheel 
 within the wheel having a reference to the “ sacred circle.”—“As 
 for the likeness of their faces, they 
 four had the face of a man and 
 the face of a lion on the right side; 
 and they four had the face of 
 an ox on the left side; they 
 four also had the face of an eagle. 
 
 Thus were their faces: and their 
 wings were stretched upward; 
 two wings of every one were 
 joined one to another, and' two 
 covered their bodies.” The cheru¬ 
 bim appear to us to indicate the 
 highest forms of animated nature 
 
 [Assyrian God .—Assyrian Marbles .] 
 
 Origin ot 
 the Greek 
 Pegasus 
 
 [North-West Palace, Nimroud.] 
 
 1 Selden de Dis Syris, c. 3. 
 
250 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Cherubim. 
 
 Magic. 
 
 Remarks of 
 Layard. 
 
 with which we are acquainted, in perfect and harmonious combination, 
 employed in the loftiest service to which living creation can aspire, 
 entire consecration to God. They appear as guardians of the divine 
 throne ; keeping it from profane intrusion; a lesson to man of that 
 profound adoration which he should cultivate when he comes into 
 the presence of the Lord. They contain in them a concentration of 
 all that distinguishes animated being, as God is worthy of all their 
 homage and service, for he is the source of all created excellence. 
 Now, as the angels often appear surrounding the divine throne, this 
 combination of various forms may be a symbol of that strength, 
 courage, intelligence, and fervour, which belong to them, as it 
 embodies in itself the noblest characteristics of the inferior creation; 
 and this emblematic union of all the powers of life, connected, at the 
 same time, so intimately with man’s fall and expulsion by the sta¬ 
 tion of the cherubim at Eden, and associated so closely again with 
 his recovery and salvation by their position on the mercy-seat, may 
 foreshadow that ultimate perfection which redeemed humanity shall 
 reach, when it shall be “ equal to the angels,” and live in immediate 
 oneness and communion with God, the spring of existence and glory. 
 
 The prophet Nahum styles Nineveh the “ mistress of witchcrafts,” 
 and there is no doubt that many superstitious forms of ascertaining 
 the will of heaven were in common practice. Layard mentions 
 that on all the slabs which form the entrance to the royal 
 chambers in the oldest palaces of Nimroud, there were found 
 dark spots, resembling blood—a ceremony that forcibly reminds 
 us of the paschal feast which the Llebrew nation observed by divine 
 appointment in Egypt. Magic was a favourite study; 1 and 
 all religion was connected with royalty. Layard observes, “ The 
 residence of the king, as I have observed, was probably at the same 
 time the temple, and that he himself was either supposed to be 
 invested with divine attributes, or was looked upon as a type of the 
 Supreme Deity, is shown by the sculptures. The winged figures, 
 even that with the head of the eagle, minister to him. All his acts, 
 whether in war or peace, appear to have been connected with the 
 national religion, and were believed to be under the special protection 
 and superintendence of the deity. When he is represented in battle, 
 the winged figure in the circle hovers above his head, bends the bow 
 against his enemies, or assumes his attitude of triumph. His contests 
 with the lion and other formidable animals, not only show his prowess 
 and skill, but typify, at the same time, his superior strength and wisdom. 
 Whether he has overcome his enemies or the wild beasts, he pours 
 out a libation from the sacred cup, attended by his courtiers, and by 
 the winged figures. The embroideries upon his robes, and upon those 
 of his attendants, have all mythic meanings. Even his weapons, 
 bracelets, and armlets, are adorned with the forms of sacred animals, 
 
 1 Ezekiel xxi. 21. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 251 
 
 the lion, bull, or duck. In architectural decorations, the same 
 religious influence is evident. The fir, or pine cone, and the honey¬ 
 suckle, are constantly repeated. They form friezes, the capitals of 
 columns, and the fringes of hangings. Chairs, tables, and couches, 
 are adorned with the heads and feet of the bull, the lion, and the 
 ram, all sacred animals. Even on chariots and on the trappings of 
 horses, the Assyrians introduced their religious emblems.” 1 
 
 The wedge-shaped characters common to this region of the east Letters, 
 have also been successfully studied. Grotefend of Bonn set the 
 example, and discovered nearly a third of the entire cuneiform 
 alphabet. His spirit has animated his son at Hanover. Burnouf 
 followed in 1836 ; Lassen’s genius soon eclipsed his predecessors; the 
 merits of Westergaard claim our eulogy and thanks, but the crown 
 of learned and successful ingenuity now graces the brow of Major 
 Rawlinson. The form of writing is divided by him into Primitive 
 Babylonian, Achaemenian Babylonian, Medo-Assyrian, Assyrian, 
 and Elymaean. 
 
 J n 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4^ y 
 
 
 xjhfer ^ 
 
 eT 
 
 
 
 m NT 31 
 
 
 
 
 TT 4 ►&= g 
 
 — 
 
 m y 
 
 '►-nr m 
 
 == 
 
 
 4 -T 
 
 If i 
 
 f: 4 
 
 
 w 
 
 [From the Slab in the British Museum.] 
 
 Cuneiform letters are peculiar to these eastern nations. Wedge- Alphabet, 
 shaped or arrow-headed characters were employed for monu¬ 
 mental inscriptions, and were written from left to right, while the 
 cursive or popular mode of writing ran from right to left, and 
 was one of the many modifications of that oriental alphabet which 
 was used in Phoenicia, Palestine, and Babylonia. There are three 
 great classes of cuneiform characters, representing the literary usages 
 of the Semitic, Persian, and Median nations. The old Assyrian 
 alphabet, and its more modern and complex descendant, with its 
 300 different characters, are nearly as different from one another as 
 they both are from imitations of them among the neighbouring 
 
 1 vol. ii. 473. 
 
252 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Primeval 
 
 Tongue. 
 
 Linguistic 
 
 affinities. 
 
 races. The straight line seems to have been the primitive shape; 
 the barb, or arrow-head, being subsequently added both for distinc¬ 
 tion and ornament. Thus, as in the case of the Egyptian hiero¬ 
 glyphics, a phonetic alphabet was arranged in course of time, and 
 this mode of public inscription is found amidst the ruins of all the 
 ancient cities on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Bricks, 
 cylinders, and slabs of gypsum and alabaster, are seen everywhere 
 marked with these rude and primitive scrawls. And may we not 
 infer that the tongue represented by this alphabet, found among the 
 debris of these ruined cities and palaces, will, in all probability, 
 represent that universal speech which prevailed “ when the earth 
 was of one language ?” Farther researches will show the structure of 
 that primeval speech, whether it be allied more to the Semitic or to the 
 Indo-Germanic dialects, or whether it contain peculiarities common to 
 both these great classes of languages. 1 So far as has been ascertained, 
 the old Assyrian tongue is allied to the Hebrew, and also to the 
 Egyptian or old Coptic, the affinities of which we have already 
 described. Major Rawlinson, by a few examples of pronouns, nouns, 
 and verbs, has shown that the Assyrian tongue touches at many 
 points the Syro-Arabic and Indo-Germanic languages, including 
 also the dialect of ancient Egypt. The definite article occupies a 
 medial position between Hebrew and Arabic; its first personal pro¬ 
 noun is identical with the same word in Coptic and Hebrew; 
 the third personal pronoun is allied to Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin; 
 its words of negation are all Semitic; one of its conjunctions is 
 but another spelling of the Latin et; its substantive verb is both 
 Coptic and Celtic, as is to be seen in some of the tenses of the 
 corresponding part of speech in Latin, and is also the regular 
 formative in the Latin passive conjugation. The personal pronoun first 
 person singular in Babylonian and Assyrian is anak, Hebrew ois*; suf¬ 
 fixed to nouns, it is ud and i, to verbs ani. The pronoun of the second 
 person seems to be nanta or anta, Hebrew nnx; suffixed, it is a simple 
 k; third person singular masculine su, Hebrew sin; among the 
 demonstrative pronouns is haga rnn. We may recognise in the 
 Babylonian, the Niphal, Hiphil, Hophal, and Hitlipael conjugations of 
 the Hebrew, and the Xthpaal, Aphel, Ittaphal, Shaphel, and Ishta- 
 phel of the Chaldee. The Babylonian verb in preterite marks the 
 distinction of persons by prefixes, like the Hebrew Future. Among 
 the Babylonian particles are lipenai, before, itta with, ad to, anog 
 in front of. The Babylonian roots are almost wholly biliteral, e.g. 
 ten to give, |n:; duk to smite, pp^; mit to die, mo; rad to go down, 
 it ; kun to establish, ps; sib to dwell, inn; am, mother; bar , a son; 
 beth, a house; erts , land; sem, a name, &c. Bopp, in his “ Verglei- 
 chende Grammatik,” has laid down certain laws for the change of 
 
 1 A comparison of the various eastern alphabets proves their affinity. The same 
 letters' or forms may be traced in the alphabets of the Phoenicians, Palmyrenes, 
 Babylonians, Hebrews, &c. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 253 
 
 letters among tire different dialects of tile Indo-Germanic class of 
 languages, and wlien such investigations shall have been also applied 
 to these early eastern tongues, greater affinities shall be discovered 
 and proved. Dr. Hincks, at the British Association, in 1850, read 
 a paper in Avhich he sought to prove that the cuneiform character 
 had a distinct syllabic value, and was Indo-European in its nature, 
 though it represented a Semitic tongue. Eawlinson denied not a 
 few of these assertions, and thought that many of the characters had 
 once a syllabic value, but that, in subsequent use, they had only a 
 phonetic power, expressed only the initial sound or articulation of 
 the name of the object depicted, and that, in short, they were simply 
 letters or mere portions of a syllable. 
 
 The process of discovery resembles the course of successful experi- process of 
 ments which had been made upon the monumental inscriptions of dlscovery - 
 Egypt. In many parts of Persia are found inscriptions in three 
 different languages and alphabets 1 —alphabets differing in their 
 whole phonetic structure and organization. One of these languages 
 was at length discovered, and by its help the other two were gradu¬ 
 ally developed. This old Iranian or Persic language, which was first 
 understood, has now been so well studied by the aid of the Zend and. 
 the Sanscrit, that “ there are not more than twenty Persian words 
 in the whole Persian cuneiform records, upon the meaning, gram¬ 
 matical condition, or etymology of which, any doubt or difference of 
 opinion can be said at present to exist.” 2 The groups which repre¬ 
 sent proper names, such as those of Xerxes and Darius, were the 
 earliest foimd out and identified, and by a tentative process their 
 phonetic value was ascertained. A certain number of characters Results, 
 being thus fixed, a complete alphabet was by and by eliminated. 
 
 The other two languages, the one of them Semitic, and the other 
 Median or Scythian, were also speedily interpreted. The first of these 
 two classes being Babylonian, is found on bricks 3 excavated from the 
 foundations of buildings in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldtea, and 
 may be divided into two varieties, the one of them older than the other. 
 
 The Median characters, of which there are more than one hundred, 
 represent a language spoken at the period by a large portion of the 
 Persian empire. The meaning of two hundred Babylonian words 
 has now been distinctly ascertained, and philological investigation is 
 unwearied in its successful researches. The number of terms 
 occurring in Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions is about four 
 
 1 The reason of three different languages being employed in these inscriptions, 
 is similar to the necessity which exists in those countries at the present day, ■viz., 
 that as different languages are spoken, so public edicts to be understood must still 
 be Triglott,—Persian, Turkish, and Arabic. 
 
 2 Commentary on the Cuneiform Inscriptions, read before the Eoyal Asiatic 
 Society, by Major H. C. Eawlinson. 
 
 3 The frequent use of bricks or tiles for such purposes explains the reason of 
 the command given to Ezekiel, iv. 1, “ Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and 
 lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.” 
 
254 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Rawlinson. 
 
 Resuscitation 
 of Nineveh. 
 
 thousand. Still we are not to suppose that the task has been nearly 
 accomplished. Much remains to be done, after all the toil and 
 ingenuity which have been expended. Rawlinson himself, with that 
 candour which belongs to genuine erudition, makes the following 
 modest admission:— 
 
 “ I will frankly confess, indeed, that after having mastered every 
 Babylonian letter, and every Babylonian word, to which any clue 
 existed in the trilingual tablets, either by direct evidence or by 
 induction, I have been tempted, on more occasions than one, in 
 striving to apply the key thus obtained to the interpretation of the 
 Assyrian Inscriptions, to abandon the study altogether in utter 
 despair of arriving at any satisfactory result. It would be affecta¬ 
 tion to pretend that, because I can ascertain the general purport of 
 an inscription, or, because I can read and approximately render a 
 plain historical record like that upon the Nineveh Obelisk, I am 
 really a complete master of the ancient Assyrian language. It would 
 be disingenuous to slur over the broad fact, that the science of 
 Assyrian decipherment is yet in its infancy. Let it be remembered, 
 that although fifty years have elapsed since the Rosetta Stone was 
 first discovered, and its value was recognised as a partial key to the 
 hieroglyphs, during which period many of the most powerful intel¬ 
 lects of modern Europe have devoted themselves to the study of 
 Egyptian; nevertheless, that study, as a distinct branch of philology, 
 has hardly yet passed through its first preliminary stage of cultiva¬ 
 tion. How, then, can it be expected, that in studying Assyrian, with 
 an alphabet scarcely less difficult, and with a language far more 
 difficult than the Egyptian,—with no Plutarch to dissect the Pan¬ 
 theon and supply the names of the gods,—no Manetho or Eratos¬ 
 thenes to classify the dynasties and furnish the means of identifying 
 the kings,—how can it be supposed, that with all the difficulties 
 that beset, and none of the facilities that assist Egyptologers, two or 
 three individuals are to accomplish in a couple of years, more than 
 all Europe has been able to effect in half a century ? ” 
 
 The partial resuscitation of Nineveh is indeed one of the wonders of 
 modern enterprise and enthusiasm. The success of Botta and 
 Layard—the investigations of Rawlinson and other philologers—the 
 immense variety of all sorts of relics dug up from the mounds—the 
 tomb and statue of Sardanapalus—the magnificent throne on which 
 sat the Assyrian monarch three thousand years ago—with shields, 
 swords, crowns, bowls, and ornaments in ivory and mother of pearl— 
 these and other extraordinary discoveries almost enable us to realise 
 the picture of Nineveh in its proud days of ancient fame and 
 grandeur:— 
 
 “ The days of old return ;—I breathe the air 
 Of the young world;—I see her giant sons 
 Like to a gorgeous pageant in the sky 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Of summer’s evening, cloud on fiery cloud 
 Thronging upheaped,—before me rise the walls 
 Of the Titanic city—brazen gates— 
 
 Towers—temples—palaces enormous piled— 
 Imperial Nineveh, the earthly queen! 
 
 In all her golden pomp I see her now r — 
 
 Her swarming streets—her splendid festivals— 
 Her sprightly damsels, to the timbrel’s sound 
 Airily bounding, and their anklets’ chime— 
 
 Her lusty sons, like summer morning gay— 
 
 Her warriors stern—her rich-robed rulers grave ; 
 I see her halls sun-bright at midnight shine— 
 
 I hear the music of her banquetings— 
 
 I hear the laugh, the whisper, and the sigh. 
 
 A sound of stately treading towards me comes— 
 A silken wafting on the cedar floor : 
 
 As from Arabia’s flowering groves, an air 
 Delicious breathes around,—tall, lofty-browed, 
 Pale, and majestically beautiful— 
 
 In vesture gorgeous as the clouds of morn— 
 With slow, proud step, her glorious dames sweep 
 
 [Palace of Nimrod— Botta.} 
 
[Babylon.] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 In our account of Semiramis some general idea has been given of 
 Babylon—the capital of the province named after it—as well as of 
 the Chaldam-Babylonian empire. “ Babel the proud,” was renowned 
 for its wealth, splendour, and luxury through all the east. It was 
 “ the glory of kingdoms—the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency.” 1 
 It was situated in a fertile territory, as we have already remarked, 
 and it was also noted for its commercial enterprise. 
 
 That the maritime commerce of Babylon was very considerable, 
 might be inferred from the expression of Isaiah, 2 where he speaks of 
 the Chaldseans, “ whose cry is in their ships.” The Persian Gulf 
 and the vast rivers which formed the natural boundaries of Baby¬ 
 lonia, were, indeed, before the discovery of the passage round the 
 Cape of Good Hope, almost the only channels by which the treasures 
 of India could pass into Western Asia and Europe; and such con- 
 
 2 xliii. 14. 
 
 1 Isa. xiii. 19. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 MERCHANDISE. 
 
 257 
 
 tinned to be the case till the policy of the Persian Court discouraged 
 its subjects from navigating the Indian Ocean. 1 The Babylonian 
 princes, on the contrary, evidently promoted the maritime enter¬ 
 prises of their subjects; nor could the splendour and luxury of their 
 court have been maintained without a constant supply from the 
 eastern regions beyond them. The spices from the continent and imports, 
 islands; cinnamon, ivory, and ebony of Ceylon; pearls from Bahrain 
 and Man-ar, together with the myrrh and frankincense of Arabia, were 
 among the valuable articles imported for the use of the Babylonian 
 nobles, and conveyed by the Chaldtean merchants to the coasts of 
 the Mediterranean. From a port near Maceta, the north-eastern 
 promontory of Arabia, the Island of Tylos, (called by the Arabians 
 Bahrain,) and from Gerra, a colony of Chaldseans, 2 on the south-western 
 side of the Persian Gidf, supplies of Indian goods were conveyed to 
 Thapsacus, the principal emporium on the Euphrates. Cotton, 
 according to Theophrastus, 3 was produced in abundance at Tylos, 
 near which were the great beds of pearl-oysters; that island also 
 probably furnished the ornamental staves or sceptres which were 
 much in request among the Babylonians, and certainly supplied them 
 with an invaluable kind of timber peculiarly adapted for ship-build¬ 
 ing, inasmuch as it never rotted though drenched with water. It 
 was also the more desirable to the Babylonians, as their country 
 did not produce a single forest tree. 
 
 The great emporium for the internal commerce from the north and internal 
 east was Opis, 4 on the Tigris, and that river was then navigable to a Jli;1 ' chan<iise - 
 considerable height above its mouth ; the artificial rapids formed by 
 order of the Persian kings not being yet in existence. By this 
 channel, as well as by the Euphrates, came the wines of Armenia, 
 and many other productions of colder and more elevated regions. 
 
 Excellent roads had been made at a very early period through the 
 whole of Central and Western Asia, and caravans of camels then, as 
 now, conveyed its merchandise from one extremity to the other. 
 
 The carpets, hangings, and embroidery of Babylon were ex¬ 
 changed for gold and precious stones brought from the heart of 
 Asia. The countries near the heads of the Indus furnished kermes 
 for the purple dye, 5 which was the pride of Babylon, and gold for its 
 courts and temples, in one of which alone there was as much as 
 amounted to the sum of 800 talents, i. e. upwards of two millions 
 sterling. Another favourite object also came from the same quarter; 
 that remarkable race of Indian dogs, which were so fierce and 
 powerful as to be reputed the mixed offspring of a bitch and a tiger. 6 
 No less than four large villages were appointed to take charge of the 
 royal pack of this extraordinary breed, and were exempted, on that 
 account, from every other tribute. 7 
 
 1 Heeren, Ideen fiber die Politik, &c. ii. 739. 2 Strabo, xvi. p. 381. 
 
 3 iv. 9. 4 Strabo, 1. xvi. 5 Otesias, Indica, c. 21. 
 
 6 Aristot. Hist. Animal, viii. c. 23. Ctesias, Ind. c. 25. 7 Herod, i. 192. 
 
 [e. O. H.] S 
 
258 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Manufac¬ 
 
 tures. 
 
 Their value. 
 
 Its manufactures also were famous through the old world, and 
 and were proverbial for their extreme beauty, rich colour, and fine 
 texture. Among the spoils of Jericho there was found and prized, 
 in the days of Joshua, “ a goodly Babylonish garment.” 1 Babylonia 
 was in truth no less celebrated for its manufactures than for its 
 commerce. Its cloths were famous for them brilliant colours and 
 delicate formation; and the mantle, which Cato sold, because he 
 thought it too splendid for a conscientious Roman to wear, as well as 
 the hangings for a single apartment, which cost 800,000 sesterces, or 
 more than = £6400, are almost proverbial evidences of the enor¬ 
 mous prices paid for the productions of the Babylonian looms. 
 Such indeed was their real or supposed excellence, that one of Nero’s 
 dining-rooms, as Pliny 2 tells us, was hung with Babylonian cloths at 
 an expense of nearly £32,300, (4,000,000 of sesterces.) The value 
 of these manufactures was derived not only from their materials, but 
 from them varied colours and elegant patterns, for they resembled 
 the Turkey carpets of the present day. These are the genuine 
 descendants it should seem of them Babylonian predecessors, for the 
 peristromata Babylonica consutaque tapetia , “ Babylonian carpets and 
 tapestry,” mentioned by Plautus, 3 and the Alexandrina belluata con- 
 
 [Ancient Eastern Seats.— Brit. 3fits, and Bosellini.] 
 
 1 Joshua vii. 21. 
 
 2 vii. 48. 
 
 3 Stich. act. ii. sc. 2, v. 54. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 DRESS—GOVERNMENT-RELIGION. 
 
 259 
 
 chyliata tapetia, “ Alexandrian hangings adorned with representations 
 of shells and monsters,” named by him in another play, 1 were mani¬ 
 festly just such articles as are now exported from Constantinople and 
 Smyrna. 
 
 The dress of the Babylonians, according to Herodotus, 3 consisted Dress, 
 of a linen shirt hanging down to the feet, and over it a woollen tunic; 
 while a small white mantle was wrapped round the body. Their 
 sandals were like those of the Boeotians, a sort of low buskin with a 
 wooden sole. They allowed their hair to grow, covered their heads 
 with caps, and rubbed perfumes over every part of their bodies. 
 
 Every individual also had his characteristic seal and staff or sceptre, 
 the latter in compliance with an express law, and probably serving 
 as a distinction of rank and office. 
 
 The government was in the highest degree despotic, the will of Government, 
 the monarch being almost the only law acknowledged. 3 How far it 
 might be checked by the prevailing customs and superstitions of the 
 people it is difficult to conjecture, from the scanty accounts which 
 have been handed down to us. The degree of civilisation which the 
 Babylonians had attained, might be inferred from some remarkable 
 institutions mentioned by Herodotus 4 and Strabo, 5 the first of which 
 was the sale of all marriageable women, and the employment of the 
 sums paid for the handsome, as a fund to provide portions for the 
 ugly. The second was the open prostitution of their wives and daugh¬ 
 ters, ascribed by Herodotus to the poverty and degradation arising Debauchery, 
 from the subjugation of them country; and the last, the necessity 
 to which every Babylonian woman was subjected, of remaining in 
 the sacred enclosure round the temple of Mylitta, (Venus,) till some 
 stranger had favoured her with his embraces. 6 There were no phy¬ 
 sicians, but all the sick were exposed in the forum, so that every one 
 who happened to pass by might inquire into their maladies, and give 
 them the best advice he could offer. The corpses of the deceased Decease, 
 were deposited in a vessel filled with honey, a custom somewhat 
 resembling that of the Veddas, or wild Singhalese, who preserve 
 then’ dried venison in the same fluid. 
 
 The religion of the Chaldeeans was a system of polytheism, pro- Religion, 
 bably somewhat similar to that of the Assyrians; but as little more 
 than the names of the principal Babylonian deities has been men¬ 
 tioned by the ancient writers, it is difficult to form any satisfactory 
 conjectures on the subject. The sepulchral rites of the Babylonians 
 bore a strong resemblance to those of the Egyptians, 7 and according 
 to some ancient traditions, Belus, the son of Ninus, and founder 
 of the empire, came from Egypt into Chaldgea. It is possible, there¬ 
 fore, that the religion and sciences of the former might be early trans¬ 
 planted into the latter. In both countries, a clear atmosphere, 
 
 1 Pseudol. 1. 2, v. 168. 3 i. 195. 3 Dan. i. 10, ii. 5. iii. 19. 
 
 4 i. 196. 5 xvi. 6 ib. 199. 
 
 7 Herod, i. 198. 
 
260 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Sabaism. 
 
 Chaldseans. 
 
 level surface and warm climate, seemed to invite men to the con¬ 
 templation of the heavens; the apparent motions of the sphere and 
 planets, must have soon attracted their notice, and have led to the 
 discovery of the first elements of astronomy; but superstitious and 
 interested motives soon turned their attention into a different channel, 
 and instead of simply recording the motions of the celestial bodies, 
 they began to draw auguries from their relative positions and sup¬ 
 posed influences, and framed that system of astrological predictions, 
 which was far more astonishing and profitable than the sober truths 
 of unpretending science. It was quickly interwoven with their 
 
 [Babylonish Idol.] 
 
 fabulous theology, and naturally formed a part of the studies of their 
 priests, who would be predisposed to become the dupes or the pro¬ 
 moters of such delusions. Those attached to the service of Belus, 
 were, according to Herodotus, 1 peculiarly called Chakbeans, and 
 Clement of Alexandria, 2 gives them the title of philosophers. From 
 them, as Herodotus informs us, 3 the Greeks derived their knowledge 
 of the pole, the sun-dial, and the division of the day into twelve 
 parts. Their philosophy, which seems to have been the original 
 doctrine taught in the schools of Pythagoras and Plato, though modi¬ 
 fied by the Greeks, maintained the eternity of the world; and they 
 pretended to possess a series of astronomical observations regularly 
 handed down from father to son, during a succession of four hundred 
 and thirty centuries. They had different places assigned for their 
 residence, and were, for the most part, says Strabo, 4 engaged in the 
 study of astronomy; the few who gave themselves up to the trade 
 of casting nativities, not being acknowledged or tolerated by the 
 rest as legitimate members of the sacred order. The astronomers 
 
 i i. 181. 
 3 ii. 109. 
 
 - Stromat. i. p. 359. 
 4 xvi. c. 1. 
 
Chai*. IV.] 
 
 CHALDyEANS. 
 
 261 
 
 among them were split into a variety of sects, such as the Orcheni, 
 the Borsippeni, &c. who held different doctrines respecting the same 
 subjects. The latter probably derived their name from Borsippa, a 
 town sacred to Diana and Apollo, 1 and remarkable for the number 
 and size of its bats, which were caught to be salted as an article of 
 food, as well as for its manufactory of linen-cloths. A section of 
 the magi are also styled Clialdseans in the book of Daniel. “ Then 
 came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldseans, and the 
 soothsayers.” 2 Isaiah describes, with withering scorn, the various Oracle of 
 processes and results of Babylonian divination. 
 
 “ There shall come upon thee both of these— 
 
 Suddenly in one day— 
 
 Loss of children and widowhood ; 
 
 They shall come upon thee in their perfection. 
 
 In spite of thy multiplied sorceries, 
 
 In spite of the vast abundance of thy spells. 
 
 Thy wisdom and thy science have perverted thee. . . . 
 
 Persevere now with thy incantations, 
 
 And with the multitude of thy sorceries, 
 
 In which thou hast toiled from thy youth ; 
 
 Perchance thou mayest profit by them, 
 
 Peradventure thou mayest prevail. 
 
 Thou art wearied with the multitude of thy counsels. 
 
 Let the heaven-dividers, the astrologers, 
 
 The soothsayers at new moon. 
 
 Stand up now and save thee 
 
 From the things which are coming upon thee. 
 
 Behold they shall be as stubble, 
 
 The fire shall burn them up; 
 
 They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.” 3 
 
 The prophet Ezekiel also represents the lung of Babylon as con- Description 
 suiting his court magicians prior to his invasion of Palestine,—“ The of Ezekiel 
 king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of 
 the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he con¬ 
 sulted with images, he looked in the liver. At his right hand was 
 the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth 
 in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint batter¬ 
 ing-rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.” 4 
 
 The Chaldseans, to whom reference is so often made, appear to origin of the 
 have been originally a hardy race of Armenian mountaineers, who Chaldseans. 
 descended into the province of Babylonia and took possession of it. 
 
 Their early habits were those of the wandering and predatory Arabs. 
 
 It is said of them in the book of Job, by one of his servants,— u The 
 Chaldseans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels and have 
 carried them away, yea, and slam the servants with the edge of the 
 sword; and I only am escaped to tell thee.” 5 They seem in course 
 
 1 Strabo, xvi. c. 1. 
 
 4 Ezek. xxi. 21, 22. 
 
 3 Dan. iv. 7. 
 
 « i. 17. 
 
 3 xlvii. 9—14. 
 
262 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Nebuchad¬ 
 
 nezzar. 
 
 His 
 
 conquests. 
 
 His disease. 
 
 of time to have mingled with the aboriginal inhabitants, while as 
 yet the country was under Assyrian ride, and this union laid the 
 foundation of the Chaldseo-Babylonian empire. 
 
 We have already said that after the overthrow of Nineveh, Nabo- 
 polassar assumed the sovereignty of Babylon. 1 His son, Nebuchad¬ 
 nezzar, 2 eclipsed the fame of his predecessor, adorned his capital with 
 many magnificent edifices and gardens, carried his victorious arms 
 to the western boundary of Asia, and has won himself an immortal 
 renown for the splendours and conquests of his reign. His invasion 
 of Judah has also given him a place in the sacred history. The 
 kings of Jerusalem became puppets in his hands, and at length the 
 holy city was sacked and laid in ruins by the Chaldtean armies. 
 The ancient commercial capital of Tyre was also blockaded and 
 seized by him, and the hosts of Babylon marched after this conquest 
 into Egypt, and subdued the kingdom of the Pharaohs. 3 The 
 history of Nebuchadnezzar, as contained in Scripture, need not be 
 here repeated. His vain-glorious spirit is fully pictured in that 
 unconscious soliloquy which burst from his lips as he walked on the 
 terraces of his palace, and surveyed the city which he had adorned 
 and enlarged—“ Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the 
 house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour 
 of my majesty?” 4 The dreams which were vouchsafed to him, and their 
 interpretation by the Hebrew captive; his erection of a colossal image 
 or obelisk on the plains of Dura; and his tyrannous conduct towards 
 the three Jewish youths who refused to compromise their religious 
 principles, are also rehearsed in the book of Daniel. The disease into 
 which he fell, and which was a terrible rebuke of his arrogance, was 
 one which physicians have often recognised—that perverted condition 
 
 [Dura.] 
 
 1 p. 214. 
 
 2 This name in which that of the God Nebo is incorporated, signifies “ Nebo— 
 prince of the gods.” 
 
 3 See above, pp. 102—104. 4 Daniel iv. 30. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 KINGS OF BABYLON. 
 
 263 
 
 of the nervous system under which a man fancies himself to be one of 
 the inferior creation, and thinks and acts in perfect unison with 
 the grotesque and imaginary metamorphosis. The proud king of 
 Babylon, with unpruned nails and unkempt locks, grovelling like a 
 beast, and assuming as far as possible all its habits;—what a lesson 
 on the vanity of royal pomp and parade! And yet Nebuchadnezzar 
 speaks intelligently and gratefully of Divine Providence after his 
 recovery. In fact, his language and apparent monotheism are quite His recovery, 
 surprising:—“ And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted 
 up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto 
 me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him 
 that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and 
 his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the in¬ 
 habitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth accord¬ 
 ing to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of 
 the earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest 
 thou ? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and, for the 
 glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto 
 me: and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was 
 established in my kingdom; and excellent majesty was added unto 
 me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King 
 of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and 
 those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” 1 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar was associated with his father in the government Computa- 
 for about two years prior to his father’s decease. This computation rdgii. 0fhlS 
 is adopted by the Jews in their sacred books, and the fourth year of 
 the reign of Jehoiakim is the first of Nebuchadnezzar; while on the 
 other hand, the Babylonians calculate his reign from the period of 
 his sole administration—the method naturally adopted by the prophet 
 Daniel, from his long residence in Chaldaea. Nebuchadnezzar died 
 about B.c. 562, and was succeeded by his son, Evil-Merodach. This Evii-Mero- 
 piince seems to have had but a short and inglorious reign, and is dach ' 
 noted in Scripture for his kindness to Jehoiachin, the captive king 
 of Judah. 2 The tradition is that Evil-Merodach reigned during the 
 period of his father’s hypochondriacal solitude, but on his recovery 
 was imprisoned by paternal edict, for alleged faults in his goverment; 
 and that during his incarceration he was thrown into the company 
 of the Hebrew sovereign, with whom he seems to have contracted 
 a warm and genuine friendship. A conspiracy was formed against 
 him among his own kindred, and he fell a victim to it, and was suc¬ 
 ceeded by Neriglassar, one of the chief conspirators. 
 
 Neriglassar determined to invade Media, of whose rising power he Neriglassar. 
 was jealous. The monarch of Babylon, aware that he fought for no 
 light stake, and with no informidable enemy, addressed liimself to 
 the conflict with all his force, and called in the energies of surround- 
 
 1 Dan. iv. 34. 
 
 2 2 Kings sxv. 27. 
 
264 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Invasion of 
 Media. 
 
 His death. 
 
 Lahorosoar- 
 
 chod. 
 
 Nabonadius. 
 
 ing nations, whose alliance he courted. Ambassadors had been 
 dispatched into Phrygia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Caria, Lydia, 
 Cilicia, and to the Indies themselves, to ferment hostility against the 
 Medes, as aspiring to universal monarchy. Ah! how well this pretext 
 became the king of Babylon, whose ancestor had affected this beyond 
 all other men, and achieved it more than most; and against the 
 Medes, who had been the first to resist his exorbitant demands, and 
 to break his yoke of slavery from their necks! 
 
 After a preparation of not less than three years, both parties took 
 the field; the king of Babylon and his allies, the aggressors—the 
 combined forces of the Medes and Persians, acting on the defensive. 
 After some days, the Babylonians and Lydians quitted their entrench¬ 
 ments, and the engagement became general. Neriglassar was defeated 
 and slain in the battle. Croesus, who assumed the command, as the 
 next in dignity among the allies, was so hotly pursued in his retreat, 
 that many prisoners were made and a large booty was taken. The 
 prisoners, with his usual magnanimity, Cyrus set at liberty, after 
 exacting a promise that they should no more serve against him and 
 his allies in the war; and the spoils he appropriated to his uncle 
 Cyaxares. The life and career of Cyrus will be described with more 
 appropriateness in the succeeding book. In the meantime we 
 must include so much of his career as is connected with the fall of 
 Babylon. 
 
 Laborosoarchod, who succeeded Neriglassar, was as savage and 
 effeminate as his predecessor had been warlike and politic. By acts 
 of the most wanton cruelty he drove two of his most distinguished 
 officers, Gobrias and Gadates, to revolt; and they placed in the 
 hands of Cyrus their respective provinces. Learning that the tyranny 
 of the Babylonian monarch had alienated the hearts of his subjects, 
 while he was engaged in every species of debauchery, the Persian 
 hero established himself in Assyria, defeated Laborosoarchod, ravaged 
 the country, twice showed himself before the walls of Babylon itself, 
 and reduced some fortresses upon the frontiers on his return into 
 Media. At length the tyranny of Laborosoarchod became insuffer¬ 
 able, and he died by assassination, in the ninth month of his san¬ 
 guinary reign. 
 
 Nabonadius, who was the principal conspirator, was elevated to 
 the throne. This is the Labynitus of Herodotus, and the Belshazzar 
 of the Scriptures. His character was not at all better than that 
 ascribed to his predecessor, whose reign, because it did not complete 
 the year, is not entered upon Ptolemy’s canon. But Nitocris, his 
 mother, was as distinguished for talent, as her son was infamous for 
 debauchery. She had the honour of completing, so far as they were 
 ever finished, the works carried on by Nebuchadnezzar, on so mag¬ 
 nificent a scale, in fortifying and adorning Babylon. To her that 
 city was indebted for the stupendous work of walls on each side of 
 the river, and brazen gates of the same strength and magnitude with 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 NABONADIUS ROUSED TO ACTION. 
 
 265 
 
 those which surrounded the city, and a vault of communication be¬ 
 neath the bed of the stream, leading from the old to the new palace. 
 
 To her counsels it must be imputed that the shaking fortunes of the 
 empire were held together, for her son had abandoned himself wholly 
 to sensuality, as unmindful of the safety of his people, as careless of 
 his own renown. Cyaxares and Cyrus resolved upon an effectual 
 mode of warfare—to direct their force to the reduction of the prin¬ 
 cipal towns of the Babylonians, until it might be practicable to 
 blockade the metropolis. For some time they advanced towards the 
 completion of their design, and had reduced considerable provinces 
 to subjection, until even Nabonadius felt it necessary to adopt some Roused to 
 measures to divert or crush the increasing influence of his opponent, actlon - 
 who now even menaced his capital. He applied in person to Croesus, 
 who, by flatteries and presents, was induced to make common 
 cause with him. The assistance and interest of the king of Lydia 
 brought over to his arms the Greeks, Thracians, Egyptians, and the 
 nations of the Lesser Asia. Immediately upon receiving intelligence 
 of this armament, Cyrus advanced to give the allied powers battle, 
 with an army of 196,000 horse and foot, 300 chariots of war armed 
 with scythes, and with armaments still more formidable, such as 
 carriages of towers about twenty feet high, each capable of contain¬ 
 ing as many archers. The battle of Thymbra followed. After a 
 desperate resistance on the part of the Egyptians, Cyrus obtained a Victory ot 
 complete victory. Croesus retreated into Sardis, which city Cyrus Cyras ' 
 invested, took its citadel, and with it Croesus, whose life he spared. 
 
 [War Chariot of Iron armed with Scythes.] 
 
266 
 
 1SABYL0N. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Siege of 
 Babylon. 
 
 Belshazzar. 
 
 The omen. 
 
 The assault. 
 
 He prosecuted his victories in Lesser Asia, until he subdued the 
 several nations from the Aegean Sea to the Euphrates; after these 
 Syria and Arabia fell beneath his arms; and having reduced almost 
 all Asia, he repassed the great river, invaded the Assyrians, and 
 marched directly against Babylon. It was here that one of his 
 boldest projects was executed, for in undertaking the siege of the 
 last city in the east that held out against him, he was in danger of 
 wrecking all his military glory upon this final enterprise, from the 
 impregnability of this unrivalled capital. An immense lake having 
 been excavated to receive the waters of the neighbouring mountains, in 
 the event of any inundation, by Nebuchadnezzar, or as others think, 
 by Nitocris, Cyrus formed the idea of turning the river into the lake, 
 as Nebuchadnezzar is said to have done when he constructed its 
 banks, and of entering the city through its channel. He effected his 
 purpose, and drained the river during a night of profanity and dis¬ 
 sipation in Babylon, the interior scenes of which are described by a 
 greater historian than either Herodotus or Xenophon—the prophet 
 Daniel—from whose story we shall derive the certain record of this 
 great and terrible event. 
 
 Belshazzar, presuming upon the strength of his city, and upon the 
 magazine of provisions, which, without any fresh supplies, less than 
 a twenty years’ siege could not exhaust, derided the efforts of his 
 powerful adversary. In the meantime the invaders encompassed the 
 city with a deep trench, keeping their purposes a profound secret; 
 and Cyrus was informed of the feast which was about to be held in 
 Babylon. Upon this night he determined to suspend the fates of his 
 army, and of the empire for which he fought. On this occasion of 
 festivity, Belshazzar, -with a bold impiety, at which his predecessors, 
 proud and daring as they were, would have shuddered, profaned the 
 vessels of the temple of Jehovah. The apparition of a hand, writing 
 on the wall of the palace, in unknown characters, first excited the 
 apprehensions of the king. In vain he called the astrologers and the 
 magicians; in vain he alternately threatened and implored them; 
 they could neither read the writing, nor make known the interpreta¬ 
 tion. The sentence was written in the old Samaritan characters, which 
 the Chaldeans did not understand; and could they have deciphered 
 them, they could not have explained them. The words literally 
 rendered are, “Numbered, numbered, weighed, and they divide.” 1 
 Daniel was sent for, and announced from them the immediate fall of 
 the empire. While such was the awful excitement at the palace, 
 Cyrus had drained the river into his moat, till the stream was fordable. 
 Informed of the confusion which reigned in the city, he issued orders 
 to his troops to enter it that very night, at north and south, by 
 marching up the channel. They were commanded by two eminent 
 officers, who advanced towards each other, -without any impediment, 
 
 1 Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Upharsin is the plural of Peres, preceded by 
 the conjunction U signifying and. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 RUIN OF BABYLON. 
 
 267 
 
 till they met in the centre of the river. God, who had promised to 
 open before him the gates of brass, preceded them, otherwise this 
 singular and adventurous expedition must have failed. Had the 
 gates which closed the avenues leading to the river been shut, which 
 was always the custom at night, the whole scheme had been 
 defeated. But so it was ordered by Providence, that on this night 
 of general riot and confusion, with unparalleled negligence, they were 
 left open ! so that these troops penetrated into the very heart of the 
 city without opposition, and reached the palace before any alarm 
 was given. The guards were immediately put to the sword, Bel- Babylon 
 sliazzar slain, and the city taken almost without resistance! b.c. 536. taken ' 
 Hence was fulfilled the remarkable oracle of Isaiah, in reference to 
 the conqueror of Babylon:— 
 
 ‘ ‘ He that saith to the abyss, be dry ; 
 
 And I will dry up thy Hoods : 
 
 He that saith to Cyrus, My shepherd, 
 
 And all my pleasure shall he fulfil,—■ 
 
 Saying indeed to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; 
 And to the Temple, Thou shalt be founded. 
 
 Thus saith Jehovah to his Anointed, to Cyrus, 
 "Whose right hand I have held fast, 
 
 To subdue the nations before him, 
 
 And to loose the loins of kings. 
 
 To open before him the folding doors ; 
 
 And the gates shall not be shut; 
 
 I will go before thee, 
 
 And the rough places will I level; 
 
 Doors of brass will I break in pieces, 
 
 And cut asunder the bars of iron : 
 
 T will give thee treasures of darkness, 
 
 And the hidden stores of secret places, 
 
 So that thou mayest know that I am Jehovah, 
 The God of Israel, who has announced thy name. 
 For the sake of my servant Jacob, 
 
 And Israel my chosen, 
 
 I will call thee distinctly by name, 
 
 I will give thee a title, 
 
 Though thou knowest me not.” 1 
 
 So fell tlie great city. It made several attempts at resistance 
 some years afterwards, but was always worsted in its efforts. 
 
 An insurrection under Darius Hystaspes (b.c. 500) provoked that Ruin of 
 prince to throw down the walls and gates which had been left by Bab y lon - 
 Cyrus. The temple of Belus was plundered and ruined by Xerxes; 
 and Alexander was prevented by his early death from fulfilling his 
 intention of restoring it. Strabo says 2 that 10,000 men were 
 employed for two months in removing its materials. The founda¬ 
 tion of Seleucia in its immediate neighbourhood, by Seleucus, one 
 
 1 xliv. 27, 28, xlv. 1—5. 
 
 2 xvi. 1. 
 
268 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Remains of 
 Babylon. 
 
 Mr. Rich. 
 
 of the successors of Alexander, drew away all the remaining inhabi¬ 
 tants of Babylon; and in the time of Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, 
 the greater part of the space within the walls was completely 
 desolate. St. Jerome, in the fourth century, was informed by a 
 Persian monk, that the site of Babylon had been converted into a 
 chase, or park, for the use of the Persian kings; and that the walls 
 were from time to time repaired, in order to prevent the game from 
 escaping. Thus was the prophecy of Isaiah 1 literally verified! 
 
 And Babylon the glory of kingdoms— 
 
 The ornament—the pride of the Chaldees, 
 
 Shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah, overthrown by God ; 
 She shall never again be inhabited 
 Nor dwelt in, through all generations ; 
 
 Not even the Arab shall pitch his tent there. 
 
 Neither shall the shepherd fold his flocks there; 
 
 But the wild beasts of the desert shall be there, 
 
 And the owls shall fill their houses, 
 
 And there shall dwell the daughters of the ostrich, 
 
 And wild goats shall gambol there, 
 
 And wolves shall howl in his palaces, 2 
 And jackals in his temples of pleasure ; 
 
 Her time is near to come, 
 
 Her days shall not be prolonged. 
 
 Various travellers, from Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth, to 
 Niebuhr in the eighteenth century, have given a description of the 
 mounds of earth and fragments of massive walls which just serve to 
 show the site on which this mighty capital once stood: but the most 
 complete and satisfactory account is that of the late Mr. Rich, resi¬ 
 dent, on the part of the East India Company, at the court of the 
 Pasha of Baghdad. His peculiar advantages, in consequence of the 
 post which he occupied, and his extraordinary knowledge of the 
 language and literature of the east, rendered him more fit for such 
 an inquiry than any of his predecessors; and little addition to his 
 communications can be made, till some fortunate concurrence of 
 circumstances enables some antiquary to make excavations among 
 the ruins. “ He expected,” he says, “ to have found more and less 
 on the site of Babylon than he actually did: ” more, because he 
 supposed he should have been able to have identified some of the 
 ancient buildings, which was quite impossible; “ less, because he 
 could form no conception of the prodigious extent of the whole mass 
 of ruins, their size, solidity, and the perfect state of some of their 
 parts.” 3 The traces of the city begin to be perceptible near Mohaeril, 
 
 1 xiii. 21. 
 
 2 And in their palaces, 
 
 Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped 
 And stabled.— Milton. 
 
 3 Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon; Mines d’Orient, tom. iii. p. 129. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 EL KAIR—BIKS NIMROUD. 
 
 269 
 
 a khan, or inn, nine English miles from Hillah, and thirty-eight to Hiiiah. 
 the south of Baghdad. The whole of the space between the two 
 former, exhibits here and there masses of bricks and bitumen, and 
 three mounds particularly attract attention by their magnitude. 
 
 Hillah itself is placed by Niebuhr in lat. 32° 28' N. on the east side 
 of the Euphrates. On that side also are all the remains of any 
 antiquity, except two small elevations, and one very considerable 
 ruin. A kind of circular mound, or enclosure, which commences 
 about two miles above Hillah, has the appearance of having been 
 the boundary-wall. It includes an area of about two miles and a 
 half one way, and one mile and one third the other. On the east 
 
 side, two straight dikes, or walls of earth, run from north to south, 
 
 parallel with the course of the Euphrates, forming, together with it 
 and the ends of the enclosure mentioned above, an oblong area, 
 containing three principal mounds of rubbish, which rise above 100 
 feet above the ordinary level of the river. The most northern of 
 these is the largest mass of ruins, which is called by the Arabs Makal- 
 lebah, ( i.e. subverted,) pronounced Mujellibeh by the natives of this MujeiiMi. 
 place; and is the tower of Belus according to Rennell and Pietro 
 della Valle. 1 Its form is oblong; the sides face the cardinal points; 
 the northern side is 200 yards, the southern 219, the eastern 192, 
 and the western 136. The elevation of the highest angle is 141 
 
 feet. It is believed by the Arabs to be haunted by demons and 
 
 satyrs; and it is the abode of owls, porcupines, and wild beasts. The 
 western face is that which presents the greatest appearance of 
 masonry. Near the top of it there is a low wall, consisting of 
 alternate layers of unburnt bricks and reeds, cemented with clay- 
 mortar of great thickness. On the south-east angle there is some¬ 
 thing like a turret. On digging into the earth accumulated upon 
 the summit, there were found layers of burnt brick cemented with 
 mortar, and occasionally whole bricks, with inscriptions on them. 
 
 The next ruin, in point of size, called by the Arabs El Kail', (the ei Kair. 
 Castle,) is one mile to the south of Mujellibeh. It consists of several 
 walls and piers, also facing the cardinal points, eight feet thick, 
 ornamented with buttresses, pilasters, and niches, of fine burnt brick, 
 laid in lime-mortar of extraordinary tenacity. There are subter¬ 
 ranean pits and passages beneath this building which are still unex¬ 
 plored. Near this ruin is an atheleh, (tamarix articulata,) which the 
 natives believe to have been coeval with the city. Of the walls of 
 Babylon, Mr. Rich could find no traces; but perhaps the curved 
 dike, which takes in so large a circuit, may be a part of them. The 
 most curious ruin, however, which Mr. Rich coincides with Niebuhr 2 
 in considering as the celebrated tower of Belus, is on the west side 
 of the river, about six miles S.W. of Hillah : it is called by the Arabs 
 
 Birs Nimroud, the tower of Nimrod, (for birs , which embarrassed Birs 
 
 Nimroud. 
 
 1 Geogr. of Herod, i. 355 ; Viaggi, i. 399. 
 
 2 Reise. ii. 289. 
 
270 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 [Birs Nimroud ] 
 
 Mr. Rich, is plainly the Persian word borz, as Gesenius has justly 
 expressed it,) and the prison of Nebuchadnezzar by the Jews. It 
 its structure, forms a mound consisting entirely of fine burnt bricks, with inscrip¬ 
 tions on them; and is of an oblong form, 7 62 yards in circum¬ 
 ference. The height of the east side is 50 or 60 feet; but on the 
 west it rises to 198 feet, in a conical form, being 28 feet in breadth 
 at the base. Its position, on the western side of the river, seems not 
 to agree with the place assigned by Herodotus to the tower of Belus; 
 but it is not clear from his account in what part of the town that 
 building was placed. Sir Robert Ker Porter supposes that the 
 fabric was destroyed by lightning—an idea quite in harmony with 
 its overthrow, the old tradition, that the tower of Babel was rent and demolished 
 by fire from heaven. It would seem that the strange words of the 
 prophet Jeremiah have reference to this huge structure:— 
 
 “ Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain! 
 
 Saith Jehovah, 
 
 Which destroyeth the whole earth ; 
 
 And I will stretch my hand over thee, 
 
 And roll thee down from the rocks, 
 
 And make thee a burnt mountain. 
 
 And they shall not take of thee a corner-stone, 
 
 Nor a stone for foundations ; 
 
 But thou shalt be desolate for ever, 
 
 Saith Jehovah.” 1 
 
 Bricks and No works of art which deserve to be called beautiful have 
 gems. been found in these ruins; but bricks and gems, with inscriptions, 
 and sculptures, similar to those brought from Persepolis, show 
 
 i li. 25, 26. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 INSPIRED PREDICTIONS. 
 
 271 
 
 the early connection between the Babylonian and Persian empires. 
 
 The inscriptions are generally placed on the lower side of the 
 bricks; and were therefore buried in a substratum of mortar, 
 and not designed to be observed or read. It has been therefore 
 inferred that they are magical formulas, or charms, to pro¬ 
 tect the building from the attack of evil spirits. 12 
 
 The divine oracles always connect sin and punishment. When Divine 
 iniquity reaches its maturity, it is speedily checked and chastened. Preiilctlons - 
 No city seems to have exceeded Babylon in profligacy, and none has 
 met with a more awful retribution. Guided by these ideas, Jeremiah, 
 in the fiftieth and fifty-first chapters of his prophecy, pictures the 
 siege and its final success—the gathering of the Median armies and 
 then- combined triumphs. The wickedness of the capital is assigned 
 as the cause of its punishment. The hasty cry of the seer is—“ Flee 
 out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not 
 cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; 
 he will render unto her a recompence.” 1 * 3 The special transgression 
 which offended heaven is pointed to, as the invasion of Judaa and 
 the plunder of the sacred fane in Jerusalem,—“ The Lord hath 
 brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion 
 the work of the Lord our God. Make bright the arrows; gather 
 the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the 
 Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it 
 is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.” 4 The 
 mustering of the hosts is pourtrayed with breathless anxiety,—“Set 
 ye up ‘a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, 
 prepare the nations against her, call together against her the king¬ 
 doms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz.” 5 The haughty and desolate 
 metropolis is at length overpowered, and her panic-stricken heroes 
 are caught in their revels. “ One post shall run to meet another, 
 and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon 
 that his city is taken at one end; and that the passages are stopped, 
 and the reeds they have burnt with fire, and the men of war are 
 affrighted. In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make 
 
 1 See Rich’s Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, 1818; Maurice’s Observations on 
 
 ditto, 1816; Gesenius, in Ersch’s Encycl. 
 
 3 The tongue of Chaldsea, called in Scripture Aramaean,* is closely allied to the 
 Hebrew, and is found in several chapters of Ezra and Daniel. It was spoken on the 
 banks of the Euphrates during the period of Hebrew captivity and servitude. Its 
 western or Syriac dialect prevailed in Palestine, before and during the time of 
 Christ. It is rougher and less flexible than the Hebrew, avoids the use of sibilants, 
 has a smaller number of vowel-sounds, and its verbs are monosyllabic. The ter¬ 
 minal a sound prevails, for the article is affixed, and the masculine plural ends in in. 
 
 There is no doubt of the close relationship of the Chaldee language to the elder 
 tongue of Nineveh, nor could it differ greatly from the dialect which was peculiar 
 to Babylon.f 
 
 3 li. 6. 4 11. 10, 11. 5 li. 27, 28. 
 
 * Dan. ii. i. 
 
 t See page 252. 
 
272 BABYLON. [Chap. IV. 
 
 them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, 
 and not wake, saith the Lord .” 1 
 
 Such is the end of this great and luxurious city, so full of pride, 
 cruelty, and wanton immorality,— 
 
 “ And nothing is left, save a tale ofher fame— 
 
 The fame of her glory, and wreck of her name.” 
 
 1 Jeremiah li. 31, 32, 39. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 [Entrance to an Eastern House ] 
 
[Persepolis—Hall of Xerxes Restored. —Boita. ] 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA AND MEDIA. 
 
 Persia, in its most general acceptation, is the name of the whole Boundaries, 
 tract comprehended between the river Araxes, the Gordiaean Moun¬ 
 tains, Mount Zagros, and the Tigris on the north and west; the 
 Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean on the south; the Indus on the east; 
 and the river Jaxartes and the Caspian Sea on the north. In its 
 proper and more restricted sense, Persia signifies the native country 
 of the Persae, which is probably the province called Persis by the 
 ancients, and Fars by the moderns; but Persis (ce,) considered as persis. 
 the kingdom of the Persians subjugated by the Medes, seems to have 
 comprehended all the country to the south of the Median mountains 
 and deserts, and to have included Susiana, Carmania, and Gedrosia, 
 as well as Persis proper. Media and Persis, in this enlarged accepta¬ 
 tion, formed at first two distinct, and subsequently, one united state, 
 known by the name of the Persian Empire, after the subjugation of Persian 
 the Medes by Cyrus in the latter half of the 6th century b.c.; and Erar " u ' 
 from that period to the present time, those territories have never 
 been permanently disunited. But the mountainous provinces to the 
 east of the Caspian Sea, Aria, Hyrcania, Bactriana, and Sogdiana, 
 have often been independent of the Persian kings; and the more 
 remote ones, for a considerable period, formed a separate monarchy. 
 
 [e. o. h.] t 
 
Persia 
 
 Proper. 
 
 Physical 
 
 condition. 
 
 Table-land. 
 
 Persis. 
 
 Archseme- 
 
 nise. 
 
 274 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. I. 
 
 Persia proper, or the southern part of the empire bearing that name, 
 comprehended the provinces of Persis, Carmania, Gedrosia, and 
 Arachosia, extending from the Tigris to the Indus along the Persian 
 Gulf and Indian Ocean. 
 
 The central portion of this area is a vast table-land consisting of 
 several elevated plains. Its boundaries may be thus defined: 
 Niphates, a snow-capped mountain, as its name implies, and 
 consequently of great height, is a continuation of Taurus which 
 separated Armenia from Assyria, and the Carduchian, or Gordyscan 
 chain, one of its branches, which passes to the south of the Arsissa 
 Palus,—Lake of Van, and forms the western boundary of the plains 
 occupied by the Carduchi,—the Kurds. Further to the south-east, the 
 same range is continued under the name of Zagrus; and beyond the 
 Choaspes, under that of Paraclioatras. 1 Lower hills, in lines nearly 
 parallel with the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, connect these 
 mountains until the lofty ridges which follow the direction of the 
 Indus, and maybe considered as branches of Paropamisus,—the Hindu 
 Kush. The Sariphian mountains and lower ranges enclosing the 
 ancient Margiana,—Merv, or Meru, form a junction between the 
 same mountains and the northern Choatras which separated Media 
 and Parthia, and was itself connected with the northern range of 
 Taurus. These almost unbroken chains of mountains are the natural 
 barriers enclosing the elevated area between the Tigris and the Indus, 
 the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, an area which forms the prin¬ 
 cipal part of Persia properly so named; but it must not be supposed 
 that this table-land is one unvaried level: it is, like that between the 
 eastern and western G’hats in the Peninsula of India, intersected by 
 various transverse lines of hills issuing from the surrounding chains. 
 These secondary ridges, though appearing to have no great height 
 above the plains from which they rise, have hi reality a very consider¬ 
 able elevation, as is manifest from the snow which covers their sum¬ 
 mits almost throughout the year: but, in many instances, they sink 
 gradually into extensive levels totally destitute of water, and covered 
 either with an incrustation of soda or with hillocks of loose sand. 
 
 I. Persis comprehended the whole tract between the Tigris, the 
 Median mountains, Carmania, and the Persian Gulf, and had nearly 
 an oblong form, running from north-west to south-east, in the direc¬ 
 tion of that river, the gulf, and the highest of the neighbouring 
 ranges. Its ancient names, Paras and ’Eilam, occur in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, 2 and the latter term, derived from one of the sons of Shem, 3 
 shows that its first inhabitants were a Semitic people. Archameniaa, 
 another ancient name, seems to have belonged peculiarly to the 
 royal tribe, whose proper habitation was around Pasargada3, near 
 the eastern extremity of this province. Persis, taken in this com¬ 
 prehensive sense, included Susiana, Elymais, and Persis proper. 1. 
 
 1 Ptol. vi. 2. 4, p. 147, 150. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxvii. 10; Gen. xiv. 1. 
 
 3 Gen. x. 22. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 SUSIANA—ELYMAIS, 
 
 275 
 
 Susiana appears to have been separated from the Assyrian district of susiana. 
 Chalonites by the Mosasus, a river which fell, according to Ptolemy, 1 Bountlanes - 
 into the Persian Gulf, in 30° 40' N. and 82° E. (= 64° E. Green¬ 
 wich,) and is probably the Mendel! su which falls into the Tigris in 
 about 31° 30' N., several miles above the junction of that river with 
 the Euphrates, and is supposed to be the Gyndes of Herodotus. 
 
 Mount Parachoatras was the northern, and the Pasitigris the 
 eastern boundary of Susiana. Its principal city, Susa, (tx 2ovacc,) Susa, 
 in the district called Cissia, 2 was nearly enclosed by the Eulseus, 3 
 450 miles distant from the Babylonian Seleucia, and as much from 
 Ecbatana in Media, by the road across Mount Charbanus. 
 
 Ardericca, at which tire captive Eretrians were settled by Darius, Ardencca. 
 was a royal post, (<rxa^oj,) 4 210 stadia (26 miles) north by west 
 of Susa and Charax, whence the surrounding district was called Charax. 
 Characene, and was built on an artificial mound at the confluence 
 of the Eulams and Tigris. It was founded by Alexander, and 
 restored, when undermined by the river, by several of his suc¬ 
 cessors ; nor can any doubt be entertained as to the continual aug¬ 
 mentation and change of this coast, when we learn from Pliny 5 that 
 Charax, at first a maritime town only 10 stadia (1^ mile) from the 
 sea, was distant 50 miles from it according to Juba, and as much as 
 120 miles in his own time,—the first century of our era, as he 
 had heard from persons well acquainted with the place. 
 
 2. Elymais, the Greek derivative of Elam, anciently com- Elymais. 
 prehended the whole of Persis, as several passages in the Bible 
 show; 6 in later times, however, that part of the coast only 
 which lies between the Euleeus or Kerah, and the Oroatis or Arosis of 
 Arrian, 7 was called Elymais, and inhabited by Elymseans, while the 
 remainder of that tribe still occupied the high lands above Mount 
 Zagrus, on the borders of Media. 8 The country of the Upper Ely- 
 inteans was watered by the tributaries to the Eulseus and the Cop¬ 
 rates ; while the lower and more fertile terrace immediately above 
 the maritime plain, inhabited by the southern portion of that people, 
 was traversed by the Hedypnus, or Hedyphon, 9 which joined the Rivers. 
 Pasitigris,—Karim, the Brixia, and the Ortacea,—Daurak. The 
 
 provinces or subdivisions of Elymais were, 1. Gabiana, through 
 which the Eulaeus passed; 2. Massabatica, or Mesabatene; and 3. 
 Corbiana, with the two petty principalities of the Sagapeni and 
 Silaceni. There were three defiles which afforded an easy passage Passes, 
 from the high lands to the coast : 10 1. from Media and Mount Zagrus 
 through Massabatica; 2. from Susis through Gabiana; and 3. from 
 Persis by the Pylas Persicie, i.e. the Persian Gates. The cities in 
 
 ' vi. 3, p. 149. 2 Herod, v. 49 
 
 3 Plin. vi. 31. 4 Herod, vi. 119. 5 v. 31. 
 
 6 Gen. xiv. 1; Isa. xi. 11; xxii. 6; Ezek. xxxii. 24; Dan. viii. 2. 
 
 7 Ind. 39. 8 Strabon. Epitome, xi. 
 
 9 Strabo, xvi. 10 Strabo, xvi. 
 
27(3 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Seleucia. 
 
 Badacca. 
 
 Coss&i. 
 
 Cliusistan. 
 
 Uxii. 
 
 Mardi. 
 
 Elyma?i. 
 
 Para?taeeni. 
 
 Persis 
 
 propei'. 
 
 Elymais were Seleucia on the Hedyphon, near which was the Zara, 
 the wealthy temple of Diana; and Badacca on the Eulaeus. The 
 different nations, or tribes of the same people, who inhabited these 
 tracts, were, 1. the Cosssei, who inhabited the mountains between 
 Media and Susiana. They appear to have been the first occupants, 
 and to them probably belonged the Cuthtean colonists established 
 in Samaria by Shalmaneser, 1 and the Cissians on the southern side 
 of the mountains. Their name, if not their posterity, is still preserved, 
 as Khuzistan or the abode of the Kliiizis, is the modern name of this 
 country; and “its inhabitants,” says Haji Khalifeh, 2 “use the 
 Clmsian as well as the Arabic and Persian languages.” 2. To 
 the east of the Pasitigris were the Uxii, who were separated from 
 Persis by the upper ridge of the mountains whence that river springs, 
 and which contain several defiles leading into that province. 3 3. 
 The Mardi occupied the valleys and declivities on the confines of 
 Susis and Persis. This tribe appears to have been dispersed over all 
 the mountainous tracts of ancient Persia; for we read 4 of Mardi in 
 the neighbourhood of the Euxine and Caspian as far as Bactria: but 
 as mard signifies “ a man,” and thence, “ a man of valour, a hero,” in 
 the ancient 5 as well as the modern languages of Persia, it was pro¬ 
 bably assumed as a name throughout the country, just as makua ( i.e. 
 man) is the name of many tribes of the Amakosa or Bechuana race in 
 south-eastern Africa at the present day. 4. The Elymasi, or Elam¬ 
 ites, already mentioned, one portion of whom occupied the upper 
 tract between the Medians and the Cosssei. 5. The table-land 
 above the highest ridges, including the Parthian and Median deserts, 
 was occupied, at least to the north and west, by the Parastaceni. 
 The whole of these mountaineers, most of whom inhabited barren 
 and narrow tracts, vrere excellent archers, continually engaged in 
 war, and flamed for their valour and inroads upon their neighbours. 
 The Parastaceni and Elyma?i were the most agricultural, but even 
 they were not wholly reclaimed from predatory habits. Their suc¬ 
 cessors, if not their descendants, still continue in nearly the same 
 condition: “ as they have ever been a lawless and disorderly 
 
 banditti,” says Sir J. hi. Kinneir, 6 “ they prefer the fastnesses of 
 the mountains, where they can carry on their depredations with a 
 greater degree of impunity;” and the governor of Shuster “fairly 
 confessed his inability to punish one of their leaders,” taken in an 
 assault on that traveller’s party. 
 
 3. Persis, properly so called, lay between Elyma'is and Carmania, 
 Media and the Persian Gulf, nearly within the same Emits as the 
 modern province of Pars, or Ears. Surrounded, except on the 
 coast, by almost impervious mountains, it was very difficult of access. 
 
 1 2 Kings xvii. 24. 2 Jihan numa, p. 272. 
 
 3 Strabo, xv. 729. 4 Plin. Nat. Hist. vi. 6, 16. 
 
 • 5 Zend and Pehlvi vocab. in Zend-avesta, tom. iii. e p. 95. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 PASARGAU/E—BAG/E. 
 
 277 
 
 The Persian or Susian Gates—Pylte Persicas, or Susidas, 1 probably pyi® 
 near the source of the Pasitigris, and the Climax Megale, (i.e. Great PersiCiS - 
 Ladder,) between Media and Persis, are described as defiles so narrow 
 and •winding, steep and rugged, as to arrest the progress of the 
 strongest force, unless the neighbouring tribes were willing to grant 
 a passage: but this tract of country is too little known to allow of 
 our ascertaining the position of these passes. Sir William Ouseley 
 thinks, 2 apparently on good grounds, that the extremity of the Pylte 
 Persicse is about half-way between the Takhti Jemsliid and Mayln, 
 in the district of Ram-gird; and the Kutel Urchlni, or Staircase-Pass, 
 about fifteen miles south-east of Isfahan, has at least a name of 
 exactly the same import as the Megale Climax; it is also on the 
 high-road to Persepolis, 3 though an easier passage may be obtained 
 by making a little circuit. 4 In form, the province of Persis was 
 nearly rhomboidal, as it had a much smaller breadth along the gulf 
 than in the interior, where it almost enclosed Carmania. 6 It was 
 separated from Media by mountains nearly parallel with the sea, and 
 from Carmania by an extensive desert. The three terraces or gra- Three 
 dations of level occurring in Persis, as well as in Susiana, are dis- ten ' aces - 
 tinctly marked by Strabo. 6 “ In its nature and the temperature of 
 the air, this territory,” he says, “ is threefold; for the maritime tract 
 is scorching and windy, and extremely unproductive of fruit, except 
 dates. The country above it is level and fruitful, affords excellent 
 pasture for cattle, and abounds in rivers and lakes. The third tract 
 is that to the north, wintry and mouutainous: at its extremities are 
 the camel-breeders. Its greatest length, from the Caspian gates to 
 some projecting points in the opposite ranges, is about 8000 stadia, 
 
 (1000 miles,) but in the narrowest part it is not more than 2000 
 stadia (250 miles) in length. Its breadth, midway between the seas, 
 from Susa to Persepolis, is 4200 stadia, (525 miles,) and thence to 
 the boundaries of Carmania 1600 stadia (200 miles.)” Of the few 
 cities in Persis mentioned by the ancients, Persepolis, the royal city Persepolis. 
 of the greatest Persian monarchs, is the most celebrated. There can 
 be little doubt that the remarkable ruins in 29° 55' N. and 53° 16' E. 
 called Istakhr by the modern Persians, are the remains of that place; 
 and Pasargadae, or rather Passagardas, another of the royal cities, pasargafe. 
 the burial-place of the kings, where their treasures also were kept, 7 
 was to the north-east, at no great distance from Persepolis. The 
 remarkable pile of ruins at Maderi Suleiman, a name signifying 
 Solomon’s mother, has led some antiquaries to fix upon that place 
 as its site. 
 
 Bagas, another royal residence, is said by Strabo 8 to have been Bags;, 
 somewhere in the upper part of Persis, and is placed by Ptolemy 9 in 
 the confines of Carmania. Arrian 10 mentions a palace on the bank 
 
 1 Curt. v. 3. 2 ii. 336. 3 Plin. Nat. Hist. vi. 29. 4 Ouseley, ii. 456. 
 
 5 Strabo, xv. p. 727. 6 xv. p. 727. 7 Strabo, xv. p. 728. 
 
 8 xv. p. 730. 9 vi. 8. p. 158. 10 Indie. 39. 
 
278 
 
 GEGGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Carmania. 
 
 Gedrosia. 
 
 Iclithyo- 
 
 pliagi. 
 
 of the Granis, 200 stadia (25 miles) above its mouth. This appears 
 to be that placed by Strabo near the coast towards the promontory 
 called Oca, which is probably the Taoca of Arrian, 1 at the mouth of 
 that river, just beyond Mesambria, a name of the same import as 
 Garnish'—the hot region, the denomination now given to the whole 
 of the maritime tract; the other places named by the ancients are 
 of doubtful position, and unconnected with any remarkable events. 
 The only rivers of any note, except those which descend into the 
 Persian Gulf, are the Medus, Cyrus, and Araxes, which pass near 
 Persepolis, and terminate in the large lake of Bakhtegan, unnoticed 
 by any Greek or Koman writers. The Cyrus and Araxes, which 
 came from the country of the Partetacai, seem to have been the same 
 river as the modern Bend-Emir, or Kur, and the Medus is the Per- 
 vab, or Pulvar, which coming from Media to the north-east passed 
 by Pasargadas; but the topography of these rivers is much per¬ 
 plexed by the apparent contradictions of ancient writers and the 
 ignorance of moderns with respect to the length and direction of 
 their course. 
 
 II. Carmania, or Kirman, the adjoining province, began at the 
 coast opposite to the Island of Catasa—Ke'isli, or Kais, 2 and extended 
 along the Indian Ocean as far as Badis, 3 or Sabis, 4 near the pro¬ 
 montory now called Cape Jashk, or Jask, where Gedrosia, the 
 modern Makran, begins. On the east, Carmania was bounded by 
 that province, and on the north by Parthia. 5 It formed two natural 
 divisions: 1. the desert; 2. the fertile Carmania. The former, 
 which lies to the north and west of the latter, has no rivers and 
 anciently no towns; its scanty population consisted of migratory 
 tribes; the latter had many rivers from the Bagradas, or Nabend, 
 the boundary of Persis, or Fars, to the Andanis, or Anamis, near the 
 promontory of Armozon, at the eastern extremity of the gulf; and 
 further eastward the Samydaches, Hydriaces, and Zorambus, which 
 fell into the Indian Ocean. 
 
 III. Gedrosia, Gedrusia, Gadrosia, or Cedrosia, corresponding 
 very nearly with the modern Mekran, extended from Badis, near 
 Jashk, to the high ridge of mountains parallel with the Indus. 
 It was bounded on the soirth by the Indian Ocean, and on the 
 north by Drangiana and Arachosia. The coast is almost exclu¬ 
 sively a sandy desert, crossed by many torrents, which form short¬ 
 lived and temporary inundations, whenever storms burst over the 
 hills whence they spring, but are completely dried up during the 
 remainder of the year. It is extremely unproductive, and has, in all 
 ages, been thinly peopled and little known. It seems scarcely to 
 have been considered as a part of Gedrosia; and, but for the voyage 
 of Nearclius, would not have been mentioned by the ancients. Its 
 inhabitants were divided into three tribes: 1. the Ichthyophagi or 
 
 1 Indie. 39. 2 Arrian, Ind. 37—8. 3 Arrian, Ind. 32. 
 
 4 Plin. vi. 27. 6 Agathem. ii. 6. 
 
Chap. I.j 
 
 PAROPAMISUS—PARTHIA. 
 
 279 
 
 Fish-eaters, who made their dwellings of whalebones, 1 and occupied 
 the coast as far as Cape Malana. 2. The Oritse, or people of Ora, 
 between that point and the river Arabis. And, 3. the Arbies or 
 Arabies from that river to the nearest mouth of the Indus. 
 
 IY. To the north of Gedrosia was Arachosia, the natives of which Arachosia. 
 were called Arachoti, Arachota, or Arachosii. It lay between the 
 Paropamisadte, Gedrosia, Drangiana, and the mountains parallel 
 with the Indus. Its capital of the same name, anciently called 
 Cophen, and said to have been built by Semiramis, was not far from 
 the Massaget®. 2 Alexandria was on the river Arachotus, and Para- 
 beste 3 was on the Etymander. The river Arachotus, which passed 
 through this country, formed a lake or marsh, 4 called the source of 
 the Arachotus, and was a branch of the Indus. 
 
 Y. Paropamisus (Parapamisus or Parapanisus) was a continuation Paropamisus. 
 of Emodus and Imaus, ( i.e . Himalaya, 5 ) on the southern side of which 
 lived the Paropamisadte, between the Indus and Aria, 6 occupying a 
 territory nearly answering to the modern kingdom of Kabul, and 
 the central portion of Afghanistan. 
 
 VI. Drangiana, separated from Paropamisus by Aria, was bounded Drangiana. 
 by that country on the west and north, by Arachosia on the east, 
 
 and by Gedrosia on the south. It was the valley of the Etymander, 
 
 —Helmend or Hermend, enclosed by Mount Becius on the south, 
 and on the north by Bagous, whence its rivers flow. It was in¬ 
 habited by the Drangas, and its principal places were Prophthasia, 
 at the foot of Bagous, on the northern side, 199 miles from Aria, 7 
 and the city of the Ariaspte, Agriaspas, or Arimaspi, called Euergetas 
 by Cyrus, 8 nearer to Mount Becius. 
 
 VII. Aria, the adjoining province on the north, seems to haveAriana. 
 been only a part of the tract called by the ancients Ariana, which, 
 according to Eratosthenes, 9 was bounded on the east by the Indus; 
 
 on the north by Paropamisus and the adjoining mountains as far as 
 the Caspian Gates; on the west by Media, Paraetacene, and Persis; 
 and on the south by the ocean. This large area was more or less 
 occupied by the Arii, a migratory and unsettled people, whose 
 abode was Aria proper, 10 which was separated from Drangiana on the Aria 
 south, by Mount Bagous, forming a curve to the north, and joining proper ' 
 the western skirts of Paropamisus. On the north it was bounded 
 by a part of Bactriana and Margiana, and on the west by Parthia 
 and the Carmanian desert. The principal city Aria, on a river of the 
 same name, 11 is supposed to be the Herat or Herah, of the Arabian 
 and Persian geographers. 
 
 VIII. Parthia, (Parthysea, or Parthyene,) considered as a province Parthia. 
 
 1 Arrian, Ind. 29. 2 Steph. de Urb. 3 Plin. vi. 25. 
 
 4 Ammian. xxiii. 29; Ptol. vi. 20. p. 166. 5 Arrian, Ind. 2. 
 
 6 Strabo, xv. p. 724. 7 Plin. vi. 21. 
 
 8 Strabo, xv. 724; Arrian, iii. 27. 9 Strabo, xv. p. 723. 
 
 10 Ptolemy, vi. 17, p. 164. 11 Arrian, iv. 6. 
 
280 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. T. 
 
 Hyrcania. 
 
 Royal City. 
 
 Hyrcania. 
 
 Gurkrfn. 
 
 Margiana. 
 
 of the Persian empire, was a small, poor, mountainous, and woody 
 tract, 1 which had the Arii on the east, the Ariani and Carmania on 
 the south, the Median Pratitas on the west, and the Hyrcanians on 
 the north :—undique desertis cincta, says Pliny. 2 Its boundaries are 
 by no means certain, and without doubt they varied at different 
 periods. 
 
 The original Parthians were believed to be exiles, as their name 
 (Parthi) implied, driven from Scythia by domestic feuds, and first 
 established in the deserts near Hyrcania. 3 As they subsequently 
 increased in numbers, they possessed themselves of Parthia proper, 
 but were principally maintained by plundering them neighbours. 4 
 The north-western districts, on the confines of Parthia proper, were 
 Choarene and Comisene, the names of which are still preserved in 
 Khuwar and Cumish. 
 
 IX. Hyrcania was bounded on the west by Media, on the north 
 by the Caspian Sea and the Oxus, on the east by Margiana, 
 and on the south by Parthia, from which it was separated 
 by Mount Coronus. Of the tribes inhabiting this country, the 
 westernmost were the Tapyri. The Anariacte and Stauri 6 were 
 between them and the Hyrcani, whose western boundary seems to 
 have been the river Sideris, Ister, beyond which were the Maxeras 
 and Straton. Between the Maxeras and the Oxus was the river 
 Socanda, or A'bi-sagun, which passed by a town of the same name, 
 and Samariana, 6 or Sarammanna was beyond the Maxeras, near the 
 confines of Media. The royal city of the Hyrcanian kings either 
 had various names or was frequently changed. According to Strabo 
 it was Tape, said to be near the sea, and 1400 stadia (180 miles) 
 from the Caspian Gates; Polybius 7 gives that honour to Tam- 
 braca and Syrinx, placed in a very fertile and inaccessible defile. 
 Arrian 8 mentions Zeudracasta as the metropolis; Isidore of Charax, 
 Asaac; and Ptolemy, 9 Hyrcania on the river Maxeras, in 40° N. 
 The latter appears to be the Jurjan of the Arabs, and Gurkan 
 (i. e. Wolves) of the Persians; a name which seems to allude to the 
 thick woods, said by ancient and modern writers to cover the 
 neighbouring hills. The whole territory is described by Strabo 10 
 as “ extensive, extremely fertile, for the most part level, and dis¬ 
 tributed among several considerable cities: but not,” he adds, 
 “ cultivated as it deserved.” 
 
 X. To the east of Hyrcania was Margiana, bounded on the south 
 by Ariana, on the east by Bactria, and on the north by Sogdiana 
 beyond the Oxus. It was a level tract of about 1500 stadia (200 
 miles) in circumference, remarkable for its fertility, 11 enclosed by 
 mountains on all sides, and difficult of access towards Parthia, on 
 
 1 Strabo, xi. p. 514. 
 4 Strabo, loc. cit. 
 i x. 31, 5, 6. 
 
 10 xi. p. 508. 
 
 2 vi. 29. 3 Isidor. Orig. ix. 2. 
 
 5 Plin. vi. 18. e Strabo, xi. p. 508. 
 8 iii. 25. 9 vi. 9. p. 158. 
 
 11 Plin. vi. 18. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 BACTEIA—CLIMATE. 
 
 281 
 
 account of deserts 120 miles in breadth. “It is reported,” says 
 Strabo, 1 2 “ that vines are often found there, the girth of which, near 
 the root, is as much as two men with arms extended can embrace, 
 and the clusters of grapes measure two cubits.” Antiochus Soter 
 was so struck with the productiveness of this tract, that he enclosed 
 it with a wall, and built the city of Antiochea. This city, as we 
 learn from Pliny, was only rebuilt by Antiochus, having been 
 founded by Alexander. It was on the banks of the Margus, 
 or Morghab, which traversed the whole tract, to which it gave a 
 name, and was dispersed in various channels for the purposes of 
 irrigation in the district called Zotale. 
 
 XI. Bactria was bounded on the north by the river Oxus, Bactria. 
 Jaihun or Amu, which separated it from Sogdiana, on the west 3 
 by Margiana, on the south by Mount Paropamisus, and on the east 
 by the Massagetie and other wandering tribes of Scythians. This 
 was a rich and well-watered country on the northern declivity of 
 Paropamisus, called by the followers of Alexander the Indian Cau¬ 
 casus. 3 Ptolemy 4 enumerates five streams which issue from that 
 mountain, and pour their waters into the Oxus. 
 
 The climate of Persia varies with the position and elevation of Climate, 
 different localities; the numerous mountains give a cooling shade to 
 the valleys, and the interior table-land possesses the extremes of 
 heat and cold in summer and whiter; snow falls in many parts of 
 the country, and is highly prized as a source of fertility; and some 
 provinces have their dry and rainy seasons with periodical regu¬ 
 larity. Tracts of barren land occur beyond the reach of irrigation, 
 for there are few streams. 5 The fields produce no forest trees worthy productions, 
 of the name, save a dwarfish and stunted oak, though there are 
 plantains and willows in abundance. Trees yielding fragrant gums 
 arc common, such as those producing incense and mastic, and so are 
 tamarisks and the manna tree. Great varieties of fruit grow to 
 perfection in Persia, such as grapes, dates, plums, peaches, figs, 
 apples, nectarines, almonds, cherries, and walnuts. The harvest 
 produces rice, wheat, barley, maize, and sesamum; the melon and 
 cucumber are favourite plants, and culinary vegetables grow with Vegetables, 
 great luxuriance. Aromatics are also found in great plenty, such 
 as saffron and cassia, and the Persian poppy is unequalled. Among 
 its rich and blooming flowers, its tulips and jonquils, none vies with 
 the rose in colour, size, and perfume. Sir Bober Ker Porter thus 
 expresses his grateful amazement: “ On first entering this bower of 
 fairy-land, I was struck with the appearance of two rose trees, frill 
 
 1 xi. p. 516. 
 
 2 The western boundary of Bactriana was supposed by Cellarius (iii. 21, 2, 10,) 
 to be the Ochus; but had that able geographer possessed the materials now acces¬ 
 sible, he would not have been misled by a passage in Pliny, (vi. 18.) where Oxo 
 should probably be read for Ocho. The Bactrian Ochus is evidently different from 
 that which ran into the Caspian Sea. 
 
 3 Arrian, v. 3; Ind. 2. 4 vi. 11. p. 159. 
 
 * Mannert, Geog. v. ii. 497. Forbiger, ii. 572. 
 
282 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 Media. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Ecbatana. 
 
 fourteen feet high , laden with thousands of flowers, in every degree 
 of expansion, and of a bloom and delicacy of scent that imbued the 
 whole atmosphere with the most exquisite perfume: indeed, I 
 believe, that in no country of the world does the rose grow in such 
 perfection as in Persia—in no country is it so cultivated and prized 
 by the natives. Their gardens and courts are crowded with its 
 plants—their rooms ornamented with vases, filled with its gathered 
 branches, and every bath strewed with the full-blown flowers, 
 plucked from the ever replenished stems. Even the humblest 
 individual who pays a piece of copper money for a few whiffs of 
 a kalioun , feels a double enjoyment when he finds it stuck with a 
 bud from his dear native tree. But in this delicious garden of 
 Negauvistan, the eye and the smell were not the only senses regaled 
 by the presence of the rose; the ear was enchanted by the wild and 
 beautiful notes of the multitude of nightingales, whose warblings 
 seemed to increase in melody and softness with the unfolding of 
 their favourite flowers.” 
 
 Iron is abundant in the province of Hyrcania, and copper, rock- 
 salt, and naphtha, occur in various regions. Slate, marble, and 
 torquoise are often met with, and veins of silver were anciently 
 wrought. Nature has not been niggard in its gifts to Persia, and in 
 its palmy days of empire, its great and scattered poprdation must 
 have found an easy subsistence. But its government had no sta¬ 
 bility—its aggressive wars led to the neglect of agriculture—the 
 support of great armies drained the country of its resources—change 
 of dynasty often covered many portions of the land with immediate 
 sterility, and its national glory was like the meteor that flits with 
 a momentary brilliance, and sinks into deeper gloom. 
 
 Media 1 is a country, the name of which the sacred history appears 
 to derive from Maclai, one of the descendants of Japhet; while, accord¬ 
 ing to Strabo, it was denominated from Medus, the son of Medea 
 and Jason, or from a city called Media, whence the whole country 
 borrowed the name. This country was bounded on the north by 
 the Caspian sea; on the south by Assyria, Susiana, and Persia 
 Proper; on the west by Armenia Major; and on the east by Parthia 
 and Hyrcania. It now forms the province of A1 Jebal, or Irac 
 Asami. 
 
 Media was, in early times, divided into six provinces, which were 
 afterwards reduced to two—Media Magna and Media Atropatia. 
 In the former the principal cities were Laodicea, Apamea, Arsacia, 
 and especially Ecbatana, the seat of the Median, and afterwards of 
 the Medo-Persian monarchs. Here, according to Josephus, “ Darius 
 found among the records of Cyrus ” his decree, commanding “ that 
 the temple should be built in Jerusalem.” 3 Ezra 3 names the 
 place “Achmetha, the palace in the province of the Medes.” 
 
 1 In Zend, Maidhja. 
 
 2 Antiq. b xi. c. 4. 
 
 3 vi. 2. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 MEDIA. 
 
 283 
 
 This city is also mentioned by name in the books of Tobit and Description! 
 Judith. In the latter 1 it is described as having “walls round of Eebatana ' 
 about, of hewn stones, three cubits broad and six cubits long, 
 the height of the wall seventy, and the breadth fifty cubits, gates 
 raised to the height of seventy, and the breadth forty cubits, and 
 towers upon the gates a hundred cubits high, and the breadth in 
 the foundation threescore cubits.” The following account of 
 Herodotus represents this city as possessing great importance and 
 extent, and being of a very singular construction. 
 
 “There were seven walls of a circular form, gradually rising 
 above each other to the extent of the height of each wall. The 
 palace and treasury were within the innermost enclosure. The 
 outer wall was equal in circumference to the city of Athens, (which 
 Thucydides has described as one hundred and seventy-eight fur¬ 
 longs.) The battlements of this outer wall were painted white, the 
 next black, the third purple, the fourth blue, the fifth orange; so 
 that the walls might be known by their different colours. The two 
 innermost were distinguished from the rest, the one being covered 
 ■with silver, and the other with gold.” In this province was also 
 situated Begeia, described by Isidorus as the greatest city in Media. 
 
 It is supposed to have been the same as Eages, mentioned in the 
 book of Tobit as near to Eebatana. 
 
 Media Atropatia contained Gaza, the metropolis of the province ; Media 
 also the cities of Sanina, Fazina, and Cyropolis. This tract, accord- Atropatia - 
 ing to Strabo, was possessed by the Cadus'i and the Caspii, a barbar¬ 
 ous people of Scythian origin. It is probable that in Media 
 there were two cities named Eebatana, and Major Eawlinson, 
 with his usual felicity and power of learned illustration, has 
 made it apparent, that the most famous city of that name was 
 in Media Atropatia, and not, as usually supposed, in Media Major. 
 
 He identifies the place with the ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman. “ The Eaiviinson’s 
 first view,” says he, “of the ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman is certainlyof^cMtan™ 
 
 striking.From a distance they present to view a grey 
 
 hoary mass of crumbling walls and building, encircling a small 
 piece of water of the deepest azure, and bounded by a stony line 
 
 of wall supported by numerous bastions.The hill of 
 
 Takht-i-Soleiman appears at first as if it were isolated, but this is 
 not strictly the case. On the southern, western, and northern faces, 
 it presents a steep acclivity to the valley; but, at the north-east 
 and south-east corners, the ground rises gradually; and, on its eastern 
 face, it is thus very slightly elevated above the country beyond the 
 walls. At the south-west comer I found the height of the hill, by 
 trigonometrical observations, to be 150 feet above the plain, and 
 that of the wall at its summit, where perfect, to be 30 feet, giving a 
 total of 180 feet; and this may be taken as a general average of 
 
 i i. 2—4. 
 
284 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 View of the height along the three steep faces. The brow of the hill is crowned 
 by a wall, the most perfect part of which is along the southern face, 
 and the most ruinous upon the western. . . . There are the remains 
 of thirty-seven bastions, and the circuit of the wall, measured from 
 point to point of these bastions, is 1330 paces, or a little more than 
 three quarters of a mile. At a few points only, near the gateway on 
 the south-eastern face, is the line of wall perfect; but where it is 
 perfect, the masonry is shown to be most excellent. The breadth of 
 the wall is 12 feet, the outer facing being composed of hewn blocks 
 of stone, about 14 inches deep, and 2 feet in length, alternating with 
 thin stones laid edgeways and perpendicularly between them; and 
 the whole being fitted with extreme care and nicety. The interior 
 is filled up with huge unhewn blocks imbedded in a lime cement, 
 which is now fiilly as hard as the stones themselves. The bastions 
 that are now perfect, near the gateway at the south-east corner of 
 the fort, are solid, and taper upwards from the base; but I cannot 
 think these can be of the same age as the bastion, for they are 
 formed of smaller stones, less accurately fitted; and, in other parts 
 of the fort, fragments of the old bastions remain, faced with the same 
 huge blocks of hewn stone, which mark the general character of the 
 real ancient building. It appears to me as if the bastions near the 
 gate had been repaired in times comparatively modern. The gateway 
 which faces S. 30° E., is quite perfect. It consists of a single arch 
 12 feet high and 10 feet wide, and is formed entirely of massive 
 hewn blocks; a bastion protects it on either side. Above the gate¬ 
 way, and extending from one bastion to the other, is a line of blocks, 
 each carved with a rude representation of an arch, which thus form 
 a sort of ornamental frieze to the portal, and offer the only specimen 
 of ancient sculpture to be found upon the walls.” 1 The enterprising 
 traveller discovered in the ruined city the remains of a Fire Temple. 2 
 
 Fire Temple. “Amid the mass of crumbling rubbish, it was not very easy at first 
 to ascertain the original design of the building; but after some 
 trouble I succeeded. The temple has been a square edifice of 55 
 feet. It was built of bricks, admirably baked, and laid in plaster, 
 which seems very much to resemble the Roman cement of the 
 present day. So strong, indeed, is this cement, that in some places 
 where the arch is destroyed, the superincumbent building still 
 remains uninjured, supported merely by the adhesion of the 
 bricks to each other. The outer wall is shown to be 15 feet 
 thick. A high, narrow, vaulted passage within this surrounds 
 the central chamber, and communicates with it by a large, broad 
 arch, upon each of the four faces. This chamber, where the sacred 
 fire was, I conclude, deposited, is supported by massive walls, 
 also 15 feet thick. It is roofed by a circular dome, and measures 
 inside 10 paces square. The central chamber is now filled up 
 
 1 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. x. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
Ciiap. I.] 
 
 ECBATANA. 
 
 285 
 
 with ruin ancl rubbish to the spring of the arch. . . . The interior 
 of the dome in the central chamber is coated with a thick cover¬ 
 ing of black, which seems to have been caused by the smoke of 
 the sacred fire, burning for centuries upon the altar underneath.” 
 
 Major Eawlinson sums up his arguments of identification in the 
 following succinct and pithy paragraphs:— 
 
 “ I have shown that Herodotus describes the capital of Media Eawlinson's 
 Atropatene, under the name Ecbatana, with certain traits of descrip- ar s umentI ’- 
 tive character, only applicable to the ruins of Takht-i-Suleiman; 
 that the same place is called in the book of Tobit Charran, which 
 title I have succeeded in tracing down through various fields of 
 evidence to the time of the Arabs, by whom the city occupying the 
 site, of Takht-i-Suleiman was still named Arran, identical with 
 Charran in its latest stages of existence; that the ancient Persian 
 name of Var, also attached to the castle of this city of Deioces, was 
 preserved in the Greek Vera, the distinctive epithet of the fortress 
 besieged by Mark Antony at Takht-i-Suleiman; that Gaza, the Gaza, 
 more familiar appellation of the Atropatenian capital, is but the 
 translation of its ancient name, Ecbatana; that Alexander and his 
 officers, failing to penetrate to this city, failed also to discover its 
 distinction from the Ecbatana of Greater Media; that the confusion 
 of all subsequent geography is to be referred to this source; that 
 later authors preserve notices of Ecbatana, which can only be 
 explained by their application to the Atropatenian capital of that 
 name,—the authors themselves, at the same time, appearing in their 
 ignorance to refer them to the other city; that this connected series 
 of ambiguous allusions to the Ecbatana of Northern Media continues 
 from the point, where we lose sight of the city, under a distinct and 
 positive form of evidence, up to the period when the capital having 
 changed its name, becomes familiar to the Romans under the title 
 of Gaza; and here I close the most ancient, and, consequently, the 
 most difficult part of the inquiry. 
 
 “ The next stage of the inquiry takes up the argument at the 
 period of Antony’s Median War; it connects all the notices which 
 occur in classic authors, of the Atropatenian capital, between this 
 era and the extinction of the Parthian monarchy; it assumes, as a 
 natural inference, strengthened by an accumulation of inductive 
 evidence, all tending to the same point, that this capital must neces¬ 
 sarily occupy the same position as the one which has been hitherto 
 traced under the name of Ecbatana; and, in showing the applica¬ 
 tion to the site of Takht-i-Suleiman of all the recorded measure- Takht-i- 
 ments, and all the illustrative evidence of the period, it at the same SlUeima "’ 
 time verifies the preceding argument, and passes on from the great 
 question of the identification of the Ecbatana of Deioces, to the 
 more tangible epoch of the Sassanian dynasty. 
 
 “In the third stage of the inquiry, the great object is to establish 
 a connection between the Byzantine account of the Atropatenian 
 
286 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 Canzaca. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Climate and 
 production. 
 
 capital and the Oriental notices of the same city; and this is effected 
 by showing the events assigned by one party to Canzaca, to be 
 described in the annals of the other, as occurring in the great city 
 of Shi'z; and by detailing the evidence, common to both parties, of 
 the famous temple that contained the most sacred fire of the 
 Persians being situated in this city of Canzaca or Shfz, which was 
 the capital of the province of Azerbfjan. There are, besides, several 
 measiu’ements, and other traits of evidence in this period of history, 
 which uniformly accord in their applicability to the site of Takht-i- 
 Suleiman, and thus tend most forcibly to strengthen and to consoli¬ 
 date all the preceding parts of the argument. 
 
 “ The inquiry is then brought to a close by the verification of 
 the position of the Arabian Shfz in modern geography. The 
 detached account of this place, which I have extracted from 
 the work of Zakairya Kazvini, compared with my own personal 
 observations of the ruins of Takht-i-Suleiman, cannot leave the shadow 
 of a c^oubt as to the identity of the two places; and I believe 
 that, in the connection and in the result of these four points of 
 analysis, a difficulty is thus solved, which, for want of a little atten¬ 
 tion and correct topographical knowledge, has continued to the pre¬ 
 sent day the great problem of Asiatic comparative geography; and 
 which, in the obscurity which it has hitherto cast over the map of 
 ancient Persia, has presented one of the chief impediments to the 
 spread of this interesting and instructive sicence.” 
 
 The principal mountains of Media, according to Ptolemy and 
 Strabo, were Choatra, parting Media from Assyria; Zagrus, accord¬ 
 ing to Polybius, one hundred cubits high, dividing it from Assyria on 
 the east: also Parachoatra, placed by Ptolemy on the borders towards 
 Persia, and by Strabo on the confines of Media, Hyrcania, and 
 Parthia. To these boundaries, between Media and the adjacent 
 regions, must be added the Orontes, the Jaronius, and Coronus, 
 mountains of Media, arising in the middle of the country. The 
 rivers of note, according to Ptolemy, were the Straton, the Amardus, 
 the Cyrus, and the Cambyses. It has, however, been remarked, 
 that “ these rivers, as they are represented to disembogue themselves 
 into the most southern part of the Caspian sea, could not belong to 
 Media Proper as it has been described by the ancients.” 
 
 The climate of Media is still more varied than that of Persia. 
 Its northern parts, lying between the Caspian mountains and the 
 sea, are very cold and barren, the earth swampy, and full of 
 marshes. Insects abound there, and anciently those parts were 
 greatly infested with scorpions. The provinces more remote from 
 the sea enjoy a wholesome air, though liable to heavy rains and 
 violent storms, especially in the spring and autumn. The southern 
 parts produce all sorts of grain and necessaries for life. A great 
 many varieties of the grape are cultivated, the country is watered 
 by many pure rivulets, and the poplar and willow afford a frequent 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 MEDIA. 
 
 287 
 
 and pleasing shade. Of old Media yielded in abundance honey, 
 figs, citrons, and certain kinds of medicinal herbs. There were also 
 large plains, among which that of Nysa is famous for the numerous 
 studs of horses kept for the use of the Persian monarchs, and often 
 mentioned and celebrated by ancient writers. 1 
 
 The country of Media is first known in history as a province of 
 the Assyrian empire, to which, according to Diodorus Siculus, it was 
 subjected by Ninus, in the 12th century before the Christian era. 
 For several ages the Medes appear to have patiently endured the 
 yoke, until they revolted under Arbaces, governor of Media, as we 
 have already related in our account of Sardanapalus. 
 
 1 Compare Ritter, Erdkunde, West Asien, p. 712—739. 
 
 [Eastern Bazaar.] 
 
[Mount Ararat.] 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY ART) MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. 
 
 Topography. A fuller account of a very few of the more noted places may now 
 be given. The glories of the Persian empire may be learned from 
 its ruins. They are not so extensive and commanding as the hoary 
 monuments of Egypt, but they indicate the combined wealth, skill, 
 and taste of the country. Neither does the climate preserve them 
 so effectually as the dry atmosphere of Memphis and Thebes, but 
 rank and luxuriant vegetation covers and corrodes them. We need 
 not allude to Ilecatompylos, which some identify with Ispahan; 
 nor to Nisaea, Zabang, or Aria. 
 
 simshan. Shush, Sus, or Shushan, by “ Choaspes’ amber stream,” was a famed 
 royal city. Its walls, constructed, says Strabo, 1 of brick and bitumen, 
 like those of Babylon, enclosed an oblong space of 120 stadia—15 
 
 1 xv. p. 723. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 RUINS OF SUSA. 
 
 289 
 
 miles in circuit. After the subjugation of Media by Cyrus, it was in 
 winter, as Ecbatana was in summer, the residence of the Persian 
 kings; and its great antiquity is proved, not only by the traditions 
 of the Greeks, who believed it to have been built by Tithonus, 
 father of Memnon, after whom its Acropolis was called the Memo- 
 neum, but by its being evidently the Shushan of the Jews. 1 That 
 word signifies in the Arabic and Pars!, or modem Persian, to this 
 day, as it did of old in the Hebrew and Pehlvi, or ancient Persian, 
 a hly,—a species of flower with which the surrounding fields abound. 
 
 In Daniel also 2 we find that Shushan, the royal residence of Bel¬ 
 shazzar, was near the river Ulaf (’Ss,) in the province of Elam, uiai. 
 (o’to,) but according to the Greeks, the Eulasus was the principal Euiams. 
 stream in this territory, which comprehended Cissia and its sub¬ 
 division Susiana. The Acropolis of Susa was the fortress in which 
 the treasures of the Persian monarchs were preserved, as appears 
 from Herodotus 3 and Arrian. 4 The position of this city has been 
 much disputed; some antiquaries having supposed, with Dr. Vin¬ 
 cent, 5 that it was on the same site as Shuster, (in 82° N. and 49° 
 
 E.,) while others follow Major Eennell, who, with his usual saga¬ 
 city, has fixed on Sus or Shush, (in 32° 10' N. and 48° 12' E.,) 
 about 32 miles west north-west of Shuster, as agreeing better with 
 the data furnished by the ancients. 
 
 The ruins of Shush extend not, perhaps, less than 12 miles Ruins 
 from one extremity to the other, 6 and occupy “an immense space” Susa - 
 between the Kerak or Eulseus and the Abza, or Coprates, consist¬ 
 ing of hillocks of earth and rubbish, 7 covered with fragments of brick 
 and coloured tiles. These mounds consist of masses of clay and tile, 
 
 [Engraved Bricks from Babylon .—British Museum.] 
 
 1 Dan. viii. 2; Nehem. i. 1; Esth. i. 2, &c. 2 viii. 2. 
 
 8 v. 49. 4 iii. 16. 
 
 5 Nearchus, p. 415. 6 Kinneir, Mem. p. 99, 
 
 7 Fragments of earthenware scattered in the greatest profusion are said to be 
 found for the distance of 7 farsakhs (26 miles.)— Walpole, Turkey, i. 420. 
 
 [e. O. H.] U 
 
290 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 Daniel’s 
 
 Tomb. 
 
 Cuneatie 
 
 Inscriptions. 
 
 with irregular layers of brick and mortar, five or six feet in thick¬ 
 ness, as a kind of prop to the mass. They bear some resemblance 
 to the ruins of Babylon; and it is deserving of observation, that 
 Strabo says expressly 1 that “ according to some, the walls, temples, 
 and palaces of Susa were built, like those of Babylon, of bricks and 
 asphaltus.” At the foot of the most elevated of these mounds (Sir 
 J. M. Kinneir 2 calls them, as well as the Babylonian ruins, “ pyra¬ 
 mids ”) stands the tomb of Daniel, a small, and, apparently, modern 
 building, within which the relics of the prophet are supposed to rest. 
 The antiquity of the tradition which marks this place as the burial- 
 place of Daniel, is considerable, as it is not only mentioned by Ben¬ 
 jamin of Tudela, who visited Sus in the latter half of the 12th 
 century, but by one of the earliest Mussulman writers, Ahmed of 
 Kufah, who died a.h. 117, (a.d. 735,) and who records the removal 
 of the prophet’s coffin. 3 Independently of the vast extent of these 
 ruins, their similarity to those on the site of Babylon, and the 
 correspondence of their position with that of Susa, another evidence 
 of a very remarkable kind is furnished by inscriptions in the 
 arrow-headed character found only here and at Babylon, Behis- 
 tun, Nineveh, 4 Yan, the city of Semiramis, 5 Persepolis, and in 
 
 [Junction of the Tigris and Euphrates at Chebar.] 
 
 Egypt combined with hieroglyphics. 0 In the capitals, therefore, 
 of the Assyrian and Persian monarchs, and in Egypt, after 
 it became a Persian province, and there alone, are monuments 
 inscribed with these singular characters found; they may, conse- 
 
 1 xv. 728. 2 p. 100. 3 Walpole, Turkey, i. 430. 
 
 4 Rick, Bakylon, ii. 55. 5 v. Nouv. Journ. Asiat. ii. 175. 
 
 6 Champollion, Precis, pi. vii. fig. 125, p. 232. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 PASARGAD/E. 
 
 291 
 
 quently, be considered as authentic memorials of the first two of the 
 four great monarchies of the ancient world. One of these monu¬ 
 ments at Shush, 1 which is now venerated as an amulet by the sur¬ 
 rounding population, bears in its general style, and in some of its 
 figures, a strong resemblance to the stone found at the Taki Kesra, 
 or Palace of Chosroes, now preserved in the Eoyal Cabinet of Anti¬ 
 quities at Paris, 3 which, like the one just mentioned, has copious 
 arrow-headed inscriptions. Another stone found at Shush has no 
 sculptures, except a long and beautiful legend, in characters an inch 
 in length, and of admirable workmanship. 3 Of three remarkable 
 stones preserved in the enclosure round the Kabri Daniyal—Daniel’s 
 Tomb—one only is described by the traveller from whose journal 
 the preceding extract is taken; but Sir J. M. Kinneir 4 was informed 
 that “large blocks of marble covered with hieroglyphics are not 
 unfrequently here discovered by the Arabs, when digging in search 
 of hidden treasure.” How changed this spot from earlier times! 
 The halls of Ahasuerus, so ample as to feast the rulers of a hundred 
 and twenty-seven satrapies for a hundred and fom'score days, are 
 now void and desolate, save when the wolf and the hyena gorge 
 themselves with prey, and the owl flaps his heavy wing over the 
 scene of ruin. 
 
 In many a heap, the ground 
 Heaves, as though ruin, in a frantic mood, 
 
 Had done its utmost. Here and there appear, 
 
 As left to show his handiwork . . . 
 
 An idle column, a half-burned arch— 
 
 A wall of some great temple.— Rogers. 
 
 Pasargadas, written by Ptolemaeus and Solinus, Pasargada, was an 
 ancient royal city, built by Cyrus on the spot where he had 
 
 [Tomb of Cyrus.— Sir R. K. Farter.] 
 
 1 Walpole, Turkey, ii. 426, pi. ix. Sir William Ouseley, Travels, i. pi. xxi. fig. 7. 
 
 2 Millin, Monum. Inddits, i. pi. viii. ix. 3 Walpole, Id. p. 422. 
 
 4 p. 100. 
 
 Daniel’s 
 
 Tomb. 
 
 Pasargaclse. 
 
292 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 Tomb of 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Evidence of 
 identifica¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Arrian's 
 
 account. 
 
 The 
 
 inscription. 
 
 Porter’s 
 
 description. 
 
 defeated Astyages the Mede. At this place, according to Plutarch, 
 the kings of Persia were consecrated by the Magi. It is now identi¬ 
 fied with the plain of Mourghab, 1 and is famed for the supposed 
 tomb of Cyrus. This tomb, constructed in the genuine Persian 
 fashion, Avas a toAver of moderate size, solid below, with a sepulchral 
 shrine, ( unx.o;,) roofed 2 above, and a very small entrance. 3 It was 
 almost hid in a thick grove of trees, and contained, when first examined 
 by Alexander’s command, a couch, sarcophagus, table, and cups 
 of gold, and many garments adorned with precious stones; but 
 it had been plundered before his second visit, on his return from 
 Bactria, notAvithstanding the presence of a body of magi appointed 
 to guard it. The inscription upon it, in the Persian language and 
 character, Avas this: “ I, 0 man ! am Cyrus, who gained the empire 
 for the Persians, and ruled over Asia, Do not, therefore, envy me 
 this monument! ” 4 
 
 The evidence that this was the tomb of Cyrus is almost conclu¬ 
 sive. The description given of the building by ancient Avriters 
 corresponds with its appearance. Arrian, who wrote from the 
 testimony of Aristobulus, an eyeAvitness, thus speaks of it: “The 
 tomb of Cyrus was in the Eoyal Paradise at Pasargadse, round 
 Avhich a grove of various trees Avas planted. It was supplied with 
 water, and its fields covered with high grass. The tomb below 
 AA r as of a quadrangular shape, built of freestone: above was a house 
 of stone with a roof. The door that leads into it is so very narrow, 
 that a man not very tall Avith difficulty can get in. Within is the 
 golden coffin of Cyrus, near which is a seat with feet of gold; the 
 AA'hole is hung round with coverings of purple and carpets of 
 Babylon. ... In the vicinity was built a small house for the magi, 
 to A\kose care the tomb had originally been intrusted, and so con¬ 
 tinued, since the time of Cambyses, from fathers to sons.” The 
 cuneiform inscription found upon it was deciphered by Grotefend 
 and Lassen, the latter of whom read it—Adam Qurus Kshajathiva 
 Plakhamanisija-—I am Cyrus, the King, the Achsemenian. 5 Sir 
 Eobert Ker Porter describes the monument as standing in an open 
 area, marked and bounded by the broken shafts of twenty-four 
 colunms, the base of the tomb being formed of immense blocks of 
 Avhit.e marble, while a succession of colossal steps leads up to the 
 pedestal. The traveller Avas allowed to enter the royal sepulchre, 
 and thus records his impressions: “ When I entered, I found that 
 the thickness of the Avails was one solid single mass of stone, 
 measuring five feet from the outside to AA'ithin. The extent of the 
 
 1 Morier, Journey into Persia, p. 144. Porter, I. 498. 
 
 3 This covering is the only part Avhich disagrees with the sepulchral towers 
 erected by the Guebres to this day. 
 
 3 Strabo, xv. p. 730. 
 
 1 Pasargada; is supposed to signify in Zend—Persian encampment. 
 
 5 A facsimile of the inscription on the Tomb of Cyrus will be found in Vaux’s 
 excellent volume—“Nineveh and Persepolis.” London, 1850. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE STATUE OF CYRUS. 
 
 293 
 
 chambers was seven feet wide, ten feet long, and eight in height. 
 
 The floor was composed of two immense slabs, which joined nearly 
 in the middle of the chamber, crossing it from right to left. But 
 I lament to say, that, immediately opposite the door, both the floor 
 and the wall are much injured by the several invaders of this 
 ancient tomb. The marble surfaces are cruelly broken; and in the 
 floor, particularly, deep holes are left, which plainly show where 
 large iron fastenings have been forcibly torn away. Doubtless their 
 corresponding points attached some other mass to this quarter of the 
 building, similar depredation being marked on the marble of the 
 wall. Not a scratch of any other kind, save the cruel dents from 
 the hammers of the barbarians, interrupted the even polish of the 
 three remaining sides. The roof is flat, and nearly black; so are all 
 the sides of the chambers, excepting that which faces the door, and 
 that, with the floor, is perfectly white. Man has done all towards 
 the mutilation of this monument, which, from the simplicity of its 
 form and the solidity of its fragment, seemed calculated to withstand 
 the accidents of nature till the last shock, when her existence would 
 be no more.” 
 
 Sir Robert Ker Porter also discovered a figure with the same The statue of 
 inscription on it as that we have already described. This figure is Cyius ' 
 very probably a sculpture of Cyrus himself. We shall allow its dis¬ 
 coverer to describe it in his own language. He speaks of a building in Porter’s 
 the form of a parallelogram, and then says—“About six feet distant descnptl0n ' 
 from the N.E. side of the building, and standing out in a parallel point 
 to its centre, rises the square pillar which had drawn me hither. It 
 appears perfectly distinct from all others, no trace of a second being 
 found. One single block of marble forms it; and, as far I could 
 judge, it is full fifteen feet high. On examining it, 1 was delight¬ 
 fully surprised at discovering a sculpture in bas-relief, occupying 
 nearly the whole length of the N.W. side of the pillar, surmounted 
 by a compartment containing a repetition of the same inscription. 
 
 I lost no time in measuring and drawing this invaluable piece of 
 antiquity. It consists of a profile figure of a man, clothed in a 
 garment something like a woman’s shift, fitting rather closely to the 
 body, and reaching from the neck to the ancles. His right arm is 
 put forward, half raised, from the elbow; and, as far as I could 
 judge from the mutilated state of its extremity, the hand is open 
 and elevated. His head is covered by a cap, close to the skull, 
 sitting low behind, almost to the neck, and showing a small portion 
 of hair beneath it. A circle, of what I could not make out, is just 
 over the ear, and three lines marked down the back of the head 
 seemed to indicate braidings. The beard is short, bushy, and curled 
 with the neatest regularity; the face is so much broken, only the 
 contour can be traced. From the bend of the arm to the bottom 
 of the garment runs a border of roses, carved in the most beautiful 
 style, from which flows a wavy fringe, extending round the skirt of 
 
294 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 Persepolis. 
 
 Its massive 
 ruins. 
 
 Chehel 
 
 Minar. 
 
 Ker Porter's 
 account. 
 
 the dress; the whole being executed with the most delicate preci¬ 
 sion. From his shoulders issue four large wings; two spreading on 
 each side, reach high over his head; the others open downwards, 
 and nearly touch his feet. The chiselling of the features is exqui¬ 
 site ; but the most singular part of the sculpture is the projection of 
 two large horns from the crown of his head; they support a row of 
 three balls or circles, within which we see smaller ones described. 
 Three vessels, not unlike our European decanters, and regularly 
 fluted, rest upon these balls, being crested again by three smaller 
 circles. On each side of the whole, like supporters to a coat of 
 arms, stand two small creatures, resembling mummies of the Ibis, 
 but having a bent termination to their swathed form. Over all is 
 the inscription. The figure from head to foot, measures seven feet; 
 the width of the stone where he stands is five feet; two feet from 
 that line reach the present level of the ground.” It may be added, 
 however, that farther proof and investigation are still requisite on this 
 point. Lassen places Pasargadie in the vicinity of Darabgherd or 
 Fasa. 
 
 Persepolis was situated in the vast plain of Merdusht, near the 
 junction of the Bendemir and the Kim, and about thirty-five miles 
 north-east of Shiraz. Its modern name is Takht-i-Jemshid, or 
 Chehel Minar—the Forty Pillars. The old Persic name seems to 
 have been Parcakarta—city of the Persian; and the Greek name 
 does not occur in Greek writers, till after the era of Alexander. The 
 Persian appellation is Istakhr—the name of a hill in the vicinity— 
 though the word itself signifies a pond or artificial reservoir. The 
 magnificent structures of Persepolis fell a prey to the inveterate fury 
 of Alexander and a favourite courtezan. The “ Macedonian mad¬ 
 man” and his fellow-revellers, in a fit of drunken recklessness, set 
 torches to the noble piles. Later ages saw other devastators in the 
 hosts of Arabian conquerors, who in successive centuries overspread 
 the country. Travellers vie with one another in their gorgeous 
 descriptions of the ruins of Persepolis—thevastness and splendour of its 
 buildings—the terraced platform on which its palaces stood, its noble 
 portals and sweeping staircases, its elegant fretted work, its rows of 
 massive pillars, its mythical sculptures, and its sumptuous halls. The 
 platform on which the palace stands is marked by three terraces, and 
 faces the cardinal points, while on its circuit are the remains of fallen 
 walls and towers. The first ascent from the plain was by a vast flight 
 of steps, the slope of which is so gradual that horsemen can ride to the 
 summit. The doorways are beautifully ornamented with bas-reliefs, 
 not unlike those of Nineveh—symbolic guardians of the royal edifice. 
 All around is grand and imposing. Toward the east lies the ample 
 terrace which supports the famous forty pillars. “ On drawing near 
 the Chehel Minar, or Palace of Forty Pillars, the eye,” says Sir R. K. 
 Porter, “ is rivetted by the grandeur and beautiful decorations of 
 the flights of steps which lead up to them. This superb approach con- 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CHEHEL MINAR. 
 
 295 
 
 sists of a double staircase, projecting considerably before the northern 
 face of the terrace, the whole length of which is two hundred and 
 twelve feet; and, at each extremity, east and west, rises another 
 range of steps; again, about the middle and projecting from it 
 eighteen feet, appear two smaller flights rising from the same points, 
 where the extent of the range, including a landing place of twenty 
 feet, amounts to eighty-six feet. The ascent, like that of the great 
 entrance from the plain, is extremely gradual; each flight contain¬ 
 ing only thirty-two low steps, none exceeding four inches in height, 
 in breadth fourteen inches, and in length sixteen feet. The whole 
 front of the advanced range is covered with sculpture. The eye at 
 first roves over it, lost in the multitude of figures, and bewildered 
 by the thronging ideas instantly associated with the crowd of various 
 
 interesting objects before it.The space immediately 
 
 under the landing place is divided into three compartments. The Sculpture, 
 centre one has a plain surface, as if intended for an inscription; 
 probably writing may have been there which is now obliterated. 
 
 To the left of it are four standing figures, about five feet six inches 
 high, habited in long robes with brogues like buskins on their feet. 
 
 They each hold a short spear in an upright position in both hands. 
 
 The fluted flat-topped cap, before described on other bas-reliefs, is 
 on their heads; and, from the left shoulder, hangs their bow and 
 
 quiver.On the right of the vacant tablet are three 
 
 figures only. They look towards the opposite four, and differ in no 
 way with respect to their robes and fluted helmet; but they have 
 neither bows nor quiver, carrying their spear only, with the addition 
 of a large shield on the left arm, something in the shape of a violin- 
 cello ; or rather, I should say, exactly in the form of a Bceotian 
 buckler.Two angular spaces, on each side of the cor¬ 
 
 responding groups of spearmen described on the surface of the 
 staircase, are filled with duplicate representations of a fight between 
 a lion and a bull, a most spirited and admirable performance. 
 
 From the circumstance of a collar round the neck of the bull, Bun. 
 it proves him to be no wild one, and that we are not to understand 
 the combat as accidental: but whether it may be received as a proof 
 that such combats were brought forward before the Persian people, 
 is another question. That wild animals, of the untameable sort, 
 were not merely hunted by the bold spirits of these eastern princes, 
 but preserved near their palaces, is evident from the lions’ den which 
 we find at Babylon after its conquest by Cyrus; but, by no accounts 
 that I can recollect, does it appear, that beasts so immured were 
 
 ever used for sport of any kind after their first capture. 
 
 On the inclined planes, corresponding with the slope of the stairs, 
 runs a kind of frieze, on which is cut a fine of figures, one foot nine 
 inches high, answering in number to the steps, each one of which 
 appears to form a pedestal for its relative figure. The figures them¬ 
 selves appear to be a lengthened rank of those already described on 
 
296 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chav. II. 
 
 each side of the blank tablet: and a similar range runs up the 
 opposite slope. 
 
 “ The immense space of the upper platform stretches to the 
 north and south three hundred and fifty feet, and from east to west 
 three hundred and eighty; the greater part of which is covered with 
 broken capitals, shafts, and pillars, and countless fragments of build¬ 
 ing : some of which are richly ornamented with the most exquisite 
 sculpture. The pillars were arranged in four divisions, consisting of 
 a centre group six deep every way, and an advanced body of twelve, 
 in two ranks, and the same number flanking the centre. The first 
 is to the north: it is composed of two parallel lines of six columns 
 in each, falling twenty feet back from the landing-place of the stairs, 
 and meeting the eye immediately on ascending them. The columns 
 are at equal distances from one another. One only still stands; the 
 shattered bases of nine other still remain, but the places only are left 
 of the other two, which completed the colonnade. Of the remaining 
 columns, which once decorated these colonnades, nine only now 
 stand, the rest have been totally destroyed or lie buried under masses 
 of ruins, now forming hillocks. The form of the columns is very 
 beautiful; their total height is sixty feet, the circumference of the 
 shaft sixteen, and its length, from the capital to the torus, forty -four 
 feet. The shaft is finely fluted in fifty-two divisions; at its lower 
 extremity begin a cincture and a torus, the first two inches in depth, 
 and the latter one foot, from whence devolves the pedestal, in the 
 form of the cup and leaves of a pendent lotus. The capitals which 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 SCULPTURES AT PERSEPOLIS. 
 
 297 
 
 [Ancient Kings .—Sculptures at Persepolis.'] 
 
 remain, though much injured, are sufficient to show that they were 
 once surmounted by the double demi-bull.” 
 
 It is difficult to convey in words a correct idea of these superb Superb 
 and complicated ruins, the scene is so vast; and the delapidation is aic 1 e u,t 
 still majestic, in its fallen magnificence. The palaces of the Persian 
 despots resembled their empire—a brief gleam of splendour, sinking at 
 once into disastrous gloom. The childish love of ornament and display 
 is everywhere conspicuous. There were no less than five terraces, 
 three of them already referred to, as leading the first to the platform, 
 the second to the Chehel Minar, and the third to a building yet 
 beyond it. But there were still other two, connected with other 
 structures, and in one of these occurs a sculpture of the royal pre¬ 
 sence, which is copied in the preceding illustration. Vaux has Description 
 given the following accurate and abridged description of the scene by ^ aux ' 
 from Porter : 1 “ In the highest compartment of the whole, the royal 
 personage appears on his chair of state, with both feet resting on a 
 footstool. Over his head are the bas-relief remains of a canopy 
 supported by slender pillars, the whole profusely adorned with fret 
 work fringes and borders of bulls and lions. The chair on which 
 he sits resembles that on the Parthian corns, and is not unlike the 
 old high-backed chair once so common in England. In its orna- 
 ments are found the two favourite symbolical animals of the Persians, 
 lions’ feet on the legs of the chair, and bulls’ feet on those of the 
 footstool. The dress of the king is very simple; he wears neither 
 collar nor bracelets, but in his right hand is a long staff or sceptre, 
 and in his left the lotos. Behind him stands the usual attendant 
 with the fan, and another figure follows bearing the royal bow and 
 battle-axe, perhaps the sagaris of the classical writers. Behind the 
 warrior is another standing figure in the long Median robe and 
 fluted tiara, probably representing one of the chief civil officers of 
 state attendant on the king. Beneath the king, and separated 
 from him by a long border of roses, are five ranges of atten- 
 
 1 p. 300. 
 
298 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 Ruins. 
 
 The work of 
 
 various 
 
 kings. 
 
 dants or guards, each row being separated from the next by a 
 similar border. Sir R. K. Porter imagines that these five ranges 
 of guards, evidently placed in regular rotation over each other, 
 to represent their relative stations near the person of the king, 
 indicate the platform, on which the royal chair stood on an elevation 
 of five steps, with the same number of ranks in the guards who 
 stood before it, and who might occasionally leave a space, between 
 the files of leaders, for an approach to the throne.” Among these 
 heaps of dilapidation are to be found the ruins of the palace which 
 Alexander burned. How melancholy the interest which now 
 attaches to such a scene—reading a terrible lesson of man’s pride 
 and man’s ferocity—his desire to perpetuate his memory, and his 
 design thwarted by the barbarous hatred or caprice of some sub¬ 
 sequent antagonist! The scenes of gaiety when Persepolis was in 
 its glory, when royalty dwelt in its courts, and princes and 
 warriors glided among its columns, are but a stirring dream of 
 the past. The stern reality is now before us,— 
 
 ‘ ‘-The piles of fallen Persepolis 
 
 In deep arrangement hide the darksome plain. 
 
 Unbounded waste ! the mouldering obelisk. 
 
 Here, like a blasted oak, ascends the clouds. 
 
 Here Parian domes their vaulted halls disclose, 
 
 Horrid with thorn, where lurks th’ unpitying thief, 
 
 Whence flits the twilight-loving bat at eve, 
 
 And the deaf adder wreathes her spotted train, 
 
 The dwellings once of elegance and art! 
 
 Here temples rise, amid whose hallowed bounds. 
 
 Spires the black pine ; while through the naked street, 
 
 Once haunt of tradeful merchants, springs the grass. 
 
 Here columns, heap’d on prostrate columns, torn 
 From their firm base, increase the mouldering mass. 
 
 Far as the sight can pierce, appear the spoils 
 Of sunk magnificence ! A blended scene 
 Of moles, fanes, arches, domes, and palaces. 
 
 Where, with his brother Horror, Ruin sits .”—Wart on. 
 
 That this immense structure was the work of various monarchs 
 admits not of a doubt. It may be questioned whether Cyrus be 
 connected to any extent with the gigantic buildings; but the recent 
 readings of the cuneiform legends have found the name of Darius in 
 peculiar prominence. During his life the platform and the pillared 
 colonnade may have been constructed, while other portions are to 
 be ascribed to Xerxes and Axtaxerxes Oclius. The palace that bears 
 upon it the name of Darius is therefore the most ancient portion ot 
 the pile, for the legend is —“ Darius, the great King, King of kings, 
 the King of nations, the son of Hystaspes, the Achsemenian, he has 
 executed this sculpture .” 1 On another slab, twenty-six feet long, 
 
 1 Lassen, Zeitschr, v. vi. p. 9. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 
 
 299 
 
 occurs the following inscription :—“ The great Ormazd who is the Various 
 chief of the gods, he established Darius (as) King. He bestowed on inscnptl0ns ' 
 him the empire. By the grace of Ormazd (has) Darius become 
 king.” There is also a third,—“Says Darius the King; may Or¬ 
 mazd bring help to me with the deities who guard my house, and 
 may Ormazd protect this province from slavery, from decrepitude, 
 from lying. Let not war, nor slavery, nor decrepitude, nor lies 
 obtain power over this province. That I hereby commit to Ormazd 
 with the deities who guard my house. That may Ormazd accomplish 
 for me, with the deities who guard my house.” It is plain that 
 Darius wished to establish his kingdom, and felt that he wanted 
 what in modern times is termed legitimacy. Therefore he is anxious 
 to repeat his claim, and guard it by divine right and genuine suc¬ 
 cession. Similar inscriptions of Xerxes are also found on various 
 parts of the building, and we find the great-grandson of the first 
 Darius thus asserting his royal prerogative in true Persian style:— 
 
 “ I am Artaxerxes, the King of kings, the son of King Artaxerxes, 
 the son of King Darius, the son of King Artaxerxes, the son of King 
 Xerxes, the son of King Darius, who was the son of one named 
 Hystaspes , the son of one named Arsames, an Achsemenian." 
 
 In the vicinity of Persepolis are also many remarkable ruins 
 —scattered fragments of early architecture. The sepulchres at 
 Naksh-i- Rustam have been well described by Sir Robert Ker Porter. Naksh-i- 
 The scene is a perpendicular cliff, nearly three hundred feet high, Eustam - 
 
 [Sepulchres in Rocks at Naksh-i- Rustam. — Sir R. K. Porter.'] 
 
Takht-i- 
 
 BostiCn. 
 
 Behistun. 
 
 Sculpture. 
 
 300 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 and composed of white marble. Tombs or sepulchral chambers, 
 designed for the Persian kings, are hewn out of the rock, and the 
 four highest of them are co-eval with the glory of Persepolis. The 
 lower excavations, with their peculiar sculptures, belong however to 
 the Sassanian dynasty, and have upon them legends in the Pehlvi 
 tongue. Had space permitted we might also have described the 
 national and characteristic sculptures of Taklit-i-Bostan—the Throne 
 of the Garden. 
 
 [Takhti-Bostan. ] 
 
 But we cannot conclude without reference to the remark¬ 
 able rock of Behistun. This sacred rock stands on the great 
 highway that leads from Babylonia to the East, and rises abruptly 
 from the plain to the height of 1700 feet. It faces a wide 
 and beautiful garden, and a large spring gushing out from its base 
 waters the adjoining plain. The sculptured part of the rock is still 
 very perfect, and Major Rawlinson has deciphered the wedge-shaped 
 inscriptions. 1 Prior to Rawlinson’s discoveries very strange and fan¬ 
 tastic ideas were formed of the monuments. Sir Robert Ker Porter 
 saw on the principal sculpture Tiglath-Pileser and the ten captive 
 tribes, and Keppel discovered on it Esther and her attendants. It is 
 now plain, from Rawlinson’s laborious ingenuity, that Darius selected 
 the surface of this rock to be the record of his own achievements, and 
 that he constituted it the royal charter of the house of Achsemenes. 
 The surface of the rock must have been long and carefully smoothed 
 and prepared ere the tool of the engraver touched it, and a coating 
 of siliceous varnish, greatly harder than the limestone rock beneath 
 it, seems to have been applied to the writing, which gives a clear 
 and sharp outline to the letters, and has wonderfully preserved the 
 whole from the corrosion of the atmosphere. The effects of this 
 
 1 Tenth and Eleventh volumes of the Journals of the Royal Asiatic Society. 
 See also pages 251—254 of this volume. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 BEHISTUN—ITS HISTORY. 
 
 301 
 
 [Behistun.] 
 
 artificial preservative are still apparent to the observer. Wherever 
 the rock was originally imperfect, other fragments of the recpusite 
 size were carefully cemented. And that it might be beyond the reach 
 of ordinary injury, the engraving was executed on a portion of the 
 surface 300 feet above the level of the plain. 
 
 The history of the sculpture may be understood from the following its history, 
 brief statement. Darius established a new dynasty in Persia, and 
 met, as may be expected, with many rivals and antagonists. Pre¬ 
 tenders were rife in all the provinces. An insurrection broke out 
 in Susiana; a representative of the royal house of Nabonasser raised 
 the standard of revolt in Babylon; one of the race of Cyaxares 
 rebelled in Media; a second false Smerdis appeared in Persia, while 
 Assyria, Armenia, Parthia, and other provinces, were also involved in 
 tumult and insubordination. Battles were therefore fought by the 
 generals of Darius, and himself had often to march in person against 
 the insurgents. These various enemies being subdued by successive 
 victories, Darius seems to have began the great monument of his 
 triumphs at Behistun. He was a. purifier and restorer of the national 
 faith, and so his thanks are again and again recorded to Ormazd. 
 
 The sculpture presents nine chiefs, whom he had by turns over¬ 
 thrown ; and the struggles of Darius seem to have made him the 
 more anxious to repeat, even to satiety, his royal rights and gene¬ 
 alogy. “ ‘ I am Darius the King, the great King, the King of Kings, Readings of 
 the King of Persia, the Kiug of the (dependent) provinces, the son inscriptions, 
 of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the Achasmenian.’ Says 
 Darius the King, ‘ My father was Hystaspes; the father of Hystas¬ 
 pes was Arsames; the father of Arsames was Ariyaramnes; the 
 father of Ariyaramnes was Teispes; the father of Teispes was Achse- 
 menes.’ Says Darius the King, ‘ On that account we have been 
 called Achasmenians, from antiquity we have been unsubdued (or 
 we have descended), from antiquity our race have been Kings.’ 
 
 Says Darius the King, ‘ There are eight of my race who have been 
 
Explanation. 
 
 302 TOPOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS OF PERSIA. [Chap. II. 
 
 Kings before me; I am the ninth. For a very long time we have 
 been Kings.’ Says Darius the King, ‘ By the grace of Ormazd I am 
 King; Ormazd has granted to me the empire.’ Says Darius the 
 King, ‘ These are the countries which have fallen into my hands, by 
 the grace of Ormazd I have become King of them, Persia, Susiana, 
 Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt; those which are of the sea, 
 Sparta and Ionia; Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Zarangia, Asia, 
 Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, the Sacee, the Sattagydes, Arachosia, 
 and the Mecians, the total amount being twenty-three countries.’ ” 
 All the figures have a legend attached to them, declaring their 
 treasonable pretensions, and how they were conquered. The first 
 of the nine figures lying prostrate beneath the king was a magian, 
 and we give his inscription as a specimen. “ This Gomates, the 
 Magian, was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Bartius, the 
 son of Cyrus; I am the King.’ ” A fuller account of this celebrated 
 rebel is given on the slab underneath him, and is so curious that it 
 shall be extracted in extenso. “ Says Darius, the king, there was 
 not a man, neither Persian, nor Median, nor any one of our family, 
 who would dispossess of the empire that Gomates, the Magian. The 
 state feared to resist him. He would frequently address the state, 
 which knew the old Bartius; for that reason he would address the 
 state, saying, ‘ Beware, lest it regard me as if' I were not Bartius, 
 the son of Cyrus.’ There was not any one bold enough to oppose 
 him; every one was standing obediently arormd Gomates, the 
 Magian, until I arrived. Then I abode in the worship of Ormazd; 
 Ormazd brought help to me. On the tenth day of the month, 
 Bagayadish, then it was, with the men who were my well-wishers, 
 I slew that Gomates, the Magian, and the chief men who were his 
 followers. The fort named Siktakhotes, in the district of Media, 
 named Nisasa, there I slew him; I dispossessed him of the empire. 
 By the grace of Ormazd I became king; Ormazd granted me the 
 sceptre. Says Darius, the king: ‘ The crown that had been wrested 
 from our race, that I recovered; I established it firmly; as in the 
 days of old, thus I did. The rites which Gomates, the Magian, had 
 introduced, I prohibited. I reinstituted for the state the sacred 
 chants and sacrificial worship, and confided them to the families 
 which Gomates, the Magian, had deprived of those offices. I firmly 
 established the kingdom, both Persia and Media, and the other pro¬ 
 vinces, as in the days of old; thus I restored that which had been 
 taken away. By the grace of Ormazd I did this. I laboured until 
 I had firmly established our family, as in the days of old. I laboured, 
 by the grace of Ormazd, in order that Gomates, the Magian, might 
 not supersede our family.’ ” “ Our family”—the reigning house 
 
 thus vanquished all competitors, and it fondly hoped for unchanging 
 power, as if it alone had divine right to rule. Inscriptions of a 
 similar nature, having reference to other sovereigns, are found in 
 various parts of Persia. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 303 
 
 It is a wonderful triumph of modem industry and skill to decipher 
 these memorials. The happy process of discovery has been already 
 described; and we are now enabled to say, that the records of royal 
 pomp have at length, though sullenly, given out then’ meaning. The 
 annals of ancient historians may be now either confirmed or rec¬ 
 tified. But alas! modern Persia, barbarous and degenerate, has Modem 
 no intelligent admiration of these ancient national wonders. It Persia ' 
 is sunk, effeminate, and hostile to progress. The sudden and ter¬ 
 rible changes of a lawless despotism have again and again swept 
 across it—its masses are steeped in penury and degradation, and the 
 pages of knowledge, “ rich with the spoils of time,” are shut to them. 
 
 “ Their eyes are holden,” even as they gaze on ruined cities and 
 palaces. The enterprise of interpreting these monuments of oriental 
 conquest and glory has been left to scholars from a distant part 
 of the western world—whose very name and existence were un¬ 
 known when Persepolis was multiplying its columns, and the face of 
 Behistun was furrowed with sculptures. Yes! Prophecy and history 
 are alike illustrated with unexpected and powerful evidence! 
 
 The ancient worlds their mysteries yield; 
 
 The Chaldrean sages’ secrets are unsealed ; 
 
 The history of old time, that seemed undone,— 
 
 Proves in the last of days but yet begun ; 
 
 And prophecy awaits the child of time, 
 
 To give fresh beauties to its truths sublime. 
 
Religion. 
 
 [Persian King on his Throne .—From a Persian Painting. J 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 Sir W. Jones remarks, that “ the primeval religion of Iran, if we 
 may rely on the authorities adduced by Mohsan Fani, was that 
 which Newton calls the oldest of all religions—a firm belief that 
 one supreme God made the world by his power, and continually 
 governed it by his providence ; a pious fear, love, and adoration of 
 him; a due reverence for parents and aged persons; a fraternal 
 affection for the whole human species; and a compassionate tender¬ 
 ness even for the brute creation.” On the same authorities, it 
 appears that Hushang, whose system of religion was long anterior 
 to that of Zoroaster, introduced a worship which became popular, 
 and which was purely Sabian, a word derived from saba, a host, 
 particularly the host of heaven, in the adoration of which the Sabian 
 ritual is believed to have consisted. 
 
 “ In the learned work,” the Dabistan, which gave occasion to 
 Sir W. Jones’s Dissertation, “ there is a description of the several 
 
Chap. III.] WORSHIPPERS OF THE SUN AND FIRE. 
 
 305 
 
 Persian temples dedicated to the sun and planets, of the images 
 adored in them, and of the magnificent processions to them on 
 prescribed festivals, one of which is represented by some of the 
 sculptures in the ruined city of Persepolis. But the planetary 
 worship in Persia,” he adds, “ seems only a part of the complicated 
 religion which we now find in the Indian provinces.” 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton, speaking of the period prior to Hystaspes and 
 Zoroaster, says, that “ the various religions of the several nations of 
 Persia consisted in the worship of their ancient kings.” 1 He after¬ 
 wards, on the authority of Suidas, says, that “ Zoroastres gave a 
 beginning to the name of the magi among the Persians, changing 
 their ancient sacred rites,” and, “ according to the sacred commen¬ 
 tary of the Persian rites, ascribed to Zoroastres” by Eusebius, 2 
 teaching a pure theism. “ But,” he adds, “in a short time they worshipper 
 declined from the worship of this eternal invisible God, to worship 
 the sim, and the fire, and dead men, and images, as the Egyptians, 
 Phoenicians, and Chaldeans had done before.” 3 It appears, however, 
 from the following description by Xenophon, of the objects, rites, 
 and ministers of worship, that the name and authority of the magi 
 were not first introduced by Zoroaster, or, at least, not in the age 
 of Hystaspes; and, that the worship of the Persians, in the time of 
 Cyrus, was by no means confined to the deification of their kings. 
 
 Cambyses, at the close of a long admonition to his son on his 
 departure into Media, warns him that, “ the gods, who are eternal, 
 know all things that have been, are, or shall be.” 4 “ When they 
 
 had passed the borders, they supplicated the gods, guardians of 
 Media, to receive them propitiously.” 5 On leaving his uncle 
 Cyaxares, to march against “ the Assyrians and Croesus,” Cyrus 
 sacrificed “ first to regal Jove, then to the other deities. He also 
 invoked the heroes, inhabitants, and guardians of Media. As soon 
 as he had passed the borders, he propitiated the earth by libations, 
 and the gods by sacrifice, and supplicated the heroes, inhabitants of 
 Assyria. He then again sacrificed to paternal Jove.” 8 
 
 But the fullest information on these subjects, given by Xenophon, 
 is in the description of a royal procession, and the offering of a 
 solemn sacrifice. “ When the gates of the palace were thrown open, Eoyai pro- 
 first were led bulls of great beauty, four abreast, devoted to Jove and cession ' 
 other gods, as the magi directed. Next to the bulls were horses, for 
 a sacrifice to the sun. After these proceeded a white chariot, with a 
 perch of gold, adorned with a wreath, and sacred to Jove. After 
 this, a white chariot, sacred to the sun, and adorned as the preceding. 
 
 This was followed by a third chariot, whose horses were adorned 
 with scarlet coverings. Behind this followed men bearing fire 
 upon a large altar. After these Cyrus himself appeared. All the 
 
 1 CRronol. 41. 2 PrEep. Evan. b. i. c. ult. 
 
 s Chronol. 351, 352. 4 j. a d fin. 
 
 6 b. ii. ad. init. 6 b. iii. 
 
 [e. O. H.] 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Divination 
 and augury 
 commonly 
 practised. 
 
 Idolatry. 
 
 people, at the sight of him, paid their adoration; but no Persian 
 ever paid Cyrus adoration before. When they came to the sacred 
 enclosures, they sacrificed to Jove, and burnt the bulls to ashes, as 
 they did on sacrificing the horses to the sun. Then billin g certain 
 victims to the earth, they did as the magi directed. Then they 
 sacrificed to the heroes, guardians of Syria.” 1 
 
 Describing the circumstances immediately preceding the death of 
 Cyrus, the historian adds, that “ he made the usual sacrifices, and 
 danced the Persian dance, according to the custom of his country.” 
 Then, in consequence of a dream, by which he was “ assured that 
 his end drew near, he sacrificed on the summit of a mountain to 
 Jove paternal, the sun, and the rest of the gods.” 2 
 
 Xenophon also represents the Medes and Persians as having 
 greatly reverenced diviners, and addicted themselves to the practice 
 of augury. The ministers of their religion, whom he calls Magi, 
 appear to have been held in very high esteem. They were allowed 
 to separate for the gods from the spoils taken in war whatever they 
 chose, and to set apart any portion of land, as sacred to their wor¬ 
 ship. Of this worship they had the sole direction, and particularly 
 appointed what deity should be invoked on any special occasion. 
 If the work of Xenophon be “ authentic in all its prominent details,” 
 such is probably the most satisfactory account now remaining of the 
 objects, rites, and ministers of worship entertained by the Persians 
 in the reign of Cyrus, the period to winch we limit our inquiry. 
 As to Herodotus, though he wrote prior to Xenophon, yet he does 
 not profess to describe Persia as it had been, but rather as he him¬ 
 self observed it. His short account, however, upon this subject, 
 which is here quoted, does not materially differ from the description 
 by Xenophon, except as to the hero worship, which he seems to 
 consider as rejected by the Persians. “ They erect neither statues, 
 temples, nor altars; but rather charge with great folly those who 
 erect them; for they do not, like the Greeks, believe that the gods 
 are born of men. They sacrifice on the summits of the mountains 
 to Jupiter, and give that name to the whole circumference of heaven. 
 They also sacrifice to the sun, the moon, the earth, fire, water, and 
 the winds. To these alone they have sacrificed from the earliest 
 times. But they have learned from the Assyrians and Arabians to 
 worship Urania; the Assyrians naming Venus, Mylitta; the Ara¬ 
 bians, Alitta; and the Persians Mitra.” 
 
 It thus appears, from the foregoing details, that the Medo-Persians 
 were still as really idolaters at the death of Cyrus as at the period 
 to which the “ Dabistan” referred; though, if the historians we 
 have quoted had received, or have recorded correct information, 
 the temples and images had disappeared. As to Akriman and Hor- 
 muzd, or Ormazd, the principles of light and darkness described by 
 
 1 viii. 
 
 2 viii. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DUALISM—ZEND A VESTA. 
 
 307 
 
 Plutarch 1 as the principal deities of the Magi, there is no evidence 
 for their worship in this period. But the system of Zoroaster was 
 in course of time extensively adopted. It was a species of dualism, Dualism, 
 and dualism was but a hypothesis to explain the origin and continu¬ 
 ance of evil. This assertion of two co-eternal principles pictured the 
 struggle of light and darkness—the good god was an object of hom¬ 
 age, and the evil deity one of execration. Love led to the worship 
 of the former, and terror urged to the propitiation of the latter. 
 
 The Zendavesta, ascribed to Zoroaster, is not of an earlier date 
 than the Sassanian dynasty. 
 
 The Zendavesta (i.e. Living Word) consisted of twenty-one books, The 
 of which the twentieth alone is preserved entire. This portion of ZentlaTest 
 the canon, named the Vendidad, consists of a dialogue between 
 Ormazd and Zoroaster, and the other books have the appearance of 
 a species of liturgy. Four books are yet extant in a Pehlvi transla¬ 
 tion. The doctrine of the Zendavesta acknowledges a primeval 
 principle—Zervan — infinitude and eternity. It develops the 
 theory of dualism, already referred to, and speaks of the “Word,” 
 a species of mystic agent by which the acts of divinity were per¬ 
 formed. The speculation of M. Du Perron on this notion clearly 
 prove its origin in the Hebrew Scriptures. The world is, according 
 to the Zendavesta, to last 12,000 years, each cycle characterized by 
 its own predestined events. The Good Principle has also created 
 spiritual, unembodied prototypes of all mankind—these are named 
 Fervers or Ferohers—our double and pre-existent selves. Six angels 
 were likewise formed to be the guardians of the world against the 
 evil genius; but no sooner were they brought into being, than there 
 sprang into existence six dark and ferocious rivals—the work of 
 Ahriman. There is also a being in this old mythology, named 
 Mithra—a species of mediator between God and his creatures— 
 whose function was to promote the happiness and harmony of the 
 world. There were, of course, periods of felicity and peace, when 
 these benignant genii obtained supremacy; but the foul fiend and 
 his agents were ever counteracting their intentions, and throwing 
 poison and gloom over the earth; so that there were continued alter ¬ 
 nations of warfare and repose, of fight and shadow, in the history of 
 the universe. At death, according to the Zendavesta, the spirit 
 returns to him who gave it; there will also be a resurrection, though 
 the various portionsof the body have mingled in the hour of mortality 
 with their kindred elements. The central truths of this system may 
 be traced perhaps to the great Persian reformer, though much of its 
 complicated fable may be later than his era. 
 
 Jehovah, on the other hand, says, “ I form the fight, and create 
 darkness; I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all 
 these things.” 2 Zoroaster seems to have studied the Hebrew 
 
 1 Isis and Osiris. 
 
 2 Isa. xlv. 7. 
 
308 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 oracles, and some parts of his system betray an imitation of the 
 Indian mythology. Eichardson, too, attributes to the religion of the 
 ancient Persians more remains of the original theism, though cor¬ 
 rupted, than we have discovered. He says, that “ exclusive of the 
 universal belief in the fanciful Peri system, they appear, in general, 
 to have acknowledged one Supreme Being, and to have paid a high 
 degree of veneration to angels as subordinate deities. This, with a 
 respect to the stars, was the great doctrine of the Sabian religion, 
 which prevailed of old in Persia, Arabia, and other Eastern coun¬ 
 tries. 1 
 
 Language. Eichardson remarks, that “ the language spoken anciently in 
 Persia opens a wide field of unsatisfactory inquirythat “ the 
 union of those people, named by Europeans the Medes and 
 Persians, is of such high antiquity, that it is lost in darkness; and 
 long precedes every glimmering we can discover of the origin of 
 their speech. Whatever then language was, therefore, it must have 
 evidently been very nearly the same, with the simple and common 
 variation of provincial idioms.” He adds, that “ in this tongue we 
 have no genuine remainsfor the works attributed to Zoroaster are 
 spurious, 2 being “ the wretched rhymes of a modern Parsi Destour, 
 who lived about three centuries ago.” He adds, that “ the old 
 dialect of Persia is entirely lost” amidst “ barbarous corruptions or 
 inventions of the Guebre priests, without the least similitude to the 
 inscriptions still discernible on the ancient ruins of Persepolis.” But 
 still the inscriptions show us something of the nature of this ancient 
 tongue. The language is of the Arian type, resembling both Sanscrit 
 and Zend. An alphabet was in early use under the Achtemenian 
 kings—one alphabet of commoner characters, and another suited to 
 monurnental inscriptions. 
 
 Forms of The forms of government in Media and Persia appear to have 
 
 o-overnment • a ^ t t 
 
 differed considerably. The first is generally supposed to have been 
 despotic, after the accession of Deioces, except that the kings, even 
 though they claimed to equal the gods themselves, had not the 
 power of revei’sing their ora decrees. Feudal customs are described 
 as prevailing in Persia; where, says a great authority on the subject 
 of government, Algernon Sidney, “ the kings were limited till they 
 conquered Babylon.” Thus, according to Xenophon, 3 Cyaxares, 
 when he sought for aid against the king of Assyria, sent to “ the 
 public council” as well as to Cambyses, and requested Cyrus to 
 endeavour to obtain the command of the forces, “ if the council 
 should send any.” Xenophon adds, “ that the elders in council 
 chose Cyrus commander of the expedition into Media.” It appears 
 
 1 Dissert. 37. 
 
 2 Such was also the opinion of Sir W. Jones, thus expressed in a letter which he 
 published in the French language, in 1771. Tons les etudians de la litterature 
 Orientate savaient deja que les miserables poemes appelles Saddar et Ardiviraf Nama 
 etoient ecrits en lemjue Persanne moderne , et seulement era caracteres anciens. 
 
 3 b. i. 
 
Chap III.] 
 
 KINGS—REVENUES. 
 
 309 
 
 [Persian Counsellors before the King .—Sculptures at Persepolis .] 
 
 also from this passage that Persia must have recovered her inde¬ 
 pendence, which she lost under the ascendency of the first Cyaxares. 
 
 The sovereigns of Persia were, however, virtually despots, and Kings, 
 were saluted with almost divine honours. The Spartan ambassadors 
 refused to adore the tyrant Xerxes, for they reckoned the required 
 homage to be a species of religious worship. The crown was here¬ 
 ditary, and the ceremony of coronation was one of unusual splendour'. 
 
 Out of the multitudes of the royal harem one held the rank of first 
 wife, and queen. The monarch, as we learn from the book of Esther, 
 was approached with tedious and stately formality; and his seven 
 counsellors are specially named as those who “ see the king’s face.” counsellors. 
 The sovereign often administered judgment promptly and personally ; 
 and among the inferior judges, none ascended the tribunal till he was 
 above fifty years of age. Princes or satraps were placed over the 
 various provinces of the empire, and these provinces were connected 
 with the metropolis with numerous relays of posts and couriers. 
 
 The following passage in the book of Esther will illustrate the usage, 
 
 —“ Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third 
 month, (that is, the month Sivan,) on the three and twentieth day 
 thereof; and it was written (according to all that Mordecai com¬ 
 manded) unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and 
 rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred 
 twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the 
 writing thereof, and unto every people after then - language, and to 
 the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. 
 
 And he wrote in the king Akasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the 
 king’s ring; and sent letters by posts on hoseback, and riders on 
 mules, camels, and young dromedaries.” 1 The royal revenues were Revenues. 
 
 1 viii. 9,10. 
 
310 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Extrava¬ 
 
 gance. 
 
 partly pecuniary taxation, and partly exaction of the fruits of hus¬ 
 bandry, for the king’s household or the maintenance of the army. 
 The queen’s toilet and wardrobe were provided for by the revenue 
 of certain cities or districts, and according to that portion of dress 
 to which their funds were devoted, they received such names as the 
 queen’s vail, and the queen’s girdle. The court consisted of an 
 immense retinue—royal servants and guards. According to Ctesias, 
 fifteen thousand persons were fed at the king’s table. The king 
 drank only of the water of the Choaspes, which was carried about 
 in silver vessels for his use. The salt of his table came from the 
 African desert, and the wine he drank was imported from Syria. 
 The following paragraph from Athenjeus shows the sumptuous 
 extravagance of the Persian court,—“ Those who wait on the king 
 at table, being always freshly washed and handsomely dressed, pass 
 nearly half the day in preparing his repast. As for the king’s 
 guests, some of them dine without, in a place where all may see 
 them, others in the interior of the palace in his presence. Even 
 these, however, do not properly dine with him, for there are two 
 apartments over against one another, in one of which dines the king, 
 and in the other his guests. The king sees them through the 
 curtain at the door, but they cannot see the king. On solemn 
 occasions, they sometimes dine all together in the great hall. When 
 the king gives a banquet, (which happens frequently,) only twelve 
 guests are invited. When the king and his guests provide severally 
 their own dinners, the latter are called in by a eunuch, and when 
 
 they are all assembled they drink 
 wine with him, but not the same 
 wine; they are seated on the floor, 
 the king on a chair with golden 
 feet, but it is usual for them to 
 quit his presence intoxicated. Gen¬ 
 erally, ‘ however, the king dines 
 alone, his consort,’ (as in the history 
 of Esther,) or one of his sons is 
 occasionally admitted to his table, 
 and damsels from the harem are 
 accustomed to sing before him. 
 The banquet of the king has the 
 appearance of being very splendid, 
 great economy, as in the meals of 
 the grandees also of Persia. A thousand victims are slaughtered 
 every day for the service of the palace, consisting of horses, 
 camels, oxen, asses, but especially sheep; together with a great 
 abundance of fowls. A separate mess is set before every one of 
 the king’s guests, and he takes away what he does not eat. By 
 far the greater portion, however, of these victuals, as well as the 
 bread, is destined to support the household of the court, the guards, 
 
 though in fact there reigns a 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LE GISLATION—ARMY. 
 
 311 
 
 &c., and is carried out to them in the courts, both bread and meat, 
 where they receive it in rations. For as the mercenary troops 
 among the Greeks are paid in money, so are the king’s soldiers in 
 food. The same is the case in the households of the grandees of 
 Persia, and those of the governors of cities and provinces.” 1 
 
 The surveillance of the royal harem was committed to eunuchs, Harem, 
 and so great was the number of concubines, that a new victim was 
 presented to the king every day, and no one who had been once with 
 the sovereign was admitted a second time without special summons. 
 
 The kings of Persia kept regular journals of their procedure, written 
 by the royal scribes. These chronicles of the kingdoms were Chronicles, 
 deposited in the principal cities, such as at Susa, Babylon, and 
 Ecbatana. Thus Ahasuerus “ commanded to bring the book of 
 records of the Chronicles ;” 2 and in Ezra we read of “ the house of 
 the rolls.” 3 Allusion is made, Dan. vi. 8, to “ the law of the Medes Laws, 
 and Persians, which altereth not.” The enemies of Daniel, afraid 
 lest the king should relent toward his favourite minister, declared in 
 the royal presence, “ Know, 0 Icing, that the law of the Medes and 
 Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth 
 may be changed.” We are not to infer from such language that a 
 statute once enacted was uttely irrevocable, and could neither be 
 modified nor repealed. But the phraseology implies, that edicts 
 could not be altered at the capricious will of a despot, and that even 
 he was bound and regulated by past decrees and precedents. The 
 book of Esther shows how a law, though not formally abrogated, Book of 
 could be easily countervailed; for the Jews, the intended victims of Esther - 
 a general assassination, were left at liberty to defend themselves, and 
 take vengeance on their opponents. How miserable a safe-guard 
 Persian law was to life and property, may be seen in this transac¬ 
 tion, when the fiercest passions of two parties were let loose, and 
 played off the one against the other. “ The Jews that were in 
 Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also 
 of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan: but 
 on the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that 
 were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood 
 for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their 
 foes seventy and five thousand (but they laid not their hands on the 
 prey.”) 4 
 
 The Medes are said to have been warlike, though in the time of Warlike 
 Cyrus they had become effeminate and luxurious, and were charged the Me^es.^ 
 with corrupting the Persian plainness and simplicity. The Persian 
 army was numerous and well organized. Its very size, however, 
 made it often unwieldy; and the families of the soldiers followed the 
 camp. Their military parade and splendour may be learned from Persian 
 these sentences of Herodotus:—“ Behind these ten horses was placed army - 
 
 1 Athen. iv. 2 Esther, vi. 3 vi. 1. 4 Esther ix. 15, 16. 
 
312 
 
 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. III. 
 
 Arms. 
 
 Polygamy. 
 
 Civilization 
 of the Medes. 
 
 the sacred chariot of Jupiter, drawn by eight white horses; behind 
 the horses followed a charioteer on foot, holding the reins; because 
 no mortal ever ascends this seat. Behind this came Xerxes himself 
 on a chariot drawn by Nissan horses; and a charioteer walked at 
 his side, whose name was Patiramphes, son of Otanes, a Persian. 
 In this manner, then, Xerxes marched out of Sardis, and whenever 
 he thought right, he used to pass from the chariot to a covered 
 carriage. Behind him marched a thousand spearmen, the bravest 
 and most noble of the Persians, carrying their spears in the usual 
 manner; and after them another body of a thousand horse, chosen 
 from among the Persians: after the cavalry came ten thousand men 
 chosen from the rest of the Persians; these were infantry; and of 
 these, one thousand had golden pomegranates on their spears instead 
 of ferules, and they enclosed the others all round; but the nine 
 thousand, being within them, had silver pomegranates. Those also 
 that carried their spears turned to the earth, had golden pomegran¬ 
 ates, and those that followed nearest to Xerxes had golden apples. 
 Behind the ten thousand foot were placed ten thousand Persian 
 cavalry; and after the cavalry was left an interval of two stades; 
 and then the rest of the throng followed promiscuously.” 1 2 
 
 The Medes were celebrated for the use of the bow, with which 
 they fought on horseback. Then - arrows, according to an ancient 
 writer, quoted by Eusebius, were “ poisoned with a bituminous 
 liquor called naphtha. Thus prepared, they were shot from a slack 
 bow, and burned the flesh with such violence, that water only 
 increased the flame, dust alone could abate it.” The same 'writer 
 reports, that they encouraged a breed of large dogs, “ to whom they 
 used to throw the bodies of their friends, parents, and relations, 
 when at the point of death, looking upon it as dishonourable to die 
 in their beds, or to be laid in the ground.” The practice of poly¬ 
 gamy, so inconsistent with domestic happiness, was carried by the 
 Medes to great excess. According to Strabo, it was even enforced 
 by law, and appears to have been allowed to the wives, as well as 
 enjoined upon the husbands. In confirming alliances, the Medes, 
 according to Herodotus, like the Lydians, (besides the ceremonies 
 they used in common with the Greeks,) were accustomed to make 
 an incision in the arm, and to pledge one another in the mingled 
 blood. 3 
 
 The Medes were evidently advanced in civilization prior to their 
 union with the Persians. The rich colour and elegant texture of 
 their dresses, prove their early commerce and manufactures. 3 Their 
 own country was opulent, for it was also the great mercantile high¬ 
 way of Asia, and their victorious arms brought them immense 
 
 1 vii. 40. 
 
 2 Tacitus (Annal. xii.) describes this custom as prevalent in later times among 
 all the Eastern nations. 
 
 3 Heeren, Ideen, i. 205. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 MAGI. 
 
 313 
 
 tribute. The rigid and formal etiquette of their royal court is 
 reflected in the similar Persian ceremonial. The priestly caste 
 among them was the magi, originally one of the six tribes of which 
 the nation was composed. Their worship was astrolatry—their gods 
 sparkled in the clear sky above them. The magi were not only the >iagi. 
 
 [Coat, Hosen, and Hats .—From Sculptures at Ferscpolis ] 
 
 national priesthood, but a ruling caste, to whom belonged all Their power, 
 mental culture, and all knowledge of art, science, and legislation 
 possessed of the only intellectual wealth which the country afforded, 
 they naturally held an undisputed supremacy, and kept their intel¬ 
 lectual inferiors in awe. They could check the sovereign, and even 
 supplant the dynasty. The functions of law were committed to 
 them. Ahasuerus consulted them on the repudiation of Vashti, and 
 they are described as “ wise men that knew the tunes, for so was 
 the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment.” 1 2 
 Under the Medo-Persian empire the magi still rifled and fascinated; 
 and Nebuchadnezzar, under the idea that the Hebrew recaller and 
 interpreter of his forgotten dream eclipsed the wise men of his 
 own court, and was of a higher order of the sacred caste, “ fell upon 
 his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should 
 offer an oblation and sweet odour unto him.” What knowledge the 
 Median magi had, was, however, allied to weakness and folly. They 
 
 1 Mag, indeed, signifies priest in the Pehlvi language. 
 
 2 Esther i. 13.—Hyde, Religio Veterum Persarum. 
 
Miscellane¬ 
 ous customs. 
 
 Education. 
 
 Science. 
 
 Architec¬ 
 
 ture. 
 
 314 SOCIAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. III. 
 
 professed divination and magic, and they unfolded secrets by raising 
 the dead, and by means of cups and water. 
 
 As to the manners and customs of the Persians, Herodotus 1 
 describes the profusion in which they indulged, as the celebration 
 of birthdays, their minute distinction of ranks, their forms of saluta¬ 
 tion, and their eagerness to adopt the fashions of foreign nations. 
 He justly commends the law which forbade any person, even the 
 king, to punish a criminal capitally for his first offence; and another 
 which restrained the severity of masters towards their slaves. On 
 the subject of the Persian education Xenophon has enlarged, as the 
 design of his “ Cyropsedia” naturally led him. The Persian youth 
 were taught three things—to ride, to use the bow, and to speak 
 truth. 2 According to him, to prevent crimes by a wise early institu¬ 
 tion rather than to punish them with severity, was the great object 
 of the Persian government, which Herodotus had before praised 
 for rendering falsehood opprobrious, and not permitting that to be 
 spoken of, which it was improper to practise. Under such a salu¬ 
 tary discipline, according to this historian, was Cyrus formed, and 
 to such a national education was lie indebted for that courage, 
 perseverance, and subordination among his soldiers, which enabled 
 him to become the founder of the Medo-Persian empire. 
 
 The sciences have no place in an account of this empire, in the 
 time of Cyrus; and, of the arts which then adorned it, very little 
 can be discovered. Cyaxares, called Darius the Mede, according to 
 Sir Isaac Newton, “ was the first king of the Medes and Persians 
 who coined gold money. They were called Darics, or Stateres 
 Darici, and stamped on one side with an effigy of an archer, who 
 was crowned with a spike crown, had a bow in his left hand and an 
 arrow in his right, and was clothed with a long robe.” He adds, 
 “ I have seen one of them in gold and another in silver. They were 
 of the same weight and value with the Attic stater, weighing two 
 Attic drachms.” 3 
 
 As to the degree of perfection architecture and the arts of design 
 had arrived in Medo-Persia, at the close of the period we are 
 describing, very little indeed can be ascertained, but much may be 
 learned from the discovery and description of the palace of Perse- 
 polis, a city, the building of which is attributed by iElian to the elder 
 Cyrus. Those vast rains indicate the blended taste, skill, and wealth 
 of their founders. The literature of Persia has perished, but its 
 monuments remain—its truest history. Ruskin truly and beautifully 
 remarks, in his “ Seven Lamps of Architecture,”-—" How cold is 
 all history, how lifeless all imagery, compared to that which the 
 living nation writes, and the uncorrupted marble bears! How 
 
 1 *>■ \ 
 
 2 iVtreue/v, aa/ ro^ive/v 
 
 zal a\viO/Zta-l>ai — Herodotus, i, 136. 
 
 8 Chronol. 319. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 315 
 
 many pages of doubtful record might we not often spare for a few 
 stones left one upon another! ” The spirit of oriental architecture 
 is in contrast to that of the western world. It rejoices in colour 
 and ornament, and leaves form as a subordinate matter. Our 
 structures, with all their elegance and symmetry, would appear 
 cold and lifeless to the oriental eye. Durability was also a mere 
 secondary consideration. The production of a gorgeous spectacle— 
 of a fabric which should delight and entrance the present generation 
 of admirers, seems to have been the ruling passion of Persian sove¬ 
 reigns and then architects. Gaudy decoration, as may be seen also 
 in the Alhambra, was therefore preferred to massive substantial 
 masonry. The reader will find an interesting account of the Perse- 
 politan ruins, as well as an ingenious attempt to restore them, by 
 beautiful engravings, in Fergusson’s work already referred to. 1 
 
 1 The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, by James Fergusson, Esq. 
 London, 1851. 
 
 [Painted Arabesque Hall.— Alhambra.'] 
 
Early 
 History of 
 the Medes. 
 
 [Princes of Persia .—Sculptures at Persepolis.—Sir R. K. Porter .] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF MEDIA AND PERSIA. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, on the authority of Ctesias, has recited the 
 names and actions of seven princes, respecting whom Herodotus is 
 entirely silent; but as Ctesias has been regarded as entitled to the 
 epithet fabulous, many prefer the authority of “the Father of History.” 
 According to Herodotus, the Medes, on recovering their indepen¬ 
 dence, first adopted a popular government, or rather organized several 
 distinct governments, which appear soon to have been jealous of 
 each other, and disposed to mutual hostility. After some years of 
 confusion and anarchy, one of their countrymen, Deioces, by the 
 reputation he attained as a judge of their differences, procured 
 himself to be elected king, in the year 710 before the Christian 
 era. 
 
 This first king of the Medes soon degenerated from the exercise 
 
 Deioces. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 PHRAOETES—CYAXARES. 
 
 317 
 
 of mildness and equity, which had secured his advancement, and 
 became a tyrant. He exacted from the people the labour of build¬ 
 ing, for his magnificence, the famous city of Ecbatana, where, to 
 preserve his dignity, he kept himself concealed in the interior of his 
 palace, “ believing,” says the historian, “ that while invisible to his 
 subjects, he should be regarded as one of a superior race.” Yet, as 
 Montesquieu has remarked, this seclusion affected by the princes of 
 Asia, was attended with no inconsiderable hazard.—“ Cette puis¬ 
 sance invisible qui gouveme est toujours la meme pour le peuple. 
 Quoique dix rois, qu’il ne connoit que de nom, se soient egorges 
 fun apres l’autre, il ne sent aucune difference, c’est comme s’il avoit 
 ete gouverne successivement par des esprits.” 1 Herodotus, how¬ 
 ever, has described this prince as making himself known by a vigor¬ 
 ous exercise of justice, which, from the recess of his palace, he dis¬ 
 tributed to all his subjects by means of his officers. 
 
 Deioces, according to the most probable account of these ages of 
 uncertain hisfory, appears to have passed fifty-three years in the 
 exercise of royalty, when ambition drew him from his retirement, 
 and he was slain in battle with the Assyrians. His son Phraortes Phraortes. 
 succeeded to his crown, and also inherited his martial propensities. 
 
 He fell before the walls of Nineveh, after a reign of twenty-two 
 years. 
 
 Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, now ascended the throne. He Cyaxaves. 
 rigorously disciplined his army, soon recovered what his father and 
 grandfather had lost to the Assyrians, and then carried the war into 
 the enemy’s country. There he besieged Nineveh, to revenge the 
 injuries which Nuchadnezzar had inflicted on the capital of Media. 
 
 But he was called away by a formidable irruption of the Scythians, 
 who now overran a great part of Asia. Engaging them hi battle, 
 his army was routed, and his country for some years subjected to 
 the conquerors. At length he is said to have prevailed over his 
 enemies by the following stratagem. He invited them to a general 
 entertainment among the Medes. The master of each family intoxi¬ 
 cated his guest. Then the Scythians were massacred, and the 
 kingdom was restored to independence, though not to the enjoy¬ 
 ment of peace; for Cyaxares was speedily engaged in a war with 
 Alyattes, the king of Lydia, the occasion of which is thus related by 
 Herodotus. 2 Certain Scythians had fled from a popular tumult, and 
 taken refuge in Media, where they were protected by the king. 3 He 
 intrusted some youths to their care to be taught the Scythian 
 language and the use of the bow. These strangers were skilful 
 hunters; but one day, returning from the chace without bringing 
 any game for the king, he reproved them in very provoking terms. 
 
 They consulted on a method of revenge, and determined on a 
 
 1 Let Pers. No. 100. 2 i. 73, 74. 
 
 3 The passage of such hordes from one government to another has been, in all 
 ages, a fruitful source of war in Asia.—Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien, ii. 2. 
 
318 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 War with 
 Lydia. 
 
 With 
 
 Nineveh. 
 
 Astyages. 
 
 Cyrus. 
 
 retaliation the most horrible. Killing one of the youths committed 
 to then’ care, they dressed the flesh in the manner of game, and it 
 was thus served up and eaten by Cyaxares and his guests. The 
 Scythians fled and sought the protection of Alyattes, who refused 
 to deliver them up to the justly exasperated king of Media. 
 
 On this refusal, a war commenced between the Lydians and the 
 Medes, which continued five years, and was attended with various 
 success. A remarkable event happened during one of their engage¬ 
 ments. In the sixth year, and in the midst of a battle, when neither 
 side could reasonably claim superiority, the day was suddenly 
 involved in darkness; this phenomenon, and the particular period 
 at which it was to happen, had been foretold to the Ionians by 
 Thales the Milesian. 1 2 Awed by the solemnity of the event, the 
 parties desisted from the engagement; and it further influenced 
 them to listen to propositions of peace, which were made by Syen- 
 nesis of Cilicia, and Labynetus of Babylon. To strengthen the 
 treaty, these persons also recommended a matrimonial connection; 
 they advised that Alyattes should give Aryenis, his daughter, to 
 Astyages, son of Cyaxares, from the just conviction, that no political 
 engagements are durable unless strengthened by the closest of all 
 possible bonds. 
 
 Released from the Lydian war, he resumed the siege of Nineveh, 
 which he took, in conjunction with Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby¬ 
 lon. The confederate princes now led then army against the king 
 of Egypt, whom they forced to abandon his acquisitions in Assyria, 
 and to retire into his own country. Their joint efforts against the 
 Holy Land are detailed in the sacred history. 
 
 Herodotus attributes to Phraortes the conquest of Persia, but 
 that country was rather subdued by his son Cyaxares—a supposi¬ 
 tion which best agrees with the language of the Scriptures. Thus 
 the kingdom of Media was enlarged to a powerful empire, for 
 Cyaxares shared his conquests with the king of Babylon. The 
 Median prince died in the fortieth year of his reign, and was suc¬ 
 ceeded by his son Astyages, the Ahasuerus mentioned in the Book of 
 Daniel. 3 
 
 We have already alluded to the marriage of this prince with 
 Aryenis, the daughter of the king of Lydia. By her he had 
 Cyaxares II., called in Scripture Darius the Mede. He had also a 
 daughter named Mandane, who became the mother of Cyrus, and 
 to his name we refer for the later history of the Medes. 
 
 The history of Cyrus, 3 in addition to that obscurity which belongs 
 
 1 Eight different dates have been assigned for this eclipse. Ideler places it G10 
 b.c., and Clinton, 603 b.c. 
 
 2 ix. 1. 
 
 3 The name is in Hebrew uni Khoresh, and signifies the sun—in Zend, hwakk 
 —-allied also to the Hebrew Dnn, and perhaps the Coptic Horus—the Egyptian 
 Apollo. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 XENOPHON AND HERODOTUS. 
 
 319 
 
 to remote records, and which especially overshadows the lives of 
 heroes, to whom fabulous events were imputed in order to increase 
 the splendour of their real transactions, is peculiarly complicated 
 and perplexed, because of the very opposite accounts furnished by 
 those historians who have professedly undertaken to write the life ■ 
 of this illustrious prince. The lessons furnished by ambition seem 
 always to come too late for any practical and beneficial result. It 
 is seldom that the individual derives any advantage from his own 
 experience. Chagrin and disappointment may cause a momentary 
 suspension of his purposes, but renewed success re-assures him. 
 
 He presses forward along his dangerous path, until he finds himself 
 engaged in that warfare “ from which there is no discharge,” and is 
 compelled to yield, in the midst of his dazzling victories, his extend¬ 
 ing fame, and his promising dreams of future aggrandisement, to the 
 arm of a more resistless conqueror than himself, who dismisses him 
 from his warlike toils for ever. And so he is placed out of the 
 reach of the salutary instruction which his successor, either by force, 
 fraud, or descent, regards with indifference. If such men as 
 Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus could be called from their graves, it 
 would be some mortification, supposing the same ambitious temper 
 to remain with them, for the one to learn that his conquest of Egypt 
 made so little lasting impression, as to leave it doubtful to posterity 
 at what period of his life and reign it took place; and for the other 
 to be informed, that the historians who contended for the honour of 
 transmitting his renown to future ages, have so widely differed in 
 the most simple, as well as the most momentous facts, that neither 
 his birth, his principal achievements, nor his death, are known with 
 certainty. Both of these warriors have owed the renown they 
 possess, first, to a people whom neither of them knew, except as 
 conquerors, and whom both of them despised; whom the one en¬ 
 slaved, and the other, after long captivity, but partially restored: and, 
 secondly, to actions, in which they were unconscious instruments of 
 the will of an unknown God. 
 
 Herodotus and Xenophon often vary in then- account of Cyrus, Xenophon 
 and perhaps our safest way is to extract facts from both these Heroa otus 
 writers, sometimes also inferring truth from then - collision. Xeno- compared, 
 phon is represented by Plato as having given in his work his own Opinion of 
 conceptions of what should constitute a just prince, rather than a ‘ J ' 
 true account of Cyrus: and Diogenes Laertius has inferred from his 
 expressions, that he regarded the Cyroptedia altogether as a fable. 
 
 But it ought not to be forgotten, that Plato and Xenophon, disciples 
 of the same master, were rivals; and, in more instances than one, 
 discovered towards each other all the petulance and jealousy of 
 competition; nor is it impossible, that a feeling of this order may, 
 in some measure, have influenced the opinion of Plato in the pre¬ 
 sent case. Cicero, probably upon this authority, asserts, that the of Cicero. 
 Cyrus of Xenophon was drawn up expressly as a model of govern- 
 
320 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Of Scaliger 
 and Erasmus. 
 
 Advantages 
 of Xenophon. 
 
 ment, and was not even intended as a true history. This conclusion 
 is expressly contradictory, however, of the pretensions of Xenophon 
 himself, who distinctly avers, that he had diligently set himself to 
 obtain the most accurate information relative to the education, 
 achievements, and character of his hero. He had opportunities of 
 effecting this better than any other historian who undertook the 
 task subsequently, because of his station in the court of the younger 
 Cyrus; because of his acknowledged penetration and judgment, to 
 which the ancients bore a concurrent testimony; and because of the 
 undivided attention which he paid to his subject, as unmixed with 
 any other countries or events, except in so far as they were brought 
 into contact with the exploits of his principal personage. Scaliger 
 admits no other events in the Cyropa^dia as authentic than those 
 which are also recorded by Herodotus. Erasmus denies him even 
 the merit of having produced a moral fiction, and impugns the 
 character of the prince, while he agrees with others in regarding it 
 as imaginary. Thus Xenophon has been stripped, by the merciless 
 hands of ancient and modem critics, of all his laurels as a philo¬ 
 sopher, as well as a historian. But, in these respects, palpable 
 injustice has been done him. Herodotus relates more surprising, 
 and therefore more improbable, events of Cyrus than Xenophon, so 
 far presumption is on the side of the latter; and it is not unlikely 
 that those extraordinary transactions, narrated by the former, and 
 which were peculiarly adapted to the taste of the age in which he 
 wrote, so captivated his readers, as to induce the preference shown 
 to his narrative over that of Xenophon. It is not intended to deny 
 that the structure of the Cyropsedia is such as most writers have 
 represented—a picture of government as it existed in the idea of 
 Xenophon, both regarding war and policy, and blended with the 
 character of his hero. But an historical novel is not, therefore, 
 necessarily destitute of all truth: it is, on the contrary—and this is 
 its charm—built upon acknowledged facts, over which the writer 
 throws the rich colouring of his own imagination. It is not neces¬ 
 sary, probably it is not just, to consider the production of Xeno¬ 
 phon as a mere fable, constructed out of a few general facts attached 
 to a real character; we are disposed to go further, and to consider 
 his -work as authentic in all its prominent details, although mixed 
 with his own sentiments, and the speeches, especially, of the respec¬ 
 tive parties in it, supplied by his own hand—a method adopted by 
 Josephus, and by all the ancient historians. The inferences appear 
 to us rather in favour of Xenophon than Herodotus, as well from 
 the superior advantages of the former over the latter in the infor¬ 
 mation regarding this particular subject, as from the greater simpli¬ 
 city of his narrative of the events connected with his hero. But we 
 have evidence beyond conjecture when we turn again to revelation, 
 as to the polar star of this night of history, and find the record of 
 Xenophon, in some leading particulars, agreeing more distinctly 
 
BIRTH OF CYRUS. 
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 321 
 
 with the facts related in the Scriptures, than the history of Herodo¬ 
 tus, which has been so generally followed. 
 
 Herodotus founds the Persian empire upon the destruction of the Mistakes of 
 Medes; Xenophon unites the Medes and Persians in the conquest 0 lls ' 
 of Babylon: the last accords precisely with the prophecies and the 
 records of the Bible on these facts; the former is entirely incom¬ 
 patible with them. At the same time it may not be impossible that 
 some of the discrepancies between these historians, and which are 
 wholly irreconcileable, relate to different persons of the same name, 
 who may have been originally confounded by different writers, the 
 perplexity naturally increasing as time caused them to recede from 
 the era of then’ history; and thus not only the different actions, but 
 the different modes of death imputed to the great Cyrus, may all 
 have been true, partially at least, of some heroes of a similar name, 
 all whose individual distinctions may have been absorbed in the 
 first illustrious personage. Such things have happened in relation 
 to other distinguished persons, and are at least possible in this 
 case. We shall, therefore, present a brief sketch of the narratives 
 of Xenophon and Herodotus respectively, making the Scripture 
 narrative our umpire in all cases of disagreement, and drawing our 
 conclusions from it in such as are doubtful. 
 
 According to Herodotus, Cyrus was the son of Mandane, daughter Herodotus's 
 of Astyages, the last king of the Medes, and of Cambyses, a Persian aceoullt ' 
 of ancient family, but of inferior rank and circumstances. The 
 inducement of the king to marry his daughter so far below her 
 royal dignity, and to a foreigner, is stated to have been the appre¬ 
 hension of the loss of his kingdom by the issue of her marriage. 
 
 Two dreams which he had related to the magi—the one, that a vine 
 springing from his daughter’s womb overshadowed his empire; the 
 other, that water issuing from her overflowed all Asia—were inter¬ 
 preted by them to portend the subversion of his own throne, and 
 the subjugation of all Asia by his grandchild. Alarmed by these Alarm of 
 prognostications, he first selected Cambyses, as a man whose inferior Ast ' a "' s ' 
 condition was not likely to inspire ambition, and as possessed also 
 of a mild temperament, little suited to war and enterprise. But as 
 the latter dream did not take place until twelve months after her 
 marriage, and seemed to signify a similar result with the former, he 
 became still more terrified; and sending for his daughter, then 
 pregnant, he shut her up until after her confinement, resolving to 
 destroy her offspring, should it prove a son. Under these circum¬ 
 stances Cyrus was born, and delivered to Harpagus, one of the Birth of 
 courtiers, to be put to death. Unwilling himself to be the execu- ' us ' 
 tioner of infant innocence, he transferred the cruel order to Mitra- 
 dates, one of the king’s herdsmen, enjoining him, upon pain of death, 
 to expose the child to perish by hunger, or 'wild beasts, among the 
 most perilous recesses of the mountains. The wife of the herdsman 
 having been delivered of a still-born son, prevailed upon her hus- 
 
 [e. o. h.] y 
 
322 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 band to put the dead child in the place of Cyrus, and to rear the 
 royal infant as their own. This expedient being adopted, the herds¬ 
 man’s still-born babe was dressed in the robes of the grandson of 
 Astyages, placed in the same coffer, and exposed three days on 
 the mountains. At the end of this period, Mitradates summoned 
 Harpagus to bear witness that the king’s mandate was executed. 
 Harpagus sent some friends to ascertain the fact, and they supposing 
 the dead child to have been the royal infant, reported accordingly, 
 and the babe was interred, while Cyrus was educated as the herds¬ 
 man’s son . 1 
 
 His boyhood. In this obscurity the prince remained until he reached the age of 
 ten years, when some sparks of his native greatness discovered 
 themselves. One day playing with companions of his own age, of 
 whom, it would appear, one at least was the son of a man of superior 
 rank, Cyrus had been elected king for the superiority of his genius 
 and for his agility. In conformity with his imaginary dignity, he 
 distributed his little subjects into several ranks and degrees, and en¬ 
 forced his orders by punishments and rewards. The nobleman’s son 
 refusing to obey the command of his juvenile lord, he caused him 
 to be so severely chastised, that the boy complained to his father, 
 who, incensed beyond measure at the presumption of the supposed 
 son of a herdsman, brought the matter before the king. Astyages 
 He is ^ commanded him to be sent for, and, upon reproving him for his 
 
 before insolence in striking the son of a man of rank, was astonished at the 
 
 Astyages. spirit and eloquence with which Cyrus defended himself, in assert¬ 
 ing the right inseparable from the dignity conferred upon him to 
 punish the disobedient. These were circumstances which he deemed 
 so much above the rank and education of the young offender, that 
 he began to examine his features, in which he traced a resemblance 
 to his own, and to inquire into his age, which agreed with the date 
 of the exposure of his daughter’s infant, and, therefore, he finally 
 concluded that the daring boy was his own grandson. The herds¬ 
 man being summoned to the court, at first denied the facts, 
 but afterwards, intimidated at the threats of the king, he confessed 
 without reserve. Astyages sent instantly for Harpagus, whom he 
 confronted with the herdsman; but Harpagus affirmed truly that 
 he had himself been deceived. The king, concealing his resentment, 
 directed Harpagus to sup with him that night, in honour of the 
 discovery of Cyrus, and in the meanwhile to send his own son to 
 the palace as his companion. The young man had no sooner 
 Cruelty of arrived than the tyrant caused him to be murdered, and the body 
 Astyages. prepared as food under different disguises. A splendid banquet 
 
 1 This storv has no little resemblance to a similar mythical story about Romulus 
 and the she-wolf. The wife who suckled the child was named zwu—zvwv —(adog, 
 masculine or feminine,)—a name invented to supplant or explain the original 
 legend, that the exposed child was suckled by a bitch.—Herodotus i. 122. On the 
 other hand, Ctesias denies that Cyrus was related to Astyages at all. 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 REVENGE OF HARPAGUS. 
 
 323 
 
 was served to the king and the nobility, but the table of Harpagus 
 was furnished only with this horrible flesh, dressed in the most 
 attractive and delicate manner. The miserable father had no sus¬ 
 picion that he had fed upon his only child, until the royal monster 
 presented him the head, hands, and feet, in a basket. He dis¬ 
 sembled his rage and horror, that he might have opportunity to 
 execute a deeper revenge, which from that moment he meditated, 
 though he returned home, feigning resignation to the absolute will 
 of the reckless despot. Astyages, meanwhile, again consulted the 
 magi, informing them that his grandson was alive, and of the cir¬ 
 cumstances under which he had discovered him. They persuaded 
 him that the destiny predicted by the dreams had been accomplished 
 already, in his sportive election by the boys as their sovereign ; and 
 that he might thenceforth dismiss all apprehension. Accordingly, 
 he resolved to send Cyrus to his real parents, Cambyses and Man- 
 dane, in Persia, and by them he was received with transports of 
 tenderness, while he related the occurrences of his infancy and 
 childhood up to that hour. 
 
 In this country, and with his parents,, Cyrus grew up to man- Revenge of 
 hood: but years could not efface from the bosom of Harpagus the Har P a § us - 
 barbarous and irreparable injury inflicted upon him by Astyages. 
 
 He secretly planned, with the principal nobility of the Medes, a 
 conspiracy against the tyrant, and judged Cyrus the fittest person to 
 whom to commit the execution of it. Accordingly, he paid assiduous 
 court to the young prince, excited a warm ambition within liim, 
 and urged him to dethrone his grandfather, whose cruelty had been 
 so great to both. At length he conveyed a letter to Cyrus in the 
 belly of a hare, sent by a trusty domestic in the habit of a hunter, 
 which unfolded the plot, and earnestly pressed him without delay to 
 hasten it to its execution. 
 
 The Persians were then subject to the Medes, and subjection conspires 
 opens an easy door to revolt. By a forged letter from his grand- Astyages. 
 father, Cyrus first enjoined the severest labours upon the Persian 
 forces one day; and the next, at his own instance, banquetted them 
 with the choicest dainties. He then asked them, whether they would 
 prefer living the laborious fife of the day preceding, or in the plenty 
 and ease of that moment in which he was addressing them. It was 
 not difficult to anticipate their decision; and he explained to them, 
 that to live under the government of the Medes was to wear the 
 yoke, but that to follow him would be to secure liberty and peace. 
 
 After this, finding them impatient to emancipate themselves from 
 their oppressors, he detailed to them the particulars of the con¬ 
 spiracy, and was placed at their head with acclamations. 
 
 So serious a revolt as that of Persia could not be long concealed Cyrus revolts 
 from the king of the Medes: accordingly, Astyages receiving infor- against 
 mation of the transactions with which Cyrus had connected himself, 
 commanded the young hero to repair to his court 'without delay. 
 
324 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 Cyrus answered, that he would be there sooner than his grandfather 
 wished. The king accordingly called out his forces to resist the 
 invasion with which he was threatened, and committed the com¬ 
 mand of them to Harpagus, who, with the principal officers of the 
 army, in the first general onset, went over to the Persians, and the 
 Medes were consequently defeated with great slaughter. The tyrant, 
 enraged to find that the treason had made its way into his army, 
 first caused the magi to be impaled, who had interpreted his dreams 
 in a way that lulled him into security, and then assembling all the 
 Medes capable of bearing arms, put himself at their head. Another 
 general engagement ensued, in which the Persians were again 
 victorious, and Astyages taken prisoner. It was now the turn of 
 Harpagus to insult his tyrant, which he did not fail to do; but his 
 reverses did not so dispirit Astyages as to withhold him, notwith¬ 
 standing the danger he incurred, from reproaching this officer with 
 Defeats and hi s treachery. Cyrus kept his grandfather a prisoner until he died; 
 lmpnsraa p u (- without seeking any further revenge than securing his person, 
 b.c. 559. and rendering the Medes subservient to the Persians. From this 
 period commenced the victories of Cyrus over the Assyrians, the 
 Lydians, and finally the Babylonians, with other distinguished 
 empires. These events are recorded in their proper places, and the 
 ultimate fate of Babylon has already been described. 
 
 Xenophon's On the other hand, the history furnished by Xenophon is much 
 account. more probable, simple, and dignified. He says that Cyrus was the 
 son of Cambyses, king of Persia, by Mandane, the daughter of 
 Astyages, king of the Medes. He was educated after the Persian 
 manner, which mode of instruction was calculated to form a char¬ 
 acter of heroism, as it comprised the endurance of all sorts of pri¬ 
 vation, exposure to hardships, constant and laborious exercise, with 
 His the most simple habits and diet. Twelve years of his life were 
 
 education. p asSSe(; [ ; n this salutary discipline; at the close of which he accom¬ 
 panied his mother to the court of his grandfather, Astyages, where 
 every thing was the reverse of the plain and natural scenes in 
 which he had been educated; every thing was luxurious, splendid, 
 deceitful, and enervating. He remained, if we are to credit his 
 historian, unseduced by these temptations, a model of temperance, 
 generosity, and affability, in the midst of a proud, selfish, and 
 voluptuous circle. He won the admiration of his grandfather, and 
 of the principal nobles of Media, by his unassuming and dignified 
 deportment; and their confidence in his talents and virtues was 
 soon increased by an unexpected irruption of the Babylonians upon 
 the empire. It was a wanton and unprovoked invasion by Evil- 
 Merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and, as it should seem, 
 during the interval of the suspension of his father’s reason, and 
 while the regency of Babylon devolved upon him. Cyrus 
 Early was at this time about sixteen years of age, and accompanied his 
 
 exploits. grandfather to the war, where he reaped his first military laurels, 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 EARLY EXPLOITS OF CYRUS. 
 
 325 
 
 and discovered a wisdom and valour that rendered, it is said, the 
 decisive victory gained by the Medes over the Babylonians, on that 
 occasion, principally his own. After this exploit he returned to 
 Persia, and remained with his father until he 'was forty years of age, 
 when he was recalled into Media to the assistance of his maternal 
 uncle Cyaxares, who was one year older than himself. Neriglassar 
 had resolved to invade Media, and had formed for this purpose an 
 alliance with the neighbouring states. Of those, Lydia was the most 
 important and powerful; but as this campaign brought Cyrus into 
 remarkable conflict with Croesus, whom he so signally vanquished, 
 we shall embody those events in a separate chapter. 
 
 [Gate of the Sun— Palmyra. — Cassas.] 
 
Name. 
 
 [View of Amasia in Pontus.] 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 The kingdom of Lydia comprehended a territory in Asia Minor, 
 of various extent, in different periods of ancient history. It was 
 sometimes called Meonia, from King Meon, and often distinguished 
 into Lydia Superior, whose inhabitants were called Meones, and the 
 Lower Lydia, afterwards called Ionia, possessed by the Lydi. 
 
 Josephus derives the Lydians from Lud, one of the sons of Shem ; 
 and the learned Shuckford 1 adopts that opinion. But while Bochart 
 agrees in this derivation of Lydia, he says the word signifies to wind; 
 and this country being watered by the river Masander, celebrated 
 for its windings, 2 he concludes that it refers to the inhabitants of 
 the banks of this circuitous river, and he supposes Masonia to be a 
 translation of the Phoenician word Lud. Others deduce it from a 
 Hebrew word signifying metal. Herodotus, however, supposes the 
 appellation to arise from Lydus, one of their kings. 
 
 In this country an absolute monarchical government appears to 
 
 1 b. iii. 2 Hence our English word meander , to wind. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF LYDIA. 
 
 327 
 
 have been very early established, and, so far as can be ascertained, 
 the crown was hereditary. There have been reckoned three distinct 
 dynasties: the Atyadte, named from Atys, the son of Manes, the Dynasties, 
 first of the kings of Lydia of whom there is any record; the 
 Heraclida?, or descendants of Hercules; and the Mermnada*. This 
 Manes has been conjectured, not improbably, to have been the king 
 mentioned by the philosopher ITeraclides, who, from being a slave 
 to a Cartwright, was raised to the throne of Lydia. In the reign of 
 his son Atys, Herodotus places the event of a severe scarcity, which 
 he describes as enduring for eighteen years. The Lydians, he says, 
 invented games to amuse then- distress, and in these occupied every 
 other day, strictly abstaining from food; by these measures, how¬ 
 ever, the calamity remitted nothing of its violence, but rather 
 increased: at length the king divided the whole nation by lot into 
 two bodies, one of which should continue at home, and the other 
 should emigrate. These placed themselves under the conduct of his 
 son, whose name was Tyrrhenus. They passed to Smyrna, where 
 building a number of vessels, they sailed in search of another 
 country, till they settled in Umbria, or Etruria; and thus, accord¬ 
 ing to Herodotus, was peopled the country which forms the modern 
 Tuscany. 
 
 After Atys there is a catalogue of kings, of whom nothing has 
 been told except their names, and a few disgusting and improbable 
 stories. Without admitting the whole which these narratives affirm, 
 it is nevertheless certain that the Lydians became proverbial for 
 profligacy and effeminacy. This dynasty appears to have ended with 
 the transfer of the crown to Argon, who made Sardis the seat of 
 government, and whom Herodotus describes as the first of the 
 Heraclidse. A few names of Argon’s descendants bring down the Heraclida?. 
 history of the Lydian monarchy to Candaules, whose tragical end 
 concluded a dynasty which, according to Herodotus, had continued 
 five hundred years. 
 
 Candaules, whose reign is placed about the year 735 before the Candaules. 
 Christian era, was contemporary with Romulus; but has not, like B - c - 735. 
 the founder of Rome, provided any valuable materials for history; 
 and unless Pliny 1 had applauded his munificence, as having pur¬ 
 chased a picture for its weight in gold, the king of Lydia would now 
 be known only by the folly to which he sacrificed his life, if, indeed, 
 we may rely on the testimony of Herodotus relative to that event. 
 
 Under the influence of an extravagant passion, Candaules engaged 
 his favourite courtier, Gyges, in a conversation on the consummate Gyges. 
 beauty of the queen, and to convince him of her superior charms, 
 would expose her to his observation. The courtier in vain expos¬ 
 tulated against the indecorous proposal. The infatuated prince 
 insisted that he should be concealed in the bed-chamber, and Gyges 
 
 1 lxxxv. 
 
328 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. V- 
 
 Other 
 
 accounts. 
 
 Wealth of 
 Gyges. 
 
 His successes. 
 
 Alyattes. 
 
 was obliged to acquiesce. On his retiring from the chamber he was 
 observed by the queen, who concealed her resentment from the king 
 until the morning, but determined to revenge the indignity which 
 he had offered her. No sooner, therefore, was she risen than she 
 sent for Gyges, and proposed to him the alternative of death, or the 
 destruction of Candaules, with accession to his throne, and the hand 
 of his queen. Ambition conspired with the love of life to determine 
 the courtier’s choice, although he seems to have shown considerable 
 reluctance to destroy his prince. He assassinated Candaules in his 
 sleep, and attained the promised rewards. “ Gyges,” says Raleigh, 
 “ being brought again into the same chamber by the queen, slew 
 Candaules, and was rewarded not only with his wife, but with the 
 kingdom of Lydia.” 
 
 Such is the account of the accession of Gyges, on the authority 
 of Herodotus; 1 but, like most relations, especially in ancient history, 
 it has been disputed. Plato describes Gyges as a shepherd, and by 
 the assistance of a marvellous tale of a magical ring, the philosopher 
 brings him to the court, where he seduces the queen, and then 
 murders the injured monarch: 2 while Plutarch represents the suc¬ 
 cession of Gyges to the throne of Lydia, as the result of a battle 
 which he waged against Candaules. Herodotus has, however, been 
 generally followed, as he was born in a city near to Lydia, and at a 
 period when he was likely to be able to ascertain the particulars of 
 its early history. 
 
 The Lydians were attached to the memory of their late monarch, 
 and appeared in arms against his murderer, when Gyges availed 
 himself of the reverence generally paid to the oracle of Delphi. He 
 agreed with the malcontents, that Iris possession of the royalty 
 should depend on the determination of the Pythia, whom he doubt¬ 
 less knew how to propitiate. The decision was favourable to the 
 usurper. The throne was secured to him, though the vengeance of 
 the Heraclids was denounced on his descendant in the fifth genera¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Lydia abounded in mines of the precious metals: hence, as we 
 have seen, some have deduced its name; and Gyges became 
 renowned for his riches. He employed them in rewarding munifi¬ 
 cently the obsequious oracle, and thus gave the example, afterwards 
 so amply followed, of presenting costly votive offerings at Delphi. 
 This prince soon extended the bounds of his kingdom by successful 
 military adventures, and reigned thirty-eight years, leaving his son 
 Ardyes to complete his conquests, till he was himself invaded by 
 the Cimmerians. Sadyattes succeeded his father Ardyes, and carried 
 on that war against the people of Miletus, which was further pro¬ 
 secuted by his son Alyattes. Of this prince several events are 
 recorded. We have already recorded his war with Cyaxares the 
 
 if 13. 
 
 2 Republ. ii. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 ALYATTES. 
 
 329 
 
 Mede, and liow, at its conclusion, his daughter was betrothed to 
 Astyages, the son of the Median sovereign. Alyattes also, accord¬ 
 ing to the same historian, drove the Cimmerians out of Asia, pos¬ 
 sessed himself of Smyrna, and invaded Clazomenae. 
 
 But the longest of his martial exploits was the war against the war against 
 people of Miletus, which his father had begun, and which he pro- Mlletus ' 
 secuted during six years. Of his policy in the conduct of this war 
 we have, from Herodotus, the following account: “ When the time 
 of harvest approached, he marched an army into their country to 
 the sound of the pastoral pipe, harp, and flutes. He neither pulled 
 down, nor burned, nor in any respect injured their edifices which 
 stood in the fields; but he totally destroyed their trees, and the pro¬ 
 duce of their lands, and then returned. As the Milesians were 
 masters of the sea, the siege of their city would probably have 
 proved ineffectual. His motive for not destroying their buildings 
 was, that they might be induced again to cultivate their lands, and 
 that, on every repetition of his incursions, he might be secure of 
 plunder.” 1 
 
 In the twelfth year his soldiers burnt, by accident, a temple of stratagem. 
 Minerva. The king, soon after, being severely indisposed, inquired 
 of the oracle respecting his recovery; but the Pythia refused to 
 answer till he had restored the temple. To effect this it became 
 necessary to procure a truce with the king of Miletus, who, being 
 apprised of the circumstance, practised the following stratagem: 
 
 “ All the corn which was found, or could be procured, was, by his 
 direction, collected in the most public place. He then ordered the 
 Milesians, at an appointed period, to commence their convivialities ; 
 and the herald of the king of Lydia witnessed the scene. Alyattes 
 had imagined that the Milesians suffered extremely from the scarcity 
 of corn. The report of his messenger produced a different impres¬ 
 sion. A strict alliance was formed between the two nations; and, 
 instead of one, Alyattes erected two temples to Minerva.” 2 Hero¬ 
 dotus adds, that the prince was restored to health, and presented at 
 Delphi “ a large silver goblet, with a saucer of iron, curiously 
 inlaid,” which was the second offering made by his family. Alyattes Death of 
 dying after a reign of fifty-seven years, was buried at Sardis, where Alyattes ' 
 his sepulchre remained in the time of Herodotus. He was succeeded 
 by his son Croesus, whose reign gave celebrity to Lydia, while his 
 name has become proverbial for riches, and his story has assisted the 
 moralists of every age to describe the uncertain tenure of worldly 
 prosperity. 
 
 It was about 562 years before the Christian era when Croesus Croesus, 
 became lung of Lydia, at the age of only thirty-five, according to B - c - 562. 
 the common computation. He commenced his reign with a war 
 against the Ephesians; a family quarrel, if, as iElian relates, he was 
 
 i i. 17. 
 
 2 i. 21. 
 
330 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. Y. 
 
 uncle to the prince of Ephesus. However that may be, he laid 
 close siege to the city, which the inhabitants, according to a common 
 heathen superstition, vainly endeavoured to defend, by connecting 
 His their walls with a rope to the temple of Minerva. Croesus pro- 
 
 conquests. C eeded to attack the Ionian and vEolian states, and having reduced 
 the Greeks on the Asiatic continent, he projected the formation and 
 equipment of a fleet to invade the islands. But Bias, one of the 
 wise men of Greece, dissuaded him from a contention with islanders 
 in a maritime war, and he wisely preferred to secure their friendly 
 alliance. He now pushed his conquests till, excepting the Lycians 
 and Cilicians, he had subdued all the nations to the river Halys. 
 By these conquests of Croesus the kingdom of Lydia became of great 
 extent, far beyond what it had comprehended in any former reign. 
 Sardis, the capital, advantageously situated at the foot of Mount 
 Tmolus, and watered by the Pactolus, famous for its golden sands, 
 was now distinguished among the cities of the ancient world. In 
 the estimation of Xenophon, it was “ the richest city in Asia, next 
 to Babylon.” According to Herodotus, it “ became the resort of 
 the great and the affluent, as well as of those who were celebrated 
 in Greece for their talents and their wisdom.” 
 
 His interview About this period took place the interview of Croesus with the 
 Athenian sage and lawgiver in the palace of Sardis. Plutarch, 
 indeed, proposes some chronological difficulties, started in his time, 
 respecting the reality of this interview, by some who considered the 
 story as fabricated for the uses of its excellent moral. The biogra¬ 
 pher, however, considers a story not to be rejected, which is “ so 
 famous, so well attested, so agreeable to Solon’s character, and so 
 worthy of his wisdom and magnanimity.” According to the com¬ 
 bined narratives of Herodotus and Plutarch, the account of this 
 interview is as follows: Croesus invited Solon to Sardis, and hospit¬ 
 ably entertained him in the palace, where the sage beheld the 
 magnificence of the king and his courtiers with a calm and mortify¬ 
 ing indifference. He was conducted to the royal treasury to view 
 and admire the vast riches it contained. At length the king flattered 
 himself that Solon was now prepared to decide in his favour, upon 
 being asked who was the happiest man; but he was disappointed. 
 The preference was bestowed on Tellus the Athenian, of whom, in 
 answer to the inquiry of the astonished and mortified prince, Solon 
 gave this account: “ Under the protection of a most excellent form 
 of government, he had many virtuous and amiable children; he saw 
 their offspring, and they all survived him; at the honourable close 
 of a prosperous life, for he died in the field of victory, and we gave 
 him a public funeral.” 1 Crcesus, not yet discouraged, inquired to 
 whom Solon would assign the next degree of felicity, when he 
 named Cleobis and Bito, young Argives, who, as an act of filial 
 
 1 Herodotus, i. 30. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 CRCESUS AND SOLON. 
 
 331 
 
 piety, had yoked themselves to their mother’s chariot, and drawn 
 her to the temple of Juno, where they died in the night, without 
 sorrow or pain, in answer to the mother’s prayer for their happiness. 
 
 Dissatisfied, and now indisposed to further inquiry, Croesus ex- Dissatisfac- 
 claimed, “ Man of Athens, think you so meanly of my prosperity as c^sus. 
 to place me even beneath men of private and obscure condition ? ” 
 
 Solon, unwilling either to flatter or to exasperate him, replied, 
 
 “ King of Lydia, the Greeks have no taste for the splendours of 
 royalty. Moreover, the vicissitudes of life suffer us not to be elated 
 by any present good fortune, or to admire that felicity which is 
 liable to change. Futurity carries for every man in its bosom many 
 various and uncertain events. He, therefore, whom heaven blesses 
 with success to the last is, in our estimation, the happy man. But 
 the happiness of him who still lives, and has the dangers of life to 
 encounter, appears to us no better than that of a champion before 
 the combat is determined, and while the crown is uncertain.” With 
 these words Solon departed, leaving Croesus chagrined, but not 
 instructed. iEsop was now at the court of Sardis, and said to 
 Solon, “ you see that we must either not come nigh kings, or else 
 entertain them with things agreeable.” To which the sage replied, 
 
 “ we should either say nothing, or what is useful.” 
 
 Those vicissitudes of fortune which Solon would have led the king vicissitudes, 
 to contemplate, were presently exemplified in the royal family. 
 
 Croesus had two sons; one of them was dumb, but the other, whose 
 name was Atys, was distinguished by superior accomplishments. 
 
 Croesus is said to have had a vision, which warned him that this son 
 would die by the point of an iron spear. The terrified father deter¬ 
 mined to settle his son in marriage, and to devote him to a pacific 
 life; taking away his command in the army, and removing from 
 about his person every military weapon. In the mean time 
 an unfortunate homicide, named Adrastus, arrived at Sardis, aAdrastus. 
 Phrygian, and of the royal family. He had killed his brother, 
 was banished by his father, and, according to the custom of pagan 
 antiquity, sought expiation of a neighbouring prince. This 
 Croesus bestowed, and gave the fugitive an asylum in his court. 
 Herodotus, who is almost the only authority for the domestic 
 history of Croesus, next relates, that a wild boar of an extraordinary 
 size appeared near Olympus, in Mysia. The terrified inhabitants 
 requested Croesus to send his son with hunters and dogs to destroy 
 the formidable animal. The king, remembering the vision, with¬ 
 held his son, but promised them a chosen band of dogs and hunters. 
 
 The young man, mortified by his father’s determination, expostu¬ 
 lated, and at length was allowed by his father to pursue the chace 
 of this unarmed enemy, being placed under the special guardianship 
 of the young Phrygian. They attacked the boar; when the Phry¬ 
 gian’s spear, by a fatal mischance, killed the son of Croesus. Death or 
 “ Thus,” says Herodotus, “ he was destroyed by the point of a spear, Atys ' 
 
332 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. V. 
 
 Agony of and the vision proved to be prophetic. Croesus was in an agony, 
 
 Crcesus. and his anger was excited against the destroyer of his son, the fugi¬ 
 tive to whose distressful tale he had listened, and whose former 
 crime he had so generously expiated. While his thoughts were thus 
 occupied, the Lydians appeared with the body of his son; the homi¬ 
 cide followed. He advanced towards Croesus, and with extended 
 hands, implored that he might suffer death upon the body of him 
 whom he had slain. Croesus listened to him with attention; and 
 although the father was oppressed by his own grief, he could not 
 refuse his compassion to Adrastus, to whom he spake as follows: 
 
 ‘ My friend, I am sufficiently revenged by your voluntary condem¬ 
 nation of yourself. You are not guilty of this deed, for you did it 
 without design. The offended deity who warned me of the evil has 
 accomplished it! ’ Croesus, therefore, buried his son with the pro¬ 
 per ceremonies; but the unfortunate descendant of Midas, who had 
 killed his brother and his friend, retired at the dead of night to the 
 place where Atys was buried, and confessing himself the most 
 miserable of mankind, slew himself on the tomb.” 1 
 
 Crcesus passed two years in extreme affliction for the tragical 
 death of a son, who was the only hope of the royal house. At 
 length his jealousy was awakened, and his military ardour roused, 
 by the progress of a neighbouring power, which was rapidly advanc¬ 
 ing to a formidable greatness. 
 
 It is remarkable that Cyrus, whose name will be connected with 
 all the remaining history of Croesus, appears to have assumed the 
 military government of Media on the death of his grandfather, 
 Astyages, (who is said to have been the brother-in-law of Croesus,) 
 the same year in which the king of Lydia commenced Ills reign, on 
 the death of his father, Alyattes. 
 
 Chronoiogi- But before we proceed in the history of Croesus, we must notice 
 
 tencv C ° nSIS " an a PP aren t inconsistency respecting the alleged years of that 
 prince’s age, and of his reign, which we know not how to explain; 
 for if Croesus were only thirty-five years of age at his accession, it is 
 difficult to understand how he could have a son advanced to man¬ 
 hood and disposed of in marriage, apparently some time before his 
 tragical end, which we have related. If, again, the king of Lydia 
 reigned only fourteen years, according to Herodotus, 2 and two years 
 of inaction be allowed to pass after the death of his son, the wars 
 he waged against his neighbours, the extension of his dominions, 
 the accumulation of treasure, and the embellishment of the metro¬ 
 polis of his kingdom—all these important transactions will be 
 crowded into three years. Such conclusions are extremely impro¬ 
 bable ; and it can scarcely be doubted that both the age and the 
 reign of Croesus far exceeded the extent assigned them by the com¬ 
 mon computation. 
 
 i i. 45. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 CONQUEST OF NERIGLASSAR. 
 
 333 
 
 The kings of Babylon had been for some time advancing their Kings of 
 conquests, and were permitted, as a just judgment on the Jews, to Batyl011 ' 
 bring the land of Israel under their despotic sway. According to 
 Xenophon, they had not only overthrown the Syrians, bift also 
 the Arabs and the Hyrcanians; they were attacking the Bactrians, 
 and sought to break the power of the Medes, and thus to obtain the 
 command of Asia. These conquests, and further projects of domin¬ 
 ion naturally excited the jealousy of neighbouring states. The king¬ 
 dom of Media, especially, Avas aroused to military activity; and 
 Neriglassar, the king of Babylon, son-in-law of the Nebuchadnezzar 
 of Scripture, Avas soon alarmed by the advance of Cyrus, Avith an 
 army of Persians, in support of his uncle Cyaxares, the king of 
 Media. 
 
 The advance of Cyrus may be easily supposed to have alarmed Nerigiassar’s 
 the king of Babylon, especially Avhen he understood that the Persian alliances - 
 prince had defeated and reduced to new terms of subjection the 
 chief of Armenia, a tributary prince, who had revolted from the 
 Medes. Neriglassar, on this emergency, in the first place summoned 
 to his aid, according to Xenophon, his oavii tributary states. He 
 also sent to Croesus, king of Lydia, to the king of Cappadocia, to 
 both Phrygias, to the Carians, Paphlagonians, Indians, and Cili- 
 cians; loading the Medes and Persians Avith calumny and reproach; 
 describing their poAver, their union of interest by family alliances, 
 and their design, by attacking each nation separately, to si\bdue 
 them all. 
 
 According to the same historian, the Lydians Avho joined the Army of the 
 confederated forces on this occasion under Croesus were 10,000 L)dl "‘ 5 
 horse, and targeteers and archers upwards of 40 , 000 . The Avhole 
 of the allied army he computes as 60,000 horse, and more than 
 200,000 targeteers and archers. The army of Media is described 
 by Xenophon 1 as “in horse less than a third part of the enemy’s 
 force, and scarce half the number of their foot.” But the historian 
 Avas also the panegyrist of Cyrus, and this is not the only occasion 
 on Avhich Ave may raise some historic doubts of his strict veracity. 
 
 The confederate army, under the king of Babylon, Croesus, and 
 the other leaders, appeared at first disposed to remain in their 
 strong camp, while Cyrus and Cyaxares waited to give them battle. 
 
 The next day, however, according to Xenophon, the Assyrians, 
 meaning the allied army, Avhen they had dined, marched boldly out, 
 and formed themselves Avith great resolution. The king, Neriglassar, 
 himself ranged them in order of battle, driving round in his chariot, 
 and exhorting the soldiers in a spirited oration. On this occasion 
 Cyaxares blamed the deliberate policy of Cyrus, sending messengers 
 to entreat that he would march immediately against the enemy. 
 
 He at length gave out the Avord, “ Jove, our assistant and leader,” 
 
 1 Lib. vii. 1. 
 
334 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. V. 
 
 Death of 
 Neriglassar. 
 
 ^Herodotus. 
 
 Nabonadius. 
 
 Second 
 
 campaign 
 
 against 
 
 Lydia 
 
 and began the usual hymn to the youths of Jove, Castor and Pol¬ 
 lux, in which the army accompanied him. The spot on which this 
 battle was fought has not been recorded. It was probably in the 
 territory of Babylon, and on the confines of Media. If Xenophon 
 may be credited, the Assyrians, or Babylonians, who fought from 
 their chariots, were soon discomfited, and fled when closely pressed by 
 the Persians, though it is admitted that Neriglassar sustained his mili¬ 
 tary renown, falling in the field, surrounded by his bravest soldiers. 
 
 On the death of the king of Babylon, Croesus, as the most con¬ 
 siderable person among the confederates, assumed the command of 
 the allied army, and made the best disposition for a retreat which 
 their desperate circumstances would allow. He sent off the women 
 and the principal part of the baggage in the night after the battle. 
 Cyrus, reinforced by the Hyrcanians, who had revolted to him, 
 pursued and routed the retreating army; Croesus, abandoning the 
 country to the conqueror, and accompanied by his cavalry, retiring 
 with all possible expedition into his own kingdom. Such are the 
 representations of Xenophon in his Cyroptedia; 1 for Herodotus gives 
 no account of the preceding military transactions. 
 
 That historian first connects the names of Cyrus and the king of 
 Lydia in relating the solicitude of the latter to ask counsel at the 
 different oracles of Greece. Some modern writers have introduced 
 those consultations at an earlier period; but they, most probably, 
 occupied part of the five years which are supposed to have elapsed 
 between the retreat of Croesus from Babylonia, which has been just 
 described, and his fatal resolution again to pass the river Halys. 
 This conjecture is confirmed by the pretence of the oracle to have 
 deferred, for three years, the destruction of Sardis, related by Hero¬ 
 dotus. 2 
 
 During the five years that succeeded the battle in which the 
 king of Babylon was slain, Nabonadius, who, according to Josephus, 
 was the Belshazzar of the Scripture, had attained to the empire on 
 the death of Laborosoarchod, the unworthy son of Neriglassar, who 
 had reigned only a few months. In the mean time Cyrus was pur¬ 
 suing his advantages, and continually increasing the preponderance 
 of the Medo-Persian power. 
 
 Deserters from Babylon, says Xenophon, and prisoners which 
 were now taken, reported that the Assyrian, as he always calls the 
 king of Babylon, was gone into Lydia, carrying with him many 
 talents of gold and silver, with treasure, and rich ornaments of every 
 description. Some suspected that he was already flying with his 
 treasures to a place of security, but Cyrus wisely concluded that the 
 king designed to purchase alliances, and to collect a military force, 
 which he immediately prepared himself to oppose. The sequel 
 shows the nature of this visit to the king of Lydia, while the import- 
 
 1 vii. 2. 
 
 2 i. 91. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 CRCESUS CONSULTS VARIOUS ORACLES. 
 
 335 
 
 ance of the projects he was now led to entertain, would naturally 
 incline him to ask the counsel, and to hope for the sanction of 
 oracular wisdom. As the king of Lydia stands prominent on the 
 pages of heathen antiquity, among the venerators and the dupes of 
 oracular pretensions, we shall here abridge the narrative of Hero¬ 
 dotus. 1 
 
 He sent messengers to Delphi, the Phocian Abas, Dodonae, 
 Amphiaraus, Trophonius, and the Milesian Branchidae in Greece, 
 and to the Libyan Ammon. He directed his messengers that each Croesus 
 should consult the oracle to which he was sent on the hundredth “rfouf 
 day of his departure from Sardis; asking about what Croesus, the oracles, 
 son of Alyattes, was then engaged; and communicating to the king 
 whatever answer he received. The answers in general have not 
 been preserved, and they were unsatisfactory to the king; but the 
 Lydians had no sooner entered the temple of Delphi, and proposed 
 their question, than the Pythia answered thus in heroic verse:— 
 
 ‘ ‘ o3xV iyoj ^]/d/&/*ou t d(Ji0/x,ov 9 xcu f/.'iTQ't tiaXacrr'/js, 
 xcci Xb)(Qo\) CUVl'/lfjU , XOU OV (pCdViVV<TO$ OCKOVOJ 
 
 'ObfAW fj.£ i; (poivccs t)XQz x(ja.TOH(?'ivoio 
 
 li]/o{/'SV'/is iv %uXxu ufj£ ugve'iottn xgzzirtn, 
 
 yj %aXxo; f/,\v uvriirT^ooTcci, V iTi&o’Teci. ” ^ 
 
 I count the sand, I measure out the sea; 
 
 The silent and the dumb are heard by me: 
 
 E’en now the odours to my sense that rise, 
 
 A tortoise boiling with a lamb supplies, 
 
 Where brass below and brass above it lies. 
 
 When Croesus was informed of the reply of the Pythia, he presents to 
 exclaimed that there was no true oracle but at Delphi; for on the at 
 
 day appointed for consulting the several oracles, determining to do 
 what it would be equally difficult to discover or explain, he had 
 cut iu pieces a tortoise and a lamb, and boiled them together in a 
 covered vessel of brass. He now determined to propitiate that 
 divinity by a magnificent sacrifice, previous to his more important 
 inquries. Three thousand chosen victims, a great number of couches, 
 decorated with gold and silver, many goblets of gold, and vests of 
 purple,—all these he consumed together upon an immense pile, to 
 which he persuaded his subjects to make costly additions. As thus 
 a great quantity of gold was melted into a mass, he formed of it a 
 number of large tiles, and a lion, weighing ten talents, which was 
 placed on the tiles, and presented to the Delphian temple. He also 
 sent to Delphi cisterns and basins of gold and silver. 
 
 The Lydians who were intrusted with these presents were direc- Second 
 ted to inquire, whether Croesus might auspiciously undertake an consiUtatlon ' 
 
 i i. 46—56. 
 
 2 Ibid. i. 47. 
 
336 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. Y. 
 
 expedition against tlie Persians, and whether he should procure any 
 alliances ? The answer assured the king, that “ if he prosecuted a 
 war with Persia, he should overthrow a great empire,” and recom¬ 
 mended to him an alliance with the most powerful of the Grecian 
 states. 
 
 Third Crmsus was now elated with the expectation of becoming the 
 
 tonsr a ion. cori q Ueror 0 f Cyrus. He, however, consulted the oracle a third 
 time, anxious to learn whether his power would be perpetual; the 
 Pythia answered— 
 
 ‘‘ AAA’ or av yi/Aiovog fionriXzu; M koto’s yiv>irai, 
 
 KUA TOTS, AvTs To^ocfigt, •7roAV\}/r l pi'da. Tr/.p "E^ay 
 <pzuye/v, [x'/ibl fjoivuv, fJ-pb' u.'ib(taSa.i kockos zivai.'’ ^ 
 
 When o’er the Medes a mule shall sit on high, 
 
 O’er pebbly Hermus then, soft Lydian, fly— 
 
 Fty with all haste; for safety scorn thy fame, 
 
 Nor scruple to deserve a coward’s name. 
 
 Ambiguity of Croesus was now more delighted than ever, confident that a 
 the oracles. ml p e wou [^ never be sovereign of the Medes, and that he could 
 have nothing to fear for himself or his posterity. Such, according 
 to Herodotus, were the transactions of Croesus with the far-famed 
 oracle of Delphi, and the delusive confidence which the crafty 
 Pythia inspired. Tertulhan, in his Apology, 2 has referred to this 
 vain curiosity of Crmsus, and remarked the dexterity of the oracles 
 in tempering their responses with an ambiguity which would justify 
 the most opposite conclusions. It may be added, that Oenomaus, 
 a cynic philosopher, has also ridiculed this ambiguity of the Pythia, 3 
 and the orator Demosthenes did not hesitate to accuse her of bribery 
 by Philip, boldly asserting, that “ the Pythoness Philippized.” 
 
 Croesus now directed his attention to the situation and compara¬ 
 tive importance of the Grecian states, that he might determine with 
 whom to propose an alliance. This he at length concluded with the 
 LaeedEemo- Lacedaemonians, to whom he had formerly rendered some kindness, 
 alliance. and who, having heard of the oracular declaration to Croesus, which 
 they also misinterpreted, were rejoiced to avail themselves of his 
 distinction in their favour. 
 
 Xenophon, in describing this second and fatal contention of the 
 king of Lydia with Cyrus, has enumerated among his allies, the 
 Lacedaemonians, the kingdoms in his immediate neighbourhood, 
 the Ionians, fEolians, the Greek colonies, and especially the prince 
 of Babylon. But that historian has entirely omitted all notice of 
 the military transactions of Croesus beyond the river Halys, till 
 his return into Lydia, which brought on the battle of Thymbra. 
 These we learn from Herodotus. 
 
 1 Herodotus, i. 55. 
 
 2 ch, xxii. 
 
 3 Van Dale, Dissertat. ch. vii. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 MARCH OF CRCESUS. 
 
 337 
 
 Deluded by the promise of the oracle, that if he passed the river Croesus 
 Halys he should overturn a mighty empire, Croesus prepared to Cappadocia, 
 march an army into Cappadocia, anticipating the conquest of Cyrus 
 and the Medo-Persian power. While the king was thus employed, 
 
 Sardanis, a Lydian, renowned among his countrymen for his saga¬ 
 city, thus addressed him :—“ You meditate, O king! an attack 
 upon men who are clothed with the skins of animals; who, inhabit¬ 
 ing a country but little cultivated, subsist on what they can pro¬ 
 cure, not on what they desire; strangers to the taste of wine, they 
 drink only water; even figs are a delicacy with which they are 
 unacquainted, and all our luxuries are entirely unknown to them. 
 
 If you conquer them, what can you take from such as have nothing ? 
 
 But should you be defeated, it becomes you to consider of what- 
 you will be deprived. When they have tasted our delicacies, we 
 shall never be able to dispossess them. I, indeed, thank the gods 
 for not inspiring the Persians with the desire of invading Lydia.” 1 
 
 Croesus, despising this salutary counsel, advanced towards Cap¬ 
 padocia, instigated, according to Herodotus, not only by the delusive 
 encouragement of the oracle, but by the desire of revenging on 
 Cyrus the wrongs which his brother-in-law, Astyages, who, as 
 already mentioned, had married his sister Argenis, was suffering 
 from the Persian prince, by whom he had now been conquered, 
 and was detained in captivity. This accomit, however, is utterly 
 inconsistent with the previous narrative; and it is difficult to believe 
 that Croesus could have been at once the contemporary of Cyrus 
 and the brother-in-law of his grandfather, Astyages. When the Passes the 
 king of Lydia arrived at the river Halys, he passed over his forces jjaiys. 
 on bridges, according to one account; though others have related 
 that Thales the Milesian contrived to divide the river into two 
 branches, which thus became shallow, and was easily forded. 
 
 Having passed the Halys, Croesus came into that part of Cappa¬ 
 docia then called Pteria, the best situated in point of strength of all 
 the district. Herodotus adds, that it was near the city of Sinope, 
 on the Euxine. That city, however, now the Sinob of the Turks, 
 is on the hither side of the Halys. Croesus, after wasting the Syrian 
 lands, besieged and took the principal city of the Pterians, which 
 was afterwards so completely razed by Cyrus, that every vestige of 
 its ruins has been long obliterated. Croesus destroyed also the 
 neighbouring towns, and almost exterminated the Syrians, a barbar¬ 
 ous policy, as from them he had received no injury. 
 
 It appears to have been narrated by one of the ancient Jews, and Cyrus and 
 believed by some of the early Christian fathers, that Cyras, inti mi - Dama 
 dated by the threats of Croesus, would have now retired to India. 
 
 But his wife, Bardane, inspired him with new courage, and advised 
 him to consult Daniel, who, on more than one occasion, had pre- 
 
 1 Herodotus, i. 71. 
 z 
 
 [e. o. h.~| 
 
338 
 
 CYRUS AND CROESUS. 
 
 [Chap. V. 
 
 Battle. 
 
 dieted future events botli to her and Darius the Mede. Cyrus, 
 having consulted the prophet, received from him an assurance of 
 
 [Ephesus ] 
 
 victory. Such is the story, on which Josephus is entirely silent, 
 and which M. Larcher, the learned French translator of Herodotus, 
 has justly ranked among fabulous history. It is more worthy of 
 credit, that Cyrus now collected his forces; and to this period we 
 should probably assign the measure which Xenophon ascribes to 
 him, of sending spies into Lydia. In one distance he employed 
 some Indians, and in another Araspes, the young courtier, whose 
 self-confidence had betrayed him to violate his trust when Cyrus 
 had committed Panthea, the interesting wife of Abradates, to his 
 protection. These spies returned with formidable accounts of the 
 preparations of Crcesus. 
 
 Cyrus, accompanied by those nations which lay betwixt himself 
 and the king of Lydia, advanced to meet his antagonist. After a 
 
 vain attempt to detach the Ionians from 
 the Lydian alliance, he moved forward, 
 and attacked Croesus in his camp. The 
 battle was fought on the plains of 
 Pteria, with equal violence and loss, 
 till night parted the combatants, leaving 
 the victory undecided. Cyrus show¬ 
 ing no disposition to renew the battle, 
 the kin g of Lydia, whose army was 
 inferior in numbers, determined on re¬ 
 turning to Sardis, that he might collect 
 the aids for which he had engaged with 
 the kings of Egypt and Babylon, and 
 
 [Sardis.] 
 
Chap V.] 
 
 BATTLE OF THYMBRA. 
 
 339 
 
 the Lacedaemonians. These he appointed to assemble at Sardis Returns to 
 within five months, having dismissed the mercenary forces which he Sardis - 
 had led across the Halys. Croesus little suspected that Cyrus would 
 bring the war home to him; yet he speedily found, to his astonish¬ 
 ment, that these allies would arrive too late; for Cyrus conducted 
 his army instantly into Lydia, so that, says Herodotus, he was him¬ 
 self the messenger of his own arrival. Croesus, though distressed 
 by an event so unexpected, immediately prepared the Lydians for 
 battle. At that time, adds the historian, no nation of Asia was 
 more hardy or valiant. They fought principally on horseback, 
 armed with long spears, and formed a very expert body of cavalry. 
 
 Of the battle of Thymbra, which we are now to describe, it is not Battle of 
 very easy to give any correct account, especially as to the forces rhyrnbra 
 which composed the army of Croesus. It has been computed, from 
 the various particulars mentioned by Xenophon, that the army of 
 Cyrus amounted to 196,000 men, and that of Croesus to 420,000. 
 
 But this account cannot be reconciled with the unprepared condition 
 of the king of Lydia, as described by Herodotus, who may, indeed, 
 be most worthy of credit on this occasion, as having no apparent 
 purpose to serve, while Xenophon had evidently proposed to describe 
 the elder Cyrus as the model of a consummate hero. Yet, as the 
 battle of Thymbra was the first pitched battle of which any particu¬ 
 lars are preserved in the annals of the ancient world, and as its 
 result opened to Cyrus the undisputed dominion of Asia, the inter¬ 
 esting, but probably exaggerated, description of Xenophon has been 
 generally preferred. We shall here, however, copy the succinct 
 account of Herodotus, as most likely to be authentic, and as most 
 intelligible, especially to an unmilitary reader. Those who would 
 see the diffuse description of Xenophon connected hi the most 
 advantageous form, may considt M. Freret, in the Memoirs of the 
 Academy, vol. vi., which Rollin, in his History of Cyrus, professes 
 to have largely followed. According to the account given by 
 Herodotus of the decisive conflict at Thymbra 1 — 
 
 The field of battle was a spacious and open plain, in the vicinity Description 
 of Sardis, intersected by many streams. Here Cyrus found the “onflict tn- 
 Lydians prepared for the encounter; and, as he greatly feared the Heroaotm 
 impression of their cavalry, took, by the advice of Harpagus the Mede, 
 the following method to obviate the danger. He collected all 
 the camels which followed his camp, and taking off then' burdens, 
 placed on their backs horsemen in military accoutrements. These 
 lie ordered to advance against the Lydian horse, his infantry were 
 appointed to follow the camels, and his own cavalry to close the 
 order of attack. Having thus arranged his forces, he commanded 
 that no quarter should be granted to the Lydians, but that whoever 
 resisted should be put to death, Croesus himself excepted, who, 
 
 1 i. 80. 
 
340 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. V. 
 
 whatever opposition he might make, should, at all events, be taken 
 alive. Herodotus describes this employment of camels as a strata¬ 
 gem of Cyrus to disorder and render useless the cavalry of Croesus, 
 from the supposed antipathy between the horse and the camel. 
 This the moderns dispute; while it has also been remarked, that 
 the horses of Croesus might be alarmed, as they had never seen 
 a camel. Herodotus, however, thus proceeds:— 
 
 The engagement had no sooner commenced, than the horses, 
 seeing and smelling the camels, threw their own ranks into disorder, 
 to the total discomfiture of Croesus. Yet the Lydians did not imme¬ 
 diately yield the battle; they discovered the stratagem, and, quitting 
 their now unmanageable horses, engaged the Persians on foot. A 
 great number of men fell on both sides, but the Lydians were finally 
 compelled to fly, and Croesus, with the remains of his army, retreated 
 within the walls of Sardis. He now sent messengers to his allies, 
 importuning then - immediate assistance; but before any could arrive, 
 the king was become a captive, and Lydia a province of the Persian 
 empire. The manner in which Cyrus acquired the possession of 
 this famous city, Sardis, has been variously related. 
 
 Sardis taken. According to Polyaenus, a Greek writer in the second century, 
 on the Stratagems of War, 1 Cyrus availed himself of a truce which 
 he had concluded with Croesus, to advance his forces, and, maldng 
 his approach by night, took the city by surprise. Croesus still 
 remained in possession of the citadel, expecting the arrival of his 
 Grecian succours; when Cyrus putting in irons the relations and 
 friends of those who defended it, presented them in that condition 
 before the besieged, to whom he offered the alternative of the 
 immediate execution of their friends, or their own unconditional 
 surrender. The besieged preferred the latter, and Cyrus became 
 master of Croesus and the citadel. 
 
 Mode of If Herodotus may be credited, Sardis was thus taken: on the 
 fourteenth day of the siege, Cyrus sent some horsemen round his 
 camp, promising a reward to him who should first scale the wall. 
 The attempts were unsuccessful, till a Mardian soldier observed an 
 unguarded part opposite to Mount Tmolus, where he had seen a 
 Lydian descend to recover his helmet. He revolved the incident in 
 his mind, attempted to scale the wall in that undefended part, was 
 seconded by other Persians, and the army followed. Thus, accord¬ 
 ing to Herodotus, with whom, substantially, Xenophon agrees, was 
 the citadel of Sardis taken; and it is remarkable that, according to 
 Polybius, the army of Antioclius, some ages later, reduced the same 
 castle by a similar stratagem. 
 
 The conduct and condition of Croesus upon this occasion, and the 
 manner in which the city was treated by the conqueror, have been 
 also variously related. According to Herodotus, Sardis was stormed, 
 
 i vii. 6—10. 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 CROESUS EXPOSED TO DEATH. 
 
 341 
 
 and given up to plunder. And here that historian relates a very 
 improbable story, which must always find a place in any account of 
 Croesus. 
 
 He had a son, who, though accomplished in other respects, was The dumb 
 unfortunately dumb. Croesus, in his former days of prosperity, had crasL. 
 made every attempt possible for the cure of his defect. Amongst 
 others, he sent to inquire of the Delphic oracle. The Pythia 
 answered,— 
 
 “ A As yivos ToXXcov (hucriXtu, fjo'tya r/ivi i Kgoitrt, 
 u/n fiovXzu toXvzuktov i7tv ccva. hwfJtciT a-Kovuv 
 Traihoi tyOtyyoftvov to ’di cm vroXu X&iiov 
 sfAfiitur avl’neu yu(> tv riftuTi vfjTov ccvoXfitji ” 1 
 
 Wide-ruling Lydian, in thy wishes wild, 
 
 Ask not to hear the accents of thy child ; 
 
 Far better were his silence for thy peace, 
 
 And sad will be the day when that shall cease. 
 
 During the storming of the city, a Persian, meeting Croesus, was, 
 through ignorance of his person, about to kill him. The king, 
 overwhelmed by his calamity, took no care to avoid the blow, or 
 escape death; but his dumb son, overcome with terror, exclaimed, 
 
 “ Oh, man, do not kill Croesus! ” This, adds Herodotus, was the 
 first time he had articulated, and he retained the faculty of speech 
 ever after. 
 
 The same historian proceeds to relate the interesting circumstances Croesus 
 connected with a barbarous revenge of Cyrus on a vanquished foe, death 644 ° 
 who was also his relation. It was a cruel insult, which the manners 
 of those times render highly probable, but which Xenophon, who 
 has omitted every thing disparaging to his hero, was not likely to 
 record. Croesus being taken prisoner, was conducted to the 
 presence of Cyrus, who ordered him to be placed in chains upon the 
 summit of an immense pile of wood, with fourteen Lydian youths 
 around him. The unhappy monarch stood erect upon the pile: but 
 he remembered the saying of the man of Athens , and, rousing himself 
 from the silence of that profound affliction in which he had been 
 wholly absorbed, thrice pronounced aloud the name of Solon. 
 
 Cyrus desired to know whom or probably what deity he invoked. 
 
 The interpreters approached him, but he continued silent. At 
 length, being urged to explain himself, he said, “ I named a man 
 with whom I had rather that all kings should converse than be 
 master of the greatest riches.” Pressed still further on the subject, 
 lie related, that Solon, an Athenian, had formerly visited him; a 
 man who, when he had seen all his immense riches, treated them 
 
 1 Herodot. i. 85. 
 
CYEUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 The pyre. 
 
 Released by 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Admitted 
 into his 
 confidence. 
 
 342 
 
 [Chap. Y. 
 
 with disdain, but whose sayings were at that moment verified in 
 his fate. 1 
 
 While Croesus was thus speaking, the pile was lighted, and the 
 flame began to ascend. Cyrus now felt compunction for his 
 unworthy treatment of a man formerly not inferior to himself; he 
 commanded the fire to be instantly extinguished, and the unfortu¬ 
 nate prince, as well as his companions, to be saved. Herodotus, 
 who could not be expected to conclude such a story without an 
 addition of the marvellous, asserts, that the Persians could not, by 
 all their efforts, extinguish the flames till Apollo, on the supplication 
 of Croesus, interposed by a seasonable deluge of rain; conscious, no 
 doubt, that he owed some regard, in this extremity, to a deluded 
 votary whom he had so often plundered under false pretences. 
 Such were the lying vanities of the pagan adoration! Ctesias does 
 not mention the fire at all, because, as Grote suggests, he may have 
 received his account from the Persians, with whom fire was too 
 sacred to be employed for such a purpose. 
 
 Cyrus, causing his prisoner to be taken down from the pile, thus 
 addressed him—“ What could induce you, Croesus, to invade my 
 territories ? ” “ O king,” replied Croesus, “ it was the prevalence of 
 
 your good, and my evil fortune which prompted my attempt. I 
 attacked your dominions, impelled and deluded by the deity of the 
 Greeks; for none can be so infatuated as not to prefer tranquillity 
 to war. In peace,” continued Croesus, “ children inter their parents; 
 while war violates the order of nature, and imposes on parents the 
 painful duty of burying their children.” Thus reasoned, as taught 
 by the salutary discipline of adversity, this once haughty monarch. 
 
 From this moment Croesus was received by Cyrus into his famili¬ 
 arity and confidence. The advice of the captive king immediately 
 to stop the further plunder of Sardis, was well received, and that 
 city remained for ages a splendid prize to successive conquerors. 
 He next easily obtained leave from Cyrus to send the fetters by 
 which he had been confined to the god of Delphi, as the first fruits 
 of his splendid promises. The god explained the story of the mule 
 as designing Cyrus born of a Persian and a Mede, the kingdom to 
 be overturned was that of Lydia, and the whole disappointment of 
 the king’s expectations was charged upon the fates, to whom Apollo 
 himself was equally subject. Such was the value of oracular 
 counsel! “ which kept the word of promise to the ear, but broke it 
 to the heart.” 
 
 1 This saying of Solon was a favourite moral with the Grecian poets. Thus, 
 Sophocles, (Edipus Tyrannus, in the last song of the chorus— 
 
 “^Vte Qv'/irov ovr izu'v'/iv ryv tzXzvtcc'kav ihziv 
 v),u,(%giv ivurzorrouvTcc oXfit&iv, T a.v 
 
 notice, rov fiiov /xvihzv tx.X'yzivov rra.Quv." 
 
 “ Thou, mortal as thou art, looking out for a view of that day—the Last—call no 
 man happy, ere he shall have passed the boundary of life—having suffered nothing 
 painful.” 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 KIND TREATMENT OF CYRUS. 
 
 343 
 
 The kingdom which Croesus had been thus constrained to abandon Lydia, 
 to the ascendancy of Cyrus, was a conquest of no inconsiderable 
 importance. Sardis, the capital; Thyatira, Philadelphia, and Mag- 
 neria were cities of considerable note. Its rivers were the Meander 
 with its six hundred windings— 
 
 Now floating to tlie sea with downward course, 
 
 Now pointing upwards to its native source,— 
 
 the Caystrus , 1 famed for the tuneful 
 song of the dying swan—the Hermus, 
 with its celebrated tributary, the Pac- 
 tolus, rolling down its golden sands 2 — 
 and the Halys, noted for the fated 
 
 and by means of which valuable com¬ 
 modities are conveyed, such as before 
 no one ever saw.” It is, indeed, pro¬ 
 bable that maritime commerce was 
 the chief source of the prosperity of 
 that kingdom; for Herodotus remarks , 4 that “ if we except 
 the gold dust which descends from Mount Tmolus, Lydia can 
 ■exhibit no curiosity which may vie with those of other coun¬ 
 tries.” Pie goes on to describe them “ as the first people on record 
 who coined gold and silver into money, and traded by retail 5 ” also 
 as the inventors “ of certain games (of chance), since practised among 
 the Grecians.” They also were distinguished by an infamous 
 custom, too familiar to the ancients, but carried by this people to an 
 unparalleled extent—all the young women of Lydia prostituted 
 themselves for hire in some temple, and thus procured their marriage 
 portion. 
 
 Cyrus appears to have left to his captive all the accommodations Kind 
 of life which can be enjoyed in a private condition. He lived in cnSus 6 "* ° f 
 the society of his wife and daughters, and had his friends, servants, 
 and table at his command. Indeed, if Xenophon does not indulge 
 his invention , 6 Croesus enjoyed, rather than merely tolerated this 
 exchange of public cares and the pomp of royalty for the agreeable 
 society of his wife and children. He had ceased to be a king, only 
 to become a philosopher; yet he was permitted to retain the title 
 of majesty. Xenophon adds, that Cyrus carried Crcesus with him 
 wherever he went, either to employ or to secure him—a hint which 
 
 t 1 Ovid. Metamor. i. 2 Ibid. xi. 
 
 3 Ovid. lib. vi. 4 i. 93. 5 lib. vii. 
 
 passage of Crcesus. Xenophon 2 makes 
 a Persian describe Lydia as a country 
 “ where wine, and figs, and oil abound; 
 a land whose shores the sea washes, 
 
 [Philadelphia.] 
 
344 
 
 CYRUS AND CRCESUS. 
 
 [Chap. Y. 
 
 sufficiently estimates the professed friendship between a conqueror 
 and his captive. It appears also, from a passage in the same 
 historian, that the king of Lydia was in the train of Cyrus at the 
 capture of Babylon, and he probably survived his conqueror. His 
 country was governed by Persian satraps, of whom Chrysanthes 
 was the first. The further history of Lydia will appear in the suc¬ 
 cessive fortunes of the Persian empire. 
 
 [Tomb among the Rocks.] 
 
[Head Dresses and Neck Chains .—Sculptures at Persepolis.] 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTOET OF PERSIA.-CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY OF 
 
 CYRUS. 
 
 The warlike designs of Cyrus were next turned towards Babylon. Siege of 
 In his march to it, one of his sacred horses was drowned in the BaliyIon ' 
 Gyndes; upon which he caused the river to be divided into three 
 hundred and sixty channels, a work which employed his whole army 
 the entire summer, and compelled him to defer the siege of Babylon 
 until the following spring. The siege and its terrible consequences 
 have been recorded in a preceding chapter. The arms of Cyrus 
 triumphed, and the proud metropolis bowed to the Persian yoke. 1 
 Thus fell, at length, the Babylonish empire, which had risen to such 
 a pitch of glory, and enslaved so many nations. Up to this eventful 
 period, such is the general history of Cyrus, when stripped of its 
 ornamental circumstances as given by Xenophon; and it accords Agreement 
 with Herodotus in respect to the names of his father, mother, and Xenophon 
 grandfather; the union of the Medes and Persians in a common , 
 
 ' 1 ' Herodotus. 
 
 cause; and the conquests of this prince, with the particulars of his 
 subjection of Babylon. These are important points of agreement. 
 
 It is still more important, that they are substantially ratified by the 
 Scriptures, which also supply us with many interesting additional 
 circumstances. 
 
 The descent of Cyrus from a Mede and a Persian occasioned his Mixed 
 being designated a u mule ” in several oracular descriptions, and, ^rus!* (it 
 among others, that said to have been delivered by Nebuchadnezzar 
 before his death, and preserved in the fragments of Megasthenes. 
 
 The name of Cyrus had been foretold one hundred and twenty years 
 before his birth, and in connection with his greatest achievement— 
 
 1 See page 266. 
 
346 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. VI. 
 
 the conquest of Babylon; and that victory was associated with the 
 deliverance of the Jews from their captivity. It is also stated, 
 that the hero was prepared for this grand exploit, by previous suc¬ 
 cesses, and that he came to destroy the Babylonian power from the 
 subjugation of other mighty empires. It was further intimated in 
 what way he should enter the city, and promised that the gates of 
 brass leading to the river should be left open. The prediction has been 
 quoted at length on a previous page. The spoils found in Babylon were 
 immense; those accumulated alone in the temple of Belus, “ the 
 treasures of darkness,” were almost incredible; besides what was laid 
 up in “ the secret places ” of the old and new palaces. The profane 
 Marries the historians have informed us of the marriage of Cyrus with the 
 Cyaxares.° f daughter of Cyaxares, his uncle, which took place after the reduc¬ 
 tion of Babylon. Thus the union between the Persians and Medes 
 became again cemented by the ties of blood. That they should 
 jointly besiege Babylon is hinted in a very obscure prophecy, tvhich 
 was justified by the event. In Isaiah, chapter xxi., which describes 
 so accurately the events connected with that memorable night of the 
 capture of Babylon—the debauchery of Belshazzar, the terror suc¬ 
 ceeding the vision of the hand-writing on the wall, with other, even 
 the most minute circumstances—a watchman is represented as look¬ 
 ing from the walls of Babylon, “ and he saw a chariot with a couple 
 of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; ” or, as 
 Bishop Lowth more accurately translates the passage, “ a rider upon 
 an ass, and a rider upon a camel; ” a prophetic symbol of the alli¬ 
 ance of two nations in the invasion; and we know that the Persians 
 irsed camels in warfare, since we have seen their effect upon the 
 army of Croesus. But, at the opening of the chapter, it is distinctly 
 said, “ Go up, O Elam; besiege, 0 Media.” 
 
 Shares the Babylon being taken, Cyrus, who shared the empire with his 
 Cyaxares! 1,1 uncle, yielded him the first rank in it; and Cyaxares—called, in 
 Daniel, Darius the Mede—ascended the throne of Babylon, while 
 Cyrus retired into Persia to his father and mother. Having returned 
 thence, in conjunction with his uncle, now also his father-in-law, 
 he divided the empire into one hundred and twenty provinces; 
 reviewed its forces, which he found amounted to 120,000 horse, 
 2,000 chariots armed with scythes, and 600,000 foot; set three 
 presidents over the princes of the provinces; invested Daniel with 
 the supreme authority over these, and, leaving Cyaxares on the 
 throne alone, again departed to widen his conquests. While he was 
 absent on this expedition, Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and 
 miraculously delivered. Cyrus reduced all the nations to submis¬ 
 sion, from Syria to the Bed Sea and the confines of Ethiopia. The 
 death of Cyaxares recalled him to Babylon, and upon him devolved 
 Reigns alone the crowns of Media, Persia, and Babylon. The first he held in 
 Persia!'anil virtue of liis marriage with the daughter of Cyaxares, who being 
 Babylon. pi s on iy cpqd, his kingdom was her dowry; the second descended 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 DEATH OF CYRUS. 
 
 347 
 
 to him from his father; the last was his own by conquest. He 
 lived in tranquillity seven years after acquiring this united empire, 
 bounded on the east by the river Indus, on the north by the Caspian 
 and Eusine seas, on the west by the iEgean, and on the south by 
 Ethiopia and the sea of Arabia. This extensive dominion is hinted 
 at in the opening of his decree in favour of the Jews, which he 
 passed, doubtless by the persuasion of Daniel, the first year after he 
 had seated himself upon the throne of Babylon, after the death of 
 Cyaxares. “ Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, (that 
 the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled,) 
 the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he 
 made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in 
 writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of His 
 heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath ^favour of” 
 charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah: the Je "' s - 
 who is there among you of all his people ? The Lord his God be 
 with him, and let him go up .” 1 “ Also Cyrus the king brought 
 
 forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar 
 had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house 
 of his gods; even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by 
 the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto 
 Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah .” 2 He further enjoined, that in 
 Avhatever provinces the Jews were scattered, they should be assisted 
 in furtherance of this great design of restoring their temple and city. 
 
 This decree was not so effective as had been expected, through the 
 stratagems of the Samaritans, who obstructed, by bribes and mis¬ 
 representations, what they could not annul. The work proceeded 
 so slowly, that it remained unfinished at the death of Cyrus; and it 
 is supposed that the fasting and mourning of Daniel, mentioned as 
 occurring in the third year of the reign of Cyrus, arose from this 
 cause . 3 Cyrus latterly divided his time between the three capitals of 
 his newly erected empire; the warmth of the chmate induced him to 
 spend the seven cold months at Babylon, the three months of spring 
 he resided at Susa, and two months, during the summer’s heat, he 
 lived at Ecbatana. If we calculate from the time of his first assuming 
 the command of the Persian and Median armies, he reigned thirty 
 years, and died, beloved and lamented, in the seventieth year of his 
 age. 
 
 But the manner of his death has been differently stated by differ- Various 
 ent -writers, nor can we arrive at any certainty respecting it. MsdSth° f 
 The accoimt of Herodotus is, that Cyrus, in his restless ambition, D™ d ® s the 
 invaded the Massagetas. Ctesias says it was the Derbices, who ‘ ” 
 
 employed Indians and elephants in battle. The Massagetse and 
 they lived on opposite banks of the same stream. By a feigned 
 flight, in the first conflict, he abandoned the field covered with booty, 
 
 1 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. 
 
 2 Ezra i. 7, 8. 
 
 3 Dan. x. 1—3. 
 
348 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VI. 
 
 Falls in 
 battle. 
 
 b.c. 529 . 
 
 Revenge of 
 Tomyris. 
 
 and a considerable quantity of wine, which his enemies seized, in¬ 
 dulging to an excess that rendered them an easy prey to his soldiers. 
 Returning to the combat, he surprised them in a state of intoxica¬ 
 tion, defeated them, and took many prisoners, among whom was 
 Spargapises, the son of Queen Tomyris. The royal mother sent 
 heralds, desiring the ransom of her child; and when the conqueror 
 refused, the high-spirited young prince, preferring death to slavery, 
 committed suicide. Tomyris, incensed at this fatal catastrophe, and 
 animated with the desire of revenge, assembled her forces, and 
 headed them against the Persians; over whom, after a sanguinary 
 and obstinate conflict, in which Cyrus fell, the Massagette obtained 
 a complete victory. The body of Cyrus was found in the field 
 after the engagement, and upon the royal corpse Tomyris took 
 a cruel but impotent revenge. The queen caused his head 
 to be cut off, and cast into a vessel filled with blood, with this bitter 
 taunt,—“ Satisfy thyself with that after which thou hast always 
 thirsted, and with which thou hast never been satiated!” Ctesias 
 says that Cyrus died the third day after his wound. 
 
 Herodotus was aware that there were various and conflicting 
 accounts of the death of Cyrus, and gives his own as the most 
 plausible,— kiOcuiotxtoi/ Aoyou. The death of Cyrus is a point that 
 cannot be absolutely determined; nor does Herodotus seem 
 to have any sufficient authority for his account of it. It certainly 
 does not comport with the wise and prudent character of the 
 hero to undertake so rash an expedition as that against Scythia is 
 represented to be, at his advanced time of life. Diodorus Siculus, 
 agreeing with Herodotus as to the expedition against the Massa- 
 getse, and its result, differs as to the circumstances of the death of 
 Cyrus, and says, that he was taken prisoner by Tomyris, and hanged, 
 or crucified, by her directions. John Melela, of Antioch, cites a 
 forged writing, ascribed to Pythagoras, which declares him to have 
 been slain in a sea-fight by the Samians. Xenophon’s account is by 
 far the most probable close of such a life, and represents the aged hero 
 as dying in his own country, covered with glory, surrounded by his 
 friends, and leaving his vast empire to his son Cambyses. In 
 evidence of this fact, he asserts that he was buried in Pasargada, in 
 which place Xenophon says he died, and that his monument Avas 
 to be seen there in the time of Alexander the Great—a circum¬ 
 stance totally irreconcilable with the account of Herodotus and 
 others, who ascribe to him a violent and ignominious death in a 
 foreign country . 1 In a previous chapter we have given both a 
 
 1 We present in this note a succinct view of some difficulties in the narrative of 
 Cyrus. It is taken from an able article in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
 Biography and Mythology:— 
 
 “ It has been supposed that the statement of Xenophon about Cyaxares II. is 
 confirmed by Scripture; for that Dareius the Mede, who, according to Daniel, reigns 
 after the taking of Babylon, (for two years, according to the chronologers,) and 
 before the first year of Cyrus, can be no other (this is the utmost that can be asserted) 
 
Chap. VI.] CONCLUSION. 349 
 
 description and a pictorial illustration of that remarkable monument 
 which is generally believed to be the tomb of Cyrus. 
 
 than Cyaxares II. This matter seems susceptible of a better explanation than it 
 has yet received. 1. Xenophon’s Cyaxares is the son of Astyages; Dareius the 
 Mede is the son of Ahasuerus. Now, it is almost beyond a doubt that Ahasuerus 
 is the Hebrew form of the Persian name or title which the Greeks called Xerxes, 
 and Cyaxares seems to be simply the form of the same word used in the Median 
 dialect. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, is called Ahasuerus in Tobit xiv. 15. It 
 is granted that this argument is not decisive, but, so far as it goes, it is against the 
 identification. 2. After the taking of Babylon, Dareius the Mede receives the king¬ 
 dom, and exercises all the functions of royalty, with great power and splendour, 
 evidently at Babylon. But in Xenophon it is Cyrus who does this, and Cyaxares 
 never comes near Babylon at all after its capture, but remains in Media, totally 
 eclipsed and almost superseded by Cyrus. There are other arguments, which seem 
 to show clearly that, whoever Dareius the Mede may have been, (a point difficult 
 enough to decide,) he was not the Cyaxares of Xenophon. The matter cannot be 
 further discussed here; but the result of a most careful examination of it is, that 
 in some important points the statements of Xenophon cannot be reconciled with 
 those of Daniel; and that a much more probable explanation is, that Dareius was 
 a noble Median, who held the sovereignty as the viceroy of Cyrus, until the latter 
 found it convenient to fix his court at Babylon; and there are some indications on 
 which a conjecture might be founded that this viceroy was Astyages. It is quite 
 natural that the year in which Cyrus began to reign in person at Babylon should 
 be reckoned (as it is by the Hebrew writers) the first year of his reign over the 
 whole empire. This view is confirmed by the fact, that in the prophecies of the 
 destruction of Babylon it is Cyrus, and not any Median king, that is spoken of. 
 Regarding this difficulty, then, as capable of being explained, it remains that Xeno¬ 
 phon’s statement about Cyaxares II. is entirely unsupported. Xenophon seems 
 to have introduced Cyaxares simply as a foil to set off the virtues of Cyrus. 
 
 [Castle of Tyridates.] 
 
Death of 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Accession of 
 Cambyses. 
 
 b.c. 530. 
 
 [Treading on the Neck .—Sculptures at Pei'sepolis.—Sir R. K. Porter .] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.-CAMBYSES. 
 
 We have shown in the biography of Cyrus the different accounts 
 of the manner of his death, as described by Herodotus and Xeno¬ 
 phon. They agree, however, in the opinion, that he left to Cam¬ 
 byses the undisturbed possession of that vast empire to which he 
 had attached the name of Persia. According to the former historian, 
 before Cyrus set out on the expedition, in which he represents him 
 as miserably perishing, he appointed his successor after the manner 
 of the Persian kings, and named his son Cambyses to that dignity; 
 committing Croesus to his charge, with an injunction to treat the 
 captive prince with kindness and respect. 
 
 According to Xenophon’s more probable account, Cyrus appears to 
 have closed his life in peace and honour, dying in his palace, sur¬ 
 rounded by his family. In his last hours he conferred the empire 
 on his eldest son Cambyses, with the reserve of the rich and power¬ 
 ful satrapy of the Medes, Armenians, and Cadusians, with which he 
 invested his younger son, Tanyoaxarces, the Smerdis of Herodotus, 
 and the Mergis of Justin. 
 
 According to the opinion adopted by Herodotus, Cambyses was 
 the son of Cassandane, the daughter of Pharnaspe, of the race of the 
 Achasmenides, though we shall presently relate another conjecture 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 MARTIAL MADNESS OF CAMBYSES. 
 
 351 
 
 upon this uncertain subject. Of the age which the Persian prince 
 had attained on his accession, or how his reign was occupied before 
 his expedition to Egypt, we have no account, except what occurs in 
 Josephus and the sacred history. From the former we learn 1 that 
 “ the governors in Syria and Phoenicia, and in the countries of 
 Ammon, and Moab, and Samaria, wrote an epistle to Cambyses,” in 
 which they persuaded him that if the Jews were permitted to 
 rebuild the city and temple, they would refuse to pay tribute or do 
 homage, but “ resist kings, and choose rather to rule over others 
 than to be ruled over themselves.” On reading this epistle Cambyses 
 “ forbad the Jews to build the city and temple; accordingly, these 
 works were suspended till the second year of Darius.” 
 
 Cambyses, indisposed to cultivate the spirit or the arts of peace, His military 
 was early desirous, as a favourite object of his attention, to employ spmt ' 
 the Persian forces, which his father had rendered invincible, in some 
 important military service. It is justly remarked by Whiston, in 
 his Josephus, that were Herodotus’s account of the death of Cyrus 
 correct, it is inexplicable that, instead of marching into Egypt, 
 
 Cambyses should not have prepared “ to avenge his father’s death 
 upon the Scythians and the Massagetas, and to prevent those nations 
 from overrunning his northern provinces.” He, however, turned 
 his attention wholly to Egypt, under what circumstances of provo¬ 
 cation it is not easy exactly to ascertain amidst the very different 
 representations upon this subject. 
 
 The assigned causes of quarrel with Egypt have been already 
 discussed in our account of the twenty-seventh dynasty of Manetho. 
 
 The expedition and its various battles, the cruel frenzies of Cambyses, 
 and his violent insult to the religious prejudices of the Egyptians 
 have also been detailed at length . 2 His mad attempt to penetrate 
 into Ethiopia, occurred during his residence in the land of the 
 Pharaohs. 
 
 Entering now upon the fifth year of his reign, and having prostrated His martial 
 Egypt, Cambyses, instead of returning to Persia, pursued other objects f ro:,ects - 
 of ambition, dictated by a restless disposition, utterly incapable of 
 pacific occupations. He determined.to make war upon three nations 
 at once, the Carthaginians, the Ammonians, and the Macrobian or 
 long-lived Ethiopians. From the first of these projects he was 
 diverted by the refusal of the Phoenicians to employ their ships 
 against the Carthaginians, with whom they had a friendly alliance, 
 and who had descended from their ancestors, for Carthage had been 
 a colony of Tyre. The other naval forces at the command of 
 Cambyses were insufficient for his design, and he could not venture 
 to compel the service of the Phoenicians, who had voluntarily joined 
 his arms, and who constituted the principal and most skilful part of 
 his naval force. Thus Carthage escaped the yoke of subjection to 
 
 1 Antiq. xi. 2. 
 
 2 See pages 105—112. 
 
Designs nr 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 Presents 
 
 interchanj 
 
 352 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. VII. 
 
 the Persians, and was left to occupy and reward the Eoman valour, 
 while Cambyses determined to pursue his other projects. 
 
 , He sent spies into Ethiopia, to learn the condition and resources 
 of that country. They assumed the character of ambassadors, bear¬ 
 ing presents from the lung, and were charged to inform themselves 
 respecting the marvellous table of the sun. According to Herodotus , 1 
 there was a plain near the chief city of the Ethiopians, filled to the 
 height of four feet with the roasted flesh of all kinds of animals. 
 From these whoever pleased might satisfy their hunger. Solinus 
 and Pomponius Mela describe this supply as supernatural; Pausanias 
 rejects that account as fabulous. Herodotus says, the natives of the 
 place affirm that the earth immediately produces these viands; but he 
 more justly concludes that they were carried to this table in the 
 night, under the inspection of the magistrates. 
 
 The ambassadors employed by Cambyses were some of the Ich- 
 :ed thyophagi, so named from their subsisting entirely on fish. He sent 
 for these people from Elephantine, because they were skilled in the 
 language of Ethiopia, on which their country bordered. To them 
 he committed the following presents for the king: “a purple vest, a 
 gold chain for the neck, bracelets, an alabaster box of perfumes, and 
 a cask of palm wine.” The Ethiopian prince soon detected the 
 design of these pretended ambassadors, and treated both them and 
 their royal master with contempt. He undervalued the presents, 
 especially the gold chain, for among the Ethiopians brass was the 
 rarest metal, and prisoners were secured by chains of gold. The 
 
 [Bedouin Battle.— Carpenter.] 
 
 king, however, relished the wine, and advised Cambyses to be con¬ 
 tent with his own dominion, and not covet the possessions of another. 
 He sent him also, in return for the presents, his own bow, adding 
 this counsel, “ When his subjects can bend this bow ■with the same 
 ease that I do, then, with a superiority of numbers, he may venture 
 
 1 Herodotus, iii. 17, &c. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 DISTRESS OF CAMBYSES’S ARMY. 
 
 353 
 
 to attack the. Macrobian Ethiopians; in the meantime let him be 
 thankful to the gods that the Ethiopians have not acquired the same 
 ambitious views of extending their territory.” 
 
 Cambyses, highly incensed by this message, immediately com- Cambyses 
 manded the march of his army, though quite unprovided for such Ethiopia. nit ° 
 an expedition, “ never reflecting,” says Herodotus, “ that he was 
 about to visit the extremities of the earth.” He left no part of his 
 forces behind, except the Grecian auxiliaries, on whom he 
 depended to keep the country in awe. Arriving at Thebes in 
 Upper Egypt, he detached from this army 50,000 men, to march 
 against the Ammonians, with orders to ravage their country, and 
 burn the temple of Jupiter Ammon. By the help of guides they 
 reached the city of Oasis, at the distance of seven days march from 
 Thebes. What became of them afterwards was never known. 
 Herodotus relates from the Ammonians, that “ after they had left 
 Oasis, they halted to take some repast, when a strong south wind 
 arose and overwhelmed them beneath a mountain of sand.” This 
 account appears to have been credited by Plutarch, in his life of 
 Alexander, where, speaking of that prince’s design “ to visit the 
 temple of Jupiter Ammon,” he adds, “ it was a long and laborious 
 journey, and they might be surprised by a violent south wind amidst 
 the wastes of sand, as it happened long before to the army of Cam¬ 
 byses. The wind raised the sand, and rolled it in such waves, that 
 it devoured full 50,000 men.” Savary conjectures, with great pro¬ 
 bability, that “ the Egyptians intending the destruction of their 
 enemies, having brought them into the vast solitudes of Lybia, 
 abandoned them in the night and delivered them over to death.” 
 
 Cambyses, in the mean time, advanced with his main army Distress of 
 against the Ethiopians. He had not proceeded through a fifth part his army - 
 of his projected route before he began to find the fatal effects of his 
 improvident haste. The scanty stores of provisions were consumed, 
 and his host, after feeding on tlieir beasts of burden, snatched a 
 poor subsistence from the roots and herbs which an uncultivated 
 soil could supply. Cambyses had yet the indiscretion to advance, 
 till his troops were reduced, amidst sands and deserts, to the dread¬ 
 ful expedient of devouring one another. The whole army was now 
 decimated, every tenth man, selected by lot, being slain, and pre¬ 
 pared as food for his companions; thus providing a nourishment, 
 says Seneca, more horrible than famine. “ Alimentum habuerint 
 fame ssevius.” This scene he well contrasts with the unfeeling 
 luxury of the king. “ Servabantur illi interim generosse aves, et 
 instrmnenta epularum camelis vehebantur, cum sortirentur milites 
 ejus quis male periret, quis pejus viveret.” “His attendants provided 
 delicate birds for his table, and conveyed on camels his culinary 
 utensils, while his soldiers were determining by lot who should 
 miserably perish, or preserve their existence in greater misery.” 
 
 At length this voluptuous prince, who cared only for himself, began 
 
 [e. o. h.] 2 A 
 
354 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VII. 
 
 Retreat. to be apprehensive for liis personal safety. He now desisted from 
 his purpose, and marched back with the remains of his army, of 
 which such numbers had “ perished, without feeling the stroke of 
 an enemy.” Halting at Thebes, “ he found,” says Roliin, “ the gods 
 more easy to be conquered than men.” 
 
 We have noticed that Cyrus had commended Croesus to the care 
 and protection of his son; but his excesses provoked the captive 
 king of Lydia to venture on a remonstrance, preceded, indeed, by a 
 flattering compliment. When the courtiers were once depreciating 
 Cyrus, in comparison with Cambyses, who, “to all which Cyrus 
 possessed, had added the empire of Egypt and the ocean,” Croesus 
 claimed the superiority for his conqueror, because he had left behind 
 him such a son as Cambyses. His fidelity, however, was resented, 
 though his flattery had been well received. Cambyses suddenly 
 drew his bow; Croesus escaped, however, but the Persian despot 
 commanded his immediate execution. The courtiers delayed, 
 expecting that the king would presently relent, and revoke the cruel 
 order. Their expectations were realised; Cambyses rejoiced to find 
 Croesus alive, but put his attendants to death, for having disobeyed 
 his orders. 
 
 As to the talents of Cambyses for government, they appear to 
 have been exclusively military; and such, indeed, are almost all 
 „ the recorded transactions of his reign. To his spirit of military 
 adventure we have seen how he was mdebted for the vast extension 
 of his empire. One accession, however, he acquired by the base 
 and successful policy of one of his satraps. 
 
 Polycrates of Polycrates the tyrant, or prince of Samos, for the term had not 
 originally a bad sense, was the friend of Amasis, king of Egypt. 
 Herodotus describes his uninterrupted prosperity, which caused 
 Amasis to disclaim his alliance, concluding that a person uniformly 
 prosperous was reserved for some uncommon calamity, in which a 
 friend and ally could not fail to bear a part. On this rupture, 
 Polycrates had assisted Cambyses in his invasion of Egypt, with a 
 naval force, consisting of some discontented Samians, whom he 
 wished to expatriate. This prince was at length deserted by his 
 good fortune, and his destruction was effected in the following 
 manner d— 
 
 Orates. Oroetes, irritated by a reproach cast upon him of having neglected 
 
 to conquer Samos, which lay so contiguous to his government of 
 Sardis, resolved, at all hazards, to circumvent Polycrates and become 
 master of the island. For this purpose he adopted the following 
 stratagem. Pretending to revolt from Cambyses upon some discon¬ 
 tent, he expressed a wish to secure his treasure. This he proposed 
 to intrust to the care of Polycrates, and to present to him one half 
 of it, by which he might be enabled to conquer Ionia and the 
 
 1 Herodot. iii. 120. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 CAMBYSES MORTALLY WOUNDED 
 
 355 
 
 adjacent islands. Polycrates, who ardently desired to increase his 
 treasure and also extend his dominions, sent a messenger to Sardis. 
 
 There a large number of bags were shown to him, full of gold, as 
 he supposed, but really filled with stones, covered at the top with 
 the precious metal. On the return of his messenger with a highly 
 flattering report, Polycrates, eager to possess the treasure, set out 
 for Sardis, contrary to the counsel of his friends, only taking with 
 him Democedas, a celebrated physician of Crotona. Immediately 
 on his arrival, Oroetes arrested him as an enemy to the State ; and, 
 by that treacherous Satrap’s orders, he lost his life on a gibbet. 
 
 Thus ended the uninterrupted prosperity of Polycrates, who had 
 probably intellectual accomplishments superior to his contempora¬ 
 ries, for Athenasus celebrates his extensive library. Thus was 
 Samos added to the Persian Empire. 
 
 Cambyses had entered the eighth year of his reign, when he left Revolt of the 
 the scene of his follies and cruelty with the design of returning to smex-dis. 
 Persia, where he appears never to have resided, except during 
 his preparations for the invasion of Egypt. On his arrival in 
 Syria, he met a herald sent from Susa to apprise the Persian army 
 that Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, was proclaimed king, and to com¬ 
 mand their obedience. This revolution had the following origin. 
 
 When Cambyses left Persia on his expedition into Egypt, he com¬ 
 mitted the government of the country to Patizithes, one of the 
 principal Magi, who had a brother resembling Smerdis, the son of 
 Cyrus. Patizithes was apprised of the death of Smerdis, which had 
 been concealed from the public; and aware that the tyranny and 
 extravagances of Cambyses had now become insupportable, he 
 therefore ventured to place his brother on the throne, as the 
 true Smerdis, and caused him to be proclaimed by heralds, 
 despatched for that purpose through the empire. Cambyses, 
 though enraged at the appearance of a herald on such a com¬ 
 mission, yet had the consideration to respect his sacred character; 
 he, however, strictly examined him. He also interrogated Prex- 
 aspes as to the certainty of his brother’s death, which he now 
 affected to deplore with apparent sincerity. From these inquiries, 
 it fully appeared that the true Smerdis was really dead, and 
 that the usurper of the Persian throne was Smerdis the 
 Magian. With the hope of speedily dispossessing him, Cambyses 
 ordered the immediate march of his army into Persia. That 
 country, however, he was never more to see; for, when mounting cambyses 
 his horse, his sword slipped from the scabbard, and inflicted a mortal 
 wound on his thigh. 
 
 The Egyptians recollected that Cambyses had inflicted such a 
 wound on Apis, and they naturally indulged the belief that the 
 horrid impiety, as they esteemed it, was now retaliated, while 
 Cambyses suffered the just judgment of their deity. Yet, that it 
 was “ an especial judgment from heaven upon him for that fact,” 
 
356 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VII. 
 
 which seems to have been supposed by the pious and learned 
 Prideaux, we are not able to perceive; nor does the opinion that 
 “ God hath very signally punished the profanations of religion in 
 the worst of times, and under the worst modes of heathen idolatry,” 
 appear worthy of that author’s judgment and religious information. 1 
 
 Oracle of Cambyses, amidst the cruel and extravagant occupations of his 
 short reign, had found leisure to comply with some of the religious 
 observances of his time. While he remained in Egypt he had 
 sought to learn his future fortunes, by consulting the Oracle of 
 Buto, which was famous in that country. It was there revealed 
 to him that he should die at Ecbatana ; and he seems to have known 
 only of the city in Media which bore that name. There all his 
 treasures were deposited, and there he expected, from this answer of 
 the Oracle, to die in his old age. There was also another Ecbatana 
 in Persia, described by Pliny as a town of the Magi. But when 
 Cambyses found that the town in which he lay in his wounded 
 condition was also called Ecbatana, “ he exclaimed,” says Herodotus, 
 “This is certainly the place in which it is appointed for the son of 
 Cyrus to die.” This Ecbatana in Syria, according to Pliny, was 
 situated on Carmel, a mountain of Galilee, in the immediate 
 vicinity of the Mediterranean, and about fifteen miles south of 
 Ptolemais. 
 
 Wretched Twenty days had elapsed since Cambyses had received the fatal 
 
 Cambyses° f woun( 3. He now summoned around him the principal Persians in 
 his train. To these he explained how he had been induced to kill 
 his brother, whose death he bitterly lamented. Cambyses next 
 endeavoured to excite his courtiers against Smerdis the Magian, and 
 conjured them not to suffer the empire to revert to the Medes, for 
 the Magian was of that nation. But the dying advice of this prince 
 was received with the inattention which his life had deserved. The 
 Persian nobles attributed it to nothing but resentment against his 
 brother, and submitted to the usurper, whom they regarded as the 
 true Smerdis; especially as Prexaspes, probably bribed to the 
 interest of the Magian, now varied his story, and declared that he 
 had not killed Smerdis with his own hand. 
 
 His death. “ Cambyses,” says Herodotus, “ bewailed his misfortunes; and, 
 when the Persians saw the king thus involved in sorrow, they tore 
 their garments, and expressed their grief aloud. After a short 
 interval, the bone became infected, the thigh mortified, and death 
 ensued.” “ Thus,” adds the historian, whose third book we have 
 here generally followed as almost our sole authority, “died Cam- 
 
 b.c. 522. byses, son of Cyrus, after a reign of seven years and five months, 
 leaving no posterity.” According to Ctesias, the name of the 
 murdered brother of Cambyses was Tanyoxarces, who was poisoned 
 on a false charge of sedition. His accuser, Sphandadates, a Magian, 
 
 1 See Connect, pt. i. b. iii. au. 522. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 CAMBYSES’S REIGN. 
 
 357 
 
 was so like him, that he was ordered by Cambyses to personate the 
 deceased prince—a stratagem employed to conceal his death from 
 his mother Amytis. She at length discovered the tragical end of 
 her son, and in her grief committed suicide. According to the same 
 authority, Cambyses died at Babylon, and Sphandadates continued 
 the imposture which he had originally undertaken by royal com¬ 
 mand. His brief usurpation, under the title of Smerdis, will be 
 detailed in the next chapter. 
 
 The reign of Cambyses, whom Josephus ’ inaccurately describes His reign, 
 as dying at Damascus, has been sufficiently characterised by its 
 uniform cruelty and violence. He seems to have possessed, as before 
 observed, some military talents, but, if he had any other accomplish¬ 
 ments, their memory has perished. The son of Cyrus must always 
 be regarded as unworthy of his father, and be ranked, in all faithful 
 history, among that too large assemblage of despotic princes who 
 have lived only for themselves. His reign, though short, was indeed 
 long enough to exhibit, in a striking manner, the mischievous and 
 cruel caprices of unlimited power, especially when administered by 
 unbridled passion. Herodotus says, that the Persians, from memory 
 of his tyranny were wont to name him always as “the tyrant.” 
 
 Antiq. xi. 2. 
 
 Damascus.] 
 

 [Ancient Persian Noble on Horseback .—Sir R. K. Porter .] 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.-DARIUS. 
 
 Smerdis the The premature death of Cambyses, the absence of the 1 Persian 
 nmgmn. army from the capital of the empire, and the incredulity of the 
 nobles as to the death of Smerdis, all seemed to promise the magian 
 b.c. 522. that his usurpation would be successful, and that he might be suf¬ 
 fered peaceably to occupy the throne of Cyrus, under the pretence 
 of being really his son. 
 
 Various This usur P er , the Smerdis of Herodotus and the Orapastes of 
 names. Justin, is named Mardys by fEschylus, and by Ctesias, Sphandadates. 
 
 According to Richardson’s Dissertation, there is no name in the 
 Persian histories of the empire by which Smerdis Magus can be 
 designated. But, as the learned writer remarks, these histories are 
 equally silent respecting Cyrus, Croesus, and the accession of Darius 
 Hystaspes by the neighing of his horse. That this Smerdis was the 
 Artaxerxes mentioned by Ezra, 1 is affirmed with the highest proba¬ 
 bility. To him, therefore, may be justly attributed the same rigour 
 towards the Jews which we remarked in the conduct of his pre- 
 
 c. IV. 
 
Ciiap. VIII.] 
 
 SEVERITY TO THE JEWS. 
 
 359 
 
 decessor, Cambyses. Both of them might, indeed, regard it as no 
 unpopular measure, at the commencement of their reigns, to dis¬ 
 countenance those obnoxious tributaries; for such the sacred laws 
 and customs of the people of God must have rendered them to all 
 idolatrous nations. Hence Pliny the elder describes them as a 
 nation distinguished by their contempt of the gods, gens contumelia 
 numinum insignis. 
 
 For the royal order, which prohibited the Jews to proceed in His seventy 
 rebuilding the city and temple, we have the authority of Ezra; 110 the Jews ‘ 
 Josephus being entirely silent as to any intercourse between the 
 court of Persia and the Jewish people from the death of Cambyses 
 till after the first year of Darius. The circumstances mentioned by 
 Ezra cannot be more accurately described than in the following 
 narrative which Prideaux has collected from the sacred historian : 
 
 “ As soon as Artaxerxes was settled in the kingdom, after the death 
 of Cambyses, the Samaritans wrote a letter to him, setting forth that 
 the Jews were rebuilding them city and temple at Jerusalem; that, 
 they having been always a rebellious people, there was reason to 
 suspect, that as soon as they should have finished that work they 
 would withdraw their obedience from the king, and pay no more toll, 
 nor tribute, which might give an occasion for all Syria and Palestine 
 to revolt also, and the king be excluded from having any more por¬ 
 tion on that side the river Euphrates; and for the truth of what 
 they had informed him of, as to the rebellious temper of that people, 
 they referred him to the records of his predecessors, wherein they 
 desired search might be made concerning this matter. On the 
 receipt of this letter, examination being made, according to the 
 purport of it, into the records of former times concerning the 
 behaviour of the Jews under the Assyrian and Babylonish empires, 
 and it being found in them with what valour they had long defended 
 themselves, and with what difficulty they were at length reduced by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, an order was issued forth to prohibit them from 
 proceeding any further, and sent to the Samaritans to see it put in 
 execution, who immediately, on the receipt thereof, went up to 
 Jerusalem, and having exhibited their order to the Jews, made them 
 desist, by force and power, from going on any further with the work of 
 the house; so it wholly ceased till the second year of Darius, king 
 of Persia, for about the space of two years.” 3 Prideaux justly 
 concludes, that this rigorous decree was not a little promoted by 
 the circumstance, that Artaxerxes was of the sect of the magi, 
 which held the Jews in the utmost abhorrence. This magian, 
 though thus ungracious to the Jews, had the policy to conciliate the 
 other nations which composed the Persian empire. “ He com- His general 
 menced his reign,” says Herodotus, “ by publishing everywhere an lemty ‘ 
 edict which exempted his subjects, for the space of three years, both 
 
 1 iv. 7—24. 
 
 2 Connect, pt. i. b. iii. 
 
360 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 from tribute and military service; and also distinguished the various 
 dependents on his power by great munificence.” 1 He appears to 
 have so well succeeded in these attempts at conciliation, that, accord¬ 
 ing to the same historian, “ he was seriously regretted, after his 
 death, by all the inhabitants of Asia, except the Persians.” These 
 would be likely enough to indulge a national antipathy because the 
 magian was a Mede. The usurper also married the wives of Cam- 
 byses for the obvious purpose of giving plausibility to his preten¬ 
 sions ; but this circumstance proved the speedy occasion of his ruin. 
 Conspiracy The nobles who attended the last hours of Cambyses were con- 
 t < noiiies. v j nC g,j^ notwithstanding the assertions of the dying prince, that his 
 brother had really ascended the throne. With this conviction they 
 appear to have returned to the capital. Among these nobles was 
 otanes. Otanes, the son of Pharnaspes, a Persian, distinguished by his rank 
 and fortune; he was the first who suspected that the reputed 
 Smerdis was not the son of Cyrus, from the extreme caution which 
 he displayed by never venturing to remove from the citadel, or to 
 invite any of the nobles into his presence. Otanes had a daughter 
 named Phtedyma, who had been married to Cambyses, and had 
 now become the wife of his successor. The father inquired 
 of his daughter if the person with whom she cohabited were the 
 son of Cyrus ? She replied, that she had never seen that prince; 
 nor had she any previous acquaintance with her present husband. 
 Otanes then referred his daughter to Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, 
 who had also been married to Cambyses, to learn whether the per¬ 
 son with whom they now cohabited was her brother. But this 
 satisfaction could not be procured, as the usurper, among other pre¬ 
 cautions, kept the members of his harem strictly apart. Otanes 
 now prevailed on his daughter to attempt a hazardous experiment. 
 The Magian, for some great crime, had, during the life of Cyrus, 
 been deprived of his ears. As this circumstance would serve to 
 settle the question of the usurpation, Phredyma was urged to make 
 the discovery, whether he were the true or the pretended Smerdis, 
 The Magian when next called to her husband’s bed. “ When she saw him 
 detected. - n a p ro f oun( j s l ee p s h e tried to touch his ears, and being perfectly 
 satisfied that he had none, as soon as it was day she gave intelligence 
 to her father.” 
 
 Otanes immediately communicated the discovery to two nobles 
 on whom he could rely, and who had indeed suspected the impos¬ 
 ture. They now agreed that each should choose a friend, to whom 
 they might safely intrust the important secret. To these six con¬ 
 federates was presently joined Darius, who was named Ochus before 
 Resolution of his accession to the throne. He had opportunely arrived from 
 Darius. Persis, where his father, Hystaspes, was governor; and indeed he 
 came to Susa with a full conviction of the usurpation of the Magian, 
 
 1 The numerous quotations from Herodotus are from his third book. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 PREXASPES. 
 
 361 
 
 and a design to accomplish his immediate destruction. To this he 
 warmly urged his associates; opposing the caution of Otanes, who 
 would have first strengthened their party. But Darius was inflex¬ 
 ible, and threatened, that if the day were suffered to pass without 
 executing their purpose, he would not wait tc be betrayed to-mor¬ 
 row, but would immediately disclose to the Magian the whole con¬ 
 spiracy. Gobryas, another of the confederates, whose daughter 
 Darius had married, now seconded his ardour, and his sentiments 
 gave universal satisfaction. 
 
 In the mean time, according to Herodotus, the two Magi, Pati- Prexaspes. 
 zithes and the pretended Smerdis, sought to engage the good offices 
 of Prexaspes, whom that historian unaccountably describes as “ a 
 man who, through every period of his life, merited esteem.” Of 
 what description must have been his admirers, some passages in the 
 biography of Cambyses sufficiently discover. Yet the peculiar out¬ 
 rage which he had suffered from that frantic prince, by the murder 
 of his son, might well be supposed to have inspired Prexaspes with 
 hostility to the whole house of Cyrus. The two Magi commanded 
 the attendance of this flexible courtier in the citadel, where they 
 had secured themselves, and first exacted from him an oath not to 
 reveal the deceit they had practised. Then having, as they fondly 
 imagined, bribed him to their purpose, by the promise of munificent 
 rewards, they proposed to assemble the people around the tower of 
 the royal residence, whence he should declare aloud that it was 
 Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, who now occupied the throne. 
 
 “ Prexaspes having consented to their proposal, the Magi assem- His 
 bled the people, and sent him to harangue them from the top of the anddeath" 
 tower. Utterly regardless of their instructions, he first recounted 
 the genealogy of Cyrus from Aclifemenes; and when he arrived at 
 Cyrus himself, he enumerated the favours which he had bestowed 
 on the Persians. Prexaspes then proceeded to discover the truth 
 which he had long concealed, from the danger of revealing the 
 transaction, but necessity was now laid upon him. He, at length, 
 assured the people that he had actually slain Smerdis, the son of 
 Cyrus, and that the persons now governing were the Magi. Then, 
 after lavishing imprecations on the Persians, unless they determined 
 to recover the empire, and take vengeance on the usurpers, he 
 threw himself headlong from the tower.” Thus died Prexaspes, 
 greater than he had lived; though, as Larcher has remarked in the 
 following passage, where he contrasts and accounts for the various 
 conduct of this courtier, he might have closed his life more nobly 
 than by a horrible suicide. 
 
 On this self-destruction of Prexaspes the learned writer just 
 mentioned, whom every inquirer into ancient history would wish to 
 accompany, thus ably philosophises. “ Comment concilier cette Remarks of 
 action male et vigoureuse avec la reponse pusillanime et avilissante Larcher - 
 du meme homme au despote des Perses ? Ici, quelle energie! La, 
 
362 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [CuAr. VIII. 
 
 The 
 
 conspirators 
 attack the 
 Magian. 
 
 quelle bassesse! Un liomnie assez fort pour se tuer dans une 
 pareille circonstance, et par un motif aussi noble, a-t-il pu voir de 
 sangfroid egorger injustement son Ills, et louer lachemeut l’adresse 
 du meurtrier! La mauvais education, l’habitude du joug, le despo- 
 tisme peuvent comprimer le report; mais, loin de se detruire, 
 souvent ce report reagit avec une force irresistible. Dela ces con- 
 trarietes dans le meme liomme, ce melange de bassesse et de 
 grandeur, dont, sans cela, on a peine a rendre compte. Avec des 
 principes, Prexaspes se seroit rendu redoutable au tyran sous lequel 
 il plioit sans murmurer: avec des principes, le meme, au lieu de se 
 tuer, auroit prevenu les sept conjures.” 1 “How can we reconcile 
 this bold and daring action with the abject and dastardly answer of 
 the same man to the Persian despot ? In the one case what intre¬ 
 pidity ! In the other what baseness ! A man of sufficient fortitude 
 to kill himself in such a manner, and for such a noble purpose, could 
 yet behold, without emotion, the murder of his innocent child, and 
 even basely praise the skill of the murderer! An ill education, 
 habits of servility, despotism,—these may, indeed, repress the spring 
 of honourable action, but, so far from its being destroyed, that 
 spring will often recover its elasticity, and act again with irresistible 
 force. The influence of just principles would have made Prexaspes 
 the dread of the tyrant to whom he tamely submitted without a 
 murmur. With these principles, instead of killing himself, he would 
 have anticipated the deed of the seven conspirators.” 
 
 The dying declaration of Prexaspes, joined to the discovery made 
 by the daughter of Otanes, could not fail to convince the people of 
 the usurpation of the Magian, and his reign must have soon ter¬ 
 minated, even if the daring enterprise of the seven conspirators had 
 been unsuccessful. Herodotus asserts, and seems to have been 
 followed implicitly by those who have written after him, that these 
 conspirators were ignorant of what had passed at the tower of Susa, 
 till they learned the fate of Prexaspes on their passage to the citadel. 
 The historian adds, that “ they withdrew for a while to deliberate.” 
 Otanes proposed to defer the enterprise; but Darius urged its 
 immediate execution. “ They were still divided in opinion, when 
 they observed seven pair of hawks, who pursued two pair of vul¬ 
 tures, and tore them in pieces with their beaks and claws.” The 
 conspirators accepted the omen, and advanced to the palace; but 
 their previous ignorance of the fate of Prexaspes is as improbable 
 as the marvellous tale, so consonant with ancient superstition, which 
 it served to introduce. Must not the order for assembling the popu¬ 
 lace have been a matter of public notoriety ? And would the con¬ 
 spirators fail to place some one in the crowd, where they might 
 themselves decline to appear, to bring the earliest notice of the 
 result ? It was probably on such information, that, “ after implor- 
 
 1 Herodote iii. 318. 
 
Chap. VIII.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE MAGIAN. 363 
 
 ing the aid of the gods, they proceeded instantly to attack the magi,” 
 during the first moments of their consternation. 
 
 The devoted tyrants were deliberating on the conduct they should His palace 
 pursue in this extremity of their affairs, when the conspirators, 
 having awed the outer guards by their rank, and slain the eunuchs 
 who opposed then’ further progress, were rushing towards the inner 
 apartments. The brothers, hearing the cries of the eunuchs, and 
 presently ascertaining the occasion of the tumult, determined on a 
 resolute, though hopeless defence. One of them armed himself with 
 a bow, which, as the conspirators pressed on him, became useless, 
 and he fled to an adjoining apartment. The other seized a lance, 
 with which he wounded Aspathines in the thigh, and deprived 
 Intaphernes of one of his eyes, but presently fell in the unequal 
 combat. The Magian, who had fled unarmed, was pursued by 
 Darius and Gobryas into a dark apartment. The latter seized him 
 round the waist, when Darius feared to aim a thrust at him, lest he 
 should destroy his friend. “ Strike,” said Gobryas, “ though you 
 kill both! ” Darius obeyed, and ran his sword through the magian. He is killed 
 The two wounded conspirators remained to guard the citadel. Their by Danus - 
 five companions sallied forth into the city, making violent outcries, 
 and exposing in their hands the bloody heads of the magi. 
 
 The people, informed of what had been achieved, and of the The sect of 
 magian imposture, of which, however, the last words of Prexaspes massacred, 
 had sufficiently apprised them, became irritated against the whole 
 sect, and determined to follow the bloody example of the 
 conspirators. They put to the sword every one of the magi 
 who came in their way, and night alone prevented their utter extir¬ 
 pation. Herodotus adds, that “ the Persians solemnly observe that 
 day as one of then' grandest festivals. They call it Magophonia, or 
 the ‘ slaughter of the ,magi.’ On that day, day none of the sect is 
 permitted to appear in public.” 
 
 No revolution was ever more complete and undisputed than that Deliberations 
 which ended the reign of eight months which have been assigned to conspiratoi-s. 
 Smerdis the magian ; a royalty which was, indeed, little more than 
 a splendid imprisonment. After five days, the conspirators, who 
 had no further use for weapons, met together to deliberate on the 
 future government of the empire. Herodotus, on this occasion, 
 attributes to these rough soldiers, remarks worthy of philosophical 
 politicians, on three different forms of government—democracy, 
 aristocracy or oligarchy, and monarchy. He describes Otanes 
 contending most tenaciously for the first and popular form of 
 government; and he seems to have pursued his convictions upon 
 the point with much personal disinterestedness. Megabysus con¬ 
 tended for the second, and Darius for the third. This latter opinion 
 being approved by four of the seven conspirators, a monarchy was 
 the government adopted, or rather continued, for the Persian empnre. 
 
 Otanes, without further opposition, protested, for himself and his 
 
364 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 posterity, against being subjected to the will of a sovereign; and 
 Herodotus adds, that when he wrote his history, the family of 
 Otanes was the only one which retained its liberty, on condition of 
 not transgressing the laws of the country. This liberty, probably, 
 was only an exemption from personal service at the will of the 
 sovereign; for it is difficult to suppose any other independence 
 which would consist with the described submission. 
 
 Otanes thus declining to have any concern in the election of a 
 king, his six companions consulted how best to accomplish their 
 
 Their mutual design. “ It was agreed upon, as a preliminary, that whoever of 
 them became king, there should, every year, in honour of Otanes, 
 be presented to him and to his descendants for ever, a Median habit, 
 and that he should also receive such presents as the Persians deemed 
 most honourable. These distinctions were awarded to him because 
 he projected the deposition of the magian, and took the first steps 
 towards the execution of the design. For themselves, they mutually 
 agreed that each should have access to the royal palace without the 
 ceremony of being announced, except when the king was in the 
 company of his -wife ; and that the king should not take a wife but 
 from the family of one of the conspirators.” These preliminaries 
 being adjusted for their mutual advantage and security, “they 
 agreed to meet the next morning at sun-rise, and that he whose 
 horse neighed the first should be made king.” The Persians adored 
 the rising sun, and probably some homage to that deity was designed 
 by the conspirators when they agreed to assemble at his rising. 
 Whether their determination, by the neighing of the horse, had any 
 religious reference, is not so clear. Such, however, is the opinion 
 of M. l’Abbe Brotier, in his remarks on Tacitus, 1 where that histo¬ 
 rian had attributed to the ancient Germans a disposition to draw 
 presages and warnings from the actions of the horse. Proprium 
 gentis , equorum quoque prcescigia cic monitus experiri. 
 
 The Groom of Herodotus here introduces a story respecting the contrivance of 
 Darius’s groom to procure the empire for his master, on which, as 
 already remarked, the Persian historians are silent. He says, “ the 
 next morning, at break of day, according to their agreement, they 
 assembled on horseback. As they traversed the suburbs, when they 
 came to the place whither the night before a mare had been brought 
 to the horse of Darius, he immediately began to neigh. At the 
 same time there was thunder and lightening, although the sky was 
 quite clear. These signs appearing to signify the favour of heaven 
 to Darius, served that prince for an inaguration. The other noble¬ 
 men immediately dismounted, fell prostrate at his feet, and hailed 
 him king.” Herodotus relates, that Darius was no sooner seated on 
 the throne, than he commanded “the erection of an equestrian 
 statue with this inscription: ‘ Darius, son of Hystaspes, obtained the 
 
 1 De moribus Germ. Sec. x. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF DARIUS. 
 
 Chap. VIII.] 
 
 365 
 
 sovereignty of Persia by the sagacity of his horse (whose name was 
 inserted), and the ingenuity of CEbares, his groom.’ ” 
 
 Darius, whose original name, as we before remarked, was Ochus, Accession of 
 had reached the twenty-eighth year of his age when he had the BC '521 
 good fortune to be raised to the throne of Persia; a name which 
 then comprehended by far the greatest part of that portion of Asia 
 known to the Greeks in the age of Herodotus. He was the son of 
 Hystaspes, the friend and patron of Zoroaster. This noble Persian 
 was of the race of Aclisemenes, and consequently a relation of Cyrus, 
 whom he had attended in all his wars, and by whom he had been 
 appointed satrap of Persis . 1 
 
 Prior to his elevation, Darius had married the daughter of His wives. 
 Gobryas, his daring associate in the destruction of one of the 
 Magians. To this wife he added, on his accession to the throne, the 
 two daughters of Cyrus—Atossa, who had been the wife of her 
 brother Cambyses, and afterwards of the Magian, and Artystona, 
 who had never been married, and who became the most favoured of 
 his wives. He also married Parmys, the daughter of Smerdis, the 
 son of Cyrus, and Phaedyma, the daughter of Otanes, her rvho 
 detected the Magian. 
 
 Having strengthened himself by these marriages, he proceeded to Dh-isionl of 
 divide the empire into twenty governments, each having a satrap, 
 by whom he collected an annual tribute. Among these satrapies, 
 the Holy Land was comprehended in a large district, which formed 
 the fifth. It is merely named by Herodotus as the Syrian Pales¬ 
 tine. “ Had he,” says Major Rennell, “ been endued with a 
 prophetic spirit, to have foreseen that from Palestine there was to 
 arise a light to guide the footsteps of men to the highest state of 
 happiness that this world affords, by humanizing them, and making 
 them fitter for the purposes of society; and, moreover, by giving 
 them hopes of a better state hereafter ; he would have thought it a 
 spot of much more importance than he attaches to it.” 2 
 
 The annual revenue drawn from these satrapies, Rollin computes Annual 
 at forty-four millions of livres, or not quite two millions sterling. 
 
 Gibbon, from a comparison of two passages in Herodotus , 3 con¬ 
 jectures that “ the monarch might annually save three millions 
 six hundred thousand pounds, of the seventeen or eighteen millions 
 raised upon the people.” From these imposts were exempted the 
 province of Persia, the Ethiopians bordering on Egypt, whom 
 Cambyses subdued, and the inhabitants of Nyssa, sacred to Bacchus, 
 who, instead of paying any specific taxes, each made an annual 
 present. 
 
 As to all the other provinces, Darius ascertained the tribute they ejection of 
 were severally to pay, connecting sometimes many neighbouring 
 
 1 Darius, in Hebrew Daryavesh, 011 the monuments Daryeusch, signifies conser¬ 
 vator, and is rendered by Herodotus sggsiV. 
 
 2 Geog. p. 247. 3 b. i. c. 192, and b. iii. c. 89, 96. 
 
366 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 Revolt of 
 Intaphemes. 
 
 His fate. 
 
 His wife. 
 
 nations into one district; and sometimes passing over many which 
 were adjacent, and forming one government of various remote and 
 scattered nations. During the reign of Cyrus and his son, there 
 were no specified tributes, but presents were made to the sovereign. 
 Such is the account given by Herodotus, though it ill agrees with 
 the unusual forbearance, as to the exaction of the regular tribute, 
 which we have ascribed, on his authority, to the Magian usurper. 
 The historian adds, that, in these innovations, Darius seemed to 
 design only the acquisition of wealth, and that, as Cambyses had 
 been negligent and severe, while Cyrus had discovered a gentle 
 disposition, studying the good of his subjects, so the Persians called 
 Darius a merchant, Cambyses a despot, and Cyrus a parent. Yet 
 the moderation of Darius, in the exaction of these imposts, is thus 
 applauded by Plutarch: “ When he laid a tax upon his subjects, he 
 summoned his lieutenants, and asked them whether the tax were 
 burdensome ? When they told him it was moderate, he ordered 
 them to collect half as much as was at first demanded.” 1 
 
 Soon after Darius had been raised to the throne, he was alarmed 
 by apprehensions of a revolt against his authority. Intaphernes, 
 one of the seven conspirators, attempted to enter the royal palace, 
 in consequence of their mutual stipulation for free intercourse with 
 the king. He was stopped by the keeper of the gates and an officer 
 of the court, because the king was in the company of one of his 
 wives. Intaphernes, regarding this interruption as a mere excuse, 
 drew his sword, and cut off their ears and noses; then, with his 
 horse’s bridle, tying them together, he left them in that mangled 
 condition. Thus they presented themselves before the king, and 
 related the conduct of Intaphernes. 
 
 The monarch, suspecting some concert among the conspirators, 
 and that this attempt to enter the palace so unseasonably was part 
 of an extended project of rebellion, sent for the rest of his former 
 companions separately, but found no ground of accusation against 
 any of them. “When he was thus convinced,” says Herodotus, 
 “ that there was no concert between the conspirators, still appre¬ 
 hending that Intaphernes would revolt, and also suspecting his 
 connections, he ordered him to be seized, with his sons and all Ins 
 family. They were put in irons, and condemned to die.” 
 
 The wife of Intaphernes, whose freedom from arrest on this 
 occasion is certainly a very improbable circumstance, now appears 
 to have appealed incessantly to the compassion of the king, present¬ 
 ing herself for that pimpose before the royal palace. Daiius, at 
 length, moved by her importunity, granted her the life and liberty 
 of any one of her family whom she would choose. This wife and 
 mother now neglected to save her own immediate family, and 
 requested the preservation other brother; alleging to the astonished 
 
 Apoth. ad init. 
 
Chap. VIII ] 
 
 REVOLT OF ORCETES. 
 
 367 
 
 king, that she might have another husband and other children, but, 
 as her parents were dead, she could not have another brother. 
 
 With this strange preference, of which an instance may also be Her 
 found in the Antigone of Sophocles, Darius is said to have been so preference, 
 much gratified, that he pardoned her brother, and also her eldest 
 son. Intapliernes and the rest of his family were immediately 
 executed. Thus speedily perished one of the brave conspirators, by 
 the power which he had contributed to raise. The cruelty of Inta- 
 phernes was, indeed, not ill requited, and it sufficiently discovers 
 the rude and worse than brutal manners of the age: but whether 
 this royal counsellor, Avith his unhappy, and, so far as appears, 
 unoffending family, became the victim of the just apprehensions or 
 the unfounded jealousy of his former companion, it is impossible to 
 ascertain. 
 
 Oroetes, governor of Sardis, had basely put to death Polycrates, Revolt of 
 and seized upon his island of Samos. This, as his conduct soon Oloetes ’ 
 discovered, was not designed to extend the Persian empire, but to 
 aggrandize himself. Taking advantage of the relaxed royal authority 
 during the short period of the Magian usurpation, he put to death 
 Mitrobates, the governor of Dascylium, and his son; the father 
 having formerly offended him. Both Avere highly esteemed in 
 Persia. Oroetes also ordered the assassination of a messenger sent to 
 him from Darius. The king determined to punish the governor of 
 Sardis for these and other enormities. Yet, as he was a satrap of 
 very extensive power, (for he ruled over Phrygia, Lydia, and Ionia, 
 and had regularly a guard of a thousand men,) Darius resolved to 
 proceed by stratagem, rather than by open force. He assembled 
 his nobles, and asked which of them Avould undertake to bring the 
 body of Orcetes, dead or alive. Thirty Persians offered themselves 
 to this hazardous service; but as only one could be employed, the 
 decision was made by lot, and it fell on Bagaeus, the son of Artontes. Bagseus. 
 He proceeded to Sardis, furnished with letters of different descrip¬ 
 tions, Avliich he might employ as they best suited his purpose. They 
 Avere addressed to the secretary of the province. Those he first 
 delivered contained some general instructions, which had no refer¬ 
 ence to the real purpose of his mission. When he found that these 
 letters from the king were treated Avith respect, “ he delivered one 
 to this effect:—‘Persians, king Darius forbids you to serve any 
 longer as guards to Orcetes.’ In a moment they threw doAAm their 
 arms.” Bagaeus uoav ventured to go the whole length of his com¬ 
 mission, and “ put into the hands of the secretary a letter couched 
 in these terms:—‘ King Darius commands the Persians who are at 
 Sardis to put Orcetes to death.’ The guards immediately drew their 
 SAvords and killed him. Thus was the death of Polycrates of Samos 
 revenged on Oroetes the Persian.” 1 
 
 1 lib. iii. c. 132. 
 
POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 Soon after this transaction, a cir¬ 
 cumstance occurred chiefly worthy 
 of notice on account of the impor¬ 
 tant events with which it was con¬ 
 nected. Darius had injured his 
 foot, on leaping from his horse, 
 while engaged in the diversion of 
 the chase. The Egyptian physi¬ 
 cians at his court tried their utmost 
 art, but only aggravated the malady. 
 It was now recollected that there 
 was a physician among the slaves of 
 Oroetes, who had been brought to 
 Susa with the rest of that governor's 
 effects; for men degraded to the 
 condition of slavery have been 
 usually regarded as things rather 
 than as persons. This slave was 
 Democedes of Crotona. “ He was 
 brought before the king,” says Hero¬ 
 dotus, “ in chains, and covered with 
 rags.” Darius inquired if he was 
 skilled in medicine. This he re¬ 
 fused to confess, lest he should be 
 detained in the king’s service, and 
 never suffered to revisit his home. 
 Darius, suspecting that he dissem¬ 
 bled, determined to put him to the 
 question , and bade his attendants 
 produce the instruments of torture. 
 Democedes now re-assumed his true 
 character, and, by his applica¬ 
 tions, speedily recovered the king. 
 In acknowledgment of his cure, 
 Darius granted liirn the pardon of 
 the Egyptian physicians, who, ac¬ 
 cording to Herodotus, 1 were bar¬ 
 barously condemned to crucifixion, 
 because they had failed in their 
 attempts to heal the king’s malady. 
 He also presented him with two 
 pair of fetters of gold. Upon which 
 Democedes ventured to ask the 
 king, whether, in return for his 
 restoring him to health, he wished 
 
 1 Herodot. iii. 128. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 SPIES SENT TO GREECE. 
 
 369 
 
 to double his calamity. The king was delighted with the reply, 
 and ordered that Democedes should be introduced to his wives 
 as “ the man who had restored the king to life.” By every one of 
 these he was munificently rewarded. 
 
 This celebrated physician had a sumptuous house provided for His pardon, 
 him at Susa, a place at the royal tables, and every thing he could 
 desire, but the liberty of returning into Greece. That liberty he 
 gained by means of Darius’s queen, Atossa, whom he cured of a 
 very desperate disorder, and from whom he had previously exacted a 
 promise that she would promote his favourite object. Atossa, the 
 daughter of Cyrus, was also desirous that the king should extend 
 his dominions, by making a conquest of Greece. “ I wish,” said she, 
 to have in my service women of Sparta, Argos, Athens, and Corinth, 
 of whom I have heard so much.” Darius, as the result of this Spies sent to 
 conversation with Atossa, Appointed fifteen Persians, in whom he Greece - 
 could confide, to accompany Democedes, whom he loaded with 
 presents and entreated to return. The Persians, by the assistance 
 of their guide, were especially to examine every part of the Grecian 
 coast. From Sidon they sailed to Greece in two triremes, and a 
 larger vessel containing valuable stores. Having visited the prin¬ 
 cipal Grecian cities, they passed over to Tarentum, in Italy. There, 
 to encourage the escape of Democedes, the helms of the vessels were Then- 
 taken away, and the Persians detained as spies. In the mean time, detentl0n - 
 the physician proceeded to Crotona, where he married a daughter 
 of- Milo the wrestler. Of this marriage he desired the Persians to 
 inform their master. The physician appears to have passed the 
 remainder of his life in wealth and reputation. 
 
 The Persians were now liberated, and the helms of their vessels Then- 
 restored. They sailed to Crotona, where they endeavoured to seize ld)elatl0n - 
 Democedes, and in vain demanded that he should be given up, as a 
 subject of their king. Thus deprived of their conductor, they aban¬ 
 doned the further survey of Greece. On their return, being forced 
 by contrary winds on Japygia, now cape di Leuca, they were made 
 slaves, but ransomed and sent home to Darius by Gillus, an exile 
 from Tarentum. Such, according to Herodotus, were the adventures 
 of “ the first Persians who, with the view of examining the state of 
 Greece, passed over thither from Asia.” 
 
 About this period, in the third year of Darius, the transactions of favour of 
 his reign have a very important connection with the sacred history. j e ws. b ° e 
 The Jews had resumed the erection of the temple and the restoration 
 of their city,—works which we have seen suspended by the rigorous 
 prohibitions of Cambyses and the Magian. On the accession of 
 Darius, they were at first inattentive to improve the favourable 
 opportunity, and suffered for their neglect by the failure of their 
 vintage and harvest. At length, being divinely warned by the 
 prophet Haggai, they zealously applied themselves to the work which 
 their inveterate foes the Samaritans again endeavoured to obstruct. 
 
 [e. o. h.] 2 b 
 
370 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 Tatnai. 
 
 The edict. 
 
 Josephus’s 
 
 account. 
 
 Zorobabel. 
 
 But Tatnai, tlie satrap who governed Syria and Palestine, appears, 
 on this occasion, to have acted the part of a just and prudent 
 magistrate. He proceeded to Jerusalem, and demanded of the 
 Jews by what authority they acted. On their producing the 
 decree of Cyrus, Tatnai wrote to Darius, who ordered that search 
 should be made for the original decree, which was found among the 
 archives in the palace of Ecbatana, or, as Ezra names it, “ Achmjctha, 
 the palace that is in the province of the Medes.” This original 
 decree agreeing with the copy which the Jews had produced as the 
 justification of their conduct, Darius ordered that it should be again 
 published. He also decreed the restoration of the sacred vessels of 
 which Nebuchadnezzar had spoiled the former temple; and that 
 resources for carrying on the work should be dispensed to the Jews 
 out of the revenues of the province, “that they may offer sacrifices 
 of sweet savours to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the 
 king, and of his sons.” And the edict thus concludes in Oriental 
 style,—“Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this 
 word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and, being set up, 
 let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill 
 for this.” 1 Prideaux 2 remarks, on the authority of the learned 
 Lightfoot, 3 that “ the decree having been granted by Darius, at his 
 palace in Shushan, (or Susa, as the Greeks call the place,) in remem¬ 
 brance hereof, the eastern gate in the outer wall of the temple was, 
 from this time, called the gate of Shushan, and a picture and draught 
 of that city was portrayed in sculpture over it, and there continued 
 till the last destruction of that temple by the Romans.” 
 
 The account given by Josephus of the circumstances by which 
 the Jews obtained these royal favours materially differs from the 
 sacred history. According to the Jewish historian, in his Antiquities, 4 
 “ Darius, the son of Hystaspes, while he was a private man, had 
 made a vow to God, that if he came to be king, he would send all 
 the vessels of God which were in Babylon to the temple at Jeru¬ 
 salem.” He adds, that “ Zorobabel came to Darius from Jerusalem; 
 for there had been an old friendship between him and the king,” 
 and the monarch had made him one of his body-guards. 
 
 The historian proceeds to relate that, “ in the first year of his 
 reign, Darius feasted those which were about him, and those born 
 in his house, with the rulers of the Medes, and princes of the Per¬ 
 sians, and the toparchs of India and Ethiopia, and the generals of 
 the armies of his hundred and twenty-seven provinces.” The king, 
 on retiring to rest, being unable to sleep, called upon his three body¬ 
 guards, of whom Zorobabel was one, to divert him by their solution 
 of problems which he proposed to them “ concerning the strength 
 of wine, of a king, of women, and of truth,” promising munificent 
 rewards to him who excelled. Zorobabel, who discoursed last, upon 
 
 1 Ezra vi. 11. 2 pt. i. b. iii. 3 Of the Temple, c. 3. 4 b. xi. c. 3. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 BEQUEST OF ZOROBABEL. 
 
 371 
 
 truth, is described as having “spoken the most wisely;” when “the 
 king commanded that he should ask for somewhat more than he had 
 promised, which he would give him, because of his wisdom, in which 
 he exceeded the rest. Zorobabel put him in mind of the vow which His request, 
 he had made to build Jerusalem and the temple of God. £ This,’ 
 said he, ‘ is that request which thou permittest me to make.’ So 
 the king was pleased with what he said, and arose and kissed him ; 
 and wrote to the toparchs and governors, and enjoined them to 
 conduct Zorobabel and those who were going with him to build the 
 temple. He also ordered the rulers of Syria and Phoenicia to cut 
 down and carry cedar-trees from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and to 
 assist him in building the city; and that all the captives who should 
 go to Judea should be free; and he prohibited his deputies and 
 governors to lay any taxes upon the Jews. He also enjoined the 
 Idumeans and Samaritans, and the inhabitants of Celesyria, to 
 restore those villages which they had taken from the Jews; and that 
 fifty talents should be given them for the building of the temple. 
 
 And he sent the vessels, and fulfilled all that Cyrus had intended 
 for the restoration of Jerusalem.” 
 
 Such are the circumstances which, according to Josephus, led 
 Darius to become the worthy successor of Cyrus, in the restoration of 
 Jerusalem and the temple. Some parts of this narrative, however, 
 seem to show that the erudite Jew had studied, till he had learned 
 to imitate the marvellous digressions of the Greeks. Yet Wliiston, 
 the able translator of Josephus, whose credulity on some points 
 was as remarkable as his fearless integrity on all occasions, con¬ 
 sidered “ the whole a contrivance of King Darius, in order to be 
 decently and inoffensively put in mind, by Zorobabel, of fulfilling 
 his own vow for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.” He also attributes 
 to Cyrus and Darius a disposition to worship “ the one true God, 
 the God of Israel, though the entire idolatry of their kingdoms made 
 them generally conceal it.” That these princes had great reverence 
 for the God of the Jews, whom they could scarcely have failed to 
 regard as superior to all other local deities, cannot be questioned; 
 but the evidence is yet to be produced for the extraordinary fact 
 that they had received the doctrine of the divine unity, in opposition 
 to the polytheism of their age and country. 
 
 Hitherto the transactions of the reign of Darius had been entirely Reduction of 
 pacific. His first armament was intrusted to Otanes, and designed Samos - 
 against Samos, which seems not to have remained under the Persian 
 power when Polycrates was basely allured to Sardis, and there mur¬ 
 dered by the governor Oroetes. When Otanes summoned the island, 
 Mseandrius, who commanded it, consented to retire; and Otanes 
 prepared to invest with the government Syloson, the brother of 
 Polycrates, who was now in favour with Darius, on account of a 
 service he had rendered to the king while an officer in the army of 
 Cambyses. The Samians, however, under Charideus, the brother 
 
372 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chai>. VIII. 
 
 of Maandrius, surprised and killed some of the principal Persians, 
 who, depending on the truce, were “ sitting at their ease. The rest 
 of the troops soon came to their assistance, and repulsed the 
 Samians.” As the horrid result of this treachery, Otanes, irritated 
 by the destruction of his soldiers, ordered a general massacre of 
 the inhabitants, and at length delivered the island to Syloson, 
 probably as a tributary to Darius. Samos was thus depopulated, 
 from the exasperation of the Persians, as we have learned from 
 Herodotus; or by the cruelty of Syloson, as Strabo relates. It was, 
 according to the former historian, repeopled by Otanes, whose 
 military appointment on this occasion was not a little extraordinary. 
 It will be recollected, that among the seven conspirators, he alone 
 had contended for a democracy, and had stipulated for himself and 
 his family that they should not be regarded as subjects of the regal 
 government. 
 
 Revolt of While this expedition to Samos was in preparation, the subdued, 
 
 Babylon. s ^jp disaffected and powerful province of Babylon broke out 
 
 into a rebellion, for which it had been preparing during several 
 years. In this design it was, no doubt, greatly assisted by the 
 
 b.c. 518. absence of Cambyses from the seat of government, the Magian 
 usurpation, and the weighty cares of Darius on his accession to the 
 empire. Expecting the speedy vengeance of the king, who, on the 
 first news of this revolt, had assembled his forces, the Babylonians 
 prepared to sustain a protracted siege, and resorted to a horrible 
 expedient. “ Of all the women in Babylon,” says Herodotus, “ each 
 man, besides his mother, reserved one female of all his household, 
 to whom he was most attached; the rest were collected together and 
 strangled.” The historian coolly adds, that “ one woman was pre¬ 
 served to prepare the bread, and the rest were destroyed to prevent 
 a famine. Thus was very signally fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, 
 that “ two things should come to them in one day, the loss of chil¬ 
 dren and widowhood.” 1 
 
 The siege. The king advanced with a powerful army, and laid close siege to 
 the revolted city. The Babylonians confiding in their preparations 
 and the strength of their walls, which Cyrus had left entire, treated 
 the besiegers with contempt. They even amused themselves by 
 dancing on the ramparts. Referring, probably, to a proverbial 
 phrase for an impossibility, they assured the Persians that Babylon 
 would be taken when mules should produce young. Thus, after a 
 year and seven months passed before the walls, Darius and his 
 army despaired of reducing the city. They had vainly employed all 
 the known stratagems of war, not forgetting those by which Cyrus 
 had formerly succeeded. But the Babylonians were ever on their 
 guard, and could neither be surprised nor overpowered. 
 
 It was in this extremity, and in the twentieth month of the siege, 
 
 1 xlvii. 9. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 ZOPYRUS. 
 
 373 
 
 that an officer in the army of Darius distinguished himself by a deed 
 so extraordinary, that the historian might, well have introduced his 
 account without a prodigy. This person was Zopyrus, the son of Zopyrus. 
 Megabysus, one of the seven who had put an end to the magian 
 usurpation. According to Herodotus, this officer being informed 
 that one of his baggage-mules had produced a foal, was at first 
 incredulous, and when convinced of the fact, enjoined secrecy on his 
 attendants. He, however, reflected on the circumstance, and calling 
 to mind the taunting language of the Babylonians, assured himself 
 that the city might be taken. 
 
 Zopyrus next presented himself before Darius, and asked if he 
 greatly desired to conquer the place. The king eagerly replied in 
 the affirmative. He then deliberated how he might effect his object 
 so that the capture of the city should be attributed solely to himself; 
 and found no scheme so plausible as that of mutilating his own His seif- 
 person, and, in that condition, seeking refuge in Babylon as a mutllatl0n - 
 fugitive escaping from the cruelty of Darius. Zopyrus did not 
 allow a moment’s reflection on the irremediable injuries he was 
 about to inflict on himself, but immediately cut off his nose and 
 ears. He also clipped his hair, so as to assume the degrading 
 appearance of a slave; and having scourged himself till his body 
 discovered the bloody strokes of the whip, in this miserable plight he 
 presented himself before the king. 
 
 “Darius, indignant at the sight of a person of his rank so cruelly Hisappear- 
 treated, leaped instantly from his throne, and earnestly inquired of Darius ef ° re 
 him who had thus mutilated him, and on what pretence? ‘No 
 man, sir, except yourself,’ answered Zopyrus, ‘ could have the power 
 to use me in this manner. I have thus disfigured myself, being 
 vexed to behold the Assyrians deride the Persians.’—‘ Most wretched 
 man,’ exclaimed Darius, ‘ would you thus disguise the infamy of the 
 deed you have perpetrated ? Inconsiderate mortal! will the enemy 
 yield the sooner because you have mutilated yourself? Were you not 
 deprived of reason on this occasion?’ ‘Sir,’ replied Zopyrus, ‘if I 
 had apprised you of my intention, you would not have suffered me 
 to execute it, I therefore acted for myself. Unless you deny me 
 your support, Babylon is certainly ours. I propose, in my present 
 condition, to go thither as a deserter. I shall ascribe my sufferings His projeet. 
 to your orders, and hope they 'will be thus encouraged to intrust a 
 part of their forces to my command. On the tenth day after I am 
 admitted into Babylon, do you, sir, detach 1,000 men, whose loss 
 will be unimportant, to the gate of Semiramis. Seven days after, 
 post 2,000 more near the gate of Nineveh. After an interval of 
 twenty days, send 4,000 men towards the gate of the Chaldeans; 
 but let none of these detachments have any weapons except their 
 swords. At length, after that twentieth day, advance the whole 
 army direct to the city for a general assault. But, above all, let the 
 Persians be stationed before the Belidian and Cissian gates. I fully 
 
374 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 His entrance 
 to Babylon. 
 
 Working of 
 his plans. 
 
 expect that the Babylonians, having witnessed my exploits in the 
 field, will intrust to me the keys of those gates. The Persians, 
 under my guidance, will then accomplish the rest.’ 
 
 “ Having thus spoken, he hastened towards the gates of the city, 
 looking back frequently, as if with the apprehensions of a deserter. 
 The sentinels on the watch-towers perceiving him, quickly descended, 
 and, opening the wicket of their gate, demanded who he was, and 
 for what purpose he sought admittance ? He answered that he was 
 Zopyrus, and that he had come over to the Babylonians. On this 
 the keepers of the gate brought him before an assembly of the 
 people, (jsri x-oivd. tZ>'j Ba-fiv^avtuv,) to whom he deplored his 
 miserable condition, which he attributed to the cruelty of Darius, 
 because he advised him to raise the siege, no hope remaining of his 
 reducing the city. ‘ Now,’ says he, ‘ I come to you, Babylonians! 
 a promoter of your cause, and an inveterate foe to Darius, his army, 
 and the Persians. With all his plans I am well acquainted, and can 
 well revenge the treatment I have received.’ The Babylonians, 
 seeing a Persian of the first quality deprived of his nose and ears, 
 his body lacerated and covered with blood, readily believed his 
 story, and that he came to assist them. They were quickly dis¬ 
 posed to gratify his wishes, and without hesitation gave him the 
 command of a detachment of their forces. With these he proceeded 
 to accomplish the plan which he had concerted with Darius.” 1 
 
 Zopyrus soon slew, in the three projected rencounters, and pro¬ 
 bably without any remorse, the 7,000 of his countrymen whose 
 lives were devoted to the success of his stratagem. The Babylonians 
 regarded him with unbounded confidence. He was intrusted with 
 the command of all the forces, and the guard of the ramparts. On 
 the day appointed, Darius advanced with his army to a general 
 assault. Zopyrus now dropped the mask. While the Babylonians 
 were repulsing the soldiers from the ramparts, he opened to the 
 Persians the Cissian and Belidian gates. Those of the Babylonians 
 
 who saw what passed fled for refuge 
 to the temple of Jupiter Belus; the 
 rest continued firm at their posts till 
 they also knew that they were be¬ 
 trayed to the enemy. Thus fell 
 Babylon a second time into the power 
 of the Persians. 
 
 Darius signalized his victory by 
 crucifying 3,000 of the most dis¬ 
 tinguished among the Babylonians; 
 ordering the walls of the city to be 
 levelled, and its hundred gates de¬ 
 molished. To supply the loss of the 
 
 1 Herodot. iii. 153—157. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 INVASION OF SCYTHIA. 
 
 375 
 
 women who had been cruelly cut off at the commencement of the 
 siege, Darius ordered that fifty thousand should be sent to Babylon 
 from the neighbouring nations. 
 
 As to Zopyrus, Herodotus makes the king extol him beyond any Reward of 
 Persian, except Cyrus. Plutarch relates, 1 that as Darius /oP! 1U> ' 
 was once “ opening a pomegranate, being asked of what he 
 would wish for a number equal to the seeds of that fruit, he 
 answered, of Zopyrusses,” and, “ that he would not have Zopyrus 
 maimed to gain a hundred Babylons.” Herodotus records the same 
 anecdote, except that he gives the former the name of Megabysus. 
 
 On Zopyrus the king now accumulated wealth and distinction. 
 
 Every year he made him such presents as were most valuable in the 
 estimation of the Persians. He also appointed him governor of 
 Babylon during life, with an exemption from tribute. His son 
 Megabysus succeeded to his honours, which his grandson tarnished, 
 by betraying his country, and deserting to the Athenians. 
 
 After this complete subjugation of Babylon, Darius did not mani- invasion of 
 fest any inclination for repose, but immediately marched in person Sc>thia ‘ 
 against the Scythians, under the pretence of revenging their former 
 invasion of Media. That event had occurred one hundred and 
 twenty-eight years before; but ambition is never destitute of an 
 occasion for war. The king made formidable preparations, deaf to 
 the prudent counsel of his brother Artabanes, who urged that 
 Scythia, from the poverty of the country, would prove, if subdued, a 
 worthless acquisition: while the distance from Persia, with the 
 hardy and roving manners of the inhabitants, would make the con¬ 
 quest very uncertain. Darius excused but disregarded this advice, 
 and proceeded from Susa with his army, having first committed a 
 deed of cruelty not unworthy of a conqueror. A Persian named 
 (Ebasus, had three sons enrolled for this expedition; and he requested 
 that one might be left with him to solace his old age. Darius 
 affected graciously to exceed his request, by discharging all of them 
 from military service. The deluded father was overjoyed, but pre¬ 
 sently found that the king had ordered their immediate execution. 
 
 Darius marched from Susa to Clialcedon upon the Bosphorus, The march, 
 where a bridge hhd been constructed by the ingenuity of Mandro- 
 cles the Samian, whom the king munificently rewarded. Near the b.c. 517. 
 spot he ordered the erection of two columns, on one of which were 
 inscribed in Assyrian, and on the other in Greek characters, the 
 names of the nations which attended him. He is also said to have 
 erected pillars in other places, with pompous inscriptions, in one of 
 which he allowed himself to be described as the best and handsomest 
 of all men living. 2 The king had collected troops for this expedition 
 from all the nations which acknowledged his authority, amounting, 
 
 1 Apopthegm. 
 
 2 See in a previous chapter an account of the inscription which Darius engraved 
 on the rock of Behistun. 
 
376 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 The army. 
 
 Kennell’s 
 description 
 of the route. 
 
 Fruitless 
 efforts of 
 Darius. 
 
 cavalry included, to 700,000 men. There was also a fleet of six 
 hundred ships, to provide the necessary supplies for such an army, 
 and to waft the troops and theft baggage across the wide rivers of 
 Thrace and Scythia. “ The circuit taken in this expedition,” says 
 Major Rennell, “ cannot well be estimated at less than a march of 
 one hundred and fifty days, or five months.” The same able geo¬ 
 grapher, in his “ Remarks on Herodotus,” thus traces from that 
 historian the route of Darius:— 
 
 “ He crossed the Danube over a bridge of boats, not far above 
 the site of Ismail; the Ionian fleet being despatched from the Bos¬ 
 porus to perform the service of 
 laying the bridge. Having left 
 the Ionians in charge of it, he 
 marched through Scythia, east¬ 
 ward to the Tanais, the Scythian 
 army, which was divided into 
 two bodies, retiring regularly 
 before him, at the distance of a 
 day’s march, filling up the wells, 
 and destroying the produce of 
 the fields; theft families and 
 cattle being previously sent to 
 the northern frontier. Darius, 
 crossing the Tanais, came into 
 the territories of the Sauromatse, 
 and from thence into those of 
 
 Tokat-Berissa, the" Comana Pontica” of Strabo.] the Budftll, winch, having 
 
 crossed, he came to the desert, 
 of seven or eight days’ journey in breadth. Here he halted, on the 
 banks of the Oasus, (supposed to be the Volga,) where he constructed 
 eight fortresses, at about six miles from each other, the remains of 
 them being visible in the time of Herodotus. And this was the most 
 distant limit of the expedition of Darius eastward. 1 
 
 “ It had been the intent of the Scythians to entangle the Persians in 
 the desert lying between the Budini and the Thyssagetas, but, find¬ 
 ing this scheme impracticable, they made the circuit to the north 
 and west, leaving the Persians at fault.” 2 Arriving in Scythia, 
 Darius found two other bodies of the Scythians, who retired before 
 him, and treated with contempt his demand of submission to the 
 great king, by the customary presents of earth and water. On the 
 contrary, the Scythians despatched a messenger to Darius, bearing 
 to the king these enigmatical gifts, a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five 
 arrows; the language of which Gobryas thus interpreted: “ Per¬ 
 sians ! unless you can fly into the aft like birds, hide yourselves 
 imder the earth like mice, or leap into the marshes like frogs, 
 
 1 Geog. Syst. of Herod., p. 102. 2 Ibid. p. 104. 
 
Chap. VIII.] DESIGNS UPON INDIA. 377 
 
 you will never return to your country, but will perish by these 
 arrows.” 
 
 At length, perplexed by the cautious policy of the enemy, his His retreat, 
 provisions nearly exhausted, and his army weary and dispirited, the 
 king found it necessary, according 
 to the advice of Gobryas, to aban¬ 
 don the further prosecution of his 
 rash enterprise. Determining on a 
 retreat, he lighted fires in the night 
 to disguise his proceedings, and de¬ 
 camped with all possible expedition, 
 leaving the sick and aged in the 
 power of the Scythians. These now 
 advanced to the Danube, where, as 
 they were chiefly cavalry, and well 
 acquainted with the country, they 
 arrived before Darius, and would 
 have persuaded the Ionians to 
 retire with their vessels, and thus 
 destroy the bridge. Miltiades 
 the Athenian, the prince of the 
 Chersonesus, advised a compliance with their proposal, according 
 to Cornelius Nepos, “ Ne a fortund datam occasionem liberandas 
 Gracias dimitterent: ”—lest an opportunity should be lost of secur¬ 
 ing the liberties of Greece. This was strongly opposed, from a 
 selfish motive, by ITistiasus the Milesian, who at length gained over 
 the rest of the Ionian leaders to the interest of Darius. They 
 removed only a part of the bridge, and thus deceived the Scythians, 
 who now returned in the hope of intercepting the Persians. Darius, 
 by marching in another direction, had avoided the enemy, and at 
 length reached the Danube. In the Persian army was an Egyptian 
 of a very powerful voice, who was commanded to call out for 
 Histiasus the Milesian. He was heard, and the bridge immediately 
 formed for the passage of the troops. The king now proved the 
 wisdom of Coes the Mytelenian, who had recommended the preser¬ 
 vation of this bridge, when, in the confidence of victory, Darius, 
 after he had first passed over, had given orders for its destruction. 
 
 Thus the remains of the Persian army escaped from this disastrous 
 expedition, while the Scythians were engaged in a long and fruit¬ 
 less pursuit. They hence regarded the Ionians as the basest of 
 mankind, attached to servitude, and incapable of freedom. Darius 
 passed the winter, and most of the following year at Sardis. 
 
 Megabysus had been left by Darius in Thrace; and he sent mes- Demand on 
 sengers to Amyntas, king of Macedonia, to demand earth and water. Macedonia - 
 This was readily offered, though the gross indiscretion of the young 
 Persian noblemen who formed this embassy cost them their lives at 
 a Macedonian banquet. In the mean time, Darius became ambitious 
 
 [Miltiades.] 
 
378 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. VIII. 
 
 His designs 
 upon India. 
 
 of extending Ms territory towards the east. Nor is the conjecture 
 of Major Rennell improbable, that while in the army of Cambyses, 
 he had made observations which inspired his attempt to penetrate 
 India by the Persian Gulf. Herodotus, in his account of the divi¬ 
 sions of the empire, describes the Indians as forming the twentieth 
 satrapy, and paying six hundred talents of gold. 1 Of the acquisi¬ 
 tions of Darius in India, and the circumstances which opened that 
 b.c. 508. country to his ambition, the only account remaining is the following 
 short passage of the same historian: “ A very considerable part of 
 Asia was discovered 'by Darius. That prince, wishing to ascertain 
 where the Indus flowed into the ocean, sent out ships with persons 
 in whom he had confidence, especially Scylax of Garyandria. They 
 embarked at Caspatyras, in the Parthian territories, following the 
 eastern course of the river towards the ocean. Hence, sailing west¬ 
 ward, they arrived, after a voyage of thirty months, at the same 
 port from whence the Phoenicians formerly sailed to circumnavigate 
 Lybia. In consequence of this voyage, Darius subdued the Indians, 
 and became master of that ocean.” 2 Prideaux conjectures, that 
 when Scylax “ returned by the straits of Babelmandel and the Red 
 Sea, he landed where now the town of Suez stands, at the hither 
 end of that sea.” He dates the commencement of the voyaye at b.c. 
 509, in the thirteenth year of Darius. Two years are allotted for 
 the discoveries and return of Scylax. The three succeeding years 
 appear to have been occupied in the invasion and conquest of India, 
 or, at least, those years are not accounted for by any other trans- 
 B.c. 503. actions of Darius’s reign. Thus, in the nineteenth year of that 
 reign, and b.c. 503, may be dated the commencement of those 
 events which brought the armies of Persia into Greece, and gave 
 rise, in the first instance, to one of the most splendid passages in her 
 brilliant history. 
 
 Darius, under a sense of his singular obligations to Hystiasus, had 
 made him sovereign of an extensive territory in Thrace. Megaby- 
 sus, who governed that country for the king, represented to his 
 royal master the impolicy of this grant; on which Darius summoned 
 Hystiajus to his court, and detained him there, under the pretence 
 of requiring his council, while Aristagoras, his nephew and son-in- 
 law, governed Miletus as his lieutenant. This governor concerted 
 with Artaphernes, brother of Darius, and governor of Sardis, the 
 conquest of Naxus. Failing in his attempt upon that island, he 
 apprehended the resentment of Artaphernes, and, to secure himself, 
 encouraged the Ionians to join him in a confederacy against-the 
 Persians. They made a fruitless application to Sparta for succours, 
 which, on the contrary, were readily contributed by the Athenians, 
 now irritated against Artaphernes. Ten years before, he had 
 received Hippias the tyrant, expelled from Athens, and, by a haughty 
 
 His quarrel 
 with the 
 Athenians. 
 
 i iii. 94. 
 
 2 Lib. iv. 44. 
 
Chap VIII.] 
 
 MARCH INTO GREECE. 
 
 379 
 
 message, attempted his restoration. Twenty ships, under the com¬ 
 mand of Melanthus, joined Aristagoras and the Ionians, who were 
 now in the third year of their revolt against the Persian power. 
 
 The confederates, landing near Ephesus, and taking some Ephe- Sardis 
 sians for their guides, passed over Mount Tmolus, and arrived at attackecl - 
 Sardis, where Artaphernes and his troops retired to the citadel, 
 which they maintained. The enemies burned the city, but missed 
 the plunder of it. In their attempt to reach their ships they were 
 interrupted by the Persian forces, and defeated with a great 
 slaughter. The Athenians now retired from the confederacy, which 
 they could never be persuaded again to join. When Darius was 
 informed of these events, “ he desired to know who the Athenians 
 were ? On being told, he called for his bow, and shooting an arrow 
 into the air, exclaimed, ‘ Suffer me, O Jupiter! to be revenged on 
 these Athenians! ’ He afterwards directed one of his attendants to 
 repeat to him three times every day, when he sat down to table, 
 
 ‘ Sir, remember the Athenians.’ ” 1 
 
 The Ionians, however, though thus deserted by their allies, for Miletus 
 sometime maintained themselves against the Persians. At length destl0 ' ed ' 
 they were defeated by sea and land. Aristagoras was slain, and 
 Miletus taken and destroyed. Histiaeus had been allowed to quit 
 Susa, under pretence of quieting the disorders of his country, but he 
 joined the confederates. He was now taken in an engagement, and 
 immediately crucified by order of Artaphernes, lest Darius should 
 have prevented it, as he is said to have deeply regretted his death. 
 
 The Persians proceeded to reduce the Plellespont, and the Thracian 
 Chersonesus; Miltiades, who commanded there, put his effects on 
 board five vessels, and sailed to Athens. The Phoenicians inter¬ 
 cepted him, and took one of the vessels, commanded by his son, 
 Metiochus, on whom Darius refused to avenge his quarrel with the 
 father. According to Herodotus, the king “ showed him the great¬ 
 est kindness, gave him possessions in Persia, and married liim to a 
 Persian lady.” 
 
 Darius was now in the twenty-eighth yecir of his reign ? when he Mardonius 
 appears to have engaged with peculiar ardour in his project for the Greece 6 * "' t0 
 conquest of Greece. Recalling the former commanders, he com¬ 
 mitted the conduct of the Persian forces solely to Mardonius, the 
 son of Gobryas, a very young man, who had recently married one 
 of the king’s daughters. His special commission was to invade 
 Greece, and revenge upon the Athenians the burning of Sardis. On 
 his arrival in Macedonia, that country presently submitted. But 
 the Thracians, availing themselves of his insecure encampment, 
 surprised his army in the night, destroyed a great number of his His defeat, 
 soldiers, and wounded Mardonius himself. His fleet, in the mean 
 time, while doubling the Cape of Mount Atlios, now Capo Santo, 
 
 1 Herodot. v. o. 
 
Succeeded 
 by Datis and 
 Arfcaphernes. 
 
 Battle of 
 Marathon. 
 
 b.c. 491. 
 
 Degeneracy 
 of the 
 Persian 
 soldiers. 
 
 380 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 encountered a storm, in which there perished three hundred of his 
 ships and 20,000 men. Thus disabled, Mardonius returned into 
 Asia with the wreck of this mighty armament, when Darius, too 
 late, regretted the confidence he had rashly placed in his youth and 
 inexperience. 
 
 The king, who still had the resources of immense treasure, and a 
 vast population at the command of his sovereign will, could not be 
 diverted from his ambitious project. He, however, first sent heralds 
 into Greece to demand submission, in the customary form. The 
 dread of the Persian power prevailed over tire people of iEgina and 
 many of the Grecian cities; at Athens and Sparta they were other¬ 
 wise received. “ The Athenians,” says Herodotus, “ threw the 
 heralds of Darius into their pit of punishment, and the Lacedaemo¬ 
 nians pitched them into wells, telling them to procure the earth and 
 water there, and carry it to their king.” 1 Darius now hastened the 
 departure of Datis the Mede, and Artaphernes, his own nephew, son of 
 the governor of Sardis, whom he had appointed generals in the place 
 of Mardonius. They receive special orders from the king to plunder 
 and burn Eretria and Athens. On reaching the coasts of Ionia, 
 they collected an army of 300,000 men, and a fleet of six hundred 
 ships. In the ensuing spring they assembled their whole fleet at 
 Samos. Having taken Naxos, and all the neighbouring islands, they 
 besieged Eretria. By the disunion of its citizens, the retirement of 
 the Athenian succours, and the treachery of some of its principal 
 inhabitants, the city was at length subdued. To execute the royal 
 vengeance, Eretria was pillaged, the temples were destroyed, in 
 revenge for those bru’ned at Sardis, and the inhabitants were sent 
 captives to Susa. There, according to the caprice so often discovered 
 in the exercise of despotic power, Darius treated them kindly, and 
 allowed them a settlement, in which their descendants were found 
 in after ages. 
 
 Passing over to Attica, the Persians were led by Hippias to the 
 plain of Marathon, ten miles from Athens. Their army, according 
 to Cornelius Nepos, 2 consisted of 200,000 foot, and 10,000 horse. 
 The forces which the Athenians could oppose to such a formidable 
 hostility were only 10,000 foot, (including 1000 Plataeans,) for they 
 had no cavalry. The particulars of this almost incredible battle; 
 the choice of Miltiades for general, by the disinterested patriotism of 
 Aristides and the rest of his companions; the delay of the Lacedae¬ 
 monian succour, from a superstition which robbed them of a glorious 
 distinction;—-all these subjects belong more properly to a history of 
 Greece. 
 
 The Persian soldiers had now lost much of that hardihood which 
 distinguished the armies of Cyrus. According to Plutarch, 3 “those 
 who fought in the battle of Marathon had garments embroidered 
 
 1 b. vii. c. 33. 2 Militiad. 3 Aristid. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 DEATH OF DARIUS. 
 
 381 
 
 with gold upon their delicate bodies, well suited to their effeminate 
 minds.” They are, however, admitted by Herodotus to have main¬ 
 tained a long and obstinate contest, the centre, composed of Persians 
 and the Sacas, obliging the Greeks to give way, and pursuing 
 them. But the Athenians and Plataeans, who formed the wings of 
 the Grecian army, closed upon the Persians, and obtained a com¬ 
 plete victory, killing a great number, and pursuing the rest, who 
 were escaping to their ships. The loss of the Persians in this battle 
 is stated by Herodotus to have been no more than 6,400 men slain 
 on the field, but Trogus computed that, by sword, shipwreck, and 
 disease, there were lost 200,000. Hippias, who had thus basely Death of 
 designed the subjugation of Attica, fell in the battle of Marathon, HippiJS ' 
 according to the general opinion, though, according to Suidas, he 
 fied to Lemnos, where he sickened and died. This memorable battle 
 is placed at the year B.c. 491, and in the thirty-first year of the 
 reign of Darius. Pausanias relates, that in the Portico at Athens, 
 called Poecile, there was a picture, in which the most celebrated 
 Athenians and Platajans were drawn from the fife. There were 
 represented in one part the barbarians flying into the marsh, which 
 so largely contributed to the victory of the Greeks, who, in another 
 part, were seen slaughtering them enemies, as they attempted to 
 enter the Phoenician vessels. 1 
 
 Herodotus, in the commencement of his seventh book, 2 says, that Rage of 
 “ when the news of the battle of Marathon reached Darius, he who Danus - 
 was before incensed against the Athenians for their destruction of 
 Sardis, became still more exasperated, and resolved more eagerly on 
 the invasion of Greece. He therefore instantly sent orders to the He prepares 
 cities under his allegiance to provide a far greater number of trans- *°J. enew tl>e 
 ports, horses, and provisions.” “Thus,” adds the historian, “Asia 
 experienced three years of confusion; her ablest men being called 
 out to the Greek expedition. In the fourth year the Egyptians 
 revolted.” 
 
 Darius was now preparing two armies, that he might at once dis- Contest for 
 play his power in Attica and Egypt. But his attention was diverted ^ 0 e n * ucce! ^ 
 to a contest in his own family for the succession to his crown. This, 
 according to the custom of the Persians, their kings determined 
 before they proceeded on a military expedition. One competitor 
 was Artobazanes, his eldest son by the daughter of Gobryas, whom 
 he had married, as already mentioned, while in a private condition. 
 
 The other was Xerxes, the eldest son of Atossa, the daughter of 
 Cyrus. On him, according to the advice of Demaratus, the exiled 
 king of Sparta, the succession was bestowed, because the father of 
 Artobazanes was only a private individual at the time of his birth, 
 while the father of Xerxes was a king. 
 
 1 For good accounts of the field and battle of Marathon, see Leake and Finlay, m 
 the^Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, vols. ii. iii. 
 
 2 Polymnia. 
 
Death of 
 Darius. 
 
 b.c. 486. 
 
 382 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chat. VIII. 
 
 Herodotus, to whom we are almost entirely indebted for our 
 knowledge of Darius, describes this appointment of a successor as 
 the last transaction of his reign. His preparations, indeed, to 
 accomplish vast projects were unceasing; but he was arrested by a 
 power mightier than his own. He died after a l’eign of thirty-six 
 years, b c. 486, and, according to this historian, “in the year which 
 followed the revolt of the Babylonians, leaving ungratified the resent¬ 
 ment he had cherished against the Egyptians and Athenians, who 
 had ventured to oppose his power.” 
 
 It is a just reflection of Dr. Prideaux, that “ as God was pleased 
 to make Darius his instrument to restore his temple at Jerusalem, 
 and to promote his worship there,” so “he blessed him with a 
 numerous issue, a long reign, and great prosperity.” But when 
 that learned and pious author describes him as “ a prince of wisdom, 
 clemency, and justice,” we confess our inability to discover those 
 invaluable qualities predominating in the transactions of his reign. 
 He has had the undisputed, and probably justly-merited reputation 
 of being a judicious, military commander; and, according to Plu¬ 
 tarch, 1 “ he praised himself for his presence of mind in battles and 
 dangers.” Yet there was little wisdom discovered in the attempts 
 to extend, rather than to consolidate and improve, an overgrown and 
 unwieldy empire. And as to the clemency and justice of Darius, 
 though some traces of these virtues may appear as “ a spot of azure 
 in a clouded sky,” yet we cannot describe them as characteristic of 
 his government, till we have forgotten the family of Intaphernes, 
 and the manner in which the sons of the venerable Oebasus were 
 yielded to the request of the wretched father. 
 
 1 Apothegm. 
 
 [Persian Crowns.] 
 
[.The Acropolis of Athens.] 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OP PERSIA.-XERXES. 
 
 At the close of the life of Darius, we related, after Herodotus, the contest for 
 dispute between Xerxes and Artobazanes for the succession to the succession, 
 throne, and the ground of then’ father’s decision in favour of Xerxes. 1 
 Of this transaction there is a different, and not uninteresting account 
 which rests on the authority of Plutarch and Justin, and properly 
 belongs to the commencement of this reign. It is at the close of 
 Plutarch’s Treatise on Brotherly Love, and to the following pur¬ 
 port: 2 3 —The story is worthy of our attention, respecting a dispute 
 between two brothers, not concerning a small portion of land, 
 
 1 The name Xerxes appears to be another form of Ahasuerus, in Hebrew Ahash- 
 verosh. In the monumental inscriptions it reads kh-sh-y-a-r-sh-a, and according 
 to Gesenius, signifies Lion-king. Perhaps the word is the same as the Zend ksathra, 
 or Sanscrit kshatra, denoting king. Herodotus vi. 98, says, that Xerxes means in 
 
 Greek ipr/ios, “a warrior;” some philologists accordingly derive it from the Pehlvi 
 huzvaresh—a hero. The first half of the word as spelt on the monuments, ksliya, 
 is the same as the modem shah, the appellation of the Persian sovereign. 
 
 3 De fraterno Amore, p. 488. 
 
384 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Plutarch’s 
 
 story. 
 
 Mode of 
 selection. 
 
 Xerxes king. 
 
 b.c. 485. 
 
 Prepares 
 for an 
 Expedition 
 against 
 Egypt. 
 
 or the possession of a few servants or cattle, but for a prize no 
 less than the kingdom of Persia. On the death of Darius, some 
 claimed the succession for Ariamenes (Artobazanes, in Hero¬ 
 dotus,) as the eldest son; others for Xerxes, the son of Darius 
 by Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, and born after the commence¬ 
 ment of Darius’s reign. Ariamenes went into Media, not in a 
 hostile manner, but peaceably to await the determination of the 
 question. There Xerxes had begun to exercise the royal authority; 
 but, on the arrival of his brother, he put off his crown and robes of 
 royalty, and approached him with a friendly greeting. He now 
 sent him presents, and charged his servants with this message:— 
 “Thus your brother Xerxes honours you; and if the Persians 
 should declare me king, I will place you next to myself.” Ariamenes 
 replied, “ I accept your gifts, but presume that I am entitled to the 
 throne of Persia. Yet, for my brothers, I shall have posts of distinc¬ 
 tion, and for Xerxes the first.” 
 
 On the day fixed for the determination of the right to the crown, 
 the Persians appointed Artabanes, Darius’s brother, to make the 
 decision. Xerxes excepted against this appointment, and would 
 rather have depended on the popular voice. His mother, however, 
 reproved him, and encouraged his reliance on the justice of the umpire. 
 She is said, very improbably, considering her ambitious character, 
 to have reminded Xerxes, that, at the worst, he would still be next 
 the throne, and called the king of Persia’s brother. Xerxes yielded to 
 her reproof, and Artabanes, after some discussion of the opposite 
 claims, adjudged the kingdom to Xerxes; upon which, Ariamenes rose 
 up immediately, did homage to his rival, and placed him on the 
 throne. This account was received as authentic by the emperor 
 Julian, who remarks 1 that “after the death of Darius, there were 
 disputes for the succession to the crown, but those who aspired to it 
 chose rather to decide them differences by the comparative justice of 
 them claims, than by an appeal to arms.” 
 
 In whatever way Xerxes attained to the sovereign dominion 
 over the mighty empire of Persia, he is reputed, according to the 
 most probable chronology, to have ascended the throne in the year 
 b.c. 485. Of the transactions which occupied his reign of twenty- 
 one years, very little is known, except what has been recorded in 
 the three last books of Herodotus, who was born at Halicarnassus, 
 in the second year of his sovereignty. From those books, as 
 containing nearly contemporary information, we have collected our 
 materials for this chapter, unless where we refer to other autho¬ 
 rities. 
 
 The first object of the young monarch was to punish the revolt of 
 the Egyptians. For this purpose he completed his father’s prepara¬ 
 tions for an expedition into Egypt. He also now confirmed to the 
 
 Opera, Orat. i. p. 33. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 EXPEDITIONS OF XERXES. 
 
 385 
 
 Jews the decrees and grants which Darius had made in their favour. 
 
 On this occasion, Josephus 1 has quoted (if he did not invent) an Favours the 
 epistle from Xerxes to Ezra, in which he permits the return to Je "' s ’ 
 Jerusalem of all Jews of whatever description. They are also 
 allowed, out of the treasury of the empire, the cost of all the vessels 
 of silver or gold which they desire to consecrate to the divine 
 worship. “That God,” adds the king, “may not be at all angry 
 with me, or with my children, I grant all that is necessary for sacri¬ 
 fices to God, according to the law, as far as an hundred cori of 
 wheat.” In consequence of this indulgence, the historian relates, 
 that not only the Jews in Babylon, but those “that were in Media— 
 came many of them with their effects to Babylon, as very desirous 
 of going down to Jerusalem; but the body of the people of Israel,” 
 he adds, “remained in that country.” These, consisting of “the ten The ten 
 tribes, are beyond Euphrates, and are an immense multitude, not to tnbe:i ' 
 be estimated by numbers.” 
 
 The preparations for the reduction of Egypt being now finished, subjugation 
 Xerxes led thither an army, of whose operations we have no account, Egypt 
 except that the revolt of that country was soon overcome, and the B,C ' 
 subjugation of Egypt rendered more complete than by the conquest 
 of Cambyses, or the political regulations of Darius. The govern¬ 
 ment was now committed to the king’s brother Achasmenes, who 
 was afterwards slain (under what provocation does not appear) by 
 Inarus, a Lybian, the son of Psammeticus. 2 
 
 The following three years of this reign were employed in prepara- Xerxes 
 tions for the invasion of Greece, which Xerxes regarded as an easyP'|acie' est '’ 
 acquisition. “ He refused,” says Plutarch, 3 “ to eat Attic figs that Greece, 
 were brought for sale, waiting till they became his own, by the con¬ 
 quest of the country that produced them.” Mardonius, the son of 
 Gobryas, desirous of recovering the military reputation which he 
 had lost by his early misadventures, had urged Xerxes, immediately 
 on his accession to the throne, to retaliate the wrongs which Persia 
 had received from the Athenians. He also represented the beauty 
 and fertility of Europe, which rendered it worthy to become the 
 sole possession of the great king, especially as it abounded in all 
 kinds of trees, of which some parts of Persia are remarkably destitute. 
 Messengers also arrived from the Aleuadae, princes of Thessaly, who Aieuada:. 
 entreated the king to march against Greece, and employed every 
 argument in their power to persuade him. The survivors of the 
 fallen family of the Pisistratids, who had found a refuge at Susa, Pisistratidfe. 
 joined their solicitations. To aid the same design, Onomacritus, a 
 famous mystic priest, who had been formerly banished from Athens, 
 of which he was a citizen, recited some oracular verses. Omitting 
 every thing unfavourable to the Persians, he selected whatever was 
 encouraging. He particularly assured the king, speaking of his 
 
 1 Antiq. b. xi c. 5. 2 See page 113. 
 
 j> O. H.] 2 C 
 
 Apopthegm. 
 
POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chai>. IX. 
 
 Xerxes 
 consults liis 
 lords. 
 
 Conclusion 
 of the 
 Council. 
 
 Policy of 
 Mardonius. 
 
 Peculiar law, 
 
 386 
 
 marching an army into Greece, how the destinies had determined 
 that a Persian should throw a bridge over the Hellespont. This 
 Onomacritus had been detected in the act of interpolating the 
 prophetic verses of Musaeus, and had been for this offence summarily 
 banished by Hipparchus. 
 
 Thus was the resolution of Xerxes excited by the entreaties of the 
 Aleuadse and the Pisistratidas, and the flattering predictions of the 
 expatriated Athenian priest. Pie now resolved to pursue those 
 designs against Greece, which he had already commenced, by 
 recovering the dominion of some neighbouring tributary states which 
 had revolted from the Persians. Being at length prepared to lead an 
 army against Athens, the king summoned an assembly of the prin¬ 
 cipal persons in his court to hear their opinions and communicate 
 his own pleasure. He professed that he designed by this war to 
 imitate his illustrious predecessors, 1 to punish the insolence of the 
 Athenians in their attack upon Sardis, to revenge the 'disgrace 
 incurred by the battle of Marathon, and to gain possession of a rich 
 and beautiful country, not inferior to Persia;—these objects he was 
 also pursuing in compliance with the well-known purpose of his 
 father Darius. Then, after expressing his hope of overruning all 
 Europe, and acquiring unlimited dominion, he proposed to reward 
 him munificently who should bring to this expedition the greatest 
 number of well appointed troops; concluding his address to his 
 nobles, according to the Greek historian, with the following con¬ 
 descending declaration:—“ Consider now what is proper to be done, 
 nor think that I would consult only my own judgment. I charge 
 you to deliberate, and let each freely declare his opinion.” The 
 close of this royal harangue, in Valerius Maximus, 2 is far more in 
 character:—“ Ne viderer meo tantummodo usus consilio, vos con- 
 traxi. Cfeterum mementote parendum magis vobis esse, quam 
 suadendum ”—That I might not seem to follow only my own judg¬ 
 ment, I have called you together; but remember that you are rather 
 to obey than to persuade. 
 
 Mardonius, as might have been expected, was eager to second the 
 opinions of the king, and, thus to promote his own cherished wishes, 
 to war with the Greeks; these he affected to disparage, while he 
 described the Persians as the first of men in military accomplish¬ 
 ments. With Xerxes at their head he would not believe that the 
 Greeks could be so audacious as to oppose them. Thus Mardonius 
 paid his master the fulsome homage of echoing back his sentiments. 
 A profound silence now ensued, no other appearing prepared to 
 express approbation, and no one daring to oppose the sentiments 
 and evident inclinations of the king. 
 
 According to iElian, 3 there was a law in Persia, that if any one 
 ventured to give advice in opposition to the opinion of the king, he 
 
 iEschylus, Persae, 7G1. 
 
 2 lib. ix. c. 5. 
 
 3 Var. Hist. 1. xii. u. 62. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 ADVICE OF ARTABANES. 
 
 387 
 
 gave it standing on a golden tile. If his advice were approved, he 
 received the tile for his reward. Yet he was beaten for presuming 
 to contradict the despot. On the present occasion, however, Xerxes 
 had commanded the opinion of his counsellors, and at length Arta- 
 banes, son of Hystaspes, and uncle of the king, deriving confidence 
 from his relationship, ventured to interrupt the silence, by a, harangue 
 of some length, of which the following is the substance:—“ O king! Advice of 
 it was my advice to Darius, your father and my brother, by no Artabanes - 
 means to war against the Scythians, a people who had no fixed 
 habitations. He disregarded my admonitions, and retruned, after 
 having lost a large part of his army in the vain attempt. Those 
 whom you would now invade are far superior to the Scythians, 
 and equally prepared to combat by sea or land. You prepare to 
 throw a bridge over the Hellespont, and lead your army through 
 Europe into Greece. But our enemies are reported to be valiant, 
 and if the Athenians, when unsupported, could rout the numerous 
 armies of Datis and Artaphernes, w r e cannot be considered, by sea 
 or land, as perfectly invincible. Should they now be victorious in a 
 naval engagement, and then sailing to the Hellespont, destroy your 
 bridge, the worst consequences may be apprehended, such as were 
 narrowly escaped in your father’s Scythian expedition. Listen then 
 to my advice; do not court unnecessary hazards. And as to you, 
 
 O son of Gobryas, (addressing Mardonius,) ill does it become you 
 to calumniate the Greeks, and excite your sovereign to a war, 
 which is your favourite project. Yet, if it must be undertaken, let 
 the king remain in Persia, and our children be answerable for the 
 wisdom of our counsels. If the Persians conquer, as you promise, 
 let me perish with my children. But should those disasters happen 
 which I forebode, let your children be thus treated, with yourself, 
 should you survive the expedition.” 1 
 
 Xerxes soon discovered how little he had designed to encourage Anger of 
 freedom of speech among his courtiers, and how incapable he was Xerxes 
 of improving the rare advantage of possessing a friend disposed to 
 inform, rather than to flatter him. The king accosted Artabanes in 
 an angry tone, bade him impute his escape from punishment 
 only to his relationship to the throne, and threatened to leave him 
 at home in the company of the women, while, at the head of the 
 Persians, he pursued his victories. Yet, at night, the representations 
 thus freely given by Artabanes awakened in his mind some serious 
 reflections, and he at length determined to abandon, as rash and 
 impolitic, the projected expedition. Falling asleep, he dreamed, as 
 the Persians reported, that a man of uncommon size and beauty 
 stood before him, and urged him to pursue his first resolution. The 
 king, however, disregarded this vision, and, in the morning, again 
 convened his council, before whom he apologised for his anger 
 
 1 Herodotus, vii. 10. 
 
His dream. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Extent of the 
 
 King’s 
 
 preparations. 
 
 388 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. IX. 
 
 towards Artabanes, and declared himself for his opinion. The 
 second night the vision reappeared, reproaching Xerxes for his dis¬ 
 obedience to the former injunction. In the morning, the terrified 
 king sent for Artabanes, and proposed that, on the next night, he 
 should assume the throne and royal robes. To Artabanes the same 
 vision now appeared, severely threatening him, unless he ceased to 
 dissuade the king from his intended expedition. Artabanes, as 
 might be expected, now advised the war, and presently the king 
 saw a third vision, which, according to the interpretation of the 
 magi, portended for Xerxes universal empire. He appeared to be 
 crowned with a wreath from an olive tree, whose branches covered 
 the whole earth, though presently the wreath disappeared. This 
 interpretation of the magi being declared, the governors hastened 
 to their several provinces to execute, with all possible despatch, the 
 orders they had received, each hoping to gain the promised reward. 
 
 On these pretended visionary scenes, we cannot offer any remark 
 more suitable than the following, by the learned French translator 
 of Herodotus: “ Si j’allois revoquer en doute cette vision, ou du 
 moins, si j’allois dire que c’etoit un tour de Mardonius ou des Pisis- 
 tratides, je ne dirois sans doute rien que de juste. Mais je crois 
 devoir laisser ces sortes de reflexions a la sagacite des lecteurs.” 1 
 “ Should 1 call in question these visions, or, at least, describe them 
 as contrivances of Mardonius or the Pisistratidje, I should doubtless 
 speak nothing but truth. Yet such reflections should rather be left 
 to every reader’s sagacity.” The whole scene is a species of Epic— 
 a sort of religious drama—the spirit of which pervades the history 
 of Herodotus. The interposition of the gods is specially developed, 
 for the Persian empire needed to be abased, and pride was very 
 provoking to the Olympic divinities. The Hellenic ideas of destiny, 
 so prominent in the Greek tragedy, are skilfully interwoven by 
 Herodotus into his history. 
 
 While Xerxes was preparing for the conquest of the Greeks, 
 he engaged the Carthaginians to attack their colonies in Italy and 
 Sicily, lie likewise drew his levies, like his father Darius, from all 
 the nations of that vast continent which owned the Persian sway. 
 Thus, according to the prophet Daniel, 2 “ By his strength and his 
 great riches, he stirred up all against the realm of Grecia.” Hero¬ 
 dotus says, “ What nation of Asia did not Xerxes lead against 
 Greece ? What waters, except great rivers, were not exhausted by 
 his armies? Some of the people furnished ships, (and the whole 
 have been computed at more than three thousand,) others raised 
 infantry, and others cavalry. Some provided transports for the 
 horses and the troops, or long vessels to form bridges, while others 
 even brought stores of provisions and vessels to transport them.” 3 
 The place of rendezvous for this naval armament was Eloeus, in the 
 
 1 Larcher, v. 283. 2 xi. 2. 3 Ibid. 21. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 CANAL THROUGH MOUNT ATHOS. 
 
 389 
 
 Chersonesus of Thrace. Thence detachments were sent to execute 
 
 the prodigious labour of cutting a canal through Mount Athos, now Mount 
 
 Monte Santo, or rather through the isthmus behind it. These Athos - 
 
 7 o # b c 480 
 
 detachments relieved each other at regular intervals, and were urged 
 
 to labour by the strokes of the whip, according to the military dis¬ 
 cipline of the Persians; on which Larcher well remarks, that “ un 
 soldat ainsi traite ne peut-etre sensible a l’honneur:”—a soldier 
 thus treated must become insensible to honour. Herodotus has 
 minutely described the expedients employed to dig this canal, a 
 work which he attributes to the king’s vain desire of displaying his 
 power, and of leaving a monument to posterity; as with far less 
 trouble he might have transported the vessels across the isthmus. 
 
 This vanity imputed to Xerxes appears, indeed, to have been a 
 favourite theme of antiquity. Thus Plutarch 1 imputes to the 
 haughty Persian king the following frantic epistle to the mountain: 
 
 “ Athos, whose top now reaches to the skies, I charge thee not to 
 interrupt my workmen with stones which cannot be cut asunder, 
 lest I cut thee into pieces, and whelm thee in the sea.” 
 
 [Mount Athos.] 
 
 T et Xerxes has been vindicated from the imputation of this folly Remarks, 
 by a very unreasonable disbelief of the story. Juvenal, the con¬ 
 temporary of Plutarch, 2 ridicules the credulity which 
 
 “ Velificatus Athos, et quicquid Grsecia mendax 
 Audet in Historia,” 
 
 the voyage through Athos, and other daring fictions of the fabling 
 Greeks could not stagger. Many travellers have sought in vain 
 for any evidences of this stupendous work, which is said to have 
 
 1 De ira eohib. 
 
 2 x. 174. 
 
Story dis¬ 
 believed. 
 
 Continued 
 by recent 
 travellers. 
 
 The inarch 
 from Susa. 
 
 390 POLITICAL HISTORY OP PERSIA. [Chai-. IX. 
 
 occupied, for three years, a vast multitude of labourers. M. Belon, 
 a French traveller in the sixteenth century, who has a place in 
 Ray’s curious collection of “ Travels into the Eastern Countries,” 
 could not discover, according to Rollin, on passing near Mount 
 Athos, any traces of this canal. Such was also the report of a 
 later observer, our learned countryman Pocock. • Richardson also 
 concludes, from the following considerations, that the tale of Athos 
 is incredible. “ This promontory was no more than 200 miles from 
 Athens; and yet Xerxes is said to have employed a number of men, 
 three years before his crossing the Hellespont, to separate it from 
 the continent, and make a canal for his shipping. Themistocles 
 also, who, from the time of the battle of Marathon, had been inces¬ 
 santly alarming the Athenians with another Persian invasion, never 
 endeavoured to support his opinion by any allusion to this canal, the 
 very digging of which must have filled all Greece with astonishment, 
 and been the subject of every public conversation.” 1 We find, too, 
 that Niebuhr held similar opinions. 2 
 
 Such is one side of the question. But, on the other hand, the 
 ridiculous puerility of the project must not tempt us to deny its 
 existence. The expedition itself was an insane exhibition of that 
 vanity and pageantry in which Oriental monarchy delights. The 
 description by Herodotus has all the appearance of the account of 
 an eye-witness, and is not be discredited. Nay more, Lieutenant 
 Wolfe has discovered distinct traces of the canal, 8 and the authority 
 of Herodotus and Thucydides is now fully and finally confirmed 
 against all mere argument and hypothesis. The canal can yet be 
 traced across the isthmus from the Gulf of Monte Santo to the Bay 
 of Esso, in the Gulf of Contessa, with the exception of about 200 
 yards in the middle. The distance excavated is about 2500 yards— 
 the 12 stadia of Herodotus—the width of the canal was 18 or 20 
 feet. Colonel Leake also justifies Xerxes for cutting the canal—the 
 navigation round Mount Athos being so dangerous. 4 About a mile 
 and a-half to the westward of the north end of the canal, there is a 
 remarkable mound, which is probably the monument of Artachaies, 
 the Persian engineer and superintendent who died during the pro¬ 
 gress of the works, and, according to Herodotus, “ the whole army 
 raised a mound for him.” 5 
 
 Xerxes having completed his preparations, began his march from 
 Susa, with the troops which accompanied him from Persia. Critalla, 
 in Cappadocia, which is supposed to have been the Axchelais of the 
 Romans, and the modern Erekli, was the appointed rendezvous, and 
 Xerxes set out for Sardis. At Celamte, the metropolis of Phrygia, 
 the king and his whole army are said to have been entertained by 
 Pytliius, who is represented to have been only second to Xerxes 
 
 1 Dissert, p. 312. 
 a Penny Cyclopced.—Athos. 
 J vii. 117. 
 
 2 Vortriige iiber alte Gesehichte, i. 403. 
 
 4 Travels in Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 125. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 MARCH OF XERXES. 
 
 391 
 
 in wealth, and to have vied with him in munificence; though at 
 length his generous offers were recompensed by an extravagant 
 cruelty. Pythius, during the march, having requested that the Pythius. 
 eldest of his live sons, who were all in the army, might be left as 
 the support of his old age, Xerxes, as if he would imitate Darius, in 
 the case of Oebasus, after venting his indignation at the father, 
 ordered this eldest son to be cut asunder, and the several parts of 
 his body to be placed on each side of the road through which the 
 army was about to pass. It is remarkable that Beloe, in a note to 
 his translation of Herodotus, 1 should have taken this occasion to 
 declare, that “ no two characters could well afford a more striking 
 contrast to each other than those of Darius and Xerxes,” to the 
 former of whom he attributes, we know not on what authority, “ vari¬ 
 ous instances of the tenderest humanity.” We must, however, add, 
 that the story of Pythius, though Plutarch (de virtute mulierum) 
 has adopted and enlarged it, appears, on reflection, very improbable. 
 
 What could the greatest man in Phrygia be, but the satrap of a 
 province? And could such a man be suffered to amass wealth, 
 only inferior to the royal treasures, while his name and his magni¬ 
 ficence, as Herodotus pretends, were utterly unknown to Xerxes ? 
 
 The king now proceeded through Phrygia to Colossae, and entered The army 
 Lydia, at a place where Crcesus had erected a pillar, to fix the enters Lyd ’ K 
 boundaries of the two countries. On his arrival at Sardis, he inline- Heralds sent 
 diately sent heralds into Greece, with the exception of Athens and mt0 Gieeee - 
 Lacedtemon, to demand the homage of earth and water. Thus 
 Xerxes occupied the winter of the fifth year of his reign. He had 
 previously ordered, according to our historian, vast preparations for 
 
 [Suppliant before a Persian Monarch.— Sculptures at Fersepolis.\ 
 
 1 iii. 466. 
 
392 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Bridge on the 
 Hellespont. 
 
 The childish 
 fury of 
 Xerxes. 
 
 March from 
 Sardis. 
 
 passing the Hellespont; and upon a temporary disappointment of 
 his scheme, discovered a childish petulance, which lias made this 
 king a theme of satire through all ages. 
 
 He had commanded a bridge to be constructed across the Hellespont, 
 for the passage of his army into Europe. The workmen commenced 
 at the side next Abydos, the Phoenicians using, to connect the 
 vessels, a cordage made of linen, and the Egyptians one made of the 
 bark of the byblus. This bridge was no sooner completed at the 
 narrowest part of the strait, which was nearly a mile across, than a 
 violent tempest dispersed the whole. Enraged by the knowledge of 
 this disaster, Xerxes sentenced the Plellespont to be whipped to the 
 extent of three hundred lashes, and ordered that a pair of fetters 
 should be thrown into the sea, a circumstance which made Juvenal 1 
 extol the king’s lenity— 
 
 “ -— -quod non et stigmate dignum 
 
 Credidit,”— 
 
 “ that he had not branded the sea with a hot iron.” Xerxes, how¬ 
 ever, who had already written to Mount Athos, now sent the follow¬ 
 ing vituperatory epistle to the Hellespont, to be delivered by the 
 flagellators: “ Thou salt and bitter water, thy master thus punishes 
 thee, because thou hast offended him without provocation ; Xerxes 
 the king will insist on passing over thee; no one should offer thee a 
 sacrifice, since thou art deceitful and of an unsavoury flavour.” 2 
 After thus punishing the sea, under a feeling of childish fetichism, 
 this tragi-comedy concluded by beheading those who had con¬ 
 structed the bridge. Another was presently undertaken, or rather 
 two bridges were contrived, one for the soldiers, and the other for 
 the baggage and beasts of burden. These works were at length 
 executed in a manner which Herodotus has minutely, yet not very 
 clearly described. 
 
 The army, which had wintered at Sardis, left that city early in 
 the spring, being terrified at the moment of their departure by a 
 sudden darkness, probably an eclipse. Immediately after the bag¬ 
 gage-train marched troops of all nations, an undistinguished multi¬ 
 tude, comprising more than half the army; at some distance followed 
 a thousand cavalry, selected from the whole Persian army; then a 
 thousand chosen foot, armed with pikes trailing on the ground; 
 after these came ten Nissan horses superbly caparisoned; following 
 these appeared the sacred car of Jupiter, drawn by eight white 
 horses; behind these, on foot, was the charioteer holding the reins, 
 for no mortal was permitted to mount the car; then appeared 
 Xerxes, in a chariot drawn by Nissan horses; by his side sat the 
 charioteer, a Persian named Patiramphes, the son of Otanes. 
 
 2 x. 183. 
 
 2 vii. 35. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 REVIEW OF THE TROOPS. 
 
 393 
 
 Having proceeded along the banks of the Caicus, the troops at Priam's 
 length reached the Scamander, the first river, says our historian, CItad 
 which failed to supply a sufficiency of water for the troops and 
 beasts of burden. Here Xerxes is 
 said to have ascended the citadel 
 of Priam to survey the plain of 
 Ilium, and to have sacrificed a 
 thousand oxen to the Trojan Min¬ 
 erva, whose temple was in the 
 citadel, while the magi offered 
 libations to the hero-gods of the 
 country. How this citadel should 
 have survived the glory of Ilium 
 for so many centuries, or how 
 Xerxes, under the guidance of the 
 Persian magi, should have honoured 
 a temple by a costly sacrifice, is to 
 us incomprehensible. 
 
 The army, however, arrived at 
 Abydos, on the Asian shore of the 
 Hellespont. Here Xerxes gratified 
 his desire to survey his land and 
 naval armament, in its prodigious 
 extent. There was placed on an 
 eminence a tluone of white marble, 
 from which he is said to have 
 beheld these myriads of troops, and 
 this multitude of vessels, at one 
 view, and to have been further 
 gratified by the exhibition of a naval 
 combat, in which the Phoenicians 
 of Sidon were the victors. 
 
 that of self-gratulation, on viewing the vast assemblage of which he 
 was the sovereign lord. But soon, to borrow the language of 
 “ Leonidas” 1 — 
 
 The first feeling of the great king was Review. 
 
 Th’ immeasurable ranks his sight was lost, 
 
 A momentary gloom o’ercast his mind. 
 
 While this reflection filled his eyes with tears: 
 
 That, soon as time an hundred years had told, 
 
 Not one of all those thousands should survive.” 
 
 Yet, as Seneca well remarks, 2 “ the very man who shed these tears 
 was about to destroy quickly that multitude whose death, within a 
 hundred years, he now professed to deplore.” Artabanes, the uncle 
 
 i b. in. 
 
 2 De Brev. Vit. c. xvii. 
 
394 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Passage of 
 the 
 
 Hellespont. 
 
 Prodigies. 
 
 of Xerxes, appears, on this occasion, to have entertained his former 
 apprehensions as to the event of the expedition, and to have 
 repeated them to the king. His remonstrance was now received 
 with extraordinary forbearance, and he was courteously dismissed 
 to Susa, under the pretence of superintending the internal govern¬ 
 ment of the empire. 
 
 After calling an assembly of the principal Persians to receive the 
 lung’s last commands on passing over into Europe, the next morning, 
 before sun-rise, they burned on the bridge a profusion of perfumes, 
 and strewed the road with branches of myrtle. At the rising of the 
 sun, Xerxes poured a libation into the sea from a golden cup, and 
 prayed the sun to avert every calamity which might interfere with 
 
 [Ancient Persian Cup-Bearer .—Sir K. K. Porter .] 
 
 his subjugation of Europe to its farthest limits. He then threw the 
 cup into the Hellespont, as also a golden goblet and a Persian 
 scymitar. “ I cannot decide,” says Herodotus, “ whether in throwing 
 these things into the sea, Xerxes designed an oblation to the sun, or 
 iij repenting of the chastisement he had inflicted on the Hellespont, 
 he intended to appease that sea by his offerings.” 
 
 Xerxes and his army appear to have passed the bridge, nearly 
 in such an order as that in which they had marched out of Sardis; 
 except that the king, as soon as he had foot in Europe, had a view 
 of his troops for seven days and nights, driven over by the lashes 
 of the whip. The army having all passed oyer, and, according 
 to Herodotus, been alarmed by prodigies not worthy to be here 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 NUMBER OF THE PERSIAN ARMY. 
 
 395 
 
 related, Xerxes directed his fleet, on sailing from the Hellespont, to 
 coast along the shore, and to rendezvous at the promontory of Sar- 
 pedon, while the army advanced to Doriscus, a spacious plain of 
 Thrace, where was a fortress in which Darius, in his expedition 
 against Scythia, had placed a Persian garrison. This being a place 
 suited to his purpose, Xerxes here determined to arrange and num¬ 
 ber his forces. This he effected by first collecting 10,000 men, and 
 enclosing with walls the exact space they were found to occupy. 
 Successive bodies of 10,000 men each were then admitted into the 
 enclosure, till the whole army was measured. 
 
 The amount of the land forces Herodotus reports to have been Number of 
 1,700,000. Besides these, there were 80,000 horse and war-chariots, the Ann> ' 
 and camels equipped with 20,000 soldiers. The land forces consisted 
 of forty-six different nations. Eight other nations furnished the fleet, 
 which was composed of 1,207 triremes, and 3,000 smaller craft,— 
 every trireme being manned by 200 rowers and 30 fighting men, 
 while each of the fighter vessels carried 80 men. The naval force 
 amounted to 517,610 men. The whole armament seems to have 
 consisted of 2,317,610 warriors. The attendants, such as crews and 
 slaves, as Herodotus remarks, equalled the amount of fighting men, 
 and thus the aggregate reaches more than half a million. Eunuchs 
 and concubines, cooks, sutlers, and camp followers, also swelled the 
 host. These numbers are so great, that some, like Niebuhr, are 
 disposed to reject the account as fabulous. M. Larcher, on the 
 other hand, justly alleges the enslaved condition of the immense 
 population of the Persian empire, all, without distinction of rank or 
 occupation, being forced to become soldiers at the command of the 
 sovereign. To the computations of later writers, Ctesias, Diodorus, Various com- 
 xEfian, Pliny, and Justin, who, though varying, have all greatly putation& 
 diminished the numbers of this army, Larcher opposes the statement 
 of Herodotus as almost a contemporary, who, at Olympia, must have 
 found to listen to his recital, many Greeks who had fought against 
 Xerxes. Yet it is obvious, that the sanction of Persians to his 
 veracity would have been far more satisfactory. For what exaggera¬ 
 tion would not the Greeks have excused, to gratify their hatred of 
 the Persian power? Major Eennel offers what is probably the best 
 solution of this difficulty, when he says, that “ the Persians may be 
 compared, in respect to the rest of the army of Xerxes, with the 
 Europeans in a British army in India;” where, as at the siege of 
 Seringapatam, 20,000 regular troops were attended by a mixed 
 multitude of more than 100,000. These large round numbers no 
 one will be disposed to receive; there must have been exaggeration 
 to gratify the Persian monarch on the part of his own surveyors; 
 and the Greeks were pleased to extol their own valour—that of a 
 mere handful in comparison with this alarming host. Reflecting 
 that this expedition was a “ maximum of effort ” on the part of 
 Persia, that the will of its despot was irresistible, and that the 
 
396 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Dresses and 
 weapons of 
 the troops. 
 
 Jews in the 
 army of 
 Xerxes. 
 
 refusal to follow him was the most flagrant of insults, we may well 
 believe, that the army of Xerxes outnumbered every similar invad¬ 
 ing host. We need not suppose, with Heeren, that Herodotus saw 
 and inspected the Persian muster-roll, but he may have conversed 
 with many persons who accompanied the expedition. Of the mili¬ 
 tary dress and weapons of this army, Herodotus has given a minute 
 description, of which we shall here subjoin a short account. 
 
 The Persians and Medes, for the historian uses these terms indif¬ 
 ferently, wore on their heads woollen tiaras. Their dress was a 
 parti-coloured tunic, adorned with plates of steel, in imitation of the 
 scales of fishes. They bore a shield called gerra. Their spears 
 were short, and their bows large, with arrows made of reeds. On 
 the right side they wore a dagger. The Assyrians had brazen 
 helmets of a barbarous form, and their arms resembled those of the 
 Egyptians. They had also clubs pointed with iron, and linen cui¬ 
 rasses, or jackets, which could resist the stroke of a sabre. To omit 
 numerous descriptions, which cannot now give any interest, we add 
 the following: —The Arabians wore large folding vests, which they 
 call zirge; their bows were long, flexible, and crooked. The 
 Ethiopians Avere clad in skins of panthers and lions; their boAvs 
 Avere of palm, and not less than four cubits long. Their arroAvs were 
 short, and made of reeds; and instead of iron, they were pointed 
 Avith a stone. They had also spears armed with the horns of goats, 
 shaped like the iron of a lance; and likewise knotty clubs. It is'the 
 custom of this people, Avhen they advance to combat, to daub one- 
 half of their bodies Avith gypsum, and the other Avith vermillion. 1 
 Of the cavalry, “ Avho formed a body of 80,000, exclusive of camels 
 and chariots,” the most remarkable appear to have been “ the 
 Sagartii, a troop of 8,000. These people led a pastoral life, Avere 
 originally of Persian descent, and used the Persian language. They 
 had no offensive Aveapons, except their daggers. Their principal 
 dependence in battle Avas upon cords, made of tAvisted leather, the 
 same as the Mexican lasso. These cords, having a noose at the 
 end, they threw out, and entangling their enemy, easily put him 
 to death.” 
 
 Whether the Jew's were comprehended in one of the numerous 
 divisions of this army, has been a question difficult to decide. They 
 could scarcely have escaped a general call upon the provinces of the 
 empire, and Josephus 2 declares for the affirmative. He concludes 
 that they are described by the poet Cherilus, a contemporary of 
 Xerxes, Avho says, that “at the last there passed OA'er a people, 
 Avonderful to be beheld, Avho spake the Phoenician tongue. They 
 dw r elt in the Solyinean mountains, near a broad lake.” Prideaux 
 says, “ Jerusalem having also had the name of Solyma, (by abbrevia¬ 
 tion for Hierosolyma,) and all the country thereabouts being moun- 
 
 i vii. 49. 
 
 2 Contra Apion. 1. i. s. 22. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 ADVANCE OF THE PERSIAN FORCES. 
 
 397 
 
 tainous, and lying near the great lake Asphaltites, commonly called 
 the Lake of Sodom, this description seems plainly to suit the Jews, 
 especially since it is also mentioned that they spake the Phoenician 
 language, the Syriac being then the vulgar language of the Jews. 
 
 But Scaliger, Cunseus, and Bochart, understand the reference of the 
 Solymi, in Pisidia. Salmasius, however, maintains the contrary 
 opinion, and justifies Josephus in it; and it must be said, that it is 
 not at all likely that, when Xerxes called all the other nations of the 
 Persian empire to follow him to this war, the Jews alone should be 
 excused from it. And therefore, whether these whom Cherilus 
 speaks of were Jews or not, it must be taken for certain they also 
 did bear a part in this expedition.” 1 
 
 To the command of this armament twelve generals were appointed Military 
 for the land forces; the first of whom was Mardonius, who now hoped Commander 
 to retrieve his lost military reputation; another of these leaders 
 was Megabyzus, the son of Zopyrus; while 
 Hydarnes commanded the 10,000 Persians who 
 were called the immortal hand. The cavalry had 
 separate commanders, and four generals were 
 appointed for the fleet, which at first consisted 
 of 1200 vessels of war, but the number was 
 increased by those states in Europe which the 
 power of Xerxes had inclined to solicit his 
 alliance. These commanders of the navy are 
 named by Herodotus, but none of them dis¬ 
 tinguished themselves except his countrywo¬ 
 man Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, who 
 attended Xerxes with five ships, the best 
 appointed of all the fleet. She is celebrated 
 as well for her courage in battle as for her t Pers,an ® e * c e ^,~® c “' p '“ r< at 
 prudent counsel. 
 
 Xerxes, having numbered his forces of every description, pro- Xerxes 
 ceeded, according to the narration of Herodotus, to review the£j™^ shls 
 immense multitude which the historian assigns to this expedition. 
 
 Mounted on a car, the king passed through every rank of the different 
 nations, proposing suitable questions to each, and he was attended by 
 his secretaries, who wrote down the answers. He then seated him¬ 
 self on the deck of a Sidonian vessel, under a cloth of gold, and so 
 gratified his curiosity in passing through the fleet. The king then 
 sent for Demaratus, the exiled Spartan prince, who attended him in 
 this expedition, and had probably witnessed the review. Demanding 
 of the Spartan whether he thought the Greeks would venture to 
 resist such a force, Demaratus prudently inquired whether his royal opinion of 
 patron were disposed to hear the truth, or to be flattered. Xerxes Dem aratus. 
 requiring his opinion without apprehension or disguise, Demaratus 
 
 1 Pt. i. b. iv. 
 
398 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Ciiap. IX. 
 
 Advance of 
 the Persian 
 army. 
 Abdera. 
 
 Persian 
 
 sacrifices. 
 
 Order of 
 inarch. 
 
 Arrival at 
 Therm a. 
 
 assured the king that the Greeks, or at least the Lacedaemonians, 
 would resist, even though they could muster only a thousand men. 
 He then closed a conversation of some length, by a flattering wish 
 that the expedition might succeed according to the king’s desires. 
 This success, however, he had endeavoured to prevent, by the intel¬ 
 ligence which he had communicated to the Greeks, for he was, 
 according to Justin, “amicior patriae post fugam, quam regi, post 
 beneficia,”—more friendly to the country which had banished, than 
 to the king who had entertained him. 
 
 Xerxes now traversed the territory of Thrace, which his fleet 
 coasted, to supply the necessary provisions for the army, except 
 when they were furnished by the cities on his march, as at Abdera; 1 
 where a citizen, the jocose Megacreon, according to Herodotus, 
 proposed to thank the gods for their escape from total ruin, as Xerxes 
 had exacted only one meal in a day. On the banks of the Strymon, 
 as the same historian relates, the magi, for the purpose of divina¬ 
 tion, sacrificed ivhite horses, the appearance of whose entrails con¬ 
 tained the happiest prognostications of a successful expedition. Of 
 the manner of such a sacrifice, Strabo 2 3 gives the following descrip¬ 
 tion :—“ When the Persians arrive at a lake, river, or fountain, 
 they dig a trench, over which they slay the victim, carefully pre¬ 
 serving the adjacent water from being defiled by the blood. They 
 then dispose of the flesh on branches of myrtle or laurel, to which 
 they set fire with slender wands, frequently chanting hymns, and 
 making libations of oil, mixed with milk and honey; but these they 
 pom’ out neither on the fire nor on the water, but on the earth. To 
 this sacrifice the magi soon added a horrible cruelty. Having crossed 
 the Strymon, they came into the country of the Edonians; and 
 understanding that the district, through which they were passing, 
 was called the Nine Roads, they seized nine boys, and as many girls, 
 natives of the country. These they buried alive according to the 
 manner of the Persiansand, as Herodotus conjectures, for a sacri¬ 
 fice to the subterranean deity. 
 
 Xerxes proceeded on his inarch, receiving the submission of the 
 countries through which he passed, and from these he continually 
 augmented his forces. His march was in the following order:—One 
 of the three bodies, into which the army was divided, proceeded 
 along the shore, and was commanded by Mardonius and Masistes; 
 another, led by Tritantaschmes and Gergis, marched through the 
 interior of the country; while the third took the midway between the 
 other divisions. In this central division Xerxes himself commanded, 
 and had Smerdomenes and Megabyzus under his immediate direc¬ 
 tions. In this order the army arrived at Therma, afterwards called 
 Thessalonica, situated on the gulf which bears that name. Xerxes 
 
 1 The expense which the citv of Thasus was put to, amounted to 400 talents, or 
 
 £92,800. 
 
 3 1. xv. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 THERMOPYLAE. 
 
 399 
 
 appears to have remained on this spot a considerable time, and the 
 historian attributes to him the project of diverting the course of the 
 river Peneus. Here, however, he waited the return of the heralds 
 whom he had sent to all the states of Greece, except Athens and 
 Lacedremon, to demand the homage of earth and water. The 
 principal of those who submitted were the people of Thessaly and 
 the Locrians, both justly dreading the approach of the Persian forces. 
 
 Of the various preparations to accomplish these mighty projects Athens and 
 of the great king, the Greeks, and especially the threatened states, LacedtEino *‘ 
 Athens and Lacedasmon, had not been inattentive observers. Extra¬ 
 ordinary talents were called forth by this crisis in their affairs, and 
 they were great men indeed who adorned this splendid period of 
 Grecian history. But a very succinct relation must here suffice to 
 carry on the history of Xerxes. 
 
 A convention of deputies from the several states of Greece was convention 
 held at the isthmus of Corinth, to provide for the common safety, states. 0 '™ 
 The Spartans took the further precau¬ 
 tion of inquiring of the oracle of 
 Delphi, where a priestess declared the 
 cruel alternative, that either a king, 
 the descendant of Hercules, must 
 sacrifice his life, or Lacedaemon be 
 On this sacrifice Leonidas 
 resolved, and determined 
 ;he pass of Thermopylae 
 with only 300 Spartans. These, how¬ 
 ever, with the troops of some allied 
 cities in Peloponnesus, and of the 
 Thebans, Thespians, and states near 
 Thermopylae, composed an army of 
 8,000 men. There they awaited the 
 advance of the army of Xerxes, “ that [Delphi.] 
 
 world in arms,” at the pass, which has 
 
 been described as “ a narrow passage of half an acre of ground, 
 lying between the mountains which divide Thessaly from Greece, 
 where, some time, the Phocians had raised a wall, -with gates, which 
 was then for the most part ruined.” 
 
 The Persians now approached the defile. There can be no doubt, Persians at 
 that Xerxes disdained to expect a moment’s opposition when his army rhorm °py la ’- 
 should appear, though he had heard while in Thessaly, that a small 
 body of troops, commanded by Leonidas, determined to dispute the 
 passage. He first sent a horseman to reconnoitre, who returned 
 after having observed only the Lacedaemonians. These he found 
 engaged, some in gymnastic sports, while others were combing their 
 hair. The king appeared surprised that they were so much at their 
 ease; but Demaratus assured him that when they were about to 
 expose their lives in battle, they carefully adjusted their hair. He 
 
 destroyed, 
 immediately 
 to defend t 
 
400 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 also ventured to repeat the uncourtly opinion, that the Lacedaemo¬ 
 nians would resist to the last man. But the despot, as might have 
 been foreseen, was incapable of profiting by good counsel. 
 
 Battles. After a delay of four days, during which he expected that the 
 
 b.c. 480. Greeks would lly and abandon the defence of the pass, Xerxes sent a 
 detachment of Medes and Cissians, with orders to bring them prisoners. 
 They, however, repulsed the invaders, who were continually rein¬ 
 forced, till, at length, the confession was extorted from Xerxes, that 
 he had many men, but few soldiers. The Medes were now super¬ 
 seded by the “ immortal band ” of Persians, commanded by Hydames, 
 who vainly advanced as to an easy victory. After a desperate 
 struggle, in which the Lacedaimonians evinced their superior skill 
 and bravery, the immortals were forced to retire. So arduous had 
 been the conflict, that Xerxes, who is described as a spectator of the 
 combat, is said to have thrice leaped from his throne in agony for 
 his army. 
 
 Treachery Treachery, however, succeeded where force had been unavailing. 
 
 For after a second engagement had proved equally unsuccessful to 
 Xerxes, “a renegade Greek,” named Ephialtes, 1 “taught him a secret 
 way, by which part of his army might ascend the ledge of mountains, 
 and set upon the backs of those who kept the straits. Then did 
 Leonidas, with his 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians, with admirable 
 courage, not only resist that world of men which charged them on all 
 sides, but issuing out of their stronghold, made so great a slaughter 
 of their enemies, that they might be well called vanquishers, though 
 all of them were slain upon the place.” Such, indeed, was the glo¬ 
 rious end of the 300 Spartans, for Leonidas had sent away his allies. 
 According to Diodorus Siculus, who is followed by Plutarch, the 
 Spartans demanded to be led against the Persians before those who 
 were about to fall upon their rear could make the circuit of the 
 Leonidas mountain. Leonidas and his chosen band now attacked the Persian 
 Persian the camp, where they made a great slaughter, penetrating even to the 
 camp. royal pavilion, from which Xerxes had narrowly escaped. Of that 
 prince, Pausanias has left the remark, that “ he had never beheld 
 Greece, or laid Athens in ashes, had not his forces under Hydarnes 
 been conducted through a path over Oeta, and by that means 
 encompassing the Greeks, overcame and slain Leonidas.” According 
 to Herodotus, he had lost in these combats two of his brothers and 
 20,000 men, whose numbers he vainly attempted to conceal, by 
 giving the customary burial to only 1,000, and heaping the 
 remainder in pits, which were immediately covered with grass and 
 leaves. The bravery of three Spartans is mentioned specially by 
 Herodotus. It was said to one of them,—“ The Persian host is so 
 prodigious, that their arrows darken the sun.” “ So much the 
 better,” replied he, “ we shall fight them in the shade.” Herodotus 
 
 1 A reward for the head of Ephialtes was proclaimed by the Amphictyonic 
 council, and he was afterwards assassinated. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 XERXES ENTERS ATTICA. 
 
 401 
 
 had learned the names of the renowned three hundred, and six 
 hundred years after the event, Pausanias read their names engraven 
 on a column at Sparta. On one monument was an epitaph, com¬ 
 posed by Simonides, of admirable terseness and simplicity,— 
 
 ,T fi ayyaXov Aaxt^aifioviois, on t7, Se 
 K ziftitfcc, <ro7g xz'ivcov truMfitvoi vopipoi;” 
 
 “ Go, passenger, and tell at Lacedaemon, that we died here in 
 obedience to her sacred laws.” 
 
 Xerxes had no sooner passed Thermopylae, than he laid waste Xerxes 
 Phocis and the adjoining states, the inhabitants flying at his approach. enteisAttKa ' 
 A detachment of his army also marched to Delphi, with a design to 
 pillage the temple of its immense riches, of which, says Herodotus, 
 the king had a more minute description than of the furniture of his 
 own palaces. The storied preven¬ 
 tion of this pillage by a dreadful 
 tempest, while rocks severed from 
 the mountain, crushed the Persian 
 troops, must be regarded as one of 
 the ornaments of Grecian history. 
 
 Another detachment of the Persian 
 army entered Attica, and marched 
 to Athens, which they found near¬ 
 ly without inhabitants; for the 
 Athenians, by the advice of The- 
 inistocles, who had probably pro¬ 
 cured the oracle which he per¬ 
 suaded them to obey, had embarked 
 on board their galleys, to meet 
 the enemy at sea. A few indeed 
 
 remained, too indigent to sustain the expenses of the embarkation, Athens 
 or who had literally interpreted the exhortation to trust in their deserted - 
 toooden walk. These walls they bravely defended till all of them 
 were slain; for Xerxes stormed the citadel and reduced it to ashes. 
 
 Of his success against Athens, he immediately informed his uncle 
 and uncourtly counsellor, Artabanes, by a courier despatched to 
 Susa, charged also with invaluable spoils,—the statues and pictures 
 of Greece. 
 
 While Xerxes had been delayed at the pass of Thermopyla;, his Rattle of 
 fleet had rendezvoused at Aphetae, a port of Thessaly. This harbour a*™ 1 ' 
 was at no great distance from Artemisium, a promontory of Euboea, 
 off which the Grecian navy waited their approach. The fleet of the 
 Persians had suffered in a storm, yet they were able to detach two 
 hundred ships, with orders to sail round the island of Euboea, and 
 encompass the Grecian squadron. But the Greek mariners having 
 intelligence of the design, set sail in the night, for the purpose of 
 
 [e. o. h.] 2 D 
 
 [Themistocles. ] 
 
Counsel of 
 Artemisia. 
 
 Battle of 
 Salamis. 
 
 b.c. 480. 
 
 Description 
 by JSschylus. 
 
 402 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chap. IX. 
 
 attacking the Persian detachment at day-break. Missing them, 
 they bore away to meet the main body, and brought on the 
 obstinately disputed battle of Artemisium, on the very day of the 
 last desperate conflict which had opened to Xerxes the pass of 
 Thermopylae 
 
 The battle of Artemisium was by no means decisive, though the 
 Greeks had generally the advantage; yet their ships were shattered, 
 and to refit them they retired to the Straits of Salamis, where they 
 were reinforced till their vessels amounted to more than three 
 hundred. Thither the Persians followed them, contrary to the 
 opinion of the royal Artemisia, who recommended the invasion of 
 the Peloponnesus by the land army—a counsel as obviously prudent, 
 as that queen’s behaviour in the naval engagement, which she 
 would have prevented, was singularly heroic. But Xerxes was 
 devoted to councils more flattering to his own opinion, and encamped 
 his army on the shore, while he pitched his tent on Mount iEgaleus, 
 opposite to the isle of Salamis, whence he might witness the con¬ 
 duct of his commanders, and employ the secretaries who attended 
 him to record then deeds. 
 
 The Greeks, taking advantage of that narrow sea, which prevented 
 the Persians, whose ships were more numerous, from extending 
 their front, determined to engage them. Or, according to another 
 account, by the policy of Themistocles, they were placed in a situa¬ 
 tion where an engagement was indispensable. The assault is well 
 described by fEschylus 1 himself, one of the combatants,— 
 
 “ kxi xov ptix' 'EXXvvmv (rr^xros 
 
 jcgutyxiov zkttXovv ovbcc(/.Yi xxQiffrxro' 
 yz f&ivroi XzukovtcoXos y/xegcc 
 <7TX(Tuv Karsff%i ya7xv tuQiyyvis ibz7v, 
 ttqmtov fJtXv h X »7 xzXabog e E XXqvcov itu.qu, 
 
 fAOXvTV)bbv iUtyyfA&trZV, Og0IOV b* XfJLX 
 
 uvryiXbiXa^z v'/uncTtribos vrzrgas 
 
 (fiofio; •pram (Zaofiagois •rx^yjv 
 yvco/x'/js xcrotrfpxXztmv ov yag oj$ (puyyj 
 , 7rxiu.v iQu/xvoitv <rzy.vov ''EXXjjvej tots, 
 xXX* Is f&eA%'/iv ogp.uvr&s d^oitni 
 
 crtt.Xtfiy\ b’ at/rS? fl'avr* I kz7v IvrzQXzyzv 
 
 S vQi)$ ^S 3t&)<7T'/lS poQiaboS \vVl(JL$oX7] 
 
 STTuurocv uX/u,y}v (Zgv%iov zk tczXzvc(autos , 
 6ou$ ^£ rrxvrss Yttrav zx.<f)avz7s ibz7v‘ 
 to bz^iov f/Xv vtqutov zvtuktus xegas 
 7\yuT0 xo<r/Atobzurz(Jov b' o Trees gtoXos 
 ecr£^£^^£/, kxi ttuqyiv ofjoov zXvziv 
 toXX'/jv (Zoyiv, m vrx7bz$ 'E XX'/ivuv /Vs, 
 zXzufagourz vrxT(Jtb\ IXzufagoun bz 
 ira7bast yvvx7x.xs, tizcov t z ttut^uojv zb'/}, 
 Q'/iKcis ts ^r^oyovuv’ vuv vvrzf) ttccvtoov ccyeuv 
 
 1 Persae. 384. 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 
 
 403 
 
 “ And night withdrew, and the force of the Greeks by no means Translation, 
 made a stealthy escape in any direction. But when Day, drawn by 
 white steeds, had occupied the whole earth, of radiance beautiful to 
 behold, first of all a shout from the Greeks greeted Echo like a song, 
 and Echo from the island-rock at the same instant shouted forth an 
 inspiring cry: and terror fell on all the barbarians, baulked of their 
 purpose; for not as in flight were the Greeks then chanting the 
 solemn paean, but speeding on to the battle with gallant daring of 
 soul. And the trumpet, with its clang, inflamed their fvhole line; 
 and forthwith, with the collision of the dashing oar, at the word of 
 command they smote the roaring brine. And quickly were they 
 conspicuous to vierv. The right wing, well marshalled, led on fore¬ 
 most in good order, and secondly, their whole force was coming 
 forth against us, and we could at the same time hear a mighty 
 shout: SONS OF THE GREEKS ! ON ! FREE YOUR COUNTRY, AND FREE 
 YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR WIVES, THE ABODES TOO OF THE GODS OF 
 YOUR FATHERS, AND THE TOMBS OF YOUR ANCESTORS ; NOW IS THE 
 CONFLICT FOR THEM ALL ! ” 
 
 In this battle of Salamis the Persians suffered a terrible over- Defeat, 
 throw, tw'o hundred of their ships being destroyed, and the rest 
 driven to the coast of Asia, whence they never ventured to return 
 into Greece. 
 
 A king sat on a rocky brow 
 Which looks o’er sea-born Salamis, 
 
 And ships by thousands lay below. 
 
 And men in nations—all were his;— 
 
 He counted them at break of day, 
 
 But when the sun set, where were they? 
 
 It is well remarked by Raleigh, that “ the scribes of Xerxes had a 
 wearisome task of writing down many disasters which befell the Persian 
 fleet; which ill acquitted itself that day, doing no one piece of service 
 worthy the presence of their king, or the registering of his notaries.” 
 
 Xerxes no sooner witnessed this disaster, than fearing lest the victors 
 should reach the Hellespont before him, he hastened the march of his 
 army out of Europe, leaving Mardonius with 300,000 men to carry on 
 the war. On this march, for which there had been no preparation, 
 great hardships were endured during the forty-five days which it 
 occupied. At length the king, impatient to escape, left his army, and Flight of 
 hastened with a small retinue to the bridge, which he found almost Xerxes - 
 destroyed by a tempest. The Persian autocrat was reduced to cross 
 the Plellespont in a skiff. “ Erat res spectaculo digna,” says Justin, 1 
 “ et ffistimatione sortis humanse, rerum varietate miranda, in exiguo 
 latentem videre navigio, quern paulo ante vix sequor omne cupiebat; 
 carentem etiam omni servoriun ministerio, cujus exercitus, propter 
 
 1 L. ii. c. 13. 
 
404 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Carthagini¬ 
 ans defeated 
 in Sicily. 
 
 Mardonius 
 
 destroys 
 
 Athens. 
 
 March of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 Battle of 
 Plataea. 
 
 Battle of 
 Mycale. 
 
 multitudinem, terris graves erunt:” “It was a spectacle fitted to 
 afford a just estimate of human greatness, and to discover the insta¬ 
 bility of every thing earthly, when he was stealing away in a small 
 boat, almost destitute of attendants, whose fleets had lately covered 
 the sea, and whose armies, by their vast multitude, had exhausted 
 the land.” Xerxes waited for his army at Sardis, and thus inglori- 
 ously concluded the sixth year of his reign. To add to the king’s 
 disappointment, his allies, the Carthaginians, were, about the same 
 time, defeated by Gelo, the king of Sicily. He slew 150,000, and 
 sold the same number, till all Sicily was filled with Carthaginian cap¬ 
 tives. Of their large fleet, only a cock-boat remained, in which a 
 few escaped to carry the dismal news to Carthage. 
 
 Mardonius passed the winter in Thessaly and Macedonia, and 
 early in the spring marched into Bceotia. Thence he sent Alex¬ 
 ander, king of Macedon, with flattering proposals of accommo¬ 
 dation to the Athenians. He offered to reinstate whatever the 
 Persians had destroyed on their invasion; to restore, and even to 
 extend their possessions; to guarantee their own laws; and, in 
 short, to render them the most favoured tributaries of the Persian 
 empire; but the Athenians were deaf to these proposals. The 
 enraged general marched into Attica, desolating the country through 
 which he passed, and destroying, at Athens, now a second time 
 deserted, every thing which had escaped the former devastation. 
 In the mean time, the Greeks assembled their forces at the isthmus 
 of Corinth, and drew Mardonius back into Bceotia, where he 
 encamped on the river zEsopus. 
 
 Upon this the Greeks marched to attack the Persians. Pausanias, 
 king of Lacedaemon, and Aristides the Athenian, commanded the 
 allied forces, which amounted to 120,000; the Persians are com¬ 
 pleted, by Herodotus, at 350,000, and by Diodorus Siculus at 
 500,000. The armies joined battle near the city of Plataea, when 
 Mardonius was slain, and the Persian army almost entirely destroyed. 
 Artabazus, indeed, who had early apprehended the ill fortune of the 
 day, escaped with 40,000 men imder his command. By hasty 
 marches he reached Byzantium before the news of the battle, and 
 thence passed into Asia. Besides these, it was computed that not 
 4,000 of the Persian army survived the battle of Platasa, and it was 
 the last army of Persians ever seen on the European side of the 
 Hellespont. On the very day of that battle happened the engage¬ 
 ment at Mycale, a promontory on the continent of Asia; this, 
 according to the remaining accounts, was rather a land than a 
 naval engagement. The Persians, on the approach of the Grecian 
 fleet, had drawn up their ships on the shore, where they had 
 100,000 land forces; they also formed a strong rampart to defend 
 their navy; but the irresistible prowess of the Greeks defeated the 
 army, forced the rampart, and utterly destroyed the ships. 
 
 Xerxes, when apprized of these accumulated disasters, left Sardis 
 
Chap. IX.] 
 
 CRIMINAL PASSIONS OF XERXES. 
 
 405 
 
 as precipitately as he had fled after the battle of Salamis. He, how- Xerxes 
 ever, gave orders for the destruction of all the temples in Asia p e ^ s ™ s mt0 
 Minor, either from zeal for the magiau religion, or to wreak his - 
 vengeance on the Asiatic Greeks. The same conduct he observed 
 when passing through Babylon, on his return to Susa, perhaps, as 
 Prideaux conjectures, to recruit his finances by the immense 
 treasures which the temple of Belus contained. Thus, adds that 
 pious and learned author, 1 “ was fully completed what the prophets 
 Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied many years before—‘ All the graven 
 images of her gods hath he broken to the ground. I will punish 
 Bel in Babylon, I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he 
 hath swallowed. And I will do judgment on all the graven images 
 of Babylon. Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces, her 
 idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.’ ” 
 
 While the Greeks were pursuing their advantages, by delivering His criminal 
 many of the cities of Asia from the Persian yoke, Xerxes was passi0ns ' 
 solacing himself by the indulgence of his criminal passions, and pre¬ 
 paring, in his own family, a horrible tragedy. He had sought to 
 seduce the wife of his brother Masistes. That lady utterly rejecting 
 his unworthy suit, he hoped to conciliate her by marrying her 
 daughter Artaynta to his eldest son Darius. This marriage had no 
 influence to corrupt the wife of Masistes; and at length Xerxes 
 attempted, and prevailed over the virtue of her daughter Artaynta, 
 whom he had just married to his son. In the process of this 
 scandalous intrigue, Artaynta became possessed of a rich mantle 
 which Hamestris, the queen of Xerxes, had wrought for him. This 
 she displayed in public, when the queen, confirmed in her suspicions 
 of what had happened, resolved on revenge; but considering the 
 mother of Artaynta as the instigator of the whole affair, on her she 
 determined to wreak a cruel retribution. On the birth-day of the 
 king it was customary for him to grant the most extravagant 
 requests of those about him, and the vindictive queen had not long 
 to wait for this favourable opportunity of requesting the wife of 
 Masistes to be given up to her disposal. 
 
 Xerxes long hesitated to comply with her demand; aware at Their meian- 
 once of his own share in the dishonour already brought upon his clloly result ' 
 brother’s family, and of some barbarous outrage being meditated 
 by the queen. He is said, at last, to have sent for his brother to 
 persuade him to sacrifice his innocent consort, and accept of a 
 daughter of the king in her place; an offer which Masistes rejected 
 with great firmness, reminding Xerxes, not only that he was well 
 contented with his present alliance, but that his wife had been the 
 mother of three noble sons, as well as daughters, one of whom had 
 married the son of the king; and “ would you after this,” said he, 
 
 “ have me marry your daughter ? I esteem your proposal, 0 Icing, 
 
 1 Con. pt. i. b. iv. 
 
406 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. IX. 
 
 Death of 
 Masistes. 
 
 Assassina¬ 
 tion of 
 Xerxes. 
 
 His 
 
 character. 
 
 as the highest honour, but I cannot accept it.” Xerxes broke off 
 this conference in great anger; but Hamestris, in the interim, by 
 means of the guards, had seized her unhappy victim. Having first 
 mutilated her person in the most horrible manner, she sent her 
 home to her husband in that mangled condition. Masistes, highly 
 exasperated, determined to revenge himself, by revolting from the 
 king, and hastened for this purpose to his satrapy of Bactria. 
 Here the Sacaj, a most warlike and powerful tribe, who had dis¬ 
 tinguished themselves both at Plata;a and Marathon, and were after¬ 
 wards concerned in several considerable revolutions in their neigh- 
 hood, had undoubtedly been ready to avenge his injuries, for he was 
 much beloved throughout the whole province which he governed. 
 Xerxes, however, sent after him a party of horse, by whom Masistes 
 and all his family were destroyed. And thus, unless Herodotus has 
 egregiously fabled, in order to gratify the resentment of the Greeks, 
 Xerxes appears a slave to the worst passions, vainly seeking an 
 unlimited rule over other men, while he had no command over 
 himself. 
 
 We have now passed through nine of the twenty-one years 
 attributed to the reign of Xerxes, according to the accounts generally 
 received; though some, on the authority of Thucydides, have given 
 nine of the latter years to the reign of Artaxerxes. The Greeks, 
 during those years, continued to employ their naval ascendancy in 
 freeing the maritime countries of Asia Minor from the dominion of 
 Persia. In the interior of that empire nothing appears to have 
 occurred worthy of history, except those extraordinary events which 
 are elsewhere detailed—the resort of Themistocles to the court of 
 Persia, and his favour with the great king. 
 
 The end of Xerxes was worthy of the public and private life which 
 history, at least that of the Greeks, has assigned to him. He was 
 slain by one of his guards, who afterwards killed his eldest son Darius 
 through a false accusation, and thus raised Artaxerxes to the throne. 
 Some, however, suppose, that he had shared the government with 
 his father from the twelfth year of his reign. 
 
 Of Xerxes, scarcely any thing would now be known, but for the 
 chapters of Herodotus, which we have so often quoted. Whether 
 the father of history justly described, or occasionally misrepresented 
 the character of this inveterate foe of the people for whom he -wrote, 
 he has certainly held him up to all ages as an object of contempt 
 and scorn, for in his artless and inimitable story he has pictured 
 the Persian invader as a cruel, imperious, vindictive, jealous, volup¬ 
 tuous, and impious tyrant. Nor has any name been more frequently 
 employed 
 
 To point a moral, or adorn a tale. 
 
[Greek Warriors —Bronzes in the British Museum.] 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OP PERSIA.—CONCLUSION. 
 
 The long reign of Artaxerxes, 1 surnamed Longimanus, 2 a reign of Artaxerxes. 
 forty years, was not distinguished by any great event. Scarcely was B - c - 465. 
 he elevated to the throne when he put to death Artabanus, who had 
 been the means of his elevation. His brother and rival, Hystaspes, 
 satrap of Bactria, had rebelled at the same time, but was speedily 
 vanquished. Other insurrections, which so often characterise the 
 commencement of a despotic reign, were likewise suppressed with 
 energy. The Persian monarch on feeling his throne at length secure, 
 devoted his attention to the financial business of his empire. But the 
 disturbed state of Egypt soon summoned his troops to that country. 
 
 A formidable insurrection, headed by Inarus, had gained some 
 victories; the Persian governor was slain and the garrison routed. 
 
 The Egyptians also, to strengthen themselves, had concluded an 
 alliance with Athens, and received succours from Greece. But the 
 
 1 Artaxerxes seems to signify “renowned king or warrior.” 
 
 3 The surname was derived from the physical peculiarity—that his right hand 
 was longer than his left. Plutarch, Artax. I. 
 
408 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. X. 
 
 Peace with 
 Greece. 
 
 b.c. 449. 
 
 His death. 
 
 b.c. 425. 
 
 Xerxes II. 
 Sogdianus. 
 
 Darius II. 
 
 revolt was at length quelled, Inarus was crucified, and the Persian 
 arms maintained their ascendancy. The Greeks, however, lent 
 assistance afterwards to the Egyptians, who still maintained a species 
 of independence, especially in the swampy portions of the country, 
 into which foreign troops could not penetrate. 1 This assistance 
 was a fleet of two hundred sail, under Cimon, son of Miltiades, who 
 met and vanquished the Persian admiral Artabazus. According to 
 some authors, Artaxerxes alarmed at this dispersion of his fleet, 
 hastily concluded a peace with the Athenians. The terms of truce 
 were full of humiliation to the Persian king, for it was stipulated— 
 1. That all the Greek cities in Asia Minor should be free, and 
 governed by their own laws. 2. That no Persian satrap should 
 march an army within three days’ journey of the coast. 3. That no 
 Persian ship of war should sail between the Cyanean rocks, at the 
 northern extremity of the Thracian Bosporus, and the Chelidonian 
 Isles, near the southern promontory of Lycia; thus excluding the 
 Persians from the entire TEgean Sea, and that part of the Mediter¬ 
 ranean bordering upon Asia Minor. 4. That the Athenians should 
 not invade any part of the dominions of the king of Persia. 2 The 
 story of this peace seems, however, to be fabulous. Thucydides knows 
 nothing of it; and it seems to have been the fabrication of a succeeding 
 age. The latter years of the reign of Artaxerxes seem to have been 
 spent in tranquillity, and he died b.c. 425, leaving his son Xerxes IT. 
 
 Many have identified Artaxerxes with the Ahasuerus of the 
 Book of Esther. Several objections, however, may be made to 
 this hypothesis. Artaxerxes appears to have been both a wiser 
 and better prince, than the degraded and capricious voluptuary of 
 the Book of Esther. 3 The tyrant who invaded Greece, who 
 scourged the Hellespont, laid his royal mandate on Mount Athos, 
 and ruthlessly murdered the son of Pythius, has a closer resemblance 
 to the frantic and debased monarch, who repudiated his wife because 
 she would not expose herself to the gaze of drunken revellers, and 
 who was so far under the influence of an intriguing and ambitious 
 favourite, as at his suggestion to devote a large body of his indus¬ 
 trious subjects to wanton massacre and pillage. Artaxerxes was 
 surnamed Bahman, that is, kind or beneficent, and some Persian 
 writers say that his mother was a Jewess, 4 thus making him the son 
 of Esther and Xerxes. Xerxes II. was, after a brief reign of two 
 months, murdered by his half-brother, Sogdianus, 5 who then ascended 
 the throne. After a reign of seven months, the assassin was himself 
 murdered by his brother Ochus, who assumed the sovereignty under 
 the title of Darius II.® 
 
 This prince being one of the seven bastard sons of Artaxerxes, 
 was surnamed Nothus or Illegitimate. He had been created satrap 
 
 1 Thucyd. i. 104. Diodor. xi. 71, &c. 
 
 3 Thirlwall’s History of Greece, iii. 37. 8 Diodor. xi. 71. 
 
 4 Nordberg, Opuscnla Academ. iii. 
 
 8 Diodor. xii. 71. Ctesias, Pers. c. 44. 
 
 « Ibid. 
 
Chap. X.] 
 
 DARIUS II.—CYRUS THE YOUNGER. 
 
 409 
 
 of Hyrcania by his father; and Sogdianus, on his accession, invited him 
 to court. But he postponed compliance with the royal invitation till 
 he had assembled a large army, with which he marched against his * 
 brother. During his progress several of the king’s generals deserted 
 to him; and Arxames, satrap of Egypt, with Artoxares, governor of 
 Armenia, placed the crown on his head. The helpless and despair¬ 
 ing Sogdianus surrendered himself, and was in accordance with the 
 usual practice put to death. No sooner was Darius installed than 
 his brother Arsites revolted; his prime adviser being Artyphius, b.c. 432 
 son of Megabyzus. Arsites placed his chief confidence in his Greek Arsites. 
 mercenaries, whom the gold of Artasyias, the royal general, easily 
 bribed to betray their seditious employers. The deserted Arsites 
 and his counsellor were apprehended, and at the instigation of the 
 queen, Parysatis, they were smothered in burning ashes. But in 
 spite of these partial successes, the government of Darius proved its 
 inherent weakness by the frequent and alarming insurrections which 
 disturbed and devastated the empire. The king was wholly in the 
 power of his queen and three favourite eunuchs—Artoxares, Arti- 
 barxanes, and Athous. The inferior governors were disgusted with 
 such an administration. Pisuthnes, satrap of Lydia, raised the 
 standard of revolt in his province, and enlisted in his service a large 
 body of Grecian troops. Tissaphernes was sent against him, and by 
 bribery and cunning seduced his auxiliaries, and procured the sur¬ 
 render of the rebel, who, though promised a pardon, was no sooner 
 brought into the presence of the king than he was doomed to the 
 terrible fate of Sogdianus and Arsites. A plot of Artoxares the chief 
 favourite was also crushed in its commencement. But Darius Avas 
 speedily embroiled in an Egyptian rebellion under Amyrtaeus, who 
 expelled the Persians from his country, and reigned as sovereign for 
 six years. 1 Darius, after a reign of about nineteen years, died, and 
 was succeeded by his eldest son, Artaxerxes II., who was surnamed Artaxerxes 
 Mnemon, on account of his good memory. Mnemon. 
 
 His younger brother Cyrus, had been appointed by his father, b.c. 405 
 Darius, governor of Asia Minor, and though Cyrus aspired to the 
 throne, his ambition was pardoned through his mother’s influence, 
 and he was confirmed in his extensive command. 2 During his resi¬ 
 dence at court at the period of his brother’s accession, he had plotted 
 his death on the very day of his coronation; but the wicked scheme 
 was frustrated, and the condemned conspirator forgiven and dis¬ 
 missed to his satrapy. His restless love of power, however, prompted 
 him to vaster schemes; he had set his aspiring heart on the crown of 
 Persia, and he perilled all in the struggle. Supported by a large 
 brigade of Greek mercenaries, he fearlessly marched into Upper Asia, 
 met the army of his royal brother, which far exceeded his own in num¬ 
 bers, gained a signal victory over it in the field of Cunaxa, and fell 
 
 1 See page 113. 
 
 Xenophon, Anabasis, i. 1. § 3. 
 
410 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 [Chap. X. 
 
 B.c. 401. 
 
 Retreat of 
 the ten 
 thousand. 
 
 Disgraceful 
 reign of 
 Artaxerxes. 
 
 His latter 
 years and 
 death. 
 
 b.c. 362. 
 
 Ochus. 
 
 Reign of 
 Terror. 
 
 himself in the conflict. 1 This expedition of Cyrus, and the events which 
 followed his death—the retreat of the 10,000—form the theme of 
 Xenophon’s immortal “ Anabasis.” The reign of Artaxerxes was 
 one continued struggle with revolted satraps and discontented pro¬ 
 vinces. Slaves and eunuchs under the queen-mother, Parysatis, 
 were the virtual governors. 2 The court was polluted by brutal 
 murders, foul intrigues, and loathsome and unnatural impurities. 
 The bribes of Persia, however, disunited and weakened the Grecian 
 states, and by the peace which the diplomacy of Antalcidas brought 
 about, the influence of Persia was considerably augmented. 3 The 
 attempts cf Artaxerxes upon Egypt are recorded on a previous 
 page. 4 
 
 The latter years of this sovereign were embittered by domestic 
 discord. His family numbered three legitimate and one hundred 
 and fifteen spurious sons. 5 The monarch had declared Darius, 
 the eldest of his children, his successor, and allowed him the 
 privilege of wearing the royal tiara. The ungrateful heir quarrel¬ 
 led with his father about one of his concubines, and his revengeful 
 nature shrunk not from the crime of parricide; for, along with the 
 irritated Tiribazus, he formed a plan for assassination of the king. 
 The plot was betrayed by a eunuch, and the conspirators were put to 
 death. The question now was, which of the two surviving sons, 
 Ariaspes or Ochus, should succeed to the crown. The people pre¬ 
 ferred the gentle Ariaspes, but the king looked favourably on Arsames, 
 the son of one of his concubines. Ochus, however, contrived to 
 kill the latter, while he drove the former to desperation and suicide. 
 These terrible tragedies broke the heart of the aged sovereign, and 
 he died of grief, b.c. 362. 
 
 Ochus had waded through slaughter to a throne which he ascended 
 at his father’s decease. His previous murders did not satisfy him, 
 but to secure his power he ruthlessly extirpated every member of 
 the royal family. The crowned assassin buried Oclia his sister alive, 
 and his archers slew one of his uncles, with his numerous household 
 of one hundred sons and grandsons. The suspected nobles shared 
 the same fate, and no probable aspirant to the throne remained to 
 trouble the bloody and cowardly tyrant. The Persian arms gained 
 some advantages during his reign, in defeating Artabazus, a dis¬ 
 affected satrap, and in reducing Phoenicia and a portion of Cyprus. 
 His ravages in Egypt, against which he was obliged to march, 
 equalled those of his predecessor Cambyses. 6 The king after this 
 period withdrew to his seraglio and spent his days in dissipation, 
 
 1 The army of Artaxerxes is said to have amounted to at least half-a-million, 
 while Cyrus had only 100,000 Asiatics and 1300 Greeks. 
 
 2 Such as Evagoras in Cyprus, and the Cardusians on the borders of the Caspian 
 Sea. 
 
 3 Thirlwall’s History of Greece, vol. iv. 445. 4 p. 114. 
 
 ■ 5 Justin, x. 1. 6 See page 115. 
 
Chap. X.J 
 
 DARIUS CODOMANNUS. 
 
 411 
 
 varied only by scenes of blood. His life of lust and murder was at 
 length cut short by poison, administered by the ruling eunuch, 
 
 Bagoas, an Egyptian favourite. 1 
 
 Arses, the youngest son of Ochus, was placed by the conspirators b.c. 339- 
 on the throne, his elder brothers having been previously put to death. Arses - 
 The young king was a mere puppet in the hands of Bagoas; and no 
 sooner did he manifest symptoms of decision and independence—no 
 sooner did he become restive in the hands of his ambitious and 
 unscrupulous master, than himself and family shared his father’s fate. His death. 
 His reign was only of three years’ duration, and Bagoas selected 
 for his successor Darius Codomannus,—sprang from a collateral 
 branch of the reigning dynasty. This prince had killed a gigantic 
 champion in the war with the Cardusians, and in honour of his 
 heroism, Ochus had conferred upon him the satrapy of Armenia. 
 
 Darius Codomannus no sooner exhibited a spirit of self-depen¬ 
 dence and energy, than Bagoas became alarmed for the loss of his 
 usurped power, and resolved to maintain it by recourse to his usual 
 expedient—the secret potion. But his malignant attempt was fortu- Death of 
 nately discovered, and the trembling wretch was compelled to drain Bas ° as ' 
 the poisoned bowl which he had prepared for his sovereign. Pos¬ 
 sessed of the vast treasures accumulated by his predecessors, Codo¬ 
 mannus was, in the language of the inspired prophet, “ far richer ” 
 than the last three kings of Persia. The mildness of his character, 
 his handsome form and personal valour, commanded universal respect 
 and esteem. But his lot was cast in evil days, and the Persian 
 empire, sunk in effeminacy and cowardice, ended with his death. In 
 the terrible struggle which prostrated Persia, Darius seems to have 
 been, to some extent, the aggressor. His vast wealth was employed 
 freely in stirring up Greece to make war upon Alexander, king of 
 Macedonia. “ By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up 
 all nations against the realm of Greece.” 2 Such is the language and 
 prediction of Daniel, verified by the reality. Alexander was provoked invasion of 
 at length to invade the territory of his great and menacing antago- Alexander, 
 nist. His army, consisting of 5,000 horse and 30,000 infantry, b.c. 334. 
 easily, and without opposition, crossed the Hellespont in a fleet of 
 160 galleys and transports. His brave and disciplined troops felt 
 that all depended on their courage and hardihood. The Asiatic 
 armies first encountered the Greeks on the banks of the Granicus, 
 a river of Lesser Phrygia. The Macedonian army crossed the 
 stream in the very face of the Persian squadrons, and routed them 
 with enormous slaughter. Sardis, after this battle, fell into the 
 hands of Alexander; the conqueror then pushed forward to Ephesus, 
 which at once received him—marched to Miletus, which was soon 
 obliged to capitulate—entered the province of Caria, and laid siege 
 
 1 Diodor. xvii. 6. Strabo, xv. 
 
 2 Dan. xi. 12. 
 
412 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. [Chai>. X. 
 
 to Halicarnassus, its capital, which, after prodigious labour and 
 fatigue, he stormed, and vengefully razed to the ground. 
 
 Successes of The Greek colonies settled in Asia submitted in turn to the proud 
 Alexander v i c t ori an( j t,h e fortresses which opposed him were blockaded* and 
 speedily overthrown. His army remained in quarters during the 
 winter of 333 b.c., but early in the spring of the next year martial 
 operations were commenced with his usual intrepidity and confidence. 
 The maritime provinces were reduced, Perga and Aspendus fell, the 
 defile of Telmessus was passed, Gordium was seized, and Alexander 
 found himself at Tarsus with an army which had vanquished every 
 opposition, and won its way so far into the Asiatic continent by a 
 series of unparallelled successes. Darius had meanwhile gathered 
 an immense levy of more than half a million of Asiatic troops, and 
 30,000 Greek mercenaries. Instead of cautiously waiting for 
 Alexander’s approach, the Persian monarch in his proud impatience 
 left the wide plains of Sochi, and advanced into the narrow gorge of 
 B.c. 333. Issus. On hearing this intelligence, Alexander, perceiving the fatal 
 Issus* ° f error of his opponent, retraced his steps, and routed the Persian 
 forces with dreadful massacre. Darius fled, but his wife, mother, 
 and children fell into the hands of the conqueror, who treated his 
 royal prisoners with the respect due to their exalted station. Alex¬ 
 ander, from motives of policy, did not pursue the vanquished 
 Persians, but turned to Phoenicia, and overthrew Tyre, captured 
 Gaza, entered Jerusalem, and then visiting Egypt, founded the 
 famous city which bears his name. In b.c. 331 he marched again 
 to meet Darius. The Persian king had sustained an irreparable loss 
 in the death of Memnon, the ablest of his officers, but an immense 
 army of more than a million of men was convened to meet the 
 audacious Macedonian, who had gained the eastern bank of the 
 Euphrates at the ford of Thapsacus, passed through Mesopotamia, 
 and, crossing the Tigris, had pitched on the field of Gaugamela. 
 b.c. 331. Here, in the beginning of October, a battle was fought, which 
 Gaugamela sea ^ ec ^ ^ ie ^ ate °f the Persian empire. The Macedonians triumphed 
 and Arbeia. after an obstinate and bloody combat, and the Persians, fleeing from 
 the field in precipitation, took refuge in Arbeia, a city fifty miles 
 distant from the scene of battle. Thither Alexander pursued the 
 fugitives; but Darius escaped, by a hasty flight, to Ecbatana. 
 Arbeia fell, and its vast treasure was greedily appropriated as com¬ 
 pensation by its ravenous conqueror. Babylon, Susa, and Perse- 
 polis made no resistance, but opened their gates; and Persepolis, 
 which had been made his winter quarters, was burnt by the frantic 
 victor in a fit of drunken revelry, and at the instigation of Thais, an 
 Athenian courtezan. The unhappy Darius had, with renewed 
 vigour, collected, in the interval, a new force among his Midian 
 subjects, and Alexander rapidly advanced to meet him. In fifteen 
 days he reached Ecbatana, but Darius had left that city five days 
 before. The royal fugitive was hotly pursued as he passed through 
 
 Pursuit of 
 Darius. 
 
Chap. X.] 
 
 END OF THE OLD PEESIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 413 
 
 Eagie into the province of Bactria, but there was no pause; Alex¬ 
 ander still followed, till the terrible chase brought both parties into 
 Parthia, and they had nearly met for a final blow, when Darius fell 
 a victim to a conspiracy formed by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria, 
 
 The wounded and bleeding monarch was found, deserting and dying, Death of 
 by a Macedonian soldier, from whom he feebly requested a draught Danus - 
 of water; and by the time Alexander came up, he had expired. The 
 sight of the corpse deeply affected the warrior, and he shed tears 
 over Darius “ great and good.” The body, after being embalmed, 
 was sent, with all honour, to Persepolis, to be entombed in the royal 
 sepulchres. Darius died in the fiftieth year of his age, and the 
 sixth of his brief and unfortunate reign. The old Persian empire End ofthe^ 
 expired -with him, and he and his people suffered for the sins of empire, 
 their predecessors. The nation, since the period of Cyrus, had under¬ 
 gone a rapid and continuous progress of deterioration; for luxury, 
 wealth, and misgovemment debased and corrupted it. While 
 intriguing favourites, in the seraglio, were too often its unworthy, 
 fickle, and ferocious lords; the lust of foreign conquests had, at the 
 same time, weakened its strength, and taught the kingdoms of Greece 
 the effeminacy and feebleness of its crowded and disorderly hosts. 
 
 It had proudly thought to make an easy prey of Hellas, but had been 
 frequently repulsed; and the enervating remembrance of Marathon 
 and Salamis must have made it less courageous to meet, and less 
 able to resist, the Macedonian phalanx when at length it penetrated 
 into Persia. How vividly do such scenes and changes remind 
 us of that providence which orders and disposes all events to work 
 out its own high and mysterious designs! 
 
 “ From God all human actions take their springs, 
 
 The rise of empires, and the fall of kings ! 
 
 See the vast theatre of time displayed, 
 
 While o’er the scene succeeding heroes tread ! 
 
 With pomp, the shining images succeed, 
 
 What leaders triumph ! and what monarchs bleed! 
 
 Perform the parts his providence assigned, 
 
 Their pride, their passions, to his ends inclined : 
 
 Awhile they glitter in the face of day, 
 
 Then at his nod the phantoms pass away ; 
 
 No traces left of all the busy scene. 
 
 But that remembrance says, ‘ The things have been.’ ”— Boyse. 
 
 The Macedo-Grecian power lay heavily upon Persia for thenext one Subsequent 
 hundred and two years. The Parthians then held them in ignomi- hlstory ' 
 nious vassalage for four hundred and fifty-four years. At length, 
 when Parthia was weakened and distracted by Rome, Persia sum¬ 
 moned courage to revolt; and a daring soldier, named Artaxerxes, 
 having defeated the troops of the enemy, founded the famous Sas- a.d. 225. 
 sanian dynasty, which continued four hundred and eleven years. 
 
POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA. 
 
 414 
 
 [Chap. X. 
 
 Kings of the The principal names of this dynasty, which was at last overwhelmed 
 dynasty!" by the Saracen conquests, a.d. 636, are as follows:— 
 
 1. 
 
 Artaxerxes, . 
 
 Y. 
 
 . 14 
 
 M. 
 
 10 . 
 
 A.D. 
 
 . 225 
 
 2. 
 
 Sapor, . 
 
 . 31 
 
 o. 
 
 . 240 
 
 3. 
 
 Hormisdas . 
 
 . 1 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 271 
 
 4. 
 
 Vararanes, . 
 
 . 3 
 
 0. 
 
 979 
 
 5. 
 
 Vararanes II. 1 .. 
 
 .17 
 
 0 . 
 
 .275 
 
 6. 
 
 Narses,. 
 
 .(7) 8 
 
 0. 
 
 .292 
 
 7. 
 
 Hormisdas II . 
 
 . 7 
 
 5 . 
 
 . 300 
 
 8. 
 
 Sapor II . 
 
 . 70 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 307 
 
 9. 
 
 Artaxerxes 11.... . 
 
 . 4 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 377 
 
 10. 
 
 Sapor III . 
 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 381 
 
 11. 
 
 Vararanes IV . 
 
 .11 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 380 
 
 12. 
 
 Isdegertes . 
 
 . 21 
 
 0 . 
 
 .. 397 
 
 13. 
 
 Vararanes V . 
 
 . 23 
 
 0 . 
 
 .. 418 
 
 14. 
 
 Vararanes VI . 
 
 . 18 
 
 0. 
 
 . 441 
 
 15. 
 
 Peroz, . 
 
 .20 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 459 
 
 10. 
 
 Valens, . 
 
 Cobad, 4 . 
 
 . 4 
 
 0. 
 
 .479 
 
 
 .11 
 
 0. 
 
 .483 
 
 17. 
 
 Zames, > . 
 
 . 8 
 
 0. 
 
 .494 
 
 
 Cobad, ) . 
 
 . 30 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 502 
 
 18. 
 
 Chosroes, . 
 
 . 48 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 532 
 
 19. 
 
 
 . 8 
 
 0. 
 
 . 580 
 
 20. 
 
 Chosroes 11. 
 
 . 30 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 588 
 
 21. 
 
 Siroes, . 
 
 . 1 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 627 
 
 22. 
 
 Ardesir, (last male Sassanid, ) 2 
 
 6. 
 
 . 628 
 
 23. 
 
 Several usurpers, . 
 
 9, 
 
 0 . 
 
 
 Yesdijird, . 
 
 . 4 
 
 0 . 
 
 . 632 
 
 
 
 411 
 
 0 
 
 636 
 
 1 Vararanes III., predecessor of Narses, reigned only eight months. Difficulty 
 arises in identifying some of the names in consequence of the various spelling 
 employed by the Persian and the classical writers. 
 
 2 Hormisdas III. claimed the throne along with Peroz, but was slain in battle. 
 
 [Greek Warrior setting out for the Wars.— Panof. Bild. Antilc. Leb.] 
 
HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 Phrygia formed a part of that portion of Asia Minor called Asia Phrygia 
 Proper, which, besides, comprehended Mysia, Caria, and Lydia. The 
 origin of the name is altogether uncertain: the same may be said of 
 its precise boundaries. According to Ptolemy, it was included 
 within the 37th and 41st degrees of N. latitude, and extended in 
 longitude from 56 to 62 degrees. The people of Phrygia, which 
 comprehended several distinct tribes, dwelt on the great border line 
 between Europe and Asia. Thrace and Asia Minor were ethno- 
 logically connected. The Halys was the great boundary of Asia 
 Minor to the east, and separated the Semitic from the Japhetic 
 races. The country has been celebrated, in common with the wdiole 
 of Asia Minor, for' its fertility and the general salubrity of the 
 climate. 1 
 
 The origin of the Phrygians is unknown, but they always con- origin, &c. 
 sidered themselves as having the highest claims to antiquity of any 
 people in the world. They are said to have been extremely super¬ 
 stitious in their sentiments, and voluptuous in their character. The 
 creation of the Greek musical scale belongs to them, and it occupied 
 an intermediate place between the Lydian and Doric scales. 2 In 
 
 1 Forbiger, Handbuch der alt. Geog. p. II. 61. Strabo, xii. Herod, iv. 76. 
 
 2 Plutarch, De Musica, 5—7. 
 
416 
 
 HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 Ninnacus. 
 
 Mams. 
 
 Gordius. 
 
 their government they were monarchical, and, till a period approach¬ 
 ing the Trojan war, the whole country was under the dominion 
 of a single prince, as Ninnacus, Midas, Manis, Gordius, and his 
 descendants; but afterwards they became divided into petty sove¬ 
 reignties or provinces. In fact, the whole of the early Phrygian 
 history is legendary, and cannot be safely used for any historical 
 purpose. We give it merely as it is found in ancient authors. 
 Its mythical character will be sufficiently shown as we proceed with 
 its rehearsal. 
 
 Ninnacus, or Nannacus, who is also called Annaeus, or Cannacus, 
 was the first king of Phrygia of whom we possess any account, and 
 indeed the first whose name is transmitted to us in the records of 
 history. He is said to have lived before Deucalion’s Deluge, and 
 his times were proverbially referred to as descriptive of any thing 
 of remote or uncertain antiquity, lie lived to a great age. The 
 report is, that he attained to upwards of three hundred years; and 
 when he inquired of the oracles how long he should live, the answer 
 was, that at his death all things w r ere to perish. Instantly he 
 repaired to the temples of the gods, accompanied by the chief of his 
 subjects, and uttered the most lamentable cries and groans to pro¬ 
 cure a change of this awful decree. From these circumstances 
 originated the expression—“ to weep like Nannacus,” as indicative 
 of excessive grief. 
 
 From another king named Manis was derived the phrase, “manic 
 achievements,” which, among the Phrygians, denoted such as were 
 very extraordinary and heroic; for this prince is represented as 
 eminent for military valour and for virtue. 
 
 Gordius was remarkable for having ascended from the plough to 
 the throne. The story, as given by the historians, is, in its chief 
 outlines, as follows. Perhaps the reader may be amused with it as 
 a fable, founded, however, probably, on some basis of fact. While 
 engaged, on one occasion, in his rural employment, an eagle settled 
 upon the yoke, and continued perched there the whole of the day. 
 This, of course, produced alarm in a superstitious mind, and, con¬ 
 sidering it as something portentous, he went to a city in Lydia to 
 consult the soothsayers. On entering Telmissus, the celebrated 
 resort of diviners, he met a beautiful girl, who answered to his 
 inquiries after the sages he sought, that she was herself well skilled 
 in the art, and that the prodigy he related was designed to intimate 
 his elevation to a kingdom; and with more of ambition, it must be 
 admitted, than of modesty, she proposed to him to share the royalty 
 to which he was born, by becoming his wife. Gordius, however, 
 was by no means so scrupulous as to deny her request. Soon after 
 this, a sedition having broken out, the oracles unanimously advised 
 the choice of a king, and, upon a second application to them to point 
 out the favoured individual, they assured the embassy that the first 
 man who visited the temple of Jupiter in a cart, after their return, 
 
MIDAS. 
 
 417 
 
 was appointed by the gods to that office. In this manner, the lot 
 fell upon Gordius, who was the person so circumstanced, and in 
 gratitude for his elevation, he consecrated the cart to regal majesty 
 in the temple, which was afterwards, both by them and other 
 nations, adored as a goddess. He fastened a knot to the beam of The Gordian 
 the cart so curiously perplexed, that the oracles promised the knot ' 
 dominion of the world to him who should untie it. Alexander, 
 having attempted, like others, in vain, at last cut it through with 
 his sword—a circumstance which has given birth to a well-known 
 proverbial saying. 1 
 
 Midas was the son and successor of Gordius. Plutarch 2 says, Midas, 
 that he was born of the goddess worshipped under the name of Bona 
 Dea, by the Eomans. Several circumstances are related of him, 
 some of which savour of the fabulous antiquity when they were 
 invented, or of the overweening credulity of the historians by whom 
 they are told. When he was asleep one day, in his childhood, a 
 swarm of ants is reported to have been busily engaged in conveying 
 their stores of wheat into his mouth. This, of course, required a 
 consultation with the all-divining oracles, who were pleased to 
 intimate that it imported immense riches. This prediction, if such 
 it really was, proved in the end to be correct; for his great opulence 
 is the theme of all the ancient writers. He is said to have obtained 
 large treasures from the mines of metal on Mount Bermius, and 
 which, in all probability, were discovered during his reign. 
 
 Conon 3 mentions his having found a treasure, and becoming in His Treasure, 
 consequence very rich, and his having, by various artifices, obtained 
 the royal dignity among the Brygians. It is also affirmed, that in his 
 reign Silenus appeared on Mount Brime. Whatever he touched is 
 declared to have turned immediately into gold; and availing himself 
 of this superiority, he induced his subjects to remove from Europe 
 into the country on the Hellespont, and settling in Mysia, he 
 exchanged the original name of his subjects from Brygians to 
 Phrygians. 
 
 Orpheus is represented as the instructor of Midas in the mysteries Orpheus his 
 of religion, or, as we should rather say, in the absurdities of the lnstructor - 
 existing superstitions ; and so devoted was his mind to the subject, 
 that he was not contented with the dulness of mere learning, but 
 aspired to the glory of invention, introducing into Phrygia new 
 deities, new temples, new rites and ceremonies, and orders of priest¬ 
 hood. The custom of mourning over the dead in solemn dirges 
 and lamentations, is attributed to him as its inventor. He also set 
 a pre-eminent example of this mode of rendering funereal honours, 
 by annually mourning over his departed mother. This, according 
 to Suidas, led the people eventually to pay her divine reverence as 
 a goddess. As to his works of public utility, we have an account of 
 
 1 Arrian, II. 3; Justin, xi. 7. 2 In Vit. Csesaris. 3 Ap. Phot. Bibl. 
 
 [E. O. H.] 2 E 
 
418 
 
 HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 his building the city of Ancyra; and Pausanias relates, that in the 
 temple of Jupiter in that place, was to be seen an anchor which 
 he had contrived. 
 
 His person. In person Midias is represented as very comely and attractive: 
 
 and a similar eminence is attributed to his wife, who is moreover 
 celebrated for her wisdom. She is stated to have instructed the 
 inhabitants of Cyme in the art of coining money. The Greek 
 proverb, M/S«j As cUtx; that is, “ Midas has ass’s ears,” has rendered 
 his name peculiarly notorious. In a trial of skill, as the poets have 
 it, between Pan and Apollo, who rivalled each other in music, 
 Midas pronounced in favour of Pan,—a decision which so incensed 
 Apollo, that he fixed a pair of ass’s ears on his head, as a badge of 
 His ass’s ears, ignorance. This disgraceful appendage, however, he contrived to 
 conceal under his diadem, till it was at length detected by his 
 barber, who treacherously disclosed the vexatious secret. Others, 
 with equal probability, affirm, that Bacchus, upon some affront, 
 metamorphosed him into an ass. 
 
 Midas is said to have reigned over Dardania as well as Phrygia; 
 but this is uncertain. Cleobulus Lyndius composed an epitaph for 
 his monument, which has been erroneously ascribed to Homer. 
 
 Gordius ii. Gordius II. succeeded Midas, but lias left behind him no record, 
 Ancharus. excepting the surrounding of Gordium with a wall. Ancliarus, his 
 brother, followed, who is remarkable for having performed a similar 
 self-sacrifice with that which afterwards gave such celebrity in 
 Roman story to the name of Curtius. During the reign of his 
 father, Midas, a considerable part of the city of Celcena is said to 
 have been destroyed by an earthquake, which left a permanent chasm. 
 The oracles, upon being consulted, gave intimation that the earth 
 would not close up again till the most valuable thing in life were 
 thrown into it. Immediately upon the report of this answer, the 
 inhabitants volunteered their gold, silver, and jewels, but without 
 effect; till Ancharus, taking the resolution to sacrifice life itself, as 
 the most valuable of all considerations, and that life his own, bade 
 an affectionate farewell to his father and his wife Timothea, 
 and rode at full speed into the chasm, which instantly closed over 
 him. 
 
 otreus. Otreus, the next in succession, is scarcely known to fame; and 
 
 Lityerses. after him Lityerses is known only to be despised for his gluttony 
 and drunkenness, except by the Phrygian labourers in the harvest 
 field, in which he himself is reported to have worked. It is added, 
 that he compelled reapers to join him, and then cut off their heads, 
 to bind in the sheaves,—a species of cruelty which is scarcely 
 credible, since it would have exposed himself to extreme danger. 
 Accordingly, Hercules is stated to have despatched him on account of 
 these enormities. 
 
 Midas II. reigned over all Phrygia; but his parentage is unknown. 
 He had no better title to the throne than usurpation. Having 
 
 Miclas II. 
 
PHRYGIA MINOR. 
 
 419 
 
 given out that he should offer a sacrifice to the gods, he marched 
 out of the town of Gordium, at the head of a large party, with great 
 pomp and concealed daggers: the citizens following in vast mul¬ 
 titudes, were suddenly attacked, and the city seized by the con¬ 
 spirators. 
 
 Gordius III. appears to have succeeded the former monarch; Gordius hi. 
 and after him came his son, Midas III., of whom it is recorded, that Midasiu. 
 he presented the Delphian oracle with a royal seat, or tribunal, of 
 exquisite workmanship. 
 
 Midas IV. reigned about b.c. 635, when the Cimmerians, invad- Midas iv. 
 ing Asia Minor, after their expulsion from Europe by the Scythians, 
 took possession of Sardis, and pressed hard upon the Phrygians, as 
 well as the Lydians and Paphlagonians. Midas, in despair of being- 
 extricated from his difficulties, poisoned himself with bull’s blood. 
 
 He had two sons, of whom Adrastus was sent into exile by his father, for 
 having accidentally killed his brother. He was, however, received 
 into the court of Croesus, the Lydian king; where, strange to relate, 
 after having been intrusted with the education of his patron’s 
 favourite son, Atys, he killed him also accidentally at the chase; 
 and in consequence, though Croesus forgave him, he put an end to 
 Iris own life. Phrygia henceforth became a province of Lydia, till 
 Cyrus reduced the whole under his dominion. 
 
 Phrygia Minor was a small territory, comprehended between the Phrygia 
 40th and 42d degrees of N. latitude, with a trifling extent of longi- Minor - 
 tude. It included the maritime tract called Hellespontiaca, and the 
 Mediterranean, termed Epictetus. Part of the former was called 
 Troas or Troia. In general, Phrygia Minor may be said to have 
 had for its boundaries the Propontis on the north, the iEgean sea 
 on the south, Mysia on the east, and the Hellespont on the west. The 
 inhabitants acquired the appellation of Trojans, from the chief city, 
 called Troy or Ilium, a place which the poems of Homer and Virgil 
 have immortalized. 
 
 The inhabitants of Phrygia Minor were undoubtedly a very ancient Origin, ana 
 people, but of uncertain origin. It is supposed by Bochart, that the particulars, 
 lesser Phrygia was colonised by the eldest son of Gomer, because of 
 the resemblance perceptible between his name, Ashkenaz, and 
 several of the lakes, rivers, islands, cities, and inhabitants. Mon¬ 
 archy seems to have been their earliest and settled form of govern¬ 
 ment. At first the country consisted of petty principalities, but 
 these gradually subsided into the general dominions of the Trojan 
 kings. Very little information can be communicated respecting 
 these people, but the ancients describe them as eminent amongst 
 the polite and civilized nations of that remote period of time. That 
 they addicted themselves early to trade and navigation is apparent 
 from their settlements in Thrace, Peloponnesus, Sicily, Italy, Egypt, 
 and Africa. Their religion, generally speaking, if religion it may 
 be called, resembled that of the inhabitants of the greater Phrygia. 
 
420 
 
 HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 Apollo 
 
 Sminthius. 
 
 Teucer. 
 
 Dardanus. 
 
 Erichtho- 
 
 nius. 
 
 Among their deities, however, one was remarkable. His appella¬ 
 tion was Apollo Sminthius, from a Phrygian word signifying field- 
 mouse ; and the tradition is, that mice having committed such 
 ravages in their fields, the inhabitants deemed it necessary to 
 have recourse to the oracle at Delphos, and received for answer, 
 that they should be delivered from that plague if they sacrificed to 
 Sminthian Apollo. They obeyed accordingly, and erected and 
 dedicated a temple to their deliverer in Amaxito, a city of Troas. 
 Others, however, state, that their worship of mice originated in their 
 having obtained a complete victory, on one occasion, over their 
 enemies, in consequence of these vermin coadjutors having gnawed 
 the bow-strings of their enemies, and thus disabled them for battle. 
 The worship of the Sminthian Apollo was introduced into other 
 countries; Strabo refers to a temple dedicated to this mouse-god in 
 the isle of Tenedos. 
 
 Teucer is usually considered as the first Trojan king. He was 
 the son of Scamander and Ida, but some historians represent him as 
 the last of a series of sovereigns, among whom Cynthius is named. 
 It is difficult and unimportant to ascertain the precise fact; and even 
 with regard to Teircer little more can be discovered than that he 
 was fortunate in all his enterprises, of which none are recorded, and 
 imparted his own name to that of the country over which he reigned. 
 
 Dardanus is said to have succeeded Teucer, though some authors 
 represent him as his predecessor. He was the son of Corytus, 
 king of Samothrace, which kingdom he inherited; and after his 
 ascent to the throne of his ancestors he erected a temple and 
 instituted religious ceremonies in honour of Pallas and other 
 divinities. This proceeding enhanced his reputation for wisdom 
 and piety so much, that Teucer, inviting him into Phrygia, gave 
 him his daughter in marriage, and appointed him to be his successor. 
 During his reign he extended the bounds of his dominions by con¬ 
 quest, being engaged in war with the Paphlagonians. He built two 
 cities, of which one was named after himself, Dardania; and he paid 
 great attention to the adjustment of civil and religious regulations. 
 The Palladium, or statue of Pallas, was brought by his orders into 
 Phrygia. Some affirm there were two such statues, and that the 
 oracle declared that neither of the cities in which they were kept, 
 should ever be exposed to any calamities. 
 
 Erichthonius, the son and successor of the former, imitated the 
 illustrious example of his father, and acquired, in consequence, a 
 similar respect from his subjects. The great object of his life was 
 to maintain an uninterrupted peace with the other states, and this 
 tranquillity furnished him with the means of enriching his own 
 kingdom. His reign was prolonged to the period of at least forty- 
 six years; or, according to some, to seventy-five. 
 
 Erichthonius had only one son, named Tros, who took possession 
 of the throne upon his father’s decease. At the commencement of 
 
 Tros. 
 
TROS-ILUS. 
 
 421 
 
 his reign, he laid the foundations of the city of Troy, which has since 
 become so illustrious in the annals of history. All the neighbouring 
 princes, excepting Tantalus, were invited to attend the dedication of 
 the city. The neglected prince 
 soon resented the offensive treat¬ 
 ment he had received, by detain¬ 
 ing and ill-using Ganymedes, the 
 son of Tros, who was passing 
 through the territories of Tantalus 
 with presents to Jupiter Europaeus. 
 
 The young man died of grief, 
 and soon afterwards his father followed him to the grave in conse¬ 
 quence of the double affliction he suffered for the loss of his favourite 
 child, and the failure of the war into which his resentment had 
 instigated him. He is said to have reigned forty-nine, or, according 
 to some authors, nearly sixty years. He left three sons, Ilus, 
 Ganymedes, and Assaracus; and one daughter, Cleomestra. She 
 had one son, named Lyersus, the father of that Antenor who was so Antenor. 
 much celebrated for his sagacity. He was sent by Priam as ambas¬ 
 sador into Greece, to demand his sister Hesione, who had been 
 carried captive by Hercules, and bestowed on Talamon. He was, 
 however, improperly treated, which provoked him on his return to 
 excite Priam and his sons against them; but when the ambassadors 
 of Greece were sent to demand Helena, he generously entertained 
 them, and laid the plan of their safe conveyance out of Troy, from 
 the designs of Priam’s sons. Upon being despatched upon a second 
 embassy into Greece, he is believed to have acted a traitorous part, 
 as Priam would not listen to any conditions of peace for which 
 Antenor was solicitous. When the city was captured, it is certain 
 the Greeks spared and protected Antenor; but Livy and others 
 consider this kindness as resulting solely from their recollection of 
 his former hospitality. The prejudices of the Trojans, who remained, 
 compelled him to withdraw from Troas; and the Heneti, who were 
 forming a new settlement, chose him for their king. Having gone 
 up the Adriatic gulf, they landed among the Euganei, whom they 
 expelled, and settled under the name of Veniti, in their territory. 
 
 The town which the refugees built was called Troy. Antenor had 
 several sons, some of whom are said to have reigned in Phrygia, till 
 driven out by Hector’s sons. 
 
 Hus was successor to his father Tros, and reigned forty years, iius. 
 
 He pursued the war against Tantalus with such rigour, that he 
 eventually dispossessed him of his kingdom, and annexed it to 
 Phrygia. Ilus has the character of a good prince, having applied 
 himself to the framing of useful laws, and the construction of stately 
 edifices. On one occasion he rescued the Palladium from the 
 temple of Pallas, which had been set on fire by lightning; but he 
 lost his sight by his zeal, which was afterwards happily restored. 
 
 [Coin of Ilium, in the Troad.] 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 Tithonus. 
 
 Laomedon. 
 
 Priam. 
 
 Rape of 
 Helen. 
 
 The Greek, 
 forces. 
 
 Ilus left two sons, Tithonus, who, at his father’s death, was 
 employed in foreign wars, and Laomedon, who assumed the govern¬ 
 ment. lie built the citadel of Troy by means of the treasures 
 lodged in the temples of Neptune and Apollo. Hence he was said 
 to have been aided by those deities. Several inundations and a 
 plague occurred in his time, which were considered as the effects of 
 Neptune’s and Apollo’s anger on account of the profanation of their 
 temples. As he had treated Jason and the Argonauts in an inhospi¬ 
 table manner, Hercules afterwards returned and plundered his city. 
 In this war Hercules slew Laomedon; and at last put to death all 
 his five sons, excepting Priam. 
 
 Podarces, the only survivor, has acquired the surname of Priam, 
 from a Greek term, signifying to ransom, as he had been ransomed, 
 together with his sister Hesione, from the captivity of Hercules, and 
 restored to his ancestral throne. He began his reign by building a 
 wall round the city of Troy, and afterwards he constructed towers, 
 castles, acqueducts, and other works of public xrtility. Most of the 
 neighbouring states were subjected to his authority, which was 
 acquired and maintained by a large standing army. It was in the 
 reign of this prince that the ever-memorable war between the 
 Greeks and Trojans occurred, the exploits of which history and 
 poetry have celebrated. It originated in the rape of Helen, by 
 Paris, the son of Priam by his second wife, Hecuba. Helen is 
 represented as the most beautiful woman of Greece, and Priam sup¬ 
 ported his son in an action too general at that period, but justly 
 reprobated by all civilized nations. She had before been seized by 
 Theseus, and her father, as Thucydides relates, in order to prevent 
 the recurrence of a similar disaster, induced her suitors, who con¬ 
 sisted of the most eminent princes of Greece, to take an oath to 
 rescue her in case of her being taken from Menelaus, the husband 
 of her choice. This occasioned the combination which existed in 
 her favour, in which Agamemnon, the brother of the injured hus¬ 
 band, united; and in a general assembly, war was resolved upon 
 against Troy, and Agamemnon appointed commander-in-chief. 
 According to the best historians, the Greeks employed at least a 
 thousand ships in this contest , 1 and the average amount of men may 
 be reckoned at from eighty to eighty-five to each ship; a number 
 which does not seem very great, considering the extent of the con¬ 
 federacy ; but Thucydides remarks, that they were apprehensive of 
 being distressed for provisions. Troy, however, proved no easy 
 conquest, but resisted the assailants during no less a period than ten 
 years; for the greatest part of Asia Minor had espoused their 
 quarrel. Aware of the opposition they were likely to encounter, 
 the Greeks began their operations by attempting to negotiate for 
 the restoration of Llelen, and the treasures which Paris had carried 
 
 1 Homer enumerates 118G; Thucydides calculates them at 1200. 
 
THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 423 
 
 off with her; but Menelaus and Ulysses, the ambassadors, returned 
 without accomplishing their mission. 
 
 It is related by Herodotus, from an Egyptian tradition, that Paris, Paris, 
 when returning with Helen, was driven by stress of weather to the 
 coast of Egypt, and landed on the Canopian side of the Nile. Some 
 of the slaves fled for refuge to a temple of Hercules, and reported 
 their master’s conduct to Thonis, the governor of the province, who 
 reported the tale to Proteus, the reigning monarch. He immediately 
 resolved on detaining Helen and the treasures, with the view of 
 restoring them, and ordered Paris to quit the country in three days. 
 
 Hence, when the Greeks sent to demand Helen and the treasures in 
 question, the Trojans are said to have replied, that neither were in 
 their possession, but in the power of Proteus. This reply was 
 looked upon as an evasion; but when the city was reduced, the 
 Trojans persisted in their former assertion, so that Menelaus went 
 into Egypt, where he was kindly received, and regained his wife. 
 
 The first eight or nine years of the Trojan war were employed by The Trojan 
 the Greeks in pillaging the coasts, and reducing the islands or cities war ' 
 that were in the opposite interest; but at length they united in one 
 compact body, and approached the city. Soon after this investment, 
 a plague broke out in the camp, occasioned by their being in the 
 midst of fens and marshes, and beneath a burning sun. This was 
 followed by a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, the latter 
 of whom withdrew with his forces to the ships. In the interval 
 several severe battles were fought. Patroclus was slain by Hector; 
 but Hector himself fell by the hands of Achilles, who had returned to 
 the war with augmented ferocity. Achilles was, in his turn, fatally 
 wounded with an arrow, shot by Paris. The city was at length 
 
 [Ajax, Hector, and Patroclus.— Panof. Bild. Antik. Leb .j 
 
424 
 
 HISTORY OF PHRYGIA. 
 
 The wooden 
 Horse. 
 
 ./Eneas. 
 
 The Legend. 
 
 taken in the night; but it is uncertain whether by assault or 
 treachery. The poets say it was accomplished by the stratagem of 
 the wooden horse, crowded with soldiers,—a myth which has been 
 thought to signify that the Greeks entered by the Scsean gate, over 
 which the statue of a horse was placed. Others are more disposed 
 to interpret it literally, and to give the Greeks credit for the bold 
 and ingenious contrivance. Their success was dishonourably 
 employed in the practice of innumerable cruelties upon the van¬ 
 quished, and in the total destruction of the city. The date generally 
 assigned to this transaction is B.c. 1184. Such of the Trojans as 
 escaped settled in different countries. iEneas fixed his residence in 
 Italy, and founded the kingdom of Alba. The Eoman emperors 
 boasted of their descent from this illustrious personage. A degree 
 of doubt, however, exists upon this point; and by some authors 
 iEneas is represented as having collected his dispersed countrymen, 
 and rebuilt the city, over which his descendants presided. ' Others 
 affirm, and with greater probability, that the Phrygians and Lydians 
 became possessed of the ruined territory, and imparted the name of 
 Phrygia to Troas. 
 
 Such are the legendary annals of an ancient people—having in it 
 many points of fact, disguised in the garb of poetical story. The 
 legend of Troy is so varied and contradictory, that it is impossible 
 to harmonize it into a continuous narrative. 1 It was a magnificent 
 romance, in which mingled gods, heroes, and men—in which was 
 sung the beauty of Helen, the wisdom of LTlysses, the bravery of 
 Achilles, and the lofty dignity of Agamemnon. The Homeric poems 
 were cherished by the Greeks as exhibiting a glorious pan-Hellenic 
 movement against discomfited Asiatic barbarians. 
 
 1 Fuchs, de varietate Fabularum Troicanim. Dio Chrysostom overthrows the 
 entire Homeric story, and constructs another, according to his conceptions of pro¬ 
 bability. Orat. xi. p. 310. 
 
[Mount Lebanon and Cedars.] 
 
 HISTORY OF PHOENICIA. 
 
 Phoenicia Proper, according to the ancient geographers, was Names, 
 bounded by Syria on the north and east, on the west by the Medi¬ 
 terranean, and on the south by Palestine. It was a small strip of 
 territory, not more than one hundred and twenty miles in length, 
 and on an average twenty in breadth. Some derive its name from 
 Phoenix, one of its ancient kings, and son of Agenor; others from 
 the Greek word <p 0 'mf, a palm, as if that tree grew in abundance in 
 this country. Others refer it to the Red Sea, or sea of Idumea. 
 Vossius 1 says, “ <£omf is the same with red, thence the 
 
 Latins from aotuUiog made puniceus. and from poenus .” He 
 
 affirms that the Tyrians came from the Idumean Sea; and concludes 
 that from the Idumeans, or posterity of Esau, the Red Sea was 
 styled “ Erytlirseum marewhence the transplanted Tyrians were 
 styled (poli/ixs;, Phoenicians. Others again derive the name from 
 0ouo;, slaughter. These are all purely Greek derivatives; and the 
 origination of the name is far more probably Hebrew. Scaliger, 
 Fuller, and Glassius, all agree to derive the name from the Chaldaic, 
 
 1 De Idol. lib. i. c. 34. 
 
426 
 
 HISTORY OF PHCENICIA. 
 
 Territory. 
 
 Cities. 
 
 Tyre. 
 
 Religion. 
 
 33 n to live delicately , referring to the luxury of the Tyrians, as mer¬ 
 chants ; whence <poivtx.au, the name of Phoenicians, q. d. r^vipe^os, 
 delicate. But the most probable solution is that of Bochart, who 
 derives the Greek word <$oiv/%, from the Hebrew p39 ’33 or p the son 
 or sons of Anak. From this Canaanitish name (and there can be no 
 question that the Phoenicians were Canaanites) Ben-Anak, or con¬ 
 tracted, BeanaJc, the Grecians at first formed (peavax ., thence <p6ivi%, 
 and (paivixrt —Phoenicia—it being very usual with them to turn 2 into 
 <p, as from niw a%<pu., arrhabo 
 
 This territory was generally considered by the ancients as a pro¬ 
 vince of Syria: and it is rather remarkable that Herodotus indiscrim¬ 
 inately makes use of the three names, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Syria, 
 as if they were the same country. The two principal cities of Phoe¬ 
 nicia, or Phoenice, were Tyre and Sidon ; both of which were situated 
 on the sea coast. Sidon, which was the metropolis of the country, 
 derived its name from Sidon, the son of Canaan, by whom it was 
 built. The city of Tyre also stood about two hundred furlongs to 
 the south of Sidon, and was built upon an island half a mile distant 
 from the shore, and surrounded with a wall a hundred and fifty feet 
 in height, and broader in proportion. Some, such as Yolney and 
 Heeren, hold, without proof, that the ancient Tyre was built on the 
 continent, and the new or second Tyre, on an island. There seem 
 to have been two cities, one insular, and the other on the main¬ 
 land ; perhaps joined originally, as long afterwards, by a mole. 2 
 Agenon is considered as its founder by the Greeks. It does not 
 appear to have been of very considerable extent, though, on this 
 point, ancient geographers are much divided. Phoenicia, besides 
 Tyre and Sidon, contained many considerable cities: Aradus, 
 Orthosia, Tripolis, Byblus, Berytus, and Sarepta, were situated on 
 the coast of Phoenice. Tyre and Sidon now present only a mass of 
 ruins to the eye of the traveller. Both the soil and the climate 
 of this country are excellent. It is watered by rivers, which take 
 their rise from Mount Libanus, the celebrated Lebanon of the Bible; 
 and these streams, when swollen by rains, or the melting of the 
 snow from the mountains, overflow their banks, and inundate the 
 country. 
 
 The Phoenicians were undoubtedly Canaanites by descent. Small 
 as was their country, it was still divided into many petty kingdoms, 
 of which the principal were Sidon and Tyre. The people of Phoenice 
 worshipped Baal, whose name signifies Lord, and who was the 
 Assyrian Jupiter. Astarte, the Hebrew Ashtaroth, and the Grecian 
 Aphrodite, was also one of their superior deities. She was repre¬ 
 sented, like the Egyptian Isis, with the horns of a cow upon her 
 head. The death of Adonis, or Thammuz, was annually lamented 
 by the Phoenician women. To this superstition the poet refers:— 
 
 1 See Gale’s Court of the Gentiles, vol. i. b. i. c. iii. p. 18, 19. 
 
 2 Hengstenberg, De Rebus Tyriorum. Berlin, 1832. 
 
ARTS AND SCIENCES—COMMERCE. 
 
 427 
 
 -Thammuz came next behind, 
 
 Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur’d 
 The Syrian damsels to lament his fate 
 In amorous ditties all a summer’s day ; 
 
 While smooth Adonis, from his native rock, 
 
 Ran purple to the sea, suppos’d with blood 
 Of Thammuz yearly wounded ;— 
 
 and it was arraigned by a greater than the poet, when Ezekiel, in 
 his vision of the abominations of Israel, says, “ He brought me to 
 the door of the gate of the Lord’s house, which was towards the 
 north, and behold , there sat women weeping for Tammuz In Tyre 
 was also placed the magnificent temple of the great god Melkarth, 
 
 (King of the City,) the Hercules of the Greeks, a deity found in all 
 the colonial settlements of Phoenicia. 1 The Phoenicians also worship¬ 
 ped the seven kabirim or great gods, the same in number as the 
 planets. 
 
 The Phoenicians were skilled in astronomy and arithmetic; and Arts and 
 to them is attributed the invention of letters. According to Hero- Sciences - 
 dotus, Cadmus, a Phoenician by birth, first introduced letters into 
 Greece. 2 The people of Phoenicia were also noted for the manufac¬ 
 ture of fine linen, the glass of Sidon, and the purple of Tyre. The 
 u Sidonia arsf was a common proverb amongst the ancients; and 
 the epithet “ Sidonian ” was used by way of emphasis to express 
 whatever was elegant or magnificent. Even in Homer’s song Sidonian 
 manufactures were highly prized by the warlike chiefs. 3 As mer¬ 
 chants, navigators, and colonists, they had no equals, nor even 
 rivals, for many ages. In ancient times, then’ country was a great 
 warehouse, in which might be found all the necessaries and luxuries 
 of human life ; and it was long and justly considered as the emporium 
 of the east. Their commerce by sea extended from then- own Commerce, 
 shores even to the British islands, to Spain, to the ports of the 
 Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the lake Marotis. According 
 to some etymologists, our own country derived its name of Britain 
 from these Phoenician navigators and merchants, who designated 
 these islands, from the minerals with which they most abounded, 
 mi, Barat-anac, or Bratanac, from the abundance of tin and lead 
 mines found in them. 4 By land they carried on an extensive trade 
 with Syria, Assyria, Persia, Arabia, and India. Phoenicia sent out 
 several colonies to various parts of the world; and Carthage, 
 
 Utica, and Gades are indebted for their existence as states to Plioe- Navigation, 
 nician founders. As an evidence of their skill in navigation, it is 
 stated that some Phoenician adventurers, in the service of Necho, 
 king of Egypt, undertook, and completed a voyage round Africa, 
 
 1 Movers, die Religion der Phonicier, p. 420. 
 
 2 Cadmus is from Qlp—east. Cadmus, “ an eastern man,” is the mythic symbol 
 of the truth, there the use of letters came into Greece from an oriental source. 
 
 3 Iliad, vi. 290. 4 See Sammes’s Britannia. 
 
428 
 
 HISTORY OF PHOENICIA. 
 
 Language. 
 
 Annals. 
 
 Kings of 
 Sidon. 
 
 Tetramnes- 
 
 tus. 
 
 sailing out of the Red Sea, and returning through the straits of 
 Gibraltar. As the Phoenicians were of Hamite descent, then’ lan¬ 
 guage was identical with the ancient Hebrew or tongue of Canaan. 
 Hebrew was the speech of Canaan when Abraham came to sojourn 
 in it. The punic tongue of Carthage, after many years separation from 
 the mother country, preserved a close resemblance to Hebrew, as is 
 noted by Jerom and Augustine, and as may be seen in the Poenulus 
 of Plautus. The first of the three following lines is the Punic, dis¬ 
 guised in Roman characters, and as it occurs in the drama, the 
 second is the same rightly arranged, and presented in Hebrew letters, 
 and the third is a representation of the Punic to the English eye:— 
 
 Ythalonim, vualonuth si choratliisima consyth. 
 
 :rm jinno' mi a© rmvbsn nuvbs? ns n: 
 
 Na eth eljonim veeljonoth sechorath yismecun zoth 
 
 This reading is in Latin,— 
 
 Royo deos et dcas , qui lianc reyionem tuentur, — 
 
 Which is in perfect harmony with the Latin Comedian’s own trans¬ 
 lation— 
 
 Deos Deasque veneror, qui hanc uvbem colunt— 
 
 I venerate the gods and goddesses who patronize this city. 1-2 
 
 According to the doubtful records of Greece, Agenor was the 
 first king of Phoenicia, and the founder of Tyre, b.c. 1497. 1 2 3 Upon 
 the same authority, it is affirmed that he was succeeded by his son 
 Phoenix; next to whom stands the name of Phalis. This is the 
 meagre, and, perhaps, fabulous account given us of the first kings 
 of Phoenicia by the Grecian writers. 
 
 After Sidon, who was, according to Josephus, the first monarch 
 of the city bearing his name, we do not meet with the record of a 
 single prince until b.c. 598, when we read of a monarch whose 
 name is not known, but who is said, by Jeremiah, to have sent 
 ambassadors to Jerusalem to propose a league with Zedekiah 
 against Nebuchadnezzar. In point of order we are next introduced 
 to Tetramnestus, who assisted Xerxes in his Grecian expedition, b.c. 
 481, and after him to Tennes; at which time, it appears, that 
 Phccnice was tributary to Persia. Tennes and the Sidonians having 
 
 1 Bocharti Phaleg. ii. c. ii. 
 
 2 Useful and interesting information on this subject will be found in that clever 
 and ingenious volume of Gesenius—Scripturas lingufeque Phoenicise monuments, 
 edita et inedita. Leipzig, 1837. 
 
 3 Buttmann says (Mythologie, i. p. 232) that the real name of Agenor was Chnas 
 —the same as Canaan—the son of Ham, and father of these nations. 
 
KINGS OF TYRE. 
 
 429 
 
 determined to throw off the Persian yoke, entered into an alliance 
 with Nectanebus, king of Egypt, and, assisted by a body of Greek 
 troops, drove the Persians out of the country. Darius Ochus, 
 enraged at this defeat, marched an immense army into Phoenicia, City of 
 and laid siege to Sidon. The Sidonians, when they saw that the Sldon ' 
 Persian was upon the point of entering the town, set lire to their 
 houses and possessions, and died amidst the ruins of their city, B.c. 
 
 351. The city was afterwards rebuilt, and Strato invested with the 
 sovereignty, until he was deposed by Alexander the Great, b.c. b.c. 333. 
 333. The crown of Sidon was then bestowed by the conqueror 
 upon Ballonymus, who is called Abdolomius, by Quintus Curtius; 
 and after this event Phoenice became a part of the great Macedonian 
 empire. 
 
 Abibal is the first king of Tyre mentioned by Josephus, of whom Kings of 
 we only know that he was David’s contemporary, and lived B.c. 1056. mram. 
 
 Pie was succeeded by his son Pliram, 1046, the friend and ally of 
 David and Solomon; by whom the latter monarch was considerably 
 assisted in building his celebrated temple, and whose daughter he 
 married. He was succeeded by Baleazer, b.c. 1012 ; and according 
 to Josephus, Abdastartus, Astartus, Astarmius, and Phelles, followed 
 him in direct succession. It appears, on the authority of the same 
 historian, that Ithobal ascended the throne of Tyre and Sidon, b.c. 
 
 962, followed by his son Badezon, by Mettinus, and next by Pyg¬ 
 malion, to whose sister, Elisa, called also Dido, the honour of having Dido, 
 been the founder of Carthage is attributed by Virgil. To Pygmalion 
 succeeded Elulseus, b c. 717 ; then Ithobal II. in the year b.c. 585 ; 
 after whom was a suspension of royalty, and Tyre was governed by 
 judges, b.c. 562. The regal dignity was restored in the person of 
 Balaton, b.c. 556, who was followed in an unbroken hue of succes¬ 
 sion by Merbal, Irom, Marten, Strato, and Azelmie. Under this 
 latter king, b.c. 332, Tyre was taken and burnt by Alexander the 
 Great. 
 
 [Tjre.] 
 
 * 
 

 
 
 [Ancient Costumes —Lydia, Media, Persia Phrygia, Judea, Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor.— Sargent .] 
 
 0 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF EGYPT 
 
 AFRICA.— EGYPT, LIBYA, AND ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Libya— Lay in Northern Africa,and was first settled by Greeks and Phoenicians, whose colonies 
 lay along- the sea coast. The Byzantes located themselves in Carthage, and in the most fertile 
 parts of the adjacent country. The aborigines were descendants of Phut, the third son of Ham. 
 
 ? Colony of Ammonicum. 
 
 Ethiopia —Comprehending a large territory in the south and east of Egypt, was peopled by 
 the descendants of Ham. The Ethiopians were descended from Cush, from whom sprang Nimrod, 
 the first to usurp dominion over his fellow-men. 
 
 ? Colonies from Ethiopia (according to some) carry civilization, religion, and the priest-caste into 
 Egypt. 
 
 Egypt —“ The ancient chronology of Egypt,” says Howard, “ is a labyrinth, from which it is 
 impossible for us, at this day, to extricate ourselves.” “According to Josephus, the country, after¬ 
 wards called Egypt, was originally named Mesren, and the people Mesraisi, and he considers these 
 names to be derived from Misraim, who is reckoned by Moses one of the sons of Ham. The extent 
 of the territory so named is uncertain; it was seated'on the banks of the Nile, and may possibly 
 have been occupied in very ancient times by several distinct tribes.”— Sir J. Stoddart’s Intro, to 
 Universal History. Others suppose that the people by whom Egypt was colonised came from 
 India. Among them the priest-ctate predominated, the members of which occupied all the state 
 offices, and were, probably, the first civilized tribe. “ It seems to us the only rational opinion 
 to suppose that Mizraim, the son of Ham, and the first colonists, passed out of Asia into Lower 
 Egypt, and settling at Heliopolis or Memphis, laid the foundation of that marvellous kingdom, 
 whose wisdom, arts, and labours, have given to it a singular and imperishable fame.”— Eadie’s 
 Oriental History. 
 
 Fabulous and Mythical Period. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 ! Osiris civilizes the barbarian inhabitants 
 of Egypt; he teaches them various arts, 
 and, assisted by his wife (who is also his 
 sister) and by His counsellor Hermes, he 
 carries civilization, literature, and the 
 arts into Ethiopia, Arabia, and India. 
 Having founded Macedonia, he returns 
 home and is slain by his brother Typhon, 
 who cuts him into twenty-six pieces. 
 Being restored to life and soundness, he 
 proceeds w ith his work of humanizing 
 and elevating mankind. 
 
 ? Animal worship; superstition the basis of 
 civilization and order; mythological de¬ 
 lusions the foundation on which the 
 whole fabric of the priestly power in 
 Egypt was built, and which maintained 
 its sway for above 2000 years. 
 
 1 Misraim and his family colonize Egypt; 
 the city of Thebes or “No-Ammon” 
 founded (Dr. Hales 2613—2412) ?2188. 
 
 \ Dynasty of Menes. —(Dr. Hales 2412—2159.) 
 
 “ It seems probable,” says Sir John Stod- 
 dart, “ that Menes is an allegorical 
 being, indicating the power of mind 
 over brute material instincts, as dis¬ 
 played in reducing the barbarous in¬ 
 habitants of Egypt, India, and Crete, 
 under the yoke of civil polity.” 
 
 2412 Menes overthrows the Patriarchal govern¬ 
 ment of Misraim, and establishes the 
 
 B.C. 
 
 kingly government; he teaches religion, 
 builds the temple of Vulcan, institutes 
 laws, divides the country between the 
 crown, priesthood, and military, &c. 
 
 This dynasty ended with the death of 
 Timaeus, Thammuz, or Concharis. 
 
 2200 Menes turns the course of the Nile into a 
 new channel. 
 
 2188 Memphis built by Menes. 
 
 ? Dynasty of the Hyksos. 
 
 Or Shepherd Kings, (Dr. Hales 2159—1899.) 
 
 2082 Salatis invades Egypt (? 1650.) 
 
 The Shepherd dynasty, according to Dr. 
 Hales, numbered six kings, viz.:—1, 
 Salatis, 19 years ; 2, Baion, 44 years ; 3, 
 Apachnes, 37 years. During this sove¬ 
 reign’s reign was commenced 
 
 The First Pyramid (2095 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 Abram visits Egypt (2077 Dr. H.) ? 1921. 
 
 4, Apophes, 61 years ; 5, Janais, 50 years ; 
 and, 6, Assis, 49 years. 
 
 This dynasty is rejected by Sir John Stod- 
 dart, who maintains, with Tatian, Jus¬ 
 tin Martyr, and other ancient authors, 
 that a nation of shepherd captives (the 
 Hebrews) are referred to, and not a 
 dynasty of shepherd kings. If this 
 position be correct, it is manifest that the 
 period assigned for the kings is far too 
 early for the captives. Dr. Eadie is, how¬ 
 ever, of a different opinion. “ Josephus 
 
b.c. 2126 .] 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF EGYPT. 
 
 [B.C. 1308 . 
 
 and other writers,” the Doctor says, 
 “ have strangely confounded the Hyk- 
 sos with the Israelites; but this the¬ 
 ory, though it has met with strenuous 
 supporters even in modern times, may 
 now he regarded as completely ex¬ 
 ploded.” Dr. Hales states, that an 
 account of the conquest of Egypt by the 
 shepherd tribe is preserved in the Sa¬ 
 cred Books of the Hindoos. 
 
 2126 Division of Egypt into four kingdoms, 
 viz.; Egypt proper. Lower Egypt, This, 
 and Memphis. 
 
 2122 Hieroglyphics invented by Athotes. 
 
 The fine arts cultivated in Egypt. 
 
 2111 Thebes built by Busiris.—Usher. (? 2188.) 
 
 2100 Osymandyas’s victories in Asia, &c. 
 
 Several modern writers suppose that Osy- 
 mandyas was no more than a mytholo¬ 
 gical being. Consult note to 1618. 
 
 Sculpture and painting employed to com¬ 
 memorate the exploits of Osymandyas. 
 
 Worship of Isis, Osiris, Ammon, and 
 Phtha introduced. 
 
 2080 Lower Egypt invaded and conquered by 
 the Phoenicians ; they retain it 260 years. 
 
 2040 Maris king of Thebes and Memphis. 
 
 1038 Lake Moeris constructed ('! 1327.) 
 
 The First Pyramid built , according to 
 some. See “ Dynasty of the Hyksos,” 
 and 1492. 
 
 1928 Abraham comes into Egypt. 
 
 Expulsion of the Shepherd Kings (1899 
 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 Dynasty of the Pharaohs. 
 
 (1899—525 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 Dr. Hales’s chronology is here at variance 
 with that adopted in the authorized ver¬ 
 sion of the Holy Scriptures. According 
 to Dr. Hales, Alaphrag Muthosis reigned 
 27 years. In his reign (1872) Joseph is 
 appointed regent; and Jacob with his 
 family settle in Goshen (1863.) Joseph’s 
 death he places in 1792, and the reign of 
 Queen Nicrotis in 1742. (See 1715, 1706, 
 and 1675.) 
 
 1891 Common letters introduced by Syphoas. 
 
 1828 Expulsion of the Phoenicians from Lower 
 Egypt (2080.) 
 
 1822 Egyptian letters invented by Memnon. 
 
 1821 Amenophis I. king of all Egypt. 
 
 Several chronologists state that the sove¬ 
 reignty of all Egypt was first assumed by 
 Ramasses 111., or Sesostris(other assigned 
 dates, 1440 and 13lS.) 
 
 1806 Working of gold and silver mines. 
 
 1728 Joseph sold as a slave to Potiphar. 
 
 1715 Joseph, having interpreted the king’s 
 dreams, is made governor of Egypt 
 (1872 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 He purchases the landed property of the 
 people of Egypt, during a grievous 
 famine, except the estates of the priests. 
 
 1706 Jacob and his family, 70 persons in all, 
 settle in Goshen (1S63 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 ? 1695 Chebron, king (1623 Dr. Hales; 1575 
 Wilkinson.) 
 
 ? 1682 Amenophis II. king (1518 Dr. Hales; 
 1500 Wilkinson; others 1821 and 1492.) 
 
 1675 Death of Joseph (1792 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 1660 Memphis (1567 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 432 
 
 1618 Sesostris, —Lenglet (1308 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 His glorious achievements in Asia, &c. 
 
 “ There is no date, perhaps, in the whole 
 range of profane chronology, more dis¬ 
 puted than that of the age or accession 
 of Sesostris. Various epochs have been 
 assigned; the extremes differing nearly 
 600 years.”—Dr. Hales. 
 
 “The achievements of this monarch are 
 supposed to have been the labours of 
 several kings, attributed by Egyptian 
 priests to Sesostris alone, whose very ex¬ 
 istence is doubted.” Haydn, Marsham, 
 Newton, and Sir John Stoddart are of 
 opinion that Sesostris was no other than 
 Shishak. See 1308, 972. 
 
 1615 Settlement of the Ethiopians. 
 
 Kings of whom nothing is recorded. 
 
 1610 Amesses.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1567 Alephres.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1556 Rameses Miamum. 
 
 1554 Misphrag Muthosis.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1532 Thotmes I.—Wilkinson. 
 
 1528 Tethmosis.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1518 Amenophis II.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1492 >. Death of Rampses or Ramases; in whose 
 reign, according to some, the pyramids 
 were built (( 1275.) He is succeeded by 
 
 Amenophis (see following note.) ( 1682. 
 
 1491 Exode of the Israelites (1648 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 “ Different chronologists having fixed this 
 event,” says Sir J. Stoddart, “at b.c. 
 1648, 1608,'1593, 1531, 1509, and 1491, it 
 follows that several sovereigns of the 
 eighteenth dynasty have been supposed 
 to be the Pharaoh who then reigned; 
 Ex. gr. Memphres, Amenophthis, Ach- 
 encherres, Chencherres, and Cherres.” 
 
 1488 Orus or Horus, king.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1485 ^ Egyptus rei»ns; from whom the country 
 is named Egypt, instead of Misraim, its 
 former name (? 1760.) 
 
 Plutarch makes HSgyptus a son of Vulcan 
 and Leucippe ; Eusebius states that he 
 was identical with Rampses (1481) ; 
 Hesysehius says the name of the country 
 w r as’derived from the river; while Sir 
 W. Drummond is of opinion that TEgyp- 
 tus was a Greek corruption for the land 
 of Vulcan, the first of its divine kings. 
 
 Names of Kings—Periods uncertain. 
 
 1452 Accenchris.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1440 Rathosis.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1431 Accenchres I.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1418 Accenchres II.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1398 Armais.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1394 Rameses.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1393 Harnesses.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1379 Hermes Trismegistres, king of Thebes. 
 
 1376 Sethos (? 1308.) 
 
 1327 Amenophis III. or Moeris, a wise and equi¬ 
 table king, and the reputed founder of 
 Lake Moeris (? 1938.) 
 
 1308 Sethos or Sesostris, celebrated by the Egyp¬ 
 tian priests for his glorious victories, and 
 his great national undertakings ; Ex. gr. 
 The Temple of Vulcan at Memphis, the 
 Sepulchral Temple of Thebes, canals, 
 &c. (see 2412) '( 1618. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 b.c. 1300 .] 
 
 [b.c. 569 . 
 
 1300 New division and valuation of the lands, | 
 tribute levied accordingly, military ex¬ 
 peditions of Sesostris in most known 
 countries. 
 
 1299 Sesostris repulsed at the Tanais, returns 
 home laden with the spoils of his pros¬ 
 perous wars. 
 
 Domestic improvements engage his atten¬ 
 tion, canals are dug, &c.; and a wall of 
 1500 stadia is built across the desert. 
 
 1275 Rampses or Pheron (see 1492.) 
 
 There were several kings named Rampses 
 or Ramases, some of whom were success¬ 
 ful in war; but this prince is represented 
 as being indolent and effeminate, which 
 occasioned the loss of all his father’s 
 conquests. 
 
 Egypt divided into thirty-six nomes. 
 
 1214 Thuoris, Ramases, or Proteus; Dr. Hales 
 (another date 1189.) 
 
 This king was eminent for his wisdom, by 
 which his kingdom flourished.—Blair. 
 
 The Greeks have endowed him with the 
 faculty of assuming at pleasure any form 
 in nature, as a lion, a dragon, a tree, 
 fire, water, &c. 
 
 1194 Paris and Helen driven upon the Egyptian 
 coast are brought before Proteus. 
 
 Paris expelled; Helen detained. 
 
 1183 Menelaus comes to Egypt, to whom Pro¬ 
 teus delivers his wife, Helen, with all her 
 treasures. 
 
 1164 Amenophis IV.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 1124 Rhamsinitus. —Dr. Hales. 
 
 He is represented as a wealthy prince, and 
 a patron of the Elusinian mysteries. 
 
 1082 Cheops (Chemnis.) 
 
 The Egyptian priests ascribe the building 
 of the Second Pyramid to this prince. 
 
 1032 Cephrines (? Pseucennes, or Shiskak, or 
 Oephres) reigns. 
 
 According to some the second pyramid 
 was built in this reign (? 1492.) 
 
 1004 Alliance with Solomon, king of Israel. 
 
 972 Shishak’s expedition against the land of 
 Judea (* 978 or 975.) 
 
 Sir J. Stoddart contends for the identity 
 of Shiskak with Sesostris:—" There was 
 a lapse of above 500 years between the 
 reign of Shiskak and the researches of 
 Herodotus, who is the first extant writer 
 that mentions the name of Sesostris; and 
 in that long space of time circum¬ 
 stances may have given abundant oc¬ 
 casion for error on the part of the 
 priests, from whom he obtained his 
 information; and what is more material, 
 there was an actual groundwork of truth 
 in the victories of Shiskak, on which an 
 edifice of fiction might, with some plau¬ 
 sibility, be raised.”-— Intro, to Universal 
 History. 
 
 960 Mycerinus or Cherisus (976 Dr. Hales.) 
 
 According to Dr. Hales, a chasm of 150 
 years intervened from the death of My¬ 
 cerinus in 966 to the accession of Boc- 
 choris in 815. 
 
 The Third Pyramid built. 
 
 941 Zerali the Ethiopian. 
 
 825 The Tanaite dynasty begins with Peter- 
 hastes.—Blair. 
 
 815 Bocchoris or Asychius.—Dr. Plales. 
 
 [e. o. h.] 2 
 
 1815 Celebrated for his wise and prosperous ad¬ 
 ministration. 
 
 Usher places the invasion of So in this 
 reign ; he says, that having conquered 
 Bocchoris, So condemned him to he 
 roasted alive: but Usher carries the date 
 down to 737 (see 769.) 
 
 786 Egypt mistress of the Mediterranean to 751. 
 
 781 Dynasty of the Saites. 
 
 772 Egypt celebrated for its sculptures. 
 
 771 Anysis (the Blind.) 
 
 769 He is deposed and expelled by the victori¬ 
 ous So, (Sabaco,) chieftain of an immense 
 horde of Ethiopians (737 Usher.) 
 
 So, the first Ethiopian king of Egypt. 
 
 A prosperous and equitable reign. 
 
 757 Period of So’s invasion, according to Usher. 
 
 747 The old Egyptian year (Feb. 26.) 
 
 725 So invades J udea. 
 
 719 So resigns the throne of Egypt and retires 
 to his own country. 
 
 Anysis restored to his throne. 
 
 713 Usurpation of Sethou or Sebecou, a priest 
 of the temple of Yulcan. 
 
 He seizes the lands of the warriors, and 
 thus provokes them to opposition. 
 
 711 Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib. 
 
 705 Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia. 
 
 685 The Dodecarclly; twelve cotemporary kings 
 reign over the twelve districts or nomes. 
 According to some they govern 15 years, 
 according to others, 25 years. 
 
 670 or 660 Overthrow of the Dodecarchy by 
 Psammetiehus, one of the twelve, who 
 hires Greek and Carian mercenaries to 
 effect his purpose. 
 
 The Labyrinth near lake Moeris, with 3000 
 chambers, constructed. 
 
 Psammeticus I. (the powerful,) king of 
 Egypt. 
 
 He maintains a Greek standing army. 
 
 647 Azoth besieged for 19 years.—Usher. 
 
 Memphis becomes the capital of Egypt; 
 the king’s residence is chiefly at Sais. 
 
 Greek standing army maintained 
 
 Psammeticus introduces the Greek lan¬ 
 guage; he institutes an inquiry into the 
 primitive language of man. 
 
 630 Battus, the Grecian, founds Cyrene, also 
 called Aristasus, after the name of its first 
 chief. 
 
 516 Pharaoh Necho, or Nekus. 
 
 610 Canal to connect the Mediterranean and 
 Red Seas, commenced; abandoned in 
 12 months, after a loss of 120,000 men. 
 
 Navy established;national prosperity; voy¬ 
 age of discovery and exploration; the 
 fleet sails through the Straits of Babel- 
 mandeb, and at the end of three years 
 returns by the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 
 609 Necho’s Expedition into Asia. 
 
 606 He is defeated by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 600 Psammis succeeds Necho (Dr. Hales 603.) 
 
 Ethiopia invaded by Psammis. 
 
 594 Apries, or Pharaoh Hophra 
 
 He conspires with Zedeltiah of Jerusalem 
 against Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 581 Apries deposed by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 572 Nebuchadnezzar ravages Egypt. 
 
 570 Rebellion of Amasis; Apries defeated and 
 strangled at Memphis. 
 
 569 Amasis made king by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 f 433 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 b.c. 569.] 
 
 [b.c. 273. 
 
 569 He marries a Greek; supports the priest- 
 caste; erects monuments at Sais and 
 Memphis, &c. 
 
 Flourishing state of his kingdom, which 
 numbers 20,000 cities. 
 
 Decree enjoining every subject to state his 
 means of subsistence. 
 
 568 Naucratis granted to the Greeks for the 
 purposes of trade. 
 
 554 Visit of Solon the Philosopher. 
 
 536 ? Pythagoras visits Egypt, and is instructed 
 in the Egyptian Mythology. 
 
 Amasis displeases Cyrus of Persia. 
 
 535 Egypt made tributary by Cyrus. 
 
 525 Psammenitus revolts against Persia. 
 
 Invasion of Cambyses, and defeat of Psam¬ 
 menitus at Pelusium. 
 
 A herald is sent to the Egyptians at Mem¬ 
 phis; they murder him and the crew of 
 his vessel, numbering 200 persons. 
 
 Memphis besieged and taken. 
 
 Murder of Psammenitus; horrid butchery 
 of the children of the grandees; the whole 
 country ravaged. 
 
 525 Egypt is conquered by Cambyses, which 
 ends the Dynasty of the Pharaohs. 
 
 Egypt a Persian province. 
 
 Persian expedition into Ethiopia of 50,000 
 men; all of whom, according to Justin, 
 were lost in the burning sands. 
 
 520 Thebes (Luxor) taken and plundered; 6000 
 Egyptians removed to Susiana. 
 
 Tribute of fish to the Persian Monarchs. 
 
 Cambyses kills the god Apis. 
 
 Insanity of Cambyses. 
 
 486 The Egyptians revolt against Darius Hys- 
 taspes II. of Persia. 
 
 484 Xerxes subdues the rebellion ; and aug¬ 
 ments the Egyptian tribute. 
 
 The Persian ruler in Egypt, Achaemenes, 
 brother of Xerxes, renders himself odious 
 by his oppressions. 
 
 400 Rebellion against Persian authority, headed 
 
 by Inarus. 
 
 Inarus receives aid from Athens. 
 
 455 The revolt quelled by Megabyzes and Arta 
 bazus; nevertheless 
 
 Arnyrlrms maintains the independence of 
 the Egyptian marshes. 
 
 448 Visit of Herodotus to Egypt. 
 
 414 Egypt restored to its independence under 
 Amyrtseus. 
 
 408 Pausiris succeeds Amyrtseus. 
 
 401 Psammeticus II.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 395 Nephereus or Nofreoph. 
 
 He sends supplies to the Spartans, which 
 are seized by the Persians. 
 
 Civil discord; clamour for reform. 
 
 389 Achoris succeeds. 
 
 377 Psammuthis. 
 
 376 Nepherites. 
 
 375 Nectanebus I. or Nacht-ef-neb. 
 
 He fortifies the mouths of the Nile. 
 
 374 Iphicrates repulsed. 
 
 Social reforms; public works. 
 
 363 Tadrus or Tseos succeeds.—Dr. Hales(? 361.) 
 
 Quarrel between Agesilaus, commander of 
 the Greek mercenaries, and Chabrias, 
 Egyptian admiral. 
 
 361 Nectanebus II., nephew of Tachus, ascends 
 ^ the throne by the aid of Agesilaus. 
 
 Tachus retires to Persia. 
 
 434 
 
 350 Egypt conquered; its temples pillaged, &c. 
 and Nectanebus, its Icing, expelled by 
 Ochus of Persia. 
 
 Egypt again becomes a Persian Pro¬ 
 vince. 
 
 332 Egypt conquered by Alexander. 
 
 Alexandria built. 
 
 323 Ptolemy I. (Soter) restores the independence 
 of Egypt; he makes 
 
 Alexandria the capital of his kingdom. 
 
 In order to effect his object, Ptolemy pro¬ 
 cures the murder of Cleomenes, seizes 
 upon the treasury of Alexandria, aug¬ 
 ments his army, and wages war against 
 Perdiccas. 
 
 321 He defeats Perdiccas, regent of Macedon. 
 
 Perdiccas murdered by his own officers. 
 
 Lybia, Cyrene, and Ccele-Syria added to 
 the kingdom of Egypt. 
 
 329 Phoenicia revolts against Egypt. 
 
 Aristotle’s first work—on mechanics. 
 
 Diving bell introduced. 
 
 About 100,000 Jews brought into Egypt. 
 
 314 Phoenicia wrested from Ptolemy by Anti- 
 gonus of Asia Minor. 
 
 313 Ptolemy captures Cyprus. 
 
 312 He defeats Demetrius at Gaza. 
 
 307 Naval defeat off Cyprus. 
 
 303 Decisive battle of Ipsus; the independence 
 of Egypt secured. 
 
 301 Phoenicia finally united to Egypt. 
 
 Flourishing period of the cotton trade, and 
 other manufactures of Egypt. 
 
 300 The golden age of the Ptolemies. 
 
 Alexandria celebrated for its museum and 
 library; literature encouraged. 
 
 Euclid, Aristarchus, Aristophanes, Apollo- 
 dorus, and other philosophers fl. 
 
 Four schools of science founded:—1, Criti¬ 
 cism; 2, Mathematics; 3, Astronomy; 
 and 4, Medicine. 
 
 285 Soter unites his son in the government. 
 
 Magnificent coronation festival of the 
 younger Ptolemy. 
 
 Dionysius the astronomer fl. at Alexandria ; 
 he settles the length of the solar year at 
 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes. 
 
 284 The Septuagint commenced. 
 
 The Pharos commenced. 
 
 Temple of Serapis; removal of the image 
 from Pontius to Alexandria. 
 
 283 Death of Soter, aged 84. 
 
 “ The dominions which Soter bequeathed 
 to his son were extensive and powerful. 
 Besides Egypt, Philadelphus found sub¬ 
 jected to his authority the important pro¬ 
 vinces of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Arabia, 
 Lybia, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Pamphylia, 
 Cilicia, Lycia, Caria, and the Cyclades.” 
 —Early Oriental History. 
 
 Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus) succeeds. 
 
 Murder of Demetrius Phalerius. 
 
 The Pharos of Alexandria completed. 
 
 Magnificent buildings erected—obelisk and 
 other works. 
 
 282 Theocritus at the court of Ptolemy. 
 
 Timosthenes the admiral, and author of a 
 work on harbours, fl. 
 
 276 Eratosthenes born at Cyrene. 
 
 ? First society of Critics (? 300.) 
 
 273 Ptolemy sends ambassadors to Rome for the 
 first time. 
 
b.c. 272 .] 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 [b.c. 47 . 
 
 272 An embassy from Rome to Philadelphus 
 comes to Alexandria. 
 
 Memphis the capital of the kingdom. 
 
 264 Aristophanes the grammarian fl. 
 
 259 Aratus and Lycophron fl. 
 
 256 Callimachus fl. at Alexandria. 
 
 247 Death of Philadelphus, aged 63. 
 
 Ptolemy III. (Euergetes) succeeds. 
 
 War with Seleucus Callimachus, king of 
 Syria, in which he is victorious; he brings 
 home immense spoils, including 25U0 
 statues, and vessels of gold and silver. 
 
 Expedition into Ethiopia; the army pene¬ 
 trates as far as Axium. 
 
 240 The Apocryphal book of “ Jesus the son of 
 Sirach,” about this time. 
 
 222 Death of Euergetes; accession of 
 
 Ptolemy IV. (Philopater.) 
 
 He treats the family of Cleomenes with re¬ 
 vengeful cruelty. 
 
 2X7 War with the king of Syria; victory of 
 Raphia, by which Coele-’Syria, Palestine, 
 and Phoenicia are broughtinto subjection. 
 
 212 Birth of Carneades at Cyrene. 
 
 205 Death of Philopater, aged 37. 
 
 Ptolemy Y. (Epiphanes) 4 years old. 
 
 Sosibius and Aristomenes ministers. 
 
 203 Alliance with the Romans. 
 
 Judea lost to Egypt (217.) 
 
 201 M. Lepidus regent. 
 
 198 Syria lost to Egypt (217.) 
 
 197 Ptolemy Epiphanes crowned at Memphis. 
 
 193 Marriage of Ptolemy with a daughter of 
 Antiochus (the Great.) 
 
 187 Alliance with the Achaeans renewed. 
 
 184 Ptolemy murders Aristomenes. 
 
 183 Insurrection; quelled by Polycrates. 
 
 181 Death of Epiphanes; he is deified. 
 
 Ptolemy VI. (Philometer) 6 years old. 
 
 Cleopatra, his mother, regent. 
 
 173 Death of the Queen mother. 
 
 Eulaeus, a favourite eunuch, regent 
 
 171 War with Antiochus Epiphanes; defeat of 
 Eulteus; he is made prisoner. 
 
 169 Physcon made king by the Egyptians, hut 
 degraded by Antiochus. 
 
 162 Jewish colony at Heliopolis. 
 
 164 The kingdom divided; Physcon recalled by 
 Antiochus, and placed over Lybia. 
 
 154 Physcon, with the aid of Rome, makes war 
 against Ptolemy Philometer. 
 
 Is made prisoner, pardoned, and restored. 
 
 152 Reigns of Philometer and Physcon. 
 
 150 Philometer’s daughter married to Alex¬ 
 ander Bala. 
 
 Philometer assists Bala against Demetrius. 
 
 146 Ptolemy sides with Demetrius against 
 Bala, but falls in battle. 
 
 Physcon, under the title of Ptolemy VII., 
 (Euergetes II.) seizes on the throne. 
 
 He marries his brother's widow; and mur¬ 
 ders his infant nephew, the rightful heir. 
 
 143 Scipio Africanus comes to Alexandria. 
 
 131 Ptolemy repudiates Cleopatra, and marries 
 her daughter by his own brother. 
 
 130 The cruelties of Ptolemy occasion a re¬ 
 bellion in Alexandria. 
 
 129 Ptolemy flees to Cyprus, where he makes 
 arrangements for recovering his power. 
 
 Cleopatra, the younger, queen of Egypt. 
 
 Physcon’s second crime of infanticide; he 
 murders his two sons by Cleopatra. 
 
 129 Hegolochus, Physcon’s general, defeats 
 Marsyas; and soon after Physcon is re¬ 
 stored. to his kingdom. 
 
 128 Pestilence in Egypt, arising from the putre¬ 
 factions of immense swarms of locusts; 
 computed that 800,000 persons perished. 
 117 Cyrenaica lost to Egypt. 
 
 Ptolemy VIII. (Soter II. or Lathyrus.) 
 Cleopatra, by a wicked stratagem, compels 
 Lathyrus to flee to Cyprus. 
 
 107 Cleopatra and Alexander (her younger son) 
 joint rulers of the kingdom of Egypt. 
 
 89 Conspiracy of Cleopatra against her son 
 Alexander, by whom she is killed. 
 Alexander banished. 
 
 88 Civil War; Lathyrus and Alexander. 
 Alexander defeated and put to death. 
 Ptolemy VIII. (Lathyrus) restored. 
 
 84 Revolt of Thebes; it is besieged. 
 
 82 Capture and destruction of Thebes. 
 
 Marriage of Alexander, nephew of Ptolemy 
 VIII., with Cleopatra his cousin. 
 Alexander and Cleopatra, through the influ¬ 
 ence of Rome, reign conjointly. 
 
 Cleopatra murdered by her husband 19 days 
 after marriage. 
 
 Assassination of Alexander. 
 
 81 Death of Ptolemy VIII. (117.) 
 
 Berenice, his daughter, succeeds. 
 
 The difficulties connected with the affairs of 
 Egypt at this period are chronologically 
 inextricable. 
 
 80 Alexander III. and Ptolemy IX. competitors 
 for the throne. 
 
 Civil disturbances; Alexander abdicates and 
 retires to Tyre. 
 
 Ptolemy (X.) Auletes elected king. 
 
 He is tributary to the Romans. 
 
 Is compelled to relinquish Cyprus. 
 
 65 Death of Alexander III. 
 
 59 Insurrection against Ptolemy Auletes. 
 
 He is compelled to quit his capital. 
 
 Berenice and Tryphama reign conjointly for 
 one year. 
 
 58 Ptolemy goes to Rome to solicit aid for the 
 recovery of Egypt. 
 
 Berenice reigns two years. 
 
 55 Auletes restored by Gabinius, according to 
 the command of Caesar and Pompey. 
 Berenice put to death. 
 
 51 Death of Auletes; he is succeeded by 
 Ptolemy XI., (Dionysus,) and his sister 
 Cleopatra, then 17 years old. 
 
 50 Dissensions between" the royal brother and 
 sister, instigated by the eunuch Pothinus. 
 49 Expulsion of Cleopatra. 
 
 4S The Alexandrine war. 
 
 The rival forces at Pelusium. 
 
 Death of Pompey near Alexandria. 
 
 Caesar lands his army at Alexandria. 
 
 He commands Cleopatra and Ptolemy to 
 submit their quarrel to his arbitration. 
 Cleopatra’s stratagem to secure the favour 
 of Julius Caesar. 
 
 Ptolemy’s party refuses to submit to Caesar’s 
 dictation. 
 
 47 Civil War; Caesar besieged in the capital of 
 Alexandria. 
 
 Naval battle; Caesar’s fleet victorious; the 
 magazines, magnificent library, &c. burnt. 
 Escape of the princess Arsinoe to the Alex¬ 
 andrians. 
 
 435 
 
b.c. 47 .] 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 [B.C. 34 . 
 
 47 Pothinus put to death by Cmsar. 
 
 The war rages with great fury. 
 
 Narrow escape of Cajsar at Pharos. 
 
 46 Ptolemy defeated by Cmsar; he is drowned 
 in crossing the Nile. 
 
 Cleopatra , and her younger brother, Ptolemy 
 XII. eleven years old, reign conjointly. 
 Banishment of Arsinoe. 
 
 Caesar and Gannymede depart for Asia, &c. 
 44 Cleopatra poisons her brother, (14 years old,) 
 and reigns alone. 
 
 40 Cleopatra summoned before Mark Antony 
 
 to answer for the crime. 
 
 41 Antony is captivated by Cleopatra; he 
 
 follows her into Egypt. 
 
 Murder of Arsinoe. 
 
 36 Phoenicia, Cyrene, and Cyprus, bestowed 
 upon Cleopatra by Antony. 
 
 35 All Asia, from the Indus to the Mediterra¬ 
 nean, conferred upon Cleopatra. 
 
 War declared against Egypt by Caesar. 
 
 Antony prepares for the struggle; his fleet 
 winters in the Ambracian gulf. 
 
 34 Naval battle off Actium; total defeat of An¬ 
 tony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Cleopatra and Antony escape to Alexandria; 
 preparations for war renewed. 
 
 Ctesar invades Egypt; the Egyptian sailors 
 surrender their fleet. 
 
 Antony stabs himself; and dies in the pre¬ 
 sence of Cleopatra. 
 
 Interview of Cleopatra and Cajsar. 
 
 Suicide of Cleopatra. 
 
 Alteration of the Egyptian iEra. 
 
 Egypt a Roman province. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF BABYLON AND ASSYRIA. 
 
 “ The Babylonian and Assyrian empires, in all historical records, are much blended together. 
 These empires, whether distinct or united, possessed in very early times two vast cities; Babylon 
 on the Euphrates, and Nineveh on the Tigris. The country on the Tigris was called Assyria; 
 that on the Euphrates Babylonia ; and the large intervening space was commonly termed 
 Mesopotamia, or ‘ between the rivers: ’ and this, together with Babylonia, seems to be meant in 
 Scripture by the land of Shinar. According to the scriptural account, it would seem that 
 Babylon was the first great city built after the deluge, and that it was founded by Nimrod, a 
 great grandson of Noah, or at all events, by a tribe of his descendants, bearing his name. 
 The origin of Nineveh is involved in much uncertainty, whether we consult sacred or profane 
 history.”— Stoddart’s Introduction to Universal History. 
 
 “ Asshur, the second son of Shem, probably gave his name to the country of Assyria. There 
 is some doubt whether the reading of Gen. x. 11, should not be thus:—‘ Out of that land he 
 ( i.e. Nimrod) went forth into Asshur or Assyria, and builded Nineveh.’ At any rate, the weight 
 of authority favours the position, that Nineveh was founded by Nimrod.”— Dr. Eadie. 
 
 “ Though the main body of the Cushites was miraculously dispersed, and sent by Providence 
 to their original destinations along the sea coasts of Asia and Africa, yet Nimrod remained 
 behind, and like the ‘ giants and mighty men—men of renown’ of the old world, who founded 
 an empire in Babylonia, according to Berosus; Nimrod did the same, by usurping the property 
 of the Arphaxadites in the land of Shinar.”— Dr. Hales. 
 
 ! Nimrod , a mighty hunter, subverts the 
 Patriarchal government, and establishes 
 the regal (Dr. Hales, Syncellus, 2554; 
 others, 2234.) 
 
 ? The city of Babylon founded (2547, Eu¬ 
 stathius; 2247, others.) 
 
 ! Ecced, Chalnah, Erech, &c. founded. 
 
 ? Nimrod, or Asshur, goes into Assyria, and 
 there founds a city, afterwards called 
 Nineveh (2147, 2069.) 
 
 Dr. Hales assigns several reasons for be¬ 
 lieving that Nimrod, not Asshur, the son 
 of Shem, was the founder of the city of 
 Nineveh. 
 
 '( Numerous cities founded; prosperous con¬ 
 dition of Babylon. 
 
 ? Nimrod introduces the Sabian idolatry. 
 
 Rehoboth, and other cities founded. 
 
 2147 Ninas (? Nimrod or Asshur) founds Nine¬ 
 veh.—Diodorus. 
 
 I Astrology studied at Babylon. 
 
 2124 Death of Nimrod (? Ninus I., Belus, or 
 Mahla Bela.) 
 
 Deification of Nimrod ; his worshippers 
 place him in the constellation Orion, as 
 hunting the Great Bear, 
 
 Belus II. or Ninus II. (Dr. Plales 2230.) 
 436 
 
 B.C. 
 
 2069 Reign of Ninus, son of Belus, from whom 
 Nineveh derives its name. 
 
 2059 The Assyrian Empire. 
 
 Babylon reduced by Ninus; the two king¬ 
 doms united; Nineveh the capital. 
 
 2017 Semiramis succeeds Ninus. 
 
 Babylon enlarged and beautified by Semi¬ 
 ramis, who makes it the capital of the 
 empire ('! 2107.) 
 
 1978 Victories of Semiramis in Ethiopia, Lybia, 
 and India. 
 
 “ As we find that this lady was worshipped 
 as the celestial Venus, we may conclude 
 that the outline of her story is purely 
 mythological. This is the more easily to 
 be believed, because there are no facts 
 connecting her pretended exploits with 
 any thing else, either in the Babylonian 
 or any other history .”—Sir J. Stoddart. 
 See b.c. 747. 
 
 1975 Ninyas succeeds Semiramis. 
 
 1937 Nineveh seized by the Arabs. 
 
 Overthrow of the first Assyrian empire; it 
 is divided into four kingdoms:— 
 
 Shinar; Amraphel its king. 
 
 Ellasar; Arioeh, or (Arius,) its king. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 [b.c. G77. 
 
 b.c. 1937.] 
 
 1937 Goim; (including the mingled nations of 
 Coele Syria, &c.;) Tidal, king. 
 
 Elam; Chedorlaomer its king, by whom 
 the others were held tributaries. 
 
 Thus the Assyrian sceptre had departed to 
 Persia. 
 
 1912 Chedorlaomer (? ITushang, see Persia,) 
 king of Elam; and his allies, the kings of 
 Shinar, Ellasar, and Goim, conquer the 
 Pentapolis, and carry away Lot and all 
 the people of Sodom captives. 
 
 Chedorlaomer defeated and slain. 
 
 1907 Aralius, king of Assyria, 40 years. 
 
 1867 Baleus or Xerxes, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1837 Arniamithres, reigns 38 years. 
 
 1799 Belochus, reigns 35 years. 
 
 1764 Balceus, reigns 52 years. 
 
 1712 Sethos or Altadas, reigns 32 years. 
 
 1680 Maniythus, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1650 Aschalius or Manchaleus, reigns 32 years. 
 
 1618 Sphaerus, reigns 20 years. 
 
 1598 Mamylas, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1568 Sparthceus, reigns 40 years. 
 
 1528 Ascatades, reigns 40 years. 
 
 1488 Armyntes, reigns 45 years. 
 
 1443 Belochus, reigns 25 years. 
 
 Beloehus has been considered as the last 
 of the race of Ninus. 
 
 1420 Belochus unites his daughter Atossa (Se- 
 miramis II.) in the government. 
 
 1418 Belatores or Bellapares, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1388 Lamprides, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1358 Sosares, reigns 20 years. 
 
 1338 Lampraes or Lampares, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1308 Panyas, reigns 45 years. 
 
 1263 Sosarmus, reigns 21 years. 
 
 1242 Mithrmus or Mitreus, called by some Ninus 
 II., and celebrated as a hero of great re¬ 
 nown, founds the 
 
 Second Assyrian Dynasty. 
 
 He reigns 27 years. 
 
 1215 Tautanes or Teutamus, 32 years. 
 
 1183 Teutceus, reigns 40 years. 
 
 1143 Interregnum for 5 years. 
 
 1139 Thineeus, reigns 30 years. 
 
 1109 Deranlus, reigns 40 years. 
 
 1069 Eupalis, (? Eupachmes,) reigns 38 years. 
 
 1031 Laosthenes, reigns 45 years. 
 
 986 Pertiades, reigns 30 years. 
 
 956 Opliratceus, reigns 21 years. 
 
 935 Epecheres, reigns 52 years. 
 
 883 Acraganes, reigns 42 years. 
 
 841 Thonus Concholerus, reigns 20 years. 
 
 This prince, it is said by some, is identical 
 with the Sardanapalus of the Greek his¬ 
 torians, who place him in the year 767. 
 
 820 The king who reigned when Jonah visited 
 Nineveh.—Dr. Hales. 
 
 800 Jonah’s preaching in Nineveh. — Dr. 
 Hales. 
 
 790 Sardanapalus, an effeminate and grossly 
 depraved prince. 
 
 773 Rebellion of Arbaces, governor of Media, 
 and Belesis, viceroy of Babylon. 
 
 Nineveh besieged for two years. 
 
 771 Fall of Nineveh ; Sardanapalus fires his 
 palace, and thus destroys himself and his 
 wives, &c. 
 
 End of the First Assyrian Empire. 
 
 Three kingdoms are eventually formed out 
 of its ruins: Media, Babylon, Nineveh. 
 
 770 Pul or Bel us II. king of Nineveh. 
 
 769 Pul brings the Israelites under tribute. 
 
 Flourishing condition of Assyria. 
 
 766 Belesis or Nabonassar, king of Babylon. 
 
 “ Belesis is the same with Nabonassar.”— 
 Dr. Eadie (see 773 and 747.) 
 
 It has been conjectured that Belesis did not 
 assume the royal state and title till after 
 the decease of Pul, who (according to Sir 
 I. Newton) divided his kingdom, just be¬ 
 fore his death, between Nabolassar and 
 Tiglath-pileser. 
 
 747 Nabonassar, king of Babylon (* 766.) 
 
 The Era of Nabonassar commences Feb. 26. 
 
 “ The celebrated Semiramis, who built the 
 walls of Babylon, according to Herodotus, 
 might have been either his wife or his 
 mother.”—Dr. Hales. 
 
 Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. 
 
 740 Victories of Tiglath in Syria (? 738.) 
 
 738 Tiglath is subsidized by the king of Judah; 
 he accordingly goes against Syria and 
 Israel, the former he reduces by repeated 
 victories, and from the latter he takes 
 many captives. 
 
 733 Nadius, king of Babylon. 
 
 731 Chuizirus and Porus reign in Babylon. 
 
 729 Shalmanezer, king of Assyria. 
 
 728 Shalmanezer invades Samaria. 
 
 726 Jugceus, king of Babylon. 
 
 721 Mardocempadus or Merodach Baladan, king 
 of Babylon. 
 
 Shalmanezer’s victories in Samaria; he 
 sends colonies of Cutheans thither. 
 
 719 He besieges Tyre, but at the end of five 
 years abandons the siege. 
 
 714 Sennacherib, king of Assyria. 
 
 713 Sennacherib’s first invasion of Judah. 
 
 711 Sennacherib’s second invasion of Judah. 
 
 Return of Sennacherib to Nineveb. 
 
 Assassination of Sennacherib by his two 
 sons in the Temple of Nisroch. 
 
 710 Esarhaddon (? Sardanapalus) succeeds. 
 
 Revolt of Media and Babylon; Mardocem¬ 
 padus asserts his independence. 
 
 He sends an embassy of congratulation to 
 the king of Judah on his recovery from 
 illness. 
 
 709 Archianus, king of Babylon. 
 
 Great contusion in the affairs of this king¬ 
 dom till its re-subjugation by the Assy¬ 
 rians. 
 
 704 An interregnum of two years in Babylon; 
 anarchy and strife prevail. 
 
 702 Belibus, king of Babylon. 
 
 699 Apronadius, king of Babylon. 
 
 Esarhaddon (of Assyria) takes Babylon. 
 
 Chronologists who give to Esarhaddon a 
 reign of 39 years, bring this event down 
 to the year 680. 
 
 693 Regibaldus, king of Babylon. 
 
 Asordanes (Apronadius) king of Assyria. 
 
 692 Mesesimordacus, king of Babylon. 
 
 691 Adranieles (Sammughes) king of Assyria. 
 
 6S8 Death of the king of Babylon. 
 
 An interregnum of eight years. 
 
 680 Asaridinus brings the discontented and fac¬ 
 tious Babylonians into subjection, and 
 then ascends the throne of Babylon. 
 
 The kingdom in a state of depression. 
 
 677 or 675 Successful invasion of Judah by 
 Asaridinus; Manasseh brought captive 
 to Babylon. 
 
 437 
 
b.c. 676.] 
 
 676 or 674 Manasseh restored to his kingdom. 
 
 670 Axerdis, brother of Adrameles, king of 
 Assyria. 
 
 667 Ninus III. king - of Assyria. 
 
 Ninus III. is rejected by some chronolo- 
 gists, who make Saosduchinus king of 
 Assyria, instead of king of Babylon. 
 Ptolemy states that Saosduchinus was 
 either the son or deputy of Ninus, and 
 that they began their respective reigns at 
 the same time. 
 
 Saosduchinus king of Babylon (? 669.) 
 
 The kings enumerated between the death 
 of Esarhaddon and the accession of Saos¬ 
 duchinus, are rejected by those chron- 
 ologists who make the latter the son and 
 immediate successor of the former. 
 
 650 or 658 Nabuchodonasor (? Sardanapalus) 
 king of Assyria. 
 
 Dr. Eadie and others suppose that this 
 prince is identical with— 
 
 647 Chinaladamus king of Babylon. 
 
 Those who identify this sovereign with 
 Nebuchodonasor, make Saracus ascend 
 the Assyrian throne about this date, in¬ 
 stead of 630. 
 
 611 Nabopolassar defeats the Median army near 
 Ragon; he takes Arphaxad prisoner, and 
 destroys Ecbatana. 
 
 610 Expedition of Holofernes against all the 
 refractory states of the empire. 
 
 639 Murder of Holofernes by Judith. 
 
 630 Saracus , (? Sardanapulus II.) Assyria. 
 
 The Medes retake Ecbatana, and restore 
 and fortify it. 
 
 625 Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, asserts his 
 independence of Assyria. 
 
 He unites his son Nebuchadnezzar in the 
 government. 
 
 623 Alliance between Nabopolassar and Cyax- 
 ares king of Media. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar marries Amytis, daughter 
 of Cyaxares of Media. 
 
 610 Death of Tobit and Anna at Nineveh. 
 
 609 Tobias removes to Ecbatana. 
 
 608 Nineveh besieged by the kings of Babylon 
 and Media; Nebuchadnezzar general of 
 the united armies. 
 
 606 Nineveh taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 added to the Median kingdom. 
 
 Sarac destroys himself in his palace (771.) 
 
 [B.C. 537. 
 
 605 Nebuchadnezzar repulses Necho of Egypt 
 at Circesium (Carchemish.) 
 
 Death of Nabopolassar, his son. 
 
 604 Nebuchadnezzar reigns alone. 
 
 He founds the Chalde-Babylonian em¬ 
 pire, which extended from the Tigris 
 to the Nile- 
 
 596 Nebuchadnezzar’s successful campaigns in 
 Elam or Persia. 
 
 587 And in Judea. 
 
 585 And in Phoenicia. 
 
 584 Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar, is 
 routed in a skirmish with the Median 
 troops under Astyages. 
 
 582 He takes Susa, or Shushan, in Elam. 
 
 Daniel chief of the astrologers and magici¬ 
 ans in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. 
 
 Ezekiel prophecies to the captive Jews by 
 the river Chebar. 
 
 570 Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Egypt. 
 
 569 The “ Holden Image” set up. 
 
 Insanity of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 562 Nebuchadnezzar’s reason restored. 
 
 561 Evil-Merodach succeeds Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 He forms a confederacy against Media. 
 
 559 Defeat of the confederacy by Cyrus, gen¬ 
 eral of the Median army. 
 
 Evil-Merodach, of Babylon, slain. 
 
 558 Neriglassar (Belshazzar) succeeds. 
 
 Babylon besieged by Cyrus the Mede. 
 
 556 Neriglassar celebrates his birth-day with 
 great rejoicing and excess. 
 
 The “ hand-writing on the wall.” 
 
 Cyrus and his guards enter the city; the 
 king and his nobles are slain. 
 
 555 Laborosoarchod, for nine months. 
 
 Darius the Mede, king of Babylon as well 
 as of Media. 
 
 551 Ndbonadius, titular king of Babylon. 
 
 He aspires to be independent of Media. 
 
 549 Nabonadius joins the Syrian confederacy 
 against king Cyrus. 
 
 548 Defeat of the confederates at Pteira. 
 
 They are again defeated at Thymbra. 
 
 After the defeat of most of the confederates, 
 Cyrus marches against Babylon. 
 
 540 Babylon invested by the Medes. 
 
 538 Cyrus takes Babylon; he overthrows the 
 kingdom, and annexes it to the Persian 
 empire (? 536.) 
 
 537 Daniel in the lion’s den. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF PERSIA. 
 
 Mythical, fabulous, and uncertain periods. 
 
 The Peshdadian Dynasty — 
 
 During which time the affairs of Media 
 and Persia are intermingled. 
 
 2190 Kaiumarath or Kaiomers, the first Persian 
 king, elected in a time of anarchy. 
 
 He founds several cities, Balch the capital. 
 
 His eldest son, Nazek, murdered. 
 
 Kaiumarath resigns the sceptre after a 
 reign of' 40 years. 
 
 2150 Siamek (grandson) succeeds to the throne. 
 
 Death of Siamek in battle. 
 
 Kaiumarath resumes the government and 
 reigns well for about 30 years. 
 
 2120 Hushang or Hosheng, son of Siamek, suc¬ 
 ceeds Kaiumarath. 
 
 438 
 
 2120 He is entitled Pischdad—“ the just.” 
 
 He introduces canals and other internal 
 improvements. 
 
 Rice first cultivated. 
 
 Susa and other cities founded by Hosheng. 
 
 Introduction of fire-worship ascribed to 
 him. 
 
 He extends his kingdom by the conquest 
 of neighbouring nations; reigns 50 years. 
 
 2070 Tahmuras (son or grandson) succeeds 
 Hushang. 
 
 He restores peace to his dominions, re¬ 
 mits taxes, promotes agriculture, trade, 
 &c., distributes even-handed justice, 
 encourages virtue, fortifies his frontiers, 
 &c. 
 
b.c. 2070.] 
 
 2070 Is taken ill of fever, and dies, universally 
 lamented, after a reign of 30 years. 
 
 2040 Jemshid or Giemschid (son or grandson.) 
 
 He divides his subjects into three classes, 
 —soldiers, agriculturalists, and artizans. 
 
 He makes several alterations in the calen¬ 
 dar; invents the solar year; institutes the 
 Neurez, or the festival of the new year, 
 which was observed for six days at the 
 Vernal Equinox, &c. 
 
 Pounds several cities—the great city Este- 
 chae (? Shiraz or Persepolis) being one 
 of the number 
 
 Claiming divine honours, a revolt ensues. 
 
 2010 Dahalc, rebel and tyrant, defeats Jemshid. 
 
 Jemshid sawn asunder by Dahak’s order. 
 
 Dahak or Zohak (an Arabian) king. 
 
 His cruelty provokes the people to rebel. 
 
 Kaoh, a smith, leader of the insurrection, 
 defeats Daliak. 
 
 Feast of Mihrazain instituted. 
 
 Feridun or Phridun, (3 years old) son of 
 Jemshid, proclaimed king. 
 
 1980 Feridun appoints Kaoh generalissimo. 
 
 Kaoh’s leathern apron made the royal 
 standard. 
 
 The dominion of Syria thrown off, and all 
 the lost conquests restored. 
 
 The Sabian idolatry discountenanced. 
 
 Feridun celebrated for his wisdom. 
 
 He divides his extensive kingdom among 
 his three sons:— 
 
 To Tur, (the eldest son,) the eastern divi¬ 
 sion, including India and Tartary, hence 
 called Turan or Turkestan. 
 
 Tur receives the title of “ Fagfour.” 
 
 To Saline or Seim, (second son,) the wes¬ 
 tern portion—Asia Minor, Egypt, &c. 
 
 The title , ‘Kai-sav” is given to Seim. 
 
 To Iran or Irage, (the youngest son,) 
 Persia Proper, thence named Iran. 
 
 Iran’s title is “ Sehah,” which is still re 
 tained by the kings of Persia. 
 
 Wars between Iraje and Tur. 
 
 Iraje assassinated by Tur and Seim. 
 
 Manugiahr (son of Iraje) defeats and 
 slays Tur and Seim in battle. 
 
 Feridun appoints him his successor. 
 
 1860 Manugiahr or Manuchker called Firouz. 
 
 He restores peace, promotes internal im¬ 
 provements, cuts canals, encourages 
 agriculture, gardening, &c. 
 
 He patronises medical botany. 
 
 Birth of the hero Rustem. 
 
 1800 Afrasiab or Apheresiab, king of Turan, in¬ 
 vades Manugiahr’s dominions, to whom 
 large cessions in the east are made. 
 
 1740 Nodar or Nauzer (son of Firouz) succeeds. 
 
 Persia invaded by Parhang, king of Turan, 
 with an army of 400,000 men, horse and 
 foot, under command of his son Afrasiab. 
 
 Nodar’s army defeated, and himself slain 
 by Afrasiab’s own hand. 
 
 1733 Afrasiab rules over Iran and Turan. 
 
 His government haughty and oppressive. 
 
 Revolt of the Persians under Zalzar. 
 
 Afrasiab retires to his own country. 
 
 Zalzar proclaims Zu or Zav, son of Manu¬ 
 giahr, king of Iran. 
 
 1721 Zu, Zab, Zav, or Zoab, succeeds Afrasiab. 
 
 He endeavours to promote the prosperity 
 of his distracted kingdom. 
 
 [B.C. 551. 
 
 1721 He Unites Gerschasp or Kershasp, his ne¬ 
 phew, in the government. 
 
 Zu resigns the kingdom to Gerschasp. 
 
 1691 Gerschasp, or Kershasp, reigns alone. 
 
 Afrasiab again invades Persia. 
 
 1661 He defeats and slays Kershasp, and 
 
 Overturns the Pisclidadian dynasty. 
 
 From this time, to the establishment of the 
 Kaianite dynasty, (B.c. 641,) a period of 
 about 1020 years, the name of Persia, as 
 an independent kingdom, was unknown. 
 It was first subject to the empire of 
 Turan, and subsequently to that of 
 Assyria. 
 
 Dynasty of the Kaianites. 
 
 641 I\ai-Kobad or Cyaxares, of the line of Kai- 
 umarath, through Manugiahr, with the 
 assistance of Rustem, son of Zalzar, ex¬ 
 pels the Turani from Persia (? 629.) 
 
 Kai-Kobad, king of Persia and Media. 
 
 Ispahan made the capital city. 
 
 Peace being restored, the soldiers are em¬ 
 ployed in making roads; their organiza¬ 
 tion and discipline improved. 
 
 War with Assyria; Nineveh besieged, but 
 the siege is soon raised, because of Scy¬ 
 thian inroads upon Media. 
 
 Kai-Iiobad tributary to the barbarous 
 Scythians for 28 years. 
 
 The Scythian chieftains slain at a banquet 
 by Kai-Kobad. 
 
 The Scythian invaders expelled. 
 
 War with Alyattes, king of Lydia. 
 
 Nineveh taken by Kai-Kobad. 
 
 An eclipse puts an end to the Ljdian war. 
 
 Marriage of Ivai-Kaus, son of Kai-Kobad, 
 and Aryenis daughter of Alyattes, king 
 of Lydia. 
 
 601 Kai-Kaus, or Astyages, succeeds Kai-Ko¬ 
 bad O 597.) 
 
 Rebellion in the province of Mazandran, 
 on the Caspian sea, suppressed. 
 
 Birth of Kai-Khosru (Cyrus.) 
 
 Kai-Kaus defeated and taken prisoner by 
 the king of Turan. 
 
 Rustan, the Persian general, rescues his 
 master and restores him to his kingdom. 
 
 Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Arabia, 
 made tributary. 
 
 Two observatories erected at Babel, (subse¬ 
 quently called Bagdad.) 
 
 Carpet and stuff factories at Babylon. 
 
 559 Cyaxares II. or Fraiborz (? Darius the 
 Mede.) 
 
 Cyrus is general of the forces, and the 
 actual ruler of the kingdom. 
 
 The Persian monarchy founded. 
 
 Cyrus becomes king of Persia. 
 
 Cyaxares II. retains the kingdom of 
 Media. 
 
 Cyrus defeats the Armenian king. 
 
 Defeat of Croesus and the confederate prin¬ 
 ces; Evil Merodach of Babylon slain. 
 
 558 Cyrus defeats the Assyrians, and routs the 
 army of Belshazzar of Babylon. 
 
 556 Babylon taken; the kingdom of Babylon 
 added to the Median empire. 
 
 551 Death of Cyaxares; Cyrus reigns alone over 
 Media and Persia. 
 
 Zoroaster’s Zendavesta. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 439 
 
K.C. 
 
 540.] 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 [B.C. 460. 
 
 546 Cyrus besieges and takes Sardis. 
 
 He treats Croesus with great kindness. 
 
 Lydia and Asia Minor annexed. 
 
 Syria and Arabia overrun by Cyrus. 
 
 540 Nabonadius (Labynetus) besieged in Baby¬ 
 lon by Cyrus. 
 
 538 Babylon taken by stratagem (? 536.) 
 
 536 Phoenicia conquered and annexed. 
 
 Cyrus having restored peace to his domin¬ 
 ions, repays the war taxes by the spoils 
 obtained in his successful campaigns. 
 
 The religion of Zoroaster introduced. 
 
 According to Herodotus, Cyrus, having ex¬ 
 tended his empire from India to the 
 Mediterranean Sea, was seized with a 
 desire to subdue the Massageta?. Where¬ 
 upon he invaded their territory; and 
 though at first his arms were successful, 
 yet his army was soon routed and himself 
 slain. Xenophon, on the contrary, states 
 that he died in peace (529.) 
 
 Permission given the captive Jews to re¬ 
 turn to Judea. 
 
 532 Usurpation of Poly crates, at Samos. 
 
 529 Death of Cyrus, in peace, according to 
 Xenophon (see 529.) 
 
 Cambyses, or Lohorasp, the eldest son of 
 Cyrus, succeeds. 
 
 Smerdis, or Tanaoxares, the king’s younger 
 brother, made satrap, or governor, of the 
 province of Bactria. 
 
 52.5 Egypt and other parts of Africa conquered 
 by Cambyses. 
 
 The western provinces subdued by Cfudarz 
 or Raham, Cambyses’ general. 
 
 Disastrous expedition of Cambyses against 
 Ammonium and Meroe. 
 
 He is jealous of his brother Smerdis, and 
 sends Preaxpes to assassinate him. 
 
 522 Cambyses receives a mortal wound, by 
 accident, when about to proceed against 
 Smerdis Magus. 
 
 Smerdis, the magian, usurps the sove¬ 
 reignty for seven months, when he is 
 slain by a conspiracy of seven nobles. 
 
 Execution (of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, 
 by order of Oroetes of Sardis. 
 
 521 Darius I., Hystaspes or Gushtap. 
 
 Darius was one of the seven conspirators, 
 and descended in the royal line. 
 
 The empire is divided into twenty satrapies, 
 and a systematic mode of taxation intro¬ 
 duced for the first time. 
 
 Darius increases his army; fortifies his king¬ 
 dom; has darics (of gold) coined, &c. 
 
 Darius sends an army under Otanes against 
 Samos, which he subdues. 
 
 Syloson, brother of Polycrates, restored. 
 
 Greek refugees and favourites at the court 
 occasion much dissatisfaction. 
 
 518 Babylon revolts; it is besieged. 
 
 517 Darius takes Babylon and destroys it. 
 
 508 Expedition against the Scythians fails. 
 
 Darius’s cruelty to the sons of Oebazus. 
 
 Macedon and Thrace tributary to Persia. 
 
 Pharaoh Necho’s unfinished canal com¬ 
 pleted (see CIO, Egypt). 
 
 Scylax, of Caria, sets out on a voyage of 
 discovery; he sails down the Indus"and 
 returns by the Red Sea. 
 
 506 Expedition into India, by which all the 
 country north of the Indus is subdued. 
 
 440 
 
 506 Aryandes, prefect of Egypt, imitates the 
 darics issued by the king; for which 
 Darius puts him to death. 
 
 Religious reforms under Zerdusht, or Zo¬ 
 roaster, the younger. 
 
 ITistaeus incites the Ionians to revolt. 
 
 501 The Naxian war; siege of Naxos and defeat 
 of the Persians. 
 
 Hecatmus gives counsel to the Ionians. 
 
 Revolt of Anaxagoras (428). 
 
 500 He solicits aid from Sparta. 
 
 The Persian court famed for its magnifi¬ 
 cence; 15,000 courtiers sit down at the 
 king’s table; whole provinces converted 
 into royal parks; splendid palaces, &c. 
 
 499 Rebellion of the Ionians; they besiege Sar¬ 
 dis, which is accidentally burnt. 
 
 The Athenians assist the Ionians; this leads 
 to the Persian war. 
 
 War against Greece. 
 
 494 Naval victory over the Greeks at Lade. 
 
 Fall of Miletus to Persia. 
 
 493 Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos, are this year 
 reduced by the Persians. 
 
 492 Expedition under Mardonius against 
 Greece; defeated by sea and land. 
 
 490 Datis and Artaphernes lead a second expe¬ 
 dition into Greece; unfortunate. 
 
 Darius makes preparations for another in¬ 
 vasion of Greece and Egypt. 
 
 489 Unsuccessful attempt of Miltiades, the 
 Athenian, upon Naxos. 
 
 486 Irruption of Scythians into Bactria; the 
 Archimagus slain. 
 
 Darius assumes the office of Archimagus. 
 
 Revolt of Egypt from the Persian yoke. 
 
 485 Death of Darius. He appointed 
 
 Xerxes , his eldest son, to succeed him. 
 
 484 Xerxes reduces Egypt to his sway. 
 
 483 Xerxes makes extensive preparations for 
 the invasion of Greece. 
 
 480 Xerxes’ expedition against Greece. 
 
 Herodotus states that Xerxes’ army and 
 camp followers amounted to 5,000,000 
 men, and that his object was to reduce 
 the whole earth under his sway. 
 
 Xerxes departs from Susa at the time of a 
 half-eclipse of the sun. 
 
 At Celsense Xerxes and his army are 
 entertained by Pythias, a Lydian. 
 
 Cruelty and ingratitude of Xerxes in put¬ 
 ting "Pythias’s eldest son to death. 
 
 Xerxes has a bridge of boats laid across 
 the Hellespont; his army (1,700,000 foot 
 and 80,000 horse) are seven days and 
 seven nights in crossing it. 
 
 Xerxes’ fleet, numbering 1207 ships, sail to 
 Mount Athos. 
 
 Defeat of the Persians in Greece. 
 
 Xerxes recrosses the Hellespont from 
 Greece, and comes to Sardis. 
 
 479 Invasion of Greece unsuccessful; Mardonius 
 slain at Platma. 
 
 466 Battles of the Eurymedon; Cimon defeats 
 the Persians by sea and land. 
 
 The Hellespontine Chersonese taken by 
 Cimon, the Athenian. 
 
 Xerxes spreads devastation in his homeward 
 route. His cruelties render him every¬ 
 where detestable. 
 
 The independence of Iona restored. 
 
 Naxos revolts; it is soon subdued. 
 
b.c. 465.] 
 
 465 Assassination of Xerxes by Artabanus and 
 the eunuch Spamitres. 
 
 Murder of Darius, Xerxes’eldest son. 
 
 Artaxerxes I. (Longimanus) ascends the 
 Persian throne. 
 
 Themistocles arrives in Persia, and is pro¬ 
 tected by Artaxerxes. 
 
 The conspirator Artabanus put to death. 
 
 Civil war between Artaxerxes and his 
 brother Hystaspes of Bactria. 
 
 462 Artaxerxes’ celebrated feast at Susa. 
 
 Deposition of Vashti, his queen. 
 
 460 Revolt of Inarus, and commencement of 
 war with the revolted Egyptians. 
 
 Defeat of the Persians under Achaemenes 
 by sea and land. 
 
 459 Megabyzus, with an army of 30,000, is sent 
 against the Egyptians. 
 
 458 Esther chosen queen by Artaxerxes. 
 
 Commission granted to Ezra to go to Jeru¬ 
 salem, with power to correct abuses. 
 
 457 Panyasis put to death by Lygdamus. 
 
 455 Eg-ypt brought under subjection; Amyr- 
 ta?us, however, maintains his indepen¬ 
 dence in the marshes. 
 
 450 Cimon, the Athenian, defeats Artabazus, 
 the Persian admiral, and takes from him 
 one hundred ships. 
 
 449 Defeat of Megabyzus at Salamis. 
 
 Peace with Greece; acknowledgment of 
 the independence of the Asiatic Greeks 
 by the Persian court. 
 
 447 Rebellion of Megabyzus, Syrian satrap, 
 aided by the queen’Amytes and the dow¬ 
 ager-queen Amestris. 
 
 Artaxerxes obtains peace by conceding to 
 Megabyzus all his demands. 
 
 445 Nehemian receives a commission to rebuild 
 the walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 428 Death of Anaxagoras at Lampsacus. 
 
 425 Xerxes II. succeeds Longimanus. 
 
 Sogdianus, the king’s natural brother, as¬ 
 sassinates Xerxes, after a few months’ 
 reign. 
 
 Sogdianus is himself assassinated by another 
 natural brother. 
 
 424 Darius II. (Nothus or “bastard.”) 
 
 He is represented as a weak-minded prince, 
 and under the influence of his wife Pha- 
 rysates and her eunuchs. 
 
 422 Arsites’ revolt, aided by the son of Megaby¬ 
 zus; it is quelled. 
 
 Arsites smothered in ashes. 
 
 414 Revolt of Pisuthnes, satrap of Lydia. 
 
 Egypt regains her independence. 
 
 412 Lesbos, Chios, and Eurythr®, make pre¬ 
 parations for revolt. 
 
 411 League with Sparta against Athens. 
 
 Alcibiades visits Tissaphernes. 
 
 409 Thrasyllus invades Lydia. 
 
 The independence of Rhodes acknowledged 
 by Persia. 
 
 407 Cyrus, governor of Asia Minor, assists the 
 Spartans against Athens. 
 
 405 Artaxerxes II. (styled “ Mnemon” on 
 account of his great memory.) 
 
 Conspiracy of Cyrus detected; he is par¬ 
 doned and restored. 
 
 Democritus visits Persia. 
 
 401 Pharasytes incites her son Cyrus to become 
 candidate for the crown. 
 
 Cyrus receives aid from the Spartans. 
 
 [B.C. 351. 
 
 400 Battle of Cunaxa; defeat and death of 
 the rebel Cyrus. 
 
 Retreat of the 10,000 Greeks under Xeno¬ 
 phon; Clearchus having fallen. 
 
 "War with Sparta; Tissaphernes commands 
 the expedition. 
 
 399 Thimbron, the Spartan, commands the 
 Greek army in Asia. 
 
 Dercyllidas supersedes Thimbron. 
 
 398 Truce between Dercyllidas and Pharna- 
 bazus. 
 
 Hostilities renewed; Atarnas besieged. 
 
 The history of Persia by Ctesias, brought 
 down to this date. 
 
 396 Agesilaus, king of Sparta, carries his tri¬ 
 umphs into Asia, which threaten the 
 safety of the Persian empire. 
 
 395 Agesilaus gains a victory at Sardis. 
 
 He pushes into Phrygia, &c. 
 
 Tithraustes supersedes Tissaphernes. 
 
 Mission of Timocrates into Greece. 
 
 394 The Corinthian war commenced. 
 
 Agesilaus recalled from Asia. 
 
 Victory of Conon at Cnidus; favourable 
 to the Persian interest. 
 
 390 In the Corinthian war, Persia espouses the 
 Spartan cause. 
 
 Evagoras of Cyprus receives aid from the 
 Athenians. 
 
 Battle of Asphendas; Telutius, the Spar¬ 
 tan, victorious; defeat and death of Thra- 
 sybulus of Athens; ten Athenian ships 
 captured. 
 
 388 Antalcidas, the Spartan, commands on the 
 coast of Asia Minor. 
 
 387 Peace of Antalcidas; Clazomense, and the 
 Grecian colonies in Asia Minor restored 
 to Persia. 
 
 385 Sea fight with Evagoras off Cyprus. _ 
 
 The ten years’ war between Persia and 
 Cyprus commenced. 
 
 384 War with the Cadusians of Mount Cau- 
 cassus; unsuccessful. 
 
 Greek mercenaries form, from this time, the 
 flower of the Persian army. 
 
 380 The Persians distress Evagoras in Cyprus. 
 
 376 Tenth and last year of the war with Cyprus. 
 
 374 Expedition into Egypt; unsuccessful, owing 
 to dissensions between Pharnabazus and 
 Iphicrates. 
 
 Death of Evagoras. 
 
 Conspiracy of Tiribazus, and fifty of the 
 king’s sons; (he had 118;) it is detected. 
 
 Contest between three of the king’s sons 
 respecting the succession; Ochus murders 
 his two fraternal rivals. 
 
 369 Artaxerxes III. (Ochus or Darab.) 
 
 He murders his whole family, and hundreds 
 of the nobility, male and female. 
 
 Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Syria, revolt. 
 
 The revolt suppressed owing to the treachery 
 of the insurrectionary leader, Orontes. 
 
 365 Bagosas, satrap of Syria, interferes in the 
 
 ecclesiastical affairs of the Jews. 
 
 366 Revolt of Artabazus, governor of Asia 
 
 Minor, assisted by Chares the Athenian. 
 
 Ochus threatens to make war on Athens, 
 hence Chares is recalled. 
 
 354 Artabazus applies to the Thebans for aid; 
 they send him 5,000 men. 
 
 Two victories of Artabazus over Ochus. 
 
 351 Revolt of the Sidonians, Phoenicians, &c. 
 
 441 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 B.C. 351.] 
 
 [b.c. 330. 
 
 351 Mentor of Rhodes leads 4,000 Greeks to the 
 aid of the Sidonians. 
 
 Sidon besieged; Temnes, its king, betrays it 
 into the hands of Ochus. 
 
 The Sidonians, in despair, tire their city, 
 and perish in the flames. 
 
 Temnes, the traitor, rewarded with death. 
 
 Mentor and his army join Ochus. 
 
 350 Invasion and subjugation of Egypt. 
 
 Ochus returns with immense spoils. 
 
 349 Mentor mediates between Ochus and Ar- 
 tahazus and Memnon. 
 
 344 Embassy to Philip of Maeedon; Alexander 
 (the Great) then 12 years old. 
 
 338 Ochus poisoned by Bagoas, who also de¬ 
 stroys all the royal family, except 
 
 Arses , whom he raises to the throne. 
 
 336 Arses deposed and murdered by Bagoas, 
 who confers the crown upon 
 
 Darius III. (Codomanus.) 
 
 Bagoas executed by order of Darius. 
 
 336 Intrigues of Darius for effecting the murder 
 of Philip of Maeedon and his son Alex¬ 
 ander (the Great.) 
 
 334 War with Maeedon; Asia invaded by 
 Alexander with only 3,600 men. 
 
 Battle of Granicus; defeat of the Persian 
 provincial governors. 
 
 333 Death of Memnon, the Rhodian, before 
 Mytilene. 
 
 Unjust execution of Charisdemus. 
 
 Battle of Issus; Darius defeated. 
 
 Darius makes proposals to Alexander for 
 the ransom of his wife, &c. 
 
 331 Battle of Arbela, Oct. 1; Darius again de¬ 
 feated ; he flees into Media. 
 
 330 Alexander pursues after Darius. 
 
 Treachery of Bessus; he assassinates his 
 royal master Darius. 
 
 Alexander honourably inters the body of 
 the murdered king. 
 
 Fall of Persia; it is now added to 
 
 The Empire of Alexander of Maeedon. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF PHOENICIA. 
 
 So called, according to Bochart, from 
 p35? '31 “ the sons of Anak,” by whom 
 the country was first peopled. 
 
 Sidon founded, probably by Sidon, the 
 eldest son of Canaan, Gen. x. 15; (pe¬ 
 riod early but uncertain.) 
 
 Sidon celebrated for her textile manufac¬ 
 tures. (See Homer’s Iliad ) 
 
 2267 Tyre founded by a colony from Sidon.— 
 Dr Hales (? 1497.) 
 
 1800 Republics of Phoenicia (cities andsuburbs.) 
 
 Phoenician fleets visit most countries. 
 
 The Tyrian manufactures excel those of 
 Sidon, the parent state. 
 
 Worship of Baal and Astarte. 
 
 Letters and the art of writing known. 
 
 Confederacy of the Phoenician cities. 
 
 Phoenician colonies settle in Africa and 
 Spain, and other countries, for trading 
 purposes. 
 
 The idolatry of Baal and Astarte esta¬ 
 blished in all the Phoenician colonies. 
 
 Colonies to Ireland, by whom, it is sup¬ 
 posed, the round towers were built for 
 the worship of the sun. 
 
 Arvath, or Aradus, founded. 
 
 Importation of tin, silver, amber, spices, 
 perfumes, slaves, horses, &c., from those 
 countries where colonies exist. 
 
 1497 Agenor, the first king of Phoenicia, and 
 founder of Tyre ( i 2267.) 
 
 1250 The Tyrian purple celebrated for its 
 splendour and costliness. 
 
 1232 The Tyrians found Carthage (878.) 
 
 1070 Heremon, from the Phoenician colony of 
 Galatia, conquers Ireland. 
 
 1056 Abical, or Hiram, king of Tyre. 
 
 1046 Treaty of commerce between Hiram of 
 Tyre, and David of Israel. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1012 Baleazar, king of Tyre. 
 
 1000 The Phoenician League (? 1800.) 
 
 Colonies continue to proceed from Phoe¬ 
 nicia to various countries. 
 
 Silver imported from the Phoenician mines 
 in Spain. 
 
 920 Ethbaal king of Tyre and Sidon (1 962.) 
 
 905 Elijah lodges with a widow at Sarepta. 
 
 900 Pygmalion usurps the government, and 
 rules tyranically. 
 
 878 Emigration of Elisa or Dido, (Pygmalion's 
 sister,) and many of the Phoenicians to 
 Africa. (See 1800 and 1232.) 
 
 832 Phoenician supremacy of the sea till 786. 
 
 Victory of the Tyrians over the fleets of 
 Syria and Phoenicia. 
 
 721 Tyre besieged by Shalmaneser. 
 
 717 Eulceus king of Tyre. 
 
 716 Shalmeneser raises the siege of Tyre, and 
 returns home. 
 
 590 Ithobaal II. (Ethbaal) king of Tyre. 
 
 585 Nebuchadnezzar besieges Tyre. 
 
 The Tyrians abandon their city, and re¬ 
 move to insular Tyre. 
 
 Insular Tyre soon rises to great power and 
 opulence. 
 
 Baal king of Tyre (a tyrant.) 
 
 562 Deposition of Baal, and establishment of a 
 republican government. 
 
 556 The kingly form of government restored by 
 
 BdatorY ing of Tyre. 
 
 Merbal king of Tyre. 
 
 Hiram king of Tyre. 
 
 538 Phoenicia reduced by Cyrus, but it is 
 allowed to retain its kings. 
 
 520 Founding of New Tyre. 
 
 Flourishing prosperity of its commerce, 
 trade, and manufactures, under the pro¬ 
 tection of the Persian kings. 
 
 442 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abousimbel, temple of, 33 
 Actium, battle of, 143 
 Adrastns kills Atys, 331 
 Ahasuerus or Astyages, 318 
 Alexandria, 53 
 
 --• Pharos, 54 
 
 -library, 55 
 
 -- museum, and schools, 118 
 
 -astronomical school, 126 
 
 Alexander Ptolemy, I. II. III., 133, 134 
 Alexander the Great governs Egypt, 116 
 
 -conquers Persia, 411 
 
 Alyattes, king of Lydia, S29 
 
 -war against Miletus, 329 
 
 Amasis, king of Egypt, 104 
 Anteeopolis, 48 
 Antinoe, 49 
 
 Antonius fascinated by Cleopatra, 140 
 
 -prepares to oppose Augustus, 141 
 
 -flight from the battle of Actium, 144 
 
 -- refused permission by Pin anus to 
 
 land on the coast of Africa, 145 
 
 -death of, 147 
 
 Aphroditopolis, 52 
 
 Apis, the supreme deity of Egypt, 109 
 Arachosia, 279 
 Arbaees, rebellion of, 229 
 Aria, 279 
 
 Arses, king of Persia, 411 
 Arsinoe, 50 
 
 Arsinoe, sister of Cleopatra, escapes from 
 Caesar, 138 
 
 -carried captive to Rome, 140 
 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus, 113 
 
 -king of Persia, 407 
 
 -II. king of Persia, 409 
 
 Artemisium, battle of, 401 
 Assyria, geography of, 207 
 
 -divisions of, 208 
 
 -rivers of, 208 
 
 -early history of, 211 
 
 Assyrian empire, first, 212 
 
 -Semiramis, 217 
 
 -Ninyas, 229 
 
 - Sardanapalus, 229 
 
 ---killed hy Arbaees, 229 
 
 Assyrian empire, second, 213 
 
 Augustus declares Avar against Antonius 
 and Cleopatra, 141 
 
 -preparations for battle, 142 
 
 ——- submission of the army after the 
 battle of Actium, 144 
 
 -advance and successes of, 146 
 
 -interview Avith Cleopatra, 148 
 
 Babel, tower of, 212 
 Babylon built, 211 
 
 -rebuilt by Semiramis, 220 
 
 -description of, 220 
 
 -commerce of, 256 
 
 -government of, 259 
 
 -religion of, 259 
 
 -siege of, 266 
 
 -destruction of, 267 
 
 -ruins of, 268 
 
 -Rich’s researches in, 268 
 
 -—- besieged hy Darius, 372 
 
 -conquered by Cyrus, 345 
 
 Bactria, 281 
 
 Behistun, sculptures of, 301 
 Belshazzar, king of Babylon, 266 
 Benee Hasan, caverns of, 50 
 Birs Nimroud at Babylon, 270 
 Bubastis, 59 
 
 Bunsen’s account of Manetho’s chrono¬ 
 logy, 72 
 Busir-Bena, 58 
 
 Buto, (the oracle of Latona) place of, 58 
 
 Cassar sails into Egypt in pursuit of Pom- 
 pey, and restores Cleopatra, 136 
 
 - Cleopatra’s device to obtain an 
 
 audience of, 136 
 
 - his propositions to the king and citi¬ 
 zens of Alexandria, 137 
 
 -- opposed by Pothenas and Achilles, 
 
 137 
 
 -his danger at the attack of the island 
 
 of Pharos, 138 
 
 -master of Egypt, 139 
 
 Cambyses, king of Persia, 350 
 
 -war with Egypt, 105 
 
 -takes Pelusium, 106 
 
 -defeats the Egyptians, 106 
 
444 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gambyses takes Memphis. 107 
 
 -- disgraces Psammenitus, 108 
 
 -- revenge on Amasis, 108 
 
 -expedition to Ethiopia, 109, 353 
 
 —— obtains Samos, 355 
 
 -plunder of Thebes, 109 
 
 -—— kills the god Apis, 110 
 -insanity of, 111 
 
 -marriage, and murder of Meroe, 111 
 
 -excesses of, 112 
 
 -death of, 113, 356 
 
 Candaules, king of Lydia, 327 
 
 -assassinated, 328 
 
 Cat-mania, 278 
 Catacombs of Egypt. 44 
 Cataracts of Egypt. 13 
 Cleopatra, accession of, 135 
 
 -expulsion of, 136 
 
 -restored by Cmsar, 136 
 
 -her personal charms, 136 
 
 --splendour and fascinations, 139, 
 
 - summoned to attend Antoninus in 
 
 Cilicia, 140 
 
 - war declared against, 141 
 
 -her measures after the battle of 
 
 Actium, 145 
 
 ■ -- offers submission to Augustus, 146 
 
 -her devices, 147 
 
 -interview with Augustus, 148 
 
 -death of, and character, 149 
 
 Cleopatra’s Needle, 54 
 Croesus, king of Lydia, 329 
 
 -his conquests, 330 
 
 -interview with Solon, 330 
 
 -vicissitudes, 331 
 
 -death of his son Atys, 331 
 
 -supports Neriglassar, 333 
 
 --consults the oracle, 335 
 
 -ambiguity of the oracle, 336 
 
 ——- enters Cappadocia, 337 
 
 ■ -- defeated by Cyrus, 340 
 
 Cyaxares, king of the Modes, 317 
 Cyrus, remarkable birth of, 321 
 -his boyhood, 322 
 
 -conspires against Astyages, 323 
 
 -defeats him, 324 
 
 -supports Cyaxares, 333 
 
 -defeats Neriglassar, 334 
 
 -Croesus, 334 
 
 -consults the oracle, 335 
 
 -Daniel, 337 
 
 -defeats Croesus, 340 
 
 -treats him kindly, 343 
 
 -—— conquers Babylon, 345 
 -marriage, 346 
 
 -proclamation in favour of the Jews, 347 
 
 -- various accounts of his death, 348 
 
 Cyrus the younger, 410 
 
 Dardanus, king of Troy, 420 
 Darius, pride of, 113 
 — kills Smerdis, 363 
 
 -succeeds to the throne of Persia, 368 
 
 -favours the Jews, 369 
 
 -rebuilds Jerusalem, 371 
 
 -reduces Babylon, 375 
 
 -invades Scythia, 375 
 
 -his designs upon India, 378 
 
 - quarrels with the Athenians, 379 
 
 -sends Mardonius into Greece, 379 
 
 -- his armies defeated at Marathon, 380 
 
 -his death, 382 
 
 Darius II. king of Persia, 408 
 
 -conquers Egypt, 115 
 
 Darius Codomannus, king of Persia, 411 
 
 -- encourages war against Alexander, 
 
 411 
 
 -defeated in various battles, 412 
 
 Deioces, king of the Medes, 316 
 Delta of the Nile, 21 
 
 Demetrius Phalereus, his literary know¬ 
 ledge, 117 
 
 -his death, 123 
 
 Democedes cures Darius, 368 
 Denderah, (Tentyris,) 46 
 Diodorus Siculus on Egypt, 81 
 Dionysius, accession of, and Cleopatra, 135 
 
 •-defeat and death, 139 
 
 Drangiana, 279 
 
 Ecbatana, 282 
 
 -Fire Temple, 284 
 
 Edfii, 37 
 
 Egypt, antiquity of, 9 
 
 -ancient names of, 10 
 
 -boundaries of, 11 
 
 -divisions of, 12 
 
 -extent of, 12 
 
 -physical peculiarities of, 13 
 
 -mountains of, 13 
 
 -- cataracts of, 13 
 
 -quarries of, 14 
 
 -rise of (the Nile) 15 
 
 -- salt lakes of, 22 
 
 -oases of, 25 
 
 -atmosphere of, 26 
 
 --vegetable productions of, 26 
 
 -- minerals of, 27 
 
 -animals of, 27 
 
 -famine and drought in, 28 
 
 -population of, 31 
 
 —— provinces of, 31 
 
 -- additional territories of, 33 
 
 -- early history of, 63 
 
 -ethnology of, 64 
 
 -ancient language of, 65 
 
 -chronology of, 67—72 
 
INDEX. 
 
 445 
 
 Egypt, list of kings, 70 
 
 -mythology of, 71—73 
 
 -- dynasty first, Menes, 77 
 
 -second, 78 
 
 -third, 78 
 
 -fourth, 78 
 
 ----fifth, 79 
 
 -sixth, Nitocris, 79 
 
 -seventh to sixteenth, 80 
 
 --—-shepherd kings, 80 
 
 -Israelites in Egypt, S2 
 
 -eighteenth, 85 
 
 -.-splendour of, 86 
 
 -conquests of Ramses, 89 
 
 --- nineteenth and twentieth, 99 
 
 -twenty-first, twenty-second, 100 
 
 -twenty-third, twenty-fourth, 100 
 
 -twenty-sixth, 100 
 
 -twenty-seventh dynasty, 113 
 
 -Ptolemaic dynasty, 116 
 
 -conquered by Cambyses, 107 
 
 - conquered by Darius Ochus, 115 
 
 -placed under the protection of Rome, 
 
 135 
 
 -conquered by the Romans, 139 
 
 -obelisks of, 177 
 
 -pyramids of, 177 
 
 -language of, 194 
 
 -theology of, 195 
 
 Egyptians, complexion of, 63 
 
 -Asiatic origin of, early, 64 
 
 -crania of, 65 
 
 -dynasties, 73 
 
 -mythology, 73 
 
 -dynasties not all consecutive, 7 6 
 
 -government, 151 
 
 -- orders of society, 153 
 
 -constitution and laws, 155 
 
 -priesthood, 153 
 
 -soldiers, 155 
 
 -dwellings, 156 
 
 —— dress, 159 
 
 -manners, 160 
 
 -amusements, 161 
 
 --occupations, 163—168 
 
 -professions, 169 
 
 -funeral ceremonies, 171 
 
 -painting, 175 
 
 -architecture, 175 
 
 -hieroglyphics, 181 
 
 Elephantine, island of, 36 
 Elymais, 275 
 
 Erichthonius, king of Troy, 420 
 Ethiopia invaded by Cambyses, 353 
 Ethnographical chart, 2 
 Exodus, Gosse’s theory of the, 85 
 
 Eire and Sun worshippers, 305 
 
 Gaza, 285 
 Gedrosia, 278 
 
 Gordius I. king of Phrygia, 416 
 
 - II. do. do. 418 
 
 - III. do. do. 419 
 
 Goshen, 59 
 
 -position of, 60 
 
 Gyges assassinates Candaules, 328 
 
 ■-- king of Lydia, 328 
 
 -wealth of, 328 
 
 Hamites, 3 
 
 Hebrews, Manetho’s Account of the, 80 
 
 -Shepherds, 81 
 
 -in Egypt, 83 
 
 -departure from Egypt, 84 
 
 Helen, rape of, 422 
 Heliopolis, 56 
 
 Heptanomis, (Middle Egypt,) 49 
 Heracleopolis Magna, 50 
 Ilerodotus.notices of Egyptian mythology, 71 
 Hermopolis Magna, 48 
 Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, 182 
 
 -phonetic, 183 
 
 -hieratic, 192 
 
 -demotic, 193 
 
 Hvksos, (shepherd kings,) 80 
 
 -identification of Hebrews and, 82 
 
 Hyrcania, 280 
 
 Ibeum, 49 
 
 Ilus, king of Troy, 421 
 Intaphernes revolts against Darius, 366 
 Issus, battle of, 412 
 Japhethites, 2 
 
 Jonah’s Mission to Nineveh, 217 
 
 Karnak, architectural splendour of, 42 
 
 -variety of monuments, 43 
 
 -artificial lake at, 43 
 
 Laborosoarchod, king of Babylon, 2G4 
 Laomedon, king of Troy, 422 
 Labyrinth of Egypt, 50 
 Layard’s discoveries in Nineveh, 254 
 Leonidas defeats Xerxes, 400 * 
 
 Lepsius, discoveries of, 75 
 Lower Egypt 
 Alexandria, 53 
 Bubastis, 59 
 Buto, 58 
 Goshen, 59 
 Heliopolis, 56 
 | Pelusium, 59 
 | Pitlion, 60 
 Raamses, 60 
 j Semmennood, 58 
 Tanis, 58 
 
446 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lycopolis, 48 
 
 Lydia, derivation of name, 326 
 
 -dynasties, 327 
 
 -conquered by Cyrus, 340 
 
 Manetho’s chronology of Egypt, 72 
 Manis, king of Phrygia, 416 
 Marathon, battle of, (13, 380 
 Mardonius defeated in Greece, 379 
 Margiana, 2S0 
 Medes, early history of, 316 
 
 -war with Lydia, 318 
 
 -— Nineveh, 318 
 
 -conquer Persia, 318 
 
 -subdued by Cyrus, 323 
 
 Media, 282 
 Memnon’s Statue, 38 
 Memnonium, 38, 47 
 Memphis, 52 
 
 -antiquity of, 63 
 
 Menes, epoch of, 76 
 Midas, king of Phrygia, 417 
 
 II. 
 
 do. 
 
 418 
 
 III. 
 
 do. 
 
 419 
 
 IV. 
 
 do. 
 
 419 
 
 Middle Egypt, (Heptauomis,) 49 
 Aphroditopolis, 51 
 Caves of Beni Hassan, 50 
 Crocodilopolis, 50 
 Heracleopolis Magna, 50 
 Labyrinth, 51 
 Memphis, 52 
 Mceris, lake, 24 
 
 Morton on Egyptian crania, 65 
 Mycale, battle of, 404 
 Mythology of Egypt, 73 
 
 Nimrod, 212 
 Nineveh, built, 213 
 
 -predictions against, 232 
 
 -site and buildings, 236 
 
 -temples, &c. 237 
 
 -- martial customs, 239 
 
 -- dress, &c. 243 
 
 -religion, 247 
 
 -letters, 251 
 
 -Eawlinson’s discoveries in, 255 
 
 -Layard’s discoveries in, 255 
 
 Ninyas, king of Assyria, 228 
 Nubia, 33 
 
 Oases of Egypt, 25 
 
 -geological formation of, 25 
 
 Ochus, king of Persia, 410 
 Oroetes revolts against Darius, 367 
 Osymandyas, tomb of, 41 
 
 Panopolis, 47 
 Papyrus of Turin, 74 
 Paropamisus, 279 
 Parthia, 279 
 Pelusium, (Sin,) 58 
 Persepolis, ruins of, 294 
 
 -described by Kerr Porter, 295 
 
 -Yaux, 297 
 
 Persia conquered by the Medes, 318 
 
 -revolts, 323 
 
 ——- conquers Media, 323 
 
 --—--- Lydia, 323 
 
 -Babylon, 345 
 
 Persian empire, boundaries of, 273 
 
 -climate of, 281 
 
 -minerals of, 282 
 
 -- mountains of, 287 
 
 -cities of, 289 
 
 -religion of, 305 
 
 --- derivation of, 307 
 
 -- language of, 308 
 
 -government of, 308 
 
 -customs of, 311 
 
 -magi, 313 
 
 -science of, 314 
 
 -education of, 314 
 
 --- architecture of, 314 
 
 -conquered by Alexander, 413 
 
 -conquered by Parthia, 413 
 
 -Sassanian dynasty, 414 
 
 Persis, 274 
 
 Pharos of Alexandria, 54 
 Phil*, island of, 34 
 Phoenicia, names of. 424 
 
 -territory and cities, 428 
 
 -religion of, 426 
 
 -arts and sciences of, 427 
 
 -commerce of, 428 
 
 Nabonadius, king of Babylon, 264 
 Naksh-i-Eustam, sepulchres at, 299 
 Nannacus, king of Phrygia, 416 
 Nations, origin of, 1 
 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 262 
 —— his conquests, 262 
 
 • -- his disease, 262 
 
 Nectanebes repels the Persian invasion of 
 Egypt, 114 
 
 Neriglassar, king of Babylcn, 333 
 
 -and Croesus attack Cyrus, 333 
 
 -killed, 334 
 
 Nile, valley of, 14 
 
 --- sources of, 16 
 
 -■ annual overflow of, 17—22 
 
 ■-- mouths of, 18 
 
 ——- alluvial deposit of, 19 
 
 -composition of the water of, 20 
 
 -Delta of, 21 
 
 • -salt lakes in the Delta of the, 22 
 
 Nilometer, ancient, 18 
 
INDEX. 
 
 447 
 
 Phoenicia, language of, 429 
 
 -history of, 416 
 
 Phoenix, fable of, 57 
 
 Phraortes, king of the Medes, 317 
 
 Phrygia, boundaries and origin, 415 
 
 -history, 416 
 
 Phrygia Minor, 418 
 Pithom, 60 
 Plataea, battle of, 404 
 Porter’s (Ker) discoveries, 291 
 Priam, king of Troy, 423 
 Proteus, king of Egypt, 99 
 Psammitichus, king of Egypt, 101 
 Psammenitus, king of Egypt, 105 
 
 -disgrace of, 108 
 
 -- death of his son, 108 
 
 -put to death, 108 
 
 Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, 116 
 Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, 116 
 
 -his early wars, 117 
 
 -—— encourages learning, 118 
 
 --death and character, 122 
 
 -—- Euergetes, 128 
 
 •-Philopater, 128 
 
 --- Epiphanes, 129 
 
 -Philometer, 129 
 
 --- Physcon, 1.31 
 
 -- Lathyrus, 132 
 
 -Auletes, 134 
 
 --expelled, 134 
 
 -restored by the Romans, 134 
 
 ■ -- Philadelphia, 120 
 
 ■ ---state of Egypt at his accession, 123 
 
 - - his treasures, 124 
 
 -his commercial policy, 124 
 
 ---navigation across the isthmus of 
 
 Suez, effected by, 125 
 
 ---state of literature under, 125 
 
 Pyramids of Egypt, 15, 52, 180 
 
 Ramses, 60 
 
 Ramses III. king of Egypt, 88 
 Ramses III. the most famous sovereign of 
 Egypt, 88 
 --- his fleet, 89 
 
 ■ -his vaunted power, 89 
 
 -the Sesostris of Grecian story, 90 
 
 Rawlinson’s discoveries, 251 
 Rich’s researches in Babylon, 768 
 Romans interfere in Egyptian affairs, 35 
 
 -conquer Egypt, 139 
 
 Eosellini, account of the Egyptian dynas¬ 
 ties, 85 
 
 Salamis, battle of, 402 
 Salt Lakes of Egypt, 22 
 Abukir, 23 
 Burullos, 23 
 
 Salt Lakes of Egypt 
 Mareotis, 22 
 El Menzaleh, 23 
 
 Samos added to the Persian empire, 355 
 Sardanapalus, king of Assyria, 229 
 Sardis taken by Cyrus, 340 
 Sculptured rocks of Persia, 299 
 Semiramis, queen of Assyria, 2 i 7 
 -—- her descent, 217 
 
 -marries Ninus, 219 
 
 -murders him, 220 
 
 -rebuilds Babylon, 220 
 
 -marches into Media, 223 
 
 ---Persia, 224 
 
 -—--Egypt, 224 
 
 ---India, 225 
 
 -fights Stabrobates, 226 
 
 -her defeat and death, 227 
 
 •-her character, 228 
 
 Semenniid, 58 
 
 Septuagint, controversy regarding the, 127 
 Sesostris, names of, 91 
 
 -education of, 91 
 
 -ascends the throne, 92 
 
 -popular conduct, 92 
 
 -attacks Ethiopia, 93 
 
 -overruns Asia, 93 
 
 -monuments of his victories, 94 
 
 -villany of his brother Armius, 96 
 
 -disbands the army, 96 
 
 -works of, 97, 98 
 
 -- his distribution of lands, 97 
 
 -—- his death, 99 
 
 Syene of the Greeks, 36 
 Shemites, 5 
 
 Shepherd kings of Egypt, 80 
 Shushan, ruins of, 389 
 Shishak, king of Egypt, 100 
 Sidon, city of, 426 
 
 Smerdis revolts against Cambyses, 358 
 
 -seizes the throne of Persia, 359 
 
 -his severity to the Jews, 359 
 
 -killed by Darius, 363 
 
 Solon’s interview with Croesus, 336 
 Stabrobates defeats Semiramis, 226 
 
 Tablet of Abydos, 74 
 -- of Karnak, 75 
 
 Tachos prepares to invade Persia, 112 
 Takht-i-Suleiman, 285 
 Temple of Abousimbel, 33 
 
 -Belus, 222 
 
 -Bubastis, 59 
 
 -Edfu, 37 
 
 -Isis, 34 
 
 -Jupiter Ammon, 25 
 
 -- Karnak, 42 
 
 -Luxor, 36 
 
448 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Temples of Tentyris, 45 
 Tentyris, (Denderah,) 45 
 
 ■ -- planisphere of, 46 
 
 Tentyrites’ power over the crocodile, 46 
 Teucer, king of Troy, 420 
 Thebes, 38 
 -ruins of, 44 
 
 ■ -- origin of name, 45 
 
 --- description by Homer, 45 
 
 ----— Nahum, 45 
 
 Theocritus, account of Egypt under Ptolemy 
 the second, 123 
 Theology, Egyptian, 195 
 
 ■ --great gods, 196 
 
 -lesser gods, 197 
 
 ---animal worship, 198 
 
 -sacred books, 201 
 
 -Assyrian. 247 
 
 -Persian, 305 
 
 Thermopiyke, battle of, 400 
 Thymbra, battle of, 339 
 Tirhaka, king of Egypt, 100 
 Tomb of Cyrus, 291 
 
 ■ -- Daniel, 290 
 
 Tower of Babel, 212 
 Tradition, early, 2 
 
 Trajan’s liberality to the Egyptians, 28 
 Tros, king of Troy, 420 
 Troy, siege of, 422 
 
 Tyre, city of, 426 
 Upper Egypt 
 
 Catacombs, 44 ' 
 
 Edfu, 37 
 Elephantine, 36 
 Hermopolis Magna, 48 
 Philte, 34 
 
 Tentyris, (Denderah,) 45 
 Thebes, 38 
 
 Xenophon’s Anabasis, subject of, 420 
 Xenophon and Herodotus compared, 319 
 Xerxes, king of Persia, 384 
 
 ---re-subdues Egypt, 113, 385 
 
 -invades Greece, 388 
 
 ---crosses the Hellespont, 392 
 
 -number of his army, 395 
 
 -- defeated at Thermopylte, 400 
 
 ---attacks Athens, 401 
 
 -defeated at Salamis, 403 
 
 -repeatedly defeated, 404 
 
 -— returns to Persia, 404 
 
 -assassinated, 405 
 
 -II. king of Persia, 409 
 
 -governs Egypt, 113 
 
 Zoan, ruins of, 58 
 
 Zopyrus enters Babylon by stratagem, 373 
 
 [The Catapulta, for discharging Arrows. - ] 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 
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