HISTORICAL ORIGINS COMPRISING ♦'THE CHALDEAN AND HEBREW AND THE CHINESE AND HINDOO ORIGINES." "THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATION OF THE NILE'S VALLEY:" HISTORICAL CRITIQUES > COMPRISING "A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE SCOTS OR GAELS/' ETC. "A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT." ■ BY ROBERT SHAW, M. A., AUTHOR OF "CREATOR AND COSMOS;" OF "COSMO-THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSES;" OF "THE HEBREW COSMOGONY;" OF "THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION, WITH REFLECTIONS UPON THE MIRACLES AND HEROES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT;" OF "AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY," WHICH EMBRACES AN ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS OF THE GOSPELS AND THE ACTS, SHOWING THEIR UNITY IN SEVERALTY; OF "PROPHECIES OF REVELATION AND DANIEL, DEVELOPED IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTENDOM," WITH AN APPENDIX COMPLETE IN PROOF, AND A "CHAPTER UPON THE CYCLES OF THE ANCIENTS;" OF THE "ANCIENT COSMOTHEOLOGIES OF THE WORLD;" OF THE "PHOENICIAN COSMOGONIES," ETC., ETC. RE VISED. \^N* \ ST. LOUIS: BECKTOLD & COMPANY. 1889. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON Entered according to Act ot Congress, In the year 1889, by ROBERT SHAW, In the Office of the Librarian of CongresB, Washington, D. 0. THE CHALDAEAN AID -AND- THE CHINESE AND HINDOO ORIGINES. BY ROBERT SHAW, M. A. AUTHOR OF DREATOR and cosmos; of cosmotheologies and indications op judgment; op a CRITIQUE OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT; OF A CRITIQUE OF THE HISTORY" OF THE SCOTTS OR GAELS OF THE BRITISH ISLES; OF THE PHOENICIAN COS- MOGONIES, ETC. REVISED. ST. LOUIS: BECKTOLD AND COMPANY. 1889. TABLE OF CONTENTS. (Chalduean and Hebrew Origines.) PAGK8 The Traditions of the Babylonians, regarding the Genesis of the Human Race and the foretimes of their own people as according to Berosus 1-27 The Ten Pre-diluvial Epochs of the Babylonians 5-8 Berosus' account of the Flood of Xisuthros compared with the account of the Flood in the Book of Genesis 8-11 The Chaldaean and Hebrew accounts of the Creation put into juxtaposition and compared with each other.. 11-12 As to the Beginning of Babylon; the Tower of Babel; Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter; His Empire and Age 12-16 Brief Description of Nineveh 16 Ninus and Semiramis 16-18 Description of Babylon 18-24 1. The Walls 18 2. The Quays and Bridge 19-20 3. The Lakes, Ditches and Canals made for Draining and Irrigation 20-21 4. The Palaces and Hanging Gardens 21-22 5. The Temple of Belus 22-24 Meaning Suggested of the Confusion of Tongues 24-25 Information Conveyed by the Cuneiform Inscriptions; the date of the founding of Babylon, illustrated by the dates given of the different foundations of Carthage 25-27 Concerning the Dynasties which may have dominated over the Chaldaeans from the time of the Deluge down to the times of the Persians 27-31 The Recokds of the Hebrew Origines and Primitive History, examined into by Tuch, Ewald, Bunsen, Delitsch and others 31-35 As to the Traditions concerning the Patriarchs of the Pre-diluviau Age found in the Book of Genesis.. . 35-39 il TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGES. As to the dates of the Patriarchs 39-46 The Names of the Pre-diluvial Patriarchs in the Jehovistic and Elohistic Kecords shown to have had an identical reference and to have been in Succession 7; and the Patriarchal Ages from Adam to Joseph inclusive and from Adam to Christ shown to have been cyclical periods measured by the number 7 46-49 An Inquiry into the date of the Exodus, which takes into account the dates of the capture of Troy; of the founding of New Tyre ; of the founding of the Temple of Solomon ; of the founding of New Carthage by Dido, etc 49-59 Remarks Particulaelt on the Patriarchs from Adam to Joseph inclusive 59-65 Esau and Jacob, the Gemini or Twins and Joseph 63-65 (Chinese and Hindoo Origines.) As to the Origines and Primeval History of the Chinese down to the first recognised Imperial Dynasty. . . . 65—77 Origines, Cosmogony and Pre-diluvial or Diluvial History 65-74 Yellow River Overflow 74-77 The Imperial Dynasties of the Chinese from 2000 years B. C. to 264 A. D 77 As to the Chinese Cycles of 60 years; of 19 years; of 129,600 years ; and as to their Cycles generalJy as well as their achievements in Astronomy in very early times 77-81 As to the Primitive Divisions of the year among the Chinese 81-84 Concerning the Origines, the Primitive History and Chronology of the Hindoos 85-98 The four Cosmic Ages of the Hindoos and their rational analysis in the light of the historic records of those peoples left us byMegasthenes, Arrian and others. 85-92 Concerning the Age of Buddha 92-98 Concerning the location of ancient Iran whence the Arians emigrated to India ' 98-102 As to the Age and doctrine of Zoroaster 102-104 Concerning the Hindoo Reminiscences about the primeval country and the Flood 104-107 INTRODUCTION. (Chaldcean and Hebrew and Chinese and Hindoo Origines.) Most enquiring minds among us are very desirous to know just about how far back those eastern nations go in their records con- cerning the origin of the world and of their own respective nations. Our people have somehow got it into their minds that the Chinese, the Hindoos and the Chaldasans have records in their books of a surpassingly wonderful antiquity for their nations, and surpassingly strange, if any, of the origin of the world. The object of these " Origines " is to preserve, and perpetuate those cosmogonical and ethnological records, so that our people maybe able to see for them- selves what they are and to compare them with the Hebrew Cos- mogony and Origines with which we all are familiar. If it be remarked, as it doubtless will, that they are but scarce as they appear in this compendium, it may be answered, as in the case of some of our other Cosmogonical treatises, that as here they contain much in a limited space — muUum in parvo, as the saying is — but they will, nevertheless, be found sufficiently full to give as satisfactory a view as is necessary, expedient or feasible for us now to attain upon the subjects whereon they are. Here they are set forth in our language, in a lucid way, for what they are ; and as faithfully mirroring the full originals, which they represent; and this is, of course, what is required in this case; nothing less, nothing more. They will assuredly be found no less interesting in their repre- sentation of the rise of the magnificent races, arts, sciences and civilizations which in the primitive ages spread themselves over the valleys of the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus and the Ganges, (iii) IV INTRODUCTION. and from the Hindoo Koosh are said to have spread themselves to the east and the west, as parental to the Chinese, the Japanese, the northern Asiatic, the ^Ethiopian proper and the Indo European races, languages and civilizations, than they are in the portrayal of the recorded beliefs of those peoples in their very ancient books concerning their cosmogonies, origines and foretimes. My knowledge from long experience of the great desire men have for the possession of this knowledge, pure and simple, and my belief that this knowledge will by comparison of it with the Hebrew records help to a knowledge of the truth, as properly ap- prehended in the Scriptures, has shown me the expediency if not the necessity of placing this treatise in my cosmical system of works, thus to afford to the people an opportunity to exercise their judgment on the data themselves. Jj # g. St. Louis, 1889. THE CHALDAEAN AND HEBREW ORIGINES. The Traditions of the Babylonians Regarding the Genesis of the Human Race, and the Foretimes of their own People, as According to Berosus. {Translation from the Greek and Latin.) Eusebius and Syncellus, following Alexander Polyhistor, have left us the following from the First Book of the Babylonian History of Berosus. " Berosus relates, in his First Book of Babylonian History, that he, a contemporary of Alexander, son of Philip (King of Mace- don) had copied the codes of very many authors, which had been preserved with great care at Babylon for 215,000 years before his time: That in those books were contained the reckoning of the times, and, likewise, written histories of heaven and earth and sea, and of the primal origins of things, as well as of the kings and of their individual acts." " And, indeed, firstly, he says, the Kingdom of Babylon is situ- ated near the river Tigris, but that the river Euphrates, flows through it ; and that there grows wild, in the country, wheat and barley, lentils and vetches and sesame. More overin the marshes and reedy bottoms, adjacent to its rivers, certain edible roots are pro- duced, which have the strength of barley bread and to which the name of Gongis has been given. Finally, there are there produced palm and apple and other fruit trees of many kinds and fishes as well as fowls, which pertain to both wood and marsh. A far off part of that kingdom is arid and noticeably destitute of vegetation, (1) 2 THE CHALDAEAN ORIUINES. while the part which is situated in the opposite direction from Ara- bia is mountainous and abounds in fruits." " Now, in that city, Babylon, there are occupied, in various ways, an immense medley of men of different races, who, forsooth, constitute its population, and, without order or restraint, lead such a luxurious life as pertains to a long established, beastly custom of theirs." " And he relates that in the first year (i.e., of the recorded his- tory) there emerged from the Red Sea and passed into the bounds of the Babylonians a certain horrid beast, which had the name of Oanncs and which Appollodorus also mentions in his history. This monster, was, indeed, a fish as to his whole body, but under his fish's head, he had another head and in his lower parts he had feet after the similitude of a man's while also his voice gave the impres- sion of the human ; the outlines of his appearance are preserved to this day. " This monster, he said, was occupied in the day time among the people and partook of no food : He taught them letters and various kinds of arts, descriptions of cities, structures of temples, knowledge of justice and the doctrine which pertained to the regu- lating of boundaries: Moreover, he instructed them as to seeds and the gathering in of fruits and indeed as to all things which directly pertain to a mundane society, so that since that time no one has discovered anything extraordinary as to fruit. " Moreover, at about the time of sunset this monster, Oannes, plunged again, unaccompanied, into the deep and passed the night in the immense sea and so led a kind of amphibious life. After that, other monsters similar to the first came forth, concerning which he promises to relate in the history of the kings. And, besides, he says, Oannes wrote concerning the origin of the kings and the public government and taught language and industry to men. " A time, said he, was when this universal orb was occupied with darkness and water: and in these elements sprung up marvelous animals, apparently possessing a double nature. For two-winged men were produced and some also with four wings and two faces; and some indeed having only oue body but two heads thereon, the same person being both male and female, and having the genera- tive organs also double. There were also other men which had goat's thighs, with a horned head; others again with horse's hoofs ; COSMOGONY. 3 others finally with the hind parts those of a horse but the anterior parts human, which have the form of hippocentaurs. " Bulls, he said, wei - e created with human heads and dogs with a four fold body having the tails projecting from the haunches, like as fishes ; horses, moreover, with dog's heads and men and other animals with the heads of horses, as well as human forms with the hind parts of fishes: a multiplicity of other animals, moreover, having the form of dragons ; finally fishes similar to sirens, and reptiles and fishes and other wild animals in wondrous variety dif- fering from each other, whose images accurately depicted are preserved in the temple of Belus. Now, there governed all these a woman, whose name was Homoroka; but in the Chaldaean lan- guage it was Thalath, while in the Greek it is interpreted Qo.Io.tto. which means the sea, and by an equal authority HeXijvi), i.e. the moon," the Mylitta of the Tyrians. " And when all those things were mingled together, Belus super- vening cut the woman in two in the middle, out of one half of whom be made the earth, out of the other the heaven, all living things which had been in her being thus made to disappear. As concerning the nature of those things, he says, they were so related allegorically : And, indeed, at what time all these things were in a state of moisture and there existed nothing there except- ing animals, that God cut off his own head and the blood thence flowing having become commixed with the earth, the other Gods created therefrom men, who for this reason were not only endowed with intelligence but participated in the Divine Mind, " Let this be as it may, they say Belus, whom the Greeks call Zeus (but the Armenians Aramazd) having cut off the darkness separated the earth from the heaven and arranged the world beau- tifully ; but the living creatures not being able to bear the force of the light, died. Then Belus, when he saw the region deserted, yet fruitful, commanded some of the Gods to bring the earth into acul- tivable state and to form men with the other living beings and brutes which were able to bear the light out of the blood which flowed from his own decapitated head. Belus created, likewise, the stars and the sun and moon and the five wandering stars ( i.e., the five planets). These things Alexander Polyhistor, being the witness, Berosus re- lated in his First Book. 4 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. 2. Concerning Things before the Deluge from the Second Book of Berosus. (Eusebius Chron. Lib. I, Cap. 1. ex-interpete-Armenio.) Translation from the Latin. " (These things indeed Berosus narrated in his First Book ; but in the Second, he reviews the kings one after another. As he Bays himself Nabonnassar was at that time king. And, indeed, he col- lected diligently the names of the kings ; although he recites no work peculiarly theirs, perhaps because there was nothing he deemed necessary to be remembered. From him only, therefore, is it permitted us to draw the series of the Kings.) In this way, then he begins his narration, as Appollodorus says : namely, that the first king that reigned was Alorus, a Chaldaeau from the city of Babylon. He possessed the government during ten Sari. Far- ther, he concludes a Sams as consisting of 3600 years. He adds, also, I know not exactly what the Neri and Sossi are ; but, says he, a Nerus consists of 600, a sossus of sixty years. Thus does he, after the manner of the ancients, compute the years. " Having premised so much he goes farther and enumerates the kings of the Assyrians singly in their order: Ten (kings) there were, forsooth, from Alorus, the first king, to and including Xisu- thrus, under whom, he says, that great primeval deluge took place, which Moses, also, commemorates. Now, the sum of the periods, he says, in which these kings reigned is 120 Sari, namely 432,000 years. Again in well chosen words he writes as follows: Alorus, says he, having died, his son, Alaparus, reigned three Sari. After Alaparus, Almelon, a Chaldaean, fivom the city of Pantibiblos, reigned thirteen Sari. To Almelon succeeded Ammenon, likewise •a Chaldaean from the city of Pantibiblos, who reigned twelve Sari. In his age a certain wild animal, whose name was Idotion, emerged from the Red Sea, of a mixed form of man and fish. Hence Ame- jjalarus from Pantibiblos reigned eighteen Sari. After him reitrned Daonus, a shepherd from Pantibiblos, who, even himself, posses- sed the government ten Sari. In this man's reign there emerged again from the Red Sea four monsters having the same form, namely, of man and fish. After these things reigned Edoranchus, from Pantobiblos eighteen Sari. In that time there appeared from the Red Sea a certain other wonder, similar to a fish and a man, whose name was Odacon. Of the sum of those things, said he, EPOCHS. 5 which had been taught by Oannes, this one made an exact exposi- tion to all the people. After this there governed Amempsinus, a Chaldaean from Lancharis, ten Sari. Otiartes, a Chaldaean from Lancharis, succeeding, held the government eight Sari. Finally, Otiartes having died, his son, Xisuthrous, ruled the kingdom for eighteen Sari, and in his time occurred the great Flood. There are, therefore, collected in the foregoing the sum of ten kings and one hundred and twenty Sari. This is, farther, the series of the Kings: The Ten Prediluvial Epochs of the Babylonians: I. Alorus, Saris 10 II. Alaparus, Saris 3 III. Almelon, Saris 13 IV. Ammenon, Saris 12 V. Amegalarus, Saris 18 VI. Daonus, Saris 10 VII. Edoranchus, Saris lb VIII. Amempsinus, Saris 10 IX. Otiartes, Saris 8 X. Xisuthrus, Saris 18 Sum total, 10 Kings; 120 Sari = 432,000 lunar years. '« Now, from these one hundred and twenty Saris they say, are computed forty-three myriads and twice one thousand years be- sides ; that is, provided a Sarus equals three thousand and six hundred years. These things are narrated in the books of Alexan- der Polyhistor."* I have remarked elsewhere (Cosmotheologies pp. 36-37), that the first historic dynasty of Kings of the Chaldaeans is said to have been preceded by ten great epochs, from Alorus to Xisuthrus ; that these * While Syncellus, Abydenns and Alexander Polyhistor tell us that the Saros was a period of 3600 years, Suidas, an author contemporary with Syncellus says the Saros was a period of lunar months amounting to 1&){ years. In this Sir Isaac Newton agrees with Suidas wheu he says, the Sarus was a period of IS years and 6 intercellary months. That the first ten kings of the Chaldaeans should have reigned each so many Sari will noj appear so wonderful provided we take Suidas' calculation of 222 moons to a Sarus. Tiius the 10 Sari which Alorus reigned would equal 185 years, the age which Josephus informs us the patriarch Isaac had reached at Ins death: but those who are said to have reigned IS Sari must have lived 333 years, according to this reckoning, which is but 33 years over half the life of Shem the son of Noah, most of which he lived after the Flood; and the whole 120 Sari before the Flood would be 2220 lunar years Instead of 432,000, as given above. This would be equal to from sixty to seventy successive generations of men. 6 . THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. prediluvian epochs have been frequently compared to the so-called ten generations from Adam to Noah inclusive, as given in Genesis ; but that no such comparison can be justly made for that in the oldest Hebrew traditions there are no such ten generations mentioned. In order to make this more clear I will proceed farther to col- late the Babylonian account of the Flood given by Eusebius from Polyhistor with the account given of the Flood in the Book of Gen- esis first giving a synopsis and tabulation of what is contained in the foregoing . — As seen in the above translation, which I have made, Berosus states in his first book, that he, a contemporary of Alexander the Great compiled those records, which he gives us, from the regis- ters, astronomical and chronological, which were, many in number, preserved at Babylon, and which covered a period of 215, 000 years : He states that Babylon lies near the river Tigris, but having the river Euphrates running through the city ; that corn and many edible things grew wild there ; that on the Arabian side it was a desert country, but ou the opposite side undulating and fertile; that in the city and fertile parts of the province vast numbers of j^eoples of various races led a sensual life ; that in the first year, Oannes, a Merman, came out of the Red Sea and instructed the the people ; that other similar Oannes, appeared subsequently, of whom he would give an account in his list of kings. For the first nine ages he recorded no further remarkable occurrence only for the tenth : I begin the tabulation of the lists out of the Second book : (Euseb. Armen. Version, 1. Compare Sync. 1, 17, Seq.). I. Alorus, Chaldaean from Era of Babylon: 13 Sari: Babylon 10 Sari: Lunar Lunar years. 46,800 years 36,000 The two epochs appear as father and II. Alaparus, his son, 3 son. Sari: Lunar years 10,800 III. Almelon, from Pantibi- loi, a Chaldaean, 13 Sari: Lunar years 46,800 IV. Ammeuon, also from Pantibibloi; in his time the Merman teacher Oannes came out of the Red Sea: 12 Sari: Lun- ar years 43,200 ERAS. V. Amelagarus, from Pan- tibibloi : the fourth An- nedotes, Merman, came out of the Red Sea in his time: 18 Sari: lunar years 64,800 VI. Daonus, Shepherd from Pantibibloi: in his age four m: ien come out of the Red Sea: 10 Sari: Lunar years 30,000 VII. Edoranch"s, from Pan- tibibloi: Another Mer- man, Odakon, comes out of the Red Sea. All those later Mermen taught more fully the doctrines inculcated by Oannes: 18 Sari : lunar years 64,800 VIII. Ameinpsinus, from Lan- charis, (Sync. Laranchi: Rawliuson, Sancharis) Chaldaeau 10 Sari: Lun- ar years 36,000 IX. Otiartes, from Sancharis; (Sync. Laranchi) 8 Sari: Lunar years 28,000 X. Xisuthrus, son of Otiar- tes; (Syncellus, p. 30, son of Adratus). 18 Sari: Lunar years 64,000 In his reign the deluge took place. Sum total 120 Sari: Lunar years 432,000 Era of Pantibibloi (translated city of writing : Sipparuaya, Sepharvayim, 2 Kings, XVII, 24, Isa. XXXVI, 19. Heb. Sepher, writing: Kirjath-Sepher, the city of writing. In the Chaldaic and Greek names, Sipparuya and Bibloi, the plural is generally used.) Five epochs : in the fourth (VI) a Shepherd reigns: in the second, third and fifth, at least, (IV, V, VII.) men receive in- struction. Era of Sancharah, (a city in Susiana.) three epochs in 36 Sari : the length of the first two periods of it being the same as that of the last, namely 18 Sari; just as the length of the third epoch of the series is equal to the added lengths of the two preceding It, as father and son. In the epoch of Xisuthros occurs the flood and with this event Berosus properly begins his human history. Of course in the p re- diluvial epochs the existence of man is implied, although not much is recorded of him. The revelations which are represented as having been made by mermen are traditionary, doubtless, and embellished with myth. It is, however, noticeable, that the ten epochs are divided into three great eras, traditionary of different localities: the first and second epochs or the Chaldaeo-Babylonian tradition or era; the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, or the Sipparic, to the northeast of Babylon ; and the Sancharic, to the southeast of Baby- lon in Chusiana, i.e., Persia. To this latter Xisuthros belongs, he 8 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. being described as the son of the second Sancharic dynasty or epoch. These epochs are, as their manner of calculation implies, astronomical cycles and the chronological references are ideal in the same way as those in the calculations concerning the Gods, and Demigods in the mythic history of Egypt. It is clear that none of these prediluvial epochs contain any chronological data. To satisfactorily unravel this whole business some have very anxious- ly sought for light from the cuneiform inscriptions. Bekosus' Account of the Flood of Xisuthros, Compared with the Eecord of the Flood in the Book of Genesis (Euseb. Chron. 1, eh. 3; Sync. Chron. p. 30, 31) : — " The same Alexander (Polyhistor) speaking from the history of the Chaldaeans and descending in order from their first king Adratus (ace. to Syncellus, but) Alorus (ace. to Eusebius) to the tenth, called by them Xisuthrus, speaks as follows : — Now, Adratus having died, his son Xisuthros ruled during 18 Sari. In his time a great Kataclysm took place, of which the his- tory has been recorded as follows : — " Ktodos revealed to Xisuthrus in a dream that ou the fifteenth clay of the month Daisios (the eighth of the Mac- edonian year) the flood would com- mence, L in which all mankind should perish; that he must proceed to bury all the books in Sippara, the city of the Sun, and build a ship five stadia (3125 feet) long, two stadia (1250 feet) broad for himself, his children and nearest relatives; that he should provide for them the necessary food and drink; and that he should take with him all sorts of animals, four-footed beasts and fowls. When Xisuthros asked where he should sail to, he received for answer: To the Gods, with an ac- companying prayer that it might fare well with mankind. The flood at length coming with great violence, and soon decreasing, Xisutnrus sent forth certain birds, which, finding neither food nor place of rest, returned and were received in- to the ship. " And God said unto Noah the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy them from the earth." "And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of water upon the earth, to de- stroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under Heaven; and every- thing that Is in the earth shall die." Gen. VI., 13, 17. " Make thee an ark of gopher wood, the length of which shall be 300 cubits, the breadth 50 cubits and the height 30 cubits." Id. verses 14, 15. "And thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy wife and thy sons and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every liv- ing thing of all flesh two of every sort THE DELUGE. Again In some days after he sent forth othrr birds, which likewise returned to the" ship with mud on their feet. Finally, and for the third time, he hav- ing sent forth birds when they did not return to the ship Xisuthrus knew that the laud was laid open before him (i.e., the earth was visible, dry). Then having partially broken the roof of the ship, he saw the ship itself rest- ing upon a certain mountain; and soon he himself with his wife and daughter and the architect of the ship having disembarked, and built an altar he fell prone upon the earth and of- fered thanks to the Gods. This having been accomplished he, with those who disembarked from the ship with him, never appeared again. But the rest, who had been in the ship and had not debarked with the company of Xisuth- rus, as soon as their debarkation was accomplished, began to inquire after him and wandering about they called npon him by name. But, indeed, it was not permitted that Xisuthrus should be seen any more; a voice, however, was heard from the air loudly urging them that they should worship the Gods. For not only used he to come of religious piety to the temples of the Gods but with the like honor did his wife and her daughter and the pilot of the ship reverence them. Then he commanded them to return to Babylon and in accordance with the command of the Gods, that they should dig up those books which had been buried at the city of Sipparis and deliver them to men. But the place where they, having • debarked from the ship, then stood is the region of the Armiu- ians. They having been Instructed concerning all those matters and hav- ing sacrificed to the Gods, straightway bent their course on foot to Babylon. Of that ship, which at last rested iu Armenia, some fragment, they say, remains in the Armenian mountain inhabited by the Kurds, even in our shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee ; they shall be male and female." Id., verses 18, 19. Comp. vii, 1-5. " Thus did Noah; according to all that God had commanded him." Id., v. 22. " In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, the second mouth, the seven- teenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened." — "And the flood was forty days upon the earth ; and the ark went upon the face of the waters." — " Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were cov- ered." — " And Noah only remained alive aud those that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days." — "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the sixteenth day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat." — "On the first day of the tenth month were the tops of the mountains seen." Vfi. verses 11, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24; viii, 4, 5. "At the end of forty days Noah sent forth a raven, which returned not again to him " — afterwards "he sent forth a dove," which "found no rest for the sole of her foot and returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; then he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark." "After seven days he again scut forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came in unto him him in the evening; aud lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days and sent forth the dove which returned not again unto him anymore." viii. vrs. 6-12. " And Noah removed the covering of 10 THE CHALDAEAN OKIGINES. age; they say, also, that certain per- sons bring back thence the bitumen, scraped off for the purpose as a remedy and preservative against those things which are unpropitious and should be averted. But those people having re- turned to Babylon are said to have exhumed the books in the city of Sipparis, to have founded many towns, to have constructed many churches and to have rebuilt Babylon." the ark and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry. And Noah went forth and his wife and his sous and his sons' wives with him — and Noah builded an altar unto the Lord ; and took of every clean beast and of every cleau fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor and said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake," viii, 13, 18, 20, 21. So far as much or any confidence is placed by the critics in the authenticity of the accounts of the Babylonian beginnings they end here. In fact Syncellus evidently did not himself believe in the truthfulness, perhaps not in the authenticity, of the last part at least, of the account he gives from Polyhistor as coming from Ber- osus, the Chaldean priest ; for as a final sentence, coming from himself, he gives, referring, of course, to what had gone before the following : — "These things from Alexander, the Polyhistor (i.e., the very learned), as being from Berosns, that man, who, in relation to Chaldean history spoke falsely, being now before you," etc. Syn- cellus himself, however, is not altogether free from the imputation of having put forlh lying tales for true with a fair gloss from his hand. His statements (p. 44, Chron.) and those from Eusebius (Arm. Chron., iv ; Conf. Euseb. Praef. Ev. ix. 5) from Polyhistor are supposed to be borrowed from Persian records through the medium of a Sybilline book. It begins: " The Sybil says," which is reasonably supposed to indicate its character as a concoction of some Alexandrian or other Hellenistic Jew. After the above the fragment then proceeds as follows : " when men still spoke but one language they built a very high tower in order to go up to heaven. The Almighty (in Syncellus, the Gods) however sent a strong wind and threw down the tower. After that men spoke different languages ; from which circumstance the place is called Babylon." Babel =Confusion. But it is clear that had the old tradition or history contained anything of this kind Berosus would have mentioned it. Moreover, according to Hyppolytus (Haeres, v. 7, p, 97,)the Chaldeans called the man who was born of the earth, but who afterwards became a living soul, Adam ; which appears consistent and natural. But Berosus has not mentioned CREATION. 11 this, neither has Eusebius, and Hyppolytus in making that state- ment may possibly have had in mind the Chaldeans of Palestine, the Plicenicians or Israelites. The Chaldaean account of the flood terminates in local reminis- cences and its sacerdotal authors evidently intended it to be under- stood that books of theirs, written before the deluge, had been saved from that catastrophe, having been concealed in the ground at Sippara. The Chaldaean and Hebrew Accounts of the Creation Put into Juxtaposition and Compared with Each Other. From the mutual similarity of the Chaldaean account of crea- tion and that in the Book of Genesis one would be disposed to conclude them different versions of the same. The conclusion of the critics generally I find to be that the old Chaldaean tradition is the basis of them both. The fundamental idea is that of the emanation of the world from the creative will of the Almighty and Eternal God. There is perceived in both accounts five noticeable stages of creation: — Hebrew Creation. 1. Darkness aud chaos (Gen. 1, 2.) "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." 2. Separation of the upper from the lower by a iirmanent. (Gen. I, 3-1H.) Chaldaean Creation. 1. Darkuess and water, wherein are generated all monstrous things and in which, finally, the woman, Moledeth, mother of life, appears conspicuous. 2. This woman Bclus split up into two halves; out of one of which he made the earth, out of the other the heavens ; aud he destroyed all previous creation in her, the woman. 3. He then reduced the world to order aud created animals that could bear the light: those which could not perished. 4. Last of all he cut off his own head, but the Gods mingled with dust the blood which flowed therefrom and out of the compound formed men. On this account (adds Berosus) men are ra- tional and partake of the divine reason. 5. This same Belus created the stars also, the sun aud moon and the five planets. We have in the one case the creation of the natural world rep- resented in a mythological way ; in the other prominence is given to the Divine in the world's formation, that is, to the idea of God as antecedent to nature. Berosus himself states, however, that the Chaldaean account of the creation is allegorical 3. Creation of sun, moon and stars. (Gen. I, 14-19.) 4. Creation of animals. (Gen. I, 20- 25.) 5. Creation of Man. II, 7.) (Gen. I, 2C-31; 12 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. As to the Beginnings of Babylon, the Tower of Babel and Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter : His Empire and Age : Nimrod und his history are pronounced by the critics to be either a myth or the most remarkable relic of ancient political history. The Biblical narration (Gen. X, 8-11), is the only information we Lave of him under that name. He is put down there as son of Cush and grandson of Cham. The name Cush in ancient history is applied to those called Ethiopians, a people of which name in- habited ancient Asia as well as Africa, and specifically also it is applied to the Turanian Cusians, a Scythian race pertaining to the highlands of Asia. The Babylonian researches have proved that no dynast named Nimrod was introduced among the kings of the first Chaldaean dynasty, and therefore the critics conclude that if any king reigned under that name he must have preceded it. Eusebius as well as Josephus knew from the works of Berosus and Polyhistor the names of 87 kings of which the first Babylonian dynasty consisted, and no one of these was entered under the name of Nimrod. They conjectured that Nimrod might have been the one named Euechios, the first of that dynasty, who is said to have reigned 3,000 years, and whose son and successor, Chomasbelos, reigned 2,700. Bunsen calls this an unfortunate conjecture of the Christian annallists; but I think I can perceive some foundation for their idea ; for Nimrod was a distinguished hunter, and Euechius in the primitive language would mean a horseman, for Each means a horse, and Evech, or Echacb, would mean a horseman, the case ending, us or os, not belonging to the word proper. Chomasbelos is a compound of Cham and Bel, a name, if I interpret correctly, not unrepresented in Gallic history, and it is cpiite likely that this man's father's name was Ethach {i.e., Nethach, i.e., Setheach), and that he was distinguished in ancient history by the form Neach or Neamhraidh (the amh for ach ) ( i.e. , of the family or race of Nedhamh or Noah ) : thus his name would come down to us in the hard, unaspirated form Nimrod. * The implication in this conjecture might, however, be taken as a kind of proof that those writers attributed to Nimrod a very re- •Neach is Each, a horse, whence our verb "to neigh." NIMROD. 13 mote antiquity ; for irrespective of the vast period assigned to those two so-called rulers, the remaining 85 of that dynasty are said to have reigned nearly 30,000 years. The Median conquest was the commencement of the regular chronological registration of the oldest Chaldaean kinsrs, and criti- cism supposes it has reduced the historical part of the first dynasty to 1550 Julian years before this conquest ; viz., 87 kings, multiplied by an average reign of 18 years, as deduced by Newton, equals 1566 years. Hence the following: — Capture of Babylon by Zoroaster 2234 B. C. Chaldaean kings preceding 1550 years Bejrinnins: of Chaldaean historic chronology 3784 B. C. So that criticism leaves the beginning of their historic djmasties to be at least approximately 3800 years B. C. later than which it supposes Nimrod did not reign. But the dynasty of Nimrod means, literally, as I have explained above, namely, the dynasty of the race (Gaelic Raidhe) of Neamhaidh (the Heavenly or Holy man, Priest) Noah. Tims, the 87 kings, doubtless, occupied as much time as we ascribe to them above. Now, as to the original home of Nimrod, the son of Cus and grandson of Cam, it would seem unreasonable to conclude that a revolution in Central Asia should have had its orio;in in the African Ethiopia, which lies to the southwards of Egypt and includes the equatorial regions of that continent. But the vowels o and u especially being but slight variations of the same sound, the same Hebrew word (e.g., Gen. 2, 13) may be read Cus or Cos. The Cossians were an ancient tribe occupying the mountainous country to the east of the Tigris, which is the ancient abode of the Scyth- ians. Thus it may appear plain that Nimrod's original home was in the continent of Asia and how that the beginning of his kingdom is stated to have been the plain of Shinar or Southern Babylonia. (Gen. X, 10). There are, however, other things besides the topo- graphical nomenclature, which is common to both countries, which would lead the investigator to conclude that the ancient country of Saba (called by Cambyses Meroe, after the name of his sister), near the sources of the Nile, was possessed in the very early ages by the same race as that which founded Babylon. But we are treating 14 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. here of very remote ages in the progress of which the race of Nimrod (Nedhamhraidhe) doubtless dominated both continents. "Nimrod," says Bunsen (Egypt, IV., 4, 12) "is the oldest individual personage sprung from the race or country of the Cossians, or the Turanian-Scythian race, represented by him, which formed 'a vast historical empire. This kingdom must be prior to all the Semitic kingdoms, as the Turanian language is prior to the Semitic." The distinction of the Cusian from the Semitic language might at first sight be regarded as, to a certain extent, merely a play upon words ; for the statement that Shem and Cham were brothers and sons of the same father, Noah, would of course imply that they used the same language, and not only them but their descendants not only in the third but, likely, in the twenty-third degree, as language in Asia does not change remarkably fast; and the Semitic, as Bunsen speaks of it, could only have been a variation of the old Turanian tongue. Even two thousand years ago, after the revolu- tion of so many ages, its general physiognomy bore so remarkable a similarity to its northern mother, as to leave no doubt of its Airyan-Turanic-Scythic derivation. That the Nimrodian empire was not of a brief and transient nature is evidenced by the many places, which have the name Nim- rod or in whose name that appears as a component. This name is said to be connected with all the cities and towns as far as the highlands of Kurdistan and even to Phrygia in the west; the pro- bability that his army furnished the historical nucleus for the legend of Atlantis is considered as independent of the name of his native country. Rollin (Anct. Hist. II. 44 etc.) says Nimrod is the same with Belus, who under tins appellation was afterwards worshiped as a God. He says also that some writers have confounded Nimrod with Ninus, his son, of whom Diodorus (lib. II. p. 90) speaks as follows: — " Ninus, the most ancient of the Assyrian kings mentioned in history, performed great actions. Being naturally of a warlike disposition and ambitious of the glory, which results from valor, he armed a considerable number of young men, who were brave and vigorous, like himself; trained them up a long time in laborious exercises and hardships and by that means accustomed them to NINUS. 15 bear the fatigues of war patiently and to face dangers with courage and intrepidity." ■ " Most of the profane writers," says Rollin, " ascribe the found- ing of Babylon to Semiramis others to Belus. It is evident that both the one and the other are mistaken, if they speak of the first founder of that city for it owes its beginning neither to Semiramis nor to Nimrod but to the foolish vanity of those persons mentioned in the Scriptures, who desired to build a tower and a city, that should render their memory immortal." He considers it probable that the building remained in the state in which it was when God put an end to the work by the confusion of tongues ; and that the tower consecrated to Belus, which was described by Herodotus, was the celebrated tower of Babel. He considers it probable that Nimrod was the first who surrounded the city with walls, settled therein his friends and confederates and subdued those who lived round about it, beginning his empire there but not confining it to any narrow limits. "And the beginning of his kingdon was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calnch in the land of Shinar." " Out of that laud went forth Asshur and builded Nineveh and the city Behoboth and Calah." (Gen. X. 10, 11.) But from the fact that this last verse may be as justly translated in a somewhat different way, namely : " Out of that land he went out into Assyria," Rollin and others have concluded that Nineveh was founded by Nimrod himself. Here Assur ( Aes-Sethir, the Sun-God) is regarded as the name that country, in which Nineveh is situated, already had ; and Nimrod as the subject of the verb in that sentence, "he" who went forth from Shinar into Assur and founded Nineveh. This would in effect make the same man to have founded those two great cities ; but it is, at least, perfectly in accordance with reason and with the facts in this case to conclude that those two cities were founded, if not by the same individual man, yet by the same Nimrodian dynasty. The country of Assyria is supposed to have derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem, who settled therein ; but the prophet (Micah v :6) seems to describe it as being " the land of Nimrod," so, of course, by conquest. With other thimrs I find this in Rollin concerninc Nimrod : " Among other cities he built one more large and magnificent than the rest which he called Nineveh, from the name of his son Ninus " (in Gaelic Nin mac Pel, i.e., Ninus the son of Belus), " in order to immortalize his memory. The son in his turn, out of veneration 16 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. for his father, was willing that they, whom he had served as their king, should worship him as their God and induce other nations to render him the same worship. For it appears evident that Nimrod is the famons Belus of the Babylonians, the first king whom the people deified for his great actions and who showed others the way to that kind of immortality which human acquirements are supposed capable of bestowing." Id. " The holy penman," says the same writer, " has placed Nimrod and Abraham, as it were, in one view before us ; and seems to have put them so near together on purpose that we should see an example in the former of what is admired and coveted by men and in the latter of what is acceptable and w r ell-pl easing to God. These two persons, so unlike one another are the first two and chief citizens of two different cities, built on different motives and with different principles; the one self-love and desire of temporal advantages, carried even to the contemning of the deity ; the other the love of God even to the contemning of one's self. " Brief Description op Nineveh : It is after his return from a tour of conquest which extended from India and Bactria to Egypt that most ancient authors represent Ninus, the son of Nimrod as founding Nineveh. His design, says Diodorus, was to make Nineveh the largest and noblest city in the world and to put it out of the power of those that came after him ever to build or hope to build such another. Nor does he seem to have been much deceived in this for he succeeded in building a city of immense size and surpassing magnificence. It was loO stadia (or 18| miles) in length and ninety stadia or (11^ miles) in breadth, and consequently was an oblong square or parallelogram. Its cir- cumference was 480 stadia or sixty miles. We, therefore, find it said in the book of Jonah that Ninevah was an exceeding great city of three days journey (Jon. iii :3) which is to be understood of the whole compass of the city. From Diodorus we learn, also, that the walls of Nineveh were one hundred feet high and of such thickness that three chariots might go abreast upon them. These walls were fortified and adorned with towers, two hundred feet high, and fifteen hundred in number. 17 Ninus and Semiramis : Ninus having accomplished the building of this city put himself at the head of his army of 1,700,000 men and resumed his expedi- tion against the Bactrians. Here it is supposed he would have signally failed were it not for the assistance of Semiramis, wife to one of his chief officers, a woman of uncommon courage and re- markably exempt from the weaknesses peculiar to her sex. Her birthplace is said to have been Ascalon, a city of Syria. Of her birth Diodorus related a wonderful account, which includes her having been nursed and brought up by pigeons, an account which he himself places no confidence in, lookiug upon it as a fabulous story. To continue : It was Semiramis who instructed Ninus how to attack a principal fortress of the Bactrians, by which he took their city, in which he found immense treasures. Consequent on this Ninus conceived a warm affection for Semiramis, which her hus- band noticing that she reciprocated, it caused him to die of grief on which Ninus married his widow. By her he had a son whom he named Ninyas ; and not long after this he died and left the government to his wife. She erected a monument to his memory which remained loug after the ruin of Nineveh. According to some authors Semiramis came into the possession of the government through intrigue: they say that having secured the chief men of the state and attached them to her interests by her benefactions and promises, she influenced the king to entrust to her the sovereign power for five days. All the provinces of the Empire were thereupon commanded to obey Semiramis; which orders were axecuted but too strictly for the unfortunate Ninus, who was put to death either immediately or after some years im- prisonment. Become secure in the government, this princess according to Diodorus, applied all her thoughts to immortalize her name and to compensate for the meanness of her extraction by the greatness of her enterprises. She proposed to herself to surpass all her pre- decessors in magnificence and grandeur and to that end undertook the enlargement of the already mighty Babylon, in which work she is said to have employed two millions of men, which were collected 2 18 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. out of the many provinces of her vast empire. This city, which she succeeded iu rendering so magnificent, some of her successors further adorned with new works and embellishments. Without intending to assert by what particular monarch of the Cbaldaeaus it was built or enlarged I would say that a general description of Babylon is, in place here in order that the reader may have some idea, however inadequate it may be, of that stupendous city. Description of Babylon. The principal works which rendered Babylon so famous were the walls of the city; the quays and the bridge; the lake, banks and canals made for drawing water from the river ; the palaces, hang- ing gardens and the temple of Belus; works of such extraordinary magnificence as is scarcely comprehensible. Dean Prideaux's de- scription is of course, more full than what will be given here, which is, however, sufficiently full to answer every purpose of ours, without doing injustice to or belittling the subject itself. I. The Walls. Babylon stood on a spacious plain of a remarkably rich soil; and was the manufacturing center and mart for supply, in those ancient times, of a very extensive region. The walls were in every way prodigious, being in height 350 feet, in thickness 87 feet and in com- pass 60 English miles. The walls of this city were in the form of a square, each side of which was fifteen miles, and all built of large bricks, cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime, exuding from the earth of that country. This is said to bind together much more firmly than mortar and in time to become much harder than the bricks or stones which it keeps together. These walls were encompassed on the outside with a vast ditch, full of water and lined with bricks on both sides. From the clay dug out of this foss were made, it is said, the bricks wherewith the walls were built ; and so from the great height and thickness of the wall the width and depth of the foss may be inferred. In each side of this great square were 25 gates, that is, 100 gates in all, which were all matle of solid brass ; and hence it is that when God promises to Cyrus the conquest of Babylon he tells him (Isa. XLV. 2) that he will break in pieces before him the gates of brass. Between every two of these gates were three towers and BABYLON. 19 there were four more situated at the four corners of the square, namely, one at each corner; each of these towers were ten feet higher than the wall ; but this is to be understood only of those parts of the wall where there was thought to be need of towers. From the twenty-five gates on each side of this perfect square there led off twenty-five streets, in straight lines towards the gates which were directly over against them in the opposite side, so that the whole number of the streets was fifty, each fifteen miles long, of which twenty-five went in one way and twenty-five in the other, directly crossing each other at right angles. And besides there were, also, four half streets, which had houses only on one side and the walls on the other; these went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and were each of them 200 feet broad ; the rest were about 150. By the intersecting of these streets with each other the whole city was cut out into 676 squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, that is, two miles and a quarter in circum- ference. Round these squares on each side towards the street stood the houses (which were not contiguous but had void spaces be- tween them), all built three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner of ornaments towards the streets. The space within in the middie of each square was likewise all empty ground, employed for yards, gardens and other such uses ; so that Babylon was great- er in appearance than in reality, nearly one-half the city being tak- en up in gardens and other cultivated lands, as we are told by Quintus Curtius. The Quays and Bridge. A branch of the river Euphrates ran quite through the city, from, the north to the south side ; on each side of the river was a quay and a high wall, built of brick and bitumen, of the same thickness as the walls that encompassed the city. In these walls over against every street that led to the river were gates of brass and from them descents by steps to the river, for the convenience of the inhabit- ants, who used to pass over from one side to the other in boats, having no other way of crossing the river before the bridge was built. The brazen gates were always open in the day time and shut in the night. Neither in beauty nor magnificence was the bridge inferior to 20 THE CIIALDAEAN ORIGINES. any of the other buildings; it was a furlong in length and thirty feet in breadth, built with wonderful art to supply the defect of a foundation in the bottom of the river, which was all sandy. The arches were made of huge stones, fastened together with iron chains and melted lead. Before they began to build the bridge they turned the course of the river and laid its channel dry having another view in so doing besides that of laying the foundations more commodiously, as shall be explained hereafter. And as every- thing had been prepared beforehand both the bridge and the quays, which I have just described, were built in that interval. The Lakes, Ditches and Canals made foe Draining and Irri- gation. These works, the objects of contemplation for the the inventive of all ages, were still more useful than magnificent. In the begin- ning of the summer on the sun's melting the snow on the moun- tains of Armenia there ensues a vast increase in the volume of wa- ters in the rivers, which running into the Euphrates in the months of June, July and August, makes it overflow it banks and produces such another inundation as does the Nile in Egypt. To prevent the damage which the city and country would receive from these fresh- ets at a very considerable distance above the town two artificial ca- nals were cut, which turned the course of those waters into the Tigris before they reached Babylon. And to secure the country yet more from danger of inundations and to confine the river with- in proper limits, they raised prodigious banks on both sides of the river, built with brick cemented with bitumen, which began at the without doing injustice to or belittling the subject itself. To facilitate the making of these works it was necessary to turn the course of the river, for which purpose there was dug a pro- digious artificial lake 45 miles square, 160 in compass and 35 feet deep (as according to Herodotus but 75 as ace. to Mcgasthenes), to the west of Babylon. Into this lake was the whole river turned by an artificial canal cut from the west side, till the whole work was completed, when it was made to flow in its former channel. But that the Euphrates, in the time of the freshets, might not overflow the city through the gates on its sides, this lake, with the canal from the river, was still preserved. The water received into the lake at the time of the overflows was kept there all the year, as BABYLON. 21 in a common reservoir, for the benefit of the country, to be let out by sluices at convenient times for the watering of the lands below it. The lake, therefore, was doubly useful in preserving the country from injury by inundations and in rendering it fertile. Berosus, Megasthenes and Abydenus, quoted by Josephus and Eusebius, represent Nebuchadnezzar as the author of most of those works ; but the bridge, the two quays of the river and the lake are by Herodotus ascribed to Nitocris, the daughter-in-law of that monarch. It is more reasonably supposed that Nitocris may have finished some of the works which her father-in-law left incomplete at his death, on which account the historian might have ascribed to her the honor of the accomplishment of the whole. The Palaces and Hanging Gardens. On the authority of Diodorus we find that at the two ends of the bridge there were two palaces, which had communication with each other by a vault built under the river's channel between the two at the time of its being dry. The old palace, which stood on the east side of the river, was thirty furlongs (or three miles and three- quarters) in compass; near which stood the temple of Belus, yet to be described. The new palace which stood on the west side of the river, opposite to the other, was sixty furlongs (or seven miles and a half) in compass. It was surrounded with three walls, one within another, having considerable spaces between them. These walls, in like manner of those of the other palace, were embellished with a vast variety of sculptures representing vividly all kinds of animals. Among the rest was a curious hunting piece, in which Semiramis, on horseback, was throwing her javelins at a leopard and her husband, Ninus, piercing a lion. In this last palace (as ace. to Diodorus) were the hanging gardens so celebrated among the Greeks. They contained a square of four hundred feet on every side and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above another, till the height equaled that of the walls of the city. The ascent from terrace to terrace was by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained by vast arches raised upon arches one above another and strength- ened by a wall surrounding it on every side of twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid larsje flat stones, sixteen feet long and four broad; over these was a layer of reeds 21 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. mixed with a quantity of bitumen, upon which were two rows of bricks, closely cemented together with plaster. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead upon which lay the mould of the garden. And all this floorage was combined to keep the moisture of the mould from evaporating through the arches. The earth laid hereon was so deep that the greatest trees might take root in it ; and with some sifch the terraces were covered, as well as with other plants and flowers which were used to adorn flower-gardens. In the upper terrace there was an engine or kind of pump, by which water was elevated from the river and from thence the whole gar- den was watered. In the spaces between the several arches, upon which rested this whole structure, were large and magnificent apartments that were very light and had the advantage of a pecu- liarly fine prospect. According to Berosus, Amytis, the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, having been bred in Media (for she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of that country), and having been much delighted with the wood and mountain scenery of her native land, Nebuchadnezzar, supposing it would gratify her, caused that enormous structure to be raised. Of this matter Diodorus, without however naming the persons, gives much the same account. The Temple of Belus. Another of the great works at Babylon was the temple of Belus, which, according to Herodotus, Diodorus and Strabo, stood as mentioned before, near the old palace. It was most remarkable for a prodigious tower which stood in the midst of it. At the foundation, according to Herodotus, it was a square of a furlong on each side, that is, a half mile in circumference, and (according to Strabo) it was aiso a furlong in height. It consisted of eight towers, one raised above the other, decreasing regularly towards the top, on which account Strabo calls the whole a pyramid. If the height given by Strabo be correct, then this tower was 660 feet high, which leaves it to have been 175 feet higher than the Great Pyramid. Whether or not we agree with him, Bochart (Phal. part I, c. 9) has asserted this to be the very same tower which was there constructed at the confusion of languages. In this, however, he found many to agree with him, some of whom asserted that this tower was all built with bricks and bitumen, of which the BABYLON. 23 Scriptures (Gen. XI. 3.) say the tower of Babel was built. This last would indicate it to be that tower of bricks which Josephus (Ant. Book I., c. 11) refers to as built by the Sethites to preserve their discoveries, astronomical and otherwise. The ascent to the top was by stairs on the outside round it, which indicates there may have been an easy, sloping ascent in that inside of the outer wall, which turning by slow degrees in a spiral liue, eight times round the tower from the bottom to the top, had the like appearance, as if there had been eight towers placed upon one another. In these different stories were many large rooms with arched roofs supported by pillars. On the top of the tower, placed above the whole, was an observatory, which the Babylonians used for astronomical purposes, and by the use of which some think they became more accomplished in astronomical science than all the other nations in history. But the chief use made of the tower wasfoi the worship of the God Belus of Baal as well as the other Deities in the Chaldaeau circle for which purposes there were a vast number of chapels in different parts of the tower. The riches of this temple in statues, tables, censers, cups and other sacred vessels, all of massy gold, were immense. Among the images there was one forty feet high, which weighed 1000 Babylonian talents. The Babylonian talent, according to Pollux in his Onomasticon, contained 7000 Attic Drachmae and con- quently was a sixth part more than the Attic talent, which contains but 6000 Drachmae. The sum total of the riches contained in this temple, as calcu- lated by Diodorus, amounts to 13300 Babylonian talents of gold. If we add to that sum its sixth part, namely, 1050, we have 7350 Attic talents of gold. Now, 7350 Attic talents of silver are upwards of 2,100,000 pounds sterling. The proportion in the value of gold to silver, as reckoned by the ancients, was about as ten to one, therefore 7350 Attic talents of gold amount to above 21,000,000 pounds sterling which now would be worth about one huudred and five millions of dollars. This temple stood till the time of Xerses (as according to Herod- otus, Strabo and Arrian) ; but he, on his return from his Indian expe- dition, destroyed it entirely, after first having plundered it of all its immense riches. " Alexander, on his return to Babylon from his expedition against India, purposed to rebuild it, and in order 24 THE CHALDAEAN OEIGINES. thereto, set 10,000 men to work to rid the place of its rubbish ; but after they had pursued this labor two mouths Alexander died which put an end to the undertaking." What we have now reviewed constitute the chief works which have rendered Babylon so justly celebrated : many of these were as- cribed by profane authors to Semiramis, whether or not she really had anything to do with them. She is said to have lived sixty-two years, and of that to have reigned forty-two, and after her death to have been worshiped in Assyria under the form of a dove. The generally exaggerated account given of her, as well as the name, might indicate her to be a mythical character; but she was doubt- less historical in some age, only during her life may not have been known by the form of name Semiramis. As concerning the time of building of Babylon there is in exist- ence some information which, as far as we know, or are now pre- pared to judge, is of an unimpeachable character, but has for some reason hitherto been generally overlooked. Philo of Biblos in his learned work upon celebrated cities (Hist. Graec, Frag. Ill, 575), as we learn from Stephanas of Byzantium, made the following statement about it : — " Babylon was built not by Semiramis, as Herodotus says, but by Bab3 r lon, a wise man, the son of the Allwise Belus, who, as Herennius states, lived 2000 years before Semiramis." The ex- tracts from Sankuniathon give us to understand that Philo must have been well informed as to the date of Semiramis. This same account here given from Philo appears in Eustathius with this difference, that in the Tatter it is said to be 1800 years from the time of the erection of the tower of Babel to Semiramis : In regard to the Babylonian beginnings, then, the case stands his- torically about as follows: That antecedent to the building of Babylon and its temple there existed a historical series of Chaldaean or Babylonian Kings from six hundred to eight hundred years. But before this date there are computations of epochs, the traditional remains of the foretimes of their ancient people, embellished with myth. Berosus has comprised all such beginnings in the first race of Chaldaean Kings. Meaning Suggested or the "Confusion of Tongues." Now, as regards the matter of the confounding of language, this, it is thought, may have reference to the individualizations from that BABEL. 25 one mass of languages called the Chinese ; for that as the Egyptian language attests that primitive tongue, which does not possess "parts of speech," so called, had already been broken up in Asia at the close of the prediluvian period : that the great separation of the civilizing tribes in Asia had, however, not yet taken place at the time of that immigration into Egypt : that the elements after- wards recognized as Arian and Semitic were as yet unseparated : and that stage in the progress of the development of language is in Eastern Asia recognized as Tnranism in Western Asia as Cham- ism : but that as the different tribes rose to a higher civilization, and as each impressed on its own language the stamp of indi- viduality, so something analogous to the breaking up of the primi- tive monosyllabic language took place after the dissolution of the primitive Cusian or Scythic empire ; that, moreover, individual re- ligious feeling and individual social life took an independent shape and broke through the uniformity of the previous habits of life ; that, thus, the Bible's narrative having a strictly historical basis will be found correct in its way, when properly interpreted, and may reasonably be supposed to go back in its history to at least the eightli thousand B. C. Information Conveyed by the Cdneifokm Inscriptions ; the Date of the Founding of Babylon Illustrated by the Dates Given for the Different Foundations of Carthage : As regards the Babylonian royal names which have been recov- ered by means of the cuneiform inscriptions and their chronologi- cal order, it is admitted that everything anterior to the 8th or 9th century B. C appears to stand on a very unstable basis, owing to the want of a chronology and sometimes also on account of the un- certainty in reading the names. No doubt, so far as I am aware, is entertained as to the reality and historical charactar of the older royal names, discovered and deciphered by Rawlinson and others. It is thought possible, also, that there may have been, in the 9th century, a queen or wife bearing the name of Semiramis ; but none of that name, for whom such a claim could be advanced, as that she had founded the empire of the Ninyads, has been yet discovered to have existed. And finally, in regard to the time of the founding of the city of Babylon, why should it not, as was Carthage, have been built at 26 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. different times, and so the time of its building have been true of different dates? Carthage is usually said to have been founded by Dido (proper name Elisa), a Tyrian princess, in about the year 875 B. C. But this does not, in fact, imply that the city did not exist before her time. It has been proved historically that her foundation was the third for that famous city. Howell has long ago discovered that the town consisted of three parts, narnel}', Cothou, or the port and buildings adjoining thereto, which he supposes to have been first built, and this event, in accordance with Appiari, would have taken place 50 years before the capture of Troy, making, say according to Herodotus, about 1337 B. C. ; Megara, which, in respect to Cothon, was called the New town or Cathado, was, if in agreement with Eusebius' statement, built 194 years later; and Byrsa(Bozra) or the citadel, built last of all, must needs, if in accordance with Menendar, cited by Josephus, have been built 166 years later than Megara. The dates here are, however, only approximations. But in this way it is seen Babylon may have been built at several times and have had the peculiar honor at one of those times of having had some female ruler of Chaldaea, a prototype of the Phoenician Dido, as its foundress. DYNASTIES. 27 Concerning the Dynasties which may have dominated over the chaldaeans from the time of the deluge down to the times of the persians. A translation from the Latin of Eusebins (in Chron. 1. 4) from Alexander Polyhistor. " Now to the aforesaid things the same Polyhistor adds the fol- lowing: " After the deluge Evechins* reigned over the Kingdom of the Chaldaeans, during four neri : Then the government was ad- ministered by his son, Chomasbelos, during four neri and five Sossi. From Xisuthrus and the Deluge until the Medes occupied Babylon the total number of Kings Polyhistor supposes to have been six over eighty, whom singly and by name he recounts from the book of Berosus. Of all these he computes the sum of the years to have been three myriads (30,000) and three thousand and ninety-one be- sides. After these who, he says, came into the government in the regular order of succession, the Medes having suddenly collected a large force attacked and took Babylon and there instituted tyrants of their own. From this point he enumerates the names of eight of their tyrants, during a period of thirty-four years over two hundred : and in succession to these eleven Medes in two hundred and forty- eight years. Then, also, forty-nine Chaldaean Kings in four hundred and fifty-eight years: After this nine Arab Kings in two hundred and forty-five years. In the prescribed recension of these years he relates, also, concerning Semiramis, who governed the Assyrians. And going backwards he distinctly enumerates the names of forty Kings, distributing to these five hundred and twenty-six years. After these, he says, there lived a King of the Chaldaeans, whose name was Phul (whom also the history of the Hebrews mentions, and whom it likewise names Phul). He (Phul) is said to have in- vaded Judaea. After this Polyhistor says that Senecherim pos- sessed the Kingdom ; whom, indeed, the Hebrew books refer to as * Etxijytmi; 6 Ka'i Nej3pw<; ; Euechins, who is also called Nebros, Syncellus p. 7'J. B. : or xa/5 i][uv Nsfociz, who with us is Nebros. The b is here interchangeable with the m as in the Egyptian. This makes it clear enough that Nimrod is Euech- ius. " Nimrod is also called Euechius." — Cedrenus. 28 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. reigning during the reign of Hezekiah, while Isaiah was prophe- sying. But the Divine Book says in distinct language, that in the four- teenth year of King Hezekiah, Senacherim came up to the fortified cities of Judah and took them. As to the things accomplished of whose affairs, history makes record: And Asordanes, his son, reigned in his stead. And again as he progresses, he says, at that time Hezekiah was sick. Then, also, in order (he relates) that, at the same time, Merodaoh Baladan, King of the Babylonians, sent ambassadors with letters and gifts to Hezekiah. These things the Scriptures of the Hebrews transmit. And, morover, the historian of the Chaldaeans mentions Senacherim with his son Asordane and Merodach Baladan: with whom also (he mentions) Nebuchad- nezzar, as is soon to be related. But, in this strain, he writes con- cerning them : " Atter this and after the domination of Hagisa over the Baby- lonians, a brother of Senacherim discharged the government, who indeed, having not yet completed the thirtieth day of his reign was cut off by Merodach Baladane : Merodach Baladan, himself, as- sumed the government for six months, at which time a certain man named Elibus removed him and succeeded to the kingdom. Now, in the third year of the reign of this last, Scnechrim, King of the Assyrians, led together his forces against the Babylonians and in a pitched battle with them came off superior ; Elibus with his family and attendants having been taken captive he commanded to be transferred to Assyria. He, having become possessed of the Baby- lonians, imposed upon them as king, his own son, Assordaue; but he himself accomplished his return to Assyria. Soon, however, a rumor was brought to his ears that the Greeks had collected a large army and invaded Cilicia ; but he attacked them right forwardly and the battle having been joined, although many of his own sol- diers had been before dismissed, he nevertheless overcame his enemies; and his image, as it were a monument of victory, he left standing in that place; upon which he commanded that the deeds done by himself should be inscribed for the everlasting memory of the times. " Tarsus, also, he says, was a city built by him, after the pattern of Babylon, and to this same city the name Tharsiu was given. Now, also, to the rest of the achievements of Senacherim, as re- corded, he adds that he reigned eighteen years, until plots having DYNASTIES. 29 been laid for him, by his son, Ardamuzane, he was slain. Thus far Polyhistor. " The chronology also reasonably accords with the narration of the Divine books. For in the time of Hezekiah Senecherim reigned, as Polyhistor intimates, eighteen years; after whom his son eight years; then Samuges twenty one years- and, likewise, his brother twenty-one, then Nabupalasar twenty years ; and, finally, Nabiu-h- odrossor three years over fort}' ; so that from Senecherim to Na- buchodrossor eighty -eight years passed. All these things having been accomplished Polyhistor proceeds again to explain some more of the exploits of Senacherim ; and of his son he writes plainly in the same strain, in which (write) the books of the Hebrews; and of all these things he discourses very accurately. The learned Pythagoras is said to have been promin- ent in that age under these (Kings). Now, after Samuges, Sardanapall governed the Chaldaeans twenty- one years.* He sent a legation to Astyages, president and satrap of the ua- tion of the Medes in order to bring about the betrothal of Amuites, one of the daughters of Astyages, to his son Nebuchodrossor. Then Nabuchodrossor dominated forty-three years ; who, indeed, having collected an army and made an irruption into their countries, re- duced the Jews, Phoenicians and Assyrians toservitude. (Nor may it be necessary that I should prove in many ways how that Polyhis- tor, in his narrative, is perfectly congruent with the Hebrew's his- tory.) After Nabuchodrossor, his son, Amilmerodach, reigned twelve years, whom the Hebrew records call Ilmarudoch. After him, Polyhistor says, Neglisar reigned over the Chaldaeans four jears: Then Nabonedus seventeen years. While he was reigning Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, invaded the Kingdom of Babylon, by whom Nabonedus, having been engaged in battle, was conquered, and only saved himself by flight. Cyrus reigned at Babylon nine years, until, another battle having been joined, in the plain of Dahuras, he perished. Then Cambyses held the government eight years; after him Darius, thirty-six years; and then Xerses and there, maining Kings of the Persians. * The same man is here called Sardanapall and Nebopallassar. Josephus Contra Apion (1.19) calls him Nabolassar. 30 THE CHALDAEAN ORIGINES. " Now, concerning the Kingdom of the Chaldaeans, as tersely and distinctly as Berosus speaks, so directly speaketh Polyhistor." The following two lists as derived from the above will be found to correspond with the numbers given for the two last dynas- ties over Babylon, as given some years ago on p. 37 second of my volume called " Cosmotheolgies etc." The rest, as given in the foregoing, will be found to correspond generally with the others, except that in the dynasty just preceding, the last Assyrian, Eusibus has forty Kings instead of forty-five elsewhere. His aggregate number also differs a little from the other, which may have arisen from mistakes of transcribers. a £ >, >*» o *-> s-i - fc s a Phul. Hagisa. Merodach Baladan. Elibus. Senacherim. Asordane. Ardamuzane. Samuges. S3 M a a o >> a t- ^hence our verb « to neigh/' Jubal or Jabal would thus equal EkBaa 1. " au( i f° r three such cosmic years, 3X600 years, exactly 1855 years. The 1) first six periods, then, of the prediluvial period of mankind from Kenan to Lemach, amounting to 4878 years, contains seven complete cosmic years (which reminds some investigators of the seven days of creation); 7X618^=4328 with 550 years over or eight cycles less 50 years. According to this reckoning, therefore, the prediluvial world lasted eight cosmic years, supposing the last to have been com- puted in solar years ; and it is supposed that from this time for- ward there is a sequence of solar years, which justifies the assump- tion. 3. Noah to the flood (Gen. VII. 6.) Ninth cycle 600 years. Shem (Gen. XL 10-12). Tenth cycle 600. There remains of course to be explained the deficit of 50 years in the eighth cycle, but it is thought that this is explained by what is said as to the length of Noah's life after the flood. He is stated (in Gen. IX. 28) to have lived 350 years after the flood, in all 950 years. These 350 years intervening between two cyclical dates, it is supposed, it may originally have been half a cycle, 300 years, and that the overplus of 50 years belongs to the eighth cycle, that imme- diately preceding Noah. Two separate calculations existed here : The epochs of the pre- diluvian or old world and then the Noachic period as the starting point of the postdiluvian or new world. Noah being connected in the calculation with the close of the primitive age and the com- mencement of the new, in connecting the two together, it is thought, a slight confusion may have taken place. If, without considering its origin, we look at the sum of 1835 years, which is apportioned, not quite equally, to Adam and Enosh, we find it corresponds, within 20 years, to three cosmic years, con- verted into lunar years. Three complete cycles would require it to be 1855 lunar years. If we suppose that in the early days of Mss. *S0 tropical years = 742 months 2 days and 20 hours. Consequently 600 = 7420 months — 28J days = 1 small lunar month of 29 days, will equal 7419 lunar months as exactly as necessary. PERIODS. 45 an error crept in, and that Enos, the primeval man, had originally 925 instead of 905 years apportioned to him, we may thus account for the 20 years that are wanting. In the process of construction these would likely be reduced be- low 912 as soon as Seth was represented as a son of Adam, other than Cain, and father of Euosh. The letter denoting 20 need only have been omitted in order to convert 925 to 905. This process would give us to the Flood, reckoning, however, only nine patriarchs, for prediluvian time twelve cosmic cycles, which, considering the nature of the number 12, some might think as reasonable and probable to have been intended as the exhibit of ten cycles to the demise of Shem. But we should remember that we reckon here only nine patriarchs, whereas in the record itself there are ten, corresponding to the ten prediluvial patriarchs of the Chaldaean system. In reference to this last, Bunsen says: "The assumption often patriarchs is founded upon a misunderstanding ; and the conjectures which have been thrown out about it fail in supplying any explana- tion of the original tradition; but if they were right they would explain something which originally did not exist, but owes its exis- tence only to a fusion of two lists into one." Egypt. IV. 401. 46 HEBREW ORIGINES. The Names of the Prediluvial Patriarchs in the Jehovistic and Elohistic Kecords Shown to have had an Identical Reference and to have been, in Succession, 7; and the Patriarchal Ages from Adam to Joseph Inclusive and from Adam to Christ Shown to have been Cyclical Periods, Measured by the Number 7 : The foregoing demonstration originated, so far as I know, with Bunsen, and I give it in my language as illustrative of a variation of my idea. A general survey, however, of the patriarchal tradi- tion in its progressive development in the Old Testament and in connection with the Phoenician cosmology, will show the utility of the following restoration as tending to unite simplicity with cor- rectness : — Javeh-Elohim. Adam = Saeth=Saedhamh=Seir=Edom=Saeturn=Israel=Kronos. Cain=Cainan=Chna=Chon=Schaedhghan. Enoch=Enos=Chanoch=Chaenghaes=Chaenshach, &c. 'Hirad=Iarad=Irad=Iered. Mehujael=Mahalaleel=Malaliel=Mahalael=Mechiyyael. Methusael=Methuselah=Methuselach=Methushael. Lamech=Lernach=Lemech=Lamach. Jahal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain : Noah i \ Shem, Cham, Japheth. This tabulation gives the number of patriarchs from Adam to Noah, these two included, as eight. But it is likely that if the names have reference to cyclical periods the number to be reckoned before the Flood is only seven, which number represents the days of the week: and the life of Noah extending into a new period, begins, as it were, a second week. This appears, indeed, to have been the intention; for reckoning the names in the patriarchal list, as I here restored it, from Adam to Joseph, inclusive of these two, there are found 21, or 3 times 7. PERIODS. 47 Giving, therefore, in this manner, the list, with the number of years attached to each name, from Adam to Joseph inclusive of these two we have : — ■s 1. Seth (i.e., Saedhamh, i.e., Adam) 2. Caiuan 3. Enos 4. Irad 5. Mahalaleel . 6. Methuselah 7. Lemach Tears. 930 910 905 962 895 969 777 ■ 03 rwr) or ship (vaai) as according to some, stood. Thus we see that in some ancient nations and languages the word for ship, or a dialectic variation of it, meant also a temple, as we have Noah's Ark, a ship and the Ark of the covenant or of the temple, a temple in miniature. " The smallness of the principal temple," says Prof. Heeren, "is not surprising; the same thing has been observed at Ammonium in the Libyan desert. It was probably a place merely for the preservation of the sacred ship, which stood between the pillars of the sanctuary." This idea would appear to connect those peoples around the Red and Caspian and Mediterranean seas, around the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile to its sources, in short in all those adjacent parts of Asia and Africa, as subject to the same general civilization, varia- tions of the same system of religion, and, as related to each other, by a common ultimate origin. The situation of this in the retired spot near Meroe is in a way similar to that in the Libyan desert spot spoken of before and will appear still more singular on further consideration, and especially when it is considered that one of the great trading routes passes just by it. As the principal temple was so small, the others which are called temples may be considered merely as chapels, but it remains yet ANTIQUITIES OF MEROE. 29 uncertain for what particular uses they wei - e designed. Hence, Caillaud in the explanation to his plates designates them " construc- tions." The separate members were small, but the aggregate was great. Very remarkable here is the rarity of sculpture and hieroglyphics ; no trace of that Egyptian art has been discovered, the new figures on the pillars now scarcely legible having nothing in common with it. One of them has the hair done up in the broad Nubian fashion. In what relation the institutions at Messura stood to those at Naga can only be surmised. If Messura were the oracular temple, that body of the priesthood, which had the care of the oracle, would have resided there. The number of those in proportion to the whole class of ministers would be but small, perhaps only the high priest and his assistants. Naga, however, appears to have been the metropolis ot the caste. Here stood a number of temples, not only dedicated to Ammon, but to the kindred gods and here also, are found the remains of a city, which would afford convenient dwelling to the priesthood, no traces of which are found in Messura. " Thus," says Heeren, " we stand on that remarkable spot which antiquity frequently regarded as the cradle of the arts and sciences ; where hieroglyphic writing was discovered ; where temples and pyramids had already sprung up, while Egypt still remained ignorant of their existence. Who then can avoid asking what was here formerly? What took place here?" (Researches.) In order to answer those questions as satisfactorily as is now pos- sible, what we have to do is to select from existing records bearing on the subject, first, what may be regarded as facts aod then add those things that are more or less probable. The fact stands well attested, that besides the pastoral and hunting tribes which led a nomadic life towards the west and east of the Nile's valley, there existed in the immediate valley through which the Nile flows a cultivated people, who had from a very early period fixed abodes, built cities, temples and sepulchres, the monu- ments of whose intelligent industry do now after the lapse of so many centuries excite our admiration and astonishment. It is further certain that the civilization of this people was in an especial manner connected with their religion; that is, with the customs and general manner of life connected with the worship of certain deities. The remains left of their institutions and the gen- 30 CREATOR AND COSMOS. eral history of this people written in stone proves this too clearly for any doubt to be entertained upon the subject. This religion consisted in the general idea connected with the worship of Amnion and his kindred gods. The circle of the Egyp- tian deities might possibly have been a little larger than that of Olym- pus among the Greeks. It became enlarged by the appearance of the same deity in different relations and consequently with changed attributes, under different forms and with different head ornaments. But the rites of Amnion so much prevailed that his emblem, the ram's horns, are seen everywhere and it seldom fails to happen that the kindred deities exhibit, in some part or other, something which refers to him. There is one thing worthy of remark, namely that of all the representations of Nubia, yet come to our knowledge, there is not one, which, according to European and American notions of propriety is offensive to decency. Quite remarkable in this system of religion was the oracular ele- ment. Of Africa Amnion was the oracular god. If afterwards, as was tho case in Egypt, other deities delivered oracles, yet they were of his race and kindred. " The only gods worshiped in Meroe," says Herodotus, "are Zeus and Dionysos (which he ex- plains to be Amnion and Osiris). They also have an oracle of Amnion and undertake their expeditions when and how the god commands." How those oracles were delivered we learn partly from history, partly from the representations on the monuments. In the sanc- tuary stands a high ship, upon which are many holy vessels, but, above all, in the midst a portable tabernacle, surrounded with cur- tains, which may be drawn back. In this is aa image of the god, set, according to Diodorus, in precious stones ; nevertheless, ac- cording to one account, it could have no human shape. The ships in the great temples seem to have been very magnificent. Sesos- tris presented one made of cedar to the temple of Amnion at Thebes, the inside of which ship was covered with silver and the outside with gold. The same was hung about with silver paterae. When the oracle was to be consulted it was carried around by a body of priests in procession, and from certain movements, either, of the god or of the ship, both of which the priests appear to have at least understood if not managed, the omens were gathered, ac- cording to which the high priest then delivered the oracle. Both upon the Nubian and Egyptian monuments this ship is often repre- sented, sometimes as stationary and sometimes as carried in pro THE ORACLE OF AMUN. 31 cession ; but never anywhere except in the innermost sanctuary, which was its resting-place. The tabernacle is in some cases with- out a curtain, in others veiled. Amnion appears in the same sitting upon a couch, an altar, furnished with gifts before him. In one representation the King is kneeling before the ship at his devotions, in another he approaches it with an offering of frankincense. In the sanctuary of the rock monument at Derar, in Nubia, we also discover it twice, once in procession, borne by a number of priests (here the tabernacle is veiled, and the King comes meeting it, bringing frankincense) ; in the other representation it is sta- tionary. These processions appear not only upon the great Egyp- tian temples at Philae, Elephantin and Thebes, but also upon the great Oasis. The sacred ship was here the oracle ship. Some have supposed the god of the Nile to have been especially set forth here as representing the origin and means of fertility in the Nile's valley.* However, this may have been the oracles, certainly were the main support of this religion, and, if we connect with them the local features of the country it may be thought to throw light upon the origin of this idea. In all this valley fertility is confined to the borders of the river. At a short distance from it the desert begins, Meroe was a chief point of congregation for the trade of the regions of the Upper Nile and of the southern regions of Africa. It was the great emporium of the caravan trade between Ethiopia, Northern Africa and Egypt, as well as Arabia Felix and even India. Before going further it will, therefore, be well for us to learn what the ancients have to say concerning the history and political status of Meroe. According to their accounts Meroe was a city as well as a State, which had its constitution and laws, its organized ^government and ruler. But the form of this government was a hierarchy, one very common in those southern regions. The government appears to have been in the hands of a caste of priests, who chose from among themselves a king. I shall transcribe here the account given of them by Diodorus, which is the most extensive and believed to be the most accurate we have. * Although, in the ancient Gaelic tongue, Amhain or Abhain is a river, pronounced Aw an, as in the oriental countries Abraham, for example, is pronounced Auraham or Aurahau (See Leayard's Nineveh, vol. 1, p. 189; also notice the English River Avon), yet, if the name Amun, under our consideration, arose from the river Nile or the idea of a river and all that pertains thereto, as it is very likely it did, 1 would think the idea would have been more gen- eral primitively than as if pertaining to any single stream. 32 CREATOR AND COSMOS. "The laws of the Ethiopians," says he, " differ in many respects from those of other nations, but in none so much as in the election of their kings, which is thus managed. The priests select the most distinguished of their own order and upon whichever of these the god (Amnion) fixes as he is carried in procession, he is acknowl- edged king by the people, who then fall down anil adore him as a god, because he is placed over the government by the choice of the gods. The person thus selected immediately enjoys all the preroga- tives, which are conceded to him by the laws in respect to his mode of life ; but he can neither reward nor punish any one beyond what the usages of their forefathers and the laws allow. It is a custom among them to inflict upon no subject the sentence of death, even though he should be legally condemned to that punishment ; but they send to the malefactor one of the officers of justice, who bears the symbol of death. When the criminal sees this he goes imme- diately to his own house and deprives himself of life. The Greek custom of evading punishment by flight into a neighboring country is not there permitted. It is said that the mother of one, who would have attempted this, strangled him with her own girdle in order to save her family from that greater ignominy. But the most remarkable of all their institutions is that which re- lates to the death of the king. The priests at Meroe, for example, who attend upon the service of the gods and hold the highest rank, send a messenger to the king with an order to die. They make known to him that the gods command this and that mortals should not withdraw from their decrees ; and perhaps add such reasons as could not be controverted by weak understandings, prejudiced by custom and unable to oppose anything thereto." Thus Diodorus. The government continued in this primitive state till the period of the second Ptolemy and its subversion is no less remarkable than its formation. By its increased intercourse with Egypt, the light of Grecian philosophy and Phoenician intelligence penetrated into Ethiopia. Ergamenes, at that time king, tired of being priest-ridden (which is the language of a certain writer on this subject ), fell upon the priests in their sanctuary, put them all to death and became effectually a sovereign ; a result, beyond all doubt, which was not generally expected in that dark and distant region. It is true that of the history of this State prior to the revolution just mentioned only scanty information has been preserved, but yet enough to show its high antiquity and its early magnificence. Pliny (VI. 3.3) tells us that " Ethiopia was ruined by its wars with Egypt, which it some- ^THIOPIC-iEGTPTIAN DYNASTY. 33 times subdued and sometimes'served ; it was powerful and illustrious even as far back as the Trojan war, when Memnon reigned. At the time of his sovereignty Meroe is said to have contained two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers and four hundred thousand artificers. They still reckon there forty-five kings." In the Persian period Meroe was an independent and important state, otherwise Cambyses, as according to Herodotus and Strabo, would not have been likely to have made such great preparations for an expedition against it which resulted so disastrously. During the last dynasty of the Pharaohs at Sais, under Psarnrnetichus, the Kingdom of Meroe resisted his yoke, although his son Psammis undertook an expedition against Ethiopia. If we go a century back of this, say between 800 and 700 B. C. we shall come to a flourishing period of the empire, contemporary with the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, where we shall conseqently have a light from the Jewish annals in connection with the records of Herodotus. This is the period of a powerful Ethiopic rule over Egypt for according to Herodotus fifty and according to Eusebius forty-four years. Herodotus does not represent Sabacus, his Ethiopic-Egyptian dynast of this period, either as a tyrant or a barbarian, but as au intelligent man and benefactor of his new charge, the Egyptian nation, by the construction of dams for the better protection and irrigation of the country. But of this Ethiopic-Egyptian dynasty Herodotus mentions only one name, Sabacus, to whom he gives a reign of fifty years ; Eusebius, however, mentions three to whom he gives an aggregate reign of forty-four years, namely, Sabacus, twelves years, Seuechus twelve, and Tirhako twenty years. I think the conclusion quite reasonable here that Sabacus and Seuechus are only different ways for spelling the same name, which here stands for the same man. The same number of years precisely is given to each of those names by Eusebius. And, as Herodotus mentions only Sabacus, it is barely possible that Tirhacus would be a family name standing for the same form, which in the Gaelic would be Seach, and thus that the whole three appellations would stand for the same man. The first supposition is, as I say, quite reasonable, the last barely possible; for while Sabacus would be a Greek form Herodotus might give for Seuachus, then Tirhach-us might be conceived to be the family name, as Tir-Seach-us, or child of Seach. For, if in the old languages Tir means land, country, it must also have had the 3— b 34 CREATOR AND COSMOS. primitive meaning of 'house,' 'son,' 'child,' by which in com- pound, as you perceive, a family name would arise. The fact that some authors identify Tirhako with Sethos, the priest-king of Herodotus, might be thought to give a degree of probability to this last supposition ; for Sethos, root Seth or Seath, it is well known, is in the Gaelic exchangeable for Seach. But, without here saying anything for or against as to the identification of Tirhako with Sethos, I may say that notwithstanding Herodotus mentions only one in this dynasty, and as we may take Sabacus and Seuachus as two forms of the same name, we shall have here quite a literal reading as well as reasonable understanding by making Tirhacus both be and mean Son of Seaohus. This would give two generations instead of, on the one hand, one, or on the other hand three for the forty-four or fifty years. The Jewish annals would seem to support the idea of two successive Kings in this dynasty; for the Seuachus or Sabacus is the So of 2 Kings xvii, 4, to whom Hoshea, King of Israel sent an embassy. Tarhacus or Tirhaco was the contemporary of Sennacherib, the successor of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria and deterred him (supposed anno 714 B. C.) from the invasion of Egypt, merely by the rumor of his advance against him (2 Kings xix: 9). The name and fame of Tarhaco was not unknown to the Greeks. Eratosthenes in Strabo mentions him as a conqueror who had peneti'ated into Europe as far as the Pillars of Hercules ; and it is more than probable that he was not the same with Sabachus or Seachus, but his successor. The kingdom of Meroe, therefore, must certainly about this period, and for long ages before have ranked as an important state. If we go back two centuries to the time of Asa, the great-grandson of Solomon, who ascended the throne of Judah about anno 995, B. C, or within twenty years after his grandfather's death, we shall find this to be the case. Against him, the Jewish annals inform us, came out Zerah, the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand thousand men and three hundred chariots (2 Chron. xiv:9). Michaelis, in this case, translates Ethiopian Cushite, which appellation embraces both the inhabitants of Arabia Felix and Ethiopia, remarking, however, expressly by comparing 2 Chron. xvi, 8, that he must have been King of Ethiopia and probably of Arabia Felix as well. Although the expression a thousand thousand may merely indicate a large army, yet it affords a proof of the strength of the empire, which at that time, doubtless, included Arabia Felix ; but the chariots of war which had never been in use in Arabia prove that ^EGYPTIAN CONQUESTS IN ^ETHIOPIA. 35 the passage refers to Ethiopia proper, as the seat of the govern- ment. Farther back than about the year 1000, B. C, or say the time of Solomon, the annals of written history are silent, but the monuments now begin to speak and affirm that high authority, which the traditions of Me roe as well as the generally enlightened opinion of antiquity attribute to this state. The name of Barneses, called in Greek Sesostris, has been found upon many of the Nubian monuments ; and that he was the con- queror of Ethiopia is affirmed by Herodotus (ii : 110), and Strabo (p 1140). Prof. Heeren, in his Researches (p. 215), 1825, A. D., referring to this says : " That the Pharaohs should have carried their conquests into Ethiopia could in no period seem less strange than in ours ; in which the same scene has been acted. Scarcely was the present ruler of Egypt firmly possessed of that kingdom than his son, Ismael Pasha, undertook the same conquest, and not only penetrated to Meroe, but even at one time as far as Singue 10° N. Lat." The name of Tuthmoses, has also been found in Nu- bia upon one of the ancient monuments of Armada. But in this sculpture as well as in the procession, representing the victory over Ethiopia, in the offering of the spoil to the gods, there ap- pears a degree of civilization, which shows an acquaintance with the peaceful arts ; they must, therefore, be attributed to a nation which long ere this had an organized government. We thus touch upon the Mosaic period in which the Jewish traditions ( Josephus Ant. Jud. ii : 10), ascribe the conquest of Meroe to Moses. The tradi- tions of the Egyptian priesthood also agree in this that Meroe in Ethiopia had laid the foundation of the most ancient states of Eg} r pt. But history itself has carried us back to those ages in ■vhich the formation of the most ancient states took place and has clearly shown that Meroe was one of them. In the ancient Ethiopic state, as to its government, we cannot expect a picture which will bear much similitude to the civilized nations of Europe and America. Meroe rather resembled in ap- pearance the larger states of interior Africa, with which we are acquainted somewhat at the present day ; a number of small nations, some with and some without settled abodes, form there what is called an empire, although the political bond which holds them generally together appears loose and is often scarcely recog- nizable. Eratosthenes has handed down to us a picture of the in- habitants of Meroe in his time. According to his account the island embraced a variety of peoples, of whom some followed 36 CREATOR AND COSMOS. agriculture, some a nomadic life and others hunting ; all of them choosing that which was thought best adapted to the district in which they lived. He says, however, that in his time the nomad tribes dwelling to the north of Meroe in Nubia were no longer sub- ject to that state. The dominion over roving hordes, it is well known, can seldom be very certain, permanent or have fixed bound- aries, and it would be rash to apply what Eratosthenes says of his times to all the preceding centuries, while on the other hand, we learn from the monuments that the rulers of Meroe" lived in almost continual warfare with the nomad tribes. To the west Meroe was bounded by sandy deserts which separated it from Darfour, a place not mentioned by that name in antiq- uity; and, to the east, it had for neighbors in the mountains the rude Shamgallas, the Troglodytes or the race of Bischaries, at about ten or eleven days journey distant from the city of Meroe. (Erat. in Strab. 1. c. p. 1134). According to what has been recorded those tribes had their own kings or chiefs and were not under the dominion of Meroe. To the south of Meroe lay a province which by an extraordinary condition of affairs had come into possession of a numerous and powerful race of Egyptian colonists. When Psammetichus had obtained, by the aid of Greek mercenaries, the sole government of Egypt, the numerous Egyptian warrior caste, taking great offense thereat rebelled against him. They had, indeed, already in the foregoing troubles, when the priest-caste intrigued for the sover- eignty and thereat for a long time played a winning game, felt themselves deeply injured. These Egyptian warriors, 240,000 in number, deriding the attempts of the king to detain them, chose to expatriate themselves than to submit to the new order of things which began with the reign of Psammetichus in Egppt. This took place about anno 650 B. C. Having immigrated into Ethiopia, in the face of the protestations of Psammetichus, that they were de- serting their native country, and going over to the enemy, the king of Meroe joyfully received them and appointed them a province, whose inhabitants, as noticed before, having been lately in a state of rebellion, were expelled in order to make place for these new- comers. This district, according to the best informed authorities, was the present Gojam, i.e., the land of the strangers, an island formed by a deep curve of the Nile, which it makes immediately after its rise and then returns, almost in a complete circle, nearly COSMOPOLITE CHARACTER OF MEROE. 37 back to its sources. Their new home, then, was in the neighbor- hood of the sources of the Nile. Here this numerous Egyptian colony formed a separate state, dependent uponMeroe, but governed by its own subordinate kings, or rather, at least at a later period, by its queens. Among the Ethiopian tribes dwelling in those regions they introduced, as ac- cording to Herodotus, civilization, after the general type of the Egyptian ; they built cities, the most considerable of which was called Sembolytis and another named Esar. This state, which en- dured for many centuries, extended itself on the east as far as the mountains, and clear traces of it are visible in the histories of those countries at later periods. The state of Meroe, therefore, in the ages of its existence, com- prised a number of different races or tribes, united together by one common religion or form of worship which was managed by the priests, the most cultivated class of the people, and, in effect, the dominant caste. The question as to what race of men this caste of priests really belonged to or descended from, some antiquarians have thought to be a very interesting one, but it is a question the solution of which remains as yet only among the probabilities, nothing historically definite having been adduced as to it. This much, however, has been concluded as probably certain, namely, that the priest caste did not consider themselves as of a race that had immigrated to that land, but as primitive to it, in which opin- ion they coincided with the people generally of that country. If we examine as to whether the information we have or can at- tain respecting this race of the Nile's valley will warrant us in con- cluding such race as having immigrated into this region or whether we can discover in the tribes still existing there the descendants of such immigrant race, what we have to do is to examine the monu- ments left by the race, as from these the means of our knowledge must be largely drawn and as from their innumerable pictures we are enabled to judge somewhat in regard to the internal as well as the external character of the race. In these monumental representations we always discover the same formation of countenance, the same shape (except in a few figures in the rock sepulchres, which in general display the infancy of the art); the same color, and although with many variations, yet, upon the whole, the same rich costume. The countenance has in it nothing of what we now understand as the negro variety, it is a handsome profile ; the body is tall and slender ; the hair straight 38 CRDATOR AXD COSMOS. or slightly curled; the color a reddish brown. That the color in the painted reliefs was that of the people represented no one will doubt who has seen Belzoni's plates of the royal sepulchre at Abusambal. It is unnecessary to understand that the color in na- ture was exactly the same ; the artists, in this respect, were per- haps limited by their materials ; but it appears plain that the race intended to be depicted was neither white nor black, but of a color between these two, namely, dark-brown. The Nubian race is now supposed to most exactly represent them. Though the color, through slight intermixture with female negro slaves, is becoming somewhat darker, yet the same shape, the same profile, and the same moral characteristics are still to be found, as far as this can be expected in their present degenerate state. The Nubian, says an eye-witness, is thin and slender and beautifully formed ; and his beauty is as unchangeable as that of a statute. He has more cour- age and daring than the Arabian. Thev are of a dark-brown color, with hair either naturally curly or artificially arranged by the women, • but not at all woolly. Neither their external appearance nor their language allow us to give them an Arabian origin. They were once, according to Strabo, a mighty nation spreading out on both sides of the Nile. They are now pressed back into its valley ; scarcely more than the ruins of a nation; but it has been impossible alto- gether to suppress them. Their ancient civilizations was closely connected with their religion and naturally declined with it ; inter- mixture with foreigners, wars and oppressions helped on the degra- dation ; all that now can be expected in their case is but a shadow of what they once were. (Strabo, pp. 1134-5, Leagh and others. ) But, whoever will compare closely the descriptions of them given by modern travelers with the representations upon the reliefs, will not fail to recognize the same general physical appearance, and the same countenance. They even still carry the same weapons, the long, often two edged spear, the great shield of hippopotamus- skin, with which they so often appear upon the monuments, and by which even the prophet characterizes them (Jer. xlvi., 9): and if the richness of their dress has been exchanged for lighter habila- ments it may be considered that the temperature of the climate renders these ornaments rather than necessary clothing. All these distinguishing marks are, as stated, in the nature of probabilities and not founded upon historical evidence as ordinarily understood; but the views here given of the subject may be considered as iust until replaced by others evidently more probable. MUTUAL CIVILIZATION OF ^ETHIOPIA AND iEGYPT. 39 The question which will be expected to follow this in considera- tion is: whether Ethiopia and especially Meroe was the parent of the civilization of the Nile's valley, which descended thence into Egypt ; or whether civilization ascended the Nile from Egypt into Ethiopia? I have before indicated partially what ray mind was on this. I have stated that we had historical evidence that rulers of Meroe were at certain periods rulers of- Egypt ; and, on the other hand, that some of the Pharaohs extended their dominion over Ethiopia. What, therefore, could be more natural than that those nations would be mutually effected by being brought into close con- tact and general intercourse with each other ; and as the erection of monuments, temples and their appurtenances formed so essential a part of the rites of the religion of Amnion, that the Pharaohs, when they ruled over Ethiopia, or the Ethiopian kings when they ruled over Egypt should, on both sides, have endeavored to perpetuate their memories in these respective countries by the foundation of temples and the erection and decoration of monuments? That this was so in effect is proved by the structures which exist in those countries as well as in Nubia, which lies between them, and by reliefs which decorate those structures and temples. Those, therefore, who derive the civilization of Egypt from Ethiopia and especially from Meroe do not generally go farther than to affirm that certain colonies led by the priest-caste spread from Meroe into Egypt. That all this happened at the advice of the oracle of Amnion is proved by Herodotus, who says : " They undertook their expeditions at the time and to the place appointed by the god." The fact is too well known to render it necessary to be proved here that the foundation of colonies in the ancient world generally took place under the dictation of the oracles. This was so in Greece and in other countries as well as in Egypt, Ethiopia and Si wah. These oracles, were under the ministry or manage- ment of the priest-caste, doubtless sometimes in connection with the chief ruler of the nation ; it is reasonable, therefore, to con- clude that those settlements were usually in the first place deter- mined upon deliberately and then carried out for definite purposes. This is confirmed by the ordinary and monumental historv. One of those settlements, the nearest to Meroe on the north, that near Mount Berkal, is called after the present city, namely, Merawe At this place are found the remains of two temples, dedicated to Osiris and Amnion. The larger with an alley of Sphinxes, and all the sections of the great temples of Egypt, surpasses in extent, 40 CREATOR AND COSMOS. variety and perfection of finish, those in the parent State. The smaller called by Caillaud, a Typhonium, exhibits in its sanctuary Amnion with his whole train. But besides the name, another thing proves this place to have been a colony from Meroe ; I mean the pyramidal sepulchres, with nearly the very same number of pyra- mids as at Assur, though larger in size. Opposite also on the western bank of the Nile, near Nuri, is a group of pyramids, which are said to be the only ones found between the island of Meroe and Egypt. The reliefs on the temple relate to the worship of Amnion. On the Pylon a king or hero is offering to him a number of cap- tives ; in the interior decoration, gifts of fruit, cattle and other things. In the front building of the pyramids is represented Osiris, as king of the lower world, to whom gifts are likewise pre • sented. This place at a later period, probably in the time of the Ptolemies, became the capital, and was called Napata; and this in the time of Nero, when the Romans captured and destroyed it, was the residence of the successive queens, who dwelt here under the title of Candace. (Pliny, VI. 35, Mannert X. p. 220). Ammonium in the Libyan Desert, was, according to the testi- mony of Herodotus another of those colonies, which consisted not merely of a temple and oracle, but rather, as Meroe, formed a small State where the priest-caste was the ruling body, and chose a king from among themselves; and, according to his account, this colony was formed in common from Meroe and Thebes. This remarkable fact, not only proves the foundation of such colonies and the ob- jects for which they were intended, but also places beyond a doubt that a common interest was recognized as mutually existing between those religious institutions at Meroe" and Thebes. The princely Thebes itself was by far the most important settle- ment of this priest-caste ; it formed a sort of second metropolis or central point, whence they spread over the rest of Egypt and the Oases. The priestly tradition of Ethiopia and Egypt, asserted the worship of Amnion and Osiris, with all its institutions, feasts, processions and paraphernalia, to have been first settled at Meroe, the metropolis. Diodorus (I. p. 18), cites the character of the au- thorities whence he derives this information ; at one time as written, namely, the narrative of Agatharchides, in his work on the Red Sea, and the history of Artemidorus ; at others as oral, namely the assertions of the priests of the Thebaid; and of the embassa- dors from Meroe, whom he himself had there an opportunity of conversing with ; all these agree very well together. CIVILIZATION DESCENDED THE NILE. 41 From the city of Meroe, therefore, according to the most ancient authorities did Osiris carry the civilization of which he is the sym- bol into Egypt. The worship of Amnion and his temple associates, the same sacerdotal polity, the same oracles confirmed it in anti- quity ; and we do not find the temples of Upper and the pyramids of Middle Egypt to be exponents of the same truth, with those de- signs wrought to the highest perfection of which the monuments of Meroe and Nubia furnished the simpler models. So far thus: But that Meroe was a colony of Thebes there is not the slightest historical proof. And what would be gained by such an opinion, even though the question should turn upon the rise of civilization in the Nile's valley? On what account would it be less likely to rise in Meroe than in the Thebaid? No doubt in both countries certain external causes promoted it; but that they were to be found as well, rather sooner in Meroe than in the Thebaid much might be adduced. The researches of investigators upon this subject lead to the gen- eral conclusion above set forth which is no small proof of the cor- rectness of our inferences. It is, therefore, here expedient to set forth the opinions to which Gaw and Champollion have led, more especially since we know they have proved themselves to be some of the most painstaking, laborious and accurate investigators in this field. "The observation of Gaw," it is said, " seems especially inter- esting, on account of the results to which it will lead ; we mean his remark that he hopes by his work to prove that the original models of Egyptian architecture may be found in the Nubian monuments, from the rudest rock excavation to the highest point of perfection ; and the specimens are met with in Nubia of the three different epochs of architecture. Of the first attempts, the excavations from the sides of rocks which were not till a later period ornamented with sculpture, the temples of Derar, Abousambal and Ghyrshe afford examples. From them Egyptian art proceeded to perfection, as we know from the monuments of Kalabshe, Dekar, etc. ; and again retrograded as is shown in the small buildings of Dandour," etc. " In the letters upon Champollion's latest discoveries it is said that history is extended and authenticated. Champollion reads the names of the mighty Egyptian Pharoahs upon the edifices which they erected, and arrives at certainty respecting the deeds of Tuthmosis, Amenophis II., Rameses Miamun, Rameses the Great or Seso^tris and others, which our modern skeptical critics would tear from the 42 CREATOR AND COSMOS. volume of authentic history and place among the fabulous. But a powerful voice is raised in their favor by the irrefragible evidence of the venerable reliefs, the innumerable inscriptions upon the pylons and long walls of Theban palaces. Nearly thirty royal dynas- ties enumerated of which from seventeen upwards uninterrupted monuments have been discovered. The most flourishing period of the Egyptian state, and its highest point of civilization Champollion places under the eighteenth dynasty, the fir?t of which dynasty expelled the shepherd race, or hyksos, from lower Egypt, under whose domination most if not all of Egypt had been for centuries. It was also the Pharaohs of this dynasty who so aggrandized Thebes ; who built the vast palace of Karnac, Luxor, Medinet Abon, Kornu and Memnonium. What a high pitch of civ- ilization ! What an astonishing era of art; two complete thousand years before the Augustan age of Rome ! The magnificent palace of Karnac records by its hieroglyphics that it was built during the eleven hundred years which elapsed from the time or Amenophis I. to that of Nekao II. Amenophis I. was the third, Amenophis II. ( whom the Greeks call Memnon ) the eighth, and Amenophis III., the sixteenth of this glorious dynasty. But the most exalted hero among the Pharoahs was Rameses the Great or Sesostris, as he is called, by Herodotus, the first of the nineteenth dynasty." " But this advantage of the researches, so interesting in their consequences, is not merely confined to the antiquities of Egypt ; it stretches away to the south ; it opens up an historical view of countries, whose names have not yet been enrolled in the eternal tablets of history. In Nubia and Ethiopia stupendous, numerous and primeval monuments proclaim so loudly a civilization contem- porary, aye, earlier than that of Egypt, that it may be conjectured with the greatest confidence that the arts, sciences and religion de- scended from Nubia to the Lower country of Mizraim ; that civili- zation descended the Nile, built Memphis, and, finally, something later, wrested by colonization the Delta from the sea. From Meroe and Axum downwards with the Nile to the Mediterranean, there arose, as is testified' by Diodorus, cultivated and powerful States, which, though independent of each other, were connected by the same language, the same writing and the same religion." " Champollion, by comparing the manners and customs, the politi- cal institutions and physical organization of the Egyptians with those of other nations regards it as certain that they are a genuine African-descended race ; undoubtedly aboriginals of this quarter of INTERCOURSE WITH ARABIA FELIX. 43 the world, as they resemble the western Asiatic nations, then- neighbors, in but a very few unimportant particulars. Their lan- guage contains as few analogies with the Sanscrit and Zend, the Chinese and the Arabic, as their writing with that of the rest of the known world. Everything tends to prove them a great, a self- cultivated and an exclusive family of nations, possessing the north- east of Africa, Nubia, the Oases and Egypt."* That the Ammonian oracles were principal stations of the cara- van trade may suggest the close connection which did really exist between religion and commerce, which was, doubtless, as natural to those countries as it is unnatural to our institutions. Though this priesthood was not of itself a trading people yet it seems by its establishments to have served as a guide and fosterer to the southern commercial intercourse. This a general survey of the commerce of those countries in the early ages would fully estab- lish. That an extensive commercial intercourse existed in early times between Ethiopia and Arabia Felix on the one side and the western coast of the peninsula of India and Ceylon on the other is a mat- ter which is pretty well established historically. Thus it may ap- pear that nature has so preordained the commerce of those nations by bestowing treasures on one portion which the others are desti- tute of and cannot well do without. India is, in natural produc- tions, one of the richest countries in the world, and, on that account, has always been esteemed a country of great importance in the world's commerce. Besides the textile fabrics peculiar to it and some which it may possess in common with a few other countries it possesses almost exclusively cinnamon and pepper, the two spices most in demand. In colder regions these may be dispensed with or used as articles of luxury ; but under the damp and burning cli- mate of those southern latitudes they are indispensably necessary as antidotes to putrefaction; and none of the nations in these regions can ever do without them after having once experienced their effects. Yeman, otherwise called Arabia Felix, though separated by sea from India, is yet by nature connected with it in an extraordinary * The foregoing extracts are taken from continental European reviews and magazines, written at the end of the first quarter of this nineteenth century. It is said that in later dis- coveries a whole archive has come to light in papyrus rolls, containing the names of the Pharoahs and annals of their reigns. An immense flood of light has been shed during this nineteenth century upon the history of that very ancient and interesting race more especially by the researches of Mr. Brugsch Bey. Doubtless much that is of interest will yet come to light concerning it. 44 CREATOR AND COSMOS. manner. One-half of the year — from Spring to Autumn — the wind sets in and wafts the vessels from Arabia to India; the other half — from Autumn to Spring — it as regularly carries them back from India to Arabia.* A sky almost always serene affords them the stars as guides, and spares them the trouble and danger of feel- ing along the coasts. Though Arabia produces no spices she amply makes up for the deficiency by other very valuable productions. If not exclusively, Arabia is above all others the native country of frankincense, myrrh and other aromatics and perfumes. If the purification of the air by sweet-smelling savors were not as neces- sary in these warm climates as spices are for the preservation of health, yet the value of these productions was greatly enhanced by religion. In the offerings to the gods in those semi-civilized nations frankincense was largely used. But eastern Africa not only divided the production of frankin- cense with Yeman, but produced a different commodity of great value, namely, gold, of which neither Yeman nor India could boast and without which their traffic must have been, even in those early times, much limited. The western coast of the Indian peninsula did not produce this metal, nor Arabia if at all but sparingly; but eastern Africa contained those districts abounding in gold, which are still numbered among the richest of the world. Indian spices, especially cinnamon, are brought to our view in the book of Exodus (ch. xxx : 23, 24), in which we can enumerate the quantity of spices to be used in compounding the holy oil of the sanctuary. The Phoenicians and Hebrews early carried on an exten- sive trade with Arabia Felix. The Hebrew poets and prophets cite the names of its various cities and harbors, and enumerate the treasures which were imported from them (Ezek. xxvii : 21-25 and the commentaries). The Greeks were also accustomed to proclaim the boundless riches contained in Yeman. " Its inhabitants, the Sabians," says Agatharchides, as quoted by Diodorous, "not only surpass the neighboring barbarians in wealth and magnificence, but all other nations whatsoever. In bringing and selling their wares they obtain among all nations the highest prices for the smallest quantities. As their distant situation protects them from all foreign plunderers, immense stores of precious metals have accumulated among them, especially in the capital. Curiously-wrought gold and silver drinking vessels in great variety ; couches, tripods * The former is a southwest, the latter a northeast wind. COMMERCE WITH YEMEN AND INDIA. 45 with silver feet, and an incredible profusion of costly furniture in general. Porticos with large columns, partly gilt, with capitals ornamented with wrought silver figures. The roofs and doors are ornamented with gold fretwork, set with precious stones; besides which an extraordinary magnificence reigns in the decoration of their houses, in which they use silver and gold, and ivory and the most precious stones and all other things which men deem most valuable. These people from the earliest times have enjoyed their good fortune undisturbed ; being sufficiently remote from all those who strove to feed their avarice with the treasures of others." From the foregoing quotation it is plain that the inhabitants of this country had, by their commerce and country's native products, attained in the early ages to immense wealth ; and also, as indicated by their architecture and plastic arts, had made considerable pro- gress in civilization. According to Herodotus much of their wealth was derived from the merchandise of India for which their country was the great mart ; and his testimony is fully confirmed by that of Arrian in his " Periplus of the Red Sea," who has always had the reputation of having been a well informed writer. " Before merchants," he says, " sailed from India to Egypt and from Egypt to India, Arabia Felix was the staple both for Egyptian and Indian goods much as Alexandria is now for the commodities of Egypt and foreign merchandise." The explicit testimony here brought forward shows the commer- cial intercourse between Arabia and India to have been of high antiquity ; and everything connected with the subject indicates the Arabians to have been the navigators, the Indians nowhere appear- ing in that vocation. When, therefore, we are informed that Arabia Felix at that time was the market for Indian products we may with great probability conclude that those people at this time as well as afterwards possessed the carrying trade of the Indian ocean. Whether this was confined to coasting or whether advan- tage was taken of the monsoons in sailing across the sea direct must be left to conjecture ; hut we can scarcely suppose that the benefit of this wind should have remained unknown during a lapse of centuries to people dwelling in the regions whence it blew. If every other passage across this sea in the infancy of time may ex- cite suspicion nothing can be reasonably opposed or supposed to the shortness and facility of this. Moreover, a great part of the way along the Arabian coast might be navigated by the monsoons; and the great number of i-slands, with which the ocean is here dotted 46 CREATOR AND COSMOS. would serve as landmarks and harbors. It is, however, a remark- able circumstance that the direct transit from Yemen to India leads direct to that veiy district of all that vast country in which (as at Elephantin and Salsette) some of the most ancient and remarkable monuments that are to be found in India still exist. The intercourse between Yemen and Ethiopia has been subject to no real difficulties. They are neighboring countries separated only by a narrow strait. Just beyond this lies the Ethiopian land of frank, incense, known to Herodotus, and near to that the gold countries of eastern Africa mentioned before. That Egypt and the other coun- tries of northern Africa were well supplied with the home products of Ethiopia, as well as other countries just mentioned, is evident from so many circumstances that no doubt can remain upon the subject. As we go back into antiquity the closer seems to have been the connection between Egypt and Ethiopia. The Hebrew writers seldom mention the one without the other ; the people of both coun- tries are represented as commercial nations. When Isaiah (xlv: 14) prophetically celebrates the victories of Cyrus their submission is spoken of as his most magnificent reward : " Thus saith the Lord, The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee and they shall be thine." When Jeremiah (xlvi : 8-11) celebrates the great victory of Neb- uchadnezzar at Carchemish the Ethiopians are allied to the Egyp- tians. When Ezek. (xxx: 5) threatens the downfall of Egypt by Babylon the remotest parts of Ethiopia tremble at the denunciation. The records of Egypt exhibits the close intimacy in which they stood to each other. The primitive states of Egypt, as already seen, derived their origin from those remote regions ; Thebes and Meroe founded in common a colony in Libya, called Ammonium or Siwah; Ethiopian conquerors more than once invaded Egypt ; Egyptian kings in return made conquest of Ethiopia; the same wor- ship, the same customs and manners, the same mode of writing are found in both countries. And under Psammetichus, as shown above, the warrior class (called slaves by some, perhaps because, in effect, reduced to slavery by Psammetichus) retired into Ethio- pia and dwelt there. This general intimate connection might seem to indicate an understood permanent kinship, somewhat such as exists, taken in its broadest sense, among the Scottish clans. Egypt, also, as far back as history reaches was well stocked with the products of the Southern regions. Whence did she obtain the iEGYPT AND iETHlOPIA. 47 drugs anil spices with which her dead were embalmed? Whence the incense that burned on her altars? Whence the immense quan- tity of cotton with which her people were clad and of which her own soil produced so little? Moreover, whence came into Egypt that early rumor of the gold districts of Ethiopia,- which Cambyses set out to discover and in the attempt lost half his army? Whence that profusion of ivory and ebony which the ancient artists of Greece and Phoenicia embellished ? (Herod, iii., 114.) "Ethiopia, the most distant region of the earth, brings forth gold in abundance, and ivory and ebony and va- rious other woods, and the tallest, handsomest and most long-lived of men." Whence that general and early spread of the name of Ethiopia, which glimmers in the traditional history of so many nations, and which is celebrated as well by the Hebrew poets as by the earliest Grecian bards? Whence all this, if the deserts which surrounded that people had formed an impassable barrier between them and the inhabitants of the northern districts? But why should tradition which has so long slumbered be now invoked? The remains of those majestic monuments, the series of which extend from Elephantin and Philae beyond the desert to Meroe, now speak for themselves. However short and monosyl- labic their language, they plainly enough evince that a close connec- tion must have existed between the peoples that erected them. The reader is, however, now in a position to judge both of the certainty and extent of the international commerce of those south- ern regions in those remote periods. It was a commercial inter- course between some of the richest and most productive regions of the earth; the gold countries of eastern Africa, the spice countries of India and the native land of frankincense, of precious stones and drugs in Southern Arabia. But this research presupposes anotner inquiry, namely, as to the relation in which commerce stood in those regions to religion. Commerce has always in the East been very closely connected with religion. All commercial intercourse requires peaceable and secure places in which it may be carried on. Commerce in the eastern countries is carried on in a very different way generally from that in which it is carried on in Europe and America. In these latter countries, every State, city and hamlet affords protec- tion to its people so that trade is carried on peaceabty and securely. Goods are transported speedily on freight trains and steamboats from point to point; and men travel, in. like manner, without ap- 48 CREATOR AND COSMOS. prehension of violence from unruly men. In the immense districts of the Eastern world the case is very different. The rich caravans have often to perform here journeys of hundreds of miles through nations of nomad robbers. The market is not where they might choose, but where the requirements of nature fixes it, in the midst or in the neighborhood of those roving hordes. What can be sup- posed to protect commerce, but the sanctity of the place? Moreover, a ready sale of merchandise requires a concourse of people, and where this has place is most usually in the vicinity of the national sanctuaries, where the whole nation is wont to congre- gate to celebrate their feasts. Here, where men give themselves up to good living the necessities of life, if not the luxuries, will be in plentiful supply and good demand, and here the merchants will net the best profits. Now, however, even the East affords a strik- ing example of the extent to which the maritime commerce has diminished that by land. Mecca has long been, through its holy sanctuary, the chief mart of the commerce of Arabia, and the great caravans of pilgrims, which journey thither from Asia and Africa are largely trading caravans. The fairs which depend upon their arrival are said to be the greatest in Asia. The rapid growth of a place in the East, when once it has obtained a sanctuary, that becomes the objective point of pilgrimages and by that means becomes a trading place almost surpasses credibility. Tenta, for example, a city of the Delta, is celebrated as containing the sepulchre of a Mohamedan saint, Seyd-Achmed. The venera- tion in which this is held brings an incredible number of pilgrims, who come at the season of the vernal equinox and summer solstice from Egypt, Abyssinia, Arabia and Darfour. The number is es- timated as averaging 150,000. These periodical assemblages besides the worship of the saint are devoted to commerce ; and each of them is the period of a celebrated fair, which lasts for many days and at which the produce of Upper Egvpt, the coast of Birbary, and of the eastern nations is exchanged for the cattle of the Delta and the linen there manufactured. (Memoires Sur l'Egypte, torn. Hi., p. 357.) It was the worship of Amnion and his kindred deities whose rites were propagated by the foundation of colonies of the same caste of priests along the course of the Nile from the vicinity of its sources till its divided streams lose themselves in the sea ; and the places celebrated for the worship of those deities were also famed as the great marts for the commerce of those regions. RELIGION AND COMMERCE. 49 A consideration of this will easily determine the most ancient trading route from Ethiopia to Egypt and northern Africa. The situation and nature of the country will allow of no other, in the main, than a caravan trade ; for they cannot navigate on the river above a certain point, and in antiquity, single merchants could travel with as little safety as they can now without a convoy. For the caravan trade from northern Africa and the negro countries to Up- per Egypt, Thebes was the places of rendezvous. There are usually three principal caravans which go from inner Africa to Egypt ; one from Fczzau or Barbary, and one from Darfour and a third from Sennaar and Atbar, the ancient Meroe. From its situation Nubia is the natural and has, therefore, always been the great point of communication for the caravan trade between Ethiopia and the countries north and n. e. and n. w. of the Nubian desert. In aoino- from Egypt, Atbar is the first fertile spot which relieves the eye of the weary traveler over the dreary desert, the crossing of which is attended with so much toil and often with pain and danger. It is likewise the natural emporium for such productions of inner Africa as are wont to be transported to the north. It is the extreme point of the gold country towards Egypt; and possesses an easy commu- nication with the southern regions by means of the many navigable streams with which it is surrounded. Its moderate distance from Arabia Felix facilitates its intercourse with that wealthy country, which again rendered it, as long as it possessed the trade of Arabia and India, the natural market of Africa for Arabian and Indian goods. . But, though Sennaar or the country of Meroe, appears as a great commercial country, yet the territory about the. city of Meroe seems always to have been the principal locality of market. Bruce, in relating his adventures, says: " Shendy," now