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HISTORY 


OF 


HEEODOTUS. 


A  NEW   ENGLISH  VEESION,  EDITED  WITH   COPIOUS   NOTES   AND   APPENDICES, 

ILLUSTRATING  THE  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY  OF  HERODOTUS,  FROM  THE 

MOST   RECENT   SOURCES   OF   INFORMATION;'   AND   EMBODYING 

THE   CHIEF   RESULTS,  HISTORICAL   AND   ETHNOGRAPHICAL, 

WHICH  HAVE   BEEN  OBTAINED   IN   THE   PROGRESS 

OF  CUNEIFORM  AND  HIEROGLYPHICAL 

DISCOVERY. 


By  GEOEGE  EAWLINSON,  M.A., 

CAMDEN  PROFESSOR  OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD  ; 
late' FELLOW  AND  TUTOR  OF  EXETER  COLLEGE. 

ASSISTED   BY 

COL.  SIR  HENRY  RAWLINSON,  K.C.B.,  and  SIR  J.  G.  WILKINSON,  F.R.S. 


IN  FOUR  VOLUMES.-VoL.  I. 


WITH    MAPS    AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NEW  EDITION. 


LONDON; 
JOHN   MUKRAY,   ALBEMARLE   STREET. 

1862. 


The  right  of  Translation  is  reserved. 


H5 


LONDON;    raiNTED  BT  W.   CLOWES  AND  SONS,  STAMFORD  STREET, 
AND  CHAEING   CROSS. 


.'» 


TO 
THE  EIGHT  HONOUEABLE 

WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE,  M.P., 

^c.        ^c.        4'c. 

WHO,    MUD    THE    CARES    OF    PUBLIC    LIFE, 

HAS  CONTINUED  TO  FEEL  AND  SHOW 
AN   INTEREST' IN   CLASSICAL   STUDIES, 

THIS  WORK  IS  INSCRIBED,  , 
AS  A  TOKEN  OF  WARM  REGARD, 
-      BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE 

TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION. 


The  favour  of  the  public  has  made  a  Second  Edition  of  this 
work  necessary  within  so  short  a  period  of  its  original  publication, 
that  the  Author  has  not  felt  it  desirable  to  attempt  any  large 
additions  or  alterations.  He  has  confined  himself  chiefly  to  the 
amending  of  such  small  errors  as  the  sagacity  of  critics  or  the 
kindness  of  friends  has  pointed  out.  To  such  friends  and  critics 
he  begs  hereby  to  express  his  warm  acknowledgments,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  request  a  continuance  of  their  favours.  He 
hopes  they  will  feel,  with  Aristotle,  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  every 
man  to  help  towards  the  improvement  and  completion  in  detail 
of  a  scheme  that  has  been  even  tolerably  well  sketched."  In  a 
few  of  the  Essays — as  Essays  YI.  and  VII.  of  the  First  Volume — 
something  beyond  verbal  alteration  has  been  made,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  new  light  thrown  on  the  history  by  inscriptions 
not  decyphered  when  the  First  Edition  of  the  work  was  pub- 
lished. A  few  illustrations  are  also  new ;  but  otherwise  the 
work  will  be  found  little  more  than  a  reprint  of  the  edition  of 
1858-60. 

Oxford,  December,  1861. 


PREFACE 

TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION. 


Seven  years  have  elapsed  since  this  work  was  first  promised  to 
the  public.  It  was  then  stated  that  its  object  would  be  at  once 
to  present  the  English  reader  with  a  correct  yet  free  translation, 
and  to  collect  and  methodise  for  the  student  the  chief  illustra- 
tions of  the  author,  which  modern  learning  and  research  had  up 
to  that  time  accumulated.  The  promise  thus  made  might  without 
much  difficulty  have  been  redeemed  within  the  space  of  two  or 
three  years.  Parallel,  however,  with  the  progress  of  the  work, 
which  was  commenced  at  once,  a  series  of  fresh  discoveries 
continued  for  several  years  to  be  made — more  especially  on 
points  connected  with  the  ethnography  of  the  East,  and  the 
history,  geography,  and  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria — the 
results  of  which  it  seemed  desirable  to  incorporate,  at  whatever 
cost  of  time  and  labour.  Great  portions  of  the  present  volume 
had  thus,  from  time  to  time,  to  be  rewritten.  This  circumstance, 
and  the  unavoidable  absence  of  Sir  Henry  Kawlinson  from 
England  during  three  years  out  of  the  seven,  will,  it  is  hoped, 
be  deemed  sufficient  apology  for  the  delay  that  has  occurred  in 
the  publication. 

Some  apology  may  also  seem  to  be  required  for  the  project  of 
a  new  translation.  When  this  work  was  designed,  Herodotus 
already  existed  in  our  language  in  five  or  six  different  versions. 
Besides  literal  translations  intended  merely  for  the  use  of  students, 
Littlebury  in  1737,  Beloe  in  1791,  and  Mr.  Isaac  Taylor  in  1829, 
had  given  "  the  Father  of  History  "  an  English  dress  designed 
to  recommend  him  to  the  general  reader.  The  defects  of  the 
two  former  of  these  works — defects  arising  in  part  from  the  low 
state  of  Greek  scholarship  at  the  time  when  they  were  written, 
in  part  from  the  incompetency  of  the   writers — precluded  of 


PKEFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  VU 

necessity  tlieir  adoption,  even  as  the  basis  of  a  new  English 
Herodotus.  The  translation  of  Mr.  Isaac  Taylor  is  of  a  higher 
order,  and  had  it  been  more  accurate,  would  have  left  little  to 
desiderate.  The  present  translator  was  not,  however,  aware  of 
its  existence  until  after  he  had  completed  his  task,  or  he  would 
have  been  inclined,  if  permitted,  to  have  adopted,  with  certain 
changes,  Mr.  Taylor's  version.  It  is  hoped  that  the  pubKc  may 
derive  some  degree  of  advantage  from  this  redundancy  of  labour 
in  the  same  field,  and  may  find  the  present  work  a  more  exact, 
if  not  a  more  spirited,  representation  of  the  Greek  author. 

There  are,  however,  one  or  two  respects  in  which  the  present 
translation  does  not  lay  claim  to  strict  accuracy.  Occasional 
passages  offensive  to  modern  delicacy  have  been  retrenched,  and 
others  have  been  modified  by  the  alteration  of  a  few  phrases. 
In  the  orthography  of  names,  moreover,  and  in  the  rendering  of 
the  appellations  of  the  Greek  deities,  the  Latinised  forms,  with 
which  our  ear  is  most  familiar,  have  been  adopted  in  preference 
to  the  closer  and  more  literal  representation  of  the  words,  which 
has  recently  obtained  the  sanction  of  some  very  eminent  writers. 
In  a  work  intended  for  general  readiug,  it  was  thought  that 
unfamiliar  forms  were  to  be  eschewed ;  and  that  accuracy  in  such 
matters,  although  perhaps  more  scholar-like,  would  be  dearly 
purchased  at  the  expense  of  harshness  and  repulsiveness. 

It  has  not  been  considered  desirable  to  encumber  the  text  with 
a  great  multitude  of  foot-notes.  The  principal  lines  of  inquiry 
opened  up  by  the  historian  have  been  followed  out  in  "  Essays," 
which  are  placed  separately  at  the  end  of  the  several  "Books " 
into  which  the  history  is  divided.  In  the  running  comment  upon 
the  text  which  the  foot-notes  furnish,  while  it  is  hoped  that  no 
really  important  illustration  of  the  narrative  of  Herodotus  from 
classical  writers  of  authority  has  been  omitted,  the  main  endea- 
vour has  been  to  confine  such  comment  within  reasonable  com- 
pass, and  to  avoid  the  mistake  into  which  Larcher  and  Bahr 
have  fallen,  of  overlaying  the  text  with  the  commentary.  If  the 
principle  here  indicated  is  anywhere  infringed,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  infringement  arises  from  a  press  of  modern  matter  not 
previously  brought  to  bear  upon  the  author,  and  of  a  character 
which  seemed  to  require  juxtaposition  with  his  statements. 


yiii  PREFACE  TO  THE  FIEST  EDITIOX. 

The  Editor  cannot  lay  this  instalment  of  his  work  before  the 
public  without  at  once  recording  his  obligations  to  the  kindness 
of  several  friends.  His  grateful  acknowledgments  are  due  to 
the  Eector  and  Fellows  of  Exeter  College  for  the  free  use  of 
their  valuable  library ;  to  Dr.  Bandinel,  librarian  of  the  Bodleian, 
and  the  Eev.  H.  0.  Coxe,  sub-librarian  of  the  same,  for  much 
attention  and  courtesy ;  to  Professor  Lassen  of  Bonn,  for  kind 
directions  as  to  German  sources  of  illustration  ;  to  Dr.  Scott, 
Master  of  Balhol,  for  assistance  on  difficult  points  of  scholarship  ; 
and  to  Professor  Max  Miiller,  of  this  University,  for  many  useful 
hints  upon  subjects  connected  with  ethnology  and  comparative 
philology.  Chiefly,  however,  he  has  to  thank  his  two  colleagues, 
Sir  Henry  Eawlinson  and  Sir  Gardner  \Yilkinson,  for  their  in- 
valuable assistance.  The  share  which  these  writers  have  taken 
in  the  work  is  very  insufficiently  represented  by  the  attachment 
of  their  initials  to  the  notes  and  essays  actually  contributed  by 
them.  Sir  Henry  Eawlinson  especially  has  exercised  a  general 
supervision  over  the  Oriental  portion  of  the  comment;  and 
although  he  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  regarded  as  responsible  for 
any  statements  but  those  to  which  his  initials  are  affixed,  he  has 
in  fact  lent  his  aid  throughout  in  all  that  concerns  the  geography, 
ethnography,  and  history  of  the  Eastern  nations.  It  was  the 
promise  of  tliis  assistance  which  alone  emboldened  the  Editor  to 
undertake  a  work  of  such  pretension  as  the  full  illustration  from 
the  best  sources,  ancient  and  modern,  of  so  discursive  a  writer  as 
Herodotus.  It  will  be,  he  feels,  the  advantage  derived  from  the 
free  bestowal  of  the  assistance  which  will  lend  to  the  work  itself 
its  principal  and  most  permanent  interest. 

Oxford f  January  1st,  1858. 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL  I. 


ON  THE  LIFE  AND  WKITINGS  OF  HEEODOTUS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


OUTLINE  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  HERODOTUS. 

Impossibility  of  writing  a  complete  life  of  Herodotus.  His  time,  as  determined 
from  his  History.  Date  of  his  birth,  as  fixed  by  ancient  writers,  B.C.  484. 
His  birthplace  —  Halicarnassus.  His  parents,  Lyxes  and  Rhoeo  —  their  means 
and  station.  A  branch  of  his  family  settled  in  Chios,  probably.  His  educa- 
tion, and  acquaintance  with  Greek  literature.  His  travels,  their  extent  and 
completeness.  Their  probable  date  and  starting-point.  Circumstances  of  his 
life,  according  to  Suidas  and  other  writers.  Political  adventures  —  their  truth 
questioned.  Residence  at  Samos  —  doubtful.  Removal  to  Athens.  Recita- 
tion of  his  work 'there.  Reward  assigned  him.  Alleged  recitations  in  other 
Greek  cities.  The  pretended  recitation  at  Olympia.  Thucydides  and  Hero- 
dotus. Herodotus  and  Sophocles.  Men  of  note  whom  Herodotus  would 
meet  at  Athens.  Reasons  for  his  leaving  it.  Colonisation  of  Thurium.  Men 
of  note  among  the  early  colonists.  The  History  of  Herodotus  retouched,  but 
not  originally  composed,  at  Thurium.  Some  large  portions  may  have  been 
written  there  ;  and  his  History  of  Assyria.  State  of  Thurium  during  his 
residence.  Time  and  place  of  his  death.  Herodotus  pi'obably  unmarried : 
his  heir  Plesirrhoiis.     His  great  work  left  unfinished  at  his  decease    . .   Page  1 


CHAPTER    II. 


ON   THE    SOURCES   FROM   WHICH   HERODOTUS   COMPILED    HIS   HISTORY. 

Importance  of  the  question.  Historical  materials  already  existing  in  Greece. 
Works  of  three  kinds  :  1.  Mythological;  2.  Geographical;  3.  Strictly  historical. 
How  far  used  as  materials  by  Herodotus.  Xanthus.  Charon.  Dionysius. 
The  geographers  :  Hecatseus,  Scylax,  Aristeas.  The  poets.  Chief  source  of 
the  History  of  Herodotus,  personal  observation  and  inquiry.  How  far  authen- 
ticated by  monumental  records:  1.  In  Greece;  2.  In  foreign  countries  — 
Egypt,  Babylon,  Persia.     General  result 30 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER    III. 

ON   THE   MERITS   AND   DEFECTS  OF    HERODOTUS   AS   AN   HISTORIAN. 

Merits  of  Herodotus  as  an  historian:  1.  Diligence.  2.  Honesty — Failure  of  all 
attacks  on  his  veracity.  3.  Impartiality — Charges  of  prejudice — Remarkable 
instances   of  candour.      4.   Political   dispassionateness.       5,    Freedom   from 

national  vanity. Defects  as  a  historian  :    1.  Credulity — Belief  in  omens, 

oracles,  dreams,  &c. ^Theory  of  Divine  Nemesis — Marvels  in  Nature.  2. 
Spirit  of  exaggeration  —  Anecdotes.  3.  Want  of  accuracy  —  Discrepancies  — 
Repetitions  —  Loose  chronology,  &c.  4.  Want  of  historical  insight —  Confu- 
sion of  occasions  with  causes  —  Defective  geography  —  Absurd  meteorology  — 

Mythology  —  Philology. Merits  as  a  writer :  1.  Unity  —  Scope  of  the  work. 

2.  Clever  management  of  the  episodes  —  Question  of  their  relevancy.  3.  Skill 
in  character- drawing  —  The  Persians  —  The  Spartans  —  The  Athenians  — 
Persian  and  Spartan  kings :  Themistocles  —  Aristides  —  Greek  Tyrants — 
Croesus  —  Amasis  —  Nitocris  —  Tomyris,  &c.  4.  Dramatic  power.  5.  Pathos. 
6.  Humour.  7.  Variety.  8.  Pictorial  description.  9.  Simplicity.  10.  Beauty 
of  style.     Conclusion  Page  59 


THE  HISTOEY  OF  HEEODOTUS. 

THE    FIRST   BOOK,    ENTITLED    CLIO. 

Causes  of  the  war  between  Greece  and  Persia — 1.  Mythic  (1-5).  2.  Historic — 
Aggressions  of  Croesus — Previous  Lydian  History  (6-25).  Conquests  of 
Croesus  (26-28).  Visit  of  Solon  to  the  court  of  Croesus  (29-33).  Story  of 
Adrastus  and  Atys  (34-45).  Preparations  of  Croesus  against  Cyrus — Con- 
sultation of  the  oracles  (46-55).  Croesus  seeks  a  Greek  alliance  —  Hellenes 
and  Pelasgi  (56-58).  State  of  Athens  under  Pisistratus  (59-64).  Early  His- 
tory of  Sparta  (65-68).  Alliance  of  Croesus  with  Sparta  (69-70).  Croes]Lis 
warned  (71).  Croesus  invades  Cappadocia — His  war  with  Cyrus  (72-85). 
Danger  and  deliverance  of  Croesus  (86-87).  His  advice  to  Cyrus  (88-89). 
His  message  to  the  Delphic  oracle  (90-91).  His  offerings  (92).  Wonders  of 
Lydia  (93).  Manners  and  customs  of  the  Lydians  (94).  History  of  Cyrus — 
Old  Assyrian  Empire— Revolt  of  Media  (95).  Early  Median  History  (96-107). 
Birth  and  bringing-up  of  Cyrus  (108-122).  Incitements  to  revolt  (123-4). 
He  sovind3  the  feelings  of  the  Persians — their  Ten  Tribes  (125-6).  Revolt 
and  struggle  (127-130).  Customs  of  the  Persians  (131-140).  Cyrus  threatens 
the  Ionian  Gi-eeks  (141).  Account  of  the  Greek  settlements  in  Asia  (142-151). 
Sparta  interferes  to  protect  the  Greeks  (152).  Sardis  revolts  and  is  reduced 
(153-7).  Fate  of  Pactyas  (158-160).  Reduction  of  the  Asiatic  Greeks 
(161-170).  The  Carians,  Caunians,  and  Lycians  attacked — their  customs — 
they  submit  to  the  Persians  (171-6).  Conquests  of  Cyrus  in  Upper  Asia 
(177).  Description  of  Babylon  (178-187).  Cyrus  marches  on  Babylon 
(188-190).  Fall  of  Babylon  (191).  Description  of  Babylonia  (192-3). 
Customs  of  the  Babylonians  (194-200)  Expedition  of  Cyrus  against  the 
Massagetse  (201).  The  River  Araxes  (202).  The  Caspian  (203-4). 
Tomyris  —  her  offer  to  Cyrus  (205-6).  Advice  given  by  Croesus,  adopted 
by  Cyrus  (207-8).  Dream  of  Cyrus  (209-210).  Two  battles  with  the 
Massagetee  —  Defeat  and  death  of  Cyrus  (211-4).  Manners  and  customs  of 
the  Massagetse  (215)        ' 121 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


APPENDIX  TO    :00K  I. 


ESSAY   I. 

ON   THE   EAELY   CHRONOLOGY   AMD    HISTORY   OF   LYDIA. 

1.  Date  of  the  taking  of  Sardis  by  Cyrus  —  according  to  the  common  account,  B.C. 
546.  2.  According  to  Volney  and  Heeren,  B.C.  557.  3.  Probable  actual  date, 
B.C.  554.  4.  First  or  mythic  period  of  Lydian  history  —  dynasty  of  the  Atyadse. 
5.  Colonisation  of  Etruria.  6.  Conquest  of  the  Maeonians  by  the  Lydians  — 
Torrhebia.  7.  Second  period  —  dynasty  of  the  Heraclidse,  B.C.  1229  to  B.C.  724 
—  descent  of  Agron.  8.  Scantiness  of  the  historical  data  for  this  period. 
9.  Lydiaca  of  Xanthus.  10.  Insignificance  of  Lydia  before  Gyges.  11.  Third 
period,  B.C.  724-554  —  legend  of  Gyges — he  obtains  the  throne  by  favour  of 
the  Delphic  oracle.  12.  Reign  of  Gyges,  B.C.  724-686 — his  wars  with  the 
Greeks  of  the  coast.  13.  Reign  of  Ardys,  B.C.  686-637.  14.  Invasion  of  the 
Cimmerians.  15.  Reign  of  Sadyattes,  B.C.  637-625.  16.  Reign  of  Alyattes, 
B.C.  625-568  —  war  with  Miletus.  17.  Great  war  between  Alyattes  and  Cyax- 
ares,  king  of  Media  —  eclipse  of  Thales,  B.C.  610  (?).  18.  Peaceful  close  of  his 
reign  —  employment  of  the  population  in  the  construction  of  his  tomb.  19. 
Supposed  association  of  Croesus  in  the  government  by  Alyattes.  20.  Reign  of 
Croesus,  B.C.  568-554  —  his  enormous  wealth.  21.  Powerful  eflfect  on  the  Greek 
mind  of  his  reverse  of  fortune  —  his  history  becomes  a  favourite  theme  with 
romance  writers,  who  continually  embellish  it . .      . .    Page  284 


ESSAY   II. 

ON   THE    PHYSICAL   AND   POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF    ASIA   MINOR. 

Physical  Geography  of  Asia  Minor  —  Shape,  dimensions,  and  boundaries. 
2.  Great  central  Plateau.  3.  Division  of  Plateau  —  Lake  region  —  Northern 
flat  —  Rivers  which  drain  the  latter — (i.)  The  Yechil-Irmak,  or  Iris  —  (ii.)  The 
Kizil-Irmak,  or  Halys  —  (iii.)  The  Sakkariyeh,  or  Sangarius.  4.  Coast  tracts 
outside  the  Plateau:  (i.)  Southern — (ii.)  Northern  —  (iii.)  Western.  5.  Its 
rivers.  6.  Its  general  character.  7.  Political  Geography.  8.  Fifteen  nations : 
(i.)  Phrygians  —  (ii.)  Matieni  —  (iii.)  Cilicians  —  (iv.)  Pamphylians  —  (v.) 
Lycians  —  (vi.)  Caunians  —  (vii.)  Carians  —  (viii.)  Lydians  —  (ix.)  Greeks  — 
(x.)  Mysians  —  (xi.)  Thracians  —  (xii.)  Mariandynians — (xiii.)  Paphlagomans 
(xiv.)  Chalybes  —  (xv.)  Cappadocians.  9.  Comparison  of  Herodotus  with 
Ephorus        314 

ESSAY    III. 

ON   THE    CHRONOLOGY   AND   HISTORY    OF    THE    GREAT   MEDIAN    EMPIRE. 

Arian  origin  of  the  Medes.  2.  Close  connexion  with  the  Persians.  3.  Original 
migration  from  beyond  the  Sutlej.  4.  Medes  occupy  the  tract  south  of  the 
Caspian.  5.  First  contact  between  Media  and  Assyria  —  Conquest  of  Sargon. 
6.  Media  under  the  Assyrians.  7.  Establishment  of  the  independence  :  (i.) 
Account  of  Ctesias  —  (ii.)  Account  of  Herodotus.     8.  Cyaxares  the  real  founder 


xii  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

of  the  monarchy.  9.  Events  of  his  reign :  (i.)  His  war  with  the  Scyths  —  (ii.) 
Conquest  of  Assyria  —  (iii.)  Conquest  of  the  tract  between  Media  and  the  river 
Halys  —  (iv.)  War  with  Alyattes  —  (v.)  Aid  given  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  10. 
Reign  of  Astyages  —  uneventful.  11.  His  supposed  identity  with  "  Darius  the 
Mede."  12.  Media  becomes  a  Persian  satrapy.  13.  Median  chronology  of 
Herodotus  —  its  difficulties.     14.  Attempted  solution       Page  325 


ESSAY    IV. 

ox    THE    TEN   TRIBES   OF   THE    PERSIANS. — [H.C.R.] 

1.  Eminence   of  the    Pasargadse  —  modern   parallel.      2.    The   Maraphians    and 

Maspians,    3.  The  Panthialseans,  Derusiseans,  and  Germanians.    4.  The  nomade 

^   tribes  —  the  Dahi  mentioned  in  Scripture — the  Mardi  or   "heroes" — the 

Dropici,  or  Derbices — the  Saga rtii 344 

ESSAY   Y. 

ON   THE    RELIGION   OF    THE    ANCIENT   PERSIANS. 

1.  Difficulties  of  the  common  view.  2.  Dualism  and  elemental  worship  two 
different  systems.  3.  Worship  of  the  elements  not  the  original  Persian 
religion,  4.  Their  most  ancient  belief  pure  Dualism.  5.  Elemental  worship 
the  religion  of  the  Magi^  w^ho  were  Scyths.  6.  Gradual  amalgamation  of  the 
two  religions      346 

ESSAY    YI. 

ON   THE    EARLY   HISTORY    OF   BABYLONIA. — [h.C.R.] 

1.  Obscurity  of  the  subject  till  a  recent  date — contradictory  accounts  of  Berosus 
and  Ctesias.  2.  The  progress  of  Cuneiform  discovery  confirms  Berosus.  3. 
The  Babylonian  date  for  the  great  Ch'aldsean  Empire  which  preceded  the 
Assyrian,  viz.  B.C.  2234,  is  probably  historic.  4.  The  earliest  known  kings, 
Urukh  and  Ilgi.  5.  Kadar-mabuk  connected  with  the  Chedor-laomer  of  Scrip- 
ture ?  6.  Ismi-dagon  extended  the  Chaldsean  power  over  Assyria.  7.  Son  and- 
grandson  of  Ismi-dagon.  8.  Uncertainty  of  the  order  of  succession  among  the 
later  names — Naram-Sin — Sin-shada.  9.  Eim-Sin  and  Zur-Sin.  10.  Durri- 
galazu.  11.  Purna-puriyas.  12.  Khammurdbi  and  Samshu-iluna.  13.  Table  of 
kings.  Incompleteness  of  the  list.  14.  Urukh  and  Ilgi  belong  probably  to 
the  second  historical  dynasty  of  Berosus — the  other  kings  to  the  third.  15. 
General  sketch.  Rise  of  the  first  Cushite  dynasty.  16.  Cuneiform  writing. 
17.  Nimrod — Urukh — Ilgi.  18.  Babylon  conquered  by  immigrants  from 
Susiana.  19.  Second  dynasty  established  by  Kudur-mabuk,  B.C.  1976.  20. 
Activity  of  Semitic  colonisation  at  this  time.  Phoenicians — Hebrews —settle- 
ments in  Arabia,  Assyria,  and  Syria.  21.  Kings  of  the  2nd  dynasty — variety 
in  their  titles.  Condition  of  Assyria  at  this  period.  22.  Condition  of  Susiana. 
23.  Arabian  dynasty  of  Berosus,  B.C.  1518-1273 — possible  trace  in  the  inscrip- 
tions.    Large  Arabian  element  in  the  population  of  Mesopotamia   ..      ..   351 


■      CONTENTS  OF  YOL.  T.  xiii 

.      ESSAY   YII. 

ON    THE    CHRONOLOGY   AND    HISTOKY    OF    THE    GREAT   ASSYRIAN    EMPIRE. 

Chronology  of  the  Empire.  Views  of  Ctesias.  2.  Opinion  of  Herodotus. 
3.  Of  Berosus.  4.  Probable  duration,  from  b.c.  1273  to  B.C.  747.  5.  Origin 
of  Assyrian  independence.  6.  Earliest  kings — Bel-lush,  Fudil,  Vul-lush,  and 
Shalma-sa?'.  7.  Series  of  kings  from  the  Tiglath-Pileser  Cylinder.  8.  Tiglath- 
Pileser  I.  9.  His  son,  Asshv  --bani-pal.  10.  Break  in  the  line  of  kings.  Later 
monarchs  of  this  dynasty,  .Ass/mr-z'c/dm-aMf  and  his  descendants.  11.  Sarda- 
napalus  the  conqueror.  12.  His  palace  and  temples.  13.  Shalmaneser,  the 
Black  Obelisk  king.  14.  General  view  of  the  state  of  Asia  between  B.C.  900 
and  B.C.  860.  15.  Syrian  campaigns  of  Shalmaneser  I.  16.  His  palace  at 
Nineveh.  17.  Shamas-Vul.  18.  Campaigns  of  <S'Aamas-Fi</.  19.  Vul-lush  III. 
the  Pul  of  Scripture  ( ?),  married  to  Semiramis.  20.  General  table  of  the  kings 
of  the  upper  dynasty.     21.  Lower  dynasty  of  Assyria — B.C.  747  to  e.g.  625. 

22.  Reign  of  Tiglath-Pileser  IL  23.  Shalmaneser  IL — his  siege  of  Samaria. 
24.  Sargon — his  extensive  conquests.  25.  His  great  palace  at  Khorsabad. 
26.  Reign  of  Sennacherib — his  great  palace  at  Koyunjik.  27.  His  military 
expeditions.  28.  Probable  length  of  his  reign.  29.  Second  expedition  of 
Sennacherib  into  Syria — miraculous  destruction  of  his  army.  30.  Senna- 
cherib murdered  by  his  sons.  31.  Reign  of  Esar-haddon.  32.  His  magni- 
ficent palaces.  33.  Asshiir-bani-pal  II. — his  hunting  palace.  34.  Asshiir- 
emit-ili,  the  Saracus  of  Berosus,  and  Sardanapalus  of  the  Greek  writers  (?) — his 
character.  35.  Fall  of  Nineveh.  36.  Chronological  Table  of  the  kings  of  the 
lower  dynasty.  37.  Duration  and  extent  of  the  empire.  38.  General  nature 
of  the  dominion.  39.  Frequency  of  disorders — remedies.  40.  Assyria  the 
best  specimen  of  a  kingdom-empire.  41.  Peculiar  features  of  the  dominion: 
(i.)  Religious  character  of  the  wars. — (ii.)  Incipient  centralisation.  42.  Cha- 
racter of  the  civilisation — Literature — Art — Manufactures      . .      . .    Page  369 

ESSAY   VIII. 

ON    THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    LATER   BABYLONIANS.  . 

Subordinate  position  of  Babylonia  from  B.C.  1273  to  B.C.  747.  2.  Era  of 
Nabonassar,  B.C.  747 — connexion  of  Nabonassar  with  Semiramis.  3.  Suc- 
cessors of  Nabonassar — Merodach-Baladan  conquered  by  Sargon — Arceamis 
— Merodach-Baladan's  second  reign — invasion  of  Sennacherib.  4.  Reign  of 
Belibus.  5.  Reigns  of  Asshur'nadin-adin,  Regibelus,  and  Mesesimordachus — 
obscure  period.  6.  Esar-haddon  assumes  the  crown  of  Babylon — his  succes- 
sors, Saosduchinus  and  Ciniladanus.  7.  Nabopolassar — his  revolt,  and  alliance 
with  Cyaxares.  Commencement  of  the  Babylonian  empire.  8.  Duration  of 
the  empire — three  great  monarchs.  9.  Nabopolassar — extent  of  his  domi- 
nions. 10.  Increase  of  the  population.  11.  Chief  events  of  his  reign — the 
Lydian  war  —  the  Egyptian  war.  12.  Accession  of  Nebuchadnezzar  —  his 
triumphant  return  from  Egypt.  13.  His  great  works.  14,  His  conquests. 
Final  captivity  of  Judah.  Siege  and  capture  of  Tyre.  15.  Invasion  of  Egypt 
and  war  with  Apries.  16.  His  seven  years'  lycanthropy.  17.  Short  reign  of 
Evil-Merodach.  18.  Reign  of  Neriglissar,  the  "  Rab-Mag."  19.  Change  in 
the  relations  of  Media  and  Babylon.  20.  Reign  of  Laborosoarchod.  21.  Ac- 
cession of  Nabonadius,  B.C.  555 — his  alliance  with  Croesus  king  of  Lydia — 
his  defensive  works,  ascribed  to  Nitocris.     22.  Sequel  of  the  Lydian  alliance. 

23.  Babylon  attacked  by  Cyrus.  24.  Siege  and  fall  of  Babylon.  25.  Conduct 
of  Belshazzar  during  the  siege — his  death.  26.  Surrender  and  treatment  of 
Nabonadius.  27.  Revolts  of  Babylon  from  Darius.  28.  Final  decay  and 
ruin.     Babylonian  chronology         41U 


XIV  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


ESSAY    IX. 

ON   THE   GEOGRAPHY    OF    MESOPOTAMIA   AND    THE    ADJACENT    COUNTRIES. 

1.  Outline  of  the  Physical  Geography — Contrast  of  the  plain  and  the  highlands. 
2,  Division  of  the  plain — Syrian  or  Arabian  Desert — Great  Mesopotamian 
valley.  3.  Features  of  the  mountain  region — Parallel  chains— Salt  lakes. 
4.  Great  plateau  of  Iran.  5.  Mountains  enclosing  the  plateau  —  Zagros  — 
Elburz — Southern  or  coast  chain — Hala  and  Suliman  ranges.  6.  Low  coun- 
tries outside  the  plateau:  (i.)  Southern  —  (ii.)  Northern — (iii.)  Eastern. 
7.  Eiver-systeni  of  Western  Asia  :  (i.)  Continental  rivers — Syhun — Jyhun — 
Helmend,  &c.  —  Kur  —  Aras  —  Sefid-Rud  —  Aji-Su  —  Jaghetu,  &c.  —  Barada  — 
Jordan  —  (ii.)  Oceanic  rivers  —  Euphrates  —  Tigris — their  affluents,  viz. 
Greater  Zah,  Lesser  Zah,  Diyaleh,  Kerkhah,  and  Karun — Indus — Affluents  of 
Indus,  Sutlej,  Chenab,  8cc. — Eion — Litany  and  Orontes.  8.  Changes  in  the 
Physical  Geography:  (i.)  in  the  low  country  east  of  the  Caspian — (ii.)  in  the 
valley  of  the  Indus — (iii.)  in  Lower  Mesopotamia.  9.  Political  Geography — 
Countries  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain :  (i.)  Assyria — position  and  boundaries 
— Districts  —  Adiabene,  &c.  —  (ii.)  Susiana  or  Elymais  —  (iii.)  Babylonia  — 
Position -^Districts— Chaldsea,  &c. — (iv.)  Mesopotamia  Proper.  10.  Coun- 
tries of  the  mountain  region  :  (i.)  Armenia  —  Divisions — (ii.)  Media  —  (iii.) 
Persia  Proper — Parsetacene,  Mardyene,  &c. — (iv.)  Lesser  mountain  countries 
— Gordisea — Uxia,  &c.  11.  Countries  west  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain:  (i.) 
Arabia  —  (ii.)  Syria — Divisions  —  Commagene,  Ccele-Syria,  Palestine  —  (iii.) 
Phoenicia — Cities.     12.  Conclusion      Page  437 

ESSAY    X.. 

ON   THE   RELIGION   OF    THE   BABYLONIANS   AND   ASSYRIANS. — [h.C.R.] 

1.  General  character  of  the  Mythology.  2.  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  Pantheons 
not  identical.  3.  Thirteen  chief  deities  :  (i.)  Asshur,  the  supreme  God  of 
Assyria — the  Asshur  of  Genesis — his  emblem  the  winged  circle. — (ii.)  Anu, 
first  God  -of  the  First  Triad — his  resemblance  to  Dis  or  Hades — his  temples 
— gods  connected  with  him. — (iii.)  Bel-Nimrod  (?),  second  God  of  the  Triad 
— his  wife,  Mylitta  or  Beltis — his  right  to  the  name  of  Nimrod— his  titles, 
temples,  &c. — (iv.)  Hea,  third  God  of  the  Triad — his  correspondence  with 
Neptune — his  titles — extent  of  his  worship. — (v.)  Bilta  (Beltis),  the  Great 
Goddess — confusion  between  her  and  Ishtar — her  titles,  temples,  &c. — (vi.) 
Gods  of  the  Second  Triad —  Vul  (or  Phul) — uncertainty  about  his  name — 
Lord  of  the  sky  or  air — an  old  god  in  Babylonia — his  numerical  symbol. — 
(vii.)  Shamas  or  San,  the  Sun-God — his  titles — antiquity  of  his  worship  in 
Babylonia — associated  with  Gula,  the  Sun-Goddess — their  emblems  on  the 
monuments. — (viii.)  Sin,  the  Moon-God — his  titles  —  his  temple  at  Ur — his 
high  rank,  at  the  head  of  the  Second  Triad. — (ix.)  Ninip  or  Nin,  his  various 
titles  and  emblems  —  his  stellar  character  doubtful  —  the  Man-Bull  his 
emblem  —  his  name  of  Bar  or  Bar-shem — Nin,  the  Assyrian  Hercules  —  his 
temples  —  his  relationship  to  Bel-Nimrod  —  Beltis  both  his  mother  and  his 
wife  —  his  names  Barzil  and  Sanda. — (x.)  Bel-Merodach — his  worship  ori- 
ginally Babylonian —  his  temple  in  Babylon  called  that  of  Jupiter-Belus  — 
his  wife,  Zirhanit,  or  Succoth-Benoth. — (xi.)  Nergal  —  his  titles  —  his  con- 
nexion with  Nin  —  his  special  worship  at  Cutha  —  his  symbol,  the  Man-Lion 
. — his  temples,  &c.  —  (xii.)  Ishtar  or  Astarte  —  called  Nana  at  Babylon  — her 
worship. — (xiii.)  Nebo — his  temples — the  God  of  Learning — his  name,  Tir, 
&c.  4.  Other  gods  besides  the  thirteen — AUata,  Bel-Zirpu,  &c.  5.  Vast  number 
of  local  deities       480 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I.  XV 


ESSAY    XI. 

ON    THE   ETHNIC   AFFINITIES    OF    THE   NATIONS   OF   WESTERN   ASIA. 

1.  Intermixture  of  races  in  Western  Asia.  2.  Earliest  population  Turanian. 
3.  Development  of  Hamitism  and  Semitism,  4.  Indo-Eiiropean  family.  5, 
Turanian  races:  (i.)  Parthians — (ii.)  Asiatic  Ethiopians — (iii.)  Colchians — 
(iv.)  Sapeiri — (v.)  Moschi  and  Tibareni — (vi.)  Early  Armenians — (vii.)  Cap- 
padocians  —  (viii.)  Susianians  —  (ix.)  Chaldseans  —  (x.)  Nations  probably 
Turanian.  6.  Semitic  races:  (i.)  Cilicians — (ii.)  Solymi — (iii.)  Lydians  not 
Semitic — (iv.)  Cappadocians  and  Himyaritic  Arabs  not  Semitic — (v.)  Other 
Semitic  races.  7.  Division  of  the  Semitic  races  into  groups  :  (a)  Eastern, 
or  Assyro-Babylonian  group — (6)  Western,  or  Hebrseo-Phoenician  group — (c) 
Central,  or  Arabian  group.  8.  Small  extent  of  Semitism.  9.  Late  appearance 
of  the  Indo-Europeans,  historically.  10.  Spread  of  the  race  from  Armenia, 
threefold.  11.  Northern  migration,  into  Europe.  12.  Nations  of  the  Western 
migration  :  (i.)  Pelasgi — (ii.)  Phrygians — (iii.)  Lydians — (iv.)  Carians— (v.) 
Mysians — (vi.)  Lycians  and  Caunians — (vii.)  Matienians  (?).  13.  Eastern,  or 
Arian  migration.  14.  Nations  belonging  to  it  :  (i.)  Persians — (ii.)  Medes — 
(iii.)  Carmanians — (iv.)  Bactrians — (v.)  Sogdians — (vi.)  Arians  of  Herat — 
(vii.)  Hyrcanians — (viii.)  Sagartians— (ix.)  Chorasmians — (x.)  Sarangians — 
(xi.)  Gandarians,  &c.     15.  Tabular  view Page  528 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES.      ' 

Note  A.  On  the  various  titles  of  Jupiter — [G.  W.] 560 

Note  B.  On  the  Invention  of  Coining  and  the  earliest  specimens  of  Coined 

Money 563 


EKKATA. 

P.  115,  line  13,  for  "  Megacles,"  i-ead  "Alcmgeon." 
P.  323,  line  17,  for  '•  West,"  read  "  East." 


(       XYi       ) 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTEATIONS. 


BUST  of  Herodotus      '     ' To/ac^  1 

Map  of  Western  Asia At  the  end  of  the  Volume , 

WOODCUTS. 

Coin  of  Tarentum,  Arion  on  the  Dolphin ^36, 

Sepulchral  Chamber  in  the  Barrow  of  Alyattes 185 

Ground-plan,  showing  excavations       

Plan  of  ruins  at  Takhti-Suleiman  (the  northern  Ecbatana)         192 

The  Birs-Nimrud,  or  great  Temple  of  Borsippa 193 

Assyrian  emblem  of  the  winged  circle         216 

Egyptian  head-dress 

Persian  head-dress  at  Persepolis 216 

Figure  of  Mylitta,  the  "  Great  Goddess  " 217 

Median  and  Persian  figures  from  Persepolis        .       ■ 221 

Chart  of  the  coast  about  Miletus  in  ancient  times       226 

Chart  of  the  same  coast  at  the  present  day         227 

Plan  of  Cnidus  and  chart  of  the  adjoining  coast . .      ..       228 

Bireme  from  the  palace  of  Sennacherib       233 

Plan  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Branchidse        236 

Greek  warrior  with  shield • 

Lycian  coin  showing  the  Triquetra 

Indian  hound,  from  a  Babylonian  Tablet 265 

Hand-swipe,  from  a  slab  of  Sennacherib 266 

Kufa,  or  wicker  boat  in  use  on  the  Euphrates 268 

Costumes  of  the  Babylonians  from  the  Cylinders        269 

Babylonian  Cylinder  and  seal-impression 

Babylonian  Coffin  and  lid 

Tomb  in  Lower  Chalda;a 

274 
Ditto  ditto  • 

Tomb  of  Cyrus  at  Murg-Aub ^^^ 

Obverse  of  an  early  Lydian  com 

Lydian  and  other  coins        ' 


r 


HERODOTUS 


To  face  p.  1 . 


ON  THE 


LIFE  AND  WKITINGS  OF  HERODOTUS, 


CHAPTEK    I. 

OUTLINE  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  HERODOTUS. 

Impossibility  of  writing  a  complete  life  of  Herodotus.  His  time,  as  determined 
from  his  History.  Date  of  Lis  birth,  as  fixed  by  ancient  writers,  B.C.  484. 
His  birthplace  —  Halicarnassus.  His  parents,  Lyxes  and  Rhoeo  —  their  means 
and  station.  A  branch  of  his  family  settled  in  Chios,  probably.  His  educa- 
tion, and  acquaintance  with  Greek  literature.  His  travels,  their  extent  and 
completeness.  Their  probable  date  and  starting-point.  Circumstances  of  his 
life,  according  to  Suidas  and  other  writers.  Political  adventures  —  their  truth 
questioned.  Residence  at  Samos  —  doubtful.  Removal  to  Athens.  Recita- 
tion of  his  work  there.  Reward  assigned  him.  Alleged  recitations  in  other 
Greek  cities.  The  pretended  recitation  at  Olympia.  Thucydides  and  Hero- 
dotus. Herodotus  and  Sophocles.  Men '  of  note  whom  Herodotus  would 
meet  at  Athens.  Reasons  for  his  leaving  it.  Colonisation  of  Thurium.  Men 
of  note  among  the  early  colonists.  The  History  of  Herodotus  retouched,  but 
not  originally  composed,  at  Thurium.  Some  large  portions  may  have  been 
written  there  ;  and  his  History  of  Assyria.  State  of  Thurium  during  his 
residence.  Time  and  place  of  his  death.  Herodotus  probably  unmarried : 
his  heir  Plesirrhoiis.     His  great  work  left  unfinished  at  his  decease. 

A  RECENT  writer  lias  truly  observed,  that  to  attempt  a  complete 
or  connected  life  of  Herodotus  from  tlie  insufficient  stock  of 
materials  at  our  disposal,  is  merely  to  indulge  tlie  imagination, 
and  to  construct  in  lieu  of  history  "  a  pleasant  form  of  bio- 
graphical romance."^  The  data  are  so  few — they  rest  upon 
such  late  and  slight  authority;  they  are  so  improbable  or  so 
contradictory,  that  to  compile  them  into  a  biography  is  like 
building  a  house  of  cards,  which  the  first  breath  of  criticism  will 
blow  to  the  ground.  Still  certain  points  may  be  approximately 
fixed  ;  and  the  interest  attaching  to  the  person  of  our  author  is 
such,  that  all  would  feel  the  present  work  incomplete,  if  it 
omitted  to  bring  together  the  few  facts  which  may  be  gathered, 


^  See   Colonel  Mure's    Critical   His-    hassince  been  written,  in  two  volumes,  by 
tory  of  the  Language  and  Literature  of    Mr.  Wheeler. 
Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  243.     The  romance 

VOL.  I.  :b 


2  TIME  OF  HERODOTUS.  Life  akd 

either  from  the  writings  of  Herodotus  himself  or  from  other 
authorities  of  weight,  concerning  the  individual  history  of  the 
man  with  whose  productions  we  are  about  to  be  engaged.  The 
subjoined  sketch  is  therefore  given,  not  as  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  curiosity  concerning  the  author  which  the  work  of  Hero- 
dotus naturally  excites,  but  as  preferable  to  absolute  silence 
upon  a  subject  of  so  much  interest. 

The  time  at  which  Herodotus  lived  and  wrote  may  be  deter- 
mined within  certain  limits  from  his  History.  On  the  one  hand 
it  appears  that  he  conversed  with  at  least  one  person  who  had 
been  an  eye-witness  of  some  of  the  great  events  of  the  Persian 
war ;  ^  on  the  other,  that  he  outlived  the  commencement  of  the 
Peloponnesian  struggle,  and  was  acquainted  with  several  cir- 
cumstances which  happened  in  the  earlier  portion  of  it.^  He 
must  therefore  have  flourished  in  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  and 
must  have  written  portions  of  his  history  at  least  as  late  as  B.C. 
430.*  His  birth  would  thus  fall  naturally  into  the  earlier  por- 
tion of  the  century,  and  he  would  have  belonged  to  the  genera- 
tion which  came  next  in  succession  to  that  of  the  conquerors  of 
Salami  s.^ 

These  conclusions,  drawn  from  the  writings  of  Herodotus  him- 
self, are  in  close  accordance  with  those  more  minute  and  definite 
statements  which  the  earliest  and  best  authorities  make  with 
regard  to  the  exact  time  at  which  he  was  born.  Dionysius  of 
Halicarnassus,  who  as  an  antiquarian  of  great  research  and  a 


2  See  Book  ix.  ch.  16.  (iii.  160)  ;  and  a  cruel  deed  committed 

^  He  mentions  the  Peloponnesian  war  by  Amestris  in  her  old  age  (vii.  114). 

by  name  in  two  places  (vii.  137,  ix.  73),  He  also  speaks  in  one  place  (vi.  98)  of 

and    notices    distinctly    the    following  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes,  who  died  B.C. 

events  in  it: —  425,  apparently  as  if  it  was  over.     He 

1.  The  attack  on  Platsea  by  the  The-  may   therefore  have   given  touches   to 

bans,  with  which  it  commenced  his  history  as  late   as   B.C.  424.      The 

(vii.  233).  passages  which  have  been  imagined  to 

2.  The  betrayal  of  ISTicolalis  and  Ane-  point   to  a  still  later  date  (i.  130,   iii. 

ristus,  the  Spartan  ambassadors,  1.5,   and  ix.   73)   have   been   misunder- 

and  of  Aristeus,  the  Corinthian,  stood  or  misapplied.      Their  true  mean- 

into  the  hands  of  the  Athenians  ing  is  considered  in  the  footnotes  upon 

by  Sitalces  (vii.  137).  them. 

3.  The    ravaging   of    Attica    by   the        ^  Many  incidental  notices  confirm  this. 
,  Peloponnesians    in    one    of    the  Herodotus  conversed  in  Sparta  with  a 

earlier  years  of  the  war  (ix.  73).  certain  Ai'chias,  agrandsonof  an  Archias 

He  may  also  covertly  allude  to  the  war  who  fell  in  Samos  about  b.c.   525  (iii. 

in    the    following   places:    v.    93,    and  55).     He  was  also   acquainted  with   a 

vi.  98.  steward    of  Ariapeithes,    the    Scythian 

■*  Herodotus    mentions    one    or    two  king,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  Sit- 

evcnts  which  may  have  occurred  about  alces,  the  ally  of  Athens  in  the  year  B.C. 

B.C.  425,  as  the  desertion  of  Zopyrus,  430.     He  travelled  in  Egypt  later  than 

son    of  Megabyzus,    to   the   Athenians  B.C.  462  (iii.  12). 


Weitings.  his  birth-place.  3 

fellow-countryman  of  our  author,  is  entitled  to  be  heard  with 
special  attention  on  such  a  point,  tells  us  that  his  birth  took 
place  "  a  little  before  the  Persian  war."  ®  Pamphila,  the  only 
ancient  writer  who  ventures  to  fix  the  exact  year  of  his  nativity, 
confirms  Dionysius,  and  makes  a  statement  from  which  it  would 
appear  that  the  birth  of  Herodotus  •  preceded  the  invasion  of 
Xerxes  by  four  years.'  The  value  of  this  testimony  has  been 
called  in  question;  but  even  those  who  do  not  regard  it  as 
authoritative  admit,  that  it  may  well  be  adopted  as  in  harmony 
with  all  that  is  known  upon  the  subject,  and  "  at  least  a  near 
approximation  to  the  truth."  ^  It  may  be  concluded  therefore 
that  Herodotus  was  born  in  or  about  the  year  B.C.  484. 

Concerning  the  birth-place  of  the  historian  no  reasonable 
doubt  has  ever  been  entertained  either  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  The  Pseudo-Plutarch  indeed,  in  the  tract  wherein  he 
has  raked  together  every  charge  that  malice  and  folly  combined 
could  contrive  against  our  author,  intimates  a  suspicion  that  he 
had  falsely  claimed  the  honour  of  having  Halicarnassus  for  his 
birth-place.^  But  Plutarch  himself  is  a  witness  against  the 
writer  who  has  filched  his  name,^  and  his  testimony  is  confirmed 
by  Dionysius,^  by  Strabo,^  by  Lucian,'*  and  by  Suidas.^  The 
testimony  of  Herodotus,  which  would  of  itself  be  conclusive  were 
it  certain,  is  rendered  doubtful  by  the  quotation  of  Aristotle, 
which  substitutes  at  the  commencement  of  the  history  the  word 
"Thtirian"  for  "Halicarnassian."®  Apart,  however,  from  this, 
the  all  but  universal  testimony  of  ancient  writers,  the  harmony 
of  their  witness  with  the  attention  given  to  Halicarnassus  and 
its  affairs  in  the  history,  and  the  epitaph  which  appears  to  have 

6  Judicium  de  Thucyd.  (c.  5,  vol.  vi.  ''several    necessary    points   of  histori- 

p.   820).     The    words    used    are — '¥ip6-  cal  information,"      (to)?/  icTopiKuu   ovk 

doTos    y€v6fj.€vos     bxiycf    izponpov    riav  oXlya    avayKoia.      Bibl.    Cod.     175,    p. 

UepaiKSov.  389.)     That  Pamphila  was  a  careful  and 

'  Ap.  Aul.  Cell.  Noct.  Attic,  xv.  23.  laborious  student  of  history  seems  cer- 

''Hellanicus  initio  belli  Peloponnesiaci  tain  from  her  having  made  an  Epitome 

fuisse  quinque  et  sexaginta  annos  natus  of  Ctesias  (see  Suidas). 

videtur  ;  Herodotus  tres  et  quinquaginta  ;  '-•  De  Malign.  Herod,  vol.  ii.  p.  868  A. 

Thucydides  quadi-aginta."     (See  Miiller,  The  writers  who,   like  Duris  (Fr.   57), 

Fragm.  Hist,  Gr.  vol.  iii.  p.  521.)  and  the   Emperor   Julian    (ap.    Suid,), 

8  See  Mure,  p.  254.     Pamphila  seems  simply   call    Herodotus     " n.   Thurian," 

spokenof  somewhat  too  slightingly  when  need  not  mean  to  question  his  Halicar- 

she  is  called  "an  obscure  female  writer  nassian  origin. 

of  the  Roman  period."     The  frequent  ^  De  Exilio,  ii,  p.  604  f. 

quotation    of    her   writings    by   Aulus  ^  j^jj^  ^q  Thucyd.  1.  s.  c. 

Gellius  and  Diogenes  Laertius  is  a  proof  ^  ^iv.  p.  939.                 ^  Vol,  iv.  p.  116. 

that  she  was  far  from  obscure.     Photius,  ^  S.  v.  'Y{p6^oros. 

too,    whose   extensive   reading    adds   a  ^  Rhet.  iii.   9.     See  note  *  to  Book  i. 

value  to  his  criticism,  speaks  favourably  ch,  1. 
of  her  work,  and  especially  as  containing 

b2 


4:  PARENTS  AND  FAMILY.  Life  and 

been  engraved  upon  the  historian's  tomb  at  Thurium/  form  a 
body  of  proof  the  weight  of  which  is  irresistible. 

Of  the  parents  and  family  of  Herodotus  but  little  can  be  said 
to  be  known.  We  are  here  reduced  almost  entirely  to  the 
authority  of  Suidas,  a  learned  but  not  very  careful  compiler  of 
the  eleventh  century,  to  whose  unconfirmed  assertions  the  least 
possible  weight  must  be  considered  to  attach.  He  tells  us  in 
the  brief  sketch  which  he  has  left  of  our  author,  that  he  was 
born  of  "  illustrious  "  parents  ^  in  the  city  of  Halicarnassus,  his 
father's  name  being  Lyxes,  and  his  mother's,  Dryo,  or  Khoeo ;  ^ 
that  he  had  a  brother  Theodore ;  and  that  he  was  cousin  or 
nephew  of  Panyasis,  the  epic  poet.  To  the  last  of  these  state- 
ments very  little  credit  is  due,  since  Suidas  confesses  that  his 
authorities  were  not  agreed  through  which  of  the  parents  of 
Herodotus  the  connexion  was  to  be  traced,^  and  the  temptation 
to  create  such  a  relationship  must  have  been  great  to  the  writers 
of  fictitious  letters  and  biographies  under  the  empire.  But  the 
name  of  his  father  is  confirmed  by  the  epitaph  preserved  in 
Stephen,^  and  the  station  of  his  parents  by  the  indications  of 
wealth  which  the  high  education  of  our  author,  and  his  abundant 
means  for  frequent  and  distant  travel,  manifestly  furnish.  The 
other  statements  of  Suidas  acquire,  by  their  connexion  with 
these,  some  degree  of  credibility ;  and  the  very  obscurity  and 
unimportance  of  the  names  may  induce  us  to  accept  them  as 
real,  since  no  motive  can  be  assigned  for  their  invention.  Hero- 
dotus may  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  son  of  Lyxes  and 
Ehoeo,^  persons  of  good  means  and  station  in  the  city  of  Hali- 
carnassus.     That  he  had  a  bj-other  Theodore  is  also  probable. 


'  The  epitaph,    which  is  given  both  placed  in  the  third  volume  of  his  Ana- 

by  Stephen    (ad   voc.    ©ovpios)  and  by  lecta  (Epig.    533,    p.    263),   consists  of 

the    Scholiast   on   Aristophanes    (Nub.  four  lines  of  elegiac  verse,  and  runs  as 

831),  did  not  indeed  mention  Halicar-  follows  : — 

naSSUS,    but    implied   it    by    speaking   of  -HpoSoro,.  Av|ea, /cpvTrret  k6v.5  ^Se  0a.6vra. 

the  historian  as  '^sprung  from  a  Dorian        'laSos  apxa-ir)^  l<Tropiy)<;  npvTapiv 

land" — AwpLecou  TrdrpriS  ^KatXrovr^  &iro.  Awpiewv  TrdrpT]?  ^KacnovT   ano,  tuiv  ap   dirXriTOV 

8  'Hpo'SoTOS,  Av|ov  Kul  Apvods,  'AKiKap-  ^^'^'^°^  vneKnpo4>vyi>y  ©ovpiov  eVxe  7r6.Tpr,v. 

vacTffivs,   Twv    iiri(pavu)v,  Kol    aSeXcphv        ^  It   seems   certain    that   the   double 

eo-xTjKcbs  @e65u}pou.    Suidas  ad  voc.  'Hp6-  form  of  the  name  arises  from  a  corrup- 

SoTds.  tion  of  the  text  of  Suidas.     Bahr  (Com- 

9  See  Suidas  ad  voc.  Uavvaa-is.  ment.   de  Vita  et  Scriptis  Herod.  §  2) 

1  Some  said  that  the  father  of  Panya-  proposes  to  regard  the  form  Dryo  as  the 
sis,  whom  they  called  Polyarchus,  was  true  one.  But  since  Dryo  is  an  unknown 
brother  to  Lyxes,  the  father  of  Hero-  name,  whereas  Rhoeo  belonged  certainly 
dotus  ;  others  that  Khoeo,  our  author's  to  the  mythic  history  of  the  neighbour- 
mother,  was  the  epic  poet's  sister,  hood  (see  Apoll.  Rhod.  ap.  Parthen. 
(Suid.  1.  s.  c.)  Erot.  c.   1),  the  latter  has  clearly  the 

2  The    epitaph,    which    Brunck    has  better  claim  to  be  preferred. 


Weitings.     EELATIONS  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  CHIOS— EDUCATION.    5 

It  has  been  thought  that  Herodotus  must  have  had  relations  of 
rank  and  importance  settled  in  the  island  of  Chios/  In  speak- 
ing of  an  embassy  sent  by  a  portion  of  the  Chians  to  the  Greeks 
about  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Salamis,  he  mentions,  without 
any  apparent  necessity,  and  with  special  emphasis,  a  single 
name — that  of  a  certain  "Herodotus,  the  son  of  Basileides." ^ 
This  man,  it  is  supposed,  must  have  been  a  relative,  whom 
family  affection  or  family  pride  induced  the  historian  to  com- 
memorate ;  and  if  so,  it  is  certain  from  his  position  as  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  a  conspiracy,  and  afterwards  as  ambassador  from  his 
countrymen,  that  he  must  have  been  a  personage  of  distinction — 
a  conclusion  which  is  confirmed  by  the  way  in  which  Herodotus 
introduces  his  name,  as  if  he  were  previously  not  unknown  to 
his  readers.^ 

This  is  a  point,  however,  of  minor  consequence,  since  it  is  not 
needed  to  prove  what  is  really  important — the  wealth  and  con- 
sideration of  the  family  to  which  our  author  belonged. 

The  education  of  Herodotus  is  to  be  judged  of  from  his  Work. 
No  particulars  of  it  have  come  down  to  us.  Indeed,  the  whole 
subject  of  Greek  education  before  the  first  appearance  of  the 
Sophists  is  involved  in  a  good  deal  of  obscurity.  That  the 
three  standard  branches  of  instruction  recognised  among  the 
Athenians  of  the  time  of  Socrates — grammar,  gymnastic  train- 
ing, and  music — were  regarded  throughout  all  Greece,  and  from 
a  very  early  date,  as  the  essential  elements  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion is  likely  enough  ;  ^  but  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  been 
demonstrated.  Herodotus,  it  may,  however,  be  supposed,  fol- 
lowed the  course  common  in  later  times — attended  the  grammar- 
school  where  he  learnt  to  read  and  write,  frequented  the 
palsestra  where  he  went  through  the  exercises,  and  received 
instruction  from  the  professional  harper  or  flute-player,  who 
conveyed   to   him  the  rudiments  of  music.     But  these  things 

■*  Col.  Mure  accidentally  says  * '  Samos"  Dorian  states  the  first  branch  {ypd/j-fxara) 

for  Chios,  and  speaks  of  Herodotus  the  was  wholly,  or  almost  wholly,  omitted 

son  of  Basileides  as  a  Samian  (vol,  iv.  p.  (Miiller,  Dorians,  vol,  ii,  p.  328,  E.  T.  ; 

253).  Grote's  Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  ii.  p.  526). 

^  Herod,  viii.  132.  But  Colonel  Mure  has  shown  that  this 

^  Tojj/    Koi    'HpJSoTos    6    Baa-iXrjideoj  imputation  is  unfounded  (Remarks  on 

^v.     When   a   new   character   is   intro-  two  Appendices  to  Grote's  History,  p.  1 

duced,  and  Herodotus  does  not  consider  et    seqq.) .      The    three    branches    are 

him  already  known,  he  commonly  omits  recognised  by  Ephorus  as  obtaining  from 

the  article.     (See  vi.  127,  where  none  an  early  time  in  Crete  (Fr.   d4,  Miiller, 

of  the   suitors   of    Agarista    have    the  vol.  i.  p.  251),  and  Plato  seems  to  regard 

article    except    Megacles,    the    son    of  them  as  universally  agreed  upon  (Alcib. 

Alcmaeon.)  i.  p.    106  e;  Amat.  p.    132;  Theag.  p. 

^  Some  writers  have  maintained  that  in  122  ;  Protag.  pp.  325  e  and  326  a.b). 


6  HOMERIC  STUDIES.  Life  and 

formed  a  very  slight  part  of  that  education,  which  was  necessary 
to  place  a  Greek  of  the  upper  ranks  on  a  level,  intellectually, 
with   those  who   in  Athens  and   elsewhere   gave   the  tone  to 
society,  and  were  regarded  as  finished  gentlemen.    A  knowledge 
of  literature,  and  especially  of  poetry — above  all  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  classic  writings  of  Homer,  was  the  one 
great  requisite ;  ^  to  which  might  be  added  a  familiarity  with 
philosophical  systems,  and  a  certain  amount  of  rhetorical  dex- 
terity.    Herodotus,  as  his  writings  show,  was  most  thoroughly 
accomplished  in  the  first  and  most  important  of  these  three 
things.     He  has  drunk  at  the  Homeric  cistern  till  his  whole 
being  is  impregnated  with  the  influence  thence  derived.     In 
the  scheme  and  plan  of  his  work,  in  the  arrangement  and  order 
of  its  parts,  in  the  tone  and  character  of  the  thoughts,  in  ten 
thousand   little   expressions  and  words,  the   Homeric   student 
appears ;  ^  and  it  is  manifest  that  the  two  great  poems  of  ancient 
Greece  are  at  least  as  familiar  to  him  as  Shakspeare  to  the 
modern  educated  Englishman.     Nor  has  this  intimate  know-  • 
ledge  been  gained  by  the  sacrifice  of  other  reading.     There  is 
scarcely  a  poet  of  any  eminence  anterior  to  his  day  with  whose 
works  he  has  not  shown  himself  acquainted.      Hesiod,  Olen, 
Musaeus,  Archilochus,  the  authors  of  the  Cypria  and  the  Epigoni, 
Alcseus,    Sappho,    Solon,  iEsoj),  Aristeas,    Simonides   of  Ceos, 
Phrynichus,  ^schylus,   Pindar,^  are  quoted,  or  referred  to,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  indicate  that  he  possessed  a  close  acquaintance 
with  their  writings.     Prose  composition  had  but  commenced  a 
very  short  time  before  the  date  of  his  history.^     Yet  even  here 


8  See  Plat.  Rep.  Books  ii.  and  iii.>  from  Sophocles  (i.  32,  ii.  35,  and  iii. 
Protag.  1.  s.  c.  119),  see  notes  ad  he.     The  only  poets 

9  See  Jager,  Disp.  Herod,  p.  5  ;  Biihr,  of  eminence  antei'ior  to  his  time,  with 
De  Vita  et  Script.  Herod.  §  3  ;  Mure,  whom  Herodotus  does  not  show  any 
vol.  iv,  pp.  515-6,  and  especially  the  acquaintance,  are  Callinus  of  Ephesus, 
valuable  collection  of  passages  in  his  Tyrtseus,  Simonides  of  Amorgus,  Ste- 
Appendix,  pp.  551-2.  Dahlmann  has,  sichorus,  Epimenides,  and  Epicharmus. 
curiously  enough,  omitted  this  point.  He  notices  Anacreon  (iii.  121)  and  Lasus 

'  Hesiod,  ii.  53,  iv.  32;  Olen,  iv.  35;  of  Hermion^   (vii.  6),   but  without  any 

Musgeus,  vii.  6,  viii.  96,  ix.  43  ;  Archi-  mention  of  their  writings.     Expressions 

lochus,  i.  12;  the  author  of  the  Cypria,  like   that   at   the   beginning   of  vi.    52 

ii.  117  (compare  i.  155);  of  the  Epigoni,  {KaK€MLji6vioL  bjxoXoy^ovT^s  ov^evl  iroi- 

iv.  3*2;  Alcseus,  v.  95;  Sappho,  ii.   135;  tjttt")  indicate  the  confidence  which  he 

Solon,  V.  113;  ^sop,  ii.  134;  Ariateas,  feels  in  his  complete  acquaintance  at  least 

iv,    13  ;    Simonides,   v.    102,   vii.   228  ;  with   all   the    cyclic    and    genealogical 

Phrynichus,  vi.  21;  ^schylus,  ii.   156;  poets.     (Compare  ii.  53  and  120.) 

Pindar,   iii.  38.     Note  also  the  quota-  ^  With  Pherecydes  of  Syros  (ab.  B.C. 

tions   from   less   well-known   poets,    as  550),   according  to  the  common  tradi- 

Bacis,  viii.  20,  77,  96,  ix.  43,  and  Lysis-  tion;  but  at  any  rate  not  earlier  than  the 

tratus,  viii.  98.      With   regard  to    the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.      (See 

passages    supposed    to    be    plagiarisms  Mure,  vol.  iv.  p.  51.) 


Writings.  EXTENT  OF  HIS  TRAVELS.  7 

we  find  an  acquaintance  indicated  with  a  number  of  writers, 
seldom  distinctly  named,  but  the  contents  of  whose  works  are 
well  known  and  familiarly  dealt  with.^  Hecatseus  especially, 
who  must  be  considered  as  his  special  predecessor  in  the  literary 
commonwealth,  is  quoted  openly,  or  tacitly  glanced  at  in  several 
passages  ;  ^  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  there  was  a  single 
work  of  importance  in  the  whole  range  of  Greek  literature 
accessible  to  him,  with  the  contents  of  which  he  was  not  fairly 
acquainted. 

Such  an  amount  of  literary  knowledge  implies  a  prolonged 
and  careful  self-education,  and  is  the  more  remarkable  in  the 
case  of  one  whose  active  and  inquisitive  turn  of  mind  seems  to 
have  led  him  at  an  early  age  to  engage  in  travels,  the  extent  of 
which,  combined  with  their  leisurely  character,  clearly  shows 
that  a  long  term  of  years  must  liave  been  so  occupied.  The 
quantum  of  travel  has  indeed  been  generally  exaggerated;^  but 
after  every  deduction  is  made  that  judicious  criticism  suggests 
as  proper,  there  still  remains,  in  the  distance  between  the  ex- 
treme limits  reached,  and  in  the  fulness  of  the  information 
gained,  unmistakeable  evidence  of  a  vast  amount  of  time  spent 
in  the  occupation.  Herodotus  undoubtedly  visited  Babylon,^ 
Ardericca  near  Susa,^  the  remoter  parts  of  Egypt,^  Scythia,^ 
Colchis,^°  Thrace,^^  Cyrene,^^  Zante,^^  Dodona,^^  and  Magna 
Grsecia ;  ^^ — thus  covering  with  his  travels  a  space  of  thirty-one 
degrees  of  longitude  (above  1700  miles)  from  east  to  west,  and 
of  twenty-four  of  latitude   (1660  miles)  from  north  to  south. 


3  See  the  following  passages: — ii.  15,  has  ventured  to  regard.it  in  this  light 

16,  20,  22,  and  vi.  55.  in  every  place  where  it  occurs.     It  has 

■*  Openly,  ii.  143,  and  vi.  137;  tacitly,  never  been  supposed,  for  instance,  that 

ii.  21,  23,  and  iv.  36.  Herodotus    reached   the   banks   of   the 

^  It  is  no  doubt  difficult  to  draw  a  Oarus,  and  saw  the  forts,  said  to  have 

distinct    line   between   the   manner,  of  been  erected  by  Darius,    ''whose  ruins 

speaking   which    shows    Herodotus    to  were  still  remaining   in   his  day "   (iv. 

have  seen  what  he  describes,  and  that  124).     Something  more  then  is  required 

which    merely   indicates    that    he   had  than  this  expression.     I  have  regarded 

heard  what  he  relates  from   professed  as  necessary  to  prove  presence  either  a 

eye-witnesses.     Most  writers  on  the  sub-  distinct  assertion  to  that  effect,  or  the 

ject  have  accepted  as  proof  of  the  pre-  mention  of  some  little  point,  which  only 

senceof  Herodotus  on  the  spot  a  mention  an  eye-witness  would  laave  noticed,  and 

of  anything  as  "  continuing  to  his  time."  which    one   who    i^eceived   the   account 

Hence   it   has   been   supposed  that   he  from  an  eye-witness  would,  even  if  told, 

visited  Camicus   in   Sicily   (Dahlmann,  not  be  likely  to  have  remembered, — as 

p.  40,  E.  T. ;  Heyse  de  Herod.  Vit.  et  the  position   of  Ladic^'s  statue  in  the 

Itin.  p.  139;  Btihr,  vol.  iv.  p.  397);  and  temple  of  Venus  at  Cyrene  (ii.  181). 
by  some  that  he  reached  Bactria  (Mure,  **'  i.  181-3.  -^  vi.  119.  ^  ii^  29. 

iv.  p.  247;  Jiiger,  Disput.  Herod,  p.  20).  ^  iv.  81.  ^^  ii.  104.         "  iv.  90. 

But  the  expression  relied  on  does  not         '^^  \i.  181.  ^^  iv.  195.         ^^  ii.  52. 

ia  itself  imply  presence,  and  no  writer         ^^  iv.  15,  v.  45. 


8  KNOWLEDGE  OF  EGYPT.  Life  and 

Witliin  these  limits  moreover  his  knowledge  is  for  the  most  part 
close  and  accurate.  He  has  not  merely  paid  a  hasty  visit  to 
the  countries,  but  has  examined  them  leisurely,  and  is  familiar 
with  their  scenery,  their  cities  small  and  large,  their  various 
wonders,  their  temjDles  and  other  buildings,  and  wdth  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  their  inhabitants.  The  fulness  and  minute- 
ness of  his  .information  is  even  more  remarkable  than  its  wide 
range,  though  it  has  attracted  less  observation.  In  Egypt,  for 
instance,  he  has  not  contented  himself  with  a  single  voyage  up 
and  down  the  Nile,  like  the  modern  tourist,  but  has  evidently 
passed  months,  if  not  years,  in  examining  the  various  objects 
of  interest.  He  has  personally  inspected,  besides  the  great 
capital  cities  of  Thebes,  Memphis,  and  Heliopolis,  where  his 
materials  for  the  history  of  Egypt  were  chiefly  collected,^  the 
comparatively  unimportant  towns  of  Sais,^  Bubastis,^  Buto,* 
Papremis,^  Chemmis,*^  Crocodilopolis,"^  and  Elephantine.^  He 
has  explored  the  lake  Moeris,^  the  labyrinth,^^  the  line  of  the 
canal  leading  into  the  Arabian  Gulf  from  the  Nile,^^  the  borders 
of  Egypt  towards  the  Sinaitic  desert,^^  and  portions  of  the  tract, 
which  he  calls  Arabia,  between  the  valley  of  the  Nile  and  the 
Arabian  Gulf  or  Red  Sea.^^  He  is  completely  familiar  with  the 
various  branches  into  which  the  Nile  divides  before  reaching  the 
sea,^^  and  with  the  course  followed  by  the  traveller  at  different 
seasons.^^  He  knows  intimately  the  entire  broad  region  of  the 
Delta,^^  as  well  as  the  extreme  limits  of  Egypt  beyond  it,  both 
eastward  ^^  and  westward.^^  Again,  in  Asia  Minor,  his  native 
country,  he  knows  well,  besides  Caria,^^  where  he  was  born, 
Lydia,  with  its  rich  plains  ^^  and  great  capital  city,  Sardis ;  ^^ 
Mysia,^^  the  Troas,^^  the  cities  upon  the  Hellespont,^^  Procon- 
nesus,^^  Cyzicus,^^  the  mouth  of  the  Thracian  Bosphorus,"^  the 
north  coast ;  ^^  and  again,  on  the  south,  Cilicia,  with  its  two 
regions,  the  flat,^^  and  the  mountainous ;  ^°  Lycia,^^  Caunus,^^ 
Ephesus,^^  the  mouths  of  the  Maeander,  Scamander,  and  Cay- 
strus  rivers,^^  and  something  of  the  interior,  at  least  along  the 

1  ii.  3.                 2  II  28,  130,  169,  &c.  25  i^.  14.           26  jbid.           ^7  iv.  86. 
3  ii.  137.          4  ii.  75,  155.         ^  iii.  12.  28  j^id.    Comp.  i.  76,  ii.  104,  &c.     On 
611.  91.              7  ii.  148.             ^  ii.  29.  his  visit  to   Colchis,   Herodotus  would 
9  ii.  149.                            ^^  ii-  148.  necessarily  pass  along  the  whole  of  this 
1^  ii.  158,  159.                  '2  iii.  5,  12.  coast.     He  appears  to  have  gone  ashore 
'^  ii.  75;  comp,  8  and  12.           ^"^  ii.  17.  occasionally — at  the  mouth  of  the  Par- 
is ii.  97.               ^^  ii.  5,  15,  92-98,  &c.  thenius,  ii.  104;  at  Themiscyra,  iv.  86. 
'7  ii.  6,  iii.  5.                           '^  ii.  6,  18.  29  ^i.  95.         30  ^  34,        31 1  17(5. 
19  i.  171,  172,  174,  175,  &c.     20  i.  go.  32 1  172.         33  i,  92^  n  10,  &c. 
21  i.  80,  84,  93,  fee.                ^  vii.  42.  '    ^4  ^i  ^q. 
23  ii.  10.  vii.  43.                    24  i.  57. 


Writings.     TRAVELS  IN  GREECE  PROPER,  THE  LEVANT,  &c.     9 

line  of  the  royal  road  from  Sarclis  to  Siisa,^  which  he  most 
probably  followed  in  his  journey  to  and  from  Babylon.  In 
Greece  Proper  he  has  visited,  besides  the  great  cities  of  Athens,^ 
Sparta,^  and  Thebes,'^  the  sanctuaries  at  Delphi,^  Dodona,^  and 
Ab?e  in  Phocis ;  ^  the  battle-fields  of  Thermopylae,^  Plata^a,^  and 
Marathon;^"  Arcadia,^^  Elis,^^  Argolis,^^  the  promontory  of 
Tsenarum,^^  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,^^  the  pass  of  Tempe,^^ 
Creston  in  Chalcidico,^^  Byzantium,^^  Athos,^^  and  (apparently) 
the  entire  route  followed  by  the  army  of  Xerxes  on  its  march 
from  Sestos  to  Athens.^'^  In  the  Levant  he  has  evidently  made 
himself  acquainted  with  almost  all  the  more  important  islands. 
With  Samos  he  is  completely  familiar  ;^^  and  he  has  visited 
besides,  Khodes,^^  Cyprus,^^  Delos,^^  Paros,^^  Thasos,^^  Samo- 
thrace,^^  and  probably  Crete,^^  Cythera,^^  and  Egina.^''  Else- 
where his  travels  have,  no  doubt,  less  of  this  character  of 
completeness.  He  knows  little  more  of  Scythia  than  its  coast 
between  the  mouths  of  the  Danube  and  Dnieper ;  he  has  not 
penetrated  very  far  into  Thrace ;  his  knowledge  of  Syria  and 
Phoenicia  may  have  been  gained  from  once  or  twice  coasting 
along  their  shores ;  ^^  east  of  the  Halys  his  observations  are  con- 
fined to  a  single  route  ;  in  Africa,  setting  aside  Egypt,  he  shows 
no  personal  acquaintance  with  any  place  but  Cyrene ;  and  west 
of  Greece,  he  can  only  be  proved  to  have  visited  the  cities  of 
Crotona,  Thurii,  and  Metapontum.  ^^ 

^  The  description  of  the  route  (v.  52)  iv.  p.  396;  Dahlmann,  p.  43;  Mure,  iv. 

appears  to  me  that  of  an  eye-witness,  p.  246,  &c.). 

If  Herodotus  visited  Babylon,  which  I         21  ji,  182,  iii.  47,  54,   60,  142,  iv.  88, 

regard  as  certain,    he  would   naturally  152,  vi.  14,  &c.  22  jj^  J82^  jji.  47, 

follow  it  as  far  as  the  cross-road  which         ^3  y_  \\^^  2-1   jj^  ^70,  vi.  98. 

led  from  Agbatana  to  that  city,  issuing         25  yj_  y^^^         26  jj^  44^         27  jj^  51  _ 
undoubtedly  from  Mount  Zagros  by  the         28  ^^^^  59^         29  i_  iq^^         30  ^^  33^  33^ 
pass   of  Holwan.      The  Greeks   of  his         -^^  Landing   of  course   from   time    to 

time   sometimes   reached    Babylon    by  time,  as  at  Tyre  (ii.  44),  at  the  Nahr 

crossing  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  el  Kelb  (ii.  106),  and  perhaps  at  Gaza 

Euphrates,    and    then   descending    the  or  Cadytis  (iii.  5). 

river  in  a  boat   (i.  185),  but  Herodotus         ^2  Heyse  is  the  writer  who  has  exag- 
does  not  appear  to  have  taken  this  route,  gerated  most  grossly  the  extent  of  our 
2  V.  77.             3  {{{^  55_             4  j^  52,  author's  travels.      He  regards   him   as 
^  i.  14,  19,  25,  50,  &c.           ^  ii.  52.  having  visited  not  only  Agbatana  (which 
7  viii.  27.   ^  viii.  198-200,  218,  225,  &c.  is  a  common   opinion),   but   Acarnania 
9  ix.  15,  19,  25,  51,  &c.  and  J^tolia,  the  Illyrian  Apollonia,  the 
10  vi.  102,  111,  112.  Veneti,  Thera,  Siphnus,  Eubcea,  Sicyon, 
^^  i.  66,  vi.  74,  127.  and  most  parts  of  Sicily  (see  his  inau- 
12  iv.  30,  vii.  170.                    ^3  yi,  77.  gural  dissertation  'De  Herodoti  Vita  et 
"i.  24.         15  yiii_  121.        i6yji_  129.  Itineribus,' Berlin,  1827).     The  grounds 
17  i.  57.         '^  iv.  87.            '^  vii.  22.  which  he  deems  sufficient  are  often  ab- 
20  This  appears  from  the  manner  of  surdly    slight.      Bllhr    adopts    Heyse's 
his  descriptions,  as  well  as  from  their  views,   except  where  they  are  most  ex- 
general  fidelity.     It  has  been  perceived  travagant  (vol.  iv.   pp.  391-7).      Dahl- 
by  almost  all  the  commentators  (Bahr,  mann  is  somewhat  more  moderate.    Col. 


10  CENTRAL  STAETING-POINT.  Life  and 

It  is  not  possible  to  determine  absolutely  the  questions,  which 
have  been  mooted,  concerning  the  time  when,  and  the  centre, 
or  centres,  from  which  these  travels  were  undertaken.  An 
opinion,  however,  has  been  already  expressed  that  they  were 
commenced  at  an  early  age.  The  vigour  and  freshness  of  youth 
is  the  time  when  travel  is  best  enjoyed  and  most  easily  accom- 
plished ;  and  the  only  hints  derivable  from  Herodotus  himself 
concerning  the  date  of  any  of  his  journeys,  are  in  accordance 
with  the  notion,  that  at  least  the  more  distant  and  important  of 
them  belong  to  his  earlier  rather  than  his  later  years.  If  any- 
thing is  certain  with  respect  to  the  events  of  our  author's  career, 
it  is  that  his  home  during  the  first  half  of  his  life  was  in  Asia 
Minor,  during  the  last  in  Magna  Grrsecia.  Now,  the  slightest 
glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  former  place,  and  not  the 
latter,  Halicarnassus  (or  possibly  Samos),  and  not  Thurium,  is 
the  natural  centre  whence  his  various  lines  of  travel  radiate. 
One  of  the  most  curious  facts  patent  upon  the  face  of  his  history 
is  the  absence  of  any  personal  acquaintance,  or  indeed  of  any 
exact  knowledge,  of  upper  Italy,  Sardinia,  Sicily,  Carthage — 
the  countries  most  accessible  to  a  traveller  whose  starting-point 
was  Thurium.  It  seems  as  if,  on  taking  up  his  residence  at  that 
town  in  about  his  fortieth  year,  the  enterprising  traveller  had 
subsided  into  the  quiet  student  and  rechise  writer.^  To  descend 
to  particulars,  it  is  clear  that  his  visit  to  Egypt,^  with  which 
some  of  his  other  journeys  are  necessarily  connected,^  took  place 
after  the  revolt  of  Inarus  (b.c.  460)  ;  for  he  states  that  he  saw 
the  skulls  of  those  who  w^ere  slain  in  the  great  battle  of  Papre- 
mis  by  which  Inarus  established  himself;  ^  and  yet  it  could  not 
have  been  long  after,  or  he  would  scarcely  have  been  received 
with  so  much  cordiality,  and  allowed  such  free  access  to  the 
Egyptian  temples  and  records.  There  is  every  reason  to  con- 
clude that  his  visit  fell  within  the  period — six  years,  from  B.C. 


Mure's  summary  (vol.  iv,  pp.  246-8)  is  2  CqI.  Mure  supposes  (vol.  iv.  p.  247 

judicious,   though   scanty.      The    only  that  he  may  have  visited  Egypt  repeat 

points  in  it  from  which  I  should  dissent,  edly,  but  of  this  there  is  no  trace  in  the 

arethestatementsthat  Hei^odotus  "peue-  History,     Rather  the  perpetual  use  of 

trated  to   Ecbatana,"   and  "  possibly  to  the   aorist  tense   (ixQdov — irpairSfx-rju,   ii. 

parts  of  Bactria"  (p.  247).  3  ;  iSwv,  ii.   12;   iSwdadriv — iyeuofnjv,  ii. 

1  It  is  not  meant  that  he  did  not  write  19;  ihOwu,  ii.  29  ;  et  passim)  gives  the 

before  this  time,  or  travel  after  it;  but  contrary  impression, 

that    after    he   came   to    Thurium    he  ^  Those  to  Tyre  and    Thasos,   which 

travelled  very  little,  probably  only  in  he  undertook  in  order  to  investigate  the 

Magna   Grgecia,    and    once    to   Athens,  age  of  Hercules  (ii.  44). 

occupying  himself   almost    entirely  in  •^  iii.  12. 
literature. 


Writings.  TIME  OF  THE  TRAVELS.  11 

460  to  B.C.  455y4H^l«sively — during  which  the  Athenian  armies 
were  in  possession  of  the  country,^  when  gratitude  to  their  deli- 
verers would  have  led  the  Egyptians  to  receive  any  Greek  who 
visited  them  with  open  arms,  and  to  treat  him  with  a  friendli- 
ness and  familiarity  very  unlike  their  ordinary  jealousy  of 
foreigners.  His  Egyptian  travels  would  thus  fall  between  his 
twenty-fourth  and  his  twenty-ninth  year,  occupying  perhaps 
nearly  the  whole  of  that  period ;  while  his  journeys  to  Tyre  and 
Thasos  would  follow  sliortly  after.  A  single  touch  in  the 
Scythian  researches  indicates  a  period  but  little  removed  from 
this  for  the  visit  of  our  author  to  Scythia.  He  speaks  of  having 
gathered  certain  facts  from  the  mouth  of  Timnes,  "  the  steward 
of  Ariapeithes."  ^  This  expression  indicates  that  Ariapeithes 
was  then  living.  But  if  Ariapeithes  immediately  succeeded 
Idanthyrsus,  as  is  probable,'^  he  can  scarcely  have  outlived  B.C. 
450,  sixty  years  at  least  from  the  accession  of  his  predecessor. 
Probably  therefore  Herodotus  was  in  Scythia  before  that  date. 

We  may  now  consider  briefly  the  few  facts  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  on  better  or  worse  authority,  with  regard  to  the   | 
vicissitudes  of  our  author's  life.     Suidas  relates^  that  he  was Jk 
forced  to  fly  from  Halicarnassus  toHamol^by  the  tyranny  of  ^ 
Lygdamis,  the  grandson  of  Artemisia,  who  had  put  his  uncle  (or    \ 
cousin)  Panyasis  to  death  ;  that  in  Samos  he  adopted  the  Ionic     ^ 
dialect,  and  wrote  his  history ;  that  after  a  time  he  returned 
and  took  the  lead  in  an   insurrection  whereby  Halicarnassus 
obtained  her  freedom,  and  Lygdamis  was  driven  out ;  that  then, 
finding  himself  disliked  by  the  other  citizens,  he  quitted  his 
country,  and  joined  in  the  Athenian  colonisation  of  Thurium,  at 
which  place  he  died  and  was  buried.     Of  these  statements  the 
only  ones  confirmed  by  other  writers  are  the  removal  of  our 
author  to  Thurium  at  the  time  of  its  first  settlement  or  soon 
afterwards,  and  his  death  and  burial  at  the  same  place.     The 
former  is  a  point  on  which  all  are  fully  agreed ;  ^  but  the  latter 
is  much  controverted.^ 

With  regard  to  the  political  episode,  which,  if  true,  would  be 
the  most  notable  adventure  in  our  author's  whole  career,  the 


5  Thucyd.  i.   109:  iKpaTovv  t?)s  Aly{i-  ^  Sub  voc.  'HpoSoros. 

TTTov  'Ad7]va7oi.     There  is  one  passage,  '^  See    Strab.    xiv.    p.    939 ;    Plut.   de 

however  (iii.  91),   which  may  seem  to  Exil.    ii.   p.    604-   f.  ;    Steph.    Byz.    ad 

imply  that  his  visit  to  Egypt  was  nfte)'  voc.    Qovpiot  ;     Plin.     H.    N.    xii.     4 ; 

the  Persian  authority  had  been  restored.  Schol.  Aristoph.  JSTub.  331. 

^  iv.  76.  1  Vide  infra,  p.  27. 

7  See  note  to  Book  iv.  ch.  80. 


12  POLITICAL  EPISODE.  Life  and 

slender  authority  of  Suidas  cannot  be  held  to  establish  it  against 
the  absolute  silence  on  so  remarkable  a  matter  of  all  former 
writers.  Undoubtedly  it  may  be  true,  but  this  is  the  utmost 
that  can  be  said  in  its  favour.  Probability  leans  decidedly  the 
other  way.  If  Herodotus  had  been  a  tyrannicide,  it  is  very 
unlikely  that  no  orator  or  panegyrist  should  ever  have  noticed 
the  fact.  If  he  had  lived  on  terms  of  such  deadly  hostility  Avith 
the  royal  family  of  his  native  town,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  imagined 
that  he  would  have  expressed  himself  quite  so  warmly  ^  towards 
the  chief  glory  of  that  family,  Artemisia.  The  tale  seems  blun- 
deringly contrived  to  account  for  certain  circumstances  connected 
with  our  author  which  were  thought  to  require  explanation, 
namely,  why  he  wrote  in  the  Ionic  dialect ;  why  he  treated  at 
such  disproportionate  length  of  the  affairs  of  Samos ;  ^  why  he 
spoke  so  strongly  on  the  advantages  of  constitutional  over 
despotic  government ;  ^  and  why  he  quitted  his  native  land  and 
retired  to  Thurium.  The  foundation  for  the  tale  was  found  in 
the  last  line  of  his  epitaph,  and,  possibly,  in  the  facts  of  Hali- 
carnassian  history ;  but  the  epitaph  was  misconstrued,  and  the 
history  garbled  by  the  intrusion  into  it  without  warrant  of  our 
author's  name.  We  may  gather  from  the  epitaph,  which  may 
well  be  received  as  genuine,^  that  no  political  motive  caused  his 
retirement  from  Halicarnassus,  but  that  he  fled  from  ridicule  ^ — 
ridicule  drawn  down,  it  may  be  conjectured,  by  the  over- 
credulous  tone  of  his  history,  which  would  little  suit  the  rising 
generation  of  shrewd  and  practical  free-thinkers.  The  transfer 
of  residence  to  Samos  is  most  likely  a  fiction.  It  is  not  required 
to  account  for  his  adoption  of  the  Ionic  dialect,  since  that  was 
the  form  of  language  already  consecrated  to  prose  composition ;  "^ 
and  if  he  wrote  at  all  he  could  not  fail  to  use  the  character  of 
speech  which  the  prose  writers  of  his  day  had  one  and  all  pre- 
ferred as  best  adapted  to  their  branch  of  literature.     Neither  is 


2  See  especially  Book  vii.  ch.  99,  and  while  the  traditions  respecting  his  change 
Book  viii.  chs.  87  and  101.  of    abode    were    still    fresh    in    men's 

3  Book  iii.  chs.  39-59,  120-128,   139-  memories. 

149.  ^  Mciftos  (which  is  the  word  used  in 

^  v.' 66,  78.  the   epitaph)    is    not    mere    ''ill-will," 

5  By  "  genuine  "  I  do  not  mean  con-  ''dislike,"    or   "envy,"   but   distinctly 

temporary.        The     expression,     'laSos  "  ridicule."     It  is  a  rare  word  in  the 

a  p  X  a  1 7]  s  l(fTopi7]s  TrpvTuviv,  would  not  early  writers,  and  would  not  have  been 

naturally  have  been  used  for  some  time  used    where    /j-c/xxpis    suited    the   verse 

after  the  death  of  Herodotus.     But  I  equally   well,    unless    intended    in    its 

should  suppose  the  verses  to  have  been  peculiar  signification, 

actually  inscribed  upon  his  tomb  within  ^  See  Mure's  Literatm'e  of  Greece,  vol. 

one  or   two   generations   of  his  death,  iv.  p.  114. 


Writings. 


ABODE  AT  ATHENS.  13 


it  implied  in  anything  which  he  himself  says  of  the  island ;  for 
his  acquaintance  with  its  buildings  and  localities  is  not  greater 
than  might  have  been  acquired  by  one  or  two  leisurely  visits, 
and  the  length  at  which  he  treats  the  history  may  be  accounted 
for  on  moral  grounds.^ 

Herodotus  probably  continued  to  reside  at  Halicarnassus, 
taking  long  journeys  for  the  purpose  of  historical  and  geogra- 
phical inquiry,  till  towards  the  year  B.C.  447,  when,  being  about 
thirty-seven  years  of  age,  and  having  brought  his  work  to  a 
certain  degree  of  completeness,  though  one  far  short  of  that 
which  it  reached  finally,  he  removed  to  Greece  Proper,  and  took 
up  his  abode  at  Athens.  Halicarnassus,  it  would  appear,  had 
shortly  before  cast  off  her  tyrants  and  joined  the  Athenian 
confederacy,^  so  that  the  young  author  would  be  welcomed  for 
his  country's  sake  no  less  than  for  his  own.  Athens  had  just 
begun  to  decline  from  the  zenith  of  her  prosperity.  After 
having  been  for  ten  years  sole  mistress  of  central  Greece  from 
the  isthmus  of  Corinth  to  the  borders  of  Thessaly,  she  had,  not 
without  certain  preliminary  disasters,  received  at  Coronea  a 
blow,  which  at  once  reduced  her  to  her  former  limits,  and 
threatened  to  have  yet  more  serious  consequences.  The  year 
B.C.  446  was  one  of  gloom  and  sad  expectation.  Kevolt 
threatened  from  various  quarters,  and  in  the  ensuing  spring  the 
five  years'  truce  would  expire,  and  a  Peloponnesian  invasion 
might  be  expected.  It  was  in  this  year,  if  we  may  believe 
Eusebius,^  that  a  decree  passed  the  Athenian  assembly,  whereby 
a  reward  was  assigned  to  Herodotus  on  account  of  his  great  his- 
torical work,  which  he  had  read  publicly  to  the  Athenians.^ 
The  Pseudo-Plutarch,^  though  himself  discrediting  the  story, 
adds  some  further  particulars,  which  he  quotes  from  Dyillus,  an 
Athenian  historian  of  good  repute  towards  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  This  writer  declared  that  the  decree  on  the  occa- 
sion was  moved  by  Anytus,  and  that  the  sum  voted  as  a  gift 
was  ten  talents  (above  2400Z.). 

According  to  the  common  report,  it  was  not  at  Athens  alone 


8  Vide  infrk,  ch.  iii.  p.  78,  ^  The    reading    may  have    been,    as 

9  See  Dahlmann's  Life  of  Herodotus,  Scaliger  (ad  Euseb.)  suggested,  a  single 
ch.  i.  §  3.  We  are  not  obliged  to  reject  sustained  recitation  at  the  great  Pana- 
either  the  fact  or  the  date  of  Lygdamis's  thenaic  festival;  but  I  should  rather 
overthrow,  because  we  question  the  part  suppose  a  series  of  more  private  exhibi- 
assigned  to  Herodotus  in  the  transaction,  tions. 

1  Chron.    Can.   Pars  ii.  p.   339  ;    01.         3  £)e  Malign.  Herod,  ii.  p.  862  a. 
83.4. 


14  EECITATION  OF  HIS  WOEK.  Life  akd 

that  Herodotus  made  his  work  known  by  recitation.  He  is 
represented  by  some  writers  as  a  sort  of  prose  rhapsodist  travel- 
ling from  place  to  place,  and  offering  to  each  state  at  a  price  a 
niche  in  the  temple  of  Fame.  The  Pseudo-Plutarch  brings  him 
to  Thebes,"*  and  Dio  Chrysostom  to  Corinth,^  in  this  capacity ; 
but  the  latter  tale  is  apparently  unknown  to  the  great  collector 
of  slanders.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  observe  that  these  calum- 
nious fictions,  invented  by  those  whose  self-love  was  wounded  by 
our  author's  candour,  deserve  no  manner  of  credit.  It  is  cer- 
tainly not  impossible  that  Herodotus  may  have  recited  his  work 
at  other  places  besides  Athens ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he 
did  so.  His  work  was  not  one  to  gain  him  reward  or  good-will 
generally;  and  Thebes,  a  place  fixed  upon  by  the  Pseudo- 
Plutarch,  was  one  of  the  last  where  he  could  expect  to  be 
received  with  favour. 

In  addition  to  these  tales  there  has  come  down  to  us  a  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  another  and  more  important  recital, 
which  Herodotus  is  supposed  to  have  made  before  collected 
Greece  at  the  great  Olympian  festival.  This  story,  which  has 
attracted  more  attention  than  it  merits,  rests  upon  the  two  low 
authorities  of  Lucian  and  Suidas.*^  It  is  full  of  inconsistencies 
and  improbabilities,'^  was  unknown  to  the  earlier  writers,^  and  is 
even  contradicted  by  another  version  of  the  matter  which  ob- 
tained sufficient  currency  to  give  rise  to  a  proverb.  According 
to  an  ancient  grammarian,  men  who  failed  to  accomplish  their 
designs  were  likened  in  ordinary  speech  to  "  Herodotus  and  his 
shade;"  the  explanation  being  that  Herodotus  had  wished  to 
recite  his  history  at  Olympia,  but  had  delayed  from  day  to  day 
in  hopes  of  a  cloudy  sky,  till  the  assembly  dispersed  without  his 

4  De  Malign.  Herod,  ii.  p.  864  d.  to  their  city.  (See  its  conclusion,  vol.  iv. 

^  Orat.  xxxvii.    p.   456.     Marcellinus  p.  123,  ed.  Hemsterhuis.) 
(Vit.  Thucyd.  p.  x.)  has  evidently  heard        ^  Herodotus  is  represented  as  coming 

the  same  story.  straight  from  Caria  to  Olympia,  with  his 

^  Lucian,  who  lived  six  centuries  after  Nine  Muses  all  complete,  as  determining 

Herodotus,   and  is  the  first  writer  that  not  to  recite  at  Athens  or  anywhere  else 

mentions  the  Olympian  recitation,  was  a  but  at  the  Great  Games,  as  reading  his 

freethinking  rhetorician  and  philosopher,  entire  history  at  a  stretch  to  the  whole 

very  ignorant  of  history,  and  quite  above  assemblage,  and  as  carrying  o£f  unani- 

feeling  any  scruple  about  perverting  or  mous  applause ! 

inventing  it.     His  disregard  of  truth  has         ^  As  Pliny  and  the  Pseudo-Plutarch, 

been  copiously  exhibited  by  Dahlmann  who  both  make  statements  incompatible 

(Life  of  Herod,  ch.  ii.  §  4) .    His  piece  en-  with  Lucian's  story :  Pliny,  that  the  work 

titled  Action  or  Herodotus' was  written  was  first   composed   at     Thurium;  the 

for  a  Macedonian  audience,  not  likely  to  Pseudo -Plutarch,  that  its  whole  object 

be  very  critical,  on  whom  he  might  ex-  was  detraction,  and  that  it  was  written 

pect  to  palm  easily  a  tale  so  turned  as  to  not  to  gain  fame,  but  to  gratify  a  malig- 

involve  a  compliment  both  to  them  and  nant  spirit. 


Writings.         PEETENDED  RECITATION  AT  OLYMPIA.  15 

having  effected  his  purpose.^  This  version  of  the  story  has  at 
once  more  internal  probability  and  more  external  support  than 
the  other,  for  the  proverb  must  certainly  have  been  in  common 
use ;  but  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  Herodotus  can  ever 
have  seriously  contemplated  such  an  exhibition,  for  the  w^hole 
tone  of  the  work — its  candour,  its  calmness,  its  unsparing  expo- 
sure of  the  weakness,  pettiness,  and  w^ant  of  patriotism  generally 
prevalent  through  Greece  at  the  time  of  the  Persian  war — 
unfitted  it  for  recitation  before  a  mixed  audience,  like  that  at 
Olympia,  composed  of  Greeks  gathered  from  all  quarters.  The 
reasons  which  render  improbable  a  recitation  at  Thebes  or 
Corinth,  tell  with  tenfold  force  against  an  Olympian  reading, 
which  might  have  pleased  the  Athenians,  Eginetans,  and  Pla- 
tseans  present,  but  would  have  infinitely  disgusted  all  the  other 
hearers. 

With  the  pretended  recitation  at  Olympia  is  usually^  con- 
nected another  story,  which  need  not,  however,  be  discarded 
with  it,  since  it  has  an  independent  basis.  Olorus,  with  his 
young  son  Thucydides,  is  represented  as  present  on  the  occa- 
sion, and  the  latter  is  said  to  have  been  moved  to  tears  by  the 
recital.  Herodotus,  remarking  it,  turned  to  Olorus,  who  was 
standing  near  his  son,  and  said :  "  Olorus,  thy  son's  soul  yearns 
after  knowledge."  These  details,  it  is  plain,  suit  better  a  private 
reading  to  an  audience  of  friends  at  Athens  than  a  public  reci- 
tation to  the  vast  concourse  at  Olympia,  where  the  emotion  of 
an  individual  would  scarcely  have  attracted  notice.  And  it  is 
remarkable  that  Marcellinus,  who  seems  to  be  the  original 
source  from  which  later  writers  drew,^  neither  fixes  the  scene  of 
the  event  at  Olympia,  nor  says  anything  of  the  age  of  Thucy- 
dides. The  anecdote  may,  therefore,  without  violence  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  time  when  Herodotus  was  making^  his  work  known 
at  Athens ;  and  we  may  accept  it,  so  far  at  least  as  to  believe 
that  Thucydides,  then  about  twenty-four  years  of  age,^  became 
acquainted  with  our  author  through  his  recitations  at  that  place, 
and  derived  from  that  circumstance  the  impulse  which  led  him 
to  turn  his  own  thoughts  to  historical  composition. 


9  In   Montfaucon's  Bibliothec.  Coisl.  but  from  his  style  and  from  the  authors 

Cod.  clxx^ii.  p.  609,   as  I  learn  from  a  he  quotes,  I  should  incline  to  regard  him 

note  of  Col.  Mure's  (vol.  iv.  p.  261).  as  anterior   to  Photius.     Suidas  copies 

1  By   Suidas    (sub   voc.   QovKvSiSrjs),  Photius,   with   improvements;  Photius, 
Photius  (Bibliothec.  Cod.  Ix.  ad  fin.  p.  •  I  think,  drew  from  Marcellinus. 

59),  and  Tzetzes  (Chil.  i.  19).  ^  If  we  accept  the  statement  of  Pam- 

2  The  date  of  Marcellinus  is  uncertain,  phila  (Frag.  7; . 


1  6  GALAXY  OF  TALENT  AT  ATHENS.  Life  and 

It  is  probable  that  Herodotus  about  the  same  time  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  poet  Sophocles.  Six  years  later  it  seems 
certain  that  the  great  tragedian  wrote  a  poem  in  his  honour,  the 
opening  words  of  which  have  been  preserved  by  Plutarch  ;  *  and 
three  years  before  he  wrote  it  Herodotus  had  quitted  Athens  for 
Thurium.  The  acquaintance  is  thus  almost  necessarily  deter- 
mined to  the  space  between  B.C.  447,  when  Herodotus  seems  to 
have  transferred  his  abode  to  Athens,  and  B.C.  443,  when  he 
removed  to  Italy.  Sophocles  was  then  at  the  zenith  of  his 
reputation.  He  had  gained  his  first  tragic  prize  twenty-one 
years  earlier,  in  B.C.  468  ;  and  for  ten  years,  since  the  death  of 
^schylus,  had  been  almost  without  a  rival.  A  little  later  than 
the  departure  of  Herodotus  for  Thurium  he  exhibited  his 
tragedy  of  the  Antigone,^  in  which  a  thought  occurs  which 
seems  borrowed  from  our  author;^  and  almost  immediately 
afterwards  he  held  the  highest  office  in  the  state,  being  chosen 
Strategus  together  with  Pericles  in  the  year  of  the  Samian 
expedition  (b.c.  440). 

If,  then,  an  intimacy  sprang  up  at  this  date  between  the  poet 
and  the  historian,  we  may  conclude  that  the  latter  was  intro- 
duced during  his  stay  at  Athens  to  that  remarkable  galaxy  of 
intellectual  lights  which  was  then  assembled  in  that  city.  The 
stately  Pericles,  his  clever  rival  Thucydides,  the  son  of  Mele- 
sias,  the  fascinating  Aspasia,  the  haughty  and  eloquent  Antipho, 
the  scientific  musician  Damon,  the  divine  Phidias,  Protagoras 
the  subtle  disputant,  Zeno  the  inventor  of  logic,  the  jovial  yet 
bitter  Cratinus,  the  gay  Crates,  Euripides,  the  master  of  pathos, 
Sophocles,  the  most  classic  even  of  the  ancients,  wdth  a  host  of 
minor  worthies,  formed  a  combination  ^  which  even  at  Athens 
was  rarely,  if  ever,  equalled.     The  rank  of  Herodotus  in  his 


■*  See  his  treatise,   ''An  seni  gerenda  (Diog.  Laert.  ii.  7),  before  I  suppose  the 

sit  respublica?  " — Op.,  vol.  ii.  p.  785,  b.  visit  of  Herodotus  to  have  commenced. 

The  words  quoted  are :  He  returned  some  years  afterwards,  but 

'OSt)!/  'HpoSoTO)  rev^ev  Soc^okAtj?  heuiv  a>c  it  is  Uncertain  when.     Gorgias  may  have 

UevT  enl  TrevT-qKovTa been  in  Athens  during  our  author's  stay- 
As  Sophocles  was  born  in  the  year  B.C.  at  least  if  he  really  conversed  with  Peri 
495,  the  poem  must  have  been  written  cles.  (Philostrat.  Vit. Sophist,  i.ix.  §1.^ 
B.C.  440.  Ion   of  Chios,    the   tragedian   Achseiis 

^  Probably  in  b.c.  441,  as  his  election  Euphorion  the  son  of  ^schylus,  Stesim 

to  the  office  of  Strategus  in  the  following  brotus   the    biographer,    the    architect 

year  was  considered  to  have   been  the  Hippodamus,  and  the  artists  Alcamenes 

consequence  of  the  admiration  which  the  Agoracritus,     Calhmachus,    Callicrates, 

play   excited.      (Aristoph.    Byzant.    ad  Ictinus,  Mnesicles,  would  be  among  the 

Soph.  Ant.  praef.)  _^^  lesser  luminaries  of  the  time  and  scene. 

^  See  note  to  Herod,  iii.  119.  Socrates   was    grown  up,    but   perhaps 

7  Anaxagoras  left  Athens  in  B.C.  450  scarcely  known. 


Writings.         EFFECT  ON  THE  MIND  OF  HERODOTUS.  17 

own  country  was  perhaps  enough  to  give  him  free  access  to  the 
liighest  society  which  Athens  could  furnish ;  but  if  not,  as  the 
friend  of  Sophocles  and  Olorus,^  men  of  the  most  exalted  posi- 
tion, he  would  be  readily  received  into  the  first  circles.  Ilere, 
then,  he  would  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  most  cultivated 
minds,  the  highest  intellects  of  his  age.  In  Asia  Minor  he  had 
perhaps  known  Panyasis,  the  epic  poet  (his  relative,  according 
to  Suidas) ;  Melissus  the  philosopher,  who  defended  Samos 
against  Pericles ;  Choerilus,^  who  sang  of  the  Persian  war ;.  and 
possibly  Hellanicus,  Charon,  Xanthus  Lydus,  and  Damastes  ;  but 
these  were  in  no  case  minds  of  the  first  order,  and  they  v;ere 
scattered  among  the  Asiatic  cities  from  Halicarnassus  to  Lamp- 
sacus.  At  Athens  he  would  for  the  first  time  find  congregated 
an  intellectual  world,  and  see  genius  of  the  highest  kind  in  all 
its  shapes  and  aspects.  The  effect  would  be  like  that  which 
the  young  American  author  experiences  when  he  comes  with 
good  introductions  to  London.  He  would  feel  that  here  was 
the  real  heart  of  the  Hellenic  body, — the  true  centre,  at  least, 
of  literary  Hellas, — the  world  whose  taste  he  must  consult, 
whose  approval  was  fame,  whose  censure  was  condemnation, 
whose  contempt  was  oblivion.  He  would  find  his  s]3irit  roused, 
and  his  whole  nature  braced,  to  strain  every  nerve,  in  order  to 
maintain  his  place  in  the  literary  plialanx  which  had  admitted 
him  into  its  ranks.  He  would  see  imperfections  in  his  work 
unobserved  before,  and  would  resolve  to  make  it,  so  far  as  his 
powers  went,  perfect.  He  would  look  at  the  masterpieces  in 
every  kind  which  surrounded  him,  and  say,  "  My  work,  too, 
shall  be  in  its  kind  a  masterpiece."  To  this  perhaps  we  owe 
the  wonderful  elaboration,  carried  on  for  twenty  years  after  his 
visit  to  Athens,  which,  as  much  as  anything  else,  lias  given  to 
the  History  of  Herodotus  its  surpassing  and  never-failing  charm. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  reasons  which  may  have 
induced  our  author,  in  spite  of  the  fascinations  of  its  society,  to 
quit  Athens,  and  become  a  settler  in  one  of  lier  colonial  depend- 
encies. At  Athens  he  could  have  no  citizenship ;  ^  and  to  the 
Greek  not  bent  on  money-making,  or  absorbed  in  pLilosophy,  to 
be  without  political  rights,  to  have  no  share  in  what  formed  the 


s  The  anecdote  concerning  Thucydides  but  to  freedmen.    (Andoc.  de  Tied.  c.  22, 

implies  that  Olorus  was  already  known  p.   86,  30;  Demostli.  c.    Aristocr.  &c.) 

to  Herodotus.  But  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it  was  f  tr 

9  Suidas  ad  voc.  XoLpi\os.  greater  in  the  time  of  Pericles.    And  ti^e 

*  In  later  times   the   citizenship  was  trouble  and  expense  (Demosth.  c.  Neivr. 

granted  lavishly,  not  only  to  foreigners  p.  lol9,  20)  would  deter  many. 

VOL.  I.  C 


18  SETTLES  AT  THUEIUM.  Life  akd 

daily  life  and  occupied  the  constant  thoughts  of  all  around  him, 
was  intolerable.  "  Man  is  not  a  man  unless  he  is  a  citizen," 
said  Aristotle ;  ^  and  the  feeling  thus  expressed  was  common  to 
the  Greek  nation.  Besides,  Athens,  like  every  capital,  was  an 
expensive  place  to  live  in ;  and  the  wealth  which  had  made  a 
figure  at  Halicarnassus  would,  even  if  it  were  not  dissipated,  have 
scarcely  given  a  living  there.  The  acceptance  by  Herodotus  of 
a  sum  of  money  from  the  Athenian  people  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  his  means  were  now  low.  They  may  have  been  ex- 
hausted by  the  cost  of  his  long  journeys,  or  have  suffered  from 
his  leaving  Halicarnassus.  At  any  rate  his  circumstances  may 
well  have  been  such  as  to  lead  him  gladly  to  embrace  the  invi- 
tation which  Athens  now  offered  to  adventurers  from  all  parts 
of  Greece,  whereby  he  would  acquire  at  her  hands  a  parcel  of 
land  (/cXrjpov),  which  would  place  him  above  want,  and  a  new 
right  of  citizenship.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  B.C.  443,  when 
he  had  just  passed  his  fortieth  year,  Herodotus,  according  to 
the  unanimous  testimony  of  ancient  writers,^  joined  the  colonists 
whom  Pericles  was  now  sending  out  to  Italy,  and  became  one  of 
the  first  settlers  at  Thurium. 

The  settlement  was  made  under  circumstances  which  were 
somewhat  peculiar.  Sybaris,  one  of  the  Achaean  colonies  in 
Magna  Grsecia,  after  attaining  to  an  unexampled  pitch  of  pros- 
perity,'* had  been  taken  and  destroyed  by  the  Crotoniats  (b.c. 
510).  The  inhabitants  who  escaped  fled  to  Laiis  and  Scidrus,^ 
places  previously  belonging  to  them,  and  made  no  effort  to 
recover  their  former  home.  But  fifty-eight  years  afterwards 
(B.C.  452)  their  children  and  grandchildren,  having  obtained 
some  foreign  assistance,  -reoccupied  the  site  of  the  old  city, 
which  soon  rose  from  its  ruins.  Upon  this  the  jealousy  of  Cro- 
tona  was  once  more  aroused,  and  again  she  took  arms  and 
expelled  the  Sybarites  from  their  town.  They  did  not  how- 
ever now^  submit,  but  sent  ambassadors  into  Greece  to  beg  for 
assistance  against  their  enemies.  Pericles  received  the  envoys 
with  warmth,  procured  a  decree  of  the  people  in  their  favour, 
and  sent  out  the  colony  in  which  Herodotus  participated.     It 


2  Pol.  i.  1.  into  the  field  against  Crotona  300,000 

3  See  Strab.  xiv.  p.  939.  Plutarch  de  men  (vi.  p.  378),  Scymnus  Chius  gives 
Exil.  vol.  ii.  p.  604,  F.  Plin.  H.  N.  xii.  the  number  of  her  full  citizens  as  U)U,OuO 
4.     Suidas  ad  voc.  'Hp(^5oTos,  &c.  (ver.  344).   Diodorus  agrees  with  Strabo 

"*  Strabo  says  that  four  of  the  Italian  (xii.  9) . 

nations  were  subject  to  Sybaris;  that  she  *  See  Herod,  vi.  21. 
ruled  over  twenty-five  cities,  and  brought 


Writings.  HISTORY  OF  THE  COLONY.  19 

was  composed  of  Greeks  from  all  quarters,  and  placed  under 
the  direction  of  a  certain  Lampon,  who  was  thought  to  possess 
prophetic  powers.^  The  new  colonists  were  to  unite  with  the 
old  Sybarites,  and  a  single  city  was  to  be  built,  in  which  all 
were  to  enjoy  equal  rights  and  privileges.  The  colony  left 
Athens  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  443,^  and  established  itself  without 
any  opposition  from  the  Crotoniats.  A  town  was  built  near, 
but  not  on,  the  site  of  the  ancient  Sybaris,  and  was  called 
Thurium,  from  a  spring  in  the  neighbourhood ;  it  seems  to  have 
been  planned  by  Hippodamus,  the  architect  of  the  Piraeus,  who 
laid  it  out  in  a  number  of  straight  streets,  with  others  crossing 
them  at  right  angles,  a  style  of  building  which  afterwards  went 
by  his  name.^  It  was  scarcely  finished  when  dissensions  broke 
out  between  the  new-comers  and  the  ancient  Sybarites,  the 
latter  of  whom  are  accused  of  advancing  absurd  claims  to  a  pre- 
eminence over  the  foreign  colonists.  An  appeal  was  made  to 
arms,  with  a  result  most  disastrous  to  those  whose  arrogance 
had  provoked  it.  The  Sybarites  were  worsted,  and,  if  we  may 
believe  Diodorus,  well  nigh  exterminated ;  ^  and  the  victorious 
foreigners,  having  strengthened  themselves  by  receiving  fresh 
immigrants,  proceeded  to  order  their  polity  on  a  plan  copied 
apparently  from  the  arrangements  which  prevailed  at  Athens. 
They  divided  themselves  into  ten  tribes,  named  from  the  prin- 
cipal races  of  which  the  colony  was  composed,^  and  while  model- 
ling in  all  probability  their  political  institutions  on  the  Athenian 
type,  adopted  for  the  standard  of  their  jurisprudence  the  legal 
code  of  Charondas.^     Under  these  circumstances  they  became 


^  Schol.  Aristoph.  Av.  521;  Plut.vit.  speaks  of  expulsion  rather  than  extermi- 

Pericl.  c.  6 ;  Polit.  Prseced.  vol.  ii.  p,  81 2,  nation.      Diodorus  allows  that  a  certain 

D. ;  Suid,  ad  voc,  QovpioixdvTcis.  Diodorus  number  escaped  (xii.  22,  sub  fin.).    These 

(xii,  lU)  makes  Lampon  and  Xenocritus  are  perhaps  the  Sybarites  of  whom  Hei-o- 

joint  leaders.  dotus  speaks  (v.  44). 

'^  Diodorus  places  its  establishment  in  ^  The  tribes  were  as  follows  :    three 

the  year  B.C.  446  (xii.  9).   The  date  com-  Peloponnesian,    named    Areas,    Achais, 

monly  given  is  B.C.  444;  but  Clinton  has  Elea  ;  three  from  central  Greece,  Bceotia, 

shown  satisfactorily  that  the  colony  was  Amphictyonis,    Doris;    and   four    from 

really  sent  out  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  443.  Athens  and  her  dependencies,  las,  Athe- 

(F.  H.  vol.  ii.  p.  58,  01.  84.  2.)  nais,  Euboeis,  Nesiotis.     An  organisation 

8  Cf.  Arist.  Pol.  vii.  10;  Hesych.  Lex.  of  this  kind,  proceeding  upon  ethnic  dif- 
in  voc.  'iTTTToSa/uou  t/^/xriais,  and  Photius,  ference,  was  more  common  in  Dorian 
A6|.  'Zvvay.  p.  111.  For  the  application  than  in  Ionian  states.  (See  Herod,  iv. 
of  tiie  style  to  Thurium,  see  Diod.  Sic.  161,  and  v.  68.) 

xii.  10,  ad  fin.  2  Diodorus    (1.    s.    c.)   imagines  that 

9  Diod.  Sic.  xii.  11.  Aristotle  in  his  Charondas  actually  legislated  for  the 
brief  notice  (Pol.  v.  2,  SuiSapTTat — •  Thuriaus,  being  one  of  the  citizens : 
■jrAeoveKTeTv  a^iovuTes  ws  (Tcp^rfpas  ttjs  Thv  &pi(TT0U  rhv  (1.  twv)  eV  iraiSeicf. 
Xupas  e'leVeo-ov)   agrees^  except  that  he  Oavixa^oii^vov      (1.    Qavjxa^oix^vuv)    iroAi- 

c2 


20  INTELLECTUAL  COMPANIONS.  Life  and 

rapidly  a  flourishing  people,  until  in  the  year  B.C.  412,  after  the 
failure  of  the  Sicilian  expedition,  they  revolted  from  their 
mother  city,  and  expelled  all  the  Athenian  colonists.^ 

Among  the  settlers  who  accompanied  Herodotus  from  Athens 
are  some  names  to  which  a  special  interest  attaches.  Hippo- 
damus,  the  philosopher  and  the  architect  of  the  Piraeus,*  Lysias 
the  orator,  then  only  in  his  fifteenth  year,  with  his  brother 
Polemarchus,^  the  friend  of  Socrates,*'  are  the  most  famous. 
The  last  two  were  sons  of  Cephalus,  a  native  of  Syracuse,  whom 
Pericles  had  persuaded  to  settle  at  Athens,^  the  gentle  old  man 
in  whose  house  Plato  has  laid  the  scene  of  his  great  dialogue, 
the  Republic.  It  is  not  impossible  that  Protagoras  may  have  \ 
been,  if  not  among  the  first  settlers,  yet  among  the  early 
visitants;  for  some  accounts  made  the  Thurians  derive  their 
laws  from  him.^  Empedocles,  too,  the  philosopher  of  Agrigen- 
tum,  is  stated  by  a  contemporary  writer  ^  to  have  visited  Thu- 
rium  very  shortly  after  its  foundation ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  he  made  it  his  abode  until  his  death.  Thus  the  new  colony 
had  its  fair  share  of  the  intellect  of  Greece ;  and  Herodotus 
would  not  be  without  some  kindred  spirits  to  admire  and  appre- 
ciate him. 

At  Thurium  Herodotus  would  seem  to  have  devoted  himself 
almost  entirely  to  the  elaboration  of  his  work.  It  has  been 
asserted  in  ancient  ^  and  strongly  argued  in  modern  ^  times,  that 


Twv    Xap(i>vdau.      So   the  Scholiast    on  ^  Plat.  Rep.  book  i.  §  1.,  et  seqq. 

Plato   (p.   193,   Rvihnk.),    and  Valerius  '  So  Lysias  himself  declares  (Orat.  c. 

Maximus  (vi.  5,  §  4).  But  he  was  really  a  Eratosth.  p.  12u,  26). 

native  of  Catana,  and  lived  two  centui'ies  ^  Heraclid.    Pont.    ap.    Diog.    Laert. 

earlier.  (See  Hermann's  Pol.  Antiq.  of  ix.  50. 

Greece,  §89.)  The  Thurians  only  adopted  ^  Glaucus   of  Rhegium    (Fragm.    6), 

his  code,  as  did  so  many  of  the  Italiot  reported  by  Apollodorus  (Fr.  87).     The 

and  Siceliot   towns   (Arist.    Pol.  ii.    9;  anonymous  life  of  Thucydides,  usually 

Heraclid.  Pont,  xxv.),  and  even  the  re-  prefixed   to   his   work,   speaks  of    that 

mote    city    of    Mazaca    in    Cappadocia  writer   as   having   been   at   Thurium — 

(Strab.  xii.  p.  782).  which   is   called    Sybaris— between    its 

3  Dionys.  Hal.  Lys.  sub  init.  vol.  v.  foundation  and  B.C.  422.     But  this  au- 

p.   453,  ed.   Reiske  ;    Plutarch,  vit.  X.  thority  is  of  very  little  weight.      Other 

Orat.  §  8.     (Op.  ii.  p.  835,  D.)  celebrities  among  the  early  Thurians  are 

^   See    Photius    and    Hesychius,    ad  Tisias,    the  Syracusan,  the  inventor  of 

voce.     'iTTTToSa/xou   vejx-f\(ns,    and    'Itttto-  rhetoric  (Phot.  Bibl.  loc.  s.  cit.;  Cic.de 

Sailcla  ayopd.     For  his  philosophy,  see  Invent,  ii.  2,  &c.),  and  Cleandridas,  the 

Aristotle  (Pol.  ii.  5)  and  Stobseus.  (Flo-  father  of  Gylippus    (Thucyd.   vi.    104; 

rilegium,   vol.  iii.  p.  338,   T.   103,   26).  Antioch.  Fr.  12). 

Photius  calls  Hippodamus  "a  metereo-  ^  Piin.   H.  N.  xii.      "Urbis  nostrse 

loger."  trecentesimo  decimo  anno  ....  auctor 

^  Plutarch,   vit.  X.   Orat.   (1.   s.  c);  ille  (Herodotus)  historiam  earn  condidit 

Phot.  Bibl.  Cod.  262,  p.  1463.  Dionysius  Thuriis  in  Italia." 

(1.  s.  c.)  makes  him  accompanied  by  two  ^  gee  Dahlmaun'a  Life  of  Herodotus, 

of  his  brothers.  ch.  iii.  §  2. 


Writings.  HEEODOTUS  EMrLOYED  ON  HIS  WOEK.  21 

his  history  Avas  there  first  composed  and  published.  But  the 
assertion,  as  it  stands,  is  absurd ;  ^  and  the  arguments  adduced 
ill  support  of  it  are  not  such  as  to  command  assent.  It  is 
proved  that  there  are  portions  of  the  work  which  seem  written 
in  southern  Italy,^  and  that  there  are  others  which  could  not 
have  been  composed  till  long  after  the  time  when  Herodotus  is 
said  to  have  settled  at  Thurium,^  But  those  who  urge  these 
places  as  conclusive  omit  to  remark  that  from  their  parenthetic 
character  they  are  exactly  such  passages  as  a  writer  employed 
lor  many  years  in  finishing  and  retouching  his  composition, 
might  conveniently  have  added  to  the  original  text.  That 
this  is  in  every  case  the  appearance  they  present,  a  glance 
at  the  passages  themselves  will  show.^  They  can  always 
be  omitted  not  only  without  detriment,  but  sometimes  with 
manifest  advantage,  to  the  sense  and  connexion  of  the  sen- 
tences.''' This  fact  is  a  strong  indication  that  they  are  no  part 
of  the  original  work,  but  insertions  made  by  the  author  as  points 
bearing  upon  his  history  came  to  his  knowledge.  Dahlmann 
indeed  rejects  altogether  the  notion  of  two  editions  of  Herodotus, 
because  no  ancient  writer  is  found  expressly  to  mention  them  ;  ^ 
but  it  seems  to  be  the  view  which  best  explains  all  the  pheno- 


3  Since  it  makes  Herodotus  write  his  that  from  Darius  Nothus.     With  regard 

whole  history  in  one  year.  to  the  kst  two  passages  he  is  completely 

*  As  iv.  15,  and  99,  and  vi.  127.  mistaken,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  notes 
Dahlmann  adds  iii.  136-8,  and  v.  44-5;  ad  loc.  The  others  are  doubtful.  Sital- 
but  these  passages  may  just  as  well  have  ces,  who  gradually  built  up  a  great  power 
been  written  in  Asia.  It  is  admitted  (Diod.  Sic.  xii.  50),  may  have  been  well 
that  Herodotus  "may  have  compre-  known  to  the  Greeks  long  before  the 
hended  Italy  in  the  plan  of  his  early  tra-  breaking  out  of  the  Peloponnesian  war. 
vels,"  so  that  "accurate  knowledge"  of  Corinth  had  suffered  considerably  at  the 
the  localities,  supposing  that  it  appeared  hands  of  Athens  by  B.C.  457  (see  Thucyd. 

which  may  be  questioned;,  would  not  i.  105-6).     In  vi.  98,  it  is  not  necessarily 

prove  the  passages  to  have  been  written  implied  that  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  is 

ill  Italy.  past.     And  the  embassy  of  Callias  was 

*  The  following  are  the  only  passages  not  in  B.C.  431,  but  in  B.C.  449.  (See 
of  which  this  can  be  said  with  any  cer-  note  ad  loc.) 

tainty  :  iii.  160,  ad  fin.;  v.  77,   ad  fin.;         ^  In  iii.   160,  the  parenthetic  portion 

vii.  114,  ad  fin. ;  133-7,  and 233,  ad  fin.;  is  from  Zanrvpov  5e  tovtov  to  the  end. 

and  ix.  73,  ad  fin.    Dahlmann  would  add  In  v.  77,  from  oaovs  5e  koI  tovtwp  to 

iv.  80,  where  Sitalces  is  mentioned  as  a  the   end  of    the    inscription.       In    vii. 

man  already  known;  v.  93,  Avhere  Hip-  114,   from    Uepa-iKou  to  Karopvaaovaav. 

]i'as  is  made  to  speak  of  the  calamities  In  vii.  133-7,  from  ot:  5e  roTcrt 'A^Tji^atotcrt 

which  the  Corinthians  would  suffer  at  to  iirduei/xL  8e  iirl  rhu  irpSrepou  Xoyov. 

the  hands  of  Athens;  vi.  98,  where  he  In  vii.  233,  from  tov  rhv  Traida  to  the 

thinks  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  is  spoken  end.     And  in  ix.  73,  from  ovtco  liare  to 

of  as  past ;  vii.  151,  where  there  is  a  re-  aTroo-xeV^at. 

ference to  the  embassy  of  Callias;  iii.  15,         "^  This  is  most  striking  in   the   last- 
where  Amyrtseus  is  spoken  of  as  dead;  mentioned  passage,  where  the  nexus  in 
and  i.  130,  where  there  is  a  mention  of  a  peculiarly  awkward. 
Median  revolt,  which  he  supposes  to  be        ^  Life  of  Herodotus,  page  34,  E.  T. 


22  PLACES  AND  PERIODS  OF  COMPOSITION.  Life  akd 

mena.^  In  the  book  itself,  besides  the  indication  already  men- 
tioned, which  is  almost  tantamount  to  a  proof,  there  are  various 
passages  which,  either  singly  or  in  connexion  with  those  clearly 
written  in  Italy,  imply  the  existence  of  two  forms  of  the  work, 
an  earlier  and  a  later  one,  and  from  two  of  these  passages  we 
may  even  gather  that  the  work  was  published  in  its  earlier 
shape.  The  enumeration  of  the  Ionian  and  ^olian  cities  in 
the  first  book  is  such  as  would  be  natural  to  a  man  writing  at 
Halicarnassus,  but  not  to  an  inhabitant  of  Italy. ^  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  enumeration  of  the  Satrapies.^  Again,  the 
description  of  the  road  between  Olympia  and  Athens,-^  as  that 
which  led  "  from  Athens  to  Pisa,"  and  not  "  from  Pisa  to 
Athens,"  is  indicative  of  one  who  dwells  east  and  not  west  of 
Greece.  Moreover,  the  declaration  in  the  fourth  book — "  addi- 
tions are  what  my  work  always  from  the  very  first  affected"* — 
is  only  intelligible  on  the  hypothesis  above  adopted.  And, 
finally,  we  have  in  two  passages  a  plain  proof,  not  only  of  two 
periods  and  places  of  composition,  but  likewise  of  a  double  pub- 
lication. In  describing  the  first  expedition  of  Mardonius  against 
Greece,  Herodotus  turns  aside  from  his  narrative  to  remark 
that  at  this  point  he  "  has  a  marvel  to  relate,  which  will  greatly 
surprise  those  Greeks  who  cannot  believe  that  Otanes  advised 
the  seven  conspirators  to  make  Persia  a  commonwealth;"^ 
whereby  he  shows  that,  on  the  first  publication  of  his  w^ork,  the 
account  given  in  the  third  book  of  a  debate  among  the  con- 
spirators as  to  the  proper  form  of  government  to  establish  in 
Persia,  had  provoked  criticism,  and  that  many  had  rejected  it 
as  incredible.  He  therefore  seeks  to  remove  their  scruples  by 
noticing  a  fact,  which  in  his  first  edition  he  had  probably 
omitted,  as  not  very  important,  and  quite  unconnected  with  his 
main  subject  in  the  place  (which  is  the  warlike  expedition  of 
Mardonius),  namely,  that  Mardonius  at  this  time  put  down  the 


^  It  is  allowed  to  some  extent  by  Col.  Caria;  a  European  Greek   would  have 

Mure.     (Lit.  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  258.)  commenced  with  the  Hellespont. 

1  Herodotus  not  only  takes  the  Ionian  ^  ii.  7. 

cities  in  regular   order   from   south  to  "*  Ch.  30.  TlpoaBriKai  has  been  generally 

north  (i.  142),  but  proceeds  fi^om  them  translated  "digressions,"  or  "episodes." 

to  the  southern  ^olians  (ch.   149),  and  But  its  most  proper  sense  is  "additions, 

from  them  to  the  -^olians  of  the  Troas  supplements."      It  may  even  have  this 

(ch.  151).     Looking  at  Asia  Minor  from  meaning  in  Arist.  Khet.  i.  1,  §  3;  a  pas- 

the  west,  a  Greek,  accustomed  to  coast-  sage  which  has  been  considered  to  justify 

ing  voyages,   would  have  followed  the  the  other  rendering.     (See  Liddell  and 

reverse  order.  Scott's  Lexicon,  ad  voc.  vpocrdriKr].) 

2  Cf.  iii.  90.     Herodotus  begins  with  ^  Herod,  vi.  43. 
the  satrapy  which  contained  louia  and 


Writings.  HISTOEY  OF  ASSYRIA.  23 

Greek  despots.  He  also  in  the  third  book,  on  beginning  his 
narrative  of  the  debate,  makes  a  reference  to  the  same  objectors, 
which  he  does  in  a  few  words,  inserted  probably  in  lieu  of  what 
he  had  at  first  written.^  Such  is  the  evidence  of  the  book  itself; 
and  we  may  add  to  it  the  fact  that,  while  some  writers  spoke 
confidently  of  the  work  as  composed  in  Italy, "^  others  as  dis- 
tinctly asserted  that  it  was  w^ritten  in  Asia ;  ^  and,  further — a 
fact  to  be  hereafter  noticed  ^ — tliat  there  were  from  very  early 
times  ^  two  readings  of  a  most  important  passage  in  the  book, 
namely,  its  opening  sentence,  which  is  best  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  both  proceeded  equally  from  the  pen  of  the  author. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that,  besides  retouching  his  narrative  from 
time  to  time,  and  interweaving  into  it  such  subsequent  events 
as  seemed  in  any  way  to  illustrate  its  course  or  tenor,  Hero- 
dotus may  have  composed  at  Thurium  some  considerable  por- 
tions of  his  work  ;  for  instance,  the  second  and  fourth  books,  or 
the  greater  part  of  them.^  He  may  likewise  have  considerably 
enlarged  the  other  books,  by  the  addition  of  those  long  paren- 
theses which  are  for  ever  occurring,  whereby  the  general  line  of 
the  relation  is  broken  in  upon,  not  always  in  a  manner  that  is 
quite  agreeable.  'It  is  needless  to  point  out  passages  of  this  kind 
which  every  reader's  memory  will  without  difficulty  supply ; 
they  form  in  general  from  one-fourth  to  one-third  of  each  book, 
and  added  to  the  second  and  fourth  books  would  amount  to  not 
much  less  than  one-half  of  the  History. 

At  the  same  time  he  no  doubt  composed  that  separate  work 
the  existence  of  w^hich  it  has  been  the  fashion  of  late  years  to 
deny  ^ — his  History  of  Assyria.  The  grounds  for  believing  tliat 
this  book  was  written  and  published  will  be  given  in  a  note 
on  the  text,*  and  need  not  be  anticipated  here.  That  it  was  a 
treatise  of  some  considerable  size  and  pretension  is  probable 
from  the  very  fact  that  it  was  detached  from  his  main  history, 


^  Herod,  iii.  80.    In  the  first  edition  I  ^  The  whole  of  the  second  book,  with 

should  conjecture  that  the  words  ran:  the  exception  of  the  first  chapter,  may 

Kol   eAex^Tjcaj/  ^070:  roioiSe.      'Oraj/rjs  have   been  composed  at  this  time,  the 

/.tei/  cKeAeue,  k.t.A.  opening  of  the  third  book  being  remo- 

■^  Plin}",  1.  s.  e.  delled  after  the  second  was  written.     In 

^  Suidas  ad  voc.  'Hpohoros.    Lucian.  the  fourth  book,  the  account  of  the  ex- 
Herod,  vol.  iv.  p.  116.  pedition  of  Darius  Tchs.  1-4;  83-144)  may 

^  See  note  to  book  i.  ch.  1.  have  been  original,  and  the  rest  added 

'  At  least  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Tra-  at  Thurium. 

Jan.  See  Plutarch,  de  Exil,  (p.  604,  F.) :  ^  See  Dahlmann's  Life  of  Herodotus, 

rh  Se  'HpoBoTov  'AXiKapvaarcrews  t(rTopir}s  pp.  166-8,  E.  T.;  Bahr,  Not.  ad  Herod. 

itTrSSeL^LS    7j5e,     iroWol    fxeraypdcpovaiyy  i.  106;  Mure,Lit.  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  270. 

'HpodoTov  Qovp'iov.  ^  See  note  to  book  i.  ch.  106. 


24  SECOND  VISIT  TO  ATHENS.  Life  and 

and  published  separately.^  It  must,  one  would  think,  at  least 
have  exceeded  in  bulk  the  account  of  Egypt,  which  occupies  the 
whole  of  the  second  book,  or  it  would  naturally  have  formed  an 
episode  to  the  main  narrative,  in  the  place  where  we  instinct- 
ively look  for  it,*^  and  where  its  omission  causes  a  want  of 
harmony  in  the  general  plan  of  the  History.  And  it  may  have 
been  very  considerably  longer  than  the  Egyptian  section.  With 
these  literary  labours  in  hand,  it  is  no  wonder  if  Herodotus, 
having  reached  the  period  of  middle  life,  when  the  fatigues  of 
travel  begin  to  be  more  sensibly  felt,  and  being  moreover 
entangled  in  somewhat  difficult  domestic  politics,  laid  aside  his 
wandering  habits,  and  was  contented  to  remain  at  Thurium 
without  even  exploring  to  any  great  extent  the  countries  to 
which  his  new  position  gave  him  an  easy  access/  There  is  no 
trace  of  his  having  journeyed  further  during  these  years  than 
the  neighbouring  towns  of  Metapontum  and  Crotona,  except  in  a 
single  instance.  He  must  have  paid  a  visit  to  Athens  at  least 
as  late  as  B.C.  43G,  and  probably  some  years  later ;  for  he  saw 
the  magnificent  Propylsea,^  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  construc- 
tions of  Pericles,  which  was  not  commenced  till  B.C.  436,  nor 
finished  till  five  years  afterwards.^  Perhaps  this  visit  was 
delayed  till  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
and  it  may  have  been  by  its  means  that  Herodotus  became  so 
intimately  acquainted  with  little  events  belonging  to  the  first 
and  second  years  of  the  war,^  of  which  it  is  unlikely  that  more 
than  vap'ue  rumours  would  have  reached  him  at  Thurium. 


.    ^  It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  could  properly  have  come  into  the  extant 

Assyrian  History  was  ever  intended  for  work  of  Herodotus — the  absorption  of 

a  separate  work,  and  suggested  that  it  Assyria  by  Media,  and  of  Babylonia  by 

may  have  been  meant  only  for  ojie  of  Persia — the   reader   is   referred   to   the 

the  larger  episodes  in  which  our  author  Assyrian  History  for  information.     To 

was  wont  to  indulge.      (See  Dahlmann,  me  this  is  conclusive  evidence  that  it 

p.   1G8;   Biihr,  1.  s.  c;    Mure,  p.  271.)  was  always  intended  to  have  been  (as  in- 

But  if  so,  where  was  it  to  have  come  in  ?  deed  I  believe  that  in  fact  it  wasj  a  sepa- 

Biihr  (following  Jager,  Disp.  Herod,  p.  rate  work. 

229 )  suggests  for  its  place  the  end  of  the         ^  The  natural  place,  according  to  the 

third  book,  where  the  revolt  and  reduc-  notions  of  Assyrian  history  entertained 

tion  of  Babylon  are  related.     But  this  is  by  our  author,  would  have  been  book  i. 

cuntrnry  to  the  analogy  of  all  the  other  ch.  J  84,  where  he  is  forced  to  speak  of 

lengthy  episodes,  and  to  the  pervading  certain  persons  who  doubtless  figured  in 

ide%of  the  work.     The  right  by  which  it  conspicuously.     He  did  not  make  any 

such  episodes  come  in  at  alh  is  their  con-  distinction  between  Assyrian  and  Baby- 

nexiou  with  the  increasing  greatness  of  Ionian  history. 

the  Persian  empire;  and  they  therefore         ^  Supra,  p.  10.         '''  Herod,  v.  77. 
occur  at  the  point  where  the  Persian  em-         9  Harpocrat.  ad.  voc.  TlpoivvKaia  ravra. 

pire  first  absorbs  or  attempts  to  absorb  Philoch.  Fr.  98. 

each  country.   (See  i.  95,  142,  171,  178;         ^  As,  1.  the  attack  upon  Thebes  (vii. 

ii.  2;  iii.  20;  iv.  5;  v.  3.)      In  the  only  233),  where  he  knows  the  mmiber  of  tlie 

two  places  where  the  Assyrian  History  assailants,  the  important  part  taken  by 


Writings.  FEUDS  AT  TIIURIUM.  25 

The  state  of  Thurium,  while  it  was  the  abode  of  Herodotus, 
appears  to  have  been  one  of  perpetual  trouble  and  disquiet. 
The  first  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  colony  were  spent,  as 
has  been  already  shown,^  in  a  bloody  feud  between  the  nevv^ 
comers  and  the  ancient  inhabitants — the  Sybarites.  Soon 
afterwards  a  war  broke  out  between  the  Thurians  and  the  people 
of  Tarentum,  which  was  carried  on  both  by  land  and  sea,  witli 
varied  success,  and  which  probably  continued  during  a  space  of 
several  years.^  A  little  later,  as  the  Peloponnesian  struggle 
approached,  an  internal  dispute  seems  to  have  arisen  among 
the  citizens  themselves  as  to  the  side  which  they  should  espouse 
in  the  approaching  coQtest.^  The  true  controversy  was  thinly 
veiled  under  the  show  of  a  doubt  about  the  person  and  state 
entitled  to  be  regarded  as  the  real  founders  of  the  city.  From 
the  first  the  Peloponnesian  element  in  the  population  had  been 
considerable,  and  now  this  section  of  the  inhabitants  put  forward 
pretensions  to  the  first  place  in  the  colony.  The  horrors  of 
civil  war  were  for  the  present  avoided  by  an  appeal  to  the 
common  oracle  of  both  races,  which  skilfully  eluded  the  diffi- 
culty, and  staved  off  the  threatened  crisis,  by  declaring  that 
Apollo  himself,  and  none  other,  was  to  be  accounted  the  founder. 
But  the  struggle  of  parties,  in  however  subdued  a  form,  must 
have  continued,  and  we  find  marked  traces  of  it  about  the 
period  of  the  Sicilian  expedition,  when  Thurium  first  wavers 
between  the  two  belligerents,^  then  joins  Athens,  banishing 
those  who  oppose  the  measure,^  and  finally,  after  the  Athenian 
disasters,  expels  three  hundred  of  its  citizens  for  the  crime  of 
Atticism,  and  becomes  an  ally  of  the  opposite  side."^ 

It  is  uncertain  whether  Herodotus  lived  to  see  all  these 
vicissitudes.     The  place  and  time  of  his  death  are  matters  of 


Eurymaclius,    and    his    fate    (compare  though  not  mentioned  by  him).  I  should 

Thucyd.  ii.  2,  and  5,  ad  fin.);  2.  the  be-  incline  also  to  assign  the  flight  of  Zopy- 

trayal  of  the  Peloponnesian  ambassadors  rus  (iii.  160,  ad  fin.)  to  the  same  period 

to  the  Athenians  by  Sitalces  (vii.  137),  (b.c.  431  or  430).    No  little  events  are  re- 

where  he  has  the  names  of  three,  the  lated  of  a  later  date. 

place  where  they  were  seized,  and  the  ^  Page  19. 

fact  of  their  being  brought  to  Athens  '  Diod.  Sic.  xii,  23.     The  description, 

for  punishment:  with  an  allusion  also  although  placed  under  one  year,  seems 

to  the  cause  of  the  exasperation  of  the  applicable  to  a  longer  period,     {diairo- 

Athenians  against  them  its  elAe  a\ieas  Xeixovures  —  iiropdovv  —  iroWas    /xcixas 

rovs  e/c  Tipvueos;  comp.  Thucyd.  ii.  67,  Kal  aKpo^oXiaixovs.)     Compare  Antioch. 

ad  fin.);  and,  3.  the  sparing  of  Decelea,  Fr.  12. 

when  the  country  between  Brilessus  and  *  Ibid.  xii.  35. 

Parnes  was  ravaged  by  Archidamus  (ix.  ^  Thucyd.  vi.  104.         ^  Ibid.  vii.  33. 

73;   the  fact  is  quite  compatible  with  "^  Dionys.  Hal.  Lys.  iv.  p.  453. 

the   statements  of  Thucydides,  ii.   23, 


26  PEKIOD  OF  HIS  DECEASE.  Life  and 

controversy.  Some  writers  of  great  eminence  have  thouglit  it 
plain  from  his  work  that  he  must  not  only  have  been  alive,  but 
have  been  still  engaged  in  its  composition,  at  least  as  late  as  his 
seventy-seventh  year.^  One  tradition  even  prolongs  his  life  to 
the  year  B.C.  394,^  when  his  age  would  have  been  ninety.  Of 
the  place  of  his  death  three  accounts  are  given ;  according  to 
one  he  died  at  Pella  in  ]\Iacedonia ;  ^  according  to  another,  at 
Athens;^  while  a  third  placed  his  decease  at  Thurium.^  When 
the  evidence. is  so  conflicting,  it  is  impossible  that  the  con- 
clusions drawn  from  it  can  be  more  than  conjectural.  There 
seems,  however,  to  be  great  reason  to  doubt  whether  Herodotus 
really  enjoyed  the  length  of  life  which  has  been  commonly 
assigned  to  him.  There  is  no  passage  in  his  writings  of  which 
we  can  say  that  it  must  certainly  have  been  written  later  than 
B.C.  430.^  There  are  a  few  which  may  have  been  composed 
about  B.C.  425  or  424,^  but  none  which,  rightly  understood,  give 
the  slightest  indication  of  any  later  date.^  The  work  of  Hero- 
dotus, therefore,  contains  no  sign  that  he  outlived  his  sixtieth 
year,  and  perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  the  balance  of  evidence  is 
in  favour  of  his  having  died  at  Thurium  when  he  was  about 
sixty.^     His  tomb  was  shown  in  the  market-place  of  that  city ; 


^  See  Dahlmann's  Life  of  Herodotus,  ad  fin.),  which  was  towards  the  close  of 

eh.  iii.  §  1,  ad  fin. ;  Mure's  Literature  of  the    reign    of    Artaxerxes   (Ctes.    Exc. 

Greece,  vol.  iv.  App.  G. ;  and  Dr.  Schmitz's  §  43);  and  the  apparent  mention  of  that 

article  in  Smith's  Biographical  Diction-  reign  as  past  (vi.  98),  which  would  be 

ary,  vol.  ii.  p.  432.  decisive,  if  it  distinctly  asserted  what  it 

^  Suidas  (ad  voc.  'EKKciviKos)  makes  is  supposed  to  imply. " 

Herodotus  visit  the  court  of  Amyntas  II.,  ^  The  passages  alleged  by  Dahlmann 

king  of  Macedon,  who  only  mounted  the  (i,  130;  iii.  15;  and  ix.  73)  are  explained 

throne  in  B.C.  394.     (See  Clinton,  F.  H.  in  the  notes  ad  he. 

vol.  ii.  App.  ch.  4.)  '  The  negative  evidence  derived  from 

^  Suidas   (ad  voc.  'HpJSoros)  Reports  the   absence    from   his    great  work   of 

this  tradition,  but  expresses  his  disbe-  touches  clearly  marking  a  later  date,  is 

lief  of  it.  an  argument  of  great  importance,  when 

^  Marcellin.  in  vit.  Thuycd.  p.  ix.  it  is  observed   how  frequent  and  con- 

3  This  was  the  view  of  Suidas,  who  tinuous  such  touches  are  up  to  a  parti - 

says:    Ets  r})  ®ovpiov,  aTcoiKi^oix^vou  vwh  cular  period.     The  complete  silence  with 

'A0')7J/a£Ct)j/,  e0eAovT7js  ■^A0e,  KCLKel  reXew-  regaled  to  the  Sicilian  expedition,  which, 

T7](ras  iirl  ttjs  ayopas  rtOaTrrai.  if  it   had  passed  before  his  eyes,   must 

<  It  cannot  be  proved  that  any  event  have  appeared  to  him  the  most  important 

recorded  by  Herodotus  is  more  recent  event  of  his  time,  seems  to  show  that  at 

than  the   betrayal    of  the  Spartan  and  least  he  did  not  outlive  B.C.  415.     Had 

Cof-inthian  ambassadors  into  the  hands  he   witnessed   the   struggle,    he  would 

of  the   Athenians    (Herod,  vii.   133-7),  almost  certainly  have  made  some  allu- 

which  took  place  in  the  autumn  of  B.C.  sion  to  it.     Had  he  seen  its  close,  he 

430.     (Thucyd.  ii.  67.)  could  not  have  made  the  assertion  in 

5  As   the   cruel   deed   committed   by  book  vii.  ch.  170,  that  a  certain  slaughter 

Amestris  m  A<?r  oW  cr^^  (vii.  114),  which,  of  Tarentines    and   Rhegines   was    the 

however,  cannot  be  determined  within  greatest  which  ever   befel  the  Greeks, 

a  space  of  1 0  or  15  years  ;  the  desertion  Had  he  been  still  living  when  Thurium 

pf  Zopyrus  to  the  Athenians  (iii.  1(30,  joined  the  Peloponnesian  side  in   B.C. 


Writings.  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  27 

and  there  probably  was  the  epitaph  quoted  by  ancient  writers. 
The  story  of  his  having  been  buried  with  Thueydides  at  Athens 
is  absurd  upon  its  face.  It  might  suit  the  romance  writers  to 
give  the  two  great  historians  a  single  tomb  ;  but  nothing  can  be 
more  unlikely  than  such  a  happy  conjunction.  Thueydides, 
moreover,  was  buried  in  the  family  burial-place  of  the  Cimonidae, 
where  "it  was  not  lawful  to  inter  a  stranger."^  How  then 
should  Herodotus  have  rested  within  its  precincts  ?  unless  it  be 
said  that  he  too  was  of  the  Cimonian  family,  which  no  ancient 
writer  asserts.  The  legend  of  his  death  at  Pella  belongs  to  the 
very  improbable  tale  of  his  having  enjoyed,  in  company  with 
Hellanicus  and  Euripides,^  the  hospitality  of  Amyntas  II.,  king 
of  Macedon,  who  ascended  the  throne  B.C.  394,  Avhen  Herodotus 
would  have  been  ninety !  On  the  whole  it  seems  most  probable 
that  the  historian  died  at  Thurium  (shortly  after  his  return  from 
a  visit  paid  to  Athens  in  about  the  year  B.C.  430  or  429),  at  an 
age  little,  if  at  all,  exceeding  sixty.^  He  would  thus  have 
escaped  the  troubles  which  afflicted  his  adopted  country  during 
the  later  portion  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  and  have  been  spared 
the  pain  of  seeing  the  state  of  which  he  was  a  citizen  enrol 
herself  among  the  enemies  of  his  loved  and  admired  Athens. 

No  author  tells  us  anything  of  the  domestic  life  of  Herodotus. 
If  we  may  be  allowed  to  form  a  conjecture  from  this  silence,  it 
seems  fair  to  suppose  that  he  was  unmarried.  His  estimate  of 
the  female  character  is  not  high ;  ^  and  his  roving  propensities  in 
his  earlier  days  would  have  interposed  a  bar  to  matrimony  at 
the  time  of  life  when  men  commonly  enter  on  it.  That  he 
died  childless  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  position  in  which  he 
is  made  to  stand  to  a  certain  PlesirrhoUs,  who  is  said  to  have 
inherited  all  his  property,  and  to  have  brought  out  his  work 


412,  lie  would  have  been  banished  with  ciously   remarks  that  the   peculiarities 

Lysias,  and  would  then  probably  never  insisted  on  may  "  with  better  reason  be 

have  been  known  as  "the  Thurian."  regarded  as  reflecting  the  mind  of  the 

'^  Marcellinus  proves  the  family  con-  man  than  the  time  of  life  at  which  he 

nexion  of  Thueydides  with  the  Cimonidae  wrote.     The  author  of  a  narrative  treat - 

by  the  fact  of  his  tomb  being  among  the  ing  at   similar   length,    and  in  equally 

jUJ/Tj/iara  Kifiuuia  (Vit,  Thucyd.  p.  ix.) : —  popular  vein,  the  more  interesting  vicis- 

^evos  yap  ouSets,  he  says,  ewe?  OdirreTai.  situdes  of  a  national  history,  will  usually 

'^  Suidas  ad  voc. 'EAAaj/iKos.  be   found,"    he   observes,    "where  the 

^  It  has  been  argued  that  the  general  notices  of  his  life  are  scanty  or  fabulous, 

tone  and  character  of  our  author's  work  taking  his  place  in  the  traditions  of  his 

prove  him  to  have  composed  it  in  old  country,  and  in  the  fancy  of  his  readers, 

age  (Dahlmann,    p.   37,    E.   T.;  Jager,  as  an  aged  man."    (Literature  of  Greece, 

Disp.  Herod,   p.    16;  Biihr,  de  Vit.  et  vol.  iv.  p.  517.) 
Script.  Herod.  §  4);  but  Col.  Mure  judi-         2  Compare  i.  4  and  8;  ii.  Ill,  &c. 


28  WANT  OF  FINISH  IN  HIS  WORK.  Life  and 

after  his  death.'^  These  statements  rest,  it  must  be  admitted, 
on  authority  of  the  least  trustworthy  kind ;  but  it  seems  rash  to 
reject  them  as  worthless.  They  have  no  internal  improbability ; 
and  it  is  in  their  favour  that  they  are  not  such  as  it  would  have 
been  worth  any  man's  while  to  invent. 

The  great  work  of  Herodotus,  to  which  he  had  devoted  so 
many  years,  was  not  perhaps  regarded  by  him  as  altogether 
complete  at  his  decease.  He  was  continually  adding  touches  to 
it,  as  events  came  to  his  knowledge  which  seemed  to  him  in  any 
way  to  illustrate  or  confirm  his  narrative.  In  one  place,  itself 
perhaps  among  the  latest  additions  to  the  history,"*  he  promises 
to  relate  an  occurrence,  for  which  we  look  in  vain  through  the 
remaining  pages.  This  may  be  a  mere  inadvertence,  parallel  to 
that  which  has  permitted  the  repetition  of  a  foolish  tale  about 
the  priestesses  of  Pedasa,  with  a  variation  in  the  story  which 
reads  like  a  contradiction.^  But  it  has  generally  been  regarded 
as  a  trace  of  incompleteness,  which  is  not  unlikely  to  be  the 
true  account,  the  author  having  designed  to  introduce  the 
sequel  of  the  narrative  at  a  later  point  in  his  history,  but  having 
died  before  proceeding  so  far.  If  his  decease  occurred  when  he 
was  about  sixty,  this  would  be  far  more  probable  than  if  we 
were  bound  to  accept  the  common  notion  of  his  longevity. 
Dahlmann  s  supposition  ^  that  Herodotus,  writing  at  the  age  of 
seventy-seven,  was  still  contemplating  not  only  small  improve- 
ments, but  a  lengthy  digression  on  a  most  important  subject,  if 
not  an  entirely  new  work,  is  as  unlikely  as  anything  that  can 
well  be  imagined  on  such  a  subject.  If  the  History  of  Hero- 
dotus strikes  us  as  wanting  finish,  both  in  some  points  of  detail 
and  in  the  aw^kwardness  and  abruptness  of  its  close,  we  may 
fairly  ascribe  the  defect  to  the  untimely  death  of  the  writer, 


^  These  particulars   are   reported  by  said  to  have  occurred  three  times,  in  the 

Hephtestion  (^ap.  Phot,  Bibliothec.  Cod.  last  is  mentioned  as  having  only  been 

190,  p.  478  j,  a  late  writer  of  small  autho-  witnessed  twice.     The  discrepancy  may 

rity,  who  moreover  throws  discredit  on  perhaps  be  explained  by  the  considera- 

liis  own  anecdotes  by  allowing  them  to  tion,  that  the  three  closing  books  were 

contradict  one  another.     The  same  Pie-  written  before  the  others.     (See  note  on 

sirrhoiis,  who  in  two  of  his  tales  is  made  Book  vii.  1.)     The  third  occurrence  may 

to  be  our  author's  heir,   in  another  is  have  fallen  in  the  interval  between  the 

said  to   have  committed  suicide  while  composition   of  Book  viii.  and  Book  i., 

Herodotus  was  still  engaged  upon  his  and  tlie  passage  in  Book  viii.  may  have 

wcirk.     (Ibid.  p.  483.)  been  left  as  composed  by  inadvertence. 

^  Book  vii.  ch.  213.  **  Life  of  Herodotus,  ch.  ix.  §  2.     Col. 

^"?ee^"""ir--47'5,    and^  viii.   104.      The  Mure  adopts  the  same  view.      (Lit.  of 

miracle,   which  in  the  first  passage  is  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  27U-1.) 


Writings.  CAUSES  OF  ITS  INCOMPLETENESS.  29 

who  was  probably  not  older  than  sixty,  and  perhaps  not  more 
than  fifty-five  at  his  decease.  Had  his  life  been  lengthened  to 
the  term  ordinarily  allotted  to  man,  the  little  blemishes  which 
modern  criticism  discerns  might  have  been  removed,  and  the 
work  have  shown  thronghout  the  finished  grace  whicli  the 
master's  hand  is  wont  to  impart  when  it  consciously  gives  the 
last  touches. 


30  SOURCES  OF  THE  HISTOEY.  Life  axd 


CHAPTEK    II. 

ON  THE  SOURCES  FROM  WHICH  HERODOTUS  COMPILED  HIS  HISTORY. 

Importance  of  the  question.  Historical  materials  already  existing  in  Greece. 
Works  of  three  kinds  :  1.  Mythological;  2.  Geographical;  3.  Strictly  historical. 
How  far  used  as  materials  by  Herodotus.  Xanthus.  Charon,  Dionysius. 
The  geographers  :  Hecatseus,  Scylax,  Aristeas.  The  poets.  Chief  source  of 
the  History  of  Herodotus,  personal  observation  and  inquiry.  How  far  authen- 
ticated by  monumental  records:  1.  In  Greece;  2.  In  foreign  countries  — 
Egypt,  Babylon,  Persia.     General  result. 

In  order  to  estimate  aright,  either  the  historical  value  of  the 
great  work  of  our  author,  or  the  credit  that  is  due  to  him  for  its 
composition,  it  is  necessary  to  make  some  inquiry  as  to  the 
materials  which  he  possessed  and  the  sources  from  which  he 
drew  his  narrative.  "  The  value  of  every  history,  as  a  work  of 
utility,  must  primarily  depend  on  the  copiousness  and  authen- 
ticity of  the  materials  at  the  author's  disposal."^  And  the 
merit  of  the  author  as  an  historian  must  be  judged  from  the 
sagacity  which  he  shows  in  the  comparative  estimate  of  the 
various  sources  of  his  information,  and  the  use  which  he  makes 
of  the  stock  of  materials,  be  it  scanty  or  abundant,  to  which 
circumstances  give  him  access.  To  judge,  then,  either  of  the 
writer  or  his  work,  we  must  inquire  what  the  sources  of  informa- 
tion were  from  which  Herodotus  had  it  in  his  power  to  draw, 
and  to  what  extent  he  availed  himself  of  them. 

Now  it  seems  certain  that  a  considerable  store  of  written 
historical  information  already  existed  in  the  native  language  of 
Herodotus  at  the  time  when  he  commenced  his  history.  His- 
torical composition  had  not,  indeed,  begun  at  a  very  distant 
date  ;  but  from  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  there  had 
been  a  rapid  succession  of  writers  in  this  department,  more 
especially  among  the  fellow-countrymen  of  our  author  in  Asiatic 
Greece.  Setting  aside  Cadmus  of  Miletus  as  a  personage  whose 
existence  is  at  least  doubtful,^  there  may  certainly  be  enume- 


1  See  Mure's   Literature    of  Greece,     well  condensed  by  Miiller  in  his  second 
vol.  iv.  pp.  294-5.  volume  of  the  Fragmenta  Hist.   Grgec. 

^  The  arguments  against  Cadmus  are    pp.  3,  4. 


Writings.  EXISTING  HISTOEICAL  MATEKIALS.  31 

rated  as  labourers  in  tlie  historical  field  during  tliis  and  the  first 
lialf  of  the  ensuing  century,  Euggeon  of  Samos,  Bion  and 
Deiochus  of  Proconnesus,  Eudemus  of  Paros,  Amelesagoras  of 
Chalcedon,  Democles  of  Phygela,  Hecataeus  and  Dionysius  of 
Miletus,  Charon  of  Lampsacus,  Damastes  of  Sigeum,  Xanthus  of 
Sardis,  and  Pherecydes  of  Leros — all  natives  of  As^  Minor,  or 
the  islands  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  the  autliors  of  books 
on  historical  subjects  before  or  about  the  time  when  Herodotus 
read  the  first  draft  of  his  work  at  Athens.  Besides  these  writers 
there  were  others  of  considerable  reputation  in  more  distant 
parts  of  Greece,  as  Acusilaiis  of  Argos,  Theagenes  and  Hippys 
of  Khegium,  Polyzelus  of  Messenia,^  &c.,  whose  productions 
belong  to  the  same  period.  The  works  of  these  historians,  so 
far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  notices  of  ancient  authors,*  and 
the  fragments  we  possess  of  many  of  them,^  are  divisible  into 
three  classes,  of  very  different  importance  and  authority.  The 
earlier  writers,  who  are  fairly  represented  by  Acusilaiis,  seem  to 
have  devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  the  ancient  Greek 
legends,  belonging  to  the  mythical  period  before  the  return  of 
the  Heracleids.  "They  wrote  works  which  they  called  generally 
"  Genealogies  "  or  "  Theogonies,"  ^  imitated  closely  from  the  old 
genealogical  poets,  such  as  Hesiod,  whose  poem  entitled  '*  Theo- 
gonia"  is  said  to  have  been  the  model  followed  by  some  of 
them.^  No  complete  production  of  the  kind  by  a  writer  of  this 
early  age  has  come .  down  to  us ;  but  the  Bibliotheca  of  the 
grammarian  ApoUodorus  ^  is  perhaps  a  tolerable  representation 
of  their  usual  character. 

The  next  subject  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  prose 
writers,  and  on  which  works  were  composed  by  some  of  the 
authors  above-mentioned,  was  geography.  At  all  times  an 
important  element   in  historical   research,  this   study,  in  the 


^  For   a    detailed    account    of    these  ^  As  the  works  of  Acusilaiis  and  Heca- 

writers     and     their     productions,    see  teeus,  entitled  TeueaXoyiai  (Suid.  ad  voc. 

Miiller's  Fr.  H.  G.  vols.  i.  and  ii.  Comp.  Acusilaiis,  Steph.  Byz.,  &c.),  and  that 

Clinton's  Fasti  Hellenici,  vol.  ii.  Appen-  of  Pherecydes,  which  was  called  ©eo- 

dix,  ch.  21,   and  Mure,  vol.  iv.   ch.  3.  youla  (Suid.). 

JIatthise's   Manual   of    the    History   of  '  Clement  says  of  Acusilaiis  and  Eu- 

Greek   and  Roman  Literature,  though  melus  (Eudemus  ?) — ra  'Haiodov  fierrjK- 

scanty,  is  useful.  Xa^av    els  ire(hv   \6you   (Strom,    vi.    p. 

4  Particularly  from  Suidas.  752-6).       The   fragments   of    Acusilaiis 

^  Sturz  and  Creuzer  were  the  first  to  show  the  statement  to  be  true, 

begin   the  collection  of  these  valuable  ^  Printed    in    the    first    volume     of 

remains  of  antiquity,  which  has  at  last  Miiller's  Fragm.  H.  Gr.,  and  edited  in  a 

been  accomplished,  so  as  to  leave  nothing  separate  form  by  Tanaquil  Faber  (Sau- 

to   desire,  by  C.    Miiller,  in  the  work  mur,   1611),  Heyne  (Gottingen,  1782^, 

already  so  often  quoted.  and  Clavier  (Paris,  1805;. 


82 


GEOGRAPHICAL  MATERIALS. 


Life  A^'D 


earlier  period  of  Greek  literature,  was  scarcely  distinguished 
from  that  nobler  science  of  which  it  is  properly  the  handmaid. 
Scylax  of  Caryanda,^  Hecataeus/  Dionysius,  according  to  one 
account,^  Charon/  Damastes,*  and  perhaps  Democles,^  wrote 
treatises  on  general  or  special  geogTaphy,  into  which  they  inter- 
wove occasional  notices  belonging  to  the  history  of  the  country 
whose  features  they  were  engaged  in  describing.  These  labours 
led  the  way  to  history  proper.  Dionysius  of  Miletus,  a  con- 
temporary and  countryman  of  Hecatseus,^  seems  to  have  set  the 
example  by  the  composition  of  a  work  entitled  Persica,  or 
Persian  History,  which  probably  traced  the  progress  of  that 
nation  from  the  time  of  Cyrus  to  a  period  which  cannot  be  fixed 
in  the  reicfn  of  Xerxes.'^  This  work  would  seem  to  have  been 
written  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century  B.c.^  The  example 
thus  set  was  soon  followed  by  others.  Charon  of  Lampsacus, 
and  Xanthus  of  Sardis,  towards  the  middle  of  the  century, 
composed  treatise^  partly  on  the  special  history  of  their 
own  countries,  partly  on  more  general  subjects.  Charon,  in 
his  Hellenica  and  Persica,  went  over  most  of  the  ground 
which  is  traversed  by  Herodotus,®  while  in  his  Prytanes,  or 


9  The  work  which  has  come  down  to 
us  under  the  name  of  this  writer  is  un- 
doubtedly spurious,  but  still  it  is  a  sign 
that  a  genuine  work  had  once  existed. 
There  is  further  evidence  in  the  passages 
quoted  by  Aristotle  (^Polit.  vii.  13)  and 
others,  which  do  not  occur  in  the  ficti- 
tious Scylax. 

*  The  great  work  of  Hecatseus  was 
entitled  '  The  Circuit  of  the  Earth ' 
{yris  Tvepiodos).  It  contained  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  known  world,  which  he 
divided  into  two  paints,  Europe  and  Asia, 
including  in  the  latter  Africa.  The 
coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  were  de- 
scribed in  detail;  but  only  scanty  know- 
ledge was  shown  of  the  more  inland 
tracts.  For  a  complete  account  see 
Klausen's  Fragments  of  Hecatseus,  and 
Mure's  Literature  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  pp. 
144-158. 

2  Suidas  (ad  voc.  Aiovva-ios  Mi\7]- 
(Tios)  ascribes  to  him  a  work  entitled 
'  U€pi7]y7)(Tis  olKovjxevns,'  or  a  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Inhabited  World ;  but  it 
is  doubted  whether  the  book  intended 
is  not  that  of  the  Augustan  geographer 
commonly  known  as  Dionysius  I'erie- 
getes  (^Bernhardy  ad  Dion.  Per.  p.  489; 
Midler  ad  Fragm.  H.  G.  vol.  ii.  p.  6). 

**  Charon  wrote  a  Periplus  of  the  parts 


lying  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules 
(Suidas). 

'*  Damastes  is  quoted  by  Strabo  on  the 
geography  of  the  Troas,  and  of  Cyprus 
(xiii.  p,  842,  and  xiv.  p.  973 ),  Agathemer 
says  (i.  1)  that  he  wrote  a  Periplus.  His 
geography  was  followed  to  a  considerable 
extent  by  Eratosthenes  fStrab.  i.  p.  68 .. 

^  Democles  treated  of  the  "  Volcanic 
phenomena  in  Asia  Minor"  (^Strab.  i.  p. 
85),  probably  in  a  geographical  work. 

^  Suidas  ad  voc.  'E/caraTos. 

'^  Since  he  is  said  to  have  written  a 
work  '  On  events  subsequent  to  the  reign 
of  Darius '  (Suidas). 

^  Suidas  says  that  Dionysius  flourished 
contemporaneously  with  Hecatceus.  It 
is  not  likely,  therefore,  that  he  outlived 
Darius  many  years.  Hecatseus  seems  to 
have  died  soon  after  B.C.  480  (Suidas  ad 
voc.  'Y.XKa.viKos). 

■'  Charon  related  the  dream  of  Asty- 
ages  with  regard  to  his  daughter  Man- 
dan^;  the  revolt  and  flight  of  Pactyas 
the  Lydian,  first  to  Mytilen($,  and  then 
to  Chios,  with  his  final  capture  by  the 
Persians  ;  the  aid  lent  by  Athens  to  the 
revolted  loniaus,  the  sack  of  Sardis 
except  the  citadel,  and  the  retreat  fol- 
lowing closely  upon  it;  also  the  disasters 
which    Mardonius    experienced     about 


Wkitings.  legend-writers.  33 

"  Chief  Killers  of  Sparta,"  lie  laid  perliaps  the  first  foundation 
among  the  Greeks  of  a  practical  system  of  chronology/  He 
was  likewise  the  author  of  a  work  or  works  ^  on  the  annals  of 
liis  native  city,  Lampsacus,  of  which  several  fragments  have 
come  down  to  us.  Xanthus  treated  at  length  of  the  history  of 
Lydia,  not  only  during  the  recent'  dynasty  of  the  Mermnadse,^ 
but  also  during  the  remoter  times  of  the  Heraclidse,  and  even 
of  the  Atyadge.  He  indulged  in  ethnological,  linguistic,  and 
geological  dissertations ;  *  and  must  have  written  a  history,  in 
the  general  character  of  its  matter  not  very  unlike  that  of  our 
author.  A  book  upon  the  Magian  priest  caste  is  also  assigned 
to  him ;  but  it  is  so  seldom  quoted  ^  that  some  doubt  may  be 
considered  to  attach  to  it.  About  the  same  time  probably, 
Hippys  of  Khegium  composed  an  account  of  the  colonisation  of 
Italy  and  Sicily,  and  also  a  chronological  work,  the  exact  nature 
of  which  cannot  be  determined.^  It  is  likely  that  besides  these 
authors  there  may  have  been  many  others,  who,  under  the 
general  name  of  Logographers  or  legend- writers,  devoted  them- 
selves to  historical  subjects,  and  especially  to  that  which  could 
not  fail  to  exercise-  a  particular  attraction,  the  history  of  the  war 
with  Persia.' 

This  biief  review  is  perhaps  enough  to  indicate  the  general 
character  of  the  materials  which  existed  in  the  historical  lite- 
rature of  his  country  at  the  time  when  Herodotus  may  be 
presumed  to  have  written.^     It  is,  however,  quite   a  distinct 


Mount  Athos.     He  likewise  noticed  the  Nicholas  of  Damascus  with  his  materials 

flight  of  Themistocles  to  Asia,  which  he  for  the  history  of  the  kings  in  question. 

placedinthereignofArtaxerx.es.    Thus  "*  See   his    Fragments,    Frs.    1,    3,   4, 

his  narrative  would  seem  to  have  come  and  8. 

down   to   a   later   date  than   the   main  ^  Twice  only,  viz.  by  Diogenes  Laertins 

narrative  of  Herodotus. '  (Proem.   §  2),  and  by  Clemens  Alexan- 

^  Suidas,    who    alone   mentions    this  drinus  (Strom,  iii.  p.  515).     The  former 

work,  notices  that  it  was  chronological,  passage   has  been  doubted   (Miiller,    p. 

^  Suidas  mentions  two  books  of  Cha-  44),  but  without  sufficient  reason, 

ron's  on  this  subject,  and  the  extracts  ^  Suidas     merely     calls     this     work 

from  his  waitings  concerning  Lampsacus,  XpoviKo..     The  few  fragments  which  re- 

which  have  come  down  to  us,  furnish  main  of  it  seem  to  show  that  its  compass 

three   distinct    titles,   but    it    may   be  was  great  and  its  affectation  of  accuracy 

doubted  whether  all  the  references  are  remarkable  (see  Fragments  1,  2,  3,  and 

not  really  to   a  single   treatise,      (See  5).    Theconjecture  that  the  other  works 

Mviller's  Frag.  H.  Gr.  vol.  i.  pp.  xix.-  ascribed  to  Hippys  were  portions  of  his 

XX.)  XpoviKo.  (which  Col.  Mure  approves,  p. 

3  Col.  Mure  doubts  whether  Xanthus  178),  is  not  borne  out  by  the  citations, 

treated  of  this  period,  because  "  not  one  (See  Miiller's  Fr.  H.  G.  vol.  ii.  pp.  13- 

of  the  successors  of  Gyges  is  noticed  in  15.) 

his  Fragments"  (Lit.  of  Greece,  vol,  iv.  7  That  several  of  the  early  writers  had 

p.   173),   but  it  has  with  much  reason  treated  this  subject  is  plain  from  Thucy- 

been  conjectured  (Miiller,  vol.  i.  p.  40)  dides  (i.  97). 

that    the   work   of  Xanthus   furnished  ^  Hellanicus  of  Lesbos,  Stesimbrotus 

VOL.  I.  D 


34  SCARCITY  OF  BOOKS.  Like  and 

question  how  far  they  may  be  regarded  as  raaterials  really  at 
our  author's  disposal.  Moderns,  accustomed  to  the  ready 
multiplication  of  books  which  the  art  of  printing  has  intro- 
duced, and  living  in  times  when  every  writer  who  makes  any 
pretence  to  learning  is  the  owner  of  a  library,  are  apt  to 
imagine  that  the  facilities  of  reference  common  in  their  own 
day,  were  enjoyed  equally  by  the  ancients ;  but  such  a  view 
is  altogether  mistaken.  Books,  till  long  after  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  were  multiplied  wdth  difficulty,  and  were  published 
more  by  being  read  to  audiences  than  by  the  tedious  and  costly 
process  of  copying.  Herodotus,  it  is  probable,  possessed  but 
few  of  those  cumbrous  collections  of  papyrus-rolls  which  were 
required  in  his  day  to  contain  a  work  of  even  moderate  dimen- 
sions.^ The  only  prose  writer  from  whom  he  quotes  is  Hecataeus  ; 
and  we  have  no  direct  evidence  that  he  had  it  in  liis  power  to 
consult  the  w^orks  of  any  other  Greek  historian.  No  public 
libraries  are  known  to  have  existed  at  the  time ;  ^  and  had  he 
possessed  a  familiar  knowledge  of  other  authors,  it  is  difficult  to 
suppose  that  his  book  would  not  have  borne  evident  traces  of  it. 
It  is  not  his  practice  purposely  to  withhold  names,  or  to  avoid 
reference  to  his  authorities  ;  on  the  contrary  he  continually  lets 
us  see  in  the  most  artless  manner  whence  his  relations  are 
derived ;  and  nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  he  drew  them  in 
the  main,  not  from  the  books  of  writers,  but  from  the  lips  of 
those  whom  he  thought  to  have  the  best  information.     It  is 


of  Thasos,  and  Antiochus  of  Syracuse,  Frag.   Hist.   Qr.  vol.  ii.  p.  56,  Fr.  11), 

who    are    enumerated    by    Col.    Mure  and   probably   appeared    several    years 

among  the  authors  ' '  whose  works  were,  later.     Antiochus   was  also   a  contem- 

or  may  have  been,  published  before  that  of  porary,  but  as  he  continued  his  Italian 

Herodotus,"  have  been  purposely  omitted  history   down    to    the    year   B.C.    423, 

from  the  foregoing  review  as  writers  of  Herodotus  can   scarcely   have   profited 

too  late  a  date  to  come  properly  within  it.  by  him. 

Hellanicus  was  indeed,  if  we  may  trust  ^  Books  consisted  of  a  number  of 
Pamphila,  some  years  older  than  our  sheets  of  papyrus  (a  coarse  material) 
author,  but  he  must  be  regarded  as  a  pasted  together,  with  writing  on  one 
later  loriter ;  since,  1 .  in  his  great  w^ork  side  only,  rolled  rovmd  a  thickish  staff, 
(the  Atthis)  he  alluded  to  the  battle  of  So  small  a  work  as  the  Metamorphoses 
Arginusee,  which  was  fought  in  B.C.  of  Ovid  requii-ed  fifteen  such  cumbrous 
406,  nearly  20  years  after  the  time  rolls  (Ov.  Trist.  i.  117). 
when  Herodotus  seems  to  have  died  ;  ^  Polycrates  had  formed  a  public 
and,  2.  it  is  related  of  him  that  he  library  at  Samos  (Athenseus,  i.  i.  p. 
read  (Schol.  ad.  Soph.  Phil.  20.1)  and  9,  Schw.),  and  Pisistratus  at  Athens 
copied  Herodotus  (Porphyr.  ap.  Euseb.  (ibid.)  ;  but  the  latter  had  certainly 
Pr.  Ev.  X.  p.  466  b).  Stesimbrotus  been  carried  to  Susa  by  Xerxes  (Aul. 
was  as  nearly  as  possible  contemporary  Gell.  vi.  17);  and  it  is  very  unlikely 
with  our  author,  but  his  only  historical  that  the  former  had  escaped  the  gene- 
work,  the  'Memoirs  of  Themistocles,  ral  ruin  consequent  iipon  the  treachery 
Thucydides,  and  Pericles,'  could  not  of  Mseandrius  (Herod,  iii.  146-9). 
have  been  written  before  B.C.  430  (cf. 


Writings.        HEKODOTUS  NOT  INDEBTED  TO  XANTHUS.  35 

possible  tliat  lie  was  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  compositions 
of  those  previous  authors,  who  had  treated  of  subjects  of  real 
history  cominf^  within  the  scope  of  his  work.  The  fame  of  such 
persons  was  often  local ;  and  the  very  knowledge  of  their  writings 
may  in  early  times  have  been  confined  within  narrow  limits. 
It  was  the  doing  of  a  later  age — an  age  of  book-collectors  and 
antiquaries— to  draw  forth  these  authors  from  their  obscurity, 
and  invest  them  with  an  importance  to  which  they  had  little 
claim,  except  as  unread  and  ancient. 

The  authors  from  whom,  if  from  any,  Herodotus  might  have 
been  expected  to  draw,  are  three  of  those  most  recently  men- 
tioned—  Dionysius  of  Miletus,  Charon  of  Lampsacus,  and 
Xanthus  Lydus.  All  were,  so  to  speak,  his  neighbours;  and 
while  the  former  two  wrote  at  length  upon  Persian  affairs,  the 
last-mentioned  composed  an  elaborate  treatise  on  the  history  of 
his  native  country — one  of  the  subjects  which  Herodotus  re- 
garded as  coming  distinctly  within  the  scope  of  his  great  work. 
It  is  hardly  possible  that  he  would  have  neglected  these  books, 
especially  the  last,  had  they  been  known  to  him.  Yet,  from  a 
comparison  of  the  fragments,  which-  are  tolerably  extensive, 
both  of  Charon  and  of  Xanthus,  with  the  work  of  our  author,  it 
becomes  apparent  that,  whether  he  knew  the  histories  of  these 
writers  or  no,  at  any  rate  he  made  no  use  of  them.  His  Lydian 
history  shows  not  the  slightest  trace  of  aiiy  acquaintance  with 
the  labours  of  Xanthus,  whom  he  not  merely  ignores,^  but  from 
whom  he  differs  in  some  of  the  most  important  points  of  his 
narrative,  as  the  colonisation  of  Etruria,^  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Mermnadse  became  possessed  of  the  throne.* 
His  custom  of  mentioning  different  versions  of  a  story  when  he 
is  aware  of  them,  makes  it  almost  certain  that  he  did  not  know 
the  tale  which  in  the  Lydian  author  took  the  place  of  his  own 
story  of  Tyrsenus,  or  the  long  narrative,  probably  from  the  same 
source,^  which  traced  the  hereditary  feuds  of  the  Heraclide  and 
Mermnade  families.     Again,  his  remark  tliat  the  land  of  Lydia 

2  Dahlmann  has    remarked   (Life   of  *  The  certainty  of  this  depends  on  the 

Herod,   p.  91)  that  the  mere  omission  extent  to  which  it  may  be  regarded  as 

of  all  mention  on  the  part  of  Herodotus  ascertained  that  Xanthus  furnished  Ni- 

of  the  Lydian  kings  Alcimus,  Ascalus,  cholas  of  Damascus  with  the  materials 

Gambles,  &c.,  whom  Xanthus  celebrated,  of  his  Lydian  history.     I  agree  with  G. 

is  not  conclusive  ;  since  "  one  sees  from  Miiller,  that  little  doubt  can  reasonably 

his  occasional  observations  that  he  knew  be  entertained  on  the  subject.     (Frag. 

more  than  his  connected  narrative  im-  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  i.  p.  40,  and  vol.  iii.  p.  370; 

plies."     Still  it  is,  at  least,  a  suspicious  note  to  Fr.  22.) 

circumstance.  5  ]<^Iq^  Damasc.  Fr.  49. 

'  See  Xanthus,  Fr.  1. 

d2 


36  HERODOTUS  NOT  INDEBTED  TO  CHARON.  Life  and 

lias  few  natural  phenomena  deserving  notice,^  is  indicative  of 
an  ignorance  of  those  interesting  accounts — so  entirely  accordant 
with  truth  and  fact' — which  the  native  writer  had  given  of 
certain  most  peculiar  physical  appearances  in  the  interior  of 
Lydia.^  Herodotus,  whom  geological  phenomena  always  in- 
terest,^ would  certainly  not  have  omitted,  had  his  knowledge 
extended  so  far,  a  description  of  that  extraordinary  region,  the 
Catakecaumene,  which  even  to  the  modern  traveller,  with  his 
far  more  extensive  knowledge  of  the  earth's  surface,  appears  so 
remarkable.  It  seems,  therefore,  to  be  beyond  a  doubt  that 
Ephorus  was  mistaken  when  he  talked  of  Xanthus  as  "  having 
served  as  a  starting-point  to  Herodotus."  ^^  He  was  an  older 
man,  having  been  born  B.C.  499,^^  and  probably  an  earlier  writer 
(though,  as  he  mentioned  an  event  in  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes,^^ 
he  could  not  have  been  greatly  earlier)  ;  but  Herodotus  had  not 
seen,  perhaps  had  not  heard  of,  his  compositions.  Apparently, 
they  were  first  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Greeks  by 
Ephorus,  a  native  of  the  neighbouring  Cyme,  who  flourished 
during  the  reign  of  Philip  of  Macedon.  It  is  not  even  certain 
that  they  were  written  at  the  time  w^hen  Herodotus  first  com- 
posed his  history.  ^^ 

Modern  critics  have  rarely^*  failed  to  see  our  author's  entire 
independence  of  the  works  of  Xanthus ;  but  it  has  sometimes 
been  argued  that  there  are  unmistakeable  traces  of  his  having 
known  and  used  the  writings  of  Charon. ^^  Undoubtedly  he 
mentions  a  variety  of  matters,  some  of  them  matters  that  may 
be  called  trivial,  which  were  likewise  reported  by  Charon ;  but 
as  the  two  writers  went  over  exactly  the  same  ground,  they 
could  not  but  have  many  points  of  contact,  and  therefore,  pro- 
bably, of  coincidence.     The  question  is,  whether  the  points  are 


^  Book  i.  ch.  93.  his  work  in  Asia  Minor,  about  b.c.  450, 

^  See  Mr.  Hamilton's  Travels  in  Asia  he  would  have  composed  it  at  the  time 

Minor  (vol.   i.  pp.  136-144),  where  the  when   Xanthus  was  only  iifty-one,    so 

striking  features  of  this  curious  volcanic  that  it  is  quite  possible  the  Lydian  his- 

tract    are    fully    and   graphically   por-  tory  of  that  author  may  have  been  pub- 

tr^yed.  lished  afterwards.     Dionysius  spoke  of 

^  Fragments  3  and  4.  Xanthus   as  only  a  little    earlier  than 

»  See  ii.  10-12;  iv.  23  and  191  ;  vii.  Thucydides.     (Jud.  de  Thuc.  p.  818.) 

129.  ^^  Creuzer    is,    I    believe,  the    only 

'^^  Fragment  102.     'HpoSorcfj  ras  a<pop-  modern  critic  who  has  maintained  that 

jxas  he^uK6ros.  Herodotus  made  use  of  Xanthus.  (Creuz. 

"  Suiclas  ad  voc,  "Edvdos.  ad  Xanth.  Fragm.)     His  ai-guments  are 

^2  Fz-agment  3.      Artaxerxes   did  not  well    refuted    by    Dahlmann    (Life    of 

ascend  the  throne  till    B.C.  4(34,  when  Herod,  p.  91,  E.  T.). 

Herodotus  was  twenty  years  of  age.  ^^  See  Col.  Mure's  Literature  of  Greece, 

^■'  If  Herodotus  wrote  the  first  draft  of  vol.  iv.  pp.  305-7. 


Writings.   POINTS  OF  CONTACT  BETWEEN  HIM  AND  CHARON.  37 

really  so  trivial  and  tlie  coincidences  at  once  so  numerous  and 
so  exact  and  minute,  as  to  indicate  the  use  by  one  writer  of  the 
other,  or  to  imply  naturally  anything  more  than  mere  common 
truthfulness.     Now,  the   points   of  coincidence  do   not  really 
exceed  four.     Charon  and  Herodotus  alike  related  : — 1.  A  cer- 
tain dream  of  Astyages,  concerning  his  daughter   Mandane  : 
2.  The  revolt  of  Pactyas,  and  his  capture:    3.  The  taking  of 
Sardis  by  the  lonians :  and  4.  The  destruction  of  the  fleet  of 
Mardonius  off  Mount  Athos.     Of  these  four  events,  one  only — 
the  dream  of  Astyages — is  really  trivial ;  the  others  are  such  as 
every  writer  who   gave   an   account   of  the   struggle  between 
Greece  and  Persia  would  have  felt  himself  called  upon  to  men- 
tion, and  of  which,  therefore,  both  Charon  and  Herodotus  must 
necessarily  have  given  a  description.    With  regard  to  the  dream, 
we  do  not  know  in  what  words  Charon  related  it,  or  whether  his 
relation  really  coincided  closely  with   the   account   given  by 
Herodotus.    TertuUian,  who  alone  reports  the  agreement,  speaks 
of  it  in  general  terms ;  ^  and  if  it  should  be  admitted  that  he 
means  a  close  agreement,  still  it  must  be  remembered  that  Ter- 
tuUian, as  an  historical  authority,  is  weak  and  of  little  credit. 
With  regard  to  the  other  cases  of  agreement,  it  is  certain  that 
they  were  not  either  minute  or  exact.     The  Pseudo-Plutarch, 
indeed,  overstates  the  difference  between  the  writers  when  he 
represents    Charon   as   in   two   of  the   passages   contradicting 
Herodotus.^     There  is  in  neither  case  any  real  contradiction,^ 
though  the  two  writers  certainly  leave  a  different  impression ; 
but  what  deserves  particularly  to  be  remarked  is,  that  Herodotus 
on  each  occasion  furnishes  a  number  of  additional  details ;  so 
that,  although  the  narrative  of  Charon  might  (conceivably)  have 
been  drawn  from  his,  it  is  impossible  that  his  narrative  should 
have  been  taken  from  that  of  Charon.     With  regard  to  the 
remaining  passage,  there  is  still  further  indication  of  disagree- 
ment.    Charon  must  have  made  pigeons  occupy  a  prominent 
place  in  his  description  of  the  destruction  of  the  Persian  arma- 
ment ;  for  his  account  of  it  led  him  to  remark  that  "  then  first 
did  white  pigeons  appear  in  Greece,  which  had  been  quite  un- 
known previously."^     It  is   needless   to   observe   that  in   the 


1  Tertullian,  after  relating  the  dream  ^  gee   the   notes   on  the   passages  in 
from   Herodotus,    merely   says,    "  Hoc  question,  i.  160,  and  v.  102. 

etiam  Charon  Lampsacenus,   Herodoto  ''  Fr.    3  —  preserved    by    Athenaeus 

prior,  tradit."     (De  Anim.  c.  46.)  (Deipn.    ix.    p.    394    e).      Col.    Mure 

2  Cf.  Plut.  de  Malign.  Herod,  p.  859  strangely  views  this  passage  as  one  of 
A,  and  p.  861  c.d.  those  which  most  distinctly  prove  Hero- 


38        DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  HIM  AND  CHARON.        Life  and 

narrative  of  Herodotus  there  is  nothing  upon  which  such  a 
remark  could  hang.  The  circumstance,  whatever  it  was,  which 
led  Charon  to  introduce  such  a  notice,  would  seem  to  have  been 
unknown  to  our  author,  whose  love  of  marvels,  whether  natural 
or  supernatural,  would  have  prompted  him  to  seize  eagerly  on 
an  occasion  of  mentioning  so  curious  a  fact  of  natural  history. 
Further,  it  must  be  observed,  as  tending  at  least  to  throw  doubt 
on  the  supposed  use  of  the  great  work  of  Charon  by  our  author, 
that  he  was  certainly  unacquainted  with  Charon's  *  Annals  of 
Lampsacus ;'  for,  had  he  been  aware  that  Pityusa  (Fir-town) 
was  the  ancient  name  of  that  city — a  fact  put  forward  promi- 
nently by  the  Lampsacene  writer  ^ — he  could  not  have  failed  to 
see  the  real  point  of  the  famous  threat  against  the  Lampsacenes 
made  by  Croesus,  "  that  he  would  destroy  their  city  like  afir^  ^ 
It  seems,  therefore,  to  have  been  concluded  on  very  insufficient 
grounds  that  Herodotus  was  indebted  for  a  portion  of  his  mate- 
rials to  Charon:  he  was  certainly  ignorant  of  some  of  that 
author's  labours,  and  most  probably  had  no  knowledge  of  any 
of  them.''  It  is  even  possible  that  Charon,  no  less  than  Xanthus, 
may  have  published  his  works  subsequently  to  the  time  when 
Herodotus,  with  the  first  draft  of  his  history  completed,  left 
Asia  for  Attica.^ 


dotus  to  have  been  indebted  to  Charon,  Col,  Mure  mistranslates  Herodotus  when 

comparing  it  with  Herod,  i.   138,  and  he  represents  him  as  saying  "  he  abstains 

regarding  both  writers  as  bearing  testi-  from   tracing    in   detail   the   origin   or 

mony  to  the  "superstitious  aversion  of  lineage  of  the  Lacedaemonian  kings,  as 

the    Persians   to  white  pigeons."      But  that  had    been  fully  done   by  others." 

how  does  Charon's  statement  that  "white  What  Herodotu.s  abstains  from  tracing 

pigeons  first  appeared  in  Greece  at  the  is  not  "  the  origin  and  lineage  of  the 

time  of  Mardonius'  failure,"  imply  that  Lacedaemonian  kings,"  but  the  estab- 

the     Persians    looked    on    them    with  lishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Danaiis  in 

"superstitious  aversion"?  the  Peloponnese.     This  was  a  favourite 

^  See  the  fragment,  preserved  by  Plu-  subject  with  the  mythologers,  whether 

tarch  (De  Virt.  Mulier.  p.  255  a),  which  poets   or  prose  writers.      See  note   to 

is  placed  sixth  in  the  arrangement  of  Book  vi.  ch.  55. 

Miiller  (Fr.  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  i.  p.  33).  8  The  age  of  Charon  is  very  uncertain. 

^  "  IIiTuos  rpSirov."     Herod,  vi.  37.  The  passage  in  Suidas  which  should  fix 

■^  Col.  Mure  thinks  that  the  work  of  his  birth  is  corrupt;  and  we  are  thus  left 

Herodotus  contains  an  allusion  (vi.  55)  without  any  exact  data  for  his  period  of 

to  Charon's  'Spartan  Magistrates'  (Lit.  writing.      He  is  generally  said  to  have 

of^  Greece,  vol.   iv.  p.  306).     Charon  is,  been  earlier   than   Herodotus   (Dionys. 

he  observes,    "  the  only  author  who  is  Hal.  de  Thuc.  Jud.  p.   769  ;    Plut.  de 

recorded  to  have  treated  of  the  subjects"  Malign.  Her.  p.  859  a;  Tertull.  de  An. 

which  Herodotus  there  passes  over  as  c.  46);  and  Suidas  makes  his  acme  syn- 

already  considered  by  others.     But  even  chronise  with   the   Persian   war.      But 

granting — what  is  not  at  all  certain —  there  is  evidence  that  he  composed  his- 

that  Charon's  work  contained  an  account  tory  later  than  B.C.  465,  since  he  spoke 

of  the  ante-Dorian  period,  it  is    clear  of  the   flight   of  Themistoclea   to    the 

that  he  was  not  the  only  writer  who  had  court  of  Artaxerxes  in  that  year.    (Plut, 

treated  of  the  subject,  since  Herodotus  Vit.  Themistocl.  c.  27.)     Dionysius  (1. 

in  the  passage  itself  refers  to  several,  a.  c.)  couples  him  with  Hellanicus,  who 


Writings.         DIONYSIUS  OF  MILETUS— HECAT^US.  39 

With  regard  to  Dionysius  of  Miletus,  the  remaining  author, 
whose  works  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  used  largely  by 
Herodotus,  it  is  impossible  to  come  to  a  conclusion  by  the  aid 
of  any  such  analysis  as  that  which  has  served  to  negative  the 
claims  of  Charon  and  Xanthus,  since  of  Dionysius  we  do  not 
possess  any  fragments.^  His  age  is  certainly  such  as  to  make  it 
likely  that  Herodotus  would  have  known  of  his  writings ;  ^  but 
the  absolute  silence  observed  by  our  author  with  regard  to  him, 
and  the  probable  bareness  and  scantiness  of  his  narrative,  con- 
travene the  notion  that  his  historical  works,  however  great  an 
advance  upon  those  of  his  predecessors,  were  found  by  Herodotus 
to  be  very  valuable,  either  as  materials  for  history  or  as  models 
of  style.  As  the  earliest  of  the  prose  writers  who  turned  his 
attention  to  the  relation  of  actual  facts,  we  may  be  sure  that  he 
fully  shared  in  that  dryness  and  jejuneness  of  composition,  that 
Laconic  curtness  of  narration,  and  that  preference  of  the  trivial 
over  the  important,  which  characterise  the  productions  of  the 
period.^  Still  Herodotus  may  have  used  this  writer  for  the 
events  wherewith  he  was  contemporary,  especially  for  those  of 
which  Ionia  was  the  scene,  and  of  which  Dionysius  must  have 
been  an  eye-witness ;  and  there  is  at  any  rate  more  likelihood 
of  his  having  been  under  important  obligations  to  this  author 
than  to  any  of  those  other  historical  writers  from  whom  he  has 
been  thought  to  have  borrowed. 

The  only  prose  works  with  which  Herodotus  distinctly  shows 
himself  familiar  are  the  "  Genealogies  "  and  "  Geography  "  of 
Hecataeus,  and  the  treatises  of  the  mythologers.  From  these 
sources  he  may  undoubtedly  have  drawn  to  some  considerable 
extent ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  he  refers  to  Hecatseus  chiefly 
in  disparagement,^  and  to  the  mythological  writers  as  relieving 
him  from  the  necessity  of  entering  upon  a  subject  which  had 
been  discussed  by  them.*     It  must,  therefore,  on  the  whole  be 


outlived   the  battle   of  Arginusae,  B.C.  other  notices  that  he  made  the  name  of 

406,  and  according  to  one  account  re-  Mount  Hsemus  neuter.      (See  Miiller's 

sided  at  the  court  of  Amyntas  II.,  who  Fragm.  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  ii.  p.  5.)     Nothing 

ascended  the  throne  in  B.C.  394.      As  is  to  be  gathered  from  such  scanty  and 

Hellanicus  was  certainly  a  later  writer  insignificant  data. 

than  Herodotus,  so  Charon  may  have  ^  He   was   contemporary  with  Heca- 

been.  taeus  (Suidas  ad  voc.    "E^Karaios),    with 

5  Only  two  references  to  matters  con-  whom  he  is  usually  coupled, 

tained  in  the  works  of  Dionysius  have  2  ggg  ^];^g  specimens  given  below,  ch.  iii. 

been   discovered :    one    mentions    him  ad  fin. 

among     the    writers    who     considered  ^  See  ii.  21,  23,  143,  iv.  36. 

Danaiis  to  have  brought  the  alphabet  ^  Herod,  vi.  55. 
to  Greece,  rather  than  Cadmus ;  and  the 


40  WRITINGS  OF  HECATiEUS— SCYLAX.  Life  A^'D 

pronounced  that  he  probably  owed  but  little  to  the  historical 
literature  of  his  country,  which  was  indeed  in  its  infancy,  and 
can  scarcely  have  contained  much  information  of  an  authentic 
character  which  was  not  accessible  to  him  in  another  manner. 
With  the  single  exception  of  Dionysius,  the  Greek  writers  of 
history  proper  were  so  little  removed  from  his  own  date,  that 
the  sources  from  which  they  drew  were  as  accessible  to  him  as 
to  them.  To  the  geographers  he  may  have  been  more  largely 
indebted.  A  writer  of  weak  authority  ^  accuses  him  of  having 
copied  word  for  word  from  Hecatseus  his  long  descriptions  of 
the  phoenix,  the  hippopotamus,  and  the  mode  of  taking  the 
crocodile.  It  seems,  however,  improbable  that  he  should  have 
had  recourse  to  another  author  for  descriptions  of  objects  and 
occurrences  with  which  he  was  likely  to  have  been  well  ac- 
quainted himself;  and,  with  regard  to  the  phoenix,  his  own 
words  declare  that  his  description  is  taken  from  a  picture.^ 
Still,  the  "  Geography  "  of  Hecatseus  may  probably  have  been 
of  use  to  him  in  his  accounts  of  places  which  he  had  not  himself 
visited,  as  in  his  enumeration  of  the  tribes  inhabiting  Northern 
Africa,  which  may  have  been  drawn  to  some  extent  from  that 
writer."^  He  also,  it  is  evident,  knew  intimately  the  works  of 
certain  other  geographers,  for  whom,  however,  he  does  not 
express  much  respect.^  It  has  been  maintained  that  the  genuine 
work  of  Scylax  was,  almost  beyond  a  doubt,  among  the  number  f 
if  so,  Herodotus  certainly  evinced  his  judgment  in  contemptu- 
ously discarding  the  wonderful  tales  told  by  that  writer  con- 
cerning various  strange  races  of  men  in  remote  parts  of  the 
world,  which  reduce  his  credibility  below  that  of  almost  any 


•'  Porphyry,     quoted     by    Eusebius  work  of  that  enterprising  mariner."     I 

(Praep.  Ev.  x.  3,  vol.  ii.  p.  459).  do  not  understand  to  what  notices  he 

^  Herod,  ii.  73.  alludes.      The  only  passages,  so  far  as  I 

■^  Hecatseus  mentioned  the  Psylli,  the  am  aware,  which  can  be  referred  with 

Mazyes  or  Maxyes,  the  Zaueces,  and  the  any  degree  of  probability  to  the  genuine 

Zygantes   as    nations    inhabiting    these  Scylax,  are  Arist.  Pol.  vii.  14;  Harpocrat. 

parts  (see  Fragments  303,  304,  306,  and  ad  voc.  vnh  yrjs  olKodvres  ;   Philostrat. 

307),  all  of  whom  appear  in  Herodotus  Vit.  Apoll.  Tyan.  iii.  47 ;  and  Tzetzes, 

(iv.  173,  191,  193,  and  194).  Chil.  vii.  144.    To  one  only  of  these,  that 

9  Seeii.  15,  17,  iv.  36,  42,  45.  in  Harpocration  (which  speaks  of  Troglo- 

9  See   Mure's   Literature   of    Greece,  dytes),  can  Herodotus  by  any  possibility 

vol.  iv.  p.  309,     Col.  Mure  says,  that  allude.     And  even  here  I  should  under- 

**as  several  notices  of  Southern  Africa  stand  in  Scylax,  the  Troglodytes  of  the 

and  Asia,  transmitted  by  later  geogra-  Arabian    Gulf  (cf.  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1103, 

phers  on  the  authority  of  Scylax,  are  1107),  in  Herodotus  (iv.  183)  those  of 

identical  in  substance  with  the  accounts  the  interior  (Strab.  xvii.  p.  1173).  From 

given  by  Herodotus  of  the  same  region,  the  age  of  Scylax,  and  the   near  vici- 

there  is  the  less  reason   to   doubt  his  nity  of  his  birthplace  to  Halicarnassus, 

having  been  acquainted  with  the  original  it  seems  likely  that  Herodotus  would 


Writings.  ARISTEAS.  41 

other  traveller.^  There  is  taore  direct  evidence  ^  that  Herodotus 
made  use  of  Aristeas,  an  author  who  had  written,  under  the 
name  of  "  Arimaspea,"  a  poem  containing  a  good  deal  of  geo- 
graphical information  concerning  the  countries  towards  the 
north  of  Europe,  partly  the  result  of  his  own  personal  observa- 
tion. Undoubtedly  he  also  profited  from  the  maps  whose  con- 
struction he  ridiculed ;  ^  but  which,  rude  and  incorrect  in  detail 
as  they  may  have  been,  could  not  have  failed  to  be  of  immense 
service  to  him  in  clearing  his  views,  and  giving  him  the  true 
notion  of  geographical  description. 

In  enumerating  the  sources  from  which  Herodotus  drew  the 
materials  of  his  work,  it  would  be  wrong  to  confine  ourselves  to 
a  consideration  of  the  early  prose  writers.  It  has  been  just 
noticed  that  one  of  the  geographers  to  whom  he  was  certainly 
beholden — Aristeas,  the  author  of  the  Arimaspea — was  a  poet ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  considerable  portions  of  his 
historical  narrative  may  have  likewise  had  a  poetical  origin. 
Not  to  dwell  on  the  poetic  cast  of  so  much  that  he  has  written, 
which  might  perhaps  be  ascribed  to  the  character  of  his  own 
mind  and  to  the  fact  that  he  modelled  his  style  mainly  on  that 
of  the  poets,  there  are  distinct  grounds  for  believing  that  certain 
portions  of  his  history,  which  are  strongly  marked  by  this  cha- 
racter, had  been  previously  made  the  subjects  of  their  poetry  by 
writers  with  whose  compositions  he  was  acquainted ;  and  in  such 
cases  it  is  but  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  drew,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  from  them.  The  mention  of  Archilochus  in  con- 
nexion with  the  poetic  legend  of  Gryges  and  Candaules  cannot 
but  raise  a  suspicion  that  the  whole  story,  as  given  in  Herodotus, 
may  have  come  from  him  ;  *  while  the  notices  of  Solon,^  Pindar,^ 


have  known  his  works,  if  he  wrote  any.  structed  by  Anaximander  (Agathem.  i. 
Perhaps  it  has  not  yet  been  quite  satis-  1),  who  lived  about  B.C.  600-530.  He- 
factorily  established  that  the  real  Scylax  catseus  greatly  improved  on  it.  Hero- 
left  behind  him  any  writings.  dotus  speaks  of  maps  as  common  in  his 

^  Scylax,  or  the  writer  upon  India  who  day  (1.  s.  c). 
assumed  his  name,  asserted  that  there  ^  Bahr  supposes  Herodotus  to  refer 
dwelt  in  that  country  men  with  feet  of  only  to  the  single  iambic  line  of  Archi- 
so  large  a  size  that  they  were  in  the  habit  lochus — ov  ixoi  ra  Tvy^u  tov  iroXvxpv(rou 
of  using  them  as  parasols  (Philostr.  1.  s.  fxeXei — which  has  come  down  to  us 
c),  and  spoke  of  others  whose  ears  were  through  Aristotle  and  Plutarch.  (See 
like  winnowing-fans  (Tzetzes,  1.  s.  c).  his  note  on  Book  i.  ch,  12.)  And  Drs. 
To  the  same  writer  are  to  be  traced  the  Liddell  and  Scott  assign  the  same  mean- 
fables,  repeated  afterwards  by  Daimachus  ing  to  the  word  "iafi^os  in  the  passage 
and  Megasthenes  (Strab.  i.  p.  105),  con-  (Lexic.  p.  630).  But  it  appears  to  me 
cerning  men  in  India  who  had  only  one  that  Schweighseuser,  Larcher,  and  the 
eye,  and  others  whose  ears  were  so  big  translators  generally  are  right  in  giving 
that  they  slept  in  them  (Tzetz.  1.  s.  c).  the  word  here  the  sense — certainly  borne 

^  Herod,  iv.  13.  by  it  in  later  times — of  an  iambic  jjoem. 

3  Ibid.  iv.  36.     The  first  map  known        ^  Herod,  v.  113. 
to  the  Greeks  is  said  to  have  been  con-        ^  Ibid.  iii.  38. 


42         NARRATIVE,  RESULT  OF  PERSONAL  INQUIRY.        Life  and 

Alcasiis,''  and  Simonides,^  who  all  celebrated  contemporary  per- 
sons and  events,  seem  to  show  that  he  made  some  use  of  their 
writings  in  compiling  his  narrative.  Further,  it  may  be  con- 
jectured that  the  Persian  authors  to  whom  he  refers  in  several 
places  as  authorities  on  the  subject  of  their  early  national  his- 
tory,^ were  poets,  the  composers  of  those  national  songs  of  which 
Xenophon,^"  Strabo,^^  and  other  writers  ^^. speak,  wherein  were 
'celebrated  the  deeds  of  the  ancient  kings  and  heroes,  and  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  hero-founder  of  the  Empire,  Cyrus. 

Upon  the  whole,  however,  it  must  be  pronounced  that  the 
real  source  of  almost  all  that  Herodotus  has  delivered  down  to 
us,  whether  in  the  shape  of  historical  narrative  or  geographical 
description,  was  personal  observation  and  inquiry.  His  accounts 
of  countries  are,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  drawn  from  his 
own  experience,  and  are  full  or  scanty,  according  to  the  time 
which  he  had  spent  in  the  countries,  in  making  acquaintance 
with  their  general  character  and  special  phenomena.  Where  he 
has  not  travelled  himself,  he  trusts  to  the  reports  of  others,  but 
only,  to  all  appearance,  of  eye-witnesses}  If  in  any  case  he  gives 
mere  rumours  winch  have  come  fo  him  at  second-hand,  he  is 
careful  to  distinguish  them  from  his  ordinary  statements  and 
descriptions.^  He  seems  to  have  been  indefatigable  in  laying 
under  contribution  all  those  with  whom  his  active  and  varied 
life  brought  him  in  contact,^  and  deriving  from  them  informa- 
tion concerning  any  regions  unvisited  by  himself,  with  which 
they  professed  themselves  acquainted.  And  as  it  was  by  these 
means  that  he  gathered  the  materials  for  the  geographical  por- 
tion of  his  work,  so  by  a  very  similar  method  he  obtained  the 
facts  which  he  has  worked  up  into  his  history.  Herodotus,  it 
must  be  remembered,  lived  and  wrote  within  a  century  of  the 
time  when  his  direct  narrative  may  be  said  to  commence,  viz., 
the  first  year  of  Cyrus.  The  true  subject  of  his  history — the 
Persian  War  of  Invasion — was  yet  more  recent,  its  commence- 


7  Herod.  V.  95.     ^  Ibid.  v.  102,  vii.  228.  aai ;  compare  iv.  45),  and  his  refusal  to 

^  ^bid.  i.  1-5,  95,  214  ad  fin.  describe  the  countries  above  Scythia  (iv. 

'"  Cyrop.  I.  ii.  §  1.    "  Book  xv.  p.  1041.  16,  oi/SeVos  auTOTrrew  clhivai  (pajxivov 

12  As  Athenseus,  who  quotes  Dino  to  Suva^uai  irvdicOai),    or  those  above   the 

the    same    effect.       (Deipnosoph.    xiv.  Argippseans    (iv.  25),    and   Issedonians 

p.  633  D.)  (ibid.).    Certain  knowledge  (t^  drpe/ces) 

1  This  is  not  always  expressed,  but  seems  to  mean  knowledge  thus  derived. 

it  appears  from  his  refusal  to  accept  of  (See  iii.  98,  116:  iv.  16,  25;  v.  9.) 

any  statements  or  descriptions  as  certain,  2  g^e  ii,  32,  33;   iv.  16,  24,  26-27,  32. 

unless    received    from   an   eye-witness.  ^  Marked  indications  of  this  practice 

Hence  his  reluctance  to  allow  of  a  sea  to  of  inquiry  will  be  found  in  the  following 

the  north  of  Europe  (iii.  115,   ov^evos  passages:  ii.  19,  28,  29,  34,104;  iii.  115; 

avT  Sttt  ib)    yevofx^yov  ov  ZivafJ-ai  aKov-  iv.  16. 


Writings.  LIVING  TESTIMONY.  43 

raent  falling  less  tlian  fifty  years  from  the  time  of  his  writing. 
He  would  thus  stand  in  regard  to  his  main  subject  somewhat  in 
the  position  of  a  writer  at  the  present  day  who  should  determine 
to  compose  an  original  history  of  the  last  war  with  Napoleon, 
while,  in  respect  of  the  earlier  portion  of  his  direct  narrative,  he 
would  resemble  one  who  should  make  his  starting-point  the 
accession  of  George  III.  to  the  throne.  Abundant  living  testi- 
mony would  thus,  it  is  plain,  be  accessible  to  him  for  the  later 
and  more  important  portion  of  his  history,  while  for  the  middle 
portion  he  would  be  able  to  get  a  certain  amount  of  such  evi- 
dence, which  would  fail  him  entirely  for  the  early  period.  Even 
then,  however,  he  might  obtain  from  living  persons  the  accounts 
which  they  had  received  from  those  who  took  an  active  part  in 
the  transactions.  This,  accordingly,  is  what  Herodotus  seems 
to  have  done.  Travelling  over  Europe  and  Asia,  he  everywhere 
made  inquiries  from  the  various  parties  concerned  in  the  matters 
about  which  he  was  writing ;  and  from  the  accounts  which  he 
thus  received,  compared  and  balanced  against  each  other,  he 
composed  his  narrative.  Where  contemporary  evidence  failed 
him,  or  even  where  it  was  scanty,  -he  extended  his  inquiries, 
endeavouring  in  each  case  to  arrive  at  the  truth  by  sifting  and 
compariug  the  different  reports,*  and  often  deriving  his  inform- 
ation from  the  sons  or  grandsons  of  those  who  had  been  per- 
sonally engaged  in  the  transactions.  The  stories  of  Thersander  ^ 
and  of  Archias^  are  respectively  specimens  of  the  manner  in 
which  he  gained  his  knowledge  of  the  more  recent  and  the 
earlier  facts  which  enter  into  his  narrative.  Of  course  the  more 
remote  the  events  the  more  dependent  he  became  upon  mere 
general  tradition  and  belief,  which,  unless  in  the  bare  outline  of 
matters  of  great  public  concern,  or  in  cases  where  the  popular 
belief  is  checked  and  supported  by  documentary  evidence  of 
some  kind  or  other,  is  an  authority  of  the  least  trustworthy 
description.  Before  dismissing  this  subject  it  will,  therefore,  be 
desirable  to  consider  what  amount  of  such  evidence  existed 
among  the  various  nations  into  whose  earlier  history  Herodotus 
pushed  his  inquiries,  and  how  far  it  was  accessible  to  himself  or 
to  those  from  whom  he  derived  his  information. 

In  Greece  itself  it  is  certain  that  there  existed  monumental 


4  Seei.  1-5,  20,  70,  75,  95,  214;  ii.  3,  ix.  74. 
147;  iii.  1-3,9,  32,  47,56,  120-121;  iv.  5-         ^  Book  ix.  clis.  15,  16. 
13,  15U-154;  V.  44,  57,  85,  86;  vi.  53;         ^  Book  iii.  cli.  55. 
vii.    150,   213,   214;  viii.   94,    117-120  ; 


44  MONUMENTAL  RECOEDS  IN  GREECE.  Life  akd 

records  of  two  different  kinds,  containing  undoubtedly  but  few 
details,  yet  still  of  great  importance,  as  furnishing  fixed  points 
about  which  the  national  traditions  might  cluster,  and  as  checks 
upon  the  inventiveness  of  fabulists.  The  earliest  were  the  lists 
of  kings,  priests,  and  victors  at  the  games,  preserved  in  some  of 
the  principal  cities  and  sanctuaries,"^  which  formed  in  after  times 
a  basis  for  the  labours  of  chronologers,^  and  carried  up  a  skeleton 
of  authentic  history  to  the  return  of  the  Heraclidae.  Besides 
these,  there  were  to  be  found  in  the  various  temples,  agorae,  and 
other  public  places  throughout  Greece,  particularly  in  the  great 
national  sanctuaries  of  Delphi  and  Olympia,  a  vast  number  of 
inscribed  offerings — many  of  them  of  great  antiquity — con- 
taining in  their  dedicatory  inscriptions  curious  and  in  some  in- 
stances detailed  notices  of  historical  events,  of  the  utmost  value 
to  the  historian.  Of  the  latter  class  of  monuments  Herodotus 
shows  himself  to  have  been  a  diligent  observer ;  and  considerable 
portions  of  his  history  are  authenticated  in  this  satisfactory 
manner.  To  instance  from  a  single  book — the  independence  of 
Phrygia  under  a  royal  line  affecting  the  names  of  Midas  and 
Gordias,  the  wealth  and  order  of  succession  of  the  last  or  Merm- 
nade  dynasty  of  Lydian  kings,  the  enormous  riches  of  Croesus, 
the  friendly  terms  on  which  he  stood  with  Sparta,  and  his  great 
devotion  to  the  Greek  shrines ;  the  escape  of  Arion  from  ship- 
wreck, the  filial  devotion  of  Cleobis  and  Bito,  and  the  repulse  of 
the  Spartans  by  the  Tegeans  on  their  first  attempt  to  conquer 
Arcadia,  are  all  supported  by  this  kind  of  testimony  within  the 
space  of  seventy  chapters  after  the  history  opens.^  More  im- 
portant than  any  of  these  instances  is  that  of  the  two  pillars  of 


■''  As  the  public  registers  (ai/aypacpai)  E.  T. ;  and  C.  Miiller's  Fr.  Hist.  Gr.,  vol.  i. 

at  Sparta  (Plut.  Vit.  Ages,  c.  19),  con-  p.  xviii.).   Hellanicus  in  his  'Priestesses 

taining  the  names  of  all  the  kings,  and  of  Juno,'  and  his  '  Carnean  Victors/  fol- 

(probably)  the  number  of  years   they  lowed  no  doubt  the  authentic  catalogues 

i-eigned — the  ancient  chronicles  {apxcua  at  Sparta  and  Argos.    Timseus  compared 

ypajj-fxara)  at  Elis  (Pausan,  V.  iv.  §  4) —  the  lists  of  archons  at  Athens,  kings  and 

the  registers  at  Sicyon  and  Argos  (Plut.  ephors  at  Sparta,  and  priestesses  at  Argos, 

de  Mus.  p.  1134  A.  B.) — the  list  of  the  withthecatalogueof  the  Olympic  victors 

Olympian  victors  from  the  time  of  Co-  (Polyb.  1.  s.  c).  Eratosthenes  and  Apol- 

rsebiis,   preserved   in   the  sanctuary  of  lodorus  seem  to  have  founded  their  early 

Jupiter  at  Olympia  (Pausan.  V.  viii.  §3;  Greek   chronology,   first  on  the  list  of 

Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  Pars  I.  c.  xxxii.) —  Spartan  kings,  and  then  on  the  Olympic 

that  of  the   Carnean   victors  at  Sparta  catalogue.  (Miiller's  Dorians,  1.  s.  c.) 
(Athen.  xiv.p.  635  E.)— and  that  of  the         ^  See  i.  14,  24,  25,  31,   50-2,   66,  69. 

archons  at  Athens  (Polyb.  xii.  xii.  §  1).  Further  instances  of  the  careful  obser- 

^  Charon's  work  on  the  *  Chief  Rulers  vance  by  Herodotus  of  such  memorials 

of  Sparta'  was  probably  taken  from  the  will  be  found  i.  92;  ii.  181,  182  ;  iii.  47 ; 

ancient  registers  of  the  Lacedaemonians  iv.  15,  152;  v.  59-61,  77;  vi.  14;  vii.  228; 

(see  0.  Miiller's  Dorians,  vol.  i.  p.  150,  and  in  the  passages  noted  below. 


Writings.        INSCKIPTIONS— HISTOEICAL  PAINTINGS.  45 

Darius,  which  contained  an  account,  both  in  Greek  and  in  Per- 
sian, of  the  forces  wherewith  that  monarch  crossed  the  Bos- 
phorus,  and  which  were  seen  by  Herodotus,  in  detached  pieces, 
at  Byzantium.^  Of  equal  consequence  was  the  famous  tripod, 
part  gold  and  part  bronze,  which  the  confederate  Greeks  dedi- 
cated after  the  victory  of  Platsea  to  Apollo  at  Delphi,  whereon 
were  inscribed  the  names  of  the  various  states  that  took  part 
against  the  Persians  in  the  great  struggle,  from  which  Herodotus 
was  able  to  authenticate  his  lists  of  the  combatants.^  Other 
monuments  of  the  same  kind  are  known  to  have  existed,^  and 
in  addition  to  them,  historical  paintings,  whether  in  the  shape 
of  votive  tablets,  as  that  dedicated  by  Mandrocles  the  Samian 
in  the  temple  of  Juno  at  Samos,^  or  of  mere  ornaments,  as  those 
wherewith  Pericles  adorned  the  Poecile,^  would  serve  as  striking 
memorials  of  particularly  important  occurrences.  From  these 
and  similar  sources  of  information  Herodotus  would  be  able  to 
check  the  accounts  orally  delivered  to  him,  and  in  some  cases 
to  fill  them  up  with  accuracy.  It  has  been  said  that  he  "  was 
by  no  means  so  zealous  an  investigator  of  this  class  of  monu- 
ments as  might  have  been  desired;"^,  and  undoubtedly  it  w^ould 
have  been  highly  interesting  to  ourselves  had  his  work  con- 
tained fuller  and  more  exact  descriptions  of  them.  But  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  his  history  would  not  have  been  injured 
as  a  composition  by  a  larger  infusion  of  the  element  of  antiqua- 
rianism.  We  are  not  to  conclude  that  his  inquiries  were  limited 
to  the  monuments  of  the  contents  of  which  he  makes  distinct 
mention,  since  he  does  not  go  on  the  general  plan  of  parading 
the  authorities  for  his  statements ;  and,  with  regard  to  some  of 
the  most  important  of  the  monumental  records  which  he  cites, 
it  is  only  casually  and  as  it  were  by  accident  that  he  lets  us  see 
he  was  acquainted  with  them."^  His  practice  of  observing  is 
sufficiently  apparent;  and  it  is  but  fair  to  presume  that  he 
carried  it  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  can  be  exactly  proved 


^  Cf.  iv.  87.  'If  Herodotus  had  not  hapj^ened,  in 

^  This  inscription  has  been  recently  re-  speaking  of  the  desertion  to  the  Greek 

covered.    See  notes  on  viii.  82,  andix.  84.  side  of  a  Tenian  vessel  before  the  battle 

3  As  the  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter  at  of   Salaniis  (viii.  82),  to  notice  the  in- 

Olympia,  on  the  base  of  which  were  also  scription  of  the  Tenians  upon  the  Delphic 

engraved  the  names  of  the  Greeks  who  tripod  on  that  account,   it  might  have 

combated  the  Persians.     See  Pausan.  V.  been  doubtful  whether  he  had  seen,  or 

xxiii.  §  1,  and  compare  note  to  book  ix.  noticed,  that  most  important  monument. 

ch.  28.  In  his  direct  account  of  the  dedication  of 

■*  Herod,  iv.  88.         =  Pausan.  I.  xv.  the  tripod  (ix.  81)  he  says  nothing  of  its 

^  Mure's  Literature  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  having  borne  any  inscription. 

p.  312. 


46  ASIATIC  AND  EGYPTIAN  MONUMENTS.        Life  and 

from  Ills  writings.  It  is  certain  that  lie  visited  all  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  Greek  shrines ;  ^  and,  when  there,  his  inquisitive 
turn  of  mind  would  naturally  lead  him  to  make  a  general 
examination  of  the  offerings.  If  we  view  his  references  to  these 
objects,  not  as  intended  for  an  enumeration  of  all  that  he  had 
seen,  but  as  a  set  of  specimens,  indicating  the  range  and  general 
character  of  his  inquiries,  we  shall  probably  form  a  far  truer 
estimate  of  his  labours  in  this  respect  than  if  we  regarded  his 
investigations  as  only  extending  just  so  far  as  we  can  distinctly 
trace  them.  So,  too,  with  respect  to  the  other  class  of  monu- 
ments— the  public  registers,  containing  the  lists  of  kings,  priests, 
archons,  &c. — it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  had  not 
seen  them  because  he  nowhere  quotes  them  as  authorities.  It 
is  impossible  that  they  should  have  been  unknown  to  him,  or 
when  known  have  failed  to  attract  his  attention ;  and  we  might 
therefore  conclude,  even  without  any  evidence  direct  or  indirect, 
that  he  must  have  made  use  of  them  to  some  extent.  As  the 
case  stands,  we  may  go  a  step  further,  and  regard  it  as  in  the 
highest  degree  probable  that  in  tracing  the  pedigree  of  the 
Spartan  kings  to  Hercules,^  Herodotus  followed  the  authority  of 
the  Lacedaemonian  anagraphs ;  and  if  so,  we  may  perhaps  refer 
to  the  same  source  his  general  notions  of  Greek  chronology.^ 

The  foreign  countries  whose  history  Herodotus  embraced  in 
his  general  scheme,  present  in  regard  to  their  monumental 
records  all  possible  varieties,  from  entire  defect  to  the  most 
copious  abundance.  Egypt,  Babylonia,  and  Persia,  the  most 
important  of  them,  possessed  in  their  inscriptions  upon  rocks, 
temples,  palaces,  papyrus-rolls,  bricks,  and  cylinders,  a  series  of 
contemporary  documents,  extending,  in  the  case  of  the  last- 
mentioned,  to  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy,  and  in  the  other 
two  going  back  to  a  far  liigher  actual  date,  though  not  to  a 


^  As  Delphi  (\.  14,  19,  25,  &c.),  Do-  204),  reckoned  according  to  his  own  esti- 

dona  (ii.  52),  Abse  (viii.  27),  Tsenarum  mate  of  three  generations  to  the  century 

(i.  24),  Apollo  Ismenius  at  Thebes  (i.  52;  (ii.  142),  would  give  for  the  time  of  the 

V.  59),  Juno  at  Samos  (ii.  182;  iii.  60),  hero  little  more  than  700  years  before 

Diana  at  Ephesus  (i.  92),  Venus  at  Cyrene  Herodotus,  instead  of  900,  which  is  his 

(ii.  181),  Erechtheus  at  Athens  (viii.  55  ;  calciilation  (ii.  145).    He  must  therefore 

comp.  V.  77),  Apollo  at  Thornax  (i.  69),  have  possessed  some  more  definite  chro- 

&c.  nological  basis,  which  may  have  been 

^  Herod,  vii.  204  ;  viii.  131.  furnished  by  the   Spartan  registers,   if 

1  It  is  evident  that  Herodotus  did  not  (as  0.  MUller  conjectures,  Dor.  vol.  i. 

obtain  his  dates  for  the  times  of  Hercules  p.  150)  they  contained  not  merely  the 

and  of  the  Trojan  war  from  a  mere  com-  names  of  the  kings,  but  the  length  of 

putation  by  generations;  for  the  21  ge-  their  reigns, 
uerations  from  Leonidas  to  Hercules  (vii. 


Writings.  WKITINGS  ON  SKINS.  47 

period  so  early  in  the  lives  of  tlie  nations.  The  recent  dis- 
coveries in  Mesopotamia,  which  have  so  completely  authen- 
ticated the  historical  sclieme  of  Berosus  both  in  its  outline  and 
its  details,^  prove  that  to  the  Babylonians  the  history  of  their 
country  as  written  upon  its  monuments  was  open,  and  could  be 
traced  back  with  accuracy  for  2000  years  before  it  merged  into 
mere  myth  and  fable.  In  Egypt  a  still  earlier  date  is  said  to 
have  been  reached,  and — whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  his- 
torical character  of  the  more  ancient  kings — at  least  from  the 
time  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  which  is  anterior  to  the  Exodus 
of  the  Jews,  the  monuments  contained  contemporary  records  of 
the  several  monarchs,  and  abundant  materials  for  an  exact  and 
copious  history.^  In  Persia,  which,  on  starting  into  life,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  inheritance  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  civilisa- 
tion, writing  seems  to  have  been  in  use  from  the  first ;  and  the 
sculptured  memorials,  which  still  exist,  of  Cyrus,  Darius,  and 
Xerxes  are  evidences  of  the  fact  witnessed  by  Herodotus  in 
several  places,"^  that  monumental  records  were  in  common  use 
under  the  early  Achsemenian  kings.  These  seem  to  have  con- 
sisted not  only  of  grand  public  inscriptions  upon  pillars,  rocks, 
tombs,  and  palaces,^  but  also  of  more  private  and  more  copious 
documents,  preserved  in  the  treasuries  of  the  empire,  at  Babylon, 
Susa,  Ecbatana,  &c.,^  and  written  upon  skins  or  parchment,^ 
which  contained  a  variety  of  details  concerning  the  court  and 
empire,  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  historian.^     In  Scythia, 


'■^  See  the  Essays  on  Babylonian  and     others  belonging  to  later  kings.     Pillar 
Assyrian  History,  appended  to  book  i.     inscriptions  are  mentioned  by  Herodotus 


vi.  and  vii.  (iv.  87  and  91);  but  their  more  perish- 

3  See  the  Historical  Notice  of  Egypt  able  nature  has  caused  them  generally 
m  the  Appendix  to  book  ii.  to  disappear. 

4  Book  iii.  136;  book  iv.  chs.  87  and  ^  gee  Ezra,  v.  17  ;  vi.  1-2.     These  re- 
91  ;  book  vii.  ch.  100  ;  book  viii.  ch.  90.  cords  or  chronicles  are  frequently  men- 

'"  Rock  inscriptions  of  Darius  remain  tioned  by  the  Jewish  historians.     See, 

at  Behistun  and  at  Elwand,  near  Hama-  besides  the  above  passages,  Ezra  iv.  15, 

dan;  similar  memorials  of  Xerxes  are  19;  Esther   ii.  23;    vi.  1;  Apoc.  Esdr. 

found  at  Elwand,  and  at  Van  in  Armenia,  vi.  23. 

The  tomb  of  Darius  at  Nakhsh-i-Rustam  ''  ALcpOepal  ^acriKiKoX  is  the  name  under 

has  one  perfect  and  one  imperfect  iu scrip-  which  Ctesias  spoke  of  them  (ap.  Diod. 

tion — neither  however,  apparently,  that  Sic.  ii.   32).    He  says  they  contained  a 

recorded  by  Strabo  (xv.  p.  1036).     The  regular   digest    of  the  ancient  Persian 

tomb  of  Cyrus  had  an  inscription,  as  we  history  (ras  waAaias  irpd^ds  (rvvTeray- 

learn  both  from  Strabo  (1.  s.  c.)  and  Ar-  /ieVas),   and  that  the  keeping  of  them 

rian  (vi.  29  ;  see  note  on  book  i.  ch.  214),  was  enforced  by  law. 

and  the  area  which  enclosed  it  is  still  ^  Among   the  contents  of  the  Royal 

marked  by  pillars  on  which  we  read  the  Chronicles  may  be  confidently  enume- 

words,  "I  am  Cyrus  the  king — theAchse-  rated  all  decrees  made  by  any  king  (Ezr. 

menian."    The  great  palace  at  Persepolis  v.  17  ;  vi.  2-3),  all  signal  seiwices  of  any 

contains  no  fewer  than  four  inscriptions  subject  (Esth.  vi.  1-2;  comp.  Herod,  viii. 

of  Darius  and  four  of  Xerxes,  as  well  as  85  and   90),    catalogues   of  the   troops 


48 


INSCKIPTIONS  IN  WESTERN  ASIA. 


Life  and 


on  tlie  other  hand,  and  among  the  rude  tribes  who  inhabited 
Northern  Africa,  writing  of  any  kind  was  probably  unknown ; 
and  the  traditions  of  the  natives  were  altogether  destitute  of 
confirmation  from  monumental  sources.  Other  nations  occupied 
an  intermediate  position  between  these  extremes  of  abundance 
and  want.  Media  from  the  time  of  Cyaxares,^  Lydia,^  Phrygia,^ 
and  the  kingdoms  of  Western  Asia  generally,^  were  undoubtedly 
acquainted  with  letters ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
they  were  in  possession  of  any  very  ancient  or  very  important 
written  records.  Monumental  remains  of  an  early  date  in  these 
countries  are  either  entirely  deficient,  or  at  best  extremely 
scanty,  and  such  of  them  as  possessed  a  native  literature  be- 
trayed, by  the  absurdity  and  mythic  character  of  their  annals,  a 
lamentable  want  of  authentic  materials  for  their  early  history.* 
Our  chief  inquiry  in  the  present  place  will  therefore  be  how  far 
Herodotus,  or  those  from  whom  he  derived  his  information,  may 
be  presumed  to  have  had  access  to  the  monumental  stores  which 


brought  into  the  field  on  gi-eat  occasions 
(Herod,  vii.  100),  statements  of  the  amount 
of  revenue  to  be  drawn  from  each  of  the 
provinces  (comp.  Herod,  iii.  90-94),  &c. 
Heeren  (As.  Nat.  i.  p.  86)  supposes,  that 
"  all  the  king's  words  and  actions  "  were 
placed  upon  record,  and  calls  the  Chro- 
nicles "  Diaries,"  but  this  view  is  not 
supported  by  his  authorities.  The  royal 
scribes  {ypafxixariaral)  seem  certainly  to 
have  been  in  constant  attendance  upon 
the  king  (see,  besides  Herod,  vii.  100, 
and  viii.  90,  Esther  iii.  12,  and  viii,  9), 
and  were  ready  to  record  any  remarkable 
occurrence;  but  it  is  not  probable  that 
they  were  bound  to  enter  the  eveMs  of 
each  day. 

^  No  strictly  Median  records  have 
come  down  to  us,  nor  have  we  positive 
proof  of  any  acquaintance  on  the  pai't  of 
the  Medes  with  letters.  The  ancient 
portions  of  the  Zendavesta,  which  be- 
longed to  them  in  common  with  other 
nations  of  the  Arian  stock,  were  certainly 
handed  down  by  memory.  But  it  can 
hardly  be  supposed  that  after  the  con- 
quest of  Assyria  by  Cyaxares,  the  Medes 
would  remain  without  an  alphabet.  Pro- 
bably the  Persian  alphabet  is  that  framed 
by  the  Arian  Medes  on  coming  in  contact 
with  the  Assyrians.  The  Persians  would 
naturally  adopt  it  from  them  on  their 
conquest  of  Media. 

*  No  Lydian  inscriptions  have  been 
as  yet  discovered,  though  the  tomb  of 
Alyattes,  which  had  inscriptions  in  the 


time  of  Herodotus  (i.  93),  has  been  care- 
fully explored  (see  note  ^  to  book  i.  ch. 
93).  The  Lydians,  however,  are  likely 
to  have  used  letters  at  least  as  early  as 
the  Asiatic  Greeks. 

^  Several  Phrygian  inscriptions,  chiefly 
epitaphs,  have  been  discovered  in  this 
country.  They  are  all  probably  more 
ancient  than  the  Persian  conquest  of  Asia 
Minor.  The  only  one  of  much  impor- 
tance is  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of 
king  Midas  at  Doganlu.  (See  note  ^  on 
book  i.  ch.  14,  and  compare  Appendix 
to  Book  i.,  Essay  xi.) 

^  As  Lycia,  Cilicia,  and  Armenia.  The 
Lycian  writing  appears  on  coins  and  in- 
scriptions, which  are  abundant,  but 
which  seem  to  be  none  eai-lier  than  the 
time  of  Croesus  (Fellows's  Lycian  Coins ; 
Chronolog.  Table).  Cilician  writing  is 
found  on  coins  only.  Armenia  has  some 
important  rock  inscriptions.  They  are 
found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Van,  and 
belong  to  a  dynasty  of  native  kings,  who 
appear  to  have  reigned  during  the  se- 
venth and  eighth  centuries  b.  c.  (See 
Col.  Kawlinson's  Commentary  on  the 
Cuneiform  Inscriptions  of  Babylonia  and 
Assyria,  p.  75.) 

''  The  fragments  of  Xanthus  Lydus 
prove  the  Lydian  annals  to  have  run  up 
into  myth  at  a  time  not  much  preceding 
Gyges.  The  Armenian  histories  of  Moses 
of  Chorene'  and  others,  are  yet  more  com- 
pletely fabulous. 


Writings.  INFORMATION  RESPECTING  EGYPT.  49 

existed  in  such  abundance  in  Egypt,  Babylon,  and  in  various 
parts  of  the  Persian  empire,  and  from  which,  in  two  cases  out  of 
the  three,  authentic  histories  were  actually  composed  more  than 
a  century  later  by  natives  of  the  countries  in  question.^ 

With  regard  to  Egypt,  Herodotus  has  distinctly  stated  tliat 
his  informants  were  the  priests.^  The  sacerdotal  body  attached 
to  the  service  of  the  temple  of  Phtlia  at  Memphis  furnished  him 
with  the  bulk  of  his  early  Egyptian  history ;  and  he  was  further 
at  the  pains  to  test  the  accounts  which  he  received  from  this 
quarter  by  seeking  information  on  the  same  points  from  the 
priests  of  Amun  at  Thebes,  and  of  Ea  at  Heliopolis.  It  may 
perhaps  be  questioned  whether  he  obtained  access  to  the  eccle- 
siastics of  the  highest  rank  and  greatest  learning  in  Egypt,  or 
only  to  certain  subordinates  and  underlings ;  but  even  in  the 
latter  ca^e  he  would  draw  his  narrative  from  persons  to  whom 
the  monumental  history  of  their  country  was  open ;  for  this  his- 
tory was  recorded  without  concealment  upon  the  temples  and 
other  public  edifices.  What  prevented  his  Egyptian  history 
from  having  a  greater  character  of  authenticity  was,  not  the 
Ignorance,  but  the  dishonesty  of  his  informants,  w4io  purposely 
exaggerated  the  glories  of  their  nation,  and  concealed  its  dis- 
graces and  defeats.  It  is  perhaps  on  the  whole  more  likely  that 
he  had  his  historical  information  from  the  highest  than  from 
any  inferior  quarter.  His  own  rank  and  station,  the  circum- 
stances under  which. he  visited  Egypt,'  his  entire  satisfaction 
with  his  information,^  and  the  harmony  which  he  found  in  the 
accounts  given  him  in  remote  places,^  all  seem  to  favour  the 
supposition  that  he  obtained  access  to  the  chief  persons  in  the 
Egyptian  hierarchy,  who  however  took  advantage  of  his  sim- 
plicity and  ignorance  of  the  language,  whether  spoken  or 
written,^  to  impose  upon  him  such  a  history  of  their  country  as 


*  By  Manetho  the  Sebennyte,  and  Be-  7  e  o  v  t  e  s    acpia- 1.      As  this  harmony 

rosus  the  Babylonian,  both  contempo-  was  not  the  natural  agreement  of  truth, 

i-aries  of  Alexander.  it  could  only  be  the  artificial  agreement 

6  Herod,  ii.  3,  99,  118,  136,  142,  &c.  of  concerted  falsehood.     The  priests  of 

'  Supra,  p.  11.  Memphis  must  have  prepared  their  bre- 

^  Herodotus     calls     his     informants  thren  of  Thebes  and  Heliopolis  for  the 

throughout  "  the  priests  "—  not  "  certain  inquiries  of  the  curious  Greek,  and  have 

priests."     It  belongs   to   his  simplicity  instructed  them  as  to  the  answers  which 

to  use  no  exaggeration  in  such  a  matter,  they   should   give.      Such  communica- 

Again,  he  goes  to  Heliopolis  because  the  tions  would  most  naturally  take  place 

priests  there  were   AtyviTTiau    Xo-  between   the    leading  members  of  the 

yiwraroi,    and  receives   information  sacerdotal  colleges. 

from  those  whom  he  so   characterises  ^  That  Hex-odotus  did  not  understand 

(ii.  3).  the  written  character,  is  evident  from 

^   See   ii.     4.      wSe    eheyov    b  jjloXo  -  his  mentioning  that  the  inscription  ou 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  SOURCE  OF  HIS  EGYPTIAN  ERRORS.  Life  A^-D 

they  wished  to  pass  current  among  the  Greeks.  Accordingly 
they  magnified  their  antiquity  beyond  even  their  own  notions  of 
it,^  reading  him  long  lists  of  monarchs  whom  they  represented 
as  consecutive,  whereas  they  knew  them  to  have  been  often 
contemporary.  They  concealed  from  him  altogether  the  dark 
period  in  their  history — the  time  of  their  oppression  under  the 
Hyksos,  or  shepherd-kings — of  which  he  obtained  but  a  single 
dim  and  indistinct  glimpse,^  not  furnished  him  apparently  by 
the  priests,  but  by  the  memory  of  the  people.  They  knowingly 
falsified  their  monuments  by  assigning  a  late  date  to  the 
pyramid-kings,^  whom  they  disliked,  by  which  they  flattered 
themselves  that  they  degraded  them.  They  distorted  the  true 
narrative  of  Sennacherib's  miraculous  discomfiture,  and  made  it 
tend  to  the  glorification  of  one  of  their  own  body.^  They  suc- 
ceeded in  concealing  all  other  invasions  of  their  territory  by  the 
kings  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  even  when  subsequent  to  the 
settlement  of  the  Greeks  in  their  country.^  Again,  they  were 
wilKng,  in  order  to  flatter  their  Greek  allies,  to  bend  their  his- 
tory into  accordance  with  the  mythology  of  the  Hellenic  race, 
and  submitted  even  to  manufacture  a  monarch  for  the  express 
purpose  of  accommodating  their  inquisitive  friends.'  Thus  in 
spite  of  the  abundance  of  monumental  records  from  which  the 
Egyptian  informants  of  our  author  had  it  in  their  power  to  draw, 


the  pyramid  of  Cheops  was  translated  to  with  the   account    received    from    the 

him  by  his  interpreter  (ii.  125).    His  ig-  priests,  is  ascx-ibedby  Herodotus  to  "  the 

norauce  of  the  spoken  language  appears  Egyptians." 

from   his   mistranslations  of  particular  *  Herod,  ii.  124-9.      The  priests  seem 

words,  as  of  Piromis,  which  he  renders  to  have  placed  the  pyramid-kings —who 

'*  gentleman"  (ko\J)s  Kayad6s),  whereas  it  really   intervened  between   Menes   and 

meant  simply  "man  "or  "human  being."  Nitocris — as  late  as  they  could  venture 

^  See  Herod,  ii.  100  and  142,  143.    By  to  do  without  incurring  a  great  risk  of 

representing  their  priests  as  equally  nu-  detection.      As  a  remarkable  inscription 

merous  with  their  kings,  and  declaring  of  Asychis  (Herod,  ii.  136)  made  express 

the  priesthood  to  have  descended  in  the  mention  of  the  stone  pyramids,  it  would 

direct  line  from  father  to  sou,  the  Mem-  have  been  rash  to  state  that  their  builders 

phite  iuformants  of  Herodotus  gave  him  lived  later  than  that  monarch, 

the  notion  that  a  settled  monarchy  had  *  Sethos  (Herod,  ii.  141). 

endured  in  Egypt  for  above  11,000  years.  ^  As  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar  in  the 

Their  own  records,  even  making  no  al-  reign  of  Apries  (Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  x.  10  ; 

lowance  for  contemporary  kings  or  dy-  Beros.  Fr.  14  ;  compare  Jerem.  xlvi.  25« 

nasties,  gave  a  total  of  little  more  than  6  ;  Ezek.  xxix.  19 ;  xxx.  24-5).    Several 

5000  years ;  and  (according  to  Syncellus)  of  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  besides  Sen- 

Manetho,  making  some  allowance  on  both  nacherib,   attacked  or  received  tribute 

scores,  reduced  the  time  between  Menes  from  Egypt,  as  Sardanapalus  L,  Sargon, 

and  Herodotus  to  less  than  3500  yeai's.  Esar-Haddon,  and  his  son. 

2  In  the  tradition,  noticed  in  book  ii.  '  Px'oteus,  a  name  which  bears  no  re- 

ch.  128,  that  the  pyramids  were  the  work  semblance  to  any  of  those  in  Manetho's 

of  "  the  shepherd  Philition  "  (see  note  ad  lists, 
loc).     This  tradition,  which  conflicted 


Writings.    THE  EGITTIAN  HISTORY  CORRECT  IN  OUTLINE.    51 

his  Egyptian  history  is  full  of  error,  because  they  intentionally 
garbled   and   falsified   their   own   annals,   while    he,   from   his 
ignorance  of  their  language,  was  unable  to  detect  the  imposture.^ 
Still,  where  national  vanity  or  other  special  causes  did  not  inter- 
fere, the  history  will  be  found  to  be  fairly  authentic.    The  kings 
themselves  appear,  with  but  one  or  two  exceptions,®  in  the  lists 
of  Manetho,  and  upon  the  monuments  ;  the  chronological  order 
of  their  reigns  is  preserved  with    a    single   dislocation ;  ^    the 
periods  of  prosperity  and  oppression  are  truly  marked ;  ^  the 
great  works  are  assigned  for  the  most  part  to  their  real  authors  ; 
even  the  extravagance  of  the  chronology  is  not  without  an  his- 
toric basis,  marking  as  it  does  the  fact,  confirmed  by  Manetho, 
that  the  Egyptians  could  produce  a  catalogue  of  several  hundred 
persons  who  had  borne  the  title  of  king  in  their  country  between 
Menes  and  the  Ramesside  monarchs.^     Hence,  when  the  monu- 
ments  are   silent,   and  the   statements   of  Herodotus  are  not 
incompatible  with  those  of  Manetho,  they  possess  considerable 
weight,  and  may  fairly  be  accepted  as  having  at  least  a  basis  of 
truth.     They  come  from  persons  who  had  means  of  knowing 
the   real  history  "of  their  country,  and  who  did  not  falsify  it 
wantonly  or  unless  to  serve  a  purpose  :  they  may  therefore  be 
taken  to  be  correct  in  their  general  outline  except  where  they 
subserve  national  vanity  or  have  otherwise  a  suspicious  appear- 
ance.    On  these  grounds  the  reign  of  Sethos  in  some  part  of 
Egypt,  and  the  dodecarchy,  for-  which  Herodotus  is  the  sole 
authority,  may  perhaps  be  entitled  to  rank  as  historic  facts, 
though  unconfirmed  by  other  writers.^ 


^  It  may  be  doubted  whether  even  the  the    general    poverty   in   the   reign   of 

interpreters  could  read  the  hieroglyphics.  Asychis. 

Most  probably  they  only  understood  the  '^  Manetho  has  between  four  and  five 

demotic  character.  hundred  kings  during  this  interval.  With 

^  Proteus,  Anysis,  and  Sethos  are  the  a  deduction  on  account  of  two  peculiarly 

only  monarchs  whose  names  cannot  be  suspicious  cases  (Dyn.  7.  70  kings,  in  70 

recognised  among  Manetho's  kings.  One  days;  and  Dyn.  17.  43  kings,  shepherds, 

of  these  (Anysis)  can  be  otherwise  iden-  and  43  kings,  Thebans),  the  number  re- 

tified.     He  is  certainly  Bocchoris.  maining  is   354,  a  near  approach  to  the 

^  That   of  the  Pyramid-Kings.      See  330  of  Herodotus, 

note  *  on  the  last  page.  ^  giuce  the  first  edition  of  this  work 

■■^  The  glory  of  the  Ramesside  dynasties  was   published,    a   discovery   has    been 

(19th  and  2uth  of  Manetho)  is  distinctly  made,  confirming  very  remarkably  one 

indicated  by  the  expeditions  of  Sesostris  of  these  Herodotean  statements.     The 

and  the  wealth  of  llhampsinitus.     The  annals  of  Esar-Haddon's  son  and  suc- 

sufFei'ings  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus  seem  cessor   show  that   Egypt   was  actually 

to  be  mythically  expressed  by  the  blind-  split  up  in  his  time  into  as  many  as 

ness  of  Phero.     The  oppression  endured  twenty   kingdoms.     Herodotus   is    thus 

under  the  pyramid  builders  is  undoubt-  shown  to  be  quite  right  as  to  his  general 

edly  a  fact.      The  decline  of  the  empire  fixct,  and  only  incorrect  as  to  the  exact 

under  the  Tanite  kings  is  marked  by  number. 

E   2 


52 


BABYLONIAN  HISTOKY. 


Life  and 


In  Babylon  Herodotus  appears  to  have  obtained  some  of  liis 
information  from  the  Chaldseans  attached  to  the  temple  of 
Belus,^  who  were  persons  to  whom  the  real  history  of  their 
native  land  must  undoubtedly  have  been  familiar.  It  is  how- 
ever very  doubtful  whether  he  derived  much  of  his  information 
from  this  quarter.^  His  Babylonian  history  may  be  said  to  be 
correct  in  outline  J  and  tolerably  exact  in  certain  important  par- 
ticulars.^ Still  it  contains  some  most  remarkable  mistakes,^ 
which  seem  to  show  either  that  the  persons  from  whom  he 
derived  his  materials  were  not  well  versed  in  their  country's 
annals,  or  that  he  misunderstood  their  communications.  The 
mistakes  in  question,  it  is  w^orthy  of  special  remark,  unlike  those 
which  disfigure  his  Egyptian  history,  occur  in  the  most  recent 
portion  of  the  narrative,  where  conscious  falsification  would 
have  been  most  easy  of  detection,  and  therefore  least  likely  to 
have  been  adventured  on.  It  seems  probable  that  Herodotus 
paid  but  a  single  hasty  visit  to  the  Mesopotamian  capital,  and 
when  there  he  may  have  found  a  difficulty  in  obtaining  a 
qualified  interpreter. ^°  He  would  also,  as  a  Greek,  be  destitute 
of  any  particular  claim   on  the  attention  of  the   Babylonian 


*  See  Herod,  i.  181,  suh  fin.  and  183. 

^  The  only  informatiou  expressly  as- 
cribed to  the  Chaldseans  consists  of  de- 
tails respecting  the  temple  of  Belus. 
Herodotus  does  not  say  whence  he  de- 
rived his  historical  materials. 

'  Carrying  back  Babylonian  history 
for  some  seven  hundred  years,  he  noticed, 
in  the  first  place,  two  periods  ;  one — 
the  first — during  which  it  was  under 
Assyria,  yet  had  sovereigns  of  its  own, 
like  Semiramis  (i.  184);  the  other,  dur- 
ing which  it  was  independent  (i.  106, 
178).  The  period  of  independence  he 
knew  to  be  little  more  than  two  genera- 
tions (compare  i.  74  and  188); — that  of 
subjection  he  was  aware  exceeded  six 
centuries.  This  latter  he  also  divided 
(as  Berosus  does)  into  two  portions,  a 
longer,  and  a  shorter  one  ;  while  Assyria 
wg,s  a  great  empire,  and  while  she  was 
only  a  powerful  kingdom.  This  divi- 
sion appears  to  correspond  to  the  Upper 
and  Lower  Assyrian  dynasties  of  Berosus. 

8  As  in  the  duration  of  the  first  As- 
syrian dynasty — where  his  5l'0  years  (i. 
95)  manifestly  represent  the  (more  exact) 
526  years  of  Berosus  (ap.  Euseb.  Chron. 
Can.  pars  L  cap.  iv.)  ;  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  independence  on  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh  (i.   178;;    in   the 


name  of  the  last  king  (Labynetus= 
Nabunahit),  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
capture  of  Babylon  (i.  191);  in  the  time 
of  Semiramis  (i.  184),  &c. 

9  Particularly  the  following :— 1 .  That 
Labynetus  [Nabimahit)  was  the  son  of  a 
former  king,  and  of  a  queen  ( Nitocris) ; 
2.  That  he  immediately  succeeded  the 
latter;  3.  That  the  Babylonian  monarch, 
contemporary  with  Cyaxares,  was  also 
named  Labynetus;  4.  That  he  was  the 
father  of  the  last  king;  and  5.  That 
queens  ever  ruled  at  Babylon  in  their 
own  name. 

10  The  Greek  refugees  in  Persia  would 
study  Persian,  the  official  language, 
rather  than  any  other.  The  Chaldseans 
on  the  other  hand  would  speak  the 
Semitic  dialect  of  the  inscriptions,  and 
understand  the  ancient  Scythic  language 
of  their  country,  but  would  have  little 
knowledge  of  Persian.  The  communica- 
tions between  Herodotus  and  the  Chal- 
dsean  priests  would  be  much  like  those 
which  take  place  now-a  days  between 
inquisitive  European  travellers  and 
grave  Pekin  Mandarins,  through  the 
intervention  of  some  foreign  settler  at 
Canton,  who  has  picked  up  a  slight 
smattering  of  the  local  colloquial  dialect. 


Writings.        PERSIAN  INFORMATION  QF  HERODOTUS.  53 

savans,  and  he  would  therefore  naturally  be  left  to  pick  up  the 
bulk  of  his  information  from  those  who  made  a  living  by  show- 
ing the  town  and  its  remarkable  buildings  to  strangers.  The 
quality  of  the  historical  information  possessed  by  such  inform- 
ants may  be  judged  by  the  reader's  experience  of  this  class  of 
persons  at  the  present  day.  Herodotus  no  doubt  endeavoured 
to  penetrate  into  a  more  learned  circle,  but  the  Babylonians  of 
the  time  would  have  been  destitute  of  any  of  those  motives, 
whether  of  gratitude  or  of  self-interest,  which  induced  the 
Egyptian  priests  to  lay  aside  their  reserve,  and  consent  to 
gratify  the  curiosity  of  their  Greek  auxiliaries.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed at  any  rate,  that  in  the  Babylonian  history  of  our  author 
we  find  but  few  traces  of  that  exact  and  extensive  knowledge  of 
their  past  condition  which  the  Chaldsean  priest-caste  certainly 
possessed,  and  which  enabled  Berosus,  more  than  a  century 
later,  to  produce  a  narrative,  extending  over  a  space  of  above 
fifteen  hundred  years,  which  has  been  lately  confirmed  in 
numerous  instances  by  contemporary  documents,  and  which 
appears  to  have  been  most  completely  authentic. 

The  Persian  informants  of  Herodotus  seem  to  have  consisted 
of  the  soldiers  and  officials  of  various  ranks,  with  whom  he 
necessarily  came  in  contact  at  Sardis  and  other  places,  where 
strong  bodies  of  the  dominant  people  were  maintained  con- 
stantly. He  was  born  and  bred  up  a  Persian  subject ;  and 
though  in  his  own  city  Persians  might  be  rare  visitants,  every- 
where beyond  the  limits  of  the  Grecian  states  they  formed  the 
official  class,  and  in  the  great  towns  they  were  even  a  consider- 
able section  of  the  population.^  This  would  be  the  case  not 
only  in  Asia  Minor,  but  still  more  in  Babylon  and  Susa,  where 
the  court  passed  the  greater  portion  of  the  year — both  which 
cities  Herodotus  seems  to  have  visited.^     There  is  no  reason  to 


^  See  Herod,  v.  100-1 ;  vi.  4  and  20.  ''  I  did  not  see  it"  {eyw  ij.4u  fxiv  ovk  elSov), 

"^  The  visit  of  Herodotus  to  Babylon,  which  has  no  force  nor  fitness  except 

although  doubted  by  some,  is  (I  think)  in  contrast  to  the  other  things  previously 

certain,  not  merely  from  the  minuteness  described,  which  he  must  mean  to  say 

of  his  descriptions  (i.  178-183),  but  from  that  he  did  see;  and  3.    The  statement 

several  little  touches ;   e.  g.  1.  The  ex-  in  ch,  193,  that  he  refrained  from  men- 

pression  in  ch.  183,  "  as  the  Chalda3aus  tionmg  the  size  of  the  millet  and  sesame 

said"  (d>s  e  A.  €  7  0  J/  ol  XaA.5aioL),  which  plants,  because  he  knew  that  those  v:ho 

can  only  mean  "  as  they  told  me  when  had  not  visited  the  country  would  not  be- 

I  was  there.''     2.  The  remark  in  the  same  lieve  what  he  had  previously  related  of 

chapter  with  regard  to  the  colossal  statue  the  produce.     The  visit  to   Susa  rests 

of  Bel,  made  of  solid  gold  (comp.  Dan.  mainly  on  vi.  119;  it  receives,  however, 

iii.  1),  which  once  stood  in  the  sacred  someconfirmation  from  the  account  of  the 

enclosure  of  the  great  temple  of  Belus —  royal  road  as  far  as  that  capital  in  v.  52. 


54         TENDENCY  OF  THE  PERSIANS  TO  EOMANCE.        Life  A^'D 

believe  that  he  ever  set  foot  in  Persia  Proper,  or  was  in  a 
country  where  the  Arian  element  preponderated.  Hence  his 
mistakes  with  regard  to  the  Persian  religion,^  which  he  con- 
founded with  the  Scythic  worship  of  Susiana,  Armenia,  and 
Cappadocia.  Still  he  would  enjoy  abundant  opportunities  of 
maidng  himself  acquainted  with  the  views  entertained  on  the 
subject  of  their  previous  history  by  the  Persians  themselves — 
from  his  ready  access  to  them  in  his  earlier  years,  from  the 
number  of  Greeks  who  understood  their  language,  and,  above 
all,  from  the  existence  of  native  historians  to  whose  works  he 
had  access.*  The  Persians,  from  the  date  of  their  conquest  of 
the  Modes,  possessed  (as  has  been  already  shown  ^)  a  variety  of 
authentic  documents,  increasing  in  number  and  copiousness  with 
the  descent  to  more  recent  times,  and  capable  of  serving  as  a 
solid  basis  for  history.  Moreover,  their  entire  annals  at  the 
time  when  Herodotus  wrote  were  comprised  within  a  space  of 
little  more  than  a  century — about  the  same  distance  which 
separates  the  Englishman  of  the  present  day  from  the  rebellion 
of  1745 — a  period  for  which  even  oral  tradition  is  a  tolerably 
safe  guide.  We  might  have  expected  under  these  circumstances 
a  more  purely  historic  narrative  of  the  events  in  question,  and  a 
greater  correctness,  if  not  a  greater  amplitude  of  detail,*^  than 
the  work  of  Herodotus  is  found  in  fact  to  supply.  The  deficiency 
is  traceable  to  two  causes.  Among  the  Persians,  then  as  now, 
the  critical  judgment  was  far  less  developed  than  the  imagina- 
tion ;  and  their  historians,  or  rather  chroniclers  (Xoyiot),  delighted 
to  diversify  with  all  manner  of  romantic  circumstances  the  his- 
tory of  their  earlier  kings.  This  was  especially  the  case  with 
Cyrus,  the  hero-founder  of  the  empire,  whose  adventures  were 
narrated  with  vast  exaggeration  and  immense  variety.'     Hero- 


3  See  the  Essay  *'Onthe  Religion  of  tions;    so   probably   are  the   stories  of 

the  Ancient  Persians."  SylosonandZopyrus; — the  circumstances 

"*  See    especially   book  i.   ch,  1 ;    and  of    the   expedition    of    Darius    against 

compare  i.  95,  and  214  sub  fin.     See  also  Scythia  are  probably  exaggerated.     It  is 

p.  42  of  this  chapter.  not  till  the  time  of  the  Ionian  revolt 

5  ^uprli,  p.  47.  that  the  Persian  history  becomes  fully 

^  The  early  history  of  Cyrus  in  Hero-  trustworthy.       Among    the    omissions 

dotus  is  purely  romance — his  treatment  which   most   surprise   us   are   those   of 

of  Croesus,  and  the  manner  of  his  own  the  Sacan  and  Bactrian  wars  of  Cyrus, 

death,    seem   to   be   fabulous  ; — in   the  the  reduction  of  Phoenicia,  Cyprus,  and 

history  of  Cambyses  and  of  the  Pseuclo-  Cilicia  by  Cambyses;  the  revolt  of  the 

Smerciis  are  several  important  errors; —  Medes  from  Darius;  and  his  conquest  of 

the  debate  among  the  conspirators  as  to  a  part  of  India. 

the  best  form  of  government,  and  the  '  As  Herodotus  himself  indicates.    See 

story  of  (Ebares,  are  most  certainly  fie-  i.  95  and  214. 


Writings.    THE  HISTORY,  AS  TESTED  BY  THE  INSCRIPTIONS.    55 

dotus  too  was  by  natural  temperament  inclined  to  look  with 
favour  on  the  poetical  and  the  marvellous,  and  where  he  had  to 
choose  between  a  number  of  conflicting  stories  would  be  dis- 
posed to  reject  the  prosaic  and  commonplace  for  the  romantic 
and  extraordinary.  Thus  he  may  often  have  accepted  an  account 
which  to  moderns  seems  palpably  untrue  when  the  authentic 
version  of  the  story  came  actually  under  his  cognisance.  In 
other  cases  he  may  have  pieced  together  the  sober  relations  of 
writers  who  drew  from  the  monuments,  and  the  lively  inven- 
tions of  romancers,  not  perceiving  the  superiority  of  the  former.^ 
Thus  his  narrative,  where  it  can  be  compared  with  the  Persian 
monumental  records,  presents  the  curious  contrast  of  minute 
and  exact  agreement  in  some  parts  with  broad  and  striking 
diversity  in  others — the  diversity  being  chiefly  in  those  points 
where  there  is  the  most  of  graphic  colouring  and  highly-wrought 
description — the  agreement  being  in  names,  dates,  and  the 
general  outline  of  the  results  attained  as  distinguished  from  the 
mode   in   which   they  were   accomplished.^      Unfortunately   a 


^  Hence  arise  contradictions,  as  that  in 
the  Scythian  war  of  Darivis,  where  the 
time  during  which  the  Persians  are 
actually  in  the  country,  and  the  time 
which  such  a  march  as  that  assigned 
them  must  have  occupied,  are  widely  at 
variance.     See  note  to  book  iv.  ch.  133. 

^  The  period  of  Persian  history  for 
which  alone  this  comparison  is  at  pre- 
sent possible,  is  that  intervening  between 
the  death  of  Smerdis  and  the  (second) 
recovery  of  Babylon  by  Darius,  where 
the  Behistun  inscription  furnishes  a 
running  comment  upon  the  third  book 
of  Herodotus.  Here  the  name  of  Smerdis, 
his  secret  execution  by  his  brother,  the 
expedition  into  Egypt,  the  bursting  out 
of  the  Magian  revolution  while  he  was 
there,  the  death  of  Cambyses  on  hearing 
of  the  revolt,  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
the  crown  for  a  while  by  the  Pseudo- 
Smerdis,  his  personation  of  the  son  of 
Cyrus,  the  sudden  arrival  of  Darius,  his 
six  companions,  their  names  with  one 
exception,  the  violent  death  of  the  pre- 
tender, the  period  of  trouble  which  fol- 
lowed, the  revolt  and  reduction  of  Baby- 
lon within  a  few  yeai-s,  are  all  correctly 
stated  by  our  author,  whose  principal 
misstatements  are  the  following  : — 1. 
The  execution  of  Smerdis  (Bardius)  after 
the  commencement  of  the  Egyptian 
expedition,  which  he  connects  with  the 
story  of  his  drawing  the  Ethiopian  bow 


(Herod,  iii.  30);  2.  The  attack  of  the 
conspirators  upon  the  Magi  in  the  palace 
at  JSusa,  and  the  struggle  there  (chs. 
76-9);  3.  The  debate  on  the  form  of 
government,  and  the  question  who 
should  be  king  (chs.  80-7);  4.  The 
Median  character  of  the  revolution ;  and 
5.  The  whole  story  of  the  mode  in  which 
Babylon  was  recovered.  He  also  mis- 
takes the  real  name  of  the  Magus,  which 
he  supposes  to  have  been  Smerdis.  The 
full  value  and  extent  of  our  author's 
correctness  are  best  estimated  by  contrast 
with  the  writer  who,  having  had  every 
opportunity  of  gaining  exact  informa- 
tion, professed  to  correct  the  errors  of 
one  whom  he  did  not  scruple  to  call  "a. 
lying  chronicler"  (ap.  Phot.  Bibl.  Cod. 
Lxxii.  ad  init.).  Ctesias  names  the 
brother  of  Cambyses,  Tanyoxarces ;  does 
not  allow  that  Cambyses  went  into 
Egypt ;  makes  him  die  at  Babylon  of  an 
accidental  hurt  which  he  had  given 
himself;  places  the  Magian  revolution 
after  his  death;  corrupts  the  names  of 
two  out  of  the  six  conspirators,  and 
entirely  changes  the  names  of  the  other 
four;  follows  Herodotus  in  his  account 
of  the  death  of  the  Magus  and  of  the 
mode  in  which  Darius  became  king ; 
gives  the  name  of  the  Magus  as  Sphen- 
dadates;  and  regards  the  whole  struggle 
as  one  purely  personal.  On  one  point 
only  does  Ctesias  improve  upon  his  pre- 


56  PERSIAN  DOCUMENTS  IN  HERODOTUS.         Life  and 

direct  comparison  of  this  kind  can  but  rarely  be  made,  owing  to 
the  scantiness  of  the  Persian  records  at  present  discovered  ;  but 
we  are  justified  in  assuming   from  the   coincidences   actually 
observable,  that  at  least  some  of  his  authorities  drew  their  his- 
tories from  the  monuments ;  and  it  even  seems  as  if  Herodotus 
had  himself  had  access  to  certain  of  the  most  important  of  those 
documents  which  were  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  empire. 
It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  understand  how  this  could  have  been 
brouglit  about,  but  perhaps  it  is  possible  that  either  at  Babylon 
or  at   Susa  he  may  have  obtained  Greek  transcripts  of  the 
records  in  question,  or  copies  may  have  existed  in  the  satrapial 
treasury  of  Sardis,  in  which  case  his  acquaintance  with  them 
would  cease  to  be  surprising.     The  instances  to  which  reference 
is  especially  intended  are  the  account  of  the  satrapies  of  Darius 
and  the  revenue  drawn  from  them  in  the  third  book,  and  the 
catalogue  of  the  army  of  Xerxes  in  the  seventh.     These  are 
exactly  such  documents  as  the  royal  archives  would  contain ; 
and  they  have  a   character  of  minuteness   and   completeness 
which  makes  it  evident  that  they  are  not  the  mere  result  of 
such  desultory  inquiries  as  Herodotus  might  have  been  able  to 
make  in  the  different  countries  where  he  travelled.     If  then 
these  are  actual  Persian  documents,^  we  may  conclude  that  the 
Persian  history  of  Herodotus,  at  least  from  the  accession  of 
Darius,  is  based  in  the  main  upon  authentic  national  records ; 
and  this  conclusion  is  borne  out  as  w^ell  by  the  general  pro- 
bability of  the  narrative  as  by  its  agreement  in  certain  minute 
points  with  monumental  and  other  evidence.^ 

It  results  from  this  entire  review  that  in  all  the  countries  with 
which  the  history  of  Herodotus  was  at  all  vitally  concerned 
there  existed  monumental  records,  accessible  to  himself  or  his 


decessor — in  denying  that  the  Zopyrus  list  of  provinces  in  the  inscriptions  of 
story  belongs  to  the  capture  of  Babylon  Behistun  and  Persepolis — the  Scythian 
by  Darius.  Even  here,  however,  it  may  expedition  by  the  tomb-inscription  at 
be  doubted  whether,  in  referring  it  to  the  Nakhsh-i-Rustam — the  length  of  Da- 
capture  by  Xerxes,  he  does  not  replace  rius's  reign  by  the  Canon,  and  by 
one  /able  by  another.  Manetho,     It  is  worthy  of  notice  that 

1  See  Heeren's  As.  Nat.  vol.  i,  pp.  97  Ctesias  misstates  the  length  both  of  this 
and  441.  E.  T.  and  the   preceding  reign,   assigning  to 

2  The  length  of  the  reign  of  Cambyses  Cambyses  18  years,  and  to  Darius  31 
is  confirmed  by  the  Canon  of  Ptolemy  (Persic.  Exc.  §§12  and  19).  The  order 
—the  fact  that  Darius  became  king  in  of  the  chief  events  in  the  reign  of  Da- 
his  father's  lifetime  (iii.  72),  by  the  Be-  rius  is  confirmed  by  a  compai'ison  of  the 
histun  inscription — the  revolt  of  the  three  inscriptions  above  mentioned,  of 
Medes  from  Darius  (i.  130),  by  the  same  which  the  Behistun  is  clearly  the  earliest, 
document — the  conquest  of  India  in  the  and  the  tomb-inscription  the  latest, 
reign  of  Darius,  by  a  comparison  of  the 


Writings.  HIS  LINGUISTIC  IGNORANCE.  57 

informants,  of  an  authentic  and  trustworthy  character.^  These 
were  of  course  less  plentiful  for  the  earlier  times,  and  in  Greece 
especially  such  records  were  but  scanty  ;  enough  however  existed 
everywhere  to  serve  as  a  considerable  check  upon  the  wander- 
ings of  mere  oral  tradition,  and  prevent  it  for  the  most  part 
from  straying  very  far  from  the  truth.  These  documents  were 
in  the  case  of  foreign  countries  sealed  books  to  Herodotus,  who 
had  no  power  of  reading  any  language  but  his  own ;  *  his  in- 
formants, however,  were  acquainted  with  them,  and  thus  a  great 
portion  of  their  contents  found  its  way  into  his  pages.  Occa- 
sionally he  was  able  to  obtain  an  entire  state-paper,  and  to 
transfer  it  bodily  into  his  work ;  but  more  commonly  he  drew 
his  information  from  men,  thus  deriving  liis  knowledge  of  the 
more  ancient  times  at  second-hand.  Conscious  of  his  absolute 
dependance  in  such  cases  on  the  truthfulness  of  his  authorities, 
he  endeavoured  everywhere  to  derive  his  information  from  those 
best  skilled  in  the. history  of  their  native  land ;  ^  but  here  he  was 
met  by  many  difficulties — some  received  his  advances  coldly, 
others  wdlfuUy  naisled  him — a  few  made  him  welcome  to  their 
stores,  but  in  those  stores  the  historical  and  the  romantic  were 
so  blended  together,  that  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  disentangle 
them.  The  consequence  is  that  in  the  portion  of  his  history 
which  has  reference  to  foreign  countries  and  to  more  ancient 
times,  the  most  valuable  truths  and  the  merest  fables  lie  often 
side  by  side.  He  is  at  the  mercy  of  his  informants,  and  is 
compelled  to  repeat  their  statements,  even  where  he  does  not 
believe  them.  In  Greece  itself,  and  in  other  countries  as  he 
comes  nearer  to  his  own  time,  his  information  is  better  and  more 
abundant ;  he  is  able  to  sift  and  compare  statements,  to  balance 
the  weight  of  evidence,  and  to  arrive  at  conclusions  which  are 
probably  in  the  main  correct.  The  events  related  in  his  last 
Aye  books  were  but  little  removed  from  his  own  day,  and  with 


3  If  any  exceptions  need  to  be  made,  G9,  77,  81,  94,  143;  iv.  27,  59,  110,  155, 

they  would  be  those  of  Lydia  and  Media.  192;  vi.  98,  119;  viii.  85,  98;  ix.  110), 

The   Medes   had  no   history — probably  and  readily  pronounces  on  similarity  or 

no  letters — prior  to  Cyaxares,  who  led  identity  of  language  (i.  57,  172;  ii,  105; 

them  into  Media  Magna  from  beyond  iv.  117,  &c.).     But  in  the  latter  case  he 

the  Caspian.     The  Lydian  traditions  ran  seems  to  have  trusted  to  his  ear,  and  in 

up  into  myth  shortly  before  the  time  of  the  former  his  explanations  are  often  so 

Gyges.  bad  as  to  show  his  complete  ignorance 

^  There  is  an  appearance  of  linguistic  rather  than  his  knowledge  of  the  tongues 

knowledge   in    Herodotus,    which   may  in  question.     (See  notes  on  Piromis,  ii. 

seem    to    militate    against    this    view.  143;  and  on  the  names  of  the  Persian 

He  frequently  introduces  and  explains  kings,  vi.  98.) 

foreign  words  (i.  110,   192 j  ii.  2,  30,  46,  ^  Of,  i.  1,  95,  181-3;  ii.  3,  &c. 


58  THE  MAIN  NARRATIVE  HISTORICAL.  Life  A^'D 

regard  to  these  he  has  almost  the  authority  of  a  contemporary 
historian ;  for  his  informants  must  have  been  chiefly  persons 
engaged  in  the  transactions.  His  own  father  would  most  likely 
have  witnessed  and  may  have  taken  part  in  the  Ionian  insur- 
rection, which  preceded  the  birth  of  Herodotus  by  less  than 
fifteen  years.  The  subsequent  events  must  have  been  familiar 
to  all  the  elder  men  of  his  acquaintance,  Marathon  being  no 
further  removed  from  him  than  Waterloo  from  ourselves,  and 
Salamis  being  as  near  as  Navarino.  He  would  find  then  in  the 
memory  of  living  men  abundant  materials  for  an  authentic 
account  of  those  matters  on  which  it  w^as  his  special  object  to 
write ;  and  if  a  want  of  trustworthy  sources  from  which  to  draw 
is  to  be  brought  forward  as  detracting  from  the  value  of  his 
work,  it  must  at  any  rate  be  conceded  that  the  objection  lies, 
not  against  the  main  narrative,  but  against  the  introductory 
portion,  and  even  there  rather  against  the  episodes  wherein  he 
ventures  to  trace  the  ancient  history  of  some  of  the  chief  coun- 
tries brought  into  contact  with  Persia,  than  against  the  thread 
of  narration  by  which  these  ambitious  efforts  are  connected  with 
the  rest  of  the  treatise.  The  episodes  themselves  must  be 
judged  separately,  each  on  its  own  merits.  The  traditions  of 
the  Scyths,  of  the  Modes  before  Cyaxares,  of  Lydia  before 
Gyges,  and  of  all  countries  without  a  literature,  must  be  received 
with  the  greatest  caution,  and  regarded  as  having  the  least 
possible  weight.  But  the  accounts  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon, 
Persia,  and  the  various  states  of  Greece,  having  been  derived  in 
part  from  monuments  and  otherwise  from  those  who  possessed 
access  to  monuments,  deserve  throughout  attentive  considera- 
tion. They  may  from  various  causes  often  be  incorrect  in  par- 
ticulars ;  but  they  may  be  expected  to  be  true  in  outline ;  and  in 
their  details  they  may  not  unfrequently  embody  the  contents  of 
authentic  documents  existing  at  the  time  when  Herodotus 
wrote,  but  now  irrecoverably  lost  to  us.  Critical  judgment 
must  separate  in  them  the  probable  from  the  improbable ;  but 
whatever  comes  under  the  former  head,  and  is  not  contradicted 
by  better  authority,  may  well  be  received  as  historical,  at  least 
until  fresh  discoveries  shall  at  once  disprove  their  truth,  and 
supply  us  with  more  authentic  details  to  substitute  in  their 
place. 


Writings.        MERITS  AIs^D  DEFECTS  OF  HERODOTUS.  59 


CHAPTEK   III. 

ON  THE  MERITS  AND  DEFECTS  OF  HERODOTUS  AS  AN  HISTORIAN. 

Merits  of  Herodotus  as  an  historian:  1,  Diligence.  2,  Honesty  —  Failure  of  all 
attacks  on  his  veracity.  3.  Impartiality  —  Charges  of  prejudice  —  Remarkable 
instances   of  candour.      4.    Political    dispassionateness.       5.    Freedom   from 

national  vanity. Defects  as  an  historian:   1.  Credulity  —  Belief  in  omens, 

oracles,  dreams,  &c.  —  Theory  of  Divine  Nemesis — Marvels  in  Nature.  2. 
Spirit  of  exaggeration  —  Anecdotes.  3.  Want  of  accuracy  —  Discrepancies  — 
Repetitions  —  Loose  chronology,  &c.  4.  Want  of  historical  insight  —  Confu- 
sion of  occasions  with  causes  —  Defective  geography  —  Absurd  meteorology  — 

Mythology  —  Philology. Merits  as  a  writer :  1.  Unity  —  Scope  of  the  wor-k. 

2.  Clever  management  of  the  episodes  —  Question  of  their  relevancy.  3.  Skill 
in  character-drawing  —  The  Persians  —  The  Spartans  —  the  Athenians  — 
Persian  and  Spartan  kings :  Themistocles  —  Aristides  —  Greek  Tyrants  : 
Croesus  —  Amasis  —  Nitocris  —  Tomyris,  &c.  4.  Dramatic  power.  5.  Pathos. 
6.  Humour.  7.  Variety.  8.  Pictorial  description.  9.  Simplicity.  10.  Beauty 
of  style.     Conclusion. 

In  forming  our  estimate  of  an  historical  writer  two  things  have 
to  be  considered — the  vahie  of  his  work  as  an  authentic  exposi- 
tion of  the  facts  with  which  he  deals,  and  its  character  as  a 
composition.  On  the  former  head  some  remarks  have  been 
already  made  while  we  have  been  treating  of  the  sources  from 
which  the  history  of  Herodotus  seems  to  have  been  derived ;  but 
a  more  prolonged  and  detailed  consideration  of  it  will  be  now 
entered  on,  with  special  reference  to  the  qualifications  of  the 
writer,  which  have  been  very  variously  estimated  by  different 
critics.  It  is  plain  that  however  excellent  the  sources  from 
which  Herodotus  had  it  in  his  power  to  draw^  the  character  of 
his  history  for  authenticity,  and  so  its  real  value,  will  depend 
mainly  on  his  possession  or  non-possession  of  certain  attributes 
which  alone  entitle  an  historian  to  be  listened  to  as  an  authority. 
The  primary  requisites  for  an  historian — given  the  possession 
of  ordinary  capacity — are  honesty  and  diligence.  The  latter  of 
these  two  qualities  no  one  has  ever  denied  to  our  author. 
Perhaps,  however,  scarcely  suflScient  credit  has  been  allowed 
him  for  that  ardent  love  of  knowledge,  that  unwearied  spirit  of 
research,  which  led  him  in  disturbed  and  perilous  times  to 
undertake  at  his  own  cost  a  series  of  joui-neys  over  almost  all 


60  HIS  DILIGENCE  AND  ACTIVITY.  Life  and 

parts  of  tlie  knoMn  world  ^ — the  aggregate  of  which  cannot  have 
amounted  to  less  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  miles — for 
the  sole  purpose  of  deriving,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  foun- 
tain-head, that  information  concerning  men  and  places  which 
he  was  bent  on  putting  before  his  readers.  Travelling  in  the 
age  of  Herodotus  had  not  ceased  to  be  that  laborious  task,  which 
had  exalted  in  primitive  times  the  "  much-travelled  man  "  into 
a  hero.^  The  famous  boast  of  Democritus^  has  a  moral  as  well 
as  an  intellectual  bearing,  and  is  a  claim  upon  the  respect  no 
less  than  upon  the  attention  of  his  countrymen.  At  the  period 
of  which  we  are  speaking  no  one  journeyed  for  pleasure  ;  and  it 
required  either  lust  of  gain  or  the  strongest  thirst  for  knowledge 
to  induce  persons  to  expose  themselves  to  the  toils,  hardships, 
and  dangers  which  were  then  attendant  upon  locomotion,  par- 
ticularly in  strange  countries.  We  may  regret  that  the  journeys 
of  Herodotus  were  sometimes  undertaken  for  objects  which  do 
not  seem  to  us  commensurate  with  the  time  and  labour  which 
they  must  have  cost,*  and  that  in  other  instances,  where  the 
object  was  a  worthy  one,  they  were,  baulked  of  the  fruit  which 
he  might  fairly  have  expected  them  to  bear ;  ^  but  it  would  be 
unjust  to  withhold  from  him  the  meed  of  our  approval  for  the 
activity  and  zeal  which  could  take  him  from  Egypt  to  Tyre, 
and  from  Tyre  to  Thasos,  to  clear  up  a  point  of  antiquarianism 
of  no  importance  to  his  general  history  ;  and  which,  again,  could 
carry  him  from  Memphis  to  Heliopolis,  and  then  up  the  Nile, 
nine  days'  journey,  to  Thebes,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  testing 
the  veracity  of  his  Memphitic  informants.  We  must  also 
admire  that  indefatigable  inquisitiveness  —  not  perhaps  very 
agreeable  to  those  who  were  its  objects — which  was  constantly 
drawing  from  all  persons  with  whom  he  came  into  contact  what- 
ever inform_ation  they  possessed  concerning  the  history  or  pecu- 
liarities of  their  native  land  or  the  countries  where  they  had 
travelled.^       The    painstaking    laboriousness    with    which    his 


1  Vide  suprd,  pp.  7-9.  ^  Herodotus    enumerates   among    his 

'^  See   the  opening   of   the  Odyssey ;  informants,  besides  Persians,  Egyptians, 

and  compare  Horat.  Ep.  I.  ii.  19-22;  A.  and  Chaldaans,   the    Scythians    (iv.    5, 

P.  141.     See  also  Virg.  ^n.  i.  7.  24),   the  Pontine  Greeks  riv.  8,  18,  24, 

3  Ap.  Clem.  Alexandr.  (Strom.  I.  p.  &c.),  the  Tauri  (iv.  103),  the  Colchians 
357.)  'Eycb  8e  tSjv  kut  ^/navThv  avQpu-  (ii.  104),  the  Bithynians  (vii.  75),  the 
Tzoov  •yr]v  -nKeiffTriv  iTrenXavriadixrju,  Icrro-  Thraciaus  (v.  10),  the  Lydians  (iv.  45), 
pe'wv  Ttt  /x^KLo-ra'  Koi  depas  Koi  y^as  the  Carians  (i.  171),  the  Caunians  (i. 
irXeicrras  elSov '  K.r.\,  172),  the  Cyprians  (i.  105;  vii.  90,  &c.), 

4  See  book  ii.  ch.  44.  the  Phoenicians  (i.  5),  the  Tyrian  priests 
s  Ibi  d.  ch.  3.  (ii.  44),  the  Medes  (vii.  62),  the  Arabians 


Writings.  QUESTION  OF  HIS  VERACITY.  61 

materials  were  collected  is  marked  by  that  term  whereby  he 
designated  its  results,  viz.  'laroplr) — which  is  not  really  equiva- 
lent to  our  "  history,"  but  signifies  "  investigation "  or  "  re- 
search," and  so  properly  characterises  a  narrative  of  which 
diligent  inquiry  has  formed  the  basis. 

The  honesty  of  Herodotus  has  not  passed  unchallenged. 
Several  ancient  writers,^  among  them  two  of  considerable 
repute,  Ctesias  the  court-physician  to  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  and 
Plutarch,  or  rather  an  author  who  has  made  free  with  his  name, 
have  impeached  the  truthfulness  of  the  historian,  and  main- 
tained that  his  narrative  is  entitled  to  little  credit.  Ctesias 
seems  to  have  introduced  his  own  work  to  the  favourable  notice 
of  his  countrymen  by  a  formal  attack  on  the  veracity  of  his 
great  predecessor,^  upon  the  ruins  of  wdiose  reputation  he  hoped 
to  establish  his  own.  He  designed  his  history  to  supersede  that 
of  Herodotus ;  and  feeling  it  in  vain  to  endeavour  to  cope  with 
him  in  the  charms  of  composition,  he  set  himself  to  invalidate 
his  authority,  presuming  upon  his  own  claims  to  attention  as  a 
resident  for  seventeen  years  at  the  court  of  the  great  king.^ 
Professing  to  draw  his  relation  of  Oriental  affairs  from  a 
laborious  examination  of  the  Persian  archives,^  he  proceeded  to 
contradict,  wherever  he  could  do  so  wdthout  fear  of  detection, 
the  assertions  of  his  rival ;  ^  and  he  thus  acquired  to  himself  a 


(iii.  108),  the  Ammonians  (iii.  26),  the  }\/ev56fMevov).       Laertius    notes    certain 

Cyrenaeans  (iv.  154),  the  Carthaginians  tales    which   were    taxed   with    falsity 

(iv.  43),  the  Syracusans  (vii.  167),  and  (Proem.  §  9).     Theopompus  (Fr.   29), 

other  Siciliots  (vii.  165),  the  Crotoniats  Sti^abo  (xi.  740,  771,  &c.),  Lucian  (Ver. 

(v.     44),    the     Sybarites     (ibid.),    the  Hist.  ii.  42),  Cicero  (De  Leg.  i.  1 ;  De 

priestesses  at  Dodona  (ii.  53),  the  Corin-  Div.  ii.  56),  and  othei"s  speak  disparag- 

thians    (i.   23),   the  Lacedsemonians  (i.  ingly  of  his  veracity.      Their   remarks 

70,  &c.),  the  Argives  (v.  87),  the  Egine-  apply  chiefly  to  his  marvellous  stories. 

tans  (v.  86),  the  Athenians  (v.  63,  &c.),  "  The   words    of  Photius   concerning 

the  Gephyrseans  (v.  57),  the  Thessalia^ns  Ctesias    (Bibliothec.    Cod.   LXXii.)  are: 

(vii.    129),  the  Macedonians  (viii.   138),  crxeS^j/  iv   airaaiv   auriKfifieua   'RpoSSrco 

the  Hellespontine   Greeks   (iv.   95),  the  icrropwv,   aWa  koX    ypevarr]v   avrhv  ano- 

Lesbians  (i.    23),   the  Samians   (i.    70),  KaAciv  iv  iro\ko7s. 

the  Delians  (vi.  98),  the  lonians  (ii.  15),  ^  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  32.     For  the  fact  of  the 

the  Cretans  (i.  171),  the  Therseans  (iv.  residence  of  Ctesias  in  Persia,  see  Xen. 

150),  &c.  &c.  An.  I.  viii.   §  26-7;  Strab.  xiv.  p.  938; 

"^  Manetho,    the    Egyptian    historian,  Tzetz.  Chil.  i.  i.  85. 

is  said  to  have  written  a  book  against  ^  Diod.  Sic.  1.  s.  c.     ovtos  olv  (prjciv 

Herodotus  (Etym.  Magn.  s.  v.  Aeoj/ro-  i  k  t  u  v  fiacr  iXiku  v  d  L(p  6  €  p  wv,  iv 

k6ijlos).       Another    was    composed    by  als  ol  Uepa-ai  ras  -rraXaLas  npa^eis  Kara 

Harpocration,  '  On  the  False  Statements  nva  vojxov  elxov  avvTerayfxivas,   tt  o  A  i/- 

made  by  Herodotus  in  his  History' (Ilept  tt  p  ay  fxovrj  a  ai    to.    Kud'     (Kao-ra    Kal 

TOO  Karetpevcdai  Tr]v 'UpoS6Tov  IcTTopiav.  avvTa^dfj-evovr^v  IffTopiav  €lsrovs"E\kri- 

See  Suidas  ad  voc.  'ApTroKpaTLcav.)    Jose-  vas  i^€veyKe7v. 

phus  (contr.  Ap.   i.  3)  asserts  that  all  2  The  most  important  points  on  which 

Greek  writers  admitted  Herodotus  to  be  the  two  writers  differed  were,  1.  The  date 

generally  untruthful  (eV  to7s  ttK^'kttols  of  the   first  establishment   of  a  great 


62 


BAD  FAITH  OF  CTESIAS. 


Life  and 


degree  of  fame  and  of  consideration  to  which  his  literary  merits 
would  certainly  never  have  entitled  him,  and  which  the  course 
of  detraction  he  pursued  could  alone  have  enabled  him  to  gain. 
By  the  most  unblushing  effrontery  he  succeeded  in  palming  off 
his  narrative  upon  the  ancient  world  as  the  true  and  genuine 
account  of  the  transactions,  and  his  authority  was  commonly 
followed  in  preference  to  that  of  Herodotus,  at  least  upon  all 
points  of  purely  Oriental  history.^  There  were  not  wanting 
indeed  in  ancient  times  some  more  critical  spirits,  e.g.  Aristotle* 
and  the  true  Plutarch,^  who  refused  to  accept  as  indisputable 
the  statements  of  the  Cnidian  physician,  and  retorted  upon  him 
the  charge  of  untruthfulness  which  he  had  preferred  against  our 
author.  It  was  difficult,  however,  to  convict  him  of  systematic 
falsehood  until   Oriental  materials   of  an  authentic  character 


Assyrian  empire  at  Nineveh,  which 
Ctesias  placed  almost  a  thousand  years 
before  Herodotus;  2.  the  duration  of 
the  empire — according  to  Ctesias,  1306 
years,  according  to  Herodotus,  520  ;  3. 
the  date  of  the  Median  conquest  of 
Assyria,  which  Ctesias  made  about  B.C. 
876,  Herodotus  about  B.C.  600 ;  and, 
4.  the  duration  of  the  Median  kingdom 
— above  300  years  in  the  former,  150  in 
the  latter  writer.  Minor  points  of  dif- 
ference are,  the  names  and  number  of 
the  Median  kings,  the  relationship  of 
Cyrus  to  Astyages,  the  mode  in  which 
Sardis  was  taken,  the  enemy  against 
whom  Cyrus  made  his  last  expedition, 
the  names  of  the  brother  of  Cambyses 
and  of  the  Magus,  the  circumstances  of 
the  invasion  of  Egypt,  the  manner  of  .the 
death  of  Cambyses  and  the  length  of  his 
reign,  the  names  of  the  six  conspirators, 
the  length  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  the 
time  when  Babylon  was  recovered  by 
the  stratagem  ascribed  to  Zopyrus,  the 
number  of  the  army  and  fleet  of  Xerxes, 
the  order  of  the  great  events  in  the 
Persian  War,  the  time  and  place  of  the 
death  of  Mardonius,  the  numbers  of  the 
Greek  fleet  at  Salamis,  &c. 

3  The  historical  work  of  Ctesias  seems 
to  have  been  at  once  received  by  his 
countrymen  as  authoritative  concerning 
the  East.  Even  Aristotle,  who  rejected 
the  fables  of  the  Indica,  appears  to  have 
given  a  certain  amount  of  credit  to  the 
Assyrian  history.  (Polit.  v.  8;  Eth. 
Nic.  i.  5.)  His  disciple,  Clearchus, 
followed  in  the  same  track  (Er.  5),  as 
did  Duris  of  Samos,  a  contemporary  (Fr. 
14).   Polybius  (B.C.  160)  appears  to  have 


adopted  from  Ctesias  the  whole  outline 
of  his  Oriental  narrative  (Fr.  9  ;  com- 
pare VIII.  xii.  §  3,  and  xxxvii.  ii.  §  6), 
as  did  ^milius  Sura,  Trogus  Pompeius, 
and  the  Augustan  writers  generally. 
(See  Diodorus  Siculus,  book  ii,;  Nic. 
Damasc.  Frs.  7-10;  Strabo,  xvi.  pp. 
1046-7.)  Velleius  Paterciilus  (i.  6)  fol- 
lowed Sura,  and  Justin  (i.  1-3)  Trogus 
Pompeius;  while  Castor  (ap.  Euseb,), 
Cephalion  (Fr.  1),  and  Clemens  of  Alex- 
andria (vol.  i.  p.  379),  drew  direct  from 
Ctesias  himself.  Eusebius  unfortunately 
adopted  the  views  of  Ctesias  from  Dio- 
dorus, Castor,  and  Cephalion,  whence 
they  passed  to  the  whole  series  of  eccle- 
siastical writers,  as  Augustine,  Sulpicius 
Severus,  Agathias,  Eustathius,  Syncel- 
lus,  &c.  They  are  also  found  in  Moses 
of  Chorene,  who  took  them  from  Cepha- 
lion (i.  17);  in  Abydenus  to  a  certain 
extent  (Fr.  11);  in  Athenseus,  Tzetzes, 
and  others. 

*  The  monstrous  fables  of  the  Indica 
were  what  chiefly  moved  the  indigna- 
tion of  Aristotle.  (See  Gen.  Anim.  ii. 
2;  Hist,  Anim,  ii.  iii.  §  10;  in.  sub 
fin. ;  VIII.  xxvii.  §  3.)  But  having 
learnt  from  them  the  untrustworthy 
character  of  the  wi'iter,  he  does  not 
accept  as  authoritative  his  bistoi'ical 
narrations.  See  Pol.  v.  8,  where,  speak- 
ing of  the  account  which  Ctesias  gave  of 
the  effeminate  Sardanapalus,  Aristotle 
adds,  ^l  d\r)6r]  ravra  ol  fxv  6  o  \o- 
7  0  C  J/  T  e  s  Xiyov(Tiv. 

^  See  Plutarch  (Vit.  Artaxerx.  c.  13, 
et  alibi).  And  compare  Lucian,  De 
Conscribenda  Historifl  (ii.  42  ;  vol.  iv. 
p.  202),  and  Arriau  (Exp.  Alex.  v.  4). 


Writings.       CHARGES  OF  THE  PSEUDO-PLUTARCH. 


G3 


were  obtained  by  which  to  tost  the  conflicting  accounts  of  the 
two  writers.  A  comparison  with  the  Jewish  scriptures,  and  with 
the  native  history  of  Berosus,  first  raised  a  general  suspicion  of 
the  bad  faith  of  Ctesias,^  whose  credit  few  moderns  have  been 
bold,  enough  to  maintain  against  the  continually  increasing 
evidence  of  his  dishonesty.'^  At  last  the  coup  de  grace  has  been 
given  to  his  small  remaining  reputation  by  the  recent  Cuneiform 
discoveries,  which  convict  him  of  having  striven  to  rise  into 
notice  by  a  system  of  "  enormous  lying  "  whereto  the  history  of 
literature  scarcely  presents  a  parallel.^ 

The  reputation  of  Herodotus  has  on  the  whole  suffered  but 
little  from  the  attacks  of  the  Pseudo-Plutarch.  The  unfairness 
and  prejudice  of  that  writer  is  so  manifest  that  perhaps  he  has 
rather  done  our  author  a  service  than  an  injury,  by  showing 
how  few  real  errors  could  be  detected  in  his  narrative  even  by 
the  most  lynx-eyed  criticism.  His  charge  of  "  malignity  "  has 
rebounded  on  himself;  and  he  has  come  to  be  regarded  generally 
as  a  mere  retailer  of  absurd  calumnies  which  the  plain  dealing 
of  Herodotus  had  caused  to  be  circulated  ao^ainst  him.^     In  no 


^  It  is  surprising  that  the  ancient 
Christian  chrouologers  did  not  at  once 
perceive  how  incompatible  the  scheme 
of  Ctesias  is  with  Scripture,  To  a  man 
they  adopt  it,  and  then  expend  a  vast 
amount  of  ingenuity  in  the  vain  endea- 
vour to  reconcile  what  is  ii^reconcileable. 
(See  Clinton's  F.  H.  vol.  ii.  p.  373.) 
Scaliger  was  the  first  to  attack  his  credi- 
bility. (De  Emend.  Temp.  Not.  ad 
Fragm.  subj.  pp.  39-43.) 

7  Freret  is  almost  the  only  modern  of 
real  learning  who  has  ventured  to  uphold 
the  paramovmt  authority  of  Ctesias 
(Memoires  de  I'Academie  des  Inscrip- 
tions, vol.  V.  pp.  351-6).  Biihr  (Pro- 
legomen.  ad  Ctes.  §  8,  pp.  24-60)  at- 
tempts but  a  partial  defence,  abating 
greatly  from  the  pretensions  absurdly 
preferred  by  H.  Stephanus.  (See  the 
*  Disquisitio  Historica  de  Ctesia'  in  tliis 
writer's  edition  of  Herodotus.) 

^  The  great  Assyrian  empire  of  Ctesias, 
lasting  for  1306  years,  is  a  pure  fiction  ; 
his  list  of  monarchs  fi'om  Ninus  to  Sar- 
danapalus  a  forgery  of  the  clumsiest 
kind,  made  up  of  names  in  part  Arian, 
in  part  geographic,  in  part  Greek,  pre- 
senting but  a  single  analogy  to  any  name 
found  on  the  monuments,  and  in  all 
probability  the  mere  product  of  his  own 
fancy.  His  Median  history  is  equally 
baseless.       (See    the    Critical    Essays, 


Essay  iii.)  In  his  Persian  history,  he 
transfers  to  the  time  of  Cyrus  the  cor- 
ruptions prevalent  in  his  own  day,  forges 
names  and  numbers  at  pleasure,  and 
distorts  with  wonderful  audacity  the 
historical  facts  best  known  to  the  Greeks. 
The  montiments  convict  him  of  direct 
falsehood  in  numerous  instances,  as  in 
the  name  of  the  brother  of  Cambyses, 
the  circumstances  of  the  Magian  revolu- 
tion, the  names  of  the  six  conspirators, 
the  place  and  manner  of  Cambyses' 
death,  the  early  supremacy  of  Assyria, 
the  time  at  which  Media  rose  into  im- 
portance, &c.  &c.  Authentic  documents, 
like  the  Canon  of  Ptolemy  and  the  dy- 
nastic tables  of  Manetho,  contradict  his 
chronological  data  ;  as,  c.  g.,  the  number 
of  years  which  he  assigns  to  Cambyses 
and  Darius  Hystaspes,  where  Herodotus 
and  the  aforesaid  documents  are  agreed. 
The  credibility  of  his  history,  where  it 
touches  the  Greeks,  may  be  fairly  esti- 
mated by  comparing  his  account  of  the 
revolt  of  Inarus  (Pers,  Ex.  §  32,  et  seq.) 
with  the  narrative  of  Thucydides  (i.  104, 
109,  110). 

^  See  Biihr's  Commentatio  de  Vit. 
et  Script.  Herod.  §  10  ;  Dahlmann's 
Life,  ch.  viii.;  Mure's  Literature  of 
Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  265.  The  last-named 
writer  observes:  "The  tract  of  Plu- 
tarch, '  On  the  Malignity  of  Herodotus,' 


64       TESTDIOXIES  TO  THE  HONESTY  OF  HERODOTUS.    Life  and 

instance  can  lie  be  said  to  have  proved  his  case,  or  convicted 
our  author  of  a  misstatement ;  in  one  only  has  he  succeeded  in 
throwing  any  considerable  doubt  on  the  view  taken  by  Hero- 
dotus of  an  important  matter.^ 

The  writers  who  have  followed  in  the  wake  of  these  two 
assailants  of  Herodotus  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  succeeded 
any  better  in  their  attacks  on  his  veracity.  The  deliberate 
judgment  of  modem  criticism  on  the  subject  is  decidedly  against 
the  assailants,  and  cannot  be  better  summed  up  than  in  the 
words  of  a  recent  author : — "  There  can  be  no  doubt,"  says  Col. 
3Iure,  "that  Herodotus  was,  according  to  the  standard  of  his 
age  and  country,  a  sensible  and  intelligent  man,  as  well  as  a 
writer  of  power  and  genius,  and  that  he  possessed  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  human  life  and  character.  Still  less  can  it  reason- 
ably be  questioned  that  Tie  was  an  essentially  honest  and  veracious 
historian.  Such  he  has  been  admitted  to  be  by  the  more  im- 
partial judges  both  of  his  own  and  subsequent  periods  of  ancient 
literatm'e,  and  by  the  all  hut  unanimous  verdict  of  the  modern 
puhlic.  Eigid,  in  fact,  as  has  been  the  scrutiny  to  which  his 
text  has  been  subjected,  no  distinct  case  of  wilful  misstatement 
or  perversion  of  fact  has  been  substantiated  against  him.  On 
the  contrary,  the  very  severity  of  the  ordeal  has  often  been  the 
means  of  eliciting  evidence  of  his  truth  in  cases  where,  with  the 
greatest  temptation  to  falsehood,  there  was  the  least  apparent 
risk  of  detection.  Every  portion  indeed  of  his  work  is  pervaded 
by  an  air  of  candour  and  honest  intention,  which  the  discerning 
critic  must  recognise  as  reflecting  corresponding  qualities  in  the 
author."  ^  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  anything  to  this  testimony, 
which  coming  from  one  whose  critical  knowledge  is  so  great, 
and  who  is  certainly  not  a  blind  admirer  of  Herodotus,  must  be 
regarded  as  almost  closing  the  controversy. 

To  the  two  excellencies  of  diligence  in  collecting  materials 
and  honesty  in  making  use  of  them  Herodotus  adds  a  third,  less 
common  than  either  of  the  others,  that  of  the  strictest  impar- 
tiality. Here  again,  however,  his  merit  has  not  been  uncon- 
tested.     The   Pseudo-Plutarch   accuses    him   of    nourishing   a 


is   a  condensation  of  these  calumnies;  connexion  with  the  battle  of  Thermo- 

for  as  such  they  have  been  recognised  by  pylas.     See  Plut.  de  Malign.  Herod,  pp. 

the  intelligent  public  of  every  age  removed  8o5-6,  and  compare  Grote's  Greece,  vol. 

from  the  prejudices  in  which  they  ori-  v.  pp.  122-3.     See  also  the  foot-notes  to 

ginate."  book  vii.  chs.  205  and  222. 

1  The  matter  to  which  allusion  is  here        ^  ]^£m.e's  Lit.    of  Greece,  voL  iv.  p. 

made,  is  the  conduct  of  the  Thebans  in  351. 


Writings.  HIS  IMPARTIALITY.  65 

special  prejudice  against  the  Thebans  because  they  bad  refused 
to  gratify  his  cupidity;^  and  another  writer  brings  a  similar 
charge  against  him  with  respect  to  the  Corinthians.'^  He  has 
also  been  taxed  more  generally,  and  in  modern  no  less  than 
ancient  times/  with  showing  undue  favour  towards  the 
Athenians.  But  the  charges  of  prejudice  evaporate  with  the 
calumnies  of  which  they  are  the  complement,  and  a  reference 
to  his  work  shows  that  he  had  no  unfriendly  feeling  towards 
either  nation.  The  valour  displayed  by  the  entire  Boeotian 
cavalry  at  Platoea  is  honourably  noticed,*^  and  the  conduct  of 
the  Thebans  on  the  occasion  receives  special  commemoration  ;  ^ 
the  circumstances,  moreover,  of  the  siege  of  Thebes^  are  de- 
cidedly creditable  to  that  people.  The  Corinthians  receive  still 
more  striking  marks  of  his  good- will.  The  portraiture  of  their 
conduct  from  the  time  that  they  became  a  free  nation,  is  almost 
without  exception  favourable.  They  brave  the  displeasure  of 
the  Spartans  by  withdrawing  their  contingent  from  a  joint  army 
of  Peloponnesians  at  a  most  critical  moment,  purely  from  a 
sense  of  justice  and  a  determination  not  to  share  in  doing  a 
wrong.^  Subsequently  at  a  council  summoned  by  Sparta  they 
alone  have  the  boldness  to  oppose  the  plan  of  the  Lacedae- 
monians for  enslaving  Athens,  and  to  expose  openly  before  all 
the  allies  the  turpitude  of  their  proposals. ^°  On  another  occa- 
sion they  play  the  part  of  peace-makers  between  Athens  and 
Thebes. ^^  Somewhat  later,  they  evade  an  express  law  of  their 
state,  which  forbade  them  to  give  away  ships  of  war,  and  libe- 
rally make  the  Athenians  a  present  of  twenty  triremes  ^- — cer- 
tainly a  meritorious  act  in  the  eyes  of  Herodotus.  In  the 
Persian  war  they  act  on  the  whole  a  strenuous  part,  only 
inferior  to  that  played  by  the  Athenians  and  the  Eginetans. 
At  Artemisium  and  at  Salamis  their  contingent  greatly  exceeds 
that  of  any  other  state  except  Athens.  ^^  In  the  fight  at  the 
latter  place  their  behaviour,  according  to  the  version  which 
Herodotus  manifestly  prefers,  is  such  as  to  place  them  in  the 
first  rank  for  bravery.^^  Their  contingent  at  Plataea  far  exceeds 
that  of  any  other  state  except  Athens  and  Sparta  ;^^  and  though, 
together  with  the  great  bulk  of  the  confederates,  they  were 


3  Quoting  Aristophanes  of  Boeotia  as  ^  Herod,  ix.  68.  ^  Ibid.  chs.  67  and  69. 
his  authority,  p.  864  D.  s  jj^jj^  ^.-^^^  §(3.3^         9  Ibid.  v.  75. 

4  Dio  Chrysost.  Orat.  xxxvii.  p.  456.  i"  Ibid.  v.  92.  "  Ibid.  vi.  108. 

5  See  Plut.  de  Malign.  Herod,  p.  862,  12  ibid.  ch.  89.  "  Ibid.  viii.  1  and  43. 
A.,  where  the  writer  speaks  of  the  charge  ^^  'Ev  irpurolai  ttjs  vau/iax'T/s,  viii.  94, 
as  one  commonly  made.  i^  Ibid.  ix.  2s. 

VOL.  I.  F 


C6  HIS  LEANING  TOWARDS  ATHENS,  Life  and 

absent  from  the  battle,  they  are  mentioned  among  those  who 
made  all  haste  to  redeem  their  fault  so  soon  as  they  heard  of 
the  engagement.^^  Finally,  at  Mycale  they  behave  with  great 
gallantry,  and  appear  next  to  the  Athenians  in  the  list  of  those 
who  most  distinguished  themselves.^ ^  The  only  discredit  which 
attaches  to  the  Corinthians  in  connexion  with  the  war  regards 
the  conduct  of  their  naval  contingent,  and  especially  of  Adei- 
mantus,  its  commander,  in  the  interval  between  the  muster  at 
Artemisium  and  the  victory  at  Salamis.^^  But  here  is  no  evi- 
dence of  any  peculiar  prejudice ;  for  they  are  merely  represented 
as  sharing  in  the  feeling  common  to  all  the  Peloponnesians,  and 
their  prominency  is  the  result  of  their  eminent  position  among 
the  Spartan  naval  allies.  These  charges  of  prejudice  and  ill- 
will  therefore  fall  to  the  ground  when  tested  by  a  general 
examination  of  the  whole  work  of  Herodotus,  and  it  does  not 
appear  that  he  is  fairly  taxable  with  "malignity,"  or  even 
harshness  in  his  treatment  of  any  Greek  state. 

The  accusation  of  an  undue  leaning  towards  Athens  is  one 
which  has  prima  facie  a  certain  show  of  justice,  and  which  at 
any  rate  deserves  more  attention  than  these  unworthy  imputa- 
tions of  spite  and  malice.  The  open  and  undisguised  admira- 
tion of  the  Athenians  which  Herodotus  displays  throughout  his 
work,^  the  fact  that  to  Athens  he  was  indebted  for  a  home  and 
a  new  citizenship  when  expelled  from  his  native  country,^  the 
very  probable  fact  of  his  having  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Athenians  a  sum  of  money  on  account  of  his  History,^  make  it 
not  unlikely  that  he  may  have  allowed  his  judgment  to  be 
warped  in  some  degree  by  his  favourable  feelings  towards  those 
to  whom  he  was  united  by  the  double  bond  of  gratitude  and 
mutual  esteem.  Again,  in  one  instance,  he  has  certainly  made 
an  indefensible  statement,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  add  to  the 
glory  of  the  Athenians  at  the  expense  of  other  Greeks.*  Still  a 
careful  review  of  his  entire  narrative  will  show  that,  however 


1^  Herod,  ch.  69.         ^7  Ibid.  ch.  105.  sisted    Megabazus   (v.  2);    the   lonians 

^\  Ibid,  viii.  5,  59,  61.  again,  assisted  by  a  few  Athenians  and 

1  See  V.  79  ;  vi.  112;  vii.  139  ;  viii.  10,  Eretrians,  met  the  Persians  in  open  fight 
109,  143, 144  ;  ix,  22,  27-8,  70,  &c.  at  Ephesus  (v,  102) ;  the  Cyprian  Greeks 

2  Supra,  p.  18,             ^  Ibid,  p.  13,  fought  a  Persian  army  near  Salamis  (v. 
4  Herod,  vi.  112,     It  is  certainly  van-  110, 113);  the  Milesians  were  engaged  a- 

true  to  say  of  the  Athenians  at  Marathon  gainst  another  in  Caria  (v,  120);  and  a 

that  they  "  were  the  first  of  the  Greeks  hard  battle  was  fought  between  a  strong 

who  dared  to  look  vipon  the  Median  garb,  body  of  Persians  and  an  army  of  Ionian 

and  to  face  men  clad  in  that  fashion,"  and  -^olian  Greeks  near  Atarneus  (vi. 

The  Ionian  Greeks  fought  bravely  against  28,  29). 
Harpagus  (i.  169);  the  Perinthians  re- 


Writings.  NOT  A  BLIND  TARTIZANSHir.  G7 

favourably  disposed  towards  tlie  Athenians,  lie  was  no  blind  or 
undis,criminating  admirer,  but  openly  criticised  their  conduct 
where  it  seemed  to  him  faulty,  noticing  with  the  same  un- 
sparing freedom  which  he  has  used  towards  others,  the  errors, 
crimes,  and  follies  of  the  Athenian  people  and  their  greatest 
men.  Where  he  first  introduces  the  Athenians,  he  speaks  of 
the  bulk  of  the  nation  as  "  loving  tyranny  better  than  freedom,"  ^ 
and  about  the  same  time  he  notices  that  they  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  imposed  upon  by  '•'  one  of  the  silliest  devices  to  be 
found  in  all  history."  ^  After  the  establishment  of  the  demo- 
cracy, he  ventures  to  call  in  question  the  wisdom  of  great 
Demns  himself,  taxing  him  with  "  deceivableness,"  and  declaring 
that  he  was  more  easily  deluded  by  fair  words  than  an  indi- 
vidual.'^  He  describes  the  general  spirit  of  the  Athenian  people 
immediately  before  Marathon  as  timid  and  wavering,^  condemns 
openly  their  treatment  of  the  heralds  of  Xerxes,  which  he 
regards  as  bringing  them  justly  under  the  divine  displeasure,^ 
and  passes  a  still  more  severe  though  indirect  censure  upon 
their  conduct  towards  the  Eginetans  in  the  case  of  their 
hostages. '°  He  fui'ther  exposes  their  spirit  of  detraction  towards 
their  rivals  by  relating  the  account  which  they  gave  of  the 
behaviour  of  the  Corinthians  at  Salamis,  and  at  the  same  time 
clearly  intimating  his  own  disbelief  of  it.^^  In  the  character  of 
their  great  men,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  Aristides,  he 
notes  flaws,  detracting  very  considerably  from  the  admiration  to 
which  they  would  otherwise  have  been  entitled.  Besides  the 
imputation  of  mercenary  motives  to  Themistocles,^^  which  has 
been  generally  remarked,  Clisthenes  is  denied  the  merit  of  dis- 
interestedness in  the  policy  which  formed  his  special  glory,^^ 
and  Miltiades  is  exhibited  as  engaging  in  the  expedition  which 
brought  disgrace  alike  on  himself  and  on  his  country,  to  gratify 
a  private  pique.^'*  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  said  with  any  truth 
that  Herodotus  suffered  his  admiration  of  the  Athenians  to  de- 
generate into  partizanship ;  or  did  more  than  assign  them  the 
meed  of  praise  which  he  felt  to  be,  and  which  really  was,  their 
due.  A  single  hyperbolical  expression,  which  his  own  work 
affords  the  means  of  correcting,  cannot  be  allowed  to  weigh  in 
the  balance  against  the  general  evidence  of  candour  and  fairness 
furnished  by  his  narrative. 


*  Herod,  i.  62.         «  xbid.  ch.  60.  ^  Ibid.  vii.  133.  ^o  Ibid.  vi.  86. 

7  Ibid.  V.  97.  "  Ibid.  viii.  94.     ^^  ibid.  viii.  4,  1 1 1, 1 1 2. 

8  Ibid.  vi.  109:  comp.  124.  "  Ibid.  v.  66  and  69.        i"*  Ibid.  vi.  133, 

F   2 


0*8  JUSTICE  TO  THE  PEESIANS.  Life  and 

Before  taking  leave  of  this  subject,  it  seems  riglit  to  notice 
two  special  instances,  where  the  candour  of  Herodotus  is  very 
remarkably  displayed  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  tempta- 
tion. Born  and  bred  up  during  the  continuance  of  the  struggle 
between  Greece  and  Persia,  himself  a  citizen  of  a  Greek  state 
which  only  succeeded  in  throwing  off  the  Persian  yoke  after  he 
was  grown  to  manhood,  and  led  by  his  own  opinions  to  sympa- 
thise most  warmly  with  the  patriotic  side,  he  might  have  been 
pardoned  had  he  felt  a  little  bitterly  towards  that  grasping 
people,  which,  not  content  with  ruling  all  Asia  from  India  and 
Bactria  on  the  one  hand,  to  Phoenicia  and  Lydia  on  the  other, 
envied  the  independence  and  sought  to  extinguish  the  hberties 
of  Greece.  In  lieu,  however,  of  such  a  feeling,  we  find  the  very 
opposite  tone  and  spirit  in  all  that  he  tells  us  of  the  Persians. 
Their  valour,^  their  simplicity  and  hardiness,^  their  love  of 
truth,^  their  devoted  loyalty  to  their  princes,*  their  wise  customs 
and  laws,^  are  spoken  of  with  a  strength  and  sincerity  of  admi- 
ration which  strongly  marks  his  superiority  to  the  narrow  spirit 
of  national  prejudice  and  partiality  too  common  in  every  age. 
It  is  evidently  his  earnest  wish  and  aim  to  do  justice  to  the 
enemy  no  less  than  to  his  own  countrymen.  Hence  every  occa- 
sion is  seized  to  introduce  traits  of  nobility,  generosity,  justice, 
or  self-devotion  on  the  part  of  either  prince  or  people.^  The 
personal  prowess  of  the  Persians  is  declared  to  be  not  a  whit 
inferior  to  that  of  the  Greeks,^  and  constant  apologies  are  made 
for  their  defeats,  which  are  ascribed  to  deficiencies  in  their 
arms,  equipment,  or  discipline,^  not  to  any  want  of  courage  or 
military  S23irit.  Of  course  the  defects  of  the  nation  and  its 
chiefs  are  also  recorded;  but  there  is  every  appearance  of  an 
honest  intention  to  give  them  full  credit  for  every  merit  which 
they  possessed,  and  the  portraiture  is  altogether  about  the  most 


1  Herod,  vi.  113  ;  viii.  100,  113  ;  ix.  62,  ol"EX\7]V€s,  koI  ovk  exoj/res  TrXT]0€i  XP"*)- 
102,  &c.  aaa-QoLi  (vii.  211).  6  Hep^ew  (TTparhs  virh 

2  Ibid.  i.  71  ;  ix.  122.  ineyddeos  re  koI  Tr\r]9eos  avrhs  utt'  cuvtov 

3  Ibid.  i.  136,  138.  eirnrre,  Tapaa-aofxevewu  re  twu  j/ewy  Kol 
-'*  Ibid.  viii.  99;  comp.iii.  128, 154, 155;  TrepLimrTova-^ocv  ncpl  aW-fjAas  (viii.  16). 

vii.   107,   and  viii.   118,  where  the  self-  ratu  fxlv  'EXX-fjucav  crhv  Koafx^  vav/j.ax^6u- 

devotion,  though  not  regarded  as  true,  tuv  Kara  rd^iv,  rcou  de  ou  T^rayjji^vwv  eri 

appears  to  be  considered  natural.  (viii.  86).    ol  Uepaai  avoirkoi  ioures  Kal 

^  Ibid.  i.  137,  138  ;  iii.  154.  nphs  ap€iriar-f]fxov€s  ^(rav  (ix.  62.)    Com- 

^  Ibid.  i.  115;  iii.  2,  74,  75,  128,  140,  pare  v.  49,  where  the  description  of  the 

154-158,   160;  v.  25;    vi.  30,   119;  vii.  Persian  equipment  prepares  us  for  the 

27-29,  105,  107,  136,  181,  194,  237,  &c.  coming   defeats.      v   fxdxv    avroiv    iarl 

'  Ibid.   ix.    62.       XrjixaTi   ^eu  vvv  kol  roiTjSe*  T(^|a  Kal  at;t/Li7;  ySpax^a,  ai^alnpiSus 

pciyUT?  OVK  €(rcroves  ricruv  ot  Tlepcrai.  5e    exoi/res    ipxovrai   4s   ras  fxdxots  Kal 

^  A6paai  fipaxvTspoiai  xpei/-i6rot,  ^Trep  Kvp^aaias  eVl  rfjai  KscpaAijai. 


Writings.  POLITICAL  DISPASSIONATENESS.  69 

favoui-able  tliat  we  possess  of  any  Oriental  nation  either  in 
ancient  or  modern  times.^ 

The  other  remarkable  instance  of  our  author's  candour  is 
contained  in  his  notices  of  Artemisia.^  Without  assigning  any 
particular  weight  to  the  statements  of  Suidas  as  to  the  im- 
portant part  which  Herodotus  played  personally  in  the  drama 
of  Halicarnassian  politics,  it  is  certain  that  if  the  revolution  by 
which  the  tyranny  was  put  doAvn  and  the  family  of  Artemisia 
expelled  took  place  in  his  time,  his  views  and  sympathies  must 
have  been  altogether  on  the  popular  side.  He  must  undoubtedly 
have  felt,  even  if  he  did  not  act,  with  those  who  drove  out  the 
tyrant,  and  brought  Halicarnassus  into  the  Athenian  con- 
federacy. The  warm  praise,  therefore,  and  open  admiration 
which  he  bestows  on  Artemisia,  is  indicative  of  a  fair  mind, 
which  would  not  allow  political  partizanship  to  blind  him  to 
individual  merit.  Of  course,  if  the  narrative  of  Suidas,  despite 
its  weak  authority,  should  be  true — which  has  been  admitted  to 
be  possible  ^ — the  credit  accorded  to  the  Halicarnassian  queen 
would  be  a  still  more  notable  proof  of  candour. 

In  connexion  with  this  trait  it  may  be  further  observed  that 
the  whole  work  of  Herodotus  exhibits  very  strikingly  his  poli- 
tical moderation  and  freedom  from  party  bias.  Though  de- 
cidedly preferring  democratic  institutions  to  any  other,^  he  is 
fully  aware  that  they  are  not  without  their  own  peculiar  evils,^ 
while  every  form  of  government  he  recognises  to  have  certain 
advantages.'^  A  consequence  of  this  moderation  of  feeling  is 
that  fiiir  distribution  of  praise  and  blame  among  persons  of  dif- 
ferent political  sentiments,  which  might  have  been  imitated 
with  advantage  by  the  modern  writers  who  have  treated  of  this 
period  of  history.  Herodotus  can  see  and  acknowledge  the  ex- 
istence of  faults  in  popular  leaders,*^  and  of  virtues  in  oligarchs, 


9  Colouel    Mure    justly    observes:—  ^  Herod,  vii.  99;  viii.  68,  87,  88,  102, 

**  Perhaps  the  best  vindication  of  the  his-  103.                           2  Supra,  p.  12. 

torian's  fairness,  in  so  far  as  regards  the  ^  gee  v.  78  ;  vi.  5,  &e. 

Persians,  is  the  fact,  that  while  the  most  *  These  are  very  strongly  put  in  the 

detailed  account  of  that  people  which  speech  of  Megabyzus  (iii.  81),  and  are 

we  possess,  and  on  which  we  are  chiefly  glanced  at  in  the  following  passages :  iii. 

accustomed  to  form   our  judgment  of  142,  143;  v.  97  ;  vi.  109. 

their  character,  is  that  transmitted  by  ^  See  book  iii.  chs.  80-82,  and  compare 

Herodotus,    there  is  no   nation  among  the  praise  given  to  the  evuo/uiia  of  Ly- 

those  who  in  ancient  or  modern  times  curgus  (i.  65,  66),  to  the  Milesian  aristo- 

have  figured  on  the  wide  field  of  Oriental  cracy  (v.  28,  29),  and  to  the  first  tyranny 

politics,   which  for   patriotism,  valour,  of  Pisisti'atus  (i.  59,  ad  fin.), 

talent,  and  generosity,  occupies  or  de-  ^  As  in  Clisthenes  (v.  ijQ,  69),  in  The- 

serves  to  occupy  so  high  a  place  in  our  mistocles  (viii.  4, 109,  110,  111,  112),  and 

estimation." — Lit.   of  Greece,   vol.   iv.  in  Telesarchus,  the  Samian  democrat  (^iii, 

p.  435.  142). 


70  FREEDOM  FKOM  NATIONAL  VANITY.  Life  an'd 

or  even  despots  J  He  does  not  regard  it  as  liis  duty  to  white- 
wash the  characters  of  the  one,^  or  to  blacken  the  memories  of 
the  other.  And  the  same  dispassionateness  appears  in  his 
account  of  the  conduct  of  states.  The  democratical  Argos  is 
shown  to  have  pursued  a  more  selfish  policy  throughout  the 
Persian  war  than  almost  any  other  Greek  power.^  The  aristo- 
cratic Egina  is  given  the  fullest  credit  for  gallant  behaviour.^" 
There  is  no  attempt  to  gloss  over  faults  or  failings  because  those 
to  whom  they  attach  agree  with  the  author  in  political  opinions, 
or  to  exaggerate  or  imagine  defects  in  those  of  opposite  views.^^ 
Herodotus  also  is,  for  a  Greek,  peculiarly  free  from  the  defect 
of  national  vanity.  He  does  not  consider  his  own  nation  either 
the  oldest,^^  or  the  wisest,^^  or  the  greatest, ^^  or  even  the  most 
civilised  of  all.  He  loves  his  country  dearly,  admires  its  cli- 
mate,^^  delights  in  its  free  institutions,  appreciates  its  spirit  and 
intelligence ;  but  he  is  quite  open  to  perceive  and  acknowledge 
the  special  advantages,  whether  consisting  in  superior  antiquity, 
in  products,  discoveries,  wise  laws,  or  grand  and  striking  monu- 
ments, of  other  kingdoms  and  regions.  Egypt  and  Phrygia  are 
the  most  ancient,  India  and  Thrace  the  most  powerful  coun- 
tries; Babylonia  is  beyond  comparison  the  most  fertile  in 
grain  ;^^  Scythia  the  most  secure  against  invasion  ;^'^  Egypt, 
Babylon,  and  Lydia  possess  the  most  wonderful  works  ;^^  Ethi- 
opia the  handsomest  and  longest-lived  men  ;^^  Media  the  finest 
horses  f^  Arabia,  and  the  other  "  extremities  of  the  earth,"  the 
strangest  and  most  excellent  commodities.^^  Wise  laws  are 
noted  as  obtaining  in  Persia,^^  Babylonia,^^  Egypt,^^  Yenetia  f^ 


'  Sosicles,  the  Corinthian  noble  (v.  92),  of  Periander  (iii.  48-53;  v.  92,  §  6,  7), 

Pisistratus  (i.  59  ),  Micandrius  (iii.  142),  Polycrates    (iii.  39,  44,  123),    Histiseus 

Crius  the  Egiaetan  (viii.  92,  comp.  vi.  (iv.  137  ;  v.  106  ;  vi.  3,  26,  29;,  C\'pselus 

73),  and  Darius  himself,  are  specimens.  (v.   92,   §  5),   Aristagoras  (v.   37',  124), 

8  It  may  be  thought  that  the  chapters  Arcesilaus  III.  (iv.  164),  and  Pheretima 
in  book  vi.  which  defend  the  Alcmseo-  (iv.  202).  But  the  fact  that  tyrants  are 
nidae  from  the  charge  of  having  been  in  sometimes  praised  (i.  59  ;  iii.  142;  vii.  99, 
league  with  the  Persians  at  the  time  of  &c.)  seems  to  snow  that  at  least  Hero- 
the  battle  of  Marathon  (chs.  123-4)  form  dotus  has  no  intention  of  dealing  unfairly 
an  attempt  of  this  kind.     But  to  take  by  this  class  of  men. 

this  View  we  must  presume  their  guilt,         ^^  Herod,  ii.  2.         ^^  ibid.  iii.  38. 

which  the  arguments  of  Herodotus  show        ^^  Ibid.  v.  3. 

to  be  most  improbable.  ^^  Ibid.  iii.  106.     Compare  i.  142. 

9  Herod,  vii.  150—152;  ix.  12.  16  Ibid.  i.  193.     Compare  iv.  198. 

10  Ibid.  vii.  181 ;  viii.  91—93.  i7  Ibid.  iv.  46.  is  ibid.  i.  93. 

11  If  thei-e  is  any  exception  to  the  gene-  i^  Ibid.  iii.  20  and  22.  Compare  114. 
ral  practice  here  noted,  it  is  in  the  pic-         20  ibid.  iii.  106,  and  vii.  40. 

tures  given  of  Greek  tyrants,  which  have         21  Ibid.  iii.  106-114. 

the  appean^-nce  of  being  somewhat  over-         ^  Ibid,  i.  136-7.         ^  Ibid.  i.  196-7. 

drawn.     See  particularly  the  characters         -^  Ibid.  ii.  177.  ^^  Ibid.  i.  196. 


Writings.  DEFECTS  AS  AN  HISTOIIIAN.  71 

inventions  of  importance  are  attributed  to  the  Lyclians,^  the 
Carians,'^  the  Babylonians,^  the  Egyptians/  and  the  wild  races 
of  northern  Africa  ;^  the  adoption  of  customs,  laws,  and  inven- 
tions from  other  countries  by  the  Greeks  is  freely  admitted  f 
the  inferiority  of  their  great  works  and  buildings  to  those  of 
Egypt  receives  pointed  comment  ;^  their  skill  as  workmen,  as 
sailors,  and  as  builders  of  ships,  is  placed  in  unfavourable  com- 
parison with  that  of  the  PhoBnicians,  especially  those  of  Sidon.^ 
It  is  seldom  indeed  that  an  author  is  found  so  thoroughly 
national,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  so  entirely  devoid  of  all 
arrogant  assumption  of  superiority  on  behalf  of  his  nation.  His 
liberality  in  this  respect  offers  a  strong  contrast  to  the  general 
practice  of  his  countrymen,  whose  contempt  of  "  barbarians " 
was  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Chinese. 

The  merits  of  Herodotus  as  a  writer  have  never  been  denied 
or  contested.  Before  attempting  any  analysis  of  the  qualities 
in  which  this  excellence  consists,  it  is  important  to  consider 
briefly  those  faults  or  blemishes — the  "  anomalies  of  his  genius," 
as  they  have  been  called  ^ — which  detract  from  the  value  of  his 
work  as  a  record  of  facts,  and  form '  in  strictness  of  speech  his 
defects  as  an  historian.  These,  according  to  the  verdict  of  modern 
criticism, ^^  are  three  in  number — 1.  Credulity,  or  an  undue  love 
of  the  marvellous,  whether  in  religion,  in  nature,  or  in  the 
habits  of  men  ;  2.  An  over-striving  after  effect,  leading  to  exag- 
gerations, contradictions,  and  an  excessive  infusion  of  the  anec- 
dotical  element  into  his  work ;  and,  3.  A  want  of  critical  judg- 
ment and  method,  shown  in  a  number  of  oversights,  inaccu- 
racies, and  platitudes,  which  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  either 
of  the  other  habits  of  mind,  but  seem  the  mere  result  of  the 
absence  of  the  critical  faculty.  These  defects — the  existence  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  deny — require  to  be  separately  ex- 
amined and  weighed,  the  main  question  for  determination  being 
to  what  extent  they  counteract  the  natural  working  of  his  many 
excellencies,  and  so  injure  the  character  of  his  History. 

It  is  perhaps  not  of  much  importance  to  inquire  how  far  the 
admitted  credulity  of  Herodotus  was  the  consequence  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  and  so  necessary  and  excusable.    He  will  not 


1  Herod,  i.  94.        2  ibid.  i.  171.  '  Ibid.  ii.  148. 

3  Ibid.  ii.  109.  8  Ibid.  vii.  23,  44,  and  99. 

4  Ibid.  ii.  4,  82,  109,  &c.;  iv.  180.  ^  Mure's  Literature  of  Greece,  vol.iv. 

5  Ibid.  iv.  189.  p.  354. 

0  Ibid.  i.  171;  ii.  4,  50,  58,  109,  &c. ;  i"  Ibid.  pp.  352  and  409,  410. 
iv.  180,  189;  and  v.  58. 


72  CREDULITY  IN  EELIGION— PRODIGIES.  Life  akd 

be  the  better  historian  or  the  safer  guide  for  the  fact  that  his 
contemporaries  either  generally,  or  even  universally,  shared  his 
errors.  Some  injustice  seems  to  have  been  done  him  by  a  late 
critic,  who  judges  him  by  the  standard  of  an  age  considerably 
later,  and  of  a  country  far  more  advanced  than  his  own.^  But 
this  question  does  not  affect  the  historical  value  of  his  work, 
which  must  be  decided  on  absolute,  not  on  relative  grounds. 
The  true  point  for  consideration  is,  how  far  his  work  is  injured 
by  the  defect  in  question — to  what  extent  it  has  disqualified  him 
for  the  historian's  office. 

Now  the  credulity  of  Herodotus  in  matters  of  religion  amounts 
to  this.  He  believes  in  the  prophetic  inspiration  of  the  oracles, 
in  the  fact  that  warnings  are  given  to  men  through  prodigies 
and  dreams,  and  in  the  occasional  appearance  of  the  gods  on 
earth  in  a  human  form.  He  likewise  holds  strongly  the  doctrine 
of  a  divine  Nemesis,  including  therein  not  only  retribution,  or 
the  visible  punishment  of  presumption  and  other  sins,  but  also 
jealousy,  or  the  provocation  of  divine  anger  by  mere  gi-eatness 
and  prosperous  fortune.  How  do  these  two  lines  of  belief  affect 
his  general  narrative,  and  how  far  do  they  detract  from  its 
authenticity  ? 

With  regard  to  the  former  class  of  supernatural  phsenomena, 
it  must  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,  that  they  are  for  the 
most  part  mere  excrescences,  the  omission  of  which  leaves  the 
historic  narrative  intact,  and  which  may  therefore,  if  we  like,  be 
simply  put  aside  when  we  are  employed  in  tracing  the  course 
of  events  recorded  by  our  author.  The  prodigies  of  Herodotus 
no  more  interfere  with  the  other  facts  of  his  History  than  those 
which  Livy  so  copiously  relates,  even  in  his  later  books,^  inter- 
fere with  his.     They  may  offend  the  taste  of  the  modern  reader 


1  Col.  Mure  represents  Herodotus  as  Pericles  and  Anaxagoras  are  undoubted- 

*'in  all  essential  respects"  a  coutempo-  ly  his  ''older  contemporaries,"  but  their 

rary  of  Thucydides  (p.  361),  and  even  of  minds  were  formed  at  Athens,  not  at  Ha- 

Aristophanes  (p.  353).     This  is  unfair,  licarnassus.      In  the  rapid  development 

Thucydides  probably  outlived  Herodotus  of  Greek  mental  life  after  the  repulse  of 

som^e  25  or  30  years,  and  wrote  his  His-  Xerxes,  Athens  took  the  lead,  and  soon 

tory  towards  the  close  of  his  life — after  shot  far  ahead  of  every  other  state ;  while 

B.C.  404.     (See  Thucyd.  i.  21-3;  ii.  65;  Halicarnassus,  one  of  the  outlying  por- 

sub  fin. ;  V.  26.)     Aristophanes  was  born  tious  of  the  Grecian  world,  would  be 

after  Herodotus  had  recited  at  Athens,  among  the  last  to  receive  the  impidse 

in  B.C.  444  probably  (Schol.  Ar.  Ran.  propagated  from  a  far-off  centre.    Hero- 

502,  Arg.Eq.),  and  only  began  to  exhibit  dotus,   however,  was  certainly   behind, 

about  the  time  of  our  author's  death  (in  while  Pericles  and  Anaxagoras  wei'e  be- 

B.c.  427,  Herodotus  dying  probably  in  fore  the  age. 

B.C.  425).  These  writers  belong  therefore        2  j^^y    ^jj^  3^3.  j^j-^^  2,  20;  xliii.  13 

to  the  generation  succcedimj  Herodotus,  xlv.  15,  &c. 


Writings.  OKACLES— DREAMS.  73 

by  their  quaintness  and  "  frivolity,"  ^  but  they  are  in  no  way 
interwoven  with  the  narrative,  so  that  it  should  stand  or  fall  with 
them.  Omit  the  swarming  of  the  snakes  in  the  suburbs  of 
Sardis,  and  the  flocking  of  the  horses  from  their  pastures  to  eat 
them  before  the  capture  of  that  city,  and  the  capture  itself — 
nay,  even  the  circumstances  of  the  capture — are  untouched  by 
the  omission.  And  this  remark  extends  beyond  the  prodigies 
proper  to  omens,  dreams,  and  even  divine  appearances.  Sub- 
tract the  story  of  Epizelus  from  the  account  of  the  battle  of 
Marathon,  or  that  of  Pan  and  Pheidippides  from  the  circum- 
stances preceding  it,  and  nothing  else  need  be  struck  out  in 
consequence.  \This  cannot  indeed  be  said  of  the  oracles,  or  of 
the  dreams  in  some  instances ;  on  them  the  narrative  occa- 
sionally hinges,  and  we  are  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  re- 
jecting large  portions  of  the  story  as  told  by  our  author,  or 
accepting  his  facts  and  explaining  them  on  our  own  principles. 
Even  if  we  are  sceptical  altogether  as  to  the  prophetic  power  of 
the  oracles,*  or  as  to  any  divine  warning  being  given  to  the 
heathen  in  dreams,^  we  may  still  believe  that  events  happened 
as  he  states  them,  explaining,  for  instance,  the  visions  of  Xerxes 
and  Artabanus  by  a^  plot  in  the  palace,  and  the  oracles  con- 
cerning Salamis  by  the  foresight  of  Themistocles.  Cases,  how- 
ever, of  this  kind,  where  the  supposed  supernatural  circumstance 
forms  a  leading  feature  in  the  chain  of  events,  are  rare,  amount- 
ing to  not  more  than  four  or  five  in  the  entire  work.^  It  is  also 
worthy  of  notice  that  the  supernatural  circumstances  are  more 


3  Mure,  p.  362.  Fathers,  that  the  oracles  were  inspired. 

^  Col.   Mure   speaks   somewhat   con-  (See  Euseb.  Pi-rep.  Ev.  books  v,  and  vi. : 

temptuously  of  those    "pious  persons  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  v.  p.  728 ;  Theodoret. 
who  incline  to  believe  in  the  reality  of    Therap.  Serm.  x.  p.  623,  &c. ;  Augustin. 

a  demoniac  inspiration  having  been  for  de   Divin.  Da)mon.   Op.  vi.   p.  370,   et 

some  wise  purpose  conceded  by  the  ttue  seqq.  &c.) 

God  to  the  Delphic  Apollo  "  (1.  s.  c.) ;  ^  The  dreams  of  Pharaoh,  Abimelech, 
but  he  brings  no  ai-gument  against  them  ^Nebuchadnezzar,  Pilate's  wife,  and  Cor 

except  that  certain  oracles — or  rather  a  nelius,  are  indications  that  the  belief  of 

single  oracle,  for  his  reference  to  Herod,  the  Greeks  in  the  occasional  inspiration 

ix.  43  is  mistaken — which  were  not  ful-  of  dreams,  which  was  at  least  as  old  as 

filled  in  our  author's  time,  remain  unful-  Homer — koI  yap  r    ovap  e'/c  Ai6s  iariv. 

filled  to  the  present  day.  But  no  one  ever  II.  i.  63 — had  a  foundation  in  fact, 

supposed  that  all  the  oracles  delivered  <5  The  dream  of  Astyages  concerning  his 

at  Delphi  or  other  places  were  inspired,  daughter  Mandane' — the  satisfaction  by 

Those  who  deny  any  demoniac  influence  the  Delphic  oracle  of  the  test  offered  by 

to  the  oracular  shrines  have  to  explain —  Croesus — the  visions  of  Xerxes  and  Arta- 

1.    The  passage  of  the  Acts  referred  to  banus — and  the  famous  oracle  concern - 

below  (note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  48) ;  2.  The  ing  the  wooden  wall  and  Siilamis,  are  al- 

fact  of  the  defect  of  oracles  soon  after  most  the  only  points  in  the  supernatural 

the  publication  of  Christianity  (Plut.  de  machinery  on  which  any  extent  of  nai"- 

Defect.  Or.  vol.  ii.  pp.  431-2) ;  and  3.  The  rative  can  be  said  to  turn, 
general  conviction  of  the  early  Christian 


74'  FAINT  TRACES  OF  EATIONALISM.  Life  and 

numerous,  more  prominent,  and  more  inexplicable  on  rational 
grounds  in  the  portion  of  the  work  which  treats  of  remoter 
times  and  less  well  known  countries.  Without  disappearing 
altogether,  they  become  more  scanty  as  we  approach  nearer  to 
Herodotus's  own  age,  and  to  the  events  which  form  the  special 
subject  of  his  History.  Thus  their  interference  is  mainly  with 
those  parts  of  the  History  of  which  the  authority  is  even  other- 
wise the  weakest,  and  becomes  trifling  when  we  descend  to  those 
times  concerning  which  our  author  had  the  best  means  of 
obtaining  information. 

The  mode,  however,  in  which  our  author's  belief  in  this 
sort  of  supernatural  agency  is  supposed  to  have  most  seriously 
detracted  from  his  historical  value  is  by  the  influence  it  is 
thought  to  have  exercised  upon  the  choice  which  he  often  had 
to  make  among  various  versions  of  a  story  coming  to  him  upon 
tolerably  equal  authority.^  It  is  argued  that  he  would  be  likely 
to  prefer  the  version  which  dealt  most  largely  in  the  super- 
natural element,  thus  reversing  the  canon  of  criticism  on  which 
a  modern  would  be  apt  to  proceed.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that 
this  may  sometimes  have  been  the  case.  .  The  supernatural, 
especially  if  removed  a  little  from  his  own  time,  did  not  shock 
him,  or  seem  to  him  in  the  least  improbable.  He  would  there- 
fore readily  accept  it,  and  he  would  even,  it  must  be  allowed,  be 
drawn  to  it  as  a  means  of  enlivening  his  narrative.  It  is  how- 
ever unfair  to  represent  him  as  "a  man  morbidly  intent  on 
bringing  all  the  affairs  of  life  into  connexion  with  some  special 
display  of  divine  interposition."  On  more  than  one  occasion  he 
rejects  a  supernatural  story  or  explanation,  preferring  to  it  a 
plain  matter-of-fact  account.  He  suggests  that  when  after  three 
days  of  violent  storm,  during  which  the  Magi  strove  to  appease 
the  wind  by  incantations  and  sacrifices,  the  tempest  at  last 
ceased,  it  was  not  so  much  their  sacred  rites  which  had  the 
desired  effect  as  that  the  fury  of  the  gale  was  spent.^  He 
declines  to  accept  the  Athenian  account  of  the  flight  of  Adei- 
mantus  from  Salamis,  though  it  includes  the  prodigy  of  a 
phantom  ship.^  He  refuses  credit  to  the  story  that  Cyrus  was 
suckled  by  a  bitch.^  His  appetite  for  the  supernatural  is  there- 
fore not  indiscriminate  ;  and  perhaps  if  we  possessed  the  complete 
works  of  his  contemporaries  we   should  find  him  far  oftener 


'  Mure,  p.  360.         ^  Herod,  vii.  191.      what  might  be  called  a  rationalising  ten- 
^  Ibid.  viii.  94.     Comp.  v.  86.  dency  are  ii.  57  and  vii.  129  ad  fin. 

1  Ibid.  i.  122.     Further  instances  of 


Writings.        RELIGIOUS  FEELINGS  OF  THE  GREEKS.  75 

than  has  been  suspected  preferring  a  less  to  a  more  marvellous 
story.^ 

There  is  one  other  point  of  view  in  which  the  credulity  of 
Herodotus  with  respect  to  oracles,  prodigies,  &c.,  requires  to  be 
considered  before  we  absolutely  pronounce  it  a  very  serious 
defect  in  him  as  an  historian.  Granting  that  it  detracts  some- 
what from  his  value  as  an  authentic  narrator  of  facts,  has  it  not 
a  compensatory  advantage  in  placing  him  more  on  a  level  with 
the  mass  of  his  countrymen,  in  enabling  him  to  understand  and 
portray  them  better,  and  inducing  him  to  put  more  fully  upon 
record  a  whole  class  of  motives  and  feelings  which  did  in  point 
of  fact  largely  influence  their  conduct  ?  Would  the  cold  scep- 
ticism of  Thucydides  have  given  us  a  truer  picture  of  the  spirit 
in  which  the  Persian  attacks  were  met, — the  hopes  that  stimu- 
lated, and  the  belief  that  sustained  a  resistance  almost  without 
a  parallel,  which  may  have  been  mere  patriotism  in  the  leaders, 
but  in  the  mass  was  certainly  to  a  great  extent  the  fruit  of 
religious  enthusiasm  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  Greeks  of  the 
age  immediately  preceding  Herodotus  were  greatly  influenced 
by  oracles,  omens,  prodigies,  and  the  like,  and  are  we  not 
enabled  to  understand  them  better  from  the  sympathising  pages 
of  a  writer  who  participated  in  the  general  sentiment,  than  from 
the  disdainful  remarks  of  one  who  from  the  height  of  his  philo- 
sophical rationalism  looks  down  with  a  calm  contempt  upon  the 
weakness  and  credulity  of  the  multitude  ?  At  any  i:ate,  is  it 
not  a  happy  chance  which  has  given  us_,  in  the  persons  of  the 
two  earliest  and  most  eminent  of  Greek  historians,  the  two 
opposite  phases  of  the  Greek  mind,  religiousness  bordering  upon 
superstition,  and  shrewd  practical  sense  verging  towards  scepti- 
cism ?  Without  the  corrective  to  be  derived  from  the  work  of 
Herodotus  ordinary  students  would  have  formed  a  very  imperfect 
notion  of  the  real  state  of  opinion  among  the  Greeks  on  reli- 
gious matters,  and  many  passages  of  their  history  would  have 
been  utterly  unintelligible.^     It  seems  therefore  not  too  much 

2  It  is  not  quite  clear  what  sort  of  wonderful  and  supernatural  pla3'ed  a 
"exaggerations  "those  were  which  caused  more  important  part  than  he  assigns  to 
Herodotus  to  reject  three  accounts  which  them.  Instances  are,  the  story  of  Gyges, 
he  had  heard  of  the  early  history  of  as  told  by  Plato  (Rep.  ii.  pp.  359,  360), 
Cyrus  (i.  95).  Probably,  however,  they  the  narrative  of  the  Persian  retreat  con- 
included  a  number  of  marvellous  details,  tained  in  iEschylus  (Pers.  497-5U9 ),  and, 
like  the  suckling  by  a  bitch,  which  he  probably,  the  history  of  the  first  Persian 
expressly  discredits.  It  is  certain  that  expedition  under  Mardonius,  as  Charon 
there  were  often  accounts  current  among  gave  it.  (Fr.  3;  cf  suprh,,  p.  37.) 
tlie  Greeks  of  transactions  included  with-  ^  As  the  ferment  consequent  upon  the 
in  the  sphere  of  his  History,  wherein  the  mutilation  of  the  Mercuries,  which  led 


76  THEORY  OF  DIVINE  NEMESIS.  Life  and 

to  say  that  we  of  later  times  gain  more  than  we  lose  by  this 
characteristic  of  our  author,  which  qualified  him  in  an  especial 
way  to  be  the  historian  of  a  period  anterior  to  the  rise  of  the 
sceptical  spirit,  when  a  tone  of  mind  congenial  to  his  own  was 
prevalent  throughout  the  Hellenic  world,  and  a  belief  in  the 
supernatural  was  among  the  causes  w^hich  had  the  greatest 
weight  in  shaping  events  and  determining  their  general  course. 

The  belief  of  Herodotus  in  the  pervading  influence  of  the 
divine  Nemesis — a  belief  which,  in  the  form  and  degree  in 
which  it  is  maintained  through  his  History,  seems  to  have  been 
peculiar  to  himself,  and  not  shared  in  by  his  compatriots  '* — is 
regarded  as  having  worked  "  even  more  prejudicially  to  the 
authenticity  of  his  narrative  than  his  vein  of  popular  super- 
stition." ^  Here  again  the  mode  in  which  his  belief  affected  his 
historic  accuracy  is  thought  to  have  been  by  influencing  his 
choice  among  different  versions  of  the  same  story.  It  is  admitted 
that  he  was  too  honest  to  falsify  his  data  f  but  it  is  said'^  that 
in  "  almost  every  case "  there  would  be  several  versions  of  a 
story  open  to  his  adoption,  and  he. would  naturally  prefer  that 
one  which  would  best  illustrate  his  theory  of  Nemesis.  Un- 
doubtedly where  the  different  accounts  came  to  him  upon  equal 
or  nearly  equal  authority  such  a  leaning  might  determine  his 
choice ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that,  where  the 
authority  was  unequal,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  improperly 
biassed  by  his  devotion  to  the  Nemesiac  hypothesis.  The 
attempts  made  to  prove  such  an  undue  bias  mostly  fail ;  ^  and  it 


to  tlie  recall  and  thereby  to  the  aliena-  calamity  must  be  of  the  nature  of  a  visi- 

tionof  Alcibiades — only  to  be  explained  tation  (vi.  75  ;  vii.  133,  &c.),  and  further, 

by  the  deep  religious  feeling  of  the  mass  he  carries  the  notion  of  retributive  suf- 

of  the  Athenians.     (See  Grote's  Greece,  fering  into   comparatively  insignificant 

vol.  vii.  pp.  229-232,  whei-e  this  passage  cases  (vi.  72,  135). 

of  history  is  very  properly  treated.)  ^  Mure,  p.  369. 

^  A  theory  of  Divme  retribution  was  ^  Ibid.  p.  376.               '  Ibid.  p.  369. 

common  in  Greece,  but  it  was  limited  to  ^  Col.  Mure  has  brought  forward  four 

the  punishment  in  this  life  of  signal  acts  examples  of  the  distortion  of  history  by 

of  impiety  or  other  wickedness,  in  the  Herodotus  in  furtherance  of  the  Neme- 

person  of  the  oflfender  or  of  his  descend-  siac  theory— viz. :  the  cases  of  Croesus, 

ants.  ,  (Cf.  Herod,  ii.  120,  ad  fin.,  and  Cambyses,  Cleomenes,  and  the  Spartan 

vi.  75,  ad  fin.)     This  line  of  thought  is  heralds,  Nicolas  and  Aneristus.     With 

very  strongly  marked  in  ^schylus.    The  regard  to  the  first,  he  dwells  principally 

peculiarity  in  the  form  of  the  Herodotean  upon  the  supposed  anachronism  involved 

notion  consists  in  this — that  he  regards  in  bringing  Solon  to  the  court  of  Croesus, 

mere  greatness  and  good  fortune,  apart  which  is  shown  below  (i.  29,   note  ^)  to 

from  any  impiety  or  arrogance,  as  pro-  be  quite  a  possible  event.     In  the  case 

voking  the  wrath  of  God.     (See  note  ^  of  Cambyses,  he  looks  on  Herodotus  as 

on  book  i.  ch.  32,  and  compare  iii.  40,  having  preferred  the  Egyptian   to  the 

vii.   10,   §  5,  6,  and  46,    ad   fin.)     He  Persian  account  of  his  death  (which  lat- 

also  seems  to  consider  that  every  striking  ter  he  thinks  to  be  the  true  one,  and  to 


Writings. 


FACTS  NOT  DISTOKTED  THEREBY. 


77 


is  doubtful  whether  there  is  a  producible  instance  of  it.^  More- 
over it  is  beyond  the  truth  to  say  that  in  "  almost  every  case  " 
there  would  be  several  versions  ;  and  when  there  were,  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  tliat  it  was  his  general  practice  to  give  them.^ 
Further,  the  theory  of  Herodotus  certainly  is  not  that  "  every 
act  of  signal  folly  or  injustice  "  must  have  a  special  Nemesis ;  or 
at  least  it  is  not  his  theory  that  every  such  act  must  have  a 
visible  Nemesis  which  can  be  distinctly  attached  to  it  by  the 
historian ;  for  he  professes  himself  at  a  loss  to  know  what 
punishment  the  Athenians  received  for  their  conduct  toward 
the  heralds  of  Darius ;  ^  and  many  instances  even  of  flagrant  im- 
piety are  recorded  by  him  without  any  notice  of  their  having 
drawn  down  a  special  visitation.^  Herodotus  is  not,  therefore, 
under  any  very  strong  temptation  to  warp  or  bend  history  in 


be  preserved  to  us  in  Ctesias),  because 
its  features,  though  highly  improbable, 
were  retributive  (pp.  370,  371).  But,  as 
he  confesses  in  a  note,  the  tale  in  Ctesias  is 
not  the  Persian,  nor  the  true  account,  but 
one  of  that  writer's  inventions;  and  the 
narrative  of  Herodotus  is  proved  by  the 
Behistun  inscription  to  be  correct,  except 
in  representing  the  wound  which  Cam- 
byses  gave  himself  as  accidental,  a  point 
which  does  not  help  the  Nemesis.  With 
respect  to  Cleomenes,  he  thinks  that  his 
suicide  ought  to  have  been  ascribed  to 
his  habits  of  drinking;  but  as  it  is  Hero- 
dotus himself  who  records  these  habits, 
and  the  opinion  entertained  by  the  Spar- 
tans that  the  madness  of  Cleomenes  a- 
rose  from  them,  he  cannot  be  said  to 
have  perverted,  or  even  concealed, 
history,  in  order  to  give  more  likeli- 
hood to  his  own  Nemesiac  views.  In 
the  fourth  case,  that  of  the  envoys, 
Col.  Mure,  comparing  Thucyd.  ii.  67, 
with  the  narrative  of  Herodotus,  sup- 
poses that  there  were  "two  accounts 
of  the  affair,  one  describing  Nicolas  and 
Aneristus  as  two  out  of  six,  or  but  one- 
third  of  the  mission,  the  other  as  two 
out  of  three,"  and  that  Herodotus  was 
tempted  to  prefer  the  latter  number  by 
"the  broader  shadow  of  plausibility 
which  it  gave  to  his  own  case  of  retri- 
butive vengeance  "  (p.  375).  But  there 
is  not  the  slightest  evidence  of  the  exis- 
tence of  two  stories.  Herodotus  nowhere 
states  the  number  of  the  ambassadors. 
He  probably  knew  the  details  of  the 
affair  just  as  well  as  Thucydides,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  minuteness  of  his  account 
(supra,  p.  25,  note  ^).      His  narrative, 


however,  was  only  concerned  with  the 
fate  of  two  out  of  the  six — namely,  Ni- 
colas and  Aneristus — and  he  need  have 
mentioned  no  others ;  it  is  quite  casually, 
and  merely  on  account  of  his  individual 
eminence,  that  he  names  Aristeus.  In 
such  a  case  the  mentio  unius  cannot  be 
taken  as  implying  the  exclusio  plurinm. 
Again,  Col.  Mure  seems  to  think  that  He- 
rodotus purposely  concealed  the  "  human 
Nemesis,"  which  was  really  involved  in 
the  transaction.  So  far  from  this  being 
the  case,  Herodotus  adds  a  particular 
connected  with  the  human  Nemesis, 
which  is  not  given  by  Thucydides — viz. : 
that  Aneristus  had  himself  been  engaged 
in  the  cruelties  which  produced  the  exe- 
cution of  the  ambassadors  by  way  of  re- 
prisals. In  fact  Herodotus  would  not 
feel  that  a  human  interfered  with  a  di- 
vine Nemesis. 

^  Of  the  cases  brought  forward  by 
Col.  Mure,  that  of  Ci'oesus  seems  to  be 
the  only  one  where  history  has  really 
been  distorted  to  m.ake  the  Nemesis 
more  complete  (see  Essay  i.  sub  fin.). 
As  gross  an  instance  is  the  story  of 
Polycrates,  where  the  renunciation  of 
alliance  by  Amasis,  and  the  loss  and 
recovery  of  the  ring,  seem  to  be  pure 
fictions.  But  in  neither  case  is  it  quite 
clear  that  Herodotus  had  a  choice  be- 
tween different  accounts. 

1  See  i.  1-5,  19,  20,  27,  70,  75,  &c.; 
ii.  181;  iii.  1-3,  9,  30,  &c.;  iv.  5-11, 
150-4;  V.  85-6;  vi.  54,  75-84,  121-4; 
vii.  213-4,  230;  viii.  94,  117-120;  ix.  74. 

2  Herod,  vii.  133. 

3  Ibid.  i.  60,  159,  160 ;  ii.  124-8;  v.  63, 
67;  vi.  86,  91. 


78  TtETEIBUTlVE  DESIGN  OF  THE  EPISODES.         Life  and 

accordance  with  the  exigences  of  his  Nemesiac  theory ;  for  that 
theory  does  not  oblige  him  to  show  that  all  crimes  are  punished  ; 
and  if  it  requires  him,  in  the  case  of  signal  calamities,  to  assign 
a  cause  provocative  of  them,  yet  as  he  may  find  the  cause  in 
the  conduct  of  ancestors,^  in  mere  anterior  prosperity,^  in  fate,^ 
or  in  an  unwitting  contravention  of  fate,'''  no  less  than  in  the 
moral  conduct  of  the  individual,  he  cannot  experience  any  great 
difficulty  in  accounting  for  such  calamities  without  travelling 
beyond  the  domain  of  fact  into  the  region  of  fable  and  invention. 
It  is  indeed  far  more  in  his  choice  of  facts  to  record  than  in  his 
choice  among  different  versions  of  the  same  facts  that  our 
author's  favourite  theory  of  human  life  has  left  its  trace  upon 
his  History.  The  great  moral  which  he  had  himself  drawn  from 
his  wide  survey  of  mundane  events  was  that  which  the  word 
"  Nemesis,"  taken  in  its  widest  sense,  expresses.  And  this,  his 
own  predominant  conviction,  he  sought  to  impress  upon  the 
world  by  means  of  his  writings.  Perhaps  the  chief  attraction  to 
him  of  his  grand  theme — the  reason  that  induced  him  to  prefer 
it  to  any  other  which  the  records  of  his  own  or  of  neighbouring 
countries  might  have  offered — was  the  pointed  illustration  wliicli 
it  furnished  of  greatness  laid  low— of  a  gradual  progression  to 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  glory  and  prosperous  fortune,  followed 
by  a  most  calamitous  reverse.^  And  the  principle  which  may 
be  supposed  to  have  determined  him  in  the  selection  of  his 
main  subject  had  the  amplest  field  for  exercise  when  the  ques- 
tion was  concerning  the  minor  and  more  ornamental  portions — 
the  episodes,  as  they  are  generally  called — which  constitute  so 
considerable  a  part  and  form  so  remarkable  a  feature  of  the 
History.  In  the  choice  of  the  episodes,  and  still  more  in  the 
length  to  which  they  should  be  pursued,  and  the  elaboration 
which  should  be  bestowed  on  them,  Herodotus  appears  to  have 
been  guided  to  a  very  great  extent,  though  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, by  their  fitness  to  inculcate  the  moral  lesson  which  he 
was  especially  anxious  to  impress  on  men.  Hence  the  length 
and  finish  of  the  legend  of  Croesus,  and  of  the  histories  of  Gam- 
byses,  Polycrates,  Cleomenes,  Orcetes,^  &c» ;    hence  the  intro- 


'*  As  in  the  case  of  tlie  heralds,  and  in  Assyrian    Monarchy,    would    similarly 

that  of  Croesus  to  some  extent  (see  i.  have  comprised  the  rise  of  an  enormous 

13,  91).  power,  and  a  still  more  complete  over- 

5  Herod,  i.  32  ;  iii.  40,  125  ;  vii.  10,  §  5.  throw. 

6  Ibid.  i.  8.              7  Ibid.  ii.  133.  ^  Herod,  iii.  120-128. 
^  His  other  work,  the  history  of  the 


Writings.  MARVELS  IN  NATURE.  79 

duction  of  such  tales  as  those  of  Helen/  Glaucns,^  Pythiiis,^ 
Artayctes  ;*  every  occasion  is  seized  to  deepen  by  repetition  the 
impression  which  the  main  narrative  is  calculated  to  produce ; 
and  thus  a  space  quite  disproportionate  to  their  historical 
interest  is  assigned  to  certain  matters  which  properly  belong  to 
the  narrative,  while  others  which  scarcely  come  within  tlie 
sphere  of  the  narrative  at  all,  find  a  j)lace  in  it  owing  to  their 
moral  aspect. 

The  credulity  of  Herodotus  in  respect  of  marvels  in  nature 
and  extraordinary  customs  among  the  remoter  tribes  of  men 
has  undoubtedly  had  the  effect  of  introducing  into  his  work  a 
number  of  statements  which  the  progress  of  our  knowledge 
shows  us  to  be  untrue,  and  which  detract  from  the  value  though 
they  add  to  the  entertainingness  of  his  pages.  But  these  fictions 
are  not  nearly  so  many  as  they  have  recently  been  made  to 
appear  ;^  and  their  occurrence  is  the  necessary  consequence  of 
our  author's  adoption  of  a  principle  which  the  circumstances  of 
the  time  justified,  and  to  which  the  modern  reader  is  greatly 
beholden.  In  dealing  with  this  class  of  subjects  he  was  obliged 
to  lay  down  for  himself  some  rule  concerning  the  reports  which 
he  received  from  others ;  and  if  he  did  not  resolve  to  suppress 
them  entirely — a  course  of  proceeding  that  all  probably  would 
agree  in  regretting — he  could  only  choose  between  reporting 
all  alike,  whether  they  seemed  to  him  credible  or  incredible, 


1  Herod,  ii.  113-120.  ^  Ibid,  vi.  86.  rations,  but  involve  interesting  notices 
3  Ibid.  vii.  27-29,  38,  39.  of  real  facts  (see  note  on  iv.  23).  Occa- 
^  Ibid.  ix.  116-120.  sionally  Col,  Mure  helps  his  argument 
5  Col.  Mure  has  included  among  the  by  a  mistranslation,  as  when  he  says  that 
''incredible  or  impossible  marvels  re-  Herodotus  describes  among  other  curio- 
ported  by  Herodotus"  a  considerable  sities  found  at  Platsea,  "a  head,  the 
number  of  statements  which  there  is  not  skull,  jaws,  gums,  and  teeth  of  which 
the  slightest  reason  to  question: — as  the  were  of  a  single  piece  of  bone  "  fp.  379;; 
existence  of  men  witliout  names  in  West-  Herodotus  having  m  fact  mentioned  a 
ern  Mrica  (iv.  184),  the  two  singular  skull  without  sutures,  i.e.,  one  in  which 
breeds  of  sheep  in  Arabia,  with  the  con-  the  sutures  did  not  appear  ;  and  also,  as 
ti'ivance  for  preserving  the  long  tails  of  a  separate  marvel,  two  jaws,  an  upper 
the  one  kind  from  injury  (iii.  113),  the  and  an  under,  wherein  the  teeth,  inci- 
fact  of  a  race  dwelling  upon  scaffoldings  sors,  and  grinders  {yoix(pioi,  "  grinders," 
in  the  middle  of  lakePrasias,  and  living  not  "gams  " )  were  joined  together  and 
upon  fish  (v.  16),  the  existence  of  a  bald  formed  but  a  single  bone,  which  is  a 
race  beyond  Scythia  (iv.  23),  the  pecu-  possible  result  of  ossification.  This  is 
liar  form  of  cannibalism  ascribed  to  the  perhaps  the  grossest  instance  of  the  kind ; 
Massagetfe  (i.  216)  and  others  (iii.  99  ;  but  the  same  spirit  of  undue  leaning  is 
iv.  26),  and  the  eccentric  customs  with  shown  in  representing  it  as  unquestion- 
regard  to  women  of  the  Nasamonians  able  that  Herodotus  meant  to  give  his 
(iv.  172),  Indians  (iii.  101),  Caucasians  bald  men  (iv.  23)  "  unusually  long  and 
(i.  203),  &c.  Many  of  these  find  close  bushy  beards,"  when  this  is  only  a  pos- 
parallels  in  the  observations  of  other  sible,  and  not  perhaps  the  most  proba- 
travellers  (see  notes  on  iv.  184;  iii.  113;  ble  rendering  of  the  passage.  (See  note 
and  V.  15);  others  are  perhaps  exagge-  ad  loo.) 


80       EXTEAOKDINARY  REPORTS  OFTEN  DISBELIEVED.  Life  akd 

and  making  his  own  notion  of  their  credibility  the  test  of  their 
admission  or  rejection.  Had  he  belonged  to  an  age  of  large 
experience,  and  to  one  when  travels  as  extensive  as  his  own 
were  common,  it  might  have  been  best  to  pursue  the  latter 
course,  trusting  to  future  travellers  to  complete  from  their  wider 
observation  the  blanks  which  he  would  thus  have  left  volun- 
tarily in  his  descriptions.  But  Herodotus  lived  when  knowledge 
of  distant  countries  was  small,  and  travels  such  as  his  very 
uncommon ;  he  had  been  the  first  Greek  visitant  in  many  a 
strange  land,  and  knew  that  there  was  little  likelihood  of  others 
penetrating  further,  or  even  so  far  as  himself.  He  was  also 
conscious  that  he  had  beheld  in  the  course  of  his  travels  a 
number  of  marvels  which  he  would  have  thought  quite  incredible 
beforehand  ;'^  and  hence  he  felt  that,  however  extraordinary  the 
reports  which  reached  him  of  men  or  countries,  they  might 
nevertheless  be  true.  He  therefore  thought  it  best  to  give 
them  a  place  in  his  work,  but  with  the  general  protest  that  he 
did  not,  by  recording  a  thing,  intend  to  declare  his  own  belief 
in  if^  Sometimes  he  takes  the  liberty  of  expressing,  or  by  a 
sly  innuendo  implying,  his  distinct  disbelief;^  sometimes  by 
relating  the  marvel  as  a  fact,  and  not  merely  as  what  is  said,  he 
lets  us  see  that  he  gives  it  credence  f  but  generally  he  is 
content  to  reserve  his  own  opinion,  or  perhaps  to  keep  his  judg- 
ment in  suspense,  and  simply  to  report  what  he  had  heard  from 
those  who  professed  to  have  correct  information.^  And  to  this 
judicious  resolution  on  his  part  the  modern  reader  is  greatly 
indebted.     Had  he  decided  on  recording  nothing  but  what  he 


^  As  the  productiveness  of  Babylonia,  but  only  reporting  what  is  said — as  in 

and  the  size  to  which  plants  grew  there  iv.  96 — irepl   fi\v   rovrov   ovre    aTTio-rew 

[i.  193).  0UT6  S>v  iricTTeixa  ri  \ir\u.    iv.  173.     K^yco 

'  See  book  vii.  ch.  152.  Se    ravTa    to.    Xiyovai    Aleves,    iv.    195. 

8  Asinii.  28,  56,  57, 131;  iii.  115,  116;  ravra  el  jxev  eVri  aX-nOeoos  ovk  olSa,  to, 

iv.  25,  31,  32,   36,  42,  105;  v.  10;  and  de  Xeyerai  ypd(pw.    We  are  not  therefore 

by  an  innuendo,  in  iv.  191.  entitled   to    assume,    when    Herodotus 

^  As  in  his  account  of  the  Phoenix  makes  a  statement  without  any  special 

fii.  73),  of  the  bald  men  (iv.  23-5),  of  intimation  of  a  doubt  of  its  accuracy, 

the  collection  of  ladanum  from  the  beards  that    "he  believed  it  himself  and  in- 

of  goats   (iii.  112),    of  the  sweet  scent  tended   it   to   be   believed   by  others" 

that  is  wafted  from  Arabia  (iii.  113),  of  (Mure,  p.  380),    but  only  that  he  did 

the  Neuri  leaving  their  country  on  ac-  not  actually  disbelieve  it,  and  that  he 

count  of  serpents  (iv.  105),   of  the  wild  thought  it  worthy  of  the  attention  of 

asses   which   did   not   drink   (iv.   192),  his  readers.      Herodotus   does   in   fact 

and  of  the  extraordinary  skull  and  jaws  mark  by  very  nice  shades  the  degree  of 

found  on  the  field  of  Platsea  (ix.  83).  credence  which  he  claims  for  his  dif- 

1  See  i.  140,  202 ;  ii.  32,  33, 75 ;  iii.  20,  ferent  statements.     Where  he  believes, 

23,  104-5,  108-9,  111 ;  iv.  96,  110,  173,  he  states  the  thing  as  a  fact ;  where  he 

184  ad  fin.,  195,  196;  v.  9.     He  often  doubts,  he  tells  us  it  was  sazc?;  where  he 

reminds  lis  in  the  middle  of  an  account  disbelieves,  he   calls   the   statement   in 

that  he  is  neither  affirming  nor  denying,  question. 


Writings.  CIECUMXAVIGATION  OF  AFEICA.  81 

positively  believed,  we  should  have  lost  altogether  a  number  of 
the  most  interesting  portions  of  his  History.^  Had  he  even 
allowed  positive  disbelief  to  act  as  a  bar  to  admission  into  his 
jmges,  we  should  have  been  deprived  of  several  of  the  most  im- 
portant notices  which  his  work  contains.  The  circumstance 
which  is  to  us  incontrovertible  evidence  of  the  fact — intrinsically 
so  hard  to  credit — that  Africa  was  circumnavigated  by  the 
Phoenicians  as  early  as  the  seventh  century  before  our  era,  the 
marvel  namely  reported  by  the  voyagers,  that  as  they  sailed 
they  "  had  the  sun  on  their  right,"  ^  was  one  which  Herodotus 
distinctly  rejected  as  surpassing  belief.  He  also  saw  no  grounds 
for  admitting  the  existence  of  any  islands  called  the  Cassiterides, 
or  Tin  Islands,  whence  that  commodity  was  brought  to  Greece,* 
nor  any  sufficient  evidence  of  a  sea  vv'ashing  Europe  upon  the 
north,  from  which  amber  was  obtained  f  so  that  had  he  adopted 
the  canon  of  exclusion  which  his  critics  prefer,  we  should  have 
been  without  the  earliest  mention  which  has  come  down  to  us  of 
our  own  country — we  should  have  lost  the  proof  furnished  in  the 
same  place  of  the  antiquity  of  our  tin  trade — and  we  should  have 
been  unaware  that  any  information  had  reached  the  Greeks  in 
the  time  of  Herodotus  of  the  existence  of  the  Baltic.  It  may 
fairly  be  doubted  whether  the  retrenchment  of  a  certain  number 
of  traveller's  tales,  palmed  upon  the  unsuspectingness  of  our 
author  by  untruthful  persons  or  humourists,^  would  have  com- 
pensated for  the  loss  of  these  important  scra23s  of  knowledge 


'^  As  for  instance  the  entire  account  Hill,  the  answer  might  probably  be,  that 

in  the  second  book  of  the  interior  of  it  recorded  the  number  of  quarts  of  por- 

Africa,  containing  notices  perhaps  of  the  ter  and  pipes  of  tobacco  consumed  by 

Niger  and  of  Timbuctoo  (chs.  3-2-3),  and  the  builders  of  the  column:  but  it  is  not 

great  parts  of  the  description  of  the  north  likely  that  he  would  put  faith  in  the 

African  nations  in  book  iv.  (chs.  168-196.)  statement.      Herodotus  however  seems, 

3  Herod,  iv.  42,     €\eyov  ifxal  fihv  ov  in  the  parallel  case,  to  have  believed  his 

TTLCTTa,  &kKcf  Se  Sirj  re^,  ws  Tr€pLTr\u)ouT€s  informants  implicitly,"  &c.     Tliis  is  to 

TTjp  Aifiv7]p  rhv  t]Xlov  ecrxoj'  is  ra  h^i^id.  argue   that  what  would  be  unlikely  to 

■•  Herod,  iii.  115.  take  place  in  London  in  the  17th  cen- 

^  Ibid.  iii.  115,  and  compare  iv.  45.  tury  a.d.  would  have  been  equally  un- 

^  Even  these  have  perhaps  been  un-  likely  to  happen  in  Egypt  in  the  2uth  or 

duly   multiplied.      At  least  to  me  the  25th  century  B.C.      Probabilities  will  of 

following  comparison  appears  to  be  over-  course  be  differently  measured  by  dif- 

strained — ''The  translation  supplied  to  ferent  minds;   but  to  me,  I  confess,  it 

Herodotus  of  the  inscription  on  one  of  does  not  seem  at  all  out  of  keeping  with 

the  larger  pyramids   represented   it  as  what  we  know  of  primitive  times,  that 

'  recording  the  quantity  of  onions,  leeks,  the  greatness  of  a  work  should  be  esti- 

and  radishes  consumed  by  the  labourers  mated  by  the  quantity  of  food  consumed 

employed  in  the  erection  of  the  menu-  by  those  engaged  on  it,  or  that  this  es- 

ment.'     Were  a  foreigner,   ignorant  of  timate  should  be  recorded  on  the  work 

the  English  tongue,  to  ask  the  meaning  itself.     Herodotus,   it  should  be  borne 

of  the  iriscription  on  the  London  Monu-  in  mind,  does  not  say  that  this  was  the 

ment,  of  some  humourist  of  Fish-street  only  inscription. 

VOL.  I.  G 


82  EHETOEICAL  EXAGGEKATIONS.  Life  and 

which  we  only  obtain  through  his  habit  of  reporting  even  what 
he  disbelieved. 

There  is  another  respect  also  wherein  advantage  seems  to 
arise  to  the  work  of  our  author  from  his  spirit  of  credulity, 
which  may  mitigate  the  severity  of  our  censures  on  this  defect 
of  his  mental  constitution.  Credulity  is  a  necessary  element  in 
a  certain  cast  of  mind,  the  other  constituents  of  which  render 
their  possessor  peculiarly  well  fitted  for  the  historian's  office. 
The  simplicity  {evriOeia)  which  Plato  requires  in  the  philo- 
sopher ^  is  no  less  admirable  in  the  writer  of  history,  and  it  is 
this  spirit — frank,  childlike,  guileless,  playful,  quaint — which 
lends  to  the  work  of  Herodotus  a  great  portion  of  its  attraction, 
giving  it  that  air  of  freshness,  truth,  and  naivete  which  is  felt  by 
all  readers  to  be  its  especial  merit.  We  cannot  obtain  these 
advantages  without  their  accompanying  drawback.  Writers  of 
the  tone  of  Herodotus,  such  as  Froissart,  Philip  de  Comines,  Sir 
John  Mandeville,  and  others  of  our  old  English  travellers,  are 
among  the  most  charming  within  the  whole  range  of  literature ; 
but  their  writings  are  uniformly  tinged  with  the  same  credulous 
vein  which  is  regarded  as  offensive  in  our  author. 

The  charge  made  against  Herodotus  of  an  undue  love  of 
effect  finds  its  most  solid  ground  in  that  tone  of  exaggeration 
and  hyperbole  which  often  characterises  his  narrative,  especially 
in  its  more  highly  wrought  and  excited  portions.  His  state- 
ments that  the  Athenians  at  Marathon  were  "  the  first  Greeks 
who  dared  to  look  upon  the  Median  garb,  and  to  face  men  clad 
in  that  fashion,"^  and  that  the  island  of  Samos  appeared  to  the 
commanders  of  the  combined  fleet  after  Salamis  "  as  distant  as  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules,"  ^  are  rhetorical  exaggerations  of  this  cha- 
racter, and  have  been  deservedly  reprehended.^  Other  instances 
of  the  tendency  complained  of  are,  the  declaration  in  the  first 
book  that  Cyrus,  by  the  overthrow  of  Croesus,  became  "  master 
of  the  tvhole  of  Asia,'  ^  and  that  in  the  sixth,  that  if  the  lonians 
had  destroyed  the  Persian  fleet  at  the  battle  of  Lade,  Darius 
could  have  brought  against  them  "  another  jive  times  as  greats  ^ 
To  the  same  quality  perhaps  may  be  ascribed  the  readiness 
with  which  Herodotus  accepts  from  his  informants  extravagant 
computations  of  numbers,  size,  duration,  (fec.,"^  as  well  as  impro- 


7  Eepubl.  iii.  §  16.  3  chap.  13. 

8  Herod,  vi.  112.  ^  Ibid.  viii.  132.  <  As  the  size  of  the  army  of  Xerxes 
^  Mure's  Lit.  of  Greece,  iv.  pp.  403-6.  (\\\.  184-7  ;  see  note  ad  loc.\  the  num- 
2  Chap.  130  ad  fin. ;  cf.  ix.  122.  her  of  cities  in  Egypt  in  the  reign  of 


Writings. 


ANECDOTICAL  DETAILS. 


83 


bable  statements  with  regard  to  regularity^  and  completeness, 
tlie  latter  sometimes  contradicted  in  his  own  pages.^  His  con- 
stant desire  is  to  set  matters  in  the  most  striking  light — to  be 
lively,  novel,  forcible — and  to  this  desire  not  only  accuracy,  but 
even  at  times  consistency,  is  sacrificed.  It  belongs  to  his 
romantic  and  poetic  turn  of  mind  to  care  more  for  the  graphic 
effect  of  each  successive  picture  than  for  the  accord  and  har- 
mony of  the  whole.  His  colours  are  throughout  more  vivid 
than  the  sober  truth  of  history  can  be  thought  to  warrant ;  and 
the  modern  critical  reader  has  constantly  to  supply  modifications 
and  qualifications  in  order  to  bring  the  general  tone  of  the 
narrative  down  to  the  level  of  actual  fact. 

'Whether  the  anecdotical  vein  in  which  Herodotus  so  freely 
indulges  is  fairly  referred  to  this  head  may  perhaps  admit  of  a 
doubt.  A  judicious  selection  of  anecdotes  forms  a  portion  of 
the  task  of  the  historian,  who  best  portrays  both  individual 
cliaracter  and  the  general  manners  of  an  age  by  the  help  of  this 
light  and  graceful  embellishment.  That  the  bulk  of  our  author's 
anecdotes  serve  their  proper  purpose  -in  his  History — that  they 
are  characteristic  and  full  of  instruction,  as  well  as  pointed  and 
well  told — is  what  no  candid  and  sensible  reader  can  hesitate  to 


Amasis  (ii.  177),  the  height  of  the  walls 
of  Babylon  (i.  178 ;  see  note  ^  ad  loc.) 
and  of  "the  pyramids  (ii.  124,  127),  the 
duration  of  the  Egyptian  monarchy  (ii. 
142;  compare  100),  &c. 

^  Instances  of  improbable  regularity 
are,  the  unbroken  descent  of  the  Lydian 
Heraclide  kings  in  the  line  of  dii^ect  suc- 
cession during  twenty-two  generations 
(i.  8),  the  exact  correspondence  in  the 
number  of  Egyptian  kings  and  high- 
priests  of  Vulcan  during  a  supposed  pe- 
riod of  11,340  yeai's  fii.  142),  and  the 
unbroken  hereditary  descent  of  the  lat- 
ter (ii.  143),  the  occuiTence  of  salt-hills 
and  springs  of  water  at  intervals  of  exact- 
ly 10  days'  journey  along  the  whole  sandy 
belt  extending  from  Egyptian  Thebes 
to  the  west  coast  of  Africa  (iv.  181), 
tlie  wonderful  productiveness  of  all  the 
world's  extremities  (iii,  106-116),  &c. 

^  The  entire  freedom  of  the  Greeks  be- 
fore Croesus  (i.  6),  the  complete  destruc- 
tion of  the  Samians  by  Otanes  (iii.  149), 
the  total  contrast  between  Greek  and 
Egyptian  manners  (ii.  35-6),  the  demo- 
lition of  the  walls  of  Babylon  by  Darius 
(iii.  159),  the  general  submission  of  the 
insular  Greeks  to  Cyrus  (i.  169%  the 
absolute   invincibility   of  the    Scythians 


(iv.  46),  and  the  extreme  simplicity  of 
the  Persians  before  they  conquered  the 
Lydians  (i.  71),  are  specimens.  The  his- 
tory of  the  four  predecessors  of  Croesus 
upon  the  throne  shows  that  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Lydians  upon  the  liberties 
of  the  Greeks  began  with  Gyges,  and 
continued  without  intermission  till  the 
complete  reduction  of  the  lonians,  Co- 
hans, and  Doi-ians  by  Croesus  (i.  14-16  ,. 
The  prominent  part  played  by  the  Sa- 
mians in  the  Ionian  revolt  (vi.  8-15)  is 
incompatible  with  their  extermination 
by  Otanes.  The  non-existence  of  priest- 
esses in  Egypt — one  of  the  points  of  con- 
trast between  that  country  and  Greece — 
is  contradicted  expressly  (i.  182  and  ii. 
54).  It  appears  from  the  description  of 
Babylon  (i.  178-180)  that  the  great  wall, 
though  gaps  may  have  been  broken  in 
it,  was  still  standing  when  Herodotus 
wrote.  That  all  the  islanders  did  not 
submit  to  Cyrus  is  apparent  from  the 
history  of  Polycrates  (iii.  44 \  The  re- 
duction of  the  Scythians  by  Sesostris  is 
expressly  assei'ted  in  book  ii.  ^chs.  lo3 
and  110).  That  the  Persians  began  to 
lay  aside  their  simple  habits  as  soon  as 
they  conquered  the  Medes  is  implied  in 
book  i.  ch.  126. 

G   2 


84  VALUE  OF  THE  ANECDOTES.  Life  and 

allow.  Perhaps  the  anecdotical  element  may  be  justly  regarded 
as  over  largely  developed  in  the  work,  especially  if  we  compare 
it  with  other  histories ;  but  we  must  remember  that  in  the  time 
of  Herodotus  the  field  of  literature  had  not  been  partitioned  out 
according  to  our  modern  notions.  History  in  our  sense,  bio- 
graphy, travels,  memoirs,  &c.,  had  not  then  been  recognised  as 
distinct  from  one  another,  and  the  term  laropia,  or  "  research," 
equally  comprehended  them  all.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see  where 
the  knife  could  have  been  applied,  and  the  narrative  pruned 
down  and  stripped  of  anecdotical  details,  without  the  suppression 
of  something  that  we  could  ill  have  spared — something  really 
valuable  towards  completing  the  picture  of  ancient  times  which 
Herodotus  presents  to  us.  Certainly  the  portions  of  his  work  to 
which  the  chief  objection  has  been  made,  as  consisting  of  "  mere 
local  traditions  and  gossiping  stories,"  ^  the  "  Corinthian  court 
scandal "  of  the  tliird  and  fifth  books,^  the  accounts  of  Cyrene 
and  Barca  in  the  fourth,^  the  personal  history  of  Solon, ^  and  the 
wars  between  Sparta  and  Tegea  in  the  first,^  are  not  wanting  in 
interest ;  and  though  undoubtedly  we  might  imagine  their  loss 
compensated  by  the  introduction  of  other  matters  about  which 
we  should  have  more  cared  to  hear,  yet  their  mere  retrench- 
ment without  such  compensation,  which  is  all  that  criticism  can 
have  any  right  to  demand,^  would  have  diminished  and  not 
increased  the  value  of  the  work  as  a  record  of  facts,^  and  would 
scarcely  have  improved  it  even  in  an  artistic  point  of  view. 
The  double  narrative  in  the  third  book  is  skilfully  devised  to 


■^  Mure,  p.  391.  that  Herodotus  was  not  ^vritmg  the  his- 
^  Herod,  iii,  49-53  ;  v.  92.  Comp.  tory  of  Greece,  but  the  history  of  a 
i.  23-4.  particular  war.  We  had  no  ''right  to 
^  Ibid.  iv.  14.5-205.  expect  "  anything  from  him  but  what 
1  Ibid.  i.  30-33,  2  Ibid.  i.  66-68.  possessed  a  direct  bearing  upon  the 
3  The  substance  of  Col.  Mure's  com-  struggle  between  Greece  and  Persia.  As 
plaints  against  the  episodical  portion  of  Niebuhr  observes,  "the  work  of  Hero- 
Herodotus  is,  that  he  has  not  given  us  dotus  is  not  an  ancient  Greek  history, 
something  more  valuable  in  the  place  of  but  has  an  epic  character  ;  it  has  a  unity 
what  he  has  actually  given — as,  for  in-  amid  its  episodes,  which  are  retarding 
stance,  the  real  history  of  Corinth  under  motives,"  —  delaying  yet  helping  the 
the  Cypselidie  instead  of  the  anecdotes  main  story.  (See  Niebuhr's  Lectures 
concerning  Periander  (pp.  292-3),  the  on  Ancient  History,  vol.  i.  p.  168.  E.  T.) 
legislation  of  Solon  in  lieu  of  his  dis-  ^  '£]^q  stories  of  Periander  and  Poly- 
course  with  Croesus  (pp.  394-5),  the  crates  give  us  the  portrait  of  the  Greek 
Messeniau  wars  in  the  place  of  the  strug-  tyrant  in  his  worst,  and  in  his  interme- 
gle  with  Tegea  (p.  397,  note),  (Sec.  He  diate,  as  that  of  Pisistratus  does  in  his 
thinks  we  had  "  a  right  to  expect  "  that  best  character.  Without  them  the  ab- 
Herodotus  in  his  episodical  notices  of  horrence  expressed  by  Herodotus  for 
the  Greek  states,  should  have  embodied  rulers  of  this  class  would  sti^ike  the  rea- 
all  the  "more  important  facts  of  their  der  as  strange  and  exaggerated, 
history"  (p.  391),    But  this  is  to  forget 


Writings.  THE  CRITICAL  SCHOOL-^THUCYDIDES.  85 

keep  np  that  amount  of  attention  to  Greek  affairs  which  the 
author  desires  to  maintain,  in  subordination  to  the  main  subject 
of  the  earlier  or  introductory  portion  of  his  work — the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  Persian  empire,  and  resembles  the  underplot  in 
a  play  or  a  novel,  which  agreeably  relieves  the  chief  story.  It 
also,  as  has  been  already  observed,^  reflects  and  repeats,  in  the 
histories  of  Periander  and  of  Polycrates,  the  main  ethical  teach- 
ing of  the  work,  thereby  at  once  deepening  the  moral  impression, 
and  helping  to  diffuse  a  uniform  tone  throughout  the  volumes. 
The  history  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  Africa  is  not  only  interesting 
in  itself,  and  in  the  light  it  throws  upon  the  principles  of  Hel- 
lenic colonisation,^  but  it  serves  to  introduce  that  sketch  of  the 
neighbouring  nations  which  has  always  been  recognised  as  one 
of  the  most  valuable  of  our  author's  episodes.  The  fragment  of 
the  life  of  Solon  is  no  doubt  in  some  degree  legen&ary,  but  he 
must  be  a  stern  critic  who  would  have  the  heart  to  desire  its  re- 
trenchment, seeing  that  with  it  must  have  disappeared  almost  the 
whole  story  of  Croesus,  the  most  beautiful  and  touching  in  the 
entire  History.  The  wars  of  Sparta  with  Tegea  had  an  intrinsic 
importance  quite  sufficient  to  justify  their  introduction,  and  the 
synchronism  of  the  last  with  the  time  of  the  embassy  sent  by 
Croesus,  which  forms  the  sole  occasion  of  the  reference  in  the  first 
book  to  Spartan  history,  fully  explains  its  occurrence  in  the  place 
assigned  to  it.  Adverse  criticism  therefore  seems  to  fail  in 
pointing  out  any  mere  surplusage  even  in  the  anecdotical  por- 
tion of  the  work,  and  the  truth  appears  to  be  that  the  episodical 
matter  in  Herodotus  is,  on  the  whole,  singularly  well  chosen 
and  effective,  being  lively,  varied,  and  replete  with  interest. 

To  say  that  Herodotus  has  no  claim  to  rank  as  a  critical  his- 
torian is  simply  to  note  that,  having  been  born  before  the  rise 
of  a  certain  form  of  the  historical  science,  he  did  not  happen  to 
invent  it.  That  in  intelligence,  sagacity,  and  practical  good 
sense  he  was  greatly  in  advance  of  his  predecessors  and  even  of 
his  contemporaries,  is  what  no  one  who  carefully  reads  the  frag- 
ments left  us  of  the  early  Greek  historians  will  hesitate  to 
allow.  But  a  great  gulf  separates  him  from  Thucydides,  th^ 
real  founder  of  the  Critical  School.  From  the  judgment  of 
Thucydides  on  obscure  points  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
ancient  world,  the  modern  critic,  if  he  ventures  to  dissent  at  all, 


*  See  above,  page  79.  the  course  of  colonisation,  and  forcing 

•>■  Especially   upon   the  leading   pai't    the  growth  of  colonies, 
taken  by  the  Delphic  oracle  in  directing 


S6  THE  ROMANTIC  SCHOOL— HERODOTUS.         Life  and 

dissents  with  the  utmost  diffidence.     The  opinions  of  Herodotus 
have  no  such  weight.     They  are  views  which  an  intelligent  man 
living  in  the  fifth  century  b.  c.  might  entertain,  and  as  such 
they  are  entitled  to  attentive  consideration,  but  they  have  no 
bindino-  authority.    Herodotus  belongs  distinctly  to  the  Eomantic 
School :  with  him  the  imagination  is  in  the  ascendant  and  not 
the  reason ;  his  mind  is  poetic,  and  he  is  especially  disqualified 
to  form  sound  judgments  concerning  events  remote  from  his  own 
day  on  account  of  his  full  belief  in  the  popular  mythology,  which 
placed  gods  and  heroes  upon  the  earth  at  no  very  distant  period. 
He  does  not  apply  the  same  canons  of  credibility  to  the  past 
and  present,  or,  like  Thucydides,  view  human  nature  and  the 
general  course  of  mundane  events  as  always  the  same.''     Thus 
his  history  of  early  times  is  little  more  than  myth  and  fable, 
embodying  *  often    important    traditions,   but   delivered   as   he 
received  it,  without  any  exercise  upon  it  of  critical  discrimina- 
tion.    In  his  history  of  times  near  his  own  the  case  is  different ; 
he  there  brings  his  judgment  into  play,  compares  and  sifts  dif- 
ferent accounts,  exhibits  sense  and  intelligence,  and  draws  con- 
clusions for  the  most  part  just  and  rational.^     Still  even  in  this 
portion  of  the  history  we  miss  qualities  which  go  to  form  our 
ideal  of  the  perfect  historian,  and  with  which  we  are  familiarised 
through  Thucydides  and  his  school ;   we  miss  those  habits  of 
accuracy  which  we  have  learnt  to  regard  as  among  the  primary 
qualifications  of  the  historical  writer;    we  come  upon  discre- 
pancies, contradictions,  suspicious  repetitions,  and  the  like ;  we 
find  an  utter  carelessness  of  chronology ;  above  all,  we  miss  that 
philosophic  insight  into  the  real  causes  of  political  transactions, 
the  moving  influences  whence  great  events  proceed,  which  com- 
municates, according   to   modern   notions,  its  soul  to  history, 
making  it  a  living  and  speaking  monitor  instead  of  a  mere 
pictured  image  of  bygone  times  and  circumstances. 

The  principal  discrepancies,  contradictions,  &c.  in  the  Hero- 
dotean  narrative  have  either  been  already  glanced  at  or  will  be 
pointed  out  in  the  notes  on  the  text.  One  of  the  most  common 
is  a  want  of  harmony  in  the  different  portions  of  any  estimate 
that  is  given  of  numbers.  If  both  the  items  and  the  total  of  a 
sum  are  mentioned,  they  are  rather  more  likely  to  disagree  than 
to  agree.     Making  the  most  liberal  allowance  for  corruptions  of 

'  Thucyd.  i.  22.  Mure's  Lit.  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  pp.  354 

8  Yor  acknowledgments  on  this  head    and  410. 
on  the  part  of  an  adverse  critic,   see 


Writings. 


NUMERICAL  DISCREPANCIES. 


87 


the  text  (to  which  numbers  are  specially  liable),  it  "would  still 
seem  that  these  frequent  disagreements  must  have  arisen  from 
some  defect  in  the  author :  either  he  was  not  an  adept  in  arith- 
metic, or  he  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  go  through  the  calcula- 
tions and  see  that  his  statements  tallied.  Numerical  discrepan- 
cies of  the  kind  described  occur  in  his  accounts  of  the  duration 
of  the  Median  empire,^  of  the  trilmte  which  the  Persian  king 
drew  from  the  satrapies,^"  of  the  distance  from  Sardis  to  Susa,^^ 
and  of  the  sea  from  Egyptian  Thebes,^^  of  the  number  of  the 
Greek  fleet  at  Salamis,^^  &c. ;  while  other  errors  disfigure  his 
computation  of  the  number  of  days  in  the  full  term  of  human 
life,^^  and  of  the  duration  of  the  monarchy  in  Egypt.^^  The  only 
calculations  of  any  extent  w^hich  do  not  contain  an  arithmetical 
error  are  the  numbers  of  the  Greek  fleets  at  Miletus  ^^  and  Arte- 
misium,"  of  the  fleet  ^^  and  army  of  Xerxes,^^  and  of  the  Greek 
army  at  Platsea.^^  Contradictions  connected  with  his  habit  of 
exaggeration  have  been  already  noticed.^^    Others,  arising  appa- 


9  Herod,  i.  130.     See  the  Critical  Es- 
says appended  to  Book  i..  Essay  iii.  ad  fin. 
w  Ibid.  iii.  9U-95.     See  note  ad  loc. 

11  Ibid.  V.  52-54. 

12  Ibid.  ii.  7-9.  From  the  sea  to  He- 
liopolis  is  said  to  be  1500  stades,  from 
Heliopolis  to  Thebes  4860  stades,  but 
from  the  sea  to  Thebes  only  6120,  in- 
stead of  6360,  stades. 

13  Ibid.  viii.  43-48.     See  note  ad  loc. 

14  Ibid.  i.  32.  The  double  error — clear- 
ly arising  from  mere  carelessness— where- 
by the  solar  year  is  made  to  average  375 
days,  is  explained  in  the  note  on  the 


15  Ibid.ii.  142.  The  error  here  is  but 
slight,  yet  it  is  curious.  Having  to  esti- 
mate the  number  of  years  contained  in 
341  generations  of  men,  Herodotus  first 
lays  it  down  that  three  generations  go 
to  the  century.  He  then  says,  coi'rectly, 
that  300  generations  will  make  10,000 
years ;  but  in  estimating  the  odd  41  ge- 
nerations, he  has  a  curious  error.  Forty- 
one  generations,  he  says,  will  make  1340 
years;  whei-eas  they  will  really  make 
1366§  years.  If  a  round  number  were 
intended,  it  should  have  been  1360  or 
1370. 

16  Herod,  vi.  8.  "  Ibid.  viii.  1,  2. 
18  Ibid.  vii.  89-95.  i^  Ibid.  vii.  184-6. 
^  Ibid.  ix.  28,  29. 

21  Supra,  p.  83.  Col.  Mure  adds  to 
these  a  number  of  discrepancies  which 
are  more  imaginary  than  real.   (See  Ap- 


pendix J.  to  his  4th  volume.)  He  con- 
siders the  statement  that  Croesus  was 
*'  the  person  who  first  within  the  know- 
ledge of  Herodotus  commenced  aggres- 
sions on  the  Greeks"  (i.  5),  as  coutiict- 
ing  not  only  with  the  narrative  in  chs. 
14-16,  but  also  with  the  account  of  the 
Ionian  colonisation  of  Asia  Minor  in 
ch.  146.  But  Herodotus  does  not  say 
that  the  Greeks  colonised  at  the  expense 
of  the  Lydians,  who  probably,  dwelt 
some  way  inland  at  that  time.  Again, 
Col.  Mure  objects  to  the  panegyric  upon 
the  Alcmseonidas  for  their  consistent 
hatred  of  tyrants  (vi.  121),  because 
Megacles  had  on  one  occasion  helped 
Pisistratus  to  return  (i.  61)  ;  but  this  is 
at  the  utmost  a  slight  rlietorical  exagge- 
ration. The  Alcmseonida),  from  the  time 
when  Megacles  broke  with  Pisistratus, 
had  been  most  consistent  in  their  oppo- 
sition. (See  i.  64 ;  v.  62,  63,  66,  kc.)  He 
also  sees  a  contradiction  between  book  v. 
ch.  40,  where  Anaxandrides  is  said,  in 
maintaining  two  wives  and  two  house- 
holds at  the  same  time,  to  have  "done 
an  act  very  contrary  to  Spartan  feeling," 
and  book  vi.  ch.  61,  et  seq.,  where  King 
Ariston  is  said  to  have  had  two  wives, 
and  to  have  even  married  a  third,  with- 
ovit  any  censure  or  remark  at  all.  Here 
the  flaw  is  altogether  in  the  critic's  spec- 
tacles: the  strange  and  unusual  thing 
being,  according  to  Herodotus,  not  di- 
vorce and  remarriage,    as   in  Aristou's 


88 


CAEELESSNESS. 


Life  and 


rently  from  mere  carelessness,  are  the  discrepancies  between  his 
description  of  the  size  of  Scythia,  and  his  account  of  the  expe- 
dition of  Darius ;  ^^  between  his  date  for  Psammetichus  ^^  and  his 
estimate  of  700  years  from  Anysis  to  Amyrtaeus ;  ^'^  between  his 
two  accounts  of  the  Telmessian  prodigy  of  the  female  beard ;  -^ 
his  two  estimates  of  the  length  of  the  day's  journey  ;  ^^  and  his 
two  statements  of  the  time  that  intervened  between  the  first 
and  second  expeditions  directed  against  Greece  by  Darius.^^ 
Kepetitions  having  an  awkward  and  suspicious  appearance  are — 
the  warnings  given  to  Croesus  by  Sandanis,^  and  to  Darius  and 
Xerxes  by  Artabanus ;  ^  the  similar  prayers  of  (Eobazus  and  of 
Pythius,  with  their  similar  result;^  the  parallel  reproaches 
addressed  to  Astyages  by  Harpagus,  and  to  Demaratus  by  Leo- 
tychides ;  ^  and  the  anecdote,  told  of  Cyrus,  of  Artaphernes,  and 
of  Darius,  that  on  hearing  of  one  of  the  leading  Greek  nations, 
they  asked  "  who  they  were  ?  "  ^ 

The  want  of  a  standard  chronological  era  cannot  be  charged 
against  Herodotus  as  a  fault,^  since  it  was  a  defect  of  the  age  in 


case  (vi.  63),  but  the  having  two  wives 
and  two  households  at  one  and  the 
same  time.  Ariston  never  had  two  wives 
at  once. 

22  Herod,  iv.  101-133.  See  note  on 
book  iv.  ch.  133. 

23  This  date  cannot  be  fixed  exactly, 
as  Herodotus  does  not  tell  us  in  which 
year  of  the  reign  of  Cambyses  he  believes 
him  to  have  invaded  Egypt.  Assuming 
however  the  year  B.C.  525  for  this  event, 
and  taking  the  years  of  the  last  six  kings 
from  Herodotus,  we  obtain  B.C.  671  or 
B.C.  672  for  the  year  of  the  accession  of 
Psammetichus — a  date  accordant  with 
the  synchronism  which  made  him  con- 
temporary with  Cyaxares  (i.  105),  and 
agreeing  nearly  with  the  views  of  Ma- 
netho. 

24  Herod,  ii.  140.  According  to  this 
statement  nearly  500  years  intervene 
between  Anysis  and  Psammetichus.  Yet 
Anysis  is  contemporary  with  Sabaco, 
who^  puts  to  death  Neco,  the  father  of 
Psammetichus,  and  drives  Psammeti- 
chus himself  into  exile!  (See  Herod, 
ii.  152.) 

25  Herod,  i.  175,  and  viii.  104.  Com- 
pare note  ^,  page  28. 

26  Ibid.  iv.  101,  and  v.  53.  This,  how- 
ever, may  be  explained  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  in  v.  53  Herodotus  is  speaking 
of  the  day's  march  of  an  army.  (See 
note  ad  loo.) 


27  In  ch.  46  of  book  vi.  Herodotus 
makes  the  destruction  of  their  walls  by 
the  Thasians  at  the  bidding  of  Darius 
follow  "in  the  year  after"  {devTepco 
erei')  the  loss  of  the  fleet  of  Mardonius 
at  Athos.  In  ch.  48  he  says  that  after 
the  submission  of  the  Thasians  (juera 
toGto)  Darius  sent  orders  for  the  col- 
lection of  ti^ansports ;  and  in  ch.  95 
these  orders  are  said  to  have  been  given 
''the  year  before"  (rtp  trpoTipcp  ^re'i) 
the  expedition  of  Datis.  But  towards 
the  end  of  the  same  chapter  the  disaster 
at !  Athos  is  referred  to  the  year  iinrno' 
diatclij  preceding  that  expedition. 

1  Herod,  i.  71. 

2  Ibid.  iv.  83,  and  vii.  10. 

3  Ibid.  iv.  84,  and  vii.  38,  39. 

4  Ibid.  i.  129,  and  vi.  67. 

5  Ibid.  i.  153 ;  and  v.  73  and  105. 

^  Col.  Mure  taxes  Herodotus  with 
being  even  here  ''behind  the  spirit  of 
the  age"  (p.  417),  and  refers  to  the 
chronological  works  of  Hellanicus  and 
Charon  as  having  introduced  a  "  frame- 
work on  which  the  course  of  the  national 
history  was  adjusted."  But  there  is  no 
evidence  to  prove  that  either  Charon  or 
Hellanicus  made  use  of  their  chronolo- 
gical schemes  in  their  histories  ;  and  the 
latter  is  expressly  taxed  by  Thucydides 
with  inexactness  in  his  assignment  of 
dates  (i.  97).  Besides,  it  has  been  already 
shown  (suprh,,  p.  34,  note  ^j  that  Heliaui- 


Writings.  LOOSE  CHRONOLOGY.  89 

which  he  lived,  and  one  with  which  even  Thiicydides  is  equally 
taxable.  It  was  not  until  Timgeus  introduced  the  reckoning  bv 
Olympiads  some  generations  after  Herodotus,  that  Greek 
chronology  came  to  be  put  on  a  satisfiictory  footing.  Hero- 
dotus, however,  is  unnecessarily  loose  and  inaccurate  in  his 
chronological  statements,  and  evidently  regards  the  whole  sub- 
ject as  unimportant.  His  reckoning  events  from  "his  own 
time "  '^  is  vague  and  indeterminate,  since  we  do  not  know 
whether  he  means  from  his  birth,  from  his  acme,  or  from  the 
time  of  his  last  recension,  a  doubt  involving  a  difference  of  more 
than  half  a  century.  Even  when  he  seems  to  profess  exactness, 
there  is  always  some  omission,  some  unestimated  period,  which 
precludes  us  from  constructing  a  complete  chronological  scheme 
by  means  of  the  data  Avhich  he  furnishes.^  His  synchronisms  are 
on  the  whole  less  incorrect  than  might  have  been  expected  f  but 
occasional  mistakes  occur  which  a  very  little  care  might  have 
obviated.^  We  may  conclude  from  these  that  he  was  not  in 
the  habit  of  tabulating  his  dates  or  determining  synchronisms  in 
any  other  way  than  by  means  of  po2:)ular  rumour. 

But  the  great  defect  of  Herodotus  as  an  historian  is  his  want 
of  insight  into  the  causes,  bearing,  and  interconnexion  of  the 
events  which  he  records.  It  is  not  merely  that  he  is  deficient 
in  political  discernment,  and  so  relates  with  the  utmost  bald- 
ness, and  with  striking  omissions  and  misstatements,  the  con- 


cus  wrote  later  than  Herodotus,  and  that  ais  kukcov  9iv),  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the 
the  works  of  Charon  were  probably  un-  year  of  Darius'  attack,  on  which  the  corn- 
known  to  him  (pp.  37,  38).  mencement  of  the  Scythian  monarchy  is 

'  See  Herod,  ii.  53,  and  145.    A  nearer  made  to  depend  (iv.  7).    The  only  chro- 

approach  to  exactness  is  made  Avhen  the  nolog.y  which  is  exact  and  continuous  is 

time  of  his  visit  to  a  country  is  assumed  the  Medo-Persian.     We  may  count  back 

as  the  epoch  from  which  to  calculate  fi'om  the  siege  of  Sestos  to  the  first  year 

(see  ii.  13,  and  44) ;  but  still  even  in  of  Cyrus,  and  thence  to  the  accession 

these  cases  there  is  some  uncertainty.  of  Deioces,  which  Herodotus  placed  229 

^  The   Lydian   chronology  is  incom-  years  before  that  event,  or  B.C.  708. 
plete  from  his  omitting  to  state  in  which         ^  As  those  of  Cyaxares  with  Alyattes 

year  of  Cyrus  Sardis  was  taken.     The  (i.  73-4),  and  of  both  with  Psamme'tichus 

Assyrian   fails   fi'om    the   term    of  the  (i.  105"),  of  Sennacherib  with  Sethos  the 

anarchy  not  being  specified.     The  later  successor  of  Sabaco  (ii.  141),  of  Amasis 

Egyptian  has  the  same  defect  as  the  Ly-  and  Labynetus  (Nabunahit)  with  Croesus 

dian:  we  are  not  told  in  which  year  of  (i.  77),  &c. 

the  reign  of  Cambyses  he  led  his  expe-         ^  As  the  placing  the  embassy  of  Croesus 

dition  into  Egypt.    For  the  early  Egyp-  to  Sparta  after  the  final  settlement  of 

tian  and  the  Babylonian  we  have  only  an  Pisistratus  on  the  throne  of  Athens  (i. 

estimate  by  generations.     The  Scythian  65),  the  appai-ently  making  Periander 

is  indefinite,  since,  from  the  vague  way  and  Alc?eus  contemporaries  with  Pisis- 

in  which  the  interval  between  the  Thra-  tratus  and  his  son  Hegesistratus  (\.  94-5), 

cian  campaign   of  Megabazus   and   the  the  assignment  of  the  legislation  of  Ly- 

breaking   out  of  the    Ionian   revolt   is  curgus  to  the  reign  of  Labotas  in  Sparta 

spoken  of  (ou    w  oWhu  xpovov  aue-  (i.  6oj,  t&c. 


90  OCCASIONS  MADE  INTO  CAUSES.  Life  and 

stitutional  changes  whose  occurrence  he  is  led  to  notice  f  but 
even  with  regard  to  the  important  historical  vicissitudes  which 
form  the  special  subject  of  his  narrative,  he  exhibits  the  same 
inability  to  penetrate  below  the  surface,  and  to  appreciate  or 
even  to  conceive  aright  their  true  origin  and  character.     Little 
personal  tales  and  anecdotes  take  the  place  of  those  investiga- 
tions into  the  condition  of  nations  or  into  the  grounds  of  hostility 
between  races  on  which  critical  writers  of  history  are  wont  to 
lay  the  chief  stress  in  their  accounts  of  wars,  rebellions,  con- 
quests, and  the  like.     The  personal  ambition  of  Cyrus  is  made 
the  sole  cause  of  the  revolt  of  the  Persians  from  the  Medes ;  ^ 
to  the  resentment  of  Harpagus  is  attributed  its  success;*  the 
attack  on  Egypt  is  traced  to  advice  given  to  Cambyses  by  an 
eye-doctor ;  ^  the  Magian  revolt  is  the  mere  doing  of  Patizei- 
thes ;  ^   Darius  is  led  to  form  a  design  against  Greece  by  a 
suggestion  of  Democedes  ;  ^  the  lonians  rebel  because  Arista- 
^•oras  has  become  involved  in  difficulties.^     Through  the  whole 
History  there  runs  a  similar  vein :  if  war  breaks  out  between 
Media  and  Lydia,  it  is  because  a  band  of  Scyths  have  caused 
King  Cyaxares  to  banquet  on  human  flesh  and  have  then  fled 
to  Alyattes  ;  ^  if  King  Darius  sends  an  expedition  against  Samos, 
it  is  to  reward  a  man  who  presented  to  him  a  scarlet  cloak ;  ^^ 
if  the  Lydians  after  their  conquest  by  the  Persians  lose  their 
military  spirit  and  grow  effeminate,  it  is  owing  to  Croesus  having 
advised  Cyrus  to  give  them  the  breedingVof  women ;  ^^  every- 
where little  reasons  are  alleged,  which,  even  if  they  existed, 
would  not  be  the  causes  of  the  events  traced  to  them,  but  only 
the  occasions  upon  which  the  real  causes  came  into  play.^^     The 
tales,  however,  which   take   the  place   of  more   philosophical 
inquiries  are  for  the  most  part    (it  would   seem)    apocryphal, 
having  been  invented  to  account  for  the  occurrences  by  those 
who  failed  to  trace  them  to   any  deeper  source.      From   the 
same  defect  of  insight  extreme  improbabilities  are  accepted  by 
Herodotus  without  the  slightest  objection,  and  difficulties,  from 
being  unperceived,  are   left  unexplained.      To   give    a   single 
insta'nce  of  each : — Herodotus  reports,  apparently  without  any 


2  See   the   notes  on  book  i.   ch.    65,  "  Ibid.  i.  155. 

book  iv.  eh.  145,  book  v.  chs.  67-9,  and  ^2  ^\^q  statement  of  Aristotle  concern- 
book  vi.  chs.  43  and  83.  ing  internal  troubles  applies  with  equal 

3  Herod,  i.  126-7.  *  Ibid,  chs,  127-8.  or  greater  force  to  wars  between  nations: 
^  Ibid.  iii.  1.  ^  Ibid.  iii.  61.  e/c  ixiKpwv  akk'  ov  irepl  fxiKpwv — yiyvovTUi 
7  Ibid.  iii.  134-5.  «  Ibid.  v.  35-6.  (Pol.  v.  3,  §  1.  Compare  Polyb.  iii.  6,  7). 
»  Ibid.  i.  73-4.         «  Ibid.  iii.  139.       • 


Writings.  "WANT  OF  CEITICAL  ACUMEN.  91 

hesitation,  tlie  Persian  tale  concerning  the  motive  which  induced 
Cambyses  to  invade  Egypt — that,  having  applied  to  Amasis  for 
his  daughter  in  marriage,  Amasis  pretended  to  comply,  but  sent 
him  the  daughter  of  Apries,  a  "  young  girl "  of  great  personal 
charms,  whom.  Cambyses  received  among  his  wives,  and  re- 
garded with  much  favour,  till  one  day  he  learnt  from  her  lips 
the  trick  that  had  been  played  him,  whereupon  he  declared  war 
against  the  deceiver.  Now  as  Amasis  had  reigned,  according 
to  Herodotus,  forty-four  years  from  the  death  of  Apries,  and  the 
discovery  of  the  trick  was  followed  closely  by  the  invasion, 
which  Amasis  did  not  live  to  see,  it  is  plain  that  this  "  beautiful 
young  girl,"  who  had  been  palmed  off  upon  Cambyses  as  the 
reigning  king's  daughter,  must  have  been  a  woman  of  between 
forty  and  fifty  years  of  age.^  Again — Herodotus  tells  us,  and 
probability  fully  bears  him  out,  that  the  Persian  army  under 
Datis  and  Artaphernes  landed  at  Marathon  because  it  was  the 
most  favourable  position  in  all  Attica  for  the  manoeuvres  of 
cavalry,^  in  which  arm  the  Persian  strength  chiefly  lay;  yet 
when  he  comes  to  describe  the  battle  no  mention  whatever  is 
made  of  any  part  taken  in  it  by  the  Persian  horse,  nor  any 
account  given  of  their  absence  or  inaction.^  A  similar  inability 
to  appreciate  difficulties  appears  in  his  account  of  the  numbers 
at  Thermopylge,  where  no  attempt  is  made  to  reconcile  the 
apparent  discrepancy  between  the  list  of  the  forces,  the  Spartan 
inscription,  and  the  actual  number  of  the  slain,^  nor  any  ex- 


1  See  Herod,  iii.  1,  and  compare  ii.  172,  bably  have  been  considerably  more,  as 

and  iii.  10.  Col.Mure's  criticism  (Lit.  of  his  father  Cheops  reigned  50  years,  and 

Greece,  iv.  p.   419)  in  this  instance  is  so  would  not  be  likely  to  leave  behind 

perfectly  just.     Almost  as  gross  an  in-  him  a  very  young  son. 

stance  of  the  same  fault  occurs  in  the  his-  ^  Herod,  vi.  102. 

tory  of  Mycerinus.    Mycerinus  succeeds  ^  We  are  left  to  derive  from  another 

his   uncle,  Chephren,  v»'ho  has  reigned  writer  (Suidas  ad  voc.  Xupls  tTnreis)  the 

56  years  (ii.  127-8).     He  reigns  happily  information  that  Miltiades  took  advan- 

for   a   certain    indefinite    time,   during  tage  of  the  absence  of  the  Persian  ca- 

which  he  builds  a  pyramid  of  no  small  valry,  who  had  been  forced  to  go  to 

size;  when,  lo!  an  oracle  announces  to  a  distance  for  forage,  to  bring  on  the 

him  that  he  has  but  six  more  years  to  engagement. 

live.     Mycerinus   is   indignant  that  he  '^  According  to  Herodotus,  the  entire 

should  be  cut  off  in  the  flower  of  his  number  of  the  troops,  exclusive  of  the 

age — reproaches  the  oracle — and  deter-  Helots,  was  between  4000  and  5000.    Of 

'  mines  to  falsify  it  by  living  twelve  years  these  there  came  from  the  Peloponnese 

in  six.    So  he  gives  himself  up  to  jollity,  3100  (vii.  202,  203).     Yet  the  inscription 

di'inks  and  feasts,  night  as  well  as  day,  on  the  spot,  which  would  certainly  not 

during  the  time  left  him,  and  dies  as  exaggerate   the   number  on  the  Greek 

the  oracle  foretold.     Herodotus  seems  side,    said    4000   Peloponnesians     (vii. 

quite  to  have  forgotten  that  Mycerinus  228).     Again,   the  number  slain  in  the 

must  have  been  sixty  at  the  least,  when  last  struggle  is  estimated  at  4000  (viii. 

he  received  the  warning,  and  would  pro-  25);    but   only  300   Spartans   and   700 


92  GENERAL  GEOGRAPHY.  Life  akd 

planation  offered  of  those  circumstances  connected  with  the 
conduct  of  the  Thebans  in  the  battle  which  have  provoked  hostile 
criticism  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times.^ 

There  are  certain  other  respects  in  which  Herodotus  has 
been  regarded  as  exhibiting  a  Avant  of  critical  acumen,  viz.,  in 
his  geographical  and  meteorological  disquisitions,  in  his  lin- 
guistic efforts,  and  in  his  treatment  of  the  subject  of  mythology.^ 
These  may  be  touched  with  the  utmost  brevity,  since  liis  value 
as  an  historian  is  but  very  slightly  affected  by  the  opinion  which 
may  be  formed  of  his  success  or  failure  in  such  matters.  As  a 
general  geographer  it  must  be  allowed  that  his  views  were  in- 
distinct ;  though  they  can  scarcely  be  said  with  truth  to  have 
been  "  crudely  digested."  "^  Looking  upon  geography  as  an 
experimental  science,  he  did  not  profess  more  knowledge  with 
regard  to  it  than  had  been  collected  by  observation  up  to  his 
time.  He  seems  to  have  formed  no  distinct  opinion  on  the 
shape  of  the  earth,  or  the  configuration  of  land  and  water,  since 
he  could  not  find  that  the  land  had  been  explored  to  its  limits, 
either  towards  the  north  or  towards  the  east.^  He  knew,  liow- 
ever,  enough  of  the  projection  of  Arabia  and  of  Africa  into  the 
southern  sea  to  be  aware  that  the  circular  plane  of  Hecatseus 
was  a  pure  fiction,  and  as  such  he  ridiculed  it.^  Within  the 
limits  of  his  knowledge  he  is,  for  the  most  part,  very  clear  and 
precise.  He  divides  the  known  world  into  three  parts,  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa. ^°  Of  these,  Asia  and  Africa  lie  to  the  south, 
Europe  is  to  the  north,  and  extends  along  the  other  two.^^  The 
boundary  line  between  Europe  and  Asia  runs  due  east,  consist- 
ing of  the  Phasis,  the  south  coast  of  the  Caspian,  the  .river 
Araxes,  and  a  line  produced  thence  as  far  as  the  land  con- 
tinues.^^ The  boundary  between  Asia  and  Africa  is  the  west 
frontier  of  Egypt,^^  not  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  or  the  Nile,  which 
last  was  commonly  made  the  boundary. ^^     The  general  contour 


Thespians  were  previously  spoken  of  as  "^  Mure,  p.  424. 

remaiiiing  (vii.  222).     These  anomalies  ^  jjerod.  iii.  315,  sub  fin.;  iv.  40,  45; 

may  perhaps  admit  of  explanation;  what  v.  9. 

is  especially  remarkable  about  them  is,  ^  Ibid.  iv.  36. 

that   Herodotus    seems   utterly  uncon-  ^o  Ibid.  ii.  16  ;  iv.  45.     The  word  used 

scious  of  any  difficulty.  by  Herodotus  is,  of  course,  not  Afi-ica, 

^  See    Plut.    de     Malign.    Herod,   ii.  but  Libya, 

pp.  865,  866;    Grote,  Hist,  of  Greece,  v.  ii  Ibid.  iv.  42. 

pp.  122,  123;  Mure's  Lit.  of  Greece,  iv.  ^2  i\y[^^  ^y  ^q  g^^^j  45^ 

Appendix  K.,  pp.  542-544.  i3  ibj^i   ^i  ^7 .  ^^  39^  ^^  g^^ 

6  See   Colonel   Mure's   remarks,   pp.  ^^  Jbid.  ii.  17,  and  iv.  45.              , 
424-430. 


Writings.  METIEOEOLOGY.  93 

of  the  Mediterranean,  tlie  Propontis,  tlie  Black  Sea,  and  the 
Sea  of  Azof,  is  well  understood  by  hini,'  as  is  the  shape  of 
Greece,  Italy,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  the  north  coast  of  Africa. 
He  knows  that  the  Mediterranean  communicates  with  the  ocean, 
and  that  the  ocean  extends  round  Africa  to  the  Arabian  Gulf 
and  Erythraean  Sea.^  He  is  also  aware  that  the  Caspian  is  a 
sea  by  itself.^  He  has  tolerably  correct  views  on  the  courses  of 
the  Nile,*  Danube,^  Halys,^  Tigris,"''  Euphrates,^  Indus,®  Dnieper,^" 
Dniester,"  and  other  Scythian  rivers. ^^  He  is  confused,  how- 
ever, in  his  account  of  the  Araxes,^^  incorrect  (apparently)  in 
his  description  of  the  Scythian  rivers  east  of  the  Dnieper,'*  and 
ignorant  of  many  facts  which  we  should  have  expected  him  to 
know,  as  the  existence  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  of  the  peninsula  of 
Hindustan,  and  of  the  sea  of  Aral,  the  size  of  the  Palus 
Mseotis,^^  &c.  In  his  descriptions  of  countries  that  he  knows 
he  is  graphic  and  striking, ^^  not  confining  himself  to  the  strictly 
geographical  features,  but  noting  also  geological  jDeculiarities, 
as  the  increase  of  land,  the  quality  of  soil,  and  the  like.^^  On 
the  whole,  he  will  certainly  bear  comparison  as  a  descriptive 
geographer  with  any  author  anterior  to  Strabo ;  and,  on  some 
important  points,  as  the  true  character  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  he 
is  better  informed  than  even  that  writer.^^ 

With  regard  to  meteorology  his  notions  are  certainly  such  as 
seem  to  us  in  the  highest  degree  absurd  and  extraordinary. 
He  regards  heat  and  cold  as  inherent  in  the  winds  themselves, 
not  as  connected  with  any  solar  influence.  ^^  The  winds  control 
the  sun,  whom  they  drive  southwards  in  winter,  only  allowing 
him  to  resume  his  natural  course  at  the  approach  of  spring.^^ 
The  phenomena,  however,  of  evaporation,^'  and  even  of  radia- 
tion,^^ seem  to  be  tolerably  well  understood  by  Herodotus ;  and 
if  on  the  whole  his  meteorological  conceptions  must  be  pro- 
nounced crude  and  false,  we  should  remember  that  real  physical 
science  did  not  see  the  light  till  the  time  of  Aristotle  ;  and  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  there  is  not  something  more  healthy 


1  Herod,  iv.  85,  86.  (iv.  52),  and  the  Don  or  Tanais  (iv.  57). 
*■*  Ibid.  i.  202,  ad  fin.  ;  iv.  42-44.  ^^  See  note  on  book  i.  ch.  202. 

3  Ibid.  i.  203.  "  Herod,  iv.  54-5(3.         ^»  Ibid.  iv.  86. 

*  Ibid.  ii.  17,  29-31.  ^^  Take,  for  instance,  the  description 

^  Ibid.  ii.  33  ;  iv.  47-49.  of  Thessaly  in  book  vii.  (ch.  129,,  or  that 

6  Ibid.  i.  6,  72.  of  Egvpt  in  bo  jk  ii.  ''ehs.  6-12). 

7  Ibid.  i.  189,  193  ;  v.  20.  i7  Herod,  ii.  7,  10,  12  ;  iv.  47,  191, 198. 

8  Ibid.i.  180.  «  Ibid.  iv.  44.  ^^  Comp.  Strab.  ii.  p.  160. 

10  Ibid.  iv.  53.  "  Ibid.  iv.  51-2.         I'J  Herod,  ii.  24-5.         20  jbid.  1.  s.  c. 

12  As   the   Pruth    (iv.    48),    the  Bug       21  Lqc  cit.  22  ch.  27. 


94  MYTHOLOGY.  Life  and 

in  the  physical  speculations  of  our  author,  which  evince  an  in- 
quiring mind  and  one  that  went  to  nature  itself  for  arguments 
and  analogies/  than  in  the  physico-metaphysical  theories  of  the 
Ionic  School,  which  formed  the  furthest  reach  whereto  Science 
(falsely  so  called)  had  attained  in  his  day.  His  geological 
speculations  in  particular  are  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  not  im- 
frequently  anticipate  lines  of  thought  which  are  generally  re- 
garded as  the  discoveries  of  persons  living  at  the  present 
time.^  ^^^"^ 

On  the  subject  of  mythology  Herodotus  seems  to  have  held 
the  common  views  of  his  countrymen :  he  accepted  the  myths 
in  simple  faith,  and,  where  naturally  led  to  do  so,  reported  them 
as  he  had  heard  them.     He  drew,  however,  a  very  marked  Hue  | 
between  the  mythological  age  and  the  historical,^  and  confined  1 1 
his  narrative  almost  entirely  to  the  latter,  thereby  offering  all: 
strong  contrast  to  the  writers  who  had  preceded  him,  since  inj,  P 
their  works  mythology  either  took  the  place  of  history,*  or  al|  ji 
least  was  largely  intermixed  with  it.^  ! 

The  philological  deficiencies  of  Herodotus  have  been  already, 
admitted.*^  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  a  mastein^ 
of  any  language  besides  his  own.  He  appears,  however,  to  have 
regarded  the  languages  of  other  nations  with  less  contempt 
than  was  felt  towards  them  by  the  Greeks  generally ;  and  the 
explanations  which  he  gives  of  foreign  words,  though  not  always 
to  be  depended  on,'''  are  at  once  indicative  of  his  unwearied 
activity  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  of  all  kinds,  and  possess  an 
absolute  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  comparative  philologer.^     On 


1  See  ii.  20,  22,  23.  about   the    formation    of    land   at   the 

2  Herodotus  perceives  the  operation  mouthsof  great  rivers,  as  at  the  mouth  of 
of  the  two  agencies  of  fire  and  water  in  the  Scamander,  of  the  Maander,  and  of 
V)ringing  the  earth  into  its  actual  condi-  the  Acheloiis  (ii.  10  ;  see  note  ad  loc). 
tion  (ii.  5,  10;  vii.  129,  ad  fin.).  He  His  notice  of  the  proyt^cifon  of  the  Delta 
regards  the  changes  as  having  occupied  from  the  general  line  of  the  African 
enormous  periods  of  time — tens  of  thou-  coast,  as  a  proof  of  its  recent  origin 
sands  of  years  (ii.  11,  ad  fin.).  His  (ii.  11),  is  also  sound  in  principle, 
whole  reasoning  concerning  the  forma-  ^  gee  especially  iii.  122;  but  compare 
tion  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  although  also  i.  5,  ii.  120,  &c.;  and  note  the  omis- 
perhaps  erroneous  in  fact,  is  in  perfect  sion  of  the  mythological  period,  of  which 
accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  he  was  well  aware  (ii.  43,  46,  144-5,  and 
by  Sir  C.  Lyell ;  and  in  his  anticipations  156),  from  the  history  of  Egypt. 

of  what  would  happen  if  the  Nile  were  ^  Vide  supra,  p.  31. 

made  to  empty  itself  into  the  head  of  ^  See  Thucyd.  i.  21. 

the  Eed  Sea  that  geologist  would,  it  is  ^  Supr^,  p.  57. 

probable,  entirely  concur.     The  alluvial  "^  As  in  the  case  of  the  word  Piromis 

character  of  the  great  Thessalian  basin,  (ii.  143),  and  of  the  names  of  the  Persian 

and  the  disruption  of  the  gorge  at  Tempe,  monarchs  (vi.  98). 

would  similarly  be  admitted.    Herodo-  ^  See  the  use  made  by  Grimm  of  He- 

tus  again  is  quite  correct  in  his  remarks  rodotus's  Scythian  words  in  his  History 


Wkitings.  merits  AS  A  WRITER.  95 

the  etymology  of  Greek  words  lie  very  rarely  touches  ;  in  such 
cases  his  criticism  seems  neither  better  nor  worse  than  that  of 
other  Greek  writers,  anterior  to  the  rise  of  the  Alexandrian 
school.^ 

The  merits  of  Herodotus  as  a  writer  have  never  been  ques- 
tioned. Those  who  make  the  lowest  estimate  of  his  qualifica- 
tions as  an  historian,  are  profuse  in  their  acknowledgments  of  his 
beauties  of  composition  and  style,  by  which  they  consider  that 
other  commentators  upon  his  work  have  been  unduly  biassed  in 
his  favour,  and  led  to  overrate  his  historical  accuracy.^  Scarcely 
a  dissentient  voice  is  to  be  found  on  this  point  among  critical; 
authorities,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  who  all  agree  in  up-i 
holding  our  author  as  a  model  of  his  own  peculiar  order  of  com- 
position.^ In  the  concluding  portion  of  this  notice  an  en- 
deavour will  be  made  to  point  out  the  special  excellencies  which 
justify  this  universal  judgment,  while,  at  the  same  time,  atten- 
tion will  be  drawn  to  certain  qualifying  statements  whereby  the 
most  recent  of  our  author's  critics  has  lessened  the  effect  of 
those  general  eulogiums  which  he  has  passed  upon  the  literary 
merits  of  the  History. 

The  most  important  essential  of  every  literary  composition, 
be  it  poem,  treatise,  history,  tale,  or  aught  else,  is  unity.  Upon 
this  depends  our  power  of  viewing  the  composition  as  a  whole, 
and  of  deriving  pleasure  from  the  grasp  that  we  thereby  obtain 
of  it,  as  well  as  from  our  perception  of  the  harmony  and  mutual 
adaptation  of  the  parts,  the  progress  and  conduct  of  the  argu- 
ment, and  the  interconnexion  of  the  various  portions  with  one 


of  the   Germau   Language,  vol.  i.  pp.  charm  of  his  style,  by  the  truthfulness 

218-237.  of  intention  and  amiability  of  temper 

^  Herodotus  derives  ©ebs  from  ri9ri/j.i  which  beam  in  every  page,  and  by  the 
(ii.  52),  which  is  at  least  as  good  as  entertainment  derived  even  from  the  de- 
Plato's  derivation  from  deco  (Cratyl.  p.  fective  portions  of  his  narrative,  they 
397,  C),  and  is  plausible,  though  proba-  are  led  to  place  his  work  and  himself, 
bly  wrong.  (See  note  ad  loc.)  His  de-  in  regard  to  the  higher  qualifications  of 
rivation  of  alyU  from  aJ^  (iv.  189),  on  the  historian,  on  the  same  level  with 
theotherhand.  is  correct' enough.  What  that  occupied  by  Thucydides."  (Lit.  of 
he  means  by  deriving  the  names  of  the  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  355.) 
Greek  gods  from  Egypt  (ii.  50)  is  not  ^  cf.  Arist.  Rhet.  iii.  9 ;  Dionys.  Hal. 
clear.  Except  in  the  cases  of  Themis  Ep.  ad  Cn.  Pomp.  3;  Jud.  de  Thuc.  23; 
(the  Egyptian  Thrnei),  and  of  Athen^  Quinctilian.  Inst.  Orat.  IX.  iv.  19,  and 
and  Hephaestus,  which  may  have  been  X.  i.  73;  Lucian.  Herod.  1,  vol.  iv. 
formed  from  Neith  and  Phtha,  there  p.  116;  Athen.  Deipu.  iii.  15,  p.  309; 
seems  to  be  no  real  connexion.  Schlegel's  Lectures  on   the  Histoiy  of 

1   Speaking   of  the  bulk   of  modern  Literature,  vol.  i.  p.  44,  E.  T. ;  Matthicc, 

commentators  on  Herodotus,  Col.  Mure  Manual  of  Greek  and  Roman  Literature, 

says  :    "Dazzled  by  the  rich  profusion  p.  57,  E.  T. ;  Mure's  Literatur^J of  Greece, 

of  his  historical  facts,- by 'the  grandeur  vol.  iv.  i:)p.  451-51S. 
of  his  historical  combinations,  by  the 


96  UNITY.  Life  and 

another.  In  few  subjects  is  it  so  difficult  to  secure  this  funda- 
mental groundwork  of  literary  excellence  as  in  history.  The 
unity  furnished  by  mere  identity  of  country  or  of  race  falls 
short  of  what  is  required ;  and  hence  most  general  histories  are 
wearisome  and  deficient  in  interest.  Herodotus,  by  selecting 
for  the  subject  of  his  work  a  special  portion  of  the  history  of 
Greece  and  confining  himself  to  the  narration  of  events  having 
a  bearing,  direct  or  indirect,  upon  his  main  topic,  has  obtained  a 
unity  of  action  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  most  stringent  demands 
of  art,  equal,  indeed,  to  that  which  cliaracterises  the  master- 
pieces of  the  imagination.  Instead  of  undertaking  the  complex 
and  difficult  task  of  writing  the  history  of  the  Hellenic  race 
during  a  given  period,  he  sits  down  with  the  one  (primary)  ob- 
ject of  faithfully  recording  the  events  of  a  particular  war.  It  is 
not,  as  has  been  generally  said,^  the  conflict  of  races,  the  anta- 
gonism between  Europe  and  Asia,  nor  even  that  antagonism  in 
its  culminating  form — the  struggle  between  Greece  and  Persia — 
that  he  puts  before  him  as  his  proper  subject.  Had  his  views 
embraced  this  whole  conflict,  the  Argonautic  expedition,  the 
Trojan  war,  tlie  invasion  of  EurojDe  by  the  Teucrians  and 
Mysians,*  the  frequent  incursions  into  Asia  of  the  Cimmerians 
and  the  Treres,  perhaps  even  the  settlement  of  the  Greeks 
upon  the  Asiatic  shores,  ^vould  have  claimed  their  place  as  in- 
tegral portions  of  his  narrative.  His  absolute  renunciation  of 
some  of  these  subjects,^  and  his  cursory  notice^  or  entire 
omission  of  others,"^  indicate  that  he  proposed  to  himself  a  far 
narrower  task  than  the  relation  of  the 'long  course  of  rivaby 
between  the  Asiatic  and  European  races.  Nor  did  he  even  in- 
tend to  give  us  an  account  of  the  entire  struggle  between 
Greece  and  Persia.  His  w^ork,  though  not  finished  throughout, 
is  concluded ;  ^  and  its  termination  with  the  return  of  the  Greek 


^  See  Niebulir's  Lectures  on  Ancient  ^  It  is  astonishing  to  find  an  author 

History,   vol.  i.  p.   167,   E.   T.  ;  Dahl-  of  Dahlmann's  discernment  maintaining 

mann's  Life  of  Herodotus,  ch.  vii.  §  1  that  the  extant  work  of  Herodotus  is  an 

(p.  1()'2,  E.   T.) ;    Mure's  Literature  of  "  vmcompleted  performance;"  that  he 

Gree^ce,  vol.  iv.  pp.  454,  455.  *'  intended  to  relate  the  expedition  of 

*  Herod,  vii.  '20,  ad  fin.  Cimon,  the  great  Egyptian  war  of  the 

^  As  the  Trojan  war,  and  the  voyage  Athenians,  and  possibly  the  interference 

of  the  Argonauts  (i.  5).  of  the  Persians  in  the  Peloponnesian  war, 

^  As  of  the  Teucrian  and  Mysian  ex-  had  his  life  been  extended"  (Life,l.s.c.). 

pedition  (vii.  20),  and  of  the  Ionian  co-  He  admits  that  the    '^uncompleted  per- 

lonisation  (i.  146;  vii.  94).  formance  "  has  ''all  the  value  of  a  work 

'  As  of  the  incursions  of  the  Treres,  of  art,  rounded  off" in  all  its  parts,  audcon- 

and  the  Cimmerian   ravages   preceding  eluded  with  thoughtful  deliberation;" 

their  grand  attack.      (See  the  Critical  but  attempts  no  account  of  the  happy 

Essays  appended  to  this  Book,  Essay  i.)  charfce  which  has  given  this  perfection 


Wkitings.  object  OF  HIS  WORK.  97 

fleet  from  Sestos,  distinctly  shows  that  it  was  not  his  object  to 
trace  the  entire  history  of  the  Gra^co-Persian  struggle,  since  that 
struggle  continued  for  thirty  years  afterwards  with  scarcely  any 
intermission,  until  the  arrangement  known  as  the  Peace  of 
Callias.  The  real  intention  of  Herodotus  was  to  write  the  his- 
tory of  the  Persian  War  of  Invasion — the  contest  which  com- 
menced with  the  first  expedition  of  Mardonius,  and  terminated 
with  the  entire  discomfiture  of  the  vast  fleet  and  army  collected 
and  led  against  Greece  by  Xerxes.  The  portion  of  his  narra- 
tive which  is  anterior  to  the  expedition  of  Mardonius  is  of  the 
nature  of  an  introduction,  and  in  this  a  double  design  may  be 
traced,  the  main  object  of  the  writer  being  to  give  an  account 
of  the  rise,  growth,  and  progress  of  the  great  Empire  which  had 
been  the  antagonist  of  Greece  in  the  struggle,  and  his  secondary 
aim  to  note  the  previous  occasions  whereon  the  two  races  had 
been  brought  into  hostile  contact.  Both  these  points  are  con- 
nected intimately  with  the  principal  object  of  the  history,  the 
one  being  necessary  in  order  to  a  correct  apjDreciation  of  tlie 
greatness  of  the  contest  and  the  glory  gained  by  those  with 
whom  the  victory  rested,  and  the  other  giving  the  causes  from 
which  the  quarrel  sprang,  and  throwing  important  light  on  the 
course  of  the  invasion  and  the  conduct  of  the  invaders. 

Had  Herodotus  confined  himself  rigidly  to  these  three  inter- 
connected heads  of  narration,  the  growth  of  the  Persian  Empire, 
the  previous  hostilities  between  Greece  and  Persia,  and  the 
actual  conduct  of  the  great  war,  his  history  would  have  been 
meagre  and  deficient  in  variety.  To  avoid  this  consequence,  he 
takes  every  opportunity  which  presents  itself  of  diverging  from 
his  main  narrative  and  interweaving  with  it  the  vast  stores  of 
his  varied  knowledge,  w^hether  historical,  geographical,  or  anti- 
quarian. He  thus  contrived  to  set  before  his  countrymen  a 
general  picture  of  the  world,  of  its  various  races,  and  of  the  pre- 
vious history  of  those  nations  which  possessed  one  f  thereby 


to  a  mere  fragment.     Col.  Mure,  on  the  Carthage.    In  the  latter  case  there  is 

other  hand,  has  some  just  remarks  (p.  sufficient  reason  for  his  silence,  but  his 

468)  on  the  fitness  of  the  point  selected  omission   of  any   sketch  of  Phoenician 

by  Herodotus  for  the  conclusion  of  his  history  is  very  surprising.    He  certainly 

narrative,  and  the  appropriateness  of  his  ought  to  have  given  an  account  of  the 

winding  up  the  whole  by  the  final  return  conquest  or  submission  of  the  great  na- 

home  of  the  victorious  Athenian  fleet  val  power,  in  which  case  a  sketch  of  its 

from  the  Hellespont.  previous  history  would  have  been  almost 

^  There  are  two  remarkable  exceptions  necessary.     Is  it  possible  that  ignorance 

which  require  notice.      Herodotus  gives  kept  him  silent? 
us  no  history  either  of  Phoenicia  or  of 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  AMOUNT  OF  EPISODICAL  MATTER.  Life  and 

giving  a  grandeur  and  breadth  to  his  work,  which  places  it  in 
the  very  first  rank  of  historical  compositions.^  At  the  same 
time  he  took  care  to  diversify  his  pages  by  interspersing  amid 
his  more  serious  matter  tales,  anecdotes,  and  descriptions  of  a 
lighter  character,  which  are  very  graceful  appendages  to  the 
main  narrative,  and  happily  relieve  the  gravity  of  its  general 
tone.  The  variety  and  richness  of  the  episodical  matter  in 
Herodotus  forms  thus  one  of  his  most  striking  and  obvious 
characteristics,  and  is  noticed  by  all  critics  f  but  in  this  very 
profusion  there  is  a  fresh  peril,  or  rather  a  multitude  of  perils, 
and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  he  has  altogether  escaped 
them.  Episodes  are  dangerous  to  unity.  They  may  overlay 
the  main  narrative  and  oppress  it  by  their  mere  weight  and 
number  :  they  may  be  awkward  and  ill-timed,  interrupting  the 
thread  of  the  narrative  at  improper  places :  or  they  may  be  in- 
congruous in  matter,  and  so  break  in  upon  the  harmony  which 
ought  to  characterise  a  work  of  art.  In  Herodotus  the  amount 
of  the  episodical  matter  is  so  great  that  these  dangers  are  in- 
creased proportionally.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  work  is  of  this 
secondary  and  subsidiary  character.^  It  is,  however,  palpable 
to  every  reader  who  possesses  the  mere  average  amount  of  taste 
and  critical  discernment,  that  at  least  the  great  danger  has 
been  escaped,  and  that  the  episodes  of  Herodotus,  notwith- 
standing their  extraordinary  length  and  number,  do  not  injure 
the  unity  of  his  work,  or  unduly  overcharge  his  narrative.  This 
result,  which  "  surprises  "  the  modern  critic,^  has  been  ascribed 
with  reason  to  "two  principal  causes — the  propriety  of  the 
occasion  and  mode  in  which  the  episodical  matter  is  intro- 
duced, and  the  distinctness  of  form  and  substance  which  the 
author  has  imparted  to  his  principal  masses."  ^  By  the  exercise 
of  great  care  and  judgment,  as  well  as  of  a  good  deal  of  self- 
restraint®  in  these  two  respects,  Herodotus  has  succeeded  in 
completely  subordinating  his  episodes  to  his  main  subject,  and 


1  The    only  parallels    to   Herodotus  *  Mure,  p.  459.         ^  Ibid.  loc.  cit. 
in  this  respect  which  modern  literature  ^  This  self-restraint  is  shown  both  in 
furnishes,    are    Gibbon's    Decline    and  his  abstaining  from  the  introduction  of 
Fall  of  Rome  and  the  recent  work  of  important  heads  of  histoiy,  if  they  were 
Mr.   Grote.  not  connected  naturally  with  his  narra- 

2  See,  among  others,  Dahlmann  (Life  tive,  and  also  in  his  treatment  of  the  histo- 
of  Herod,  p.  164),  Niebuhr  (Lectures  ries  of  countries  upon  which  his  subject 
on  Ancient  History,  vol.  i.  p.  168),  and  led  him  to  enter.  On  the  latter  point,  see 
Col.  Mure  (Lit.  of  Greece,  vol  iv.  pp.  Col.  Mure's  remarks,  vol.  iv.  pp.  460,461. 
458-462).  To  the  former  head  may  be  referred  the 

3  Vide  supra,  p.  23.  omission  of  any  history  of  Carthage. 


Writings.  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  EPISODES.  99 

has  prevented  them  from  entangling,  encumbering,  or  even  un- 
pleasantly interrupting  the  general  narrative. 

While,  however,  the  mode  in  which  Herodotus  has  dealt  with 
his  episodical  matter,  is  allowed  to  be  in  the  main  admirable, 
and  to  constitute  one  of  the  triumphs  of  his  genius,  objection  is 
made   to  a  certain  number  of  his  episodes   as  inappropriate, 
while  others  are  regarded  as  misplaced.     The  history  of  the 
Greek  colonies  of  Northern   Africa,  contained  in   the   fourth 
book,^  and  the  sketch  of  the  native  Libyan  races,  which  forms  a 
part  of  the  same  digression,^  are  thought  to  be  superfluous,  the 
connexion  between  the  affairs  of  the  countries  described  and 
the  main  narrative  being  too  slight  to  justify  the  introduction, 
at  any  rate,  of  such  lengthy  notices.^   The  story  of  Khampsinitus, 
in  the  second  book,^^  is  objected  to,  as  beneath  the  dignity  of 
history,^ ^  and  the  legend  of  Athamas  in  the  seventh, ^^  as  at  once 
frivolous  and  irrelevant.'^     Among  the  digressions  considered  to 
be  out  of  place  ^*  are  the  "  Summary  of  Universal  Geography," 
included  in  the  chapter  on  Scythia,^^  the  account  of  the  river 
Aces  in  Book  III.,^^  the  story  of  the  amours  of  Xerxes,^'''  and  the 
tale  of  Artayctes  and  the  fried  fish  in  Book  IX., ^^  the  letter  of 
Demaratus  at  the  close  of  Book  YII.,^*^  and  the  anecdote  of 
Cyrus,  with  which  the  work  is  made  to  terminate.  ^°     Much  of 
this  criticism  is  too  minute  to  need  examination,  at  any  rate  in 
this  place.     The  irrelevancy  or  inconvenient  position  of  occa- 
sional single  chapters  or  parts  of  chapters,  constitutes  so  slight 
a   blemish,   that  the   literary  merit  of  the  work  is   scarcely 
affected  thereby,  even  if  every  alleged  case  be  allowed  to  be 
without  excuse.^^     In  only  four  or  five  instances  is  the  charge 
made  at  all  serious,  since  in  no  greater  number  is  the  "inap- 
propriate "  or  "  misplaced "  episode  one  of  any  length.     The 
longest  of  all  is  the  digression  on  Cyrene  and  Barca,  where  the 
connexion  with  the  main  narrative  is  thought  to  be  "  slight," 


'  Chs.  145-167  and  200-205.  account  of  the  river  Aces,  the  tale  of 

8  Chs.  168-199.  ^  Mure,  p.  462.  Artayctes,  the  letter  of  Demaratus,  and 

*°  Ch.  121.  "  Mure,  p.  464.  the  anecdote  of  Cyrus.    Something  might 

12  Ch.  197.  13  Mure,  p.  465.  be  said  in  favour  of  almost  all  these  short 

"  Mure,  pp.  463,  464  and  note;  also  episodes;  but  even  were  it  otherwise,  the 

pp.  4G8,  469.  difficulty  (admitted  by  Col.  Mure,  p.  464, 

15  Herod,  iv.  37  et  seq.  note  i)  under  which  ancient  authors  lay, 

16  Ibid.  ch.  117.  from  the  non-existence  in  their  time  of 

17  Ibid.  ix.  108-113.  i^  Ibid.  ch.  120.  such  inventions  as  foot-notes  and  appen- 
19  Ibid.  ch.  239.  20  jbi^.  ix.  122.  dices,  would  be  sufficient  to  excuse  a  far 
21  Five  cases  are  of  this  extreme  bre-  more  numerous  list  of  apparently  frivo- 

vity,  viz.,  the  legend  of  Athamas,  the  lous  or  ill-placed  digressions. 

H   2 


100  THE  LIBYAN  NATIONS.  Life  and 

and  the  subject  itself  to  possess  "  little  historical  interest."  ^ 
But,  if  we  regard  it  as  one  of  the  especial  objects  of  Herodotus, 
in  the  introductory  portion  of  his  work,  to  trace  the  progress  of 
hostilities  between  Persia  and  Greece,  we  shall  see  that  an 
account  of  the  expedition  of  Aryandes  was  absolutely  necessary ; 
and  as  that  expedition  was  not  a  mere  wanton  aggression,  but 
was  intimately  connected  with  the  internal  politics  of  Gyrene, 
some  sketch  of  the  previous  history  of  that  State  was  indis- 
pensable. With  regard  to  the  intrinsic  interest  of  the  episode, 
opinions  may  vary.^  To  the  Greeks,  however,  of  his  own  age, 
for  whom  Herodotus  wrote,  the  history  of  an  outlying  portion  of 
the  Hellenic  world,  rarely  visited  and  little  known  by  the  mass 
of  the  nation,  especially  of  one  so  peculiarly  circumstanced  as 
Gyrene,  alone  amid  barbarous  tribes  and  the  sole  independent 
representative  of  the  Greek  name  in  Africa,^  may  have  been  far 
more  interesting  than  it  is  to  us,  more  interesting  than  any  of 
those  omitted  histories  which,  it  is  thought,  Herodotus  should 
have  put  in  its  place.  It  has  been  observed  that  we  cannot 
always  perceive  the  object  of  Herodotus  in  introducing  his 
episodes ;  ^  sometimes,  no  doubt,  he  may  have  intended  "  to 
supplant  incorrect  accounts,"'^  but  perhaps  his  design  as 
often  was  to  communicate  information  on  obscure  points;  and 
this  object  may  have  led  him  to  treat  at  so  much  length  the 
history  of  the  African  settlements. 

With  regard  to  the  digression  upon  the  Libyan  nations,  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  it  is  introduced  in  a  somewhat 
forced  and  artificial  manner.  Had  Aryandes,  satrap  of  Egypt, 
really  designed  the  reduction  of  these  tribes  under  his  master's 
sway,  and  undertaken  an  expedition  commensurate  with  that 
grand  and  magnificent  object,  Herodotus  would  have  been  as 
fully  entitled  to  give  an  account  of  them  as  he  is  to  describe  the 
Scythians  and  their  neighbours.  But  there  are  grounds  for 
disbelieving  the  statement  of  Herodotus  with  regard  to  Aryandes' 


1  Mure,  p,  462.  a  Pelasgian  (ch.  161);  the  constitution 

2  'To  me  the  narrative  appears  to  pre-  which  that  legislator  devised  (ibid.); 
sent  several  points  of  very  great  interest,  and  the  transplantation  of  the  captured 
I  have  elsewhere  noticed  the  important  Barcseans  to  the  remote  Bactria  (ch.  204). 
light  that  it  throws  upon  the  influence  3  rpj^g  colony  of  Naucratis  was  within 
which  the  Delphic  oracle  exercised  on  the  jurisdiction  of  the  rulers  of  Egypt, 
the  course  of  Greek  colonisation.  Other  and  besides  was  a  mere  factory, 
interesting  features  are  the  original  ^  Niebuhr's  Lectures  on  Ancient  His- 
friendliness,    and   subsequent    hostility  tory,  vol.  i,  p.  168,  note, 

of  the  natives  (chs.  158  and  159);  the         ^  Ibid.  loc.  cit. 
calling  in  of  a  foreign  legislator,  and  him 


Writings.  UNIVERSAL  GEOGRAPHY.  101 

designs.  As  Dahlmann  long  ago  observed,  "  no  such  plan  ap- 
pears in  the  actual  enterprise."  ^  Herodotus  seems  to  have 
ascribed  to  the  Persian  governor  an  intention  which  he  never 
entertained,  in  order  to  furnish  himself  with  an  ample  pretext 
for  bringing  in  a  description  possessing  the  features  which  he 
especially  affected — novelty,  strangeness,  and  liveliness.  He 
need  not,  however,  have  had  recourse  to  this  artifice.  Apart 
from  any  such  project  on  the  part  of  the  Persian  chief,  Hero- 
dotus was  entitled  to  describe  the  nations  through  whose  country 
the  troops  passed,  and  the  various  tribes  bordering  upon  the 
Cyrenaica;  after  which  he  might  fairly  have  brought  in  the 
rest  of  his  information.  This  information  was  wanted  to  com- 
plete the  geographic  sketch  of  the  known  world  which  he  wished 
to  set  before  his  readers ;  and  the  right  place  for  it  was  cer- 
tainly that  where  the  tribes  in  question  were,  at  least  partially, 
brought  into  hostile  collision  with  Persia,  and  where  an  account 
was  given  of  Cyrene  and  Barca,  colonies  situated  in  the  midst 
of  them,  and  established  in  order  to  open  a  trade  between  them 
and  the  Greeks. 

The  episode  on  universal  geography  is  thought  to  be  at  once 
superfluous  and  out  of  place. '^  In  addition  to  the  detailed 
notices  of  particular  countries  which  Herodotus  so  constantly 
supplies,  no  general  description  of  the  earth  was,  it  is  said, 
"either  necessary  or  desirable."  This  criticism  ignores  what 
its  author  elsewhere  acknowledges — the  intimate  connexion  of 
geography  with  history  when  Herodotus  wrote — the  fact  that 
the  "  accurate  division  of  literary  labour  which  is  consequent  on 
a  general  advance  of  scientific  pursuit,"^  was  not  made  till  long 
subsequently.  As  geography  and  history  in  this  early  time 
"went  hand  in  hand,"^  it  would  seem  that  in  a  history  which, 
despite  the  restricted  aim  of  its  main  narrative,  tended  to  be- 
come so  nearly  universal  by  means  of  digressions  and  episodes, 
the  geographic  element  required,  and  naturally  obtained,  a 
parallel  expansion.  With  respect  to  the  place  where  the  "  de- 
scription of  the  earth,"  if  admitted  at  all,  should  have  been  in- 
serted, which,  it  is  suggested,  was  "  the  earlier  portion  of  the 
text,"  that  portion  "  which  treats  of  the  great  central  nations  of 
the  world,  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  and  Persians,"^  it  is  at  least 
open  to  question  whether  a  better  opportunity  could  have  been 


6  Life   of    Herodotus,    eh.  vii.    §    6,  '  Mure,  p.  463.  «  ibid.  p.  456. 

p.  123.  ^  Mure,  p.  68.  ^  Ibid.  p.  463. 


102  AMOURS  OF  XEPtXES.  '     Life  akd 

found  for  introducing  the  description  without  violence  in  any  of 
the  earlier  books  than  is  furnished  by  the  inquiry  concerning 
the  existence  of  Hyperboreans,  to  which  the  account  of  Scythia 
leads  naturally,  or  whether  any  position  would  have  been  more 
suitable  for  it  than  a  niche  in  that  compartment  of  the  work 
which  is  specially  and  pre-eminently  geographic.  As  the 
general  account  of  the  earth  is  a  question  concerning  boundaries 
and  extremities,  its  occurrence  "  in  connexion  with  a  remote 
and  barbarous  extremity,"^  is  not  inappropriate,  but  the  con- 
trary. '  _ 

The  story  of  the  amours  of  Xerxes  interrupts,  it  must  be 
allowed,  somewhat  disagreeably,  the  course  of  the  principal 
narrative,  then  rapidly  verging  to  a  conclusion,  and  is  objection- 
able in  an  artistic  point  of  view.  It  seems,  however,  to  be 
exactly  one  of  those  cases  in  which  "  the  historian  of  real 
transactions  lies  under  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the 
author  in  the  more  imaginative  branches  of  composition."^ 
To  have  omitted  the  relation  altogether  would  have  been  to 
leave  incomplete  the  portraiture  of  the  character  of  Xerxes,  as 
well  as  to  fail  in  showing  the  gross  corruption,  so  characteristic 
of  an  Oriental  dynasty,  into  which  the  Persian  court  had  sunk, 
within  two  generations,  from  the  simplicity  of  Cyrus.  And  if 
the  story  was  to  be  inserted,  where  could  it  most  naturally 
come  in  ?  It  belonged  in  time  to  the  last  months  of  the  war,* 
and  personally  attached  to  a  certain  Masistes,  whom  nothing 
brought  upon  the  scene  tiU  after  Mycale.^  Historic  propriety, 
therefore,  required  its  introduction  in  a  place  where  it  would 
detract  from  artistic  beauty ;  and  Herodotus,  wisely  preferring 
matter  to  manner,  submitted  to  an  artistic  blemish  for  the  sake 
of  an  historic  gain. 

The  legend  of  Khampsinitus,  which  is  correctly  said  to 
"  belong  to  that  primeval  common  fund  of  low  romance "  ^  of 
which  traces  exist  in  the  nursery  stories  and  other  tales  of 
nations  the  most  remote  and  diverse,  would  certainly  offend  a 
cultivated  taste  if  it  occurred  in  a  history  of  the  Critical  School ; 
but  in  one  which  belongs  so  decidedly  to  the  Komantic  School 
it  may  well  be  borne,  since  it  is  not  out  of  keeping  with  the 
general  tone  of  that  style  of  writing.  Standing  where  it  does, 
it  serves  to  relieve  the  heaviness  of  a  mere  catalogue  of  royal 


2  Mure,  loc.  cit,  SapSeo-i  iiov  &pa  [Eep^rjs]  ijpa  rrjs  Mocri- 

'  Ibid.  p.  452.  (TTeco  yvvaiKSs. 

4  Herod,  ix.  108.     T6t€   5e  eV  rpcri        ^  Ibid.  ch.  107.        ^  Mure,  p.  464. 


Writings.  CHARACTER.DRAWING.  103 

names  and  deeds,  the  dullest  form  in  which  history  ever  presents 
itself. 

On  the  whole  there  seems  to  be  reason  to  acquiesce  in  the 
judgment  of  Dahlmann,  who  expresses  his  "astonishment"  at 
hearing  Herodotus  censured  for  his  episodes,  and  maintains  that 
they  are  "almost  universally  connected  with  his  main  object, 
and  inserted  in  their  places  with  a  beauty  which  highly  dis- 
tinguishes them.""^ 

Next  in  order  to  the  two  merits  of  epic  unity  in  plan,  and 
rich  yet  well-arranged  and  appropriate  episode,  both  of  which 
the  work  of  Herodotus  seems  to  possess  in  a  high  degree,  may 
be  mentioned  the  excellency  of  his  character-drawing,  which, 
whether  nations  or  individuals  are  its  object,  is  remarkably 
successful  and  effective.  His  portraiture  of  the  principal 
nations  with  which  his  narrative  is  concerned — the  Persians,  the 
Athenians,  and  the  Spartans — is  most  graphic  and  striking. 
Brave,  lively,  spirited,  capable  of  sharp  sayings  and  repartees,^ 
but  vain,  weak,  impulsive,  and  hopelessly  servile  towards  their 
lords,^  the  ancient  Persians  sta'nd  out  in  his  pages  as  completely 
depicted  by  a  few  masterly  strokes  as  their  modern  descendants 
have  been  by  the  many  touches  of  a  Chardin  or  a  Morier. 
Clearly  marked  out  from  other  barbarian  races  by  a  lightness 
and  sprightliness  of  character,  which  brought  them  near  to  the 
Hellenic  type,  yet  vividly  contrasted  with  the  Greeks  by  their 
passionate  abandon^  and  slavish  submission  to  the  caprices  of 
despotic  power,  they  possess  in  the  pages  of  Herodotus  an  indi- 
viduality which  is  a  guarantee  of  truth,  and  which  serves  very 
remarkably  to  connect  them  with  that  peculiar  Oriental  people 
— the  "  Frenchmen  of  the  East,"  as  they  have  been  called — at 
present  inhabiting  their  country.  Active,  vivacious,  intelligent, 
sparkling,  even  graceful,  but  without  pride  or  dignity,  supple, 
sycophantic,  always  either  tyrant  or  slave,  the  modern  Persian 
contrasts  strongly  with  the  other  races  of  the  East,  who  are 
either  rude,  bold,  proud,  and  freedom-loving,  like  the  Kurds  and 
Affghans,  or  listless  and  apathetic,  like  the  Hindoos.  This 
curious  continuity  of  character,  which  however  is  not  without  a 
parallel,^  very  strongly  confirms  the  truthfulness  of  our  author, 


'  Life  of  Herodotus,  ch.  ix.  p.  164.  an  accumulation  of  the  most  gi-ievous 

E.  T.  injuries  to   goad   a  Persian  into  revolt 

8  Herod,  i.  127,  141;  vi.  l;viii.  88,  &c.  (see  ix.  113). 

^  See  particularly  the  story  of  Prex-  ^  Herod,  viii.  99 ;  ix.  24. 

aspes  (iii.  35).  Note  also  their  submission  ^  a.  similar  tenacity  of  character  is 

to  the  whip  (vii.  56,  223).     It  requires  observable   in   the  case  of  the  Greeks 


104  PICTURE  OF  THE  SPARTAKS.  Life  and 

wlio  is  thus  shown,  even  in  what  might  seem  to  be  the  mere 
ornamental  portion  of  his  work,  to  have  confined  himself  to  a 
representation  of  actnal  realities. 

To  the  Persian  character  that  of  the  Greeks  offers,  in  many- 
points,  a  strong  contrast — a  contrast  which  is  most  clearly  seen 
in  that  form  of  the  Greek  character  which  distinguished  the 
races  of  the  Doric  stock,  and  attained  its  fullest  development 
among  the  Spartans.  Here  again  the  picture  drawn  by  Hero- 
dotus exhibits  great  power  and  skill.  By  a  small  number  of 
carefully-managed  touches,  by  a  few  well-chosen  anecdotes,  and 
by  occasional  terse  remarks,  he  contrives  to  set  the  Spartans 
before  us,  both  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation,  more  graphically 
than  perhaps  any  other  writer.  Their  pride  and  independent 
spirit,  their  entire  and  willing  submission  to  their  laws,  their 
firmness  and  solidity  as  troops,  their  stern  sententiousness,  re- 
lieved by  a  touch  of  humour,^  are  vividly  displayed  in  his 
narrative.  At  the  same  time  he  does  not  shrink  from  showing 
the  dark  side  of  their  character.  The  selfishness,  backwardness, 
and  over-caution  of  their  public  policy,'^  their  cunning  and 
duplicity  upon  occasion,^  their  inability  to  resist  corrupting 
influences  and  readiness  to  take  bribes,^  their  cruelty  and  entire 
want  of  compassion,  whether  towards  friend  or  foe,^  are  all  dis- 
tinctly noted,  and  complete  a  portrait  not  more  striking  in  its 
features  than  consonant  with  all  that  we  know  from  other 
sources  of  the  leading  people  of  Greece. 

Similar  fidelity  and  descriptive  power  are  shown  in  the 
picture  which  he  gives  us  of  the  Athenians.  Like  the  Spartans, 
they  are  independent  and  freedom-loving,  brave  and  skilful  in 
war,  patriotic,  and,  from  the  time  that  they  obtain  a  form  of 
government  suited  to  their  wants,  fondly  attached  to  it.  Like 
them,  too,  they  are  cruel  and  unsjDaring  towards  their  adver- 
saries.^ Unlike  them,  they  are  open  in  their  public  policy, 
active  and  enterprising  almost  to  rashness,  impulsive  and  so 
changeable  in  their  conduct,^  vain  rather  than  proud,^  as  troops 
possessing  more  dash  than  firmness,^  in  manners  refined  and 


themselves,    as    also    in   the    Germans        '  Ibid.   vi.   79-80;  vii.   133,   231  (cf. 

(comp.    Tacit.  German.),  and  the   Spa-  ix.  71,  and  i.  82  ad  fin.) 

niards.  ^  Herod,  v.  71  ;  vii.  133,  137,  ad  fin. 

3  Herod,  iii.  46;  vii.  226  ;  ix.  91.  »  Comp.  v.  97,  103,  with  vi.  21  ;  and 

4  Ibid.  i.  152;    vi.  106;  viii.  4,   63;  vi.  132  with  136. 
ix.  6-8,  46-7.                  _  1  Ibid.  i.  143. 

^  Ibid.  vi.  79,  108  ;  ix.  10.  ^  ^he  Athenians  are  rarely  successful 

^  Ibid.  iii.  148;  v.  51;  vi.  72;  ix.  82.  when  they  act  merely  on  the  defensive — 


Wkitings.  ATHENIAN  CHARACTER.  105 

elegant;^  witty,'^  hospitable,^  magnificent,^  fond  of  display/ 
capable  upon  occasion  of  greater  moderation  and  self-denial 
than  most  Greeks,^  and  even  possessing  to  a  certain  extent  a 
generous  spirit  of  Pan-Hellenism.^  Herodotus,  in  his  admira- 
tion of  the  services  rendered  by  the  Athenians  to  the  common 
cause  during  the  great  war,  has  perhaps  over-estimated  their 
pretensions  to  this  last  quality ;  at  least  it  will  be  found  that 
enlightened  self-interest  sufficiently  explains  their  conduct 
during  that  struggle ;  and  circumstances  occurring  both  before 
and  after  it  clearly  sliow,  that  they  had  no  scruples  about  calling 
in  the  Persians  against  their  own  countrymen  when  they  ex- 
pected to  gain  by  it.^°  It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  in  any 
estimate  of  the  Athenian  character,  that  they  set  the  example  of 
seeking  aid  from  Persia  against  their  Hellenic  enemies.  The 
circumstances  of  the  time  no  doubt  were  trying,  and  the  resolve 
not  to  accept  aid  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  independence  was 
worthy  of  their  high  spirit  as  a  nation  ;  but  still  the  fact  remains, 
that  the  common  enemy  first  learnt  through  the  invitation  of 
Athens  how  much  she  had  to*  hope  from  the  internal  quarrels 
and  mutual  jealousies  of  the  Greek  states. 

In  depicting  other  nations  besides  these  three — who  play  the 
principal  parts  in  his  story — Herodotus  has  succeeded  best  with 
the  varieties  of  barbarism  existing  upon  the  'outskirts  of  the 
civilised  world,  and  least  well  with  those  nations  among  whom 
refinement  and  cultivation  were  at  the  highest.  He  seems  to 
have  experienced  a  difficulty  in  appreciating  any  other  phase  of 
civilisation  than  that  which  had  been  developed  by  the  Greeks. 
His  portraiture  of  the  Egyptians,  despite  its  elaborate  finish,  is 
singularly  ineffective ;  while  in  the  case  of  the  Lydians  and 
Babylonians,  he  scarcely  presents  us  with  any  distinctive  national 
features.  On  the  other  hand,  his  pictures  of  the  Scythians,  the 
Thracians,  and  the  wild  tribes  of  Northern  Africa,  are  exceed- 
ingly happy,  the  various  forms  of  barbarism  being  well  con- 
trasted and  carefully  distinguished  from  one  another. 


they  are  defeated  with  great  slaughter  ^  Ibid.  viii.  59,  125.        ^  Ibid.  vi.  35. 

when  attacked  by  the  Eginetaus  on  one  ^  Note  the  frequent  mention  of  their 

occasion  (v.  85-7);  they  fly  before  the  success  in  the   games,   a  great  sign   of 

mixed  levies  of  Pisistratus  (i.  63) ;  they  liberal  expenditure    (Herod,  v.  71 ;  vi. 

share  in  the   Ionian  defeat  at  Ephesus  36,  103,  122,  125,  &c.) 

(v.  102).     On  the  other  hand  their  vie-  '^  Herod,  viii.  124. 

tories   are   gained   by  the   vigour   and  ^  Ibid.  vii.  144;  ix.  27. 

gallantry  of  their  attack   (vi.  112  ;  ix.  ^  Ibid.  vii.  139;  viii.  3  and  144. 

70,  102).  10  Ibid.  v.  73;  Thucyd.  viii.  48  et  seq. 
3  Herod,  vi.  128-130. 


106  PORTRAITS  OF  THE  PERSIAN  MONARCHS.      Life  and 

Among  the  individuals  most  effectively  portrayed  by  our 
author,  may  be  mentioned  the  four  Persian  monarchs  with 
whom  his  narrative  is  concerned,  the  Spartan  kings,  Cleomenes, 
Leonidas,  and  Pausanias,  the  Athenian  statesmen  and  generals, 
Themistocles  and  Aristides,  the  tyrants  Periander,  Polycrates, 
Pisistratus,  and  Histiseus  the  Milesian,  Amasis  the  Egyptian 
king,  and  Croesus  of  Lydia.  The  various  shades  of  Oriental 
character  and  temperament  have  never  been  better  depicted 
than  in  the  representation  given  by  Herodotus  of  the  first  four 
Achsemenian  kings — Cyrus,  the  simple,  hardy,  vigorous  moun- 
tain chief,  endowed  with  a  vast  ambition  and  with  great  military 
genius,  changing,  as  his  empire  enlarged,  into  the  kind  and 
friendly  paternal  monarch — clement,  witty,  polite,  familiar  with 
his  people ;  Cambyses,  the  first  form  of  the  Eastern  tyrant, 
inheriting  his  father's  vigour  and  much  of  his  talent,  but  spoilt 
by  the  circumstances  of  his  birth  and  breeding,  violent,  rash, 
headstrong,  incapable  of  self-restraint,  furious  at  opposition,  not 
only  cruel  but  brutal ;  Darius,  the  model  Oriental  prince,  brave, 
sagacious,  astute,  great  in  the  arts  .both  of  war ^  and  peace,  the 
organiser  and  consolidator  as  well  as  the  extender  of  the  empire, 
a  man  of  kind  and  warm  feeling,  strongly  attached  to  his 
friends,^  clement  and  even  generous  towards  conquered  foes,^ 
only  severe  upon  system  where  the  well-being  of  the  empire 
required  an  example  to  be  made ;  ^  and  Xerxes,  the  second  and 
inferior  form  of  the  tyrant,  weak  and  puerile  as  well  as  cruel 
and  selfish,  fickle,  timid,  licentious,  luxurious,  easily  worked  on 
by  courtiers  and  women,  superstitious,  vainglorious,  destitute  of 
all  real  magnanimity,  only  upon  occasion  ostentatiously  parading 
a  generous  act  when  nothing  had  occurred  to  ruffle  his  feelings.^ 
Nor  is  Herodotus  less  successful  in  his  Hellenic  portraits. 
Themistocles  is  certainly  better  drawn  by  Herodotus  than  by 
Thucydides.     His  political  wisdom  and  clearsightedness,  his  wit 


1  Col.  Mvire  says  that   "the  general  so  many  revolts  (i.  130;  iii.  150-160;  cf. 

policy  of  Darius  was  directed  rather  to  Behist.  Ins.),  the  conqueror  of  Thrace 

the  consolidation  than  the  extension  of  (iv.  93),  and  the  not  unsuccessful  con- 

his  dominions  "  (p.  476),  and  denies  his  ductor  of  the  Scythian  campaign,  cannot 

possession  of  any  military  genius;  but  be  fairly  said  to  have  wanted  military 

the  king  who  added  to  the  empire  the  talent. 

Indian  satrapy  (Herod,  iv.  44),  the  Cher-  "^  Herod,  iii.  140,  160  ;  iv.  143  ;  v.  11; 

sonese  (vi.  33),  great  part  of  Thrace  (iv.  vi.  30. 

93;    V.   10),   Pseonia   (v.    15),   Macedon  ^  Ibid.  vi.  20,  119. 

(vi.  44),  and  the  Greek  islands  (iii.  149;  ^  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^28,  159;  iv.  84,  166; 

V.  26-7 ;  vi.  49),  cannot  be  considered  to  v.  25. 

have  disregarded  the  enlargement  of  his  *  Ibid.  vii.  29,  136. 

empire;  and  the  successful  subduer  of  * 


Writings.  THEMISTOCLES— AEISTIDES.  107 

and  ready  invention,  his  fertility  in  expedients,  his  strong  love 
of  intrigue,  his  curious  combination  of  patriotism  with  selfish- 
ness, his  laxity  of  principle  amounting  to  positive  dishonesty,^ 
are  all  vividly  exhibited,  and  form  a  whole  which  is  at  once 
more  graphic  and  more  complete  than  the  sketch  furnished  by 
the  Attic  writer.  The  character  of  Aristides  presents  a  new 
point  for  admiration  in  the  skill  with  which  it  is  hit  off  with  the 
fewest  possible  touches.  Magnanimous,  disinterestedly  patriotic, 
transcending  all  his  countrymen  in  excellence  of  moral  character 
and  especially  in  probity,  the  simple  straightforward  statesman 
comes  before  us  on  a  single  occasion,^  and  his  features  are  por- 
trayed without  effort  in  a  few  sentences.  In  painting  the  Greek 
tyrants,  whom  he  so  much  detested,  Herodotus  has  resisted  the 
temptation  of  representing  them  all  in  the  darkest  colours,  and 
has  carefully  graduated  his  portraits  from  the  atrocious  cruelties 
and  horrible  outrages  of  Periander  to  the  wise  moderation  and 
studied  mildness  of  Pisistratus.  The  Spartan  character,  again, 
is  correctly  given  under  its  various  aspects,  Leonidas  being  the 
idealized  type  of  perfect  Spartan  heroism,  while  Pausanias  is  a 
more  ordinary  specimen  of  their  nobler  class  of  mind,  brave  and 
generous,  but  easily  wrought  upon  by  corrupting  influences,^ 
Cleomenes  and  Eurybiades  being  representatives  of  the  two 
forms  of  evil  to  which  Spartans  were  most  prone, — Eurybiades 
weak,  timorous,  vacillating,  and  incapable ;  Cleomenes  cruel, 
false,  and  violent, — both  alike  open  to  take  bribes,  and  ready  to 
sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  state  to  their  own  selfish  ends. 

It  is  not  often  that  Herodotus  bestows  much  pains  on  the 
character  of  an  individual  who  does  not  belong  to  one  or  other 
of  the  two  nations  with  which  he  is  principally  concerned,  viz. 
the  Greeks  and  the  Persians.  But  in  the  sketches  of  Croesus 
and  Amasis  he  has  departed  from  his  general  rule,  and  has  pre- 
sented us  with  tw^o  pictures  of  Oriental  monarchs,  offering  a 
remarkable  contrast  to  the  Persian  kings  and  to  each  other. 
The  character  of  Croesus  is  rather  Hellenic  than  barbarian ;  he 
is  the  mildest  and  most  amiable  of  despots ;  a  tender  and  affec- 
tionate parent,  a  faithful  friend,  a  benevolent  man.  He  loves 
his  Lydians  even  after  they  have  ceased  to  be  his  subjects ;  ^ 


6  See  Herod,  viii.  4-5,  58, 108-110, 112.  82),  where  the  first  working  of  the  cor- 

'  Herod,  viii.  78-9.  rupting  iafluence  of  wealth  and  luxury 

'See  the  anecdote  of  Pausanias  ban-  on  a  Spartan  is  very  cleverly  shown, 

queting  in   the  tent  of  Mardonius  (ix.  ^  Herod,  i.  156. 


108  CROESUS— AMASIS.  Life  and 

he  kindly  receives  the  fugitive  Adrastus,  who  has  no  claim  on 
his  protection,  and  freely  forgives  him  after  he  has  been  the 
unhaj)py  means  of  inflicting  on  him  the  most  grievous  of  in- 
juries. Besides  possessing  these  soft  and  gentle  qualities,  he  is 
hospitable  and  magnificent,  lavishly  liberal  to  those  from  whom 
he  has  received  any  benefit,^  religious,  and  though  unduly  elated 
by  prosperity,  yet  in  the  hour  of  adversity  not  unduly  depressed, 
but  capable  of  profiting  by  the  lessons  of  experience.  Amasis 
is  a  ruler  of  almost  equal  mildness ;  like  Croesus,  he  has  a  lean- 
ing towards  the  Greeks ;  he  is  also,  like  him,  prosperous,  and 
distinguished  for  liberality  and  magnificence  ;^  Egypt  flourishes 
greatly  under  his  government,  and  both  his  internal  administra- 
tion and  his  foreign  policy  are  eminently  successful.^  Thus  far 
there  is  a  remarkable  parallelism  between  the  character  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  Egyptian  and  the  Lydian  monarch ;  but  in 
other  respects  they  are  made  to  exhibit  a  strong  and  pointed 
contrast.  Amasis  is  a  man  of  low  birth  and  loose  habits  ;  from 
his  youth  he  has  lived  by  his  wits  an  easy,  gay,  jovial  life,  win- 
ning the  favour  both  of  monarch  and  people  by  his  free  manners 
and  ready  but  coarse  humour.  When  he  becomes  king,  though 
he  devotes  himself  with  great  zeal  to  the  despatch  of  business, 
and  enacts  laws  of  the  utmost  severity  against  such  idle  and 
unworthy  members  of  society  as  he  had  himself  been  in  time 
past,  yet  he  carries  with  him  into  his  new  station  the  same  love 
of  good  living  and  delight  in  low  and  vulgar  pleasantry  which 
had  signalised  the  early  portion  of  his  career.  This  last  feature, 
which  is  the  leading  one  of  his  character,  effectually  distin- 
guishes him  from  the  elegant  and  polished  Croesus,  born  in  the 
purple,  and  bred  up  amid  all  the  refined  amenities  of  a  luxurious 
court.  In  another  respect  the  opposition  between  the  two 
princes  is  even  more  striking — so  striking,  indeed,  as  almost  to 
appear  artificial.  Amasis,  though  owing  more  to  fortune  than 
even  the  Lydian  monarch,  is  not  dazzled  by  her  favours,  or  led 
to  forget  the  instability  of  all  things  human,  and  the  special 
danger  to  the  over-prosperous  man  from  the  "jealousy"  of 
Heaven.  His  letter  to  Poly  crates*  strongly  marks  this  fact, 
which  in  the  mind  of  Herodotus  would  serve  to  account  for  the 
continued  and  unchequered  prosperity  of  the  Egyptian  king — 
so  different  from  the  terrible  reverse  which  befell  the  too  con- 
fident Lydian. 

1  Herod,  i.  50-2,  54;  vi.  125.  ,  3  jbid.  ii.  177,  182  ad  fin. 

2  Ibid.  ii.  175-6,  18U,  182.  "  Herod,  iii.  40. 


Writings.      FEMALE  CPIARACTER— NITOCRIS,  TOMYRIS.         109 

The  power  of  Herodotus  to  portray  female  character  is  also 
worthy  of  notice.  Unlike  Thucydides,  who  passes  over  in  con- 
temptuous silence  the  part  played  by  women  in  the  transactions 
which  he  undertakes  to  record,^  Herodotus  seizes  every  oppor- 
tunity of  adding  variety  and  zest  to  his  narrative  by  carefully 
introducing  to  our  notice  the  females  concerned  in  his  events. 
In  Nitocris  we  have  the  ideal  of  a  great  Oriental  queen — wise, 
grand,  magnificent,  ostentatious ;  prophetic  in  her  foresight, 
clever  in  her  designs,  splendid  in  the  execution  of  whatever 
works  she  takes  in  hand  ;  the  beautifier  at  once  and  the  skilful 
protector  of  her  capital ;  bent  on  combining  utility  with  orna- 
ment, and  in  her  works  of  utility  having  regard  to  the  benefit 
of  the  great  mass  of  her  subjects.  With  her  Tomyris,  the  other 
female  character  of  the  first  book,  contrasts  remarkably.  To- 
myris is  the  perfection  of  a  barbaric,  as  Nitocris  is  of  a  civi- 
lised princess.  Bold  and  warlike  rather  than  sagacious  or 
prudent,  noble,  careless,  confident,  full  of  passion,  she  meets  the 
great  conqueror  of  the  East  wdth  a  defiant,  almost  with  a 
triumphant,  air,  .chivalrously -invites  him  to  cross  her  frontier 
unmolested,  only  anxious  for  a  fair  fight,  disdainful  of  petty 
manoeuvres,  and  unsuspicious  of  artifices.  When  the  civilised 
monarch  has  deluded  and  entrapped  her  son,  she  shows  a  single 
trait  of  womanly  softness,  consenting  to  waive  the  vindication 
of  her  people's  honour  upon  the  condition  of  receiving  back  her 
captured  child.  On  the  failure  of  her  application  and  the  ex- 
tinction of  her  last  hope  by  the  voluntary  death  of  that  un- 
happy youth,  nothing  is  left  her  but  an  undying  grief  and  a 
fierce  and  quick  revenge.  At  the  head  of  her  troops  she  en- 
gages and  defeats  her  son's  destroyer ;  and  as  he  falls  in  the 
thick  of  the  fight,  she  vents  her  wrath  on  his  dead  body  by 
insult,  mutilation,  and  defilement,  in  the  true  spirit  of  an  out- 
raged and  infuriated  barbarian.  The  whole  character  is  in  ex- 
cellent keeping,  and,  however  unhistoric,  is  certainly  most  true 
to  nature. 

As  the  diversities  of  female  character  among  the  non-Hellenic 
races  are  exhibited  to  our  view  in  the  persons  of  Tomyris  and 
Nitocris,  so  in  the  slight  sketch  of  Gorge  and  the  more  elaborate 
portraiture  of  Artemisia  Herodotus  has  given  us  opposite  and 


*  The  omission  of  any  reference   to  but  three  women  by  name  in  the  whole 

Aspasia,    considering    her   poHtical   in-  course  of  his  narrative.     (See  ii.  2,  101; 

fluence  and  connexion  with  Pericles  is  iv.  133  ;  vi.  59.) 
very  remarkable.    Thucydides  mentions 


110  GORGO— ARTEMISIA.  Life  and 

agreeable  specimens  of  female  character  among  the  Greeks. 
Gorgo  is  the  noble,  Artemisia  the  clever  woman.  Gorge's 
sphere  is  the  domestic  circle,  Artemisia's  the  world.  Artemisia 
leads  fleets,  advises  monarchs,  fights  battles,  governs  a  king- 
dom— Gorgo  saves  her  father  in  the  hour  of  temptation,  and 
becomes  the  fitting  bride  of  the  gallant  and  patriotic  Leonidas. 
Still  neither  character  is  a  mere  simple  one.  Gorgo  adds  sense 
and  intelligence  to  her  high  moral  qualities,^  and  Artemisia 
real  courage  to  her  prudence  and  dexterity;"^  but  these  features 
are  subordinate,  and  do  not  disturb  the  general  effect  of  con- 
trast, which  is  such  as  above  stated.  Although  both  ladies 
belong  to  races  of  the  Doric  stock,  Gorgo  alone  is  the  true 
model  of  a  Dorian  woman ;  Artemisia  represents  female  per- 
fection, not  according  to  the  Doric,  but  according  to  the  ordi- 
nary Greek  type.  The  Dorians  of  Asia  seem  to  have  lost  most 
of  their  distinctive  features  by  contact  with  their  Ionian  neigh- 
bours, and  Artemisia  may  be  almost  regarded  as  an  embodiment 
of  Ionian  excellence. 

It  greatly  enhances  the  artistic  merit  of  these  portraitures, 
and  the  pleasure  which  the  reader  derives  from  them,  that  the 
characters  are  made  to  exhibit  themselves  upon  the  scene  by 
word  and  action,  and  are  not  formally  set  before  him  by  the 
historian.  Herodotus  never  condescends  to  describe  a  character. 
His  men  and  women  act  and  speak  for  themselves,  and  thereby 
leave  an  impression  of  life  and  individuality  on  the  reader's 
mind,  which  the  most  skilful  word-painting  would  have  failed  of 
producing.  This  is  one  of  the  advantages  arising  from  that 
large  use  by  Herodotus  of  the  dramatic  element  in  his  history, 
in  which  it  is  allowed  that  he  "  has  been  far  more  generally 
successful  than  any  other  classical  historian."  ^ 

To  his  skill  in  character-drawing  Herodotus  adds  a  power  of 
pathos  in  which  few  writers,  whether  historians  or  others,  have 
been  his  equals.  The  stories  of  the  wife  of  Intaphernes  weeping 
and  lamenting  continually  at  the  king's  gate,^  of  Psammenitus 
sitting  in  the  suburb  and  seeing  his  daughter  employed  in  servile 
offices  and  his  son  led  to  death,  yet  '^showing  no  sign,"  but 
bursting  into  tears  when  an  old  friend  accosted  him  and  asked 
an  alms ;  ^  of  Lycophron  silently  and  sadly  enduring  every- 
thing rather  than  hold  converse  with  a  father  who  had  slain  his 


6  Herod,  vii.  ad  fin.  «  Mure,  p.  500.  ^  Ibid.  iii.  14. 

'  Ibid.  iii.  119.  i  Ibid.  iii.  50-3. 


Writings.  TK AGIO  POWEE.  Ill 

motlier,  and  himself  suffering  for  his  father's  cruelties  at  the 
moment  when  a  prosperous  career  seemed  about  to  open  on 
him,  are  examples  of  this  excellence  within  the  compass  of  a 
single  book  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  parallel  from  the 
entire  writings  of  any  other  historical  author.  But  the  most 
eminent  instance  of  the  merit  in  question  is  to  be  found  in  the 
story  of  Crcesus.  It  has  been  well  observed  that  *'  the  volume 
of  popular  romance  contains  few  more  beautifully  told  tales 
than  that  of  the  death  of  Atys  ;"  ^  and  the  praise  might  be  ex- 
tended to  the  whole  narrative  of  the  life  of  Croesus  from  the 
visit  of  Solon  to  the  scene  upon  the  pyre,  which  is  a  master- 
piece of  pathos,  exhibiting  tragic  power  of  the  highest  order. 
The  same  power  is  exhibited  in  a  less  degree  in  the  stories  of 
the  siege  of  Xanthus,^  of  Tomyris,^  of  CEobazus,^  of  Pythius,^  of 
Boges,'^  and  of  Masistes.^  In  the  last  of  these  cases,  and  per- 
haps in  one  or  two  others,  the  horrible  has  somewhat  too  large 
a  share  ;  in  all,  however,  the  pathetic  is  an  important  and  well- 
developed  element. 

It  has  been  maintained  that  Herodotus,  though  excellent  in 
tragic  scenes,  was  "  deficient  in  the  sense  of  the  comic  properly 
so  called."  ^  His  "  good  stories  "  and  f *  clever  sayings  "  are 
thought  to  be  "  not  only  devoid  of  true  wit,  but  among  the  most 
insipid  of  his  anecdotical  details."  The  correctness  of  this  judg- 
ment may  be  questioned,  not  only  on  the  general  ground  that 
tragic  and  comic  power  go  together,^  but  by  an  appeal  to  fact — 
the  experimentum  crucis  in  such  a  case.  It  is,  of  course,  not  to 
be  expected  in  a  grave  and  serious  production  like  a  history, 
that  humorous  features  should  be  of  frequent  occurrence :  the 
author's  possession  of  the  quality  of  humour  will  be  sufficiently 
shown  if  even  occasionally  he  diversifies  his  narrative  by  anec- 
dotes or  remarks  of  a  ludicrous  character.  Now  in  the  work  of 
Herodotus  there  are  several  stories  of  which  the  predominant 
characteristic  is  the  humorous ;  as,  very  palpably,  the  tale  of 
Alcmgeon's  visit  to  the  treasury  of  Croesus,  when,  having 
"  clothed  himself  in  a  loose  tunic,  which  he  made  to  bag  greatly 
at  the  waist,  and  placed  upon  his  feet  the  widest  buskins  that  he  ^ 
could  anywhere  find,  he  followed  his  guide  into  the  treasure- 
house,"  where  he  "  fell  to  upon  a  heap  of  gold-dust,  and  in  the 


2  Mure's  Lit.  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  505.         "^  Ibid.  vii.  107.      «  Ibid.  ix.  108-113. 

3  Herod.,  i.  176.         "  Ibid.  i.  212-4.  ^  jvi^^i,^,  p.  508. 

5  Ibid.  iv.  84.  6  ibitj^  yii^  39-40.        ^  See  the  Symposium  of  Plato,  subfn. 


112  THE  LUDICROUS— THE  HUMOROUS.  Life  and 

first  place  packed  as  mucli  as  he  could  inside  liis  buskins  be- 
tween them  and  his  legs,  after  which  he  filled  the  breast  of  his 
tunic  quite  full  of  gold,  and  then  sprinkling  some  among  his 
hair,  and  taking  some  likewise  in  his  mouth,  came  forth  from 
the  treasure-house  scarcely  able  to  drag  his  legs  along,  like  any- 
thing rather  than  a  man,  with  his  mouth  crammed  full,  and  his 
bulk  increased  every  way."^  The  laughter  of  Croesus  at  the 
sight  is  echoed  by  the  reader,  who  has  presented  to  him  a  most 
ridiculous  image  hit  off  with  wonderful  effect,  and  poeticised  by 
the  touch  of  imagination,  which  regards  the  distorted  form  as 
having  lost  all  semblance  of  humanity.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  deny  to  Herodotus  the  possession  of  a  sense  of  the  comic  if 
he  had  confined  himself  to  this  single  exhibition  of  it. 

As  a  specimen  of  broad  humour  the  instance  here  adduced  is 
probably  the  most  striking  that  can  be  brought  forward  from 
the  pages  of  our  author.^  But  many  anecdotes  will  be  found 
scattered  through  them,  in  which  the  same  quality  shows  itself 
in  a  more  subdued  and  chastened  form.  It  will  be  enough  to 
refer,  without  quotation,  to  the  well-known  story  of  Hippoclides,* 
to  the  fable  of  Cyrus,^  the  retorts  of  Bias,  Gelo,  and  Themis- 
tocles,^  the  quaint  remark  of  Megacreon,^  the  cool  observation 
of  Dieneces,  and  the  two  answers  given  by  the  Spartans  to  the 
envoys  of  Samos.^  Besides  these  anecdotical  displays  of  a 
humorous  vein,  Herodotus  often  shows  his  sense  of  the  comic  in 
his  descriptions  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  barbarous  na- 
tions. A  striking  example  is  his  account  of  the  Scythian  mode 
of  sacrificing  in  the  fourth  book,  where  he  concludes  his  notice 
with  the  remark  that  "  by  this  plan  your  ox  is  made  to  hoil  him- 
self, and  other  victims  also  to  do  the  like."  ^  The  same  vein  is 
clearly  apparent  in  the  enumeration,  contained  in  the  same 
book,  of  the  animals  said  to  inhabit  the  African  "wild-beast 
tract," — "  this  is  the  tract  in  which  the  huge  serpents  are  found, 
and  the  lions,  the  elephants,  the  bears,  the  aspicks,  and  the 
horned  asses.  Here,  too,  are  the  dog-faced  creatures,  and  the 
creatures  without  heads,  whom  the  Libyans  declare  to  have 


2  Herod,  vi.  125.  story  "  insipid,"  but  most  readers  are 

3  Other  instances  of  abroad  and  some-  amused  by  the  lightheartedness  which 
what  coarse  humour  are  to  be  found  in  the  could  make  a  joke  out  of  a  calamity, 
story  of  Ai-taphernes'  reply  to  Histia3us  The  other  "  good  saying  "  with  which 
(vi.  1),  and  of  the  message  which  Amasis  he  finds  fault  (that  of  Megabazus  con- 
sent to  Apries  by  Patarbemis  (ii.  162).  cerning  the  site  of  Byzantium,  iv.  144) 

Herod,  vi.  129.             ^  Ibid.  i.  141.  is  not  recorded  by  Herodotus  as  a  witty, 

I    ^  Ibid,  i.  27;    vii.  162  ;    and  viii.  125.  but  as  a  judicious  remark. 

^  Ibid.  vii.  120.     Col.  Mure  finds  this  «  Herod,  vii.  226.            ^  Ibid.  iv.  61. 


Writings.  VARIETY  IN  HIS  NARRATIVE.  113 

their  eyes  in  tlieir  breasts,  and  also  the  wild  men  and  the  wild 
women,  and  many  other  far  less  fabulous  beasts."  ^  Touches  of 
humour  also  serve  to  relieve  his  accounts  of  cannibalism,  and 
prevent  them  from  being  merely  horrible,  as  such  subjects  are 
ajDt  to  become  in  most  writers.  Of  this  nature  is  his  remark 
^vhen  speaking  of  the  Padaeans,  who  put  persons  to  death  as 
soon  as  they  were  attacked  by  any  malady,  to  prevent  their 
liesh  from  spoiling,  that  "  the  man  protests  he  is  not  ill  in  the 
least,  but  his  friends  will  not  accept  his  denial ;  in  spite  of  all 
he  can  say  they  kill  him  and  feast  themselves  on  his  body."  ^ 
A  very  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  is  implied  by  this  perception 
of  something  laughable  in  scenes  of  the  greatest  horror. 

Perhaps  the  most  attractive  feature  in  the  whole  work  of 
Herodotus — that  which  prevents  us  from  ever  feeling  weariness 
as  we  follow  him  through  the  nine  books  of  his  history — is  the 
wonderful  variety  in  which  he  deals.  Not  only  historian,  but 
geographer,  traveller,  naturalist,  mythologer,  moralist,  anti- 
quarian, he  leads  us  from  one  subject  to  another, — 

"  From  grave  to  gay,  from  lively  to  severe, — " 

never  pursuing  his  main  narrative  for  any  long  time  without 
the  introduction  of  some  agreeable  episodical  matter,  rarely 
caiTying  an  episodical  digression  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  any 
severe  trial  to  our  patience.  Even  as  historian,  the  respect  in 
which  he  especially  excels  other  writers  is  the  diversity  of  his 
knowledge.  Contriving  to  bring  almost  the  whole  known  world 
within  the  scope  of  his  story,  and  throwing  everywhere  a  retro- 
spective glance  at  the  earliest  beginnings  of  states  and  empires, 
he  exhibits  before  our  eyes  a  sort  of  panoramic  view  of  history, 
in  which  past  and  present,  near  and  remote,  civilised  kingdoms 
and  barbarous  communities,  kings,  priests,  sages,  lawgivers, 
generals,  courtiers,  common  men,  have  all  their  place — a  place 
at  once  skilfully  assigned  and  properly  apportioned  to  their  re- 
spective claims  on  our  attention.  Blended,  moreover,  with  this 
profusion  of  historic  matter  are  sketches  of  religions,  graphic 
descriptions  of  countries,  elaborate  portraitures  of  the  extremes 
of  savage  and  civilised  life,  striking  moral  reflections,  curious 
antiquarian  and  philosophical  disquisitions,  legends,  anecdotes, 


1  Ibid.  iv.  191,  in  the  last  chapter  of  book  i.,  where  the 

2  Ibid.  iii.  99.     Compare  the  descrip-  humour  is  far  more  subdued,  but  still 
tion  of  cannibalism  among  the  Massagetse  is  very  perceptible. 

VOL.  I.  I 


114  THE  SUBLIME— THE  GROTESQUE.  Life  and 

criticisms — not  all  perhaps  equally  happy,  but  all  serving  the 
purpose  of  keeping  alive  the  reader's  interest,  and  contributing 
to  the  general  richness  of  effect  by  which  the  work  is  charac- 
terised. Again,  most  remarkable  is  the  variety  of  styles  which 
are  assumed,  with  almost  equal  success,  in  the  descriptions  and 
anecdotes.  The  masterly  treatment  of  pathetic  subjects,  and 
the  occasional  indulgence,  with  good  effect,  in  a  comic  vein, 
have  been  already  noticed.  Equal  power  is  shown  in  dealing 
with  such  matters  as  are  tragic  without  being  pathetic,  as  in  the 
legend  of  Gyges,^  the  story  of  the  death  of  Cyrus,*  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  self-destruction  of  Cleomenes,^  and,  above  all,  in  the 
striking  scene  which  portrays  the  last  moments  of  Prexaspes.*^ 
In  this,  and  in  his  account  of  the  death  of  Adrastus,"^  Herodotus 
has,  if  anywhere,  reached  the  sublime.  Where  his  theme  is 
lower,  he  has  a  style  peculiarly  his  own,  which  seems  to  come 
to  him  without  effort,  yet  which  is  most  difficult  of  attainment. 
It  is  simple  without  being  homely,  familiar  without  being 
vulgar,  lively  without  being  forced  or  affected.  Of  this,  re- 
markable and  diversified  specimens  will  be  found  in  the  history 
of  the  birth  and  early  years  of  Cyrus,^  and  in  the  tale — which 
reads  like  a  story  in  the  Arabian  Nights — of  the  thieves  who 
plundered  the  treasury  of  Khampsinitus.^  Occasionally  he  ex- 
hibits another  power  which  is  exceedingly  rare — that,  namely, 
of  representing  the  grotesque.  The  story  of  Arion  has  a  touch 
of  this  quality,^"  which  is  more  fully  displayed  in  the  account  of 
the  funeral  rites  of  the  Scythian  kings.  ^^  Still  more  remark- 
able, and  still  more  important  in  its  bearing  on  the  general 
effect  of  his  work,  is  the  dramatic  power,  so  largely  exhibited  in 
the  abundant  dialogues  and  in  the  occasional  set  speeches 
wherewith  his  narrative  is  adorned,  which  by  their  contrast  with 
the  ordinary  historical  form,  and  their  intrinsic  excellence 
generally, ^^  tend  more  perhaps  than  any  other  single  feature  to 
enliven  his  pages,  and  to  prevent  the  weariness  which  is  natur- 
ally caused  by  the  uniformity  of  continued  narration. 
,  Another  excellence  of  Herodotus  is  vivid  description,  or  the 


3  Herod,  i.  8-12.       *  Ibid.  i.  212-4.  80-2),  must  be  excepted  from  this  com- 

*  Ibid.  vi.  75.  ^  Ibid.  iii.  75.  mendation.      They   are   not  above  the 

'  Ibid.  i.  45.  ®  Ibid.  i.  108-122.  average    of  sophistical   themes  on   the 

^  Ibid.  ii.  121.  ^^  Ibid.  i.  24.  subject,  and  they  are  wholly  unsuited 

1^  Ibid.  iv.  71-2.  to  the  characters  and  circumstances  of 

^  The  set  speeches  of  the  three  con-  the  persons  in  whose  mouths  they  are 

spirators  in  favour  of  democracy,  aristo-  put.     (See  the  foot-note  ad  loc.) 

cracy,  and  monarchy  respectively   (iii. 


Writings.         POWEK  OF  PICTORIAL  DESCRIPTION.  115 

power  of  setting  before  us  graphically  and  distinctly  that  which 
he  desires  us  to  see.  This  faculty  however  he  does  not  exhibit 
equally  in  all  subjects.  Natural  scenery,  in  common  with  the 
ancients  generally,  he  for  the  most  part  neglects;  and  his 
descriptions  of  the  great  works  constructed  by  the  labour  of 
man,^  although  elaborate,  fail  in  conveying  to  the  minds  of  his 
readers  any  very  distinct  impression  of  their  appearance.  The 
power  in  question  is  shown  chiefly  in  his  accounts  of  remarkable 
events  or  actions,  which  portions  of  his  narrative  have  often  all 
the  beauty  and  distinctness  of  pictures.  Gyges  in  the  bed- 
chamber of  Candaules,^  Arion  on  the  quarter-deck  chanting  the 
Orthian,^  Cleobis  and  Bito  arriving  at  the  temple  of  Juno,^ 
Adrastus  delivering  himself  up  to  Croesus,^  Megacles  coming 
forth  from  the  treasure-house,^  are  pictures  of  the  simplest  and 
most  striking  kind,  presenting  to  us  at  a  single  glance  a  scene 
exactly  suited  to  form  a  subject  for  a  painter.  Sometimes  how- 
ever the  description  is  more  complex  and  continuous.  The 
charge  of  the  Athenians  at  Marathon,^  the  various  contests  and 
especially  the  final  struggle  at  Thermopylae,^  the  conflict  in  the 
royal  palace  at  Susa  between  the  Magi  and  the  seven  conspi- 
rators,^ the  fight  between  Onesilus  and  Arty  bins,  ^'^  the  exploits  of 
Artemisia  at  Salamis,^^  the  death  of  Masistius  and  the  conten- 
tion for  his  body,^^  are  specimens  of  excellent  description  of  the 
more  complicated  kind,  wherein  not  a  single  picture,  but  a  suc- 
cession of  pictures,  is  exhibited  before  the  eyes  of  the  reader. 
These  descriptions  possess  all  the  energy,  life,  and  power  of 
Homeric  scenes  and  battles,  and  are  certainly  not  surpassed  in 
the  compositions  of  any  prose  writer. 

The  most  obvious  merit  of  our  author,  and  the  last  which 
seems  to  require  special  notice,  is  his  simplicity.  The  natural 
flow  of  narrative  and  sentiment  throughout  his  work,  the  pre- 
dominant use  of  common  and  familiar  words,  the  avoidance  of 
all  meretricious  ornament  and  rhetorical  artifice,  have  often 
been  remarked,  and  have  won  the  approbation  of  almost  all 
critics.  With  Herodotus  composition  is  not  an  art,  but  a  spon- 
taneous outpouring.  He  does  not  cultivate  graces  of  style,  or 
consciously  introduce  fine  passages.     He  writes  as  his  subject 


1  As  the  barrow  of  Alyattes  (i.  93),         *  Ibid.  i.  31.       ^  Ibid.  i.  45,  sub  init. 
the  temple  of  Belus  at  Babylon  (i.  181),         «  j^j^j^  yj^  i25.     See  the  last  page, 
the   pyramids    (ii.  124,   127,   134),    the         '  Ibid.  vi.  112. 
labyrinth  (ii.  148),    and  the  bridge  of 
Xerxes  (vii.  36). 

2  Herod,  i.  9-10.  3  Ibid.  i.  24. 


8  Ibid.  vii.  210-2  ; 

9  Ibid.  iii.  78. 
11  Ibid.  viii.  87. 

223-5. 
w  Ibid.  V.  111-2 
12  Ibid.  ix.  22.3. 

I2 

116  SIMPLICITY.  Life  AND 

leads  him,  rising  with  it,  but  never  transcending  the  modesty  of 
nature,  or  approaching  to  the  confines  of  bombast.  Not  only 
are  his  words  simple  and  common,  but  the  structure  of  his 
sentences  is  of  the  least  complicated  kind.  He  writes,  as 
Aristotle  observes,^  not  in  labom*ed  periods,  but  in  sentences 
which  have  a  continuous  flow,  and  which  only  end  when  the 
sense  is  complete.  Hence  the  wonderful  clearness  and  trans- 
parency of  his  style,  which  is  never  involved,  never  harsh  or 
forced,  and  which  rarely  allows  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  to  rest 
upon  his  meaning. 

The  same  spirit,  which  thus  affects  his  language  and  mode  of 
expi^ession,  is  apparent  in  the  whole  tone  and  conduct  of  the 
narrative.     Everything  is  plainly  and  openly  related ;  there  is 
no  affectation  of  mystery ;    we  are  not  tantalised  by  obscure 
allusions  or  hints ;  ^  the  author  freely  and  fully  admits  us  to  his 
confidence,  is  not  afraid  to  mention  himself  and  his  own  impres- 
sions ;  introduces  us  to  his  informants ;  tells  us  plainly  what  he 
saw  and  what  he  heard ;  allows  us  to  look  into  his  heart,  where 
there  is  nothing  that  he  needs  to  hide,  and  to  become  sharers 
alike  in  his  religious  sentiments,  his  political  opinions,  and  his 
feelings  of  sympathy  or  antipathy  towards  the  various  persons 
or  races  that  he  is  led  to  mention.     Hence  the  strong  personal 
impression  of  the  writer  which  we  derive  from  his  work,  whereby, 
despite  the  meagre  notices  that  remain  to  us  of  his  life,  we  are 
made  to  feel  towards  him  as  towards  an  intimate  acquaintance, 
and  to  regard  ourselves  as  fully  entitled  to  canvass  and  discuss 
all  his  qualities,  moral  as  well  as  intellectual.     The  candour, 
honesty,  amiability,  piety,  and  patriotism  of  Herodotus,  his  pri- 
mitive cast  of  mind  and  habits,  his  ardent  curiosity,  his  strong 
love    of    the   marvellous,   are   familiar  topics   with  his   com- 
mentators, who  find  his  portrait  drawn  by  himself  with  as  much 
completeness  (albeit  unconsciously)  in  his  writings,  as  those  of 
other  literary  men  have  been  by  their  professed  biographers. 
All  this  is  done  moreover  without  the  slightest  affectation,  or 
undue  intrusion  of  his  own  thoughts  and  opinions;    it  is  the 
mere  result  of  his  not  thinking  about  himself,  and  is  as  far 


1  See  Arist.  Rhet.   iii.   9.      Aristotle  Xey6ix(vov  reXuuiQfj^. 

defines  the  Ki}^is   elpoixevr],  or    "  couti-  2  The  only  excepttion  is  in  the  account 

nuous  style,"   as    "that  which  has  in  of  Egypt,  where  religious  scruples  oc- 

itself  no  termination,  unless  the  matter  casionally  interfere  to  check  his  usual 

under  narration  be  terminated"— (^ouSev  openness, 
e^fci   TCAOS   KaO'  avTr/V.  av  fxrj  ro  7rpayjj.a 


Writings. 


STYLE.  * 


117 


removed  from  the  ostentatious  display  of  Xenophon  ^  as  from 
the  studied  concealment  of  Thucydides. 

While  the  language,  style,  sentiments,  and  tone  of  narrative 
in  Herodotus  are  thus  characterised,  if  we  compare  him  with 
later  writers,  by  a  natural  simplicity  and  freedom  from  effort, 
which  constitute  to  a  considerable  extent  the  charm  of  his 
writing,  it  is  important  to  observe  how  greatly  in  all  these 
respects  he  is  in  advance  of  former  prose  authors.  Justice  is 
not  done  to  his  merits  unless  some  attention  be  given  to  the 
history  of  prose  composition  before  his  time,  and  something  like 
a  comparison  instituted  between  him  and  his  predecessors. 
With  Herodotus  simplicity  never  degenerates  into  baldness,  or 
familiarity  into  what  is  rude  and  coarse.  His  style  is  full,  free, 
and  flowing,  and  offers  a  most  agreeable  contrast  to  the  stiff 
conciseness,  curt  broken  sentences,  and  almost  unvaried  con- 
struction, of  previous  historians.  If  we  glance  our  eye  over  the 
fragments  of  the  early  Greek  writers  that  have  come  down  to 
our  times,  we  shall  be  surprised  to  find  how  rude  and  primitive, 
how  tame,  bald,  and  spiritless  the  productions  appear  to  have 
been,  even  of  the  most  celebrated  historians  anterior  to,  or  con- 
temporary with  our  author.     A  few  specimens  are  subjoined  *  of 


3  See  Anab.  iii.  i.  §  4-47,  and  thence- 
forth passim. 

'*  Hecatffius  of  Miletus  commenced  his 
liistorical  work,  the  'Genealogies,'  as 
follows: — 

''Thus  saith  Hecatseus  the  Milesian: 
Tiiat  which  I  write,  I  write  as  the  truth 
seems  to  me.  For  the  stories  which  the 
Greeks  tell  are  many,  and  to  my  mind 
ridiculous." 

The  longest  of  his  extant  fragments 
is  thus  tniuslated  by  Col.  Mure  (Lit.. of 
Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  161): — 

"Orestheus,  son  of  Deucalion,  arrived 
in  iEtolia  in  search  of  a  kingdom.  Here 
his  dog  produced  him  a  green  plant. 
Upon  which  he  ordered  the  dog  to  be 
buried  in  the  earth ;  and  from  its  body 
sprang  a  vine  fertile  in  grapes.  Hence 
he  called  his  son  Phytius.  The  son  of 
Phytius  was  Qiueus,  so  named  after  the 
vine-plant.  For  the  antieut  Greeks  called 
the  vine  CEna.  The  son  of  Qilneus  was 
iEtolus." 

The  fragments  of  Xanthus  are  very 
brief,  and  of  these  only  one  is  cited  in 
his  exact  words.  It  shows  no  great  ad- 
vance on  the  style  of  Hecataius : — 

"  From  Lydus  descend  the  Lydians, 
from  Torrhebus   the  Torrhebians.     La 


language  these  two  races  differ  but  little ; 
and  to  this  day  they  borrow  from  one 
another  no  few  words,  like  the  lonians 
and  the  Dorians." 

Another,  which  is  probably  very  close 
to  his  phraseology,  is  the  following: — 

"  Tlie  Magians  marry  their  mothers 
and  their  daughtex'S.  They  hold  it  law- 
ful also  to  marry  their  sisters.  Their 
wives  are  common  property  ;  and  when 
one  wishes  to  take  the  wife  of  another, 
they  use  no  fraud  nor  violence,  but  the 
thing  is  done  by  consent." 

Of  Charon  of  Lampsacus  we  possess 
a  passage  of  some  length,  which  may  be 
given  in  the  translation  of  Col.  Mure 
(vol.  iv.  pp.  169-170)  :— 

"The  Bisaltians  waged  war  against 
the  Cardians,  and  were  victorious  in  a 
battle.  The  commander  of  the  BisaL 
tians  was  called  Onaris.  This  man, 
when  a  youth,  had  been  sold  as  a  slave 
in  Cardia,  and  had  been  made  by  his 
master  to  work  at  the  trade  of  a  barber. 
Now  tliere  was  an  oracle  curi-ent  among 
the  Cardians,  that  about  that  time  they 
should  be  invaded  by  the  Bisaltians ;  and 
this  oracle  was  a  frequent  subject  of  con- 
versation among  those  who  frequented 
the  barber's  shop.     Onaris,  having  ef- 


118 


FATHEK  OF  HISTOKY. 


the  style  of  writing  customary  in  his  day,  from  which  the 
modern  reader  may  form  a  tolerable  estimate  of  the  interval 
which  separated  Herodotus,  as  a  writer,  from  those  who  had 
preceded  him — an  interval  so  great  as  to  render  the  style  of 
composition  which  he  invented  a  sort  of  new  art,  and  to  entitle 
him  to  the  honourable  appellation,  which  prescription  has  made 
indisputably  his,  of  the  ''  Father  of  History." 


fected  his  escape  home,  persuaded  his 
countrymen  to  invade  Cardia,  and  was 
himself  appointed  leader  of  the  expedi- 
tion. But  the  Cardians  were  accustomed 
to  teach  their  horses  to  dance  to  the 
sound  of  the  flute  in  their  festivals ; 
when  standing  upright  on  their  hind- 
legs,  they  adapted  the  motions  of  their 
fore-feet  to  the  time  of  the  music.  Ona- 
ris,  being  acquainted  with  this  custom, 
procured  a  female  flute-player  from  Car- 
dia ;  and  this  flute-player,  on  her  arrival 
in  Bisaltis  (  ?  ),  intructed  many  of  the 
flute-players  of  that  city  ( ?  ),  whom  he 
cavised  to  accompany  him  in  his  march 
against  the  Cardians.  As  soon  as  the 
engagement  commenced,  he  ordered  the 
flute -players  to  strike  up  those  tunes  to 
which  the  Cardian  horses  were  used  to 
perform.  And  no  sooner  had  the  horses 
heard  the  music  than  they  stood  up  on 
their  hind-legs  and  began  to  dance.  But 
the  chief  force  of  the  Cardians  was  in 
cavalry ;  and  so  they  lost  the  battle." 

Even  Hellanicus,  who  outlived  Hero- 
dotus, falls  sometimes  into  the  cramped 
and  bald  style  of  the  old  logogi*aphers, 
as  the  subjomed  specimens  will  show: — 

(1.)  "From  Pelasgus,  the  king  of 
these  men,  and  Menippe,  the  daughter 
ol"  Peneus,  was  born  Phrastor ;  from  him 
sprang  Amyutor;  from  him,  Teutami' 


das;  from  him,  Nanas.  In  his  reign 
the  Pelasgians  were  driven  out  by  the 
Greeks,  and  having  left  their  ships  at 
the  river  Spines  in  the  Ionian  Gulf,  they 
built  at  some  distance  from  the  shore 
the  city  of  Croton.  From  hence  they 
proceeded  to  colonise  the  land  now 
called  Tyrrhenia." 

(2.)  "When  the  men  came  from 
Sparta,  the  Athenians  related  to  them 
the  story  of  Orestes.  At  the  conclusion, 
when  both  parties  approved  the  judg- 
ment, the  Athenians  assigned  it  to  the 
ninth  generation  after  Mars  and  iSTeptune 
pleaded  in  the  cause  of  Halirrhothius. 
Then,  six  generations  later,  Cephalus, 
the  son  of  De'ioneus,who  married  Proci'is, 
the  daughter  of  Erechtheus,and  slew  her, 
was  condemned  by  the  court  of  Areopa- 
gus, and  suS'ered  banishment.  After 
the  tinal  of  Daedalus  for  the  treacherous 
slaughter  of  his  sister's  son  Talus,  and 
his  flight  from  justice  in  the  third  gene- 
ration, this  Clytemnestra,  the  daughter 
of  Tyndarus,  who  had  killed  Agamem- 
non and  herself  been  killed  by  Orestes, 
caused  Orestes  to  be  brought  to  trial  by 
the  Eumenides ;  he,  however,  returnecl 
after  judgment  was  given,  and  became 
king  of  Argos.  Minerva  and  Mars  were 
the  judges," 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  HERODOTUS. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  HERODOTUS, 


THE  FIRST  BOOK,  ENTITLED  CLIO. 


These  are  the  researches  of  Herodotus  of  Halicarnassus/  which 
he  publishes,  in  the  hope  of  thereby  preserving  from  decay  the 
remembrance  of  what  men  have  done,  and  of  preventing  the 
great  and  wonderful  actions  .of  the  Greeks  and  the  Barbarians 
from  losing  their  due  meed  of  glory;  and  withal  to  put  on 
record  what  were  their  grounds  of  feud. 


1.  According  to  the  Persians  best  informed  in  history,  the 
Phcenicians  began  the  quarrel.  This  people,  who  had  formerly 
dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,^  having  migrated  to 


^  This  is  the  reading  of  all  our  MSS. 
Yet  Aristotle,  where  he  quotes  the  pas- 
sage (Rhet.  iii.  9),  has  Thurium  in  the 
place  of  Halicarnassus ;  that  is,  he  cites 
the  final  residence  instead  of  the  birth- 
place of  the  writer.  (See  the  sketch  of 
Herodotus's  Life  in  the  Appendix  to.  the 
last  volume.)  There  is  no  doubt  that 
considerable  portions  of  the  work  as  it 
stands  were  written  at  Thurium,  and  it 
is  possible  that  Herodotus  used  the  ex- 
pression "  of  Thurium "  in  his  latest 
recension. 

The  mention  of  the  author's  name  and 
country  in  the  first  sentence  of  his  his- 
tory seems  to  have  been  usual  in  the  age 
in  which  Herodotus  wrote.  The  "  Genea- 
logies "  of  Hecatseus  commenced  with 
the  words,  'Y^Karalos  MiX^aios  wSe  yuu- 
delrai.  (Mtiller's  Fragm.  Hist.  Gr.,  vol.  i. 
Fr.  332.)  And  the  practice  is  followed 
by  Thucydides. 

2  By  the  Erythraean  Sea  Herodotus 
intends,  not  our  Red  Sea,  which  he  calls 
the  Arabian  Gulf  (koAttos  'Apd^ios),  but 


the  Indian  Ocean,  or  rather  both  the  In- 
dian Ocean  and  the  Persian  Guif,  which 
latter  he  does  not  consider  distinct  from 
the  Ocean,  being  ignorant  of  its  shape. 

"With  respect  to  the  migration  of  the 
Phoenicians  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  which 
is  reasserted  book  vii,  ch.  89,  there  seems 
to  be  no  room  to  doubt  that  a  connexion 
existed  between  the  cities  of  Phoenicia 
Proper  and  a  number  of  places  about 
the  Persian  Gulf,  whose  very  names  have 
been  thought  to  indicate  their  Phoenician 
origin.  The  chief  of  these  were  Tyrus, 
or  Tylus,  and  Aradus,  two  islands  in  the 
Gulf,  where,  according  to  Eratosthenes 
(ap.  Strabon.  xvi.  p.  1090,  Oxf.  ed.), 
there  were  Phoenician  temples,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  which  claimed  the  Phoe- 
nician cities  on  the  Mediterranean  as 
their  colonies.  One  of  these  is  at  the 
present  day  called  Arad.  There  is  also 
a  Sidodona,  and  a  Szur,  or  Tur,  which 
recall  the  names  of  Sidon  and  Tyre  re- 
spectively. The  question  commonly  dis- 
cussed has  been  whether  the  cities  about 


122 


THE  CAUSES  OF  QUARREL  BETWEEN 


Book  I. 


the  Mediterranean  and  settled  in  the  parts  which  they  now 
inhabit,  began  at  once,  they  say,  to  adventure  on  long  voyages, 
freighting  their  vessels  with  the  wares  of  Egypt  and  Assyria.^ 
They  landed  at  many  places  on  the  coast,  and  among  the  rest 
at  Argos,  which  was  then  pre-eminent  above  all  the  states  in- 
cluded now  under  the  common  name  of  Hellas."^  Here  they 
exposed  their  merchandise,  and  traded  with  the  natives  for  five 
or  six  days ;  at  the  end  of  which  time,  when  almost  everything 
was  sold,  there  came  down  to  the  beach  a  number  of  women, 
and  among  them  the  daughter  of  the  king,  who  was,  they  say, 
agreeing  in  this  with  the  Greeks,  lo,  the  child  of  Inachus.  The 
women  were  standing  by  the  stern  of  the  ship  intent  upon  their 
purchases,  when  the  Phoenicians,  with  a  general  shout,  rushed 
upon  them.  The  greater  part  made  their  escape,  but  some 
were  seized  and  carried  off.  lo  herself  was  among  the  captives. 
The  Phoenicians  put  the  women  on  board  their  vessel,  and  set 
sail  for  Egypt.  Thus  did  lo  pass  into  Egypt,  according  to  the 
Persian  story/  which  differs  widely  from  the  Phoenician :  and 


the  Persian  Gulf  are  the  mother  cities  of 
those  on  the  Mediterranean,  or  colonies 
from  them.  Seetzen  and  Heeren  incline 
to  the  latter  view  (Heeren's  As.  Nat. 
vol.  ii.  pp.  231,  415,  E.  T.).  In  favour 
of  the  former,  however,  is,  in  the  first 
place,  the  double  tradition,  that  of  the 
Phoenicians  of  Phoenicia  Proper  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus,  and  that  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Tyrus  and  Aradus,  re- 
corded by  Eratosthenes,  who  probably 
follows  Androsthenes,  the  naval  officer 
of  Alexander  ;  and  secondly,  what  may 
be  called  the  argument  from  general 
probability.  Lower  Babylonia,  the  coun- 
try about  the  mouths  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  is  the  original  seat  of  Semitic 
power,  whence  it  spreads  northward  and 
westward  to  the  Euxine  and  to  the  Me- 
diterranean. (Cf.  Appendix,  Essay  xi. 
§  3.)  Asshur  goes  forth  out  of  tlie  laud 
of  Shinar,  in  the  book  of  Genesis  (x.  11); 
Abraham  and  his  family  pass  from  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees  (Mugheir)  by  Charran  into 
Syria  ;^  the  Aramaeans  can  be  traced  in 
the  Cuneiform  inscriptions  ascending  the 
course  of  the  Euphrates  from  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  towards  the  Mediterranean. 
Eveiything  indicates  a  spread  of  the 
Semites  from  Babylonia  westward,  while 
nothing  appears  of  any  great  movement 
in  the  opposite  direction.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  Phoeni- 
cians, in  the  time  of  their  prosperity, 
may  have  formed   settlements   in   the 


Persian  Gulf,  and  that  the  temples  seen 
by  Androsthenes  belonged  to  this  com- 
paratively recent  movement. 

The  name  "  Phoenician,"  which  is  con- 
nected with  ''Erythraean,"  both  mean- 
ing "red,"  the  colour  of  the  Semites, 
confirms  the  general  connexion,  but  does 
not  show  in  which  way  the  migration 
proceeded.  For  a  more  complete  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  see  Appendix  to 
book  vii.  Essay  ii. 

3  For  an  account  of  the  trade  of  the 
Phoenicians,  see  Heeren's  Asiatic  Na- 
tions, vol.  ii.,  'Phoenicians,'  chap.  iii. 

^  The  ancient  superiority  of  Argos  is 
indicated  by  the  position  of  Agamemnon 
at  the  time  of  the  Trojan  war  (compare 
Thucyd.  i.  9-10),  and  by  the  use  of  the 
word  Argive  in  Homer  for  Greek  gene- 
rally. No  other  name  of  a  single  people 
is  used  in  the  same  genei'ic  way. 

The  absence  of  any  general  ethnic  title 
during  the  earlier  ages  is  noticed  by 
Thucydides  (i.  3).  He  uses  the  same 
expression  as  Herodotus— r/  vvv  'EWas 
KaXovjxivr] — previously  (i.  2). 

^  It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  Per- 
sians, properly  so  called,  could  have  had 
any  independent  knowledge  of  the  myth 
of  lo,  for  at  the  period  of  history  to 
which  the  legend  refers,  the  Arian  tribes, 
who  were  the  progenitors  of  the  Per- 
sians, were  still  encamped  on  the  banks 
of  the  Indus,  and  were  thus  entirely 
shut   out   from   any  contact   with  the 


Chap.  2. 


THE  GREEKS  AND  THE  BARBAEIANS. 


123 


thus  commenced,  according  to  their  authors,  the  series  of  out- 
rages. 

2.  At  a  later  period,  certain  Greeks,  with  whose  name  they 
are  unacquainted,  but  who  would  probably  be  Cretans,^  made  a 
landing  at  Tyre,  on  the  Phoenician  coast,  and  bore  off  the  king's 
daughter,  Europe.  In  this  they  only  retaliated ;  but  after- 
wards the  Greeks,  they  say,  were  guilty  of  a  second  violence. 
They  manned  a  ship  of  war,  and  sailed  to  ^a,  a  city  of  Colchis,^ 
on  the  river  Phasis  ;  from  whence,  after  despatching  the  rest  of 
the  business  on  which  they  had  come,  they  carried  off  Medea, 
the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  land.  The  monarch  sent  a 
herald  into  Greece  to  demand  reparation  of  the  wrong,  and  the 
restitution  of  his  child ;  but  the  Greeks  made  answer,  that 
having    received    no   reparation    of  the  wrong  done  them  in 


Western  world.  The  acquaintance  even 
of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians  with 
the  Greeks  was  of  a  comparatively  mo- 
dern date.  SargoH,  indeed,  who  iij  the 
Cuneiform  Inscriptions  first  mentions 
the  Greeks, — having  in  about  B.C.  708 
received  tribute  in  Babylon  from  the 
Greek  colonists  of  Cyprus, — speaks  of 
them  as  "  the  seven  kings  of  the  Yaha 
tribes  of  the  country  of  Yavnan  (or 
Yunan),  who  dwelt  in  an  island  in  the 
midst  of  the  Western  sea,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  seven  days  from  the  coast,  and 
the  name  of  whose  country  had  never 
been  heard  by  my  ancestors,  the  kings 
of  Assyria  and  Chaldsea,  from  the  re- 
motest times,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  It  is  at  the 
same  time  far  from  improbable  that  tliis 
name  of  Yaha,  which  the  Assyrians  ap- 
plied to  the  piratical  Greeks  of  Cyprus, 
may  have  suggested  the  memory  of  the 
buccaneering  stories  which  the  Phoeni- 
cians and  the  Persians  (of  Syria?)  told 
to  Herodotus  in  illustration  of  the  myth 
of  lo.  And  it  is  further  worthy  of  re- 
mark, that  the  name,  thus  first  brov;ght 
before  us  in  its  Asiatic  form,  may  per- 
haps furnish  an  astronomical  solution 
for  the  entire  fable ;  for  as  the  wander- 
ings of  the  Greek  lo  have  been  often 
compared  with  the  erratic  coui-se  of  the 
■  moon  in  the  heavens,  passing  in  succes- 
sion through  all  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  so 
do  we  find  that  in  the  ante-Semitic  period 
there  was  also  an  identity  of  name,  the 
Egyptian  title  of  the  moon  being  Yah, 
and  the  primitive  Chaldaean  title  being 
represented  by  a  Cuneiform  sign,  which 
is  phonetically  Ai,  as  in  modern  Turk- 
ish.—[H.  C.  R.] 


6  Since  no  other  Greeks  were  thought 
to  have  possessed  a  navy  in  these  early 
times.  Compare  Thucyd.  i.  4 — Miucos 
iraKairaros  oiv  aKO^  iCyuei/  vavriKbv  c/cttj- 

(TUTO. 

'  The  commentators  have  found  some 
difficulty  in  showing  why  the  Colchians 
should  have  been  held  responsible  for 
an  outrage  committed  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians, and  have  been  obliged  to  suggest 
that  it  was  merely  owing  to  their  equally 
belonging  to  the  comity  of  Asiatic  na- 
tions ;  but  the  traditions  of  mutual  res- 
ponsibility are  more  readily  explained 
by  our  i-emembering  that  there  was  per- 
haps an  ethnic  relationship  between  the 
two  nations,  Colchis  in  the  time  of  the 
Argonauts  being  peopled  by  the  same 
Cushite  or  (so  called)  -Ethiopian  race, 
which  in  the  remote  age  of  Inachus,  and 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Semites  in  Syria, 
held  the  seaboard  of  Phoenicia.  The  pri- 
mitive Medes  would  seem  to  have  been 
one  of  the  principal  divisions  of  the 
great  Cushite  or  Scythic  race,  their  con- 
nexion with  Colchis  and  Phoenicia  being 
marked  by  the  myth  of  Medea  in  one 
quarter,  and  of  Andromeda  in  the  other. 
So  too  all  the  ancient  Scythic  monu- 
ments of  Northern  Media  and  Armenia 
are  referred  by  Strabo  to  the  Argonauts, 
Jason,  as  the  husband  of  Medea,  being 
the  eponymous  hero  of  the  race.  Indeed 
the  famous  mountain  of  Demawend  in 
the  Elburz  above  Teheran,  where  Zohak 
the  great  antagonist  of  the  Arian  race 
was  supposed  to  be  imprisoned,  was 
known  to  the  Greeks  by  the  name  of 
mount  Jasonixs  as  late  as  the  time  of 
Ptolemy.--[H.  C.  B.] 


124  EArE  OF  HELEN— TROJAN  WAE.  Book  I. 

the  seizure   of  lo  the  Argive,  they  should  give  none  in  this 
instance. 

3.  In  the  next  generation  afterwards,  according  to  the  same 
authorities,  Alexander  the  son  of  Priam,  bearing  these  events 
in  mind,  resolved  to  procure  himself  a  wife  out  of  Greece  by 
violence,  fully  persuaded,  that  as  the  Greeks  had  not  given 
satisfaction  for  their  outrages,  so  neither  would  he  be  forced  to 
make  any  for  his.  Accordingly  he  made  prize  of  Helen ; 
upon  which  the  Greeks  decided  that,  before  resorting  to  other 
measures,  they  would  send  envoys  to  reclaim  the  princess 
and  require  reparation  of  the  wrong.  Their  demands  were 
met  by  a  reference  to  the  violence  which  had  been  offered 
to  Medea,  and  they  were  asked  with  what  face  they  could 
now  require  satisfaction,  when  they  had  formerly  rejected 
all  demands  for  either  reparation  or  restitution  addressed  to 
them.^ 

4.  Hitherto  the  injuries  on  either  side  had  been  mere  acts  of 
common  violence ;  but  in  what  followed  the  Persians  consider 
that  the  Greeks  were  greatly  to  blame,  since  before  any  attack 
had  been  made  on  Europe,  they  led  an  army  into  Asia.  Now 
as  for  the  carrying  off  of  women,  it  is  the  deed,  they  say,  of  a 
rogue ;  but  to  make  a  stir  about  such  as  are  carried  off,  argues 
a  man  a  fool.  Men  of  sense  care  nothing  for  such  women,  since 
it  is  plain  that  without  their  own  consent  they  would  never  be 
forced. away.  The  Asiatics,  when  the  Greeks  ran  off  with  their 
women,  never  troubled  themselves  about  the  matter ;  but  the 
Greeks,  for  the  sake  of  a  single  Lacedaemonian  girl,  collected  a 
vast  armament,  invaded  Asia,  and  destroyed  the  kingdom  of 
Priam.  Henceforth  they  ever  looked  upon  the  Greeks  as  their 
open  enemies.  For  Asia,  with  all  the  various  tribes  of  bar- 
barians that  inhabit  it,  is  regarded  by  the  Persians  as  their 


^  Aristophanes  in  the  Acharnians  (488-  "  This  was  nothing, 

494)  very  wittily  parodies  the  opening  Smacking  too  much  of  our  accustomed  niauner 

r   Ti        A   i-      '     \     ■).  r>     f       •         ,  °  To  give  offence.     But  here,  sirs,  was  the  rub  : 

of  Herodotus  s  history.     Professnig_  to  gome  sparlis  of  ours,  hot  with  the  gi-ape,  had  stol'n 

give   the   causes   of   the    Peloponuesian  A  mistress  ot  the  game— Simajtha  named  — 

war    he  says  : —  From  the  Megariaus:  her  doughty  townsmen 

'  ^  ,     ,        ,  ^^'*^^  ^^'^  dficd  moved  no  small  extent  of  anger) 

Kal  Tavra  f^ev  fir)  (r/uiKpo.  Kan-i;(c6pia*  lleveng'd  the  affront  upon  Aspasia's  train, 

TTopi't]!'  oe  :S.i.fjiaLeav  lovre^  MeydpaSe  And  bore  away  a  brace  of  her  fair  damsels. 

v^aviat  KKenrovcTL  Meevcro/c6TTa^ot,  All  Greece  anon  gave  note  of  martial  prelude. 

T^,    <  ,,        -    .£,,  ,  /  And  What  the  cause  ot  war?  marry,  three  women. 

KaO  01  Meyapr/s  oSvuaig  ne(})V(rLyy(^txei'Oi  — MrrCHELL,  p.  70-2. 

ai'T6fe»cAe(//ai/  'AcrTracn'as  iropva  Svo'  m    •      • 

KivreiOev  apxv  tov  nokefiov  Kareppdyr,  This  is  the    earliest   indication   of  a 

"EAArjo-i  Trio-ti/  ck  rptiyv  KaiaadrpiCiv.  knowledge^  of  the  work  of  Herodotus  on 

488-494.  the  part  of  any  other  Greek  writer. 


Chap.  3-5.    THCENICIxiN  VERSION  OF  THE  STORY  OF  10. 


125 


own ;    but  Europe   and  the  Greek  race  they  look  on  as  dis- 
tinct and  separate.^ 

5.  Such  is  the  account  which  the  Persians  give  of  these 
matters.^  They  trace  to  the  attack  upon  Troy  their  ancient 
enmity  towards  the  Greeks.  The  Phcenicians,  however,  as 
regards  lo,  vary  from  the  Persian  statements.  They  deny  that 
they  used  any  violence  to  remove  her  into  Egypt ;  she  herself, 
they  say,  having  formed  an  intimacy  with  the  captain,  while  his 
vessel  lay  at  Argos,  and  perceiving  herself  to  be  with  child,  of 
her  own  freewill  accompanied  the  Phoenicians  on  their  leaving 
the  shore,  to  escape  the  shame  of  detection  and  the  reproaches 
of  her  parents.  Whether  this  latter  account  be  true,  or  whether 
the  matter  happened  otherwise,  I  shall  not  discuss  further.  I 
shall  proceed  at  once  to  point  out  the  person  who  first  within 
my  own  knowledge  inflicted  injury  on  the  Greeks,  after  which  I 
shall  go  forward  with  my  history,  describing  equally  the  greater 
and  the  lesser  cities.  For  the  cities  which  were  formerly  great, 
have  most  of  them  become  insignificant;  and  such  as  are  at 
present  powerful,  were  weak  in  th-e  olden  time.^     I  shall  there- 


^  The  claim  made  by  the  Persians  to 
the  natural  lordship  of  Asia  was  conve- 
nient as  furnishing  them  with  pretexts 
for  such  wars  as  it  suited  their  policy  to 
engage  in  with  non- Asiatic  nations.  The 
most  remarkable  occasion  on  which  they 
availed  themselves  of  such  a  plea  was 
when  Darius  invaded  Scythia.  Accord- 
ing to  Herodotus  he  asserted,  and  the 
Scythians  believed,  that  his  invasion  was 
designed  to  punish  them  for  having  at- 
tacked the  Medes,  and  held  possession 
of  Upper  Asia  for  a  number  of  years,  at 
a  time  when  Persia  was  a  tributary  na- 
tion to  Media.  (See  Herod,  iv.  I  and 
118-9.)^ 

^  It  is  curious  to  observe  the  treat- 
ment which  the  Greek  myths  met  with 
at  the  hands  of  foreigners.  The  Oriental 
mind,  quite  unable  to  appreciate  poetry 
of  such  a  character,  stripped  the  legends 
bare  of  all  that  beautified  them,  and 
then  treated  them,  thus  vulgarised,  as 
matters  of  simple  history.  lo,  the  virgin 
priestess,  beloved  by  Jove,  and  hated  by 
jealous  Juno,  metamorphosed,  Argus- 
watched,  and  gadfly-driven  from  land  to 
land,  resting  at  last  by  holy  Nile's  sweet- 
■  tasting  stream,  and  there  becoming  mo- 
ther of  a  race  of  hero-kings,  is  changed  to 
lo,  the  paramour  of  a  Phoenician  sea-cap- 
tain, flying  with  him  to  conceal  her  preg- 
.nancy,  and  so  carried  to  Egypt  whither 


his  ship  was  bound.  The  Phoenicians 
and  the  Persians  are  equally  prosaic  in 
their  versions  of  the  story,  so  that  it 
seems  the  Semitic  race  was  as  unable  to 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  Greek  poesy  as  the 
Arian.  Both  indeed  appear  to  have  been 
essentially  unpoetical,  the  Semitic  race 
only  warming  into  poetry  under  the  ex- 
citement of  devotional  feeling,  the  Arian 
never  capable  of  anything  beyond  spark- 
ling prettiness,  and  exubei'ant,  some- 
times perhaps  elegant  fancy. 

Herodotus,  left  to  himself,  has  no 
tendency  to  treat  myths  in  this  coarse 
rationalistic  way:  witness  his  legends  of 
Croesus,  Battus,  Labda,  &c.  His  spirit  is 
too  reverent,  and,  if  we  may  so  say,  cre- 
dulous. The  supernatui-al  never  shocks 
or  startles  him.  It  is  a  mistake  of  Pau- 
sanias  (ii.  xvi.  §  1)  to  call  this  story  of 
lo's  passage  into  Egypt  ''the  way  in 
which  Herodotus  says  she  went  there." 
Herodotus  is  only  reporting  what  was 
alleged  by  the  Pex'sians. 

The  legend  of  lo  forms  a  beautiful 
episode  in  the  Prometheus  Vinctus  of 
^schylus  (572-905).  That  of  Medea  is 
introduced  into  one  of  the  most  magni- 
ficent of  the  Odes  of  Pindar.  (Pyth.  iv. 
119-458.) 

^  Thucydides  remarks  on  the  small 
size  to  which  Mycena)  had  dwindled 
compared  with  its  former  power  (i.  10 j. 


126 


CECESUS  THE  LYDIAN. 


Book  I. 


fore  discourse  equally  of  both,  convinced  that  human  happiness 
never  continues  long  in  one  stay. 

6.  Croesus,  son  of  Alyattes,  by  birth  a  Lydian,  was  lord  of 
all  the  nations  to  the  west  of  the  river  Halys.^  This  stream, 
which  separates  Syria*  from  Paphlagonia,  runs  with  a  course 
from  south  to  north,^  and  finally  falls  into  the  Euxine.  So  far 
as  our  knowledge  goes,  he  was  the  first  of  the  barbarians  who 
had  dealings  with  the  Greeks,  forcing  some  of  them  to  become 
his  tributaries,  and  entering  into  alliance  with  others.  He  con- 
quered the  ^olians,  lonians,  and  Dorians  of  Asia,  and  made  a 
treaty  with  the  Lacedsemonians.  Up  to  that  time  all  Greeks 
had  been  free.  For  the  Cimmerian  attack  upon  Ionia,  which 
was  earlier  than  Croesus,  was  not  a  conquest  of  the  cities,  but 
only  an  inroad  for  plundering. 

7.  The  sovereignty  of  Lydia,  which  had  belonged  to  the 
Heraclides,  passed  into  the  family  of  Croesus,  who  were  called 
the  Mermnadse,  in  the  manner  which  I  will  now  relate.     There 


Herodotus  would  have  remarkable  ex- 
amples of  decline  in  his  own  neighbour- 
hood, both  when  he  dwelt  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  after  he  removed  to  Italy.  Phocsea 
in  the  former  counti-y,  and  Sybaris  in 
the  latter,  near  the  ruins  of  which  Thu- 
rium  rose,  would  be  notable  instances. 

^  If  the  name  of  the  Halys  be  derived 
from  a  Semitic  source,  we  may  compare 

the  roots    ?-in   in  Hebrew,  or    Xl^^  in 

Arabic,  signifying  "to  be  twisted,"  and 
suppose  the  epithet  to  refer  to  the  tor- 
tuous course  of  the  river.  There  are 
names  indeed  in  the  early  Cuneiform 
inscriptions,  Khula  and  Khuliya,  which 
must  either  refer  to  this  river  or  to  the 
upper  course  of  the  Euphrates.  They 
are  probably  also  connected  with  XoXo- 
^■qr^vy]  {Khul  of  Bitan ,  the  latter  term 
being  the  ancient  Assyrian  name  of  Ar- 
menia) and  with  the  Hid  of  Scripture, 
Gen.  X.  23  ;  see  Bochart's  Phaleg.  lib.  ii. 
c.  9.— [H.  C.  R.] 

^  By  Syria  Herodotus  here  means  Cap- 
padocia,  the  inhabitants  of  which  he 
calls  Syrians  (i.  72,  and  vii.  72),  or 
Cappadocian  Syrians  {1,vpiovs  KaTnroS*^- 
Kas,  i.  72).  Strabo  called  them  "white 
/rians "  (xii.  p.  788,  Oxf.  ed.).  For 
.rguments  in  favour  of  their  Semitic 
origin,  see  Prichard's  Researches,  vol.  iv. 
pp.  560,  561. 

Herodotus   regards  the  words  Syria 
and  Assyria,  Syrians  and  Assyrians,  as 


in  reality  the  same  (vii.  63)  ;  in  his  use 
of  them,  however,  as  ethnic  appellatives, 
he  always  carefully  distinguishes.  Syria 
is  the  tract  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  Euxine  ;  on  the  west  by  the  Halys, 
Cilicia,  and  the  Mediterranean;  on  the 
east  by  Armenia  and  the  desert ;  and  on 
the  south  by  Egypt.  Assyria  is  the 
upper  portion  of  the  Mesopotamian  val- 
ley, bounded  on  the  north  by  Armenia, 
on  the  west  by  the  desei't,  on  the  south 
by  Babylonia,  and  on  the  east  by  the 
Medes  and  Matieni.  [The  only  true 
word  is  Assyria,'  from  Asshur.  Syria  is 
a  Greek  corruption  of  the  genuine  term. 
-H.  C.  R.] 

^  It  has  been  thought  (Larcher,  vol.  i. 
p.  173)  that  Herodotus  placed  the  source 
of  the  Halys  in  the  range  of  Taurus, 
near  Iconium,  the  modern  Konia,  and 
regarded  the  river  as  having  from  its 
source  to  its  embouchure  a  uniform  di- 
rection from  south  to  north  ;  but  from 
the  more  elaborate  description  in  ch.  72 
of  this  book  it  appears  that  this  was  not 
his  belief.  He  there  places  the  source 
of  the  stream  in  the  mountains  of  Arme- 
nia, and  says,  that  after  running  through 
Cilicia  it  passes  the  Matieni  and  the 
Phrygians,  and  then  flows  with  a  north 
course  between  the  countries  of  Paphla- 
gonia and  Cappadocia.  Thus  his  state- 
ments are  reconcilable  with  those  of 
Arrian  (Peripl.  Pont.  Eux.  p.  127),  and 
with  the  real  course  of  the  Kizil-Irmak. 


(JHAP.  6,  7. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  LYDIA. 


127 


was  a  certain  king  of  Sardis,  Candaules  by  name,  whom  the 
Greeks  called  Myrsilus.®  He  was  a  descendant  of  Alcseus,  son 
of  Hercules.  The  first  king  of  this  dynasty  was  Agron,  son  of 
Ninus,  grandson  of  Belus,  and  great-grandson  of  AIcsbus  ;  Can- 
daules, son  of  Myrsus,  was  the  last.^  The  kings  who  reigned 
before  Agron  sprang  from  Lydus,  son  of  Atys,  from  whom  the 
people  of  the  land,  called  previously  Meonians,^  received  the 
name  of  Lydians.  The  Heraclides,  descended  from  Hercules 
and  the  slave-girl  of  Jardanus,^  having  been  entrusted  by  these 
princes  with  the  management  of  affairs,  obtained  the  kingdom 
by  an  oracle.^  Their  rule  endured  for  two  and  twenty  genera- 
tions of  men,  a  space  of  five  hundred  and  five  years ;  ^  during 


8  That  is  son  of  Myrsus,  a  patronymic 
of  a  Latin,  or  perhaps  it  should  rather 
be  said,  of  an  Etruscan,  type.  [So  Lar- 
thial-i-sa,  "the  wife  of  the  son  of  Lar- 
thius."  This  single  example,  of  which 
hardly  any  notice  has  been  taken,  is  pro- 
bably the  strongest  argument  we  possess 
in  favour  of  the  Lydian  origin  of  the 
Etruscans. — H.  C.  R.] 

7  The  best  and  latest  authorities  seem 
to  be  now  agreed  on  the  Semitic  descent 
of  the  Lydians  (see  Movers's  '  die  Pho- 
uizier,'  i.  475 ;  and  Ottf.  Miiller, '  Sandon 
imd  Sardanapal,'  p.  38,  &c.),  and  the 
near  synchronism  of  the  commencement 
and  duration  of  the  Assyrian  and  Lydian 
Empires,  together  with  the  introduction 
by  Herodotus  of  the  Assyrian  names  of 
Belus  and  Ninus  in  the  genealogy  of 
Candaules  are  certainly  in  favour  of  his 
belief  in  the  connexion  ;  but  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  no  trace  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions  of  Semitic  names  beyond  the 
range  of  Taurus,  nor  is  it  easy  to  believe, 
if  the  intervening  countries  of  Cilicia 
and  Cappadocia  were  peopled  by  Scyths, 
that  Assyrian  colonists  could  have  pene- 
trated beyond  them  so  far  to  the  west- 
ward. Again  the  remarkable  Latinism 
preserved  in  the  form  of  Myrsilus  for 
''the  son  of  Myrsus"  is  a  strong  argu- 
ment against  the  Semitic  origin  of  the 
Lydians,  and  to  whatever  race  the  Hera- 
cleids  belonged,  among  whom  are  found 
the  Assyi'ian  names,  in  a  later  age,  at 
any  rate,  the  language  of  the  Lydians 
was  most  certainly  Indo- Germanic  ;  for 
the  famous  Xanthus  has  left  it  on  record 
that  Sardis  in  the  vernacular  dialect  of 
his  day  signified  "  a  year  "  (being  given 
as  an  honorary  epithet  to  the  city  ^'irphs 
rifx^y  'HXiov"  );  and  this  is  pure  Arian, 
Sarat  or  Sard  being  the  word  used  for 


*'a  year"  in  Sanscrit  and  Armenian, 
and  being  retained  in  old  Persian  under 
the  form  of  Thrada,  and  in  modern  Per- 
sian as  Sal.  Consult  Xanthus  apud 
Lyd.  de  mensibus,  iii.  14,  p.  112;  Ed. 
Roether.— [H.  C.  R.] 

^  Homer  knows  only  of  Meonians,  not 
of  Lydians  (H.  ii,  864-6).  Xanthus 
spoke  of  the  Lydians  as  obtaining  the 
name  at  a  comparatively  late  period  in 
their  history  (Fragm.  i.  ed.  Didot). 
Niebuhr  (Roman  Hist.,  vol.  i.  p.  108, 
E.  T.)  regards  the  Lydians  as  a  distinct 
people  from  the  Meonians,  and  as  their 
conquerors.  (See  Appendix,  Essay  i. 
§5.) 

^  Jardanus  was  the  husband,  or,  ac- 
cording to  some  accounts,  the  father,  of 
Omphald.  Hercules,  while  in  her  ser- 
vice, was  said  to  have  formed  an  intimacy 
with  one  of  her  female  slaves,  by  name 
Malis,  who  bore  him  a  son,  Acelus  (Hel- 
lanicus,  Fragm.  102,  ed.  Didot).  Hero- 
dotus seems  to  suppose  her  to  have  been 
also  the  mother  of  Agron. 

^  This  would  be  important,  if  we  could 
depend  on  it  as  historical.  The  Asiatics 
seem  to  have  had  no  oracles  of  their 
own.  They  had  modes  of  divination 
(infra,  ch.  78;  Dino.  Fr.  8;  Polycharm. 
Frs.  1,  2),  but  no  places  where  prophe- 
tic utterances  were  supposed  to  be  given 
by  divine  inspiration.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances they  recognised  the  super- 
natural character  of  the  Greek  oracles, 
and  consulted  them  (vide  infrk,  chaps.  14, 
19,  46,  &c.).  It  would  be  interesting  to 
know  that  the  intercourse  had  begun  in 
the  1 3th  century  B.C. 

2  Herodotus  professes  to  count  three 
generations  to  the  century  (ii.  142),  thus 
making  the  generation  33|  years.  In 
this  case  the  average  of  the  geuei-ations 


128  LEGEND  OF  GYGES.  Book  I 

the  whole  of  which  period,  from  Agron  to  Candaules,  the  crow 
descended  in  the  direct  line  from  father  to  son. 

8.  Now  it  happened  that  this  Candaules  was  in  love  with  h^' 
own  wife  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  thought  her  the  fairest  womaji 
in  tlie  whole  world.  This  fancy  had  strange  consequence^ 
There  was  in  his  body-guard  a  man  whom  he  specially  favoured 
Gryges,  the  son  of  Dascylus.  All  affairs  of  greatest  mome^- 
were  entrusted  by  Candaules  to  this  person,  and  to  him  he  wa^ 
wont  to  extol  the  surpassing  beauty  of  his  wif§.  So  matter 
went  on  for  a  while.  At  length,  one  day,  Candaules,  wlv3 
was  fated  to  end  ill,  thus  addressed  his  follower :  "  I  see  thou 
dost  not  credit  what  I  tell  thee  of  my  lady's  loveliness ;  but 
come  now,  since  men's  ears  are  less  credulous  than  their  eyes, 
contrive  some  means  whereby  thou  mayst  behold  her  naked." 
At  this  the  other  loudly  exclaimed,  saying,  "  What  most  unwise 
speech  is  this,  master,  which  thou  hast  uttered  ?  Wouldst  thou 
have  me  behold  my  mistress  when  she  is  naked  ?  Bethink  thee 
that  a  woman,  with  her  clothes,  puts  off  her  bashfulness.  Our 
fathers,  in  time  past,  distinguished  right  and  wrong  plainly 
enough,  and  it  is  our  wisdom  to  submit  to  be  taught  by  them. 
There  is  an  old  saying,  '  Let  each  look  on  his  own.'  I  hold  thy 
wife  for  the  fairest  of  all  womankind.  Only,  I  beseech  thee,  ask 
me  not  to  do  wickedly." 

9.  Gryges  thus  endeavoured  to  decline  the  king's  proposal, 
trembling  lest  some  dreadful  evil  should  befall  him  through  it. 
But  the  king  replied  to  him,  "  Courage,  friend ;  suspect  me  not 
of  the  design  to  prove  thee  by  this  discourse ;  nor  dread  thy 
mistress,  lest  mischief  befall  thee  at  her  hands.  Be  sure  I  will 
so  manage  that  she  shall  not  even  know  that  thou  hast  looked 
upon  her.  I  will  place  thee  behind  the  open  door  of  the 
(chamber  in  which  we  sleep.  When  I  enter  to  go  to  rest  she  will 
follow  me.  There  stands  a  chair  close  to  the  entrance,  on  which 
she  will  lay  her  clothes  one  by  one  as  she  takes  them  off.  Thou 
wilt  be  able  thus  at  thy  leisure  to  peruse  her  person.  Then, 
when  she  is  moving  from  the  chair  toward  the  bed,  and  her  back 
is  ti^'ned  on  thee,  be  it  thy  care  that  she  see  thee  not  a:,  thou 
passest  through  the  doorway." 

10.  Gyges,  unable  to  escape,  could  but  declare  his  readiness. 
Then  Candaules,  when  bedtime  came,  led  Gyges  into  his  sleep- 


is  but  23  years.    There  is  no  need,  how-     for  Herodotus  does  not  here  calculate, 
ever,  to  alter  the  text  as  Larcher  does,     but  intends  to  state  facts. 


Chap.  8-12.  LEGEND  OF  GYGES.  129 

ing-chamber,  and  a  moment  after  the  queen  followed.  She 
intered,  and  laid  her  garments  on  the  chair,  and  Gyges  gazed 
on  her.  After  a  while  she  moved  toward  the  bed,  and  her  back 
being  then  turned,  he  glided  stealthily  from  the  apartment. 
As  he  was  passing  out,  however,  she  saw  him,  and  instantly 
'divining  what  had  happened,  she  neither  screamed  as  her  shame 
■mpelled  her,  nor  even  appeared  to  have  noticed  aught,  purposing 
to  take  vengeance  upon  the  husband  who  had  so  affronted  her. 
For  among  fhe  Lydians,  and  indeed  among  the  barbarians 
^•-enerally,  it  is  reckoned  a  deep  disgrace,  even  to  a  man,  to  be 
seen  naked.^ 

11.  No  sound  or  sign  of  intelligence  escaped  lier  at  the  time. 
But  in  the  morning,  as  soon  as  day  broke,  she  hastened  to  choose 
from  among  her  retinue,  such  as  she  knew  to  be  most  faithful 
to  her,  and  preparing  them  for  what  was  to  ensue,  summoned 
Gyges  into  her  presence.  Now  it  had  often  happened  before 
that  the  queen  had  desired  to  confer  with  him,  and  he  was 
accustomed  to  come  to  her  at  her  call.  He  therefore  obeyed 
the  summons,  not  suspecting  that,  she  knew  aught  of  what  had 
occurred.  Then  she  addressed  these  words  to  him  :  "  Take  thy 
choice,  Gyges,  of  two  courses  wliich  are  open  to  thee.  Slay 
Candaules,  and  thereby  become  my  lord,  and  obtain  the  Lydian 
throne,  or  die  this  moment  in  his  room.  So  wilt  thou  not  again, 
obeying  all  behests  of  thy  master,  behold  what  is%ot  lawful  for 
thee.  It  must  needs  be,  that  either  he  perish  by  whose  counsel 
this  thing  was  done,  or  tliou,  who  sawest  me  naked,  and  so  didst 
break  our  usages."  At  these  words  Gyges  stood  aw^hile  in  mute 
astonishment;  recovering  after  a  time,  he  earnestly  besought 
the  queen  that  she  would  not  compel  him  to  so  hard  a  choice. 
But  finding  he  implored  in  vain,  and  that  necessity  was  indeed 
laid  on  him  to  kill  or  to  be  killed,  he  made  choice  of  life  for 
himself,  and  replied  by  this  inquiry :  "  If  it  must  be  so,  and 
thou  compellest  me  against  my  Avill  to  put  my  lord  to  death, 
come,  let  me  hear  how  thou  wilt  have  me  set  on  him."  "  Let 
him  be  attacked,"  she  answered,  "  on  that  spot  where  I  was  by 
him  ^hown  naked  to  you,  and  let  the  assault  be  made  when  he 
is  asleep." 

12.  All  was  then  prepared  for  the  attack,  and  when  night 

3  The  contrast  between  the  feelings  of  (rb  TraAot  koi  iv  tw  ^OXvfnriaKcS  ayuui 

the  Gi'eeks  and  the  barbarians  on  this  Sia^wfiara  exoi/Tes  irept  to  alSo7a  ol  a9\r]- 

point  is  noted  by  Thucydides  (i.  tj),  where  ral  riyoivlCovro,   Ka\    ov    irokXa    tr?; 

■vve  learn  that  the  exhibition  of  the  naked  eiretSajTreTrauTat). 
person  was  recent,  even  with  the  Greeks 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  ACCESSION  OF  GYGES.  Eook  T. 

fell,  Gyges,  seeing  that  he  had  no  retreat  or  escape,  but  must 
absolutely  either  slay  Candaules,  or  himself  be  slain,  followed 
his  mistress  into  the  sleeping-room.  She  placed  a  dagger  in 
his  hand,  and  hid  him  carefully  behind  the  self-same  door. 
Then  Gyges,  when  the  king  was  fallen  asleep,  entered  privily 
into  the  chamber  and  struck  him  dead.  Thus  did  the  wife  and 
kingdom  of  Candaules  pass  into  the  posse  sion  of  Gyges,  of 
whom  Archilochus  the  Parian,  who  lived  about  the  same  time,* 
made  mention  in  a  poem  written  in  Iambic  trimeter  verse. 

13.  Gyges  was  afterwards  confirmed  in  the  possession  of  the 
throne  by  an  answer  of  the  Delphic  oracle.  Enraged  at  the 
murder  of  their  king,  the  people  flew  to  arms,  but  after  a  while 
the  partisans  of  Gyges  came  to  terms  with  them,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  if  the  Delphic  oracle  declared  him  king  of  the 
Lydians,  he  should  reign;  if  otherwise,  he  should  yield  the 
throne  to  the  Heraclides.  As  the  oracle  was  given  in  his  favour 
he  became  king.  The  Pythoness,  however,  added  that,  in  the 
fifth  generation  from  Gyges,  vengeance  should  come  for  the 
Heraclides ;  a  prophecy  of  which  neither  the  Lydians  nor  their 
princes  took  any  account  till  it  was  fulfilled.  Such  was  the 
way  in  which  the  Mermnadse  deposed  the  Heraclides,  and 
themselves  obtained  the  sovereignty. 

14.  When  Gyges  was  established  on  the  throne,  he  sent  no 
small  presents  to  Delphi,  as  his  many  silver  offerings  at  the 
Delphic  shrine  testify.  Besides  this  silver  he  gave  a  vast 
number  of  vessels  of  gold,  among  which  the  most  worthy  of 
mention  are  the  goblets,  six  in  number,  and  weighing  altogether 


*  The  age  of  Archil oclius  is  a  disputed  have  outlived  Callinus.     It  seems  better 

point.    Mr.  Clinton  places  him  B.C.  708-  to   raise  our   date  for  the    Cimmerian 

665  (F.  H.  vol.  i.  01.   18.  23,   2.  &c.).  invasion,  which  (in  Mr.  Grote's  words) 

Mr.    Grote  is   of  opinion  that   this   is  "  appears  fixed  for  some  date  in  the  reign 

"a  half  century  too  high."    (History  of  of  Ardys,"   but  which  is  not  fixed  to 

Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  333,  note  2).      There  any  particular  part  of  his  long  reign  of 

are  strong  grounds  for  believing  that  Ar-  49  years,  than  to  disregard  all  the  au- 

chilochus  was  later  than  Callinus  (Clin-  thorities  (Hex^odotus,  Cicero,  Clemens, 

ton,   vol.  i.  01.  17),  who  is  proved  by  Tatian,  Cyril,  ^Elian,  Prqclus,  &c.)  who 

Mi;.  Grote  to  have  written  after  the  great  place  him  in  the  reign  of  Gyges,  or  a 

Cimmerian  invasion  in  the  reign  of  Ar-  little  afterwards. 

dys.     But  there  is  nothing  to  show  at         A  line  of  Archilochus,  in  which  men- 

what  time  in  the  reign  of  Ardys  this  tion  was  made  of  Gyges,  has  been  pre- 

invasion   happened.      Archilochus    may  served — Ov  jxoi  ra  Tvyeco  tov  Tro\vxpv<rov 

have  been  contemporai-y  both  with  Gy-  /xeAei  (Ar.  Rhet.  iii.  17,  Pint.  Mor.  ii. 

ges  and  Ardys.     The  Cimmerian  inva-  p.  47U,  C).    If  it  had  been  spoken  in  his 

sion  may  have  been  early  in  the  reign  of  own  person,  it  would  have  settled  the 

the  latter  prince,  say  B.C.  675.    Archilo-  question  of  his  date,  but  we  learn  from 

clius  may  have  flourished  B.C.  708-6li5,  Aristotle  that  it  was  put  in  the  mouth 

and  yet  have  witnessed  the  great  invo-  of  one  of  his  characters, 
sion,  and  (as  Strabo  and  Clement  argue) 


Chap.  12-11 


OFFEPJNGS  TO  DELPHI. 


131 


thirty  talents,  winch  stand  in  the  Corinthian  treasury,  dedicated 
by  him.  I  call  it  the  Corinthian  treasury,  tiiongh  in  strictness 
of  speech  it  is  the  treasury  not  of  the  whole  Corinthian  people, 
but  of  Cypselns,  son  of  Eetion.^  Excepting  Midas,  son  of 
Gordias,^  king  of  Phrygia,  Cyges  was  the  first  of  the  barbarians 
whom  we  know  to  have  sent  offerings  to  Delphi.  Midas  dedi- 
cated the  royal  tlijone  whereon  he  was  accustomed  to  sit  and 
administer  justice,  an  object  well  worth  looking  at.  It  lies  in 
the  same  place  as  the  goblets  presented  by  Gyges.  The  Del- 
phians  call  the  whole  of  the  silver  and  the  gold  which  Gyges 
dedicated,  after  the  name  of  the  donor,  Gygian."^ 

As  soon  as  Gyges  was  king  he  made  an  inroad  on  Miletus 
and  Smyrna,'^  and  took  the  city  of  Colophon.  Afterwards,  how- 
ever, though  he  reigned  eight  and  thirty  years,  he  did  not  per- 
form a  single  noble  exploit.  I  shall  therefore  make  no  further 
mention  of  him,  but  pass  on  to  his  son  and  successoi*  in  the 
kingdom,  Ardys. 

15.  Ardys  took  Priene  ^  and  made  war  upon  Miletus.     In  his 


^  The  offerings  of  Cypselus  to  Delphi 
and  other  shrines  are  spoken  of  by  seve- 
ral writers.  (Pausan.  V.  ii.  6  4  ;  Pint. 
Sept,  Sap.  Agaclyt.  ap.  Phot,  in  KvtpeAi- 
d(vu  audd-q/jLa)  See  note  on  book  ii.  eh. 
1(57,  ad  fin.  That  the  Corinthians  in 
later  times  sought  to  substitute  in  the 
titles  of  the  offerings  the  name  of  their 
state  for  that  of  their  quondam  king  is 
apparent  from  the  story  which  Pausa- 
uias  tells. 

^  In  the  Royal  house  of  Phrygia,  the 
names  Midas  and  Gordias  seem  to  have 
alternated  perpetually,  as  in  that  of  Gy- 
rene the  names  Battus  and  ArcesilaiA^. 
Every  Phrygian  king  mentioned  in  an- 
cient history  is  either  Midas,  son  of 
Gordias,  or  Gordias  son  of  Midas.  Bou- 
hier  (Dissertations, ch.  viii.)  reckons  four 
kings  of  Phrygia  named  Midas,  each  the 
son  of  a  Gordias.  Three  of  these  are 
mentioned  in  Herodotus.  (See,  besides 
the  present  passage,  i.  35,  and  viii.  138.) 

The  tomb,  of  which  a  representation 
is  given  by  Texier,  is  the  burial-place 
apparently  of  one  of  these  kings.  It  is 
at  Doijanhi,  near  Katatja  (Cotyssum),  in 
the  ancient  Phrygia;  and  has  two  in- 
scriptions, which  may  be  read  thus  : — 

1.  Ares  Ap/ctaepas  a/cei/ai/oyaFot  MtSatyaFayraet 

Fai/a/crei  eSaes. 

2.  Ba|3a     Mefxepats    IIpoiTaFos    <¥<■    yavaFe-yo? 

'^.iK.eixa.v  eSae?. 

See  Texier 's  Asie  Mineure,  vol.  i.  p.  155; 
and  compare  the  Essay  "  On  the  Ethnic 


Affinities  of  the  Nations  of  Western 
Asia,"  Essay  xi.  §  12,  where  these  and 
some  other  Phrygian  inscriptions  are 
considered.  [It  is  quite  possible  that 
Mita,  king  of  Muski,  ("[ti'O)  who  reigned 
over  a  people  inhabiting  the  plateau  of 
Asia  Minor,  contemporaneously  with 
Sargon,  may  have  been  a  Midas,  king  of 
Phrygia.— H.  C.  P.] 

7  Tneopompus  (Fr.  219)  and  Phanias 
of  Eresus  (Fr.  .12)  said  that  these  were 
the  first  gold  and  silver  offerings  which 
had  been  made  to  the  shrine  at  Delphi. 

**  To  this  war  belongs,  apparently, 
the  narrative  wliich  Plutarch  quotes 
from  Dositheiis  (Dosith.  Fr.  6},  who 
wrote  a  Lydian  History.  The  Smyr- 
noeans  seem  to  have  been  hard  pressed, 
but  by  a  stratagem,  which  tliey  com- 
memorated ever  afterwards  by  the  fes- 
tival of  the  Eleutheria,  destroyed  the 
army  which  had  been  sent  against  them. 
According  to  one  account,  Gyges  and 
his  Lydians  had  actually  seized  the 
city,  when  the  Smyrnscans  rose  up  and 
expelled  them.  (Pausan.  iv.  xxi.  §  3.) 
Mimnermus,  the  elegiac  poet,  celebrated 
the  event  m  one  of  his  pieces.  (Ibid. 
IX.  xxix.  §  2.) 

^  Mr.  Grote  says,  "  This  possession 
cannot  have  been  maintained,  for  the 
city  appears  afterwards  as  autonomous  " 
(History  of  Greece,  vol  iii.  p.  301 ) :  but 
I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  autho- 
rity for  the  latter  statement.   No  Ionian 

k2 


132  AEDYS— SADYATTES— ALYATTES.      Book  I. 

reign  the  Cimmerians,  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  nomades 
of  Scythia,  entered  Asia  and  captured  Sardis,  all  but  the  citadel.^ 
He  reigned  forty-nine  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Sadyattes,  who  reigned  twelve  years.  At  his  death  his  son 
Alyattes  mounted  the  throne. 

16.  This  prince  waged  war  with  the  Modes  under  Cyaxares, 
the  grandson  of  De'ioces,^  drove  the  Cimmerians  out  of  Asia, 
conquered  Smyrna,  the  Colophonian  colony,^  and  invaded  Cla- 
zomense.  From  this  last  contest  he  did  not  come  off  as  he 
could  have  wished,  but  met  with  a  sore  defeat ;  still,  however, 
in  the  course  of  his  reign,  he  performed  other  actions  very 
worthy  of  note,  of  which  I  wdll  now  proceed  to  give  an  account. 

17.  Inheriting  from  his  father  a  war  with  the  Milesians,  he 
pressed  the  siege  against  the  city  by  attacking  it  in  the  following 
manner.  When  the  harvest  was  ripe  on  the  ground  he  marched 
his  army  into  Milesia  to  the  sound  of  pipes  and  harps,  and  flutes 
masculine  and  feminine.*  The  buildings  that  were  scattered 
over  the  country  he  neither  pulled  down  nor  burnt,  nor  did  he 
even  tear  away  the  doors,  but  left  them  standing  as  they  were. 
He  cut  down,  however,  and  utterly,  destroyed  all  the  trees  and 
all  the  corn  throughout  the  land,  and  then  returned  to  his  own 
dominions.  It  was  idle  for  his  army  to  sit  down  before  the 
place,  as  the  Milesians  were  masters  of  the  sea.  The  reason 
that  he  did  not  demolish  their  buildings  was,  that  the  inhabitants 
might  be  tempted  to  use  them  as  homesteads  from  which  to  go 
forth  to  sow  and  till  their  lands ;  and  so  each  time  that  he  in- 
vaded the  country  he  might  find  something  to  plunder. 

18.  In  this  way  he  carried  on  the  war  with  the  Milesians  for 
eleven  years,  in  the  course  of  which  he  inflicted  on  them  two 


city,    once   conquered  by    any    Lydian  was  lowei',  would  be  called  male;   the 

king,  recovers  its   independence.     The  more  treble  or  shrill-sounding  one  would 

encroachments    were   progressive,    and  be  the  female.      It  is  possible  that  the 

were  maintained  in  all  cases.  two  flutes  repi-esented  respectively  the 

1  For  an  account  of  this  and  the  other  Lydian  and  Phxygian  musical  scales,  as 
inroads  of  the  Cimmerians,  see  Appen-  Larcher  conjectures  (note  on  the  pas- 
dix.  Essay  i.  sage,  vol.  i.  p.  192).  If  this  were  the  case, 

2  Vide  infra,  chaps.  73-4.  however,  the  male  flute  would  be  the 

3  Vide  infra,  ch.  150.  Phrygian,  the  female  flute  the  Lydian: 
*  Anlus  Gellius  understood  the  "  male  for  the  Lydian  musical  scale  was  more 

and  female  flutes,"  as  flutes  played  by  highly  pitched  than  the  Phrygian.    Lar- 

men,  and  flutes  played  by  women  (Noct.  cher  states  exactly  the  reverse   of  the 

Attic,  i.  11).     But  it  is  more  probable  truth  when  he  says,    "  Les  flutes  Ly- 

that  flutes  of  different  tones  or  pitches  dienes  dont  le   son    etoit  grave,   et  les 

are  intended.    (See  the  essay  of  Bottiger,  Phrygienes,   qui  avoient  le  son  aigu." 

'  Ueber   die    Lydische  Doppelflote,'    in  (See    the    article    on    Greek   Music    in 

Wieland's  Attisch.  Mus.  vol.  i.  part  ii.  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  con- 

p.  334.)     The  flute,  the  pitch  of  which  tributed  by  Professor  Donkiu.) 


Chap.  15-21.        ALYATTES  CONSULTS  THE  ORACLE.  133 

terrible  blows  ;  one  in  tlieir  own  country  in  the  district  of  Lime- 
neium,  the  other  in  the  plain  of  the  Mseander.  During  six  of 
these  eleven  years,  Sadyattes,  the  son  of  Ardys,  who  first  lighted 
the  flames  of  this  war,  was  king  of  Lydia,  and  made  the  incur- 
sions. Only  the  five  following  years  belong  to  the  reign  of 
Alyattes,  son  of  Sadyattes,  who  (as  I  said  before)  inheriting  the 
war  from  his  father,  applied  himself  to  it  unremittingly.  The 
Milesians  throughout  the  contest  received  no  help  at  all  from 
any  of  the  lonians,  excepting  those  of  Chios,  who  lent  them  troops 
in  requital  of  a  like  service  rendered  them  in  former  times,  the 
Milesians  having  fought  on  the  side  of  the  Chians  during  the 
whole  of  the  war  between  them  and  the  people  of  Erythrse. 

19.  It  was  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  war  that  the  following  mis- 
chance occurred  from  the  firing  of  the  harvest-fields.  Scarcely 
had  the  corn  been  set  a -light  by  the  soldiers  when  a  violent 
wind  carried  the  flames  against  the  temple  of  Minerva  Assesia, 
which  caught  fire  and  was  burnt  to  the  ground.  At  the  time 
no  one  made  any  account  of  the  circumstance ;  but  afterwards. 
on  the  return  of  the  army  to  Sardis,  Alyattes  fell  sick.  His 
illness  continued,  whereupon,  either  advised  thereto  by  some 
friend,  or  perchance  himself  conceiving  the  idea,  he  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Delphi  to  inquire  of  the  god  concerning  his  malady. 
On  their  arrival  the  Pythoness  declared  that  no  answer  should 
be  given  them  until  they  had  rebuilt  the  temple  of  Minerva, 
burnt  by  the  Lydians  at  Assesus  in  Milesia. 

20.  Thus  much  I  know  from  information  given  me  by  the 
Delphians ;  the  remainder  of  the  story  the  Milesians  add. 

The  answer  made  by  the  oracle  came  to  the  ears  of  Periander, 
son  of  Cypselus,  who  was  a  very  close  friend  to  Thrasybulus, 
tyrant  of  Miletus  at  that  period.  He  instantly  despatched  a 
messenger  to  report  the  oracle  to  him,  in  order  that  Thrasy- 
bulus, forewarned  of  its  tenor,  might  the  better  adapt  his  mea- 
sures to  the  posture  of  affairs. 

21.  vVlyattes,  the  moment  that  the  words  of  the  oracle  were 
reported  to  him,  sent  a  herald  to  Miletus  in  hopes  of  concluding 
a  truce  with  Thrasybulus  and  the  Milesians  for  such  a  time  as 
was  needed  to  rebuild  the  temple.  The  herald  went  upon  his 
Avay ;  but  meantime  Thrasybulus  had  been  apprised  of  every- 
thing ;  and  conjecturing  what  Alyattes  would  do,  he  contrived 
this  artifice.  He  had  all  the  corn  that  was  in  the  city,  whether 
belonging  to  himself  or  to  private  persons,  brought  into  the 
market-place,  and  issued  an  order  that  the  Milesians  should 


134  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  TRUCE.  Book  T. 

hold  themselves  in  readiness,  and,  when  he  gave  the  signal, 
should,  one  and  all,  fall  to  drinking  and  revelry. 

22.  The  purpose  for  which  he  gave  these  orders  was  the  fol- 
lowing. He  hoped  that  the  Sardian  herald,  seeing  so  great  store 
of  corn  upon  the  ground,  and  all  the  city  given  up  to  festivity, 
would  inform  Alyattes  of  it,  which  fell  out  as  he  anticipated. 
The  herald  observed  the  whole,  and  when  he  had  delivered  his 
message,  went  back  to  Sardis.  This  circumstance  alone,  as  I 
gather,  brought  about  the  peace  which  ensued.  Alyattes,  who 
had  hoped  that  there  was  now  a  great  scarcity  of  corn  in  Miletus, 
and  that  the  people  were  worn  down  to  the  last  pitch  of  suffering, 
when  he  heard  from  the  herald  on  his  return  from  Miletus 
tidings  so  contrary  to  those  he  had  expected,  made  a  treaty  with 
the  enemy  by  which  the  two  nations  became  close  friends  and 
allies.  He  tlien  built  at  Assesus  two  temples  to  Minerva  instead 
of  one,^  and  shortly  after  recovered  from  his  malady.  Such 
were  the  chief  circumstances  of  the  war  which  Alyattes  waged 
with  Thrasybulus  and  the  Milesians. 

23.  This  Periander,  who  apprised  Thrasybulus  of  the  oracle, 
was  son  of  Cypselus,  and  tyrant  of  Corinth.'^  In  his  time  a  very 
wonderful  thing  is  said  to  have  happened.  Tlie  Corinthians  and 
the  Lesbians  agree  in  their  account  of  the  matter.  They  relate 
that  Arion  of  Methymna,  who  as  a  player  on  the  harp  was 
second  to  no  man  living  at  that  time,  and  who  was,  so  far  as  we 
know,  the  first  to  invent  the  dithyrambic  measure,^  to  give  it  its 

'  The  feeling  that  restitution  should  easily  as  an  individual  Tvpavvos.  (Com- 
be twofold,  when  made  to  the  gods,  was  pare  the  case  of  Athens  under  the  Pisis- 
a  feature  of  the  religion  of  Rome  (see  tratidae.)  So  long  as  the  king  is  not 
Niebuhr's  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  550,  E.T.)-  recognised  as  dejnrc,  but  only  as  de  facto. 
It  was  not  recognised  in  Greece.  Pericles  king,  he  is  rvpdvvos,  not  fiaaiXevs.  This 
proposed  that,  if  necessity  required,  the  was  the  case  at  Corinth.  Vid.  mf.  v.  92. 
Athenians  should  make  use  of  Athene''s  '  The  invention  of  the  Dithyramb,  or 
golden  ornaments,  and  afterwards  re-  Cyclic  choi'us,  was  ascribed  to  Arion,  not 
place  them  with  ornaments  of  c'(7wa/ value  only  by  Herodotus,  but  also  by  Aris- 
(/j.^  eXdaaoo.  Thucyd.  ii.  13).  Un-  totle,  by  Hellanicus,  by  Dictearchus,  and, 
doubtedly  there  are  points  of  similarity  implicitly,  by  Pindar  (cf»  Proclus  ap. 
between  the  Lydian  and  Italic  nations,  Phot.  Cod.  239,  p.  985,  and  Schol.  Pin- 
whicli  seem  to  indicate  that  the  myth  of  dar.  ad  Olymp.  xiii.  25),  who  said  it  was 
Tyrsenus  and  Lydus  has  in  it  some  invented  at  Corinth.  Dio  (Orat.  xxxvii. 
germ  of  truth.  p.  455,  A. )  and  Suidas  agreed  with  this. 

^  Bahr  says,  (Not.  ad  loc.)  Periander  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  others  attri- 

was  tyrant  in  the  ancient  sense  of  the  buted  the  invention  to  Lasus  of  Her- 

word,  in  which  it  is  simply  equivalent  to  mione.       (Strom,   i.  p.   365,  Schol.  ad 

the  Latin  "  rex"  and  the  Greek  ai/u|,  or  Aristoph.  Av.  1403.)     This  is  undoubt- 

^acTiXevs ;  because  he  inherited  the  crown  edly  erroneous.    It  has  been  questioned, 

from  his  father  Cypselus.    But  it  would  however,  if  the  Dithyramb  was  not  more 

rather  seem  that  the  word  bears  here  its  ancient  than  Arion.  A  fragment  ascribed 

usual  sense  of  a  king  who  rules  with  a  to  Archilochus  is  preserved  in  Athenseus 

usurped  and  unconstitutional  authority.  (Deipnosoph.  xiv.  vi.    p.    (328),    where 

There  might  be  a  dynasty  of  Tvpavvoi  as  the  dithyramb  is  spoken  of,  and  which 


Chap.  21-24.  LEGEND  OF  AEIOK  13t) 

name,  and  to  recite  in  it  at  Corinth,  was  carried  to  T?enarum  on 
the  back  of  a  dolphin. 

24.  He  had  lived  for  many  years  at  tlie  court  of  Periander, 
when  a  longing  came  upon  him  to  sail  across  to  Italy  and  Sicily. 
Having  made  rich  profits  in  those  parts,  he  wanted  to  recross 
the  seas  to  Corinth.^  He  therefore  hired  a  vessel,  the  crew  of 
which  were  Corinthians,  thinking  that  there  was  no  people  in 
whom  he  could  more  safely  confide ;  and,  going  on  board,  he 
set  sail  from  Tarentum.  The  sailors,  however,  when  they 
reached  the  open  sea,  formed  a  plot  to  throw  him  overboard 
and  seize  upon  his  riches.  Discovering  their  design,  he  fell  on 
his  knees,  beseeching  them  to  spare  his  life,  and  making  them 
welcome  to  his  money.  But  they  refused;  and  required  him 
either  to  kill  himself  outright,  if  he  wished  for  a  grave  on  the 
dry  land,  or  without  loss  of  time  to  leap  overboard  into  the  sen. 
In  this  strait  Arion  begged  them,  since  such  was  their  pleasure, 
to  allow  him  to  mount  upon  the  quarter-deck,  dressed  in  his 
full  costume,  and  there  to  play  and  sing,  promising  tliat,  as  soon 
as  his  song  was  ended,  he  would  destroy  himself.  Deliglited  at 
the  prospect  of  hearing  the  very  best  harper  in  the  world,  they 
consented,  and  withdrew  from  the  stern  to  the  middle  of  the 
vessel :  while  Arion  dressed  himself  in  the  full  costume  of  his 
calling,  took  his  harp,  and  standing  on  the  quarter-deck,  chanted 
the  Orthian.^  His  strain  ended,  he  flung  himself,  fully  attired 
as  he  was,  headlong  into  the  sea.  The  Corinthians  then  sailed 
on  to  Corinth.  As  for  Arion,  a  dolphin,  they  say,  took  him 
upon  his  back  and  carried  him  to  Taenarum,  where  he  went 


has  itself  a  dithyrambic  character.    The  chorusses,  thereby  making  it  an ti-stro- 

Scholiast  on  Pindar,  01.  xiii.  25,  informs  phic,    and  substituting  the  accom^pani- 

nsthat  Pindar  varied  from  his  statement  ment  of  the  harp  for  that  of  the  flute. 

in  that  place,  and  said  in  one  poem  that  It  was  danced  by  a  chorus  of  fifty  men 

the  dithyramb  was  invented  at  Naxos,  or  boys  round  an  altar,  whence  it  was 

in  another  at  Tliebes.     Larcher  thinks  called    kvkXios   xopt^s;    and  Arion   was 

the  dithyramb  was  so  ancient  a  form  of  mythically  said  to  be  the  son  of  Cyclou 

composition  that  its  inventor  was   not  or  Cycleus. 

known  (vol.  i.  p.  196).     Perhaps  it  is         ^  Another  version  of  the  story  was, 

best  to   conclude  with  a  recent  writer  that  he  grew  rich  at  Corinth,  and  wished 

that  Arion  did  not  invent,  but  only  im-  to  return  to  Methymna  (Lucian,  vol.  ii. 

proved  the  dithyramb  (Plehn   in    Les-  p.  109). 

biac.  p.  168).  ^    The    Orthian    is    mentioned  as    a 

The  dithyramb  was  originally  a  mere  particular  sort  of  melody  by  Plutarch 

hymn  in  honour  of  Bacchus,  with  the  (De    Musica,    vol.    ii.    1134,    D.).    Dio 

circumstances  of  whose  birth  the  word  is  Chrysostom  (De  Regno,  p.  1,  B.),  and 

somewhat  fancifully  connected  (Eurip.  the  Scholiast  on  Aristophanes  (Acharn. 

Bacch.  5'26).     It  was  sung  by  a  kSojxos,  16).     According  to  the  last  authority, 

or  baud  of  revellers,  directed  by  a  leader,  it   was  pitched   in  a  high  key,   as  the 

It  is  thought  that  Arion's  improvement  name   would  imply,  and  was   a  lively 

was  to  adapt  it  to  the  system  of  Doric  spirited  air. 


136 


DEATH  OF  ALYATTES. 


Book  I. 


ashore,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Corinth  in  his  musician's  dress, 
and  told  all  that  had  happened  to  him.  Periander,  however, 
disbelieved  the  story,  and  put  Arion  in  ward,  to  prevent  his 
leaving  Corinth,  while  he  watched  anxiously  for  the  return  of 
the  mariners.  On  their  arrival  he  summoned  them  before  him 
and  asked  them  if  they  could  give  him  any  tidings  of  Arion. 
They  returned  for  answer  that  he  was  alive  and  in  good  health 
in  Italy,  and  that  they  had  left  him  at  Tarentum,^  where  he 
was  doing  well.  Thereupon  Arion  appeared  before  them,  just 
as  he  was  when  he  jumped  from  the  vessel :  the  men,  astonished 
and  detected  in  falsehood,  could  no  longer  deny  their  guilt. 
Such  is  the  account  which  the  Corinthians  and  Lesbians  give ; 
and  there  is  to  this  day  at  Tsenarum,  an  offering  of  Arion's  at 
the  shrine,  which  is  a  small  figure  in  bronze,  representing  a 
man  seated  upon  a  dolphin.^ 

25.  Having  brought  the  war  with  the  Milesians  to  a  close, 
and  reigned  over  the  land  of  Lydia  for  fifty-seven  years,  Alyattes 
died.  He  was  the  second  prince  of  his  house  who  made  offerings 
at  Delphi.  His  gifts,  which  he  sent  on  recovering  from  his 
sickness,  were  a  great  bowl  of  pure  silver,  with  a  salver  in  steel 
curiously  inlaid,  a  work  among  all  the  offerings  at  Delphi  the 
best  worth  looking  at.  Glaucus,  the  Chian,  made  it,  the  man 
who  first  invented  the  art  of  inlaying  steel.^ 


1  In  memory  of  this  legend,  the  Ta- 
rentines  were  fond  of  exhibiting  Arion, 
astride  upon  his  dolphin,  on  their  coins. 


2  Various  attempts  have  been  made  to 
rationalize  the  legend  of  Arion.  Larcher 
conjectures  that  he  swam  ashore,  and 
afterwards  got  on  board  a  swift-sailing 
vessel,  which  happened  to  have  a  dolphin 
for  its'  figure-head,  and  arrived  at  Co- 
rinth before  the  ship  from  which  he  liiid 
been  ejected  came  into  port  (Herodote, 
vol.  i.  p.  201).  Clinton  supposes  that 
the  whole  story  may  have  grown  out  of 
the  fact,  that  Arion  was  taken  by  pi- 
rates, and  made  his  escape  from  them 
(F.  H.  vol.  i.  'p.  217). 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  the  le- 


gend grew  out  of  the  figure  at  Tsenarum, 
which  was  known  by  its  inscidption  to 
be  an  ofiering  of  Arion's  (See  Creuzer's 
Dissert,  de  mythis  ab  artium  operibus 
profectis,  §  2).  It  may  have  had  no 
other  groundwork. 

The  figure  itself  remained  at  Tsena- 
rum more  than  seven  hundred  years.  It 
was  seen  by  ^^lian  in  the  third  century 
after  Christ,  when  it  bore  the  following 
inscription  : — 

' AOavaTiiiv  7roju,:raicriv  'ApCova,''KvK\ovo?  vlov, 
*E/c  2t»ceA.oi)  TreAa^ous  crwo-ev  ox'JM*  Tofie. 

3  It  is  questionable  whether  by  k6\- 
\7](ris  is  to  be  understood  the  inlaying, 
or  merely  the  welding  of  iron  together. 
The  only  two  descriptions  which  eye- 
witnesses have  left  us  of  the  salver,  lead 
in  opposite  directions.  Pausanias  gives 
as  its  peculiarity  that  the  various  por- 
tions were  not  fastened  together  by  nails 
or  rivets,  but  united  by  welding  (X.  xvi. 
§  1) ;  Atheuseus,  that  it  was  covered 
with  representations  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals (Deipnosoph.  v.  13,  p.  210).  Lar- 
cher's  rea.soning  in  favour  of  inlaying  is 


Chap.  24-27.  ACCESSION  OF  CRCESUS.  137 

26.  On  tlie  death  of  Alyattes,  Croesus,  liis  son,  who  was 
thirty-five  years  old,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Of  the  Greek 
cities,  Ephesus  was  the  first  that  he  attacked.  The  EjDhesians, 
when  he  laid  siege  to  the  place,  made  an  offering  of  their  city 
to  Diana,  by  stretching  a  rope  from  the  town  wall  to  the  temple 
of  the  goddess,*^  which  was  distant  from  the  ancient  city,  then 
besieged  by  Croesus,  a  space  of  seven  furlongs.^  They  were,  as 
I  said,  the  first  Greeks  whom  he  attacked.^  Afterwards,  on 
some  pretext  or  other,  he  made  war  in  turn  upon  every  Ionian 
and  ^olian  state,  bringing  forward,  where  he  could,  a  substantial 
ground  of  complaint ;  where  such  failed  him,  advancing  some 
poor  excuse. 

27.  In  this  way  he  made  himself  master  of  all  the  Greek 
cities  in  Asia,  and  forced  them  to  become  his  tributaries ;  after 
which  he  began  to  think  of  building  ships,  and  attacking  the 
islanders.  Everything  had  been  got  ready  for  this  purpose, 
when  Bias  of  Priene  (or,  as  some  say,  Pittacus  the  Mytilenean) 
put  a  stop  to  the  project.  The  king  had  made  inquiry  of  this 
person,  who  Avas  lately  arrived  at  Sardis,  if  there  were  any  news 
from  Greece ;  to  which  he  answered,  "  Yes,  sire,  the  islanders 
are  gathering  ten  thousand  horse,  designing  an  expedition 
against  thee  and  against  thy  capital."  Croesus,  thinking  he 
spake  seriously,  broke  out,  "Ah,  might  the  gods  put  such  a 
thought  into  their  minds  as  to  attack  the  sons  of  the  Lydians 
with  cavalry  !"  "  It  seems,  oh !  king,"  rejoined  the  other,  "  that 
thou  desirest  earnestly  to  catch  the  islanders  on  horseback  upon 
the  mainland, — thou  knowest  well  what  would  come  of  it.  But 
what  thinkest  thou  the  islanders  desire  better,  now  that  they 


ingenious.    The  main  difficulties  are  the  Apollo,  he  connected  it  with  Delos  by  a 

etymological  meaning  of  the  word,  and  chain  (Thucyd.  iii.  104), 

the  description  of  Pausanias.  ^  We  learn  by  this  that  the  site  of 

Stephen  of  Byzantium  calls  Glaucus  a  Ephesus  had  changed  between  the  time 

Samian  (in  voc.  AiOdXri)  against  the  con-  of  Croesus  and  that  of  Herodotus.      It 

current  testimony  of  all   other  ancient  is  curiovis  that,  notwithstanding,  Xeno- 

writers.     He  was  led  into  the  mistake  phon  speaks  of  the  temple  of  Diana  (Ar- 

probably  by  his  knowledge  of  the  gene-  temis)  as  still  distant  exactly  seven  stades 

ral  priority  of  Samos  in  mattei's  of  art.  from  the  city  (Ephes.  i,  2).    Afterwards 

(Vide  infr"  i.  51;  iii.  42  and  60;  iv.  88,  the  temple  drew  the  population  to  it. 

&c.)  The  building   seen  by   Herodotus   was 

''  An  analogous  case  is  mentioned  by  that  burnt  by  Eratostratus,  B.C.  356. 

Plutarch  (Solon,  c.  12).      The  fugitives  *'  The  stoiy  of  Pindarus,   which  Mr. 

implicated  in  the  insurrection  of  Cylon  Grote  interweaves  into  his  history  at  this 

at  Athens  connected  themselves  with  the  point  (vol.  iii.  p.  347),  is  far  too  ques- 

altar  by  a  cord.     Thi^ough  the  breaking  tionable  in  its  details,  and  rests  upon  too 

of  the  "cord  they  lost  their  sacred  cha-  little  authority  (iElian.  Hist.  Var.  iii.  26 ; 

racter.     So,  too,  when  Polycrates  dedi-  Polysen.  Strateg.  vi.  50)  to  be  entitled 

cated  the  islandof  Rheneia  to  the  Delian  to  much  consideration. 


138  CRCESUS'  DESIGNS  AGAINST  THE  ISLANDERS.     Cook  I. 

hear  tliou  art  about  to  build  ships  and  sail  against  them,  than  to 
catch  the  Lydians  at  sea,  and  there  revenge  on  them  the  wrongs 
of  their  brothers  upon  the  mainland,  whom  thou  boldest  in 
slavery  ?  "  Cro3sus  was  charmed  with  the  turn  of  the  speech  ; 
and  thinking  there  was  reason  in  what  was  said,  gave  up  his 
ship-building  and  concluded  a  league  of  amity  with  the  lonians 
of  the  isles. 

28.  Croesus  afterwards,  in  the  course  of  many  years,  brought 
under  his  sway  almost  all  the  nations  to  the  west  of  the  Halys. 
The  Lycians  and  Cilicians  alone  continued  free  ;  all  the  other 
tribes  he  reduced  and  held  in  subjection.  They  were  the 
following :  the  Lydians,  Phrygians,  Mysians,  Mariandynians, 
Chalybians,  Paphlagonians,  Thynian  and  Bithynian  Thracians, 
Carians,  lonians,  Dorians,  ^olians  and  Pamphylians."^ 

29.  When  all  these  conquests  had  been  added  to  the  Lydian 
empire,  and  the  prosperity  of  Sardis  was  now  at  its  height, 
there  came  thither,  one  after  another,  all  the  sages  of  Greece 
living  at  the  time,  and  among  them  Solon,  the  Athenian.^  He 
was  on  his  travels,  having  left  Athens  to  be  absent  ten  years, 
under  the  pretence  of  wishing  to  see  the  world,  but  really  to 
avoid  being  forced  to  repeal  any  of  the  laws  which,  at  the 
request  of  the  Athenians,  he  had  made  for  them.     Without  his 


'   For  the   position  of  these   several  posed  to  obviate  by  the  hypothesis  of 

tribes  see  the  map  of  Western  Asia.     It  the  association  of  Croesus  in  the  govern- 

is  not  quite  correct  to  speak  of  the  Cili-  ment  by  his  father,  some  considerable 

cians  as  dwelling  within  {i.e.,  west  of)  the  time  before  his  death.     (See  Larcher  in 

Halys,  for  the  Halys  in  its  upper  course  loc. ;  and  Clinton,  F.  H.  vol.  ii.  p.  '665.) 

ran  through  Cilicia  (Sta  KiXIkwv,  ch.  72),  The  improbability  of  this  hypothesis  is 

and  that  country  lay  chiefly  south  of  the  shown  in  the  Crit.  Essays  (Essay  i.  sub 

river.  fin.).     There  is  no  necessity  for  it,  in 

Lycia  and  Cilicia  would  be  likely  to  cinder  to  bring  Solon  and  Croesus  into 
maintain  their  independence,  beiug  both  contact  during  the  reign  of  the  latter, 
countries  of  great  natural  strength.  They  Cx'oesus  most  probably  reigned  from  B.C. 
lie  vipon  the  high  mountain  range  of  568  to  B.C.  5.54-.  Solon  certainly  out- 
Taurus,  which  runs  from  east  to  west  lived  the  first  usurpation  of  the  govern- 
along  the  south  of  Asia  Minor,  within  ment  at  Athens  by  Pisistratus,   which 


about  a  degree  of  the  shore,  and  sends  was  B.C.  560.  Some  writers  spoke  of 
down  fi-omthe  main  chain  a  series  of  la-  his  travels  as  commencing  at  that  time, 
teral  branches  or  spurs,  which  extend  (Laert.  i.  50;  Suidas  m  voc.  :S,6kwj/.)  It 
to  the  sea  along  the  whole  line  of  coast  is  possible  that  he  travelled  twice,  once 
from  the  Gulf  of  Makri,  opposite  Rhodes,  before  and  once  after  the  commence- 
to  the  plain  of  Tarsus.  The  mountains  ment  of  the  tyranny  pf  Pisistratus.  And 
of  the  interior  are  in  many  parts  covered  what  happened  on  the  latter  occasion 
with  snow  during  the  whole  or  the  great-  may  have  been  transferred  to  the  former, 
er  part  of  the  year.  (See  Beaufort's  Ka-  Or  he  may  have  started  on  his  first  tra- 
ramania.)  vels  a  few  years  later  than  Clinton  con- 
^  Solon's  visit  to  Croesus  was  rejected  jectures,  B.C.  571,  instead  of  B.C.  575; 
as  fabulous  before  the  time  of  Plutarch  and  his  visit  to  Croesus  may  have  been 
(Solon,  c.  27),  on  account  of  chronolo-  in  the  last  of  the  10  years  B.C.  561. 
gical  difficulties,  which  it  has  been  pro- 


Chap.  27-31.  LEGEND  OF  SOLON.  139 

sanction  the  Athenians  could  not  repeal  them,  as  they  had 
bound  themselves  under  a  heavy  curse  to  he  governed  for  ten 
years  by  the  laws  wliich  sliould  be  imposed  on  them  by  Solon.^ 

30.  On  this  account,  as  well  as  to  see  the  world,  Solon  set  out 
upon  his  travels,  m  the  course  of  which  he  went  to  Egypt  to  the 
court  of  Amasis,^  and  also  came  on  a  visit  to  Croesus  at  Sardis. 
Crcesus  received  him  as  his  guest,  and  lodged  him  in  the  royal 
palace.  On  the  third  or  fourth  day  after,  he  bade  his  servants 
conduct  Solon  over  his  treasuries,^  and  show  him  all  their 
greatness  and  magnificence.  When  he  had  seen  them  all,  and, 
so  far  as  time  allowed,  inspected  them,  Crcesus  addressed  this 
question  to  him.  "  Stranger  of  Athens,  we  have  heard  much  of 
thy  wisdom  and  of  thy  travels  through  many  lands,  from  love  of 
knowledge  and  a  wish  to  see  the  world.  I  am  curious  therefore 
to  inquire  of  thee,  whom,  of  all  the  men  that  thou  hast  seen, 
thou  deemest  the  most  happy?"  This  he  asked  because  he 
thought  himself  the  happiest  of  mortals :  but  Solon  answered 
him  without  flattery,  according  to  his  true  sentiments,  "  Tellus 
of  Athens,  sire."  Full  of  astonishment  at  what  he  heard,  Croesus 
demanded  sharply,  "And  wherefore  dost  thou  deem  Tellus 
happiest?"  To  which  the  other  replied,  "First,  because  his 
country  was  flourishing  in  his  days,  and  he  himself  had  sons 
both  beautiful  and  good,  and  he  lived  to  see  children  born  to 
each  of  them,  and  these  children  all  grew  up ;  and  further 
because,  after  a  life  spent  in  what  our  people  look  upon  as 
comfort,  his  end  was  surpassingly  glorious.  In  a  battle  between 
the  Athenians  and  their  neighbours  near  Eleusis,  he  came  to 
the  assistance  of  his  countrymen,  routed  the  foe,  and  died  upon 
the  field  most  gallantly.  The  Athenians  gave  him  a  public 
funeral  on  the  "spot  where  he  fell,  and  paid  him  the  highest 

honours." 

31.  Thus  did  Solon  admonish  Croesus  by  the  example  of 
Tellus,  enumerating  the  manifold  particulars  of  his  happiness. 


9  The  travels  of  Solon  are  attested  by  Solon  might  sail  from  Athens  to  Egypt, 

Plato  (Tim  p  'n)  and  others.    Various  thence  to  Cyprus  (Herod,  v.  113;,  and 

motives  were    assigned  for  his  leaving  from  Cyprus  to  Lydia.    This  is  the  order 

Athens        Laertius  and  Suidas  said  it  of  his  travels  accordmg  to  Laertius  (i. 

was  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  Pisistratus;  49).    Herodotus  too,  seems  to  place  the 

Plutarch,  that  it  was  to  avoid  the  trou-  visit  to  Egypt  before  that  to  Lydia,  when 

bles  into  which  he  foresaw  Athens  would  he   says,    iKBrifx-naas    6   ^6\cou^   is    AU 

be  plunged  (Solon,  c.  25).     The  view  of  yv-rrrop  a  tt  :  k  e  t  o  ,    Kal  5^   k  al   is 

HerodoUis  has  prevailed,  notwithstand-  2ap5is. 

ing  its  intrinsic  improbability.  ^  yide  mfra,  vi.  123. 

°    Amasis   began  to   reign  B.C.    569. 


140  LEGEND  OF  SOLON.  Book  L 

When  he  had  ended,  Croesus  inquired  a  second  time,  who  after 
Tellus  seemed  to  him  the  happiest,  expecting  that  at  any  rate, 
he  would  be  given  the  second  place.     "  Cleobis  and  Bito,"  Solon 
answered  ;  "they  were  of  Argive  race  ;  their  fortune  was  enough 
for  their  wants,  and  they  were  besides  endowed  with  so  much 
bodily  strength  that  they  had  both  gained  prizes  at  the  Games. 
Also  this  tale  is  told  of  them : — There  was  a  great  festival  in 
honour  of  the  goddess  Juno  at  Argos,  to  which  their  mother 
must  needs  be  taken  in  a  car.^     Now  the  oxen  did  not  come 
home  fi-om  the  field  in  time  :  so  the  youths,  fearful  of  being  too 
late,  put  the  yoke  on  their  own  necks,  and  themselves  drew  the 
car  in  which  their  mother  rode.     Five  and  forty  furlongs  did 
they  draw^  her,  and  stopped  before  the  temple.     This  deed  of 
theirs  was  witnessed  by  the  whole  assembly  of  worshippers,  and 
then  their  life  closed  in  the  best  possible  way.     Herein,  too, 
God  showed  forth  most  evidently,  how  much  better  a  thing  for 
man  death  is  than  life.     For  the  Argive  men,  who  stood  around 
the   car,    extolled  the  vast   strength   of  the   youths ;  and   the 
Argive  women  extolled  the  mother  wdio  was  blessed  with  such  a 
pair  of  sons  ;  and  the  mother  herself,  overjoyed  at  the  deed  and 
at  the  praises  it  had  won,  standing  straight  before  the  image, 
besought  the  goddess  to  bestow  on  Cleobis  and  Bito,  the  sons 
who  had  so  mightily  honoured  her,  the  highest  blessing  to  which 
mortals  can  attain.   Her  prayer  ended,  they  offered  sacrifice  and 
partook  of  the  holy  banquet,  after  which  the  two  youths  fell 
asleep  in  the  temple.     They  never  woke  more,  but  so  passed 
from  the  earth.    The  Argives,  looking  on  them  as  among  the  best 
of  men*  caused  statues  of  them  to  be  made,  which  they  gave  to 
the  shrine  at  Delphi." 

32.  When  Solon  had  thus  assigned  these  youths  the  second 
place,  Croesus  broke  in  angrily,  "  What,  stranger  of  Athens,  is 
my  happiness,  then,  so  utterly  set  at  nought  by  thee,  that  thou 
dost  not  even  put  me  on  a  level  with  private  men  ?  " 

"  Oh !  Croesus,"  replied  the  other,  "  thou  askedst  a  question 
concerning  the  condition  of  man,  of  one  who  knows  that  the 
powder  above  us  is  full  of  jealousy,*  and  fond  of  troubling  our 

3  Cicero    (Tusc,    Disp.     i.     47)    and  destroyed  the  oxen,  which  contradicts 

others,  as  Servius  (ad  Virg.  Georg.  iii.  Herodotus.     Otherwise  the  tale  is  told 

5:^2)    and  the   author   of  the    Platonic  with  fewer  varieties  than  most  ancient 

dialogue    entitled   Axiochus    ('SG?.    C),  stories.     The  Argives  had  a  sculptured 

relate  that  the  ground  of  the  necessity  representation    of    the   event    in    their 

was  the  circumstance  that  the  youths'  temple  of  Apollo  Lycius  to  the  time  of 

mother  was   priestess  of  Juno   at   the  Pausanias.     (^Pausan.  ii.  xx.  §  2.) 

time.      Servius   says   a   pestilence   had  •*  In  the  original,  (pd  ov  e  phv   ihv  rd 


Chap.  31,  32. 


LEGEND  OF  SOLON. 


141 


lot.  A  long  life  gives  one  to  witness  mucli,  and  experience 
much  oneself,  that  one  would  not  choose.  Seventy  years  I 
regard  as  the  limit  of  the  life  of  man.^  In  these  seventy  years 
are  contained,  without  reckoning  intercalary  months,  twenty-five 
thousand  and  two  hundred  days.  Add  an  intercalary  month  to 
every  other  year,  that  the  seasons  may  come  roimd  at  the  right 
time,  and  there  will  be,  besides  the  seventy  years,  thirty-five 
such  months,  making  an  addition  of  one  thousand  and  fifty  days. 
The  whole  number  of  the  days  contained  in  the  seventy  years 
will  thus  be  twenty-six  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty,^  whereof 
not  one  but  will  produce  events  unlike  the  rest.  Hence  man  is 
wholly  accident.  For  thyself,  oh  !  Croesus,  I  see  that  thou  art 
wonderfully  rich,  and  art  the  lord  of  many  nations  ;  but  with 
respect  to  that  whereon  thou  questionest  me,  I  have  no  answer 
to  give,  until  I  hear  that  thou  hast  closed  thy  life  happily.  For 
assuredly  he  who  possesses  great  store  of  riches  is  no  nearer 


6e7ov.  The  (pOSi^os  of  God  is  a  leading 
feature  in  Herodotus's  conception  of  the 
Deity,  and  no  doubt  is  one  of  the  chief 
moral  conclusions  which  he  drew  from 
his  own  survey  of  human  events,  and 
intended  to  impress  on  us  by  his  history. 
(Vide  infra,  iii.  40,  vii.  46,  and  especially 
vii.  10,  §5-6.)  Plutarch  long  ago  repre- 
hended this  view  (De  Herod.  Malignit. 
Op.  ii.  p.  857);  and  notwithstanding  the 
ingenious  defence  of  Valckenaer  (ad 
Herod,  iii.  40),  repeated  since  by  Dahl- 
mann  (Life  of  Herodotus,  ch.  viii.  p.  131, 
E.  T.)  and  Biihr  (ad  Herod,  i.  32),  it 
cannot  be  justified.  Herodotus's  (pOove- 
pbs  Beds  is  not  simply  the  "  Deus  ultor  " 
of  religious  Komans,  much  less  the 
"jealous  God"  of  Scripture,  to  which 
Dahlmann  compares  the  expression. 
This  last  is  a  completely  distinct  notion. 
The  idea  of  an  avenging  God  is  included 
in  the  Herodotean  conception,  but  is 
far  from  being  the  whole  of  it.  Pros- 
perity, not  pride,  eminence,  not  arro- 
gance, provokes  him.  He  does  not  like 
any  one  to  be  great  or  happy  but  him- 
self (vii.  46,  end). 

What  is  most  remarkable  is,  that 
with  such  a  conception  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  Herodotus  could  maintain  such 
a  placid,  cheerful,  childlike  temper. 
Possibly  he  was  serene  because  he  felt 
secure  in  his  mediocrity. 

^  "  The  days  of  our  years  are  three- 
score years  and  ten"  (Ps.  xc.  10). 

^  No  commentator  on  Herodotus  has 
succeeded  in  explaining  the  cuiious  mis- 


.^ 


take  whereby  the  solar  year  is  made  to 
average  375  days.  That  Herodotus 
knew  the  true  solar  year  was  not  375, 
but  more  nearly  365  days,  is  clear  from 
book  ii.  eh.  4.  It  is  also  clear  that  he 
must  be  right  as  to  the  fact  that  the 
Greeks  were  in  the  habit  of  intercalating 
a  month  every  other  year.  This  point 
is  confirmed  by  a  passage  in  Censorinus 
(De  Die  Natal,  xviii.  p.  91),  where  it  is 
explained  that  the  Greek  years  were 
alternately  of  12  and  13  months,  and 
that  the  biennium  was  called  "annus 
magnus,"  or  rpierripis. 

Two  inaccuracies  produce  the  error  in 
Herodotus.  In  the  first  place  he  makes 
Solon  count  his  months  at  30  days  each, 
whereas  it  is  notorious  that  the  Greek 
months,  after  the  system  of  intercalation 
was  introduced,  were  alternately  of  29 
and  30  days.  By  this  error  his  first 
number  is  raised  from  24,780  to  25,200; 
and  also  his  second  number  from  1033 
to  1050.  Secondly,  he  omits  to  men- 
tion that  from  time  to  time  (every  4th 
TpL€Tr]p\s  probably)  the  intercalary  month 
was  omitted  altogether.  (See  Dr. 
Schmitz's  account  of  the  Greek  year,  in 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  2nd 
edit.  p.  222;  where,  however,  by  an 
accidental  slip  of  the  pen,  the  insertion 
of  an  additional  month  every  fourth 
year  [TpieTripLs  ?)  is  substituted  for  its 
omission.)  These  two  corrections  would 
reduce  the  number  of  days  to  the 
proper  amount. 


V 


\A'«^ 


1  i2  LEGEND  OF  SOLON.  Book  L 

happiness  than  he  who  has  what  suffices  for  his  daily  needs, 
unless  it  so  hap  that  luck  attend  ui)on  him,  and  so  he  con- 
tinue in  the  enjoyment  of  all  his  good  things  to  the  end  of  life. 
For  many  of  the  wealthiest  men  have  been  unfavoured  of 
fortune,  and  many  whose  means  were  moderate  have  had  excel- 
lent luck.  Men  of  the  former  class  excel  those  of  the  latter  but 
in  two  respects  ;  these  last  excel  the  former  in  many.  The 
wealthy  man  is  better  able  to  content  his  desires,  and  to  bear  up 
against  a  sudden  buffet  of  calamity.  The  other  has  less  ability 
to  withstand  these  evils  (from  which,  however,  his  good  luck 
keeps  him  clear),  but  he  enjoys  all  these  following  blessings : 
he  is  whole  of  limb,  a  stranger  to  disease,  free  from  misfortune, 
happy  in  his  children,  and  comely  to  look  upon.  If,  in  addition 
to  all  this,  he  end  his  life  well,  he  is  of  a  truth  the  man  of  whom 
thou  art  in  search,  the  man  who  may  rightly  be  termed  happy. 
Call  him,  however,  until  he  die,  not*  happy  but  fortunate. 
Scarcely,  indeed,  can  any  man  unite  all  these  advantages :  as 
there  is  no  country  which  contains  within  it  all  that  it  needs,  but 
each,  while  it  possesses  some  things,  lacks  others,  and  the  best 
country  is  that  which  contains  tlie  most ;  so  no  single  human 
being  is  complete  in  every  respect — something  is  always  lacking. 
He  who  unites  the  greatest  number  of  advantages,  and  retaining 
them  to  the  day  of  his  death,  then  dies  peaceably,  that  man 
alone,  sire,  is,  in  my  judgment,  entitled  to  bear  the  name  of 
*  happy.'  But  in  every  matter  it  behoves  us  to  mark  well  the 
end :  for  oftentimes  God  gives  men  a  gleam  of  happiness,  and 
then  plunges  them  into  ruin."  ^ 

33.  Such  was  the  speech  which  Solon  addressed  to  Croesus,  a 
speech  which  brought  him  neither  largess  nor  honour.  The 
king  saw  him  depart  with  much  indiftereuce,  since  he  thought 
that  a  man  must  be  an  arrant  fool  who  made  no  account  of 
pjesent  good,  but  bade  men  always  wait  and  mark  the  end. 

34.  After  Solon  had  gone  away  a  dreadful  vengeance,  sent  of 


'  Larcher  says,    "  Sophocles   a  para-  unknown,  and  it  is  uncertain  whether 

phrase  cette  sentence  de  Solon  dans  son  the  passage  in  Herodotus  was  part  of 

CEdipe   Roi"  (vol.   i.  p.  232).     But   it  the  original  histoi-y,  or  one  of  the  addi- 

might  be  argued  with   quite   as  much  tigns  which  he  made  at  Thurium,  it  is 

probability  that    Herodotus    has    here  impossible  to  say  which  writer  was  the 

borrowed  from  Sophocles,  since  Hero-  ^plagiarist.        Perhaps    the    yvw/uLT)    was 

dotus  seems  to  have  continued  to  make  really  one   of  Solon's,   as  Aristotle  be- 

additions  to  his  •history  as  late  perhaps  lieved  (Eth.   Nic.  i.   x.).     It  became  a 

as  B.C.  425  (see  the  hitroductory  Essay,  favc»urite  t6wos  of  Greek  tragedy.     See, 

p.  33),  and  Sophocles  exhibited  as  early  besides  the  passages  in  Sophocles  (CEd. 

as  B.C.  4(58.     As  the  exact  date  of  the  T.   1195,   and   1528-30),  Eurip.  Andi-o- 

publication  of  the  CEdipus  Tyranuus  is  mach.  100,  Troas,  513,  &c.  &c. 


Chap.  32-35.  SEQUEL  TO  THE  LEGEND.  143 

God,  came  upon  Croesus,  to  punisli  him,  it  his  hkely,  for  deeming 
himself  the  happiest  of  men.  First  he  had  a  dream  in  the 
night,  which  foreshowed  him  truly  the  evils  that  were  about  to 
befal  him  in  the  person  of  his  son.  For  Croesus  had  two  sons, 
one  blasted  by  a  natural  defect,  being  deaf  and  dumb  ;  the  other, 
distinguished  far  above  all  his  co-mates  in  every  pursuit.  The 
name  of  the  last  was  Atys.  It  was  this  son  concerning  whom 
he  dreamt  a  dream,  that  he  would  die  by  the  blow  of  an  iron 
weapon.  When  he  woke,  he  considered  earnestly  with  himself, 
and,  greatly  alarmed  at  the  dream,  instantly  made  his  son  take 
a  wife,  and  whereas  in  former  years  the  youth  had  been  wont  to 
command  the  Lydian  forces  in  the  field,  he  now  would  not 
suffer  him  to  accompany  them.  All  the  s[)ears  and  javelins,  and 
weapons  used  in  the  wars,  he  removed  out  of  the  male  apart- 
ments, and  laid  them  in  heaps  in  the  chambers,  of  the  women, 
fearing  lest  perhaps  one  of  the  weapons  that  hung  against  the 
wall  might  fall  and  strike  him. 

35.  Now  it  chanced  that  while  he  was  making  arrangements 
for  the  wedding,  there  came  to  Sardis  a  man  under  a  misfortune, 
who  had  upon  him  the  stain  of  blood.  He  was  by  race  a 
Phrygian,  and  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  king.  Presenting 
himself  at  the  palace  of  Croesus,  he  prayed  to  be  admitted  to 
purification  according  to  the  customs  of  the  country.  Now  the 
Lydian  method  of  purifying  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  the 
Greek.  Croesus  granted  the  request,  and  went  through  all  the 
customary  rites,  after  which  he  asked  the  suppliant  of  his  birth 
and  country,  addressing  him  as  follows : — "  Who  art  thou, 
strauger,  and  from  wliat  part  of  Phrygia  fleddest  thou  to  take 
refuge  at  my  hearth  ?  And  whom,  moreover,  what  man  or  what 
woman,  hast  thou  slain  ?  "  "  Oh  !  king,"  replied  the  Phrygian, 
"  I  am  the  son  of  Gordias,  son  of  Midas.  I  am  named  Adrastus.^ 
The  man  I  unintentionally  slew  was  my  own  brother.  For  this 
my  father  drove  me  from  the  land,  and  I  lost  all.  Then  fled  I 
here  to  thee."  '•  Thou  art  the  offspring,"  Croesus  rejoined,  "  of 
a  house  friendly  to  mine,^  and  thou  art  come  to  friends.     Thou 


*  This  name,  and  likewise  the  name  and  Adrastus  quarrelled  about  a  quail 

of  Atys,  are  thought  to  be  significant.  Cap.  Phot.  Bibl.  cod.   190,  p.  472);  but 

Adrastus  is  -'the  doomed" — "the  man  the  discoveries  of  Hepheestion  in  such 

unable  to  escape."     Atys  is  ''the  youth  matters  are  a  severe  trial  to  the  modern 

under  the  inHuence  of  At(^ " — "  the  man  reader's  ci'edulity. 

jiidicially  blind."     '  See  Mure's  Litera-  ^  Here  the  legend  has  forgotten  tbat 

ture  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  326.)  Phrygian  independence  v^'tis  at  an  end. 

Hephfestion   gave   the   name   of    the  We  might,  indeed,  get  over  the  difficulty 

brother  as  Agathou,   and  said  that  he  of  a  Phrygian  royal  house,  and  a  King 


144  STORY  OF  ADRASTUS.  Book  I. 

slialt  want  for  nothing  so  long  as  thou  abidest  in  my  dominions. 
Bear  thy  misfortune  as  easily  as  thou  may  est,  so  will  it  go  best 
with  thee."  Thenceforth  Adrastus  lived  in  the  palace  of  the 
king. 

36.  It  chanced  that  at  this  very  same  time  there  was  in  the 
Mysian  Olympus  a  huge  monster  of  a  boar,  wliich  went  forth 
often  from  this  mountain-country,  and  wasted  the  corn-fields  of 
the  Mysians.  Many  a  time  had  the  Mysians  collected  to  hunt 
the  beast,  but  instead  of  doing  him  any  hurt,  they  came  off 
always  with  some  loss  to  themselves.  At  length  they  sent 
ambassadors  to  Croesus,  who  delivered  their  message  to  him  in 
these  words :  "  Oh !  king,  a  mighty  monster  of  a  boar  has 
appeared  in  our  parts,  and  destroys  the  labour  of  our  hands. 
We  do  our  best  to  take  him,  but  in  vain.  Now  therefore  we 
beseech  thee  to  let  thy  son  accompany  us  back,  with  some 
chosen  youths  and  hounds,  that  we  may  rid  our  country  of  the 
animal."     Such  was  the  tenor  of  their  prayer. 

But  Croesus  bethought  him  of  his  dream,  and  answered,  "  Say 
no  more  of  my  son  going  w^ith  you ;  that  may  not  be  in  any 
wise.  He  is  but  just  joined  in  wedlock,  and  is  busy  enough 
with  that.  I  will  grant  you  a  picked  band  of  Lydians,  and  all 
my  huntsmen  and  hounds  ;  and  I  will  charge  those  whom  I  send 
to  use  all  zeal  in  aiding  you  to  rid  your  country  of  the  brute." 

37.  With  this  reply  the  Mysians  were  content ;  but  the  king^s 
son,  hearing  what  the  prayer  of  the  Mysians  was,  came  suddenly 
in,  and  on  the  refusal  of  Croesus  to  let  him  go  with  them,  thus 
addressed  his  father :  "  Formerly,  my  father,  it  was  deemed  the 
noblest  and  most  suitable  thing  for  me  to  frequent  the  wars 
and  hunting-parties,  and  win  myself  glory  in  them ;  but  now 
thou  keepest  me  away  from  both,  although  thou  hast  never 
beheld  in  me  either  cowardice  or  lack  of  spirit.  What  face 
meanwhile  must  I  wear  as  I  walk  to  the  forum  or  return  from 
it?  What  must  the  citizens,  w^hat  must  my  young  bride 
tliink  of  me  ?  What  sort  of  man  will  she  suppose  her  husband 
to  be  ?  Either,  therefore,  let  me  go  to  the  chace  of  this  boar, 
or  give  me  a  reason  why  it  is  best  for  me  to  do  according  to  thy 
wishes." 

Gordias  at  this  time,  by  supposing,  with  mine,   and  thou  art  come  to  friends;" 

Larcher  (vol^i.  p. '237),  that   Phrygia  and  the  independence  of  Phrygia  .^eerns 

had   become   tributary  while   retaining  clearly  implied  in  the  proviso,    ' '  thou 

her  kings  :  but  the  language  of  Croesus  shalt  want  for  nothing  so  long  as  thou 

is  not  suitable  to  such  a  supposition,  abidest   in   my  dominions"    {fi^vuv   eV 

Equality  appears  in  the  phrase,    "thou  rjixer^pov).       Phrygia  is   not    under 

art  the  ofispring  of  a  house  friendly  to  Croesus. 


Chap.  35-42.  STORY  OF  ADRASTUS.  145 

38.  Then  Croesus  answered,  *^  My  son,  it  is  not  because  I  have 
seen  in  thee  either  cowardice  or  aught  else  which  has  displeased 
me  that  I  keep  thee  back ;  but  because  a  vision  which  came 
before  me  in  a  dream  as  I  slept,  warned  me  that  thou  wert 
doomed  to  die  young,  pierced  by  an  iron  weapon.  It  was  this 
which  first  led  me  to  hasten  on  thy  wedding,  and  now  it  hinders 
me  from  sending  thee  upon  this  enterprise.  Fain  would  I  keep 
watch  over  thee,  if  by  any  means  I  may  cheat  fate  of  thee 
during  my  own  lifetime.  For  thou  art  the  one  and  only  son 
that  I  possess ;  the  other,  whose  hearing  is  destroyed,  I  regard 
as  if  he  were  not." 

39.  "  Ah !  father,"  returned  the  youth,  "  I  blame  thee  not  for 
keeping  watch  over  me  after  a  dream  so  terrible ;  but  if  thou 
mistakest,  if  thou  dost  not  apprehend  the  dream  aright,  'tis  no 
blame  for  me  to  show  thee  wherein  thou  errest.  Now  the 
dream,  thou  saidst  thyself,  foretold  that  I  should  die  stricken  by 
an  iron  weapon.  But  what  hands  has  a  boar  to  strike  with? 
What  iron  weapon  does  he  ^ield  ?  Yet  this  is  w4iat  thou  fearest 
for  me.  Had  the  dream  said  that- 1  should  die  pierced  by  a 
tusk,  then  thou  hadst  done  vfell  to  keep  me  away ;  but  it  said  a 
weapon.  Now  here  we  do  not  combat  men,  but  a  wild  animal. 
I  pray  thee,  therefore,  let  me  go  with  them." 

40.  "  There  thou  hast  me,  my  son,"  said  Croesus,  "  thy  inter- 
pretation is  better  than  mine.  I  yield  to  it,  and  change  my 
mind,  and  consent  to  let  thee  go." 

41.  Then  the  king  sent  for  Adrastus,  the  Phrygian,  and  said 
to  him,  "  Adrastus,  when  thou  wert  smitten  with  the  rod  of 
affliction — no  reproach,  my  friend — I  purified  thee,  and  have 
taken  thee  to  live  with  me  in  my  palace,  and  have  been  at  every 
charge.  Now,  therefore,  it  behoves  thee  to  requite  the  good 
offices  which  thou  hast  received  at  my  hands  by  consenting  to  go 
with  my  son  on  this  hunting  party,  and  to  watch  over  him,  if 
perchance  you  should  be  attacked  upon  the  road  by  some  band 
of  daring  robbers.  Even  apart  from  this,  it  were  right  for  thee 
to  go  where  thou  mayest  make  thyself  famous  by  noble  deeds. 
They  are  the  heritage  of  thy  family,  and  thou  too  art  so  stalwart 
and  strong." 

42.  Adrastus  answ^ered,  "  Except  for  thy  request,  Oh !  king, 
I  wuuld  rather  have  kept  away  from  this  hunt ;  for  methinks  it 
ill  beseems  a  man  under  a  misfortune  such  as  mine  to  consort 
with  his  happier  compeers ;  and  besides,  I  have  no  heart  to  it.. 
On  many  grounds  I  had  stayed  behind ;  but,  as  thou  urgest  it, 

VOL.  1.  L 


146  DEATH  OF  ATYS.  Book  I. 

and  I  am  bound  to  pleasure  thee  (for  truly  it  does  behove  me  to 
requite  thy  good  offices),  I  am  content  to  do  as  thou  wishest. 
For  thy  son,  whom  thou  givest  into  my  charge,  be  sure  thou 
shalt  receive  him  back  safe  and  sound,  so  far  as  depends  upon  a 
guardian's  carefulness." 

43.  Thus  assured,  Croesus  let  them  depart,  accompanied  by  a 
band  of  picked  youths,  and  well  provided  with  dogs  of  chace. 
When  they  reached  Olympus,  they  scattered  in  quest  of  the 
animal ;  he  was  soon  found,  and  the  hunters,  drawing  round 
him  in  a  circle,  hurled  their  weapons  at  him.  Then  the  stranger, 
the  man  who  had  been  purified  of  blood,  whose  name  was 
Adrastus,  he  also  hurled  his  spear  at  the  boar,  but  missed  his 
aim,  and  struck  Atys.  Thus  was  the  son  of  Croesus  slain  by  the 
point  of  an  iron  weapon,  and  the  warning  of  the  vision  was 
fulfilled.  Then  one  ran  to  Sardis  to  bear  the  tidings  to  the 
king,  and  he  came  and  informed  him  of  the  combat  and  of  the 
fate  that  had  befallen  his  son. 

44.  If  it  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  father  to  learn  that  his 
child  was  dead,  it  yet  more  •  strongly  affected  him  to  think  that 
the  very  man  whom  he  himself- once  purified  had  done  the 
deed.  In  the  violence  of  his  grief  he  called  aloud  on  Jupiter 
Catharsius,^  to  be  a  witness  of  what  he  had  suffered  at  the 
stranger's  hands.  Afterwards  he  invoked  the  same  god  as 
Jupiter  Ephistius  and  Hetsereus — using  the  one  term  because 
he  had  unwittingly  harboured  in  his  house  the  man  who  had 
now  slain  his  son ;  and  the  other,  because  the  stranger,  who 
had  been  sent  as  his  child's  guardian,  had  turned  out  his  most 
cruel  enemy. 

45.  Presently  the  Lydians  arrived,  bearing  the  body  of  the 
youth,  and  behind  them  followed  the  homicide.  He  took  his 
stand  in  front  of  the  corse,  and,  stretching  forth  his  hands  to 
Croesus,  delivered  himself  into  his  power  with  earnest  entreaties 
that  he  would  sacrifice  him  upon  the  body  of  his  son — "  his 
former  misfortune  was  burtlien  enough  ;  now  that  he  had  added 
to  it  a  second,  and  had  brought  ruin  on  the  man  who  purified 


1  Jupiter  was  Catharsius,  the  god  of  the  purified  person  contracted  an  ob- 
purifications,  not  (as  Biihr  says)  on  ligation  towards  his  purifier.  Corn- 
account  of  the  resemblance  of  the  rites  pare,  on  the  general  principle,  Eustath. 
of  purification  with  those  of  Jupiter  ad  Horn.  Od.  xvi.  429,  "  'Icrreoy  5e  on 
MeiAi'xios,  but  simply  in  the  same  way  ^aprus  \dy€Tai  to7$  iKcrais  o  Zei/s  KaOa 
that  he  was  Ephistius  and  Hetaereiis,  koi.  tois  Iraipois,  'iva  ws  eu  etSws  koX 
'god  of  heai'ths,  and  of  companionship,  iTriTifxrjrcop,  iroirfriKcos  etVetj/,  varepov  toIs 
because  he  presided  over  all  occasions  of  afxapToiuovai  yiyvoiro." — See  also  Note  A 
obligation  between  man  and  man,  and  at  the  end  of-  this  Book. 


CiiAP.  42-46.  GRIEF  OF  CRCESUS.  147 

him,  he  could  not  bear  to  live."  Then  Croesus,  when  he  heard 
these  words,  was  moved  with  pity  towards  Adrastus,  notwith- 
standing tlie  bitterness  of  his  own  calamity ;  and  so  he  an- 
swered, "  Enough,  my  friend ;  I  have  all  the  revenge  that  I 
require,  since  thou  givest  sentence  of  death  against  thyself. 
But  in  sooth  it  is  not  thou  who  hast  injured  me,  except  so  far 
as  thou  hast  unwittingly  dealt  the  blow.  Some  god  is  the 
author  of  my  misfortune,  and  I  was  forewarned  of  it  a  long  time 
ago."  Croesus  after  this  buried  the  body  of  his  son,  with  such 
honours  as  befitted  the  oc(,*asion.  Adrastus,  son  of  Gordias,  son 
of  Midas,  the  destroyer  of  his  brother  in  time  past,  the  destroyer 
now  of  his  purifier,  regarding  himself  as  the  most  unfortunate 
wretch  whom  he  had  ever  known,  so  soon  as  all  was  quiet  about 
the  place,  slew  himself  upon  the  tomb.  Croesus,  bereft  of  his 
son,  gave  himself  up  to  mourning  for  two  full  years. 

46.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  grief  of  Croesus  was  inter- 
rupted by  intelligence  from  abroad.  He  learnt  that  Cyrus,  the 
son  of  Cambyses,  had  destroyed  the  empire  of  Astyages,  the  son 
of  Cyaxares ;  and  that  the  Persians  were  becoming  daily  more 
powerful.  This  led  him  to  consider  with  himself  whether  it 
were  possible  to  check  the  growing  power  of  that  people  before 
it  came  to  a  head.  With  this  design  he  resolved  to  make  instant 
trial  of  the  several  oracles  in  Creece,  and  of  the  one  in  Libya.^ 
So  he  sent  his  messengers  in  different  directions,  some  to 
Delphi,  some  to  Abse  in  Phocis,  and  some  to  Dodona ;  others  to 
the  oracle  of  Amphiaraiis ;  others  to  that  of  Trophonius  ;  others, 
again,  to  Branchidai  in  Milesia.^  These  were  the  Greek  oracles 
which  he  consulted.  To  Libya  he  sent  another  embassy,  to 
consult  the  oracle  of  Ammon.     These  messengers  were  sent  to 


2  ''  The  one  in  Libya"  (Africa) — that  Lebadeia,   in  Boeotia  (infra,  viii.   134). 

of  Aramon,  because  Egypt  was  regarded  That  of  Amphiaraiis  is  generally  thouglit 

by  Herodotus  as  in  Asia,  not  in  Africa,  to  have  been  at  Thebes.     (Grote's  His- 

(See  below,  ii.   17.  65.  iv.   39.  197.)     In  tory  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  253.     Bilhr's 

Egypt    there    were    numerous    oracles  Index,  vol.  iv,  p.  450.)     It  appears,  how- 

(ii.  b3).  ever,  to  have  been  really  at,  or  rather 

^  The   oracle   at  Abfc  seems  to  have  near,    Oropus   (Pans.  i.  xxxiv.  §  2 ;  Liv, 

ranked  next  to  that  at  Delphi.   Compare  xlv.  27.  Dicscarch.   Fr.   59.  §  »)).     The 

Sophocl.    (Ed.  Tyr.  897-899.      Ovk   in  passage  of  Herodotus  which   has   been 

rhv  &diKT0U  el/jLi  yas  eV  6iJ.(()a\6v  ffeficau,  supposed  to  fix  it  to  Thebes  (viii,   134), 

ov5'     4s    Tov    'A^aicL  vaov,    where   the  leaves  the  locality  uncertain.     It  only 

Scholiast   has   absurdlj^    "AiSai,    to'ttos  appeal's    that   Mys   visited    the    shrine 

AuKias.     It  is  again  mentioned  by  Hero-  while  he  was  staying  at  Thebes,  which 

dotus,  viii.  134.      With  respect   to  the  he  might  easily  do,  as  Oropus  was  but 

oracle  of  Dodona — "  the  most  ancient  of  about  20  miles  from  that  city, 

all  in  Greece" — vide  infra,  ii.  52.     The  The  Orientals  do  not  appear  to  have 

oracular   shrine  of  Tx'ophonius  was   at  possessed  any  indigenous  oracles, 

l2 


148  CEGESUS  CONSULTS  THE  DELPHIC  ORACLE.       Book  I. 

test  the  knowledge  of  the  oracles,  that,  if  they  were  found  really 
to  return  true  answers,  he  might  send  a  second  time,  and  inquire 
if  he  ought  to  attack  the  Persians. 

47.  The  messengers  who  were  despatched  to  make  trial  of  the 
oracles  were  given  the  following  instructions :  they  were  to  keep 
count  of  the  days  from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Sardis,  and, 
reckoning  from  that  date,  on  the  hundredth  day  they  were  to 
consult  the  oracles,  and  to  inquire  of  them  what  Croesus  the  son  of 
Alyattes,  kingof  Lydia,  was  doing  at  that  moment.  The  answers 
given  them  were  to  be  taken  down  in  writing,  and  brought 
back  to  him.  None  of  the  replies  remain  on  record  except  that 
of  the  oracle  at  Delphi.  There,  the  moment  that  the  Lydians 
entered  the  sanctuary,^  and  before  they  put  their  questions,^  the 
Pythoness  thus  answered  them  in  hexameter  verse  : — 

''  I  can  count  the  sands,  and  I  can  measure  the  ocean; 

I  have  ears  for  the  silent,  and  know  what  the  dumb  man  meaneth ; 
Lo !  on  my  sense  there  striketh  the  smell  of  a  shell-covered  tortoise, 
Boiling  now  on  a  fire,  with  the  flesh  of  a  lamb,  in  a  cauldron, — 
Brass  is  the  vessel  below,  and  brass  the  cover  above  it." 

48.  These  words  the  Lydians  wrote  down  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Pythoness  as  she  prophesied,  and  then  set  off  on  their  return  to 
Sardis.  When  all  the  messengers  had  come  back  with  the 
answers  which  they  had  received,  Croesus  undid  the  rolls,  and 
read  what  was  written  in  each.  Only  one  approved  itself  to 
him,  that  of  the  Delphic  oracle.  This  he  had  no  sooner  heard 
than  he  instantly  made  an  act  of  adoration,  and  accepted  it  as 
true,  declaring  that  the  Delphic  was  the  only  really  oracular 
shrine,  the  only  one  that  had  discovered  in  what  way  he  was  in 
fact  employed.  For  on  the  departure  of  his  messengers  he  had 
set  himself  to  think  what  was  most  impossible  for  any  one  to 
conceive  of  his  doing,^  and  then,  waiting  till  the  day  agreed  on 


Larcher  and  Beloe  "had  asked"  this  question,  he  would 

translate — "the   temple   of  Delphi" —  have  said  eVetpcoTTjo-aj/.     For  a  similar 

*'le  temple   de   Delphes" — incorrectly,  use  of  the  imperfect,  vide  infra,  i.  68. 
The  jxiyapov  was  the  inner  shrine,  the         ^  Whatever  explanation  is  to  be  given 

sacred  chamber  where  the  oracles  were  of  this  remarkable  oracle,  that  of  Lar- 

given  —  the     "penetrale     templi"     as  cher  seems  to  be  precluded,  not  less  by 

Schweighseuser   renders   the   word    (cf.  these  words  than  by  probability.     He 

infi-a.  ii.  141,  143,  169,  &c.).  supposes  that  Croesus  had  determined 

^  Here  Schweighteuser  has  missed  the  what  he  would  do  before   he  sent  his 

sense  equally  with  Beloe  and   Larcher.  embassies,  and  had  confided  his  inten- 

All   render   eVeipwreoj/,    "  had    asked,"  tion   to   one  of  the  ambassadors,  who 

instead  of  "  wei-e  in  the  act  of  asking,"  imparted   the   secret    to   the   Delphian 

or     ''were     for     asking."       Herodotus  priests.     The  same  view  is  taken  by  De 

changes  from  the  aorist  (lariXdnu,  to  the  Quincey,    in   his   Essay   on   the   Pagan 

imperfect  iireipiareov,  to  mark  a  change  Oracles  (Works,  vol.  viii.  pp.  196,  197). 

in  the  action.     Had  he  meant  that  they  If  we  allow  Croesus  to  have  possessed 


Chap.  46-50.  GEATITUDE  OF  CEGESUS.  149 

came,  lie  acted  as  he  had  determined.  He  took  a  tortoise  and 
a  lamb/  and  cutting  them  in  pieces  with  his  own  hands,  boiled 
them  both  together  in  a  brazen  cauldron,  covered  over  with  a 
lid  which  was  also  of  brass. 

49.  Such  then  was  the  answer  returned  to  Croesus  from 
Delphi.  What  the  answer  was  which  the  Lydians  who  w^ent  to 
the  shrine  of  Amphiaraiis  and  performed  the  customary  rites, 
obtained  of  the  oracle  there,  I  have  it  not  in  my  power  to 
mention,  for  there  is  no  record  of  it.  All  that  is  known  is,  that 
Croesus  believed  himself  to  have  found  there  also  an  oracle  which 
spoke  the  truth. 

50.  After  this  Croesus,  having  resolved  to  propitiate  the 
Delphic  god  with  a  magnificent  sacrifice,  offered  up  three  thou- 
sand of  every  kind  of  sacrificial  beast,^  and  besides  made  a  huge 
pile,  and  placed  upon  it  couches  coated  with  silver  and  with 
gold,  and  golden  goblets,  and  robes  and  vests  of  purple ;  all 
which  he  burnt  in  the  hope  of  thereby  making  himself  more 
secure  of  the  favour  of  the  god.  Further  he  issued  his  orders 
to  all  the  people  of  the  land  to  offer  a  sacrifice  according  to  their 
means.  When  the  sacrifice  was  ended,  the  king  melted  down  a 
vast  quantity  of  gold,  and  ran  it  into  ingots,  making  them  six 
palms   long,  three   palms  broad,  and  one  palm   in  thickness. 


ordinary  common  sense,  it  is  inconceiv-        '  Mr.  Birch  thinks  that  Croesus  chose 

able  that  he  should  have  been  guilty  of  these  two  because  they  were  the  sacred 

a  folly  which  was  so  likely  to  frustrate  animals  of  Apollo  and  of  Ammon;  the 

his  whole  design.     The  utter  incredulity  two  chief  oracles  of  the  day  being  those 

of  Cicero  seems  better  than  this — "  Cur  of  Delphi  and  Ammon;  thinking  to  test 

autem     hoc    credam    unquam    editum  the  power  of  those  gods  by  killing  their 

Croeso  ?  aut  Herodotum  cur  veraciorem  favourite  emblems,  and  by  the  oddity 

ducam  Ennio  ?"  (De  Div.  ii.  torn.  vi.  p.  of  the  selection. — [G.  W.] 
655,    Ernesti.)  ^  This  is   undoubtedly  the   meaning 

It    is    impossible    to    discuss    such    a  of   Kr7]vea   ra  dvai/xa   iravra    rpiaxi?^t.a. 

question   as  the  nature  of  the  ancient  Cf.  infra,  iv.  88.    MaudpoK\4a  idccp-nffaro 

oracles,  which  has  had  volumes  written  iraaL  SeKa.  ix.  70.     Uavcrauir)  iravra  deKa 

upon  it,  within  the  limits  of  a  note.     I  i^aipeOrj.     Although  Larcher  had  rightly 

will  only  observe  that  in  forming  our  rendered  the  passage,    ''trois  mille  vic- 

judgment  on   the   subject,   two   points  times  de  toutes  les  especes  d'animaux 

should   be   kept    steadily   in   view:     1.  qu'ilestpermisd'offrirauxDieux,"Beloe 

the  fact  that   the  Pythoness  (TratStV/cTj  missed  the  sense,  and  translated  "  three 

T£s  ^x*^^^"-  T^v^vjxa  TlvQ  oivo  s),  whom  St.  thousand  chosen  victims,"     The  chapter 

Paul  met  with  on  his  first  entrance  into  is,   indeed,   one  of  Beloe's  worst.      He 

European   Greece,   was   really  possessed  renders   ws   5e   ck   ttjs   dval-qs  iyeu^To, 

by  an  evil  spirit,  which  St.  Paul  cast  out,  Karaxedfievos  xP^<^ov  &ir\eTou,  rnxncKiv- 

thereby   depriving   her   masters    of  all  6ia  e|  avrov  i^-fjXavve,   "  as  at  the  conclu- 

their  hopes  of  gain  (Acts  xvi.  16-19):  sio7i  of  the  above  ceremon?/ a  considerable 

and  2.  the  phenomena  of  Mesmerism,  quantity  of  gold   had  rim   together,    he 

In  one  or  other  of  these,  or  in  both  of  formed  of  it  a  number  of  tiles;"  and  iirl 

them     combined,     will    be    found    the  fi^v   ra    fxaKpSrepa   Troteoji/    ^^airdXaicTTa, 

simplest,    and  probably  the  truest  ex-  iirl  Se  ra  ^paxvrepa,  TpiTrdAaia-Ta — ''the 

planation,  of  all  that  is  really  marvellous  larger  of  these  were  six  palms  long,  the 

in  the  responses  of  the  oracles.  smaller  thi^ee." 


150  HIS  OFFERINGS.  Book  I. 

The  number  of  ingots  was  a  hundred  and  seventeen,  four  being 
of  refined  gold,  in  weight  two  talents  and  a  half  ;^  the  others  of 
pale  gold,  and  in  weight  two  talents.  He  also  caused  a  statue 
of  a  lion  to  be  made  in  refined  gold,  the  weight  of  which  was 
ten  talents.  At  the  time  when  the  temple  of  Delphi  was  burnt 
to  the  ground, ^^  this  lion  fell  from  the  ingots  on  which  it  was 
placed ;  it  now  stands  in  the  Corinthian  treasury,  and  weighs 
only  six  talents  and  a  half,  having  lost  three  talents  and  a  half 
by  the  fire. 

51.  On  the  completion  of  these  works  Croesus  sent  them  away 
to  Delphi,  and  with  them  two  bowls  of  an  enormous  size,  one  of 
gold,  the  other  of  silver,  which  used  to  stand,  the  latter  upon 
the  right,  the  former  upon  the  left,  as  one  entered  the  temple. 
They  too  were  moved  at  the  time  of  the  fire ;  and  now  the 
golden  one  is  in  the  Clazomenian  treasury,  and  weighs  eight 
talents  and  forty-two  minse ;  the  silver  one  stands  in  the  corner 
of  the  ante-chapel,  and  holds  six  hundred  amphorse.^^  This  is 
known,  because  the  Delphians  fill  it  at  the  time  of  the  Theo- 
phania.^^  It  is  said  by  the  Delphians  to  be  a  work  of  Theodore 
the  Samian,^^  and  I  think  that  they  say  true,  for  assuredly  it  is 
the  work  of  no  common  artist.     Croesus  sent  also  four  silver 


^  The  reading  rpirov  7]!XiTa\avrov  sug-  "  Above  5000  gallons  (cf.  iv.  81). 
gested  by  Matthise,  and  adopted  by  ^^  There  is  no  need  of  the  correction 
Schweighseuser,  Gaisford,  and  Biihr,  of  Valckenaer  (0eo|ej^ioi(rt  for  Qeocpa- 
seems  to  be  required  instead  of  the  rpia  vioiai),  since  both  in  Julius  Pollux  (i. 
T)lJLiTa\avra  of  the  MSS,,  not  only  be-  i.  34)  and  in  Philostratus  (Vit.  Apoll. 
cause  Herodotus  must  have  known  pure  Tyan.  iv.  31)  there  is  mention  of  the  Theo- 
gold  to  be  heavier  than  alloyed,  but  phania,  as  a  festival  celebrated  by  the 
also  because  he  is  not  in  the  habit  of  Greeks,  No  particulars  are  known  of  it. 
reckoning  by  half  talents.  He  would  ^3  Vide  infra,  iii.  42.  Pausanias  as- 
not  be  more  likely  to  say  of  a  thing,  cribed  to  Theodore  of  Samos  the  inven- 
**  it  weighed  three  half-talents,"  than  a  tion  of  casting  in  bronze,  and  spoke  of 
modern  to  say,  ''it  weighed  three  half-  him  also  as  an  architect  (iii.  xii.  §  8; 
pounds."  With  respect  to  the  weight  viii.  xiv.  §  5).  Pliny  agreed  with  both 
of  these  ingots,  it  has  been  calculated  statements  (Nat.  Hist.  xxxv.  12),  and 
(Bahr  in  loc.)  from  their  size,  that  those  described  also  certain  minute  works  of 
of  pure  gold  weighed  325  lbs.  (French),  his  making.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
and  therefore  those  of  pale  or  alloyed  there  were  two  Theodores,  both  Sa- 
gold  260  lbs.  To  this  result  it  is  ob-  mians;  the  first,  the  architect  and  in- 
jected that  it  produces  a  talent  not  else-  ventor  of  casting  in  bronze,  who  flou- 
where  heard  of,  viz.  one  of  130  lbs.  rished  before  B.C.  600:  the  second,  the 
(French).  Herodotus,  however,  would  maker  of  this  bowl,  and  also  of  the  ring 
be  a  ""better  judge  of  the  size  of  the  of  Polycrates  (cf.  Bahr  ad  loc).  The 
ingots  than  of  their  weight.  He  pro-  genealogy  of  the  family  is  thus  given  by 
bably  measured  them  with  his  own  K.  0.  Miiller — 
hand,  but  he  must  have  taken  the  word 
of  the  Delphians  as  to  what  they  weighed.  Rhcecus  (ab.  b.c.  640) 

The  Delphians  are  not  likely  to  have  •  j ! 

understated  their  value.  Theodorus.                Telecles  (nc  600) 

w  Vide  infra,   ii.  180,  v.^  62.     It  was  ( 

burnt  accidentally — avTOfxdrws  /careKaTj.  Theodorus  (b.c.  560) 


Chap.  50-53.        FURTHER  INQUIRIES  AND  REPLIES.  151 

casks,  which  are  in  the  Corinthian  treasury,  and  two  histral 
vases,  a  golden  and  a  silver  one.  On  the  former  is  inscribed  the 
name  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  they  claim  it  as  a  gift  of 
theirs,  but  wrongly,  since  it  was  really  given  by  Croesus.  The 
inscription  upon  it  was  cut  by  a  Delphian,  who  wished  to 
pleasure  the  Lacedaemonians.  His  name  is  knov/ii  to  me,  but  I 
forbear  to  mention  it.  The  boy,  through  whose  hand  the  water 
runs,  is  (I  confess)  a  Lacedaemonian  gift,  but  they  did  not  give 
either  of  the  lustral  vases.  Besides  these  various  offerings, 
Croesus  sent  to  Delphi  many  others  of  less  account,  among  the 
rest  a  number  of  round  silver  basins.  Also  he  dedicated  a 
female  figure  in  gold,  three  cubits  high,  which  is  said  by  the 
Delphians  to  be  the  statue  of  his  baking-woman ;  and  further, 
he  presented  the  necklace  and  the  girdles  of  his  wife. 

52.  These  were  the  offerings  sent  by  Croesus  to  Delphi.  To 
the  shrine  of  Amphiaraiis,  with  whose  valour  and  misfortune 
he  was  acquainted,^  he  sent  a  shield  entirely  of  gold,  and  a 
spear,  also  of  solid  gold,  both  head  and  shaft.  They  were  still 
existing  in  my  day  at  Thebes,  laid  up  in  the  temple  of  Ismenian 
Apollo. 

53.  The  messengers  who  had  the  charge  of  conveying  these 
treasures  to  the  shrines,  received  instructions  to  ask  the  oracles 
whether  Croesus  should  go  to  war  with  the  Persians,  and  if  so, 
whether  he  should  strengthen  himself  by  the  forces  of  an  ally. 
Accordingly,  when  they  had  reached  their  destinations  and  pre- 
sented the  gifts,  they  proceeded  to  consult  the  oracles  in  the 
following  terms :— "  Croesus,  king  of  Lydia  and  other  countries, 
believing  that  these  are  the  only  real  oracles  in  all  the  world, 
has  sent  you  such  presents  as  your  discoveries  deserved,  and  now 
inquires  of  you  whether  he  shall  go  to  war  with  the  Persians, 
and  if  so,  whether  he  shall  strengthen  himself  by  the  forces  of 
a  confederate."  Both  the  oracles  agreed  in  the  tenor  of  their 
reply,  which  was  in  each  case  a  prophecy  that  if  Croesus  attacked 
the  Persians,  he  would  destroy  a  mighty  empire,  and  a  recom- 


1  For  the  story   of  Amphiaraiis,   cf.  at  Thebes  but  at  Oropus.    The  Thebans, 

Pausan.  i.  34,  ii.  13,  §  6.    ^Eschyl.  Sept.  ere  they  lost  Oropus  to  Attica,  might 

contr.  Th.  564  et  seqq.     The  "  misfor-  have  carried  away  tlie  most  vahiable  of 

tune  "  is  his  being  engulfed  near  Oropus,  its  treasures  to  their  own  city.     Indeed 

or,  (as  some  said)  at  Harma  in  Boeotia.  this  passage  may  rather  be  adduced  as 

The  fact  that  the  gifts  sent  to  Amphi-  proof  that  the  shrine  of  Amphiaraiis  was 

araiis  were  seen  by  Hei'odotus  at  Thebes,  not  at  Thebes.     For,  had  it  been,  why 

does  not  mihtate  against  the  position  should  the  shield  and  spear  have  been 

maintained  in  a  former  note,  that  the  in  the  temple  of  Ismenian  Apollo,  and 

oracular  shrine  of  Amphiaraiis  was  not  not  at  the  shrine  itself  ? 


152  SPAETA  AND  ATHENS  THE  TWO  MOST  Book  I. 

mendation  to  him  to  look  and  see  who  were  the  most  powerful 
of  the  Greeks,  and  to  make  alliance  with  them. 

54.  At  the  receipt  of  these  oracular  replies  Croesus  was  over- 
joyed, and  feeling  sure  now  that  he  would  destroy  the  empire  of 
the  Persians,  he  sent  once  more  to  Pytho,  and  presented  to  the 
Delphians,  the  number  of  whom  he  had  ascertained,  two  gold 
staters  apiece.^  In  return  for  this  the  Delphians  granted  to 
Croesus  and  the  Lydians  the  privilege  of  precedency  in  con- 
sulting the  oracle,  exemption  from  all  charges,  the  most  honour- 
able seat  at  the  festivals,  and  the  perpetual  right  of  becoming 
at  pleasure  citizens  of  their  town. 

55.  After  sending  these  presents  to  the  Delphians,  Croesus  a 
third  time  consulted  the  oracle,  for  having  once  proved  its 
truthfulness,  he  wished  to  make  constant  use  of  it.  The  question 
w^hereto  he  now  desired  an  answer  was — "  Whether  his  kingdom 
would  be  of  long  duration  ?  "  The  following  was  the  reply  of 
the  Pythoness : — 

*'  Wait  till  the  time  shall  come  when  a  mule  is  monarch  of  Media; 
Then,  thou  delicate  Lydian,  away  to  the  pebbles  of  Hermus  ;  ^ 
Haste,  oh !  haste  thee  away,  nor  blush  to  behave  like  a  coward." 

56.  Of  all  the  answers  that  had  reached  him,  this  pleased  hira 
far  the  best,  for  it  seemed  incredible  that  a  mule  should  ever 
come  to  be  king  of  the  Medes,  and  so  he  concluded  that  the 
sovereignty  would  never  depart  from  himself  or  his  seed  after 
him.  Afterwards  he  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  alliance  which 
he  had  been  recommended  to  contract,  and  sought  to  ascertain 
by  inquiry  which  was  the  most  powerful  of  the  Grecian  states. 
His  inquiries  pointed  out  to  him  two  states  as  pre-eminent  above 
the  rest.  These  were  the  Lacedaemonians  and  the  Athenians, 
the  former  of  Doric  the  latter  of  Ionic  blood.  And  indeed  these 
two  nations  had  held  from  very  early  times  the  most  distin- 
guished place  in  Greece,  the  one  being  a  Pelasgic  the  other  a 
Hellenic  people,  and  the  one  having  never  quitted  its  original 
seats,  while  the  other  had  been  excessively  migratory;  for 
during  the  reign  of  Deucalion,  Phthiotis  was  the  country  in 
whiph  the  Hellenes  dwelt,  but  under  Dorus,  the  son  of  Hellen, 


2  For  the  value  of  the  stater  see  note  clares  that  there  is  now  no  place  of  the 
on  Book  vii.  ch.  28.  name  (Asie  Mineure,  vol.  iii.  p.  17).   It 

3  The  Hermus  is  the  modern  Kodus  or  was  situated  in  the  valley  of  the  Her- 
Ghiediz  Chai,  which  rises  in  the  Morad  mus,  at  the  point  where  the  Pactolus,  a 
mountains  and  runs  into  the  sea  near  brook  descending  from  Tmolus,  joined 
Smyrna.     Sardis  was  till  recently  a  vil-  the  great  stream. 

lage  known  as  Sart;  but  M.  Texier  de- 


Chap.  53-57, 


POWERFUL  STATES  OF  GREECE. 


153 


they  moved  to  the  tract  at  the  base  of  Ossa  and  Olympus,  which 
is  called  Histia36tis ;  forced  to  retire  from  that  region  by  the 
Cadmeians/  they  settled,  under  the  name  of  Macedni,  in  the 
chain  of  Pindus.  Hence  they  once  more  removed  and  came  to 
Dryopis  ;  and  from  Dryopis  having  entered  the  Peloponnese  ^  in 
this  way,  they  became  known  as  Dorians. 

57.  What  the  language  of  the  Pelasgi  was  I  cannot  say  with 
any  certainty.  If,  however,  we  may  form  a  conjecture  from  the 
tongue  spoken  by  the  Pelasgi  of  the  present  day, — those,  for 
instance,  who  live  at  Creston  above  the  Tyrrhenians,^  who  for- 
merly dwelt  in  the  district  named  Thessaliotis,  and  were  neigh- 
bours of  the  people  now  called  the  Dorians, — or  those  again  who 
founded  Placia  and  Scylace  upon  the  Hellespont,  who  had  pre- 
viously dwelt  for  some  time  with  the  Athenians,^ — or  those,  in 
short,  of  any  other  of  the  cities  which  have  dropped  the  name 
but  are  in  fact  Pelasgian  ;  if,  I  say,  we  are  to  form  a  conjecture 
from  any  of  these,  we  must  pronounce  that  the  Pelasgi  spoke  a 


^  The  Cadmeians  were  the  Grseco- 
Phoenician  race  (their  name  merely  sig- 
nifying "the  Easterns"),  who  in  the 
ante-Trojau  times,  occupied  the  coun- 
tiy  which  was  afterwards  called  Boeotia. 
Hence  the  Greek  tragedians,  in  plays  of 
which  ancient  Thebes  is  the  scene^^sch. 
Sept.  c.  Theb.  Sophocl.  (Ed.  R.  and  An- 
tig.  Eurip.  Phoeniss.),  invariably  speak 
of  the  Thebans  as  Ka5/xe7ot,  KaS/j.€7os 
Aew?.  The  Boeotians  of  Arne  in  Thes- 
saly  expelled  the  Cadmeians  from  the 
region  historically  known  as  Boeotia, 
some  time  (60  years)  after  the  Trojan 
war  (Thucyd.  i.  12).  The  Cadmeians 
fled  in  various  directions.  They  are 
found  at  Athens  (infr.  v.  57),  at  Spaica 
(inf.  iv.  147),  and  in  Asia  Minor  (inf.  i. 
146).  Some  may  have  fled  to  Histiieotis, 
the  north-western  portion  of  Thessaly, 
a  mountain  ti-act  watered  by  the  head- 
streams  of  the  Peneus.  Such  regions 
were  not  so  much  coveted  by  the  power- 
ful invaders  as  the  more  fertile  plains. 

^  After  many  vain  attempts  to  force 
an  entrance  by  way  of  the  isthmus,  they 
crossed  the  strait  at  Rhium,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  ^tolians  (Pans.  v.  iii.  5, 
and  Apollodorus,  ii.  viii,  §  3). 

^  Niebuhr  (Hist,  of  Rome,  i.  p.  34, 
note  89)  would  read  KpSrooua  for  Kprj- 
aroova  here,  and  understand  Croton  or 
Cortona  in  Etruria.  It  is  certain  that 
Dionysius  so  read  and  understood  (cf. 
Dionys,  Ant.  Rom.  i.  26,  p.  69,  Reiske). 
And  the  best  MSS.,  Niebuhr  observes, 


are  defective  in  this  portion  of  Herodo- 
tus, so  that  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
variety  of  reading  in  the  copies  is  of  the 
less  importance.  Dahlmann  (Life  of 
Herod,  ch.  iv.  p.  43,  E.  T.)  and  Bahr, 
(in  loc.)  oppose  this  view,  and  maintain 
the  reading  Kp-naricva.  There  certainly 
were  Crestonians,  and  they  dwelling  in 
the  vicinity  of  Tyrrhenians  too,  in  the 
tract  sometimes  called  Mygdonia  (vide 
Thucyd.  iv.  109).  But  these  Tyrrhe- 
nians were  themselves  Pelasgi,  as  Thu- 
cydides  declares  in  the  passage,  and  so 
should,  have  spoken  the  same  language 
with  the  Crestonians.  Niebuhr  denies 
that  there  was  any  city  of  Creston  in 
these  parts,  but  in  this  he  contradicts 
Stephen  (ad  voc.  KprjaToov). 

An  insuperable  objection  to  Niebuhr's 
theory  is  the  assertion  of  Herodotus 
that  the  Pelasgic  people  of  whom  he  is 
speaking  ''formerly  dwelt  in  the  district 
named  Thessaliotis,  and  were  neighbours 
of  the  Dorians."  He  could  not  possibly 
intend  to  speak  so  positively  of  the  par- 
ticular part  of  Greece  in  which  the  Pe- 
lasgic population  of  Etruria  lived  before 
they  occupied  Italy,  an  event  probably 
anterior  to  the  names  Thessaliotis  and 
Dorians. 

'  Vide  infra,  vi.  137.  Thucyd.  iv.  109. 
Pausanias,  i.  28.  On  the  migrations  of 
the  Pelasgi,  their  language,  and  ethnic 
character,  see  the  Essay  appended  to 
book  vi. 


154         CONTRAST  OF  THE  HELLENES  AND  PELASGI.      Book  T. 

barbarous  language.^  If  this  were  really  so,  and  the  entire 
Pelasgic  race  spoke  tlie  same  tongue,  the  Athenians,  who  were 
certainly  Pelasgi,  must  have  changed  their  language  at  the 
same  time  that  they  passed  into  the  Hellenic  body ;  for  it 
is  a  certain  fact  that  the  people  of  Creston  speak  a  language 
unlike  any  of  their  neighbours,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
Placianians,  while  the  language  spoken  by  these  two  people 
is  the  same;  which  shows  that  they  both  retain  the  idiom 
which  they  brought  with  them  into  the  countries  where  they  are 
now  settled. 

58.  The  Hellenic  race  has  never,  since  its  first  origin,  changed 
its  speech.  This  at  least  seems  evident  to  me.  It  was  a  branch 
of  the  Pelasgic,  which  separated  from  the  main  body,^  and  at 
first  was  scanty  in  numbers  and  of  little  power ;  but  it  gradually 
spread  and  increased  to  a  multitude  of  nations,  chiefly  by  the 
voluntary  entrance  into  its  ranks  of  numerous  tribes  of  bar- 
barians.^ The  Pelasgi,  on  the  other  hand,  were,  as  I  think,  a 
barbarian  race  which  never  greatly  multiplied. 

59.  On  inquiring  into  the  condition  of  these  two  nations, 
Croesus  found  that  one,  the  Athenian,  was  in  a  state  of  grievous 
oppression  and  distraction  under  Pisistratus,  the  son  of  Hippo- 
crates, who  was  at  that  time  tyrant  of  Athens.  Hippocrates, 
when  he  was  a  private  citizen,  is  said  to  have  gone  once  upon  a 
time  to  Olympia  to  see  the  games,  when  a  wonderful  prodigy 
happened  to  him.  As  he  was  employed  in  sacrificing,  the 
cauldrons  which  stood  near,  full  of  water  and  of  the  flesh  of  the 
victims,  began  to  boil  without  the  help  of  fire,  so  that  the  water 


®    "The  Pelasgians  were  a   different  or  more  equal  channels,  the  verb  used 

nation  from  the  Hellenes :  their  language  is   the    simple    (TxiC^(Tdai.      See   ii.   17. 

was  peculiar,  and  not  Greek :  this  asser-  o'xiC^''""'  TpK^atrms  odovs  \6  NeiAos].  iv. 

tion,  however,  must  not  be  stretched  to  39.     (TxiXerat    ra  (TTofxara   tov  "IcTTpov. 

imply  a  difference  like  that  between  the  The  assertion  of  Herodotus   therefore 

Greek   and   the    lllyrian   or   Thracian.  is,  that  the  Hellenes  branched  from  the 

Nations  whose  languages  were  more  near-  Pelasgi.      Neither  the  "separee  des  Pe'- 

ly  akin  than  the  Latin  and  Greek,  would  lasges  "  of  Larcher,  nor  the  *'  discretum 

still  speak  so  as  not  to  be  mutually  un-  h,  Pelasgico  genere  "  of  Schweighseuser 

derstood;    and  this  is  what  Herodotus  sufiiciently  express  this  meaning, 

has  in  his  eye."    (Niebuhr's  Rom.  Hist.  ^  Thucydides  explains  further,  that 

vol.  i.*^.  27.)  the   various    tribe«   of  Pelasgi   became 

^    h.'K  o(yxiGQ\v    h.T:h    rod    UeAacryi-  Hellenized    by    the    voluntary    placing 

Kov.    This  is  the  term  which  Herodotus  of  themselves  under  Hellenic  guidance, 

uses  when  he  wishes  to  express  the  di-  from  a  conviction  of  the  benefit  that 

vergence    of  a  branch  sti-eam  from  the  would  thereby  accrue  to  them  (Thucyd. 

main  current  of  a  river.     Vide  infra,  iv.  i.  3.     eirayoiMivoov  avrovs  e7r'  wcpeXia  is 

56.     "EfiBofxos  Se  reppos  TroTa/xds    aire-  ras  dWasiroAeis,  Ka6^   iKdarovs  tjStj  ry 

Cxto'Tai  /xev  aird   rod  BopvffOtueos,   K.  ofxiAla  /xaWov   KaX^ladai.  "EWrjvas). 
r.  A.     When  the  river  divides  into  two 


Chap.  57-59.        CONDITION  OF  ATPIENS— PISISTRATUS.  155 

overflowed  tlie  pots.  Chilon  the  Lacedsemonian,  who  happened 
to  be  there  and  to  witness  the  prodigy,  advised  Hippocrates,  if 
he  were  unmarried,  never  to  take  into  his  house  a  wife  who 
could  bear  him  a  child  ;  if  he  already  had  one,  to  send  her  back 
to  her  friends  ;  if  he  had  a  son,  to  disown  him.  Chilon's  advice 
did  not  at  all  please  Hippocrates,  who  disregarded  it,  and  some 
time  after  became  the  father  of  Pisistratus.  This  Pisistratus,  at 
a  time  when  there  was  civil  contention  in  Attica  between  the 
party  of  the  Sea-coast  headed  by  Megacles  the  son  of  Alcmseon, 
and  that  of  the  Plain  headed  by  Lycurgus,  one  of  the  Aristolaids, 
formed  the  project  of  making  himself  tyrant,  and  with  this  view 
created  a  third  party.^  Gathering  together  a  band  of  partisans, 
and  giving  himself  out  for  the  protector  of  the  Highlanders,  he 
contrived  the  following  stratagem.  He  wounded  himself  and 
his  mules,  and  then  drove  his  chariot  into  the  market-place, 
professing  to  have  just  escaped  an  attack  of  his  enemies,  who 
had  attempted  his  life  as  he  was  on  his  way  into  the  country. 
He  besought  the  people  to  assign  him  a  guard  to  protect  his 
person,  reminding  them  of  the  glory  which  he  had  gained  when 
he  led  the  attack  upon  the  Megarians,  and  took  the  town  of 
Nissea,^  at  the  same  time  performing  many  other  exploits.  The 
Athenians,  deceived  by  his  story,  appointed  him  a  band  of 
citizens  to  serve  as  a  guard,  who  were  to  carry  clubs  instead 
of  spears,  and  to  accompany  him  wherever  he  went.  Thus 
strengthened,  Pisistratus  broke  into  revolt  and  seized  the  citadel. 
In  this  way  he  acquired  the  sovereignty  of  Athens,  which  he 
continued  to  hold  without  disturbing  the  previously  existing 
offices  or  altering  any  of  the  laws.  He  administered  the  state 
according  to  the  established  usages,  and  his  arrangements  were 
wise  and  salutary. 


2  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  gislation,  i.  e.  before  B.C.  594.  Mr.  Grote 
local  factions  must  also  have  been  poll-  justly  observes  that  distinction  gained 
tical  parties.  Indeed  one  of  them,  that  five  and  thirty  years  before  would  have 
of  the  Highlanders  (yirepoLKptoi),  is  iden-  availed  Pisistratus  but  little  in  the  party 
tified  by  Herodotus  himself  with  the  conflicts  of  this  period.  The  objection 
demus  or  Democratical  party.  The  two  that  he  could  not,  when  so  young,  be 
others  are  connected  by  Plutarch  (Solon,  said  with  any  propriety  to  have  captured 
0.  13),  and  on  grounds  of  probability,  Nisasa  is  not  so  well  founded,  for  a  young 
with  the  Oligarchical  and  the  Moderate  ojBBcer  may  lead  a  storming  party,  or 
party.  (See  the  Essays  appended  to  even  command  at  the  siege  of  a  town  not 
Book  V.  Essay  ii.)  ^  the  chief  object  of  the  war,  and  in  either 

3  Plutarch  mentions  a  war  between  case  would  be  said  to  liave  captured  the 
Athens  and  Megara,  under  the  conduct  place.  The  chief 'scene  of  this  war  was 
of  Solon,  in  which  Pisistratus  was  said  Salamis.  (See  Mr.  Grote's  history,  vol. 
to  have  distinguished  himself  (Solon,  c.  iii.  p.  205,  note). 

8),  as  having  occurred  before  Solon's  le- 


156  FIRST  EXPULSION  OF  PISISTRATUS.  Book  I. 

60.  However,  after  a  little  time,  the  partisans  of  Megacles 
and  those  of  Lyeurgus  agreed  to  forget  their  differences,  and 
united  to  drive  him  out.  So  Pisistratus,  having  by  the  means 
described  first  made  himself  master  of  Athens,  lost  his  power 
again  before  it  had  time  to  take  root.  No  sooner,  however,  was 
he  departed  than  the  factions  which  had  driven  him  out 
quarrelled  anew,  and  at  last  Megacles,  wearied  with  the  struggle, 
sent  a  herald  to  Pisistratus,  with  an  offer  to  re-establish  him  on 
the  throne  if  he  would  marry  his  daughter.  Pisistratus  con- 
sented, and  on  these  terms  an  agreement  was  concluded  between 
the  two,  after  which  they  proceeded  to  devise  the  mode  of  his 
restoration.  And  here  the  device  on  which  they  hit  was  the 
silliest  that  I  find  on  record,  more  especially  considering  that 
the  Greeks  have  been  from  very  ancient  times  distinguished 
from  the  barbarians  by  superior  sagacity  and  freedom  from 
foohsh  simpleness,  and  remembering  that  the  persons  on  whom 
this  trick  was  played  were  not  only  Greeks  but  Athenians,  who 
have  the  credit  of  surpassing  all  other  Greeks  in  cleverness. 
There  was  in  the  Pseanian  district  a  woman  named  Phya,'^  whose 
height  only  fell  short  of  four  cubits  by  three  fingers'  breadth, 
and  who  was  altogether  comely  to  look  upon.  This  woman  they 
clothed  in  complete  armour,  and,  instructing  her  as  to  the 
carriage  which  she  was  to  maintain  in  order  to  beseem  her  part, 
they  placed  her  in  a  chariot  and  drove  to  the  city.  Heralds  had 
been  sent  forward  to  precede  her,  and  to  make  proclamation  to 
this  effect :  "  Citizens  of  Athens,  receive  again  Pisistratus  with 
friendly  minds.  Minerva,  who  of  all  men  honours  him  the 
most,  herself  conducts  him  back  to  her  own  citadel."  This 
they  proclaimed  in  all  directions,  and  immediately  the  rumour 
spread  throughout  the  country  districts  that  Minerva  was  bring- 
ing back  her  favourite.     They  of  the  city  also,  fully  persuaded 


*  It  is  related  that  this  Phya  was  the  ance  of  the  God  Pan  to  Phidippides  a 

daughter  of  a  certain  Socrates,  and  made  little  before   the   battle    of  Marathon, 

a  livelihood  by  selling  chaplets,  yet  that  which  Herodotus  himself  states  to  have 

she  was  afterwards  married  by  Pisistra-  been  received  as  true  by  the  Athenians 

tus  to^his  son  Hipparchus,  which  seems  (vi.  105).    He  might  have  compared  also 

very  improbable.      (See   Clitodem.   Fr.  the  story  of  the  gigantic  phantom-war- 

24.)  rior  at  Marathon  who  smote  Epizelus 

Mr.  Grote  has  seme  just  remarks  upon  with  blindness  as  he  passed  by  him  to 

the  observations  with  which  Herodotus  strike  the  man  at  his  side  (Herod,  vi. 

accompanies  the  story  of  Phya.   It  seems  117),  and  that  of  the  appearance  of  the 

clear  that  the  Greeks  of  the  age  of  Pisis-  two  superhuman  hoplites  in  the  battle 

tratus  fully  believed  in  the  occasional  with  the  Persians  at  Delphi,  whom  the 

presence  upon  earth  of  the  Gods.     Mr.  Delphians  recognised  for  their  local  he- 

Grote  refers  to  the  well-known  appear-  roes,  Phylacus  and  AntonoUs  (viii.  ^8-9). 


Cbap.  60-62.  HIS  SECOND  EXPULSION.  157 

that  the  woman  was  the  veritable  goddess,  prostrated  themselves 
before  her,  and  received  Pisistratus  back. 

61.  Pisistratus,  having  thus  recovered  the  sovereignty,  mar- 
ried, according  to  agreement,  the  daughter  of  Megacles.  As, 
however,  he  had  already  a  family  of  grown  up  sons,  and  the 
Alcmseonidfe  were  supposed  to  be  under  a  curse,^  he  determined 
that  there  should  be  no  issue  of  the  marriage.  His  wife  at 
first  kept  this  matter  to  herself,  but  after  a  time,  either  her 
mother  questioned  her,  or  it  may  be  that  she  told  it  of  her  own 
accord.  At  any  rate,  she  informed  her  mother,  and  so  it  reached 
her  father's  ears.  Megacles,  indignant  at  receiving  an  affront  from 
such  a  quarter,  in  his  anger  instantly  made  up  his  differences 
with  the  opposite  faction,  on  which  Pisistratus,  aware  of  what 
was  planning  against  him,  took  himself  out  of  the  country. 
Arrived  at  Eretria,  he  held  a  council  with  his  children  to  decide 
what  was  to  be  done.  The  opinion  of  Hippias  prevailed,  and  it 
was  agreed  to  aim  at  regaining  the  sovereignty.  The  first  step 
was  to  obtain  advances  of  money  from  such  states  as  were  under 
obligations  to  them.  By  these  means  they  collected  large  sums 
from  several  countries,  especially  from  the  Thebans,  who  gave 
them  far  more  than  any  of  the  rest.  To  be  brief,  time  passed, 
and  all  was  at  length  got  ready  for  their  return.  A  band  of 
Argive  mercenaries  arrived  from  the  Peloponnese,  and  a  certain 
Naxian  named  Lygdamis,  who  volunteered  his  services,  was 
particularly  zealous  in  the  cause,  supplying  both  men  and 
money. 

62.  In  the  eleventh  year  of  their  exile  the  family  of  Pisis- 
tratus set  sail  from  Eretria  on  their  return  home.  They  made 
the  coast  of  Attica,  near  Marathon,  where  they  encamped,  and 
were  joined  by  their  partisans  from  the  capital  and  by  numbers 
from  the  country  districts,  who  loved  tyranny  better  than  free- 
dom. At  Athens,  while  Pisistratus  was  obtaining  funds,  and 
even  after  he  landed  at  Marathon,  no  one  paid  any  attention  to 
his  proceedings.  When,  however,  it  became  known  that  he  had 
left  Marathon,  and  was  marching  upon  the  city,  preparations 
Avere  made  for  resistance,  the  whole  force  of  the  state  was  levied, 
and  led  against  the  returning  exiles.     Meantime  the  army  of 


*  Vide  infra,  v.  70-1 ;  Thucyd.  i.  126;  with  them  after  he  had,  by  a  pledge  to 

riut.  Solon,  c.  12.    The  curse  rested  on  spare  their  lives,  induced  them  to  leave 

them  upon  account  of  their  treatment  of  the  sacred  precinct  of  Minerva  in  the 

the  partisans  of  Cylon.      The  archon  of  Acropolis,  but  also  slew   a  number  at 

the  time,  Megacles,  not  only  broke  faith  the  altar  of  the  Eumenides. 


158  HIS  FINAL  RETURN  TO  POWER.  Book  I. 

Pisistratus,  which  had  broken  up  from  Marathon,  meeting  their 
adversaries  near  the  temple  of  the  Pallenian  Minerva,^  pitched 
their  camp  opposite  them.  Here  a  certain  soothsayer,  Amphi- 
lytus  by  name,  an  Acarnanian,^  moved  by  a  divine  impulse, 
came  into  the  presence  of  Pisistratus,  and  approaching  him 
uttered  this  prophecy  in  the  hexameter  measure  : — 

*'  Now  has  the  cast  been  made,  the  net  is  out -spread  in  the  water, 
Through  the  moonshiny  night  the  tunnies  will  enter  the  meshes." 

63.  Such  was  the  prophecy  uttered  under  a  divine  inspira- 
tion. Pisistratus,  apprehending  its  meaning,  declared  that  he 
accepted  the  oracle,  and  instantly  led  on  his  army.  The 
Athenians  from  the  city  had  just  finished  their  midday  meal, 
after  which  they  had  betaken  themselves,  some  to  dice,  others 
to  sleep,  when  Pisistratus  with  his  troops  fell  upon  them  and  put 
them  to  the  rout.  As  soon  as  the  flight  began,  Pisistratus  be- 
thought himself  of  a  most  wise  contrivance,  whereby  the 
Athenians  might  be  induced  to  disperse  and  not  unite  in  a  body 
any  more.  He  mounted  his  sons  on  horseback  and  sent  them 
on  in  front  to  overtake  the  fugitives,  and  exhort  them  to  be  of 
good  cheer,  and  return  each  man  to  his  home.  The  Athenians 
took  the  advice,  and  Pisistratus  became  for  the  third  time 
master  of  Athens.^ 


^  Pallene  was  a  village  of  Attica,  near  Acai-nania  was  famous  for  soothsayers, 

Gargettus,  which  is  the  modern  Garito  especially  at  this  period.     It  is  only  ne- 

( Leake,  Demi  of  Attica,  p.  45;.     It  was  cessary  to  mention  Megistias,  the  Acar- 

famous  for  its  temple  of  Minerva,  which  nanian  soothsayer,  at  Thermopylae,  and 

was  of  such  magnificence  as  to  be  made  Hippomachus,   the    Leucadian    (Leucas 

the  subject  of  a  special  treatise  by  The-  was  on  the  coast  of  Acarnania)  at  Pla- 

mison,  whose  book,  entitled  Palknis,  is  tsea.     (Vide  infra,  vii.221,  and  ix.  38.) 

mentioned  by  Athenseus  (vi.  6,  p.  235).  ^  Mr.  Grote  is  of  opinion  that  ''the 

The    exact   site  of  the   ancient  village  proceedings"  throughout  this  struggle 

seems  to  be    a   place   about    1^   miles  "  have  altogether  the  air  of  a  concerted 

south-west   of  Garito^  where  there  are  betrayal  "  (Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p. 

extensive  remains  (Leake,  ibid.).  143).    Such,  however,  is  clearly  not  the 

■^  Valckenaer  proposed  to  i-ead  6  'AKap-  opinion  of  Herodotus.  And  as  the  Alc- 
v€vs  (Ionic  form  of  'Axapvevs)  the  Achar-  maionidse  were  undoubtedly  at  the  head 
nian,  for  6  'AKapuau,  the  Acarnanian.  Lar-  of  affairs,  and  knew  that  they  had  no- 
cher  argued  in  favour  of  this  reading,  thing  to  hope,  but  everything  to  fear, 
while  Gronovius  considered  that  o  AKap-  from  the  success  of  Pisistratus,  it  seems 
Kav  might  have  the  meaning  of  "the  quite  inconceivable  that  they  should 
Acharnian."  So  too  Schweighscuser,  have  voluntarily  betrayed  the  state  into 
who  renders  "Acarnan,  sitie/>of«'(s^c/iar-  his  hands.  It  is  prejudice  to  suppose 
nensis."  The  vicinity  of  Acharnce  to  that  the  popular  party  alone  can  never 
Pallene  is  a  circamsatnce  of  some  weight  lose  ground  by  its  own  fault,  or  without 
on  this  side  of  the  question.  And  it  is  a  betrayal.  The  fact  seems  to  have  been 
certain  that  Plato  calls  Amphilytus  a  that  at  this  time,  before  the  weight  of  a 
compatriot  (Theag.  p.  124),  and  that  tyranny  had  been  felt,  many,  as  Hero- 
Clement  calls  him  an  Athenian  (Strom,  dotus  says,  "  loved  tyrauny  better  than 
I.  i.  p.  398).     But  on  the  other  hand  freedom,"  and  the  mass  were  indifferent. 


Chap.  62-65. 


HIS  AFTER  MEASURE  S. 


159 


64.  Upon  this  lie  set  himself  to  root  his  power  more  firmly,  by 
the  aid  of  a  numerous  body  of  mercenaries,  and  by  keeping  up 
a  full  exchequer,  partly  supplied  from  native  sources,  partly  from 
the  countries  about  the  river  Strymon.^  He  also  demanded  host- 
ages from  many  of  the  Athenians  who  had  remained  at  home,  and 
not  left  Athens  at  his  approach  ;  and  these  he  sent  to  Naxos, 
which  he  had  conquered  by  force  of  arms,  and  given  over  into 
the  charge  of  Lygdamis.^  Farther,  he  purified  the  island  of 
Delos,  according  to  the  injunctions  of  an  oracle,  after  the  follow- 
inof  fashion.  All  the  dead  bodies  which  had  been  interred  within 
sight  of  the  temple  he  dug  up,  and  removed  to  another  part  of 
the  isle.^  Thus  was  the  tyranny  of  Pisistratus  established  at 
Athens,  many  of  the  Athenians  having  fallen  in  the  battle,  and 
many  others  having  fled  the  country  together  with  the  som  of 
Alcmseon. 

65.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Athenians  when  Croesus 
made  inquiry  concerning  them.^     Proceeding  to  seek  informa- 


Pisistratus  was  considered  as  in 
a  great  measure  the  champion  of  demo- 
cracy, and  his  return  was  looked  on  by 
his  countrymen  with  much  the  same 
feelings  as  those  wherewith  the  French 
regarded  that  of  Napoleon  from  Elba  in 
1815. 

^  The  revenues  of  Pisistratus  were 
derived  in  part  from  the  income-tax  of 
five  per  cent,  which  he  levied  from  his 
subjects  (Thucyd,  vi.  54.  'Adr]valovs 
€Iko<TT7}U  TTpaaffojx^voi.  Tcbv  yLyvofJ-evcov), 
in  part  probably  from  the  silver-mines 
at  Laurium,  which  a  little  later  were  so 
remarkably  productive  (Herod,  vii.  144). 
He  had  also  a  third  source  of  revenue,  of 
which  Herodotus  here  speaks,  consisting 
apparently  either  of  lands  or  mines  lying 
near  the  Strymon,  and  belonging  to  him 
probably  in  his  private  capacity.  That 
part  of  Thrace  was  famous  for  its  gold 
and  silver  mines  (infr.  v.  17,  23,  vi.  46; 
Thucyd.  iv.  105;  Strab.  vii.  p.  481). 
Mr.  Grote  has,  I  think,  mistaken  the 
meaning  of  this  passage  (vol.  iv.  p.  145, 
note  1).  "Herodotus,"  he  says,  ''tells 
us  that  Pisistratus  brought  mercenary 
soldiers  from  the  Sti-ymon,  but  that  he 
levied  the  money  to  pay  them  in  Attica : 
4pf)i^o}(T^  T^v  TvpavviBa  eTriKovpoicrl  re 
'iroWo7(n,  Koi  XP''^^^'^'^^^  crvuSSoiai,  tuv 
fihv  auTodev,  rwv  5e  ott^  1,Tpvfj.ovos  iro- 
ra/JLov  (Tvvi6vTU)v."  The  arguments  by 
which  he  defends  his  translation  (vol.  vii. 
App.  pp.  568,  569,  3rd  Edition)  seem  to 
me  beside  the  point.  The  genitive,  rwv  .  . 


<Tvvi6vro3v,  cannot  possibly  refer  to  the 
dative  iiriKOvpoicn. 

1  It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  ac- 
count of  the  establishment  of  Lygdamis 
in  Naxos  with  the  statements  of  Aris- 
totl^nthe  subject.  According  to  Aris- 
totle, the  revolution  which  placed  him 
upon  the  throne  was  of  home  growth, 
and  scarcely  admitted  of  the  interference 
of  a  foreigner.  Telestagoras,  a  man  be- 
loved by  the  common  people,  had  been 
grossly  injured  and  insulted  by  some 
youths  belonging  to  the  oligarchy  which 
then  ruled  Naxos.  A  general  outbreak 
was  the  consequence,  and  the  common 
people  under  Lygdamis,  who  though  by 
birth  an  aristocrat,  placed  himself  at 
their  head,  overcame  the  oligarchy,  and 
made  Lygdamis  king.  (See  the  Frag- 
ments of  Aristotle  in  Miiller's  Frag.  Hist. 
Gr.  vol.  ii.  p.  155,  Fr.  168,  and  compare 
Arist.  Pol.  V.  V.  §  1.)  It  is  of  course 
quite  possible  that  Pisistratus  may  have 
lent  Lygdamis  some  aid  ;  but  if  we  ac- 
cept Aristotle's  account,  which  seems 
too  circumstantial  to  be  false,  we  must 
consider  Herodotus  to  have  been  altoge- 
ther mistaken  in  his  view  of  the  matter. 

2  Compare  Thucyd.  iii.  104. 

^  The  embaf'sy  of  Croesus  cannot  pos- 
sibly have  been  subsequent  to  the  final 
establishment  of  Pisistratus  at  Athens, 
which  was  in  B.C.  542  at  the  earliest. 
(See  Clmton's  F.  H.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  252-4.) 
It  probably  occurred  during  his  first 
term  of  power. 


160  CONDITION  OF  SPARTA— LYCURGUS.  Book  T. 

tion  concerning  the  Lacedaemonians,  he  learnt  that,  after  pass- 
ing through  a  period  of  great  depression,  they  had  lately  been 
victorious  in  a  war  with  the  people  of  Tegea ;  for,  during  the 
joint  reign  of  Leo  and  Agasicles,  kings  of  Sparta,  the  Lace- 
daemonians, successful  in  all  their  other  w^ars,  suffered  continual 
defeat  at  the  hands  of  tlie.  Tegeans.  At  a  still  earlier  period 
they  had  been  the  very  worst  governed  people  in  Greece,  as 
well  in  matters  of  internal  management  as  in  their  relations 
towards  foreigners,  from  whom  they  kept  entirely  aloof.  The 
circumstances  which  led  to  their  being  well  governed  were  the 
following : — Lycurgus,  a  man  of  distinction  among  the  Spartans, 
had  gone  to  Delphi,  to  visit  the  oracle.  Scarcely  had  he  entered 
into  the  inner  fane,  when  the  Pythoness  exclaimed  aloud, 

''  Oh  !   thou  great  Lycurgus,  that  com'st  to  my  beautiful  dwelling, 
Dear  to  Jove,  and  to  all  who  sit  in  the  halls  of  Olympus, 
Whether  to  hail  thee  a  god  I  know  not,  or  only  a  mortal, 
But  my  hope  is  strong  that  a  god  thou  wilt  prove,  Lycurgus." 

Some  report  besides,  that  the  Pythoness  delivered  to  him  the 
entire  system  of  laws  which  are  still  observed  by  the  Spartans. 
The  Lacedaemonians,  however,  themselves  assert  that  Lycurgus, 
when  he  was  guardian  of  his  nephew,  Labotas,*  king  of  Sparta, 
and  regent  in  his  room,  introduced  them  from  Crete ;  ^  for  as 
soon  as  he  became  regent,  he  altered  the  whole  of  the  existing 
customs,  substituting  new  ones,  which  he  took  care  should  be 
observed  by  all.  After  this  he  arranged  whatever  appertained 
to  war,   establishing  the   Enomotiae,  Triacades,  and   Syssitia,® 


*  Since  Labotas  was,  in  all  probability,  truth  seems  to  be  that  Herodotus  has 

noAvays  related   to  Lycurgus,  being  of  simply  made  a  mistake, 

the  other  royal  hoiise,  and  Lycurgus  is  ^  Aristotle  was  of  this  opinion  (Polit. 

said  by  Aristotle  (Polit.  ii.  vii.  §  2)  and  li.  vii.  §  1).     Kal  yap    eoiKe:    koI  Xeye- 

most  ancient  writers  to  have  been  regent  rat  5e   ra   TrAeto-Ta    fxc  fxi  jxri  cr  Oai    t)]v 

for  Charilaiis,  it  has  been  proposed  (Mar-  Kp7]r lktiv  iroKiT^iav  rj  tuv  XaKcovtav  .  .   . 

sham,  Can.  Chron.  p.  428)  to  read — Ai»-  koI  yap  rov  Avicovpyov,  otc  ttju  iirirpo- 

Kovpyov  i-KLTpoTztvcrauTa    ad€\(pid€Ov  jxkv  ir^iav  t)^v  X.apiKaov  tov  ^acriXeoos  KaraXt- 

ectivTou,     ^aaiXcvouTos     5e     27rapT7jTtwi'  vwu  aTre^i)/j.7](r€,  t6t€  rhv  irX^lcxTOv  Sto- 

Aeco/3cuTeco.       Larcher  approves   of  this  rpii/zat  XP^''^^^  Trepl  rrju  KprjTrjv. 

emendation,  and  translates  accordingly,  ^  That  the  ivwixoriai  were  divisions  of 

Clinton  also  is  satisfied  with  it.  (F,  H.  the  Spartan  cohort  {Xoxos)  is  proved  by 

vol.'!.  p.  144,  note  ^.)     But  in  the  first  the  concurrent  testimony  of  Thucydides 

place  the  reading  in  Herodotus  is  at  least  (v.  68)  and  Xenophon  (Hellen.  vi.  iv. 

as  old  as  Pausanias,  who  says,   "  Hero-  §  12;  Rep.  Lac.  xi.  §  4),      Thucydides 

dotvis  in  his  discovirse  of  Croesus  asserts  says   the    Xoxos   contained  four  pente- 

that  Labotas  in   his   boyhood  had  for  costyes  and  512  men,  the  pentecostys 

guardian  Lycurgus  the  lawgiver,"  (Pans,  four  enomoties,    and   128  men.     Xeno- 

III.  ii.  §  3.)     And  secondly,  the  altera-  phon  gives  but  two  pentecostyes  to  the 

tion  would  not  remove   the  difficulty,  Xoxos,  and  two  enomoties  to  the  pente- 

For  Labotas  was  dead  seventy  years  be-  costys.    It  is  probable  that  the  Spartans 

fore  Charilaiis  mounted  the  throne.  The  had  changed  the  organization  of  their 


Chap.  65-66.  TEGEAN  WAE..  161 

besides  whicli  lie  instituted  the  senate,'  and  the  ephoralty.^ 
Such  was  the  way  in  which  the  Lacedgemonians  became  a  well- 
governed  people. 

66.  On  the  death  of  Lycurgus  they  built  him  a  temple,  and 
ever  since  they  have  worshipped  him  with  the  utmost  reverence. 
Their  soil  being  good  and  the  population  numerous,  they  sprang 
up  rapidly  to  power,  and  became  a  flourishing  people.  In  con- 
sequence they  soon  ceased  to  be  satisfied  to  stay  quiet ;  and, 
regarding  the  Arcadians  as  very  much  their  inferiors,  they  sent 
to  consult  the  oracle  about  conquering  the  whole  of  Arcadia. 
The  Pythoness  thus  answered  them : 

*'  Gravest  thou  Arcady  ?   Bold  is  thy  craving.     I  shall  not  content  it. 
Many  the  men  that  in  Arcady  dwell,  whose  food  is  the  acorn — 
They  will  never  allow  thee.     It  is  not  I  that  am  niggard. 
I  will  give  thee  to  dance  in  Tegea,  with  noisy  foot-fall, 
And  with  the  measuring  line  mete  out  ;the  glorious  champaign." 

When  the  Lacedaemonians  received  this  reply,  leaving  the  rest 
of  Arcadia  untouched,  they  marched  against  the  Tegeans,  carry- 
ing with  them  fetters,  so  confident  had  this  oracle  (which  was, 
in  truth,  but  of  base  metal)  made  them  that  they  would  enslave 
the  Tegeans.  The  battle,  however,-  went  against  them,  and 
many  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands.  Then  these  persons,  wearing 
the  fetters  which  they  had  themselves  brought,  and  fastened 


army  during  the  interval.      The  word  less  than  a  revolution   can  recover  it., 

^uu/jLorla  implies  that  its  members  were  Compare  the  history  of  Rome  under  the 

bound  together  by  a  common  oath.    Cf.  last  Tarquin.     Lycurgus  appears  to  have 

Hesych.  in  voc.  iyufioria — rd^is  ris  Sia  made  scarcely  any  changes  in  the  consti- 

cr(payiwv  ivdo^ioros.  tution.     What  he  did  was  to  alter  the 

Of  the  TpL-nKoidcs  nothing  seems  to  be  customs  and  habits  of  the  people.  With 

known.    They  may  have  been  also  divi-  regard  to  the  senate,  its  institution  was 

sions  of  the  army — but  divisions  con-  pinmitive,  and  we  can  scarcely  imagine 

fined  to  the  camp,  not  existing  in  the  that  it  had  ever  dropped  out  of  use.   Af, 

field.  however,  the  whole  Spartan  constitution 

The  word  ffvcfflria  would  seem  in  this  was  considered  to  be  the  work  of  Lyciir- 

place  not  to  have  its  ordinary  significa-  gus,  all  its  parts  came  by  degrees  to  be 

tion,   "common  meals"  or  "messes,"  assigned  to  him. 

but  to  be  applied  to  the  "  set  of  persons  ^  The  institution  of  the  Ephoralty  is 

who  were  appointed  to  mess  together."  ascribed  to  Lycurgus  by  Xenophon  (De 

In  Sparta  itself,  each  "mess"  usually  Eep.  Laced,  viii.  3),    Satyrus  (ap.  Diog. 

consisted  of  15  persons.     This  was  pro-  Laert.  i.  68),  and  the  author  of  the  let- 

bably  the  case  also  in  the  camp,  civil  ters  ascribed  to  Plato  (Ep.  viii.).     Plu- 

and    military   arrangements   in    Sparta  tarch  (Lycurg.  c.  7),  and  Aristotle  (Po- 

being  mixed  up  inseparably.     If  so,  the  lit.  v.  9,  §  1 )  assign  it  to  Theopompus. 

TpirjKas  may  have  contained  two  messes.  These  conflicting  statements  are  best  re- 

'  It  is  quite  inconceivable  that  Lycur-  conciled  by  considering  that  the  ephoi-s 

gus  should  in  any  sense  have  instituted  existed  as  a  magistracy  at  least  from 

the  senate.     If  it  ever  comes  to  pass  in  the  time  of  Lycurgus,  but  obtained  an 

a  monarchy  that  the  council  of  the  no-  entirely  new   position  in   the  reign    of 

bles  ceases  to  be  a  power  in  the  state,  Theopompus.      (Cf.  Thirlwall's  Hist,  of 

it  does  not  owe  its  re-establishuient  to  Greece,  vol,  i.  p.  354,  and  see  the  Essays 

royal,  or  qmsi-royal  authority.  Nothing  appended  to  Book  V.  Essay  i.) 

VOL.  I.  M 


162  LEGEND  OF  THE  BONES  OF  ORESTES.  Book  I. 

together  in  a  string,  measured  the  Tegean  plain  as  they  executed 
their  labours.  The  fetters  in  which  they  worked,  were  still,  in 
my  day,  preserved  at  Tegea  where  they  hung  round  the  walls  of 
the  temple  of  Minerva  Alea.^ 

67.  Throughout  the  whole  of  this  early  contest  with  the 
Tegeans,  the  Lacedaemonians  met  with  nothing  but  defeats ;  but 
in  the  time  of  Croesus,  under  the  kings  Anaxandrides  and  Aristo, 
fortune  had  turned  in  their  favour,  in  the  manner  which  I  will 
now  relate.  Having  been  worsted  in  every  engagement  by 
their  enemy,  they  sent  to  Delphi,  and  inquired  of  the  oracle 
what  god  they  must  propitiate  to  prevail  in  the  war  against  the 
Tegeans.  The  answer  of  the  Pythoness  was,  that  before  they 
could  prevail,  they  must  remove  to  Sparta  the  bones  of  Orestes, 
the  son  of  Agamemnon.^  Unable  to  discover  his  burial-place, 
they  sent  a  second  time,  and  asked  the  god  where  the  body  of 
the  hero  had  been  laid.  The  following  was  the  answer  they 
received : — 

**  Level  and  smooth  is  the  plain  where  Arcadian  Tegea  standeth ; 
There, two  winds  are  ever,  by  strong  necessity,  blowing, 
Counter-stroke  answers  stroke,  and  evil  lies  upon  evil. 
There  all-teeming  Earth  doth  harbour  the  son  of  Atrides ; 
Bring  thou  him  to  thy  city,  and  then  be  Tegea's  master." 

After  this  reply,  the  Lacedaemonians  were  no  nearer  discovering 
the  burial-place  than  before,  though  they  continued  to  search 
for  it  diligently ;  until  at  last  a  man  named  Lichas,  one  of  the 
Spartans  called  Agathoergi,  found  it.  The  Agathoergi  are 
citizens  who  have  just  served  their  time  among  the  knights. 
The  five  eldest  of  the  knights  go  out  every  year,  and  are  bound 
during  the  year  after  their  discharge,  to  go  wherever  the  State 
sends  them,  and  actively  employ  themselves  in  its  service.^ 


*  Minerva  Alea  was  an  Arcadian  God-  of  Alcmena  from  Haliartus   to   Sparta 

dess.    She  was  worshipped  at  Mantinea,  (Plut,  de  Socr.  Gen.  p.  577,  E.). 
Manthyrea,  and  Alea,  as  well  as  at  Te-         ^  j^  jg  difficult  to  reconcile  this  pas- 

gea.     Her  temple  at  Tegea  was  particu-  sage  with   the  statement  of  Xenophon 

larly  magnificent.     See  the  description  concerning  the  mode  of  election  of  the 

in  Pausanias  (VIII.  xlvii.  §  1-2).     The  knights  (DeEep.  Laced,  iv.  3.).     Xeno- 

name  Alea  does  not  appear  to  be  a  local  phon  says  the  ephors  choose  three  lir- 

a^pellative,  like  Assesia  (supra,  ch.  19),  iraypiTai,  who  each  selected  a  hundred 

Pallenis  (ch.  5'2),  &c.,  but  rather  a  title,  youths,    which  seems  at  first  sight  to 

signifying  '  protectress  ' — lit.  "  she  who  imply  that  the  whole  body  of  the  knights 

gives  escupe."  was  renewed  annually.     It  is  impossible 

1  Compare  the  removal  of  the  bones  to  suppose  that  no  more  than  five  retired 

of  Tisamenus   from   Helice'    to    Sparta  each  year.    Such  an  arrangement  would 

(Pausan.  vii.  i.  §  3) ;  of  Theseus  from  have  soon  made  the  knights  a  body  of 

Scyros  to  Athens  (ib.  ill.  iii.  §  6);    of  old  men.     Possibly  the  Ephors  of  each 

Rliesus  from  the  plain  of  Troy  to  Am-  year   appointed  Hippagretfe  who  drew 

phipolis  (Polysen.  Strateg.  vi.  53):  and  out  the   list  of  knights  afresh,   having 


Chap.  66-68.        LEGEND  OF  THE  BONES  OF  OKESTES.  163 

68.  Lichtas  was  one  of  this  body  when,  partly  by  good  luck, 
partly  by  his  own  wisdom,  he  discovered  the  burial-place. 
Intercourse  between  the  two  States  existing  just  at  this  time, 
he  went  to  Tegea,  and,  happening  to  enter  into  the  workshop  of 
a  smith,  he  saw  him  forging  some  iron.  As  he  stood  marvelling 
at  what  he  beheld,^  he  was  observed  by  the  smith  who,  leaving 
off  his  work,  went  up  to  him  and  said, 

"  Certainly,  then,  you  Spartan  stranger,  you  would  have  been 
wonderfully  surprised  if  you  had  seen  what  I  have,  since  you 
make  a  marvel  even  of  the  w^orking  in  iron.  I  wanted  to  make 
myself  a  well  in  this  room,  and  began  to  dig  it,  when  what 
think  you?  I  came  upon  a  coffin  seven  cubits  long.  I  had 
never  believed  that  men  were  taller  in  the  olden  times  than 
they  are  now,  so  I  opened  the  coffin.  The  body  inside  was  of 
the  same  length :  I  measured  it,  and  filled  up  the  hole  again." 

Such  was  the  man's  account  of  what  he  had  seen.  The  other, 
on  turning  the  matter  over  in  his  mind,  conjectured  that  this 
was  the  body  of  Orestes,  of  which  the  oracle  had  spoken.  He 
guessed  so,  because  he  observed  that  the  smithy  had  two  bellows, 
which  he  understood  to  be  the  two  winds,  and  the  hammer  and 
anvil  would  do  for  the  stroke  and  the  counter-stroke,  and  the 
iron  that  was  being  wrought  for  the  evil  lying  upon  evil.  This 
he  imagined  might  be  so  because  iron  had  been  discovered  to 
the  hurt  of  man.  Full  of  these  conjectures,  he  sped  back  to 
Sparta  and  laid  the  whole  matter  before  his  countrymen.  Soon 
after,  by  a  concerted  plan,  they  brought  a  charge  against  him, 
and  began  a  prosecution.  Lichas  betook  himself  to  Tegea,  and 
on  his  arrival  acquainted  tlie  smith  with  his  misfortune,  and 
proposed  to  rent  his  room  of  him.  The  smith  refused  for  some 
time  ;  but  at  last  Lichas  persuaded  him,  and  took  up  his  abode 


power  to  Rcratch  off  the  roll  such  as  they  3  Her-oclotus  means  to  represent  that 

thought  unworthy,  and  to  place  others  the  forging  oiiron  was  a  novelty  at  the 

upon  it,  the  five  senior  members  only  time.     Brass  was  known  to  the  Greeks 

being  incapable  of  re-appointmeut.    The  before  iron,  as  the  Homeric  poems  suffi- 

greater  number  of  the  knights   would  ciently  indicate.     Cf.  also  Hesiod.  Op. 

usually  be  re-appointed,  but  besides  the  et  Dies,  150-1. 

five  eldest  who  necessarily  retired,  the  ^                                          ,          ^. 

Hippagretre  would  omit  anv  whom  they      ^°'^  ^.  %  XaA«a  ^ev  reuxea.  xaAKcoi  6e  T€  o.Koi, 

thought  unfit  for  the  service.     All  ac-     '^     aiSr,pos. 

counts  agree  in  representing  the  knights 

as  the  picked  i/o'dh  of  Sparta.    (Xenoph.     and  Lucretius, 

1.  s.  c.  Plutarch    Lye.  c.  25.     Eustath.     ..p^j^^  ^^..^  ^^^-^^  ,^^^.  ^^„^.^^,  ^^^.„  ^^,  1292). 

ad  II.  0.  2;».)    The  substitution  ot  older 

men   by   Leonidas   before  Thermopylae  _       Hence  smithies  were  termed  xa^f  f^^a, 

{infra,  vii.  205,  and  note  ad  loc.)  was  ex-  '  x^-^x^^^^  ^^  i^  ^^^^  instance, — and  smiths 

ceptional.  X"^"^^*^.  , 

M  2 


164  EMBASSY  OF  CROESUS  TO  SPARTA.  Book  I. 

in  it.  Then  he  opened  the  grave,  and  collecting  the  bones, 
returned  with  them  to  Sparta.  From  henceforth,  whenever  the 
Spartans  and  the  Tegeans  made  trial  of  each  other's  skill  in 
arms,  the  Spartans  always  had  greatly  the  advantage ;  and  by 
the  time  to  which  we  are  now  come  they  were  masters  of  most 
of  the  Peloponnese. 

69.  Croesus,  informed  of  all  these  circumstances,  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Sparta,  with  gifts  in  their  hands,  who  were  to  ask  the 
Spartans  to  enter  into  alliance  with  him.  They  received  strict 
injunctions  as  to  what  they  should  say,  and  on  their  arrival  at 
Sparta  spake  as  follows  : — 

"  Croesus,  king  of  the  Lydians  and  of  other  nations,  has  sent 
us  to  speak  thus  to  you  ;  '  Oh !  Lacedaemonians,  the  god  has 
bidden  me  to  make  the  Greek  my  friend ;  I  therefore  apply  to 
you,  in  conformity  with  the  oracle,  knowing  that  you  hold  the 
first  rank  in  Greece,  and  desire  to  become  your  friend  and  ally 
in  all  true  faith  and  honesty.' " 

Such  was  the  message  which  Croesus  sent  by  his  heralds. 
The  Lacedaemonians,  who  were  aware  beforehand  of  the  reply 
given  him  by  the  oracle,  were  full  of  joy  at  the  coming  of  the 
messen2:ers,  and  at  once  took  the  oaths  of  friendship  and  alliance  : 
this  they  did  the  more  readily  as  they  had  previously  contracted 
certain  obligations  towards  him.  They  had  sent  to  Sardis  on 
one  occasion  to  purchase  some  gold,  intending  to  use  it  on  a 
statue  of  Apollo — the  statue,  namely,  which  remains  to  this 
day  at  Thorhax  in  Laconia,*  when  Croesus,  hearing  of  the  matter, 
gave  them  as  a  gift  the  gold  which  they  wanted. 

70.  This  was  one  reason  why  the  Lacedaemonians  were  so 
willing  to  make  the  alliance :  anotlier  was,  because  Croesus  had 
chosen  them  for  his  friends  in  preference  to  all  the  other 
Greeks.  They  therefore  held  themselves  in  readiness  to  come 
at  his  summons,  and  not  content  with  so  doing,  they  further 
had  a  huo^e  vase  made  in  bronze,  covered  with  fifjures  of  animals 


,''  Pausanias  declares  that  the  gold  ob-  explanation  cannot  be  given  of  the  pas-, 

tained  of  Croesus  by  the  I>acedapmonians  sage  of  Theopompus  (Fr.  219.),  which 

was  used  in  fact  upon  a  statue  of  Apollo  distinctly  asserts  that  the  original  object 

at  Amyclffi  (III.  x.  §  10).    Larcher,  and  of  the  Lacedaemonians  was  to  buy  gold 

Siebelis  (ad  Pausan.  1.  s.  c.)  remark  that  for  the  Amyclsean  statue.    One  interest- 

this  does  not  in  reality  contradict  Hero-  ing  fact  is  learnt  from  this  writer,  viz. : 

dotus,  since  he  only  states  the  intention  that  the  gold  was  used  to  cover  the  face 

of  the  Spartans,  which  Pausanias  reco-  of  the  statue,  which  was  of  colossal  size, 

gnises,  while  the  latter  gives  in  addition  45  feet  high,  according  to  Pausanias  (iii. 

their  act.  '  xix.  §  2). 

This  is  no  doubt  true.     But  the  same 


Chap.  68-71.         CRCESUS  INVADES  CAPPADOCIA.  165 

all  round  the  outside  of  tlie  rim,  and  large  enough  to  contain 
three  hundred  amphorae,  which  they  sent  to  Croesus  as  a  return 
for  his  presents  to  them.  The  vase,  however,  never  reached 
Sardis.  Its  miscarriage  is  accounted  for  in  two  quite  different 
ways.  The  Lacedaemonian  story  is,  that  when  it  reached 
Samos,  on  its  way  towards  Sardis,  the  Samians  having  know- 
ledge of  it,  put  to  sea  in  their  ships  of  war  and  made  it  their 
prize.  But  the  Samians  declare,  that  the  Lacedaemonians  who 
had  the  vase  in  charge,  happening  to  arrive  too  late,  and  learn- 
ing that  Sardis  had  fallen  and  that  Croesus  was  a  prisoner,  sold 
it  in  their  island,  and  the  purchasers  (who  were,  they  say,  pri- 
vate persons)  made  an  offering  of  it  at  the  shrine  of  Juno  :  ^  the 
sellers  were  very  likely  on  their  return  to  Sparta  to  have  said 
that  they  had  been  robbed  of  it  by  the  Samians.  Such,  then, 
was  the  fate  of  the  vase. 

71.  Meanwhile  Croesus,  taking  the  oracle  in  a  wrong  sense, 
led  his  forces  into  Cappadocia,  fully  expecting  to  defeat  Cyrus 
and  destroy  the  empire  of  the  Persians.  While  he  was  still 
engaged  in  making  preparations  for  his  attack,  a  Lydian  named 
Sandanis,  who  had  always  been  looked  upon  as  a  wise  man,  but 
who  after  this  obtained  a  very  great  name  indeed  among  his 
countrymen,  came  forward  and  counselled  the  king  in  these 
words : 

"  Thou  art  about,  oh !  king,  to  make  war  against  men  who 
wear  leathern  trousers,  and  have  all  their  other  garments  of 
leather ;  ^  who  feed  not  on  what  they  like,  but  on  what  they 
can  get  from  a  soil  that  is  sterile  and  unkindly ;  who  do  not 
indulge  in  wine,  but  drink  water ;  who  possess  no  figs  nor  any- 
thing else  that  is  good  to  eat.  If,  then,  thou  conquerest  them, 
what  canst  thou  get  from  them,  seeing  that  they  have  nothing 
at  all  ?  But  if  they  conquer  thee,  consider  how  much  that  is 
precious  thou  wilt  lose  :  if  they  once  get  a  taste  of  our  pleasant 
things,  they  will  keep  such  hold  of  them  that  we  shall  never  be 
able  to  make  them  loose  their  grasp.  For  my  part,  I  am  thank- 
ful to  the  gods,  that  they  have  not  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  the 
Persians  to  invade  Lydia." 

Croesus  was  not  persuaded  by  this  speech,  though  it  was  true 
enough ;  for  before  the  conquest  of  Lydia,  the  Persians  pos* 
sessed  none  of  the  luxuries  or  delights  of  life. 


5  Vide  infra,  ii.  182. 

*  For  a  description  of  the  Persian  dress,  see  note  on  oh.  135, 


166 


GEOGKAPHICAL  POSITION  OF  CAPPADOCIA.       Book  I. 


72.  The  Cappadocians  are  known  to  the  Greeks  by  the  name 
of  Syrians.^  Before  the  rise  of  the  Persian  power,  they  had 
been  subject  to  the  Medes ;  but  at  the  present  time  they  were 
within  the  empire  of  Cyrus,  for  the  boundary  between  the 
Median  and  the  Lydian  empires  was  the  river  Halys.  This 
stream,  which  rises  in  the  mountain  country  of  Armenia,  runs 
fii'st  through  Cilicia ;  afterwards  it  flows  for  a  while  with  the 
Matieni  on  the  right,  and  the  Phrygians  on  the  left :  then,  when 
they  are  passed,  it  proceeds  with  a  northern  course,  separating 
the  Cappadocian  Syrians  from  the  Paphlagonians,  who  occupy 
the  left  bank,  thus  forming  the  boundary  of  almost  the  whole 
of  Lower  Asia,  from  the  sea  opposite  Cyprus  to  the  Euxine, 
Just  there  is  the  neck  of  the  peninsula,  a  journey  of  five  days 
across  for  an  active  walker.^ 


'  Vide  infra,  vii.  72.  The  Cappado- 
cians of  Herodotus  inhabit  the  country 
bounded  by  the  Euxine  on  the  north, 
the  Halys  on  the  west,  the  Armenians 
apparently  on  the  east  (from  whom  the 
Cappadocians  are  clearly  distinguished, 
vii.  72-3),  and  the  Matieni  on  the  south. 
It  has  been  usual  to  consider  the  fact 
that  the  Cappadocians  were  always  called 
Syrians  by  the  Greeks  (supra,  ch.  6,  infra, 
vii.  72 ;  Strab.  xii.  p.  788 ;  Dionys.  Pe- 
rieg.  ver.  772;  Scylax.  p.  80;  Ptol.  v.  6; 
Apollon.  Rhod.  ii.  946;  Eustath.ad  Dion. 
Per.)  as  almost  indisputable  evidence  of 
their  being  a  Semitic  race.  (Prichard's 
researches  into  the  Phys.  Hist,  of  Man- 
kind, vol.  iii.  p.  561 ;  Bunsen's  Philoso- 
phy of  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  10.)  But 
there  are  strong  grounds  for  questioning 
this  conclusion.  See  the  Critical  Essays, 
Essay  xi.,  On  the  Ethnic  Affinities  of  the 
Nations  of  Western  Asia. 

In  the  Persian  inscriptions  Cappado- 
cia  is  mentioned  under  the  name  of  Ka- 
tapatuka,  and  appeared  to  be  assigned 
wider  limits  than  those  given  in  Hero- 
dotus. (See  Col.  Rawlinson's  Memoir 
on  the  Behistun  Inscription.  Vol.  II. 
p.  95.)  No  countries  are  named  between 
Armenia  and  Ionia  but  Cappadocia  and 
Saparda,  which  together  fill  up  the  whole 
of  Asia  Minor  except  the  western  coast. 
See -the  three  enumerations  of  the  Per- 
sian provinces  in  the  inscriptions  of  Da- 
rius (pages  197,  280,  and  294  of  the  first 
volume  of  Col.  Rawlinson's  Memoir),  and 
compare  the  notes  on  the  Babylonian 
text  (vol.  iii.  p.  xix.). 

^  Herodotus  tells  us  in  one  place  (iv. 
101)  that  he  reckons  the  day's  journey 
at  200  stadia,  that  is  at  about  23  of  our 


miles.  If  we  regard  this  as  the  measure 
intended  here,  we  must  consider  that 
Herodotus  imagined  the  isthmus  of  Na- 
tolia  to  be  but  115  miles  across,  165  miles 
short  of  the  truth.  It  must  be  observed, 
however,  that  the  ordinary  day's  jour- 
ney cannot  be  intended  by  the  65os 
eif  (civ  cfi  avSpi.  The  avi]p  ev^couos  is  not 
the  mere  common  traveller.  He  ia 
the  lightly-equipped  pedestrian,  and  his 
day 's  journey  must  be  estimated  at  some- 
thing considerably  above  200  stades. 
Major  Rennell,  in  his  comments  on  the 
passage  (Geogr.  of  Herod,  p.  190),  made 
an  allowance  on  this  account,  and  reck- 
oned the  day's  journey  of  the  "  active 
walker  "  at  about  30  miles.  Even  thus, 
however,  the  error  of  Herodotus  remain- 
ed very  considerable — a  mistake  of  130, 
instead  of  165,  miles.  Dahlmann  (Life 
of  Herod.,  pp.  72-3.  E.  T.)  endeavours  to 
vindicate  Herodotus  from  having  erred 
at  all.  He  remarks  that  the  story  of 
Phidippides  (Herod,  vi.  106)  proves  that 
the  trained  runners  (rjixepoSpoixoi)  of  the 
period  could  travel  from  50  to  60  miles 
a  day,  and  supposes  Herodotus  to  allude 
to  certain  known  cases  in  which  the 
isthmus  had  been  traversed  in  five  days. 
But  1.  it  does  not  seem  correct  to  regard 
the  avTip  €v(a)uos  as  the  same  with  the 
7]iJ.€poSp6/j.os,  and  2.  Herodotus  appears 
to  speak  not  of  any  particular  case  or 
cases,  but  generally  of  all  lightly  equip- 
ped pedestrians.  He  cannot  therefore 
be  rightly  regarded  as  free  from  mistake 
in  the  matter.  Probably  he  considered 
the  isthmus  at  least  lOo  miles  uai'rower 
than  it  really  is. 

It  renders  such  a  mistake  the  less  sur- 
prising to  find  that  Pliny,  after  all  the 


i 


Chap.  72,  73.  CHIEF  MOTIVE  OF  CROESUS.  167 

73.  There  were  two  motives  which  led  Croesus  to  attack 
Cappadocia :  firstly,  he  coveted  the  land,  which  he  wished  to 
add  to  his  own  dominions ;  but  the  chief  reason  was,  that  he 
wanted  to  revenge  on  Cyrus  the  wrongs  of  Astyages,  and  was 
made  confident  by  the  oracle  of  being  able  so  to  do :  for  the 
Astyages,  son  of  Cyaxares  and  king  of  the  Medes,  who  had  been 
dethroned  by  Cyrus,  son  of  Cambyses,  was  Croesus'  brother  by 
marriage.  This  marriage  had  taken  place  under  circumstances 
which  I  will  now  relate.  A  band  of  Scythian  nomads,  who  had 
left  their  own  land  on  occasion  of  some  disturbance,  had  taken 
refuge  in  Media.  Cyaxares,  son  of  Phraortes,  and  grandson  of 
Deioces,  was  at  that  time  king  of  the  country.  Recognising 
them  as  suppliants,  he  began  by  treating  them  with  kindness, 
and  coming  presently  to  esteem  them  highly,  he  intrusted  to 
their  care  a  number  of  boys,  whom  they  were  to  teach  their 
language  and  to  instruct  in  the  use  of  the  bow.  Time  passed, 
and  the  Scythians  employed  themselves,  day  after  day,  in  hunt- 
ing, and  always  brought  home  some  game  ;  but  at  last  it  chanced 
that  one  day  they  took  nothing.  On  their  return  to  Cyaxares 
with  empty  hands,  that  monarch,  who  was  hot-tempered,  as  he 
showed  upon  the  occasion,  received  them  very  rudely  and  in- 
sultingly. In  consequence  of  this  treatment,  which  they  did  not 
conceive  themselves  to  have  deserved,  the  Scythians  determined 
to  take  one  of  the  boys  whom  they  had  in  charge,  cut  him  in 
pieces,  and  then  dressing  the  flesh  as  they  were  wont  to  dress 
that  of  the  wild  animals,  serve  it  up  to  Cyaxares  as  game  :  after 
which  they  resolved  to  convey  tliemselves  with  all  speed  to 
Sardis,  to  the  court  of  Alyattes,  the  son  of  Sadyattes.  The  plan 
was  carried  out:  Cyaxares  and  his  guests  ate  of  the  flesh 
prepared  by  the  Scythians,  and  they  themselves,  having  ac- 
complished their  purpose,  fled  to  Alyattes  in  the  guise  of 
suppliants. 


additional  information  derived  from  the  hand,  is  to  be  compared  to  the  Kdsid,  ov 
expedition  of  Alexander  and  the  Roman  foot- messenger  of  the  present  day,  who, 
occupation,  estimated  the  distance  at  no  in  fine  weather  and  over  a  tolerably  easy 
more  than  200  Roman,  or  less  than  190  country,  ought  to  accomplish  50  milea 
British  miles.  (Plin.  vi.  2.)  per  diem.  It  may  be  doubted,  however, 
[The  day's  journey  of  Herodotus,  men-  considering  the  rugged  character  of  the 
tioned  in  iv.  101,  refers  to  the  i-egular  range  of  Taux'us  and  its  branches,  if  the 
caravan  stage  performed  by  loaded  ca-  most  active  Kasid  could  pass  from  Tar- 
mels  or  mules,  and  is  correctly  enough  es-  sus  on  the  Mediterranean  to  Samsoon 
timated  at  200  Olympic  stadia.  The  on  the  Euxine — estimated  by  Erato- 
average  length  of  such  a  stage  at  the  pre-  sthenes  (Strab.  ii.  1)  at  3000  stadia— in 
sent'day  is  6/rt/-s«/i/i«,  or  about  22^  EngHsh  less  than  10  days. — H.C.R.] 
miles.    The  7)ij,€podp6/j,os,  on  the  other 


168 


WAR  OF  ALYATTES  WITH  CYAXARES. 


Book  I. 


74.  Afterwards,  on  tlie  refusal  of  Alyattes  to  give  up  his 
suppliants  when  Cyaxares  sent  to  demand  them  of  him,  war 
broke  out  ^  between  the  Lydians  and  the  Modes,  and  continued 
for  five  years,  with  various  success.  In  the  course  of  it  the 
Modes  gained  many  victories  over  the  Lydians,  and  the  Lydians 
also  gained  many  victories  over  the  Modes.  Among  their  other 
battles  there  was  one  night  engagement.  As,  however,  the 
balance  had  not  inclined  in  favour  of  either  nation,  another 
combat  took  place  in  the  sixth  year,  in  the  course  of  which,  just 
as  the  battle  was  growing  warm,  day  was  on  a  sudden  changed 
into  night.  This  event  had  been  foretold  by  Thales,  the  Mile- 
sian, who  forewarned  the  lonians  of  it,  fixing  for  it  the  very 
year  in  which  it  actually  took  place.^  The  Medes  and  Lydians, 
when  they  observed  the  change,  ceased  fighting,  and  were  alike 
anxious  to  have    terms  of  peace   agreed   on.      Syennesis^   of 


^  Mr.  Grote  remarks  that  "  the  pas- 
sage of  nomadic  hordes  from  one  govern- 
ment in  the  East  to  another  has  been 
always,  and  is  even  down  to  the  present 
day,  a  frequent  cause  of  dispute  between 
the  difi'erent  governments:  they  are  va- 
luable both  as  tributaries  and  as  sol- 
diers." And  he  proceeds  to  give  instances 
(vol.  iii.  p.  310,  note  1).  But  one  cannot 
but  suspect  the  whole  story  to  be  either 
pure  invention,  or  a  distorted  represen- 
tation of  the  fact,  that  some  of  ttie  Scy- 
thians whom  Cyaxares  had  expelled  from 
Media  fled  westward  and  took  service 
with  the  Lydian  king.  (See  the  subject 
discussed  in  the  Essay  "  On  the  Early 
Chronology  and  History  of  Lydia,") 

1  Various  years  have  been  assigned  as 
the  true  date  of  this  eclipse.  Among 
the  ancients,  Pliny  (ii.  xii.)  placed  it  01. 
48.  4  (B.C.  584^,  Clemens  Alexandrinus 
(Stromat.  i.  p.  354)  in  01.  50.  1  (B.C. 
579).  Of  moderns,  Volney  inclines  to 
B.C.  625,  Bouhier  and  Larcher  to  B.C. 
597,  Mr.  Clinton  to  B.C.  603,  Ideler  and 
Mr.  Grote  to  B.C.  610,  Des  Vignoles  and 
Mr.  Bosanquet  to  B.C.  585.  Mr.  Grote 
says  that  "recent  calculations  made  by 
Oltmauns  from  the  newest  astronomical 
t<ibles,  and  moi-e  trustworthy  than  the 
calculations  which  preceded,  have  shown 
that  the  eclipse  of  610  B.C.  fulfils  the 
conditions  required,  and  that  the  other 
eclipses  do  not "  (Grote's  Hist,  of  Greece, 
vol.  iii.  p.  312,  note).  Mr.  Bosanquet 
(Fall  of  Nineveh,  p.  14)  depends  on  the 
gtill  more  recent  calculations  of  Mr.  Hind 
and  Mr.  Air^y. 

That  Thales  predicted  this  eclipse  was 


asserted  by  Aristotle's  disciple,  Eudemus 
(Clem.  Alex.  J.  s.  c),  as  also  by  Cic.  (de 
Div.  i.  49)  and  Pliny  (ii.  12).  Another 
prediction  is  ascribed  to  him  by  Aristotle 
himself  (Polit.  i.  v.),  that  of  a  good  olive- 
crop.  A  third  by  Nicolas  of  Damascus 
(p.  68,  Orelli).  Anaxagoras  wa^s  said 
to  have  foretold  the  fall  of  an  aerolite 
(Arist.  Meteorol.  i.  7). 

[The  prediction  of  this  eclipse  by 
Thales  may  fairly  be  classed  with  the 
prediction  of  a  good  olive-crop  or  of  the 
fall  of  an  aerolite.  Thales,  indeed,  could 
only  have  obtained  the  requisite  know- 
ledge for  predicting  eclipses  from  the 
Chaldseans,  and  that  the  science  of  these 
astronomers,  although  sufficient  for  the  : 
investigation  of  lunar  eclipses,  did  not 
enable  them  to  calculate  solar  eclipses  — 
dependent  as  such  a  calculation  is,  not 
only  on  the  determination  of  the  period 
of  recurrence,  but  on  the  true  projection 
also  of  the  track  of  the  sun's  shadow 
along  a  particular  line  over  the  surface 
of  the  earth — may  be  infeiTed  from  our 
finding  that  in  the  astronomical  canon 
of  Ptolemy,  which  was  compiled  from 
the  Chaldsean  registers,  the  observations 
of  the  moon's  eclipse  are  alone  entered. — 
HC.R.] 

2  The  name  Syennesis  is  common  to 
all  the  kings  of  Cilicia  mentioned  in  his- 
tory.    Vide  infra,  v.  118;  vii.  98;  Xe- 


noph.  Anab.  i.  ii. 


^schyl.  Pers. 


324.  It  has  been  supposed  not  to  be 
really  a  name,  but,  like  Pharaoh,  a  title. 
Cf.  Bahr  in  loc. 

[The   Cuneiform  inscriptions  do  not 
assist  us  iu  determiuiug  whether  Syeii- . 


Chap.  74. 


ECLIPSE  OF  THALES. 


1G9 


Cilicia,^  and  Labynetus"^  of  Babylon,  were  the  persons  who 
mediated  between  the  parties,  who  hastened  the  taking  of  the 
oaths,  and  brought  about  the   exchange  of  espousals.     It  Avas 


nesis  was  a  title  or  a  proper  name.  The 
only  cuneiform  name  which  has  any  re- 
semblance'to  it  is  that  of  ^ieni,  who  was 
king  of  Daiidn,  a  province  contiguous  to 
Cilicia,  under  the  first  Tiglathpileser  of 
Assyria,  in  about  B.C.  1120.  The  kings 
of  Cilicia  mentioned  by  the  Greeks  are  of 
a  much  later  date,  being  the  respective 
contemporaries  of  Cyaxares,  Darius, 
Xerxes,  and  Artaxerxes  Mnemon. — 
H.  C.  R.] 

3  Cilicia  had  become  an  independent 
state,  either  by  the  destruction  of  Assy- 
ria, or  in  the  course  of  her  decline  after 
the  reign  of  Esarhaddon.  Previously, 
she  had  been  included  in  the  dominions 
of  the  Assyrian  kings. 

[Cicilia  is  first  mentioned  in  the  Cu- 
neiform inscriptions  about  B.C.  711,  Sar- 
gon,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  having 
sent  an  expedition  against  Ainbris,  the 
&on  o{  Khxlii/n,  who  was  hereditary  chief 
of  Ttihal  (the  southern  slopes  of  Taurus), 
and  upon  whom  the  Assyrian  monarch 
is  said  at  an  earlier  period  to  have  be- 
stowed the  country  of  Cilicia  (A/a7a/i)  as 
the  dowry  of  his  daughter  MamJi.  Ain- 
bris,  it  appears,  regardless  of  this  alliance 
and  of  the  favour  with  which  he  was 
treated  by  Sargon,  had  cultivated  rela- 
tions with  the  Kings  of  JLtsak  and  Vara- 
rat  (Meshech  and  Ararat,  or  the  Moschi 
and  Armenia),  who  were  in  revolt  against 
Assyria,  and  thus  drew  on  himself  the 
hostility  of  the  great  king.  His  chief 
city,  Bit-Bandas,  was  taken  and  sacked, 
and  he  himself  wa«  brought  a  pi'isoner 
to  Nineveh,  Assyrian  colonists  being 
sent  to  occupy  the  country. 

In  the  reign  of  Sennacherib,  about 
B.C.  701,  Cilicia  again  revolted  and  was 
reduced,  a  vast  number  of  the  inhabitants 
being  carried  off  to  Nineveh  to  assist,  in 
concert  with  Chaldaean,  Aramaean,  Sy- 
rian, and  Armenian  captives,  in  building 
that  famous  palace  of  which  the  ruins 
have  lately  been  excavated  at  Koyunjik. 

Esarhaddon  also  again  attacked  Ci- 
licia in  about  b.c.  68.5,  and  took  and 
plundered  21  large  cities  belonging  to 
the  country.  Cilicia  is  said  in  this  pas- 
sage to  be  a  wooded  and  mountainous 
region  above  T<ihnl  (Tubal  of  Sci'ipture). 

When  Polyhistor  describes  as  conti- 
nuous events  under  the  reign  of  Sen- 
nacherib—the repulse  by  the  Assyrians 
of  a  Greek  invasion  of  Cilicia,  the  erec- 


tion of  a  trophy  on  the  spot  to  comme- 
morate the  monarch's  exploits,  and  the 
subsequent  building  of  Tarsus — he  is 
probably  confounding  together  three  in- 
dependent matters  belonging  to  three 
distinct  periods  of  history ;  for  the  only 
hostile  contact  of  the  Greeks  and  Assy- 
rians recorded  in  the  inscrij^tions,  took 
place  under  Sargon,  while  Sennacherib's 
trophy  on  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
refers  to  the  conquest  of  Phoenicia  and 
the  defeat  of  the  Egyptians,  and  not  to 
any  repulse  of  the  Greeks;  and  Tarsus, 
again,  instead  of  being  built  by  Senna- 
cherib, may  be  conjectured  from  a  pas- 
sage in  the  annals  of  Esarhaddon,  to 
have  been  founded  by  the  latter  monarch 
after  the  conqviest  of  Sidon.  A  city  at 
any  rate  named  after  Esarhaddon,  was 
built  at  this  period  with  the  assistance 
of  the  kings  of  Phoenicia  and  the  Greek 
kings  of  Cyprus,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  peopled  with  colo- 
nists from  the  far  East. 

The  son  of  Esarhaddon,  about  ten 
years  later,  appears  for  the  fourth  time 
to  have  overrun  Cilicia  previous  to  his 
attack  on  Aradus,  but  the  passage  in  the 
annals  of  this  king  referring  to  the  expe- 
dition in  question  is  too  defective  to  be 
tui^ned  to  much  historical  account. 

Bochart  supposes  the  name  of  Cilicia 
to  be  derived  from  the  Hebrew  root  '\>?T], 
and  to  have  been  given  to  the  country 
on  account  of  its  rugged  and  stony  cha- 
racter ;  but  the  Hebrew  Khdak,  although 
applied  to  "stones,"  signifies  properly, 
"to  be  smooth  "  or  "  polished,"  and  is 
thus  singularly  inapplicable  to  Cilicia, 
There  ax'e,  mdeed,  no  grounds  whatever 
for  assigning  a  Semitic  etymology  to  the 
name.  The  ancient  Cilicians  in  all  pro- 
bability belonged  to  the  same  Scythic 
family  as  the  neighboui-ing  i-aces  of  Me- 
shech and  Tubal.— H.C.R.] 

•^  The  Babylonian  monarch  at  this 
time  was  either  Nabopolas.>iar  or  Nebu- 
chadnezzar. (See  the  Astronomical  Ca- 
non.) Neither  of  these  names  is  properly 
Hellenized  by  Labynetus.  Labynetus 
is  undoubtedly  the  Nabunahid  of  the  in- 
scriptions, the  Nabonadius  of  the  Canon, 
the  Nabonuedus  of  Berosus  and  Mega- 
sthenes.  There  was  only  one  king  of  the 
name  between  Nabonassar  (b  c.  747)  and 
Cyrus.  He  reigned  17  years,  from  b.c. 
555  to  B.C.  538.     If  the  name  hei'e  ba^ 


170  MARRIAGE  OF  ASTYAGES  AND  ARYENIS.        Book  I. 

they  who  advised  that  Alyattes  should  give  his  daughter 
Aryenis  in  marriage  to  Astyages  the  son  of  Cyaxares,  knowing, 
as  they  did,  that  without  some  sure  bond  of  strong  necessity, 
there  is  wont  to  be  but  little  security  in  men's  covenants.  Oaths 
are  taken  by  these  people  in  the  same  way  as  by  the  Greeks, 
except  that  they  make  a  slight  flesh  wound  in  their  arms, 
from  which  each  sucks  a  portion  of  the  other's  blood.^ 

75.  Cyrus  had  captured  this  Astyages,  who  was  his  mother's 
father,  and  kept  him  prisoner,  for  a  reason  which  I  shall  bring 
forward  in  another  part  of  my  history.  This  capture  formed  the 
ground  of  quarrel  between  Cyrus  and  Croesus,  in  consequence  of 
which  Croesus  sent  his  servants  to  ask  the  oracle  if  he  should 
attack  the  Persians  ;  and  when  an  evasive  answer  came,  fancying 
it  to  be  in  his  favour,  carried  his  arms  into  the  Persian  territory. 
When  he  reached  the  river  Halys,  he  transported  his  army 
across  it,  as  I  maintain,  by  the  bridges  which  exist  there  at  the 
present  day ;  ^  but,  according  to  the  general  belief  of  the 
Greeks,^  by  the  aid  of  Thales  the  Milesian.  The  tale  is,  that 
Croesus  was  in  doubt  how  he  should  get  his  army  across,  as  the 
bridges  were  not  made  at  that  time,  and  that  Thales,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  camp,  divided  the  stream  and  caused  it  to 
flow  on  both  sides  of  the  army  instead  of  on  the  left  only.  This 
he  effected  thus : — Beginning  some  distance  above  the  camp, 
he  dug  a  deep  channel,  which  he  brought  round  in  a  semicircle, 
so  that  it  might  pass  to  rearward  of  the  camp ;  and  that  thus 
the  river,  diverted  from  its  natural  course  into  the  new  channel 
at  the  point  where  this  left  the  stream,  might  flow  by  the  station 


not  a  mistake  of  our  author's,  this  Laby-  are  more  likely  to  have  been  of  the  mo- 

netus  must  have  been  a  prince  of  the  dern   type.     By  his  use  of  the  plural 

royal   house,   sent  in  command  of  the  number  in  this  place  we  may  conclude, 

Babylonian  contingent,  of  whom  nothing  that  on  the  route  to  which  he  refers  the 

else  is  known.     He  might  be  a  son  of  river  was  crossed  by  two  bridges,  advan- 

Nabopolassar.  tage  being  taken  of  its  separation  into 

^  Vide  infra,  iv.  70,  and  Tacit.  Annal.  two  channels.      This  is  the  case  now  at 

xii.  47.  Bafra,  on  the  route  between  Samsunand 

6  The  Halys  {Kizil  Irmak)  is  fordable  Sinope,  which  is  not  unlikely  to  have 

at  no  very  great  distance  from  its  mouth  been  the  point  at  which  Crcesus  passed 

(Hamilton's  Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  p.  327),  the  river.    The  fact  of  the  double  chan- 

but  bridges  over  it  are  not  unfrequent  nel  may  have  given  rise  to   the  story 

(ibid.'  p.  297,  411).    These  are  of  a  very  about  Thales. 

simple  construction,  consisting  of  planks  '''  Larcher  (vol.  i.  p.  313)  remarks  that 

laid  across  a  few  slender  beams,  extend-  this   opinion  held  its  ground  notwith- 

iug  from  bank  to  bank,  without  any  pa-  standing  the   opposition  of  Herodotus, 

rapet.      Bridges  with  stone  piers  have  It  is  spoken  of  as  an  indisputable  fact 

existed  at  some  former  period  (ib.  p.326),  by  the  Scholiast  on  Aristophanes  (Nubes, 

but  they  belong  probably  to  Roman,  and  18),  by  Lucian  (Hippias,  §  2,  vol.  vii. 

not  to  any  earlier  times.     The  ancient  p.  295),  and  by  Diogenes  Laertius   (i. 

constructions  mentioned  by  Herodotus  38), 


Chap.  74-77.  CRGESUS  PASSES  THE  HALYS.  171 

of  the  army,  and  afterwards  fall  again  into  the  ancient  bed.  In 
this  way  the  river  was  split  into  two  streams,  which  were  both 
easily  fordable.  It  is  said  by  some  that  the  water  was  entirely 
drained  off  from  the  natural  bed  of  the  river.  But  I  am  of  a 
different  opinion ;  for  I  do  not  see  how,  in  that  case,  they  could 
have  crossed  it  on  their  return. 

76.  Having  passed  the  Halys  with  the  forces  under  his  com- 
mand, Croesus  entered  the  district  of  Cappadocia  which  is  called 
Pteria.^  It  lies  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city  of  8in6pe  ^  upon 
the  Euxine,  and  is  the  strongest  position  in  the  whole  country 
thereabouts.  Here  Croesus  pitched  his  camp,  and  began  to 
ravage  the  fields  of  the  Syrians.  He  besieged  and  took  the 
chief  city  of  the  Pterians,  and  reduced  the  inhabitants  to 
slavery :  he  likewise  made  himself  master  of  the  surrounding 
villages.  Thus  he  brought  ruin  on  the  Syrians,  who  were  guilty 
of  no  offence  towards  him.  Meanwhile,  Cyrus  had  levied  an 
army  and  marched  against  Croesus,  increasing  his  numbers  at 
every  step  by  the  forces  of  the  nations  that  lay  in  his  way. 
Before  beginning  his  march  he  had  sent  heralds  to  the  lonians, 
with  an  invitation  to  them  to  revolt  from  the  Lydian  king: 
they,  however,  had  refused  compliance.  Cyrus,  notwithstanding, 
marched  against  the  enemy,  and  encamped  opposite  them  in 
the  district  of  Pteria,  where  the  trial  of  strength  took  place 
between  the  contending  powers.  The  combat  was  hot  and 
bloody,  and  upon  both  sides  the  number  of  the  slain  was  great ; 
nor  had  victory  declared  in  favour  of  either  party,  when  night 
came  down  upon  the  battle-field.  Thus  both  armies  fought 
valiantly. 

77.  Croesus  laid  the  blame  of  his  ill  success  on  the  number 
of  his  troops,  which  fell  very  short  of  the  enemy ;  and  as  on  the 
next  day  Cyrus  did  not  repeat  the  attack,  he  set  off  on  his  return 
to  Sardis,  intending  to  collect  his  allies  and  renew  the  contest  in 


^  Pteria  in  Herodotus  is  a  district,  not  Asiatic  strongholds,  as  to  a  certain  Me- 
a  city,  as  Larcher  supposes  (not.  ad  loc).  dian  city,  and  to  the  acropolis  of  Baby- 
Its  capital  (  "the  city  of  the  Pterians  "  )  Ion.  (Steph.  Byz.  1.  s.  c.) 
may  have  borne  the  same  name,  as  Ste-  ^  Sinope,  which  recent  events  have 
phen  seems  to  have  thought  (ad  voc.  once  more  made  famous,  was  a  colony 
nrepta),  but  this  is  uncertain.  The  site  of  the  Milesians,  founded  about  B.C.  630 
cannot  possibly  be  3it Boghdz-Kexi,  where  (infra,  iv.  12).  It  occupied  the  neck  of 
M.  Texier  places  it  (Asie  Mineure,  vol.  i.  a  small  peninsula  projecting  into  the 
pp.  222-4),  for  the  connexion  of  the  name  Euxine  towards  the  north-east,  in  lat. 
with  Sinope,  both  in  Herodotus  and  in  42°,  long.  35°,  nearly.  The  ancient 
Stephen,  implies  that  Pteria  was  near  town  has  been  completely  ruined,  and 
the  coast.  A  name  resembling  Pteria  the  modern  is  built  of  its  fragments 
seems  to   have  been   given   to   several  (Hamilton's  Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  p.  317-9), 


172  PRODIGY  OF  THE  SERPENTS.  Book  I. 

the  spring.  He  meant  to  call  on  the  Egyptians  to  send  him 
aid,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  alliance  which  he  had  con- 
cluded with  Amasis/  previously  to  his  league  with  the  Lacedae- 
monians. He  intended  also  to  summon  to  his  assistance  the 
Babylonians,  under  their  king  Labynetus,^  for  they  too  were 
bound  to  him  by  treaty :  and  further,  he  meant  to  send  Avord  to 
Sparta,  and  appoint  a  day  for  the  coming  of  their  succours. 
Having  got  together  these  forces  in  addition  to  his  own,  he 
w^ould,  as  soon  as  the  winter  was  past  and  springtime  come, 
march  once  more  against  the  Persians.  With  these  intentions 
Croesus,  immediately  on  his  return,  despatched  heralds  to  his 
various  allies,  with  a  request  that  they  would  join  him  at  Sardis 
in  the  course  of  the  fifth  month  from  the  time  of  the  departure 
of  his  messengers.  He  then  disbanded  the  army — consisting  of 
mercenary  troops — which  had  been  engaged  with  the  Persians 
and  had  since  accompanied  him  to  his  capital,  and  let  them 
depart  to  their  homes,  never  imagining  that  Cyrus,  after  a  battle 
in  which  victory  had  been  so  evenly  balanced,  would  venture  to 
march  upon  Sardis. 

78.  While  Croesus  was  still  in  this  mind,  all  the  suburbs  of 
Sardis  were  found  to  swarm  with  snakes,  on  the  appearance  of 
which  the  horses  left  feeding  in  the  pasture-grounds,  and  flocked 
to  the  suburbs  to  eat  them.  The  king,  who  witnessed  the 
unusual  sight,  regarded  it  very  rightly  as  a  prodigy.  He  there- 
fore instantly  sent  messengers  to  the  soothsayers  of  Telmessus,^ 


1  The  treaty  of  Amasis  with  Croesus  this  king,  however,  the  last  of  the  Baby- 
wo\ild  suffice  to  account  for  the  hostiUty  Ionian  monarchs,  so  far  as  it  has  been  as 
of  the  Persians  against  Egypt.  (See  note  yet  recovered  from  the  monuments,  is 
on  Book  ii.  ch.  177.)  exclusively  domestic,  and  thus  does  not 

2  Undoubtedly  the  Nabonadius  of  the  enable  us  to  ascertain  what  part  he  took 
Canon,  and  the  Nabunabid  of  the  monu-  in  the  contest  between  Cyrus  and  Crce- 
ments.     The  fact  that  it  was  with  this  sus. — H.  C.  R.] 

monax'ch  that  Croesus  made  his  treaty  3  Three  distinct  cities  of  Asia  Minor  are 
helps  greatly  to  fix  the  date  of  the  fall  called  by  this  name.  One  of  them — 
of  Sardis ;  it  proves  that  that  event  con-  more  properly  spelt  Termessus — was  in 
not  have  happened  earlier  than  B.C.  554.  Pisidia.  (See  Arrian.  Exp.  Alex.  i.  27,  28, 
For  Nabunabid  did  not  ascend  the  throne  where  the  form  iised  is  TeA/itto-os ;  and 
till  B.C.  555  (Astron.  Can.;  and  a  full  compare  Strab.  xiii.  p.  952;  Ptol.  v.  5; 
year  must  be  allowed  between  the  con-  Polyb.  xxii.  18,  §  4.)  Another  was  in 
elusion  of  the  treaty  and  the  taking  of  Caria,  seven  miles  (60  stades)  from  Ha- 
the  Lydiau  capital.  licarnassus  (Polemon,  Fr.  35),  to  which 
[As  Nebuchadnezzar  had  a  few  years  city  it  was  attached  by  Alexander  (Plin. 
previously  carried  the  Babylonian  arms  H.  N.  v.  29).  The  third  and  most  fa- 
over  all  Western  Asia,  reasserting  the  mous  was,  properly  speaking,  in  Lycia; 
ancient  Assyrian  supremacy  over  the  but  it  was  so  near  the  confines  of  Caria 
countries  which  touched  the  Mediter-  as  to  be  sometimes  assigned  to  that  co un- 
ranean,  there  is  no  improbability  in  the  try.  (Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc  TeA;m(r(r(is; 
existence  of  political  relations  between  compare  Plin.  H.  N.  v.  27  ;  Liv.  xxxvii. 
Cra3su6  and  Nabunabid.    The  histoi-y  of  IG;  and  Pomp.  Mel.  i.  15.)   It  has  been 


Chap.  77-79.  ADVANCE  OF  CXRUS.  173 

to  consult  tliem  upon  tlie  matter.  His  messengers  reached  the 
city,  and  obtained  from  the  Telmessians  an  explanation  of  what 
the  prodigy  portended,  but  fate  did  not  allow  them  to  inform 
their  lord ;  for  ere  they  entered  Sardis  on  their  return,  Crcesus 
was  a  prisoner.  What  the  Telmessians  had  declared  was,  that 
Croesus  must  look  for  the  entry  of  an  army  of  foreign  invaders 
into  his  country,  and  that  when  they  came  they  would  subdue 
the  native  inhabitants ;  since  the  snake,  said  they,  is  a  child  of 
earth,  and  the  horse  a  warrior  and  a  foreigner.  Croesus  was 
already  a  prisoner  when  the  Telmessians  thus  answered  his 
inquiry,  but  they  had  no  knowledge  of  what  was  taking  place  at 
Sardis,  or  of  the  fate  of  the  monarch. 

,79.  Cyrus,  however,  when  Croesus  broke  up  so  suddenly  from 
his  quarters  after  the  battle  at  Pteria,  conceiving  that  he  had 
marched  away  with  the  intention  of  disbanding  his  army,  con- 
sidered a  little,  and  soon  saw  that  it  was  advisable  for  him  to 
advance  upon  Sardis  with  all  haste,  before  the  Lydians  could 
get  their  forces  together  a  second  time.  Having  thus  deter- 
mined, he  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out  his  plan.  He  marched 
forward  with  such  speed  that  he  was  himself  the  first  to 
announce  his  coming  to  the  Lydian  king.  That  monarch, 
placed  in  the  utmost  difficulty  by  the  turn  of  events  which  had 
gone  so  entirely  against  all  his  calculations,  nevertheless  led 
out  the  Lydians  to  battle.  In  all  Asia  there  was  not  at  that 
time   a   braver   or   more   warlike   people.*     Their   manner   of 


doubted  whicli  of  the  last  two  was  the  ten  Telm(?ssii«!,  not  Telm/ssus,  as  in  Ar- 

dty  famous  for  its  soothsayers.      Col.  rian.  (See  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  222 

Leake  decides  in  favour  of  the  Telmessus  et  seqq.;  Fellows's  Asia  Minor,  p.  243 

near  Halicarnassus  (Num.  Hell.  Asia,  p.  et  seqq. ;    Leake's   Tour,   p.   128;    and 

64-;  Journal  of  Philology,  vol.  iv.  p.24()),  for  pictorial  representations  consult  the 

but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  on  insufficient  magnificent  work  of  M.  Texier,  vol.  iii. 

grounds.   The  Lexicographers  (Photius,  plates  166-178.) 

Suidas,    Etym.  Magn.,   &c.)   are  unani-  On  the  celebrity  of  the  Telmiasian  di- 

mous  in  giving  the  prophetic  character  viners  see  Arr.  Exp.  Al.  i.  25;  ii.  3;  Cic. 

to  the  Lycian  city;    and  when    Cicero  De  Div.  i.  41,  42;    Plin.  H.  N.  xxx.  1. 

(De  Div.  i.  41)  and  Clement  of  Alexan-  According  to   Clement   of  Alexandria, 

dria  (Strom,  i.  p.  400)   place  the  pro-  their  special  power  lay  in  the  interpreta- 

phetic   Telmessus   in  Caria,  it  is  quite  tion  of  dreams  (Strom,  i.  16;    p.  361). 

possible  that  they  mean  the  same  city.  He  speaks  as  if  their  reputation  still  con- 

(See  Smith's  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Roman  tinuedin  his  own  day.  (Cohort,  ad  Gent. 

Geography,  vol.  ii.  p.  1122,  and  Miiller's  §  3;  p.  40.) 

Fr   Hist.  Gr.  vol.  iv.  p,  394.)  *  Mr.  Grote  has  some  good  observa- 

The  Lycian  Telmessus  lay  upon  the  tions  on  the  contrast  between  the  earlier 

coast  occupying  the  site  of  the  modern  and  the  later  national  character  of  the 

village  of  Makri,  where  are  some  curious  Lydians  and  Phrygians  (Hist,  of  Greece, 

remains,  especially  tombs,  partly  Greek,  vol.  iii.  pp.  289-291).    The  Lydians  did 

partly  native  Lycian.     In  the  Greek  in-  not  become  a^poSiaiToi  (^sch.  Pers.40) 

scriptions  at  this  place  the  name  is  writ-  until  after  the  Persian  conquest. 


174 


BATTLE  IN  THE  PLAIN  BEFORE  SARDIS. 


Book  1. 


fighting  was  on  horseback ;  they  carried  long  lances,  and  were 
(jlever  in  the  management  of  their  steeds. 

80.  The  two  armies  met  in  the  plain  before  Sardis.  It  is  a 
vast  flat,  bare  of  trees,  watered  by  the  Hyllus  and  a  number  of 
other  streams,  which  all  flow  into  one  larger  than  the  rest, 
called  the  Hermus.^  This  river  rises  in  the  sacred  mountain  of 
the  Dindymenian  Mother,^  and  falls  into  the  sea  near  the  town 
of  Phocsea.'^' 

When  Cyrus  beheld  the  Lydians  arranging   themselves  in 


^  Sardis  (the  modern  Sart)  stood  in 
the  broad  valley  of  the  Hermus  at  a 
point  where  the  hills  approach  each 
other  more  closely  than  in  any  other 
place.  Some  vestiges  of  the  ancient 
town  remain,  but,  except  the  ruins  of 
the  great  temple  of  Cybele  (infra,  v. 
102),  they  seem  to  be  of  a  late  date 
(Texier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  17-19).  Above  Sar- 
dis, to  the  east,  opens  out  the  plain, 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Cogamus 
with  the  Hermus,  thus  described  by 
Chandler :  "  The  plain  beside  the  Her- 
mus which  divides  it,  is  well  watered  by 
rills  from  the  slopes.  It  is  wide,  beauti- 
ful, and  cultivated."  (Travels,  vol.  i. 
ch.  Ixxiv.  p.  289.)  Strabo  appears  to 
have  intended  this  by  his  "plain  of 
Cyrus,"  which  adjoined  Phnjgia  (xiii.  p. 
929).  See  Eennell's  Geography  of  West- 
ern Asia,  vol.  i.  p.  383. 

There  is  a  second  more  extensive  and 
still  incher  plain  below  Sardis,  of  which 
Strabo  also  speaks  [viroKe7raL  rrj  irSXei 
(Sardis)  to  re  ^apdiavou  iredlov,  Kal  rd 
Tov  "Ep/xov,  Koi  t6  KavcTTpiavdu,  avvexv 
re  ovra  koL  it  dvr  u>v  6.p  icrr  a  ir  e - 
8[(t}v).  This  plain  is  formed  by  the 
junction  of  the  Hyllus  with  the  Hermus, 
and  reaches  from  Magnesia,  the  modern 
Manser,  to  Sardis.  It  is  thus  spoken  of 
by  Sir  C.  Fellows: — "From  Manser  we 
started  before  nine  o'clock,  and  travelled 
across  the  valley  directly  north.  At  two 
miles  distance  we  crossed  the  river  Her- 
mus by  a  bridge,  and  almost  immediately 
afterwai-ds  its  tributary,  the  Hyllus,  by 
a  ferry;  the  latter  is  larger  (?)  than  the 
main^river,  which  it  joins  within  a  fur- 
long of  the  ferry.  The  valley  over  which 
we  continued  to  ride  must  be  at  least 
twelve  miles  directhj  across  from  Manser. 
.  .  .  The  land  is  excellent,  and  I  scarcely 
saw  a  stone  during  the  first  eighteen 
miles.  (Jetton  and  corn  grow  laxuriantlij, 
but  there  are  few  trees  (compare  Hero- 
dotus's  y\)i\bu)  except  the  willov/  and 
pollard  poplar."  (Fellows'  Asia  Minor, 


p.  201 .)  This  must  certainly  be  the  plain 
intended  by  Herodotus:  ro  ireUov  ro 
TT p  6  rod  &(Treos  rov 'XapSirjvov  .  .  .  S  la 
5e  avrov  nrorapiol  peovres  koX  'dWoi 
K  al  "TAAos  avppriyuvo'i  is  r6v  fieyi- 
arov,  KaKeojxevov  5e  "Epfiou.  But  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  the  battle  can 
really  have  taken  place  on  this  side  of 
Sardis. 

^  The  Dindymenian  mother  was  Cy- 
bele, the  special  deity  of  Phrygia.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  for  certain  what  moun- 
tain or  mountain- range  Herodotus  in- 
tended b}'^  his  ovpos  Mrirphs  Aivdvij.'f}vif]s. 
The  interior  of  Asia  Minor  was  but  very 
little  known  in  his  day.  Probably,  how- 
ever, he  meant  to  place  the  sources  of 
the  Hermus  in  Phrygia,  which  is  correct 
so  far  as  it  goes. 

The  Hermus  rises  from  two  principal 
sources,  both  in  the  I'ange  of  Morad, 
which  is  a  branch  from  the  great  chain 
of  Taurus,  forming  the  watershed  be- 
tween the  streams  which  flow  westward 
into  the  ^gean,  and  those  which  run 
northward  into  the  Enxine.  The  chief 
source  of  the  two  is  not,  as  Col.  Leake 
thought  (Asia  Minor,  p.  169;,  that  which 
rises  near  the  modern  Ghicdiz  or  Kodvs 
(the  KaSo/  of  Strabo j,  but  the  sti-eam 
flowing  from  the  foot  of  Morad  Dagh, 
which  has  perhaps  some  claim  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  Mount  Dindymene  of 
Strabo  (xiii.  p.  897)  and  our  author. 
See  Hamilton's  Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  p. 
108. 

'  The  Hermus  (Ghiediz-Chai)  now  falls 
into  the  sea  very  much  nearer  to  Smyrna 
than  to  Phocsea.  Itg  course  is  perpe- 
tually changing  (Chandler,  vol.  i.  ch. 
xxi.),  and  of  late  years  its  embouchure 
has  been  gi-adually  approacliing  Smyrna, 
whose  harbour  is  seriously  threatened  by 
the  extensive  shoals  which  advance  op- 
posite the  Sanjiac  Kaleh,  formed  of  the 
mud  brought  down  by  the  Hermus. 
(See  Hamilton's  Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  p. 
45.) 


Chap.  79-82.  CKCESUS  DEFEATED.  175 

order  of  battle  on  this  plain,  fearful  of  the  strength  of  tlieir 
cavalry,  he  adopted  a  device  which  Harpagus,  one  of  the  IMedes, 
suggested  to  him.  He  collected  together  all  the  camels  that 
had  come  in  the  train  of  his  army  to  carry  the  provisions  and 
the  baggage,  and  taking  off  then'  loads,  he  mounted  riders  upon 
them  accoutred  as  horsemen.  These  he  commanded  to  advance 
in  front  of  his  other  troo]3S  against  the  Lydian  horse ;  behind 
them  were  to  follow  the  foot  soldiers,  and  last  of  all  the  cavalry. 
When  his  arrangements  were  complete,  he  gave  his  troops 
orders  to  slay  all  the  other  Lydians  who  came  in  their  way 
without  mercy,  but  to  spare  Croesus  and  not  kill  him,  even  if 
he  should  be  seized  and  offer  resistance.  The  reason  why  Cyrus 
opposed  his  camels  to  the  enemy's  horse  was,  because  the  horse 
has  a  natural  dread  of  the  camel,  and  cannot  abide  either  the 
sight  or  the  smell  of  that  animal.  By  this  stratagem  he  hoped 
to  make  Croesus's  horse  useless  to  him,^  the  horse  being  what  he 
chiefly  depended  on  for  victory.  The  two  armies  then  joined 
battle,  and  immediately  the  Lydian  war-horses,  seeing  and 
smelling  the  camels,  turned  round  and  galloped  off;  and  so  it 
came  to  pass  that  all  Croesus's  hopes  withered  aw^ay.  The 
Lydians,  however,  behaved  manfully.  As  soon  as  they  under- 
stood what  was  happening,  they  leaped  off  their  horses,  and 
engaged  with  the  Persians  on  foot.  The  combat  was  long ;  but 
at  last,  after  a  great  slaughter  on  both  sides,  the  Lydians  turned 
and  fled.  They  were  driven  within  their  walls,  and  the  Persians 
laid  siege  to  Sardis. 

81.  Thus  the  siege  began.  Meanwhile  Croesus,  thinking  that 
the  place  would  hold  out  no  inconsiderable  time,  sent  off  fresh 
heralds  to  his  allies  from  the  beleaguered  town.  His  former 
messengers  had  been  charged  to  bid  them  assemble  at  Sardis  in 
the  course  of  the  fifth  month ;  they  whom  he  now  sent  were  to 
say  that  he  was  already  besieged,  and  to  beseech  them  to  come 
to  his  aid  with  all  possible  speed.  Among  his  other  allies  Croesus 
did  not  omit  to  send  to  Lacedsemon. 

82.  It  chanced,  however,  that  the  Spartans  were  themselves 


^  It  is  said  that  in  one  of  the  ereat  that  the  horses  of  the  enemy  might  be 

battles   between   the   Servians  and  the  frightened  by  them."     It  was,  however, 

Turks    "a  council  of  war  was  held  in  determined  on  this  occasion  not  to  have 

the  Turkish  camp,  and  some  of  the  ge-  recotirse  to  stratagem.     (Frontier  Lands 

nerals  proposed  that  the  camels  should  of  the  Christian  and  the  Turk,  vol.  ii. 

be  placed  in  front  of  the  army,  in  order  p.  380.) 


176  WAR  OF  SPARTA  WITH  ARGOb.  Book  I. 

just  at  this  time  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  the  Argives  about  a 
place  called  Thyrea,^  which  was  within  the  limits  of  Argolis, 
but  had  been  seized  on  by  the  Laceda3monians.  Indeed,  the 
whole  country  westward,  as  far  as  Cape  Malea,  belonged  once  to 
the  Argives,  and  not  only  that  entire  tract  upon  the  main- 
land, but  also  Cythera,  and  the  other  islands.^  The  Argives 
collected  troops  to  resist  the  seizure  of  Thyrea,  but  before  any 
battle  was  fought,  the  two  parties  came  to  terms,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  three  hundred  Spartans  and  three  hundred  Argives 
should  meet  and  fight  for  the  place,  which  should  belong  to  the 
nation  with  whom  the  victory  rested.^  It  was  stipulated  also 
that  the  other  troops  on  each  side  should  return  home  to  their 
respective  countries,  and  not  remain  to  witness  the  combat, 
as  there  was  danger,  if  the  armies  stayed,  that  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  on  seeing  their  countrymen  undergoing  defeat,  might 
hasten  to  their  assistance.  These  terms  being  agreed  on,  the 
two  armies  marched  off,  leaving  three  hundred  picked  men  on 
each  side  to  fight  for  the  territory.  The  battle  began,  and  so 
equal  were  the  combatants,  that  at  the  close  of  the  day,  when 
night  put  a  stop  to  the  fight,  of  the  whole  six  hundred  only 
three  men  remained  alive,  two  Argives,  Alcanor  and  Chromius, 
and  a  single  Spartan,  Othryadas.  The  two  Argives,  regarding 
themselves  as  the  victors,  hurried  to  Argos.  Othryadas,  the 
Spartan,  remained  upon  the  field,  and,  stripping  the  bodies  of 
the  Argives  who  had  fallen,  carried  their  armour  to  the  Spartan 
camp.  Next  day  the  two  armies  returned  to  learn  the  result. 
At  first  they  disputed,  both  parties  claiming  the  victory,  the 


^  Thyrea  was  the  chief  town  of  the  about  B.C.  748.     See  Miiller's  Dorians, 

district  called  Cynuria,  the  border  ter-  vol.  i.  p.  154.      Compare  the  Fragment 

ritory  between  Laconia  and  Argolis  (cf.  of  Ephorus  (15,  ed.  l)idot),    "  (rvfiirpdr- 

Thucyd.  v.  41).      The   Cynurians  were  reiv  Se   koI  AaKeBai/jLovtovs,   elfTe   <pBovi]- 

a  remnant  of  the  ancient  population  of  aavTas     rfj    Sia    rrfv    elprivrjv    evrvxia, 

the  Peloponnese  before  the  Dorian  con-  etre  koI  crvuepyovs  €^€iu  vo^havras  irphs 

quest.     They  called  themselves  lonians,  ro  KaraXvcrai   top  ^eidwva  acpri  pr] fx4- 

and  claimed  to  be  avr6x^ovss  (vide  infra,  v  ov   avr  ov  s   t  ^  v   rjy  €  /lov  iav  r  cov 

viii.  73).    The  convent  of  i/w/^?«  seems  to  UeXoir  ou  vt)  ff  iwv ,    V    iKclvot,    irpo4- 

mark  the  site  of  the  ancient  town.  Here  kttjvto." 

on   "  a  tabular  hill  covered  with  shrubs  2  Thucydides  confirms  this  fact   (v. 

and  small  trees,  and  having  a  gentle  de-  41).    The  Argives,  130  years  afterwards, 

sceni;  towards  the  river  of  Lukn,"   are  proposed  the  insertion  of  a  clause  in  a 

extensive  remains  of  a  considerable  town  treaty   which  they   were   making   with 

(Leake's  Morea,  vol.  ii.  p.  487).     The  Sparta,  to  the  effect  that,  on  due  notice 

distance  from  the  sea  is  greater  by  a  given,  Thyrea  might  again  be  fought  for, 

good  deal  than  in  the  time  of  Thiicy-  coairep  koI  Trp6T€p6p  ttotc.    The  Spartans 

dides  (iv,  57),  as  the  river  has  brought  thought  the  proposal /oWy,  so  much  had 

down  large  deposits.  opinion  changed  in  the  interval. 

^  In  the  time  of  Pheidon  the  First, 


Chap.  82-84.  CPvCESUS  ASKS  AID  FIWM  SPARTA.  177 

one,  because  they  had  the  greater  number  of  survivors;  the 
other,  because  their  man  remained  on  the  field,  and  stripped 
the  bodies  of  the  slain,  whereas  the  two  men  of  the  other  side 
ran  away ;  but  at  hxst  they  fell  from  words  to  blows,  and  a  battle 
was  fought,  in  which  both  parties  suffered  great  loss,  but  at  the 
end  the  Lacedaemonians  gained  the  victory.^  Upon  this  the 
Argives,  who  up  to  that  time  had  worn  their  hair  long,  cut  it 
off  close,  and  made  a  law,  to  which  they  attached  a  curse, 
binding  themselves  never  more  to  let  their  hair  grow,  and  never 
to  allow  their  women  to  wear  gold,  until  they  should  recover 
Thyrea.  At  the  same  time  the  Lacedaemonians  made  a  law 
the  very  reverse  of  this,  namely,  to  wear  their  hair  long,  though 
they  had  always  before  cut  it  close.  Othryadas*  himself,  it  is 
said,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  three  hundred,  prevented  by  a 
sense  of  shame  from  returning  to  Sparta  after  all  his  comrades 
had  fallen,  laid  violent  hands  upon  himself  in  Thyrea. 

83.  Although  the  Spartans  were  engaged  with  these  matters 
when  the  herald  arrived  from  Sardis  to  entreat  them  to  come 
to  the  assistance  of  the  besieged  king,  yet,  notwithstanding, 
they  instantly  set  to  work  to  afford  him  help.  They  had  com- 
pleted their  preparations,  and  the  ships  were  just  ready  to  start, 
when  a  second  message  informed  them  that  the  place  had  already 
fallen,  and  that  Croesus  was  a  prisoner.  Deeply  grieved  at  his 
misfortune,  the  Spartans  ceased  their  efforts. 

84.  The  following  is  the  way  in  which  Sardis  was  taken.  On 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  siege  Cyrus  bade  some  horsemen  ride 
about  his  lines,  and  make  proclamation  to  the  whole  army  that 
he  would  give  a  reward  to  the  man  who  should  first  mount  the 
wall.  After  this  he  made  an  assault,  but  without  success.  His 
troops  retired,  but  a  certain  Mardian,  Hyroeades  by  name, 
resolved  to  approach  the  citadel  and  attempt  it  at  a  place  where 
no  guards  were  ever  set.     On  this  side  the  roclv  was  so  pre- 


3  Plutarch  asserts  that  there  was  no  gone;  he  then  crawled  forth,  erected  a 

second  battle,   but  that  an  appeal  was  trophy,  and  wrote  a  superscription  with 

made  to  the  Amphictyons,  who  decided  his  blood;  when  he  had  done  this,  he 

in  favour  of  Sparta  (Moral,  ii,  p.  306,  fell   dead    (Suidas   in  voc,    '06f)vdBr]s). 

B.).     He  cites  as  liis  authority  a  certain  According  to  another  story,  he  survived 

Chrysermus,  who  had  written  a  book  en-  the  occasion,  and  was  afterwards  slain 

titled  U€\oTrovvr](rLaKd.  by  Perilaiis,  son  of  Alcanor,  one  of  the 

^  Various  tales  were  told  of  Othry-  two  Argives  who  escaped  (Pausan.  ii, 

adas.     According  to  one   (Theseus  ap.  xx.  §6).     Othryadas  was  a  favourite  sub- 

Stob.  Flor.   vii.   67)    he  was  mortally  ject   with   the    epigram   writers,      (See 

wounded  in  the  fight,   upon  which  he  Brunck's  Analecta,  vol.  i.  pp.  130,  496; 
hid  himself  under  some  of  the  dead  bo- 
dies till  the  two  Argive  survivors  were 

VOL.    I. 


178  FALL  OF  SAPtDIS.  Book  L 

cipitous,  and  the  citadel  (as  it  seemed)  so  impregnable,  that  no 
fear  was  entertained  of  its  being  carried  in  this  place.  Here 
was  the  only  portion  of  the  circuit  round  which  their  old  king 
Meles^  did  not  carry  the  lion  which  his  leman  bore  to  him. 
For  when  the  Telmessians  had  declared  that  if  the  lion  were 
taken  round  the  defences,  Sardis  would  be  impregnable,  and 
Meles,  in  consequence,  carried  it  round  the  rest  of  the  fortress 
where  the  citadel  seemed  open  to  attack,  he  scorned  to  take  it 
round  this  side,  which  he  looked  on  as  a  sheer  precipice,  and 
therefore  absolutely  secure.  It  is  on  that  side  of  the  city  which 
faces  Mount  Tmolus.  Hyroeades,  however,  having  the  day 
before  observed  a  Lydian  soldier  descend  the  rock  after  a 
helmet  that  had  rolled  down  from  the  top,  and  having  seen 
him  pick  it  up  and  carry  it  back,  thought  over  what  he  had 
witnessed,  and  formed  his  plan.  He  climbed  the  rock  himself, 
and  other  Persians  followed  in  his  track,  until  a  large  immber 
had  mounted  to  the  top.  Thus  was  Sardis  taken,*^  and  given  up 
entirely  to  pillage. 

85.  With  respect  to  Croesus  himself,  this  is  what  befell  him 
at  the  taking  of  the  town.  He  had  a  son,  of  whom  I  made 
mention  above,  a  worthy  youth,  whose  only  defect  was  that  he 
was  deaf  and  dumb.  In  the  days  of  his  prosperity  Croesus  had 
done  the  utmost  that  he  could  for  him,  and  among  other  plans 
which  he  had  devised,  had  sent  to  Delphi  to  consult  the  oracle 


^  Two  Lydian  kings  of  tliis  name  are  made  Cyrus  take  Sardis  by  the  advice 

mentioned  by  Nicolas  of  Damascus  (Fr.  of   CEbares,    who  suggested  to  him  to 

24),     who   probably   follows   Xanthus.  alarm  the  inhabitants  by  placing  figures 

One  is  said  to  have  been  a  tyrant,  and  of  men    on   long   poles,  and  elevating 

to  have  been  deposed  by  a  certain  Moxus,  them  to  the  top  of  the  walls  (Persic, 

who  succeeded  him  on  the  throne.   The  Excerpt.  §  4). — 3.  The  following,  given 

other  immediately  preceded  Myrsus,  the  also  by  Polysenus    (ib.  §  2)— on  what 

father  of  Candaules.     He  is  noticed  by  authority  it  is  impossible  to  say,  possi- 

Eusebius,  who  improperly   makes  him  bly  that  of   Xanthus.      Cyrus,  it  was 

the  immediate  predecessor  of  Candaules  said,  assented  to  a  truce,  and  drew  off 

rEuseb.  Chron.  Can.,  Part  ii.  p.  322).  his  army,  but  the    night  following  he 

The   former  of  these  two  kings  is  pro-  returned,    and,    finding  the   walls   un- 

bably  the  ''old  king  Meles  "  of  Hero-  guarded,  scaled  them  with  ladders.  This 

dotus.  last  seems  likely  to  have  been  the  Ly- 

^  Sardis  was  taken  a  second  time  in  dian  version, 

almost  exactly  the  same  way  by  Lagoras,  Few  people  will  hesitate  to  pi'efer  the 

one  of  the  generals  of  Antiochus  the  narrative  of  Herodotus  to  the  other  ac- 

Great  (Polyb.  vii.  4-7).  counts.     That  of  Ctesias  is  too  puerile 

Thi^ee  stories  were  current  as  to  the  to   deserve    a   moment's  consideration, 

mode  in  which  the  capture  by  Cyrus  The  other,  which  rests  on  no  authority 

was    effected. — 1.    This  of   Herodotus,  but   that   of   Polya^nus,    makes    Cyrus 

which  Xenophon  followed  in  its  princi-  guilty  of  a  foul  piece  of  treachery,  which 

pal   features  (Cyrop.  viii,   ii.   §    1-13),  is  comjjletely  at  variance  with  the  cha- 

— 2.  That  of  Ctesias,  reported  also  by  .racter  borne  by  him  alike  in  Oriental 

Polya?nus  (Strateg.  vii.  vi.  §  10),  which  and  in  Grecian  story. 


I 


Chap.  84^86.        DANGER  AND  ESCAPE  OF  CRCESUS.  179 

on  his  behalf.     The  answer  which  he  had  received  from  the 
Pythoness  ran  thus: — 

"  Lydian,  wide-ruling  monarch,  thou  wondrous  simple  Croesus, 
Wish  not  ever  to  hear  in  thy  palace  the  voice  thou  hast  prayed  for, 
Uttering  intelligent  sounds.     Far  better  thy  son  should  be  silent! 
Ah  !  woe  worth  the  day  when  thine  ear  shall  first  list  to  his  accents," 

When  the  town  was  taken,  one  of  the  Persians  was  just 
going  to  kill  Croosus,  not  knowing  who  he  was.  Croesus  saw 
the  man  coming,  but  under  the  pressure  of  his  affliction,  did 
not  care  to  avoid  the  bloAv,  not  minding  whether  or  no  he  died 
beneath  the  stroke.  Then  this  son  of  his,  who  w^as  voiceless, 
beholding  the  Persian  as  he  rushed  towards  Croesus,  in  the 
agony  of  his  fear  and  grief  burst  into  speech,  and  said,  "  Man, 
do  not  kill  Croesus."  This  was  the  first  time  that  he  had  ever 
spoken  a  word,  but  afterwards  he  retained  the  power  of  speech 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

86.  Thus  was  Sardis  taken  by  the  Persians,  and  Croesus 
himself  fell  into  their  hands,  after  having  reigned  fourteen 
years,  and  been  besieged  in  his  capital  fourteen  days ;  thus  too 
did  Croesus  fulfil  the  oracle,  which  said  that  he  should  destroy  a 
mighty  empire, — by  destroying  his  own.  Then  the  Persians 
who  had  made  Croesus  prisoner  brought  him  before  Cyrus.  Now 
a  vast  pile  had  been  raised  by  his  orders,  and  Croesus,  laden 
with  fetters,  was  placed  upon  it,  and  with  him  twice  seven  of 
the  sons  of  the  Lydians.  I  know  not  whether  Cyrus  was 
minded  to  make  an  offering  of  the  first-fruits  to  some  god  or 
other,  or  w^hether  he  had  vowed  a  vow  and  was  performing  it, 
or  whether,  as  may  well  be,  he  had  heard  that  Croesus  was  a 
holy  man,  and  so  wished  to  see  if  any  of  the  heavenly  powers 
would  appear  to  save  him  from  being  burnt  alive.  However  it 
might  be,  Cyrus  was  thus  engaged,  and  Croesus  was  already  on 
the  pile,  when  it  entered  his  mind  in  the  depth  of  his  woe  that 
there  was  a  divine  warning  in  the  words  which  had  come  to 
him  from  the  lips  of  Solon,  ''  No  one  while  he  lives  is  happy." 
When  this  thought  smote  him  he  fetched  a  long  breath,  and 
breaking  his  deep  silence,  groaned  out  aloud,  thrice  uttering 
the  name  of  Solon.  Cyrus  caught  the  sounds,  and  bade  the 
interpreters  inquire  of  Croesus  who  it  Avas  he  called  on.  They 
drew  near  and  asked  him,  but  he  held  his  peace,  and  for  a  long 
time  made  no  ans\ver  to  their  questionings,  until  at  length, 
forced  to  say  something,  he  exclaimed,  "One  I  would  give 
much  to   see    converse    with   every   monarch."     Not   knowiuo- 

n2 


180  REMARKABLE  DELIVERANCE  OF  CRCESUS.      Book  L 

what  he  meant  by  this  reply,  the  interpreters  begged  him  to 
explain  himself;  and  as  they  pressed  for  an  answer,  and  grew 
to  be  troublesome,  he  told  them  how,  a  long  time  before,  Solon, 
an  Athenian,  had  come  and  seen  all  his  splendour,  and  made 
light  of  it ;  and  how  whatever  he  had  said  to  him  had  fallen  out 
exactly  as  he  foreshowed,  although  it  was  nothing  that  especially 
concerned  him,  but  applied  to  all  mankind  alike,  and  most  to 
those  who  seemed  to  themselves  happy.  Meanwhile,  as  he  thus 
spoke,  the  pile  was  lighted,  and  the  outer  portion  began  to 
blaze.  Then  Cyrus,  hearing  from  the  interpreters  what  Croesus 
had  said,  relented,  betliinking  himself  that  he  too  was  a  man, 
and  that  it  was  a  fellow-man,  and  one  who  had  once  been  as 
blessed  by  fortune  as  himself,  that  he  was  burning  alive ;  afraid, 
moreover,  of  retribution,  and  full  of  the  thought  that  whatever 
is  human  is  insecure.  So  he  bade  them  quench  the  blazing  fire 
as  quickly  as  they  could,  and  take  down  Croesus  and  the  other 
Lydians,  which  they  tried  to  do,  but  the  flames  were  not  to  be 
mastered. 

87.  Then,  the  Lydians  say  that  Croesus,  perceiving  by  the 
efforts  made  to  quench  the  fire  that  Cyrus  had  relented,  and 
seeing  also  that  all  was  in  vain,  and  that  the  men  could  not  get 
the  fire  under,  called  with  a  loud  voice  upon  the  god  Apollo, 
and  prayed  him,  if  he  had  ever  received  at  his  hands  any 
acceptable  gift,  to  come  to  his  aid,  and  deliver  him  from  his 
present  danger.  As  thus  wdth  tears  he  besought  the  god, 
suddenly,  though  up  to  that  time  the  sky  had  been  clear  and 
the  day  without  a  breath  of  wind,^  dark  clouds  gathered,  and 
the  storm  burst  over  their  heads  with  rain  of  such  violence,  that 
the  flames  were  speedily  extinguished.  Cyrus,  convinced  by 
this  that  Croesus  was  a  good  man  and  a  favourite  of  heaven, 
asked  him  after  he  was  taken  off  the  pile,  "  Who  it  was  that  had 
persuaded  him  to  lead  an  army  into  his  country,  and  so  become 
his  foe  rather  than  continue  his  friend  ?  "  to  which  Croesus  made 
answer  as  follows :  ''  What  I  did,  oh !  king,  was  to  thy  advantage 
and  to  my  own  loss.  If  there  be  blame,  it  rests  with  the  god  of 
the  Creeks,  who  encouraged  me  to  begin  the  war.  No  one  is  so 
foolish  as  to  prefer  to  peace  war,  in  which,  instead   of  sons 


7  The  later  romancers  regarded  this  in-  Chronology  and  History  of  Lydia.    The 

cident  as  over-marvellous,  and  softened  words  of  the  original  are,   "x^'M^''  5' 

down  the  miracle  considerably.    See  the  eruxe    tV   VH-^pav    iKelvnv   i^  rjovs,   ov 

fragment  of  Nicolaus  Damascenus  trans-  fx^v  v€t6s  ye." 
lated  at  the  close  of  the  Essay  on  the 


Chap.  86-89.         CRCESUS  GIVES  ADVICE  TO  CYllUS.  181 

burying  tlieir  fathers,  fathers  hury  their  sons.     But  the  gods 
willed  it  so." -^ 

88.  Thus  did  Crcesus  speak.  Cyrus  then  ordered  his  fetters 
to  be  taken  oft',  and  made  him  sit  down  near  himself,  and  paid 
him  much  respect,  looking  upon  him,  as  did  also  the  courtiers, 
with  a  sort  of  wonder.  Croesus,  wrapped  in  thought,  uttered  no 
word.  After  a  while,  happening  to  turn  and  perceive  the  Persian 
soldiers  engaged  in  plundering  the  town,  he  said  to  Cyrus, 
"  May  I  now  tell  thee,  oh !  king,  what  I  have  in  my  mind,  or  is 
silence  best?  "  Cyrus  bade  him  speak  his  mind  boldly.  Then 
he  put  this  question :  "  What  is  it,  oh !  Cyrus,  which  those  men 
yonder  are  doing  so  busily  ?  "  "  Plundering  thy  city,"  Cyrus 
answered,  "  and  carrying  off  thy  riches."  "  Not  my  city," 
rejoined  the  other,  "  nor  my  riches.  They  are  not  mine  any 
more.     It  is  thy  wealth  which  they  are  pillaging." 

89.  Cyrus,  struck  by  what  Croesus  had  said,  bade  all  the  court 
to  withdraw,  and  then  asked  Croesus  what  he  thought  it  best  for 
him  to  do  as  regarded  the  plundering.  Croesus  answered,  "Now 
that  the  gods  have  made  me  thy  slave,  oh !  Cyrus,  it  seems  to 
me  that  it  is  my  part,  if  I  see  anything  to  thy  advantage,  to 
show  it  to  thee.  Thy  subjects,  the '  Persians,  are  a  poor  people 
with  a  proud  spirit.  If  then  thou  lettest  them  pillage  and 
possess  themselves  of  great  wealth,  I  will  tell  thee  what  thou 
hast  to  expect  at  their  hands.  The  man  who  gets  the  most, 
look  to  having  him  rebel  against  thee.  Now  then,  if  my  words 
please  thee,  do  thus,  oh !  king : — Let  some  of  thy  body-guards 
be  placed  as  sentinels  at  each  of  the  city  gates,  and  let  them 
take  their  booty  from  the  soldiers  as  they  leave  the  town,  and 
tell  them  that  they  do  so  because  the  tenths  are  due  to  Jupiter. 
So  wilt  thou  escape  the  hatred  they  would  feel  if  the  plunder 


^  Modern  critics  seem  not  to  have  whole  system  of  Zoroastei'.  It  may  be 
been  the  first  to  object  to  this  entire  doubted,  however,  whether  the  system 
narrative,  that  the  religion  of  the  Per-  of  Zoroaster  was  at  this  time  any  por- 
siaus  did  not  allow  the  bmniing  of  hu-  tion  of  the  Persian  religion  (see  the  Cri- 
man  beings  (vide  infra,  iii.  16).  The  tical  Essays,  Essay  v.). 
objection  had  evidently  been  made  be-  Ctesias,  in  his  account  of  the  treat- 
fore  the  time  of  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  ment  of  Cyrus,  omitted  all  mention  of 
who  meets  it  indirectly  in  his  narrative,  the  pile  and  the  fire.  According  to  him, 
The  Persians  (he  gives  us  to  understand)  thunder  and  lightning  were  sent  from 
had  for  some  time  before  this  neglected  heaven,  and  the  chains  of  Croesus  mira- 
the  precepts  of  Zoroaster,  and  allowed  culously  struck  off,  after  which  Cyrus 
his  ordinances  with  respect  to  fire  to  treated  liim  with  kindness,  assigning  him 
fall  into  desuetude.  The  miracle  where-  the  city  of  Barene  (Barce  of  Justin,  i,  7) 
by  Croesus  was  snatched  from  the  flames  for  his  residence.  See  the  Persica  of 
reminded  them  of  their  ancient  creed,  Ctesias  (Excerpt.  §  4). 
and  induced    them  to  re-establish  the 


182  CRCESUS  REPROACHES  THE  ORACLE.  Book  I. 

were  taken  away  from  tliem  by  force ;  and  they,  seeing  that 
what  is  proposed  is  just,  will  do  it  willingly." 

90.  Cyrus  was  beyond  measure  pleased  with  this  advice,  so 
excellent  did  it  seem  to  him.  He  praised  Croesus  highly,  and 
gave  orders  to  his  body-guard  to  do  as  he  had  suggested.  Then, 
turning  to  Croesus,  he  said,  "  Oh !  Croesus,  T  see  that  thou  art 
resolved  both  in  speech  and  act  to  show  thyself  a  virtuous  prince : 
ask  me,  therefore,  whatever  thou  wilt  as  a  gift  at  this  moment." 
Croesus  replied,  "  Oh !  my  lord,  if  thou  wilt  suffer  me  to  send 
these  fetters  to  the  god  of  the  Greeks,  whom  I  once  honoured 
above  all  other  gods,  and  ask  him  if  it  is  his  wont  to  deceive  his 
benefactors, — that  will  be  the  highest  favour  thou  canst  confer 
on  me."  Cyrus  upon  this  inquired  what  charge  he  had  to  make 
against  the  god.  Then  Croesus  gave  him  a  full  account  of  all 
his  projects,  and  of  the  answers  of  the  oracle,  and  of  the  offer- 
ings which  he  had  sent,  on  which  he  dwelt  especially,  and  told 
him  how  it  was  the  encouragement  given  him  by  the  oracle 
which  had  led  him  to  make  war  upon  Persia.  All  this  he 
related,  and  at  the  end  again  besought  permission  to  reproach 
the  god  with  his  behaviour.  Cyrus  answered  with  a  laugh, 
"  This  I  readily  grant  thee,  and  whatever  else  thou  shalt  at  any 
time  ask  at  my  hands."  Croesus,  finding  his  request  allowed, 
sent  certain  Lydians  to  Delphi,  enjoining  them  to  lay  his  fetters 
upon  the  threshold  of  the  temple,  and  ask  the  god,  "  If  he  were 
not  ashamed  of  having  encouraged  him,  as  the  destined  destroyer 
of  the  empire  of  Cyrus,  to  begin  a  w^ar  with  Persia,  of  which  such 
were  the  first-fruits  ?  "  As  they  said  this  they  were  to  point  to 
the  fetters  ;  and  further  they  were  to  inquire,  "  if  it  was  the  wont 
of  the  Greek  gods  to  be  ungrateful  ?  " 

91.  The  Lydians  went  to  Delphi  and  delivered  their  message, 
on  which  the  Pythoness  is  said  to  have  replied — "  It  is  not 
possible  even  for  a  god  to  escape  the  decree  of  destiny.  Croesus 
has  been  punished  for  the  sin  of  his  fifth  ancestor,^  who,  when  he 
was  one  of  the  body-guard  of  the  Heraclides,  joined  in  a  woman's 
fraud,  and,  slaying  his  master,  wrongfully  seized  the  throne. 
Apollo  was  anxious  that  the  fall  of  Sardis  should  not  happen  in 
the  difetime  of  Croesus,  but  be  delayed  to  his  son's  days ;  he 
could  not,  however,  persuade  the  Fates.^     All  that  they  were 

^  Vide  supra,  ch.  13.  them— are   brought  into  such  distinct 

1  Mr.  Grote  remarks  with  great  truth  light  and  action :  usually  they  are  kept 

on  this  passage— '^  It  is  rarely  that  these  in  the  dark,  or  are  left  to  be  iinderstood 

supreme  goddesses  or  hyper-goddesses —  as  the  unseen  stumbling-block  in  cases 

for  the  gods  themselves  must  submit  to  of  extreme  incomprehensibility  ;  and  it 


Chap.  89-92.  REPLY  OF  THE  PYTHONESS.  183 

willing  to  allow  he  took  and  gave  to  Croesus.  Let  Crajsiis 
know  that  Apollo  delayed  the  taking  of  Sardis  three  full  years, 
and  that  he  is  tlius  a  prisoner  three  years  later  than  was  his 
destiny.  Moreover  it  was  Apollo  who  saved  him  from  the 
burning  pile.  Nor  has  Croesus  any  right  to  complain  witli 
respect  to  the  oracular  answer  which  he  received.  For  when 
the  god  told  him  that,  if  he  attacked  the  Persians,  he  would 
destroy  a  mighty  empire,  he  ought,  if  he  had  been  wise,  to  have 
sent  again  and  inquired  which  empire  was  meant,  that  of  Cyrus 
or  his  own ;  but  if  he  neither  understood  what  was  said,  nor 
took  the  trouble  to  seek  for  enlightenment,  he  has  only  himself 
to  blame  for  the  result.  Besides,  he  had  misunderstood  the  last 
answer  which  had  been  given  him  about  the  mule.  Cyrus  was 
that  mule.  For  the  parents  of  Cyrus  were  of  different  races, 
and  of  different  conditions, — his  mother  a  Median  princess, 
daughter  of  King  Astyages,  and  his  father  a,  Persian  and  a 
subject,  who,  thougli  so  far  beneath  her  in  all  respects,  had 
married  his  royal  mistress." 

Such  was  the  answer  of  the  Pythoness.  The  Lydians  re- 
turned to  Sardis  and  communicated  it  to  Croesus,  who  confessed, 
on  hearing  it,  that  the  fault  was  his,  not  the  god's.  Sucli  was 
the  way  in  which  Ionia  was  first  conquered,  and  so  was  the 
empire  of  Croesus  brouglit  to  a  close. 

92.  Besides  the  offerings  which  have  been  already  mentioned, 
there  are  many  others  in  various  parts  of  Greece  presented  by 
Croesus ;  as  at  Thebes  in  Boeotia,  where  there  is  a  golden  tripod, 
dedicated  by  him  to  Ismenian  Apollo  ;^  at  Ephesus,  where  the 
golden  heifers,  and  most  of  the  columns  are  his  gift ;  and  at 
Delphi,  in  the  temple  of  Pronaia,^  where  there  is  a  huge  shield 
in  gold,  which  he  gave.  All  these  offerings  were  still  in  exist- 
ence in  my  day ;  many  others  have  perished :  among  them 
those  which  he  dedicated  at  Branchida3  in  Milesia,  equal  in 
weight,  as  I  am  informed,  and  in  all  respects  like  to  those  at 


is  difficult  clearly  to  determine  where  ^  Tj^g  temple  of  Minerva  at  Delphi 

the  Greeks  conceived  sovereign  power  stood  in  front  of  the  great  temple  of 

to  reside,  in  respect  to  the  government  Apollo.     Hence  the  Delphian  Minerva 

of  the  world.    But  here  the  sovereignty  of  was  called  Minerva  Pronaifi  (Sm  to  it  p  6 

the  Mcerce, and  the  subordinate  agenci/ of  the  rov    vaov    l5pv(r6aL,    as    Harpocration 

gods,  are  unequivocally  set  forth"  (IList.  oi  says).     Vide  infra,  viii.  37.     Pausanias 

Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  262).  mentions  that  the  shield  was  no  longer 

2  The  I'iver  Ismenius  washed  the  foot  there  in  his  day.     It  had  been  carried 

of  the  hill  on  which  this  temple  stood  off  by  Philomelus,    the    Phocian  gene- 

(Paus,  ix.  10,  2);  hence  the  phrase  "Is-  ral  in  the  Sacred  War    (Pans.  x.  viii. 

menian  Apollo."  Compare  J'allenian  Mi-  §  4). 
ncrva  (supra,  ch.  62). 


184 


VAKIOUS  OFFERINGS  OF  CKCESUS. 


Book  I. 


Delphi.  The  Delphian  presents,  and  those  sent  to  Amphi- 
aralis,  came  from  his  own  private  property,  being  the  first-fruits 
of  the  fortune  which  he  inherited  from  his  father;  his  other 
offerings  came  from  the  riches  of  an  enemy,  who,  before  he 
mounted  the  throne,  headed  a  party  against  him,  with  the  view 
of  obtaining  the  crown  of  Lydia  for  Pantaleon.  This  Pantaleon 
was  a  son  of  Alyattes,  but  by  a  different  mother  from  Croesus ; 
for  the  mother  of  Croesus  was  a  Carian  woman,  but  the  mother 
of  Pantaleon  an  Ionian.  When,  by  the  appointment  of  his 
father,  Croesus  obtained  the  kingly  dignity,^  he  seized  the  man 
who  had  plotted  against  him,  and  broke  him  upon  the  wheel. 
His  property,  which  he  had  previously  devoted  to  the  service  of 
the  gods,  Croesus  applied  in  the  way  mentioned  above.  This  is 
all  I  shall  say  about  his  offerings. 

93.  Lydia,  unhke  most  other  countries,  scarcely  offers  any 
wonders  for  the  historian  to  describe,  except  the  gold-dust  which 
is  washed  down  from  the  range  of  Tmolus.  It  has,  however, 
one  structure  of  enormous  size,  only  inferior  to  the  monuments 
of  Egypt  ^  and  Babylon.     This  is  the  tomb  of  Alyattes,^  the 


■*  This  has  been  supposed  to  mean 
that  Alyattes  associated  Croesus  with 
him  in  the  government  (see  Wesseling 
and  Biihr  in  loo.  Also  Clinton's  F.  H. 
vol.  ii.  p.  3(53).  But  there  are  no  suffi- 
cient grounds  for  such  an  opinion.  Asso- 
ciation, common  enough  in  Egypt,  was 
very  I'arely  practised  in  the  East  until 
the  time  of  the  Sassanian  princes ;  and 
does  not  seem  ever  to  obtain  unless 
where  the  succession  is  doubtful.  Nor 
would  it  have  been  likely  that,  during 
a  joint-reign  with  his  father,  Cra3sus 
should  have  treated  the  partisan  of  his 
bi'other  with  such  severity.  Herodotus 
undoubtedly  intends  to  speak  of  the 
nomination  of  Croesus  by  Alyattes  as  his 
successor  upon  the  throne.  The  verb 
used  is  the  same  as  that  which  occurs 
below  (ch.  208),  where  the  nomination 
of  Cambyses  by  Cyrus  is  mentioned. 

^  The  colossal  size  of  the  monuments 
in  Egypt  is  sufficiently  known.  They 
increased  in  size  as  the  power  of  Egypt 
advaiw^ed.  The  great  importance  of  pro- 
portion is  at  once  felt  in  examining  them ; 
for  though  the  columns,  as  in  the  Great 
Hall  of  Karnak,  are  so  large — the  centre 
avenue  of  twelve  being  69  ft.  5  in.  high, 
with  the  abacus  and  plinth,  and  the 
lateral  ones  (once  122  in  number)  being 
45  ft.  8  in.  high— they  have  a  pleasing 
as  well  as  a  grand  effect.    Without  that 


most  important  feature,  proportion  (now 
best  understood  in  Italy),  they  would  be 
monstrous  and  disagreeable.  The  taste 
for  colossal  statues  is  often  supposed  to 
be  peculiarly  Egyptian;  but  the  Greeks 
had  some  as  large  as,  and  even  larger 
than,  any  in  Egypt,  that  of  Olympian 
Jove  being  60  ft.  high,  and  the  Colossus 
of  Rhodes  lu5  ft.  (SeeFlaxman,  Lect.  ix. 
p.  219.)  Pausanias  (iii.  19)  mentions 
one  of  Apollo  30  cubits  (45  feet)  high. — 
[G.  W.] 

^  The  following  account  of  the  ex- 
ternal appearance  of  this  monument, 
which  still  exists  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Hermus,  near  the  ruins  of  the  an- 
cient Sardis,  is  given  by  Mr.  Hamilton 
(Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  pp.  145-6): — 

"  One  mile  south  of  this  spot  we 
reached  the  principal  tumulus,  gene- 
rally designated  as  the  tomb  of  Haly- 
attes.  It  took  us  about  ten  minutes  to 
ride  round  its  base,  which  would  give 
it  a  circumference  of  nearly  half  a  mile. 
Towards  the  north  it  consists  of  the  na- 
tural rock,  a  white  horizontally-stratified 
earthy  limestone,  cut  away  so  as  to  ap- 
pear as  part  of  the  structure.  The  upper 
portion  is  sand  and  gravel,  apparently 
brought  from  the  bed  of  the  Hermus. 
Several  deep  ravines  have  been  worn  by 
time  and  weather  in  its  sides,  particvi- 
larly  on  that  to  the  south :  we  followed 


Chap.  92,  93. 


TOMB  OF  ALYATTP:S. 


185 


father  of  Croesus,  the  base  of  which  is  formed  of  immense  blocks 
of  stone,  the  rest  beinp^  a  vast  mound  of  earth.     It  was  raised 


Tumli  ijf  Alyuttes.    Sepulchral  Chamber. 


Tomb  of  Alj'-attes.    Ground-plan,  showing  excavations. 


one  of  these  as  affording  a  better  footing 
than  the  smooth  grass,  as  we  ascended 
to  the  summit.  Here  we  found  the  re- 
mains of  a  foundation  nearly  eighteen 
feet  square,  on  the  north  of  which  was  a 
huge  circular  stone,  ten  feet  in  diameter, 
with  a  flat  bottom  and  a  raised  edge  or 
lip,  evidently  placed  there  as  an  orna- 
ment ou  the  apex  of  the  tumulus.    Hero- 


dotus says  that  phalli  were  erected  upon 
the  summit  of  some  of  these  tumuli,  of 
which  this  may  be  one;  but  Mr.  Strick- 
land supposes  that  a  rude  representation 
of  the  human  face  might  be  traced  ou 
its  weather-beaten  surface.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  ground  sloping  to  the 
south,  this  tumulus  appears  much  higher 
when  viewed  from  the  side   of   Sardis 


186 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  LYDIANS. 


Book  I. 


by  the  joint  labour  of  the  tradesmen,  handicl'aftsmen,  and 
courtesans  of  Sardis,  and  had  at  the  top  five  stone  pillars,  which 
remained  to  my  day,  with  inscriptions  cut  on  them,'^  showing 
how  much  of  the  work  was  done  by  each  class  of  workpeople. 
It  appeared  on  measurement  that  the  portion  of  the  courtesans 
was  the  largest.  The  daughters  of  the  common  people  in  Lydia, 
one  and  all,  pursue  this  traffic,  wishing  to  collect  money  for 
their  portions.  They  continue  the  practice  till  they  marry ;  and 
are  wont  to  contract  themselves  in  marriage.  The  tomb  is  six 
stades  and  two  plethra  in  circumference ;  its  breadth  is  thirteen 


than  from  any  other.  It  rises  at  an 
angle  of  about  22 '^j  and  is  a  conspicuous 
object  on  all  sides." 

Eecently  the  mound  has  been  more 
exactly  measured  by  M.  Spiegenthal, 
Prussian  Consul  at  Smyrna,  who  has 
also  carefully  explored  the  interior. 
His  measiu-ements  strikingly  agree  with 
the  rough  estimate  of  Mr.  Hamilton. 
He  gives  the  average  diameter  of  the 
mound  as  about  250  metres,  or  281  yards, 
which  produces  a  circumference  of  al- 
most exactly  half  a  mile.  In  the  inte- 
rior, into  which  he  drove  a  gallery  or 
tunnel,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  dis- 
cover a  sepulchral  chamber,  composed 
of  large  blocks  of  white  marble,  highly 
polished,  situated  almost  exactly  in  the 
centre  of  the  tumulus.  The  chamber 
was  somewhat  more  than  11  feet  long, 
nearly  8  feet  broad,  and  7  feet  high.  It 
was  empty,  and  contained  no  sign  of 
any  inscription  or  sarcophagus.  The 
mound  outside  the  chamber  showed 
traces  of  many  former  excavations.  It 
was  pierced  with  galleries,  and  contained 
a  great  quantity  of  bones,  partly  human, 
partly  those  of  animals ;  also  a  quantity 
of  ashes,  and  abundant  fragments  of 
urns.  No  writing  was  discovered  on 
any  of  these,  or  indeed  in  the  whole 
mound,  nor  any  fragment  of  metal  with 
the  exception  of  a  nail,  a  relic  of  former 
explorers.  Undoubtedly  the  chamber 
had  been  rifled  at  a  remote  period,  and 
the  mound  had  been  used  in  post-Lydian 
times  as  a  place  of  general  sepulture. 
Hence  Jbhe  remains  of  urns,  and  the 
human  bones  and  ashes.  The  animal 
bones  are  more  difficult  of  explanation. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  mar- 
ble chamber  was  the  actual  resting-place 
of  the  Lydian  king.  Its  dimensions  agree 
nearly  with  those  of  the  sepidchral  cham- 
ber of  Cyrus.  (See  note  to  book  i.  ch. 
214.)  The  tomb  was  probably  plundered 
for  the  sake  of  the  gold  which  it  con- 


tained, either  by  the  Greeks,  or  by  some 
one  of  the  many  nations  who  have  at  dif- 
ferent periods  held  possession  of  Asia 
Minor.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
internal  construction  of  the  mound  was 
not  found  by  M.  Spiegenthal  in  any  way 
to  resemble  that  of  the  famous  tomb  of 
Tantalus,  near  Smyrna,  explored  by  M. 
Texier.  (See  Texier's  Asie  Mineure, 
vol.  ii.  p.  252,  et  seq.;  and  for  M.  Spie- 
genthal's  account  of  his  excavations,  see 
the  Monatsbericht  der  Konigl.  Preus- 
sisch..  Academic  der  Wissenschaften  zu 
Berlin,  Dec.  1854,  pp.  700-702.) 

Besides  the  barrow  of  Alyattes  there 
are  a  vast  number  of  ancient  tumuli  on 
the  shores  of  the  Gygsean  lake.  Tliree 
or  four  of  these  are  scarcely  inferior  in 
size  to  that  of  Alyattes  (see  Chandler's 
Tour  in  Asia  Minor,  ch.  78,  p.  302). 
These  may  be  the  tombs  of  the  other 
Lydian  kings. 

[The  monument  in  question,  with  a 
stone  basement,  and  a  mound  above,  is 
very  similar  to  the  constructed  tombs 
of  Etruria,  and  to  some  in  Greece,  as 
that  of  Menecrates  at  Corfu,  and  others. 
The  tomb  of  Agamemnon  at  Mycenae  is 
also  supposed  by  Canina  to  have  been 
capped  with  a  mound;  and  he  is  quite 
right  in  thinking  it  could  not  have  been 
a  '  treasury'  (as  it  is  called  of  Atreus), 
being  outside  the  city.  Indeed  in  the 
same  locality  are  the  remains  of  other 
similar  monuments,  not  certainly  so 
many  treasuries,  but  tombs.  The  five 
oupoL  on  that  of  Alyattes  may  have  been 
like  those  on  the  tomb  of  Aruns  at  Al- 
bano,  miscalled  '  of  the  Horatii.' 

The  statement  about  the  Lydian  wo- 
men is  one  of  those  for  which  Herodotus 
cannot  escape  censure. — G,  W.] 

■^  This  is  thought  to  be  a  very  early 
mention  of  writing.  Alyattes  died  B.C. 
568;  but  even  the  Greeks  had  letters 
long  before  that  time. — [G.  W.] 


Chap.  93,  94. 


THEIR  INVENTIONS. 


187 


plethra.     Close  to  the  tomb  is  a  large  lake,  which  the  Lydians 
say  is  never  dry.^   •  They  call  it  the  Lalve  Gyga3a. 

94.  The  Lydians  have  very  nearly  the  same  customs  as  the 
Greeks,  with  the  exception  that  these  last  do  not  bring  up  their 
girls  in  the  same  way.  So  far  as  we  have  any  knowledge,  they 
were  the  first  nation  to  introduce  the  use  of  gold  and  silver 
coin,^  and  the  first  who  sold  goods  by  retail.  They  claim  also 
the  invention  of  all  the  games  which  are  common  to  them  with 
the  Greeks.  These  they  declare  tliat  they  invented  about  the 
time  when  they  colonised  Tyrrhenia,  an  event  of  which  they 
give  the  following  account.  In  the  days  of  Atys  the  son  of 
Manes, ^  there  was  great  scarcity  through  the  whole  land  of 
Lydia.  For  some  time  the  Lydians  bore  the  affliction  patiently, 
but  finding  that  it  did  not  pass  away,  they  set  to  work  to  devise 
remedies  for  the  evil.  Various  expedients  were  discovered  by 
various  persons ;  dice,  and  huckle-bones,  and  ball,^  and  all  such 


^  This  lake  is  still  a  remarkable  fea- 
ture in  the  scene.  (Hamilton's  Asia 
Mmor,  i.  p.  145;  Fellows,  p.  290.)  It 
is  mentioned  by  Homer  (11.  xx.  '392). 

^  This  statement  was  made  also  by 
Xenophanes  of  Colophon  (Pollux,  ix. 
vi.  §  83),  and  is  repeated  by  Eustathius 
(ad  Dionys.  Perieget.  v.  840).  Other 
writers  ascribed  the  invention  to  Phei- 
dou  I.  king  of  Argos  (Etym.  Magn.  ad 
voc.  ojSeAiV/cos;  Pollux,  1.  s.  c).  Ac- 
cording to  Plutarch,  Theseus  coined  mo- 
ney at  Athens  some  centuries  earlier 
(Thes.  c.  25). 

It  is  probable  that  the  Greeks  derived 
their  first  knowledge  of  coined  money 
from  the  Asiatics  with  whom  they  came 
into  contact  in  Asia  Minor,  either  Ly- 
dians or  Pln-ygians  (a  tradition  m.en- 
tioned  in  Pollux,  l.s.c,  made  the  latter 
people  the  inventors  of  coming).  Phei- 
don,  who  is  also  said  to  have  introduced 
the  JEginetan  standard  of  weights  from 
Asia,  may  have  been  the  first  to  strike 
coins  in  European  Greece.  The  asser- 
tion of  Plutarch  cannot  possibly  be  re- 
ceived. See  Note  B.  at  the  end  of  the 
volume. 

1  A  name  resembling  that  of  the  King 
of  Lydia,  Manes,  is  found  in  the  early 
traditions  of  many  people.  In  Egypt 
the  first  king  was  Menes,  of  whom  Mane- 
ros,  the  reputed  inventor  of  music,  was 
supposed  to  have  been  the  son.  Crete 
had  its  Minos;  India,  its  Man  u ;  Germany 
its  first  Man,  Manmis ;  and  traces  of  the 
name  occur  in  other  early  histories.  See 


Plut.  de  Is.  s,  24,  who  mentions  the 
Phrygian  Manis. — [G.  W.] 

"  The  ball  was  a  very  old  game,  and 
it  was  doubtless  invented  in  Egypt,  as 
Pl'ato  says.  It  is  mentioned  by  Homer 
(Od.  viii.  372),  and  it  was  known  in 
Egypt  long  before  his  time,  in  the 
twelfth  dynasty,  or  about  2000  B.C.,  as 
were  the  -weaaol,  \p^^oi,  latrunculi,  calculi, 
or  counters,  used  in  a  game  resembling 
our  draughts,  with  two  sets  of  men,  or 
"  dogs,"  of  different  colours.  They  are 
also  mentioned  by  Homer  (Od.  i.  107, 
and  Plut.  de  Isid.  s.  12,  "  TreTTem  "  ) . 
Athengeus  (Deipn.  i.  10,  p.  19)  reproves 
Herodotus  for  ascribing  the  invention 
of  games  to  the  Lydians.  The  Greek 
board,  'a^a^,  or  abacus,  had  five  lines, 
sometimes  twelve,  like  that  of  the  Ro- 
mans, whence  duodecim  script  a  w^as  the 
name  they  gave  to  their  alveus,  or  board, 
and  the  moves  were  sometimes  decided 
by  dice. 

Greek  dice,  Kvfioiy  tesserae,  were  like 
our  own,  with  six  numbers — 6  and  1, 
5  and  2,  4  and  3,  being  generally  on  the 
opposite  sides.  Instead  of  two,  they 
threw  three  dice,  whence  rpls  e^,  *' three 
sizes,"  and  Kvfios  was  the  "ace."  They 
were  probably  at  first  only  numbered 
on  four  sides,  whence  the  name,  cor- 
rupted from  TeVo-apa.  This  was  the  case 
with  some  astragali,  the  2  and  5  being 
omitted  (Jul,  Poll.  Onom.  ix.  7),  but 
these  were  usually  without  numbers, 
and  were  simply  the  original  knuckle- 
bones of  sheep.     They  wei-e  also  called 


188 


COLONISATION  OF  TYERHENIA. 


Book  I. 


games  were  invented,  except  tables,  the  invention  of  wliich  they 
do  not  claim  as  theirs.  The  plan  adopted  against  the  famine 
was  to  engage  in  games  one  day  so  entirely  as  not  to  feel  any 
craving  for  food,  and  the  next  day  to  eat  and  abstain  from 
games.  In  this  way  they  passed  eighteen  years.  Still  the 
affliction  continued  and  even  became  more  grievous.  So  the 
king  determined  to  divide  the  nation  in  half,  and  to  make 
the  two  portions  draw  lots,  the  one  to  stay,  the  other  to  leave 
the  land.  He  would  continue  to  reign  over  those  whose  lot  it 
should  be  to  remain  behind ;  the  emigrants  should  have  his  son 
Tyrrhenus  for  their  leader.  The  lot  was  cast,  and  they  who  had 
to  emigrate  went  down  to  Smyrna,  and  built  themselves  ships,^ 
in  which,  after  they  had  put  on  board  all  needful  stores,  they 
sailed  away  in  search  of  new  homes  and  better  sustenance. 
After  sailing  past  many  countries  they  came  to  Umbria,*  where 
they  built  cities  for  themselves,  and  fixed  their  residence. 
Their  former  name   of  Lydians   they   laid   aside,   and  called 


"tali"  and  in  playing  were  generally 
five  (whence  tr^vTaXiQiC^iv),  a  number, 
like  the  five  lines  on  the  old  Greek 
abacus,  taken  from  the  fingers  of  the 
hand.  Sometimes  astragali  were  made, 
of  the  same  form  as  the  bone,  of  stone, 
metal,  ivory,  or  glass  ;  and  I  have  one 
of  these  last  from  Athens,  which  is  only 
0|  in.  long.  The  game  is  represented  in 
a  painting  found  at  Herculaneum,  and 
in  sculpture;  and  Pliny  (xxxiv.  8)  men- 
tions a  famous  group  in  bronze  by  Poly- 
cletus,  of  two  naked  boys,  called  the 
astragalizontes,  then  in  the  Atrium  of 
Titus,  evidently  the  same  subject  repre- 
sented in  stone  at  the  British  Museum, 
the  loser  biting  his  companion's  arm. 
The  games  of  tali  and  tessene  were  chiefly 
confined  to  children,  women,  and  old 
men  (Cic.  de  Senect.  16,  ed  Par.).  That 
of  odd  and  even,  ^' par  et  impar,"  was 
thought  still  more  puerile,  and  is  com- 
pared by  Horace  to  riding  on  a  stick,  or 
"arundine  longa "  (Sat.  ii,  iii.  247.) 
Beans,  nuts,  almonds,  or  coins  were 
used  in  playing  it;  and  another  game 
is  imentioned  by  J.  Pollux  (ix.  7)  of 
throwing  coins  or  bones  within  a  ring, 
or  into  a  hole,  called  rp6ira.  Odd  and 
even,  and  the  modern  Italian  mora,  were 
very  ancient  Egyptian  games.  In  the 
latter  the  Romans  were  said  "  micare 
digitis."  Cicero,  de  Div.  ii.  says,  "  quid 
enim  sors  est  ?  idem  propemodum  quod 


micare,  quod  talos  jacere,  quod  tesse- 
ras;  "  and  in  Off",  iii.,  that  one  ivith  whom 
"  in  tenebris  mices,"  for  an  honest  man, 
had  become  a  proverb. — [G.  W.] 

3  Heeren  understands  this  passage  to 
assert  that  the  Lydians  obtained  vessels 
from  the  Greeks  of  Smyrna,  and  builds 
upon  it  the  conclusion  that  the  Lydians 
were  at  no  time  a  seafaring  people. 
(Asiat.  Nat,  Vol.  i.  p.  106.  E.  T.)  But 
liy]X<^va<xQai  has  never  the  sense  of  pro- 
curing from  another.  Where  it  means 
procuring  at  all,  it  is  always  procuring 
by  one's  own  skill  and  enterprise.  (Cf. 
Sophocl.  Phil.  295.  Xen.  Cyrop.  iii.  ii. 
§  15.) 

•*  The  Umbria  of  Herodotus,  as  Nie- 
buhr  observes  (Hist,  of  Rome,  vol.  i. 
p.  142.  E.  T.)  "  is  of  large  and  indefinite 
extent."  It  appears  to  include  almost 
the  whole  of  Northern  Italy.  It  is 
from  the  region  above  the  Umbrians  that 
the  Alpis  and  the  Carpis  flow  into  the 
Danube  (iv.  49).  This  would  seem  to 
assign  to  them  the  modern  Lombardo- 
Venetian  kingdom,  and  to  place  them 
on  the  Adriatic.  The  arrival  of  the 
Tyrrhenians  on  their  shores  extends 
them  to  the  opposite  coast,  and  makes 
Tuscany  also  a  part  of  their  country. 
Herodotus  knows  of  no  Italian  nations 
except  the  Tyrrhenians,  the  Umbrians, 
the  Venetians  (Heneti),  the  (Enotrians, 
and  the  Messapians. 


Chap.  94-96.  RISE  OF  THE  MEDIAN  EMPIRE.  189 

themselves  after  the  name  of  the  king's  son,  who  led  the  colony, 
Tyrrhenians.^ 

95.  Thus  far  I  have  been  engaged  in  showing  how  the 
Lydians  were  brought  under  the  Persian  yoke.  The  course  of 
my  history  now  compels  me  to  inquire  who  this  Cyrus  was  by 
whom  the  Lydian  empire  was  destroyed,  and  by  what  means 
the  Persians  had  become  the  lords  paramount  of  Asia.  And 
herein  I  shall  follow  those  Persian  authorities  whose  object  it 
appears  to  be  not  to  magnify  the  exploits  of  Cyrus,  but  to  relate 
the  simple  truth.  I  know  besides  three  ways  in  which  the  story 
of  Cyrus  is  told,  all  differing  from  my  own  narrative. 

The  Assyrians  had  held  the  Empire  of  Upper  Asia  for  the 
space  of  five  hundred  and  twenty  years,^  when  the  Modes  set 
the  example  of  revolt  from  their  authority.  They  took  arms  for 
the  recovery  of  their  freedom,  and  fought  a  battle  with  the 
Assyrians,  in  which  they  behaved  with  such  gallantry  as  to 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  servitude,  and  to  become  a  free  people. 
Upon  their  success  the  other  nations  also  revolted  and  regained 
their  independence. 

96.  Thus  the  nations  over  that  whole  extent  of  country 
obtained  the  blessing  of  self-government,  but  they  fell  again 
under  the  sway  of  kings,  in  the  manner  which  I  will  now  relate. 
There  was  a  certain  Mode  named  Deioces,  son  of  Phraortes,  a 
man  of  much  wisdom,  who  had  conceived  the  desire  of  obtaining 
to  himself  the  sovereign  power.  In  furtherance  of  his  ambition, 
therefore,  he  formed  and  carried  into  execution  the  following 
scheme.  As  the  Modes  at  that  time  dwelt  in  scattered  villages 
without  any  central  authority,  and  lawlessness  in  consequence 
prevailed  throughout  the  land,  Deioces,  who  was  already  a  man 
of  mark  in  his  own  village,  applied  himself  with  greater  zeal 
and  earnestness  than  ever  before  to  the  practice  of  justice  among 
his  fellows.  It  was  his  conviction  that  justice  and  injustice  are 
engaged  in  perpetual  war  with  one  another.  He  therefore 
began  this  course  of  conduct,  and  presently  the  men  of  his 
village,  observing  his  integrity,  chose  him  to  be  the  arbiter  of 
all  their  disputes.  Bent  on  obtaining  the  sovereign  power,  he 
showed  himself  an  honest  and  an  upright  judge,  and  by  these 
means  rained  such  credit  with  his  fellow-citizens  as  to  attract 


•^  The  whole  story  of  the  Lydian  colo-  exact)  526  of  Berosus.     (Fr.  11.)     The 

nization  of  E^truria  is  considered  in  the  entire  subject  of  Assyrian  Chronology 

first  Essay  appended  to  this  book.  is  discussed  in  the  Critical  Essays,  Essay 

^  The  520  years  of  Herodotus  in  this  vii. 
place  undoubtedly  represent  the   (more 


190  DEIOCES.  Book  I. 

the  attention  of  those  who  lived  in  the  surrounding  villages. 
They  had  long  been  suffering  from  unjust  and  oppressive 
judgments ;  so  that,  when  they  heard  of  the  singular  uprightness 
of  Deioces,  and  of  the  equity  of  his  decisions,  they  joyfully  had 
recourse  to  him  in  the  various  quarrels  and  suits  that  arose, 
until  at  last  they  came  to  put  confidence  in  no  one  else. 

97.  The  number  of  complaints  brought  before  him  continually 
increasing,  as  people  learnt  more  and  more  the  fairness  of  his 
judgments,  Deioces,  feeling  himself  now  all  important,  announced 
that  he  did  not  intend  any  longer  to  hear  causes,  and  appeared 
no  more  in  the  seat  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  sit 
and  administer  justice.  "  It  did  not  square  with  his  interests," 
he  said,  "  to  spend  the  whole  day  m  regulating  other  men's  affairs 
to  the  neglect  of  his  own."  Hereupon  robbery  and  lawlessness 
broke  out  afresh,  and  prevailed  through  the  country  even  more 
than  heretofore;  wherefore  the  Modes  assembled  from  all 
quarters,  and  held  a  consultation  on  the  state  of  affairs.  The 
speakers,  as  I  think,  were  chiefly  friends  of  Deioces.  "  We 
cannot  possibly,"  they  said,  "go  on  living  in  this  country  if 
things  continue  as  they  now  are ;  let  us  therefore  set  a  king 
over  us,  that  so  the  land  may  be  well  governed,  and  we  ourselves 
may  be  able  to  attend  to  our  own  affairs,  and  not  be  forced  to 
quit  our  country  on  account  of  anarchy."  The  assembly  was 
persuaded  by  these  arguments,  and  resolved  to  appoint  a  king. 

98.  It  followed  to  determine  who  should  be  chosen  to  the 
office.  When  this  debate  began  the  claims  of  Deioces  and  his 
praises  were  at  once  in  every  mouth ;  so  that  presently  all 
agreed  that  he  should  be  king.  Upon  this  he  required  a  palace 
to  be  built  for  him  suitable  to  his  rank,  and  a  guard  to  be  given 
him  for  his  person.  The  Modes  complied,  and  built  him  a 
strong  and  large  palace,^  on  a  spot  which  he  himself  pointed 
out,  and  likewise  gave  him  liberty  to  choose  himself  a  body- 
guard from  the  whole  nation.^     Thus  settled  upon  the  throne, 

'    The   royal   palace  at  Agbatana  is  esting  narrative  of  Herodotus  presents 

said  by  Polybius  to  have  been  7  stades  to  us  in  all  points  Grecian  society  and 

(more  than  four-fifths  of  a  mile)  in  cir-  ideas,  not  Oriental :  it  is  like  the  discus- 

cumfereifce  (x-  xxvii.  9) ;  but  his  descrip-  sion  which  the  historian  ascribes  to  the 

tion  refers  probably  to  the   capital  of  seven  Persian  conspirators,  previous  to 

Media  Mcuma,  rather  than  to  the  (so-  the  accession  of  Darius,  whether  they 

called)  city  of  Deioces.  shall  adopt  an  oligarchical,  a  democi'a- 

^  I  cannot  refrain  from  transcribing  tical,  or  a  monarchical  form  of  govern- 

•the  excellent  comment  of  Mr.  Grote  on  ment;   or  it  may  be  compared  to  the 

this  passage.     He  observes: — "Of  the  Cyropoedia  of  Xenophon,   who  beauti- 

real  history  of  Deioces  we  cannot  be  fully  and  elaborately  works  out  an  ideal 

said  to  know  anything;  for  the  inter-  which  Herodotus  exhibits  in  brief  out- 


Chap.  96-98. 


ACxBATANA.. 


191 


he  further  required  them  to  build  a  single  great  city,  and,  dis- 
regarding the  petty  towns  in  which  they  had  formerly  dwelt, 
make  the  new  capital  the  object  of  their  chief  attention.  The 
Modes  were  again  obedient,  and  built  the  city  now  called 
Agbatana,^  the  walls  of  which  are  of  great  size  and  strength. 


line.  The  story  of  Deioces  describes 
what  may  be  called  the  despot's  pro- 
gress, first  as  candidate,  and  afterwards 
as  fully  established  .  .  .  Deioces  begins 
like  a  clever  Greek  among  other  Greeks, 
equal,  free,  and  disorderly ;  he  is  athirst 
for  despotism  from  the  beginning,  and 
is  forward  in  manifesting  his  rectitude 
and  ju.stice,  '  as  beseems  a  candidate 
for  command; '  he  passes  into  a  despot 
by  the  public  vote,  and  receives  what  to 
the  Greeks  was  the  great  symbol  and 
instrument  of  such  transition,  a  personal 
body-guard ;  he  ends  by  organising  both 
the  machinery  and  the  etiquette  of  a 
despotism  in  the  Oriental  fashion,  like 
the  Cyrus  of  Xenophon ;  only  that  both 
these  authors  maintain  the  superiority 
of  their  Grecian  ideal  over  Oriental  rea- 
lity, by  ascribing  both  to  Deioces  and 
Cyrus  a  just,  systematic,  and  laborious 
administration,  such  as  their  own  expe- 
rience did  not  present  to  them  in  Asia." 
(Vol.  iii.,  pp.  307-308.  See  also  Note  ^ 
of  the  latter  page.) 

^  I  have  retained  the  form  Agbatana, 
given  by  Herodotus,  in  place  of  the 
more  usual  Ecbatana  of  other  authors, 
as  being  nearer  to  the  Persian  original, 
which  (in  the  inscriptions)  is  Hagma- 
ttina.  (Behistun  Inscrip.  Col.  11.  Par. 
13.)  It. is  curious  that  the  Greeks 
should  have  caught  the  orthography  so 
nearly,  and  yet  have  been  so  mistaken 
as  to  the  accent  of  the  word.  There 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  natives 
called  the  city  Hagmatdn,  according  to 
the  analogy  of  the  modern  Isfahan,  Te- 
heran, Hamadfin,  Behistun,  &c.  Yet 
the  Gi-eeks  said  Agbatana,  as  is  evident 
both  from  the  quantity  and  the  accent  of 
the  word.  It  is  written  'Ay^drava,  not 
'Ky^ardva,  and  in  the  poets  the  last 
three  syllables  are  short.  Cf.  ^Esch. 
Pers.  IG.     Aristoph.  Acharn.  G4. 

[There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  original  form  of  the  name  Hellenised 
as  ' hyfidrava  or  'Y.Kfia.To.va  was  Hag- 
matun,  and  that  it  was  of  Arian  etymo- 
logy, having  been  first  used  by  the 
Arian  Medes.  It  would  signify  in  the 
language  of  the  country  "  the  place  of 
assemblage,"  being  compounded  of  lauii 
"  with,"  and  ijaina  "  to  go."     The  Chal- 


dsean  form  of  Akhmatha,  5<npnX  which 
occurs  in  Ezi-a  (vi.  2),  may  thus  be 
regarded  as  a  corruption  of,  the  Arian 
name.  It  may  further  be  of  interest  to 
note  that  there  is  no  trace  of  such  a 
name  among  the  Median  cities  enume- 
rated in  the  inscriptions  of  Sargon,  or 
in  those  of  his  successors,  so  that  it  is 
pretty  certain  the  capital  described  by 
Herodotus  could  not  have  been  built 
until  within  a  short  period  of  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh, — H.  C.  E.] 

Two  descriptions  of  the  town  are 
worth  comparing  with  that  of  Hero- 
dotus. In  the  second  Fargard  of  the 
Vendidad,  Jemshid,  it  is  said,  "  erected 
a  Var  or  fortress,  sufiicientiy  large,  and 
formed  of  squared  blocks  of  stone ;  he 
assembled  in  the  place  a  vast  population, 
and  stocked  the  surrounding  country 
with  cattle  for  their  use.  He  caused 
the  water  of  the  great  fortress  to  flow 
forth  abundantly.  And  within  the  Var, 
or  fortress,  he  erected  a  lofty  palace, 
encompassed  with  walls,  and  laid  it  out 
in  many  separate  divisions,  and  there 
was  no  high  place,  either  in  front  or 
rear,  to  command  and  overawe  the  fort- 
ress." (Zeudavesta.  Vendidad.  Farg. 
II.) 

The  other  description  is  more  exact 
in  its  details.  "  Arphaxad,"  we  are 
told  in  the  book  of  Judith,  "built  in 
Ecbatana  walls  round  about  of  stones 
hewn  three  cubits  broad  and  six  cubits 
long,  and  made  the  height  of  the  wall 
seventy  cubits,  and  the  breadth  thereof 
fifty  cubits :  and  set  the  towers  thereof 
upon  the  gates  of  it,  an  hundred  cubits 
high,  and  the  breadth  thereof  in  the 
foundation  sixty  cubits  :  and  he  made 
the  gates  thereof,  even  gates  that  were 
raised  to  the  height  of  seventy  cubits, 
and  the  breadth  of  theiu  was  forty 
cubits,  for  the  going  forth  of  his  armies, 
and  for  the  setting  in  array  of  his  foot- 
men."    (i.  2-4.) 

Col.  Rawlinson  long  since  published 
his  opinion  that  the  site  of  the  Agbatana 
ascribed  to  Deioces  was  at  Takhti-Solei- 
man,  in  Media  Atropatene.  The  nature 
of  the  situation,  and  its  geographical 
position,  are  far  more  in  accordance 
with  the  notices  of  Agbatana  contained 


192 


PLAN  OF  THE  CITY. 


Book  I, 


rising  in  circles  one  within  the  other.  The  plan  of  the 
place  is,  that  each  of  the  walls  should  out-top  the  one  be- 
yond it  by  the  battlements.  The  nature  of  the  ground,  which 
is  a  gentle  hill,  favours  this  arrangement  in  some  degree, 
but  it  was  mainly  effected  by  art.  The  number  of  the  circles 
is  seven,  the  royal  palace  and  the  treasuries  standing  within 
the  last.  The  circuit  of  the  outer  wall  is  very  nearly  the  same 
with  that   of  Athens.     Of  this  w^all  the  battlements  are  white,^ 


in  Herodotus,  than  those  of  Hamadan, 
the  Agbatana  of  later  times.  The  coun- 
try to  the  north  of  Agbatana  towards 
the  Euxine,  Herodotus  says,  is  very 
mountainous,  and  covered  with  forests 
(i.  110).  This  is  true  and  pertinent  if 
said  of  Takhti-Sole'iman,  but  either  un- 
true or  unmeaning  if  said  of  Hamadan, 
which  is  far  removed  from  the  Euxine, 
and  is  in  the  more  level  part  of  the 
ancient  Media.  Again,  the  southern 
Ecbatana  was  situated  on  the  declivity 
of  the  great  mountain  of  Orontes  (the 


modern  Elwend)  which  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  called  a  KoXoovds,  and  which 
does  not  admit  of  being  fortified  in  the 
mode  described  by  Herodotus  :  whereas 
the  conical  hill  of  Takhti-Soleiman  with 
its  remains  of  walls  and  other  ruins, 
very  nearly  corresponds  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  our  author,  (See  the  subjoined 
plan.)  The  whole  subject  is  fully  treated 
in  a  paper  communicated  by  Colonel 
Rawlinson  to  the  Geographical  Society, 
and  published  in  their  Journal.  Vol.  x. 
Part  i.  Art.  i. 


sooscoloo 


Plan  of  Ecbatana. 
Explanation. 

1.  Remains  of  a  Fiie-Temple.  5.  Cemetery. 

2.  Ruined  Mosque.  6.  Ridge  of  Roclt  called  "  the  Dragon." 

3.  Ancient  Buildings  with  shafts  and  capitals.  7.  Hill  called  '■  Tawilah,"  or  "  the  Stable." 

4.  Ruins  of  the  Palace  of  Abakai  Khan.  8.  Ruins  of  Kalisiah. 

9.  Rocky  hill  of  Zindani-Sole'iman. 


[One  of  the  most  important  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  the  identification  of 
Takhti-Soleiman  with  the  ancient  Agba- 
tana, is  the  fact  that  Moses  of  Chorene, 
in  speaking  of  the  city  which  then  occu- 
pied the  site  in  question,  and  which 
was  usually  named  Ganzac  Bhahasckm, 
calls  it  specifically  "the  second  Ecba- 


tana, or  the  seven-walled  city."     Mos. 
Chor.  ii.  84.— H.  C.  E.] 

'  "This  is  manifestly  a  fable  of  Sa- 
bscan  origin,  the  seven  colours  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus  being  precisely 
those  employed  by  the  Orientals  to  de- 
note the  seven  great  heavenly  bodies, 
or   the  seven  climates   in   which   they 


Chap.  98. 


WALLS  OF  AGBATANA. 


193 


of  tlio  next  black,  of  the  third  scarlet,   of  the  fourth  bhie,  of 
the  fifth  orange ;  all  these  are  coloured  with  paint.     The  two 


Birs  JSiinrud,  Babylon. 


revolve.  Thus  Nizami,  in  his  poem  of 
the  Heft  Peiher,  describes  a  seven-bo- 
died palace,  built  by  Bahram  Giir,  nearly 
in  the  same  terms  as  Herodotus.  The 
palace  dedicated  to  Saturn,  he  says,  was 
black — that  of  Jupiter  orange,  or  more 
strictly  sandal-wood  colour  (Sandali)— 
of  Mars,  scarlet — of  the  sun,  golden— of 
Venus,  white— of  Mercury,  azure— and 
of  the  moon,  green— a  hue  which  is 
applied  by  the  Orientals  to  silver." 
(Journal  of  Geogr.  Soc.  Vol.  x.  Part.  i. 
p.  127.) 

The  great  temple  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
at  Borsippa  (the  modern  Birs-i-Nhm-ud) 
was  a  building  in  seven  platforms  co- 
loured in  a  similar  way.  Herodotus 
has  deranged  the  order  of  the  colours, 
which  ought  to  be  either  that  dependent 
on  the  planetary  distances,  "  black, 
orange,  scarlet,  gold,  white,  blue,  sil- 
ver," as  at  the  Birs,  or  "black,  white, 

VOL.  I. 


orange,  blue,  scarlet,  silver,  gold,"  if 
the  order  of  the  days  dedicated  to  the 
planets  were  taken.  It  may  be  suspected 
that  Herodotus  had  received  the  num- 
bers in  the  latter  order,  and  accidentally 
reversed  the  places  of  black  and  white, 
and  of  scaidet  and  orange. 

[There  is,  however,  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  Medes,  or  even  the  Baby- 
lonians, were  acquainted  with  that  order 
of  the  planets  which  regulated  the  no- 
menclature of  the  days  of  the  week.  The 
series  in  question,  indeed,  must  have 
originated  with  a  people  who  divided 
the  day  and  night  into  60  hours  instead 
of  24 ;  "and,  as  far  as  we  know  at  present, 
this  system  of  horary  division  was  pecu- 
liar in  ancient  times  to  the  Hindoo 
calendar.  The  method  by  which  the 
order  is  eliminated  is  simply  as  fol- 
lows:— The  planets  in  due  succession 
from  the  Moon  to  Saturn  were  supposed 

O 


194 


ARRANGEMENT  OF  THE  CEREMONIAL. 


Book  T. 


last  have  their  battlements  coated  respectively  with  silver  and 
gold.^ 

99.  All  these  fortifications  Deioces  caused  to  be  raised  for 
himself  and  his  own  palace.  The  peoj)le  were  required  to  build 
their  dwellings  outside  the  circuit  of  the  walls.  When  the 
town  was  finished,  he  proceeded  to  arrange  the  ceremonial.  He 
allowed  no  one  to  have  direct  access  to  the  person  of  the 
king,  but  made  all  communication  pass  through  the  hands  of 
messengers,  and  forbade  the  king  to  be  seen  by  his  subjects. 
He  also  made  it  an  offence  for  any  one  whatsoever  to  laugh  or 
spit  in  the  royal  presence.  This  ceremonial,  of  which  he  was 
the  first  inventor,  Deioces  established  for  his  own  security, 
fearing  that  his  compeers,  who  were  brought  up  together  with 
him,  and  were  of  as  good  family  as  he,  and  no  whit  inferior  to 
him  in  manly  qualities,  if  they  saw  him  frequently  would  be 
pained  at  the  sight,  and  would  therefore  be  likely  to  conspire 
against  him ;  whereas  if  they  did  not  see  him,  they  would  think 
him  quite  a  different  sort  of  being  from  themselves. 

100.  After  completing  these  arrangements,  and  firmly  settling 
himself  upon  the  throne,  Deioces  continued  to  administer  justi^*e 
with   the   same   strictness   as   before.     Causes   were   stated  in 


to  rule  the  hours  of  the  day  in  a  re- 
curring series  of  sevens,  and  the  day 
was  named  after  the  planet  who  hap- 
pened to  be  the  regent  of  the  first  hour. 
If  we  assign  then  the  first  hour  of  the 
first  day  to  the  Moon,  we  find  that  the 
61st  hour,  which  commenced  the  second 
day,  belonged  to  the  5th  planet,  or 
Mars;  the  121st  hour  to  the  2nd,  or 
Mercury;  the  181st  to  the  6th,  or  Jupi- 
ter; the  241st  to  the  3rd,  or  Venus; 
the  301st  to  the  7th,  or  Saturn  ;  and  the 
361st  to  the  4th,  or  the  Sun.  The  po- 
pular belief  (which  first  appears  in  Dion 
Cassius)  that  the  series  in  question  refers 
to  a  horary  division  of  24  is  incorrect; 
for  in  that  case,  although  the  order  is 
the  same,  the  succession  is  inverted. 
One  thing  indeed  seems  to  be  certain, 
that  if  the  Chaldeans  were  the  inventors 
of  the^ hebdomadal  nomenclature,  they 
must  have  borrowed  their  earliest  astro- 
nomical science  from  the  same  source 
which  supplied  the  Hindoos ;  for  it  could 
not  have  been  by  accident  that  a  horary 
division  of  60  was  adopted  by  both 
races.— H.  C.  K.] 

2  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this 
account,  though  it  may  be  greatly  ex- 
aggerated, is  not  devoid  of  a  founda- 


tion. The  temple  at  Borsippa  (see  the 
preceding  note)  appears  to  have  had 
its  fourth  and  seventh  stages  actually 
coated  with  gold  and  silver  respectively. 
And  it  seems  certain  that  there  was 
often  in  Oriental  towns  a  most  lavish 
display  of  the  two  precious  metals.  The 
sober  Polybius  relates  that,  at  the 
southern  Agbatana,  the  capital  of  Media 
Magna,  the  enth'e  woodwork  of  the 
royal  palace,  including  beams,  ceilings, 
and  pillars,  was  covered  with  plates 
either  of  gold  or  silver,  and  that  the 
whole  building  was  roofed  with  silver 
tiles.  The  temple  of  Anaitis  was  adorned 
in  a  similar  way.  (Polyb.  x.  yxvii. 
§  10-12.)  Consequently,  though  Darius, 
when  he  retreated  before  Alexander, 
carried  off  from  Media  gold  and  silver 
to  the  amount  of  7000  talents  (more 
than  1,700,000?.),  and  though  the  town 
was  largely  plundered  by  the  soldiers 
of  Alexander  and  of  Seleucus  Nicator, 
still  there  remained  tiles  and  plating 
enough  to  produce  to  Antiochus  the 
Great  on  his  occupation  of  the  place  a 
sum  of  very  nearly  40u0  talents,  or 
975,000/.  sterling!  (See  Arrian.  Exp. 
Alex.  iii.  19.     Polyb.  1.  s.  c.) 


Chap.  98-103.  PHKAORTES  CONQUERS  PERSIA.  195 

writing,  and  sent  in  to  the  king,  who  passed  his  judgment  upon 
the  contents,  and  transmitted  his  decisions  to  the  parties  con- 
cerned: besides  which  he  had  spies  and  eavesdroppers  in  all 
parts  of  his  dominions,  and  if  he  heard  of  any  act  of  oppression, 
he  sent  for  the  guilty  party,  and  awarded  him  the  punishment 
meet  for  his  offence. 

101.  Thus  Deioces  collected  the  Modes  into  a  nation,  and 
ruled  over  them  alone.  Now  these  are  the  tribes  of  which  they 
consist :  the  Busae,  the  Paretaceni,  the  Struchates,  the  Arizanti, 
the  Budii,  and  the  Magi."^ 

102.  Having  reigned  three-and-fifty  years,  Deioces  was  at  his 
death  succeeded  by  his  son  Phraortes.  This  prince,  not  satisfied 
with  a  dominion  which  did  not  extend  beyond  the  single  nation 
of  the  Modes,  began  by  attacking  the  Persians  ;  and  marching 
an  army  into  their  country,  brought  them  under  the  Median 
yoke  before  any  other  people.  After  this  success,  being  now^  at 
the  head  of  two  nations,  both  of  them  powerful,  he  proceeded  to 
conquer  Asia,  overrunning  province  after  province.  At  last  he 
engaged  in  war  with  the  Assyrians — those  Assyrians,  I  mean,  to 
whom  Nineveh  belonged,'^  who  were  formerly  the  lords  of  Asia. 
At  present  they  stood  alone  by  the  revolt  and  desertion  of  their 
allies,  yet  still  their  internal  condition  was  as  flourishing  as  ever. 
Phraortes  attacked  them,  but  perished  in  the  expedition  with 
the  greater  part  of  his  army,  after  having  reigned  over  the  Modes 
two-and-twenty  years. 

103.  On  the  death  of  Phraortes  ^  his  son  Cyaxares  ascended 

^   Mr.    Grote   speaks   of  the  Median  said  by  any  historian  of  repute  to  have 

tribes  as  coincidbv.]    in  number  with  the  been  slain  in  battle  with  the  Assyrians, 

fortified  circles  in  the  town  of  Agbatana,  are  the  sole  grounds  for  this  identifica- 

and   thence  concludes  that   Herodotus  tion.     But  the  Book  of  Judith  is  a  pure 

conceived  the  seven  circles  as  intended  historical   romance,  which   one  is  sur- 

each  for  a  distinct  tribe  (Hist,  of  Greece,  prised  to  find  critical  writers  at  the  pre- 

vol.  iii.  p.  306).     But  the  number  of  the  sent  day  treating  as  serious      (See  Clin- 

Median  tribes  is  not  seven  but  six  ;  and  ton's  F.  H.,  vol.  i.  p,  275;  Bosanquet's 

the    circles   are   not    in    the    town,    but  Fall  of  Nineveh,  p.  16.)     The  following 

around  the  palace.    Herodotus  says  ex-  are  a  few  of  the  anomalies  which  con- 

pressly  that  the  people  dwelt  outside  demn  it. 
the  outermost  circle.  The  Jews  are  recently  returned  from 

4  Herodotus  intends    here  to  distin-  the  captivity  (ch.  iv.  ver.   13,   18-19), 

guish  the  Assyrians  of  Assyria  Proper  Joacim  (Joiakim)    is  the   High  Priest, 

from  the  Babylonians,   whom  he  calls  He  was  the  son  of  Jeshuah,  and  contem- 

also  Assyrians  (i.  178,  188,  &c.).   Against  porary  with  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  (Neh. 

the  latter  he  means  to  say  this  expedi-  xii.    10-26).     The    date    of  the   events 

tion  was  not  directed.  narrated  should  therefore  be  about  B.C. 

^  Phraortes  has  been  thought  by  some  450-30,  in  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Longi- 

to  be    the    Arphaxad  of  the  Book    of  man  us.     Yet,   1.  Nineveh  is  standing, 

Judith.      A    fanciful    resemblance    be-  and  is  the  capital  of  Nabuchodonosor's 

tween   the   names,   and   the   fact   that  kingdom  (i.  I).     2.  Assyria  is  the  great 

Phraoi^tes  is  tlie  only  Median  monai'ch  monarchy  of  the  time  (i.  7-10).     3.  Per- 

o  2 


196 


CYAXARES  ATTACKS  NINEVEH. 


Book  I. 


the  throne.  Of  him  it  is  reported  that  he  was  still  more  war- 
like than  any  of  his  ancestors,  and  that  he  was  the  first  who 
gave  organization  to  an  Asiatic  army,  dividing  the  troops  into 
companies,  and  forming  distinct  bodies  of  the  spearmen,  the 
archers,  and  the  cavalry,  who  before  his  time  had  been  mingled 
in  one  mass,  and  confused  together.  He  it  was  who  fought 
against  the  Lydians  on  the  occasion  when  the  day  was  changed 
suddenly  into  night,  and  who  brought  under  his  dominion  the 
whole  of  Asia  beyond  the  Halys.^  This  prince,  collecting 
together  all  the  nations  which  owned  his  sway,  marched  against 
Nineveh,  resolved  to  avenge  his  lather,  and  cherishing  a  hope 
that  he  might  succeed  in  taking  the  town.  A  battle  was  fought, 
in  which  the  Assyrians  suffered  a  defeat,  and  Cyaxares  had 
already  begun  the  siege  of  the  place,  when  a  numerous  horde  of 
Scyths,  under  their  king  Madyes,^  son  of  Protothyes,  burst  into 
Asia  in  pursuit  of  the  Cimmerians  whom  they  had  driven  out  of 
Europe,  and  entered  the  Median  territory. 

104.  The  distance  from  the  Palus  Moeotis  to  the  river  Phasis 
and  the  Colchians  is  thirty  days'  journey  for  a  lightly-equipped 
traveller.^     From  Colchis  to  cross  into  Media  does  not  take  long 


sia  is  subject  to  Assyria  (i.  7).  4.  Egypt 
is  also  subject  (i.  9-10).  Media,  how- 
ever, is  an  independent  kingdom  under 
Arphaxad,  who  as  the  builder  of  the 
walls  of  Ecbatana  should  be  Deioces  or 
Cyaxares. 

The  book  appears  to  be  the  work  of 
a  thoroughly  Hellenized  Jew,  and  could 
not  therefore  have  been  written  before 
the  time  of  Alexander.  It  is  a  mere 
romance,  and  has  been  assigned  with 
much  probability  to  the  reign  of  Anti- 
ochus  Epiphanes  (Grotius  in  the  Preface 
to  his  Annotations  on  the  Book  of  Ju- 
dith ;  Works,  vol,  i.  p.  578).  It  has 
many  purely  Greek  ideas  in  it,  as  the 
mention  of  the  Giants,  the  sons  of  the 
Titans  (ch.  xvi.  ver.  7),  and  the  crowning 
with  a  chaplet  of  olive  (ch.  xv.  ver.  13). 
Probably  also  the  notion  of  a  demand 
for  earth  and  water  (ii.  7)  came  to  the 
writer  from  his  acquaintance  with  Greek 
history.  At  least  there  is  no  trace  of 
its  having  been  an  Assyrian  custom. 

^  Vide  supra,  chapter  74, 

'  According  to  Strabo,  Madys,  or 
Madyes,  was  a  Cimmerian  prince  who 
drove  the  Treres  out  of  Asia  (i,  p.  91), 
The  true  nature  of  the  Scythian  war  of 
Cyaxares  is  considered  in  the  Critical 
Essays,  Essay  iii.  §  9.  [The  Sacte  or 
Scythians,  who  were  termed  Gimiri  {the 


tribes?)  by  their  Semitic  neighbours, 
first  appear  in  the  Cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions as  a  substantive  people  under  Esar- 
Haddon  in  about  b.  c.  684.  They  were 
at  that  time  in  the  Kurdish  mountains, 
and  were  ruled  over  by  a  king,  Tei(sj>u, 
whose  name  betrays  his  Arian  descent. 
The  Gimiii  had  considerably  increased 
in  power  under  the  reign  of  Esar-Had- 
don's  sou,  (about  B.C.  670),  and  seem 
to  have  been  already  threatening  the 
Assyrian  frontier, — H.  C.  R.] 

^  From  the  mouth  of  the  Palus 
Mwotis,  or  Sea  of  Azof,  to  the  river 
Hiiyn,  (the  ancient  Phasis)  is  a  distance 
of  about  270  geographical  miles,  or  but 
little  more  than  the  distance  (240  geog, 
miles)  from  the  gulf  of  Issus  to  the 
Euxine,  which  was  called  (ch,  72)  "a. 
journey  of  five  days  for  a  lightly  equipped 
traveller,"  We  may  learn  from  this 
that  Herodotus  did  not  intend  the  day's 
journey  for  a  measure  of  length.  He 
related  the  reports  which  had  reached 
him.  He  was  told  that  a  man  might 
cross  from  Issus  to  the  Black  Sea  in  five 
days,  which  perhaps  was  possible,  and 
that  it  would  take  a  month  to  reach  the 
Sea  of  Azof  from  Colchis,  which,  consi- 
dering the  enormous  difficulties  of  the 
route,  is  not  improbable.  It  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  coast  line  can  ever 


Chap.  103-105 


SCYTHIANS  MASTERS  OF  ASIA. 


197 


— there  is  only  a  single  intervening  nation,  the  Saspirians,^ 
passing  whom  you  find  yourself  in  Media.  This  however  was 
not  the  road  followed  by  the  Scythians,  who  turned  out  of  the 
straight  course,  and  took  the  upper  route,  which  is  much  longer, 
keeping  the  Caucasus  upon  their  right.^  The  Scythians,  having 
thus  invaded  Media,  were  opposed  by  the  Modes,  who  gave  them 
battle,  but,  being  defeated,  lost  their  empire.  The  Scythians 
became  masters  of  Asia. 

105.  After  this  they  marched  forward  with  the  design  of 
invading  Egypt.  When  they  had  reached  Palestine,  however, 
Psammetichus  the  Egyptian  king^  met  them  with  gifts  and 
prayers,  and  prevailed  on  them  to  advance  no  further.  On 
their   return,  passing  through  Ascalon,  a   city  of  Syria,^  the 


have  been  practicable  at  all.  If  not, 
the  communication  must  have  been  cir- 
cuitous, and  have  included  the  passage 
of  the  Caucasus,  either  by  the  well- 
known  Pylse  Caucasese  between  Tiflis 
and  Mozdok,  or  by  some  unknown  pass 
west  of  that  route,  of  still  greater  alti- 
tude and  difficulty.  In  either  case  the 
journey  might  well  occupy  30  days. 

^  The  Saspirians  are  mentioned  again 
as  lying  north  of  Media  (ch.  110),  and 
as  separating  Media  from  Colchis  (iv. 
37).  They  are  joined  with  the  Matieni 
and  the  Alarodii  in  the  satrapies  of 
Darius  (iii.  94),  with  the  Alarodii  and 
the  Colchians  in  the  army  of  Xerxes 
(vii.  79).  They  appear  to  have  occupied 
the  upper  valleys  of  the  Kur  (Cyrus) 
and  its  tributary  streams,  or  nearly  the 
modern  Russian  province  of  Georgia. 
Ritter  (Erdkunde  von  Asien,  vol.  vi. 
p.  92)  coDJectures  their  identity  with 
the  Saparda  of  the  monuments.  They 
are  perhaps  the  same  as  the  later  Iberi 
with  whom  their  name  will  connect  ety- 
mologically,  especially  if  we  consider 
Sapiri  to  be  the  true  form.  (SctTreipot, 
Xi^eipoi,  "ifiripoL.)  They  probably  be- 
longed, ethnically,  to  the  same  family 
as  the  ancient  Armenians.  (See  the 
Critical  Essays,  Essay  xi..  On  the 
Ethnic  Affinities  of  the  Nations  of 
Western  Asia.) 

1  Herodotus,  clearly,  conceives  the 
Cimmerians  to  have  coasted  the  Black 
Sea,  and  appears  to  have  thought  that 
the  Scythians  entered  Asia  by  the  route 
of  Daghestan,  along  the  shores  of  the 
Caspian.  He  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  Pyla3 
Caucasea;,  As  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Black  Sea  is  certainly  impracticable  for 


an  army,  the  Cimmerians,  if  they  entered 
Asia  by  a  track  west  of  that  said  to  have 
been  followed  by  the  Scythians,  can  only 
have  gained  admittance  by  the  Pylse. 

It  is  always  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
there  are  hut  two  known  routes  by  which 
the  Caucasus  can  be  crossed,  that  of 
Mozdok,  traversed  by  Ker  Porter  in 
1817,  which  is  kept  open  by  Russian 
military  posts,  and  still  forms  the  regu- 
lar line  of  communication  between  Rus- 
sia and  the  trans-Caucasian  provinces, 
and  that  of  Daghestan  or  Derbend  along 
the  western  shores  of  the  Caspian,  which, 
according  to  De  Hell,  is  ''much  more 
impracticable  than  that  by  Mozdok." 
(Travels,  p.  323,  note.  Eng.  Tr.)  This 
latter  assertion  may,  however,  be  ques- 
tioned, 

2  According  to  Herodotus,  Psamme- 
tichus was  engaged  for  29  years  in  the 
siege  of  Azotus  (Ashdod),  ii.  157.  This 
would  account  for  his  meeting  the  Scy- 
thians in  Syria. 

[Justin  (ii.  3)  speaks  of  an  Egyptian 
king,  Vexoris,  who  retired  from  before 
the  Scythians,  when  Egypt  was  only 
saved  by  its  marshes  from  invasion.  The 
name  Vexoris  must  be  Bocchoris,  though 
the  asra  assigned  to  Vexoris  does  not 
agree  with  his. — G.  W.] 

3  Ascalon  was  one  of  the  most  ancient 
cities  of  the  Philistines  (Judges  i.  18, 
xiv.  19,  &c.).  According  to  Xanthus  it 
was  founded  by  a  certain  Ascalus,  the 
general  of  a  Lydian  king  (Fr.  23);  but 
this  is  very  improbable.  It  lay  on  the 
coast  between  Ashdod  and  Gaza,  and 
was  distant  about  40  miles  from  Jeru- 
salem (cf.  Scyh  Peripl.  p.  102  ;  Strab. 
xvi.  p.  1079;  Plin.,  H.  N.,  v.  13,  &c.). 
By  Strabo's  time  it  had  become  a  place 


198  THE  SCYTHIANS  EXPELLED.  Book  I. 

greater  part  of  them  went  their  way  without  doing  any  damage  ; 
but  some  few  who  lagged  behind  pillaged  the  temple  of  Celestial 
Venus.*  I  have  inquired  and  find  that  the  temple  at  Ascalon  is 
the  most  ancient  of  all  the  temples  to  this  goddess  ;  for  the  one 
in  Cyprus,  as  the  Cyprians  themselves  admit,  was  built  in  imi- 
tation of  it ;  and  that  in  Cythera  was  erected  by  the  Phoenicians, 
who  belong  to  this  part  of  Syria.  The  Scythians  who  plundered 
the  temple  were  punished  by  the  goddess  with  the  female  sick- 
ness, ^^  which  still  attaches  to  their  posterity.  They  themselves 
confess  that  they  are  afflicted  with  the  disease  for  this  reason, 
and  travellers  who  visit  Scythia  can  see  what  sort  of  a  disease  it 
is.     Those  who  suffer  from  it  are  called  Enarees.^ 

106.  The  dominion  of  the  Scythians  over  Asia  lasted  eight- 
and-twenty  years,  during  which  time  their  insolence  and  oppres- 
sion spread  ruin  on  every  side.  For  besides  the  regular  tribute, 
they  exacted  from  the  several  nations  additional  imposts,  which 
they  fixed  at  pleasure ;  and  further,  they  scoured  the  country 
and  plundered  every  one  of  whatever  they  could.  At  length 
Cyaxares  and  the  Medes  invited  the  greater  part  of  them  to  a 
banquet,  and  made  them  drunk  with  wine,  after  which  they 
were  all  massacred.  The  Medes  then  recovered  their  empire, 
and  had  the  same  extent  of  dominion  as  before.  They  took 
Nineveh — I  will  relate  how  in  another  history  ^ — and  conquered 

of  small  consequence.  At  the  era  of  the  ch.  vi.  §  108.)  This  impotency  Hippo- 
Crusades  it  revived,  but  is  now  again  crates  ascribes  to  venesection,  but  he 
little  more  than  a  village.  It  retains  mentions  that  the  natives  believed  it  to 
its  ancient  name  almost  unchanged.  be   a  judgment  from   the  gods.     It  is 

[Ascalon  is  first  mentioned  in  cunei-  said  that  traces  of  the  disease  are  still 

form   inscriptions  of  the  time  of  Sen-  foundamong  the  inhabitants  of  Southern 

nacherib,  liaving  been  reduced  by  him  Russia.    See  Potock  (Histoire  Primitive 

in   the   famous  campaign   of  his  third  des  Peuples  de  la  Russie,  p.  175)  and 

year. — H.  C.  R.]  Reineggs  (Allgem.  topograph.  Beschreib. 

'»  Herodotus  probably  intends  the  Sy-  d.  Caucas.  I.  p.  269). 

rian  goddess  Atergatis  or  Derceto,  who  ^  Biihr   (in  loc.)  regards  this  word  as 

was   worshipped   at    Ascalon  and  else-  Greek,  and  connects  it  with  ipaipo)  and 

where  in    Syria,  under  the   form  of  a  evapa,  giving  it  the  sense  of   "  virilitate 

mermaid,  or  figure  half  woman  half  fish  spoliati ; "  but  I  "agree  with  Larcher  and 

(cf.  Xanth.  Fr.  11,  Plin.  H.  N.,  v.  23,  Blakesley  that  it  is  in  all   probability 

Strab.    xvi.  p.   10G2,   1113,   &c.).     Her  Scythic. 

temple  at  Ascalon  is  mentioned  by  Diod.  ^  r^-^Q   question   whether  the   'Aaav- 

Sic.  (ii.  4).     She  may  be  identified  with  pioi  Xoyoi,  promised  here,  and  again  in 

Astarte,  and  therefore  with  the  Venus  chapter  184,  were  ever  written  or  no, 

of  the  Greeks  (cf.  Selden,  De  Diis  Syris,  has  long  engaged  the  attention  of  the 

Syntagm.  II.  ch.  iii.).  learned.      Isaac    Voss,    Des    Vignoles, 

5  This  malady  is   thus  described  by  Bouhier  (Recherches,  ch.  i.  p.  7),  and 

Hippocrates,  a   younger   contemporary  Larcher  (in  loc),  have  maintained  the 

of  Herodotus,  who  himself  visited  Scy-  affirmative  ;    Bahr,    Fabricius,    Gerard 

thia: — "  evuovxiai    yivovrai,    Ka\    yvvai-  Voss,    Dahlmann,    and   Jager    (Disput. 

K^7a  ipydCovrai,  kol  cis  at  yvvaiKes  Sm-  Herodot.    p.    15)    the    negative.       The 

Keyoi/rai  re  o/xoicas  KaXevuTal  re  ol  tolov-  passage  of    Aristotle    (Hist.  An.  VIII. 

Toi  auavbpLe7s."     (De  Aer.  Aq.  et  Loc.  xviii.)  wliich  affirms  that  Herodotus,  in 


Ghap.  105-107. 


ASTYAGES. 


199 


all  Assyria  except  the  district  of  Babylonia.  After  this  Cyaxares 
died,  having  reigned  over  the  Modes,  if  we  include  the  time  of 
the  Scythian  rule,  forty  years. 

107.  Astyages,  the  son  of  Cyaxares,  succeeded  to  the  throne. 
He  had  a  daughter  who  was  named  Mandane,  concerning  whom 
he  had  a  wonderful  dream.  He  dreamt  that  from  her  such  a 
stream  of  Avater  flowed  forth  as  not  only  to  fill  his  capital,  but  to 
flood  the  whole  of  Asia.^  This^vision  he  laid  before  such  of  the 
Magi  as  had  the  gift  of  interpreting  dreams,  who  expounded  its 
meaning  to  him  in  full,  whereat  he  was  greatly  terrified.  On  this 
account,  when  his  daughter  was  now  of  ripe  age,  he  would  not  give 


his  account  of  the  siege  of  Nineveh,  re- 
presented an  eagle  as  drinking,  would 
be  decisive  of  the  question  if  the  reading 
were  certain.  Eut  some  MSS.  have 
"  'Hoiodos  r]yp6€i  tovto."  There  are, 
however,  several  objections  to  this 
reading.  For,  1.  Hesiod,  according  to 
the  best  authorities,  died  before  the 
siege  of  Nineveh.  2.  Neither  he,  nor 
any  writer  of  his  age,  composed  poems 
on  historical  subjects.  3.  There  is  no 
known  work  of  Hesiod  in  which  such  a 
subject  as  the  siege  of  Nineveh  could 
well  have  been  mentioned.  On  the  other 
hand  the  siege  of  that  city  is  exactly  one 
of  the  events  of  which  Herodotus  had 
promised  to  make  mention  in  his  Assy- 
rian annals.  These  are  strong  grounds 
for  preferring  the  reading  of  'HpodoTos 
to  that  of  'HaioSos  in  the  disputed  pas- 
sage. It  is  certainly  remarkable  that 
no  other  distinct  citation  from  the  work 
is  to  be  found  among  the  remains  of 
antiquity,  and  Larcher  appears  right  in 
concluding  from  this  that  the  woi'k  pe- 
rished early,  probably,  however,  not  be 
fore  the  time  of  Cephalion  (b.C.  120), 
who  is  said. by  Syncellus  (i,  p.  315,  ed. 
Dindorf.)  to  have  followed  Hellanicus, 
Ctesias,  and  Herodotxs  in  his  Assyrian 
history.  From  Cephalion  may  have 
come  those  curious  notices  in  John  of 
Malala  (ed.  Dind.  p.  20)  concerning  the 
Scythic  character  of  the  dress,  language, 
and  laws  of  the  Parthians,  which  are 
expressly  ascribed  by  him  to  Herodotus, 
but  do  not  appear  in  the  work  of  Hero- 
dotus which  has  come  down  to  us. 

Since  the  first  edition  of  this  volume 
was  published,  another  scholar,  whose 
opinion  possesses  great  weight,  has  pro- 
nounced against  the  reading  of  'HpJSoros 
in  the  passage  of  Aristotle  above  quoted. 
Admitting  fully  that  the  reading  'Hfrio- 
Sos  cannot  possibly  stand,  Sir  Cornewall 


Lewis   argues   that   a  poet,    and  not  a 
prose   writer,  must  have  been  quoted. 
(See  '  Notes  and  Queries,'  No.  213,  -p. 
57.;     The   entire   passage   in    Ai^istotle 
runs  as  follows  : — aAA.'  'HpoSoros  -r^yvo^i 
TOVTO'    TreiroirjKe   yap  tov    ttjs    fxavTclas 
irpoeSpou    aeroj/  eV  ttj  Sirjyriaei  ttj    irepl 
T^v  TToKiopKiay  t)}v  Nipov  ivivovTa.  Sir  C. 
Lewis  thinks  that   the  word  ■nd-KoiriKe^ 
and    the    expression    Thv   ttjs   /navTelas 
irpoeSpov    '"imply    a  quotation    from  a 
poet,"  and  he   suggests  that   the  poet 
actually  named  by  Aristotle  was  Choeri- 
lus  (XotpiAos'.     It  is  oi  course  possible 
that  the  name   originally  written  maj'^ 
have  been  altogether  lost,  and  that  both 
the  MS.  readings  may  be  wrong;  but  be- 
fore we  cut   the  Gordian  knot  in  this 
bold  way,  we  ought  to  be    quite   sure 
that  our  objections  to  both  readings  are 
valid  ones.     It  does  not  seem  to  me  at 
all  improbable  that  Aristotle  may  have 
used  the  word  TreTroiTj/te  in  this  place  of 
a  prose  writer,  in  the  sense  of  ^'fabled" 
or   "  represented  fabuJously."     (See  Sca- 
liger's  note  on  the  place.)     And  the  ex- 
pression, /jLavTcias  TTpdeSpoj/,  is  certainly 
not  more  poetical  than  many  which  He- 
rodotus uses  in  his  '*  Histories,"  even  in 
the   plain   narrative;   besides  which  it  . 
may  have  occurred  in  an  oracle.     It  is 
worthy   of  notice   that  Aristotle   else- 
where takes  the   trouble   to    correct  a 
mistake  made  by  Herodotus  in  Natural 
History,  (see  note  on  Book  iii.  ch.  108), 
evidently  regarding  the  assertions  of  so 
painstaking  an  observer  as  worth  notice ; 
but  he  would  scarcely  make  it  his  busi- 
ness  to  correct   the    endless    misstate- 
ments of  poets  upon  such  matters. 

^  Nicolas  of  Damascus  assigns  this 
dream  t©  Argoste,  who,  according  to 
him,  was  the  mother  of  Cyrus.  (Fragm. 
Hist.  Gr.  III.  p.  399,  Fr.  66.) 


200 


LEGEND  OF  CYRUS. 


Book  1. 


her  in  marriage  to  any  of  the  Medes  who  were  of  suitable  rank, 
lest  the  dream  should  be  accomplished ;  but  he  married  her  to  a 
Persian  of  good  family  indeed,^  but  of  a  quiet  temper,  whom  he 
looked  on  as  much  inferior  to  a  Mede  of  even  middle  condition. 
108.  Thus  Cambyses  (for  so  was  the  Persian  called)  wedded 
Mandane,^  and  took  her  to  his  home,  after  which,  in  the  very 
first  year,  Astyages  saw  another  vision.  He  fancied  that  a  vine 
grew  from  the  womb  of  his  daughter,  and  overshadowed  the 
whole  of  Asia.  After  this  dream,  which  he  submitted  also  to 
the  interpreters,  he  sent  to  Persia  and  fetched  away  Mandane, 
w4io  was  now  with  child,  and  was  not  far  from  her  time.  On 
her  arrival  he  set  a  watch  over  her,  intending  to  destroy  the 
child  to  which  she  should  give  birth;  for  the  Magian  inter- 
preters had  expounded  the  vision  to  foreshow  that  the  offspring 
of  his  daughter  would,  reign  over  Asia  in  his  stead.  To'  guard 
against  this,  Astyages,  as  soon  as  Cyrus  was  born,  sent  for  Har- 


^  Cambyses,  the  father  of  Cyrus,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  not  only  a  man  of 
good  family,  but  of  royal  race — the  he- 
reditary monarch  of  his  nation,  which, 
when  it  became  subject  to  the  Medes, 
still  retained  its  line  of  native  kings, 
the  descendants  of  Achamenes  (Hakha- 
manish).  In  the  Behistun  Inscription 
(col.  1,  par.  4)  Darius  carries  up  his  ge- 
nealogy to  Achsemenes,  and  asserts  that 
' '  eight  of  his  race  had  been  kings  before 
himself — he  was  the  ninth."  Cambyses, 
the  father  of  Cyrus,  Cyrus  himself,  and 
Cambyses  the  son  of  Cyrus,  are  probably 
included  in  the  eight.  Thus  Xenophon 
(Cyrop,  I.  ii.  1)  is  right,  for  once,  when 
he  says,  "  Tiarphs  XeyeraL  6  Kvpos  yej/e- 
ffOai  KafjL^vaov,  U  €  p  cr  w  v  ^aa  i\  4  ci)  s." 
[An  inscription  has  been  recently 
found  upon  a  brick  at  Senkereh  in  lower 
Chaldaea,  in  which  Cyrus  the  Great  calls 
himself  ''the  son  of  Cambyses,  the  pow- 
erful king."  This  then  is  decisive  as 
to  the  royalty  of  the  line  of  Cyrus  the 
Great,  and  is  confirmatory  of  the  im- 
pression derived  from  other  evidence, 
that  when  Darius  speaks  of  eight  Acha3- 
menian  kings  having  preceded  him,  he 
alludes^  to  the  ancestry  of  Cyrus  the 
Great,  and  not  to  his  own  immediate 
paternal  line.  See  note  to  the  word 
"  Achremenidse  "  inch.  125.— -H.C.R.] 

When^schylus  (Pers.  765-785)makes 
Darius  the  sixth  of  his  line,  he  counts 
from  Cyaxares,  the  founder  of  the  great 
monarchy  co-cxtcnskc  icith  A  sia  (f  i/'  avSp' 
a-n  6.(7  7]  s  'A  <T  I  5  0  s  fxTjAoTpocpou  ray^'iv). 


to  which  Darius  had  succeeded.  The 
first  king  (MrjSos — 6  irpSoTos  rjye/iiojv 
(TTparov)  is  Cyaxares,  the  next  {eK^ivov 
7ra?y)-  Astyages,  the  third  Cyrus,  the 
fourth  [Kvpov  ira7s)  Cambyses,  the  fifth 
Smerdis  the  Mage  (MdpSos  —  alffx^vq 
irdrpa).  There  is  no  discrepancy  at  all 
(as  Mr.  Grote  appears  to  imagine,  vol.  iv. 
p.  248)  between  the  accounts  of  -^schy- 
lus  and  Herodotus. 

1  Whether  there  was  really  any  con- 
nexion of  blood  between  Cyrus  and 
Astyages,  or  whether  (as  Ctesias  as- 
serted, Persic.  Excerpt.  §  2)  they  were 
no  way  related  to  one  another,  will  per- 
haps never  be  determined.  That  Asty- 
ages should  marry  his  daughter  to  the 
tributary  Persian  king  is  in  itself  pro- 
bable enough;  but  the  Medes  would 
be  likely  to  invent  such  a  tale,  even 
without  any  foundation  for  it,  just  as  the 
Egyptians  did  with  respect  to  Cambyses 
their  conqueror,  who  was,  according  to 
them,  the  son  of  Cyrus  by  Nitetis,  a 
daughter  of  Apries  (vid.  infr.  iii.  2);  or 
as  both  the  Egyptians  and  the  later  Per- 
sians did  with  regard  to  Alexander,  who 
was  called  by  the  former  the  son  of 
Nectanebus  (Mos.  Chor,  ii.  12);  and 
who  is  boldly  claimed  by  the  latter,  in 
the  Shah-Nameh,  as  the  son  of  Darab, 
king  of  Persia,  by  a  daughter  of  Faihikus 
(^lAiTTTTos,  ^iXiKKos,  Fallakus)  king  of 
Macedon.  The  vanity  of  the  conquered 
race  is  soothed  by  the  belief  that  the 
conqueror  is  not  altogether  a  foreigner. 


Chap.  107-110.  HAEPAGUS,  201 

pagus,  a  man  of  his  own  house  and  the  most  faithful  of  the 
Modes,  to  whom  he  was  wont  to  entrust  all  his  affairs,  and 
addressed  him  thus — "  Harpagus,  I  beseech  thee  neglect  not 
the  business  with  which  I  am  about  to  charge  thee  ;  neither 
betray  thou  the  interests  of  tliy  lord  for  others'  sake,  lest  thou 
bring  destruction  on  thine  own  head  at  some  future  time.  Take 
the  child  born  of  Mandane  my  daughter ;  carry  him  with  thee  to 
thy  home  and  slay  him  there.  Then  bury  him  as  thou  wilt." 
"  Oh !  king,"  replied  the  other,  "  never  in  time  past  did  Har- 
pagus disoblige  thee  in  anything,  and  be  sure  tliat  through  all 
future  time  he  will  be  careful  in  nothing  to  offend.  If  therefore 
it  be  thy  will  that  this  thing  be  done,  it  is  for  me  to  serve  thee 
with  all  diligence." 

109.  When  Harpagus  had  thus  answered,  the  child  was  given 
into  his  liands,  clothed  in  the  garb  of  death,  and  he  hastened 
weeping  to  his  home.  There  on  his  arrival  he  found  his  wife, 
to  whom  he  told  all  that  Astyages  had  said.  "  What  then," 
said  she,  "  is  it  now  in  thy  heart  to  do  ?  "  "  Not  what  Astyages 
requires,"  he  answered ;  "  no,  he  may  be  madder  and  more 
frantic  still  than  he  is  now,  but  I  will  not  be  the  man  to  work 
his  will,  or  lend  a  helping  hand  to  such  a  murder  as  this. 
Many  things  forbid  my  slaying  him.  In  the  first  place  the  boy 
is  my  own  kith  and  kin ;  and  next  Astyages  is  old,  and  has  no 
son.^  If  then  when  he  dies  the  crown  should  go  to  his  daughter 
— that  daughter  whose  child  he  now  wishes  to  slay  by  my  hand 
— what  remains  for  me  but  danger  of  the  fearfullest  kind? 
For  my  own  safety,  indeed,  the  child  must  die ;  but  some  one 
belonging  to  Astyages  must  take  his  life,  not  I  or  mine." 

110.  So  saying  he  sent  off  a  messenger  to  fetch  a  certain 
Mitradates,^  one  of  the  herdsmen  of  Astyages,  whose  pasturages 


2  Xenophon  (Cyrop.  I.  iv.  §  20)  gives  certain  Atradates,  a  Mardian,  whom  po- 
Astyages  a  son,  whom  he  calls  Cyaxares.  verty  had  driven  to  become  a  robber, 
The  inscriptions  tend  to  confirm  Hero-  andof  Argost^  (qy.  Artoste  ?  ),  a  woman 
dotus ;  for  when  Frawartish  (Phraortes)  who  kept  goats.  He  took  service  under 
claims  the  crown  in  right  of  his  descent,  some  of  the  menials  employed  about 
it  is  not  as  son  of  Astyages,  but  as  the  palace  of  Astyages,  and  rose  to  be 
"  descended  from  Cyaxares."  He  goes  the  king's  cupbearer.  By  degrees  he 
back  to  the  founder  of  the  monarchy,  grew  into  such  favour  that  Astyages 
as  if  the  line  of  Astyages  had  become  made  his  father  satrap  of  Persia,  and 
extinct.     (SeeBehist.  Ins.  col.  2,par.  5.)  entrusted  all  matters  of  importance  to 

3  Ctesias   seems  to  have   called   this  himself. 

person  Atradates.     There  can  be  little  [Atradates  may  fairly  be  considered 


doubt  that  the  long  narrative  in  Nicolas  to  be  a  mere  Median  synonym  for  the 

of  Damascus  (Fragm.  Hist.  Grcec,  vol.  Persian    Mitradates  —  the   name    signi- 

iii.  p.   397-406)  came  from  him.     Ac-  fying  "  given  to  the  sun,"  and  Atra  or 

cording  to  this,  Cyrus  was  the  sou  of  a  Adar  (whence  Atropatenc)  being  equi- 


202  CYRUS  TAKEN  HOME  BY  THE  HERDSMAN.         Book  I. 

he  knew  to  be  tlie  fittest  for  his  purpose,  lying  as  they  did 
among  mountains  infested  with  wild  beasts.  This  man  was 
married  to  one  of  the  king's  female  slaves,  whose  Median  name 
was  Space,  which  is  in  Greek  Cyno,  since  in  the  Median  tongue 
the  word  "  Spaca "  means  a  bitch.*  The  mountains,  on  the 
skirts  of  which  his  cattle  grazed,  lie  to  the  north  of  Agbatana, 
towards  the  Euxine.  That  part  of  Media  which  borders  on  the 
Saspirians  is  an  elevated  tract,  very  mountainous,  and  covered 
with  forests,  while  the  rest  of  the  Median  territory  is  entirely 
level  ground.  On  the  arrival  of  the  herdsman,  who  came  at 
the  hasty  summons,  Harpagus  said  to  him — "  Astyages  requires 
thee  to  take  this  child  and  lay  him  in  the  wildest  part  of  the 
hills,  where  he  will  be  sure  to  die  speedily.  And  he  bade  me 
tell  thee,  that  if  thou  dost  not  kill  the  boy,  but  anyhow  allowest 
him  to  escape,  he  will  put  thee  to  the  most  painful  of  deaths. 
I  myself  am  appointed  to  see  the  child  exposed." 

111.  The  herdsman  on  hearing  this  took  the  child  in  his 
arms,  and  went  back  the  way  he  had  come  till  he  reached  the 
folds.  There,  providentially,  his  wife,  wdio  had  been  expecting 
daily  to  be  put  to  bed,  had  just,  during  the  absence  of  her  hus- 
band, been  delivered  of  a  child.  Both  the  herdsman  and  his 
wife  were  uneasy  on  each  other's  account,  the  former  fearful 
because  his  wife  was  so  near  her  time,  the  woman  alarmed 
because  it  was  a  new  thing  for  her  husband  to  be  sent  for  by 
Harpagus.  When  therefore  he  came  into  the  house  upon  his 
return,  his  wife,  seeing  him  arrive  so  unexpectedly,  was  the  first 
to  speak,  and  begged  to  know  M^hy  Harpagus  had  sent  for  him 
in  such  a  hurry.  "  Wife,"  said  he,  "  when  I  got  to  the  town  I 
saw  and  heard  such  things  as  I  would  to  heaven  I  had  never 
seen — such  things  as  I  Avould  to  heaven  had  never  happened  to 
our  masters.  Every  one  was  weeping  in  Harpagus's  house.  It 
quite  frightened  me,  but  I  went  in.  The  moment  I  stepped 
inside,  what  should  I  see  but  a  baby  lying  on  the  floor,  panting 
and  whimpering,  and  all  covered  with  gold,  and  wrapped  in 
clothes  of  such  beautiful  colours.  Harpagus  saw  me,  and  di- 
rectly ordered  me  to  take  the  child  in  my  arms  and  carry  him 


valent  in  Median,  as  a  title  of  that  lumi-  Zend,    in   Russian  under   the   form  of 

nary   (or  of  fire,  which  was  the  usual  "  sabac,"  and  in  some  parts  of  modern 

emblem  of  his  worship)  to  the  Persian  Persia  as  "aspaka."     The  word  seems 

Mitni  ov  Mihr. — H.  C.R.]  to    be    an    instance    of    onomatopooia. 

■     "*  A  root  "spak"  or  *'svak"  is  com-  (Compare  the  English  "bow-wow"  and 

mon  for  "dog"  in  the  Indo-European  "bark.") 
languages.      It  occurs   iu   Sanscrit  and 


Chap.  110-113.      SAVED  BY  THE  HERDSMAN'S  WIFE.  208 

off,  and  what  was  I  to  do  with  him,  think  you?  Why,  to  lay 
him  in  the  mountains,  where  the  wild  beasts  are  most  plentiful. 
And  he  told  me  it  was  the  king  himself  that  ordered  it  to  be 
done,  and  he  threatened  me  with  such  dreadful  things  if  I  failed. 
So  I  took  the  child  up  in  my  arms,  and  carried  him  along. 
I  thought  it  might  be  the  son  of  one  of  the  household  slaves. 
I  did  wonder  certainly  to  see  the  gold  and  the  beautiful  baby- 
clothes,  and  I  could  not  think  why  there  was  such  a  weeping  in 
Harpagus's  house.  Well,  very  soon,  as  I  came  along,  I  got  at 
the  truth.  They  sent  a  servant  with  me  to  show  me  the  way 
out  of  the  town,  and  to  leave  the  baby  in  my  hands  ;  and  he  told 
me  that  the  child's  mother  is  the  king's  daughter  Mandane,  and 
his  father  Cambyses,  the  son  of  Cyrus  ;  and  that  the  king  orders 
him  to  be  killed ;  and  look,  here  the  child  is." 

112.  With  this  the  herdsman  uncovered  the  infant,  and 
showed  him  to  his  wife,  who,  when  she  saw  him,  and  observed 
how  fine  a  child  and  how  beautiful  he  was,  burst  into  tears,  and 
clinging  to  the  knees  of  her  husband,  besought  him  on  no 
account  to  expose  the  babe ;  to  which  he  answered,  that  it  was 
not  possible  for  him  to  do  otherwise,  as  Harpagus  would  be  sure 
to  send  persons  to  see  and  report  to  him,  and  he  was  to  suffer  a 
most  cruel  death  if  he  disobeyed.  Failing  thus  in  her  first 
attempt  to  persuade  her  husband,  the  woman  spoke  a  second 
time,  saying,  "  If  then  there  is  no  persuading  thee,  and  a  child 
must  needs  be  seen  exposed  upon  the  mountains,  at  least  do 
thus.  The  child  of  which  I  have  just  been  delivered  is  still- 
born ;  take  it  and  lay  it  on  the  hills,  and  let  us  bring  up  as  our 
own  the  child  of  the  daughter  of  Astyages.  So  shalt  thou  not 
be  charged  with  unfaithfulness  to  thy  lord,  nor  shall  we  have 
managed  badly  for  ourselves.  Our  dead  babe  will  have  a  royal 
funeral,  and  this  living  child  will  not  be  deprived  of  life." 

113.  It  seemed  to  the  herdsman  that  this  advice  was  the  best 
under  the  circumstances.  He  therefore  followed  it  without  less 
of  time.  The  child  which  he  had  intended  to  put  to  death  he 
gave  over  to  his  wife,  and  his  own  dead  child  he  put  in  the 
cradle  wherein  he  had  carried  the  other,  clothing  it  first  in  all 
the  other's  costly  attire,  and  taking  it  in  his  arms  he  laid  it  in 
the  wildest  place  of  all  the  mountain-range.  When  the  child 
had  been  three  days  exposed,  leaving  one  of  his  helpers  to  watch 
the  body,  he  started  off  for  the  city,  and  going  straight  to  Har- 
pagus's house,  declared  himself  ready  to  show  the  corpse  of  the 
boy.     Harpagus  sent  certain  of  his  body-guard,  on  whom  he  had 


204  CYRUS  MADE  KING  IN  PLAY.  Book  I. 

the  firmest  reliance,  to  view  the  body  for  him,  and,  satisfied  with 
their  seeing  it,  gave  orders  for  the  funeral.  Thus  was  the 
herdsman's  child  buried,  and  the  other  child,  w^ho  was  afterwards 
known  by  the  name  of  Cyrus,  was  taken  by  the  herdsman's  wife, 
and  brought  up  under  a  different  name.^ 

114.  When  the  boy  was  in  his  tenth  year,  an  accident  which 
I  will  now  relate,  caused  it  to  be  discovered  who  he  was.  He 
was  at  play  one  day  in  the  village  where  the  folds  of  the  cattle 
were,  along  with  the  boys  of  his  own  age,  in  the  street.  The 
other  boys  w^ho  were  playing  with  him  chose  the  cowherd's  son, 
as  he  was  called,  to  be  their  king.  He  then  proceeded  to  order 
them  about — some  he  set  to  build  him  houses,  others  he  made 
his  guards,  one  of  them  was  to  be  the  king's  eye,  another  had  the 
office  of  carrying  his  messages,  all  had  some  task  or  other. 
Among  the  boys  there  was  one,  the  son  of  Artembares,  a  Mede 
of  distinction,  who  refused  to  do  what  Cyrus  had  set  him. 
Cyrus  told  the  other  boys  to  take  him  into  custody,  and  when 
his  orders  were  obeyed,  he  chastised  him  most  severely  with  the 
whip.  The  son  of  Artembares,  as  soon  as  he  was  let  go,  full  of 
rage  at  treatment  so  little  befitting  his  rank,  hastened  to  the  city 
and  complained  bitterly  to  his  father  of  what  had  been  done  to 
him  by  Cyrus.  He  did  not,  of  course,  say  "  Cyrus,"  by  which 
name  the  boy  Vas  not  yet  known,  but  called  him  the  son  of  the 
king's  cowherd.  Artembares,  in  the  heat  of  his  passion,  went  to 
Astyages,  accompanied  by  his  son,  and  made  complaint  of  the 
gross  injury  which  had  been  done  him.  Pointing  to  the  boy's 
shoulders,  he  exclaimed,  "  Thus  oh  !  king,  has  thy  slave,  the  son 
of  a  cowherd,  heaped  insult  upon  us." 

115.  At  this  sight  and  these  words  Astyages,  wishing  to 
avenge  the  son  of  Artembares  for  his  father's  sake,  sent  for  the 
cowherd  and  his  boy.  When  they  came  together  into  his 
presence,  fixing  his  eyes  on  Cyrus,  Astyages  said,  "Hast  thou 
then,  the  son  of  so  mean  a  fellow  as  that,  dared  to  behave  thus 
rudely  to  the  son  of  yonder  noble,  one  of  the  first  in  my  court  ?" 
"  My  lord,"  replied  the  boy,  "  I  only  treated  him  as  he  deserved. 
I  Avas  chosen  king  in  play  by  the  boys  of  our  village,  because 
they  thought  me  the  best  for  it.  He  himself  was  one  of  the 
boys  who  chose  me.  All  the  others  did  according  to  my  orders  ; 
but  he  refused,  and  made  light  of  them,  until  at  last  he  got  his 


^  Strabo  (xv.  p.  1034)  says  that  the  corruption  ofAtradates,  his /a^/je/-'*' name 
original  name  of  Cyrus  was  Agradates,  according  to  Nic.  Damasc.  (See  the  last 
but   this    would  seem   to  be  merely  a     note  but  one.) 


Chap.  113-117.  ASTYAGES'  SUSPICION.  205 

due  reward.     If  for  this  I  deserve  to  suffer  punishment,  here  I 
am  ready  to  submit  to  it." 

116.  While  the  boy  was  yet  speaking  Astyages  was  struck 
with  a  suspicion  who  he  was.  He  thought  he  saw  something  in 
the  character  of  his  face  hke  his  own,  and  there  Avas  a  nobleness 
about  the  answer  he  had  made ;  besides  which  his  age  seemed 
to  tally  with  the  time  when  his  grandchild  was  exposed.  Asto- 
nished at  all  this,  Astyages  could  not  speak  for  a  while.  At 
last,  recovering  himself  with  difficulty,  and  wishing  to  be  quit  of 
Artembares,  that  he  might  examine  the  herdsman  alone,  he  said 
to  the  former,  "I  promise  thee,  Artembares,  so  to  settle  this 
business  that  neither  thou  nor  thy  son  shall  have  any  cause  to 
complain."  Artembares  retired  from  his  presence,  and  the 
attendants,  at  the  bidding  of  the  king,  led  Cyrus  into  an  inner 
apartment.  Astyages  then  being  left  alone  with  the  herdsman, 
inquired  of  him  where  he  had  got  the  boy,  and  who  had  given 
him  to  him ;  to  which  he  made  answer  that  the  lad  was  his  own 
child,  begotten  by  himself,  and  that  the  mother  who  bore  him  was 
still  alive,  and  lived  with  him  in  his  house.  Astyages  remarked 
that  he  was  very  ill-advised  to  bring  himself  into  such  great 
trouble,  and  at  the  same  time  signed  to  his  body-guard  to  lay 
hold  of  him.  Then  the  herdsman,  as  they  were  dragging  him  to 
the  rack,  began  at  the  beginning,  and  told  the  whole  story 
exactly  as  it  happened,  without  concealing  anything,  ending 
with  entreaties  and  prayers  to  the  king  to  grant  him  forgive- 
ness. 

117.  Astyages,  having  got  the  truth  of  the  matter  from  the 
herdsman,  was  very  little  further  concerned  about  him,  but  with 
Harpagus  he  was  exceedingly  enraged.  The  guards  were 
bidden  to  summon  him  into  the  presence,  and  on  his  appear- 
ance Astyages  asked  him,  "By  what  death  was  it,  Harpagus, 
that  thou  slewest  the  child  of  my  daughter  whom  I  gave  into  thy 
hands  ?  "  Harpagus,  seeing  the  cowherd  in  the  room,  did  not 
betake  himself  to  lies,  lest  he  should  be  confuted  and  proved 
false,  but  replied  as  follows : — "  Sire,  when  thou  gavest  the  child 
into  my  hands  I  instantly  considered  with  myself  how  I  could 
contrive  to  execute  thy  wishes,  and  yet,  while  guiltless  of  any 
unfaithfulness  towards  thee,  avoid  imbruing  my  hands  in  blood 
which  was  in  truth  thy  daughter's  and  thine  own.  And  this  was 
how  I  contrived  it.  I  sent  for  this  cowherd,  and  gave  the  child 
over  to  him,  telling  him  that  by  the  king's  orders  it  was  to  be 
put  to  death.     And  in  this  I  told  no  lie,  for  thou  hadst  so  com- 


206  BANQUET  OF  HAEPAGUS  ON  HIS  OWN  SON.        Book  T. 

manded.  Moreover,  when  I  gave  him  the  child,  I  enjoined  him 
to  lay  it  somewhere  in  the  wilds  of  the  mountains,  and  to  stay 
near  and  watch  till  it  was  dead  ;  and  I  threatened  him  with  all 
manner  of  punishment  if  he  failed.  Afterwards,  when  he  had 
done  according  to  all  that  I  commanded  him,  and  the  child  had 
died,  I  sent  some  of  the  most  trustworthy  of  my  eunuchs,  who 
viewed  the  body  for  me,  and  then  I  had  the  child  buried.  This, 
sire,  is  the  sunple  truth,  and  this  is  the  death  by  which  the  child 
died." 

118.  Thus  Harpagus  related  the  whole  story  in  a  plain, 
straightforward  way ;  upon  which  Astyages,  letting  no  sign 
escape  him  of  the  anger  that  he  felt,  began  by  repeating  to  him 
all  that  he  had  just  heard  from  the  cowherd,  and  then  concluded 
with  saying,  "  So  the  boy  is  alive,  and  it  is  best  as  it  is.  For  the 
child's  fate  was  a  great  sorrow  to  me,  and  the  reproaches  of  my 
daughter  went  to  my  heart.  Truly  fortune  has  played  us  a  good 
turn  in  this.  Go  thou  home  then,  and  send  thy  son  to  be  with 
the  new  comer,  and  to-night,  as  I  mean  to  sacrifice  thank- 
offerings  for.  the  child's  safety  to  the  gods  to  whom  such  honour 
is  due,  I  look  to  have  thee  a  guest  at  the  banquet." 

119.  Harpagus,  on  hearing  this,  made  obeisance,  and  went 
home  rejoicing  to  find  that  his  disobedience  had  turned  out  so 
fortunately,  and  that,  instead  of  being  punished,  he  was  invited 
to  a  banquet  given  in  honour  of  the  happy  occasion.  The 
moment  he  reached  home  he  called  for  his  son,  a  youth  of  about 
thirteen,  the  only  child  of  his  parents,  and  bade  him  go  to  the 
palace,  and  do  whatever  Astyages  should  direct.  Then,  in  the 
gladness  of  his  heart,  he  went  to  his  wife  and  told  her  all  that 
had  happened.  Astyages,  meanwhile,  took  the  son  of  Harpagus, 
and  slew  him,  after  which  he  cut  him  in  pieces,  and  roasted  some 
portions  belbre  the  fire,  and  boiled  others ;  and  when  all  were 
duly  prepared,  he  kept  them  ready  for  use.  The  hour  for  the 
banquet  came,  and  Harpagus  appeared,  and  with  him  the  other 
guests,  and  all  sat  down  to  the  feast.  Astyages  and  the  rest  of 
the  guests  had  joints  of  meat  served  up  to  them ;  but  on  the 

,  table  of  Harpagus,  nothing  was  placed  except  the  flesh  of  his  own 
son.  'This  was  all  put  before  him,  except  the  hands  and  feet  and 
head,  which  were  laid  by  themselves  in  a  covered  basket.  When 
Harpagus  seemed  to  have  eaten  his  fill,  Astyages  called  out  to 
him  to  know  how  he  had  enjoyed  the  repast.  On  his  reply  that 
he  had  enjoyed  it  excessively,  they  whose  business  it  was  brought 
him  the  basket,  in  which  were  the  hands  and  feet  and  head  of 


Chap.  117-120.        ASTYAGES  CONSULTS  WITH  THE  MAGT.        207 

liis  son,  and  bade  him  open  it,  and  take  out  what  he  pleased. 
Harpagus  accordingly  uncovered  the  basket,  and  saw  within  it 
the  reaiains  of  his  son.  The  sight,  however,  did  not  scare  him, 
or  rob  him  of  his  self-possession.  Being  asked  by  Astyages  if  he 
knew  what  beast's  llesh  it  was  that  he  had  been  eating,  he 
answered  that  he  knew  very  well,  and  that  whatever  the  king 
did  was  agreeable.  After  this  reply,  he  took  with  him  such 
morsels  of  the  flesh  as  were  uneaten,  and  went  home,  intending, 
as  I  conceive,  to  collect  the  remains  and  bury  them. 

120.  Such  was  the  mode  in  which  Astyages  punished  Har- 
pagus: afterwards,  proceeding  to  consider  what  he  should  do 
with  Cyrus,  his  grandchild,  he  sent  for  the  Magi,  who  formerly 
interpreted  his  dream  in  the  way  Avhich  alarmed  him  so  much, 
and  asked  them  how  they  had  expounded  it.  They  answered, 
without  varying  from  what  they  had  said  before,  that  "  the  boy 
must  needs  be  a  king  if  he  grew  up,  and  did  not  die  too  soon." 
Then  Astyages  addressed  them  thus :  "  The  boy  has  escaped,  and 
lives ;  he  has  been  brought  up  in  the  country,  and  the  lads  of 
the  village  where  he  lives  have  made  him  their  king.  All  that 
kings  commonly  do  he  has  done.  .He  has  had  his  guards,  and 
his  doorkeepers,  and  his  messengers,  and  all  the  other  usual 
officers.  Tell  me,  then,  to  what,  think  you,  does  all  this  tend?" 
The  Magi  answered,  "  If  the  boy  survives,  and  has  ruled  as  a 
king  without  any  craft  or  contrivance,  in  that  case  we  bid  thee 
cheer  up,  and  feel  no  more  alarm  on  his  account.  He  will  -not 
reign  a  second  time.  For  we  have  found  even  oracles  sometimes 
fulfilled  in  an  unimportant  way ;  and  dreams,  still  oftener,  have 
wondrously  mean  accomplishments."  "  It  is  what  I  myself  most 
incline  to  think,"  Astyages  rejoined ;  "  the  boy  having  been 
already  king,  the  dream  is  out,  and  I  have  nothing  more  to  fear 
from  him.  Nevertheless,  take  good  heed  and  counsel  me  the 
best  you  can  for  the  safety  of  my  house  and  your  own  interests." 
^' Truly,"  said  the  Magi  in  reply,  "it  very  much  concerns  our 
interests  that  thy  kingdom  be  firmly  established ;  for  if  it  went 
to  this  boy  it  w-ould  pass  into  foreign  hands,  since  he  is  a 
Persian:  and  then  we  Modes  should  lose  our  freedom,  and 
be  quite  despised  by  the  Persians,  as  being  foreigners.  But  so 
long  as  thou,  our  fellow-countryman,  art  on  the  throne,  all 
manner  of  honours  are  ours,  and  we  are  even  not  without  some 
share  in  the  government.  Much  reason  therefore  have  we  to 
forecast  well  for  thee  and  for  thy  sovereignty.  If  then  we  saw 
any  cause  for  present  fear,  be  sure  we  would  not  keep  it  back 


208  CYRUS  SENT  TO  PERSIA.  Book  T. 

from  thee.  But  truly  we  are  persuaded  that  the  dream  has  had 
its  accomplishment  in  this  harmless  way  ;  and  so  our  own  fears 
being  at  rest,  we  recommend  thee  to  banish  thine.  As  for  the 
boy,  our  advice  is,  that  thou  send  him  away  to  Persia,  to  his 
father  and  mother." 

121.  Astyages  heard  their  answer  with  pleasure,  and  calling 
Cyrus  into  his  presence,  said  to  him,  "  My  child,  I  was  led  to  do 
thee  a  wrong  by  a  dream  which  has  come  to  nothing :  from  that 
wrong  thou  wert  saved  by  thy  own  good  fortune.  Go  now  with 
a  light  heart  to  Persia;  I  will  provide  thy  escort.  Go,  and 
when  thou  gettest  to  thy  journey's  end,  thou  wilt  behold  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,  quite  other  people  from  Mitradates  the 
cowherd  and  his  wife." 

122.  With  these  words  Astyages  dismissed  his  grandchild. 
On  his  arrival  at  the  house  of  Cambyses,  he  was  received  by  his 
parents,  who,  when  they  learnt  who  he  was,  embraced  him 
heartily,  having  always  been  convinced  that  he  died  almost 
as  soon  as  he  was  born.  So  they  asked  him  by  what  means  he 
had  chanced  to  escape ;  and  he  told  them  how  that  till  lately  he 
had  known  nothing  at  all  about  the  matter,  but  had  been  mis- 
taken— oh!  so  widely ! — and  how  that  he  had  learnt  his  history 
by  the  way,  as  he  came  from  Media.  He  had  been  quite  sure 
that  he  was  the  son  of  the  king's  cowherd,  but  on  the  road  the 
king's  escort  had  told  him  all  the  truth ;  and  then  he  spoke  of 
the  cowherd's  wife  who  had  brought  him  up,  and  filled  his  whole 
talk  with  her  praises;  in  all  that  he  had  to  tell  them  about 
himself,  it  was  always  Cyno — Cyno  was  everything.  So  it 
happened  that  his  parents,  catching  the  name  at  his  mouth,  and 
wishing  to  persuade  the  Persians  that  there  was  a  special  provi- 
dence in  his  preservation,  spread  the  report  that  Cyrus,  when  he 
was  exposed,  was  suckled  by  a  bitch.  This  was  the  sole  origin 
of  the  rumour.^ 

128.  Afterwards,  when  Cyrus  grew  to  manhood,  and  became 
known  as  the  bravest  and  most  popular  of  all  his  compeers, 

^  Mr.  Gi-ote  observes  with  i-eason  that  which  carried  Bellerophon  was  a  sliip 

"the  miraculous  story  is  the  okler  of  named  Pegasus  "  (vol,  iv.  p.  246,  note), 

the   tWo,"  and  that  the  commonplace  A  somewhat  different  mode  was  found 

version  of  it  preferred  by  Herodotus  is  of  rationalising  the  myth  of  Romulus 

due  to  certain  "  rationalising  Greeks  or  and  Remus,  suckled,  according  to  the 

Persians  "  at  a  subsequent  period.     In  old  tradition,  by  a  she-wolf,  which  may 

the  same  spirit  he  remarks  "the  ram  be   seen    in    Livy   (i.  4): — "Sunt,   qui 

which  carried  Phryxus  and  Helle  across  Larentiam,  vulgato  corpore.  lupam  inter 

the  Hellespont  is  i-epresented  to  us  as  pastores  vocatam  putent ;   inde  locum 

having  been  in  reality  a  man  named  Krim,  fabulae  et  mu^aculo  datum." 
who  aided  their  flight—  the  winged  horse 


I 


Chap.  120-125.  REVENGE  OF  HAnPAGUS.  209 

Harpagus,  who  was  bent  on  revenging  himself  upon  Astyages, 
began  to  pay  him  court  by  gifts  and  messages.  His  own  rank 
was  too  humble  for  him  to  hope  to  obtain  vengeance  without 
some  foreign  help.  When  therefore  he  saw  Cyrus,  Avhose 
wrongs  were  so  similar  to  his  own,  growing  up  expressly  (as  it 
were)  to  be  the  avenger  whom  he  needed,  lie  set  to  work  to 
procure  his  support  and  aid  in  the  matter.  He  had  already 
paved  the  w^ay  for  his  designs,  by  persuading,  severally,  the 
great  Median  nobles,  whom  the  harsh  rule  of  their  monarch  had 
offended,  that  the  best  plan  would  be  to  put  Cyrus  at  their 
head,  and  dethrone  Astyages.  These  preparations  made,  Har- 
pagus being  now  ready  for  revolt,  was  anxious  to  make  known 
his  wishes  to  Cyrus,  who  still  lived  in  Persia ;  but  as  the  roads 
between  Media  and  Persia  were  guarded,  he  had  to  contrive  a 
means  of  sending  word  secretly,  which  he  did  in  the  following 
way.  He  took  a  hare,  and  cutting  open  its  belly  without 
hurting  the  fur,  he  slipped  in  a  letter  containing  what  he  wanted 
to  say,  and  then  carefully  sewing  up  the  paunch,  he  gave  the 
hare  to  one  of  his  most  faithful  slaves,  disguising  him  as  a 
hunter  wath  nets,  and  sent  him  off  t-o  Persia  to  take  the  game 
as  a  present  to  Cyrus,  bidding  him  tell  Cyrus,  by  word  of  mouth, 
to  paunch  the  animal  himself,  and  let  no  one  be  present  at  the 
time. 

124.  All  was  done  as  he  wished,  and  Cyrus,  on  cutting  the 
hare  open,  found  the  letter  inside,  and  read  as  follows : — "  Son 
of  Cambyses,  the  gods  assuredly  w^atch  over  thee,  or  never 
wouldst  thou  have  passed  through  thy  many  w^onderful  adven- 
tures— now  is  the  time  w^hen  thou  mayst  avenge  thyself  upon 
Astyages,  thy  murderer.  He  willed  thy  death,  remember ;  to  the 
pods  and  to  me  thou  owest  that  thou  art  still  alive.  I  think 
thou  art  not  ignorant  of  what  he  did  to  thee,  nor  of  what  I 
suffered  at  his  hands  because  I  committed  thee  to  the  cowherd, 
and  did  not  put  thee  to  death.  Listen  now  to  me,  and  obey  my 
words,  and  all  the  empire  of  Astyages  shall  be  thine.  Raise  the 
standard  of  revolt  in  Persia,  and  then  march  straight  on  Media. 
Whether  Astyages  appoint  me  to  command  his  forces  against 
thee,  or  whether  he  appoint  any  other  of  the  princes  of  the 
Modes,  all  will  go  as  thou  couldst  wish.  They  will  be  tlie  first 
to  fall  away  from  him,  and  joining  thy  side,  exert  themselves  to 
overturn  his  power.  Be  sure  that  on  our  part  all  is  ready; 
Avherefore  do  thou  thy  part,  and  that  speedily." 

125.  Cyrus,  on  receiving  the  tidings  contained  in  this  letter, 
VOL.  I. '  P 


210 


PtEYOLT  OF  CYRUS. 


Book  I. 


set  himself  to  consider  how  he  miglit  best  persuade  the  Persians 
to  revolt.  After  much  thought,  he  hit  on  the  following  as  the 
most  expedient  course :  he  Awote  what  he  thought  proper  upon 
a  roll,  and  then  calling  an  assembly  of  the  Persians,  he  unfolded 
the  roll,  and  read  out  of  it  that  A  sty  ages  appointed  him  their 
general.  "And  now,"  said  he,  "since  it  is  so,  I  command  you 
to  go  and  bring  each  man  his  reaping-hook."  With  these  words 
he  dismissed  the  assembly. 

Now  the  Persian  nation  is  made  up  of  many  tribes.'  Those 
which  Cyrus  assembled  and  persuaded  to  revolt  from  the  Medes, 
were  the  principal  ones  on  which  all  the  others  are  dejoendent.^ 
These  are  the  Pasargadae,®  the  Maraphians,^  and  the  Maspians,  of 


■^  Accordiug  to  Xenophon  the  number 
of  the  Persian  tribes  was  twelve  (Cyrop. 
I.  ii.  §  5),  according  to  Herodotus,  ten. 
The  authority  of  the  former,  always 
weak  except  with  respect  to  his  own 
times,  is  here  rendered  still  more  doubt- 
ful by  the  frequency  with  which  this 
same  number  twelve  occurs  in  his  nar- 
rative. Kot  only  are  the  tribes  twelve, 
and  the  supeiuntendents  of  the  educa- 
tion twelve,  but  the  whole  number  of 
the  nation  is  twelve  myriads  (i.  ii.  §  15), 
Cyrus  is  subject  to  the  Persian  discipline 
for  twelve  years  (i.  iii.  §  1),  &c.  &c. 

^  The  distinction  of  superior  and  in- 
ferior tribes  is  common  among  nomadic 
and  semi-nomadic  nations.  The  Golden 
Horde  of  the  Calmucks  is  w^ell  known. 
Many  Arab  tribes  are  looked  down 
upon  with  contempt  by  the  Bedoweens. 
Among  the  Mongols  the  dominion  of 
superior  over  inferior  tribes  is  said  to 
be  carried  to  the  extent  of  a  very  cruel 
tyranny  (Pallas,  Mongol.  Volker,  vol.  ii 
p.  185).  The  Scythians  in  the  time  of 
Herodotus  were  divided,  very  nearly  as 
the  Persians,  into  three  grades,  Royal 
Scythians,  Husbandmen,  and  Nomads. 
(Yid.  inf.  iv.   17-20.) 

^  Pasargada?  was  not  only  the  name  of 
the  principal  Persian  tribe,  but  also  of 
the  ancient  capital  of  the  countiy  (Strab. 
XV.  p.  1035.)  Stephen  of  Byzantium 
(in  voc.  Uaa a apydd at)  translates  the 
w6rd  "the  encampment  of  the  Per- 
sians." If  we  accept  this  meaning,  we 
must  regard  Pasargada  as  a  corruption  of 
Parsagadse,  a  form  which  is  preserved  in 
Quintus  Curtius  (Y.  vi.  §  10,  X.  i.  §  22.). 

Accoi'ding  to  Anaximenes  (ap.  Steph. 
Byz.  1.  s.  c.)  Cyrus  founded  Pasargadco ; 
but  Ctesias  appears  to  have  represented 
it  as  already  a  place  of  importance  at 
the   time  when    t'yrus  revolted.     (See 


the  newly-discovered  fragment  of  iSTic. 
Damasc.  in  the  Fragra.  Hist.  Grac.  vol. 
iii.  pp.  405-6,  ed.  Didot.)  There  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  that  it  -was  the  Persian 
capital  of  both  Cyrus  and  Cambyses, 
Persepolis  being  founded  by  Darius. 
Cyrus  was  himself  buried  there,  as  w^e 
learn  from  Ctesias  (Pers.  Exc.  §  9), 
Arrian  (vi.  29;,  andStrabo  (xv.  p.  lo35). 
It  was  afterwards  the  place  where  the 
kings  were  inaugurated  (Plutarch,  Artax. 
c.  3),  and  was  placed  under  the  special 
protection  of  the  Magi.  Hence  Pliny 
spoke  of  it  as  a  castle  occupied  by  the 
Magi  ("inde  ad  orientem  Magi  obtinent 
Pasargadas  castellum,"  vi.  26). 

It  seems  tolerably  certain  that  the 
modern  Murg-aab  is  the  site  of  the  an- 
cient Pasargadse.  Its  position  with  res- 
pect to  Persepolis,  its  strong  situation 
among  the  mountains,  its  remains  bearing 
the  marks  of  high  antiquit}'',  and,  above 
all,  the  name  and  tomb  of  Cyrus,  which 
have  been  discovered  among  the  ruins, 
mark  it  for  the  capital  of  that  monarch 
beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  The  best 
account  of  the  present  condition  of  the 
ruins  will  be  found  in  Ker  Porter's  Tra- 
vels (vol.  i.  pp.  485-51 0).  Murg-aub  is 
the  oiihj  place  in  Persia  at  which  inscrip- 
tions of  the  age  of  Cyrus  have  been 
discovered.  The  ruined  buildings  bear 
the  following  legend: — "Adam  Kurush, 
khshayathiya,  Hakhamanishiya "  —  "I 
[am]  Cyrus  the  king,  the  Acha^menian." 
For  an  account  of  the  tomb  of  Cyrus, 
vide  infra,  note  on  ch.  214. 

^  Only  one  instance  is  found  of  a 
Maraphian  holdmg  an  important  office. 
Amasis,  the  commander  whom  Aryandes 
sent  to  the  relief  of  Pheretima,  was  av-rjo 
Mapd(f)ios  (iv.  167).  In  general  the 
commanders  are  Achsemenians,  now  and 
then  they  are  called  simply  Pasargada\ 


Chap.  125. 


'FHE  PERSIAN  TRIBES. 


2J1 


whom  tlic  Pasargada3  are  the  noblest.  The  Achaimeiiidse,^  from 
which  spring-  all  the  Pcrseicl  kings,  is  one  of  their  clans.  The 
rest  of  the  Persian  tribes  are  the  following :  ^  the  Panthialseans^ 
the  Derusiacans,  the  Germanians^  who  are  engaged  in  hus- 
bandry ;  the  Daans,  the  Mardians,  the  Dropicans,  and  the 
Sagartians,  who  are  Nomads."^ 


^  The  Achsemenidse  were  the  royal 
family  of  Persia,  the  descendants  of 
Achffimenes  (Hakhamanish),  who  was 
probably  the  leader  under  whom  the 
Persians  first  settled  in  the  coimtry 
which  has  ever  since  borne  their  name. 
This  Achsemenes  is  mentioned  by  Hero- 
dotus as  the  founder  of  the  kingdom 
(iii.  75;  vii.  11).  His  name  aj^pears  in 
the  Behistun  inscription  twice  (col.  1, 
par.  2,  and  Detached  Inscript.  A.)  In 
each  case  it  is  asserted  that  the  name 
Acha3menian  attached  to  the  dynasty 
on  account  of  the  descent  from  Achse- 
menes. "  Awahya  radiya  way  am  Hak- 
hamanishiya  thatyamahya" —  "Ea  ra- 
tione  nos  Acha;menenses  appellamur." 
In  all  the  inscriptions  the  kings  of  Persia 
glory  in  the  title. 

[The  commencement  of  the  Behistun 
inscription,  rightly  understood,  is  of 
great  importance  for  the  illustration  of 
the  history  of  the  Acha}menians.  Dai-ius 
in  the  first  paragraph  styles  himself  an 
Achsemenian;  in  the  second,  he  shows 
his  right  to  this  title  by  tracing  his  pa- 
ternal ancestry  to  Acha;menes;  in  the 
third,  he  goes  on  to  glorify  the  Acha}- 
menian  family  by  describing  the  anti- 
quity of  their  descent,  and  the  fact  of 
their  having  for  a  long  time  past  fur- 
nished kings  to  the  Persian  nation;  and 
in  the  fourth  paragraph  he  further  ex- 
plains that  eight  of  the  Achccmenian 
family  have  thus  already  filled  the 
throne  of  Persia,  and  that  he  is  the 
ninth  of  the  line  who  is  called  to  rule 
over  his  countrymen.  In  this  statement, 
however,  Darius  seems  to  put  forward 
no  claim  whatever  to  include  his  imme- 
diate ancestry  among  the  Persian  kings ; 
they  are  mei'ely  enumerated  in  order 
to  establish  his  claim  to  Aclaa^menian 
descent,  and  are  in  no  case  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  khshdijathiya,  or  "  king." 
So  clear  indeed  and  fixed  was  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  royal  family  in  this  respect, 
that  both  Artaxerxes  ]\Inemon  and  Ar- 
taxerxes  Ochus  (see  Journal  of  the  Asiat. 
Soc,  vol.  X.  p.  34-2,  and  vol.  xv.  p.  159), 
may  be  observed,  in  tracing  their  pedi- 
gree, to  qualify  eacli  ancestor  by  the 
title  of  king  vp  to  Darius,  but  from  that 


time  to  drop  the  royal  title,  and  to 
speak  of  Hystaspes  and  Arsames  as  mere 
private  individuals.  It  will  be  impossi- 
ble, at  the  same  time,  to  make  up  from 
Grecian  history  the  list  of  nine  kings, 
extending,  according  to  the  inscription, 
from  Achsemenes  to  Darius,  without 
including  Bardius  or  the  true  Smerdis, 
and  he  appears  to  have  been  slain  before 
his  brother  left  for  Egyj^t.  The  other 
names  will  undoubtedly  be  Cambyses, 
Cyrus  the  Great,  Cambyses  his  Either, 
Cyrus  (Herod,  i.  Ill),  Cambyses  (whose 
sister  Atossa  married  Pharnaces  of  Cap- 
padocia.  Phot.  Bibl.  p.  1158),  Teispes 
(Herod,  vii.  11);  and  Achsemenes.  In 
preference,  perhaps,  to  inserting  Bardius 
at  the  commencement  of  this  list,  I 
would  suggest  that  the  ninth  king  among 
the  predecessors  of  Darius  may  have 
been  the  father  of  Achsemenes  named  by 
the  Greeks  J^geus,  or  Perses,  or  some- 
times Perseus,  being  thus  confounded 
with  the  eponymous  hero  of  the  Persian 
race.  The  name  Achsemenes,  although 
occupying  so  prominent  a  position  in 
authentic  Persian  history,  is  unknown 
either  in  the  antique  traditions  of  the 
Vendidad,  or  in  the  romantic  legends  of 
the  so-called  Kaianian  dynasty,  probably 
because  Achsemenes  lived  after  the  com- 
pilation of  the  Vendidad,  but  so  long 
before  the  invention  of  the  romances  that 
his  name  was  forgotten.  The  name  signi- 
fies "  friendly  "  or  ''  possessing  friends," 
being  formed  of  a  Persian  word,  hakhd, 

corresponding  to  the   Sanscrit   ^ra°T 

sahhd,  and  an  attributive  aflfix  equivalent 
to  the  Sanscrit  mat,  which  forms  the 
nominative  in  man.  M.  Oppert  thinks 
that  we  have  another  trace  of  the  Per- 
sian word  hakhd  in  the  ApraxaiTjs  of 
Herodotus  (vii.  63).  See  the  Journal 
Asiatique,  4""'  seVie,  torn,  xvii  p  '?G8 
—H.  C.R.J  ■^■"     ' 

Achsemenes  continued  to  be  used  as 
a  family  name  in  after  times.  It  was 
borne  by  one  of  the  sons  of  Darius 
Hystaspes  (infra,  vii.  7). 

3  See  Essay  iv.,  "  On  the  Ten  Tribes 
of  the  Persians." 

*  Nomadic  hordes  must  alwaj-s  be  an 

p  2 


212  CYRUS  EXCITES  THE  PERSIANS  TO  REVOLT.        Book  I. 

126.  When,  in  obedience  to  tlie  orders  which  they  had 
received,  the  Persians  came  with  their  reaping-hooks,  Cyrns  led 
them  to  a  tract  of  ground,  about  eighteen  or  twenty  furlongs 
each  way,  covered  with  thorns,  and  ordered  them  to  clear  it 
before  the  day  was  out.  They  accomplished  their  task ;  upon 
which  he  issued  a  second  order  to  them,  to  take  the  bath  the  day 
following,  and  again  come  to  him.  Meanwhile  he  collected 
together  all  his  father's  flocks,  both  sheep  and  goats,  and  all  his 
oxen,  and  slaughtered  them,  and  made  ready  to  give  an  enter- 
tainment to  the  entire  Persian  army.  Wine,  too,  and  bread  of 
the  choicest  kinds  were  prepared  for  the  occasion.  When  the 
morrow  came,  and  the  Persians  appeared,  he  bade  them  recline 
upon  the  grass,  and  enjoy  themselves.  After  the  feast  was 
over,  he  requested  them  to  tell  him  "  which  tliey  liked  best, 
to-day's  work,  or  yesterday's?"  They  answered  that  "the 
contrast  was  indeed  strong:  yesterday  brought  them  nothing 
but  what  was  bad,  to-day  everything  that  was  good."  Cyrus 
instantly  seized  on  their  reply,  and  laid  bare  his  purpose  in 
these  words:  "Ye  men  of  Persia,  thus  do  matters  stand  with 
you.  If  you  choose  to  hearken  to  my  words,  you  may  enjoy 
these  and  ten  thousand  similar  delights,  and  never  condescend 
to  any  slavish  toil ;  but  if  you  will  not  hearken,  prepare  your- 
selves for  unnumbered  toils  as  hard  as  yesterday's.  Now  there- 
fore follow  my  bidding,  and  be  free.  For  myself  I  feel  that  I  am 
destined  by  Providence  to  undertake  your  liberation ;  and  you, 
I  am  sure,  are  no  whit  inferior  to  the  Modes  in  anything,  least 
of  all  in  bravery.  Eevolt,  therefore,  from  Astyages,  without  a 
moment's  delay." 

127.  The  Persians,  who  had  long  been  impatient  of  the 
Median  dominion,  now  that  they  had  found  a  leader,  were 
delighted  to  shake  off  the  yoke.  Meanwhile  Astyages,  in- 
formed of  the  doings  of  Cyrus,  sent  a  messenger  to  summon  him 
to  his  presence.  Cyrus  replied,  "Tell  Astyages  that  I  shall 
appear  in  his  presence  sooner  than  he  will  like."  Astyages, 
when  he  received  this  message,  instantly  armed  all  his  subjects, 


important  element  in  the  population  of  great  importance  in  a  military  point  of 
Persia.  Large  portions  of  the  country  view.  Of  the  four  nomadic  tribes  men- 
are  only  habitable  at  certain  seasons  of  tioned  by  Herodotus  the  Sagartians  ap- 
the  year.  Recently  the  wandering  tribes  pear  to  have  been  the  most  powerful. 
(Ilyats)  have  been  calculated  at  one-  They  were  contained  in  the  14th  Sa- 
half  (Kinneir,  Persian  Empire,  p.  44),  trapy  (iii.  93)  and  furnished  8000 
or  at  the  least  one-fourth  (Morier,  Jour-  horsemen  to  the  army  of  Xerxes  (vii. 
nal  of  Geograph.  Soc,  vol.  vii.  p.  230)  85),  who  were  armed  with  daggers  and 
of  the  entire  population.     They  are  of  lassoes. 


Chap.  126-129.  ASTYAGES  AND  HARPAGUS.  213 

and,  as  if  God  had  deprived  him  of  his  senses,  appointed  liar- 
pagus  to  be  their  general,  forgetting  how  greatly  he  had  injured 
liiin.  So  when  the  two  armies  met  and  engaged,  only  a  few  of 
the  Modes,  who  were  not  in  the  secret,  fought ;  others  deserted 
openly  to  the  Persians ;  while  the  greater  number  counterfeited 
fear,  and  fled. 

128.  Astyages,  on  learning'  the  shameful  fliglit  and  dispersion 
of  his  army,  broke  out  into  threats  against  Cyrus,  saying, 
"  Cyrus  shall  nevertheless  have  no  reason  to  rejoice ;"  and 
directly  he  seized  the  Magian  interpreters,  who  had  persuaded 
him  to  allow  Cyrus  to  escape,  and  impaled  them ;  after  which, 
he  armed  all  the  Modes  who  had  remained  in  the  city,  both 
young  and  old ;  and  leading  them  against  the  Persians,  fought 
a  battle,  in  which  he  was  utterly  defeated,  his  army  being- 
destroyed,  and  he  himself  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands.^ 

129.  Harpagus  then,  seeing  him  a  prisoner,  came  near,  and 
exulted  over  him  with  many  gibes  and  jeers.  Among  other 
cutting  speeches  which  he  made,  he  alluded  to  the  supper  where 
the  flesh  of  his  son  was  given  him  to  eat,  and  asked  Astyages  to 
answer  him  now,  how  he  enjoyed  being  a  slave  instead  of  a 
king?  Astyages  looked  in  his  face,  and  asked  him  in  return, 
why  he  claimed  as  his  own  the  achievements  of  Cyrus? 
"Because,"  said  Harpagus,  "it  was  my  letter  which  made  him 
revolt,  and  so  I  am  entitled  to  all  the  credit  of  the  enterprise." 
Then  Astyages  declared,  that  "  in  that  case  he  was  at  once  the 
silliest  and  the  most  unjust  of  men :  the  silliest,  if  when  it  was 


^  According  to  the  fragment  of  Nico-  Strab.  xv.  p.  1036),  for  the  spoils  were 

las  of  Damascus,  to  which  reference  has  taken   to    Pasargada).      Astyages   fled, 

repeatedly    been   made,  as   in   all  pro-  The   provinces    fell    off,    and    acknow- 

bability  containing  the  account  which  ledged  the  sovereignty  of  Persia.     Fi- 

Ctesias  gave  of  the  conquest  of  Astyages  nally  Cyrus  went  in  pursuit  of  Astyages, 

by  Gyrus,  not  fewer  than  five  great  bat-  who  had  still  a  small  body  of  adherents, 

ties  were  fought,  all  in  Persia.     In  the  defeated  him,   and  took  him  prisoner, 

first  and  second  of  these  Astyages  was  This  last  would  seem  to  be  the  second 

victorious.     In  the   third,   which   took  battle  of  Herodotus.     Tlie  last  but  one 

place     near    Pasargadaj,     the    national  is  called  by  Strabo  the  final  struggle,  as 

stronghold,  where  all   the  women  and  indeed  in  one  sense  it  was.     It  is  this 

children  of  the  Persians  had  been  sent,  which  he  says  took  place  near   Pasar- 

they  succeeded  in  repulsing  their  assail-  gadse. 

ants.     In  the  fourth,  which  was  fought         The  narrative  of  Plutarch  (De  "^'irtut. 

on  the  day  following  the  third,  and  on  Mulier.  p.  246.  A.)  belongs  to  the  fourth 

the  same  battle-ground,  they  gained  a  battle,  and  doubtless  came  from  Ctesias. 
great    victory,    killing    6U,OuO    of    the         As  there  is  less  improbability,  and  far 

enemy.     Still  Astyages  did  not  desist  less  poetry,  in  the  narrative  of  Nicolaijs 

from   his  attempt  to  reconquer   them.  Damascenus  than  in  that  of  Herodotus, 

The  fifth  battle  is  not  contained  in  the  it  is  perhaps  to  be  preferred,  notwith- 

fragment.     It  evidently,  however,  took  standing  the  untrustworthiness  of  Cte- 

place   in  the  same  neighbourhood   (cf.  sias,  probably  his  sole  authority. 


214 


DURATION  OF  THE  EMPIRE  OF  THE  MEDES.        Book  I. 


in  his  power  to  put  the  crown  on  his  own  head,  as  it  must 
assuredly  have  been,  if  the  revolt  was  entirely  his  doing,  he  had 
placed  it  on  the  head  of  another ;  the  most  unjust,  if  on  account 
of  that  supper  he  had  brought  slavery  on  the  Modes.  For, 
supposing  that  he  was  obliged  to  invest  another  with  the  kingly 
power,  and  not  retain  it  himself,  yet  justice  required  that  a 
Mede,  rather  than  a  Persian,  should  receive  the  dignity.  Now, 
however,  the  Modes,  who  had  been  no  parties  to  the  wrong  of 
which  he  complained,  were  made  slaves  instead  of  lords,  and 
slaves  moreover  of  those  who  till  recently  had  been  their 
subjects." 

130.  Thus  after  a  reign  of  thirty-five  years,  Astyages  lost  his 
crown,  and  the  Medes,  in  consequence  of  his  cruelty,  were 
brought  under  the  rule  of  the  Persians.  Their  empire  over  the 
parts  of  Asia  beyond  the  Halys  had  lasted  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  years,  except  during  the  time  when  the  Scythians 
had  the  dominion.^  Afterwards  the  Medes  repented  of  their 
submission,  and  revolted  from  Darius,  but  were  defeated  in 
battle,  and  again  reduced  to  subjection.'^     Now,  however,  in  the 


^  This  is  a  passage  of  extreme  diffi- 
culty. The  clause  xape|  y/  oaou  ol  Sfcu- 
9ai  -^pxov,  has  been  generally  under- 
stood to  mean,  "  besides  the  time  that 
the  Scythians  had  the  dominion  ;"  so 
that  the  entire  number  of  years  has 
been  supposed  to  be  (r28-f28  =  )  156, 
and  Herodotus  has  thus  been  considered 
to  place  the  commencement  of  the  Me- 
dian hegemony  six  years  before  the  ac- 
cession of  Deioces.  (See  the  synopsis 
of  the  opinions  on  the  passage  in  Clin- 
ton, F.  H,  vol.  i.  pp.  257-9  ;  and  infra. 
Essay  iii.  §  13.)  But  Trape^  v)  seems 
rightly  explained  by  Valckenaer  and 
Clinton  as,  not  "  besides,"  but  ^'except." 
"  The  Medes  ruled  over  Upper  Asia  128 
years,  except  during  the  time  that 
Scythians  had  the  dominion ;"  i.e.  they 
ruled  (128-28  =  )  100  years.  (See  on 
this  point  the  '  Rerum  Assyriarum  tem- 
pera emendata '  of  Dr.  Brandis,  pp.  fi-8.) 
This  would  make  their  rule  begin  in  the 
twenty-third  year  of  Deioces. 

Niebuhr  (Denkschrift  d.  Berl.  Ac.  d. 
Wissenschaft,  1820-1,  pp.  49-50)  sus- 
pected that  the  passage  was  corrupt, 
and  proposed  the  following  reading — 
ap|ai/T6S  T^s  avui  "A\vos  iroTa/xuv  'Aairjs 
eV  erea  irevr  iiKOvra  koX  eKaruv, 
irape^  ^  oaov  ol  'S.Kvdai  ?ipxov,  rpiifKovra 
Svcov  Seoura.  This  would  remove  some, 
l)ut  not  all.  of  the  difficulties.      It   is 


moreover  too  extensive  an  alteration  to 
be  received  against  the  authority  of  all 
the  MSS. 

"^  It  has  been  usual  to  regard  this  out- 
break as  identical  with  the  revolt  re- 
corded by  Xenophon  (Hell.  i.  ii.  ad 
fin.)  in  almost  the  same  words.  Btihr 
(in  loc.)  aud  Dahlmann  (Life  of  Herod, 
p.  33,  Engl.  Tr.)  have  argued  from  the 
passage  that  Herodotus  was  still  em- 
ployed upon  his  history  as  late  as  B.C. 
407.  Clinton  is  of  the  same  opinion, 
except  that  he  places  the  revolt  one 
year  earlier  (F.  H.  vol.  ii.  p.  87.  01. 
92,  4).  Mr.  Grote,  with  his  usual  saga- 
city, perceived  that  Herodotus  could 
not  intend  a  revolt  150  years  after  the 
subjection,  or  mean  by  Darius  "with- 
out any  adjective  designation,"  any 
other  Darius  than  the  son  of  Hystaspes. 
He  saw,  therefore,  that  there  must  have 
been  a  revolt  of  the  Medes  from  Darius 
Hystaspes,  of  which  this  passage  was 
possibly  the  only  record  (Hist,  of  Greece, 
vol.  iv.  p.  304,  note).  Apparently  he 
was  not  aware  of  the  great  inscription  of 
Darius  at  Behistun,  which  had  been 
published  by  Col.  Eawlinson  the  year 
before  his  fourth  volume  appeared, 
wherein  a  long  and  elaborate  accovmt  is 
given  of  a  Median  revolt  which  occurred 
in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius, 
and  was  put  down  with  difficulty.     Col. 


Chap.  129-131.  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS.  215 

time  of  Astyages,  it  was  tlie  Persians  who  under  Cyrus  revolted 
from  the  ]\Iedes,  and  became  thenceforth  the  rulers  of  Asia. 
Cyrus  kept  Astyagcs  at  his  court  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life,  without  doing  him  any  further  injury.  Such  then  were 
the  circumstances  of  the  birth  and  bringing  up  of  Cyrus,  and 
such  were  the  steps  by  which  he  mounted  the  throne.  It  was 
at  a  later  date  that  he  was  attacked  by  Crossus,  and  overthrew 
him,  as  I  have  related  in  an  earlier  portion  of  this  history.  The 
overthrow  of  Croesus  made  him  master  of  the  whole  of  Asia. 

131.  The  customs  which  I  know  the  Persians  to  observe  are 
the  following.  They  have  no  images  of  the  gods,  no  temples 
nor  altars,  and  consider  the  use  of  them  a  sign  of  folly. ^  This 
comes,  I  think,  from  their  not  believing  the  gods  to  have  the 
same  nature  with  men,  as  the  Greeks  imagine.  Their  Avont, 
however,  is  to  ascend  the  summits  of  the  loftiest  mountains,  and 
there  to  offer  sacrifice  to  Jupiter,  which  is  the  name  they  give  to 
the  wliole  circuit  of  the  firmament.  They  likewise  offer  to  the 
sun  and  moon,  to  the  earth,  to  fire,  to  water,  and  to  the  winds. 
These  are  the  only  gods  whose  worship  has  come  down  to  them 
from  ancient  times.  At  a  later  period  they  began  the  worship 
of  Urania,  which  they  borrowed  ^  from  the  Arabians  and  Assv- 


Rawliuson  gives  the  general  outline  of  Greece,  vol.  iv,  App.    G.),  but,  not   I 

the  struggle  as  follows: —  think,  successfully. 

•'  A  civil  war  of  a  far  more  formidable  *  On  the  general  subject  of  the  Eeli- 
character  broke  out  to  the  northward,  gion  of  the  Persians,  see  the  Essays  ap- 
Media,  Assyria,  and  Armenia  appear  to  pended  to  this  volume,  Essay  v. 
have  been  confederated  in  a  bold  attempt  ^  The  readiness  of  the  Persians  to 
to  recover  their  indei)endence.  They  adopt  foi'eigu  customs,  even  in  religion, 
elevated  to  the  throne  a  descendant,  real  is  very  remarkable.  Perhaps  the  most 
or  supposed,  of  the  ancient  line  of  [Me-  striking  instance  is  the  adoption  from 
dian]  kings;  and  after  six  actions  had  the  Assyrians  of  the  well-known  emblem 
been  fought  between  the  jiartisans  of  figured  on  next  page  (Figs.  1,  2,  3),  con- 
this  powerful  chief  and  the  troops  which  sisting  of  a  winged  circle  with  or  with- 
were  employed  by  Darius,  under  tlie  out  a  human  figure  rising  from  the  cir- 
command  of  three  of  his  uiost  distin-  cular  space.  This  emblem  is  of  Assy- 
guished  generals,  luifavourably  it  mvxst  rian  origin,  appearing  in  the  earliest 
be  presumed  to  the  latter,  or  at  any  sculptures  of  that  country  (Layard's 
rate  with  a  very  partial  and  equivocal  Nineveh,  vol.  i.  chap.  v.).  Its  exact 
success,  the  monarch  found  himself  meaning  is  uncertain,  but  the  conjee- 
compelled  to  repair  in  person  to  the  ture  is  probable,  that  while  in  the 
scene  of  conflict.  Darius  accordingly,  human  head  we  have  the  symbol  of  in- 
inthethirdyearof  his  reign,  re-ascended  telligence,  the  wings  signify  omuipre- 
from  liabylon  to  Media.  He  brought  his  sence,  and  the  circle  eternity.  Thus 
enemy  to  action  without  delay,  defeated  the  Persians  were  able,  without  the 
and  pursued  him,  and  taking  him  pri-  sacrifice  of  any  principle,  to  admit  it  as 
soner  at  Rhages,  he  slew  him  in  the  a  religious  emblem,  which  we  find  them 
citadel  of  Ecbatana"  (Behist.  Inscrip.  to  have  done,  as  early  as  the  time  of 
vol.  i.  pp.  188-9).  Darius,  nnwcrsnlli/  (see  the  sculptures  at 

Col.  Mure,  I  observe,  though  aware  Persepolis,  ISTakhsh-i-Rustam,  Behistun, 

of  this  discover}',   maintains  tlie   view  &c.).     It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  conclude 

of  Biihr  and  Dahimann  (Literature  of  from  this,  as  Mr.  Layard  does  (Nineveh, 


216  WORSHIP  OF  MYLITTA.  Book  I. 

rians.     Mylitta'  is  the  name  by  which  the  Assyrians  know  this 


Fig.  3. 


vol.  ii.  chap.  vii,),tbat  they  adopted  the 
Assyrian  religion  generally.  The  monu- 
ments prove  the  very  contrary;  for, 
with  three  exceptions,  that  of  the  sym- 
bol in  question,  that  of  the  four-winged 
genius,  and  that  of  the  colossal  winged 
bulls,  the  Assyrian  religious  emblems 
do  not  re-appear  in  the  early  Persian 
sculptures. 

A  triple  figure   is   sometimes   found 
issuing  from  the  cu'cle  (Fig.  4),  which 


has  been  supposed  to  represent  a  triune 
god,  but  this  mode  of  representation 
does  not  occur  in  the  Persian  sculptures. 
Some  religious  emblems  seem  to  have 
been  adopted  by  the  Persians  from  the 
Egyptians ;  as,  for  instance,  the  curious 
head-dress  of  the  four-winged  genius  at 
Mifrg-auh  (Pasargadse),  which  closely  re- 
sembles a  well-known  Egyptian  form. 
The  Persian  sculpture  is  of  the  time  of 
Cyrus.     Figs.  5  &  6. 


5,  Fgyptian. 

'  For  a  full  notice  of  this  goddes,s,  ^ee 
below.  Essay  x.  '  On  the  Religion  of  the 


6.  Persian. 
Assyrians  and  Babylonians.'     The  true 
explanation  of  the   Horodotean  nomen- 


Chap.  131,  132.        MODE  OF  OFFERING  SACmFICE. 


217 


goddess,    whom   the   Arabians   call   Alitta,"    and    the   Persians 
Mitra.-^ 

132.  To  these  aods  the  Persians  offer  sacrifice  in  the  follow- 
ing  manner :  they  raise  no  altar,  light  no  fire,  pour  no  libations ; 
there  is  no  sound  of  the  flute,  no  putting  on  of  chaplets,  no  con- 
secrated barley- cake  ;  but  the  man  who  wishes  to  sacrifice  brings 
his  victim  to  a  spot  of  ground  which  is  pure  from  pollution,  and 


clature,  which  has  beeu  so  much  dis- 
cussed, seems  to  be,  that  Molis  (as  Mo. 
Damasc,  gives  the  name,  Fi-agm,  Hist. 
Gr.,  vol.  iii.  p.  oGl,  note  16)  is  for  Mai, 
which  was  an  old  Babylonian  word  equi- 
valent to  Bel  or  Nin,  and  merely  signify- 
ing "a  Lord,"  and  that  in  Mylitta  we 
have  the  same  name  with  a  feminine 
ending.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  Mo- 
lis or  Volis  may  be  a  coi-ruption  of  Golis, 
the  g  andi;  being,  as  is  well  known,  per- 
petually liable  to  confusion  in  the  Greek 
orthography  of  proper  names,  and  Quia 
in  the  primitive  language  of  Babylonia, 
which  is  now  ascertained  to  be  of  the 
Hamitic,  and  not  of  the  Semitic  family, 
signified  "great,"  being  either  identical 
with  Gal  (the  more  ordinary  term  for 
"  great" — compare  Ner-gal,  ©aSyaA,  Gal- 
lus,  &o.),  or  a  feminine  form  of  that 
word, — answering  in  fact  to  the  Guda  of 
the  Galla  dialect  of  Africa.  The  Gula 
or  "  great  goddess  "  of  the  inscriptions  is 
the  female  pi-inciple  of  the  sun,  and 
thus  nearly  answers  to  the  Mithra  of 
the  Persians  ;  but  the  name  is  never  ap- 
plied to  the  supreme  Goddess  Beltis, 
who  was  the  Alitta  of  the  Arabians. — 
[H.  C.  R.] 


Mylitta,  the  "  Great  Goddess  "  of  the  Assyrians. 
(From  Layard.) 

■^  Alitta,   or  Alilat  ;iii.  S),  is  the  Se- 


mitic root   7^,  "God,"  with  the  femi- 
nine suffix,  n  or  ^T\,  added. 

3  This  identification  is  altogether  a 
mistake.  The  Persians,  like  their  Vedic 
brethren,  worshipped  the  sun  under  the 
name  of  Mithra.  This  was  a  portion  of 
the  religion  which  they  brought  with 
them  from  the  Indus,  and  was  not 
adopted  from  any  foreign  nation.  The 
name  of  Mithra  does  not  indeed  occur 
in  the  Achsemeniau  inscriptions  until 
the  time  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  (Jour- 
nal of  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  xv.  part  i., 
p.  160),  but  there  is  no  reason  to  ques- 
tion the  antiquity  of  his  worship  in  Per- 
sia. Xenophon  is  riglit  in  making  it  a 
part  of  the  religion  of  Cyrus  (Cyrop. 
VIII.  iii.  §  12,  and  vii.  §  8). 

The  mistake  of  Herodotus  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  discovered  by  the 
Greeks  before  the  time  of  Alexander. 
Xenophon,  indeed,  mentions  Mithras 
(Cyrop.  VII.  V.  §  53  ;  (Econ.  iv.  24), 
and  also  the  Persian  sun-worship  (Cy- 
ix)p.  VIII.  iii.  §  12),  but  he  does  not  in 
any  way  connect  the  two.  Strabo  is  the 
first  classical  writer  who  distinctly  lays 
it  down  that  the  Persian  Mithras  is  the 
Sun-god  (xv.  p.  10;)9).  After  him  Plu- 
tarch shows  acquaintance  with  the  fact 
(Vit.  Alex.  c.  30),  which  thenceforth 
becomes  generally  recognised.  (See  the 
inscriptions  on  altars,  deo  soli  invicto 
MITHR55,  &c.,  and  cf.  Suidas,  Hesy- 
chius,  &c.) 

The  real  representative  of  Venus  in 
the  later  Pantheon  of  Persia  was  Tanata 
or  Anaitis  (see  Hyde,  De  Religione  Vet. 
Pars.  p.  98).  Her  worship  by  the  Per- 
sians had,  no  doubt,  commenced  in  the 
time  of  Herodotus,  but  it  was  not  till 
the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  (b.c. 
-105  at  the  earliest)  that  her  statue  was 
set  up  publicly  in  the  temples  of  the 
chief  cities  of  the  empire  (Plut.  Ar- 
taxerx.  c.  27).  The  inscription  of  Mne- 
mon recently  discovered  at  Susa  records 
this  event  (Jour,  of  As.  Society,  1.  s.  c), 
which  seems  to  have  been  wrongly  as- 
cribed by  Berosus  to  Artaxerxes  Ochus 
(Beros.  ap.  Clem.  Alex.  Protr.  i.  5\ 


218  CELEBRATION  OF  THEIR  BIRTHDAY.  Book  I. 

there  calls  upon  the  name  of  the  god  to  whom  he  intends  to 
offer.  It  is  usual  to  have  the  turban  encircled  with  a  wreath, 
most  commonly  of  myrtle.  The  sacrificer  is  not  allowed  to  pray 
for  blessings  on  himself  alone,  but  he  prays  for  the  welfare  of  the 
king,  and  of  the  whole  Persian  people,  among  whom  he  is  of 
necessity  included.  He  cuts  the  victim  in  pieces,  and  having 
boiled  the  flesh,  he  lays  it  out  upon  the  tenderest  herbage  that 
he  can  find,  trefoil  especially.  When  all  is  ready,  one  of  the 
Magi  comes  forward  and  chants  a  hymn,  which  they  say  recounts 
the  origin  of  the  gods.  It  is  not  lawful  to  offer  sacrifice  unless 
there  is  a  Magus  present.  After  waiting  a  short  time  the  sacri- 
ficer carries  the  flesh  of  the  victim  away  with  him,  and  makes 
whatever  use  of  it  he  may  please."^ 

133.  Of  all  the  days  in  the  year,  the  one  which  they  celebrate 
most  is  their  birthday.  It  is  customary  to  have  the  board  fur- 
nished on  that  day  with  an  ampler  supply  than  common.  The 
richer  Persians  cause  an  ox,  a  horse,  a  camel,  and  an  ass  to  be 
baked  whole  ^  and  so  served  up  to  them :  the  poorer  classes  use 
instead  the  smaller  kinds  of  cattle.  They  eat  little  solid  food 
but  abundance  of  dessert,  which  is  set  on  table  a  few  dishes  at  a 
time ;  this  it  is  which  makes  them  say  that  "  the  Greeks,  when 
they  eat,  leave  off  hungry,  having  nothing  worth  mention  served 


*  At  the  secret  meetings  of  the  Ali  indeed,  owing  to  the  precaution  which 

Allahis  of  Persia,  which  in  popular  be-  the  Ali  Allahis  take  to  extinguish  their 

lief  have  attained  an  infamous  notoriety,  lights  on  the  approach  of  strauj^ers  that 

but  which  are  in  reality  altogether  inuo-  they  have  acquired  the  name  of  Cheragh 

cent,  are  practised  many  ceremonies  that  hishan,    or    "lamp-extinguishers,"   and 

bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  old  that  orgies  have  been  assigned  to  them 

Magian  sacrifice.  which  were  only  suited  to  darkness.    A 

The  Peer  or  holy  man  who  presides  disciple,  I  may  add,  upon  entering  the 

carries  about  him  sprigs  both  of  myrtle  brotherhood,  breaks  a  nutmeg  with  the 

and  of  the  musk  willow  ;  he  seats  his  spiritual  teacher  to  whom  he  attaches 

disciples   in   a   circle    upon    the    grass  himself,    and   wears  perpetually   about 

usually  in  one  of  those  sacred  groves  him  in   token   of  his   dependence,  the 

with    which    the    Kurdish    mountains  half  of  the   nvit   which   remains   with 

abound;  he  chaunts  mystical   lays  re-  him;  he  is  called  sir  sKpnrdch,  or  "he 

garding  the  nature,  the  attributes,  and  who  has  given  over  his  head,"  and  is 

the  manifestations  of  the  Godhead.     A  bound  during  his  noviciate  implicitlj^  to 

sheep   is   slaughtered   as   an  expiatory  follow  the  behests  of  his  leader.    After  a 

sacrifice,  and  the  carcase  is  boiled  upon  probationaiy  discipline  of  several  years, 

the  spot ;    the  bones  are  carefully  ex-  never  less  than  three,  he  is  admitted  to 

tracted,  and  the  peer  then  distributes  a  meeting,  resigns  his  nutmeg,  i:)artakes 

the  flesh  among  his  disciples,  who  creep  of  the  sacrifice,  and  henceforward  as- 

up  upon  their  knees  from  their  respec-  sumes  a   place   among  the  initiated. — 

tive  places  in  the  circle  to  receive  the  [H.  C.  R.] 

share  allotted  to  them,  which  is  further  ^  It  is  a  common  custom  in  the  East 

accompanied  by  a  blessing  and  a  prayer,  at  the  present  day,  to  roast  sheep  whole, 

It  is  only  the  initiated  who  ai-e  admitted  even    for  an  ordinary  repast  ;    and  on 

to  these  meetings,  and  care  is  taken  to  fete  days  it  is  done  in  Dalmatia  and  in 

guard  against  the  intrusion  of  strangers  other  parts  of  Europe.— [G.  W.] 
and   Mohammedans.       It   is   probably, 


Chap.  132-134. 


FOKMS  OF  SALUTATION. 


219 


up  to  them  after  the  meats ;  wliereas,  if  they  had  more  put 
before  them,  they  would  not  stop  eating."  They  are  very  fond 
of  wine,  and  drink  it  in  large  quantities.^  To  vomit  or  obey 
natural  calls  in  the  presence  of  another,  is  forbidden  among 
them.     Such  are  their  customs  in  these  matters. 

It  is  also  their  general  practice  to  deliberate  upon  affairs 
of  weight  when  they  are  drunk ;  and  then  on  the  morrow,  when 
they  are  sober,  the  decision  to  which  they  came  the  night  before 
is  put  before  them  by  the  master  of  the  house  in  which  it  was 
made ;  and  if  it  is  then  approved  of,  they  act  on  it ;  if  not,  they 
set  it  aside.  Sometimes,  however,  they  are  sober  at  their  first 
deliberation,  but  in  this  case  they  always  reconsider  the  matter 
under  the  influence  of  wine." 

134.  When  they  meet  each  other  in  the  streets,  you  may 
know  if  the  persons  meeting  are  of  equal  rank  by  the  following 
token ;  if  they  are,  instead  of  speaking,  they  kiss  each  other  on 
the  lips.  In  the  case  where  one  is  a  little  inferior  to  the  other, 
the  kiss  is  given  on  the  cheek ;  where  the  difference  of  rank  is 
great,  the   inferior  prostrates  himself  upon   the   ground.^     Of 


^  At  the  present  clay,  among  the 
"bons  vivants"  of  Persia,  it  is  usual  to 
sit  for  hours  before  dinner  drinking 
wine,  and  eating  dried  fruits,  such  as 
filberts,  almonds,  pistachio-nuts,  me- 
lon seeds,  &c.  A  party,  indeed,  often 
sits  down  at  seven  o'clock,  and  the  din- 
ner is  not  brought  in  till  eleven.  The 
dessert  dishes,  intermingled  as  they  are 
with  highly-seasoned  delicacies,  are  sup- 
posed to  have  the  effect  of  stimulating 
the  appetite,  but,  in  reality,  the  solid 
dishes,  which  are  served  up  at  the  end 
of  the  feast,  are  rarely  tasted.  The 
passion,  too,  for  wine-drinking  is  as 
marked  among  the  Persians  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  notwithstanding  the  probibi- 
tions  of  the  Prophet,  as  it  was  in  the 
time  of  Herodotus.  It  is  quite  appall- 
ing, indeed,  to  see  the  quantity  of 
liquor  which  some  of  these  topers 
habitually  consume,  and  they  usually 
prefer  spirits  to  wine.' — [H.  C.  R.] 

■^  Tacitus  asserts  that  the  Germans 
were  in  the  habit  of  deliberating  on 
peace  and  war  under  the  influence  of 
wine,  reserving  their  determination  for 
the  morrow.  He  gives  tlie  reasons  for 
the  practice,  of  which  he  manifestly  ap- 
proves:— "  De  pace  deniquc  et  bello 
plerumque  in  conviviis  consultant,  tan- 
quam  nullo  magis  tempore  ad  maguas 
coj^itationes  incalescat   aninuis.       Gens 


non  astuta,  nee  callida,  aperit  adhuc  se- 
creta  pectoris,  licentia  joci.  Ergo  de- 
tecta  et  nuda  omnium  mens,  postera 
die  retractatur  ;  et  salva  utriusque  tem- 
poris  ratio  est.  Deliberant,  dum  fin- 
gere  nesciunt :  constituunt,  dum  errare 
non  possunt." — fGerm.  22.)  It  does 
not  appear  that  the  Germans  reversed 
the  process. 

Plato,  in  his  Laws,  mentions  the  use 
made  of  drunkenness  by  the  Persians. 
He  says,  the  same  practice  obtained 
among  the  Thracians,  the  Scythians,  the 
Celts,  the  Ibei'ians,  and  the  Carthagi- 
nians (Book  I.  p.  »)37,  E).  Duris  of 
Samos  declaimed  that  once  a  year,  at  the 
feast  of  Mithras,  the  king  of  Persia  was 
bound  to  be  drunk.     (Fr.  13.) 

^  ,Tlie  Persians  are  still  notorious  for 
their  rigid  attention  to  ceremonial  and 
etiquette.  In  all  the  ordinary  pursidts 
of  life,  paying  visits,  entering  a  room, 
seating  oneself  in  company,  in  epistolary 
address,  and  even  in  conversational 
idiom,  gradations  of  rank  are  defined 
with  equal  strictness  and  nicety.  With 
regard  to  the  method  of  salutation,  the 
extreme  limits  are,  as  Herodotus  ob- 
serves, the  mutual  embrace  (the  kiss  is 
now  invariably  given  on  tlie  cheek), 
and  prostrJi,tion  on  the  ground ;  but 
there  are  also  several  intermediate 
forms,    which   he    iias   not   thought   it 


220 


PllOGRESSIVE  SCALE  OF  ADMINISTRATION.        Book  I. 


nations,  they  honour  most  their  nearest  neighboui-s,  whom  they 
esteem  next  to  themselves ;  those  who  live  beyond  these  they 
honour  in  the  second  degree ;  and  so  with  the  remainder,  the 
further  they  are  removed,  the  less  the  esteem  in  which  they  hold 
them.  The  reason  is,  that  they  look  upon  themselves  as  very 
greatly  superior  in  all  respects  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  regarding 
others  as  approaching  to  excellence  in  proportion  as  they  dwell 
nearer  to  them  f  whence  it  comes  to  pass  that  those  who  are  the 
farthest  off  must  be  the  most  degraded  of  mankind.^  Under  the 
dominion  of  the  Medes,  the  several  nations  of  the  empire  exer- 
cised authority  over  each  other  in  this  order.  The  Medes  were 
lords  over  all,  and  governed  the  nations  upon  their  borders,  who 
in  their  turn  governed  the  States  beyond,  who  likewise  bore  rule 
over  the  nations  which  adjoined  on  them.^  And  this  is  the  order 
which  the  Persians  also  follow  in  their  distribution  of  honour ; 
for  that  people,  like  the  Medes,  has  a  progressive  scale  of  admi- 
nistration and  government. 

■  135.  There  is  no  nation  which  so  readily  adopts  foreign 
customs  as  the  Persians.  Thus,  they  have  taken  the  dress  of 
the  Medes,^  considering  it  superior  to  their  own ;  and  in  war 


worth  while  to  notice,  of  obeisance, 
kissing  hands,  &c.,  by  which  an  expe- 
rienced observer  learns  the  exact  rela- 
tion of  the  parties. — [H.  C.  R.] 

^  Of  late  years,  since  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  been  brought  by  their 
commercial  and  political  relations  into 
closer  connexion  with  Persia,  the  ex- 
cessive vanity  and  self-admiration  of 
these  Frenchmen  of  the  East  has  been 
somewhat  abated.  Their  monarch,  how- 
ever, still  retains  the  title  of  ' '  the  Cen- 
tre of  the  Universe,"  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  persuade  a  native  of  Isfahan  that  any 
European  capital  can  be  superior  to  his 
native  city. — [H.  C.  R.] 

1  In  an  early  stage  of  geographical 
knowledge  each  nation  regards  itself  as 
occupying  the  centre  of  the  earth.  He- 
rodotus tacitly  assumes  that  Greece  is 
the  centre  by  his  theory'  of  iax^^'^'-^'- 
or  "extremities'  (iii.  115).  Such  was 
the  "View  commonly  entertained  among 
the  Greeks,  and  Delphi,  as  the  centre  of 
Greece,  was  called  "the  navel  of  the 
world "  (7ar  ofxcpaKos,  Soph.  CEd.  T. 
898  :  Find.  Pyth.  vi.  3,  &c.).  Even 
Aristotle  expresses  himself  to  the  same 
effect,  and  regards  the  happy  tempera- 
ment of  the  Greeks  as  the  result  of  their 
intermediate  position  (Polit.  vii.  b).  Our 
own  use  of  the  terms  ^'t/ic  East,"   "  the 


West,"  is  a  trace  of  the  former  exis- 
tence of  similar  views  among  ourselves. 

2  It  is  quite  inconceivable  that  there 
should  have  been  any  such  sj^stem  of 
government  either  in  Media  or  Persia,  as 
Herodotus  here  indicates.  With  respect 
to  Persia,  we  know  that  the  most  distant 
satrapies  were  held  as  directly  of  the 
crown  as  the  nearest.  Compare  the 
stories  of  Oroetes  (lii.  126-8)  and  Ary- 
andes  (iv.  166).  The  utmost  that  can 
be  said  with  truth  is,  that  in  the  Per- 
sian and  Median,  as  in  the  Koman,  em- 
pire, there  were  three  grades  ;  tirst,  the 
ruling  nation  ;  secondly,  the  conquered 
provinces;  thirdly,  the  nations  on  the 
frontier,  governed  by  their  own  laws 
and  princes,  but  owning  the  supremacy  of 
the  imperial  power,  and  reckoned  nmong 
its  tributaries.  This  was  the  position 
in  which  the  Ethiopians,  Colchians,  and 
Arabians,  stood  to  Persia  (Herod,  iii. 
97). 

^  It  appears  from  ch.  71  that  the  old 
national  dress  of  the  Persians  was  a 
close-fitting  tvmic  and  trousers  of  leather. 
The  Median  costume,  according  to  Xe- 
nophon  (Cjn-op.  viii.  i.  §  40)  w-as  of  a 
nature  to  conceal  the  form,  and  give  it 
an  appearance  of  grandeur  and  elegance. 
It  would  seem  therefore  to  have  been  a 
flowing  robe.     At  Persepolis  and  Behis- 


Chap.  134-136. 


NUMBER  OF  SONS. 


221 


they  wear  the  Egyptian  breastplate.'*  As  soon  as  they  hoar  of 
any  Inxury,  they  instantly  make  it  their  own  :  and  henee,  among 
other  novelties,  they  have  learnt  nnnatnral  lust  from  the  Greeks. 
Each  of  them  has  several  wives,  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
concubines. 

136.  Next  to  prowess  in  arms,  it  is  regarded  as  the  greatest 
proof  of  manly  excellence,  to  be  the   father   of  many  sons.^ 
Every  year  the  king  sends  rich  gifts  to  the  man  who  can  show 
for  they  hold  that  number  is  strength. 


the  largest  number 


tun  the  representations  of  the  monarch 
and  his  chief  attendants  have  invariably 
a  long  flowing  robe  (A),  while  soldiers 
and  persons  of  minor  importance  wear 
a  close-fitting  dress,  fastened  by  a  belt, 
and  trousers  meeting  at    the  ankles  a 


A.  (Median.) 

■*  The  Egyptian  corslets  are  noticed 
again  (ii.  182,  and  vii.  89).  For  a  de- 
scription of  them,  see  Sir  G.  Wilkin- 
son's note  to  Book  ii.  ch.  182. 

^  Sheikh  Ali  Mirza,  a  son  of  the  well- 
known  Futteh  Ali  Shah,  was  accounted 
the  proudest  and  happiest  man  in  the 
empire,  because,  when  he  rode  out  on 
state  occasions,  he  was  attended  by  a 
body-guard  of  sixty  of  his  own  sons. 
At  the  time  of  Futteh  Ali  Shah's  death 


high  shoe  (B).  It  seems  probable  that 
the  costimie  (A)  is  that  which  Hero- 
dotus and  Xenophon  call  the  Median, 
while  the  close-fitting  dress  (B)  is  the 
old  Persian  garb. 


B.  (Persian.) 

his  direct  descendants  amounted  to 
nearly  three  thousand,  some  of  them 
being  in  the  fifth  degree,  and  every 
Persian  in  consequence  felt  a  pride  in 
being  the  subject  of  such  a  king.  The 
greatest  misfortune,  indeed,  that  can 
befal  a  man  in  Persia  is  to  be  childless. 
When  a  chief's  "  hearthstone"  as  it  was 
said,  "was  dark,"  he  lost  all  respect, 
and  hence  arose  the  now  universal  prac- 
tice of  adoption.— [H.  C.  R.l 


222  OFFENCES.— LAW  OF  LEPROSY.  Book  L 

Their  sons  are  carefully  instructed  from  their  fifth  to  their 
twentieth  year,*^  in  three  things  alone, — to  ride,  to  draw  the 
bow,  and  to  speak  the  truth. '^  Until  their  fifth  year  they  are 
not  allowed  to  come  into  the  sight  of  their  father,  but  pass  their 
lives  with  the  women.  This  is  done  that,  if  the  child  die 
young,  the  father  may  not  be  afflicted  by  its  loss. 

137.  To  my  mind  it  is  a  Avise  rule,  as  also  is  the  following — 
that  the  king  shall  not  put  any  one  to  death  for  a  single  fault, 
and  that  none  of  the  Persians  shall  visit  a  single  fault  in  a  slave 
with  any  extreme  penalty ;  but  in  every  case  the  services  of 
the  offender  shall  be  set  against  his  misdoings ;  and,  if  the 
latter  be  found  to  •  outweigh  the  former,  the  aggrieved  party 
shall  then  proceed  to  punishment.^ 

138.  The  Persians  maintain  that  never  yet  did  any  one  kill 
his  own  father  or  mother ;  but  in  all  such  cases  they  are  quite 
sure  that,  if  matters  were  sifted  to  the  bottom,  it  would  be  found 
that  the  child  was  either  a  changeling  or  else  the  fruit  of  adul- 
tery ;  for  it  is  not  likely  they  say  that  the  real  father  should 
perish  by  the  hands  of  his  child. 

139.  They  hold  it  unlawful  to  talk  of  anything  which  it  is 
unlawful  to  do.  The  most  disgraceful  thing  in  the  world,  they 
think,  is  to  tell  a  lie ;  the  next  worst,  to  owe-  a  debt :  because, 
among  other  reasons,  the  debtor  is  obliged  to  tell  lies.  If  a 
Persian  has  the  leprosy  ^  he  is  not  allowed  to  enter  .into  a  city, 

^  Xenophon,  in. his  romance  (Cyrop.  Col.  i.   Par.   10).     ''The  Evil  One  (?) 

I,  ii.  §  8),  makes  the  first  period  of  edu-  invented   lies  that  they  should  deceive 

cation  end  with  the  sixteenth  or  seven-  the  state  "  (Col.  iv.  Par,  4).      Darius  is 

teenth  year,  after  which  he  says  there  favoured  by  Ormazd,  "because  he  was 

followed  a  second  period  of  ten  years,  not  a  heretic,  nor  a  liar,  nor  a  tyrant" 

It  was  not  till  the  completion  of  this  (Col.  iv.  Par.  13).      His  successors  are 

second  period  that  the  Persian  became  exhorted  not  to  cherish,  but  to  cast  into 

a  full  citizen  {reAcios).     In  all  this,  it  utter  perdition,  "  the  man  who  may  be 

is  evident,  we  have  only  the  philosophic  a  liar,  or  who  may  be  an  evil  doer  "  (ib. 

notions  of  the  Greeks.     Perhaps  even  in  Par.  14).      His  great  fear  is  lest  it  may 

Herodotus  we  have  Greek  speculations  be  thought  that  any  part  of  the  record 

rather  than  history.     He  does  not  ap-  which  he  has  set  up  has  been  "  falseli/ 

pear  to  have  travelled  in  Persia  Proper,  related,"  and  he  even  abstains  from  nar- 

■^  The   Persian  regard  for    truth  has  i-ating  certain  events  of  his  reign  "lest 

been   questioned    by    Larcher    on    the  to  him  who  may  hereafter  peruse  the 

strength  of  the    speech   of    Darius   in  tablet,  the  many  deeds  that  have  been 

BooS:  iii,  (chap.  72).    This  speech,  how-  done    by   him  may  seem  to   be  falsely 

ever,  is  entirely  unhistoric.    The  special  recorded"  (ib.  Par.  6  and  8). 

estimation   in   which    truth   was    held  **  Vide  infra,  vii.  194. 

among  the  Persians  is  evidenced   in  a  ^  In  the  original,  two  kinds  of  leprosy 

remarkable  manner  by  the  inscriptions  are  mentioned,  the  Aewpa  andthe  Aew/cTj. 

of  Darius,  where  lijinij  is  taken  as   the  There  does  not  appear  by  the  description 

representative  of  all  evil.  It  is  the  great  which  Aristotle  gives  of  the  latter  (Hist. 

calamit^^of  the  usurpation  of  the  pseudo-  Animal,  iii.  11)  to  have  been  any  essen- 

Smerdis,    that    "  then   the    lie    became  tial  ditference  between  them.  The  Aeu/cr? 

abounding   in   the  land "  (Behist.   Ins.  was   merely   a   mild   form   of   leprosy. 


Chap.  130-140. 


^rilE  MAGI. 


223 


or  to  have  any  dealings  with  the  other  Persians  ;  he  must,  tliey 
say,  have  sinned  against  the  sun.  Foreigners  attacked  by  this 
disorder,  are  forced  to  leave  the  country :  even  white  pigeons 
are  often  driven  away,  as  guilty  of  the  same  offence.  They 
never  defile  a  river  with  the  secretions  of  their  bodies,  nor  even 
wash  their  hands  in  one  ;  nor  will  they  allow  others  toulo  so,  as 
they  have  a  great  reverence  for  rivers.  There  is  another  pecu- 
liarity, which  the  Persians  themselves  have  never  noticed,  but 
which  has  not  escaped  my  observation.  Their  names,  w^hich 
are  expressive  of  some  bodily  or  mental  excellence,^  all  end 
with  the  same  letter — the  letter  which  is  called  San  by  the 
Dorians,  and  Sigma  by  the  lonians.^  Any  one  who  examines 
will  find  that  the  Persian  names,,  one  and  all  without  exception, 
end  with  this  letter.^ 

140.  Thus  much  I  can  declare  of  the  Persians  with  entire 
certainty,  from  my  own  actual  knowledge.  There  is  another 
custom  which  is  spoken  of  with  reserve,  and  not  openly,  con- 
cerning their  dead.  It  is  said  that  the  body  of  a  male  Persian 
is  never  buried,  until  it  has  been  torn  either  by  a  dog  or  a  bird 
of  prey.^     That  the  Magi  have  this  -custom  is  beyond  a  doubt. 


With  the  Persian  isolation  of  the  leper, 
compare  the  Jewish  practice  (Lev.  xiii. 
46.      2  Kings  vii.  3.  xv.  5.     Luke  xvii. 

1  It  is  apparent  from  this  passage  that 
Herodotus  had  not  any  very  exact  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Persian  language ; 
for  though  it  is  true  enough  the  Per- 
sian names  have  all  a  meaning  (as  the 
Greek  names  also  have),  yet  it  is  rarely 
that  the  etymology  can  be  traced  to 
denote  physical  or  mental  qualities. 
They  more  usually  indicate  a  glorious 
or  elevated  station,  or  dependance  on 
the  gods,  or  worldly  possessions.  See 
the  list  of  Persian  names  occurring  in 
Herodotus  and  other  writers  in  the  notes 
appended  to  Book  vi. — [H.  C.  E.] 

2  The  PlioJnician  alphabet,  from  which 
the  Greeks  adopted  tlieirs  (infra,  v.  58), 
possessed  both  san  (Heb.  shin)  and  sif/ma 
(Heb.  samech).  The  Greeks,  not  having 
the  sound  of  sh,  did  not  need  the  two 
sibilants,  and  therefoi-e  soon  merged 
them  in  one,  retaining  however  both 
in  their  system  of  numeration,  till  they 
replaced  sii/ina  by  xi.  The  Dorians 
called  the  sibilant  which  was  kept  sen, 
the  lonians  sigina;  but  the  latter  use 
prevailed.  The  letter  came  to  be  gene- 
rally known  as  si/ina,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  held  the  place  of  san  in  the  al- 


phabet.     (See  Bunsen's  Philosophy  of 
Univ.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  258.) 

■^  Here  Herodotus  was  again  mistaken. 
The  Pei-sian  names  of  men  which  ter- 
minate with  a  consonant  end  indeed  in- 
variably with  the  letter  s,  or  rather  sh, 
as  Kurush  (Cyrus),  Bdri/avush  (Darius), 
Chishpdish  (Teispes),  Hakhdmaaish,  &c. 
(Achpemenes).  [The  sh  in  sucli  cases  is 
the  mere  nominatival  ending  of  the  2nd 
and  8rd  declensions  ;  i.  e.  of  themes 
ending  in  i  and  ^^— H.  C.  R.]  But  a  large 
number  of  Persian  names  of  men  were 
pronounced  with  a  vowel  termination, 
not  expressed  in  writing,  and  in  these 
the  last  consonant  might  be  almost  any 
letter.  We  find  on  the  monuments 
Vashtdsp  {a),  Hystaspes  —  Arshdm  {a) 
Arsames  —  Ari'i/drdman  (a)  Ariaramnes 
— Bardiij  {a)  Bardius  or  Smerdis — Gwr- 
mat{(i)  Gomates —  Gaubruw{n)  Gobryas 
— &c.  &c.  The  sigma  in  these  cases  is 
a  mere  conventional  addition  of  the 
Greeks. 

*  Agathias  (ii.  p.  60)  and  Strabo  (xv. 
p.  1042)  also  mention  this  strange 
custom,  which  still  prevails  among 
the  Parsees  wherever  they  are  found 
Avhether  in  Persia  or  in  India.  Chardin 
relates  that  there  was  in  his  time  a 
cemetery,  half  a  league  from  Isfahan, 
consisting  of  a  round  tower  35  feet  hi^h 


224     FABLE  OF  CYRUS  TO  THE  lONIANS  AND  iEOLIANS.    Book  L 

for  they  practise  it  without  any  concealment.  The  dead  bodies 
are  covered  with  wax,  and  then  buried  in  the  ground. 

The  Magi  are  a  very  peculiar  race,  differing  entirely  from 
the  Egyptian  priests,  and  indeed  from  all  other  men  whatsoever. 
The  Egyptian  priests  make  it  a  point  of  religion  not  to  kill  any 
live  animals  except  those  which  they  offer  in  sacrifice.  The 
Magi,  on  the  contrary,  kill  animals  of  all  kinds  with  their  own 
hands,  excepting  dogs^  and  men.  They  even  seem  to  take  a 
delight  in  the  employment,  and  kill,  as  readily  as  they  do  other 
animals,  ants  and  snakes,  and  such  like  flying  or  creeping 
things.  However,  since  this  has  always  been  their  custom,  let 
them  keep  to  it.     I  return  to  my  former  narrative. 

141.  Immediately  after  the  conquest  of  Lydia  by  the  Per- 
sians, the  Ionian  and  iEolian  Greeks  sent  ambassadors  to  Cyrus 
at  Sardis,  and  prayed  to  become  his  lieges  on  the  footing  which 
they  had  occupied  under  Croesus.  Cyrus  listened  attentively 
to  their  proposals,  and  answered  them  by  a  fable.  "  There  was 
a  certain  piper,"  he  said,  "  w4io  was  walking  one  day  by  the  sea- 
side, w4ien  he  espied  some  fish ;  so  he  began  to  pipe  to  them, 
imagining  they  would  come  out  to"  him  upon  the  land.  But  as 
he  found  at  last  that  his  hope  was  vain,  he  took  a  net,  and  en- 
closing a  great  draught  of  fishes,  drew  them  ashore.  The  fish 
then  began  to  leap  and  dance ;  but  the  piper  said,  '  Cease  your 
dancing  now,  as  you  did  not  choose  to  come  and  dance  when  I 
piped  to  you.' "  Cyrus  gave  this  answer  to  the  lonians  and 
^olians,  because,  when  he  urged  them  by  his  messengers  to 
revolt  from  Croesus,  they  refused ;  but  now,  when  his  work  was 
done,  they  came  to  offer  their  allegiance.  It  was  in  anger, 
therefore,  that  he  made  them  this  reply.  The  lonians,  on 
hearing  it,  set  to  work  to  fortify  their  towns,  and  held  meetings 
at  the  Panionium,*^  which  were  attended  by  all  excepting  the 
Milesians,  with  whom  Cyrus  had  concluded  a  separate  treaty, 
by  which  he  allowed  them  the  terms  they  had  formerly  ob- 


without  any  doorway  or  other  entrance,  where  there  is  an  open  space  left  for  the 

Here  the  Guebres  deposited  their  dead  purpose. 

by  nieans  of  a  ladder,  and  left  them  to  ^  The  dog  is  represented  in  the  Zen- 
be  devoured  by  the  crows,  which  were  davesta  as  the  special  animal  of  Ormazd^ 
to  be  seen  in  large  numbers  about  the  and  is  still  regarded  with  peculiar  reve- 
place.  (Voyage  en  Perse,  tom.  ii.  p.  186.)  rence  by  the  Parsees.  On  one  of  the 
Such  towers  exist  throughout  India,  magnificent  tombs  at  the  Chehl-Minar, 
wherever  the  Par.iees  are  numerous,  of  which  Chardiu  has  given  an"  accurate 
The  bodies  are  laid  on  iron  bars  sloping  drawing  (plate  68),  a  row  of  dogs  is  the 
inwards.  When  the  flesh  is  gone,  the  ornament  of  the  entablature, 
bones  slip  through  between  the  bars,  or  ^  Infra,  ch.  148,  note  *. 
sliding  down  them  fall  in  at  the  centre, 


Chak  110-142. 


IONIAN  DiAr.EGTS. 


2-2n 


tained  from    Croosus.     The   other   loniaiis   resolved,  witli    one 
accord,  to  send  ambassadors  to  Sparta  to  implore  assistance. 

142.  Now  the  lonians  of  Asia,  who  meet  at  the  Panioninm, 
have  bnilt  tlvm-  cities  in  a  region  where  the  air  and  climate  are 
tlie  most  beantiful  in  tlie  whole  world :  for  no  other  region  is 
equally  blessed  with  Ionia,  neither  above  it  nor  below  it,  nor 
east  nor  west  of  it.  For  in  otlier  countries  eitlier  the  climate  is 
over  cold  and  damp,  or  else  the  heat  and  drought  are  sorely 
oppressive.  The  lonians  do  not  all  speak  the  same  language, 
but  use  in  different  places  four  different  dialects.  Towards  tlie 
south  their  first  city  is  Miletus,  next  to  which  lie  Myus  and 
Priene ;'  all  these  three  are  in  Caria  and  have  the  same  dialect. 
Their  cities  in  Lydia  are  the  following :  Epliesus,  Colophon, 
Lebedus,  Teos,  Clazomena),  and  Plioca^a.^  The  inhabitants  of 
these  towns  have  none  of  the  peculiarities  of  speech  which 
belong  to  the  three  first-named  cities,  but  use  a  dialect  of  their 
own.  There  remain  three  other  Ionian  towns,  two  situate  in 
isles,  namely,  Samos  and  Chios ;  and  one  upon  the  mainland 
w^luch  IS  Erythra^.  Of  these  Chios  and  Erythr^  have  the  same 
dialect,  whde  Samos  possesses  a  language  peculiar  to  itself.^ 
Such  are  the  four  varieties  of  wliich  I  spoke. 


^  Miletus,  Myus,  and  Priene  all  lay 
near  the  niontli  of  the  Ma3ander  (the 
modern   Mendere).      At   their   original 
colonisation    they   were    all    maritime 
cities.     Miletus  stood  at  the  northern 
extremity  of  a  promontory  formed  by 
tlie  mountain-range  called  Grius,  com- 
manding the  entrance  of  an  extensive 
bay  which  wasbed  the  hase  of  the  four 
mountains,  Grius,  Latmus,  and  Titanus, 
south  of  tlie  Maeander,   and  Mycale,  a 
continuation  of  the  great  range  of  Mes- 
sogis.  north  of  that  stream.     This  bay, 
called  the   bay  of  Latmus,  was  about 
25  miles  in   its   greatest  length,  from 
near   Latmus   to    Priene'.      Its   depth, 
from   Miletus   to  Myus,   was    above   5 
miles.    Myus  stood  nearly  in  the  centre 
of  the   bay,  at   the    foot   of  Titanus; 
Priene,  at  its  northern  extremity,  under 
the  hill  of  Mycale.     Into  this  bay  the 
Moeander  poured   its   waters,   and   the 
consequence  was  the  perpetual  forma- 
tion of  fresh  land.     (Vide  infr^,  ii.  10, 
where     Herodotus     notes     the     fact.) 
Priene,    by   the   time    of    Strabo,    was 
40  stadia  (4-*-  miles)  from  the  sea  (xii. 
p.  827).     Myus  had  been  rendered  un- 
inhabitable  by  the  growth  of  the  allu- 
vium,  forming  hollows  in  its  vicinity. 

Vol.  1. 


where    the    stagnant    water    generated 
swarms   of  mosquitoes  (Strab.  xiv    p 
912;   Pausan.  vii.  ii.  §  7).     Since 'the 
time  of  thes6  geographers  the  changes 
have  been  even  more  astonishing      The 
soil  brought  down  by  the  Meander  has 
filled   up   the   whole   of   the   northern 
portion   of  the  gulf,   so   that  Miletus 
Myus,   and   Priene   now  stand    on    the 
outskirts  of  a  great  alluvial  plain,  which 
extends  even  beyond  Miletus,   4  or  .") 
miles  seawards.     Lade,   and  the  other 
islands  which  lay  off  the  Milesian  shore 
are  become  j.art  of  the  continent,  risincr' 
like  the  rock  of  Dumbarton,  from  the" 
marshy  soil.     The  southern  portion  of 
the  gulf  of  Latmus  is  become  a  lake 
the  lake  of  Bafi,   which  is  now    7   or 
8   miles  from   the   sea   at   the   nearest 
point.      The    difference     between    the 
ancient  and  modern  geography  will  be 
best  seen  by  comparing  the  charts   (See 
pp.  226,  227.)  ^ 

^  These  cities  are  enumerated  in  the 
order  in  which  they  stood,  from  south 
to  north.  Erythra?  lay  on  the  coast 
opposite  Chios,  between  Teos  and  Cla- 
zomenop.  ♦^ 

^According    to    Suidas,    Herodotus 
emigrated  to  Samos   from   Halicarnas- 
Q 


226 


WEAKNESS  OF  THE  IONIC  RACE 


Book  T. 


143.  Of  tlie  loniaus  at  tiiis  period,  one  people,  tlie  Milesians, 
were  in  no  danger  of  attack,  as  Cyrus  had  received  them  into 
alliance.  The  islanders  also  had  as  yet  nothing  to  fear,  since 
Phoenicia  was  still  independent  of  Persia,  and  the  Persians 
themselves  were  not  a  seafaring  people.  The  Milesians  had 
separated  from  the  common  cause  solely  on  account  of  the  ex- 
treme weakness  of  the  lonians :  for,  feeble  as  the  power  of  the 
entire  Hellenic  race  \^as  at  that  time,  of  all  its  tribes  the  Ionic 
was  by  far  the  feeblest  and  least  esteemed,  not  possessing  a 
single  State  of  any  mark  excepting  Athens.  The  Athenians 
and  most  of  the  other  Ionic  States  over  the  world,  went  so  far 
in  their  dislike  of  the  name  as  actually  to  lay  it  aside ;   and 


JassiLS. 


Ancient. 


sus  on  account  of  the  tyranny  of  Lyg- 
clamis,  grandson  of  Artemisia,  and  there 
exchanged  his  native  Doric  for  the  Ionic 
dialect  in  which  he  composed  his  his- 
tory. If  this  account  be  true,  we  must 
consider  that  we  have  in  the  writings 
of  Herodotus  the  Samian  variety  of  the 
Ionic  dialect.  But  little  dependance 
can  be  placed  on  Suidas. 

^  The  old  Pelasgic  tribes,  when  once 
Hellenised,   were   apt  to   despise  their 


proper  ethnic  appellations.  As  with 
the  lonians,  so  it  was  with  the  Dryo- 
pians,  who  generally  contemned  their 
name,  as  Pausanias  tells  us  (iv.  xxxiv, 
§  6).  Here  again,  however,  there  was 
an  exception,  Asinjeans,  unlike  other 
Dryopians,  glorying  in  the  title  (ib.). 

2  The  Triopiura  was  built  on  a  pro- 
montory of  the  same  name  within  the 
territory  of  the  Cnidians.  It  has  been 
usual  to  identify  the  promontory  with 


Chap.  143,  144. 


DOKTC  IIEXAPOTJS. 


227 


even  at  the  present  day  the  greater  number  of  them  seem  to  me 
to  be  ashamed  of  it.^  But  the  twelve  cities  in  Asia  have  always 
gloried  in  tlie  appellation ;  they  gave  the  temple  which  they 
built  for  themselves  the  name  of  the  Panionium,  and  decreed 
that  it  should  not  be  open  to  any  of.  the  other  Ionic  States  ;  no 
State,  however,  except  Smyrna,  has  craved  admission  to  it. 

144.  In  the  same  way  the  Dorians  of  the  region  which  is 
now  called  the  Pentapolis,  but  which  was  formerly  known  as 
the  Doric  Hexapolis,  exclude  all  their  Dorian  neighbours  from 
their  temple,  the  Triopium  :^  nay,  they  have  even  gone  so  far 
as  to  shut  out  from  it  certain  of  their  own  body  who  were  guilty 
of  an  offence  against  the  customs  of  the  place.     In  the  games 


Modern. 


the  small  peninsula  (now  Cape  Krio) 
wliicb,  according  to  Strabo  (xiv.  p.  938), 
was  once  an  island,  and  was  afterwards 
joined  by  a  causeway  to  tbe  city  of 
Cnidus.  (See  Ionian  Antiq.  vol.  iii. 
p.  2.  Beaufort's  Karamania,  Map,  app. 
p.  81.  Texier,  A.sie  Mineure,  vol.  lii. 
plate  159.)  But  from  the  notice  con- 
tained in  Scylax  (Peiipl.  ]>.  91),  and 
from  the  narrative  in  Thucydides  (viii. 


35),  it  is  evident  that  the  Triopian  cape 
was  not  Cape  Krio,  on  which  stood  a 
part  of  the  town  of  Cnidus  (Strab. 
1.  s.  c.)j  but  a  promontory  further  to 
the  north,  probably  that  immediately 
above  Cape  Krio.  No  remains  of  the 
ancient  temple  have  yet  been  found, 
but  perhaps  the  coast  has  not  been 
sufficiently  explored  above*Cuidus. 

Q   2 


228 


TWELVE  CITIES  OF  ACH^A. 


"Book  I. 


which  were  anciently  celebrated  in  honour  of  the  Triopian 
Apollo,^  the  prizes  given  to  the  victors  were  tripods  of  brass  ; 
and  the  rule  was  that  these  tripods  should  not  be  carried  away 
from  the  temple,  but  should  then  and  there  be  dedicated  to  the 
god.  Now  a  man  of  Halicarnassus,  whose  name  was  Agasicles, 
being  declared  victor  in  the  games,  in  open  contempt  of  the 
law,  took  the  tripod  home  to  his  own  house  and  there  hung  it 
against  the  wall.  As  a  punishment  for  this  fault,  the  five  other 
cities,  Lindus,  lalyssus,  Cameirus,  Cos,  and  Cnidus,  deprived  the 
sixth  city,  Halicarnassus,  of  the  right  of  entering  the  temple.^ 

145.  The  lonians  founded  twelve  cities  in  Asia,  and  refused 
to  enlarge  the  number,  on  account  (as  I  imagine)  of  their 
havinp'  been  divided  into  twelve  States  when  thev  lived  in  the 


/'/•  Ti'ioptnin/  I 


fcT^^ 


/  Si  I  hour  —=^^^_ 


a 


3  An  inscription  found  at  Cnidus 
mentions  a  ^v\x.v!.ko%  a.-yu>v  as  occurring 
every  fifth  year.  (See  Hamilton's  Asia 
Minor,  vol.  ii.  p.  460.)  The  games  are 
said  to  have  been  celebrated  in  honour 
of  Neptune  and  the  Nymphs,  as  well  as 
of  Apollo.  (Schol.  ad  Theocr.  Id.  xvii. 
69.) 

"*  Lindus,  lalyssus,  and  Cameirus  were 
in  Rhodes  ;  Cos  was  on  the  island  of  the 
same  name,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ceramic 
Gulf.  Cnidus  and  Halicarnassus  were 
on  the  mainland,  the  former  near  to 
the  Triopium,  the  latter  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  Ceramic  Gulf,  on  the  site 


now  occupied  by  Boodroom.  These  six 
cities  formed  an  Amphictyony,  which 
held  its  meetings  at  the  temple  of 
Apollo,  called  the  Triopium,  near  Cni- 
dus, the  most  centi'al  of  the  cities. 
(Schol.  ad  Theocrit.  1.  s.  c.) 

There  were,  as  Herodotus  indicates, 
many  other  Doric  settlements  on  these 
coasts.  The  principal  appear  to  have 
been  Myndus  and  lassus  to  the  north, 
and  Phaselis  to  the  east,  upon  the  con- 
tinent, Carpathus  and  Syme',  on  their 
respective  islands.  Concerning  the  site 
of  Phaselis,  vide  infra,  ii.  178,  note. 


Chap.  144-146.      ORIGINAL  TOPULATION  OF  IONIA.  229 

Peloponnese ;  '^  just  as  the  AcLaeans,  who  drove  them  out,  are  at 
the  present  clay.  The  first  city  of  tlie  AchaDans  after  Sicyon,  is 
Pellene,  next  to  which  are  JEgeiva,  Mgse  upon  the  Crathis,  a 
stream  which  is  never  dry,  and  from  which  the  Italian  Crathis^ 
received  its  name, — Bura,  Helice— where  the  lonians  took  re- 
fuge on  their  defeat  by  the  Achoean  invaders, — iEgium,  Khypes, 
Patreis,  Phareis,  Olenus  on  the  Peirus,  which  is  a  large  river, — 
Dyme  and  Trita3eis,  all  sea-port  towns  except  the  last  two, 
which  lie  up  the  country. 

14G.  These  are  the  twelve  divisions  of  what  is  now  Achaea, 
and  was  formerly  Ionia ;  and  it  was  owing  to  their  coming  from 
a  country  so  divided  that  the  lonians,  on  reaching  Asia,  founded 
their  twelve  States :  ^  for  it  is  the  height  of  folly  to  maintain 
that  these  lonians  are  more  Ionian  than  the  rest,  or  in  any  re- 
spect better  born,  since  the  truth  is  that  no  small  portion  of 
them  were  Abantians  from  Euboea,  who  are  not  even  lonians  in 
name ;  and,  besides,  there  were  mixed  up  with  the  emigration, 
Minyae  from  Orchomenus,  Cadmeians,  Dryopians,  Phocians  from 
the  several  cities  of  Pliocis,  Molossians,  Arcadian  Pelasgi, 
Dorians  from  Epidaurus,  and  many  other  distinct  tribes.^ 
Even  those  who  came  from  the  Prytaneum  of  Athens,^  and 
reckon  themselves  the  purest  lonians  of  all,  brought  no  wives 

^  According  to  the  common  tradition,     (whether  they   moved    northwards   or 

the  Achxans,  expelled  by  the  Dorians  southwards)   formed    their    later   cou- 

from   Argolis,    Laconia,  and   Messenia,  fedei-acy  of  the  same  number  of  cities 

at  the  time  of  the  return  of  the  Hera-  as  their  earlier  (Livy,  v.  33). 
cleids  (B.C.  1104  in  the  ordinary  chro-         ^  The  Orchomenian  Minyse  founded 

nology),  retired   northwards,    and   ex-  Teos  (Pausan.   vii.  iii.  §  7),  the  Pho- 

pelled  the  lonians  from  their  country,  cians  Phocsea  (ibid.).     Abantians  from 

which  became   the   Achsea   of  history.  Euboea  were  mingled  with  lonians  in 

(Vide  infra,  vii.  94.)  Chios   (Ion.  ap.   Pausan.  vii.  iv.  §  6). 

^  The  Italian    Crathis  ran   close  by  Cadmeians  formed  a  large   proportion 

our   author's    adopted    city,    Thurium  of  the   settlers   at   Priene,  which  was 

(infra,  v.  45,  Strab.  vi.  p.  378).  sometimes   called    Cadme'    (Strab.    xiv. 

7  It   may  be   perfectly  true,  as  has  p.  912).     Attica  had  served  as  a  refuge 

been  argued  by  Raoul-Kochette  (torn,  to    fugitives    from    all    quarters    (see 

iii.  p.  83)  and  Mr.  Grote  (vol.  iii.  part  Thucyd.  i.  2). 

ii.  ch.  xiii.),  that  the  Ionic  colonisation         ^  This  expression  alludes  to  the  so- 

of  Asia   Minor,    instead   of  being   the  lemnities  which  accompanied  the  send- 

result  of  a  single   great   impulse,   was  ing  out  of  a  colony.    In  the  Prytaneum, 

the   consequence    of    a   long    series   of  or  Government-house,  of  each  state  was 

distinct  and  isolated  efforts  on  the  part  preserved   the   sacred   fire,  which  was 

of  many  different  states  ;  and  yet  there  never  allowed  to  go  out,  whereon  the 

may  be  the  connexion  which  Herodotus  life  of  the  State  was  supposed  to  depend, 

indicates  between  the  twelve  cities  of  When  a  colony  took  its  departure,  the 

Achrca  and  the  twelve  states  of  Asiatic  leaders   went  in  solemn  procession   to 

lonians.      The    sacred   number   of  the  the  Prytaneum  of  the  mother  city,  and 

lonians  may  have  been  twelve,  and  no  took  fresh  fire  from  the  sacred  hearth, 

other  number  may  have  been  thought  which  was  conveyed  to  the  Prytaneum 

to   constitute   a  perfect  Amphictyony.  of  the  new  settlement. 
In  the  same  way  the  Etruscans  in  Italy 


230 


lONIANS  A  MIXED  l^ACE. 


Book  I. 


with  them  to  the  new  country,  but  married  Carian  girls,  whose 
fathers  they  had  slain.  Hence  these  women  made  a  law,  which 
they  bound  themselves  by  an  oatli  to  observe,  and  which  they 
handed  down  to  their  claughters  after  them,  "  That  none  shouJd 
ever  sit  at  meat  with  her  husband,  or  call  him  by  his  name ;" 
because  the  invaders  slew  their  fathers,  their  husbands,  and  their 
sons,  and  then  forced  them  to  become  their  wives.  It  was  at 
Miletus  that  these  events  took  place. 

147.  The  kings,  too,  whom  they  set  over  them,  were  either 
Lycians,  of  the  blood  of  Glaucus,^  son  of  Hippolochus,  or  Pylian 
Caucons  ^  of  the  blood  of  Codrus,  son  of  Melanthus ;  or  else  from 
both  those  families.  But  since  these  loniaus  set  more  store  by 
the  name  than  any  of  the  others,  let  them  pass  for  the  pure- 
bred lonians ;  though  truly  all  are  lonians  who  have  their  origin 
from  Athens,  and  keep  the  Apaturia.^  This  is  a  festival  which 
all  the  lonians  celebrate,  except  the  Ephesians  and  the  Colo- 
phonians,  whom  a  certain  act  of  bloodshed  excludes  from  it. 

148.  The  Panionium  ^  is  a  place  in  Mycale,  facing  the  north. 


1  See  Horn.  II.  ii.  876. 

2  The  Caucons  ai^e  reckoned  by  Strabo 
among  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Greece, 
and  associated  with  the  Pelasgi,  Leleges, 
and  Dryopes  (vii.  p.  465).  Like  their 
kindred  tribes,  they  were  very  widely 
spread.  Their  chief  settlements,  how- 
evei-,  appear  to  have  been  on  the  north 
coast  of  Asia  Minor,  between  the  Marian- 
dynians  and  the  river  Parthenius  (Strab. 
xii,  p.  785),  and  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
Peloponuese  in  Messenia,  Elis,  and  Tri- 
phylia.  (Sti'ab.  viii.  pp.  496-7;  Arist. 
Fr.  185.)  In  this  last  position  they 
are  mentioned  by  Homer  (Od.  iii.  o66) 
and  by  Herodotus,  both  here,  and  in 
Book  iv.  ch.  148.  Homer  probably 
alludes  to  the  eastern  Caucons  in  II.  x. 
429,  and  xx.  329.  They  continued  to 
exist  under  the  nanie  of  Cauconitge,  or 
Cauconiatee,  in  Sti'abo's  time,  on  the 
Parthenius  (comp.  viii.  p.  501,  and  xii. 
p.  786),  and  are  even  mentioned  by 
Ptolemy  (v.  1)  as  still  inhabiting  the 
same  region.  From  the  Peloponiiese 
the  race  had  entirely  disappeared  wlien 
Strabo  wrote,  but  had  left  their  name 
to  the  river  Caucou,  a  small  stream  in 
the  north-western  corner  of  the  penin- 
sula.    (Strab.  viii.  496.) 

^  The  Apaturia  (a(  =  a/xa)  -narvpia) 
was  the  solemn  annual  meeting  of  the 
])]n-atries,  for  the  purpose  of  register- 
ing the  children  of  the  pi-oceding  year 


whose  birth  entitled  them  to  citizen- 
ship. It  took  place  in  the  month 
Pyauepsion  (November),  and  lasted 
three  days.  On  tlie  first  day,  called 
AopTTJo,  the  members  of  each  phratrj'' 
either  dined  together  at  the  Phratrium, 
or  were  feasted  at  the  house  of  some 
wealthy  citizen.  On  the  second  day 
{avappvais),  solenui  sacrifice  was  offered 
to  Jupiter  Phratrius.  After  these  pre- 
liminaries, on  the  third  day  (KovpecoTis) 
the  business  of  the  festival  toc^k  place. 
Claims  were  made,  objections  were 
heard,  and  the  registration  was  effected. 
(See  Larcher's  note,  vol.  i.  pp.  42U-2, 
and  Smith's  Diet,  of  Antiquities,  in  voc. 
'ATraroupia.) 

''  Under  the  name  of  Panionium  are 
included  both  a  tract  of  ground  and  a 
temple.  It  is  the  former  of  Avhich 
Herodotus  here  speaks  particularh%  as 
the  place  in  which  the  great  Pan-Ionic 
festival  was  held.  The  spot  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  promontory  of  Mycale', 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  three  stadia 
(about  a  third  of  a  mile)  from  the  shore 
(Strab.  xiv.  p.  916).  The  modern  vil- 
lage of  Tclw.ngli  is  supposed,  witli  reason, 
to  occupy  the  site.  It  is  the  only  place 
on  that  steep  and  mountainous  coast 
where  an  opening  for  a  temple  occurs; 
and  liere  in  a  churcli  on  the  sea-shore 
Sir  W.  Gell  found  an  inscription  in 
which  tlic  word  '•'Panionium"  occurred 


Chap.  14G-150.       TWELVE  CITIES  OF  THE  ^OLIANS. 


231 


which  .was  chosen  by  the  common  voice  of  the  lonians  and  made 
sacred  to  Heliconian  Neptune.*^  Mycale  itself  is.  a  promontory 
.of  the  mainland,  stretching  out  westward  towards  -Samos,  in 
Avhich  the  lonians  assemble  from  all  their  States  to  keep  the 
feast  of  the  Panionia.*^  The  names  of  festivals,  not  only  among 
the  lonians  but  among  all  the  Greeks,  end,  like  the  Persian 
proper  names,  in  one  and  the  same  letter. 

149.  The  above-mentioned,  then,  are  the  twelve  towns  of  the 
lonians.  Tlie  iEolic  cities  are  the  following :— Cyme,  called 
also  Phriconis,  Larissa,  Neonteichns,  Temnus,  Cilia,  Notium, 
iEgiroessa,  Pitane,  ililgiea),  Myrina,  and  Gryneia.'  These  are 
the  eleven  ancient  cities  of  the  iEolians.  Originally,  indeed, 
they  had  twelve  cities  npon  the  mainland,  like  the  lonians,  but 
the  lonians  deprived  them  of  Smyrna,  one  of  the  number.  The 
soil  of  iEolis  is  better  than  that  of  Ionia,  but  the  climate  is  less 
agreeable. 

150.  The  folloAving  is  the  way  in  which  the  loss  of  Smyrna 
happened.     Certain  men  of  Colophon  had  been  engaged  in  a 


twice.  (Leake's  Asia  Minor,  p.  260.) 
The  Paiiiouiuui  was  in  the  territory  of 
I'l'iene,  and  consequently  under  the 
guardianship  of  that  state. 

^  Heliconian  Neptune  was  so  called 
from  Helice,  which  is  mentioned  above 
among  the  ancient  Ionian  cities  in  the 
Pi'lopounese  (ch.  145).  This  had  been 
the  central  point  of  the  old  confe- 
deracy, and  the  temple  there  had  been 
in  old  times  their  place  of  meeting. 
Pavisanias  calls  it  ayidoraTOu  (vil.  xxiv. 
§  4).  The  temple  at  Mvcale  in  the 
new  Ami)hictyony  occupied  the  place 
of  that  at  Heiice  in  the  old.  (Comp. 
Clitophon,  Fr.  5.)    , 

^  It  is  remarkable  that  Thucydides, 
wi'itiiig  so  shortly  after  Herodotus, 
should  speak  of  tlie  Pan-Ionic  festival 
at  Mycale  as  no  longer  of  any  im- 
portance, and  regard  it  as  practically 
superseded  by  the  festrval  of  the  Ephe- 
sia,  held  near  Ephesus  (iii.  104).  Still 
the  old  feast  continued,  and  was  cele- 
brated as  late  as  the  time  of  Augustus 
(iStrabo,  xiv.  p.  916). 

■^  In  tliis  enumeration  Herodotus  does 
not  observe  any  regular  ordei%  Pro- 
ceediug  from  south  to  north,  the  ^olic 
cities  (so  far  as  they  can  be  located 
with  any  certainty)  occur  in  the  fol- 
lowing sequence:  —  Smyrna,  Temnus, 
Neonteichns,  Larissa,  Cyme',  ^gse, 
Myrina.    Gryneium,    Pitane.      Five   of 


these,  Pitane,  Gryneium,  Myrina,  Cyme, 
and  Smyrna,  were  upon  the  coast.  The 
others  lay  inland. 

^giroessa  is  not  mentioned  by  any 
author  but  Herodotus,  and  Stephen, 
quoting  him.  Herodotus,  on  the  other 
hand,  omits  Eliea,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Caicus,  which  Strabo  and  Stephen 
mention  as  one  of  the  principal  iEolian 
cities.  Possibly  therefore  ^giroessa  is 
another  name  for  Elsea. 

-cEolis,  according  to  this  view,  reached 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Evenus  (the 
modei-n  Komh)  to  the  interior  recess 
of  the  bay  of  Smyrna.  There  was  an 
interruption,  however,  in  the  coast  line, 
as  the  Ionic  colony  of  Phoca'a  intervened 
between  Smyrna  and  Cyme.  Still  in  all 
probability  the  territory  was  continuous 
inland,  reaching  across  the  plain  of  the 
Hermus ;  Larissa  to  the  north  and  Tem- 
nus to  the  south  of  the  Hermus  forming 
the  links  which  connected  Smyrna  with 
the  rest  of  the  Amphictyony.  (See 
Kiepert's  Supplementary  Maps,  Berlin, 
1851.) 

The  territory  was  a  narrow  strip  along 
the  sljores  of  the  Elreitic  Gulf,  but  ex- 
tended inland  considerably  up  the  rich 
valleys  of  the  Hermus  and  Caicus  ;  Per- 
gamus  in  the  one  valley,  and  Magnesia 
(under  Sipylur?)  in  the  other,  being  in- 
cluded witliin  the  limits  of  ./Eolis. 


232  IONIAN  EMBASSY  TO  SPARTA.  Book  I. 

sedition  there,  and  being  tlie  weaker  party,  were  driven  by  the 
others  into  banishment.  The  Smyrnaeans  received  the  fugitives, 
who,  after  a  time,  watching  their  opportunity,- while  the  inhabi- 
tants were  celebrating  a  feast  to  Bacchus  outside  the  Avails,  shut 
to  the  gates,  and  so  got  possession  of  the  town.^  The  ^olians 
of  the  other  States  came  to  their  aid,  and  terms  w^ere  agreed  on 
between  the  parties,  the  lonians  consenting  to  give  up  all  the 
moveables,  and  the  ^olians  making  a  surrender  of  the  place. 
The  expelled  Smyrneeans  were  distributed  among  the  other 
States  of  the  ^Eolians,  and  were  everyAvhere  admitted  to  citizen- 
ship. 

151.  These,  then,  were  all  the  ^olic  cities  upon  the  main- 
land, with  the  exception  of  those  about  Mount  Ida,  which  made 
no  part  of  this  confederacy.'^  As  for  the  islands,  Lesbos  contains 
five  cities.^  Arisba,  the  sixth,  was  taken  by  the  Methymnaeans, 
their  kinsmen,  and  the  inhabitants  reduced  to  slavery.  Tenedos 
contains  one  city,  and  there  is  another  which  is  built  on  what 
are  called  the  Hundred  Isles.^  The  ^olians  of  Lesbos  and 
Tenedos,  like  the  Ionian  islanders,  had  at  this  time  nothing  to 
fear.  The  other  Cohans  decided  in  their  common  assembly 
to  follow  the  lonians,  whatever  course  they  should  pursue. 

1 52.  When  the  deputies  of  the  lonians  and  iEolians,  who  had 
journeyed  with  all  speed  to  Sparta,  reached  the  city,  they  chose 
one  of  their  number,  Pytliermus,  a  Phocaean,  to  be  their  spokes- 
man. In  order  to  draw  together  as  large  an  audience  as  pos- 
sible, he  clothed  himself  in  a  purple  garment,  and  so  attired 
stood  forth  to  speak.  In  a  long  discourse  he  besought  the 
Spartans  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  his  countrymen,  but  they 
were  not  to  be  persuaded,  and  voted  against  sending  any 
succour.  The  deputies  accordingly  went  their  way,  while  the 
Lacedaemonians,  notwithstanding   the  refusal  which   they  had 


^  Such  treachery  was  not  without  a  a   vast    nixmber    of    cities,    of    which 

parallel  in  ancient  times.      Herodotus  Assus   and   Antandrus  were  the  chief, 

relates  a  similar  instance  in  the  conduct  This  district  was  mainly  colonised  from 

of  the  Samians,  who,  when  invited  by  Lesbos.     (Pausan.  vi.  iv.  §  5;    Strabo, 

the  Zancla-ansto  join  them  in  colouising  xiii.  pp.  885,  892.) 

Cale  Acte,  finding  Zancle'  undefended,  ^  The' five  Lesbian  cities  were,  Myti- 

seized  dt,   and   took   it   for   their  own  lene,  Methymna,   Antissa,   Eresus,  and 

(infra,  vi,  23).  Pyrrha.     (Scylax.  Peripl.  p.  87  ;  Strabo, 

•'The   district    here    indicated,    and  xiii.  pp.  885-7.) 
commonly  called  the  Troad,  extended         -  These   islands  lay  off  the  pronion- 

from    Adramyttinm    on    tlie    south   to  tory  which  separated  the  bay  of  Atar- 

Priapus  on  the  north,  a  city  lying  on  neus  from  that  of  Adiamyttium,  oppo- 

the    Propontis,    nearly    due    north    of  site  to  the  northern  part  of  the  island 

Adramyttinm.      Tt    was    nuich    lai-gei"  of  Lesbos.     They  are  said  to  be  nearly 

than  the  pi'oper  ^olis,  and  contained  forty  in  number.     (F.jihr  in  loc.) 


Chap.  1o0-1o3.     CYllUS  AND  THE  SPARTAN  HEKALDS. 


233 


given  to  the  prayer  of  the  deputation,  despatched  a  pente- 
conter  ^  to  the  Asiatic  coast  with  certain  Spartans  on  board,  for 
the  purpose,  as  I  think,  of  watching  Cyrus  and  Ionia.  .These 
men,  on  their  arrival  at  Phocsea,  sent  to  Sardis  Lacrines,  the 
most  distinguished  of  their  number,  to  prohibit  Cyrus,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  from  offering  molestation  to  any 
city  of  Grreece,  since  they  would  not  allow  it. 

153.  Cyrus  is  said,  on  hearing  the  speech  of  the  herald, 
to  have  asked  some  Greeks  who  were  standing  by,  "  Who  these 
LacedaGmonians  were,  and  what  was  their  number,  that  they 
dared  to  send  him  such  a  notice?"^  When  he  had  received 
their  reply,  he  turned  to  the  Spartan  herald  and  said,  "  I  have 
never  yet  been  afraid  of  any  men,  who  have  a  set  place  in  the 
middle  of  their  city,  where  they  come  together  to  cheat  each 
other  and  forswear  themselves.  If  I  live,  the  Spartans  shall 
have  troubles  enough  of  their  own  to  talk  of,  without  concerning 
themselves  about  the  lonians."  Cyrus  intended  these  words  as 
a  reproach  against  all  the  Greeks,  because  of  their  having 
market-places  where  tliey  buy  and  sell,  which  is  a  custom 
unknown  to  the  Persians,  who  never  make  purchases  in  open 
marts,  and  indeed  have  not  in  their  whole  country  a  single 
market-place.^ 

3  Penteconters   were  ships  -with  fifty      representation   is   from    the    palace    of 
rowers,  twenty-five  of  a  side,  who  sat      tliat  monarch  at  Kouyunjik.     Triremes 

level,   as   is   customaiy   in   row-      are  said  to  have    been  invented  about 

a  century  and  a  half  before  Cyrus  by 


boats  at  the  present  day.  Biremes 
(diripeLs),  triremes  {TpL-fjpeis),  Sec,  were 
ships  in  which  the  rowers  sat  in  ranks 


the    Corinthians    (Thucyd.    i.   13),   but 
were  for  a  long  time  verv  little  used. 


some  above  the  others.     Biremes  were  The   navy    of  Polycrates    consisted   of 

probably  a  Phoenician  invention.    They  penteconters,     (Vide  infra,  iii.  o9.) 

were  certainly  known  to  the  Assyrians  •*  Compare  v.  7.{  and  105. 

in  the  time   of   Sennacherib,  probably  '"'  Markets  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 

through  that    people.      The   subjoined  word   are   istill  unknown   in   the  East, 


234  ]IEY0LT  OF  SARDIS.  Book  I. 

After  this  interview  Cyrus  quitted  Sardis,  leaving  the  city 
under  the  charge  of  Tabalus,  a  Persian,  but  aj)pointing  Pactyas, 
a  native,  to  collect  the  treasure  belonging  to  Crcjesus  and  the 
other  Lydians,  and  bring  it  after  him.^  Cyrus  himself  pro- 
ceeded towards  Agbatana,  carrying  Croesus  along  with  him,  not 
regarding  the  lonians  as  important  enough  to  be  his  immediate 
object.  Larger  designs  were  in  his  mind.  He  wished  to  war  in 
person  against  Babylon,  the  Bactrians,  the  Saca?,"^  and  Egypt; 
he  therefore  determined  to  assign  to  one  of  his  generals  the  task 
of  conquering  the  lonians. 

154.  No  sooner,  however,  was  Cyrus  gone  from  Sardis  tlian 
Pactyas  induced  his  countrymen  to  rise  in  open  revolt  against 
him  and  his  deputy  Tabalus.  With  the  vast  treasures  at  his 
disposal  he  then  went  down  to  the  sea,  and  employed  them  in 
hiring  mercenary  troops,  while  at  the  same  time  he  engaged  the 
people  of  the  coast  to  enrol  themselves  in  his  army.  He  then 
marched  upon  Sardis,  where  he  besieged  Tabalus,  who  shut 
himself  up  in  the  citadel. 

155.  When  Cyrus,  on  his  way  to  Agbatana,  received  these 
tidings,  he  turned  to  CrcBsus  and  said,  "  Where  will  all  this  end, 
Croesus,  thinkest  thou  ?  It  seemeth  that  these  Lydians  will  not 
cease  to  cause  trouble  both  to  themselves  and  others.     I  doubt 


where  the  bazaars,  wliich  are  collections  their  subjection  as  taking  place  between 

of  shops,  take  their  place.    The  Persiaus  the  Lydian  and    the  Babylonian  wars, 

of  the  nobler  class  would  neither  buy  (Vide  infra,  ch.  177.)     Bactria  may  be 

nor  sell  at  all,  since  they  would  be  sup-  regarded  as  fairly  represented    by  the 

plied  by  their  dependents  and  through  modern  Balkh.     The  SacaD  (Scyths)  are 

presents  with  all  that  they  required  for  more  difficult  to  locate  ;  it  only  appears 

the  common  purposes  of  life.  (Cf.  Strab.  that  their  country  bordered  upon  and 

XV.  p.  1042,   ayopccs  oiix  aivTovrai-  ovre  lay  beyond  Bactria.     Probably  the  six- 

yap  TrwXovaiu  ovr   couovvrai.)     Those  of  teen   years   which   intervened   between 

lower  rank  would   buy  at   the   shops,  the  capture  of  Sardis  (P..C.  554)  and  the 

which  were  not  allowed  in  the  Forum,  taking  of  Babylon  (B.C.  538)  were  oceu- 

or  public  place  of  meeting  (  Xen.  Cyrop.  pied  with  those  extensive  conquests  to 

I,  ii.  §  3).  the  north  and  north-east,  by  which  the 

^  Heeren  (As.  Nat.  i.  p.  338,  E.  T.)  Hyrcanians,  Parthians,  Sogdians,  Arians 

regards  this  as   the   appointment  of  a  of  Herat,  Sarangians,  Chorasmians,  Gan- 

native   satrap,   and   dates   the    division  darians,  &c.  (as  well  as  the  Bactrians 

of  offices,  which  (obtained  in  later  times,  and  the  Saca3),  were  brought  under  the 

from   the  very  beginning   of  the   con-  Persian  yoke.      At   least    there   is   no 

quests  of  Cyrus,   But  it  does  not  appear  reason  to  believe  these  tribes  to  have 

that  Pactyas  had  any  permanent  office,  formed  any  part  either  of  the  ancient 

He   was    to    collect    the   treasui'es    of  Persian  kingdom  (supra,  ch.  125)  or  of 

the  conquered  people,  and  bring  them  the  Median  empire, 

{koixIC^lv)  with  him  to  Ecbatana.    Taba-  [Pliny  (lib.  vi.  c.  23)  has  preserved  a 

lus  appears  to  have  been  left  the  sole  tradition  of  the  destruction  of  Capissa, 

governor  of  Sardis.  in  Capissene,  at  the  foot  of  the  Median 

''   Ctesias  placed  the  conquest  of  the  Caucasus  (Kafshdu,   in   the   district  of 

Bactrians  and  the  Sacsc  before  the  cap-  Koh'stdn,  north  of  Cabiil),  by  Cyrus  iu 

ture  of  Croesus  (Persic.  Excerpt.  §  2-4).  one  of  his  expeditions  to  the  eastward. 

}Ieroilotus    appears    to    have    i-egarded  — H.  C.  R.] 


Chap.  153-157.  CRCESUS'  ADVICE.  235 

me  if  it  were  not  best  to  sell  them  all  for  slaves.  Methinks 
what  I  have  now  done  is  as  if  a  man  were  to  '  kill  the  father 
and  then  spare  the  child.'  ^  Thou,  who  wert  something  more 
than  a  father  to  thy  people,  I  have  seized  and  carried  off,  and 
to  that  people  I  have  entrusted  their  city.  Can  I  then  feel 
surprise  at  their  rebellion?"  Thus  did  Cyrus  open  to  Crcesus 
his  thoughts ;  whereat  the  latter,  full  of  alarm  lest  Cyrus  should 
lay  Sardis  in  ruins,  replied  as  follows:  "Oh!  my  king,  thy 
words  are  reasonable ;  but  do  not,  I  beseech  thee,  give  full  vent 
to  thy  anger,  nor  doom  to  destruction  an  ancient  city,  guiltless 
alike  of  the  past  and  of  the  present  trouble.  I  caused  the  one, 
and  in  my  own  person  now  pay  the  forfeit.  Pactyas  has  caused 
the  other,  he  to  whom  thou  gavest  Sardis  in  charge ;  let  him 
bear  the  punishment.  Grant,  then,  forgiveness  to  the  Lydians, 
and  to  make  sure  of  their  never  rebelling  against  thee,  or 
alarming  thee  more,  send  and  forbid  them  to  keep  any  weapons 
of  war,  command  them  to-  wear  tunics  under  their  cloaks,  and 
to  put  buskins  upon  their  legs,  and  make  them  bring  up  their 
sons  to  cithern-playing,  harping,  and  shop-keeping.  So  wilt 
thou  soon  see  them  become  women  instead  of  men,  and  there 
will  be  no  more  fear  of  their  revolting  from  thee." 

156.  Crcesus  thought  the  Lydians  would  even  so  be  better  off 
than  if  they  were  sold  for  slaves,  and  therefore  gave  the  above 
advice  to  Cyrus,  knowing  that,  unless  he  brought  forward  some 
notable  suggestion,  he  would  not  be  able  to  persuade  him  to 
alter  his  mind.  He  was  likewise  afraid  lest,  after  escaping  the 
dauger  which  now  pressed,  the  Lydians  at  some  future  time 
might  revolt  from  the  Persians  and  so  bring  themselves  to  ruin. 
The  advice  pleased  Cyrus,  wiio  consented  to  forego  his  anger 
and  do  as  Croesus  had  said.  Thereupon  he  summoned  to  his 
presence  a  certain  Mede,  Mazares  by  name,  and  charged  him  to 
issue  orders  to  the  Lydians  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of 
Crcjesus'  discourse.  Further,  he  commanded  him  to  sell  for 
slaves  all  who  had  joined  the  Lydians  in  their  attack  upon 
Sardis,  and  above  aught  else  to  be  sure  that  he  brought 
Pactyas  with  him  alive  on  his  return.  Having  given  these 
orders  Cyrus  continued  his  journey  towards  the  Persian 
territory. 

157.  Pactyas,  when  news  came  of  the  near  approach  of  the 


^  The  licence  by  which  Cyrus  is  made      fevred  to,  see  Aristot.  Rhet.  ii.  21,  and 
to   (juote  the    Creek    poet   Stasiuus   is      Clem.  Al,  JStrom.  vi.  p.  7^7.) 
scarcely  defensible.     (For  tlie  line  re- 


236 


MAZARES  QUELLS  THE  INSURRECTION. 


Book  I. 


army  sent  against  him,  fled  in  terror  to  Cyme.  Mazares, 
therefore,  the  Median  general,  who  had  marched  on  Sardis  with 
a  detachment  of  the  army  of  Cyrus,  finding  on  his  arrival  that 
Tactyas  and  his  troo})s  were  gone,  immediately  entered  the 
town.  And  first  of  all  he  forced  the  Lydians  to  obey  the  orders 
of  his  master,  and  change  (as  they  did  from  that  time)  their 
entire  manner  of  living.^  Kext,  he  despatched  messengers  to 
Cyme,  and  required  to  have  Pactyas  delivered  up  to  him.  On 
this  the  Cymgeans  resolved  to  send  to  Branchida3  and  ask  the 
advice  of  the  god.  Branchid88^  is  situated  in  the  territory  of 
Miletus,  above  the  port  of  Panormus.  There  was  an  oracle 
there,  established  in  very  ancient  times,  w^hich  both  the  lonians 
and  zEolians  were  wont  often  to  consult. 

158.  Hither  therefore  the  Cyma3ans  sent  their  deputies  to 
make  inquiry  at  *the  shrine,  "  What  the  gods  would  like  them 
to  do  with  the  Lydian,  Pactyas?"  The  oracle  told  them,  in 
reply,  to  give  him  up  to  the  Persians.  With  this  answer  the 
messengers  returned,  and  the  people  of  Cyme  were  ready  to 


^  Mr.  Grote  (vol.  iv.  p.  268)  obsei-ves 
with  reason,  that  "the  convei-sation 
here  reported,  and  the  deUberate  plan 
for  enervating  the  Lydian  character  sup- 
posed to  be  pursued  by  Cyrus,  is  evi- 
dently an  hypothesis  to  explain  the  con- 
trast between  the  Lydians  whom  the 
Greeks  saw  before  them,  after  two  or 
three  generations  of  slavery,  and  the 
old  irresistible  horsemen  of  whom  they 
had  heard  in  fame."  This  is  far  better 
than,  with  Heeren  (As.  Nat.  vol.  i.  p. 
341),  to  regard  such  treatment  of  a  con- 
quered people  as  part  of  the  regular 
system  of  the  Persian  despotism. 

1  The  temple  of  Apollo  at  Branchida) 
and  the  port  Panormus  still  remain. 
The  former  is  twelve  miles  from  Miletus, 
nearly  due  south.  It  lies  near  the  shore, 
about  two  miles  inland  from  Cape  Mono- 
deadri.  It  is  a  magnificent  ruin  of  Ionic 
architecture.  Dr.  Chandler  says  of  it: 
"  The  memory  of  the  pleasure  which 
this  spot  aflbrded  me  will  not  be  soon 
or  easily  erased.  The  columns  yet  en- 
tire are  so  exquisitely  fine,  the  marble 
mass  s6  vast  and  noble,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible perhaps  to  conceive  greater  beauty 
and  majesty  of  ruin."  (Travels,  vol.  i. 
ch.  xliii.  p.  174.)  A  fine  view  of  the 
ruins  is  given  by  M.  Texier  (Asie  Mi- 
neure,  vol.  ii.  opp.  p.  32G),  and  a  tole- 
rable one  in  the  Ionian  antiquities  pub- 
lished by  the  Dilettanti  Society  (vol.  i. 
plate  2).     The  temple  appears  to  have 


been,  next  to  that  of  Diana  at  Ephesus, 
the  largest  of  the  Asiatic  fanes.  (See 
Leake's  Asia  Minor,  Notes,  p.  348.)  Only 
three  of  the  pillars  are  now  standing. 
(Texier,  vol.  i.  p.  45.) 


«oo  oo 

O    O    O   0  0 

O  0  0  o  o 

O  O  O  0  o 

P  0 

0  o 

B  O 

O  0 

0  0 

n 

p 

0  c 

o  o 

-~  1 

a  o 

! 

0  0 

a  0 

1 

O  0 

0  0 

0  0 

00 

1 

O  0 

0  o 

■■al 

O    1  O    O  0 

lOO        JO   3S  . 


Plan  of  the  Temple. 
Length,  304  feet;  breadth,  165  feet. 


The  port  of  Panormus  was  discovered 
by  Dr.  Chandler  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
temple.  "  In  descending  fx-om  the  moun- 
tain toward  the  gulf,"  he  says,  "  I  had 
remarked  in  the  sea  something  white, — 
and  going  afterwards  to  examine  it, 
found  the  remains  of  a. circular  pier  be- 
longing to  the  port,  which  was  called 
Panormus.  The  stones,  which  are  mar- 
ble, and  about  six  feet  in  diameter,  extenvi 
from  near  the  shore,  where  are  traces 
of  buildings."   (ib.  p.  173.) 


Chap.  157-100.       APJSTODICUS  AND  THE  ORACLE.  237 

surrender  liim  aceordinoly ;  lmt  as  they  were  preparino;  to  do  so, 
Aristodicus,  son  of  Heraclides,  a  citizen  of  distinction";  hindered 
them.  He  declared  that  he  distrusted  the  response,  and 
believed  that  the  messengers  had  reported  it  falsely ;  until  at 
last  another  embassy,  of  which  Aristodicus  himself  made  part, 
was  despatched,  to  repeat  the  former  inquiry  concerninc^ 
Pactyas.  "^ 

159.  On  their  arrival  at  the  shrine  of  the  god,  Aristodicus, 
speaking   on   behalf  of  the   whole   body,    thus   addressed   the 
oracle:   -'Oli!   king,  Pactyas  the  Lydian,   threatened   by   the 
Persians  with  a  violent  death,  has  come  to  us  for  sanctuary,  and 
lo,  they  ask  him  at  our  hands,  calling  upon  our  nation  to  deliver 
him  up.     Now,  thougli  we  greatly  dread  the  Persian  power,  yet 
have  we  not  been  bold  to  give  up  our  suppliant,  till  we  have 
certain  knowledge  of  thy  mind,  what  thou  wouldst  have  us  to 
do."     l^he  oracle  thus   questioned  gave   the   same   answer   as 
before,    bidding    them    surrender    Pactyas    to    the    Persians; 
Avliereupon  Aristodicus,  who  had  come  prepared  for  such  an 
answer,  proceeded  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  temple,  and  to 
take  all  tlie  nests  of  young  sparrows  and  other  birds  that  he 
could   find   about   the   building.     As   he   was   thus  employed, 
a  voice,  it  is  said,  came  forth  from  the  inner  sanctuary,   ad- 
dressing  Aristodicus   in  these  words:  "Most  impious  of  men, 
what  is  this  thou  hast  the  face   to   do?     Dost  thou  tear  my 
suppliants   from   my   temple?"      Aristodicus,    at   no    loss   for 
a   reply,   rejoined,   "  Oh,    king,  art  thou    so   ready   to  protect 
thy  suppliants,  and  dost  thou  command  the  Cym^ans  to  give 
up  a  suppliant?"     "Yes,"  returned  the  god,  ""l  do  command 
it,  that  so  for  the  impiety  you  may  the  sooner  perish,  and  not 
come  here  again  to  consult  my  oracle  about  the  surrender  of 
suppliants." 

160.  On  the  receipt  of  this  answer  the  Cymseans,  unwilling  to 
bring  the  threatened  destruction  on  themselves  by  giving'' up 
the  man,  and  afraid  of  having  to  endure  a  siege  if  "^they^'con- 
tinued  to  harbour  him,  sent  Pactyas  away  to  Mytileni  On  this 
Mazares  despatched  envoys  to  the  Mytilenseans  to  demand  the 
fugitive  of  them,  and  they  were  preparing  to  give  him  up  for  a 
reward  (I  cannot  say  with  certainty  how  large,  as  the  l^argain 
was  not  completed),  when  the  Cyma^ans,  hearing  what^the 
Mytilenaeans  were  about,  sent  a  vessel  to  Lesbos,  and  conveyed 
away  Pactyas  to  Chios.  From  hence  it  was  that  he  was 
surrendered.     The   Chians   dragged   him    from   the   temple   of 


238  PACTYAS  SURRENDERED  BY  THE  CHIANS.         Book  T. 

Minerva  Poliiiehns^  and  gave  him  up  to  the  Persians,  on  con- 
dition of  receiving  the  district  of  Atarneus,  a  tract  of  JMysia 
opposite  to  Lesbos,^  as  the  price  of  the  surrender/  Thus  did 
Pact y as  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  pursuers,  who  kept  a  strict 
watch  upon  him,  that  they  might  be  able  to  produce  him  before 
Cyrus.  For  a  long  time  afterwards  none  of  the  Ghians  would 
use  the  barley  of  Atarneus  to  place  on  the  heads  of  victims,  or 
make  sacrificial  cakes  of  the  corn  grown  there,  but  the  whole 
produce  of  the  land  was  excluded  from  all  their  temples. 

161.  Meanwhile  Mazares,  after  he  had  recovered  Pactyas 
from  the  Chians,  made  war  upon  those  who  had  taken  part  in 
the  attack  on  Tabalus,  and  in  the  first  place  took  Priene  and 
sold  the  inhabitants  for  slaves,  after  which  he  overran  the 
whole  plain  of  the  Mseander  and  the  district  of  Magnesia,^  both 
of  which  he  gavfe  up  for  pillage  to  the  soldiery.  He  then  sud- 
denly sickened  and  died. 

162.  Upon  his  death  Harpagus  was  sent  down  to  the  coast  to 
succeed  to  his  command.  He  also  was  of  the  race  of  the  Medes, 
being  the  man  whom  the  Median  king,  Astyages,  feasted  at  the 
unholy  banquet,  and  who  lent  his  aid  to  place  Cyrus  upon  the 
throne.  Appointed  by  Cyrus  to  conduct  the  war  in  these  parts, 
he  entered  Ionia,  and  took  the  cities  by  means  of  mounds. 
Forcing  the  enemy  to  shut  themselves  up  within  their  defences, 
he  heaped  mounds  of  earth  against  their  walls,^  and  thus  carried 

2  That  is,  "Minerva,  Guardian  of  the  loc),  to  dispute  the  veracity  of  Charon, 
citadel,"  which  was  the  ttSMs  (/car'  Charon  wrote — " Pactyas,  when  he  heard 
e|oxV)  of  each  city.  Not  only  at  of  the  apj^roach  of  the  Persian  army,  fled 
Athens,  but  among  the  Ionian  cities  first  to  Mytilene,  afterwards  to  Chios, 
generally,  there  was  a  temple  of  Minerva  Cyrus  however  obtained,  possession  of 
['AB^wq)  within  the  precincts  of  the  him."  A  man  might  write  so,  believing 
Acropolis.  Homer  even  puts  one  in  the  all  that  Herodotus  relates.  See  Mr. 
citadel  of  Hium.     (Iliad,  vi.  297.)  Grote's  note  (vol.  iv.  p.  270). 

3  Atarneus  lay  to  the  north  of  the  ^  Kot  Magnesia  vnder  Sipijh's,  but 
jEolis  of  Herodotus,  almost  exactly  op-  Magnesia  (m  the  Mxandcr,  one  of  the  few 
posite  to  Mytilene'.  There  was  a  town  ancient  Greek  settlements  situated  far 
of  the  same  name  within  the  territory,  inland.  Its  site  is  the  modern  Inek- 
Its  vicinity  to  the  river  Caicus  is  indi-  bazar  (not  Guzel-hissar,  as  Chandler 
cated  below  (vi.  28),  .It  continued  in  supposed,  which  is  Tralles)  on  the  north 
later  times  to  be  Chian  territory.  (See  side  of  the  Mseander,  about  one  mile 
the  story  of  Hermotimus,  viii.  106,  and  and  a  half  from  it,  and  thirty  miles  from 
of.  Scylax.  Peripl.  p.  88.)            _  the  sea.     (Leake,  pp.  243-245.) 

4  The  Pseudo-Plutarch  ascribes  the  ^  This  plan  seems  not  to  have  been 
whole  of  this  narrative  to  the  '  malig-  known  to  the  Lydians.  The  Persians  had 
nity  '  of  Herodotus  (De  Malign.  Herod,,  learnt  it,  in  all  probability,  from  the  As- 
p.  859),  and  quotes  Charon  of  Lampsacus  Syrians,  by  whom  it  had  long  been  prac- 
as  conclusive  against  its  truth.  But  the  tised.  (2  Kings  xix.  32,  Isaiah  xxxvii.  33. 
silence  of  Charon  proves  nothing,  and  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  73, 
the  passage  quoted  fi'om  him  is  quite  con-  149,  &c.)  A  detailed  account  of  this 
sistent  with  the  statements  made  by  He-  mode  of  attack  and  the  way  of  meeting 
rodotus.   There  is  no  need,  with  Bahr  (in  it,  is  given  by  Thucyd,  (ii.  75-6). 


Chap.  160-164.      HARPAGUS  LAYS  SIEGE  TO  PHOCyEA.  230 

the  towns.     Plioca3a  was  the  city  against  which  he  directed  his 
first  attack. 

163.  Now  tlie  Phocaeans  were  the  first  of  the  Greeks  who 
performed  long  voyages,  and  it  was  they  who  made  the  Greeks 
acquanited  with  the  Adriatic  and  with  Tyrrhenia,  with  Iberia 
and  the  city  of  Tartessus.^  The  vessel  which  thev  nsed  in  their 
voyages  was  not  the  ronnd-built  merchant-ship,"  but  the  lono- 
penteconter.  On  their  arrival  at  Tartessus,  the  king  of  the 
country,  wliose  name  was  Arganthonius,  took  a  liking  to  them. 
This  monarch  reigned  over  the  Tartessians  for  eighty  years;^ 
and  lived  to  be  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old.  He  regarded 
the  Phocaeans  with  so  much  favour  as,"  at  first,  to  beg  them  to 
quit  Ionia  and  settle  in  whatever  part  of  his  country  they  liked 
Afterwards,  finding  that  he  could  not  prevail  upon  them  to 
agree  to  this,  and  hearing  that  the  Mede  was  growing  great  in 
their  neighbourhood,  he  gave  them  money  to  build  a  wall  about 
tlieir  town,  and  certainly  he  must  have  given  it  witli  a  bountiful 
hand,  for  the  town  is  many  furlongs  in  circuit,  and  the  wall  is 
built  entirely  of  great  blocks  of  stone  skilfully  fitted  too-ether^ 
The  wall,  then,  was  built  by  his  aid.  ^ 

1G4.  Harpagus,  having  advanced 'against  the  Phocaeans  with 
his  army,  laid  siege  to  their  city,  first,  however,  offering  them 
terms.  "It  Avould  content  him,"  he  said,  "if  the  Phocceans 
would  agree  to  throw  down  one  of  their  battlements,  and 
dedicate  one  dwelling-house  to  the  king."  The  Phoc^ans 
sorely  vexed  at  the  thought  of  becoming  slaves,  asked  a  single 

'  The    Iberia   of    Herodotus    is  the  rate  compared  to  the  Illyrian  Dando 

Spanish  Peninsula.    Tartessus  was  a  co-  who  (Plin.  ib.)  lived  500  ve^a^r-fG  W  1 

lony  founded  there  very  early  by  the  Phlegon  of  Tralles  also  mentionedThr 

Pbconicians.       It  was  situated  beyond  150  years  of  Ar-antliouiusTn  h?.! .  ? 

he  straits  at  the  mouth  of  the  4tis  concerning    longi  v  7  p^^^^^^^^ 

(fJuadalqmmr),   near  the  site  of  the  mo-  ^laKoofiio^v)        Except     the     F^lfh,      ^ 

mitic  tong^ie,  which  probably  prevailed  meS4  in^J;i;  V    Fwlm   H  st   Sr  vol" 

on  the  coast  of  Phoenicia  when  the  fir,«t  iii  p   610      Fr   29 

colonists  sailed  for  Spain,  meant  "  the         ^  It  is  evident  from  this  that   desoite 

r^fow'n  C  eT^"''^'^^"^"^  .r  ^^^^  destructions  by  Hal^ag^^^^^^^^^ 

«  Pbnv?;.-,-    4«?«    ^    A  ^^^^  generals  of  Darius  (infra,   vi.  32) 

,  .     ^^'"^J.    ^^l\^^^  «^y«  Anacreon  gave  tlie  old  Phoca?a  continued   to  exist  in 

him  a  life  of  loO  years,  and  mentions  the  time  of  Hprr.d  >fn«      Tf     i  . 

Gades    as  Cicero  does  (de  Senect.   19).     Pala^a-Fogmi.   (Chandler,  i   p  SsT 
In  point  of  ago  Arganthonius  was  mode-  ic^nuiei,  i.  p.  ««.; 


240  CONDUCT  OF  THE  PHOC.EANS.  Book  T. 

day  to  deliberate  on  the  answer  they  should  return,  and 
besought  Harpagus  during  that  day  to  draw  off  his  forces  from 
the  walls.  Harpagus  replied,  "  that  he  understood  well  enough 
what  they  were  about  to  do,  but  nevertheless  he  would  grant 
their  request."  Accordingly  the  troops  were  withdrawn,  and 
the  Phocseans  forthwith  took  advantage,  of  their  absence  to 
launch  their  penteconters,  and  put  on  board  their  wives  and 
children,  their  household  goods,  and  even  the  images  of  their 
gods,  with  all  the  votive  offerings  from  the  fanes,  except  the 
paintings  and  the  works  in  stone  or  brass,  which  were  left 
behind.  With  the  rest  they  embarked,  and  putting  to  sea,  set 
sail  for  Chios.  The  Persians,  on  their  return,  took  possession  of 
an  empty  town. 

165.  Arrived  at  Chios,  the  Phocaeans  made  offers  for  the 
purchase  of  the  islands  called  the  (Enussse,^  but  the  Chians 
refused  to  part  with  them,  fearing  lest  the  Pliocaeans  should 
establish  a  factory  there,  and  exclude  their  merchants  from  the 
commerce  of  those  seas.  On  their  refusal,  the  Phocfeans,  as 
Arganthonius  was  now  dead,  made  up  their  minds  to  sail  to 
Cyrnus  (Corsica),  where,  twenty  years  before,  following  the 
direction  of  an  oracle,^  they  had  founded  a  city,  which  was 
called  Alalia.  Before  they  set  out,  however,  on  this  voyage, 
they  sailed  once  more  to  Phocsea,  and  surprising  the  Persian 
troops  appointed  by  Harpagus  to  garrison  the  town,  put  them 
all  to  the  sword.  After  this  they  laid  the  heaviest  curses  on 
the  man  who  should  draw  back  and  forsake  the  armament ;  and 
having  dropped  a  heavy  mass  of  iron  into  the  sea,  swore  never 
to  return  to  Phoca^a  till  that  mass  reappeared  upon  the  surface. 
Nevertheless,  as  they  were  preparing  to  depart  for  Cyrnus,  more 
than  half  of  their  number  were  seized  with  such  sadness  and  so 
great  a  longing  to  see  once  more  their  city  and  their  ancient 


1  The  (Enussffilay  between  Chios  and  nexionwith  this  last  passage,  Herodotus 
the  main-land,  opposite  the  northern  lets  fall  a  remark  which  shows  that  it 
extremity  of  that  island  (Lat.  o8^  33' ).  was  almost  the  invariable  practice  to 
They  are  the  modern  Spalinadori,  five  in  consult  the  oracle  as  to  the  place  to  be 
number.  One  is  of,  much  larger  size  colonised.  Dorieus.  he  says,  on  first 
than  the  rest,  which  explains  the  state-  leading  out  his  colony  from  Sparta, 
ment^  of  Pliny  and  Stephen  of  Byzan-  "neither  took  counsel  of  the  oracle  at 
tium,  that  (EnussBG  was  an  island.  There  Delphi,  as  to  the  place  whereto  he  should 
is  an  excellent  hax'bour.  go,  nor  observed  any  of  the  customary 

2  A  most  important  influence  was  usages."  (oi/Ve  rw  iv  AiKcpolcn  XPV- 
exercised  by  the  Greek  oracles,  espe-  aTTjpicp  xpVf^'^l^^f'os,  is  '/ivTiva  yr}u  KTia-wu 
cially  that  of  Delphi,  over  the  course  of  'irj,  ouVe  iToir,(Tas  ovdev  rwu  vo/xi^o- 
Helleniccolonisacion.  Further  instances  /xduwu.) 

occur,  iv.  155,  157,  159  ;  v.  42.     In  con- 


Chap.  104-100.        PHOC.EANS  SAIL  TO  €OKSICA. 


241 


homes,   that  they  broke  the  oath  by  which   they  had  bound 
themselves  and  sailed  back  to  Plioctea. 

166.  The  rest  of  the  Phocseans,  wlio  kept  their  oath,  pro- 
ceeded without  sto].)ping  upon  their  voyage,  and  when  they 
came  to  Cyrnus  established  themselves  along  with  the  earlier 
settlers  at  Alalia  and  built  temples  in  the  place.  For  five  years 
they  annoyed  their  neighbours  by  plundering  and  pillaging  on 
all  sides,  until  at  length  the  Carthaginians  and  Tyrrhenians^ 
leagued  against  them,  and  sent  each  a  fleet  of  sixty  ships  to 
attack  the  town.  The  Phocaeans,  on  their  part,  manned  all 
their  vessels,  sixty  in  number,  and  met  their  enemy  on  the 
Sardinian  sea.  In  the  engagement  which  followed  the  Phocaeans 
were  victorious,  but  their  success  was  only  a  sort  of  Cadmeian 
victory  ."^  They  lost  forty  ships  in  the  battle,  and  the  twenty 
which  "remained  came  out  of  the  engagement  with  beaks  so 
bent  and  blunted  as  to  be  no  longer  serviceable.  The  Phocaeans 
therefore  sailed  back  again  to  Alalia,  and  taking  their  wives  and 
children  on  board,  with  such  portion  of  their  goods  and  chattels 
as  the  vessels  could  bear,  bade  adieu  to  Cyrnus  and  sailed  to 
Khegium. 


^  The  na^'al  power  of  the  Tyrrhe- 
nians was  about  this  time  at  its  height. 
Populonia  and  Ca3re  (or  Agylla)  were 
the  most  important  of  their  maritime 
towns.  Like  the  Greeks  at  a  some- 
what earlier  period  (Thucyd.  i.  5),  the 
Tyrrhenians  at  this  time  and  for  some 
centuries  afterwards  were  pirates  (Strabo, 
V.  p.  310  and  vi.  p.  385.  Diod.  Sic.  xv. 
14;  Ephorus  52,  ed.  Didot ;  Aristid. 
Rhod.  ii.  p.  798).  Corsica  probably  was 
under  their  dominion  before  the  Pho- 
caeans made  their  settlement  at  Alalia. 
Its  foundation  would  be  a  declaration 
of  hostilities.  The  after-coming  of  a 
fresh  body  of  emigrants,  with  a  j)ower- 
ful  navy,  would  still  further  exasperate 
the  Tyrrhenians.  Hitherto  they  had 
shared  the  commei^ce  of  the  Western 
half  of  the  Mediterranean  with  the  Car- 
thaginians. The  Phoca3an  voyages  to 
Tartessus,  which  had  for  security's  sake 
to  be  performed  in  ships  of  war  instead 
of  mei'chantmen  (supra,  ch.  163),  cannot 
have  interfered  much  with  their  mer- 
cantile operations.  It  was  different 
when  Phoc?ea  attempted  to  set  itself 
up  as  a  third  power  in  the  seas,  which 
the  Tyrrhenians  regarded  as  their  own, 
or  at  least  as  theirs  conjointly  with  the 
Carthaginicxns.  The  insignificant  set- 
tlement at  Massilia,  which  maintained 

VOL.  I. 


itself  with  difficulty  (Liv.  v.  34),  had 
been  perhaps  beneath  their  jealousy. 
It  was  founded  as  early  as  B.C.  600 
(Scymnus  Chins,  215-8).  Alalia,  founded 
about  B.C.  572,  exactly  opposite  their 
coast,  and  on  an  island  which  they 
claimed  as  theirs,  and  now  raised  by 
the  fresh  colonisation  to  great  im- 
portance, was  a  most  dangerous  rival. 
Hence  the  attack  of  the  two  great 
maritime  powers  upon  the  interloper. 
The  Phoca)ans  wei^e  swept  away,  and 
the  Tyrrhenians  resumed  their  former 
position  and  conduct,  till  Hiero  of 
Syracuse,  provoked  by  their  piracies 
and  pillage  of  Greek  cities,  broke  their 
power  in  the  great  battle  of  which 
Pindar  sings  (Pyth.  i.  137-41).  This 
was  B.C.  474.  (Clinton,  F.  H.  vol.  ii. 
p.  36.) 

*  A  Cadmeian  victory  was  one  from 
which  the  victor  received  more  hurt 
than  profit  (Suidas  in  voc.  Kadfieia 
viKT]).  Plutarch  derives  the  proverb 
from  the  combat  between  Polynices 
and  Eteocles  (De  Amor.  Frat.  p.  488, 
A.);  Eustathius  from  the  victory  of 
the  Thebans  over  the  Seven  Chiefs, 
which  only  produced  their  after  defeat 
by  the  Epigoni  (ad  Hom.  II.  iv.  407). 
Arrian  used  the  phrase  in  an  entirely- 
different  sense.     (Fr.  ^lo?) 

R 


242  PHOC.EANS  SETTLE  AT  ELEA.  Book  I. 

1G7.  The  Carthaginians  and  Tyrrhenians,  who  had  got  into 
their  hands  many  more  than  the  Phoca3ans  from  among  the 
crews  of  the  forty  vessels  that  were  destroyed,  landed  their 
captives  upon  the  coast  after  the  fight,  and  stoned  them  all  to 
death.  Afterwards,  when  sheep,  or  oxen,  or  even  men  of  the 
district  of  Agylla  passed  by  the  spot  where  the  murdered 
Phocaeans  lay,  their  bodies  became  distorted,  or  they  were 
seized  with  palsy,  or  they  lost  the  use  of  some  of  their  limbs. 
On  this  the  people  of  Agylla  sent  to  Delphi  to  ask  the 
oracle  how  they  might  expiate  their  sin.^  The  answer  of  the 
Pythoness  required  them  to  institute  the  custom,  which  they 
still  observe,  of  honouring  the  dead  Phocaeans  with  magnificent 
funeral  rites,  and  solemn  games,  both  gymnic  and  equestrian. 
Such,  then,  was  the  fate  that  befel  the  Phocaean  prisoners. 
The  other  Phocaean s,  who  had  fled  to  Khegium,  became  after  a 
while  the  founders  of  the  city  called  Yela,^  in  the  district  of 
(Enotria.  This  city  they  colonised,  upon  the  showing  of  a  man 
of  Posidonia,'^  who  suggested  that  the  oracle  had  not  meant  to 
bid  them  set  up  a  town  in  Cyrnus  the  island,  but  set  up  the 
worship  of  Cyrnus  the  hero.^ 

168.  Thus  fared  it  with  the  men  of  the  city  of  Phocaea  in 
Ionia.     They  of  Teos  ^  did  and  suffered  almost  the  same ;  for 

^  Niebubr  draws  two  couclusions  of  Sophist,  ad  init,  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  i, 

some  importance  from  this  uai^ative —  p.  301)  ;  but  the  time  at  which  he  lived 

first,  that  Agylla  had  not  yet  been  con-  is  very  uncertain.     (Cf.  Clinton's  F.  H. 

quered  by  the  Etruscans,  but  was  purely  vol.  ii.  pp.  15,  35.) 

Tyrrhenian,  i.  e.  (according  to  his  notion)         '''  This  is   the   place   now   known   as 

Pelasgic.  Otherwise,  he  says,  they  would  Fccstum,    so   famous    for    its    beautiful 

have  been  content  with  their  ownharus-  ruins.     (See  Strab.  v,  p.  361.) 
pici/,  and  would  not  have  sent  to  Delphi.         ^  Cyrnus    was    a    son    of    Hercules 

Secondly,  that  in  this  war  the  Agyllpeans  (Servius  ad  Virg.  Eclog.  ix.  30). 
were  not  assisted  by  any  of  their  neigh-         ^  Teos  was  situated  on  the  south  side 

bours,  since   the  divine  judgment  fell  of  the  isthmus  which  joined  the  penin- 

on  them   alone  (Rom.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  sula  of  Erythrae  to  the  main  land,  very 

124.  E.  T.).     But  if  the  massacre  took  nearly  opposite  Clazomena)  (Strab.  xiv. 

place  on  their  teiTitory,  as  it  evidently  p.    922).      It    was    the    birthplace    of 

did,  the  judgment,  being  attached  to  Anacreon,    and*  according    to    Strabo 

the  scene  of  the  slaughter,  could  only  (ibid.)     of    Hecatseus    the     chronicler, 

affect  to  any  extent  the  inhabitants  of  Considerable  remains   of  it,   especially 

the  district.  a  temple  of  Bacchus  and  a  theatre,  still 

6  This  is  the  town  more  commonly  exist  near  Si>jhcfj if: .    (Chandler's  Travels, 

called  Velia  or  Elea,  where  soon  after-  ch.  xxvii.  p.  Ill  ;   Leake's  Asia  Minor, 

wards  the  great  Eleatic  school  of  phi-  p.  350.) 

losophy  arose.  It  is  conjectured  that  A  certain  number  of  the  Teians  re- 
the  Phocaeans  were  ' '  j  oined  by  other  turned  to  their  native  city  (Strab .  1.  s.  c. ), 
exiles  from  Ionia,  in  particular  by  which  rose  from  its  ruins  and  became 
the  Colophonian  philosopher  and  poet  once  more  an  important  place.  In  the 
Xenophanes."  (Grote's  Histor}'  of  Ionian  revolt  the  Teians  furnished  seven- 
Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  276.)  There  seems  teen  ships  to  the  combined  fleet  (infra, 
to  be  no  doubt  that  Xenophanes  was  vi.  8),  when  the  Phocecans  could  only 


one 


of  the  founders  of  the  school  (Plat,     furnish  three. 


Chap.  167-170.     SUBMISSION  OF  THE  OT'HER  STATES.  243 

they  too,  when  Harpagus  had  raised  his  mound  to  the  height  of 
their  defences,  took  ship,  one  and  all,  and  sailing  across  the  sea 
to  Thrace,  founded  there  the  city  of  Abdera.^  The  site  was  one 
which  Timesius  of  Clazomenae  had  previously  tried  to  colonise,  but 
without  any  lasting  success,  for  he  was  expelled  by  the  Thracians. 
Still  the  Teians  of  Abdera  worship  him  to  this  day  as  a  hero. 

169.  Of  all  the  lonians  these  two  states  alone,  rather  than 
submit  to  slavery,  forsook  their  fatherland.  The  others  (I  except 
Miletus)  resisted  Harpagus  no  less  bravely  than  those  who  fled 
their  country,  and  performed  many  feats  of  arms,  each  fighting 
in  their  own  defence,  but  one  after  another  they  suffered  defeat ; 
the  cities  were  taken,  and  the  inhabitants  submitted,  remaining 
in  their  respective  countries,  and  obeying  the  behests  of  their 
new  lords.  Miletus,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  made 
terms  with  Cyrus,  and  so  continued  at  peace.  Thus  was  con- 
tinental Ionia  once  more  reduced  to  servitude  ;  and  when  the 
lonians  of  the  islands  saw  their  brethren  upon  the  mainland 
subjugated,  they  also,  dreading  the  like,  gave  themselves  up  to 
Cyrus.^ 

170.  It  was  while  the  lonians  were  in  this  distress,  but  still 
amid  it  all,  held  their  meetings,  as  of  old,  at  the  Panionium^ 
that  Bias  of  Priene,  who  was  present  at  the  festival,  recom- 
mended (as  I  am  informed)  a  project  of  the  very  highest  wisdom 
which  would,  had  it  been  embraced,  have  enabled  the  lonians 
to  become  the  happiest  and  most  flourishing  of  the  Greeks.  He 
exhorted  them  "to  join  in  one  body,  set  sail  for  Sardinia  and 
there  found  a  single  Pan-Ionic  city ;  so  they  would  escape  from 
slavery  and  rise  to  great  fortune,  being  masters  of  the  largest 
island  111  the  world,-^  and  exercising  dominion  even  beyond  its 

vii'  fm   ^^'  "'^^  ""^  '^^'^''^'  '''"^^  ^"^'''''         '  Herodotus   appears   to   have    been 
in;:'..  ,  entirely  convinced  that   there  wa.s   no 

This  statement  appears  to  be  too     island  in  the  world  so  large  as  Sardink 
general.      Samos   certainly   maintained      He  puts  the  assertion  iifto  the  moulh 

her    independence    till    the    reign    of  of  Histiceus  (v.  1U6),   and  againTvi   2 

JMrius    (vide    infra,    ni     120).       The  repeats  the  sLtemenk  withoue^^^^^^^^ 

efforts    of  the  Cnidians   to    turn  their  ing  any  doubt  of  th;  fact.      He^thus 

peninsula  into  an  island  (in  ra,  ch.  174)  appears  to  have  been  entirely  igno  an 

would     how   that   an   insular  position  of  the  size  of  the  British  Islands  (the 

:Z      p    'T''^''\  ^^  ^  ^'^^'^^y-     P^-"-  Cassiterides,    with   which    the    Cartha! 

bably  Rhodes  and  Cos  continued  free,  ginians  traded,  iii.  115),  as  well  as  of 

The  ground  which  Herodotus  had  for  Ceylon  (the  O^Jur  of  Solomon).     It  has 

his  statement  appears  to  have  been  the  been  generall/  said  that  he  also  si  owed 

tPvL      I        if  -'""li  ^^i"'   '"^'   ^°  ignorance  in  making  Sardinia  larger  tian 

mom  '     TW  H -^^"'^    '''  ^'''^""  ^t^''  ^'''^^  '  but  Admiral  Smyth  has  recently 

mony.     Ihey  did  so  to  preserve  their  declared  that  he  is  right  in  so  doin^ 

cirTeirSr  v  .!  r""'""^-  ^^"P^^'     ^^^  ^^^  "  ^^^--^-  «^  the  Mediterranean^' 
cli.  IbO ,  intia,  V.  9+.)  pp,  og-O.    On  the  fluctuations  of  opinion 

E   '2 


244  HARPAGUS  ATTACKS  THE  CAEIANS.  Book  I. 

bounds ;  wliereas  if  they  stayed  in  Ionia,  lie  saw  no  prospect  of 
their  ever  recovering  their  lost  freedom."  Such  v/as  the  counsel 
which  Bias  gave  the  Ionian s  in  their  affliction.  Before  their 
misfortunes  began,  Thales,  a  man  of  Miletus,  of  Phoenician 
descent,  had  recommended  a  different  plan.  He  counselled 
them  to  establish  a  single  seat  of  government,  and  pointed  out 
Teos  as  the  fittest  place  for  it ;  "  for  that,"  he  said,  "  was  the 
centre  of  Ionia.  Their  other  cities  might  still  continue  to  enjoy 
their  own  laAvs,  just  as  if  they  were  independent  states."  This 
also  was  good  advice. 

171.  After  conquering  the  lonians,  Harpagus  proceeded  to 
attack  the  Carians,  the  Caunians,  and  the  Lycians.  The  lonians 
and  Cohans  were  forced  to  serve  in  his  army.  Now,  of  the 
above  nations  the  Carians  are  a  race  who  came  into  the  main- 
land from  the  islands.^  In  ancient  times  they  were  subjects  of 
king  3Iinos,  and  went  by  the  name  of  Leleges,^  dwelling  among 
the  isles,  and,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  push  my  inquiries, 
never  liable  to  give  tribute  to  any  man.  They  served  on  board 
the  ships  of  king  Minos  whenever  he  required ;  and  thus,  as  he 
was  a  great  conqueror  and  prospered  in  his  wars,  the  Carians 
were  in  his  day  the  most  famous  by  far  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  They  likewise  were  the  inventors  of  three  things,  the 
use  of  which  was  borrowed  from  them  by  the  Greeks ;  they  were 
the  first  to  fasten  crests  on  helmets®  and  to  put   devices  on 

withrespecttotlierelativesizeofthe.se  them  ia  Caria  (ib.  Fr.  1;    Strab.  xiv. 

two  islands,    consult  note  on  Book   v.  p.  9+5),  in  Mount  Ida  (Nymph.  Fr.  10), 

ch.  106.  in   Samos   (Menodot.   Fr.   1),   in  Chios 

4  The   early   occupation   of  the   Cy-  (Pherecyd.  1.  s.  c),  in  Thessaly  (Suid. 

clades   by   the  Carians   is   asserted  by  ap.    Steph.   Byz.    ad   voc.  "Afxvpos),    in 

Thucydides  (i.  8 ),  who  adduces  as  proof  Megara   (Pausan.    iv.    xxxvi.    §    1),    in 

the  fact  that  when  the  Athenians  puri-  Boeotia  (Arist.  Fr.   103),  in  Locris  (ib. 

fied  Delos  by  the  removal  of  all  corpses  and  Fr.   127),  in  ^tolia   (Fr.    127),  in 

buried  in   the  island,    above   half  the  Laconia   (Pausan.  in.    i.  §    1),  and   in 

bodies   disinterred    were    found   to   be  Leucas   (Arist.    Fr.    127).      That   they 

Carian.      This    was    apparent    by    the  formed  a  portion  of  the  ancient  inha- 

manner  of  their  sepulture.  bitants  of  Crete  is  also  not  improbable. 

^  Most  ancient  writers  distinguished  (See,  besides  this  passage  of  Herodotus, 
the  Carians  from  the  Leleges  (Horn.  Strab.  xiv.  p.  9-i:,5.)  They  seem  to  have 
II.  X.  428-9;  Pherecj'd.  Fr.  Ill  ;  Phi-  approached  far  more  nearly  to  the  Pe- 
lipp.  Theaug.  Fr.  1  ;  Strab.  vii.  p.  465).  lasgic  character  than  the  Carians,  who 
T\}e  latter  appear  to  have  been  one  of  belonged  rather  to  the  Asiatic  type, 
the  chief  of  those  kindred  races,  gene-  When  the  Carians,  driven  from  the 
rally  called  Pelasgiau,  which  first  peo-  islands  of  the  J^gean  by  the  Greeks, 
pled  Greece.  They  ax-e  not,  however,  fell  back  upon  the  continent,  they  found 
so  much  a  tribe  of  the  Pelasgians,  as  a  Leleges  still  occupying  the  coast,  whom 
sister  people.  Tradition  extends  them  they  conquered  and  reduced  to  the  con- 
in  eai'ly  times  from  Lycia  to  Acarnania.  dition  of  serfs.  (Strab.  1.  s.  c. ;  Philip. 
Besides  these  two  countries,  where  they  Theang.  Fr.  1.) 
are  placed  by  Aristotle  (Frag.  127)  and  ^  See  note  to  Book  iv.  ch.  180. 
Philip   of  Theangela   (Fr.  3),    we   find 


Chap.  170,  171. 


THE  CAIIIANS: 


245 


shields,  and  tliey  also  invented  handles  for  shields.^  In  the 
earlier  times  shields  were  without  handles,  and  their  wearers 
managed  them  by  the  aid  of  a  leathern  thong,  by  which  they 
were  slung  round  the  neck  and  left  shoulder.-  Long  after  the 
time  of  Minos,  the  Carians  were  driven  from  the  islands  by  the 
lonians  and  Dorians,  and  so  settled  upon  the  mainland.  The 
above  is  the  account  which  the  Cretans  give  of  the  Carians : 
the  Carians  themselves  say  very  differently.  They  maintain 
that  they  are  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  part  of  the  main- 
land where  they  now  dwell,^  and  never  had  any  other  name  than 
that  which  they  still  bear :  and  in  proof  of  this  they  show  an 
ancient  temple  of  Carian  Jove^  in  the  country  of  the  Mylasians,'-^ 
in  which  the  Mysians  and  Lydians  have  the  right  of  worshipping, 
as  brother  races  to  the  Carians :  for  Lydus  and  Mysus,  they  say, 
were  brothers  of  Car.  These  nations,  therefore,  have  the  afore- 
said right ;  but  such  as  are  of  a  different  race,  even  though  they 
have  come  to  use  the  Carian  tongue,  are  excluded  from  this 
temple. 

">  Alcaeus  spoke  of  the  \6^os  Y^apiKo^ 


and  Anacreon  of  the  o^o-vov  KapiKoepyes 
(Strab.  xiv.  p.  945). 

^  Homer  generally  represents  his 
heroes  as  managing  their  shields  in  this 
way  (II.  ii.  388;  iv.  796;  xi.  ;:;8 ;  xii. 
401,  &c.).  Sometimes,  however,  he 
speaks  of  shields  with  handles  to  them 
(viii.  193).  This  may  be  an  anachro- 
nism. 


The  oxai'ov  must  be  distinguished 
from  the  ir6pira^.  The  former  was  a 
bar  across  the  middle  of  the  shield, 
through  which  the  arm  was  put.     The 


latter. was  a  leathern  thong  near  the 
rim  of  the  shield,  which  was  grasped 
by  the  hand.  The  annexed  illustration 
shows  clearly  the  difference. 

9  It  seems  probable  that,  the  Carians, 
who  were  a  kindred  nation  to  the 
Lydians  and  the  Mysians  (see  the  Essay, 
"  On  the  Ethnic  Affinities  of  the  Nations 
of  Westei-n  Asia"),  belonged  originally 
to  the  Asiatic  continent,  and  thence 
,  spread  to  the  islands.  When  the  Greek 
colonisation  of  the  islands  began,  the 
native  Cai'ian  population  would  natu- 
rally fall  back  lapon  the  main  mass  of 
the  nation  which  had  continued  in  Asia. 
Thus  both  the  Carian  and  the  Greek 
accounts  would  have  truth  in  them. 

^  Xanthus  seems  to  have  spoken  of 
this  god  under  the  name  of  Carius,  and 
to  have  distinguished  him  from  Jupiter. 
Carius,  he  said,  was  the  son  of  Jupiter 
and  Torrhebia;  he  was  taught  music 
by  the  Nymphs,  and  communicated 
the  knowledge  to  the  l;ydians.  (Fr.  2.) 
The  worship  of  Carius  in  the  district 
of  Lydia  called  Torrhebia,  is  mentioned 
by  Stephen,     (ad  voc.  ToppvlSo^). 

2  Mylasa  was  an  inland  town  of  Caria, 
about  20  miles  from  the  sea.  It  was 
the  capital  of  the  later  Carian  kingdom 
(u.o.  385-334).  The  name  still  con- 
tinues in  the  modern  Melasso  (Chandler, 
vol,  i.  p.  234;  Leake,  p.  230),  where 
there  are  extensive  remains  (Fellows's 
Lycia,  pp.  66-75). 


246  THE  CAUNIANS— THE  LYCIANS.  Book  I 

172.  The  Caunians,^  in  my  judgment,  are  aboriginals ;  but  by 
their  own  account  they  came  from  Crete.  In  their  language, 
either  they  have  approximated  to  the  Carians,  or  the  Carians  to 
them — on  this  point  I  cannot  speak  with  certainty.  In  their 
customs,  however,  they  differ  greatly  from  the  Carians,  and  not 
only  so,  but  from  all  other  men.  They  think  it  a  most  honour- 
able practice  for  friends  or  persons  of  the  same  age,  whether 
they  be  men,  women,  or  children,  to  meet  together  in  large 
companies,  for  the  pm-pose  of  drinking  wine.  Again,  on  one 
occasion  they  determined  that  they  would  no  longer  make  use 
of  the  foreign  temples  which  had  been  long  established  among 
them,  but  would  worship  their  own  old  ancestral  gods  alone. 
Then  their  whole  youth  took  arms,  and  striking  the  air  vnth 
their  spears,  marched  to  the  Calyndic  frontier,'*  declaring  that 
they  were  driving  out  the  foreign  gods. 

173.  The  Lycians  are  in  good  truth  anciently  from  Crete; 
which  island,  in  former  days,  was  wholly  peopled  with  bar- 
barians. A  quarrel  arising  there  between  the  two  sons  of 
Europa,  Sarpedon,  and  Minos,  as  to  which  of  them  should  be 
king,  Minos,  whose  party  prevailed,  drove  Sarpedon  and  his 
followers  into   banishment.      The   exiles   sailed  to   Asia,^  and 


^  The  Caunians  occupied  a  small  dis-  he  had  discovered  the  true  site  20  miles 

trict  on  the  coast,  which  is  usually  said  east   of  the  Calbis,   iu  a  mountainous 

to  intervene  between  Caria  and  Lycia  tract  near  the  gulf  of  Mahri  (Account  of 

(Scyl.  Peripl.  p.  92;  Strab.  xiv.  p.  932).  Discoveries,  pp.  103,  104).    These  ruins 

Their  coins  and  architecture  show  them  had  a  decidedly  Lycian  character,   but 

to  have  been  really  Lycians  (Fellows's  they  seem  to  lie  too  near  the  coast. 
Lycian  Coins,  pp.  5,  G).     Caunus,  their         ^  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  any 

capital,  which  has  been  identified  by  an  truth  at  all  in  this  tale,  which  would 

inscription  (Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  xii,  connect  the  Greeks  with  Lycia.  One  thing 

p.  158),  was  situated  on  the  right  bank  is   clear,  namely,   that  the  real  Lycian 

of  a  small   stream   (now  the  Koi-qez),  people  of  history  were  an  entirely  dis- 

which  carries  off  the  waters  of  a  large  tinct  race  from  the  Greeks.     The  Lycian 

lake    distant    about    10    miles    inland,  art  indeed,  with  which  most  persons  are 

There  are  considerable  remains,  includ-  familiar  from  the  specimens  in  the  Bri- 

ing  some  walls  of  Cyclopian  masonry,  tish  Museum,  bears  undoubtedly  in  its 

The  general  localities  are  correctly  given  general  character  a  considerable  resem- 

in  Kiepert's  Supplementary  Maps  (Ber-  blance  to  the  Greek.    But  the  sculptures 

lin,  1851).  which  belong  to  the  early  or  purely  Ly- 

■*  Calynda  was   on    the    borders    of  cian  period  have  the  least  resemblance, 

Caria    and    Lycia.       It    is    sometimes  being  in  many  respects  more  like  the 

reckoned  in  the  one,  sometimes  in  the  Persepolitan  (Fellows's  Lycia,  p.   173). 

otJher  (Strab.  xiv.  1.  s.  c. ;    Plin.  H.  N".  And  it  is  not  impossible  that  Greek  art 

v.  27  ;  Ptol.  V,  3;   Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc).  may  have  received  an  impress  from  Ly- 

Strabo  says  it  was  60  stadia  (7  miles)  cia,  for  Lycian  artists  would  naturally 

from  the  sea.     Kiepert,  in  his  Supple-  flock  to  Athens  during  the  government 

mentary  Maps,  places  it  on  the  -Dollotnon  of  Pericles.     Certainly  the  language  of 

Chai,    the    Indus   or   Calbis.      But   no  the  Lycians,  from  which  their  ethnic  type 

traces  of  ruins  have  been  found  on  that  can  best  be  judged,  is  utterly  unlike  the 

stream  (see  the  Geograph.  Journ.   xii.  Greek.     It  is  considerably  different  in 

p.  162).     Sir  C.  Fellows  believed  that  its  alphabet,  nearly  half  the  letters  being 


Chap.  172,  173.     THE  MILYy?^],  ONCE  CALLED  SOLYML 


247 


landed  on  the  Milyan  territory.  Milyas  was  the  ancient  nanu^ 
of  the  country  now  inhabited  by  the  Lycians  :  '^  the  Milyan  of  the 
present  day  were,  in  those  times,  called  Solymi.^  So  long  as 
Sarpedon  reigned,  his  followers  kept  the  name  which  they 
brought  with  them  from  Crete,  and  were  called  Termilse,  as  the 
Lycians  still  are  by  those  who  live  in   their  neighbourhood.^ 


peculiar.  In  its  general  east  it  is  yet 
more  unlike,  its  leading  characteristic 
being  the  number  and  variety  of  the 
vowels,  and  their  marked  preponderance 
over  the  consonants.  Its  roots,  where 
they  have  been  satisfactorily  made  out, 
are,  with  scarcely  a  single  exception, 
alien  from  the  Greek.  While  undoubt- 
edly Indo-European  in  type,  the  lan- 
guage must  be  pronounced  as  remote 
from  that  of  the  Greeks  as  any  two 
branches  that  can  be  named  of  the  com- 
mon btock.  The  Indo-European  tongue 
to  which  Lycian  approaches  most  nearly 
is  Zend,  but  it  stands  to  Zend  in  the 
relation  of  a  sister  and  not  a  daughter. 
If  then  there  was  any  early  Greek  colo- 
nisation of  Lycia  it  must  have  been  in- 
significant, or  at  any  rate  the  Greek  ele- 
ment must  have  been  soon  sunk  and 
merged  in  the  Asiatic.  (See  Mr.  D. 
Sharpe's  Letter  in  Sir  C.  Fellows's  Lycia, 
pp.  427  et  seqq.  ,•  and  compare  Forbes 
and  Spratt,  vol.  ii,  App.  i.) 

^  Milyas  continued  to  be  a  district 
of  Lycia  in  the  nge  of  Augustus  (Strabo, 
xiii.  pp.  904-5).  It  was  then  the  high 
plain  (inclosed  by  Taurus  on  the  north, 
Climax  and  Solyma  on  the  east,  Mas- 
sicytus  on  the  south-west,  and  two 
lower  ranges,  one  joining  Taui'us  and 
Massicytus  on  the  north-west,  and  the 
other  Massicytus  and  Solyma  on  the 
south-east)  in  which  stands  the  modern 
Almall,  the  largest  town  in  Lycia,  and 
almost  the  largest  in  Asia  Minor.  It  is 
a  table  land  about  4000  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  and  has  no  exit  for  its  waters, 
which  foi-m  the  lake  of  Avelan  (Fellows's 
Lycia,  pp.  227-9).  Sir.  C.  Fellows  found 
in  this  district  a  curious  monument 
(figured  p.  233),  on  which  the  word 
MiAuos  occurred.  The  remainder  of 
the  inscription  was  unfortunately  il- 
legible. 

The  Milyans  were  undoubtedly  an 
entirely  distinct  people  from  the  Ly- 
cians. There  'are  no  Lycian  remains  in 
their  country.  (See  Fellows's  Lycian 
Coins,  Map.)  Bochart  derives  their 
name  from  '•xbiD,  wliich  is  used  by  the 
Talmudical  writers  for  "mountainous 
places."     (Oeograph.  .Sac.  p.  3G4,  1.  4.) 


They  were  probably  of  Semitic  origin. 
(See  the  next  note.) 

■^  The  Solymi  were  mentioned  by 
Chserilus,  who  was  contemporary  with 
Herodotus  and  wrote  a  poem  on  the 
Persian  War,  as  forming  a  part  of  the 
army  of  Xerxes  (ap.  Euseb.  Praip.  Ev. 
ix.  9).  He  placed  them  among  hills 
of  the  same  name  along  the  shores  of 
a  broad  lake,  which  Col.  Leake  conjec- 
tures to  have  been  that  of  Egerdir 
(Geograph.  Journ.  xii.  p.  165).  Their 
language,  according  to  him,  was  Phoeni- 
cian. Strabo  regards  both  the  Milyans 
(xiv.  p.  952)  and  Cabalians  (xiii.  p.  904) 
as  Solymi,  and  considers  that  a  people 
of  this  name  had  once  held  the  heights 
of  Taurus  from  Lycia  to  Pisidia  (i.  p.  32). 
That_  the  Pisidians  were  Solymi  is  as- 
serted by  Pliny  (v.  27)  and  Stephen 
(ad  voc,  riio-tSm).  The  same  people 
left  their  name  in  Lycia  to  Mount 
Solyma.  Here  we  seem  to  have  a  trace 
of  a  Semitic  occupation  of  these  coun- 
tries preceding  the  Indo-European. 
(Comp.  Horn.  II.  vi.  184.)  For  addi- 
tional particulars  of  the  Solymi  see 
Bochart's  Geogr.  Sacr.  part  ii.  book  i. 
ch.  6. 

^  It  would  seem  by  the  Lycian  in- 
scriptions that  Termilce  (written  Tra- 
mele,  TPXMEA^;  compare  the  Tpe- 
fj-lXai  of  Hecatffius,  Fr.  364,  and  the 
Tpe/itAets  of  Stephen)  was  not  only  the 
name  by  which  the  Lycians  were  known 
to  their  neighbours,  but  the  only  name 
by  which  they  (or  rather  their  principal 
tribe)  called  themselves.  Lycia  and 
Lycians  (written  Aiklu  and  Aikioi)  are 
found  in  the  Greek  portions  of  the  in- 
scriptions, but  in  the  Lycian  there  is 
no  word  at  all  resembling  these.  Tra- 
mele,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  name  of 
frequent  occurrence,  and  even  lingers 
in  the  country  at  the  present  day. 
There  is  a  \illage  called  Tremili  in  the 
mountains  at  the  extreme  north  of  the 
ancient  Lycia,  not  far  from  the  lake  of 
Ghieul  Hissar.  (See  Geograpli.  Journ. 
vol.  xii.  p.  1 56  ;  Spratt  and  Forbes's 
Lycia,  vol.  i.  p.  266.) 

Sir  C.  Fellows  thinks  that  the  Lycians, 
whose  real  ethnic  title  is  unknown  tu 


248  SUBMISSION  OF  THE  CARIANS.  Book  T. 

But  after  Lycns,  the  son  of  Pandiou,  banished  from  Athens  by 
his  brother  ^geus,  had  found  a  refuge  with  Sarpedon  in  the 
countiy  of  these  Termila?,  they  came,  in  course  of  time,  to  be 
called  from  him  Lycians.^  Their  customs  are  partly  Cretan, 
partly  Carian.  They  have,  however,  one  singular  custom  in 
which  they  differ  from  every  other  nation  in  the  world.  They 
take  the  mother's  and  not  the  father's  name.  Ask  a  Lycian 
who  he  is,  and  he  answers  by  giving  his  own  name,  that  of  his 
mother,  and  so  on  in  the  female  line.  Moreover,  if  a  free  woman 
marry  a  man  Avho  is  a  slave,  their  children  are  full  citizens ; 
but  if  a  free  man  marry  a  foreign  woman,  or  live  with  a  con- 
cubine, even  though  he  be  the  first  person  in  the  State,  the 
children  forfeit  all  the  rights  of  citizenship. 

174.  Of  these  nations,  the  Carians  submitted  to  Harpagus 
without  performing  any  brilliant  exploits.  Nor  did  the  Greeks 
who  dwelt  in  Caria  behave  with  any  greater  gallantry.  Among 
them  were  the  Cnidiaiis,  colonists  from  Lacedsemon,  who  occupy 
a  district  facing  the  sea,  which  is  called  Triopium.  This  region 
adjoins  upon  the  Bybassian  Chersonese ;  and,  except  a  very 
small  space,  is  surrounded  by  the  sea,  being  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  Ceramic  Gulf,  and  oh  the  south  by  the  channel 
towards  the  islands  of  Syme  and  Ehodes.^  While  Harpagus  was 
engaged  in  the  conquest  of  Ionia,  the  Cnidians,  wishing  to  make 
their  country  an  island,  attempted  to  cut  through  this  narrow 


us,  were  divided  into  three  tribes,  the  name  of  Triopium  to  the  whole  of  that 

Tramelai,theTroes,andtheTekkefse  (?),  long  and  narrow  peninsula  which  lies 

whom  he  identifies  with  the  Caunians  of  between  the   gulfs   of   Cos   and  Syme, 

Herodotus.  The  Tramela^  were  the  most  projecting    westward    from    the    tract 

important  tribe  occupying  all  southern  called   by    Herodotus   ''the   Bybassian 

Lycia  from  the  gulf  of  Adalia  to  the  Chersonese,"  which  is  also  a  peninsula, 

valley  of  the  Xanthus.    Above  them  on  joined  to  the  mainland  by  an  isthmus 

the  east  were  the  districts  called  Milyas  not  more  than  10  miles  across  from  the 

and  Cibyratis,   inhabited  by  tribes  not  Gulf    of  Cos    to    that    of    Marmorice. 

Lycian ;    while  the  upper   part  of  the  The  isthmus  which  unites  the  Ti'iopian 

valley  of  the  Xanthus,  and  the  mountain-  peninsula  to  the  continent  was  found 

tract  to  the  westward  as  far  as  the  range  by  Captain  Graves   to  be  as  narrow  as 

which  bounds  on  the  east  the  valley  stated   by   Herodotus,    and    traces   are 

of  the   Calbis,   was   inhabited    by  the  even  said  to  have  been  discovered  of 

Troes ;  and  the  region  west  of  that  to  the  attempted  canal.     (Hamilton's  Asia 

the  borders  of  Caria  by  the  Tekkefse.  Minor,    vol.   ii.   p.  78.)      Most  writers 

(See  the  Essay  on  the  Coins  of  Lycia,  make   the   Triopium    a    mere   cape   or 

London,  1855.)  promontory  (aKpcoTrjpiov)  in  this   tract. 

'•'  This  may  possibly  be  so  far  true  (Scylax.  p.  91  ;  Schol.  Theocr.  xvii.  69; 

that  the  Greek  fancy  to  call  the  Ter-  Thuc.  viii.  35.)     The  rendering  of  the 

milge  Lycians  may  have  originated  in  joassage   {a.pyjx4v'r]s    e'/c    rris    Xepaovrjaov 

the  emigration  of  a  certain  Lycus,  at  rrjs   Bv^ao-ai-ns)   proposed    by    Larcher 

the  head  of  a  band  of  malcontents,  into  and   adopted   by  Bahr,    is  quite  inad- 

these  regions.  missible. 

1  Herodotus  is  singular  in  giving  the 


Chap.  173-176.     KEDUCTION  OF  THE  PEDASIANS.  249 

neck  of  land,  wliicli  was  no  more  than  five  furlongs  across  from 
sea  to  sea.  Their  whole  territory  lay  inside  the  isthmus ;  for 
where  Cnidia  ends  towards  the  mainland,  the  isthmus  begins 
which  they  were  now  seeking  to  cut  through.  The  work  had 
been  commenced,  and  many  hands  were  employed  upon  it, 
when  it  was  observed  that  there  seemed  to  be  something 
unusual  and  imnatural  in  the  number  of  wounds  that  the  work- 
men received,  especially  about  their  eyes,  from  the  splintering 
of  the  rock.  The  Cnidians,  therefore,  sent  to  Delphi,  to  inquire 
what  it  was  that  hindered  their  efforts ;  and  received,  according 
to  their  own  account,  the  following  answer  from  the  oracle : — 

"  Fence  not  the  isthmus  off,  nor  dig  it  through — 
Jove  would  have  made  an  island,  had  he  wished." 

So  the  Cnidians  ceased  diggings  and  when  Harpagus  advanced 
with  his  army,  they  gave  themselves  up  to  him  without  striking 
a  blow. 

175.  Above  Halicarnassus,  and  further  from  the  coast,  were 
the  Pedasians.^  With  this  people,  when  any  evil  is  about  to 
befal  either  themselves  or  their  neighbours,  the  priestess  of 
Minerva  grows  an  ample  beard.  Three  times  has  this  marvel 
happened.  They  alone,  of  all  the  dwellers  in  Caria,  resisted 
Harpagus  for  a  while,  and  gave  him  much  trouble,  maintaining 
themselves  in  a  certain  mountain  called  Lida,  which  they  had 
fortified  ;  but  in  course  of  time  they  also  were  forced  to  submit. 

176.  When  Harpagus,  after  these  successes,  led  his  forces  into 
the  Xanthian  plain,^  the  Lycians  of  Xanthus  *  went  out  to  meet 


-  Pedasus  was  reckoned  in  Caria  (in-  ''  The   real  name  of  the  city  which 

fra,  V.  121).     Its  exact  site  is  uncertain,  the   Greeks  called   Xanthus   seems    to 

Sir  C.   Fellows   suggests   Moolah,    near  have   been   Arna    or    Arina.      This   is 

the   source    of  the   Cheena  or  Mai-syas  asserted   by    Stephen   (ad   voc.  "Apva), 

(Discoveries,   p.   2oO,   note).      But  this  and  confirmed   by  the   monuments  of 

seems  too  far  from  Halicarnassus.     Kie-  the  country.      Arina  (APfNA)  appears 

pert  is  probably  right  in  placing  Pedasus  upon  some  of  the  Lycian  coins,  which 

within  the  Ceramic  peninsula.  (Mapxx.)  show  no  word  resembling  Xanthus  till 

Lida  i}?  the  coast  range  along  the  north-  the  purely  Greek  or  Post-Alexandrine 

ern  shore   of  the  Ceramic  gulf.     Aris-  period,  and  the  same  name  occurs  more 

totle  in  his  History  of  Animals  (iii.  11)  than  once  on  the  great  inscribed  obelisk 

notices   the    fact   (!)   that    the   Cariau  from  Xanthus,  now  in  the  British  Mu- 

priestesses   grew  a    beard   occasionally  seum  (north  side  1.  13.  20).     Xanthus 

(infra,  viii.  104).  is  properly  the  name  of  the  river.     It 

3  The  Xanthian  plain  is  to  the  south  is  a  Greek  translation  of  the  original 

of  the  city,  being  in  fact  the  alluvial  appellation  given  to  the  stream  probably 

deposit   of  the   river   Xanthus.      It  is  by   the    Solymi,    which   was    Sirbe   or 

about   7    miles   across   from   Uzlan   to  Sirbes  (Strab.  xiv.  p.  951 ;  Panyasis  ap. 

Patara,    and    from   four    to  five   miles  Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc.  Tpeixikr];   Eustath, 

deep,  from  the  coast  to  the  foot  of  the  ad  Hom,  II.   xii.  p.  907. 30),  a  Semitic 

mountains.      The  city  stands  near  its  word    signifying    "yellow"    (Bochart, 

upper  extremity,  on  the  left  bank  of  Geog.  Sacr.    Part   ii.  i.   6).     Naming  a 

the  river.  river  fi'om  its  colour  is  very  common 


250        EEDUCTION  OF  THE  LYCIANS  AND  CAUNIANS.    Book  I. 


him  in  the  field  :  though  but  a  small  band  against  a  numerous 
host,  they  engaged  in  battle,  and  performed  many  glorious 
exploits.  Overpowered  at  last,  and  forced  within  their  walls, 
they  collected  into  the  citadel  their  wives  and  children,  all  their 
treasures,  and  their  slaves  ;  and  having  so  done,  fired  the 
building,  and  burnt  it  to  the  ground.  After  this,  they  bound 
themselves  together  by  dreadful  oaths,  and  sallying  forth  against 
the  enemy,  died  sword  in  hand,  not  one  escaping.  Those 
Lycians  who  now  claim  to  be  Xanthians,  are  foreign  immigrants, 
except  eighty  families,  who  happened  to  be  absent  from  the 
country,  and  so  survived  the  others.  Thus  was  Xanthus  taken  ^ 
by  Harpagus,^  and  Caunus  fell  in  like  manner  into  his  hands ; 


in  the  East.  Hence  the  number  of 
Kara-Sus,  or  "Black  waters;"  theKizil- 
Irmak,  "RedEiver;"  Kiuk-Su,  ''Blue 
River,"  &c. 

Sir  C.  Fellows  conjectures  that  the 
name  Arina  was  not  given  to  the  city 
till  a  little  before  the  time  of  Alexan- 
der, and  that  previously  it  was  called 
Koprlle  (Coins  of  Lycia,  p,  12),  a  word 
which  appears  far  often  er  than  any  other 
on  the  Lycian  coins.  But  he  seems  to 
forget  that  Arina  is  on  the  obelisk, 
which  is  of  the  time  of  Artaxerxes 
Longimanus.  Perhaps  Koprlle  (KO- 
rPAAE)  was  the  name  of  the  district 
whose  chief  city  was  Arina,  ^  (See 
Coin  7,  Plate  xii.  in  his  series,  which 
bears  on  one  side  the  inscription  API, 
and  on  the  reverse  KOTPAA.) 

^  Xanthus  defended  itself  on  two 
subsequent  occasions  with  equal  gal- 
lantry :  first,  against  Alexander ;  and 
secondly,  against  the  Romans  (Vide 
Appian.  de  Bello  Civil.,  iv.  80,  p.  633). 

^  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
government  of  Lycia  remained  in  the 
family  of  Harpagus.  The  Xanthian 
obelisk  in  the  British  Museum,  which 
seems  to  have  been  erected  soon  after 
the  battle  of  the  Eurymedon  (b.c.  466), 
contains  a  record  of  Caias  (or  Caiicas), 
the  son  of  Ilarpcujvs  (Greek  Inscr.,  lines 
5  and  12  ;  Lycian  Inscr.  S.  W.  side, 
line  25),  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
ruler  of  the  country  in  the  time  of 
Artaxeyxes  Longimanus.  The  deeds  of 
the  same  prince  are  represented  upon 
the  trophy-monument  in  the  Museum, 
where  he  appears  as  an  Oriental  chief, 
aided  by  Greek  mercenaries.  It  has 
been  thought  that  the  curious  symbol, 
known  as  the  triquetra,  occurring  upon 
the  Lycian  coins,  is  eniblemntic  of  the 
name  of  the  conqueror  in  whose  family 


the  government  was  settled  (Stewart,  in 
Fellows'  Lycian  Coins,  p.  14).  The 
essential  element  of  the  emblem  is  a 
crook  or  grappling  hook,  the  Latin  liar- 


Triquetra. 

2Mgo,  the  Greek  apTn],  or  apirdyri.  Such 
a  play  upon  words  is  not  uncommon  in 
a  rude  age.  The  crook  itself  appears 
on  the  coins  of  Arpi  in  Apulia,  in 
manifest  allusion  to  the  name  of  the 
town.  And  oiu-  more  ancient  armorial 
bearings  have  constantly  the  same  cha- 
racter. 

The  obelisk  prince,  "Caias,  son  of 
Harpagus,"  must  not  be  regarded  as 
the  actual  son,  but  as  a  descendant  of 
the  conqueror.  Eighty-seven  years  in- 
tervene between  the  conquest  and  the 
battle  of  the  Eurymedon,  to  which  the 
obelisk  is  posterior.  This  would  allow 
two  generations  between  the  founder  of 
the  family  and  the  builder  of  the  obelisk, 
which  may  be  filled  up  thus : — 

Harpagus  (tlie  con-         B.C.      B.C. 

queror) 553  to  543  ...  10  years. 

Gaias(.?)  his  son  ....  543  to  510  ...  33  years. 
Haipagus,  his  son  ...  510  to  477  ..  .  33  years, 
Caias,  his  son 477  to  444  ..  .  33  years. 

There  is  one  objection  to  this  view. 
The  commander  of  the  Lycian  ships  in 
the  navy  of  Xerxes  is  not  Harpagus,  the 
son  of  Caias,  but  Cyberniscus,  tlie  son 
of  Sicas  (infra,  vii.  98;.  Cyberniscus 
shoidd  certainly  represent  the  chief  ruler 


Chap.  176-178. 


WAE  ON  THE  ASSY-RIANS. 


251 


for  the   Caimians  in  the  main  followed  the  example  of  the 
Lycians. 

177.  While  the  lower  parts  of  Asia  were  in  this  way  brought 
under  by  Harpagus,  Cyrus  in  person  subjected  the  upper  regions, 
conquering  every  nation,  and  not  suffering  one  to  escape.  Of 
these  conquests  I  shall  pass  by  the  greater  portion,  and  give  an 
account  of  those  only  which  gaVe  him  the  most  trouble,  and  are 
the  worthiest  of  mention.  When  he  had  brought  all  the  rest  of 
the  continent  under  his  sway,  he  made  war  on  the  Assyrians.^ 

178.  Assyria  possesses  a  vast  number  of  great  cities,^  whereof 


of  Lycia,  as  Syennesis  does  of  Cilicia, 
and  Gorgus  of  great  part  of  Cyprus.  Pos- 
sibly the  words  "sou  of  Harpagus"  on 
the  monument  mean  only  "  descendant 
of  Harpagus,"  and  the  true  succession 
may  have  been — Harpagiis,  Sicas,  Cyber- 
niscus,  Caias.  Or  there  may  have  been 
an  interruption  in  the  line,  consequent 
upon  the  Caunian  rebellion,  which  may 
have  brought  Harpagus  II.  into  disgx^ace 
(v.  103),  since  Cavinus  was  included  in 
Lycia  (supra,  ch.  172,  note  '^),  and  if  the 
triquetra  may  be  taken  for  a  sign,  was 
under  the  government  of  the  Harpagi. 

■^  Herodotus  includes  Babylonia  in 
Assyria  (vide  supra,  ch.  lOG).  He  seems 
to  have  conceived  the  Median  conquest 
of  Nineveh  quite  differently  from  either 
Ctesias  or  Berosus.  He  regards  Cy- 
axares  as  conquering  a  portion  only  of 
Assyria,  and  supposes  a  transfer  of  the 
seat  of  government,  without  (appa- 
rently) any  change  of  dynasty,  to  Baby- 
lon. This  is  evident  from  the  next 
chapter.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  was  mistaken,  and  that  the  native 
historian  gave  a  truer  account.  See  the 
Essays  appended  to  this  Book,  Essays 
iii.  and  vii. 

^  The  large  number  of  important  cities 
in  Assyria,  especially  if  we  include  in  it 
Babylonia,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
features  of  Assyrian  greatness. 

[Grouped  around  Nineveh  were  Calah 
{JVimnkl),  DurSargina  {K/wrsabdd },  Tar- 
bisa  {Shcrifkhdn),  Arbel  {Arhil),  Khazeh 
(Shaiudniek),  and  Asshur  {Shirf/dt).  Lower 
down,  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  exhibit 
an  almost  unbroken  line  of  ruins  from 
Tekrit  to  Baghdad,  while  Babjdonia  and 
Chaldasa  are  throughout  studded  with 
mounds  from  north  to  south,  the  re- 
mains of  those  great  capitals  of  which 
we  read  in  the  inscx'iptions.  The  prin- 
cipal sites  are  Sittace  (a  doubtful  posi- 
tion),   Opis   [Khafdji),    Chilmad    [Kal- 


wddha),  Duraba  {Akkerhuf),  Cutha  {Ibra- 
him), Sippara  (the  modern  Sara  near 
Babylon),  Babylon  and  Borsippa  (the 
modern  Bahel  and7><Vs),  Calneh  (Nijfer), 
Erech  —  Huruk  of  the  inscriptions  — 
(  Warka),  Larancha  {Senkereh),  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  {Mugheir),  and  many  other  ci- 
ties of  which  the  ancient  names  have  not 
been  yet  identified. — H.  C.  R.]  Again, 
in  Upper  Mesopotamia,  between  the 
Tigris  and  the  Khabour,  an  affluent  of 
the  Euphrates,  Mr.  Layard  found  the 
whole  country  covered  with  artificial 
mounds,  the  remnants  of  cities  belonging 
to  the  .  early  Assyrian  period  (Nineveh 
and  Babylon,  pp.  241,  243,  245,  &c.). 
"As  the  evening  crept  on,"  he  says,  "I 
watched  from  the  highest  mound  the 
sun  as  it  gradually  sunk  in  unclouded 
splendour  below  the  sea-like  expanse 
before  me.  On  all  sides,  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  rose  the  grass-covered 
heaps,  marking  the  site. of  ancient  habi- 
tations. The  great  tide  of  civilisation 
had  long  since  ebbed,  leaving  these  scat- 
tered wrecks  on  the  solitary  shore.  Are 
those  waters  to  flow  again,  bearing  back 
the  seeds  of  knowledge  and  of  wealth 
that  they  have  wafted  to  the  West  ? 
We  wanderers  were  seeking  what  they 
had  left  behind,  as  children  gather  up 
the  coloured  shells  on  tlie  deserted 
sands.  At  my  feet  there  was  a  busy 
scene,  making  more  lonely  the  unbroken 
solitude  which  reigned  in  the  vast  plain 
around,  w^here  the  only  things  having 
life  or  motion  were  the  shadows  of  the 
lofty  mounds,  as  they  lengthened  before 
the  declining  sun.  Above  three  years 
before,  when  w^atching  the  approach  of 
night  from  the  old  castle  of  Tel  Afer,  I 
had  counted  nearly  one  hundred  ruins; 
now,  when  in  the  midst  of  them,  no  less 
than  double  that  number 
from  Tel  Jemal." 


were   seen 


252 


DESCRIPTION  OF  BABYLON. 


Book  T. 


the  most  renowned  and  strongest  at  this  time  was  Babylon, 
whither,  after  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  the  seat  of  government  had 
been  removed.  The  following  is  a  description  of  the  place  : — 
The  city  stands  on  a  broad  plain,  and  is  an  exact  square,  a 
hundred  and  twenty  furlongs  in  length  each  way,  so  that  the 
entire  circuit  is  four  hundred  and  eighty  furlongs.^  While  such 
is  its  size,  in  magnificence  there  is  no  other  city  that  approaches 
to  it.  It  is  surrounded,  in  the  first  place,  by  a  broad  and  deep 
moat,  full  of  water,  behind  which  rises  a  wall  fifty  royal  cubits 
in    width,  and    two    hundred  in  height.^      (The    royal    cubit  ^ 


^  According  to  Ctesias  Tap.  Diod.  Sic, 
ii.  7)  the  circuit  was  but  360  furlongs 
(stadia).  The  historians  of  Alexander 
agreed  nearly  with  this  (Diod.  Sic,  l,s.c.; 
Quint.  Curt,  V.  i,  §  26).  Clitarchus  re- 
ported 365  stadia;  Q.  Curtius,  368; 
while  Strabo,  who  had  access  to  Aiisto- 
bulus,  gave  385.  The  vast  space  en- 
closed within  the  walls  of  Babylon  is 
noticed  by  Aristotle.  (Polit.  iii.  1,  sub 
fin.) 

[No  traces  are  to  be  recognised  at  the 
present  day  of  the  ancient  enceinte  of 
Babylon,  nor  has  any  verification  as  yet 
been  discovered,  in  the  native  and  con- 
temporary records,  of  the  (apparently) 
exaggerated  measurements  of  the  Greeks. 
The  measure  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  new 
or  inner  city  is  given  in  the  India  House 
Tablet  as  4000  amnias  (or  cubits;  comp. 
the  Jewish  HSN)  each  side,  which  would 
yield  a  circumference  of  about  44  stades, 
or  no  more  than  5  English  miles.  But 
the  extent  of  the  old  Babylon  is  nowhere 
recorded,— H.CE.] 

1  This,  by  far  the  most  surprising 
fact  connected  with  these  walls,  is  to 
some  extent  confirmed  by  Ctesias,  who 
gives  the  measure  of  the  height  as 
50  fathoms  (Diod.  Sic.  ii.  7),  equal  to 
200  ordinary  cubits.  Other  writers 
considerably  reduce  the  amount ;  Pliny 
(vi.  26)  and  Solinus  (c.  60)  to  200  feet, 
Strabo  and  others  to  75  feet.  The 
great  width  and  height  of  the  walls 
are  noticed  in  Scripture  (Jerem,  Ii.  53, 
58),  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Babylonians  and  Assyrians  surrounded 
their  cities  with  walls  of  a  height  which, 
to  us,  is  astounding.  The  sober  and 
practical  Xenophon  (Anab,  ii,  iv.  §  12, 
and  III.  iv.  §  10)  reports  the  height  of 
the  so-called  Median  wall  at  100  feet, 
and  that  of  the  walls  of  the  ruined 
Nineveh  at  150  feet, 

[It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  Strabo  and  the  historians  of  Alex- 


ander substitute  50  for  the  200  cubits 
of  Herodotus,  and  it  may  therefore  be 
suspected  that  the  latter  author  referred 
to  hands,  four  of  which  were  equal  to 
the  cubit.  The  measure  indeed  of 
50  fathoms  or  200  royal  cubits  for  the 
walls  of  a  city  in  a  plain  is  quite  pre- 
posterous, and  if  intended  by  the  authors 
must  be  put  down  as  a  gross  exaggera- 
tion. When  Xenophon  estimates  the 
height  of  the  walls  of  Nineveh  opposite 
Mespila  at  1 50  feet,  he  gives  the  aggre- 
gate of  the  river  bank,  the  colossal 
mound  (modern  Koijunjih)  on  the  top  of 
the  bank,  and  the  wall  on  the  top  of 
the  mound.  My  own  belief  is  that  the 
height  of  the  walls  of  Babylon  did  not 
exceed  60  or  70  English  feet.— H,  C,  E,] 
2  The  Greek  metrical  system  was 
closely  connected  with  the  Babylonian, 
It  is  of  course  more  in  the  divisions  and 
general  arrangement  of  the  scale  than 
in  actual  measurement  that  the  Baby- 
lonian character  of  the  Greek  system  is 
exhibited.  Thus,  the  foot  being  taken 
as  the  unit  for  all  longer  measures,  the 
opyvia  is  found  to  contain  6  feet,  the 
KaXa/jLOs  10,  the  ^jU/ia  60,  the  irXeOpov 
100,  and  the  CTaBiov  600  ;— the  alterna- 
tion in  the  series  of  6  and  10  occurring 
precisely  as  in  the  well-known  Babylo- 
nian notation — now  abundantly  verified 
from  the  inscriptions — of  the  Sus,  the 
Ner,  and  the  Sar.  With  regard  to  the 
po.sitive  relationship  of  the  Greek  and 
Babylonian  measures  of  length,  it  is 
difficult  as  yet  to  form  a  decided  opinion. 
'Bockh  (Clas.  Mus.  vol.  i.  p.  4)  maintains 
that  the  Babylonian  cubic  foot  stood  to 
the  Greek  in  the  ratio  of  3  to  2.  and 
M.  Oppert,  from  a  tolerably  extensive 
field  of  comparison  (see  Athenaeum 
Frangais,  1854,  p.  370),  has  also  valued 
the  length  of  the  Babylonian  foot  at 
315  millimetres,  which  is,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  12§  English  inches,  but  my 
own  researches  rather  lead  me  to  believe 


Chap.  178,  170. 


DESCKITTION  OF  BABYLON. 


258 


is    longer    by     three     fingers'     breadth    than    the    comraon 

cubit.)' 

179.  And  here  I  may  not  omit  to  tell  the  use  to  which  the 
mould  dug  out  of  the  great  moat  was  turned,  nor  the  manner 
wherein  the  wall  was  wrought.  As  fast  as  they  dug  the  moat 
the  soil  which  they  got  from  the  cutting  was  made  into  bricks, 
and  when  a  sufficient  number  were  completed  they  baked  the 
bricks  in  kilns.  Then  they  set  to  building,  and  began  with 
bricking  the  borders  of  the  moat,  after  which  they  proceeded  to 
construct  the  wall  itself,  using  throughout  for  their  cement  hot 
bitumen,  and  interposing  a  layer  of  wattled  reeds  at  every 
thirtieth  course  of  the  bricks.*  On  the  top,  along  the  edges  of 
the  wall,  they  constructed  buildings  of  a  single  chamber  facing 
one  another,  leaving  between  them  room  for  a  four-horse  chariot 
to  turn.  In  the  circuit  of  the  wall  are  a  hundred  gates,  all  of 
brass,  with  brazen  lintels  and  side-posts.  The  bitumen  used  in 
the  work  was  brought  to  Babylon  from  the  Is,  a  small  stream 
which  flows  into  the  Euphrates  at  the  point  where  the  city  of 
the  same  name  stands,^  eight  days'  journey  from  Babylon. 
Lumps  of  bitumen  are  found  in  great  abundance  in  this  river. 


the  ordinary  Babylonian  foot  to  have 
been  less  tlian  the  Greek — less  even 
than  the  English  foot.  It  may  per- 
haps have  been  identical  with  the 
Egyptian  or  Samian,  the  exact  value 
of  which,  obtained  from  the  Nilometer, 
is  ll-8-28o2o84  English  inches,  but  I 
would  prefer  comparing  the  Eoman 
foot,  which  is  only  11-6496  English 
inches,  or  even  a  foot  of  still  less  value, 
if  any  authority  could  be  found  for  it. 
— [H.  C.  R.] 

^  According  to  M.  Oppert,  the  Baby- 
lonian cubit  was  to  the  foot,  not  as 
.')  :  2,  but  as  5  :  3.  The  foot  contained 
.Miands  of  5  fingers  each,  or  15  fingers 
(Athenaeum  Frangais,  1850,  p.  370);  the 
cubit  5  such  hands,  or  25  fingers.  If 
then  we  accept  the  statement  of  He- 
rodotus, the  Royal  Babylonian  cubit 
must  have  contained  28  fingers,  or  4 
more  than  the  Greek.  The  exact  value 
of  the  cubit  will,  of  course,  depend  on 
the  estimate  which  we  form  of  the  real 
length  of  the  foot  (see  the  last  note). 
Assuming  at  present  that  the  Babylonian 
foot  nearly  equalled  the  English,  the 
common  cubit  would  have  been  1  foot 
8  inches,  and  the  Royal  cubit  1  foot 
]0'4  inches.  The  Herodotean  height 
of  the  walls,  according  to  this  estimate 
would  be  ;'.73  ft.  4  in.,  or  13  ft.  4  in. 


higher  than  the  extreme  height  of  St. 
Paul's! 

*  Layers  of  reeds  are  found  in  some 
of  the  remains  of  brick  buildings  at 
present  existing  in  Babylonia,  but 
usually  at  much  smaller  intervals  than 
here  indicated.  At  Akkerkuf  "they 
bed  every  ffth  or  sijcth  layer  of  brick, 
to  a  thickness  of  two  inches."  (See 
Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  278.)  In  the 
Mujelibe',  or  ancient  temple  of  Belus  at 
Babylon,  ''the  straw  line  runs  its  un- 
broken length  between  the  ranges  of 
every  single  brick  course"  (Ibid.  p.  341). 

[I  have*  never  myself  observed  layers 
of  reeds  in  any  building  of  undoubted 
Babylonian  origin.  All  the  ruins,  at 
any  rate  about  Babylon,  in  which  reeds 
are  met  with  at  short  distances  between 
the  layers  of  crude  brick,  are  of  the 
Parthian  age,  such  as  Al  Hymar,  Ak- 
kerkuf, the  upper  walls  of  Rich's  Mu- 
jellibeh,  Mokhattat,  Zibliyeh.  Shishobar, 
and  the  walls  of  Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon, 
Impressions  of  reeds  are  at  the  same 
time  very  common  on  the  burnt  bricks 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  buildings  from  the 
bricks  having  been  laid  on  matting  when 
in  a  soft  state. — H.  C.  R.] 

^  This  place  seems  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  tinbute  paid  to  Thothmes  III.  at 
Karnak,  from  Nineveh,  Shinar,  Meso- 


254 


DESCRirTION  OF  BABYLON. 


Book  I. 


180.  The  city  is  divided  into  two  portions  by  the  river  which 
runs  through  the  midst  of  it.  This  river  is  the  Euphrates,  a 
broad,  deep,  swift  stream,  which  rises  in  Armenia,  and  empties 
itself  into  the  Erythraean  sea.  The  city  wall  is  brought  down 
on  both  sides  to  the  edge  of  the  stream :  thence,  from  the 
corners  of  the  wall,  there  is  carried  along  each  bank  of  the  river 
a  fence  of  burnt  bricks.  The  houses  are  mostly  three  and  four 
stories  high  ;  the  streets  all  run  in  straight  lines,  not  only  those 
parallel  to  the  river,  but  also  the  cross  streets  which  lead  down 
to  the  water-side.  At  the  river  end  of  these  cross  streets  are  low 
gates  in  the  fence  that  skirts  the  stream,  whicli  are,  like  the 
great  gates  in  the  outer  wall,  of  brass,  and  open  on  the  water. 

181.  The  outer  wall  is  the  main  defence  of  the  city.  There 
is,  however,  a  second  inner  wall,  of  less  thickness  than  the  first, 
but  very  little  inferior  to  it  in  strength.*'  The  centre  of  each 
division  of  the  town  was  occupied  by  a  fortress.  In  the  one 
stood  the  palace  of  the  kings,^  surrounded  by  a  w^all  of  great 


potamia,  and  Babel,  &c,,  under  the 
name  of  "1st,''  the  chief  of  which 
brought  2040  minse  of  bitumen,  which 
is  called  sift,  answering  to  zifte,  its 
modern  name  in  those  parts,  as  Rich 
says.  In  Egyptian  Arabic  zifte  (like 
the  Hebrew  zift,  Exod.  ii.  3)  means 
pitch,  bitumen  (sift),  and  incense  also. 
(See  Birch's  letter  in  Otia  -^gyptiaca, 
p.  80,  etc.).— [G.  W.] 

Is  is  indubitably  the  modern  Hit, 
where  the  bitumen  is  still  abundant. 
The  following  quaint  description  is  given 
by  an  old  traveller : — 

"  Having  spent  three  days  and  better, 
from  the  ruins  of  Old  Babylon  we  came 
unto  a  town  called  Ait,  inhabited  only 
by  Arabians,  but  very  ruinous.  Near 
unto  which  town  is  a  valley  of  pitch 
very  marvellous  to  behold,  and  a  thing 
almost  incredible,  wherein  are  many 
springs  throwing  out  abundantly  a  kind 
of  black  substance,  like  unto  tar  and 
pitch,  which  serveth  all  the  countries 
thereabouts  to  make  staunch  their  barks 
and  boats,  every  one  of  which  springs 
maketh  a  noise  like  a  smith's  forge  in 
puffing  and  blowing  out  the  matter, 
which  never  ceaseth  night  nor  day,  and 
the  noise  is  heard  a  mile  off,  swallowing 
up  all  weighty  things  that  come  upon  it. 
The  Moors  call  it  '  the  mouth  of  hell.'  " 
(Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels  from 
the  Library  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford.  2  vols. 
London,  1745.    Vol.  ii.  p.  752.) 

[The  name  of  this  place  was  originally 


///*,  or,  with  a  distinctive  epithet  at- 
tached, Ihidakira,  meaning  "  the  bitu- 
men spring."  In  the  Is  of  Herodotus 
we  have  I  hi  with  a  Greek  nominatival 
ending.  The  same  place  is  probably 
indicated  in  Ezra  viii.  15,  21,  31,  where 
we  have  the  Hebrew  orthography  of 
XiriK,  or,  in  the  English  version,  Ahava. 
Isidore  of  Charax  writes  the  name  as 
'AeiTToAis  in  his  Parthian  stations  (p.  5). 
Ptolemy  has  'iSiKcipa  (v.  20),  and  the 
Talmud  NT'PlN^n^  {Ihidakira)  as  the 
most  northerly  town  of  Babylonia, 
Zosimus  also  writes  AaKipa  (iii.  p.  165), 
and  Ammianus,  Diacira  (xxiv.  2).  Hit 
is  probably  the  same  name  with  a  femi- 
nine ending. — H.  C.  R.] 

^  The  "inner  wall"  here  mentioned 
may  have  been  the  wall  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar's new  city — the  "  inner  city  "  of 
Berosus  (Fr.  14)— which  lay  entirely 
within  the  ancient  circuit,  and  had  a 
circumference  of  16,000  ammas  or  44 
stades. — See  note  ^  on  ch.  178. 

'  This  is  the  mass  or  mound  still 
called  the  Kasr  or  Palace,  "a  square  of 
700  yards  in  length  and  breadth."  (Rich, 
First  Memoir,  p.  22.)  It  is  an  immense 
pile  of  brickwork,  chiefly  of  the  finest 
kind.  On  it  stand  some  remarkable 
ruins  to  which  the  name  AVts/-  is  specially 
applied.  Its  single  tree  which  Rich 
thought  strange  to  the  country,  and  a 
remnant  of  the  hanging-gardens  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  still  grows  on  one  of 
the  ridges,  but  is  not  found  to  deserve 


CriAP.  180,  181.  GREAT  TEMPLE  OF  BELUS. 


255 


strengtli  and  size  :  in  the  otlier  was  the  sacred  precinct  of  Jupiter 
Belus,^  a  square  enclosure  two  furlongs  each  way,  with  gates  of 
solid  brass  ;  which  was  also  remaining  in  my  time.  In  the 
middle  of  the  precinct  there  was  a  tower  of  solid  masonry,  a 
furlong  in  length  and  breadth,  upon  which  was  raised  a  second 
tower,  and  on  that  a  third,  and  so  on  up  to  eight.  The  ascent 
to  the  top  is  on  the  outside,  by  a  path  which  winds  round  all  the 
towers.  When  one  is  about  half-way  up,  one  finds  a  resting- 
place  and  seats,  where  persons  are  wont  to  sit  some  time  on 
their  way  to  the  summit.  On  the  topmost  tower  there  is  a 
spacious  temple,  and  inside  the  temple  stands  a  couch  of  unusual 
size,  richly  adorned,  with  a  golden  table  by  its  side.  There  is 
no  statue  of  any  kind  set  up  in  the  place,  nor  is  the  chamber 
occupied  of  nights  by  any  one  but  a  smgle  native  woman,  who, 
as  the  Chaldseans,  the  priests  of  this  god,^  affirm,  is  cliosen  for 
liimself  by  the  deity  out  of  all  the  women  of  the  land. 


the  attention  bestowed  on  it,  since  it 
is  of  a  kind  very  common  in  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates. 

[There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  of 
the  identity  of  the  ruins  of  the  Kasr 
with  the  great  palace  of  Babylon  noticed 
by  Herodotus,  and  described  at  more 
length  by  Josephus  from  Berosus  (contr. 
Ap.  i.  19),  because  several  slabs  belong- 
ing to  the  original  building  have  been 
found  there  which  bear  inscriptions 
commemorative  of  the  building  of  the 
palace  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  For  a  full 
explanation  of  the  subject,  see  the 
Essay  appended  to  Book  iii.,  "  On  the 
Topography  of  Babylon," — H.  C.  R.] 

^  The  Babylonian  worship  of  Bel  is 
well  known  to  us  from  Scripture  (Isaiah 
xlvi.  1 ;  Jerem.  1.  2 ;  Apoc.  Dan.  xii, 
16).  There  is  little  doubt  that  he  was 
(at  least  in  the  later  times),  the  re- 
cognised head  of  the  Babylonian  Pan- 
theon, and  therefore  properly  identified 
by  the  Greeks  with  their  Zeus  or  Jupi- 
ter. (Compare  the  expressions  Jupiter 
Amnion,  Jupiter  Papias,  &c.)  It  has 
been  usual  to  suppose  that  Bel  and 
Baal  are  the  same  woi'd,  and  there- 
fore that  the  word  Bel  means  simply 
"  Lord."  But  this  is  very  uncertain. 
Bel  is  73  in  the  original,  while  Baal  is 
7^3.     These  may  he  distinct  roots. 

[There  are  some  points  of  consider- 
able difficulty  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Bel  at  Babylon.  In  the  inscrip- 
tions of  Nebuchadnezzar,  for  instance, 


the  name  of  Bel,  as  a  distinct  divinity, 
hardly  ever  occurs.  The  great  temple 
of  Babylon  is  consecrated  to  Merodach, 
and  that  god  is  the  tutelar  divinity  of 
the  city.  In  the  Assyrian  inscriptions, 
however,  Bel  is  associated  with  Babylon. 
Pul  and  Tiglath-Pileser  both  sacrificed 
to  him  in  that  city  as  the  supreme  local 
deity,  and  Sargon  expressly  calls  Baby- 
lon "the  dwelling-place  of  Bel."  At 
a  still  earlier  period,  that  is,  under  the 
old  Chaldsean  Empire,  NifFer  was  the 
chief  seat  of  the  worship  of  Bel,  and 
the  city  was  named  after  him,  an  expla- 
nation being  thus  afforded  of  the  many 
traditions  which  point  to  Niffer,  or  the 
city  of  Belus  (Calneh  of  Genesis),  as 
the  primitive  capital  of  Chaldaea.  It 
may  be  presumed  from  many  notices, 
both  in  sacred  and  profane  history,  that 
the  worship  of  Bel  again  superseded 
that  of  Merodach  at  Babylon  under  the 
Achajmenian  princes.  See  the  Essay 
on  the  Religion  of  the  Assyrians  and 
Babylonians.— H.  C.  R.] 

^  Ctesias  appears  to  have  agi-eed  with 
Herodotus  in  this  statement.  Diodorus, 
whose  Assyrian  history  seems  to  have 
been  entirely  taken  from  Ctesias,  com- 
pares the  Ohaldicans  of  Babylonia  with 
the  priests  of  Egypt  (ii.  29).  And  it  is 
unquestionable  that  at  the  time  of 
Alexander's  conquests  the  Chaldajans 
were  a  priest-caste.  Yet  originally  the 
appellation  seems  to  have  been  ethnic. 

[It  is  only  recently  that  the  darkness 
Avhich  has  so  long  enveloped  the  history 


256 


GREAT  TEMPLE  OF  BELUS. 


Book  I. 


182.  They  also  declare — but  I  for  my  part  do  not  credit  it — 
that  the  god  comes  down  in  person  into  this  chamber,  and  sleeps 
npon  the  couch.  This  is  like  the  story  told  by  the  Egyptians  of 
what  takes  place  in  their  city  of  Thebes/  where  a  woman  always 
passes  the  night  in  the  temple  of  the  Theban  Jupiter.^  In  each 
case  the  woman  is  said  to  be  debarred  all  intercourse  with  men. 
It  is  also  like  the  custom  of  Patara,  in  Lycia,  where  the  priestess 
who  delivers  the  oracles,  during  the  time  that  she  is  so  em- 
ployed— for  at  Patara  there  is  not  always  an  oracle,^ — is  shut  up 
in  the  temple  every  night. 


of  the  Chaldseans  has  been  cleared  up, 
b\it  we  are  now  able  to  present  a  tole- 
rably clear  account  of  them.  The  Chal- 
dseans  then  appear  to  have  been  a  branch 
of  the  great  Hamite  race  of  Akkad,  which 
inhabited  Babylonia  from  the  earliest 
times.  With  this  race  originated  the 
art  of  writing,  the  building  of  cities, 
the  institution  of  a  religious  system, 
and  the  cultivation  of  all  science,  and 
of  astronomy  in  particular.  The  lan- 
guage of  these  Akkad  presents  perhaps 
through  its  vocabulary  affinities  with 
the  African  dialects  on  the  one  side, 
and  through  its  construction  with  the 
Turanian,  or  those  of  High  Asia,  on  the 
other.  It  stands  indeed  somcvhat  in 
the  same  relation  as  the  Egyptian  to  the 
Semitic  languages,  belonging  as  it  would 
seem  to  the  great  parent  stock  from 
which  the  trunk-sti'eam  of  the  Semitic 
tongues  also  sprung,  before  there  was  a 
ramification  of  Semitic  dialects,  and 
before  Semitism  even  had  become  sub- 
ject to  its  peculiar  organisation  and 
developments.  In  this  primitive  Akka- 
dian tongue,  which  I  have  been  accus- 
tomed generally  to  denominate  Scythic 
from  its  near  connexion  with  the  Scythic 
dialect  of  Persia,  were  preserved  all  the 
scientific  treatises  known  to  the  Baby- 
lonians, long  after  the  Semitic  element 
had  become  predominant  in  the  land — 
it  was  in  fact  the  language  of  science 
in  the  East,  as  the  Latin  was  in  Europe 
during  the  middle  ages.  When  Semitic 
tribes  established  an  empire  in  Assyria 
in  the  13th  century  B.C.  they  adopted 
the  fflphabet  of  the  Akkad,  and  with 
certain  modifications  applied  it  to  their 
own  language  ;  but  during  the  seven 
centuries  which  followed  of  Semitic 
dominion  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  tliis 
Assyrian  language  was  merely  used  for 
historical  records  and  official  documents. 
The  mythological,  astronomical,  and 
other  scientific  tablets  found  at  Nineveh 


are  exclusively  in  the  Akkadian  lan- 
guage, and  are  thus  shown  to  belong 
to  a  priest-class,  exactly  answering  to 
the  Chaldseans  of  profane  history  and 
of  the  book  of  Daniel.  We  thus  see 
how  it  is  that  the  Chaldeeans  (taken 
generally  for  the  Akkad)  are  spoken  of 
in  the  prophetical  books  of  Scripture 
as  composing  the  armies  of  the  Semitic 
kings  of  Babylon  and  as  the  general 
inhabitants  of  the  country,  while  in 
other  authorities  they  are  distinguished 
as  philosophers,  astronomers,  and  magi- 
cians, as,  in  fact,  the  special  depositaries 
of  science.  It  may  further  be  inferred 
that  these  Clialdsean  Akkad  descended 
into  Babylonia  in  very  remote  times 
from  the  Kurdish  mountains,  for  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Sargon  the  geographical 
name  of  Akkad  is  sometimes  applied  to 
the  mountains  instead  of  the  vernacular 
title  of  Varamt  or  Ararat — an  excellent 
illustration  being  thus  afforded  of  the 
notices  of  Chaldajaus  in  this  quarter  by 
so  many  of  the  Greek  historians  and 
geographers.  This  subject  is  fui-ther 
examined  in  Essay  iii.,  appended  to 
Book  vii. 

1  This  fable  of  the  god  coming  per- 
sonally into  his  temple  was  contrary  to 
the  Egyptian  belief  in  the  nature  of  the 
gods.  It  was  only  a  figurative  expres- 
sion, similar  to  that  of  the  Jews,  who 
speak  of  God  visiting  and  dwelling  in 
his  holy  hill,  and  not  intended  to  be 
taken  literally.  (Of  the  women  in  the 
service  of  Amun,  see  note  on  Book  ii. 
ch.  35.)— [G.  W.] 

2  The  Theban  Jupiter,  or  god  wor- 
shipped as  the  Supreme  Being  in  the 
city  of  Thebes,  was  Ammcm  (Amun). 
Herodotus  says  the  Theban  rather  than 
the  Egyptian  Jupiter,  because  various 
gods  were  worshipped  in  various  parts  of 
Egypt  as  supreme :  Khem  at  Cliemmis, 
Phtha  at  Memphis,  Pa  at  Heliopolis,  &c. 

^  Patara  lay  on  the  shoi-e,  a  little  to 


Chap.  182,  183. 


GOLDEN  IMAGE  OF  BEL. 


257 


183.  Below,  in  the  same  precinct,  there  is  a  second  temple,  in 
which  is  a  sitting  figure  of  Jupiter,  all  of  gold.  Before  the 
figure  stands  a  large  golden  table,  and  the  throne  whereon  it 
sits,  and  the  base  on  which  the  throne  is  placed,  are  likewise  of 
gold.  The  Chaldfeans  told  me  that  all  the  gold  together  was 
eight  hundred  talents'  weight.  Outside  the  temple  are  two 
altars,  one  of  solid  gold,  on  which  it  is  only  lawful  to  offer  suck- 
lings ;  the  other  a  common  altar,  but  of  great  size,  on  which  the 
full-grown  animals  are  sacrificed.  It  is  also  on  the  great  altar 
that  the  Chaldseans  burn  the  frankincense,  which  is  offered  to 
the  amount  of  a  thousand  talents'  weight,  every  year,  at  the 
festival  of  the  God.  In  the  time  of  Cyrus  there  was  likewise  in 
this  temple  a  figure  of  a  man,  twelve  cubits  higli,  entirely  of 
solid  gold.  I  myself  did  not  see  this  figure,  but  I  relate  what 
the  Clialda3ans  report  concerning  it.  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystas- 
pes,  plotted  to  carry  the  statue  off,  but  had  not  the  hardihood 
to  lay  his  hands  upon  it.  Xerxes,  however,  the  son  of  Darius, 
killed  the  priest  who  forbade  him  to  move  the  statue,  and  took 
it  away.'^  Besides  the  ornaments  which  I  have  mentioned,  there 
are  a  large  number  of  private  offerings  in  this  holy  precinct.^ 


the  east  of  the  Xanthiis  (Strabo  xiv. 
p.  951;  Ptol.  V.  3).  Scylax  (Peripl. 
p.  93)  seems  to  place  it  some  distance 
up  the  stream,  but  his  text  is  probably 
corrupt  in  this  place.  The  site  is  fixed 
with  certainty  by  ruins  and  inscriptions 
(Beaufort's  Karamania,  p.  5 ;  Ionian 
Antiq.  vol.  iii.  p.  85  ;  Fellows's  Lycia, 
p.  416  to  p.  419),  and  the  name  still 
adheres  to  the  place. 

According  to  Servius  (ad  ^n.  iv.  143) 
Apollo  delivered  oracles  here  during  the 
six  winter  months,  while  during  the  six 
summer  months  he  gave  responses  at 
Delos.     Compare  Hor.  Od.  iii.  4,  64. 

•*  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
was  done  by  Xerxes  after  the  revolt  of 
Babylon,  of  which  Ctesias  speaks  (Exc. 
Pers.  §  22).  Arrian  relates  that  Xerxes 
not  only  plundered  but  destroyed  the 
temple  on  his  return  from  Greece  (vii. 
17;  comp.  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1049).  It  is 
likely  that  the  revolt  was  connected 
with  the  disasters  of  the  Grecian  expe- 
dition, and  that  Xerxes,  on  taking  the 
city,  maltreated  the  priests,  plundered 
the  temple,  and  diminished  its  strength 
as  a  fortress,  to  which  purpose  it  may 
have  been  turned  during  the  siege.  But 
the  KaT€aKu\p€u  of  Arrian  is  too  strong 
a  word.  It  may  be  remarked  that  Strabo 
uses  the  milder  term  KaT^cnracreu. 

VOL.  I. 


^  The  great  temple  of  Babylon,  re- 
garding which  the  Greeks  have  left  so 
many  notices,  is  beyond  all  doubt  to  be 
identified  with  the  enormous  mound 
which  is  named  Mujellibeh  by  Eich,  but 
to  which  the  Arabs  imiversally  apply 
the  title  of  Bdhil.  In  the  description, 
however,  which  Herodotus  gives  of  this 
famous  building  he  would  seem  to  have 
blended  architectural  details  which  ap- 
plied in  reality  to  two  difi'erent  sites ;  his 
measurement  of  a  stade  squai-e  answering 
pretty  well  to  the  circumference  of  Babil, 
and  his  notices  also  of  the  chapels  and 
altars  of  the  god  being  in  close  agree- 
ment with  the  accounts  preserved  in  the 
inscriptions  of  N"ebuchadnezzar  of  the 
high  place  of  Merodach  at  Babylon ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  elevation 
of  seven  stages  one  above  the  other,  and 
the  construction  of  a  shrine  for  the  di- 
vinity at  the  summit  of  the  pile,  must 
necessarily  refer  to  the  temple  of  the 
Planets  of  the  Seven  Spheres  at  Bor- 
sippa,  now  represented  by  the  ruins  of 
Birs-Nimrud.  A  full  account  of  both  of 
these  temi^les  is  given  from  the  Cunei- 
form Inscriptions  at  the  close  of  Book 
iii.,  "  On  the  Topography  of  Babylon," 
to  which  accordingly  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred.—[H.  C.  P.] 


S 


258  SOVEREIGNS  OF  BABYLON— SEMIRAMIS.  Book  I. 

184.  Many  sovereigns  have  ruled  over  this  city  of  Babylon, 
and  lent  their  aid  to  the  building  of  its  walls  and  the  adornment 
of  its  temples,  of  whom  I  shall  make  mention  in  my  Assjn-ian 
history.  Among  them  two  were  women.  Of  these,  the  earlier, 
called  Semiramis,  held  the  throne  five  generations  before  the 
later  princess.^  She  raised  certain  embanl?:ments  well  w^orthy  of 
inspection,  in  the  plain  near  Babylon,  to  control  the  river,  which, 
till  then,  used  to  overflow,  and  flood  the  whole  country  round 
about. 

185.  The  later  of  the  tw^o  queens,  whose  name  was  Nitocris,  a 
wiser  princess  than  her  predecessor,  not  only  left  behind  her,  as 
memorials  of  her  occupancy  of  the  throne,  the  works  which  I 
shall  presently  describe,  but  also,  observing  the  great  power  and 
restless  enterprise  of  the  Modes,  who  had  taken  so  large  a 
number  of  cities,  and  among  them  Mneveh,  and  expecting  to  be 
attacked  in  her  turn,  made  all  possible  exertions  to  increase  the 
defences  of  her  empire.  And  first,  whereas  the  river  Euphrates, 
which  traverses  the  city,  ran  formerly  with  a  straight  course  to 
Babylon,  she,  by  certain  excavations  which  she  made  at  some 
distance  up  the  stream,  rendered-  it  so  winding  that  it  comes 
three  several  times  in  sight  of  the  same  village^  a  village  in 
Assyria,  which  is  called  Ardericca  ;  ^  and  to  tliis  daj^,  they  who 
would  go  from  our  sea  to  Babylon,  on  descending  to  the  river 
touch  three  times,  and  on  three  different  days,  at  this  A^ery  place. 
She  also  made  an  embankment  along  each  side  of  the  Euphrates, 
wonderful  both  for  breadth  and  height,  and  dug  a  basin  for  a 
lake  a  great  way  above  Babylon,  close  alongside  of  the  stream, 
which  was  sunk  everywhere  to  the  point  where  they  came  to 
water,  and  w^as  of  such  breadth  that  the  whole  circuit  measured 
four  hundred  and  twenty  furlongs.  The  soil  dug  out  of  this 
basin  was  made  use  of  in  the  embankments  along  the  waterside. 
When  the  excavation  was  finished,  she  had  stones  brought,  and 
bordered  with  them  the  entire  margin  of  the  reservoir.  These 
two  things  were  done,  the  river  made  to  wind,  and  the  lake 
excavated,  that  the  stream  might  be  slacker  by  reason  of  the 


6  Scaliger  proposed  to  read  "//i;;/ gene-  '^  Ardericca  is  probably  the  modern 

rations  "  instead  of  "  five,"  Vitringasug-  Akkerkuf,  which  was  on  the  line  of  the 

gested ''fifteen."  Both  wished  to  identify  oinginal  N'ahr  Malcha,  or  Royal  River, 

the  Semiramis  of  Herodotns  with  that  of  a  canal  made  for  purposes  of  irrigation. 

Ctesias,     But  they  are  two  entirely  dis-  No  such  cuttings  as  those  here  described 

tinct  personages.     See   the  Essays  ap-  by  Hei'odotus  can  ever  have  existed. — 

pended  to  this  volume,  Ess?iy  viii.,  ''  On  [H.  C.  R.] 
the  History  of  the  later  Babylonians." 


Chap.  184-187.      NITOCRIS— HER  GREAT  WORKS.  259 

number  of  curves,  and  the  voyage  be  rendered  circuitous,  and 
that  at  the  end  of  the  voyage  it  might  be  necessary  to  skirt  the 
lake  and  so  make  a  long  round.  All  these  works  were  on  that 
side  of  Babylon  where  the  passes  lay,  and  the  roads  into  Media 
were  the  straightest,  and  the  aim  of  the  queen  in  making  them 
was  to  prevent  the  Modes  from  holding  intercourse  with  the 
Babylonians,  and  so  to  keep  them  in  ignorance  of  her  affairs. 

18G.  While  the  soil  from  the  excavation  was  being  thus  used 
for  the  defence  of  the  city,  Mtocris  engaged  also  in  another 
undertaking,  a  mere  by-work  compared  with  those  we  have 
already  mentioned.  The  city,  as  I  said,  was  divided  by  the  river 
into  two  distinct  portions.  Under  the  former  kings,  if  a  man 
wanted  to  pass  from  one  of  these  divisions  to  the  other,  he  had 
to  cross  in  a  boat ;  which  must,  it  seems  to  me,  have  been  very 
troublesome.  Accordingly,  while  she  was  digging  the  lake, 
Nitocris  bethought  herself  of  turning  it  to  a  use  which  should  at 
once  remove  this  inconvenience,  and  enable  her  to  leave  another 
monument  of  her  reign  over  Babylon.  She  gave  orders  for  the 
hewing  of  immense  blocks  of  stone,  and  when  they  were  ready 
and  the  basin  was  excavated,  she  turned  the  entire  stream  of 
the  Euplirates  into  the  cutting,  and  thus  for  a  time,  while  the 
basin  was  filling,  the  natural  channel  of  the  river  was  left  dry. 
Forthwith  she  set  to  w^ork,  and  in  the  first  place  lined  the  banks 
of  the  stream  within  the  city  with  quays  of  burnt  brick,  and  also 
bricked  the  landing-places  opposite  the  river-gates,  adopting 
throughout  the  same  fashion  of  brickwork  which  had  been  used 
in  the  town  wall ;  after  which,  with  the  materials  which  had 
been  prepared,  she  built,  as  near  the  middle  of  the  town  as 
possible,  a  stone  bridge,  the  blocks  whereof  were  bound  together 
with  iron  and  lead.  In  the  daytime  square  wooden  platforms 
were  laid  along  from  pier  to  pier,  on  which  the  inhabitants 
crossed  the  stream ;  but  at  night  they  were  withdrawn,  to  pre- 
vent people  passing  from  side  to  side  in  the  dark  to  commit 
robberies.  When  the  river  had  tilled  the  cutting,  and  the  bridge 
was  finished,  the  Euplirates  was  turned  back  again  into  its  ancient 
bed  ;  and  thus  the  basin,  transformed  suddenly  into  a  lake,  was 
seen  to  answer  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  made,  and  the  inha- 
bitants, by  help  of  the  basin,  obtained  the  advantage  of  a  bridge. 

187.  It  was  this  same  princess  by  whom  a  remarkable  decep- 
tion was  planned.  She  had  her  tomb  constructed  in  the  upper 
part  of  one  of  the  principal  gateways  of  the  city,  high  above  the 
heads  of  the  passers  by,  with  this  inscription  cut  upon  it : — "  If 

s  2 


260  EXPEDITION  OF  CYRUS  AGAINST  BABYLON.       Book  I. 

there  be  one  among  my  successors  on  the  throne  of  Babylon 
who  is  in  want  of  treasure,  let  him  open  my  tomb,  and  take  as 
much  as  he  chooses, — not,  however,  unless  he  be  truly  in  want, 
for  it  will  not  be  for  his  good."  This  tomb  (continued  untouched 
until  Darius  came  to  the  kingdom.  To  him  it  seemed  a  mon- 
strous thing  that  he  should  be  unable  to  use  one  of  the  gates  of 
the  town,  and  that  a  sum  of  money  should  be  lying  idle,  and 
moreover  inviting  his  grasp,  and  he  not  seize  upon  it.  Now  he 
could  not  use  the  gate  because,  as  he  drove  through,  the  dead 
body  would  have  been  over  his  head.  Accordingly  he  opened 
the  tomb  ;  but  instead  of  money,  found  only  the  dead  body,  and 
a  writing  which  said — "  Hadst  thou  not  been  insatiate  of  pelf, 
and  careless  how  thou  gottest  it,  thou  wouldst  not  have  broken 
open  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead." 

188.  The  expedition  of  Cyrus  Avas  undertaken  against  the  son 
of  this  princess,  who  bore  the  same  name  as  his  father  Laby- 
netus,^  and  was  king  of  the  Assyrians.  The  Great  King,  when 
he  goes  to  the  wars,  is  always  supplied  with  provisions  carefully 
prepared  at  home,  and  with  cattle  of  his  own.  Water  too  from 
the  river  Choaspes,  which  flows  by  Susa,^  is  taken  with  him  for 
his  drink,  as  that  is  the  only  water  which  the  kings  of  Persia 
taste.^  Wherever  he  travels,  he  is  attended  by  a  number  of 
four-wheeled  cars  drawn  by  mules,  in  which  the  Choaspes  water, 
ready  boiled  for  use,  and  stored  in  flagons  of  silver,  is  moved 
with  him  from  place  to  place. 

189.  Cyrus  on  his  way  to  Babylon  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
Gyndes,^    a    stream   which,   rising    in    the    Matienian    moun- 


^    Hei'odotus    probably  regards   this  mentions  both  names.     But  these  two 

Labynetus  as  the  son  of  the  king  men-  writers   are   probably  mistaken   in   re- 

tioned  in  chap.  74.  garding   the    Eiileeus  and  Choaspes  as 

9  For  a  description  of  the  situation  different  rivers.    The  term  Eulaeus  (Ulai 

and  present  state  of  Susa,  see  note  on  of  Daniel)  seems  to  have  been  applied 

Book  iii,  ch.   68.     There  is  no  doubt  to  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Kerkhah, 

that  the  Choaspes  is  the  modern  Kerkhah.  which,  leaving  the  main  stream  at  Pai- 

(See  Journal  of  the  Geograph.  Soc,,  vol.  Fnl,  joined  the  Shapur,  and  flowed  into 

ix.,part  i.  pp.  88,  89.)  the  Karun  at  Ahivaz.     (See  Loftus,  Chal- 

1    This    statement    of    Herodotus   is  dsea  and  Susiana,    pp.   424-430.)     The 

echoed  by  vax-ious  writers  (Plutarch,  de  water  of  both  the  Karun  and  the  Kerlihah 

Extl.    vol.    ii.    p.    601,    D;    Athenreus,  is  said  at  the  pi-esent  day  to  be  excellent, 

Deipnosoph.  ii.  23,  p.  171;  Solinus,  Po-  and  the  natives  vaunt  the  superiority  of 

lyhist.  xli.  p.  83;  Eustath.  ad  Dionys.  these  two  rivers  over  all  other  streams  or 

Perieg.  1073,  &c.).   Some  add  to  it,  that  springs  in  the  world  (Journal  of  Geogr. 

no  one  but  the  king  (Soliu.  1.  s.  c),  or  Society,  vol.  ix.  part  i.  p.  89). 
no  one  but  the  king  and  his  eldest  son         ^    (plie   Gyndes   is   undoubtedly   the 

(Agathocles,   Er.   .5),   might  drink  the  Dvjdlah,  since, — firstly, — there  is  no 

Choaspes  water.     What  most  say  of  the  other  naim/able  stream  after  the   lower 

Choaspes,  Strabo  reports  of  the  Eulrous  Zab  on  the  road   between  Sardis  and 

(xv.  p,  1043),  and  Pliny  (H.  N.  xxxi.  3)  Susa  (vide  infra,  v.  52);  and  secondly, 


Chap.  187-180.        DISPERSION  OF  THE  -GYNDES. 


261 


tains,^  runs  throiigli  the  country  of  the  Dardanians,^  and  emj)ties 
itself  mto  the  river  Tigris.  The  Tigris,  after  receiving  the  Gyndes, 
flows  on  by  the  city  of  Opis/  and  discharges  its  waters  into  tlie 
Erythraean  sea.  When  Cyrus  reached  this  stream,  which  coukl 
only  be  passed  in  boats,  one  of  the  sacred  white  horses  accom- 
panying his  march,  full  of  spirit  and  high  mettle,  walked  into 
the  water,  and  tried  to  cross  by  himself ;  but  the  current  seized 
him,  swept  him  along  with  it,  and  drowned  him  in  its  depths. 
Cyrus,  enraged  at  the  insolence  of  the  river,  threatened  so  to 
break  its  strength  that  in  future  even  women  should  cross  it 
easily  without  wetting  their  knees.  Accordingly  he  put  off  for 
a  time  his  attack  on  Babylon,  and,  dividing  his  army  into  two 


no  other  river  of  any  consequence  could 
have  to  be  crossed  between  the  moun- 
tains and  the  Tigris  on  the  marcli  from 
Agbatana  to  Babylon.  Were  it  not  for 
these  circumstances  the  I'iver  Gamjir, 
which  is  actually  divided  at  Mendaili 
into  a  nuiltitude  of  petty  streams,  and 
completely  absorbed  in  irrigation,  might 
seem  to  have  a  better  claim  (Jour,  of 
Geogr.  Soc.  ut  sap.  p.  4G). 

=*  These  Matieni  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  Matieni  of  Asia  Minor, 
who  may  have  been  of  the  same  race 
(query,  Modes  ?  the  d  of  Mada  passing 
into  t,  as  in  ^QMXO-m(it(V),  but  were  a 
distinct  people.  Herodotus  seems  to 
assign  to  these  Matieni  the  whole  of  the 
mountain  I'ange  from  the  sources  of  tlie 
Diyalah  near  Hamadan  to  those  of  the 
Aras  (Araxes)  near  Erzeroum  in  Upper 
Armenia  (vide  infra,  ch.  202). 

[The  term  Matieni  may  perhaps  be  a 
mere  generic  word  for  "people."  The 
Babylonian  word,  at  any  rate,  which  is 
used  for  a  country  may  be  read  as  matu 
in  the  singular,  and  nuUii/d  or  inatein  in 
the  plural,  being  in  fact  identical  with 
the  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  nO.-H.C.R.] 

*  No  other  writer  mentions  Darda- 
nians  in  these  parts.  It  has  been  pro- 
posed to  read  Zia  Aapaecou, — 5t'  'Ap/xe- 
vicov, — and  5ta  Aapvewy.  The  only  va- 
rious reading  in  tlie  MSS.  favours  the 
last  emendation.  It  is  5iap5av4wv,  which 
lias  all  the  letters  of  8ia  Aapvioiv  with  a 
siugle  dislocation,  Tlie  ruins  of  Darnch 
still  exist  on  the  banks  of  the  Zamacan 
before  it  joins  the  Diyalah,  and  before 
the  united  rivers  issue  from  the  moun- 
tains into  the  plain  of  IShakrizur. 

[It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
Darneh  has  not  been  a  place  of  any  con- 
sequence either  in  the  ancient  or  modern 
geography  of  the  country.   It  was  merely 


selected  by  the  Kurdish  emirs  for  their 
residence  about  five  centuries  back  on 
account  of  the  strength  of  the  position. 
Aap5ai/eot  may  very  well  mean  "  the 
holders  of  the  passes,"  and  thus  exactly 
apply  to  the  tribes  along  the  banks  of 
the  upper  Dliidlah.—  H.Q.Ji.'] 

^  This  is  the  plain  meaning  of  Hero- 
dotus,- who  has  therefore  been  accused 
of  ignoi-ance  by  Rennell  (Geography  of 
Herod.  §  9,  p.  202).  But  the  situation 
of  Opis  is  uncertain.  Strabo,  by  calling 
it  an  emporium  (xvi.  p.  1051)  might 
lead  us  to  imagine  that  its  position  was 
low  down  the  river.  Xenophon's  narra- 
tive (Anab.  ii.  iv.  13-25),  it  must  be 
granted,  makes  this  impossible.  Still, 
however,  Opis  may  have  been  a  little 
below  the  junction  of  the  Diyalah  with 
the  Tigris,  or  at  the  point  of  confluence. 

[If  we  remember  that  Xenophon's 
Median  Wall  is  the  enceinte  of  Babylon, 
and  that  the  Greeks  crossed  the  Tio-ris 
at  Sittace,  which  was  on  the  road  from 
Babylon  to  Susa,  we  can  hardly  fail  of 
identifying  the  Ditjalah  with  the  Physcus 
of  Xenophon  (Anab.  ii.  iv.  25),  and  thus 
recognising  Opis  in  the  ruins  oiKhafuji, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  two  rivers. 
The  name  of  Physcus  probably  comes 
from  Hiipuska,t\\e  title  in  the  inscriptions 
of  the  district  of  Sxlimanieh,  through 
which  the  Diyalah  flows.  In  the  name 
of  Opis  we  have  perhaps  a  Greek  nomi- 
natival ending  as  in  Is,  The  cuneiform 
orthography  is  JLipii/a,  and  I  rather 
think  that  KIwfKji  is  a  mere  coiTuption 
of  the  original  name.  The  name  of  Sit- 
tace', or,  more  properly,  P.sittace,  seems 
to  be  written  in  the  inscriptions  as  Pat- 
sita,  without  the  Scythic  guttural  termi- 
nation. It  must  have  been  situated  at 
least  as  low  down  the  Tigris  as  the  mo- 
dern fort  of  the  Zobeid  chief.— H.C.R.] 


262 


ADVANCE  OF  CYRUS. 


Book  1. 


parts,  he  marked  out  by  ropes  one  hundred  and  eighty  trenches 
on  each  side  of  the  Gyndes,  leading  off  from  it  in  all  directions, 
and  setting  his  army  to  dig,  some  on  one  side  of  the  river,  some 
on  the  other,  he  accomplished  his  threat  by  the  aid  of  so  great  a 
number  of  hands,  but  not  without  losing  thereby  the  whole 
summer  season. 

190.  Having,  however,  thus  wreaked  his  vengeance  on  the 
Gyndes,^  by  dispersing  it  through  three  hundred  and  sixty 
channels,  Cyrus,  with  the  first  approach  of  the  ensuing  spring, 
marched  forward  against  Babylon.    The  Babylonians,  jencamped 


6  Rennell  sensibly  remarks  (p.  202) 
that  the  stoiy  of  Cyrus's  dividing  the 
Gyndes  is  a  very  childish  one,  in  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  told.  He  supposes 
that  the  river  was  swollen,  and  that  the 
sole  object  of  Cyrus  was  to  effect  the 
passage.  But  this  explanation  is  unsa- 
tisfactory. It  is  not  conceivable  that 
Cyrus  proceeded  against  Babylon  un- 
prepared for  the  passage  of  great  ri- 
vers. Boats  must  have  abounded  on 
the  streams,  and  rafts  supported  by  in- 
flated skins,  which  were  in  constant  use 
upon  them,  as  the  Nimrud  sculptures 
show,  could  have  been  constructed  ra- 
pidly. Even  if  it  had  been  necessary  to 
divide  the  Gyndes,  in  order  to  make  it 
fox'dable,  there  would  have  been  no  need 
of  entirely  dispei'sing  it,  and  so  wasting 
a  whole  summer.  And  if  this  vv^as  the 
only  means  by  which  Cyrus  could  pass 
the  comparatively  small  stream  of  the 
Diydtah,  how  did  he  get  across  the 
Tigris  ? 

If  we  accept  the  fact  of  the  dispersion, 
the  true  explanation  would  seem  to  be, 
that  Cyrus  had  already  resolved  to  at- 
tempt the  capture  of  Babylon  by  the 
means  which  he  subsequently  adopted, 
and  thought  it  necessary  to  practise  his 
army  in  the  art  of  draining  off  the  waters 
from  a  stream  of  moderate  size  before  at- 
tempting the  far  greater  work  of  making 
the  Euphrates  fordable.  He  may  not 
have  been  aware  of  the  artificial  reser- 
voir which  rendered  his  task  at  Babylon 
comparatively  easy,  or  not  have  antici- 
pated the  neglect  which  converted  a 
means  of  defence  to  the  assailed  into  a 
convenience  to  tlie  assailing  party. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Mr.  Grote  ac- 
cepts the  narrative  of  Herodotus  as  it 
stands,  apparently  seeing  in  it  no  im- 
probability. At  least  he  offers  no  ex- 
planation of  the  conduct  of  Cyrus  (Hist, 
of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  pp.  284,  285). 


[I  incline  to  regard  the  whole  story 
as  a  fable,  embodying  some  popular  tra- 
dition with  regard  to  the  origin  of  the 
great   hydraulic  works  on   the  Dijjdlah 
below   the   Hamaran   hills,   where  the 
river  has  been  dammed  across  to  raise 
the  level  of  the  water,  and  a  perfect  net- 
work of  canals  have  been  opened  out 
from  it  on  either  side.     The  principal  of 
these  canals  to  the  east,   now   named 
Beladroz  {BapdapoO  in  Theophanes,  and 
Baraz  rud,    or    "  hog   river,"    of   the 
Arabs),  is  apparently  of  extreme  anti- 
quity, the  stream  having  worked  itself 
a  bed  in  the  alluvial  soil  nearly  50  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  country.     There 
are  fully  360  streams  of  water  derived 
from    the   Diydlah,    including   all   the 
branch  cuts  from  the  seven  great  canals. 
If  Cyrus  did  indeed  execute  these  works, 
his  object  must  have  been  to  furnish 
means  of  irrigation  to  the  country,  and 
such  a  motive  was   scarcely  likely  to 
have  influenced  him  when  he  was  con- 
ducting a  hostile  expedition  against  Ba- 
bylon.    Moreover,  if  he  marched  upon 
Babylon  by  the  high  road  leading  from 
the  Persian  mountains,  he  would  have 
had  no  occasion  to  cross  the  Diijdlah  at 
ali.     The  direct  route  must  have  fol- 
lowed  the  left   bank   of  the   river   to 
Opis,  near  which  was  the  passage  of  the 
Tigris. 

The  name  of  the  river  Gyndes  is  pro- 
bably derived  from  the  cuneiform  Khu- 
dxn,  a  city  and  district  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  adjoining  Hnpnska,  which  is 
mentioned  in  the  annals  of  Sardana- 
palus.  It  is  at  any  rate  worthy  of  re- 
mark that  all  the  names  by  which  this 
river  has  been  known  in  modern  times, 
Tainerra,  Shirnan,  Nahrwan,  and  Bii/dlah, 
are  those  of  cities  on  its  banks,  and  the 
same  system  of  nomenclature  may  very 
well  be  supposed  to  have  existed  in  an- 
tiquity.—H.  C.  R.] 


Chap.  189-191.    CArTURE  OF  BABYLON  -BY  THE  PEESIANS.     203 

without  their  walls,  awaited  his  coming.  A  battle  was  fought  at 
a  short  distance  from  the  city,  in  which  the  Babylonians  were 
defeated  by  the  Persian  king,  whereupon  they  withdrew  within 
their  defences.  Here  they  shut  themselves  up,  and  made  light 
of  his  siege,  having  laid  in  a  store  of  provisions  for  many  years 
in  preparation  against  this  attack;  for  when  they  saw  Cyrus 
conquering  nation  after  nation,  they  were  convinced  that  he 
would  never  stop,  and  that  their  turn  would  come  at  last. 

191.  Cyrus  was  now  reduced  to  great  perplexity,  as  time  went 
on  and  he  made  no  progress  against  the  place.  In  this  distress 
either  some  one  made  the  suggestion  to  him,  or  he  bethought 
himself  of  a  plan,  which  he  proceeded  to  put  in  execution.  He 
placed  a  portion  of  his  army  at  the  point  where  the  river  enters 
the  city,  and  another  body  at  the  back  of  the  place  where  it 
issues  forth,  with  orders  to  march  into  the  town  by  the  bed  of 
the  stream,  as  soon  as  the  water  became  shallow  enough:  he 
then  himself  drew  off  with  the  un warlike  portion  of  his  host,  and 
made  for  the  place  where  Nitocris  dug  the  basin  for  the  river, 
where  he  did  exactly  what  she  had  done  formerly :  he  turned 
the  Euphrates  by  a  canal  into  the  basin,^  which  was  then  a 
marsh,  on  which  the  river  sank  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
natural  bed  of  the  stream  became  fordable.  Hereupon  the 
Persians  who  had  been  left  for  the  purpose  at  Babylon  by  the 
river-side,  entered  the  stream,  which  had  now  sunk  so  as  to 
reach  about  midway  up  a  man's  thigh,  and  thus  got  into  the 
town.  Had  the  Babylonians  been  apprised  of  what  Cyrus  was 
about,  or  had  they  noticed  their  danger,  they  would  never  have 
allowed  the  Persians  to  enter  the  city,  but  would  have  destroyed 
them  utterly ;  for  they  would  have  made  fast  all  the  street-gates 
which  gave  upon  the  river,  and  mounting  upon  the  walls  along 
both  sides  of  the  stream,  would  so  have  caught  the  enemy  as  it 
were  in  a  trap.  But,  as  it  was,  the  Persians  came  upon  them 
by  surprise  and  so  took  the  city.  Owing  to  the  vast  size  of  the 
place,  the  inhabitants  of  the  central  parts  (as  the  residents  at 
Babylon  declare)  long  after  the  outer  portions  of  the  town  were 
taken,  knew  nothing  of  what  had"  chanced,  but  as  they  were 
engaged  in  a  festival,  continued  dancing  and  revelling  until  they 

"^  Mr.  Grote  says  that  Cyrus  "  caused  into  the  name  resei'voir — is  r  rj  y  Ai- 
another  reservoir  and  another  canal  of  ixvnv — which  was  at  the  time  a  mai-sh 
communication  to  be  dug,  by  means  — iovaau  eAos.  And  iudeed,  had 
of  which  he  drew  off  the  water  of  the  he  done  otherwise,  he  would  have  ex- 
Euphrates  "  (vol  iv.  p.  1^85).  But  He-  pended  time  and  labour  very  uuueces- 
rodotus  says  that  he  turned  the  river  sarily. 


264 


WEALTH  AND  RESOURCES  OF  ASSYRIA. 


Book  I. 


learnt  the  capture  but  too  certainly.   .  Such,  then,  were  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  first  taking  of  Babylon.*^ 

192.  Among  many  proofs  which  I  shall  bring  forward  of  the 
power  and  resources  of  the  Babylonians,  the  following  is  of 
special  account.  The  whole  country  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Persians,  besides  paying  a  fixed  tribute,  is  parcelled  out  into 
divisions,  which  have  to  supply  food  to  the  Great  King  and  his 
army  during  different  portions  of  the  year.^  Now  out  of  the 
twelve  months  which  go  to  a  year,  the  district  of  Babylon 
furnishes  food  during  four,  the  otlier  regions  of  Asia  during 
eight ;  by  which  it  appears  that  Assyria,  in  respect  of  resources, 
is  one-third  of  the  whole  of  Asia.  Of  all  the  Persian  govern- 
ments, or  satrapies  as  they  are  called  by  the  natives,^  this  is  by 
far  the  best.  When  Tritantsechmes,  son  of  Artabazus,^  held  it 
of  the  king,  it  brought  him  in  an  artaba  of  silver  every  day. 
The  artaba  is  a  Persian  measure,^  and  holds  three  choenixes 
more   than   the   medimnus   of  the   Athenians.      He  also  had, 


^  Herodotus  intends  to  contrast  this 
first  capture  with  the  second  capture  by 
Darius  Hystaspes,  of  which  he  speaks 
in  the  latter  portion  of  the  third  Book. 
We  learn,  however,  by  the  mode  of 
speech  used,  that  he  was  not  aware  of 
any  former  occasion  on  which  the  city 
of  Babylon  had  been  taken  by  an  enemy. 

^  See  the  Essay  appended  to  Book  iii., 
"  On  the  Persian  System  of  Adminis- 
tration and  Govex-nment." 

1  The  native  orthography  of  the  word, 
which  the  Greeks  wrote  aaTpdin^s,  is 
'"  klishatrapd."  It  is  found  twice  in  the 
Behistun  inscription  (Col.  m.  1.  14  and 
1,  55).  The  etymology  has  been  much 
disputed  (see  Gesen.  Hebr.  Lex.  p.  41. 
Eng.  ed.);  but,  as  ''  khshatram  "  is  used 
throughout  the  inscriptions  for  "crown" 
or  "  empire,"  we  can  scarcely  be  mis- 
taken in  regarding  "  khshatrapa "  as 
formed  of  the  two  roots  "  khshatram," 
and  "  pa."  The  latter  word  signifies  in 
Sanskrit  "to  preserve,  uphold,"  whence 
it  appears  that  a  Satrap  is  "  one  who 
upholds  the  crown."  (Of.  Col.  RawHu- 
son's  Vocabulary  of  th©-  ancient  Persian 
language,  pp.  116-7.) 

2  We  hear  of  a  Tritantaichmes,  *'  son 
of  Artabanus,  brother  of  Darius  Hystas- 
pes," in  Book  vii.  ch.  82,  from  which 
place  it  might  appear  that  this  passage 
should  be  corrected.  But  we  cannot  be 
sure  that  the  same  person  is  intended  in 
both  instances.  Indeed,  as  Herodotus 
seems   to    speak   of  his   own   personal 


knowledge,  it  is  probable  that  the  Tri- 
tantffichmes  here  mentioned  was  Satrap 
ofBabylon  at  the  time  of  Herodotus's 
visit  (about  B.C.  450),  in  which  case  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  he  should  have 
been  the  same  person  who  30  years  be- 
fore was  one  of  the  six  superior  generals 
of  the  army  of  Xerxes. 

[The  name  of  Tritantgechmes  is  of  con- 
siderable interest  because  it  points  to 
the  Vedic  traditions,  which  the  Persians 
brought  with  them  from  the  Indus,  and 
of  the  currency  of  which  in  the  time  of 
Xerxes  we  have  thus  distinct  evidence. 
The  name  means  ''  strong  as  Tritan" — 
this  title,  which  etymologically  means 
"three-bodied,"  being  the  Sanscrit  and 
Zend  form  of  the  famous  Feridun  of 
Persian  romance,  who  divided  the  world 
between  his  three  sons,  Selm,  Tur,  and 
Erij.— H.  a  R.] 

^  This  is  the  same  name  as  the  ardcb 
of  modern  Egypt,  and,  like  the  medimnus, 
is  a  corn  measure.     The  ardeb  is  nearly 
five  English  bushels,  and  contains  8  mcd. 
This,  too,  is  the  Latin  modins,  which  last 
was  equal  to  one-sixth  of  the  Greek  me- 
dimnus.    But  the  ardeb  differs  in  quan- 
tity from  the  artaba. 
1  medimnus  =  4:8  choenices,  or  6  Latin  modii 
1  modins  =  8  chcenices. 
1  artaba  =  hi  choenices  (48 -f  3). 
1  artaba^WiWo.  more  than  6^  modii. 
1  mo(fi;«s  =  nearly  1  peck,  English. 
1  artaba  =  about  1^  bushel. — [G.W.] 


Chap.  191-193.     STUD  OF  TRlTANTiECH-MES— EAIN. 


265 


belonging  to  liis  own  private  stud,  besides  war-horses,  oiglit 
hundred  stallions  and  sixteen  thousand  mares,  twenty  to  each 
stallion.  Besides  which  he  kept  so  great  a  number  of  Indian 
hounds,"^  that  four  large  villages  of  the  plain  were  exempted  from 
all  other  charges  on  condition  of  finding  them  in  food. 

193.  But  little  rain  falls  in  Assyria,^  enough,  however,  to 
make  the  corn  begin  to  sprout,  after  which  the  plant  is  nourished 
and  the  ears  formed  by  means  of  irrigation  from  the   river.^ 


*  Concerning  these  famous  dogs  see 
Biihr's  Ctesias  (Indie.  Excerpt.  §  5), 
and  Arist.  Hist.  An.  viii.  28. 

Mc/dels  of  favourite  dogs  are  fre- 
quently found  in  excavating  the  cities 
of  Babylonia.  Some  may  be  seen  in 
the  British  Museum,  obtained  from  the 
hunting  palace  of  the  son  of  Esarhaddon 


at  Nineveh.  They  are  of  small  size, 
and  are  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the 
dog,  which  is  commonly  a  word  indica- 
tive of  their  hunting  prowess.  Tlie  sub- 
joined representation  of  an  Indian  dog 
is  from  a  tei-ra-cotta  fragment  found  by 
Col.  Kawlinson  at  Babylon. 


Indian  HounJ.     (From  a  Babylonian  tablet). 


^  Rain  is  very  rare  in  Babylonia  during 
the  summer  months,  and  productiveness 
depends  entirely  on  irrigation.  Daring 
the  spring  there  are  constant  showers, 
and  at  other  times  of  the  year  rain  falls 
frequently,  but  irregularly,  and  never  in 
great  quantities.  The  heaviest  is  in 
December.  In  ancient  times,  wJien  irri- 
gation was  carried  to  a  far  greater  extent 
than  it  is  at  present,   the  meteorology 


of  the  country  may  probably  have  been 
different.— [H.  C.  R.] 

^  At  the  present  day  it  is  not  usual 
to  trust  even  the  first  sprouting  of  the 
corn  to  nature.  The  lands  are  laid 
under  water  for  a  few  days  before  the 
corn  is  sown;  the  water  is  then  with- 
drawn, and  the  seed  scattered  upon  the 
moistened  soil.— [H.  C.  R.] 


2G6 


FRUITFULNESS  OF  BABYLONIA. 


Book  I. 


For  the  river  does  not,  as  in  Egypt,  overflow  the  corn-lands  of 
its  own  accord,  but  is  spread  over  them  by  the  hand,  or  by  the 
help  of  engines.^  The  whole  of  Babylonia  is,  like  Egypt,  inter- 
sected with  canals.  The  largest  of  them  all,  which  runs  towards 
the  winter  sun,  and  is  impassable  except  in  boats,^  is  carried 
from  the  Euphrates  into  another  stream,  called  the  Tigris,  the 
river  upon  which  the  toAvn  of  Nineveh  formerly  stood.^  Of  all 
the  countries  that  we  know  there  is  none  which  is  so  fruitful  in 
grain.  It  makes  no  pretension  indeed  of  growing  the  fig,  the 
olive,  the  vine,  or  any  other  tree  of  the  kind ;  but  in  grain  it  is 
so  fruitful  as  to  yield  commonly  two-hundred-fold,  and  when  the 
production  is  the  greatest,  even  three-hundred-fold.  The  blade 
of  the  wheat-plant  and  barley-plant  is  often  four  fingers  in 
breadth.  As  for  the  millet  and  the  sesame,  I  shall  not  say  to 
what  height  they  grow,  though  within  my  own  knowledge  ;  for 
I  am  not  ignorant  that  what  I  have  already  written  concerning 
the  fruitfulness  of  Babylonia  must  seem  incredible  to  those  who 
have  never  visited  the  country.^     The  only  oil  they  use  is  made 


7  The  engine  intended  by  Herodotus 
seems  to  have  been  the  common  hand- 
swipe,  to  which  alone  the  name  of  ktjAco- 
vij'iov  would  properly  apply.     The  ordi- 
nary method  of  irrigation  at  the  present  ^ 
day  is  by  the  help  of  oxen,  which  draw 
the  water  from  the  river  to  the  top  of 
the  bank  by  means  of  ropes  passed  over 
a  roller  working  between  two  upright 
posts.     Accounts  of  this  process  will  be 
found  in  the  works   of  Col.    Chesney 
(Euphrates  Expedition,  vol,  i.  p.  G5:->), 
and  Mr.  Layard  (Nineveh  and  its  Re- 
mains,  Part  I.  ch.  X.).      Occasionally, 
hovv-ever,  the  hand-swipe  is  used.     Col, 
Chesney  says : — "  When  the  bank  is  too 
high  to  throw  vip  the  water  in  this  man- 
ner" (viz.  with  a  basket)  "it  is  raised 
by  another  process  equally  simple.     A 
wooden  lever,  from  13  to  15  feet  long, 
is  made  to  revolve  freely  on  the  top  of 
a  post  3  or  4  feet  high,  about  two-thirds 
of  the   length   of  the  lever  projecting 
over  the  river,  with  a  leather  bucket  or 
closely  made  basket  of  date-branches, 
suspended  from  the  extremity:  this  is 
balanc^ed  when  full  of  water  by  means 
of  a  bucket  of  earth  or  stones  at  the 
other  end,  and  this  simple  machine  is  so 
well  contrived  that  very  slight  manual 
exertion  will  raise  the  bucket  sufficiently 
high  to  empty  its  contents  into  a  cistern 
or  other  kind  of  receptacle,  from  whence 
it  is  dispersed  over  the  fields  by  means 
of  numerous  small  channels."  (Compare 
Layai-d's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  109). 


Representations  of  hand-swipes  have 
been  found  on  the  monuments. 


Hand-swipe.    (From  a  slab  of  Sennacherib.) 

^  This  probably  refers  to  the  original 
Nahr  Malcha,  the  great  work  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, which  left  the  Euphrates  at 
the  modern  Fekigia,  and  entered  the 
Tigris  in  the  vicinity  of  the  emboucliure 
of  the  Gyndes  {Jjiydlah).  This  canal 
has,  however,  repeatedly  changed  its 
course  since  its  original  construction, 
and  the  apcient  bed  cannot  be  now  con- 
tinuously traced. — [H.  C.  R.] 

^  Beloe  translates  eVex^t  ^^  '^^^  Tiypiv, 
Trap"  hv  Ntj/os  iroAis  o  i  k  ij  t  o  ,  "is  con- 
tinued to  that  part  of  the  Tigris  where 
Nineveh  stamls ; "  thus  placing  the  canal 
in  Assyria,  above  the  alluvium,  where 
no  canal  is  possible,  and  giving  the  im- 
pression that  Nineveh  was  standing  in 
the  time  of  Herodotus ! 

1  The  fertility  of  Babylonia  is  cele- 
brated by  a  number  of  ancient  writers. 
Theophrastus,  the  disciple  of  Aristotle, 


Chap.  193,  194. 


PALM-TREES.— BOATS. 


267 


from  the  sesame-plant.^  Palm-trees  grow  in  great  numbers  over 
the  whole  of  the  flat  country,^  mostly  of  the  kind  which  bears 
fruit,  and  this  fruit  supplies  them  with  bread,  wine,  and  honey. 
They  are  cultivated  like  the  fig-tree  in  all  respects,  among  otliers 
in  this.  The  natives  tie  the  fruit  of  the  male-palms,  as  they  are 
called  by  tlie  Greeks,  to  the  branches  of  the  date-bearmg  palm, 
to  let  the  gall-fly  enter  the  dates  and  ripen  them,  and  to  prevent 
the  fruit  Irom  falling  off.  The  male-palms,  like  the  wild  fig- 
trees,  have  usually  tlie  gall-fly  in  their  fruit.^ 

194.  But  that  which  surprises  me  most  in  the  land,  after 
the  city  itself,  I  will  now  proceed  to  mention.  The  boats 
which  come  down  the  river  to  Babylon  are  circular,  and  made  of 
skins.  The  frames,  which  are  of  willow,  are  cut  in  the  country 
of  the  Armenians  above  Assyria,  and  on  these,  which  serve  for 


speaks  of  it  in  his  History  of  Plants 
(viii.  7).  Berosvis  (Fr.  i)  says  that  the 
hind  produced  naturally  wheat,  barley, 
the  pulse  called  ochrys,  sesame,  edible 
roots  named  rjonijcp,  palms,  apples,  and 
shelled  fruits  of  various  kinds.  Strabo, 
apparently  following  Herodotus,  men- 
tions tlie  barley  as  returning  often  300 
fold  (xvi.  p.  1054).  Pliny  says  that  the 
wheat  is  cut  twice,  and  is  afterwards 
good  keep  for  beasts  (Hist.  Nat.  xviii. 
17).  Moderns,  while  bearing  testimony 
to  the  general  fact,  go  less  into  details. 
Kich  says: — "  The  air  is  salubrious,  and 
the  soil  extremely  fertile,  producing 
great  quantities  of  rice,  dates,  and  gi-ain 
of  different  kinds,  though  it  is  not  culti- 
vated to  above  half  the  degree  of  which 
it  is  susceptible."  (First  Memoir,  p.  12.) 
Colonel  Chesney  (Euphrat.  Exp.  vol.  ii. 
pp.  602,  603)  remarks,  —  "  Although 
greatly  changed  by  the  neglect  of  man, 
those  poi'tions  of  Mesopotamia  which 
are  still  cultivated,  as  the  country  about 
Hillah,  show  that  the  region  has  all  the 
fertility  ascribed  to  it  by  Herodotus;  " 
and  he  anticipates  that  "  the  time  may 
not  be  distant  when  the  date-groves  of 
the  Euphrates  may  be  interspersed  with 
flourishing  towns,  surrounded  with  fields 
of  the  finest  wheat,  and  the  most  pro- 
ductive plantations  of  indigo,  cotton, 
and  sugar-cane." 

2  Mr.  Layard  informs  us  that  this  is 
still  the  case  with  respect  to  the  people 
of  the  plains  (Nineveh,  Part  ii.  ch.  vi.). 
The  olive  is  cultivated  on  the  flanks  of 
Mount  Zagros,  but  Babylonia  did  not 
extend  so  far. 

"*  "  As  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  from 
the  town   (Hillah),"   says  Ker  Porter, 


"both  up  and  down  the  Euphrates  the 
banks  appear  to  be  thickly  shaded  with 
groves  of  date-trees."  (Travels,  vol.  ii. 
p.  335.)  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
anciently  the  country  was  very  much 
more  thickly  wooded  than  it  is  at  present. 
The  palm  will  grow  wherever  water  is 
brought.  In  ancient  times  the  whole 
country  between  the  rivers,  and  the 
greater  portion  of  the  tract  intervening 
between  the  Tigris  and  the  mountains, 
was  artificially  irrigated.  At  present 
cultivation  extends  but  a  short  distance 
from  the  banks  of  the  great  streams. 

[The  sylvan  character  and  beautiful 
appearance  of  the  country,  which  after- 
wards so  much  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  Arabs,  are  particularly  noticed 
by  Ammianus  and  Zosimus  in  their  de- 
scriptions of  the  march  of  Julian's  army 
across  Mesopotamia  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Tigris.  A  forest  of  verdure,  says 
Ammianus,  extended  from  this  point  as 
far  as  Mesene  and  the  shores  of  the  sea. 
Compare  Amm.  Marc.  xxiv.  3,  v/ith 
Zosim.  iii.  p.  173-9— H.  C.  R.] 

'•  Theophrastus  first  pointed  out 
the  inaccuracy  of  this  statement  (Hist. 
Plant,  ii.  9).  Several  writers,  among 
them  Larcher  and  Biihr,  have  endea- 
voured to  show  that  Herodotus  is  pro- 
bably right  and  Theophrastus  wrong. 
Modern  travellers,  however,  side  with 
the  naturalist  against  the  historian.  All 
that  is  required  for  fructification,  they 
tell  us,  is,  that  the  pollen  from  the 
blossoms  of  the  male  palm  should  come 
into  contact  with  the  fruit  of  the  female 
palm  or  date-tree.  To  secure  this,  the 
practice  of  which  Herodotus  speaks  is 
still  observed. 


2G8 


BOATS. 


Book  I. 


hulls,  a  covering  of  skins  is  stretcliecl  outside,  and  thus  the  boats 
are  made,  without  either  stem  or  stern,  quite  round  like  a  shield. 
Tliey  are  then  entirely  filled  with  straw,  and  their  cargo  is  put 
on  board,  after  which  they  are  suffered  to  float  down  the  stream. 
Their  chief  freight  is  wine,  stored  in  casks  made  of  the  wood  of 
the  palm-tree.^  They  are  managed  by  two  men  who  stand 
upright  in  them,  each  plying  an  oar,  one  pulHng  and  the  other 
pushing.*^  The  boats  are  of  various  sizes,  some  larger,  some 
smaller  ;  the  biggest  reach  as  high  as  five  thousand  talents' 
burthen.  Each  vessel  has  a  live  ass  on  board ;  those  of  larger 
size  have  more  than  one.  When  they  reach  Babylon,  the  cargo 
is  landed  and  offered  for  sale  ;  after  wliich  the  men  break  up 
their  boats,  sell  the  straw  and  the  frames,  and  loading  their  asses 
with  the  skins,  set  off  on  their  Avay  back  to  Armenia.  Tlie 
current  is  too  strong  to  allow  a  boat  to  return  up-stream,  for 
which  reason  they  make  their  boats  of  skins  rather  than  wood. 
On  their  return  to  Armenia  they  build  fresh  boats  for  the  next 
voyage.  


'  Col.  Cliesney  and  Mr.  Layard, 
adopting  the  conjecture  of  Valla  {(poivi- 
K-r]iov  for  (poiviKr)'iovs),  speak  of  the  quan- 
tity of  paliit-Lcinc  brought  to  Babylon 
from  Armenia.  But  there  are  two  ob- 
jections to  this.  Babylonia,  the  land  of 
dates,  would  not  be  likely  to  import 
the  spirituous  liquor  which  can  be  dis- 
tilled from  that  fruit;  and  the  mountain 
tract  of  Armenia  could  not  produce  it. 
It  was  no  doubt  grape-vine  that  Babylon 
imported  from  the  regions  higher  up 
the  river,  though  perhaps  scarcely  from 
Armenia,  which  is  too  cold  for  the 
vine. 

[Grape  wine  is  now  brought  to  Bagh- 
dad from  Kcrkuk,  but  not  from  Armenia, 
where  the  vine  does  not  grow. — H.C.R.] 

^  Boats  of  this  kind,  closely  resem- 
bling coracles,  are  represented  in  the 
Nineveh  sculptures,  and  still  ply  on 
the  Euphrates.  "  The  Kufa,"  we  read 
in  Ker  Porter,  ''is  of  close  willow  work, 
well  coated  with  the  bituminous  sub- 
stance of  the  country — perfectl;/  circular, 
it  resembles  a  lai'ge  bowl  on  the  surface 
of  the  stream."  (Travels,  vol.  ii.  p. 
2G0.)  Mr.  Layard  adds,  that  these  boats 
are  ' '  sometimes  covered  icit/i  skins,  over 
which  the  bitumen  is  smeared."  (Nine- 
veh, Part  II.  ch.  V.)  Col.  Chesney  also 
says,  (vol.  ii.  p.  640),  "In  some  in- 
stances, though  but  rarely  in  the  pre- 
sent day,  the  basket-work  is  covered  with 
leather  .  .  .  but  the  common  metliod  is 


to  cover  the  bottom  with  bitumen." 
(Col.  Rawlinson,  however,  doubts  the 
existence  of  ''kufas  covered  with  skins," 
which  he  has  never  seen,  and  of  which 
he  has  never   heard,   on  eitlier  river.) 


Kufa.    (From  Col.  Chesney.) 

The  kufas  are  used  chiefly  on  the  lower 
Tigris  and  Euphrates,  and  are  not  ordi- 
narily broken  up,  being  too  valuable. 
But  the  rafts  which  descend  the  streams 
from  their  upper  portions,  which  are 
formed  of  wood  and  reeds  supported  by 
inflated  skins,  have  exactly  the  same 
fate  as  the  boats  of  Herodotus.  "  AVhen 
the  rafts  have  been  unloaded  they  ai^e 
broken  up,  and  the  beams,  wood,  and 
twigs  are  sold  at  a  considerable  profit  .  . 
The  skins  are  brought  back  either  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  raftmen,  or  upon 
donkeys,  to  Mosul  or  Tekrit,  where  the 
men  employed  in  the  navigation  usually 
reside."  (Layard's  Nineveh,  Part  i.  ch. 
xiii.) 


Chap.  194,  195. 


DRESS.— SEAL8. 


269 


195.  The  dress  of  the  Babylonians  is  a  linen  tunic  reaching-  to 
the  feet,  and  above  it  another  tunic  made  in  wool,  besides  whicli 
they  have  a  short  white  cloak  thrown  round  them,  and  shoes  of 
a  peculiar  fashion,  not  unlike  those  worn  by  the  Boeotians. 
They  liave  long  hair,  wear  turbans  on  their  heads,  and  anoint 
their  whole  body  with   perfumes.'^     Every  one  carries  a  seal,"^ 


'  The  dress  of  the  Babylonians  ap- 
peals on  the  cylinders  to  be  a  species  of 
flounced  robe,  reaching  from  their  neck 
to  their  feet.  In  some  representations 
there  is  an  appearance  of  a  division  into 
two  garments;  the  upper  one  being  a 
sort  of  short  jacket  or  tippet,  flounced 
like  the  under-robe  or  petticoat.  This 
would  seem  to  be  the  x-^ai/iSioj/  or  short 
cloak  of  Herodotus.  The  long  petticoat 
would  be  his  klOwv  Trodr}ViKr}s  \lveos. 
The  uppev  woollen  tunic  may  be  hidden 
by  the  tippet  or  X''^«'"'5£ov. 

The  long  hair  of  the  Babylonians  is 


very  conspicuous  on  the  cylinders.  It 
either  depends  in  lengthy  tresses  which 
fall  over  the  back  and  shoulders,  or  is 
gathered  into  what  seems  a  club  behind. 
There  are  several  varieties  of  head-dress ; 
tlie  most  usual  are  a  low  cap  or  turban, 
from  which  two  curved  Jiorns  branch 
out,  and  a  high  crown  or  mitre,  the  ap- 
pearance of  which  is  very  remarkable. 
It  is  uncertain  which  of  these  is  the 
ixirpa  of  Herodotus. 

The    woodcuts    annexed    will    illus- 
trate the  above. 


ii    '11    .11 


**  The  Babylonian  cylindei-s  above 
referred  to,  of  which  there  are  some 
thousands  in  the  Museums  of  Europe, 
are  undoubtedly  the  '  seals '  of  Hero- 
dotus. Many  impressions  of  them  have 
been  found  upon  clay-tablets.  They 
are  round,  from  half  an  inch  to  three 
inches  in  length  (the  generality  being 
about  an  inch  long),  and  about  one- 
third  of  their  length  in  diameter.  They 
are  of  various  materials.  The  most 
usual  is  a  composition  in  which  black 
manganese   seems  to  be  the  principal 


ingredient;  but  besides  this  they  have 
been  found  of  amethyst,  rock-crystal, 
cornelian,  agate,  blood-stone,  chalce- 
dony, onyx,  jasper,  serpentine,  pyi'ites, 
&c.  They  are  hollow,  being  pierced 
from  end  to  end;  either  for  the  purpose 
of  being  worn  strung  upon  a  cord,  or 
perhaps  to  admit  a  metal  axis,  by  means 
of  which  they  were  rolled  upon  the  clay, 
so  as  to  leave  their  impression  on  it. 
(See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp. 
G02-609.) 

[The  inscription  on  the  cylinders  is 


270 


SALE  OF  DAMSELS  FOE  WIVES. 


Book  I. 


and  a  walking-stick,  carved  at  the  top  into  the  form  of  an  apple, 
a  rose,  a  lily,  an  eagle,  or  something  similar ;  ^  for  it  is  not  their 
habit  to  use  a  stick  without  an  ornament. 

196.  Of  their  customs,  whereof  I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  an 
account,  the  following  (which  I  understand  belongs  to  them  in 
common  with  the  Illyrian  tribe  of  the  Eneti^)  is  the  wisest  in 
my  judgment.     Once  a  year  in  each  village  the  maidens  of  age 


usually  the  name  of  the  owner,  with 
that  of  his  father,  and  an  epithet,  sig- 
nifying the  servant  of  such  or  such  a 
god,  the  divinity  being  named  who  was 
supposed  to  have  presided  over  the 
wearer's  birth,  and  to  have  him  under 
his  protection.     In  almost  every  case — 

1. 


even  on  the  cylinders  found  at  Nineveh 
— the  language  and  character  are  Clial- 
dasan  Scythic,  and  not  Assyrian  Semitic, 
though  when  mere  names  and  epithets 
occur  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  be- 
tween them. — H.  C.  E.] 


Babylonian  Seals. 
1.  External  view.        2.  Section. 

^  Upon  the  cylinders  the  Babylonians 
are  frequently,  but  not  invariably,  re- 
presented with  sticks.  In  the  Assyrian 
sculptures  the  officers  of  the  court  have 
always  sticks,  used  apparently  as  staves 
of  office.  The  heads  of  these  are  often 
elafborately  wrought.  At  Persepolis  the 
officers  of  the  Persian  court  bear  similar 
Staves.  Ornaments  of  the  nature  des- 
cribed by  Herodotus,  which  may  have 
been  the  heads  of  walking-sticks,  are 
often  found  among  the  ruins  of  the 
Babylonian  cities. 

1  The  Eneti  or  Heneti  are  the  same 
with  the  Venetians  of  later  times  (Liv, 
i.  1).     According  to  one  account  they 


(From  Layard.) 
3.  Impression  on  clay  tablet. 

came  to  Italy  with  Antenor  after  the 
fall  of  Troy,  and  were  Paphlagoniaus. 
Niebuhr  thinks  they  could  not  have 
been  Illyrians,  or  Polybius  would  have 
noticed  the  fact  (Hist,  of  Rome,  vol.  i. 
p.  164,  Engl.  Tr.),  and  conjectures  that 
they  were  Liburnians,  quoting  Vu'gil  as 
authority. 

"  Antenor  potuit       

Illyricos  penetrare  sinus  atque  intima  tutus 
Regna  Liburnorum."—^n.  i.  243-5. 

But  may  niot  the  Liburnians  have  been 
an  Illyrian  tribe  ?  Servius  in  his  com- 
ment on  the  passage  says  that  the  king 
of  the  Venetians  at  this  time  was  ffinetus, 
an  Ilhjnan. 


Chap.  195-197.  TREATMENT  OF  THE  SICK.  271 

to  marry  wore  collected  all  together  into  one  place ;  while  the 
men  stood  round  them  in  a  circle.  Then  a  herald  called  up 
the  damsels  one  by  one,  and  offered  them  for  sale.  He  began 
with  the  most  beautiful.  When  she  was  sold  for  no  small  sum 
of  money,  he  offered  for  sale  the  one  who  came  next  to  her  in 
beauty.  All  of  them  were  sold  to  be  wiv  es.  The  richest  of  the 
Babylonians  who  wished  to  wed  bid  against  each  other  for  the 
loveliest  maidens,  while  the  humbler  wife-seekers,  who  were  in- 
different about  beauty,  took  the  more  homely  damsels  with 
marriage-portions.  For  the  custom  was  that  when  the  herald 
had  gone  through  the  whole  number  of  the  beautiful  damsels, 
he  should  then  call  up  the  ugliest — a  cripple,  if  there  chanced 
to  be  one — and  offer  her  to  the  men,  asking  who  would  agree  to 
take  her  with  the  smallest  marriage-portion.  And  the  man 
who  offered  to  take  the  smallest  sum  had  her  assigned  to  him. 
The  marriage-portions  were  furnished  by  the  money  paid  for 
the  beautiful  damsels,  and  thus  the  fairer  maidens  portioned 
out  the  uglier.  No  one  was  allowed  to  give  his  daughter  in 
marriage  to  the  man  of  his  choice,  nor  might  any  one  carry  away 
the  damsel  whom  he  had  purchased  without  finding  bail  really 
and  truly  to  make  her  his  wife ;  if,  however,  it  turned  out  that 
they  did  not  agree,  the  money  might  be  paid  back.  All  who 
liked  might  come  even  from  distant  villages  and  bid  for  the 
women.  This  was  the  best  of  all  their  customs,  but  it  has  now 
f^iUen  into  disuse.^  They  have  lately  hit  upon  a  very  different 
plan  to  save  their  maidens  from  violence,  and  prevent  their 
being  torn  from  them  and  carried  to  distant  cities,  which  is  to 
bring  up  their  daughters  to  be  courtesans.  This  is  now  done  by 
all  the  poorer  of  the  common  people,  who  since  the  conquest 
have  been  maltreated  by  their  lords,  and  have  had  ruin  brought 
upon  their  families. 

197.  The  following  custom  seems  to  me  the  wisest  of  their 
institutions  next  to  the  one  lately  praised.  They  have  no  phy- 
sicians, but  when  a  man  is  ill,  they  lay  him  in  the  public 
scpiare,  and  the  passers-by  come  up  to  him,  and  if  they  have 
ever  had  his  disease  themselves  or  have  known  any  one  who 
has  suffered  from  it,  they  give  him  advice,  recommending 
him  to  do  whatever  they  found  good  in  their  own  case, 
or  in  the  case   known  to  them ;    and   no   one  is  allowed  to 


2  Writers  of  the  Augustan  age  (Strabo,  their  day.  The  latter  testimony,  coming 
xvi.p.  1058;  Nic.  Damasc.p.  152;Orelli)  from  a  native  of  Damascus,  is  particu- 
meution  this  custom  as  still  existing  in      larlv  valuable. 


272 


PRECINCT  OF  VENUS. 


Book  I. 


pass  the  sick  man  in  silence  witliont  asking  him  what  his  ail- 
ment is. 

198.  They  bury  their  dead  in  honey,^  and  have  funeral  lamen- 
tations like  the  Eg-yptians.  When  a  Babylonian  has  consorted 
with  his  wife,  he  sits  down  before  a  censer  of  burning  incense, 
and  the  woman  sits  opposite  to  him.  At  dawn  of  day  they 
wash ;  for  till  they  are  washed  tliey  will  not  touch  any  of  their 
common  vessels.  This  practice  is  observed  also  by  the  Ara- 
bians. 

199.  The  Babylonians  have  one  most  shameful  custom. 
Every  woman  born  in  the  country  must  once  in  her  life  go  and 
sit  down  in  the  precinct  of  Venus,  and  there  consort  with  a 
stranger.  IMany  of  the  wealthier  sort,  who  are  too  proud  to 
mix  with  the  others,  drive  in  covered  carriages  to  the  precinct, 


2  Modern  researches  show  two  modes 
of  burial  to  have  prevailed  in  ancient 
Babylonia.  Ordinarihj  the  bodies  seem 
to  have  been  compressed  into  urns  and 
baked,  or  burnt.  Thousands  of  fvmeral 
ums  are  found  on  the  sites  of  the  ancient 
cities.  Coffins  are  also  found,  but  rarely. 
These  ai-e  occasionally  of  wood  (Rich's 
Fii-st  Memoir,  pp.  31-2),  but  in  general 


succession  of  the  same  cemeteries,  that 
there  is  some  difficulty  in  ascei'taining 
to  what  particular  age  and  nation  the 
various  modes  of  sepulture  that  have 
been  met  with  belonged.  The  burial- 
places,  however,  of  the  primitive  Hamite 
Chftldseans  have  been  carefully  examined 
by  Mr.  Taylor,  and  well  described  by 
him  in  his  two  papers  on  Mugheir  and 
Abu-Shahrein  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Asiatic  Society  (vol.  xv.  part  ii.).  In 
these  burial-places  the  skeletons  ai'e 
sometimes  found  laid  out  in  biick 
vaults,  but  more  generally  reposing  on 
a  small  brick  platform,  with  a  pottery 
cover  over  them,  very  like  a  modern 
dish-cover.     Some  of  these  covers  are 


Babylouian  Coffin  and  Lid.     (Layard.) 


of  the  same  kind  of  pottery  as  the  urns. 
Specimens  brought  from  Warka  may  be 
seen  in  the  British  Museum;  they  re- 
semble in  shape  the  Egyptian  mummy- 
cases.  These  coffins  might  have  been 
filled  with  honey,  but  they  are  thought 
to  belong  to  a  comparatively  recent  pe- 
riod. 

[So  many  races  have  successively  in- 
habited  Babylonia,   and   made    use  in 


now  in  the  British  Museum.  The 
coffins  from  Warka,  of  green  glazed 
pottery,  and  shaj^ed  like  a  slipper- 
bath  (represented  above),  belonged  pro- 
bably to  the  Chaldseans  of  the  Par- 
thian age,  the  figvu-es  in  relief  which 
are  stamped  upon  them  being  of  an 
entirely  different  character  from  the 
figures  on  the  antique  cylinder-seals. 
The  funeral  jars,  again,  which  seem  to 


Chap.  199. 


COIN  THROWN  INTO  THE  LAP. 


273 


followed  by  a  goodly  train  of  attendants,  and  there  take  their 
station.  But  the  larger  number  seat  themselves  within  the 
holy  enclosure  with  wreaths  of  string  about  their  heads, — and 
here  there  is  always  a  great  crowd,  some  coming  and  others 
going ;  lines  of  cor^  mark  out  paths  in  all  directions  among  the 
women,  and  the  strangers  pass  along  them  to  make  their 
choice.  A  woman  who  has  once  taken  her  seat  is  not  allowed 
to  return  home  till  one  of  the  strangers  throws  a  silver  coin 
into  her  laj),  and  takes  her  with  him  beyond  the  holy  ground. 
When  he  throws  the  coin  he  says  these  words—"  The  goddess 
Mylitta  prosper  thee."  (Venus  is  called  Mylitta  by  the  Assy- 
rians.) The  silver  coin  may  be  of  any  size ;  it  cannot  be  re- 
fused, for  that  is  forbidden  by  the  law,  since  once  thrown  it 
is  sacred.  The  woman  goes  with  the  first  man  who  throws  her 
money,  and  rejects  no  one.  When  she  has  gone  with  him,  and 
so  satisfied  the  goddess,  she  returns  home,  and  from  that  time 
forth  no  gift  however  great  will  prevail  with  her.  Such  of  the 
women  as  are  tall  and  beautiful  are  soon  released,  but  others 


have  been  used  for  ordinary  burial,  and 
which  are  to  be  found  in  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  every  Babylonian  ruin,  are, 
1  believe,  of  all  ages,  from  the  earliest 
Chaldrean  times  down  to  the  Arab  con- 
quest. Ashes  are  sometimes  found  in 
these  jars,  but  it  is  far  more  usual  to 
meet  with  a  skeleton  compressed  into  a 
small  space,  but  with  the  bones  and 
cranium  uncalcined ;  and  in  all  such 
cases  as  have  fallen  under  my  personal 

VOI;.    I. 


observation,  I  have  found  the  mouth  of 
the  jar  much  too  narrow  to  admit  of 
tlie  possibility  of  the  cranium  passing  in 
or  out;  so  that  either  the  clay  jar  must 
have  been  moulded  over  the  corpse,  and 
then  baked,  which  would  account  for 
the  ashes  inside,  or  the  neck  of  the  jar 
must  at  any  rate  have  been  added  sub- 
sequently to  the  other  rites  of  interment. 
In  some  cases  two  jars  are  joined  toge- 
ther by  bitumen,  so  as  to  admit  of  the 


274 


BABYLONIAN  ICHTHYOPHAGT. 


Book  I. 


who  are  ugly  have  to  stay  a  long  time  before  they  can  fulfil  the 
law      Some  have  waited  three  or  four  years  in  the  precinct 
A  custom  very  much  like  this  is  found  also  m  certam  parts  ot 

the  island  of  Cyprus.  .    .      -o  i    i     •  11  . 

200  Such  are  the  customs  of  the  Babylonians  generally. 
There"  are  likewise  three  tribes  among  them  who  eat  nothing 
but  fish^  These  are  caught  and  dried  in  the  sun,  after  which 
they  are  brayed  in  a  mortar,  and  strained  through  a  Imen  sieve. 
Some  prefer  to  make  cakes  of  this  material,  while  others  bake 

it  into  a  kind  of  bread.  ..^,-011^ 

201  When  Cyrus  had  achieved  the  conquest  of  the  Babylo- 
nians he  conceived  the  desire  of  bringing  the  Massagetse  under 
his  dominion.  Now  the  Massageta?  are  said  to  be  a  great  and 
warlike  nation,  dwelling  eastward,  toward  the  rismg  of  the  sun, 


corpse  being  laid  at  full  length  instead 
of  being  compressed  into  a  small  com- 
pass, with  the  knees  resting  on  the 
shoulders.  The  wooden  coffins  observed 
by  Rich  must  have  been  of  the  Moham- 
medan period.— H.  C.  R.] 

*  This  unhallowed  custom  is  men- 
tioned among  the  abominations  of  the 
religion  of  the  Babylonians  in  the  book 
of  Baruch  (vi.  43):— ^' The  women  also 
with  cords  about  them,  sittmg  m  the 
ways,  burn  bran  for  perfume;  but  it 
any  of  them,  drawn  by  some  that 
passeth  by,  lie  with  him,  she  reproaches 
her  fellow,  that  she  w.as  not  thought 
as   worthy    as   herself,    nor    her   cord 


broken."    Strabo  also  speaks  of  it  (svi. 
p.  1058). 

i  The  inhabitants  of  the  marshes  m 
lower  Babylonia,  against  whom  the  As- 
syrian kings  so  often  make  war  (Layard  s 
Monuments  of  Nineveh,  2nd  series, 
places  25,  27,  28),  are  probably  intended ; 
but  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  fish 
formed  really  at  any  time  their  sole 
food  The  marshes  must  always  Have 
abounded  with  water-fowl,  and  they 
now  support,  besides,  vast  herds  ot 
buffaloes,  which  form  the  chief  wealth 
of  the  inhabitants  (see  Mr.  Layard  s 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  ch.  xxiv.  pp.  ooo, 
554). 


Chap.  199-202.  THE  RIVER  ARAXES.  275 

beyond  the  river  Araxes,  and  opposite  tlie  Issedonians.'^      By 
many  tliey  are  regarded  as  a  Scythian  race.'^ 

202.  As  for  the  Araxes,  it  is,  according  to  some  accounts, 
larger,  according  to  others  smaller  than  the  Ister  (Danube).  It 
has  islands  in  it,  many  of  which  are  said  to  be  equal  in  size  to 
Lesbos.  The  men  who  inhabit  them  feed  during  the  summer 
on  roots  of  all  kinds,  which  they  dig  out  of  the  ground,  while 
they  store  up  the  fruits,  Avhich  they  gather  from  the  trees  at 
the  fitting  season,  to  serve  them  as  food  in  the  winter-time. 
Besides  the  trees  whose  fruit  they  gather  for  this  purpose,  they 
have  also  a  tree  wliich  bears  the  strangest  produce.  When 
they  are  met  together  in  companies  they  throw  some  of  it  upon 
the  fire  round  which  they  are  sitting,  and  presently,  by  the 
mere  smell  of-  the  fumes  which  it  gives  out  in  burning,  they 
grow  drunk,  as  the  Greeks  do  wdth  wine.  More  of  the  fruit  is 
then  throAvn  on  the  fire,  and,  their  drunkenness  increasing,  they 
often  jump  up  and  begin  to  dance  and  sing.  Such  is  the 
account  which  I  have  heard  of  this  people. 

The  river  Ai'axes,  like  the  Gyndes,  which  Cyrus  dispersed 
into  three  hundred  and  sixty  channels,  has  its  source  in  the 
country  of  the  Matienians.  It  has  forty  mouths,  whereof  all, 
except  one,  end  in  bogs  and  swamps.  These  bogs  and  swamps 
are  said  to  be  inhabited  by  a  race  of  men  who  feed  on  raw  fish, 
and  clothe  themselves  with  the  skins  of  seals.  The  other 
mouth  of  the  river  flows  with  a  clear  course  into  the  Caspian 
Sea.^  ________ 

••  The  Issedonians  are  mentioned  re-  the  information  which  had  reached  him 

peatedly  in  Book  iv.      Their  seats  are  concerning  two  or  three  distinct  streams. 

not  very  distinctly  marked.      They  lie  The  Araxes,  which  rises  in  the  Matienian 

east   of  the   Argippceans   (iv.    25)    and  mountains,  v-hencc  the  Gyndes  flovs,  can 

sonth  of  the  Arimaspi  (ib.  27).    Eennell  only  be  the  modern  Aras,  which  has  its 

supposes   them   to    have   occupied   the  source  in  the  Armenian  mountain-range 

tract  which   is   now   inhabited  by  the  near  Erzeroum,   and  running  eastward 

Eleuthes  or  Calinuck  Tatars.  joins  the  Kur  near  its  mouth,  and  falls 

'  Herodotus  himself  admits  that  the  into  the  Caspian  on  the  west.     On  the 

dress  and  mode  of  life  of  both  nations  other  hand,  the  Araxes,  which  separates 

were  the  same.     Dr.  Donaldson  brings  the  country  of  the  Massagetse  (who  dwelt 

an  etymological   argument   in  support  to  the  east  of  the  Caspian,  ch,  204)  from 

of  the    identity   (Varronianus,    p.    29).  the  empii'e  of  Cyrus,  would  seem  to  be 

According  to   him   the  word   Scyth  is  either  the  Jaxartes  (the  modern  Syhun) 

another  form  of  Goth,  and  the  Massa-  or  the  Oxus  (Ji/hnn).     The  number  of 

get£e,   Thyssagetae,  &c.  are  branches  of  mouths  and  great  size  of  the   islands 

the  Clothic  nation,  Massa-Goths,  Thyssa-  correspond  best  with  the  former  stream, 

Goths,  .kc.  while  the  division  into  separate  channels, 

*  The  geographical  knowledge  of  He-  and  the  passage  of  one  branch  into  the 

rodotus  seems  to  be  nowhere  so  much  Caspian,  agrees  strictly  with  the  former 

at  fault  as  in  his  account  of  this  river,  state  of  the  Jyhun  river.     (Infra,  Essay 

He  appears  to  have  confused  together  ix.  §  8.)                                                    To 

T   2 

f 


276 


DESCRirTTON  OF  THE  CASPIAN. 


Book  I. 


203.  The  Caspian  is  a  sea  by  itself,  having  no  connexion  with 
any  other.^  The  sea  frequented  by  the  Greeks,  that  beyond 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  Avhich  is  called  the  Atlantic,  and  also 
the  Erythra3an,  are  all  one  and  the  same  sea.  But  the  Caspian 
is  a  distinct  sea,  lying  by  itself,  in  length  fifteen  days'  voyage 
with  a  row-boat,  in  breadth,  at  the  broadest  part,  eight  days' 
voyage.^  Along  its  western  shore  runs  the  chain  of  the  Cau- 
casus, the  most  extensive  and  loftiest  af  all  mountain-ranges.^ 
Many  and  various  are  the  tribes  by  which  it  is  inhabited,  most 
of  whom  live  entirely  on  the  wild  fruits  of  the  forest.  In  these 
forests  certain  trees  are  said  to  grow,  from  the  leaves  of  which, 
pounded  and  mixed  with  water,  the  inhabitants  make  a  dye, 
wherewith  they  paint  upon  their  clothes  the  figures  of  animals ; 
and  the  figures  so  impressed  never  wash  out,  but  last  as  though 
they  had  been  inwoven  in  the  cloth  from  the  first,  and  wear  as 
long  as  the  garment. 

204.  On  the  west  then,  as  I  have  said,  the  Caspian  Sea  is 
bounded  by  the  range  of  Caucasus.     On  the  east  it  is  followed 


To  inci-ease  the  perplexity,  we  are 
told  (iv.  11)  that  when  the  Massagetae 
dispossessed  the  Scythians  of  this  tract 
east  of  the  Caspian,  the  latter  people 
"  crossed  the  Araxes,  and  entered  the 
land  of  Cimmeria,"  where  the  Wolga 
seems  to  be  intended.  (See  Wesseling 
ad  loo.)  Probably  the  name  Aras  (Rha) 
was  given  by  the  natives  to  all,  or  most, 
of  these  streams,  and  Herodotus  was  not 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  general 
geography  to  perceive  that  different 
rivers  must  be  intended. 

^  Here  the  geographical  knowledge 
of  Herodotus  was  much  in  advance  of 
his  age,  Eratosthenes,  Strabo,  Pom- 
ponius  Mela,  and  Pliny  all  believed 
that  the  Caspian  Sea  was  connected 
with  the  Northern  Ocean  by  a  long  and 
narrow  gulf.  False  information  received 
at  the  time  of  Alexander's  conquests 
seems  to  have  made  geographical  know- 
ledge retrograde.  It  was  reserved  for 
Ptolemy  to  restore  the  Caspian  to  its 
trne  position  of  an  inland  sea. 

^  It  is  impossible  to  make  any  exact 
comparison  between  the  actual  size  of 
the  Caspian  and  the  estimate  of  He- 
rodotus, since  we  do  not  know  what 
distance  he  intends  by  the  day's  voyage 
of  a  row-boat.  No  light  is  thrown  on 
this  by  his  estimate  of  the  rate  of 
sailin'j  vessels  (iv.  86). 

It  is  possible,  however,   to  compare 


the  proportions.  Let  it  then  be  observed 
that  Herodotus  makes  the  length  a  little 
less  than  double  of  the  (jreatest  breadth. 
He  is  careful  to  say  the  (/reatest,  not  the 
average  breadth  (rfj  evpvrdrr]  ecTT/  aur^ 
ewuTTjs).  Now  in  point  of  fact  the 
Caspian  is  750  miles  long  from  north 
to  south,  and  about  400  miles  across  in 
the  broadest  part  from  east  to  west. 
These  numbers,  which  are  certainly 
near  the  truth,  are  exactly  in  the  pro- 
portion given  by  Herodotus  of  15  to  8. 
There  seems  to  be  great  reason,  there- 
fore, to  question  the  conclusions  of 
Bredow  and  others,  who  suppose  that 
Herodotus  measured  the  length  of  the 
Caspian  from  east  to  west,  and  its 
breadth  from  north  to  south,  and  was 
right  in  doing  so,  since  the  sea  of  Aral 
formed  a  part  of  the  Caspian  in  ancient 
times.  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if 
the  sea  had  so  entirely  altered  its  shape, 
and  yet  preserved  exactly  the  propor- 
tions of  its  ancient  bed. 

2  This  was  true  within  the  limits  of  our 
author's  geographical  knowledge.  Peaks 
in  the  Caucasus  attain  the  height  of 
17,000  feet.  Neither  in  Taurus,  nor 
in  Zagros,  nor  in  any  of  the  European 
Alps  is  the  elevation  so  great,  Herodotus 
was  ignorant  of  the  Himalaya,  and  even 
of  the  range  south  of  the  Caspian,  where 
Mount  Demavend  rises  to  a  height  ex- 
ceeding 20,000  feet. 


Chap.  203-207.    CYRUS  MAKES  WAR  ON  QUEEN  TOMYRIS.         '^77 

by  a  vast  plain,  stretching  out  interminably  before  the  eye," 
the  greater  portion  of  which  is  possessed  by  those  Massage  toe, 
against  whom  Cyrus  was  now  so  anxious  to  make  an  expedition. 
Many  strong  motives  weighed  with  him  and  urged  him  on — his 
birth  especially,  which  seemed  something  more  than  human, 
and  his  good  fortune  in  all  his  former  wars,  wherein  he  had 
always  found,  that  against  what  country  soever  he  turned  his 
arms,  it  was  impossible  for  that  people  to  escape. 

205.  At  this  time  the  Massagetae  were  ruled  by  a  queen, 
named  Tomyris,  who  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  the  late  king, 
had  mounted  the  throne.  To  her  Cyrus  sent  ambassadors,  with 
instructions  to  court  her  on  his  part,  pretending  that  he  wished 
to  take  her  to  wife.  Tomyris,  however,  aware  that  it  was  her 
kingdom,  and  not  herself,  that  he  courted,  forbade  the  men  to 
approach.  Cyrus,  therefore,  finding  that  he  did  not  advance 
his  designs  by  this  deceit,  marched  towards  the  Araxes,  and 
openly  displaying  his  hostile  intentions,  set  to  work  to  construct 
a  bridge  on  which  his  army  might  cross  the  river,  and  began 
building  towers  upon  the  boats  which  were  to  be  used  in  the 
passage. 

206.  While  the  Persian  leader  was  occupied  in  these  labours, 
Tomyris  sent  a  herald  to  liim,  who  said,  "  King  of  the  Medes, 
cease  to  press  this  enterprise,  for  thou  canst  not  know  if  what 
thou  art  doing  Avill  be  of  real  advantage  to  thee.  Be  content 
to  rule  in  peace  thy  own  kingdom,  and  bear  to  see  us  reign 
over  the  countries  that  are  ours  to  govern.  As,  however,  I 
know  thou  wilt  not  choose  to  hearken  to  this  counsel,  since 
there  is  nothing  thou  less  desirest  than  peace  and  quietness, 
come  now,  if  thou  art  so  mightily  desirons  of  meeting  the 
Massageta3  in  arms,  leave  thy  useless  toil  of  bridge-making ; 
let  us  retire  three  days'  march  from  the  river  bank,  and  do 
thou  come  across  with  thy  soldiers ;  or,  if  thou  likest  better  to 
give  us  battle  on  thy  side  the  stream,  retire  thyself  an  equal 
distance."  Cyrus,  on  this  offer,  called  together  the  chiefs  of 
the  Persians,  and  laid  the  matter  before  them,  requesting  them 
to  advise  him  what  he  should  do.  All  the  votes  were  in  favour 
of  his  letting  Tomyris  cross  the  stream,  and  giving  battle  on 
Persian  ground. 

'    207.  But  Croesus  the  Lydian,  who  was  present  at  the  meeting 


3  The  deserts  of  Kharesni,  Kizilkoum,  &c.,  the  most  southern  portion  of  the 
Steppe  region. 


278  CRCESUS'  ADVICE  TO  CYRUS.  Book  I. 

of  the  chiefs,  disapproved  of  this  advice  ;  he  therefore  rose,  and 
thus  delivered  his  sentiments  in  opposition  to  it :    "  Oh !  my 
king !  I  promised  thee  long  since,  that,  as  Jove  had  given  me 
into  thy  hands,  I  would,  to  the*  best  of  my  power,  avert  im- 
pending danger  from  thy  house.     Alas  !  my  own  sufferings,  by 
their  very  bitterness,  have  taught  me  to  be  keen-sighted  of 
dangers.     If  thou  deemest  thyself  an  immortal,  and  thine  army 
an  army  of  immortals,  my   counsel  will  doubtless  be  thrown 
away  upon  thee.     But  if  thou  feelest  thyself  to  be  a  man,  and 
a  ruler  of  men,  lay  this  first  to  heart,  that  there  is  a  wheel  on 
which  the  affairs  of  men  revolve,  and  that  its  movement  forbids 
the  same  man   to  be  always  fortunate.     Now  concerning  the 
matter  in  hand,  my  judgment  runs  counter  to  the  judgment  of 
thy  other  counsellors.     For  if  thou  agreest  to  give  the  enemy 
entrance  into  thy  country,  consider  what  risk  is  run !     Lose  the 
battle,  and  therewith  thy  whole  kingdom  is  lost.    For  assuredly, 
the  Massagetae,  if  they  win  the  fight,  will  not  return  to  their 
homes,  but  will  push  forward  against  the  states  of  thy  empire. 
Or  if  thou  gainest  the  battle,  why,  then  thou  gainest  far  less 
than  if  thou  wert  across  the  stream,  where  thou  mightest  follow 
up  thy  victory.     For  against  thy  loss,  if  they  defeat  thee  on 
thine  own  ground,  must  be  set  theirs  in  like  case.     Kout  their 
army  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  thou  may  est  push  at 
once  into  the  heart  of  their  country.     Moreover,  were  it  not  dis- 
grace intolerable  for  Cyrus  the  soil  of  Cambyses  to  retire  before 
and  yield  ground  to  a  woman  ?     My  counsel  therefore  is,  that 
we  cross  the  stream,  and  pushing  forward  as  far  as  they  shall 
fall  back,  then  seek  to  get  the  better  of  them  by  stratagem.     I 
am  told  they  are  unacquainted  with  the  good  things  on  which 
the  Persians  live,  and  have  never  tasted  the  great  delights  of 
life.     Let  us  then  prepare  a  feast  for  them  in  our  camp  ;  let 
sheep  be  slaughtered  without  stint,  and  the  winecups  be  filled 
full  of  noble  liquor,  and  let  all  manner  of  dishes  be  prepared  : 
then  leaving  behind  us  our  worst  troops,  let  us  fall  back  towards 
the  river.     Unless  I  very  much  mistake,  when  they  see  the 
good  fare  set  out,  they  will  forget  all  else  and  fall  to.     Then  it 
will  remain  for  us  to  do  our  parts  manfully." 

208.  Cyrus,  when  the  two  plans  were  thus  placed  in  contrast 
before  him,  changed  his  mind,  and  preferring  the  advice  which 
Croesus  had  given,  returned  for  answer  to  Tomyris,  that  she 
should  retire,  and  that  he  would  cross  the  stream.  She  there- 
fore retired,  as  she  had  engaged ;  and   Cyrus,  giving  Crcesus 


Chap.  207-210.  CYRUS'S  DREAM.  279 

into  the  care  of  his  son  Cambyses  (whom  he  had  appointed  to 
succeed  him  on  the  throne),  with  strict  charge  to  pay  him  all 
respect  and  treat  him  well,  if  the  expedition  failed  of  success ; 
and  sending  them  both  back  to  Persia,  crossed  the  river  with 
his  army. 

209.  The  first  night  after  the  passage,  as  he  slept  in  the 
enemy's  country,  a  vision  appeared  to  him.  He  seemed  to  see 
in  his  sleep  the  eldest  of  the  sons  of  Hystaspes,  with  wings  upon 
his  shoulders,  shadowing  with  the  one  wing  Asia,  and  Em-ope 
with  the  other.  Now  Hystaspes,  the  son  of  Arsames,  was  of 
the  race  of  the  Achsemenidse,'^  and  his  eldest  son,  Darius,  was 
at  that  time  scarce  twenty  years  old ;  wherefore,  not  being  of 
age  to  go  to  the  wars,  he  had  remained  behind  in  Persia.  When 
Cyrus  woke  from  his  sleep,  and  turned  the  vision  over  in  his 
mind,  it  seemed  to  him  no  light  matter.  He  therefore  sent  for 
Hystaspes,  and  taking  him  aside  said,  "  Hystaspes,  thy  son  is 
discovered  to  be  plotting  against  me  and  my  crown.  I  will  tell 
thee  how  I  know  it  so  certainly.  The  gods  watch  over  my 
safety,  and  warn  me  beforehand  of  every  danger.  Now  last 
night,  as  I  lay  in  my  bed,  I  saw  in  a  vision  the  eldest  of  thy 
sons  with  wings  upon  his  shoulders,  shadowing  with  the  one 
wing  Asia,  and  Europe  with  the  other.  From  this  it  is  certain, 
beyond  all  possible  doubt,  that  he  is  engaged  in  some  plot 
against  me.  Return  thou  then  at  once  to  Persia,  and  be  sure, 
when  I  come  back  from  conquering  the  Massage tse,  to  have  thy 
son  ready  to  produce  before  me,  that  I  may  examine  him." 

210.  Thus  Cyrus  spoke,  in  the  belief  that  he  was  plotted 
against  by  Darius ;  but  he  missed  the  true  meaning  of  the 
dream,  which  was  sent  by  God  to  forewarn  him,  that  he  was 
to  die  then  and  there,  and  that  his  kingdom  was  to  fall  at  last 
to  ]3arius. 

Hystaspes  made  answer  to  Cyrus  in  these  words  : — "  Heaven 
forbid,  sire,  that  there  should  be  a  Persian  living  who  would 
plot  against  thee !  If  such  an  one  there  be,  may  a  speedy 
death  overtake  him !  Thou  foundest  the  Persians  a  race  of 
slaves,  thou  hast  made  them  free  men :  thou  foundest  them 
subject  to  others,  thou  hast  made  them  lords  of  all.  If  a  vision 
has  announced  that   my  son  is  practising  against  thee,  lo,  I 


*  For  the  entire  genealo.c^y  of  Darius,  son  of  Hystaspes  (Vashtdspa)  and  grand- 
see  note  on  Book  vii.  ch.  11.  It  maybe  son  of  Arsames  (Arshamk).  He  traced 
observed  here  that  the  inscriptions  con-  his  descent  through  four  ancestors  to 
firm  Herodotus  thus  far.     Darius  was  Achfemenes  (Hakhamanish). 


280  STRATAGEM  OF  THE  PEllSIANS.  Book  I. 

resign  him  into  thy  hands  to  deal  with  as  thou  wilt."  Hystaspes, 
when  he  had  thus  ansAvered,  recrossed  the  Araxes  and  hastened 
back  to  Persia,  to  keep  a  watch. on  his  son  Darius. 

211.  Meanwhile  Cyrus,  having  advanced  a  day's  march  from 
the  river,  did  as  Cravsus  had  advised  him,  and,  leaving  the 
worthless  portion  of  his  army  in  the  camp,  drew  off  with  his 
good  troops  towards  the  river.  Soon  afterwards,  a  detachment 
of  the  Massagetoe,  one-third  of  their  entire  army,  led  by  Spar- 
gapises,^  son  of  the  queen  Tomyris,  coming  up,  fell  upon  the 
body  which  had  been  left  behind  by  Cyrus,  and  on  their 
resistance  put  them  to  the  sword.  Then,  seeing  the  banquet 
prepared,  they  sat  down  and  began  to  feast.  When  they  had 
eaten  and  drunk  their  fill,  and  were  now  sunk  in  sleep,  the 
Persians  under  Cyrus  arrived,  slaughtered  a  great  multitude, 
and  made  even  a  larger  number  prisoners.  Among  these  last 
was  Spargapises  himself. 

212.  When  Tomyris  heard  what  had  befallen  her  son  and 
her  army,  she  sent  a  herald  to  Cyrus,  who  thus  addressed  the 
conqueror : — "  Thou  bloodthirsty  Cyrus,  pride  not  thyself  on 
this  poor  success  :  it  was  the  grape-juice — which,  when  ye  drink 
it,  makes  you  so  mad,  and  as  ye  swallow  it  down  brings  up  to 
your  lips  such  bold  and  wicked  words — it  was  this  poison 
wherewith  thou  didst  ensnare  my  child,  and  so  overcam^est  him, 
not  in  fair  open  fight.  Now  hearken  what  I  advise,  and  be 
sure  I  advise  thee  for  thy  good.  Restore  my  son  to  me  and 
get  thee  from  the  land  unharmed,  triumphant  over  a  third  part 
of  the  host  of  the  Massagetse.  Eefuse,  and  I  swear  by  the  sun, 
the  sovereign  lord  of  the  Massagetse,  bloodthirsty  as  thou  art, 
I  will  give  thee  thy  fill  of  blood." 

213.  To  the  words  of  this  message  Cyrus  paid  no  manner  of 
regard.  As  for  Spargapises,  the  son  of  the  queen,  when  the 
wine  went  off,  and  he  saw  the  extent  of  his  calamity,  he  made 
request  to  Cyrus  to  release  him  from  his  bonds ;  then,  when 
his  prayer  was  granted,  and  the  fetters  were  taken  from  his 
limbs,  as  soon  as  his  hands  were  free,  he  destroyed  himself. 


•5  The  identity  of  this  name  with  the  father" — which  would  be  the  meaning 

"  Spargapithes,"    mentioned  as  a  Scy-  of  the  name  in  Sanscrit— is  an  unsatis- 

thiaii  king  in  book  iv.  (ch.  7(3),  is  of  im-  factory  compound.     And,  besides,    the 

portance  towards  determining  the  etlmic  sv  of  the  Sanscrit  invariably  changes  to 

family  to  which  the  Massagetao  are  to  be  an  aspirate   or   guttural   in   the  Zend, 

assigned.     The  Arian  derivation  of  the  Persian,    and  other   cognate    dialects — 

word  (Svarga,  pita)  is  remarkable.  sininjd  in  fact  becoming  kheng  or  gnn;/,  as 

[The  Arian  etymology  is  perhaps  more  in  the   famous   (jangdiz   or  Paradise   of 

apparent  than  real.     At  least  "Heaven  Persian  romance. — H.C.R.] 


CiiAP.  210-214.         BATTLE,  AND  DEATH  OF  CYRUS.  281 

214.  Tomyris,  when  she  found  tliat  Cyrus  paid  no  heed  to 
her  advice,  collected  all  the  forces  of  her  kingdom,  and  gave 
him  battle.  Of  all  the  combats  in  Avhich  the  barbarians  have 
en<ra2:ed  amomi;  themselves,  I  reckon  this  to  have  been  the 
fiercest.  The  following,  as  I  understand,  was  the  manner  of 
it :— First,  the  two  armies  stood  apart  and  shot  their  arrows  at 
each  other ;  then,  when  their  quivers  were  empty,  they  closed 
and  fought  hand-to-hand  Avith  lances  and  daggers ;  and  thus 
they  continued  fighting  for  a  length  of  time,  neither  choosing 
to  give  ground.  At  length  the  Massagetse  prevailed.  The 
greater  part  of  the  array  of  the  Persians  was  destroyed  and 
Cyrus  himself  fell,  after  reigning  nine  and  twenty  years.  Search 
was  made  among  the  slain  by  order  of  the  queen  for  the  body 
of  Cvrus,  and  when  it  was  found  she  took  a  skin,  and,  filling  it 
full  of  human  blood,  she  dipped  the  head  of  Cyrus  in  the  gore, 
saying,  as  she  thus  insulted  the  corse,  '^  I  live  and  have  con- 
quered thee  in  fight,  and  yet  by  thee  am  I  ruined,  for  thou 
tookest  my  son  Avith  guile ;  but  thus  I  make  good  my  threat, 
and  give  thee  thy  fill  of  blood."  Of  the  many  different  accounts 
which  are  given  of  tlie  death  of  Cyrus,  this  which  I  have 
followed  appears  to  me  most  worthy  of  credit.^ 


'^  It  may  be  questioned  whether  the  tiou  too  ("  I  (un  Cyrus,  the  son  of  Cam- 
account,  ^Yhich  out  of  many  seemed  to  byses,  who  founded  the  empire  of  the 
our  autlior  most  worthy  of  credit,  was  Persians^  and  ruled  over  Asia.  Grudge 
ever  really  the  most  credible.  Unwit-  me  not  then  this  monument  ")  could 
tingly  Herodotus  was  drawn  towards  the  scarcely  have  been  placed  on  a  cenotaph, 
most  romantic  and  poetic  version  of  each  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
story,  and  what  he  admired  most  seemed  the  body  of  Cyrus  was  interred  in  the 
to  him  the  likeliest  to.be  true.  There  tomb  described,  after  Aristobulus,  in 
is  no  insincerity  or  pretence  in  this.     In  Ari'ian. 

real  good  faith  he  adopts  the  most  \>ev-  According  to  Xenophon,  Cyrus  died 

fectly  poetic  tale  or  legend.     He  does  peacefully  in  his  bed  (Cyrop.  viit.  vii.); 

not,   liiie  Livy,   knowingly  falsify  his-  according   to   Ctesias,   he  was   severely 

tory.  wounded  in  a  battle  which  he  fought 

With  respect  to  the  particular  matter  with  the  Derbices,  and  died  in  camp  of 

of  the  death  of  Cyrus,  the  fact  of  the  his  wounds  (Persic.  Excerpt.  §  6-8).    Of 

existence   of  his   tomb   at    Pasargadre,  these  two  authors,  Ctesias,  perhaps,  is 

vouched  for  by  Aristobulus,  one  of  the  the  less  ujitrustworthy.     On  his  autho- 

companions  of  Alexander  (much  better  rity,  conjoined  with  that  of  Herodotus,  it 

reported    by   Arrian,    vi.    29,    than   by  may  be  considered  certain,  1.  That  Cyrus 

Strabo,  xv.  p.  1036),  seems  conclusive  died  a  violent  death;   and   2.   That  he 

against  the  histoi'ic  truth  of  the  narra-  received  his  death-wound  in  fight ;  but 

tive  of  Herodotus.     Larcher's  supposi-  against  what   enemy  must   continue   a 

tion  that  the  tomb  at  Pasargadic  was  a  doubtful  point. 

cenotaph  (Histoire  d'He'rod.,  vol.  i.  p.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that 

.")09)  is  contradicted  by  the  whole  rela-  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  still  exists  at  Marg- 

tion  in  Arrian,  where  we  hear  not  only  J^ 7,6,  the  ancient  Pasargadse.    On  a  square 

of  the  gold  sarcophagus,  but  of  the  body  base,    composed  of  immense  blocks  of 

also,  whereof,  after  the  tomb  had  been  beautiful  white  marble,  rising  in  steps, 

violated,  Aristobulus  himself  collected  stands  a  structure  so  closely  resembling 

and  interred  the  remains.     The  inscrip-  the  description  of  Arrian,  that  it  seems 


282         DRESS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  MASSAGET^.         Book  I. 

215.  In  their  dress  and  mode  of  living  tlie  Massagetse  resemble 
tlie  Scythians.  They  fight  both  on  horseback  and  on  foot, 
neither  method  is  strange  to  them :  they  nse  bows  and  lances, 
but  their  favourite  weapon  is  the  battle-axe.^  Their  arms  are 
all  either  of  gold  or  brass.  For  their  spear-points,  and  arrow- 
lieads,  and  for  their  battle-axes,  they  make  use  of  brass ;  for 
head-gear,  belts,  and  girdles,  of  gold.  So  too  with  the  caparison 
of  their  horses,  they  give  them  breastplates  of  brass,  but  employ 
<rold  about  the  reius,  the  bit,  and  the  cheek-plates.     They  use 


Tnrnb  of  Cyrus. 


scarcely  possible  to  doubt  its  being  the 
tomb  which  in  Alexander's  time  con- 
tained the  body  of  Cyrus.  It  is  a  quad- 
rangular house,  or  rather  chamber,  built 
of  huge  blocks  of  marble,  5  feet  thick, 
which  are  shaped  at  the  top  into  a  sloping 
roof.  Internally  the  chamber  is  10  feet 
long,  7  wide,  and  8  high.  There  are 
holes  in  the  marble  floor,  which  seem  to 
have  admitted  the  fastenings  of  a  sarco- 
phagus. The  tomb  stands  in  an  area 
marked  out  by  pillars,  whereon  occurs 
repeatedly  the  inscription  (written  both 
in  Persian  and  in  the  so-called  Median), 
"I  am  Cyrus  the  king,  the  Achseme- 
nian."  A  full  account,  with  a  sketch  of 
the  structure  (from  which  the  accompa- 
nying view  is  taken),  will  be  foimd  in 
Ker  Porter's  Travels  (vol.  i.   pp.  498- 


506).     It. is   called  by  the  natives  the 
tomb  of  the  Mother  of  Solomon ! 

7  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  weapon  known  to  the  Greeks  as 
the  adyapis.  It  has  been  taken  for  a  bat- 
tle-axe, a  bill-hook,  and  a  short  curved 
sword  or  scymitar.  Bahr  (ad  loc.)  re- 
gards it  as  identical  with  the  aKivaK-qs, 
but  this  is  impossible,  since  it  is  men- 
tioned as  a  distinct  weapon  in  book  iv. 
(ch.  70.)  The  expression,  d  1 1  v  a  s  aa- 
ydpLs,  in  book  vii.  (ch.  6-I-)  seems  to  point 
to  the  battle-axe,  which  is  called  sacr  in 
Armenian.  (Compare  the  Latin  securis.) 
[The  adyapis  is  in  all  probability  the 
hhtuijar  of  modern  Persia,  a  short,  curved, 
double-edged  dagger,  almost  universally 
worn.  The  original  form  of  the  word 
was  probably  svagar. — H.C.R.] 


Chap.  215,  216.    DTIESS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  MASSAGET.E.     283 

neither  iron  nor  silver,  having  none  in  their  country  ;  but  they 
have  brass  and  gokl  in  abundance.^ 

216.  The  following  are  some  of  their  customs ; — Each  man 
has  but  one  wife,  yet  all  the  wives  are  held  in  common ;  for 
this  is  a  custom  of  the  Massageta^  and  not  of  the  Scythians,  as 
the  Greeks  wrongly  say.  Human  life  does  not  come  to  its 
natural  close  with  this  people  ;  but  when  a  man  grows  very  old, 
all  his  kinsfolk  collect  together  and  offer  him  up  in  sacrifice ; 
offering  at  the  same  time  some  cattle  also.  After  the  sa(*rifice 
they  boil  the  flesh  and  feast  on  it ;  and  those  who  thus  end 
their  days  are  reckoned  the  happiest.  If  a  man  dies  of  disease 
they  do  not  eat  him,  but  bury  him  in  the  ground,  bewailing  his 
ill-fortune  that  he  did  not  come  to  be  sacrificed.  They  sow  no 
grain,  but  live  on  their  herds,  and  on  fish,  of  which  there  is 
great  plenty  in  the  Araxes.  Milk  is  what  they  chiefly  drink. 
The  only  god  they  worship  is  the  sun,  and  to  him  they  offer  the 
horse  in  sacrifice  ;  under  the  notion  of  giving  to  the  swiftest  of 
the  gods  tlie  swiftest  of  all  mortal  creatures.^ 

*'  Botli  the  Ural  and  the  Altai  moun-  found    in   the    tumuli    which    abound 

taius  abound  in  gold.     The  i-ichness  of  throughout  the  sfceppe  region.    . 

these  regions  in  this  metal  is  indicated  '*  So  Ovid  says  of  the  Persians — 
(book  iv.  ch.  27)  by  the  stories  of  the 

gold-guavdh,g  Grypes   and  tho  Arimaspi  '''"'Te^XSSwlS£,a"ffal°C''"'°"' 
who  plunder  them  (book  m.  cli.  lib). 

Altai  is  said  to  be  derived  from  a  Tatar  Xenophon  ascribes  the  custom  both  to 

word  signifying  gold  (Rennell's  Geogr.  them  (Cyrop.  viii.  iii.  §  24),  and  to  the 

of  Herod.,  p.  1  oG).     The  present  produc-  Armenians  (Anab.  iv.  v.  §  35).      Horse 

tiveness  of  the  Ural  mountains  is  well  sacrifices  are  said  to  prevail  among  the 

known,      (lold  utensils  are   frequently  modern  Parsees. 


APPENDIX    TO    BOOK  I. 

ESSAY    I. 

ox  THE  EARLY  CHRONOLOGY  AND  HISTORY  OF  LYDIA. 

1.  Date  of  the  taking  of  Sardis  by  Cyrus  —  according  to  the  common  account,  B.C. 
546.  2.  According  to  Vohiey  and  Heei'en,  B.C.  557.  3.  Prob  ible  actual  date, 
B.C.  554.  4.  First  or  mythic  period  of  Lydian  history  —  dynasty  of  the  Atyadse. 
5.  Colonisation  of  Etruria.  6.  Conquest  of  the  Mseonians  by  the  Lydians  — 
Torrhebia.  7.  Second  period  —  dynasty  of  the  Heraclidse,  B.C.  1'229  to  B.C.  724 
—  descent  of  Agron.  8.  Scantiness  of  the  historical  data  for  this  period. 
9.  Lydiaca  of  Xanthus.  10.  Insignificance  of  Lydia  before  Gyges.  11.  Third 
period,  B.C.  724-554  —  legend  of  Gyges  — he  obtains  the  throne  by  favour  of 
the  Delphic  oracle.  12.  Eeign  of  Gyges,  B.C.  724-686 — his  wars  with  the 
Greeks  of  the  coast.  13.  Reign  of  Ardys,  B.C.  686-637.  14.  Invasion  of  the 
Cimmerians.  15.  Reign  of  Sadyattes,  B.C.  637-625.  16.  Reign  of  Alyattes, 
B.C.  625-568  —  war  with  Miletus.  17.  Gi^eat  war  between  Alyattes  and  Cyax- 
ares,  king  of  Media  —  eclipse  of  Thales,  B.C.  610  (?).  18.  Peaceful  close  of  his 
reign  —  employment  of  the  population  in  the  construction  of  his  tomb.  19. 
Supposed  association  of  Croesus  in  the  government  by  Alyattes.  20.  Reign  of 
Croesus,  B.C.  568-554  —  his  enormous  wealth.  21.  Powerful  effect  on  the  Gi-eek 
mind  of  his  reverse  of  fortune  —  his  history  becomes  a  favourite  theme  with 
romance  writers,  who  continually  embellish  it. 

1.  Thk  early  chronology  of  Lydia  depends  entirely  upon  tlie  true 
date  of  the  taking  of  Sardis  by  Cyrus.  Clinton,  Grote,  Biihr,  and 
most  recent  chrouologers,  following  the  authority  of  Sosicrates  * 
and  Solinus,  place  the  capture  in  the  third  year  of  the  58th 
Olympiad,  B.C.  546.  As  Sosicrates  flourished  in  the  2nd  century 
B.C.,  and  Solinus  in  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  no  great  value,  as 
Mr.  Grote  allows,'^  can  be  attached  to  their  evidence.  It  is  cer- 
tainly confirmed,  in  some  degree,  by  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus, 


1  Although  Sosicrates  is   referred  to  by  before  the  death  of  Croesus ;   but  it  is  quite 

Mr.  Grote  (vol.  iv.  p.  264,  note  2)  and  by  possible  that  he  may  have  meant  to  refer  to 

Mr.  Clinton,  under  the  year  B.C.  546,  as  an  his   accession.      The  following  synopsis  of 

authority  for  placing  the  capture  of  Sardis  the  dates   given  in  ancient  writers  for  the 

in  that  year,  yet  the  passage  in   Diogenes  accession  of  Gyges  will  show  the  uncertainty 

Laertius,  to  which  reference  is  made  (i.  95),  of  the  chronology  even  of  the  third  Lydian 

produces,  according  to  Clinton's  own  show-  dynasty : — 

ing  ('Appendix,  xvii.,  vol.  ii.  p.  361),  not  the  b.c 

vear  B.C.  546,  but  the  following  year,  B.C.  ^ionysius  Halicaraas.  (in  one  passage)  .  718 

Ir^       ./             I,                     •        ^     i.  X       1  Certain  authors  referred  to  by  rimy       .  717 

545.     It  IS,  perhaps,  more  important  to  ob-  Sosicrates  (?)       .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .715 

serve  that  Sosicrates  says  nothing  at  all  of  Pliny  and  Clemens  A lexaniir 708 

the  taking  of  Sardis,  but  only  affirms  tliat  J^^usebius 699 

Peiiander^died  in  the  last  year  of  the  48th  ^i«"y«i»«  H^^li^'^'-  ('»  ^^^I'^'r  passage)    G9,s 

Olympiad,   forty-one    years  before   Croesus.  2  Histoiy  of  Greece,   part   ii.  cli.  xxxii. 

He  can  scarcely  have  meant,  as  we  should  (vol.  iv.  p.  265,  note), 
naturally  have  understood  from  the  passage. 


Essay  I.  .       DATE  OF  THE  FALL  OF  SAUDIS.  285 

who,  in  one  passage,^  expresses  himself  in  a  way  which  woukl 
seem  to  show  that  he  regarded  the  event  as  having  occurred  only 
two  years  earlier.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  from  another 
passage  of  this  writer/  it  might  be  gathered  that  he  would  have 
placed  the  capture  seventeen  years  later,  in  the  year  B.C.  528.  The 
date  of  Solinus  also  is  confirmed  or  copied  by  Eusebius,  who  gives 
the  year  b.c.  54G  for  the  end  of  the  Lydian  monarch}^^ 

2.  Volney,''  on  the  contrary,  maintains,  against  Solinus  and  Sosi- 
crates,  that  the  true  date  of  the  capture  must  be  many  years  earlier. 
He  proposes  b.c.  557  as  the  most  probable  year,  and  his  conclusions 
have  been  adopted  by  Heeren.'' 

The  following  objections  seem  to  lie  against  the  date  usually 
assigned:  — 

The  conquest  of  Astyages  by  Cyrus  is  determined  by  the  general 
consent  of  chronologers  to  fall  within  the  space  B.C.  561-558.  This 
event  can  hardly  have  preceded  the  taking  of  Sardis  by  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  years  ;  at  least  if  Herodotus  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  toler- 
able authority  even  for  the  general  connexion  of  the  events  of  this 
period.  For  Herodotus  says  that  the  defeat  of  Ast^^ages  determined 
Croesus  to  attack  Cj^rus  before  he  became  still  more  powerful ;  and 
that  he  immediately  began  the  consultation  of  the  oracles,^  on  which, 
it  would  seem,  the  war  followed  within  (at  most)  a  year  or  two. 
It  was  the  object  of  Croesus  to  hurry  on  the  struggle,  and  two  or 
three  years  (the  former  is  the  period  .assigned  by  Volney)  would 
probably  have  been  time  enough  for  all  the  necessary  preparations, 
including  the  negotiations  Avith  Sparta,  Egypt,  and  Babylon.^  No 
one  can  read  the  narrative  in  Herodotus  and  imagine  that  he  meant 
to  represent  more  than  a  very  few  years  as  intervening  between  the 
conquest  of  the  Modes  by  Cya-us,  and  Croesus's  invasion  of  Cappa- 
docia.  The  twelve  or  thirteen  years  required  by  the  commonly 
adopted  date  are  contradicted  expressly  by  his  narrative.  For  the 
whole  reign  of  Croesus  is  but  fourteen  years  ;  and  if  we  assign  even 
twelve  of  these  to  the  period  of  preparation  for  the  Persian  war,  we 
leave  but  two  years  for  all  the  earlier  events  of  his  reign,  a  single 
one  of  which,  the  mourning  for  his  son,  is  stated  to  have  occupied 


^  De  Thucyd.  Charaut.  c.  5.     'HpoSoras  "     Recherches    sur    I'Histoire    Ancienno, 

—  ap|ajuei/os    airh   rT\s    tuv  AuScSi/    ^vva-  vol.  i.  pp.  306-9. 

(TT^ias,  jxexpi-rovUipaiKov  7roK4fxov  ware-  '   Manual  of  Ancient  Hist.,  book  i.  p.  29 

^i^aae  rr]v   laropiav,  waffas    ras  iv    to7s  (Eng.  Translation,  Talboys),  and  Appendix. 

Teaa-apaKouTa  Ka\   diaKocriois  erecri  yevo-  ^  'H    'AaTudyeos    too    Kva^dpeo}    vye- 

fxevas  Trpd^eis — TreptAa/Swi/.     x\s  Herodotus  /noui-n    Karaip^Oela-a   vtto   Kvpou  tov   Ka^- 

ooncludos   his    history   with   the    year  B.C.  ^vaeco,    Koi    rd    rtov   Uepa-ewu   Trp-f^y/xara 

479,    the    commencement    of    the    Lydian  av^avofxeva,    irevOeos    fx€v    Kpolaov    dire- 

liistory  would  be,  according  to  this  passage,  Travae-   iuel3r)(Te   Se   is   (ppovrlda,    ei    kws 

B.C.  718,  which  would  give  ( 7 1 8-170)  15.C.  Svuairo,  trplu  fjLeydXovs  y  €  y  e  a  6  a  i 

548  for  the  end  of  the  monarchy.  tov  s  Us  paas,  KaraXafielv  avrcou  av^a- 

*   Hpist.    ad    Cn.    I'ompeium,    c.    3    (p.  pofieurju  rriv  Zvvajxiv.      Mera  Siv  rrjv  8m- 

773j.      'HpoSoTos  Se,  ttTT^  T7JS  AuSwj/ jSacri-  voiav    ravTTju    avr'tKa   aTreTretparo    twu 

Aeias    ap|auei/oy — Sie^eKdwv    re    7rpa|ejs  jUaj/TTj/coj/, /c.t.A.  ( Ileroil.  i.  4(3.)    So  Strabo 

E\K7]uuu  KOL  fiap^dpcov  irecriv  u/jlov  dia-  says,  Uepaai  ac/)'  ou  Kar^Xvaau  rd  MtjScoj/ 

Koaiois  Kol  eUoai,  k.t.K.  evOvs  Ka\  Avdu>u  iKparrfo-av  (xv.p.  1044). 

5  Chronic.  Canon.  Pars  ii.  p.  333.  9  Herod,  i.  G9  and  77. 


286  CHRONOT.OGY  OF  T.YDTA.  Aw.  15ook  T. 

that  full  period  of  time.*  It  may  be  argued,  indeed,  tliat  just  as  the 
conquests  of  Croesus  and  his  interview  with  Solon  were  (according 
to  some  writers^)  anterior  to  the  fourteen  years  of  his  reign  as  sole 
king,  occurring  during  a  period  in  which  he  reigned  jointly  with 
his  father,  so  the  dream,  the  coming  of  Adrastus,  and  the  marriage 
and  death  of  Atys,  may  have  preceded  the  decease  of  Alyattes  ;  but 
even  though  the  former  view  should  be  allowed,  the  latter  suppo- 
sitions are  rendered  impossible,  both  by  the  general  tone  of  the 
narrative,  and  by  the  fact  that  Croesus  was  but  thirty -five  at  the 
death  of  his  father,^  which  would  prevent  his  having  a  marriageable 
son  till  some  years  afterwards. 

The  following  is  the  arrangement  of  the  Lydian  dynasties  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinary  chronology  : — 

B.C. 

1st   Dynasty    ..      ,.      ..     Atyadse anterior  to  1221. 

2nd  Dynasty Heraclidse        ..       ..  B.C.  1221  to  716 

3rd  Dynasty Mermnadse — 

1.  Gyses       ..  B.C.    716  to  678 

2.  Ardys       ..  „       678  to  629 

3.  Sadyattes  „       629  to  617 

4.  Alyattes  ..  ,,       617  to  560 

5.  Crcesus    ..  ,,       560  to  546 

According  to  the  chronology  of  Yolney,  which  is  adopted  by 
Heeren,  the  several  dates  will  be  as  follows : — 

B.C. 

1st  Dynasty Atyadaj" anterior  to  1232 

2nd  Dynasty Heraclidse        ..       ..  B.C.  1232  to  727 

3rd  Dynasty Mermnado3 — • 

1.  Gyges       ..  B.C.    727  to  689 

2.  Ardys       ..  „       689  to  640 

3.  Sadyattes  ,,       640  to  628 

4.  Alyattes  ..  ,,       628  to  571 

5.  Croisus    ..  ,,       571  to  557 

3.  The  dates  assumed  in  the  present  w^ork  are  slightly  different 
-from  these  last.  The  accession  of  Croesus  is  regarded  as  having 
happened  in  the  year  B.C.  568,  and  the  fall  of  Sardis  in  B.C.  554. 
This  is  in  part  the  necessary  consequence  of  an  alteration  of  the 
date  of  Cyrus's  victory  over  Astyages,  which  Yolney  and  Heeren 
place  in  B.C.  561.     As  the  astronomical  canon  of  Ptolemy  fixes  the 


^    Ibid    i    46  Year  of  Cronsus. 

IT       v, '      \j  i^         TJ    .   1    ;    OT  /^     1    •  1  Continues  the  war  with  the  Greeks  of 

2  Larcher.  Note  on  Herod,  i.  2t  (vol.  u  ^^^   ^^^^^^^  ^„j    afterwards    conquers 

p.  210).      Clinton  F.  H.  vol.  ii.  pp.  362-6.  2-6./      the  whole  conntry  within  the  Haly; 


It  will  be  proved  in   its  proper  place  that  (chaps.  27,  28).     Atys  talces  part  in 

there  are  no  sufficient  grounds  for  believing  ,    '  ViTof  80,^?*™?/*'  '"■ 

that  Alyattes  associated  Croesus  in  the  go-  i  Croesus's  dream.  Marriage  of  Atys  at  the 

veiannent,  or  that  any  of  the  events  ascribed  8.  ^      age  of  18  or  20  (chaps.  34,  35).    Atj-s 

bv    Herodotus     to    the    fourteen    years    of  I      killed  by  Adrastus  (chaps.  36-45). 

/■(              11          i.      ii          •^..    „^"    Ai,T„++^,  I  Croesus  mourns  for  Atj's  (ch.  45,  end). 

Croesus   belong   to    the   reign    of    Alyattes.       ,,_^oJ      ^j^^^.^,    ^^    ^^^    ^^^^^^  ^^   Astyages 


The  following  would  seem  to  have  been  the  |      (ch.  46). 

view  taken  by   Herodotus  of  the   reign  of     j^.^^    (Crcesus  sends  to  Delphi  and  the  other 

r"„^^„„  .  '^'"  I      oracles  (chaps.  46-56). 

(  Alliances  concluded  with  Sparta,  Baby- 


Croesus: — 


Year  of  Croesus. 

•  Croesus,  at  35  years  of  age  (ch.  26).  sue-  ^  ^^.^^^^  ^^^^^  ^j^^  jj^^j^^^  ^^^^  ^^^.^^^^ 


Ion,  and  Egypt  (chaps.  69  and  77) 
roesus  cro 
Cyrus.    ! 

takes  Ephesus^ch.  26)7  •*  Heiod.  i.  26. 


ceedsWsMherT  (Hislon  Atysmight  14-  j  ^'•^,!?,VXdVHU'K'LCs 

be  10  or  12  years'  old.)    Attacks  and  ^     ^-J^"^-    ^^^^^^  *^^'^^"  ^^  ^^'^"^- 


Essay  T.  1>ATE  OF  THE  FALL  OF  SARDIS.  287 

death  of  Cyrus  to  B.C.  529,  and  Herodotus  ascribes  but  twenty-nine 
years  to  the  reign  of  that  prince,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  regard 
kc.  558  as  the  first  year  of  Cyrus  in  Media.'^  In  order,  therefore, 
to  preserve  the  same  interval  between  the  defeat  of  Astyages  and 
the  fiill  of  Sardis,  which  Volney  gathers  from  the  narrative  of  Hero- 
dotus, the  latter  event  would  have  to  be  assigned  to  the  year  p..c. 
555.  It  is  here  placed  one  year  later  on  the  following  grounds  : — 
A  space  of  two  years  does  not  seem  to  be  sufficient  time  to  allow 
for  all  (h-oesus's  consultations  with  the  oracles,  and  his  negotiations 
with  powers  so  distant  as  Egypt  and  Babylonia.  Volney 's  theory 
crowds  the  incidents  unnecessarily.^  And  further,  if  the  fall  of 
Sardis  were  assigned  to  the  year  B.C.  555,  the  negotiations  would 
fall  into  the  year  B.C.  556.  But  at  this  period  Labynetus  (Nabona- 
dius)  did  not  occupy  the  throne  of  Babylon.  His  accession  is  fixed 
by  the  astronomical  canon  to  B.C.  555.  Thus  the  negotiations  could 
not  bo  earlier  than  b.c.  555,  nor  the  fall  of  Sardis  than  B.C.  554. 
This  synchronism,  which  escaped  the  notice  of  Volney,  seems  to  be 
conclusive  against  his  scheme,  which,  starting  on  sound  principles, 
a  conviction  of  the  worthlessness  of  such  authorities  as  Solinus  and 
Sosicrates,  and  a  feeling  that  the  ordinary  chronology,  based  upon 
their  statements,  was  irreconcilable  with  Herodotus,  adyanced  to 
false  conclusions,  because  the  fixed  points  of  contemporary  history, 
which  alone  could  determine  the  true  dates,  were  either  forgotten 
or  misconceived.  By  correcting  Volney's  error  and  supplying  his 
omission,  the  scheme,  adopted  in  the  text,  and  exhibited  synopti- 
cally  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  has  been  constructed.  It  places 
the  events  of  Lydian  history  eight  years  earlier  than  the  ordinary 
chronology,  three  years  later  than  the  system  of  Volney  and  Heeren. 
It  is,  in  brief,  as  follows  : — 

B.C. 

1st   Dynasty Atyacloe anterior  to  1229 

2nd  Dynasty Heraclidse         . .        . .  B.C.  1229  to  724 

;5rd  Dynasty    ..      ..      ..     Mermuadoe — 

1.  Gyges       ..  B.C.    724  to  686 

2.  Ardys       ..  ,,       686  to  637 

3.  Sadyattes  „       637  to  625 

4.  Alyattes  ..  ,,       625  to    568 

5    Croesus     ..  „       568  to    554 '^ 

4.  With  regard  to  the  first  period  of  Lydian  history,  anterior  to 


■*  The  length  of  Cyrus's  reign  is  variously  p.  497),  is  a  strong  argument  against  its 

stated  at  29,  30,  and  31   years.     I  regard  being  the  truth. 

the   authority    of  Herodotus    as    so    much  ^  See   his    Recherches,    Chronologic    des 

higher  than  that  of  the  writers  who  give  Rois  Lydiens,  pp.  307,  308. 

the  other  numbers — .Justin,  Dino  (ap.  Cio.  ^  The   Parian   marble,   in   the  only  date 

Div.  i.  23),  and  Eusebius  give  30,  Severus  bearing  on  the  point  which  is  legible,  that 

r.iid  the  ecclesiastical  writers  generally,  31  of  the  embassy  sent  from  Crcesus  to  Delphi 

years — that  I  feel  no  hesitation  in  preferring  (lines  56,  57),  very  nearly  agrees  with   this 

his  statement.     Apart,  however,   from  the  view.     The  embassy  is  placed  in  what  must 

mere  consideration  of  authority,  the  other  clearly  be  the  292nd  year  of  the  Marble, 

numbers  would  be  open  to  suspicion.    Bound  which  is  the  first  year  of  the  56th  Olym- 

numbers  are  always  suspicious ;  and  the  fact  piad,  or  B.C.  556.     The  scheme  adopted  in 

that  "  the  ecclesiastical  writers,"  who  were  the  text  would   place  the  first  embassy  to 

always  seeking  to  bolster  up  a  system,  are  Delphi  in  B.C.  557,  the  last  in  the  year  fol- 

the  sole  authority  for  the  3 1  years  (Syncellus,  lowino-. 


288  CHRONOLOGY  OF  LYDTA.  App.  Book  I. 

the  accession  of  the  dynasty  called  by  Herodotus  Ileraclidas,  it 
seems  rightl}^  termed  b}^  A'olney  and  Heeren/  "  uncertain  and 
fabulous."  The  royal  genealogies  of  the  At^^adas  (as  it  has  been 
usual  to  call  them),  be^yond  which  there  is  scarcely  anything  be- 
longing to  the  period  that  even  claims  to  be  history,  have  the 
appearance,  with  which  the  carl}^  Greek  legends  make  us  so  familiar, 
of  artificial  arrangements  of  the  heroes  eponpni  of  the  nation.  The 
Manes,  Atys,  Lydus,  Asies,  Tj^-rsenus  of  Herodotus  and  Dionysius, 
and  even  the  Torybus  (or  Torrhebus)  and  Adramytes  of  Xanthus 
Lydus,  stand  in  Lydian  history  where  Hellen,  Pelasgus,  Ion,  Dorus, 
Achseus,  yEolus,  stand  in  Greek.  Only  two  names  are  handed  down 
in  the  lists  of  this  period,  which  are  devoid  to  all  appearance  of  an 
ethnic  character,  the  names  of  Meles  and  Cotys.  Manes,  the  first 
king  after  Zeus,  according  to  the  complete  genealogy  preserved  in 
Dionysius,®  may  fairly  be  considered,  as  was  long  ago  observed  by 
Freret,  the  eponymus  of  the  Maeonians.^  A^a's  gives  his  name  to 
the  royal  race  of  Atyadae,  Lydus  to  the  Lydians,  Asies  to  the  con- 
tinent of  Asia,  Tyrrhenus  to  the  distant  Tyrrhenians,  Torrhebus, 
or  Torybus,  to  the  region  of  Lydia  called  Torrhebia,  or  Toi'ybia, 
Adramytes  to  the  town  of  Adramyttium.  And  the  complete  gene- 
alogy referred  to  above,  of  which  the  notices  in  LTerodotus  seem  to 
be  fragments,  is,  if  not  an  additional  proof  of  the  mythical  character 
of  these  personages,  yet  a  sufiicient  indication  of  the  feeling  of 
antiquity  with  respect  to  them.  Manes,  the  first  king,  the  son  of 
Zeus  and  Terra,  marries  Callirhoe,  a  daughter  of  Oceanus,  and 
becomes  thereby  the  father  of  Cotys.  Cotys,  removed  one  step 
further  from  divinity,  is  content  with  an  earthly  bride,  and  takes 


7  Heeren's  Manual  of  Ancient  Hist.,  Ap-  It  is  curious  that  Freret  should  positively 

pendix,  iii.  (p.  478,  Eng.  translation,  Tal-  assert  (Me'raoires  de  I'Acad.  des  Inscr.,  torn, 

boys).  V.  p.  307),  and  Grote  maintain  as  probable 

^  Antiq.   Rom.    i.   28.      This   genealogy  (vol.  iii.  p.  300,  note),  that  Dionysius  gives 

may  be  thus  exhibited  in  a  tabular  form  : —  the  complete  genealogy /rom  Xanthus.    Tliis 

Zeus  and  Terra. 
L_^_J 

Manes  ^Callirhoe,  daughter  of  Oceanus. 
L_^_J 

Cotys  =  Halie,  daughter  of  Tyllus. 
I , I 


Asies.  Atys  =  Callithea,  daughter  of  Chorfeus. 

I , I 


Lydus.  Tyrsenus. 

The  three  notices  in  Herodotus  (i.  7,  i.  94,  is  quite  impossible,  since  Dionysius  contrasts 

and  iv.  45)  harmonise  perfectly  with   this  the   opinion  of  Xanthus  with   that  of  the 

genealogy,   except   in   a   single    point.      In  persons    who    put   forward    this    mythical 

book  i.  ch.  94,  Atys  is  made  the  son  instead  genealogy,  in  which  moreover  the  name  of 

of  the  grandson  of  Manes.     This  may  be  an  Tyrsenus  occurs  (not  Torrhebus,  as  Grote 

inaccuracy  on    the  part   of  Herodotus,  or  says,  misquoting   Dionysius) ;    a    name   of 

possibly  he  would  have  drawn  out  the  tree  which    Xanthus,    according    to    the    same 

thus: —  writer,  made  no  mention  at  all. 

*■'  Me'moires  de  I'Academie  des    Inscrip- 

_  tions,  torn.  v.  p.  308.     Perhaps,  however, 

^tyg  Cotys.  ^^   's  rather    the  equivalent  of  ]\lenes   in 

I 1 I  Kgypt,    Menu    in    India,    Minos  in    Crete, 

Lydus.  Tyrsenus.  Asies.  Mannus  in  Germany,  &c,, — a  mere  first  man. 


Manes. 


Essay  I.  COLONISATION  OF  ETRURIA.  289 

to  wife  Halie,  daughter  of  Tyllus,  by  whom  he  has  two  sons,  Asies, 
who  gives  name  to  Asia,  and  Atys,  his  successor  upon  the  throne. 
Atys  marries  Callithea,  daughter  of  Chorasus,  and  is  father  of  Tyr- 
senus  and  Lydus. 

5.  The  few  facts  delivered  in  connexion  with  these  names  are, 
for  the  most  part,  as  mythical  as  the  personages  by  whom  they 
were  borne.  The  legend  which  has  handed  down  to  us  the  name 
of  Meles  '  is  perhaps  scarcely  less  entitled  to  rank  as  history  than 
the  tradition  which  ascribed  the  origin  of  the  great  Etruscan  nation 
to  a  colony  which  Tyrrhenus,  son  of  Atys,  led  into  Italy  from  the 
far-off  land  of  Lydia.  Xanthus,  the  native  historian,  it  must  never 
be  forgotten,  ignored  the  existence  of  Tyrrhenus,  and  protested 
against  the  tradition  (which  he  must  have  known)  not  merely,  as 
is  often  said,^  by  the  negative  testimony  of  silence,  but  by  filling 
up  the  place  of  Tyrrhenus  with  a  different  personage,  Torybus  or 
Torrhebus,  who,  instead  of  leading  a  colony  into  Etruria,  remained 
at  home  and  gave  his  name  to  a  district  of  his  native  land.^  The 
arguments  of  Dionysius,'*  deemed  worthy  of  the  valuable  praise  of 
Niebuhr,^  have  met  with  no  sufficient  answer  from  those  who,  not- 
withstanding, maintain  the  Lydian  origin  of  the  Etruscans.  It 
remains  certain,  both  that  the  Lydians  had  no  such  settled  tradition, 
and  that  even  if  they  had  had  any  such,  "  it  would  have  deserved 
no  credit  by  the  complete  difference  of  the  two  nations  in  language, 
usages,  and  religion."^  All  analysis  of  the  Etruscan  language  leads 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  in  its  non-Pelasgic  element  altogether 
sai  generis/  and  quite  unconnected,  so  far  as  appears,  with  any  of 


1  Herod,  i.  84.     I  regard  the  Meles  of  ^  Ibid.   ib.    p.    109.      It  has   been  said 

Herodotus,  whose  wife  gave  birth  to  a  lion,  (Creuzer,   in  Symb.)  that   Xanthus  might 

as  a  very  different  and  far   more    ancient  have  concealed  intentionally  what  was  dis- 

personage  than  the  Meles  of  Eusebius  who  creditable  to  his  countrymen ;  but  could  the 

reigned    shortly  before    Candaules.       Both  founding  of  so  great  a  nation  as  the  Etrus- 

kings  are  noticed  by  Nicolaus  Damascenus  can    be    viewed    in  that  light?      Xanthus 

(Frag.  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  iii.  p.  371  and  382).  must  have   known  the  story,  which  Hero- 

^  Larcher,  Histoire  d'Herodote,   note  on  dolus  received  from  cei'tain  Lydians  (^acrl  5e 

i.  94   (vol.  i.  p.  352) :    "  On   pourrait   re-  avrol  Av5o\,  i.  94),  and  understood   it,  as 

pondre  cependant  que  ce  n'est  qu'un  argu-  Herodotus  himself  undoubtedly  did,  to  assert 

ment  negatif,  qui  n'a  aucune  force  centre  the  Lydian  origin  of  the  existing  Etruscan 

un  fait  positivement  enonce  par  un  histo-  people.     It  seems  now  to  be  tolerably  certain 

rien  grave,"  &c.     Creuzer,  in  Symb.  ii.  p.  that  Niebuhr's  attempted  distinction  between 

828,   not.      Bahr's    Herod.  Excurs.   ii.   ad  the  words  Tyrrhenian  and  Etruscan  is  ety- 

Herod.  i.  94.  mologically  unsound  (Donaldson's  Varroni- 

^  Xanthus  ap.  Dionys.  Hal.     "Amos  5e  anus,  ch.  i.  §  11);    and  so  the  tradition, 

TToTSas  yev4(T6ai  Aeyet  Avdhu  Kol  TSpvfiov,  literally  taken,  could  mean  nothing  but  the 

rovTovs   Se    /xepKraixevovs    ttjj/    warpcvav  Lydian  origin  of  the  ^irwsa.     Against  this 

cipxV)  ^y  'Acrta  Kara^JL^^uai  dixcporcpovs,  I  understand  Xanthus  to  protest.     He  need 

KOI  ToTs  iQv^aiv  mu  ?ip^av,  eV  iKeivuv  (pT]a\  not    be  considered  as   pronouncing  against 

TeOrjuai  ras  oyof-iaaias,  xiyuiv  wSe*   air))  the    connexion,   spoken   of  below,    between 

AvZov  fikv  yivovrai  Ai;5ol,  d-rrh  Se  Topv^ov,  the  Pelasgi  whom  the  Etruscans  conquered, 

T6pv^oi.    Cf.  Steph.  By^.  in  voc.  T6pprj^o5.  and  the  Maeonians  whom  the  Lydians  drove 

Tjp^TjjSos  ir6\is  AuStay,  dnh  To^p-fj^ov  tov  out. 

"Atvos.  7  The  attempt  made  by  Mr.  Donaldson, 

*  Ant.   Rom.  lib.  i.  (vol.  i.  pp.  21-24,  in  his  Varronianus  (pp.  101-136),  to  con- 

Oxf.  Ed.)  nect  the  Etruscan  with  the  other  Italic  lan- 

^  History  of  Rome,   vol.    i.  pp.   38-39  guages,  is  not  generally  regarded  by  compa- 

(Engl.  translation,  edition  of  1831).  rative  philologers  as  successful. 

VOL.   I.  U 


290  STORY  OF  TORRHEBUS.  App.  Book  1. 

the  dialects  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Lj^dians,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
were  of  the  same  family  with  the  Carians,"  who  are  called  Leleges,^ 
must  have  spoken  a  language  closely  akin  to  the  Pelasgic  ;  and  the 
connexion  of  Lydia  with  Italy,  if  any,  must  have  been  through  the 
Pelasgic,  not  through  the  Italic  element  in  the  population. 

Indeed,  if  the  tradition  conceal  any  fact  (and  perhaps  there  never 
yet  was  a  wide-spread  tradition  that  did  not),  it  would  seem  to  be 
this,  that  a  kindred  population  was  spread  in  early  times  from  the 
shores  of  Asia  Minor  to  the  north-western  boundary  of  Italy.  No- 
thing is  more  unlikely  than  the  sudden  movement  of  a  large 
body  of  men,  in  times  so  remote  as  those  to  which  the  tradition 
refers,  from  Lydia  to  the  Etruscan  coast.  Nothing,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  more  probable,  or  more  agreeable  to  the  general  tenor  of 
ancient  history,^  than  the  gradual  passage  of  a  kindred  people,  or 
kindred  tribes,  from  Asia  Minor  to  western  Europe, 

It  may  also  well  be,  as  Niebuhr  thinks,^  that  there  is  another 
entirely  distinct  misconception  in  the  story,  as  commonly  narrated. 
The  connexion  of  race,  which  the  original  mythus  was  intended  to 
point  out,  may  have  been  a  connexion  between  the  ancient  Pelasgic 
population  of  Italy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Mceonians,  not  the 
Lydians,  on  the  other.  The  Lydians  may  have  been,  probably 
were,  a  distinct  race  from  the  Meeonians,  whom  they  conquered ; 
and  the  mythus  ma}^  represent  the  flight  of  the  Maeonians  westward 
on  the  occupation  of  their  country  by  the  Lydians.  But  then  it 
should  be  remembered  that  Tyrrhehus  and  Lydus  are  own  brothers, 
both  sons  of  Atys  and  Callithea ;  that  is,  the  two  tribes,  though 
distinct,  are  closely  allied,  perhaps  as  near  to  each  other  as  the 
Greek  tribes  of  Dorians  and  lonians,  to  which  Xanthus,  in  his 
version  of  the  story,  compared  them.^  For  we  must  not  think  that 
there  is  any  more  of  exact  historic  truth  in  the  tale  of  Xanthus  than 
in  that  of  Herodotus.  Xanthus,  too,  must  be  expounded  mythi- 
cally. He  is  to  be  regarded  as  telling  another  portion  of  the  truth, 
omitted  from  the  Herodotean  mythus,  namely,  that  at  the  time 
when  one  part  of  the  Maeonians  moved  westward,  another  part  re- 
mained in  Asia,  and,  under  the  name  of  Torrhebi,  continued  to 
inhabit  a  district  of  their  ancient  country,  as  subjects  of  their 
Lydian  conquerors.  Here,  too,  Lydus  and  Torrhebus  are  brothers. 
This  misconception,  therefore,  if  such  it  be,  would  ethnically  be  of 
very  little  moment. 

6.  One  or  two  facts  seem  at  length  to  loom  forth  from  the  mist 
and  darkness  of  these  remote  ages ;  and  these  facts  appear  to  com- 


^  Lydus  was  a  brother  of  Car  (Herod,  habitants  of  Italy  and  their  Etruscan  con- 

i.  171).  querors.      I    regard  all    the  tribes   of  the 

^  "Kapes — rh  TvaXaihv    iSures    Mivco   re  West   coast  of  Asia  Minor  as  akin  to  the 

KaTr}Kooi  Koi  KaKco/xevoi  A4\eyes. — Herod.  Pelasgi.     See  the  chapter  on  the  Pelasgi,  in 

ib.  Cf.  Strabo,  vii.  p.  495.  the  Appendix  to  Book  vi.,  Essay  ii.  §  2. 

1  See  the  Appendix  to  this  Book,  Essay  xi.  ^  Xanthus   in  Dionys.   Hal.  tovtwv  (so. 

§  12.  AuSoJj/   Kul    Topvfiwv)    71    yAcoaaa   oXiyov 

^  Histoiy  of  Rome,  vol.  i.  p.  108.     Nie-  irapa(pepei,  koI  vvv  eTi  (TvKoixriv  dXKr\\ovs 

buhr  seems  to   consider  that  the  Lydians  prifxaTa    ovk    oXiya,    &aTr€p    ''iwves    koi 

aud   the    Majonians  were  races    as    uncon-  Awpiels. 
iiected  and  opposed,  as  the  old  Pelasgic  in- 


Essay  I.  SECOND  DYNASTY  OF  ITERACLID^.  291 

prise  the  whole  that  can  be  said  to  be  historic  in  the  traditions  of 
the  first  dynasty.  First,  the  country  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Lydia, 
was  anciently  occupied  by  a  race  distinct,  and  yet  not  wholly  alien 
from  the  Lydian,  who  were  called  Meeonians.^  This  people  was 
conquered  by  the  Lydians,  and  either  fled  westward  across  the  sea, 
or  submitted  to  the  conquerors  ;  or  possibly,  in  part  submitted,  and 
in  part  fled  the  country.  Secondly,  from  the  date  of  this  conquest, 
or  at  any  rate,  from  very  early  times,  Lydia  was  divided  into  two 
districts,  Lydia  Proper  and  Torrhebia,  in  which  two  distinct 
dialects  were  spoken,  differing  from  each  other  as  much  as  Doric 
from  Ionic  Greek,  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  Torrhebians  were 
a  remnant  of  the  more  ancient  people,  standing  in  the  same  relation 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Lydia  Proper  as  the  Welsh  to  the  English,  or, 
still  more  exactly,  as  the  Norwegians  to  the  Swedes. 

7.  In  entering  on  Herodotus's  second  period,  with  respect  to 
which  he  seems  to  have  believed  that  he  possessed  accurate  chro- 
nological data,  it  must  be  at  once  confessed  that  we  do  not  find 
ourselves  much  nearer  the  domain  of  authentic  history.  The  gene- 
alogy, of  Agron,  first  king  of  the  second  dynasty,  is  scarcely  less 
mythic  than  that  of  Lydus  himself.  Hercules,  Alcseus,  Belus, 
Ninus — the  four  immediate  ancestors  of  Agron — form  an  aggregate 
of  names  more  contradictory,  if  less  decidedly  mythological,  than 
the  list  in  which  figure  Zeus  and  Terra,  Callirhoe,  the  daughter  of 
Ocean,  and  Asies,  who  gave  name  to  the  Asiatic  continent.  While 
Hercules,  with  his  son  Alcaeus,  and  the  name  Heraclidas,  applied 
by  Herodotus  to  the  dynasty,  take  our  thoughts  to  Greece,  and 
indicate  a  Greek  or  Pelasgic  origin  to  this  line  of  monarchs,  Belus, 
the  Babylonian  God-king,  and  Ninus,  the  reputed  founder  of 
Nineveh,^  summon  us  away  to  the  far  regions  of  Mesopotamia,  and 
suggest  an  Assyrian  conquest  of  the  country,  or  possibly  a  Semitic 
origin  to  the  Lydian  people.  Among  the  wide  range  of  fabulous 
descents  with  which  ancient  authors  have  delighted  to  fill  their 
pages,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  transition  so  abrupt  and  start- 
ling as  that  from  Alcaeus,  son  of  Hercules,  to  Belus,  father  of  Ninus.® 
It  seems  necessary  absolutely  to  reject  one  portion  of  the  genealogy 
or  the  other,  not  only  as  untrue,  but  as  unmeaning ;  for  the  elements 
refuse  to  amalgamate.  Accordingly  we  find  that  writers,  who,  as 
Larcher,^  accept  without  hesitation  the  descent  from  Hercules,  pass 
by  the  names  of  Ninus  and  Belus,  as  though  there  were  nothing 
remarkable  in  them :  while  those  who  are  struck,  like  Niebuhr,^ 


^  The  fact,  so  often  noted,  that  Homer  by   the   Greeks   as   the    first  monarch    of 

makes   no  mention   of  Lydia  or    Lydians,  Assyria. 

while  he  names  Mjeonians   in   conjunction         ^  It  does  not  greatly  elucidate  this  mys- 

with    Carians    (Iliad,    ii.    864-867)    is    a  terious  connexion  to  learn,  on  the  authority 

strong  confirmation  of  the  assertion  of  He-  of  Julius  Pollux,  that  "  Ninus,  son  of  Belus, 

rodotus.  gave  his  own  son  the  name  of  Agron,  be- 

^  It   is    true    that    Herodotus    nowhere  cause    he  was  born    in  the    country"    (eV 

makes  expi-ess  mention  of  Ninus  as  founder  aypc^). — Larcher  on  Herod,  i.  7,  note  21. 
of  Nineveh,  but  we  can  scarcely  be  mistaken         7  Histoire  d'Hdrodote,  vol.   i.,  notes  on 

in  considering  that  this  name,  occun-ing  as  Book  i.  ch.  vii. 
it  does  in  connexion  with  that  of  Belus,  in-         8  Kleine  Schriften,  p.  371. 
dicates  that  personage,  so  generally  regarded 

u  2 


292         GENEALOGY  OF  THE  HERACLIDE  KINGS.       App.  Book  I. 

with  the  importance  of  such  names  in  such  a  position,  and  from  the 
fact  of  their  occurrence  conclude  the  dynasty  to  be  Assyrian,  are 
obliged  to  set  aside,  as  insignificant,  the  descent  from  Alcasus  and 
Hercules.  This  portion  of  the  genealogy  can  certainly  in  no  case 
be  regarded  as  historical,  and  at  most  cannot  mean  more  than  that 
the  dynasty  was  Pelasgic,  or  in  other  words  native  ;  but  the  other 
part  might  possibly  be  very  simple  history,  and  if  so,  it  would  be 
history  of  the  most  important  character.  It  might  indicate  the 
very  simple  fact  which  Yolney  has  drawn  from  it,  that  Ninus,  the 
founder  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  conquered  Lydia,  and  placed  his 
son  Agron  upon  the  throne.^  And  this  would  derive  confirmation 
from  the  celebrated  passage  of  Ctesias,  where  Lydia  is  included 
among  the  conquests  of  the  great  Assyrian.^  But  on  the  whole  the 
balance  of  the  evidence  seems  to  be  against  any  Assyrian  conquest, 
or  indeed  any  early  connexion  of  Assyria  with  Lj^dia.  Herodotus 
expressly  limits  the  empire  of  the  Ass^aians  to  Asia  above  (i.  e. 
to  the  east  of)  the  Halys  f  and  no  trustworthy  author  extends  their 
dominion  beyond  it.  Ctesias  is  a  writer  whose  authority  is  always 
of  the  weakest,  and  in  the  passage  referred  to  he  outdoes  himself 
in  boldness  of  invention.*  Again  :  there  is  nothing  Semitic,  either 
in  the  names  or  in  the  government  of  the  kings  of  this  djmasty,  nor 
indeed  are  any  traces  to  be  found  of  Semitic  conquest  or  colonisa- 
tion in  this  region.*  Further,  the  cuneiform  inscriptions,  so  far  as 
they  have  been  hitherto  decyphered,  are  silent  as  to  any  expeditions 
of  the  Assyrians  beyond  the  Halys,  entirely  agreeing  with  Hero- 
dotus in  representing  their  influence  in  this  quarter  as  confined  to  the 
nations  immediately  bordering  upon  Armenia.^  Moreover,  the 
narrative  of  Herodotus  is  inconsistent  with  the  notion  founded  upon 
it,  that  Ninus  conquered  Lydia  and  placed  his  son  Agron  upon  the 
throne.  For  Herodotus  represents  the  Heraclidae  as  previously 
subjects  of  the  Atyadse,  put  by  them  in  offices  of  trust,  and  so 
seizing  the  supreme  power,  like  the  Mayors  of  the  Palace  under 
the  Merovingian  line  of  French  kings.  And  they  finally  obtain  the 
kingdom,  not  by  conquest,  but  by  an  oracle.^  Herodotus  may  pos- 
sibly have  conceived  of  Belus  and  Ninus  as  going  forth  from  Lydia 
in  the  might  of  their  divine  descent  to  the  conquest  of  Mesopotamia, 
but  he  certainly  did  not  conceive  of  Ninus  as  coming  from  Mesopo- 
tamia to  the  conquest  of  Lydia,  and  establishing  his  son  Agron 
there  as  king  in  his  room.  On  the  whole,  it  must  be  concluded 
that  the  remarkable  genealogy — Hercules,  Alcaeus,  Belus,  Ninus, 
Agron — contains  no  atom  of  truth  or  meaning,  and  was  the  clumsy 
invention  of  a  Lydian,  bent  on  glorifying  the  ancient  kings  of  his 


^  Recherches,  &c.,  Chronologie  d'Hero-  chapter  "  On  the  Ethnic  Affinities  of  the 

dote,  vol.  i.  p.  419.  Nations  of  Western  Asia,"  §  6  and  §  12. 

1  In  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  2.       2  gook  i.  ch,  95.  ^  See  the  Commentary  on  the  Cuneifomi 

3  Ctesias  includes  among  the  conquests  of  Inscriptions  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  by 

Ninus,  besides    Lydia,  the  whole    of  Asia  Col.  Hawlinson,  published  in  1851. 

Minor,    Armenia,   Media,    Susiana,    Persia,  "  Herod,  i.  7.     Trapa  rovrwv  Se  'Hpo- 

Babylonia,  Coelesyria,  Phoenicia,  Egypt,  and  K\^7hai  iTriTpa(p64vT€s   eax^^  '^^^  °-pxh^' 

Bactria!  4k  deoirpoiriov.     Compare  ch.  13. 

^  This  point  is  discussed  below,  in  the 


Essay  I.  LYDIACA  OF  XANTHUS.  293 

country,  by  claiming  for  them  a  connexion  with  the  mightiest  of 
the  heroes  both  of  Asia  and  of  Greece. 

8.  The  meagre  accoimt  which  Herodotus  proceeds  to  give  of  his 
second  Lydian  dynasty  presents  but  few  opportunities  for  remark 
or  criticism.  Agron,  according  to  him,  was  followed  by  a  series  of 
twenty-one  kings,  each  the  son  of  his  predecessor,  whose  names, 
except  the  last  two,  he  omits  to  mention,  and  whose  united  reigns 
made  up  a  period  of  five  hundred  and  five  years.  On  what  data 
this  calculation  was  based  it  is  impossible  to  say.  The  manifest 
inconsistency  of  the  years  with  the  generations  has  been  observed 
by  many  writers ; ''  and  Larcher,  in  his  translation,  went>o  far  as 
to  change  the  number  of  generations  from  twenty-two  to  fifteen ; 
but  it  seems  better  to  leave  the  discrepancy,  one  proof  among  many 
of  the  extreme  uncertainty  of  this  early  history.  Of  Myrsus,^  the 
last  king  but  one,  and  Candaules,  the  last  king  of  this  dynasty, 
whom  the  Greeks  called  Myrsilus,^  Herodotus  relates  nothing 
except  the  tale  concerning  the  destruction  of  the  latter,  for  which 
he  appears  to  have  been  indebted  to  the  Parian  poet  Archilochus.* 

9.  It  is  probable  that  the  Lydiaca  of  Xanthus,  had  they  escaped 
the  ravages  of  time,  would  have  in  a  great  measure  filled  up  the 
blanks  left  by  Herodotus,  in  this,  if  not  even  in  the  preceding 
period.  But  it  may  be  questioned  whether  history  would  have 
been  greatly  the  gainer,  if  we  may  take  the  fragments  of  Xanthus 
which  remain  as  fair  samples  of  the  general  tenor  of  his  narrative. 
Xanthus  told  of  a  King  Gambles,  Cambes,  or  Camblitas,  of  so 
ravenous  an  appetite,  that  one  night,  when  he  was  asleep,  he  ate 
his  wife,  and  in  the  morning  found  nothing  left  of  her  but  her  hand, 
which  remained  in  his  mouth.  Horrified  at  his  own  act,  he  drew 
his  sword  and  slew  himself.'^  Xanthus  told  also  of  another  king, 
Aciamus,  who  by  his  general  Ascalus,  made  war  in  Syria,  and 
founded  Ascalon  !  ^  If  such  were  the  staple  of  his  history,  we  need 
not  greatly  regret  its  loss."* 


7  Larcher  (note  25  on  Herod,  book  i,),  the  ^  of  the  Latin  j^/ras  was  not  altogether  un- 

Dahlmann  (Herod,  p.  99),  Vohiey  (SuppL  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  the   western 

d  THe'rod.  de  Larcher),  Bahr  (Herod.  voL  i.  Asiatic  coast.              ^  Herod,  i.  12,  end. 

p.  23).  ^  This  passage  is  preserved  by  Athenaeus 

^  It  has  not  always  been  observed  that  (x.  8,  p.  17). 
Myrsus  must,  by  the  narrative  of  Herodotus,  ^  Xanth.  ap.  Steph.  Byz.  in  voc.  ^AffKoi- 
have  been  king.  Eusebius  places  Meles  im-  Xuv.  Ascalon,  be  it  remembered,  was  an 
mediately  before  Candaules  (Chron.  Canon,  important  town  at  the  coming  of  the  Israel- 
part  ii.  01.  13,  2).  Mr.  Grote  appears  to  re-  ites  into  the  Holy  Land  (Judg.  i.  18).  That 
gard  Myrsus  as  a  Greek,  not  a  Lydian,  ap-  a  Lydian  army  ever  proceeded  eastward  of 
pellative,  when  he  thus  expresses  himself: —  the  Halys  before  the  time  of  Croesus  is  in 
"The  twenty-second  prince  of  this  family  the  highest  degree  improbable.  Ascalon 
was  Candaules,  called  by  the  Greeks  Myr-  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  ancient 
nlus,  the  son  of  Myrsus.''  (Hist,  of  Greece,  cities  of  the  Philistines.  It  may  be  to  the 
vol.  iii.  p.  296).  Herodotus  says  twice  account  given  by  Xanthus  of  this  distant 
over,  "  Candaules  was  the  son  of  Myrsus;"  expedition  that  we  owe  the  narrative  in 
and  adds,  "  by  the  Greeks  he  was  called  Athenseus  (viii.  37,  p.  277)  of  the  drowning 
Myrsilus."  of  Atergatis  or  Derceto,  the  Syrian  Venus, 

^  A  curious  patronymic,  but  analogous  in  a  lake  near  Ascalon  by  Mopsus,  a  Lydian. 

in  a  great   measure   to   the    Latin    forms,  *  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  in  one  of  his  re- 

Servius,  Servilius;  Manius,  ManiHus;  Quinc-  cently   discovered    fragments    (Frag.    Hist, 

tins,  Quinctilius,  &c.,  seeming  to  show  that  Gr.,  vol.  iii.  pp.  380-6),  professes  to  give 


294 


LEGEND  OF  CANDAULES. 


App.  Book  I. 


10.  One  conclusion  may  be  drawn  alike  from  the  silence  of  the 
foreign,  and  the  fictions  of  the  native  historian— that  the  Lydians 
of  the  fifth  century  b.c.  possessed  no  authentic  information  concern- 
ing their  ancestors  further  back  than  the  time  of  Gyges,  the  first 
king  of  the  race  called  Mermnadse.  From  this  we  may  derive,  as  a 
corollary,  the  further  consequence  of  the  insignificance  of  Lydia  in 
times  anterior  to  his  date.  Previously  to  the  accession  of  the  last 
djTiasty,  Lydia  was,  it  is  probable,  but  one  out  of  the  many  petty 
states  or  kingdoms  into  which  Lower  Asia  was  parcelled  out,  and 
was  far  from  being  the  most  important  of  the  number.  Lycia,  which 
gave  kings  to  the  Greek  colonies  upon  the  coast,*  and  maintained 
its  independence  even  against  Croesus,®  must  have  been  at  least  as 
powerful,  and  the  reall}^  predominant  state  was  the  central  kingdom 
of  the  Phrygians,  who  exercised  a  greater  influence  over  the  Greeks 
of  the  coast  than  any  other  of  the  Asiatic  peoples  with  whom  they 
came  in  contact,^  and  whose  kings  were  the  first  of  all  foreigners 
to  send  offerings  to  the  oracle  at  DeljDhi.^  Lydia,  until  the  time 
of  Gyges,  was  a  petty  state  which  made  no  conquests,  and  exercised 
but  little  influence  beyond  its  borders. 

11.  Concerning  the  destruction  of  Candaules,  the  last  king  of  the 
second  dynasty,  and  the  accession  of  Gyges,  the  first  king  of  the 
third,  several  very  difi'erent  legends  appear  to  have  been  current. 
One  is  found  related  at  length  in  Herodotus,  another  in  Nicolas  of 
Damascus,  a  third  in  Plato.^     In  all,  amid  the  greatest  diversity  of 


something  like  a  complete  account  of  the 
later  kings  of  the  second  dynasty.  He 
traces  the  line  of  descent  through  five 
monarchs  to  the  king  slain  by  Gyges, 
whom,  instead  of  Candaules,  he  calls  Sady- 
attes.  These  five  monarchs  are  Adyattes, 
Ardys,  Arlyattes  II.,  Meles,  and  Myrsus. 
In  the  Older,  and  in  the  names  of  four  of 
these,  Adyattes,  Ardys,  Adyattes  II.,  and 
Meles,  he  nearly  agrees  with  Eusebius,  v/ho 
gives  "  Ardysus  Alyattee,  annis  36 ;  Aly- 
attes,  annis  14;  Meles,  annis  12"  (Chron. 
Can.  part  i.  c.  xv.),  as  the  immediate  pre- 
decessors of  Candaules.  In  the  fifth  name 
he  agrees  with  Herodotus,  from  whom  Euse- 
bius differs,  since  he  entirely  omits  Myrsus. 
These  coincidences  seem  to  entitle  the  list  to 
some  consideration.  It  may  possibly  have 
come  from  Xanthus,  or  from  Dionysius  of 
Mytilene,  who  wrote  histories  in  Xanthus's 
name  (Athen.  xii.  xi.,  p.  415).  The  follow- 
ing is  the  genealogical  tree  according  to  this 
authority ; — 

Adyattes. 


Cadys. 


1 

Ardys. 

Adyattes  II. 

I 
Meles. 

I 
Myrsus. 

I 
Sadyattes  =  Candaules 


Only  a  very  few  facts  are  narrated  of 
these  kings  in  the  fragment.  It  is  chiefly 
occupied  with  an  account  of  the  feud  be- 
tween the  Heraclidse  and  the  Mermnadse, 
which  will  be  spoken  of  hereafter,  and  with 
a  long  story  concerning  Ardys,  how  he  lost 
his  crown  and  recovered  it,  and  reigned  70 
years,  and  was  the  best  of  all  the  Lydian 
kings  next  to  Alcimius. 

^  Herod,  i.  147.  ^  j^id.  c.  28. 

'  See,  for  proofs  of  this,  Grote's  History 
of  Greece,  part  ii.  ch.  xvi.  (vol.  iii.  pp. 
284-291). 

8  Herod,  i.  14. 

9  Repub.  ii.  §  3.  Mr.  Grote  well  sums 
up  this  legend : — According  to  the  legend  in 
Plato,  Gyges  is  a  mere  herdsman  of  the  king 
of  Lydia:  after  a  terrible  storm  and  earth- 
quake, he  sees  near  him  a  chasm  in  the  earth, 
into  which  he  descends  and  finds  a  vast  horse 
of  brass,  hollow  and  partly  open,  wherein 
there  lies  a  gigantic  corpse  with  a  golden 
ring.  This  ring  he  carries  away,  and  dis- 
covers unexpectedly  that  it  possesses  the 
miraculous  property  of  rendering  him  in- 
visible at  pleasure.  Being  sent  on  a  message 
to*  the  king,  he  makes  the  magic  ring  avail- 
able to  his  ambition :  he  first  possesses  him- 
self of  the  pei-son  of  the  queen,  then  with 
her  aid  assassinates  the  king,  and  finally 
seizes  the  sceptre." — History  of  Greece,  vol.. 
iii.  p.  298. 


Essay  I. 


THIRD  DYNASTY  OF  MERMNAD^. 


295 


circumstantials,  what  may  be  called  the  historic  outline  is  the  same. 
Gyges,  a  subject  of  the  Lydian  king,  conspires  against  him,  destroys 
him  in  his  palace,  obtains  the  throne,  and  becomes  the  husband  of 
the  queen, ^  These  data  seem  to  have  furnished  materials  to  the 
Greek  poets  of  the  existing  or  following  times,  which  they  worked 
up  into  romances,  embellishing  them  according  to  their  fancy. 

The  change  of  dynasty  was  not  effected  without  a  struggle.  The 
Heraclidfe  had  their  partisans,  who  took  arms  against  the  usurper, 
and  showed  themselves  ready  to  maintain  in  the  field  the  cause  of 
their  legitimate  sovereigns.  Gyges  was  unwilling  to  trust  the 
event  to  the  chance  of  a  battle,  and  had  address  enough  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  malcontents  to  a  reference,  which,  while  it  would 
prevent  any  effusion  of  blood,  was  unlikely  to  injure  his  pretensions.^ 
The  Delphic  oracle,  now  for  the  first  time  heard  of  in  Lydian  history, 
but  already  for  some  years  an  object  of  veneration  to  the  purely 
Asiatic  population  of  the  peninsula,^  was  chosen  to  be  the  arbiter 
of  the  dispute,  and  gave  the  verdict  which  had,  no  doubt,  been  con- 
fidently anticipated  by  the  de  facto  king,  when  he  consented  to  the 
reference — in  favour  of  the  party  in  possession.  The  price  of  the 
reply  was,  perhaps,  not  settled  beforehand,  but  at  any  rate  it  was 
paid  ungrudgingly.     Goblets  of  gold,  and  various  rich  offerings  in 


1  The  legends  of  Plato  and  Herodotus 
agree  yet  further,  that  it  was  with  the  con- 
nivance of  the  queen,  and  by  her  favour, 
that  the  assassination  took  place.  Nicolas, 
however,  represents  the  queen  as  indignant 
at  the  advances  of  Oyges,  and  as  complain- 
ing to  her  husband  of  his  insolence.  In 
other  respects  the  narrative  of  Nicolas  is 
more  consistent  than  Plato's  with  Hero- 
dotus. Gyges  is  one  of  the  king's  body- 
guard, and  a  special  favourite.  The  pecu- 
liar feature  of  the  tale  in  Nicolas  is,  that  it 
exhibits  the  retributive  principle  as  per- 
vading the  whole  history,  and  accounts,  as 
it  were,  for  the  curious  declaration  of  the 
oracle,  "  Vengeance  shall  come  for  the  Hera- 
clides  in  the  person  of  the  fifth  descendant 
from  Gyges."  The  Mermnadse,  we  are  told, 
were  a  family  of  distinction  in  the  days  of 
Ardys,  son  of  Adyattes.  Dascylus,  son  of 
Gyges,  was  then  chief  favourite  of  the  reign- 
ing king.  Jealous  of  his  influence,  and  fear- 
ing for  the  succession,  Adyattes,  son  of 
Ardys,  secretly  contrived  the  assassination 
of  Dascylus.  Ardys,  ignorant  who  was  the 
murderer,  laid  heavy  cuises  on  him,  who- 
ever he  might  be,  before  the  public  assembly 
of  the  nation.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
feud.  For  this  crime,  committed  in  the 
reign  of  Ardys,  and  unpunished  at  the  time, 
vengeance  came  in  the  person  of  his  fifth 
descendant.  During  the  reigns  of  Ady- 
attes H.,  Meles,  and  Myrsus,  the  feud  con- 
tinued, the  descendants  of  Dascylus  living  in 
exile.     A  vain  attempt  was  made  by  Meles 


to  e^cpiate  the  sin,  but  it  was  not  accepted 
by  the  injured  party.  Meles  went  for  three 
years  into  voluntary  banishment,  and  Das- 
cylus, the  son  of  the  murdered  man,  was 
invited  to  return,  but  he  refused.  At 
length,  in  the  fifth  generation  (Ardys,  Ady- 
attes, Meles,  Myrsus,  Sadyattes),  the  ven- 
geance came.  Gyges,  about  to  be  put  to 
death  on  account  of  the  insult  which  he  had 
offered  to  the  virgin  queen,  whom  he  had 
been  sent  to  conduct  from  the  court  of  her 
father,  Arnossus,  king  of  Mysia,  recals  the 
memoiy  of  his  ancestral  wrongs,  and  the 
curses  of  Ardys  on  his  own  race,  collects  a 
band  of  followers,  enters  the  palace,  and 
slays  the  monarch  in  his  bridal-chamber. 
Then,  when  the  reference  is  made  to  the 
oracle,  the  announcement  falls  with  pecu- 
liar fitness:  "  Vengeance  shall  come  for  the 
Heraclides  in  the  person  of  the  fifth  de- 
scendant." 

2  Mr,  Grote  says,  "  A  civil  war  ensued, 
which  both  parties  at  length  consented  to 
terminate  by  reference  to  the  Delphian 
oracle."  But  Herodotus  implies  that  there 
was  no  actual  war,  the  convention  being 
made  befoie  the  two  parties  came  to  blows, 
((ws  ol  Au5oi  deiudu  eirotevvTO  rd  KupSav- 
Afco  Trddos,  Kul  ij/  '6ir\o iff  i  ^crav,  rrvue- 
firjaav  oi  re  rov  Vvy^oo  crracnwTai  Kal  ol 
XoiTTol  AuSot,  i.  13.)  That  the  oracle  was 
open  to  pecuniary  influence  is  evidenced  by 
Herodotus  himself  (v.  63,  vi.  66). 

3  Herod,  i.  14. 


296  KEIGN  OF  GYGES.  App.  Book  I. 

the  same  precious  metal,  besides  silver  ornaments,  sucli  as  no  other 
individual  had  presented  to  the  days  of  Herodotus/  attested  the 
gratitude,  or  the  honesty,  of  the  successful  adventurer. 

12.  The  reign  of  Gyges  is  despatched  by  Herodotus  in  a  single 
sentence,  valuable  alike  for  what  it  contains  and  for  what  it  ex- 
cludes. We  learn  from  it  the  important  fact  that  this  king  engaged 
in  war  with  the  Greeks  of  the  coast,  who  had  hitherto,  so  far  as  we 
can  gather  from  the  scanty  notices  which  remain  to  us,  preserved 
friendly  relations  with  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  country  on 
which  they  had  planted  their  settlements,^  Like  the  Phoenicians  in 
Spain  and  Africa,  and  our  own  countrymen  for  some  considerable 
space  of  time  in  India  and  America,  the  early  Greek  settlers  in 
Asia,  engaged  in  commerce  for  the  most  part,  appear  to  have  been 
received  with  favour  by  the  natives,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  to 
have  maintained  with  them  unbroken  amity.^  Gyges  was  the  first 
to  introduce  a  new  policy.  Jealous  of  the  increasing  power  of  the 
foreigners,  who  had  occupied  the  whole  line  of  coast,  or  simply 
ambitious  of  extending  his  dominion,  he  commenced  hostilities 
against  the  lonians,  ravaged  the  lands,  and  probably  laid  siege  to 
the  cities  of  Smyrna  and  Miletus,  and  even  succeeded  in  capturing 
the  town  of  Colophon.^  This,  however,  as  Herodotus  tells  us  in 
the  same  passage,  was  the  utmost  extent  of  his  achievements.^  He 
did  not,  we  may  be  sure,  for  the  love  of  Magnes,  attack  either  Mag- 
nesia, much  less  effect  the  capture  of  a  second  Grecian  city,  or  we 
should  never  have  been  told  by  Herodotus  that,  "  besides  taking 
Colophon,  and  making  an  inroad  on  Miletus  and  Smyrna,  he  did  not 
perform  a  single  noble  exploit."  ®     Neither  is  it  possible  that  he 


^  i.  14.     Vv'yr]s  Tvpavvevffas  ctTreTre/iv^e  of  the  Greeks  to  intermix  with  the  Asiatic 

apa07}fMaTa  es  AeXcpovs   ovk  oX'iya'    dXA.'  tribes. 

ocra  fiev  apyvpov  ayadrj/xaTa  iari  oi  tt  A  e  7-  ''I  agree  with  Bahr  on  the  sense  of  He- 

cra  eV  AeAc/joTtrr  7rape|  h'k  tov  apyvpov,  rodotus   in   the  passage   etrejSaAe    ixkv   vvv 

Xpv  (fh  V    ^TrAero  v — Kol    KpT]Tr\pes    oi  (rTparirju  es  t6  MiXtjtov  kuI  is  'S.ixvpu7]v, 

apidfjibv  e^  XP^'^^^''  avuKearai.  kuI  KoXo(pcopos  rd  6.aTv  elAe  (i.  14,  end). 

5  The  Greeks  took  Lycian  kings  (Herod,  i.  The  contrast   is  between  the  territories  of 

147).     The  Lycians  are  said  to  have  taken  Smyrna  and  Miletus,  and  the  town  itself  of 

even  their  name  from  a  Greek  (ibid.  173).  Colophon.      In   the    construction    iae^aXe 

In  most  of  the  Greek  towns  the  population  (npaririv  is  M/Atjtoj/,  the  word  Mi\7]Toi/ 

seems   to  have  been  mixed,   partly  Greek,  can   only  stand  for   MiKr^airiv.     Mr.  Grote 

partly  Asiatic.     The  best-evidenced  case  is  seems  to  prefer  the  moi'e  usual  explanation, 

that  of  Teos  (Pausan.  Vil.  iii.  §  3  ;  Boeckh's  that   aarv  is  the  town,  7ninns  the    citadel 

Corp.  Ins.,  No.  3064).  (Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  300). 

^  Of  course  the  colonies  were   not   ori-  ^  Herod,  i.  14.     ciAA'  ouSei/  fieya  %pyou 

ginally  established  without  bloodshed.     (See  ott'  ovtov  &X\o  iyevero,  fia(Ti\^v(ravros, 

Herod,  i.  146 ;  Mimnerm.  ap.  Strabon,  xiv.  /c.t.A. 

p.  634,  where  the  violence  employed  at  the  ^  Mr.  Grote  (Hist,  of  Greece,    vol.    iii. 

founding  of  Miletus  and  Colophon  is    no-  p.   300)  accepts  as   something   more    than 

ticed.")     But  instances  of  their  being  attacked  myth  the  tale  found  in  Nicolas  of  Damascus, 

afterwards  by  the  natives  are   exceedingly  of  the  beautiful  youth,  Magnes,  whom  Gyges 

rare.       The    attack  of    the    Carians    upon  loved,  and  who  turned  the  heads  of  all  the 

Priene,  in  which   Androclus  was  slain,    is  women   wherever  he  went ;  whom  at   last 

perhaps  the  only  recorded  exception.     This  the  men   of  Magnesia  resolved  to  disgrace, 

must  be  accounted  for,  partly  by  the  sense  and  reduce  to  the  level  of  common  humanity, 

which   the  natives  entertained  of   the   ad-  by  disfiguring  his  countenance,  and  depriving 

vantages  they  derived  from  the  commeice  him   of  his   flowing  locks:    in   revenge   for 

of  the  Greek  towns,  partly  by  the  readiness  which  outrage  on  his  favourite,  the  lover 


Essay  I. 


ACCESSION  OF  AEDYS. 


297 


could  have  possessed  himself  of  the  whole  Troad,  as  Strabo  affirms,' 
or  exercised  such  influence  over  the  Milesians,  as  to  have  a  voice 
in  the  establishment  of  their  colonies.  After  ages  delighted  to 
magnify  the  infancy  of  a  dynasty,  which  attained  in  the  end  a 
degree  of  power  and  prosperity  far  beyond  aught  that  had  been 
seen  before  within  the  limits,  or  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lower 
Asia,  and  loved  to  throw  back  to  the  hero-founder  of  the  race  the 
actions  and  the  character  of  the  most  illustrious  among  his  de- 
scendants.^ 

13.  Of  Ardys,  the  son  and  successor  of  Gyges,  who  reigned, 
according  to  Herodotus,  within  a  year  of  half  a  century,^  the  two 
facts  which  alone  are  recorded,  are  important,  as  showing  that  he 
inherited  fi-om  his  father  that  line  of  aggressive  policy  which  became 
the  settled  system  of  the  Mermnad  princes,  and  which  was  parti- 
cularly directed  against  the  Greek  cities  of  the  coast.  He  renewed 
the  attack  upon  Miletus,  and  took  the  town  of  Priene.'^     Probably 


made  war  upon  the  offending  city,  and  per- 
severed until  he  took  the  place  (Nic,  Daraasc. 
p.  52  Orell.).  But  the  expression  of  Hero- 
dotus, quoted  above,  seems  to  be  conclusive 
against  the  authenticity  of  this  histoiy. 
Were  it  otherwise,  the  authority  of  Nicolaus 
Damascenus,  unsupported  by  any  corrobo- 
rating testimony,  is  quite  insufficient  to  en- 
title a  narrative  to  belief.  It  is  true  that 
he  was  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
Xanthus,  and  sometimes  follows  them  with- 
out mentioning  his  authority,  as  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  voracity  and  death  of  Gambles  ; 
but  it  is  also  evident  that  in  many  cases  he 
cannot  be  following  Xanthus.  A  writer 
who  makes  Sadyattes  the  son  of  an  Alyattes, 
who  brings  a  Sibyl  to  the  assistance  of 
Croesus  upon  the  pyre,  and  who  ascribes 
the  Persian  respect  for  Zoroaster,  and  reli- 
gious regard  for  the  element  of  tire,  to  the 
circumstance  of  this  miraculous  escape  of  the 
Lydian  king,  is  not  to  be  quoted  as  authoi'ity, 
where  he  stands  alone,  without  the  strongest 
expression  of  distrust.  At  any  rate, 
Mr.  Grote  seems  open  to  the  censure  which 
he  himself  bestows  on  Ottfried  Miiller,  that 
he  occasionally  "  gives  '  Sagen'  too  much  in 
the  style  of  real  facts"  (vol.  in.  p.  240, 
note). 

1  Strabo,  xiii.  p.  590. 

2  This  tendency  in  all  legendary  history 
to  throw  back  and  repeat  events  and  cir- 
cumstances has  been  noticed  by  Niebuhr  in 
his  Roman  history,  and  is  certainly  one  of 
the  most  striking  characteristics  of  such  re- 
cords. As  Romulus  is  an  earlier  Tullus, 
and  Ancus  a  second  Numa,  so  even  in  more 
historic  times  we  find  the  undoubted  acts  of 
the  second  Tarquin  almost  all  anticipated  in 
the  first.  As  the  later  sovereign  was  cer- 
tainly master  of  Latium,  so  the  earlier  must 
"subdue  the  whole   Latin  name"  (Liv.  i. 


38)  ;  as  he  built  the  magnificent  temple  to 
Jupiter  Gapitolinus,  so  his  progenitor  and 
prototype  must  vow  it  and  lay  its  founda- 
tions (ibid.  38  and  55)  ;  as  the  great  sewers 
and  the  massive  stone  seats  in  the  Gircus 
Maximus  were  undoubtedly  the  works  of 
the  one,  so  must  they  also,  or  works  of  a 
simUar  character,  be  ascribed  to  the  other 
(ibid.  35  and  38).  In  the  same  way  is  as- 
signed to  Ninus  the  whole  series  of  conquests 
made  by  subsequent  Assyiian  kings  (Gtesias 
ap.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  2).  Sometimes  an  entire 
war  is  repeated,  as  that  with  Fidenae  in  the 
fourth  book  of  Livy  (Niebuhr,  vol.  i.  p. 
452).  Possibly,  the  war  between  Sparta 
and  Messenia  is  a  case  in  point.  Almost  all 
the  events  of  what  is  called  the  first  war 
recur  in  the  second. 

3  Eusebius  limited  his  reign  to  38  years 
(Ghron.  Ganon.  Pars  Post.  p.  325,  ed. 
Mai). 

*  Herod,  i.  15.  I  know  not  on  what 
grounds  Mr.  Grote  observes  that  "  this  pos- 
session cannot  have  been  maintained,  for  the 
city  appears  afterwards  as  autonomous" 
(Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  301),  unless  it 
be  on  the  expression  of  Herodotus,  that 
"  before  the  sovereignty  of  Groesus  all  the 
Greeks  were  free  "  (i.  6).  But  this  only 
seems  to  mean  that  no  Greek  country — 
neither  Ionia,  ^olis,  nor  Doris — had  been 
reduced  to  subjection. 

Mr.  Grote  has  another  mysterious  remark 
in  the  next  sentence  of  his  work.  "  His 
(Ardys')  long  reign  was  signaHsed  by  two 
events,  both  of  considerable  moment  to  the 
Asiatic  Greeks, — the  invasion  of  the  Cimme- 
rians, and  the  first  approach  to  collision  (at 
least  the  first  of  which  we  have  any  histo- 
rical knowledge)  between  the  inhabitants  of 
Lydia  and  those  of  Upper  Asia  under  the 
Median  kings."     What  is  this  ^^ first  ap- 


298  CIMMERIAN  IXEOAD.  App.  Book  I. 

lie  would  have  signalised  his  reign  bv  further  successes,  but  for  the 
invasion  of  the  Cimmerians,  a  terrible  visitation,  which  we  shall 
best  understand  by  regarding  it  as  closely  parallel  to  the  Gallic 
irruption  into  Italy  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  or  to  the  first  inva- 
sions of  the  Roman  Emjoire  by  the  Goths  and  Huns. 

14.  AVho  the  Cimmerians  were,  whence  thej^  came,  with  what 
races  they  were  ethnically  connected,  will  be  considered  hereafter, 
in  the  notes  to  the  Fourth  Book.  AVith  regard  to  their  occupation 
of  Asia  Minor  at  this  time,  it  is  important  to  observe,  that  whereas 
Herodotus,  throughout  his  whole  history,^  regards  the  invasion  in 
the  reign  of  Ardys  as  the  first,  and  indeed  the  only  Cimmerian 
irruption  into  these  countries ;  other  writers  speak  of  repeated 
attacks,  covering  a  long  period  of  time,  in  which  moreover  the 
Cimmerians  were  accompanied  and  assisted  by  Thracian  tribes,  and 
came  into  Asia  Minor,  apparently,  from  the  west  rather  the  east. 
Strabo  expressly  states  that  they  made  several  distinct  incursions,^ 
and  seemingly  brings  them  into  Asia  across  the  Thracian  Bosphorus. 
To  some  of  these  incursions  he  gives  a  high  antiquity.^  In  this  he 
is  followed  or  exceeded  by  Eusebius,  who  places  the  first  Cimmerian 
invasion  of  Asia  three  hundred  years  before  the  first  Olympiad 
(B.C.  1076).®  The  silence  of  Herodotus,  and  still  more  the  way  in 
which  he  speaks,  on  first  mentioning  the  subject,  of  the  Cimmerian 
incursion,^  are  weighty  arguments  against  those  who  hold  that  there 
were  a  long  series  of  such  attacks,  covering,  without  any  considerable 
intervals,  a  space  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  years. ^  Still  it  would 
be  rash  to  reject  altogether  the  distinct  assertions  of  Strabo,  con- 
firmed as  they  are  by  the  fact,  of  which  there  is  ample  evidence,* 
that  in  the  minds  of  the  Greeks  upon  the  coast,  Cimmerians  and 
Treres  were  confounded  together,  which  can  only  be  accounted  for 
on  the  supposition  of  invasions  in  which  both  people  took  part. 
The  Cimmerians,  who  before  their  country  was  wrested  from  them 
by  the  Scythian  nomads,  were  neighbours  of  the  Thracians,  may 
well  have  joined  with  them  in  plundering  expeditions  from  time  to 
time,  and  may  have  been  in  the  habit  of  passing  into  Asia  by  the 


proach  to  collision"  in  the  reign  of  Ardys  ?  vecrOui  rwv   (1.   r^v)  jx^XP^  ''"^^  AtoAiSos 

The  colUsion  came,  as  he  notices  a  few  pages  Ka\  tt]s  'Iwvia^. 

after    ^p.    SlOj,   in   the    time   of  Alyattes,  «  Chron.   Canon.  Pars  Post.  (p.  303,  ed. 

grandson  of  Ardys.    What  "  historical  know-  Mai). 

ledge"  have  we  of  any  collision,  or  "  approach  ^  Herod,    i.    6.       irpb    Se    rris    YLpoiaov 

to  collision,"  earlier  than  this  ?  o-px^^  iravTes  "EWr^ues   ^aav   eAeu^epot. 

^  Herod,    i.   6,    15,  16,  103;  iv.   1,  11,  t^  yap  K  i  fx /jl  e  p  i  co  v  ar  par  e  v  /j-a  rh 

12 ;  rii.  20.  eirl    ttji/   'Icuviau    airiKoui^vov  —  ov    kutu- 

^  Strab.  i.  p.  90  (Oxf.  ed.).     o"  re  Kiju.-  aTpocpr]  iyeuero  tuv  iroXlwu,  dAA'  e|  ewL- 

fxepioi,   ovs   Kol  Tprjpcovas  ovofxaQovcnv,  ^  SpojuLris  apivayT). 

iKeivwv  TL  edvos,  tt  oXAolk  l  s  eTredpafxou  ^  Clinton's  Fasti  Hell.  vol.  i.  p.  21-i.     01. 

ra  5e|ia  /xeprj  rov  Uovrov.  Kal  to.  avuexv  40,  4. 

avTols,   TTore  ^xkv  eVl  WacpXayovas,  ■nor'k  2  ^he  contemporary  poet,  CaUinus,  spoke 

Se  KoX  ^pvyas  e^jSaXovres.  both  of  Treres  and  of  Cimmerians  (Strabo, 

7  Strab.  i.  p.  9  (Oxf.  ed.).     oi  Kifi/jLcpioi  xiv.  p.  927,  Oxf.  ed.).     Callisthenes  said  that 

Ka6'    "Ofx'npov   ^    fiiKphv   TTph    ait-  the  Treres  and  Lycians  took  Sardis  fStrab.  xiii. 

Tov  ix^xpis  'luvias  eiredpafxou  r^u  yrip  rrjy  p.  627).     Strabo,  in  a  passage  quoted  above, 

i  K  B  0  (TTT  6  p  ov  TTaaav.     And  again,  iii.  uses  the  words,  Kijx^epiovs,  ovs  /cat   Tpi\- 

p.  200 :   Kaff  "Ojx-npov  i)  Trph   avrov   /xiKphu  ptovas   ovofxdCovffiv.     Cf.   also  Eustath.  ad 

Xiyovai  Ti]U  twu   Kifxixepiuv   tcpo^oy  ye-  Horn.  Od.  xi.  14. 


Essay  I.  FORMER  CIMMERIAN  RAVAGES.  299 

Thracian  Bosphorus.  But  from  all  tliese  occasional  incursions, 
which.  Herodotus  may  have  regarded  as  Thracian,  not  Cimmerian 
ravages,  the  one  great  Cimmerian  invasion,  of  which  he  so  often 
speaks,  is  to  be  distinguished.  In  this,  if  it  came,  according  to  the 
undoubting  conviction  of  our  author,  from  the  east,  no  Thracians 
would  participate.^  It  would  have  a  right  to  be  called  "  the  Cim- 
merian attack."  It  would  be  a  thing  sui  generis.  The  Greeks  in 
general,  long  accustomed  to  confound  Treres  and  Cimmerians,  might 
speak,  according  to  habit,  of  both  as  having  been  concerned  in  this, 
as  well  as  in  other  inroads  ;*  but  an  accurate  writer,  like  Herodotus, 
whose  inquiries  had  convinced  him  that  these  Cimmerians  entered 
Asia  Minor  from  the  Caucasus,  would  know  that  here  there  was  no 
place  for  Treres,  who  lay  so  far  out  of  the  route,  and  that  however 
true  it  might  be  that  Cimmerians  had  at  other  times  joined  in  the 
forays  of  the  Treres  in  Asia,  yet  on  no  other  occasion  had  there  been 
a  real  Cimmerian  inroad,  and  he  would  therefore  be  perfectly  correct 
in  speaking  of  this  as  "  the  invasion  of  the  Cimmerians." 

The  Cimmerians  were  fugitives,  driven  out  of  their  native  country 
by  the  Scythians,  but  not  the  less  formidable  on  that  account. 
Niebuhr  surmises  that  the  Gauls  who  sacked  Rome  and  overran 
Italy,  wei'e  fugitives  from  the  Spanish  peninsula,  retiring  before 
the  increasing  strength  of  the  Iberian  race.^  The  barbarians  who 
destroyed  the  Western  Empire  had  for  the  most  part  been  dispos- 
sessed of  their  own  countries  by  nations  of  superior  strength.  On 
their  first  arrival  in  Asia  Minor  the  Cimmerians  seem  to  have  swept 
before  them  all  resistapce.  Like  the  bands  of  Gauls,"  which  at  a 
later  date  ravaged  these  same  regions  in  the  same  ruthless  way,  the 
Cimmerian  invaders  carried  ruin  and  devastation  over  all  the  fairest 
regions  of  Lower  Asia.  Paphlagonia,  Bithynia,  Ionia,  Phrygia,  even 
Cilicia,  as  well  as  Lydia,  were  plundered  and  laid  waste  ;  in  Phrygia, 
Midas,  the  king,  despairing  of  any  effectual  resistance,  on  the 
approach  of  the  dreaded  foe,  is  said  to  have  committed  suicide  ;  ^  in 
Lydia,  as  we  know  from  Herodotus,   they  took  the  capital  city, 


3  I  cannot  accept  Niebuhr's  theory,  that  probably  that  followed  by  ]\Iithridates  when 

the  Cimmerians  on  this  occasion  came  by  the  he  passed  through  the  K\e76pa  '2,kvQuiv  on 

western  side  of  the  Kuxine,  and  across  the  his    flight   from  Pompey  (Appian.  de  Bell. 

Thracian  Bosphorus,  against  the  distinct  and  Mithr.  p.  400).    With  respect  to  the  passage 

repeated  declarations  of  Herodotus,     It  seems  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  it  must  be  re- 

to  me  impossible  that  the  direction  in  which  membered  that  waggons  could  always  cross 

the  enemy  came  should  have  been  forgotten  in  winter  upon  the  ice  (Herod,  iv.  28). 

by  the  people   of  the  country,  even  in  the  "*  Callinus  appears  to  have  done  so  (Strabo, 


of  two  hundred  years;   especially  as  1.  s.  c). 

there  were  contemporary  writers,  Callinus,  ■''  History  of  Rome,  vol.  i.  pp.  506-509. 

Archilochus,  and  others,  some  of  whom,  we  (Engl,  transl.) 

know,  spoke  of  the  Cimmerian  attack.    With  ^  Livy,  xxxviii.  16.     It  will  appear  here- 

regard  to  the  alleged  difficulties  of  the  route,  after  that  these  two  great  invasions  of  Asia 

we  may  grant   the  impracticability  of  the  Minor   proceeded    from    the    same   identical 

coast  line,  between  the  western  edge  of  the  race.      (See    Appendix   to    Book   iv.    ch.   i. 

Caucasus  and  the  Euxine ;  but  why  may  we  "  On  the  Cimmerians  of  Herodotus  and  the 

not  suppose    the  Cimmerians   to    have   en-  Migrations  of  the  Cymric  Race,") 

tered  Asia  by  the  Caucasian  gates,  through  "'  Eustath,  ad  Hom.  Od,  xi.  14.     This  is 

which   the   great   mihtary  road    now  runs  the  event  alluded  to  in  Euseb,  Chron.  Can. 

from  Mosdok  to  Tiflis?     This  must  always  Pars    Post.    01.    21,    2    (p.    324),   and   by 

have  been  a  A^ery  practicable  route,  and  was  Strabo,  i.  p.  90  (Oxf,  ed,). 


300 


DEFEAT  OF  LYGDAMIS. 


App.  Book  I. 


except  only  the  acropolis ;  in  Ionia  they  ravaged  the  valley  of  the 
Cayster,  besieged  Ephesus,  and,  according  to  some  accounts,  burnt 
the  temple  of  Diana  in  its  vicinity ;  ^  after  which  they  are  thought 
to  have  proceeded  southward  into  the  plain  of  the  Maeander,  and  to 
have  sacked  the  city  of  Magnesia.^  One  body,  under  a  leader  whom 
the  Greeks  called  Lygdamis,  even  penetrated  as  far  as  Cilicia,  and 
there  sustained  a  terrible  reverse  at  the  hands  of  the  hardy  moun- 
taineers.^ The  Greeks  regarded  this  as  the  vengeance  of  Artemis  ;^ 
for  Lygdamis  had  been  the  leader  in  the  attack  on  Ephesus.  Still 
the  strength  of  the  invaders  was  not  broken  by  this  defeat.  It  was 
only  in  the  third  generation  that  the  Lydian  princes  were  able  to 
expel  them  from  the  territories  under  their  dominion.  Even  then, 
it  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  they  were  driven  out  of  Asia.^  Just  as 
the  Gallic  marauders  of  later  times,  when  the  chances  of  war  turned 
against  them,  found  a  refuge  in  the  strong  position  called  thenceforth 
Galatia,  so  their  kindred,  the  Cimmerians,  long  after  the  time  of 
their  expulsion  from  Lydia  by  Alyattes,  maintained  themselves  in 
certain  strongholds,  as  Antandrus,  which,  according  to  Aristotle,* 


^  Hesych.  in  voc.  AvySa/xis.  Avyda/xis 
ovTos  e/caucre  rdp  vabv  ttjs  'ApTe/xidos. 
The  well-known  passage  in  Callimachus's 
Hymn  to  Diana  (ver.  251-261)  has  thrown 
some  doubt  on  this.  It  seems,  however, 
quite  conceivable  that  a  poet,  whose  subject 
was  the  praise  of  Diana,  should  ignore,  with- 
out denying,  so  unpleasant  a  fact.  Calli- 
machus  may  even  be  understood  in  the  sense 
adopted  by  Bouhier :  "  Calhmaque  a  pre'- 
tendu  que  ce  fut  en  punition  du  sacrilege 
qu'ils  avaient  commis  en  mettant  le  feu  au 
temple  de  Diane."  (Dissertations,  &c.  eh. 
vi.  p.  56  )  That  the  Cimmerians  excited  the 
hatred  of  the  lonians  by  the  plunder  of  their 
temples,  was  attested,  according  to  Eusta- 
thius  (Comment,  ad  Hom.  Od.  xi.  14)  by 
many  writers.  If  they  invested  Ephesus,  as 
we  should  certainly  gather  from  Callimachus, 
they  could  scarcely  fail  to  take  the  temple, 
which  was  nearly  a  mile  from  the  city 
(Herod,  i.  26).  Mr.  Grote  supposes  that 
"  the  Goddess  protected  her  town  and  sanc- 
tuary" (Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  335). 
But  he  rests  this  only  on  the  passage  of  Calli- 
machus, which  is  at  least  ambiguous.  Span- 
heim  (Comment,  ad  Callimach.  Hymn.  v. 
251-260,  in  the  edition  of  Ernesti,  vol.  ii.  p. 
354)  regards  Herod,  i.  6  as  conclusive 
against  Jlesyehius,  where  he  certainly  must 
forget  the  situation  of  the  temple. 

^  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  this  event 
really  belongs  to  the  great  Cimmerian  inva- 
sion. Eustathius  appears  to  have  thought 
so.  Twv  KifJL/xepiwv  air ^ixoipa  AeyeTai 
TTOTe  {Tprjpes  Se  (paaiv  eKuAovPTO)  ttoWtjv 
rris  'Acrias  /caTaSpa/xeTj/,  Ka\  ras  'Xapbeis 
e\e7v    Kol    rcov    MayvfiTwu    8e    iroWovs 


aj/eAeli/  tcoj'  KaTo.  rhv  MalauBpou'  ijifidX- 
\€iu  5e  Koi  fcTrl  Tla(phay6vas  Kal  ^pvyas' 
ore  Koi  MiSas  Aeyerai  alfia  ravpov  iridiv 
eis  Th  XP^^^  air€\de7v.  f^ Comment,  ad 
Horn.-  Od.  1.  c.  s.)  But  if  CaUinus  was  con- 
temporary with  the  taking  of  Sardis  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus,  as  I  agree  with  Mr. 
Grote  in  considering  to  be  nearly  certain 
(Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  333,  note  2),  the 
fall  of  ]\Iagnesia  must,  on  the  authorities  of 
Strabo  (xiv.  p.  928)  and  Clemens  Alex. 
(Strom,  i.  p.  333),  have  been  subsequent. 
To  me  also  the  fact  that  the  sack  of  Mag- 
nesia is  so  uniformly  ascribed  to  the  Treres, 
is  a  strong  argument  that  it  does  not  belong 
to  this  invasion  of  the  Cimmerians.  (C^ 
Eustath.  in  loc.  s.  c,  and  Strab.  xiv.  p.  927.) 

1  Strabo,  i.  p.  90. 

2  Callim.  Hymn.  ad.  Dian.  248-260. 

evpv  6efj.€6\ov, 
To)  pa  Kal  rjXaCviav  ahawa^efjiev  jjireiArjcre 
AvySaiXL<;  u^ptcTTTjs,  enl  Se  (npajov  iTrmrffiokyitJV 
Hyaye  Ktju./aepiajv,  xfjaixdOw  icrov,  o'i  pa  nap  avTOV 
Ke/cAtjaeVoi  vaiovaL  ^oh<;  iropov  '\vaxLiljvy\<;. 
^ A.  SeiAb?  ^aaikiijiv  ocrov  rjKLTev  ov  yap  efieWev 
OvT  avTos  2«v0tT)i'5e  TraAijaTrere?,  oiire  ti?  aAAoS 
"Ocrcraji/  ev  Aet/xcoi'i,  KavcTTpt'o)  ecrrav  afxa^ai, 
'Noa-rrjo-eLV  'E(^e'<rov  yap  del  red  ro'^a  npoKeirai. 

^  Ki/uLfxeplovs  e/c  ttjs  'Aaias  e'lTjAocre 
(Herod,  i.  15).  As  Lydia  was  still  confined 
within  its  original  limits,  a  Lydian  prince 
would  have  neither  the  wish  nor  the  power 
to  do  this.  There  is  also  distmct  proof  that 
they  continued  in  possession  of  parts  of  Asia. 
See  the  following  notes. 

■*  A  p.  Steph.  Byz.  in  voc.  ''Avrav^pos, 
'ApiaTore\7]s  (prjal  ravrriv  oovofxacrOai  .  .  . 
Kiix/xepiSa,  Ki/i/iep/wj/  ivoiKovvruv  kKarhv 


Essay  I.  EEIGN  OF  SADYATTES.  301 

they  occupied  for  a  hundred  years,  and  Sinope,  where,  Herodotus 
informs  us,  they  made  a  permanent  settlement.^ 

15.  The  history  of  Lydia  during  the  time  of  their  supremacy  was 
almost  a  blank.  At  what  period  in  the  long  reign  of  Ardys  they 
entered  Asia  there  is  indeed  nothing  positively  to  show.  The  syn- 
chronism dependant  upon  the  notion  of  their  having  been  pursued 
by  the  Scythians,  who  are  said  to  have  entered  Media  in  the  reign 
of  Cyaxares,  is  extremely  doubtful  from  the  improbability  of  the 
supposed  fact.  The  utmost  that  can  be  gathered  fiom  it  is  that  the 
Cimmerian  invasion  was  regarded  by  Herodotus  as  only  a  little 
preceding  the  accession  of  Cyaxares  (b.c.  633),  which  would  make 
it  fall  late  in  the  reign  of  Ardys.  At  any  rate,  we  may  be  sure  that 
it  followed  in  fact,  as  it  does  in  the  order  of  the  narrative  in  Hero 
dotus,^  both  the  capture  of  Priene  by  Ardys,  and  his  attack  upon 
Miletus.  Still  its  date  cannot  be  fixed  within  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Sadyattes,  the  son  and  successor  of  Ardys,  appears,  during  the  earlier 
portion  of  his  reign,  to  have  remained  in  the  same  state  of  inaction 
which  had  characterised  the  latter  years  of  his  father's  rule.  Pro- 
bably it  required  all  the  energies  of  both  monarch  and  people  to 
protect  the  kingdom  against  the  Cimmerian  ravages.  We  may 
gather,  however,  from  what  is  recorded  of  this  king,  that  towards 
the  close  of  his  reign  the  power  of  the  Cimmerians  began  to  decline, 
and  Lydia  became  once  more  free  to  pursue  her  policy  of  aggres- 
sion. Sadyattes  renewed  the  war  with  Miletus  in  the  seventh  year 
of  his  reign,  and  carried  it  on  until  his  death.  Whether  either  of 
the  great  victories  mentioned  by  Herodotus^  were  gained  by  him,  it 
is  impossible  to  determine.  All  that  we  know  is  that  he  did  not 
bring  the  war  to  a  close,  but  bequeathed  it  to  his  successor  upon 
the  throne,  his  son  by  his  own  sister,^  Alyattes. 

16.  This  prince,  the  most  celebrated  of  his  house  except  Croesus, 
is  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  bent  his  whole  energies  to  the  prose- 
cution of  this  war  during  the  first  six  years  of  his  reign.  The 
circumstances  of  the  contest,  which  Herodotus  relates  at  length,^  and 
on  which  no  other  ancient  writer  throws  any  additional  light,  need 
not  be  here  repeated.  The  designs  of  Alyattes  were  baffled,  and 
Miletus,  the  foremost  city  of  Asiatic  Greece,  which  had  been  attacked 
in  succession  by  every  monarch  of  the  house  of  the  Mermnadae,  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  her  independence  for  half  a  century  longer. 


^  Herod,  iv.  12.     ^aivovrai   8e   ot  Kifi-  that  Sarah  was  Iscah,  as  assumed  by  Clinton, 

fieploL    (p€vyovr€s    is    rrju    'AtrtTjj/    tovs  F.  H.  vol.  i,  App.  ch.   v.    p.    290,    note), 

'^Kvdas,    Kol  rrjv  X€p(r6vr}(Tov  KTiVaj/res,  of  Cambyses  (Herod,   iii.    31),  and    Herod 

eV  TTJ  vvv  Sij/wTTTj  TToAis  'EAAas  otKicrrai.  Agrippa  (Juv.  vi.  157)  are  well  known. 

6  Herod,  i.  15.  9  Herod,  i.  17-22.     Mr.  Grote  says  that 

~t  Ibid.   18.      rpd^fjLara   fieyd^a  Sicpdcia  Sadyattes  cari'ied  on  this  war  for  seven,  and 

MtA.Tjo'iwj/  iyevero.  Alyattes  for  five  years ;  but  Herodotus  di- 

8  Here  the   authority  of  Nicolas  of  Da-  vides  the  war  as  above.      eTroAe'yuee    erea 

mascus  is  supported  by  that  of  Suidas  (in  '4i/5€Ka  .  .  .  .  ra   fiev    uvv    e|    ^rea  toov 

voc.  'AAuctTTTjs)  and  Xenophilus  (ap.  Anon.,  %vZiKa   2a5uaTT7js    o  ''Ap^vos   ^ri  AvSuv 

quoted  in  the  Frag.  Hist.  Gr.,  vol.  i.  p.  42).  ■^px^j  "  'f«'  ia^dWiou  T-qviKaxJra  ey  t^v 

Marriages  with  /^a(/"-sisters  have  been   fre-  MtArjo-iTjj/  Tr^r  arpaririv'  to  Se  TreVre  rcov 

quent  in  the  East  from  the  days  of  Abraham  erewj/    ra    iirSfxeua    toIcxl    e|    'AAucitttjs 

downwards.     The  cases  of  Abraham  himself  iiroAG/xee  .  .   .  .  tijJ   5e    SivaSe/car^    eVet, 

(Gen.  XX.  12;  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  /c.  t.  A. 


302  REIGN  OF  ALYATTES.  App.  Book  I. 

The  order  of  the  other  events  of  the  reign  of  Alyattes  cannot  be 
determined  with  any  certainty.  Besides  his  war  with  Miletus,  he 
was  engaged  (we  know)  in  four  separate  contests.  He  drove  the 
Cimmerians  beyond  his  boundaries,  attacked  and  took  Smyrna,  made 
an  attempt  upon  Clazomense,  but  was  defeated  with  great  loss,  and 
carried  on  a  protracted  contest  against  the  combined  powers  of 
Media  and  Babylonia.  He  is  also  said  to  have  invaded  Caria,  but 
by  a  writer  who,  unless  where  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  he  is 
following  Xantlius,  is  of  no  authority.^  The  last  war,  if  it  took 
place  at  all,  happened  late  in  his  reigD,  after  Croesus  was  grown  to 
manhood.^  The  date  of  the  struggle  with  the  Medes  depends  on  that 
of  the  eclipse  of  Thales,  which  is  still  undetermined.^  Perhaps  the 
most  probable  date  is  that  which  has  been  adopted  by  Mr.  Grote  and 
others,  chiefly  on  astronomical  cousiderations,  viz.  B.C.  615-GlO. 
The  other  wars,  that  which  ended  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Cimme- 
rians, and  those  with  the  Greeks  of  the  coast,  may  have  taken  place 
either  before  or  after  the  Median  contest. 

17.  This  last  event,  beyond  all  question  the  most  important  in  the 
reign  of  Alyattes,  is  regarded  by  Herodotus  as  brought  about  by 
what  appears  an  insignificant  cause.  A  band  of  Scythians,  who  had 
been  in  the  service  of  Cyaxares,  the  Median  king,  upon  a  disgust 
quitted  Media,  and  took  refuge  with  Alyattes.  Cyaxares  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  fugitives  and  met  with  a  refusal,  upon  which  he 
declared  war  against  Lydia,  and  the  contest  began.  Now  although 
undoubtedly  the  passage  of  nomadic  hordes  from  one  government 
in  the  East  to  another  has  frequently  been  the  occasion  of  war 
between  adjoining  states,*  yet  the  flight  of  a  mere  land  of  men  {tikr} 
avdpu)p)  who  had  been  useful  as  hunters,  would  scarcely  have  been 
motive  sufficient  to  produce  the  invasion  of  a  kingdom  not  even 
adjoining,  but  separated  from  the  Median  empire  by  the  intervening 
country  of  Phrygia.  It  is  besides  exceedingly  improbable  that  at 
this  particular  period  there  were  any  Scythians  on  such  terms  of 
friendly  subjection  to  Cyaxares,  as  the  story  supposes.  Not  long 
before  the  accession  of  Alyattes,  Cyaxares  had,  we  know,  been 
engaged  in  a  fierce  struggle  with  Scythic  hordes,  and  such  of  them 
as  submitted  to  his  sway  must  have  felt  themselves  under  the  yoke 
of  an  oppressor.  A  portion  of  his  Scythic  subjects  may  no  doubt 
have  revolted,  and  when  hard  pressed  by  his  troops  may  have  fled 


1  Nicolas  of  Damascus.     The  question  of  taken  place  B.C.  625  (Recherches,  &c.,  vol.  i. 

his   credibility  has   been   treated  above  (p.  p.  342).     Clinton  places  it  B.C.  603  (  F.  H. 

296,  note  ^).  vol.   i.  p.  419).     Jdeler    considers   that  no 

^  Croesus   in   the   tale   is   represented  as  eclipse  about  this  period  fulfils  the  necessary 

already  governor  of  Thebe'  and  Adramyt-  conditions  except  that  of  B.C.   610  (Hand- 

tium.     As  he  was  only  thirty-five  years  of  buch  der  Chronologic,  vol.  i.  p.  209).     Mr. 

age  at  his  father's  death  (Herod,  i.  26)  the  Hind  and  Mr.  Airy  have  recently  suggested 

Carian  war   of  Alyattes,  if  a  reality,  must  the  late  date  of  B.C.  585  (Bosanquet,   Fall 

belong  to  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years  of  his  of  Nineveh,  p.    14).       It  may  be  doubted 

life.       Mr.     Grote    well    observes,    against  whether    astronomical   science    has   yet    at- 

Clinton,  that  there  is  nothing   in  Nicolaus  tained  to   such   exactness  as  to  justify  the 

Damascenus   to   imply   that   Alyattes    con-  adoption  of  its  results  as  the  basis  of  a  chi'o- 

quered  Caria.     (Nic.  Dam.  p.  54,  ed.  Orelli ;  nological  system. 

Clinton's  F.  H.  vol.  ii.  p.  363 ;  Grote's  Hist.         4  ^^  ^i^^  Crete's  History  of  Greece,  vol. 

vol.  ii.  p.  343.)  iii.   p.   310.     In  a  note  Mr.  Grote   brings 

^  Volney  considered  the   eclipse  to  have  forward  a  number  of  modern  instances. 


Essay  I.  HIS  WAR  WITH  CYAXAEES.  303 

for  protection  to  Alyattes,  and  have  offered  to  take  service  with  him. 
They  may  have  been  readily  received,  and  Cyaxares  may,  on  learning 
it,  have  demanded  their  surrender,  and  when  the  demand  was  refused, 
have  thereupon  commenced  hostilities.  It  is  however  very  unlikely 
that  this  was  the  cause,  although  it  may  possibly  have  been  the 
pretext,  of  the  expedition.  The  Lydian  war  of  Cyaxares  was  part 
undoubtedly  of  that  great  monarch's  system  of  conquest,  which 
carried  him  at  one  time  to  the  confines  of  Babylonia,  at  another  to 
the  shores  of  the  Egean.  The  enterprising  prince,  who  had  sub- 
verted the  old  Assyrian  monarchy,  and  had  then  by  a  series  of 
victories  brought  under  subjection  the  whole  of  Upper  Asia  as  far 
as  the  banks  of  the  Halys,^  might  well  conceive  the  design  of  adding 
to  his  empire  the  further  tract  of  country  between  the  Halys  and 
the  Egean  sea.  What  alone  excites  our  wonderment  in  this  portion 
of  history  is  his  failure.  The  war  continued  for  six  years,  and  in 
the  course  of  it  we  are  told,  "  the  Medes  gained  many  victories  over 
the  Lydians,  and  the  Lydians  also  gained  many  victories  over  the  Medes'' ^ 
And  the  advantage  remained  with  neither  side.  Considering  the 
extent  and  power  of  the  Median  empire  at  this  period — that  it 
contained,  besides  Media  Magna  and  Media  Atropatene,  the  exten- 
sive and  important  countries  of  Persia,  Assyria,  Armenia,  and  Cap- 
padocia — reaching  thus  from  the  mouth  of  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the 
shores  of  the  Euxine — it  seems  extraordinary  that  the  petty  kingdom 
of  Lydia  could  so  successfully  maintain  the  contest.  The  wonder 
is  increased  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  probability,  almost 
amounting  to  a  certainty,  that  the  armies  of  the  Babylonians  accom- 
panied Cyaxares  to  the  field.^  That  Lydia  maintained  her  inde- 
pendence and  terminated  the  war  by  an  honourable  peace,  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  as  the  attack  menaced  the  whole 
of  Western  Asia,  the  several  nations  who  felt  themselves  endangered 
made  common  cause  and  united  under  a  single  head.  And  an  indi- 
cation of  this  union  of  the  Western  Asiatics  against  the  ambition  of 
the  Medes  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  king  of  the  warlike  and 
powerful  Cilicia,  which  maintained  its  independence  even  against 
Croesus,  appears  in  the  narrative  standing  in  the  same  relation 
towards  Alyattes  in  which  Labynetus,  the  Babylonian  monarch, 
stands  towards  Cyaxares — the  relation  of  subordinate  ally.  It  is 
probable  that  both  Labynetus  and  the  Cilician  prince  were  present 
at  the  engagement,  and  took  immediate  advantage  of  the  religious 
dread  inspired  by  the  eclipse  to  effect  a  reconciliation  of  the  prin- 
cipals in  the  contest.  The  interposition  of  good  offices  by  great 
powers  at  a  distance  from  the  scene,  especially  by  powers  so  remote 
and  so  little  connected  with  one  another  as  Cilicia  and  Babylonia, 
at  this  period,  is  inconceivable  under  the  circumstances  of  the 
ancient  world.     Labynetus,  at  least,  must  have  been  upon  the  spot, 

^  Herod,  i.  103.         ^  Ibid.  i.  74.  the  modern  diplomatic  sense  of  the  phrase. 

^    I   cannot   conceive   it   possible    that   a  The  words  of  Herodotus  (i.  74)  are  ambi- 

monarch,  whose  dominions  lay  a  thousand  guous,  but  I  conceive  we  are  to  understand 

miles  off,  would  have  felt  himself  sufficiently  an  immediate  mediation  upon  the  spot,  im- 

interested  in  the  result  of  a  contest  in  so  plying  the  presence  of  the  two  princes,  and 

remote  a  region,  to  interpose  his  mediation  their  participation  in  the  previous  strife. 
between  the  courts  of  Sardis  and  Ecbatana  in 


304  PEACE  BETWEEN  LYDIA  AND  MEDIa!        App.  Book  I. 

and  if  so,  then  the  presence  of  Syennesis  seems  to  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course  ;  and  his  presence  would  indicate  the  probable  presence  of 
the  other  minor  powers  of  Western  Asia,  the  Pamphylians,  the 
Phrygians,  the  Lycians,  the  Carians — perhaps  also  the  Paphlagonians 
and  Bithynians,  whose  liberties  would  certainly  have  been  more 
endangered  by  the  success  of  the  attack  than  those  of  the  hard}'  and 
valiant  occupants  of  the  mountainous  Cilicia,  whom  even  Cyrus  does 
not  appear  to  have  reduced  to  subjection.  It  seems  therefore 
probable  that  the  invasion  of  Lydia  by  Cyaxares  was  but  the  con- 
tinuation of  his  long  course  of  aggressions  upon  his  neighbours,  and 
that  whatever  his  pretext  ma}^  have  been,  his  real  object  in  crossing 
the  Halys  was  to  add  the  whole  of  Lower  Asia  to  his  dominions. 
The  warlike  inhabitants  united  to  resist  him,  and  maintained  for  six 
years  a  doubtful  and  bloody  struggle.  At  length,  when  both  parties 
were  growing  weary  of  the  protracted  contest,  accident  afforded  an 
opportunity,  of  which  advantage  was  taken,  to  bring  the  war  to  a 
close.  The  two  armies  had  once  more  come  to  an  engagement,  when, 
in  the  midst  of  the  fight,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place.  Alarmed 
at  the  portent,  the  soldiers  suspended  the  conflict,  and  manifested  an 
inclination  for  peace.  Probably  the  leaders  of  both  armies  partici- 
pated in  the  general  sentiment.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
principal  commander  of  allied  troops  on  either  side  came  forward 
and  proposed  a  reconciliation  between  the  chief  contending  powers. 
The  proposals  were  favourably  entertained,  and  led  not  merely  to 
the  establishment  of  peace,  but  to  an  alliance  between  Media  and 
Lydia,  which  was  cemented  by  the  marriage  of  a  daughter  of  the 
Lydian  prince  with  the  heir-apparent  to  the  Median  monarchy. 
Henceforward  friendly  relations  subsisted  between  the  great  powers 
of  Asia  until  the  ambition  of  Cyrus,  half  a  century  later,  rekindled 
the  strife. 

18.  After  the  conclusion  of  this  peace,  Alyattes  reigned,  according 
to  the  chronology  which  we  have  preferred,  forty-three  years.  It 
may  have  been  during  these  years  that  he  drove  the  Cimmerians 
beyond  his  borders,  and  engaged  in  war  with  the  Greeks  of  Smyrna 
and  Clazomenae.  The  latter  portion  of  his  reign  seems,  however,  to 
have  been  a  period  of  remarkable  tranquillity.  The  supposition 
that  towards  the  close  of  his  life  he  conquered  -^olis  and  Caria,^ 
founded  upon  a  single  passage  in  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  which  does 
not  even  bear  out  the  deductions  made  from  it,^  and  contradicted  by 


^  Clinton's  Fasti  Hell.,  vol.   ii.   p.   363.  which  is  not  the  fact.     They  lay  within  the 

(Appendix,  ch.  xvii.)  limits   visually  assigned  to   the  province   of 

^  Nicolaus  Damascenus  says  that  Croesus,  Mysia    (Rennell's    Geography    of   Western 

who   had   already  been    made   governor    of  Asia,  vol.  i.  p.  371),  but  it  seems  probable 

Adramyttium  and  the  plain  of  Thebe,  accom-  that  from  a  very  early  date  they  had  formed 

panied   his    fiither    in    an    expedition    into  a  part  of  the  doininions  of  the  Lydian  kings. 

Caria.     From  this  Mr.  Clinton  makes  two  The  boundaries  between  the  several  provinces 

deductions,   1,  that  iEolis   must  have  been  of  Asia  Minor  were  at  no  time  very  exactly 

already  subjected ;    and   2,  that  Caria  was  determined,  and  Adramyttium  seems  to  have 

conquered  in  this  campaign.     The  latter  he  been  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  Lydian 

calls  an  assertion  of  Damascenus,  which  is  towns.     At  least   there  were  authors  who 

untrue  (see  Nic.  Damas.  ed.  Orelli,  pp.  55-  ascribed  its  foundation  to  an  ancient  king, 

57).     The  former  proceeds  upon  the  notion  Adramys   or   Hermon,   probably    the   same 

that  Adramyttium  and  Thebe  were  in  iEolis,  pei-son  as  the  Adramytes  of  Xanthus  (Frag. 


Essay  I. 


TOMB  OF  ALYATTES, 


305 


the  express  words  of  Herodotus,  who  ascribes  these  conquests  to  his 
son/  seems  scarcely  worth  considering.  We  may  grant  it  possible 
that  there  was  an  invasion  of  Caria  about  this  time  ;  but  even  that  is 
in  the  highest  degree  uncertain.  The  probability  is  that  Alyattes, 
now  an  aged  man,'^  was  chiefly  employed  in  the  construction  of  his 
sepulchre,  a  work  which  Herodotus,  Avho  had  seen  it,  compares  for 
magnificence  with  the  constructions  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,^  and 
which  must  therefore,  like  those  massive  buildings,  have  employed 
the  labour  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  population  for  a  number  of  years. 
If  the  measurements  of  Herodotus  are  accurate,  and  modern  tra- 
vellers appear  to  think  that  they  do  not  greatly  overstep  the  truth,* 
the  tomb  of  Alyattes  cannot  have  fallen  far  short  of  the  grandest  of 
the  Egyptian  monuments.  Its  deficiency  as  respects  size  must  have 
been  in  height,  for  the  area  of  the  base,  which  alone  our  author's 
statements  determine,  is  above  one-third  greater  than  that  of  the 
Pyramid  of  Cheops.^  As,  however,  the  construction  was  of  earth 
and  not  of  stone,  a  barrow  and  not  a  pyramid,  it  would  undoubtedly 
have  required  a  less  amount  of  servile  labour  than  the  great  works 


19,  Didot.)  who  must  belong  to  the  second, 
if  not  even  to  the  first  dynasty  (see  Steph. 
Byz.  and  Hesychius  in  voc.  'ASpa/xuTreioi/). 
Aristotle  certainly  spoke  of  its  having  been 
founded  by  an  Adramytes,  son  of  Alyattes 
and  brother  of  Crcesus  (Fr.  191) ;  but  of 
this  person,  who  cannot  be  the  ancient  King 
of  Xanthus,  we  have  no  other  mention  in 
history.  The  very  fact  that  Adramyttium 
is  supposed  to  have  a  heros  eponymus  for  its 
founder  seems  to  throw  back  its  founda- 
tion to  very  early  times. 

1  Herod,  i.  28. 

^  If  we  allow  Alyattes  to  have  been 
twenty-one  years  old  when  he  ascended  the 
throne,  he  would  be  sixty-three  in  the  year 
B.C.  583,  the  earliest  date  which  the  age  of 
Croesus  will  allow  us  to  fix  for  the  expe- 
dition spoken  of  by  Nicolas. 

3  Herod,  i.  93. 

^  See  Chandler's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  804. 
"  The  barrow  of  Alyattes  is  much  taller  and 
handsomer  than  any  I  have  seen  in  England. 
The  mould  which  has  been  washed  down 
conceals  the  stone-work,  which,  it  seems, 
was  anciently  visible.  The  apparent  alti- 
tude is  diminished,  and  the  bottom  rendered 
wider  and  less  distinct  than  before.  Its 
measurements,  which  we  were  not  prepared 
to  take,  deserA'e  to  be  ascertained  and  com- 
pared with  those  given  in  Herodotus."  Mr. 
Hamilton  says :  "  One  mile  south  of  this 
spot  we  reached  the  principal  tumulus  gene- 
rally designated  as  the  tomb  of  Halyattes. 
It  took  us  about  ten  minutes  to  ride  round 
its  base,  which  would  give  it  a  circumference 

■  of  nearly  half  a  mile It  rises  at  an 

angle  of  about  22^,  and  is  a  conspicuous  object 
on  all  sides."     (Researches  in  Asia  Minor,  &c., 
vol.  i.  pp.  145-6.)     The  more  exact  measure- 
Vv/L.  I. 


ments  of  M.  Spiegenthal  agree  remarkably 
with  this  rough  estimate.  (See  note  ®,  on 
Book  i.  ch.  93.) 

^  Dr.  Chandler  alters  the  measurements 
of  Herodotus  by  a  conjectural  emendation  of 
the  te:xt  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  critic  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  He  presumes  that  He- 
rodotus would  not  have  omitted  the  height  of 
the  monument :  but  our  author,  in  default  of 
any  trustworthy  information  concerning  the 
height,  would  be  likely  to  confine  himself  to 
such  points  as  came  within  his  own  observa- 
tion. He  could  measure  the  greatest  width 
and  the  circumference,  but  he  could  only 
have  made  a  rough  guess  at  the  height.  He 
therefore  preferred  to  omit  the  height  alto- 
gether— an  omission  which  may  be  remarked 
also  in  his  dimensions  of  the  Temple  of  Belus. 
The  measures  which  he  gives  are  3800  feet 
(Greek)  for  the  circumference,  and  1300  feet 
for  the  (greatest)  diameter.  From  these 
proportions  it  would  follow  that  the  base  of 
the  monument  was  not  a  circle,  but  either 
an  ellipse  or  a  parallelogram.  In  the  latter 
case  its  area  would  have  been  780,000  square 
feet  (Greek),  whereais  the  area  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  of  Gizeh  is  determined  to  be  no 
more  than  588,939  square  feet  (English). 
See  Perring's  Diameters  of  the  Pyramids  of 
Egypt.  But  588,939  square  feet  (English) 
are  only  equal  to  about  574,564  square  feet 
(Greek).  So  that  the  area  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid is  to  that  of  the  sepulchre  of  Alyattes  (sup- 
posing the  base  of  the  latter  to  be  a  parallelo- 
gram) in  the  proportion  of  (about)  19  to  26. 
If  the  base  were  oval  or  elliptical,  the  dif- 
ference would  be  still  more  in  favour  of  the 
Lydian  monument.  At  present  the  base 
appears  to  be,  as  nearly  as  possible,  circular. 


306     SUPPOSED  JOINT  GOVERNMENT  OF  CRCESUS.    App.  Book  I. 

of  Egypt,  and  would  indicate  a  less  degraded  condition  of  tlie  people 
who  raised  it  than  that  of  the  Egyptians  in  the  time  of  the  pyramid- 
builders.  Still  the  view  of  Strabo  is  most  certainly  correct,  that 
"  the  multitude  of  the  city  "  must  have  been  employed  upon  it.®  It 
was  an  artificial  mountain,  and  perhaps  owed  its  small  celebrity,  as 
compared  with  the  constructions  of  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  not  so 
much  to  any  absolute  inferiority  as  to  the  character  of  the  district 
in  which  it  was  placed.  While  the  colossal  works  in  those  countries 
have  the  advantage  of  standing  upon  extensive  plains,  stretching  out 
in  all  directions  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  the  Lydian  monument 
is  dwarfed  by  the  towering  mountain-chains  which  on  both  sides 
encompass  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Hermus. 

Engaged  in  this  work,'  the  Lydian  king  abstained  in  all  proba- 
bility fiom  warlike  enterprises.  The  arts  of  war  and  peace  larely 
flourish  together ;  and  the  hands  which,  if  he  had  engaged  in  wars, 
would  have  been  required  to  draw  the  sword  and  pull  the  bow,  were 
wanted  for  the  homelier  occupations  of  digging  and  wheeling  soil. 
The  expulsion  of  the  Cimmerians  and  the  alliance  with  the  Modes 
had  secured  him  from  molestation  on  the  part  of  those  distant  powers 
whose  attacks  might  have  been  formidable ;  the  weakness  of  his 
neighbours  allowed  him  to  fear  nothing  from  them.  Not  being 
naturally  an  ambitious  prince,  and  having  received  but  small  en- 
couragement from  fortune  in  his  attempts  upon  the  independence  of 
the  Greek  towns  on  the  coast,  Alyattes  appears  to  have  given  himself 
up  without  reluctance  to  a  life  of  inactivity. 

19.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  writers  of  high  repute^  that 
fifteen  years  before  his  decease  Alyattes  associated  his  son  Croesus 
in  the  government ;  but  the  chronological  arguments  on  which  this 
view  is  based  are  wholly  inconclusive,  and  the  direct  evidence  which 
is  brought  forward  in  its  support  signally  fails  of  establishing  any 
such  conclusion.  Herodotus,  in  the  passage  relied  on  by  Mr. 
Clinton,^  and  understood  in  the  same  sense  both  by  Bahr  and  Wes- 
seling,  is  not  speaking  of  any  such  strange  and  unwonted  event  ^  as 


^  Strabo,  xiii.  p.  899.     t^  ir\.ri9os  rrjs  though  Croesus  reigned  only  fourteen  years, 

7r»\eus.  yet  it  seems  probable  that  he  was  associated 

7  The  supposition  of  Chandler  that  Crcesus  in  the  government  by  his  father,  as  Larcher 
raised  this  monument  to  his  father  (Travels  argues  at  large.  During  this  period  of  joint- 
in  Asia  Minor,  vol.  i.  p.  304),  is  contrary  to  government  many  of  those  things  might  have 
the  whole  tenor  of  ancient  history,  which  been  transacted  which  are  ascribed  to  Croesus 
furnishes   no   instance   of  such  filial    piety,  kinr/  of  Lydia." 

Monarchs  built  their  own  tombs  not  only  in  Bahr   and   Wesseling  were   of  the   same 

Egypt,  but  through  the  East  generally  (cf.  opinion.     (See  Biihr's  Herodotus,  note  upon 

Herod,  i.  187,  on  the  sepulchre  of  Nitocris).  i.  92 ;  and  Wesseling's  Herodotus,  note  on  i. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  from  the  inscription  30.) 

upon  it,  that  Darius  built  his  own  tomb  at  ^  Herod,  i.  92. 

Naklish-i-Rustam    (Sir  H.   Rawlinsou's  Cu-  ^  Notwitlistanding  the  calmness  with  which 

neiform  Inscriptions,  vol.  i.  p.  290).  Larcher  assumes  the  frequency  of  this  prac- 

^  Larcher,  vol.  i.  p.  211.     "  On  sait  que  tice  {'^  on  s  tit  que  la  phipart  des  Princes  de 

la  plupart  des  Pi'inces  de  I'Orient  associoient  I'Orient  associoient  au  trone  leur  fils  aine"), 

au    trone    leur    fils    aine'.       Quoique    nous  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  was  of  exceedingly 

n'ayons   aucune  preuve   directe  qu'Alyattes  rare  occurrence.     In  Egypt  association  was 

ait  associe  Cresus,  on  doit  cependant  le  pre-  undoubtedly  very  frequent,  as   the  monu- 

sumer."  ments  testify,  and  possibly  the  exaggeration 

Clinton's  Fast.  Hell.  vol.  ii.  p.  362.    "  Al-  of  numbers  in  Egyptian  chronology  may  de- 


Essay  I.  REIGN  OF  CRCESUS.  307 

the  association  in  the  government  of  the  heir-apparent  by  the 
reigning  monarch,  but  of  that  very  ordinary  proceeding  on  the  part 
of  an  eastern  sovereign  who  anticipates  his  own  demise,  the  nomi- 
nation of  a  successor.*  It  appears  that,  as  the  reign  of  Alyattes 
plainly  approached  its  close,  intrigues  commenced  among  his  sons, 
and  a  strong  party  was  formed  in  favour  of  the  prince  Panialeon, 
one  of  the  half-brothers  of  Croesus,  which  caused  no  little  alarm  to 
the  legitimate  heir.  Under  these  circumstances  it  became  especially 
desirable,  in  order  to  avoid  a  disputed  succession,  that  the  king 
should  distinctly  confer  the  crown  on  one  or  other  of  his  sons.  This 
is  the  act  to  which  Herodotus  alludes  in  the  passage  whose  meaning 
has  been  misconceived  ;  the  expression  which  he  uses  is  identically 
the  same  with  that  which  occurs  later  in  the  book  in  reference  to  a 
similar  event,  the  nomination  of  Cambyses  as  his  successor  by  Cyrus, 
on  the  eve  of  his  attack  upon  the  Massagetae.^ 

20.  The  order  of  events  in  the  reign  of  Croesus  has  been  already 
considered.  The  events  themselves  receive  but  little  light  from 
sources  extraneous  to  Herodotus.*  With  respect  to  the  enormous 
wealth  for  which  this  king  was  chiefly  famous  among  the  Greeks, 
it  may  be  observed  that  he  probably  owed  it  in  part  to  the  gold- 
washings  of  Pactolus  and  the  mines  of  the  same  precious  metal 
which  probably  existed  in  the  neighbouring  mountains  ^ — in  part  to 
the  tribute  which  he  deiived  from  the  subject  nations — in  part  to  the 
confiscation  of  the  estates  of  a  political  opponent — but  chiefly  to  the 
careful  husbanding  of  the  national  revenues  by  his  father  during  the 
long  period  of  peace  which  preceded  his  own  accession.^     Its  reality 

pend  in  some  measure  on  the  great  extent  to  says,   S  6pto  s  rod  ir  ar  ph  s,   iKparrjcTe 

which    it  was   practised.      But  among  the  t^s  cipx'jy  o  Kpo?(ros  ;  in  the  second  (i.  208), 

early   Oriental   nations   I   know  of  only  a  Kvpos  5e  Kpo7(Tou  is  ras  x^^P*^^  i(rOe\s  rS 

single   well  authenticated  instance   (that   of  ewuroG  TratSi  Ka/i/SucTT?,  ry  tt  ep  t))v  fia- 

Bekhazzar;  see  the  Essay  "  On  the  History  (ri\7]'ir}v  iSiSov  .  .  .  Sie^aive,  k.t.\. 

of  the  later  Babylonians,"  §  25)  of  the  asso-  This  gift  of  the  crown  is  beyond  a  doubt  the 

ciation  of  a  son  in  the  government  during  same   as  the  appuintment  spoken  of  in   the 

the   lifetime  of  his  father,  a  custom  which  case  of  Xerxes — is  Se?  ^iiv,  air  o5  e  ^avr  a 

belongs  to  countries  and  times  where  the  sue-  fi  acr  t\^  a,  Kara  rhv  Tlepcxfoov  vS/jlov,  ovrta 

cession  is  very  prec^arious,  and  certainly  not  (TTparcvecrdai  .  .  .  .  6  Aopetos  /8o(rtAea  /xiv 

to  those  states  in  which  it  is  regarded  as  a  67re56|6  (vii.  2,  3). 

right  inherent  in  the  reigning  monarch  to  *  ^lian  (V.  H.  iii.  26),  Suidas  (in  voc. 

nominate  a  successor  from  among  his  sons,  as  'ApiaTapxos),  and  Polyosnus  (vi.  50)  have 

is  the  ca;se  usually  in  the  East.     Mr,  Grote,  certain  tales  Avhich  admit  of  being  introduced 

with  the  correct  appreciation  of  the  probable  into  the  history  of  the  reign  of  Croesus  as 

which    distinguishes    him,    understands    the  deliveredby  Herodotus;  but  their  authority  is 

passage  aright  (vol.  iii.  p.  344).  too  slight,  and  the  tales  are  too  insignificiint, 

2  Of  this   there   are   two  clear  instances  to  require  more  than  this  cursory  notice, 

even  in  Herodotus.     Cyrus  nominates  Cam-  ^  Strabo,  xiii.  p.  897. 

byses  to  succeed  him  (i.  208j,  and  Darius  ^  The  oflerings  at  Delphi  and  at  the  shrine 

nominates   Xerxes    (vii.   3).      In    connexion  of  Amphiaraiis  are  declared  by  Herodotus  to 

with  the  latter  case  Herodotus  speaks  of  the  have  been  wholly  from  this  source,  and  may 

practice  as  "  a  law  of  the  Persians"  (/caro  in  some  degi'ee  indicate  its  amplitude.     They 

t6v  Uepaewv  vofj-ov).     It  has  always  pre-  were  the  first-fruits  {airapx'h)  of  his  inhe- 

vailed  in  the   East.     See  1  Kings,  i.  12-40  ritance ;  the  en^iVe  sum  obtained  by  conlisca- 

(where,  however,  there  is  something   more  tion   was   laid  out   in    offerings,  and   from 

like  an   installation  than  is    usual   in   such  hence  were  derived  the  gifts  at  Branchidne.  at 

cjises),  and  Ockley's  History  of  the  Saracens  Ephesus,  and  at  the  temple  of  Jupit«r  Isme- 

(Bohn's  edit.),  pp.  138,  430,  452.  nius  in  Thebes  (Herod,  i.  92). 

^  In  the  first  passage  (i.  92)  Herodotus 

X  2 


308  HIS  ENORMOUS  WEALTH.  App.  Book  I. 

cannot  be  questioned ;  for  Herodotus  had  himself  seen  the  ingots  of 
solid  gold,  six  palms  long,  three  broad,  and  one  deep  (the  size  of  a 
tall  folio  volume,  of  about  the  usual  thickness),  which,  to  the  number 
of  one  hundred  and  seventeen,  were  laid  up  in  the  treasury  at  Delphi 
— ^proof  at  once  of  the  riches  and  of  the  munificence  of  the  princely 
donor.  He  had  also  beheld  in  various  parts  of  Greece  the  following 
offerings,  all  in  gold,  which  had  been  deposited  in  the  Greek  temples 
by  the  same  opulent  monarch :  a  figure  of  a  lion,  probably  of  the 
natural  size ;  a  wine-bowl  of  about  the  same  weight  as  the  lion  ;  a 
lustral  vase  ;  a  statue  of  a  female,  said  to  be  Croesus's  baking-woman, 
four  feet  and  a  half  high  ;  a  shield  and  spear ;  a  tripod ;  some  figures 
of  cows,  and  a  number  of  pillars  ;  and  a  second  shield,  in  a  difterent 
place  from  the  first,  and  of  greater  size/  Nor  is  there  any  improba- 
bility in  the  tradition  which  he  has  mentioned,  that  the  offerings  of 
Croesus  to  the  oracular  shrine  at  Branchidse,  which  had  been  carried 
off  by  the  Persians  on  the  occasion  of  the  Ionian  revolt,  were  similar 
in  character  and  equal  in  value  to  the  gifts  at  Delphi.^ 

21.  The  wealth  of  Croesus,  therefore,  must  be  regarded  as  an 
established  fact.  The  same  historical  character  attaches  to  his  con- 
quests, his  alliances,  his  consultation  of  the  Greek  oracles,  and 
particular  satisfaction  with  those  of  Delphi  and  Amphiaraiis,  his 
invasion  of  the  dominions  of  Cyrus  and  its  consequences,  the  fall  of 
Sardis,  and  his  own  captivity.  The  narrative,  however,  into  which 
these  materials  have  been  worked  up,  is  altogether  of  a  poetic  cha- 
racter. It  seems  as  if  the  imagination  of  the  Greeks  had  been  struck 
with  peculiar  force  by  the  spectacle  of  that  great  reverse  of  fortune 
whereof  the  Lydian  king  was  the  victim.  The  tragedy  had  been 
acted,  as  it  were,  under  their  eyes  ;  and  it  was  a  sight  altogether 
new  to  them.  They  had  seen  the  rapid  rise  and  growth  of  a  mag- 
nificent empire  upon  their  borders,  and  had  felt  its  irresistible  might 
in  opposition  to  themselves :  they  had  been  dazzled  by  the  lavish 
display  of  a  wealth  exceeding  all  that  their  poets  had  ever  fabled  of 
Colchis  or  Hesperia:  they  had  no  doubt  shared  in  the  confident 
expectation  of  further  conquests  with  which  the  warrior-prince,  at 
the  head  of  his  unvanquished  bands,  had  crossed  the  Halys  to  attack 
his  unknown  enemy.  And  they  had  been  spectators  of  the  result. 
"Within  a  few  weeks  the  prosperous  and  puissant  monarch,  master  of 
untold  treasures,  ruler  over  thirteen  nations,  lord  of  all  Asia  from 
the  Halys  to  the  sea,  was  a  captive  and  a  beggar,  the  miserable 
dependant  upon  the  will  of  a  despot  whose  anger  he  had  provoked. 
Such  a  catastrophe  had  in  it  something  peculiarly  calculated  to 
excite  the  feelings  of  the  Greeks.  Accordingly,  the  story  of  Croesus 
seems  to  have  become  to  the  romancers^  of  the  period  what  the  old 

7  See  Herod,  i.  50,  51,  and  92.  depended  on  their  being  applied  to  military 

^  Ta    eV    Bpa7xi5770't    rrjai    MtKrfo-iuv  purposes    (Herod,  v.  3(5). 
auad-nixara    Kpoiacf,    cbs  iyci)  TTvuddvofiai,         ^  Although  the  \oyoiroiol  of  the  Greeks 

t  (Ta  T  e   (XT  ad  fxov  k  a\   6  ixo7a  rolai  may  not  exactly  correspond  to  the  romancers 

iv    A€K(po7(TL    (Herod,    i.    92).       They  of  the  middle  ages  or  of  more  recent  times, 

were  of  such  value  that,  at  the  brealcing  out  since  they  certainly  affected  somewhat  more 

of  the  Ionian  revolt,  it  was  thought  by  one  of  an  historic  character,  yet  the  notices  which 

of  the  wisest  of  the  Greeks,  Hecata.'us  the  remain    to   us    seem   to  indicate  that  their 

Milesian,  that  the  success   of  the    struggle  writings  in  reahty  partook  far  more  of  the 


Essay  L 


STORY  OF  GRGESUS  PARTLY  MYTHIC. 


309 


heroic  tale  of  CEdipus  was  to  the  tragedians/  the  type  of  human 
instability.  On  the  original  historic  facts  were  engrafted  from  time 
to  time  such  incidents  as  the  fancy  of  each  writer  deemed  appro- 
priate, and  the  whole  gradually  took  the  perfect  form  which  delights 
us  in  Herodotus.  The  warning  of  Solon — even,  it  may  be,  his  visit 
to  Sardis — the  coming  of  the  I'hrygian  prince  Adrastus,'^  the  death 
of  Atys,^  the  profound  grief  of  the  father,  the  marvellous  answers  of 
the  oracles,  the  recovery  of  speech  by  the  dumb  son,  the  scene  upon 
the  funeral  pyre,  the  reproach  addressed  to  Apollo  and  his  reply — • 
all  these  seem  to  be  subsequent  additions  to  the  original  historic 
outline,  whereby  it  was  filled  up  in  accordance  with  Greek  concep- 
tions of  the  fitness  of  things.  Nor  did  the  romancers  stop  at  the 
point  of  greatest  perfection,  that,  namely,  to  which  the  tale  had 
reached  in  the  days  of  Herodotus,  or  which  perhaps  it  owed  to  his 
good  taste  and  true  poetic  feeling.  In  after  times  the  same  inventive 
spirit  was  at  work,  and  later  authors  continued  to  embellish  with 
further  details  and  fresh  incidents,  the  story  of  the  fall  of  Croesus. 
A  fragment  of  such  an  improved  version  of  the  tale  remains  in 
Damascenus,  by  which  we  may  learn  something  of  the  mode  in  which 
the  Herodotean  legend  was  formed.     [A.] 


[Note  A.]- 


The     tale    in     Damascenus     runs     as 
follows : — 

"  Cyrus  pitied  Croesus,  but  the  Per- 
sians were  angry  with  him  and  raised  a 
mighty  funeral  pyre  at  the  foot  of  a 
lofty  hill,  from  whicb  they  intended  to 
behold  the  spectacle  of  his  suffering. 
The  royal  train  came  forth  from  the 
palace-gate  and  the  king  himself  was  in 
the  midst,  and  all  around  strangers  and 
citizens  were  flocking  to  see  the  sight. 
A  little  while  and  the  officers  appeared 
leading  their  prisoner  in  his  chains,  and 
with  him  twice  seven  Lydians  ;  then 
there  burst  from  the  multitude  of  the 
city  a  piercing  crj — men  and  women 
alike  weeping  and  beating  their  breasts. 
The  lamentation  when  the  town  was 
taken  was  not  to  be  compared  with  this 
for  bitterness;  he  must  have  been  hard 
of  heart  who  could  have  stood  by  and 


not  pitied  the  calamity  of  the  fallen 
prince  or  admired  the  love  of  his  people 
to  him  ;  for  all  gazed  upon  him  as  if  he 
had  been  their  father,  and  at  the  sight 
some  rent  their  garments  and  others  tore 
their  hair,  and  there  was  a  great  multi- 
tude of  women  who  led  the  way  with 
wailing  and  beating  of  the  breast;  he 
himself  went  forward  without  a  tear, 
but  with  a  grave,  sad  countenance.  All 
this  time  Cyrus  did  not  interfere,  but 
let  things  take  their  course,  in  hopes 
that  some  touch  of  compassion  would 
move  the  hearts  of  the  Persians.  Now 
when  Croesus  came  opposite  to  the  place 
where  Cyrus  sat,  he  cried  to  the  king 
with  a  loud  voice  entreating  to  be 
allowed  to  see  his  son — it  was  his  son 
who  had  been  dumb  and  had  recovered 
his  speech  whom  he  wished  to  see — who 
now  spake  readily  and  was  a  youth  of 


nature  of  romances  than  of  historical  narra- 
tives.    (See  Thucyd.  i.  21.) 

1  Note  the  correspondency  between  the 
lines  with  which  Sophocles  concludes  the 
(Edipus  Tyrannus  and  the  words  of  warning 
addressed  by  Solon  to  Croesus  (Herod,  i.  32). 

^  Phrygia,  at  the  time  when  Adrastus  flies 
to  Sardis  for  protection,  is  already  a  province 
of  the  Lydian  empire  (Herod,  i.  28).  The 
story  makes  it  independent.     Adrastus  is  a 


purely  Greek  name,  which  a  Phrygian  prince 
is  not  likely  to  have  borne. 

3  The  name  Atys  is  enough  to  cause  sus- 
picion. Apart  from  its  supposed  significance 
(see  Mure's  Lit,  of  Greece,  vol.  iv.  p.  326), 
it  is  a  name  belonging  to  the  purely  mythic 
period,  the  period  of  the  so-called  first  dy- 
nasty. None  of  the  names  of  that  period 
seem  to  have  been  in  use  among  the  Merin- 
nadse. 


310 


LATEST  FOEM  OF  THE 


A  pp.  Book  T. 


sense  and  feeling.  Cyrus  ordered  him 
to  be  brought,  and  presently  he  arrived 
with  a  goodly  company  of  his  companions 
following  after  him.  Then  Croesus  was 
no  longer  himself,  but  for  the  first  time 
began  to  weep.  The  youth,  with  many 
tears  and  cries,  fell  on  his  father's  neck, 
and  said  sobbing,  '  Alas  !  father,  for  thy 
piety  !  will  the  gods  never  succour  us  V 
Then,  addressing  himself  to  the  Persians, 
he  exclaimed,  '  Take  me  also,  I  beseech 
you,  and  burn  me  with  him  on  the  pyre; 
I  was  not  a  whit  less  your  enemy  than 
he.'  But  Croesus  rejoined,  '  Thou  sayest 
not  true,  son;  'tis  I  alone  who  am  to 
blame  for  beginning  the  war,  not  thou, 
nor  thy  companions,  nor  any  of  the  rest 
of  the  Lydians.  It  is  just,  therefore, 
that  I  should  bear  the  punishment,' 
But  the  youth  clung  closely  to  his 
father  and  would  not  let  go,  all  the 
while  uttering  the  saddest  cries,  so  that 
all  were  filled  with  pity,  and  exhorting 
the  Persians  to  take  them  both  together 
to  the  pyre.  '  For/  said  he  to  Croesus, 
'  be  sure  I  will  not  survive  thy  death, 
my  father.  If  they  will  not  let  me  die 
with  thee  now,  expect  me  shortly.  Have 
I  any  hope  in  life -I,  who  from  my 
birth  have  been  nothing  but  a  burthen 
both  to  myself  and  thee  ?  When  thou 
wert  prosperous  I  was  fain  to  avoid  thy 
sight,  through  the  shame  I  felt  at  my 
infirmity.  It  was  not  till  calamity  over- 
took us  that  T  found  a  voice,  which  the 
gods  seem  only  to  have  bestowed  on  me 
that  I  might  be  able  to  bewail  our  mis- 
fortunes,' The  father  answered,  '  At 
thy  age,  my  son,  it  cannot  but  be  wrong 
to  despair;  many  years  of  life  are  before 
thee ;  even  I  have  not  laid  aside  all  hope 
of  some  help  from  heaven,*  As  he  was 
speaking,  there  came  up  a  train  of 
female  slaves,  who  brought  costly 
dresses  and  all  manner  of  rich  orna- 
ments, which  the  Lydian  women  had 
sent  to  adorn  the  funeral-pyre  of  their 
king.  Then  Croesus  embraced  his  son 
and  the  Lydians  who  stood  near,  and 
mounted  the  pile.  The  youth,  with 
hands  outstretched  towards  heaven, 
prayed  thus: — '  0!  King  Apollo,  and  all 
ye  gods  whom  my  father  was  wont  to 
honour,  descend  now  to  our  aid,  lest  all 
religion  perish  from  the  earth  together 
with  Croesus.'  With  this  he  sought  to 
cast  fiimself  also  upon  the  pyre,  but  his 
friends  laid  hold  of  him  and  prevented 
him.  In  the  mean  time,  just  as  Croesus 
was  going  up,  the  Sibyl  was  observed 
descending  fi'um  an  eminence  and  coming 
towards  the  place  to  see  what  was 
happening.     Straightway  a  murmur  ran 


tlirough  the  crowd  that  the  pro])hetes3 
was  approaching,  and  they  were  all 
acape  to  hear  if  she  would  deliver  any 
divine  message  about  Croesus.  She  did 
not  disappoint  them,  but  after  a  brief 
space  thus  exclaimed,  in  an  earnest  and 
impassioned  tone: — 

'  Wretches,  wherefore  so  hot  upon  mischief  that 

will  not  be  suffered  ? 
Jove  the  supreme,  and  Phoebus  forbid  it,  and 

Aniphiaraus. 
Hark  to  the  truth-speaking  voice  of  the  seer, 

and  beware  of  offending 
Heaven  by  your  folly,  for  so  ye  will  bring  on. 

you  swift  destruction.' 

Cyrus  heard  what  she  said,  and  imme- 
diately sent  heralds  to  spread  the  oracle 
among  the  Persians  ;  but  they  suspected 
that  the  Sibyl  had  been  practised  upon, 
and  came  for  the  express  purpose  of 
saving  Croesus.  He  the  while  sate  upon 
the  pyre,  and  with  him  the  twice-seven 
Lydians,  and  the  Persians  with  burning 
torches  stood  around  and  set  the  pyre 
alight.  Then  there  was  a  silence,  in 
the  midst  of  which  Croesus  was  heard 
to  groan  deeply  and  thrice  utter  the 
name  of  Solon.  Cyrus  wept  at  the 
sound,  bethinking  himself  how  greatly 
he  was  angering  the  gods  by  yielding  to 
the  will  of  the  Persians,  and  burning  a 
prince  his  equal  in  rank,  and,  once,  in 
fortune.  And  now  some  of  the  Persians 
left  Croesus  and  gathered  around  their 
king,  and,  seeing  how  sorrowful  he  was, 
entreated  him  to  have  the  flames  ex- 
tinguished. So  Cyrus  sent  his  orders  to 
put  out  the  fire ;  but  the  pile  was  by 
this  time  in  a  blaze,  and  burnt  so  fiercely 
that  no  one  could  venture  to  approach 
near  to  it.  Then  it  is  said  that  Croesus 
looked  up  to  heaven  and  besought  Apollo 
to  come  to  his  aid,  since  his  very  enemies 
were  now  willing  to  save  him,  but 
lacked  the  power.  It  was  a  gusty  day, 
with  a  strong  east  wind  blowing,  but  as 
yet  there  had  been  no  rain.  As  Croesus 
prayed,  the  air  grew  suddenly  dark,  and 
clouds  collected  together  from  all  quar- 
ters, with  much  thunder  and  lightning, 
and  such  a  storm  of  rain  burst  forth 
that,  while  it  completely  extinguished 
the  blazing  pyre,  it  almost  drowned 
those  who  were  seated  thereupon ;  so 
the  Persians  speedily  stretched  a  purple 
awning  over  Croesus,  and  great  fear  fell 
upon  them  all.  Terrified  by  the  dark- 
ness and  the  violent  wind,  and  still  more 
by  the  thunder,  and  struck  by  the  hoofs 
of  the  horses,  which  were  rendered  restiff 
by  the  storm,  they  trembled  with  affright : 
and  as  they  thought  of  the  warning  of 
the  Sibyl  and  of  the  oracles  of  Zoroaster, 
they  called  yet  more  loudly  upon  Cyrus 


Essay  I. 


STORY  OF  CRCEgUS. 


311 


to  spare  Croesus,  and,  prostrating  them- 
selves upon  the  ground,  besought  the 
gods  to  pardon  them.  Some  say  that 
Thales  had  foreseen,  from  certain  signs 
which  he  had  observed,  that  there  would 
be  a  storm,  and  expected  it  exactly  at 
the  time  it  happened.  Thenceforth  the 
Persians  began  to  observe  the  law  of 
Zoroaster,  which  forbade  the  burning  of 
dead  bodies,  or  any  other  pollution  of 
the  element  of  fire;  and  so  the  ancient 
ordinance,  which  had  been  neglected, 
was  established  among  th(;m.  Cyrus 
after  this  took  Croesus  with  him  to  his 
palace,  and  comfoz'ted  him,  and  spake 
friendly  words  to  him,  for  he  thought 
that  he  was  the  most  religious  of  men; 
he  also  exhorted  him,  if  he  had  any 
request  to  make,  not  to  be  afraid  to 
speak  out  boldly  and  tell  it.  Then  said 
Croesus,  '  Oh !  my  lord,  since  thou  art  so 


gracious  to  thy  servant,  permit  me,  I 
beseech  thee,  to  send  these  gyves  to 
Delphi,  and  to  ask  the  God  what  I  ever 
did  to  him  that  he  should  entice  me  by 
deceiving  oracles  to  make  war  on  thee 
in  the  confident  hope  of  victory,  only  to 
gain  such  first-fruits  as  these'  (here  he 
pointed  to  hiis  fetters),  'and  whex-efore 
there  is  such  forgetfulness  of  benefits  on 
the  part  of  the  Grecian  gods  V  Cyrus 
granted  his  request  with  a  smile,  and 
promised  him  equal  success  when  he 
should  ask  greater  favours.  In  a  little 
time  the  two  princes  became  close 
friends,  and  Cyrus  gave  Croesus  back  his 
wives  and  children,  and  took  him  with 
him.  when  he  went  away  from  Sardis. 
Some  say  he  would  have  made  him 
governor  of  the  place  if  he  had  not  been 
fearful  of  his  rebelling." 


312 


LYDIAN  EMPIKE. 


App.  Book  I. 


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514  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ASIA  MINOR.  App.  Book  I., 


ESSAY   II 


ON  THE  PHYSICAL  AND  POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ASIA  MINOR. 

1.  Physical  Geography  of  Asia  Minor  —  Shape,  dimensions,  and  boundaries. 
2.  Great  central  Plateau.  3.  Division  of  Plateau  —  L,ake  region  —  Northern 
flat  —  Rivers  which  drain  the  latter  —  (i.)  The  Yechil-Irmak,  or  Iris  —  (ii.)  The 
Kizil-Trmak^  or  Halys  —  (iii-)  The  Sakkaritjeh,  or  Sangarius.  4.  Coast  tracts 
outside  the  Plateau:  (i.)  Southern — (ii.)  JSTorthern  —  (iii.)  Western.  5.  Its 
rivers.  6.  Its  general  character.  7.  Political  Geography.  8.  Fifteen  nations: 
(i.)  Phrygians  —  (ii.)  Matieni  —  (iii.)  Cilicians  —  (iv.)  Pamphylians  —  (v.) 
Lycians  —  (vi.)  Caunians  —  (vii.)  Carians  —  (viii.)  Lydians — (ix.)  Greeks  — 
(x.)  Mysians  —  (xi.)  Thracians  —  (xii.)  Mariandynians  —  (xiii.)  Paphlagonians 
(xiv.)  Chalybes  —  (xv.)  Cappadocians.  9.  Comparison  of  Herodotus  with 
Ephorus. 

1 .  Asia  Minor,  or  the  Peninsula  of  Anatolia,  is  in  form  an  irregular 
parallelogram,  facing  the  four  cardinal  points,  in  length  from  west 
to  east  about  650  miles,  in  average  breadth  from  north  to  south 
350  miles.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  b}^  the  Euxine  {Black  Sea) 
and  Propontis  (Sea  of  Marmora) ;  on-  the  west  by  the  ^Egean ;  on 
the  south  by  the  Mediterranean ;  on  the  east  by  an  imaginary  line, 
bearing  M.N.E.  from  the  north-eastern  angle  of  the  gulf  of  Issus 
(Iskenderun)  to  Ordou  (long.  37°  52',  lat.  40^  57')  on  the  Euxine.' 
Its  size  is  somewhat  more  than  half  that  of  France. 

2.  The  greater  part  of  the  peninsula  consists  of  a  high  plateau 
or  table-land,  enclosed  by  the  range  of  Taurus  on  the  south,  and  on 
the  north  by  another  line  of  mountains  of  less  elevation,  which 
branches  from  the  Georgian  Caucasus,  and  under  various  names 
runs  across  the  peninsula  from  east  to  west,  at  an  average  distance 
of  50  or  60  miles  fi'om  the  shore,  joining  the  Mysian  Olympus, 
between  Nicsea  (Isnik)  and  Dorylaeum  (Eski  Shaher),  in  lat.  40"^, 
long.  30°.  A  lateral  ridge,  rising  but  slightly  above  the  level  of 
the  plateau,  connects  Mount  Taurus  with  the  Mysian  Ol^'mpus,  and 
forms  the  western  boundary  of  the  elevated  tract  in  question.  This 
ridge  may  be  regarded  as  commencing  near  Buldur  (lat.  38^,  long. 
30°  20'),  and  running  in  a  direction  a  little  west  of  north  to  Kud- 
shalak,  a  small  village  about  half-way  between  Prusa  (Brussa)  and 
CotyEeum  (Kutahii/eh).  On  the  east  the  plateau  stretches  up  to  the 
roots  of  Anti-Taurus,  Paryadres,  and  other  divergent  branches  from 
the  great  mountain-cluster  of  Armenia. 

The  length  of  this  plateau  may  be  estimated  at  500,  its  average 


1  It   has  been  customary  to    reckon    the  and  Kerasunt,  in  the  ancient  country  of  the 

isthmus  as  lying  between  the  gulfs  of  Issus  eastern  Chalybians.     According  to  the  maps, 

and  Araisus  {SMUisoun) ;  but  recent  observa-  Ordou  seems  to  be  about  the  nearest  point, 

tions  have  shown  that  the  shortest  line  from  (See  Renuell's  Geography  of  Western  Asia, 

sea  to  sea  is  from  the  north-east  angle  of  the  vol.  i.  p.  337,  and  the  Maps  of  Mr.  Hamilton.) 
gulf  of  Issus  to  some  point  between  Fatsa 


Essay  II.      DIVISIONS  OF  GREAT  CENTRAL  PLATEAU.  315 

breadth  at  250  miles.  Thus  it  occupies  above  one-half  of  the 
peninsula. 

3.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  whole  of  this  region  forms 
a  single  plain.  On  the  south-east  and  south,  numerous  high  lidges, 
with  a  direction  for  the  most  part  from  south-east  to  north-west, 
isolate  from  the  more  northern  portion  of  the  plateau  tracts  of  con- 
siderable size,  the  waters  of  which  do  not  flow  to  the  sea,  but,  like 
those  of  Thibet,  Candahar,  and  central  Persia,  form  rivers  which 
end  in  lakes  that  have  no  outlet.^  Such  are  the  plains  of  Egerdir, 
Ak-Shehr,  JIghun,  Koniyeh,  Bey-Shehr^  Erkle,  Karahissar,  &c.^  Such 
again  is  the  great  central  plain,  wherein  is  situated  the  vast  salt 
lake  of  Touz-Ghieid,  the  ancient  Palus  Tatteea.  The  breadth  of  this 
lake-region  is  from  80  to  130  miles.  Above  it  the  land  is  more 
level,  varied  only  by  hills  of  moderate  height,  and  occasionally 
expanding  into  enormous  flats,  particularly  towards  the  centre  or 
axis  of  the  peninsula.*  The  dip  of  the  plateau  above  the  lake 
region  is  to  the  north,  and  the  whole  tract  is  drained  by  three  great 
rivers,  which  force  their  way  through  narrow  gorges  in  the  northern 
mountain-chain,  and  discharge  their  waters  into  the  Euxine.  These 
are  the  Yechil-Irmak  (the  ancient  Iris),  the  Kizil-Irmak  (or  Halys), 
and  the  Sakkariyeh  (or  Sangarius). 

(i.)  The  Yechil-Irmak  is  the  most  eastern  of  the  three,  and  drains 
a  district  of  far  less  extent  than  either  of  the  others.  It  is  formed 
of  three  principal  streams,  the  largest- of  which,  the  ancient  Lycus, 
descends  from  the  Armenian  mountains,  and  does  not  belong  pro- 
perly to  the  region  under  consideration.     The  other  two,  the  central 


2  Colonel  Leake  thus  describes  one  of  these  level,  and  the  peculiarity  of  their  extending, 

tracts,   the    plain    of    Iconium    {Koniyeh) :  without  any  previous  slope,  to  the  foot  of  the 

"  Soon  after  we  had  quitted  this  spot,  we  mountains,  which  rise  from  them  like  lofty 

entered    upon   a    ridge    branching   eastward  islands  out   of  the    surface   of  the   ocean" 

from  the  great  mountains  on  our  right,  and  (p.  95). 

forming  the  northern  boundary  of  the  plain         ^  Colonel  Leake  travelled  along  this  lake 

of  Koiiia.     On  the  descent  from  this  ridge  country  from  Bidwudun  to  Karaindn,  a  dis- 

we  came  in  sight  of  the  vast  plain  around  tance  of  above  150  miles,  through  the  plains 

that  city,  and  of  the  lake  which  occupies  the  Ak-Shehr,  Ilghun,  Koniyeh,  and  Kassabd,  to 

middle  of  it ;  and  we  saw  the  city  with  its  the  northern  foot  of  Taurus,  near  Karamdn. 

mosques  and  ancient  walls,  still  at  a  distance  He  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  sort 

of  12  or  14  miles  from  us.     To  the  north-  of  country  extended  to  the  north-east  as  far  as 

east  nothing  appeared  to  interrupt  the  vast  Mount  Argjeus  {Erdjish),  and  to  the  west  as 

expanse  but  tvvo  very  lofty  summits  covered  far  as  Buldur.     (See  his  map,  prefixed  to  the 

with  snow, at  a  great  distance.     They  can  be  Travels  in  Asia  Minor.)     His  opinions  have 

no  other  than  the  summits  of  Mount  Argaeus  been   confirmed  by  more   recent  travellers, 

above  Kesaria,  and  are  consequently  a  Imn-  (See    Fellows's   Asia    Minor,    p.    160 ;    Ha- 

dred  and  fifty  miles  distant  from  us,  in  a  milton's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  284-313.) 
direct   line.       To   the   south-east   the   same         "*  Sir  C.  Fellows  thus  describes  the  country 

plains   extend  as  far   as   the   mountains  of  near   Cotyaeum :  "  We  continued  the  ascent 

Karaman  (Taurus) We  were  much  for  an  hour,  and  I  fully  expected  to  find  my- 

struck  with  the  appearance  of  a  remarkable  self  on  a  barren  summit ;  but  what  was  my 

insulated  mountain  called  Karadagh surprise,  on  reaching  the  top,  at  seeing  before 

It  is  about  60  miles  distant,  and  beyond  it  are  me  meadows  and  cultivated  land  for  twenty 
seen  some  of  the  summits  of  the  Karaman  mzYes/ "  (pp.  125-6.)  These  table-lands  con- 
range,  which  cannot  be  less  than  ninety  miles  tinued  nearly  to  Lake  Ascania  (pp.  130,  150, 
from  us." — Journal  of  a  Tour  in  Asia  Minor,  155,  &c.).  Colonel  Leake  saw  similar  tracts 
P-  45.  towards  the  north,  on  his  road  from  Bulwu- 


Afterwards  he  observes  :  "  A  characteristic 


of  these  Asiatic  plains  is  the  exactness  of  the     45,  96,  97,  &c.). 


dun  to  Karamdn  (Travels  in  Asia  Minor,  pp. 


316  KIVERS.  App.  Book  T. 

one,  regarded  by  the  ancients  as  the  Upper  Iris,  and  the  western, 
which  was  called  the  Sc3'lax,  carry  off  the  waters  from  a  tract  which 
lies,  as  it  were,  within  the  basin  of  the  Juzil-Irmak,  being  a  portion 
of  the  ancient  Cappadocia.  Of  this  region  very  little  is  known  ; 
compared  to  the  central  and  western  portions  of  the  plateau,  it 
seems  to  be  rough  and  mountainous.^ 

(ii.)  The  great  river  of  Asia  Minor  is  the  Kizil-Irmak,^  or  ancient 
Halys.  Its  real  source  is  in  Armenia,  near  the  city  of  Siwas  (Sebaste), 
whence  it  flows  with  a  western  or  south-western  course,  receiving 
many  tributaries  on  its  way,  as  far  as  Kesariyeh  (the  ancient  Ca3sarea- 
Mazaca),  in  long.  35°  20'.  Soon  after  it  turns  to  the  north-west, 
and  receives  the  streams  flowing  from  the  northern  flank  of  the 
range  of  hills,  which,  branching  from  Mount  Arg^us,  near  Kesariyeh, 
passes  to  the  north  of  Lake  Tatta,  and  there  sinks  into  the  plain. 
The  augmented  stream  then  proceeds  northward  by  a  bold  sweep 
towards  the  west,  and,  forcing  its  way  through  the  northern  range 
near  Osmaiijik,  runs  into  the  Euxine  within  about  40  miles  of  the 
Yechil-lrmak.  The  basin  drained  by  this  stream  is  thus  about  300 
miles  in  its  greatest  width,  and  175  miles  from  north  to  south,  be- 
tween Mount  Argoeiis  and  the  gorge  at  Osmaiijik. 

(iii.)  The  third  river,  the  Safikariyeh,  or  Sangarius,  like  the  Iris, 
has  three  principal  branches.  The  easternmost,  called  at  present 
the  Enguri  Su,  rises  beyond  Ancyra  (Enguri),  but  a  few  leagues 
from  the  banks  of  the  Halys.  After  running  about  70  miles  with 
a  course  nearly  due  west,  it  joins  the  central  stream,  which  is  re- 
garded by  the  Turks  as  the  main  river,  and  called  the  Sakkariyeh. 
This  branch  springs  from  the  flanks  of  the  great  mountain.  Emir 
Dagh,  near  Buhvudun,  and  flows  north-east  to  the  point  of  junction. 
From  thence,  until  its  union  with  the  third  stream,  the  Fursek,  or 
ancient  Thymbrias,  the  course  of  the  Sakkariyeh  is  very  imperfectly 
known.  Its  general  direction  is  still  westward,  but  after  receiving 
the  Fursek,  or  river  of  Kutahiyeh,  from  the  west,  it  turns  northward 
making  (like  the  Kizil-Irmak)  a  bold  westerly  sweep,  and  pierces 
the  northern  mountain-chain  near  Shughut,  after  which  it  runs  with 
almost  a  straight  course  into  the  Euxine.  The  tract  of  country 
which  it  drains  is  an  oblong,  about  200  miles  across  from  the  hills 
east  of  Ancyra  to  the  mountains  west  of  Cotyaeum,  and  100  miles 
from  north  to  south,  between  the  range  of  Emir-Dagli  and  the  Bithy- 
nian  Olympus. 

4.  Outside  the  high  central  plateau,  which  has  been  described, 
on  three  sides,  southward,  westward,  and  northward,  lie  strips  of 
territory.     These  tracts  require  separate  consideration. 

(i.)  The  range  of  Taurus,  which  bounds  the  central  plateau  on 
the  side  of  the  Mediterranean,  like  the  European  mountain-ranges 
whos(5  direction  is  the  same,  presents  its  steep  side  to  the  south. 
Erom  the  summit  of  the  chain,  distant  in  general  about  60  or  70 
miles  from  the  coast,  the  descent  into  the  valleys  of  Lycia,  Pam- 
phylia,  and  Cilicia,  is  rapid  and  precipitous.  These  valleys,  which 
are  narrow  and  numerous,  and  have  a  o;eneral  direction  from  north 


^  Hamilton's  Travels  in  Asia  Minor,  Pou-  |       ^  Called  also  the  Atoe,  or  Atoe-Sii.    Kizil- 
tus,  and  Armenia  (a'oI.  i.  pp.  344-365).  [  Innak  is  merely  "Red  River." 


Essay  II.       COAST  TRACTS  OUTSIDE  THE  PLATEAU.  317 

to  south,  are  separated  from  eacli  other  by  lateral  spurs  from  the 
great  chain,  of  an  elevation  very  little  inferior  to  that  of  Taurus 
itself^  In  two  places  only  along  the  w^hole  southern  coast  do  the 
valleys  expand  into  plains — at  Adalia  (the  ancient  Attalia)  in  Pam- 
phylia,  and  near  Tersoos  (or  Tarsus),  where  the  vast  alluvium, 
formed  by  the  three  streams  of  the  Cydnus  ( lersoos  Chai),  the  Sarus 
{Sihun),  and  the  Pyramus  (Jyhuii)y  has  created  the  extensive  flat 
M^hich  gave  to  the  eastern  portion  of  Cilicia  the  name  of  Cilicia 
Campestris.^  Elsewhere,  along  the  whole  line  of  coast,  the  moun- 
tains descend  abruptly  into  the  Mediterranean,  except  where  the 
small  streams,  which  carry  off  the  waters  from  the  south  side  of 
Taurus,  reach  the  sea. 

The  principal  of  these  streams  is  the  Calycadnus,  or  Ghiuk-Sooyou, 
w^hich  has  formed  at  its  mouth  a  delta  of  considerable  extent.  Un- 
like the  other  streams  of  Cilicia  and  Pamphylia,  this  river  flows 
from  west  to  east,  or  more  strictly  from  N.W.  by  AV.,  to  S.E.  by  E. 
A  spur  from  Taurus,^  which  leaves  the  main  ridge  in  long.  32°  15', 
and  projects  towards  the  coast  in  a  direction  at  first  south,  then 
south-east,  and  finally  east,  leaves  between  Taurus  and  itself  a  large 
tract  which  can  only  be  drained  by  a  water-course  with  this  bear- 
ing. The  whole  region  is  mountainous  in  the  extreme,  forming  a 
portion  of  the  ancient  Cilicia  Trachea.  Kumerous  valleys  from  the 
flanks  of  Taurus,  and  others  from  the  spur  itself,  the  ancient  Im- 
barus  (?),  converge,  and  their  several  'streams  uniting  above  Selefke 
(Seleucia)  form  the  Calycadnus,  which  at  present  reaches  the  sea 
about  ten  miles  below  that  city.  No  other  river  along  the  entire 
south  coast,  except  perhaps  the  Pyramus,  is  to  be  compared  with 
this  either  for  size  or  volume. 

Such  are  the  principal  features  of  the  southern  tract,  a  narrow 
and  somewhat  winding  strip  of  territory,  extending  from  the  Gulf 
of  Issus  on  the  east,  to  that  of  Mandelyeh  (lassus)  on  the  west,  a 
distance  of  nearly  600  miles,  and  varying  in  breadth  from  20  to  70 
miles. 

(ii.)  Opposite  to  this  tract,  upon  the  north,  lies  a  strip  of  terri- 
tory, somewhat  broader  and  far  less  mountainous,  650  miles  from 
east  to  west,  and  from  40  to  100  miles  across.  Of  this  district, 
with  the  exception  of  its  western  portion,  the  ancient  Mysia  and 


7  The  elevation  of  Mount  Taurus  is  not  Campus  Aleius).  But  the  fact  is  that  the 
very  great.  The  highest  peaks  are  said  to  be  river  has,  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
about  nine  or  ten  thousand  feet  above  the  changed  its  course.  Anciently  it  ran  through 
level  of  the  sea.  Leake  even  (p.  104)  calls  a  the  middle  of  the  Campus  Aleius,  and  reached 
summit  between  six  and  seven  thousand  feet  the  sea  to  the  west  of  the  promontory  of 
high  "  one  of  the  highest  in  the  range  of  Karadash  (Megarsus),  as  Kiepert  rightly 
Taurus."  Many  peaks  in  the  lateral  ranges  shows  upon  his  map.  (Pamphylia,  Kilikia, 
have  been  found  by  observation  to  be  nearly  und  Kypros.  Compare  Beaufort's  Kara- 
5000  feet.     Mount  Takhtalu,  a  continuation  mania,  pp.  285-8.) 

of  Climax,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Lycia,  is         ^  Called   incorrectly  by  Major   Rennell  a 

7800    feet.       (See    Beaufort's    Karamania,  second  ridge,  parallel  to  Tam'us  (Geography 

p.  57.)  of  Western  Asia,  vol,  ii.  pp.  78-9).     Kie- 

8  The  Jyhun  (Pyramus)  foils  now  into  the  pert's  map  exhibits  the  true  nature  of  the 
Gulf  of  Issus,  and  may  seem  therefore  to  have  ridge,  which  breaks  away  from  the  main 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  formation  of  the  chain  in  long.  30°  (East  from  Paris),  or 
great  alluvial  plain  of  Adana  (the  ancient  32°  15'  (East  from  Greenicich).. 


318  RIVERS  OF  THE  WESTERN  REGION.      App.  Book  I. 

Bithynia,  modern  Europeans  have  but  a  very  scanty  knowledge. 
It  appears,  from  such  notices  as  are  procurable,  to  be,  in  its  central 
parts,  between  the  Iris  and  Sangarius,  a  level  and  fertile  country, 
well-watered  and  well-wooded,  but  not  possessing  any  very  marked 
or  striking  features.  Eastward  of  the  Iris,  and  wcNtward  of  the 
Sangarius,  the  character  of  the  region  is  somewhat  different.  The 
rivers  run  in  narrow  valleys,  or  ravines,  and  the  intermediate 
country  is  wild  and  rocky,  scarcely  admitting  of  cultivation.  V\  est- 
ward  of  the  Sangarius,  there  are  a  few  alluvial  plains,  on  the  borders 
of  the  great  lakes,  which  now  only  occupy  a  portion  of  their  original 
beds. 

(iii.)  The  third  tract,  which  lies  westward  of  the  plateau,  inter- 
vening between  it  and  the  ^gean,  is  in  form  nearly  a  triangle, 
of  which  the  coast-line  forms  the  base,  while  its  apex  is  near  iSan- 
dukli,  above  tlie  head-streams  of  the  Mseander.  The  base  extends 
about  160  miles,  from  the  Gulf  of  Adramyttium  to  that  of  Mandelyeh, 
and  the  apex  is  distant  about  190  miles  from  the  coast.  The  upper 
part  of  the  triangle,  near  the  apex,  partakes  of  the  character  of  the 
central  plateau.  It  contains  extensive  plains  at  a  high  elevation 
above  the  sea,  as  those  of  Ushak,  Gobek,  l>eenair,  Menzil,  &c.  These 
great  flats  are  barren,  and  are  traversed  by  streams,  which  for  the 
most  part  form  for  themselves  in  the  soft  soil  deep  gullies,  at  the 
bottom  of  which  they  run,  often  500  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
plain.  About  half-way  between  the  apex  and  the  coast,  the  general 
level  of  the  country  sinks,  and  several  important  mountain-ranges 
break  away  from  the  elevated  table-land,  dividing  the  lower  por- 
tion of  the  triangle  into  the  four  great  valleys  of  the  Caicus,  the 
Hermus,  the  Cayster,  and  the  Maeander.  These  mountain-ranges 
are  the  Kestaneh-Dagh^  or  Messogis,  which  separates  between  the 
Masander  and  the  Cayster ;  the  Kisilja-musa-Dagh,  or  Tmolus,  which 
divides  the  basin  of  the  Cayster  from  that  of  the  Hermus ;  and  the 
extension  of  the  Demirji  range,  known  to  the  ancients  as  Pitnaeus 
and  Sardene,  which  intervenes  between  the  basins  of  the  Hermus 
and  the  Caicus.  The  general  direction  of  these  mountain-ranges, 
and  also  of  the  four  great  streams  which  they  separate,  is  from  east 
to  west.  To  the  north  and  south  the  triangle  is  enclosed  by  the 
Demirji-Daghy  or  Temnus,  and  the  Baba-Bagh,  or  Cadmus,  both 
branches  from  the  transverse  ridge  which  connects  Taurus  with  the 
northern  mountain-chain. 

5.  Of  the  four  streams  which  have  been  mentioned,  two,  the 
Maeander  and  the  Hermus,  are  of  a  size  far  exceeding  that  of  the 
others.  Both  have  their  sources  on  the  flanks  of  the  great  plateau, 
and  each  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of  a  large  number  of  streams 
of  nearly  equal  magnitude.  Four  rivers,  the  Kopli  Su,  the  Banas 
Chai,  the  SauduUi  Cliai,  and  the  Beenair  river,  unite  to  form  the 
Maeander  (Mendere),  which  then  receives  on  its  way  to  the  sea  the 
waters  of  three  considerable  ^  and  numerous  smaller  tributaries. 
The  Hermus  (Kodus  or  Ghiediz  Chai)  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
three  rivers,  the  Bemirji  Chai,  the  Aineh  Chai,  and  the  Ghiediz  Chai, 

^  These  are  the  Tchoruk  Su  or  Lycus,  the  Kara  Su  or  Harpasus,  and  the  Chccna  Chai 
Vt  Marsyas. 


Essay  II.       POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  'ASIA  MINOR.  319 

and  is  afterwards  augmented  by  the  two  great  streams  of  the  Coga- 
mus,  and  the  Hyllus  or  Phrygius.*  The  Cayster  and  the  Caicus, 
the  latter  above  the  Hermus,  the  former  between  it  and  the  Ma3ander, 
are  minor  streams,  and  receive  no  tributaries  of  consequence. 

6.  This  portion  of  Asia  Minor  is  famous  for  its  rich  and  fertile 
plains.^  These  are  almost  entirely  along  the  courses  of  the  principal 
rivers,  especially  where  they  receive  a  tributary,  or  disembogue 
into  the  sea.  At  the  mouths  of  the  Maeander  and  the  Hermus  are 
vast  alluviums,  which  have  grown  immensely  since  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  and  which  every  year  augments.*  The  Cayster  and  the 
Caicus  have  large  though  less  extensive  deltas.  The  valleys,  too, 
in  which  the  rivers  run  are  broad  and  noble,  and  contain  many 
plains  of  great  note,  as  that  called  by  the  ancients  the  plain  of  the 
Hermus,  which  is  at  the  junction  of  that  stream  with  the  Phrygius ; 
that  of  Sardis,  where  the  Cogamus  joins  the  Hermus ;  that  of  Per- 
gamus,  where  the  Ceteius  unites  with  the  Caicus  ;  and  that  of  the 
Cayster,  where  that  river  receives  the  Phyrites,  near  Ephesus. 
Modern  travellers  remark  the  peculiar  beauty  and  flatness  of  these 
plains,  from  which  the  mountains  rise  suddenly,  like  islands  from 
the  surface  of  the  ocean.^  Still,  the  greater  portion,  even  of  the 
lower  region,  is  barren  and  unfruitful,  being  occupied  by  the 
mountain-ranges  already  spoken  of;  and  the  upper  country,  to- 
wards the  apex  of  the  triangle,  is  even  less  adapted  for  cultivation. 
The  middle  region,  which  abounds  in  ti'aces  of  volcanic  action  (the 
ancient  Catakecaumene),  is  a  moie  fertile  and  productive  territory. 

7.  Such  are  the  chief  features  in  the  physical  geography  of  Asia 
Minor.  An  outline  of  its  political  geography,  according  to  the 
showing  of  Herodotus,  has  now  to  be  given. 

8.  Asia  Minor  contained  anciently,  according  to  Herodotus, 
fifteen  races  or  nations.  Of  these  four  occupied  the  southern  region  ; 
namely,  the  Cilicians,  the  Pamphylians,  the  Lycians,  and  the  Cau- 
nians ;  ®  four  lay  to  the  west  of  the  great  table-land,  either  upon 
or  very  near  the  coast,  the  Carians,  the  Lydians,  the  Mysians,  and 
the  Greeks  ;  four  bordered  on  the  Euxine,  the  Thracians,  Marian- 
dynians,  Paphlagonians,  and  Cappadocians ;  three,  finally,  dwelt 
in  the  interior,  the  Phrygians,  the  Chalybes,  and  the  Matieni. 

(i.)  The  boundaries  of  these  several  tribes  cannot  be  settled  with 
exact  accuracy.  The  high  table-land,  westward  of  the  Halys,  seems 
to  have  constituted  the  country  of  the  Phrygians,  but  their  limits 
did  not  exactly  coincide  with  its  natural  barriers.  The  Halys  was 
their  eastern  boundar}^,  as  Herodotus  expressly  testifies  /  and  there 

^  Sometimes   a   larger   stream    than    the  207).     Sir  C.  Fellows  follows  in  the  same 

Hermus  before  the  junction.     See  P'ellows's  track  (Asia  Minor,  p.  16). 

Asia  Minor,  p.  20.  *  Fellows's  Asia  Minor,  p.  26. 

3  Strabo,  xiii.  901-2.  ^  The  Cauuians  are  mentioned  as  a  distinct 

*  Herodotus  notices  the  increase  of  land  at  people   in   ch.    172.       In    the    enumeration 

the  mouth  of  the  Marauder  (ii.  10).     Pliny  (ch.  28)  they  are  omitted,  being  considered 

mentions  the  growth  at  the  mouth  of  the  (perhaps)    as    included    in    the    Lycians,   to 

Hermus  (H.  N.  v.  29).     Chandler  remarks  whom  they  in  fact  belonged.     (See  note  ^  to 

the    further    accumulation    of   soil   in   both  book  i.  ch.  172.)     Scylax,  however,  reckons 

places  (vol.  i.  pp.   86    and   201-206),  and  Ctiunus  to  Caria.     (Feripl.  p.  92.) 

speculates  on  future  changes  of  a  still  more  '  Herod,  i.  72. 
extraordinary  character  (ib.  p.   88   and  p. 


820  FIFTEEN  NATIONS  OF  HERODOTUS.      App.  Book  T. 

is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  their  limits  northwards  and  southwards 
coincided  nearly  with  the  chain  of  Taurus  and  the  continuation  of 
the  Olympian  mountain-range  ;  but  towards  the  west  it  would  seem 
that  they  extended  beyond  the  transverse  ridge  so  often  alluded  to, 
occupying  a  considerable  portion  of  the  tract  which  lies  westward 
of  that  watershed,  and  is  drained  by  the  head-streams  of  the  Hermus 
and  the  Masander.  Colosste,  on  the  Lycus  before  its  junction  with 
the  Maaander,  is  reckoned  to  Phrygia  f  and  Strabo  even  places  the 
boundary  yet  further  to  the  west.^  The  Catakecaumene  is,  however, 
always  regarded  as  beyond  the  Phrygian  territory.^ 

(ii.)  The  table-land,  immediately  east  of  the  Halys,  appears  to 
be  assigned  by  Herodotus  to  the  Matieni,  a  people  not  mentioned 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula  by  the  geographers,  but 
occasionally  alluded  to  by  writers  of  the  age  of  Herodotus.*  The 
Halys  has  the  Matieni  on  the  right,  while  it  has  the  Phrygians  on 
the  left,  and  does  not  reach  Cappadocia  until  it  touches  the  country 
of  the  Paphlagonians.^ 

(iii.)  The  strip  of  territory  south  of  the  table-land  belonged  to 
the  Cilicians,  the  Pamphylians,  and  the  Lj^cians,  or  Termilae. 
Cilicia  extended  indeed  considerably  to  the  north  of  Taurus,  unless 
we  regard  Herodotus  as  altogether  mistaken  with  respect  to  the 
course  of  the  upper  Halys/  It  occupied  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
south  coast,  opposite  Egypt.^  Its  western  boundary  is  not  fixed  by 
Herodotus,  but  we  know  that  in  after  times  it  was  placed  at  Cora- 
cesium^  {Alayd).  On  the  east  the  Euphrates  divided  Cilicia  from 
Armenia/ 

(iv.)  Pamphylia  lay  west  of  Cilicia.  Herodotus  does  not  fix  any 
of  its  boundaries ;  but  the  geographers  ^  agree  with  respect  to  the 
coast-line,  that  it  extended  from  Coracesium  to  Phaselis  (Tekrovci), 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Climax.  Herodotus  appears  to  have  regarded 
Pamphylia  as  bounded  on  the  east  by  Cilicia,  on  the  west  by  Lycia, 
and  on  the  north  by  Phrygia.     He  is  not   acquainted  with   the 


8  Xenoph.  A  nab.  i.  li.  6.  supposed  that  Herodotus  was  unacquainted 

^  At  Carura,  below  the  junction  of  the  with   the   main   source   of  the   Halys,  and 

Lycus  with  the  Maeander  (xii.  p.  837).  imagined    the    stream    to    flow    from  .the 

1  The  doubt  was  whether  it  belonged  to  northern  flanks  of  Taurus,  and  to  rim  during 
Mysia  or  Lydia.     See  Strabo,  xiii.  p.  9u0.  its  whole  course  nearly  from  south  to  north. 

2  As  Hecataius,  Fr.  188,  189 ;  Xanthus,  To  excuse  this  ignorance,  they  have  main- 
Fr.  3.  Ephorus  did  not  mention  them  in  his  tained  the  existence  of  a  great  stream,  easily 
enumeration  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  penin-  mistaken  for  the  real  Halys,  in  these  regions, 
sula  (Fr.  80).  and  with  this  direction.     (Bahr  ad  Herod. 

3  Herod,  i.  72.  Elsewhere,  however,  Cap-  i.  72  ;  Rennell's  Geography  of  Western  Asia, 
padocia  appears  to  include  the  Matieni.  The  vol.  i.  p.  352.)  Mr.  Hamilton's  travels  have 
road  from  Sardis  to  Susa  passed  through  shown  that  there  is  no  such  river.  The  range 
Lydi&,  Phrygia,  Cappadocia,  and  Cilicia.  of  hills  which  extends  from  Ca?sarea  {Kesu- 
No  Matieni  are  mentioned  upon  tliis  part  of  riijeh)  to  the  north  of  Lake  Tatta  ( Touz 
the  route  (v.  52).  Ghieul)  is  nowhere  above  30  miles  from  the 

■*  The    upper    Halys   flows    Sm   KiKikwv  Halys,  and  no  stream  from  the  south  pierces 

(i.   72).      If  we   regard  Herodotus   as  ac-  it.      (Compare  note  *  to  book  i.  ch.  6.). 
quainted  with  the  real  course  of  the  river,         *  Herod,  ii.  34. 
this   expression   will   extend    Cilicia    to    the         ^  Strabo,  xiv.  p.  953. 
39th  parallel,  a  whole  degree  north  of  the         7  Herod,  v.  52. 
Taurus   range.      Modern   geographers   have         ^  RenneH's  Western  Asia,  vol.  ii.  p.  7 1 . 


Essay  II.  LYCIA,  CAEIA,  AND  LYDIA.  321 

Pisidia  of  more  recent  writers,^  whicli  was  a  mountain-tract,  lying 
inland,  and  separating  Pamphylia  from  Plirygia,  thus  bounding 
Pamphylia  to  the  north.  Probably  he  reckoned  this  tract  partly 
to  Plnygia,  paitly  to  Pamphylia. 

(v.)  Lycia  lay  next  to  Pamphylia  upon  the  south  coast.  It 
extended  from  Phaselis  on  the  east  to  the  valley  of  the  Calbis  on 
the  west,  where  the  territory  of  the  Caimians  bounded  it.  Inland 
it  reached  to  the  mountain-raages  of  Taurus  and  Dsedala.  It  appears 
to  have  been  divided  into  three  portions — Lycia  Proper,  or  the 
country  of  the  Trees  and  Termilse,  which  included  the  whole  of  the 
coast,  being  the  tract  lying  south  of  Deedala,  Massicytus,  and  the 
range  which  connects  Massicytus  with  Mount  Takhtalu  ;  Milyas,  the 
high  plain  about  Lake  Avelan,  in  which  stands  the  large  town  of 
Almali ;  and  Cabalia,  the  central  plain  of  ISatala  *  (called  now  Satala 
Yaila),  which  is  enclosed  by  Taurus,  Massicytus,  and  a  low  range 
of  hills  separating  it  from  the  more  eastern  plain  of  Almali,  or 
Milyas. 

(vi.)  The  western  coast  was  occupied  anciently  by  the  three 
native  races  of  the  Carians,  the  Lydians,  and  the  Mysians.  Between 
Lycia  and  Caria  intervened  the  small  state  of  Caunus,  the  coast-line 
of  which  cannot  have  extended  further  than  from  the  Calbis  (/>o?- 
lomon  Chat)  to  the  Ehodian  Chersonese.  Inland  the  Caunians  may 
have  reached  to  the  mountain-ranges  of  Lida  and  Salbacon,  beyond 
which  was  certainly  Caria.  IS  o  writer  but  Herodotus  speaks  of  the 
Caunians  as  a  distinct  people. 

(vii.)  Caria  was  anciently  the  whole  country  from  Caunus  on  the 
south  to  the  mouth  of  the  Masander  on  the  west  coast.  It  extended 
inland  at  least  as  far  as  Carura,  near  the  junction  of  the  Lycus  with 
the  Mseander.  The  chain  of  Cadmus  (^Baha  DagJi)  formed,  appa- 
rently, its  eastern  boundary.  In  process  of  time  the  greater  part 
of  the  coast  was  occupied  by  the  Greeks.  The  peninsula  of  Cnidus, 
with  the  tract  above  it  known  as  the  Bybassian  Chersonese,  was 
colonised  by  Dorians,  as  was  the  southern  shore  of  the  Ceramic 
Gulf,  from  Myndus  to  Ceramus.  More  to  the  north  the  coast  was 
seized  upon  by  the  Ionian  Greeks,  who  seem  to  have  possessed 
themselves  of  the  entire  seaboard  from  the  Hermus  to  the  furthest 
recess  of  the  Sinus  lassius.  Still  the  Carians  retained  some  portions 
of  the  coast,  and  were  able  to  furnish  to  the  navy  of  Xerxes  a  fleet 
of  seventy  ships. 

(viii.)  Above  Caria  was  Lydia,  bounded  by  the  Maeander  on  the 
south,  and  extending  northwards  at  least  as  far  as  the  Elaeitic  Gulf,* 
where  it  adjoined  on  Mysia.  Eastwards  it  bordered  on  Phrygia, 
but  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  two  countries  cannot  be 


^  The  Pisidians  seem  to  be  first  mentioned  the  time  when  they  made  their  settlements, 

as  a  distinct  people  by  Xenophon  (Anab.  X.  Mysia,  however,  was  on  the  decline  from  that 

ii.    1,    &c.).       Ephorus    reckoned   them    an  period;  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that,  by 

inland  people  (Frag.  30).  the  age  of  Croesus,  Lydia  had  extended  itself 

^  Called  Sehdehler,  by  Mr.  Hamilton  on  as  far  north  as  the  Culf  of  Adramyttium. 

his  map.  Adramyttium  is   spoken  of  uniformly  as  a 

^  The  early  Greek  settlers  seem  to  have  L>jdian  city,     (Nic.  Damasc.  p.  54,  OioUi. 

extended  Mysia  as  far  south  as  the  promon-  Aristot.  ap.  Steph.  Byz.  in  voc.  'ASpa/xvr- 

tory  of  Cane',  and  probably  this  was  true  of  reiov.) 

VOL.  I.  Y 


322  MYSIA  AND  BITHYNIA,  App.  Book  L 

fixed.  The  ancients  themselves  regarded  it  as  a  matter  of  uncer- 
tainty.^ Tliere  is  almost  equal  difficulty  in  separating  between 
Lydia  and  Mysia.  The  IJemirJi range,  with  its  continuation,  the  low 
line  of  hills  which  separates  the  basin  of  the  Caicus  from  that  of  the 
Hermus,  is  conjectured  rather  than  proved  to  be  the  boundary.* 

(ix.)  The  coast-line  of  this  region  seems  to  have  been  almost 
entirely  in  the  possession  of  the  Greeks,  the  lonians  extending  con- 
tinuously from  the  Masander  to  Smyrna,  and  again  to  the  north  of 
the  Hermus,  occupying  the  Phocaean  peninsula,  while  the  ^Eolic 
Greeks  were  settled  at  Smyrna  itself,  and  thence  extended  due 
north,*  as  far  as  the  Bay  of  Adramyttium.  The  Lydians  furnished 
no  ships  to  the  navy  of  Xerxes. 

(x.)  Mysia  lay  north  of  Lydia.  The  ^gean  washed  it  on  the 
west,  the  Hellespont  and  Propontis  upon  the  north.  Its  eastern 
boundary  was  probably  the  range  of  hills  which  forms  the  water- 
shed between  the  Sangarius  and  the  Rhyndacus  (^Tauschanli  Chai). 
Here  it  bordered  on  Bithynia.  It  formed  the  western  extremity 
of  the  strip  of  territory  lying  north  of  the  great  plateau,  or  table- 
land. The  Greeks  occupied  the  entire  seaboard,  with  the  exception 
of  a  small  tract  near  Adramyttium  (Adramyti). 

(xi.)  Eastward  of  Mysia  was  Bithynia,  or  (according  to  Plero- 
dotus)  Asiatic  Thrace,  inhabited  (as  he  maintains)  by  two  tribes, 
the  Thynians  and  the  Bithynians.  These  were  immigrants,  as  he 
tells  us,''  from  Europe.  The  Thynians  are  said  to  have  possessed 
the  peninsula  which  lies  between  the  Euxine  and  the  Gulf  of  Izmid 
(Nicomedia),^  while  the  Bithynians  dwelt  chiefly  in  the  interior. 
The  limits  of  Bithynia  to  the  east  are  variously  stated.  Arrian 
makes  the  Parthenius,  Pliny  the  Billaeus,  Xenophon  the  city  of  Hera- 
clea  (^Kregli),  the  boundary.  Herodotus  apparently  differs  from  all; 
for  as  the  Mariandynians  lay  between  the  Sangarius  and  Pleraclea, 
the  Bithynia  of  Herodotus  must  be  regarded  as  confined  on  the 
east  within  the  limits  marked  out  by  that  river.  Southward  it 
extended  to  the  range  of  Olympus,  the  northern  limit  of  the  central 
table  land. 

(xii.)  The  Mariandynians  beyond  the  Sangarius  were  an  unim- 
portant tribe,  probably  of  Thracian  origin.^  They  appear  to  have 
extended  but  a  little  way  inland,  not  reaching  to  the  mountain- 
chain,  but  separated  from  it  by  the  Bithynians,  who  stretched  across 
from  the  Propontis  to  the  upper  streams  of  the  Billaeus  (or  FiJyas), 
intervening  between  the  Mariandjmians  and  Phrygia.  Their 
eastern  boundary  was  Cape  Baba  (Posideium)  near  Eregli  (Heraclea 
Pontica). 

(xiii.)  Paphlagonia  succeeded,  extending  fi^om  Cape  Baba  to  the 


3  Strab.  xiv.  p.  967.  note  '  on  Book  i.  ch.  149.) 

*  See    Rennell's    Geography   of    Western  ^  Herod,  vii.  75. 

Asia,  vol.  i.  p.  363.  7  So  Rennell  (Geography  of  Western  Asia, 

*  Their  occupation  of  the  coast  was  inter--  vol.  ii.  p.  1 14)  ;  but  I  have  failed  to  tind  any 
rupted  at  the  Pho(;a;an  peninsula;  but  they  authority  for  the  assertion.  Pliny  (H.  N. 
appeal'  to  have  had  a  connected  territory  v.  32)  makes  the  Thynians  the  inhabitants  of 
inland,  extending  from  Smyrna  across  by  the  whole  sea-coast  of  Bithynia :  "  Tenent 
Temnus  to  Cyme,  and  thence  along  the  co;ist  oram  omnem  Thyni,  interiora  Bithyni." 

far  into  the  Gulf  of  Adramyttium.      CSee  *  Strab.  vii.  p.  427. 


Essay  II.     COMPARISON  OF  HERODOTUS  WITH  EPHORUS.     323 

mouth  of  the  Halys,  a  distance  of  230  miles.  The  boundaries  were 
the  Billaius  on  the  west,  the  Euxine  on  the  north,  the  Halys  on  the 
east,  and  on  the  south  the  range  of  hills  which  bounds  the  central 
plateau,  and  here  forms  the  watershed  between  the  upper  streams 
of  the  Sangarius  and  the  Gok  Irmak  or  Costamhol  Chai  (the  ancient 
Amnias),  an  important  tributary  of  the  Halys,  flowing  into  it  from 
the  low  level,  with  a  course  nearly  due  east. 

(xiv.)  It  is  within  this  district  that  we  must  seek  for  the  country 
of  the  Chalybes.  Three  authors  only  besides  Herodotus  seem  to 
be  aware  of  the  existence  of  Chalybes  to  the  west  of  the  Halys. 
These  are  Pomponius  Mela,  Scymnus  Chius,  and  Ephorus.  Mela 
mentions  Chalybes  as  dwelling  in  the  vicinity  of  Sinope,®  while 
Ephorus  and  Scymnus  speak  of  them,  in  an  enumeration  of  the 
nations  of  the  peninsula  (^Tfjc  Xeppovrjaov),  as  situated  in  the  interior.^ 
Hence  they  seem  rightly  placed  by  Kiepert  and  Ritter  near  Sinope, 
between  the  Amnias  and  the  coast,  but  not  upon  the  coast.^ 

(xv.)  West  of  the  Halys,  yet  still  within  the  peninsula,  Hero- 
dotus places  but  two  nations,  the  Matieni  and  the  Cappadocians. 
The  situation  of  the  Matieni  has  been  already  determined.  Above 
them,  reaching  to  the  coast,  were  the  Cappadocians,  or  Syrians,^  the 
AVhite  Syrians  of  Strabo."*  They  extended  eastward  to  Armenia, 
southward  to  Cilicia  and  the  country  of  the  Matieni.  To  the  west 
their  boundary  was  the  Halys.  Thus  they  occupied  most  of  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  great  plateau,  and  the  whole  of  the  lower 
level  between  the  plateau  and  the  sea,  from  beyond  Ordou  to  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river.  The  country  afterwards  called  Pontus 
was  the  maritime  portion  of  this  region. 

9.  Such  were  the  political  divisions  of  Asia  Minor  recognised  by 
Herodotus.  A  century  later  Ephorus  made  an  enumeration  which 
differs  from  that  of  Herodotus  but  in  two  or  three  particulars. 
"Asia  Minor,"  he  said,  "is  inhabited  by  sixteen  races,  three  of 
which  are  Greek,  and  the  rest  barbarian,  not  to  mention  certain 
mixed  races  which  are  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  The  bar- 
barian races  are  the  following  : — Upon  the  coast,  the  Cilicians,  the 
Lycians,  the  Pamphylians,  the  Bithynians,  the  Paphlagonians,  the 
Mariandynians,  the  Trojans,  and  the  Carians ;  in  the  interior,  the 
Pisidians,  the  Mysians,  the  Chalybians,  the  Phrygians,  and  the 
MiJyans'^ ^     This   catalogue  is  identical  with   that   of  Herodotus, 


^  Mela,  i.  21.  merians  were  afterwards  expelled  from  Asia 

1  Scymn.  Ch.   938.      Ephor.    ap.    Strab.  (i.  16)  by  Alyattes.     Even  if  it  be  granted 

xiv.   p.   966.      Strabo    blames    him  ou  this  that  this  passage  may  be  an  over-statement, 

account.     'E<p6pov  yap  rovro  irpcoTou  airai-  there  is  nothing  beyond  the  vicinity  to  Sinope 

Tetv  expWi  Tt  S?/  Tovs  XdXv^as  riOrjaiu  connecting  the  Chalybes  of  Herodotus  and  the 

eVros  T179  Xeppovriaov,  roaovTov  acpearca-  Cimmerians.       XaAwjSos    "^KvOcvy    &iroLKOs 

ra^   Kol  SiJ/wTrrjy   Kal   'Afxiaov    irphs    eoj ;  (iEsch.  Sept.  c.  Theb.  729)  may  refer  to  the 

Strabo  is  only  aware  of  the  eastern  Chaly-  eastern  Chalybes,  and  at  any  rate  it  connects 

bians.  Chalybes   not    with    Cimmerians   but    with 

*  See    the    Atlas   von   Hellas,   Blatt   iii.  Scythians.     The  Greelis  do  not  appear  to  me 

Mr.  Grote  (vol.  iii.  p.  336)  somewhat  fanci-  to   have   made   the    confusion,    which    Mr. 

fully  connects  these  Chalybes  with  the  Cira-  Grote  imagines,  between  these  two  nations, 
merians,  who  are  said  by  Herodotus  to  have         ^  Herod,  i.  72 ;  vii.  72. 
settled  in  the  Sinopic  Chersonese   (iv.   12).         *  Strab.  xii.  p.  788. 
But  Herodotus  says  distinctly  that  the  Cim-         *  Ap.  Strab.  xiv.  p.  966. 

Y  2 


824:  NATIONS  OF  ASIA  MINOR.  App.  Book  I. 

excepting  that  it  includes  the  Trojans,  Pisidians,  and  Milyans, 
while  it  omits  the  Matieni,  the  Cappadocians,  the  Caunians,  and  the 
Lydians.  The  omission  of  the  Lydians,  well  objected  to  by  Strabo,^ 
can  be  nothing  but  an  oversight;  that  of  the  Cappadocians,  and 
(possibly)  of  the  Matieni,  arises  from  the  fact  that  Ephorus  regards 
the  peninsula  as  equivalent  to  Asia  within  the  Halys.  A  different 
principle  causes  the  omission  of  the  Caunians  and  the  mention  of 
the  Trojans,  the  Pisidians  and  the  Mil3^8e.  Ephorus  is  dividing  the 
inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor,  not  politically,  but  ethnically.  Herodotus 
himself  informs  us  that  the  Milyee  were  a  distinct  race  from  the 
Lycians  (Termilge''),  and  a  peculiar  ethnic  character  may  have 
attached  to  the  Trojans  and  Pisidians.  By  the  Trojans  are  pro- 
bably intended  those  inhabitants  of  Lycia  who  were  neither  Milyae 
nor  Termilas,  the  Trouoties  of  the  Lycian  inscriptions,  and  the 
Trojans  (Troes)  mentioned  in  the  Iliad  as  brought  from  I^ycia  by 
Pandarus.^  This  race,  though  Lycia,n,  had  its  peculiar  character- 
istics.^ The  ethnic  difference  between  the  Pisidians  and  their 
neighbours  may  have  been  even  greater,  for  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  they  were  an  ancient  and  very  jDure  Semitic  race.'  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Caunians  were  perhaps  too  nearly  akin  to  the 
Trees  to  be  distinguished  from  them  ;  or  they  may  have  been 
omitted  on  account  of  their  insignificance.  The  subjoined  table 
will  show  more  distinctly  the  harmony  of  Herodotus  and  Ephorus. 

Nations  of  Asia  Minor,  within  the  Halys. 

Herodotus.  Ephorus. 

Cilicians Cilicians. 

T^        TV  fPamphylians. 

Pamphyhans {Pisidians. 

T      .         s  /Lycians. 

J^yc^^.^«   1        iTi'ojans. 

^^^^^^^^-^  (Milyans, 

Carians Carians. 

Lydians Omitted  accidentally. 

Mysians Mysians. 

Thracians   {^^^^Zr^        ..      ..     Bithynians. 

Mariandynians        Mariandynians. 

Paphlagonians         Paphlagonians. 

Chalybes  Chalybes. 

Phrygians        Phrygians. 

Indians  I  j^olians. 

lonians  > Greeks  <Ionians. 
Dorians)  /Dorians. 


^  Book  xiv,  p.  967.  i  See  the  last  Essay  of  the  Appendix — 

'   7  Herod,  i.  173.        ^  Horn.  II.  ii.  824-827.  "  On  the  Ethnic  Affinities  of  the  Nations  of 

9  See  Sir  C.  Fellows's  Coins  of   Ancient  Western  Asia,"  §  6. 
Lycia,  pp.  5,  6. 


Essay  III.  GEEAT  MEDIAN  EMPIRE.  325 


ESSAY   III. 


ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  GREAT  MEDIAN  EMPIRE. 

1.  Arian  origin  of  the  Medes.  2.  Close  connexion  with  the  Persians.  3.  Original 
migration  from  beyond  the  Indus,  4.  Medes  occupy  the  tract  south  of  the 
Caspian.  5.  First  contact  between  Media  and  Assyria  —  Conquest  of  Sargon. 
6,  Media  under  the  Assyrians.  7.  Establishment  of  the  independence  :  (i.) 
Account  of  Ctesias —  (ii.)  Account  of  Herodotus.  8.  Cyaxares  the  real  founder 
of  the  monarchy.  9.  Events  of  his  reign:  (i.)  Ilis  war  with  the  Scyths  —  (ii.) 
Conquest  of  Assyria —  (iii.)  Conquest  of  the  tract  between  Media  and  the  river 
Halys  —  (iv.)  War  with  Alyattes  —  (v.)  Aid  given  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  10. 
Reign  of  Astyages  —  uneventful.  11.  His  supposed  identity  with  "Darius  the 
Mede."  12.  Media  becomes  a  Persian  satrapy.  13.  Median  chronology  of 
Herodotus  —  its  difficulties.     14.  Attempted  solution. 

1.  That  tlie  Medes  were  a  branch  of  the  great  Arian  family,  closely 
allied  both  in  language  and  religion  to  the  Persians,  another  Arian 
tribe,  seems  now  to  be  generally  admitted.  The  statement  of  He- 
rodotus with  regard  to  the  original  Median  appellation,^  combined 
with  the  native  traditions  of  the  Persians  which  brought  their 
ancestors  from  Aria,^  would,  perhaps,  alone  suffice  to  establish  this 
ethnic  affinity.  Other  proofs,  however,  are  not  wanting.  The 
Medes  are  invariably  called  Arian s  by  the  Armenian  writers  f  and 
Darius  Hystaspes,  in  the  inscription  upon  his  tomb,  declared  himself 
to  be  "  a  Persian,  the  son  of  a  Persian,  an  Arian,  of  Arian  descent."  * 
Thus  it  appears  that  the  ethnic  appellative  of  Arian  appeitains  to 
the  two  nations  equally ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
their  language  and  religion  were  almost  identical.^ 

2.  This  consideration  will  help  us  to  understand  many  facts  and 


1  Herod,  vii.  62.  Ol  Se  M^Sot  eKU-  language  of  a  completely  distinct  family.  It 
\4ovTo  irdXai  irphs  iravTcov  "Apioi.  is,  however,   now  pretty  generally  allowed 

2  In  the  fii'st  Fai'gard  of  the  Veudidad,  the  that  the  term  Median,  as  applied  to  this 
primeval  seat  of  the  Persians,  whence  their  particular  form  of  language,  is  a  misnomer, 
migrations  commence,  is  called  Ainjanern  retained  in  use  at  present  for  convenience' 
vaejo,  "  the  source  or  native  land  of  the  sake.  The  language  in  question  is  not  Medic 
Arians."  (Cf.  Prichard's  Natural  History  but  Scythic,  and  inscriptions  were  set  up  in 
of  Man,  p.  165  ;  Midler's  Languages  of  the  it,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  Medes,  but  of  the 
Seat  of  War,  p.  29,  note.)  Scythic  or  Tatar  tribes  scattered  over    the 

3  See  Mos.  Chor.  i.  28,  and  cf.  Quatre-  Persian  empire.  i^See  Sir  H.  Rawdinson's 
mare's  Histoire  des  Mongols,  torn.  i.  p.  241,  Commentiiry  on  the  Inscriptions  of  Assyria 
note  76.  and  Babylonia,  p.  75.) 

^  See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Memoir  on  the         It  may  be  added  that  the  Median  names  of 

Persian  Cuneiform  Inscriptions  in  the  Journal  men  and  places  admit  almost  universally  of 

of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  x.  part  iii.  being   referred   by  etymological  analysis   to 

p.  292.  Zend  roots,  while  the  original  language  of  the 

^  It  may  be  thought  that  the  recent  disco-  Persians  is  closely  akin  to  the  Zend, 
veriesmilitateagainstthenotionof  an  identity         Among  the  ancients,  Nearchus  and  Strabo 

of  language,  since  luidoubtedly  the  (so-called)  (xv.  p.  1U30,  Oxf.  ed.)  maintained  that  the 

Medism  tablets   are  written    not  only  in   a  Median  and  Persian  tongues  only  difiered  as 

difierent  language  from  the  Persian,  but  in  a  two  dialects  of  the  same  language. 


326         MEDES  AND  PEESIANS  NEAELY  ALLIED.      App.  Book  L 

expressions,  both  in  sacred  and  profane  writers,  which  would  he 
altogether  inexplicable  if,  as  has  sometimes  been  supposed,^  the 
Modes  had  been  of  an  ethnical  family  entirely  distinct  from  the 
Persians,  a  Semitic,  for  instance,  or  a  Scythic  race.  The  facility 
with  which  the  two  nations  coalesced,  the  high  positions  held  by 
Medes  under  the  Persian  sway,''  the  identity  of  dress  remarked  by 
Herodotus,**  the  precedency  of  the  Medes  over  all  the  other  conquered 
nations,  indicated  by  their  position  in  the  lists, ^  the  common  use  of 
the  terms  "  the  Mede,"  "  Medism,"  "  the  Median  war,"  in  connexion 
with  the  Persian  attacks  upon  Greece,^  the  oft- repeated  formula  in 
the  book  of  Daniel  "  according  to  the  law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians, 
which  altereth  not,"  ^ — these  and  similar  expressions  and  facts  bo- 
come  instinct  with  meaning,  and  are  no  longer  strange  but  quite 
intelligible  when  once  we  recognise  the  ethnical  identity  of  Medes 
and  Persians,  the  two  pre-eminent  branches  of  the  Arian  stock.  We 
see  how  natural  it  was  that  there  should  be  an  intimate  union,  if  not 
an  absolute  fusion,  of  two  peoples  so  nearly  allied  ;  how  it  was  likely 
that  the  name  of  either  should  apply  to  both  ;  how  they  would  have 
one  law  and  one  dress  as  well  as  one  religion  and  one  language,  and 
would  stand  almost,  if  not  quite  upon  a  par,  at  the  head  of  the  other 
nations,  who  in  language,  religion,  and  descent  were  aliens. 

3.  The  great  migration  of  the  Arian  race  westward  from  beyond 
the  Indus,  simultaneous  probably  with  the  movement  of  a  kindred 
people,  the  progenitors  of  the  modern  Hindoos,  eastward  and  south- 
ward to  the  Ganges  and  the  Vindhya  mountain-range,  is  an  event 
of  which  the  most  sceptical  criticism  need  not  doubt,  remote  though 
it  be,  and  obscurely  seen  through  the  long  vista  of  intervening 
centuries.  Where  two  entirely  distinct  lines  of  national  tradition 
converge  to  a  single  point,  and  that  convergence  is  exactly  what 
philological  research,  in  the  absence  of  any  tradition,  would  have 


^  Bochart  (Phaleg.  iii.  14)  and  Scaliger,  either  heads  the  entire  list,  as  in  the  inscrip- 

by  proposing  Hebrew  or  Arabic  derivations  tion  on  the  tomb  of  Darius  (Sir  H,  EawHnson's 

of  the  word  Ecbatana,  seem  to  imply  that  Pers.  Cun.  luscr.  vol.  i.  p.  292),  or  at  least 

they  look  on  the  Medes  as  a  Semitic  race.  one  portion  of  it,  as  in  that  at  Beliistun. 

7  Harpagus,  the  conqueror  of  the  Asiatic  The  only  case  in  which  any  other  province 
Greeks,  of  Caria,  Caunus,  and  Lycia,  is  a  takes  positive  precedence  of  iVledia  is  in  the 
Mede  (Herod,  i.  162).     So  is  Datis,  the  joint  list  at  Persepolis,  where  Susiana,  whose  chief 
leader  with  Artaphernes  of  the  army  which  city  had  become  the  capital,  is  placed  first, 
fought  at   Marathon  (ib.  vi.    94).      So  are  Media  second  (ib,  p.  28U). 
Harmamithres  and  Tithseus,  sons  of  Datis,  the         ^  Herod,  i.   163;  iv.   165,  197;  vi.  64,. 
commanders  of  Xerxes's  cavalry  (ib.  vii.  88).  &c.     Thucyd.  i.   14,  18,  23,  &c.     ^Eschyl. 
In  the  inscriptions  we  find  Intaphres,  a  Mede,  Pers.   787  (ed.  Scholefield).     Aristoph.  Ly- 
mentioned  as  reducing  Babylon  on  its  second  sistr.  615.     Thasm.  316.     Pax,  108,  &c. 
revolt  from  Darius  (Beh.  Ins.  col.  iii.  par.  14).         ^  j)ajj_  ^i   g,  12,  15.     The  precedency  of 
An&  Camaspates,  another  Mede,  is  employed  the  Medes  over  the  Pei'sians,  which  is  found 
to  bring  Sagartia  into  subjection  (ibid.  col.  ii.  not  only  in  this  formula,  but  also  in  the  pro- 
par.  14).     No  foreigners  except  Medes  are  so  phetic    announcement,    "  Thy    kingdom    is 
employed,  divided  and   given  to   the  Medes   and  Per- 

8  Herod,  i.  135,  and  vii.  62.  sians  "  (Dan.  v.  38),  is  peculiar  to  the  book 
^  See  Herod,  vii.  62-80,  and  the  inscrip-  of  Daniel,  and  is  no  doubt  to  be  connected 

tions,  passm.     "  Persia,  Media,  and  the  other  with  the  statement  of  the  same  book,  that 

provinces,"  is  the  usual  formula.     (See  Be-  Darius  the  Mede  reigned  in  Babylon  before 

histun   Inscription,   par.    10,  11,  12,    14.)  Cyrus  the  Persian. 
When  there  is  a  complete  enumeration,  Media 


Essay  III.         FIRST  HISTORIC  NOTICES  OF  MEDIA.  327 

indicated,^  it  seems  impossible  to  suppose  either  coincidence  or  col- 
lusion among  the  witnesses.  In  such  a  case  we  may  feel  sure  that 
here  at  length  among  the  bewildering  mazes  of  that  mythic  or  semi- 
mythic  literature  in  which  the  first  origin  of  nations  almost  invariably 
descends  to  later  ages,  we  have  come  upon  an  historic  fact ;  the 
tradition  has  for  once  been  faithful,  and  has  conveyed  to  us  along 
the  stream  of  time  a  precious  fragment  of  truth.  What  the  date  of 
the  movement  was  we  can  only  conjecture.  The  Babylonian  story 
of  a  Median  dynasty  at  Babylon  above  2000  years  before  the  Christian 
era,*  although  referring  beyond  a  doubt  to  some  real  event,  will  yet 
aid  us  little  in  determining  the  time  of  the  Arian  emigration.  For 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  Berosus,  in  using  the  term  "  Mede,"  is  guilty 
of  a  prokpsis,  applying  the  name  to  the  Scyths,  who  in  the  early  times 
inhabited  the  region  known  in  his  own  days  as  Media — just  as  if  a 
writer  were  to  call  the  ancient  Britons  English,  or  say  that  in  the 
age  of  Camillus  the  Fremh  took  and  burnt  Rome.  Certainly  the 
earliest  distinct  notice  of  the  Arian  race  which  is  contained  in  the 
inscriptions  hitherto  discovered  appears  to  indicate  a  far  later  date 
for  this  great  movement  of  nations.  When  the  monarch  whose 
victories  are  recorded  on  the  black  obelisk  fi.rst  falls  in  with  the 
Medes  (about  B.C.  880),  he  seems  to  find  the  emigration  still  in 
progress,  and  not  3'et  complete.^ 

4.  The  Medes  (Mad)  occupy  the  region  south  of  the  Caspian, 
between  the  Kurdish  mountains,  which  are  in  possession  of  the 
Namri  (Scyths),  and  the  country  called  Bikni or  Bikrat,^  which  appears 
to  be  the  modern  Khorassan.  Here,  in  the  position  to  which  the 
Arian  race  is  brought  in  the  first  Fargard  of  the  Vendidad,^  the  Medes 
are  first  found  by  authentic  history,  and  here  they  continue,  appa- 
rently, unmoved  to  a  late  period  of  the  Assyrian  empire.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Medes  of  history  had  not  reached 
Media  Magna  fifteen  hundred  years  after  tli^  time  when  the  Medes  of 
Berosus,  probably  a  different  race,  conquered  Babylon. 

5.  All  that  can  be  said,  therefore,  of  the  emigration  is,  that,  at 
whatever  time  it  commenced,^  it  was  not  completed  much  before 
B.C.  640.  Probably  there  was  a  long  pause  in  the  movement,  marked 
by  the  termination  of  the  list  of  names  in  the  Vendidad,  during 


3  See  Prichard's  Natural  History  of  Man,  was  only  in  progress  at  the  time  of  the  con- 

p.  165.     The  Indian  tradition  is  found  in  the  quests  recorded  on  the  obelislc. 
Institutes  of  Menu  (book  ii.  chaps.  17,  18),         ^  Perhaps  the   Vcekeret  of  the  Vendidad. 

the  Persian  in  the  first  Fargard  of  the  Ven-  (Notas  on  Early  History  of  Babylonia,  p.  29, 

didad.  note  3.) 

*  Berosus  ap.  Polyhistor.     (Euseb.  Chron.         ^  In  the  list  of  the  Vendidad  no  position 

Can.  pars  i.  c.  iv.  p.  17,  ed.  Mai).  west  of  Phages  {Rhagd)  can  be  clearly  iden- 

^  See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Commentary  on  tified.      Varene  may  be  the  capital  of  Media 

the  Inscriptions  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  pp.  Atropatene,  which  was  called  Vera,  or  Baris, 

42-3.    Although  the  emplacements  there  sug-  by  the  Greeks ;  but  this  is  very  uncertain, 

gested  are  not  regarded  by  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  (Ibid.  p.  34,  note  ^.) 

as  certain,  yet  he  justly  remarks,  "  It  would         ^  Xs,  the  Medes  are  not  mentioned  in  the 

be  difficult,  according  to  any  other  explana-  annals   of   Tiglath-Pileser    I.,    who   reigned 

tion,  to  bring  the  tribes  and  countries  indi-  about  B.C.  1130,  and  warred  in  the  countries 

«^ted  into  geographical  relation  "(note,  p.  43).  east  of  Zagros,  it  is  probable  that  they  had 

The  passage  certamly  furnishes  very  strong  not  then  reached  Media  Magna, 
grounds  for  thinking  that  the  Arian  migration 


328  MEDIA  UNDER  THE  ASSYRIANS.  App.  Book  I. 

•whicli  the  main  seat  of  Median  power  was  tlie  country  soutli  of  the 
Caspian.  In  tlic  first  portion  of  this  period  the  Medes  were  free 
and  luiassailed  ;  but  from  an  early  date  in  the  9th  century  b.c.  they 
became  exposed  to  the  aggressions  of  the  growing  Assyrian  empire. 
The  first  king^  who  menaced  their  independence  was  the  monarch 
whose  victories  are  recorded  upon  the  black  obelisk  in  the  British 
Museum.  This  king,  who  was  a  great  conqueror,  having  reduced  to 
subjection  the  Scythic  races  which  occupied  Zagros,  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  year  of  his  reign  entered  the  territory  of  the  Medes.  He  met 
apparently  with  little  opposition ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
his  invasion  was  anything  more  than  a  predatory  raid,  or  left  any 
permanent  impression  upon  the  Median  nation.  At  any  rate  his 
successors  were  for  a  long  course  of  years  continually  engaged  in 
hostilities  with  the  same  people,^  and  it  was  not  till  the  time  of 
Sargon,  the  third  monarch  of  the  Lower  Empire,  that  something  like 
a  conquest  of  the  Medes  was  effected.  Sargon  led  two  great  expe- 
ditions into  the  Median  territory,  overran  the  country,  and,  to 
complete  its  subjection,  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign  (about 
B.C.  710),  planted  throughout  it  a  number  of  cities,  to  which  a  special 
interest  attaches  from  the  circumstance  that  among  the  colonists 
wherewith  he  peopled  them  were  at  least  a  portion  of  the  Israelites, 
whom  six  years  before  he  had  carried  into  captivity  from  Samaria.^ 
In  the  great  palace  which  he  built  at  Khorsabad,  Media  was  reckoned 
by  him  among  the  countries  which  formed  a  portion  of  his  dominions,* 
being  represented  as  the  extreme  east,  while  Judaea  was  regarded 
as  forming  the  extreme  west  of  the  emj^ire.  Media,  however,  does 
not  seem  to  have  ever  been  incorporated  into  Assyria,  for  both  Sen- 
nacherib and  Esarhaddon  speak  of  it  as  "a  country  which  had  never 
been  brought  into  subjection  by  the  kings  their  fathers."  ■* 

6.  The  condition  of  Media  during  this  period,  like  that  of  the 
other  countries  upon  the  borders  of  the  gi^eat  Assyrian  kingdom,* 
seems  one  which  cannot  properly  be  termed  either  subjection  or 
independence.  The  Assyrian  monarchs  claimed  a  species  of  sove- 
reignty, and  regarded  a  tribute  as  due  to  them ;  but  the  Medes, 
whenever  they  dared,  withheld  the  tribute,  and  it  was  probably 


9  As  this  king  does  not  tax  the  Medes  way  which  shows  him  to  hare  warred  in 
with  rebellion,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  the  these  parts  about  this  time,  Isa.  xx.  1.)  He 
first  Assyrian  monarch  who  received  their  is  said  in  his  annals  to  have  conquered  Samaria 
submission.  in  his  first,  and  reduced  the  Medes  in  his 
1  Shamas-  Vul,  the  successor  of  Shal-  seventh  year.  The  Israelites  were  perhaps 
mcmeser  (the  black  obelisk  king),  made  an  first  planted  in  Halah  and  Habor,  but  after- 
invasion  of  Media,  and  exacted  a  large  tri-  wards  transferred  to  the  new  towns  which 
bute.  Tiglath-Pileser  11. ,  the  founder  of  the  Sargon  built  in  the  Median  country. 
Lo^Vter  Assyrian  dynasty,  was  frequently  3  ggg  sip  jj^  Rawlinson's  Commentary,  p. 
engaged  in  wars  with  them.  61. 
.  «^  The  king  of  Assyria  who  led  Samaria  *  For  Sennacherib,  see  Grotefend's  Cy- 
into  captivity  (2  Kings  xvii.  6,  xviii.  11)  Under,  line  34.  For  Esarhaddon,  see  British 
appears  from  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  to  Museum  Series,  p.  24,  1.  10,  and  p.  25, 1.  22. 
have  been  Sargon,  not,  as  had  generally  been  ^  Compare  the  condition  of  Juda?a,  from  the 
supposed,  Shalmaneser.  (Scripture  does  not  reign  of  Hezekiah  to  the  captivity,  in  its 
give  the  name  of  Sargon  in  this  connexion,  dependence,  first  on  Assya-ia,  and  then  on 
but  says  simply  "the  king  of  Assyria:"  Babylon.  See  especially  2  Kings  xviii. 
Sargon,  however,  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  a  13-21,  xxiv,  1  j  2  Chron.  xxxi.  13. 


Essay  ITT. 


MEDIA  BECOMES  INDEPENDENT. 


329 


seldom  paid  unless  enforced  by  the  presence  of  an  army.  Media 
was  throughout  governed  by  her  own  princes,  no  single  chief  exer- 
cising any  paramount  rule,  but  each  tribe  or  district  acknowledging 
'its  own  prince  or  chieftain.'* 

7.  The  duration  of  this  period  of  semi-dependence  is  a  matter  of 
some  doubt  and  difficulty.  It  is  certain  that  the  Medes  after  a  while 
entirely  shook  off  the  Assyrian  yoke,  and  became  for  a  time  the 
dominant  power  in  Western  Asia.  But  on  the  date  of  this  revo- 
lution in  their  fortunes  the  most  esteemed  authorities  are  widely  at 
variance. 

(i.)  According  to  Ctesias,  the  Median  monarchy  commenced  282 
years  before  the  accession  of  Astyages,  or  about  the  year  B.C.  875.^ 
According  to  Herodotus  it  began  167  years  later,  in  B.C.  708.^  Each 
writer  goes  into  details,  presenting  us  with  a  list  of  kings,  amounting 
in  the  one  case  to  nine,  in  the  other  to  four,^  the  length  of  whose 
reigns  and  the  events  of  whose  history  they  profess  to  know  with 
accuracy.  It  has  generally  been  supposed  either  that  the  two 
accounts  are  reconcilable  and  alike  true,  or  at  least  that  in  one  or 
the  other  we  must  possess  the  real  Median  history. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  enter  into  an  examination  of  the  various 
attempts  which  haA^e  been  made  to  reconcile  the  two  Greek  authors.^ 
The  statements  of  both  are  alike  invalidated  by  the  evidence  of  the 
monuments,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  of  Ctesias  to  have 
been  a  mere  fabrication  of  the  writer.^*    The  account  of  Herodotus 


*  Several  of  the  chieftains  are  mentioned 
as  giving  tribute  to  Esarhaddon. 

7  Ctes.  ap.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  32-4.  The 
number  282  is  the  sum  of  the  years  assigned 
by  Ctesias  to  the  reigns  of  his  several  kings. 

8  Herod,  i.  95-106. 

^  The  list  of  Ctesias  is  as  follows : — 

Years. 

1.  Arbaces 28 

2.  Mandaucas      50 

3.  Sosarmus 30 

4.  Artias      . .      . .  • 50 

5.  Arbiancs 22 

6.  Artaeus ..      ..  40 

7.  Artynes 22 

8.  Astibaras 40 

2S2 

9.  Aspadas  or  Astyages  — 

Herodotus  gives : — 

Years. 

1.  Deioces 53 

2.  Phraortes 22 

3.  Cyaxares 40 

4.  Astyages 35 

*  Some  writers,  as  Dr.  Hales.  (Analysis  of 
Chronology,  vol.  iii.  p.  84-6),  and  Mr. 
Clinton  (F.  H.  i.  p.  261),  have  supposed  that 
the  latter  part  of  Ctesias'  list  is  identical  with 
the  list  of  Hero!lotus,and  the  former  part  an 
interpolation,  or  a  list  of  tributary  Median 
monarchs.  Others,  as  Heeren  (Manual  of 
Ancient  History,  p.  27,  E.  T.),  and  Mr. 
Dickenson  (Journal  of  Asiatic  Society,  vol. 


y'ni.  art.  16),  have  argued  that  it  is  a  distinct 
contemporary  dynasty.  The  monuments 
lend  no  support  to  either  view. 

^  Tlie  list  of  Ctesias  bears  fraud  upon  its 
face.  The  recurrence  of  numbers,  and  the 
predominance  of  round  numbers,  would  alone 
make  it  suspicious.  Out  of  the  eight  numbers 
given,  fve  are  decimal ;  and,  with  a  single 
slight  exception,  each  number  is  repeated,  so 
that  the  eight  reigns  present,  as  it  were,  but 
the  four  sums,  22,  30,  40,  and  50.  These 
sums  moreover  are,  all  but  one,  derived  from 
Herodotus.  Their  arrangement,  too,  is  alto- 
gether artificial  and  unnatural.  The  follow- 
ing seems  to  have  been  the  mode  in  which  the 
dynasty  was  fabricated.  First  the  years  of 
the  reigns  of  Cyaxares  and  Phraortes  were 
taken,  and  assigned  to  two  fictitious  person- 
ages, Astibaras  and  Artynes.  Then,  to  carry 
out  the  system  of  chronological  exaggeration 
which  is  one  of  the  points  that  specially  dis- 
tinguishes Ctesias  fiom  Herodotus,  these 
reigns  were  repeated,  and  two  new  names, 
,  Arta?us  and  Arbianes,  were  invented,  who 
represent  Cyaxares  and  Phraortes  over  again. 
In  confirmation  of  this  view,  let  it  be  noticed 
that  the  war  with  the  Saca3  (Scyths)  of  Asti- 
baras is  a  repetition  of  the  Cadusian  war  of 
Artajus,  and  that  both  alike  represent  the 
Scythian  war  of  Cyaxares.  Next  the  reicjn 
of  Deioces,  stated  in  round  numbeis  at  50 
years  instead  of  53,  was  assigned  to  a  king 


330  DATE  OF  MEDIAN  INDEPENDENCE.       App.  Book  I. 

was  derived  no  doubt  from  native  sources,  but  Median  vanity  seems 
to  have  palmed  upon  him  a  fictitious  narrative. 

(ii.)  Herodotus  was  informed  that  after  the  whole  of  Upper  Asia 
had  been  for  520  years  subject  to  the  Assyrian  kings,  the  Medes  set 
the  example  of  revolt.  After  a  fierce  struggle  they  established  their 
independence,  and,  having  experienced  for  some  time  the  evils  of 
anarchy,  set  up  their  first  native  king  Deioces,  179  years  before  the 
death  of  Cyrus.*  This  would  make  their  revolt  a  little  anterior  to 
B.C.  708."  But  it  has  been  shown  already  from  the  monuments  that 
this  was  the  very  time  when  the  subjection  of  the  Medes  to  the 
Assyrians  first  began,  and  it  cannot  therefore  possibly  be  the  time 
when  they  recovered  their  independence.  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
Median  informant  of  Herodotus,  desirous  of  hiding  the  shame  of  his 
native  land,  purposely  took  the  very  date  of  its  subjection,  and 
represented  it  as  that  of  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy. 

There  are  strong  grounds  for  suspecting  that  the  establishment  of 
the  Median  monarchy  did  not  precede  by  any  long  interval  the  ruin 
of  Assyria.  The  monumental  annals  of  the  Assyrian  kings  are 
tolerably  complete  down  to  the  time  of  the  son  of  Esarhaddon,  and 
they  contain  no  trace  of  any  great  Median  insurrection,  or  of  any 
serious  diminution  of  the  Assyrian  influence.  The  movement  by 
which  a  Median  monarchy  was  established  can  therefore  scarcely 
have  been  earlier  than  the  latter  half  of  the  7th  century  B.C.,'  which 
is  the  time  fixed  by  history  for  the  accession  of  Cyaxares.  According 
to  this  view,  the  Deioces  and  Phraortes  of  Herodotus  must  share  the 
fate  of  the  kings  in  the  catalogue  of  Ctesias,  and  sink  into  fictitious 
personages,  indicating  perhaps  certain  facts  or  periods,  but  impro- 


Artias  or  Artycas,  who  was  made  to  precede  length  of  the  reign  of  Arbaces,  to  give  some- 

Arbianes ;  and  the  period  of  the  interregnum,  what  more  of  an  historical  air  to  the  cata- 

estimated  at  a  generation  (30   years),  was  logue,  the  fact  of  its  occurrence  in  the  Median 

given   to   another    imaginary   monarch,   So-  history  of  Herodotus  determining  the  vari- 

sarmus.     This  done,  the  process  of  iteration  ation  in  that  direction  and  to  that   extent, 

was  again  brought  into  play,  and  in  Arbaces  The  list  of  Ctesias  is  therefore  formed  from 

and  Mandaucas  we  were  given  the  duplicates  that  of  Herodotus,  ^nd  is  to  be  connected 

of  Sosarmus  and  his  successor,  Artycas.     The  with  it  thus :  — 
number  28  was  substituted  for  30,  as  the 

Herodotus.  Ctesias. 

'    Arbaces  . .  . . 

Interregnum cc  years..     ..^Mandaucas..  .  .N30  (28)  years. 

Deioces 53  years. .     ..Xsosarmus  ..  ..X50  years. 

\ Artycas  . .  . ./ 

Arbianes  . . 

Phraortes      ....     ..  22  years..     ../Artieus  ..  .  .N22  years. 

Cyaxares       40  years..     .  .QArtynes  ..  ..XlO  years. 

>Astibaras  ..  ../ 

Astyages       35  years..     ..     Aspadas  ..  ..       x  years. 

3  Tlie  number  is  obtained  by  adding  to-  *  The  first  year  of  Cambyses,  according  to 

gether  the  years  assigned  by  Herodotus  to  the   Astronomical    Canon,    and   the   general 

the  kings  in  question: —  consent  of  the  Greek  writers,  was  B.C.  529. 

Years.  The    calculations  of  Herodotus  would   thus 

Deioces 53  place  the  accession  of  Deioces  in  B.C.   708. 


Phraortes     22 

Cyaxares      40 

Astyages      35 


(529  +  179  =  708.) 

^  Asshur-bani-pal,  the  son  of  Esarhaddon, 
Cyrus °7.     '..     '.".     •.     '.'.     '•'.     29  reigned  from  about  B.C.  667  to  B.C.  640. 

His   annals,    which    are    copious,   make   no 
mention  of  any  great  king  of  the  Medes. 


179 


Essay  III.  FIRST  TWO  KINGS  UNHISTORICAL.  331 

perly  introduced  into  a  dynastic  series  among  kings  who  are  strictly- 
historical. 

The  improbability  of  the  circumstances  related  to  ns  of  Deioces, 
their  thoroughly  Greek  character,  and  inconsistency  with  Oriental 
ideas,  has  been  pointed  out  by  a  recent  writer.*  Another  has  noticed 
that  the  very  name  is  suspicious,  being  a  mere  repetitionof  tlie  term 
Astyages,  and  being  moreover  a  mythic  title  under  which  the  Median 
nation  is  likely  to  have  been  personified.^  These  objections  do  not 
apply  to  Phraortes,  whose  name  is  one  that  Medes  certainly  bore, 
and  the  events  of  whose  life  have  nothing  in  them  intrinsically 
improbable.  But  other  suspicions  attach  to  him.  If  Phraortes  had 
really  lived  and  established,  as  Herodotus  represents,"  a  vast  Median 
empire,  Cyaxares  would  never  have  come  to  be  regarded  so  uni- 
versally,^ as  the  founder  of  the  greatness  of  his  family.  Again,  if 
the  neighbouring  country  of  Media  had  been  governed  for  twenty 
years  before  the  accession  of  Cyaxares  by  a  great  conquering  mo- 
narch, Asshur-bani-pal,  the  contemporary  king  of  Assyria,  would 
hardly  have  spent  the  chief  portion  of  his  time  in  hunting  expedi- 
tions in  Susiana.  Further,  although  Phraortes  is  a  real  Median 
name  (appearing  in  the  inscriptions  under  the  form  Frawartish),  and 
not  mythic  or  representative,  yet  there  are  circumstances  connected 
with  the  name  which  confirm  the  view  here  taken  of  its  unhistoric 
character  in  this  place,  since  they  account  for  its  introduction.  Fra- 
wartish was  a  Mede  who  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against  Darius, 
and  succeeded  in  maintaining  himself  for  several  months  upon  the 
throne  of  Media.^  Herodotus  appears  to  have  confused  the  account 
which  he  heard  of  this  event  with  the  early  history  of  the  Medes  as 
an  independent  nation.  Frawartish  did  gain  great  advantages  over 
the  Persians  at  first,  and  this  appears  in  Herodotus  as  the  conquest 
of  Persia  by  Media.^  He  also  did  fail  at  last,  and  come  to  an 
untimely  end,  though  not  in  contending  against  the  Assyrians  but 
against  the  Persians.  These  coincidences  can  scarcely  be  acci- 
dental, and  they  render  the  very  existence  of  the  supposed  king 
suspicious. 

8.  Upon  the  whole  there  are  strong  grounds  for  believing  that  the 
great  Median  kingdom  was  first  established  by  Cyaxares,  about  the 
year  b.c.  683.  The  earliest  Greek  tradition  agrees  with  the  general 
feeling  of  the  East,  and  traces  to  this  prince  the  origin  of  the  Medo- 
Persian  empire.*     There  is  thus  something  more  than  a  mere  mistake 


^  See   Mr.    Grote's   Greece,  vol.    iii.   pp.         ^  Herod,  i.  1,02. 
307-8.  ^  He  was  so  regarded  in  Media,  in  Sagartia, 

'  See   Sir  H.  Rawliuson's  *  Notes  on  the  and  in  Greece  before  the  time  of  Herodotus. 

Early  History  of  Babylonia,'  p.  30,  note  2.  (See  below,  §  8.) 
Astyages  is  Aj-dahdk,  "  the  biting  snake ;  "         ^  See  Essay  vii.  §  33. 
Deioces    is    Dahdk,   the    "  biting."       Both         ^  Cf.  Behistun  Inscript.,  col.  ii.  par,  5-13. 
terms  are  used  in  the  Zendavesta  to  denote         ^  Herod,  i.  102. 

an  enemy,  probably  the  Scyths,  with  which         "*  The    earliest   Greek    tradition    is  found 

the  Arian  invaders  had  a  long  and  violent  in    the   famous   lines  of  ^schylus   (Persse, 

contest.      When   the    Medes   conquered    the  761-764): 

Scyths,  and  blended  with  them,  they  adopted  m^So?  yap  ^v  6  npihro,  ^-^e^ci,^  crrparoi). 

the  Scythic  emblem.     See  Mos.  Chor.  i.  29.  aAAos  5'  e/cetVov  Trat?  xdS'  epyov  fiwa-t- 

"  Quippe  vox  Astyages  in  nostra  lingua  dra-  rptTos  5'  an  ainov  Kvpos,  k.t.A. 

conem  significat." 


332  CYAXAPvES  FOUNDS  THE  MONARCHY.      App.  Book  I. 

of  name  in  the  misstatement  of  Diodonis,^  "  that,  according  to  Hero- 
dotus, Cyaxares  founded  the  dynasty  of  Median  kings."  Cyaxares 
was  regarded  as  the  first  king  of  the  Modes,  not  by  Herodotus,  but 
by  the  Greeks  generally,  till  his  time ;  and  the  Orientals  seem  never 
to  have  entertained  any  other  notion.  When  pretenders  sought  to 
disturb  the  Achasmenian  monarchs  in  their  rights  of  sovereignty, 
they  rested  their  claim  upon  an  assertion  that  they  were  descended 
from  Cyaxares.  Not  only  was  this  the  case  in  Media,^  but  even  in 
the  distant  Sagartia,''  which  lay  east  of  the  Caspian,  towards  Sog- 
diana  and  Bactria.  No  other  king  disputes  with  Cyaxares  this  pre- 
eminence. 

The  conclusion  thus  established  brings  the  Median  kingdom  into 
much  closer  analogy  with  other  Oriental  empires  than  is  presented 
by  the  ordinary  story.  Instead  of  the  gradual  growth  and  increase 
which  Herodotus  describes,  the  Median  power  springs  forth  suddenly 
in  its  full  strength,  and  the  empire  speedily  attains  its  culminating 
point,  from  which  it  almost  as  speedily  declines.  Cyaxares,  like 
Cyrus,  Attila,  Genghis  Khan,  Timour,  and  other  eastern  conquerors, 
emerges  from  obscurity  at  the  head  of  his  irresistible  hordes,  and 
sweeping  all  before  him,  rapidly  builds  up.  an  enormous  power, 
which,  resting  on  no  stable  foundation,  almost  immediately  falls 
away.  Whether  the  great  Median  prince  began  his  career  from  the 
country  about  Khages  and  the  Caspian  gates,  where  the  Modes  had 
been  settled  for  two  centuries,  or  led  a  fresh  immigration  from  the 
regions  further  to  the  eastward,  is  a  point  that  cannot  be  absolutely 
determined.  The  claim,  however,  set  up  by  the  Sagartian  rebel 
Chitratakhma,  is  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  latter  view,  and  goes 
far  to  justify  the  conjecture  that  Cyaxares  and  his  followers  issued 
from  Khorassan,^  and,  passing  along  the  mountain  line  south  of  the 
Caspian,  proceeded  due  west  into  Media,  where,  after  a  fierce  struggle, 
they  established  their  supremacy  over  the  Scyths,  partly  blending 
with  them,  and  partly  precipitating  them  upon  the  Assyrians,  whose 
power  was  thereby  greatly  weakened,  if  not  wholly  overthrown.^ 
This  was  probably  the  origin  of  that  Sc3^thian  disturbance  in  Western 
Asia  which  Herodotus  erroneously  connects  with  the  Cimmerian 
invasion  of  Asia  Minor. 

From  the  time  of  Cyaxares  authentic  Median  history  may  be  con- 
sidered to  commence,  and  from  this  period  Herodotus  may  be 
accepted  as  a  tolerably  trustworthy  guide.  We  must  not  indeed 
even  here  defer  too  implicitly  to  his  unsupported  authority;  but 
where  the  events  which  he  relates  are  probable,  or  where  they  have 
a  sanction  from  independent  writers,  we  may  fairly  regard  them  as 
in  the  main  correctly  stated.  The  general  outline  of  facts,  at  any 
rate,  .could  not  but  have  been  notorious,  and  from  the  time  that  the 


^  Diod.  Sic,  ii.  32.  forward  a  similar  plea.     (Ibid.  col.  ii.  par. 

^  The  claim  of  Frawartish  to  the  Median  14.) 
throne  was  expressed  in  these  words :  "  I  am         ^  ggg  j^j^g  Notes  on  the  Early  History  of 

Xathrites,  of  the  race  of  Cyiixares — I  am  king  Babylonia,  p.  30,  note  ^.     Compare  p.  38, 

of  Media."     (Beh.  Ins.  col.  ii,  par.  5.)  sub  fti. 

7  Chitratakhma,  the  Sagartian  rebel,  whom         9  See  below,  Essay  vii.  §  34. 
Darius  chastised  about  tlie  same  time,  put 


Essay  III.  SCYTHIC  WAR  OF  CYAXARES.  333 

Medes  came  into  contact  with  the  Assyrians  a  contemporary  lite- 
rature wonki  check  the  licence  of  mere  oral  tradition. 

9.  That  Cyaxares,  then,  was  engaged  in  a  long  contest  with  Scyths 
■ — that  he  besieged  and  took  Nineveh,  and  destroyed  the  empire  of  the 
Assyrians — and  that  he  penetrated  as  far  west  as  Lydia,  and  warred 
there  with  Alyattes,  the  father  of  Croesus — may  be  regarded  as 
certain.  The  nature  and  duration  of  the  struggle  with  the  Scythians, 
the  circumstances  of  the  A^arious  wars,  and  even  the  order  of  their 
occurrence,  are  points  to  which  no  little  doubt  attaches.  It  is  not 
altogether  clear  what  order  Herodotus  himself  intends  to  assign  to 
the  sevei'al  events ' — whether,  for  instance,  he  means  to  place  the 
war  with  Alyattes  before  or  after  the  taking  of  Nineveh ;  nor  can  we 
positively  determine  the  order  from  other  sources."^  Probability  is 
our  best  guide  in  the  present,  as  in  so  many  other  instances,  and  this 
is  the  guide  which  will  be  followed  in  the  sketch  here  attempted. 

(i.)  If  Cyaxares  was,  as  we  have  supposed,  the  successful  leader 
who,  at  the  head  of  a  great  emigration  from  the  East,  first  established 
an  Arian  supremacy  over  the  country  known  in  history  as  Media, 
he  must  have  been  engaged  during  the  early  part  of  his  reign  in  a 
struggle  with  Scyths.  Scythic  races  occupied  Media  and  the  whole 
chain  of  Zagros  until  this  period,  and  it  was  only  by  their  being 
subdued  or  expelled  that  the  Arians  could  obtain  possession.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Scythic  war  of  Herodotus  represents  nothing  but 
this  struggle.  It  is  possible,  on  the  o-ther  hand,  that  the  Scyths  of 
Media  received  assistance  from  kindred  tribes  dwelling  farther  north, 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Caucasus,  or  even  in  the  regions  beyond.  Great 
doubt,  however,  rests  upon  the  (so-called)  Scythic  domination  in 
Western  Asia  from  the  absence  of  any  trace  of  such  an  event  in  the 
records  of  contemporary  nations.  Neither  the  chronicles  of  the  Jews 
nor  the  Egyptian  monuments,  which  ought,  if  the  account  of  He- 
rodotus were  true,  to  contain  some  notice  of  an  incursion  which 
threatened  them  in  an  especial  way,^  have  any  allusion  to  its  occur- 
rence ;  nor  has  the  industry  of  commentators  succeeded  in  discover- 
ing any  confirmation,  even  apparent,  of  the  events  related,  beyond 
the  fact  that  in  later  times  there  was  a  city  of  Syria  called  Scytho- 
polis,  which  it  is  supposed  ma3'  have  been  settled  on  this  occasion. 
But  the  connexion  which  has  been  assumed  between  this  city  and 
the  Scythic  troubles  of  the  time  of  Cyaxares  rests  purely  on  con- 
jecture, and  has  not  even  a  single  ancient  authority  in  its  favour.'* 

1  Mr.    Grote    regards    the    language    of  tain,  since  they  assume  the  imiformity  of  the 

Herodotus  as  marking  his  intention  to  place  moon's    motion,   which    is  a  very  doul)tful 

the  war  with  Alyattes  before  even  the  first  point.     The  latest  lunar  tables,  ciilculated  by 

siege  of  Nineveh.     (Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  Mr.  Airy,  have  been  held  to  give  B.C.  5«5 

p.  312,  and  note.)     But  this  is  certainly  not  for  the  probable  year  of  this  eclipse.     (See 

correct.     The  notice  of  the  Median  war  in  Bosanquet's  Profane  and  Sacred  Chronology, 

Book  i.  ch.  103,  is  parenthetic,  and  nothing  pp.   14,  15.)     [I  am  informed  that  certain 

can  be   gathered  from  it  with  regard  to  the  irregularities  in  the  moon's  movements  have 

time  when  the  war  occurred.  been  discovered  since  Mr.  Airy  made  his  cal- 

^  The   date   of  the   capture   of  Nineveh  culations  for  Mr.  Bo.-^anquet. — 18G1.] 

seems  now  to  be  pretty  well  determined  to  3  gge  Herod,  i.  105. 

the  year  B.C.  625.     That  of  the  great  battle  ♦  Pliny,  who  alone  professes  to  give  the 

with   Alyattes  has  been  considered  fixed  on  origin  of  Scythopolis,  ascribes  its  foundation 

astronomical  grounds  to  the  year  B.C.  610.  to  Bacchus!     (H.  N.  v.  18.) 
But  all  astronomical  calculations  are  uncer- 


334  ASSYRIAN  WAR  OF  CYAXARES.  Apr.  Book  I. 

It  is  not  certain  that  Scythopolis  was  really  inhabited  by  Scyths  ;^ 
and  if  it  was,  as  this  part  of  Asia  swarmed  with  Scythic  tribes,^  thej^ 
may  haA^e  come  in  at  any  time  and  fiom  any  quai'ter.  Thus  this 
supposed  confirmation  fails,  and  the  story  of  Herodotus  must  be 
regarded  as  resting  entirely  on  his  authority. 

At  any  rate  it  is  clear  that  Herodotus  must  have  greatly  exagge- 
rated tlie  importance  of  the  Scythic  troubles.  They  were  either  of 
short  duration  or  of  so  mild  a  character  as  not  to  hinder  the  nations 
exposed  to  them  from  carrying  on  during  their  continuance  important 
wars  with  one  another/  Cyaxares,  within  eight  or  nine  years  of 
his  accession,  laid  siege  to  Nineveh,  and,  after  a  sharp  struggle,^ 
made  himself  master  of  the  city. 

(ii.)  This  event,  the  second  of  importance  in  his  reign,  and  the 
first  which  can  be  accurately  dated,  took  place  in  the  year  B.C.  625. 
The  attack  probably  commenced  some  years  earlier.  Cj^axares  was 
assisted  in  his  operations  by  the  whole  force  of  the  Babylonians,* 
who,  under  the  chief  known  in  history  as  Nabopolassar,  took  an 
active  part  in  the  siege,  and  mainly  contributed  to  its  successful 
issue.  Nabopolassar,  if  we  may  believe  Abydenus,'  had  been  a 
general  in  the  service  of  the  Assyrian  monarch,  and  was  appointed 
by  him  to  the  command  of  the  troops  which  he  sent  to  oppose  the 
progress  of  the  enemy.  Unluckily,  he  proved  false,  rebelled  against 
his  royal  master,  and  went  over  to  the  side  of  the  Median  monarch, 
who  gladly  received  his  overtures  and  consented  to  an  alliance 
between  his  daughter  Amyitis  (or  Amyhia)  and  Nebuchadnezzar, 
the  son  of  the  rebel  general.'^  The  combined  armies  then  invested 
the  town,  which,  after  a  prolonged  resistance,  was  taken  and  razed 
to  the  ground. 

^  Reland  suggpsts  that  2/fu0o7roA.is  is  a  spect  to  the  positive  argument  founded  on 

corruption  of  Surtv^t^TToAts,  and  that  the  first  Boole  i.  ch.    185,  it  may  be  observed  that 

element  of  the  word  is  merely  the  Hebrew  Herodotus  is  there  speaking  of  tlie  feelings  of 

mSD  (Succoth)  in  disguise.  the  Babylonians  more  than  50  years  later. 

6  See  below,  Essay  xi.,  'On  the  Ethnic  The  authorities  for  the  statement  in  the 
Affinities  of  the  Nations  of  Western  Asia,'  text  are  Abydenus  (ap.  Euseb.  Chrou.  p.  i.  c. 
§  5.  ix.),  Josephus  (Antiq.  X.  v.   §  1),  and  the 

7  If  we  allowed  the  period  of  twenty-eight  book  of  Tobit  (xiv.  15).  The  last  is  not 
years  for  the  duration  of  the  Scythic  ti  oubles,  I'^ally  what  it  professes  to  be— a  document 
we  should  have  to  suppose  that  they  inter-  of  the  time— but  still  it  is  a  work  of  interest, 
fered  very  little  with  the  regular  course  of  probably  of  the  Alexandrian  age.  It  is  not 
affairs  among  the  more  settled  nations.  In  surprising  that  it  should  substitute  the  cele- 
that  case,  analogies  to  the  state  of  circum-  brated  Nebuchadnezzar  m  the  place  of  his 
stances  at  the  time  might  be  found  in  the  ^^oi'e  obscure  father. 

contemporary  condition  of  Asia  Minor  under  ^  The  passage  of  Abydenus  is  given  entire 

the  Cimmerians,  and  in  that  of  Italy  from  J"  the  Essay  on  the  Chronology  and  History 

B.C.  385  to  B.C.  325  under  the  Gauls.  of  Assyria,  §  34,  note. 

^  See  the  next  pao-e.  ^  This  contract  of  marriage  is  mentioned 

9    It  has  been    observed   that  Herodotus  also  by  Polyhistor   (Eu.'.eb.  Chron.  p.  i.  c.  v. 

makes  no  mention  of  this  alliance,  and  con-  §  ''^),  who  followed  Berosus.     (See   MuUer's 

eluded  from  his  silence  that  he  conceived  of  Eragm.   Hist.  Gr.  iii.  p.  209.)     Amyitis  is 

the  capture  of  Nineveh  as  accomplished  by  evidently  the  "  Median  princess"  for  whom 

the  Medes  alone.     (Grote's  Greece,  vol.  iii.  Nebuchadnezzar  is  said  to  have  created  his 

p.  304,  note.)     But^  the  slight  and  sketchy  hanging  gardens.     (Berosus,  Fr.  14.)     Her 

way  in  which  Herodotus  treats  the  Assyrian  being  called  the  daughter  of  Astyages  (Asda- 

history,  which  he  designed  to  make  the  sub-  bages)  is  of  no  consequence,   for   Astyages 

ject  of  a  separate  work,  makes  it  rash  to  pre-  {Aj-dahak)  is  a  title,  not  a  name, 
sume  much  from  his  mere  silence.     With  re- 


Essay  III.  HIS  SIEGE  OF  NINEVEH.  835 

•The  details  of  the  siege  are  nowhere  authentically  preserved  to'  ns. 
Beyond  the  brief  notice  of  Abydenus  already  quoted,  we  have  abso- 
lutely no  mention  by  any  ancient  writer  of  lepiite  of  anything  more 
Ihan  the  bare  fact  that  Nineveh  was  taken  by  the  forces  of  the  com- 
bined nations.  That  notice,  however,  brief  as  it  is,  by  informing  us 
positively  of  one  circumstance — that  the  last  king  of  Assyria  burnt 
himself  in  his  palace  ^ — raises  a  suspicion  that  perhaps  we  may  have 
in  the  perverted  account  of  Ctesias  no  inconsiderable  admixture  of 
truth.  As  we  find  embodied  in  the  narrative  of  Ctesias  the  single 
event  connected  with  tiie  capture  which  we  learn  from  an  inde- 
pendent and  unsuspected  source,  it  becomes  probable  that,  with 
regard  to  the  other  events  of  the  siege,  the  Cnidian  physician  has 
not  drawn  entirely  upon  his  imagination,  but  has  merely  amplified 
and  adorned  the  real  facts,  which  could  scarcely  have  been  unknown 
to  him.  Arbaces,  according  to  this  view,  will  represent  the  Cyaxares 
of  history,  Belesis  will  be  Nabopolassar,"  Sardanapalus  will  be 
Abydenus'  Saracus.  The  main  facts  of  the  history  will  then  have 
been  correctly  stated — the  relative  position  of  the  two  attacking 
powers.  Media  superior  and  Babylonia  subordinate — the  despair  and 
death  of  the  Assyrian  king — the  conflagration,  and  the  after-effect 
of  the  conquest  in  establishing  the  independence  of  Babylonia,^  and 
causing  the  complete  destruction  of  the  great  city,  so  long  the  glory 
of  Asia.®  Possibly  also  the  minor  features  in  the  story  of  Ctesias 
may  be  true.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  .the  Medes  and  Babylonians 
were  at  first  repulsed  with  much  loss  by  the  Assyrian  king ;  that 
after  several  defeats  they  were  driven  to  the  mountains,  that  is,  to 
the  great  chain  of  Zagros ;''  that  here  they  received  an  important 
reinforcement  from  Bactria,  which  enabled  them  to  resume  the 
offensive ;  that  they  attacked  and  routed  the  Assyrian  army,  which 
took  shelter  within  the  walls  of  the  town  ;  and  that  upon  this  they 
sat  down  before  the  place  and  endeavoured  to  reduce  it  by  blockade. 
The  siege  may  then  have  continued  two  years  f  and  it  is  even  pos- 
sible that  the  ultimate  success  of  the  besiegers  may  have  been  owing 
to  an  extraordinary  rise  of  the  Tigris,"  which  washed  away  a  great 
portion  of  the  wall,  and  laid  the  city  open  to  the  enemy.  Upon  this 
the  Assyrian  monarch,  seeing  further  resistance  to  be  vain,  may  have 
burnt  himself  in  his  palace  rather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 


-''  "  Re  omni  cognita,  rex  Saracus  regiam  28)  :      rr;;/    ir6\iv     [6    'ApjSa/crjs]      e  t  s 

Evoritam  (?)  infiammabat."  (Abyd.  1.  s.  c).  ^  S  a<p  o  s    KarecrKa^ej/. 

*  The  only  writer,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  '  Diodorus  makes  them  fly  to  these  jnoun- 
who  has  in  some  degree  anticipated  this  view,  tains  after  their  second  defeiit,  but  sends  them, 
is  Jackson.  He,  however,  does  not  carry  it  after  their  third,  "  to  the  mountains  of  Babv- 
out  to  any  extent.  (See  his  Chronological  Ionia."  The  junction  of  the  Bactrians  con- 
Antiquities,  vol.  i.  p.  307.)  ti-adicts  this — and,  besides,  Babylonia  has  no 

*  Belesis  indeed  is  represented  as  receiving  mountains. 

the  satrapy  of  Babylonia  at  the  hands  of  Ar-         ^  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  27. 

baces ;  but,  as  it  is  admitted  that  he  was  to         ^  That  Diodorus  says    "  the  Euphrates" 

pay  no  tribute,  it  is  clear  that  he  would  really  is,  perhaps,  the  result  of  his  own  ignorance. 

be  an  independent  sovereign.     (Diod.  Sic.  ii.  His  authority,  Ctesias,  probably  said   "  the 

27.)  river."    This  remarkable  circumstance  in  the 

^  Diod.  Sic.  ii.   7.      ttjs  NiVou    Kare-  siege  seems  to  be  obscurely  hinted  at  in  the 

tr/co/x^uej/Tjs  virh  Mridcov  oTe  Kar4\v(rav  prophecies  of  Nahum  (see  ch.  ii.  ver.  6,  and 

tV  'AffffvpiMU  fiaaiXeiay.     And  again  (ii.  ch.  iii.  ver.  13). 


336  FALL  OF  NINEVEH.  Arp.  Book  I. 

enemy.  Cyaxai'cs  may  have  then  completed  the  destruction  of  the 
city  by  mining  the  walls  and  public  buildings/  These  ciiciim- 
stances  are  all  sufficiently  probable,  and  chime  in  with  known  facts. 
It  seems,  therefore,  far  from  unlikely  that  Ctesias,  while  distoiting 
names  and  dates,  may  have  preserved  in  his  acconnt  of  the  fall  of 
Nineveh  a  tolerably  correct  statement  of  the  general  outline  of  the 
event. 

(iii.)  The  fall  of  Nineveh  produced  a  complete  revolution  in  the 
condition  of  Western  Asia.  Babylon  became  independent  under  a 
line  of  native  kings,  who  in  a  short  time  raised  their  country  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  prosperity.  The  Modes  rapidly  overran  and  con- 
quered the  entire  region  between  Azerbijan  and  the  Halys,^  whence 
they  proceeded  to  threaten  Asia  Minor.  An  intimate  alliance  was 
maintained  between  the  two  great  powers,  who  each  bore  pait  in 
the  expeditions  undertaken  for  the  aggrandisement  of  the  other.* 
These  were  for  the  most  part  successful  ;  but  in  one  instance,  that 
of  Lydia,  the  assailants  were  baffled  and  forced  to  conclude  a  peace 
which  secured  the  independence  of  the  menaced  teiritory. 

(iv.)  The  circumstances  of  the  Lydian  war  of  Cyaxares  have  been, 
already  described  in  the  chapter  upon  the  history  of  Lydia.*  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  commenced  subsequently  to  the  con- 
quest of  Assyria  f  for  with  that  country  unsubdued,  and  pressing  as 
a  thorn  into  the  side  of  Media,  it  is  impossible  that  she  should  have 
adventured  on  so  distant  and  hazardous  a  struggle.  Further,  till 
then  Babylon  was  subject  to  Nineveh,  and  at  any  rate  could  not 
have  joined  with  Media  in  an  expedition  to  the  north-west  when 
Assyria  lay  directly  across  her  path.  How  many  years  intervened 
between  the  fall  of  Assyria  and  the  commencement  of  the  Lydian 
contest  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  but  all  the  synchronisms  are 
satisfied  if  the  great  battle  be  placed  in  or  about  the  year  B.C.  010. 
Without  intending  any  special  deference  to  the  astronomical  con- 
siderations which  have  been  ]  egarded  as  fixing  that  date  with  exact- 
ness,^ or  viewing  it  as  more  than  an  approximation  to  the  truth,  we 
may  assume  it  here  for  convenience'  sake  as  certainly  not  involving 
any  important  error. 

1  The  complete  destruction  and  desolation  mines  nothing  as  to  his  notion  of  the  order  of 
of  Nineveh  is  confirmed  by  the  description  of  events.  Herodotus,  I  think,  really  conceived 
Ezekiel  (ch.  xxxi.).  That  it  had  ceased  to  their  order  as  I  have  stated  it:  since,  1.  The 
exist  in  the  time  of  Herodotus  is  indicated  by  circumstances  to  which  he  ascribes  the  break- 
an  expression  which  he  uses  {oIk-^to,  i.  193.  ing  out  of  the  Lydian  war  indicate  a  period 
See  note  ad  he).  When  Xenophon  passed  later  than  the  Scythic  troubles,  which  were 
its  site,  the  very  memory  of  the  name  was  over  before  the  fall  of  Nineveh  ;  2.  The  con- 
gone  ( Anab.  in.  iv.  10-12).  tract  of  marriage  between  the  son  of  Cyaxares 

2  Herod,  i.  103.  Ovt6s  [6  Kua^aprjs]  and  the  daughter  of  A lyattes  marks  a  tolera- 
^ffTbv  6  t)]v  "AAvos  TTOTafxou  &UU  'Aairfu  bly  advanced  period  in  the  reigns  of  those 
Traaav  (Tvarifa-as  ecouroJ.  These  conquests  kings;  and  3.  Herodotus  cannot  have  con- 
would  naturally  precede  the  attack  on  Lydia.  ceived  of  Babylon  as  under  an  independent 

3  Nebuchadnezzar  is  said  to  have  been  as-  prince  and  in  alliance  with  Cyaxares  until 
sisted  by  the  Medes  in  his  expedition  against  after  Nineveh  had  fallen  (see  i.  106,  178). 
Jehoiachim  (Polyhist.  Fr.  24).  ^  gy  Volney  (Recherches,  vol.  i.  p.  342); 

''  Essay  i.  §  1  7.  Lleeren   (Manual  of  Ancient  History,  p.  478, 

^  The  authority  of  Herodotus  cannot  be  E.  T.)  ;    Grote  (History  of  Greece,  vol.   iii. 

.urged  with  justice  against  this  view  ,  for  the  p.  312,  note)  ;  Brandis  (Rerum  Assyriariun 

parenthetic  passage  in  Book  i.  ch.  103  deter-  Tempora  Emendata,  p.  35)  ;  and  others. 


Essay  III.  MEDES  ASSIST  NEBUCHADNEZZAR.  337 

The  war  between  the  two  great  kingdoms  of  Media  and  Lydia 
lasted,  according  to  Herodotus,  for  six  j'ears/  It  was  carried  on 
with  various  success,  and  signalised  by  a  night  engagement,  an 
unusual  occurrence  in  ancient  times.  At  length,  in  the  sixth  year, 
neither  party  having  gained  any  decided  advantage,  the  great  battle 
took  place  which  was  terminated  by  an  eclipse  ;  and  two  subordinate 
princes,  whom  we  must  suppose  present,  Syennesis  of  Cilicia  on  the 
one  part,  and  Labynetus  ^  of  Babylon  on  the  other,  took  advantage 
of  the  occurrence  to  bring  the  long  struggle  to  an  amicable  con- 
clusion. Peace  was  made  between  the  contending  powers,  and 
cemented  by  a  marriage  which  united  the  Dragon  race  of  Median 
monarchs  with  the  ancient  and  wealthy  Mermnadse. 

(v.)  The  only  other  event  of  importance  that  can  be  ascribed  to 
the  reign  of  Cyaxares  is  the  assistance  which,  in  a  spirit  of  reci- 
procity, he  lent  to  the  Babylonians  in  their  wars  with  their  neigh- 
bours. Modes  probably  fought  on  the  Babylonian  side  at  the  great 
battle  of  Carchemish  against  Necho,^  and  perhaps  accompanied 
Nebuchadnezzar  in  his  invasion  of  Egypt.  At  any  rate  it  is  dis- 
tinctly stated  by  a  writer  of  good  repute,'  that  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
aided  by  a  JMedian  contingent  in  his  expedition  against  Jehoiachim, 
which  took  place  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,^  or  B.C.  597.  A  few 
years  after  this  Cyaxares  seems  to  have  died,  leaving  his  extensive 
dominions  to  his  son  Aspadas  or  Astyages. 

10.  With  Cyaxares  the  history  of  Media  as  a  great  empire,  or  even 
as  an  independent  nation,  may  be  said  both  to  begin  and  end.  Of 
Astyages  there  is  absolutely  nothing  known  but  his  defeat  by  Cyrus, 
so  completely  have  the  authentic  records  of  the  time  been  superseded 
by  the  poetic  legends,  which,  in  all  that  even  remotely  concerns  the 
great  Persian  conqueror,  have  taken  the  place  of  history.  We  are 
perhaps  justified  in  concluding,  from  the  all  but  universal  silence  of 
antiquity,^  that  the  reign  of  Astyages,  until  the  attack  of  Cyrus,  was 
especially  quiet  and  uneventful.*  The  nations  of  the  Asiatic  conti- 
nent, about  to  sufler  cruelly  from  one  of  those  fearful  convulsions 
which  periodically  shake  the  East,  seem  to  have  been  allowed,  before 
the  time  of  suffering  came,  an  interval  of  profound  repose.  The 
three  great  monarchies  of  the  East,  the  Lj^dian,  the  Median,  and  the 
Babylonian,  connected  together  b}' treaties  and  royal  intermarriages, 
respected  each  other's  independence,  and  levied  war  only  against  the 
lesser  powers  in  their  neighbourhood,  which  were  absorbed  without 

'  Herod,  i.  74.  and  the  Babylonians,  who  had  destroyed  the 

®  By  Labynetus,  in  this  place,  Herodotus  empire  of  the  Assyrians.     (Antiq.  X.  v.  §  1.) 

is  thought  to  intend  the  father  of  the  Icing  ^  Polyhistor,  ap.  Euseb.  Pra^f.  Ev.  c.   (See 

conquered  by  Cyrus.     That  father  and  son  Miiller's  Fragnaenta  Hist.  Gr.   iii.  p.  229.) 

bore  the  same  name  he  states  elsewhere  (i.  Cyaxares  is  called   Astibaras,  as  by  Ctesias 

188).     This  was  not  really  the  case,  nor  was  (ap.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  34). 

the  father  of  that  Labynetus  a  king  or  per-  '^  2  Kings  xxiv.  12.     Or  the  seventh  year, 

sonage  of  distinction.     The  real  leader  of  the  B.  c.  598,  according  to  Jeremiah  (Iii.  28). 

Babylonian  division  in -the  army  of  Cyaxares  ^  See  Note  A.  at  the  end  of  the  Essay. 

would  be  likely  to  be  either  Nabopolassar  or  *  Hence   the  assertion  of  Aristotle,   that 

Nebuchadnezzar.  Cyrus  despised  Astyages,  because  his  troops 

"  Josephus   says,    "  Necho,  the   Egyptian  had  seen  no  service,  and  he  himself  was  sunk 

king,  collected  an  army  and  marched  towards  in  luxury.     (Pol.  v.  8.) 
the  Euphrates,  to  make  war  upon  the  Medes 

VOL.  I.  Z 


338  PEACEFUL  REIGN  OF  ASTYAGES.         App.  Book  I. 

mucli  difficulty.  For  a  space  of  nearly  half  a  century,  from  the 
conclusion  of  tlie  peace  with  Lydia  to  the  Persian  outbreak,  this 
tranouillity  prevailed, — as  in  the  natural,  so  in  the  political  world, 
a  calm  preceding  the  storm. 

11.  One  circumstance  alone  attaches  interest  to  the  name  and 
person  of  Astyages.  It  is  thought  that  he  may  possibly  be  the 
monarch  spoken  of  as  Darius  the  Mede  by  the  prophet  Daniel. 
This  was  the  opinion  of  Syncellus  ;  ^  and  it  has  the  authority  of  the 
Septuagint  in  its  Favour.^  It  is  confirmed  also,  in  some  degree,  by 
the  passage  in  the  book  of  Daniel,  which  calls  him  the  son  of 
Ahasuerus ;  ^  for  that  name  in  the  book  of  Tobit  ^  unquestionably 
stands  for  -Cyaxares.  If  this  identification  be  regarded  as  suffi- 
ciently established,  we  must  believe  that  Cyrus,  when  he  con- 
quered Astyages,  did  not  deprive  him  of  the  name  or  state  of  king, 
but  left  him  during  his  life  the  royal  title,  contenting  himself  wdth 
the  real  possession  of  the  chief  power.  This  would  be  the  more 
likely  if  Astyages  were,  as  Herodotus  maintains,  his  grandfather. 
When  the  combined  armies  of  Persia  and  Media  captured  Babylon, 
Astyages,  whose  real  name  may  possibly  have  been  Darius,''  might 
appear  to  the  Jews  to  be  the  actual  king  of  Babjdon — more 
especially  if  he  was  left  there  to  exercise  the  kingly  office,  while 
Cyrus  pursued  his  career  of  cojiquest.  At  his  death  Cyrus  may 
have  taken  openly  the  royal  title  and  honours,  and  so  have  come  to 
be  recognised  as  king  by  the  Jews.  The  Babylonians,  however, 
would  understand  from  the  first  that  Cyrus  possessed  the  substance 
and  Astyages  only  the  semblance  of  power,  and  would  therefore 
abstain  from  entering  the  name  of  Astyages  (or  Darius)  upon  their 
list  of  kings.'  The  most  important  objections  that  lie  against  this 
theor}'-  are,  first,  the  silence  of  Herodotus,  and  indeed  of  all  other 
ancient  writers ;  *  and,  secondly,  the  age  of  Darius  the  Mede  at  his 
accession,  according  to  the  book  of  Daniel.  As  the  fall  of  Babylgn 
is  fixed  with  much  certainty  to  the  year  B.C.  538,  and  Darius  Medus 
was  then  in  his  02nd  year,'*  he  must  have  been  born  B.C.  600,  which 
is  only  seven  years  before  the  latest  date  that  can  well  be  allowed 


^  Syncellus,  p.  427.     Syncellus  indeed  adds  "  the  biting  snake,"  was  a  title  which  had 

to  this  identification  a  further  one,  Avhich  is  been  borne  by  all  the  old  Scythic  kings  of  the 

quite  impossible.     He  considers  Darius  Asty-  country,  and  from  them  it  seems  to  have  been 

ages,  as  he  calls  him,  to  be  identical  with  the  adopted  by  the  Median  monarchs  (see  Mos. 

Eabonadius  of  the  Astronomical  Canon,  who  Chor.  i.  25  and  29).     But   it  would  be  a 

is  the  Labynetus  II.  of  Herodotus.     But  the  phrase  of  honour,  and  not  a  name.     According 

two  identifications  are  completely  independent  to  Ctesias,  the  king's  real  name  was  Aspadas ; 

of  one  another.  but  the  authority  of  Ctesias  is  very  weak. 

^  The  passage  is  in  the  apocryphal  portion  ^  On  this  "s^iew,  the  reign  of  Darius  the 

of  the  book  of  Daniel.     In  the  Vulgate  it  Mede  falls  within  the  nine  years  assigned  by 

concludes  the  thirteenth  chapter  (the  story  of  the  Astronomical  Canon  to  Cyrus. 

Susannah),  but  in  the  Greek  copies,  which  our  ^  Besides  Herodotus,  Xenophon  (Cyropaed. 

own  version  follows,  it  is  attached  to  the  nar-  vii.  5),  Berosus  (ap.  Joseph,  contr.  Ap.  i.  21), 

rative  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon.     There  am  be  Polyhistor    (ap.   Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  i.   5), 

no  doubt,  I  think,  that  the  name  Astyages  Abydenus   (ap.   Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  i.  10), 

represents  the  Darius  Medus  of  the  former  and  Megasthenes  (ap.  Euseb.  Pra^p.  Ev.  ix. 

part  of  the  book.  41),  spoke  of  the  capture  of  Babylon   by 

'  Dan.  ix.  1.              ^  Tobit  xiv.  15.  Cyrus  without   any  mention   of  a   Median 

^  It  is  pretty  nearly  certain  that  Astyages  kuig. 

could  not  have  been  his  name.     Aj-dahak,  ^  Dan.  v.  31 ;   Joseph.  Antiq.  Jud,  x.  11. 


Essay  III.       MEDIA  BECOMES  A  PEKSIAN  SATEAPY.  339 

for  the  accession  of  Astyages.  If  therefore  Astyages  be  Darius 
Medus,  he  must  have  ascended  the  throne  at  the  tender  age  of 
seven,  which  is  in  any  case  unlikely,  while  it  is  contradicted  by 
the  fact  recorded  in  Herodotus,  that  he  was  married  during  his 
father's  lifetime/  Even  the  supposition  that  he  was  only  betrothed 
would  not  altogether  remove  the  difficulty,  for  the  espousals,  what- 
ever their  nature,  took  place  at  the  close  of  the  Lydian  war,  which 
various  considerations  determine  to  about  the  year  B.C.  CIO,  ten 
years,  that  is,  before  the  birth  of  Darius  the  Mede.  These  chro- 
nological difficulties  seem  to  have  led  to  the  conjecture  of  Josephus, 
that  Darius  the  Mede  was,  not  Astyages  himself,  but  bis  son,  uncle 
to  Cyrus.^  For  the  existence  of  such  a  person,  the  only  authority 
besides  Josephus  is  Xenophon,^  in  that  historical  romance  of  which 
we  cannot  tell  how  much  may  not  be  fabulous.  Upon  the  whole, 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  are  scarcely  sufficient  grounds 
for  determining  whether  the  Darius  Medus  of  Daniel  is  identical 
with  any  monarch  known  to  us  in  profane  history,  or  is  a  personage 
of  whose  existence  there  remains  no  other  record. 

12.  In  any  case,  with  Darius  the  Mede,  whoever  he  was,  perished 
the  last  semblance  of  Median  independence.  Media  became  a 
satrapy  of  the  Persian  empire,  retaining,  however,  as  was  before 
observed,  a  certain  pre-eminence  among  the  conquered  provinces, 
and  admitted  far  more  than  any  other  to  a  share  in  the  high 
dignities  and  offices  of  trust,  which  were,  as  a  general  rule,  en- 
grossed by  the  citizens  of  the  dominant  race.  She  was  not,  how- 
ever, content  with  her  position,  and  on  two  occasions  made  an 
effort  to  recover  her  nationality.  In  the  reign  of  Darius  Hys- 
taspes  Media  seems  to  have  stirred  up  the  most  important  of  all 
those  revolts  which  occupied  him  during  the  earlier  portion  of 
his  reign.  A  pretender  to  the  crown  arose,  who  asserted  his 
descent  from  Cyaxares,  and  headed  a  rebellion,  in  which  Armenia 
and  Assyria  both  participated.  After  a  protracted  contest  Darius 
prevailed,  crucified  the  pretender,  and  forced  the  Medes  to  sub- 
mit to  him.^  Again,  in  the  reign  of  Darius  Kothus  the  expe- 
riment was  tried  with  the  same  ill  success.  A  single  battle  decided 
the  struggle,  and  dispelled  the  hopes  which  had  been  once  more 
excited  by  the  evident  decline  of  the  Persian  power."  After  this 
Media  made  no  further  effort  until  the  dismemberment  of  the  em- 
pire of  Alexander  enabled  the  satrap  Atropates  to  become  the 
founder  of  a  new  Median  kingdom. 

13.  In  conclusion,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  briefly  the 
Median  chronology  of  Herodotus,  which  has  always  been  a  subject 
of  extieme  perplexity  to  critics  and  commentators. 

Hevdotus  gives  the  reigns  of  his  four  Median  kings  as  follows  : — ■ 
Deioces,  53  years ;  Phraortes,  22  years ;  Cyaxares,  40  years ;  and 
Astyages,  35  years,  making  a  grand  total  of  exactly  150  years.*     He 


*  Herod,  i.  74.         ^  Antiq.  Jud.  1.  s.  c.  "^  See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Memoir  on  the 

^  Herodotus,  it  must  be  remembered,  de-  Behistun  Inscription,  vol.  i.  pp.  xxx.-xxxii. 

nies  positively  that  Astyages  had  any  male         ^  Xen.  Hell.  i.  ii.  §  19. 

issue.     He  was  airais  epa^uos  yovov,  i.  109.         ^  See  Herod,  i.  chaps.  102,  106,  130. 

z  2 


340    DIFFICULTIES  OF  HERODOTUS'  CHEONOLOGY.     App.  Book  I. 

also  states  that  the  Median  empire  over  upper  Asia  lasted  for  128 
years,  including  in  that  time  the  period  of  the  Scythic  troubles.'  If 
therefore  we  assume  the  year  B.C.  558  as,  according  to  him,^  the  first  of 
Cyrus  in  Persia,  we  shall  have  B.C.  686  for  the  first  year  of  the 
empire,  b.c.  708  for  the  accession  of  the  first  king  Deioces,  and  B.C. 
655  for  that  of  bis  son  and  successor,  Phraortes.  The  first  year  of 
the  empire  will  therefore  fall  into  the  reign  of  Deioces,  coinciding, 
in  fact,  with  his  twenty-third  year.  But  this  is  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  a  very  plain  and  clear  statement,  that  "  Deioces  was  ruler  of 
the  Medes  only,"  and  that  it  was  "  Phraortes  who  first  brought 
other  nations  under  subjection."  ^ 

Various  modes  of  explaining  this  difficulty  have  been  attempted. 
The  most  popular  is  that  adopted  by  Heeren,  which  commences 
with  a  mistranslation  of  the  text  of  Herodotus,  and  ends  with  leav- 
ing the  contradiction  untouched  and  unaccounted  for.  Heeren, 
following  Conringius  *  and  Bouhier,'  regards  the  28  3"ears  of  the 
Scythic  troubles  as  not  included  in  the  128  years  assigned  by  Hero- 
dotus to  the  empire  of  the  Medes,  but  additional  to  them,  and  thus 
obtains  a  Median  empire  of  156  years,  from  which  he  concludes  that 
Herodotus  intended  to  fix  the  time  of  the  Median  revolt  to  the  sixth 
year  previous  to  the  accession  of  Deioces."  With  regard  to  this  ex- 
planation, it  is  sufficient  to  say,  first,  that  the  passage  in  question 
will  not  bear  the  translation,^  and  secondly,  that  Herodotus  is  dis- 
tinctly speaking  of  the  establishment  of  the  Median  empire^  not  of 
the  era  of  the  independence. 

The  other  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  remove  the 
difficulty  have  all  turned  upon  an  alteration  of  the  existing  text. 
Jackson  long  ago  proposed  the  omission  of  the  words  rpajKopra 
Kai.^  Niebuhr  suggested  the  substitution  of  TrevrriKovra  for  rpirj- 
Kovra,  in  the  first  instance,  and  the  transference  of  the  words  -pL-f]- 
Kovra  (^v^v  liovra  to  the  end  of  the  sentence.^  Eecently  Dr.  Brandis 
has  urged  the  entire  omission  of  the  latter  clause,  which  crept  in, 
he  thinks,  from  the  margin.'  But  to  change  the  text  of  an  author 
where   there   is  no   internal   evidence   of  corruption,*   merely  on 


^  Herod,  i.  130.      MtjSoi  inreKv^pau  U4p-  pora  Emendate,  pp.   6-8)    has  sho\\Ti   this 

(nicri  8m  tV  tovtov  TriKpoTrira,  &p  ^ay-  with  great  clearness.      The  same  view  of  the 

T  €  s     TTjs     &u  w     "A\v  0  9     TT  0  T  a  fx  0  V  meaning  of  the  passage  is  tekeu  by  Schweig- 

'Acrirjs    Itt'    erca  rpi-f^KovTa  koI   eKarhv  hauser  (Lex.  Herod,  ad  voc.  7ra/)e|),  and  by 

Sv(fiv    Seoj/To,     7rape|   ^    '6aou    ol    '2,KvdaL  Scott  and  Liddell  (Lexicon  ad  voc.  Trapeze). 

^pXov.  ^  Chronolog.  Antiq.  voL  i.  p.  422. 

2  Cyrus  died  B.  C.  529   (see  the  Astrono-  9  In  the  Denkschrift  d.  BerL  Ac.  d.  Wis- 

mical  Canon).     According  to  Herodotiis,  he  senschaft  for  1820-1    (pp.  49,  50).     See  the 

reigned  29  years  (i.  214).     This  woidd  place  foot  note  on  the  passage  in  question. 

his  accession  in  B.  c.  558.  i  Rerum  Assyriarum  Tempora  Emendata, 

'3  Herod,  i.  101,  102.  p.   8.     Dr.   Brandis    supposes  the  words  to 

''  See  Conringii  Adversaria,  p.  148.  have  been  placed  in  the  margin  by  a  reader 

*  Bouhier,  Recherches  sur  Herodote,  p.  39.  who  intended  to  note  the  period  of  the  Scytliic 

^  ]\Ianual  of  Ancient  History,  p.  27,  and  occupation. 

Appendix,  p.  476,  E.  T.     Besides  Conringius,  2  jy^.^  Brandis  brings  forward  two  signs  of 

Bouhier,   and   Heeren,    this    view    numl)ers  corruption — the   use  of  eVi  before  an  exact 

among  its  advocates  Volney  (Recherches,  torn,  number,  and  the  position  of  the  words  Bv<f}V 

i.  p.  418),  and  Hupfeld  (Exercitet.  Herodot.  B4ovTa,  after,  and  not  before,  the  main  num- 

Spec.  ii.  p.  56,  et  seq.).  ber.     But    evri    is   often   used   before    exact 

"^  Dr.  Brandis  (Rerum  Assyriarum  Tern-  numbers  by  Herodotus  (i.  7,  94 ;  iv.   163, 


Essay  III.  PEOBABLE  SOLUTION". 


341 


account  of  a  chronological  or  historical  difficulty,  is  contrary  to  all 
the  principles  of  sound  criticism.     In  such  a  case  no  emendation 
deserves  attention,  unless  it  is  of  the  very  happiest  description— a 
merit  which  certainly  cannot  he  said  to  belong  to  any  of  the  iiro 
posed  readings.  ^ 

14.  Without  an  alteration  of  the  existing  text,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  it  is  impossible  to  remove  the  contradiction  which  is 
lound  m  our  author.  It  is,  however,  quite  possible  to  account  for 
It.  A  single  mistake  or  misconception  on  his  part,  and  that  too 
one  of  a  kind  very  likely  to  be  made,  would  have  led  to  the  result 
which  we  witness.  If  his  informant  intended  to  assign  22  years 
to  Deioces,  and  53  to  Phraortes,  and  Herodotus  simply  misplaced 
the  numbers,  the  contradiction  which  exists  would  follow  That 
Herodotus  did  not  discover  the  contradiction  is  no  more  surprisino: 
than  that  he  did  not  see  how  impossible  it  was  that  Anysis  should 
on^r'''T!^^^''  l^\^^^''^  ^^^^''^  Amyrt^us,^  and  Moeris  less  than 
yoo.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  Herodotus  ever  tabulated  his 
dates,  or  iii  any  way  compared  them  together;  whether,  in  fact  he 
did  more  than  report  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  simply  as  he  received 
them,  the  accounts  which  were  given  him.  Occasioially  he  became 
contused,  or  his  memory  failed;  and  he  committed  a  mistake  which 
we  are  sometimes  enabled  to  rectify. 

If  we  make  the  transposition  proposed,  we  shall  find  that  the 
Median  empire  dates  exactly  from  the  fiVst  year  of  Phraortes  the 
prince  who,  according  to  Herodotus,  began  the  Median  conquests 
Ihat  the  empire  ought  to  date  from  an  early  part  of  this  prince's 
reign,  has  been  seen  very  generally,  and  the  alterations  made  in 
the  text  have  not  unfrequently  had  it  for  their  object  to  brin^  out 
this  result.^     The  subjoined  table  will  show  this  point  clearly 

In  conclusion,  it  must  be  noticed,  that  no  dependance  at  all 
can  be  placed  upon  the  chronological  scheme  in  question  for  his- 
torical purposes.  Its  opposition  to  facts  in  the  earlier  portion 
has  been  already  noted.  Even  in  the  latter  portion,  where  in 
default  of  any  better  guide,  its  statements  may  fairly  be  adopted 
they  must  not  be  regarded  as  authoritative,  or  as  anything  more 
than  approximations.  The  whole  scheme,  from  beginnino-  to  end 
IS  artificial.^  It  is  the  composition  of  a  chronologer  who  either 
possessed  no  facts,  or  thought  himself  at  liberty  to  disregard  them. 

&c.);  and  the  qualifying  clause  (5u<?v  S^oura)  tions  of  75  years  each  by  the  accession  of 
not  even  always  prefixed  to  a  simple,  is  (I  Cycusares.  These  portions  are  again  m  each 
tiunk)  most  naturally  suffixed  to  a  compound     case   subdivided  st/stematicaliy.     The     later 

""Tw'"'^    ••    -..n  4  TV.    ••    .o  Penod  of  75  years  is  divided  between  Cyaxares 

Herod,  n.  140.  ^  Ibid.  u.  13.  and  Astyages  in  the  simplest  possible  way  : 

bee  the  Essay  of  Dr.  Brandis,  p.  9.  the  former  is  divided  so  as  to  produce    de- 

Its  mam  numbers  are  a  century  and  a  half  ductmg  the  28  years  of  Scythic  rule  a'Me- 

tor  the  entire  duration  of  the  Median  kingdom,  dian  empire  of  a  century.     This  period  of  28 

and  a  century  for  the  period  of  empire.     The  years  is  the  only  number  in  the  whole  scheme 

longer  term  is  divided  exactly  into  two  por-  which  cannot  be  distinctly  accounted  for. 

f  75  years  P^y^'^'"^  "  Deioces. 

150  years  of  the  j  (53  years  ..  Phraortes i 

kingdom       .K  piO  years  ..  Cyaxares      ..     Scyths-)L„„    oo     ■,«. 

Buum     ..      75  years  <^  rule  for  28  years.        j  >  128-28=100  years  of  empire. 

V  [35  years  . .  Astyages      j 


342 


COMPAEATIVE  TABULAR  STATEMENT.      App.  Book  I. 


Choosing  to  represent  the  Medes  as  ruled  by  their  own  kings  for 
150  years,  and  lords  of  Asia  for  100,  and  being  bonnd  to  allow  a 
certain  period  during  the  reign  of  Cyaxares,  for  a  Scythic  supre- 
macy, his  scheme  naturally  took  the  shape  given  below.  Herodotus, 
by  misplacing  two  of  the  numbers,  threw  the  scheme  into  con- 
fusion, leaving,  however,  in  his  inconsistent  statements,  the  means 
of  his'  own  correction.  In  the  table  subjoined,  the  statements  of 
Herodotus,  the  scheme  of  his  informant,  and  the  real  chronology,  as 
far  as  it  can  be  laid  down  with  any  approach  to  accuracy,  are  exhi- 
bited in  parallel  columns. 


Median  Chronologer. 


Revolt  of  the  Medes      . . 

'Deioces  (22  yrs.)     . .     . .  708 
^Phraortes    (53    yrs.)  686 
Conquers      Persia, 
&c 


Cyaxares  (40  yrs.)       633 

I  Attacks  Nine- 
veh    ..     ..  632 
Drives  out  the 
Scyths        ..  604 
Takes  Nineveh    ..  603 


Herodotus. 


Astyages  (35  yrs.)       593 
.     Conquered  by  Cy- 
^    rus         558 


Revolt  of  the  Medes    . . 

Deioces  (53  yrs.)  . .     . .  708 

Phraortes  (22  yrs.)       . .  655 
Conquers  Persia,  &c. 

Cyaxares  (40  yrs.)       . .  633 

Attacks  Nineveh  . .  632 
Drives  out  the  Scyths    604 

Takes  Nineveh  . .  . .  603 
Attacks  Halyattes  ..  602 
Makes  peace      . .     . .  596 

Astyages  (35  yrs.)        . .  593 
Conquered  by  Cyrus..  558 


True  Chronology. 


Medes  at  war  with  As- 
syria     

Media  conquered  by  As-  , 

Syria 710 

Media  generally  subject 
to  Assyria,  but  often 
in  revolt     

Cyaxares  begins  his  con- 
quests   633  (?) 

Wars  with  Scyths. . 

Takes  Nineveh     . .  625 
Wars  with  Lydia  . , 
Aids   Nebuchadnez- 
zar         597 

Astyages  or  Aspadas   . .  593 
Conquered  by  Cj^rus..  558 


Note  A  (referred  to  at  p.  337). 


The  only  ancient  writer  who  assigns 
important   and   stirring   events   to   the 
reign  of  Astyages  is  the  Armenian  his- 
torian,  Moses  of  Chorene'.      Accordmg 
to  the  authorities  which  this  writer  fol- 
lowed, Cyrus,  who  is  represented  as  an 
independent  sovereign,  had   contracted 
an  alliance  with  Tigranes,  king  of  Arme- 
nia, also  an  independent  prince,  which 
caused  great  disquietude  to  Astyages, 
owing  to  the  amount  of  the  forces  which 
the  two  allied  powers  were  able  to  bring 
into  the  field.     His  fears  were  increased 
by  a  dream  in  which  he  thought  he  saw 
the  Armenian   monarch  riding  upon  a 
dragon  and  coming  through  the  air  to 
attack  him  in  his  own  palace,  where  he 
was  quietly  worshipping  his  gods.     Re- 
garding  this   vision   as    certainly   por- 
tending an  invasion  of  his  empire   by 
the   Armenian   prince,  he   resolved   to 
anticipate  his  designs  by  subtlety,  and, 
as  the  first  step,  demanded  the  sister  of 
Tigranes.  who  bore  the  name  of  Tigrania, 
in  marriage.    Tigranes  consented;  and 


the  wedding  was  celebrated,  Tigrania 
becoming  the  chief  or  favourite  wife  of 
the  Median  king,  in  lieu  of  a  certain 
Anusia,  who  had  previously  held  that 
honourable  position.  At  first  attempts 
were  made  to  induce  Tigrania  to  lend 
herself  to  a  conspiracy  by  which  her 
brother  was  to  be  entrapped  and  his  per- 
son secured ;  but  this  plan  faihng  through 
her  sagacity,  the  mask  was  thrown  off, 
and  preparations  for  war  made.  The 
Armenian  prince,  anticipating  his  enemy, 
collected  a  vast  army  and  invaded  Media, 
where  he  was  met  by  Astyages  in  per- 
son. For  some  months  the  war  lan- 
guished, since  Tigranes  feared  his  pressing 
it  would  endanger  the  life  of  his  sister, 
but  at  last  she  succeeded  in  effecting  her 
escape,  and  he  found  himself  free  to  act. 
Hereupon  he  brought  abovit  a  decisive 
engagement,  and  after  a  conflict  which 
for  a  long  time  was  doubtful,  the  Median 
army  was  completely  defeated,  and  As- 
tyages fell  by  the  hand  of  his  brother-in- 
law.     Cyrus  is  not  represented  as  taking 


Essay  III. 


NOTE— ASTYAGES  AND  TIGRANES. 


343 


any  part  in  this  war,  tliovigh  afterwards 
he  is  mentioned  as  aiding  Tigranes  in  the 
conquest  of  Media  and  Persia,  which  are 
regarded  as  forming  a  part  of  the  domi- 
nions of  the  Armenian  king.  (See  Mos. 
Chor.  i.  23-30.)  It  is  needless  to  observe 
that  this  narrative  is  utterly  incompati- 
ble with  the  Herodotean  stoxy.  It  rests 
on  the  authority  of  a  certain  Maribas 
(Mar-Ibas  or  Mar- Abas)  of  Catina,  a  Sy- 


rian writer  of  the  2nd  century  before 
our  era,  who  i)rofessed  to  have  found  it 
in  the  royal  library  of  Nineveh,  where 
it  was  contained  in  a  Greek  book  pur- 
porting to  be  a  translation  made  by  or- 
der of  Alexander  from  a  Chaldee  origi- 
nal. {Ibid.  ch.  8.)  Possibly  it  may 
contain  an  exaggerated  account  of  some 
actual  war  between  Astyages  and  an 
Armenian  prince. 


344  ON  THE  TEN  TRIBES  OF  THE  PEESIANS.     App.  Book  I. 


ESSAY  IV. 


ON  THE  TEN  TRIBES  OF  THE  PERSIANS.— [H.C.R.] 

1,  Eminence  of  the  Pasargadte  —  modern  parallel.  2.  The  Maraphians  and 
Maspians.  3.  The  Panthialseans,  Derusians,  and  Germanians.  4.  The  nomade 
tribes  —  the  Dahi  mentioned  in  Scripture  —  the  Mardi  or  ''Heroes" — the 
Dropici  or  Derbices — the  Sagartii. 

1.  The  Pasargadse  seem  to  have  been  the  direct  descendants  of 
tlie  original  Persian  tribe  which  emigrated  from  the  far  East 
fifteen  centuries,  perhaps,  before  the  Christian  era,  and  which,  as 
it  rose  to  power,  imposed  its  name  on  the  province  adjoining  the 
Erythraean  sea.  The  Pasargad^,  among  the  other  tribes  of  Per- 
sia, were  Hke  the  Durranees  among  the  Afghans  :  they  enjoyed 
especial  advantages,  and  kept  themselves  quite  distinct  from  the 
hordes  by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  Their  chief  settlement 
seems  to  have  been  about  thirty  miles  north  of  Persepolis,'  and 
here,  in  the  midst  of  his  kinsmen,  Cyrus  the  Great  established  his 
capital. 

2.  The  Maraphii  and  Maspii,  classed  with  the  Pasargadge,  were 
probably  cognate  races,  who  accompanied  them  in  their  original 
immigration.  Possibly  the  old  name  of  the  former  ^  is  to  be  recog- 
nized in  the  title  of  Mdfee,  which  is  borne  by  a  Persian  tribe  at 
the  present  day,  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  most  ancient  tribes 
in  the  country.  Of  the  Maspii  we  know  nothing,  but  their  appella- 
tion probably  includes  the  word  aspa,  "  a  horse." 

3.  The  name  of  Panthialsean  resembles  a  Greek  rather  than  a 
Persian  title ;  ^  at  any  rate,  neither  of  this  tribe,  nor  of  their  asso- 
ciates, the  Derusians,  does  our  modern  ethnographical  knowledge 
afford  any  illustration.  The  Germanians  were  in  all  likelihood 
colonists  from  Carmania.  {Kermcin).  * 


1  On  the  site  of  Pasargadffi,  see  note  ^  on  as  the  general  run  of  such  speculations  ia  the 
Book  i.  ch.  125.  Niebuhr,  following  Sir  W.  grammarians.  The  city  Marrhasium  in  Pto- 
Ouseley  and  others,  decieds  that  it  was  the  lemy  (Geograph.  vi.  4)  may  with  more  rea- 
same  place  as  Persepolis  (Lecture  on  Ancient  son  be  connected  with  the  name. 

History,  vol.  i.  p.  115,  E.  T.).      But  the  *  It  must  be  noticed  tliat  Stephen  of  By- 

ruius  of  the  two  are  forty  miles  apart,  and  zantium  read  "  Penthiadse  "  for  "  Panthialaji." 

ancient  writers  carefully  distinguish  them.  There  is,  however,  no  explanation  of  either 

(See  'below,  Essay  x.  §  10,  iii.  note.)     The  term.     (Cf.  Steph.  Byz.  sub  voc.    Arjpov- 

Pasargadse  are  not  often  distinguished  as  a  aa7oi.) 

tribe  by  ancient  authors ;  but  they  appear  to  *  Stephen    (1.  s.  c.)  substitutes  the  word 

have  been  mentioned  as  such  by  Apollodorus  Kap/xduioi  for  the  TepjxauioL  of  om"  author, 

(cf.  Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc.)  where  he  is  professedly  quoting  from  him. 

2  The  fixncy  which  derived  the  Maraphians  The  position  of  Carmania  on  the  eastern  bor- 
from  a  certain  Maraphius,  the  son  of  Menelaus  ders  of  Persia  Proper  is  marked  in  Strabo 
and  Helen  (cf.  Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc.  Mapa-  (xv.  p.  1029,  &c.),  Pliny   (H.  N.  vi.  23), 
<^tot ;    Eustath.  ad  Hom.  II.  iii.  175;    Por-  Ptolemy   (Geograph.  vi.  6),  and  others, 
phyr.  Quacst.  Hom.  13),  is  as  httle  felicitous 


Essay  IV.      ON  THE  TEN  TRIBES  OF  THE  PERSIANS.  345 

4.  With  tlio  nomade  tribes  we  are  more  familiar.  The  Dahi, 
whose  name  is  equivalent  to  the  Latin  "  Eustici,"  were  spread 
over  the  whole  country,  from  the  Caspian  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
the  Tigris.  They  are  even  mentioned  in  Scripture,  among  the 
Samarian  colonists,  being  classed  with  the  men  of  Archoe  (Erech 
or  'Opxor}),  of  Babylon,  of  Susa,  and  of  Elam.'  The  Mardi — the 
heroes,  as  the  name  may  be  interpreted — were  also  established  in 
most  of  the  mountain -chains  which  intersected  the  empire.  Their 
'particular  seats  in  Persia  Proper,  where  indeed  they  were  attacked 
and  brought  under  subjection  by  Alexander,^  were  in  the  range 
which  divides  Persepolis  from  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  Dropici  of 
Herodotus  are  probably  the  same  as  the  Derbicci  of  other  authors/ 
whose  principal  establishments  seem  to  have  been  to  the  south-east 
of  the  Caspian  Sea.  The  Sagartians,  at  any  rate,  who  are  here 
mentioned  with  the  Dropici,  were  in  their  proper  northern  settle- 
ments immediate  neighbours  of  the  Derbicci,  and  colonies  from  the 
two  tribes  may  thus  be  very  well  understood  to  have  emigrated  to 
the  southward  simultaneously.  The  Sagartians  are  expressly  stated 
by  Herodotus  to  be  of  cognate  origin  with  the  Persians,^  and  the 
name  of  Chitratakhma,  a  Sagartian  chief,  who  revolted  against 
Darius,^  is  undoubtedly  of  Persian  et3'mology,  signifying  "  the 
strong  leopard." — [H.C.R.] 


^  Ezra  iv.  9.  p.  76X).     According  to  Nicolas  of  Damascus, 

6  Arrian  Exp.  Alex.  iii.  24.     The  Mardi  Cyrus  was  b}^  birth  a  Mardian»    (Fr.  66.) 

were  mentioned  by  ApoUodorus   (cf.  Steph.  '^  Cf.  Ctes.  Pers.  Exc.  §  6-8 ;  Steph.  Byz. 

Byz.  ad  voc.  Mdpdoi).      They  were  thieves  ad  voc,  &c. 

and  archers.     Their  expertness  in  climbing  ^  Infra,  vii.  85. 

has  been  already  indicated  (supra,  ch.  84).  ^  See  the  Behistun  Inscription,  col.  ii.  par. 

Probably  they  are  the  Amardi  of  Strabo  (xi.  14. 


346  KELIGION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  PEESIANS.      App.  Book  I. 


ESSAY  y. 

ox  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  AXCIENT  PEESIANS. 

1.  Difficulties  of  the  common  view.  2.  Dualism  and  elemental  worship  two 
different  systems.  3.  Worship  of  the  elements  not  the  original  Persian 
religion.  4.  Their  most  ancient  belief  pure  Dualism.  5.  Elemental  woi'ship 
the  religion  of  the  Magi,  who  were  Scyths.  6.  Gradual  amalgamation  of  the 
two  religions. 

1.  It  lias  long  been  felt  as  a  difficulty  of  no  ordinary  magnitude, 
to  reconcile  the  account  which  Herodotus,  Dino,'  and  others,  give 
of  the  ancient  Persian  religion,  with  the  primitive  traditions  of 
the  Persian  race  embodied  in  the  first  Fargard  of  the  Vendidad, 
which  are  now  found  to  agree  remarkably  with  the  authentic 
historical  notices  contained  in  the  Acheemenian  monuments.  In 
tlie  one  case,  we  have  a  religion,  the  special  characteristic  of 
which  is  the  worship  of  all  the  elements,  and  of  fire  in  particular ; 
in  the  other,  one,  the  essence  of  which  is  Dualism,  the  belief  in 
two  first  Principles,  the  authors  respectively  of  good  and  evil, 
Omiazd  and  Ahriman.  Attempts  have  been  made  from  time  to 
time  to  represent  these  two  conflicting  systems  as  in  reality  har- 
monious, and  as  constituting  together  the  most  ancient  religion 
of  Persia;*  but  it  is  impossible,  on .  such  a  theory,  to  account  on 
the  one  hand,  for  the  omission  by  the  early  Greek  writers  of  all 
mention  of  the  two  great  antagonistic  principles  of  light  and 
darkness,  and  on  the  other,  for  the  absence  from  the  monuments, 
and  from  the  more  ancient  portions  of  the  Yendidad,  of  any  dis- 
tinct notice  of  the  fire-worship.  It  cannot  indeed  be  denied, 
that  in  later  times  a  mongrel  religion  did  exist,  the  result  of  the 
contact  of  the  two  systems,  to  which  the  accounts  of  modem 
writers  would  very  fairly  apply.  But  the  further  we  go  back  the 
fewer  traces  do  we  find  of  any  such  intermixture  —  the  more 
manifestly  does  the  religion  described,  or  otherwise  indicated,  be- 
long unmistakeably  to  one  or  other  of  the  two  types.  Through- 
out Herodotus  we  have  not  a  single  trace  of  Dualism ;  we  have 
not  even  any  mention  of  Ormazd ;  the  religion  depicted  is  purely 
and  entirely  elemental,  the  worship  of  the  sun  and  moon,  of  fire, 
earth,  water,  and  the  winds  or  air.^  Conversely,  in  the  inscriptions 
there  is  nothing  elemental ;  but  the  worship  of  one  Supreme  God, 
under  the  name  of  Ormazd,  with  perhaps  an  occasional  mention  of 
an  Evil  Principle." 

1  For  a  collection  of  the  fi-agments  of  Dino,  '*  See  the  Beliistun  Inscription,  col.  4,  par. 
see  IMiiller's  Fragmenta  Historicorum  Grseco-  4,  §  3,  where,  in  the  Scythic  version,  the  false 
rum,  vol.  ii.  pp.  90-1.  religion  which  Darius  displaced  is  said  to  have 

2  By  Brisson  (De  Regio  Persarum  Princi-  been  established  by  the  "  god  of  lies."  It  need 
patu,  book  ii.  pp.  203-238),  Hyde  (De  Reli-  surprise  no  one  that  notices  are  not  more  fre- 
gione  Veterum  Persarum),  Heeren  (Asiatic  quent, or  that  the  name  of  Ahi-iman  does  not 
Nations,  vol.  i.  pp.  374-392),  and  others.  occur.      Tlie   public  documents   of  modern 

^  Herod,  i.  131.     Compare  iii.  16.  countries  make  no  mention  of  Satan. 


Essay  Y.  DUALISM  OF  THE  MONUMENTS.  347 

2.  If  then  these  two  systems  are  in  their  origin  so  distinct,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  consider,  first  of  all,  which  of  them  in  reality 
constituted  the  ancient  Persian  religion,  and  which  was  intruded 
upon  it  afterwards.  Did  the  Arian  nations  bring  with  them  Dual- 
ism from  the  East,  or  was  the  religion  which  accompanied  them 
from  bej^ond  the  Sutlej,  that  mere  elemental  worship  which  Hero- 
dotus and  Dino  describe,*  and  which  in  the  later  times  of  Greece 
and  Eome,  was  especially  regarded  as  Magism  ? " 

3.  In  favour  of  the  latter  supposition  it  may  be  urged,  that  the 
religion  of  the  Eastern  or  Indio-Arians,  appears  from  the  Vedas 
to  have  been  entirely  free  from  any  Dualistic  leaven,  while  it 
possessed  to  some  extent  the  character  of  a  worship  of  the  powers 
of  nature.  It  may  therefore  seem  to  be  improbable  that  a  branch  of 
the  Arian  nation,  *which  separated  from  the  main  body  at  a  compa- 
ratively recent  period,  should  have  brought  with  them  into  their 
new  settlement  a  religion  opposed  entirely  to  that  of  their  brethren 
whom  they  left  behind,  and  far  more  likely  that  they  should  have 
merely  modified  their  religion  into  the  peculiar  form  of  elemental 
worship  which  has  been  ascribed  to  them.  But  the  elementary 
worship  in  question  is  not  really  a  modification  of  the  Vedic  creed, 
but  a  distinct  and  independent  religion.  The  religion  of  the  Vedas 
is  spiritual  and  personal ;  that  which  Herodotus  describes  is  material 
and  pantheistic.  Again,  it  is  clear  that  some  special  reason  must 
have  caused  the  division  of  the  Arian  nation,  and  the  conjecture  is 
plausible,  that  "  it  was  in  fact  the  Dualistic  heresy  which  separated 
the  Zend,  or  Persian  branch  of  the  Arians,  from  their  Vedic 
brethren,  and  compelled  them  to  migrate  to  the  westward."' 

4.  Certainly,  if  we  throw  ourselves  upon,  the  ancient  monuments 
of  the  Arian  people,  we  must  believe  that  Dualism  was  not  a 
religion  which  they  adopted  after  their  migration  was  accomplished, 
but  the  faith  which  they  brought  with  them  from  beyond  the  Sutlej. 
In  that  most  ancient  account  of  the  Arian  Exodus  which  is  contained 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Vendidad,  the  whole  series  of  Arian 
triumphs  and  reverses  is  depicted  as  the  effect  of  the  struggle 
between  Ormazd  and  Ahriman.  Elemental  worship  nowhere  ap- 
pears, and  there  is  not  even  any  trace  of  that  reverential  regard  of 
the  sun  and  moon,  which  was  undoubtedl}^  a  part,  though  a  sub- 
ordinate one,  of  the  ancient  religion.  Similarly,  in  the  Ach^me- 
nian  monuments,  while  the  name  of  Ormazd  is  continually  invoked, 
and  a  mention  of  "  the  god  of  lies  "  is  perhaps  made  in  one  passage," 
the  elements  receive  no  respect.  Even  Mithras  is  unmentioned 
until  the  time  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  w^hen  his  name  occurs  in  a 
single  inscription  in  conjunction  with  Tanat,  or  Anaitis.^  Nothing 
is  more  plain  than  that  the  faith  of  the  early  Achsemenian  kings 


^  Frs.  5,  8,  and  9.  but  the  Scythic  is  thought  to  mention  "  the 

^  Cf.  Strabo,  xv.  pp.  1039-41  ;  Agathias,  god  of  hes."     (See  note  ad  loc.) 
ii.  pp.  G2-3 ;    Amm.  Marc,  xxiii.  6.  ^  In   the  inscription  of  Artaxerxes   Mne- 

'  See  Sir   H.  Ivawlinson's   Notes   on   the  mon,  discovered  at  Susa.     (See  Mr.  Norris's 

Early  History  of  Babylonia,  p.  37.  paper  in  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society, 

8  Behist.  IniJ.  col.  iv.  par.  4,     The  Persian  vol.  xv.  part  i.  p.  159  ;   and  Mr.  Lottus's 

transcript  seems  to  speak  only  of  Ormazd;  Chaldasa  and  Susiana,  p.  372.) 


348  EELIGIOX  OF  THE  MAGI  ELEMENTAL.       Apr  Book  L 

was  mere  Dualism,  witliout  the  slightest  admixture  of  fire-worship 
or  elemental  religion. 

5.  If  then  it  be  asked,  how  Herodotus  came  to  describe  the  Per- 
sian religious  system  as  he  did,  and  whence  that  elemental  worship 
originated  which  undoubtedly  formed  a  part  of  the  later  Persian 
religion,  it  must  be  answered  that  that  worship  is  Magism,  and  that 
it  was  from  a  remote  antiquity  the  religion  of  the  Scythic  tribes, 
who  were  thickly  spread  in  early  times  over  the  whole  extent  of 
Western  Asia.^  That  the  Magian  religion  was  distinct  from  that  of 
the  early  Persians,  is  clear  from  the  Behistun  Inscription,  where 
we  find  that  a  complete  religious  revolution  was  accomplished  by 
the  Magian  Pseudo-Smerdis,^  and  that  Darius,  on  his  accession,  had 
to  rebuild  temples  which  had  been  demolished,  and  re-establish  a 
worship  which  had  been  put  down.  That  the  religion  which  Hero- 
dotus intended  to  describe  was  Magism,  is  manifest  from  his  own 
account.^  It  remains  to  show  on  what  grounds  that  religion  is 
ascribed  to  the  Scyths. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  if  we  are  right  in  assuming  *  that  there 
were  in  Western  Asia,  from  the  earliest  times,  three,  and  three 
only,  great  races — the  Semitic,  the  Indo-European,  and  the  Scythic, 
or  Turanian — it  will  follow  that  the  religion  in  question  was  that 
of  the  Scyths,  since  it  certainly  did  not  belong  to  either  of  the  two 
other  families.  The  religion  of  the  Semites  is  well  known  to  us. 
It  was  first  the  pure  Theism  of  Melchizedek  and  Abraham,  whence 
it  degenerated  into  the  gross  idolatry  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Assyro- 
Babylonians.  That  of  the  Indo-European,  or  Japhetic  tribes,  is  also 
sufficiently  ascertained.  It  was  everywhere  the  worship  of  per- 
sonal gods,  under  distinct  names  ;  it  allowed  of  temples,  represented 
the  gods  under  sculptured  figures  or  emblems,  and  in  all  respects 
differed  widely  in  its  character  from  the  element-worship  of  the 
Magians.*  Magism,  therefore,  which  crept  into  the  religion  of  the 
Persians  some  time  after  their  great  migration  to  the  west,  cannot 
have  been  introduced  among  them  either  by  Japhetic  races,  with 
whom  they  did  not  even  come  into  contact,  or  by  the  Semitic 
people  of  the  great  plain  at  the  foot  of  Zagros,  whose  worship  was 
an  idolatry  of  the  grossest  and  most  palpable  character.  Further, 
it  may  be  noticed  that  Zoroaster,  whose  name  is  closely  associated 
with  primitive  Magism,  is  represented  by  various  writers  as  an 
early  Bactrian  or  Scythic  king  ;  ®  while  a  multitude  of  ancient  tra- 
ditions identify  him  with  the  patriarch  Ham/  the  great  progenitor 


1  See  Appendix,  ch.  xi.,  "  On  the  Ethnic  *  See  Appendix,  ch.  xi.,  "  On  the  Ethnic 
Affinities  of  the  Nations  of  Western  Asia."  Affinities  of  the  Nations  of  Western  Asia." 

2  'Hie  words  of  Darius  are  as  follows :  ^  In  the  element- worship  there  were  no 
"  The  temples  which  Gomates  the  Magian  had  temples,  images,  or  emblems,  but  only  fire- 
destroyed  I  rebuilt.  I  restored  to  the  nation  altars  on  the  high  mountains  for  sacrifice, 
the  sacred  offices  of  the  state  ;  both  the  reli-  See  Herod.  1.  s.  c. ;  Strab.  xv.  p.  1039  ;  Diog. 
gious    chaunts   and   the  worship,  of  which  Laert.  Proem.  §  6-9. 

Gomates  the  Magian  had  deprived   them  "  ^  Cephalion  ap.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  i.  c.  xv. 

(col  i.  par.  14).  Berosus  ap.  Mos.  Chor.  Hist.  Arm.  i.  c.  5. 

^  Herod,  i.  131-2.     Note  the  mention  of  Justin  I.  i.     Arnobius,  i.  c.  5  and  52. 

the  Magi  as  necessarily  bearing  a  part  in  every  '^  See  Bochart's  Phaleg,  book  iv.  ch.  1, 

sacrifice  oflered  to  the  elements.  where  a  collection  of  these  traditions  is  made. 


Essay  V.  MAGISM  TEMPOEAEILY  ASCENDANT.  349 

of  the  Turanians,  or  Allophylians.  Scythic  tribes  too  seem  clearly 
to  liave  intermixed  in  great  numbers  with  the  Arians  on  their  ar- 
rival in  Western  Asia,  and  to  have  formed  a  large,  if  not  the  pre- 
ponderating element  in  the  population  of  the  Achsemenian  empire.^ 
Corruption,  therefore,  would  naturally  spread  from  this  quarter, 
and  it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  the  Persians — flexible  and 
impressible  people  as  they  are  known  to  have  been  ^ — had  not  had 
their  religion  affected  by  that  of  a  race  with  whom  their  connexion 
was  so  intimate. 

6.  It  would  seem  that  the  Arians,  when  they  came  in  contact 
with  the  Scyths  in  the  west,  were  a  simple  and  unlettered  people. 
They  possessed  no  hierarchy,  no  sacred  books,  no  learning  or 
science,  no  occult  lore,  no  fixed  ceremonial  of  religion.  Besides 
their  belief  in  Ormazd  and  Ahriman,  which  was  the  pith  and 
marrow  of  their  religion,  they  woi'shipped  the  sun  and  moon, 
under  the  names  of  Mithra  and  Homa,'  and  acknowledged  the 
existence  of  a  number  of  lesser  deities,  good  and  evil  genii,  the 
creation  respectively  of  the  great  powers  of  light  and  darkness.* 
Their  worship  consisted  chiefly  in  religious  chaunts,  analogous  to 
the  Vedic  hymns  of  their  Indian  brethren,  wherewith  they  hoped 
to  gain  the  favour  and  protection  of  Ormazd  and  the  good  spirits 
under  his  governance.  In  this  condition  they  fell  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Magism,  an  ancient  and  venerable  system,  possessing 
all  the  religious  adjuncts  in  which"  they  were  deficient,  and 
claiming  a  mysterious  and  miraculous  power,  which,  to  the  cre- 
dulity of  a  simple  people,  is  always  attractive  and  imposing.^ 
The  first  to  be  exposed  and  to  yield  to  this  influence  were  the 
Modes,  who  had  settled  in  Azerbijan,  the  country  where  the  fire- 
worship  seems  to  have  originated,  and  which  was  always  regarded 
in  early  times  as  the  chief  seat  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion.*  The 
Medes  not  only  adopted  the  religion  of  their  subjects,  but  to  a 
great  extent  blended  with  them,  admitting  whole  Scythic  tribes 
into  their  nation.*  Magism  entirely  superseded  among  the  Medes 
the  former  Arian  faith,**  and  it  was  only  in  the  Persian  branch  of 
the  nation  that  Dualism  maintained  itself.     In  the  struggle  that 

^  The  Scythic  appears  as  the  vernacular  2  Compare  Behist.  Inscr.,  col.  iv,  par.  4. 

in  the  Behistun  Inscription.     The   sculptor  3  The  term  "  magic  "  has  not  without  rea- 

takes  greater  pains  with  it  than  with  the  son  attained  its  present  sense ;    for  the  Magi 

others.     In  one  instance  he  has  scored  out  a  were  from  very  early  times  pretenders  to 

passage  in  the  Scythic,  which  did  not  satisfy  miraculous  powers.    See  Herod,  i.  103,  120  ; 

him,  and  has  carved  it  again.     He  also  gives  vii.  19.     Dino,  Fr.  8. 

explanations  in  the  Scythic  which  he  does  not  "*  See    Sir    H.    Rawlinson's  Notes   on  the 

repeat  in  the  transcripts,  as  for  instance — that  Early  History  of  Babylonia,  p.  34. 

Ormazd  is  "  the  god  of  the  Arians."  ^  Besides  the  Magi  themselves,  who  formed 

^  See  Herod,  i.  135.     "E^iviko.  Se  v6jxaia  a  distinct  Median  tribe,  the  Budii  may  be 

Ilepcrai  irpoaievTai  avSpwv  fxaXiara.    Com-  recognized  as  Scyths.     They  are  the  Butiyd 

pare  131,  ad  fin.,  where  this  plastic  character  of  the  Persian,  and  the  Badu  of  the  Bal)ylo- 

is  shewn  to  extend  to  the  subject  of  religion,  nian  inscriptions,  and  may  very  probably  be 

^  Mithra  is  invoiced  in  an  inscription  of  identified  with  the  Flint  of  Scripture.     (Cf. 

Artaxerxes  JVInemon,  as  well  as    in  one  of  Gen.  x.  6,  and  Ezek.  xxxviii.  5.) 

Artaxerxes  Ochus.      Hymns  to  Homa  and  ^  Hence  in  Persian  romance  Astyages,  king 

Mithra  are  among  the  earliest  portions  of  the  of  the  Medes,    becomes    Afrasidb,    king  of 

Zendavesta.    The  worship  of  them  was  com-  Turdn,  who  is  conquered  and  taken  prisooer 

mon  to  the  Arians  with  their  Indian  brethren,  by  Kai  Khusru. 


850 


THE  TWO  RELIGIONS  AMALGAMATED.      App.  Book  I. 


shortly  arose  between  the  two  great  Arian  powers,  the  success  of 
Persia  under  Cyrus  made  Dualism  again  triumphant.  The  religion 
of  Ormazd  and  Ahriman  became  the  national  and  dominant  faith, 
but  Magism  and  all  other  beliefs  were  tolerated.  After  a  single 
unsuccessful  effort  to  recover  the  supremacy/  resulting  in  a  fierce 
persecution,  and  the  establishment  of  the  annual  Mayocpovia,  Ma- 
gism submitted ;  but  proceeded  almost  immediately  to  corrupt  the 
faith  with  which  it  could  not  openly  contend.  A  mongrel  religion 
grew  up,  wherein  the  Magian  and  Arian  creeds  were  blended  to- 
gether,^ the  latter  predominating  at  the  court  and  the  former  in  the 
provinces.  It  is  the  provincial  form  of  the  Persian  religion  which 
Herodotus  describes,  the  real  Arian  or  Acheemenian  creed  being  to 
all  appearance  unknown  to  him. 


'  Under  the  Pseudo-Smerdis.  (Cf.  Herod, 
iii.  61-79.) 

^  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  says :  "  To  discriminate 
the  respective  elements  of  this  new  faith  is 
difficult  but  not  impossible.  The  woi'ship  of 
Mithra  and  Homa,  or  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
had  been  cherished  by  the  Arian  colonists 
since  their  departure  from  Kurukhshetra ; 
their  religious  chaunts  corresponded  ■with  the 
Vedic  hymns  of  their  brethren  beyond  the 
Sutlej.  The  antagonism  of  Oromazdes  and 
Arimanes,  or  of  light  and  darkness,  was 
their  own  peculiar  and  independent  insti- 
tution. On  the  other  hand  the  origin  of  all 
things  from  Zerwan  was  essentially  a  Magian 
doctrine;  the  veneration  paid  to  fire  and 
water  came  from  the  same  source ;  and  the 
harsam  of  the  Zendavesta  is  the  Magian  di- 


vining-rod. The  most  important  Magian 
modification,  however,  was  the  personification 
of  the  old  heresionym  of  the  Scythic  race,  and 
its  immediate  association  with  Oromazdes. 
Under  the  disguise  of  Zara-thushtra,  which 
was  the  nearest  practicable  Arian  form,  Zira- 
ishtar  (or  the  seed  of  Venus)  became  a  pro- 
phet and  lawgiver,  receiving  inspiration  from 
Ahuramazda,  and  reforming  the  national  reli- 
gion. The  pretended  synchronism  of  this 
Zarathushtra  with  Vishtaspa  clearly  marks 
the  epoch  from  which  it  was  designed  that 
reformed  Magism  should  date,  an  epoch  se- 
lected doubtless  out  of  deference  to  the  later 
Achaemenian  kings,  who  derived  their  royalty 
from  Darius."  (Notes  on  the  Early  History 
of  Babylonia,  pp.  40,  41.) 


Essay  YI.  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  BABYLONIA.  351 


ESSAY    VI. 

ON  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  BABYLONIA.— [H.  C.  R.] 

1.  Obscurity  of  the  subject  till  a  recent  date — contradictory  accounts  of  Berosus 
and  Ctesias.  2.  The  progress  of  cuneiform  discovery  confirms  Berosus.  3. 
The  Babylonian  date  for  the  great  Chaldajan  Empire  which  preceded  the 
Assyrian,  viz.  b.c,  2234,  is  probably  historic.  4.  The  earliest  known  kings, 
Urukh  and  Ikji.  5.  Kudur-mabuk  connected  with  the  Chedor-laomer  of  Scrip- 
ture. 6.  Tsmi-dagon  extended  the  Chaldsean  power  over  Assyria.  7.  Son  and 
grandson  of  Ismi-dagon.  8.  Uncertainty  of  the  order  of  succession  among  the 
later  names — Naram-Sin — Sin-Shada.  9.  Ritn-Sin  and  Znr-Sin.  10.  Durri- 
(jalazu.  11.  Piirna-pnriyas.  12.  Kliammurahi  and  Sains/m-iluna.  13.  Table  of 
kings.  Incompleteness  of  the  list.  14.  Urukh  and  Iliji  belong  probably  to 
the  second  historical  dynasty  of  Berosus — the  other  kings  to  the  third.  15. 
General  sketch.  Rise  of  the  first  Cushite  dynasty.  16.  Cuneiform  writing. 
17.  Nimrod — Urukh — Ili/i.  18.  Babylon  conquered  by  immigrants  fi'ora 
Susiana.  19.  Second  dynasty  established  by  Kndur-mabuk,  B.C.  1976.  20. 
Activity  of  Semitic  colonisation  at  this  time.  Phoenicians — Hebrews —settle- 
ments in  Arabia,  Assyria,  and  Syria.  21.  Kings  of  the  2nd  dynasty — variety 
in  their  titles.  Condition  of  Assyria  at  this  period.  22.  Condition  of  Susiana. 
23.  Arabian  dynasty  of  Berosus,  b.c.  1518-1273 — possible  trace  in  the  inscrip- 
tions.    Large  Arabian  element  in  the  populjition  of  Mesopotamia. 

1.  Until  quite  recently,  the  most  obscure  chapter  in  the  world's 
history  was  that  which  related  to  ancient  Babylonia.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Scriptural  notices  regarding  the  kingdom  of  Nimrod 
and  the  confederates  of  Chedor-laomer,  there  was  nothing  authentic 
to  satisfy,  or  even  to  guide,  research.  So  little,  indeed,  of  positive 
information  could  be  gathered  from  profane  sources,  that  it  de- 
pended on  mere  critical  judgment — on  an  estimate,  that  is,  of 
the  comparative  credibility  of  certain  Greek  writers — whether  we 
believed  in  the  existence  from  the  earliest  times  of  a  continuous 
Assyrian  empire,  to  which  the  Babylonians  and  all  the  other  great 
nations  of  Western  Asia  were  subordinate,  or  whether,  rejecting 
Assyrian  supremacy  as  a  fable,  wo  were  content  to  fill  up  the  interval 
from  the  first  dawn  of  history  to  the  commencement  of  the  Greek 
Olympiads,  with  a  series  of  dynasties  which  reigned  successively  in 
the  countries  watered  by  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  but  of  whose 
respective  duration  and  nationality  we  had  no  certain  or  definite 
conception. 

2.  The  materials  accumulated  during  the  last  few  years,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  excavations  which  have  been  made  upon  the  sites 
of  the  ruined  cities  of  Babylonia  and  Chaldasa,  have  gone  far  to  clear 
up  doubts  upon  the  general  question.  Each  succeeding  discovery 
has  tended  to  authenticate  the  chronology  of  Berosus,  and  to  throw 
discredit  upon  the  tales  of  Ctesias  and  his  followers.  It  is  now 
certain,  whatever  may  have  been  the  condition  of  Babylonia  in  the 
pre-historic  ages,  that  at  the  first  establishment  of  an  empire  in 
that  part  of  Asia,  the  seat  of  government  was  fixed  in  Lower 
Chaldgea,  and  that  Nineveh  did  not  rise  to  metropolitan  conse- 
quence till   long  afterwaids.     The  chronology,   v/hich   we  obtain 


352 


CHKONOLOGY  OF  BEROSUS. 


App.  Book  I. 


from  tlie  cnneiform  inscriptions  for  this  early  empire,  haiTQonises 
perfectly  with  the  numbers  given  in  the  scheme  of  Berosus.  We 
have  direct  evidence  resulting  from  a  remarkable  sequence  of 
numbers  in  the  inscriptions  of  Assyria/  which  enables  us  to  assign 
a  certain  Chaldaean  king,  whose  name  occurs  on  the  brick  legends 
of  Lower  Babjdonia,  to  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  B.C. 
We  are  further  authorised  by  an  identity  of  nomenclature,  and  by 
the  juxtaposition  of  the  monuments,  to  connect  in  one  common 
dynastic  list  with  this  king,  whose  name  is  Ismi-dagon,  all  the  other 
early  kings  whose  brick  legends  have  been  discovered  in  Chald^a ; 
and  as  we  thereby  obtain  a  list  of  about  twenty  royal  names, 
ranging  over  a  large  interval  of  time  both  before  and  after  the  fixed 
date  of  B.C.  1861,  it  is  evident  that  the  chronological  scheme  of 
Berosus  (which  assigns  to  the  primitive  Chaldeean  empire  a  space 
extending  from  about  the  middle  of  the  twenty-third  to  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  centuries  B.C.)  is  in  a  general  way  remarkably  sup- 
ported and  confirmed. 

3.  This  scheme,  divested  of  its  fabulous  element,  and  completed 
according  to  a  most  ingenious  suggestion  of  German  criticism,^  is 
as  follows : — 


B.C.               B.C. 

Median  dynasty 

8  kings. 

224  years. 

2458  to  2234 

Chaldpoan  (?)  do 

11    do. 

(258)   do. 

2234  to  1976 

Chaldean  do. 

49    do.    • 

458     do. 

1976  to  1518 

Arab  do. 

9    do. 

245     do. 

1518  to  1273 

Assyrian  do.               .... 

45    do. 

526     do. 

1273  to     747 

Lower  Assyrian  do 

8    do. 

122     do. 

747  to    625 

Babylonian  do 

6    do. 

87     do. 

625  to    538 

1  The  sequence  in  question  is  the  following. 
First,  an  inscription  of  Sennacherib  at  Bavian 
commemorates  the  recovery  in  his  10th  year 
of  certain  gods  which  had  been  carried  to 
Babylon  by  Merodach-iddin-akhi  after  his 
defeat  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  418 
years  previously.  And,  secondly,  a  record 
of  this  same  King  Tiglath-Pileser,  inscribed 
on   the    famous   Shergat   cylinders,   declares 


him  to  have  rebuilt  a  temple  in  the  city  of 
Asshur,  which  had  been  taken  down  60  years 
previously,  after  it  had  lasted  for  641  years 
from  the  date  of  its  first  foundation  by  Shamas- 
Vul,  son  of  Ismi-daqon.  The  calculation, 
then,  by  which  we  obtain  the  date  of  Ismi- 
darjon's  accession  to  the  throne  may  be  thus 
exhibited : — 


Date  of  Bavian  inscription  (lOth  year  of  Sennacherib) 692 

Defeat  of  Tiglath-Pileser  by  Merodach-iddin-akhi 418  years  previously. 

Interval  between  the  defeat  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  (say)     10  years. 

Demolition  of  the  temple     60  years  previously. 

Period  during  which  the  temple  had  stood       641  years. 

Allow  for  two  generations  (Shamas-Phul  and  Ismi-dagon)  . .     . .       40  years. 

Date  of  Ismi-dagon's  accession       b.c.  1861 


2  See  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  Brandis,  entitled 
*  Eeyum  Assyriarum  Tempora  Emendata ' 
(Bonn,  1853),  p.  17.  The  ingenuity  of  the 
restoration  consists  in  the  discoveiy  of  a 
number  for  the  second  historical  dynasty  of 
Berosus  (defective  in  the  MS,),  which  not 
only  coincides  with  the  Babylonian  date  of 
Callisthenes,  but  which  also  makes  up  the 
cyclic  aggregate  of  36,000  years  for  the 
entire  chronological  scheme  of  the  Chakb-Scms, 
this  scheme  embracing  one  mythiail  and  seven 
historical  dynasties — five  of  the  latter  being 


preserved  by  Berosus,  and  two  obtained  from 
the  Canon  of  Ptolemy  and  other  sources.  See 
the  tabular  scheme  subjomed. 


Berosus. 


Dynasty. 

Kings, 

Years. 

Chaldsan 

.     «6     . 

.     34,080'\ 

Median.. 

8     . 

224 

(Chalda2an) 

.     11     . 

.        (258) 

Chaldffian 

.     49     . 

458  [ 

Arabian 

..       9     . 

245 

Assyrian 

.     45     . 

526; 

Assyrian 

.       8     . 

122  > 
87| 

Chaldaean 

.      6     . 

H  \  Ptolemy,  &c. 


36,000 


Essay  VI.  DATE  OF  THE  CHALD^EAN  EMPIRE.  353 

Now  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  first  or  Median  dynast}'', 
which  probably  represents  the  sovereignty  of  a  Scythic  race  from 
the  Eastward,  who  ruled  in  Babylonia  before  the  Ilamites,^  we  have 
here  a  fixed  date  of  B.C.  2234  for  the  commencement  of  that  great 
Chaldean  empire,  which  was  the  first  paramount  power  in  Western 
Asia.  And  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  the  same  date  as  that 
obtained  by  Callisthenes  from  the  Chaldseans  at  Babylon  for  the 
commencement  of  their  stellar  observations,  which  would  naturally 
be  coeval  with  the  em})ire ;  and  the  same  also  which  was  computed 
for  their  commencement  by  Pliny,  adapting  the  numbers  of  Berosus 
to  the  conventional  chronology  of  the  Greeks.  It  is  likewise,  pro- 
bably, the  same  which  was  indicated  by  Philo-Byblius,  when  he 
assigned  to  Babylon  an  antiquity  of  1002  years  before  Semiramis, 
who  was  contemporary  with  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  which  furnished 
Ctesias  with  his  authority  for  carrying  up  the  institution  of  an 
Assyrian  empire  to  nearly  fifteen  centuries  above  the  first  Olympiad.* 
In  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  we  have  not  lighted  as  yet  on  any 
chronological  table  or  other  calculation,  by  which  we  might  deter- 
minately  fix  the  first  year  of  the  Chaldaean  empire,  but  as  among 
the  numerous  brick  legends  recently  discovered  there  are  several 
which  contain  notices  of  kings  who  were  certainly  anterior  to  Ismi- 
dagon,  the  traditional  date  which  assigned  its  establishment  to  the 
twenty-third  century  B.C.  is  not  improbable. 

4.  Among  the  earliest,  if  not  actually  the  earliest,  of  the  royal 
line  of  Chaldsea  are  two  kings,  father  and  son,  whose  names  are 
doubtfully  read  upon  their  monuments  as  Urukh  and  llgi.^  The 
former  would  seem  to  have  been  the  founder  of  several  of  the  great 


'  See  the  last  Essay  in  this  volume,  '  On  '*  The  primitive  Babylonian  era,  as  obtained 
the  Ethnic  Affinities  of  the  Nations  of  from  these  various  authorities,  may  be  thus 
Western  Asia,'  p.  528.  expressed  in  figures: — 

Date  of  the  visit  of  Callisthenes  to  Babylon      B.C.    331 

Antiquity  of  stellar  observations 1903  years. 

—(See  Simplicius  ad  Arist.  de  Coelo,  lib.  ii.  p.  123.)  B.C.  2234 

Greek  era  of  Phoroneus  (See  Clinton's  F.  H.  vol.  i.  p.  139) B.C.  1753 

Observations  at  Babylon  before  that  time,  accoiding  to  Berosus 480  years. 

—(See  Plin.  H.  N.  vii.  56.)  B.C.  2233 
Age  of  Semiramis,  or  date  of  siege  of  Troy  (according  to  Hellanicus).  b.c.  1229 
Babylon  built  before  that  time 1002  years., 

—(See  Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc.  BaPvXwv.)  B.C.  2231 

Era  of  Ariphon  at  Athens     B.C.    826 

Duration  of  Assyrian  monarchy 1460  years. 

2286 
Deduct  reign  of  Belus         55  years. 

Era  of  Ninus,  according  to  Ctesias B.C.  2231 

See  for  details  of  these  calculations  the  writer's  ference,  and  according  to  the  ordinary  pho- 

'  Notes  on  the  Early  History  of  Babylonia,'  netic  value  of  the  characters  employed.     The 

in  the  '  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society,'  vol.  characters  are,  however,   in  all  probability 

XV.  p.  7  et  sqq.  ideographs.     Still  it  is  very  possi  ble  that  the 

^  In   the   absence    of  all  assistance  from  name  of  the  first  known  king  ( Urukh)  sixr- 

Greek    or    Hebrew    orthography,   the    least  vives  in  the  lines  of  Ovid : — 

possible    dependance    can    be    placed    on    the  «•  Rexit  Achajmenias  urbes  pater  Orchamus,  isque 
reading  of  these  two  names,  which,  indeed,        Septimus  a  prisci  numeratur  origine  Beli.' 
are  merely  given  for  the  convenience  of  re-  Metamorph.  iv.  212,  213. 

VOL.  I.  2   A 


354 


EARLIEST  KKOWN  KIKGS  OF  CHALD.EA.      Arp.  Took  I. 


Chaldaean  capitals;  for  the  basement  platforms  of  all  the  most 
ancient  buildings  at  Mugheir,  at  Warka,  at  Senkereh,  and  at  JViffer,  are 
composed  of  bricks  stamped  with  his  name,**  while  the  upper  stories, 
built  or  repaired  in  later  times,  exhibit  for  the  most  part  legends 
of  other  monarchs.  The  territorial  titles  assumed  by  Urukh  are 
king  of  Hur  and  Kingi  Akkad,  the  first  of  these  names  referring  to 
the  primeval  capital  whose  site  is  marked  by  the  ruins  of  Mugheir, 
and  the  second  being  apparently  an  ethnic  designation  peculiar  ta 
the  nomade  population  of  Babylonia.'  The  gods  to  whom  Uralih 
dedicates  his  temples,  are  Belus  and  Beltis,  and  the  Sun  and  Moon.^ 
The  relics  of  Ilgi  are  less  numerous  than  those  of  his  father,  but  he 
is  known  from  the  later  inscriptions  of  Nabonidus  to  have  com- 
pleted some  of  the  unfinished  buildings  at  Mugheir,  and  he  has  also 
left  memorials  of  having  built  or  repaired  two  of  the  chief  temples 
at  AVarka  or  Erech. 

5.  'I'he  only  king  who  can  have  any  claim,  from  the  position  in 
which  the  bricks  bearing  his  legends  are  found,  in  the  ruins  of 
Mugheir,  to  contest  the  palm  of  antiquity  with  Urukh  and  Ilgi,  is 
one  whose  name  appears  to  have  been  Kudur-mabuk,  and  who,  being 
further  distinguished  by  a  title  which  may  be  translated  "  Ravager 
of  the  West,"  "  has  been  compared  with  the  Chedor-laomer  of  Scrip- 
ture. It  is  difQcult  to  form  a  decided  opinion  on  this  interesting 
point.     On  the  one  hand,  the  general  resemblance  of  Kudur-mabuk's 


^  The  legends  on  the  bricks  of  Urukh  and 
Ilgi  are  in  rude  but  very  bold  characters, 
and  contrast  most  remarkably,  in  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  style  of  writing  and  the  general 
archaic  type,  with  the  elaborate  and  often 
complicated  symbols  of  the  later  monarchs. 
A  most  interesting  relic  of  Urukh's  was 
obtained  by  Sir  R.  K.  Porter  in  Babylonia, 
•  being  the  monarch's  own  signet  cylinder. 
The  figures  and  inscription  on  this  cylinder 
are  repl•e^ented  in  '  Porter's  Travels,'  [\o\.  ii. 
PI.  79.  G,)  and  have  been  often  copied  in 
other  works,  but  it  is  not  known  what  has 
become  of  the  original  relic.  Plate  1  of  the 
'  Historical  Inscriptions  '  recently  published 
imder  the  authority  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
British  Museum,  exhibits  9  ditierent  inscrip- 
tions of  Urukh,  and  in  Plate  2  there  are  4 
inscriptions  of  his  son  I((/i. 

'  Kingi  is  stated  in  the  bilingual  vocabu- 
laries to  be  equivalent  to  the  Semitic  mat, 
signifying  "  a  country  "  or  "  people."  The 
prefer  name,  therefore,  is  that  which  Avas 
Icnown  to  the  Assyrians  and  other  Semitic 
nations  as  Akkad  (HDN  of  Gen.  x.  10),  but 
of  which  the  vernacular  rendering  was  pro- 
bably Barbur  or  Berber.  The  people  were 
certainly  of  the  Turanian  race,  and  came  from 
the  Armenian  mountains,  the  geographical 
names  of  Ararat  and  Burhur  (or  Akkad) 
being  uired  indifferently  in  the  later  in- 
scriptions. 

"  The    ancient    cities    of  Babylonia    and 


Chalda^a  were  each  dedicated  to  a  particular 
god,  or  sometimes  to  a  god  and  goddess 
together.  Thus  Har  or  Miujheir  was  sacred 
to  "  the  Moon  ;"  Larsa  or  Senkereh  to  "  the 
Sun ;"  Huruk  or  Warka  to  "  Anu  "  and 
"  Beltis  ;"  Niffer  to  "  Belus  ;"  Babylon  itself 
to  "  Merodach ;"  Borsippa  to  "  Nebo  ;" 
Sippara  to  "  the  Sun "  and  "  Anunit " 
(Apollo  and  Diana  of  the  Greeks) ;  Catha 
to  "  Nergal,"  &c. 

^  This  epithet  is  probably  to  be  read  as 
"  apda  Martu,"  the  first  word  being  perhaps 
derived  from  a  root  corresponding  to  the 
Hebrew  TDJ^,  and  the  second  being  the 
Hamite  term  which  designated  "  the  West." 
Whatever  doubt,  indeed,  may  attach  to  the 
explanation  of  ajoJa,  there  can  be  no  question 
about  Martu.  It  usually  occurs  in  the  in- 
scriptions as  the  last  of  the  four  cardinal- 
points,  and  is  translated  in  the  vocabularies 
by  the  Semitic  iexTaakharru  (compare  "11 HN, 
"  behind "  or  "  the  West ").  It  was  also 
applied  by  the  primitive  Hamite  Chaldoeans 
to  Phoenicia,  from  the  geoirraphical  position 
of  that  coimtry  in  regard  to  Babylonia,  and 
has  been  pre:<erved  in  the  Greek  forms  of 
'RpaQv  and  Mapa^os.  Under  the  Semitic 
empire  of  Assyria  the  old  name  of  Martu 
was  still  sometimes  used  for  Phtenicia,  but 
the  title  was  more  usually  translated  into  its 
t-ynonym  of  Akharru. — See  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions,  passim. 


Essay  VL       TRADITION  EELATING  TO  KUDUR-MABUK. 


355 


legends  to  those  of  the  ordinary  Chaldsean  monarchs  is  iinqnes- 
tionable ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  remarkable  that  there  are  pecu- 
liarities in  the  forms  of  the  letters,  and  even  in  the  elements  com- 
posing the  names  upon  his  bricks,  which  favour  his  connexion  with 
Elam/  As,  however,  one  type  alone  of  his  legends  has  been  dis- 
covered, it  is  impossible  to  pronounce  at  present  on  the  identifica- 
tion in  question."^  A  son  of  Kudur-mabuhJs,  whose  name  may  be 
provisionally  read  as  Arid-Sin,  or  "  the  Servant  of  Sin,"  seems  to 
have  been  placed  in  the  government  of  Senkereh  whilst  his  father 
reigned  at  Hur.  On  Kudur-mahik's  death,  however,  he  ruled 
over  both  cities,  and  further  styles  himself  king  of  the  people  of 
Akkad.^ 

6.  In  succession  to  Kudur-mabuh  and  his  son,  but  probably  after  a 
considerable  interval  of  time,  we  must  place  Jsjni-dagon,  whose 
approximate  age  is  ascertained  from  the  inscriptions  of  Assyria  to 


1  An  element,  khak,  occurs  in  the  name  of 
Sinti-shil-khak,  Kudur-mabuk's,  flither,  which 
is  otherwise  unknown  in  the  Babylonian  no- 
menclature, but  which  appears  in  another 
royal  name  [Tirkhak)  found  on  the  bricks  of 
Susa.  This  latter  name  has  a  singular  re- 
semblance to  that  of  the  P^thiopian  king, 
Tirhakah,  mentioned  in  Scripture  (2  Kings 
xix.  9) ;  but  the  recent  discovery  of  the 
cuneiform  orthography  of  the  Ethiopian  name 
shows  that  there  is  no  etymological  con- 
nexion between  them.  It  may  be  further 
noticed  that  this  title  of  Kkan,  common  to 
the  Susian  and  Babylonian  kings,  is  not  im- 
probably the  same  term,  vk  or  aK,  which 
Josephus  states  on  the  authority  of  Manetho 
to  signify  "  a  king "  in  the  sacred  language 
of  Egypt  (contra  Apionem,  lib.  i.).  It  can 
hardly  be  doubted  also  that  the  Xdyav  or 
Khakan  of  the  Turkish  nations  is  derived 
from  the  same  root, 

■^  The  second  element  in  the  name  "  Chedor- 
laomer  "is  of  course  distinct  from  that  in 
"  Kudur-mabuk."  Its  substitution  may  be 
thus  accounted  for.  In  the  names  of  Bal)y- 
lonian  kings  the  latter  portion  is  often 
dropped.  Thus  Vul-lnsh  becomes  Phul  or 
Pul ;  Merodach-hal-adan  becomes  Mardo- 
cempad,  &c.  Kiidur-mabuk  might  therefore 
become  known  as  Kudtir  simply.  The 
epithet  "  el  Ahmar,"  which  means  "  the 
Red,"  may  afterwards  have  been  added  to  the 
name,  and  may  have  been  corrupted  into 
Lnoiaer,  which,  as  the  orthography  now 
stands,  has  no  apparent  meaning.  Kedar-el- 
Ahrnar,  or  "  Ivedar  the  Red,"  is  in  fact  a 
famous  hero  in  Arabian  tradition,  and  his 
liistory  bears  no  inconsiderable  resemblance 
to  the  Scripture  narrative  of  Chedor-laomer. 

[The  progress  of  cuneiform  discovery  has 
not  been  favourable  to  this  proposed  identifi- 
cation of  Chedor-laomer  with  Kudur-mabuk, 


though  it  has  increased  the  probability  that 
the  two  kings  were  of  cognate  i-aces  and 
nearly  contemporaneous.  Lagamer  is  now 
ascertained  from  the  inscriptions  of  Asshur- 
hani-pal  to  be  the  name  of  one  of  the  chief 
national  divinities  of  Susiana,  and  the  title 
Chedor-iaomer  (or  Kudur-Lagamer,  compare 
the  Xo5o\-\oyoiJiop  of  the  LXX,  the  Hebrew 
y  standing  for  g  as  well  as  for  a  guttural 
vowel)  is  thus  shown  to  signify  "the  mi- 
nister "  or  "  servant  of  Lagamer,"  precisely 
as  another  Royal  Susian  name  Xudur-Na- 
khnnta  signifies  "  the  serA'ant  of  Nakhunta." 
Kndur  is  a  word  probably  of  Susian  origin, 
signifying  "  servitude  "  or  the  "  tax  "  which 
was  paid  in  token  of  sei-vitude,  and  prefixed 
to  the  name  of  a  God  it  may  usually  be 
rendered  by  "  servant."  Tlie  Babylonian 
equivalent  was  Sadu,  which  is  thus  often 
used  in  writing  the  name  of  Nabokodrossor 
[Nabu-kudurri-uzur  or  "  Nebo  is  the  protector 
of  (his)  servants"),  and  that  we  find  the 
orthography  of /u/dwr  instead  of  Sadu  in  the 
name  of  this  early  Babylonian  king,  would 
thus  seem  to  be  a  proof  of  an  immediate 
connexion  with  Susiana.  The  signification  of 
Mabuk  is  unknown,  but  it  certainly  is  not  the 
name  of  a  God,  as  the  word  is  written  without 
the  divine  determinative  sign.  It  may  be 
added  that  neither  Sinti-shil-nhak  nor  Kudur- 
mabuk  take  the  title  of  "  king,"  tliongli  the 
latter  must  apparently  have  reigned  ni  the 
lower  country  from  the  temples  which  he 
built  in  the  city  of  Bur,  and  also  from  his 
son  being  named  "  king  of  Larsa." — H.  C. 
R.  1861.] 

3  Arid-Sin  is  mentioned  as  "  king  of 
Larsa  "  on  the  bricks  of  Kudur-mabuk.  See 
Hist.  Ins.  Plate  2,  No.  II.,  Is.  U  and  15, 
and  a  long  independent  inscription  of  the 
same  king  is  given  in  Plate  5,  No.  XYI. 

2  A  2 


356      LATER  ORDER  OF  SUCCESSION  UNCERTAIN.     App.  Book  I. 

be  B.C.  1861.*  In  the  titles  of  this  king,  although  Babylon  is  still 
unnoticed,  there  is  mention  of  the  neighbouring  city  of  Niffer,^ 
showing  that,  while  during  the  earlier  period,  the  seats  of  Chaldaean 
empire  were  exclusively  confined  to  the  southern  poiiion  of  the 
province,  in  his  age  at  least  the  cities  of  Babylonia  proper  had 
risen  to  metropolitan  consequence.  Indeed,  from  the  memorial 
which  has  been  preserved  of  the  foundation  of  a  temple  at  Asshur  or 
Kileh  Shergat  by  Shamas  -  VuJ,  a  son  of  Ismi-dagon,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  latter  king  extended  his  power  very  considerably  to  thet 
northward,  and  was  in  fact  the  first  Chaldajan  monarch  who  esta- 
blished a  subordinate  government  in  Assyria. 

7.  The  names  of  the  son  and  grandson  of  Ismi-dagon  are  also  found 
among  the  Chaldaean  ruins.  The  son,  whose  name  is  very  doubt- 
fully read  as  Ibil-arm-duma,  does  not  take  the  title  of  "  king,"  but 
merely  styles  himself  "governor  of  Hur."  He  is  remarkable  in 
Babylonian  history  as  the  builder  of  the  great  public  cemeteries, 
which  now  form  the  most  conspicuous  object  among  the  ruins  of 
Mugheir.  The  grandson  appears  to  have  been  called  Gurguna,  but? 
no  particulars  are  known  of  him,  and  the  name  itself  is  uncertain.^ 

8.  The  relative  position  of  the  later  kings  in  the  series,  it  is; 
impossible  absolutely  to  determine.  A  supposed  clue  to  their  com- 
parative antiquity  has  failed,^  and  only  grounds  of  the  very  slightest 
nature  remain  upon  which  to  base  even  a  conjecture  on  the  subject. 
As,  however,  the  names  must  be  presented  according  to  some 
arrangement,  they  will  still  be  given  in  that  which  is  thought  upon 
the  whole  to  be  the  most  probable  order  of  succession. 

Naram-sin,^  and  his  father,  whose  name  is  unfortunately  lost  in 

"*  In  the  Hist.  Ins.  a  king  whose  name  is  general  series  as  the  son  rather  than  the 
unfreq^uent,  but  whom  we  may  provisionally  grandson  of  hmi-d  igon.  On  further  con- 
call  Nnr-pIvilis-p\iicedihefoYe  Fsmi-dagon.  See  sideration,  however,  and  especially  in  re- 
Hiat.  Ins.  Plate  2,  No.  IV.  Such  an  arrange-  ference  to  Plate  2,  No.  VI.,  2,  where  there 
meut,  however,  has  in  reality  very  little  to  is  absolutely  no  other  group  but  that  which 
support  it.  is  doubtfully  rea<l  as  fbil-anu-d'uni,  to  re- 

^  This  city  had  originally  the  same  name  present  the  name  of  the  son  of  Ismi-dagon, 

as  the  god  Belus,  and  is  perhaps  the  BlX^ri  the  triple  distinction  appears  preferable.     At 

of  Ptolemy.    The le  are  grounds  for  believing  the  same  time  the  relationship  of  fbil-anu- 

that  it  was  tlie  first  northern  capital,  and  d'i/na  to  Ganguna  remains  obscure,  as  the 

that  the  Greek  traditions  of  the  foundation  sign  which  indicates  filiation  is  wanting, 
of  a  great  city  on  tlie  Euphrates  by  Belus         ''  It  was  at  one  time  thought  that  as  the 

may  refer  to  this  place  rather  than  to  Baby-  Babylonian  legends   contain    two    modes   of 

Ion.     The  later  Semites  gave  to  the  city  the  writing    the    name    of   the    Moon-god — one 

name  of  Nipur,  which,  under  the  corrupted  more  archaic  and  proper  to  Babylonia,  the 

form    of  Niffer,   the   ruins    retain   to    the  other  identical  with  one  of  the  modes  current 

present  day.     The  old  name  of  Belus,  how-  in  Assyria  to  a  recent  date — the  more  archaic 

ever,  probably  long  survived  the  period  of  mode  might   be    assumed   universallg   as   a 

Semitic  supremacy ;  and  it  may  therefore  be  mark  of  superior  antiquity.     But  this  view 

conjectured  that  the  Beiidian  gates  of  Nebu-  is  disproved  by  an  inscription  of  Nabonidus 

ckxdnezzar's  city  (Herod,  iii.   155-8),    were  at  Magheir,  where  the  priority  of  Narain- 

so  named,  because  through  them  passed  the  sin — in  whose  name,  on  the  alabaster  vase, 

road  from  Babylon  to  the  city  of  Belus.  the    Moon-god    i^Sin)    is    written    with    the 

^  See  Hist.  Ins.,  Plate  2,  No.  VI,,  1  and  2.  Assyrian  group — to  Durri-galazu,  in  whose 

In  the  arrangement  of  these  inscriptions  it  legends    the    more   archaic   form   occurs,    is 

is   doubted    whether    Ibil-anu-dnma    be   an  clearly  established. 

independent  name  at  all,  or  whether  it  is  not         ^  The   student   must   be   warned   against 

rather  a  mere  epithet  of  Gun /una  or  Gnr-  trusting    implicitly    to    these    readings.     In 

guna.     Gunguna   in   fact   is   given   in   the  many    cases    where    variant    orthographies 


Essay  VL 


MONAPvCHS  OF  THE  SIN  SERIES. 


357 


the  only  inscription  which  speaks  of  him,  were  perhaps  not  much 
later  than  the  time  of  hmi-dagon  and  his  descendants.  Naram-sin, 
though  he  only  takes  the  general  title  of  king  of  Kiprat,^  certainly 
reigned  in  Babylon,  since  not  only  has  an  alabaster  vase,  inscribed 
with  his  name,  been  discovered  in  the  rnins  of  that  city,  bnt  a  notice 
has  been  elsewhere  preserved  of  his  erection  of  a  temple  in  the 
neighbouring  city  of  Sippara.* 

From  the  archaic  form  of  the  character  employed,  a  king  of  the 
name  of  Sin-shada,  whose  bricks  are  found  in  the  gieat  ruin  termed 
JBoivarish'^  at  Warka,  must  be  placed  high  in  the  list  of  kings,  perhaps 
even  before  Naram-sin.  In  his  time,  and  in  that  of  his  father,  whose 
name  cannot  be  phonetically  rendered,  Warha  ^  seems  to  have  been 
the  capital  of  the  empire,  no  other  geographical  title  being  found  in 
some  of  the  royal  legends  of  the  period. 

9.  Two  other  monarchs  must  be  mentioned  in  connexion  with 
the  Sin  series — Rim-sin,  of  whom  a  very  fine  inscription  has  been 
found  on  a  small,  black  tablet  in  the  lesser  temple  at  Mugheir,  and 
Zar-sin,  Mdiose  bricks  are  also  found  at  Mugheir,*  but  who  is  better 


occur  (as  in  tlie  first  element  of  this  very 
name,  Naram-sin),  the  pronunciation  can  be 
ascertained  positively ;  but  it  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  impossible  to  determine  at  present  if 
the  Hamite  Chaldees  used  the  same  names 
tor  the  gods  as  their  Semitic  successors,  and 
the  reading,  therefore,  of  all  the  royal  names 
in  which  the  title  of  the  Moon-god  occurs 
is  subject  to  doubt.  Judging  from  analogy, 
as  the  Chaldees  usually  employed  a  special 
group  to  represent  the  Moon-god,  it  might 
be  inferred  that  they  had  also  a  special  name 
for  the  deity  in  question,  distinct  from  the 
Assyrian  Sin,  which  forms  the  first  element 
in  the  name  of  Sennacherib ;  and,  m  that 
case,  the  nomenclature  here  employed  would 
be  throughout  erroneous.  Pending,  however, 
the  discovery  of  some  evidence  to  show  what 
this  special  name  for  the  Moon-god  may 
have  been,  it  would  be  a  mere  waste  of  time 
to  suggest  other  readings  for  the  titles  of  the 
Chalda;an  monarchs. 

^  Kiprat  or  Kiprat-arhat  is  a  name  which 
seems  to  be  applied  in  a  general  way  to  the 
great  Mesopotamian  valley.  It  may  be 
suspected  to  mean  "  the  fou.r  races "  or 
"  tongues,"  and  to  refer  to  some  very  early 
ethnic  classification, 

1  For  the  legend  of  Naram-sin  on  the 
Alabaster  vase,  see  Hist.  Ins.,  No.  VII.,  and 
fci  the  notice  of  his  work  at  Sippara,  see  the 
Ins.  of  Nabonidus,  Hist.  Ins.,  Plate  69,  col.  2, 
line  30.  From  a  comparison  of  this  last 
passage  with  col.  3  of  the  same  inscription  it 
seems  highly  probable  that  the  name  of  the 
father  of  Naram-sin  was  Sa(ja-saltiyas  (see 
col.  3,  lines  20  and  41)  for  the  temple  of 
Ulmas  in  Agana,  dedicated  to  the  goddess  of 
Agana  of  the  one  passage,  is  evidently  the 
siune  as  the  temple  of   Ulmas  of  Sippara, 


dedicated  to  the  goddess  Annnit  of  the  other, 
and  the  image  of  the  goddess  in  that  temple 
which  was  originally  set  up  by  the  fiither  of 
Naram-sin  is  distinctly  said  to  have  borne 
the  narne  on  it  of  Saga-saltiyas.  The  termi- 
nation of  these  Babylonian  names  in  as,  or 
rather  ats,  (compare  Saga-saltiyas,  Puma- 
puriyas,  Kara-dnniyas)  is  identical  with  the 
Armenian  termination  in  Astevats  for  God, 
Ashkenaz,  &c.,  thus  adding  another  link  to 
the  chain  of  connexion  between  ancient  Baby- 
lonia and  ancient  Armenia. 

2  The  Boivarieh  mound,  which  is  the 
principal  ruin  at  Warka,  marks  the  site  of 
two  ancient  Chaldsean  temples — one  dedicated 
to  Ann,  and  the  other  to  15eltis. 

2  Warka  was  probably  the  Erech  of 
Genesis  (x.  10),  and  the  'Opxor}  of  the 
Greeks.  The  Scythic  monograms  which  re- 
presented the  name  of  Warka  probably 
merely  signified  "  the  city "  kut  e|ox V> 
the  same  group  being  used  for  the  names  of 
Larsa  or  Senkereh,  and  Har  or  Mugheir, 
preceded  respectively  by  the  signs  for  the 
sun  and  moon,  as  the  guardian  deities  of 
those  cities.  In  the  bilingual  tablets,  how- 
ever, the  phonetic  reading  of  Huruk  is  given 
as  the  Semitic  equivalent  of  the  Scythic 
monogram  for  the  city  in  question,  and  it  is 
the  more  important  to  be  thus  able  to  dis- 
tinguish positively  between  Hur  and  Hwnik, 
as  the  early  Arabs  in  repeating  the  traditions 
regarding  the  birth  of  Abraham  confounded 
Ur  with  Warka,  and  left  it  doubtful  which 
of  the  two  represented  the  'Opx^i]  of  the 
Greeks  and  the  fllDniS  UriiM  of  the 
Talmud. 

^  See  Hist.  Ins.,  Nos.  X.,  XII.,  and  XIX. 
In  Nos.  XII.  and  XIX.  it  is  not  quite  certain 
that    the    gi-oups   which    are    provisionally 


358 


DURM-GALAZU  AND  PURNAPURIYAS.        App.  Book  I. 


known  as  the  founder  of  the  Chaldaean  city,  whose  ruins  bear  at  the 
present  day  the  title  of  Aha  Sharein.^ 

10.  Passing  over  some  imperfect  names,  which  likewise  contain 
the  element  6in,^  we  ma_y  next  notice  a  monarch  called  Durrigalazu,'' 
relics  of  whom  are  found  in  many  different  quarters.  Some  ruins 
to  the  east  of  the  river  Hye,  near  the  point  of  its  confluence  with 
the  Euphrates,  still  bear  the  name  of  Zergul,  and  may  therefore  be 
probably  regarded  as  marking  the  site  of  a  city  of  his  foundation. 
Another  of  his  foundations  was  the  important  town,  whose  ruins  are 
to  be  seen  near  Baghdad,  beaiing  at  present  the  name  of  Akkerkuf, 
and  ascribed  in  the  popular  tradition  to  Nimrud.  JJurri-galazu  also 
repaired  temples  both  at  Mugheir  or  Hui\  and  at  Sippara.^ 

11.  From  the  near  resemblance  of  the  legends  of  Furnapuriyas  to 
those  of  the  king  last  mentioned,  we  are  authorised  in  connecting 
very  closely  the  two  monarchs.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  to 
show  whether  one  was  a  descendant  of  the  other,  or  which  of  the 
two  was  the  more  ancient.^  The  bricks  of  Fariiapuriyas  are  found  in 
the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Senkereh,^  which  in  an  inscrip- 
tion of  Nabonidus  is  said  to  have  been  repaired  by  his  orders.^ 

12.  The  only  other  ancient  Chaldaean  kings  whose  names  are  at 


read  as  Znr-sin  represent  the  proper  name 
of  the  king,  but  the  identification  is  given  as 
highly  probable. 

^  The  cuneiform  name  of  this  city  has 
not  yet  been  identified,  and  it  is  therefore  in 
vain  to  search  for  its  representative  in  Greek 
geography. — For  a  description  of  the  ruins 
see  '  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,' 
vol.  XV,  p,  404. 

^  The  legends  of  these  monarchs  are  given 
in  Nos.  IX.,  XL,  and  XX.  of  the  'Hist. 
Inscr.'  There  is  a  general  resemblance  in 
the  geographical  titles  of  all  the  kings  of  the 
Sin  series,  but  the  identity  is  not  so  complete 
as  to  connect  them  in  one  flimily  chain. 

"^  The  name  of  this  king  may  reasonably 
be  compared  with  the  AipKvKos  of  Ctesias's 
Assyrian  list ;  not  that  the  Greek  writer  can 
be  supposed  to  have  been  dire(;tly  acquainted 
with  the  title  of  the  old  Chaldaian  monarch, 
but  that  in  framing  his  catalogue  of  the 
lower  dynasty  of  Nineveh,  he  seems  to  have 
drawn  his  names  principally  from  the  geo- 
graphical nomenclature  of  the  country,  and 
he  may  thus  have  perpetuated  the  title  of 
the  king  Durri-galazu  through  the  city 
which  was  called  after  him.  At  any  rate, 
it  caiT  hardly  be  accidental  that  Ctesias, 
towards  the  close  of  his  list,  should  have  at 
least  five  geographical  names,  viz.,  'Apa- 
firi\os,  XdXaos,  AtpKvAoSj'OcppaTalos,  and 
'AKpaydpr^s. 

^  For  Dnrri-fjalazxCs,  inscriptions  see  No. 
XIV.,  1,  2  and  3,  and  No.  XXI.  of  the 
'  Hist.  Ins.'  and  also^Plate  69,  col.  3,  line  32. 

"^  The  signet-ring  of  King  Durri-galazu 
has  been  since  found  at  Baghdad,  and  a  co])y 


of  the  legend  engraved  on  it  has  been  sent  to 
England,  from  which  it  appears  that  Furna- 
2Mriyas  was  the  father  and  Durri-galazu  the 
son.  The  legend  is  printed  in  the  table  of 
contents  of  the  new  volume  of  'Historical 
Inscri])tions.' 

^  The  Chaldaean  name  of  Senkereh  is  pho- 
netically given  in  the  inscriptions  as  Larsa, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  be  the  true  form 

both  of  the  "1D?N  (Ellasar)  of  Genesis  (xiv,  1) 
and  of  the  IVapdxo>v  of  Berosus.  The  old 
Greek  tradition  that  Teutamus  of  Assyria, 
who  sent  Memnon  to  the  siege  of  Troy,  held 
his  court  at  Larissa  (Apollod.  11.  iv.  §  54), 
may  have  had  a  similar  origin.  The  Arabian 
geographers  corrupted  the  name  to  Narsa. 

2  There  is  a  mutilated  passage  in  the  in- 
scription of  Nabonidus  (Hist.  Ins.,  Plate  69, 
end  of  1st  and  begmning  of  2nd  column) 
which  undoubtedly  contains  chronological 
numbei-s,  and  which  if  it  were  complete 
might  thus  enaljle  us  to  fix  the  exact  date  of 
the  reign  of  Furnapuriyas.  It  seems  to 
say  that  the  image  of  the  Sun-god  which 
Furnapuriyas  set  up  in  the  famous  temple 
at  Larsa  or  Senkereh,  remained  undisturbed 
for  700  years,  when  Khamzir  undertook  its 
restoration.  Now  Khamzir  is  of  course  the 
Xiv^ipos  of  the  Canon,  who  ascended  the 
throne  of  Babylonia  in  B.C.  721,  and  if  the 
numbers,  given  in  the  fragment,  are  rightly 
applied,  Furnapuriyas  would  be  thus  shown 
to  have  lived  in  the  15th  century  B.C.  The 
conjectural  scheme  heretofore  adopted  for 
Babylonian  chronology  has  placed  him  about 
two  centuries  earlier. 


Essay  VI.      PROPOSED  TABLE  OF  CHALD.EAN  KINGS.  359 

all  legible  on  the  moniniients  hitherto  discovered,^  are  KkammnraU 
and  ISamshu-ilnna.  The  former  has  left  memorials  in  many  places  : 
at  Ssnkereh,  where  he  repaired  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  ;  at  Khalwadha* 
near  Baghdad,  Avhere  he  erected  a  palace  ;  at  Tel  Sifr,  where  many 
clay  tablets  have  been  found  dated  from  the  reigns  of  Khammurahi 
and  his  son,  and  at  Babylon  itself,  where  a  stone  tablet  is  said  to 
have  been  obtained,  on  which  are  his  name  and  titles.*  Samshu-iluna 
the  son  of  Khammurahi,  is  only  known  from  the  Tel  Sifr  tablets.^ 

13.  The  following  table  exhibits  these  kings  in  their  proposed 
order  of  succession,  with  the  approximate  dates  of  their  respective 


B.C. 

1.  Urukh 1     ,     ooAA 

o    Ti   wv,-  N  }  ah.  2200. 

2.  Ilgi  (his  son)  j 

3.  Sinti-shil-khak       


reigns  :- 


4.  Kudur-mabuk  (his  son)       >  ab.  1976. 

5.  Arid-sin  (his  son)         .. 

6.  Ismi-dagon 1861. 

7.  Ibil-anu-duma  (his  son)       ]     ,     -lonr, 

o    n  ,-u-  ^  t  ab.  1800. 

8.  Gurguna  ( his  son)         j 

9.  Nai'am-sin      ab.  1750. 

10.  Sin-shada        ab.  1700. 

11.  Rim-sin ab.  1650. 

12.  Zur-sin ab.  1625. 

13.  Furna-puriyas        ..  ab.  1600. 

14.  Durri-galazu  (his  sou) ab.  1575. 

15.  Khammurabi \     ,     ..^^ 

16.  Samshu-iluna         ]  ^^'   ^^''^• 

In  the  foregoing  sketch,  sixteen  kings  have  been  enumerated, 
whose  names  have  been  read  with  greater  or  less  certainty.  The 
monuments  present  perhaps  ten  other  names,  the  orthography  of 
which  is  too  imperfect,  or  too  difficult  to  admit  of  their  being 
phonetically  rendered  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge.  To 
this  fragmentary   list   then   of  twenty-six  monarchs,    our  present 


^  Several  other  names,  however,  more  or         ^  Khalwadha  was  traditionally  the  city  of 

less  imperfect,  will  be  found  in  the  series  of  Hermes  (Abul-Faraj.  Hist.  Dyn.  p.  7),  and 

Chalda!an  kings,  given  in  the  recently  piib-  was  supposed  to  have  originated  the  name  of 

lished  '  Historical  Inscriptions.'     No.  XVIII.  Chalda3an  (Massoudi  in  Not.  des  Man.  tom. 

commemorates  a  king  whose  name  begins  with  viii.  p.  158).     It  was  also  believed  to  be  the 

Libit,  and  who  must  have  belonged  to  the  spot   where   the    ark  of  the    covenant  was 

family  of  Ismi-dagon,  as  they  are  both  styled  buried  during  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  at 

"  king  of  Nisinkina,"  a   geographiail    title  Babylon  (Yacut  in  voc). 
otherwise  unknown.    In  No.  XXIII.,  1  and  2,         ^  This  tablet,   which  has  been   lying  for 

it  is  doubtful  whether  we  have  the  name  of  many  years  almost  unnoticed  in  the  British 

a  king  or  merely  of  a  governor,  as  the  title  Museum,  is  believed  to  have  been  brought 

employed  is  merely  that  of  Patetsi,  which  from  Babylon,  but  no  authentic  account  of 

does    not    usually    indicate    royalty.      The  the  circumstances  of  its  discovery  has  been 

groups  also  which  appear  to  represent  the  preserved.     For  the  legends  of  Khammurabi 

proper  name  in  this  legend,  are  used  in  con-  see  Hist.  Ins.,  No.   XV.,   1,  2,  and   3.     A 

junction  with  the  name  of  the  God  ^4 n!<  as  a  mutilated  inscription    of  Khammurabi   was 

mere  honorary  title  by  king  Khammurabi.  also  found  by  Mons.  Fresnel  on  a  tablet  from 

Hist.  Ins.,  No.  XV.,  col.  1,  line  7.     There  is  Babylon,  which  is  now  in  the  collection  at 

stdl  another  ancient  Babylonian  king  named  the  Louvre. 

Tsibir,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Annals  of        ^  The   Tel  Sifr  tablets  have  not  yet  been 

Sardanapalus,  Plate  22,  line  84,  but  no  in-  published,  nor  is  the   evidence   which   they 

dependent  memorials  of  this  monarch  have  contain  of  the  relationship  of  Shamsu-ihma 

b^en  yet  discovered,  and  it  is  useless  there-  to  Khammurabi  altogether  satisfactory. 
fore  to  speculate  on  his  probable  date. 


360  INCOXCLUSIVE  TESTIMONY  OF  BEROSUS.     Apr  Book  I. 

information  is  confined,  although,  as  the  interval  to  be  filled  np  is 
something  more  than  seven  centuries  (exclusive  of  the  doubtful 
Arabian  dynasty),  we  can  scarcely  allow  fewer  than  forty  reigns  for 
the  entire  period/ 

14.  In  the  fragment  of  Berosus,  which  relates  to  this  period  of 
Babylonian  history,  it  must  be  remembered  that  two  separate  dynas- 
ties are  noticed ;  the  first,  which  is  nameless,  comprising  eleven 
kings,  and  the  second,  which  is  called  Chaldgean,  comprising  forty- 
nine.  As,  however,  not  a  single  one  of  the  royal  names  given  by 
Berosus  in  either  dynasty  has  been  preserved,"  it  is  impossible  to 
say,  whether  he  intended  the  separation  of  the  two  dynasties  to 
mark  an  etlinic  difference  between  them,  or  merely  to  indicate  a 
transfer  of  power  from  one  Hamite  family  to  another,  such  as  cer- 
tainly took  place,  in  regard  to  the  Semites,  at  a  later  date,  when 
the  seat  of  empire  was  transferred  from  Nineveh  to  Babylon.  As 
far  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  inscriptions,  the  latter  is  the 
proper  explanation.  All  the  kings,  whose  monuments  are  found  in 
ancient  Chaldaea,  used  the  same  language,  and  the  same  form  of 
writing  ;  ihej  professed  the  same  religion,  inhabited  the  same  cities, 
and  followed  the  same  traditions  ;  temples  built  in  the  earliest  times 
received  the  veneration  of  successive  generations,  and  were  repaired 
and  adorned  by  a  long  series  of  monarchs  even  down  to  the  time  of 
the  Semitic  Nabonidus.^  With  this  evidence  of  the  close  connexion 
between  the  earlier  and  later  kings,  we  are  obliged  either  to  refer 
the  whole  series  exclusively  to  the  great  Chaldaean  dynasty  of 
Berosus,  the  third  in  his  historical  list,  commencing  b.c.  1976,  in 
which  case  it  is  difficult  to  find  room  for  the  predecessors  of  Jsmi- 
darjon,  whose  date  is  little  more  than  a  century  later  (b.c.  1861) ;  or 
else  to  suppose,  which  is  far  more  probable,  that  the  two  dynasties 
of  Berosus  following  upon  the  (so  called)  Medes,  both  belonged  to 
the  Hamite  family,  and  were  equally  entitled  to  the  geographical 
epithet  of  Chaldasan  from  the  position  of  their  chief  cities  in  the 
plains  of  Southern  Chaldsea. 

15.  If  it  were  now  required  to  construct  an  ethnological  scheme 
which  should  be  applicable  to  ancient  Babylonian  history,  and 
should  reconcile  the  monuments  with  Greek  and  Hebrew  authority, 
the  following  would  be  the  most  plausible  arrangement. 

About  the  year  B.C.  2234  the  Cushite  inhabitants  of  Southern. 
Babylonia,  who  were  of  a  cognate  race  with  the  primitive  colonists 


'  If  the  numbers  which  have  come  down  c.  4),  undoubtedly  from  that  author.     But 

to  lis  in  the  Armenian  Eusebius  as  those  of  they  belong  to  the  mythic  dynasty  of  the 

Berosus  are  to  be  trusted,  we  must  believe  86  kings  and  34,080  years,  and  their  cxmei- 

that    he    assigned    to    the   period    between  form   representatives  therefore  must  rather 

B.C.  2234  and  B.C.  1518  no  fewer  than  sixty  be  sought  in  the  Pantheon, 

kiugs.     As,  however,  this  would  allow  not  ^  A  passage  on  the  Cylinder  of  Nabonidus 

quite  twelve  years  on  an  average    to   each  discovered  at  Mugheir  seems  to  signify  that 

king's  reign,  the  historical  correctness  of  the  he  found  "in  the  annals  of  Urukh  and  Ilgi" 

assigned  number  may  be  questioned.  a  notice  of  the  original  building  of  the  temple 

^  The   seven    names   of  Chaldjean   kings,  of  the  Moon-god   at   that  place,  which  he 

which  Syncellus  (p.  169)  gives  from  Afri-  himself  repaired  and  beautified.     According 

canus,  come  probably  from  Berosus,  for  two  to    the   chi-onological  scheme  here  followed, 

of  them,  Evechius   and   Chomasbelus,  were  the  building  of  this  temple  must  have  taken 

given  by  Polyhistor  (Euseb.  Chron.  part  I.  place  at  least  1 500  years  previously. 


Essay  VI.        EISE  OF  THE  FIRST  CUSHITE  DYNASTY. 


361 


both  of  Arabia  and  of  the  African  Ethiopia,  may  be  supposed  to 
have  first  risen  into  importance.^  Delivered  from  the  yoke  of  the 
Zoroastrian  Medes,  who  were  of  a  strictly  Turanian  or  at  any  rate 
of  a  mixed  Scytho-Arian  race,  they  raised  a  native  dynasty  to  the 
throne,  instituting  an  empire  of  which  the  capitals  were  at  Mugheir, 
at  Warka,  at  Senkereh,  and  at  Niffer,  and  introducing  the  worship 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  in  contradistinction  to  the  elemental  worship 
of  the  Magian  Medes.  In  connexion  with  this  planetary  adoration, 
whereof  we  see  the  earliest  traces  in  the  temples  of  the  Moon  at 
Mugheir,  of  the  Sun  at  Senkereh,  and  of  Belus  and  Beltis  (or  Jupiter 
and  Venus)  at  Niffer  and  Warka,  the  movements  of  the  stars  would 
be  naturally  observed  and  registered,  astronomical  tables  would  be 
formed,  and  a  chronological  system  founded  thereupon,  such  as  we 
find  to  have  continued  uninterrupted  to  the  days  of  Callisthenes 
and  Berosus. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  letters,  which  Pliny  connects  with 


^  Without  pretending  to  trace  np  these 
early  Babylonians  to  their  original  ethnic 
source,  there  are  reasons  of  some  weight  for 
supposing  them  to  have  passed  from  Ethiopia 
to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  shortly  before 
the  opening  of  the  historic  period : — 

i.  The  system  of  writing  which  they 
brought  with  them  has  the  closest  affinity 
with  that  of  Egypt — in  many  cases,  indeed, 
there  is  an  absolute  identity  between  the  two 
alphabets.  Thus  the  Egyptians  formed  a  rude 

parallelogram  for  a  house  |_  _J,  and  called 

it  e;   while   the  Hamite  Babylonians   used 

almost  the  same  form,  j        j,  and  gave  the 

character  the  same  phonetic  power  (in  later 
times  the  Semites  introduced  the  synonym  of 
hit,  r)3,  and  a  third  equivalent,  7nal,  as 
in  modern  Lek,  was  brought  in  from  an 
Arian  source) ;  and  numerous  other  examples 
of  this  sort  are  to  be  found. 

ii.  In  the  Biblicxal  genealogies,  Cush  and 
Mizraim  are  brothers,  while  from  the  former 
sprang  Nimrud,  the  eponym  of  the  Chalda?an 
race ;  the  names  indeed  of  the  other  sons  of 
Cush  seem  to  mark  the  line  of  colonization 
along  the  southern  and  eastern  shores  of  the 
Arabian  peninsula,  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Euphrates. 

iii.  In  regard  to  the  language  of  the  pri- 
mitive Babylonians,  although  in  its  gram- 
matical structure  it  resembles  dialects  of  the 
Turanian  family,  the  vocabulary  is  rather 
Cushite  or  Ethiopian,  belonging  in  fact  to 
that  stock  of  tongues  which  in  the  sequel 
were  everywhere  more  or  less  mixed  up  with 
the  Semitic  languages,  but  of  which  we  have 
probably  the  purest  modern  specimens  in  the 
Mahra  of  Southern  Arabia  and  the  Galla  of 
Abyssinia. 

iv.  All  the  traditions  of   Babylonia  and 


Assyria  point  to  a  connexion  in  very  early 
times  between  Ethiopia,  Southern  Arabia, 
and  the  cities  on  the  Lower  Euphrates.  In 
the  geographical  lists  the  names  of  Mirukh 
and  Makkan  (or  MepoTj  and  MaKivr])  are 
thus  sometimes  conjoined  with  those  of  Hur 
and  Akkad.  The  building  of  Hur,  again,  is 
the  earliest  historical  event  of  which  the 
Babylonians  seem  to  have  had  any  cognizance, 
but  the  inscriptions  seem  to  refer  to  a  tradi- 
tion of  the  primaeval  leader  by  whom  the 
Cushites  were  first  settled  on  the  Euphrates, 
and  one  of  the  names  of  this  leader  is  con- 
nected with  Ethiopia  in  a  way  that  can  hardly 
be  accidental.  As  we  observe  in  fact  with 
the  Assyrians  that  their  founder  Asshur  not 
only  furnished  a  name  to  their  country,  but 
was  worshipped  by  them  as  the  chief  god  of 
their  Pantheon,  so  we  are  led  to  expect  that 
the  deified  hero  who  was  revered  by  the 
Babylonians  under  the  names  of  Nergal  and 
Nimrud,  and  was  recognized  both  as  the 
God  of  Hunting  and  the  God  of  War,  should 
also  have  the  same  name  as  the  country 
to  which  he  belonged.  The  real  Cushite 
name,  then,  of  this  deity,  still  applied  by 
the  Ai-abs  to  the  planet  Mars,  with  which 
the  God  of  War  has  been  always  identified, 
is  Mirikli ;  and  this  is  the  exact  vernacular 
title  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  country  of 
Ethiopia,    corrupted    by    the    Greeks    into 

And,  V.  In  further  proof  of  the  connexion 
between  Ethiopia  and  Chalda^a,  we  must  re- 
member the  Greek  traditions  both  of  Cepheus 
and  Memnon,  which  sometimes  applied  to 
Africa,  and  sometimes  to  the  countries  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Euphrates  ;  and  we  must  also 
consider  the  geographical  names  of  Cush  and 
Phut,  which,  although  of  African  origin,  are 
applied  to  races  bordering  on  Chaldaa,  both 
in  the  Bible  and  in  the  inscriptions  of  Darius. 


362  HIEROGLYPHIC  AND  CUNEIFORM  CHARACTERS.*  App.  Book  I. 

these  primaeval  Babylonian  observations,  so  great  is  the  analogy 
between  the  first  principles  of  the  science,  as  it  appears  to  have 
been  pursued  in  Chaldgea  and  as  we  can  actually  trace  its  progress 
in  Egypt,  that  we  can  hardly  hesitate  to  assign  the  original  inven- 
tion to  a  period  before  the  Hamite  race  had  broken  up  and  divided. 
A  system  of  picture-writing,  which  aimed  at  the  communication  of 
ideas  through  the  rude  representation  of  natural  objects,  belonged, 
as  it  would  seem,  not  only  to  the  tribes  who  descended  the  Kile 
from  Ethiopia,  Imt  to  those  also  who,  perhaps,  diverging  from  the 
same  focus,  passed  eastward  to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates.  In  the 
further  development,  too,  of  the  system  which  the  progress  of 
society  called  forth,  a  very  similar  gradation  may  be  presumed  to 
have  been  followed  by  the  two  divisions  of  the  Hamite  race,  the 
original  pictures  being  reduced  in  process  of  time  to  characters  for 
the  convenience  of  sculpture,  and  these  characters  being  assigned 
phonetic  values  which  corresponded  with  the  names  of  the  objects 
represented.  On  the  Egyptian  monuments  we  thus  sometimes  find 
the  hieroglyphs  and  the  equivalent  hieratic  characters  side  by  side 
in  the  same  inscription  ;  and  although  in  Chaldeea  the  preliminary 
stage  has  been  almost  lost,  the  primitive  pictures  being  already 
degraded  to  letters  in  the  earliest  materials  that  remain  to  us,  still 
there  is  fortunately  sufficient  evidence  to  show  that  the  process  of 
alphabetical  formation  was  nearly  similar  to  that  which  prevailed 
inEgypt.^ 

16.  In  one  particular  it  is  true  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the 
respective  employment  of  hieroglyphic  and  cuneiform  characters. 
In  the  former  alphabet  each  character  has  but  one  single  value, 
while  in  the  latter  the  variety  of  sounds  which  the  same  letter  may 
be  used  to  express  is  quite  perplexing ;  but  this  discrepancy  of 
alphabetic  employment  does  not  argue  a  diversity  of  origin  for  the 
system  of  writing ;  it  merely  indicates  a  difference  of  ethnological 
classification  in  the  nations  among  whom  the  science  of  writing 
was  developed.  As  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  the  Kile  were 
essentially  one  nation,  and  used  the  same  vocabulary,  the  objects 
which  the  hieroglyphs  represented  were  each  known  to  the  people 
of  the  country  by  one  single  name,  and  each  hieroglyph  had  thus 
one  single  phonetic  value  ;  but  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  the 
Hamite  nation  seems  to  have  been  broken  up  into  a  multitude  of 
distinct  tribes,  who  spoke  languages  identical  or  nearly  identical  in 
organization  and  grammatical  structure,  but  varying  to  a  very  great 
extent  in  vocabulary,  and  the  consequence  of  this  was,  that  as  there 
was  but  one  picture-alphabet  common  to  the  whole  aggregate  of 
tribes,  each  character  had  necessarily  as  many  phonetic  values*  as 
there  were  distinct  names  for  the  object  which  it  represented  among 
the  different  sections  of  the  nation.^ 


2  On  a  fragment  of  a  tablet  recently  dis-  arising  from  an  analysis  of  the  Hamite  Cunei- 

covered  at  Nineveh,  and  now  deposited   in  form  alphabet  is  the  evidence  of  an  Arian 

the  British  Museum,  we  find  several  of  the  element  in  the  vocabulary  of  the  very  earliest 

primitive    forms   of  natural    objects,    from  period,   thus   slu-wiug   either   that    in    that 

which  the  Cuneiform  characters  were    sub-  remote  age  theie  must  have  been  an  Arian 

sequently  elaborated.  race  dwelling  on  the  Euphrates  among  the 

^  One    of    the   most   remarkable    results  Hamite  tribes,  or  that  (as  I  myself  think 


Essay  VI.  KINGDOM  OF  NIMROD.  363 

17.  To  the  dynasty  wliicli  immediately  succeeded  the  IMedes  of 
Berosiis,  and  which  is  represented  probably  in  the  Bible  by  the  race 
of  Nimrod,  the  son  of  Cush  and  grandson  of  Ham,  the  two  earliest 
of  the  monumental  kings,  ClruJih  and  Jlgi,  may  be  perhaps  assigned. 
These  kings  at  any  rate  were  the  founders,  as  it  would  seem,  of 
those  cities  which  in  Genesis  are  said  to  have  formed  the  kingdom 
of  Nimrod.  According  to  Berosus  the  chronological  limits  of  the 
dynast}^  are  from  B.C.  2234  to  1976,  and  the  dates  obtained  from  the 
inscriptions  are  in  agreement  with  this  calculation.  At  the  latter 
date  there  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  a  break  in  the  line,  the 
royal  family  being  dispossessed  by  the  Chaldasans  who  seem  to  have 
emigrated  from  Susiana  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  There  is 
no  doubt  conisiderable  difficulty  in  reconciling  all  the  evidence, 
historical  and  ethnological,  which  relates  to  this  period.  Berosus, 
for  instance,  terms  the  paramount  dynasty  which  began  to  reign  in 
B.C.  1976  "  Chaldsean,"  while  the  local  kings,  who,  according  to  the 
received  chronology,  would  fall  within  the  period  of  the  dynasty  in 
question,  are  stated  in  Scripture  to  have  been  subordinate  to  Elam, 
this  nation  moreover  being  placed  in  the  genealogy  of  the  sons  of 
Noah,  with  Asshur  and  Aram  among  the  children  of  Shem,  while 
the  inscriptions  of  Susa  are  to  all  appearance  Hamite,**  like  the  early 
inscriptions  of  Chaldaia.  There  was  not  perhaps  in  the  very 
earliest  ages  that  essential  linguistic  diflerence  between  Hamite 
and  Semitic  nations  which  would  enable  an  inquirer  at  the  present 
day,  from  a  mere  examination  of  their  monumental  records,  to 
determine  positively  to  which  family  certain  races  respectiA'ely 
belonged.    Although,  for  example,  the  Hamite  language  of  Babylon, 


more  probable)  the  distinction  between  Arian,  Ionia,  with  whom  to  a  certain  extent  they 
Semitic,  and  Turanian  tongues  had  not  been  amalgamated,  and  that  it  is  this  double 
developed  when  picture-writing  was  first  origin  which  gives  such  a  strange  character 
used  in  Chaldtea,  but  that  the  words  then  in  to  the  early  ethnography  of  the  country.  At 
use  passed  indifferently  at  a  subsequent  any  rate,  although  the  great  mass  of  the  phi- 
period,  and  under  certain  modifications,  into  lological  tablets  recovered  from  the  Royal 
the  three  great  families  among  which  the  Library  at  Nineveh  are  mere  bilino-ual  vo- 
languages  of  the  world  were  divided.  It  is  cabularies  and  grammars  of  the  languages 
at  any  rate  certain  that  the  Cuneiform  cha-  respectively  used  by  the  Semitic  inhabitants 
racters  have  usually  one  Arian  powci — that  of  Assyria  and  the  Turanian  Akkad  of  Baby- 
is,  one  power  answering  to  the  Arian  name  Ionia,  there  is  a  not  inconsiderable  class  of 
of  the  object  represented.  Compare  pur,  trilingual  tablets,  the  tliird  or  extra  column 
"a  son,"  (/jsand  nir,  "  a  man  "  /car'  e|ox7?j',  being  devoted,  as  it  would  seem,  to  the  pri- 
(the  primitive  root  being  is  or  ir,  and  the  v  mitive  Cushite  A^ocabulary,  which  was  proper 
and  n  being  Hamite  preformatives,  which  to  the  country  prior  to  the  Scythic  imniigra- 
were  adopted  both  by  Semite  and  Arian  na-  tion.  The  grammatical  construction,  however, 
tions  as  radicals ;  as  in  Latin,  vir,  vis ;  Sans,  of  the  earliest  historical  inscriptions  is  Acca- 
nri  ;  Assyr.,  7iis,  &ic.)  ;  also  inal,  "  a  house  ;"  dian  rather  than  Cushite. 
ras,  "  a  road,"  &c.  &c.  To  this  it  must  be  ^  The  inscriptions  of  Susa  for  the  most  part 
added  that  the  Akkad  tribe,  who,  although  belong  to  the  8th  century  B.C.,  the  kings 
not,  as  I  beheve,  the  primitive  colonists  of  named  in  the  legends  being  contemporaiy 
Babylonia,  exercised  no  doubt  a  very  great  with  Sennacherib,  Sargon,  and  their  imme- 
influence  on  the  vernacular  language  of  the  diate  predecessors.  There  is,  howe\-er,  what 
country,  were  almost  certtiinly  of  Turanian  appears  to  be  a  date  in  the  long  inscription  of 
origin  as  distinguished  from  the  Hamite  or  Sutnik-Nakhunta  on  the  broken  obelisk  at 
Cushite  stock.  It  would  seem  indeed  that  Susa — two  sets  of  numbers  occurring  which 
when  the  Akkad  or  Burhur  first  came  down  may  be  read  as  2455  and  2465.  If  these 
from  Ararat  they  must  have  found  a  Cushite  numbers  are  really  chronological,  the  era 
population  already  in  possession  of  Baby-  referred  to  \\'ill  be  nearly  3200  years  B.C. 


364  CONQUEST  BY  CHALD.EAX  ELAMITES.      App.  Book  I. 

in  the  use  of  post-positions  and  particles,  and  pronominal  suffixes, 
approaches  to  the  character  of  a  Scythic  or  Turanian  rather  than  a 
Semitic  tongue,  yet  a  large  portion  of  its  vocabulary  is  absolutely 
identical  with  that  which  was  afterwards  continued  in  Assyrian, 
Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  the  cognate  dialects,  and  the  verbal  forma- 
tions, moreover,  in  Hamite  Babylonian  and  in  Semitic  Assyrian 
exhibit  in  many  respects  the  closest  resemblance.  AN'e  must  be 
cautions,  therefore,  in  drawing  direct  ethnological  inferences  from 
the  linguistic  indications  of  a  very  early  age.  It  will  be  far  safer, 
at  any  rate,  in  these  early  times  to  follow  the  general  scheme  of 
ethnic  affiliation  which  is  given  in  the  tenth  cliapter  of  Genesis, 
and  to  lay  as  little  stress  as  possible  on  presumed  affinities  or 
diversities  of  language. 

18.  Without  attempting  then  to  determine  whether  the  Elam- 
ites  of  2000  e.g.,  who  spoke  a  Hamite  dialect  more  nearly  allied  to 
the  Turanian  than  to  the  Semitic  tongues  of  after  ages,  were  really 
the  descendants  of  Elam  the  son  of  Shem,  or  whether  the  Biblical 
genealogy  does  not  rather  refer  to  some  primitive  race  which  had 
inhabited  Susiana  in  the  earliest  post-diluvian  period,  but  had 
given  way  to  Hamite  colonists  before  the  opening  of  histor}^  we 
must  be  content  to  know  that  the  original  Hamite  tribes  who 
wrested  Babylonia  from  the  Median  Scyths  in  the  23rd  century 
B.C.  were  in  their  turn  superseded  in  power  after  258  years' 
dominion  by  immigrants  from  Susiana  of  a  kindred  race  who 
founded  the  great  (Jhalda3an  empire  of  Berosus. 

19.  Of  these  immigrant  Chaldpean  Elamites  Chedor-laomer  may 
very  well  have  been  the  leader,  while  Amraphel  and  Arioch,  the 
native  kings  of  Shinar  and  Ellasar,  who  fought  under  his  banner 
in  the  Syrian  war  as  subordinate  chiefs,  and  Tidal  who  led  a  con- 
tingent of  Median  Scyths  belonging  to  the  old  nomade  population,^ 
may  have  been  the  local  governors  who  had  submitted  to  his  power 
wdien  he  invaded  Chaldaea.  There  would  be  no  historical  improba- 
bility then  in  the  Kadur-mahuk  of  the  inscriptions  being  of  the 
immediate  family  of  the  Chedor-laomer  of  Scripture.     The  bricks  of 

^  The  name  which  in  our  version  of  Gene-  and  Ilgi,  for  these  monarchs  take  the  title  of 

sis  appears  as  Tidal  is  rendered  in  the  Sept-  "  king    of  Kingi    Akkad^'   and    they    tise 

nagint  by  Qap'ydX,  the  second  letter  having  moreover  the  Accadian  language  in  their  m- 

been  read  as  1  rather  than  T,  and  the  y  being  scrip tions,  while  the  subordinate  position  of 

regarded  as  a  guttural.     Now   Tlmr-gal  is  Tidal  in  the  confederacy  under  Chedor-laomer 

pure  Accadian  signifying,  "  the  great  Chief,"  shows  that  the  Turanian  nomades  were  at 

and  we  can  hardly  doubt,  therefore,  but  that  that  period  no  longer  the  dominant  race  in 

the   D'13  of  the  Hebrew  text,  represent  the  the  country.     It  is  proposed  then,  pending 

Akkad  of  the  inscriptions.    The  real  difficulty  further  research,  to  identify  the  Medes  who 

then  seems  to  be  to  decide  at  what  period  held  sway  in  Babylonia  from  B.C.  2458  to 

the  Akkad  immigration  into  Babylonia  took  2234  with  the  Burhnr  or  Akkad  of  the  in- 

place  ;  if  it  was  in  very  remote  antiquity — and  scriptions,  and  to  attribute  to  these  northern 

the  occurrence  of  the  name  of  Accad  in  Gene-  colonists  the  first  civilization  of  the  countiy. 

sis  among  the  cities  of  Nimrod  is  strongly  in  They  may  have  found  picture  A^Titing  already 

favour   of  such   a   supposition — then    these  established  among  the  primitive  Cushite  in- 

Scythic  immigrants  may  very  well  be  held  habitants,  but  to  the  Accad  immigi-ants  from 

to  represent  the  Zoroastrian  Medes  of  Berosus,  the   Armenian  mountains  must  no  doubt  be 

who  preceded  the  Chaldeeans.     It  is  manifest  assigned     the    Turanian     character    of    the 

indeed  that  the  Akkad  tribe  must  have  been  language  which  prevailed  in  Babylonia,  until 

established  in  Babylonia  long  before  the  age  gradually  replaced  by  a  Semitic  dialect  fiom 

of  the  two  earliest  monumental  kings  Uruuli  Assyria. 


Essay  VI.        ACTIVITY  OF  SEMITIC  COLONIZATIOK  oG5 

tlie  former  must  be  considerably  older  than  those  of  Ismi-dagon,  and 
the  date  which  is  thus  obtained  is  not  long  after  that  ordinarily 
assigned  to  the  Exodus  of  Abraham.  The  title  borne  by  Kudur- 
mabuk  of  "  Ruler  of  the  West,"  if  this  be  the  rightful  rendering  of 
the  words  apda  Martu,  may  have  been  adopted  in  memory  of  his 
predecessor's  conquest  of  Syria;  and  although  the  invocation  to  the 
Moon-god  on  the  bricks  of  Mugheir,  and  the  epithets  applied  to  the 
temple  of  that  divinity,  identify  Kadur-malmk  in  point  of  language 
and  religion  with  the  Hamite  monarchs  of  Hur,  who  both  followed 
and  preceded  him,  there  is  perhaps  sufficient  variation  in  his  legends 
from  the  standard  type  to  indicate  a  break  in  the  series,  such  varia- 
tion pointing  moreover  to  Elymais  as  the  country  from  which  the 
interru^jtion  came.  Pending  further  research,  therefore,  it  is 
perhaps  allowable  to  assume  that  in  Kudur-mahuk,  we  have  a  near 
descendant  of  the  Elamite  founder  of  the  second  Hamite  dynasty  of 
Babylon — termed  Chaldaean  by  Berosus  ; — and  we  may  venture  to 
assign  his  date  to  the  close  of  the  20th  century  B.C. 

20.  In  the  age  to  which  we  are  now  brought,  Semitism  as  a  dis- 
tinct Ethnic  element  seems  to  have  been  first  developed,  the  germ 
however  in  its  crude  state  having  existed  long  previously  as  an 
integral  portion  of  Hamitism.  This  age  seems  to  have  been  in  a 
peculiar  sense  the  active  period  of  Semitic  colonisation.  The 
Phoenicians  removing  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  Hebrew  Patriarch  marching  with  his  house- 
hold from  Chaldasa  to  Palestine,  merely  followed  the  direction  of 
the  great  tide  of  emigration,  which  was  at  this  time  setting  in  from 
the  east  westward.  Semitic  tribes  were,  during  the  period  in  ques- 
tion, gradually  displacing  the  old  Cushite  inhabitants  of  the  Arabian 
peninsula.^  Assyria  was  being  occupied  by  colonists  of  the  same 
Semitic  race  from  Babylonia — while  the  Aramaeans  were  ascending 
the  course  of  the  Euphrates,  and  forming  settlements  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Syria.^  Even  the  expedition  of  Chedor-laomer  and  his 
confederate  kings,  although  the  force  was  composed  of  Hamite 
tribes,  partook  probably  in  some  degree  of  the  same  character  of  a 
migratory  movement,  for  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  a  march 
of  2000  miles  would  have  been  undertaken,  especially  in  that  early 
age,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  plunder. 

21.  The  dynasty  which  continued  to  rule  in  the  land  from 
whence  all  these  lines  of  colonisation  radiated,  is  assigned  by 
Berosus  a  duration  of  458  years,  from  B.C.  1976  to  B.C.  1518;  and 
to  this  period  may  be  assigned  the  entire  list  of  the  kings  who  have 
been  mentioned  in  these  pages  as  the  successors  of  Kudur-mahuk. 
Little  is  to  be  learnt  from  the  inscriptions  with  regard  either  to 
their  foreign  or  their  domestic  histor^^     They  assume  in  their  brick 


^  Ethnologers    are    now    agreed   that   in  establishment  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine, 
Arabia  there  have  been  three  distinct  phases         "^  When  the  Aramaeans  are  first  mentioned 

of    colonisation — first,   the    Cushite    occupa-  inthecuneiforminscriptions,  about  B.C.  1120, 

tion,  recorded  in  Genesis  x.  7 ;  secondly,  the  they  are  found  to  be  settled  along  the  banks 

settlement   of  the    Joktanides,   described    in  of  the  Euphrates,  from  Babylon  to  Carche- 

verses    26-30    of  the    same    chapter;    and,  mish,  and  this  would  appear  to  have  been 

thirdly,  the  entrance  of  the  Ishmaelites,  which  their   true    habitat    throughout    the   entire 

must  have  been  nearly  synchronous  with  the  period  of  the  Assyrian  Empire. 


366  CONDITION  OF  ASSYRIA  AND  SUSIANA.      Arr.  Book  I. 

legends  a  great  variety  of  territorial  titles ;  but  the  nomenclature 
belongs  almost  exclusively  to  Chaldeea  and  Babylonia.  Among  the 
names  used,  the  most  common  are  Kiprat  arba,  or  the  four  races  (?)  ® 
2.  Hui^  (Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  or  Mugheir.)  3.  Larsa  (Ellasar,  or 
Senkereh).  4.  Huruk  (Erech,  or  Warka.')  5.  Kingi  Akkad  (Accad 
of  Genesis).  6.  Bahil,  or  Babylon  ;  and  7.  Nipur,  or  the  city  of 
Belus  (the  Greek  BlX^r],  and  modern  Niffer).  Assyria  is  not  men- 
tioned in  one  single  legend,  nor  are  there  any  names  of  cities  or 
districts  which  can  be  supposed  to  belong  to  that  province.  Except 
indeed  for  the  notice  preserved  on  the  Cylinders  of  Tiglath  Pileser 
I.,  that  the  temple  of  Ann  and  Vul  at  Asshur,  or  Kileh  Shergat,  had 
been  originally  founded  by  Shamas-Vid,  son  of  Ismi-dagon,^  we 
should  have  been  without  any  direct  evidence  that  the  Chaldaean 
kings  had  ever  extended  their  sway  over  the  country  which  adjoined 
Babylonia  on  the  north.  Such  an  extension  of  power  may  now  be 
assumed  ;  but,  so  far  as  our  present  information  reaches,  it  would 
seem  as  if  Ass^'ria  during  the  long  period  of  Chaldaean  supremacy 
had  occupied  a  very  inferior  position  in  the  political  system  of  the 
East.  The  country  was  perhaps  governed  generally  by  Babylonian 
satraps,  some  of  whose  legends  seem  to  be  still  extant  ;^  but  it  was 
not  of  sufficient  consequence  to  furnish  the  Chaldaean  monarchs 
with  one  of  their  royal  titles. 

22.  The  state  of  Susiana  on  the  opposite  frontier  of  Chaldeea  must 
also  be  taken  into  the  account  in  estimating  the  power  of  the  great 
Hamite  empire  on  the  lower  Euphrates.  There  we  have  an  exten- 
sive collection  of  legends,  both  on  bricks  and  slabs,  belonging  to  a 
series  of  kings,  who,  judging  from  their  language,  must  have  been 
also  of  a  Hamite  race.  The  character  employed  in  these  inscrip- 
tions is  almost  the  same  as  the  Hieratic  Chaldsean  of  the  early 
bricks,  but  the  language  seems  to  resemble  the  Scythic  of  the 
Acha^menian  trilingual  tablets  rather  than  the  Babylonian  primitive 
Chaldee.  Perhaps,  if  the  Hamite  languages  really  came  from 
Ethiopia,  they  bifurcated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates,  the 
Western  branch  as  it  passed  through  Babylonia  merging  into  Semit- 
ism,  while  the  Eastern  branch  spread  into  Central  Asia  through 
Susiana,  and  became  developed  into  the  various  dialects  of  the 
Turanian  family.  These  Cushites,  whose  memory  would  seem  to 
have  survived  in  the  Greek  traditions  of  Memnon  and  his  Ethiopian 
subjects,  but  who  were  certainly  independent  of  the  monarchs  of 
Chalda3a  Proper,  have  been  passed  over  by  Berosus  as  unworthy  of  a 


^  The  foiar  races  Avhich  thus  comprised  the         ^  This   Sliamas-  Vul  may   be   thus    pre- 

early  papulation  of  Babylonia  were  probably  sumed  to  have  been  a  younger  brother  of 

Hamite,  Turanian,  Arian,  and  t>emitic,  and  Ibil-nnu-dnma,  who  succeeded  Ismi-dagon  on 

the  four  kings  in  Genesis  xiv.  may  thus  per-  the  throne  of  Chalda2a. 

haps  represent  the  four  different  nationalities,         ^    Bricks    have    been    found    at    K'dch- 

Chedor-laomer  being  the  knig  of  Susiana  who  Shergat,  which  record  the  names  and  titles 

first  established  Hamite  or  Cushite  royalty  in  of  four    of  these    tributary    satraps.     The 

Bal)ylonia,    Amraphel  and  Arioch,  as  their  legends,  as  might   be  expected,   are   of  the 

names  respectively  denote,  being  the  leaders  Babylonian    rather   than    of    the    Assyrian 

of  the  Semites   and  Arians,  and   Tidal   (or  type,    and    the    titles   belong  'to   the    more 

Tiirnnl)    being    the    chief  of  the   Turanian  humble  class  of  dignities. 
Akkad. 


Essay  VI. 


ARABIAN  DYNASTY  OF  BEROSUS. 


367 


place  ill  his  liistorical  scheme  ;  jet,  if  we  may  jiidge  from  llie  works  of 
which  the  citadel  of  Siisa  is  an  example,  or  from  the  extent  of  country 
over  which  the  Snsian  monuments  are  fonnd,^  they  could  hardly  have 
been  inferior  either  in  power  or  civilisation  to  the  Chaldeeans  who 
ruled  on  the  Euphrates.^ 

On  the  subject  of  the  Arabian  dynasty,  which,  according  to 
Berosus,  succeeded  the  Chaldaeans  on  the  Euphrates,  nothing  certain 
has  been  ascertained  from  the  monuments.  The  names  of  the 
Arabian  kings  given  by  Syncellus,  belong  in  all  probability  to  the 
first  or  mythic  dynasty  of  Berosus,*  and  cannot  therefore  be  regarded 
as  determining  the  ethnic  affinity  of  the  line.  If  the  revolution  of 
B.C.  1518  was  similar  in  character  to  that  of  B.C.  1976,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  dynasty  involved  no  change  either  in  the  seats  of 
government,  or  in  the  religion  of  the  state ;  or  even  in  the  royal 
titles,  then  it  may  be  conceded  that  some  of  the  names  already 
enumerated  might  belong  to  the  family  in  question ;  but  if  the 
transfer  of  power  from  the  hands  of  a  Chaldeean  to  those  of  an 
Arabian  tribe  was  accompanied,  as  we  should  reasonably  expect, 
by  the  adoption  of  an  Arabian  dialect  and  an  Arabian  religion,  then 
we  must  believe  the  third  historical  dynasty  of  Berosus  to  be 
entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  unrepresented  in  the  inscriptions.  The 
only  legend  indeed  which  bears  such  marks  of  individuality,  as 


2  Bricks  belonging  to  the  Susian  type, 
and  bearing  Scythic  legends,  have  been  found 
fimid  the  ruins  of  liishire  (near  Bushire)  and 
Tanrie  [Si/uf  of  the  Arabs),  and  in  all  pro- 
bability the  line  of  mounds  which  may  be 
traced  along  the  whole  extent  of  the  eastern 
shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  contain  similar 
relias. 

^  It  is  particularly  worthy  of  remark 
that  throughout  the  series  of  legends  which 
remain  to  us  of  the  kings  of  Uar  and 
Akkad,  the  name  of  Chaldsea  never  once 
occurs  in  a  single  instance.  It  would  be 
hazardous  to  assert,  on  the  strength  of  this 
negative  evidence,  that  the  Chaldasans  had  no 
existence  in  the  country  during  the  pgi  in 
question,  but  thus  much  is  certain,  that  they 
could  not  have  been  the  dominant  race  at 
the  time,  and  that  Berosus,  therefore,  in 
naming  the  dynasty  Chaldfean,  must  have 
used  that  term  in  a  geographical  rather 
than  an  ethnological  sense.  The  name  of 
Kaldai  for  the  luling  tribes  on  the  lower 
Euphrates,  is  first  met  with  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions  whxh  date  from  the  early  part 
of  the  9th  century  B.C.  In  deference,  how- 
ever, to  the  authority  of  Berosus  (which  is 
supported  by  the  Scriptural  notices  of  "  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees  "),  the  term  Chtildajan  is  ap- 
plied throughout  these  notes  to  the  Cushite 
tribe  which  is  supposed  to  have  emigrated 
from  Susiana  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates 
in  the  20th  century  B.C. 

[Although  the  name  of  Chaldsean  is  never 
mentionei  in   the  earLer  inscriptions,  it  is 


almost  certain  that  it  was  well  known  to 
the  Akkad  or  Armenian  population  of 
Babylonia,  being,  in  fact,  their  vernacular 
title  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Hur, 
and  simply  meaning  "  the  Moon  race,"  so 
callel  from  their  special  worship  of  the 
moon.  Kkaldi  in  the  Armenian  Pantheon, 
which  was  that  of  the  Akkad  prior  to  their 
migration  to  the  south,  was  the  same  god  as 
Hur  in  Hamite,  Sin  in  Assyrian,  and 
Kamar  in  Arabian  mythology ;  and  all 
these  names  seem  to  have  been  indifi'erently 
applied  to  the  great  southern  capital,  where 
the  Moon  god  was  worshipped  by  the  vari- 
ous races  who  dwelt  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris  and  Eluphrates.  Eupolemus,  indeed, 
as  he  is  quoted  by  Eusebius,  appears  to  haA-e 
lieen  aware  that  Kamarina,  Uria,  and 
Chalda?a  were  synonymous  terms,  though  he 
was  ignorant  of  the  lunar  etymology.  Com- 
pare the  passage  in  Cory's  Frag.  \).  57 : — 
eV  Tr6\(i  TTjs  BalBvXwulas,  Kaixapivv,  n'tv 
rivas  Xeyeiv  izoXiv  OypiTji/,  ^Jvai  Se  /xeOep- 
lJi.riuevo/j.€vrii'  XaXSaiuu  rroKiv.    k.t.K. 

See  also  Book  vii.  Essny  iii.,  note  on 
§  4.-H.  C.  R.  1861.] 

''  Syncellus  gives  these  kings  in  immediate 
suc:'ession  to  the  seven  primitive  Chaldaeans, 
and  they  must  therefore,  as  it  would  seem, 
be  included  in  the  86  mythic  kings  of  Bero- 
sus. Two  of  the  Arabian  names,  moreover, 
seem  to  be  simply  Merodach  and  Nebo,  the 
tutelary  gods  respectively  of  Babylon  and 
Borsippa. — See  Cory's  Ancient  Fragments, 
p.  Qii. 


368  ARABIAN  ELEMENT  IN  MESOPOTAMIA.      App.  Book  L 

may  distinguish  it  from  the  general  Chaldeean  series,  and  may  thus 
favour  its  attribution  to  the  Arabian  dynasty,  occurs  upon  a  brick 
(now  in  the  British  Museum)  that  was  found  by  Ker  Porter  at 
Hymar,  which  was  in  all  probability  in  ancient  times  a  suburb  of  the 
city  of  Babylon.^  The  king,  whose  name  is  too  imperfect  to  be 
read,  is  there  called  "  King  of  Babylon,"  nearly  after  the  titulary 
formula  of  the  old  Chaldsean  monarchs,  but  the  invocational  passage 
refers  to  a  new  deity,  and  the  grammatical  structure  of  the  phrases 
seems  to  differ  from  that  which  is  followed  in  the  other  legends. 

The  Arabians,  it  is  highly  probable,  formed  an  important  element 
in  the  population  of  the  Mesopotamian  valley  from  the  earliest 
times.  There  are  at  least  30  distinct  tribes  of  this  race  named  in 
the  Assyrian  inscriptions  among  the  dwellers  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris  and  Euphrates  ;  and  under  the  later  kings  of  Nineveh,  the 
Yabbur  (modem  Jibhar),  and  the  Gumbulu  (modern  Jumbula),  who 
held  the  marshy  country  to  the  south,  appear  to  have  been  scarcely 
inferior  to  the  Chaldaeans  themselves  in  strength  and  numbers.*' 
Offsets  of  the  same  race  had  even  passed  in  the  time  of  Sargon 
beyond  the  mountain  barrier  into  Media,  where  they  held  a  con- 
siderable extent  of  territory,  and  were  known  as  "  the  Arabs  of  the 
East ;"  but  there  is  no  evidence  in  the  inscriptions,  either  direct  or 
inferential,  to  show  that  the  Arab  nation  ever  furnished  a  line  of 
kings  to  Babylonia,  and  the  unsupported  statement  of  Berosus  to 
that  effect  must  therefore  be  received  with  caution. 

At  the  close  then  of  the  Chaldsean  period,  or  possibly  after  an 
interval  of  Arabian  supremacy,  the  seat  of  empire  was  transferred 
to  Assyria  (ab.  B.C.  1273),  and  the  new  period  commenced,  con- 
cerning which  it  is  proposed  to  treat  in  a  separate  chapter. — 
[H.  C.  E.]         •      

[f  See  Hist.  Ins.  No.  XXTI.     The  inscrip-  porary  and  antagonist  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I., 

tion  No.  XVII.  in  this  series  must  also  be  here  is,'  that  the  father  of  the  king  on  the  Warka 

noticed.     The  king's  name  in  this  inscription  brick    seems    to  be   named  Irba-Merodach, 

cannot  be  distinctly  read  on  the  brick,  owing  and  in  the   Duck  Inscription  published  by 

to  the  bad  condition  of  the  only  specimen  that  Layard  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  page  600), 

has  been  yet  found,  but  the  groups  certainly  the  name  of  Babylon  in  the  title  given  to 

bear  a  singular  resemblance  to  a  royal  name,  this  same  king  Irba-Merodach  is  expressed 

otherwise  known  both  from  the  Inscription  by    monograms   which   never  apply  to  the 

PI.  66,  No.  2,  and  from  the  famous  Bavian  city  in  question  in  the  earlier  records.     Pei- 

Inscription,  not  yet  published.     The  king  in  haps,  indeed,  the  same  title  is  found  with  the 

question  was  Merodach-iddin-akhi  ("  Mero-  modern  reading  for  Babylon  in  the  doubtful 

dach   gives   brothers"),    who  was  contem-  groups  of  line   7  of   No.  XVII. — H.  C.  R. 

porary  with  the  1st  Tiglath-Pileser  of  As-  1861.] 

Syria     CB.C.    1110),     and    who    was    thus         Syucellus  has  given  a  series  of  IMerodach 

posterior,  not  meiely  to  the  Chalda^an,  but  kings  at  the  head  of  his  Arabian  dynasty 

even    to    the    Arabian  dynasty  of  Berosus.  (Cory's  Frag.  p.  68),  and  the  names  we  are 

If    thi§    identification    should    be    correct,  now  discussing  may  possibly  belong  to  the 

serious  doubt  will  be  thrown  on  the  whole  same  family,  but  in  that  case  the  chronology 

chronological  scheme  as  put  forward  in  tliis  of  Berosus,  from  which  Syncellus  evidently 

essay ;     for   the    brick   in    question,    which  drew,  must  be  faulty. 

comes  from  the  Bowarieh  ruin  at  Warka,  is         ^  This  may  help  to  explain  the  statement 

to    all    appearance  of  equal  antiquity  with  of  Herodotus  (ii.   141),  of  which  Josephus 

those    of    Kkammurahi   or   Furnapuriyas,  complains  (Ant.  X.  i.  §  4),  that  Sennacherib 

or  even  with  those  of  the  Sin  series  of  kings  was  "  King  of  the  Arabians  and  Assyrians," 

who   preceded.      A    fuither    argument    in  as  well  as  the  yet  more  remarkable  passage 

favour  of  the  attribution  of  the  legend  No.  where  his  army  is  termed  exclusively  "the  host 

XVII.  to  Merodach-iddin-akhi,  the  contem-  of  the  Arabians"  [rhv  'Apafiiuy  (rrpaTov). 


Essay  YII.  ASSYRIAN  CHRONOLOGY.  369 


ESSAY    VII. 


ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  GREAT  ASSYRIAN  EMPIRE. 

1,  Chronology  of  the  Empire.  Views  of  Ctesias.  2.  Opinion  of  Herodotus.  3.  Of 
Berosus.  4.  Probable  duration,  from  B.C.  1273  to  B.C.  747.  5.  Origin  of 
Assyrian  independence.  6.  Earliest  kings — Bel-lash,  Pvdil,  Vul-lush,  and 
Shaliaa-sar.  7.  Series  of  kings  from  the  Tiglath-Pileser  Cylinder.  8,  Tiglath- 
Pileser  I,  9.  His  son,  Asshur-bani-pal.  10.  Break  in  the  line  of  kings.  Later 
mouarchs  of  this  dynasty,  Asshur-iddin-akhi  and  his  descendants.  11.  Sarda- 
napalus  the  conqueror.  12.  His  palace  and  temples.  13.  Shalmaneser,  the 
Black  Obelisk  king.  14.  General  view  of  the  state  of  Asia  between  B.C.  900 
and  B.C.  860.  15.  Syrian  campaigns  of  Shalmaneser  I.  16.  His  palace  at 
Nineveh.  17.  Shai nets- Vul.  18.  Campaigns  oiShamas-Vid.  19.  Vul-lush  III.,  the 
Pul  of  Scripture  (?),  married  to  Semiramis.  20.  General  table  of  the  kings 
of  the  upper  dynasty.  21.  Lower  dynasty  of  Assyria — B.C.  747  to  B.C.  625. 
22.  Reign  of  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  23.  Shalmaneser  II. — his  siege  of  Samaria. 
24.  Sargon — his  extensive  conquests.  25.  His  great  palace  at  Khorsabad. 
26.  Reign  of  Sennacherib —his  great  palace  at  Koyunjik.  27.  His  military 
expeditions.  28.  Probable  length  of  his  reign.  29.  Second  expedition  of 
Sennacherib  into  Syria  —  miraculous  destruction  of  his  army.  30.  Senna- 
cherib murdered  by  his  sons.  31.  Reigii  of  Esar-haddon.  32.  His  magni- 
ficent palaces.  33.  Assknr-hani-pal  II.  —  his  hunting  palace.  34.  Asshur-emit- 
ili,  the  Saracvxs  of  Berosus,  and  Sardanapalus  of  the  Greek  writers  (?) — his 
character.  35.  Fall  of  Nineveh.  36.  Chronological  Table  of  the  kings  of  the 
lower  dynasty.  37.  Duration  and  extent  of  the  empire.  38.  General  nature 
of  the  dominion.  39.  Frequency  of  disorders  —  remedies.  40.  Assyria  the 
best  specimen  of  a  kingdom-empire.  41.  Peculiar  features  of  the  dominion : 
(i.)  Religious  character  of  the  wars,  (ii.)  Incipient  centralisation.  42.  Cha- 
racter of  the  civilisation  —  Literature  —  Art  —  Manufactures. 

1.  In  tlie  acceptance  of  the  whole  series  of  dates  obtainable  from 
Berosus  and  Ptolemy  for  the  various  dynasties  .which  ruled  in 
Babylon  from  the  commencement  of  the  Chaldaean  Empire  in  b.c. 
2234  to  its  close  about  b.c.  1278,  there  is  implied  a  decision  in  a 
particular  way,  of  the  main  difficulty  in  Assyrian  chronology — the 
question,  namely,  whether  the  long  period  of  Ctesias,  or  the  short 
period  of  Herodotus,  should  be  adopted  as  the  true  chronological 
basis  of  that  country's  history.  Reasons  have  been  already  given 
for  distrusting  Ctesias  on  most  points  where  he  is  the  sole  authority  ;^ 
and  in  this  particular  matter  they  are  strengthened,  at  once  by 
internal  evidence  of  falsity  in  this  part  of  his  history,  and  by  the 
external  test  of  entire  disagreement  with  the  most  authentic  sources 
of  information.  The  long  date  of  Ctesias  is  irreconcilable  with 
Scripture,  at  variance  with  the  monuments,  and  contradictory  to 
the  native  historian  Berosus,  whose  chronological  statements  have 
recently  received  such  abundant  confirmation  from  the  course  of 
cuneiform  discovery  ;  it  was  connected  in  his  writings  with  a  foiged 
list  of  between  thirty  and  forty  kings,  whose  names  for  the  most 


^  See  the  Introductory  Essay,  ch.  iii.  pp.  61-63. 
VOL.  I.  2   B 


370  WANT  OF  EXACTNESS  IN  HERODOTUS.      App.  Book  I. 

part  betray  their  unreal  character;*  and  it  is  entirely  devoid  of 
confirmation  from  any  really  independent  writer.  It  may  therefore 
safely  be  discarded  as  a  pure  and  absolute  fiction  ;  and  the  shorter 
chronology  of  Herodotus  and  Berosus  may  be  followed.  The  scheme 
of  these  writers  is  in  tolerable  harmon}^  with  the  Jewish  records, 
and  agrees  also  sufficiently  well  with  the  results  at  present  derivable 
from  the  inscriptions. 

Let  it  be  assumed  therefore  that  the  first  great  dynasty  of  Assyrian 
kings  covered  with  their  reigns  a  space,  not  of  loOG  years  (as 
Ctesias  declared^),  but  of  520,  or  (more  exactly)  of  526  years,  as 
Herodotus  ■*  and  Berosus  ^  testified.  It  must  in  the  next  place  be 
determined  from  what  point  these  526  years  are  to  commence. 

2.  The  general  want  of  exactness  in  the  chronological  data  fur- 
nished by  Herodotus  has  been  already  noticed.®  Here  as  elsewhere 
his  numbers  are  incomplete,  and  we  cannot  do  more  than  approxi- 
mate to  tlie  opinion  which  his  researches  led  him  to  entertain  on 
the  subject.  As  it  happens,  however,  that  in  this  case  he  furnishes 
us  with  several  distinct  bases  from  which  to  calculate,  and  as  calcu- 
lations founded  on  these  various  bases  lead,  one  and  all,  to  very 
nearly  the  same  conclusion,  we  may  feel  tolerably  certain  what  the 
view  was  which  he  really  held,  though  it  is  nowhere  distinctly 
expressed  in  his  extant  writings/ 

Herodotus  evidently  connected  in  his  own  mind  the  foundation 
of  the  Lydian  and  the  Assyrian  monarchies.  Had  the  name  of 
Ninus,  or  that  of  Belus,  occurred  singly  and  separately  in  the 
genealogy  of  Agron,  we  should  not  perhaps  have  been  justified  in 
assuming  that  the  Kinus  or  the  Belus  of  other  historical  writers 
was  intended.  But  the  occurrence  of  both  names  in  combination 
in  that  remarkable  list,^  removes  all  reasonable  doubt  upon  this 
point,  and  makes  it  morally  certain  that  he  intended  to  represent 
Agron,  the  first  Lydian  king,  as  the  son  of  the  Ninus  who  was 
the    mythic    founder    of   Nineveh."     Now    it    has    been    already 


'■^  The  Arian  names  of  Arius,  Xerxes,  Am-  History  "  of  Herodotus  (see  note  "  on  Book  i. 
ramithres  or  Armamithres,  Mithraius,  &c.,  ch.  106),  we  should  not  be  left  to  form  con- 
can  have  little  business  in  a  list  of  Assyrian  jectures  or  calculations  on  this  point.  Few 
monarchs.  Equally  out  of  place  are  the  of  the  ravages  of  time  are  so  deeply  to  be 
Greek  names  of  Amyntas  and  Laosthenes.  lamented  as  tlie  almost  total  loss  of  this  in- 
Still    more   plainly    fictitious   are  the  geo-  valuable  work. 

graphic    appellatives  —  Arabelus,    Chalaiis,  ^  Herod,  i.  7.     (Comp.  Essay  i.  §  7.) 

Dercylus,  Ophrata^us,  and  Acraganes.     (See  ^  Nin  appears  to  have  been  synonymous 

Essay    vi.    §    11,    note.)     [It   has  recently  in  the  Scythic  of  Babylon  with  Bel  in  the 

been  asserted  that  Ctesias  was  indebted  for  Semitic   of  Assyria,   both  terms  signifying 

the  greater  number  of  his  names  to  a  Per-  generally  "  a  lord,"  and  being  applied,  with 

sian  Pharmacopeia,  as  they  represent  for  the  some  specific  qualificative  adjunct,  to  several 

most  ,.part  well-known  Oriental  drugs ;  but  of  the   gods   of  the  Pantheon.     There  are 

an  imposture  of  this  sort  seems  almost  too  also   some    grounds    for    connecting    Agron 

gross  for  belief. — H.  C.  K.]  with  the  other  two  names,  and  for  supposing 

^  Cf.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  21,  where,  however,  it  to  have  been  a  title  of  Bel-Merodach,  inas- 

the  MSS.  give  the  number  of  years  as  13G0  ;  much  as  the  great  mound  of  Babel  (Rich's 

but  this  is  to  be  corrected  from  Syncellus  Mnjellibeh),  which  we  know  from  the  in- 

(p.  359,  e.)  and  Agathias  (ii.  25).  scriptions  to  have  been  a  temple  dedicated 

*  Herod,  i.  95.                  ^  Beros.  Fr.  11.  to  IMerodach   by  Nebuchadnezzar,  bejirs  in 

f'  Introductory  Essay,  ch.  iii.  p.  89.  the  early  Taimudic  wi-itings  the  remarkable 

■^  JSo  doubt,  did  we  possess  the  "  Assyrian  designation  of  Td-Hagrmiieh,  or  the  ]\loiuid 


Essay  YII.     CONCLUSIONS  DERIVED  FROM  HIS  HISTORY.      371 

shown '  that,  according  to  the  views  of  Herodotus,  Agron  mounted 
the  throne  in  about  the  year  B.C.  1229.  Ninus,  therefore,  his  father, 
should  have  begun  to  reign  a  generation  earlier,  or  B.C.  1202.* 
Thus  the  520  years  would  appear  to  have  extended  (in  the  mind  of 
Herodotus)  from  about  B.C.  1262  to  B.C.  742. 

Again,  Herodotus  makes  the  520  years  end  with  a  revolt  of  the 
Medes,  preceding  by  a  certain  space  of  time,  which  is  not  defined, 
the  establishment  of  the  Median  monarchy  under  Deioces.  This 
last  event  he  placed  228  years  before  the  battle  of  Marathon,  or 
B.C.  708.^  If  we  allow  a  generation  for  the  un estimated  interval 
which  the  narrative  of  Herodotus  intimates  to  have  been  of  some 
considerable  length,*  we  are  brought  to  almost  exactly  the  same 
result  as  that  already  obtained ;  since  the  520  years  would  on  this 
view  come  to  an  end  in  B.C.  741,  and  would  consequently  commence 
in  B.C.  1261. 

Further,  we  are  told  by  Herodotus  in  his  Babylonian  history, 
that  Semiramis,  who  is  described  as  a  Babylonian,  and  not  an 
Assyrian  queen,  lived  "  five  generations  "  before  Nitocris,^  whose 
reign  in  the  narrative  of  Herodotus  seems  to  represent  that  of 
Nebuchadnezzar.^  If  then  we  count  back  four  Herodotean  gene- 
rations^ (133  years),  from  b.c.  604,  which,  according  to  the  Canon 
of  Ptolemy,  was  the  first  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  are  brought 
to  B.C.  737,  as  a  time  when  Babylonian  independence  had  com- 
menced, and  the  Great  Assyrian  Empire  had  consequently  come  to 
an  end.  From  this  it  would  result  that  Herodotus  placed  the  close 
of  his  520  years  at  least  as  early  as  B.C.  737,  and  their  commence- 
ment at  least  as  early  as  b.c  1257. 

From  these  three  separate  and  independent  notices  we  may  con- 
fidently conclude  that  Herodotus  belie^^ed  the  Great  Assyrian 
Empire  to  have  been  founded  in  the  earlier  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century  before  our  era,  and  placed  its  dissolution  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighth  century. 

3.  Berosus,  as  reported  by  Polyhistor,^  terminated  his  period  of 


of  Agron.     The  term,  however,  has  not  yet  rels  throughout  Media — he  holds  this  office 

been  identified  in  the  inscriptions  either  as  a  for  some  time — then  resigns — anarchy  once 

title    or   epithet   applying  to    Merodach.—  more  follows — ^and  being  found  intolerable, 

[H.  C.  R.]  the   kingdom    is   at   last   established.       All 

^  See  Essay  i.  §  3.  these  changes  put  together  seem  to  require  a 

2  Dr.  Brandis  assumes  that  Ninus  would  tolerably  long  space. 
be   placed   by    Herodotus    52    years   befoi'e  ^  Herod,  i.  184. 

Agron,    because   that   was   the   number   of  ^  Nitocris  is  the    wife    of  a   Labynetus, 

years   assigned   to    the    reign  of  Ninus  by  who    probably   represents     Nebuchadnezzar 

Ctesias  (Ker.   Assyr.  Temp.   Emend,  p.  3;.  himself;  and  Herodotus  perhaps  i-egards  her 

But  there  is  absolutely  no  ground  for  sup-  as  reigning  both  conjointly  with    him  and 

posing  that  Ctesias  and  Herodotus,  who  dif-  also  after  his  decease.     Her  great  works  in- 

fered  in  almost  all  their  dates,  would  have  dicate  a  long  and  prosperous  re'gn,  such  as 

agreed  in  this.  no  monarch  enjoyed  between  Nebuchadnezzar 

3  Cf.  Essay  iii.  §  7,  note  *.  and  Nabonidus. 

*  The  Medes  first  experience  for  some  con-  ^  Herodotus  always  reckons  inclusively, 
siderable  time  the  evils  of  anarchy — Deioces  and  would  therefore  only  place  three  genera- 
then  sets  himself  to  get  a  character  for  tions  between  the  death  of  Semiramis  and 
justice — he  succeeds  after  a  while — is  made  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Nitocris. 
judge  in  his  village — his  fame  grows — by  ^  y^g  \^^^  Fragments  in  Miiller's  Fragm. 
degrees  he  becomes  the  arbiter  of  all  quav-  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  ii.  p.  503,  Fr.  11. 

2  B  2 


372  CHKONOLOGY  OF  BEROSUS.  App.  Book  L 

526  years  witli  the  accession  of  Plnilus  or  Piil,  wliom  Eusebius 
identifies  with  the  Pul  of  Scripture.'^  The  date  of  Pul  is  deter- 
mined by  the  synchronism  of  Menahem/  to  about  B.C.  770-760. 
If  Polyhistor  then  has  rightly  reported  Berosns,  he  would  seem  to 
have  placed  the  rule  of  his  first  Assyrian  dynasty  about  a  genera- 
tion earlier  than  the  time  assigned  by  Herodotus  to  his  Great 
Empire.  It  may  be  doubted  however  whether  Polyhistor  has  not 
misreported  Berosus,  or  Eusebius  misreported  Polyhistor.  There 
is  a  considerable  amount  of  important  evidence  tending  to  show 
that  the  scriptural  Pul  was  the  last  of  a  dynasty.^  And  it  is  very 
possible,  or  rather  very  probable,  that  Berosus  really  represented 
him  in  this  light,  and  included  his  reign  in  the  526  years  of  his 
seveuth  dynasty.  In  this  case  the  chronological  views  of  the  Grecian 
and  Babylonian  historians  must  have  agreed  very  closel}^  indeed,  for 
Pul's  reign  seems  to  have  terminated  at  B.C.  747,^  the  date  so  well 
known  in  Babylonian  history  as  the  "  era  of  Nabonassar."  Berosus 
may  therefore  not  have  differed  from  Herodotus  by  more  than  five 
or  six  years  for  the  termination,  and  eleven  or  twelve  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Assyrian  Empire,  the  greater  difference  in  the 
latter  case  being  consequent  upon  the  use  by  Herodotus  of  a  round 
number.  And  it  cannot  but  be  suspected  that  the  entire  disagree- 
ment, so  to  call  it,  might  have  disappeared,  had  Herodotus  in  his 
"  Muses "  condescended  to  greater  preciseness,  or  had  we  still 
possessed  that  other  woi'k  of  his,  in  "which  he  expressly  treated  of 
the  "  History  of  Assyria." 

4.  Upon  the  whole,  it  seems  to  be  tolerably  certain  that  the  520 
or  526  years  of  these  two  writers  are  to  be  counted  back  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  ;  and  the  probable  starting-point 
is  the  well-known  historical  era  at  which  Babylon  established  a 
quasi  independence,  viz.  B.C.  747,  the  "  era  of  Nabonassar." 

5.  Concerning  the  origin  of  Assyrian  independence,  nothing  can 


^  Chron.  Can.  I.  v.  p.  18,  eel.  Mai.      It  iv€(pvT€V(T€  y&ci   ecus   is    '2,apdavdiraXov. 

is  curious  to  find  Pul  called  "  king  of  the  Agath.  ut  supra).     Thus  they  knew  of  only 

Chaldceans  "  (ChaldcEorum  regem),  when  he  one  great  change  of  dynasty  in  Assyria,  and 

was  really  an  Assyrian  monarch.     Perhaps  they  placed  it  immediately  after  Beleus,  or 

Polyhistor    here    too    misreported   his   au-  Belochus.       In    the    monuments     Tiglath- 

thority.  Pileser,  who  is  almost  certainly  the  successor 

1  2  Kings  XV.  19.  According  to  Clinton,  of  Pul  (see  2  Kings  xv.  19-29),  omits  to 
Menahem  reigned  from  B.C.  770  to  B.C.  760  record  the  name  of  his  father,  a  sure  indica- 
(F.  H.  vol.  i.  pp.  325-6).  I  do  not  con-  tion  that  he  was  the  founder  of  a  new  dy- 
sider  that  the  Scriptural  dates  can  be  fixed  nasty.  For  further  evidence  on  this  point 
wath  minute  accuracy,  or  that  the  numbers  see  the  letter  of  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  in  the 
have  always  come  down  to  us  uncorrupted ;  Athenaeum,  No.  1377. 

but  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Mena-  ^  Tiglath-Pileser  records   his   taking  tri- 

hem  i-eigned  nearly  at  this  period.  bute  from  Samaria  in  his  eighth  year  (vide 

2  Bion  and  Polyhistor  placed  the  extinc-  infra,  p.  384).  Now"  this  event  appears  to 
tion  of  the  line  of  Ninus  under  Beleils  have  preceded  by  a  very  short  interval  the 
(Agath.  ii.  25,  p.  119),  who  is  undoubtedly  conspiracy  of  Hoshea,  which  seems  to  be  re- 
the  Belochus  of  Syncellus  and  Eusebius.  lated  as  its  result  (2  Kicgs  xv.  30).  Hoshea's 
They  said  that  he  was  succeeded  by  Bele-  conspiracy  was  in  B.C.  737  or  738  (Clinton's 
taras  (in  whose  name  may  perhaps  be  traced  F.  H.  vol.  i.  p.  326,  App.).  If  we  place 
the  second  element  of  Tiglath-Pileser),  and  the  invasion  of  Tiglath-Pileser  two  years 
that  the  crown  continued  in  his  fimily  till  earlier  (B.C.  740),  the  first  of  Tiglath-I'i- 
Sardanapalus   {ti]u    fiacriXfLau   TCf    olKeio)  leser  would  be  B.C.  747. 


Essay  YII.      OEIGIN  OF  ASSYmAN  INDEPENDENCE.  373 

be  said  to  be  known.  We  seem  to  have  evidence  of  the  inchision 
of  Assyria  in  the  dominions  of  the  early  Babylonian  kings,  but  the 
time  when  she  shook  off  this  yoke  and  became  a  free  country  is 
quite  uncertain,  and  can  only  be  very  roughly  conjectured.  Per- 
haps it  is  most  probable  that  during  the  troubles  caused  by  an 
Arabian  conquest  of  Chaldaea  and  Babylonia,  towards  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century  B.C.,  the  Assyrians  found  an  opportunity  of 
throwing  off  their  subjection,  and  establishing  a  separate  sove- 
reignty. However  this  may  be,  it  is  at  an}^  rate  clear  that  about 
the  year  B.C.  1273,  Assyria,  which  had  previously  been  a  com- 
paratively unimportant  country,  became  one  of  the  leading  states 
of  the  East,  possessing  what  Herodotus  not  improperly  terms  an 
Empire,*  and  exercising  a  paramount  authority  over  the  various 
tribes  upon  her  borders.  The  seat  of  government  at  this  early 
time  appears  to  have  been  at  Asshur,  the  modern  luIeh-Sherghat, 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Tigris,  sixty  miles  south  of  the  later 
capital,  Nineveh.  At  this  place  have  been  found  the  bricks  and 
fragments  of  vases  bearing  the  names  and  titles  of  (apparently) 
the  earliest  known  Assyrian  kings,  as  well  as  bricks  and  pottery 
inscribed  with  the  names  of  satraps,  who  seem  to  have  ruled  the 
country  during  the  time  of  Babylonian  ascendancy.^  This  too  is 
the  city  at  which  Shamas-  Vul,  the  son  of  the  Babylonian  king, 
Jsmi-dagon,  erected  (about  B.C.  1840)  a  temple  to  the  gods  Amc 
and  Vul  ;^  so  that  it  may  with  much  probability  be  concluded  to 
have  been  the  capital  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Babylonian 
dominion. 

6.  With  regard  to  the  first  kings,  it  is  necessary  to  discard  alto- 
gether the  fables  of  Ctesias  and  his  followers.  Ninus,  the  mythic 
founder  of  the  empire,  and  his  wife  Semiramis,  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  real  historical  personages,  nor  indeed  as  belonging  to 
Assyrian  tradition  at  all,  but  as  inventions  of  the  Greek  writers.^ 
The  Babylonian  historians,  as  we  are  told  by  Abydenus,^  ignored 
altogether  the  existence  of  any  such  monarchs.  The  earliest  known 
king  of  Assyria  is  a  certain  Bel-lush,  who  is  the  first  of  a  con- 
secutive series  of  four  monarchs,  proved  by  the  bricks  of  Kileh- 
Sherghat  to  have  borne  sway  in  Assyria  at  a  time  when  its  con- 
nexion with  Babylonia  had  not  long  ceased.  These  kings,  whose 
names  are  read  very  doubtfully  as  Bel-lush,  Pudil,  Vul-lush,  and 
Shalma-sar,  or  Shalma-ris,  and  who  take  the  title  only  assumed 
by  independent  princes,  may  possibly  be  actually  the  earliest  of 
the  entire  series,  and  in  that  case  would  be  likely  to  have  covered 
with  their  reigTis  the  space  between  b.c.  1273,  and  B.C.  1200.^     No 


*  Herod,  i.  95.  between  this  name  and  the  Scriptural  Nim- 
^  Supra,  Essay  vi.  §  21,  note^.  rod.  Semiramis  is  a  possible  name  for  an 
^  Ibid.,  §  2,  note  ^,  and  §  6.  [There  is  Assyrian  Queen  ;  but  the  only  known  Semi- 
no  positive  evidence  that  the  Ismi-dagon  of  ramis  of  Assyrian  history  is  the  wife  ofVul- 
Kileh-Sherghat  is  the  same  with  the  Ismi-  lush  III.,  whose  date  corresponds  fairly 
dagon  of  Mngheir,  but  there  is  much  enough  with  that  of  the  Semiramis  of  Hero - 
to  render  the  identification  probable. —  dotus.  (Vide  infra,  p.  382.) 
H.  C.  R.]  8  Fr.  11. 

^  Concerning  the  word  Ninus,  see  above,         ^  The   legends  of  these  kings  have  been 

page  370,  note  ^.     No  real  connexion  exists  published  in  the  new  series  of  British  ]\lu- 


374  EARLY  LISTS  OF  KINGS.  App.  Book  L 

historical  events  can  be  distinctly  assigned  to  this  period.*  The 
kings  are  known  only  by  their  legends  upon  bricks  and  vases, 
which  have  been  found  at  but  one  single  place,  yiz.,  Kileh-Sherghat, 
and  which  are  remarkable  for  nothing  but  the  archaic  type  of  the 
writing,  and  the  intermixture  of  early  Babylonian  forms  with  others 
which  are  purely  Assyrian.  It  is  on  this  ground  especially  that 
they  are  assigned  to  the  commencement  of  the  empire,  when  traces 
of  Babylonian  influence  might  be  expected  to  show  themselves  ; 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  may  possibly  belong  to  a  time 
about  150  years  later,  when  Babylonia  once  more  made  her  power 
felt  in  Assyria,  a  Chaldgean  monarch  defeating  the  Assyrians  in 
their  own  country,  and  carrying  off  in  triumph  to  Babylon  the 
sacred  images  of  their  gods.^ 

7.  The  series  of  kings  which  is  probably  to  be  placed  next  to  this, 
consists  of  six  monarchs  forming  a  continuous  line,  and  reigning 
from  about  b.c.  1200  to  B.C.  1050,  the  crown  during  this  period  de- 
scending without  a  break  from  father  to  son.  Of  these  kings  the 
names  of  the  first  five  are  recorded  on  the  famous  Kileh-Sherghat 
cylinder,^  the  earliest  document  of  a  purely  historical  character 
which  has  as  yet  been  recovered  by  the  researches  pursued  in 
Mesopotamia.  Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  the  fifth  king  of  this  series, 
records  on  this  cylinder  his  own  annals  during  the  first  five  years 
of  his  reign,  concluding  his  account  by  a  glorification  of  his  an- 
cestors, whom  he  traces  back  to  the  fourth  degree.  The  few 
particulars  which  are  given  in  this  slight  sketch,  form  almost  the 
whole  that  is  known  at  present  of  the  kings  in  question,  whose 
names  it  is  proposed  to  read  as  Mnip-pal-kura,  Asshur-daha-il,  Mutaggil- 
nabu,  and  Asshur-ris-ilim.  Of  the  first  of  these,  whose  name  is  even 
more  than  ordinarily  uncertain,  it  is  related  that  he  was  "  the  king 
who  first  organised  the  country  of  Assyria,"  and  "  established  the 
troops  of  Assyria  in  authority  ;"  from  which  expression,  as  well  as 
from  his  being  the  last  monarch  in  the  list,  he  may  perhaps  be 
fairly  viewed  as  the  founder  of  the  line,  and  possibly  of  the  inde- 
pendent kingdom.  His  son,  Asshur-daha-il,  besides  "holding  the 
sceptre  of  dominion,"  and  "  ruling  over  the  people  of  Bel,"  is  only 
said  to  have  "  obtained  a  long  and  prosperous  life."  Later,  however, 
in  the  same  inscription,  it  is  mentioned  that  this  king  took  down 
the  great  temple  of  Anu  and  Vul  at  Kileh-Sherghat,  which  was  at  the 
time  in  an  unsound  condition.^  Of  the  third  king,  Mutaggil-nabu, 
nothing  more  appears  than  that  he  "  was  established  in  strength  in 
the  government  of  Assyria;"  but  of  the  fourth,  Asshur-ris-ilim,  the 
father  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  it  is  recorded  that  he  was,  like  his  son, 
a  conqueror.     Asshur-ris-ilim  is  "  the  powerful  king,  the  subduer  of 


seum  Cuneiform  Inscriptions,  edited  by  Sir         2  Supra,  Essay  vi.  §  2,  note  ^. 
H.  Rawlinson,  PI.  6,  Nos.  III.  and  IV.  ^  Qf    ^j^jg    cylinder,   or   to   speak  more 

1  A  king  called  Shalmanu-sar,  or  Shal-  strictly,  octagonal  prism,  several  duplicates 

manu-ris    {query,    Shalmaneser  ?),    is   men-  have  been  found,  the  inscription  being  the 

tioned  as  the  founder  of  Calah  {Nimrud)  in  same    on   all   with  unimportant  variations, 

a   late   inscription.     This   may  perhaps   be  See  the  new  British  Museum  series,  Plates 

the  4th  monarch  of  the  A'i/e/i-^S'Aer^/iaf  series,  9  to  16. 
whose  name  is  almost,  though  not  c[uite,  the         *  See  Essay  vi.  §  2,  note  ^ 
same. 


Essay  YII.  ANNALS  OF  TIGLATH-PILESER  I.  375 

foreign  countries,  he  who  rednced  all  the  lands  of  the  Magian  (?) 
world  " — expressions  which  are  no  donbt  exaggerated,  but  which, 
contrasted  with  the  silence  of  the  inscription  with  respect  to  any 
previous  conquests,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  this  monarch 
who  first  began  those  aggressions  upon  the  neighbouring  nations, 
which  gradually  raised  Assyria  from  the  position  of  a  mere  ordinary 
kingdom,  to  that  of  a  mighty  and  flourishing  empire.^ 

8.  The  annals  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  which  furnish  this  account  of 
his  ancestry,  extend  (as  has  been  already  observed)  over  the  space 
of  five  years.  During  this  period,  besides  rebuilding  the  temple, 
which  CO  years  previously  had  been  taken  down  by  his  great- 
grandfather, he  claims  to  have  extended  his  conquests  over  a  large 
part  of  Cappadocia,  over  Syria,  and  over  the  Median  and  Armenian 
mountains.  In  Cappadocia,  and  the  region  intervening  between 
that  country  and  Assyria  Proper,  the  enemy  against  which  he  has 
to  contend  is  the  people  called  Nairi.  This  nation  was  at  the  time 
divided  into  a  vast  number  of  petty  tribes,  each  under  its  own  chief, 
and  was  conquered  in  detail  by  the  Assyrian  monarch.  The  Syrians, 
or  Aramaeans,  whom  he  subdued,  dwelt  along  the  course  of  the 
Euphrates  from  Tsukha  (the  Shoa  of  Scripture®),  which  was  on  the 
confines  of  Babylon,  to  Carchemish,  which  was  near  the  site  occupied 
in  later  times  by  the  city  of  Mabog,  or  Hierapolis.  The  Armenian 
mountains  appear,  as  in  the  later  inscriptions  of  Sargon,  under  the 
name  of  Muz)^  (Misraim),  thereby  perhaps  corroborating  the  testi- 
mony of  Herodotus  as  to  the  connexion  of  the  Colchians  with  the 
Egyptians.  The  date  of  these  wars  is  capable  of  being  fixed  with 
an  approach  to  accuracy,  by  the  help  of  a  rock-inscription,  set  up 
by  Sennacherib  at  Bavian,  in  which  a  Tiglath-Pileser,  whom  there 
is  every  reason  to  regard  as  the  monarch  whose  acts  we  are  here 
considering,''  is  said  to  have  occupied  the  Assyrian  throne  418  years 
before  Sennacherib's  10th  year.  As  the  reign  of  Sennacherib  falls 
certainly  towards  the  close  of  the  8th,  or  the  beginning  of  the  7th 
century,  we  may  confidently  assign  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  12th  century  B.C.     This  date  accords  satisfactorily  with 


^  The  following  is  a   translation   of    the  his  reliance  on  the  great  gods,  and  thus  ob- 

genealogical  portion  of  this  important  docu-  tained  a  prosperous  and  long  life — 
rnent: —  "  The  beloved  son  of  Ninip-pal-kura,  the 

"  Tiglath-Pileser,    the    illustrious   prince,  king  who  first  organised  the  country  of  As- 

whom  Asshur  and  Hercules  have  exalted  to  syria,"  &c.  »&c. 

tlie    utmost  wishes   of  his  heart,  who  has         ^  Ezekiel  xxiii.   23.      Compare  also   the 

pursued  after  the  enemies  of  Asshur,  and  Shuhite  of  the  Book  of  Job  and  the  Sohene 

has  subjugated  all  the  earth —  of  the  Peutingerian  Tables,  which  adjoins  on 

"  The  son  of  Asshur-ris-ilim,  the  powerful  Babylonia, 
king,  the  subduer  of  foreign  countries,  he  who         "^  M.  Oppert  regards  the   Tiglath-Pileser 

has  reduced  all  the  lands  of  the  Magian  (?)  of  the  Bavian  inscription  as  a  diiierent  mon- 

world —  arch  from  the  Tiglath-Pileser  of  the  Sherghat 

"  The  grandson  of  Mutaggil-nabu,  whom  Cylinders.     He  gives  the  succession  thus : — 

Asshm-  the  great  lord  aided  according  to  the  Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  Sardanapalus  I.  {Asshur^ 

wishes  of  his  heart,  and  established  in  strength  hani-pal),  Tiglath-Pileser  II.,  &c.     (Rapport 

in  the  government  of  Assyria —  a  son  Excellence  M.  le  Ministre  de  I'lnstruc- 

"  The  glorious  offspring  of  Asshur-daha-il,  tion,  p.  43.)     But  there  are  no  grounds  for 

who  held  the  sceptre  of  dominion,  and  ruled  this  distinction,  which  is  at  any  rate  purely 

over  the  people  of  Bel,  who  in  all  the  works  conjectural, 
of  his  handij  and  the  deeds  of  his  life  placed 


376  BREAK  IN  THE  LINE  OF  KINGS.  App.  Book  T. 

tlie  discovered  dynastic  lists,  and  the  supposed  era  of  the  foundation 
of  the  monarchy  ;  for  allowing  the  eight  kings  anterior  to  Tiglath- 
Pileser  I.  to  have  reigned  twenty  years  apiece,  which  is  a  fair 
average,  and  taking  b.c.  1273  for  the  first  year  of  the  monarchy,  we 
should  have  B.C.  1113  for  the  accession  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  The 
inscription  of  Sennacherib  also  furnishes  us  with  some  additional 
and  very  important  historical  facts  belonging  to  this  reign — the 
invasion,  namely,  of  Assyria  at  this  time  by  Merodach-iddiu-akhi,  king  of 
Babylon,  his  defeat  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  and  his  triumpharpt  removal 
of  the  images  of  certain  gods  from  Assyria  to  his  own  capital.  We 
learn  from  this  record  that  Babylon  not  only  continued,  to  the 
close  of  the  12th  century,  independent  of  Assyria,  but  was  still  the 
stronger  power  of  the  two — the  power  which  was  able  to  take  the 
offensive,  and  to  ravage  and  humiliate  its  neighbour. 

9.  Tiglath-Pileser  1.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Asshur-lani-pal  I. 
No  particulars  are  known  of  the  reign  of  this  prince,  of  whom  one 
single  record  only  has  been  as  yet  discovered,  which  is  a  dedicatory 
inscription  containing  his  name,  together  with  that  of  his  father, 
Tiglath-Pileser,  and  his  grandfather,  Asshar-ris-ilim.  It  is  found  on 
a  mutilated  female  statue,  probably  of  the  goddess  Astarte,  which 
was  disinterred  at  Koyunjik,  and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

10.  At  the  period  which  we  have  now  reached,  a  break  occurs  in" 
the  line  of  kings  furnished  by  the  monuments,  which  it  is  impos- 
sible at  present  to  fill  up,"  but  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
of  very  long  duration.  Asshur-iddin-akhi,  the  next  known  king  to 
Asshur-hani-pal  /.,  is  thought  to  have  ascended  the  throne  about  the 
year  b.c.  1050,  being  thus  a  contemporary  of  David.  He  is  known 
only  as  the  repairer  of  certain  buildings  at  Kileh- Slier glmt,  which  con- 
tinued to  receive  additions  from  monarchs  who  were  his  successors, 
and  probably  his  descendants.  These  monarchs,  whose  names  may 
be  given  as  Asshur-dati-il,  Vtd-lush  II.,  and  Tigulti-Ninip,  form  a  line 
of  direct  descent,  which  may  be  traced  on  without  interruption  to 
the  accession  of  Tiglath-Pileser  II.,  the  king  of  that  name  whose 
actions  are  recorded  in  Scripture.  They  continued  to  reside  and  to 
repair  the  buildings  at  Kileh-Sherghat,  but  have  left  no  evidence  of 
conquests  or  greatness.^ 

11.  Tigulti-Ninip,  the  last  of  the  Kileh-Sherghat  series,  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Asshar-idanni-pal,  or  Sardanapalus,  who  appears  to  have 
transferred  the  seat  of  empire  from  Kileh-Sherghat,  which  had  been 


^  M.  Oppevt  ventures  to  fill  up  the  break  cession  of  the  kings  as  recorded  on  contem- 

with  the  names  of  Tiglath-Pileser  II.,  Belo-  porary    monuments;    but   M.   Oppert    am 

chiis  I.,  Belitaras,  and  Shalmaneser  I.,  whom  hardly  be  said  to  have  offered  a  very  satis- 

he  represents  as  reigning  from  B.C.   1122  to  factory   ex|)lauation  of   the    discrepant   ac- 

B.C.    1050.     He   applies   the    narrative    of  counts.     (See  the  Rapport,  &c.,  pp.  44,  45.) 

Agathias  concerning  Belochus  and  Belitaras  ^   Tigulti-Ninip,  however,    is    mentioned 

to  this  period,  identifying  the  latter  with  a  with  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  in  the  annals  of  the 

certain  Bel-kapi  (or,  according  to  him,  Bel-  great  Sardanapalus  on  the  Nimrud  mono- 

kat-irassou),  who  is  mentioned  in  an  inscrip-  lith,  among  the  warlike  ancestors   of  that 

tion  of  the  great   Vul-lush  as  "  the  founder  kmg  who  had  carried  their  arms  into  the 

of   the  empire."     This  inscription  presents  Armenian  mountains,  and  there  set  up  steles 

certainly   considerable    difficulties,    since    it  to  commemorate  their  conquests. — [II.  C.  K.j 
differs  greatly  from  the  apparent  actual  sue- 


Essay  VH.  GRANDEUR  OF  SARDANAPALUS.  377 

the  Assyrian  capital  hitlierto,  to  Calali/  the  modern  Nimrud,  a  posi- 
tion about  40  miles  further  to  the  north,  near  the  junction  of  the 
greater  Zab  with  the  Tigris,  on  the  opposite  or  left  bank  of  the 
stream.  The  circumstances  which  induced  this  change  are  unknown ; 
but  it  may  probably  have  been  connected  with  the  extension  of  the 
empire  towards  Armenia,  rendering  a  movement  of  the  govern- 
mental centre  in  the  same  direction  expedient.  Certainly  Asshur- 
idanni-pal,  who  seems  to  be  the  warlike  Sardanapalus  of  the  Greeks, 
was  a  great  conqueror.  In  his  annals,  which  have  come  down  to 
lis  in  a  very  complete  condition,^  it  is  apparent  that  he  carried  his 
arms  far  and  wide  through  Western  Asia,  from  Babylonia  and 
Chaldaga  on  the  one  side,  to  Syria  and  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean on  the  other.  It  seems  to  have  been  in  this  latter  quarter  that 
his  most  permanent  and  important  conquests  were  effected.  Sarda- 
napalus styles  himself  "  the  conqueror  from  the  upper  passage  of 
the  Tigris  to  Lebanon  and  the  Great  Sea,  who  has  reduced  under 
his  authority  all  countries  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going 
down  thereof."'  In  his  Syrian  campaign,  which  is  recorded  at 
length,  not  only  in  the  general  inscription,  but  also  on  the  votive 
Bull  and  Lion  which  he  set  up  at  Calah  on  his  return  from  it,  he 
took  tribute  from  the  kings  of  all  the  principal  Phoenician  cities,  as 
Tyre,  Sidon,  Byblus,  and  Aradus :  among  the  rest,  probably  from 
Eth-baal,  king  of  the  Sidonians,  the  father  of  Jezebel,  wife  of  Ahab. 
He  also  received,  while  in  Southern  Syria,  a  present  of  rare  animals 
from  the  King  of  Egypt. 

12.  Sardanapalus,  the  son  of  Tigulti-Ninip,  is  the  first  of  the 
Assyrian  kings  of  whose  grandeur  we  are  able  to  judge  b}^  the 
remains  of  extensive  buildings  and  sculptures  which  have  come 
down  to  us.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  North- West  Palace  at 
Nimrud,  which,  next  to  that  of  Sennacherib  at  Koyimjik,  is  the 
largest  and  most  magnificent  of  all  the  Assyrian  edifices.  A  large 
portion  of  the  sculptures  now  in  the  British  Museum  are  from  this 
building.  It  was  a  structure  nearly  square,  about  360  feet  in  length, 
and  300  in  breadth,'*  standing  on  a  raised  platform,  overlooking  the 
Tigris,  with  a  grand  fagade  to  the  north  fronting  the  town,  and 
another  to  the  west  commanding  the  river.  It  was  built  of  hewn 
stone,  and  consisted  of  a  single  central  hall,  more  than  120  feet  long 
by  90  wide,  probably  open  to  the  sky,  round  which  were  grouped  a 
number  of  ceiled  chambers,  some  larger  and  some  smaller,  generally 
communicating  with  one  another.  The  ceilings  were  of  cedar, 
brought  apparently  from  Mount  Lebanon ;  *  the  walls  were  panelled 
to  a  certain  distance  from  the  floor  by  slabs  of  alabaster,  ornamented 
throughout  with  bas-reliefs,  above  which  they  were  coated  with 


1  Calah  was  founded  (as  above-mentioned,  xvi.  p.  361. 

p.  374,  note  i)  by  a  certain  Shalmanusar,  or  ^  See  the  plan  of  Mr.  Layard  (Nineveh 

Shalmauuris,  possibly  the  last  king  of  the  and  Babylon,  opp.  p.  655).      The  palace  of 

early  Kileh-Sherghat  series ;  but  it  seems  to  Sennacherib  at  Koyunjik  seems  to  have  been 

have  been  a  mere  second-rate  city  until  the  a  square  of  nearly  600  feet.     (Ibid.,  plan 

reign  of  Asshur-idanni-pal.  facing  p.  67.) 

2  See  the  British  Museum  Series,  Plates         ^  Layard,  p.  356.     The  wood  discoveral 
17  to  26.  in  this  palace  was  almost  all  cedar.     (Ibid., 


See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  ch.     p.  357.) 


378    SHALMANESER  THE  BLACK  OBELISK  KING.     App.  Book  L 

plaster.  The  smaller  chambers  were  frequently  dark ;  the  larger 
ones  were  lighted  either  by  openings  in  the  roof,  or  by  apertures  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  wall  near  the  ceiling.  The  floors  were  paved 
with  slabs  of  stone,  often  covered  with  inscriptions.  A  close 
analogy  has  been  pointed  out  between  this  style  of  building  and  the 
great  edifices  of  the  Jews,  as  described  in  Scripture  ^  and  by  Jose- 
phus,^  the  Jewish  kings  having  in  all  probability  borrowed  their 
architecture  from  Assyria.  The  dimensions  however  of  the  palace 
of  Solomon  fell  far  short  of  those  of  the  great  Assyrian  monarchs.^ 

Besides  his  palace  at  Calah,  Sardanapalus  built  temples  there  to 
Asshur  and  Merodach,  which  stood  upon  the  same  platform,  adjoin- 
ing the  wall  of  the  city.  He  also  built  at  least  one  temple  at 
Nineveh  itself,  which  however  had  not  yet  reached  to  the  dignity  of 
a  metropolitan  city.  This  temple  was  dedicated  to  Beltis,  a  deity 
worshipped  both  in  Nineveh  and  Babylon.^ 

13.  Sardanapalus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Shalmanu-sar,  or  Shal- 
maneser  I.,  the  great  monarch  whose  deeds  are  recorded  on  the 
black  obelisk  in  the  British  Museum.  This  prince,  who  reigned 
above  thirty- one  years,  was  engaged  either  personally  or  by  a 
favourite  general,'  in  a  perpetual  series  of  expeditions,  of  which  a 
brief  account  is  given  upon  the  obelisk,  the  details  being  apparently 
reserved  for  the  colossal  bulls,  which  seem  to  have  been  the  usual 
dedication  after  a  victory.  These  expeditions  do  not  fall  into  any 
regular  order,  nor  do  they  seem  to  result  in  actual  conquest.  They 
are  repeatedly  in  the  same  countries,  and  terminate  either  in  the 
submission  of  the  monarch,  or  in  his  deposition,  and  the  establish- 
ment in  his  place  of  a  more  obsequious  ruler.  What  is  most  re- 
markable in  them  is  their  extent.  At  one  time  they  are  in  Chaldsea, 
on  the  very  borders  of  the  Southern  Ocean ;  at  another  in  Eastern 
Armenia  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Caspian ;  frequently  they  are  in 
Syria,  and  touch  the  confines  of  Palestine ;  occasional!}^  they  are  in 
Cappadocia,  in  the  country  of  the  I'aplai  (Tibareni).  Armenia, 
Azerbijan,  great  portions  of  Media  Magna,  the  line  of  Zagros, 
Babylonia,  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  the  chain  of  Amanus  and 
the  country  beyond  it  to  the  north  and  the  north-west,  are  invaded 
by  the  Assyrian  armies,  which  exceed  upon  occasions  100,000 
fighting  men.  Everywhere  tribute  is  enforced,  and  in  most  places 
images  of  the  king  are  set  up  as  a  sign  of  his  possessing  the  supre- 
macy. The  Assyrian  successes  are  throughout  attributed,  after  the 
favour  of  Asshur  and  Merodach,  to  their  archers. 

14.  The  picture  furnished  by  the  inscriptions  of  the  general  con- 


^  See    1    Kings,  chs.  vi.  and  vii. ;    and  palaces  did  not  greatly  exceed. 

2  Chron.  ch.  iii.  '^  The  inscription  also  on  the  broken  obe- 

'  Joseph.  Ant.   Jud.  viii.  2.      Compare  lisk  in  the  British  Museum  (Historical  In- 

Fergusson's  Palaces  of  Nineveh,  p.  229,  and  scriptions,  PL  28)  appears  to  belong  to  the 

Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  644-649.  great  Sardanapalus,  and  commemorates  both 

^  The  palace  of  Solomon  was   150  feet  his  hunting  exploits  in  Syria  and  the  exten- 

long   and  75  feet   broad,   thus   covering  a  sive  repairs  which  he  executed  at  Asshur  or 

space   little    more   than   one-tenth  of    that  Kileh-Sherghat. 

covered  by  the  palace  of  Sardanapalus,  and  ^   Called    Dikid  -  assur    by    Dr.    Hincks. 

not   one-thirtieth    of  that   covered    by  the  See  his  translation  of  the  Nimrud  Obelisk  in 

vast  building   of    Sennacherib.     Its   height  the  Dublin  University  Magazine  for  Octo- 

was  45  feet,  which   perhaps  the   Assyrian  ber,  1853,  pp.  422,  425,  and  426. 


Essay  VIL  STATE  OF  ASIA  AT  THIS  PEEIOD.  879 

dition  of  Western  Asia  at  this  period  (b.c.  900 — 860)  is  perhaps  the 
most  interesting  feature  of  all  which  they  present  to  ns.  At  the 
extreme  west  appear  the  Phoenician  cities,  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  By  bins, 
from  which  Shalmaneser  takes  tribute  in  his  21st  year.  Adjoining 
upon  them  are  the  kingdoms  of  Hamath^  and  Damascus,  the  latter 
at  first  under  Benhadad,^  and  then  under  Hazael ;  the  former  under 
a  king  named  Sakhulena.  These  kingdoms  are  closely  leagued 
together ;  and  united  in  the  same  alliance  are  their  neighbours,  the 
Khatti^  or  Hittites,  who  form  a  great  confederacy  ruled  by  a  number 
of  petty  chiefs,*  and  extend  continuously  from  the  borders  of 
Damascus  to  the  Euphrates  at  Bir.  or  Bireh-jik.  The  strength  of  the 
Hittites,  Hamathites,  and  Syrians  of  Damascus,  is  in  their  chariots.^ 
They  are  sometimes  assisted  by  the  "  kings  of  the  sea-coast,"  who 
are  probably  the  Phoenician  princes.  The  valley  of  the  Orontes, 
from  a  little  north  of  Hamath  to  the  great  bend  which  the  river 
makes  towards  the  west,  and  the  country  eastward  as  far  as  the 
mountains  which  separate  the  tributaries  of  that  stream  from  those 
of  the  Euphrates,  are  in  possession  of  the  Patena,  a  tribe  of  Hittites, 
whose  name  connects  them  with  the  Pat/an- Aram  of  Scripture,  and 
the  Batandddb  of  the  Greek  writers.  This  people  is  permanently 
subject  to  Assyria,  and  the  Assyrians  have  access  through  their 
territories  to  the  countries  of  their  neighbours.  East  of  the 
Euphrates,  in  the  country  between  Bir  and  Diarbekr,  are  the  JVa'iri 
or  Nayari,  adjoining  upon  the  Armenians,  who  reach  from  about 
Diarbekr  to  the  basin  of  Lake  Urumiyeh,  which  belongs  to  the 
Mannai  (who  are  the  Minni  of  Scripture).^  Southward  along  the 
line  of  Zagros,  are,  first,  Kharkhar,  about  Lake  Van;  next  Hupuska, 
reaching  south  to  Hoi  wan  and  the  Gates  of  Zagros ;  and  then  the 
country  of  the  Tsimri,  reaching  as  far  as  Susiana,''  east  of  which  dwell 
the  Modes  and  (perhaps)  the  Persians.^    Below  Assyria  is  Babylonia, 

2  The  importance  of  Hamath  at  this  early  liable  to  be  confounded  in  Hebrew,  as  they 

period  is  strongly  marked  in  Scripture,  first,  are  in  the  name  Hadac?ezer,  or  Hadarezer. 

by  the  frequent  use  of  the  expression,  "  the  (Comp.   2  Sam.  viii.  3-12,  with  1  Chron. 

entering    in   of    Hamath"    (Josh.    xiii.    5;  xviii.  3-10.) 

Judges  iii.   3 ;    1  Kings  viii.  65,  &c.),  for         ''  See  Dr.  Hincks's  article  in  the  Dublin 

the  district  north  of  the  Holy  Land ;    se-  Univ.  Mag.  p.  422,  note.     Twelve  kings  of 

condly,  by  Avhat  is  related  of  the  dealings  of  the    southern    Hittites    are    mentioned    in 

David  with  Toi  (2  Sam.  viii.  9,  10;  1  Chron.  several  places.     Compare  the  expressions  in 

xviii.   9,  10) ;  and  thirdly,  by  the  manner  Scripture,  "  for  all  the  kings  of  the  Hittites 

in  which  the    Assyrian  envoy,    Rabshakeh,  did  they  bring  chariots   out"   (1   Kings  x. 


ss  of  it  (2  Kings  xviii.  34,  xix.   13).  29),  "the  king  of  Israel  has  hired  against 

It   was    conquered  by  Solomon  (2  Chron.  us  the  kings  of  the  Hittites,"  &c, 
viii.    3,    4),   became    independent   probably         ^  Compare  2  Sam.   x.    18 ;    1   Kings  x. 

under  Jeroboam  the  First,  and  was  again  re-  29,  xx.  1,  &c. 

duced   by    Jeroboam   the  Second  (2   Kings         ^  See  Jer.  li.  27:  "Call  together  against 

xiv.   28).     Hamath  at  this    time    was   the  her    (Babylon)    the   kingdoms     of    Ararat, 

capital  of  Coele-Syria,  and  occupied  the  site  Minni,  and  Ashkenaz." 
of  the  modern  Hamah.  '  This   name  has  been   hitherto  read  as 

3  This  king  was  recognised  independently  Namri,  but  the  reading  of  Tsimri  is  to  be 

both  by  Dr.  Hincks  and  Sir  H.  Kawlinson.  preferred.       Compare  Jer.   xxv.  25,  where 

The  name  is  read  by  the  former  authority  the  kings  of  Zimri  are  associated  with  the 

as  Ben-idri.     The  Septuagint,   it  must  be  kings  of  Elam  and  the  kings  of  the  Medes. 

remembered,    substitutes    'Ttos   "ASep    for  [H.  C.  R.] 

Ben-hadad  (1  Kings  xx.  1,  &c.),  and  the  d         ^  The  first  appearance  of  the  ]VIedes  in 

and  r,  from  their  similaj-ity,  are  constantly  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  is  in  the  24th  year 


380  SHALMANESEE'S  SYRIAX  CAMPAIGNS.      App.  Book  L' 

the  more  northern  portion  of  which  is  the  country  of  the  Accad, 
while  the  more  southern,  reaching  to  the  coast,  is  Chaldaea — the  land 
of  the  Kaldai.  Above  Babylonia,  on  both  sides  of  the  Euphrates, 
are  the  Tsiikhi,  perhaps  the  Shuhites  of  Scripture.^  Finally,  in 
Cappadocia,  above  the  northern  Hittites,  and  west  of  the  Euphrates, 
are  the  Tuplai,  or  Tibareni,  a  weak  people,  under  a  multitude  of 
chiefs,^  who  readily  pay  tribute  to  the  conqueror. 

15.  The  most  interesting  of  the  campaigns  of  Shalmaneser  are  those 
which  in  his  6th,  11th,  14th,  and  18th  years  he  conducted  against 
the  countries  bordering  on  Palestine.  In  the  first  three  of  these  his 
chief  adversary  was  Benhadad  of  Damascus,  the  prince  whose  wars 
with  Ahab  and  Jehoram,  and  whose  murder  by  Hazael,  are  related 
at  length  in  the  Books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles.^  Benhadad,  who 
,  had  strengthened  himself  by  a  close  league  with  the  Hamathites, 
Hittites,  and  Phoenicians,  was  defeated  in  three  great  battles  by  the 
Assyrian  monarch,  and  lost  in  one  of  them  above  20,000  men. 
This  ill  success  appears  to  have  broken  up  the  league,  and  when 
Hazael,  soon  after  his  accession,  was  attacked  in  his  turn,  probably 
about  the  year  B.C.  884  or  885,^  he  was  left  to  his  own  resources, 
and  had  to  take  refuge  in  Anti-Libanus,  where  Shalmaneser  engaged 
and  defeated  him,  killing  (according  to  his  own  account)  1C,000  of 
his  fighting  men,  and  capturing  more  than  1100  chariots.  It  was 
probably  at  this  time,  or  perhaps  three  years  later,  when  the  con- 
queror once  more  entered  Syria  and"  forced  Hazael  to  supply  his 
troops  with  provisions,  that  the  first  direct  connexion,  of  which  we 
have  any  record,  took  place  between  the  people  of  Israel  and  the 
Assyrians.  One  of  five  epigraphs  on  the  black  obelisk  records  the 
tribute  which  Yahua,  the  son  of  Kimmri—i.  e.  Jehu,  the  son  of  Omri  "* 


of  Shalmaneser  I.,  about  B.C.  880.     Their  own  accession — if  we  regard  Clinton's  date 

exact    locality   cannot   be   fixed,    but   they  for  Hazael  as  sufficiently  iiseertained — must 

clearly  dwell  east  of  the  Tsimri  who  inhabit  fall  between  B.C.  904  and  B.C.  900.    As  we 

the    Kurdish   mountains.      It    is   uncertain  have  his  annals  for  thirty-one  years,  he  must 

whether  the  Bartsu  or  Partsu  are  the  Per-  have  continued  to  reign  at  least  as  late  as 

sians.     From  the   time   of  Shalmaneser    to  B.C.  873,  being  thus  contemporary  with  the 

that    of  Pul,   they  seem  to  occupy  south-  Jewish  kings  Jehoshaphat,    Jehoram,   Aha- 

eastern    Armenia,   where  they  are  under  a  ziah,  Joash,  and  with  the  Jsraelitish  mon- 

number  of  chiefs,  as  many  as  twenty-seven  arclis  Ahab,  Ahaziah,  Jehoram,  and  Jehu, 

bringing  tribute  to  the  Assyrian    monarch  *  Dr.  Hincks  says :  "  This  title   (son  of 

on    one    occasion.     In  the  reign  of  Senna-  Omri)  is  equivalent  to  King  of  Samaria,  the 

cherib  they  appear,  as  Partsu,  in  the  posi-  city    which    Omri    built,   and    which    was 

tion  in  which  we  should  expect  to  find  Per-  known    to    the    Assyrians   as    Beth-Omri." 

sians.  (Nimrud  Obelisk,  p.  426.)      But  is  it  not 

^  Job  ii.  11,  &c.     See  page  375,  note  ^.  rather  a  claim — possibly  not  altogether  false 

1  As  many  as  twenty-four  kings  of  the  — to  actual  descent  from  Omri,  and  another 
Tuplai  are  mentioned  (Hincks,  p.  424).  instance  of  the  anxiety  of  usurpers  in  the 

2  1  Kings  XX.  1-34,  xxii.  29-36  ;  2  Kings  East  to  identify  themselves  with  the  dynasty 
vi.,  vii.,  and  viii.  which  they  in  reality  dispossess  ?    (See  note  ^ 

3  Hazael  appears  to  have  succeeded  Ben-  on  book  i.  ch.  108.)  Jehu,  we  know,  was 
hadad,  B.C.  886.  (See  Clinton's  F.  H.  vol.  really  the  son  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  grandson 
i.  Appendix,  p.  324.)  Hence  the  time  of  of  Nimshi  (2  Kings  ix.  2  and  14).  But  he 
Shalmaneser  1.  may  be  fixed  with  a  near  may  have  been  on  the  mother^s  side  de- 
approach  to  certainty.  For  as  the  accession  scended  from  Omri,  or  he  may  merely  have 
of  Hazael  falls  necessarily  between  his  14th  claimed  the  connexion  Avithout  any  ground 
year,  when  he  wars  with  Benhadad,  and  his  of  right.  The  Assyrians  would  of  course 
18th,  when  he  contentls   with   Hazael,  his  simply  accept  the  title  which  he  gave  himself. 


Essay  VII.  CAMPAIGNS  OF  SHAMAS-VUL.  381 

• — brought  to  tlie  king  who  set  it  up,  consisting  almost  entirely  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  articles  manufactured  from  gold.  It  was 
perhaj)s  this  act  of  submission  which  provoked  the  fierce  attack  of 
Hazael  upon  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  the  reign  of  Jehu,  when  he 
"  smote  them  in  all  their  coasts,"  and  deprived  them  of  the  entire 
country  east  of  Jordan,  the  ancient  possession  of  the  tribes  of 
Eeuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh,  as  far  as  "  Aroer  by  the  river  Arnon,"  ^ 
which  flows  into  the  Dead  Sea. 

16.  Shalmaneser  dwelt  indifferently  at  Calah  and  at  Nineveh,  and 
greatly  embellished  the  former  of  these  cities.  He  was  the  builder 
of  the  central  palace  at  that  place,  which  has  furnished  us  with  a 
few  interesting  specimens  of  Assyrian  art.  Like  his  father,  he 
appears  to  have  brought  timber,  probably  cedar,  from  the  forests  of 
Syria ;  and  sometimes  even  to  have  undertaken  expeditions  for 
that  special  purpose.  He  probably  reigned  from  about  e.g.  900  to 
B.C.  860  or  850." 

17.  Shalmaneser  I.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Shamas-Vul,  whose 
annals,  like  his  father's,  have  in  part  come  down  to  us  upon  an 
obelisk  set  up  by  him  to  commemorate  his  exploits,  at  Calah,  which 
seems  to  have  been  still  the  Assyrian  capital.  We  learn  from  this 
document,'^  that  during  the  lifetime  of  IShalmaneser ,  Asshur-danin-pal, 
his  eldest  son,  had  raised  a  revolt  against  his  authority,  which  was 
with  difficulty  put  down  by  Shamas-  I  itl,  the  young  brother.  Twenty- 
seven  strong  places,  including  Asshur,  the  old  metropolis,  Amida 
(the  modern  Diarbekr),  Telapni,  which  was  near  Orfa,  and  the 
famous  city  of  Arbela — here  first  commemorated — espoused  the 
cause  of  the  pretender.  A  bloody  struggle  followed,  resulting  in 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  by  the  capture  of  the  revolted 
cities,  which  were  taken  by  Shamas- 1  ul,  one  after  another.  Asshur- 
danin-pal,  in  all  probability,  lost  his  life — if  not,  at  any  rate  he  for- 
feited the  succession,  which  thus  fell  to  the  second  son  of  the  late 
monarch. 

18.  The  annals  of  Shamas-  Vul  upon  the  obelisk  extend  only  over 
the  term  of  four  years,  and  then  end  abruptly.  It  is  not  likely, 
however,  that  he  reigned  for  so  short  a  time,  as  the  space  between 
Shalmaneser  I.  and  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  exceeds  a  century,^  and  is 
occupied  (so  far  as  at  present  appears)  by  but  two  reigns,  those  of 
Shamas-  Vul,  and  of  his  son  and  successor,  Vul-hish  J  J  I.  In  these 
four  years  Shainas-  Vul  undertook  expeditions  against  the  tribes  of 
the  Nairi  on  the  flanks  of  Taurus,  against  the  countries  bordering 


^  2  Kings  X.  32,  33.  "^  This  inscription  has  been  in'  great  part 

^  It  must  be  remembered  that  these  dates  translated  by  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  in  the  Journal 

depend  upon  the  ordinary  Scripture  chrono-  of  the  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  xvi.  part  i.  Annual 

logy,    which,    placing   the  final  capture  of  Keport,  p.  xii,  et  seq. 

Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  B.C.  588,         ^  That  is,  if  we  connect  the  accession  of 

and  follownig  the  line  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  Tiglath-Pileser  with  the  era  of  Nabonassar, 

according  to  the  years  assigned  them  in  the  B.C.  747.     There  is  no  doubt  a  great  difficulty 

Hebrew  text,  obtains  for  the  first  of  Rehoboam  in  supposing  that  the  three  consecutive  reigns 

the  year  B.C.  975  or  976.     (See  Clinton,  vol.  of  a  father,  son,  and  grandson,  cover  the  space 

i.  p.  329,  App.)     The  line  of  the  kings  of  from  B.C.  900  to  B.C.  747,  a  period  of  153 

Israel  would  produce  a  date  15  or  20  years  years, 
lower  than  this. 


382  PUL  AND  SEMIRAMIS.  App.  Book  I. 

on  Armenia  to  tlie  south  and  east,  against  tlie  Medes  beyond  Zagros, 
and  finally  against  the  Babylonians.  This  last  campaign  is  the 
most  important.  In  it  Shamas-  Vul  declares  that  he  took  above  200 
towns,  and  defeated  a  combined  army  of  Chaldaeans,  Elamites, 
Tsimri,  and  Aramaeans  or  Syrians,  which  the  king  of  Babylonia  had 
collected  against  him,  slaying  5000  and  taking  2000  prisoners,  to- 
gether with  1000  chariots. 

19.  Vul-lush,  the  third  prince  of  that  name,  was  the  son  and 
successor  of  Shamas-  Vul.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  Pul  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  the  Phaloch  of  the  Septuagint,  and  the  Belochus  of 
Eusebius  and  others.  He  built  some  chambers  in  the  central 
palace  at  Calah,  which  had  been  originally  erected  by  his  grand- 
father, and  which  was  afterwards  despoiled  by  Esarhaddon.  The 
records  of  his  time  which  have  been  hitherto  discovered  are  scanty, 
but  possess  a  peculiar  interest.  One  of  them  is  a  pavement  slab  * 
from  the  upper  chambers  at  Nimrud  (Calah),  wherein  is  noticed  his 
reception  of  tribute  from  the  Medes,  Partsu,  Minni,  and  Nairi  on 
the  north  and  east,  from  the  country  of  Khumri,  or  Samaria,  from 
Tyre,  Sidon,  Damascus,  Idumaea,  and  Palestine  on  the  Western  Sea — 
a  relation  which  accords  with  the  fact  mentioned  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Kings,  that  Pul  received  a  thousand  talents  as  tribute  from 
Menahem,  king  of  Israel.^  Another  is  a  brief  inscription  on  a 
statue  of  the  god  Nebo,*  which  shows  that  the  name  of  his  wife 
was  Semiramis,  and  that  she  reigned  conjointly  with  her  husband, 
thus  very  remarkably  confirming  the  account  given  by  Herodotus 
of  the  real  age  of  that  personage,  and  also  explaining  in  some  de- 
gree her  position  in  Herodotus  as  a  Babylonian  rather  than  an 
Assyrian  princess.  Vul-Iush  III.  certainly  seems  to  have  been  in  an 
especial  way  connected  with  Babylonia.  He  appears  to  style  him- 
self "  the  king  to  whose  son  Asshur  the  chief  of  the  gods  has  granted 
the  kingdom  of  Babylon  :"  and  relates  that  on  his  return  from  a 
campaign  in  Syria,  in  which  he  had  taken  Damascus,  he  proceeded 
to  Babylonia,  where  he  received  the  homage  of  the  Chaldseans,  and 
sacrificed  in  Babylon,  Borsippa,  and  Cutha,  to  the  respective  gods 
of  those  cities,  Bel,  Nebo,  and  ISergal.  It  is  possible  that  Semi- 
ramis was  a  Babylonian  princess,  and  that  Vul-Iush  J  J  I.,  in  right  of 
his  wife,  became  sovereign  of  Babylon,  where  he  may  have  settled 
his  son  Nabonassar.  The  history  of  this  period  is  however  shrouded 
in  an  obscurity  which  we  vainly  attempt  to  penetrate ;  and  it  can 
only  be  said  that  under  this  king  the  first  Assyrian  dynasty  seems 
to  have  come  to  an  end,  and  in  its  place  a  new  dynasty  to  have 
been  established. 


^  For  a  full  account  of  this  inscription  see  probably  iron. 

Athenasum,  No.  1476,  p.  174.  2  T}),g  statue,  which  is  now  in  the  British 

^  2   Kings  XV.  19,  20.     The  amount  of  Museum,  is  dedicated  by  the  artist  to  "  his 

Menahem's  tribute  is  not  stated  in  the  inscrip-  lord  Vul-Iush,  and  his  lady  Sammuramit." 

tion ;  but  as  it  has  been  thought  excessive,  it  By  the  form  of  the  letters  and  other  signs  it 

may  be  well  to  observe  that  from  Mariha,  certainly  belongs  to  the  time  of  Vul-Iush  III., 

king  of  Damascus,  Vul-Iush  took  at  this  time  and  not  to  either  of  the  two  earlier  monarchs 

2300  talents  of  silver,  20  talents  of  gold,  of  the  same  name. 
3000  of  copper,  and  5000  of  some  other  metal, 


Essay  VII.  LOWER  DYNASTY  OF  ASSYRIA.  383 

20.  The  following  is  a  sketch  of  the  probable  chronology  of  the 
kings  of  the  period  : — 

B.C. 

1.  Bel-lush ab.  1273, 

2.  Pudil         ] 

3.  Vul-Wsh [  ab.  1200. 

4.  Shalma-sai'  (or  Slialma-ris) j 

5.  Nin-pal-kura \  ab    1160 

6.  Asshur-daha-il  (his  son) / 

7.  Mutaggil-nabu  (his  son)         )     ,     j^,oq 

8.  Asshur-ris-ilim  (his  son)         j 

9.  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  (his  son) ab.  1110. 

10.  Asshur-baui-pal  I.  (his  son) ab.  1080. 

)(;  ;t^  ^  9{s  9{c 

11.  Asshur-adan-akhi  ab.  1050. 

12.  Asshur-dan-il  (his  son) ab.  1025. 

13.  Vul-lush  II.  (his  son)      ab.  1000, 

14.  Tiglathi-Ninip  (his  son)  ab,     960, 

15.  Asshur-idanni-pal  (his  son)     ..      ..      ..  ab,     930. 

'16,  Shalmaneser  (his  son) ab.     900  to  850. 

17.  Samsi-Vul  (his  son)         ab.     853  to  800. 

18,  Vul-lush  III.  (his  son) ab.     800  to  747. 

21.  The  circumstances  which  brought  the  first  Assyrian  dynasty 
to  a  close,  and  placed  upon  the  throne  a  king  of  a  different  family, 
are  neither  recorded  in  the  inscriptions,  nor  by  any  writer  of  much 
authority.^  Tiglath-Pileser  II.,  who  appears  to  have  succeeded 
Pul,*  has  left  no  record  of  the  means  by  which  he  obtained  the 
crown.  His  inscriptions  however  support  the  notion  of  a  revolution 
and  change  of  dynasty  in  Assyria  at  this  point  of  its  history.  Con- 
trary to  the  universal  practice  of  previous  monarchs,  he  omits  all 
mention  of  his  ancestors,  or  even  of  the  name  of  his  father,  upon 
his  monuments.  We  may  safely  conclude  from  this  that  he  was 
a  usurper,  and  that  his  ancestry  was  not  royal.  This  is  the  cir- 
cumstance which  makes  it  probable  that  the  lower  dynasty  of 
Assyria  commenced  with  this  monarch  rather  than  with  Pul, 
whom  Berosus  is  said  to  have  made  the  first  king  of  the  second 
period.^  With  respect  to  the  exact  time  at  which  Tiglath-Pileser 
mounted  the  throne,  it  must  bo  admitted  that  some  doubt  exists. 
The  dates  derived  from  the  succession  of  the  Hebrew  monarchs 
would  apparently  give  for  his  accession  about  the  year  B.C.  767,  or 
B.C.  768;  for  according  to  this  chronology  Menahem  reigned  from 
B.C.  769  to  B.C.  760,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  contemporary  both 
with  Tiglath-Pileser  and  with  Pul,**  the  former  of  whom  expressly 


^  Bion  and  Polyhistor  are  said  to  have  perhaps  disguise  the  transactions  of  this  pe- 

related  that  Tiglath-Pileser,  whom  they  called  riod, 

Beletaras.  was  the  former  king's  gardener,  '^  Such  is  the  impression  which  we  receive 

and  gained  the  crown  in  some  extraordinary  from  Scripture  (2   Kings,  xv.   19-29),      It 

way  (eKcpTTwcraTo    TrapaX6y(i}s  tt^v  ^acri-  would  be  nearly  certain  if  we  could  feel  sure 

\eiav,  Agath.  ii,  25,  §  15).     But  Agathias,  that  Tiglath-Pileser  really  took  tribute /rom 

who  is  the  authority  for  this,  does  not  inform  Menahem  in  his  eighth  year.     (See  the  next 

VIS  of  any  details.     The  war  between  Belivcmi,  page,  note  '.) 

and  Perseus  m  Cephalion  (Fragm.   1),  and  ^  Vide  supra,  p,  372. 

that  between  Sardanapalus  and   Perseus   in  ^2  Kings  xv,  19. 
Pausanias  (see  the  Paschal  Chronicle,  p,  68), 


384  REIGN  OF  TIGLATH-PILESER  II.  App.  Book  L 

states  that  he  took  tribute  from  him  in  his  eighth  year  J  It  is  doubt- 
ful however  if  complete  dependence  is  to  be  placed  upon  the 
Hebrew  dates  ;  ^  and  perhaps  it  is  best  on  the  whole  to  lay  it  down 
as  most  probable  that  the  change  of  dynasty  took  place  in  or  a  little 
before  the  year  b.c.  747,  and  was  closely  connected  with  the  events 
in  Babylonia  which  led  to  the  establishment  in  that  year  of  the 
celebrated  era  of  Nabonassar.  Herodotus  connects  the  revolution 
in  Assyria  at  the  close  of  the  520  (526)  years,  with  a  general  revolt 
of  the  provinces  ; '  and  though  his  statement,  broadly  made  as  it  is 
with  reference  to  all  the  Assyrian  dependencies,^  and  extended 
from  the  immediate  occasion  to  the  whole  period  of  the  Lower 
Empire,*  is  undoubtedly  false,  since  it  is  at  variance  both  with 
Scripture  and  with  the  monuments  ;  ^  yet  it  can  scarcely  be  sup- 
posed to  be  without  a  foundation  in  fact.  The  ground  of  his  belief 
— which  would  rest  probably  upon  information  obtained  at  Babylon 
— may  well  have  been  the  revolt  of  Babylonia  on  occasion  of  Tig- 
lath-Pileser's  accession,  which  his  informants  magnified  into  a 
general  defection  on  the  part  of  the  Assyrian  feudatories.  The  con- 
nexion of  Semiramis  with  Pul  on  the  one  hand,*  and  with  the  esta- 
blishment of  Babjdonian  independence  on  the  other,^  confirms  the 
synchronism  in  question,  which  is  agreeable  to  the  numbers  of  the 
Septuagint,*^  and  from  which  the  date  derivable  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  differs  at  the  utmost  by  a  period  of  twenty  years/ 

22.  The  annals  of  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  extend  over  the  space  of 
seventeen  j^ears.  They  exist  only  in  a  ver}^  fragmentary  state, 
having  been  engraved  on  slabs  which  were  afterwards  defaced  by 

7  As  Menahem  only  reigned  10  years,  and  marginal  Bible,  and  Clinton's  F.  H.   vol.  i. 

Pul  (the  predecessor  of  Tiglath-Pileser)  also  App.  ch.  5,  pp.  325-7.)           ^  Herod,  i.  95. 

took  tribute  from  him,  the  accession  of  Tig-  ^  Herod,  i.   96.     idvroov   Se    avrov6fJLO)v 

lath-Pileser  necessarily  falls  (unless  there  is  a  ir  dvr  (av   av  a   rhv   ^iretpoj/. 

mistake  of  the  name)  into  Menahem's  second  ^  Compare  ch.  102. 

or  third  year.      There  are  however  strong  ^  Nothing  is  more  plain  from  Scripture 

grounds  for  suspecting  that  Menahem  in  the  than  the  flourishing  condition  of  Assyria  in 

inscription  is  mentioned  by  mistake  for  Pekah.  the  reigns  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  Shalmaneser, 

He  is  coupled  with  Rezin,  who  in  Scripture  Sargon,  Sennacherib,  and  Esar-haddon.     The 

always  appears  as  the  ally  of  Pekah  ;  and  the  empire  evidently  advances  rather  than  recedes 

campaign  described  as  falling  into  the  eighth  during   this   period.      Assyria   absorbs    the 

of  Tiglath-Pileser  seems  to  be  almost  certainly  kingdoms  of  Syria  and  Israel,  overruns  JudcTa 

that  of  which  an  account  is  given  in  the  book  and  Philistia,  and  invades  Egypt.      At  the 

of  Kings  (2  Kings  xvi.  5-9  ;  cf.  1  Chron.  v.  same  time  she  holds  Media  (2  Kings  xvii.  6) 

26),  which  was  conducted  against  Rezin  and  and  Babylon  (ibid.  ver.  24 ;  2  Chron.  xxxiii. 

Pekah.     The  result  of  it  is  that  Damascus  is  11).     This  account  exactly  accords  with  the 

taken  and  destroyed.     (See  2  Kings  xvi.  ver.  monuments,  but  contradicts  Herodotus. 

9.)     It  is  remarkable  that  if  we  regard  B.C.  *  Vide  supra,  p.  382. 

747  as  the  year  of  Tiglath-Pileser's  accession,  ^  Supra,  p.  371,  and  iofra.  Essay  viii.  §  2. 

his  campaign  with  the  Syrians  and  Israelites  ^  By  assigning  35  years,  instead  of  55,  to 

would  Very  conveniently  fall  into  his  eighth  the  reign  of  Manasseh,  the  LXX.  reduces  all 

year  (b.c.  740 — the  second  year  of  Ahaz,  and  the  earlier  dates  by  exactly  20  years, 

the  eighteenth  of  Pekah).  7  That  is  to   say,  if  we  regard  the  syn- 

^  The  Hebrew  numbers  sometimes  differ  chronism  of  Tiglath-Pileser  with  Menahem  as 

from  the  Septuagint,  as  in  the  case  of  Manas-  established.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  con- 

seh's  reign,  which  is  in  the  Hebrew  55,  in  the  sider  that  Pekah  is  intended  in  the  passage  of 

LXX.  35  years.     Where  they  are  checked  by  Tiglath-Pileser's  annals  where  the  name  of 

the  list  being  double,  there  are  frequent  dis-  Menahem  occurs,  the  exact  date  of  B.C.  747 

crepancies,  which  have  to  be  reconciled  by  for  Tiglath-Pileser's  accession  will  accord  with 

violent  assumptions.    (See  the  notes  in  our  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 


Essay  VII.  WARS  WITH  PEKAH  AND  REZIN.  385 

Sargon  or  his  descendants,  and  whicli  were  finally  torn  from  their 
places  and  used  by  Esarhaddon  as  materials  for  the  buildings 
which  he  erected  at  Nimrud — the  ancient  Calah.  They  give  at 
some  length  his  wars  in  Upper  Mesopotamia,  Armenia,  and  Media  ; 
but  the  most  remarkable  events  recorded  in  them  are  an  invasion  of 
Babylon,  which  is  assigned  to  his  first,  and  the  Syrian  campaign  of 
his  eighth  year.  In  the  former  he  took  Sippara  (Sepharvaim)  and 
various  other  places,  driving  into  exile  a  Babylonian  prince  of  the 
time,  whose  name  is  read  as  Neho-vasappan.^  In  the  latter  he 
defeated  Eezin,  king  of  Damascus,  took  and  destroyed  his  city,  and 
received  tribute  from  the  king  of  Samaria  (whom  he  calls  Mena- 
hem),  from  a  Hiram  king  of  Tyre,^  and  from  a  certain  "  queen  of 
the  Arabs  " — i.  e.  of  the  Idumasans. 

It  seems  to  have  been  concluded  on  good  grounds,  from  a  com- 
parison of  the  narrative  in  the  Book  of  Kings  with  the  prophet 
Isaiah,^  that  Tiglath-Pileser  invaded  the  dominions  of  the  kings  of 
Israel  iioice ;  the  first  time  when  he  "took  Ijon  and  Abel-beth- 
Maachah,  and  Janoah,  and  Kedesh,  and  Hazor,  and  Gilead,  and 
Galilee,  and  all  the  land  of  Naphtali ;"  ^  and  again  when  he  came 
up  at  the  invitation  of  Ahaz,  and  broke  the  power  both  of  Syria 
and  of  Samaria.^  The  latter  of  these  appears  to  be  the  expedi- 
dition  mentioned  in  his  annals.  It  was  undertaken  at  the  request 
of  Ahaz,  the  son  of  Jotham  and  father  of  Hezekiah,  who  had 
recently  ascended  the  throne,  and  foiind  himself  hard  pressed  by 
the  combination  against  him  of  Pekah  and  Eezin,  who  had  been 
previously  engaged  in  war  with  his  father."  On  condition  of 
receiving  aid  against  these  enemies,  Ahaz  consented  to  become  the 
tributary  of  the  Assyrian  king,^  a  position  which  the  sovereigns  of 
Judah  must  be  considered  to  have  thenceforth  occupied.^  Tiglath- 
Pileser  "  hearkened "  to  his  proposal,  collected  an  army,  and 
marching  into  Syria  in  his  eighth  year,  B.C.  740,  attacked  and  took 
Damascus,  slew  Rezin,^  and  razed  his  city  to  the  ground.  He 
then  probably  proceeded  against  Pekah,  whose  country  he  entered 
on  the  north-east,  where  it  bordered  upon  the  kingdom  of  Damas- 
cus. Here  he  overran  the  whole  district  beyond  Jordan,  and  hence 
he  carried  off  into  captivity  the  two  tribes  and  a-half  by  whom  this 


*  It  does  not  seem  possible  that  this  name  Assyria,  saying,  /  am  thy  servant  and  thy 
can  represent  Nabonassar,  although  the  first  son  ;  come  up  and  save  me  out  of  the  hand  of 
element  is  the  same  in  both  words.  Probably  the  king  of  Syria,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Nebovasappan  was  a  mere  prince,  the  ruler  of  king  of  Israel,  which  rise  up  against  me. 
a  frontier  district.  And  Ahaz  took  the  silver  and  gold  that  was 

9  Compare  the  Hiram  of  I  Kings  v.  1-12,  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the 

and  the  Siromus  or  Eiromus  of  Herodotus  treasm-es  of  the  kmg's  house,  and  sent  it  for 

(vii.  98,  and  note  ad  loc).  a  present  to  the  king  of  Assyria."    (2  Kings 

1  See  Mr.  Vance  Smith's  Exposition  of  the  xvi.  7.) 

Prophecies  relating  to  Nineveh  and  the  Assy-         ^  Hence  the  force  of  Hezekiah's  words  when 

rians,  Introduction,  §  2,  p.  25.  he  had  withheld  his  tribute :  "  /  have  of- 

2  2  Kings  XV.  29.  fended:    return  from  me;  that  which  thou 

3  Ibid.  xvi.  5-9.    Compare  Isa.  vii.  and  viii.  puttest  upon  me  I  will  bear."     (2  Kings 

*  Ibid.  XV.  37.  xviii.  14.) 

^  "  Ahaz  sent  messengers  to  the  king  of        '2  Kings  xvi.  9. 
VOL.  I.  2  c 


386  SHALMANESER  II.  App.  Book  I. 

country  was  peopled :  ^  after  which  it  is  probable  that  I'ekah  sub- 
mitted and  consented  to  pay  a  fixed  annual  tribute.  Ahaz  about  the 
same  time  had  an  interview  with  the  Great  King,  while  he  still 
rested  at  Damascus,®  before  the  city  was  destroyed — the  first  in- 
stance that  occurs  of  direct  contact  between  the  Jews  (properly  so 
called)  and  the  Assyrians. 

23.  Of  Shalmaneser  IL,  the  probable  successor  of  Tiglath-Pile- 
ser  II.,  very  little  is  known. ^  He  cannot  have  reigned  more,  and 
may  possibly  have  reigned  less,  than  nine  years.'^  His  name  has 
not  yet  been  found  upon  the  monuments  ;  ^  and  the  only  facts  be- 
longing to  his  reign  have  come  down  to  us*  are  his  two  expeditions 
against  Samaria,  recorded  in  Scripture.  It  appears  that  Hoshea, 
who  had  murdered  Pekah,  and  made  himself  king  of  Israel,'*  sub- 
mitted to  Shalmaneser  upon  his  first  invasion,  and  agreed  to  pay 
an  annual  tribute  ;  ®  but  afterwards,  having  obtained  the  protection 
of  a  king  of  Egypt,^  he  revolted,  withheld  his  tribute,  and  when 
Shalmaneser  once  more  came  up  against  him  in  person,  resisted 
him  by  force  of  arms.  Shalmaneser  laid  siege  to  Samaria,  which 
defied  his  utmost  efforts  for  nearly  three  years.  The  king  of  Egypt, 
however,  gave  no  aid  to  his  dependent,  and  at  the  end  of  three 
years  Samaria  fell.^  It  has  been  usual  to  ascribe  its  capture  to 
Shalmaneser  ;  and  this  is  certainly  the  impression  which  the  Scrip- 
tural narrative  leaves.  But  the  assertion  is  not  made  expressly,* 
and  if  we  may  trust  the  direct  statement  of  Sargon,  the  successor  of 
Shalmaneser  upon  the  throne,  we  must  consider  that  he,  and  not 
Shalmaneser,  was  the  actual  captor  of  the  city.  Sargon  relates  that 
he  took  Samaria  in  his  first  year,  and  carried  into  captivity  27,280 


*  See  1  Chron.  v.  26,  and  compare  Isa.  ix.  1.  '^2  Kings  xvii.  4.    This  king,  who  is  called 

*  2  Kings  xvi.  10.  So,  or  rather  Seveh,  J^ID  in  the  Hebrew  text, 
^  It  is  probable  that  his  monuments  were  but  Segor  {'S.riyoop)  in  the  Septuagint,  has 

purposely  destroyed  by  Sargon.  commonly  been  identified  with  Sabaco  I.,  the 

2  This  asseiti on  depends  on  the  assumption  founder  of  the  25th  (Ethiopian)  dynasty  ;  but 

that  Tiglath-P.leser  began  to  reign  B.C.  747.  there  are  certain  object  ons  to  this.     Hosea 

As  17  years  of  his  annals  are  extant,  he  can-  must  have  made  his  treaty  with  So  at  least 

not  have  been  succeeded  by  Shalmaneser  till  as    early  as    B.C.   723  ;    but   the   Egyptian 

B.C.  730.     Sargon  began  to  reign  B.C.  721.  monuments  prove  Tiihakah  to  have  ascended 

Thus  the  greatest  possible  length  of  Shalma-  the   throne  B.C.  690,  and  Manetho  assigned 

neser's  reign  is  nine  years.     If  Tiglath-Pileser  the  two  Sabacos  22  or  24  years,  which  gives 

held  the  throne  moie  than  17  years,  which  is  B.C.  712  or  714  for  the  accession  of  Sabaco  I. 

ve?:y  possible,  the  duration  of  Shalmaneser's  Again  in  B.C.  715,  Saigon  finds  Egypt  not 

reign  would  be  shorter.  yet  under  the  Ethiopians,  but  under  a  native 


Two  inscriptions  in  the  British  Museum  king,  whom  he  calls  1  irhu.,  which  is 

perhaps  belong  to  Shalmaneser,  but  in  both  Pharaoh,  or  perhaps  Boccharis.     Two  or  thr( 

the  royal   name  is  wanting.     One  of  them  years  later,  B.C.  712,  he  notes  the  subjection 

appears  to  contain  a  mention  of  Hoshea,  king  of  Egypt  to  Meroe  or  Ethiopia, 
of  Saftiaria ;  the  other  speaks  of  a  son  of  Rezin.         ^  2  Kings  xvii.  5,  and  xviii.  10.     "  At  the 

4  The  accounts  which  Menander  gave  (ap.  end  of  three  years  they  took  it." 
Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  ix.  14)  of  expeditious  con-  »  "  The  king  of  As^yria  "  in  2  Kings,  ch. 
ducted  by  Shalmaneser  against  Phoenicia  and  xvii.  ver.  6,  is  not  necessarily  the  same  mo- 
Cyprus  are  piobably  unhistorical.  He  has  ap-  narch  as  "  the  kirjg  of  Assyiia"  of  the  pre- 
parently  confused  Shalmaneser  with  his  succes-  ceding  verse.  Our  ti  anslatoi  s  correctly  regard 
.sor  Sa)  gon,  by  whom  exped.tions  agamst  these  ver.  6  as  beginning  a  new  paiagiaph.  In  the 
places  seem  to  have  been  really  undertaken.  other  passage  (xviii.  10)  we  have  the  yet  more 

^  2  Kings  XV.  30.  ^  2  Kings  xvii.  3.  vague  expression,  "  they  took  it." 


Essay  YII.  SAEGON  AND  HIS  CAMPAIGNS.  387 

families.  It  would  appear  therefore  that  Shalmaneser  died,  or  was 
deposed,  while  Hoshea  still  held  out,  and  that  the  final  captivity 
of  Israel  fell  into  the  reign  of  his  successor. 

24.  Sargon,  or  Sargina,  who  mounted  the  Assyrian  throne  in  the 
year  b.c.  721,'  was  the  founder  of  a  dynasty,  and  therefore  most 
probably  a  usurper.  It  may  be  suspected  that  he  took  advantage 
of  Shalmaneser's  long  absence  from  his  capital,  while  he  pressed 
the  siege  of  Samaria,  to  possess  himself  of  the  supreme  power,  just 
as  in  later  times  the  Pseudo-Smerdis  took  advantage  of  the  absence 
of  Cambyses  in  Egypt  for  a  like  purpose.^  If  not  absolutely  a 
person  of  low  condition,  he  was  at  any  rate  of  a  rank  which  did 
not  allow  him  to  boast.  In  his  inscriptions,  although  he  calls  the 
former  kings  of  Assyria  his  ancestors,  which  seems  to  be  a  mere 
mode  of  speech,  yet  he  carefully  abstains  from  any  mention  of  his 
father,  and  it  is  onl}^  from  later  records  that  we  may  perhaps  be  able 
to  supply  this  deficiency.^  His  reign  covered  a  space  of  nineteen 
years,  for  fifteen  of  which  we  possess  his  annals.  It  appears  that  in 
his  first  year,  after  Samaria  had  fallen  and  the  bulk  of  the  inhabit- 
ants had  been  brought  as  captives  to  Assyria,*  he  proceeded  in  person 
against  Babylon,  where  it  is  possible  that  he  placed  Merodach- 
Baladan  upon  the  throne.  After  this,  in  the  ensuing  year,  Samaria 
having  revolted  from  him,  in  conjunction  with  the  Syrians  of 
Damascus,*  the  people  of  Arpad,  and  others,  Sargon  again  marched 
to  the  west.  Having  defeated  the  rebels  at  Gargaru  (Aroer?),  and 
suppressed  the  rebellion,  he  turned  his  arms  against  Gaza  and 
Egypt.  Egypt,  which  was  not  yet  under  the  Ethiopian  rule,  had 
recently  extended  her  dominion  over  the  five  cities  of  the  Philis- 
tines, according  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah.®  Sargon  speaks  of  Gaza 
as  a  dependency  of  Egypt,  and  its  king  is  said  to  have  fought  a 
battle,  assisted  by  Egyptian  troops,  at  Jtiaphia,  which  was  the  fron- 
tier town  of  Egypt  on  the  Syrian  side.  The  Assyrian  arms  were 
again  successful ;  the  Philistine  prince  was  taken  prisoner ;  and 
Sargon  returned  in  triumph  to  his  own  country.  Five  years  later, 
B.C.  715,  he  again  marched  into  these  parts.  This  time  the  object 
of  the  campaign  was  Arabia,  into  which  he  penetrated  more  deeply 
than  any  former  king,  and  from  which  he  deported  a  number  of 
Arabs,  whom  he  planted  in  Samaria ;  where  they  formed  doubtless 
the  Arabian  element  of  which  we  hear  in  later  times .^  The  neigh- 
bouring princes  then  sought  his  favour  ;  the  king  of  Egypt,  who  is 
called  Firhu  (Pharaoh  ?),  made  submission,  and  paid  Sargon  a  tri- 


1  This  date  depends  on  the  statement  made  connexion  which  may  be  read  as  making  him 
by  Sargon,  that  in  his  own  twelfth  year  he  Sargon's  father.  The  construction  is  however 
drove  Merodach-Baladan  out  of  Babylon  after  very  doubtful. 

he  had  rei/ned  twelve  years.    It  follows  that  *  2  Kings  xvii,  6,  and  xviii.  11. 

the  two  kings   ascended  the  throne   in  the  ^  The  city  had  either  been  rebuilt,  or  the 

same  year.     Ptolemy's  Canon,  which  gives  people  retained  the  name,  though  their  capital 

Merodach-Baladan  (Mardocempadus)  exactly  was  in  ruins. 

twelve  years,  places  his  accession  in  B.C.  721.  ^  See  Isa.  xix.  18  :  "In  that  day  shall  five 

2  Herod,  iii.  61.  cities  in  the  land  of  Egypt  speak  the  language 
^  On  a  clay  tablet  of  the  time  of  Senna-  of  Canaan." 

cherib,  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Col.  Eaw-  '  See  Nehem.  ii.  19  ;  iv.  7  ;  vi.  1-6. 
linson,  the  name  of  Nebosiphuni  occurs  in  a 

2  c  2 


388        SARGON  KEMOVES  THE  SEAT  OF  EMPIRE.     App.  Book  I. 

bute  in  gold,  horses,  camels,  &c.  Tribute  was  also  brought  him  by 
the  "  Chief  of  Saba,"  and  the  "  Queen  of  the  Arabs."  After  the 
conclusion  of  this  successful  campaign,  Sargon,  like  so  many  of 
his  predecessors,"  was  occupied  for  some  time  with  wars  in  fpper 
Syria,  Cappadocia,  and  Armenia.  He  overran  Hamath ;  defeated 
Amhris  the  king  of  Tubal  (the  Tibareni),  on  whom  he  had  pre- 
viously bestowed  the  province  of  Khilak  (Cilicia),  but  who  had 
revolted  in  conjunction  with  the  kings  of  Meshech  (the  Moschi)  and 
Ararat  (Armenia)  ;  invaded  this  last  named  country,  and  fought 
several  battles  with  its  king,  Urza  ;  took  tribute  from  the  Na'iri ;  and 
carried  back  with  him  to  Assyria  a  host  of  prisoners,  whom  he 
replaced  by  colonists  from  his  own  country.  He  next  turned  his 
arms  eastward  against  the  tribes  in  Mount  Zagros,  and  against 
Media,  which  he  reduced  to  subjection,  planting  throughout  it  a 
number  of  cities,  which  he  peopled  (at  least  in  part)  with  his  Israel- 
itish  captives.^  Later  in  his  reign,  b.c.  712,  he  conducted  a  second 
expedition  into  southern  Syria,  where  he  took  Ashdod  by  one  of 
his  generals,^  the  king  flying  to  Egypt  which  is  now  for  the  first 
time  said  to  be  subject  to  Mirukha,  or  Meroe.*  It  was  about  the 
same  time  that  he  took  Tyre.  Afterwards,  during  the  space  of  four 
years  at  least,  he  carried  on  wars  in  Babylonia  and  the  adjacent 
countries,  driving  Merodach-Baladan  into  banishment,  and  contend- 
ing with  the  kings  of  Susiana,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Chaldaeans.  It 
was  at  this  period  that  he  seems  to  have  first  received  tribute  from 
the  Greeks  of  Cyprus,^  into  which  country  he  perhaps  afterwards 
made  an  expedition.*  This  expedition,  if  it  took  place  at  all,  must 
have  occurred  later  than  his  fifteenth  year,  as  it  is  not  recorded  in 
the  Khorsabad  annals.  The  statue  of  Sargon  now  in  the  Berlin 
Museum,  which  was  brought  from  Idalium,  commemorates  the 
Cyprian  expedition. 

25.  Sargon  appears  to  have  removed  the  seat  of  empire  from  Calah 
farther  to  the  north.  He  repaired  the  walls  of  Nineveh,  and  built 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  city  ^  the  magnificent  palace  which 


^  Supra,  pp.  377,  378,  381,  382,  &c.  this  time  is  strongly  marked  throughout  the 

^  See  2  Kingsxvii.  6,and  rviii.  11.   "The  20th  chapter  of  Isaiah.     If  Sabaco  I.  ascended 

king  of  Assyria  did  carry  away  Israel  into  the  throne  B.C.  714,  his  submission  to  Sargon 

Assyria,  and  put  them  in  Halah  {i.  e.  Calah)  fell  in  his  third  year. 

and  Habor  by  the  river  of  Gozan,  and  in  the         ^  The  Cyprian  Greeks   are   described   as 

cities  of  the  Medes."  «  seven  kings  of  the  Yaha-nage  tribes  of  the 

1  Cf.  Isa.  XX.  1.  "  In  the  year  that  Tartan  country  of  Yavnan  (or  Yunan),  i.  e.  Ionia." 
came  unto  Ashdod  (when  Sargon  the  king  of  They  dwelt  "  in  an  island  in  the  midst  of  the 
Assyria  sent  him),  and  fought  against  Ashdod,  sea,  at  the  distance  of  seven  days  from  the 
and  took  it."     Sargon  appears  in  his  annals  coast." 

to  claim  the  capture  as  his  own  ;  but  the  *  The  monument  of  Sargon  found  at  Ida- 
king&  of  Assyria  frequently  identified  them-  lium  does  not  prove  the  presence  of  the  As- 
selves  with  their  generals.  (See  Col.  Raw-  syrian  monarch  in  the  island,  but  it  shows 
linson's  Commentary,  pp.  46-7,  and  Dr.  that  he  must  at  least  have  sent  an  expedition 
Hincks's  translation  of  the  Black  Obelisk  in-  there.  If  we  may  apply  to  this  time  the 
scription  in  the  Dublin  Univ.  Magazine  for  passage  of  Menander,  which  Josephus  refers 
October,  1853,  p.  425,  note).  Egyptians  to  Shalmaneser  (Ant.  Jud.  ix.  14,  §  2),  we 
and  Ethiopians  seem  to  have  been  among  the  must  suppose  that  Cyprus  had  been  previously 
defenders  of  Ashdod  (Isa.  xx.  4,  5)  on  this  subject  to  Phoenicia,  and  that  she  did  not  re- 
occasion,  linquish  her  hold  without  a  sharp  struggle. 

2  The  connexion  of  Egypt  with  Ethiopia  at         *  Sargon  speaks  of  his  palace  as  built "  near 


Essay  VII.      HIS  SON  SENNACHERIB  SUCCEEDS  HIM.  389 

has  supplied  France  with  the  valuable  series  of  monuments  now 
deposited  in  the  Louvre.  This  palace,  which  seems  to  have  been 
completed  and  embellished  in  his  15th  year,  •  has  furnished  the 
great  bulk  of  the  historical  documents  belonging  to  his  reign.*^  In 
form  and  size  it  does  not  much  differ  from  the  other  constructions 
of  the  Assyrian  monarchs ;  but  its  ornamentation  is  to  some  extent 
Egyptian.^  In  connexion  with  it  Sargon  founded  a  town  which 
he  called  by  his  own  name — a  title  retained  by  the  ruins  at  Khor- 
sabad  so  late  as  the  Arab  conquest.^ 

An  advance  of  the  arts  is  perhaps  to  be  traced  at  this  period, 
which  may  have  been  a  consequence  of  the  growing  connexion 
with  Egypt.  Enamelled  bricks  of  the  most  brilliant  hues,  coloured 
designs  on  walls,  cornices  on  the  exteriors  of  buildings,  the  manu- 
facture of  transparent  glass, ^  belong  to  this  period  ;  to  which  may 
also  probably  be  referred  a  great  portion  of  the  domestic  utensils 
and  ornaments  of  a  decidedly  Egyptian  character  which  have  been 
found  in  various  parts  of  Mesopotamia.' 

26.  Sargon  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Sennacherib  (^Tsin-dkhi-irhd), 
whose  accession  may  be  assigned,  on  the  authority  of  Ptolemy's 
Canon,  to  the  year  b.c.  702.'^  He  continued  to  reign  at  least  as  late 
as  B.C.  680,  since  his  22nd  year  has  been  found  upon  a  clay  tablet. 
He  fixed  the  seat  of  government  at  Nineveh,  which  he  calls  "his 
royal  city."  The  town  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  extreme  decay, 
partly  by  the  ravages  of  time,  partly  from  the  swellings  of  the  Tigris, 
and  required  a  complete  restoration  to  be  fitted  for  a  royal  residence. 
Sennacherib  seems  to  have  commenced  the  work  in  his  second 
year.  He  collected  a  host  of  prisoners  from  Chaldasa  and  Aramaaa 
(Syria)  on  the  one  side,  and  from  Armenia  and  Cilicia  on  the 
other,  and  used  their  forced  labour  for  his  constructions,  employing 
on  the  repairs  of  the  great  palace  alone  as  many  as  360,000  men. 
A  portion  were  engaged  in  making  bricks  ;  others  cut  timber  in 
Chaldaea  and  in  Mount  Hermon,  and  brought  it  to  Nineveh;  a 
certain  number  built ;  within  the  space  of  two  years  the  needful 
restorations  seem  to  have  been  effected ;  Nineveh  was  made  "  as 
splendid  as  the  sun ;"  two  palaces  were  repaired ;  the  Tigris  was 
confined   to  its   channel   by   an   embankment  of  bricks;  and  the 


to  Nineveh."     Khorsabad  is  about  15  miles         ^  See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Commentary,  p. 

N.  by  E.  of  Koyunjik,  which  marks  the  site  19,  note  2. 

of  the  true  Nineveh.  ^  Transparent  glass  may  have  been  in  use 

^  Some  slabs  of  Sargon  have  been  found  at  earlier,  but  the  earliest  known  specimen  of  it 

Nimrud,  and  a  few  at  Koyunjik,  but  the  is  a  small  bottle,  found  in  the  north-west 

palace  at  Khorsabad  has  yielded  by  far  the  palace  at  Nimrud,  which  has  Sargon' s  name 

greatest  number.  upon  it  (see  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon, 

'  See  Mr.  Fergusson's  Nineveh  and  Perse-  p.  197).     The  invention  is  most  probably  to 

polis  Restored,  p.  223,  where  a  cornice  upon  be  assigned  to  Egypt,  whence  the  most  ancient 

the  exterior  of  a  building  attached  to   the  specimens  of  coloured  glass  have  been  derived, 

palace  is  said  to  be  "  at  first  sight  almost  (See  note  on  book  ii.  ch.  44.) 
purely   Egyptian."      The  fact,  Avhich  Mr.         1  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  182-190. 
Layard  notes  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  131),         2  x^jg  jg  made  in  the  Canon  to  be  the  first 

that  the  walls  of  the  chambers  were  in  part  year  of  Belibus,  whom  Sennacherib  set  on  the 

^^  painted   with    subjects    resembling   those  throne  of  Babylon  in  the  year  of  his  accession, 

sculptured  on  the  alabaster  panels,"  seems  to  and  deposed  three  years  afterwards. 
be  another  indication  of  Egyptian  influence. 


390  CAMPAIGNS  OF  SENNACHERIB.  App.  Book  I. 

ancient  aqueducts  conveying  spring-water  to  the  city  from  a  dis- 
tance were  made  capable  of  their  original  use.  Not  content  with 
these  improvements,  Sennacherib,  later  in  his  reign  —  probably 
about  his  9th  or  10th  year — erected  a  new  and  more  magnificent 
palace  at  Nineveh,  which  he  decorated  throughout  with  elaborate 
sculptures  in  commemoration  of  his  various  expeditions.  1'his 
edifice,  which  was  excavated  by  Mr.  Layard,  and  which  is  known 
as  the  great  Koyunjik  palace,  is  on  a  lai  ger  scale  than  any  other 
Assyrian  building.  It  contained  at  least  three  spacious  halls — one 
of  them  150  feet  by  125 — and  two  long  galleries  (one  of  200,  the 
other  of  185  feet),  besides  innumerable  chambers  ;  and  the  exca- 
vated portion  of  it  covers  an  area  of  nearly  40,000  t-quare  yards,  or 
above  eight  acres.  Besides  this  great  work,  Sennacherib  built  a 
second  palace  in  Nineveh,  on  the  mound  now  called  Nehhi-  Yunus, 
and  a  temple  in  the  city  of  Tarhisi  (the  modern  Shereef  Khan)  at  a 
distance  of  three  miles  from  the  capital. 

27.  The  annals  of  Sennacherib  hitherto  discovered  extend  only 
to  his  eighth  year.  Immediately  after  his  accession  he  proceeded 
into  Babylonia,  where  Merodach-Baladan  had  once  more  succeeded 
in  establishing  himself  upon  the  throne  by  the  help  of  his  neigh- 
bours the  Susianians.  A  battle  was  fought  in  which  Sennacherib 
was  completely  successful,  and  the  Babylonian  prince  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  He  fled  however  to  the  sea,  and  concealed 
himself  from  the  Assyrian  soldiers,  who  searched  the  shores  and 
islands  for  him  in  vain.  Sennacherib  meanwhile  entered  the  plun- 
dered Babylon,  destroyed  79  Chaldsean  cities  and  820  villages,  and 
having  collected  an  enormous  booty  returned  into  Assyria,  leaving 
Belib  (or  Belibus)  as  viceroy  of  Babylon.  This  expedition  is 
related  at  length  in  Sennacherib's  annals.  Berosus  seems  to  have 
ignored  it,  and  to  have  represented  Belibus  as  obtaining  the  crown 
by  his  own  exertions  ;  ^  but  the  narrative  of  the  Assyrian  king  is 
more  worthy  of  our  confidence. 

On  his  way  back  from  Babylonia  Sennacherib  ravaged  the  lands 
of  the  Aramaean  tribes  upon  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  among 
whom  are  mentioned  the  Nahatu  (Nabataeans),  and  the  Hagaranu 
(Hagarenes),  carrying  into  captivity'-  from  this  quarter  more  than 
200,000  persons.  He  then,  in  his  second  year,  b.c.  701,  attacked 
the  mountain  tribes  on  the  north  and  east  of  Assyria,  penetrating 
even  to  Media,  and  taking  tribute  from  certain  Median  tribes,  who 
(he  says)  were  entirely  unknown  to  the  kings  that  went  before  him. 
In  his  third  year,  b.c.  700,  he  went  up  against  Syria.  Here  he 
first  chastised  Luliya,  king  of  Sidon  (apparently  the  Elulseus  of  Me- 
nander"*),  driving  him  to  take  refuge  in  Cj'prus,   and  giving  his 

^  See  the  extract  from  Polyhistor  in  Eiaseb.  jam  tertium  regnante,  Senacheribus  rex  Assy- 

Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  4.     "  Postquflm  regno  riorum  copias  adversum  Babylonios  contra- 

defunctus  est  Senacheribi  pater  et  post  Hagisas  hebat,   pra^lioque  cum  iis  conserto  superior 

in  Babylonios  dominationem,  qui  qiiidem  nou-  evadebat,"  &e. 

dum  expleto  trigesimo  die  a  Marudacho  Bal-  ''  Ap.  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  ix.  14.      It  was 

dane  interemptus  est,  Marudachus  ipse  Bal-  probably  after  chastismg  this  prince  that  Sen- 

danes  tyrannidem  invasit  mensibus  6,  donee  nacherib   set  up   his  tablet  at  the  Hahr  el 

eum  sustulit  vir  quidam,  nomine  Elibus,  qui  Kelh, 
et  in  regnwm  successit.     Hoc  postremo  annum 


Essay  YII. 


HIS  INVASION  OF  JUD^A. 


391 


throne  to  another.  He  then  received  tribute  from  the  rest  of  the 
Phoenician  cities,  as  well  as  from  the  kings  of  Edom  and  Ashdod, 
who  submitted  to  him  without  a  struggle.  Ascalon  resisted  him, 
and  was  attacked  ;  the  king  and  the  whole  royal  family  were  seized 
and  removed  to  Nineveh,  and  a  fresh  prince  was  placed  upon  the 
throne.  Hazor,  Joppa,  and  other  towns  which  depended  upon 
Ascalon,  were  at  the  same  time  taken  and  plundered.  War  fol- 
lowed with  Egypt.  The  kings  of  that  country,  who  are  described 
as  dependent  upon  the  king  of  Meroe,  or  Ethiopia,*  came  up  against 
Sennacherib,  and  engaged  him  near  Lachish,  but  were  defeated 
with  great  loss.  Sennacherib  then  took  Lachish  and  Libnah,  and 
afterwards  proceeded  against  Hezekiah.  The  Ekronites  had  ex- 
pelled their  king,  who  was  a  submissive  vassal  of  the  Assyrian 
monarch,  and  had  sent  him  bound  to  Hezekiah,  who  kept  him  a 
prisoner  at  Jerusalem.^  Sennacherib  invaded  Judaea,  where  he 
took  46  fenced  cities,  and  carried  off  as  captives  above  200,000 
people.''  After  this  he  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem,  which  he  endea- 
voured to  capture  by  means  of  mounds.^  Hereupon  Hezekiah 
submitted,  consenting  to  pay  a  tribute  of  300  talents  of  silver  and 
30  talents  of  gold,^  and  sending  besides  many  rich  presents  to  con- 
ciliate the  Assyrian  monarch,  who  however  mulcted  him  in  a 
portion  of  his  dominions,  which  was  bestowed  upon  the  princes  of 
Ashdod,  Ekron,  and  Gaza.  Such  is  the  account  which  Senna- 
cherib gives  of  an  expedition  briefly  touched  by  Scripture  in  a  few 
verses ' — an  expedition  which  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that 
second  invasion  of  these  countries  by  the  same  monarch,  which 
terminated  in  the  destruction  of  his  host,  and  his  own  ignominious 
flight  to  his  capital.^     This  latter  expedition  is  not  described  in  his 


^  Egypt  was  still  under  the  Ethiopians, 
Sabaco  II.  being  now  the  true  king  of  the 
country.  It  is  probably  his  seal  affixed  to  a 
convention  made  at  this  time, 
which  was  found  by  Mr.  Layard  in 
Sennacherib's  palace  atKoyunjik. 
X"^— n  I  The  "  kings  "  mentioned  are  evi- 
Jf^^  \  (Jently  certain  native  princes  who 
had  been  allowed  the  royal  title. 
The  Dodecarchy  of  Herodotus, 
his  Sethos,  and  Manetho's  Stephinates,  Ne- 
chepsos,  and  Nechao  I.,  seem  to  represent 
these  persons. 

^  Hezekiah  may  have  exercised  a  certain 
lordship  over  the  Philistine  towns,  for  in  the 
beginning  of  liis  reign  he  "  smote  the  Philis- 
tines, even  unto  Gaza  "   (2  Kings  xviii.  8). 

'  Demetrius,  the  Jewish  historian,  ascribed 
the  great  Captivity  of  the  Jews  to  Sennacherib 
(Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  i.  p.  403). 

®  This  circumstance  adds  increased  force  to 
the  promise  on  a  later  occasion :  "  He  shall  not 
come  into  this  city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there, 
nor  come  before  it  with  shield,  nor  cast  a  bank 
against  it"   (2  Kings  xix.  32). 

^  Compare  2  Kings  xviii.  14.  The  discre- 
pancy as  to  the  amount  of  the  silver  has  been 


well  explained  by  Mr.  Layard  (Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  p.  148). 

1  See  2  Kings  xviii.  13-16  :  "  Now  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  King  Hezekiah  did  Sen- 
nacherib, king  of  Assyria,  come  up  against  all 
the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them. 
And  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  sent  to  the 
king  of  Assyria  to  Lachish,  saying,  I  have 
offended  :  return  from  me ;  that  which  thou 
puttest  upon  me  I  will  bear.  And  the  king 
of  Assyria  appointed  unto  Hezekiah  king  of 
Judah  300  talents  of  silver,  and  oO  talents  of 
gold._  And  Hezekiah  gave  him  all  the  silver 
that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and 
in  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house.  At  that 
time  did  Hezekiah  cut  off  the  gold  from  the 
doors  of  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the 
pillars  which  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  had 
overlaid,  and  gave  it  to  the  king  of  Assyria." 

^  The  compilers  of  our  Bible  with  marginal 
references  have  seen  that  two  distinct  expedi- 
tions are  spoken  of,  and  have  placed  an  inter- 
val of  three  years  between  them,  assigning 
the  victorious  expedition  to  B.C.  713,  and  the 
unsuccessful  one  to  about  B.C.  710.  Mr. 
Layard,  however  (Nineveh  and  Babylon, pp. 
144-5),  Mr.  Bosanquet  (Sacred  and  Profane 


392  DUEATION  OF  SENNACHERIB'S  REIGN.      App.  Book  I. 

annals,  and  it  may  perhaps  belong  to  a  period  beyond  the  time  to 
which  they  extend. 

Sennacherib,  in  his  fourth  year  (b.c.  699),  once  more  turned  his 
arms  against  the  south,  and  proceeded  into  Babylonia,  where  the 
party  of  Merodach  Baladan  was  still  powerful.  After  defeating  a 
Chaldasan  chief  who  sided  with  the  banished  king,  and  expelling 
some  of  the  king's  brothers,  he  deposed  the  viceroy  Belibus,  whom 
he  had  set  up  in  his  first  year,  and  placed  his  own  eldest  son, 
Asshur-nadin-*,  upon  the  throne,*  after  which  he  returned  to  his 
own  country. 

The  remaining  records  of  Sennacherib  are  not  of  any  great 
importance.  In  his  fifth  year  he  seems  to  have  led  an  expedition 
into  Armenia  and  Media,  and  from  his  sixth  to  his  eighth  he 
was  engaged  in  wars  with  the  inhabitants  of  Lower  Babylonia  and 
Susiana,  whom  he  attacked  by  means  of  a  fleet  brought  down  the 
Tigris,  and  manned  with  Phoenician  sailors.  The  annals  break  off 
at  his  eighth  year.  4 

28.  It  has  been  already  observed  that  the  reign  of  Sennacherib 
extended  to  at  least  22  years.*  This  was  probably  its  exact  length ; 
for  the  accession  of  Esar-haddon  to  the  throne  of  Assyria  seems 
rightly  regarded  as  contemporaneous  with  his  establishment  as 
King  of  Babylon,  which  last  event  is  fixed  by  Ptolemy's  Canon  to 
B.C.  680,  precisely  22  years  after  the  accession  of  Belibus,  whom 
Sennacherib  placed  over  Babylon  in  the  same  year  that  he  himself 
mounted  the  throne.  Sennacherib  would  thus  reign  for  14  years 
after  the  time  when  his  annals  cease.  It  is  possible  that  the  second 
Syrian  expedition,  ending  in  the  miraculous  destruction  of  his 
army,  occurred  during  this  period  ;  or  it  may  (as  has  generally 
been  supposed)  have  followed  rapidly  on  his  first  expedition,  occur- 
ring (for  instance)  in  his  fourth  or  fifth  year,  but  being  purposely 
omitted  from  his  annals  as  not  redounding  to  his  credit.  Senna- 
cherib, on  his  second  invasion,  again  passed  through  Palestine  and 
Idumaea,  penetrating  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  where  he  was  brought 
into  contact  with  Tirhakah,  the  Ethiopian.^  This  circumstance 
favours  a  late  date  for  the  expedition,  since  Tirhakah  seems  not  to 
have  ascended  the  throne  of  Egypt  before  B.C.  690.® 


Chronology,   pp.    59-60),    and   Mr.   Vance  ''  Since  his  22n(i  year  has  been  found  on  a 

Smith  (Prophecies  on  Nineveh  and  the  Assy-  clay  tablet. 

rians,  Introduction,  §  4),  assume  the  two  ex-  *  2  Kings  xix.  8,  9  ;  Isa.  xxxvii.  8,  9. 

peditions  to  be  the  same.  ^  If  the  last  year  of  Amasis  was  B.C.  525, 

'  Asshur-nadin-*  is  undoubtedly  the  Apa-  and  if  he  reigned  44  years,  as  reported  both 

ranadius   (query,  Assaranadius  ?   o'er  having  by  Herodotus  and  Manetho,  his  accession  must 

become' w)   of  the  Canon,  and  is  a  distinct  have  occurred  in  B.C.   569.     Now  an  Apis 

person  from  the   Asaridanus  (Esar-haddon)  stela  shows  that  only  72  years  intervened 

who  ascends  the  throne  of  Babylon  nineteen  between  the  35th  year  of  Amasis  (B.C.  535) 

years  afterwards.     Perhaps  Polyhistor,  when  and  the  3rd  of  Neco.     Neco's  accession  must 

he  called  the  former  prince  Asordanes   (ap.  therefore  be  placed  in  B.C.  610.     Allowing 

Euseb.  Chron.  Can,  pars.  i.  c.  4),  confounded  Psammitichus  the  54  years  assigned  him  both 

him  with  his  brother.      The  deposition  of  by  Manetho  and  Herodotus,  we  obtain  for  his 

Belibus  by  Sennacherib  in  his  third  year,  and  accession  the  date  R.C.  664.      Another  Apis 

the  establishment  on  the  throne  of  a  son  of  the  stela  shows  that  Tirhakah  immediately  \>re- 

conqueror,  were  mentioned  by  that  wi'iter.  ceded  Psammitichus,  and  that  he  reigned  26 


Essay  VIT. 


HIS  SECOND  SYRIAN  EXPEDITION. 


393 


29.  The  second  expedition  of  Sennacherib  into  Syria/  whenever 
it  took  place,^  seems  to  have  offered  a  strong  contrast  to  the  first, 
and  to  have  been  in  most  respects  ver}^  unfortunate.  The  principal 
object  of  the  attack  was,  as  before,  the  part  of  Syria  bordering  upon 
Egypt ;  and  the  two  cities  of  Lachish  and  Libnah,  which  had  been 
taken  in  the  former  war,  but  had  again  fallen  under  Egyptian  influ- 
ence, once  more  attracted  the  special  attention  of  the  Assyrian  king. 
While  engaged  in  person  before  the  former  of  these  two  places,^  he 
seems  to  have  heard  of  the  defection  of  Hezekiah,  who  had  entered 
into  relations  with  the  king  of  Egypt,*  despite  the  warnings  of 
Isaiah,*  and  had  thereby  been  guilty  of  rebelling  against  his  liege 
lord.  Hereupon  Sennacherib  sent  a  detachment  of  his  forces,  under 
a  Tartan  or  general,  against  the  Jewish  king ;  but  this  leader,  find- 
ing himself  unable  to  take  the  city  either  by  force  or  by  a  defection 
on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants,  returned  after  a  little  while  to  his 
master.  Meantime  the  siege  of  Lachish  had  apparently  been  raised,* 
and  Sennacherib  had  moved  to  Libnah,  when  intelligence  reached 
him  that  "  Tirhakah,  king  of  Ethiopia  " — perhaps  not  yet  king  of 
Egypt — had  collected  an  army  and  was  on  his  way  to  assist  the 
Egyptians,*    against   whom    Sennacherib's    attack   was  in   reality 


years.  It  would  appear  from  this  that  Tir- 
hakah mounted  the  throne  in  B.C.  690,  which 
was  the  13th  year  of  Sennacherib,  if  we  follow 
the  Canon.  (See  A  pp.  to  book  ii.  ch.  viii.  § 
33.)  It  is  possible,  however,  that  Tirhakah 
may  have  contended  with  Sennacherib,  as  kinfj 
of  Ethiopia,  before  he  became  king  of  Egypt. 

'  The  grounds  whereon  I  determine  in 
favour  of  a  second  expedition,  v/hich  Mr. 
Vance  Smith  (Prophecies,  Introd.  §  4,  p.  54) 
and  others  positively  reject,  arc  the  following  : 
1.  The  apparent  separation  of  the  expeditions 
in  Kings  (2  Kings  xviii.  13  and  17)  and 
Chronicles  (2  Chron.  xxxii.  1  and  9).  2. 
The  improbability  of  a  hostile  attack  on  Jeru- 
salem immediately  after  the  payment  of  a 
large  tribute.  3.  The  fall  of  Lachish  on  the 
first  occasion,  its  apparent  escape  on  the 
second.  4.  The  improbability  (as  it  seems 
to  me)  of  national  vanity  going  to  the  length 
of  seeking  to  conceal  an  enormous  disaster 
mider  cover  of  the  proudest  boasts.  And,  5. 
The  impossibility  of  a  triumphant  return  with 
200,000  captives  to  Nineveh  after  the  loss 
sustained  and  the  hasty  flight  which  followed. 
(Note  here  the  confirmation  which  Demetrius 
affords  to  the  narrative  of  the  Inscriptions  on 
this  point.     Supra,  p.  391,  note  ''.) 

"  The  comparative  chronology  of  the  reigns 
of  Sennacherib  and  Hezekiah  is  the  chief  diffi- 
culty which  meets  the  historian  who  wishes 
to  harmonise  the  Scriptural  narrative  with 
the  Inscriptions.  Scripture  places  only  eight 
years  between  the  fall  of  Samaria  and  the  first 
invasion  of  Judaea  by  Sennacherib  (2  Kings 
xviii.  9  and  13).  The  inscriptions,  assigning 
the  fall  of  Samaria  to  the  first  year  of  Sargon, 


giving  Sargon  a  reign  of  at  least  15  years 
and  cissigning  the  first  attack  on  Hezekiah  to 
Sennacherib's  third  year,  put  an  interval  of 
at  least  1 8  years  between  the  two  events. 
Further,  a  comparison  of  Ptolemy's  Canon 
with  the  inscriptions  (with  which  it  is  in 
perfect  and  exact  agreement,  shows  Sargon's 
reign  to  have  been  one  of  19  years,  and  thus 
raises  the  interval  in  question  to  22  years. 
If  we  accept  the  chronological  scheme  of  the 
Canon,  confirmed  as  it  is  by  the  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  records,  and  strikingly  in  agree- 
ment as  it  is  in  numerous  cases  with  the  dates 
obtainable  from  Scripture,  we  must  necessarily 
correct  one  or  moi-e  of  the  Scriptural  num- 
bers. The  least  change  is,  to  substitute  in  the 
13th  verse  of  2  Kings  xviii.  the  twenty -seventh 
for  the  "  fourteenth"  year  of  Hezekiah.  We 
may  suppose  the  error  to  have  arisen  from  a 
correction  made  by  a  transcriber  who  regarded 
the  invasion  of  Sennacherib  and  the  illness  of 
Hezekiah  (which  last  was  certainly  in  his  14th 
year)  as  synchronous,  whereas  the  words  "  in 
those  days  "  were  in  fact  used  with  a  good 
deal  of  latitude  by  the  sacred  writers.  (See 
Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  145,  note). 
If  this  view  be  taken,  the  second  expedition 
must  have  followed  the  first  within  one  or  at 
most  two  years,  for  Hezekiah  reigned  in  all 
only  29  years. 

^  2  Kings  xviii.  17. 

1  Ibid.  ver.  21  and  24. 

2  Isa.  XXX.  2,  xxxi.  1-3. 

^  This  seems  implied  in  the  expression  "  he 
had  heard  that  he  was  departed  from  Lachish  " 
(2  Kings  xix.  8.) 

'•  2  Kings  xix.  9. 


394         MURDER  OF  SENNACHERIB  BY  HIS  SONS.      App.  Book  I. 

directed.  Sennacherib  therefore  contented  himself  with  sending 
a  threatening  letter  to  Hezekiah,  while  he  pressed  forward  into 
Egypt.  There  he  seems  to  have  been  met  by  the  forces  of  an 
Egyptian  prince,  or  satrap,  who  held  his  court  at  Memphis,*  while 
the  kings  of  the  25th,  or  Ethiopian  dynasty,  were  reigning  at 
Thebes  ;  and  probably  it  was  as  the  two  armies  lay  encamped 
opposite  to  one  another,  that  "  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out 
and  smote  in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  an  hundred  fourscore  and 
five  thousanrl  ;  and  when  they  arose  early  in  the  morning,  behold, 
they  were  all  dead  corpses."  ^  Sennacherib,  with  the  remnant  of 
his  army,  immediately  fled ;  and  the  Egyptians,  regarding  the 
miraculous  destruction  as  the  work  of  their  own  gods,  took  the 
credit  of  it  to  themselves,  and  commemorated  it  after  their  own 
fashion.'' 

30.  Upon  the  murder  of  Sennacherib  by  two  of  his  sons  at 
Nineveh,  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  fail  to  throw  any  light.  It  has 
been  supposed  by  some,^  that  the  event  was  connected  with  the  de- 
struction of  his  host,  and  followed  it  within  the  space  of  a  few 
months,  just  as  the  deposition  of  Apries  is  made  by  Herodotus  to 
follow  closely  upon  the  destruction  of  his  army  by  the  Cyrenaeans.^ 
But  there  are  no  sufficient  grounds  for  this  belief,  which  is  contrary 
to  the  impression  left  by  the  Scriptural  narrative  ;  ^  and  it  is  far  more 
probable  that  Sennacherib  outlived  his  discomfiture  several  years. 
During  this  time  he  carried  on  some  of  the  wars  mentioned  above,* 
and  was  likewise  engaged  in  the  enlargement  and  embellishment 
of  his  palace  at  Nineveh,  as  well  as  in  those  occasional  expeditions 
which  are  commemorated  b}''  the  decorated  chambers  there — addi- 
tions, as  it  would  seem,  to  the  original  structure. 

31.  As  Sennacherib  was  not  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Asshur- 
nadin-*^  the  viceroy  of  Babjdon,  that  prince  must  be  supposed 
either  to  have  died  before  his  father,  or  to  have  been  involved  in 
his  destruction.  It  is  perhaps  most  probable  that  he  died  in  B.C. 
693,  when  we  find  by  the  Canon  that  he  was  succeeded  on  the 
throne  of  Babylon  by  Eegibelus.  His  untimely  death  made  way 
for  Esarhaddon  (^Asshur-akh-idina) ,  most  likely  the  second  son,  who 
appears  to  have  experienced  no  difficulty  in  establishing  himself 
upon  the  throne  after  his  father's  murder.  This  prince,  like  his 
father  and  his  grandfather,  was  at  once  a  great  conqueror  and  a 
builder  of  magnificent  edifices.  The  events  of  his  reign  have  not 
been  found  in  the  shape  of  annals ;  but  it  is  apparent  from  his 


5  Sethos.     (See  Herod,  ii.  141,  and  com-  ^  Herod,  ii.  161,  iv.  159. 

pare  "  Historical   Notice  of  Egypt "  in  the  ^  It  is   said,  both  in  the  second  book  of 

Appendix  to  Book  ii.  ch.  viii.  p.  380.)  Kings   (xix.  36)  and  m  Isaiah    (xxxvii.  37), 

*  2  Kings  xix.  35.  that  Sennacherib   "  departed,  and  went  and 

'  Herod,   ii.  141,  ad  fin.      If  the  statue  returned,  and  dwelt  at  Nineveh,"  which  gives 

shown   to  Herodotus  was  really  erected  to  the  impression  of  some  considerable  length  of 

commemorate  the  discomfiture  of  Sennacherib,  residence.     The  statement  of  the  book  of  Tobit 

the    mouse   must  have  been  an  emblem  of  (i.  21),  that  he  was  murdered  55  days  after 

destruction.     The  tradition  of  the  gnawing  of  his  return  from  Syria,cannot  be  considered  to 

the  bowstrings  would  arise  from  the  figure,  possess  any  authority. 

(See  note  on  book  i.  ch.  24.)  2  Supra,  p.  392. 

^  See  Clinton,  F.  H.  vol.  i.  App.  ch.  4. 


Essay  VII.        ESAR-HADDON  SUCCEEDS  HIS  FATHER.  395 

historical  inscriptions,^  and  those  of  his  son,  that  he  carried  his 
arras  over  all  Asia  between  the  Persian  Gulf,  the  Armenian  moun- 
tains, and  the  Mediterranean,  penetrating  in  some  directions  further 
than  an}^  previous  Assyrian  monarch.*  He  warred  in  Egypt,  de- 
feating the  armies  of  Tirhakah,  and  capturing  his  (Egyptian) 
capital ;  after  which  he  dismantled  the  towns,  changed  their  names, 
and  set  up  a  number  of  princes  and  governors  independent  of  each 
other,  acknowledging  Memphis,  however,  as  in  some  sense  the 
capital.  Hence  he  calls  himself,  at  Nimrud,  "king  of  the  kings 
of  Egypt."  As  for  his  boast,  in  the  same  place,  that  he  was  "  the 
conqueror  of  Ethiopia,"  it  can  scarcely  mean  more  than  that  he 
gained  victories  over  Tirhakah,  or  possibly  received  tribute  from 
him.  It  is  very  unlikely  that  he  ever  invaded  the  country.  How- 
ever he  conquered  Sidon,  Cilicia,  the  country  of  the  Gimri  or  Sacae,^ 
the  land  of  Tubal,  parts  of  Armenia,  Media,  and  Bikni,  Chaldaea, 
Edom,  and  many  other  less  well-known  countries.  In  Susiana  he 
contended  with  a  son  of  Merodach-Baladan,  and  he  boasts  that  in 
spite  of  the  assistance  which  this  prince  received  from  the  Susia- 
nian  monarch,  he  was  unable  to  save  his  life.  On  another  son,  who 
became  a  refugee  at  his  court,  he  bestowed  a  territory  upon  the 
coast  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  which  had  previously  been  under  the 
government  of  his  brother.^  In  Babylon  itself  Esar-haddon  appears 
to  have  reigned  in  his  own  person  .without  setting  up  a  viceroy. 
According  to  some  this  was  but  the  revival  of  a  policy  introduced 
by  his  grandfather,  Sargon,  who  is  suspected  to  be  the  Arceanus 
('AjOfce'ai'oc)  of  the  Canon.''  But  the  identifi(;ation  of  these  two 
names  is  very  uncertain.  No  traces  have  been  found  that  specially 
connect  Sargon  with  Babylon,  whereas  there  are  many  clear  proofs 
of  Esar-haddon  having  reigned  there.  The  inscriptions  show  that 
he  repaired  temples  and  built  a  palace  at  Babylon,  bricks  from 
which,  bearing  his  name,  have  been  discovered  among  the  ruins  at 
Hillah ;  a  Babylonian  tablet  has  also  been  found,  dated  in  the 
reign  of  Esar-haddon,  by  which  it  appears  that  he  was  the  acknow- 
ledged king  of  that  country.  It  is  probable  that  he  held  his  court 
sometimes  at  the  Assyrian,  sometimes  at  the  Babylonian  capital ;® 
and  hence  it  happened  that  when  his  captains  carried  Manasseh 
away  captive  from  Jerusalem,  they  conducted  their  prisoner  to 
the  latter  city.®     No    record  has  been  as  yet  discovered  of  this 

^  One  of  these  has  been  printed,  but  not         ^  See  the  "  Assyrian  Texts,"  p.  12. 
pubhshed,  by  Mr.  Fox  Talbot,  in  his  small         "^  This  notion  was,  I  believe,  originated  by 

pamphlet  entitled  "Assyrian  Texts  translated,  Dr.   Hincks.     It  is  adopted  by  M.   Oppert 

No.  I."  (pp.  10-19).  (Rapport,  p.  48)  and  Mr.  Bosanquet  (Sacred 

^  His  Median  conquests  are  said  to  have  and  Profane  Chronology,  p.  Q'o). 
been  in  a  land  "  of  which  the  kings  his  fathers  ^  The  practice  of  the  Persians  in  this  re- 
had  never  heard  the  name  ;  "  and  other  hos-  spect  is  well  known.  (See  note  to  book  v.  ch. 
tilities  are  recorded  against  tribes  "  who  from  53.)  It  may  be  gathered  fi  om  the  mention 
days  of  old  had  never  obeyed  any  of  the  kings  of"  Shushan  the  palace  '  in  the  book  of  Daniel 
his  ancestors  "  (Assyrian  Texts,  pp.  14  and  during  the  reign  of  Belshazzar,  that  the  later 
15).  Babylonian  kings  held  their  court  sometimes 

^  This  is  the  first  occasion  upon  which  the  at  that  place. 
G'^mr^■  are  mentioned.    The  same  name  occurs         ^  See  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  11  :  "  Wherefore  the 

in  the  Babylonian  column  of  the  Behistun  and  Lord  brought  upon  tliem  the  captains  of  the 

other    inscriptions,   where  it  represents  the  kinj  of  Assyria,  which  took  Manasseh  among 

Saka  (Sacae)  of  the  Persian.  the  thorns,  and  bound  him  with  fetters,  and 


396     ESAR-HADDON'S  MAGNIFICIENT  BUILDINGS.     App.  Book  I. 

expedition,  nor  of  the  peopling  of  Samaria  by  colonists  drawn 
chiefly  from  Babylonia/  which  was  in  later  times  ascribed  to  this 
monarch.* 

32.    The   buildings    erected    by   Esar-haddon    appear   to    have 
equalled,  or  exceeded,  in  magnificence,  those  of  any  former  Assyrian 
king.     In  one  inscription  he  states  that  in  Assyria  and  Mesopotamia 
he  built  no  fewer  than  thirty  temples,   "shining  with  silver  and 
gold,  as  splendid  as  the  sun."^     Besides  repairing  various  palaces 
erected  by  former  kings,  he  built  at  least  three  new  ones  for  his 
own  use  or  that  of  his  son.     One  of  these  was  the  edifice  known  as 
the  south-west  palace  at  Nimrud,  which  was  constructed  of  mate- 
rials derived  from  the  palaces  of  the  former  monarchs  who  had 
reigned  at  that  place,   for  whom,   as   not  belonging  to  his  own 
family,    Esar-haddon   seems    to   have    entertained   small    respect. 
The  plan  of  this  palace  is  said  to   difi'er  from  that  of  all  other 
Assyrian  buildiugs.*     It  consisted  of  a  single  hall  of  the  largest 
dimensions — 220   feet  long   and    100   broad — of    an   antechamber 
through  which  the  hall  was  approached  by  two  doorways,  and  of 
a  certain  number   of  chambers  on  each  side  of  the  hall,   which 
were  probably  sleeping  apartments.     According  to  Mr.  Layard,  it 
"  answers  in  its   general  plan,  more  than   any  building  j^et  dis- 
covered, to  the  descriptions  in  the  Bible  of  the  palace  of  Solomon."* 
Another  of  Esar-haddon's  palaces  was  erected  at  Kineveh  on  the 
spot  now  marked  by  the  mound  at  Nebhi-  Yunus.^     This  is  probably 
the  building  of  which  he  boasts  that  it  was   "  a  palace   such  as 
the  kings,  his  fathers,  who  went  before  him,  had  never  made,"  and 
which  on  its  completion  he  is  said  to  have  called  "  the  palace  of 
the  pleasures  of  all  the  year."''     It  is  described  as  supported  on 
wooden  columns,  and  as  roofed  with  lofty  cedar  and  other  trees  ; 
sculptures   in  stone  and  marble,  and  abundant  images  in  silver, 
ivory,  and  bronze,  constituted  its  adornment ;  many  of  these  were 
brought  from  a  distance,   some  being  the   idols  of  the  conquered 
countries,  and  others  images  of  the  Assyrian  gods.     Its  gates  were 
ornamented  with  the  usual  mj^stical  bulls ;  and  its   extent  was  so 
great,  that  horses  and  other  animals  were  not  only  kept,  but  even 
bred  within  its  walls.     A  third  palace  was  erected  by  Esar-haddon 
at  Shereef-Khan,  for  his  son ;  but  this  was  apparently  a  very  inferior 
building.^ 

In   the   construction   and   ornamentation   of  his   palaces   Esar- 


carried  him  to  Bahglon."  Scripture  does  not  Sepharvaim  or  Sippara)  are  certainly  Baby- 
say  who  the  king  of  Assyria  was  ;  but  1.  as  Ionian :  Ava  is  doubtful.  Concerning  Hamath, 
Sennacherib  and  Hezekiah  were  contempora-  see  above,  p.  379,  note  ^. 
ries,  their  sons  would  naturally  be  the  same  ;  ^  Ezra  iv.  2.  Perhaps  the  "great  and 
and  2.  Esar-haddon  mentions  IManasseh  among  noble  Asnapper  "  of  ver.  10  is  the  officer  who 
the  kings  who  sent  him  workmen  for  his  great  actually  led  the  colony  into  Samaria, 
buildings.     See  note  ^  on  the  next  page.  3  «  Assyrian  Texts,"  p.  16. 

1  2  Kings  xvii.  24:  "  The  king  of  Assyria  *  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  ch.  xxvi.  p.  654. 

brought  men  from  Babylon,  and  from  Cuthah,  ^  Ibid.  p.  655.       ^  Ibid.  ch.  xxv.  p.  598. 

and  from  Ava,  and  from  Hamath,  and  from  '  See  Mr.  Fox  Talbot's  pamphlet,  pp.  17, 

Sepharvaim,  and  placed  them  in  the  cities  of  18.     This  translation  is  somewhat  doubtful. 

Samaria  instead  of  the  children  of  Israel."  ^  See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  ch. 

Of  these  five  cities  three  (Babylon,  Cuthah,  and  xxv.  p.  599. 


Essay  VII.     ASSHUE-BANI-PAL'S  PASSION  FOR  HUNTING.      397 

haddon  made  use  of  the  services  of  Syrian,  Greek,  and  Phoenician 
artists.  The  princes  of  Syria,  Manasseh  king  of  Judah,  the  Hel- 
lenic monarch  of  Idalium,  Citium,  Curium,  Soli,  &c.,  and  the  Phoe- 
nician king  of  Paphos,  furnished  him  with  workmen,^  to  whose 
skill  we  are  probably  indebted  for  the  beautiful  and  elaborate  bas- 
reliefs  which  adorn  the  edifices  of  his  erection. 

Esar-haddon  must  have  reigned  at  least  13  years  ;  but  he  cannot 
have  reigned  much  longer.'  He  was  certainly  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Asshur-hani-pal  J  J.,  one  or  two  years  before  the  end  of  the  reign 
of  Tirhakah,  whose  last  year  was  B.C.  664.'^  On  the  whole,  it  is 
perhaps  most  probable  that  he  died  in  B.C.  667,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded on  the  throne  of  Babylon  by  Saosduchinus,  according  to 
Ptolemy's  Canon. 

33.  With  Asshur-hani-pal  II.,  the  Sardanapalus  of  Abydenus, 
appears  to  have  commenced  the  decadence  of  Assjaia.  He  con- 
tinued the  war  with  Susiana,  where  he  contended  against  the 
grandsons  of  Merodach-Baladan,  and  likewise  made  incursions  into 
Armenia  from  time  to  time :  he  even  conducted  two  expeditions 
into  Egypt ;  but  he  did  not  occupy  himself  in  a  continued  series  of 
wars,  like  Sargon,  Sennacherib,  and  Esar-haddon.  Hunting  appears 
to  have  been  his  passion.  A  palace  which  he  erected  at  Nineveh, 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  built  by  Sennacherib,  was  orna- 
mented throughout  with  sculptured,  slabs  representing  him  as 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  and  destruction  of  wild  animals.*  The  arts 
flourished  under  his  patronage.  There  is  a  marked  improvement 
in  the  sculptures  wherewith  he  decorated  his  buildings,  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  former  kings.  This  is  particularly  apparent  in 
the  delineation  of  animals,  which  have  a  truth,  a  delicacy,  a  spirit, 
and  an  absence  of  conventionality,  effectually  distinguishing  them 
from  the  representations  of  an  earlier  period.^  Thus  as  the  nation 
declined  in  military  vigour  the  arts  of  peace,  as  so  often  happens, 
made  rapid  progress ;  and  it  is  evident  that,  had  no  foreign  conquest 


9  This  fact  is  recorded  on  an  inedited  frag-  years    in    Babylon.       Unless,    therefore,  he 

ment  of  Esar-haddon's  time,  in  which  the  ascended  the  throne  of  Babylon  during  his 

following  names  occur  :- — Ekistuzi  of  Edial  father's  lifetime,  of  which  there  is  no  atom  of 

(iEgisthus  of  Idalium),  Piswa^wra  of  ^iY^Am  evidence,  he  must  have  reigned  at  least  as 

(Pythagoras  of  Citium),  Ki of   Tisil-  long  in  Assyria.     Dr.  Brandis  conjectures  that 

luimmi   (*  *  *   of  Salamis),   Itu-Dagan  of  Berosus  gave  him  28  years  in  Assyria  (Rev. 

Fappa  {Ithodia.gon  of  Va^hos),  Erieli  of  Tsillu  Assyr.  Temp.  Emend,  p.  41)  ;  but  of  this  I 

(Euryalus  of  8oli),  Damatsu  of  Kuri  (De-  see  no  satisfactory  proof. 

mo  -  -  -  of  Curium),  Kummizu  of  Tamizzi  2  Supra,  p.  392,  note  ^. 

(*  *  *  of  Tamissus),  Damutsi  of  Amti-Kha-  ^  See  the  Athenanim  of  August  16,  1860, 

dasti  (Demo of  Ammo-chosta) ,  Huna-  and  compare  a  paper  read  by  Sir  H.  Rawlin- 

ziggutsu  of  Liminni  (Onesi of  Limenia),  son  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature  in 

and  Puhali  of   Upridissa  (*  *  *of  Aphro-  March,  1861. 

disia).  ^  These  slabs,  which  were  recovered   by 

1  Polyhistor  (according  to  Eusebius,  Chron.  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  are  now  in  the  British  Mu- 

Can.  pars  l,p.  20j  gave  Esar-haddon  a  reign  seum.     The  animals  of  chace  include  lions, 

of  only  eight  years.     But  as  he  ascribed  no  wild  bulls,  wild  asses,  stags,  and  antelopes, 

more  than  18  years  to  Sennacherib,  who  cer-  ^  See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p. 

tainly  reigned  22,  his  testimony  cannot  be  459,  where  a  similar  observation  is  made  with 

regarded  as  of  much  weight.     The  Canon,  respect  to  some  sculptures  wherewith  this 

which  may  be  considered  to  represent  the  real  prince  adorned  the  palace  of  Sennacherib  at 

views  of  Berosus,  made  Esar-haddon  reign  13  Koyunjik. 


398  RAPID  DECLINE  OF  ASSYRIA.  App.  Book  I. 

interfered  to  check  the  rising  civilization,  Assyria  might  in  many 
respects  have  anticipated  the  improved  art  of  the  Greeks. 

34.  Asshur-bani-pal  may  be  supposed  to  have  reigned  from  B.C. 
667  to  about  B.C.  640.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  sou,  whose  name  is 
read  somewhat  doubtfully  as  Asshur-emit-ili,  the  last  king  of  whom 
any  records  have  been  as  yet  discovered.  Under  him  the  decline 
of  Assyria  seems  to  have  been  rapid.  No  military  expeditions  can 
be  assigned  to  his  reign,  and  the  works  which  he  constructed  are 
of  a  most  inferior  character.  A  palace  built  by  him  on  the  great 
platform  at  Nimrud  or  Calah — the  chief  monument  of  his  reign 
which  has  come  down  to  us — indicates  in  a  very  marked  way  the 
diminution  in  his  time  of  Assyrian  wealth  and  magnificence.  It 
contained  no  great  hall  or  gallery,  and  no  sculptured  slabs,  but 
merely  consisted  of  a  number  of  rooms  of  small  proportions, 
panelled  by  plain  slabs  of  common  limestone,  roughly  hewn  and 
not  more  than  3-|  feet  high.  The  upper  part  of  the  walls  above 
the  panelling  was  simply  plastered.®  If  Asshur-emit-ili  was  reduced 
to  live  in  this  building,  we  must  suppose  that  the  superb  edifices 
of  his  ancestors  had  fallen  into  ruin,  which  could  scarcely  have 
taken  place  unless  they  had  been  injured  by  violence.  It  seems 
probable  that,  either  through  the  invasions  of  the  Medes,  who  were 
now  growing  into  prominence,^  or  in  the  course  of  the  Scythic 
troubles  which  belong  to  about  the  same  period,^  Assyria  had  been 
greatly  weakened,  her  cities  being  desolated,  and  her  palaces  dis- 
mantled or  destroyed.  These  disasters  preceded  the  last  attack  of 
Cyaxares,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  fall  of  the  raighty  power 
which  had  so  long  been  dominant  in  Western  Asia.  It  is  uncer- 
tain whether  the  last  war  with  the  Medes  and  final  destruction  of 
Nineveh  fell  into  the  reign  of  Asfihur-emit-tU,  the  latest  monarch 
of  whom  contemporary  records  have  been  found,  or  whether  he 
had  a  successor  in  the  Saracus  of  Berosus^ — the  Sardanapalus  of 
the  Greeks,  under  whom  the  final  catastrophe  took  place.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  number  of  years  from  the  accession  of  Esar-haddon 
to  the  capture  of  Nineveh,  which  is  but  fifty-five,  seems  barely  to 
suffice  for  the  three  reigns  of  a  father,  a  son,  and  a  grandson, 
whence  we  should  conclude  that  Asshar-emit-ili  was  probably  the 
last  king.  On  the  other,  the  difference  between  the  names  of 
Saracus  and  Asshur-emit-ili  is  so  wide,  and  the  authority  of  Berosus 
(from  whom  the  notices  of  Saracus  seem  to  come)  so  great,  that  we 
are  tempted  to  suspect  that  Asshur-emif-ili  may  have  been  the  last 
king  but  one,  and  Saracus  (perhaps  his  brother)  have  succeeded 
him.^ 


*  See  Layard's  Nineveh  aud  Babylon,  p,  655.  ^  Cf.  Essay  lii.  §  9,  pp.  410-2. 

'  Herodotus  assigns  the  first  attack  of  the  ^  The  name  of  Saracus  is  not  found  [in  the 

Medes  on  Nineveh  to  the  last  year  of  Phraortes,  actual  fi  agments  of  Berosus,  but  comes  down 

or  B.C.  634.     He  represents  a  second  attack  to  us  from  Abydenus  (ap.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can. 

as  having  followed  closely  on  the  accession  of  i.  p.  25),  who  appears  to  have  drawn  from 

Cyaxares,  which  was  in  k.C.  633.     Tiie  final  him.     (See  Miiller's  Fragm.  H.  G.  vol.  iv. 

invasion  he  would,  apparently,  have  placed  as  p.  279.) 

late  as  I5.c.  603.     Between  B.C.  632  and  (503  i  It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  Aby- 

(according  to  him)  the  Scyths  were  dominant  denus  from  whom  the  name  of  Saracus  comes, 

throughout  Western  Asia.  mentioned  two  kings  only — Sardanapalus  and 


Essay  VII. 


SARACUS  THE  LAST  KING. 


399 


The  character  commonly  given  of  this  king,  and  his  conduct 
during  the  last  siege  of  Nineveh,  as  they  descend  to  us  almost 
solely  from  Ctesias,*  must  be  viewed  with  great  doubt  and  sus- 
picion.^ The  portrait  of  the  effeminate  voluptuary,  waking  up 
under  circumstances  of  extreme  peril  to  a  sense  of  what  his  position 
required  of  him,  displaying  in  the  last  struggle  for  his  throne 
prodigies  of  valour,  and  closing  all  with  a  glorious  death,  is  one  of 
those  Greek  ideals  of  the  Oriental  character  which  by  their  artistic 
excellence  and  completeness  betray  their  origin.  The  Sardanapalus 
of  Ctesias,  whose  very  name  is  a  fiction,*  must  be  regarded  as  a 
creation  of  that  writer's  fertile  fancy,  and  not  as  an  historical  per- 
sonage. Some  traits  of  his  character,  as  well  as  some  incidents  of 
his  life,  may  have  been  taken  from  the  real  king,  Saracus ;  but  on 
the  whole  he  belongs  to  the  ideal  rather  than  the  actual,  and  is 
thus  of  no  avail  for  history.  Of  the  historical  Saracus  all  that 
we  distinctly  know  is,*  that  being  attacked  by  the  Modes  under 
Cyaxares,  and  perhaps  at  the  same  time  by  the  Chaldaeans  and 
Susianians,"  he  made  Nabopolassar,  the  father  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
his  general,  and  sent  him  to  take  the  command  at  Babylon  ;  Nabo- 
polassar, however,  revolted,  concluded  a  treaty  with  Cyaxares,  and 
cemented  the  alliance  by  a  marriage  ;  after  which,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Medes,  he  laid  siege  to  Nineveh.     Saracus  defended  his 


Saracus — as  successors  of  Esar-haddon — his 
Axerdis.  This  tends  to  identify  Saracus  with 
Asshur-emit-ili. 

2  Ap.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  23-8.  The  other 
Greek  writers  seem  generally  to  have  followed 
Ctesias.  The  only  exceptions  are  Aristophanes 
(Aves,  958),  Abydenus,  and  Polyhistor,  the 
last  two  of  whom  drew  from  Berosus,  while 
the  first  followed  common  report,  or  perhaps 
drew  from  Herodotus.  We  do  not  know, 
however,  that  either  Herodotus  or  Aristo- 
phanes, intended  their  Sardanapalus  for  the 
last  king. 

^  On  the  weakness  of  Ctesias  as  an  autho- 
rity see  the  Introductory  Essay,  ch.  iii.  pp. 
77-9. 

''  There  are  writers  who  endeavour  to  find 
the  name  Saracus  in  Sardanapalus  (see  Bran- 
dis,  pp.  32-3),  and  others  who  consider  that 
Sardanapalus  is  a  fair  Greek  equivalent  for 
the  actual  name  of  the  last  monumental  king, 
which  they  read  as  Asshur-dan-ii  (Oppert, 
Rapport,  table  opp.  p.  52).  But  these  views 
seem  forced  and  overstrained.  Nothing  can 
be';  more  evident  to  common  sense  than  the 
essential  diversity  of  the  names  Asshnr-emit- 
ili,  Sardanapalus,  and  Saracus.  In  the  last 
we  have  the  Assyrian  elements  "  Asshur  " 
and  "  akh,"  which,  however,  wiU  not  make  a 
name  without  a  third  element. 

^  See  the  famous  fragment  of  Abydenus : 
"  Post  quem  (Sardanapalum)  Saracus  impe- 
ritabat  Assyriis  :  qui  quidem  certior  factus 
turmarum  vulgi  collectitiarum  quae  k  mari 


adversus  se  adventarent,  continue  Busalusso- 
rum  {i.  e.  Nebupalussorum )  militiai  ducem 
Babylonem  mittebat.  Sed  enim  hie,  capto 
rebellandi  consilio,  Amuhiam,  Asdahagis  Me- 
dorum  principis  filiam,  nato  suo  Nabucho- 
drossoro  despondebat ;  moxque  raptim  contra 
Ninum,  seu  Ninivem  urbem,  impetum  facie- 
bat.  Re  omni  cognita,  rex  Saracus  regiam 
Evoritam  inflammabat.  Tum  vero  Nabu- 
chodrossorus,  summae  rerum  potitus,  firmis 
moeniis  Babylonem  cingebat."  (Ap.  Euseb. 
Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  9.)  And  compare 
Polyhistor  (ap.  eund.  c.  5) :  "  Post  Sammu- 
ghem  imperavit  Chaldaeis  Sardanapalus  annos 
21.  Hie  ad  Asdahagem,  qui  erat  Medicae 
gentis  prseses  et  satrapa,  copias  auxiliares 
misit,  videlicet  ut  filio  suo  Nabuchodrossoro 
desponderet  Amuhiam  e  filiabus  Asdahagis 
unam."  So  Syncellus  says  of  Nabopolassar  : 
OuTos  ffrparriyhs  virh  SapctKou  rov  XaA.- 
5ai<av  ^aaiKecas  (TTaXels,  Kara  rod  avTov 
2apa/cou  els  N7uou  (TrKTrparevef  oo  r^v 
e<poBov  TTTorjSels  6  'XdpaKOs  eavrhu  (Tvv 
TOLS  IBaaiKeloLS  eVeTrprjo'e,  Koi  ttju  apxT]t^ 
Xa\dal'j}v  Kol  Ba^v\cii>vos  TrapeAajSev  6 
avTOs  HajSoTraXdaapos  (p.  396,  ed.  Dindorf.). 
^  The  "  force  advancing  from  the  sea," 
which  Nabopolassar  was  sent  against,  would 
probably  consist  of  these  nations,  who  had  been 
in  arms  against  the  Assyrians  at  lea>t  as  late 
as  the  reign  of  Asshir-bani-pal.  They  can 
scarcely  have  been  Scythians,  as  Brandis  (fol- 
lowing Niebuhr)  supposes  (Rev.  Ass.  Temp. 
Emend,  p.  31). 


400 


DESTKUCTION  OF  NINEVEH. 


App.  Book  I. 


capital  for  a  while,  but  at  last,  despairing  of  success,  withdrew  to 
his  palace,  and,  firing  it  with  his  own  hand,  perished,  with  all 
belonging  to  him,  in  the  conflagration/ 

35.  It  has  been  already  observed  in  another  Essay, ^  that  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  siege,  as  detailed  by  Ctesias,^  may  very  possibly 
have  been  correctly  stated.  It  lasted,  according  to  him,  above  two 
years,  and  was  brought  to  a  successful  issue  mainly  in  consequence 
of  an  extraordinary  rise  of  the  Tigris,  which  swept  away  a  portion 
of  the  city  wall,  and  so  gave  admittance  to  the  enemy.'  Upon  this 
the  Assyrian  monarch,  considering  further  resistance  to  be  vain, 
fired  his  palace  and  destroyed  himself.  The  conqueror  completed 
the  ruin  of  the  once  magnificent  capital,  by  razing  the  walls  and 
delivering  the  whole  city  to  the  flames.*  Nineveh  ceased  to  exist ; 
and  at  the  same  time  probably  the  other  royal  cities,  or  at  least 
their  palaces,  were  wasted  with  fire,^  the  proud  structures  raised 
by  the  Assyrian  kings  being  reduced  at  once  to  that  condition  of 
ruined  heaps  which  has  been  the  efl'ectual  means  of  preserving  a 
great  portion  of  their  contents  for  the  entertainment  and  enlighten- 
ment of  the  present  age.  The  fallen  nation  was  never  again  able 
to  raise  itself.^  Once  only  does  it  appear  in  rebellion,  and  then 
the  position  which  it  occupies  is  secondary.  Media  heading  the 
revolt,  which  is  from  the  Persians  under  Darius  Hystaspis.*  The 
strength  of  the  race  was  exhausted,  and  the  ruin  of  the  capital, 
which   seems   not   have  been   rebuilt  till  the   time   of  Claudius,^ 


'  Mr.  Layard  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p. 
622,  note)  happily  compares  with  this  act  the 
suicide  of  Zimri,  king  of  Israel.  "  And  it 
came  to  pass  when  Zimri  saw  that  the  city 
was  taken,  that  he  went  into  the  palace  of 
the  king's  house,  and  burnt  the  king's  house 
over  him,  and  died"  (1  Kings  xvi.  18).  Simi- 
lar conduct  on  a  larger  scale  is  ascribed  to  the 
Xanthians  and  the  Caunians  (Herod,  i.  176). 

^  Supra,  Essay  iii.  §  9,  pp.  335-6. 

9  Ap.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  27-8. 

1  The  prophecy  of  Nahum  contains  more 
than  one  allusion  to  this  feature  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  city.  The  mention  of  an  "  over- 
running flood  "  wherewith  God  should  "  make 
an  end  of  the  place,"  in  ver.  8  of  ch.  i.,  might 
perhaps  be  metaphorical  (compare  Isa.  viii. 
7-8,  Dan.  ix.  26,  &c.) ;  but  this  can  scarcely 
be  said  of  the  two  following  passages  : — 

"  They  shall  make  haste  to  the  wall  thereof, 
and  the  defence  shall  be  prepared.  The  gates 
of  the  river  shall  he  thruwn  open,  and  the 
palac^  shall  be  dissolved  "   (ii.  5,  6). 

"  Behold,  thy  people  in  the  midst  of  thee 
are  women  :  the  gates  of  thy  land  shall  be  set 
wide  open  unto  thine  enemies :  the  fire  shall 
devour  thy  bars  "    (iii.  13). 

2  The  recent  excavations  have  shown  that 
fire  was  a  chief  agent  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Kineveh  palaces.  Calcined  alabaster,  masses 
of  charred  wood  and  charcoal,  colossal  statues 
spht  through  with  the  heat,  are  met  with  in 


all  parts  of  the  Ninevite  mounds,  and  attest 
the  veracity  of  prophecy.  (Lee  Layard' s 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  71, 103, 121,  &c., 
and  comp.  Nahum  ii.  13,  and  iii.  13  and  15.) 

^  The  palaces  at  Khorsabad  (Dur-Sargina) 
and  Nimrud  (Calah)  show  equal  traces  of 
fire  with  those  of  Nineveh  (Koyunjik).  See 
Layard' s  Nineveh  and  its  Eemams,  vol.  i.  pp. 
12,  27,  40,  &c. ;  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp. 
351,  357,  359,  &c. ;  Vaux's  Nineveh  and 
Persepolis,  pp.  196-8  ;  Botta,  Letter  ii.  p.  26, 
Letter  iii.  p.  41,  &c. 

*  So  Nahum  had  prophesied :  "  Thy  people 
is  scattered  upon  the  mountains,  and  no  man 
gathereth  them.  There  is  no  healing  of  thy 
bruise  "   (iii.  18,  19). 

5  See  Essay  iii.  §  12. 

^  The  legend  Col.  Niniva  Claud.  (Co- 
lonia  Niniva  Claudiopolis),  which  is  found  on 
coins  of  Trajan  and  Maximin,  seems  to  show 
that  Claudius,  who  established  many  colonies 
in  the  East,  founded  one  on  or  near  the  site  of 
Nineveh.  A  passage  in  Herodotus  (i.  193) 
distinctly  indicates  that  no  town  of  Nineveh 
existed  in  his  day.  From  the  silence  of  Xe- 
nophon  and  the  historians  of  Alexander,  we 
may  gather  that  the  Persians  never  restored 
it.  Strabo  is  ambiguous,  but  on  the  whole 
seems  to  describe  a  non-existent  city.  Nineveh 
re-appears  for  the  first  time  in  history  towards 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  Nero  (Tacit.  Ann. 
xii.  13). 


Essay  VII.       CHEONOLOGY  OF  THE  LATER  KINGDOM. 


401 


deprived  the  people  of  a  rallying  point,  and  probably  contributed 
to  render  them  that  which  they  appear  in  their  later  history — the 
patient  and  submissive  subjects  of  their  Arian  conquerors. 

36.  Having  thus  brought  the  line  of  Assyrian  monarchs  to  an 
end,  it  will  be  convenient  to  tabulate  the  principal  results ;  after 
which  a  few  general  remarks  on  the  character  and  extent  of  the 
empire,  and  the  civilisation  of  the  people,  may  appropriately  ter- 
minate this  Essay. 

Later  Assyrian  Empire. 


Assyria. 

CONTEMPORARY  KINGDOMS. 

B.C. 

Babylon. 

Egypt. 

JUDAH. 

Israel. 

747 

Tiglath-Pileser. 
Invades  Babylon. 

Nabonassar. 

741 

. . 

Ahaz. 

740 

Takes  tribute  from 

Pekah.  (?) 
Defeats  Rezin. 

737 

. . 

.. 

.. 

.. 

Pekaii  slain. 

733 

. . 

Nadius. 

731 

.. 

Chinzinus  and  Porus. 

730 

Shalmaneser. 

729 

.. 

.. 

.. 

Hoshea. 

726 

Makes  Hoshea  tribu- 
tary. (?) 

Elulffius. 

..     .. 

Hezekiah. 

723 

Besieges  Samaria. 

721 

Sargon  (takes  Samaria). 

Merodach-Baladan 

.. 

.. 

Samaria 

Invades  Babylon. 

(Mardocempalus). 

taken. 

720 

Invades  p]gypt. 

715 

Invades  Egypt  a  se- 
cond time. 

714 

.. 

Sabaco  I. 

713 

. . 

.. 

His  illness.   Em- 

710 

Takes  Ashdod. 

bassy  of  Mero- 

709 

Expels     Merodach- 
Baladan. 

Arceanus  (Sargon  ?) 

dach-Baladan. 

704 

Interregnum. 

702 

Sennacherib  (his  son). 
Expels     Merodach- 
Baladan,  and  makes 
Belibus  king  of  Ba- 
bylon. 

Belibus. 

Sabaco  II. 

700 

Makes  Hezekiah  tri- 
butary. Wars  with 
Egypt. 

Displaces  Belibus. 

.. 

..     .. 

First    attack    of 
Sennacherib. 

699 

Asshur-nadiu-* 

(Assaranadius), 

698  (?) 

Loses  his  army  by 
miracle. 

.. 

..     .. 

Second  attack. 

697 

. . 

. . 

..     •• 

Manasseh. 

693 

. . 

Regibelus. 

692 

. . 

Mesesimordachus. 

690 

. 

Tirhakah. 

688 

Interregnum. 

680 

Esar-haddon  (his  son). 
Manasseh  brought  to 
him  at  Babylon. 

Esar-haddon 
(Asaridanus). 

667 

Asshur-bani-pal    (his 
son). 

Saosduchinus. 

664 

. . 

. . 

Psammetichus 

647 

Cmiladanus. 

642 

.. 

. . 

.. 

Amon. 

640  (?) 

Asshur  -  emit  -  ili  (his 
son)  (Saracus  ?) 

639 

. . 

.. 

Josiah. 

625 

Destruction  of  Nineveh 

Nabopolassar. 

37.  The  independent  kingdom  of  Assyria  covered  a  space  of  six 
centuries  and  a  half;  but  the  empire  cannot  be  considered  to  have 
VOL.  I.  2d 


402  EXTENT  AND  NATUEE  OF  THE  EMPIRE.    App.  Book  I. 

lasted  more  tlian  (at  the  utmost)  five  centuries.  It  commenced 
witli  Tiglath-Pileser  T,,  about  B.C.  1110,  and  it  terminated  with 
Asshur-bani-pal  II,,  about  B.C.  640.  The  limits  of  the  dominion 
varied  greatly  during  this  period,  the  empire  expanding  or  con- 
tracting according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  time  and  the  personal 
character  of  the  prince  who  occupied  the  throne.  The  extreme 
extent  appears  to  have  been  reached  almost  immediately  before  a 
rapid  decline  set  in ;  that  is  to  say,  during  the  reigns  of  Sargon, 
Sennacherib,  and  Esar-haddon,  three  of  the  most  warlike  of  the 
Assyrian  j)rinces,  who  held  the  throne  from  B.C.  721  to  about 
B.C.  667.  During  this  interval  Assja-ia  was  paramount  over  the 
portion  of  Western  Asia  included  between  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  Plalys  on  the  one  hand,  the  Caspian  and  the  great  Persian  desert 
on  the  other.  Southwards  the  boundary  was  formed  by  Arabia 
and  the  Persian  Gulf;  northwards  it  seems  at  no  time  to  have  ad- 
vanced to  the  Euxine  or  to  the  Caucasus,  but  to  have  been  formed 
by  a  fluctuating  line  which  did  not  in  the  most  flourishing  period 
extend  bej^ond  the  northern  frontier  of  Armenia/  The  countries 
included  in  this  space  and  subjected  within  the  period  in  ques- 
tion to  Assyrian  influence  were  chiefly  the  following  : — Susiana, 
Chaldsea,  Babylonia,  Media,  Matiene,  or  the  country  of  the  Namri, 
Armenia,  ]\Iesopotamia,  parts  of  Cappadocia  and  Cilicia,  Syria, 
Phoenicia,  Palestine,  Idum^a,  and  for  a  time  Lower  Egypt.  Cyprus 
also  was  for  some  years  a  dependency.  On  the  other  hand,  Persia 
Proper,  Bactria,  and  Margiana,  even  Hj^rcania,  were  beyond  the 
eastern  limit  of  the  Assyrian  sway,  which  towards  the  north  upon 
this  side  did  not  reach  farther  than  about  the  neighbourhood  of 
Kasvin,  and  towards  the  south  was  confined  within  the  mountain- 
barrier  of  Zagros.  Similarly  on  the  west,  Phrygia,  Lydia,  Lycia, 
even  Pamphylia,  were  independent,  the  Assyrian  arms  having 
never  (go  far  as  appears)  penetrated  beyond  Cilicia  or  crossed  the 
Halj^s. 

38.  The  nature  of  the  dominion  established  by  the  great  Meso- 
potamian  monarchy  over  the  countries  included  within  the  limits 
indicated,  will  perhaps  be  best  understood  if  we  compare  it  with 
the  empire  of  Solomon.  Solomon  "  reigned  over  all  the  kingdoms 
from  the  river  (Euphrates)  unto  the  land  of  the  Philistines  and 
unto  the  border  of  Egypt :  they  brought  presents  and  served  Solomon 
all  the  days  of  his  life."^  The  first  and  most  striking  feature 
of  the  earliest  empires  is,  that  they  are  a  mere  congeries  of  king- 
doms :  the  countries  over  which  the  dominant  state  acquires  an 
influence,  not  only  retain  their  distinct  individuality,  as  is  the 
case  in  some  modern  empires,^  but  remain  in  all  respects  such  as 
they  were  before,  with  the  simple  addition  of  certain  obligations 
contracted  towards  the  paramount  authority.     They  keep  their  old 


'  For  the  natural  limits  of  Armenia,  see  hy  year  "  (ver.  25)  ;  and  that  the  amount  of 

ix.  §  10.  the  annual  revenue  from  all  sources  was  666 

**   1  Kings  iv.  21.     Compare  ver.  24  ;  and  talents  of  gold  (ver.  14).     See  also  2  Chi'on. 

for  the  complete  organisation  of  the  empire,  is,  13-28,  and  Ps.  Ixxii.  8-11. 
see  ch.  x.,  where  it  appears  that  the  kings         ^  Our  own,  for  instance,  and  the  Austrian. 
"  brought  every  man  his  present,  a  rate  year 


Essay  VII.    OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  SUBJECT  STATES.  403 

laws,  their  old  religion,  their  line  of  kings,  their  law  of  succession, 
their  whole  internal  organisation  and  machinery ;  they  only  ac- 
knowledge an  external  suzerainty,  which  binds  them  to  the  per- 
formance of  certain  duties  towards  the  Head  of  the  Empire.  These 
duties,  as  understood  in  the  earliest  times,  may  be  summed  up  in 
the  two  words  "  homage  "  and  "  tribute  ;"  the  subject  kings  "  serve  " 
and  "bring  presents;"  they  are  bound  to  acts  of  submission,  must 
attend  the  court  of  their  suzerain  when  summoned,*  imless  they 
have  a  reasonable  excuse,  must  there  salute  him  as  a  superior,  and 
otherwise  acknowledge  his  rank;''  above  all,  they  must  pa}^  him 
regularly  the  fixed  tribute  which  has  been  imposed  upon  them  at 
the  time  of  their  submission  or  subjection,  the  unauthorised  with- 
holding of  which  is  open  and  avowed  rebellion.^  Finally,  they 
must  allow  his  troops  free  passage  through  their  dominions,  and 
must  oppose  any  attempt  at  invasion  by  way  of  their  country  on 
the  part  of  his  enemies/  Such  are  the  earliest  and  most  essential 
obligations  on  the  part  of  the  subject  states  in  an  empire  of  the 
primitive  type,  like  that  of  Assyria ;  and  these  obligations,  with 
the  corresponding  one  on  the  part  of  the  dominant  power  of  the 
protection  of  its  dependants  against  foreign  foes,  appear  to  have 
constituted  the  sole  links  ^  which  joined  together  in  one  the  hetero- 
geneous materials  of  which  that  empire  consisted. 

39.  It  is  evident  that  a  government  of  the  character  here  de- 
scribed contains  within  it  elements  of  constant  disunion  and  disorder. 
Under  favourable  circumstances,  with  an  active  and  energetic  prince 
upon  the  throne,  there  is  an  appearance  of  strength,  and  a  realisation 
of  much  magnificence  and  grandeur.  The  subject  monarchs  pay 
annually  their  due  share  of  "  the  regulated  tribute  of  the  empire;"^ 


1  There  are  several  cases  of  this  kind  in  the'  his  army  from  all  quarters  (as  the  Persians 

inscriptions.     The  most  remarkable  is  that  of  were  wont  to  do)  may  be  added  to  the  proofs 

Esar-haddon,    who    "  assembled  at  Nineveh  adduced  above  (note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  103)  of 

twenty-two  kings  of  the  land  of  Syria,  and  of  the  lateness  of  its  composition.     We  do  not 

the  sea-coast,  and  of  the  islands  of  the  sea,  find,  either  in  Scripture  or  in  the  Inscriptions, 

and  passed  them  in  review  before  him  "  (Fox  any  proof  of  the  Assyrian  armies  being  com- 

Talbot,  p.  17).     Perhaps  the  visit  of  Ahaz  to  posed  of  others  than  the  dominant  race.    Mr. 

Tiglath-Pileser  (2  Kings  xvi.  10)  was  of  this  Vance  Smith  assumes  the  contrary    (Prophe- 

character.  cies,   &c,,  pp.  92,  183,  201) ;    but  the  only 

^  Cf.  Ps.  kxii.  11:  "  All  kings  shall  fall  passage  which  is  important  among  all  those 

down  before  him."     This  is  said  primarily  of  explained  by  him  in  this  sense   (Isa.  xxii.  6) 

Solomon.    The  usual  expression  in  the  inscrip-  is  very  doubtfully  referred  to  an  attack  on 

tions  is  that  the  subject  kings   "  kissed  the  Jerusalem  by  the  Assyrians.  .Perhaps  it  is 

sceptre  "    of  the  Assyrian  monarch.  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar 

^  See  2  Kmgs  xvii.  4,  and  the  inscriptions  whichforms  the  subject  of  the  prophetic  vision, 

passim.  as  Babylon  itself  has  been  the  main  figure  in 

*  Josiah  seems  to  have  perished  m  the  per-  the  preceding  chapter.    The  negative  of  course 

formance  of  this  duty   (2  Kings  xxiii.  29;  2  cannot  be  proved,  but  there  seem  to  be  no 

Chron.  xxxv.  20-23).                         •  grounds  for  concluding  that    "  the  various 

°  In  some  empires  of  this  type,  the  subject  subject  races  were  incorporated  into  the  As- 

states  have  an  additional  obligation — that  of  syrian  army,"    An  Assyrian  army,  it  should 

furnishing  contingents  to  swell  the  armies  of  be  remembered,  does  not  ordinarily  exceed  one, 

the  dominant  power.     But  there  is  no  clear  or  at  most  two,  hundred  thousand  men. 

evidence  of  the  Assyrians  having  raised  troops  ^  This  is  an  expression  not  uncommon  in 

in  this  way.     The  testimony  of  the  book  of  the  Inscriptions.     We  may  gather  from   a 

Judith  is  worthless  ;  and  perhaps  the  circum-  passage  in  Sennacherib's  annals,  where  it  oc- 

stance  that  Nabuchodonosor  is  made  to  collect  curs,  that  the  Assyrian  tribute  was  of  the 

2  D  2 


404  REMEDIES  FOR  REBELLION.  App.  Book  I. 

and  tlie  better  to  secure  the  favour  of  their  common  sovereign, 
add  to  it  presents,  consisting  of  the  choicest  productions  of  their 
respective  kingdoms/  The  material  resources  of  the  different 
countries  are  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  dominant  power  f  and 
skilled  workmen  ^  are  readily  lent  for  the  service  of  the  court,  who 
adorn  or  build  the  temples  and  the  royal  residences,  and  transplant 
the  luxui'ies  and  refinements  of  their  several  states  to  the  imperial 
capital.  But  no  sooner  does  any  untoward  event  occur,  as  a 
disastrous  expedition,  a  foreign  attack,  a  domestic  conspiracy,  or 
even  an  untimely  and  unexpected  death  of  the  reigning  prince, 
than  the  inherent  weakness  of  this  sort  of  government  at  once 
displays  itself — the  whole  fabric  of  the  empire  falls  asunder — each 
kingdom  re-asserts  its  independence — tribute  ceases  to  be  paid — 
and  the  mistress  of  a  hundred  states  suddenly  finds  herself  thrust 
back  into  her  primitive  condition,  stripped  of  the  dominion  which 
has  been  her  strength,  and  thrown  entirely  upon  her  own  resources. 
Then  the  whole  task  of  reconstruction  has  to  be  commenced  anew — 
one  by  one  the  rebel  countries  are  overrun  and  the  rebel  monarchs 
chastised — tribute  is  re-imposed,  submission  enforced,  and  in  fifteen 
or  twenty  years  the  empire  has  perhaps  recovered  itself.  Progress 
is  of  course  slow  and  uncertain,  where  the  empire  has  continually 
to  be  built  up  again  from  its  foundations,  and  where  at  any 
time  a  day  may  undo  the  work  which  it  has  taken  centuries  to 
accomplish. 

To  discourage  and  check  the  chronic  disease  of  rebellion,  recourse 
is  had  to  severe  remedies,  which  diminish  the  danger  to  the  central 
power  at  the  cost  of  extreme  misery  and  often  almost  entire  ruin 
to  the  subject  kingdoms.  Not  onl}^  are  the  lands  wasted,  the  flocks 
and  herds  carried  off,'  the  towns  pillaged  and  burnt,  or  in  some 
cases  razed  to  the  ground,  the  rebel  king  deposed  and  his  crown 
transferred  to  another,  the  people  punished  by  the  execution  of 
hundreds   or  thousands,^  as  well   as  by  an   augmentation   of  the 


natm-e  of  a  poll-tax.  For  when  portions  of  Hermon,  and  Amanus.  Esar-haddon  derives 
Hezekiah's  dominions  were  taken  from  him  marble  from  some  distant  mountain.  Wood 
and  bestowed  on  neighbom'ing  princes,  the  is  sometimes  brought  to  Nineveh  from  "  the 
Assyrian  king  tells  us  that  "  according  as  he  land  of  Chalds a  "  (Fox  Talbot,  pp.  7,  8,  &c.). 
increased  the  dominions  of  the  other  chiefs,  so  ^  The  most  striking  instance  of  this  is  con- 
he  augmented  the  amount  of  tribute  which  tained  in  the  inscription  mentioned  above  (p. 
they  were  to  pay  to  the  imperial  treasury."  397,  note  ^),  where  the  princes  of  Cyprus, 

'  It  is  not  always  easy  to  separate  the  tri-  Greek  and  Semitic,  lend  workmen  to  Esar- 

bute  from  the 'presents,  as  the  tribute  itself  is  haddon.       Sennacherib   uses   Phoenicians   to 

sometimes  paid  partly  in  kind;   but  in  the  construct  his  vessels  on  the  Tigris  and   to 

case  of  Hezekiah  we  may  clearly  di-aw  the  navigate  them. 

distinction,  by  comparing  Scripture  with  the  ^  The  numbers  ai'e  often  marvellous.    Sen- 

accomat  given  by  Sennacherib.     The  tribute  nacherib  in  one  foray  diives  off  7200  horses, 

in  this  instance  was  "300  talents  of  silver  11,000  mules,  5230  camels,  120,000  oxen, 

and  30  talents  of  gold  "  (2  Kings  xA^iii.  14);  and  800,000  sheep!     Sometimes  the  sheep 

the  additional  presents  were,  500  talents  of  and  oxen  are  said  to  be  "  countless  as  the 

silver,  various  mineral  products    (probably  stars  of  heaven." 

coal  and  crystal  and  marbles),  thrones  and  2  "Yhe  usual  modes  of  punishment  are  be- 

beds,  and  rich  fm-niture,  the  skins  and  horns  heading   and   impaling.       Asshur-idanni-pal 

of  beasts,  coral,  ivory,  and  amber.  impales  on  one  occasion    "  thirty  bands   of 

^  The  Assyrian  kings  are  m  the  habit  of  captives;  "    on  another  he  behe<ids  600  war- 
cutting  cedar  and  other  tunber  in  Lebanon,  riors,  and  at  the  same  time  impales  bands  of 


Essay  VII.  GENERAL  REVIEW.  405 

tribute  money ,^  but  sometimes  wholesale  deportation  of  the  inha- 
bitants is  practised,  tens  or  hundreds  of  thousands  being  carried 
away  captive  by  the  conquerors/  and  either  employed  in  servile 
labour  at  the  capital,^  or  settled  as  colonists  in  a  distant  province. 
With  this  practice  the  history  of  the  Jews,  in  which  it  forms  so 
prominent  a  feature,  has  made  us  familiar.  It  seems  to  have  been 
known  to  the  Assyrians  from  very  early  times,^  and  to  have  become 
by  degrees  a  sort  of  settled  principle  in  their  government.  In  the 
most  flourishing  period  of  their  dominion — the  reigns  of  Sargon,  Sen- 
nacherib, and  Esar-haddon — it  prevailed  most  widely  and  was  carried 
to  the  greatest  extent.  Chaldseans  were  transported  into  Assyria,^ 
Jews  and  Israelites  into  Babylonia  and  Media  ;^  Arabians,  Baby- 
lonians, and  Susianians  into  Palestine  ^ — the  most  distant  portions  of 
the  empire  changed  inhabitants,  and  no  sooner  did  a  people  become 
troublesome  from  its  patriotism  and  love  of  independence,  than  it 
was  weakened  by  dispersion  and  its  spirit  subdued  by  a  severance 
of  all  its  local  associations.  Thus  rebellion  was  in  some  measure 
kept  down,  and  the  position  of  the  central  or  sovereign  state  was 
rendered  so  far  more  secure ;  but  this  comparative  security  was 
gained  by  a  great  sacrifice  of  strength,  and  when  foreign  invasion 
came,  the  subject  kingdoms,  weakened  at  once  and  alienated  by 
the  treatment  which  they  had  received,  were  found  to  have  neither 
the  will  nor  the  power  to  give  any  effectual  aid  to  their  enslaver.^ 

40.  Such,  in  its  broad  and  general  outlines,  was  the  empire  of 
the  Assyrians.  It  embodied  the  earliest,  simplest,  and  most  crude 
conception  which  the  human  mind  forms  of  a  widely  extended 
dominion.  It  was  a  "  kingdom-empire,"  like  the  empires  of 
Solomon,  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  Chedor-laomer,^  and  probably  of 
Cyaxares,  and  is  the  best  specimen  of  its  class,  being  the  largest, 
the  longest  in  duration,  and  the  best  known  of  all  such  govern- 
ments that  has  existed.  It  exhibits  in  a  marked  way  both  the 
strength  and  weakness  of  this  class  of  monarchies — their  strength 
in  the  extraordinary  magnificence,  grandeur,  wealth,  and  refine- 
ment of  the  capital;  their  weakness  in  the  impoverishment,  the 


captives  on  every  side  of  the  rebellious  city  ;  labours,  under  taskmasters,  upon  the  monu- 

in  a  thu'd  instance  he  impales  the  whole  ga,r-  ments. 

rison.     Compare  the  conduct  of  Darius  (He-  ^    See  the   annals   of   Asshur-idanni-pal 

rod.  iii.  159).  (about  B.C.  900),  where,  however,  the  num- 

^  This  frequently  takes  place.  (See  Fox  bers  carried  off  are  small — in  one  case  500, 
Talbot,  pp.  14,  25,  &c.)  Hezekiah  evidently  in  another  2500,  in  a  third  the  choicest  sol- 
expects  an  augmentation  when  he  says,  "  That  diers  of  a  garrison.  (See  Fox  Talbot,  pp.  24, 
which  thou  puttest  upon  me  I  will  bear  "  25,  30.)  Women  at  this  period  are  carried 
(2  Kings  xviii.  14).  oft'  in  vast  numbers,  and  become  the  wives  of 

^  It  "has  been  noticed  (supra,  p.  391)  that  the  soldiery. 

Sennacherib  carried  into  captivity  from  Judsea  '  By  Sargon  and  Sennacherib,  pp.  389, 390. 

more  than  200,000  persons,  and  an  equal  or  ^  2  Kings  xvii.  6,  and  supra,  p.  391. 

greater  number  from   the  tribes  along  the  ^  Supra,  p.  387 ;   2  Kings  xvii.    24,  and 

Euphrates.    The  practice  is  constant,  but  the  Ezra  iv.  9,  where  the  Susanchites  and  Ela- 

numbers  are  not  commonly  given.  mites  are  mentioned. 

^  As  the   Aramaeans,   Chaldaeans,   Arme-  ^  The  case  of  Josiah  (2  Kings  xxiii.  29), 

nians,  and  Cilicians,  by  Sennacherib  (supra,  which  may  appear  an  exception,  does  not  be- 

p.  389),  and  the  numerous  captives  who  built  long  to  Assyrian,  but  to  Babylonian  history, 

his  temples   and   palaces,   by  Esar-haddon.  (See  below,  Essay  viii.  §  11.) 

The  captives  may  be  seen  engaged  in  their  2  Qen.  xiv.  1-12. 


406  KELIGIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  WAES.        App.  Book  I. 

exhaustion,  and  the  consequent  disaffection  of  the  subject  states. 
Ever  falling  to  pieces,  it  was  perpetually  reconstructed  by  the 
genius  and  prowess  of  a  long  succession  of  warrior  princes,  seconded 
by  the  skill  and  bravery  of  the  people.  Fortunate  in  possessing 
for  a  long  time  no  very  powerful  neighbour,^  it  found  little  diffi- 
culty in  extending  itself  throughout  regions  divided  and  subdivided 
among  hundreds  of  petty  chiefs,*  incapable  of  union,  and  singly, 
quite  unable  to  contend  with  the  forces  of  a  large  and  populous 
country.  Frequently  endangered  by  revolts,  yet  always  triumph- 
ing over  them,  it  maintained  itself  for  five  centuries,  gradually 
advancing  its  influence,  and  was  only  overthrown  after  a  fierce 
struggle  by  a  new  kingdom*  formed  upon  its  borders,  which, 
leagued  with  the  most  powerful  of  the  subject  states,  was  enabled 
to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  the  long  dominant  people. 

41.  In  the  curt  and  dry  records  of  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  while 
the  broad  outlines  of  the  government  are  well  marked,  it  is  difficult 
to  distinguish  those  nicer  shades  of  system  and  treatment  which  no 
doubt  existed,  and  in  which  the  empire  of  the  Assyrians  differed 
probably  from  others  of  the  same  type.  One  or  two  such  points, 
however,  may  perhaps  be  made  out.  In  the  first  place,  though 
religious  uniformity  is  certainly  not  the  law  of  the  empire,  yet  a 
religious  character  appears  in  many  of  the  wars,^  and  attempts 
seem  to  be  made  at  least  to  diffuse  everywhere  a  knowledge  and 
recognition  of  the  Gods  of  Assyria.  Nothing  is  more  univeisal 
than  the  practice  of  setting  up  in  the  subject  countries  "  the 
laws  of  Asshur "  and  "  altars  to  the  Great  Gods."  In  some  in- 
stances not  only  altars  but  temples  are  erected,  and  priests  are 
left  to  superintend  the  worship  and  secure  its  being  properly  con- 
ducted. Sennacherib  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  has  "  established 
his  religion  and  laws  over  all  the  men  who  dwell  in  every  land  :"  "' 
but  the  history  of  Judasa  is  enough  to  show  that  the  continuance 


3  Babylonia  and  Susiana  are  the  only  large  of  a  great  immigration  from  the  East,  most 

countries  bordering  upon  Assyria  which  ap-  probably  led  by   Cyaxares.     (See  Essay  iii. 

pear  to  have  been  in  any  degree  centralised.  §  8.) 

But  even  in  Babylonia  there  are  constantly         ^  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  commonly  "  attaches  " 

found  cities  which  have  independent  kings,  conquered  countries  "  to  the  worship  of  As- 

and  Chaldsea  was  always  under  a  number  of  shur  "  (Inscription,  pp.  38,  40,  &c.).  Asshnr- 

chieftains.  idanni-pcd  says  :  "  I  established  true  religious 

^  In  the  inscriptions  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  worship  and  holy  rites  throughout  the  land 

and  Asshar-idanni-pal,  each  city  of  Mesopo-  of  Tsukhi.    As  far  as  the  land  of  Carduniash  I 

tamia   and   Syria    seems   to   have  its  king,  extended  the  true  religion  of  my  empire.    The 

Twelve  kmgs  of  the  Hittites,  twenty-four  people  of  Chalda^a,  who  were  contemners  and 

kings  of  the  Tibareni  ( Tubal),  and  twenty-  revilers  of  my  religion,  I  crucified  and  slew 

seven  kings  of  the  Partsu,  are  mentioned  by  them  "  (Fox  Talbot,  p.  22).     Sennacherib  : 

Shalinaneser  I.     The  Phoenician  and  Philis-'  "  The  men  of  the  city  of  Khismi,  impious 

tine  cities  are  always  separate  and  indepen-  heretics,  who  from  days  of  old  had  refused  to 

dent.     In  Media  and  Bikni  during  the  reign  submit  to  my  authority,  I  put  to  death,  ac- 

of  Esar-haddon,  every  town   has  its  chief,  cording  to  my  religious  laws  "    (ibid.  p.  3). 

Armenia  is  pei'haps  less  divided :  still  it  is  And  again :    "  I   marched  with   my  army 

not  permanently  under  a  single  king.  against  the  people  of  Bisiya  and  Yaribbi-rebla, 

^  Although  Assyria  came  into  contact  with  impious  heretics  "   (p.  4).     So  Esar-haddon, 

Median  tribes  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Slial-  p.  11. 

manescr  I.  (b.c.  850),  yet  the  Median  king-         '  See  the  opening    sentence    of  Bellino's 

dom  which  conquered  Assyria  must  be  re-  Cylinder  (Fox  Talbot,  p.  1). 
garded  as  a  new  formation — the  consequence 


Essay  VII.  CIVILISATION  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS.  407 

of  the  national  worship  was  at  least  tolerated,  thoiigh  some  formal 
acknowledgment  of  the  presiding  deities  of  Assyria  on  the  part 
of  the  subject  nations  may  not  improbably  have  been  required  in 
most  cases.^ 

Secondly,  there  is  an  indication  that  in  certain  countries  imme- 
diately bordering  on  Assyria  endeavours  were  made  from  time  to 
time  to  centralise  and  consolidate  the  empire,  by  substituting,  on 
fit  occasions,  for  the  native  chiefs  Assyrian  officers  as  governors. 
The  persons  appointed  are  of  two  classes — "collectors"  and  "trea- 
surers." Their  special  business  is,  of  course,  as  their  names  imply, 
to  gather  in  the  tribute  due  to  the  Great  King,  and  secure  its  safe 
transmission  to  the  capital ;  but  they  seem  to  have  been,  at  least 
in  some  instances,  entrusted  with  the  civil  government  of  their 
respective  districts.^  It  does  not  appear  that  this  system  was  ever 
extended  very  far.  The  Euphrates  on  the  west,  and  Mount  Zagros 
on  the  east,  may  be  regarded  as  the  extreme  limits  of  the  centralised 
Assyria.  Armenia,  Media,  Babylonia,  Susiana,  Syria,  Palestine, 
Philistia,  retained  to  the  last  their  native  monarchs ;  and  thus 
Assyria,  despite  the  feature  here  noticed,  kept  upon  the  whole  her 
character  of  a  "  kingdom-empire." 

42.  The  civilisation  of  the  Assyrians  is  a  large  subject,  on  which 
only  a  few  remarks  can  be  here  offered.  Deriving  originally  letters 
and  the  elements  of  learning  from  Babylonia,  the  Assyrians  ap- 
pear to  have  been  content  with  the  knowledge  thus  obtained,  and 
neither  in  literature  nor  in  science  to  have  progressed  beyond 
their  instructors.  The  hesivj  incubus  of  a  learned  language '  lay 
upon  all  those  who  desired  to  devote  themselves  to  scientific  pur- 
suits, and,  owing  to  this,  knowledge  tended  to  become  the  exclu- 
sive possession  of  a  priest-class,  which  did  not  aim  at  progress,  but 
was  satisfied  to  hand  on  the  traditions  of  former  ages.  To  under- 
stand the  genius  of  the  Assyrian  people  we  must  look  to  their  art 
and  their  manufactures.  These  are  in  the  main  probably  of  native 
growth,  and  from  them  we  may  best  gather  an  impression  of  the 
national  character.  They  show  us  a  patient,  laborious,  painstaking 
people,  with  more  appreciation  of  the  useful  than  the  ornamental, 
and  of  the  actual  than  the  ideal.  Architecture,  the  only  one  of 
the  fine  arts  which  is  essentially  useful,  forms  their  chief  glory ; 
sculpture,  and  still  more  painting,  are  subsidiary  to  it.  Again,  it 
is  the  most  useful  edifice — the  palace  or  house — whereon  attention 
is  concentrated — the  temple  and  the  tomb,  the  interest  attaching 
to  which  is  ideal  and  spiritual,  are  secondary,  and  appear  simply 
as  appendages  of  the  palace.  In  the  sculpture  it  is  the  actual — the 
historically  true — which  the  artist  strives  to  represent.  Unless  in 
the  case  of  a  few  mythic  figures  connected  with  the  religion  of  the 
country,  there  is-  nothing  in  the  Assyrian  bas-reliefs  which  is  not 
imitated  from  nature.     The  imitation  is  always  laborious  and  oftsn 


^  It  is  probal'le  that  the  altar  which  Ahaz  ference  to  his  Assyrian  suzerain, 
saw  at  Damascus,  and  of  which  he  sent  a         ^  See  the  "Assyrian  Texts,  "  pp.  5,  11, 

pattern  to  Jerusalem  (2  Kings  xvi.  10),  was  16,  &c. 

Assyrian  rather  than  Syrian,  and  that  he         ^  See  note  ^  on  Book  i.  eh.  181. 
adopted  the  worship  connected  with  it  in  de- 


408  ASSYRIAN  ART.  App.  Book  I. 

most  accurate  and  exact.  The  laws  of  representation,  as  we  "under- 
stand them,  are  sometimes  departed  from,  but  it  is  always  to  impress 
the  spectator  with  ideas  in  accordance  with  truth.  Thus  the  colossal 
bulls  and  lions  have  five  legs,  but  in  order  that  they  may  be  seen 
from  every  point  of  view  with  four — the  ladders  are  placed  edgeways 
against  the  walls  of  besieged  towns,  but  it  is  to  show  that  they  are 
ladders,  and  not  mere  poles — walls  of  cities  are  made  dispropor- 
tionately small,  but  it  is  done,  like  Raphael's  boat,  to  bring  them 
within  the  picture,  which  would  otherwise  be  a  less  complete  re- 
presentation of  the  actual  fact.  The  careful  finish,  the  minute  detail, 
the  elaboration  of  every  hair  in  a  beard,  and  every  stitch  in  the 
embroidery  of  a  dress,  remind  us  of  the  Dutch  school  of  painting, 
and  illustrate  strongly  the  spirit  of  faithfulness  and  honesty  which 
pervades  the  sculptures,  and  gives  them  so  great  a  portion  of  their 
value.  In  conception,  in  grace,  in  freedom  and  correctness  of 
outline,  they  fall  undoubtedly  far  behind  the  inimitable  productions 
of  the  Greeks  ;  but  they  have  a  grandeur  and  a  dignity,  a  boldness, 
a  strength,  and  an  appearance  of  life,  which  render  them  even 
intrinsically  valuable  as  works  of  art,  and,  considering  the  time  at 
which  they  were  produced,  must  excite  our  surprise  and  admiration. 
Art,  so  far  as  we  know,  had  existed  previously,  only  in  the  stiff  and 
lifeless  conventionalism  of  the  Egyptians.  It  belonged  to  Assyria 
to  confine  the  conventional  to  religion,  and  to  apply  art  to  the  vivid 
representation  of  the  highest  scenes  of  human  life.  War  in  all  its 
forms — the  march,  the  battle,  the  pursuit,  the  siege  of  towns,  the 
passage  of  rivers  -and  marshes,  the  submission  and  treatment  of 
captives — and  the  "  mimic  war"  of  hunting,  the  chace  of  the  lion, 
the  stag,  the  antelope,  the  wild  bull,  and  the  wild  ass — are  the  chief 
subjects  treated  by  the  Assyrian  sculptors ;  and  in  these  the  con- 
ventional is  discarded  :  fresh  scenes,  new  groupings,  bold  and  strange 
attitudes  perpetually  appear,  and  in  the  animal  representations 
especially  there  is  a  continual  advance,  the  latest  being  the  most 
spirited,  the  most  varied,  and  the  most  true  to  nature,  though 
perhaps  lacking  somewhat  of  the  majesty  and  grandeur  of  the  earlier. 
With  no  attempt  to  idealise  or  go  beyond  nature,  there  is  a  growing 
power  of  depicting  things  as  they  are — an  increased  grace  and 
delicacy  of  execution ;  showing  that  Assyrian  art  was  progressive, 
not  stationary,  and  giving  a  promise  of  still  higher  excellence,  had 
circumstances  permitted  its  development. 

The  art  of  Assyria  has  every  appearance  of  thorough  and  entire 
nationality ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  feel  sure  that  her  manufactures 
were  in  the  same  sense  absolutely  her  own.  The  practice  of 
borrowing  skilled  workmen  from  the  conquered  states,  which  has 
been  already  noticed,'^  would  introduce  into  Nineveh  and  the  other 
royal  cities  the  fabrics  of  every  region  which  acknowledged  the 
Assyrian  sway ;  and  plunder,  tribute,  and  commerce  would  unite  to 
enrich  them  with  the  choicest  products  of  all  civilised  countries. 
Still,  judging  by  the  analogy  of  modern  times,  it  seems  most  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  the  bulk  of  the  manufactured  goods  consumed 
in  the  country  would  be  of  home  growth.     Hence  we  may  fairly 

2  Supra,  p.  397. 


Essay  VII.  ASSYRIAN  MANUFACTURES.  409 

assume  that  the  vases,  jars,  bronzes,  glass  bottles,  carved  ornaments 
in  ivory  and  mother-of-pearl,  engraved  gems,  bells,  dishes,  earrings, 
arms,  working  implements,  &c.,  which  have  been  found  at  Nimrud, 
Khorsabad,  and  Koyunjik,  are  mainly  the  handiwork  of  the  Assyrians. 
It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  rich  garments  represented  as  worn 
by  the  kings  and  others  were  the  product  of  Babylon,^  always  famous 
for  its  tissues  ;  but  even  this  is  uncertain  ;  and  they  are  perhaps  as 
likely  to  have  been  of  home  manufacture.  At  any  rate  the  bulk 
of  the  ornaments,  utensils,  &c.  may  be  regarded  as  native  products. 
These  are  almost  invariably  of  elegant  form,  and  indicate  a  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  metallurgy  and  other  arts,"  as  well  as  a  refined 
taste.  Among  them  are  some  which  anticipate  inventions  believed 
till  lately  to  have  been  modern.  Transparent  glass  (which,  however, 
was  known  also  in  ancient  Egypt)  is  one  of  these ;  ^  but  the  most 
remarkable  of  all  is  the  lens  ®  discovered  at  Nimrud,  of  the  use  of 
which  as  a  magnifying  agent  there  is  abundant  proof.^  If  it  be 
added  to  this,  that  the  buildings  of  the  Assyrians  show  them  to 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  principle  of  the  arch,^  that  they 
constructed  aqueducts^  and  drains,'  that  they  knew  the  use  of  the 
lever  and  roller,^  that  they  understood  the  arts  of  inlaying,^  ena- 
melling,^ and  overlaying  with  metals,'*  and  that  they  cut  gems  with 
the  greatest  skill  and  finish,^  it  will  be  apparent  that  their  civilisation 
equalled  that  of  almost  any  ancient  country,  and  that  it  did  not  fall 
immeasurably  behind  the  boasted  achievements  of  the  moderns. 
With  much  that  was  barbaric  still  attaching  to  them,  with  a  rnde 
and  inartificial  government,  savage  passions,  a  debasing  religion, 
and  a  general  tendency  to  materialism,  they  were  towards  the  close 
of  their  empire,  in  all  the  arts  and  appliances  of  life,  very  nearly  on 
a  par  with  ourselves  ;  and  thus  their  history  furnishes  a  warning — 
which  the  records  of  nations  constantly  repeat — that  the  greatest 
material  prosperity  may  co-exist  with  the  decline— and  herald  the 
downfal — of  a  kingdom. 


3  Quarterly  Review,  No.  clxvii.,  pp.  "^  Long  before  the  discovery  of  the  Nim- 
150,  151.  rud  lens  it  had  been  concluded  that  the  As- 

4  The  ordinary  Assyrian  bronze  is  found  Syrians  used  magnifying  glasses,  from  the 
to  be  composed  of  one  part  tin  to  ten  parts  fact  that  the  inscriptions  were  often  so  mi- 
copper,  which  is  the  exact  proportion  of  the  nute  that  they  could  not  possibly  be  read, 
best  bronze,  both  ancient  and  modern.  The  and  therefore  could  not  have  been  formed, 
bell  metal  has,  however,  14  per  cent,  of  tin,  without  them. 

which  would  make  it  ring  better.     In  some  ^  Layard,  pp.  126,  163,  165,  &c. 

cases  two  metals  were  used  together  without  ^  See  the  Bavian  inscription,  and  also  the 

being  amalgamated,  iron  (for  instance)  being  cylinder  of  Bellino  (Fox  Talbot,  p.  8). 

overlaid   either    wholly    or    partially   with  ^  Layard,  p.  163. 

bronze.     (See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Baby-  2  ggg  jyjj.^  Layard's  plates  in  his  Nineveh 

Ion,  p.  191,  and  App.  iii.)  and   Babylon,   opposite   to   pages    110  and 

5  See  above,  p.  389.  112. 

^  Layard,  p.  197.     The  lens  was  of  rock-  3  Nir^eveh  and  Babylon,  p.  196. 

crystal,  with  one  plane  and  one  convex  face.  ^  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  i.  p.  50  ; 

It  had,  apparently,  been  ground  on  a  lapi-  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  358,  &c. 

dary's   wheel,  and   was  of  somewhat  rude  *  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  198. 

workmanship.  ^  Ibid.  pp.  160-1,  602,  et  seqq. 


410  LATEK  HISTORY  OF  BABYLONIA.         App.  Book  1. 


ESSAY    VIII. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  LATER  BABYLONIANS. 

1.  Subordinate  position  of  Babylonia  from  B.C.  1273  to  B.C.  747.  2.  Era  of 
Nabonassar,  B.C.  747  —  connexion  of  Nabonassar  with  Semiramis.  3.  Suc- 
cessors of  Nabonassar  —  Merodach-Baladan  conquered  by  Sargon  —  Arceanus 
—  Merodach-Baladan's  second  reign  —  invasion  of  Sennacherib.  4.  Reign  of 
Belibus.  5.  Reigns  of  Asshnr-nadin-adin,  Regibelus,  and  Mesesimordachus  —  ob- 
scure period.  6.  Esar-haddon  assumes  the  crown  of  Babylon  —  his  successors, 
Saosduchinos  and  Ciniladanvis.  7.  Nabopolassar  —  his  revolt,  and  alliance 
with  Cyaxares.  Commencement  of  the  Babylonian  empire.  8.  Duration  of 
the  empire  —  three  great  monarchs.  9.  Nabopolassar  • —  extent  of  his  domi- 
nions. 10.  Increase  of  the  population,  11.  Chief  events  of  his  reign  —  the 
Lydian  war  —  the  Egyptian  war.  12.  Accession  of  Nebuchadnezzar  —  his 
triumphant  return  from  Egypt.  13.  His  great  works.  14.  His  conquests. 
Final  captivity  of  Judah.  Siege  and  capture  of  Tyre.  15.  Invasion  of  Egypt 
and  war  with  Apries.  16.  His  seven  years'  lycanthropy.  17.  Short  reign  of 
Evil-Merodach,  18,  Reign  of  Nei'iglissar,  the  "  Kab-Mag."  19.  Change  in 
the  relations  of  Media  and  Babylon.  20.  Reign  of  Laborosoarchod.  21.  Ac- 
cession of  Nabonadius,  B.C.  555  —  his  alliance  with  Croesus,  king  of  Lydia  — 
his  defensive  works,  ascribed  to  Nitocris".  22.  Sequel  of  the  Lydian  alliance, 
23.  Babylon  attacked  by  Cyrus,  24,  Siege  and  fall  of  Babylon,  25.  Conduct 
of  Belshazzar  during  the  siege  —  his  death.  26.  Surrender  and  treatment  of 
Nabonadius.     27.  Revolts  of  Babylon  from  Darius.     28.  Final  decay  and  ruin. 

1.  The  Listory  of  Babylon  during  the  526  years  wLicli  Berosus 
assigned  to  the  Upper  dynasty  of  Assyria  is,  with  few  exceptions, 
a  blank.  The  greatness  of  Babylonia  was  during  the  chief  portion  of 
this  period  eclipsed  by  that  of  Assyria,  and  the  native  historian, 
confessing  the  absence  of  materials,'  passed  at  this  point  from  the 
Babylonian  to  the  Assyrian  line  of  kings. ^  It  cannot  however  be 
said  with  truth  that  the  condition  of  Babylonia  was  that  of  a  mere 
subject-kingdom.  We  know  that  at  least  on  one  occasion,  within 
the  period  here  spoken  of,  a  Babylonian  monarch  carried  his  arms 
deep  into  Assyria,  penetrating  even  to  the  capital,  and  thence  bearing 
away  in  triumph  the  sacred  images  of  the  Assyrian  gods."'  It  is  also 
plain  from  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  that  Babylonia  had  not  only 
her  own  monarchs  during  this  interval,  but  that  they  were  practi- 
cally independent,  only  submitting  on  rare  occasions  to  irresistible 
force,  and  again  freeing  themselves  when  the  danger  was  passed.* 


1  Berosus  declared  that  Nabonassar  had  3  Supra,  Essay  vi.  p.  352,  note  ^,  and 
collected  all  the  records  of  former  kings,  and  Essay  vii.  p.  376. 

purposely  destroyed  them,  in  order  that  the  "*  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  kings  of 

Babylonians    might   reckon   from  him  (Fr.  Assyria  of  the  upper  dynasty  in  no  case  take 

11  a,).  the   title  of   King  of  Babylon.     The  most 

2  This  is  indicated  by  the  expression  "  de  powerful  monarchs  of  this  line  are  all  en- 
Semiramide  quoque  narrat  quaj  imperavit  gaged  in  wars  with  the  Babylonian  kings, 
Assi/riis"  (Fr,  11),  It  is  confirmed  by  the  Babylon  being  in  the  earlier  times  the  as- 
evident  identity  of  the  526  years  of  the  sailant,  but  in  the  later  suffering  invasion, 
next  dynasty  with  the  520  of  Herodotus,  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  wars  with  Merodach-iddin- 


Essay  VIII.  NABONASSAR  AND  SEMIRAMIS.  411 

Although  diminished  in  power  by  the  independence  of  her  former 
vassal,  and  even  thrown  into  the  shade  by  that  vassal's  increasing 
greatness,  she  yet  maintained  an  important  position,  and  during  the 
whole  time  of  the  upper  dynasty  in  Assyria  was  clearly  the  most 
powerful  of  all  those  kingdoms  by  which  the  Assyrian  Empire  was 
surrounded. 

2.  About  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  (b.c.)  it  would  seem 
that  a  change  took  place  at  Babylon,  the  exact  character  of  which  is 
involved  in  the  greatest  obscurity.  The  era  of  JN'abonassar  (b.c.  747), 
which  has  no  astronomical  importance,  must  be  regarded  as  belong- 
ing to  history,  and  as  almost  certainly  marking  the  date  of  a  great 
revolution.  What  the  peculiar  circumstances  were  under  which 
the  revolution  was  made,  is  still  uncertain.  The  double  connexion 
of  Semiramis,  with  Pul  on  the  one  hand,^  and  with  Babylonian 
greatness  on  the  other,®  makes  it  probable  that  she  was  ]3ersonally 
concerned  in  the  movement,  though  in  what  capacity  it  is  difficult 
to  determine.  The  conjecture  that  she  was  a  Medo-Armenian 
princess,  sister  of  Ard/nsta,  who  reigned  about  this  time  at  Van  ; 
that  she  married  Pul,  and  then  joining  his  enemies,  called  in 
her  Arian  relatives  against  him  ;  and  that  finally,  after  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  new  dynasty  in  Assyria  under  Tiglath-Pileser  II., 
she  descended  upon  Babylon  either  as  a  refugee  or  a  conqueror,  and 
there  reigned  conjointly  with  Nabonassar,  her  husband,  or  her  son^ 
— although  undoubtedly  very  ingenious,  and  well  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  historical  students,  rests  upon  too  slender  a  basis  of 
ascertained  fact  to  challenge  acceptance,  until  it  has  been  further 
corroborated.  That  some  connexion  existed  between  Nabonassar 
and  Semiramis,  as  well  as  between  the  latter  and  Pul,  seems  almost 
certain,*^  but  the  nature  of  the  connexion  is  at  present  very  obscure. 
We  may  hope  that  future  discoveries  will  throw  light  upon  this  dif- 
ficult point,  and  restore  to  a  definite  place  in  Babylonian  history 
the  great  queen  now  removed  from  the  proud  position  which  she 
once  occupied  in  the  supposed  annals  of  Assyria. 

3.  It  is  uncertain  whether  Nabonassar  established  his  family  upon 
the  throne.  He  is  followed  in  the  list  of  Ptolemy  by  four  obscure 
kings, ^  whose  reigns  are  all  included  within  the  space  of  twelve  years. 


akhi;    Sardanapalus  I.  (Asshur-idanni-pal)  ^  This  appears  to  be  generally  admitted. 

with  Xehu-haladan ;  Shalmaneser  I.,  in  his  Compare   Clinton   (F.    H.    vol.    i.    p.   279, 

eighth  year,  with  Iferodach-nadin-adin  and  note  ^),  Volney  (Recherches,  part  iii.  p.  79), 

his  bi-other;    Shamas-Vul,  with  Merodach-  Larcher  (Herodote,  vol.  i.  p.  4G8),  Bosan- 

*     *    .       The   Babylonians  are  in  no  case  quet    (Journal   of  Asiatic  Society,  vol.   xv. 

spoken  of  as  rebels.  part    ii.   p.   280),  and   Vance  Smith   (Pro- 

^  Supra,  Essay  vii.  p.  382.  phecies,  pp.  66-7),     It  rests  mainhj  on  the 

^  Herod,  i.  184;   Strab.  ii.  p.  120  ;  Diod.  synchronism  between  the  date  of  Herodotus 

Sic.  h.  7-10.  for  Semn-amis  (5  generations  before  Xitocris, 

'  See  the  communications  of  Sir  H.  Rawlin-  or  about  B.C.   740),   and  the  acknowledged 

son  to  the  Athenaeum,  Nos.  1377  and  1381.  date   of  the   accession  of  Nabonassar   (b.c. 

Herodotus  supposes  a  transfer  of  the  seat  of  747). 

government  from  Nineveh  to  Babylon  on  the  ^  We  do  not  know  whether  these  kings 
destruction  of  the  former  city  (i.  178).  Is  were  independent,  or  subject  to  Assyria.  On 
this  a  trace  of  the  transfer  of  the  old  royal  the  one  hand  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  sub- 
line of  Assyria  to  Babylon  on  its  expulsion  jugation  of  Babylonia  between  Nabonassar, 
from  Nineveh  by  Tiglath-Pileser  ?  who  was  certainly  independent  (Beros.  Fr, 


412 


MEEODACH-BALADAN. 


App.  Book  I. 


Of  these  four  reigns  scarce  anything  is  known  bej^ond  the  term  of 
their  duration/  ISabonassar  himself  reigned  fourteen  years,  after 
him  Nadius  two,  then  Chinzirus  "^  and  Porus  conjointly  five,  and 
finally  llulaeus  (or  Elula^us)  the  same  number.  These  short  reigns 
appear  to  indicate  internal  troubles,  such  as  are  known  to  have 
occurred  later  in  the  history.^  Of  Mardoc-empadus  (or  Mardoc- 
empalus  "),  the  fifth  king,  who  is  now  identified  beyond  a  doubt 
with  the  Merodach-Baladan  of  Isaiah,*  some  facts  of  interest  are 
related,  his  name  appearing  both  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  and 
in  Scripture.  We  gather  from  the  former,  that  he  was  attacked  by 
8argon  in  his  twelfth  year,  after  that  king's  second  Syrian  expedi- 
tion,— that  he  was  conquered  and  driven  out, — and  that  his  crown 
fell  to  the  Assyrian  monarch,  who  is  thought  by  some  to  have 
assumed  it  himself,^  but  who  more  probably  conferred  it  upon  one 


of  his 


the  Arceanus  of  the  Canon.     From  Scripture  we  learn 


that  at  an  earlier  period  of  his  reign,  probably  about  the  time 
that  Sargon  was  besieging  Ashdod  and  (perhaps)  threatening 
Hezekiah,^  Merodach-Baladan,    having   heard  of  the  astronomical 


11  a),  and  the  conquest  by  Sargon.  On  the 
other  the  rapid  succession  of  the  kings  would 
look  like  a  change  of  viceroys. 

^  Mr.  Bosanquet  (Fall  of  Nineveh,  p.  40) 
identifies  the  llulasus  or  Elulseus  of  the 
Canon  with  the  king  of  Tp'e  of  the  same 
name,  who  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  follow- 
ing Menander  (Ant,  Jud.  ix.  14,  §  2),  and 
who  appears  to  be  the  Luliya,  king  of  Sidon, 
defeated  in  his  third  year  by  Sennacherib. 
He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  (I  know  not 
on  what  ground),  that  the  two  kings  "  have 
always  been  supposed  to  be  the  same."  No- 
thing can  well  Ijc  more  improbable  than  the 
government  of  Babylon  by  a  Phoenician 
prince,  while  Assyria  was  dominant  over  the 
whole  country  lying  between  Babylonia  and 
Egypt. 

2  A  royal  name  read  as  Khamzir  occurs 
on  a  mutilated  cylinder  of  Nabonadius,  which 
may  very  possibly  be  a  notice  of  this  king. 
Khamzir  appears  to  have  repaired  a  temple 
at  Senkereh  700  years  after  its  fomidation 
by  Purnapuriyas.  (See  above,  Essay  vi. 
p.  358,  note  2.) 

^  As  from  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Ar- 
ceanus to  the  accession  of  Aparanadms,  and 
again  between  Mesesimordachus  and  Esar- 
haddon. 

"*  The  correction  of  Mardoc-empalus  for 
Mardoc-empadus  (MAPAOKEMnAAOY  for 
MAPAOKEMIIAAOT),  which  was  first 
made  by  Bunsen  (Egypt's  Place  in  Univ. 
Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  726),  fully  deserves  accept- 
ance. 

^  Chevalier  Bunsen  (1.  s.  c.)  correctly 
explains  the  mode  by  which  the  word  Mero- 
dach-Baladan became  Mardoc-empal,  viz.,  by 
the  omission  of  the  last  element,  adan,  and 
the  substitution  of  mp  for  6,  as  more  nearly 


equivalent  to  it  in  sound  than  the  Greek  )8, 
Avhich  was  pronounced  like  v.  The  identity 
of  Merodach-Baladan  with  Mardoc-empalus 
is  proved  by  the  inscriptions  of  Sargon, 
which,  in  exact  agreement  with  the  Canon, 
assign  to  this  Babylonian  king  a  reign  of 
12  years.  Sennacherib's  inscriptions  show 
that  he  had  a  second  short  reign,  which  is 
the  one  specially  referi-ed  to  by  Eusebius 
(Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  5,  ad  init.). 

It  has  been  urged  that  the  Merodach-Bala- 
dan of  the  inscriptions  cannot  be  the  king  of 
the  name  who  is  mentioned  in  Scripture,  be- 
cause the  latter  is  called  "  the  son  of  Yagina" 
while  the  former  is  "  the  son  of  Baladan " 
(see  Mr.  Bosanquet's  Sacred  and  Profane 
Chronology,  p.  62,  &c.).  But  in  Scripture 
the  word  son  means  no  more  than  descen- 
dant (see  2  Kings  ix.  2  and  20 ;  Matt.  i.  1, 
&c.),  and  Merodach-Baladan  may  as  easily 
have  been  the  son  of  Baladan,  and  yet  the 
son  of  Yagina,  as  Jehu  the  son  of  JS'imshi 
and  yet  the  son  of  Jehoshaphat.  The  father 
of  Merodach-Baladan  may  perhaps  appear  in 
Ptolemy's  Canon  under  the  name  of  Juggeus, 
if  that  is  the  true  reading  instead  of  Elu- 
Iseus. 

^  The  name  of  'Ap/ceavoy  in  the  Canon 
is  regarded  as  representnig  the  word  Sargon 
or  Sargina,  the  s  having  dropped,  and  the  h 
replacing  the  g.  This  is  of  course  phoneti- 
cally possible,  but  there  is  no  instance  of  an 
initial  s  having  di'opped  from  any  other  As- 
syrian name. 

■^  Polyhistor  spoke  of  a  "  brother  of  Sen- 
nacherib "'  as  king  ef  Babylon  immediately 
before  Hagisa  (Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  1.  s.  c). 

^  2  Kings  XX.  6  :  "I  will  deliver  thee 
and  this  city  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of 
Assyria,  and  I  will  defend  this  city  for  mine 


Essay  YIII.  CONQUERED  BY  SARGON.  413 

wonder  wliicli  had  been  observed  in  Judaea  in  connexion  with 
Hezekiah's  illness,  sent  ambassadors  to  him  with  letters  and  a 
present,  ostensibly  to  congratulate  him  on  his  recovery,  and  to 
make  inquiries  concerning  the  phenomenon.®  To  the  Babylonians 
undoubtedly  such  a  marvel  would  possess  peculiar  interest;  but 
it  may  be  suspected  that  the  object  of  the  embassy  was,  at  least 
in  part,  political,  and  that  some  project  was  afloat  for  establishing 
a  league  among  the  powers  chiefly  threatened  by  the  progress  of 
Assyria,^  like  that  which  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  was  formed 
by  Croesus  against  the  Persians.*  It  may  have  been  a  knowledge 
of  this  design  which  induced  Sargon  in  his  twelfth  year  to  turn 
the  full  force  of  his  arms  against  the  Babylonian  monarch,  who, 
unable  to  cope  with  his  mighty  adversary  in  the  field,  was  obliged 
to  seek  safety  in  flight,  and  to  watch  in  exile  for  an  opportunity 
of  recovering  his  sovereignty.  The  opportunity  came  after  the 
lapse  of  a  few  years.  Towards  the  close  of  Sargon's  reign,  when 
age  or  infirmity  may  have  weakened  his  grasp  upon  the  empire, 
fresh  troubles  broke  out  in  Babylonia.  Arceanus  ceased  to  be 
king  of  Babylon  in  B.C.  704,  and  an  interval  followed,  estimated  in 
the  Canon  at  two  years,  during  which  the  country  was  either 
plunged  in  anarchy  or  had  a  rapid  succession  of  masters,  none  of 
whom  reigned  for  more  than  a  few  months.^  The  last  of  these  was 
Merodach-Baladan ;  he  succeeded  a  certain  Acises  or  Hagisa,  of 
whom  nothing  is  known,  except  that  after  having  been  king  for 
thirty  days  he  was  slain  by  this  prince.*  Merodach-Baladan  then 
enjoyed  a  second  reign,  only,  however,  for  half  a  year ;  ^  he  was 
almost  immediately  attacked  by  Sennacherib,  who  had  no  sooner 
mounted  the  throne  (b.o.  702)  than  he  led  an  expedition  to  the 
south,  defeated  Merodach-Baladan  with  his  allies  the  Susianians, 
and  forced  him  once  more  to  flee  for  his  life.^  Sennacherib  then 
entered  and  plundered  the  capital,  after  which  he  ravaged  the 
whole  country,  destroying  seventy-nine  cities,  and  820  villages, 
burning  the  palaces  of  the  kings,  and  carrying  off  the  skilled  work- 
men and  the  women.  Having  taken  this  signal  vengeance  and 
brought  Babylonia  completely  into  subjection,  he  committed  the 


own  sake,  and  for  my  servant  David's  sake."  name  was  omitted  from  the  Canon.     Hence 

The  king  of  Assyria  here  mentioned  is  per-  there  is  no  mention  of  Hagisa,  of  Merodach- 

haps  Sargon  rather  than  Sennacherib.  Baladan's  second  reign,  of  Laborosoarchod,  of 

*  2   Kings  XX.   12  :  "He  had  heard  that  the   Pseudo-Smerdis,   of    Xerxes    H.,   or   of 

Hezekiah  was  sick."     2   Chron.   xxxii.  31  :  Sogdianus. 

"  In  the  business  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  *  So  Polyhistor,  who  probably  follows 
princes  of  Babylon,  who  sent  unto  him  to  Berosus :  "  Postquam  regno  defunctus  est 
inquii'e  of  the  wonder  that  was  done  in  the  Senecheribi  frater,  et  post  Hagisaa  in  Baby- 
land.''  lonios  dominationem,   qui    quidem   nondiim 

^  This  would  explain  Hezekiah's  "  show-  expleto  30™°  imperii  die  a  Marudacho  Bal- 
ing his  treasures  "  (2  Kings  xx.  13-5)  ;  they  dane  interemptus  est,  Marudachus  ipse  Bal- 
were  the  proof  of  his  ability  to  support  the  danes  tyrannidem  invasit  mensibus  sex, 
expense  of  a  war.  Compare  the  conduct  of  donee  eum  sustulit  vir  quidam  nomine  Eli- 
Orcetes  (Herod,  iii.  122-3).  Another  party  bus,  qui  et  in  regnum  successit."  (See 
to  the  proposed  alliance  was  probably  Egypt.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  5.) 
(See  Isa.  xx.  6.)  ^  See  the  preceding  note. 

2  Herod,  i.  77.  ^  See  the  record  of  this  campaign  on  Bel- 

^  If  a  king  reigned  less  than  a  year,  his  lino's  CyUnder  (Fox  Talbot,  pp.  1,  2). 


414  ESAE-HADDON  KING  OF  BABYLON.        App.  Book  T. 

government  to  an  Assj-rian  named  Belih  or  Belibns,  the  gon  of  an 
officer  of  his  court  ^ — the  same  imdoTibteclly  who  is  mentioned  by 
Polyhistor  under  the  name  of  Elibus,  and  who  appears  under  his 
proper  designation  in  the  Canon  of  Ptolemy. 

4.  Belibus,  the  Assyrian,  ruled  Babylon  for  the  space  of  three 
years — from  B.C.  702  to  B.C.  699.  Polyhistor  writes  of  him  as  if 
he  had  risen  up  against  Merodach-Baladan,  and  dethroned  him  by 
his  own  unassisted  efforts,^  but  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that 
Sennacherib  gives  a  truer  account  of  the  transaction.  On  the 
retirement  of  the  Assyrian  troops,  the  party  of  Merodach-Baladan 
seems  to  have  recovered  strength,  and  being  supported  by  Susub, 
king  of  the  Susianians,  to  have  again  become  formidable.  This  led 
to  a  second  invasion  of  Babylonia  by  Sennacherib,  in  his  fourth 
year,  b.c.  699,  when  Susah  was  defeated,  the  cities  which  still 
adhered  to  Merodach-Baladan  destroyed,  Belibus  apparently  re- 
moved, and  a  more  powerful  governor  established  in  the  person  of 
Asshur-nadin-*  the  eldest  son  of  the  Assyrian  monarch. 

5.  Asshur-nadin-* ,  who  may  be  safely  identified  with  the  Apara- 
nadius,  or  Assaranadius,  of  the  Canon,  appears  by  that  document 
to  have  continued  in  the  government  of  Babylon  for  six  years — i.e. 
from  B.C.  699  to  b.c.  693.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  certain  Eegebelus, 
or  Irigebelus,  who  reigned  for  a  single  year,  after  which  a  king 
named  Mesesemordachus  held  the  throne  for  the  space  of  four  years. 
It  is  uncertain  whether  these  monarchs  were  viceroys,  like  Belibus 
and  Asshur-nadin-*,  holding  their  crowns  under  Sennacherib ;  or 
whether  they  were  not  rather  native  princes,  ruling  in  their  own 
right,  and  successfully  maintaining  the  independence  of  their 
country.  If  a  record  of  the  later  years  of  Sennacherib  should  here- 
after be  found,  it  will  probably  throw  light  on  this  question.  Mean- 
while we  must  be  content  to  remain  in  doubt  concerning  the 
condition  of  Babylonia  at  this  time,  as  well  as  during  the  next  period 
of  eight  years,  where  the  Canon  records  no  names  of  kings,  either 
because  the  rulers  were  rapidly  changed,  or  because  the  country 
was  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 

6.  Light  once  more  dawns  upon  us  with  the  year  B.C.  680,  when 
Esar-haddon,  who  had  probably  mounted  the  throne  of  Assyria 
about  that  time,  determined  to  place  the  crown  of  Babylon  on  his 
own  head,  instead  of  committing  it  to  a  viceroy.  This  prince,  as  has 
been  already  observed,'^  probably  held  his  court,  at  least  occasionally, 
in  Babylon,  where  many  records  of  his  rule  have  been  discovered. 
He  administered  the  government  for  thirteen  years — from  B.C.  680 
to  B.C.  667 — and  it  must  have  been  within  this  space  that  Manasseh, 
the  son  of  Hezekiah,  having  been  guilty  of  some  political  offence, 
was' brought  as  a  prisoner  to  the  Assyrian  king  at  Babylon,^  where  he 

'''  Sennacherib  aills  him  "  the  son  of  him  brought  upon  them  the  captains  of  the  king 

who  was  governor  over  the  young  men  edu-  of  Assyria,  which  took  Manasseh  among  the 

cated   within   his     (Sennacherib's)    palace."  thorns,   and   bound   him  with  fetters,   and 

Compare  Polyhistor's  "  vir  quidam  nomine  carried  him  to  Babylon.     And  when  he  was 

Elibus."  in  affliction  he  besought  the  Lord  his  God, 

**  See  above,  note  *.  and  humbled  himself  greatly  before  the  God 

3  Essay  vii.  p.  395.  of  his  fathers  ;   and  prayed  unto  him,  and  he 

^2    Chron.    xxxiii.    11-13:    "  The  Lord  was  entreated  of  him,  and  heard  his  suppli- 


Essay  VIII.  REVOLT  OF  NABOPOLASSAR.  415 

suffered  detention  for  a  while,  returning,  however,  by  the  clemency 
of  his  suzerain,  to  resume  the  kingdom  which  he  had  so  nearly  for- 
feited. Esar-haddon  seems  to  have  been  a  little  disquieted  in 
his  administration  of  the  affairs  of  Babylon  by  the  pretensions  of 
the  sons  of  Merodach-Baladan,  who  had  still  the  support  of  the 
Susianians.  Having,  however,  conquered  and  slain  one,  and 
received  the  submission  of  another,  whom  he  established  in  a  go- 
vernment on  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf,*  he  appears  to  have 
made  his  position  secure  :  and  hence  at  his  death,  in  B.C.  667,  his  suc- 
cessor was  emboldened  to  revert  to  the  ordinary  and  established  prac- 
tice of  the  Assyrians — that  of  governing  the  provinces  by  means  of 
subject-kings  or  viceroys.  In  that  year  we  find  that  the  government 
of  Babylonia  was  handed  over  to  a  certain  Saosduchinus  ^  (Shamas- 
daroukiii  ?),  who  continued  to  administer  it  for  twenty  or  twenty- 
one  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  last  of  the  subject-kings,  Cini- 
ladanus,  who  was  perhaps  his  brother.*  Ciniladanus  is  said  to  have 
held  the  throne  for  twenty-two  years — from  B.C.  647  to  B.C.  625.  Of 
the  history  of  the  Babylonians  during  these  two  reigns  scarcely 
anything  is  known  at  present,*  their  continued  subjection  to  the 
Assyrians  being  only  proved  by  the  authority  which  Saracus,  the 
last  Assyrian  monarch,  appears  to  have  exercised  over  their  country. 
7.  The  part  taken  by  Babylon  in  the  war  which  issued  in  the 
destruction  of  Nineveh  has  been  already  mentioned,  both  in  the 
essay  on  Median,^  and  in  that  on  Assyrian  history.^  The  last 
Assyrian  king,  threatened  on  the  one  hand  by  the  Medes,  on  the 
•other  by  an  army  advancing  from  the  seaboard,  which  may  be  con- 
jectured to  have  consisted  chiefly  of  Susianians,  appointed  to  the 
government  of  Babylon,  where  he  was  to  act  against  this  latter 
enemy,  his  general,  Nabopolassar  (^Naha-pal-uzur),  while  he  him- 
self remained  at  Nineveh  to  meet  the  greater  danger.    Nabopolassar, 


cation,  and  brought  him  again  to  Jerusalem  known,   whom   we   may   suppose   to    have 

into  his  kingdom."'  reigned  a  few  weeks  or  a  few  days,  and  then 

■^  Fox  Talbot,  p.  12,  to  have  fallen  a  victim  to  Sennacherib's  mur- 

3  M.  Oppert  suggests  that  the  real  name  derer,     Adrammelech    (Abydenus'     Adram- 

of  this  king  was   Shamas-dar-oukin   (Rap-  meles).     Axerdis,  who  puts  Adrammeles  to 

port,  p.  50).     It  is  not  yet  explained  why  death,  is  Esar-haddon,  Axer  representing  the 

Polyhistor  called  him  Sammughes  (see  Euseb.  element  Asshur,  and  dis  the  element  adin. 

Chi-on.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  5,  §  2).  The  glorious  reign  assigned  to  Axerdis,  who 

*  Polyhistor  placed  between  Esar-haddon  ruled  Lower  Syria  and  Egypt,  tallies  with 

and  Nebuchadnezzar  the  following  kings  : —  this  view.     Sardanapalus,  the  next  king,  is 

Sammughes,   who   reigned    21    years.  Asshnr-bani-pal,   the   son  and  successor  of 

His  brother    ..       ..*'..      21     „  Esar-haddon;     and    Saracus    is    apparently 

Nabupalasar  ..      20  (21)  Asshur-emit-ili,  though  here  there  is  a  dis- 

These  three  kings  cllarly 'correspond  to  the  ^^'fgg'f  "^  ^^^'-     ^^''  ^^"''''  ^''^^  ''"' 

under-named  in  the  Canon : —  "iov-Li.  i.        ^i.      i      i.u 

^  Some  light  may  hereafter  be  thrown  on 

Saosduchinus,  who  reigned  20  years.  this  subject  by  the  annals  of  Asshur-bani- 

Ciniladanus 22     „  />a/,  which  exist,  but  have  not  yet  been  de- 

Aabopolasar ^1     „  cyphered.     It  appears  from  them  that  war 

The  kings  of  Abydenus,  sometimes  identified  still  continued  to  be  waged  between  Assyi-ia 

with  these  (Chnton,  F.  H.  vol.  i.  App.  ch.  on  the  one  hand,  and  Lower  Chalda?a,  assisted 

iv,    p.    278  ;    Bosanquet,   Fall  of  Nineveh,  by  Susiana,  on  the  other.     Asshur-bani-pal 

p.  41),  are  an  entirely  distinct  list.     They  opposes  the  grandsons  of  Merodach-Baladan, 
are  Assyrian,  not  Babylonian.     Nergilus  is         ^  See  Essay  iii.  p.  334. 
a   brother    of    Sennacherib,    not   otherwise         "^  Essay  vii.  p.  399. 


416  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  EMPIRE.        App.  Book  I. 

however,  proved  faithless  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  and  on 
receiving  his  appointment,  determined  to  take  advantage  of  the 
position  thus  gained  to  further  his  own  ambitious  ends.  He  entered 
into  negotiations  with  Cyaxares,  the  Median  monarch  by  whom 
Assyria  was  threatened,  and  having  arranged  terms  of  alliance 
with  him  and  cemented  the  union  by  a  marriage  between  his  own 
son,  Nebuchadnezzar,**  and  Amuhia  or  Amyitis,"  the  daughter  of 
Cyaxares,  he  sent  or  led '  a  body  of  troops  against  his  suzerain, 
which  took  an  active  part  in  the  great  siege  whereby  the  power  of 
Assyria  was  destroyed.*  The  immediate  result  of  this  event  was, 
not  merely  the  establishment  of  Babylonian  independence,  but  the 
formation  of  that  later  Babylonian  empire,  which,  short  as  was  its 
continuance,  has  always  been  with  reason  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

8.  The  rise  and  fall  of  this  empire  were  comprised  within  a  period 
considerably  short  of  a  century.  Six  kings  only  occupied  the 
throne  during  its  continuance,  and  of  these  but  three  had  reigns  of 
any  duration.  Nabopolassar,  who  founded  the  empire,  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who  raised  it  to  its  highest  pitch  of  glory,  and  Nabonadius, 
or  Labynetus,  under  whom  it  was  destroyed,  are  the  three  great 
names  whereto  its  entire  history  attaches. 

9.  Of  Nabopolassar,  the  founder  of  the  empire,  whose  alliance 
with  Cyaxares  ^  decided  the  fall  of  Nineveh  and  the  consequent 
ruin  of  the  Assyrians,  the  historical  notices  which  remain  to  us  are 
scanty.  We  have  already  seen  that  he  was  appointed  by  Saracus, 
the  last  king  of  Assyria,  to  take  the  command  at  Babylon,  and  that " 
he  immediately  rebelled,  united  his  arms  with  those  of  the  Median 
king,  and  gave  him  efiectual  aid  in  the  last  siege  of  the  Assyrian 
capital.  By  this  bold  course  he  secured  not  only  the  independence 
of  his  own  kingdom,  but  an  important  share  in  the  spoils  of  the 
mighty  empire  to  whose  destruction  he  had  contributed.  While 
the  northern  and  eastern  portions  of  the  Assyrian  territory  were 
annexed  by  Cyaxares  to  his  own  dominions,  the  southern  and 
western — the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  from  Hit  to  Carchemish, 
Syria,  Phoenicia,  Palestine,  and  perhaps  a  portion  of  Egypt — passed 

®  Abydenus  is  the  great  authority  for  els  "NTvov  iir  i<rr  par  ev  e  i  (1.  s.  c). 
these  statements.  His  words  have  been  "  The  active  part  which  the  Babylonians 
already  given  (see  Essay  vii.  p.  399,  note  ^).  took  in  the  siege  is  witnessed  (besides  the 
He  is  confirmed,  to  some  extent,  by  Poly-  authorities  already  quoted)  by  Josephus 
histor  (Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  c.  5,  §  3),  and  (Ant.  Jud.  X.  v.  §  1)  and  the  book  of  Tobit 
by  Berosus,  who  said  that  Nebuchadnezzar  (xiv.  15).  It  is  certainly  curious  that  Hero- 
was  married  to  a  Median  princess  (Fr.  14).  dotus  makes  no  mention  of  it. 

^  So  Syncellus  gives  the  name  (p.  396),         3  j  suppose  Cyaxares  to  have  been  the  real 

but  ^the   Armenian    Eusebius   has   Amuhia  ally  of  Nabopolassar,  1.  because  the  capture 

twice  (pars  i.  c.  5,  §  3,  and  c.  9,  §  2).  of  Nineveh  is  assigned  to  him  by  Herodotus  ; 

^  Polyhistor  made  him  send  the  troops :  2.   on    chronological    grounds,    because    he 

*'  Is  ad  Asdahagem,  qui  erat  Medico  gentis  reigned  from  B.C.  633  to  B.C.  593 ;  3.  be- 

praises  et  satrapa,  copias  auxiliares  misit  "  cause  his  name  corresponds  with  the  Assuerus 

(ap.  Euseb.  i.  c.  5,  §  3).     Abydenus,  on  the  of  the  book  of  Tobit  (xiv.   15).     The  fact 

other  hand,  represented  him  as  commanding  that  Polyhistor  aud  Abydenus  both  speak  of 

them  in  person  :    "contra  Ninevem  urbem  Asdaliages  (Astyages),  is  to  be  explained  by 

irnpetum    faciebat."       So   Syncellus,    ovros  the  use  of  that  term  as  a  fiY/e  by  the  Median 

crrpaTT^yhs  virh  ^apuKov  rov  XaASaiou  13a-  kings   generally.       (See   Essay  iii.    p.   331, 

triAe'cos  araAels,  Kara  rov  avTov  ^apaKov  note  ',  and  p.  338,  note  ^.) 


Essay  VIII.  POWEK  OF  NABOPOLASSAE.  417 

under  tlie  sceptre  of  the  king  of  Babylon.*  Jndaaa  was  at  this 
time  governed  b}^  Josiah,  who  probably  felt  no  objection  to  the 
change  of  masters  ;  and  as  the  transfer  of  allegiance  thus  took  place 
without  a  struggle,  we  do  not  find  any  distinct  mention  of  it  in 
Scripture.*  There  is,  however,  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  Baby- 
lonian dominion  was  at  once  extended  to  the  borders  of  Egypt, 
where  it  came  in  contact  with  that  of  the  Psammetichi ;  and  the 
result  is  seen  in  wars  which  shortly  arose  between  the  two  powers, 
wars  which  were  very  calamitous  to  the  Jews,  and  eventually  led 
to  their  transplantation. 

10.  It  is  not  improbable  that,  besides  an  augmentation  of  terri- 
tory, Babylon  gained  at  this  time  a  great  increase  in  its  population. 
It  appears  to  be  certain  that  Nineveh  was  not  only  taken,  but  de- 
stroyed,^ and  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  would  thus  become  the 
captives  of  the  conquerors.  Babylon  would  undoubtedly  receive 
her  full  share  of  the  prisoners,  and  hence  would  have  at  her  dis- 
posal from  the  very  foundation  of  the  empire  a  supply  of  human 
labour  capable  of  producing  gigantic  results.  Kabopolassar  availed 
himself  of  this  supply  to  commence  the  various  works  which  his 
son  afterwards  completed ;  and  its  existence  is  a  circumstance  to 
be  borne  in  mind  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  immense  construc- 
tions of  that  son,  Nebuchadnezzar. 

11.  Nabopolassar  occupied  the  throne  for  twenty-one  years — 
from  B.C.  625  to  B.C.  604  —  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Nebuchadnezzar.  The  chief  known  events  of  his  reign  are  the 
assistance  which  he  lent  to  Cyaxares  against  Alyattes,  and  the  war 
in  which  he  was  engaged  with  Neco.  If  the  Lj^dian  war  of 
Cyaxares  has  been  rightly  placed  between  b.c.  615  and  b.c.  610,^ 
it  must  have  preceded  the  attack  of  Neco,  which  was  in  b.c.  609 
or  608.  Whether  Nabopolassar  was  engaged  in  the  war  from  its 
commencement,  or  only  sent  troops  when  the  Medes  had  been 
several  times  defeated,^  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  Nothing  is 
known,  excepting  that  in  the  great  battle  which  was  stopped  by 
the  eclipse  said  to  have  been  predicted  by  Thales,  a  Babylonian 
prince — the  leader  undoubtedly  of  a  Babylonian  contingent — was 
present ;  and  that,  as  the  most  important  person,  next  to  Cyaxares, 
on  the  Median  side,  he  acted  as  one  of  the  mediators  by  whose  in- 
tercession the  war  was  brought  to  a  close,  friendly  relations  being 
henceforth  established  between  the  kingdoms  of  Lydia  and  Media.^ 
AVhether  this  prince  was  Nabopolassar  himself,  his  son  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, or  another  son,  of  whom  there  is  but  this  mention,  must  be  re- 
garded as  uncertain.'  This  is,  however,  a  matter  of  small  consequence. 


*  This  appears   sufficiently  in  Scripture,  ^  See  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  7  and  28 ;    Herod,  i. 

where  the  Babylonian  monarchy  succeeds  to  193;    Ezek.  xxxi.   11-17;   Nahum  iii.  18, 

the  Assyrian  as  paramount  over  Judaea.     It  &c. 

is  distinctly  declared  by  Berosus,  who  says  '  See  Essay  iii.  p.  336. 

that  Egypt,  Cojle-Syria,  and  Phoenicia  were  ^  Herod,  i.  74. 

ruled  by  a  satrap  receiving  liis  appointment  ^  Compare  Essay  i.  §  17. 

from  Nabopolassar  (Fr.  14-).  i  See  note  *  on  Book  i.  ch.  74.      The  most 

^  The  early  chapters  of    Jeremiah   (chs.  probable  supposition  is  that  Herodotus  has 
i.-vi.)  perhaps  refer  to  this  time ;   but  they  made  a  mistake  in  the  name.     His  Baby- 
are  prophetic,  not  historiciil.           •  Ionian  history .  is   exceedingly  incorrect  and 
VOL.  I.  2   E 


418  HIS  LYDIAN  AND  EGYPTIAN  WARS.        App.  Book  I. 

What  is  important  is  to  find  that  the  alliance,  between  the  Baby- 
lonians and  the  Medes  continued,  and  that  it  was  noM'-  for  a  second 
time  brought  into  active  operation.  No  fear  or  jealousy  was  as  yet 
entertained ;  *  Babylonia  was  ready  to  help  Media,  as  Media  will  be 
found  a  little  later  quite  ready  in  her  turn  to  lend  assistance  to 
Babylon. 

The  Egyptian  war  of  Nabopolassar  seems  to  have  commenced  in 
his  17th  year,  B.C.  609,  by  a  sudden  invasion  of  his  territory  on 
the  part  of  Neco,  the  son  of  Psammetichus.  Josiah,  king  of  Judah, 
moved  by  a  chivalrous  sentiment  of  fidelity,  and  not  regarding  the 
warnings  of  Neco  as  coming  "from  the  mouth  of  God,"^  though 
in  a  certain  sense  they  may  have  been  divinely  inspired,^  went  out 
with  the  small  force  which  he  could  hastily  raise  against  the  larger 
and  well-appointed  host  of  the  Egyptians.  Naturally  enough  he 
was  defeated,  and  the  Egyptian  king  pressed  forward  through 
Syria  towards  the  Euphrates,  which  he  made  the  boundary  between 
his  own  empire  and  that  of  the  king  of  Babylon.^  The  Babylonian 
governor  of  these  countries — if  indeed  he  was  a  distinct  person 
from  Neco  himself,  which  may  be  doubted^ — proved  a  traitor,  and 
Neco  returned  triumphant  to  Egypt,  passing  through  Jerusalem  on 
his  way,  where  he  deposed  Jehoahaz,  a  younger  son  of  Josiah, 
whom  the  Jews  had  made  king  in  the  room  of  his  father,  and 
gave  the  crown  to  Jehoiakim,  the  elder  brother  ;  ^  after  which  he 
seems  to  have  taken  Cadytis  or  Gaza.®  Nabopolassar  was  at  this 
time  weak  from  age,  and  perhaps  suffering  from  ill  health.^  Neco 
appears  to  have  retained  his  conquests  for  three  or  four  years. 
But  "in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim"'  (b.c.  605  or  604)  Nabo- 
polassar, feeling  his  inability  to  conduct  a  war,  sent  his  son  Nebu- 
chadnezzar at  the  head  of  a  large  army  against  the  Egyptians. 
The  two  hosts  met  at  Carchemish  on  the  Euphrates,  and  a  battle 
was  fought  in  which  the  Babylonian  prince  was  completely  vic- 


imperfect.      (See    the    Introductory   Essay,  old   when  he  began  to   reign,   and  reigned 

ch.  li.  p.  53.)  three  months  in  Jerusalem  "  (2  Kings  xxiii. 

2  Herodotus  tells  us  that  a  strong  feeling  31).       "  Jehoiakim    was    twenty   and   five 

of  jealousy  was  entertained  in  the  time  of  years,"    when,   immediately  upon   his   bro- 

Nitocris,  who,  according   to   him,   was  the  ther's  deposition,  he  was  appointed  to  suc- 

mother  of  the  last  king  (i.  185).  ceed  him  (ibid.  ver.  36). 

^  2    Chron.    xxxv.    22  :     "  He    (Josiah)  ^  See  Herod,  ii.  159,  and  compare  Jerem. 

hearkened  not  unto  the  words  of  Necho  from  xlvii.  1,  where  we  are  informed  that  a  Pha- 

the  mouth  of  God."  raoh,    who    is    almost    certainly   Pliaraoh- 

■*  That  is,  in  the  sense  that  Caiaphas  is  Necho,  "  smote  Gaza." 

said  to  have  "  prophesied,"  when  he  urged  ^  Oii   Svvdfxevos   ert   KaKoiraQeiv  is  the 

upon  the  Jews  that  it  was  "  expedient  that  expression  of  ]3erosus  (Fr.  14). 

oi^e  man  should  die  for  the  people  "  (John  ^  Jer.  xlvi.  2 :    "  The  army  of  Pharaoh- 

xi.  50-1).  Necho   king   of  Egypt,    which  was  by  the 

^  2  Kuigs  xxiv.  7.  river  Euphrates  in  Carchemish,  which  Nebu- 

^  I  suspect  that  Neco  himself  is  the  person  chadnezzar  king  of  Babylon  smote  in  the 
whom  Berosus  represented  as  satrap  of  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim."  This  is  pro- 
Egypt,  Ccele-Syria,  and  Phoenicia,  receiving  bably  the  battle  to  which  Berosus  alludes 
his  authority  from  Nabopolassar.  In  the  when  he  says :  '^vfxfj.i^as  8e  Na^ovxoSo- 
same  way  Polyhistor  made  Cyaxares  (Asda-  voaopos  r^  awoaTdrri  Koi  irapaTa^ajx^uos 
hages)  satrap  of  Media  (Euseb.  Chi'on.  Can.  avrov  re  iKpa.TT](Te,  kuI  ttju  x^P"-^  ^'^ 
pars  i.  c.  v.  §  3).  touttjs    rrjs    dpxvs    ^wh    ttjv    avrov    fia- 


"  Jehoahaz  was  twenty  and  three  years     aiA^iav  iiroirjaaro  (1.  s.  c). 


Essay  VIII.        FORTIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CAPITAL.  419 

torious.  Neco  "fled  apace"* — Nebuchadnezzar  advanced — Jehoi- 
akim  submitted  to  him  and  was  allowed  to  retain  his  throne^ — ■ 
the  whole  country  as  far  as  "  the  river  of  Egypt  "  was  recovered, 
and  so  severe  a  lesson  read  to  the  Egyptian  king,  that  he  "  came 
not  again  any  more  out  of  his  land,"  *  but  remained  henceforth  on 
the  defensive. 

12.  Meanwhile  Nabopolassar  died  at  Babylon  (b.c.  604),  after 
having  reigned  one  and  twenty  years.*  Nebuchadnezzar,^  who  was 
in  Egypt  or  upon  its  borders  when  the  news  reached  him,  hastily 
arranged  aifairs  in  that  quarter,  and  returned  with  all  speed,  ac- 
companied only  by  his  light  troops,  to  the  capital.  He  appears 
to  have  felt  some  anxiety  about  the  succession,  which,  however, 
proved  needless,  as  he  found  the  throne  kept  vacant  for  him  by  the 
Chaldseans.  The  bulk  of  his  army  and  his  numerous  captives — 
Je'ws,  Phoenicians,  Syrians,  and  Egyptians — arrived  later,  having 
followed  the  usual  route,  while  Nebuchadnezzar  had  crossed  the 
desert — probably  by  way  of  Tadmor  or  Palmyra.  The  captives 
were  planted  in  various  parts  of  Babylonia,^  and  their  numbers, 
added  to  that  of  the  Assyrian  prisoners,  gave  Nebuchadnezzar  that 
"unbounded  command  of  naked  human  strength"^  which  enabled 
him  to  cover  his  whole  territory  with  gigantic  works,  the  remains 
of  which  excite  admiration  even  at  the  present  day. 

13.  Of  all  the  works  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  most  extraordinary 
seem  to  have  been  the  fortifications'  of  the  capital.  A  space  of 
above  130  square  miles,®  five  or  six  times  the  area  of  London, 
was  enclosed  within  walls,  which  have  been  properly  described 
as  "  artificial  mountains,"  '  their  breadth  being  above  80  feet,  and 
their  height  between  300  and  400  feet  (!),  if  we  may  believe  the 
statements  of  eye-witnesses.*  This  wall  alone  must  have  contained 
— unless  the  dimensions  are  exaggerated — above  200,000,000  yards 
of  solid  masonry,  or  nearly  twice  the  cubic  contents  of  the  great 


'^  Jer.  xlvi.  5.  ments  of  Stralto,  which  probably  came  from 

3  2  Kings  xxiv.  1.  "*  Ibid.  ver.  7.  Aristobulus.       If    we   were   to   accept    the 

^  Beros.  Fr.  14.     The  cuneiform  remains  statement  of  Herodotus  with  respect  to  the 

of  Nabopolassar  are  very  scanty,  consisting  circumference  of  Babylon,  we  should  have  to 

only  of  a  few  tablets— containing  orders  on  raise  the  area  of  the  city  from  130  to  200 

the  imperial  treasury — which  were  found,  at  square  miles. 

Warka  (Loftus,   p.  221^2),  and  are  now  in         ^  Grote,    History  of  Greece,  vol.   iii,   p. 

the  British  Museum.     Nothing  is  very  re-  397,  note. 

markable  in  them  except  that  he  takes  the         2  Herodotus  makes  the  height  200  royal 

title  reserved  for  lords  paramount,  thereby  cubits,  which  is  at  least  337  feet,  8  inches 

showing  that  he  was  independent.  — possibly  373  feet,  4  inches.     (See  note  ^ 

^  I   adopt  this  form  of  the  name  as  that  on  Book  i.  ch,   178.)     Ctesias  gives  50  fa- 

with  which  we  are  most  familiar.     The  true  thorns,  or   200  ordinary   cubits,    somewhat 

orthography,  however,  is  Nabu-hiduri-uzur,  more  than  300  feet.     It  has  been  said  that 

which    is    well    represented   by   the    Nebu-  this  authority  is  valueless,  since  the  walls 

chadrezzar  (l-'iJNllS-nj)  of  Ezekiel  and  Je-  had  been  destroyed  by  Cyrus  (Beros.  Fr.  14), 

remiah,  and  the  Nabucod'rossor  of  Abydenus  and  by  Darius  (Herod,  iii.  159).     But  pro- 

and  Mecrasthenes.  "  bably  they  had  only  been  breached  by  these 

■^  These  particulars  are  all   recorded   by  kmgs.    Herodotus  and  Ctesias  speak  of  them 

Berosus  (Fr.  14).  as  existing  in  their  day  (vide  infra,  p.  432, 

«   Grote's  History  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.,  p.  iiote ') ;  and  Abydenus  expressly  states  that 

401,  the   wall   raised   by    Nebuchadnezzar     con- 

^  Thia  calculation  is  based  on  the  measui-e-  tinned  to  the  conquest  of  Alexander  {riix'i-frat 

2  E  2 


420 


GREAT  WORKS  OF  NEBUCHADNEZZAR.       App.  Book  I. 


wall  of  China.^  Inside  it  ran  a  second,  somewhat  less  thick,  but 
almost  as  strong,*  the  exact  dimensions  of  which  are  nowhere 
given.^  Nebuchadnezzar  appears  to  have  bnilt  the  latter  entirely, 
as  a  defence  for  his  "  inner  city ;"  ^  but  the  great  outer  wall  was 
an  old  work  which  he  merely  repaired  and  renovated.^  At  the 
same  time  he  constructed  an  entirely  new  palace — the  ruins  of 
which  remain  in  the  modern  Kasi- — a  magnificent  building,  which 
he  completed  in  fifteen  days  !  ^  Another  construction  (probably) 
of  this  monarch's  was  the  great  canal  of  which  Strabo  speaks^  (and 
which  may  be  still  distinctly  traced)',  running  from  Hit,  the  Is  of 
Herodotus,  to  the  bay  of  Graine  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  a  distance  of 
from  400  to  500  miles,  large  enough  to  be  navigated  by  ships,  and 
serving  at  once  for  purposes  of  trade,  for  irrigation,  and  for  protec- 
tion against  attacks  from  the  Arabs.  From  these  instances  we  may 
judge  of  the  scale  on  which  his  other  great  works  were  constructed. 
He  built  or  rebuilt  almost  all  the  cities  of  Upper  Babylonia,  Babylon 
itself,  upon  the  bricks  of  which  scarcely  any  other  name  is  found, 
Sippara,  Borsippa,  Cutha,  Teredon,  Chilmad,^  &c. ;  he  formed  aque- 
ducts,^ and  constructed  the  wonderful  hanging  gardens  at  Babylon  ;* 


5e  avQis  Hafiovxo^ovocropov  rh  ix4 XP  '■ 
T7JS  M  a  K  e  5  0  r  I  w  r  apx^js  ^la- 
fxelvav  ihv  x^^^^^^irvKov .  Ap.  Euseb. 
Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  10,  §  2.)  No  doubt 
the  wall  gradually  sank  in  height  from  want 
of  repairs,  and  hence  a  portion  of  it,  which 
Xenophon  saw  (Anab.  li.  iv.  §  12),  was  in 
his  day  no  more  than  a  hmidred  feet,  while 
by  the  time  of  Alexander  the  general  height 
was  perhaps  75  feet.  (Cf.  Strab.  xvi.  p. 
1048.) 

'  The  great  wall  of  China  is  1200  miles 
long,  from  20  to  25  feet  high,  and  from  15 
to  20  feet  broad.  It  was  estimated  (in 
1823)  to  contain  more  material  than  all  the 
buildings  of  the  British  empire  put  together 
(Transactions  of  Asiatic  Soc,  vol.  i.  p.  6, 
note). 

^  Herod,  i.  181. 

•^  The  Standard  Inscription  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar gives  the  circumference  of  his  "  inner 
city  "  as  16,000  cubits,  or  about  5  English 
miles.  (See  note  ^  on  Book  i.,  ch.  178,  and 
note  6  on  ch.  181.) 

6  Tris  evSov  TrJAecos.     Beros.  Fr.  14. 

7  The  old  wall  was  ascribed  to  the  mythic 
founder  Belus.  Abydenus  says  :  A^y^rai 
....  BtjAoi/  ....  BafivXcoua  T^ix^i  vrepi- 
^a\€%v'  rh  Se  xpovct}  t^  Ikv^v^^vco  afpaui- 
aOrjuat'  Tei;;tio'at  8e  avOts  'NafiovxoSou6- 
cropov,  K.  T.  A.  (Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  pars  i. 
c.  10,  §  2.)  The  Standard  Inscription  also 
speaks  of  the  great  wall  as  rebuilt. 

^  This  fact  (?)  is  recorded  in  the  Standard 
Inscription,  and  was  mentioned  also  by  Be- 
vosus.  (See  Fr.  14.  Ka\  T€ix'i(Ta5  a^ioXSyus 
T^v  ir6XLU,  Koi  Tovs  TTvKwvas  Koaixriaas 
Upoirp^irus,    irpocTKarecrK^vaa-e   ro7s    ttct- 


piKo75  fiacTiXeiois  eTepa  ISaaiAeia  ix^/J-^fo. 
avriJbv  wv  rb  jx\u  avdaTrjfxa  Kal  t^u 
Xonv7]V  TToXvreKeLav  irepiaahv  ^aws  hp 
6irJ  Aeyetu  TrK7)v  ws  ovra  ficydka  Kal 
vir€pri(paua,  crvueTeAeadr]  riix^pais  irevre- 
KaiScKa.)  Some  writers  exaggerated  this 
feat,  and  said  that  all  the  fortifications  were 
completed  in  fifteen  days.     (Abyden.  Fr.  9.) 

9  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1052. 

^  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  has  traced  the  course 
of  this  canal,  which  is  now  entirely  choked 
up,  from  Hit  almost  to  the  bay  of  Graine. 

2  The  fact  of  his  rebuilding  Babylon  is 
vouched  for  by  Berosus  (ap.  Joseph.  1.  s.  c), 
T^v  vTvdpxovaav  i^  apxvs  Tr6\iP  Kal  kripav 
e|w0ev  TTpoo'xo-P'-f^djj.evos  Kal  av  aKa  i- 
V  iff  as.  It  is  this  which  enables  Nebu- 
chadnezzar to  say,  in  the  book  of  Daniel, 
"  Is  riot  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have 
built?"  (Dan.  iv,  30).  The  other  cities  are 
assigned  to  him  either  because  his  name  is 
found  exclusively  upon  their  bricks,  or  be- 
cause they  are  expressly  declared  to  be  his 
in  the  inscriptions. 

3  These  are  mentioned  in  the  Standard 
Inscription,  and  in  the  Armenian  Eusebius 
(Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  11,  §  3). 

"*  Berosus  ap.  Joseph.  (1.  s.  c) ;  Abyden. 
ap.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  10,  p.  26. 
The  former  writer  thus  described  this  "  won- 
der of  the  world  ":  "  Within  the  precincts 
of  the  royal  palace  Nebuchadnezzar  raised 
up  to  a  vast  height  a  pile  of  stone  sub- 
structions, giving  them  as  far  as  possible 
the  appearance  of  natm'al  hills ;  he  then 
planted  the  whole  with  trees  of  different 
kinds,  and  thus  constructed  what  is  called 
the  hanging  garden ;   all  which   he  did  to 


Essay  VIII.        NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S  SIEGE  OF  TYRE. 


421 


he  raised  tlie  huge  pyramidal  temple  at  Borsippa,  which  still  re- 
mains in  the  Birs-i-Nimrud,^  together  with  a  vast  number  of  other 
shrines  not  hitherto  identified  f  he  formed  the  extensive  reservoir 
near  Sippara,  140  miles  in  circumference;''  he  built  quays  and 
breakwaters  along  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  ;^  he  made  em- 
bankments of  solid  masonry  at  various  points  of  the  two  great 
streams  ;^  and  finally  he  greatly  beautified,  if  he  did  not  actually 
rebuild,  the  famous  temple  of  Belus.' 

14.  During  the  time  that  he  was  constructing  these  great  works, 
Nebuchadnezzar  still  prosecuted  his  military  enterprises  with  vigour. 
Soon  after  his  departure  from  Syria,  Judaea  rebelled,  expecting 
(according  to  Josephus  *)  to  be  assisted  by  the  Egyptians ;  and 
Phoenicia  appears  about  the  same  time  to  have  thrown  off  the 
yoke.'  Nebuchadnezzar,  having  called  in  the  aid  of  Cyaxares, 
king  of  Media,  led  in  person  the  vast  army* — composed  of  the 
contingents   of  the  two   nations — which  marched  to  chastise  the 


pleasure  his  wife,  who  had  been  brought  up 
in  Media,  and  delighted  in  the  scenery  of 
mountain  regions."  Ctesias  appears  to  iiave 
furnished  the  dimensions  of  the  hanging 
garden  which  are  found  in  Diodorus  (ii.  10). 
According  to  this  writer  it  was  a  square  of 
400  feet. 

^  The  inscribed  bricks  of  this  building 
bear  his  name.  Its  construction  and  dedica- 
tion is  described  in  the  cylinders  which  Sir 
H.  Rawlinson  found  in  it  (see  Loftus's  Chal- 
daea,  pp.  29-30),  and  noticed  in  the  Standard 
Inscription  of  l^ebuchadnezzar,  of  which  the 
India  House  slab  is  the  most  perfect  copy. 
With  respect  to  its  size  and  shape,  we  may 
note  that,  like  the  temple  of  Belus  at  Baby- 
lon, and  the  great  Pyramid  of  Saccara,  it 
was  built  in  stages,  and  covered  an  area 
about  two-thirds  of  that  of  the  Pyramid  of 
Mycerinus.  The  present  height,  according 
to  Capt.  Jones's  survey,  is  rather  more  than 
150  feet ;  the  present  circumference  is  said 
to  be  above  2000  feet  (Rich,  First  Memoir, 
p.  36  ;  Ker  Porter,  vol.  ii.  p.  320).  Ori- 
ginally the  base  was  a  square  of  272  feet. 

^  An  account  is  given  of  these  in  the 
Standard  Inscription  referred  to  above. 

7  Abydeuus  ap.  Euseb.  (Pra^p.  Evang.  Lx. 
41).  'TTrep  ttjs  'Znriraprjvc^v  ttSKios  Acxk- 
Kov  6pv^dij.€vos,  irepifxeTpou  fx(:V  reacrapd- 
Kovra  irapaaayyeoov,  fidOos  Se  opyviewu 
etKocn,  K.  T.  A.  It  was  constructed  for  pur- 
poses of  irrigation. 

^  Abyden.  ap.  eund.  (1.  s.  c).  'ETre- 
Tei'xtcre  Se  Kol  TrjS  'Epvdpris  BaXdaaris 
rr]u  iiriKKvaiv. 

9  If  we  might  presume  that  Nitocins  was 
the  wife  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  that  the 
works  ascribed  to  her  were  really  for  the 
most  part  his  (Heeren's  As,  Res.  vol.  ii.  p. 
179),  then  the  great  embankments  along 
the   Euphrates   to   the  north   of    Babylon 


(Herod,  i.  185)  would  be  of  his  making. 
At  any  rate  he  constructed  some  works  of 
this  cliaracter ;  for  instance,  the  embank- 
ment at  Baghdad,  an  enormous  mass  of 
brickwork,  which  has  been  supposed  to  be 
of  the  age  of  the  Caliphs,  but  which  Sir  H. 
Rawlinson  has  found  to  date  from  the  time 
of  Nebuchadnezzar.  (See  the  Assyrian 
Commentary,  p.  77,  note.) 

^  Berosus  ap.  Joseph,  (contr.  Ap.  i.  20). 
Khrhs  5e  (6  tia^ovxo^ovoaopos)  airh  rcav 
e/c  Tov  TToAefMOu  Xa^vpwv  t6  re  Br}\ov 
i€phu  Kai  TO.  Aonra  Kocr/ATjcras  (piXorifxcas, 
K.  T.  A.  The  Standard  Inscription  also  men- 
tions the  restoration.  The  remains  of  the 
temple  of  Belus  still  exist  in  the  mound 
cidled  the  Mujelibe  by  Rich,  but  now  known 
to  the  Arabs  universally  as  Bahil,  This  is 
an  immense  pile  of  brick,  in  shape  an  oblong 
square,  facing  the  four  cardinal  points,  730 
yards  in  circumference,  and  from  100  to 
140  feet  high.  (See  Rich's  First  Memoir,  p. 
28.)  Two  of  the  sides,  those  facing  north 
and  south,  are  almost  exactly  a  stadium  in 
length.  The  other  two  are  shorter.  One  is 
four-fifths,  the  other  two-thirds  of  a  sta- 
dium. All  the  inscribed  bricks  hitherto 
discovered  at  the  Mujelibe  bear  the  name  of 
Nebuchadnezzar. 

2  Antiq.  Jud.  x.  6. 

^  Josephus  says  that  Nebuchadnezzar  be- 
gan the  siege  of  Tyre  in  the  seventh  year  of 
his  reign  (contr.  Apion.  i.  21).  It  was  in 
tliis  or  the  following  year  (compare  Jer.  lii. 
28,  with  2  Kings  xxiv.  12)  that  he  invaded 
Judaea  for  the  second  time. 

^  According  to  Polyhistor,  who  is  the 
chief  authority  for  the  facts  here  stated,  the 
joint  army  consisted  of  10,000  chariots, 
120,000  cavalry,  and  180,000  infantry  (Fr. 
24). 


422 


JECONIAH  MADE  KING  AND  DEPOSED.      App.  Book  I. 


rebels.'  He  immediately  invested  Tyre,  the  chief  of  the  Phoe- 
nician cities,  but  finding  it  too  strong  to  be  taken  by  assault, 
he  left  there  a  sufficient  force  to  continue  the  siege,  and  marched 
against  Jerusalem.^  Jehoiakim,  seeing  that  the  Egyptians  did  not 
stir,  submitted ;  but  Nebuchadnezzar  punished  him  with  death, 
establishing  Jeconiah  his  son  as  king  in  his  room.''  Shortly  after- 
wards, however,  becoming  suspicious  of  the  fidelity  of  this  prince, 
who  had  probably  shown  symptoms  of  rebellion,  he  came  against 
Jerusalem  for  the  third  time,  deposed  Jeconiah,  whom  he  carried 
away  captive  with  him  to  Babylon,  and  put  Zedekiah,  uncle  to 
Jeconiah,  upon  the  throne,^  Tyre  meanwhile  continued  to  resist 
all  the  efforts  that  were  made  to  reduce  it,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
thirteenth  year  from  the  first  investment  of  the  place  that  the  city  of 
merchants  fell.^     A  few  years  before  its  fall,  the  final  rebellion  of 


*  Antiq.  Jud.  vii.  4 :   2  Chron.  xxxvi.  6. 
^  In  this  arrangement  of   the  events  of 
Nebuchadnezzar's  reign,    I  differ  from  Mr. 
Kenrick   (Phoenicia,   pp.    385,   386).      He 
considers  it  "  evident "    that  the  attack  on 
Tyre  followed  the  capture  (final  ?)  of  Jeru- 
salem.    His  grounds  are: — 1.  The  opening 
words  of  Ezekiel's  26th  chapter  :   "  It  came 
to  pass  in  the  eleventh   year  "  (B.C.   586), 
"in   the  first  day  of  the  month,   that  the 
word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me  saying.  Son 
of  man,  because  that  Tyrus  hath  said  against 
Jerusalem,  Aha,  she  is  broken  that  was  the 
gates  of  the  people,  she  is  turned  unto  me ; 
I  shall  be  replenislied  now  that  she  is  laid 
waste  :   therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  am 
against    thee,    0   Tyrus,   and   I  will   cause 
many   nations    to    come   up  against   thee." 
2.    The   improbability   of    Nebuchadnezzar 
engaging   in    the    siege   of  Tyre,  "  while  a 
place  of  such  strength  in  his  rear  as  Jeru- 
salem was   still  unsubdued."    And,  3.  The 
inconsistency  between  the  statement  of  Jo- 
sephus  that  the  siege  began  in  Nebuchad- 
nezzar's seventh  year,  and  his  own  reckoning 
of  the  interval  between  the  capture  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  accession  of  Cyrus.     It  may 
be   replied,    1.    That  Ezek.    xxvi.    certainly 
shows  that   the   capture   of  Tyre   did  not 
precede  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  but  proves  no- 
thing  with    respect    to    the    first   attack. 
2.  That   the   improbability   is    exactly    the 
reverse  of  that  stated,  since  Jerusalem  is  not 
in  the  rear  of  an  invader    advancing  from 
Babylon  through  Coele-Syria  against  Tyre, 
but  Tyre  is  in  the  rear  of  one  who  advances 
upon  Jerusalem.     And,  3.  That  the  years 
.   given  by  Josephus  from  the  Tyrian   annals 
are  calculated  to  the  accession  of  Cyi'us  in 
Persia,  as  is  evident  in  the  passage  itself 
(contr.  Ap.  i.   21,  iirt  tovtov — scil.   Elpca- 
fiov  —  Kvpos    HepcTcov    iSvvdiXTev- 
.   (T  e  v),   and  that  they  exactly  Jill  up  the 
interval,  if  we 'make  a  single  correction  from 
the  Armenian  version  of  Eusebius.     From 


the  seventh  of  Nebuchadnezzar  (B.C.  598)  to 
the  first  of  Cyrus  in  Persia  (B.C.  558)  is  40 
years,  which  are  made  up  within  a  few 
months,  by  the  13  years  of  Ithobaal,  the  10 
of  Baal,  the  two  months  of  Etnibaal  or  Ecni- 
baal,  the  10  months  of  Chelbes,  the  3  months 
of  Abbaal,  the  6  years  of  Mytgon  and  Geras- 
tartus,  the  1  year  of  Balator,  the  4  years  of 
Merbal,  and  the  four  (not  fourteen)  yei\rs  of 
Hirom, — in  all  39  years  and  3  months. 

7  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  x.  7 ;  Jer.  xxii.  18, 
and  xxxvi.  30.  The  non-arrival  of  expected 
succours  from  Egypt  is  indicated  2  Kings 
xxiv.  7. 

^  2  Kings  xxiv.  11-17  ;  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud. 
X.  8. 

9  Josephus,  citing  the  Tyrian  histories 
[ras  Tcav  ^olv'ikuiv  avaypacpas),  says  eVo- 
Xi6pK7](Te  'Nal3ovxo^ov6aopos  Tr)v  Tvpou 
eV  err)  SeKarpia.  He  also  quotes  Philo- 
stratus  to  the  same  effect  (Ant.  Jud.  x.  11, 
§  2).  He  does  not  positively  say  that  Tyre 
was  taken.  Heeren  (As.  Nat.  vol.  ii.  p.  11) 
throws  some  doubt  on  the  fact  of  the  capture, 
which  (he  observes)  "  rests  upon  the  pro- 
phecy of  Ezekiel  (ch.  xxvi.)  alone,"  and  is 
contradicted  by  a  later  passage  in  the  same 
prophet  (xxix.  18),  which  "shows  that  the 
attempt  to  subdue  it  failed."  But  the  cap- 
ture is  prophesied  by  Jeremiah  as  well  as 
Ezekiel  (Jer.  xxvii.  3-6)  ;  and  by  Ezekiel  in 
such  positive  terms  that  we  cannot  question 
the  fact  without  denying  the  inspiration  of 
the  prophet,  and  by  implication  that  of  Scrip- 
ture generally.  Nor  is  the  passage  in  the 
29th  chapter  at  all  inconsistent  with  the  no- 
tion that  Tyre  had  been  taken.  It  may  only 
mean  that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  obtained  no 
sufficient  recompence  for  the  toil  and  expense 
of  the  siege.  Mr.  Kenrick  thinks  that  the 
continental  Tyre  (Palaetyrus)  was  taken,  but 
that  the  island  Tyre  escaped.  He  rightly 
rejects  Jerome's  account  of  a  mole  or  dam 
thrown  by  Nebuchadnezzar  across  the  strait, 
but  he  very  insufficiently  meets  the  suggestion 


I 


Essay  VIII.  CAPTURE  OF  JERUSALEM.  423 

Jerusalem  had  taken  place.*  The  accession  of  a  new  and  enterprising 
monarch  in  Egypt,  Uaphris,  the  Apries  of  Herodotus,  and  the  Tha- 
raoh-Hophra  of  Scripture,'^  gave  the  Jews  hopes  of  once  more  reco- 
vering their  independence.  Zedekiah  revolted,  sending  ambassadors 
to  Egypt  to  entreat  Apries  to  espouse  his  quarrel.^  Although  the 
application  seems  to  have  been  favourably  received,  the  Egyptians 
were  slow  to  move,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  had  reached  Jerusalem  and 
formally  invested  the  city,  before  Apries  advanced  to  their  relief.* 
On  the  news  of  his  approach  Nebuchadnezzar  raised  the  siege,  and 
marched  to  encounter  the  more  powerful  enemy.  According  to* 
Josephus,*  a  battle  was  fought  in  which  Apries  was  completely 
defeated;  but  the  narrative  of  Scripture  rather  implies  that  the 
Egyptian  troops  retired  on  the  advance  of  the  Babylonians,  and 
avoided  an  engagement.^  The  siege  of  Jerusalem  was  resumed, 
and  pressed  with  such  vigour,  that  in  the  third  year  from  the  first 
appearance  of  Nebuchadnezzar  before  the  walls,  the  city  fell.  Zede- 
kiah was  taken  prisoner,  his  eyes  were  put  out,  and  he  was  carried 
to  Babylon.  The  city  and  temple  were  burnt,  the  walls  levelled 
with  the  ground,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  transplanted 
to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.''  Tyre  seems  to  have  capitulated  in 
the  next  year  (b.c.  585).^ 

15.  After  these  successes  the  Babylonian  monarch  appears  to 
have  indulged  in  a  brief  repose.  In  the  5th  year  however  from 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  he  again  led  an  army  into  the  field,** 
and  proceeded  through  Syria  and  Palestine  into  Egypt,'  which  was 
still  under  the  rule  of  Apries.  Here  again,  his  arms  triumphed. 
Josephus  relates  that  he  put  the  reigning  monarch  to  death,  and 
set  up  another  king  in  his  room  f  but  this  is  inconsistent  with  both 
chronology  and  history,  and  is  not  at  all  required  (as  Josephus  may 
have  imagined)  by  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel.**     Apries 


that  the  Babylonians  being  masters  of  the  the  king  of  Judah,  that  sent  you  unto  me  to 

rest  of  Phoenicia,  would  have  a  strong  naval  enquire  of  me  :  Behold  Pharaoh's  army,  which 

force,  and  may  have  taken  the  island  by  a  is   come  forth  to  help  you,  shall  return  to 

blockade.    He  too,  like  Heeren,  supposes  that  Egypt  into  their  own  laud." 

prophecy  can  remain  imfulfilled  (Phoenicia,  "^  2  Kings  xxv.  1-10 ;  Jer.  lii.  1-14. 

p.  390).     The  threats  of  Ezekiel  are  clearly  ^  The  capture  of  Jerusalem  was  "  in  the 

directed  especially  against  the  Island  City  (see  nineteenth  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar  "   (Jer. 

Ezek.  xxvi.  15-18,  xxvii.  32,  xxviii.  2,  kc).  lii.  12).     Tyi-e  was  invested  in  his  seventh 

^  In  the  ninth  year  of  Zedekiah  (2  Kings  year,  and  besieged  thirteen  years.    This  woula 

xxv.  1 ;  Jer.  xxxix.  1,  &c.),  three  years  before  bring  its  capture  into  Nebuchadnezzar's  twen- 

the  fall  of  Tyre.  tieth  year. 

2  Jer.  xliv.  30.  9  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  x.  9. 

^  Ezek.  xvii.  15.       "He  rebelled  against  ^  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  attack  was 

him  in  sending  his  ambassadors  into  Egypt,  provoked  by  aggressions  on  the  part  of  Egypt, 

that  they  miglit  give  him  horses  and  much  Herodotus  tells  that  Apries  marched  an  army 

people."  to  attack  Sidon,  and  fought  a  battle  with  the 

'*  Jer.  xxxvii.  5;  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  x.  9.  king  of  Tyre  by  sea  (ii.  161).     These  acts 

^  Antiq.  Jud.  x.  9.  would  have  constituted  an  aggression  upon 

6  Jer.  xxxA'ii.  5-7.  "  Then  Pharaoh's  army  Babylonia  at  any  part  of  the  reign  of  Apries. 

was  come  forth  out  of  Egypt :  and  when  They  are  likely  to  have  followed  the  humilia- 

the  Chalda;ans  that  besieged  Jerusalem  heard  tion  of  Phoenicia  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the 

tidings  of  them,  they  departed  from  Jeru-  withdrawal  of  the  Babylonian  forces  after  the 

salem.    Then  came  the  word  of  the  Lord  imto  fall  of  Tyre, 

the  prophet  Jeremiah,  saying,  Thus  saith  the  2  Antiq.  Jud.  1.  s.  c. 

Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  Thus  shall  ye  say  to  ^  The  strongest  passage  is  the  well-known 


424  LYCANTHROPY  OF  NEBUCHADNEZZAR.        App.  Book  I. 

probably  fled  into  some  stronghold,  wbile  Nebuchadnezzar  ravaged 
the  open  country,  and  took  many  of  the  towns.  It  does  not  how- 
ever appear  that  he  made  any  permanent  conquest  of  Egypt,  which 
ten  or  twelve  years  afterwards  is  found  acting  as  an  autonomous 
state,  and  attempting  the  reduction  of  the  distant  settlements  of 
Cyrene  and  Barca.*  Probably  he  was  content  to  return  with  his 
spoil  and  his  captives,  having  sufficiently  resented  the  affront  which 
had  been  offered  him,  and  secured  his  dominions  in  that  quarter 
from  any  further  attack. 

'  16.  The  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar — a  period  of 
about  eighteen  years — is  not  distinguished  by  any  known  event  of 
historical  importance.^  The  embellishment  of  his  capital,  and  the 
great  works  of  public  utility  which  he  had  commenced  in  various 
parts  of  his  kingdom,  may  have  principally  occupied  him.  During 
seven  years  however,  out  of  the  eighteen,  he  was  incapacitated  from 
performing  the  duties  of  his  station  by  the  malady  sent  to  punish 
his  pride,  a  form,  apparently,  of  the  madness  called  Lycanthropy.^ 
It  is  impossible  to  fix  exactly  either  the  commencement  or  the  ter- 
mination of  this  attack.  We  may  gather  from  Scripture  that  he 
reigned  for  some  years  after  his  recovery  from  it  ;^  but  neither 
Scripture  nor  Josephus  furnishes  us  with  any  exact  chronology  for 
this  portion  of  his  life. 

17.  After  a  reign  of  forty-three  years,  the  longest  recorded  of 
any  Babylonian  monarch,  Nebuchadnezzar  died  (b.c.  561).  He  was 
succeeded  by  Illoarudamus,  or  Evil-Merodach  ;^  who  is  declared, 

one  in  Jeremiah  (xliv.  30),  where  Apries  is  in  his  "  Kleine  Schriften"  (vol.  iii.  pp.  157 
mentioned  by  name.  "  Behold,  I  will  give  et  seqq.)  :  "  Die  Lycanthropie  ein  Aberglaube 
Pharaoh-Hophra,  king  of  Egypt,  into  the  nnd  eine  Krankheit."  There  is  perhaps  a 
hands  of  his  enemies,  and  into  the  hands  reference  to  this  illness  in  the  Standard  In- 
of  them  that  seek  his  life."  But,  1.  this  scription  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  (See  the  Ap- 
need  not  mean  that  he  should  be  put  to  pendix  to  Book  iii.  note  A.  sub  fin.) 
death,  for  in  the  same  passage  Zedekiah,  who  ''  Otherwise  it  could  scarcely  be  said  that 
was  not  put  to  death,  is  said  to  have  been  he  was  afterwards  "  established  in  his  king- 
delivered  "  into  the  hand  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  dom,  and  excellent  majesty  was  added  unto 
king  of  Babylon,  his  enemy,  and  that  sought  him  "    (Dan.  iv.  36). 

his  life ; "    and,  2.  the  reference  need  not  be  '      ^  That  these  two  names  represent  one  and 

to  Nebuchadnezzar — the  enemies  spoken  of  the  same  king  is  evident,  not  so  much  from 

may  be  Amasis  and  his  party.     The  other  the  resemblance  between  them,  which  is  but 

passages  (Ezek.  xxx,  21-4,  xxxii.  31-2)   are  slight,  as  from  the  year  assigned  for  the  ac- 

even  less  determinate.  cession  of  each,  which,  both  in  Scripture  and 

'*  According  to  Josephus   (Antiq.  Jud.  x.  in  the  Astronomical  Canon,  is  the  forty-fourth 

10),  Egypt  was  invaded  in  the  23rd  year  of  from  the  accession  of  Nebuchadnezzar.     For, 

Nebuchadnezzar,  which  was  B.C.  582.     The  as  the  1st  year  of  Jehoiachin's  captivity  was 

expedition  of  Apries  against  Cyrene  was  B.C.  the  8th  of  Nebuchadnezzar  (2  Kings  xxiv.  12), 

571  or  B.C.  570.  the37thyearofhiscaptivity  would  have  been 

^  It  may  be  suspected  that  Nebuchadnezzar  the  44th  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  if  he  had  lived  so 

invaded  Egypt  a  second  time  about  B.C.  570  long.     But  he  died  after  a  reign  of  43  years, 

(Ezek.  xxix.  17-20),  when  he  deposed  Apries  according  to  the   Canon   (confirmed  in  this 

and  set  up  Amasis,  who  was  perhaps  his  tri-  point  by  Josephus,  Berosus,  Abydenus,  &c.). 

butary.     (See  App,  to  Book  ii.  ch.  8,  §  37.)  It  was  therefore  the  first  year  of  his  successor, 

The  fables  of  Megasthenes — who  made  Nebu-  Illoarudamus.    Scripture  expressly  states  that 

chadnezzar  march  along  Africa  and  across  it  was  the  first  year  of  Evil-merodach  (2 

into  Spain,  subdue  that  country,  and  plant  Kings  xxv.  27).     Probably  the  name  Illoaru- 

his  captives  on  the  shores  of  the  Eiixine  (Fr.  damns  (IAA0AP0TAAM02)  has  been  cor- 

22) — are  not  to  be  regarded  as  history.  rupted  from  Illoamordachus  (lAAOAMOP- 

^  See  on  this  subject  the  paper  of  Welcker  AAX02). 


Essay  VIII.  REIGN  OF  NERIGLISSAR.  425 

by  the  united  testimony  of  the  best  authorities,  to  have  been  his 
son.^  This  prince  reigned,  according  to  the  Astronomical  canon, 
but  two  years,  and  was  followed  by  I^erigassolassarus,  or  Neri- 
glissar ;  whom  Berosus  *  and  Abydenus  *  represent  to  have  been 
the^  husband  of  his  sister.  According  to  these  writers  Xeriglissar 
obtained  the  throne  by  the  murder  of  his  brother-in-law,  who  is 
accused  by  Berosus  of  provoking  his  fate  by  lawlessness  and  intem- 
perance.^ The  single  action  by  which  Evil-Merodach  is  known  to 
us — his  compassionate  release  of  Jehoiachin  from  prison  in  the  first 
year  of  his  reign,  and  kind  treatment  of  him  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life* — is  very  remarkable  in  contrast  with  this  unfavourable 
estimate  of  his  character.'* 

18.  Of  Neriglissar  (Nergal-shar-uzur),  the  successor  of  Evil-Mero- 
dach, who  ascended  the  throne  in  B.C.  559,  very  little  is  known 
beyond  the  fact  of  his  relationship  to  the  monarch  whom  he  suc- 
ceeded, and  the  bloody  deed  by  which  he  obtained  possession  of 
the  supreme  power.  It  is  probable,  though  not  certain,  that  he 
was  the  "  Nergal-sharezer,  the  Eab-Mag,"  who,  nearly  thirty  years 
previously,  accompanied  the  army  of  Nebuchadnezzar  to  the  last 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  who  was  evidently  at  that  time  one  of  the 
chief  ofBcers  of  the  crown.^  He  bears  the  title  of  Eab-Mag  in  the 
inscriptions/  and  calls  himself  the  son  of  '^  Bil-zikkar-iskun,^  king 
of  Babylon;"  who  may  possibly  have  been  the  "  chief  Chaldsean" 
said  by  Berosus  ^  to  have  watched  over  the  kingdom  between  the 
death  of  Nabopolassar  and  the  return  of  Nebuchadnezzar  from 
Egypt  to  assume  the  government.  Some  remains,  not  very  ex- 
tensive, have  been  found  of  a  palace  which  Neriglissar  built  at 
Babylon.  He  was  probably  advanced  in  life  when  he  ascended 
the  throne;*  and  hence  he  held  it  but  four  years,  or  rather  three 


^  Berosus  (ap.  Joseph,  contr.  Apion.  i.  21),  him  of  the  king,  a  daily  rate  for  every  day, 

Abydenus  (ap.  Euseb.  Ghron.  Can.  i.   10),  all  the  days  of  his  life." 
Polyhistor  (ap.  eund.  i.  5),   Josephus  (Ant.  ^  Perhaps,  however,  the  Babylonians  might 

Jud.  X.  11).  regardsachunwontedclemency  as  a  departure 

*  Berosus  says  expressly,  EueiA/xapaSouxos  from  their  usages. 
iirifiov\€v6els  virh  rod  t^u  aSeAcprjv  eyov-  ^  Jerem,   xxxix.    3  and   13-4.       Gesenius 

ros  avTOv  NripiyXiacroopov  avripdOrj.     (Ap.  (Lex.  p.  388,  E.  T.)  understands  hy  Eab-Mag 

Joseph,  cont.  Ap.  1.  s.  c.)  '  "  the  chief  of  the  Magi,"  but  this  interpreta- 

2  Abydenus  calls  Neriglissar  less  definitely  tion  is  very  doubtful. 
the  KTjSecTTTjs  of  Evil-merodach.    (Ap.  Euseb.         '  The   title  in  the  inscriptions   reads   as 

Pra?p.  Ev.  ix.  41.)  Bubu  emga.     It  is  of  Hamite  origin,  and  ap- 

^  XlpocTTas  Tuiv  Trpay/xaTwu  avojxus  koL  pears  in  some  of  the  earliest  legends.     The 

aiT^Xyws.  meaning  is  in  all  probability  "  chief  priest." 

^  2  Kings  XXA-.  27-30.     "  And  it  came  to  — [H.  C.  R.] 
pass  in  the  seven-and-thirtieth  year  of  the         ^  This  is  the  Semitic  or  Assyrian  reading  of 

captivity  of  Jehoiachin  king  of  Judah,  in  the  the  name.     The  Hamite  or  Babylonian  form, 

twelfth  month,  on  the  seven-and-twentieth  which  is  that  occurring  on  the  Cambridge 

day  of  the  month,  that  Evil-merodach  king  Cylinder,  should  probably  be  read  as  "  Bei- 

of  Babylon,  in  the  year  that  he  began  to  reign,  mu-ingar,"  the   meaning  of  which  Ls,  "  Bel 

did  lift  up  the  head  of  Jehoiachin  out  of  pri-  appoints  a  name." — [H.  C.  R.] 
son;  and  he  spake  kindly  to  him,  and  set  his         ^  Fr.  14.     UapaXa^c^v  5e   (6  Na/Souxo- 

throne  above  the  throne  of  the  kings  that  wei  e  dQv6(ropos}  ra  irpdyfiaTa  dioiKov/x^va  virh 

with  him  in  Babylon,  and  changed  his  prison  ruv  XaXdalcop  Koi  hiaTr\pov[x4vr]v  ttju  fiacn- 

garments  :  and  he  did  eat  bread  continually  K^iav  virh    r  ov   l3e\riaTov    avT  wv, 

before  him  all  the  days  of  his  life.     And  his  k.  t.  A. 
allowance  was  a  continual  allowance  given         '  If  we  identify  him  with  the  Nergalshar- 


426  LABOROSOARCHOD.  App.  Book  I. 

years  and  a-half,'  dying  a  natural  death  in  B.C.  556,  and  leaving 
the  crown  to  his  son,  Laborosoarchod,  or  Labossoracus  ;  who,  though 
a  mere  boy,  appears  to  ^have  been  allowed  quietly  to  assume  the 
sceptre.^ 

19.  Keriglissar,  during  his  brief  reign  of  less  than  four  years, 
must  have  witnessed  the  commencement  of  that  remarkable  revo- 
lution which  was  in  a  short  time  to  change  completely  the  whole 
condition  of  Western  Asia.  The  year  following  his  accession  is 
most  likely  that  in  which  Cyrus  dethroned  Astyages,^  and  esta- 
blished the  supremacy  of  the  Persians  from  the  deserts  of  Car- 
mania  to  the  banks  of  the  Halys.  How  this  ^ event  affected  the 
relations  of  Babylonia  towards  foreign  powers  we  are  nowhere  dis- 
tinctly informed ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  its  tendency 
must  have  been  to  throw  Babylon  into  an  attitude  of  hostility 
towards  the  Arian  race,  and  to  attach  her  by  a  community  of  in- 
terests to  the  Lydian  and  Egyptian  kingdoms.  A  tie  of  blood  had 
hitherto  united  the  royal  families  of  the  two  great  empires  which 
had  divided  between  them  the  spoils  of  Assyria  :  this  tie  was  now 
broken,  or  greatly  weakened.^  Mutual  benefits — a  frequent  inter- 
change of  good  offices — had  softened  the  natural  feelings  of  hos- 
tility between  Medes  and  Babylonians — Scytho-Arians  and  Semites 
— the  worshippers  of  Ormazd  or  of  the  elements,  and  the  devotees 
of  Bel  and  K  ebo.  But  these  services,  rendered  to  or  received  from 
the  Medes,  could  count  as  nothing  in  the  eyes  of  that  new  race, 
which  had  swept  away  the  Median  supremacy,  and  which  already 
aspired  to  universal  dominion.  Babylon  must  at  once  have  feared 
that  terrible  attack,  which,  although  delayed  by  circumstances  for 
twenty  years,  manifestly  impended  over  her  from  the  moment  when 
king  Astyages  succumbed  to  the  superior  genius  of  Cyrus. 

20.  Laborosoarchod,®  the  son  of  Neriglissar,  sat  upon  his  father's 
throne  but  nine  months.  He  is  said  to  have  given  signs  of  a 
vicious  disposition,  and  thereby  to  have  aroused  the  fears  or  pro- 

ezer    of   Jeremiah,  and  regard    him  as   at  558. 

least  30  when  he  held  high  office  at  the  siege         ^  Broken,  if  Cyrus  was  no  relation  to  As- 

of  Jerusalem  (B.C.  586),  he  must  have  been  tyages,  as  Ctesias  said  (Pers.  Exc.  §  2)  ;  greatly 

at  least  57  at  his  accession.  weakened,  if  he  was  grandson  of  Astyages  on 

2  The  nine  months  of  Laborosoarchod,  which  the  mother's  side  (Herod,  i.  108). 

are  omitted  from  the  Canon,  must  be  deducted  ^  The  true  reading  of  this  name  is  v6ry 

from  the  adjoining  reigns  to  obtain  their  real  doubtful.     It  has  not  been  found  upon  the 

length.  monuments.     Josephus  gives  it  in  one  place 

3  Beros.  Fr.  14.  Compare  Abyd.  Frs.  8  as  Labosordachus  (Ant.  Jud.  x.  11,  §  2),  in 
and  9.  another,  where  he  professes  to  quote  Berosus 

^  The  date  of  B.C.  529  for  the  accession  of  (see  the  next  note),  as  Laborosoarchodus.    Ac- 

Cambyses  is  fixed  by  the  Canon  of  Ptolemy,  cording  to  the  Greek  Eusebius  (Praep.  Ev.  ix. 

as  well  as  by  the  numbers  of  Herodotus,  and  41)  Abydenus  used  the  form  Labassoarascus  ; 

may  be  regarded  as  absolutely  certain.      The  according  to  the  Armenian  Eusebius  he  spoke 

year  to  be  assigned  for  the  defeat  of  Astyages  of  Labossoracus  (Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  10). 

will  depend  upon  the  length  of  the  reign  of  The  uniformity  with  which  the   initial  L  is 

Cyrus.     This  is  given  at  29  (Herodotus),  30  used  tells  against  Niebuhr's  view,  that  we 

(Ctesias  and  Dino),  and  31  years  (Syncellus,  have  in  Laborosoarchod  "the  same  roots"  as 

&c.).     The  authority  of  Herodotus  far  out-  in  Nebuchadrezzar  (Lectures  on  Anc.  Hist.  vol. 

weighs  that  of  Ctesias  and    Dino  ;    besides  i.  p.  38,  E.  T.).      M.  Oppert  conjectures  the 

which  his  is  an  exact,  theirs  may  be  only  a  native  form  to  have  been  Irih-akhi-mardoc 

round  number.     The  accession  of  Cyrus  nuist  (Rapport,  p.  51). 
thus  be  regarded  as  falling  into  the  year  B.C. 


Essay  VIII. 


NABONIDUS— WORKS  OF  NITOCRIS. 


427 


voted  the  resentment  of  his  friends  and  connexions.  A  conspiracy 
was  formed  against  him  among  his  courtiers,  and  he  was  pnt  to  a 
cruel  death.^  The  conspirators  then  selected  one  of  their  number, 
a  man  of  no  very  great  eminence  previously,^  and  placed  him  upon 
the  vacant  throne.  This  was  Nabonidus,  or  Kabonadius,^  the  last 
king,  the  Labynetus  II.  of  Herodotus. 

21.  The  accession  of  Kabonadius  (^Nahu-nit  or  Nahc-nahit),  B.C.  555, 
nearly  synchronises  with  the  commencement  of  the  war  between 
Cyrus  and  Croesus.  It  was  probably  in  the  very  first  year  of  his 
reign  that  the  ambassadors  of  the  Lydian  king  arrived  with  their 
proposition  of  a  grand  confederation  of  nations  against  the  power 
which  was  felt  to  threaten  the  independence  of  all  its  neighbours. 
It  was  the  bold  conception  of  Croesus  to  unite  the  three  lesser 
monarchies  of  the  East  against  the  more  powerful  fourth ;  and 
Nabonadius  was  scarcely  seated  upon  the  throne  before  he  was  called 
upon  to  join  in  a  league  with  Egypt  and  Ly  dia,  whereby  it  was  hoped 
to  offer  effectual  resistance  to  the  common  enemy.^  The  Babylonian 
prince  entered  readily  into  the  scheme.  He  was,  to  all  appearance, 
sufficiently  awake  to  his  own  danger.  Already  were  those  remark- 
able works  in  course  of  construction,  which,  being  attributed  by 
Herodotus  to  a  queen,  Nitocris — the  mother,  according  to  him,  of 
the  last  Babylonian  monarch  * — have  handed  her  name  down  to  all 


"^  AafiopoaodpxoSos  eKvpieva^  fievrris  fia- 
aiXsiasTTois  &v,ixv,vas  ivv^a'  iTril3ov\ev9eh 
Se  5ta  rh  iroXka  i/xcpaiv^LV  KaKorjOir},  virh 
tS>v  (p'lKav  aireTv/uLirauiadr].  Berosus  ap. 
Joseph,  contr.  Ap.  i.  21.  Abydenus  agrees 
(Frs.  8  and  9),  but  is  briefer. 

^  The  expression  used  by  Berosus  is  "  a 
certain  Nabonnedus,  a  Babylonian "  (Na- 
fi6uj/7]d6s  Tis  Twv  iK  BafivXcovos).  Aby- 
denus remarked  that  he  was  not  related  to 
his  predecessor  (ap.  Euseb.  Pra?p.  Ev.  ix.  41). 
It  has  generally  been  supposed  that  Herodotus 
regarded  liim  as  the  son  of  his  first  Labynetus, 
the  prince  who  assisted  Cyaxares  against  the 
Lydians  (Clinton,  F.  H;  vol.  ii.  p.  372-3 ; 
Jackson,  Chron.  Ant,  vol.  i.  p.  421);  but 
there  is  no  proof  of  this,  Herodotus  merely 
asserts  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  Labynetus  (i. 
188).  He  does  not  state  the  rank  of  his  father, 
or  say  anything  to  identify  him  with  the  for- 
mer Labynetus,  And  there  would  be  a  diffi- 
culty in  his  supposing  the  son  of  that  monarch 
to  be  contemporary  with  the  great-grandson 
of  Cyaxares.  By  the  monuments  Nabu-nahit 
appears  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  certam 
Nabu-*  *-dirba,  who  is  called  "  Rab-Mag," 
like  Neriglissai',  and  was  therefore  a  person 
of  considerable  official  rank, 

9  There  are  two  distinct  forms  of  this 
prince's  name,  both  in  classical  writers  and  in 
the  Inscriptions.  In  the  latter  his  name  is 
ordinarily  Nabu-nit,  or,  as  it  is  now  read, 
Nabu-nahit,  but  sometimes  the  form  Nabu- 
imduk  or  Nabu-induk  is  used.  The  classical 
writers   express  the  former  by  Nabonidus, 


Nabonadius,  Nabonnedus,  or  (as  Herodotus) 
by  Labynetus — the  latter  may  be  traced  in 
the  Nabannidochus  of  Abydenus  (Fr,  9),  and 
the  Naboandelus  (Naboandechus  ?  )  of  Jose- 
phus  (Ant,  Jud.  x.  ll,  §  2).  INabu-nahit 
is  the  Semitic  or  Assyrian,  and  Nabu-induk 
the  Hamite  or  Babylonian  form.  The  one  is 
a  mere  translation  of  the  other,  and  the  two 
forms  are  used  inditferently.  The  meaning 
is,  "  Nebo  blesses  "  or  "  makes  prosperous." 
— H.  C.  R,] 

1  Herod,  i.  77, 

2  The  Nitocris  of  Herodotus  still  figures  in 
history  upon  his  sole  authority.  She  was  evi- 
dently unrecognised  by  Berosus — she  has  no 
place  in  the  Canon — and  no  trace  of  her  ap- 
pears in  the  Inscriptions,  Her  Egyptian  name 
is  singular,  but  not  inexplicable,  since  we  may 
easily  imagine  one  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  nobles 
marrying  an  Egyptian  captive.  The  theories 
which  regard  her  as  the  wife  of  Evil-mero- 
dach  (Wesseling  ad  Herod,  i,  185),  or  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  (Heeren,  As,  Nat.  vol,  ii.  p. 
179,  E.  T,  ;  Niebuhr,  Lectures  on  Anc.  Hist, 
vol,  i,  p,  37 ;  Clinton,  F.  H,  vol,  i.  p.  279 
note),  are  devoid  of  any  sure  foundation,  and 
present  considerable  difficulties.  Herodotus 
distinctly  connects  her  with  his  second  Laby- 
netus, and  only  indistinctly  with  any  former 
king.  Perhaps  on  the  whole  it  is  most  pro- 
bable that  he  regaixled  her  as  at  once  the  wife 
of  his  first  Labynetus  (Nebuchadnezzar?)  and 
the  mother  of  his  second  (Nabu-nahit)  ;  but 
it  does  not  seem  possible  that  she  can  really 
have  filled  both  positions. 


428      ■  THE  MEDIAN  WALL.  App.  Book  I. 

later  ages.  These  defences,  which  Herodotus  speaks  of  as  con- 
structed against  the  Medes,^  M^ere  probably  made  really  against 
Cyrus,  who,  upon  his  conquest  of  the  Median  empire,  appears  to 
have  fixed  his  residence  at  Agbatana,'*  from  which  quarter  it  was 
that  he  afterwards  marched  upon  Babylon.*  They  belong,  in  part 
at  least,  to  the  reign  of  Nabonadius,  as  is  evident  both  from  a  state- 
ment of  the  native  historian,  and  from  the  testimony  of  the  inscrip- 
tions. The  river  walls,  one  of  the  chief  defensive  works  which 
Herodotus  ascribes  to  his  Nitocris,  are  distinctly  assigned  by  Berosus 
to  Nabunahit  f  and  the  bricks  which  compose  them,  one  and  all, 
bear  upon  them  the  name  of  that  monarch.^ 

Of  the  other  defensive  works  ascribed  to  Nitocris — the  winding 
channel  dug  for  the  Euphrates  at  some  distance  above  Babylon,^ 
and  the  contrivance  for  laj^ng  under  water  the  whole  tract  of  land 
towards  the  north  and  west  of  the  city  ^ — no  traces  appear  to 
remain ;  and  it  seems  certain  that  the  description  which  Hero- 
dotus gives  of  them  is  at  least  greatly  exaggerated.'  Still  we  may 
gather  from  his  nariative,  that  besides  improving  the  fortifications 
of  the  city  itself,  Labynetus  endeavoured  to  obstruct  the  advance 
of  an  enemy  towards  Babylon,  by  hydraulic  works  resembling 
those  of  which  so  important  a  use  has  frequently  been  made  in  the 
Low  Countries.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some,"^  that  in  connexion 
with  the  defences  here  enumerated,  and  as  a  part  of  the  same 
system  of  obstruction,  a  huge  wall  was  built  across  Mesopotamia 
from  the  Tigris  to  the  Euphrates,  to  secure  the  approaches  to  the 
city  upon  that  side  of  the  river.  The  "  Median  Wall "  of  Xeno- 
phon  •*  is  regarded  as  a  bulwark  of  this  description,  erected  to  pro- 
tect Babylonia  against  the  incursions  of  the  Medes,  and  this  was 
no  doubt  the  notion  which  Xenophon  entertained  of  it;  but  the 
conjecture  is  probable,*  that  the  barrier  within  which  the  Ten 
Thousand  penetrated  was  in  reality  a  portion  of  the  old  wall  of 
Babylon  itself,  which  had  been  broken  down  in  places,  and  suffered 
to  fall  into  decay  by  the  Persians.  The  length  of  70  miles  which 
Xenophon  ascribes  to  it,*  is  utterly  unsuitable  for  a  mere  line  of 


^  Herod,  i.  185.              ''  Herod,  i,  153.  calls  a  reservoir  [eXvrpou)  seems  really  to 
^  Otherwise  he  would  not  have  been  brought  have  had  this  object.     He  allows  that  in  its 
into  contact  with  the  Gyndes  (the  modern  ordinary  condition  it  was  empty  (i.  191). 
Diydlah)  on  his  road  to  Babylon.  i  See  note  '^  on  Book  i.  ch.  185.    The  tra- 
^  'EttI  tovtov  (Nabonnedus)  tc  irepi  rhv  vellers  from  whom  Herodotus  got  his  account 
iroTaiJ.hu  reixv   ttJs  BaBvXuvlctiv  TroAecos  of  the  winding  course  of  the  Euphrates  above 
e|  oTTTTjs  irXivBov  Ka\  acr^aXrov  KareKo-  Babylon,  may  have  been  deceived  by  passing 
(T/j.-fiOt).  Berosus,  ap.  Joseph,  contr.  Ap.  1.  s.  c.  several  villages  of  the  name  of  Ardericca,  and 
'  AthenfEum,  No.  1377.  believing  them  to  be  the  same.     Ardericca 
8  Herod,  i.  185.     It  need  not  be  supposed  was  a  common  name.     (See  Herod,  vi.  119.) 
that   Herodotus   himself  "  sailed    down   the  2  g^e  Heeren's  Asiatic   Nations,  vol.  ii.  p. 
Euphrates  to  Babylon"     (Grote's   Hist;    of  132  ;Grote's  Greece,  vol.  iii.  pp.  39-1  and  404. 
Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  404,  note  ^),  in  which  case  ^  Anab.  I.  vii.  §  15. 
his  description  would  be  authoritative.     He  4  ggg  ^  paper  read  before  the  Geographical 
speaks   rather   as   if  his    information    came  Society  by  Sir.  H.  Rawlinson  in  1851. 
from  others — the  travellers  (merchants  ?)  who  ^  Twenty  parasangs,  or  600  sbides,  area 
were  wont  to  p;iss  from  the  Mediterranean  little  more  than   69  miles.     If  Xenophon's 
to  the  Euphrates,  and  then  to  descend  the  river  informants  meant  this  for  the  circuit  of  Baby- 
to  Babylon.  Ion,  they  went  even  beyond  Herodotus,  who 
"  Ibid.  1.  s.  c.    The  work  which  Herodotus  made  the  circuit  480  stades  (i.  178). 


Essay  A^II.  CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS.  429 

wall  across  the  tract  between  tlie  two  streams  ;  for  the  streams  are 
not  more  than  20  or  30  miles  apart,  from  the  point  where  the 
Euphrates  throws  off  the  Saklawiyeh  canal — more  than  a  degree 
above  Babylon — to  the  near  vicinity  of  the  city ;  and  such  a  work 
as  the  supposed  "  wall  of  Media  "  would  naturally  have  been  car- 
ried across  where  the  distance  between  the  rivers  was  the  shortest.^ 
Herodotus  too  would  scarcely  have  ignored  such  a  bulwark,  had  it 
really  existed,  or  have  failed  to  inform  us  how  Cyrus  overcame  the 
obstacle.'  We  may  therefore  omit  the  "  Median  wall "  from  the 
Babylonian  defences,  and  consider  them  to  have  consisted  of  an 
outer  and  an  inner  circuit  of  enormous  strength,  of  high  walls  along 
the  river  banks,  and  of  certain  hydraulic  works  towards  the  north, 
whereby  the  approach  of  an  enemy  could  be  greatly  impeded.^ 
With  these  securities  against  capture  Nabonadius  appears  to  have 
been  content ;  and  he  awaited  probably  without  much  fear  the 
attack  of  his  powerful  neighbour. 

22.  Within  two  years  of  the  time  when  Kabonadius,  at  the 
instance  of  Croesus,  joined  the  league  against  the  Persians,  another 
embassy  came  from  the  same  quarter  with  tidings  that  must  have 
been  far  from  satisfactory.  Kabonadius  learned  that  his  rash  ally 
had  ventured  single-handed  to  engage  the  Persian  king,  and  had 
been  compelled  to  fall  back  upon  his  own  capital.  He  was  re- 
quested to  get  ready  an  army,  and  in  .the  spring  to  march  to  the 
general  rendezvous  at  Sardis,  whither  the  Lydian  monarch  had 
summoned  all  his  allies.^  Nabonadius  no  doubt  would  have  complied  ; 
but  the  course  of  events  proceeded  with  such  rapidity,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  give  any  assistance  to  his  confederate.  Herald 
followed  on  herald,  each  bringing  news  more  dismal  than  the  last. 
Cyrus  had  invaded  Lydia — had  marched  on  Sardis — Croesus  had  lost 
a  battle,  and  was  driven  within  his  walls — Nabonadius  was  entreated 
to  advance  to  his  relief  immediately.'  A  fortnight  afterwards, 
when  perhaps  the  troops  were  collected,  and  were  almost  ready  to 
march,  tidings  arrived  that  all  was  over — the  citadel  had  been  sur- 
prised— the  town  was  taken — Croesus  was  a  prisoner,  and  the  Persian 
empire  was  extended  to  the  Ege.m.  Probably  Kabonadius  set  to 
work  with  fresh  vigour  at  his  defences,  and  may  even  have  begun 
at  once  to  lay  in  those  stores  of  provisions,  which  are  mentioned  as 
accumulated  in  the  city  when,  fifteen  years  later,  its  siege  took 
place.* 

^  Mr.   Grote  (Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  iii.  p.  have  been  visible  enough  fifty  years  earlier. 
394)  speaks  of  the  wall  as  situated  "  a  little         ^  The  passage    of   Berosus,  Avhere    these 

to  the  north  of  that  point  where  the  two  works  seem  to  be  mentioned,  is  very  obscure, 

streams  most  nearly  approach  one  another"  and  appears  to  refer  to  some  former  occasion 

But  if  we  accept  Xenophon's  measurement,  on  which  the  city  had  been  besieged,  and  taken 

we  cannot  place  the  wall  lower  than  between  or  injured  by  means  of  the  river,     {irphs  rh 

Hit  and  Samara,  which  is  more  them  a  degree  /jlt)  k4t  i     SvuaaOai   rovs   iroXiopKovvTas 

above  the  point  where  the  streams  approach  rhv  iroTajxbv  ava(TTpi<povTas  iir\  ttju  ttoXlu 

the  closest.  KaracTKevd^eiv,  uTrepejSaAeTO  Tpels  fxeu  ttjs 

■^  Mr.  Grote  sees  this  difficulty  (p.  404,  eudou  TroAews  ircpi^oKovs,    TpeTs   Se   Trjs 

note  1),  but  puts  it  aside  with  the  remark  that  e|a>  tovtccu.  Ap.  Joseph,  cont.  Apion.  1.  s.  c.) 
the  wall  "  was  not  kept  up  with  any  care,         ^  Herod,  i.  77.  ^  Herod,  i.  81. 

even  in  Herodotus's  time."     But  if  it  was  a         2  j^.    j.    xgo.       Strto    irewv    k  a  p  r  a 

hundred  feet  high  in  Xenophon's  time,  it  must  tt  o  A  A.  w  y  . 


430  CYRUS  ATTACKS  BABYLON.      App.  Book  I. 

23.  A  pause  of  fifteen  years  gave  certainly  every  opportunity  for 
completing  such  arrangements  as  were  necessary  for  the  defence  of 
the  town.  It  may  be  thought  that  even  the  territory  might  have 
been  secured  against  hostile  invasion,  if  a  proper  strategic  use  had 
been  made  of  the  natural  barriers  furnished  by  the  two  broad  and 
deep  rivers,  and  the  artificial  obstructions,  consisting  of  canals,  dykes, 
and  embankments  with  which  the  whole  country  was  covered.  The 
preservation  of  the  capital,  however,  seems  to  have  been  all  that 
was  attempted.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  nature  of  the  defences 
constructed  at  this  period,  and  still  more  by  the  care  taken  to  pro- 
vision the  city  for  a  siege.  It  was  probably  hoped  that  the  enormous 
height  and  thickness  of  the  walls  would  bafile  all  attempts  to  force 
an  entrance  on  the  part  of  the  besiegers,  and  that  the  quantity  of 
corn  laid  up  in  store,  and  the  extent  of  land  within  the  defences  on 
which  fresh  crops  might  be  raised,^  would  render  reduction  by 
blockade  impracticable.  The  whole  mass  of  the  population  of  the 
country  might  easily  take  shelter  within  the  space  enclosed  by  the 
great  walls  ;  and  so  Babylon,  like  Athens  in  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
intended  to  surrender  its  territory  to  the  enemy  to  be  ravaged  at 
pleasure,  and  to  concentrate  all  efforts  on  the  defence  of  the  metro- 
polis. When  Cyrus,  at  the  end  of  the  fifteen  years,  appeared  before 
the  walls,  a  single  battle  was  fought,  to  try  whether  it  was  necessary 
to  submit  to  a  siege  at  all ;  and  when  the  victory  declared  for  the 
Persians,  the  Babylonians  very  contentedly  retired  within  their  de- 
fences, and  thought  to  defy  their  enemy.*  Thenceforth  "  the  mighty 
men  of  Babylon  forebore  to  fight — they  remained  in  their  holds."  ^ 
We  are  not  informed  how  long  the  siege  lasted,  but  no  second  eff'ort 
seems  to  have  been  made  to  drive  away  the  assailants. 

24.  After  a  time  Cyrus  put  in  execution  the  stratagem,  which  (it 
may  be  conjectured)  he  had  resolved  to  practise  before  he  left 
Agbatana.  By  the  dispersion  of  the  waters  of  the  Gyndes,^  his 
army  had  perhaps  gained  an  experience  which  it  was  important  for 
them  to  acquire  before  attempting  to  deal  with  the  far  mightier 
stream  of  the  Euphrates,  where  any  accident — the  weakness  of  a 
floodgate,  or  the  disruption  of  a  dyke — might  not  only  have  discon- 
certed the  scheme  on  which  the  taking  of  Babylon  depended,  but 
have  destroyed  a  large  portion  of  the  Persian  army.  The  exact 
mode  by  which  Cyrus  drained  the  stream  of  its  water  is  uncertain. 
Herodotus  relates  that  it  was  by  turning  the  river  into  the  receptacle 
excavated  by  Nitocris,  when  she  made  the  stone  piers  of  the  bridge 

3  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  walls  ouSeVa). 
of  Babylon,  like  those  of  most  Oriental  towns,         *  Herod,  i.  1 90.  Berosus  agreed  in  speaking 

enclosed  rather  populous  districts  than  cities,  of  a  single  battle  (ap.  Joseph,  contr.  Ap.  l.s.c). 
It  is'  quite  impossible  that  a  tract  containing         ^  .Ter.  li.  30. 

above  130  square  miles  should  have  been  one-         ^  The   Gyndes  is  identified,  almost  to  a 

half  covered  with  houses.    On  tlie  other  hand,  certainty,  with  the  Diyalah ,  by  the  fact  that  it 

it  is  highly  probable  that  as  much  as  nine-  was  crossed  by  boats  on  the  road  between  Sardis 

tenths  may  have  consisted  of  gardens,  parks,  and  Susa  after  the  Greater  and  the  Lesser  Zab 

paradises,  and  even  mere  fields  and  orchards.  (Herod,   v.  52),     The   Diydlah  is  the  only 

(Compare  Q.  Curt.  v.  1,  §  27.)     During  a  stream  of  this  magnitude  between  the  Lesser 

siege  the  whole  of  this  could  be   used  for  Zab  and  the  Kerkhah  (Choaspes'),  on  which 

growing  corn.     Hence  the  confidence  of  the  Susa  stood. 
Babylonians  {\6yov  eJxoy  ttjs  TroAtop/ctaj 


Essay  VIII.        BABYLON  TAKEN  BY  STRATAGEM.  431 

within  the  town.''  Xenophon  records  a  tradition  that  it  was  by 
means  of  two  new  cuttings  of  his  own,  from  a  point  of  the  river 
above  the  city  to  a  point  below  it."  Both  agree  that  he  entered  the 
city  by  the  channel  of  the  Euphrates,  and  that  he  waited  for  a 
general  festival  w-hich  was  likely  to  engage  the  attention  of  the 
inhabitants,  before  turning  the  stream  from  its  natural  bed.^  If  the 
sinking  of  the  water  had  been  observed,  his  plan  would  have  been 
frustrated  by  the  closing  of  the  city  water-gates,  and  his  army 
would  have  been  caught,  as  Herodotus  expresses  it,  "  in  a  trap."  ^ 

25.  The  city  was  taken  at  the  extremities  long  ere  the  inhabitants 
of  the  central  parts  had  a  suspicion  of  their  danger.  Then  it  may 
well  be  that  "  one  post  ran  to  meet  another,  and  one  messenger  to 
meet  another,  to  show  the  king  of  Babylon  that  his  city  was  taken 
at  one  end."  *  According  to  Berosus,  indeed,  Nabonadius  was  not 
in  Babylon,  but  at  Borsippa,  at  the  time  when  Babylon  was  taken, 
having  fled  to  that  comparatively  unimportant  city  when  his  army 
was  defeated  in  the  field.^  He  seems,  however,  to  have  left  in 
Babylon  a  representative  in  the  person  of  his  son,  whom  a  few  years 
previously  he  had  associated  with  him  in  the  government.  This 
prince, whose  name  is  read  as  Bil-shar-uzur,  and  who  may  be  identified 
with  the  Belshazzar  of  Daniel,*  appears  to  have  taken  the  command 
in  the  city  when  Nabonadius  threw  himself,  for  some  unexplained 
reason,  into  Borsippa,  which  was  undoubtedly  a  strong  fortress,  and 
was  also  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  Chaldsean  learning,^  but  which 
assuredly  could  not  compare,  either  for  magnificence  or  for  strength, 
with  Babylon.  Belshazzar,  who  was  probably  a  mere  youth,  left  to 
enjoy  the  supreme  power  without  check  or  control,  neglected  the 
duty  of  watching  the  enemy,  and  gave  himself  up  to  enjoyment. 
The  feast  of  which  we  read  in  Daniel,  and  which  suffered  such  an 
awful  interruption,  may  have  been  in  part  a  religious  festivity,^  but 

'  Herod,  i.  191.  Neriglissar's  widow,  or  he  may  have  married 

^  Xen.  Cyrop.  vil.  v.  10.  someother  daughter  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Bel- 

^  Herod.  1.  s.  c.  ;   Xen.  Cyrop.  Vll.  v.  15.  shazzar  may  thus  have  been  grandson  of  Ne- 

"^ '^D.s  ev  KvpTT).  2  jgi._  li,  31^  huchadnezzar  on  the  inother's  side.    Itissonae 

^  Na^ouurjdos  rjTTriOels  rfj  fiaxv  (^^^^'  confirmation  of  these  probabilities,  or  possibi- 

Kheiadr]  els  tt)!/  BopaLTrirriucou  ttoAlv  (ap.  lities,  to  find  that  the  name  of  Nebuchadnezzar 

Joseph,  contr.  Ap.  i.  21).  was  used  as  a  family  name  by  Nabu-nahit. 

'*  Ch.  V.    Two  difficulties  still  stand  in  the  He  must  certainly  have  had  a  son  to  whom 

way  of  this  identification,  which  (if  accepted)  he  gave  that  appellation,  or  it  would  not  have 

solves  one  of  the  most  intricate  problems  of  been  assumed  by  two  pretenders  in  succession, 

ancient  history.     The  first  is  the  relationship  who  sought  to  personate  the  legitimate  heir 

in  which  the  Belshazzar  of  Scripture  stands  of  the  Babylonian  throne. 

to  Nebuchadnezzar,  which  is  throughout  re-         On  the  difficulty  presented  by  the  reign  of 

presented  as  that  of  son  (verses  2, 11,  13,  18,  Darius  the  Mede  in  Babylon,  some  remarks 

&c.)  ;  the  second  is  the  accession,  immediately  have  already  been  made  in  the  Essay,  "  On  the 

after  Belshazzar,  of"  Darius  the  Mede."  With  Great  Median  Empire"  (Essay  in.  §  11). 

respect  to  the  first  of  these,  it  may  be  re-         ^  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1050.      Strabo  also  says 

marked  that  although  Nabonadius  was  not  a  that  it  was  famous  for  its  manufacture  of 

descendant,  or  indeed  any  relation,  of  Nebu-  linen. 

chadnezzar,  Belshazzar  may  have  been,  and         ^  See  Herod,   i.    191.      rvxetj/  yap  ccpi 

very  probably  was.     Nabu-nahit,  on  seizing  iovo-av  oprr^v.    The  religious  character  of  the 

the  supreme  power,  would  naturally  seek  to  festival  is  indicated  in  the  book  of  Daniel  by 

strengthen  his  position  by  marriage  with  a  the  words— "They  drank  wine,  and  praised 

daughter  of  the  great  king,  whose  son,  son-  Mec/o&of  gold,  and  of  silver,  of  brass,  of  ii'on, 

in-law,  and  grandson  had  successively  held  &c."  (verse  4). 
tlie  throne.     He  may  have  taken  to  wife 


432  LATER  SIEGES  OF  BABYLON.  App.  Book  I. 

it  indicates  nevertlieless  the  self-indulgent  temper  of  the  king,  who 
could  give  himself  so  entirely  up  to  merriment  at  such  a  time. 
"While  the  king  and  his  "  thousand  nobles  "  ^  drank  wine  out  of  the 
sacred  vessels  of  the  Jews,  the  Persian  archers  entered  the  city, 
and  a  scene  of  carnage  ensued.  "  In  that  night  was  BeLshazzar 
slain."  ^  Amid  the  confusion  and  the  darkness,  the  young  prince, 
probably  unrecognised  by  the  soldiery,  who  would  have  respected  his 
rank  had  they  perceived  it,^  was  struck  down  b}^  an  unknown  hand, 
and  lost  his  life  with  his  kingdom. 

26.  Cyrus  then,  having  given  orders  to  ruin  the  defences  of  the 
city,^  proceeded  to  the  attack  of  Borsippa,  where  Nabonadius  still 
maintained  himself.  But  the  loss  of  his  capital  and  his  son  had 
subdued  the  spirit  of  the  elder  prince,  and  on  the  approach  of  the 
enemy  he  at  once  surrendered  himself.^  Cyrus  treated  him  with 
the  gentleness  shown  commonly  hj  the  Persians  to  those  of  royal 
dignity,^  and  assigned  him  a  residence  and  estates  in  Carmania, 
forming  a  sort  of  principality,  which  has  been  magnified  into  the 
government  of  the  province.*  Here,  according  to  Berosus,  he  ended 
his  days  in  peace.  Abydenus,  however,  states  that  he  gave  offence 
to  Darius,  who  deprived  him  of  his  possessions,  and  forced  him  to 
quit  Carmania.^ 

27.  It  is  possible  that  Nabonadius  was  involved  in  one  of  those 
revolts  of  Babylon  from  Darius,  where  his  name  was  certainly 
made  use  of  to  stir  the  people  to  rebellion,  and  so  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  the  Great  King.  Twice  at  least  in  the  reign  of  that 
monarch  a  claimant  to  the  Babylonian  crown  came  forward  with 
the  declaration,  "  I  am  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  son  of  Nabonadius ;" 


'  Dan.  V.  1.  ^  Ibid,  verse  30.  — one  at  the  hand  of  Cyrus,  a  second  and  third 
^  Croesus  nearly  lost  his  life  in  the  same  during  the  reign  of  Darius,  and  a  fourth 
way,  amid  the  confusion  consequent  iipon  the  during  that  of  Xerxes  (Ctes.  Exc.  Pers.  §  22). 
taking  ofhis  capital  by  assault,  but  was  spared  The  walls  must  have  remained  at  least  to 
as  soon  as  his  rank  was  indicated  (Herod,  this  last  occasion ;  and  certainly  Herodotus 
i.  85).  writes  as  if  he  had  himself  seen  them  (Herod. 
1  We  are  generally  told,  when  the  capture  i.  178  and  181  ;  see  Mr.  Grote's  note,  Hist,  of 
of  Babylon  by  an  enemy  is  related,  that  the  Greece,  vol.  iii.  pp.  395-8).  Ctesias  too  ap- 
defences  are  demolished.  Berosus  said  that  pears  to  have  represented  himself  as  an  eye- 
Cyrus  ordered  the  outer  defences  to  be  razed  witness  of  their  grandeur  (cf.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  7. 
to  the  ground  ( (Xwrd^as  ra  6|co  rfjs  TroAews  rh  vipos  IxTriarov  to7s  aKovovaiv,  tSis  ^rjcri 
reixv  k  ar  acr  k  d\p  a  l  ,  Fr.  14,  sub  fin.).  KTTjcrias  6  Kuidios).  Abydenus,  it  must  be 
Herodotus  makes  Darius  re/nove  the  wall  and  remembered,  expressly  declared  that  the  wall 
tear  down  the  gates,  adding  that  Cyrus  had  of  Nebuchadnezzar  continued  to  the  Macedo- 
left  them  standing  [rh  t€7xos  TreptelAe,  kuI  nian  conquest  (see  above,  page  419,  note  2), 
ras  TTvXas  aneairaae'  rh  yap  Tvporepov  and  St.  Jerome  says  that  the  old  walls  of  Ba- 
kXoov  Kvpos  r)]v  Bal3v\cova  iiroiriae  tov-  bylon  had  been  repaired  and  served  as  the 
Tcoj/  ovSeTepou,  iii.  159).  Arrian  tells  us  enclosure  of  a  park  in  his  day  (Coimnent.  in 
that  Xerxes  razed  to  the  ground  (KarecrKa^e)  Esaiam,  xiv.  vol.  iii.  p.  115). 
the  temple  of  Bel  us  (Exp.  Alex.  vii.  17  ;  com-  ^  Beros.  Fr.  14  sub  fin. 
pare  iii.  16).  In  every  case  there  is  un-  3  ggg  Herod,  iii.  15,  and  note  ad  loc. 
doubtedly  an  exaggeration.  The  conqueror  *  Berosus  only  said — XRVf^d/xeuos  Kvpos 
was  satisfied  to  dismantle  the  city,  without  (pi\av6pd!)Trcas{ThfNal36vpr]Sop),Kal  Sohs 
engaging  in  the  enormous  and  useless  labour  olKtjr'fipiov  avT  cp  Kapjxaviav, 
of  demolition.  He  broke,  probably,  large  i^eirefi^l/^u  e/c  rris  BafivXcovias.  But  Aby- 
breaches  in  the  walls,  which  sufficed  to  ren-  denus  declared  —  Thv  5e  (Na^avuiSoxou) 
der  the  place  defenceless.  When  a  revolt  Kvpos  e\cov  Ba^vXwua,  Kapfxaviris  rjye- 
occurred,  these  breaches  were  hastily  repaired,  fiovirj  Swphrai  (Fr.  9^. 
and  hence  Babylon  could  stand  repeated  sieges  ^  Ap.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  pars  i.  c.  x. 


Essay  VIII.  GRADUAL  DECAY  AND  RUIN.  433 

and  each  time  the  magic  of  the  name  was  sufficient  to  seduce  the 
Babylonians  from  their  allegiance.  Babylon  stood  two  sieges,  one 
at  the  hands  of  Darius  himself,  the  other  at  the  hands  of  one  of  his 
generals.  On  the  first  occasion  two  great  battles  were  fought,  at 
the  passage  of  the  Tigris,  and  at  Zanana  on  the  Euphrates,''  Babylon 
thus  offering  a  stouter  resistance  to  the  Persian  arms  under  the 
leadership  of  the  pretended  son  of  Nabonadius,  than  it  had  formerly 
offered  under  Nabonadius  himself.  The  siege  which  followed  these 
battles  is  probably  that  which  Herodotus  intended  to  describe  in 
the  concluding  chapters  of  his  third  Book  ;  but  very  little  historical 
authority  can  be  considered  to  attach  to  the  details  of  his  de- 
scription.^ 

Whatever  ravages  were  inflicted  on  the  walls  and  public  build- 
ings of  Babylon  by  the  violence  of  the  Persian  monarchs,  or  the 
slow  operation  of  time,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  remained 
the  second  city  in  the  Persian  empire  down  to  the  time  of  the 
conquest  by  Alexander.  The  Persian  court  resided  for  the  larger 
portion  of  the  year  at  the  great  Mesopotamian  capital  f  and  when 
Alexander  overran  the  whole  territory  of  the  Ach^menian  kings 
it  appears  to  have  attracted  a  far  larger  share  of  his  regard  than 
any  other  city.^  Had  he  lived,  it  was  his  intention  that  Babylon 
should  be  restored  to  all  her  ancient  splendour,  and  become  the 
metropolis  of  his  wide-spread  empire.  This  intention  was  frustrated 
by  his  death ;"  and  the  disputes  among  his  successors  transferred  the 
seat  of  government,  even  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidse,  into 
Syria.  From  this  time  Babylon  rapidly  declined.  Seleucia  upon 
the  Tigris,  which  arose  in  its  vicinity,  drew  away  its  population;^ 
and  the  very  materials  of  the  ancient  Chaldsean  capital  were  gra- 
dually removed  and  used  in  the  construction  of  a  new  and  rival 
city.  Babylon  shortly  "  became  heaps,"  ^  and  realised  the  descrip- 
tions of  prophecy.^     The  ordinary  houses  rapidly  disappeared ;  the 


6  Behist.  Inscr.  Col.  I.  Par.  16-19 ;  Col.  ^  Cf.  Arrian.  Exped.  Alex.    vii.   17,  19, 

II.  Par.  1 ;  Col.  III.  Par.  13-4.  21 ;  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1049. 

'  The  Behistun  Inscription  is  conclusive,  ^  Plin.  H.  N.  vi.  30.  ^  j^y.  li.  37. 
as  far  as  negative  evidence  can  be,  against  ^  Isa.  xiii.  19-22:  "And  Babylon,  the 
tlie  details  of  the  siege  given  in  Herodotus,  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chal- 
After  a  careful  and  elaborate  account,  con-  ■  dees'  excellency,  shall  be  as  when  God  over- 
tained  in  two  entire  paragraphs,  of  the  war  threw  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never 
which  preceded  the  siege,  we  hear  simply,  be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in 
"  Then  Naditabirus,  with  the  horsemen,  his  from  generation  to  generation :  neither  shall 
well-wishers,  fled  to  Babylon.  /  both  took  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there,  neithei'  shall 
Babi/lon  and  seized  that  Naditabirus  "  (Col.  the  shepherds  make  their  fold  there.  But 
II.  Par.  1).  The  details  cannot  belong  to  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there,  and 
the  second  siege,  in  the  reign  of  Darius ;  then'  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures  ; 
oiuce  the  city  Avas  not  then  taken  by  Darius  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall 
in  person,  but  by  Intaphres  (Col.  III.  Par.  dance  there.  And  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
14).  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  if  any  islands  shall  cry  in  their  desolate  houses,  and 
such  circumstances  as  those  related  by  Hei'o-  dragons  in  their  pleasant  palaces,  and  her 
dotus  ever  took  place,  it  was,  as  Ctesias  time  is  near  to  come,  and  her  days  shall  not 
asserted,  on  occasion  of  the  revolt  from  be  prolonged."  Jer.  li.  41 :  "  How  is  She- 
Xerxes.  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  sees  reason  to  shach  taken !  and  how  is  the  pi-aise  of  the 
doubt  the  whole  tale.  (Note  on  the  Beh.  whole  earth  surprised !  how  is  Babylon  be- 
Inscript.  p.  xvi.)  come  an  astonishment  among  the  nations ! 

**  See  Brisson,  de  Regn.  Pers.  i.  pp.  58-9.  The  sea  is  come  up  upon  Babylon ;  she  is 

VOL.  I.  2   F 


434 


PKESENT  CONDITION  OF  BABYLON.        App.  Book  I. 


walls  sank,  being  either  used  as  quames"  or  crumbling  into  the 
moat  from  which  they  had  risen :  only  the  most  elevated  of  the 
public  buildings  retained  a  distinct  existence,  and  these  shrank 
year  by  year  through  the  ceaseless  quarrying.  Finally  the  river 
exerted  a  destructive  influence  on  the  ruins,  especially  on  those 
lying  upon  its  right  bank,  on  which  side  it  has  always  a  ten- 
dency to  run  off.^  Perhaps  under  these  circumstances  there  is  more 
reason  to  be  surprised  that  so  much  of  the  ancient  town  still  exists 
than  that  the  remains  are  not  more  considerable.  The  ruins  near 
Hillah  extend  over  a  space  above  three  miles  long  and  two  and  a 
half  miles  broad,  and  are  in  some  parts  140  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  plain.®  They  still  furnish  building  materials  to  all  who  dwell 
in  the  vicinity,  and  have  clearly  suffered  more  from  the  ravages  of 
man  than  from  the  hand  of  time.^  The  following  account  of  their 
present  condition  from  the  pen  of  a  recent  traveller  may  well  close 
this  sketch  of  the  history  of  ancient  Babylon. 

"  The  ruins  at  present  existing  stand  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Euphrates,  and  are  inclosed  within  an  irregular  triangle  formed  by 
two  lines  of  ramparts  and  the  river,  the  area  being  about  eight 
miles.  The  space  contains  three  great  masses  of  building — the 
high  pile  of  unbaked  brickwork  called  by  Eich  '  Mujellibe,'  but 
which  is  known  to  the  Arabs  as  '  Babel ;'  the  building  denominated 
the  '  Kasr '  or  palace ;  and  a  lofty  mound  upon  which  stands  the 
modern  tomb  of  Amram-ibn-'Ali.     Upon  the  western  bank  of  the 


covered  with  the  multitude  of  the  waves 
thereof.  Her  cities  are  a  desolation,  a  dry- 
land, and  a  wilderness,  a  land  wherein  no 
man  dwelleth,  neither  doth  any  son  of  man 
pass  thereby,"  Jer.  1.  39,  40  :  "A  drought 
is  upon  her  waters,  and  they  shall  be  dried 
up ;  for  it  is  the  land  of  graven  images,  and 
they  are  mad  upon  their  idols.  Therefore 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  with  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  islands  shall  dwell  there,  and 
the  owls  shall  dwell  therein ;  and  it  shall  be 
no  more  inhabited  for  ever,  neither  shall  it 
be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation," 
Compare  the  descriptions  of  Mr,  Rich  (First 
Memoir,  pp.  17-34),  Ker  Porter  (vol.  ii.  pp. 
336-392),  and  Mr.  Layard  (Kin.  and  Baby- 
lon, pp.  491-509).  The  following  summary 
from  the  last-named  writer  is  striking: 
"  Besides  the  great  mound,  other  shapeless 
heaps  of  rubbish  cover  for  many  an  acre  the 
face  of  the  land.  The  lofty  banks  of  ancient 
canals  fret  the  country  like  natural  ridges  of 
hills.  Some  have  been  long  choked  with 
sand ;  others  still  carry  the  waters  of  the 
river  to  distant  villages  and  palm-groves. 
On  all  sides,  fragments  of  glass,  marble, 
pottery,  and  inscribed  brick,  are  mingled 
with  that  peculiar  nitrous  and  blanched  soU, 
which,  bred  from  the  remains  of  ancient 
habitations,  checks  or  destroys  vegetation, 
and  renders  the  site  of  Babylon  a  naked  and 


a  hideous  waste.  Owls "  (which  are  of  a 
large  grey  kind,  and  often  found  in  flocks  of 
nearly  a  hundred)  "  start  from  the  scanty 
thickets,  and  the  foul  jackal  skulks  through 
the  fm-rows."  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p. 
484.) 

4  For  the  rapidity  with  which  a  line  of 
wall  will  disappear  when  quarrying  has  once 
begun,  compare  Dennis's  Etruria,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
292-294.  Mr.  Rich,  who  is  surprised  at  the 
disappearance  of  the  walls  of  Babylon,  re- 
marks that  "  they  would  have  been  the  first 
object  to  attract  the  attention  of  those  who 
searched  for  bricks  "  (First  Memoir,  p.  44). 

^  See  Layard' s  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp. 
492-3 ;  and  compare  Lofbus's  Chaldsea,  p.  18. 
Captain  Selby  has  found  several  distinct 
traces  of  old  river-beds  on  this  side  of  the 
stream.     (See  his  Map  of  Babylon,  Sheet  I.) 

6  Rich,  pp.  19  and  28. 

'  All  the  descriptions  agree  in  this.  Mr. 
Layard  shows  that  the  quarrying  still  con- 
tinues. "  To  this  day,"  he  says,  "  there  are 
men  who  have  no  other  trade  than  that  of 
gathering  bricks  from  this  vast  heap,  and 
taking  them  for  sale  to  the  neighbouring 
towns  and  villages,  and  even  to  Baghdad. 
There  is  scarcely  a  house  in  Hillah  which  is 
not  built  of  them  "  (Nineveh  and  Babylon, 
p.  506). 


Essay  YIII.        PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  BABYLON. 


435 


Euphrates  are  a  few  traces  of  ruins,  but  none  of  sufficient  import- 
ance to  give  the  impression  of  a  palace.^     .... 

"  During  Mr.  Laj^ard's  excavations  at  Babylon  in  the  winter  of 
1850,  Babel,  the  northern  mound,  was  investigated,  but  he  failed 
to  make  any  discovery  of  importance  beneath  the  square  mass  of 
unbaked  brickwork,  except  a  few  piers  and  walls  of  more  solid 
structure.  According  to  the  measurement  of  Rich,  it  is  nearly 
200  yards  square  and  141  feet  high.  It  may  be  suggested  that  it 
was  the  basement  on  which  stood  the  citadel  (?).  From  its  summit 
is  obtained  the  best  view  of  the  other  ruins.  On  the  south  is  the 
large  mound  of  Miijellibe,  so  called  from  its  '  overturned '  con- 
dition. The  fragment  of  ancient  brick  masonry  called  the  liasr, 
which  remains  standing  on  its  surface,  owes  its  preservation  to  the 
difficulty  experienced  in  its  destruction.  The  bricks,  strongly  fixed 
in  fine  cement,  resist  all  attempts  to  separate  the  several  layers. 
Their  under  sides  are  generally  deeply  stamped  with  the  legend  of 
Nebuchadnezzar.  Not  far  from  this  edifice  is  the  well  known  block 
of  basalt,  roughly  cut  to  represent  a  lion  standing  over  a  human 
figure.      This,  together   with   a  fragment  of  frieze,  are   the   only 

instances  of  has-reliefs  hitherto  discovered  in  the  ruins 

On  the  south  of  the  Miijellibe  is  the  mound  of  Amram. 

"  Various  ranges  of  smaller  mounds  fill  up  the  intervening  space 
to  the  eastern  angle  of  the  walls.  The  pyramidal  mass  of  El 
Heimar,  far  distant  in  the  same  direction,  and  the  still  more  extra- 
ordinary pile  of  the  Birs  Nimriid  in  the  south-west,  across  the 
Euphrates,  rise  from  the  surrounding  plain  like  two  might}^  tumuli 
designed  to  mark  the  end  of  departed  greatness.  Midway  between 
them  the  river  Euphrates,  wending  her  silent  course  towards  the 
sea,  is  lost  amid  the  extensive  date-groves  which  conceal  from  sight 
the  little  Arab  town  of  Hillah.  All  else  around  is  a  blank  waste, 
recalling  the  words  of  Jeremiah : — '  Her  cities  are  a  desolation,  a 
dry  land,  and  a  wilderness,  a  land  wherein  no  man  dwelleth, 
neither  doth  any  son  of  man  pass  thereby.' "  ^ 


^  The  ruins  on  the  western  bank  seem, 
however,  to  have  constituted  the  palace  of 
Neriglissar  (supra,  p.  425). 


20. 


Loftus's  Chaldsea  and  Susiana,  pp.  17- 


2  F  2 


436 


BABYLONIAN  CHEONOLOGY. 


App.  Book  I. 


CHEONOLOGY  OF  THE  BABYLONIAN  EMPIEE. 


Babylonia. 

CONTEMPOEAET  KINGDOMS. 

B.C. 

Media. 

Egypt. 

Lydia. 

JUDAH. 

625 

Nabopolassar. 

8th  year  of  Cy- 
axares. 

39th  year  of  Psam- 
atikl. 

Alyattes. 

15th  year  of  Josiah. 

615 

.. 

Cyaxares  attacks 
Lydia. 

Attacked  by  Cy- 
axares. 

610 

Makes  peace    between 
Cyaxares  and  Alyattes. 

.. 

Neco. 

Peace  made. 

608 

Attaclted  by  Neco. 

•• 

Invades  Syria. 
Defeats  Josiah. 

.. 

Jehoahaz  3  m. 
Jehoiakim. 

,605 

Sends   Nebuchadnezzar 

.. 

Defeated  at  Car- 

.. 

Submits  to  Nebu- 

against Neco. 

chemish  by  Ne- 
buchadnezzar. 

chadnezzar. 

604 

Nebuchadnezzar. 

602 

. . 

.. 

. . 

.. 

Rebels. 

598 

Besieges  Tyre. 

59Y 

Besieges  Jerusalem. 

Assists  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. 

.. 

Jehoiachin  3  m. 
Zedekiah. 

594 

.. 

. . 

Psamatik  H. 

593 

. . 

Astyages. 

588 

Second   siege   of  Jeru- 
salem. 

Apries. 

Attacked   by    Ne- 
buchadnezzar. 

586 

Takes  Jerusalem. 

.. 

., 

.. 

Taken  prisoner. 

585 

Takes  Tyre. 

581 

Invades  Egypt. 

Attacked  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, 

570 

Second    Invasion    of 
Egypt  (?). 

.. 

Again  attacked. 

569 

.. 

• . 

Amasis. 

568 

!! 

.. 

Croisus. 

561 

Evil  Merodach. 

.. 

.. 

.. 

Jehoiachin  released. 

559 

Neriglissar. 

558 

.. 

Deposed  by  Cyrus. 

556 

Laborosoarchod. 

555 

Nabonidus.      Alliance 

.. 

Makes  alliance 

Alliance  with 

with  Croesus, 

with  Croesus. 

Egypt   and 
Babylon. 

554 

.. 

.. 

.. 

Conquered  by 
Cyrus. 

539 

Associates  Belshazzar  (?). 

538 

Conquered  by  Cyrus. 

Essay  IX.      PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  WESTERN  ASIA.        437 


ESSAY    IX. 

ON  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  MESOPOTAMIA  AND  THE  ADJACENT 
COUNTRIES. 

1 .  Outline  of  the  Physical  Geography  —  Contrast  of  the  plain  and  the  highlands. 
2.  Division  of  the  plain  —  Syrian  or  Arabian  Desert  —  Great  Mesopotamian 
valley.  3,  Features  of  the  mountain  region  —  Parallel  chains  —  Salt  lakes. 
4.  Great  plateau  of  Iran.  5.  Mountains  enclosing  the  plateau  —  Zagros  — 
Elburz — Southern  or  coast  chain — Hala  and  Suliman  ranges.  6.  Low  coun- 
tries outside  the  plateau  —  (i.)  Southern  —  (ii.)  Northern  —  (iii.)  Eastern. 
7.  River-system  of  Western  Asia — (i.)  Continental  rivers — Sxjhtm — Jyhun — 

Hehnend,  &c.  —  Km Aras  —  Sejld-Rud  —  Aji-Su  —  Jaghetu,  &c.  —  Barada  — 

Jordan  —  (ii.)  Oceanic  rivers  —  Euphrates  —  Tigris  —  their  affluents,  viz. 
Greater  Zab,  Lesser  Zab,  Diyaleh,  Kerkhah,  and  Karun  —  Indus  —  Affluents  of 
Indus,  Sutlej,  Chenab,  &c. — Rion — Litany  and  Orontes.  8.  Changes  in  the 
Physical  Geography  —  (i.)  in  the  low  country  east  of  the  Caspian  —  (ii.)  in 
the  valley  of  the  Indus  —  (iii.)  in  Lower  Mesopotamia.  9.  Political  Geo- 
graphy —  Countries  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain  —  (i.)  Assyria  —  position  and 
boundaries  —  Districts  —  Adiabene,  &c.  —  (ii.)  Susiana  or  Elymais  —  (iii.) 
Babylonia — Position — Districts — Chaldsea,  •  &c. — (iv.)  Mesopotamia  Proper. 
10.  Countries  of  the  mountain  region — (i.)  Armenia — Divisions — (ii.)  Media 
— (iii.)  Persia  Proper — Paraetacene,  Mardyene,  &c. — (iv.)  Lesser  mountain 
countries  —  Gordisea  —  Uxia,  &c.  11.  Countries  west  of  the  Mesopotamian 
plain  —  (i.)  Arabia  —  (ii.)  Syria  —  Divisions  —  Commagene,  Ccele-Syi'ia, 
Palestine  —  (iii.)  Phoenicia — Cities.     12.  Conclusion. 

1.  The  geographical  features  of  Western  Asia  are  in  the  highest 
degree  marked  and  striking.  From  the  great  mdnntain-cluster 
of  Armenia  Proper,  situated  between  the  38th  and  41st  parallels, 
and  extending  from  long.  38°  to  45°  E.  from  Greenwich,  descend 
two  lofty  ranges  to  the  right  and  to  the  left,' forking  at  an  angle 
of  about  forty  degrees,  and  enclosing  within  them  a  vast  triangular 
plain,  measuring  at  its  base,  which  is  nearly  coincident  with  the 
30th  parallel,  fifteen  degrees  of  longitude,  or  about  900  miles. 
This  plain  itself  may  be  subdivided,  by  a  line  running  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Shat-el-Arab  to  a  point  a  little  south  of  the  city  of 
Aleppo,  into  two  nearly  equal  triangles,  lying  respectively  towards 
the  north-east  and  the  south-west.  These  two  portions  are  of 
very  unequal  elevation,  the  eastern  triangle  being  for  the  most 
part  a  low  plain  little  removed  from  the  level  of  the  rivers  which 
water  it,  while  the  western  is  comparatively  high  ground,  attaining 
in  parts  an  elevation  of  from  1000  to  2000  feet.® 

2.  The  latter  of  the  two  tracts  is  with  scanty  exceptions  woodless 


1  To  the  right  is  the  range  of  Lebanon  Euphrates  has  been  reckoned  at  1100  or 
and  Anti-Lebanon,which  is  prolonged  through  1200  feet  (see  Col.  Chesney's  Euphrates 
Palestine  to  the  Desert  of  Tij ;  to  the  left  Expedition,  vol.  i.  p.  411):  that  of  DJedur, 
Zagros,  or  the  Kurdish  Hills,  which  forms  which  stretches  eastward  from  the  foot  of 
the  modern  boundary  between  Turkey  and  the  Anti-Lebanon  to  the  Arabian  desert,  at 
Persia.  about  2000  feet  (ibid.  p.  501). 

2  The    plain    between  Aleppo    and    the 


438  GENERAL  DIVISIONS— THE  PLAIN.  App.  Book  T. 

and  stream! ess,  consisting  of  the  Syrian  and  part  of  the  Arabian 
desert,  a  country  never  more  than  thinly  inhabited  by  a  nomad 
population,  and  with  difficulty  traversed,  except  near  its  upper 
angle,  by  well-appointed  caravans  carrying  with  them  abundant 
supplies  of  water.  The  other  or  eastern  tract  is  the  great  Mesopota- 
mian  valley.  It  is  formed  by  the  divergent  streams  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  which,  rising  from  different  sides  of  the  same 
mountain-range,  begin  by  flowing  eastward  and  westward,  leaving 
•  between  them  in  their  upper  course  a  broad  region,  which  is  at 
first  from  200  to  250  miles  across,  but  which  rapidly  narrows 
below  the  36th  parallel  until  it  is  reduced  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Baghdad  to  a  thin  strip  of  land,  not  exceeding  the  width  of 
20  miles.  Here  the  two  rivers  seem  about  to  unite,  but  repent- 
ing of  their  intention  they  again  diverge,  the  Tigris  flowing  off 
boldly  to  the  east,  and  the  Euphrates  turning  two  points  to  the 
south,  until  the  distance  between  them  is '  once  more  increased  to 
about  100  miles.  After  attaining  to  the  maximum  of  divergence 
between  Kantai^a  and  Al  Khudr,  the  great  rivers  once  more  flow 
towards  one  another,  and  uniting  at  Kurnali,  nearly  in  the  31st 
degree  of  latitude,  form  the  Shat-el-Arah,  which  runs  in  a  single 
stream  nearly  to  Mohamrah,  when  it  divides  into  two  slightly 
divergent  channels,  which  enter  the  Persian  Gulf  almost  exactly 
in  lat.  30°.  To  the  tract  lying  between  the  rivers,  which  is  Meso- 
potamia Proper,  if  we  regard  the  etymology  of  the  term,  must  be 
added — to  complete  our  second  triangle — first,  a  narrow  strip  of 
cultivable  land  lying  along  the  Euphrates  between  its  waters 
and  the  desert ;  and  secondly,  a  broader  and  more  important 
territory  east  of  the  Tigris,  enclosed  between  that  stream  and  the 
chain  of  Zagros,  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  plain  region.  This 
country,  which  is  cooled  by  breezes  from  the  adjacent  mountain- 
range,  and  abundantly  watered  by  a  series  of  streams  which  flow 
from  that  high  tract  into  the  Tigris,  must  have  been  at  all  times 
the  most  desirable  portion  of  the  productive  region  known  generally 
as  Mesopotamia. 

3.  The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  mountain-ranges  sur- 
rounding this  vast  flat,  is  their  tendency  to  break  into  numerous 
parallel  lines.  This  feature  is  least  developed  on  the  western  or 
Syrian  side,  yet  even  there,  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon,  and  the 
two  ridges  east  and  west  of  the  Jordan,  are  instances  of  the  charac- 
teristic in  question,  which  is  far  more  strongly  and  distinctly  marked 
on  the  north  and  east,  in  Armenia  and  Kurdistan.  North  of  the 
plain,  between  Diarbekir  and  the  Euxine,  no  less  than  four 
parallel  ridges  of  great  height,  and  separated  from  each  other  by 
deep  gorges,  enclose  and  guard  the  low  region  f  while  eastward, 
in  Kurdistan*  and   Luristan,^  besides  ranges  of  hills,  three,  four, 


3  See  Col.  Chesney's   Euphrates   Expedi-  explored  by  the  enterprise  of  British  travel- 
tion,  vol.  i.  ch.  iv.  pp.  67-70.  lers,  particularly  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  and  Mr. 

4  See   the   Journal   of  the   Geographical  Layard.     (See  the  Journal  of  the  Geograph. 
Society,  vol.  xi.  p.  21.  Society,  vol.  ix.  part  i.  art.  2 ;  a'oI.  x.  part  i. 

5  This  district,  which  twenty  years  ago  art.  1  ;  vol.  xvi.  art.  1,  &c. ;  and  cf  Layard's 
was  almost  unknown,  has  been  thoroughly  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  chs.  xvii.  and  xviii.) 


Essay  IX. 


THE  MOUNTAm-EEGION. 


439 


or  five  monntain-cliains  are  to  be  traced,  intervening  between  the 
great  plain  and  the  high  region  of  Persia.  On  the  side  of  Meso- 
potamia these  ridges  are  for  the  most  part  bare  and  stony,  but 
in  the  interior  of  Kurdistan  and  in  the  north  of  Aimenia  their 
flanks  are  clothed  with  forests  of  walnut  and  other  trees,  while 
green  valleys  smile  below,  and  in  summer  "  the  richest  pastures 
enamel  the  uplands."  **  The  mountains  rise  in  places  considerably 
above  the  snow-li^,  and  are  believed  occasionally  to  attain  an 
elevation  of  from  13,000  to  15,000  feet.^ 

Another  feature  of  the  mountain-region  enclosing  the  great  plain, 
common  both  to  its  eastern  and  western  portions,  is  the  occurrence 
in  it  of  large  lakes,  the  waters  of  which  do  not  reach  the  sea.  These 
lakes  are  of  two  very  opposite  characters.  On  the  east,  they  lie  at 
a  vast  elevation,  4000  or  5000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  while  on  the 
west  they  occur  along  that  remarkable  depression  which  separates 
the  mountains  of  Palestine  Proper  from  the  high  ground  lying  east 
of  the  Jordan.  The  sea  of  Tiberias  is  652  feet,  and  the  Dead  Sea 
1312  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean;  lake  Urumiyeh  is 
4200,  and  the  lake  of  Yan  5400  feet  above  the  same.  The  waters 
of  all  (excepting  Tiberias,  through  which  the  Jordan  flows)  are  of  a 
very  similar  character;  they  are  heavily  impregnated  with  salt, 
which  so  greatly  raises  their  specific  gravity  that  they  are  little 
affected  by  storms,  and  possess  extraordinary  buoyancy.^ 


The  parallelism  of  the  ranges  is  expressly 
noted  by  the  latter  writer  (Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  p.  373 ;  Geograph.  Journ.  vol. 
xvi.  p.  50). 

^  Mr.  Layard  says :  "  We  had  now  left 
the  naked  hills  which  skirt  the  Assyrian 
plains,  and  entered  the  wooded  districts  of 
Kurdistan  "  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  375). 
And  with  regard  to  the  region  north  of 
Assyria  he  observes :  "  At  the  back  of  Tre- 
bizond,  as  indeed  along  the  whole  of  this 
bold  and  beautiful  coast,  the  mountains  rise 
in  lofty  peaks,  and  are  wooded  with  trees  of 
enormous  growth  and  admirable  quality, 
furnishmg  an  unlimited  supply  for  commerce 
or  war.  ...  In  spring  the  choicest  flowers 
perfume  the  air,  and  luxuriant  creepers  clothe 
the  hmbs  of  gigantic  trees.  In  summer  the 
richest  pastures  enamel  the  uplands,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  coasts  drive  their  flocks 
and  herds  to  the  higher  regions  of  the  hills. 
The  forests  ....  form  a  belt  from  30  to 
80  miles  in  breadth  along  the  Black  Sea. 

Beyond  the  dense  woods  cease They 

axe  succeeded  by  still  higher  mountains, 
mostly  rounded  in  their  forms,  some  topped 
with  eternal  snow,  barren  of  wood,  and  even 
of  vegetation  except  during  the  summer, 
when  they  are  clothed  with  Alpine  flowers 
and  herbs  "  (ibid.  pp.  6-7). 

7  In  traversing  the  country  between  Mosul 
and  Lake  Van,  Mr.  Layard  crossed  several 
passes  on  which  the  snow  lay  in  August,  and 
which  exceeded  10,000  feet.     He  estimates 


the  Toura  Jelu,  "probably  the  highest 
mountain  in  central  Kurdistan,"  at  "not 
under,  if  it  be  not  above,  15,000  feet"  (p. 
430).  Farther  south  the  Bowanduz  attains 
to  the  height  of  10,568  feet  (Geograph. 
Journ.  vol.  xi.  part  i.  p.  64).  In  the  most 
southern  part  of  the  Zagros  chain,  Mr. 
Layard  says  the  siunmits  are  "  frequently 
within  the  range  of  perpetual  snow  "  (Journal 
of  Geograph.  Society,  vol.  xvi.  p.  49).  In 
Armenia,  about  Lake  Van,  Col.  Chesney 
mentions  the  peaks  of  Ala  Tagh,  Sapan, 
Nimrud,  and  Mut  Khan,  as  all  above  the 
snow  line  (Euphrates  Exp.  vol.  i.  p.  69). 

^  These  properties  have  long  been  noticed 
as  attaching  to  the  Dead  Sea  (Tacit.  Hist.  v. 
6) :  "  Lacus  immenso  ambitu  ....  neque 
vento  impelhtur,  neque  pisces  aut  suetos 
aquis  volucres  patitur.  Incertse  undas  su- 
perjecta  ut  solido  ferunt ;  periti  imperitique 
nandi  perinde  attolluntur."  Compare  Joseph. 
Bell.  Jud.  iv.  8  ;  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1086  ;  Plin. 
H.  N.  V.  16.  And  for  modern  testimonies 
to  the  extraordinary  buoyancy,  see  Dr. 
Eobinson's  Biblical  Researches,  vol.  ii.  p. 
213,  and  Mr.  Kmglake's  Eothen,  ch.  xiii,  ad 
fin.  The  same  qualities  are  found,  however, 
still  more  strikingly  in  the  Lake  of  Urumi- 
yeh, of  which  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  gives  the' 
following  account :  "  The  specific  gravity  of 
the  water,  from  the  quantity  of  salt  which 
it  retains  in  solution,  is  great ;  so  much  so 
mdeed  that  the  prince's  vessel,  of  100  tons 
burthen,  when  loaded,  is  not  expected  to  have 


440  THE  GREAT  PLATEAU  OF  IRAN.  App.  Book  I. 

4.  Eastward  of  the  lofty  chain  of  Zagros,  which,  running  in  a 
direction  nearly  from  north-west  to  south-east,  shuts  in  the  gi'eat 
plain  of  Western   Asia  on  the  side  of  the  continent,  the  traveller 
comes  upon  a  second  level  region  contrasting  strongly  with  that 
which  lies  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  range.     The  Mesopotamian 
flat  and  great  parts  of  the  Arabian  desert  form  a  continuous  lowland, 
in  no  place  more  than  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the  sea-level ;  the 
great  plain  of  Iran  east  of  Mount  Zagros  is  a  h^h  plateau  or  table- 
land, possessing  an  average  elevation  of  above  4000  feet,^  and  seldom 
sinking  below  3000 — the  height  of  Skiddaw  and  Helvellyn.     Its 
shape    is   an   irregular   rectangle   or  oblong   square,   the   northern 
boundary  being  formed  by  the   mountain-chain   called  sometimes 
Elburz,  which  runs  eastward  from  Armenia,  and,  passing  south  of  the 
Caspian,  joins  the  Hindoo  Koosh  above  Cabul,  the  eastern  b}^   the 
SuUman  and  Hah  ranges,  which  shut  in  upon  the  west  the  valley  of 
the   Indus,  the  western  by  Mount  Zagros,  and  the  southern  by  a 
lower  line  of  hills  which  runs  nearly  parallel  with  the  coast,  and 
at  no  great  distance  from  it,  along   the   entire  length   of  Persia 
and  Beloochistan,  from  Bushire  to  Kurrachee.      This  parallelogram 
extends  in  length  more  than  20  degrees  or  above  1100  miles,  while 
in  breadth  it  varies  from  seven  degrees  or  480  miles,  (its  measure 
on  the  west  along  Mount  Zagros)  to  nearly  ten  degrees  or  690  miles, 
which   is  the  average  of  its  eastern   portion.     It   contains   about 
600,000  square  miles,  thus  exceeding  in  size  the  united  territory  of 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  France. 

It  is  calculated  that  two-thirds  of  this  elevated  region  are 
absolutely  and  entirely  desert.^  The  rivers  which  flow  from  the 
mountains  surrounding  it  are,  with  a  single  exception — that  of  the 
Etymandrus  or  Hehnend — insignificant,  and  their  waters  almost 
always  lose  themselves,  after  a  course  proportioned  to  their  volume, 
in  the  sands  of  the  interior.  Only  three,  the  Hehnend,  the  Bendamir, 
and  the  river  of  Gkuznee,  have  even  the  strength  to  form  lakes — the 
others  are  absorbed  in  irrigation,  or  sucked  up  by  the  desert.  Occa- 
sionally a  river,  rising  within  the  mountains,  forces  its  way  through 
the  barrier,  and  so  contrives  to  reach  the  sea.     This  is  the  case, 


more  draught  than  three  or  four  feet  at  Lake  Van,  too,  breaks  into  "high  waves" 
utmost.  The  heaviness  of  the  water  also  under  a  storm  (Layard's  Nineveh  and  Baby- 
prevents  the  lake  from  being  much  affected  Ion,  p.  415). 

with  storms A  gale  of  wind   can         ^  Col.  Chesney  calls  the  elevation   5000 

raise  the  waves  but  a  few  feet;  and  as  soon  feet  (Euphrat.  Exp.  vol.  i.  p.  65),  but  this  is 

as  the  storm  has  passed  they  subside  again  above  the  average.     The  level  of  Teheran, 

into   their    deep,   heavy,    death-like    sleep  "  which  is  probably  as  great  as  that  of  almost 

(Journal  of  Geogr.  Soc.  vol.  x.  part  i.  p.  7).  any  part  of  the  plain,  is  no  more  than  4000 

In  Lake  Van  the  features  seem  to  be  less  feet  (Geogi-aph.  Journ.  vol.  iii.  p.  112). 
marked.     The  water  in  some  places  is  "  quite         ^  See  Chesney's  Euphrates  Exp.  vol.  i.  p. 

salt "  (Brant  in  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  x.  p.  78.     The  "  Great  Salt  Desert "  is   said  to 

384),  in   others   only  "  slightly   brackish "  extend   400    miles    from   Kashan  to   Lake 

(ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  50 ;  vol.  x.  p.  403).    Cattle  Zerrah,   and  250   miles   from   Kerman   to 

drink  it,  and  it  produces  a  species  of  fish ;  Mazanderan.     The  Sandy  Desert  of  Sijistan 

whereas  in  Lake  Urumiyeh  and  in  the  Dead  is  reckoned  at  from  400  to  450  miles  in  its 

Sea  no  living  creatures  are  found  excepting  greatest  length,  and  in  its  greatest  width  at 

zoophytes  (ibid.  vol.   x.  part  i.  p.  7 ;  Hum-  above  200  miles.     (See  Kinneir's  Geographi- 

boldt's   Aspects   of  Nature,  vol.  ii.  p.    75,  cal  Memoir  of  the  Persian  Empire,  pp.  20 

E.   T. ;    Wagner's   Reise,  vol.  ii.   p.    136).  and  222.) 


Essay  IX.  MOUNTAINS  OF  IRAN— ZAGROS.  441 

especially  on  the  south,  where  the  coast-chain  is  pierced  by  a  number 
of  streams,  some  of  which  have  their  sources  at  a  con»siderable 
distance  inland.^  On  the  north  the  Heri-rud,  or  river  of  Herat,  in  a 
similar  way  makes  its  escape  from  the  plateau,  but  only  to  be 
absorbed,  after  passing  through  two  mountain-chains,  in  the  sands  of 
the  Kharesm.  Thus  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  this  region  is  desert 
throughout  the  year,  while,  as  the  summer  advances,  large  tracts, 
which  in  spring  were  green,  are  burnt  up — the  rivers  shrink  baik 
towards  their  sources — ^he  whole  plateau  becomes  dry  and  parched — 
and  the  traveller  wonders  that  any  portion  of  it  should  be  inhabited.^ 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  entire  plateau  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking,  is  to  the  eye  a  single  level  and  unbroken  plain. 
This  is  not  even  the  character  of  the  Mesopotamian  lowland  ;  and 
still  less  is  it  that  of  the  upland  region  under  consideration.  In  the 
western  portion  the  plains  are  constantly  intersected  by  "  brown, 
irregular,  rocky  ridges  ;"  *  rising  to  no  great  height,  but  serving  to 
condense  the  vapours  held  in  the  air,  and  furnishing  thereby  springs 
and  wells  of  inestimable  value  to  the  inhabitants.  In  the  southern 
and  eastern  districts  "immense"  ranges  of  mountains  are  said  to 
occur,^  and  the  south-eastern  as  well  as  the  north-eastern  corners  of 
the  plateau  ^  are  little  else  than  confused  masses  of  giant  elevations. 
Vast  flats,  however,  are  found.  In  the  Great  Salt  Desert  which 
extends  from  Kashan  to  lake  Zerrah  or-  Dharrah  in  western  Affghan- 
istan,  and  in  the  sandy  desert  of  Sigistan,  which  lies  east  and  south  of 
lake  Zerrah,  reaching  from  near  Farrah  to  the  Mekran  mountains, 
plains  of  above  a  hundred  miles  in  extent  seem  to  occur  ^ — sometimes 
formed  of  loose  sand,  which  the  wind  raises  into  hillocks,"  sometimes 
hard  and  gravelly,^  or  of  baked  and  indurated  clay.^ 

5.  The  mountain  tracts  surrounding  this  great  plateau  are  for  the 
most  part  productive  and  capable  of  sustaining  a  numerous  population. 
Zagros  especially  is  a  delightful  region.  The  outer  ranges  indeed, 
particularly  on  the  side  of  Assyria,  are  stony  and  barren,  but  in  the 
interior  the  scenery  assumes  a  character  of  remarkable  beauty  and 

2  Especially  the  Dusee  or  Punjgur  rivev,  given  by  Kinneir  of  Lieutenant  Pottinger's 
which  rises  near  Nushky,  in  lat.  29°  40''  journey  (Persian  Empire,  pp.  216-218).  But 
long.  65°  5',  and  falls  into  the  sea  near  see  also  Pottinger's  Travels  (pp.  132-8,  &c.), 
Gujattur,  in  lat.  25°  long,  62°  nearly.  and  the  diaries  of  Dr.  Forbes  and  Serjeant 

3  "  A  dreary,  monotonous,  reddish-brown  Gibbons  in  the  Journal  of  the  Geographical 
colour,"  says  Col.  Chesney,  "  is  presented  by  Society  (vol.  xi.  pp.  136-56 ;  vol.  xiv.  pp. 
eveiything  in   Iran,   including   equally  the  145-179). 

mountains,  plains,  fields,  rocks,  animals,  and         ^  "  The  sand  of  this  desert  is  of  a  reddish 

reptiles.     For  even  in  the  more  favoured  dis-  colour,  and  so  light  that  when  taken  into  the 

tricts,    the   fields    which    have    yielded    an  hand  the  particles  are  scarcely  palpable.     It 

abundant  crop   are   so   parched   and   burnt  is  raised  by  the  wind  into  longitudinal  waves, 

before  midsummer,  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  which  present  on  the  side  towards  the  point 

heaps  of  corn  in  the  villages  near  them,  a  from  which  the  wind  blows  a  gradual  slope 

passing    stranger    might    conclude    that    a  from  the  base,  but  on  the  other  side  rise  per- 

harvest  was   unknown  in   that  apparent li/  pendicularly  to  the  height  of  10  or  20  feet, 

barren  region  "  (Euphrates  Exp.,  vol.  i.  p.  and  at  a  distance  have  the  appearance  of  a 

79).  "*  Ibid.  new  brick  wall "  (Kinneir,  p.  222). 

^  See  Kinneir's  Persian  Empire,  p.  210.  ^  j^jfj    p_   217.     Compare  the  "  Geogi-a- 

6  Affghanistan  and  Beloochistan  Proper,  phical  Notes  "of  Mr.  Keith  Abbot  (Geograph. 
(See  Chesney,  vol.  i.  ch.  viii.,  and  Kinneir,  Journ.  vol.  xxv.  art.  1). 

P-  211.)  1  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  79;  Ferrier's  Cara- 

7  This  appe^irs  sufficiently  from  the  account     van  Journeys,  p.  403. 


442  ELBUEZ.  App.  Book  I. 

grandeur ;  forests  of  walnut,  oak,  ash,  and  plane  thickly  clothe  the 
ranges  of  parallel  hills,  along  the  sides  of  which  are  terraces  culti- 
vated with  rice,  wheat,  and  other  grain,  while  frequent  gardens  and 
orchards,  together  with  occasional  vineyards,  diversify  the  scene, 
the  deep  green  valleys  producing  cotton,  tobacco,  hemp,  Indian  corn, 
&c.,  and  numerous  clear  and  sparkling  streams  everywhere  leaping 
from  the  rocks  and  giving  life  and  freshness  to  the  landscape.'^ 
Towards  the  north,  the  outer  barrier  of  the  Zagros  range,  on  the  side 
of  Iran,  appears  to  be  the  most  elevated  of  the  many  parallel  ridges.^ 
It  rises  up  for  the  most  part  abruptly  from  the  high  plains  in  this 
quarter,  with  snow-clad  summits  and  dark  serrated  flanks,  forming  a 
gigantic  barrier  between  the  upper  and  lower  regions,*  traversed 
with  difficulty  by  a  few  dangerous  passes,  and  those  only  open  during 
seven  months  of  the  year.^ 

The  northern  or  Elburz  range,  which,  starting  from  the  ridge  of 
Zenjan,^  in  long.  48°,  proceeds  south-east  and  east  along  the  southern 
shores  of  the  Caspian,  and  thence  stretches  across  by  Meshed  and 
Herat  to  Cabool,  is  in  its  western  portion  a  comparatively  narrow 
tract,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  a  single  ridge  not  exceeding  20 
miles  in  breadth,  rocky  and  barren  on  its  southern  face,  full  of 
precipices,  and  cleft  occasionally  into  long,  narrow,  and  deeply 
scarred  transverse  valleys/  In  places,  however,  this  range  too 
breaks  into  two  or  more  parallel  lines  of  hills,  between  which  streams 
are  found  (like  the  Shah  Bud  and  the  Sejid  Hud),  in  which  case  its 
character  approaches  to  the  richness  of  the  Zagros  district.^  On 
the  northern  flanks  overhanging  Ghilan  and  Mazanderan  the  mountains 
are  clothed  nearly  to  their  summits  with  dwarf  oaks,  or  with  shrubs 
and  brushwood,  while  lower  down  the  slopes  are  covered  with 
forests  of  elms,  cedars,  chesnuts,  beeches,  and  cypress-trees.^  The 
average  height  of  the  range  in  this  part  is  from  6000  to  8000  feet, 
while  here  and  there  still  loftier  peaks  arise,  like  the  volcanic  cone 
of  Demavend,  the  snowy  summit  of  which  is  more  than  20,000  feet 
above  the  sea-level.'  Further  to  the  east,  beyond  Damaghan,  in  about 
long.  55°,  the  character  of  the  range  alters ;  its  elevation  becomes 
less,  while  its  width  greatly  increases.  It  spreads  out  suddenly  to 
a  breadth  of  full  200  miles,^  and  is  divided  longitudinally  into  ridges, 
separating  valleys  which  communicate  with  each  other  by  passes  or 
defiles,  and  are  rich,  well  inhabited,  and  well  cultivated.^     This  cha- 

2  See  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon  (pp.  height  the  Massula  mountains  (Geograph. 
367-375),  Chesney's  Euphrat,   Exp.  (vol.  i.     Journal,  vol.  x.  part  i.  p.  61). 

pp.  122-3),  and  the  communications  of  Mr.  ">  See  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  357. 

Ainsworth,  the  Baron  de  Bode,  Mr.  Layard,  ^  ggg  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  viii.  p.  102, 

and  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  in  the  Journal  of  the  and  vol.  x.  part  i.  p.  62. 

Geographical  Society  (vol.   xi.   p.    21,   &c. ;  ^  Chesney,   Euphr.  Exp.   vol.  i.  p.  217; 

vol.  xii.   p.   75,  &c. ;  vol.  xvi.  art.   1 ;  and  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  viii.  p.  103. 

vol.  X,  part  i.  art.  2),  i  The  recent  ascents  of  Mount  Demavend, 

3  Journal  of  Geograph.  Society,  vol.  x.  made  by  members  of  the  British  Embassy  at 
part  i.  p.  22.  Teheran,  seem  to  have  proved  this  vast  ele- 

''  Ibid.  pp.  15  and  30.  ^  Ibid.  p.  20.  vation,  which  was  first  discovered  by  Mr.  E. 

^  Col.  Chesney  makes  the  Massula  range  F.  Thomson  and  Lord  Schomberg  Kerr  in  the 

the    commencement   of  this   chain    (Euphr.  autumn  of  1858. 

Exp.  p.  73),  but  it  was  found  by  Sir   H.         2  g^g  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  viii.  p.  308. 
Rawlinson  that  the   ridge  between  Zcnjan         ^  Ibid.,  and  comp,  pp.  313,  314. 
and  the  Sejid  Bud  considerably  exceeded  in 


Essay  IX.     LOW  COUNTRIES  OUTSIDE  THE  PLATEAU.  443 

racter  continnes  to  about  long.  64°,  where  the  chain  once  more 
contracts  itself.  Between  the  points  indicated,  the  range  presents  to 
the  desert  on  the  south  a  slope  called  Atah,  or  "  the  Skirt,"  which  is 
capable  of  being  made  highly  productive,  and  is  covered  with  the 
ruins  of  great  cities,  but  it  is  now  nearly  a  wilderness. 

The  southern  and  eastern  chains  are  less  accurately  known  than 
the  others.  The  southern  may  be  regarded  as  commencing  between 
Bushire  and  Shiraz.  It  is  at  first  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
sea,  but  approaches  the  coast  nearly  in  long.  55°,  and  then  runs 
along  parallel  to  it  at  a  distance  of  a  few  miles,  having  an  elevation 
of  about  5000  feet  near  Cape  Jask,  and  then  decreasing  in  height 
until,  a  little  west  of  the  Indus,  it  is  lost  in  the  Hala  mountains.* 
The  eastern  chain  follows  nearly  the  course  of  the  Indus  valley, 
which  it  shuts  in  upon  the  west ;  it  consists  of  the  Hala  and  Suliman 
ranges,  the  latter  of  which  attains  in  some  places  the  elevation  of 
12,000  feet.^  These  mountains  are,  on  the  Indus  side,  arid  and 
sterile  ;  ^  their  western  flank  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  as  yet  known. 

6.  Outside  the  mountains  enclosing  the  great  table-land  of  Iran, 
on  the  south,  the  north,  and  the  east,  the  traveller  descends  to  low 
and  level  countries,  which  have  now  to  be  described  briefly. 

(i.)  The  southern  tract,  which  commences  from  the  river  Tab  or 
Hindi/an,  about  a  degree  north  of  Bushire,  is  a  thin  strip  of  territory, 
varying  along  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  from  60  to  20  miles 
in  width,^  and  near  the  mouth  of  the  gulf  contracting  to  a  very 
narrow  space  indeed,^  after  which  it  seldom  exceeds  about  eight  or 
ten  miles,^  occasionally  falling  short  of  that  breadth,  and  in  one 
place — at  Chobar  or  Chouhar — almost  suffering  interruption  by  the 
advance  of  the  mountains  to  the  very  edge  of  the  sea.  The  character 
of  this  tract  is  peculiar.  It  is  watered  for  six  months  of  the  year  by 
a  number  of  streams,  some  flowing  from  the  coast-chain,  others  from 
a  more  inland  mountain-range  ;  but  these  streams  fail  almost  entirely 
during  the  summer,  when  the  natives  depend  upon  well-water,  which 
is  generally  of  a  bad  quality.'  The  country  between  the  streams 
is  dry,  sandy,  and  arid,  and  the  general  character  of  the  strip,  both 
towards  the  east^  and  towards  the  west,^  is  one  of  desolation.  In 
the  centre,  however,  from  Gwattur  to  Cape  Jask,  where  the  streams 
are  most  frequent,  there  is  fine  pasturage,  and  abundant  crops  are 
produced— the  population  supported  being  considerable.'' 


"*  Chesney,  p.  73.    This  wi-iter  says  of  the  second  volume.) 
eastern  portion  of  the  range "  Where  it  has         ^  Journal  of  Geograph.   Society,  vol.  iii. 

been  examined,  the  formation    is  sandstone,  p.  131,  and  vol.  xiv.  p.  197. 
limestone,  gypsum,  clays,  and  marls.     The         7  See   Kinneir's   Persian  Empire,  pp.  56, 

brown,  bare,  and  furrowed  appearance  belong-  68,  &c. 

ing  to  the  first  of  these  rocks,  seems  to  be  the         ^  Especially  at  Cape  Jask,  where  the  moun- 

prevailing  character  of  this  part  of  the  chain,  tains  "  approach  almost  the  edge  of  the  sea  " 

the  sides  and  crests  of  which  are  generally  (Kinneir,  p.  203). 
deprived  of  vegetation  ;  but  the  valleys,  where         ^  Ibid. 

they  happen    to   be    irrigated,  produce   the         ^  See  Col.  Chesney's  Euphrates  Exp.  vol.  i. 

plantain,  date,  and  other  fruits,  as  well  as  p.  178.     Kinneir,  pp.  57,  58,  and  p.  205. 
grain."  2  Kinneir,  p.  203. 

5  This  is  the  estimated  height  of  the  Takht-         ^  Malcolm's  History  of  Persia,  vol.  i.  p.  2. 

i-SuHman,  the  loftiest   peak    of  the   chain.  Kinneir,  p.  70. 
(See  Col.  Chesney's  map  at  the  end  of  his         '•  Kinneir,  pp.  203,  204. 


444  THE  NORTHERN  AND  EASTERN  TRACTS.      App.  Book  I. 

(ii.)  The  tract  of  coimtry  outside  the  northern  mountain -line 
divides  itself  into  two  distinct  and  strongly  contrasted  districts. 
Beginning  upon  the  west,  it  consists  in  the  first  place  of  a  narrow 
belt  of  rich  alluvial  land  along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Caspian, 
varying  in  width  from  five  to  thirty  miles,  and  in  length  extending 
above  300.^  This  is  by  far  the  most  romantic  and  beautiful  province 
in  the  modern  kingdom  of  Persia.  Forests  of  oak,  elm,  beech,  and 
box  cover  the  hills ;  the  vegetation  is  luxuriant  ;  flowers  and  fruit 
of  the  most  superb  character  are  produced  ;  lemons,  oranges,  peaches, 
pomegranates,  besides  other  fruits,  abound ;  rice,  hemp,  sugar-canes, 
and  mulberries  are  cultivated  with  success ;  and  the  district  is  little 
less  than  one  continuous  garden.^  Nature,  however,  has  accompanied 
these  advantages  with  certain  drawbacks ;  the  low  countries  sufi'er 
grievously  from  inundations  through  the  swelling  of  the  streams  ;^ 
and  the  waters  which  escape  from  the  river-beds  stagnate  in  marshes, 
whose  pestilential  exhalations  render  the  provinces  of  Ghilan,  Mazan- 
deran,  and  Asterahad  about  the  most  unhealth}^  in  Persia.^  Eastward 
of  the  belt  of  land  thus  characterised,  the  low  country  suddenly 
acquires  new  and  quite  different  features.  From  the  south-eastern 
angle  of  the  Caspian  an  immense  and  almost  boundless  plain — the 
desert  of  Khiva  or  Kharesm — stretches  northwards  800  miles  to  the 
foot  of  the  Moughojar  hills,  and  eastward  an  equal  distance  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Balkh.  This  vast  tract,  void  of  all  animal  life, 
without  verdure  or  vegetation,^  depressed  in  parts  (according  to 
some  accounts)  below  the  level  of  the  ocean — the  desiccated  bed,  as 
Humboldt  thinks,^  of  a  sea  which  once  flowed  between  Europe  and 
Asia,  joining  the  Arctic  Ocean  with  the  Euxine — separates  more 
effectually  than  a  water-barrier  between  the  Kussian  steppes  and  the 
country  of  Khorasan,  and  lies  like  a  broad  dry  moat  outside  the 
rampart  of  the  Elburz  range.  It  is  sandy  and  salt  f  and  is  scarcely 
inhabited  excepting  towards  the  skirts  of  the  hills  that  fringe  it,  and 
along  the  courses  of  the  rivers  that  descend  from  those  hills,  and 
struggle— vainly,  except  in  one  or  two  instances^ — to  force  their 
way  to  the  sea  of  Aral  or  the  Caspian. 

(iii.)  The  valley  of  the  Indus,  which  lies  along  the  Eastern  moun- 
tains, is  near  the  sea  a  broad  tract,*  very  low  and  swampy,  yielding 

^  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  216.  E.  T.,  p.  326).     The  account  given  by  Sir  A. 

^  See  Kinneir,  p.  38,  and  pp.  159-162;  Burnes  is  less  poetical,  but  in  its  main  features 

Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  216,217.     And  compare  similar.     (See  the  summary  in  the  Geogra- 

Major  Todd's  journey  through  Mazanderan  phical  Journal,  vol.  iv.  pp.  305-311.) 

(Geograph.  Journ.  vol,  viii.  pp.  102-4),  i  See  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  xii.  p.  278. 

■^  Chesney,  p.  80;  Geograph,  Journ.  vol.  2  i\){^^  vol.  iv.  pp.  309-310,  &c. 

viii.  p.  103.  3  The  Jyhun  and  Syhun  (ancient  Oxus  and 

^  Kinneir,    p.    166  ;     Chesney,    p.   216  ;  Jaxartes)  are  almost  the  only  rivers  of  this 

Eraser's  Travels  near  the  Caspian  Sea,  p..  11.  tract  which  succeed  in  maintaining  themselves 

9  Mouravieff  (quoted  by  De  Hell)  says  of  against  the  absorbing  power  of  the  desert, 

it:  "Thiscountry  exhibits  the  image  of  death,  The  Murgaub,  the  fferi  Bud,  the  river  of 

or  rather  of  the  desolation  left  behind  by  a  Meshed,  and  various  minor  streams,  are  lost 

great  convulsion  of  nature.     Neither  birds  in  the  sands,  like  the  rivers  of  central  Iran, 

nor  quadrupeds  are  found  in  it ;    no  verdure  The  Kohik,  or  river  of  Bokhara,  terminates 

nor  vegetation  cheers  the  sight,  except  here  in  a  small  lake  (Lake  Bemjir). 

and  there  at  long  intervals  some  spots  on  '*  The  Delta  of  the  Indus,  in  the  ^videst  ex- 

which  there   grow  a  few  stunted  shrubs"  tent  of  the  term,  extends  125  miles  along  the 

(Travels  in  the  Steppes  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  coast,  from  the  Koree  mouth  to  near-  Ewrra- 


Essay  IX.  EIYER-SYSTEM  OF  WESTERN  ASIA.  445 

however  abundant  crops  of  rice,  and  capable  of  becoming  richly 
productive  under  proper  cultivation.^  A  vast  sandy  desert  encloses 
the  entire  valley  upon  the  east,  reaching  from,  the  Great  Runn  of 
Cutch  nearly  to  the  vicinity  of  Ferozepoor,  a  distance  of  above  500 
miles.  Between  the  desert  and  the  mountains  is  a  space  never  less 
than  fifty  or  sixty  miles  in  breadth,  and  sometimes  expanding  to  100 
or  150  miles,  which  is  all  capable  of  being  irrigated,  and  might  equal 
the  borders  of  the  ISile  in  productiveness.  The  most  remarkable 
expansion  is  on  the  western  side  of  the  river,  from  the  27th  to  the 
29th  parallels,  where  the  triangular  plain  of  Cutchi  Gandava  intervenes 
between  the  mountains  and  the  Indus,  having  its  apex  at  Dadur, 
120  miles  from  the  river,  and  its  base  reaching  from  Mittun  Kote  to 
lake  Manchur,  a  distance  of  230  miles.  A  portion  of  this  plain  is 
exceedingly  rich  and  fertile,  but  part  is  barren  and  sandy ;  the  whole 
however  is  capable  of  being  made  into  a  garden  by  skilful  and  well- 
managed  irrigation.^  Above  Mittun  Kote  begins  the  well-known 
country  of  the  Punjaub,  another  triangle — equilateral,  or  nearly  so  ^ 
— between  the  points  of  Gumpier  at  the  junction  of  the  Chen  ah  with 
the  Indus,  Attack  at  the  junction  of  the  river  of  Cabul  with  the  same 
stream,  and  Bulaspoor  at  the  point  where  the  Sutlej  issues  from  the 
mountains.  This  region,  which  derives  its  name  from  the  five  great 
rivers  whereby  it  is  watered,  is  richly  productive  along  their  courses  ; 
but  the  wide  spaces  between  the  streams  are  occupied  by  deserts, 
either  of  sand  or  clay,  in  some  places  bare,  in  others  covered  with 
thick  jungle,  or  with  scattered  tamarisk-bushes,  in  either  case  equally 
unfitted  for  the  habitation  of  man,  and  at  present  thinly  dotted  over 
with  a  few  scattered  villages. 

7.  The  River-System  of  Western  Asia,  like  its  other  geographical 
features,  is  peculiar.  Korth  of  a  line  drawn  from  Erzeroum  along 
Zagros  into  Luristan,  and  thence  across  Kerman  and  Beloochistan, 
in  a  direction  a  little  north  of  east,  to  the  Suliman  mountains,  the 
Hindoo  Koosh,  and  the  chain  of  the  Kaen  Lun  above  Ladak,  the 
rivers  as  far  as  the  50th  parallel  in  Asia,  and  the  60th  in  Europe, 
fail  of  reaching  the  circumambient  ocean,  either  losing  themselves 
in  the  sands,  or  else  terminating  in  lakes,  which  are  larger  or  smaller 
according  to  the  volume  of  the  streams  forming  them,  and  the  ex- 
halant  force  of  the  sun  in  their  respective  latitudes.  The  principal 
of  these  lakes  or  inland  seas  are  the  Caspian  and  the  Aral,  the  for- 
mer of  which  receives  the  waters  of  the  Wolga,  the  Ural,  the  united 
Kur  and  Aras,  the  Kouma,  the  Terek,  the  Sefid  Bud,  the  Jem,  and  the 
Attruk ;  while  the  latter  is  produced  by  the  combined  streams  of  the 
Jyliun  (Oxus)  and  the  Si/hun  or  Sir  (Jaxartes).  Thus  into  these 
two  reservoirs — recently  one,  according  to  Humboldt  ^ — are  drained 


chee.     The  true  Delta,  between  the  Pitee  and         ^  See  the  Journal  of  the  Geographical  So- 

Mull  mouths,  is  70  miles  (Geograph.  Journ.  ciety,  vol.  xiv.  p.  198,  and  compare  Kinneir, 

vol.  iii.  p.  115).     For  the  rapid  changes  in  p.  213. 

the  Delta  and  in  the  course  of  the  river,  see         ^  The  base,  from  Gumpier  to  BulasjDoor, 

Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  viii.  ai-t.  25 ;  and  vol.  is  about  390  miles ;  the  eastern  side,  from 

X.  p.  530.  Bulaspoor  to  Attock,  320  ;   and  the  western 

5  See  Kinneir,  p.  228,  and  Burnes's  Memoir  side,  from  Attock  to  Gumpier,  380  miles, 
on  the  Indus  (Geograph.  Jom-n.  vol.  iii.  p.         ^  Asie  Centrale,  vol.  ii.  p.  296, 
113,  et  seqq.). 


446.  CONTINENTAL  RIVERS— THE  SYHUN.        App.  Book  I. 

the  waters  of  a  basin  2000  miles  in  length,  from,  the  source  of  the 
Wolga  to  that  of  the  Sir  or  Syhun,  and  1 800  miles  in  breadth  from 
the  head-streams  of  the  Kaama  in  northern  Eussia  to  those  of  the 
Sefid  Mud,  in  Kurdistan.  In  the  deserts  beyond  the  Syhun,^  in  the 
highland  of  Thibet/  and  in  the  great  Iranic  plateau,  are  a  number 
of  similar  but  smaller  salt-lakes,  while  throughout  these  regions  the 
phenomenon  of  the  gradual  disappearance  of  a  river  in  the  sands, 
either  with  or  without  irrigation,  is  of  very  frequent  occurrence. 
Besides  these  inland  or  "  continental  "  streams  (as  they  have  been 
called  ^)  whose  waters  do  not  reach  the  sea.  Western  Asia  contains 
a  considerable  number  of  oceanic  rivers,  the  chief  of  which  are  the 
Indus,  the  Euphrates,  and  the  Tigris,  while  among  those  of  lesser 
importance  may  be  named  the  Tchoruk  or  river  of  Batam,  the  Eiori 
or  ancient  Phasis,  the  Orontes,  the  Litany,  the  Jerahie,  the  lab 
or  Hindyan,  the  Dusee  or  Bougwur,  and  the  Puralee  or  Bella  river. 
A  more  particular  description  will  now  be  given  of  the  principal 
of  these  streams — so  far,  at  least,  as  they  belong  to  Asia. 

(i.)  Among  the  "  continental "  rivers  of  Western  Asia  those  of 
the  greatest  importance  are^  the  Syhun,  the  Jyhun,  and  the  Helmend 
on  the  east ;  on  the  west,  the  Kur,  the  Aras,  and  the  Sefid  Rud. 

The  Syhun  rises  from  two  sources  on  the  northern  flank  of  the  Thian- 
shan  mountain-chain,  the  more  easterly  of  which  is  in  long.  77°.  It 
flows  at  first  nearly  due  west  between  the  Gakchal  and  Alatau  ranges, 
but  near  Kokand  (in  long.  69°  50')  it  bends  southward,  and,  making 
a  complete  sweep  by  Khojend,  pursues  a  northern  course  for  above 
two  degrees  (140  miles),  after  which  it  turns  north-west,  and  then 
still  more  west,  finally  reaching  the  sea  of  Aral  near  its  north- 
eastern extremity.  At  first,  while  it  runs  between  the  two  lines  of 
mountain,  it  receives  on  both  sides  numerous  tributaries,  but  on 
issuing  into  the  plain  at  Kokand,  and  proceeding  upon  its  northern 
course,  skirting  the  Alatau  hills,  it  ceases  to  obtain  feeders  from  the 
left,  and  at  length  leaving  the  hills  altogether  (in  66°  50'),  and 
proceeding  across  the  desert,  its  supplies  fail  entirely,  and  it  gra- 
dually diminishes  in  volume,  partly  from  the  branches  which  it 
throws  out,  but  still  more  from  evaporation,  until,  where  it  reaches 
the  sea,  it  is  diminished  to  one-half  of  the  breadth  which  it  had 
before  quitting  the  mountains  in  the  vicinity  of  Otrar?  It  has  a 
course,  without  including  meanders,  of  above  a  thousand  miles,* 
and  is  in  places  from  200  to  250  yards  wide. 

The  Jyhun  rises  from  an  alpine  lake*  —  lake  Sir-i-kol  —  lying 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Bohr  mountain-chain  in  lat.  37°  40', 

^  The  principal  lakes  of  this  region  are,  excellent  map  (No.  91)  published  in  the  Li- 
Lake  Balkach  in  lat.  45°,  long.  77°.  Lake  brary  Atlas  of  the  Useful  Knowledge  Society. 
Telelioul  in  lat.  45°,  long.  66°,  and  Lake  *  Mr.  Keith  Johnston  estimates  the  length 
Aksakal  in  lat.  47°  50',  long.  63°  50'.  .  of  the  Syhun  at   1208  miles  (Phys.  Atl. 

1  Lakes  Temourton  and  Loh  are  the  most  '  Hydrology,'  No.  5,  p.  14), 
western  of  these.     Eastward  they  continue  at         ^  Lieut.  Wood  found  the  elevation  of  Lake 

intervals  along  the  whole  tract  between  the  /S'/r-i-ZeoHo  be  15,600  feet  (Geograph.  Journ, 

Kien-lun  and  the  Thian-shan  to  the  frontiers  vol.  x.  p.  536)  ;  which  is  higher  than  that  of 

of  China.  the  sacred  lakes  of  Manasa  and  Eavanahadra 

'^  See  Mr.  Keith  Johnston's  Atlas  of  Phy-  in  the  loftiest  region  of  Middle  Thibet,  whose 

sical  Geography,  '  Hydrology,'  No.  5,  p.  13.  level  is  barely  15,000  feet.     (See  Humboldt's 

^  This  description  is  chieHy  drawn  from  the  Aspects  of  Nature,  vol.  i.  p.  82,  E.  T.) 


Essay  IX.  THE  JYHUN,  HELMEND,  &c.  447 

long.  73°  50'.  After  a  rapid  descent  from  the  high  elevation  of 
the  lake,  during  which  it  pursues  a  serpentine  course,  flowing  first 
south-west,  then  nearly  west,  then  north-west  by  north,  and  at 
last  curving  round  so  as  to  run  almost  due  south,  the  Jyhun 
issues  from  the  hills  on  receiving  from  the  south-east  the  waters 
of  the  river  Kokeha,  and  follows  a  direction  at  first  almost  due 
west,  and  then  from  the  latitude  of  Balkh  till  it  crosses  the  40th 
parallel,  north-west  by  west,  after  which  it  bends  still  more  to  the 
north,  and  passing  Khiva  enters  the  Aral  lake  at  its  south-western 
corner  by  three  branches.  It  is  increased  by  a  multitude  of  small 
streams  from  the  right,  and  by  some  from  the  left,  until  it  passes 
Kilef,  when  it  fairly  enters  upon  the  plain,  across  which  it  inns 
without  receiving  a  single  tributary  ®  till  lat.  40°,  after  which  a  few 
small  streams  reach  it  from  the  hills  which  skirt  the  plain  upon  the 
north-east.  Near  Kilef  it  is  800  yards  wide,  after  which  it  dimi- 
nishes in  breadth,  but  increases  in  depth,  till  in  the  latter  part  of 
it^  course  it  is  weakened  by  means  of  canals  drawn  off  from  it  for 
the  purpose  of  irrigation.  Its  whole  course,  including  the  principal 
sweeps,  but  exclusive  of  meanders,  is  about  1200  miles.'' 

The  Helmend,  or  Etymandrus,  rises  between  Bamian  and  Cabul 
from  the  south-w^estern  angle  of  the  Hindoo  Koosh,  and  flows  in  a 
slightly  waving  line  from  north-east  to  south-west  across  Affghan- 
istan,  a  distance  of  500  miles,  to  Palahik,  after  which  it  sweeps 
round  to  the  north,  and  then  proceeds  by  an  irregular  course  bearing 
generally  north-west  by  west  to  lake  Zerrah.  The  only  important 
tributary  which  it  is  known  to  receive  is  a  stream  from  the  east^ 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Urghaadab  and  the  Turnuk,  the  two 
rivers  between  which  lies  the  city  of  Kandahar.  The  Helmend  is 
from  60  to  90  yards  wide  at  Girisk,  but  increases  to  above  300  yards 
after  receiving  its  great  tributary,^  and  at  Palaluk  ^  attains  a  width 
of  400  yards.     It  has  a  course  exceeding  600  miles. 

With  the  Helmend  may  be  joined  those  other  streams  of  the 
Iranic  plateau  (the  Gonsir,  or  river  of  Hamadan — the  ancient  Ecba- 
tana — the  Zendarnd,  or  river  of  Isfahan,  the  Bendamir  or  river  of 
Persepolis,  the  Jare-rud,  the  river  of  Ghuznee,  &c.)  which  descend 
from  the  mountains  enclosing  it,  and  flow  inwards  towards  a  com- 
mon centre,  but  stagnate  after  a  time,  either  expanding  into  lakes, 
or  more  commonly  sinking  imperceptibly  amid  the  dry  sands  of  the 
desert.  In  the  same  connexion  must  be  mentioned  the  other  feeders 
of  lake  Zerrah  besides  the  Helmend,  namely,  the  Haroot-rud^  which 
flows  into  it  from  the  north,  the  Farrah-rud,  which  descends  from 
the  north-east,  and  the  river  of  Khasli  which  comes  in  nearly  from 
the  east.     These  streams  are  none  of  any  great  magnitude,  but  they 


^  A  number  of  streams  flow  from  the  hills  Keith  Johnston's  estimate  is  1400  miles  (loc. 

toicnrds  the  Jyhun  in  the  middle  part  of  its  sup,  cit.) 
course,  but  fail  of  reaching  it.     The  most  re-         ^  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  166. 
markable  are  the  Bund-i-Burhun,  or  river  of         ^  See  Ferrier's  Caravan  Journeys,  pp.  428- 

Balkh  ;  the  Munjaub,  or  river  of  Merv  ;  the  9.     The  average  depth  of  the  Helmend  in  the 

Ilcri-nid,  or  river  of  Herat ;  and  the  Kohik,  latter  part  of  its  course  is  from  1^  to  2  fathoms 

or  river  of  Bokhara.  (ibid.). 

'  See  map  (No.  91)  in  the  Library  Atlas,         i  Kinneir,  p.  191. 
and  compare  Col.  Chesney 's  delineation.   Mr. 


448  THE  KUR  AND  ARAS.  App.  Book  I. 

have  an  importance  disproportionate  to  their  size,  arising  out  of 
their  value  in  a  country  where  water  is  so  scarce,  and  where  culti- 
vation depends  so  greatly  upon  irrigation. 

The  Kur  and  Aras,  which  unite  at  Djavat,  are,  together  with  the 
Sefid  Bad,  the  streams  which  carry  off  the  drainage  of  the  mountain- 
country  lying  between  the  western  shore  of  the  Caspian  and  a  ridge 
which  may  be  regarded  as  a  continuation  of  Zagros,  forming  the 
watershed  between  the  continental  and  the  oceanic  rivers.  The  two 
streams  rise  within  a  few  miles  of  each  other  in  lat.  40°  40',  long. 
42°  40',^  and  flow  at  first  in  nearly  opposite  directions,  the  Kur  a 
little  east  of  north  and  the  Aras  almost  due  south,  till  they  are  140 
miles  apart  in  long.  44°.  After  this  they  flow  to  the  east,  and 
approach  somewhat  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Erivan,  where  the  dis- 
tance between  them  is  not  more  than  100  miles.  The  Aras  then 
turns  suddenly  southward,  on  receiving  the  waters  of  lake  Sivan, 
and  the  interval  between  the  streams  increases  to  130  miles,  but  in 
long.  46°  the  Aras  ceasing  to  flow  south,  and  in  long.  47°  beginning 
to  draw  a  little  towards  the  north,  while  the  Kur,  which  for  a  short 
space  had  flowed  north  of  east,  in  long.  47°  turns  to  the  south-east, 
the  two  rivers  gradually  draw  together,  till  they  unite  in  long. 
48°  40'.  The  course  of  the  Kur  up  to  this  point  is  reckoned  at 
about  750  miles,  and  that  of  the  Aras  at  an  almost  equal  distance.^ 
Both  are  considerable  streams,  the  Kur  being  ninety  yards  wide,  and 
from  10  to  20  feet  deep  at  Tiflis,*"  and  the  Aras  being  50  yards 
wide  at  Gurgur,^  and  40  as  high  up  as  Karakala,^  just  below  its  junc- 
tion with  the  ArpatchaL  Both  have  numerous  tributaries,  the  Kur 
receiving  a  number  of  important  streams  from  the  flanks  of  the 
Caucasus,  of  which  the  chief  are  the  Aragbor,  and  the  united  Alazani 
and  Yori  rivers,  while  on  the  other  side  it  is  also  augmented  by 
various  feeders  from  the  high  ground  separating  its  basin  from 
that  of  the  Aras ;  this  latter  river  being  supplied  with  a  constant 
succession  of  afiluents''  from  the  mountains  which  close  it  in  on 
both  sides  from  its  rise  to  its  entrance  on  the  plain  of  Moghan  in 
long.  47°  nearly.  In  spring  and  early  summer  these  rivers  both 
swell  enormously,  from  the  melting  of  the  snows :  ^  hence  the  diffi- 
culty of  maintaining  bridges  over  them  which  drew  notice  in  Eoman 
times,^  a  difficulty  attested  apparently  by  the  many  ruins  of  ancient 
bridges  upon  their  course,^  yet  which  is  proved  not  to  be  insuper- 
able.*    The  united  Kur  and  Aras  flow  across  the  plain  of  Moghan, 

2  See  Col.  Chesney's  Euphrates  Expedition,  enumerated  by  Colonel  Chesney   (Euphrat. 

vol.  i.  p.  10.     Some  regard  the  Biivjol-Su  as  Exp.  vol.  i.  pp.  8-10). 

the  true  Aras.     This  branch  rises  near  Erze-         ^  See  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  215  ; 

roum,  in  lat.  39°  25',  long.  41°  20'  (Geo-  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  10.     The  Kur,  which  in 

graph.  Journ.  vol.  x.  p.  445).  the  dry  season  averages  93  yards  at  Tiflis,  ki 

^  Chesney,  pp.  10  and  12.     This  estimate,  the  time  of  the  floods  expands  to  233  yards, 
however,  includes  the  lesser  windings  of  the        ^  Cf.  Virg.  ^En.  viii.  728,  "Indomitique 

streams.  Dahae,  et  pontcm  indignahis  Araxes,"  and 

^  Ibid.  p.  10.  compare  his  imitators   (Claudian.  Rutin,  i. 

5  See  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  215.  376  ;  Sidon.  ApoU.  Paneg.  Auth.  441). 
Kinneir  says  it  was  80  yards  wide  at  Megree,         ^  See  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  610, 

north  of  Tabriz,  when  he  crossed  it  in  1810  641,  &c. 
(Persian  Empire,  p.  321).  2  Col.  Chesney  mentions  three  bridges  over 

^  Ker  Porter,  vol.  ii.  p.  640.  the  Aras,  one,  that  of  Shah  Abbas,  north  of 

'  Twenty-one  tributaries  of  the  Aras  are  Tabriz;  another  at  Kopri  Kieui ;  and  the 


Essay  IX.  THE  SEFID-EUD  AND  AJI-SU.  449    ' 

a  distance  of  110  miles,' to  the  Caspian,  which  the  main  stream 
enters  in  lat.  39°  50'. 

The  Sefid-Eud  drains  the  tract  of  high  ground  immediately  south 
of  the  basin  of  the  Aras :  *  its  true  source  is  in  the  province  of 
Ardelan  or  Kurdistan  Pioper,  in  lat.  35°  45',  long.  46°  45'  nearly, 
where  it  is  known  as  the  Jiizil  Uzen.  It  proceeds  with  a  geneial 
direction  of  N.E.  by  E.  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  but  makes  one  enormous 
bend  in  its  course  between  long.  48°  and  49°  15',  running  first  N.W., 
then  N.,  and  then  N.N.W.  as  far  as  lat.  37°  30'.  Here  it  turns  the 
flank  of  the  great  range  north  of  Zenjan^^  and,  sweeping  round  sud- 
denly, flows  south-east  between  that  range  and  the  Massula  hills  to 
Menju  in  lat.  36°  40',  long.  49°  15');  after  which  it  resumes  its 
original  direction,  forces  a  waj'-  through  the  Massula  chain,  and  runs 
towards  the  N.E.  across  the  low  country  of  Ghilan  to  the  Caspian.  Its 
course  is  reckoned  at  490  miles.  The  chief  tributaries  which  it 
receives  are  the  river  of  Zenjan,  the  Miana,  and  the  Shahrud.^ 

Westward  of  the  Caspian,  intervening  between  it  and  the  great 
mountain-chain  which  forms  the  watershed  between  the  conti- 
nental and  oceanic  rivers,  is  the  separate  basin  of  lake  Urumiyeh^ 
fed  by  a  number  of  streams  flowing  into  it  on  all  sides  but  the 
north,  the  most  important  of  which  are  the  Aji  Su  or  river  of 
Tabriz,  the  Jaghetu,  and  the  Tatau.  The  Aji  Su  rises  from  Mount 
Sevilan  (in  lat.  38°  10',  long.  47°  45'),  in  two  streams,  which  flow 
towards  the  south-west  a  distance  of  some  40  miles,  when  they  unite, 
and  the  river  thus  formed  proceeds  somewhat  north  of  west  for 
60  miles  further,  where  a  laige  affluent  is  received  from  the  south 
in  about  long.  46°  50'.  The  Aji  Su  shortly  after  this  changes  its 
course  suddenly,  and  once  more  runs  south  of  west,  passing  through 
the  immense  plain  of  Tabreez,  and  leaving  that  city  on  its  left  bank 
at  about  five  miles'  distance ;  after  which  it  bends  rather  more  to 
the  south,  and  enters  the  lake  of  Urumiyeh  in  the  remarkable  bay 
which  indents  its  eastern  shore,  in  lat.  37°  48',  long.  45°  40'.  Its 
entire  course,  exclusive  of  the  lesser  windings,  is  about  180  miles, 
or  somewhat  more  than  that  of  the  Thames  and  Severn.  The  Jaghetu 
and  Tatau  flow  into  lake  Urumiyeh  from  the  south.  The  former, 
which  is  the  superior  stream,  rises  in  the  pass  of  Naukhan,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Zagros,  in  lat.  35°  40',  long.  46°  30'  nearly,  and  has 
a  general  course  of  N.N.W.  to  the  south-eastern  shore  of  the  lake, 
which  it  enters  in  lat.  37°  13',  long.  45°  52'.  It  receives  one  im- 
portant tributary  from  the  east,  the  SaruJi  or  river  of  Talthti- 
Suldman,  the  northern  Ecbatana;  and  has  a  course  of  130  or  140 
miles.     The  Tatau  is  a  smaller  river  descending  from  the  district  of 


third  at  Hassan  Kaleh   (Euphrat.  Exp.  vol.  stream  rises  from  Mount  Sevilan ;  and  its 

i.  P-  11).  valley,  which  slopes  westward,  is  interposed 

^  Chesney's  Euph.  Exp.  vol.  i.  p.  11.  between  the  ^V/^d /iM(/ and  ^ms  basins,  whose 

*  The  basin  of  Lake  Ururniyeh  intervenes  slant  is  towards  the  Caspian. 

partially  between  the  basins  of  the  Aras  and         *  Vide  supra,  §  5. 

the  Sepd  Rnd.     Two  rivers  principally  feed         ^  See  Col.  Chesney's  Euphrat.  Kxp.  vol.  i. 

this  lake,  the  Jaghetu,  which  enters  it  from  pp.  190,  191,  and  compare  Geograph.  Journ. 

the  south,  and  the  Aji,  or  river  of  Tabriz,  vol.  iii.   parti,   p.  11,   and  vol.  x.   part  i. 

which  f^ows  in  from  the  east.     This  latter  p.  64. 

VOL     I.  2    G 


450  THE  BARADA.  App.  Book  I. 

SardasTit.  Its  earlier  course  is  north  along  the  line  of  the  46th  de- 
gree of  longitude,  which  it  quits  in  lat.  36°  54',  bending  away  to 
the  north-west,  and  leaving  between  its  stream  and  the  Jaghetu  the 
fertile  plain  of  Miyahdah.  It  falls  into  the  lake  at  its  south-eastern 
angle,  and  has  a  course  of  80  or  90  miles/ 

Still  further  to  the  west,  and  separated  altogether  from  the  great 
region  of  continental  streams  which  we  have  been  considering,  is  a 
small  tract  lying  very  nearly  upon  the  Syrian  coast,  the  waters  of 
which,  equally  with  those  of  Iran  and  of  Central  Asia,  are  land- 
locked, and  fail  of  reaching  the  sea.  This  tract,  which  extends 
from  \h.Q  source  of  the  Barada  (in  lat.  32°  50')  upon  the  north,  to  the 
shores  of  the  Dead  Sea  on  the  south,  consists  of  the  two  strongly  con- 
trasted valleys  of  the  Barada  and  the  Jordan,  with  the  tributary 
streams  of  those  rivers.  The  Barada  rises  from  the  south-eastern 
flank  of  Anti-Lebanon,  and  flows  at  first  nearly  south,  in  a  gorge 
parallel  to  the  chain,  but  soon  leaves  the  mountains  and  takes  a 
direction  almost  south-east  through  a  broad  and  rich  valle}^  expand- 
ing gradually  into  a  plain,  across  which  it  proceeds  to  run,  seeming 
as  if  it  would  force  its  way  through  the  desert,  and  fall  into  the 
Persian  Gulf  or  the  Euphrates.  For  this,  however,  its  force  is  in- 
siifScient.  It  is  greatly  weakened  by  being  divided  into  a  number 
of  difterent  channels  above  Damascus,^  which  are  used  for  irrigation, 
and  fertilise  the  extensive  gardens  around  that  town.  Although 
these  streams  reunite  below  the  town,  and  the  Barada  flows  once 
more  for  a  short  distance  in  a  single  stream,  though  moreover  it 
receives  in  this  part  of  its  course  two  considerable  tributaries  from 
the  south-west,  the  Nalir-el-Berde  and  the  Awaadj,  yet  in  spite  of  all 
it  shortly  after  loses  itself  in  the  extensive  marsh  which,  under  the 
name  of  Bahr-el-Merdj,  spreads  eastward  towards  the  desert,  extending 
from  the  point  where  the  Barada  enters  it,  a  distance  of  nine  miles, 
and  having  an  average  width  of  about  two  miles. ^  The  course  of 
the  Barada,  exclusive  of  meanders,  does  not  exceed  40  miles. 

From  the  opposite  side  of  Anti-Lebanon,  at  a  point  nearly 
parallel  with  its  culminating  height,  the  lofty  elevation  of  Jebel- 
esh-Sheikh  or  Hermon,'  rises  the  Jordan  from  a  number  of  copious 


7  See  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  iii.  art.  l,and  Palestine,'  p.  402). 

vol.  X.  part  i.  art.  1.  ^  This  is  the  account  of  Col.  Chesney,  vol. 

^  Col.  Chesney  enumerates  nine  of  these  i.  p.  503.     According  to  Mr.  Porter  (Geo- 

(Euphrat.  Exped.  vol.  i.  p.  502).     The  river  graph.  Journ.  vol.  xxvi.  pp.  43-6)  there  is 

first  splits  into   two  streams,  one  of  which  no  such  stream  at  all  as  the  Nahr-el-Berde^ 

does    not   further   subdivide,   but  passes   in  and  the  Avxiadj  flows,  not  into  the  Barada, 

a  single  channel  along  the  northern  side  of  but  into  a  lake  or  marsh  of  its  own.     This 

th$  city.     This  branch  has  perhaps  a  right  traveller  also  states  that  in  lieu  of  a  single 

to  be  considered  as  the  ancient  Pharpar.    (See  lake  there  are  three  distinct  lakes,  two  formed 

Benjamin    of    Tudela,   as    quoted    by   Col.  by  the  Barada,  and  the  other,  as  above  stated, 

Chesney.)     The  other  branch,  which  may  be  by  the  Awaadj.      Perhaps    this   change   is 

jegarded  as  the  Abana,  is  further  subdivided  caused  by  a  continuance  of  dry  seasons, 

into  eight  chnnnels,  which  pass  either  through  ^  Mount  Hermon  has  not,  I  believe,  been 

the  city  or  south  of  it,  and  all  reunite  before  accurately   measured,    but   is   calculated   at 

the  northern  branch  again  joins  the  southern,  about  10,000  feet  (Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  393  ; 

For  a  grapliic   descri])tion   of  the  plain   of  Stanley,  frontispiece).     Its  top  ascends  high 

Damascus,  see  Maundrell's  Journey,  pp.  122,  above  the  line  of  perpetual  snow. 
123  (quoted  by  Dr.  Stanley  in  his  '  Sinai  and 


Essay  IX.  THE  JORDAN.  451 

springs  flowing  chiefly  from  the  main  chain,  which  here  takes  a 
direction  almost  due  south,  but  in  part  also  from  tbe  western  pro- 
longation of  the  Anti-Lebanon,  which  skirting  the  valley  of  the  Litany, 
runs  on  from  thence  through  Palestine  and  Idum^a  to  Sinai.  Of 
these  springs,  one  of  the  principal — "  the  parent  stream  of  the 
valley,'"'  as  it  has  been  called — is  the  torrent  of  the  Hasheya.  This 
torrent,  which  rises  in  the  fork  of  the  Anti-Lebanon,  where  the  two 
chains  separate,  in  lat.  33°  40',  long.  35°  50'  nearly,  runs  at  first 
with  a  south-westerly  course  down  a  deep  and  rocky  gorge,  but 
gradually  bends  towards  the  south,  and  entering  upon  the  plain  near 
Laish  (^Tel-el- Kadi),  flows  somewhat  east  of  south  through  a  marshy 
tract  into  the  lake  of  Merom  (now  Bahr-el-Huleli).  Another  stream, 
more  usually  regarded  as  the  true  Jordan,  rises  from  two  copious 
sources—  one  at  Dan  or  Laish,  the  other  at  Caesarea  Philippi  or 
Paneas  (now  ^a;i^'as)  *— and,  running  parallel  to  the  Hasheya  through 
the  flat,  enters  Merom  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  other  feeder.  From 
Merom,  \7hich  is  a  mountain  tarn,  seven  miles  long  and  six  broad 
at  its  greatest  width  "* — the  Jordan  issues  in  a  single  stream  and 
begins  that  remarkable  descent  which  distinguishes  it  from  all 
other  rivers.  Lake  Merom  is  50  feet  above,  the  sea  of  Tiberias 
652  feet  below  the  Mediterranean,  the  distance  between  the  two 
being  at  the  utmost  10  miles.  Down  the  narrow  and  depressed  cleft 
between  these  lakes  the  river  flows  with  a  rapid  current  and  in  a 
narrow  bed,  being  in  fact  little  better  than  a  succession  of  rapids.* 
Its  course  here  is  but  slightly  winding,  and  the  fall  cannot  average 
less  than  40  or  50  feet  per  mile.^  The  general  direction  is  almost 
due  south  till  within  a  short  distance  of  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  when  it 
becomes  south-west  by  south  for  a  few  miles  before  the  river  enters 
the  sea.  After  resting  for  a  while  in  this  clear  and  deep  basin — an 
irregular  oval,  13  miles  long,  and  towards  the  middle  about  six 
miles  broad  ^ — the  Jordan  again  issues  forth  with  the  same  southern 
direction  along  the  still  lower  depression  which  unites  the  sea  of 
Tiberias  and  the  Dead  Sea.  Here  the  descent  of  the  stream  be- 
comes comparatively  gentle,    not  much  exceeding  three  feet  per 


2  Stanley,  p.  386.  feet — the  distance,  following  the  curve  of  the 

^  A  minute  description  of  these  two  sources  stream,  between   1 1  and   1 2  miles.     As  the 

is  given  by  Dr.  Stanley  (Sinai  and  Palestine,  river  here  meanders  very  little,  its   actual 

pp.  386-391).  course  is  not  likely  to  exceed  14  or  at  most 

"*  These  are  the  dimensions  given  by  Dr.  1 6  miles.     This  would  give  an  avei  age  foil  of 

Stanley  (ibid.  p.   382).     Col.  Chesney  says  from  44  to  50  feet.    Taking  into  account  the 

"  the    waters   seem    to   have   preserved   the  fact  that  for  2^  miles  the  fall  is  very  slight 

extent  assigned  to  them  by  Josephus — 7  miles  indeed,    it    would   seem   that   from    Jacob's 

long,  and  3^  wide  "  (Euphrat.  Exp.  vol.  i.  p.  bridge  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  the  rate  must 

399,  and  note).     Colonel  Wildeubruch  ob-  considerably  exceed  50  feet.     Mr.  Petermann 

serves  that  the  dimensions   depend   on   the  calculated  it  to  exceed  116  feet  (Geograph. 

time  of  year,  the  wetness  or  dryness  of  the  Journ.  vol.  xviii.  p.  103);  but  he  regarded 

Feai<on,  &c.,  and  vary  continually  (Geograph.  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  as  more  depressed  than  it 

Journ.  vol.  xx.  p.  228).  really  is,  and  made  no  allowance  at  all  for 

•'  Where  the  river    first  issues  from  the  meanders, 
lake  it  is  sluggish,  but  after  paj^sing  Jacob's         7  See  Dr.  Stanley's  work,  p.  362.     Col.- 

bridge,  2  J  miles  from  the  lake,  it  is  said  to  Chesney  makes  the  length  12,  and  the  greatest 

become    a    sort   of  "continuous  waterfall"  bieadth   5   miles   (Euphrat.  Exp.  vol.  i.   p. 

(Geograph.  Journ.  1.  s.  c).  400). 

^  The  fall  between  the  two  lakes  is  702 

2  G  2 


452  OCEANIC  STREAMS  OF  WESTERN  ASIA.     App.  Book  I. 

mile ;  for  though  the  direct  distance  between  the  two  seas  is  less 
than  70  miles,  and  the  entire  fall  660  feet,  which  would  seem  to 
give  a  descent  of  nearly  1 0  feet  per  mile,  yet  as  the  course  of  the 
river  throughout  this  portion  of  its  career  is  tortuous  in  the  ex- 
treme,^ the  fall  is  really  not  greater  than  above  indicated.  Still  it 
is  sufficient  to  produce  as  many  as  twenty-seven  rapids,  or  at  the 
rate  of  one  to  every  seven  miles.^  Five  miles  below  the  point  where 
the  Jordan  issues  from  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  it  receives  an  important 
affluent  from  the  east,  the  Sheriat-el-Manclhur,  or  ancient  Hieromax, 
which  drains  a  large  district  east  of  the  main  chain  descending 
from  Anti-Lebanon — the  ancient  Ituraea  and  Trachonitis,  the  modern 
Hauran.  Again,  about  midway  between  the  two  seas,  another 
affluent  of  almost  equal  size  joins  it,  the  Jabbok,  or  river  of  Zurka, 
which  descends  through  a  deep  ravine  from  the  ancient  country  of 
the  Ammonites.  The  whole  course  of  the  Jordan  from  the  most 
northern  source — that  of  the  Hasbeya — to  its  termination  in  the 
Dead  Sea,  including  the  passage  of  the  two  lakes  through  which  it 
flows,  is,  if  we  include  meanders,  about  270,  if  we  exclude  them, 
about  140  miles.  Its  width  in  the  lower  part  of  its  course  is  from 
60  to  100  feet,  while  its  depth  varies  from  four  to  nine  feet.'  It  is 
calculated  to  pour  into  the  Dead  Sea  about  6,090,000  tons  of  water 
daily.^ 

(ii.)  The  principal  oceanic  streams  of  Western  Asia  are  the 
Euphrates,  the  Tigris,  and  the  Indus.  The  general  course  of  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris  has  been  already  given  f  but  a  more  particular 
description  seems  to  be  proper  in  this  place. 

The  Euphrates  or  Frat  rises  from  two  chief  sources  in  the 
Armenian  mountains,  one  of  them  at  DomJi*  25  miles  N.E.  of 
Erzeroum,  and  little  more  than  a  degree  from  the  Euxine ;  the 
other  on  the  northern  slope  of  Ala  Tagh,  near  the  village  of  Diyadin, 
and  not  far  from  Mount  Ararat.  The  former,  or  northern  Euphrates, 
has  the  name  Frat  from  the  first,  but  is  known  also  as  the  Kara-su  ; 
the  latter,  or  southern  Euphrates,  is  always  called  the  Murad-chai^ 
but  is  in  i-eality  the  main  stream,  and  real  source  of  the  river.^ 
Both  branches  flow  at  first  with  a  general  direction  of  W.S.W. 
through  the  wildest  mountain-districts  of  Armenia  towards  the 
Mediterranean,  the  interval  between  them  varying  from  50  to  70 
miles,  till  in  long.  39^  the  northern  branch  inclines  more  to  the 
south,  while  the  Murad-clm  runs  north  of  west  to  meet  it,  and  a 
junction  is  formed  near  A'eZ^icm  il/at/e/i ;  after  which  the  augmented 
stream  proceeds  by  a  tortuous  course  southward  to  Balis,  where  the 
river  finally  gives  up  its  struggle  to  reach  the  Mediterranean,^  and 


8  The  70  miles  of  actual  length  are  in-  depth   8  or  9  feet  (Geogi-aph.   Journ.   vol. 

creased   by  the   multitudinous  windings   to  xviii.  p.  95). 

200    (Geograph.    Journ.    a'oI.   xviii.    p.   94,  2  QhesQey's  Euphrat.  Exijed.  vol.  i.  p.  401. 

note ;   Stanley,  p.  277).      ^  Stanley,  p.  276.  ^  Supra,  §  2. 

1  Dr.  Stanley  says  the  width  is  from  60  "*  See  Hamilton's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  178. 

to   100,  the   depth  from  four   to   six   feet.  ^  See  Geograph.  Journ.  a^oI.  \\.  part  ii.  ]>. 

But  as  the  river  is  fordable  in  very  few  204,  vol.  x.  p.  418,  and  compare  Chesney's 

places,  this  is  clearly  too  low  an  estimate.  Euph.  Exp.  vol.  i.  p.  42, 

Mr.  A.  Petermanu  calls  the  average  widlh  ^  The  least  distance  of  the  Euphrates  from 

below  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  90  feet,  and  the  the  Mediterraneim  would  seem  by  the  map 


Essay  IX. 


THE  EUrilKATES. 


453 


turns  eastward,  pursuing  from  this  point  an  almost  uniform  south- 
easterly direction,  till  it  joins  the  Tigris  and  passes  into  the  Persian 
(lulf  by  the  IShat-el-Amh  and  the  Bah-a-Mishir.     The   course  of  the 
Marad-chai  until  its  junction  with  the  Kara-su  is  a  little  more  than 
400  miles,  that  of  the  Kara-su  being  270  miles  J  on  their  union  the 
"Euphrates  assumes  an  imposing  appearance;"^  it  is  here — 1380 
miles  from  its  mouth — 120  yards  wide  and  very  deep;  it  still  flows 
through  a  mountainous  coimtry,   receiving  one  or  two  important 
tributaries  from  the  west,^  till  between  the  37th  and  38th  parallels 
it  forces  its  way  through  the  last  and  principal  range  of  Taurus, 
and  enters   upon  a  comparatively  low  but  hilly  district  a  little 
above   Sumdsat  (Samosata),  whence   it   is   navigable  without   any 
serious  interruption  for  nearly  1200  miles  to  the  sea.^     The  hills 
continue   till  a  little  above  Rakkah,  where  they  recede,   and  the 
Euphrates  enters  on  a  flat  country,  through  which  it  meanders  for 
about  80  miles,  when  it  comes  upon  a  chain  of  hills  known  as  the 
tSinjar  range,  which  stretches  across  Mesopotamia  fiom  Mosul  to  this 
point,*  and  hence  traverses  the  Arabian  desert  to  Palmyra.  Through 
this  barrier  the  liver  makes  its  M'ay  in  a  verj'  remarkable  manner, 
flowing  in  a  smooth  channel,  250  yards  wide  and  seven  fathoms 
deep,  between   beetle-browed   precipices,  which  rise   from  800  to 
500  feet  above  the  water's  edge.^     Ninety  miles  lower  down  the 
Euphrates  receives  its  last  tributary,  'the  Khabicr,  from  the  north- 
east ;  and  270  miles  below  the  confluence  it  leaves  the  last  hills 
and  enters  on  the  alluvial  plain  near  Hit  (the  Is  of  Herodotus).     In 
this  part  of  its  course  it  has  an  average  width  of  350  yards,  and  a 
depth  of  about  18  feet ;  but  soon  afterwards  it  throws  off"  a  number 
of  important  canals  which  seriously  diminish  its  bulk,  reducing  it 
about  Lamlun  to  a  breadth  of  120  yards  with  a  depth  of  only  12 
feet.     This  seems  to  be  its  greatest  diminution,*  as  a  little  below 


to  be  about  100  miles,  from  Bay  as  in  the 
Gulf  of  Issus  {^Iskendenm)  to  a  point  a  few 
miles  above  Bir  upon  the  river.  The  dis- 
tance from  Bir  to  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes, 
which  was  traversed  by  the  Euphrates  expe- 
dition, is  b)^  the  road  140,  in  a  direct  line 
133  miles  (Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  47). 

7  Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  42  and  43. 

8  Ibid.  p.  44. 

^  It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Eu- 
phrates that  it  receives  so  few  tributaries. 
After  the  river  is  constituted  by  the  junction 


of  the  Murad  and  Karasu,  the  only  affluents 
of  the  least  importance  are  the  Chamurli  8u 
and  the  Tokhmah  Sti  from  the  west,  from 
the  east  the  Belik  and  the  Khahur  rivers. 
'  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  45. 

2  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  ch.  xi. 
Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  48-9. 

3  Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  48-9. 

4  The  gradual  diminution  in  the  size  of 
the  Euphrates  will  be  best  seen  from  the  sub- 
joined table,  constructed  from  datii  furnished 
by  Col.  Chesney : — 


Average  width 

Average  depth 

in  yards. 

in  feet. 

400 

18 

350 

18 

300 

18 

350 

16 

250 

20 

200 

15 

160 

— 

120 

12 

200 

— 

250 

20 

250 

18 

Distance 
from  mouth. 


Euphrates,  from  its  Junction  with  the  Khahour  to  Werdi 

, ,        from  Werdi  to  Anah 

, ,        at  Hadisah 

, ,        from  Hadisah  to  Hit 

, ,         from  Hit  to  FelujaJi 

, ,        from  Feliijah  to  Hillah 

J ,        at  Diiianiyaii      

, ,        at  Ldmlun 

,,        ixtAlKhulr        

, ,        from  Al  Khudr  to  Sheikh-el-Shuyukh  . .     . . 
from  Sheihhel-Shuyukh  to  Kurnah       ..     . . 


Miles. 
806  to  731 
639 
5H9 
536 
459 
368 
302 
284 
234 
170 
107 


454  THE  TIGRIS.  App.  Book  I. 

Lamlun  some  of  the  canals  reunite  with  the  main  stream,  which  at 
Al  Khadr  is  again  200  yards  broad,  and  further  on  increases  to  250 
yards,  which  is  its  average  for  the  hundred  miles  from  Al  Khadr  to 
Kurnah.  At  Kurnah  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  join,  forming  the 
Shat-el-Arab,  a  tidal  river  above  100  miles  long,  which  receives  also 
the  Kerkhah,  and  lower  down  the  Karun  from  the  Zagros  range,  and 
gradually  increases  from  an  average  breadth  of  600  yards  with  a 
depth  of  21  feet  above  Basrah,  to  a  width  of  1200  yards  and  a  depth 
of  30  feet  between  that  town  and  the  sea.^  The  entire  course  of 
the  Euphrates  is  estimated  at  1780  miles  from  its  more  southern 
source  near  Diyad'ui  to  the  embouchure  of  the  Shat-el-Arab.**  The 
quantity  of  water  discharged  by  it  at  Hit  has  been  found  to  be 
72,840  cubic  feet  per  second/ 

The  Tigris,  like  the  Euphrates,  has  two  principal  sources.  The 
western  is  in  lat.  38°  10',  long.  39°  20',  a  little  south  of  lake 
Goljik,^  and  a  few  miles  only  from  the  Euphrates  where  it  bursts 
through  the  outer  barrier  of  Taurus,  and  descends  upon  the  lower 
country  near  Sameisat.  This  stieam  at  first  flows  north-east  along 
a  deep  vallej^  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Kizan,  but  after  running  about 
25  miles  in  this  direction,  it  sweeps  round  to  the  south  and  descends 
by  Arghani  Maden  upon  Diarbekr,  receiving  a  tributary  on  each  side 
from  the  mountains,  and  emerging  upon  a  comparatively  open 
C(mntry  in  lat.  37°  50',  through  which  it  flows  with  a  course  almost 
due  east  to  Osman  Kieui,  where  it  is  joined  by  the  second  or  eastern 
Tigris.  The  eastern  Tigris  rises  in  lat.  38°  40',  long.  40°  15',  from 
the  side  of  the  great  range  of  Ali  Tagli  (the  ancient  Xiphates),  and 
runs  S.S.W.  by  Myafarekm  to  Osman  Kieui,  collecting  on  its  way  the 
waters  of  a  large  number  of  streams  which  descend  from  other 
parts  of  the  same  range.  The  length  of  the  Diarbekr  stream  or 
true  Tigris  up  to  the  point  of  junction  is  somewhat  more  than  150 
miles,  while  that  of  the  Myafarekiii  stream  falls  short  of  100  miles.* 
The  Tigris,  a  little  below  the  junction,  and  before  receiving  its  next 
great  tributary,  is  150  yards  wide  and  from  three  to  four  feet 
deep.*  It  continues  to  flow  towards  the  east  as  far  as  Til  (in  lat. 
37°  45',  long.  41°  30'),  where  it  receives  another  large  stream, 
which  is  called  by  some  the  Eastern  Tigris,^  and  does  not  seem  to 
be  altogether  undeserving  of  the  title.  This  branch  rises  near  Billi 
in  northern  Kurdistan  in  lat.  37°  50',  long.  43°  30',  about  25  miles 
from  Jidamerik,  on  the  mountain-road  between  that  place  and  the 
lake  of  Van.  It  runs  at  first  towards  the  north-east,  but  soon 
sweeps  round  to  the  north,  and  then  proceeds  with  a  general 
westerly  course,  nearly  along  the  line  of  the  26th  parallel,  to  Sert, 
which  it  leaves  a  little  upon  the  right ;  thence  flowing  south-west 
to  its  jimotion  with  the  Bitlis  Cliai  (in  lat.  37°  55',  long.  41°  35'), 

5  See  Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  60,  61.      The  p.  62. 

x-ecent  expedition   to   the  Persian  Gulf  has  ^  Journal  of  Geogvaph.  Society,  vol.  vi.  p. 

shown    that    great   alterations   have    taken  208,  and  x.  p.  365. 

place   in  the  course    and  soundings   of  the  '  Cliesney,  vol.  i.  p.  17. 

lower   Euphrates   since  the  survey  of  Col.  '  Journal  of  Geogiaph.  Society,  vol.  viii. 

Chesney.     Such  changes  are  no  doubt  per-  part  i.  p.  80. 

petual.              ^  See  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  40.  ^  See  Rich's    Kurdistati,  vol.   i.   p.    378 ; 

7  By  Mr.  Reunie.     See  Chesney,  vol.   i.  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  416,  <S;o. 


Essay  IX.  THE  UPPER  OR  GREAT  ZAB.  4j5 

and  from  that  point  proceeding  almost  due  south  to  Til..^  The 
course  of  this  stream  is  probably  not  much  shorter  than  that  of  the 
Diarbekr  branch  or  Western  Tigris,  and  the  two  livers  are  said  to 
be  of  nearly  equal  size  at  their  junction.'*  From  Til  the  Tigris  luns 
southward  for  20  miles  through  a  long,  narrow,  and  deep  gorge, 
at  the  end  of  which  it  emerges  upon  the  low  but  still  hilly  country 
of  Mesopotamia,  near  Jezireh.  Here  it  flows  at  first  in  a  S.S.E. 
direction  past  Mosul  (Nineveh)  and  Tekrit  (near  which  the  alluvial 
plain  begins)  to  Baghdad,  thence  proceeding  a  little  south  of  east  to 
Kantara,  and  from  Kantara  again  S.S.E.  to  Kurnah,  where  it  joins  the 
Euphrates.  Along  this  part  of  its  course  it  continues  to  receive  nume- 
rous and  important  tributaries  which  flow  into  it  from  the  Zagros 
range,  whereof  the  principal  are  the  eastern  IChahur,  the  Greater 
and  Lesser  Zabs,  and  the  hii/aleh  or  ancient  Gyndes.  These  livers 
aie  all  of  large  size,  and  by  the  addition  of  their  waters  tbe  Tigris 
is  rendered  in  its  lower  course  a  stream  of  greater  volume  than  the 
Euphrates.  It  is  narrower,  seldom  exceeding  200  yards  in  width, 
but  deeper  and  far  swifter,  its  mean  velocity  at  Baghdad  being 
between  7  and  8  feet  per  second,  while  that  of  the  Euphrates  at  Hit 
is  but  4i  feet ;  and  its  discharge  being  164,100  cubic  feet  of  water 
in  the  same  time,  while  the  discharge  of  the  Euphrates  is  no  more 
than  72,800  feet.^  The  whole  course  of  the  Tigris  is  reckoned  at 
1146  miles."" 

The  tributaries  which  the  Tigris  and  the  Shat-el-Arab  receive 
from  the  Zagros  range  are  affluents  of  such  importance  as  to  require 
some  separate  notice.  Besides  minor  streams,  such  as  the  KUahur 
and  tbe  Adhein,  five  rivers  of  large  volume  flow  from  the  mountains 
which  close  in  the  Mesopotamian  plain  upon  the  east,  and  carry 
their  waters  to  join  those  of  the  great  valley-streams.  These  are 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Zabs,  the  Diyaleh,  the  Kerkhah,  and  the 
Karun  or  Shuster  river. 

The  Upper  or  Great  Zab  (Zab  Ala)  rises  near  Khoniyeh,  between 
lakes  Van  and  Urumiyeh,  in  about  lat.  38°  20',  long.  44°  30'.  Its 
general  direction  is  a  very  little  west  of  south,  but  it  serpentines  in 
a  remarkable  way,  making  first  one  great  bend  to  the  west  by 
Julamerik  so  as  to  reach  long.  43°  30',  and  then  another  to  the  east 
nearly  to  Eowanduz,  where  it  touches  long.  44°  15'.^  It  receives 
two  principal  tributaries,  the  river  of  Bowanduz,  which  flows  in 
from  the  east,  and  the  Ghazir,  which  joins  it  from  the  north-west, 
not  far  from   its   confluence  with  the  Tigris."      It  is   fordable  in 


3  Col,  Chesney's  description  (pp.  18,  19)  and  the  Bowanduz  a  comparatively  small 
must  here  be  superseded  by  the  personal  river  (Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  xi.  part  i.  p. 
observations  of  IMr.  Layard,  who  was  the  70).  His  statements  are  confirmed  by  Mr. 
first  to  trace  the  course  of  these  rivers  (Nine-  Layard  (Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  372,  381, 
veh   and  Babylon,  pp.   39,  49,  416,  420,  426,  &c.). 

422,  &c.).  8  Mr.  Ainsworth  speaks  of  a  third  great 

4  Layard,  p.  49.  affluent,    the   Berdizawi,   or   "  Little  Zab," 
*  See  Col.  Chesney's  Euphrates  Exp.  vol.  which  joins  the  Great  Zab  from  the  north- 

i.  p.  62.  west,    nearly   in    latitude    37^    (Geograph. 

6  Ibid.  p.  38.  Journ.   vol.  xi.  part   i.   p.   47).      But  Mr. 

'   Mr.  Ainsworth  was  the  first  to  discover  Layard  omits  this  river.     (See  the  large  map 

that  the  Julamerik  stream  was  the  real  Zab,  at  the  end  of  his  '  Nineveh  and  Babylon'). 


456  LESSER  ZAB,  DIYALEH,  AND  KERKHAH.     App.  Book  T. 

places,''  but  near  its  junction  with  the  Tigris  is  a  deep  stream, 
with  a  width  of  20  yards.^  It  is  very  swift  and  strong,  and  is  some- 
times called  by  the  Arabs  "  the  Mad  Eiver."* 

The  Lower  or  Les.ser  Zab  {Zah  Asfal)  has  its  principal  source 
near  Legwin,^  about  20  miles  south  of  lake  Urumiyeh,  in  lat.  36°  40', 
long.  45^^  25'.  It  is  the  only  stream  which,  rising  to  the  east  of  the 
Zagros  range  upon  the  great  plateau  of  Iran,  pierces  this  boundary 
and  finds  its  way  into  the  Mesopotamian  valley.  The  course  of  the 
Lesser  Zab  is  at  first  south-west,  but  meeting  the  great  range  it 
turns  and  flows  along  it  to  the  south-east,  till  finding  a  gap  in  lat. 
36°  20',  it  turns  again,  resuming  its  original  direction,  and  forcing 
the  barrier,  receives  numerous  tributaries  on  both  sides  from  the 
valleys  running  parallel  with  the  mountains,  and  debouches  upon 
the  plain  in  lat,  36°  8',  long.  44°  30',  not  far  from  the  famous  city 
of  Arbela.*  Its  course  across  the  plain  exceeds  100  miles,  and  its 
width,  where  it  enters  the  Tigris,  is  25  feet.^ 

The  Diyaleh  (or  ancient  Gyndes)  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
two  principal  streams,  known  as  the  rivers  Holwan  and  Shincan,  of 
which  the  Shirwan  is  the  more  important.  This  branch  rises  from 
the  most  easterly  range  of  Zagros,  in  lat.  34°  45',  long.  47°  40',  and 
flows  at  first  west  and  somewhat  north  of  west,  parallel  with  the 
main  chain,  as  far  as  Mount  Auroman,  where  it  turns  a  little  south 
of  west,  and  being  increased  (like-  the  Lesser  Zab)  by  tributaries 
from  the  longitudinal  valleys,  bursts  through  the  last  mountains  at 
Semiram,  and  flows  S.  W.  by  S.  across  an  open  country  to  its  junction 
with  the  Holwan  river,  and  thence  S.W.  and  S.S.VV.  to  the  Tigris.^ 
The  whole  course  of  the  stream  is  about  350  miles.  Its  width  at 
its  junction  with  the  Tigris,  where  it  is  crossed  by  a  bridge  of 
boats,  is  60  yards. ^ 

The  Kerkhah  (or  ancient  Choaspes)  is  formed  by  three  streams 
of  almost  equal  magnitude,  all  of  them  rising  in  the  most  eastern 
portion  of  the  Zagros  range.  The  central  of  the  three  flows  from 
the  southern  flank  of  Elwand  (Orontes),  the  mountain  behind  Ha- 
madan  (the  southern  Ecbatana),  and  receives  on  the  right,  after  a 
course  of  about  30  miles,  the  northern  or  Siiigur  branch,  and  10 
miles  further  on  the  southern  or  Guran  branch,  which  is  known  by 
the  name  of  the  Gamasah.  The  river  thus  formed  flows  westward 
to  Behistun,  after  which  it  bends  to  the  south-west,  and  then  to 
the  south,  receiving  tributaries  on  both  hands,  and  winding  among 
the  mountains  as  far  as  the  ruined  city  of  Rudhar.  Here  it  bursts 
through  the  outer  barrier  of  the  great  range,  and  receiving  the 
large  stream  of  the  Kirrind  from  the  N.W.  flows  S.S.E.  and  S.E. 
along  the  foot  of  the  range  between  it  and  the  Kebir  Kuh,  till  it 
meets  the  stream  of  the  Abi-Zal,  when  it  finally  leaves  the  hills,  and 
flows  through  the  plain,  pursuing  a  S.S.E.  direction  to  the  ruins  of 


3  See    Layard's    Nineveh    and    Babylon,  pany  his  route  from  Tabriz  to  Ghilan,  in  the 

,  169.  Journal  of  the  Geograph.  Society  (vol.  x. 

^  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  24.  part  i.,  opposite  p.  198). 

2  Ibid.  p.  22,  note  ^.  ^  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  25. 

3  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  x.  part  i.  p.  31.         *  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  x.  pai-t  i.  p.  11. 
"*  See  Su'  H.  Rawlinson's  map  to  accom-         7  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  35. 


Essay  IX.  THE  KARUN.  457 

Susa,  which  lie  upon  its  left  bank,  and  thence  running  S.S.W.,  and 
falling  into  the  Shat-el-Arab,  5  miles  below  Kurnah.^  Its  course  is 
estimated  at  above  600  miles,^  and  its  width  at  some  distance  above 
its  junction  with  the  Abi-Zal  is  from  80  to  100  yards.^ 

The  last  and  largest  of  the  Mesopotamian  affluents  is  the  Karun, 
which  is  formed  of  two  considerable  streams,  the  Dizful  river  and 
the  Karun  proper,  or  river  of  Shuster.  The  Dizful  branch  rises 
from  two  sources,  nearly  a  degree  apart,  in  lat.  33°  50'.  These 
streams  run  respectively  south-east  and  south-west,  a  distance  of 
40  miles,  to  their  point  of  junction  near  Bahrein,  whence  their 
united  waters  flow  south  in  a  tortuous  course,  which  crosses  and 
recrosses  the  line  of  the  49th  degree  of  longitude,  as  far  as  the  fort 
of  Diz  in  lat.  32°  25'.  From  this  point  the  river  bends  westward, 
and  passing  Dizful,  approaches  to  within  7  or  8  miles  of  the  Kerkhah 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Sus  (Susa),  thence  returning  eastward, 
and  almost  touching  the  49th  degree  once  more,  where  it  meets  the 
waters  of  the  river  of  Shuster  at  Bandi  Kir.^  The  Shuster  branch 
rises  in  the  Zarduh  Kuh  mountains  in  lat.  32°,  long.  51°,  almost 
opposite  to  the  river  of  Isfahan.^  From  its  source  it  is  a  large 
stream.  Its  general  direction  is  at  first  somewhat  north  of  west, 
and  this  course  it  pursues  through  the  mountains,  receiving  tribu- 
taries of  importance  from  both  sides,  till,  near  Akhili,  it  emerges 
from  the  outermost  of  the  Zagros  ranges  and  flows  S.W.  by  S.  to 
Shuster,  where  it  is  artificially  divided  into  two  channels,  which 
pass  east  and  west  of  the  town,  reuniting  below  Bandi-Kir,  after 
the  western  branch  has  received  the  waters  of  the  Dizful  river. 
The  Karun  below  this  point  is  said  to  be  "a  noble  river,  exceeding  in 
size  the  Tigris  or  Euphrates."  *  It  is  navigable  for  steamers,*  and 
pursues  a  very  winding  course  across  the  plain  for  above  150  miles, 
in  a  general  direction  of  S.S.W.,  to  the  Shat-el-Arab,  which  it 
enters  near  Mohamrah  by  an  artificial  cut,  thrown  off  at  Sahlah,  and 
now  forming  the  main  channel  of  the  river.^  The  river  formerly 
ran  direct  from  Sablah  into  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  its  ancient  channel 
still  exists,  and  is  filled  at  high- water.  It  is  200  yards  broad,'  and 
runs  south-east,  parallel  to  the  two  channels  of  the  Shat-el-Arah  and 
the  Bah-a-Mishir.  The  course  of  the  Karun,  measuring  by  the  Diz- 
ful branch,  is  from  its  source  in  the  Bakhtiyari  mountains  to  its 
junction  with  the  Shat-el-Arab  about  430  miles."  Its  course,  mea- 
sured by  the  Shuster  river,  would  fall  short  of  this  by  about  1  GO 
miles. 

By  far  the  greatest  of  all  the  rivers  of  Western  Asia  is  the  Indus. 
Its  remotest  sources  are  still  insufficiently  explored,  but  they  will 

^  The  course  of  the  Kerkhah  was  carefully  summary  (Euphrat.  Exped.  pp.  196-7). 

explored  by  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  in   the  year  ^  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  xvi.  p.  50. 

1836.     See  the  Journal  of  the  Geographical  ^  Geograph.  Journ.  a^oL  xvi.  p.  52.    Com- 

Society  (vol  ix.  part  i.  art.  2).     Col.  Chesney  pare  Kinneir's  Persian  Empire,  p.  293. 

(Euph.  Exp.  vol.  i.  pp.  193-5)  adds  nothing  ^  ^apt.  Selby  ascended  it  to  Shuster.    (See 

to  this  aa;ount.  his  account  of  the  ascent  in  the  Geogi-aph. 

»  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  195.  Journ.  vol.  xiv.  art.  12.) 

1  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  ix.  part  i.  p.  62.  ^  Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  200. 

2  See  the  map  attached  to  Sir  H.  Rawlin-  7  Ibid.  p.  199.           «  Ibid.  pp.  197-200. 
son's  journey,  and  compare   Col.  Chesney's 


458  THE  INDUS.  App.  Book  1. 

probably  be  found  to  lie  between  tlie  82nd  and  8ord  degrees  of 
longitude,  and  nearly  in  latitude  31°.^  The  stream  maybe  regarded 
as  formed  by  three  separate  rivers,  the  Shayok  or  northern  Indus, 
which  rises  near  the  pass  of  Kara-horum,  in  lat.  35°  20',  long.  78°, 
the  Senge  Khabap  or  middle  Indus,  which  rises  in  Seng  Tot  within 
the  space  above  indicated,  and  the  Tsarap  or  southern  Indus,  which 
rises  in  lat.  32°  30',  long.  77°  55',  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Para- 
lasa,  and  is  the  stream  of  greatest  volume.  The  general  direction 
of  the  river  in  its  earlier  course  is  north-west,  parallel  to  the 
Himalaya  range,  and  in  this  line  the  main  stream  flows  along  the 
great  elevated  valley  of  Western  Thibet  for  above  700  miles, 
receiving  on  its  way  first  the  southern  and  then  the  northern 
branch,  and  never  swerving  until  it  reaches  the  75th  degree  of 
longitude,  up  to  which  point  it  appears  as  if  it  would  force  its  way 
into  the  Oxus  (^Jyhmi)  valley.  Met,  however,  at  this  point  by  the 
great  longitudinal  range  of  the  Bolor,*  it  turns  suddenly  to  the 
south-west,  and  enters  a  transverse  valley,  by  which  it  cuts  through 
the  entire  chain  of  the  Himalaya,  and  issues  from  the  mountains 
upon  the  plain  country  of  the  Punjab.  Its  course  from  Acho,  where 
it  leaves  Western  Thibet,  to  Attock,  where  it  receives  the  river  of 
Kabul,  is  very  imperfectly  known  f  but  it  is  believed  to  pursue, 
with  only  small  windings,  a  uniform  direction  of  south-west  for 
300  or  350  miles,  first  through  the  high  mountains,  and  then 
through  lower  ranges  of  hills.  From  Attock  its  direction  becomes 
S.S.W.  to  Kala  Bagh,^  where  it  bursts  through  the  last  hills— those 
of  the  Jangher  range — and  this  course  it  keeps  till  Dera  Ismael  Khan 
(in  lat.  31°  50'),  when  for  two  degrees  it  runs  due  south  along  the 
line  of  the  71st  meridian,  after  which  it  resumes  its  former  bearings, 
and  runs  S.S.W.  to  its  junction  with  the  Cheuab,  and  then  S.W.  to 
Dadarah.  From  Dadarah  (in  lat.  27°,  long  68°)  the  course  is  once 
more  south  to  beyond  Sehwan,  between  which  place  and  Tatta — • 
where  the  delta  begins — the  stream  bends  two-fifths  of  a  degree  to 
the  east,  passing  by  Hyderabad,  and  then  returning  westward,  till 
at  Tatta  it  once  more  reaches  the  68th  degree  of  longitude.  Five 
miles  below  Tatta,  and  60  miles  from  the  sea,  the  river  divides  into  two 
great  arms,  which  are  known  as  the  Buggaur  and  the  Sata  branches. 
These  again  subdivide,  and  the  water  enters  the  Indian  Ocean  by  a 
number  of  shallow  channels.  At  the  time  of  the  inundation,  two 
other  arms  east  of  the  Sata  branch,  one  of  which  is  thrown  off 


3  For  the  best  account  of  the  Thibetiau  the  Paralasa,  the  Bolor,  and  the  Ural).     See 

Indus,    see   Capt.   Strachey's   paper   in   the  his  Aspects  of  Nature  (vol,  i.  p.  94,  E.  T.) 
23rd  volume   of  the  Geographical  Journal         2  ggg   Capt.    H.    Strachey's   map    in   the 

(art.  1,  pp.  1-69).     Major  Cunningham,  in  23rd  vol.  of  the  Geographical  Journal,  and 

his  work  on  Ladak  (p.  8G),  places  the  "  true  compare  Lieut.  Wood's  memoir  on  the  Indus 

source"  of  the  Indus  in  lat.  31°  20',  long,  in  the  third  volume  of  Burnes's  Cabul,  pp. 

80°  30'.  305,  et  seqq. 

1  Humboldt  divides  the    great  mountain         3  During  this  part  of  its  course  the  Indus 

chains  of  Central  Asia  into  those  "  coinciduig  runs  in  a  contracted  bed  between  mountains, 

with  parallels  of  latitude  "  (the  Altai,  the  and  is  nothing  but  a  series  of  rapids  (Geo- 

Thian-shan,   the  Kuenlun,   and  the  Hima-  graph.    Journal,    vol.    x.    p.    532;    Wood's 

laya),    and    those    "coinciding   nearly  with  Memoir,  p.  307), 
meridians"  (the  Ghauts,  the  Suleiman  chain. 


Essay  IX.  EIVERS  OF  THE  PUNJAB.  459 

above  Hyderabad,  serve  to  convey  the  superfluous  waters  to  the 
sea  through  the  Sir  and  Koree  mouths  :  but  for  nine  months  of  the 
year  the  Indus  flows  in  one  stream  to  Tatta.*  The  entire  course  of 
this  great  river  has  been  estimated  at  19G0  miles  ;^  but  this  is  pro- 
bably less  than  the  real  length,  which  may  be  regarded  as  exceeding 
2000  miles.  The  width  of  the  stream  varies  greatty.  At  Tatta  it 
is  only  700  yards  across,  but  at  Hyderabad  it  is  830,  while  between 
Sehwaii  and  Bukker  (lat.  27°  40')  it  approaches  to  three-quarters  of  a 
mile,  and  between  Bukker  and  Mittuii  Kote  it  considerably  exceeds  a 
mile.®  Further  north,  especially  between  Dera  Ghazee  Khan  and 
Kala  Bagh,  it  seems  to  be  even  broader.^  Its  depth  below  Mittun 
Kote  is  never  less  than  15  feet.^  Along  its  whole  course  from  Kala 
Bagh  to  Bukker  the  Indus  continually  throws  out  side  streams,  which 
after  a  longer  or  a  shorter  space  rejoin  the  main  channel.  A  little 
below  Bukker  it  sends  out  the  last  of  these  on  its  right  bank ;  this 
stream  continues  separate  for  a  degree  and  a  half,  and  returns  into 
the  Indus  (after  flowing  through  lake  Marichw-)  near  Sehican.  The 
river  also  sends  oif  on  its  left  bank  several  important  branches 
which  run  towards  the  sea.  Of  these  the  principal  are  the  Narra^ 
which  is  parted  from  the  main  stream  a  little  above  Bukker  (in  lat. 
28°),  and  is  lost  in  the  great  sandy  desert  east  of  Hyderabad ;  the 
Goomee,  which  leaves  the  Indus  at  Muttaree,  and  flowing  by  Hyder- 
abad to  the  south-east,  is  consumed  in  irrigation  ;  and  the  Pinjaree^ 
which  branching  off  15  or  20  miles  above  Tatta,  proceeds  due 
south,  and  (like  the  Goomee)  disappears  among  gardens  and  rice- 
grounds.  During  the  inundation  water  flows  down  the  old  channels, 
which  in  every  case  may  be  traced  to  the  sea  ;  but  except  at  this 
time  the  beds  are  dry  for  50  or  100  miles  of  their  lower  course,  and 
the  streams  in  question  cannot  therefore  be  considered  as  per- 
manent rivers.^  The  discharge  of  the  Indus  during  the  wet  season 
reaches  to  the  enormous  amount  of  446,000  cubic  feet  per  second; 
in  the  dry  season,  however,  it  falls  as  low  as  40,860  feet.^ 

The  four  rivers  which,  together  with  the  Indus,  have  given  the 
name  of  Punjab  to  the  tract  betvs^een  the  great  sandy  desert  and 
the  mountains  of  Affghanistan,  are  the  Jelum  or  Hydaspes,  the 
Chenab  or  Acesines,  the  Bavee  or  Hydraotes  (Iravata),  and  the  Sutlej^ 
or  Hyphasis.  Of  these  the  Sutlej  is  the  principal.  It  rises  from 
the  sacred  lakes  of  Manasa  and  Bavanahrada  or  Bawan  Bhud,^  at  no 


*  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  iii.  p.  128.     It  best  maps  the  river  is  made  broader  a  little 

must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  geogi-aphy  of  below   Kala-Bagh,   and  tor  a  degree  above 

the  Indus  Delta  is  continually  changing.     In  Dera  Ghazee  Khan,  than  in  any  other  part 

1837,   Lieut.   Carless    found    the    B'lf/ijaur  of  its  course. 

branch  completely  sanded  up,  and  all  the  ^  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  iii.  p.  113. 

water  passing  by  the  Sata  (Geogr.  Journ.  ^  For    this  Avhole   account  see   especially 

A'ol.    viii.    p.    328).      It   is   clear   that  the  Burnes's  Memoir  on  the  Indus  in  the  third 

ICoree  mouth  was  at  one   time   the   main  volume  of  the    Geographical    Journal,   and 

channel  of  the  river.  Wood's  Memoir  in  Burnes's  Cabool,  pp.  305, 

^  By  Mr.  Keith  Johnson  (Physical  Atlas,  et  seqq. 

'Hydrology,'  No.  5,  p.  14).     Major  Cun-  ^  Wood's  Memoir,  p.  306. 

ningham's  estimate  is   1977  miles  (Ladak,  2  Called  now  more  commonly  the  Gharra 

p.  90).  (Chesney,  vol.  i.  p.  370). 

^  Geograph.  Journal,  a'oI.  iii.  pp.  125-35.  3  'p^g  affluence  from  these  lakes  is   said 

7  I  have  not  found  this  stated,  but  in  the  not  to  be  permanent  (Geograph.  Journ.  vol. 


460  THE  SUTLEJ,  CHENAB,  &c.  App.  Book  T. 

great  distance  from  the  sources  of  the  Indus,  and  runs  at  first 
through  a  remarkable  plain,  120  miles  long,  and  in  places  60  broad, 
which  is  elevated  more  than  15,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.* 
Through  this  plain  it  pursues  a  north-west  direction  as  far  as  long. 
78°  40',  where  it  receives  an  important  branch  from  the  north,  and 
turning  to  the  south  of  west  finds  its  way  through  the  Himalaya 
range  between  the  32nd  and  31st  parallels,  and  debouches  upon  the 
plain  (after  passing  Simla)  about  half  way  between  that  place  and 
Loodiana.  It  is  a  stream  of  large  volume  even  in  its  upper  course, ** 
and  where  it  falls  into  the  Chenab  is  500  yards  in  width.®  It  is 
here  as  large  as  the  stream  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Jehim, 
Chenab,  and  Eavse,  but  being  less  swift  than  that  stream  is  regarded 
as  a  tributary,  and  merges  its  name  in  the  appellation  of  Chenah, 
which  is  borne  by  the  united  waters  till  they  join  the  Indus.^  Of 
the  other  streams  the  Chenab  is  the  largest.  It  rises  on  the  southern 
flank  of  the  Himalaya,  in  lat.  32°  45',  long.  77°  25',  and  has  a  course 
nearly  S.S.E.  to  its  junction  with  the  Sutlej  :  it  receives  the  Jelum 
in  lat.  31°  10','  and  the  Ravee  in  lat.  30°  40','  and  is  then  500  yards 
wide  and  12  feet  deep.  After  its  junction  with  the  Sutlej,  the 
augmented  stream  maintains  at  first  pretty  nearly  the  same  width, 
but  is  deeper,  varying  from  15  to  20  feet.^  Afterwards  it  widens, 
and  where  the  junction  with  the  Indus  takes  place  the  Chenab  is 
the  broader,  though  the  Indus  is  thfe  stream  of  greater  volume.^ 

With  the  three  magnificent  oceanic  rivers  now  described — the 
Euphrates,  the  Tigris,  and  the  Indus — there  are  no  others  in  this 
part  of  Asia  that  will  at  all  bear  comparison.  They  stand  sepa- 
rate and  apart,  the  great  drains  of  the  elevated  region  which  ex- 
tends from  the  gulf  of  Issus  to  northern  India.  A  few,  however, 
among  the  smaller  streams,  which  have  a  marked  geographic  cha- 
racter or  a  special  political  importance,  seem  to  require  description 
before  the  conclusion  of  this  branch  of  our  subject. 

The  Mion  or  ancient  Phasis  is  frequently  mentioned  by  Hero- 
dotus,' and  was  in  ancient  times  a  river  to  which  peculiar  interest 
attached  from  the  place  which  it  occupied  in  the  commercial  system 
of  those  days.  It  appears  to  be  certain  that  Alexander  found  a 
regular  line  of  traffic  between  India  and  Europe  to  pass  from 
Bactra  (Balkh)  down  the  Oxus  to  the  Caspian,  and  thence  up  the 
Kur  and  across  a  small  neck  of  land  to  the  Phasis,  which  it  followed 
to  the  Euxine.*     It  may  be  conjectured  from  the  position  occupied 

xxiii.  p.  39).     If  on  this  account  we  refuse  Burnes's  Cabool). 

to  consider  them  the  true  source  of  the  river,  ^  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  iii.  p.  145. 

our    choice   will   lie   between    the    Chukar  ^  Ibid.  p.  148. 

(White    River),    which   descends    from    the  '  Ibid.  p.  141. 

mountains  on  the  south,  and   the  Ser-Chu  2  Wood's  IMemoir,  p.  354. 

(Gold  River),  which  flows  from   the  ridge  ^  See  i.  2,  and  104;  ii,  103;  iv.  37,  45, 

separating  between  the  Upper  Sutlej  and  the  86  ;    &c.     Herodotus  made  the  Phasis  the 

Upper  Indus  (ibid.).  boundary  between  Europe  and  Asia  (iv.  45). 

''  Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  xxi.  pp.  62-3.  *  This  interesting  fact  rests  on  very  unex- 

^  Ibid.  vol.  xxiii.  p.  44.  ceptionable  evidence.     Three  witnesses  who 

^  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  141.  visited  three  different  parts  of  the  route  be- 

7  The   name  Punjab,  which    is  given  in  tween  the  time  of  Alexander  and  the  close  of 

our  maps,  is  unknown  in  the  country  (ibid,  the  Mithridatic  war,  gave  substantially  the 

pp.  141, 142,  and  compare  Wood's  Memoir  in  same  account,  namely,  Aristobulus,  the  com- 


Essay  IX.        RISE  AND  COUESE  OF  THE  ORONTES.  461 

by  Colchis  in  Grecian  mythic  history,  that  this  route  had  been 
pursued  by  the  merchants  from  a  very  remote  era.  It  continued 
to  be  followed  at  least  as  late  as  the  time  of  Pompey.^  The  liion, 
which  thus  served  in  these  times  as  one  of  the  main  arteries  of 
commerce,  rises  from  the  southern  flanks  of  the  Caucasus,  flowing 
from  several  head-springs,  which  have  not  been  sufficiently  ex- 
plored, in  the  country  of  the  Ossetes.  Its  general  direction  is  at 
first  a  very  little  south  of  west,  but  from  about  Kiitcm  it  flows  nearly 
due  south  until  it  receives  an  important  tributary,  the  Ziroula,  from 
the  east,  when  it  takes  the  direction  of  its  affluent,  and  flows  east 
in  a  very  tortuous  course,®  keeping  a  little  above  the  line  of  the 
42nd  parallel,  and  emptying  itself  into  the  Black  Sea  at  Poti,  in 
lat.  41°  32',  long.  42°  (V.  Its  course,  exclusive  of  meanders,  appears 
to  be  about  170  miles. 

The  Orontes,  or  Nahr-el-Asi  (the  "  Pebel "  stream),  and  the  Ldtany 
or  river  of  Tyre,  although  unmentioned  by  Herodotus,  who  is  very 
ill  acquainted  with  Syria,  are  features  of  too  much  importance  in 
the  geography  of  that  country— the  thoroughfare  between  Egypt 
and  the  East — to  be  omitted  from  the  present  review.  The  long 
valley  intervening  between  the  two  mountain-chains  which  gird 
the  Syrian  desert  on  the  west,  rises  gradually  and  gently  to  a  ridge, 
or  col,  nearly  4000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,^  upon  which  stand 
the  ruins  of  Baalbek,  the  city  of  Baal  ol*  the  Sun,  the  Greek  Helio- 
polis.  North  and  south  of  this  city,  on  the  opposite  slopes  of  the 
col,  rise  the  two  great  streams  of  Syria.  The  Litany  springs  from  a 
small  lake  about  six  miles  south-west  of  the  ruins,  and  flows  south- 
wards, or  a  little  west  of  south,  along  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Bika 
between  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon,  giving  out  on  each  side  canals 
for  irrigation,  while  it  receives  a  number  of  streamlets  and  rills,  and 
pursuing  with  few  meanders  a  course  south-west  by  south  to  the 
narrow  gorge  in  which  the  valley  of  El-Bika  (Coele-Syria)  ends,  in 
about  33°  27'  north  latitude.  Here  the  Litany  turns  suddenly  to 
the  west,  and  forces  its  way  through  Lebanon  by  a  narrow  and  pre- 
cipitous ravine  spanned  by  a  bridge  of  one  arch ;  after  which  it 
resumes  its  former  direction,  flowing  S.S.W.  for  12  or  13  miles 
before  it  again  bends  westward,  and  passes  with  many  windings 
through  the  low  coast  tract,  falling  into  the  sea  about  five  miles 
north  of  Tyre.^     The  Orontes  has  its  rise  on  the  northern  side  of 

panion  of  Alexander  (ap.  Strab.  xi.  p.  742),  5ta   tt]v  <TKo\i6T7]Ta,  Karappe?  rpaxvs 

Patrocles,  the  governor  of  the  Caspian  pro-  koI  fiiaios,  k.t.X. 

vinces  under  Seleucus  Nicator  (Fr.  7),  and         ">  The    site    of    Baalbek   has   been   baro- 

Pompey  the  Great.     (See  the  passage  which  metrically  estimated  at  3810,  and  again  at 

Pliny  quotes  from  Varro,   H.  N.   \\.   17.)  3729,  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.     These 

Aristobulus   was   acquainted   with    Bactria,  observations  give  a  medium  result  of  3769-5 

Patrocles  with  Hyrcania  and  the  Caspian,  feet.       (See   the   Geogr.    Journ.    vol.   xviii. 

Pompey   with    the   countries    between    the  p.  87.) 

Caspian  and  the  Euxine.     The  positive  men-         ^  For  further   particulars,  see   Chesney's 

tion  of  the  Phasis  first  occurs  m  the  account  Euphrat.    Exped.   vol.   i.  p.   398  ;   Stanley's 

given  of  Pompey 's  investigation.  Sinai   and  Palestine,   pp.   398-9;    and  Col. 

^  Varro,  ap.  Plin.  H.  N.  loc.  cit.  Wildenbruch's   article   in    the   Geographical 

^  See  Strab.  xi.  p.  730.     6  ^aais  yccpv-  Journal,  vol.  xx.  art.  15,  p.  231. 
pais  kKarhv  koX  e^Koai  ireparhs  yevSixevos 


462         CHANGES  IN  THE  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY.    App.  Book  I. 

the  slope.  Its  most  remote  source  is  at  the  foot  of  Anti-Lebanon, 
distant  about  10  miles  from  Baalbek  in  a  north-easterly  direction. 
This  stream,  called  the  river  of  Lehweh  from  a  village  on  its  banks, 
runs  for  about  15  miles  towards  the  north,  when  it  meets  the  second 
and  main  source  of  the  Orontes,  which  bursts  out  from  the  foot  of 
Lebanon,*  nearly  in  lat.  34°  22'.  The  united  stream  then  flows  to 
the  north-east,  and  passing  through  the  'Balir-el-Kades — a  lake  about 
six  miles  long  and  two  broad — approaches  Hems,  which  it  leaves 
upon  its  right  bank.  From  this  point  the  course  of  the  river  is 
northerly  to  near  Ifamah,  where,  in  forcing  its  way  through  a 
mountain-barrier  thrown  across  the  valley,  it  makes  a  great  bend  to 
the  east,  and  then  enters  the  rich  pasture  country  of  El-Ghah,  along 
which  it  flows  north-westward  as  far  as  lat.  35°  30',  when  the  north- 
ern direction  is  resumed  and  continued  nearly  to  Jisr-Hadid,  in  lat. 
36°  14'.  The  Orontes,  then,  prevented  from  continuing  its  northern 
course  by  the  great  range  of  Amanus,  suddenly  sweeps  round  to  the 
west  through  the  plain  of  C/mk,  and  after  receiving  from  the  north 
a  large  tributary  called  the  Kara-Su^  the  volume  of  whose  water 
exceeds  its  own,  enters  the  broad  valley  of  Antioch,  doubling  back 
here  upon  itself  and  flowing  to  the  south-west.  After  passing 
Antioch  the  river  pursues  a  tortuous  course  first  between  steep  and 
wooded  hills,  and  then  across  the  maritime  plain  with  a  fall  of  14.3 
feet  per  mile,  and  with  a  large  volume  of  water,  until  it  finally 
falls  into  the  bay  of  Antioch  in  lat.  36°  3'.^  In  this  part  of  its  course 
the  Orontes  has  been  compared  to  the  Wye.*  Its  length  to  the 
source  of  the  river  of  Lebweh,  exclusive  of  the  lesser  meanders,  is 
above  200  miles. 

8.  Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  the  physical  geography  of 
these  regions,  it  will  be  proper  to  consider  briefly  the  question  of 
what  changes  they  may  have  undergone  during  the  historical 
period,  or  at  any  rate  between  the  present  time  and  the  age  of 
Herodotus.  There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  more  elevated 
districts  have  experienced  any  alterations  of  moment ;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  in  some  of  the  lower  countries  changes,  throw^ing  great 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  comparative  geographer,  have  occurred, 
and  considerable  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  them.  The  scenes  of  important  ph3'sical  variation  are 
three  chiefly,  viz.,  the  valley  of  the  Indus,  the  lower  or  alluvial 
portion  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain,  and  the  desert  country  east  of 
the  Caspian. 

(i.)  It  is  wdth  regard  to  this  last-mentioned  district  that  the  most 
opposite  views  prevail  among  scientific  geographers.     A  long  series 


^  Col.    Chesney    says     "Anti-Lebanon"  from  the  foot  of  Anti-Lebanon  to  the  "great 

(Euphrat.    Exped.  voL    i.   p.   394) ;    but   I  source "  of  the  Orontes.     (Geograph.  Jour. 

gather  from  the  paper  of  his  authority,  Mr.  voL  xxvi.  p.  53.)     See  the  maps  of  Syria  in 

Burckhardt  Barker  (Geogr.  Journ.  a-oL  vii.  the  Library  Atlas  of  the  Useful  Knowledge 

parti,  pp.  99-100),  that  the  triangular  basin  Society  (maps  84  and  85),  where  this  is  the 

of  which  he  speaks  as  the  principal  source  view  taken. 

is  on  the  western  side  of  the  valley.      So         ^  See  Chesney,  vol.  i.  pp.  395-7. 
Mr.  Porter  speaks  of  "  crossing  the  plain  "         ^  Stanley,  p.  400. 


KssAY  IX.     GEOLOGICAL  CHANGES  NEAR  THE  CASPIAN.        463 

of  writers,'  ending  with  the  illustrious  Baron  Humboldt/  have 
maintained  that  in  the  time  of  Herodotus,  and  for  several  ages  after- 
wards, the  Caspian  Sea  extended  itself  very  much  further  towards 
the  east  than  at  present,  so  as  to  form  one  body  of  water  with  the 
sea  of  Aral,  and  to  cover  great  portions  of  the  modern  deserts  of 
Khiva  and  Kizil-Koum.  Humboldt  believes  that  at  some  period 
subsequent  to  the  Macedonian  conquests,  either  by  the  prepon- 
derance of  evaporation  over  influx,  or  by  diluvial  deposits,  or  pos- 
sibly by  igneous  convulsions,  the  two  seas  were  separated,  the  tract 
of  land  which  now  intervenes  between  them  south  of  the  plateau  of 
Ust-Urt  being  left  dry,  or  thrown  up,  and  the  communication  be- 
tween the  waters  ceasing.  Subsequent  desiccation  is  supposed  to 
have  still  further  contracted  the  area  of  both  seas,  especially  of  the 
Caspian,  which  has  thereby  sunk  100  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
Aral,  and  which  is  supposed  to  be  stiU  sinking.  An  indication  of 
the  intermediate  state  of  things,  when  the  separation  of  the  seas  had 
taken  place,  but  a  portion  of  the  channel  which  had  connected 
them  was  still  left,  in  the  shape  of  a  deep  gulf  running  into  the  land 
eastward  from  the  Caspian  between  the  39th  and  43rd  parallels,  is 
thought  to  be  found  both  in  the  Sinus  Scythicus  of  Mela,*  and  also  in 
the  accounts  of  travellers  in  the  16th  century.^  But  the  best  geo- 
logists are  opposed  to  this  theory,  which  is  certainly  devoid  of  any 
sufficient  historic  basis.^  Murchison,  while  he  grants  the  fact  of  an 
original  connexion  not  only  between  the  Caspian  and  the  Aral,  but 
also  between  those  inland  waters  and  the  existing  Sea  of  Azof  and 
Euxine,  regards  the  geological  phenomena  as  indicating  a  different 
order  of  events  from  that  suggested  by  Humboldt,  and  assigns  the 
whole  series  of  changes  by  which  the  existing  geography  was  pro- 
duced to  a  period  anterior  to  the  creation  of  man.^     According  to 


3  As  Pallas  (Voyages  Meridionaux,  vol.  ii.  ways  a  most  insecure  basis  for  geography. 

p.  638,  French  Tr.)  ;  De  Lamalle  (Geogra-  They  may  all  be  traced  to  incorrect  informa- 

phie  Physique  de  la  Mer    Noire,  ch.   27);  tion  obtained  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  con- 

Kephalides  (De  Historia  Caspii    Maris,  pp.  quests,  during  the  hurried  marches  and  coun- 

158,  et  seqq.) ;  Bredovv  (Geographia?  et  Ura-  termarches  which  lie  made  in  the  Transoxi- 

nologise  Herodot.  Spec.  p.  xxviii.)  ;  and  Klap-  anian  provinces.     It  was  then,  apparently, 

roth  (quoted  by  Humboldt,  Asie  Centiale,  that  the  idea  arose  of  the  Caspian  communi- 

vol.  ii.  pp.  260-259).  eating  by  a  long  strait  with  the  Northern 

"^  See  his  Asie  Centrale,  vol.  ii.  pp.  296, 297.  Ocean,  another  proof  of  how  little  the  Greeks 

^  De  Sit.  Orb.  iii.  5.  really  knew  of  the  country.      Against  the 

^  See  Humboldt,  Asie  Centrale,  vol.ii.  p.  evidence  of  the  Alexandrine  writers  may  be 

274.  set,  1.  the  statement  of  Herodotus  as  to  the 

'  It  is  true  that  the  ancient  writers  appear  proportionate  length  and  breadth  of  the  Cas- 

generally  ignorant  of  the  separate  existence  of  pian  (i.  203,  and  see  note  ^  ad  loc),  which 

the   Sea   of   Aral,    and  make   the    Jaxartes  corresponds  with  its  present  shape;    2.  his 

(Syhun)  fall  into  the  Caspian,  no  less  than  the  mention  of  the  swamps  into  which  the  Mas- 

Oxus  {Jyhun).     (See  Eratosth.  ap.  Strab.  xi.  sagetio  Araxes  fell  by  several  mouths  (i.  202), 

p.  739  ;  Strab.  xi.  p.  74-3  ;  Arrian.  Exp.  Alex,  which  seems  a  reference  to  the  Aral  (cf.  Hum- 

iii.  30;     Pom.  Mel.  iii.  5;    Ptolem.  vi.  14.)  boldt's  Asie  Centrale,  a^oI.  ii.  p.  269);  and, 

Ptolemy  also  seems  certainly  to  have  regarded  3.  the  notice  in  Ptolemy  of  a  Falus  Oxiana 

thelengthof  the  Caspian  as  from  east  to  west,  (xijxvri  ^Cl^iavt).   Geograph.  vi.  12),  repre- 

which  it  would  be  if  it  included  the  Aral,  seuted  as  formed  by  a  tributary  stream,  but 

(See  Eustath.  ad  Dionys.  Perieg.  718.)     But  which  from  its  name  should  indicate  a  lake 

these  testimonies  are  of  no  great  weight,  since  into  which  the  Oxus  fell. 
they  do  not  proceed  from  actual  observation,  ^  See  the  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  xiv.  pp. 

but  from  the  reports  of  ignorant  natives,  al-  Ixxiii.-iv. 


464  PROGRESS  OF  DESICCATION.  App.  Book  I. 

Mm  there  was  once  a  shallow  mediterraneaii  sea  of  brackish  water, 
separated  entirely  from  the  existing  Mediterranean,  and  extending 
from  the  foot  of  the  hills  which  branch  from  the  Bolor  upon  the 
east  to  the  European  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  upon  the  west.  From 
the  bed  of  this  sea  was  first  thrown  up  towards  the  east  a  tract  of 
land  including  the  plateau  of  Ust-Urt,^  by  which  the  separation  of 
the  Aral  and  the  Caspian  was  effected.  Subsequently,  another  ele- 
vation of  surface  took  place  towards  the  west,  the  tract  north  of  the 
Caucasus  being  raised  by  volcanic  agency,  and  the  Caspian  thereby 
separated  from  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Sea  of  Azof.  All  this  was 
done  in  the  period  which  geologists  call  tertiary — the  latest  of  the 
geological  times,  but  one  long  anterior  to  the  commencement  of 
history.  In  default  of  any  clear  historical  data  on  which  to  rest  the 
late  occurrence  of  the  changes,  whereby  the  Caspian  and  Aral  took 
their  present  forms,  it  seems  best  to  defer  to  the  authority  of  geo- 
logy, and  to  regard  the  separation  as  having  been  effected  in  ante- 
historic  times.  It  is  still  a  question,  however,  Avhether  desiccation 
has  not  continued  subsequently,  and  indeed  whether  it  is  not  still 
proceeding.^  Humboldt  has  shown  strong  grounds  for  believing 
that,  so  late  as  the  16th  century,  a  deep  bay  indented  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Caspian,^  whereof  the  existing  gulf  of  Kuli  Derya  is  a 
remnant,  and  sees  in  this  bay  the  8inu8  Scythicus  of  Mela.  His  view 
here  appears  to  have  a  historic  foundation,  and  may  therefore  be 
accepted  though  we  disbelieve  the  theory  of  which  in  his  system  it 
forms  a  part.  But  if  desiccation  has  taken  place  on  one  side  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  it  must  have  proceeded  equally,  though  perhaps  not 
with  such  palpable  effects,  in  every  other  part.  We  may  therefore 
conclude  that  the  Caspian  is  now  somewhat  smaller  than  it  was  in 
the  time  of  Herodotus ;  that  the  rich  flats  of  Ghilan  and  Mazen- 
deran,  as  well  as  the  steppes  of  Astrakan,  and  the  deserts  of  Kha- 
resm  and  Khiva,  have  advanced,  and  that,  in  particular,  on  the 
east  coast  a  gulf  has  almost  disappeared  which  in  his  day  occupied 
no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  Khiva  salt-tract. 

Important  changes  seem  also  to  have  taken  place  on  this  side  of 
the  Caspian  in  the  courses  of  the  principal  rivers.  The  Jyhun  or 
Oxus,  which  at  the  present  time  pours  the  whole  of  its  waters  into 
the  sea  of  Aral,  may  probably,  when  Herodotus  wrote,  have  flowed 
entirely  into  the  Caspian.  Kot  only  is  this  the  unanimous  declara- 
tion of  ancient  writers,^  but  they  add  a  corroborative  circumstance 
of  great  weight,  which  at  least  proves  that  the  Oxus  communicated 
with  that  sea  ;  namely,  that  the  regular  course  of  the  trade  between 
India  and  Europe  was  through  Bactra  (Baikh),  down  the  Oxus  into 


^  Portions  of  this  plateau  are  700  feet  aboA'e  vol.  xiv.  p.  kxii.) 
the  level  of  the  Caspian  (Geograph.  Joui'n.         ^  ^gie  Centrale,  vol.  ii.  p.  274. 
1.  s.  c).  ^  As   of  Aristobulus,   the  companion  of 

1  The  Sea  of  Aral,  it  must  be  remembered,  Alexander  (ap.  Strab.  xi.  p.  742).  of  Erato- 
is  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  Euxine,  wliile  the  sthenes  (ibid.  p.  739),  of  Strabo  (ibid.  p.  743), 
Caspian  is  above  100  feet  below  it.  This  of  Phny  (H.  N.  vi.  17),  of  Arrian  (Exped. 
certainly  looks  like  desiccation.  M.  Hommaire  Alex.  iii.  29),  of  Diouysius  Periegetes  (1.  748), 
de  Hell  believal  that  the  process  was  going  on  of  Mela  (De  Sit.  Orb.  iii.  5),  and  of  Ptolemy 
rapidly.  (Seethe  address  of  Sir  R.  Mnrchison  (Geograph.  vi.  14). 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Geographical  Society, 


Essay  IX.        ALTERATIONS  OF  THE  RIVER  COURSES.  465 

the  Caspian,  and  thence  by  the  Kur  (Cyrus)  and  Bion  (Phasis)  to  the 
Euxine.*  The  early  Arabian  geographers,  however,  who  were 
natives  of  this  region,  speak  of  the  Oxus  as  in  their  day  falling  into 
the  Sea  of  Aral ;  and  this  course  it  appears  to  have  followed  till 
about  the  middle  of  the  15th  century,  when  the  Aral  channel  was 
choked  up,  and  the  stream  once  more  flowed  into  the  Caspian.  An 
Arabian  author  writing  at  Herat  a.d.  1438,  observes — "  It  is  re- 
corded in  all  the  ancient  books  that  from  that  point  (the  frontiers  of 
Kharezm)  the  river  Jyhun  flows  on  and  disembogues  into  the  Sea  of 
Kharezm  (the  Aral  lake)  ;  but  at  the  present  day  the  passage  into 
the  sea  has  been  choked  up,  and  the  river  has  made  for  itself  a  fresh 
channel,  which  conducts  it  into  the  Deria-i-Khizr  (the  Caspian  Sea)."  ^ 
A  century  later  the  traveller  Jenkinson  found  the  water  passing  by 
the  Aral  channel.®  It  appears  that  the  Oxus  had  previously  for 
some  considerable  time  bifurcated  near  Khiva,  and  had  divided 
its  waters  between  the  two  seas,  but  after  a  while  the  western  chan- 
nel had  dried  up,  and  that  condition  of  the  river  was  produced 
which  continues  to  the  present  day.^  Traces  of  the  channel  by 
which  water  was  formerly  conveyed  to  the  Caspian  still  remain ;  ® 
they  show  that  the  general  course  of  the  stream  from  the  point 
where  it  left  the  present  river  was  south-east,  and  that  it  flowed 
towards  the  gulf  of  Kuli  Derya.  The  Syhun  or  Jaxartes  is  also  liable 
to  frequent  fluctuations  in  its  course  from  the  point  where  it  enters 
upon  the  plain,  as  is  shown  by  the  many  remains  of  ancient  river- 
channels  in  the  desert  of  Kizil-Kouin.^  It  can  scarcely,  however,  at 
any  time  have  reached  the  Caspian,  unless  through  the  Oxus,  into 
which  it  may  perhaps  have  once  sent  a  branch.  This  is  possibly 
the  origin  of  that  confusion  between  the  two  streams,  which  is 
observable  in  Herodotus.' 

(ii.)  The  valley  of  the  Indus  and  its  affluents  is  liable  to  per- 
petual change  from  the  vast  diluvial  deposits  which  the  various 
streams  bring  down,  whereby  the  level  of  the  plain  is  being  con- 
tinually varied,  and  the  rivers  are  thrown  into  fresh  courses. 
These  changes  are  most  frequent  and  most  striking  in  the  two  ends 
of  the  valley,  the  Punjab  and  the  delta  or  district  of  Hyderabad. 
In  the  Punjab  the  channels  of  the  five  great  streams  experience 
perpetual  small  alterations,  which  in  a  long  term  of  years  would 
remodel  all  the  features  of  the  country  •,^  while  occasionally  it 
would  seem  that  great  changes  have  suddenly  occurred,  rivers 
having  deserted  altogether  their  former  beds,  and  taken  entirely 
new  directions.  This  is  most  remarkably  the  case  with  the  Beeas,  a 
tributary  of  the  Sutlej,  whose  ancient  channel  may  be  traced  from 
the  vicinity  of  Hurrekee  to  a  point  a  few  miles  above  its  junction 
with  the  Chenab,  running  at  an  average  distance  of  20  or  25  miles 

*  Compare  Strab.  xi.  p.  742  with  Plin.  H.         "^  Asie  Centiale,  ii.  pp.  296,  297. 

N.  vi.  17  ;  and  see  above,  note  ■*,  page  460.  ^  See  Meyendorfs  Voyage  k  Bokhara,  pp. 

*  This  passage  is  taken  from  a  valuable     239-41, 

Arabic  MS.  in  the  possession  of  Sir  H.  Raw-  ^  Ibid.  pp.  61-64,  &c. 

linson.     The  fact  recorded  has  been  hitherto  ^  See  note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  202. 

unknown.  ^  See  Geograph.   Journ.  vol.   x.   p.  530, 

^  See  Jenkinson's  Travels,  quoted  by  Hum-  where  it  is  noted  that  Lieut.  Wood  ascribes 

boldt  in  his  Asie  Centrale    (vol,  ii.  pp.  228,  to  this  cause  the  disappearance  of  the  altars  of 

229).  Alexander  (Arrian.  Exp.  Alex.  v.  29). 

VOL.  I.  2    H 


466      CHANGES  IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  INDUS,     App.  Book  I. 

nort.li  of  the  present  channel  of  the  Sutlej.^  The  Indus  itself  also, 
in  the  middle  part  of  its  course,  had  once  a  position  40  or  50  miles 
more  to  the  east  than  at  present,  skirting  what  is  now  the  Great 
Sandy  Desert.*  Towards  the  south  still  more  violent  and  exten- 
sive changes  seem  to  have  taken  place.  The  Indus  brings  down 
annually  to  the  sea  more  than  10,000,000,000  cubic  feet  of  mud.^ 
This  enormous  mass,  which  descends  chiefly  in  the  flood-time,  is 
precipitated  about  the  mouths  of  the  stream,  and  tends  to  produce 
the  most  extraordinary  changes.  The  apex  of  the  delta  shifts, 
former  principal  channels  are  silted  up,  minor  channels  become  the 
main  ones,  or  entirely  new  channels,  often  crossing  the  old  courses, 
are  formed  ;  ships  are  embedded,  villages  washed  away,  and  all  the 
former  features  of  the  country  obliterated.^  Amid  these  fluctua- 
tions may  be  traced  a  general  tendency  towards  a  contraction  of 
the  delta,  and  a  descent  of  its  apex,  the  consequence  probably  of 
that  gradual  elevation  of  the  soil  which  an  annual  inundation  can- 
not fail  to  effect. 

(iii.)  In  the  Mesopotamian  valley  the  important  changes  are 
confined  to  the  lower  or  alluvial  portion  of  the  plain,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  commencing  a  little  below  the  35th  parallel.^  From 
Tekrit  to  the  sea,  a  distance  of  above  400  miles,  the  whole  country 
is  without  a  hill ;  and  throughout  this  flat  the  river-courses  have 
been  subject  to  frequent  variations,  partly  natural,  partly  caused 
by  the  numerous  artificial  cuttings  made  at  various  times  for 
the  purpose  of  irrigation.  It  appears  that  anciently  the  Euphrates, 
the  Tigris,  and  the  Karun,  all  emptied  themselves  into  the  Per- 
sian gulf  by  distinct  channels."  The  three  great  streams  have 
now  converged,  perhaps  through  the  growth  of  the  alluvium,^  which 
must  have  filled  up  to  a  considerable  extent  the  inner  recess 
of  the  original  Persian  gulf,  or  possibly  by  mere  alterations  of 
course,  artificial  or  natural.^"  The  Euphrates  seems  at  one  time  to 
have  been  lost  in  marshes,  or  consumed  in  irrigation,  and  to  have 
obtained  no  outlet  to  the  sea.'  It  also  divided  itself  anciently  into 
a  number  of  branches  which  ran  across  to  the  Tigris,*  or  reunited 


^  Chesney,  Euph.  Exp.  vol.  ii.  p.  370.  ^  See  a  paper  by  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  in  the 

^  The  fiimous  city  of"  i?ra7imfma6ad,  where  Journal  of  the  Geograph.  Society,  vol.  xxvii. 

ex;.»vations  have  been  recently  made,  is  si-  pp.  186,  et  seqq. 

tuated  on  the  old  river  course.  ^^  The  channel  by  which  the  Kanm  now 

^  See  Geogr.  Journ.  vol.  viii.  p.  356.     The  flows  into  the  Bah-a-Mishir  is  artificial  (su- 

exact  estimate  is  10,503,587,000  cubic  feet.  pra,  p.  457);  but  the  channel  by  which  the 

^  See  Chesney,  vol.  ii.  pp.  373,  374,  and  Euphrates  joins  the  Tigris  seems  to  be  a  na- 

compare  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  viii.  p.  348,  tural  one. 

and  vol.  x.  p.  5o0.  i  Compare  Arrian  (Exped.   Alex.  vii.   7, 

'    ''  Tlie  Euphrates  enters  upon  the  alluvium  ovTcas   is  oh  ttoXv  vSoop  6  Evcppdrris  re- 

a  little  below  Hit,  in  latitude  33*^  40'  (Ches-  XevTwu,   /cat  r^uayuidr^s   es   tovto,   ovtws 

iiey,  vol.  i.  p.  54)  ;  but  the  Tigris  comes  upon  airoTraverui.),  and  Pliny,  describing  the  state 

it  earlier,  viz.  at  'I'elirit   (Layard's  Nineveh  of  things  in  his  own  day  (vi.  27,  "  sed  longo 

and  Babylon,  p.   240   and  p.  469),  in  lat.  tempore  Euphratem  pra3clusere  Orcheni,  et 

34^  35'.  accoljE  agros  rigantes,  nee  nisi  per  Tigrin  de- 

^  For  the  separation  of  the  Tigris  and  Eu-  fertur  in  mare  "  ). 

phrates  compare  Herod,  i.  185,  vi.  20  ;  Strab.  2  Arrian  (1.  s.  c),  Strab.  xv.  p.  1033,  &c. 

xi.  pp.  758-9  ;   Plin.  H.  N.  vi.  27.     For  the  Some  of  these  channels  were  artificial  others 

distinct  channel  of  the  ifo/vin  (Euhiius)  to  the  natural.     Of  the  former  kind   were,  1.  the 

sea,  see  Arrian  (Exped.  Alex.  vii.  7).  original  "  royal  river,"  the  Ar  Malcha  of 


Essay  IX.  AND  IN  LOWER  MESOrOTAMIA.  467 

with  the  main  stream,^  most  of  which  are  now  diy.  The  Tigris, 
which  flows  at  a  lower  level,  and  in  a  deeper  bed,''  has  probably 
varied  less  in  its  course,  but  the  tributaries  which  reach  the  Tigris 
from  Mount  Zagros  have  undergone  many  and  great  changes,*  through 
causes  analogous  to  those  which  have  affected  the  Euphrates.  The 
comparative  geography  of  Lower  Mesopotamia,  in  consequence  of 
the  variations  in  the  streams,  is  rendered  one  of  the  most  intricate 
and  difficult  subjects  which  can  engage  the  attention  of  the  scholar. 
9.  The  political  geography  of  Western  Asia  in  the  times  treated 
by  Herodotus,  conforms  itself  in  a  great  measure  to  the  physical 
features  of  the  region.  The  great  fertile  tract  at  the  foot  of  the 
Zagros  range,  abundantly  watered  by  the  Tigris,  the  Euphrates, 
and  the  rivers  descending  from  Zagros,  and  enclosed  by  the  Arabian 
and  Syrian  deserts  upon  the  west,  the  Armenian  mountains  upon 
the  north,  and  Zagros  upon  the  east,  was  divided  from  very  ancient 
times  into  three  principal  countries,  all  nearly  equally  favoured 
by  nature,  and  each  in  its  turn  the  seat  of  a  powerful  monarchy : 
— Assyria,  Susiana,  and  Babylonia.  The  highlands  overlooking 
this  region  upon  the  east  and  north,  being  occupied  by  three  prin- 
cipal races,  were  likewise  regarded  as  forming  three  great  countries  : 
— x\rmenia.  Media,  and  Persia.  W^est  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain, 
intervening  between  it  and  the  Mediterranean,  were,  first,  a  portion 
of  Arabia,  and  then  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Palestine.  Further  off, 
both  on  the  north  and  on  the  east,  were  numerous  petty  tribes,  the 
exac-t  position  of  which  it  is  often  not  easy  to  fix,  and  concerning 
which  it  is  not  intended  to  enter  into  details  in  the  present  essay. 
They  will  necessarily  be  taken  into  consideration  when  we  inquire 

Berosus  (Armacales  of  Abydenus,  Frs.  8  aud  considerable  length, — [H.  C.  R.] 

9  ;  Armalchar  of  Pliny,  H.  N.  vi.  26  ;  fiacri-  ^  Three  such  streams  were  thrown  off  to 

XiK^  Siwpv^  of  Polybius,  v.  51  ;    Narmacha  theright  between  a  point  a  little  above  Mosaib 

of  Isidore),  which  left  the  Euphrates  at  Peri-  and  Babylon,   which   all   entered  the  great 

sabor  or  Anbar,  and  followed  the  line  of  the  marshes  (Sea  of  Kedjef),  whence  the  water 

modern  Saklawiyeh  canal,  passing  by  Akker-  tlowed  in  part  to  the  sea,  in  part  back  to  the 

hif,  the  Ardericca  of  Herodotus  (i.  185),  and  Euphrates  by  a  channel  which  entered  it  near 

entering  the  Tigris  below  Baghdad;  2,  the  Smaawah. —  [H.  C.  R.] 

Nahr  Jhilcha  of  the  Aiabs,  \viiich  branched  ^  ThedescriptionofArrian  is  very  exact:  — 

from  the  river  at  Ridhivaniyeh,  and  ran  acioss  6   jjl^v  Tiyp-qs   iroXv  re  raireLvSr^pos  p^oou 

to  the    site  of  Seleucia;   and,  3.  the  Nahr  rod  Evcppdrov,   BtcLpyxas    re    ttoAAos    e/c 

Kut/ia,  which,  starting  from  the  Euphrates  rov  Evcppdrov  is  avrhu  Sexerat,  kol  ttoX- 

ahout    12   miles  above   Mos<dh  (the  ancient  Kovs    dWovs   -rrora/xohs    TrapaXa^oou,    kuI 

.''^iljpara),  passed  through  Kutha,  and  fell  into  e|  avrouv  av^ridels,  iafiaXXei  is  rhv  Ylov- 

the  Tigris  20  miles  below  Seleucia.     0^  the  rov  ruv  TlepaiKhu  /xiyas  re   Kal   o-jSauov 

latter  kind  was  the  stream  called  by  Ptolem.y  Bta^arhs  esre  irrl  r^u  iK^okTjp,  Kadori  ov 

jMa-arses,  which  branched  from  the  main  river  KarauaXiffKcrai  avrov  ovSlu  is  t^j/  -x^wpav. 

alx)ve  Babylon,   and   ran  acioss  to  Apamea  "Eo'Tt  'yap  jxerewporipa  rj   ravrrj   777   rov 

(now  Niiam'iiihjeh)  on  the  Tigris  which  city  voaros  .  .  .  .  'O    8e    Ev<ppdrris     inerioipos 

it  divided  into   two  portions.     This  branch  re  pe7,  koI  tcrox^ 'A.rjy  Trauraxov  r-fj  777.  kui 

maybe  distinctly  traced,  passing  north  of  the  Siaipvx^s  re  iroAKal  dir'  avrov  7reTroir)vrai^ 

grejit  mound  of  Babylon,  and  circling  round  «.  r.\.  (vii.  7). 

the  walls  of  the  inner  enceinte;  it  luns  to-  *  The  Choaspes  C/ferMaA)  bifurcated  above 

wards  Hymar,  and  is  the  Zab  of  the  geogra-  Susa :  the  right  arm  kept  the  name  of  Cho- 

])hers,  and  the  modern  JSlil  canal.     Various  aspes,  and  fell  into  the  Chalda'an  lake  or  great 

other  natural   branches   left  the  Euphrates  swamp  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tigi  is  in  lat. 

towards  the  west  or  right.     To  exhaust  the  31^  to  32-^  ;   the  left  arm   was  cjilled   the 

sul)ject  of  the  comparative  hydrography  of  this  Kuhisus,  and  tlowing  to  the  south-east,  joined 

district   would  require  a  separate   essay  of  the  Kanm  (Pasitigris)  at  A/twaz.—[E..C.R.'] 

2  H  2 


468     POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY— GENERAL  DIVISIONS.  App.  Book  L 

into  the  extent  of  the  Persian  empire  under  Darius  and  Xerxes  ; 
at  present  we  are  concerned  only  with  Mesopotamia  and  the  regions 
immediately  adjacent. 

In  treating  of  the  boundaries  and  extent  of  the  countries  above 
mentioned,  it  will  not  be  possible  to  be  very  exact  and  precise, 
since  the  boundaries  themselves  were  to  some  extent  fluctuating, 
and  the  knowledge  which  the  Greeks  had  of  them  was  scanty  and 
far  from  accurate.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  indicate  in  a  very 
general  way  the  relative  position  of  the  several  countries  with 
respect  to  one  another, — to  mark  their  natural  or  usual  limits, — 
and  to  give  some  account  of  the  districts  into  which  they  were 
occasionally  divided. 

(i.)  Of  the  three  great  countries  which  occupied  the  Mesopo- 
tamian  plain,  Assyria  was  the  northernmost.  It  commenced  imme- 
diately below  the  Armenian  mountains,  and  extended,  chiefly  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Tigris,  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Baghdad.  It 
was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Armenia,  on  the  east  by  Media,  on 
the  south  by  Susiana  and  Babylonia,  on  the  west  by  the  tract 
known  to  the  Greeks  as  Mesopotamia  Proper.^  This  name  was 
applied  to  the  region  lying  directly  south  of  Taurus  in  the  remark- 
able bend  of  the  Upper  Euphrates,  where  its  distance  from  the 
Tigris  is  the  greatest.  It  may  be  considered  to  have  extended  as 
far  as  the  land  was  watered  by  the  Euphrates  and  its  affluents,  the 
Tigris  waters  being  reckoned  to  Assyria.''  According  to  this  view 
of  the  natural  limits  of  Assyria,  it  would  have  been  comprised  be- 
tween latitude  37°  30'  and  33°  30',  and  between  longitude  42°  and  45°. 
It  was  thus  about  280  miles  long  from  north  to  south,  and  rather 
more  than  loO  broad  from  east  to  west:  it  may  have  contained 
about  35,000  square  miles,  which  would  make  its  size  a  little 
exceed  that  of  Ireland  or  of  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria. 

Assyria  was  divided  into  a  number  of  districts,  called  generally 
after  important  towns,  as  Calacine,  or  the  district  of  Calah,  Arbe- 
litis,  or  the  district  of  Arbela,  Sittacene,  or  the  district  of  Sittace, 
&c.®  But  the  most  celebrated  district  of  all  was  Adiabene,  not 
called  from  a  town,  but  probably  from  the  Zab  rivers,''  between 
which  it  lay.  This  tract  was  the  richest  and  most  fertile  portion 
of  Assyria;  and  its  pre-eminence  was  such  that  the  name,  Adia- 
bene, was  sometimes  taken  to  signify  the   entire   country,  a  use 


6  Mesopotamia  Proper  is  very  distinctly  Alex.  iii.  7);  but  the  thoroughly  Assyriau 
indicated  by  Ptolemy  (Geograph.  v.  18).  He  ruins  at  Kileh-Slienjhat,  Abu- Khameera , 
regards  it  as  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  and  r^/-£'rma/t  (see  Layard,  Isineveh,  part  i. 
chain  of  Taurus,  on  the  west  by  the  Eu-  ch.  xii. ;  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  pp.  241,  243) 
phrates,  on  the  east  by  the  Tigris,  and  on  the  prove  the  Assyrian  occupation  to  have  ex- 
south  by  the  Euphi-ates  and  Babylonia,  tended  to  the  west  of  the  river.  Pliny  says, 
Strabo's  view  appears  to  be  similar,  but  it  is  "  Mesopotamia  foia  Assyriorum  fuit"  (^^.  26). 
far  less  distinctly  expressed  (xvi.  p.  1059).  ^  Ptolemy  enumerates  e'ght  such  districts, 
It  is  remarkable  that  neither  Herodotus  nor  viz.,  Arrapachitis,  Adiabene,  the  Garamajan 
Xenophon  use  the  word.  Xenophon  extends  country,  Apolloniatis,  Arbelitis,  the  country 
Syria  across  the  Euphrates  (Anab.  I.  iv.  19).  of  the  Sambatae,  Calacind,  and  Sittacene 
Polybius  and  Pliny  give  a  very  wide  sense  to  (vi.  1).  Strabo  gives  a  still  larger  number 
the  term  Mesopotamia.  (xvi.  ad  init.). 

■^  Some  authorities  bound  Assyria  by  the         ^  See  Ammian.  Marcell.  xxiii.  20. 
Tigris  (Ptolem.  Geogr,  vi.  1 ;  Arrian.  Exp. 


Essay  IX.  ASSYRIA,  SUSIANA  AND  BABYLONIA.  469 

which  is  perhaps  not  confined  to  profane  authors.'  The  eastern, 
portion  of  Assyria  seems  to  be  included  in  the  Matiene  of  Herodotus, 
who  makes  the  Koyal  Road  from  Sardis  to  Susa,  which  doubtless 
skirted  the  plain,  pass  from  Armenia  into  Susiana,  through  the 
country  of  the  Matienians.^ 

(ii.)  South  of  Assyria,  and  parallel  to  one  another,  occupying 
respectively  the  eastern  and  the  western  portions  of  the  plain,  were 
the  two  countries  of  Susiana  and  Babylonia.  Susiana,  the  Elam  of 
Scripture,^  and  the  Cissia  of  Herodotus,*  was  bounded  on  the  north 
by  Assyria,  on  the  east  by  the  Zagros  mountains  and  the  river  Tab 
(Oroatis),  on  the  south  by  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  on  the  west  by  the 
Tigris.*  It  was  thus  a  long  and  somewhat  narrow  strip  intervening 
between  the  mountains  and  the  river,  reaching  probably  from  about 
Zangawan  or  Sirwan  in  Mah  Sahadan  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tab  or 
Hindyan,  a  distance  of  nearly  300  miles.  In  width  it  varied  from 
150  to  50  miles,  averaging  perhaps  90,  which  would  make  its  size 
somewhat  less  than  that  of  Assyria.  Its  inhabitants  seem  to  have 
been  partly  Elymasans  (Elamites),  partly  Cissians  or  Cossaeans 
(Cushites),  the  El^^mseans  occupying  both  the  coast  tract  and  the 
hill  country  towards  Persia.^  The  capital,  Susa,  whence  the  pro- 
vince derived  its  later  name,  was  situated  between  the  two  arms  of 
the  Kerkhafi  (Choaspes),  in  lat.  32°  nearly.  Its  position  was  very 
central ;  from  the  Tigris  it  was  distant  about  60  miles ;  from  the 
foot  of  the  great  range  of  Zagros  about  50 ;  to  the  south-eastern 
frontier,  the  Tab,  was  about  1 50  miles ;  to  Sirwan,  at  the  north- 
western extremity,  was  the  same  distance. 

(iii.)  West  of  Susiana,  and  south  of  Assyria  and  Mesopotamia, 
lay  Babylonia,  which  comprised  the  whole  tract  between  the  two 
great  rivers  below  Hit  on  the  Euphrates  and  about  Samarrah  or 
Tekrit  on  the  Tigris,  as  well  as  an  important  strip  of  territory  on 
the  right  bank   of  the  Euphrates,   watered  from  it  by  numerous 


1  See  Plin.  N.  H.  v.  12:  "  Adiabene,  759,  762,  &c. ;  xvi.  p.  1056).  Ptolemy's 
Assyria  ante  dicta,"  and  compare  Nahum  Klymfeans  are  upon  the  coast,  and  the  reo;ion 
ii.  7  :  "  And  Huzzab  (3*'i?n)  shall  be  carried  above  them  is  Cissia  (Geograph.  vi.  3).  Pro- 
away  captive ;"  where,  however,  it  is  very  ^^^^Y  there  were  Elymajans  in  both  situ- 
doubtful  if  2^r\  is  a  proper  name.  ations  (compare  Plin.  H.  N.  vi.  26  and  27). 

•2  u      J      ~\c      rru     TIT  X-     •    I,  '' An  artificial  channel  leaves  the  Euphrates 

^  Herod,  v.  52.     The  Matieni,  however,  .    rr-,  /t  n   xi          ^v.        r    •*    ^  u  v  i     ■ 

,1               ]  J     u  i.1,   1      Tj       1  i  fit  lilt  (Is),  the  northern  limit  or  Uabylonia, 

are  oenerally  reo;arded,   both  by  Herodotus  ,        ^    ^,'        ,,       ,         i'  i.\     4.    t.-        n 

1    iu           -i.             •  V  1  -i.     i.     r  j-u    i,-ii  and  runs  along;  the  edo-e  or  the  tertiary  for- 

and  other  writers,  as  inhabitants  ot  the  hills  , .              xi:      a     v°        •  1        1  •  i-        xl 

/u      1     •     -lac     or^->      i^-i.    1.      •            ^7 ^ o  matiou  ou   the   Arabian    side,    skirting   the 

(Herod,   i.    189,   202;    btrab.  xi.  pp.   748,  „      .  ,      ,,        ^  xu    l^     i,     x           xi,          ! 

760   &    •  D            P  •■       1    loos')  alluvial  valley  of  the  Euphrates  on  the  west 

^  Ti  u* '  1-               IX             1  iV*    /r^'^%»♦^  throughout  its  whole  extent,  and  falling  into 

3  It  has  been  usual  to  regard  Elam  (D7^y\  ,,        ^      x   xu     i,     j     x-  xu      d  /  •             i 

^                 ^    T  "^-J  the  sea  at  the   head  ot  the  Bubuin  creek, 

as  Persia,  but  this  is  a  mistake.     Elam  is  ^^^out   20  miles  west  of  the  Shat-el-Arab. 

the  Scriptural  name  of  the  province  whereof  j^is  stream  is  called  by  the  Arabs  the  Kerek 

Susa  is  the  capital   (see  Dan.   viii.   2,  and  gaideh,  or  canal    of-Sr«tM,  and  is  ascribed 

corap.  Ezra  iv.   9,  where  the  Elamites  are  ^,y  ^j^em  to  a  wife  of  Nebuchadnezzar.     It  is 

coupled  with  the  Susanchites),  and  is  repre-  doubtful,    however,    whether    the   work    is 

seated  by  the  Elymais  of  the  geographers.  ^.^,.1}^^.  ^han  the  time  of  Shapur.     Another 

Herod,  iii.  91 ;  v.  49,  52,  &c.  important  cutting,  the  Pallacopas,  or  Palga 

^  See  Ptolem.  Geograph.  vi.  3,  and  com-  » 

part  Strab.  xv.  p.  1031.  <^pa,  «•<?•,  t-anal  of  Opa  (comp.  Heb.     J^Q), 

''  Strabo    places    the    Elyma;ans    in    the  left  the  Euphrates  neiuly  at  Sippara(J/osai'6), 

Zagros    mountains    towards  Media  (xi.    pp.  and  ran  into  a  great  lake  in  the  neighbour- 


470  CHALD.EA— MESOrOTAMIA.  App.  Book  t. 

of  the  Tigris  to  the  island  of  Bubian  ;  from  which  point  it  was 
bounded  on  the  south  and  west  by  the  Great  Desert  of  Arabia.*^  Its 
length  may  be  reckoned  at  six  degrees  (more  than  400  miles)  along 
the  course  of  the  rivers;  its  average  breadth  approached  100  miles. 
It  was  thus  somewhat  larger  than  either  Susiana  or  Assyria. 

The  southern  portion  of  Babylonia,  bordering  on  Arabia  and 
on  the  Persian  gulf,  was  known  in  all  times  by  the  special  name  of 
Chaldasa.*  This  was  the  earliest  seat  of  Babj^lonian  power,  and 
here  were  the  primitive  capitals  of  Hur  or  Ur  (the  modern  Mug- 
heir),  Erech  (the  'Opyor]  of  the  Greeks,  now  Warki),  and  Lama 
(Ellasar  of  Genesis,  and  the  Greek  Aapdyojv  or  hapiaaa,  now  Sen- 
kereh).  Upper  Babylonia  was  sometimes  divided  into  two  districts, 
which  were  known  respectively  as  Auranitis  and  Amordacia.'  Of 
these,  Auranitis  seems  to  have  been  the  more  northern  ;  Amor- 
dacia  being  the  country  about  the  great  marshes  into  which  the 
Euphrates  ran. 

(iv.)  To  these  three  principal  countries  of  the  plain  must  be 
added  a  fourth,  which  has  some  right  to  be  regarded  as  distinct ; 
viz.,  Mesopotamia,  the  Aram-Naharaim  of  the  Jews,  a  country  which 
was  not  subject  to  the  early  Assyrian  kings,  and  which,  though 
reckoned  to  Assyria  about  the  time  of  Herodotus,  was  both  at  an 
earlier  and  a  later  date  considered  to  be  a  separate  region.^  The 
boundaries  of  this  region  were  the  mountain-chain  called  Masius, 
upon  the  north ;  the  Euphrates  upon  the  west ;  Assyria  upon  the 
east ;  Babylonia,  and  in  part  Arabia,  upon  the  south.     The  northein 


hood  of  Borsippa  {Birs-i-Nimrvd),  whence  xxv.  18 ;   1  Chron.  v.  26,  xix.  6.)     The  po- 

the  lands  south-west  of  Babylon  were  irri-  sition  of  the  one  is  marked  by  the  city  Haran 

gated.     In  Alexander's  time,  through  neglect  (Gen.  xxiv.  10,  xxvii.  43),  of  the  other  by  its 

of  the  mouth  of  this  canal,  Avhich  required  being  the  country  towards  which  the  Tigris 

careful  watching,  as  the  Euphrates   has   a  ran  eastward  (Gen.  ii.  14,  marginal  transla- 

tendency  to  run  off  to  the  south,  almost  all  tion).     Ai"am-Naharaim  is  nearer  to  Juda-a, 

the  water  of  the  Euphrates  passed  by  it,  and  and  the  Jews  come  in  contact  with  it  long 

found  its  way  to  the  sea  through  a  series  of  before  they  come  in  contact  with  Assyria, 

marshes  (Arrian.  Exped.  Alex.  vii.  21).    This  (See   Judges    iii.   8-10;     1    Chron.   v.    26; 

canal   is   called   by   the  Arabs   Nahr  Abba  2  Kings  xv.  19,  &c.)     In  Herodotus,  as  has 

(query,   Nahr  Opa?),   and  is    regarded    by  been  already  observed,  there  is  no  mention  of 

them  as  the  oldest  in  the  country.     It  was  Mesopotamia ;    and   the  only  question  that 

probably  made  or  re-opened  by  Nebuchad-  can  be  raised  is  whether  he  included  the  tract 

nezzar. — [H.  C.  R.]  so  called  in  Assyria  or  in  Syria.     A  careful 

^  See  Ptolem.  Geograph.  v.  20.  comparison  of  all  the  passages  bearing  on  tlie 

^  See  the   inscriptions  passim,  and  com-  subject  leads  me  to  the  former  conclusion, 

pare  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1050;  Ptolem.  1.  s.  c.  Xenophon,  however,  in  Anab.  I.  iv.  19,  cer- 

^  See  Ptolem.  v.  20.     The  second  of  these  tainly  makes  Syria  extend  across   the   Eu- 

words,  which  the  Latin  interpreter  renders  phrates — at  least  if  the  reading  in  the  place 

b^  Mardoccea,  recalls  the  name  of  the  Baby-  be  sound,  and  should  not  rather  be  Stct  rris 

Ionian  god,  Mardoc,  or  Merodach,  to  whom  '  Aacrvpias,  as  I  strongly  incline  to  suspect. 

Nebuchadnezzar   dedicated  so   many  of  his  (Compare  Anab.  Vii.  vhi.  25,  where  Assyria 

temples,  and  especially  the  great  temple  at  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  countries  traversed 

Babylon  known  to  the  Greeks  as  the  temple  by  the  Ten  Thousand.)     From  the  time  of 

of  Belus.     Auranitis  is    perhaps   connected  Alexander,  Mesopotamia  came  to  be  regarded 

with  the  modern  Khamran  or  Kkavran,  the  by  the  Greeks  as  a  distinct   country  from 

name  of  an  important  Arab  tribe   on    the  Assyria.     (Cf.  Eratosth.  ap.  Strab.  book  ii. ; 

Euphrates.  Arrian.   Exped.  Alex.  iii.  7  ;  Dexipp.  Fr.   1 ; 

-  In  Scripture,  Aram-Naharaim  (Syria  of  Strab.  XA^i.  1046,  1059,  &c. ;  Ptolem.  v.  18, 

the  two  rivers)  is  clearly  distinguished  from  vi.  1,  &c.) 
Assyria   or   Asshur.      (See  Gen.  xxiv.    10, 


Essay  IX.         ARMENIA— ITS  GENERAL  FEATURES.  471 

part  of  this  rep;ion  was  inhabited  in  early  times  by  the  almost  coimt- 
less  tribes  of  the  Nairi ;  ^  while  the  southern  was  in  the  possession  of 
the  LekJia  and  other  unimportant  nations.  At  a  later  date  we  find 
Arabs  established  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Euphrates,  and  hence  a 
portion  of  Mesopotamia  is  reckoned  to  Arabia.*  It  did  not  form, 
like  the  other  three  countries,  the  ordinary  seat  of  a  powerful 
monarchy  ;^  on  the  contrary,  it  was  alwa3^s  either  split  up  among  a 
number  of  petty  kings,  like  most  part  of  the  country  between  the 
Euphrates  and  Egypt  f  or  else  was  merely  a  province  of  some 
great  empire.  Its  chief  towns  were  Nisibis  (^Nisibin),  Carrae  (the 
Hebrew  Charan,  now  Ilarrdn),  and  Amida  (^Diarhekr). 

10.  The  three  countries  of  the  highlands  immediately  overlooking 
the  Mesopotamian  plain — Armenia,  Media,  and  Persia — have  now 
to  be  briefly  considered. 

(i.)  Armenia  lay  directly  to  the  north  of  the  plain.  It  wa§  the 
country  whence  sprang  all  the  great  rivers  of  this  part  of  Asia, 
the  Tigris,  the  Euphrates,  the  Halys,  the  Araxes,  and  the  Cyrus  ; 
which,  rising  within  a  space  250  miles  long  by  100  wide,  flow 
down  in  four  directions  to  three  dift'erent  seas.  It  was  thus  to 
this  part  of  Asia  what  Switzerland  is  to  Western  Europe,  an  ele- 
vated fastness  containing  within  it  the  highest  mountains,  and 
yielding  the  waters  which  fertilise  the  subjacent  regions.  Its 
limits  towards  the  south  were  tolerably  fixed,  consisting  of  the 
great  range  of  mountains,  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Taurus,  which 
stretches  across  from  Sumeisat  (Samosata)  on  the  Euphrates  to 
Jezireh  upon  the  Tigris.  Towards  the  east  and  west  they  seem 
to  have  varied  considerably  at  dift'erent  times.  Ptolemy  extends 
the  eastern  boundaries  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  making  a  part  of 
Armenia  intervene  between  Albania  and  Media  Atropatene  -J  but 
in  this  view  he  is  singular.^  The  usual  frontier  eastward  seems  to 
have  been  the  mountain  line  which  joins  Zagros  to  Ararat,  and 
which  now  forms  the  boundary  between  Turkey  and  Persia.     West- 


3  See  especially  the  great  Cylinder  of  Tig-  Persian  Gulf— viz.  the  Colchians,  Sapirians, 

lath-Pileser,  col.  iv.  lines  56-83,  where  no  Medes,  and  Persians— clearly  shuts  off  Ar- 

fewer  than  thirty-nine   of  these  tribes  are  menia  from  the  Caspian.     (See  Herod,   iv. 

mentioned  by  name.     The  near  resemblance  37).     Strabo  distinctly  states  that  Armenia 

of  the  name  Na-'i-ri  with  the  Heb.  Naharaim  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Media  Atropatene 

is  perhaps  not  more  than  a  mere  accident.  and    Media    Magna    (xi.    p.    765).       Pliny 

*  See  Xen.  Anab.  l.  v.  1,  and  compare  appears  to  make  the  Jilassuln  mountains  the 
Strab.  i.  p.  59,  xvi.  pp.  1060,  1061.  eastern   boundary,   thus    bringing    Armenia 

*  We  hear  of  no  conquering  king  of  Meso-  within  sight  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  but  still 
potamia  either  in  sacred  or  proflxne  history,  assigning  the  coast  tract  (now  Talish)  to  the 
except  Chushan-rish-athaim,  who  oppressed  people  whom  he  calls  Caspians  (H.  N.  vi.  9 
Israel  for  eight  years  (Judges  iii.  8-10).  and  15).  Mela,  in  his  enumeration  of  the 
[The  name  of  this  monarch  appears  to  be  tribes  dwelling  round  the  Caspian,  has  no 
Semitic,  and  to  be  formed  according  to  the  mention  of  the  Armenians  (iii.  5).  Their 
genius  of  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  no-  own  geographers,  however,  extend  Armenia 
menclature.  It  might  be  rendered  "  Chushan  to  the  borders  of  the  sea  for  some  distance 
has  elevated  my  head." — H.  C  R.]  southof  the  Araxes  (vlros).   See  the  Armenian 

®  Compare  on  this  point  Essay  vii.  §  40.  Geography  ascribed  to  Moses  Choreneusis,  p. 

'  Geograph.  v.  10.  357,  et  seqq.,  and  compare  Mos.  Chor.  ii, 

^  Herodotus,  by  placing  four  nations  only  50,  p.  167. 
between  the  Euxine  and  the  Erythraean  Sea  or 


472  MEDIA.  App.  Book  L 

ward  Herodotus  extends  Armenia  further  than  most  Greek  writers, 
since  he  places  the  sources  of  the  Halys  in  that  country.^  An 
ill-defined  and  variable  line  separated  Armenia  on  this  side  from 
Cappadocia,  and  according  to  Herodotus  Irom  Cilicia,^  which  he 
regarded  as  including  a  considerable  tract  reckoned  generally  to 
Cappadocia.  On  the  north  the  limits  of  Armenia  are  extremely 
uncertain.  Perhaps  the  mountain-range  second  from  the  coast,  now 
known  as  the  Koseh  Tagh,  Tekeli  Tagh,  &c.,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
natural  frontier  as  far  as  the  sources  of  the  Kur,  which  then  became 
the  boundary,  separating  Armenia  from  the  Colchians,  Sapeiri,  &c., 
who  dwelt  still  further  to  the  north,  between  the  Kur  and  the 
Caucasus.^ 

Armenia  is  distinguished  by  the  geographers  into  the  Greater 
and  the  Lesser,  the  Euphrates  forming  the  division  between  the 
two  provinces.^  Armenia  Minor,  which  lay  to  the  west  of  the 
river,  and  was  sometimes  included  in  Cappadocia,^  extended  from 
the  northern  flanks  of  Taurus,  near  Mdatiyeh,  to  the  sources  of  the 
upper  Euphrates  or  Kara-Su.  Armenia  Major  was  the  whole  country 
east  of  the  Euphrates.  This  tract  was  divided  into  a  number  of 
petty  provinces,^  of  which  the  most  important  was  Sophene,  the 
region  about  Diarbekr.  Armenia  was  about  550  miles  from  east  to 
west,  and  from  north  to  south  averaged  200  miles. 

(ii.)  East  and  south-east  of  Armenia,  extending  from  the  Kur 
(Cyrus)  on  the  north  to  the  vicinity  of  Isfahan  on  the  south,  was 
Media,  divided  (like  Armenia)  into  two  provinces,  Media  Magna 
and  Media  Atropatene.*  Media  Atropatene  lay  towards  the  north, 
being  interposed  between  Armenia  and  the  Caspian,  and  including 
within  it  the  rich  and  fertile  basin  of  lake  Urumiyeh/  as  well  as  the 
valleys  of  the  Ai^as  (Araxes)  and  the  Sefid  Eud,  and  the  low  countries 
of  Jalish  and  Ghilan  on  the  shores  of  the  sea,  thus  nearly  corre- 


»  Herod,  i.   72.      In  this,   however,   he         *  Strab.  xi.  pp.  766,  767.     Ptolem.  v.  13. 

agrees  with  the  Armenians  themselves  (see  Armen.  Geogr.  §  65-80. 
the  Geography,  p.  355).     He  is  also  followed         ^  This  division  was  of  course  not  made 

by  Dionysius  (1.  786).     Most  writers,  how-  under  these  names  till  the  time  of  Alexander, 

ever,  like  Strabo  (xii.  791),  regard  the  Halys  when    the    Persian    satrap,    Atropates,    the 

as  rising  in  Cappadocia.     Some  even  malie  commander  of  the  Median  contingent  at  the 

the  Euphrates  the  westerr  boundary  of  Ar-  battle  of  Arbela  (Arrian.  Exp.  Alex.  iii.  8), 

menia.     (Agathemer,  ii.  6.)  contrived    to   make    himself  independent  in 

1  Herod.  V.  49  and  52.  Upper  Media  (Strab.  xi.  p.  760 ;  Diod.  Sic. 

2  Compare  Herod,  iv.  37 ;  Strab.  xi.  pp.  xviii.  3),  which  was  thence  called  Media 
726-30  ;  Plin.  H.  N.  vi.  5  and  10  ;  Ptolem.  Atropatend,  or  the  Media  of  Atropates.  But 
V.  10-11.  there  are  grounds  for  beheving  that  the  two 

3  See  Strab.  xi.  p.  758,  &c. ;  Plin.  vi.  8  ;  provinces — each  with  its  own  Ecbatana — had 
Ptolem.  V.  7  and  13 ;  Armen.  Geograph.  been  from  the  earliest  Median  occupation 
§  57-9.  more  or  less  distinct.    (See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's 

*  Pliny  goes  farther,  and  says  of  the  Cap-  memoir  on  the  site  of  the  Atropatenian  Ecba- 

padocians  :     "  Longissimfe    heec    Ponticarum  tana  in  the  tenth  volume  of  the  Geographi- 

omnium  [gentium]  introrsus  recedens,  mi-  cal  Journal.) 

norem  Armeniam  majoremque  laevo  suo  latere         7  Yor  the  fertility  of  the  country  east  and 

transit "  (1.  s.  c.)     Ptolemy,  while  distin-  south  of  this  lake  (which  is  undoubtedly  the 

guishing   the   Greater   Armenia    altogetiier  Lake  Spauta  of  Strabo,  xi.  p.  760),  see  Geo- 

frora  Cappadocia  (v.  13),  appears  to  include  graph.  Journ.  vol.  x.  pp.  5-15,  and  28-31. 
the  Lesser  within  it  (v.  6  and  7). 


Essay  IX.  PERSIA.  473 

spending  witli  the  modern  province  of  Azerlijan.  From  hence  Media 
Magna  extended  eastward  to  the  Caspian  Gates  near  Mount  Dema- 
vend,  following  the  line  of  Elburz,  and  being  separated  from  the 
Caspian  by  a  portion  of  Hyrcania,  now  Mazanderaii.  On  the  west, 
the  Assyrian  plain  formed  the  boundary,  Media  here  lying  along 
Zagros,  and  reaching  southwards  to  about  the  32nd  parallel,  where 
Persia  adjoined  upon  it.  Eastward  Media  was  bounded  by  the 
Great  Salt  Desert,  which  extends  across  Iran  from  lat.  35°  to  lat. 
30°.  The  entire  country  was  thus  eight  degrees  (550  miles)  long, 
and  from  250  to  300  miles  broad. 

(iii.)  Below  Media  was  Persia,  nearly  coinciding  with  the 
modem  province  of  Fars.  On  the  west  it  was  bounded  by  Susiana, 
on  the  south  by  the  Persian  Gulf,  on  the  east  by  Carmania  {Kerman), 
and  upon  the  north,  as  has  been  remarked,  by  Media.  It  contained, 
besides  a  portion  of  Zagros,  the  fertile  districts "  about  Shiraz  and 
lake  Baktigan,  and  a  considerable  extent  of  sandy  and  unproductive 
plain,  lying  partly  between  the  mountains  and  the  sea,  partly  north 
and  east  of  the  great  chain,  which  in  this  part  breaks  up  and 
ramifies.  The  northern  portion  of  the  country,  in  Zagros,  and  next 
to  Media,  was  known  to  the  later  Greeks  as  Paretacene.^  This 
tract,  however,  which  seems  to  be  the  mountain  country  north-west 
of  Isfahan,  formed  a  debateable  grounci  between  the  two  kingdoms 
of  Media  and  Persia,  and  was  sometimes  reckoned  to  the  one,  some- 
times to  the  other.'  The  remaining  Persian  provinces  are  unim- 
portant. We  may  perhaps  recognise  in  the  Mardyene  of  Ptolemy,^ 
which  lay  upon  the  sea-coast,  the  country  of  the  Mardi,  mentioned 
by  Herodotus  among  the  Persian  tribes,^  and  in  his  Taocene,  the 
country  of  the  Taochi  or  modern  Balaki,  who  dwell  north-east  of 
Bushire  on  the  Khist  river.  Pasargadae,  the  earlier,  and  Persepolis 
the  later  capital,  were  the  two  principal  towns.*  Their  position  is 
clearly  marked  by  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  at  Murg-Aub,^  and  the  ruined 
palace  of  Darius  near  Istakher.^  Both  were  fairly  central,  being 
situated  in  the  mountain-region  half  way  between  the  low  coast 
tract   and  the   elevated  desert   country  towards    Yezd,  and   being 


^  See  Kinneir's  Persian  Empire,  pp.  59-64.  themselves  are  probably  equivalents,  but  the 

^  Ptolem.  vi.  4.  two  cities  were  certainly  distinct.     They  are 

^  Herodotus  calls  the  Paretaceni  a  Median  carefully  distinguished   by   Strabo   (xv.  p. 

tribe  (i.  101),  and  Stephen  makes  Paraetaca  1035),  Pliny  (H.  N.  vi.  26),  Arrian  (Exped. 

a  Median  city  (ad  voc).     Ptolemy  distinctly  Alex.  vii.  1,  ad  init.),  Ptolemy  (Geograph.  vi. 

assigns  Para;tacene  to  Persia  (1.  s.  c).     Era-  4),  and  others.     In  point  of  fact  they  were 

tosthenes  (ap.  Strab.  ii.  p.  116),  Strabo   (xi.  more  than  40  miles  apart,  Munj-Aub,  the 

pp.  759,  762,  &c.),  Pliny  (H.  N.  vi.  26),  and  site  of  Pasargadte,   being  42   miles  almost 

Arrian  (Exped.  Alex.  iii.  19),  seem  to  regard  due  north  of  the  Cliehl-Aiiaar,  or  Palace  of 

the  country  of  the  Para;taceni,  or  Para;tacae,  the  Forty  Pillars,  undoubtedly  the  ruins  of 

as  separate  both  from  Persia  and  Media.  the  later  capital.    (See  Kinneir's  Routes  in 

2  Geograph.  vi.  4,  the  Appendix  to  his  '  Persian  Empire,'  p. 

3  Herod,  i.  125.  461.) 

''  Some  writers,  as  Sir.  W.  Ouseley  fTra-         ^  See  note  ^  on  Book  i.  eh.  214. 
vels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  316,  et  seqq.)  and  ISiebuhr         ^  See  Chardin's  Voyage  en  Perse,  vol.  ii. 

(see   Lectures  on   Ancient   History,  vol.   i.,  pp.   141,   et   seqq.;    Ker   Porter's  Travels, 

Lectures  12  and  18,  pp.  115  and  162,  E.T.),  vol.  i.  pp.  576-683;  and  Kinneir's  Persian 

have  regarded   Persepolis  and  Pasargadse  as  Empire,  pp.  76,  77. 
two  names  of  the  same  place.     The  names 


474 


KURDISTAN. 


App.  Book  I. 


about  eqiiidistant  from  the  eastern  and  western  boundaries  of  the 
province. 

Persia  was  the  smallest,  as  Media  was  the  largest,  of  the  three 
great  mountain  countries;  from  north  to  south  it  did  not  exceed 
300,  nor  from  east  to  west  230  miles.  Hence  the  epithet  of  a 
"  scant "  land,  which  Herodotus  applies  to  it  in  the  last  chapter  of 
his  History/  Its  general  character  also  justifies  his  expressions 
"churlish"  and  "rugged;"®  for  though  the  mountains  contain  a 
certain  number  of  "  fertile  plains  "  and  a  few  "  delightful  valleys,"  * 
yet  for  the  most  part  the  hill-sides  are  bare,  the  valleys  mere 
ravines,  and  the  level  tracts  arid  and  sandy.' 

(iv.)  Although  it  was  usual  to  regard  the  three  countries  of 
Armenia,  Media,  and  Persia  as  dividing  among  them  the  entire 
mountain-tract  north  and  east  of  the  Mesopotamian  valley,  jxt  it 
seems  as  if  there  had  been  at  all  times  a  number  of  tribes,  not 
really  either  Armenian,  Median,  or  Persian,  who  maintained  them- 
selves in  a  state  of  partial  or  complete  independence,  like  the  Kurds 
and  Lurs  (or  Luks)  of  the  present  day,  in  the  more  inaccessible 
portions  of  the  highlands.  Such  were  the  Namri  or  Nimri  of  the 
Inscriptions,  who  held  Zagros  almost  from  one  end  to  the  other 
during  the  period  of  the  Assyrian  Empire,  and  were  in  perpetual 
rebellion  against  the  Assyrian  kings.  Such  again  are  probably  the 
Dardanians,^  Matienians,^  Paricanians,*  Orthocorybantians,*  Utians, 
and  Mycians^  of  Herodotus,  the  Carduchi  of  Xenophon/  the  Gor- 
difeans  and  Uxians  of  Strabo"  and  Ariian,^  the  Cordueni,  Mizaei, 
Saitee,  H}^,  &c.  of  Pliuy.'  Of  these  various  tribes  the  one  of  the 
greatest  name  and  note — which  may  be  traced  uninterruptedly  from 
the  time  of  Xenophon  to  the  present  day,  and  which  has  apparently 
absorbed  almost  all  the  others — is  that  which  ancient  writers  desig- 
nate under  the  slightly  varied  appellations  of  Carduchi,  Gordiaei, 
Cordueni,^  and  perhaps  Cardaces  ^  and  Cyrtii  (Kvpnot),*  and  which 
still  holds  the  greater  portion  of  the  region  between  Armenia  and 


'  T))v  yap  iKT'fiixcOa  oKlyqv  (Herod,  ix. 
122). 

^  Avirpiiv  .  .  .  Tp7jxe''7»'(ibid.).  Compare 
Xen.  Cyrop.  Vll.  v.  §  67.  Ylipaas  Tas 
oIkoi  .  .  .  eirnrovdiraTa  ^uyras  5ia  rrju  ttjs 
X(^po.s    TpaxuTT/ra. 

^  Kinneir,  p.  55. 

1  See  note  to  Book  ix.  ch.  122. 

2  Herod,  i.  189. 

^  Ibid.  ch.  202  ;  and  compare  v.  49  and  52. 

*  Jbid.  iii.  92,  and  vii.  68. 

5  Ibid.  iii.  92.  «  Ibid.  vii.  68. 

■^  Anab.  IV.  i.  8,  &c. 

8  Strab.  xi.  762  ;  xvi.  pp.  1038,  1060,  &c. 

5  Exped.  Alex.  iii.  7  and  17. 

1  H.  N.  vi.  15  and  27. 

2  Strabo  (xvi.  p.  ]  060)  identifies  the  Car- 
duchi and  Gordiaii  with  sufficient  clearness, 
even  according  to  the  reading  of  the  MSS. 
I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  he  wrote, 
Uphs  Se  Tq3  Tiypci  to,  tSiv  TopSvaiuv 
X<^p'^C')    o^y  01  Trdhai  Kap^ovx^vs  eAeyoUy 


as  Wesseling  conjectured  long  ago  (ad  Diod, 
Sic.  xiv.  27).  Pliny  (H.  N.  vi.  15)  identifies 
the  Carduchi  and  Cordueni.  Strabo's  Gor- 
dyen^  {ropdvfjvri,  1.  s.  c.)  links  together 
Gordia;i  and  Cordueni.  The  ethnic  title, 
whichever  form  we  give  it,  is  probably  to  be 
connected  with  the  Assyrian  term  Karadi, 
which  is  the  only  word  used  throughout  the 
inscriptions  for  the  "  warlike  youth  "  of  a 
nation.  Strabo  observes  (xv.  p.  1041)  that 
Carda  meant  rb  avSpciodes  Koi  TroKe/aiKov. 

3  This  identification  rests  chiefiy  on  the 
similarity  of  sound.  It  receiA^es  some  support 
from  the  occurrence  of  Cardaces  in  the  mixed 
army  of  Antiochus  (Polyb.  v.  79),  where  we 
seem  to  have  a  right  to  look  for  Kurds. 

*  The  Kvprioi  are  mentioned  by  Strabo 
only,  I  believe.  He  speaks  of  them  as  scat- 
tered about  Zagros  and  Niphates,  and  parti- 
cularly as  dwelling  both  in  northern  Media 
(xi.  p.  761)  and  in  Persia  Proper  (ibid.,  and 
compare  xv.  p.  1031). 


Essay  IX.  AEABIA.  475 

Luristaii  under  the  well-known  name  of  Kurds.  The  country 
assigned  to  this  race  in  ancient  times  is  usually  the  rugged  tract 
east  of  the  Tigris,  extending  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Sert  and 
Bitlis  (in  long.  42°)  to  the  vicinity  of  Eoicandaz  (in  long.  44°  50').* 
Sometimes,  however,  we  find,  instead  of  this  country,  thatGordyene 
or  Gordisea  is  regarded  as  the  mountain-chain  north  of  Mesopotamia, 
which  Strabo  calls  Mount  Masius,^  and  which  lies  directly  south  of 
the  Tigris  where  it  runs  east  between  Diarbekr  and  Til!'  Kurds 
doubtless  extended  through  this  whole  region,  and  (if  we  regard 
Cardaces  and  Cyrtii  as  equivalent  terms  to  Carduchi)  were  even 
found  in  Persia  Proper,^  where  the  modern  Lurs  are  perhaps  their 
descendants  and  representatives.^  The  other  tribes  which  have 
been  named  admit  even  less  of  being  located  with  accuracy,  if  we 
except  the  Uxians,  whose  position  in  the  Bakhtii/ari  mountains,  from 
long.  49°  to  51°,  is  pretty  plainly  indicated  b}^  Sti'abo '  and  Arrian.^ 

11.  West  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain,  between  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Mediterranean,  lay  three  countries,  inhabited  for  the  most  part 
by  cognate  races,  but  of  widely  different  characters  and  dimensions  ; 
viz.,  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Phoenicia.  A  brief  notice  of  these  well-known 
tracts  will  be  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose. 

(i.)  The  vast  country  of  Arabia,  which  has  a  superficies  of  above 
a  million  square  miles,'*  and  is  thus  more  than  equal  to  one-fourth  of 
Europe,  is  a  peninsula  bounded  on  three  sides  by  seas,  but  possessing 
on  the  fourth  no  marked  natural  limit.  Some  writers  consider  that 
a  line  drawn  from  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the  Persian  Gulf  above 
Bubian  to  the  innermost  recess  of  the  Red  Sea  at  Suez,  which  would 
pass  almost  exactly  along  the  30th  parallel,  is  the  proper  northern 
boundary.'*  Others,  alive  to  the  fact  that  Arabs  have  always  been 
the  inhabitants  of  the  desert  tract  projecting  towards  the  north  from 
this  base,  in  the  shape  of  a  right-angled  triangle  as  far  as  the  vicinit}'' 
of  Aleppo,  extend  Arabia  northwards  to  the  o7th  parallel,  and  make 
the  Euphrates  and  the  narrow  isthmus  between  the  Euphrates  and 
the  gulf  of  Jskenderun  inclose  the  Arabian  territory  on  its  fourth  side.^ 
In  ancient  times,  however,  a  portion  of  this  triangular  space  was 
always  reckoned  to  Syria,  which  included  Tadmor  or  Palmyra  in  the 


^  This  is  clearly  the  country  of  Xenophon's  109.)     In  its  names  of  objects,  however,  it  is 

Carduchi  (Anab.  iv.  i.  §  3,  et  seqq.),  as  it  is  identical  with   the  Scythic  of  ancient  Baby- 

of  Arrian's  Gordyaei  (Exped.  Alex.  iii.  7),  and  Ionia. 

of  Pliny's  Cordueni,  who  border  on  Adiabene  ^  Strabo  places  the  sources   of  both   the 

(H.  N.  vi.  15).     It  is  also  the  Gordyene  of  Choaspes  and  the  Pasitigris  in  the  country  of 

Ptolemy  (v.  13).     Whether  Strabo  intends  the   Uxians   (xi.  pp.   1032  and  1034).     He 

to  place  any  Gordi«ans  on  the  left  bank  of  also   makes  the  Uxians  border  on  the  Ely- 

the  Tigris  is  perhaps  doubtful.    He  may  mean  masans  (p.  1038). 

to  do  so  in  book  xvi.  p.  1059-1060.  2  ggg  ^^g  Exped.  Alex.  iii.  17,  and  compare 

^  Strab.  xi.  p.  759,  and  p.  766.  the  (jeograph.  Journ.  vol.  xiii.  pp.  108-112. 

'  This  is  certainly  Strabo's  ordinary  view.  ^  Chesney,  vol.  ii.  p.  448. 

See  xi.  pp.  759  and  769  ;   xvi.  p.  1046,  &c.  ■*  As  the  elder  Niebuhr.  See  his  "  Descrip- 

^  See  Strab.  xi.  p.  761,  xv.  p.  1031,  and  tion  de  I'Arabie,"   p.  1.     Compare  Mr.   P. 

p.  1041.  Smith's  article  in  Dr.  Smith's  Dictionary  of 

^  The  language  spoken  by  the  Lurs  is  in  Greek  and  Roman  Geography,  vol.  i.  p.  175. 

its  grammar  a  dialect  of  the  Kurdish.     (See  ^  Chesney,  1.  s.  c. 
Geograph.  Journ.  vol.  ix.  part  i.  pp.  105  and 


476  DIVISIONS  OF  AEABIA.  App.  Book  I. 

desert  conntry,^  and  came  at  least  as  low  as  Thapsaciis  (^El-Hammdm) 
on  the  Euphrates/  Ancient  Arabia  therefore  may  best  be  regarded 
as  an  irregular  rectangle,^  with  the  angles  facing  the  cardinal  points, 
bounded  on  the  south-west  by  the  Red  Sea,  on  the  south-east  by  the 
Indian  Ocean,  on  the  north-east  by  that  ocean,  by  the  Persian  Gulf, 
and  by  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  as  far  as  Thapsacus,^  and  on  the 
north-west  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  inmost  recess  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez 
past  the  southern  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea,*  and  thence  by  Bozrah 
\Bostrd)  and  Palmyra  to  the  Euphrates  in  the  vicinity  of  El-Hammdm. 
Its  length  from  north-west  to  south-east  is  about  1500  miles  ;  its 
greatest  breadth,  which  is  along  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean  from 
Cape  Babelmandel  to  the  Jias-el-Badd,  exceeds  1200  miles. 

The  formal  division  of  Arabia  into  three  regions — the  Happy,  the 
Stony,  and  the  Desert — which  has  descended  to  us  from  the  later 
Greeks  and  Romans,  is  first  found  in  Ptolemy.'^  Eratosthenes  appears 
to  have  distinguished  but  two  regions,  the  northern  or  Desert,  and 
the  southern  or  Happy.^  This  two-fold  division  is  followed  by 
Strabo,*  Pliny,*  and  Mela  ;^  while  Ptolemy's  view  is  adopted  by 
Agathemer,''  and  the  Armenian  Geography.^  "  Happy  Arabia"  was 
at  first  the  south-western  corner  of  the  peninsula  from  about  Mecca 
to  Aden ;  but  "the  term  was  gradually  extended  till  it  came  to  include 
the  entire  peninsula  below  a  line  drawn  from  Buhian  to  Akabah. 
"  Stony  Arabia,"  or  Arabia  Petrsea,  lay  above  this  to  the  west;  it 
contained  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  and  the  region  bordering  upon 
Judaea  and  Syria,  as  far  as  Bozrah.  Arabia  Deserta  lay  above  Arabia- 
Felix  to  the  east ;  it  was  the  tract  which  bordered  the  Mesopotamian 
valley  from  Thapsacus  downwards,  and  which  extended  westward  to 
Palmyrene  and  Arabia  Petrasa.^  The  terms  Petraea  and  Deserta  are 
not  ill  applied ;  but  Arabia  Felix,  unless  in  the  narrow  sense  in 
which  it  was  first  used,  is  a  complete  misnomer. 

(ii.)  The  Syria  of  the  geographers '  is  the  tract  lying  west  of  the 


^  See  Plin.  H.  N.  v.  24,25  ;  Ptolem.  v.  15  ;  siana.     (See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Commentary 

Steph.  Byz.  ad  voc.  TldXfxvpa,  &c.  on  the  Assyrian  Inscriptions,  p.  61,  note  ^.) 

'  Xen.    Anab.  i.  4 ;  Theopomp.  Fr.  53 ;  ^  According  to  Herodotus  (iii.  5),  Arabia 

Plin.  H.  N.  V.  24  ;    Ptolem.  v.  15.  in  this  part  touched  the  Mediterranean  for  a 

®  The  most  violent  irregularity  is  the  re-  short  distance,  but    herein    he  differs  from 

markable  projection  at  the  mouth  of  the  Per-  most  other  writers.     Pliny  seems  to  agree 

sian  Gulf,  separating  between  it  and  the  In-  with  him  (v.  11). 

dian  Ocean,  whereby  the  contour  of  Arabia  "^  Geograph.  v.  17  and  19 ;  vi.  7. 

is  rendered  not  unlike  that  of  a  sitting  cat,  ^  A  p.  Strab.  xvi.  pp.  1089  and  1091. 

the  projection  in  question  forming  the  animal's  ^  Strab.  xvi.  pp.  1088-9. 

head.    Putting  this  aside,  it  must  also  be  noted  ^  H.  N.  v.  11,  24,  ad  fin,;  vi.  28. 

that  the  breadth  of  Arabia  gradually  contracts  ^  De  Sit.  Orb.  i.  10. 

towards  the  north,  the  distance  from  the  Red  '  Geograph.  ii.  6. 

Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf  below  Bahrein  being  ^  Compare  §  83,  85,  and  86. 

800  miles,  while  the  distance  from  Suez  to  ^  'phese  are  the  views  of  Ptolemy,   who 

Thapsacus  is  less  than  600  miles.  alone  draws  the  limits  with  any  attempt  at 

^  Xenophon,  as  has  been  already  remarked  exactness, 

(supra,  p.  471),  extends  Arabia  across  the  i  Herodotus  included  Cappadocia  in  Syria, 

Euphrates  (Anab.  I.  v.  §  1),  and  Strabo  no-  thus  extending  it  totheEuxine  (i.  6,  72,  &c.). 

tices  the  fact  that  Arabians  occupied  a  por-  Xenophon,  if  the  reading  in  Anab.  I.  iv.  §  19 

tion  of  Mesopotamia  (xvi.  pp.  1060-1).  They  be  correct,  regarded  it  as  stretching  across  the 

Bometimes  even  extended  themselves  into  Su-  Euphrates.    Strabo  (xvi.  p.  1063),  Pliny  (H. 


Essay  IX.  PALESTINE.  477 

Euphrates  from  the  place  where  it  breaks  through  Mount  Taurus 
to  Thapsacus,  and  extending  thence  in  a  direction  a  little  west  of 
south  to  the  borders  of  Egypt.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  and 
north-west  by  part  of  Taurus  and  by  Amanus  (Alma  Tagh  and  Javour 
Tagh),  on  the  west  by  the  Mediterranean  and  Phoenicia,^  on  the  south 
by  Arabia  Petraia,  and  on  the  east  by  Arabia  Deserta  and  the 
Euphrates.  Its  shape  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  human  foot,  the  toe 
touching  Egypt  and  the  heel  the  Euphrates  near  Thapsacus.  Its 
length  along  the  coast  from  Issus  to  the  River  of  Egypt  (  Wady-el-Arish) 
is  somewhat  more  than  400  miles;  the  breadth  varies  from  100 
miles  between  Issus  and  the  Euphrates  to  more  than  500,  between 
Egypt  and  Thapsacus.  The  entire  area  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of 
England,  or  between  50,000  and  60,000  square  miles.^ 

Syria  was  divided  into  a  number  of  provinces  the  limits  of  which 
were  mostly  very  marked  and  distinct.  To  the  north  lay  Commagene, 
a  name  found  under  the  form  of  Qummukh  in  the  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions,* which  was  the  narrow  but  fertile  tract  immediately  south  of 
Taurus,  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Euphrates,  on  the  west  by 
Amanus,  and  on  the  south  by  the  region  called  Cyrestica  or  Cyr- 
rhistica.*  This  latter  region  consisted  of  the  knot  of  mountains  lying 
directly  between  the  Gulf  of  Issus  and  the  Euphrates ;  it  was  some- 
times reckoned  to  Seleucis,^  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  whcde 
country  between  Commagene  and  Coele-Syria,  extending  from  about 
Ain-Tab,  in  lat.  37°,  nearly  to  the  sources  of  the  Orontes  in  lat.  34°. 
In  Seleucis  were  included,  besides  Cyrrhistica,  Chalybonitis,  or  the 
region  of  Chalybon''  (the  modern  Aleppo),  Chalcis  or  Chalcidice,  a 
small  tract  about  the  lake  into  which  the  river  of  Aleppo  empties 
itself;  Casiotis,  the  sea-board  from  the  Orontes  southward  to  the 
borders  of  Phoenicia ;  Pieria,  the  little  corner  between  the  Orontes 
and  Mount  Amanus,  together  with  the  upper  valley  of  the  Orontes, 
which  was  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Hamath,^  and  the  Apamene  of  the 
post-Alexandrine  writers.  Below  Seleucis  was  the  country  called 
Ccele-Syria,  which  was  properly  the  valley  of  the  Litany,  or  the 
hollow  (fjotXia),  between  Libanus  and  Anti-Libanus,^  but  which  was 

N.  V.  12),  and  Ptolemy  (Geograph.  v.  15),  H.  N.  v.  23,  &c. 

agree   substantially  with  the  statements   in  ^  As  by  Strabo.  who  divides  Syria  into  five 

the  text.  provinces  only  ;    viz.  Commagene,   Seleucis, 

*  Strabo  (1.  s.  c.)  includes  Phoenicia  in  Coele-Syria,  Judaea,  and  Phoenicia  (1.  s.  c). 
Syria.  Pliny  (1.  s.  c)  inclines  to  do  the  sanie,  Pliny  includes  Cyrrhistica  in  Coele-Syria. 
but  notes  that  some  (qui  snbtUias  dividunt)  Ptolemy  makes  it  separate  from  both, 
made  them  distinct  countries.  Herodotus  "^  Chalybon  is  probably  the  Helbon  of  Scrip- 
(iii.  5),  Scylnx  (Peripl.  p.  98),  Mela  (i.  II-  ture,  so  famous  for  its  excellent  wine.  (Com- 
12),  and  Ptolemy,  regard  them  as  sepai-ate.  pare  Ezek.  xxvii.  18,  with  Strab.  xv.  p.  1048, 

^  Col.  Chesney  gives  the  area  as  53,762j  and  Athen.  i.  22.) 

square   geoijrapkical  miles,    or   more    than  ®  Hamath  (the  modern  ffamrdi)  was  the 

60,000  square  statute  miles,  but  his  estimate  capital  of  a  considerable  kingdom  in  northern 

includes  the  island  of  Cyprus  and  Phoenicia.  Syria  from  the  time  of  David  to  that  of  Sen- 

(See  Euphrat.  Exped.  vol.  i.  p.  384.)  nacherib  (2  Sam.  viii.  9  ;    2  Kings  xix.  13, 

*  The  Qummukh  of  the  inscriptions  does  &c.).  It  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Assy- 
not,  howev^er,  answer  in  position  to  Comma-  rian  inscriptions  of  this  period.  (See  Sir  H. 
gen^.  It  consists  rather  of  the  southern  skirts  Rawlinson's  Commentary,  pp.  35, 39,40,  &c.) 
of  Taurus,  from  the  Euphrates  at  Siune'viat  ^  Cf  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1075.  KoiA-ncrvpia 
to  the  Tigris  at  Diarbekr. — [H.C.R.]  KaXeTrai   ISiois  v  TV  Aifidu^  koI  'Ai/TtAi- 

*  Strab.  xvi.  p.  1063  ;  Ptol.  v.  15  ;  Plin.      fidvcf  acpwpia- 1x4^7}.. 


478 


PHCENICIA. 


A  pp.  Book  I. 


made  to  include  also  tlie  valley  of  the  Chrysorrhoas  {Barada)  east  of 
Anti-Libanns,  and  the  country  about  Damascus,*  one  of  the  richest 
regions  of  Asia.^  South  of  Ccele-Syria  lay  Palestine,  extending  from 
the  sources  of  Jordan  and  Mount  Hermon  on  the  north  to  the  Paver 
of  Egypt  (  Wady-el-Arish)  on  the  south,  and  containing  the  well  known 
provinces  of  Galilee,  Samaria,  Judaea,  and  Idumaea,  west  of  the  Jordan 
valley,  Itursea  and  Peraea,  east  of  the  same.^  On  the  side  of  the 
desert,  separated  from  the  fertile  coast  tract  by  a  broader  or  narrower 
belt  of  arid  territory,  were  the  two  oases  of  Tadmor  and  Bozrah,  the 
one  the  capital  of  the  district  known  as  Palmyrene,  which  was  the 
entire  country  between  Syria  Proper  and  the  Euphrates,  the  other 
the  chief  city  of  the  region  called  Trachonitis,  the  el-Ledja  and  Jebel- 
Hauran  of  the  present  day. 

(iii.)  Along  a  portion  of  the  sea-board  of  Syria,  stretching  from 
about  lat.  35°  20'  to  32°  40',  lay  Phoenicia,*  a  narrow  strip  of  territory 
between  the  mountains  and  the  sea,  190  miles  in  length  from  north 
to  south,  and  never  so  much  as  20  miles,  sometimes  little  more  than 
a  single  mile  *  in  breadth  from  east  to  west,  containing  about  2000, 
or  at  most  2500  square  miles,  a  less  space  (that  is)  than  several  of 
the  English  counties — so  slight  and  accidental  is  the  connexion 
between  territorial  extent  and  political  consequence.  Well  watered 
by  the  numerous  perennial  streams  which  descend  from  the  ranges 
of  Lebanon  and  Bargyhis  (^Jehel-Nosmri),  sheltered  from  invasion  on 
the  one  hand  by  the  great  separator,  the  sea,*  on  the  other  by  the 
high  mountain-line  interposed  between  its  smiling  palm-groves  and 
the  natural  march  of  Eastern  conquest,''  with  numerous  harbours,  a 
fairly  productive  soil,  and  inexhaustible  forests  of  timber  on  the 
flanks  of  Lebanon,  Phoenicia  was  a  region  in  which  we  cannot  be 
surprised  that  flourishing  commercial  communities  grew  up  at  an 


1  Strab.xvi.  pp.  1074, 1075;  Ptolem.v.15. 

2  See  Chesney's  Euphrat.  Exped.  vol.  i. 
p.  5-27. 

^  For  a  full  account  of  these  countries  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  excellent  woik  of 
Professor  Stanley  {'■  Sinai  and  Palestine  in 
connexion  with  their  History  "  London,  Mur- 
ray, 1856),  which  is  a  model  of  descriptive 
geography. 

■*  Tile  limits  of  Phoenicia  are  not  very 
clearly  marked  either  to  the  north  or  to  the 
south.  Scylax  (Peripl.  p.  98)  makes  Phoe- 
nicia the  entire  seaboard  of  Syria.  Strabo 
regards  it  as  commencing  at  Gabala  {Jebili), 
a  little  south  of  Laodicea  {Ladikii/eh),  and 
extending  to  Pelusium  (xvi.  p.  1070,  and  p. 
Iii75).  Pliny  (H.  N.  v.  19  and  "20)  makes 
it  begin  with  Aradus  {Euad),  and  end  a  little 
below  Mount  Carmel.  Ptolemy  (v.  15) 
agrees  as  to  the  southern  limit,  but  makes 
the  northern  the  river  Eleutherus  {Nahr-el- 
A'ebir,  lat.  34°  42'),  which  Strabo  says  was 
often  considered  as  the  boundary  (p.  1071). 
Mr.  Stanley,  regarding  Ace  or  Ekron  (now 
Akkn  or  Acre)  as  properly  a  Philistian  town, 
makes   Pho-nicia  terminate  at   the   Jx'as-cl- 


Ahiad  or  the  Fas-en- Nakhora  (Sinai  and 
Palestine,  p.  262).  I  have  deferred  to  the 
authorities  of  Pliny  and  Ptolemy. 

^  Scylax,  Peripl.  p.  99.  iviaxv  5e  ouSe 
eir\  crraSiovs  i  rh  irAaros. 

^  It  is  perhaps  not  a  mere  fency  to  connect 

the  Greek  iriXayos   with  the  Hebrew  JT53 

peleg,  "separation."  (See  Scott  and  Liddell's 
Lexicon,  ad  voc.  ir^Xayos.)  At  any  rate, 
whether  the  etymology  holds  or  no,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  sea  in  early  times  was  not, 
as  now,  the  uniter,  but  the  divider  of  nations. 
Mr.  Stanley  rightly  observes  (Palestine,  p. 
113),  "  When  Israel  first  settled  in  Palestine, 
the  Mediteirancan  was  not  yet  the  thorough- 
fare— it  was  rather  the  boundary  and  the 
tenor  of  the  eastern  nations." 

''  The  tide  of  invasion  would  almost  always, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  flow  along  the  con- 
nected valleys  of  the  Orontes  and  Litany.  On 
the  right  of  these  valleys  the  chains  of  Nosairi 
and  Libnan  (Lebanon)  rise  abruptly  to  'a 
height  vaiying  from  1000  to  7000  feet.  (See 
Chesney's  Euphrat.  Exped.  vol.  i.  pp.  387, 
388.) 


Essay  IX.  TOWNS  OF  THGENICIA.  479 

early  date,  whose  influence  upon  the  world's  history  was  little  pro- 
portioned to  the  restricted  limits  of  their  territorial  sovereignty. 
Asiatic  civilisation,  rising  in  lower  Babylonia,  naturally  and  we  may 
almost  say  necessarily,  reached  first  at  this  point  the  Western  Sea. 
Here  was  Marathus,  the  extreme  West  of  the  first  comers,^  who 
however  in  course  of  time  discovered  a  West  (^Ereb  or  Europe) 
beyond  themselves,  to  which  they  were  Cadmonim  or  Cadmeians, 
that  is,  Easterns.^  Here  western  commerce  and  navigation  began, 
and  hen(3e  the  ships  and  colonies  went  forth,  which  planted  civilisation 
and  refinement  on  the  shores  of  Africa  and  Spain,  and  brought  into 
connexion  with  the  kingdoms  of  the  East  the  negroes  of  Guinea  and 
the  painted  savages  of  the  British  Islands. 

Phoenicia  contained  no  provinces,  but,  like  the  Greek  conntries  of 
Achaea,  Ionia,  &c.,  was  parcelled  out  into  the  territories  of  a  number 
of  independent  towns.  These  were — commencing  on  the  south — 
Ace  or  Acre  (the  Aku  of  the  Assyrian  Inscriptions),  Ecdippa  (He- 
brew and  Assyrian  Ahzih),  Tyre,  Sarepta,  Sidon,  Berytus  (now  Be,yroo£) 
Byblus  (the  Hebrew  Gebal,  and  Assyrian  Guhal,  now  Jebeil),  Tripolis, 
and  Aradus  (Assyrian  and  Hebrew  Arvad,  now  Ruad).  Of  these 
T^'re  and  Aradus  originally  occupied  islands  :  the  others  lay  close 
npon  the  shore.  Sidon,  Tyre,  Byblus,  and  Aradus,  which  succeeded 
to  the  still  earlier  Marathus,*  were  perhaps  the  most  ancient.  Tri- 
polis, which  cannot  be  the  native  name,^.was  a  colony  from  the  three 
cities  of  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Aradus.^  The  territory  of  Aradus  seems 
to  have  extended  from  the  northern  frontier  of  Phoenicia  near  Gabala 
{Jehili)  to  the  river  Eleutherus  ;*  that  of  the  other  towns  cannot  be 
fixed  with  exactness. 

12.  With  this  brief  notice  of  the  countries  west  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia  the  present  Essay  may  well  terminate.  The  physical 
and  political  geography  of  the  part  of  Asia  which  stretches  still 
further  to  the  west,  and  is  known  generally  as  Asia  Minor,  or  the 
peninsula  of  Anatolia,  has  been  already  discussed  in  a  former 
Essay.  The  distribution  of  the  several  tribes  mentioned  by 
Herodotus  as  inhabiting  Asia  towards  the  north  and  east  will  be 
made  a  separate  subject  of  consideration  hereafter. 


8  See  Sir  H.  Eawlinson's  note  on  Essay  vi.  rally    "before,"    and    thence    "the   east. 
§  5.  — H.  C.  R.] 

9  Vide  infra,  Book  ii.  ch.  44,  note.  2  Perhaps  the  native  name  was   Mahal- 
^  Marathus — TroAts  apxaia  ^oiv'lkwv  ac-  lihn  ;   at  least  this  town  appears  among  the 

cording  to  Strabo — may  be  regarded  as  earlier  Fhccnician  cities  both  in  the  annals  of  Sarda- 

than  Aradus,   I.  from  the  Hamitic  character  napalus  and  in  those  of  Sennacherib,  which 

of  the  word  ;  2,  from  the  early  disappearance  shows  it  to  have  been  a  place  of  importance, 

of  the  place  (cf.  Scylax,  Peripl.  p.  99)  ,  3.  Yet  no  trace  of  such  a  name  is  found  in  classic 

from  its  absorption  into  Aradus  (Strab.  xvi.  writers. — [H.  C.  R.] 

p.  1071),   the  site  of  which  is  so  near  as  to  ^  Scylax,  Peripl.  p.  99  ;  Strab.  xvi.  1072  ; 

present  the  appearance  of  an  eTTtretx'O'i'^^J  by  Steph.  Byz.  ad  a^oc.    TpiiroXis.    Scylax  says 

an  unfriendly  power.    [^Jlartu  (or  Marathus)  that  Tripolis  was  re;illy  tliree  cities  in  one, 

in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  is  not  found  as  the  Tyrian,  Sidonian,  and  Aradian  colonists 

the  name  of  a  city,  but  of  the  whole  counti  y.  having    distinct  regions   of  the  town,  each 

It  is  a    Scythic    "word,    signifying   literally  enclosed  within  its  own  walls. 
"  behind  ;  "  and  thence  "  the  west,"  just  as  *  Strab.  xvi.  pp.  1070,  1071. 

in  the  Semitic  languages  Kcdein  signified  lite- 


480         BABYLONIAN  AND  ASSYRIAN  RELIGION.       App.  Book  L 


ESSAY    X. 


ON  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS.— [H.  C.  R.] 

1.  General  character  of  the  Mythology.  2.  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  Pantheons 
not  identical.  3.  Thirteen  chief  deities,  (i.)  Asshur,  the  supreme  God  of 
Assyria — the  Asshur  of  Genesis — his  emblem  the  winged  circle,  (ii.)  Anu, 
first  God  of  the  First  Triad  —  his  resemblance  to  Dis  or  Hades  —  his  temples 

—  gods  connected  with  him.     (iii.)  Bel-Nimrod  (?),   second  God  of  the  Triad 

—  his  wife,  Mylitta  or  Beltis  —  his  right  to  the  name  of  Nimrod  —  his  titles, 
temples,  &c.  (iv.)  Hea,  third  God  of  the  Triad  —  his  coi-respondence  with 
Neptune  —  his  titles  —  extent  of  his  worship,  (v.)  ^«7to  (Beltis),  the  Great 
Goddess  —  confusion  between  her  and  Ishtar  —  her  titles,  temples,  &c.  (vi.) 
Gods  of  the  Second  Triad  —  Vul  —  uncertainty  about  his  name  —  Lord 
of  the  sky  or  air  —  an  old  god  in  Babylonia  —  his  numerical  symbol,  (vii.) 
Shamas  or  San,  the  Sun-God  —  his  titles  —  antiquity  of  his  worship  in 
Babylonia  —  associated  with  Gula,  the  Sun-Goddess  —  their  emblems  on  the 
monuments,  (viii.)  Sin,  the  Moon-God  —  his  titles  —  his  temple  at  Ur  — 
his  high  rank,  at  the  head  of  the  Second  Triad,  (ix.)  JSfinip  or  Nin,  his  various 
titles  and  emblems  —  his  stellar  character  doubtful  —  the  Man-Bull  his 
emblem  —  bis  name  of  Bar  or  Bar-shem  —  Nin,  the  Assyrian  Hercules  — 
his  temples  —  his  relationship  to  Bel-Nimrod —  Beltis  both  his  mother  and  his 
wife  —  his  names  Barzil  and  Sanda.  (x.)  Bel-Mewdack  —  his  worship  ori- 
ginally Babylonian  —  his  temple  in  Babylon  called  that  of  Jupiter  Belus  — 
his  wife,  Zirhanit  or  Succoth-Benoth.  (xi.)  Nergal  —  his  titles  —  his  con- 
nexion with  Nin  —  his  special  worship  at  Cutha  —  his  symbol,  the  Man-Lion 

—  his  temples,  &c.  (xii.)  Ishtar  or  Astarte  —  called  Nana  at  Babylon  — 
her  worship,  (xiii.)  Nebo  —  his  temples  —  the  God  of  Learning  —  his  name, 
Tir,  &c.  4.  Other  gods  besides  the  thirteen  —  AHata,  Bel-ZI,rpu,  &c.  5. 
Vast  numbers  of  local  deities. 

1.  The  ancient  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria — whatever  may 
have  been  its  esoteric  character — bore  the  appearance  outwaidly 
of  a  very  gross  polytheism.  We  may  infer  from  the  statements  of 
Berosus,  that  it  did  involve  in  its  origin  ideas  sufficiently  recondite 
with  respect  to  the  cosmogony  and  the  generative  functions  of 
nature/  and  we  further  know,  that  many  of  the  most  celebrated 
sages  of  Greece,  such  as  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and  Democritus, 
borrowed  largely  from  Babylonian  sources  in  the  formation  of  their 
respective  systems  of  philosophy ;  but  we  have  not  yet  acquired 
that  mastery  over  the  primitive  language  of  Babylon — as  distin- 
guished from  the  later  Semitic  dialect  of  Assyria — which  might 
enable  us  to  verify  the  high  pretensions  of  the  Chaldseans  in  regard 
to  natural  religion,  from  modern  materials.* 


^  See  the  account  of  the  Babylonian  cos-  doubt  contain  all  that  we  could  desire  to 

mogony,  given  by  Polyhistor  from  Berosus,  know  with  regard  to  the  machinery  of  the 

and  quoted  by  Eusebius ;  Syncellus,  p.  23 ;  Babylonian  religion,  and  probably  also  tret^t 

and  Aucher's  Eusebius,  vol.  i.  p.  22,  sqq.  to  some  extent  of  its  mysteries.    These  tablets, 

2  The  reference  is  to  the  mythological  clay  however,  are  composed  in  Babylonian,  which 

tablets  found  in  the  royal  library  at  Nineveh,  was  the  sacred  and  literary  language,  and  in 

and  now  deposited  in  the  British  Museum,  very  few  instances  are  furnished  even  with  a 

which  are  in  great  numl)ers,  and  which  no  gloss   or   explanation  in  Assyrian,  so  that, 


Essay  X.     GENERAL  CHAEACTER  OF  THE  MYTHOLOGY.  '       481 

Of  aU  the  branches  indeed  of  cuneiform  inquiry,  an  explanation 
of  the  Babylonian  mythology  is  undoubtedly  the  most  difiicult,  not 
only  from  the  extraordinary  extent  and  complicated  character  of  the 
subject — numerous  independent  objects  of  science  being  more  or 
less  closely  connected  with  the  Pantheon^ — but  especially  from  the 
redundant  nomenclature,  each  divinity  having  many  distinct  names 
by  v^'hich  he  is  indifterently  designated,  and  being  further  indi- 
cated by  an  infinity  of  titles,  which  may  also  be  substituted  at  will 
for  the  proper  name,  according  to  the  locality  or  attribute  under 
which  the  god  is  worshipped.  Of  such  titles  there  are  at  least  forty 
or  fifty  appertaining  to  each  deity  ;  and  in  conning  over  therefore 
those  mythological  tablets  in  the  British  Museum,  which  contain 
lists  of  the  gods  or  idols  to  be  found  in  the  different  temples  of  the 
chief  cities  of  Ass^a-ia  and  Babylonia,  the  student  is  bewildered  by 
an  endless  variety  of  names,  which,  if  they  really  indicated  different 
deities,  would  render  hopeless  any  attempt  to  dissect  and  tabulate 
the  Pantheon.  In  the  present  paper  it  is  not  proposed  to  consider 
the  subject  in  its  entirety.  A  mere  sketch  of  the  Pantheon  will  be 
given,  the  principal  gods  being  alone  noticed,  and  the  remarks 
concerning  them  being  restricted  to  an  attempted  identification  of 
their  chief  names  and  titles :  a  description,  as  far  as  our  knowledge 
extends,  of  their  functions  and  attributes ;  some  account  of  the 
temples  in  which  they  were  worshipped  ;  and  suggestions  as  to 
their  relationship  with  the  gods  of  classical  mythology. 

On  examining  the  mythology  of  the  Babylonians,  the  first  point 
which  attracts  attention  is  the  apparent  similarity  of  the  system 
with  that  which  afterwards  prevailed  in  Greece  and  Eome.  The 
same  general  grouping  is  to  be  recognised  ;  the  same  genealogical 
succession  is  not  unfrequently  to  be  traced ;  and  in  some  cases  even 
the  familiar  names  and  titles  of  classical  deities  can  be  explained 
from  Babylonian  sources.  It  seems  indeed  to  be  highly  probable 
that  among  the  primitive  tribes  who  dwelt  on  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  when  the  cuneiform  alphabet  was  invented,  by  reducing 
pictures  to  phonetic  signs,  and  when  such  writing  was  first  applied 
to  the  purposes  of  religion,  a  Scythic,  or  Scytho-Arian  race  must 
have  existed,  who  subsequently'  migrated  to  Europe,  and  brought 
with  them  those  mythical  traditions,  which,  as  objects  of  popular 
belief,  had  been  mixed  up  in  the  nascent  literature  of  their  native 
country ;  so  that  we  are  at  present  able  in  some  cases  to  explain 
obscurities  both  of  Greek  and  Eoman  mythological  nomenclature, 
not  simply  from  the  languages  of  Ass^^ria  and  Babylonia,  but  even 
from  the  peculiar,  and  often  fantastic,  devices  of  the  cuneiform- 
system  of  writing.* 

with   the    exception   of  helping  to   identify  thus  furnish  no  aid  with  regard  to  the  read- 
names  and  relationship,  they  can  hardly  be  ing  of  the  names. 

turned  to  any  account.    The  Assyrian  sources  ^  Among  such  objects  may  be  enumerated 

of  infoimation,  again,  which  cons^ist  of  invo-  the  system  of  notation,  divisions  of  time,  the 

cations  to  the  whole  Pantheon,  or  to  parti-  planets  and  stars,  animals,  metals,  colours, 

cular  gods,  prefixed  to  historical  records,  or  «&c.  &c. 

inscribed  upon  the  mystic  figures  of  the  gods  ■*  It   is    hardly  safe,   perhaps,   from   our 

themselves,  are  for  the  most  part  restricted  present  cuneifoim    materials,   to   draw  any 

to  a  long  catalogue  of  obscure  epithets,  and  general  conclusions  with  legaid  to  primitive 

VOL.  I.  2    I 


482  THE  SUPREME  GOD,  ASSHUR.  Arr.  Book  I. 

2.  The  Pantheons  of  Babylon  and  Xineveh  ought  in  strictness  to 
be  considered  separately,  for  in  many  respects  they  are  dissimilar, 
deities  which  are  prominent  in  one  mythology  being  unknown  in 
the  other,  and  each  system  moreover  having  originally  possessed  an 
independent  nomenclature.  In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge, 
however,  critical  distinctions  cannot  be  attempted.  We  must  be 
content  then  with  a  brief  enumeration  of  the  deities,  and  an  indica- 
tion of  the  relative  positions  which  they  occupy  in  their  respective 
systems. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  mythology  originated  in  Babylonia,  and 
at  a  time  when  several  distinct  languages  were  spoken  by  the 
people  Uising  the  cuneiform  character ;  for  the  Museum  tablets  very 
often  exhibit  the  names  of  the  gods  in  three  parallel  columns,  all 
written  in  the  primitive  Scythic  of  Babylonia,  and  without  any 
attempt  to  give  the  Semitic  equivalents  of  Assyria  expressed 
phonetically.  It  is  indeed  of  extreme  rarity  to  find  any  phonetic 
explanation  of  the  names  of  the  gods.  The  Assyrians,  although 
using  the  old  Babylonian  terms,  which  we  have  been  hitherto 
accustomed  improperly,  to  speak  of  as  ideographs,  or  monograms,* 
applied  to  such  terms  their  own  vernacular  Semitic  equivalents  ; 
but  it  is  only  inferentially,  for  the  most  part,  that  we  can  determine 
how  these  equivalents  were  pronounced. 

In  most,  but  not  all,  of  the  invocations  which  preface  the  his- 
torical inscriptions  of  the  Assyrian  kings,  we  find  the  gods  of  the 
Pantheon  classified  in  distinct  groups.  There  is,  firstly,  Asshur, 
the  supreme  god,  who  was  replaced  in  Babylonia  by  a  distinct  deity 
II  or  Ma ;  then  comes  the  governing  triad  answering  to  the  Pluto, 
Jupiter,  and  Neptune  of  Classical  mythology ;  and  with  these 
is  often  associated  the  supreme  female  deity  who  was  wife  of 
Jupiter  and  mother  of  the  gods.  The  next  group  is  that  which 
Berosus  describes  as  cttrrpa  /cat  i]\iov  kul  aeX{]VT]v,  but  which  more 
strictly  answers  to  ^ther,  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  the  remaining 
five  deities  must  be  the  rovg  Trivre  TrXarryrac  of  the  same  passage.* 
These  thirteen  deities  will  now  be  examined  in  succession. 

(i.)  Asshur.  This  god  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Pantheon  of 
Assyria.  His  usual  titles  are  "  the  great  Lord,"  "the  King  of  all 
the  gods,"  "  he  who  rules  supreme  over  the  gods,"  and  sometimes 
"  the  father  of  the  gods,"  although  that  title  more  properly  apper- 
tains  to   the  second   deity  of  the   governing  triad.      His  special 


ethnology ;  yet  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  re-  that  the  Pelasgians  must  have  belonged  to 

marking,   in    regard   to   Greek   and  Koman  the  Assyrian  family,  and  the  Etruscans  to 

mythology,  that,   in  addition  to  the  Arian  the  Babylonian. 

element  which  forms  the  basis  of  both. systems,  ^  The  only  cuneiform  signs  in  the  mytho- 

there  is  a  prevailing  Semitic  character  in  the  logical  vocabulary,  which  are  at  all  deserving 

one,  and  a  Scythic  character  in  the  other,  of  the  name  of  ideogi'aphs  or  monograms,  are 

Thus,  in   Greek   mythology,   the    following  the  abbreviations,  where  the  initial  character 

names    are    of    undoubted    Semitic    origin,  stands  for  the  entire  word ;    as  in  -45  for 

Kp6vos,  "Ep^fios,  Kv^TjXr],  Ka.Setpoi,  KciS-  Asshur,  San  for  San-si,  Fa  for  Faku,  &c.  ; 

fj.os,   &c. ;    whilst   in    Latin    the   names  of  and  even  in  these  cases  we  cannot  be  sure  but 

Saturn,  Dis,  Vulcan,  &c.,  may  be  suspected  that  the  monosyllable  was  the  primitive  term, 

to  be  Scythic.     If  this  distinction,  then,  be  and  the  full  name  a  later  compound, 
admitted,  the  inference  would  seem    to   be,  ^  See  Cory's  Ancient  Fragments,  p.  26. 


EssAT  X.  HIS  WORSHIP  CONFINED  TO  ASSYRIA.  483 

attributes  are  those  of  sovereignty  and  power :  he  is  thus  called 
"the  giver  of  the  sceptre  and  crown,"  "he  who  establishes  empire," 
"he  who  lengthens  the  years  of  the  king's  reign  and  protects  his 
armies  and  his  forts,"  &c.,  &c/  In  the  list  upon  the  clay  tablets, 
which  seem  to  have  been  drawn  up  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
the  Babylonian  mythology  to  the  Assyrians,  he  is  never  mentioned, 
and  we  are  thus  unable  to  determine  his  synonyms.  His  name,  how- 
ever, is  written  indifierently  as  A-shur  and  As-shur,  and  sometimes 
by  abbreviation  simply  as  As,  while  in  the  later  inscriptions  he  is 
distinguished  by  an  epithet  Khi  (?),  which  in  the  lists  is  attributed 
to  Anu.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  period  of  the  introduction 
into  Assyria  of  the  worship  oi  Asshur  under  that  name  ;  for  although 
the  kings  of  Ur,  Ismi-dagon  and  Shamas-  Vul,  who  founded  a  -temple 
on  the  Upper  Tigris  in  the  19th  century  B.C.,  are  stated  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  to  have  been  followers  of  Asshur ; 
yet  on  the  bricks  of  Shamas- Vul,  which  are  still  found  in  the  ruins 
of  Kileh-Sherghdt,  the  deity  whom  he  honoured  is  entitled  Ashit, 
which  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  was  the  primitive  Chaldsean 
form  of  the  name.^  It  is  further  remarkable  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  this  temple  at  Kileh-Sherghdt,  there  is  positively  in  the  whole 
range  of  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  as  far  as  our  present  experience 
extends,  no  other  notice  of  a  shrine  dedicated  to  Asshur.  The  country 
of  Assyria  derived  its  title  from  him  ;  and,  as  the  patfron  deity  of 
the  nation,  he  also  imposed  his  name  on  the  capital  city  of  Asshur 
(modern  Kileh-Sherghdt^  which  was  the  seat  of  empire  apparently 
before  the  building  of  Nineveh  :  but  it  would  seem  that  he  was 
considered,  as  the  head  of  the  Pantheon,  of  too  high  a  rank  to 
receive  the  homage  of  his  votaries  in  any  particular  or  special 
temple.  Probably  all  the  shrines  throughout  Assyria  were  open  to 
his  worship ;  but  neither  is  his  name  to  be  found  in  any  of  the 
multitudinous  lists  of  idols  that  have  been  hitherto  examined,  nor 
is  Bit- Asshur  mentioned  amongst  the  temples  either  of  Nineveh  or 
of  Calah  (Nimrud).  The  Assyrian  kiugs,  however,  from  the  earliest 
limes  evidently  regarded  Asshur  as  their  special  tutelary  divinity. 
They  constantly  used  his  name  as  an  element  in  their  own  titles  ; 
they  invoked  him  on  all  occasions  which  refeiTcd  to  the  exercise 
of  their  sovereign  functions.  The  laws  of  the  empire  were  the  laws 
of  Asshur  :  the  tribute  payable  from  dependent  kingdoms  was  the 
tribute  of  Asshur.  He  was  all  and  everything  as  far  as  Assyrian 
nationality  was  concerned ;  but  he  was  strictly  a  local  deity,  and 

7  The  Assyrian  authorities  from  which  the         ^  Thus   the    Samaritan   text   of  Genesis, 

titles  of  the  gods  are  chiefly  quoted  are  as  which  has  preserved  many  of  the  original 

follows:   1.  The  invocation  of  Sardanapalus,  Hamite  names,  of  which  the  later  Semitic 

commencing  his  annals.     2.  The  invocation  equivalents  are  alone  given  in  the  Hebrew, 

of  his  son  Shalmanuhar  on  the  Black  Obelisk,  uses  Astun  for  Asshur,  the  termination  in  un 

3.  Sargon's  dedication  of  the  four  gates  of  being  in  all  probability  the  Arabic  participial 

his  city  to  eight  of  the  principal  gods.     4.  nominative.     The  substitution  of  Astun  for 

An  invocation  on  a  tablet  of  Asslmr-hani-  Asshur  may  perhaps,  however,  be  more  im- 

paVs  '  and,  5.  The  mythological  clay  tablets  mediately  compared  with  the  Pehlevi  forms 

generally.       For    Babylonian    materials   the  of  Mitun   for   Mihr  or  Mithra,   A  tun   for 

various  Inscriptions  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Ne-  Adar  or  Athro,  "  ^re,"  shatun  for  shnkur, 

riglissar  and  Nabonidus  have  all  been  con-  "  a  city,"  &c.,  where  the  n  everywhere  takes 

suited.  the  place  of  r.  .  , 

2  I  2 


484 


MALE  AND  FEMALE  DEITIES. 


App.  Book  L 


his  name  was  almost  unknown  beyond  the  limits  of  Assyria  Proper. 
In  Armenia  his  place  was  taken  by  a  national  divinity  named 
Khaldii whence,  perhaps,  the  people  were  confounded  by  the  Greeks 
with  the  Kaldees  of  the  South,  though  the  cuneiform  names  are 
entirely  distinct),®  while  in  Babylonia  the  first  place  is  generally 
given  to  //  or  Ita,  who  was  possibly  of  Egyptian  origin,  and  who 
was  the  guardian  deity  of  the  primitive  Babylon  as  Asshur  was  of 
Assyria/ 

Every  god  is  associated  with  a  goddess ;  and  the  supreme  female 
divinity,  Beltis  or  Mylitta,  "  the  mother  of  the  gods,"  is  thus  some- 
times called  the  wife  of  Asshur  :  but  this  was  hardly,  it  would  seem, 
legitimate  mythology,  the  real  "  husband  of  Beltis  "  and  "  father 
of  the  gods  "  being  the  second  member  of  the  governing  triad,  whom 
it  is  proposed  to  call  Bel-Nimrud,  while  the  wife  of  Asshur,  who 
appears  in  the  list  of  gods  to  whom  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  offered 
sacrifices  after  his  conquest  of  Babylonia,  is  named  Sheruha.^ 

It  is  hardly  permissible  to  doubt  that  Asshur  must  be  the  deified 
patriarch  of  Genesis  x.  11,  the  son  of  Shem  who  went  forth  from 
Shinar  and  founded  the  Assyrian  empire.  The  pagan  Greeks  were 
acquainted  with  the  same  tradition,  and  thus  derive  the  name  of 
Assyria,  avro  'Acovpou,  -ov  2/;aou/  and  in  later  ages  we  have  also  that 
valuable  notice  of  Damascius  on  the  Babylonian  mythology,  where 
he  speaks  o^  the  primaeval  pair  'AffcrwpoQ  and  MKraaprj,*  and  of  the 


^  The  Triad  invoked  in  all  the  Armenian 
inscriptions  are  Khaldi,  the  Sun,  and  ^Ether : 
and  when  Sargon  boasts  of  having  carried  off 
the  Armenian  gods  as  trophies  from  the  great 
city  Mukhatsir,  the  same  deity  is  mentioned. 
"AXSos,  according  to  the  Etymologicum  Mag- 
num, was  an  epithet  of  the  Jupiter  wor- 
shipped at  Gaza  (called  by  St.  Jerome  and 
others  Mamas,  "  the  lord  of  men  ") ;  but 
that  term  is  probably  Semitic,  while  we 
must  look  for  Armenian  etymologies  in  the 
primitive  Scythic  of  Babylonia,  the  name  of 
Akkad,  which  denotes  Northern  Babylonia, 
being  sometimes  applied  in  the  inscriptions  to 
Ararat  or  Armenia.  This  ethnic  connexion, 
which  is  also  to  a  certain  extent  to  be  trace! 
in  the  language,  would  suggest  a  more  direct 
explanation  for  the  double  use  of  the  term 
Chaldee  ;  but  the  Chaldees  of  the  South  were 
certainly  Semites,  while  those  to  the  North 
were  to  all  appearance  Scyths,  or  at  any  rate 
Scytho-Arians.  The  early  Syrian  fathers 
seem  to  have  applied  the  name  Chaldaean  to 
the  Yezidi  heretics  (associating  them,  as  they 
do,  with  the  Marcionites  and  Manichaeans) ; 
and  the  same  people  are  called  Kasdim  by 
the  Mesopotamian  Jews  to  the  present  day. 
If  this  be  the  case,  however,  the  name  has 
again  shifted  in  modern  times,  for  Kalddni 
is  now  adopted  by  the  whole  Nestorian  race 
as  their  proper  national  title,  while  the 
Church  restricts  the  name  to  Nestorian  con- 
A-erts  to  Catholicism.  [The  Armenian  Khaldi 
is  now  found  to  correspond,  not  to  Asshur, 


but  to  Sin,  the  Moon-God.     See  above,  Essay 
VI.,  p.  367,  note  ^.—H.  C.  K.     1861.] 

^  This  god  is  more  particularly  known  as 
the  deity  from  which  Babylon  derived  its 
name.  Bab-il,  as  the  cuneiform  name  is 
written,  signifies  *'  the  gate  of  //,"  and  is  the 
Semitic  translation  of  a  Hamite  term,  Ka-ra, 
which  must  have  been  the  original  title  of 
the  place.  The  name  was  probably  given  in 
allusion  to  the  first  establishment  of  a  seat  of 
justice,  as  it  was  in  "  the  gate  of  the  palace  " 
or  "  the  gate  of  the  temple  "  that  in  early 
times  justice  was  administered.  Ra  suggests 
an  Egyptian  origin  although  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  the  Babylonian  god  was  in  any  way 
connected  with  "  the  sun."  On  the  contrary, 
we  may  infer  from  the  vocabularies,  where 
Ra  is  translated  by  11,  and  joined  with  sur, 
"  a  king,"  that  it  simply  meant  "  a  god,"  or 
rather  perhaps  '-the  god"  /car'  ^^oxh^- 
Sanchoniathou  says  that  "lAo?  was  the  same 
as  Kp6vos ;  but  in  all  the  Semitic  languages 
the  term  has  been  ever  used  for  "  a  god  " 
generally. 

2  The  name  is  otherwise  written  Sheruya ; 
but  the  goddess  thus  entitled,  although  in- 
cluded in  the  general  lists,  does  not  appear  of 
that  rank  which  should  entitle  her,  as  the 
wife  of  Asshur,  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Pantheon. 

3  See  Etymologicum  Magnum,  iu  voc. 
'Kaavpia. 

^  Missare  (or  Kto-co/)^,  as  the  name  is 
wi'itten  in  some  MSS.)  may  very  well  be  a 


Essay  X.      ASSHUR'S  EMBLEM  THE  WINGED  CIRCLE.  485 

triad  springing  from  them  ^Av6q,"1\\ivoc,  and  'Ao^,  who  have  their 
respective  representatives  in  the  inscriptions. 

At  an  early  period  of  cuneiform  inquiry  it  was  conjectured  that 
the  Nisroch  of  Scripture,  whose  name  is  written  'Ao-apct)^  by  the 
LXX./  might  be  identical  with  the  Asshur  of  the  inscriptions,  and 
that  the  deity  in  question  might  be  compared  with  the  Saturn  of 
classical  mythology;  but  that  hypothesis  has  been  destroyed  by 
the  establishment  of  the  simple  fact  that  Asshur  had  no  temple  at 
Nineveh  in  which  Sennacherib  could  have  been  worshipping  when 
he  was  slain  by  his  rebellious  sons.  Nisroch,  whom  the  Talmudists 
identify  with  Saturn,  is  still  shrouded  in  obscurity  f  but  it  may  be 
permitted  to  conjecture  that  since  the  god  Asshur,  in  company  with 
the  gods  Nin  and  Nergal,  is  constantly  spoken  of  in  the  inscriptions 
as  defeating  the  enemies  of  the  Assyrians  with  his  arrows,  and  since 
we  have  almost  direct  evidence  that  the  two  latter  gods  are  repre- 
sented respectively  by  the  man-bull  and  the  man-lion,  the  other  or 
chief  member  of  the  protecting  triad  must  be  recognised  in  the 
winged  globe  which  is  so  often  seen  in  the  sculptures  hovering 
over  the  Assyrian  monarch,  and  from  which  a  figure  with  the 
horned  helmet,  the  sure  emblem  of  divinity,  shoots  his  arrows 
against  the  discomfited  foe. 

The  latest  historical  trace  of  the  god  Asshur  occurs  probably 
in  Isidore's  notice  of  the  Greek  city  of  Artemita  in  Babylonia, 
which  under  the  Parthians  is  said  to  have  resumed  its  old  title  of 
XaXao-ap :  ^  this  title  which  signifies  "  the  fort  of  Asshur,"  having 
been  imposed  on  the  place  by  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  when  he  rebuilt 
the  city  in  about  750  b.c.^ 

We  may  now  consider  the  triad  which  in  the  Assyrian  lists 
usually  follows  Asshur,  and  in  Babylonian  mythology  heads  the 
Pantheon,  or  is  only  preceded  by  JRa  or  //. 

(ii.)  Anu.  This  is  the  first  member  of  the  triad  and  appears  to 
answer  to  Hades  or  Pluto.     His  functions,  however,  are  not  very 


participial  form  cognate  with  Sheruya,  and  nniversal  employment  in  Assyrian  and  Baby- 
signifying  merely  "  the  queen."  See  Cory's  Ionian  geography,  had  the  true  Semitic  pro- 
Fragments,  p.  sis.  nunoiation  of  Kar ;  but  it  would  seem  almost 

^  This  (or  according  to  some  MSS.  T^acra-  certam  that  this  word  must  have  been  cor- 

pax)  is  the  orthography  used  in  Is.  xxxvii.  rupted  very  early  to  Kal  or  K/ial,  from  the 

08.     In  2  Kings  xix.  37 ,  the  name  is  written  constant   occurrence   of  that  prefix   in   the 

by  the  LXX.  as  Mecropax-  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic  correspondents  of 

^  See  Selden,  De  Diis  Syris,  p.  323.     The  the  old  Babylonian  names.     Thus  we  have 

only  cuneiform  title  at  all  resembling  Nisroch  XaX-daap,  or  "  the  fort  of  Asshur ;"  XoA- 

is  one  which  applies  to .  Nebo,  and  signifies  oi/j/rj,    the    Septuagint    name   for    Calneh ; 

"king  of  the  soul,"  reading  *  *  *  rukhi ;  ^^^-^-j^  Khal-Nevo,  a  famous   Babylonian 

but  it  is  very  doubtful  if  Nis  was  ever  used  '                          ,     ^  ,       ,      ^^L 

for  "  king  "  (though  the  sign  which  indicates  temple  mentioned  m  the  Talmud  ;    ID^^, 

"a  king"  has  that  power);    and  it  is  still  Chilmad  of  Scripture,  or  xiLXT  Kalwdd- 

more  doubtful  if  Nebo  had  any  temple  at  ^^^^   ,,  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^           ^,^  ^ ^^^    „  ^j^^ 

Nmeveh.     In  all  probability  iVisrocA  is  not  a  \ 

genuine  reading.  XaXTaTTTjTis  of  Susiana ;     ,]^Xs>.,  Jlalwdn; 

7  Hudson's    Geographi    Minores,    vol.    ii.  and  numerous  other  geographical  titles,  com- 

P'  „  •   ,      ,                    ^       1  .  T               ■     ,1.  pounded  of  the  prefix  of  locality  and  one  of 

«  The  locative  prefix  which  occurs  in  the  fj^^  ^j^  ^^^^  ^/^^^  Babylonian  god., 

cuneiform    name,    and   which    is   oi   alm.cst  .           ° 


•iSQ  .  THE  GOVERNIXG  TRIAD.  App.  Book  I. 

clearly  defined,  nor  can  the  greater  part  of  liis  titles  be  explained 
except  conjecturally.  One  class  of  epithets  refers  undoubtedly  to 
"priority"  and  "antiquity."  He  is  "the  old  Ann,"  "the  original 
chief;"  perhaps  in  one  case  "the  father  of  the  gods;"  also  "the 
Lord  of  spirits  and  demons  "  (?)  and  like  the  Greek  nXovrwv,  "  the 
layer  up  of  treasures  "  and  "  the  Lord  of  the  earth  "  or  "  mountains  " 
(from  whence  the  precious  metals  were  extracted).  A  very  exten- 
sive class  of  synon3^ms,  however,  extending  to  about  twent}'  names, 
which  are  found  on  the  tablets,  are  quite  unintelligible  except  on 
the  supposition  that  they  refer  to  the  infernal  regions.  There  seem 
to  be  such  titles  as  "  King  of  the  lower  world,"  "  Lord  of  dark- 
ness "  or  "death,"  "ruler  of  the  far-off  city,"  and  many  similar 
epithets,  but  the  sense  is  throughout  obscure. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  pronunciation  of  this  god's  name  in 
Assyrian,  as  it  is  declined  according  to  rule  Anu  (or  Amc)  in  the 
nominative,  Aiii  in  the  genitive,  and  Ana  in  the  accusative.^  In 
Babylonian  the  corresponding  name  was  Anna  or  Ana,  and  it  was 
indeclinable.  It  signified  "  The  God,"  kut  t^oxrit",  and  was  no 
doubt  in  use  among  the  primitive  Babylonians  from  the  very  earliest 
times.  There  is  further  a  very  singular  link  of  connexion,  in  regard 
to  this  god,  between  Babylonian  and  classical  m3^thology.  It  is 
well  known  that  numbers  among  the  early  Chaldeans  were  supposed 
to  be  invested  with  mystic  powers ;  and  in  this  view  probably  the 
system  of  notation  was  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
Pantheon,  the  6  integers  in  the  cj^cle  of  60  being  referred  to  the 
two  triads  of  the  Pantheon.*  The  first  triad  is  thus  represented  by 
60,  50,  and  40  respectively ;  and  the  second  by  30,  20,  and  6.     The 

greater  number,    60,  or  1  soss,   indicated  by  a  single   wedge   Y, 

becomes  accordingly  the  emblem  of  the  god  Anu,  the  head  of  the 
first  triad ;  and  is  invested  with  phonetic  powers  according  to  the 
names  of  the  god  among  the  races  using  the  cuneiform  writing.  One 
of  these  powers  is  Ana,  the  ordinary  Babylonian  name  of  the  god, 
which  thus  verifies  the  usage ;  the  other  power,  equally  well  known 
to  cuneiform  students,  is  Dis,  and  this  accordingly  should  be  another 
name  of  the  god.  Further,  the  second  city  of  Babylonia — that 
which  is  -mentioned  in  the  Bible  after  Babel,  or  "  the  Gate  of  i/," 
and  which  was  especially  dedicated  to  Ana,  the  god  next  to  //  in 
the  Babylonian  mythology — was  named  l")X,  'Ope^  in  the  Septu- 
agint  version,  niDniK  Unkut  in  the  Talmud,  and  modern  Warha  or 
Urka.  This  city  was  the  great  necropolis  of  Babylonia.  Whole 
mountains  of  coffins  are  still  to  be  found  there,  and  it  was  emphati- 
call}^  "  a  city  of  the  dead."  "^     Can  the  coincidence  then  be  merely 


9  Traces  of  this  name  are  probably  to  be  in   his  paper  on  the  Assyrian  Mythology  in 

found  in  the  'AfvrjSwTos  of  Berosus,  which  the  Transactions   of  the  Royal   Irish    Aca- 

appears  to  have  been  an  epithet  applied  to  demy,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  405. 

Cannes,  signifying  "given  by  Ann;"  and  in  2  gy  ^j^g  Greek  geographers  the  city  in 

the    Phoiuician    nymph    'Auwfiper,    whose  question  is  named  'Opxov-     For  a  dcscrip- 

name  means  "  beloved  by  Anu."  tion  of  the  ruins  as  they  exist  at  present,  see 

^  The   clay   tablet   which    contains    this  Loftus'  Chalda;a   and   Susiana,    p.    1(32,   et 

curious  applictition  of  numbers  to  the  Baby-  seqq. 
Ionian  gods,  was  first  noticed  by  Dr.  Hinclcs 


Essay  X.  ANU  — GODS  ASSOCIATED  WITH  HIM.  487 

accidental  between  Dis,  the  Lord  of  Urha,  the  city  of  the  dead,  and 
Dis,  the  King  of  Orcus  or  Hades  ? 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  assimilation,  it  is  certain 
at  any  rate  that  the  great  temple  at  Warka,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  country,  and  the  site  of  which  is  now  marked  by  the  ruins  of 
Bowdrieh,  was  called  Bit-Ana  after  the  god  in  question,  though  from 
a  very  remote  epoch  the  worship  of  Beltis  seems  to  have  superseded 
that  of  Ana  in  the  temple  of  Warka,  and  to  have  become  so  famous 
that  in  the  latter  Babylonian  inscriptions  she  is  generally  noticed  as 
"  the  lady  of  Bit-Ana^ 

The  temple  also,  previously  referred  to,  which  Shamas-  Vul  raised 
in  the  capital  of  Assyria  in  the  19th  century  B.C.,  and  which  was 
afterwards  repaired  by  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  in  the  13th  century  B.C., 
was  dedicated  to  Ann  and  his  son  Vul ;  and  it  was  probably  on  this 
account  that  the  city  obtained  the  name  of  TtXavr]  (Mound  of  Anu), 
equally  with  its  national  designation  of  Asshur.^  Ami  appears  to 
have  been  without  any  special  temples  either  at  Nineveh,  or  Calah, 
or  even  at  Babylon  ;  but  Sargon,  at  Dur-Sargina,  evidently  had  him 
in  great  honour,  and  thus  dedicated  to  him,  in  conjunction  with 
Astarte,  the  western  gate  of  the  city.* 

Ann  is  usually  found  in  conjunction  with  the  other  two  mem- 
bers of  the  triad,  precisely  as  we  have  Anus,  Illinus,  and  Aus 
associated  by  Damascius ;  but  the  name  sometimes  occurs  in 
union  with  another  single  god,  where  the  connexion  cannot  be  so 
certainly  explained.  Thus  Sardanapalus  calls  himself  simpl}^ 
"he  who  honours  Anu,"  or  more  frequently,  "he  who  honours 
Anu  and  Dagon  ; "  and  the  same  association  of  the  two  names  is 
also  found  on  the  obelisk  of  Shamas-  Vul.  Who  the  god  Dagon 
is,  however,  is  still  one  of  the  obscurities  of  the  mythology.  He 
cannot,  as  has  been  conjectured,  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
water-god,  as  the  name  does  not  occur  in  the  complete  list  which 
is  given  entire  on  one  of  the  tablets,  of  the  36  synonyms  of  the 
latter  divinity.^  It  is  indeed  extremely  doubtful  if  the  name 
Dagon  has  anj^thing  to  do  with  n,  "a  fish,"  or  with  the  Phoe- 
nician |in  ;  for  in  one  passage  of  the  inscriptions  the  pair  are  men- 
tioned— Ba-Gan  for  the  male,  and  Da-Las  for  the  female — as  if  both 
the  names  were  compounds ;  and  the  explanation  attached  would 
seem,  to  show  that  the  titles  appertained  to  the  great  gods  Belus 
and  Beltis. 

"Sargon  again,  who  appears  to  have  had  Anu  in  especial  honour, 
in  consequence  of  his  own  name  being  the  same,  or  nearly  the 
same,  as  that  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  god,  associates  him  in  his 
royal   titles  with  the  second  god  of  the  triad,   whom  for  conve- 

'  See  Steph.  de  Urbibus  in  voc.  Telane  is  present  apparent, 
described  as   the   city  where    the   kings  of         ^  In  this  Hst,  however,  there  is  a  name 

Assyria  dwelt  before  tlie  building  of  Nineveh,  referring  to  the  water-god  in  his  character  of 

and  can  thus,  it  would  seena,  only  answer  to  "  the  sentient  fish,"  which  reads  Daggana- 

Asshur.  sisi,  but  has  no  connexion  apparently  with 

*  It  should  be  added  that  one  of  the  prin-  Da-Gan.     The  Phoenician   Dagon  indeed  is 

cipal  metals,  either  "  lead "  or  "  tin,"  was  translated  by  Sanchoniathon  Xnwv,  that  is 

named  after  Ann,  as  "  iron  "  was  after  Her-  "  bread-corn." 
cules,  but  the  phonetic  connexion  is  not  at 


488  WIFE  AND  SONS  OF  ANU.  App.  Book  I. 

nience  sake  we  may  call  "  Bel-Nimrod  ;"  while  in  placing  the 
four  gates  of  his  city  each  under  the  double  guardianship  of  two 
deities,  he  joins  Aim  and  Astarte,  though  that  goddess  was  cer- 
tainly not  his  wife,  nor  was  she  in  any  way  mythologically  con- 
nected with  him.  His  wife  is  named  in  the  lists  Anata  or  Anuta, 
and  she  has  precisely  the  same  epithets  as  himself,  with  a  mere 
difference  of  gender,  but  she  is  rarely  if  ever  mentioned  in  the  his- 
torical or  geographical  inscriptions.  Their  progeny  at  the  same 
time  appears  to  have  been  large.  A  list  of  nine  names  is  given  on 
one  tablet,  commencing  with  Sargana,  Latarak,  Esh-gula,  and  Emu ; 
but  little  is  known  of  these  gods  beyond  their  names.  Two  other 
sons  who  are  not  mentioned  in  this  list  are  of  more  importance. 
One  of  these  is  ^ther,  the  god  of  the  air,  whose  name  is  doubtfully 
read  as  Vul ;  and  it  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  trace  a  connexion 
between  this  filiation,  and  the  Greek  tradition  of  ^ther  being  the 
son  of  Erebus,  the  more  especially  as  Erebus  is  itself  an  Assyrian 
term  referring  to  "darkness,"^  which  was  one  of  the  attributes  of 
Anu.  Another  god,  who  is  well  known  in  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
mythology  as  Martu,  is  also  stated  on  many  cylinder-seals  to  be 
the  son  of  Anu.  This  god  may  be  suspected  to  be  himself  the 
Erebus  of  the  Greeks,  as  the  name  Martu  signifies  "  after "  or 
"behind;"^  and  is  thus  applied  to  "the  west,"  being  in  fact  a 
synonym  of  Erib  (original  of  "Ept/Soc),  which  refers  directly  to  "  the 
setting  sun,"  and  tropically  both  to  "the  west"  and  "  darkness." 
It  may  be  added  that  the  name  Martu  is  further  applied  to 
Phoenicia  in  cuneiform  geography,  as  the  extreme  western  point 
with  which  the  Babylonians  were  acquainted  (compare  Bpa6v  of 
Sanchoniathon)  ,^  and  that  the  descent  of  Martu  from  Anu  would 
thus  seem  to  point  to  the  Mosaical  tradition  of  Sidon  and  Heth, 
and  the  other  Syrian  colonies,  being  descended  from  Ham,  as 
that  patriarch  must  of  course  answer  to  Anu^  if  the  Noachide  triad 
be  compared  with  the  Babylonian.^ 

(iii.)  The  phonetic  reading  of  the  name  of  the  second  god  of  the 
triad  must  be  still  a  matter  of  speculation.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  in  his  character  and  position  he  answers  to  the  great 
father  Jupiter  of  the  Eomans ;  and  it  is  equally  certain  that  the 
primary  element  of  his  name  is  Bil,  the  Lord ;  yet  he  cannot 
represent  the  true  Babylonian  Belus,  of  later  times,  and  for  the 
following  reasons : — That  god  is  almost  certainly  the  same  as 
Merodach.     In   the   only  known  proper  names   where  Bel  occurs 


^  Ereh  signifies   in   Assyrian  "setting,"  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  of  its  representing 

that  is  "  the  west,"  and  hence  *•  darkness."  It  a  geographical  name. 

is  a  cognate  tenn  with  Europa,  which  also         ^  Martu  is  stated  on  one  tablet  to  be  "  the 

signifies  setting,  or  the  west,  as  Asia  signifies  minister  of  the  deep,"  as  if  he  were  connected 

"  rising,"  or  "  the  east."  with   Hea  ;  on   another  tablet  his   title   is 

'   It  is  thus  translated  in  the  vocabularies  Mulu-Kharris,  perhaps  "  the  lord  of  archi- 

by   akharru,   the   Hebrew  "IPIX  ;     and    the  tecture.",    His  wife  is  the  lady  of  Tigganna. 

latter  name  is  applied  in  the  inscriptions  to  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  erected  a  temple  to  him  at 

Phoenicia,    "  the    western    country,"    indif-  Calah  in  conjunction  with  Bel-  Vara  {Kiteh- 

ferently  with  Martu.  Sherghat  Cylinder,  col.  6,  line  88) ;  but  the 

^  Brathu  is  joined  in  Sanchoniathon  with  name  is  not  often  met  with  in  other  historical 

Cassius,  Libanus,  and  Anti-Libanus,  and  there  inscriptions. 


Essay  X.      BEL-NIMROD,  SECOND  GOD  OF  THE  TRIAD.  489 

as  an  element  {Nadinta-Bil  at  Behistun,  and  Bil-shar-uzur  for  Bel- 
shazzar),  the  god's  name  is  written  wifh  the  sign  signifying  Bil, 
a  lord,  preceded  by  the  determinative  of  divinit}^  II  or  An,  but  with- 
out any  adjunct.  The  same  orthograph}^  is  employed  in  connexion 
with  the  goddess  Zirhanit,  who  was  notoriously  the  wife  of  Mero- 
dach,  and  there  only.  The  names  of  Bel-Merodach  are  also  some- 
times actually  found  in  conjunction.'"  Again,  the  famous  temple  of 
Belus  of  Herodotus  is  the  temple  of  Merodach  in  the  inscriptions ;  and 
lastly,  the  exact  genealogy  is  given  for  Belus  in  Damascius,  son  of 'Aoc 
and  Aav/vT/,  which  in  the  mythological  tablets  applies  to  Merodach. 
If  Merodach  then  be  the  true  Belus  of  history,  it  is  evident  that  this 
earlier  and  more  powerful  god  could  not  have  had  the  same  identical 
name. 

The  name  in  question  is  written  with  the  determinative  of  a 
god,  the  sign  'Bil,  "  a  lord,"  and  a  qnalificative  adjunct,  either 
simple  or  compound,  on  which  the  whole  mystery  of  the  name 
depends.'  Now  this  adjunct  in  the  vocabularies,  when  joined  with 
other  nouns,  is  frequently  translated  by  iprat ;  and  the  reading  is 
further  verified  by  our  finding  that  the  city  which  was  named  after 
the  god — its  title  being  in  fact  a  mere  reproduction  of  the  name 
with  the  sign  of  localit}^  affixed,  instead  of  the  determinative  of 
divinity  prefixed — is  translated  in  Semitic  by  Nipur.  It  may  then 
fairly  be  assumed  that  the  great  god  in  question  was  in  Semitic 
named  Bilu-Nipru,  and  that  the  great  goddess,  the  mother  of  the 
gods,  who  is  always  associated  with  him  as  his  wife,  was  entitled 
Bilta-Niprut.  Before  pointing  out  the  very  important  consequences 
of  this  proposed  Semitic  reading,  the  old  Babylonian  nomenclature 
however  must  be  concluded.  In  the  dialects  of  the  South,  the 
equivalents  of  Bilu  and  Bilta  were  Enu,  Enuta,  and  Mul,  Midta.  With 
the  latter  are  no  doubt  to  be  compared  the  M6\ig  of  Nicolaus*  and 
the  MvXirra  of  Herodotus^  and  Hesychius;''  and  the  former  term, 
Enu  or  (with  the  antecedent  determinative  pronounced)  ll-enu,  is 
probably  the  original  of  the"IXXii'oc  of  Damascius.  Other  Bab3donian 
names  of  the  god,  such  as  Bi  (?yEU,  Asinir,  &c.,  are  of  less  moment. 

We  will  now  consider  the  terms  Nipru  and  Niprut.^  It  is  im- 
possible to  overlook  the  similarity  of  these  titles,  especially  the  fe- 
minine Niprut,  to  the  Greek  NfySpwS' ;  and  the  more  we  examine 
the  subject,  the  more  reason  we  find  to  suspect  that  if  there  be 
any  connexion,  as  has  been  so  often  surmised,  between  the  great 
Belus  of  Babylonian  tradition  and  the  Biblical  Nimrod,  and  if  this 

^"  As  on  the  tablet  so  often  quoted,  which  tha,  "genetrix;"  but  it  is  very  doubtful  if 

applies  "  numbers  "  to  the  gods  of  the  Pan-  the  root  lh\  common  to  all  the  other  Se- 

*^^"-  _  mitic  languages,  was  known  to  the  Assyrian. 

1  The  ordinary  Assyrian  rendering  of  this  At  any  rate  MuUa,  as  the  feminine  of  Mul, 
adjimct  is  Zir,  which  means  "  Supreme."—  ig  a  far  more  satisfactory  etymology. 

l^^l-  5  It  must  be  understood  that  in  no  case 

2  See  Miiller's  Fragm.  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  iii.  are  these  titles,  phonetically  written,  attached 
p.  361,  note  16.  Muller  alters  the  reading  to  the  names  of  Belus  and  Beltis.  They  are 
to  MuAtTTo,  very  unnecessarily.  merely  assumed  as  the  Semitic  equivalents  of 

3  Herod,  i.  131  and  199.  the  abbreviated  Hamit«  adjuncts  which  qualify 
*  Hesychius  in  voc.  writes  MvK-firav.     It     the   terms  "  Lord "  and  "  Lady  "  in  these 

has  hitherto  been  customary  to  compare  the     names. 
Mylitta  of  Herodotus  with  the  Syriac  Mulid- 


490     CONNEXION  OF  BABYLON  WITH  BEL-NIMROD.    App.  Book  I. 

connexion  can  be  verified  from  native  sources,  then  we  are  on  the 
right  track  in  seeking  to  identify  the  above-mentioned  names. 
For  instance,  Babylon  is  sometimes  called  in  the  inscriptions  the 
city  of  Bilu-Nipra ;  ^  and  the  inner  and  outer  city,  even  as  late 
as  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  were  known  as  the  Nimat  Bilu- 
Nipru  and  the  Ingur  Bilu-Nipru,^  in  exact  accordance  both  with 
the  Greek  accounts  of  Babylon  having  been  the  capital  of  the  first 
Belus,  and  of  the  Biblical  record  that  the  beginning  of  Nimrod's 
kingdom  was  Babel,  &c. ;  and  it  should  be  observed  that  these 
cuneiform  notices  are  quite  distinct  from  the  later  and  more  sacer- 
dotal connexion  of  Babylon  with  the  second  Belus,  or  Bel-Merodach. 
But  the  most  interesting  evidence  is  to  be  found  in  relation  to  the 
sister  capital  of  Niffer.  This  place,  which  had  the  same  name  as 
the  god,  is  called  Nipur  in  Semitic  cuneiform.  The  Talmud  calls 
it  Nopher,  and  identifies  it  with  Calneh,  one  of  Ninli'od's  capitals.* 
Galno  again,  in  Isaiah  x.  9,  is  explained  by  the  LXX.  as  the  place 
in  the  land  of  Babylon  where  the  tower  was  built ;  and  with  i-efe- 
rence  to  the  tower,  if  anything  is  to  be  found  in  the  inscriptions,  it 
can  only  be  the  notices  of  a  most  famous  temple,  Kliarris-Nipra, 
which  was  an  object  of  intense  veneration  to  the  Assyrian  kings ; 
which  was  the  especial  dwelling-place  of  Bila-Nipru,^  and  which 
seems  moreover  to  have  been  in  the  city  of  Nifer,  that  city  indeed 
being  especially  dedicated  to  the  god  and  goddess  Bilu-Nipru  and 
Bilta-Niprat,  who  respectively  bore  the  titles  of  Lord  of  JVipra  and 
Lady  of  Nlpra,  in  allusion  apparently  to  this  temple,  or  rather  per- 
haps to  the  district  in  which  it  was  placed.^  Other  points  of  evi- 
dence are  the  Arab  tradition,  certainly  ante-Islamic,  that  Nifi'erwas 
the  original  Babylon,^  and  (in  allusion  to  the  tower)  that  it  was 

^  See  Khors.  Inscrip.  151,  11,  4.  The  names  of  many  temples,  in  allusion  to  the 
construction  however  in  this  passage  is  not  workmanship  or  architecture  of  the  build- 
quite  clear,  and  cannot  be  implicitly  relied  on.  ings.     If  Nipra  should  be  the  true  reading, 

7  These    titles,    wdiich    are    probably   of  we   can   hardly   doubt    its    connexion   with 

Hamite  rather  than  Semitic  origin,  are  first  Nipru  and  Nipur,  although  the  latter  terms 

met  with  in  an  inscription  of  Esar-haddon.  are  Semitic,  and  the  former  to  all  appearance 

It  also  appears  from  the  mythological  tablets,  Hamite,  and  although  the  cuneiform  ortho- 

that  each  of  these  divisions  of  the  city  had  a  giaphy  is  entirely  dissimilar.      The    word, 

special  tutelary  deity  to  watc^h  over  it.  however,   may  be  read   Shatra   or   Kurra, 

"  The  tract  quoted  is  the  Yoina,  which  is  equally  as  well  as  Nipra,  and  there  are  geo- 

of  very  respectable  antiquity,  dating  probably  graphical  aiguments  in  favour  of  either  of 

from  the  2nd  century.  those  readings.     The  cuneiform  word  for  "  a 

^  The  phonetic  reading  of  the  second  ele-  horse  "  is  written  in  precisely  the  same  way 

meat  of  this  name  is  very  doubtful ;  and  the  as  the  name  in  question,  though  of  course 

position  of  the  temple  is  almost  equally  un-  with  a  ditierent  determinative  but  even  there 

certain.     For  its  being  the  dwelling-place  of  the  phonetic  reading  is  uncertain. 

Bel-Nimrod,  see  Khors.  Ins.  131,  19;  and  ^  The  name  of  iVi)?ra  is  of  double  employ- 

for  general  allusions  to  its  wealth,  its  splen-  ment   in   connexion    with    Bel-Nimrod    and 

dour,   and  its   antiquity,  compare   Tiglath-  Beltis ;  that  is,  as"  a  country  of  which  they 

Pileser  Cylinder,  col.   1,  1.  26;  Brit.  Mus.  were  the  patrons,    and   as  the  name   of 


p.   70,  1.   23 ;    Shamas-  Vul  Obelisk,  temple  in  which  they  dwelt,  the  temple  of 

col.  1,  1.  32,  &c.     The  second  element  may  Nipra  being  indeed  to  all  appearance  a  dis- 

mean  "  the  left  hand  country,"  or  that  where  tinct   place   from   the   temple  of  Kharris- 

Shem  settled.     It  is  the  special  geographical  Nipra.  already  spoken  of. 
title  taken  by  Bel-Nimrod  and  Beltis  on  the  2  q^j^jg  jg  given  on  the  authority  of  Ibti 

bricks  excavated  from  their  temples  atAkker-  Kalbi,  who  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 

kuf  and   Warka,  but  is  otherwise  unknown,  trustworthy  of  the  Arab  traditionists. 
Kkarris  (compare  EJ'in)  is  prefixed  to  the 


Essay  X.  ETYMOLOGY  OF  THE  WORD  NIMROD.  491 

the  scene  of  Nimrud's  daring  attempt  to  mount  on  eagle's  wings  to 
heaven.^ 

The  etymological  evidence  remains.  After  mature  deliberation, 
no  better  explanation  can  be  obtained  for  Nipru  and  Niprat  than 
"  the  hunter "  and  "  huntress."  The  root  napar^  although  un- 
known in  Hebrew,  means  in  Syriac  "  to  pursue,"  or  "make  flee  ;" 
and  the  word  iprat,  used  in  the  vocabularies  in  reference  to 
"  waters,"  with  the  sense  apparently  of  ''  swift-running,"  must 
come  from  the  neuter  verb  apar,  kindred,  if  not  absolutely  iden- 
tical with  the  active  napar.  The  verb  napar  is  not  often  used  in 
the  inscriptions,  except  in  reference  to  this  particular  god,  but  in 
such  cases  is  of  great  importance  in  verifying  the  phonetic  read- 
ing. Thus  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  describes  himself  as  "  the  mighty 
chief,  who  being  armed  with  the  mace  of  power  "  (the  emblem  of 
royalty,  but  also  a  favourite  weapon  of  the  chace)  "■  parsaea  after  " 
(or  "hunts")  "the  people  of  Bilu-Nipru;''  and  again  speaks  of 
his  ancestor,  Asshur-daha-il,  as  "the  holder  of  the  mace  of  power; 
the  pursuer  after  the  people  of  Bilu-Nipru.'"  *  Sargon  also  speaks  of 
"  the  350  kings  from  remote  antiquity,  who  ruled  over  Assyria  and 
pursued  after  the  people  of  Bilu-Nipru,'"  the  verb  iiopar  being  used  in 
each  passage,  and  the  allusion  apparently  being  to  the  original 
Nipru,  or  Kimrod,  having  proved  his  power  as  "  a  mighty  hunter  " 
(of  men)  "  before  the  Lord."  As  far  -as  the  actual  chace  of  wild 
animals  was  concerned,  Bilu-Nipru,  in  the  Assyrian  period,  had 
ceased  to  be  regarded  as  its  patron.  He  had  abdicated  his  func- 
tions in  favour  oi  Nergal,  with  whom,  as  will  be  afterwards  explained, 
he  was  also,  it  would  appear,  ethnically  confounded ;  but  his  wife, 
the  great  goddess,  Bilta-Nlprut,  continued  to  the  latest  period  to 
preside  over  "  the  chace  ;"  and  in  her  character  of  "  Lady  of  the  city 
JVijMr,'^  where  she  was  perhaps  worshipped  exclusively  as  "  the  great 
huntress,"  was  regarded  as  the  wife  of  another  god,  Nin,  who  shared 
with  Nergal  the  duty  of  protecting  hunters  in  their  dangerous 
exploits. 

Against  all  this  argument,  which,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
would  be  conclusive,  there  is  the  insuperable  objection  that  the 
Biblical  reading  is  Nimrod,  and  not  Nipru,  and  that  the  terms 
are  not  orthographically  convertible,  so  that,  notwithstanding  the 
series  of  extraoidinary  coincidences  that  have  been  noticed,  we  must 
still  remain  in  doubt  if  the  Biblical  Nimrod  has  been  discovered. 

The  ordinary  epithets  of  Bel-Nimrod,  which  for  convenience 
he  may  still  be  called,^  are,  "the  supreme,  the  father  of  the  Gods, 


^  See  Yacut's  Geograph.  Lexicon  in  voc,  1.  3)  miisteshir,  "  the  director,"  is  used  for 

where   many   other   interesting   notices   are  valtanppiru,  "  the  pursuer." 
given  of  Nitier  from  the  early  authors.  ^  There  are,  no  doubt,  inconsistencies  in 

■*  See  Sherghat  Cylinder,  col.  1,  1.  32,  and  the  employment  of  the  cuneiform  group  for 

col.  7,  1.  39.     The  quotation  from  Sargon  Bil,  with   or  without   the  adjunct,   which 

occurs  on  all  the  Khorsabad  Bulls,  and  on  the  make  it  most  difficult  to  distinguish  between 

Cylinder,  1.  35.     The  use  of  the  terms  val-  Bel-Nimrod  and  Bel-Merodach,     Thus  in  the 

tanppiru  and  iltanipparu  seems  to  be  a  play  great  inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar  on  the 

on  the  name  Nipru  ;  though  in  a  correspond-  India-House  slab,  the  existence  of  Bel-lS'imrod 

ing  passage  of  an  inscription  of  Nebuchad-  as  a  separate  god  is  ignored,  and  the  com- 

nezzar  (Sir  T.   Phillips's  Cylinder,  col.   1,  pound  group  which  represents  the  name  is 


492  HEA,  THE  THIED  GOD  OF  THE  TRIAD.     App.  Book  T. 

the  procreator,"  also,  "  the  Lord,  king  of  aU  the  spirits,  father  of 
the  Gods,  lord  of  the  countries."  A  full  list  of  his  titles  has  not 
yet  been  found,  though  many  synonyms  for  his  name  occur  inci- 
dentally on  the  tablets.  He  is  most  ordinarily  associated  with  his 
wife  Bilta-Niprut,  as  in  the  dedication  of  the  eastern  gate  at  Khor- 
sabad,  when  Sargon  calls  him  "  the  establisher  of  the  foundations 
of  my  city ;"  but  in  the  various  invocations  of  the  kings,  who  all 
acknowledge  him,  he  is  found  sometimes  joined  with  Anu,  and  some- 
times with  his  son  Nin. 

His  temples  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very  numerous.  He 
had  four  ai^ks  or  "  tabernacles,"  but  the  only  temple  recoided  as 
belonging  to  him  in  Assyria  was  at  Calah,  and  even  in  Babylonia 
we  only  know  of  the  great  shrine  of  Kharris-Nipra,  supposed  to  have 
been  situated  at  Niifer,  and  of  a  smaller  edifice  raised  to  him  at 
Akkarkuf  by  the  early  king  Durri-galazu. 

Of  his  officers  and  relatives  there  are  many  incidental  notes. 
His  throne-keepers  were  Bel-Nugi  and  Shezir,  and  scores  of  other 
unknown  names  are  connected  with  him.  JSfin  or  Hercules  was 
undoubtedly  his  son,  and  Sin,  "the  moon,"  is  also  sometimes  in- 
cluded in  the  same  category.  In  fact,  as  the  father  of  all  the  gods, 
he  might  claim  an  almost  infinite  paternity. 

His  numerical  symbol  was  50,  the  next  integer  to  the  Soss,  which 
denoted  Anu,  but  the  phonetic  riddle  involved  probably  in  the 
numeral  has  not  been  discovered,  nor  is  there  any  sculptured  figure 
which  can  be  reasonably  supposed  to  represent  him. 

(iv.)  The  3rd  god  of  the  triad,  who  thus  answers  to  Neptune  or 
Hoaei^iop,  was  probably  named  Hea  or  Hoa.  His  titles  are  numerous,' 
and  his  character  is  as  clearly  defined  as  we  could  desire.  Although 
corresponding  with  Neptune  as  the  third  member  of  the  triad,  and 
in  many  respects  exercising  the  same  functions,*  he  was  not,  strictly 
speaking,  "  the  God  of  the  Sea."  That  title  is  never  found  amongst 
his  epithets,  but  applies  rather  to  Nin,  who  unites  to  his  maritime 
sovereignty  the  somewhat  incongruous  attributes  of  Hercules  and 
Saturn.  The  two  gods,  indeed,  Hea  and  Mn,  although  in  reality 
quite  distinct,  seem  to  have  been  identified  by  Berosus,  and  are  to 
a  certain  extent  even  confounded  in  the  inscriptions.  Bea  or  JIca 
was  the  presiding  deity  of  "  the  abyss,"  or  "  the  great  deep."  *     He 


used  with  the  simple  phonetic  power  of  Bilu  used,  and  in  its  place  we  have  two  varieties 

as  a  mere  epithet  of  Merodach's,  and  with  of  the  group  indicating  Bel-Nimrod,  employed 

the  meaning  of  "  a   lord ;"    whilst   in  the  independently,  as  if  they  were  distinct  gods, 

inscription    of    the    same    king   on   Sir   T.  From  all  this  we  can  only  infer  that  the 

Phillips's  Cylinder,  the  passage  just  quoted  mythological  system  itself,  as  well  as  its  mode 

(col.  1,  i.  3)  reads  "  he  who  guides,  or  directs,  of  expression,  was  to  the  last  degree  lax  and 

the  people  of  Bel-Nimrod,  the 'Sun  and  Mero-  fluctuating. 

dach,"  the  two  Eels  being  thus  clearly  dis-  ^  The  Babylonian  term  translated  by  "  the 

tinguished.     Again,  on  all  the  small  Baby-  deep  "  or  "  the  abyss  "  may  be  read  Zop, 

Ionian  cylinders  of  the  Acha:menian  period  which  certainly  recals  to  mind  the  epithet 

published  by  Grotefend,  in  the  names  of  the  f]1D,  applied  in  Scripture  not  only  to  the 

witnesses,   the  group  for  Bel  is  invariably  Red  Sea,  as  is  generally  supposed,  but  also  to 

used  without  the  adjunct,  in  allusion  appa-  the  ocean,  and  used  likewise  with  the  same 

rently  to  Merodach,  and  with  the  sound  of  universal  application  in  the  books  of  the  Men- 

Bilu ;  but  on  the  Warka  tablets  of  the  Se-  daeans  ;   but  the  phonetic  equivalents  of  Zop 

Jeucian  period,  the  name  of  Merodach  is  dis-  are  stated  in  the  vocabularies  to  be  A2}zu  or 


Essay  X.  HIS  STELLAR  NAME,  KIMMUT.  493 

is  called  "  the  King,  the  Chief,  the  Lord,  the  Euler  of  the  Abyss," 
aLso  •'  the  King  of  Riyers,"  but  never  "  the  King  of  the  8ea."  His 
most  important  titles  refer,  however,  to  his  functions  as  the  source 
of  all  knowledge  and  science.  He  is  "  the  intelligent  fish  "  (or  guide)  ; 
"  the  teacher  of  mankind;"  "the  lord  of  understanding;"  answer- 
ing, in  fact,  exactly,  as  far  as  functions  are  concerned,  to  the  Oannes 
of  Berosus,  although  the  Chaldean  annalist  would  seem  to  have 
borrowed  the  pictorial  representation  from  the  other  godiW///  The 
name  of  "Q.r],  which  Helladius  uses  for  the  mystic  animal,  half  man, 
half  fish,  who  came  up  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  teach  astronomy  and 
letters  to  the  first  settlers  on  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,®  more  nearly 
reproduces  the  cuneiform  Bea  or  Boa ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
but  that  Damascius,  under  the  form  of 'A 6c,  intends  to  represent 
the  same  appellation.  There  are  no  means  at  present  of  determining 
the  precise  meaning  of  the  cuneiform  Bea,  which  is  Babylonian 
rather  than  Assyrian,  but  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  be 

connected  with  the  Arabic  ^^a^,  Hiya,  which  equally  signifies 
"  life,"  and  "a  serpent; "  for  Bea  is  not  only  "  the  god  of  know- 
ledge," but  also  "of  life  "  (and  besides  of  "glory"  and  of  "giv- 
ing"), and  there  are  very  strong  grounds  indeed  for  connecting 
him  with  the  serpent  of  Scripture  and  with  the  Paradisaical  tradi- 
tions of  the  tree  of  knowledge  and  the  tree  of  life.^ 

Amongst  the  stars  he  was  known  under  the  name  of  Kimmut^ 
which  recalls  to  mind  the  nD^3  of  Scripture,  and  suggests  that  the 
expression  "  binding  the  bands  of  Kimmah  "  refers  rather  to  the  coil 
which  the  serpent  of  Babylonian  mythology  has  wound  around  the 
heavens,  than  to  the  "  soft  influences  of  the  Pleiades,"  as  we  tamely 
and  without  warrant  translate  the  passage.  For  the  present,  in- 
deed, we  may  believe  that  Kimmut  was  the  constellation  Draco,  and 
that  the  god  Bea  is  figured  by  the  great  serpent  which  occupies  so 
conspicuous  a  place  among  the  symbols  of  the  gods  on  the  black 
stones  recording  Babylonian  benefactions. 

Upon  one  of  the  tablets  in  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  list 
of  36  synonyms  indicating  this  god.  The  greater  part  of  these 
relate  either  to  "the  abyss  "  or  to  knowledge  ;  but  we  also  find  Bea 
named  "the  Lord  of  the  Earth,"  "the  Prince  of  Heaven,"  "the 
lesser  Bel-Nimrod,"  and  he  has  other  titles  which  seem  equally 
inappropriate.  In  fact,  he  is  often,  it  would  seem,  confounded  with 
other  gods.     Thus  on  the  Black  Obelisk  he  is  designated  as  "  the 


Apzii,  a  mere  transposition  of  the  signs  con-         '  See  the  description  in  Cory's  Fragments, 

tained  in  the  original  term,  which  would  thus  p.  22. 

seem  to  be  non-phonetic.     Apzu  has  been         ^  See  the  extracts  from  Helladius  in  Phot, 

compared  with  the  Hebrew  DS5<,  "  an  extre-  Biblioth.  (cclxxix.  p.  1 594).     The  description 

mity,"  in  allusion  to  the  circumambient  ocean;  which  he  gives  of  a  human  figure  covered 

and  it  is  remarkable  that  a  very  similar  ety-  with  a  fish's  skin  exactly  coincides  with   the 

mology   has  been  assigned  to  the  name   of  sculptures  in  the  British  Museum. 
Neptune  from  an  Egyptian  source  {Ne(p6vu         ^  It  would  be  most  interesting  to  trace  the 

....  TTJs  yrjs  TO  ecrxaTa  koI  Tvapopia  koI  connexion  between  this  early  adoration  of  the 

\|/auoj'Ta  TTJS  6a\d(TaT]s,  Plut.  de  Is.  et  Osir.,  serpent,  "  the  most  subtle  of  the  beasts  of  the 

ii.  p.  366);  but  it  is  questionable  if  auySemitic  field,"  and  the  Ophite  worship  of  later  times  ; 

correspondent  is  to  be  found  for  Apzu,  as  the  but  the  subject  is  too  large  for  a  mere  note, 
word  is  of  Hamite  origin. 


494  EXTENT  OF  THE  WOESHIP  OF  HEA.      Apr  Book  I 

layer-up  of  treasures,"  a  character  which  properly  belongs  to  Ann, 
"  lord  of  the  lower  world ;"  while  at  Khorsabad,  where  the  southern 
gate  is  dedicated  to  him,  in  concert  with  Bilat-Ili,  the  expression 
relating  to  him  is,  "  he  who  regulates  the  aqueducts,"  although 
aqueducts,  which  were  of  great  importance  to  Assyria,  seem  equally 
with  "  the  sea"  to  have  been  under  the  special  care  of  Nin.  The 
most  embarrassing  question,  however,  refers  to  his  relationship  with 
the  other  gods.  JVin  or  Hercules  is  well  known,  from  Michaux's 
stone  and  other  sources,  as  the  son  of  Bel-Nimrod,  and  on  the 
Shamas-  Vul  obelisk,  which  is  dedicated  to  him,  this  descent  is  again 
distinctly  stated  ;  but  in  all  the  invocations  to  the  same  god  at 
Calah,  descent  is  claimed  in  a  similarly  constructed  passage  from 
the  star  lilmmut,  as  if  the  real  father  of  JVin  had  been  the  lesser 
Bel-Kimrod,  rather  than  the  greater  one.  The  god  Kebo,  also, 
in  the  inscription  on  the  statues  in  the  British  Museum,  assumes 
the  same  title  of  "  son  of  the  star  Kimmut ;"  and  as  Nebo,  answering 
to  Hermes  or  Mercury,  was  strictly  the  god  of  writing  and  science, 
his  connexion  with  the  Serpent,  the  source  of  all  knowledge,  appears 
to  be  only  natural.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  both  these  gods, 
Hea  and  Neho,  are  indifferently  S3'mbolised  by  "  the  wedge "  or 
"  arrow-head,"  the  essential  element  of  cuneiform  writing,  to  in- 
dicate that  they  were  the  inventors,  or,  at  any  rate,  the  patrons 
of  the  Babylonian  alphabet.  Another  god,  whom  we  must  also 
recognise  as  a  son  of  Hea's,  from  his  position  in  the  mythological 
lists,  is  Bel-Merodach,  the  mother  of  this  deity  being  named 
Dav-Kina,  and  a  remarkable  verification  being  thus  obtained  of 
the  statement  of  Damascius,  tou  he  'Aov  kui  AavKrjg  vlov  yeviaBai  tov 

This  god  was  very  extensively  worshipped.  As  his  name  is 
found  on  a  very  ancient  stone  tablet  from  Ur  {Mugheir),  which  in 
those  early  times  was  probably  the  maritime  emporium  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  he  may  be  presumed  to  have  had  a  shrine  in  that 
city,  and  temples  were  also  dedicated  to  him  both  at  Asshur  (Kileh- 
Sherghdt)ai[id  at  Calah.*  There  is  a  remarkable  phrase  in  an  insc;  iption 
of  Sardanapalus  on  the  great  bulls  in  the  British  Museum,  in  which 
the  king  himself  takes  the  titles  of  Bea.  He  says,  "  I  am  Sarda- 
napalus, the  intelligent  priest,  the  sentient  guide  (or  fish) ;  *  the 


'  Bav-kina  is  constantly  given  on  the  tab-  of  Babylon  ;  and  the  use  of  Khalas  a  locative 

lets  as  the  wife  of  Hea,  and  she  has   for  prefix    has    been    already   noticed   (p.  485, 

the  most  part  the  same  titles  as   her   hus-  note  ^). 

band,  with  a  mere  distinction  of  gender.   The  ^  The  use  of  the  same  signs  which  repre- 

nanie  probably  signifies  "  the  first  lady,"  or  sent  a  fish,  and  which  with  that  meaning 

*'  the  chief  lady,"  dav  or  dam  being  a  Hamite  would  be  pronounced  in  Assyrian  as  nun,  as 

name  for  "  lady,"  titles  of  honour,  is  very  remarkable,  and  can 

2  On  several  of  the  tablets  it  is  stated  that  only  be  explained  as  a  relic  of  the  mythical 

Hea  was  the  tutelar  god  of  the  city  of  Khal-  traditions  of  Hea  and  Oannes.     The  famous 

kha,  but  there  is  no  clue  to  the  identification  title  of  rubu  einga  (the  HOI")  of  Scripture)  is 

of  the  site.     The  name,  indeed,  may  simply  one  of  the?e  hybrid  epithets,  and  might  per- 

mean  •'  the  shrine  of  the  fish,"  for  the  cunei-  haps  be  translated  "  the  Magian  fish  "  (or 

form  character  formed  of  the  figure  of  a  fish,  "  the  fish  who  instructs  in  magic"),  as  well 

and  indicating  that  object,  has  the  phonetic  as  "the  chief  priest."    Selden  (De  Diis  Syris, 

value  of  k/ia,  which  is  thus  shown  to  have  p.  197)  has  collected  avast  number  of  Greek 

vsignified  "  a  fish  "  in  the  primitive  language  notices  with  regard  to  the  sacred  character  of 


Essay  X.  BELTIS,  THE  WIFE  OF  BEL-NIMROD.  495 

senses  of  speaking,  hearing,  and  understanding,  which  Hea  allotted 
to  the  whole  4000  gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  they  in  the  fullness  of 
their  hearts  granted  to  me,  adding  to  these  gifts  empire,  and  power, 
and  dominion,"  &c.  He  is  generally  met  with,  however,  in  his 
more  material  capacity  as  "  the  patron  of  the  deep."  When  Senna- 
cherib, in  his  second  expedition  against  the  fugitive  Merodach- 
Baladan  brought  down  a  flotilla  of  boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  Eu- 
phrates and  drove  his  enemy  from  the  islands  to  seek  shelter  with 
the  king  of  Susiana,  he  ottered  sacrifices  for  his  victory  to  Hea  upon 
the  sea-fchore,  and  dedicated  to  him  a  golden  boat,  a  golden  fish, 
and  a  golden  coffer  (?).  Hea  had  one  special  ark,  but  in  what 
shrine  it  was  deposited  does  not  appear.  His  numerical  symbol 
was  40,  and  the  sign,  otherwise  unusual,  occurs  often  in  his  titles, 
but  its  phonetic  import  has  not  been  recognised.  The  only  Baby- 
lonian city  which  there  is  any  reason  to  suppose  was  named  after 
the  god  in  question  is  that  famous  one  which  contained  the  bitumen 
pits  near  to  Babylon.  This  city  is  termed  "Iq  by  Herodotus,"  with 
the  Greek  nominatival  ending.  In  Isidore  it  has  the  title  of  'Ad- 
TToXig,  or  Hea's  city.  Later  an  adjunct  alluding  to  the  bitumen  pits 
was  added  to  the  proper  name  Hea,  and  we  have  thus  'l^tfcapa  in 
Ptolemy;  Ihi  da  kira  (N"i''p-TV'T')  in  the  Talmud,  and  Dacira  alone 
in  the  historians  of  Julian.^  In  its  present  form  of  Hit  it  nearly 
retains  the  old  name  of  the  god,  augmented  with  the  feminine  end- 
ing of  locality. 

(v.)  With  the  preceding  triad  must  be  joined  the  supreme  god- 
dess, who  has  already  been  partially  alluded  to  as  the  wife  of  Bel- 
Nimrod,  but  who  is  generally  invoked  as  a  separate  and  very  power- 
ful divinity.  There  is  considerable  difficulty  in  discriminating  the 
various  goddesses  of  the  Pantheon  as  they  occur  in  the  inscriptions, 
owing  to  the  very  near  resemblance  of  their  titles,  and  to  the  not 
unfrequent  confusion  of  these  titles  one  with  the  other.  Their  func- 
tions, however,  and  their  proper  names,  can  be  very  precisely  dis- 
tinguished. "  The  great  goddess  "  was  called  Mulita  or  Enuta  in 
Babylonia,  and  Bilta  or  Bilta-Nipruta  in  Semitic  Assyrian.  In  Mulita 
and  Bilta  we  have  of  course  the  MvXirra  and  B^Anc  or  Bz/X^r/^-  of 
the  Greeks,*'  the  signification  of  both  words  being  simply  "  the  lady  " 
or  "  queen,"  /car'  fioyj]^-  The  special  feature  of  her  name,  how- 
ever, that  which  distinguishes  her  from  the  other  "ladies"  and 
"  queens  "  of  the  Pantheon,  is  the  qualificative  adjunct  which  has 
already  been  discussed  under  the  head  of  Bel-Kimrod.  Her  ordi- 
nary titles  are  "  wife  of  Bel-Nimrod  "  and  "mother  of  the  great 
gods,"  though  in  one  passage  she  is  called  "  the  wife  of  Asshur  ;"  and 
under  a  particular  form,  that  is  as  "  the  lady  of  Nipar,'"  she  also 
appears  as  the  wife  of  Nin,  or  Hercules.    She  is  of  course  the  famous 


the  fish  among  the  ancient  Assyrians,  and  *  Book  i.  ch.  179. 

many  of  these  notices  can  be  very  strikingly         ^  gee  note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  179. 
illustrated  from  the  inscriptions ;  but  it  is  a         ®  According  to  Hesychius,   B-f}\dr)s   was 

mere  waste  of  ingenuity  to  seek  to  connect  either  Juno  or  Venus.     In  another  passage, 

this  fish-worship  with  the  name  of  Derceto  however,  he  gives  to  the  Babylonian  Juno 

or  Atargatis,  supposed  to  be  corrupted  from  the  name  of  "ASa,  which  has  not  yet  been 

Adir  Daga.  recognised  in  the  inscriptions. 


496  EXTENT  OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  BELTIS.     App.  Book  I. 

Dea  Syria  who  was  worshipped  at  Hierapolis,  and  the  Syriac  name 
of  that  city,  "  Mahog,"  is  a  simple  Persian  translation  of  her  favour- 
ite epithet,  "  mother  of  the  gods."  The  great  difficulty  in  the  in- 
scriptions is  to  distinguish  her  from  Ishtar  or  Venus,  some  particular 
signs,  such  as  the  number  15,  being  applied  to  both  goddesses  in 
common,  and  the  superintendence  of  war  and  hunting  being  also  per- 
haps ascribed  to  each. 

Her  temples  were  very  numerous.  The  bricks  in  the  great  ruin 
named  Bowdrieh,  at  Warkd,  for  the  most  part  bear  her  superscription, 
although  the  temple  to  which  they  belong  was  especially  called  Bit- 
Ana,  or  "  the  House  of  Anu/'  an  explanation  being  thus  afforded  of 
the  title  which  she  often  bears  both  in  the  Babylonian  cylinder-seals 
and  in  the  great  inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  "  the  lady  of  Bit- 
Ana.''  In  the  latter  document,  where  she  is  noticed  in  connexion 
with  her  temple  outside  the  wall  of  Babylon,  she  is  called  "  the 
Queen  of  fecundity"  or  "fertility;"  and  an  analogous  title  is 
assigned  to  her  at  Khorsabad,  where,  in  conjunction  with  her  hus- 
band Bel-Nimrod,  she  presides  over  the  eastern  gate  of  the  city. 
She  is  also  named  "  the  Queen  of  the  lands,"  with  the  same  allusion, 
on  the  numerous  tablets  excavated  from  her  temple  on  the  great 
mound  of  Koyunjik ;  and  she  thus,  both  in  name  and  character,  may 
be  compared  to  the  ^i]}xr)Tr]p  of  the  Greeks.  She  had  temples  both 
at  Ur  (Mugheir)  and  in  the  city  now  marked  by  the  ruins  of  Zerghul  ;^ 
and  of  the  great  capital  of  Nipur  {Nifer),  named  after  her  husband, 
she  was  the  especial  patroness,  though,  as  "  the  lad}'-  of  Nipur,""  she 
is  every  where  spoken  of  as  the  wife  of  Nin.^  In  Assyria  she  was 
equally  well  known  as  in  Babylonia  ;  but  it  is  less  easy  to  distinguish 
her.  In  the  inscriptions  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  where  her  temple  is 
noticed  at  Asshur  (Sherghdt),  she  is  named  the  wife  of  the  god  Asshur, 
in  allusion  probably  to  her  place  at  the  head  of  the, Pantheon.  It  is 
again  impossible  to  distinguish  whether  the  great  temple  at  Nimrud 
(Calah),  from  which  was  brought  the  open-mouthed  lion  now  in  the 
British  Museum,  belonged  to  her  or  to  Ishtar ;  for  although  the 
name  on  the  lion,  and  which  is  repeated  in  reference  to  the  same 
temple  in  other  inscriptions  of  Sardanapalus,  represents  Beltis  or 
Mylitta,  being  simply  "  queen  of  the  land,"  '  still  the  epithets,  "  the 

^  The  legend  on  the  brick?  of  Fsmidagon,  of  Nipur,"  was  in  reality  Beltis,  and  not  an 

from  the  mound  south  of  the  big  ruin  at  independent  divinity,  is  proved  not  merely  by 

Mugheir,  terminates  with  an  address  to  Beltis,  the  name  of  the  place,  but  by  an  inscription 

as  if  she  was  the  presiding  deity  of  the  place,  on  a  black  stone  among  the  ruins  of  JNiffer, 

though  her  temple  is  not  specifically  named,  which  contains  an  invocation  to  Beltis,  the 

The  same  evidence  of  her  local  worship  is  name  of  the  goddess  being  given  in  its  most 

afforded  by  the  legends  on  the  bricks  and  clay  ordmaiy  and  certain  form, 
cones  of  Zeighul;  and  in   addition   to  this         ^  The  title  translated  "  queen  of  the  land  " 

testimony  we  have  the  statement  of  Senna-  is  of  rare  occurrence,  and  of  doubtful  signifi- 

cherib  on  the  Nebbi  Yunus  stone,  that  in  his  cation.     Where  the  title  occm-s  on  Michaux's 

Babylonian  campaign  he  carried  off  as  trophies  stone,   in  immediate   union  with    the  three 

Beltis  of  Warka  and  Beltis  of  Rubesi,  the  great  gods,  ^nw,  Bel-Nimrod,  and  ^e'f,  it  can 

latter  name  applying  to  the  city  of  which  the  only  apply  to  Beltis  in  her  character  of  "  wife 

ruins  are  now  called  Zerghul.  of  Bel-Nimrod  "  and  "  mother  of  the  gods ;" 

^  A  further  description  will  be  given   of  but  the  invocation  on  the  open-mouthed  lion 

Beltis,  in  her  character  of  "  lady  of  JSipur,"  (as  will  be  subsequently  explained  at  length), 

under  the  head  of  Nin.     That  the  goddess  although  the  same,  or  an  equivalent,  title  is 

worshipped  at  Nipur,  and  styled    "  the  lady  made  use  of,  is  certainly  addressed  to  the  wife 


Essay  X.  SECOND  GROUP  OF  THREE.  497 

great  goddess,"  "  the  beginning  of  heaven  and  earth,"  "  the  queen 
of  all  the  gods,"  and  especially  "goddess  of  war  and  battle,"  are 
the  particular  titles  of  Jshtar.* 

At  Nineveh  {Koyunjik)  she  had  also  a  temple,  from  whence  a  vast 
number  of  inscribed  slabs  have  been  excavated,  recording  the  resto- 
ration of  the  edifice,  and  its  re-dedication  to  the  goddess  by  Asshur- 
hani-pal  after  his  successful  campaign  in  Susiana.  On  these  slabs 
the  goddess  is  indicated  indifierently  by  the  name  of  Bilta  Niprut^ 
and  by  the  number  15,  either  expressed  in  figures  or  by  the  sign 
Ri ;  and  it  might  be  presumed,  therefore,  that  when  Esar-haddon 
invokes  the  goddess  XV.  of  Nineveh,  and  the  goddess  XV.  of  Arbela, 
he  is  alluding  to  the  same  divinity.  Yet  the  Arbela  goddess  was 
certainly  Ishtar  and  not  Beltis  ;  and  as  Ishtar  had  also  a  great  temple 
on  the  mound  of  Koyunjik  founded  by  Sardanapalus,  she  may  be 
throughout  the  deity  addressed  by  Esar-haddon.  One  of  the  broken 
clay  tablets  contains  a  list  of  12  names  belonging  to  her,  with  their 
explanations  ;  and  among  these  may  be  recognised  "  the  holder  of 
the  sceptre,"  "the  beginning  of  the  beginning,"  "the  one  great 
queen,"  "the  queen  of  the  spheres,"  &c. 

As  she  has  no  functions,  it  would  appear,  in  common  with  the 
Moon,  it  is  hardly  allowable  to  connect  her  numerical  symbol  of 
XV.  with  the  day  of  the  full  moon  ;  nor  perhaps  is  it  anything 
more  than  accidental  that  the  Babylonian  word  which  answers  to 
15,  and  by  which  the  goddess  is  commonly  known.  Hi,  should  so 
nearly  resemble  the  'Pt'a  of  the  Greeks.  The  same  goddess  must 
have  been  worshipped  in  Armenia,  as  the  sign  Hi  with  the  deter- 
minative of  divinity  commences  some  of  the  royal  names  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Van  ;  but  there  is  no  satisfactory  evidence  to  show 
how  the  name  may  have  been  pronounced  in  that  country.  Perhaps 
the  safest  distinction  will  be  to  give  her  the  name  of  Mulita  in 
Babylonia,  and  of  Beltis  in  Assyria.^ 

(vi.)  We  now  come  to  the  group  composed  of  iEther,  the  Sun, 
and  the  Moon.  The  reading  of  the  name  of  the  god  who  represents 
the  sky,  or  ^ther,  continues  to  be  the  chief  phonetic  difficulty  of 
cuneiform  mythology.  The  evidence  upon  which  the  name  has 
been  hitherto  read  Fhul  or  Vul  is  of  the  most  unsatisfactory  descrip- 
tion, being  in  fact  almost  restricted  to  the  presumed  identity  of  a 
certain  Assyrian  king  who  seems  to  have  closed  the  upper  dynasty 
of  the  empire  with  the  Pul  of  Scripture  and  the  Bolochus  of  the 


of  the  god  Nin.    The  only  way  of  reconciling  regarded  as  of  any  consequence.     They  were 

these  discrepancies  of  usage  is  by  supposing  both  goddesses  of  war,  but  were  worshipped 

Beltis  to  have  had  two  distinct  characteis  ;  as  such  at  diflierent  periods  of  History. 
one  in  which  she  was  "  the  wife  of  Bel-Nim-         3  xhe  Mylitta  of  Herodotus  has  been  gene- 
rod,"  and  the  other  in  which  she  was    "  the         „        ^       ,        ,  _L. 

wife  of  Nin,"  being  worshipped  under  the  ^^"j^  rd^vr^d.  to  the  root  ^7^  and  translated 

former  character  at  Warka,  and  under  the  "  genetrix,"  but  no  derivative  from   such  a 

latter  at  Nifter.     The  Assyrians,  imperfectly  ^^^^  is  apphed  to  the  "  Great  Goddess  '  m  the 

acquainted,    perhaps,  with    the   Babylonian  inscriptions.     Mul  is  constantly  given  on  the 

system,  seem  of  the  two  characters  to  have  niythological  tablets  as  the  exact  equivalent 

made  two  distinct  goddesses.  ^^  ^«'^'  ^"^^  ^"^*^«  ^^7  *^"S  be  considered  the 

The  application  of  the  same  epithets  to  ^amite  correspondent  to  the  Semitic  Bilta, 

Ishtar  and  to  the  wife  of  Is'in  must  not  be  "  ^  ^^^1- 

VOL.  I.  2   K 


498  VUL,  THE  AETHER  OF  THE  GREEKS.         A  pp.  Book  T. 

Greek  clironologers.  If  this  identification  fail — and.  it  has  never 
"been  anything  more  than  a  conjecture — the  reading  of  Phul  or  Vul 
must  fall  with  it.  In  that  case  we  might  adopt  the  reading  of  Ben, 
because  the  name  of  the  god  in  question  forms  the  first  element  of 
a  royal  Syrian  title  which  seems  to  belong  to  the  king  Ben-hadad  of 
Scripture,  or,  following  the  normal  phonetic  value  of  the  sign  which 
represents  the  god — and  this,  as  far,  at  least,  as  Babylonian  mytho- 
logy is  concerned,  must  always  be  considered — we  might  be  con- 
tent with  the  alphabetic  power  Iva  or  Eva,  and  might  recognise 
the  title  in  the  many  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  words  containing 
this  syllable  (comp.  Ev/?^toc,  Ei;'f3wp£<T)(oc,  Euf^w/cog,  'Evtvya^oe, 
'EvtvySouXoc,  Evorita,  &c.).  It  ought  to  be  some  assistance  to  us  in 
reading  the  Assyrian  name  of  the  god  that  it  is  equivalent  in  pro- 
nunciation to  a  Babylonian  term  (written  simply  va^  which  indi- 
cates "  a  Chief"  or  "  Lord,"  and  thus  interchanges  with  the 
well-known  terms  Bel,  Mul,  Nin,  Sar,  Bub,  &c.,  but  it  is  at  present 
impossible  to  select  any  one  of  these  synonj^ms  with  more  confidence 
than  another,  as  the  phonetic  correspondent  of  the  name.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  looked  to  mere  local  tradition,  a  more  probable 
reading  would  seem  to  be  Atr  or  Aur,  well-known  gods  of  the  Men- 
daean  Pantheon,  who  presided  over  the  firmament ;  and  we  might 
then  compare  the  Greek  Ovpavog  (Aur-an,  the  god  Ur)  as  a  cognate 
title,  and  might  further  explain  the  'OporaX  of  Herodotus  as  a  com- 
pound term,  including  the  male  and  female  divinities  of  the  mate- 
rial heaven.*  In  the  midst  of  such  uncertainty,  the  form  of  Vul 
has  been  adopted  as  a  provisional  reading,  in  default  of  an}^  better 
nomenclature.^ 

No  complete  list  has  been  found  of  the  titles  of  Vul,  but  his  cha- 
racter and  functions  can  be  sufficiently  ascertained  from  the  various 
incidental  notices  regarding  him.  His  standard  epithets  are  "  the 
minister  of  heaven  and  earth"  and  "the  lord  of  canals,"  these 
canals,  from  their  use  in  diffusing  irrigation  and  rendering  the  lands 


*  This  explanation  of  the  term  'OporaA  name  of  the  king  who  has  been  hitherto  iden- 

(  Ur  f\nd  Tal)  is  only  hazarded  on  the  possible  tified  with  the  I'ul  of  Scripture,  some  MSS.  of 

assumption  that  tlie  latter  name  applies  to  the  the  Septuagint  verb  have  ^aXws,  instead  of 

goddess  of  the  sky  ;   but  it  is  almost  certain  *aAwx  i^  ^  Chron.  v,  35  ;  and  Iva-lush,  if 

that    Tal  is  an  erroneous  reading,  and  that  tliat  be  the  true  form  of  the  king's  name,  is 

the  true  form  of  the  name  is  Simla.  not  very  different  from  the  former  reading. 

^  There  is,  however,  some  additional  evi-  Admitting,  however,  this  explanation  to  be 
dence  in  favour  of  the  phonetic  reading  of  correct,  there  will  still  be  a  difficulty  about 
Iva  :  —  1 .  The  name  of  the  son  of  [smi-dagon  the  name  of  King  Ben-hadad,  which  can  in- 
is  sometimes  written  with  a  final  va,  as  if  it  deed  only  be  solved  by  supposing  the  god  of 
might  be  read  either  Shamas-Iva  or  Shamas-  the  air  to  have  had  ditt'erent  names  in  Syria 
Iv-oa.  2.  There  is  some  ground  for  suspecting  and  Babylonia.  Dr.  Hincks  at  one  time 
an  identity  between  a  Babylonian  city  named  considered  the  evidence  of  the  name  of  Ben- 
after  this  god,  and  the  Ava  or  Ivah  of  Scrip-  hadad  to  be  unanswerable,  and  even  ventured 
ture.     3.  The  Arabic  word  for  "  the  air "  to  compare  the  term   Ben  which  he  thus 

,     n     I    J.     ,              J  i.1,     •  ^A            r  assigned  to  the  god  with  the  initial  element 

as  actually  ^»i^,  heva,  and  the  instances  of  c        4.        V4.*iii          ,.  ■  ^          uj 

•'    Lt^  01  ven-tus ;  but  m  this  he  certainly  pushed 

analogy   between  the  Arabic    (originally  a  his  etymological  speculations  too  far,  ventiis 

Ciishite  dialect)  and  the  Babylonian  are  too  being  of  course  cognate  with  the  terms  vat, 

direct  and    numerous  to  be  at   all  subject  vnd,  and  had.  which  denote  the  wind  in  the 

lo  doubt.     Further,  with  regard  even  to  the  ludo-Arian  dialects. 


Essay  X.  TITLES  OF  VUL.  499 

fit  for  cultivation,  being  of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  social  eco- 
nomy of  the  Assyrians.  He  is  thus  *'  the  careful  or  beneficent 
chief,"  "  the  giver  of  abundance,"  "  the  god  of  fecundity."  Sargon, 
who  dedicates  to  him  the  northern  gate  of  Khorsabad  in  conjunc- 
tion with  "  the  Sun,"  invokes  him  as  "  the  establisher  of  canals  for 
irrigation,"  and  iSebuchadnezzar  employs  almost  the  same  epithet 
in  alluding  to  his  temple  at  Babylon,  while  in  noticing  the  other 
temple  of  the  god  at  Borsippa,  he  describes  him  (in  allusion  to  his 
more  general  character  of  "  Lord  of  the  air"  or  "  atmosphere  ")  as 
"  he  who  pours  the  field-rain  upon  my  territory."  The  more  usual 
allusions,  however,  are  to  his  power  as  "  the  Lord  of  the  whirl- 
wind" and  "  the  tempest."  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  addresses  him  as  "  he 
who  casts  the  whirlwind  over  rebellious  races  and  hostile  lands ;" 
and  the  metaphors  are  constantly  used  of  "  rushing  on  an  enemy 
like  the  whirlwind  of  Fw?,"  and  "  sweeping  a  country  as  with  the 
whirlwind  of  1 «?."  In  the  curses  also  which  are  fulminated 
against  persons  who  may  injure  the  royal  inscriptions  or  interfere 
with  benefactions,  we  find  such  phrases  as  the  following:  "May 
Vul  with  his  flaming  sword  scatter  pestilence  over  the  land,  and 
may  he  cause  famine  and  scarcity  to  prevail  throughout  the 
country ;"  or  where  the  anathema  is  in  a  more  humble  strain, 
"  may  he  scatter  the  harvest  and  destroy  the  crops ;  may  he  tear 
up  the  trees  and  beat  down  the  com,  &c."  As  the  lord  of  the  sky 
he  also  presided  over  the  four  points  of  the  compass,  his  sign  being 
used  as  the  determinative  to  the  respective  names  of  the  north,  east, 
south,  and  west.* 

The  goddess  who  is  associated  with  Vul  at  Ximrud,  and  also  upon 
some  of  the  clay  tablets  (their  titles  being  misharu  and  sharrat  or  king 
and  queen),''  is  Shala  or  Tola  ;  but  her  epithets,  of  which  an  incom- 
plete list  has  been  found,  are  obscure." 

^  The  importance  of  the  god  Vul  in  the  Ionian  Venus,  we  are  certainly  justified  in 
Pantheon  of  Babylonia,  as  contrasted  with  believing  the  entire  system  to  have  been  in- 
the  position  of  Ovpavhs,  or  of  iEther,  in  troduced  from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates, 
i'lassical  mythology,  constitutes  one  of  the  '  The  title  mhharu  assigned  to  this  god 
chief  differences  between  the  two  systems ;  recals  to  mind  the  term  Mi/crapbs,  which 
the  reason  of  the  distinction  no  doubt  being  Berosus  applies  to  Oannes  (Fr.  6),  although 
that  atmospheric  influences  were  of  so  mucli  there  is  otherwise  no  apparent  connexion  be- 
more  consequence  in  the  torrid  regions  of  the  tween  the  two.  If  misharu,  however,  simply 
East  than  either  in  Greece  or  Rome.  The  mean  "  king,"  as  is  most*  probable,  it  will 
conspicuous  part  which  Aiar  plays  under  his  suit  Ifea,  the  real  Oannes,  better  than  it 
various  developments,  in  the  Sabaan  system,  suits  Vul,  for  the  former  god  has  constantly 
seems  to  indicate  the  source  from  whence  the  sign  denoting  "  king "  attached  to  his 
Thales  drew  his  theory  of  the  origin  of  all  name. 

things  from  the  watery  element  in  nature.  ^  The  true  form  of  this  name  is  almost 
Vul  has  hardly  the  same  predominance  in  certainly  Shala,  and  it  seems  highly  probable 
Assyria  and  Babylonia,  but  there  are  traces  that  it  is  the  same  title  whicli,  under  the 
of  the  extension  of  his  worship  from  these  forms  of  'ZaXa/j.^w  and  ^akdfxfias,  is  ap- 
countries  in  various  directions.  Thus  the  plied  in  Hesycliius  and  the  Etymol.  Mag.  to 
triad  invariably  invoked  in  the  Armenian  the  Babylonian  ^■  enus.  The  second  element 
inscriptions  of  Van,  &c.,  are  Khaldi,  "  the  of  the  name,  if  this  explanation  be  correct. 
Sun,"  and  Fw/;  and  again,  as  we  find  on  the  will  then  be  '■'■  amma,"  or  '■'■  umma"  a 
Indo-Scythic  coins  of  the  2nd  and  3rd  cen-  ''  mother  ;"  a  term  which,  under  the  form  cf 
turies  distinct  evidence  of  the  worship  of  the  W/xfias,  Hesycliius  also  apphes  to  the  Baby- 
Sun,  of  the  Moon,  of  Vato  or  "  the  Wind  "  Ionian  Juno. 


(answering  to  Vul),  and  of  Nana,  the  Baby- 


2  K  2 


500  HIS  WORSHIP  IN  BABYLONIA.  App.  Book  I. 

The  god  Vul  must  have  been  known  in  Babylonia  from  the  earliest 
times,  as  the  son  of  hwMagon  of  C/r,  who  founded  temples  at  Asshur 
in  the  19th  century  B.C.,  has  a  name  compounded  of  the  titles  of  this 
god  and  of  the  sun.  We  know,  indeed,  from  the  inscriptions  of 
Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  that  one  of  the  temples  thus  founded  was  dedi- 
cated to  Anil  and  his  son  Vul,  and  this  temple  continued  to  the  latest 
times  to  command  respect  in  Assyria.  The  name  of  the  god,  how- 
ever-, as  far  as  our  present  experience  goes,  is  unknown  upon  the  Baby- 
lonian bricks  of  the  early  dynasty,  and  it  may  be  doubted  if  he  had 
any  temples  to  the  south  except  the  two  already  mentioned  as  hav- 
ing been  repaired  by  Nebuchadnezzar  at  Babylon  and  Borsippa.  At 
Calah  he  possessed  a  temple  in  common  with  his  wife  Shala,  but  no 
trace  has  been  recovered  of  a  similar  shrine  at  Nineveh.  The  object 
which  symbolises  this  god  both  on  the  cylinder-seals  and  in  the 
various  groups  of  the  divine  emblems  is  a  weapon  with  forked  points, 
which  may  perhaps  be  called  a  "  flaming  sword."  It  probably  re- 
presents the  lightning  or  thunder-bolts,  which  the  Greeks  put  into 
the  hands  of  Zeus,  and  it  must  be  the  same  weapon  with  which  the 
god  is  said  to  scatter  pestilence  over  the  land,  and  which,  moreover, 
was  sometimes  used  as  a  trophy,  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  having  con- 
structed one  of  these  double-edged  swords  of  copper,  and  having 
laid  it  up  in  one  of  his  castles,  inscribed  with  a  record  of  his  vic- 
tories.^ The  memory  of  this  old  emblem  is  also  probably  still  pre- 
served to  the  Mahommedan  world  in  the  double-edged  sword  of  Ali. 
If  there  is  any  figure  of  this  god  to  be  sought  for  amongst  the 
Assyrian  sculptures,  it  can  only  be  the  horned  deity  armed  with  the 
thunderbolt,  who  chases  the  evil  spirit  (pestilence  and  famine)  from 
the  land,  but  it  is  more  probable  that  that  figure  represents  Aln  or 
Hercules. 

The  numerical  sj^mbol  of  the  God  Vul  is  given  as  6,  on  the  tablet 
which  applies  notation  to  the  Pantheon ;  but  the'  position  in  con- 
tinuation of  60,  50,  40,  30,  and  20,  requires  10,  and  the  sign  repre- 
senting 10  is  precisely  that  which  has  been  already  noticed  as 
equivalent  to  Vul  in  its  meaning  of  a  "king,"  "lord,"  or  "chief." 
Perhaps  then  the  figure  10  should  be  the  proper  symbol,  especially 
as  it  was  allowable  in  Babylonian  to  write  a  series  3,  4,  5,  10,  or 
3,  4,  5,  6  indifferently,  the  origin  of  this  confusion  being  no  doubt 
to  be  sought  in  the  double  system  of  notation,  decimal  and  sexa- 
gintal.  If,  however,  the  figure  G  were  admitted  as  the  real  symbol 
of  Vul,  some  further  weight  would  be  attached  to  the  possible 
Mendaean  reading  of  the  name  of  the  god,  as  one  of  the  phonetic 
values  of  that  character  is  ar  or  er. 

(vii.)  Associated  with  the  god  of  the  sky  we  usually  find  "  the 
sun  "  and  "  the  moon."  The  sun  was  probably  named  in  Baby- 
lonia both  San  and  Sausi,  before  his  title  took  the  definite  Semitic 
form  of  ShamaSj^  by  which  he  is  known  in  Assyrian  and  in  all  the 


^  See  Kileh'Sherghat  Cjlmiei;  col.  6,1.  15,  "  five,"  we  have  Khansa,  "  fifty"),  and  San 

and  col.  8,  1.  83.  would  then  stand  for  Sansi,  as  As  for  Asshur; 

^  It  would   be  more  convenient  no  doubt  but  against  this  it  must  be  argued  that  Samas 

to  regard  Samas  as  the  original  title,  forming  or  Shamas  is  ne\'er  found  in  the  old  Baby- 

Sansi  in  the  construct  state  (as  from  Khamis,  Ionian,  and  that  it  would  be  ungrammaticivi 


Essay  X.  SAN  OR  SHAMAS,  THE  SUN-GOD.  501 

languages  of  that  family.  He  seems  to  have  been  considered  "  the 
great  mover,"  the  motive  agent  in  fact  of  everything,  and  hence  he 
is  connected  with  expeditions,  and  generally  with  the  active  func- 
tions of  royalty.  Plis  usual  titles  in  the  invocation  passages  are — 
"  the  regent  of  the  heavens  and  earth,"  "  he  who  sets  everything  in 
motion."  He  is  also  "  the  destro^^er  of  the  king's  enemies."  and 
"  the  breaker  up  of  opposition "  (?).  In  the  various  incidental 
notices  of  him,  however,  in  the  inscriptions,  there  is  more  fre- 
quently a  special  allusion  to  his  impulsive  power  in  urging  the  king 
to  victory.  Thus  Tiglath-Pileser  I.  calls  himself  "the  proud  chief 
who,  under  the  influence  of  the  sun-god,  sways  the  sceptre  of  power 
over  mankind,  and  pursues  after  the  people  of  Bel-Nimrod."  Sar- 
danapalus,  in  the  standard  inscription  of  the  north-west  palace  at 
Nimrud,  names  Asshur  and  the  sun-god  as  the  tutelary  deities  under 
whose  influence  he  carried  on  his  wars ;  and  he  commences  his  great 
historical  record  with  a  passage  that  may  be  read  as  follows  : — "  In 
the  beginning  of  my  reign,  during  the  first  year,  when  the  "  sun- 
god,"  the  regent  of  all  things,  had  cast  his  motive  influence  over 
nie,  seated  in  majesty  on  my  royal  throne,  and  swaying  in  my  hand 
the  sceptre  of  power  over  mankind,  I  assembled  my  chariots  and 
warriors."  Sargon,  in  his  dedication  to  the  sun-god  of  the  northern 
gate  at  Khorsabad,  speaks  of  him  as  "he  who  has  acquired  dominion 
for  me  ;"  and  the  epithet  emploj^ed  by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  noticing 
the  temple  of  the  sun-god  at  Babylon,  is  perhaps  "  the  supreme 
ruler  who  casts  a  favourable  eye  on  my  expeditions."  The  idea  no 
doubt  of  the  motive  influence  of  the  sun-god  in  all  human  affairs, 
arose  from  the  manifest  agency  of  the  material  sun  in  stimulating 
the  functions  of  nature. 

The  sun-god  was  probably  one  of  the  earliest  objects  of  Baby- 
lonian worship.  He  had  two  famous  temples — one  at  Larancha 
(modern  Senkereh),^  and  the  other  at  Sippara  (modern  Mosdih) — 
in  both  of  which  he  was  associated  with  his  wife  Anunit,  or  Gula. 
From  the  former  temple,  which  was  perhaps  named  Bit-Parra,'^  we 
have  numerous  bricks  of  the  early  Chaldasan  kings,  Khammurahi, 


to  use  the  construct  state  for  the  nominative,  ments,  p.    31.)     The  Hamite  name  of  the 

That  San  moreover  was  a  genuine  title  for  place  probably   signified    "  the    city  of  the 

"  the  Sun"  is  proved  by  the   geographical  Sun,"  as  that  of  Ilur  signified  "  the  city  of 

name  of  ID"*!,    Bisan  (Scythopolis    of  the  the  Moon  ;"  but  in  the  former  case  we  cannot 

Greeks,  and  formerly  |2J^  n^3,  1  Sam.  xxxi.  trace  any  phonetic  connexion. 

10,  12,  &c.),  which  is  explained  in  Euge-  ^  Hardy  etymologists  might  be  inclined  to 

sippus    to   mean    "  the   house  of  the  Sun."  connect  Parra  with  the  Egyptian  Phra  or 

Compare  also'^nSe  Bav(av  Kelrai  Zav  '6v  Aia  pi-ra,  "  the  Sun  ;"  and  it  is  certainly  re- 

KiK\'{](TKov(ri.      Porphyr.    in    Vit.    Pythag.  markable    that   the    initial   element   of  the 

§  17,  ad  fin.  name,  which  is  also  the  monogram  for  "  the 

In  later  times  the  Babylonians  corrupted  Sun,"  should  thus  have  the  double  phonetic 

Shamas  to  Savas,  or  Saws.     See  Hesychius  power  of  San  and  Par,  as   if  both   these 

in  voc.                                                       •  terms  had   been   proper  names  of  the  Sun 

2  It  is  not  quite  certain  if  the    Semitic  when  the  cuneiform   writing  was  invented, 

name  of  this  city  should  be  read  as  Larrak  For  a  notice  of  the  Senkereh  Terriple  see  Sir 

or    Lartsa.      The    former    orthography   is  T.  Phillips's  Cylinder,  col.  2,  1.  42,  and  the 

adopted  (there  being  cuneiform  authority  for  bricks  and  cylinders  of  Nebuchadnezzar  exca- 

the  reading),  in  order  to  assimilate  the  name  vated  by  ]\Ir.  Loftus  from  the  ruins  of  the 

with  Aapdyxai,  a  primitive  Chalda?an  capital  building, 
mentioned  by  Berosus.     (See  Cory's  Frag- 


502        HIS  WORSHIP  IN  ASSYRIA  AND  BABYLONIA.    App.  Book  T. 

Purna-pim'yas,  &c. ;  and  Nebuchadnezzar  has  further  left  a  detailed 
record  of  his  restoration  of  the  edifice.  The  latter  temple  seems  to 
have  been  even  more  celebrated,  and  to  have  existed  from  the 
remotest  antiquity  ;  for  it  is  alluded  to  in  the  antediluvian  traditions 
of  Berosus,  having  in  fact  given  the  name  of  Heliopolis  to  Sippara, 
where  Xisuthrus  is  supposed  to  have  buried  his  records  before  going 
into  the  ark.^  This  te tuple,  which  was  also  named  Bit  Farra,  was 
repaired  and  adorned  by  many  of  the  ancient  kings,  but  more 
especially  by  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Xabonidus,  though  the  last- 
named  king  devoted  his  particular  care  to  an  adjoining  temple 
named  Bit-  CJImis,  which  was  in  the  same  city  of  Sippara  or  Agana, 
but  which  was  exclusively  dedicated  to  Anunit,  who  thus  took  the 
title  of  Lady  of  Agana.^  The  male  and  female  powers  of  the  sun, 
whose  worship  at  Sipj^ara  was  celebrated  throughout  the  East,  were 
with  more  than  their  usual  accuracy  identified  by  the  Greeks  with 
the  Apollo  and  Diana  of  their  own  mythology ;  and  they  are  of 
course  represented  in  Scripture  by  the  "  Adrammelech  and  Anam- 
melech,  the  gods  of  Sepharvaim,"  to  whom  the  Sepharvites  burnt 
their  children  in  fire.®  The  meaning  of  these  Hebrew  names  is  not 
very  certain.  Adrammelech  may  be  "  the  fire-king,"  or  it  may  be 
"the  royal  arranger,"  ediru  and  gamilii,  "the  arranger"  and  "bene- 
factor "  being  epithets  which  together  are  frequently  applied  to  the 
gods,  and  which  are  sufficiently  applicable  to  "the  sun."  Anam- 
melech,  for  the  female  sun,  cannot  be  explained  unless  it  be  con- 
nected with  the  name  Anumt.  Idols  of  the  sun-god  are  also  not 
unfrequently  mentioned  in  the  Assyrian  lists,^  though  we  do  not 
find  any  special  temples  to  that  deity ;  and  he  appears  to  have  been 
worshipped  in  that  country  under  three  dififerent  forms  at  least,  as 
"  the  rising  sun,"  the  "  meridian  sun,"  and  "  the  setting  sun."  The 
allusions  to  him  in  these  various  capacities  are  exceedingly  obscure, 
and  must  await  further  research.     It  may  be  stated  however  that  he 


*  See  Aucher's  Eusebius,  p.  33,  sqq.     In  Sippara."     This  is  the  same  city  where  in 

the  extracts  fi  om  Berosus  the  name  of  Helio-  after  ages  was  established  the  famous  Jewish 

polis  is  applied  to  the  city,  and  Sippari  to  the  academy. 

inhabitants;  but  in  the  inscriptions  (see  B.  ^  This  is  all  explained  at  length  on  the 
M.  Ser.   PL  52.  1.  5,  &c.)  the  full  title  is  large  barrel  cylinder  of  Nabonidus.     Agana 
given  of  Tsipar  sha  S/uuikis,  "  Sippara  of  was  perhaps  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river 
the  Sun."     The  name  of  Sippara  is  supposed  opposite  to  Sippara,  and  was  so  called  from 
to  have  been  given  from  these  very  writings  being  at  the  head  of  the  great  lake  (X^^JN 
deposited   by   Xisuthrus    (comp.   "I2D,    "a  in  Chaldee),     It  represents  the  'AKpaKavov 
writing")    but   there    is    nothing   to   coun-  uirep  rrjs  l.iirinprtvwv  it6\i.os  of  Abydenus, 
tenance  such  a  derivation  in  the  inscriptions  ;  Acracan  being  given  at  full  length  in  the 
on  the  contrary,  as  the  cimeiform  sign  for  Sanhedrim,  fol.   38,  2,  as  NDJN""l"N1pfc<, 
"  the  Sun"  is  the  distinguishing  element  of  Akra  de  Agama,  "  the  fort  of  the  lake." 
the  Hamite  names  both  for   this   city  and  ^    2    Kings    xvii.    31.       The   dual    form 
Larancha,  and  as  the  same  element  occurs  in  D^"nSD  is  used  in  allusion  probably  to  the 
Tsipar,  it  is  most  natural  to  regard  that  term  doilble  city  on  each  side  of  the  river,  precisely 
as  a  translation  of  the  Hamite  name,  and  as  as  the  older  Arab  geogi-aphers  employed  the 
having  immediate  reference  to  the  Sun  wor-  p          /.       t           •    i.    j    r  i 
ship.  The  name  of  Sippara  became  gradually  ^°™  ^^  (ji;>^  "^'*^  °^  b^^- 
corrupted  to  iSj'fm  and -SMm,  and  the  Euphrates  '  Sennacherib  carried  oft'  the  idol  of  the 
at  Babylon  is  thus  always  named  by  the  Arab  sun-god  from  Larancha  in  his  gi'eat  Baby- 
geographers  "  the  river  of  Sura,"  precisely  as  Ionian  expedition, 
in  the  inscriptions  it  is  named  "  the  river  of 


Essay  X.  GULA,  THE  SUN-GODDESS.  503 

is  called  "  the  lord  of  fire,"  "  the  light  of  the  gods,"  "  the  ruler  of 
the  day,"  and  "  he  who  illumines  the  expanse  of  heaven  and  earth." 
As  the  second  member  of  the  lower  triad  of  the  Pantheon  he  is 
symbolised  by  the  number  20,  which  numeral,  as  an  alphabetic 
sign,  also  indicates  "a  king,"  not  improbably  in  allusion  to  the 
royal  character  of  the  sun.  It  has  also  the  phonetic  powers  of  JVis 
and  Man ;  and  from  the  analogy  of  the  names  Dis  and  A7ia,  apper- 
taining to  Arm  as  equivalents  of  his  numerical  symbol  of  60,  we 
might  very  well  argue  that  these  terms  must  also  be  names  for  the 
sun  in  some  of  the  ancient  dialects  of  Babylonia.  At  present,  how- 
ever, the  conjecture  is  unsupported  by  evidence.^ 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  female  power  of  the  sun  is 
named  Quia  or  Anunit ;  but  her  primitive  Babylonian  name  seems  to 
have  been  Ai,  and  it  is  under  that  form  that  she  is  found  in  most 
Babylonian  documents  to  be  associated  as  an  object  of  worship  with 
the  sun.^  It  is  possible  that  Ai,  Quia,  and  Anunit  may  represent  the 
female  power  of  the  sun  in  his  three  difi'eient  phases  of  "  rising," 
"  culminating,"  and  "  setting,"  for  the  names  do  not  appear  to  be 
interchangeable,  and  yet  they  are  equally  associated  with  the  sun- 
god.  The  name  of  Gula,  at  any  rate,  which  is  the  best  known  of 
the  three  forms,  and  which  simply  means  in  primitive  Babylonian 
"  the  great,"  ^  being  thus  identical  with  the  Gadlat  of  the  later 
Chaldaean  mythology,^  is  distinctly  stated  in  one  inscription  to 
belong  to  the  great  goddess  "the  Wife  of  the  Meridian  Sun."^  This 
goddess  is  more  generally  known  as  the  deity  who  presides  over 
life  and  fecundity,  and,  as  such,  is  frequently  confounded  with  two 
other  divinities,  Bilat  Hi,  or  "the  Mistress  of  the  Gods,"  and  Bilat 
Tila,  or  "  the  Mistress  of  Life,"  (?)  though  in  the  list  of  the  idols  in 
the  famous  temple  of  Bel-Merodach  at  Babylon  the  three  names  are 
given  as  those  of  distinct  deities.  A  comparison  of  the  titles  of 
these  three  goddesses  will  show,  at  any  rate,  how  difficult  it  must 
have  been  to  distinguish  them.  Gula,  in  the  great  inscription  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  who  dedicated  to  her  three  temples  at  Borsippa 
and  two  at  Babylon,  is  "  the  arranger  and  benefactor  of  life,"  and 
"  she  who  blesses  the  people,"  while  Bilat  Hi  at  Khorsabad,  where 
she  is  joined  with  Hea,  is  "  she  who  multiplies  life,"  and  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Sennacherib  is  distinctly  called  "  the  goddess  pre- 

^  The  Mendfeans  still  use  the  old  Assyrian  was  unknown  in  Assyrian.    Gula,  translated 

word  Shamas  for  the  Sun,  and   the   same  in  the  vocabularies  by  rabu,    and    kindred 

term  is  common  to  the  Hebrew,  Syrian,  and  therefore  with  gala,  which  is  a  synonym  for 

Arabic.     In  the  5th  century,  however,   the  the  same  word,   may  be  immediately  com- 

Sabaeans  of  Harran  worshipped   the  Sun  as  pared  with  the  Galla  gitda,  "  great,"  and  the 

Belshamin,  "  the  Lord  of  Heaven,"  and  at  many  ancient  Oriental  names  compounded  of 

a    later   period   they  used  the  Greek  name  Gallics  must  be  leferred  to  the  same  root. 
of   "YiKios.        See  'Assemau.    Bib.    Orient.         '^  Gadlat  and  Tar'ata  (Atargati*  or  Uer- 

vol.  i.  p.  327,  and  Ssabier  und  der  Ssabis-  ceto)  are  given  by  St.  James  of  Se  ■  j  as  the 

mus,  vol.  11.  p.  32.  tutelary   goddesses   of    Harran    in    the    5th 

^  See  Sir  T.   Phillips's  Cylinder,  col.    2,  century  of  Christ  (Asseman.    Bit      Orient. 

Is.  40  and  42,  where  the  temples  of  Sippara  vol.  i.  p.  327),  but  these  names  seejQ  to  have 

and  Larancha,  each  of  them  being  named  Bit  been    lost   three    centuries    later    when    the 

Parra,  are  said  to  be  dedicated  to  the  sun-  Nedim  wrote  on  the  gods  of  the  Saba;ans. 

god  and  At.  (See   Ssabier   und   der   Ssabismus,    vol.    ii. 

1  Gula  may  possibly  be  connected  with  p.  39.) 
bl^>  but  only  indirectly,  as  the  latter  term         3  See  Michaux's  Stone,  col.  4, 1.  5. 


504  TITLES  OF  GULA.  App.  Book  I 

siding  over  births."  *  It  may  be  added,  that  in  a  list  of  the  41  titles 
of  Bilat  Hi,  on  a  tablet  in  the  British  Museum,  Gula  is  given  as  a 
recognised  synonym ;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  as  far  as  present 
research  goes,  there  is  no  example  of  connexion  between  Bilat  Hi 
and  the  sun-god.  With  regard  to  the  relationship  of  Bilat  Tila  with 
Gula,  the  former  name  would  seem  to  signify  "the  mistress  of  life," 
and  the  temples  of  Gula  at  Borsippa  are  respectively  named  Bit 
Gula,  Bit  Tila,  and  Bit  Ziba  Tila.^  With  the  single  exception,  more- 
over, of  the  enumeration  of  Gula,  Bilat  Hi,  and  Bilat  Tila  as  distinct 
idols  in  the  temple  of  Bel-Merodach,  there  is  no  other  list,  it  is 
believed,  of  the  gods  which  contains  more  than  one  of  the  names. 
One  of  the  tablets  supplies  a  list  of  20  titles  for  Ai,  but  they  are  all 
obscure,  with  the  exception  of  the  heading,  which  is  "  the  female 
sun."  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  41  titles  of  Bilat  Hi ;  and  even 
Gula's  descriptive  titles,  which  are  chiefly  local  epithets,  are  not 
easy  of  explanation.  Gula  had  a  distinct  temple  at  Calah,  inde- 
pendent of  the  sun-god,  as  she  had  at  Babylon  and  Borsippa,  and 
also  at  Asshur,  where  ten  other  idols,  more  or  less  closely  con- 
nected with  her,  were  admitted  to  participate  in  her  worship.^ 

It  is  well  known  that  in  most  of  the  groups  of  Babylonian  and 
Assyrian  divine  emblems  there  are  two  distinct  representations  of 
the  sun,  one  being  figured  with  four  rays  or  divisions  within  the 
orb,  and  the  other  with  eight.  These  two  figures  may  be  supposed 
to  indicate  a  distinction  between  the  male  and  female  powers  of  the 
deity,  the  quartered  disk  symbolising  Shamas,  and  the  eight-rayed 
orb  being  the  emblem  of  Ai,  Gula,  or  Anunit. 

(viii.)  The  3rd  god  of  this  triad  is  "  the  moon,"  who  was  named 
Sin  by  the  Assyrians,  as  he  is  by  the  Mendaeans  to  the  present  day.^ 
His  Babylonian  name  was  probably  pronounced  Hurki,  the  essential 
element  of  the  name  being  preserved  in  Hur  (Ur  of  the  Chaldees 
and  modern  Mugheir)  which  was  the  chief  place  of  his  worship.^ 


4  See  B.  M.  Ser.  PI.  38,  1.  3.  In  Baby-  word  Sin  for  "  the  Moon"  in  so  many- 
Ionian  the  name  of  this  goddess  is  written  Semitic  languages,  and  have  sought  to  iden- 
Bilat  JSfini,  of  which  Bilat  Tli  is  the  Assy-  tify  the  god  in  question  with  Jupiter, 
rian  translation.  On  one  tablet  she  seems  to  Sin  is  not  only  a  recognized  term  for  the 
be  indicated  by  the  number  2,  but  her  moon  at  the  present  day  in  Syriac  and  Men- 
epithets  are  not  intelligible,  nor  even  are  her  deean,  but  it  is  the  name  given  to  the  moon- 
local  titles  for  the  most  part  to  be  recognised,  god  in  St.  James  of  Seruj's  list  of  the  idols 

•■'  Bilat   Tila  is  probably  the  same  as  the  of  Harran  already  quoted  ;  and  it  also  stands 

Rahh'd-at-Til  of  the  Saba^ans  of  Harran,  to  for  Monday  in  the  table  of  the  days  of  the 

whom  belonged  the  sacred  goats,  which  were  Aveek  used  by  the  Sab^ans  as  late  as  the  9th 

kept   as   victims,    but   which    no   pregnant  century.  (See  Norberg's  Onomasticon,  p.  108 ; 

woman  dared  to  oi?er  in  sacrifice,  or  even  to  Chwolsohn'sSsabierundder  Ssabismus,  vol.ii. 

approach.     (See  Ssabier  und  der  Ssabismus,  p.  22,  and  Asseman.   loc.  cit.)     Hesychius, 

vol.  ii.  p.  40.)  likewise,  seems  to  have  stated  the  fact  cor- 

^  These   names   are  as  follows:  —  *' The  rectly;  for  there  can  be  no  real  doubt  that 

Queen    of  the  Stars"   (Venus)  ;    Kippata  ;  for  the  SiVttjj/,  (refivrfv,  Bafivkct>vioi,  of  the 

Martu  ;  "  the  Queen  of  the  Chace  ;"  Gula  ;  MSS.,  we  must  read  StV,  riji/  aeA-fivrju,  Ba- 

Paniri  (?)  ;    Gunura  ;    Kilili ;    Tsakhirta  ;  ^vKcavioi. 

Bilat  Pale  {or  "  the  Queen  of  Time  (?)";  and  ^  Hur,  which  is  the  Hamite  power  of  the 

Pashirta.  cuneiform  sign    answering   to   the    Semitic 

'  It  is  most  surprising  that  Dr.  Hincks  nazar  I^J,  "  to  protect,"  may  perhaps  be 
in  his  paper  on  the  Assyrian  mythology  compared  with  the  root  y\]},  which  has  pro- 
should  have  overlooked  the  existence  of  the  duced   1''^,  '  Ir,  "  a  watcher,''  applied  to 


Essay  X.  THE  MOON-GOD,  SIN.  505 

The  titles  of  the  god  are  for  the  most  part  too  vague  to  indicate  the 
attributes  with  which  he  is  invested.  He  is  merely  "  the  chief," 
"  the  Lord  of  spirits,"  "  the  powerful,"  &c. ;  or  sometimes  "  king 
of  the  gods,"  or,  as  the  celestial  luminary,  "the  bright,"  "the 
shining;"  and  in  one  passage  "Lord  of  the  month."  It  would 
seem,  however,  from  certain  half  intelligible  allusions  in  the  inscrip- 
tions that  Sin  as  the  god  of  good  fortune  was  especially  entrusted 
with  the  guardianship  of  buildings.  Nebuchadnezzar  in  dedicating 
to  him  a  temple  at  Babjdon  thus  speaks  of  him  as  "  the  strengthener 
of  my  fortifications,"  and  in  noticing  the  other  temple  of  the  moon- 
god  at  Borsippa,  he  calls  him  "  the  supporting  architect  of  my 
stronghold."  There  is  also  a  very  interesting  passage  on  the  Khor- 
sabad  cylinders  which  may  be  thus  read : — "  In  the  month  of 
Sivan  (?),  a  month  under  the  care  of  the  great  Lord,  the  wielder  of 
the  thunderbolts,  the  supporting  architect,  the  guardian  (Burki)  of 
heaven  and  earth,  the  champion  of  the  gods,  the  moon-god,  who  is 
next  in  order  to  Anu,  Bel-Nimrod,  Hea,  and  Beltis,  I  made  bricks 
and  built  a  city  and  temple  to  the  god  of  the  month  Sivan  of  happy 
name."  ^  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  month  Sivan  was 
sacred  to  Sin,  the  names  being,  in  all  probability,  connected ;  and  it 
is  further  of  interest  to  observe  that  the  sign  which  represents  the 
month  in  question  is  also  the  sign  used  to  represent  "  bricks," 
which  especially  belonged  to  Sin  as  'the  Babylonian  god  of  archi- 
tecture.'" One  of  the  most  ordinary  titles  of  Sin,  it  may  be  added,  is 
Bel-zuna  (generally  contracted  in  Assyrian  to  Bel-zu)  and  there  is  in 
this  title  probably  the  same  allusion  to  building  (compare  |T 
'•  form,")  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  other  epithets.^ 

The  most  celebrated  temple  of  the  moon-god  appears  in  antiquity 
to  have  been  in  the  city  of  Hur.  Its  site  is  now  marked  by  the 
great  mound  of  Mugheir,  the  excavation  of  which  has  yielded  a  vast 
number  of  bricks,  tablets,  clay  cones,  and  cylinders,  all  stamped 
with  the  names  of  different  kings,  but  all  bearing  evidence  to  the 
worship  of  the  moon-god.  Nabonidus,  indeed,  who  seems  to  have 
been  an  especial  votary  of  Sins,  for  he  calls  him  "  the  chief  of  the 
gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  king  of  the  gods,  god  of  gods,  he  who 

dwells  in  the  great  heavens,  the  Lord  of  the  temple  of in 

the  city  of  Hur,  my  Lord,"  expressly  declares  that  he  had  found  in 
the  annals  of  Urukh  (the  oldest  king  whose  name  has  been  dis- 

the  archangels  in  the  Syriac  liturgy.  The  reference  to  the  whiteness  of  the  luminary, 
phonetic  reading  of  Hur  for  the  geographical  especially  as  the  cuneiform  sign  used  for  the 
name  in  which  this  sign  is  the  ruling  element  3rd  month,  sacred  to  Sin,  is  always  trans- 
is  given  repeatedly  in  the  vocxabularies,  and  lated  in  the  vocabularies  by  the  actual  word 
may  be  regarded  therefore  as  quite  certain.  liban.  It  may  also  fairly  be  surmised  that 
^  This  passage  commences  at  line  47  of  the  "  goddess,  or  fabulous  queen  of  Assyria, 
the  Cylinder  Inscription,  It  is  left  out  Tilbin,  derived  her  name  from  the  same 
altogether  in  the  nearly  similar  inscription  source."  (See  the  quotation  from  Eutychius 
on  the  Bulls  which  has  alone  as  yet  been  in  Chwolsohn's  Ssabier  und  der  Ssabismus, 
published.  vol.  ii.  p.  295.) 

'"  The  direct  connexion  thus  established  it*;    ^  ^^         +i,^  +  t.i^+„  *i,  +  ♦!,     r  n 

,    ,           .1        JO.        J  .,  I   •  I    M  f-     1     ij  ^  It  is  only  on  the  tablets  that  the  full 

between  the  god  6  m  and  "  bricks     for  build-  ,--i      c  t>  i            ■    v      ^vi^r-i- 

, ,     *      ,          1  •     ,,           •    TT  1.  "tie  of  Bel-zuna  is  found,  but  the  form  is 

ing  would  seem  to  explain  the  use  in  Hebrew  .  •  ^        at,    .•        tu         *              m 

*        ,                       ^  certainly  authentic.     The  root  zanan,  it  may 

of  nJ37  for  "  the  moon  "  (Is.  xxiv.  23  and  be  added,  is  commonly  used  in  Assyrian  fox* 
XXX.    2G),    more   satisfactorily   than    by   a     building. 


506  SIN,  THE  SON  OF  BEL-NIMROD.  App.  Book  I. 

covered  in  Babylonia)  a  record  that  he  had  commenced  the  temple 
in  question,  but  had  left  the  completion  of  it  to  his  son  Ilgi  ,-*  and 
the  shrine,  therefore,  must  have  lasted  throughout  the  entire  period 
of  the  Babylonian  monarchy,  from  its  foundation  to  the  time  of 
Cyrus.  The  name  of  the  moon-god  was  read,  it  would  seem,  or  at 
any  rate  might  have  been  read  in  one  of  the  dialects  of  ancient 
Babylon,  as  ^ShishaU,^  and  a  possible  explanation  is  thus  obtained  of 
the  Sheshech  of  Scripture  (used  for  Hur)  which  is  associated  with 
Babylon  in  the  denunciations  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah.* 

Hur,  the  city  of  the  moon-god,  was  also  called  in  a  later  age, 
according  to  Eupolemus,  Kafxapivr],  the  name  being  derived  appa- 
rently from  y^  Kamar,  an  Arabic  term  for  the  moon.*     Besides 

the  temples  to  Sin  already  noticed  at  Hur,  at  Babylon,  at  Borsippa, 
and  at  Khorsabad,  another  shrine  is  mentioned  at  Calah ;  and  the 
god  was  also  worshipped  under  the  same  name  at  Harran  as  late  as 
the  6th  century  of  the  Christian  era."  Sin  was,  in  all  probability, 
the  tutelary  deity  of  King  Sennacherib,  as  the  monarch's  name 
signifies  "  Sin  magnifies  (my)  brothers;  "  but  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  raised  any  temples  to  his  honour. 

With  regard  to  the  relationship  of  Sin  to  the  other  gods  of  the 
Pantheon  there  is  one  distinct  notice  on  a  brick  from  Muglmr  calling 
him  the  eldest  son  of  Bel-Nimrod,  and  there  are  many  indications 
that  his  wife  was  a  goddess  named  "  the  great  lady,"  who  is  joined 
with  him  in  the  lists  both  at  Khorsabad  and  on  the  tablets,  but  of 
whom  nothing  whatever  is  known  beyond  the  name.^ 

The  numerical  symbol  of  Sin  as  the  head  of  the  lower  triad  is  30, 
and  the  sign  representing  this  number  has,  as  we  should  expect,  an 
ordinary  phonetic  value  corresponding  with  the  name  of  the  god, 
but  it  has  also  a  second  value  Ish  or  ^V?-,  which  should  thus  likewise 
appertain  to  the  moon -god  in  some  of  the  old  dialects.  The 
identity  of  this  number  30  with  the  days  of  the  month,  over  which 
the  moon-god  presides,  can  hardly  be  accidental,  though  the  figure 
would  seem  to  have  been  assigned  to  him  as  a  symbol,  merely  from 
his  relative  position  in  the  lists.^     How  it  happened  that  the  moon 


2  This  is  quoted  from  the  cylinders  of  word.  See  also  the  frequent  notices  of  Sin 
Nabonidus  excavated   by  Mr.  Taylor  from  in  "  Ssabier  mid  der  Ssabismus." 

the  four  corners  of  the  tower  or  ziggurat  of  7  This  goddess  was  associated  with  Sin  as 

the  Temple  of  the  Moon  at  Mugheir.  tutelary  divinity  of  the  city  of  Hur,  and  a 

3  That  is,  the  cuneiform  sign  which  in  particular  portion  of  the  great  temple  at  that 
the  sense  of  "protecting"  must  be  read  as  place  was  dedicated  to  her,  the  legends  on 
Hur  in  Hamite  and  Nazar  in  Semitic,  is  the  bricks  of  Nabonidus  from  this  spot  con- 
also  used  to  denote  "  a  brother,"  which  is  taining  an  invocation  to  her.  Both  she  and 
Shish  in  one  language  and  Akhu  in  the  other,  her   husband  Sin  had  arks   or    tabernacles, 

4  Jer.  XXV.  26  and  li.  41.  probably  deposited  in  this  temple,  the  one 
^  Euseb.  Prsep.  Evang.  9.  being  called  "  the  light  "  and  the  other  "  the 
*  St.   James  of  Seruj,   about  A.  D.    500,  lesser  light." 

says  that  the  devil   deceived  the  people  of  ^  That  is,  as  the  head  of  the  second  Triad, 

Harran  through  Sin  and  Bal-shemin ;  i.e.  which  was  his  proper  place  in  the  Pantheon, 

"  the    moon"  and   "  the   sun."      Assemani,  though  he  is  here  for  convenience  sake  put 

however,  in  translatmg   the   passage    (Bib.  after  "  the  Sun,"     In  all  the  invocation-lists 

Orient,  vol.  i.  p.  327)  failed  to  recognise  the  we  possess,  except  that  on  Michaux's  stone, 

single  Sin  follows  next  after  the  three  great  gods 


Essay  X.  THE  FIVE  MI  NOR  GODS.  507 

in  Babylonian  mythology  was  thus  placed  above  the  sun  we  are 
not,  of  course,  in  a  position  to  decide;  but  there  were  evidently 
traditions  regarding  the  god  of  extreme  antiquity,  and  apparently 
connected  with  the  first  colonisation  of  the  land,  which  may  not 
improbably  have  occasioned  the  preference.  Thus  in  two  passages 
of  the  inscriptions  of  Sargon,  where  he  alludes  to  the  conquest  of 
Northern  Armenia  and  the  submission  of  the  Greeks  of  Cyprus,  he 
incidentally  notices  the  antiquity  of  the  moon-god.*  In  the  latter 
passage  he  speaks  of  the  Cypriots  as  "a  nation  of  whom  from  the 
remotest  times,  from  the  origin  of  the  god  Hurki  (or  Siii),'^  the  kings 
my  fathers,  who  ruled  over  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  had  never  heard 
the  mention."  What  precise  idea  "the  origin"  or  "the  first  of 
Hurki"  may  be  intended  to  convey  we  cannot,  of  course,  say;  but 
the  allusion  would  seem  to  be  to  the  commencement  of  the  his- 
torical period.  A  reference  may  here  also  be  made  to  the  famous 
passage  of  Berosus  which  describes  the  great  female  deity  who 
assisted  Belus  in  the  formation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  under 
the  name  of  '0/xopwjca  and  9a\ar^,  because  there  is  a  gloss  added  in 
the  Greek,  that  the  Chaldaean  word  Thalatth,  which  answers  imme- 
diately to  ^aXaarira,  "the  sea,"  may  also  be  interpreted  "the 
moon."^  Now  the  goddess  thus  indicated  is  well  known  to  the 
Assyrian  student  under  the  name  of  Telita,  but  she  has  no  apparent 
relation  to  the  moon.  She  is  rather  the  goddess  of  the  lakes  or 
stagnant  water  about  Babylon,  and  the  name  may  thus  really  be 
connected  with  the  Greek  ^dXaaaa.^  With  regard  to  'OfxopioKa  or 
'O^oK-pa,  the  most  probable  explanation  seems  to  be  Um-urka,  "  the 
mother  or  lady  of  Urha'"  *  or  "  Warka,'"  which  was  an  acknowledged 
title  of  Beltis ;  but  there  is  also  another  name,  applying  probably  to 
the  same  divinity,  on  a  tablet  from  Tel  Eyd,  near  Warka,  which 
reads  Marki,  and  thus  suggests  that  the  Armenian  form  Marcaia  may 
after  all  be  the  true  reading  of  the  name.* 

(ix.)  W^e  now  come  to  the  five  minor  gods,  who,  if  not  of  astro- 
nomical origin,  were  at  any  rate  identified  with  the  five  planets  of 
the  Chaldean  system.  In  regard  to  four  of  the  gods  in  question 
the  identification  is  certain,  because  the  Mendasans  still  apply  to 
four  of  the  planets  the  very  terms  which  are  used  in  the  inscriptions 


Ann,   Bel-Nimrod,    and  Hea  (with  Beltis  which  was  named  after  her  Dur-Telita,  and 

sometimes  interposed),   and   he  is  therefore  which  is  no  donbt  the  QaAada  of  Ptolemy, 

misplaced  in  this  Essay.  placed  by  him  near  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

^  See  Khorsabad  Inscriptions,  pi.  151,  22,         *  See   particularly  Sir  T.    Phillips's  Cy- 

and  153,  2.  hnder,col.  2,  1.  52,  where  she  is  thus  named 

'  The  expression  here  made  use  of  with  ,  in  the  notice  of  the  restoration  of  her  temple 

regard  to  "the  moon-god"  is  qmte  uuintel-  of  Bit  Ana  by  Nebuchadnezzar. 
ligible  at  Khorsabad,  but  is  illustrated  by  a         •''  See  Aucher's   Eusebius,   vol.  i.  p.   23. 

variant  reading  on  the  Cyprus  stone.  The  goddess  commemorated  on  this   tablet, 

2  See  the  quotation  trom  Syncellus  in  and  to  whom  king  Ilgi  builds  a  temple  at 
Cory's  Fragments,  p.  25.  Tel  Eyd,  is  called  "  the  Lady  of  Marki,"  or 

3  She  is  the  goddess  of  the  Bar  (pro-  Wai^ki,  and  a  suspicion  thus  arises  that  the 
,  ,  1  ...  t  I  s  I.-  1.  •  ii.  name  Warki  is  after  all  nothing  more  than 
bably  Arabic  ^^,  hahar),  which  is  the  the  phonetic  reading  of  the  title  of  the  city 
first  element  in  the  name  of  Bar-zip  or  of  Warka,  which  is  here  for  the  first  time 
Borsippa.      In   the   inscriptions   of    Sargon  met  with. 

a  city  on  the  lower  Tigris  is  often  mentioned, 


508  NIN-IP  OE  NIN— HIS  EPITHETS.        App.  Book  I. 

as  tlie  proper  names  of  the  gods,  and  in  the  case  of  the  remaining 
god  a  coincidence  may  be  inferred,  though  we  cannot  at  present 
find  a  cuneiform  correspondent  for  the  Syriac  name.  This  doubtful 
god  then  will  be  first  examined.  His  ordinary  names,  if  read 
phonetically,  are  Bar  and  Nin-ip,  but  he  had  also  the  earlier  Baby- 
lonian titles  of  Va-lua  and  Va-dana,  which  are  quite  unintelligible. 
There  is  no  god  indeed  in  the  Pantheon,  whose  proper  name  is 
subject  to  so  much  doubt,  while  at  the  same  time  we  have  such  an 
extensive  series  of  his  descriptive  epithets.  A  few  of  these  epithets 
selected  from  the  dedications  to  the  god,  recorded  by  Sardanapalus 
and  Shamas-  Vul  at  Calah,^  as  well  as  from  the  mythological  tablets, 
where  he  is  discussed  at  great  length,  will  now  be  given,  and  from 
the  terms  employed  we  will  then  proceed  to  judge  of  the  god's 
character  and  functions.  One  series  of  epithets  refers  to  his  strength 
and  courage.  He  is  "  the  lord  of  the  brave,"  "  the  champion," 
"  the  warrior  who  subdues  foes,"  "  he  who  strengthens  the  hearts 
of  his  followers;"  and  again,  "the  destroyer  of  enemies,"  "the 
reducer  of  the  disobedient,"  "  the  exterminator  of  rebels,"  "whose 
sword  is  good."  In  more  general  terms  he  is  "  the  powerful  chief,'' 
"the  supreme,"  "the  first  of  the  gods,"  "the  eldest  son."  He  is 
also  "  the  chief  of  the  spirits,"  "  the  favourite  of  the  gods,"  "  the 
glorifier  of  the  meridian  sun."  With  regard  to  his  position  in  the 
heavens,  he  is  "the  rider  on  the-  wind,"  "he  who  wields  the 
thunderbolts  of  the  gods,"  "  he  who  spreads  his  shield  over  the 
heights  of  heaven  and  earth  ;"  also,  "  the  light  of  heaven  and  earth," 
"  he  who  like  the  sun,  the  light  of  the  gods,  illumines  the  nations." 
As  a  motive  agent,  he  is,  "  he  who  causes  the  circles  of  the  heavens 
and  earth  to  revolve,"  "  he  who  grants  the  sceptre  and  the  thunder- 
bolts of  power,"  and  "  he  who  incites  to  everything."  More 
definitely,  he  is  "the  god  of  battle,"  "he  who  tramples  upon  the 
wide  world ; "  and  in  reference  to  his  character  of  the  fish-god, 
which  seems  so  strangely  inconsistent  with  his  other  attributes,  he 
is  "the  opener  of  aqueducts,"  "the  god  of  the  sea  and  of  aque- 
ducts," "  he  who  dwells  in  the  deep."  It  must  be  understood  that 
in  this  list  a  very  small  portion  only  of  his  epithets  are  given — the 
total  number  being  above  a  hundred ;  but  they  are  still  sufficient  to 
show  the  great  variety  of  the  god's  supposed  functions.  Many  of 
these  functions  can  further  be  verified  from  other  sources.  Thus  in 
the  inscriptions  he  is  constantly  said  to  excite  the  king  to  under- 
take his  various  expeditions  both  for  war  and  hunting ;  he  accom- 
panies him  to  the  field ;  he  watches  over  the  combat,  and  he  dis- 
penses victory.  Again,  as  the  invocation  to  him  is  inscribed  across 
eacH  of  those  remarkable  slabs  in  the  British  Museum,  which  are 
sculptured  respectively  with  the  figure  of  the  fish-god,  and  the 
figure  armed  with  the  thunderbolt  who  drives  away  the  evil  spirit, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that,  notwithstanding  their  diversity 


^  The   invocation  of  Sardanapalus  is  re-  ing.     The  invocation  of  Shamas-  Vul,  which 

peated  on   a  vast   number  of  mural    slabs  is  different,  and  less  detailed,   prefaces  the 

belonging  to  the  great  temple  at  Calah,  and  king's  annals  upon  the  obelisk,  also  found  at 

i=;  also  prefixed  to  the  king's  annals  on  the  Calah,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
pavement  slabs  belonging  to  the  same  build- 


Essay  X. 


HIS  STELLAR  CHAEACTER  DOUBTFUL.  .      500 


of  character,    both   of    the    above-named    mythical   creatures   are 
intended  to  represent  the  god  under  different  attributes/ 

Not  less  difficult,  however,  is  it  to  reconcile  the  Oannes,  or  fish- 
god  of  Berosus,  with  the  Hercules  of  classical  mythology,  both  of 
these  characters  appertaining,  as  it  would  seem,  to  the  god  in  ques- 
tion, than  it  is  to  explain  his  astronomical  position  in  the  Pantheon. 
It  has  been  observed  that  as  the  four  remaining  minor  gods,  Bel- 
Merodach,  Nergal,  Ishtar,  and  Nebb^  respectively  represent  in  the 
heavens  the  planets  Jupiter,  Mars,  Venus,  and  Mercury,  it  would 
appear  almost  certain  a  priori  that  the  god  whom  we  are  now  con- 
sidering must  correspond  with  Saturn,  and  without  any  great 
violence  of  etymology,  the  name  which  Saturn  bears  in  Mendaean, 
and  perhaps  also  in  Scripture,^  Kivan,  might  also  be  compared  with 
the  Greek  'Q^dvvrjg  ;  but  how  is  it  possible  that  the  dark  and  distant 
planet  Saturn  can  answer  to  the  luminary  who  "  irradiates  the 
nations  like  the  sun,  the  light  of  the  gods?"®     All  the  celestial 


"^  Both  of  these  slabs  indeed  come  from 
the  same  building,  the  Temple  of  Zira, 
dedicated  to  the  god  of  war,  which  was  the 
principal  sacred  edifice  at  Calah.  The  so- 
called  pyramid  at  Nimrud  was  the  ziggurat 
or  "  tower "  attached  to  this  temple, 
and,  judging  from  experience,  at  Kileh- 
Sherghat,  at  Mugheir,  and  at  Birs  Nimrud, 
historical  cylinders  of  Shalmaneser  are  yet 
to  be  found  in  the  four  corners  of  the 
stone  walls  of  the  various  stages  of  this 
building  which  have  not  been  hitherto 
explored. 

*  The  allusion  is  to  the  word  |'1''3  in 
Amos  V.  26,  which  we,  following  the  Vul- 
gate, translate  by  a  "  statue,"  but  which  the 
LXX.  and  all  other  translators  have  regarded 
as  a  proper  name.  The  LXX.,  mistaking 
the  initial  letter,  give  the  name  as  'Vaicpav 
(whence  we  have  'Pe/xcpav  in  Acts  vii.  43). 
but  the  Syrian  version  retains  the  reading  of 
Kivan,  which  was  the  name  for  Saturn  in 
that  language.  The  assimilation  of  Kivan 
and  'Cldvvr\s  supposes  that  Berosus  repre- 
sented the  Babylonian  guttural  by  a  Greek 
aspirate,  which  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  im- 
pi'obable.  As  Helladius  (Phot.  Bib.  cclxxix. 
p.  1594)  uses  the  name  "Cl-q  for  the  same 
fabulous  being,  a  more  natural  explanation 
of  Oannes  would  be  as  a  compound  of  Hea 
or  Hoa,  and  an  "  a  god."  Hyginus  in  his 
274th  fable  probably  used  the  orthography 
of  EifduT]s. 

^  M.  Raoul  Rochette  in  his  elaborate 
memoir  on  the  Assyrian  Hercules  in  the 
Memoires  de  I'lnstitut,  tom.  xvii.,  viewing 
the  subject  from  a  classical  rather  than  an 
Oriental  point  of  view,  has  accumulated 
abundant  evidence  to  show  that  Hercules 
was  commonly  confounded  in  the  East  with 
Saturn.  Damascius  (de  Princip.  in  Wolflf's 
Analecta,  iii.  p.  254)  thus  quotes  a  tradition 


on  the  authority  of  Hellanicus  and  Hierony- 
mus,  the  Peripatetic,  that  fi-om  the  two 
primitive  elements,  water  and  earth,  was 
born  a  dragon,  who,  besides  his  serpent's 
head,  had  two  other  heads,  those  of  a  lion 
and  .a  bull,  between  which  was  placed  the 
visage  of  God,  Qeov  irpocrcoirou,  Tluofidadai 
Se  XpoVoi/  ayr]parov  Kal  'Hpa/fAyja  rhv 
avr6v.  Athenagoras  (Legat.  pr.  Christ. 
S.  XV.  6,  p.  3,  edit.  Lindner.)  repeats  tlie 
tradition,  stating,  however,  still  more  clearly 
ovoyLa'\{paK\y\s  koX  Xpovoi.  John  Lydus 
(de  Mens.  iv.  46,  p.  220,  ed.  Roeth)  also 
says,  'UpaKXrjs  5e  6  Xpovos  irapa  t^  Niko- 
ixdx<f  eifpTjTci.  The  visage  of  God,  with  the 
symbolical  figures  of  the  bull  and  lion,  aie 
strikingly  illustrative  of  the  Nineveh  sculp- 
tuies  of  "  the  god  and  goddess  of  war,"  and 
the  expression  xp^^^^  ayr]paTov,  "  time 
without  bounds,"  also  brings  into  the  category 
the  Zerwan  akarene  of  the  early  Magians. 

As  a  further  proof  of  the  connexion  be- 
tween Hercules  and  Saturn,  Raoul  Rochette, 
following  Movers  (Phbnizier,  i.  292),  refers 
to  the  name  of  Kivan.  This  he  supposes  to 
be  the  same  as  the  Greek  k'iuiv  and  Hebrew 
jVD  (Amos  V.  26),  and  to  have  been  assigned 
because  the  god  Hercules  was  worshipped 
under  the  form  of  "  a  pillar"  or  "  column," 
and  he  refers  the  Egyptian  name  of  Xu)v  for 
Hercules  to  the  same  source — but  there  is  no 
evidence  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  columnar 
worship  of  Hercules,  nor  have  we  yet  found 
any  cuneiform  name  for  Nin  which  could 
represent  jVD  or  Kivan.  (See  Raoul  Ro- 
chette's  Memoir,  p.  50.) 

Raoul  Rochette  further  quotes  many  epi- 
thets, such  as  fxdvris,  (pvaiKds,  (pi\6cro(pos, 
TeAeCTTjs,  &c.,  applying  to  Hercules  as  the 
god  of  knowledge,  and  he  explains  this 
apparent  incongruity  by  referring  to  the 
'HpaK\eovs  (TTr)Kai,  inscribed  with  mystic 


510  THE  MAN-BULL  HIS  EMBLEM.  App.  Book  L 

indications  indeed  in  the  varions  invocations  to  Bar  point  to  the 
moon,  and  recall  the  connexion  which  both  in  Greek  and  Egyptian 
mythology  existed  between  the  moon  and  Hercules ;  whereas  in  the 
Stellar  Tablets  it  is  clearl}^  established  that  the  god  in  question 
must  represent  the  constellation  Taurus,  in  virtue,  probably,  of  his 
connexion  with  the  man- bull,  which,  as  the  impersonation  of 
strength  and  power,  was  dedicated  to  him.  As  the  celestial  Bull, 
Bar  or  Nin-ip,  had  the  title  apparently  of  T^hibbi,  but  the  meaning 
of  the  term  is  obscure,  and  to  establish  any  connexion  between  the 
Constellation  Taurus  and  Saturn,  in  the  astral  mythology  of  Assyria, 
we  have  to  travel  almost  beyond  the  limits  of  legitimate  criticism. 
The  following  remarks  are  offered,  however,  as  a  possible  solution 
of  the  difficulty  : — In  the  mythical  names  of  the  East,  the  termina- 
tion in  an  may  be  usually  recognised  as  a  mere  dialectic  develop- 
ment. The  true  name  of  the  planet  Saturn  then,  instead  of  KivaUy 
may  be  Kiv  or  Giv,  and  this  term  can  be  connected  both  with  Her- 
cules on  the  one  side,  and  with  the  Bull  on  the  other.  Giv  in  fact, 
which  is  a  strictly  historical  name,  as  it  occurs  in  Greek  characters 
at  Behistun,  was  a  famous  warrior  of  old  Persian  romance,  whilst 
the  same  title  under  another  form,  Gav,  which  means  "  a  bull,"  but 
was  also  taken  as  a  proper  name,  was  applied  to  the  true  Arian 
Hercules,  the  founder  of  Persian  nationality.'  Further  the  second 
month  of  the  Assyrian  year,  which,  supposing  the  year  to  commence 
with  Aries,  would  fall  imder  the  zodiacal  sign  of  Taurus,  was  repre- 
sented by  the  same  cuneiform  sign  which  denotes  a  bull  (alpu),  and 
to  which  the  name  of  Nin-ip  is  attached  in  the  Stellar  Tablets ; 
this  month  moreover  answering  to  the  Thura-vahar  of  the  Persian 
calendar,  where  Thura  is  evidently  "W,  .A  or  "iiia.  ravpoc,  and  to 
the  Zw  of  the  old  Hebrew  calendar,  which  may  very  well  stand  for 
Gic,  as  Zam-zummim  stands  for  Gamgummi,  &c.^    In  our  present  state, 

characters,  and  perhaps  the  same  as  the  ante-  dynasty  instead  of  an  individual,  answer  to 

diluvian  columns  of  Plato  and  Joseph  us,  as  tlie    Zend  Kava,    "royal"    (in    Kava    Us, 

•well  as  the  Koff/j-ov  Kiovas,  which  contained  &c.),    if  that  be    really  a  genuine  ancient 

all  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  which  Atlas  term.     At  any  rate  Gau,  "  a  bull  "  in  old 

gave  to  Hercules,  according  to  Herodorus,  Persian,  is  a  distinct  word,  as  in  Gaubarutoa 

quoted  by  Clemens   (Strom.   I.    15,  s.    73,  for  rwfipvas.    It  is  at  the  same  time  curious 

p.  360) ;  but  a  more  satisfactory  explanation  to  remarlv,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  that 

of  the   Greek  myth  is  to  be  found  in  our  Gav  for   "a  smith"   has  its  correspondent 

discovery  that  the   Assyrian  Hercules   was  in  all  the  Celtic  tongues.     Compare  Welsh 

confounded  with  Oannes,  the  author  of  all  Gof,  Irish  Gohha  and  Gobhan,  Latin  name 

science,  being  typified    at   Nimnid   by   the  Gobanus,   modern   Goivan,  the  same  termi- 

man-fish,  which,  according  to  Berosus,  was  nation  reappearing  as  in  Kivan  and  Vivan. 

tlie  figure  assigned  to  the  other  deity.  Remark  too  that  the  god  whose  claim  to  the 

1  The  connexion,   however,  between  the  name  of  Kivan  we  are  now  considering  is 

rames  of  Giv  and   Gav  is  very  doubtful,  actually  the    god   of  iron,  and   thus    "the 

The  name  of  Giv,  which  belonged  to   the  smith "  par  excellence.     We  need  never  in- 

fiither  of  rjotarzes  (at  Behistun  mTAPZHC  deed  be  startled  at  finding  Arian  analogies 

rEOnOQPOC),  seems  to   be   the  same  as  in  examining  the  old  Babylonian  terms,  for 

tiie  Vican  of  the  great  inscription  of  Darius,  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  a  primitive 

while  Gav  or  Guva,  the  name  of  the  famous  Arianism,  anterior  probably  to  the  develop- 

hlacksmith  of  Isfahan,  who  drove  out  Zohak  nient  of  the  Sanscrit,  in  the  construction  of 

(the  Scythians),  and  restored  Aiian  supre-  the  cuneiform  alphabet, 
macy,  must  ]-ather,  according  to  the  early         2  7}^^  identity  of  Thura-vahir  with  the 

Arab  historians,  who   apply  the  title  to  a  2nd  month  of  the  year,  named  Ziv  in  the 


Essay  X. 


OTHER  NAMES  OF  NIN-IP. 


511 


however,  of  ■uncertainty  as  to  whether  the  Mendaean  name  Kivan  for 
Saturn  is  really  of  the  same  antiquity  a»  the  other  six  planetary 
names,  Bel,  Nerig,  Shamas,  Ishtar,  Nebo,  and  Sin,  or  whether  it  is  a 
later  importation  from  the  Persian— affording  as  it  does  the  only 
single  instance  of  identity  in  the  planetary  nomenclature  of  the 
Mendeean  and  Syrian  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Pehlevi  and  Persian 
on  the  other — there  is  no  use  in  any  further  discussion  of  the 
question. 

Of  more  interest  will  it  be  to  attend  to  the  other  names  of  Nin-ip 
and  Bar.  Now  with  regard  to  Nin-ip,  the  adjunct  ip  is  explained  in 
the  vocabularies  to  signify  merely  "  a  name,"  so  that  the  title  may 
perhaps  be  read  Nin,  "  the  lord  or  master,"  Kar  eEoxn^,  and  it  is 
very  remarkable  that  a  precisely  identical  usage  seems  to  have 
prevailed  in  the  Semitic  correspondent  of  the  title,  the  great  warrior- 
god  who  was  worshipped  in  Assyria,  and  who  was,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  the  country,  immediately  connected  with  Ninus,^  being 
entitled  by  the  Armenian  historians  Bar-shem,  that  is  "  Bar  by  name," 
or  "  the  lord  or  master,"  kqt  tE,oxiiv.*  It  is  not  by  any  means  easy 
to  discriminate  the  use  of  these  names  between  Babylonia  and 
Assyria.  Nin-ip  is  undoubtedly  of  Babylonian  origin,  Nin  being  the 
Hamite  term  for  "  a  lord  or  master,"  and  ip  signifying  "a  name," 
and  there  is  an  incidental  verification  of  the  reading  in  the  epithet 


old  Jewish  calendar,  and  represented  by  the 
Cuneiform  sign  for  "  a  bull,"  is  proved  by 
the  Behistun  inscription,  and  helps  to  esta- 
blish the  fact  that  the  old  year  commenced 
as  at  present  with  Nisan. 

3  If  we  compare  the  13th  chapter  of  the 
1st  boolv  of  Moses  of  Chorene  with  the  Pas- 
chal Chronicle  (ed.  Dindorf.  vol.  i.  p.  68), 
we  shall  be  quite  satisfied  that  the  same 
tradition  of  ancient  Assyrian  mythology  is 
related  by  both  authorities.  In  either  his- 
tory Ninus,  the  founder'  of  the  empire,  is 
•succeeded  by  a  warrior-king,  who,  for  his 
great  achievements,  is  placed  amongst  the 
gods  and  worshipped  by  the  Assyrians.  It 
is  therefore  most  interesting  to  observe  that 
this  deity,  who  is  named  Bar  (or  Barsam) 
in  the  one  tradition,  is  named  Qovp^as  in 
the  other,  a  confiimation  being  thus  obtained 
of  the  identity  of  Bar  and  A^in  with  the 
constellation  Taurus,  and  with  the  man- bulls 
of  Nineveh.  The  tradition  too  in  the  Pas- 
chal Chronicle  is  of  the  more  importimce 
that  it  is  given  on  the  authority  of  Se/irjpco- 
vios  6  Ba^vXwvios,  Uepcnis.  A  further 
proof  that  the  Qovppas,  or  T/mr  of  this 
passage,  reilly  represents  the  Assyrian  Her- 
cules, typified  by  the  man-bull,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  tradition  which  it  also  preserves 
of  the  deified  hero  having  been  named  "Aprjs 
after  the  planet  Mars:  for  there  is  no  better 
authenticated  fact  than  that  the  Romans 
believed  this  star,  accoi-ding  to  the  Chalda^an 
mythology,  to  be  sacred  to  Hercules.  (See 
the  various  passages  cited  by  Kaoul  Kochette 


in  his  Memoir,  p.  46,  from  the  Etyra. 
Mag.,  Macrobius,  Pliny,  Servius,  Cicero, 
and  Varro.)  The  origin  of  this  confusion 
is  to  be  sought  in  the'  constant  association  of 
the  Assyrian  Nin  or  Hercules  with  Nergal 
or  Mars,  and  in  their  being  invoked  indiffer- 
ently as  "  the  god  of  war  and  battles." 
John  of  Malala  (edit.  Bonn.  p.  19)  also 
mentions  this  Assyrian  king  Qovpas,  who 
was  also  named  Ares,  and  who  H)'st  raised 
a  (TTrikr]  or  "column"  for  worship. 

4  There  is  however  another  explanation 
of  the  name  Bar-sam,  or  Bar-shem,  of 
which  some  notice  must  be  taken.  It  has 
been  already  stated  that  if  the  Noachide 
Triad  be  compared  with  the  Assyrian,  Ann 
will  correspond  with  Ham,  Bel-Nimrod  with 
Shem,  and  Hea  with  Japhet.  The  Arme- 
nian Bar-sam  may  then  very  well  be  "  the 
son  of  Shem,"  alluding  to  the  descent  of 
Nin  or  Hercules  from  Bel-Nimiod  or  Jupi- 
ter ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  in  favour  of  this 
explanation  that  the  Paschal  Chronicle  gives 
the  name  of  Zdjxr\s  to  the  father  of  @ovp- 
pas,  a  name  which  may  very  well  stand 
for  Sam  or  Shem.  That  Bur-sham  was  a 
genuine  title  may  further  be  inferred  from 
the  name  of  t^mJtJ'IQ,  Parshandata  in 
Esther  ix.  7,  which  signifies  given  to  Par- 
shan.  The  only  objection  to  this  etymology 
is,  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  Bar  being 
used  for  "  a  son  "  in  old  Assyrian,  though  of 
such  general  employment  in  that  sense  in 
later  times. 


512  HIS  NAME  OF  BAR-SHEM  App.  Book  I. 

of  ''BD''^  Ninpi,  which  the  Talmud  applies  to  Noplier  or  Niffer,  in 
allusion  prolDably  to  the  patron-goddess  of  the  city  being  the  wife  of 
Nin-ip  or  Hercules ;  but  that  the  same  name,  or  at  any  rate  its 
essential  element  iVm,  must  also  have  been  used  in  Ass^-ria,  can 
hardly  be  doubted  when  we  consider  the  standard  traditions  of 
Ninus,  and  the  very  name  of  Nineveh,  the  capital.  On  the  other 
hand  there  is  no  positive  evidence  of  the  name  of  Bar  or  Bar-shem 
being  used  in  Assyria  Proper,  except  the  statement  to  that  effect  of 
the  historians  of  Armenia ;  but  there  is  proof  of  the  title  being  used 
by  a  people  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Assyria,  as  well  as  of 
the  connexion  of  the  title  both  with  Heicules  and  Saturn.  Thus 
the  kings  of  Hatra  (modern  Hadhr,  W.  of  Kileh-Sherghdt)  who  fought 
with  the  Eomans — both  with  Trajan  and  Severus — are  always 
named  by  the  Greek  historians  Baparifjttoi,^  whilst  in  old  Arabic 
history,  in  the  accounts  of  the  wars  of  the  same  kings  with  the  first 
Sassanian  monarchs  of  Persia,  the  names  are  employed  of  Dhizan  and 
Satrun  ;  Dhizan,  which  was  known  to  the  Arabs  as  the  name  of  an 
ancient  idol,  being  apjDarently  the  same  term  as  Desanaus,^  which, 
according  to  Eusebius,  was  an  eastern  name  for  Hercules,  and  Satrun 
(or  Saturn),  which,  although  stated  by  the  Arabs  to  signify  "  a 
king,"  is  not  of  any  known  Semitic  etymology,  being  a  remnant 
perhaps,  like  Bis,  of  a  primitive  Scytho-Arian  nomenclature,  which 
afterwards  through  the  Etruscans  penetrated  to  Eome.' 

As  far  as  the  Greek  accounts  of  the  wars  and  hunting  expeditions 
of  Ninus  may  be  received  as  genuine  Oriental  traditions,  they  must 
be  referred  to  Nin  or  Bar,  the  true  Assyrian  Hercules  and  the  tute- 
lary god  of  the  Assyrian  kings.  His  temple  in  the  Assyrian  capital, 
described  by  Tacitus  (Annal.  xii.  13),  is  perhaps  the  very  building 
at  Nimrud  which  adjoined  the  pj'^ramid,  and  the  account  of  his 
exploits  in  the  nocturnal  chace,  which  is  given  in  the  same  passage, 
is  in  exact  accoidance  with  his  character  in  the  inscriptions,  as  the 
god  who  excites  and  directs  the  various  hunting  expeditions  of  the 
king.  There  were,  however,  two  temples  at  Calah  especially  dedi- 
cated to  him,  the  one  named  Bit  Zira,  which  was  probably  that 
adjoining  the  pyramid,  from  whence  have  been  obtained  the  annals 
of  Sardanapalus  and  the  various  figures  and  invocations  to  iWw ;  and 
the  other  Bit  Kura  (?),  at  the  S.  E.  corner  of  the  mound  which  con- 
tained the  obelisk  of  Shamas  -  VuL  a  monument  also  dedicated  to  the 


'  See  Herodian.  III.  i.  11.  available  Arabic   and  Syriac   authority  to 

^  Desanaus  is  the  orthography  used   in  illustrate    the   name    Satrun,    but   he    has 

St.  Jerome's  Latin  version  of  Eusebius,  but  fallen  altogether  into  a  wrong  track  in  seek- 

the  Greek  text  has   AicoSai'.      The   people  ino-  to  identify  the  Hadhr  of  Satrun  with 

who  used  the  name  are  said  to  be  Phceni-  the   Syriac    Chetra    supposed    by    Ephraem 

cians,  Cappadocians,  and  llians,  all  more  or  Syrus  to    mark  the    site    of  the  Calah  of 

less   Arabs.      See    Seld.   de    Diis   Syris,    p.  Genesis.     This  latter  city  was  on  the  Tigris 

113.  between  Samarra  and  Tekrit,  and  was  famous 

7  Po{;ock   in    his    Specimen    Hist.    Arab,  c     ..    i     ■  x_     ^           t,.   a-  •     a      1  a.      t 

(p.  103)  first  investigated  this  subject,  re-  for  its  Jewish  colony.    It  adjoined  ^^Lfc^, 

cognising  the  apparent  identity  of  Satrun  Tirhan,  also  a  very  ancient  site,  and  the 

and  Saturn,  but  being  unable  to  find  a  cor-  Tharrana  of  the  Peutingerian  Table.     The 

respondent  for  Dhizan.    Chwolsohn  (Ssabier  Santhirs  of  Chetra  cannot  therefore  be  con- 

und  der  Ssabismus,  vol.  ii.  p.  693)  has  since  nected  with  Satrun  of  Hadhr. 
carried   on    the    inquiry,   accumulating   all 


Essay  X.  NINIP,  THE  ASSYRIAN  HERCULES.  513 

same  deity ;  and  it  was  in  reference  to  these  temples  that  he  took 
the  titles  Pal-Zira  and  Pal-Kura  (the  son  of  Zira  and  the  son  of 
Kara),  which  we  find  in  the  respective  royal  names  of  Tiglath- Pileser 
and  Nia-pal-kura. 

There  is  not  any  direct  notice  in  the  inscriptions  of  temples  being 
raised  to  him  in  Babylonia,  but  he  must  almost  assuredly  have  had 
some  famous  shrine  at  Niffer,  the  Nopher  Niiipi  of  the  Talmud,® 
because,  in  the  first  place,  "  the  Queen  of  Nipur""  was  his  wife,  and 
in  the  second  place  the  "  Herculis  arae"  of  the  geographers,  which 
Ptolemy  makes  the  southern  limit  of  Mesopotamia,''  and  places  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  Apamaea  (modern  ruins  of  Sakherie  li) ,^  can 
only  b}^  possibility  refer  to  Niffer.  In  Babylonia  itself  there  is  some 
reason  for  supposing  that  he  was  worshipped  under  another  form, 
the  god  whose  name  signifies  "  the  son  of  the  house,"  and  of  whom 
a  sculptured  figure  was  found  during  the  recent  excavations  at 
Babylon,^  taking  his  place  apparently  in  the  later  mythology  of  that 
city.  To  this  latter  deit}^  at  any  rate,  Nebuchadnezzar  raised  a 
temple  at  Babylon,  and  assigned  the  title  "  he  who  breaks  the  shield 
of  the  rebellious,"  which  nearly  resembles  some  of  the  ordinary 
epithets  of  Hercules.^ 

That  this  god,  Nin  or  Bar,  was  the  son  of  Bel-Nimrud,  is  constantly 
asserted  in  the  inscriptions ;  *  and  we  have  thus  an  illustration  of 
the  descent  of  Hercules  from  Jupiter,  and  of  Ninus  from  Belus,  but 
he  is  also  called  the  son  of  Kimimit  or  Hea,^  as  if  there  were  a  dis- 
tinction between  Pal-Zira  and  Pal-Kura,  or  between  the  god  Nin  or 
Hercules,  as  worshipped  in  the  two  great  temples  of  Calah.  It  is 
also  clearly  stated  on  one  tablet  that  this  same  god  Nin  or  Nin-ij), 
with  the  title  of  "  KhalkhaVa,  the  brother  of  the  lightning,"  was  the 
father  of  Bel-Nimrud,  in  allusion  apparently  to  the  descent  of  Jupiter 
Belus  from  Chronos  or  Saturn. 

Of  the  wife  of  this  god  nothing  more  is  known  than  that  she  is 
called  "  the  lady  of  Nipur,''  "  the  lady  of  Parzilla,''  of  "  Kar  Euhana,'' 
and  of  other  places  equally  unknown.  On  her  own  monuments  at 
Niffer,  however,  she  bears  the  ordinary  title  of  Bilat  Niprut,  and  is 
thus  proved  to  be  Beltis,  the  wife  of  Belus.     May  not  this  evidence 

^  This  very  remarkable  epithet  occurs  in  ^  The    identity    of   the    two    Apamasas 

the  Joma,  and  was  thus  probably  in  use  as  (upper  and  lower,  or  the  Babylonian  and 

late  as  the  2nd  or  3rd  centuiy  of  Christ.  Mesenian)  with  Naamaniya  and  Sekherieh 

^  Ptolemy  places  the  'Hpa/cA-eous  ficvimou  respectively,  can  be  determinately  proved  by 

in  long.  80  and  lat.  34*20  and  Apamaa  in  a  comparison  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  notices 

long.  79-50  and  lat.   34-20.     The  Peutin-  of  those  towns  with  the  Arab  geographers, 

gei-ian  map  also  gives  a  route  from  Tiguba  and  especially  with  the  Talmudic  tj-act  Kid- 

(Cutha)  "  ad  Herculem,"  in  which  almost  dushin. 

every  station    may   be    identified.      In   the  ^  This  figure,  with  the  name  of  the  god 

I'ei-iplus    of   Marcian    (Hudson's    Geogiap.  attached,   is    given    in    Mr.    Layard's   last 

Mill.  vol.  i.  p.  18)  the  'HpaKXeovs  arrjXai  work. 

are  assigned  apparently  to  the  extreme  N.VV.  3  See  E.  I.  House  Ins.  col.  4, 1.  44. 

limit  of  Susiana,   an  indication  which  will  *  So  on   Michaux's  stone,  col.   3,   1.   2  ; 

suit  NiHer  sufficiently  well.    Tlie  said  altars  on  the  >S'/ia?nas- F?/^  obelisk,  col.  1,  1.  15; 

or  pillars  were  probably  obelisks  or  mono-  and  on  cylinder  seals  repeatedly, 
liths,  such  as  have  been  already  found  in  ^  The   star  Kimmut,  however,   is  joined 

Assyria,   inscribed   with   the   annals  of  the  in  the  lists  with  the  lesser  Bel-Nimrud  as 

king,   but   also   bearing   an    invocation   to  titles  applied  indiflerently  to  Hea. 
Hercules. 

VOL.  I.  2   L 


514 


BARZIL  AND  SANDA,  NAMES  OF  NINIP.  App.  Book  T. 


then  that  "the  gi-eat  Queen  " ^  was  both  the  mother  and  wife  of  Nin 
explain  the  tradition  of  the  incestuous  intercourse  of  Semiramis 
with  her  own  oifspring,  though  it  does  not  at  present  appear  from 
whence  the  Greeks  could  have  introduced  the  name  of  Semiramis  at 
such  a  very  early  period  of  the  Assyrian  mythology. 

The  numerical  symbol  of  Nin  would  appear  to  be  40,  though  as 
that  number  is  already  appropriated  to  Hea,  some  error  may  be 
suspected  in  the  tablet.  Among  the  divine  emblems  he  probably 
owns  the  horned  helmet,  which  is  the  same  as  that  worn  b}'  the  man- 
bull,  and  which,  moreover,  always  heads  the  group  wherever,  as  on 
the  pavement-slab  of  Sardanapalus  and  on  the  monolith  of  Shamas- 
Iva,  the  invocation  is  addressed  to  this  particular  deity. 

One  of  the  metals  is  also  indicated  by  the  exact  cuneiform  title  of 
the  god,  the  sign  Bar,  preceded  by  the  determinative  of  divinity. 
The  metal  in  question  seems  to  be  iron,  and  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted,  therefore,  that  there  must  be  some  connexion  between  this 
cuneiform  name  of  Il-har  and  the  Hebrew  ^pn  Barzil,  which  is 
used  for  Iron  in  that  language,  though  of  very  obscure  etj'mology. 
"Whether  the  term  Barzil  can  be  connected  with  Abnil,  the  *'  stone 
god,"  who  was  a  deity  worshipped  by  the  pagan  Assyrians  as  late 
as  the  5th  century  of  Christ,  will  be  discussed  under  another  head. 

It  only  remains  to  notice  the  name  of  i:dvh]g,  which  is  applied  by 
Agathias  to  the  Assyrian  Hercules,  on  the  authority  of  Berosus. 
This  name  has  been  much  canvassed  by  classical  and  Oriental 
scholars,  but  without  any  definite  results.^     It  may  be  interesting, 


^  On  further  examination  it  seems  quite 
certain  that  the  goddess  called  "  the  queen 
of  the  land  (?),"  the  invocation  to  whom  is 
inscribed  across  the  open-mouthed  lion  now 
in  the  British  Museum,  must  be  the  wife 
of  Nin,  and  the  same  deity  therefore  as 
"  the  lady  of  Nipur,"  Beltis  in  fact  assuming 
the  character  of  Bellona.  Her  titles  are  very 
numerous  :  she  is  "  the  goddess  of  the  land  ; 
the  great  lady ;  the  mistress  of  heaven  and 
earth  ;  the  queen  of  all  the  gods ;  the  heioine 
"who  is  celebi-ated  amongst  the  gods,  and  who 
amongst  the  goddesses  watches  over  partu- 
rition (?) ;  who  warms  like  the  sun  and 
marches  victoriously  over  the  heights  of 
heaven  and  earth ;  she  who  controls  the 
spirits ;  the  daughter  of  Ami ,-  illustrious 
amongst  the  gods ;  the  queen  of  strangers  (?)  : 
she  who  precedes  me ;  she  who  brings  rain 
upon  the  lands  and  hail  upon  the   forests 

the  goddess  of  war  and  battle; 

who  is  alone  honoured  in  the  temple  o£  Bit- 
Zira ;  she  who  refines  the  laws  (?)  and  pro- 
tects the  hearts  of  women  (?) ;  who  elevates 
society  and  blesses  companionship  ....  the 
goddess  of  prophecy  (?) ;  the  storm  rider  (?)  ; 
the  guardian  who  takes  care  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  for  the  benetit  of  all  laces  of 
mankind  ;  of  auspicious  name ;  the  arbiter 
©f  lite  and  death whose  sword  is 


good."  These  titles  are  rendered  in  many 
cases  almost  conjecturally,  and  must  not 
therefore  be  critically  depended  on.  They 
are  chiefly  of  consequence  in  showing  that 
Beltis  was  held  to  be  the  daughter  of  Ann, 
which  however  requires  confirmation. 

In  support  of  the  argument  that  the 
"  queen  or  mistress  of  the  land  "  is  really 
Beltis,  we  may  compare  Michaux's  stone, 
col.  3,  1.  10,  where  the  supreme  goddess  is 
similarly  designated  and  associated  with  the 
great  gods  Anu,  Bel-Nimrod,  and  Hei;  and 
on  the  tablet  where  her  twelve  titles  are 
enumerated  a  corresponding  form  is  used. 
It  appeals  to  have  been  always  customary  to 
worship  the  deities  in  pairs ;  that  is,  the  god 
and  his  goddess  wife  were  placed  together 
in  the  same  temple;  and  we  may  thus  be 
assured  that  the  ruin  at  Nimrud  from  which 
the  open-mouthed  lions  were  excavated  was 
a  chapel  belonging  to  the  great  temple  of 
Bit-Zira,  which  was  especially  dedicated  to 
the  god  and  goddess  of  war. 

7"M.  Raoul-Rochette  has  most  elaborately 
examined  this  subject  in  his  memoir  already 
referred  to,  and  has  sought  to  connect  this 
name  of  Scij/Stjs,  not  only  with  varieties  of 
the  same  title  used  by  other  atithors  {Sandan 
by  Ammianus,  'S.a.vZa  by  Basil  of  Seleucia, 
and  '2,av^(iiv  by  John  Lydusj,  but  also  with 


Essay  X.  MERODACH.  515 

then,  to  add  that  Bar  is  explained  in  one  of  the  Babylonian  voca- 
buhxries  by  Zindic,  as  if  the  one  name  meant  "  the  binder  with  chains," 
and  the  other  "  the  binder  to  the  yoke,"  ^  and  both  being  sufficiently 
applicable  to  the  god  in  question,  either  as  Hercules  or  as  the  Man- 
Bull. 

(x.)  The  second  of  the  minor  gods  is  Bel-Merodach,  or  the  planet 
Jupiter.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  the  name  Merodach,  which  in 
later  times  was  universally  applied  to  this  god,  belonged  in  its  origin 
to  the  mythology  either  of  Babylonia  or  Assyria.  There  is  one 
example,  it  is  true,  of  a  god's  name  written  as  Marduk  in  the  name 
of  a  son  of  Merodach  Baladwis,  who  was  called  Nahit  Marduk,^  but 
there  is  no  evidence  whatever  to  show  that  this  was  the  same  deitj'- 
as  the  Babylonian  Merodach.  All  the  evidence,  indeed,  leads  to  a 
contrary  conclusion.'  The  god  who  must  in  later  times  have  been 
known  as  Merodach,  from  his  title  forming  the  initial  element  in  the 
name  of  the  king  Merodach-Baladan,  is  represented  both  in  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  by  three  independent  groups  of  characters,  which 
read  respectively  as  Su,  Sit,  and  Amarut  (or  possibly  Zurut^.^  Mero- 
dach was,  in  all  probability,  a  mere  (^ualificative  epithet  like  Nipru, 
which  was  originally  attached  to  the  name  Bel,  but  which  after- 
wards usurped  the  place  of  the  proper  name.  Its  signification  is 
very  doubtful,  and  all  the  epithets,  indeed,  by  which  Merodach  is 
distinguished  in  the  early  period  of  Assyrian  history  are  equally 
obscure.  He  would  seem,  however,  to  be  called  "  the  old  man  of 
the  gods,"  "  the  judge  "  (?),  and  to  have  had  the  gates  under  his 
especial  charge,  probably  as  the  seats  of  justice.^  The  earlier  Assy- 
rian kings  usually  name  him  in  their  prefatory  invocations,  but 
they  do  not  seem  to  have  held  him  in  much  veneration.  Although 
as  the  tutelar  god  of  Babylon  from  an  early  period,  he  was  in  great 
estimation  in  that  province,  the  Babylonian  kings  being  A^ery 
generally  named  after  him,*  his  worship  does  not  appear  to  have 

the   Desanaus  or  AiaiSav  of  Eusebius.     In  dnk  instead  of  Amarut  (compare  'AfiopdaKia 

regard  however  to  the  latter  identification  of  Ptolemy),  bat  there  is  nothing  to  prove 

his  arguments   are  not  conclusive,  Dhizan  such  a  reading  at  present.     Whether  this  be 

offering  a  sufficient  explanation  for  Desanmis,  the  case,  or  whether  the  phonetic  representa- 

without  the  necessity  of  correcting  St.  Je-  five  of  Merodach  is  still  to  be  discovered,  it 

rome's  orthography.  is  pretty  clear  that  the  name  is  Hamite,  and 

^  There    is  no    indication   hov/ever    that  that  it  is   useless  therefore  to  seek  for  its 

the  Hamite  word  Bar  thus  explained  really  meaning  in  the  Hebrew  language, 

represents  the  name   of  the   god.     If  that  ^  If  these  epithets  are  rightly  rendered,  the 

had    been    the    case,    the    determinative    of  Assyrian  Bel-Merodacli  will  answer  to  the 

divinity  would  have  been  probably  prefixed.  B^KiBav  of  the  Phoenicians,  i.  e.   \T\^^  ^2, 

9  See  B.  M.  Ser.  pi.  22,  1.  33.  "  the  old  Bel "  (Damasc.  ap.  Phot.  p.  343), 

^  It  seems  quite   impossible,   if  Marduk  i,        !••   tl                •'•      \ 

were  really  the  phonetic  reading  of  the  name  as  well  as  to  the  ^ by  1     JVl*^     J^' 

of  the  god  ^lerodach,  that  form  should  never  "  Bel,  the  grave  old  man"'  of  the  Sabseans 

be  once  used  in  expressing  the  name  of  the  of  FLirran  (see  Chwolsohn,  vol.  ii.  p.  39), 

Babylonian  king  Merodach-Baladan,  a  name  and  especially  to  p*lV  ,  which  is  the  Hebrew 

for    which    there  are  at   lea^t    half-a-dozen  name  for  the  planet  Jupiter  as  the  star  of 

variant  orthographies.  "  Justice." 

2  That  is,  the  initial  character  of  the  old  ■*  One  of  the  primitive  Chalda^an   kings 

Hamite  name  generally  used   for  Merodach  whose  bricks  are  found  at  Warha  was  named 

may   be    pronounced   either    amar   or  zur,  Merodach-ijiii'i.      Another  king  of  Babylon 

according  to   the   vocabularies.      It   is  just  contemporary   with   Tiglath-Pdeser   I.    Avas 

possible  that  this  name  itself  may  read  ylmar-  called  Mcrodach-adin-aklii,  and  the  names 

2  L  2 


516  MERODACH  MOST  WORSHIPPED  AT  BABYLON.  App.  Book  I. 

been  cordially  adopted  in  Assj^ria  until  the  time  of  Pul,  and  was 
perhaps  cultivated  in  consequence  of  the  consolidation  of  the  two 
monarchies  under  one  head,  which,  with  some  show  of  reason,  is 
assigned  to  that  king's  reign.  Pul  at  any  rate  sacrificed  to  Bel 
(llerodach),  JVebo,  and  Nergal  in  their  respective  high  seats  at  Babylon, 
Borsippa,  and  Cutha ;  ^  and  he  took  credit  to  himself  for  having 
first  prominently  placed  Merodach  in  the  Pantheon  of  Assyria.** 
Sargon,  without  dedicating  to  him  either  a  temple  or  a  gate,  still 
paid  him  great  honour,  and  ascribed  to  the  united  influence  of  Asshur, 
Nebo,  and  Merodach  his  acquisition  of  the  crown  of  Babylon.  It  is 
under  the  late  Babylonian  kings,  however,  that  his  glories  seem  to 
culminate.  The  inscriptions  of  Nebuchadnezzar  are  for  the  most 
part  occupied  with  the  praises  of  Merodach  and  with  prayers  for  the 
continuance  of  his  favour.  The  king  ascribes  to  him  his  elevation 
to  the  throne  ;  "  Merodach  the  great  lord  has  appointed  me  to  the 
empire  of  the  world,  and  has  confided  to  my  care  the  far-spread 
people  of  the  earth ;"  "  Merodach  the  great  lord,  the  senior  of  the 
gods,  the  most  ancient,  has  given  all  nations  and  people  to  my  care  ;" 
"Merodach  the  great  lord  has  established  me  in  strength;"  and 
Neriglissar  speaks  of  him  in  the  same  style  as  *'  the  first-born  of  the 
gods,  the  layer  up  of  treasures,  he  who  has  raised  me  to  supremacy 
over  the  world,  who  has  increased  my  treasures,  and  has  appointed 
me  to  rule  over  innumerable  peoples."  The  prayer  also  to  Merodach 
with  which  the  inscriptions  of  Nebuchadnezzar  always  terminate, 
invokes  the  favour  of  the  god  for  the  protection  of  the  king's  throne 
and  empire,  and  for  its  continuance  through  all  ages  to  the  end  of 
time.  It  is  quite  clear,  indeed,  that  under  the  later  Babylonians, 
and  especially  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  Bel-Merodach  was  considered 
the  source  of  all  power  and  blessing,  and  had  in  fact  concentrated 
in  his  own  person  the  greater  part  of  that  homage  and  respect  which 
had  been  previously  divided  among  the  various  gods  of  the  Pantheon, 
though  at  the  same  time  it  is  impossible  to  say  over  what  particular 
aspect  or  branch  of  human  affairs  he  was  supposed  to  preside. 

An  attempt  has  already  been  made  under  the  second  section  to 
discriminate  between  Bel-Nimrud  and  Bel-Merodach,  but  a  few 
remarks  on  the  same  subject  require  still  to  be  added.  The  great 
Temple  of  Babylon  which  had  the  old  Hamite  name  of  Bit  Saggath, 
was  the  high  place  of  the  worship  of  Bel-Merodach,  and  it  is  in 
reference  apparently  to  the  particular  idol  of  the  god  which  was 
exhibited  in  this  temple  that  the  term  Bel  came  to  be  used  by  the 
Assyrians  instead  of  Merodach,  as  if  the  former  term  had  been  the 
proper  name  of  the  idol.''     Thus,  although  Pul,  Tiglath-Pileser  and, 


of  the  two  rival  monarchs  of  Babylon  whose  Ionia  was  a  sort  of  holy  land  tct  the  Assy- 
wars  are  recorded  on  the  black  obelisk  of  rians.  Every  king  who  penetrates  into  the 
Shahnannbar  each  contained  Merodach  as  province  otters  sacririces  to  the  gods  at  their 
the  initial  element.  respective  shrines,  and  the  Babylonian  idols 
*  During  the  Assyrian  period  these  were  seem  to  have  been  the  most  valuable  trophies 
apparently  the  three  high  places  of  god-  that  the  victorious  monarch  could  carry  back 
worship  m  Babylonia,  for  they  are  speci-  to  Nineveh, 
fically  mentioned  both  by  Shalmanuba?-  and  ^  See  B.  M.  Ser.  pi.  70,  1.  17. 
Pul  as  the  scenes  of  their  sacrifice.  Nothing  "^  In  the  famous  denunciation  of  Isaiah 
ijideed  can  be  more  evident  than  that  Baby-  against  Babylon,  chap.  xlvi.  ver.  1,  Bel  and 


Essay  X.    HIS  WIFE  ZIE-BANIT,  OE  SUCCOTE-BENOTH.  517 

Sargon  frequently  speak  of  Meroclach  as  an  Assyrian  god,  they  use 
the  term  Bel  alone,  and  without  any  adjunct,  when  they  notice  the 
particular  idol  in  the  temple  of  Beth  Saggath,  to  whom  in  conjunction 
with  his  wife  Zir-haiiit  they  offer  sacrifices,  and  who  is  thus  positively 
identified  with  Merodach.  It  is  indeed  only  on  the  supposition  that 
the  idol  of  Merodach,  worshipped  in  the  great  Temple  at  Babylon, 
had  the  special  title  of  Bel,  that  we  can  explain  the  separate  and 
independent  use  of  the  two  names  in  the  royal  Babylonian  nomen- 
clature, as  for  instance  in  the  names  of  Merodach- Baladan  and  Bel-shar- 
uziir,  or  Bel-shazzar.  The  Greeks,  as  it  is  well  known,  are  unanimoTis 
in  ascribing  the  great  Temple  at  Babylon  to  Jupiter  Bel  us ;  ^  and 
the  name  of  Bel,  it  may  be  added,  is  to  the  present  day  attached  to 
the  planet  Jupiter  in  the  astral  mythology  of  the  Mendaeans.^ 

Bel- Merodach  is  frequently  mentioned  on  the  tablets  as  the  son  of 
Hea  and  Davkina,  in  exact  accordance  with  the  statement  already 
quoted  of  Damascius ;  and  he  is  everywhere  associated  with  his 
wife  Zir-bamt,^  who  is  also  sometimes  called  "  the  queen  of  Babylon," 
out  of  compliment  to  the  husband,  though  that  title  more  properly 
belongs  to  Ishtar  or  Nana,  as  will  be  presently  explained.  The 
name  of  Zir-banit  is  of  considerable  interest.  It  might  have  been 
supposed,  from  the  variant  orthography  as  used  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions,  that  it  meant  "  she  who  produces  oflspring  ;"  but  from 
a  passage  in  the  great  inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar, .  where  the 
goddess  is  as  usual  associated  with  Merodach,  it  is  evident  that  Zir 
must  be  a  proper  name,  and  that  hanit,  "  genitrix,"  is  the  mere 
feminine  of  ba^iM,  which  is  one  of  the  standard  epithets  of  Merodach. 
The  name,  as  written  in  the  passage  referred  to,  is  Zir  Um-banitiya, 
or  **  Zir  the  mother  who  bore  me;"  '^  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  in 


Kebo  are  spoken  of  as  the  two  great  objects  of  Sargon  referring  to  his  conquest  of  Baby- 

of  worship,  precisely  as  Sargon,  who  was  the  Ion  ;  3rdly,  on  Sir  T.  Phillips's  Cylinder  of 

contemporary  of  Isaiah,  uses  the  names  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  col.  1,  1.  27  ;  4thly,  on  the 

Bel  and  Nebo  in  the  account  of  his  Baby-  mythological  tablets,  passim  ;  and  5thly,  in 

Ionian  sacrifice.     Jeremiah  (chap.  1.  ver.  2),  the  E.   I.   House  Inscription  of  Nebuchad- 

in  a  later  age  distinguishes,  it  is  true,  be-  nezzar,  col.  4,  1.  16. 

tween  Bel  and  Merodach,  but  it  is  possible  ^  It  cannot  of  course  be  proved  that  the 

that  he  merely  refers  to  separate  idols  of  the  name  which  occurs  in  the  E.  I.  H.  Ins.  col.  4, 

same  god.  1.  16,  refers  to  Zir-banit,  but  the  identifica- 

^  The  statue  of  Jupiter  Belus  described  tion  is  highly  probable.  For  the  converti- 
by  Herodotus  (i.  183),  is  certainly  the  same  bility  of  the  initial  sign  with  the  phonetic 
as  the  great  idol  of  Merodach  in  the  t«raple  reading  of  Ziru,  compare  B.  M.  Ser.  pi.  12, 
of  Bit  Saggat,  of  which  Nebuchadnezzar  1.  10,  with  pi.  87,  1.  17,  and  for  the  indif- 
hjis  left  so  curious  an  account.  It  had  been  ferent  orthogi'aphy  of  this  same  word  Zir 
made  of  silver  by  an  earlier  king,  but  was  with  the  hard  or  soft  Z,  comp.  Sir  T.  Phil- 
overlaid  with  plates  of  gold  by  Nebuchad-  lips's  Cyl-  col.  3,  1.  1,  with  Birs-Nimrnd 
nezzar  himself.  (See  E.  I.  H.  Ins.  col.  3,  Cyl.  col.  1,  1.  3.  Supposing  Zir  to  be  a 
1.  1  to  7.)  Hamite  name,  like  Shala,  Laz,  Dav-kinn, 

^  See  Norberg's  Onomasticon,  p.  28,  and  &c.,  the   feminine   termination   in  t  would 

observe    also    that   the    Sabseans  of  Harran  not  be  required. 

called  the  5th  day  of  the  week  after  Bi(,  in  It  may  be  added  that  Dr.  Hincks  prefers 

allusion  to  the  planet  Jupiter.     (Chwolsohn,  regarding  the  name  Zir-banit  or  Zirpanit  as 

vol.  ii.  p.  22.)  a  feminine  adjective  from  a  root  Zirb,  which 

'  Examples  of  this  association  occur,  1st,  also  occurs  in  the  name  of  the  god  Bil  Zirbu. 

in  the  notice  of  the  sacred  rites  performed  On  the  tablets,  however,  there  is  no  appa- 

by  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  at  Babylon  (B.  M.  Ser.  rent  connexion  between  the  two  names  ;  and 

pi.  17,  I.  15);  2ndly,  in  all  the  inscriptions  if  the  Zir-Umbanit  of  the  great  Nebuchad- 


518  NERGAL.  App.  Book  T. 

this  iitle  we  must  look  for  the  original  form  of  the  Succoth  Benoth  of 
Scripture,  the  goddess  worshipped  by  the  Babylonian  colonists  in 
Samaria.  Whetlier,  however,  Saccoth  is  a  Hamite  term  equivalent 
to  Zir,  imported  by  tbe  colonists  into  Samaria,  or  whether,  as  may 
be  suspected,  it  is  not  rather  a  Semitic  mistranslation  of  the  name 
— Zirat,  "supreme,"  being  confounded  with  Zarat,  "tents," — is  a 
point  we  may  hardly  venture  to  decide. 

There  is  but  one  notice  of  a  temple  to  Zir-hanit  in  the  inscri]3tions, 
which  was  at  Babylon,  and  probably  attached  to  the  temple  of 
Bit-Saggath  ;  ^  but  as  the  name  of  Zir-fanieh  is  applied  in  Arabic 
geography  to  a  town  on  the  Tigris,  near  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Apamaea,  there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  goddess  also  had  a 
temple  in  that  vicinity. 

The  numerical  symbol  of  Bel-Merodach,  as  he  is  named  at  full 
length  on  the  tablet,  which  applies  notation  to  the  Pantheon,  is 
unfortunately  erased,  and  there  are  no  means  at  present  of  recognising 
the  emblems  either  of  the  god  or  of  his  wife  Zir-banit. 

It  may  be  added,  however,  that  he  is  included  in  a  list  of  stars, 
and  assigned  the  second  place  perhaps  in  allusion  to  the  position  of 
Jupiter  among  the  planets. 

(xi.)  The  next  god  to  be  examined  is  Nergal  or  Mars.  There  can 
fortunately  be  no  doubt  in  this  case  as  to  the  pronunciation  of  the 
name,  because  it  occurs  in  the  first  place  as  the  initial  element  in 
the  name  of  Nergal-sliar-uzur ,  the  ^tpiyXi^aapoQ  of  the  Greeks  ;  and, 
secondly,  because  the  deity  in  question  can  be  positively  identified 
with  the  Nergal  of  Scripture,  the  god  of  the  Cuthites.  This  god 
was  of  Babylonian  origin,  and  it  may  be  doubted  if  he  was  ever 
known  by  a  Semitic  appellation,  unless  indeed  Aria,  "  the  lion," 
may  be  recognised  as  one  of  his  proper  names.  His  earliest  title 
was  Va-gur  or  Va-tur,  of  uncertain  meaning.  His  standard  title, 
Ner-gal,  signified  probably  "  the  great  hero,"  the  first  element  having 
a  peculiar  adjunct  attached  to  it  to  distinguish  Nir,  "a  man  or  hero," 
from  iWr,  "an  animal,"  and  the  second  element  gal,  being  a  dialectic 
variation  of  gula,  "  great."  The  name  is  sometimes  indicated  by  the 
use  of  the  first  element  alone,*  as  has  already  been  observed  in  the 
case  of  As  for  Asshur,  San  for  Sansi,  Pa  for  Baku,  &c.  Another  title 
by  which  Nergal  is  frequently  designated  may  be  read  phonetically 
as  Si-du,  but  this  is  pure  Hamite  Babylonian  {si,  "  before,"  du  "going") 
and  simply  means  "  preceding  "  or  "  going  before,"  not  however  as 
"a  herald,"  but  rather  as  "  an  ancestor."  Other  names  which 
equally  apply  to  Ner-gal  are  "  the  brother,"  and  "  the  great  brother,"  * 


nezzar  inscription  be  really  the  same  god-  of  Zir-hanit  is  not  given,   but  it  may  be 

(less,  Dr.  Hincks's  proposed  derivation  must  presumed  to  be  the  same  building  as  the 

fall  through.  Bit  Zir  of  the  E.  I.  H.  Ins.  col.  4,  1.   14, 

In  the  later  Persian  or  Magian  mythology  though  that  edifice  is  explained  to  be   tlie 

.1  _      e  ry-  J"         I  •   .  „,„„  „^^v^i  4.  "temple  of  the  god  of  Mul-kharris,"  which, 

the  name  or  Zirfaii   ,  ,L5,*,  was  applied  to  j.        -       . ^      ^  1 1  ^  ^-^.i       !• 

•^        (J  JJ  *^  according   to    the    tablets,    was    a    title    ot 

the  moon.     See  Hyde,  De  Rel.  Vet.  Pers.  Martus. 

p.  260.  *  As  on  the  notation  tablet  so  often  re- 

3  See  Sir  T.  Phillips's  Cyl.  col.  1,  1.  32.  ferred  to. 

In  this  passage  the  proper  name  of  the  temple         *  In  the  inscription  of  Sargon  at  Nimrud, 


Essay  X.  NERGAL,  THE  GOD  OF  HUNTING.  519 

tlioiigli  neither  the  phonetic  reading  of  such  names,  nor  the  allusion 
they  contain,  is  very  clear.  His  epithets  are  not  very  numerous, 
but  they  are  for  the  most  part  sufnciently  distinct  ;  thus,  he  is  "  the 
storm  ruler,"  "  the  king  of  battle,"  "  the  champion  of  the  gods," 
*'  the  male  principle  "  (or  "  the  strong  begetter  "),  "  the  tutelar  god 
of  Babylonia,"  and  "  the  god  of  the  chace ;"  and  more  particularly 
he  is  "  the  ancestral  god  of  the  Assyrian  kings."  Nergal  and  Nm 
are  the  two  gods  under  whose  auspices  all  the  expeditions,  both  for 
war  and  hunting,  take  place,  and  by  whose  assistance  foes  are  dis- 
comfited and  lions  and  other  wild  beasts  are  slain.  If  there  is  any 
distinction  indeed  to  be  observed  between  them,  Nergal  is  more 
addicted  to  the  chace  of  animals,  and  Nui  or  Hercules  to  that  of 
mankind.^ 

All  these  special  indications  would  seem  to  point  to  a  tradition  of 
Nimrod,  "  the  great  hunter,"  and  the  founder  of  the  Babylonian 
empire,  from  whom  the  kings  both  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh  would 
trace  their  descent  through,  according  to  the  boast  of  Sargon,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  generations  ;  and  there  are  circumstances  also 
relating  to  the  local  worship  of  Nergal,  which  go  far  to  confirm  the 
connexion.  Thus  Nergal  is  constantly  spoken  of  in  exact  accordance 
with  Scri23ture,  as  the  god  of  Catha  or  Tiggaba.  ^  On  Sir  Thomas 
Phillips'  cylinder,  Nergal  and  Laz  are  the, gods  of  the  temple  of  Mislava 
in  the  city  of  Tiggaha.  On  a  tablet  in  the  Museum,  Nergal  is  said  to 
live  in  Tiggaba.  Pal  sacrifices  to  Nergal  in  Tiggaba,  and  it  is  therefore 
curious  to  find  that  at  the  time  of  the  Arab  conquest  of  Babylonia, 
and  before  Koranic  fables  could  have  penetrated  into  the  country, 
Cutha  was  already  recognised  as  the  city  of  the  old  Nimrud  of  popular 
tradition,  and  a  shrine  was  established  there  to  mark  the  spot  where 
the  Chaldsean  tyrant  had  cast  the  patriarch  Abraham  into  the  fire  for 
refusing  to  embrace  idolatry,^ 

There  are  other  points  of  considerable  interest  relating  to  Nergal. 
A  cuneiform  term,  written  precisely  like  the  name  of  the  god,  with 
the  exception  of  the  omission  of  the  adjunct  which  qualifies  Nir, 
is  used  in  an  inscription  at  Khorsabad  as  a  synonym  for  the  more 


Nergal,   under   the    name    of   "  the   great  possession  of  Cutha  in  his  advance  on  Ctesi- 

biother,"  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  resident  phon,  visited  and  offered  up  prayers  at  the 

gods  of  Calah.     (B.  M.  Ser.  pi,  34,  1,  17.)  shrine    of  [brahim-el-KhaUL      The  shrine, 

^  See  the  annals  of  Sardanapalus  through-  which  still  exists,  and  is  yeai  ly  visited  by 

out,  and  more  particularly  the  legends  on  crowds   of  pilgrims,   is   one    of  the  holiest 

the  hunting  slabs  of  Asshur-hani-pal.  spots  in  the  country.    The  fable  of  Abraham 

'  For  the  identification  of  Cutha  and  Tig-  being  cast  into  the  furnace,  which  is  founded 

gaba  compare  B.  M.  Ser,  pi.  46,  1.  15,  wiith  on  a  mistranslation  of  the  name  of  "IIX,  Ur, 

pi.  91,  1.  82.     The  city  was  named  Aiyoua  dates  from  the  3rd  century  of  our  era,  and 

by  Ptolemy,  Dvjba  by  PHny,  and   Tiguhis  may  very  possibly  have  been  engendered  in 

in   the    Peutiugerian   map.      The   ruins   of  the  neighbouring  Jewish  academies  of  Sara 

Cutha,  distant  about  twelve  miles  from  Ba-  and    Pombeditha,    but    no    reason    can    be 

bylon,  wei-e  first  discovered  by  Sir  H.  Raw-  assigned  for   transferring  the   scene   of  the 

linson  in  184G,  and  have  since  been  repeatedly  fable  from   Mugheir  to  Cutha,  except   the 

visited  by  travellers.  local  tradition  of  the  worship  of  Nimrud  or 

^  Ibn  Athir  in  the  Kdmil,  quoting  from  Nergal  at  the  latter  place.     In  Arabic  his- 

contemporary  authority,  states  that  Sadd,  toiy  the  seat  of  Nimrud's  empire  is  always 

the  Arabian  general  m  a.h.  16,  after  taking  placed  at  Cutha. 


520  HIS  SYMBOL,  THE  MAN-LIOK  Apr  Book  L 

ordinary  term  to  denote  "  a  lion,"^  both  of  tlie  phrases  meaning,  as 
it  would  seem,  *'the  great  animal,"  or  "the  noble  animal."  We 
might  thus  infer,  that  Nergal  being  amongst  the  gods  as  the  lion 
amongst  animals,  was  represented  in  the  Assyrian  sculptures  by 
the  figure  of  the  Man-Lion,  as  his  associate  Nin  was  by  the  figure  of 
the  Man-Bull,  and  this  inference  becomes  certainty  when  we  dis- 
cover on  another  tablet  that  Aria,  the  Hebrew  and  Syriac  word  for 
"  a  lion,"  is  the  Semitic  name  for  the  god  who  was  king  of  Tiggaha. 
Whether  then  this  name  of  Aria  for  "  the  god  of  battle,"  may  not  be 
connected  with  the  Greek  "Apr}c,,  becomes  a  legitimate  object  of 
inquiry.^ 

The  only  temple  with  which  we  are  acquainted  as  belonging  to 
Nergal  besides  the  famous  shrine  at  Tiggaba,  is  a  small  edifice  that 
was  lately  opened  on  the  mound  of  Sherif  Khan,  near  Nineveh,  the 
slabs  and  bricks  of  which  bore  legends  stating  that  "  Sennacherib, 
king  of  Assyria,  had  raised  a  temple  named  Gallumis,  in  the  city  of 
Tarhiz,  to  his  lord  the  god  Nergal."" 

Of  Laz,  the  supposed  wife  of  Nergal,  who  is  associated  with  the 
god,  both  in  the  inscriptions  of  Tiglath-Pileser  II.  and  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, we  positively  know  nothing  beyond  the  name. 

The  name  of  Nergal  has  not  yet  been  found  in  the  cuneiform 
stellar  lists,  but  Nerig,  a  contraction  for  Nergal,^  is  the  Mendaean 
name  for  the  planet  Mars  to  the  present  day. 

It  remains  to  consider  whether  the  name  of  Ahnil — a  god  who  was 
worshipped  in  Assyria  as  late  as  the  4th  century,  Jovian  having 
destroyed  his  temple  at  Nisibis  ^ — applies  to  Nergal  or  Nin.  As  Ahnil 
and  Barzil  appear  to  mean  the  same  thing  ("  the  stone  god  "),'^  and 
as  the  metal  iron,  which  is  named  Barzil  in  Hebrew,  is  evidently 
connected  with  the  god  Bar  in  Assyrian,  the  same  cuneiform  signs 
being  used  for  both,  it  would  certainly  seem  most  probable  that 
Ahnil  was  also  a  name  for  Hercules ;  and  this  conjecture  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  hieroglyphic  name  of  a  god  found 
on  the  ivories  of  the  north-west  palace  at  Nimrud,  and  thus  record- 
ing, it  may  be  presumed,  the  guardian  deity  of  the  spot,  whom  we 
know  to  have  been  Hercules,  has  been  read  Auhn-Ra,^  which  is  the 
same  as  Auhn-il  or  Ahnil,  II  and  Ba  for  "a  god"  being  used  indif- 


■'  This  remarkable  variant  occurs  in  the  xx.  2,  §  1. 

Ins.,  No.  14,  from  Salle,  10.  3  xhe  father  of  the  femous  Ephraem  Syrus 

'  The  more  especially  as  the  Nedim  states  was  a  priest  of  this  temple.     (Asseman.  Bib. 

that  the  Sabaeans  of  HaiTan  still  applied  the  Orient,  vol.  i.  p.  26.) 

„ ^e   A  „^              I,  +^  +u„   o^A  A        c  '^  Bard  or  Barz  in  Kurdish  is  precisely 

name  or  Ares,  .  u^  ,r  to  the  ord  day  of  ,,                    ♦.*v»  ■     tt  i               ^  .             n 

\jr^.J                             J  the  same  as  pN  m  Hebrew,  and  traces  of 

the  week,  or  Dies  Martis.     (Ssabier  und  der  the  old  Hamite  Babylonian  are  constantly  to 

Ssabismus,  vol.  ii.  p.  22.)    It  may  be  worth  be  recognised  in  that  and  the  other  mountain 

while  also  to  notice  the  tiadition  preserved  dialects. 

by  Massoudi  that  the  Assyrian  kings  took  ^  jyjj.^  Birch,  in  his  paper  on  the  Nimrud 

the  name  of  Aridn,  or  "  the   Lions,"  which  ivories  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of 

was  the  same  as  Nimrud.     (Notices  des  Ma-  Literature,   has  translated  this  name  "  the 

nuscrits,  tom.  viii.  p.  148.)  shining  sun,"  but  he  was  not  then  aware  of 

2  The  same  contraction  may  be  remarked  the  identity  of  the  terms  //  in  Assyrian  and 

in  the  name  of  'A^euv^piyos,  king  of  Spa-  Ea  in  Babylonian  for  "  a  god." 

sini  Charax,  mentioned  by  Josephus,   Ant. 


Essay  X.  ISHTAR  OR  ASTARTE.  521 

ferently  in  the  ancient  Babylonian ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 
passao;e  npon  the  cylinder  of  Neriglissar,  where  we  have  the  actual 
cuneiform  name  of  Aim  Ra.,  we  must,  it  would  seem,  suppose  a 
reference  to  Nergal  rather  than  to  Nin,  inasmuch  as  the  one  god  was 
the  guardian  deity  of  the  king  {Nergal-shar-uzur  meaning  "  Nergal 
protects  the  king"),  whilst  the  other  was,  as  has  been  already  re- 
marked, almost  unknown  to  the  later  worship  of  the  Babylonians. 
The  passage  on  the  cylinder  is  simply  as  follows: — ''  Ahn  Ra,  the 
champion  of  the  gods,  has  given  him  his  shield,"  which  of  course 
may  apply  equally  to  either  deity,  though  on  the  whole  Nergal 
would  seem  to  have  a  superior  claim. 

The  name  of  Nergal  is  of  very  common  occurrence  on  the 
cylinder-seals,  but  there  is  no  emblem  that  can  be  distinctly 
assigned  to  him  ;  and  the  numerical  symbol  which  he  bears,  1 2, 
is  equally  devoid,  as  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  of  any  phonetic 
import. 

(xii.)  Next  in  order  we  have  a  goddess,  whose  ordinary  phonetic 
name  is  Ishtar,  the  "Aaraprr)  of  the  Greeks  and  Ashteroth  of  Scrip- 
ture. She  is  not  very  clearly  distinguished  from  Beltis  in  some 
localities,  but  they  are  of  course  in  their  functions  entirely  dilFerent, 
the  one  answering  to  the  Ehea  or  Cybele  of  the  Greeks,  and  the 
other  to  Venus.  Ishtar  was  probably  in  its  origin  an  Assyrian 
term  rather  than  a  Babylonian,  but  in  process  of  time  it  came  to  be 
used  in  both  countries,  as  a  generic  name  for  a  goddess,  precisely 
as  Asshur  was  also  used  in  Assyrian  for  a  god,^  W  hat  the  primitive 
Babylonian  synonym  may  have  been  cannot  be  proved ;  as  the 
complicated  monogram  which  represents  it,  is  otherwise  unknown/ 
During  all  the  best  known  period  however  of  Babylonian  history, 
the  name  of  Nana,  phonetically  written,  is  everywhere  used  to 
denote  the  goddess  in  question.  As  far  as  our  present  experience 
goes,  the  local  name  of  Na7ia  seems  to  have  been  unknown  in 
Assyria,  and  the  local  name  of  Ishtar  to  have  been  unknown  in 
Babylonia,  until  very  recent  times,  and  we  should  therefore  be 
almost  justified  in  believing  Ishtar  and  Nana  to  be  absolute 
synonyms — and  the  more  especially  as  the  two  names  are  actually 
in  use  at  the  present  time,  Ashtar  in  Mendaean,^  and  Nani  in  S3'rian,^ 
to  denote  the  planet  Venus, — were  it  not  that  in  some  of  the  lists 
of  the  idols  belonging  to  the  different  temples,  Ishtar  and  Nana  are 
given  as  independent  deities.     Perhaps,  however,  even  in  this  case, 


^  So  in  Scripture  Baalim  and  Ashteroth  the  fifteen  titles  applied  to  the  planet  Venus 

(or  Asheroth)  are  simply  used  for  the  idols  by  the  Arabs,  but  it  may  be  doubted  if  the 

of  gods  and  goddesses.     (Compare  Judges  xi.  name  is  found  in  any  Arabic  poetry  or  his- 

13  with  1  Sam.  vii.  12.)  tory  that   is    now   extant.     The    Elymaean 

7  In  the  E.  I.  House  Inscription,  col.  5,  temple   of  Venus,  as    it  is  well  known,  is 

Is.  47  and  54,  where  this  monogram  is  used  called  the  Temple  of  Nai/ata  in  2  Maccab. 

in  reference  to  a  particular  locality  in  Baby-  i.  12,  and  the  same  legend  of  NANAIA  is 

Ion,  named  after    the  goddess,  it   must  be  constantly  found  on  the  coins  of  the  Indo- 

presumed  that  the  phonetic  reading  would  Scythians,  who  borrowed  their   religion   as 

be  Nana.  well  as   their  letters  from  the  banks  of  the 

^  See  Norberg's  Onomasticon,  p.  20.  Euphrates,     Places  also  which  still  bear  the 

^  The  name  of  Nani  is  given  by  the  Sy-  name  of  Bibi  Ndni,  or  "  the  lady  Venus,'* 

rian  lexicographer  Bar  Bahlul,  as  one    of  are  not  uncommon  in  Afghanisttin. 


522  TITLES  AND  SHPJNES  OF  ISHTAE.        App.  Book  I. 

the  distinction  may  only  be  that  Ishtar  is  the  Babylonian,  and  Nana 
the  Ass^a'ian  Venus.  The  epithets  applied  to  the  goddess  are  as 
follows.  On  the  Tiglath-Pileser  cylinder  she  is  "  the  head  of  the 
gods,"  "  the  Queen  of  victory,"  "  the  avenger  of  battles,"  and 
throughout  the  inscription  she  has  the  title  attached  to  her  of 
Asura/i,  "the  fortunate"  or  "the  happy."  In  the  Sardanapalus 
inscriptions  she  is  "the  mistress  of  heaven  and  earth,"  "  she  who 
defends  from  attack."  Sargon,  who  joins  her  with  Anu  as  the 
patroness  of  the  western  gate  at  Khorsabad,  merely  describes  her 
as  "the  goddess  who  rejoices  mankind."  Although  Sennacherib 
and  Esar-haddon  both  mention  her,  they  do  not  make  any  allusion 
to  her  functions  ;  but  in  the  hunting  legends  of  Asshur-bard-pal,  she 
is  distinctly  called  both  "  the  goddess  of  war"  and  "  the  goddess  of 
the  chace." 

Her  shrines  also  were  numerous.  Whether  she  was  worshipped 
at  Calah  is  doubtful,  but  she  had  certainly  a  fane  at  Asshur,  and  two 
very  celebrated  temples  at  Kineveh  and  Arbela.  An  inscription 
indeed  has  been  found  at  Koyunjik,  recording  the  erection  of  a 
temple  to  her  on  that  site  by  the  great  Sardanapalus ;  and  there  is 
also  a  minute  account  on  a  clay  tablet  of  the  restoration  of  her 
shrine  at  Aibela  by  Asshur-ham-pal,  in  whose  historical  inscriptions 
she  is  moreover  usually  called  "the  Lady  of  Arbela."  Theie  can 
be  little  doubt  then  but  that  Esar-haddon' s  address,  which  has  been 
already  noticed,  to  the  Goddess  XV.  of  Kineveh  and  the  Goddess 
XV.  of  Arbela  must  refer  to  this  divinity,  although  the  numeral  in 
question,  being  identical  with  the  sign  Hi,  ought  to  indicate  the 
other  female  goddess,  Beltis.^  Ishtar  is  occasionally  spoken  of  even 
in  the  inscriptions  of  Ass^^ria,  as  "the  lady  of  Babylon,"^  but  in 
general,  where  the  Babylonian  Venus  is  mentioned  by  the  kings  of 
Assyria,  the  name  is  used  of  Nana.  Thus  Tiglath-Pileser  records 
his  having  sacrificed  in  Babylonia  to  Nana  the  Lad}^  of  Babylon, 
together  with  four  other  pairs  of  deities — Asshur  and  Sheruha,  Bel 
(^Merodadi)  and  Zir-banit,  Neho  and  Varamit,  and  Nergal  and  Laz ; 
and  Sennacherib  also  relates  how  he  carried  oif  as  trophies  from 
his  Babylonian  expedition  the  sun-god  of  Larancha,  Beltis  of  liubesi, 
and  Beltis  of  Warha  ;  Nana,  Bilat  Tila  (or  the  Queen  of  Life?), 
Bidimiu,  Bishit,  and  Nergal. 

On  one  mythological  tablet,  containing  equivalent  lists  of  the 
gods  arranged  in  three  columns,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Ishtar 
and  Nana  are  separated,  as  if  they  were  distinct  deities,  Ishtar 
being  joined  with  "the  queen  of  the  chace"  and  Bilat  Hi,  while 
Nana  is  associated  with  Telita,  "goddess  of  the  lakes;"  with  "the 
queen  of  Babylon,"  or  (according  to  the  old  nomenclature)  Din- 

^  The  Babylonian  JRi  for  15  is  probably  Beltis,  for  the  6th  day  of  the  week,  or  "  Dies 

cognate  with  the  Pehlevi  He  for  20,  and  the  Veneris."      (8ee  Ssabier  und  der  Ssabismus, 

term  may  perhaps  have  been  used  indiscri-  vol.  ii,  p.  22.) 

minately  for  "  a  goddess,"  which  would  '■^  This  may  be  observed  in  the  inscription 
account  for  its  indifferent  application  both  to  on  the  back  of  the  slab  from  Negub,  near 
Beltis  and  Ishtar.  Another  proof  of  the  Niinrud,  which  has  not  yet  been  pub- 
confusion  between  these  goddesses  is  in  the  lisheij. 

Sabaean  use  of  the  name  of  ,-aXj>  Belthi  or 


Essay  X.  '  NEBO.  523 

TirU  -^  and  with  another  deity,  "  the  queen  of  the  stars,"  evidontlj'- 
the  planet  Venus ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  association  in 
this  tablet  implies  identity  or  merely  relationship. 

It  must  further  be  noticed  that  on  Sir  Thos.  Phillips'  cylinder 
Nana  is  throughout  joined  with  Neho,  as  if  they  were  man  and  wife, 
taking  the  place  of  the  goddess  Varamit,  who  appears  everywhere 
else  as  the  associate  of  the  god,  and  thus  leading  to  the  inference 
that  the  two  names  must  relate  to  the  same  deity.  This  is  a 
difficulty  which  our  present  means  of  information  do  not  enable  us 
to  clear  up,  for  the  only  list  we  possess  of  the  synonyms  of  Varamit, 
the  wife  of  Nebo,  is  too  much  injured  to  be  of  any  use ;  and 
although  on  another  tablet  the  double  union  is  given  of  Nebo  and 
Nana  and  Nebo  and  Varamit,  it  is  not  explained  whether  the  two 
names  do,  or  do  not,  refer  to  the  same  goddess.  The  evidence, 
such  as  we  have,  however,  is  certaiul}'-  against  the  identity. 
Varamit,  otherwise  of  great  celebrity,  is  never  once  mentioned  in 
the  inscriptions  of  Xebuchadnezzar,  full  as  they  are  of  information 
with  regard  to  the  tem23les  of  Babylonia  :  she  was  evidently  there- 
fore out  of  favour  with  that  monarch,  and  Na7ia  may  very  possibly 
have  been  thrust  temporarily  into  her  place ;  but  the  marriage  of 
the  two  planets  Venus  and  Mercury  would  be  such  a  solecism  in 
astral  mythology,  that  it  cannot  be  admitted  without  direct  proof. 
Ishtar  is  left  without  any  number  on  the  notation  tablet,  and  her 
emblem  among  the  divine  symbols  cannot  be  recognised  with  any 
certainty. 

(xiii.)  The  last  of  the  five  minor  gods  is  Nebo,  or  Mercury. 
This  god  was  also  of  Babylonian  rather  than  Assyrian  origin,  and 
had  the  primitive  names  of  Palm  (the  intelligent  (?)  ),  Ak,  and 
Nabiu,  Nabu  being  a  later  Semitic  reading.*  His  functions  are  not 
by  any  means  clearly  defined,  the  epithets  which  describe  them 
being  for  the  most  part  of  doubtful  import.  The  following  titles, 
however,  afford  some  clue  to  his  character  in  the  Assyrian  Pantheon. 
He  is  "  the  holder  of  the  sceptre  of  power  " — "  the  god  who  teaches 
or  instructs."  Upon  his  statue,  executed  by  an  artist  of  Calah,  for 
Pul  and  Semiramis,  there  is  a  long  list  of  epithets,  but  a  few  only 
can  be  understood.  He  is  "  the  inspector  over  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  " — ■'■'  he  who  hears  from  afar  " — "  the  holder  of  the  sceptre  "  (?) 
— "  he  who  possesses  intelligence  " — "  he  who  teaches  " — "  the  glori- 
fier  of  Bel  Nimrod  " — "  Lord  of  lords,  who  has  no  equal  in  power  " 
— "  the  sustainer  " — "  the  supporter  " — ''  the  ever  ready  " — "  whose 
wand  is  good."^     Nebuchadnezzar,  who  was  under  his  especial  pro- 


^  The  old  Hamite  name,  or  at  any  rate  for  in  the  Babylonian  version  of  the  Behistun 

one  of  the  old  Hamite  names  of  the  city  of  inscription   it  replaces  the  Bahirush  of  the 

Babylon,  must  have  been    read  Din-Tlrki,  Persian  text. 

,.<,.,„,.      ^,          ,     p      .        \  *  JSabiu  or  Nabiv  has  been  hitherto  be- 

din,'acitj,     being  the  root  of  ^^     J^,  jje^ed  to  be  a,  mere   irregular  phonetic  ren- 

and   the  final   ki   being  the   mere   affix    of  dering  of  the    name;  but  the  vocabularies 

locality ;   what   the    meaning  of  Tir,  how-  show    that   Nabiu   was   Hamite  and    Nabu 

ever,  may  have  been,  is  very  doubtful.    The  Semitic  for  the  same  term,,  which  was  pio- 

name,  entirely  unknown  in  sacred  or  profane  bably  connected  with  the  Hebrew  root  NiJ, 

history,  seems  nevertheless  to  have  been  in  "  to  boil  forth  "  or  "  prophesy." 

use  as  late  as  the  age  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  ^  There  are  other  titles  which  appear  to 


524  TEMPLES  OF  NEBO.  App.  Book  I. 

tectioii,  calls  him  "  the  inspector  over  the  heavens  and  earth,  who 
has  given  the  sceptre  of  power  into  my  hand  for  the  guardianship 
of  mankind ; "  and  again,  "  the  lord  of  the  constellations  (?)  who 
has  granted  me  the  sceptre  of  power  for  the  guidance  of  mj^  people." 
So  also  Keriglissar — "  Nabu,  the  eldest  son,  has  given  the  sceptre 
of  power  into  my  hand,  to  guide  mankind  and  to  regulate  the 
people."  There  are  many  other  epithets  which  seem  to  refer  to 
Nebo,  as  the  god  of  learning,  or  rather  of  letters,  but  it  would 
hardly  be  safe  to  translate  them.  It  may,  however,  be  remarked, 
that  on  the  numerous  tablets  of  Asshur-bani-pal,  which  the  king 
ordered  to  be  drawn  up  for  the  purpose  of  acquainting  the  people 
of  Assyria  with  the  language,  the  religion,  the  science,  and  even 
the  literature  of  the  earlier  and  more  polished  Babylonians,  the 
work  is  usually  said  to  be  undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  the 
"  far-hearing"  gods,  JSfabu  and  Warmita,  in  evident  allusion  to  their 
character  as  the  divinities  who  presided  over  knowledge.^ 

The  statues  of  Nebo  in  the  British  Museum  were  found  in  a 
chamber  at  the  south-east  comer  of  the  mound  at  Nimrud,  which 
chamber  must  have  belonged  to  a  temple  called  Bit  Saggil,  as  the 
god  is  named  in  the  inscription  Pal- Bit  Saggil,  "the  son  of  the 
temple  of  Saggil,''  in  the  same  manner  as  N'in  is  named  Pal-Zira  and 
Pal-Kura  from  the  various  temples,  in  which  he  was  worshipped. 
The  most  famous  temple,  however,  of  Nebo's  was  at  Borsippa,  and 
is  known  in  the  inscriptions  under  the  name  of  Bit  Zida,  an  old 
Hamite  term  of  which  the  Semitic  equivalent  has  not  3'et  been 
found.  This  temple  indeed  of  Nebo  at  Borsippa  was  almost  as  cele- 
brated as  the  neighbouring  temple  of  Bel-Merodach  at  Babylon. 
Each  of  these  temples  had  a  tower  attached,  in  which  was  deposited 
the  ark  or  tabernacle  of  the  god.  The  tower  of  the  temple  of  Bit 
Saggath,  containing  the  ark  of  Merodach,  is  fully  described  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Nebuchadnezzar;  and  is  that  of  which  Herodotus 
has  given  so  remarkable  an  account  in  his  notice  of  the  great  temple 
of  Belus  at  Babylon.  The  tower  of  the  temple  of  Bit  Zida  at  Bor- 
sippa, which  contained  the  ark  or  tabernacle  of  Nebo,  and  which 
was  built  after  the  fashion  of  the  seven  spheres,  is  that  celebrated 
edifice  of  which  the  ruins  exist  to  the  present  day,  bearing  the 
name  of  Birs  Nimrud  J 

On  Sir  Thomas  Phillips's  cylinder  it  is  repeatedly  stated  that 
Nana  was  associated  with  Nebo  in  the  worship  at  this  temple,  but 


relate  to  Nebo  as  the  patron  of  the  magic  7  Dr.  Hincks  has  remarked  that  the  two 

art,  but  further  research  is  necessary  before  signs  employed   to   represent    Nebo   on  the 

they  .can  be  satisfactorily  explained.  often-quoted  notation  tablet  are  those  which 

6  Nebo  occupies  a  very  inferior  place  in  sepaiately  indicate  "  fire ;  "  but  he  is  unable 

the    Pantheon    under    the    early    Assyrian  to   detect  any  connexion  between  "  fire "  or 

kings  ;   he  is  either  not  mentioned  at  all,  or,  "  flame"  and  the  god  in  question.    Norberg, 

at  the  very  close  of  the  invocation   passages,  however,  under  the  head  Nebo,  in  his  Ono- 

as  the  last  of  the  minor  gods.     Pul  indeed  masticon,  p.  98,  remarks  of  Mercury,  "  So- 

appears  to  have  first  brought  Nebo  promi-  latus  et  perustus,  cum  caeteris  planetis  soli 

neiitly  forward   in  Assyria  after  his  settle-  vicinior  sit,  a  poetis  fingitur ;"  and  the  stage 

ment  of  Babylon.     [In  a  list  of  the  epithets  or  sphere  of  Nebo  at  Birs  Nimrud  is  thus 

of  Nebo  lately  discovered,  we  have  distinctly  formed  of  brick  buint  into  slag,  and  exhibit- 

the  phrase  "  inventor  of  the  writing  of  the  ing    the  bk;e  colour  which  was  sacred   to 

royal  tablets."— H„  C.  R.     1861.1  him. 


Essay  X.  NEBO,  THE  GOD  OF  LEARNING.  525 

in  no  other  inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  is  there  any  allusion  to 
such  a  union.  There  was  a  part  of  Babylon  apparently  called  after 
Nana  "protecting  her  votaries,"®  but  she  has  no  temple  in  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's detailed  list  on  the  East  India  House  slab ;  nor  is 
there  any  allusion  to  the  name  of  Varamit,  who  was  the  true  wife 
of  Nebo,  throughout  that  inscription.  It  is  only  from  the  tablets 
and  from  the  Babylonian  notices  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  of 
Tiglath-Pileser  and  Sargon  that  we  are  positively  assured  of  Varamit 
being  the  wife  of  Nebo.^ 

There  is  another  interesting  circumstance  connected  with  Nebo's 
patronage  of  learning.  In  an  interior  chamber  of  the  Birs  Nimrud, 
which  seems  to  have  been  a  chapel  or  oratory,  all  the  bricks  are  found 
to  be  stamped — in  addition  to  the  ordinary  Nebuchadnezzar  legend — 
with  the  triangular  figure  of  the  wedge  or  arrow-head,  an  emblem 
which  is  also  commonly  found  both  on  the  cylinder  seals  and  among 
the  groups  of  divine  emblems.  The  inference  from  this  fact  certainly 
is  that  the  arrow-head  was  adopted  as  the  symbol  of  Nebo  because 
it  was  the  essential  element  of  cuneiform  writing,  which  must  have 
thus  been  under  his  especial  care  ;  and  there  is  further  a  coinci- 
dence between  this  symbol  and  one  of  the  best  authenticated  names 
of  Nebo  which  can  hardly  be  fortuitous.  The  name  alluded  to  is 
Tir,  which  means,  on  the  one  hand,  "  an  arrow,"  and  which,  on 
the  other,  is  the  old  Persian  name  of  the  planet ;  ^  and  that  this 
title  must  have  been  applied  to  Mercury  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  is  proved  by  the  city  which  the  king  built  and 
dedicated  to  his  favourite  deity  at  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates, 
calling  it  Tepijdioy^  or  Atp/^wrte,  "given  to  Mercury."  In  the  Men- 
dasan  books  also,  Nebo,  who  represents  the  planet  Mercury,  is 
called  "  the  scribe  ;  "  and  the  same  character  appertains,  to  a  certain 
extent,  to  the  Egyptian  Tet,  the  Greek  Hermes,  and  the  Latin 
Mercury.^  Of  course  it  is  to  this  god  that  we  must  refer  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Babylonian  Hermes,  the  reputed  author  of  the  Chaldaean 
oracles.*     I'here  was  an  old  Syriac  legend  that  Hermes  was  buried 


^  See  E,  I.  H.  Ins,  col.  5,  Is.  47  and  54.  '■*  As  the  name  of  this  city  involves  some 

^  The  leading  of  Varamit  or  Urmit  is  not  veiy  important  ethnological    considerations, 

quite  certain,  nor  is  there  anv  etymology  for  it  may  be  as  well  to  note  that  the  fact  of  its 

the  name  which  appears  particularly  appli-  foundation  by  Nebuchadnezzar  is  given  by 

cable,  for   a  derivation   fiom    Dll    "to   be  Megasthenes  fiom  Abydenus,  on  the  autho- 

high,"  would  suit  any  other  god  or  goddess  rity  of  Berosus.     (See  Cory's  Frag.  p.  46.) 

equally  well.     If  the  name  might  be  read  That  the  name  is  at  any  rate  as  old  as  the 

Khaminamit  (and  there  is  authority  for  thus  time  of  Alexander  is   further  proved   by  the 

valuing  the  initial  sign)  a  far  more  interest-  occurrence  of  the  name  of  AipiScaTis,  which 

ing   field  would  be  opened  for   comparison  has  precisely  the  same  meaning  in  Aniau. 

with  Arabic  and  Menda^an  names,  de  Reb.  Ind.  p.  588.     See  all  the  authorities 

^  It  is  here  taken  for  granted  that  Nebo  for   Teredon    and    Diridotis    in   Cell.   Geog. 

is  the   planet   Mercury.     The  identification  vol.  ii.  pp.  641,  642.  The  name  of  Tiridates, 

indeed  is  proved  both   by  the  books  of  the  so  well  known  in  later  history,  is  of  cognate 

Mendaans  and  by  the  calendar  of  the  Sa-  derivation. 

baeans  of  Harran,  in  which  the  4th  day  of  ^  xhe  Persians  pretended  that  the  planet 

,,           ,   ,-p,.     ,,          ...                   J     ••    '  •  Mercury   received    the   name    of    Tir,  "an 

the  week  (Dies  Mercuru)  wa^  named  O^^,  .^,^.^^/  f,om  the  swiftness  of  its  movement. 

Kebiik,  with  the  guttural  termination  which  (See  Hyde  de  Rel.  Vet.  Pers.  p.  242.) 

was  so  often  added  after  a  long  vowel.  "*  See  the  various  notices  of  this  Hermes 


526  THE  REMAINING  GODS.  App.  Book  I. 

at  Kalwadlia,'  the  city  from  whence  the  Chaldaeans  perhaps  took 
their  name  ;  ^  but  no  particular  connexion  has  been  yet  detected  in 
the  inscriptions  between  that  city  and  Nebo.  The  high  place  of  the 
latter  was  Borsippa/  and  it  was  no  doubt  in  the  colleges  attached 
to  this  shrine  of  the  god  of  learning  that  the  Borsippene  Chaldaeans 
obtained  such  celebrity.''  The  respective  worship  of  Bel-Merodach 
at  Babylon  and  of  Neho  at  Borsippa,  was  maintained,  it  would  seem, 
to  the  3rd  or  4th  century  of  Christ,  as  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Tal- 
mudic  tract  on  Idolatry,  which  is  supposed  to  be  of  the  latter  period 
of  history.^  The  tablets  do  not  give  any  satisfactory  information 
as  to  the  parentage  of  Nebo  or  his  relationship  to  the  other  gods ; 
but  on  his  statue  he  calls  himself  the  son  oiKimmut,  the  astronomical 
name  of  Hea,  and  there  is  doubtless  in  their  functions  a  general 
resemblance  between  the  two  gods.  In  this  respect,  however, 
Babylonian  departs  from  classical  tradition,  as  the  Greek  Hermes 
was  the  well-known  son  of  Zeus  and  Maia. 

4.  A  very  few  lines  must  suffice  for  the  remaining  gods  of  the 
Pantheon.  Those  most  deserving  of  attention  are — ^1.  AUata,  a  god- 
dess named  independently,  as  if  of  some  importance,  and  probably 
therefore  identical  with  the  'AXlrra  of  Herodotus.  2.  Bel  Zirpu,  a 
god  to  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  erected  a  temple  in  the  city  of  Baz, 
and  who  is  named,  though  not  described,  on  the  tablets.  He  may 
be  the  Jupiter  Serapis  in  whose  temple  at  Babylon  Alexander's 
officers  held  their  vigils  in  his  last  fatal  illness,  praying  for  the 
life  of  their  lord.  o.  Jdak  and  his  wife  Belat  31uk,  gods  of  the 
Tigris ;  and  Supulat  of  Vaddula,  Lord  of  the  Euphrates.  4.  Kani- 
sura,  who  had  a  temple  at  Cutha}  5.  Kumkh  of  Bit  AkMl^  a  goddess 
who  is  very  frequently  mentioned  on  the  tablets.  6.  Sarrakhu  and 
Mumit,  Lord  and  Lady  of  Kis  {Kiffaia  of  Herodotus).  7.  Zamali  of 
Khupslian,  also  of  great  celebrity  in  the  old  Chaldsean  time,  being 
mentioned  on  Porter's  Hymer  brick.  8.  Lagamal,  who  is  perhaps 
the  same  god  as  Ip^  to  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  raises  a  temple  in  the 
town  of  Asbi.^  9.  Wada  or  Nin-Wada  of  Tarmaz,  whose  name  pro- 
bably occurs  in  Kalwadha,  answering  to  the  Scriptural  ChilmadJ^ 
10.  Baku,  which  may  be  a  name  for  the  Sun,  being  joined  with  Sin^ 
"the  Moon:"  and  a  vast  number  of  other  names,  such  as  Ebikh, 
Zarik,  Zalmu,  Miskhara,  Gasran^  Vara  or  Bel  Vara  (to  whom  Tiglath- 


collected  by  Chwolsohn  in  "  Ssabier  und  der         ^  It  is  curious  that  on  one  i^X^t  Kanisura 

Ssabismus,"  also  Smith's  Biograph.   Die.  in  should    be    assigned   to  Cutha,   and  Nergal 

voc.  Trismegistus.  should  be  called  king  of  Larancha,  in  oppo- 

*  Abulfaiage  has  preserved  this  tradition  sition  to  all  other  authorities  which,  as  far  as 

in  hig  Historia  Dyiiastiarum  (p.  8).  Babylonia  is  concerned,  pretty  well  confine 

"  See  the  quotation  from  MassoudCs  Ten-  Nergal  to  Cutha  or  Tiggaba. 
Uh  in  Not.  des  Man.  tom.  viii.  p.  158.  s'^^e  Sir  T.  Phillips's  Cyl.  col.  2,  1.  46. 

7  Nahu  is  thus  especially  named  on  the  Asbi  is  said  in  the  vocabularies  to  be  equi- 

tablets  the  Lord  of  Barsip  or  Borsippa.  valent  to  Nahi,  and  the  town  on  the  tablets 

^  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  §  6,  p.  509.  is  associated  with  Borsippa,  as  if  in  its  im- 

^  Babel  and  Bursif  are  repeatedly  named  mediate  vicinity, 
together  in  the  Mendasan  Sidr  precisely  as 
Babel  and  Bursi  are  associated  in  the  Avodka 


Wadd,   2*  ,  was   still  worshipj)ed   by 

^rabs  up  to  the  time  c 
nounced  in  the  Korai 
the  former  work  was  written.  Spec.  Hist.  Arab.  p.  95.) 


Sara,  but    the  worship  of  Bel   and    Nebo     the  Arabs  up  to  the  time  of  the  Prophet,  and 
seems  to  have  expired  at  these  places  before     is  denounced  in  the  Koran.     (See  Pococke's 


Essay  X. 


VAST  MULTITUDE  OF  DEITIES. 


527 


Pileser  I.  raised  a  temple  at  Asshiir),  Shashit,  JVarud,  Kippat,  Paniri, 
Gunicra,  Kilili,  Sakhirta,  Fashirta,  &g.* 

5.  Every  town  and  village  indeed  thronghout  Babylonia  and 
Assyria  appears  to  have  liad  its  own  particular  deity,  many  of  these 
no  doubt  being  the  great  gods  of  the  Pantheon  disguised  under 
rustic  names,  but  others  being  distinct  local  divinities.  It  can  be 
of  no  interest  to  pursue  the  subject  into  greater  detail,  nor  indeed 
are  the  materials  available.  If  the  Oriental  student  will  recall  the 
multitudinous  names  that  swarm  up  out  of  the  Pantheon  of  the 
Hindoos  or  Mendasans,  he  will  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
result  which  awaits  the  labours  of  any  zealous  antiquary  who  will 
take  the  trouble  to  clean  the  thousands  of  mythological  clay  tablets 
now  mouldering  on  the  shelves  of  the  British  Museum,  and  who 
will  afterwards  copy  and  decipher  their  legends. — [H.  C.  E.] 


*  In  this  brief  abstract  of  the  rames  of 
some  of  the  gods  mentioned  in  the  mytholo- 
gical tablets  the  foreign  deities  are  not 
included,  though  some  of  their  names  are  of 
considerable  interest.  The  tutelar  god  of 
Susa,  for  instance,  was  named  Armannu, 
which  would  seem  to  be  connected  with 
Aiimanes  on  the  one  side  and  with  the  Teu- 


tonic Herman  or  Arminius  on  the  other. 
Another  Elymaean  god  was  Humha,  and  a 
city  was  called  after  him  near  the  mouth  of 
tlie  Euphrates,  which  seems  to  be  the  "A/xirr) 
of  Heiodotus.  On  the  cylinder  indeed  of 
Asshnr-hani-pal  there  is  a  list  of  twenty 
gods  whom  the  king  carried  off  as  trophies 
from  Susa. 


528  ETHNIC  AFFINITIES.  App.  Book  I. 


ESSAY  XL 


ON  THE  ETHNIC  AFFINITIES  OF  THE  NATIONS  OF  WESTERN  ASIA. 

1.  Intermixture  of  races  in  Western  Asia,  2.  Earliest  population  Turanian. 
3.  Development  of  Hamitism  and  Semitism.  4.  Indo-European  family.  5. 
Turanian  races:  (i.)  Parthians — (ii.)  Asiatic  Ethiopians — (iii.)  Colchians — 
(iv.)  Sapeiri — (v.)  Moschi  and  Tibareni— (vi.)  Early  Armenians — (vii.)  Cap- 
padocians  —  (viii.)  Susianians  —  (ix.)  Chaldaeans  —  (x.)  Nations  probably 
Turanian.  6.  Semitic  races:  (i.)  Cilicians — '(ii.)  Solymi — (iii.)  Lydians 
not  Semitic — (iv.)  Cappadocians  and  Himyaritic  Arabs  not  Semitic  — 
(v.)  Other  Semitic  races.  7.  Division  of  the  Semitic  races  into  groups: 
(a)  Eastern,  or  Assyro-Babylonian  group  — (6)  Western,  or  Hebrseo-Phoenician 
group — (c)  Central  or  Ai'abian  gi'oup.  8.  Small  extent  of  Semitism.  9,  Late 
appearance  of  the  Indo-Europeans  historically.  10.  Spread  of  the  race  from 
Armenia,  threefold.  11.  Northern  migration,  into  Europe.  12.  Nations  of 
the  Western  migration  :  (i.)  Pelasgi  —  (ii.)  Phrygians  —  (iii.)  Lydians  — 
(iv.)  Carians — (v.)  M3'sians — (vi.)  Lycians  and  Caunians — (vii.)  Matienians  (?) 
13.  Eastern,  or  Arian  migration.  14.  Nations  belonging  to  it :  (i.)  Persians 
—  (ii.)  Medes  —  (iii.)  Carmanians  —  (iv.)  Bactrians  —  (v.)  Sogdians  —  (vi.) 
Arians  of  Herat  — (vii.)  Hyrcanians  —  (viii.)  Sagartians  —  (ix.)  Chorasmians 
— (x.)  Sarangians  —  (xi.)  Gandarians,  &c.     15.  Tabular  view. 

1.  In  Western  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  human  race,  the  several 
ethnic  branches  of  the  human  family  were  more  closely  inter- 
mingled, and  more  evenly  balanced  than  in  any  other  portion  of 
the  ancient  world.  Semitic,  Indo-European,  and  Tatar,  or  Tura- 
nian races,  not  only  divided  among  them  this  portion  of  the  earth's 
surface,  but  lay  confused  and  interspersed  upon  it,  in  a  most  re- 
markable entanglement.  It  is  symptomatic  of  this  curious  inter- 
mixture, that  the  Persian  monarchs,  when  they  wished  to  publish 
a  communication  to  their  Asiatic  subjects  in  such  a  way  that  it 
should  be  generally  intelligible,  had  to  put  it  out,  not  only  in  three 
different  languages,  but  in  three  languages  belonging  to  the  three 
principal  divisions  of  human  speech.  Hence  the  trilingual  in- 
scriptions of  Behistun,  Persepolis,  &c.,  which  consist  of  an  Indo- 
European,  a  Tatar,  and  a  Semitic  column.  Hence,  too,  through 
the  unchangingness  of  all  things  human  in  the  East,  the  remarkable 
parallelism  of  modern  with  ancient  edicts  in  these  regions,  where 
at  the  present  day  it  is  necessary  in  many  places  to  employ  three 
tongues,  representatives  of  the  three  families,  the  Persian,  the 
Arabic,  and  the  Turkish,  in  proclamations  addressed  generally  to 
the  inhabitants.  Indo-European  and  Semitic  races  continue  as  of 
old  the  principal  occupants  of  the  territory.  The  Tatar  element  is 
present  now,  as  then,  in  a  less  proportion  than  the  others.  The 
only  difference  is,  that  from  a  subject  the  Tatar  has  become  the 
dominant  race. 

In  attempting  to  reduce  into  some  order  this  chaos,  and  to  refer 
the  several  nations  existing  in  Western  Asia  at  the  time  of  Hero- 


Essay  XI.  TURANIANS  OR  ALLOPHYLIANS.  529 

dotus  to  their  true  ethnic  type,  I  shall  follow  what  appears,  on  a 
view  of  the  entire  phenomena,  to  have  been  the  chronological  series 
in  which  the  several  families  spread  themselves  over  the  region  in 
question. 

2.  If  then  we  go  back  to  the  earliest  times  to  which  either  the 
light  of  history,  sacred  and  profane,  or  the  less  certain  but  still 
valuable  clue  of  ethnological  research,  enables  us  to  reach,  we  seem 
to  find  spread  over  the  whole  of  the  tract  of  which  we  are  speaking, 
a  Scythic,  or  Turanian  population.  It  is  indeed  perhaps  too  much 
to  presume  a  real  affinity  of  race  between  all  the  nations  whose 
form  of  speech  was  of  this  character.  For  the  Turanian  type  of 
language  is  not,  like  the  Semitic  and  the  Indo-European  or  Arian, 
a  distinct  and  well-defined  family.'  The  title  of  AUonhylian,  by 
which  the  greatest  of  English  ethnologists  ^  designated  this  linguis- 
tic division,  was  not  without  a  peculiar  appropriateness  ;  marking, 
as  it  did,  the  fact  that  there  is  no  such  affinity  between  the  various 
branches  of  this  so-called  ethnic  family,  as  that  which  holds  together 
the  several  varieties  of  Semitic  and  Arian  speech.  Turanian  speech 
is  rather  a  stage  than  a  form  of  language  ;  it  seems  to  be  the  earliest 
mould  into  which  human  discourse  naturally,  and  as  it  were  spon- 
taneously, throws  itself ;  being  simpler,  ruder,  coarser  and  far  less 
elaborate  than  the  later  developments  of  Semitism  and  Arianism. 
It  does  not,  like  those  tongues,  possess  throughout  its  manifold 
ramifications  a  large  common  vocabulary,  or  even  a  community  of 
inflexions.  Common  words  are  exceedingly  rare  ;^  and  inflexions, 
though  formed  on  the  same  plan,  are  in  their  elements  entirely  un- 
like. It  is  only  in  general  character  and  genius  that  the  Turanian 
tongues  can  be  said  to  resemble  one  another,  and  the  connexion 
between  them;  although  it  may  be  accounted  for  by  real  consan- 
guinity or  descent  from  a  common  stock,  does  not  necessitate  any 
such  supposition,  but  may  be  sufficiently  explained  without  it. 
The  principle  of  agglutination,'^  as  it  is  called,  which  is  their  most 


»  Professor  Max  Miiller  says,  "  The  third  The  Turanian  numerals  and  pronouns  point 

family  is  the  Turanian.       It  comprises  all  to  a  single  original  source ;  yet  here  again 

languages   spoken    in    Asia   or    Europe    not  the  tenacity  of  these  nomadic  dialects  cnnnot 

included  mider  the  Arian  or  Semitic  families,  he  compared  with  the  tenacity  of  the  poli- 

with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the   Chinese  tical    languages   of  Asia    and    Europe    (the 

and  its  dialects.    This  is,  indeed,  a  very  wide  Semitic  and   the  Arian) :  and  common  roots, 

range;    and    the    characteristic    marks    of  discovered    in    the    most    distant    nomadic 

union  ascertained  for  this  immense  variety  idioms,  are  mostly  of  a  much  more  general 

of  languages   are   as   yet  very   vague  and  form  and  character  than  the  radicals  of  the 

general,  if  compared  with  the  definite  ties  Arian  and    Semitic  treasuries."      ( Miiller 's 

of  relationship    which    severally    unite   the  Languages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  88.) 
Semitic  and  the  Arian."     (Languages  of  the         "*  Thus   explained    by  Professor    Miiller  : 

Seat  of  War,  p.  86,  2nd  ed.)  "  Agglutination.     This  means  not  only  that 

2  Dr.  Prichard.  in  their  grammars  pronouns  are  glued  to  thfe 

■*  "  The  most  necessary  substantives,  such  verbs  in  order  to  form  the  conjugation,  or 

as  father,  mother,  daughter,  son,  have  fre-  prepositions  to  substantives  in  order  to  form 

quently  been  lost,  and  replaced  by  synonyms  declensions What  distinguishes  the 

in  the  difiierent  branches  of  this  (the  Tura-  Turanian  languages  is,  that  in  them  the  con- 

nian)  family  ;  yet  common  words  are  found,  jugation  and  declension  can  still  be  taken  to 
though  not  with   the  same  consistency  and     pieces ;  and  although  the   terminations  have 
regularity  as  in  Semitic  and  Arian  dialects,     by    no    means    retained    their    significative 
VOL.  I.  2   M 


530  THEIR  EARLY  PREVALENCE.  App.  Book  L 

marked  cliaracteiiatic,  seems  almost  a  necessary  feature  of  any 
language  in  a  constant  state  of  flux  and  change,  absolutely  devoid 
of  a  literature,  and  maintaining  itself  in  existence  by  means  of  the 
scanty  conversation  of  nomades.  A  natural  instinct,  working 
uniformly  among  races  widely  diverse,  might  produce  the  effect 
which  we  see ;  and  at  any  rate  we  are  not  justified  in  assuming 
the  same  original  ethnic  unity  among  the  various  nations  whose 
language  is  of  the  Turanian  type,  which  presses  upon  the  mind  as 
an  absolute  necessity  when  it  examines  the  phenomena  presented 
by  the  dialects  of  the  Semitic  or  of  the  Arian  stock. 

3.  All  then,  perhaps,  that  can  be  said  with  any  certainty  is,  that 
in  the  most  ancient  times  of  which  we  possess  any  knowledge,  the 
form  of  speech  called  the  Turanian  seems  to  have  been  generally 
prevalent  from  the  Caucasus  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  from  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges.  We 
might  perhaps  largely  extend  these  limits,  and  say,  that  the  whole 
Eastern  hemisphere  was  originally  occupied  by  a  race  or  races, 
whose  various  dialects  possessed  the  characteristics  of  the  linguistic 
type  in  question.^  It  is,  however,  enough  for  our  present  purpose 
to  confine  the  assertion  to  the  region  known  as  Western  Asia, 
the  tract  lying  between  Hindustan  and  the  Egean,  the  Black 
Sea  and  the  Southern  or  Indian  Ocean.  Within  this  district  the 
Armenians  (?),  the  Susianians  or  Elymaeans,  the  early  Babylonians, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  south  coast  of  Arabia,  the  original  people 
of  the  Great  Iranic  plateau  and  of  the  Kurdish  Mountains,  and  the 
primitive  population  of  India,  can  be  shown,  it  is  said,  to  have 
possessed  dialects  of  this  character ;  ^  while  probability  is  strongly 
in  favour  of  the  general  occupation  of  the  whole  region  by  persons 
speaking  the  same  type  of  language.  The  primitive  form  of  the 
tongue,  crystallising  among  the  less  civilised  hordes,  has  remained 
from  the  early  times  of  which  we  are  here  speaking  to  the  present 


power  as  independent  words,  they  are   still  Babylonian  language  in  its  affinity  with  the 

felt   as   modificatory  syllables,   and  distinct  Susianian,  the  second   column  of  the  cunei- 

from  the  words  to  which  they  are  added."  form    trilingual    inscriptions,  the  Armenian 

(Languages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  90.)  cuneiform,  and   the  Mantchoo  Tatar  on  the 

°  The  original  occupation  of  Asia  by  Tu-  one  hand,  with  the  Galla,  the  Gheez,  and  the 

ranian  races  is  proved   in  the    text,  and  is  ancient  Egyptian  on  the  other,  may  be  cited 

generally  admitted ;  the  peopling  of  Europe  as  a  proof  of  the  original  unity  betwepn  the 

in  primeval  times  by  tribes  having  a  similar  languages  of  Africa  and  Asia  ;  a  unity  sutR- 

form  of  speech,  which  yielded  everywhere  to  ciently  shadowed  out  in  Genesis  (x.  6-20), 

the    Indo-European    races,  and  were    either  and    confirmed  by   the   manifold,  traditions 

absorbed  or  driven  into  holes  and  corners,  is  concerning  the  two  P^thiopias,  the  Cushites 

aJ5parent  from  the  position  of  the  Laps,  Fins,  above  Egypt,  and  the  Cushites  of  the  Persian 

Esths,  and  Basques,  whose  dialects  are  of  the  Gulf.     Hamitism,   then,  although  no  doubt 

Turanian  type.     Africa,  where  the  Hamitic  the  form  of  speech  out  of  which  Semitisra 

character  of  speech  prevails,  might  seem  to  be  was  developed,  is  itself  rather  Turanian  than 

an  exception,  more  especially  since  Hamitism  Semite;  and  the  triple  division  correspond- 

is  represented  by  the  best  modern  Ethnolo-  ing  to  the  sons  of  Noah,  which  the  earlier 

gers  (Bunsen's  Philosophy  of  Universal  His-  ethnologers  adopted,  may  still  be  retained, 

toiy,  vol.   i.    ch.   vi.  ;    Max  Miiller's   Lan-  the  Turan'an  being  classed  with  the  Hamitic, 

guages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  24,  2nd  ed. )  of  which  it  is  an  earlier  stage, 
as  a  form  of  Semitism,  and  distinct  altogether         ^  For   the  detail  of  the  proof,  vide  infra, 

from  the  Turanian  family.     But  the  early  pp.  5oo-539. 


Essay  XI.  HAMITISM  AND  SEMITISM.  531 

day,  the  language  of  four-fiftlis  of  Asia,  and  of  many  of  the  remoter 
parts  of  Europe.  It  is  spoken  by  the  Finns  and  Lapps,  the 
Turks  and  Hungarians,  the  Ostiaks  and  Samoeides,  the  Tatars  and 
Thibetians,  the  Mongols,  Uzbeks,  Turcomen,  Mantchous,  Kirghis, 
Nogais,  &c.  ;  by  all  the  various  races  which  wander  over  the  vast 
steppes  of  Northern  Asia  and  Eastern  Europe  ;  by  the  hill-tribes 
of  India,  and  by  many  nations  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago.  In 
certain  favoured  positions — in  the  great  Mesopotamian  plain,  and 
in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  where  settled  communities  were  early 
formed  and  civilisation  naturally  sprang  up,  the  primitive  or 
Turanian  character  of  speech  exhibited  a  power  of  development, 
becoming  first  Hamitic,  and  then,  after  a  considerable  interval, 
and  by  a  fresh  effort,  throwing  out  Semitism.  It  is  imj)ossible  to 
say  at  what  exact  time  the  form  of  speech  known  as  Hamitic 
originated.  Probably  its  rise  preceded  the  invention  of  letters, 
and  there  are  reasons  for  assigning  the  origination  of  the  change  to 
Egypt.  From  the  Egyptians,  the  children  of  Mizraim,  it  naturally 
spread  to  the  other  Hamitic  races— then  perhaps  dwellers  in  that 
land '' — and  by  them  was  carried  in  one  line  to  Ethiopia,  Southern 
Arabia,  Babylonia,  Susiana,  and  the  adjoining  coast ;  in  another,  to 
Philistia,  Sidon,  Tyre,  and  the  countr}^  of  the  Hittites.  The  steps 
of  this  development  cannot  be  traced ;  but  in  the  Babylonian 
records  there  are  said  to  be  evidences  of  the  gradual  development 
of  Semitism  from  the  Hamitic  type  of  speech,  which  throw  some 
light  upon  the  previous  transition.  This  change,  which  seems  to 
have  attained  to  a  certain  degree  of  completeness  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  20th  century  b.c.,^  was  accompanied  or  shortly  followed 
by  a  series  of  migratory  movements,  which  carried  the  newly 
formed  linguistic  type  to  the  upper  Tigris,  and  middle  Euphrates, 
to  Syria,  Palestine,  Arabia,  and  the  borders  of  Egypt.  Asshur 
probably  "  went  forth  "  at  this  time  out  of  Babylon  into  Assyria,^ 
while  the  Aramaeans  ascended  the  stream  of  the  Euphrates  ;  the 
Phoenicians  (perhaps,  however,  at  that  period  hardly  Semitized) 
passed  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Mediterranean  ;'  Abraham  and 
his  followers  proceeded  from  Ur  by  way  of  Harran  to  the  south  of 
Palestine  ;  and  the  Joktanian  Arabs  overspread  the  great  peninsula. 
From  these  seats  subsequent  migrations  carried  Semitism  at  a  later 
period  to  Cyprus,  Cilicia,  Pisidia,  Lycia,  on  the  one  hand ;  to 
Carthage,  Sicily,  Spain,  and  Western  Africa,  on  the  other. 

4.  The  origin  of  the  Indo-European  tongue  is  involved  in  com- 
plete obscurity.     Whether  it  was  from  the  first  a  form  of  language 


7  Egypt    is    /car'   e^ox^v  the   "  land  of  Hamitic  races  can  di\erge  to  Ethiopia,  Ara- 

Ham "   (Ps.   Ixxviii.    51 ;   cv.   23,   27 ;   cvi.  bia,    Babylonia,   Palestine,  and    the    Syrian 

22),  therefore  perhaps  called  Che  mi,  its  only  coast.     (See  the  genealogy  of  the  children  of 

title  upon  the  monuments.      Ham   probably  Ham,  Gen.  x.  6-20.) 
took  up  his  abode  there,  and  his  name  pass^ed         ^  Suprk,  Essay  vi.  p.  365. 
on  both  to  the  country,  and  to  its  original         ^  Gen.  x.  11. 

chief  god,  Khem,   the    special  deity  of  the         ^  See  note^  on  Book  i.  ch.  1,  and  com- 

Thebais,  which  was  the  first  seat  of  civilisa-  pare  the  Essay  appended  to  Book  vii.,  'On 

tion    in    Egypt.      Egypt  too   furnishes   the  the  Early  Migrations  of  the  Phoenicians.' 
natural    centre    from    w^hich    the    diti'erent 

2  M  2 


532  TURANIAN  EACES.  App.  Book  I. 

distinct  from  the  Turanian,  or  whether,  like  Semitism,  it  was  a 
development,  we  have  no  linguistic  records  left  us  to  determine. 
It  is  perhaps  most  philosophical  to  suppose  that  one  law  produced 
both  the  Semitic  and  Indo-European  types  ;  and  as  the  former  can, 
it  is  thought,  be  proved  to  have  been  developed  from  the  primitive 
cast  of  speech,  to  assume  the  same  of  the  latter.  This  too  would 
be  more  in  accordance  with  Scripture  than  the  contrary  supposi- 
tion, since  we  read  of  a  time  when  "the  whole  earth  was  of  one 
language."^  The  place  where  the  development  arose  was  most 
probably  Armenia,  whence  the  several  lines  of  Indo-European 
migration  appear  to  have  issued.  Westward  from  that  high 
paountain  region  one  line  may  be  supposed  to  have  passed  into 
Asia  Minor,  and  thence  flowed  on  to  Greece,  Italy,  and  Sicily  ; 
northward  another  to  have  penetrated  the  Caucasus,  and  entering 
the  region  of  the  Steppes  to  have  spread  widely  over  them,  pro- 
ceeding thence  round  the  Black  Sea  into  Central  and  Western 
Europe  ;  while  eastward  a  third  line,  passing  to  the  south  of  the 
Caspian,  found  its  way  across  the  mountains  of  Affghanistan,  and 
settled  upon  the  Indus. 

5.  Of  the  original  period  of  Turanian  preponderance — the  period 
designated  by  the  term  'ZKvdiafxoQ  in  early  Christian  writers^ — • 
when  Turanian  or  Scythic  races  were  everywhere  predominant,  and 
neither  Arian  nor  Semitic  civilisation  had  as  yet  developed  them- 
selves, it  is  not  of  course  to  be  expected  that  we  should  possess, 
either  in  Herodotus  or  elsewhere,  much  authentic  history.  The 
second,  or  Median  dynasty  of  Berosus  in  Babylon,^  and  the  Sc3i:hic 
domination  of  Justin,^  seem  however  to  be  distinct  historical 
notices  of  the  time  in  question.  The  most  striking  trace  of  the 
former  condition  of  things  which  remained  in  the  days  of  Hero- 
dotus, was  the  existence  everywhere  in  Western  Asia  of  a  large 
Scythic  or  Turanian  element  in  the  population.  The  historian 
indeed  is  not  himself  distinctly  conscious  of  the  fact.  But  the 
notices  which  his  work  contains  of  Scyths  and  Scythic  influence 
in  Western  Asia,^  are  indicative  of  the  real  condition  of  things, 
which  the  recently  discovered  cuneiform  records  place  altogether 
beyond  a  doubt.  Besides  the  Scythic  inscriptions  of  Armenia  (?), 
Susa,  and  Elymais,  it  is  found  that  the  Achgemenian  monuments, 
wherever  set  up,  contain  in  one  column  a  Scythic  dialect,''  which 
would  certainly  not  have  been  added  unless  a  considerable  section 
of  the  population  had  understood  no  other  tongue.^  These  Scythic 
writings  appear  not  only  in  Media,  as  at  Elwand  and  Behistun,  but 


2  Gen.  xi.  1.  Foreign  Office.  (Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Soci- 

^  Paschal  Chronicle  (p.  49,  a)  ;   Epipha-  ety,  vol.  xv.  part  i.) 
nius  (adv.  Hseres.  i.   5-7) ;  John  of  Malala         ^  M.  Bunsen  produces  a  wrong  impres- 

(Chronogr.  p.  25-26).  siou  when  he  speaks  of  the  Scythic  transla- 

■*  Beros.  Fr.  11.  tion  as  intended  "for  the  Transoxanian  or 

*  Justin,  i.  l,andii.  1-4.  Scythian    populatioiis "    (Philos.    of   Univ. 

6  Herod,  i.  73,  104-6;  iii.  93;  vii.  64.  Hist.   i.  p.  194).     They  could  only  be  in- 

7  This  was  first  asserted  by  Sir  H.  Raw-  tended   for  the  Scythian  population  of  the 
linson  (Beh.   luscr.  i.  p.  34).     It  has   since  places  where  they  were  set  up. 

been  abundantly  proved  by  Mr.  Norris  of  the 


Essay  XI.  PARTHIANS.  533 

in  Persia  proper — at  Nakhsh-i-Eustam  and  Pasargadas.  They  can 
only  be  accounted  for  by  the  supposition,  that  before  the  great  im- 
migration of  the  Arian  races  from  the  East,  Scythic  or  Tfitar  tribes 
occupied  the  countries  seized  by  them.  This  population  was  for 
the  most  part  absorbed  in  the  conquering  element.  In  places  how- 
ever it  maintained  itself  in  some  distinctness,  and  retained  a  quasi 
nationality,  standing  to  the  conquerors  as  the  Welch  and  ancient 
Cornish  to  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  our  own  country.  The  Sacae  of 
Herodotus,  and  Saka  of  the  inscriptions,  distinguished  into  8aka 
Humawarga,^  and  Saka  Tigrakhuda,  are  remnants  of  this  description  ; 
and,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  Armenians  (?),  Susianians, 
Chaldaeans,  and  Southern  Arabs,  mark  the  original  continuity  of 
the  Turanian  occupation  of  these  countries,  just  as  rocks  of  the 
same  formation,  rising  separate  and  isolated  from  the  surface  of  the 
ocean,  indicate  the  existence  anciently  of  a  tract  uniting  them, 
which  the  waves  have  overpowered  and  swept  away. 

If  we  inquire  more  particularly  which  of  the  Western  Asiatic 
nations  in  the  time  of  Herodotus  were  either  wholly  or  largely 
Turanian,  we  may  find  probable  grounds  for  concluding  under 
the  former  head — besides  the  Sacae — the  Parthians,  the  Asiatic 
Ethiopians,  the  Colehians,  the  Sapeiri,  the  Tibareni,  and  the 
Moschi ;  under  the  latter  the  Armenians,  the  Cappadocians,  the 
Susianians,  and  the  Chaldaeans  of  Babylon.  A  few  words  must  be 
said  with  regard  to  each  of  these  nations. 

(i.)  The  Scythic  (?'.  e.  Turanian)  character  of  the  Parthian  king- 
dom of  the  Arsacidae,  is  generally  admitted,^  and  was  evidenced 
as  well  by  their  manners  and  customs,  as  by  the  character  of  their 
language.^  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  kingdom  began, 
not  by  a  foreign  conquest  of  the  Parthians,  but  by  a  revolt  of  that 
people.^  The  retention  of  the  name  of  Parthians  is  prima  facie 
evidence  of  this,  and  entitles  us  to  extend  to  the  tribe  which  bore 
the  name  in  Achaemenian  times,  what  is  certainly  known  of  the 
later  people.  Justin,  who  follows  Trogus  Pompeius,  asserts  the 
identity,  and  distinctly  maintains  the  original  Scythic  character 
of  the  race.*     The  Parthians,  therefore,  though  constantly  joined, 


^  Behist.  Inscr.  ii.  p.  294.     The  i/«ma-  [Justin's  etymology,  however,  if  true,  would 

warga  are  clearly  identical  with  the  'Afxvp-  be  Arian.     His  reference   is  to  the  Sanscrit 
yioi  of  Herodotus  (vii.  64)  and  Hellanicus  -"^ 

(Fr.  171).     The  Tigrakhuda  are  Tproved  by  ^'^'^^  Pardes, '' of  another  country,"  or 
the  Babylonian  transcript  to  be  "  Scythian 

bowmen."  at  anv  rate  to  some  word  containing  the  root 

1  Strab.  xi.    p.  750;    Justin,  xli.    1-4;  Par,'"  another."— H.  C.  R.] 

Arrian.  Fr.  1.  3  Arrian  expressly  asserted  this  (Fr.  1). 

2  Strabo  speaks  of  their  customs  as  exoi/To  He  is  followed  by  Syncellus  (p.  248,  b), 
-iroAv  fi€u  rh  fidpfiapou  Kal  rh  2k  u-  Zosimns  (i.  18),  Moses  of  Chorene  (ii.  1), 
6ik6v.  Justin  says,  "  armorum  patrias  &c.  Strabo  makes  Arsaces  a  king  of  the 
ac  Scythicus  mos"  (xli.  2).  The  latter  Dahse  who  conquered  Varthia  {I.  s.  c.)  ;  hut 
writer  derives  their  name  from  a  Scythic  he  allows  that  some  authors  spoke  of  him  as 
word    ("  Scythico  sennone  Parthi   '  exules '  leading  a  Parthian  revolt. 

dicuutur,"  xli.  1),  and  says  their  language         *  Justin,  i.  2;  xli.  1.     So  Arrian:  Tldp- 

was  a  mixture  of  Scythic  and  Median  (xli.  2).  Oovs  i-jrl  Seo-cio-TptSoy  rod  AiyvTrr'Kav  /3a- 

He  represents  them,  like  the  Calmucks  and  aiXews  .  .  .  o-irh  twv  atpoou  x«pas  SkvSioj^ 

other  Tatars,  as  always  on  horseback  (ch.  3).  eis  t?V  vvu  /xeroiKria-ai  (Fr.  1).     John  of 


534  ASTATIC  ETHIOPIANS  — COLCHIANS.      Apr.  Book  I. 

on  account  of  their  locality,  with  Arian  races — the  Chorasmians, 
Sogdians,  Arians  of  Herat,  Zarangians,  Sagartians,  &c/ — must  be 
considered  a  remnant  of  the  early  population,  conquered  by  the 
Arians  and  held  in  subjection,  but  never  more  than  very  partially 
assimilated,^  and  probably  in  the  time  of  Herodotus  as  purely 
Turanian  as  any  race  included  within  the  limits  of  the  Persian 
empire. 

(ii.)  The  Asiatic  Ethiopians,  by  their  very  name,  which  con- 
nects them  so  closely  with  the  Cushite  people  inhabiting  the 
country  above  Egj^pt,  may  be  assigned  to  the  Hamitic  family  ;  and 
this  connexion  is  confirmed  by  the  uniform  voice  of  primitive 
antiquity,  which  spoke  of  the  Ethiopians  as  a  single  race,  dwelling 
along  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  from  India  to  the  pillars 
of  Hercules.^  The  traditions  of  Memnon,  which  brought  him 
indifferently  from  the  Eastern  or  Western  Ethiopia,  illustrate  the 
primitive  belief,  to  which  ethnological  research  is  daily  adding 
corroboration.^ 

(iii.)  The  Scythic,  or  at  least  the  Hamitic  character  of  the 
Colchians,  may  be  regarded  as  sufficiently  evidenced  by  the 
resemblance  which  Herodotus  observed  between  their  language, 
physical  type,  customs,  &c.,  and  those  of  the  Egyptians.^  If  we 
accept  the  statement  made  by  Agathias  and  Procopius,^  that 
the  Lazi  of  their  day  were  the  true  representatives  of  the  ancient 
Colchians,  we  may  regard  their  Tatar  character  as  further  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  the  modern  Lazis  speak  a  Turanian 
dialect.^ 

(iv.)  The  Turanian  character  of  the  Sapeiri  will  depend  on  the 
correctness   of  their  identification  with  the  Iberians   of  the  geo- 


Malala  relates  that  Sesostris  brought  them  from  extend  itself  along  the  shores  of  the  Southern 

Scythia  and  settled  them  in   Persia   (p.  26).  ocean  from  Abyssinia  to  India.     The  whole 

It  is  strange  that  Moses  of  Chorene  should  Peninsula  of  India  was  peopled  by  a  race  of 

suppose    that    they    were    descendants     of  this  character  before  the  influx  of  the  Arians  : 

Abraham  by  Keturah  (ii.  65),  and  therefore  it  extended  from  the  Indus  along  the  sea- 

a  Semitic  race.  coast  through  the  modern  Beloochistan  and 

^  See  Herod,  iii.  93  ;  vii.  66.     Beh.  Inscr.  Keiman,  which  was  the  proper  country  of 

col.  i.  par.  6,  Persep.  Ins.  iv.  par.  2  (i.  p.  42,  the  Asiatic   Ethiopians  ;    the   cities   on  the 

Lassen),  Nakhsh-i-Kust.  Ins.  vi.  par.  3  (NK.  northern    shores    of  the    Persian    Gulf  are 

p.  81,  Lassen).  shown  by  the  brick  inscriptions  found  among 

^  Their  language  became  (as  Justin  says)  their  ruins  to  have  belonged  to  this  race  ;  it 

partly  Median,  and  we  may   see  that  they  was   dominant   in    Susiana   and    Babylonia, 

affected  Arian  names.     The  Emperor  Julian  until  overpowered  in    the  one    country   by 

says,    dia(Tu}(ov(Ti    koI    aTToixifiovvTai    ra  Arian,  in  the  other  by  Semitic  intrusion;  it 

UepcriKa.,  ovK  a^iovures,  i/j-ol   Sofcet,  Uap-  can  be  traced,  both  by  dialect  and  tradition, 

Bva-toi  uo/jii^eadaL,   Tlepa-ai   Se  elvat  nvpocr-  throughout   the    whole    south  coast  of  the 

TroiovfjLit/oi.       (Or.    de    Constant,    gest.    ii.  Arabian    peninsula,    and   it   still    exists    in 

p.  63,  A.)  Abyssinia,  where  the  language  of  the  princi- 

'  Cf.   Horn.   Od.  i.  23.     Ephor.  Fr.  28.  pal  tribe  (the  Galla)  furnishes,  it  is  thought, 

Strab.  i.  pp.  48-51.     Strabo  calls  this  view  a    clue    to    the    cuneiform    inscriptions    of 

*'  the  ancient  opinion  concerning  the  Ethio-  Susiana   and   Elymais,  which  date   from  a 

pians"  (t^v  iraKaiav  irepl   r^s  Aldio-  period  probably  a  thousand  years  befoie  our 

irios  56^av).  era. 

^  For  the  traditions  concerning  Memnon  ^  Herod,  ii.  104. 

see  note  on   Book  v.  ch.   54.     Kecent   lin-  ^  Agath.  ii.  18,   p.  103.     Proc.  de  B.  G. 

guistic  discovery  tends  to  show  that  a  Gush-  iv.  2.  vol.  i.  p.  566.  C.  D. 

ite  or  Ethiopian  race  did  in  the  earliest  times  *  Miiller's  Lang.,  &c.  p.  126.     2nd  ed. 


Essay  XI.  SAPEIRI  — MOSCHl  AND  TIBARENI.  535 

grapliers,^  who  were  certainly  Scyths,  and  who  may  fairly  be  re- 
garded as  the  ancestors  of  the  Georgians  of  the  present  day."  The 
Iberians,  according  to  Strabo,  lived  within  the  country  to  which  he 
gives  the  name  of  Moschica,  or  Moschia^ — the  country,  that  is,  of 
the  Moschi,  or  Meshech  of  Scripture,  whose  Turanian  origin  will  be 
proved  presently.  They  resembled  the  Scythians  in  their  mode 
of  life,^  and  were,  he  adds,  of  the  same  race  with  them.^  It  is 
confirmatory  of  this  to  find,  that  the  language  of  their  modern 
representatives,  the  Georgians,  while  in  many  respects  peculiar, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  mixed,  is  pronounced  by  the  best  judges  to 
belong,  on  the  whole,  to  the  "  Turanian  family  of  speech."** 

(v.)  The  Moschi  and  the  Tibareni,  always  coupled  together  by 
Herodotus,^  and  constantly  associated,  under  the  names  of  Muskai 
and  Taplai,  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  (just  as  Meshech  and  Tubal 
are  in  Scripture  ^),  can  scarcely  fail  to  belong  to  one  and  the  same 
ethnic  family  ;  so  that  if  we  can  succeed  in  distinctl}'-  referring 
either  of  them  to  a  particular  branch,  we  may  assume  the  same  of 
the  other.  Now  the  Muskai  (or  Moaxoi  of  the  Greeks)  are  regarded 
on  ver}^  sufficient  grounds  as  the  ancestors  of  the  Muscovites,  who 
built  Moscow,  and  who  still  give  name  to  Russia  throughout  the 
East;  and  these  Muscovites  have  been  lately  recognised  as  be- 
longing to  the  Tchud  or  Finnish  family,*  which  the  Sclavonic 
Kussians  conquered,  and  which  is  a  well  known  Tui'anian  race. 
The  Moschi  then,  and  with  them  the  Tibareni,  must  be  assigned 
to  that  Scythic  or  Turanian  people,  who,  as  stated  above,  spread 
themselves  in  very  early  times  over  the  entire  region  lying  be- 
tween the  Mediterranean  and  India,  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the 
Caucasus.  It  is  a  confirmation  of  this  view  to  find  the  Tibareni  dis- 
tinctly called  by  a  Scholiast  of  more  judgment  than  the  generality, 
a  Scythian  people.^ 


3  See  note^  to  Book  i.  ch.  104.  The  con-  addition  of  the  words  /cot  ^apfidrcov,  since 
necting  links  between  the  two  names  are  the  Sarmatians  were  certainly  Indo-Eu- 
found  in  writers  of  the  time  of  the  Byzantine  ropean,  being  the  ancestors  of  the  Slavonic 
empire,  as  Menander  Protector,  Priscus  Pan-  race. 

ites,  and  others.    By  them  the  Iberians  (who,  ^  Dr.  Prichard  pronounces  the  Georgian 

as   usual,  are  coupled   with  the  Albanians,  language    to  be  "unconnected    or  but  dis- 

Men.   Protect.   Fr.   41)    are  called    Sabein,  tantly  connected  with  any  other  idiom,"  and 

Sabiri,  and  sometimes,  though  more  rarely,  the  people  to  be  "  a  particular  race"  (Fhys. 

Abeires.     (Ibid.  Fr.  42  ;  comp.  Steph.  Byz.  Hist,  of  Mankind,  vol.  iv.  p.  2(38) ;  but  the 

Sairctpes  ot  vvv  Xeyoficvoi  2a/3eipes.)  progress  of  philological  science  enables   Pio- 

4  See  Prichard's  Physical  Hit>t.  of  Man-  fessor  Miiller  to  deteimine  that  the  Georgian 
kind,  vol.  iv.  p.  262.  The  Armenians  still  and  other  Caucasian  dialects  form  "  one  of 
ohW  the  Georgians  by  the  name  of  Vit^k,  the  outstanding  and  degenerated  colonies  of 
which  is  Iberi  (pronounced  Iveri)  with  a  the  Turanian  family  of  speech."  (Languages 
guttural  termination.     Georgian — which  is  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  113.) 

the  Persian  Giirjy — means  nothing  but   the  ^  Herod,  iii.  94  ;  vii.  78. 

people  dwelling  on  the  Kur  or  Cyrus  river.  ^  Gen.  x.  2  ;    Ezek.  xxvii.  13  ;  xxxii,  26  ; 

*  Strab.  xi.   p.  728.     'H   Mo(rxtK^    rpi-  xxxviii.  2-3, 

H€p7)s  i<TTi'    rb   fxku   yap    %xov(Tiv  avTrjs  ^  See  a.  paper  by  M.  Osann  in  the  Philo- 

KoKx^h  ^^  8e  "IjSrjpes,  t6  5e  'Apfievioi.  logus,  vol.  ix.  art.  ii. 

«  Ibid.  p.  730.  3  Scholiast,   ad  Apollon.  Rhod.  ii.  1010. 

'  Ibid.     'S.Kveuv  5iKT]v  (wvt€S  kuI  Sap-  Ti^aprjvol,    eOvos   ^KvOias.      If  we   hold, 

fxa-Tuv,   wvircp   Koi   'dfjiopoi    Kol  ffvyyevels  with  Herodotus,  that  the  Colchians  were  of 

fiffiy.     This  testimony  is  weakened  by  the  the  same  race  with  the  Hamites  of  Egypt, 


586  THE  ARMENIANS  AND  CAPPADOCIANS.      App.  Book  I. 

(vi.)  That  the  early  inhabitants  of  Armenia  were  Turanian,  may 
be  inferred  from  the  inscriptions  of  Van,  which  are  written  in  a 
language  identical,  in  many  respects,  with  the  old  Hamitic  dialect 
of  Chaldaea.  At  what  time  these  primitive  inhabitants  gave  way  to 
the  Indo-European  race,  which  at  present  occupies  the  country — 
whose  language  and  literature  may  be  distinctly  traced  as  far  back 
as  to  the  fourth  century  of  our  era  * — is  uncertain ;  but  probably 
the  two  ethnic  elements  were  blended  together  in  the  country  from 
a  very  ancient  date ;  and  it  may  be  suspected  that  the  westward 
movement  of  the  Arians  in  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  B.C. 
was  connected  with  the  transfer  of  power.  The  Armenian  language 
is  not  indeed,  strictly  speaking,  Iranian,  but  it  possesses  more 
points  of  connexion  with  that  tongue  than  with  any  other.^  At 
the  same  time  a  Tatar  element  is  traceable  in  it,  indicative  of  a 
mixture  of  races.  The  statement  of  Herodotus,  that  the  Armenians 
were  colonists  of  the  Phrygians,^  though  echoed  by  Stephen,  who 
adds  that  "they  had  many  Phrygian  forms  of  expression,"''  is  not 
perhaps  entitled  to  great  weight,  as  Herodotus  reports  such  coloni- 
sations far  too  readily,^  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  Armenians 
must  have  been  scanty.  Still,  so  far  as  it  goes,  it  would  imply 
that  the  ethnic  change  by  which  a  Indo-European  had  succeeded 
a  Tatar  preponderance  in  Armenia,  was  prior  to  his  own  time ; 
and  on  the  whole  there  are  perhaps  sufficient  grounds  for  assigning 
the  movement  to  about  the  close  of  the  seventh  century  before  our 
era. 

(vii.)  The  ethnic  character  of  the  Cappadocians  has  been,  beyond 
that  of  almost  any  other  nation,  a  subject  of  dispute  among  ethno- 
logists.^ The  question  is  one  presenting  peculiar  difficulties,  and 
at  the  present  stage  of  the  inquiry  it  is  impossible  to  offer  more 
than  a  probable  solution  of  it.  [Perhaps  on  a  review  of  all  the 
evidence,  the  most  reasonable  explanation  of  the  entire  matter  is  as 
follows  : — The  Muskai,  or  Moschi  of  the  Greeks,  who  held  possession 
of  the  high  platform  of  Asia  Minor  during  the  whole  period  of  the 
Assyrian  empire,  and  who  can  be  historically  traced  in  the  inscrip- 
tions from  the  commencement  of  the  twelfth  to  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  century  B.C.,  were  in  all  probability  of  the  Tchud  or  Fin- 
nish family,*  having  ascended  the  mountain-chain  of  Syria  on  being 


then  the  close  connexion  of  the  Moschi  and  Byz.  ad  voc.  'Ap/xevia). 

Tibai-eni,    especially   the   former,    with    the  *  As  when  he  accepts  the  Lydian  coloni- 

Colchians,   will  be   an  additional  argument  sation  of  Etruria  (i.  94),  and  the  derivation 

in  favour   of  their  IScythic  character.     For  of  the  Venetians  fiom  the  Medes  (v.  9). 

this  connexion,  which  may  however  be  one  of  ^  See  Prichard,  vol.  iv.  pp.  557-561. 

mere  locality,  comp.  Hecat.  Fr.  188  (M6(txoi,  ^  See  the  last  page.     A  trace  of  the  occu- 

iduos  KJAx'«"')»  ^^^  Strab.  xi.  p.  728.  pation  of  the  high  platform  of  Asia  Minor  by 

*  See  Neumann's  Versuch  einer  Ge-  this  people  is  found  in  the  old  name  for  the 
schichte  der  Armeuischen  Literatur.  Leipsic,  great  capital  city — called  in  later  times 
1836.  Csesarea — which    was    Mazaca.      Josephus 

*  Prichard's  Phys.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  pp.  258-9.  speaks  of  this  town  as  fomided  by  Meschech, 
Miiller's  Languages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  the  son  of  Japhet,  whom  he  makes  the  pro- 
34,  2nd  ed.  genitor  of  the  Mosocheni  or  Moschi  ;  and  he 

^  Herod,  vii.  73.  expressly  asserts  that  this  people  came  after- 


T^  <()a>y^  TToWa   (ppvyi^ovai   (Steph.     wards  to  be  called  Cappadocians  (Ant.  Jud. 


Essay  XT.  THE  PKIMITIVE  SUSIANIANS.  537 

pressed  upon  by  Semitic  immigrants.  About  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  century  B.C.  the  Cappadocians,  an  Arian  race,  who  formed 
part  of  the  great  immigration  which  in  the  eighth  and  seventh 
centuries  B.C.  passed  into  Western  Asia  from  the  East,  superseded 
the  Moschi  in  power,  amalgamating  to  a  certain  extent  with  these 
previous  Scythic  inhabitants,  and  forming  a  mixed  Scytho-Arian 
race,  such  as  we  have  examples  of  in  the  present  day  in  the  im- 
mediately contiguous  nations  of  the  Armenians  and  Georgians,  in 
the  language  of  one  of  which  the  Scythic  element  predominates, 
in  the  other  the  Arian.  At  any  late  this  appears  to  be  the  only 
possible  mode  of  reconciling  the  following  array  of  incongruous 
ethnic  evidence.  1.  The  Cappadocians  are  always  called  "Syrians," 
or  "  White  Syrians,"  by  the  Greeks,^  in  allusion  to  the  country 
from  whence  they  moved  out  before  ascending  the  range  of  Taurus. 
2.  The  names  of  the  Moschian  kings,  of  which  we  have  a  tolerably 
extensive  series  in  the  inscriptions,  present  no  trace  of  either 
Semitic  or  Arian  etymology.  They  belong  apparently  to  that 
linguistic  family  of  which  we  have  various  very  ancient  specimens 
in  the  primitive  cuneiform  legends  of  the  Chaldeean  monarchs,  as 
well  as  in  the  inscriptions  of  Susa,  of  Elymais,  and  of  Armenia, 
and  at  a  later  period  in  the  Scythic  versions  of  the  records  of  the 
Achaemenian  kings.  3.  The  Arian  Cappadocians  must  have  been 
at  the  Halys  at  least  as  early  as  b.c.  650,  for  one  of  the  fellow-con- 
spirators of  Darius  Hystaspes  was  fifth  in  descent  from  Pharnaspes, 
king  of  Cappadocia,  who  married  Atossa,  sister  of  a  Cambyses  king 
of  Persia  (probably  the  great-grandfather  of  Cyrus  the  Great),  and 
who  must  therefore  certainly  have  been  an  Arian  :  and  further,  all 
the  names  which  are  given  in  the  early  royal  line  of  Cappadocia 
are  evidently  of  Persian  origin.^  4.  Strabo  seems  to  consider  the 
Cappadocians  to  be  cognate  with  the  Persians,  as  he  assigns  the 
same  customs  and  religious  ceremonies  to  the  two  nations,*  and 
expressly  says  that  the  Cappadocians  worshipped  Persian  deities.^ 
And  lastly,  the  names  of  these  deities  are  distinctly  Arian,  Omanus 
being  Vahman,  Anandates  Amendat  (the  Pehlevi  form  of  Amerdad), 
and  Anaitis,  the  Anahita  whose  worship  was  first  introduced  into 
Babylon  from  Persia  by  Artaxerxes  Mnemon.®  The  Cappadocian 
months  also,  which  occur  in  the  Hemerology  of  the  Florence 
Library,  have  all  Persian  names.' — H.  C.  K.] 

(viii.)  The  Tatar  character  of  the  Susianians  is  evidenced  un- 
mistakeably  by  the  inscriptions,  existing  not  only  at  Susa,  but  also 
along  the  northern  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  which  are  in  a 
language  resembling  that  of  the  second  column  of  the  trilingual 
inscriptions,  distinctly  proved  by  Mr.  Norris  to  be  Turanian.'  A 
mixture  of  races  followed  the    Persian   conquest  of  the  country, 


i.  6).     Moses  of  Chorene   calls  the  founder  *  Strab.  xv.  pp.  1039-1042. 

Mesacus,  and  makes  him  the  son  of  Aram,  ^  'Ej/   tt?    Ka7nra5o/cta    iroXv    iffri    rh 

and    contemporai-y    with    Abraham    (i.   13,  ruv    Maywu  <pvXov  ....  iroWa  Se  koX 

p.  39).  ruv  UepcriKut/  Ocwu  Upd,  xv.  p.  1040. 

2  See  note  '  to  Book  1.  ch.  72.  ^  Beiosus,  Fr.  15. 

3  See  Died.  Sic.  ap.  Phot.   Bibl.  cod.  p.  7  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
1150.  vol.  XV.  part  1. 


538  THE  AKKAD  OR  CHALDEES  OF  BABYLON.    App.  Book  I. 

when  the  Arians  from  Persia  Proper  descended  the  flanks  of  Zagros 
and  spread  themselves  into  the  fertile  plain  at  its  base,  deserting 
for  this  region  their  own  poorer  country,  and  transferring  the  seat 
of  empire  from  the  outlying  cities  of  Pasargadae  and  Ecbatana  to 
the  more  central  situation  occupied  by  the  Susian  capital.  On  the 
occurrence  of  this  influx  the  Tatar  population  was  by  degrees 
swallowed  up,  so  that  Susiana  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  part  of 
Persia,^  and  its  inhabitants  almost  lost  any  special  appellation.  In 
the  time  of  Herodotus,  however,  the  absorption  was  only  in  pro- 
gress, and  the  name  of  Cissian  (K/ao-tot),  which  was  in  use  in  his 
day,  and  which  is  a  mere  variant  for  Gush  or  Cushite,''  serves  to 
show  that  the  Scythic  descent  of  the  inhabitants  was,  at  least  tacitly, 
recognised,  and  their  connexion  with  the  Egj^ptian,  Ethiopian,  and 
other  Hamitic  races  *  acknowledged. 

(ix.)  The  monuments  of  Babylonia  furnish  abundant  evidence 
of  the  fact  that  a  Hamitic  race  held  possession  of  that  country  in 
the  earliest  times,  and  continued  to  be  a  powerful  element  in  the 
population  down  to  a  period  but  very  little  preceding  the  accession 
of  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  most  ancient  historical  records  found  in 
the  country,  and  many  of  the  religious  and  scientific  documents  to 
the  time  of  the  conqueror  of  Judaea,  are  written  in  a  language 
which  belongs  to  the  Allophylian  family,  presenting  affinities  with 
the  dialects  of  Africa  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  those  of  High  Asia 
on  the  other.  The  people  by  whom  this  language  was  spoken, 
whose  principal  tribe  was  the  Akkad,  may  be  regarded  as  repre- 
sented by  the  Chaldaeans  of  the  Greeks,  the  Casdim  (D^'^^D)  of  the 
Hebrew  writers.*  This  race  seems  to  have  gradually  developed 
the  type  of  language  known  as  Semitism,  which  became  in  course 
of  time  the  general  language  of  the  country ;  still,  however,  as 
a  priest-caste  a  portion  of  the  Akkad  preserved  their  ancient 
tongue,  and  formed  the  learned  and  scientific  Chaldaeans  of  later 
times.  Akkadian  colonies  also  were  transported  into  the  wilds  of 
Armenia  by  the  Assyrian  kings  of  the  Lower  Empire,  and  strength- 
ened the  Hamitic  element  in  that  quarter.^ 


s  Strab.  XV.  p.  1031.  2xeSbj/  Se  ti  koL  Susiana  or  an  adjoining  disti-ict  must  be 
71  'S.ovcrls  iJLfpos  yeyeuriraL  ttjs  UepaiSos.  intended.  The  eastern  Ethiopians  of  Hero- 
Compare  Solin.  c.  58  ;  Eustath.  ad  Dion,  dotus  (iii.  94 ;  vii.  70)  are  probably  Cush- 
Perieg.  1074.  Susiana,  however,  is  distin-  ites  from  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the 
guished  from  Persia  by  Pliny  (H.  N.  vi.  26),  Persian  empire.  (Supra,  p.  534.) 
and  Ptolemy  (Geogr.  vi.  3-4).  2  g^e  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  note  on  Book  1. 
^  So  Bochart,  Geograph.  Sac.  iv.  12.  ch.  181.  It  must  not,  however,  be  sup- 
1  Cush  is  the  son  of  Ham,  and  brother  of  posed  that  there  is  any  etymological  con- 
Misraiiii  (Gen.  x.  6).  In  the  Hebrew  Scrip-  nexion  between  the  words  Akkad  and  Casdim.. 
tures  the  word  Cush  (C^-ID)  is  used  fre-  The  latter  term  is  represented  by  the  cunei- 
quently  in  an  ethnical  sense,  and  ordinarily  foi'm  Kaldai,  which  is  found  in  the  same 
means  the  Ethiopians.  In  Numbers  xii.  1,  inscriptions  with  Akkad,  and  is  a  completely 
however,  it  seems  to  designate  the  Midian-  different  word.  The  Kaldai  appear  to  have 
ites,  a  people  of  Southern  Arabia,  which  was  been  the  leading  tribe  of  the  Akkad. 
originally  occupied  by  Cushites  (Gen.  x.  7),  ^  'Yh.is  is  possibly  the  true  explanation 
who  thus  extended  from  the  country  above  of  the  occurrence  of  Chaldaeans  among  the 
Egypt  through  Arabia  to  the  shores  of  the  mountain- tribes  of  Armenia  (so  often  found 
Indian  ocean.  In  Ezek.  xxxviii.  5,  where  Cush  in  the  Greek  historians  and  geographers, 
occurs  in  connexion  with  Phut  and  Elam,  Xen.  Anab.  IV.  iii.  §  4;  Vii.  viii.  ^  25; 


Essay  XL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SEMITISM.  539^ 

(x.)  Besides  tlie  nations  here  enumerated  as  wholly  or  in  part 
Turanian,  for  whose  ethnic  character  there  is  more  or  less  of  direct 
and  positive  evidence,  the  following  may  be  assigned  with  some 
degree  of  probability  to  the  same  stock — viz.  the  Alarodians,  the 
Macrones,  the  Mosynoeci,  the  Mares,  the  Median  tribes  of  the  Budii 
and  the  Magi,  and  the  earlier,  though  not  the  later,  Cilicians/ 
Local  position,  constant  association  with  tribes  known  to  have  been 
Turanian,  peculiarity  of  nomenclature,  and  other  reasons,  seem  to 
incline  the  balance  in  these  comparatively  obscure  cases  in  favour 
of  a  Tatar  or  Scythic  origin  for  the  nation  in  preference  to  any 
other.  The  conclusion,  however,  in  these  cases  is  conjectural,  and 
it  is  far  from  improbable  that  in  some  of  them  the  conjecture  may 
be  disproved  in  the  further  process  of  ethnological  and  historical 
discovery. 

6.  The  development  of  Semitism,  as  has  been  already  remarked, 
belongs  to  the  early  part  of  the  20th  century  B.C.,  long  subsequentl}^ 
to  the  time  when  Hamitic  kingdoms  were  set  up  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates.  Commencing  in  Babylonia  amoDg 
the  children,  of  Ham,  but  specially  adopted  and  perhaps  mainly 
forwarded  by  those  of  Shem,  who  were  at  that  time  intermixed 
with  the  Hamites  in  Lower  Mesopotamia,*  it  advanced  into  the 
continent  northward  and  westward,  up  the  course  of  the  two  gieat 
streams,  and  across  the  upper  part  of  Arabia,  extending  gradually 
in  the  one  direction  to  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,*  in  the  other  to  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  range  of  Taurus.  The  races 
which  in  the  days  of  Herodotus  may  be  assigned  to  this  family  are 
the  following : — the  Assyrians,  the  Syrians  or  Aramaeans,  the 
Phoenicians  with  their  colonies,  the  Canaanites,  the  Jews,  the 
Cyprians,  the  Cilicians,  the  Solymi,  and  the  northern  Arabians. 
The  Babylonians  also,  as  distinct  from  the  Chaldasans,  may  be 
joined  to  this  group,  for  in  the  time  of  the  later  empire  they  had 
fully  adopted  the  Semitic  character  and  speech. 

(i.)  W  ith  regard  to  the  nations  here  mentioned  there  is  no  great 


Strab.   xii.   p.    802  ;    Steph.   Byz.  ad  voc.  origin  of  the  Magians  has  been  discussed  in 

XaXSoiOL.  Eustath.  ad  Dionys.  Perieg.  768,  the   Essay  on   the  Religion  of  the   Ancient 

&c.),  which  led  to  the  wild  theory  of  Gese-  Persians,  and  that  of  the  Budians  may  be 

nins,  Heeren,  and  others,  that  the  Chaldeeans  concluded  from  their  probable  identity  with 

of  Babylonia  were  a  colony  from  the  northern  the  Phut  of  Scripture  (vide  supra,  page  349, 

mountains,  settled  in  that  country  by  some  note  ^).     The  early  Cilicians  are  so  closely 

one  of  the  later  Assyrian  kings.     Or  perhaps  connected  with  the  Moschi  and  Tibareni  m 

the  name  Chaldsean  was  widely  spread  among  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  that  they  must  be 

the  Hamitic   inhabitants    of  Western   Asia,  regai'ded  as  belonging  to  the  same  race.    (See 

before  the  development  of  Semitism  in  the  note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  74.) 
Mesopotamian    valley    caused    a    separation         ^  Asshur  had  dwelt  in  Babylon  before  he 

between    the    northern    and    the    southern  "went  forth"   into  Assyria  (Gen.   x.    11). 

Hamites.  Elam  was  settled  in  Susiana.     The  descend- 

^  The   Alarodians  are   coupled  with   the  ants  of  Arphaxad  lived  in  "  Ur  of  the  Chal- 

Sapiri  by  Herodotus  (vii.  79;  cf  iii.  94),»  dees"  (lb.  xi.  28). 

and  said  to  have  worn  the  same  arms  as  the         ^  Where  the  rock-inscriptions  are  Semitic, 

Colchians  (vii.  79).     The  Macrones,  Mosy-  and  seem  to  have  a  connexion  with  the  lan- 

noeci,  and  Mares  are  always  joined  with  the  guage  of  the  northern  or  Joktanian  Arabs. 

Moschi  and  Tibareni  (iii.  94 ;  vii.  78  ;  Xen.  (See  Bimsen's  Philosophy  of  Universal  His- 

Anab.  vii.  viii.  §  25),  and  are  said  to  have  tory,  vol.  i.  pp.  231-233.) 
been   armed   as    the    latter.      The   Scythic 


540  CILICIANS  AND  SOLYMI.         '        App.  Book  T. 

diversity  of  opinion  among  ethnologers.  They  are  for  the  most 
part  inclined  to  extend  somewhat  further  the  limits  of  the  ethnic 
branch  in  question,  but  they  are  tolerably  well  agreed  concerning 
the  Semitic  character  of  the  peoples  enumerated.  Gesenius  indeed 
affects  to  doubt  the  Semitism  of  the  Cilicians  ; ''  but  his  negative 
arguments  are  of  little  weight  against  the  positive  testimony  of 
historians  supported  by  the  evidence  of  facts.  Herodotus^  and 
Apollodorns  ®  witness  to  the  traditional  connexion  of  Cilicia  with 
Phoenicia,  and  Bochart  *  proves  a  community  of  names  and  customs 
which  even  alone  would  be  decisive  of  the  point.  Besides,  if  the 
Solymi  of  Herodotus  and  the  Pisidians  of  later  writers,  are  granted 
to  be  of  Phoenician,  i.  e.  of  Semitic  origin,  the  intermediate  country 
of  Cilicia  can  scarcely  be  assigned  to  a  different  race.  It  is  likely 
enough  that  the  first  occupants  of  Cilicia  were  Turanian  ;  ^  but  when 
the  maritime  power  of  the  Phoenicians  grew  up  on  the  adjoining 
coast,  Cilicia  naturally  fell  under  their  influence,  and  the  Turanians 
were  absorbed  or  driven  to  the  mountains.  It  is  granted  that  at 
least  the  later  coins  of  Cilicia  have  all  Phoenician  legends,^  which 
would  not  have  been  the  case  unless  the  population,  had  been  a 
kindred  people.  Cilicia  during  Persian  times  always  maintained  a 
position  of  ^wasz-independence,  and  was  quite  separate  from  Phoe- 
nicia, which  even  belonged  to  a  different  satrapy.* 

(ii.)  The  ethnic  character  of  the  Solymi  depends  mainly  upon  the 
assertion  of  Chserilus  ^  that  they  spoke  a  Phoenician  dialect.  It  is 
confirmed  by  their  name,  which  connects  them  very  remarkably  with 
the  Hebrew  DpK^  and  Dp^-nj  {Salem  and  Jerusalem),  by  their  habit 
of  shaving  the  head  with  the  exception  of  a  tuft,^  by  their  special 
worship  of  Saturn,^  and  by  the  occurrence  of  a  number  of  Phoenician 
words  in  their  country."  If  we  regard  the  Solymi  as  Semitic  on 
this  evidence,  we  must  suppose  an  early  Semitic  occupation  of  the 
whole  southern  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  followed  by  an  Indo-European 
invasion,  before  which  the  primitive  inhabitants  yielded,  losing 
the  more  desirable  territory  and  only  maintaining  themselves  in 


7  See  his  Scriptura  Linguaeque  Phcenicise  ^  jjerod.  iii.  90,  91. 

Monumenta,  p.  11.  5  ^p.  Euseb.  Piaep.  Ev.  ix.  9,  and  Joseph. 

s  Herod,  vii.  91.     Ovtol  (KiAtKcs)  eVt  c.  Ap.  i. 

KlXikos    rov   'Aynvopos    avSpos    *ot-  «  X2etzes  (Chil.  vii.  Hist.  149)  says  that 

V  iKos,  €(rxov  t))v  iirwvvixirju.     Compare  they  were  rpoxoKovpdSes,  "  shorn  all  round 

Arrian.  Fr.  69.  their  heads,"  a  custom  ascribed  by  Herodotus 

^  Bibliothec.  iii.  1.  §  1.  ApoUodorus  to  the  Arabs  (iii.  8),  and  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
makes  Agenor  the  brother  of  Belus,  and  ture  as  practised  by  the  Edomites,  Moabites, 
gives 'him  three  sons,  Cadmus,  Phoenix,  and  and  Ammonites  (Jer.  ix.  26),  who  were  all 
Cilix.     Another  account  made  Cilix  the  son  Semitic  tribes. 

of  Phoenix.      (Schol.  ad  Apollon.  Rhod.  ii.  7  piut.  de  Def.  Orac.  ii.  p.  421,  D. 

178).  8  ^s  ^-j^Q  mountains  Solyma,  Phoenix,  and 

1  Phaleg.  part  ii.  book  i.  ch.  5.  Massicytus  (comp.  Heb.  p-1VD,  "  steep"): 

^  bee  the  last  page,  note  ^,  and  compare  ,     -" 

note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  74.      Were  the  Cili-  the  district  Cabalia  (Heb.  735  as  in  Psalm 

cimis   of  the  western   coast  of  Asia  Minor  ^xxiii.   7;    Arabic,   Gebel,  al'in   Gebel  al 

(Horn.  II.  VI.  397  ;  Strab.  xiii.  pp.  878-880)  Tarif,  "  Gibraltar  "),  &c.    And  see  Bochart, 

a  remnant  of  the  same  race  ?                   .  part  ii.  book  i.  ch.  6. 

^  Oesenuxs,  1.  s.  c. 


Essay  XI.  THE  LYDIANS  NOT  SEMITES.  541 

the  mountains.  The  Milyans,  according  to  Herodotus"  and  Strabo/ 
and  the  Cabalians,  according  to  the  latter,^  were  tribes  of  the 
Solymi,  to  whom  the  Pisidians  also  belonged,  according  to  Pliny " 
and  Stephen.*  The  war  between  the  old  inhabitants  and  the  new- 
comers is  represented  in  the  myth  of  Bellerophon,  and  the  fabled 
Chimaera  denotes  the  valour  and  agility  of  the  mountaineers.*" 

(iii.)  It  may  perhaps  be  thought  that  in  thus  bringing  a  Semitic 
people  as  far  into  Asia  Minor  as  the  confines  of  Caria,  the  way  is 
prepared  for  extending  them  still  further,  and  an  increased  pro- 
bability imparted  to  the  theory  of  the  Semitic  origin  of  the  Lj^dians. 
This  theory,  however,  notwithstanding  that  it  has  the  support  of 
the  most  eminent  of  modern  ethnologists,^  has  been  already  opposed 
in  these  pages,  and  seems  to  be  based  on  no  sufficient  evidence. 
The  argument  from  the  etymology  of  the  names  Sadyattes  and 
Alyattes,  which  has  been  lately  paraded,^  is  in  the  highest  degree 
uncertain,  resting  as  it  does  entirely  upon  conjecture.  We  have  far 
more  satisfactory,  because  historic,  evidence  of  the  Indo-European 
character  of  several  Lydian  words,  than  has  as  yet  been  adduced 
for  the  Semitic  derivation  of  any.^  Again,  the  testimony  of  Hero- 
dotus, on  which  the  advocates  of  the  theory  are  wont  to  insist,"  is 
invalidated  by  his  inconsistency  ;  for  while  on  the  one  hand  he 
seems  to  favour  the  Semitic  character  of  the  people  by  making 
Agron,  the  son  of  Ninus  and  grandson  of  Belus,  founder  of  a  Lydidn 
dynasty,  on  the  other  he  may  be  quoted  as  distinctly  opposed  to 
the  view,  since  he  derives  Agron  and  his  dynasty  from  the  Grecian 


»  Herod,  i.  173.  §  5,  and  xx.  §  2 ;  Polyhist.  Fr.  47  ;  Diod. 

.     1  Strab.  xiv.  p.  952.  Sic.  iii.  57),  but  Atys  (Herod,  i.  7,  34,  94  ; 

2  Ibid.  xiii.  p.  904.  vii.   27,  74 ;    Xanth.   Fr.   1  ;    Dionys.  Hal. 

3  H.  N.  V.  27.  A.  R.  i.  28). 

'*  Ad  voc.  UiiTidia.  ^  The  Arian  derivation  of  Candaules  (from 

■**  The  term  Shalamu  was   used  by  the 

Assyrians  for  the  West,  in  allusion  to  the  Sanscr.  If iT  =  Gr.  fcvcoy,  Lat.  cams,  Germ. 

Sun's  retiring  to  rest — and  this  may  be  the 

origin  of  the  name  of  the   Solymi.      It  is  j^^^^^    ^^^  ^  ^^..    ..^^  ^^^^,n  jg  witnessed 

at  any  rate  from  this  word  Slialam,  "  the  ^ 

West,"  that  the  name  of  Selm  is  derived,  i     tt-     a        /t?     i  n  ^     ^  +i     +-^       e 

,  1   ,  ,,  ,         ,.   .  .         r.  .r  by  Hipponax  (Fr.  1),  a  poet  of  the  time  of 

who  ruled  over  the  western  division  of  the  J  •    ^.-l    c  r        t     "  ' 

i      .  .         r  c    -J  TTT   /-(   -n  n  Croesus,  in  the  famous  line,    Epfxr}   Kvuayxa 

dominions  of  Fendun. — PH.  C.  R.l  ,,  v   ,,     ?■   /^         i,        vT  \    w/i-i 

5  e       T>  '     ou-i        I,       X-   rr  •  i  Mvoviarl  Kai/SofAa,  whence  Tzetzes  (Chil. 

''  See   Bunsens   rhilosophy  of    Universal       .•    .or.\   i,      u-  i       <■•  >.   s^    i;- 

TT- 4.  1    •■         in     TXT  r)u--  •  •  "^1-  482)  has  his  explanation:   rb  5e  Kav- 

History,  vol.  n.  p.  10;  Movers,  rhonizier,  ^    '^        a    s     -       a  \       .'..^^„  \\^ 

1.  475:  O.  MuUer,  Sandon  and  Sardanapal.  /^n  -i      ■    u-  *    k  i  \      t'u  +  c,^^;-  ;,i  T^riiir, 

oo  '    -D  •  -L     J     T>i-        TT-  i.      X-  Tv/r     1  •   J  (^Chil.  VI.  Hist.  54).      1  hat  bardis  m  J-ydian 
p.   38:    Prichard,  Phys.   Hist,  of  Mankind,  .   ,, -i  /»  _„„  ^„„i„,.^,^   w  /,r,i„. 

^,.'       rnc     T  TTu      j-o        u  mcaut  "  the  year      was  declared  by  Lydiiij 

vol._iv._p.  562  ;  Lassen   Ueber  die  Sprachen  Mensibus;  iii.  14)  ;  and  a  similar  word 

Kleumiens,  pp.  382,  o83.  \^.^^    ^^^^    ^  \^   ^^^^    -^   Sanscrit, 

°  See   Bunsen,  1.  s.  c,  who  refers  to  an  „     ,     .  .         x.a    a^v,.,  mor>;<i»i   p^.-c;o„ 

1,     T>   -D    xl-  1-  i.i.1   1  ^  n   J-        X  Zend,  Armenian,  and  Acnameman   reisian 

essay  by  P.  Boetticher   enti  led  '  Rudimenta  ^^^^  ;^^^  ,  ^^^  ^^^^  ■  ^^^  7)^     ^^^  ,,.^  ^^e 

My  hologUT  Sernitica.,    published  at   Berlin  ,^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  .  the  gre^it  Mother  " 

m  the   year   1848,  where  Sadyattes  is  ex-  ^^^^^^^    ^^^     ^^    ^.^^_    mdcrravpa) ;     and 

plained    by    ''tSn  -ni^,  "  potens    per    Atti-  ni/mphce  (vifxcpai)  was  the  Lydian  name  for 

A       "      ja/Tx     1,'    ^♦Am  Hst,M  u   1      *  the  Muses  (Dionys.  Rhod.  Fr.  11).     Perhaps 

dem,    and  Alyattes  by  ^m  ^•I'Pj;,  "  elevatus  ^^^   ^^^^^^^  connexion  of  Atys  with   &tv 

per  Attidem  "  (p.  15)  ;  on  which  it  is  enough  (Etym.  Magn.  ad  voc.  "Ar-qs  ;  cf.  Clem.  Al. 

to  observe  that  the  Lydian  form  of  the  god's  Cohort,  ad  Gentes,  p.  16)  was   not  purely 

name  was  not  Attes  or  Attis,  like  the  Phry-  imaginary, 
gian  (Dem.  de  Cor.  324 ;  I'ausan.  vii.  xvii.         ^  prichard,  1.  s.  c. 


542  THE  CANAANITES.  App.  Book  L 

Hercules,  and  connects  the  Lydian  race  witli  t"he  Mysians  and 
Carians,^  the  latter  of  whom  he  considers  actual  Leleges/  The 
Lydians  therefore  must  be  regarded,  unless  additional  evidence 
can  be  produced,  as  an  Indo-European  people,  and  the  Semites  of 
the  continent  must  be  considered  to  have  reached  at  furthest  to  the 
eastern  borders  of  the  kingdom  of  Caria. 

(iv.)  The  other  races,  usually  reckoned  among  the  nations  belong- 
ing to  the  Syro-Arabian  or  Semitic  group,  v^hich  are  here  excluded 
from  it,  are  the  Cappadocians  and  the  Ekkhili  or  Himyarite  Arabs. 
The  grounds  for  regarding  the  Cappadocians  as  a  mixed  race,  half 
Scythic  half  Arian,  have  been  already  stated,^  and  need  not  be  re- 
peated here.  The  Himyaritic  Arabs  are  excluded  because  it  is 
believed  that  their  language,  admitted  to  be  closely  akin  to  the 
Ethiopian,  is  Cushite;  and  so,  though  intermediate  between  the 
Turanian  and  the  Semitic,  really  more  akin  to  the  former. 

(v.)  The  Semitic  character  of  the  Assyrians,  the  later  Babylonians, 
the  Syrians  or  Aramaeans,  the  Phoenicians,  the  Jews,  the  later 
Canaanites,  and  the  Northern  or  Joktanian  Arabs,  rests  upon  abun- 
dant evidence,  and  cannot  reasonably  be  questioned.  The  primeval 
Canaanites  indeed  were  of  the  race  of  Ham,^  and  no  doubt  originally 
spoke  a  dialect  closely  akin  to  the  Egyptian  ;  but  it  would  seem  as  if 
before  the  coming  of  Abraham  into  their  country  they  had  by  some 
means  been  Semitised,  since  all  the  Canaanitish  names  of  the  time 
are  palpably  Semitic*  Probably  the  movements  from  the  country 
about  the  Persian  Gulf,  of  which  the  history  of  Abraham  furnishes 
an  instance,  had  been  in  progress  for  some  time  before  he  quitted 
IJr ;  and  an  influx  of  emigrants  from  that  quarter  had  made  Semitism 
already  predominant  in  Syria  and  Palestine  at  the  date  of  his  arrival. 
Of  the  other  nations  the  language  is  well  known  through  inscrip- 
tions,^ and  in  some  instances  through  its  continuance  to  modern 
times  f  and  this  language  presents  in  every  case  the  character  and 
features  which  are  familiar  to  the  modern  student  through  the 
Hebrew. 

7.  It  has  been  customary  to  divide  the  languages  of  this  class  into 
four  groups,^  which  might  be  called  respectively  the  eastern,  the 
western,  the  central,  and  the  southern  group  ;  but  the  arrange- 
ment here  made  requires  the  reduction  of  the  number  to  three,  the 
southern  or  Ekkhili  Arabic  being  assigned  to  the  Turanian  division. 


9  By  making  Car  and  Mysus  brothers  of  Babylonian  language,  see  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's 

Lydus  (i.  171).  Memoir  (As.  Soc.  Journal,  vol.  xiv.  part  i.) ; 

^  Ibid.      Rapes  •  .  rh    iraXaihv    i6uT€s  on  that  of  the  Assyrian,  see  his  '  Commen- 

Mivu)   T€    KarriKOoi    Kal    KaXe  6  fX€v  o  i  tary  '  (pp.  10-16) ;  on  the  Semitic  character 

A  €  X  e  7  €  s.  of  the  Plioenician  remains,  see  Gesenius  (Scrip- 

2  Supra,  pp.  536,  537.  turaa  Linguoeque  Fhcenicia  Monumenta)  ;  on 

3  Gen.  X.  6  and  15-20.  the  Sinaitic  rock-inscriptions,  compare  Bun- 

4  As  Melchizedek  (pi  V'S^D  "  king   of  ^en  (Philosophy  of  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  pp. 

'  vv     •:  -           ^  231-239). 

righteousness "),   Abimelech  ("J^rO-*ni<    "a  "^  As  in  the  case  of  the  Arabic  and  th^ 

*•■  I      ■  "•  Syriac,  which  is  continued  in  the  Chaldee. 

king  is  my  father"),  Salem  (D7E^  "  peace"),  '  Prichard,  Phys.  Hist,  of  Mankind,  vol. 

„                                                 " ''  iv.  p.  556  ;    Bunsen,  Philos.  of  Univ.  Hist. 

^^:  vol,  i.  pp.  193-245. 
'^  On  the  Semitic  character  of  the  later 


Essay  XI.     CONCENTRATION  OF  THE  SEMITIC  FAMILY.        543 

(a.)  The  eastern  group  consists  of  the  nations  inhabiting  the 
Mesopotamian  Valley,  extending  northward  to  Armenia,  and  west- 
ward to  the  mountain-chain  of  Lebanon.  It  comprises  the  Ass^^rians, 
the  later  Babylonians,  and  the  Aramasans  or  Syrians,  whose  language 
seems  to  be  continued  in  the  modern  Ohaldee. 

(6.)  The  western  group  is  formed  of  the  nations  on  the  coast  of 
the  Mediterranean  from  the  borders  of  Egypt  to  Pamphylia,  and 
thence  inland  to  Caria.  It  includes  also  the  colonies  sent  out  from 
places  within  this  district,  which  were  numerous  and  of  great  im- 
portance. The  nations  of  this  group  are  the  Canaanites,  the  Jews 
and  Israelites,  the  Phoenicians,  the  Cilicians  (with  whom  may  be 
classed  the  Pisidians  and  the  Solymi),  the  Cypriots,  and  the  Poeni 
of  Africa.  Eemnants  of  this  race  lemain  in  the  modern  Hebrews, 
and  perhaps  to  some  extent  in  the  Maltese®  and  the  Berbers  of 
northern  Africa.^ 

(c.)  The  central  group  occupies  the  desert  between  the  Yalley  of 
the  Euphrates  and  that  of  the  Jordan,  and  likewise  the  northern 
and  western  portions  of  the  great  peninsula.  It  consists  of  the 
Joktanian  and  Ishmaelite  Arabs,  to  the  latter  of  whom  may  be 
assigned  the  Sinaitic  inscriptions. 

8.  What  is  especially  remarkable  of  the  Semitic  family  is  its  con- 
centration, and  the  small  size  of  the  district  which  it  covers,  com- 
pared with  the  space  occupied  by  the  other  two.  Deducting  the 
scattered  colonies  of  the  Phoenicians,  mere  points  upon  the  earth's 
surface,  and  the  thin  strip  of  territory  running  into  Asia  Minor  from 
Upper  Syria,  the  Semitic  races  in  the  time  of  Herodotus  are  con- 
tained within  a  parallelogram  1600  miles  long  from  the  parallel  of 
Aleppo  to  the  south  of  Arabia,  and  on  an  average  about  800  miles 
broad.  Within  this  tract,  less  than  a  thirteenth  part  of  the  Asiatic 
continent,  the  entire  Semitic  family  was  then,  and,  with  one  excep- 
tion, has  ever  since  been  comprised.  Once  in  the  world's  history, 
and  once  only,  did  a  great  ethnic  movement  proceed  from  this  race 
and  country.  LTnder  the  stimulus  of  religious  fanaticism,  the  Aiabs 
in  the  seventh  century  of  our  era  burst  from  the  retirement  of  the 
desert,  and  within  a  hundred  years  extended  themselves  as  the 
ruling  nation  from  the  confines  of  India  to  Spain.  But  this  effort 
was  the  fruit  of  a  violent  excitement  which  could  not  but  be  tem- 
porary, and  the  development  was  one  beyond  the  power  of  the 
nation  to  sustain.  Arabian  influence  sank  almost  as  rapidly  as  it  had 
risen,  yielding  on  the  one  side  before  European,  on  the  other  before 
Tatar  attacks,  and,  except  in  Egypt  and  northern  Africa,  main- 
taining no  permanent  footing  in  the  countries  so  rapidly  overrun. 
Apart  from  this  single  occasion,  the  Semitic  race  has  given  no  evi 
dence  of  ability  to  spread  itself  either  by  migration  or  by  conquest. 
In  the  Old  World  indeed  commercial  enterprise  led  one  Semitic 


8  See    the    Essay   of    Gesenius,    entitled  dedly  Semitic  than   the  Egyptian  (Miiller, 

*  Versuch  iiber  die  Maltische  Sprache,'  pub-  p.    24),    which    is   probably   the    result    of 

lished  at  Leipsic  in   1810.      Other  writers  Carthaginian   influence,  or   even  admixture, 

call  the  Maltese  "  a  corrupt  Arabic  "  (Miil-  Phoenician  inscriptions  are  found  in  the  heart 

ter's  Languages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  p.  26).  of  Numidia,  and  the  coins  of  Juba  have  Phoe- 

^  The  Berber  language  is  far  more  deci-  nician  legends.  - 


544  INTELLECTUAL  ENERGY  OF  SEMITISM.    App.  Book  I. 

people  to  aim  at  a  wide  extension  of  its  influence  over  the  shores 
of  the  known  seas ;  but  the  colonies  sent  out  by  this  people  ob- 
tained no  lasting  hold  upon  the  countries  where  they  were  settled, 
and  after  a  longer  or  shorter  existence  they  died  away  almost 
without  leaving  a  trace.'  Semitism  has  a  certain  kind  of  vitality — 
a  tenacity  of  life — exhibited  most  remarkably  in  the  case  of  the 
Jews,  yet  not  confined  to  them,  but  seen  also  in  other  instances,  as 
in  the  continued  existence  of  the  Chaldaeans  in  Mesopotamia,  and 
of  the  Berbers  on  the  north  African  coast.  It  has  not,  however,  any 
power  of  vigorous  growth  and  enlargement,  such  as  that  promised 
to  Japhet,^  and  possessed  to  a  considerable  extent  even  by  the 
Turanian  family.  It  is  strong  to  resist,  weak  to  attack,  powerful  to 
maintain  itself  in  being  notwithstanding  the  paucity  of  its  numbers, 
but  rarely  exhibiting,  and  never  for  any  length  of  time  capable 
of  sustaining,  an  aggressive  action  upon  other  races.  With  this 
physical  and  material  weakness  is  combined  a  wonderful  capacity 
for  aifecting  the  spiritual  condition  of  our  species,  by  the  projection 
into  the  fermenting  mass  of  human  thought,  of  new  and  strange 
ideas,  especially  those  of  the  most  abstract  kind.  Semitic  races 
have  influenced,  far  more  than  any  others,  the  history  of  the  woild's 
mental  progress,  and  the  principal  intellectual  revolutions  which 
have  taken  place  are  traceable  in  the  main  to  them.^ 

9.  The  first  distinct  appearance  .of  the  Indo-European  race  in 
Western  Asia,  as  an  important  element  in  the  population,  is  con- 
siderably subsequent  to  the  rise  of  the  Semites.  At  what  exact 
time  the  Indo-European  type  of  speech  was  originally  developed,  it 
is  indeed  impossible  to  determine ;  and  no  doubt  we  must  assign  a 
very  early  date  to  that  primitive  dispersion  of  the  various  sections 
of  this  family,  of  which  a  slight  sketch  has  been  already  given,* 
and  which  may  possibly  have  been  anterior  to  the  movements 
wheieby  the  Semitic  race  was  first  brought  into  notice.  But  no 
important  part  is  played  by  Indo-European  nations  in  the  history 
of  Western  Asia  till  the  eighth  or  seventh  centuries  before  our  era,* 


^  The  exceptions  are  the  somewhat  doubt-  rical)  Chaldsean  dynasty  ffrom   about  B.C. 

ful  cases  above  mentioned  of  the  Berbers  and  2458  to  B.C.  2234j,  are  not  to  be  regarded 

the  Maltese.  as  ludo-Europeans,  but  as  Turanians  of  the 

2  Gen.  ix.  27.  primitive  type.    (See  above,  Essay  iii.  p.  327, 

3  The  West  has  known  two  great  revo-  and  vi.  p.  353.)  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
lutions,  conversion  to  Christianity  and  the  name  Mede  is  originally  Arian,  or  whether 
Reformation.  The  East  has  only  expe-  it  was  not  adopted  from  the  previous  Scythic 
rienced  one,  conversion  to  Mahometanism.  inhabitants  by  the  first  Arian  occupants  of 
Of  these  three  changes,  two  proceeded,  be-  the  country  known  in  history  as  Media.  If, 
yond  all  question,  from  the  Semitic  race,  however,  it  be  considered  strictly  Arian,  we 
Even*-  the  Reformation,  which  we  are  apt  to  may  suppose  Berosus  to  have  meant  that 
consider  the  mere  fruit  of  Teutonic  Reason,  Babylon  was  in  these  early  times  held  in 
may  be  traced  back  to  the  spirit  of  inquiry  subjection  by  a  race  which  issued  from  the 
aroused  by  the  Arabians  in  Spain,  who  country  called  Media  in  his  day.  The  latter 
invented  algebra,  turned  the  attention  of  seems  to  me  the  more  probable  supposition ; 
studious  persons  to  physical  science,  and  for  I  cannot  imagine  that,  if  there  had  been 
made  Aristotle  intelligible  by  means  of  trans-  )  eally  a  powerful  race  of  Medes  in  these 
lations  and  commentaries.  parts,  they  would  have  disappeared  altogether 

*  Supra,  page  532.  from  history  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  and 

»  The  Meles,  who  (according  to  Berosus)  then  reappeared  stronger  than  ever, 
reigned  in  Babylon  before  the  first  (histo- 


Essay  XI.     SPREAD  OF  THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY.  545 

the  preceding  period  being  occupied  by  a  long  course  of  struggles 
between  the  Semites  and  the  Turanians.  The  Indo-Europeans  thus 
occupy,  chronologically,  the  third  place  in  the  ethnic  history  of 
this  part  of  Asia,  and  consequently  the  consideration  of  their  various 
tribes  and  divisions  has  been  reserved  to  form  the  closing  portion 
of  this  discussion. 

10.  It  may  reasonably  be  conjectured,  as  has  been  already  re- 
marked, that  the  scene  of  the  original  development  of  the  Indo- 
European  dialect,  or  at  any  rate  of  the  first  large  increase  of  the 
races  speaking  this  language,  was  the  mountain  district  of  Armenia. 
It  is  from  this  point  that  the  various  tribes  constituting  the  Indo- 
European  family  may  with  most  probability  be  regarded  as  di- 
verging, when  the  straitness  of  their  territory  compelled  them  to 
seek  new  abodes.  As  Cymry,  Gaels,  Pelasgi,  Lithuanians,  Teutons, 
Arians,  Slaves,  &c.,  they  poured  forth  from  their  original  country, 
spreading  (as  we  have  said)  in  three  directions — northward,  east- 
ward, and  westward.  Northward  across  the  Caucasus  went  forth  a 
flood  of  emigrants,  which  settled  partly  in  the  steppes  of  Upper 
Asia,  but  principally  in  Northern  and  Central  Europe,  consisting  of 
the  Celtic,  Teutonic,  Lithuanian,  Thracian,  Slavonic,  and  other  less 
well-known  tribes.  Westward  into  the  high  plateau  of  Asia  Minor 
descended  another  body,  Phrygians,  Lydians,  Lycians,  Pelasgi,  &c., 
who  possessed  themselves  of  the  whole  'country  above  Taurus,  and 
in  some  instances  penetrated  to  the  south  of  it,  thence  proceeding 
onwards  across  the  Hellespont  and  the  islands  from  Asia  into 
Europe,  where  they  became,  perhaps,  the  primitive  colonists  of 
Greece  and  Italy.  Eastward  wandered  the  Arian  tribes  in  search 
of  a  new  country,  and  fixed  their  home  in  the  mountains  of  Aff- 
ghanistan,  and  upon  the  course  of  the  Upper  Indus. 

11.  With  the  first-mentioned  of  these  three  migrations  we  are  in 
the  present  discussion  but  slightly  concerned.  Its  main  course  was 
from  Asia  into  Europe,  and  the  Asiatic  continent  presents  but  few 
traces  of  its  progress.  It  is  perhaps  allowable  to  conjecture  that 
the  Massa-getae  and  Thyssa-getae  (Greater  Goths  and  Lesser  Goths) 
of  the  steppe  country  near  the  Caspian,®  were  Teutons  of  this  migra- 
tion, and  the  Thracians  of  Asia  Minor  appear  to  have  been  an  eddy 
from  the  same  stream  ;^  but  otherwise  Asia  was  merely  the  region 
whence  these  Indo-European  races  issued,  and  their  various  move- 
ments and  ultimate  destinies  belong  to  the  ethnic  history  of  Europe. 

12.  The  western  and  eastern  migrations  come  properly  within 
our  present  subject.  The  former  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
about  contemporaneous  with  an  occupation  of  the  southern  coast 
of  Asia  Minor  by  the  Semites,  the  two  races  being  for  some  time 
kept  apart  by  the  mountain  barrier  of  Taurus,  and  extending  them- 


«  Herod,  i.  201;  iv.  11,  22.  "  Theopomp.  Fr.  201).      Perhaps  we  should 

7  Among  the  Asiatic  Thracians  are  to  be  add    to    these    the    Chalybes,    unless    they 

reckoned,  besides  the  Thyni  and  Bithyni,  to  are    a    remnant    of    the    ancient    Turanian 

whom  the  name  especially  attaches  (Herod,  population.      (Compare  the  Xd\v^os  2ku- 

i.   28  ;    vii.   75),  the  Mariandyni,  and  the  dciu    &itoikos    of   ^Eschylus,    Sept.    c.    Th. 

Paphlagones  (see  Schol.   ad  Apollon.  Rhod.  725). 
ii.  181;  Strab.  viii.  p.  501  ;  and  xii.  785; 

VOL.  I.  2  N 


546         NORTHERN  AND  WESTERN  MIGRATIONS.     App.  Book  I. 

selves  at  the  expense  of  the  Turanians,  who  were  thinly  spread  over 
the  peninsula.  After  a  while  the  barrier  was  surmounted  by  the 
more  enterprising  people,  and  the  Indo-Enropeans  established  them- 
selves on  the  south-coast  also,  driving  the  Semites  into  the  mountain 
fastnesses,  where  we  have  already  found  them  under  the  names  of 
Solymi  and  Pisidae.  The  nations  of  this  migration  are  the  Pelasgi, 
the  Phrygians,  the  Lydians,  the  Carians,  the  Mysians,  the  Lycians, 
and  Caunians,  and  perhaps  the  Matieni.*  These  last  form  a  con- 
necting link  between  Armenia,  the  country  whence  the  migi-ation 
issued,  and  Phrygia,  that  into  which  it  was  directed  and  whence  it 
proceeded  onward  to  fresh  conquests. 

(i.)  The  Indo-European  origin  of  the  Pelasgi  seems  to  be  suffi- 
ciently established  by  the  fact  that  the  Greek  or  Hellenic  race,  and 
the  Latin  probably  to  some  extent,  sprang  from  them.^  It  is  impos- 
sible to  suppose  that  Hellenism  would  have  gradually  spread  itself, 
as  it  did,  from  a  small  beginning  over  so  many  Pelasgic  tribes  loitli- 
out  conquest,^  unless  there  had  been  a  close  affinity  between  the 
Hellenic  tongue  and  that  previously  spoken  by  the  Pelasgic  races. 
The  statement  of  Mr.  Grote^  that  we  "  have  no  means  of  deciding 
whether  the  language  of  the  Pelasgians  differed  from  Greek  as  Latin 
or  as  Phcenician "  is  one  of  undue  and  needless  scepticism.  These 
are  sufficient  grounds  for  concluding  that  the  two  languages  differed 
even  less  than  Greek  and  Latin, ^  the  Pelasgic  being  an  early  stage 
of  the  very  tongue  which  ripened  ultimately  into  the  Hellenic. 
This  view  is  quite  compatible  with  the  declaration  of  Herodotus,* 
that  certain  Pelasgic  tribes  in  his  day  "  spoke  a  barbarous  language," 
since  the  earlier  stages  of  a  language  become  in  course  of  time 
utterly  unintelligible  to  the  nation  which  once  spoke  them,  and 
would  not  be  recognised  by  the  ordinary  observer  as  in  any  way 
allied  to  the  tongue  in  its  later  form.  Anglo-Saxon  is  a  barbarian 
or  foreign  tongue  to  a  modern  Englishman ;  and  so  is  Gothic  to  a 
modern  German,  Proven9al  to  a  Frenchman,  Syriac  to  a  Chaldee  of 
Mosul.  The  diversity  between  the  Hellenic  and  the  Pelasgic  was 
probably  of  this  nature,  as  Niebuhr,"*  Thirlwall,®  and  C.  0.  Muller 
suppose.^  The  nations  were  essentially  of  the  same  stock,  the 
Hellenes  having  emerged  from  among  the  Pelasgi ;  and  we  may 
confidently  pronounce  on  the  Indo-European  character  of  the  latter 
from  the  fact  that  the  language  of  the  former  belongs  to  this  family. 


s  The  Matieui  intended  are  those  on  the  must  be  remembered  that  the  lonians  (in- 

Halys,  for  whose  existence  Herodotus  is  om-  eluding  in  them  the  Athenians),  the  ^Eolians, 

chief  authority    (see   i.    72,   and   vii.    72).  and  the  Achseans  were  all  originally  Pelasgic 

They  are  unnoticed  by  the  later  geographers,  tribes  (Herod,  i.  56  ;   vii.   95 ;  Strab.  viii. 

but  seem  to  be  the  Matieni  spoken  of  by  p.  485). 
Xanthus  (Fr.  3)  and  Hecatajus  (Fr.  189).  2  History  of  Greece,  vol.  ii.  p.  356,  note. 

9  Even  if  the  grammatical  forms  of  the         ^  -phe    Pelasgic,    according    to    the   view 

Latin  language  are  traceable  rather  to  the  taken  in  the  text,  differed  from  the  Greek, 

Oscan  than  to  the  Greek,  as  Lassen  thinlis  as  Gothic  from  German ;  the  Latin  stood  to 

{Rheinische  Museum,  1833-4),  yet  the  large  the  Greek  more  as  English  to  German, 
number  of  roots  common  to  the  Latin  and         *  Herod,  i.  57. 

Greek  would  seem  to  be  best  explainel  by  a         ^  History  of  Rome,  vol.  i.  p.  27.  E.  T. 
Pelasgic  admixture  in  the  former  people.  ^  History  of  Greece,  vol.  i.  p.  56. 

^  See  Herod,  i.  58,  and  Thucyd.  i.  3.     It         7  Dorians,  vol.  i.  p.  6.  E.  T. 


Essay  XL 


PELASGI  AND  HELLENES. 


547 


The  Pelasgi  scarcely  appear  as  a  distinct  people  in  Asia  at  the 
period  when  Herodotus  writes.  They  formed  apparently  the  first 
wave  in  the  flood  of  Indo-European  emigration,  which  passing  from 
the  Asiatic  continent  broke  upon  the  islands  and  the  coasts  of 
Greece.  Abundant  traces  of  them  are  found  in  early  times  along 
the  western  shores  of  Asia  Minor  ;^  but  except  in  a  few  towns,  as 
Placia  and  Scylace  on  the  Propontis,^  they  had  ceased  to  exist  sepa- 
rately in  that  region,  having  been  absorbed  in  other  nations,  or  else 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  serfs.  ^ 

(ii.)  The  Indo-European  character  of  the  Phrygians  is  apparent 
from  the  remnants  of  their  language,  whether  as  existing  in  inscrip- 
tions, or  as  reported  by  the  Greeks.^ 


8  Horn.  II.  ii.  840  ;  Herod,  i.  57  ;  Strab. 
V.  p.  221  ;  xiii.  p.  621.  Compare  what 
has  been  shown  (i.  171,  note  ^  )  of  the 
Leleges,  a  kindred  race. 

9  Herod,  i.  57. 

1  As  in  Caria.  See  Philipp.  Theang. 
Fr.  1. 


2  The  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  Midas 
(vide  supra,  i,  14)  has  long  been  known, 
and  its  Greek  character  noticed.  (See  Mlil- 
ler's  Dorians,  vol.  i.  p.  9,  note  '.  E.  T.)  It 
has  been  copied  by  several  travellers,  among 
others  recently  by  M.  Texier,  and  is  found 
(according  to  himj  to  run  as  follows : — 


Here  the  chaiacters,  the  case  endings,  and 
several  of  the  words  are  completely  Greek. 
Line  1  may  be  understood  thus  : — "  Ates- 
Arciaefas,  the  Acenanogafus,  built  (this)  to 
Midas  the  warrior-king."  Line  2  thus : — 
"  Lord  (lit.  father)  Memefais,  son  of  Prsetas, 
...  a  native  of  Sica,  built  (this)."  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  nominative,  genitive  (?),  and 
dative  cases  exactly  resemble  common  Greek 
forms.  The  nom.  is  mai'ked  by  -as,  -es, 
(  =  rjs),  LS,  and  os — in  one  instance  by  a. 
(Compare  vicpeKy^y^p^ra,  evpvSiTa,  iinrora, 
K.  T.  A.)  the  gen.  by  -afos  (compare  vaos, 
ypais,  yrtpaos,  k.  t.  A.),  the  dative  by  -a. 
and  -6i.  The  A^erb,  which  is  probably  in  past 
time,  seems  to  have  the  augment  (e-5aes)  ; 
while  the  third  pers.  sing,  is  marked  by  the 
ancient  suffix  s  (retained  in  SiSoxrt,  ridrjai^ 
K.  T.  A.)  The  word  Ba/3a  connects  with 
the  Greek  Trainras,  Zeus  TLairias,  and  the 


like;  while 'faj/a/cTet  is  within  a  letter  of 
&uaKTi,  and  eSaes  suggests  a  variant  of 
Sefiu},  indicated  likewise  by  the  Latin  word 
cedes.  The  locative  termination  -fxav  (if  the 
word  ^iKefiav  be  rightly  rendered),  although 
unknown  in  Greek,  reappears  in  Oscan,  and 
may  be  traced  even  in  the  Latin  tamen 
( =  ta-men,  "  these  things  being  so  situ- 
ated.") 

Another  inscription,  of  greater  length  and 
of  a  more  ancient  character,  recently  given 
to  the  Avorld  for  the  first  time  by  Texier 
(Asie  Mineure,  vol.  ii.  p.  157),  confirms  the 
impression  which  the  writing  on  the  tomb 
of  Midas  has  created  among  comparative 
philologists.  It  is  written  in  the  manner 
called  fiov(rTpo(pr]Uv,  and  is  unfortunately 
somewhat  illegible  in  the  latter  portion. 
Texier  gives  it  thus : — 


5:^r^sAIT•/^AT£pEJ:EF£IeK$£T/i•<»f>$f/K>^»^'/^A;^/1AY'/^.•fA/■7 


2  N  2 


This 


548 


LYDIANS  AND  CARIANS. 


App.  Book  I. 


(iii.)  That  the  Lydians  belonged  to  this  Indo-European  family- 
is  probable  from  what  we  know  of  their  language,^  as  well  as  from 
their  geographical  position,  and  connexion  with  other  Indo-Ger- 
manic  races.  They  had  common  temples  with  the  Carians  and 
Mysians,*  and  in  mythical  tradition  the  three  nations  were  said  to 
have  had  a  common  ancestor.^  In  manners  and  customs  they 
closely  resembled  the  Greeks,^  and  their  habit  of  consulting  the 
Hellenic  oracles^  would  seem  to  show  that  their  religion  could 
not  have  been  very  different.  They  may  therefore  with  much  pro- 
bability be  assigned  to  this  family,  and  regarded  as  a  race  not 
greatly  differing  from  the  Greeks. 

(iv.)  The  Carians,  whose  connexion  with  the  Lydians  was  pecu- 
liarly close,  are  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  been  Leleges  ^ — a  state- 


This  may  be  read  conjecturally : — 

KtjAoktjj    fevapTvu    afras  fxarepes 
*'  Celoces      sepulchrum  suae     matris 

aofffaair  fiarepes  EfeTeKffcris    Ofefivovo/j-aV  Aox*t       ya 

exstruxit    matris    Ephetexetis     ex  Ofefinone.         Soi'tita  est  Tellus 

fiarepav  apiffaffriv '  Bovox,  AKcvavoyafos, 

Bonok,  qui  Acenanogafus  erat, 

Ivavwv,  AKevavoyafos, 

Inanon,  Acenanogafus,     *     *     *     ♦ 


matrem   amatam. 


cpeKvy  TcXaros  (Toffrvr ' 
hordeum  sacrificii     obtulit. 


In  this  archaic  Phrygian,  while  the  fonns 
and  words  in  general  resemble  the  Greek, 
there  are  some  Avhich  differ  from  those  upon 
the  tomb  of  Midas,  and  are  more  akin  to  the 
Latin.  The  third  pers.  sing,  of  the  verb  is 
marked  by  the  termination  -t  instead  of  -s, 
as  in  (Tocreadir,  AaxtT,  and  (probably) 
coiTTvr.  (Compare  the  Greek  passive  ter- 
minations -Tat,  -TO,  and  for  the  v  in  troCTUT 
compare  de'iKuvfii,  ^evyuvfii,  &c.)  The 
augment  is  wanting,  being  replaced  in  one 
instance  ((TO(T€<Ta'ir)  by  a  reduplication. 
The  accusative  has  the  termination  -au 
where  the  Latins  have  -em,  the  Greeks  only 
-o.  Again  the  genitive,  fxarcp-cs,  is  more 
like  the  Latin  '*  matr-zs  "  than  the  Greek 
lj.r]T4p-os.  Some  expressions,  however,  are 
thoroughly  Greek :  afras  /xarepes  is  almost 
exactly  avrris  /xTjTepos — Aa^tT  ya  /j-are- 
pav  apeffaariv  is  (ejAax^  yv  ;u.7jTepa  epo- 
(Trriv  (or  apiffrr^v).  The  rare  form  of  the 
letter  x  deserves  special  notice.  It  is  written 
alrhost  like  a  capital  ^,  as  in  the  alphabet  of 
the  Therseans. 

The  probable  connexion  of  the  Phrygian 
^eKos,  "  bread,"  with  the  Germ,  backen 
and  our  *'  bake,"  is  noticed  in  the  foot-notes 
to  the  second  book.  The  Phrygian  words 
for  "  fire,"  "  water,"  "  dog,"  and  many 
other  common  terms,  were  so  Uke  the  Greek 
as  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Greeks 
themselves  (Plat.  Cratyl.  p.  410  A.).  The 
terms  mentioned  are  most  of  them  widely 
spread  in  the  Indo-European  family.     Fire 


is  in  Greek  irvp,  in  high  German  viw^i, 
in  low  German  fiir,  in  Ai'menian  hur. 
Water  is  Sansc.  uda,  Lat.  unda,  Greek  iiSup 
or  rather  fvSup,  Phrygian  fi4Sv,  Slav,  voda, 
Goth,  vato,  Engl,  water.  Germ,  wassevy 
Celtic  dour  or  dwr.  Dog  is  Sansc.  qvariy 
Greek  Kvav,  Lydian  Kav,  Lat.  canis,  Armen. 
shun.  Germ,  hund,  Engl,  hound.  The  moon 
is  Greek  /xifji/T/,  Phrygian  ix^p,  Germ,  mond: 
compare  Lat.  men-sis  and  our  month.  God 
was  in  Phrygian  Baya7os  (Hesych.  ad  voc), 
in  old  Persian  baga,  in  Zend  bagha,  while 
in  Slavonic  it  is  still  bogh.  "  Bake "  is 
Sansc.  pac,  Servian  pec^en,  Anglo-Sax.  bac- 
en,  Erse  bac-ail-im,  as  well  as  Germ,  backen, 
English  bake,  and  Phrygian  $eK.  Thefew 
words  said  to  be  Phrygian,  which  appear 
to  be  Semitic  rather  than  Indo-European 
{BaXTju,  "AScoj/,  'ASayovs),  are  either  late 
importations,  or  assigned  upon  very  weak 
grounds  to  the  Phrygian  language. 

3  See  p.  541,  note  7,  and  compare  Boet- 
ticher's  Rudiment,  Myth.  Semit.  pp.  13, 14. 

*  Herod,  i.  171 ;  Strab.  xiv.  p.  943. 

*  According  to  Herodotus  (1.  s.  c),  the 
native  Carian  tradition  made  Lydus  and 
Mysus  the  brothers  of  Car. 

^  AuSol  .  .  vS/xoiffi  fjLfv  irapairXriffloKTi 
XpewuTat  Ka\  "EWrjues  (Herod,  i.  94). 
Compare  vii.  74:  AuSol  .  .  ayxordrb)  .twv 
'EWriviKwv  eJxoy  '6irKa,  And  see  also 
i.  35. 

7  Herod,  i.  14,  19,  46,  55,  &c. 

8  Herod.  L  171. 


Essay  XI.  MYSIANS  AND  LYCIANS.  549 

merit  which  is  probably  beyond  the  truth, ^  but  which  he  could 
scarcely  have  made  (having  been  born  and  bred  up  on  the  Carian 
coast)  unless  the  two  races  had  been  connected  by  a  very  near 
affinity.  That  the  Leleges  were  closely  akin  to  the  Pelasgi  does 
not  admit  of  a  doubt.^  Of  the  Carian  tongue  the  remains  are  too 
scanty  to  furnish  us  with  any  very  decisive  argument,  but  Philip  of 
Theangela,  the  Carian  historian,  remarked  that  it  was  fuller  than 
any  other  language  of  Greek  words.^  The  Carians  too  seem  to 
have  adopted  Greek  customs  with  particular  facility,^  and  perhaps 
the  very  epithet  of  "  strange-speaking,"  which  they  bear  in  Homer,* 
is  an  indication  of  their  near  ethnic  approximation  to  the  Greek 
type,  whereby  they  were  led  to  make  an  attempt  from  which  others 
shrank,  and  to  adopt  in  their  intercourse  with  the  Greeks,  the 
Greek  language.^ 

(v.)  The  Mysians,  who,  like  the  Carians,  claimed  kinship  with 
the  Lydian  people,  and  had  access  in  common  with  persons  of 
these  two  nations  to  the  great  temple  of  Jupiter  at  Labranda^ — who 
spoke,  moreover,  a  language  half  Lydian  and  half  Phrygian,^  must 
evidently  be  classed  in  the  same  category  with  the  races  with 
which  they  are  thus  shown  to  have  been  connected. 

(vi.)  The  Lycians  and  Caunians  belong  likewise  to  the  Indo- 
European  family,  though  rather  to  the  Iranic  or  Arian,  than  to  the 
Pelasgic  group.  Their  language  is  nOw  well-known  through  the 
inscriptions  discovered  in  their  country,  and,  though  of  a  very 
peculiar  type,^  presents  on  the  whole  characteristics  decidedly 
Indo-European.     Herodotus  says  that  in  manners  and  customs  the 


^  See  the  foot-note  on  the  passage.  apparent  from  the  labours  of  Sir  C.  Fellows 

1  See,  for  a  summary  of  the  arguments,  and  Mr.  Daniel  Sharpe.  Bilingual  inscrip- 
Thirlwall's  History  of  Greece,  vol.  i.  pp.  tions,  in  Greek  and  Lycian,  upon  tombs 
42-45,  and  Chnton's  Fasti  Hellenici,  vol.  i.  rendered  the  work  of  decipherment  com- 
pp.  31-34.  paratively  easy.     The  most  important  speci- 

2  See  Miiller's  Fragm.  Hist.  Gr.  vol.  iv.  mens  are  given  at  the  end  of  this  Essay. 

p.  475  (Fr.  2),  rj  yXwrra  tmu  Kapa)U  .  .  These  inscriptions  are  sufficient  to  show 

TrAeio-Ta  'EWtjviko.  ov6fxaTa  e^et  Kara-  that  in  syntactical  arrangement  and  inflex- 

fie/xiy/jLeua.  ional  rules  and  forms  the  Lycian  language 

3  Strab.  xiv.  p.  947  ;  Herod,  vii.  93.  is  Indo-European,  coinciding,  as  it  often  does, 
^  Hom.  II.  ii.  867.  almost  word  for  word  with  the  Greek:  e.g.^ 
^  This  at  least  is  the  explanation  which  Ewuinu          itatu          mene          prinafutu 

Strabo  (1.  s.  c.)  gives  of  the  Homeric  epithet.  rovro    (rb)  fxyrj/xa       [&]          epydtrauro 

Lassen  admits  its  truth  (Ueber  die  Sprachen  Polenida         Molleweseu      se       Lapara 

Kleinasiens,  p.  381),  while  maintaming  the  'AiroWuviS-qs    MoWtctos      Ka\  Aairdpus 

Semitic  character  of  the  Carians.  Folenidau       Porewemeteu      prinezeyewe 

^  Herod,  i.  171.     Strab.  xiv.  p.  943,  ' AiroKKuviSov    Uvpifidrios           oIk€7oi 

^  Xanthi  Fragm.  ap.  Miiller  (Fr.  8),  t^v  urppe               lada                 epttewe          se 

[twj'    Muo-fij/]  SidXcKTOV  /xi^o\vBi6v  ircos  iirl    (toTs)  yvva^^iv    (tuIs)  kavTuv    Ka\ 

civai  Ka\  jxil^ocppvyiov.  tedeeme. 

s  Professor  Lassen  of  Bonn  has  recently  (toTj)  €yy6voLS. 

published  an   account  of  these  inscriptions  The  roots,  however,  are  for  the  most  part 

(Ueber  die  Lykischen  Inschriften,  and  Die  curiously  unlike  those  in  any  other  Indo- 

Alten   Sprachen  Kleinasiens,  von  Professor  European    language :     the    most    certainly 

Christian  Lassen,  published  in  the  Zeitschrift  known,   tedeeme   (child),  prinafu   (work), 

V.  Morgenland),   in  which   he   has   proved  itatu    (memorial),    se   (and),   urppe   (for), 

more  scientifically  than  former  writers  the  &c.,  have  no  near  correspondents  either  in 

Indo-European   character   of  the   language,  the  Arian  or  the  European  tongues.     Lada 

This,  however,  had  long  been   sufficiently  (wife)  may  perhaps  compare  with  "  lady " 


550  EASTEEN  MIGRATION  App.  Book  I. 

Lycians  resembled  the  Carians  and  tlie  people  of  Crete,  and  their 
art  has  undoubtedly  a  Grecian  character ;  but  these  are  points  upon 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  lay  any  great  stress,  since  their  ethnic 
affinity  is  sufficiently  decided  by  their  language. 

(vii.)  The  Matieni  are  added  to  this  group  conjecturally,  on 
account  of  their  position  and  name ;  ^  but  it  must  be  admitted  that 
these  are  merely  grounds  affording  a  very  slight  presumption. 
The  term  itself  may  not  be  a  real  ethnic  title  ;  it  is  perhaps  only  a 
Semitic  word  signifying  "  mountaineers,"^  and  may  not  have  been 
really  borne  by  the  people.  It  certainly  disappears  altogether 
from  this  locality  shortly  after  the  time  of  Herodotus,  while  even 
in  Mount  Zagros  it  vanishes  after  a  while  before  that  of  the  Gor- 
diaei  or  Kurds,^  so  that  its  claim  to  be  considered  the  real  name  of  a 
race  is  at  least  questionable. 

13.  The  eastern  or  Arian  migration,  whereby  an  Indo-European 
race  became  settled  upon  the  Indus,  is  involved  in  complete  ob- 
scurity. We  have  indeed  nothing  but  the  evidence  of  comparative 
philology  on  which  distinctly  to  ground  the  belief,  that  there  was  a 
time  when  the  ancestors  of  the  Pelasgian,  Ly do-Phrygian,  Lycian, 
Thracian,  Sarmatian,  Teutonic,  and  Arian  races  dwelt  together,  the 
common  possessors  of  a  single  language.  The  evidence  thus  fur- 
nished is,  however,  conclusive,  and  compels  us  to  derive  the  various 
and  scattered  nations  above  enumerated  from  a  single  ethnic  stock, 
and  to  assign  them  at  some  time  or  other  a  single  locality.  In  the 
silence  of  authentic  history,  Armenia  may  be  regarded  as  the  most 
probable  centre  from  which  they  spread ;  and  the  Arian  race  may 
be  supposed  to  have  wandered  eastward  about  the  same  time  that 
the  two  other  kindred  streams  began  to  flow,  the  one  northward 
across  the  Caucasus,  the  other  westward  over  Asia  Minor  and  into 
Europe.  The  early  history  of  the  Arians  is  for  many  ages  an  abso- 
lute blank,  but  at  a  period  certainly  anterior  to  the  fifteenth  century 
before  our  era  they  were  settled  in  the  tract  watered  by  the  Upper 
Indus,  and  becoming  straitened  for  room  began  to  send  out  colonies 
eastward  and  westward.  On  the  one  side  their  movements  may  be 
traced  in  the  hymns  of  the  Eig-Veda,  where  they  are  seen  advancing 
step  by  step  along  the  rivers  of  the  Punjab,  engaged  in  constant 
wars  with  the  primitive  Turanian  inhabitants,  whom  they  gradually 
drove  before  them  into  the  various  mountain  ranges,  where  their 
descendants  still  exist,  speaking  Turanian  dialects.^  On  the  other, 
their  progress  is  as  distinctly  marked  in  the  most  ancient  portions  of 


(although   Lassen   questions   this,  p.  348),  (xi.  p.  748) :  his  chief  inhabitants  of  Mount 

and  the  pronouns  have  some  analogy  to  the  Zagros  are  the  Gordiaei  (xi.  p.  769,  772, 

Zend.  xvi.  p.   1046,   1060,  &c.).      In  Pliny  the 

9  Their  position  as  a  connecting  link  be-  Mattiani  are  found  only  east  of  the  Caspian 

tween    Armenia    and    Phrygia,    has    been  (vi.  16).     In  Ptolemy  they  disappear  alto- 

already   noticed    (supi'a,    p.    546).      Their  gether. 

name  seems  to  connect  them  with  the  Medes         3  ggg  Miiller's  Essay  on  the  Bengali  Lan- 

(Mada).     Comp,  Sauro-mato.  guage  in  the  Report  of  the   British  Asso- 

^  See  note  ^  on  Book  i.  ch.  189.  ciation   for  1848,   p.    329;    and  Bunsen's 

2  Strabo  calls  a  certain  part  of  Media  by  Philosoph.  of  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  i.  pp.  340- 

the  name  of  Media  Mattiana  (i.  p.  108,  xi.  364, 
742),  but  he  barely  mentions  the  Mattiani 


Essay  XL  NATIONS  OF  THE  AEIAN  STOCK.  551 

tlie  Zendavesta,  the  sacred  book  of  the  western  or  Medo-Persic 
Arians.  Leaving  their  Vedic  brethren  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
broad  plains  of  Hindoostan,  and  to  become  the  ancestors  of  the 
modern  Hindoos,  the  Zendic  or  Medo-Persic  Arians  crossed  the 
high  chain  of  the  Hindoo-Koosh,  and  occupied  the  region  watered 
by  the  upper  streams  of  the  Oxus.*  Here  too  the  Arians  would 
come  into  contact  with  Scythic  or  Turanian  races,  whom  they  either 
dispossessed  or  made  subject.  Sogdiana,  Bactria,  Aria  (or  Llerat), 
Hyrcania,  Arachosia,  Rhagiana,  Media  Atropatene  (Azerbijan),^ 
were  successively  occupied  by  them,  and  they  thus  extended  them- 
selves in  a  continuous  line  from  Affghanistan  to  beyond  the  Caspian. 
At  this  point  there  was,  perhaps,  a  long  pause  in  their  advance, 
after  which  the  emigration  burst  forth  again  with  fresh  strength, 
projecting  a  strong  Indo-European  element  into  Aimenia,  and  at 
the  same  time  turning  southward  along  the  chain  of  Zagros,  occu- 
pying Media  Magna,  and  thence  descending  to  the  shores  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  where  Persia  Proper  and  Carmania  formed  perhaps 
the  limits  of  its  progress.  Everywhere  through  these  countries  the 
Tatar  or  Turanian  races  yielded  readily  to  the  invading  flood,  re- 
tiring into  the  desert  or  the  mountain-tops,  or  else  submitting  to 
become  the  dependents  of  the  conquerors. 

14.  The  nations  which  may  be  distinctly  referred  to  this  immi- 
gration are  the  following: — The  Persians,  the  Medes,  the  Car- 
manians,  the  Bactrians,  the  Sogdians,  the  Arians  of  Herat,  the 
Hyrcanians,  the  Sagartians,  the  Chorasmians,  and  the  Sarangians. 
The  similarity  of  the  language  spoken  by  the  more  important  of 
these  nations  has  been  noticed  by  Strabo,^  who  includes  most  of 
them  within  the  limits  of  his  "  Ariana."  Modern  research  confirms 
his  statements,  showing  that  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  countries 
in  question,  who  are  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  races,  still 
speak  Arian  dialects.^  A  few  words  will  suffice  to  indicate  the 
special  grounds  upon  which  these  various  tribes  are  severally 
assigned  to  this  family. 

(i.)  The  Persian  language,  which  we  possess  in  five  of  its 
stages,^  furnishes  the  model  by  which  we  judge  of  Arian  speech, 
and  distinctly  shows  the  ethnic  character  of  the  people  who  spoke 
it,  proving  their  connexion  on  the  one  hand  with  the  non-Turanian 
inhabitants   of  India,    on  the   other  with   the   principal   races  of 


*  This   tract  is   probably   the  Aryanem^  speech,  corrupted  however  in  places  by  an 

Vaejo  of  the   Veudidad.      (See   Hupfeld's  admixture  of  later  forms.     2-  The  Achame- 

Exercitat.  Herod.  Spec.  Diss.  ii.  p.  16.)  nian  Persian,  or  language  of  the  Cuneiform 

"  The   Varena  of  the  Vendidad  is,   per-  Inscriptions  from  the  time  of  Cyrus  to  that 

haps,  this  region.     (Vide  supra,  Essay  iii.  of  Artaxerxes  Ochus.     3.  The  several  vari- 

p.  o27,  note  7.)  eties  of  Pehlevi  (a.d.  226-651),  known  to 

^  'ETre/CTeiVerat  Se  Toijifo/xa  rrjs  ^Apiavrjs  us  from  rock  inscriptions,  legends  on  coins, 

/ie'xpt  ixepovs  Tiuhs  Koi  Uepaau  Ka\  Mtj-  and  the  sacred  lxx)ks  of  the  Parsees.    4.  The 

Scou,  Koi  6Ti  Tuv  TTphs  ^pKTwu  BuKTpiwu  Pazeud   or    Parsi,   preserved  to   us   in   the 

Koi    'Zoydiavuv    eWi   yap    ttws    Ka\    6fx6~  commentaries  on  the  Zend  texts,  and  recently 

yKoiTToi  Trapa  jxiKpov.     Strab.  xv.  p.  1026.  critically   treated  by  M.   Speigel.     And,  5. 

'  See   I\Iiiller,   Languages  of  the  Seat  of  The  Persian  of  the  present  day,  which  is 

War,  pp.  32-34.  a  motley  idiom,  largely  impregnated  with 

^  These  are,  1.     The  Zend,  or  language  Arabic,  but  still  chiefly  Arian  both  in  its 

of  the  Zendavesta,  the  earliest  type  of  the  grammar  and  its  roots. 


552  MEDES  AND  CARMANIANS.  App.  Book  I. 

Europe.     As  tliis  point  is  one  on  which  ethnologers  are  completely 
agreed/  it  is  not  necessary  to  adduce  any  further  proof  of  it. 

(ii.)  That  the  Medes  of  history  were  Arians,  closely  akin  to  the 
Persians,  has  been  already  argued  in  the  Essay  "  On  the  Chrono- 
logy and  History  of  the  Great  Median  Empire."^  Whether  the 
name  originally  belonged  to  the  Scythic  races  inhabiting  the 
country  immediately  east  of  Armenia  and  Assyria,  and  was  from 
them  adopted  by  their  Arian  conquerors — as  that  of  Pashtii  or 
Pushtu  is  said  to  have  been  by  the  Aifghans,^  and  as  that  of  Britons 
has  certainly  been  by  the  Anglo-Saxons — or  whether  it  is  a  true 
Arian  sectional  title  first  brought  into  that  region  by  the  Arian 
races  at  the  time  of  their  conquest,  is  perhaps  uncertain.'*  But, 
however  this  may  be,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the 
Medes  of  authentic  history,  the  conquering  subjects  of  Cyaxares, 
were  Arians,  of  a  kindred  race  to  the  Persians,  who  had  accompa- 
nied them  from  the  east  during  the  migrations  recorded  in  the  Yen- 
didad.  The  name  Arian  was  recognised  by  all  the  surrounding 
nations  as  proper  to  the  Medes.^  The  similarity  of  their  language 
with  the  Persian  was  noticed  by  Nearchus,  the  naval  commander  of 
Alexander,^  and  by  Strabo  ;  ^  it  is  also  remarkably  evidenced  by  the 
entire  list  of  authentic  Median  names,  which  are  distinctly  referable 
to  Arian  roots,^  and  have  a  close  resemblance  to  the  names  in  com- 
mon use  among  the  Persians.  Isolated  Median  words,  the  meaning 
of  which  is  known,  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.^  And  the  special 
trust  reposed  by  the  Persians  in  the  Medes, ^  together  with  the  iden- 
tity between  the  two  races  presumed  by  the  Greeks,^  mark  still 
more  strikingly  the  affinity  which  they  bore  to  one  another. 

(iii.)  The  Carmanians  are  included  by  Herodotus  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Persians,^  and  were  said  by  Nearchus,  who  coasted 
along  their  shores,  to  resemble  the  Medes  and  Persians  both  in  cus- 
toms and  language.*     Their  descendants,  the  modem  people  of  Ker- 


^  See  Prichard's  Phys.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  ch.  x.  irKuffra  %B7\  Koi  r^v  SiolX^ktov  rwv  Kap- 

Bunsen's  Philosophy  of  History,  vol.  i.  pp.  fiaviruu  riepcTi/ca  re  Kal  MTjSt/ca  etpriKe. 

110-127  ;    Miiller's  Languages  of  the  Seat  ^  See  note  ^  on  the  preceding  page,  where 

of  War,  p.  32.  the  passage  is  quoted. 

2  Supra,  pp.  325-327.  ^  See   the   analysis    of  the    Persian   and 

.    3  Miiller's  Languages  of  the  Seat  of  War,  Median  names  at  the  close  of  Book  vi. 

p.  32.  ^  As  spaca,  "dog,"  which  occurs  in  the 

*  In   favour   of   the   view   that   Scythic  same  sense   in  Zend,  and  in   some  modern 

Medes  preceded  the  Arian  Medes  in  these  Persian  dialects :  ^y-c?aAa/^  (A styages),  (nom. 

parts  may  be  urged,  1.  The  belief  of  Berosus  Ajis  Dahako),  which  is  used  symbolically 

in   a   Median    dynasty   at   Babylon    before  for  the  Median  nation  throughout  the  Zend 

B.q.  2234  (Fr.  11).     2.  The  Greek  myths  Avesta,  and  means  literally  in  Zend  "  the 

of  Andromec/a  and  Medea,  which   connect  biting  snake ;"    being,  moreover,  still  used 

the  Medes  with  the  early  (Scythic)  Phoeni-  for  "  a  dragon "  in  Persian  at  the  present 

cians  and  with  the  Colchians.    The  strongest  day. 

argument  against  it  is,  the  absence  of  the  ^  See  note  7,  p.  326. 

word  Mede  {Mad)  from  the  Assyrian  insci'ip-  2  ggg  j^o^e  ',  p.  326. 

tions  till  the  time  of  the  black-obelisk  king,  3  Herod,  i.  125.     The  form  of  the  name 

ab.  B.C.  800.     (Vide  supra,  p.  327.)  used   by  Herodotus   is    Gennanians   (rep- 

^  Herod,  vii.   62.     Ol  MtjSoj   iKoKeovro  ixdvioi)  ;  a  word  which  may  teach  us  cau- 

TToAot  irphs  iravTuv  ''Apioi.     Compare  Mos.  tion  in  basing  theories  of  ethnic  affinity  on  a 

Chor.  i.  28.  mere  name. 

6  Ap.  Strab.  xv.  p.  1053.      Neapxos  ra  *  gg^  above,  note  \ 


Essay  XI.      SOGDIANS,  BACTEIANS  AND  HERATEES.  553 

man,  spoke  a  distinct  dialect  allied  to  Persian  up  to  a  recent  period 
of  history.* 

(iv.)  The  Bactrians  are  included  by  Strabo  in  his  '  Ariana,'  and 
are  said  by  him  to  have  "  differed  but  little  in  language  from  the 
Persians."  ^  Herodotus  remarks  their  similarity  in  equipment  to  the 
Medes.''  That  they  belonged  to  the  most  ancient  Arian  stock  is 
evident  from  the  Vendidad,  where  Bakhdhi,  which  is  undoubtedly 
Bactria,  is  the  third  country  occupied  by  the  Arians  after  they  quit 
their  primitive  settlements.  It  may  further  be  noticed  that  the  few 
Bactrian  names  which  have  come  down  to  us  on  good  authority  are 
either  Persian  or  else  modelled  upon  the  Persian  type.^ 

(v.)  The  reasons  adduced  for  regarding  the  Bactrians  as  Arians 
apply  for  the  most  part  to  the  Sogdians.  Qughdha,  or  Sogdiana, 
appears  in  the  Vendidad  as  the  first  place  to  which  Ormazd  brought 
his  worshippers  from  the  primitive  Airyanem  vaejo.  Strabo  includes 
it  with  Bactria  in  his  Ariana,  and  makes  the  same  remark  concern- 
ing the  language  of  the  two  people.  Sogdian  names  are  wanting  ; 
but  the  intimate  connexion  of  Sogdiana  with  Bactria^  would  alone 
render  it  tolerably  certain  that  the  two  countries  were  peopled  by 
cognate  races. 

(vi.)  The  Arians  of  Herodotus  seem  to  parade  their  ethnic  cha- 
racter in  their  name ;  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  this  apparent 
identity  is  a  mere  coincidence.  Herodotus  himself  distinguishes 
between  the"Apioi  and  the  "Apf tot ;'  and  a  still  wider  difference  is 
observable  in  the  corresponding  terms  as  they  come  before  us  in 
the  Zendavesta  and  the  cuneiform  monuments.  In  the  Vendidad 
the  original  Ariana  is  Airya  [Airyayiem  vaejo),  the  later  Aria  is 
Haroyu.  Similarly  in  the  inscriptions  of  Darius,  Arian  in  its  wider 
sense  is  Ariya^  Aria  (the  province)  Hariva.^  The  initial  aspirate, 
which  was  lost  by  the  Greeks,"  but  which  still  maintains  its  place 
in  the  modern  Herat  and  in  the  Heri  rud  or  *'  Arius  amnis,"  suffi- 
ciently distinguishes  the  two  words,  which  differ  moreover  in  the 
final  element — Aria  (the  province)  having  a  terminal  u  or  v,  which 


^  Von  Hanmer  (Farhang  Jehangiri,  pre-  308)  is  probably  a  fictitious  name, 
face),  quoted  by  Prichard  (Phys.  Hist.  vol.         ^  Sogdiana  follows  immediately  upon  Bac- 

iv.  p.  16).     [At  present  there  is  no  distinct  tria  in  the  three  lists  of  the  satrapies  (Beh. 

dialect  known  as  /{erindni. — H.  C.  R.]  Ins.   col.    i.   par.    6  ;    Persep.   Ins.   pai*.   2  : 

^  See  note  ^  on  the  last  page.    Apollodorus  Nakhsh-i-Rustam  Ins.  par.  3).     The  Bac- 

of  Artemita  had  included  Bactria  in  Ariana  trians  and  Sogdians  are   closely  united  by 

before  Strabo.     (Strab.  xi.  p.  752).  Strabo  in  many  places  (ii.  p.  107,  169  ;  xi. 

"^  Book  vii.  ch.  64.  752-3,  &c.).     Compare  Arrian  (Exp.  Alex. 

^  As  the  Roxana  and  Oxyartes  of  Arrian,  iii.  8  ;  iv.  1 ;  v.  12,  &c.). 
which  are  Persian  (comp.  Arrian,  Exp.  Alex,         '  This  is  the  name  given  to  the  Arians  of 

A-ii.  4,  with  Ctes.  Pers.  Exc.  §  12),  and  his  Herat  in  Book  iii.  ch.   93.     In  Book  vii., 

Spitamenes,  which  is  on  a  Persian  type.    Com-  however,   the  difference  is  overlooked,  and 

pare  the  Median  names  Spithobates   (Diod.  both  they  and  the  true  Arians  are   called 

Sic),  Spitamas,  Spitaces,  Spitades,  (Ctesias),  "Apioi.     (Comp.  chs.  62  and  66). 
the  initial  element  in  all  these  names  being         ^  Nakhsh-i-Rustam  Ins.  par.  2,  ad  fin. ; 

the  Zend  Sventa  or  Spenta,  "  Sacred,"  and  Behist.  Ins.  (Scythic  version),  col.  i.  par  5. 
the  lapse  of  the  nasal  before  the  dental  being  a         3  Behist.   Ins.    col.    i.    par.    6;     Persep. 

peculiarity  of  Persian  articulation ;  and  for  Ins.    (I.   Lassen)    par.    2.      The   Nakhsh-i- 

the  termination  menes  compare  Achsemenes,  Rustam  inscription  is  imperfect. 
Hieramenes  (Thucyd.),  Phradasmenes  (Ar-         ■*  By  Hellanicus  (Fr.   168),  Strabo  aad 

.rian),   &c.      Tenagon   in  iEschylus   (Pers.  Ptolemy,  as  well  as  by  Herodotus. 


554     HYECANIANS,  SAGAETIANS,  &  CHORASMTANS.  App.  Book  I. 

has  no  correspondent  in  the  other  word.  The  eastern  Arians  therefore 
('ApeLoi)  are  not  to  be  assigned  to  the  Medo-Persic  or  Iranic  family 
on  account  of  their  name.  They  are,  however,  entitled  to  a  place  in 
it  from  the  occurrence  of  their  country  in  the  Zendavesta  among  the 
primitive  Arian  settlements,  as  well  as  from  their  being  constantly 
connected  with  races  whose  Arian  character  has  been  already 
proved.^  Herodotus  also,  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  mentions  that  in 
their  arms  and  equipments  they  resembled  the  Medes  and  Bactrians.^ 

(vii.)  The  country  of  the  Hyrcanians  (called  Vehrkana)  appears 
in  the  Zendavesta  among  those  occupied  by  the  Arians.  Their 
equipment  in  the  army  of  Xerxes  exactly  resembled  that  of  the 
Persians.^  A  name  too  mention^  in  Ctesias  as  that  of  a  Hyrcanian 
is  Arian.^  These  seem  to  be  sufficient  grounds  for  assigning  them 
to  the  Medo-Persic  family.^ 

(viii.)  That  the  Sagartians  were  Persians  in  language,^"  and  to  a 
great  extent  in  dress  and  equipment,^  is  witnessed  by  Herodotus. 
Their  Arian  character  is  apparent  in  the  inscriptions,  where  Chit- 
ratakhma,^  a  Sagartian,  throws  Sagartia  into  revolt  by  proclaiming 
himself  a  descendant  of  Cyaxares.^  Darius  seems  to  include  their 
country  in  Media,*  while  Herodotus  informs  us  that  in  the  army  of 
Xerxes  they  "  were  drawn  up  with  the  Persians."* 

(ix.)  The  Arian  character  of  the  Chorasmians  is  apparent  from 
the  mention  of  their  country  (Khairizao)  in  the  Zendavesta^  in 
close  connexion  with  Aria  (Rerat)^  Margiana  (Merv),  and  Sogdiana 
(Sughd).  The  word  itself  is  probably  of  Arian  etymology,''  and  the 
Chorasmians  are  almost  always  found  conjoined  with  races  of  the 
Arian  stock.^  A  Chorasmian  name  too,  preserved  by  a  Greek 
writer,  is  plainly  Arian.^ 


^  In  the  Inscriptions  they  usually  accom-  ''  After  relating  the  revolt  of  Sagartia 
pany  the  Bactrians.  In  Herodotus  they  are  under  Chitratakhma,  and  its  reduction,  Da- 
placed  with  the  Sogdians  and  the  Choi'as-  rius  concludes  by  saying  "  this  is  what  was 
mians  f iii.  93,  sub  fin.).  done  by  me  in  Media  "  (ibid.  par.  15). 

^  Herod,  vii.  66.     ^Apioi  5e  To^oiffi  jxiv  ^  Herod,  vii.  85.     iTrererdxaro  [ot  2a- 

i(rK€va(Tfx€uoi  ^arau  MtjSikoio-i,  to  Se  &XXa  ydpTioi]  is  rovs  U4p(ras. 

KaTOLTrep  BaKTpioi.  6  jj^  ^he  fourth  Fargard.     See  Burnouf  s 

^  Herod,    vii.    62.      "tpKavioi   Kard-n-ep  Commentaire  sur  le  Ya^na,  p.  108. 

Tlepa-at  icrea-dxaro.  7  Burnouf  derived  it  from  khairi,  "  nou- 

8  Artasyras,  Persic.  Exc.  §  9.  Compare,  rishment,"  and  zemo,  "land,"  or  "  earth," 
for  the  initial  element,  the  names  Arta-  giving  it  the  sense  of "  fruitful  land."  SirH. 
xerxes,  Arta-banus,  &c.,  and  for  the  final  one,  Rawlinson  suggests  a  connexion  with  the  San- 
the  Sanscrit  surya,  "  light,"  or  "  the  sun."  sciit  swarga, "  heaven."  (Vocabulary,  p.  91.) 

9  It  may  be  added  that  the  name  Hyrca-  ^  Herodotus  joins  them  in  the  same 
nians  signifies  "  the  wolves "  in  Zend,  and  is  satrapy  with  the  Sogdians  and  Arians  of 
exacj;ly  represented  by  the  modern  Persian  Herat  (iii.  93).  In  the  army  of  Xerxes  he 
Giirgan. — [H.  C.  R.]  unites  them  with  the  Sogdians  and  Ganda- 

^^  Herod,  vii.  85.     "Zaydprioi  .  .  .  ^Qvos  rians,   noticing   that   they    wore   the   same 

TlepffiKov  rij  (pcovfj.  arms  with  the  Bactrians  (vii.  66).     In  the 

'  Ibid.      ^aydpTioi  .  .  .  (TKevrjv  fxera^v  cuneiform    inscriptions    they   are    conjoined 

exovci  'Kiivon)ixiv'i]v  ttjs  re  neptrt/c^s  koL  with  the  Arians  and  the   Bactrians   (Beh. 

rris  liaKTv'iKris.  Ins.  col.  i.  par.  6),  with  the  Sogdians  and 

2  For  the  Arian  character  of  this  name,  see  Sattagydians  (Persep.  Inscr.),  and  with  the 
Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Vocabulary  of  the  Ancient  Sogdians  and  Sarangians  (Nakhsh-i-Rustam 
Persian  Language,  pp.  143-5 ;   and  compare  Inscr.). 

the  note  on  Tritantaechmes  (supra,  i.  192.)  »  Pharasmanes   (Arrian,   Exp.   Alex.  iv. 

3  Behist.  Ins.  col.  11,  par.  14.  15).      Compare    the    Pharismanes    of   the 


Essay  XI. 


SARANGIANS  AND  GANDARIANS. 


555 


(x.)  The  Sarangians  of  Herodotus,  whose  arms  resembled  those 
of  the  Medes,'  and  who  are  generally  conjoined  with  Arian  tribes,^ 
seem  to  be  correctly  identified  with  the  Drangians  of  later  writers,^ 
whose  close  affinity  to  the  Persians  is  witnessed  by  Strabo.*  Their 
name  does  not  occur  in  the  Vendidad,  but  their  country,  called 
after  its  chief  river,  the  Etymandrus  *  (modern  Helmend),  is  dis- 
tinctly noticed  among  the  earliest  settlements  of  the  Arians.^ 

(xi.)  The  Gandarians,  whose  country  {Sindhu  Gandhard)  lay  upon 
the  Upper  Indus,^  have  not  been  included  among  the  Arians  of  this 
migration,  since  they  appear  to  have  been  (as  Hecatseus  was  aware  ®) 
an  Indian  rather  than  an  Iranian  race.'*  They  probably  remained 
in  the  primitive  settlements  of  the  Arian  people,  while  the  Medo- 
Persic  tribes  moved  westward,  sending  with  them  only  some  few 
colonists,  who  carried  the  name  into  Sogdiana  and  Khorassan.^** 
With  the  Gandarians  may  perhaps  be  classed  the  Sattagydians  and 
the  Dadicse,  who  were  included  with  them  in  the  same  satrapy,'  and 
who  occur  generally  in  this  connexion.^  These  nations  form  a 
subdivision  of  the  Arian  group. 

15.  The  subjoined  table  will  exhibit  at  a  glance  the  connexion 
which  it  has  been  here  the  object  of  this  Essay  to  trace  among  the 
various  races. 


same  author  (ib.  vi.  27),  who  is  a  Persian ; 
and  see  the  analysis  of  Arian  names  appended 
to  Book  vi. 

J  Herod,  vii.  67. 

2  With  the  Sagartians  (Herod,  iii.  93) ; 
with  the  Arians  of  Herat  (Beh.  Ins.  and 
Persep.  Ins.) ;  with  the  Chorasmians  and 
Arachotians  (Nakhsh-i-Kustam  Ins.). 

3  Strab.  XV.  pp.  1 023-1026  ;  Arrian,  Exp. 
Alex.  iii.  21,  28;  vii.  10,  &c ;  Ptol.  vii. 
19  ;    Steph.  Byz.,  &c. 

*  Strab.  XV.  p.  1027.  Oi  Apdyyai 
■jreptrt^o j/T€s  T^AAia  Kara  t6v  fiiov 
oXvov  (TTcavi^ovcri. 

^  The  reasons  for  regarding  the  Saran- 
gians as  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  called 
in  the  Zendavesta  Haetumat  are  given  by 
Hitter.  (Erdkunde,  West-Asien,  ii.  pp. 
64-66.) 

^  As  the  primitive  historical  traditions  of 
Persia  refer  to  this  province,  so  does  the 
name  of  the  Drangians  etymologically  sig- 
nify '*  the  ancient."  It  was  probably  indeed 
here  that  the  Perso- Arians  first  exercised 
sovereignty. — [H.  C.  R.] 

7  See  Sir  H.  Rawlinson's  Vocabulary,  sub 


voc.  Gadara  (pp.  125-8).  The  Gandarians 
of  the  Indus  seem  to  have  first  emigrated  to 
Candahar  in  the  fifth  century  of  our  era. 

8  Cf.  Hecat.  Fr.  178.  Vdv^apai,  'IvZSov 
edi/os  ;  and  for  his  knowledge  of  their  location 
upon  the  Upper  Indus,  compare  his  Kaa-ird- 
irupos,  iroXis  TavSapiK-ff  (Fr.  179)  with 
Herod,  iv.  44. 

9  The  Gandarians  appear  as  Indians  in 
Sanscrit  history  (Wilson's  Arian  Antiq.  p. 
131,  et  seqq. ;  Lasseji's  Indisch.  Alterthums- 
kunde,  p.  422,  &c.),  and  are  commonly 
joined  with  the  Indians  in  the  Inscriptions. 
(Persep.  Ins.  and  Nakhsh-i-Rust.  Ins.) 

^^  Gandarians  (Candari)  are  found  on  the 
northern  frontier  of  Sogdiana  in  Pliny  (H.  N. 
vi.  16),  and  Ptolemy  (vi.  12).  Compare 
Mela  (i.  2).  Isidore  of  Charax  has  a  town 
Gadar  in  Khorassan  (p.  7). 

1  Herod,  iii.  91. 

2  The  Gandarians  and  the  Dadicge  were 
united  under  one  commander  in  the  army 
of  Xerxes  (Herod,  vii.  66).  Gandaria  occurs 
in  juxtaposition  with  Sattagydia  in  the  Be- 
histun  and  Nakhsh-i-Rustam  inscriptions. 


556 


TABLE  OF  EACES. 


App.  Book  I- 


TUEANIAN 


Hamltic  or  Cushite 


.Scythic  or  TStar 


'  Assyro-Babylonian 


Semitic \  Hebrseo-PhcEnician 


Arabian 


Indo-European 


Lydo-Phrygian 


Lycian 


Thracian 


Western  Arian  or  Medo-Persic  \ 


Eastern  Arian  or  Indie  . . 


(Southern  or  Himyaritic  Arabs. 
Canaanites  (early). 
Ciialdsans  (early). 
Susianians  (early). 
Ethiopians  of  Asia. 

'Cappadocians  (early). 
Cilicians  (early). 
Armenians  (early). 
Sapirians. 
Colchians. 
Moschi. 
Tibereni. 
Alarodii  (?). 
Macrones  (?). 
MosyncBci  (?). 
Mares  {?). 
Budii. 
Magi. 
Sacje. 
Parthians. 

(Assyrians. 
Babylonians. 
Syrians. 

j  Canaanites  (later). 

Hebrews. 

Phoenicians. 
'  Cyprians. 

Cilicians  (later). 
I  Solymi. 
'  Pisidse. 

C  Joktanian  Arabs. 
( Ishmaelite  Arabs. 

Phrygians. 
Lydians. 
Mysians. 
I  Carians. 
Pelasgi. 
Greeks. 

f  Lycians. 
\  Caunians. 

{Thynians. 
Bithynians. 
Mariandynians. 
Paphlagonians. 
Chalybes  (?). 

Persians. 

Medes. 

Bactrians. 

Sogdians. 

Arians  of  Herat. 

Hyrcanians. 

Chorasmians. 

Sarangians. 

Sagartians. 

Carmanians. 

Armenians  (later). 

Cappadocians  (later). 

(Indians. 
I  Gandarians. 
Sattagydians  (?). 
IDadicse  (?). 


Essay  XL  BILINGUAL  INSCKIPTIONS.  557 


(1.)  At  Limyra. 
eweeya  erafazeya  mete 

prjnafatu  Sedereya  Pe    .    ,    . 

^'^•f :  TFAI^EME  •{-P^^EtTAEt^•BEi1^ 

neu  tedeeme  urppe  etle  euwe        se 

At^AE  •  t+B  EStTE  AtEME  fW?A- 

lade  euwe       se  tedeeme  P   ,    .    . 

A^lt    TOMr'HMATOAEED 

leye  to  /nvrffia  rode  eV- 

OIHZATOZIiliAPIOZPAPME 

oiriffaro  "^iSapios  Uap/ae- 

A^TOZYIO^EAYTS>IKAITHiry^ 

pros  vtos  kavrif  Kai       rr)         yvv- 

AlKIKAlYIQirVBIAAHI 

ot/ct  KUi  VIC})  Uv^iaXr). 


558 


BILINGUAL  mSCEIPTIONS— 


App.  Book  I. 


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Essay  XI. 


LYCIAN  AND  GREEK. 


559 


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560  EPITHETS  OF  JUPITEK.  App.  Book  L 


NOTE  (A). 

ON  THE  VARIOUS  TITLES  OF  JUPITER. 


Herodotus,  in  eh.  44  (p.  33),  invokes  Jupiter  nnder  three  names, 
illustrative  of  the  subdivision  of  the  Deity,  mentioned  in  notes  on 
ch.  131,  B.  i.  App.  and  on  oh.  4,  B.  ii.  App.  Cicero  (de  Nat.  Deor. 
b.  iii.)  mentions  three  Jupiters :  one  the  son  of  ^ther,  and  the 
father  of  Proserpine  and  Bacchus  ;  another  the  son  of  Heaven,  and 
father  of  Minerva ;  and  the  third  born  to  Saturn  in  Crete,  where  his 
tomb  was  shown.  Many  characters  and  epithets  were  also  given  to 
him  by  the  Eomans,  as  by  the  Greeks.  (Cp.  Aristot.  de  Mundo,  7.) 
He  often  took  the  place  and  office  of  other  Gods,  as  of  Neptune, 
JEolus,  the  Sun,  and  many  more ;  he  contained  all  others  within 
himself  (see  note  on  ch.  4,  B.  ii.  App.) ;  he  was  supreme,  ordering 
all  human  events,  and  directing  them  at  his  own  pleasure,  ^schy- 
lus,  however,  makes  him  subservient  to  Fate,  and  this  accords  with 
the  reply  of  the  oracle  of  Delphi  to  Croesus,  that  "  it  is  impossible 
even  for  a  God  to  evade  destiny"  (Herod,  i.  ch.  91)  ;  and  though 
Homer  shows  that  Jupiter  willed  and  promised,  still  man's  destiny 
was  settled  at  his  birth,  at  which  therefore  the  Fates  attended. 
But  the  promises  of  Jupiter  were  equally  fixed  and  unalterable  as 
fate,  and  thus  Sarpedon's  death  once  pronounced  to  Thetis  could 
not  be  revoked.  (Cic.  de  Div.  ii.  10.)  Of  the  philosophers,  the 
Stoics  particularly  held  to  destiny ;  while  the  views  of  the  Peripa- 
-tetics  on  this  subject  were  less  stringent.  (Of  the  Stoics  and  Fate, 
see  Cicero  de  Div.  ii.  8  ;  and  of  TrpdvoLa,  Providence,  the  Anima 
Mundi,  see  Nat.  Deor.  ii.  22  and  29.)  To  illustrate  the  variety  of 
epithets  applied  to  Jupiter  by  the  Greeks,  I  avail  myself  of  the 
following  remarks,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  the 
Eev.  A.  Cumby,  who,  by  a  long  research  in  the  works  of  the 
ancients,  has  collected  a  mass  of  valuable  information  on  their 
manners,  customs,  and  literature,  particularly  of  the  Greeks,  which 
we  may  hope  will  some  day  be  given  to  the  public  : — 

"  As  the  giver  of  success  and  failure  he  is  called  .Zeuy  eTrtSt^TTjs,  Pausan.  viii. 
9,  2;  Z.  xapiSoTTjs,  Plut.  Op.  Mor.  1048  C.  ;  Z.  TcXeios,  Msch.  Ag.  973,  Eum. 
28,  Pausan.  viii.  48,  6,  Athen.  16  B. ;  Z.  Kr-ffffios,  Demosth.  xxi.  p.  531,  Antiph. 
i.  p.  113;  Isseus,  viii.  p.  70,  Harpocrat.  s.  v.  KTi^criov  Ai6s.  Add  Zevs  cruT^p, 
wluch  is  frequent  in  Attic  winters,  and  in  Pausanias,  ^sch.  Suppl.  27,  Eur.  Her. 
F.  48. 

"  Jupiter  presides  more  especially  over  celestial  phenomena,  lightning,  clouds, 
and  rain:  hence  Zeus  verios,  Pausan.  ii.  19,  8,  ix.  39,  4;  o/xIBpios,  Plut.  Op.  Mor. 
158  E.,  Pausan.  i.  32,  2.     Also  Z.  oijpios,  Msch,  Suppl.  594,  Cic.  in  Verr.  iv.  p. 


Note  A.  GREEK  SURNAMES  OF  ZEUS.  561 

465Elzev,;  Z.  ^vdve/xos,  Pausan.  iii.  13,  8.  He  also  presides  over  tlie  seasons: 
lience  Zeus  lK/xa7os,  Ap.  Kliod.  ii.  52'2,  aud  Sch. ;  Z.  fxopios,  Soph.  Gid.  C.  705  ; 
Z.  eiriKapirios,  Plut.  Op.  Mor.  1048  C. 

"The  priucipal  attendants  upon  Jupiter  were  Themis,  with  her  two  daughters, 
AiKT]  and  Evvofiia:  hence  he  presides  over  ayopal,  and  hence  Zeus  ayopalos^ 
Herod,  v,  46,  ^sch.  Eum.  973,  Eur.  Heracl.  40,  Aristoph.  Eq.  410,  500,  Plut. 
Op.  Mor.  789,  D.  792,  F.  Pausan.  iii.  11,  9,  v.  15,  4,  ix,  25,  4  (cf,  Zeus  Trayofi- 
(paTos,  II.  0.  250)  ;  Zei/s  fiov\a7os,  Antiph,  vi.  146,  Plut.  Op.  Mor.  801  E.  (cf.  802 
P.,  Pausan.  i.  3,  5). 

''We  find  Zei/s  iroXicbs,  Plut.  Vit.  Demetr,  909,  Op.  Mor.  789  D.,  792  F., 
Pausan.  i.  24,  4,  in  which  office  his  temple  would  be  in  the  Acropolis;  so  Zeus 
viraTos,  Plut.  Op.  Mor.  1065  E.,  Pausan.  iii.  7,  6,  and  viii.  14,  7,  ix.  19,  3; 
v\pia-Tos,  Pausan.  ii.  3,  1,  v.  15,  5,  ix.  8,  5,  We  find  Zeus  jSactAeus,  Ran.  1278 
and  elsewhere.  Plat.  Ale.  ii.  p.  143,  Pausan.  ix.  34,  4;  for  Zeus  jSaciAeus  and 
Z.  Tiy^ixiou,  see  especially  Xen.  Cyrop.  and  Anab.  We  find  from  Homer  and 
Hesiod  that  Jupiter  especially  protected  kings  and  generals,  and  determined  the 
event  of  battles :  hence  Zei/s  Tpoiralos,  Eur.  El.  671,  Heracl.  867,  936  (cf.  Phocn. 
1250,  1473\  Pausan.  iii.  12,  9;  Zeus  (rrpdnos,  Herod,  v.  119,  Strab.  xiv.  659, 
Plut.  Vit.  Eum.  594. 

"In  adjurations  and  invocations  Jupiter  is  often  called  by  an  appropriate 
surname:  see  especially  Herod,  i.  44,  Luc.  Tim.  98,  152,  Schol.  Aristoph.  Eq. 
500,  and  Ran.  756,  Schol.  Eur.  Hec.  345 :  such  are  Zeus  al5o7os,  iEsch.  Suppl, 
192  (cf.  (Ed.  Col.  1267);  Zeus  uefx-ffrup,  Sep.  Theb.  48.5,  and  KKapios,  M^c\u 
Suppl.  360,  Pausan.  viii.  53,  9;  Z.  apaios,  Soph.  Philoct.  1181,  and  Sell.;  Z. 
iiT6\\iios,  Ap.  Rhod.  ii.  1124,  1132;  Z.  iravoivrris,  iEsch.  Suppl.  139;  TravSopKerTjs, 
Eur.  El.  1177;  (pv^ios,  Ap.  Rhod.  ii.  1147,  iv.  119,  Pausan.  ii.  21,  2,  iii.  17,9, 
So,  in  the  comedians,  Z.  Siottttis  Koi  KaroirTrjs^  Aristoph.  Ach.  435,  and  Sch.; 
Z.  d/jLo/iiaaTiyias,  Ran.  756. 

"  Zeus  eraipeios,  see  Sup.  and  Athen.  xiii.  572  D.  E.,  x.  446  D.;  Z.  ccpearTios, 
Msch.  Ag.  704,  Soph.  Aj.  492,  and  Sch.;  Z.  iKeaios,  JEseh.  Suppl.  346,  616, 
Soph.  Philoct.  484,  Eur.  Hec.  345,  Ap.  Rhod.  ii.  215,  1131  sqq.,  Pausan.  i.  20, 
7:  also  the  foi-ms  iKer-fiaio^,  Od.  v.  213;  afiKTup,  JEsch.  Suppl.  1;  lKTa7os, 
Msch.  Suppl.  385 ;  iKT^p,  ^sch.  Suppl.  478  ;  Z.  ^(ulos,  II.  v.  625,  Od.  i.  270 ; 
|.  284,  389  (cf.  Od.  2,  207,  and  |.  57);  Pind.  01.  viii.  28,  Nem.  v.  61,  xi.  9; 
^sch.  Ag.  61,  362,  748,  Suppl.  627,  672,  Eur.  Cycl.  357,  Xen.  Anab.  iii.  2,  4, 
Plat,  de  Legg.  v.  730,  viii.  843,  xii.  953  (cf.  ix.  879,  xii.  96.5),  Plut.  Vit.  Arat. 
1052,  Op.  Mor.  766  C.  (cf.  158  C),  Pausan.  iii.  11,  11,  Athen.  xv.  696  D. 

"Zeus  ofjLoyi/ios,  Eur.  Andr.  921,  Aristoph.  Ran.  750,  756,  and  Sch.,  Plat.  Legg. 
ix.  881 ;  so  Zeus  avyaifios,  Soph,  Antig.  658  (cf.  tt/jos  ce  decov  bjxoyvLuiv,  Soj^h. 
CEd.  Col.  1333,  and  Ruhnk.  Lex.  Tim.  s.  v.);  so  Z.  ivarpwos.  Nub.  1468  (cf. 
Plut.  Op.  Mor.  758  D.,  which  epithet  has  frequently  a  diff"erent  signification);  Qeol 
iraTpcfOL,  ^sch.  Sep.  Theb.  1018,  and  elsewhere;  Z.  Trarpcoos,  Plat.  Rep.  iii.  391, 
Euthyd.  302,  de  Legg.  ix.  881 ;  see  Herod,  v.  66  and  61. 

"Zeus  (ppdrpios,  Demosth.  xliii.  1054,  Athen.  xi.  460  F. ;  Z.  bix6(pvXos,  Plat. 
Legg.  viii.  843;  Z.  y^viexios,  Pind.  Pyth.  iv.  298,  Plut.  Vit.  Alex.  M.  682, 
Op.  Mor,  166  D,  1119  E.;  here  the  epithet  signifies  Trarpwos,  but  it  denotes 
presiding  over  birth,  Pind.  01.  viii.  20  (cf.  xiii.  148,  cf.  also  ^sch.  Eum.  7,  293, 
Soph.  (Ed.  C.  972) ;  and  protecting  parents,  Plut.  Op.  Mor.  766  C.  (cf.  ^sch. 
Choeph.  912). 

"Zei/s  UpKios,  Soph.  Philoct.  1324,  Eur.  Hippol.  1025,  Plut.  Vit.  Eum.  594  (cf, 
^schin,  i.  16,  add  Pausan.  v.  24,  9). 

"Zei/s  (plKios,  Plat.  Phsedr.  234,  Minos.  321,  Luc.  Tox.  518  (cf.  Aristoph.  Ach. 
730,  Plat.  Ale.  i.  109,  Euthyphr.  6,  Gorg.  500). 

"To  these  we  may  add  Zei/s  cpKeios,  Eur.  Troad.  17,  Plat.  Euthyd.  302,  and 
Sch.  Pausan.  ii.  24,  3,  iv.  17,  4,  v.  14,  7,  viii.  46,  2,  x.  27,  2  ;  Zei/s  eAeu0e>os, 
Pind.  01.  xii.  1,  Herod,  iii.  142,  Eur.  Rhes.  358,  Plut.  Vit.  Aristid.  331,  and 
Pausan.  x.  21,  5  and  6;  Zei/s  '6pios,  Plat.  Legg.  viii.  842  im.,  Demosth.  vii.  86, 
Polyb.  ii.  39  ;  also  in  expiation'of  murder,  Zei/s  /xeiXixios  was  invoked." 

Zeus  was  put  for  the  heaven  (Hor.  1  Od.  i.  25,  "Manet  sub  Jovo 
fiigido  venator").  He  was  said  "to  rain;"  and  Clemens  (Strom. 
V.  p.  571)  says,  "  Jove's  tears  signify  rain."     Athenaeus,  x.  p.  430a, 

VOL.  I.  2   O 


562  GOD  IN  SAMARITAN  AND  HEBREW.     App.  Book  T. 

Pausan.  ii.  19  (see  vItloq  above,  Ep.  Wet.)  AtnrErriQ  was  also  applied 
to  the  Nile  (sec  note  on  ch.  19,  b.  ii.)  Cp.  Clem.  Strom,  v.  p.  003. 
His  name  Diespiter  is  tlie  Indian  Diuspiter,  "  Sim-fatlier,"  or 
"  Heavenly  liglit ;  "  and  perliaj^s  connected  with  Divas-pati,  "  Lord 
of  the  day,"  or  "  of  the  sky,"  as  Jupiter  answers  to  Diu-piter, 
"  Heaven,"  or  "  Air-father."  Zev,  Sev,  and  Jov  are  the  same  word, 
as  Sir  W.  Jones  has  shown  (vol  i.  p.  249),  as  are  zngon  and  jngmn. 
The  old  Latin  name  was  Jovi  or  Jovis.  Cp.  the  Assyrian  God  lav. 
The  Samaritans  called  Ihoh  or  Ihoah  (lengthened  by  us  into  Jeho- 
vah), 'Infie,  according  to  Theodoret  (the  /3  being  a  v)  ;  the  Greeks 
'law.  Clemens  very  properly  says  the  name  is  "of  four  letters," 
nin'' (Ihoh).  It  signified  "is,"  or  "will  be."  "lah"  is  n>  (Ih). 
The  Eoyal  Scythians  called  Jupiter  Pappus  (Herod,  iv.  59).  For 
Jupiter's  patronage  of  kings,  cp.  cioTpecjiicov  ^aaCkinov.  (See  note  on 
ch.  4,  B.  ii.  App.  ch.  iii.  §  19.)— [G.  W.] 


Note  B.  INVENTION  OF  COINING.  563 


NOTE   (B). 


ON  THE  INVENTION  OF  COINING,  AND  THE  EARLIEST  SPECIMENS 
OF  COINED  MONEY. 


TiiK  question  of  tlie  first  invention  of  coined  money  is  one  of  those 
wliicli  it  is  impossible  to  solve,  and  on  which  we  can  only  hope  at 
best  to  arrive  at  a  probable  opinion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  tliat 
the  precious  metals  have  been  selected  in  various  places  quite  in- 
dependently, to  serve  as  the  common  medium  of  exchange,  for 
which  they  are  better  suited  than  any  other  commodity.  But 
whether  the  practice  of  stamping  certain  masses  of  them  with  a 
government  mark,  as  a  guarantee  of  tjieir  being  of  the  professed 
weight  and  purity,  arose  in  one  place  only,  and  then  spread  from  a 
single  centre  gradually  over  the  known  world ;  or  whether  the  idea 
occurred  separately  to  several  nations,  will  peihaps  never  be  deter- 
mined. The  latter  of  these  two  hypotheses  is  at  least  as  likely  to 
be  the  true  one  as  the  former;  and  in  this  case  it  is  evident  that 
we  can  entertain  but  slight  hopes  of  ever  settling  the  question  of 
priority  of  discovery.  With  respect  however  to  the  statement  of 
Herodotus  concerning  the  Lydians,  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  on 
so  wide  a  field.  His  assertion'  is  limited  to  the  nations  of  which 
himself  and  his  countrymen  had  knoMdedge.  By  this  we  are  not  to 
understand,  as  has  been  argued  (Edinburgh  Eeview,  No.  211,  jd. 
170),  the  states  of  Asia  Minor  only,  with  which  he  was  from  his 
birth  and  breeding  most  familiar,  but  the  various  countries  and 
kingdoms  through  which  he  had  travelled,  or  of  which  ho  had 
gained  authentic  information,  extending  from  India  on  the  east  to 
Sicily  and  Italy  on  the  west,  and  including  Persia,  Media,  Babylon, 
Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Phrygia,  as  well  as  the  numerous  Greek  states 
scattered  over  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediterranean  and  its 
tributary  seas,  from  Olbia  to  Naucratis,  and  from  Trapezus  to  Mas- 
silia.  The  expression  used  is  the  one  constantly  occurring  through- 
out the  whole  work  for  knowledge  of  the  most  general  kind,  and 
which  is  applied  to  nations  as  little  known  as  the  Scythians  (iv.  46), 
tlie  Neuri,  who  dwell  above  them  (iv.  17),  and  the  Atarantes  of  the 
African  desert  (iv.  184).  Herodotus  then,  it  appears,  was  convinced 
that  the  practice  of  coining  money  originated,  not  with  the  Egyptians, 
Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Phoenicians,  Phrygians,  or  Greeks,  but  with 
the  Lydians,  who  were  tlie  first  (he  says)  to  coin  both  gold  and  silver, 
and  from  whom  he  probably  regards  other  nations  as  having  adopted 
the  practice.    It  is  the  truth  of  this  assertion  which  requires  considera- 

2  o  2 


564:  ABSENCE  OF  ANCIENT  EASTERN  COINS.     App.  Book  I. 

tion,  the  question  being  one  of  much  interest  in  itself,  and  important 
in  its  bearing  upon  the  general  character  of  Lydian  civilisation. 

Now  it  is  certainly  most  remarkable,  that  among  the  numerous 
remains  of  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  antiquity  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  not  a  single  coin  has  been  yet  found.  In  Egypt  it  is  said  to 
be  ascertained  from  hieroglyphical  discovery,  that  there  was  at  no 
time  a  native  coinage  ;  and  it  appears  that  the  Persians  first  (Herod, 
iv.  166),  and  the  Greeks  afterwards,  had  to  introduce  their  own 
monetary  sj^stems  there,  at  the  time  of  their  respective  conquests. 
Had  Assyria  or  Babylonia  possessed  a  coinage,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible that  the  researches  recently  pursued  with  so  much  success 
throughout  Mesopotamia,  should  have  failed  to  bring  to  light  a 
specimen.  Clay  tablets,  commemorating  grants  of  money  specified 
hy  weighty  have  been  found  in  considerable  numbers,  but  not  a  coin 
or  the  trace  of  a  coin  has  been  discovered.  As  far  therefore  as 
negative  evidence  can  decide  a  question  of  this  kind,  it  would  seem 
that  the  invention  of  coining  was  certainly  not  made  by  the  nations 
whose  position  in  the  van  of  Oriental  civilisation  would  have  led  us 
to  expect  it  from  them.  It  is  confirmatory  of  this  view  to  find  that 
the  Jews  appear  to  have  had  no  coined  money  of  their  own  till  the 
time  of  the  Maccabees,  when  King  Antiochus  gave  leave  to  Simon 
to  "  coin  money  for  his  country  with  his  own  stamp  "  (1  Maccab. 
XV.  6),  and  that  their  first  knowledge  of  the  invention  seems  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  Persians.  (See  Gesenius'  Lex.  Heb.  ad 
voc.  P^l'^^?.).  Previous  to  the  captivity  it  would  appear  that  the 
commercial  dealings  of  the  Hebrews  were  entirely  transacted  after 
the  model  of  that  primitive  purchase  recorded  in  Genesis,  when 
Abraham  bought  the  field  of  Machpelah  of  Ephron  the  Hittite,  and 
"  weighed  to  him  the  silver  which  he  had  named  in  the  audience  of 
the  sons  of  Heth,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  current  money  with 
the  merchant."  Coined  money  is  first  mentioned  in  the  books  of 
Scripture  written  after  the  captivity — Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Chro- 
nicles ;  and  then  the  term  used  appears  to  represent  the  Persian 
"  Daric,"  indicating  the  quarter  from  which  the  invention  had 
reached  the  Hebrew  nation. 

One  of  the  countries  most  likely  to  originate  such  an  improve- 
ment would  seem  to  have  been  Phoenicia.  Engaged  in  commercial 
dealings  of  the  most  extensive  description  from  a  very  early  time — 
possessing  either  actually  or  through  their  colonists  almost  the 
entire  carrying  trade  of  Asia  and  Africa — the  Phoenicians  could  not 
but  be  peculiarly  interested  in  a  change  which  must  have  had  so 
great  an  effect  in  simplifying  and  expediting  commercial  transac- 
tions. But  inventions  do  not  always  arise  where  they  are  most 
wanted  ;  and  certainly  at  present  there  are  no  grounds  for  assigning 
the  invention  in  question  to  this  people.  No  Phoenician  coins 
hitherto  discovered  have  the  appearance  of  such  antiquity  as  at- 
taches to  a  large  number  of  specimens  belonging  to  Greece  and 
Lydia.  No  traditional  record  ascribes  to  them  the  invention,  which, 
had  it  been  theirs,  would  probably  (like  that  of  letters)  have  been 
conceded  to  them  at  least  by  some  Aviiters.  The  probable  fact 
noticed  above,  that  the  Jews  derived  their  first  knowledge  of  coined 


Note  B.        COINING  NOT  A  PHCENICIAN  INVENTION.  5G5 

money  at  tlic  time  of  tlie  captivity  from  the  Persians,  makes  it 
very  unlikely  that  it  was  invented  centuries  before  by  their  near 
neighbours,  the  Phoenicians.  Antecedent  probability  must  there- 
fore give  way  to  evidence,  and  the  claim  of  the  Phoenicians  to  be 
regarded  as  the  inventors  of  coining,  must  be  set  aside  as  wholly 
unsupported  by  any  facts. 

It  has  recently  been  maintained  by  a  writer  of  great  eminence 
(Col.  Leake,  Num.  Hellen.  App.),  that  the  real  inventors  of  the  art 
of  coining  money  were  the  Greeks.  This  conclusion  rests  in  the 
main  upon  certain  statements  of  late  Greek  authors,  by  whom  the 
invention  is  ascribed  to  Pheidon,  king  of  Argos,  who  flourished 
about  B.C.  750.  (See  Ephor.  Fr.  15  ;  Pollux,  ix.  83;  Etym.  Mag. 
ad  voces  Ev^dkou  vofiLcrjdaj  and  o^eXiaKog.  Compare  ^lian.  Var. 
Hist.  xii.  10.)  But  the  authority  of  these  writers  is  weak,  and  cer- 
tainly not  to  be  compared  with  that  of  Herodotus,  and  Xenophanes 
of  Colophon,  his  older  contemporary,  who  both  regarded  the  in- 
vention as  Lydian  (Pollux,  1.  s.  c).  Even  were  the  two  statements 
supported  by  authorities  of  equal  value,  that  of  Herodotus  would 
have  to  be  preferred,  since  it  runs  counter  to  the  spirit  of  national 
vanity,  which  the  other  favours.  Besides,  it  is  easy  to  explain  how 
the  tradition  of  Pheidon  may  have  arisen,  without  conscious  dis- 
honesty; for  the  earliest  writers  on  the  subject  might  mean  no 
more  than  that  Pheidon  was  the  first  who  coined  money  in  Greece, 
and  those  who  followed  might  misapprehend  them,  and  think  they 
meant  the  first  who  coined  money  anywhere.  Even  moderns  have 
represented  the  Parian  Marble  as  evidence  for  the  claim  of  Pheidon 
(Eckhel,  Doctr.  Num.  Vet.  Proleg.,  cap.  iii. ;  Smith,  Diet,  of  Antiq., 
ad  voc.  Nummus,  p.  810,  2nd  ed.),  whereas  it  leaves  the  question, 
as  between  him  and  the  Lydians,  wholly  untouched.  Further, 
since  it  is  now  universally  admitted,  that  Pheidon  introduced  his 
scale  of  weights  and  measures  (known  as  the  Eginetan)  from  Asia, 
it  is  at  least  not  unlikely  that  he  may  have  been  beholden  to  the 
Asiatics  for  his  other  innovation.  On  the  whole,  then,  it  may  bo 
said,  that  authority  and  probability  are  alike  in  favour  of  a  Lydian 
rather  than  a  Grecian  origin  of  the  invention.^ 


^  Colonel  Leake,  replying  to  the  foregoing  which  were  islands,  it  is  much  more  likely 

passage,  in  the  Journal  of  Classical  and  Sacred  that,  as  commerce  and  civilisation  advanced, 

Philology  (vol.  iv.  pp.  243,  244),  maintains  a  weight  imprinted  with  the  iiria-qixov  of 

his  former  view,  and  adduces  in  its  support  the  city  should  have  been  used  there  than  in 

two  new  arguments ;  first,  anterior  proba-  Asia  Minor,  which  was  at  that  time  under 

bility,  which  he  thinks  is  in  favour  of  the  the   Assyrian   p]mpire   (!),  or   divided   into 

Greeks ;  and  secondly,  the  fact  that  Pheidon  semi-barbarous  states,  deriving  their  degree 

lived   before    Gyges,  whom    he    calls    "  the  of  civilisation  from  Phoenicia  or  Assyria, 

founder  of  the  Lydian  monarchy."     He  has  where,  as  far  as   present  evidence  extends, 

apparently  forgotten  that  the  Lydian  mon-  nothing  existed  in  monetaiy  transactions  but 

archy  was  several  centuries  older  than  Gyges,  the  use  of  the  precious  metals."     For  my 

who  changed  the  dynasty,  but  had  nothing  own  part,  I  regard  the  question  as  one  to  be 

to  do  with  the  foundation  of  the  kingdom,  determined  by  evidence  more  than  by  proba- 

Under  the  head  of  probability  he  urges  that,  bility  ;  but,  if  probabilities  are  to  be  weighed, 

considering  "  the  position  of  Greece  amidst  T  should  question  the  grounds  on  which  the 

the  surrounding  countries,  its  geological  con-  Lydians  of  the   eighth  century  B.C.  are  re- 

struction   and    consequent    subdivision    into  garded  as  less   civilised  than    the  Europeaii 

small    independent    communities,   many   of  Greeks,  and  I  should  altogether  demur  to 


5GG 


CLAIMS  OF  THE  LYDIAXS  AND  GREEKS.     App.  Book  T, 


Modern  research  has  not  sncceeded  in  throwing  any  considerable 
light  on  this  disputed  point.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of  the 
coins  hitherto  discovered  date  within  some  centuries  of  the  original 
invention.  But  in  the  opinion  of  many  excellent  judges  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Lydian  coins  actually  obtained  is  indicative  of  a 
higher  antiquity  than  attaches  to  any  Greek  specimens.  (See  the 
article  on  Ancient  Coins  in  the  Encyclopeedia  Metropolitana,  and 
compare  Humphreys'  Ancient  Coins  and  Medals,  p.  31.)  Within  a 
circuit  of  some  thirty  miles  round  Sardis,  the  ancient  capital  of 
Lydia,  a  number  of  gold  and  silver  coins  have  been  found  of  a 
peculiar  type,  and  of  the  rudest  character  and  execution.  These 
coins  have  a  device  on  one  side  only,  the  other  being  occupied  by 
the  punch  mark,  or  quadratum  incusuin,  which  is  the  admitted  sign 
of  the  earliest  condition  of  the  art.  The  masses  of  metal  prepared 
for  coinage  were  originally  placed  upon  an  anvil,  with  a  rough 
excrescence  protruding  from  it,  having  for  its  object  to  catch  and 
hold  the  metal,  while  the  impression  was  made  by  means  of  a  die 
placed  above,  and  struck  with  a  hammer.  This  excrescence,  a  mere 
rude  and  rough  square  at  first,  was  gradually  improved,  being  first 
divided  into  compartments,  and  then  ornamented 
with  a  pattern,  until  gradually  it  became  a  second 
device,  retaining  however  to  a  late  date  its  original 
IL  f^^^M  II  square  shape.  In  the  Lydian  coins  the  quadra- 
turn  incusum  is  of  the  most  archaic  type,  having 
neither  pattern  nor  divisions,  and  presenting  the 
appearance  which  might-  be  produced  by  the  im- 
pression of  a  broken  nail. 

A  comparison  of  this  with  later  forms  will  show  clearly  its  rude 
and  primitive  character. 


The  device  upon  the  Lydian  coins  is  either  a  crowned  figure  of  a 

king,  armed  with  a  bow  and  quiver — the  pattern  apparently  from 

which  the  Persians  took  the  emblem  upon  their  Darics 

— (see  note  on  Book  vii.  ch.  28)  or  the  head  of  a  lion 

— sometimes  accompanied  by  that  of  a  bull — as  in  a 

coin  (see  next  page)  supposed  by  Mr.  Borrell  to  have 

been  struck  byCroesus. 

The  lion  appears  from  Herodotus  to  have  been  a  Lj^dian  emblem. 

Croesus  sent  the  image  of  a  lion  to  Delphi,  among  his  other  presents 


the  statement  that    the   Lydian    civilisation  and   Lycians,  was  of  home  growth,  entiioly 

Avas    derived  from  either   Phoenicia  or    As-  luiconnected  with  tliat  of  Assyria,  and  only 

Syria.     So  far  as  we  can  tell,  the  civilisation,  slightly    afl'ected    l>y    the    conlemporaneous 

such  as  it  was,  of  the   Lydians,  Phrygians,  civilisation  of  the  Phoenician  cities. 


Note  B.        DEVICES  ON  LYDIAN  AND-  GREEK  COINS.  507 

(TTerod.  i.  50) ;  and  an  ancient  myth  connected  the  safety  of  the 
city  with  a  certain  miraculous  lion  borne  to  King  Meles  by  his  con- 
cubine (ib.  i.  84).  The  animal 
was  sacred  to  Cybele,  who  seems 
to  have  been  the  deity  specially 
worshipped  at  Sardis  (infra,  v.  102. 
Cf.  Sophocl.  rhiloct,  391—402), 
and  who  is  generally  represented 
as  drawn  by  lions.  (Comp.  Orphic 
Hymn,  Tavpo(p6vh)V  ^ev^aara  Ta')(y^pofiop  ap/ia  Xeovrojy.  Sophocl.  1.  S.  C. 
Lucret.  ii.  G02.     Virg.  Mn.  iii.  111—113.) 

While  the  Persians,  on  their  conquest  of  Lydia,  appear  to  have 
adopted,  with  certain  modifications,  the  human  figure  of  the  Lydian 
coins,  the  Greeks  seem  generally  to  have  preferred  the  notion  of  an 
animal  emblem,  which  they  varied  according  to  their  religious 
belief  or  local  circumstances.  The  Eginetans  adopted  the  device  of 
the  sea-tortoise  ;  the  Argives  that  of  the  wolf ;  the  Phocaeans  that  of 
the  seal  (Phoca) ;  the  Clazomenians  that  of  the  winged  boar ;  the 
Ephesians  that  of  the  bee  ;  the  Lampsacenes  that  of  the  sea-horse  ; 
the  Samians  that  of  the  lion's  scalp ;  the  Cyzicenes  and  Sybarites 
that  of  the  bull ;  the  Agrigentines  that  of  the  crab  ;  the  Syracusans 
that  of  the  dolphin  ;  the  Corinthians  that  of  the  Pegasus,  or  winged 
horse  ;  the  Phocians  that  of  the  ox's  head ;  and  the  Athenians  that  of 
the  owl,  the  sacred  bird  of  Athene.  A  similar  practice  was  followed 
in  Lycia,  wdiere  the  wild  boar,  the  lioli's  scalp,  the  winged  lion,  the 
goat,  and  the  griffin,  are  the  emblems  of  distinct  localities.  A 
religious  meaning  appears  for  the  most  part  to  have  attached  to  the 
emblem.  Where  an  animal  device  was  not  used  by  the  early  Greeks, 
the  head  of  a  God  was  (commonly)  substituted,  as  in  the  coins  of 
Thasus  and  Naxos.  -  Human  figures  and  heads  do  not  occur  till  a 
comparatively  recent  date,  the  earliest  being  those  on  the  series  of 
Macedonian  coins,  commencing  with  Alexander,  the  son  of  Amyntas, 
soon  after  the  close  of  the  Persian  War,  The  shield  of  the  Boeotians, 
and  the  silphium  of  Cyrene  (infra,  iv.  169),  are  remarkable;  the 
latter,  however,  is  not  without  certain  parallels  (see  note  ad  be). 

Before  the  introduction  of  coined  money  into  Greece  by  Pheidon, 
it  had  been  customary  to  use  for  commercial  purposes,  pieces  of 
metal  called  o/^eXol,  or  oj^eXlaicm,  literally,  "  spits,"  or  "  skewers." 
These  are  thought  by  Col.  Leake  (Num.  Hellen.  p.  1,  App.),  to  have 
been  "small  pyramidal  pieces  of  silver;''  but  the  more  general 
opinion  is  that  the}^  were  long  nails  of  iron  or  copper,  capable  of  being 
actually  used  as  spits  in  the  Homeric  fashion.  This  is  borne  out 
by  their  very  small  value  (three-halfpence  of  our  money),  combined 
with^  the  fact  that  six  of  them  made  the  ^paxftj),  or  handful,  which 
implies  that  they  were  of  a  considerable  size.  A  number  of  these 
spits  were  deposited  by  Pheidon  in  the  temple  of  Juno,  at  Argos 
(Etym.  Magn.),  at  the  time  when  he  superseded  them  by  his  coin- 
age, wtich  consisted  of  silver  obols  and  drachms,  of  the  same  value 
and  name  with  the  primitive  "spits"  and  "  handfuls."  These 
coins,  and  their  divisions  and  multiples,  extending  from  the  XeTrror, 
or  fifty-sixth  part  of  an  obol,  to  the  TETpalpa^fiov,  or  piece  of  the 


568  COINAGE  OF  THE  GREEKS.  Arp.  Book  I. 

value  of  four  drachms,^  continued  to  form  tlie  Greek  currency  down 
to  the  Koman  conquest.  Minse  and  talents  were  not  coins,  but 
sums,  or  money  of  account.  Copper  was  very  little  used,  and  gold 
scarcely  at  all,  until  the  time  of  Alexander,  excepting  in  the  Asiatic 
states.  Hence  the  ordinary  Greek  word  for  money  was  "silver" 
(upyvpogy  apyvpiov — comp.  the  French  use  of  argenf) ;  and  money- 
changers were  called  apyvpa^oi^ol ;  money-chests,  apyvpodfJKui ; 
coiners,  apyvpoKOTriarfipeQ,  or  hpyvpoKOiroi  ;  robbers,  apyvpoaTiptiQ ; 
ships  employed  in  collecting  money,  apyvpoXoyoi  vfjeg,  &c.  A  gold 
coinage  existed,  however,  among  the  Asiatic  Greeks  from  an  early 
date,  as  at  Phocasa,  Cyzicus,  Lampsacus,  Abydos,  &c.  It  was  copied 
from  the  Lydian,  to  which  it  conformed  in  weight  and  general 
character.  The  name  sfMer  (ararfip),  which  was  attached  in  the 
time  of  Herodotus  to  the  ordinarj^  gold  coin  of  Western  Asia, 
whether  Persian  (iii.  130  ;  vii.  28),  Lydian  (i.  54),  or  Greek  (Boeckh, 
Corp.  Ins.  150  ;  Thuc.  iv.  52),  and  which  means  "  standard,"  is  said 
to  have  been  originally  applied  to  the  silver  didrachm,  the  prevail- 
ing coin  of  the  early  currencies ;  whence  it  passed  to  the  ordinary 
gold  coin,  which  was  about  equal  to  the  didrachm  in  weight.  The 
original  and  full  name  was  "  the  gold  stater "  (ffrarfjp  xp^'^ovg), 
whence,  by  the  usual  process  of  abbreviation,  the  coin  came  to  be 
called  indifferently,  (TTaTijp,  and  xp^^o-ovg.  (Compare  with  the  last 
the  Latin  aureus.)  Double  staters  were  also  coined  occasionally. 
Subdivisions  of  the  stater,  sixths  (sKrai),  and  twelfths  (r/^/cKTo),  were 
likewise  in  use,  which  were  made  of  electrum,  a  natural  amalgam  of 
gold  and  silver,  common  in  Asia  (Soph.  Antig.  1038  ;  Plin.  H.  N. 
xxiii.  4),  and  which  seem  to  have  been  largely  in  circulation  among 
the  Ionian  cities.  The  staters  of  Croesus  were  knowr\|to  the  Greeks 
as  "Crcesians"  {Kpoiaeloi,  Pollux),  and  were  probably  of  peculiar 
purity.  Those  of  Cyzicus  were  highly  valued,  and  were  current  at 
Athens  and  elsewhere.  Hence  perhaps  the  proverb — ^ovq  tTri 
yXwaaij — the  bull  being  the  device  of  the  Cyzicenes.  The  staters 
of  Phocaea  were  in  bad  repute  (Hesvch.  ad  voc.  Ow^-atg)  ;  they  seem 
to  have  been  light  in  weight  and  of  debased  metal.  (See  upon  the 
whole  subject  of  ancient  coins,  Col.  Leake's  Kumismata  Hellenica ; 
Eckhel'Sf  Doctrina  Nummorum  Veterum ;  Mionnet's  Description  de 
Medailles  Antiques ;  Humphreys'  Ancient  Coins  and  Medals ;  and 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  s.  v.  Argentum,  Aurum,  Hecte, 
Kummus,  and  Stater.) 


'•*  Decadrachms,  or  pieces  of  ten  drachins,  silver  piece  of  this  size,  struck  by  Alexander 
were  also  occasionally  coined.  !Sir  H.  Raw-  the  Great  at  Babylon,  which  is  now  in  the 
luison   recently    brought   from  the   East  a     British  Museum. 


END   OF   VOL.    I. 


J.ONUON  :   VKIMTKD  BT  WILUABI  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  6TAMFOB0  STREET, 
AND    CHARrNG  CROSS. 


JtawHrLcii/n  's  Herodotus, 
Toll. 


Publislaed  Ly  -JoiiE  Mm:av,-AIj;enii 


rle  S^  Jaxi,1858, 


T/fcst  lltll^'. 


..OINGUSI  15  i9E. 


D  Herodotus 

53  History  of  Herodotus 

H5  New  ed. 

1862 

v.l 


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