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V. i
HISTOKY
HERODOTUS.
A NEW ENGLISH VEESION, EDITED WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND APPENDICES,
ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF HERODOTUS, FROM THE
MOST RECENT SOURCES OP INFORMATION; AND EMBODYING
THE CHIEF RESULTS, HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL,
WHICH HAVE BEEN OBTAINED IN THE PROGRESS
OF CUNEIFORM AND HIEROGLYPHICAL
DISCOVERY.
By GEOKGE 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, KC.B., and SIR J. G. WILKINSON, F.E.S.
IN FOUE VOLUMES.-VoL. I.
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
JOHN MUERAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1862.
Tlie right of Translation is reserved.
LONDON ; ritlNTED ΒΪ W. CLOWES AK1> SONS, STAMFOKD STREKT.
AND CIIAKING CROSS.
TO
THE EIGHT HONOURABLE
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, M.P.,
^c. ^c. ^x,
WHO, AJMID 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.
ρ β Ε F A C Ε
το 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 himseK 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 VI. 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
το THE FIRST EDITION.
Seven years have elapsed since this Avork was first promised to
the pubhc. It was then stated that its object would he at once
to present the English reader Λvith 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 Λvas 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 Eawlinson 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 tlie 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 FIKST EDITION. Til
necessity their 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 public may
derive some degree of advantage from tliis 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 reading, it was thought that
unfamiliar forms were to be eschewed ; and that accm-acy 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 wiU 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.
Viii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
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 Rector and Fellows of Exeter College for the free use of
their valuable libraiy ; to Dr. Bandinel, librarian of the Bodleian,
and the Rev. 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 Balliol, for assistance on difficult points of scholarship ;
and to Professor Max IMiiller, 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 Rawlinson and Sir Gardner Wilkinson, 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 Rawlinson 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 afiixed, he has
in fact lent his aid throughout in all that concerns the geography,
ethnography, and history of the Eastern nations. It Avas the
promise of tliis assistance Avhich 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 Avill lend to the work itself
its principal and most permanent interest.
Oxford, January 1st, 1858.
CONTENTS OF YOL. I.
ON THE LIFE AND WEITINGS OF HEKODOTUS.
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 Λvith 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 adveiitures — 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 Thui-ium. 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 Thui-ium during his
residence. Time and place of his death. Herodotus probably unmarried :
his heir Plesirrhoiis. His great work left unfinished at his decease . . Page 1
CHAPTEE II.
ON THE SOURCES FROM WHICH HERODOTUS COMPILED HIS ^HISTORY.
Importance of the question. Historical materials already existing in Greece.
Works of thi-ee kinds : 1. Mythological; 2. Geographical; 3. Strictly historical.
How far used as materials by Herodotus. Xanthus. Charon. Dionysius.
The geographers : Hecaticus, Scylax, Aristeas. The poets. Chief source of
the History of Herodotus, personal observation and inquiry. How far authen-
ticated by monumental records: 1. In Gi'eece; 2. In foreign countries —
Egypt, Babylon, Persia. General result 30
χ CONTENTS OF \"0L. 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.
Spii'it of exaggeration — Anecdotes. 3. Want of accuracy — Discrepancies —
Repetitions — Loose chronology, &c. 4. Want of historical insight — Coufu-
/ siou of occasions with causes — Defective geography — Absurd meteoi'ology —
Mythology — Philology. Merits as a writer : 1. Unity — Scope of the work.
2. Clever management of the episodes — Question of their relevancy, o. Skill
in character- drawing — The Persians — The Spartans — The Athenians —
Persian and Sj^artan 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 HISTORY OF HERODOTUS.
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). Croesus
warned (71). Crccsus 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). AVonders 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 sounds 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 Greeks (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
Massagetaj (201). The R^ver Araxes (202). The Caspian (203-4).
Tomyris — her offer to Cyrus (205-6). Advice given by Crccsus, adopted
by Cyrus (207-8). Dream of Cyrus (209-210). Two battles \vith the
Massagetsc — Defeat and death of Cyrus (211-4). Manners and customs of
the Massagetaj (215) 121
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
APPENDIX TO BOOK I.
ESSAY I.
ON THE EARLY CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF LYPIA.
Date of the taking of Sardis by Cyrus — according to the common accoimt, 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 Mteonians by the Lydiaas —
Torrhebia. 7. Second period — dynasty of the Heraclidte, 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. Thii-d
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 effect on the Gi-eek
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 boundai-ies.
2. Great central Plateau, o. Division of Plateau — Lake region — Northern
flat — Rivers which drain the latter— (i.) The Techil-Innak, or Iris— (ii.) The
Kkil-Trmak, or Halys — (iii.) The Sakkariijeh, 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.) Mariandyniaus— (xiii.) Paphlagonians
(xiv.) Chalybes — (xv.) Cappadocians. 9. Comparison of Herodotus with
Ephorus 314
ESSAY III.
ON THE CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE GREAT MEDIAN EMPIRE.
Ai-ian 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
XU CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
of the monarchy. 0. Events of his reign: (i.) His wai• 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.
Keigu of Astyages — uneventful. 11. His supposed identity Λvith " Dai'ius the
Mede'." 12. Media becomes a Persian satrapy, lo. Median chronology of
Herodotus — its difficulties. 1-1. Attempted solution Page 325
ESSAY IV.
ox THE TEX TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS. — [H.C.R.]
1. Eminence of the Pasargadte — modern parallel. 2. The Maraphians and
Maspiaus. 3. The Panthialseans, Derusiseans, and Germaniaus. 4. The nomade
tribes — the Dahi mentioned in Scripture — the Mardi or "heroes" — the
Dropici, or Derbices — the Saga rtii 344
ESSAY V.
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 woi'ship
the religion of the Magi, who were Scyths. G. Gradual amalgamation of the
two religions 340
\
\,
ESSAY VI.
ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. — [u.C.R.]
Obscurity of the subject till a recent date — contradictory accounts of Berosus
and Ctesias. 2. The progress of Cuneiform discovery confirms Berosus. 3.
Tlie Babylonian date for the great Chaldajan Ehipire Λvhich preceded the
Assyrian, viz. B.C. 2234, is probably historic. 4. The earliest known kings,
Urukh and Il(ji. 5. Kitdur-mabuk connected with the Chedor-laomer of Scrip-
ture ? 6. Ismi-dagon extended the Chaldtcan power over Assyi'ia. 7. Son and
grandson of Tsmi-dajon. 8. Uncertainty of the order of succession among the
later names — Naram-Sin — Sin-shada. 9. liiin-Sin and Zur-Sin. 10. Durri-
galazu, 11. Purna-puriyas. 12. Khammurahi α,τίά Samshu-ihma. 13. Table of
kings. Incompleteness of the list. 14. Urukh and liji belong probably to
the second historical dynasty of Berosus — the other kings to the third. Ιό.
General sketch. Rise of the first Cushite dynasty. Ιβ. Cuneiform wi'iting.
17. Nimrod — Urukh — Iliji. 18. Babylon conquered by immigrants from
Susiana. 19. Second dyna.sty established by Kudur-mahnk, n.c. 197t>. 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. Ai'abian dynasty of Berosus, B.C. 1518-1273 — pos.sible trace in the inscrip-
tions. Large Arabian element in the population of Mesopotamia .. ..351
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xiii
ESSAY VI I.
ON THE CHRONOLOGY AND HISTOKY 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-lush, Pudil, Vul-lush, and
Shalma-sar. 7. Series of kings from the Tiglath-Pileser Cylinder. 8. Tiglath-
Pileser I. 9. His son, Asshur-hani-pal. 10. Break in the line of kings. Later
monarchs of this dynasty, Ass/iiw-itWm-a/:/ii and his descendants. 11. Sarda-
napalus the conqueror. 12. His palace and temples. 13. Shalmancser, the
Black Obelisk king. 14. General view of the state of Asia between b.c. 900
and B.C. 860. 15. Syrian campaigns of Shalmanescr I. 16. His palace at
Nineveh. 17. Shamas-Vul. IS. Campaigns of jS/trtmas-Fii^. 19. Vul-lush III.
the Pul of Scripture (?), married to Semiramis. 20. General table of the kings
of the ujjper dynasty. 21. Lower dynasty of Assyria — B.C. 747 to u.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. Reign of Esar-haddon. 32. His magni-
ficent palaces. 33. Asshur-hani-pal II. — his hunting palace. 34. Asshnr-
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. Assyi-ia the
best specimen of a kingdom-empire. 41. Peculiar features of the dominion:
(i.) Religious character of the wars. — (ii.j Incipient centralisation. 42. Cha-
racter of the civilisation — Literature — Art — Manufactures .. .. Page 369
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 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 jjopulation. 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 Nitoci'is. 22. Sequel of the Lydian alliance.
23. Babylon attacked by Cyx'us. 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 410
XIV CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
ESSAY IX.
Oy THE GEOGRAPHY OK MESOPOTAMIA AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRIES.
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 phiteau : (i.) Southern — (ii.) Northern — (iii.) Eastern.
7. Rivev-system of Western Asia : (i.) Continental rivers — Syhun — Jylinn —
Helmend, &c. — Kur — Aras — Sefid-Rud — Aji-Su — Jaghctu, &c. — Bavada —
Jordan — (ii.) Oceanic rivers — Euphrates — Tigris — their affluents, viz.
Greater Zah, Lesser Zah, Diyaleh, Kerkhah, and Karun — Indus — Affluents of
Indus, Sutlcj, Chcnah, Sec. — Eton — Litany and Orontes. 8. Changes in the
Physical Geography: fi.j in the low country east of the Caspian — (ii.) in the
valley of the Indus — (iii.) in Lower Mesoj^otamia. 9. Political Geogi-aphy —
Countries of the Mesopotamian plain : (i.) Assyria — position and boundaries
— Districts — Adiabeue, &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 — Parretaceuc, Mai'dyene', &c. — (iv.) Lesser mountain countries
— Gordia3a — IJjda, cS:c. 11. Countries west of the Mesopotamian plain: (i.)
Arabia — (ii.) Syi'ia — Divisions — Commagene, Ccele-Syria, Palestine — (iii.)
Phojnicia — Cities. 12. Conclusion Page 437
ESSAY X.
ON THE RELIGION OF THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. — [h.C.E.]
General character of the Mythology. 2. Babylonian and Assyrian Pantheons
not identical. 3. Thirteen chief deities : (i.) Asslmr, 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.) Bcl-Nimrod (?), second God of the Triad
— his wife, Mylitta or Beltis — his right to the name of Nimi-od— 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 rhul) — uncertainty about his name —
Lord of the sky or air — an old god in Babylonia — his numerical symbol. —
(vii.) Sharnas or Sim, the Sun-God — his titles — antiquity of his worship in
Babylonia — associated Λνΐίΐι Gula, the Sun-Goddess — their emblems on the
monuments. — (viii.) Sin, the ΛΙοοη-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-shcm — Nin, the Assyrian Hercules — his
temples — his relationship to Bcl-Nimrod — Beltis both his mother and his
wife — his names Barzil and Sanda. — (x.) Bcl-Mcrodach — his worship ori-
ginally Babylonian — his temple in Babylon called that of Jupiter-Belus —
his wife, Zirhanit, or Succoth-Beuoth. — (xi.) Ncryal — 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 — Allata, Bel-Zirpv, &c. 5, Vast number
of local deities 480
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. XV
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 i-aces: (i.) Parthians— (ii.) Asiatic Ethiopians— (iii.) Colchians—
(iv.) Sapeiri— (v.) Mosclii and Tibareni— (vi.) Early Armenians— (vii.) Cap-
padocians — (viii.) Susianians — (ix.) Chaldaians — (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— (δ) Western, or Hebrajo-Phoinician gi-oup— (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. 1 1 . 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.) Mede's—
(iii.) Carmanians— (iv.) Bactrians— (v.) Sogdians— (vi.) Arians of Herat—
(vii.) Hyrcanians— (viii.) Sagartians— (ix.) Chorasmians— (x.) Sarangians—
(xi.) Gandai'ians, &c. 15. Tabular view Page 528
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Note A. On the various titles of Jupiter — [G. W.] 5G0
Note B. On the Invention of Coining and the earliest specimens of Coined
^loney 563
ERRATA.
P. 115, line 13, for " Megacles," read "Alcmaeon.
P. 323, line 17, for '■ West," read " East."
( ^vi )
LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTEATIONS.
Bust of Herodotus To face page \
Map of Western Asia At the old of the Volume .
WOODCUTS.
Coin of Tarentum, Arion on the Dolphin 136
Sepulchral Chamber in the Barrow of A lyattes 185
Ground-plan, showing excavations 185
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 21G
Egyptian head-dress 216
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 Branchida; 236
Greek warrior with shield 245
Lycian coin showing the Triquetra 250
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 seiil-impression 270
Babylonian Coffin and lid . . 272
Tomb in Lower Chaldaa 273
Ditto ditto 274
Tomb of Cyrus at Murg-Aub 282
Obverse of an early Lydian coin 566
Lydian and other coins 566, 567
Η ERODOTUS.
Tofrtce]>. 1.
ON THE
LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HERODOTUS.
CHAPTER L
OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF HERODOTUS.
Impossibility of wi-iting 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 Rhceo — their means
and station. A branch of his family settled in Chios, j^i'obably. His educa-
tion, and acquaintance with Gi-eek literature. His travels, their extent and
com2)leteness. 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 Histoiy 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 Las truly observed, that to attempt a complete
or connected life of Herodotus from the insufficient stock of
materials at our disposal, is merely to indulge the 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, autliority; 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 Avould feel the present work incomplete, if it
omitted to bring together the few facts which may be gathered,
' See Colonel Mure's Critical His- has since been written, in two volumes, by
tory of the Language and Literature of Mr. Wheeler.
Greece, vol. iv. p. -'43. The z'omance
VOL. I. Β
2 TIME OF HEEODOTUS. Life and
either from tlie writings of Herodotus himself or from other
authorities of weight, concerning the individual history of the
man with whose productions wo 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 Avitli 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 tlie earlier por-
tion of the century, and he would have belonged to tlie 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 Avhich 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
- See Book ix. cli. 16. (iii. 160) ; and a cruel deed committed
^ He mentions tlie 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 Nicolaiis and Ane- point to a st'ill later date (i. 130, iii.
ristus, the Spartan ambassadors, 15, and ix. 73) have been misunder-
and of Aristeus, the Corinthian, stood or misapplied. Their true mean-
iuto 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 Archias, agrandsonof an Archias
He may also covertly allude to the war who fell in Samos about i>.c. 52.5 (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 cr two king, who was a contemporary of Sit-
evcnts which may have occurred about alces, the ally of Athens in the year u.c.
B.C. 425, as the desertion of Zopyrus, 430. He travelled in Egypt later than
sou of Megabyzus, to the Athenians B.C. 462 (iii. 12).
Writings. HIS BIRTH-PLACE. 3
fellow-couiitryman 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 Avhicli 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 confii-med
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
"Thurian" 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 ajDpears to have
6 Judicium cle Thucyd. (c. 5, vol. vi. "several necessary points of histori-
p. 820). The words used are — Ήρό- cal information." ' (των ιστορικών ουκ
Soros 'γ€νόμ€νο$ 6\'iycf) Trporepov των itX'iya ανα-γκαια. Bibl. Cod. 175, p.
η^ρσικών. 389.) That Pamphila was a careful and
' Ap. Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic, xv. 23. laborious student of history seems cer-
"Hellanicus initio belli Peloponnesiaci taiu from her having made an Epitome
fuisse quinque et sexaginta annos natus of Ctesias (see Suidas).
videtur ; Herodotus tres et qutnqmti/inta ; '•* De Malign. Herod, vol. ii. p. 868 A.
Thucydides quadraginta." (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 "a Thurian,"
spoken of 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 - Jud. de Thucyd. 1. s. c.
Gellius and Diogenes Laertius is a proof ^ xiv. p. 939. ■* Vol. iv. p. 116.
that she was far from obscure. Photius, ^ S. v. Ήρίίδοτοϊ.
too, whose extensive reading adds a * Rhet. iii. 9. See note' to Book i.
value to his criticism, speaks favourably ch. i.
of her work, and especially as containing
b2
4 PARENTS AND FAMILY. Life and
been engraved upon the historian's tomb at Thuriuui,' form a
body oi' 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 \"ery 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 Ehoeo ; ^
that he had a brother Theodore ; and that he Avas 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 Avriters
of fictitious letters and biographies under the empire. But the
name of his father is confirmed by the epitajih 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 acquh-e, 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 brother Theodore is also probable.
■^ The epitaph, which is given both placed in the thii'd volume of his Ana-
by Stephen (ad voc. Θούριο!) and by lecta (Epig. 533, p. 263), consists of
tiie Scholiast on Aristophanes (Nub. four lines of elegiac verse, and runs as
331), did not indeed mention Ilalicar- follows : —
naSSUS, but implied it by speaking of -npriioro.. Λΰ,ί-εω κρν,ττ.. «om ijSe θα^ό,-τα.
the historian as "sprung from a Dorian •ΐάδο<; αρχαίη^ ίστηρίης πρύτανη'•
land " — Δωρεών -KarprjS βΚαστόντ άττο. ΔωριεωΓ ττάτρης βλαστόντ' άπο, των αρ' απλητον
« Ηρόδοτου, Λύξου κα] Apvovs, Άλικαρ- ^^^Ι^"" ύτ«προφυνώ>. Θούρων ^σχ, πάτρτ,ν.
vaaaevs, τΰν ίπιφαι/ών, καϊ aSiA<phv ^ It seems certain that the double
4σχηκού5 Θΐό5ωρον. Suidas ad voc. Ήρό- form of the name arises from a corrup-
SoTos. tii)n of the text of Suidas. Biihr (Com-
'J See Suidas ad voc. ΤΙαννασίί. ment. de Vita et Scriptis Herod. § 2)
1 Some said that the father of Panya- jjroposes 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 liero- name, whereas KIkjco belonged certainly
dotus ; others that lihcco, our author's to the mythic history of tiie neighbour-
mother, was the epic poet's sister, hood (see Apoll. Khod. 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.
WkitinCxS, relations IN THE ISLE OF CHIOS— EDUCATION. 5
It has been thought tliat 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 j)Osition 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 Avhicli 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 Avhat is really important — the wealth and con-
sideration of the family to Avliich our author belonged.
The education of Herodotus is to be judged of from his Avork.
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 veiy 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
palaestra 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 ('^ράμματα)
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
^ Τώί/ καΧ 'HpdSoTos ό Βασιληίδίω imputation is unfounded (Remarks on
■ήν. When a new chai-acter is iutro- 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 Ephorvis as obtaining from
the article. (See vi. 127, where none an early time in Crete (Fr. 64, Miiller,
of the suitors of Agarista have the vol. i. p. 251), and Plato seems to regai'd
article except Megacles, the son of them as universally agreed upon (Alcib.
Alcm.-Bon.) i. p. 106 e; Amat. p. Ι;ϊ2 ; Theag. p.
' Some writers have maintained that in 122 ; Protag. pp. 325 ε and 326 a.bj.
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
thinofs. 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,
Musseus, Archilochus, the authors of the Cypria and the Epigoni,
Alcseus, Sappho, Solon, yEsop, 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. \le\>. Books ii. aud iii., from Sophocles (i. 32, ii. 35, and iii,
Protag. 1. s. c. Π9), see notes ad loc. The only poets
8 See lager, Disp. Herod, p. 5 ; Biihr, of eminence anterior to his time, with
De Vita et Sci-ipt. Herod.' § 3 ; Mure, whom Herodotus does not show any
vol. iv. pp. 510-G, and especially the acquaintance, are Callinus of Ephesus,
valuable collection of passages in his Tyrtffius, Simonides of Amorgus, Ste-
Ai^pendix, pp. 551-2. Dahlmanu has, sichorus, Epimenides, and Epicharmus.
curiously enough, omitted this point. He notices Anacreon (iii. 121)andLasus
' Hesiod, ii. 53, iv. 32; Olen, iv. 35; of Hermioui? (vii. 6), but without any
Musajus, vii. 6, viii. 9(1, ix. 43 ; Archi- mention of their writings. Expressions
lochus, i. 12 ; the author of the Cypria, lilce that at the beginning of vi. 52
ii. 117 (compai'e i. 155); of the Epigoni, (Αακίδαίμόνιοι όμοΚο•γίοντ€3 ovStvl iroi-
iv. 32; Alcffius, v. 95; Sappho, ii. 135; ηττ?) indicate tlie confidence wiiich he
Solon, V. 113; .^sop, ii. 134; Aristeas, feels in his complete acquaintance at least
iv. 13 ; Simonides, v. 102, vii. 228 ; with all tlic cyclic and genealogical
Phrynichus, vi. 21; uEschylus, 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, 90, ix. 43, and Lysis- tion; but at any rate not earlier than the
tratus, viii. 9G. With regard to the beginning of the sixth century. (See
passages supposed to be plagiarisms Mure, vol. iv. p. 51.)
Writings. EXTENT OF HIS TEAVELS. 7
we find an acquaintance indicated with a number of writers,
seldom distinctly named, but the contents of Avliose 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 fahdy
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, uumistakeable evidence of a vast amount of time spent η
in the occupation. Herodotus undoubtedly visited Babylon,^ I
Ardericca near Susa,^ the remoter jjarts 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 17U0 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 Avhat 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
sence of Herodotus on the spot a mention an eye-witness would have noticed, and
of anything as " continuing to his time." which one who received 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 Ladico's statue in the
Itin. p. 139; Biihr, vol. iv. p. 397); and temple of Venus at Gyrene (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. i» ii. 104. " iv. 90.
But the expression i-elied on does not '- ii. 181. ^^ iv. 195. " ii. 52.
iu itself imply presence, and no wi'iter ^^ iv. 15, v. 45.
8 KNOWLEDGE OF ΕΟΥΓΤ. Life and
Within these limits moreover his knowledge is for the most part
close and accurate. He has not merely paid a hasty visit to
the comitries, but has examined them leisurely, and is familiar
with their scenery, their cities small and large, their various
wonders, their temples and other buildings, and Avith 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 toyvns of Sais," Bubastis,^ Bnto,'*
Papremis,^ Chemmis,*^ Crocodilopolis,^ and Elephantine.^ He
has explored the lake Mau-is,^ 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, betAveen the valley of the Nile and the
Arabian Gulf or Eed 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,^^ wliere he was born,
Ly dia, 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, Cilieia, with its tAvo
regions, the flat,^'' and the mountainous;^" Lycia,•'^ Caunus,^^
Ephesus,^^ the mouths of the Ma?ander, Scamandcr, and Cay-
strus rivers,^' and something of the interior, at least along the
1 ii. 3. 2 ii. 28, 130, 169, &c. ^^ jy. 14. ae Hjjd^ s; jy. 86.
3 ii. 137. * ii. 75, 155. ^ iii. 1-'. ^ Ibid. Comp. i. 76, ii. 104, &c. On
β ii. 91. 7 ii. 148. ^ h. '.i9. his visit to Colchis, Herodotus would
3 ii. 149. ^" ii. 148. necessarily pass along the whole of this
'Mi. 158, 159. '^ iii. 5, 12. coast, lie appears to have gone ashore
'^ ii. 75; comp. 8 and 12. '■* ii. 17. occasionally — at the mouth of the Pai'-
'* ii. 97. i•* ii. 5, 15, 92-98, &c. thenius, ii. 104; at Themiscyra, iv. 86.
'7 ii. 6, iii. 5. '8iit;^l8_ 2»ν1. 95. 3"ii. ;j4. 3' i. 176.
'» i. 171, 172, 174, 175, &c. '^ i. 80. 3^ j. 172. as j. 99^ ϋ. ΐυ, &c.
2> i. 80, 84, 93, ftc. 22 νϋ. 42. [ »* ii. 10.
23 ii. 10. vii. 43. 24 i. 57,
Writings. TRAVELS IN GREECE PROPER, THE ΈΕΥΑΝΤ, &c: 9
line of the royal road from Sarclis to Snsa/ -which he most
probably followed in his jom-ney 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
Abfe in Phocis ; ^ the battle-fields of Thermopylae,- Plataea,^ and
Marathon;^" Arcadia," Elis,^^ Argolis,^^ the promontoiy of
Taenarum,^^ the isthmus of Coriuth,^^ the pass of Tempe,^^
Crestou in Chalcidice," Byzantium,^- Atlios,^^ 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 2)lace but Gyrene ; and west
of Greece, he can only be proved to have visited the cities of
Crotona, Thmii, and Metapontum. ^-
' The descrij^tion of the route (v. 52) iv. p. 396; Dahlmann, p. 43; Miire, iv.
appears to me that of au eye-witness, p. 246, Sic).
If Herodotus visited Babylon, which I 21 ϋ_ i82^ uj. 47^ 54^ gg, 142, iv. 88,
regard as certain, he would naturally 152, vi. 14, &c. -^ ii. 182, iii. 47.
follow it as far as the cross-road which '^ v. 114. "■* ii. 170, vi. 98.
led from Agbatana to that city, issuing 23 vi_ ]34_ 26 jj_ 44^ 27 jj_ gj^
undoubtedly from Mount Zagros by the ^ iii. 59. ^^ i. 105. ^ v. 83, 88.
pass of Holwan. The Greeks of his ^^ Landing of course from time to
time sometimes reached Babylon by time, as at Tyi'e iii. 44), at the Nahr
ci'ossing from the I^Iediterrauean 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 ajipear to have taken this route, gerated most grossly the extent of our
2 V. 77. 3 iij_ 55, 4 i_ 52. author's travels. He regards him as
^ i. 14, 19, 25, 50, &c. ^ ii. 52. having visited not only Agbatana (which
^ viii. 27. ^ vui. 198-200, 218, 225, &c. is a common o])inion^, but Acarnania
3 ix. 15, 19, 25, 51, &c. and ^tolia, the Hlyrian Apollonia, the
1" vi. 102, 111, 112. Veneti, Thera, Siphnus, Euboea, Sicyon,
1' 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 viii. 121. 16 vii. 129. Itineribus,' Berlin, 1827). The grounds
17 i. 57. "' iv. 87. '^ vii. 22. which he deems sufficient are often ab-
2" This appears from the manner of surdly slight. Biihr adopts Hej^se's
his descriptions, as well as from their views, except where they are most ex-
general fidelity. It has lieen perceived travagant vol. iv. pp. 391-7). Dahl-
by almost all the commentators (^Bahr, manu is somewhat more moderate. Col.
10 CENTEAL STARTING-POINT. Life and
It is not possible to determine absolutely the questions, Avliich
Lave 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 vigom- 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 iu 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 om' author's career,
it is that his home during the first half of his life was in Asia
Minor, during the last in Magna Groecia. 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 recluse writer.' To descend
to particulars, it is clear that his visit to Egypt,- Avith 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 λυΙιο were 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 feU within the period — six years, froui B.C.
Mure's sumnicary (vol. iv. pp. 24G-8) is ^ Col. 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
are the statements that Herodotus "peue- History. Kather tlie perpetual use of
trated to Ecbatana," and " possibly to the aorist tense ((Κθών — (τρα-πόμην, ii.
parts of Bactria" (p. 247). '■> ; Ιδών, ii. 12; 45υνάσθτιν — (•γ(ν6μΐ)ν, ii,
1 It is not meant that he did not Λvrite 19; ίΚθών, ii. 29 ; et jiassim) 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 Grajcia, and once to Athens, age of Hercules (ii. 44).
occupying himself almost entirely iu ■* iii. 12.
literature.
Wbitings.
TIME OF THE TEAVELS.
11
460 to B.C. 455, inclusively — 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 Avith 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 ; ^vhile his journeys to Tyre and
Thasos would follow shortly 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 Ariajjeithes
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
forced to fly from Halicarnassus to Samos by the tyranny of
Lygdamis, the grandson of Artemisia, who had put his uncle (or
cousin) Panyasis to death ; that in Samos he adoj)ted the Ionic
dialect, and wrote his history ; that after a time he returned
and took the lead in an insurrection Avhereby Halicarnassus
obtained her freedom, and Lygdamis was driven out ; that then,
finding himself disliked by tlie 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
^ Thucyd. i. 109: ίκράτουν Trjs Αϊγύ-
τττου ' Αθ-ηναιοι. There is one passage,
however (iii. 91), Avhich may seem to
imply that his visit to Egypt was after
the Persian authority had been restored.
^iv. 76.
' See note to Book iv. ch. 80.
* Sub voc. 'HpoSoTos.
9 See Strab. xiv. p. 939 ;
Exil. ii. p. 604- f. ; Steph.
voc. Θούριοι ; Plin. H. N.
Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 331.
^ Vide iufra, p. 27.
Plut.
de
Byz.
ad
xu.
4;
12 POLITTCAL EPISODE. Life and
slender authority of Suidas cannot be held to establisli 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 favoitr. Probability leans decidedly the
other Avay. 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 with
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 Λvhich Avere thought to require explanation,
namely, why he wrote in the Ionic dialect ; Avhy he treated at
such disproportionate length of the affairs of Samos ; ^ Avhy 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, Avhich 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
^ See especially Book vii. ch. 99, and while the traditions respecting his change
Book viii. clis. 87 and 101. of abode were still fresh in men's
3 Book iii. chs. 39-59, 120-128, 139- memories.
149. ' ® Μώμο$ (which is the word used in
•• V. 66, 78. the e])itaph) is not mere "ill-will,"
^ By " genuine " I do not mean con- "dislike," or "envy," but distinctly
temporary. The expression, 'laSos " ridicule." It is a rare word in the
άρχαίη s Ιστορί-η! -κρυτανιν, would not early Λvriters, and woidd not have been
naturally have been used for some time used where μ4μ\\ιΐ3 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 JIure's Literature of Greece, vol.
one or two generations of his death, iv. γι. 1 1 4.
ΛΥκιτίΝΟΒ, 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, Avhen, 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 Avelcomed 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 \vas assigned to Herodotus on account of his great his-
torical work, which he had read publicly to the Athenians.^
The Pseudo-Plutarch,^ though himself discrechting 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 2400?.).
According to the common report, it was not at Athens alone
8 Vide infi'ii, ch. iii. p. 78. ^ The reading may have been, as
9 See Dahlinaun'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 pi-ivate exhibi-
assigned to Herodotus in the transaction, tions.
1 Chron. Can. Pars ii. p. 339 ; 01. 3 De Malign. Herod, ii. p. 862 a.
83.4.
14 EECITATION OF HIS WOrjv. Life and
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-Phitarch 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,
I which Herodotus is supposed to have made before collected
i Greece at the great Olympian festival. This story, which has
j attracted more attention than it merits, rests upon the two low
I 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
^ 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 centiu'ies 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 sfri-ctch to the whole
very ignorant of history, and quite above assemblage, and as cai'rying off 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' Λvas written Avas 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 dcti-action, 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. PRETENDED RECITATION AT OLYMPIA. 15
having effected his purpose.^ This version of the story has at
once more internal probabihty 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 whole
tone of the work — its candour, its calmness, its unsparing expo-
sure of the weakness, pettiness, and want 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 Atlienians, Eginetans, and Pla-
teaus 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 Avork 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. clxxvii. γι. 609, as I learn from a he quotes, I should incline to regard him
note of Col. Mure's (vol. iv. p. 2(31). as anterior to Photius. Suidas copies
1 By Suidas (sub voc. Θουκυξίδ-ηί), Photius, with improvements; Photius,
Photius (Bibliotliec. 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) .
ι
1 G GALAXY OF TALEKT AT ATHENS. Life and
It is probable that Herodotus about the same time made the
1 acquaintance of the poet Sophocles. Six j'ears later it seems
ί 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, Avhen Herodotus seems to
have transferred his abode to Athens, and B.C. 443, when he
removed to Italy. Soj)hocles was then at the zenith of his
reputation. He had gained his first tragic prize twenty-one
years earlier, in B.C. 4G8 ; and for ten years, since the death of
yEschylus, 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, with a host of
minor wOrthies, formed a combination "^ Avhich even at Athens
Avas rarely, if ever, equalled. The rank of Herodotus in his
■• See his treatise, "An seni gerenda (Diog, Laert. ii. 7), before I sujipose the
sit respublica? " — Op., vol. ii. p. 78ό, β. visit of Herodotus to have commenced.
The words quoted are: He returned some years afterwards, but
Ώδήν Ήροδότω TeCfei' Σοφοκλής ίτίων ων it is Uncertain whcii. Gorgias may have
UeVr' en-'i ττί^τηκοι-τα been in Atlicus 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 nivist have been written cles. (Philostrat. Vit. Sophist, l.ix. §1.)
B.C. 440. Ion of Chios, the tragedian Achiuus,
* Probably in b.c. 441, as his election Euphorion the sou of iEschylus, Stesim-
to the office of Strategus in the following brotus the biographer, the architect
year w'as considered to have been the Hippodamus, and the artists A Icamenes,
consequence of the admiration which the Agoracritus, Callimachus, Callicrates,
play excited. (Ai'istoph. Byzaut. ad Ictinus, Mnesieles, would be among the
Soph. Ant. praef.) lesser luminaries of the time and scene.
^ See note to Herod, iii. ll'J. Socrates Avas grown up, but perhaps
' Anaxagoi'as left Athens in B.C. 4ϋυ scarcely known.
Writings. EFFECT ON THE MIND OF HERODOTUS. 17
own countiy was perhaps enough to give him free access to the
highest society which Athens could furnish ; but if not, as the
friend of Sophocles and Olorus,* men of the most exalted j)osi-
tion, he would be readily received into the first circles. Here,
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 saug 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 were
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 Λvhen he comes with
good introductions to London. He would feel that here Avas
the real heart of the Hellenic body, — the true centre, at least,
of literary Hellas, — the world whose taste he must consult,
whose ajjproval was fame, whose censure was condemnation,
whose contempt was oblivion. He would find his spirit roused,
and his whole nature braced, to strain every nerve, in order to
maintain his jjlace in the literary phalanx 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, has 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 her colonial depend-
encies. At Athens he could have no citizenship ; ^ and to the
Greek not bent on money-making, or absorbed in pliilosophy, to
be without political rights, to have no share in Avhat formed the
8 The anecdote concerning Thucydides but to freedmen. (Andoc. de Red. c. 22,
implies that Olorus was ah-eady known p. 8ΰ, 3(i; Demosth. c. Aristocr. &c.)
to Herodotus. But the difficulty of obtaining it was far
^ Suidas ad voc. XotpiKos. greater in the time of Pericles. And tiie
' In later times the citizenship was trouble and expense (Demosth. c. Neser.
granted lavishly, not only to forei^^uers p. lol9, 20) would deter many.
VOL. I. G
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 Avhicli had made a
figure at Halicarnassus Avould, 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 Avould 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
ΛΥβΙΙ 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 (κΧήρον), which would place him above Avant, 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
Avhom 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 Achican colonies in
Magna Grascia, after attaining to an unexamj^led pitch of pros-
perity,* had been taken and destroyed by the Crotoniats (b.c.
ulO). 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
\Nith \vaimth, 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 Stnib. xiv. p. O,'?!). Plutiirch do nieu fvi. p. :!78). Scyinnus Clilus givea
Exil. vol. ii. p. (ju4. F. Plin. H. N. xii. the numbei'ofhor full citizens a.g l(lU,Oi)0
4. Suidiis ad voc. 'HpdSoTos, &c. (ver. :}4-tj. Diodorus agrees with Strabo
■* Strabo says that lour of the Italian (xii. 9).
natiou.s were .sul)jectto Sybaris; that .she ^ See Herod, vi. 21.
I'ulcd over t\\ uuty-hve cities,aiid brought
Weitings. history OF THE COLOXY. 19
Avas composed of Greeks from all quarters, and placed under
the direction of a certain Lampon, Avho was thought to possess
j)rophetic 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 Pirseus, 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 di\aded 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. Prrcced. vol. ii. p. 812, nation. Diodorus allows that a certain
D. ; Suid. ad voc. Θουριομάντΐΐ^. Diodorus number escaped ( xii. 22, sub fin.). These
(xii. 10) makes Lampon and Xenocritus are perhaps the Sybarites of whom Hero-
joint leaders. dotus speaks (v. 44).
7 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, Breotia,
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
β Cf. Arist. Pol, vii. 10; Hesych. Lex, of this kind, proceeding upon ethnic dif-
in voc. ΊΐΓΐΓο5άμου ν^μησιε, and Photius, ference, was more common in Dorian
Λίξ. '2vvay. p. 111. For the application than in Ionian states. (See Herod, iv.
of the style to Thurium, see Diod. Sic. 161, and v. 6S.)
xii. 10, ad fin. - Diodorus (1. s. c.) imagines that
^ Diod. Sic. xii. 11. Aristotle in his Charondas actually legislated for the
brief notice (Pol. v. 2, 2υβαρΐται — Thuriaus, being one of the citizens :
ττΚΐονΐΚΤίϊν a^iovvTis is (r<pfr4pas τηϊ rhv άριστον rhv (1. των) iv τταίδίία
Xwpas i^eweaov) agrees, except that he θανμαζόμΐνον [l. θαυμαζομίνων) πολι-
c2
20 INTELLECTUAL COMPANIONS. Life and
rapidly a flourishing people, until in the year B.C. 412, after the
foilure 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 Avhich 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 liepublic. 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 Avriter^ 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
tSiv Χαρών^αν. So the Scholiast on •> Plat. Rep. book i. § 1., et seqq.
Plato (p. 193, Ruhnk.), and Valerius ' So Lysias himself declares (Orat. c.
Maximus (vi. 5, §4). But he was really a Eratosth. p. l'2.o, 26).
native of Cataua, and lived two centuries •* Heraclid. Pout. ap. Diog. Laert.
earlier. (See Hermann's Pol. Antiq. of ix. 50.
Greece, §89.) The Thurians only adoi)ted * 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 Thucydidea, usually
Heraclid. Pont, xxv.), and even the re- prefixed to his work, speaks of that
mote city of Mazaca in Cappadooia 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. Keiskc ; 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 Jlesychius, ad Tisias, the Syracusan, the inventor of
voce. ΊπποΒάμον ν(μησι$, and Ίππο- rhetoric (Phot. Bibl. loc. s. cit.; Cic.de
6oju6ta αγορά. 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 metei'eo- ^ Pliu. H. N. xii. "Urbia nostra?
loger." trecentesimo decimo iinno .... auctor
^ Plutarch, vit. X. Orat. (1. s. c); ille (Herodotus) historiam cam condidit
Phot. Bibl. Cod. 262, p. 1463. Dionysius Thuriis in Italia."
(1. s. c.) makes him accompanied by two ^ gee Dahlmaun's Life of Herodotus,
of Ids brothers. ch. iii. § 2.
Writings.
HEEODOTUS EMPLOYED ON HIS ΛΥΟΕΚ.
21
liis history was there first composed and published. But the
assertion, as it stands, is absurd ; ^ and the arguments adduced
in support of it are not such as to command assent. It is
proved that there are portions of the work which seem Avritten
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 Avho urge these
places as conclusive omit to remark that from their parenthetic
character they are exactly such passages as a writer employed
for 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. Dahhnann
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-
^ Since it makes Herodotus wi'ite his
whole history in one year.
* As iv. 15, and 99, and vi. 127.
Dahlmanu adds iii. i:^6-8, and v. 44-5;
but these passages may just as well have
been written in Asia. It is admitted
that Herodotus " may have compre-
hended Italy in the plan of his carlij tra-
vels," so that "accurate knowledge" of
the localities, supposing that it appeared
(which may be questioned!, would not
prove the passages to have been Λvritten
ill Italij.
* The following are the only passages
of which this can be said with any cer-
tainty : iii. 160, ad fin.; v. 77, ad fin.;
vii. 114, ad fin. ; 133-7, and 233, ad fin.;
and ix. 73, ad fin. Dahlmann would add
iv. 80, where Sitalces is mentioned as a
man already known; v. 93, where Hip-
pins is made to speak of the calamities
which the Corinthians ΛνοηΗ suffer at
the hands of Athens; vi. 98, where he
thinks the reign of Artaxerxes is spoken
oi as past ; vii. 151, where there is a re-
ference to the embassy of Callias ; iii. 15,
where Amyrtajus is spoken of as dead;
and i. 130, where there is a mention of a
Median revolt, which he supposes to be
that from Darius Nothus. With regard
to the last two passages he is completely
mistaken, as will be shown in the notes
ad loc. The othei-s are doubtful. Sital-
ces, who gradually built up a great power
(Diod. Sic. xii. 50), may have been well
known to the Greeks long before the
breaking out of the Peloponnesian war.
Corinth had suffered considerablj^ at the
hands of Athens by B.C. 457 (see Thucyd.
i. 105-G). In vi. 98, it is not necessarily
implied that the reign of Artaxerxes is
past. And the embassy of Callias was
not in B.C. 431, but in B.C. 449. (See
note ad loc.)
^ In iii. 160, the parenthetic portion
is from Ζωπύρου Sh τούτου to the end.
In V. 77, from 'oaovs 5e καϊ τούτων to
the end of the inscrijition. In vii.
114, from Tlepo'iKhv to κατορύσσουσαν.
In \ni. 133-7, from ο τι 5e τοΓίτι Άθηναίοισι
to ΐπανΐίμι 5ΐ 4πϊ τυν ττρότΐρον \oyov.
In vii. 233, from τοΟ Thv ποΓδα to the
end. And in ix. 73, from οΰζω ώστβ to
άποσχ4σθαι.
^ 'rhis is most striking in the last-
mentioned passage, where the nexus is
j)eeuliarly awkward.
" Life of Herodotus, page 34, E. T.
22 TLACES AND TERIODS OF COMPOSITION. Life akd
mena.^ In the book itsolf, besides tlie 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, im})ly 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 Avas published in its earlier
sliape. The enumeration of the Ionian and -i3iolian 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 dw^ells east and not Avest 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 aduj)ted. 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;"^
Avhereby he shows that, on the first publication of his work, 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 bv
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 i)lace (which is the warlike expedition of
Mardonius), namely, that Mardonius at this time put down the
5 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. Προσθ^και has been generally
north (i. 14-2), but proceeds from them translated "digressions," or "episodes."
to the southern iEolians fch. 149), and But its most proper sense is "additions,
from them to the iEolians of the Troas supplements." It νικι/ even have this
(ch. 151). Looking at Asia Minor from meaning in Arist. Hhet. i. 1, § 3; a pas-
the west, a Greek, accustomefleto 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. προσθήκη.)
- Cf. iii. 90. Herodotus begins with ^ Herod, vi. 43.
the satrapy which contained Ionia and
Writings. HISTORY 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 Avhat
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 written in Asia ; ^ and, further — a
fact to be hereafter noticed^ — that there were from very early
times ^ two readings of a most important j)assage in the book,
namely, its opening sentence, which is best explained by sup-
posing that both proceeded equally from the pen of tlie 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 com-se 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, Avhereby 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
Avhich 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 Avhich it has been the fashion of late years to
deny ^ — his History of Assyria. The grounds for believing that
this book was written and published will be given in a note
on the text,* and need not be anticipated here. That it Avas 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 cliapter, mav
ical έλίχθησαν λόγοι τοιοίδε. Ότάν-ηε have been composed at this time, the
μ^ν eKfXevf, κ.τ.λ. opening of the third book being remo-
"^ Pliny, 1. s. c. delled after the second was Λvritten. In
^ 8uidas ad voc. 'HpoSoTos. Lucian. the fourth book, the account of the ex-
Herod, vol. iv. p. lltS. pedition of Darius I chs. 1-4; 8:5-14-1) may
^ See note to book i. eh. 1. have been original, and the rest added
' At least as early as the reign of Tra- at I'hurium.
jau. See Plutarch, de Exil. (p. βΟ-ί, F.j : ^ See Dahlmann's Life of Herodotus,
rh 5e 'Ηροδότου 'AKiKapvaffffews ίστορίηε pp. lG()-8, E. T.; Biihr, Not. ad Herod,
άπόδβιξυ 7)δβ, ττολλοι μ^ταγράφουσιν, i. ΙΟΰ; Mure, Lit. of Greece, vol. iv. p. 270.
'Ηροδότου Θονρίον. * See note to book i. ch. 106.
24 SECOND VISIT TO ATHENS. Life and
and published se]>arately.^ It must, one would think, at least
have exceeded in bulk the account of Egypt, Avhich occnpies«the
mIioIo of the second book, or it would naturally liaA^e 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 Avonder 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 difiScult 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. 436, and probably some years later ; for he saw
the magnificent Propylaia,^ one of the greatest of the construc-
tions of Pericles, which was not commenced till B.C. 4.36, 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 acquamted with little events belonging to the first
and second years of the war,^ of Avhich it is unlikely that more
than vague 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 absoqition of
a separate work, and suggested that it Assyria by Media, and of Babylonia by
may have been meant only for one 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 Dahhuann, me this is conclusive evidence that it
p. 108; Bilhr, 1. s. c. ; Mure, p. 271.) was always inteuded to have been (as in-
But if so, where was it to have come in ? deed I believe that in fact it was) a sepa-
Biihr (following Jiiger, Disp. Herod, p. rate work.
22'J) 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
tidn of Babylon are related. But this is by our author, would have been book i.
contrary to the analogy of all the other ch. 184, where he is forced to speak of
lengthy episodes, and to the pervading certain persons who doubtless figured iu
idea of the work. The right by which it conspicuously. He did not make any
such episodes come in at all, is their con- distinction between Assyrian and Baby-
nexioD 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- ' Harpocrat. ad. voc. Προπύλαια ταΰτα.
pire first absorbs or attempts to absorb Philoch. Vv. 98.
each country. (See i. 95, 142, 171, 178; ^ As, 1. the attack upon Thebes fvii.
ji. 2; iii. 2(); iv. 5; v. 3.) In the only 2;>:5'), where he knows the number of tlie
two places where the Assyrian History assailants, the important part taken by
Writings. FEuDS AT THURIUM. 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 new
comers and the ancient inhabitants — the Sybarites. Soon
afterwards a war broke out between the Thurians and the people
of Tarentuni, Avhicli was carried on both by land and sea, with
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 contest.* 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 xitliens, 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
Eurymachus, 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 ilight of Zojjy-
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 althougli placed under one year, seems
to the cause of the exasperation of the applicable to a Umger period, (διαττο-
Athenians asrainst them (hs ίΤλε aKiias λfμoΰvτfs — (πορθούν — πολλά? μάχα$
Tous ere TipwOos; comp. Thucyd. ii. BT, καΐ aκfJoβo\Lσμoύs.) Compare Autioch.
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 TERIOD OF HIS DECEASE. Life akd
ooiitiOversy. ?Ome M'riters of great eminence liave tliouglit it
plain from his work that he must not only -have been alive, but
liaA^e been still engaged in its composition, at least as late as his
seΛ'enty-seγeutll year.** One tradition even prolongs his life to
the year B.C. 894,'-' Avhen his ago would have been ninety. Of
the place of his death three accounts arc given ; according to
one he died at Pella in IMaccdonia ; ' according to another, at
Athens;^ while a third jdaced his decease at Thurium.^ When
the evidence is so conilicting, 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 Avliich
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 Dalilmann's Life of Herodotus, ad fiu.), which was towards the close of
eh. iii. § 1, ad fin. ; Miire's Literature of the I'eign of Artaxerxes (Ctes. Exc.
Greece, vol. iv.Apjj.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 \vhat it
* Suidas (ad voc. Έλλάνικο$) makes is supposed to imply.
Herodotus visit the court of Amy ntas II., ''The passages alleged by Dahlmann
king of Macedou, who only mouuted the (i. 130; iii. 15; and ix. 73) are explained
throne in B.C. 394. (Sec Clinton, F. H. in tlie notes aJ luc.
vol. ii. A])p. cli. 4.) ' The negative evidence derived from
' Suidas fad voc. 'HpodoTos) reports the .absence from his great >vork 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: Eis Th Θοΰριημ, αποίκιζόμΐνον inrh cular period. The complete silence with
ΆθηναΙωΐ', idiKovTVjs ίιλθ(, κάκ(Ί re\ev- regard to the Sicilian expedition, which,
T^ffc-s e'TTi Trjs ayupas τίθα-πται. jf it had passed before Iiis eyes, must
* It cannot be proved that any event have ajipeared to him the most imjiortant
recorded by Herodotus is more recent event of his time, seems to sho\v that at
tlian the betrayal of the Spartan and least lie did not outlive n.C. 41 ό. Had
Corinthian ambassadors into the hands he witnessed the struggle, he would
of the Athenians (Herod, vii. 133-7 j, 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. fThucvd. ii. 67.) could not have made the assertion in
^ As the cruel deed committed by book vii. eh. 170, that a certain slaughter
Amestris m Aer o/c? «(/f (vii. 114), which, of Tareutines and lihegines was the
liowever, . cannot be determined within greatest which ever befel the CJrceks.
a space of lu or 15 years ; the desertiim Had he been still living when Thurium
of Zopyrus to the Athenians '^iii. 100, joined the l'elo2)ouuesian side in B.C.
Writings. DOMESTIC LIFE. 2't
and there probably was the epitaph quoted by ancient writers.
The story of his having been buried with Thucydides 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. Thucydides,
moreover, Avas buried in the family burial-place of the Cimonida3,
where "it was not laAvful 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 Avas 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 cliildless seems to be indicated by the position in which he
is made to stand to a certain PlesuThoiis, who is said to have
inherited all his property, and to have brought out his work
412, he 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 " tlie Thurian." regarded as reflecting the mind of tlie
^ Marcellinus proves the family con- man than the time of life at which he
nexion of Thucydides with the Cimonidie wrote. The author of a narrative treat-
by the fact of his tomb being among the ing at similar length, and in equally
μνήματα Κίμώνια ( Vit. Thucj'd. p. ix. J : — popular vein, the more interesting vicis-
liVos yap oiiSfis, he says, e/ce? βάτττΐται• situdes of a national history, will usually
" Suidas ad voc. ΈλλάζΊκοϊ. be found," he observes, "where the
1 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.; Jiiger, as an aged man." (Literature of Greece,
Disp. Herod, p. 16 ; Biihr, de Vit. et vol. iv. p. 517.)
Script. Herod. § -i); but Col. Mure judi- - Compare i. 4 and 8; iiTlH, &c.
28 ΛΥΑΧΤ OF FINISH IN HIS WOIUv. 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 tliat they are not such as it would have
been worth any man's while to invent.
The o-reat work of Herodotus, to which he had devoted so
many years, Avas 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
i Avay 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, Λvas still contemplating not only small imjjrove-
ments, but a lengthy digression on a most important subject, if
not an entirely new work, is as unlikely as anything that can
well bo 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 awkwardness and abruptness^orits' close, we may
fairly ascribe the defect to the untimely death of the writer,
^ These particulai's are reported by said to have occurred three times, in the
llepha'stiou (ap. Phot. Bibliothec. Cod. last is ineutioned as liaving only been
19(1, p. 478 j, a late writer of small autho- witnessed t\sice. The discrepancy may
rity, who moreover throws discredit on perhaps bo explained by the considera-
his own anecdotes by allowing them to tion, that the three closing books Λvere
contradict one another. The same Pie- written before the otliers. (See note on
sirrhoiis, who in two of his tales is made Book vii. I.) 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 ujion his and tlie passage in Book viii. may have
work. (Ibid. p. 48;5.) beun left as composed by inadvertence.
■•.Book vii. ch. 'ii:i.^ •* Life of Herodotus, ch. ix. § 2. Col.
•'' See ' i. I75,~'ana viii. 104, The Mm-e adopts tlie same view. (Lit. of
miracle, which in the first passage is Greece, vol. iv. p. '^Iv-l.j
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 Avhieh
modern criticism discerns might have been removed, and the
work have shown throughout the finished grace which the
master's hand is wont to impart when it consciously gives the
last touches.
30 SOUECES OF THE HISTORY. Life and
CIIAPTEE II.
ON THE SOURCES FROM WHICH HERODOTUS COMRILED HIS HISTORY.
Importance of the question. Historical materials already existing in Greece.
Works of three liinds : 1. Mythological; 2. Geographical; 3. .Strictly historical.
How far used as materials by Herodotus. Xanthus. Charon. Dionysius.
The geographers : Hecaticus, Scylax, Aristeas. The poets. Chief source of
the History of Hei-odotus, 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 Avork of
utility, must primarily depend on the cojjiousness 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 wliich
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 jMiletus 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. 2i)4-.'>. volume of the Fragmeuta Hist. Grsec.
'^ The arguments against Cadmus are pp. 3, 4.
Writings. EXISTING HISTORICAL MATERIALS. 31
rated as labourers in the historical field during this and the first
lialf of the ensuing century, Eugieon of Samos, Bion and '
De'iochus of Proconnesus, Eudemus of Paros, Amelesagoras of
Chalcedon, Democles of Phygela, Hecata^us and Dionysius of
Miletus, Charon of Lampsacus, Damastes of Sigeum, Xanthus of ι
Sardis, and Pherecydes of Leros — all natives of Asia Minor, or
the islands in its immediate vicinity, and the authors of books I
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 Rhegium, Polyzelus of Messenia,^ &c., whose productions
belong to the same period. Tlie 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 im230rtance and authority. The
earlier writers, Avho 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 Avrote works which they called generally
" Genealogies" or " Theogonies," "^ imitated closely from the old
geneaTogical poets, suciras ECesiod, whose poem entitled " Theo-
gonia" is said to have been the model followed by some of
them.'' No complete jDroduction of the kind by a writer of this
early age has come down to us ; but the Bibliotheca of the
grammarian Apollodorus ^ is perhaps a tolerable representation
of their usual character.
The next subject Λvhich engaged the attention of the prose
writers, and on which works were composed by some of the
authors above-mentioned, Avas 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 taeus, entitled TeveaXoyiai (Suid. ad voc.
Miiller's Fr. H. G. vols. i. and ii. Comp. Acusilaus, Steph. Byz., &c.;, and that
Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, vol. ii. Appen- of Pherecydes, which was called Oeo-
dix, ch. 21, and Mure, vol. iv, ch. 3. yovla (Suid.).
Matthias's Manual of the History of ^ Clement says of Acusilaiis and Eu-
Greek and Roman Literature, though melus (Eudemus ?)—τά 'Ησιόδου ^βτήλ-
scanty, is useful. λαξαν els ^reζbv \6yov (Strom, vi. p.
■• Particularly from Suidas. 752-6). The fragments of Acusilaus
* 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. MuUer, in the work mur. Kill), Heyne (Gottingen, 1782 ,
already so often quoted. and Clavier '^Paris, 1800;.
GEOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS.
Life akd
earlier period of Greek literature, was scarcely distinguished
from that nobler science of which it is properly the handmaid.
Scylax of Caryanda,^ Hecata3us,^ Dionysius, according to one
account,- Charon,^ Damastes,* and perhaps Democles,^ Avrote
treatises on general or special geography, into which they inter-
wove occasional notices belonging to the history of the country
whose features they were enga<^d in describing. These labours
led the way to history jiroperJ/ Dionysius of Miletus, a con-
tem})orary and countryman of /Secatseus,^ seems to have set the
example by the composition of a Avork entitled Persica, or
Persian History, Avhich probably traced the progress of that
nation from the time of Cyrus to a period which cannot be fixed
in the reign of Xerxes.'^ This work Mould seem to have been
written in the early part of the fifth century B.c^ The examjjle
thus set was soon followed by others. Charon of Lampsacus,
and Xanthus of Sardis, towards the middle of the century,
composed treatises partly on the special history of their
own countries, partly on more general subjects. Charon, in
his Hellenica and Persica, Avent over most of tlie ground
which is traversed by Herodotus,^ while in his Prytanes, or
y-- 9 The work which has come down to
Ivis under the name of this writer is im-
\ doubtedly spurious, but still it is a sign
i that a genuine work had once existed.
There is further evidence in the passages
quoted by Aristotle 'Polit. vii. Vo) and
others, which do not occur in the ficti-
tious Scylax.
' The great work of Hecatajus was
entitled ' The Circuit of the Earth ' "
(γηϊ Trep/oSos). It contained a descrip-
tion of the known world, which he
divided into two parts, Europe and Asia,
including in the latter Africa. The
coaists 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.
* Suidas (ad voc. L•ιovvσι.os Μίλή-
ffios) a-scribes to him a work entitled
' Πίριήγτισίϊ οίκουμίρην,' or a Descrip-
tiiin of the Inhabited World ; but it
is doubted whether the book intended
is not that of the Augustan geograplior
coranionly 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. i)7o ). Agathemer
says (i. 1) that he wrote a Periplus. His
geography was followed to a considerable
extent by Eratosthenes (Strab. i. p. 08 .
^ Democles treated of the " Volcanic
phenomena in Asia Minor " ^ Strab. i. p.
8.')j, probably in a geographical work.
® Suidas ad voc. Έκαταΐοϊ.
' Since he is said to have written a
work ' On events subxcqatjiit io the reign
of Dai'ius ' ( Suidas).
^ Suidas says that Dionysius flourished
contenq)oraneously with Hecataius. It
is not likely, therefore, that he outlived
Darius many years. Hecata[!us seems to
have died soon after u.c. 480 (Suidas ad
voc. 'EWaviKoSj.
3 Charon related the dream of Asty-
ages with regard to his daughter Jlan-
dan(5; the revolt and flight of Pactyas
the Lydian, first to Mytilend, and then
to Chios, with liis final capture by the
Persians ; the aid lent by Athens to the
revolted lonians, the sack of Sardis
except the citadel, and the retreat fol-
lowing clusely upon it; also the disasters
which Mardonius experierced about
AVritings. legend-weiters. 33
" Chief Rulers of Sparta," lie laid perhaps the first foraidation
among the Greeks of a practical system of clironology.^ He
was likewise the author of a work or works ^ ou the annals of
liis native city, Lampsacus, of which several fragments have
come down to us. Xanthus treated at length of the history of
Lj^dia, not only during the recent dynasty of the Mermnadae,^
but also during the remoter times of the Heraclidee, and even
of the Atyadae. 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 Rhegium 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 ]3articular 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,
placed in the reign of Artaxerxes. 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 Laertius
narrative of Herodotus. ' (Proem. § 2), and by Clemens Alexan-
1 Suidas, who alone mentions this drinus (Strom, iii. p.7jl5). 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 writings concerning Lampsacus, Χρονικά. 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 afiectation of accuracy
doubted whether all the references are remarkable (see Fragments 1, 'J, 3, and
not really to a single treatise. (See 5). The conjecture that the other works
Miiller's Frag. H. Gr. vol. i. pp. xix.- ascribed to Hippys were portions of his
XX•) Χρονικά (which Col. Mure approves, p.
3 Col. Mure doubts whether Xanthus 178), is not borne out by the citations,
treated of this iieriod. 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 SCAECITY OF BOOKS. Like and
question liow far they may be regarded as materials really at
our antlior's disposal. JModcrus, accustomed to the ready
multiplication of books which the art of printing has intro-
duced, and living in times Avhen every ^vriter 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, Avere enjoyed equally by the ancients ; but such a view
is altogether mistaken. Books, till long after the time of
Herodotus, were multiplied Avitli 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 Avork 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 his power to
consult the works 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 m
the main, not from the books of writers, but from the lips of
those Avhom he thought to have the best information. It is
of Thasos, and Autiochiis of Syracuse, Frag. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 56, Fr. 11),
who are envimerated 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 n.c. 423,
from the foi'egoing 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
Pam2jhila, some years older than our sheets of papyrus (a coarse material)
author, but he must be regarded as η pasted together, with writing on one
later vriter ; since, 1 . in his great work side only, rolled round a thickish staff,
(the Atthis) he alluded to the battle of So small a work as the Metamoriihosea
Arginussc, which was fought in B.C. of Ovid required fifteen such cumbrous
400, nearly 2() years after the time rolls (C)v. Trist. i. 117).
when Herodotus seems to liave died ; ' Polycrates had formed a pul)liu
and, 2. it is related of him that he library at Samos (AtheuKus, i. i. p.
read (Schol. ad. So])h. Thil. 201) and 9, Schw.), and Pisistratus at Atliens
copied Herodotus (Porphyr, ap. Euseb. (ibid.) ; but the latter had certainly
Pr. Ev. X. p. 4G6 is). Stesimbrotus been carried to Susa by Xerxes iAul.
was as nearly as possible contemporary Gell. vi. 17); and it is very unlikely
Λvith our author, but his only historical that the former had escaped the gene-
AVfirk, the 'Memoirs of Themi.stocles, ral ruin conse(]uent upon the treachery
Thucydides, and Pericles,' could not of Micandrius ^Horod. iii. 14<l'.)j.
have been written before B.C. 4'άΟ (cf.
Writings. HERODOTUS NOT INDEBTED TO XANTHUS, 35
possible that he was wholly unacquainted with the compositions
of those previous authors, who had treated of subjects of real
history coming 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 narroΛV 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 exj)ected 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 liistory 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 tliese books,
esiDecially 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 any 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 IMermnadse 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
" Dahlmann has remai-ked (Life of * The certainty of this depends on the
Herod, p. 91)|hat 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 Avith the materials
Gambles, &c., whom Xanthus celebrated, of his Lydian history. I agree with C.
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. ^ Xic Damasc. Fr. 49.
' See Xanthus, Fr. 1,
d2
36 HERODOTUS NOT INDEBTED TO CIIAliOX. Ijfe aku
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 certiunly 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 IMacedon. It is not even certain
that they were written at the time Avhen 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. d?>. bis work in Asia Minor, about is.c. 450,
^ See Mr. Hamilton's Travels in Asia he Λνοηΐά have couiposed it at the time
Minor (vol. i. pp. l.'56-144), where the when Xanthus was only fifty-one, so
striking features of this curious volcanic that it is quite possible the Lydian his-
tract are fully and graphically por- tory of tliat author may have been pub-
trayed. 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. Thucudhlcs. (Jud. de Thuc. p. 818.)
129. ^* Crouzer is, I believe, thd only
'" Fragment 102. Ήροδίίτφ ras αφορ- modern critic who has maintained that
ftos δ€δωκ;(5τοϊ. Hci'odotus made useof Xantlius. (Creuz.
" Suidas ad voc. Hof^os. ad Xanth. Fragm.) His arguments are
'- Fragment 3. Artaxerxes did not well refuted by Dahlmaun (Life of
a-scend the throne till li.c. 4t;4, when Herod, p. 91, E. T.).
Herodotus was twenty years of age. '^ See Col. Muro'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 Mandang :
2. The reΛΌlt of Pactyas, and his capture : 3. The taking of
Sardis by the lonians : and 4. The destruction of the fleet of
Mardonius off Slount 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 w^ith the account given by
Herodotus. Tertullian, 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-
tullian, as an liistorical 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. Tlie Pseudo-Plutarch,
indeed, overstates the difference between the wi-iters 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 Avhat 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
l)een drawn from his, it is impossible that his narrative should
liave 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. IGO, and v. 102.
etiam Charon Lampsaceuus, Herodoto '' Fr. 3 — preserved by Athen^us
prior, tradit." (De Auim. c. 46.) (Deipn. ix. p. 394 e). Col. Mure
2 Cf. Pint, de Malign. Herod, p. 859 strangely views this passage as one of
A, and p. 801 c.d. those which most distinctly prove Hero-
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 bo observed, as tending at least to throw doubt
on the supposed use of the great Avork 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 a fir." "
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, Avith the first draft of his history completed, left
Asia for Attica.**
dotiis to have been indebted to Cliaron,
comparing it witli Hei'od. i. 138, and
regarding botli writers as bearing testi-
mony to the "superstitious aversion of
tlie Persians to wliite pigeons." But
how doesCliaron's statement that "white
pigeons first appeared in Greece at the
time of Mardonius' failure," imply that
the Persians looked on them with
"superstitious avei-sion"?
* See the fragment, preserved by Phi-
tarch 'De Virt. Mulier. p. 255 a , which
is placed sixth in the arrangement of
Midler 'Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. i. p. 3•!).
^ " Πίτυοϊ τρόττον." Herod, vi. 37.
' Col. Mure thinks that the work of
Herodotus contains an allusion (vi. 55)
to Charon's 'Spartan Magistrates' (Lit.
of Greece, vol. iv. p. :50ii). Charon is,
he ob.serves, " the only author who is
recorded to have treated of the subjects"
which Herodotus tliere passes over as
already considered by others. But even
granting — what is not at all certain —
that Charon's work contained an account
of the ante-Dorian period, it is clear
that he \vas not the only writer who had
treated of the subject, since Herodotus
in the passage itself refers to several.
Col. Mure mistranslates Herodotus when
he represents him as saying " he abstains
from tracing in detail the origin or
lineage of the Lacediomonian kings, as
that had been fully done by others."
What Herodotus abstains from tracing
is not " the origin and lineage of the
Lacedaemonian kings," but the estab-
lishment of the kingdom of Danaiis in
the Peloponnese. This was a favoiu'ite
subject with the mythologers, whether
poets or prose writers. See • note to
Book vi. ch. 55.
^ The age of Charon is very imcei'tain.
The passage in Suiilas which should fix
his birth is corrupt; and we are thus left
without any exact data for his period of
writing. He is generalh' said to have
been earlier than Herodotus (Dionys.
Hal. de Thuc. Jud. p. 769 ; Plut. de
Malign. Her. p. 85'J a; Tertull. de An.
c. 4G;; and Suidas makes his «cme syn-
chronise with the Persian war. But
there is evidence that he composed his-
tory later tlian B.C. 4G5, since he spoke
of the flight of Themistocles to the
court of Artaxerxes in that year. (Plut.
Vit. Themistocl. c. 27. i Dionysius (1.
s. c.j couples him with Ilellauicus, who
AVritings. DIONYSIUS OF MILETUS— HECAT^EUS. 39
With regard to Dionysius of Miletus, the remaining author,
whose Avorks may be supposed to have been used hirgely 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 Avriters who turned his
attention to the relation of actual facts, we may be sure that he
fully shared in that dryness and jejnneness 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 wa'iters from whom he has
been thought to have borrowed.
The only prose works Avith 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 M'hole be
outlived the battle of Arginusse, B.C. other notices that he made the name of
406, and according to one account i-e- Mount Hsemus neuter. (See Miiller's
sided at the court of Amyntas II., \vho Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 5.) Nothing
ascended the throne in B.C. 39-t. As is to be gathered from such scanty and
Hellanicus was certainly a later xoriter insignificant data.
than Herodotus, so Charon may have ' He was contemporary with Heca-
been. tscus (Suidas ad voc. 'E/faraTos), with
9 Only two references to matters con- whom he is usually coupled,
tained in the works of Dionysius have - See the specimens given below, ch. iii.
been discovered : one mentions him ad fin.
among the writers who considered ^ See ii. 21, 2:5, 143, iv. 36.
Danaiis to have brought the alphabet '' Herod, vi. 55.
to Greece, rather than Cadmus; and the
40 WRITINGS OF HECAT.EUS— SCYLAX. Life and
pronounced that he probably o^ved but little to the historical
literature of his country, which A\as indeed in its infancy, and
can scarcely haΛ'^e contained niucli information of an authentic
character which was not accessible to him in another manner,
AVith 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 w^ere as accessible to him as
to them. To the geographers he may have been more largely
indebted. A waiter of weak authority ^ accuses him of having
copied wOrd for \vord from Hecataeus his long descriptions of
the phoenix, the hippopotamus, and the mode of taking the
crocodile. It seems, however, improbable that he should have
I had recourse to another author for descriptions of objects and
1 occurrences with which he was likely to have been well ac-
cpiainted himself; and, Avitli regard to the phoenix, his own
words declare that his description is taken from a picture.*
Still, the " Geography " of Hecaticus may probably have been
i of use to him in his accounts of places which he had not himself
\-isited, as in his enumeration of the tribes inhabiting Northern
Africa, Avhich 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, ho\vever, he does not
express much respect.^ It has been maintained that the genuine
Avork 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 tliat enterprising mariner." I
(Praep. liv. x. 3, vol. ii. p. 459). do not understand to what notices he
^ Herod, ii. 73. alludes. The only passages, so far as I
"^ Hecaticus mentioned the Psylli, the am aware, which can be referred Λvith
Mazyes or Maxyes, the Zaueces, and the any degree of probability to the genuine
Zygautes as nations inhabiting these Scylax, are Arist. Pol. vii. 14; Harpocrat.
parts (see Fragments 303, 304, 306, and ad voc. virh yrjs οΙκοΰντΐ$ ; 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
8 See ii. 15, 17, iv. 36, 42, 45. in Harpocration (which speaks of Troglo-
8 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 (of. Strab. xvi. p. 1103,
phers on the authority of Scylax, are 1107), in Herodotus (iv. 183) those of
identical in substance Λνΐΐΐι the accounts the interior (Strab. xvii. p. 1173). From
given by Horodotus of the same region, the age of Scylax, and the near vici-
there is the less reason to doubt his nity of liis birthplace to Halicaruassus,
having been acquainted with the original it seems likely that Herodotus would
Writings. ARISTEAS. 41
other traveller.^ There is more 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 liim 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 likeΛvise 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 ολγη
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 Gyges 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 liis works, if lie wrote any. structed by Anaxiinander (Agathein. i.
Perhaps it has not yet been quite satis- 1), who lived about B.C. 600-530. He-
factorily established that the real Scylax catajus greatly improved on it. Hero-
left behind him any wi'itings. 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 * Biihr supposes Herodotus to refer
dwelt in that country men with feet of only to the single iambic /ine of Archi-
so large a size that they were in the habit lochus — οϋ μοι τα Tvyew του ττολυχρύσου
of using them as parasols (Philostr. 1. s. ^ε'λει — -which has come down to us
c), and spoke of others whose ears were through Aristotle and Plutai'ch. (See
like winnowing-faus (Tzetzes, 1. s. c). his note on Book i. ch. \'2.) 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 Ιαμβο! in the passage
■and Megasthenes (Strab. i. p. l05), con- (Lexic. p. 63o). But it appears to me
cerning men in India who had only one that Schweighteuser, 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 jjoe?/».
3 Ibid. iv. 36. The first map known * Herod, v. 113.
to the Greeks is said to have been con- ^ Ibid. iii. 38.
'/
42 ΝΑΓιΕΑΤΙΥΕ, EESULT OF rERSONAL INQUIEY. Life and
Alcious,' and Simonides,^ wlio nil celebrated contemporary per-
sons and events, seem to sliow tliat he made some use of their
Avritings in compiling his narrative. Further, it may be con-
jectured that the Persian authors to whom he refers in several
phices as authorities on the subject of tlieir early national his-
tory,^ were poets, the composers of those national songs of which
Xeiioplion,^" Strabo,^^ and other waiters '^ speak, wherein Avere
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, Avhether 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
Avhich he had spent in the countries, in making acquaintance
Avith 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 Avliich have come to 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, Avith Avliich
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 Avrote 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. σαι ; compare iv. 45), and his refusal to
* Ibid, i. 1-5, 95, 214 ad fin. describe the countries above Scythia (iv.
'" Cyrop. I. ii. § 1. " Book xv. p. 1041. 1 <3, oiiStvos αύτ όπτ ew elSfvai φαμ4ρον
12 As Athenajus, who quotes Dino to 5ύι>αμαί -πυθίσθαι), or those above the
the same effect. (Deipnosoph. xiv. Ai-gippicans (iv. 25), and Issedouians
p. 633 D.) (ibid.). Certain knowledge ( rb arpeKfs)
1 This is not always expressed, but seems to mean knowledge thus derived.
it appears from his refusal to adcept of (See iii. 98, 116: iv. 16, 25; Y. 9.)
any statements or descriptions as certain, " See ii. .•Ϊ2, o3; iv. 16, 24, 26-27, 32.
unless received from an eye-witness. ^ Jijukcd 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, ovStvos pa'<.s;iges: ii. 19, 28, 29, 34, 1U4; iii. 115;
av τ ότΓ τ ( ω "γΐνυμ^νον ον ^ύναμαι ακυΰ- ιν. 16.
Writings. LIVING TESTIMONY. 43
ment 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 Avar Avith 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 ΛΥοηΗ 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 ΛνοηΜ fail him entirely for the early period. Even
then, however, he might obtain from living persons the accounts
Avhich they had received from those Avho took an active part in
the transactions. This, accordingly, is Avhat 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 whi<ih_he
thus received, compared and balanced against each other, he
composed his narrative. AVhere contemporary evidence failed
him, or even where it was scanty, he extended his inquiries,
eudeavouring in each case to arrive at the truth by sifting and
compaiing 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 Avhich 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 trustwortliy
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 Avas accessible to himself or
to those from whom he derived his information.
In Greece itself it is certain that there existed monumental
* 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. chs. 15, IG.
13, 150-154; v. 44, 57, 85, 8G ; vi. 53; ^ Book iii. cli. 55.
vii. 150, 213, 214; viii. 94, 117-120 ;
44 MONUMENTAL RECOEDS IN GREECE. Life and
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
u})on the inventiveness of I'abulists. 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 tlie Heraclidse. Besides
these, there were to be found in the various temples, agorse, 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 IMerm-
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.^ ]\[ore im-
portant than any of these instances is that of the two pillars of
"^ As the public registers {avaypa^al) 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 Jvuio,' and his ' Caruean Victors,' fol-
(probably) the number of years they lowed no doubt the authentic catalogues
reigned — the ancient chronicles {αρχαία at Spai-ta and Argos. Timseus compared
Ύράμματα) at Elis (Pausau. V. iv. § 4) — the lists of arehons at Athens, kings and
the registers at Sicyon and Argos (Plut. ephorsat Sparta, and priestesses at Argos,
de Mus. p. 11:54 A. B.) — the list of the vviththecatalogucof the Olympic victors
Olympian victors from the time of Co- (Polyb. 1. s. c). Eratosthenes and Apol-
racbus, preserved in the sanctuary of lodorus seem to liave founded their early
Jupiter at Olympia (Pausan. V. viii. §3; Greek chronology, first on the list of
Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars L 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, 5υ-2, UG, 69.
archons at Athens (Polyb. χιτ. xii. § 1). Further instances of the careful obser-
^ Charon's work on the ' Chief Rulers vance Vjy 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 Laceda;monians iv. 15, 152; v. 59-61, 77; vi. 14; vii. 228;
(see O. Miiller's Uorians, vol. i. p. 150, and in the passages noted below.
Writings. INSCEIPTIONS— HISTORICAL 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 gokl and part bronze, which the confederate Greeks dedi-
cated after the victory of Plataea 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 Pcecile,^ Avould serve as striking
memorials of particularly important occurrences. From these
and similar sources of information Herodotus Λ\Όuld 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 would
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 jDractice of observing is
sufficiently apparent ; and it is but fan- to presume that he
carried it to a far greater extent than can be exactly proved
^ Cf. iv. 87. '' If Herodotus had not happened, in
^ This inscription has been recently re- speaking of the desertion to the Greek
covered. See notes on viii. 82, and ix. 84. side of a Teuian vessel before the battle
3 As the colossal statue of Jupiter at of Salamis (viii. 82), to notice the iu-
Olympia, on the base of which were also scriptiou 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 Greeca, vol. iv. having borne any inscription.
p. 312.
46 ASIATIC AND EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS. Life and
from Ill's writino-s. It is certain that lie visited all tlie most im-
portant of the Greek shrines ; ^ and, Avhen there, his inquisitive
turn of mind Avould 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 unknoAvn 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 Laceda3monian anagraphs ; and if so, Ave 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 higher actual date, though not to a
^ As Delphi (\. 14, 19, 25, &c.), Do- 204), reckoned accordiug to his own esti-
flona (ii. 52 ), Abi« (viii. 27), Tionarum mate of three generations to the century
(i. 24), Apollo Isnicnius 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
DianaatEphesus(i. 92), VenusatCyrcne Herodotus, instead of 900, which is liis
(ii. 181), Erechtheus at Athens (viii. 55 ; calculation (ii. 145). He must therefore
comp. V. 77), Apollo at Thomax (i. G9), have po.«sessed some more definite chro-
&c. nological basis, Λνΐΰϋΐι may have been
^ Herod, vii. 204; viii. 1Γ51. furnished by the Spartan registers, if
1 It is evident that Herodotus did not (as O. Miiller conjectures. Dor. vol. i.
obtain his dates forthe times of Hercules γ>. 150) they contained not merely the
and of the Trojan war from a mere com- names of the kings, but the length of
putation Ijy generations ; for the 21 ge- their reigns,
nerations from Leouidas to Hercules (vii.
Writings. ' WEITINGS ON SKINS. 47
period so early in the lives of tlie nations. The recent dis-
coveries in IMesopotamia, which have so completely authen-
ticated the historical scheme of Berosus both in its outKne and
its details,^ prove that to the Babylonians the history of their
country as written u})on 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, Avhich 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, Avhich still exist, of Cyrus, Darius, and
Xerxes are evidences of the fact Avitnessed by Herodotus in
several places,* that monumental records were in common use
under the early Acli£emenian 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 Essaj's on Babylonian and others belonging to later kings. Pillar
Assyrian History, appended to book i. inscriptions are mentioned by Herodotus
Essays vi. and vii. (iv. 87 and 91); but their more perish-
2 See the Historical Notice of Egj'pt able nature has caused them generally
in the Appendix to book ii. to disappeai•.
■* Book iii. 1^6; book iv. chs. 87 and ^ See 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 JewLsh 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 ' ΔιφθεραΙ βασιλικα\ is the name under
has one perfect and one imperfect inscrip- \vhieh Ctesias spoke of tliem (ap. Diod.
tion — neither however, apparently, that Sic. ii. o2\ He saj's they contained a
recorded by Strabo (xv. p. I(i36). The regular digest of the ancient Persian
tomb of Cyrus had an inscription, as we history (τά$ παλαιά? wpa^eis σνντίτα•γ-
learn both from Sti'abo (1. s. c.) and Ar- μίνα;), and that the keeping of them
riau (vi. 29 ; see note on book i. ch. 214), Λvas 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 enunie-
Λvords, ' ' 1 am Cyrus the king — the Acha?- rated all decrees made by any king ( Ezr.
menian." The great palace at Persepolis v. 17; vi. 2-3), all signal services 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
INSCRIPTIONS IN AYESTERN ASIA.
Life axd
on the other hand, and among tlie rude tribes who inhabited
Northern Africa, writing of any kind Λvas probably nnknown ;
and the traditions of tlie 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.*
Om* chief inquiry in the present place λυΙΙΙ therefore be how far
Herodotus, dr those from whom he derived his information, rnay
be presumed to have had access to the monumental stores which
brought into the field on gi-eat occasions
(Herod, vii. 1 00) , statements of the amount
of revenue to be drawn from each of the
provinces (comp. Hei'od. iii. 9(j-94), &c.
Heereu (As. Nat. i. p. 86) supposes, tliat
" 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 {^ραμμαησται) seem cei-tainly 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 v.'ere bound to enter the events of
each day.
" ΛΌ strictly Median records have
come down to us, nor have we positive
) iroof of any acquaintance on the part of
tlie Medes with letters. The ancient
portions of the Zendavesta, Λvhich be-
longed to them in common with other
nations ofthe Arian stock, were certainly
handed down by memory, liut it can
hardly be supposed that after the con-
quest of Assyria by Cyaxai'es, the Medes
would remain without an alphabet. Pro-
bably the Persian aljihabet is that framed
by the Ari'au Medes on coming in contact
with the Assyrians. The Persians would
naturally adopt it from them on then•
conquest of Media.
' No Lydian inscriptions liave been
as yet discovered, though tlie 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 lettei's at least as early as
the Asiatic Greeks.
^ Sevei'al Phrygian iuscrii^tions, chiefly
epitaphs, have been discovered in this
country. They are all probably more
ancient than the Persian conquest of Asia
Minor. Tlie only one of much impor-
tance is the inscription on the tomb of
king Midas at Doijimln. (See note ^ on
book i. ch. 14, and couqjare Ajipendix
to Book i., Essay xi.)
" As Lycia, Cilicia, and Armenia. The
Lycian Avriting appears on coins and in-
scriptions, which are abundant, but
which seem to be none earlier tlian the
time of Croesus (Fellowss Lycian Coins;
Chronolog. Table). Cilician writing is
found on coins only. Armenia has some
important rock inscriptions. 'I'hey are
found in the neighbourhood of Van, and
belong to a dynasty of native kings, who
appear to have reigned dui-ing the se-
venth and eighth centuries i;. c. (See
Col. Kavvlinson'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
mto myth at a time not much preceding
(jyges. Tlu! Armenian histories of Moses
of Cliorono and others, are yet more com-
pletely fabulous.
Writings. IXFORMATION EESrECTING EGYPT. • 49
existed in such abundance in Egypt, Babylon, and in A^arious
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.^
AVith regard to Egypt, Herodotus has distinctly stated that
his informants were the priests.*^ Tlie sacerdotal body attached
to the service of the temple of Phtha 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 Ί5θ 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 case 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, who purposely
exaggerated the glories of their nation, and concealed its dis-
graces and defeats. It is jaerhaps 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 ch'cum-
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, Avhether spoken or
written,^ to impose upon him such a history of their country as
* By Manetho the Sebennyte, and Be- yeovres σψίσι. As this harmony
rosus the Babylonian, both contemjjo- was not the natural agreement of trutli,
raries 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 conmiuuiea-
Again, he goes to Heliopolis because the tions would most naturally take place
priests there were Αίγιηττίων λο- between the leading.' members of the
Ύίώτατοι, and receives information sacerdotal colleges.
from those whom he so characterises ^ That Herodotus did not understand
(ii. 3). the written character, is evident from
^ See ii. 4. wSe theyov δμοΚο- his mentioning that tiie inscription ou
VOL. I. Ε
50 SOURCE OF HIS EGYPTIAN EREORS. Life and
they Avislied to pass ciirreiit among tlie Greeks. Accordingly
they magiiilied tlieir 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 Avliich they flattered
tJiemselves 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 tlieir country.® Again, they were
willing, 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 receiA'ed from the
him by his interpreter (ii. 125). His ig- priests, is asciibed by Herodotus to "the
nor.aiice of tlae sjjoken language appears Egyptians."
from his mistranslations of particular * Herod, ii. 124-9. The priests seem
words, as of Piromis, wliicli he renders to have placed the pyramid-kings— who
"gentleman" (καλ^ϊίίάγαθίίϊ), whereas it really intei-vened between Menes and
meant simply "man" or " human being." Nitocris — as late as they could venture
^ See Herod, ii. 100 and 142, 14.i. By to do without incurring a great risk of
representing tlieir priests as equally nu- detection. As a remarkable insci-iption
merous Λνίίΐι their kings, and declaring of Asychis (Herod, ii. lo(3) made express
the priesthood to have descended in the mention of tlie stone pyramids, it would
direct line from father to sou, the Mem- have been rash to state that their builders
phite infiu-mants of Herodotus gave him lived later than that monarch,
the notion that a settled monarchy had * Scthos (Herod, ii. 1-11).
endured in Egypt for above 11,000 years. " As that of Nebnchadnezs^ar in the
Tlieir 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. Itt; xxx. 24-5). Several
5i)00 years; and (according to Syncellus) of the Assyrian monarchs, besides Sen-
Manetho, making some allowance on both nacherib, attacked or received tribute
scores, i-educed the time between iMenes from Egypt, as Sardanapalus I., Sargon,
and Herodotus to less than ;i500 yeai's. Esar-Haddon, and his son.
•* In the tradition, noticed in book ii. '' Proteus, 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 Philitiou " (see note ad jists.
loc). This tradition, which conflicted
Writings. THE ΕΓχΥΓΤΙΑΝ HISTOEY COERECT 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 Yanity 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 Avorks are assigned for the most part to their real authors ;
even the extraA-agance 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
Avantonly 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. AVith
^ 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 othei-wise iden- and 43 kings, Thebans), the number re-
tified. He is certainly Bocchoris. maiuing is 354, a neai- approach to the
1 That of the Pyramid-Kings. See 33i) of Herodotus,
note ■* on the last page. * Siuce the first edition of this woi-k
- 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 Rhampsinitus. The annals of Esar-Haddon's son and suc-
sufFerings 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 ticenty kingdoms. Herodotus is thus
under the pyramid builders is undoubt- sho\\Ti to be quite right as to his general
edly a fact. The decline of the empire fact, and only incorrect as to the exact
under the Tanite kings is marked by number.
Ε 2
52
BABYLONIAN HISTOEY,
Life and
In Babylon Herodotus appears to liave obtained some of his
information from the Chakheans attached to the temple of
Behis,^ who were i)ersons 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/ and tolerably exact in certain important par-
ticulars.^ Still it contains some most remarkable mistakes,*^
Avhich seem to show either that the persons from whom he
derived his materials were not w^ill versed in their country's
annals, or that he misunderstood their communications. The
mistakes in question, it is Avorthy 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 Mcsopotamian 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, sith fin. and 183.
^ The only information expressly as-
cribed to the ChakUeans consists of de-
tails respecting the temple of Belus.
Herodotus does not say whence he de-
rived his historical materials.
' Carrying back liabylonian 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 j. 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
was a great empire, and while she was
only a powerfid kingdom. This divi-
sion appears to correspond to the Ujijier
and Lower Assyrian dynasties of Berosus.
* As in the duration of the first As-
syrian dynasty — where his rilO years i.
95 J manifestly represent the (more exact)
52() years of Berosus fap. Euseb. Chron.
Can. pars I. cap. iv.) ; in the commence-
ment of the independence on the de-
Btruction of Nineveh '^i. 178); in the
name of the last king (Labynetus=
Nabunahit), and the circumstances of the
capture of Babylon f'i. 191); in the time
of Semiramis (i. 184), &c.
^ Particularly the following : — 1. That
T.abj'netus {Nabunahit) was the sou of a
former king, and of a queen (Nitocris);
2. That he immediately succeeded the
latter; 3. That the BaV>ylonian monarch,
contemporary with Cyaxares, was also
named Labynctus ; 4. That he was the
father of the last king; and 5. That
queens ever ruled at Babylon in their
own name.
'" The Greek refugees in Persia would
study Persian, the official language,
rather than any other. The Chaldajans
on the other hand would speak the
Semitic dialect of the inscriptions, and
undei'stand the ancient Scythic language
of their country, but ΛΥοηΚΙ have little
knowledge of Persian. The comnuniica-^
tions between Herodotus and the Chal-
da)an pinests 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 settlor at
Canton, who has ))icke<l uj) a slight
smattering of the local colloquial dialect.
Vv^KiTiNGS. PEESIAN INFORMATION OF HERODOTUS. 53
savans, and he would therefore naturally be left to pick np 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,
Avhether 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 Avhich 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 Avhom 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 u^ a Persian subject ; and
though in his own city Persians might be rare visitants, every-
Avhere beyond the limits of the Grecian states they formed the
oflScial class, and in the great towns they Λvere 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 Avliich
cities Herodotus seems to have visited.^ There is no reason to
1 See Herod, v. 100-1 ; vi. 4 and 20. " / did not see it" (Ιγώ μ4ι/ μιν ουκ elSov),
'^ The visit of Herodotus to Babylon, which has no foi-ce 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 statemtnt
several little touches; e.g. 1. The ex- inch. 193, that he refrained from men -
pression in ch. 18'!, "as the Chaldicaus tionmg the size of the millet and sesame
said" (i>s iKeyov ol ΧαλδαΓοί), which plants, because he knew that those who
can only mean "as they told me when had not visited the coiintri/ would not be-
/ iras 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 ROMANCE. Life and
believe that lie ever set foot in Persia Proper, or Avas in a
country where the Arian element ])reponderated. Hence his
mistakes with regard to the Persian religion,^ which he con-
founded with the Scythic Avorship of Susiana, Armenia, and
Cappadocia. Still he would enjoy abundant opportunities of
making 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 Avorks he
had access.^ The Persians, from the date of their conquest of
the Modes, possessed (as has been ah-eady shown ^) a variety of
authentic documents, increasing in number and copiousness Avith
the descent to more recent times, and capable of serving as a
solid basis for history. JMoreover, their entire annals at the
time when Herodotus wrote were comprised Avithin a sjiace of
little more tlian a century — about the same distance Avhich
separates the Englishman of the present day from the rebellion
of 1745 — a period for Avhich 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 deticiency
is traceable to tAvo causes. Among the Persians, then as now,
the critical judgment Avas far less developed than the imagina-
tion ; and their historians, or rather chroniclers (XoyLOL), delighted
to diversify with all manner of romantic circumstances the his-
tory of their earlier kings. This Avas especially the case Avith
Cyrus, the hero-founder of the empire, Avhose adA'entures Avere
narrated with vast exaggeration and immense variety.^ Hero-
3 See the Essay "On the Religion of tions; so probably are the stories of
the Ancient Persians." SylosonandZupyrus; — the circumstances
•• See especially book i. ch. 1 ; and of the expedition of Darius against
compare i. 95, and 214 su6yi«. See also Scythia are jirobably exaggerated. It is
p. 42 of this chai^ter. not till tho time of the Ionian revolt
5 Suprh, 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 wiiich most sin-prise us are those of
of Croesus, and the manner of his own the Sacan and Bactrian war.s of Cyrus,
death, seem to be fabulous ; — in the tlie reduction of Phoenicia, Cyprus, and
history of Cambyses and of the Pseudo- Cilicia by Cambyses; the revolt of the
Smerdis are several important errors; — Medcs 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. 90 and 214.
Writings. THE HISTOKY, AS TESTED BY THE INSCEIPTIONS. 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 accej)ted 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 graj^hic colouring and highly-wrought
description — the agreement being in names, dates, and the
general outline of the results attained as distiuguislied from the
mode in which they were accomplished.^ Unfortunately a
^ Hence arise contradictions, as that in
the Scythian war of Darius, where the
time during \vhieh the Persians are
actually in the country, and the time
which such a mai-ch as that assigned
them must have occupied, are widely at
variance. See note to book iv. ch. 133.
^ The peiiod of Persian history for
which alone tliis 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 tlie name of Smerdis,
his secret execution by his brothei•, the
exiiedition into Egypt, the bursting out
of the Magian revolution Λvllile he was
there, the death of Cambyses on hearing
of the revolt, the quiet enjoyment of
the crown for a while by the P.seudo-
Smerdis, his personation of the sou of
Cyrus, the sudden arrical of Darius, his
six companions, their names with one
exception, the violent death of the pre-
tender, the jieriod of trouble which fol-
lowed, the revolt and reduction of Baby-
lon within a few years, are all correctly
stated by our author, Λvhose principal
misstatements are the following : — 1.
The execution of Smerdis (Bardiusj after
the commencement of the Egyptian
expedition, which he connects with the
story of his drawing the Ethiopian bow
(Herod, iii. 30); 2. Tlje attack of the
conspirators upon the Magi in the palace
at Susa, and the struggle thei-e (chs.
76-9); 3. The debate on the form of
government, and the question who
should be king (chs. 8υ-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. Tiie
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 hui-t which he had given
himself; places the Magian revolution
after his death; corrupts the names of
two out of the six couspii-ators, 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-
oG PEESIAN 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 justiliod 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 whicli were preserved in the archives of the empire.
It is not altogether easy to understand how this could liave 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 Λvith 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
Avhich 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 Avell by the general pro-
bability of the narrative as by its agreement m certain minute
})oints with monum<nital and other evidence.^
It results from this entire review that in all tlie countries with
wliich the history of Herodotus was at all vitally concerned
there existed monumental records, accessible to himself or his
clecoRsor — in denying that the Zopyrus list of provinces in the inscriptions of
story belongs to the capture of Babylon Behistun and Persopolis — the Scythian
V)y Darius. Even here, however, it may expedition by the tonib-inscriptiou at
be doubted whether, in referring it to the Nalihsh-i-Kiistani — the length of Da-
capture by Xerxes, lie does not replace rius's reign by the Canon, and by
one fable by another. Manetho. It is worthy of notice that
' 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
^ The length of the reign of Cambyses Cambyses 18 yeai's, 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 lie- rius is confiriiuid by a comparison of the
liistun inscription — the revolt of tlie three inscriptions above mentioned, of
Medes from Darius (i. 130), by the same which the Behistun is clearly the earliest,
document — tlie conquest of India in the and the tomb-iuscriptiou the latest,
reign of Darius, by a comjiarison of the
Writings. HIS LINGUISTIC IGXOEANCE. 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 his 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 Avilfully misled 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 I
the weight of evidence, and to arrive at conclusions which are
probtibly in the main correct. The events related in his last
five books Avere but little removed from his own dav, and with
3 If any exceptions need to be made, 69, 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. llOj,
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.). JBut 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 Pei'siau
He frequently introduces and explains kings, vi. 98.)
foreign words {i. 110, 192; ii. 2, 30, 4ΰ, ^ Cf. i. 1, 95, 181-3; ii. 3, &c.
58 THE MAIN ΝΑΉΤίΑΤΙΥΕ HTSTOETCAL. Life akd
. regard to these he has almost the authority of a contemporary
I historian ; for his informants must have been chiefly persons
I engaged in the transactions. His own father woukl most likely
have witnessed and may have taken part in the Ionian insm•-
{ rection, wliieh preceded the birth of Herodotus by less than
; fifteen years. The subsequent events must have been familiar
to all the older men of his acquaintance, IMarathon being no
further removed from him than Waterloo from ourselves, and
tSalamis 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 Avas 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 liis
Avork, 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 OAvn merits. The traditions of
the Scyths, of the Modes before Cyaxares, of Lydia before
Gyges, and of all countries Avithout 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 Avho possessed
access to monuments, deserve thiOughout 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
WTote, 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
liy better authority, may well be received as historical, at least
until fresh discoveries shall at once disprove their truth, and
Hupi>ly us with more authentic details to substitute in their
place.
IYeitings. merits AND DEFECTS OF HERODOTUS. 59
CHAPTEE III.
ON THE MERITS AND DEFECTS OF HERODOTUS AS AN HISTORIAN.
Merits of Herodotus as au 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 —
Eepetitions — Loose chronology, &c. 4. Want of historical insight — Confu-
sion of occasions with causes — Defective geography — Absurd meteorology —
Mythology — Philology. Merits as a icriter : 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.
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 λυο have been treating of the sources from
which the history of Herodotus seems to liave 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 j)ossession 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 A ^^ ^
of ordinary capacity — are honesty and dihgence. The latter of
these two qualities no one has ever denied to our author.
Perhaps, however, scarcely sufiBcient 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 journeys over almost all
no ms DILIGENCE AND ACTIVITY. Life and
jiarts of tlio known world ^ — the agfrrep^ate of whicli cannot have
uniountcd to k'ss 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 wdiich 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 exj)ose 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 Avitli the time and labour Avhich
they must have cost," and that in other instances, where the
object was a woilhy one, tliey 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 antiquavianism
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 ]\remi)hitic informants. We must also
admire that indefatigable inquisitiveness — not perhaps very
agreeable to those who were its objects — which was constantly
drawing from all ])ersons with whom he came into contact Λvhat-
ever information they possessed concerning the history or pecu-
liarities of their native land or the countries where they had
travelled.*^ The painstaking laboriousuess with ^^■hich his
' \'i(le supra, pp. 7-9. ® Herodotus enumerates among bis
=* See the opening of the Orlyssey ; informants, besides Persians, Egyptians,
and compare Horat. Ep. I. ii. 19-22; A. and Chaldtcans, the Scythians (iv. 5,
P. 141. See also Virg. >Έη. i. 7. 24), the Pontine Greeks dv. S, 18, 24,
3 Ap. Clem. Alexandr. (Strom. I. p. &c.), the Tauri ι iv. ΙΟ'Λ), the Colchians
307.) 'Εγώ δ6 Twu κατ' (μαυτ})ν ανθρώ- (ii. lU4), the Bithynians (vii. 75), the
πων yrju -πΚΐίσττιν (πΐπλανησάμην, laro- Thraciaus (v. lU), the Lydians (iv. 45),
ρίων τα μτικίστα• καϊ aepas καΐ ytas the Carians (i. 171), the Caunians (i.
πλίίσταϊ dSoy • κ. τ. λ. 172), the Cyprians (i. lUo; vii. 9u, &c.),
■• See book ii. ch. 44. the Phoenicians (i. 5), the Tyrian priests
^ Jbi d. ch. 3. (ii. 44), the Medes (vii. G2), the Arabians
Writings. QUESTION OF HIS VERACITY. 61
materials were collected is marked by that tenn wliereby he
designated its results, viz. Ίστορίη — 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.;?• /Vtv-s-i
Several ancient writers,^ among them tAvo of considerable
repute, Ctesias the court-physician to Artaxerxes Mnemou, 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 ovvn work to the favourable notice
of his countrymen by a formal attack on the veracity of his
great predecessor,*^ upon the ruins of whose 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 without fear of detection,
the assertions of his rival ;^ and he thus acquired to himself a
'^ i£. u'^^-^
(iii. 108), the Ammonians (iii. 26), the ^^/ΐυδόμΐνοι/). Laertius notes certain
Cyrenseans (iv. 154), the Carthaginians tales which were taxed with falsity
(iv. 43), the Syracusans (vii. 107), and (Proem. § 9). Theopompus (Fr. 29j,
other Siciliots (vii. 165), the Crotoniats Strabo (xi. 740, 771, &c.), Lucian (Ver.
(v. 44), the Sybarites (ibid.), the Hist. ii. 42), CiceiO (De Leg. i. 1; De
priestesses at Dodona (ii. 53), the Corin- Div. ii. 56), and others speak disparag-
thians (i. 23), the Lacedaemonians (i. ingly of his veracity. Tlieir remarks
70, &c.), the Argives (v. 87), the Egiue- apply chiefly to hi.s marvellous stoi-ies.
tans (v. 86), the Athenians (v. 63, &c.), " The words of Photius concerning
the Gcphyraians (v. 57 j, the Thessalians Ctesias (Bibliothec. Cod. lxxii.) are:
(vii. 129), the Macedonians (viii. 138), σχίδδν «V απασιν αντικίίμΐνα Ήρο5ότφ
the Hellespontiue Greeks (iv. 95), the ίστορών, άλλα καϊ ψίύστηΐ' αυτυν άττο-
Lesbians (i. 23), the Samians (i. 70), κα\ων ev ttoKXoIs.
the Delians (vi. 98), the lonians (ii. 15), ^ Diod. Sic. ii. 32. For the fact of the
the Cretans (i. 171), the Therajans (iv. residence of Ctesias in Persia, see Xeu.
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 φησιν
Herodotus (Etym. Magn. s. v. AeovTo- eK των βασ ιΧίκών S ιφ θ e ρω ν, iv
κόμοε). Another was composed by afs oi Πίρσαι ras τταλαιάϊ npa^eis κατά
Harpocratiou, ' On the False Statements τίνα νόμον ίΊχον συντ^τα-γμίναί, π ο λ υ-
made by Herodotus in liis History' (^nepi π pay μονή σαι τα καθ' 'ίκαστα καϊ
τοΰ κατίτΡΐΰσθαι την Ηροδότου ΙστορΙαν. συνταζάμ^νοντην ίστορίαν els του5"Έ.\λη-
See Suidas ad voc. ΆρττοκρατΙων.) Jose- vas f^eveyKe7v.
phus (contr. Ap. i. 3) asserts that all - The most important points on which
Greek Λvriters admitted Herodotus to be the two writers differed were, 1. The date
generally untruthful {iv toIs πλείστου of the first establishment of a great
62
BAD ΡΛΠΉ OF CTESIAS.
Life axd
degree of fame and of consideration to wliicli his literary merits
would certainly never have entitled him, and Avliich the conrse
of detraction he pursued could alone have enabled him to g-ain.
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 pm-ely 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, Avhicli
Ctesias placed almost a thousand years
before Herodotus; 2. the duration of
the empire — according to Ctesias, loOG
years, according to Herodotus, S'iO ; 3.
the date of the Median conquest of
Assyria, which Ctesias made about p..c.
876, Herodotus about B.C. (300 ; and,
4, the duration of the Median kingdom
— above oUO years in the former, 1 50 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 bi'other 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 lialjylon 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.
* Tlie historical work of Ctesias seems
to have been at once received by his
countrymen as aiithoritative 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. T).) His disci])le, Clearchus,
followed in the same track (Fr. ΐ>), as
did Duris of i^amos, a contemporary (Έγ.
14-;. Polybius (n.c. 100; appears to have
adopted from Ctesias the whole outline
of his Oriental narrative (Fr. 9 ; com-
pare VIII. xii. § ;!, and xxxvii. ii. § 6),
as did iEmilius Sura, Trogus Pompeius,
and the Augustan writers genei'ally.
(See Diodorus Siculus, book ii. ; Nic.
Daniasc. Frs. 7-10; Strabo, xvi. pp.
1040-7.) Velleius Paterculus (i. 0) 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. 379j, drew direct from
Ctesias himself. Eusebius unfortunately
adoj»ted 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 Choreno, who took them from Cepha-
lion (i. 17); in Abydenus to a certain
extent (Fr, llj; in Athenajus, Tzetzes,
and others.
* The monstrous fables of the Indica
were what chiefly moΛ'ed the indigna-
tion of Aristotle. (See Gen. Anim. ii.
2; Hist. Anim. ii. iii. § 10; iii. sub
fin. ; viii. xxvii. § 3.) But having
learnt from them the tmtrustworthy
character of the writer, he does not
accept as authoritative his historical
narrations. See Pol. v. 8, where, speak-
ing of the account which Ctesias gave of
the eifeminate Sardanapalus, Aristotle
adds, 6i άληθτ) τοΰτα οί μυ θ ο \o-
Ύ ον ντ ΐ S Xtyovaiv.
* See Plutarch (Vit. Artaxerx. c. 13,
et alibi). And compare Lucian, De
Conscribenda Histori;l (ii. 42 ; vol. iv,
p. 202), and Arrian (Exp. Alex. v. 4 •..
Writings. CHARGES OF THE PSEUDO-PLUTARCH.
63
were obtained by which to test the conflicting accounts of the
two writers. A comparison with the Jewish scrijjtures, 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, w^hicli 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 Avhole 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 inost 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 against liim.^ In no
^ It is surprising that tbe ancient
Christian chronologers did not at once
perceive how incompatible the scheme
of Ctesias is with Scriiiture. To a man
they adopt it, and then expend a vast
amount of ingenuity in tlie vain endea-
vour to reconcile \vhat is irreconcileable.
(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. ο9-1•3.)
^ Freret is almost the only modern of
real learning who has ventured to uphold
the paramount authority of Ctesias
(M^moires de I'Acad^mie des Inscrip-
tions, vol. V. pp. 351-6). Biihr (Pro-
legomen. ad Ctes. § 8, pp. 24-60) at-
tempts but a pai-tial defence, abating
greatly from the pretensions absurdly
preferred by H. Stephanus. (See the
' Disquisitio Historica de Ctesia' in this
wi'iter's edition of Herodotus.)
* The gi-eat Assyrian empire of Ctesias,
lasting for 1306 years, is a pure fiction ;
his list of monarchs from Ninus to Sar-
danapalus a forgery of the clumsiest
kind, made up of names in part Ariau,
in part geographic, in part Greek, pre-
senting but A single analogy to any name
found on the monuments, and in all
pri)bability 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 kno\\'n to the Greeks.
The monuments 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 consjiirators,
the place and manner of Cambyses'
death, the early sujiremacy 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, e. 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,
iu;t, 110).
^ See Bahr's Commentatio de Vit.
et Script. Herod. § 16 ; Dahlmauu'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,'
i^^J
fi4 TESTBIONIES TO THE HONESTY OF HERODOTUS. Life and
instance can lie be said to liave proved his case, or convicted
our author of a misstateu\ent ; in one only has he succeeded in
throwing• anv considerable doubt on the view taken bv 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 tlieir attacks on his veracity. Tlie deliberate
judgment of modern 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.
Mure, "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 he questioned that he was an essentially honest and veracious
historian. Such he has been admitted to be by the more im-
partial judges both of his OAvn and subsequent periods of ancient
literature, and by the all but unanimous verdict of the modern
public. Rigid, in fact, as has been the scrutiny to Avhich 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 nourishinn; α
is a condensation of these calumnies; connexion witli tho battle of Thermo-
for as such they have been recognised hij pylaj. See Pint, de Alalign. Herod, pp.
the intelUijeut public of every atje i-emoved 805-6, and compare Grote's Greece, vol.
from the prejudices in which they ori- v. pp. Γ2•_'-:5. See also the foot-notes to
ginate." book vii. chs. 205 and 'J22.
' Tlie matter to whicli all u.sion is here - Mure's Lit. of Greece, vol, iv. p.
made, is tho conduct of the Thebans iu 351.
Writings. HIS IMPAETIALITY. 65
special prejudice against the Thebans because they had 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 Bosotian
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
Avithout 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 Avar, 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
^ Quoting Aristophanes of Boeotia as * Herod, ix. 6S. ' Ibid. chs. G7 and G9.
his authority, p. SG-t D. ^ Ibid. chs. 8υ-8. ^ Ibid. v. 75.
■• Dio Chrysost. Orat. xxxvii. p. 456. *" Ibid. v. 92. " Ibid. vi. 108.
5 See Plut. de Malign. Herod, p. Sti'i, 12 jbid. eh. 89. " i|jij_ yju 1 ^nd 43.
Α., where tlie A\Titer speaks of the charge '^ Έν πρωτοΐσι rrjs ναυμαχίηε, viii. 94.
as one commonly made. i^ Ibid. ix. 26.
VOL. I. F
6i) HIS LEANING TOWAEDS ATHENS, Life aitd
absent from the battle, they are mentioned among those Avho
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 tlu^ list of tliose
who most distinguished themselves. ''' The only discredit which
attaches to the Corinthians in connexion with the war regards
th(i 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-
Avill therefore fall to the ground Avhen tested by a general
examination of the Avhole work of Herodotus, and it does not
appear that he is fairly taxable Avith " 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 shoAv of justice, and Avhich 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 dis})lays 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 ho 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
'® Herod, ch. 69. ^^ Ibid. cli. 1(»5. sisted Megabazus (v. 2); the loniana
^^ Ibid. viii. 5, 59, Gl. again, assisted by a few Athenians and
' See V. 79 ; vi. 112 ; vii. 139 ; A'iii. 10, Eretrians, met the Persians in open fight
109, 143, 144 ; ix. 22, 27-8, 70, &c. at Ephcsus (v. 102) ; the Cyprian Greeks
* Suprk, p. 18. •' Ibid. p. l.'>, fought a Persian army near Salamis (v.
'' Herod, vi. 112. It is certainly un- 110,113); the Milesians Λvere engaged a-
ti-ue to say of the Athenians at Marathon gainst another in Cai'ia (v. 12()j; and a
that they " were the first of the Greeks hard battle was fought between a strong
who dared to look upon the Median garb, body of Persians and an army of Ionian
and to face men clad in that f.vshion." and iEoliau Greeks near Atarneus (vi.
The Ionian Greeks fought Vn-avely against 28, 29j.
Harpagus (i. 109;; the Perinthians re-
AVritings. not a blind PARTIZANSHIP. 67
iiwourably disposed towards the Athenians, he was no blind or
undiscriminating 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
Demus 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 fm-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 Irom 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, therelbre, 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 Avhich he felt to be, and which really Avas, their
due. A single hyperbolical expression, Avhich his own work
aifords the means of correcting, cannot be allowed to weigh in
the balance against the general evidence of candour and faii-ness
furnished by his narrative.
* Herod, i. G2. « Ibid. ch. GO. » Ibid. vii. 133, ω Ibid. vi. 86.
"> Ibid. V. 97. " Ibid. viii. 94. ^ Ibid. viii. 4, 11 1, H2.
* Ibid. vi. 109: comp. 124. " Ibid. v. 66 and 69. '•» Ibid. vi. 133,
Γ 2
68 JUSTICE TO THE PEESIANS. Life and
Before taking leave of this subject, it seems right to notice
two special instances, where the candour of Herodotus is A^ery
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
Avhich only succeeded in throwing off the Persian yoke after he
was grown to manliood, 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, wliich, 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 Avise customs
and laws,^ are spoken of Avith 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 owm 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 spirit. Of course the defects of the nation iind its
chiefs are also recorded; but there is every appearance of an
honest intention to give tlumi full credit for every merit which
they possessed, and the portraiture is altogether about the most
^ Herod, vi. ΙΙΓ!; viii. 100, 113; ix. 62, oi"E\\rives, καϊ ουκ ϊχοντΐί πληθίΐ χρν-
102, &e. σασθα,ί ίνϋ. '211). ό Ξίρξεω ffTpaThs vnh
'^ 11)1(1. i. 71 ; ix. 122. μί'γάθ€0$ re καΐ πλήθίοϊ αύτοϊ ύπ' ίαυτοΰ
3 Ibid. i. 13(3, 138. (πιπτΐ, ταρασσομΐνίων τί τώ// νΐων καΧ
■* Ibid. viii. 99 ; comp. iii. 128, 154, 155 ; ττΐρίπίπτουσίωΐ' τηρΐ άλλήλαϊ (viii. 16 I.
vii. 107, aud viii. 118, where the self- των μ\ν ΈλλΊ}νων συν κασμίρ ναυμα,χΐόν-
devotion, though not regarded as true, των κατά τάξιν, των δέ ού τ(τα•γμ(νων (τι
appears to be considered natural. (viii. 8<> ,. οί ΤΙ^ρσαι &νοπ\οι iovTts καΧ
* Ibid. i. 137, 138 ; iii. 154. irphs α.ν(ΊηστΊ]μον($ ήσαν (ix. 62.) Com-
' Ibid. i. 115; iii. 2, 74, 75, 128, 140, pare v. 49, whei-e 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. ή μάχ-η αυτών ^στϊ
"^ Ibid. ix. 62. \7)ματι μ(ν νυν καΐ τηι-ηδ^• τόζακα] αΙχμη βραχ(α, α.να^υρ15α$
ρύμτι ουκ '4σσονί3 ^σαν οί Τΐίρσαι. 5e (χοντΐί άρχονται ^s τάϊ μάχα5 καϊ
^ Δόρασι βραχυτίροίσι χρ(ύ>μ(νοι, ^ττ(ρ κυρβασίαί «π! τι]σι ΚΐφαΚίϊσι.
AVritings. political DISPASSIONATENESS. 69
favourable 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 Aveight 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 Avas put down 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
tp-ant, 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 fair distribution of praise and blame among persons of dif-
ferent political sentiments, which might have been imitated
with ad\"antage by the modern writers who have treated of this
period of history. Herodotus can see and acknoAvledge the ex-
istence of faults in popular leaders,^ and of virtues in oligarchs,
9 Colonel Mure justly observes:— i Herod, vii. 99; viii. 68, 87, 88, 102,
" Perhaps the best vindication of the his- 103. - Supra, p. 12.
torian's fairness, in so far as regards the ^ See v. 78 ; vi. 5, &c.
Persians, is the fact, that while the most * These are Λ-ery strongly put in the
detailed account of that people which speech of Megabyzus (iii. 81), and are
we 2)ossess, and on which we are chiefly glanced at in the following passages: iii.
accustonjed to form our judgment of 142, 14:i; 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 ευνομία 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 Pisistratus (i. 59, ad fin.),
talent, and generosity, occupies or de- ^ As in Clisthenes (v. 06, 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 Telesai-chus, the Samiau democrat (^iii,
p. 435. 142).
70 FREEDOM FROM NATIONAL VANITY. Life and
or even despots." Ho does not regard it as his duty to wliite-
Avash the characters of the one,*^ or to bhxcken the memories of
the other. And the same disi:)assionateness appears in his
account of the conduct of states. The democratical Argos is
shown to have pursued a more selfish policy throughout the
Persian Avar 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 Avith the author in political opinions,
or to exaggerate or imagine defects in those of opposite views.^'
Herodotus also is, jor a Greek, peculiarly free from the defect
of national vanity. He does not consider his OAvn nation either
the oldest,^^ or the Avisest,'^ 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 percei\'e and acknoAAdedge
the special advantages, Avhether 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 poAverful 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 ;-" Arabia, and the other " extremities of the earth," the
strangest and most excellent commodities.^^ Wise laAA's are
noted as obtaining in Persia,^'^ Babylonia,-^ Egypt,^* Venetia 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), Histiaeus
Crius the Egiuetan (viii. 92, comi). vi. (iv. 137 ; v. 106 ; vi. 3, 26, 29), Cypselus
73), and Daiins himself, are specimens. (v. 92, § 5), Aristagoras (v. 37, 124),
8 It may be thouglit that the chapters Arcesilaus III. (iv. 164j, and Pheretima
in book vi. which liefend the Alcmajo- (iv. 202). But the fact that tyrants are
nidiC from the charge of having been in sometimes praised (i. 59 ; iii. 142 ; vii. 99,
leagne with the Persians at the time of &c.) seems to show that at least Hero-
the battle of Marathon (chs. 123-4) form dotus has no intoitmi of dealing unfairly
an attempt of this kind. But to take by this class of men.
this view we must presume their guilt, '- ilcrod. ii. 2. '•' Ibid. iii. 38.
which the arguments of Herodotus show '^ Ibid. v. 3.
to be most improbable. '■'' Ibid. iii. 10(3. Compare i. 142.
9 Herod, vii. 15U— 152; ix. 12. '" Ibid.i. 193. Compare iv. 198.
1» Ibid. vii. 181 ; viii. 91—93. " Ibid. iv. 46. •» Ibid. i. 93.
" If there is any exception to the gene- ''^ Ibid. iii. 20 and 22. Compare 114.
ral practice here noted, it is in the pic- ^ Ibid. iii. 106, and vii. 40.
turesgivenof Greek tyrants, which have "' Ibid. iii. 106-114.
tlie appearance of being somewhat over- — l\>'ul. i. 136-7. ^ Ibid.i. 196-7.
drawn. See particularly the characters *' Ibid. ii. 177. ^'' Ibid. i. 196.
Writings. DEFECTS AS AN HISTORIAN". 71
inventions of importance are attributed to the Lydians,^ the
Carians,^ the Babylonians,^ the Egyptians,'* and the wikl races
of northern Africa f the adoption of customs, hxws, and in\'en-
tions from other countries by the Greeks is freely admitted ;''
the inferiority of their great works and buildings to those of
Egypt receives pointed comment ;^ their skill as Avorkmen, as
sailors, and as builders of ships, is placed in unfavoiu-able com-
parison with that of the Phoenicians, 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
\vOrk as a record of facts, and form in strictness of speech his
defects as cm Jdstorian. 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, Avhich 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 imjjortance 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
> Herod, i. 94, 2 ibid. i. 171. ' Ibid. ii. 148.
s Ibid. ii. 109. » Ibid. vii. '2:5, 44, and 99.
■* Ibid. ii. 4, 82, 109, &c. ; iv. 180. " Mure's Literature of Greece, vol. iv.
5 Ibid. iv. 189. p. :554.
« Ibid. i. 171; ii. 4, 50, 58, 109, &c. ; ^^ Ibid. pp. 352 and 409, 410.
iv. 180, 189; and v. 58.
72 CREDULITY IN EELIGION— rRODIGIES. Life akd
be the better historian or the safer guide for the fact that hii»
contemporaries cither 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 liis ΟΛνη.^ But
this question does not afiect the historical value of his work,
Avhich 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 m the occasional appearance of the gods on
earth in a human form. He likcAvise 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 greatness
and prosperous fortune. How do these two lines of belief affect
his general narrative, and how ftir do tlicy 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 Ave like, be
simply put aside Avhen 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
Avhich Livy so copiously relates, even in his later books,'- inter-
fere Avitlr his. They may offend the taste of the modern reader
1 Col. Mure represents Herodotus as Pericles and Auaxagoras are undoubted-
"in all essential respects" a coutempo- ly his "older contemporaries," but their
rary of Thucydides (p. 301), and even of minds wei'e formed at Athens, not at Ha-
Aristophanes (p. ;553). This is unfair, licarnassus. In the rapid development
Thucydides probably outlived Herodotus of Greek mental life after the repulse of
some 25 or 3(» years, and wrote his His- Xerxes, Atlions took the lead, and soon
tory towards the close of his life — ^after shot far ahead of every otlicr state; while
B.C. 4(j4:. (See Thucyd. i. 21-3; ii. 65; Halicarnassus, one of the outlying por-
sub fin. ; v. 26.) Aristophanes was born tions of the Grecian Λvorld, would be
after Hei'odotus had recited at Athens, among the last to receive the impxilse
in B.C. 444 probably (Schol. Ar. Han. propagated from a far-off centre. Ilero-
502, Arg. Eq.), and only began to exhibit dotus, however, \vas certainly behind,
about the time of our author's death 'in while Pericles and Auaxagoras were be-
li.C. 427, Herodotus dying probably in fore the age.
r..C. 425j. The.se writers belong therefore * Liv. xli. 13; xlii. 2, 20; xliii. 13
to the generatiot\ succcfdimj Herodotus, xlv. 15, &c.
Writings. OEACLES— DEEAMS. TS"
by their quaintness and " frivolity," ^ but they are in no way
interwoven with the narrative, so that it shoukl stand or fall with
them. Omit the swarming of the snakes in the suburbs of
Sardis, and the flocking of the horses from their j^astures to eat
them before the capture of that city, and the caj)ture 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 ch'cum-
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 j)rinciples.
Even if we are sceptical altogether as to the prophetic power of
the oracles,•* or as to any tUvine warning being given to the
heathen in dreams,' we may still believe that events haj^pened
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 ch'cumstance
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. Prtcp. Ev. books v. and vi. ;
temptuously of those "pious persons Clein. Ales. 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. Dicmou. Op. vi. p. 370, et
some wise pui-pose conceded by the true seqq. &c.)
God to the Delphic Apollo " (1. s. c.) ; ^ The dreams of Pharaoh, Abimelech,
but he brings no argument 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 — καϊ yap τ υναρ 4κ Aws (στιν.
filled to the present day. But no one ever II. i. 63— had a foundation in fact,
supposed that nil the oracles delivered ^ 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 iug the wooden wall and Salamis, 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 RATIONALISM. Life and
nimieiOUS, more ])iOminent, and more inexplicable on rational
grounds in the })ortion of the work which treats of remoter
times and less Avell 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 witli
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 Avhich 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 nnfair 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-
mautus from Salamis, though it includes the prodigy of a
phantom ship.'' He refuses credit to the story tliat Cyrus was
suckled by a bitch.^ His appetite for the supernatural is there-
fore not indiscriminate ; and perhaps if we possessed the complete
Avorks of his contemporaries we should find him far oftener
'' Mure, p. 360. ^ Herod, vii. 19L what might be called a rationalieing ten-
'' Ibid. viii. 94. Comp. v. Hi>. deucy are ii. 57 aud vii. 1-9 ad flu.
* Ibid, i, 122. Fiu'ther instances of
Writings. RELIGIOUS FEELINGS OP THE GREEKS. 75
than has been suspected preferring a less to a more marA^ellons
story.^
There is one other point of view in which the credulity of
Herodotus Avith 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
l)ortray 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 scejD-
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 tlie 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 pliilo-
sophical rationalism looks down with a calm contempt upon the
weakness and credulity of the multitude ? At any sate, is it i ipz^•
not a happy chance which has given us, in the persons of the ! '^-L^c
two earliest and most eminent of Greek historians, the two \
ojDposite 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
* It is not quite clear ΛvL•at soi-t of wonderful and supernatural plaj^ed a
"exaggerations "those were which caused more important pai-t 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. 497-509 ), and,
like the suckling by a bitch, which he probably, the history of the first Persian
expressly discredits. It is certain that expedition under Mardonins, as Charon
there were often accounts current among gave it. (Fr. 3; cf. suprk, p. 37.)
the 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 axd
to say that v,-e of later times gain more tlian we lose by tliis
characteristic of our author, which qualiiied him in an especial
way to be the historian of i^ period anterior to the rise of the
sceptical spirit, when a tone of mind congenial to his own was
prevalent throngliout the Hellenic world, and a belief in the
supernatural was among the causes which 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 Avhich, in the form and degree in
Avhich 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 accm-acy 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 ;* 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 j^refer that
one which ΛνουΜ 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 the recall and thereby to the alicna- calamity must be of the nature of a visi-
tion of Alcibiades — only to be explained tation (vi. 7Γ) ; vii. lo8, &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. 2"29-232, where this passage cases (vi. 72, 135).
of history is very jiroperly treated.) * Mure, p. 309.
■* Λ theory of Divuie retribution was *' Ibid. p. 370. "^ Ibid. p. 3G9.
common in Greece, but it \vas, limited to ** Col. Mure has brought forward four
the punishment in this life of signal acts examples of the distortion of histoi'y by
of impiety or other wickedness, in the Herodotus in furtherance of the Neme-
person of the offender or of his descend- siac theory — viz. : the cases of Ci'ccsus,
ants. (Cf. Herod, ii. 120, ad fin., and Cambyses, Oleomenes, and the Sjiartan
vi. 75, ad fin.; This line of thought is heralds, Nicolas and Ancristus. With
very strongly marked inyEschylus. The regard to the first, he dwells principally
peculiarity in the form of the Herodoteau 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 ligyptian to the
vii. 10, § 5, 6, and 40, ad fin.) He Porsiau 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 DISTOETED 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 sijecial visitation.^ Herodotus is not, therefore,
under any very strong temptation to Marp or bend history in
be preserved to us in Ctesias), because
its features, thougli highly improbable,
were retributiΛ'e (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 tliat 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 Cleomeues, 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 veugeance" (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. lu
such a case the mentio iinius cannot be
taken as implying the exclnsio 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 giΛ'enby Thucydides — viz.:
that Aneristus had himself been engaged
in -the cruelties which jjroduced 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 Croesus seems to be
the only one where history has really
been distorted to make 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 difJerent 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.
- Herod, vii. 133.
3 Ibid. i. 60, 159, 160 ; ii. 124-8; v. 63,
67; vi. 86, 91.
78 RETRIBUTIVE DESIGN OF THE EriSODES. Life and
accordance with the oxii^onces of Lis Noinesiac theory ; for that
theory does not oblige liini 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
ΟΛνη 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
I it to any other which the records of his own or of neighbouring
countries might have offered — was the pointed illustration which
,■ it furnished of greatness laid low— of a gradual progression to
' the highest pinnacle of glory and prosperous fortune, followed
by a most (ialamitous reverse.* And the principle which may
I 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 Ibrm 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 Crcesus, and of the histories of Cam-
byses, Polycratcs, Cleomenes, Oroetes," &c. ; hence the intro-
■» As in the case of the heralds, andiu Assyrian Monarcliy, would similarly
that of Croesus to some extent (see i. have comprised the rise of an enormoui-i
13, 91). power, and a still more complete over-
^ Herod, i. 32 ; iii. 40. 12Γ3 ; vii. 10, § 5. throw.
« Ibid. i. 8. 7 Ibid. ii. 133. " Herod, iii. 120-128.
* ilia other work, the history of the
Writings. MARVELS IN NATURE. 79
cliiction of such tales as those of Helen/ Glaiicus,^ Pythius,^
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 the
sphere of the narrative at all, find a place 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 wliich the circumstances of
the time justified, and to which the modern reader is greath'
beholden. In dealing Avith this class of subjects he was obliged
to lay down for himself some rule concerning the rej^orts which
he received from others ; and if he did not resolve to suppress
them entirely — a course of proceeding that all probably Avould
agree in. regretting — he could only choose between reporting
all alike, whether they seemed to him credible or incredible,
1 Hei'od. ii. 113-120. ^ Ibid. vi. 86. rations, but involve interesting notices
^ Ibid. vii. 27-"29, 38, 39. of real facts (see note on iv. 23). Occa-
< Ibid. ix. 11ΰ-12ΰ. sionally Col. Mure helps his ai'gument
* 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 Platrea, "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 " (p. 379) ;
existence of men without names in West- Herodotus having m fact mentioned a
ern Africa (iv. 184), the two singular skull without sutures, i.e., one in which
bi'eeds of sheep in Arabia, with the con- the sutures did not appear ; and also, as
trivance for preserving the long tails of a separate marvel, two jaws, an upper
the one kind from injury (iii. 113), the and an under, whei-ein the teeth, inci-
fact of a race dwelling upon scaffoldings sors, and grinders [Ύομφίοι, "grinders,"
in the middle of lake Prasias, and living not "gams " ) were joined together and
upon fish (v. Ki), the existence of a bald formed but a single bone, which is a
race bej'ond Scythia (iv. 23), the pecu- possible restdt of ossification. This is
liar form of cannibalism ascribed to the perhaps the grossest instance of the kind;
Massagetas (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 bushj" hcitnls," when this is only a pns-
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 loc.)
δΟ EXTRAOEDINARY EEPORTS OFTEN DISBELIEVED. Life akd
and making his own notion of tlicir credibility tlio 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 descri[)tions. 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 laud, and knew that there was little likeliliood 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 it." 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 nothinir but what ho
^ As the productiveness of Babylouia, but only reporting what is said — as in
and the size to which plants grew there iv. 9fi — -irepi μ^ν τούτου οΰτΐ απιστίω
[i. 193). οϋτΐ ών πιστίύω τι λίην. iv. 173. λί'γίο
^ See book νϋ. ch. 152. Se ταΰτα τά λί-γουσι Αίβυΐ$. iv. 1115.
^ As in ϋ. 28, 5(5, 57, 131 ; iii. 115, 110; ταΰτα et yueV 4στι οληθεαυ ουκ οΊ5α, τά
iv. 25, 31, 32, 3G, 42, 105; ν. 10; and Se \iyeTai Ύράψω. We are not therefore
by an innuendo, in iv. lyl. entitled to assume, when Herodotus
* As in his account of the Phoenix makes a statement without any special
(ii. 73), of the bald men (iv. 23-5), of intimation of a doubt of its accuracy,
the collection of ladauum from the beards that "he believed it himself and iu-
of goats (iii. 112), of the sweet scent tended it to be believed by others"
that is Avafted 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 tlie extraordinary skidl and jaws mark by very nice shades the degree of
foimd on the field of Platsea (ix. 83). credence wliich he claims for his dif-
' See i. 140, 202; ii. 32,33.75; iii. 20, ferent statements. AVhere he believes,
23, 1U4-.5, 108-9, 111 ; iv. ϋΙ\ llO, 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 sr/ic/,• Avhere he
reminds us in the middle of an account disbelieves, he calls the statement iu
that he is neither affirming nor denying, question.
Writings. CIECUMNAl^GATION OF AFRICA. 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
pages, 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 Avhich 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 commochty was brought to Greece,*
nor any sufficient evidence of a sea Avashing Europe upon the
north, from which amber was obtained;* so that had he adopted
the canon of exclusion which his critics prefer, we should have
been vrithout the earliest mention Avhich 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
autlior by untruthful persons or humourists,'' would have com-
pensated for the loss of these important scraps of knowledge
* As for instance the entire account Hill, the answer might probably be, that
in the second book of the intei'ior of it recorded the number of quarts of por-
Afi-ica, containing notices perhaps of the ter and pipes of tobacco consumed by
Niger and of Timbuctoo (chs. oU-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. 1158-196.) statement. Herodotus however seems,
^ Herod, iv. 42. eXf-you (μοί μ(ν ου in the -jMrallel case, to have believed hia
πίστα, &\\φ Se δη τ€ω, iis τΐρι•πΚώοντΐ$ informants implicitly," &i,c. This is to
Tr)v Αιβύ-ην rhu τ}λιοΐ' ίσχον is τα Se^ia. 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 fereut minds; but to me, I confess it
Herodotus of the inscription on one of does not seem at all out of keepino- 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-
a^d radishes consiuned by the labourers mated by the quantity of food consumed
employed in the erection of the monu- by those engaged on it, or that this es-
uient.' Were a foreigner, ignorant of timate should be recorded on the work
the English tongue, to ask the meaning itself. Herodotus, it should be boine
of the inscription on the London Monu- in mind, does not say that this was the
ment, of some humourist of Fish-street only inscription.
VOL. L G
82 EHETOEICAL EXAGGERATIOXS. Life and
wliicli we only obtain through his liabit 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 {εύηθβίο) 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 na'iveto 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 IMarathon 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, bocauie " master
of tlie wliole of Asia" ^ and that in tlie sixth, that if the lonians
had destroyed the Persian fleet at the battle of Lado, Darius
could have brought against them " another five times as great" ^
To the same quality perhaps may be ascribed the readiness
with which Herodotus accepts from his informants extravagant
computations of numbers, size, duration, dec.,* as well as impro-
' "RepuW. iii. § 10. 3 Chap. 13.
® Herod, vi. 112. " Ibid. viii. 132. •* As the size of the army of Xerxes
* Mure's Lit. of Greece, iv. pp. 403-0. ivii. 184-7 ; see note ad loc. i, the mim-
* Chap. 130 ad fin. ; cf. ix. 122. ber of cities iu Egypt iu the reigu of
vVeitings.
ANECDOTICAL DETAILS.
83
bable statements with regard to regularity^ and completeness,
the 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 Avhich 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
character 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
Araasis ''ii. 177), the height of the walls
of Babylon (i. 178; see notepad loc.)
aud of the pyramids (ii. 12-1, 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 direct 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 years fii. 142;, and the
unbroken hereditary descent of the lat-
ter (ii. 14o), the occurrence of salt-hills
and springs of water at intervals of exact-
ly 10 days' jovirney along the whole sandy
belt extending from Egyptian Thebes
to the west coast of Africa 'iv. 181),
the wonderful producti\'eness of all the
world's extremities fiii. ΙΟ(ί-ΙΙβ), &c.
^ The entire freedom of the Greeks be-
fore Croesus (i. 6), the complete destruc-
tion of the Samians by Otaues (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
fiv. 46), and the extreme simplicity of
the Persians before they conc|uered the
Lydians (i. 71 j, 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 Dorians by Croesus (i. 14-16).
The prominent part played by the Sa-
mians in the Ionian revolt (vi. 8-15) is
incomi3atible with their extermination
by Otaues. The non-existence of priest-
esses in Egypt• — one of the points of con-
trast between that country aud Greece —
is contradicted expressly (i. 182 and ii.
54'). It appears from the description of
Babylon (i. 178-180) that the great Avail,
though gaps may have been broken in
it, was still standing when Herodotus
wi'ote. That all the islanders did not
submit to Cyrus is apparent from the
history of Polycrates (iii. 44). The re-
duction of the Scj'thians by Sesostris is
expressly asserted in book ii. (chs. 103
and 110). That the Persians began to
lay aside their simple habits as soon as
they conquered the Medes is implied in
book L oh. 126.
G 2
84 VALUE OF THE ANECDOTES. Life and
allow. Perhaps the aneedotical element may be justly rejiarded
as over largely developed iu the work, especially if we compare
it w'itli other histories ; but we must remember that in the time
of Herodotus the iiekl οϊ litei-ature had not been partitioned out
according to our modern notions. History in our sense, bio-
gra})hy, travels, memoirs, &c., had not then been recognised as
distinct from one another, and the term Ιστορία, or " research,"
equally comprehended them all. Nor is it easy to see where
the knife could liave been applied, and the narrative pruned
down and stripped of aneedotical details, without the suppression
of something that we could ill liave 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 third and fifth books,** the accounts of Cyrene
and iJarca 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 vahie 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. ΓΙΟΙ. that Herodotus Λνη» not WTiting the his-
8 Herod, iii. 49-53 ; v. 92. Comp. tory of Greece, but the history of a
j. 2IS-4. particular war. We had no "right to
** Ibid. iv. 145-205. expect " anything from him but what
1 Ibid. i. 30-3.3. 2 Jbid. i. 60-08. possessed a direct bearing upon tha
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,
Boinething more valualile in the place of but has an epic character ; it has a unity
what he has actuallj^ given — as, iov in- amid its episodes, which are retarding
stance, the real history of Corinth imder motives," — delaying yet helping the
the Cypselida; instead of the anecdotes main story. (See Niebuhr's Lectures
concerning Periander (pp. 292-3), the on Ancient History, vol. i. p. 108. E. T.)
legislation of Solon in lieu of his.dis- < The stories of Periander and P«dy-
coiu'se with Croesus (pp. 394-5;, the crates give us the portrait of the Greek
Messenian wars in the jilace of the strug- tyrant in his worst, and in his internie-
gle with Tegea i^p. 397, note,, &c. 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 strike the rea-
all the " more important facts of their der as strange and exaggerated,
history" fp. 391;. But this is to forget
Wettings. THE CRITICAL SCHOOL— THUCYDIDES. 85
keep up 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 ej)isodes. The fragment of
the life of Solon is no doubt in some degree legendary, but he
must be a stern critic Avho would have the heart to desire its re-
trenchment, seeing that with it must have disappeared almost the
whole story of Crcesus, the most beautiful and touching in the
entire History. The wars of Sparta Avitli 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, the
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 ventui-es to dissent at all,
* See above, page 79. the course of colonisatiou, and forcing
« Especially upon the leading part the growth of colonies,
taken by the Delphic oracle in dii-ectiug
86 THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL— HEEODOTUS. : Life and
dissents witli the utmost diffidence. The opinions of Herodotus
have^Tcte such weight. They are views which an inteUigent man
living in the fifth centur}' b. c. might entertain, and as such
they are entitled to attentive consideration, but they have no
binding authority. Herodotus belongs distinctly to the Ilomantie
School : Avith 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
dav on account of his full belief in the popular mythology, wliich
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 dehvered 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
thiOuo-h Thucydides and his school ; we miss those habits of
accm-acy which we ha\^ learnt to regard as among the primary
qualifications of the historical Avriter; w^e 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 Avhcnce great events proceed, which com-
municates, according to modern notions, its soul to history,
makin^i• it a hving and speaking monitor mstead of a mere
pictured image of bygone times and circumstances.
The principal discrepancies, contracUctions, &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-
* For acknowledgments on this head and 410.
on the part of an adverse critic, see
Weitings.
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 tribute 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 which 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 Platiea.^° 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.
1" Ibid. iii. 90-9.5. See note ad loc.
" 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.
^ Ibid. viii. 43-48. See note ad loc.
" Ibid. i. 32. The double error — clear-
ly ai'ising from mere carelessness— whei'e-
by the solar year is made to average 375
days, is explained in the note on the
1* Ibid. ii. 142. The error here is but
slight, yet it is cuiious. 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 oOO 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 ; Λvhereίus 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.
20 Ibid. ix. 28, 29.
21 Supra, p. 83. Col. Mure adds to
these a number of discrepancies which
.ai'e more imaginary than real. (See Ap-
pendix J. to his 4th volume.) He con-
siders the statement that Crcesus was
" the person who first within the know-
ledge of Herodotus commenced aggres-
sions on the Greeks" (i. 5), as conflict-
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 Lj'dians, who probably dwelt
some way inland at that time. Again,
Col. Mure objects to the panegyric upon
the AlcmiBonidas for their consistent
hatred of tyrants (vi. 121), because
Megacles had on one occasion helped
Pisistratus to I'eturn (i. 61) ; but this is
at the utmost a slight rhetorical exagge-
ration. The Alcmgeonidre, from the time
when Megacles broke with Pisistratus,
had been most consistent in their opjoo-
sition. (See i. 64 ; v. 62, 63, 66, &c.) He
also sees a contradiction between book v.
ch. 40, where Anaxandrides is said, in
maintaining two Λvives and two house-
holds at the same time, to have "done
an act Λ'ery contrary to Spaitan 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-
out 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 Ariston'^i
88
CARELESSNESS.
Life akd
reutly from more carelessness, are the discrepancies between liis
description of the size of Scythia, and his account of the expe-
dition of Darius ; -^ between his date for Psammetichus ^^ and his
estimate of TOO years from Anysis to Amyrtteus ; ^' between his
two accounts of the Tehnessian prodigy of the female beard ; -^
his two estimates of the length of the day's journey ; -"^ and his
two statements of the tinie that intervened between the first
and second exi)editiuns directed against Greece by Darius.-^
Eepetitions having an awkward and suspicious appearance are —
the warniugs given to Croesus by Sandanis,' and to Darius and
Xerxes by Artabanus ; ^ the similar prayers of QEobazus and of
Fythius, Avitli 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. Aristou never had two wives
at once.
■^ Herod, iv. 101-133. See note ou
book iv. ch. 133.
^ This date cannot be fixed cxacthj,
as Herodotu.s does not tell us in which
year of the reign of Cambyses he believes
him to have invaded Egypt. Assuming
however the year li.c. 525 for thi.s event,
and taking the years of the last six kings
from Herodotus, we obtain B.C. 071 or
is.c. <>7ii for the year of the accession of
Psammetichus — a date accordant with
the synchronism which made him con-
temporary with Cyaxares li. 105), and
agreeing nearly with the views of Ma-
uetho.
-■* Herod, ii. 140. According to thia
statement nearly 500 years intervene
between Anysis and Psammetichus. Yet
Anysis is contemporary Λvith Sabaco,
Avho puts to death Neco, the father of
Psanunetichus, and drives Psammeti-
chus himself into exile! (^See Herod,
ii. 152.)
2•"' Herod, i. 175, and viii. 104. Com-
pare note ^, page 28.
"-« Ibid. iv. lul, and v. 53. Thia, how-
ever, may be explained on the supposi-
tion that in v. 53 Herodotus is speaking
of the day's march of au army. (See
note ad loo.;
"^ 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" {δΐυτίρω
ereij the loss of the fleet of Mardonius
at Athos. In ch. 48 he says that after
the submission of the Thasians (μeτa
τϋΰτο) Dai'ius sent orders for the col-
lection of transports ; and in eh. 95
these oi"ders are said to have been given
"the year before" {τφ ττροτίρψ tTet)
the expedition of Datis. But towards
the end of the same chapter the disaster
at Athos is referred to the year inune-
didtcli/ preceding that expedition.
1 Herod, i. 71.
■■* Ibid. iv. 83, and vii. 10.
3 Ibid. iv. 84, and vii. 38, 39,
•» Ibid. i. 129, and vi. 07.
* Ibid. i. 153 ; and v. 73 and 105.
^ Col. Mure taxes Hei'odotus with
being even here "behind the spirit of
the age" (p. 417:, and refers to the
chronological works of Ilellauicus and
Charon as having mtroduced a "frame-
work on whicli the cotu'so of the national
history was adjusted." Put there is no
evidence to prove that either Cliaron or
Hellanicus made use of their clirDnulu-
gical schemen in their histories ; and the
latter is expressly taxed by Thucyilides
with inexactness in his assignment of
dates (i. 97 ;. Besides, it has been already
ehowu (.auprk, p. 34, note "; that liellaui^
Writings. LOOSE CHRONOLOGY. 89
which he lived, and one with which even Thiicydides is equally
taxable. It was not until Timseus introduced the reckoning by
Olympiads some generations after Herodotus, that Greek
chronology came to be put on a satisfactory 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 which 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 synchi-onisms in
any other way than by means of popular 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 κακών 7)v), 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. o7, H8). mencement of the Scythian monarchy is
' See Herod, ii. 53, and 145. A nearer made to depend (iv. 7). The only chro-
apprcach to exactness is made when the nology which is exact and continuous is
time of his visit to a country is assumed the Medo-Pei-sian. We may count back
as the epoch from which to calculate from the siege of Sestos to the fii-st j-ear
(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 iucom- years before that event, or B.C. 70S.
plete from his omitting to state in which ^ As those of Cyaxares with Alj'attes
year of Cyrus Sardis was taken. The (i. 73-4), and of both with Psammetichus
Assyrian fails from 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 Labyuetus (Nabuuahitj with Croesus
dian: we are not told in which year of (i. 77), &o.
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 Pisistratvis on the throne of Athens (i.
estimate by generations. The Scythian 65), the apparently making Periander
is indefinite, since, from the vague \vay and A1c;bus couteniporaries Λvith Pisis-
in which the interval between the Thra- tratus and his son Hegesistratus f v. 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 iu Spai'ta
enokeii oi [ου ir oKKhv χρ όνον &ue- (i. 65;, &c•
90 OCCASIONS MADE INTO CAUSES. Life axd
stitiitioiial chanfies whose occurrence he is led to notice ;- hut
even Avith regard to the important liistorical vicissitudes which
form the special suhject of his narrative, he exhibits the same
inability to penetrate below the sur&ce, and to appreciate or
even to conceive ariglit 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 Avhich critical writers of history are Avont to
lav the chief stress in their accounts of Avars, rebellions, cou-
/\quests, and the like. The personal ambition of Cyrus is made
I 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-
j goras has become involved in difficulties.'* Through the Avhole
History there rims a similar vein : if Avar 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 roAvard a man who presented to him a scarlet cloak ; ^"
if the Lydians after their conquest by the Persians lose their
military spirit and groAV effeminate, it is oAving to Croesus having
advised Cyrus to give them the breeding of Avomen ; ^^ every-
where little reasons are alleged, Avliich, even if they existed,
Avould not be the causes of the events traced to them, but only
the occasions upon Avhich the real causes came into play.^^ The
tales, however, Avliich take the place of more philosopliical
inquiries are for the most part (it Avould seem) apocryphal,
] having been invented to account for the occurrences by those
ί who failed to trace them to any deeper source. From the
i same defect of insight extreme improbabilities are accepted by
I Herodotus without the slightest objection, and difficulties, from
being unperceived, are left unexplained. To give a single
instance of each : — Herodotus reports, apparently Avithout any
' See the notes on book i. ch. 65, ^^ Ibid. i. 155.
book iv. ch. 145, book v. chs. G7-9, and '- The statement of Aristotle concern-
book vi. chs. 43 and 83. ing internal troubles ajiplios \vith equal
•' Herod, i. 126-7. * Ibid. chs. 127-8. or greater force to war.s between nations:
'' Ibid. iii. 1. ^ Ibid. iii. 61. iK μικρών α\λ' ου irtpl μικρΰν — y'lyvovrai
' Ibid. iii. 134-5. « Ibid. v. 3.5-6. (Pol. v. 3, § 1. Comijare I'olyb. iii. 6, 7).
» Ibid. i. 73-4. '» Ibid. iii. 139.
\Vbitings. want of critical ACUMEN. 91
hesitation, the 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 " yomig 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 Avar
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.^v A similar inability
to appreciate difficulties appears in his account of the numbers
at Thermopylfe, 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 slaiu,•^ nor any ex-
^ See Herod, iii. 1, anclcompai'eii. 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 jnst. Almost as gi-oss an in- him a very young son.
stance of the same fault occurs in the his- ^ Herod, vi. 1()2.
tory of Myceriuus. Mycerinus succeeds ^ We are left to derive from another
his uncle, Chephren, who has reigned writer (Suidas ad voc. Xwf)\s lirnf7s ι the
56 years (ii. 127-8). He reigns happily information that Miltiades took advau-
for a certain indefinite time, during tage of the ab.'sence 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 4uu0 and .50ijO. Of
mines to falsify it by living twelve years these there came from the Peloponnese
in six. So he gives himself up to jollity, olO(i (vii. 2U2, 2U.'5). Yet the inscription
drinks 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 4u00 Peloponnesiaus (vii.
quite to have forgotten that Mycerinus 228). Again, the number slain in the
must have been sixti/ at the least, when last struggle is estimated at 4000 (viii.
he received the wai-ning, and would pro- 25); but only 300 Spartans and 700
92 GENERAL ΟΕΟΟΕΑΓΗΥ. Life and
planation offered of those circninstancos connected with the
conchict of the Thebans in the battk^ Avhich have provoked hostile
criticism both in ancient and modern times.^
There are certain other respects in Avhich Herodotus has
been regarded as exhibiting a want of critical acumtm, viz., in
his geographical and meteorological disquisitions, in his lin-
guistic eflbrts, and in liis treatment of the subject of mythology.'^
These may be touched with the utmost brevity, since his value
as an historian is but very slightly affected by the opinion Avhich
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 uj) to kis
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, how-
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.^ A\'ithin the
limits of his knoAvledge ke is, for tke 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 contom•
Thespians were previously spoken of as '' Mure, p. 424.
remaining (ν'ύ. '22•2,. These anomalies ^ Herod, iii. ]15, sub fin.; iv. 40, 45;
may perliaps admit of explanation; what v. 9.
is uspecially remarkable about them is, ^ Ibid. iv. 36.
that Herodotus seems utterly uueou- i" Ibid. ii. 16; iv. 45. The ?'W(r? used
scious of any difficulty. by Herodotus is, of course, not Africa,
* See I'lut. de Malign. Herod, ii. but Libya,
pp. 865, 866; Grote, Hist, of Greece, v. " Ibid", iv. 42.
pp. 122, 12:>; Mure's Lit. of Greece, iv. '- Ibid. iv. 40 and 45.
Appendix K., pp. 542-544. ':• Ibid. ii. 17 ; iv. :!9, ad fin.
^ See Colonel Mure's remarks, pp. " Ibid. ii. 17, and iv. 45.
424-4;JU,
Writings. METEOKOLOGY. 93
of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, tlie Black Sea, and the
Sea of Azof, is well understood by him,* as is the shape of
Greece, Italy, Asia IMinor, 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 AraxeSj^^ 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
knoAv, as the existence of the Persian Gulf, of the peninsula of
Hindustan, and of the sea of Aral, the size of the Palus
Maeotis,!^ ^^^ jj^ j^g descriptions of countries that he knows
he is graphic and striking,''^ not confining himself to the strictly
geographical features, but noting also geological peculiarities,
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
I Herod, iv. 85, 86. (iv. 52), and the Don or Tanais (iv. 57).
* Ibid. i. 202, ad fin. ; iv. 42-44, '^ ggg QQ^g q^ i^qq]. j_ ^γ^^ 202.
3 Ibid. i. 203. » Herod, iv. 54-50. is ι^{^ι_ j^ «g^
* Ibid. ii. 17, 29-31. iR Take, for instance, the description
* Ibid. ii. 33; iv. 47-49, of Thessaly in book vii. (oh. 129), or that
6 Ibid. i. 6, 72. of Egypt in bouk ii. (chs. 6-12).
'' Ibid. i. 189, 193; v. 20. i7 Herod, ii. 7, 10, 12; iv. 47, 191,198.
*• Ibid. i. 180. » Ibid. iv. 44. is Comp. Strab. ii, p. 160.
10 Ibid. iv. 53. " Ibid. iv. 51-2. i» Herod, ii. 24-5, 20 ibj(^_ ]_ ^^
^ As the Pruth (iv. 48 j, the Bug ^i Lqc. cit. 22 ch. 27,
94 MYTHOLOGY. Life AND
in tlic physical spociilatious of our author, ^γhich evince an in-
quiring mind and one that Avent to nature itself for arguments
and analogies/ than in the physico-metaphysical theories of the
Ionic School, Avhieh 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 on-
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 line
between the mythological age and the historical,^ and confined
his narrative almost entirely to the latter, thereby offering a
strong contrast to the writers who had preceded him, since in
their works mythology either took the place of history,* or at
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 master
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, thougli 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 Ma-ander, and of
bringing the earth into its actual coudi- the Acheloiis (ii. 10 ; see note ad loc).
tiou (ii. ."), 10; vii. 120, ad fin.). He His notice of the /JΛ^Vc^^■cιίί. of the Delta
regards the changes as having occupied from the general line of the African
enormous jieriods of time — tens of thou- coast, as a pi-oof of its recent origin
sands of years (ii. 11, ad fin.). His (ii. 11), is also sound in principle,
whole reasoning concerning the forma- ^ See especially iii. 1 22 ; 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 wh\ch
accordance with tlie principles laid down he was well aware (ii. 4.5, 4t), 144-5, imd
by Sir C. I.ycll ; and in his anticipations 15•)), from the history of Egypt.
of what would happen if the Nile Avere '' Vide suprii. p. 'M.
made to empty itself into the head of * See Thucyd. i. 21.
the Red Sea that geologist would, it is " Suprh,, 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 Tem])C, monarchs (vi. 98;.
would siiiiilaily be admitted. Herodo- ^ See the use made by Grimm of He-
tus again is quite con-ect in his remarks rodotus's Scythian words in hia History
Writings. MEEITS AS A WEITER. 95
the etymology of Greek words be very rarely touches ; in such
cases his criticism seems neither better nor worse tlian 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 theii- 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-
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, Avhile, at the same time, atten-
tion will be dra^^^l 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 German Language, vol. i. pp. charm of his style, by the truthfulness
218-237. of intention and amiability of temper
^ Herodotus derives Qehs from τίθημι 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 Θ4(ύ (Cratyl. p. fective portions of his narrative, they
397, C), and is plausible, though proba- are led to place his vfork and himself,
bly wrong. (See note ad loc.) His de- in regard to the higher qualifications of
rivation of alyls from α,Ίξ fiv. 189), on the historian, on the same level with
the other hand, is correct'euough. What that occupied by Thucydides." (Lit. of
he means by deriving the names of the Greece, vol. iv. p. 3oo.j
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 Thuwi), and of Athena Quinctilian. Inst. Orat. IX. iv. 19, and
and Hephiestus, which may have been X. i. 73; Lucian. Herod. 1, vol. iv.
formed from Neith and Phtha, there p. 116; Athen. Deipn. iii. 15, p. 309;
Beems to be no real connexion. Schlegel's Lectures on the History of
1 Speaking of the bulk of modern Literature, vol. i. p. +4, E. T. ; Matthiie,
commentators on Herodotus, Col. Mure Manual of Greek and Roman Literature,
says: "Dazzled by the rich profusion p. 57, E. T. ; Mure's Literature of Greece,
of his historical facts, by the grandeur vol. iv. pp. 451-518.
of his histoz'ical combinations, by the
96 UNITY. Life and
finotlier. In few subjects is it so cliilicult to secure tliis 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
Avearisome and deficient in interest. Herodotus, by selecting
for the subject of hi§ work a special portion of the history of
Greece and confining himself to the narration of events having
a bearing, direct or indirect, U})on his main topic, has obtained a
unity of action suflicient to satisfy the most stringent demands
of art, equal, indeed, to that Avhicli characterises the master-
pieces of the imagination. Instead of undertaking the complex
and difficult task of waiting 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, the invasion of Eurojoe 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, would 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 coiu-se of rivalry
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 work, though not finished throughout,
is concluded ; ^ and its termination with the return of the Greek
^ See Niebuhr's Lectures on Ancient ^ It is astonishing to find an author
History, vol. i. p. 1<>7, E. T. ; Dahl- of Dahhnann's discernment maintaining
mann's Life of Herodotus, eh. vii. § 1 that the extant work of Herodotus is an
(p. 102, E. T.) ; Mure's Literature of "uncompleted performance;" that he
Greece, 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 Telopomiesian war,
^ As of the Teucrian and Mysian ex- had his life been extended " (Life, l.s. c).
pedition (vii. 2Uj, and of the Ionian co- He admits that the " imconipleted per-
lonisation (i. 14(3; vii. 94). formance " has "all the value of a work
'' As of the incursions of the Treres, ofart. rotnidedoffin all its parts, and con-
and the Cinimerian ravages preceding eluded Λvith thouglitful deliberation;"
their grand attack. (See the Critical but attcmjits no account of the happy
Essays appended to this Book, Essay i.) chance which has given this perfection
Writings. OBJECT OF HIS WORK. 97
fleet from Sestos, distinctly shows that it was not his object to
trace the entire history of the Grfeco-Persian struggle, since that
struggle continued for thirty years afterwards with scarcely any
intermission, until the arrangement known as the Peace of -,
CalKas. The real intention of Herodotus was to write the his- ^
tory of the Persian War of Invasion — the contest which com- /;>'
meuced 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 appreciation of t]:e
greatness of the contest and the glory gained by those Avith
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, whether 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 ;^ thereby
to a mere fragment. Col. Mure, on the Carthage. In the latter case there is
other hand, has some just remarks (p. sufBcient reason for his silence, but his
468 J 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 Phcenicia or of
VOL. I. Η
98 AMOUNT OF EPISODICAL MATTER. Life and
giving a grandeur and breadth to his work, which phxccs 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 hap[)ily 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 γ• 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 theii' 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 Λvork 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 injm'e
the imity 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 caye 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 history, if they were
Mr. Grote. not connected naturally with his narra-
- See, among others, Dahlmann (Life tive, and also in his treatment of the histo-
of Herod, p. 1•)4), Niebuhr (Lectures ries of countries upon which his subject
on Ancient History, vol. i. p. 108), 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. 4(30,461.
458-402;. To the former head may bo referred the
^ Vide supra, p. 23. omission of any history of Carthage.
Writings. MANAGEMENT OF THE EPISODES. 99
has prevented tliem 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 Ehanipsinitus,
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 Booklll.,'^ 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 VII.,'^ 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 Gyrene 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. Artaj-ctes, the letter of Demaratus, and
•" Ch. 121. " Mure, p. 464. the anecdote of Cj'r us. Something might
^ Ch. 197. 12 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. 468, 469. difiBculty (admitted by Col. Mure, γ). 464,
'* Herod, iv. 37 et seq. note ^) under which ancient authors lay,
*^ Ibid. ch. 117. from the non-existence in their time of
" Ibid. ix. luS-113. ^^ Ibid. ch. 120. such inventions as foot-notes and appen-
1^ Ibid. ch. 239. ^ Ibid. ix. 122. dices, would be sufficient to excuse a far
21 Five cases are of this extreme bre- more numerous list of a])parently frivo-
vity, viz., the legend of Athamas, the lous or ill-placed digressions.
Η 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 Avith the internal politics of Cyrene,
some sketch of the previous history of that State was indis-
pensable. With regard to the intrinsic interest of the episode,
opinions may yary.^ 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
Cyrene, 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 w^e 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 liis 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 Pelasrjian (ch. I'U); the constitution
2 To me the narrative appears to pre- Λvhich that legislator devised (ibid.);
sent several points of very great interest, and the transplantation of the captured
I have elsewhere noticed the important Barcicans to the I'cmote Bactria 'ch. 204).
light that it throws upon the influence ^ η^\^^ 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-
friendliuess, and subsequent hostility tory, vol. i. p. 168, note.
of the natives (chs. 158 and 159/; the ' Ibid. loo. cit.
calling in of a foreign legislator, and him
Writings. UNIVERSAL GEOGEAPHY. 101
designs. As Dalilmann 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 wliich 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 Cyreue 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
^ Life of Herodotus, eh. vii. § 6, '' Mure, p. 4(53. s i^j^j^ p_ 455^
P• 123. 9 Mure, p. 68. 1 Ibid! p! 463*.
102 AMOURS OF XERXES. Life and
found for introchicing the description without violence in any of
the earlier books than is furnished by the inquiry concerning
the existence of Hyperboreans, to which tlie 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 till 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 Ehampsinitus, 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, Avould certainly offend a
cultivated taste if it occurred in a history of the Critical School ;
but in one which belongs so decidedly to the Romantic School
it may λυοΙΙ 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. 'SapSecri (iiv &pa [Hepl''?^] ^P"• '''V^ ΜασΙ-
' Ibid. p. 4.'j2. στίω ywaiKOs.
-« Herod, ix. 108. Tore δί iv rijai ■' Ibid. oh. 107. ^ Mure, p. 4G4.
Writings. CHARACTER-DEAWING. 103
names and deeds, the dullest form in wliich 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 stand 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 Avhich 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, oh. ix. p. 164. an accumulation of the most grievous
E. T. injuries to goad a Persian into i-evolt
8 Herod, i. 127, 141 ; vi. 1; 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
who is tlius shown, even in what niiglit seem to be the mere
ornamental portion of bis work, to have confined himself to a
representaticm of actual 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 Avhicli 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 witli 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 unsparing 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. Gorman.), and the iSpa- ix. 71, and i. 82 ad fin.)
niards. * Ilcrud. v. 71 ; vii. 133, 137, ad fin.
3 Herod, iii. 4G ; vii. 226; ix. 91. '■* Comp. v. 97, 103, with vi. 21 ; and
* Ibid. i. 152; vi. ΙΟΰ ; viii. 4, 63; vi. 132 with 136.
ix. 6-8, 46-7. 1 Ibid. i. 143.
* Ibid. vi. 79, 108 ; ix. 10. ^ Tlie Athenians are rarely successful
* Ibid. iii. 148; v. 51; vi. 72; ix. 82. Λvheu they act merely on the defensive —
Writings. ATHENIAN CHAEACTEE. 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 spii-it 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 show, 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 Avere trying, and the resolve
not to accept aid at the sacrifice of their independence was
worthy of their high sj^irit 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 tliese three — who play the
principal parts in hisrs;^r^:^Herudotus has succeeded best with
the varieties of bail^rism existing upon the outskirts of the
civilised world, and least ΛνοΠ 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 portraitm-e 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 wdld 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 gi-eat slaughter * Ibid. viii. 59, 125. * Ibid. vi. 35.
when attacked by the Eginetans on one ^ Note the frequent mention of their
occasion iv. 85-7 j; 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, li)3, l'J2, 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; %-iii. 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 akd
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 Tausanias, the Athenian statesmen and generals,
Themistocles and Aristides, the tyrants Periander, Polycrates,
Pisistratus, and Histia-us the Milesian, Amasis the Egyptian
king, and Crwsus 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
Achaimenian 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, strougiy 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 Avell as cruel
and selfish, fickle, timid, licentious, luxurious, easily worked on
by courtiers and women, su^ierstitious, vainglorious, destitute of
all real magnanimity, only upon occasion ostentatiously parading
a generous act Λvhen 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. Mure says that "the general so many revolts (i. 130; iii. 150-160; of.
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 militai-y
the king who added to tlie empire the talent.
Indian satrapy (Herod, iv. 44), the Cher- ^ Herod, iii. 140, 160 ; iv. 143 ; v. 11;
sonese ( vi. 3:i ,, great part of Thrace (iv. vi. 30.
93; V. 10 J, Piconia (v. 15), Macedon !* Ibid. vi. 20, 119.
(vi. 44), and the Greek islands ^iii. 149; * Ibid. iii. 119, 128, 159; iv. 84, 1G6;
V. 26-7 ; vi. 49 i, cannot be considered to v. 25.
have disregarded the enlargement of his * Ibid. vii. 29, 13G.
empii'e ; and the successful subducr of
Writings. THEMISTOCLES— ARISTIDES. 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 exliibited, 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 eifort 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 Avhich 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 two 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 faitliful fi-iend, 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. Λ'ίϋ. 78-9. rupting influence 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 CRCESUS— 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
unhappy 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-
inf towards the Greeks ; he is also, like him, prosperous, and
distinguished for liberality and magnificence f 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 ηοΛν station the same love
of good living and delight in ΙοΛν and vulgar pleasantry v--hich
had signalised the early portion of his career. This last feature,
Λvhicll 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 Polycrates•* strongly marks this fact,
whicli in the mind of Herodotus Avould serve to account for the
continued and unchequcrcd prosperity of the Egyptian king —
so different from the terrible reverse which befell the too con-
fident Lydian.
• Herod, i. 50-2, 54; vi. 125. ^ Ibid. ii. 177, 182 ad fin.
2 Ibid. ii. 175-6, 18u, 182. •• Herod, iii. 40.
Writings. FEMALE CHAEACTER— 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 with a defiant, almost Avith 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 Gorgo 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 political in- course of his narrative. (See ii. 2, 101;
fluence and connexion with Pericles is iv. loo ; 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. Gorgo's
sphere is the domestic circle, Artemisia's the Avorld. Artemisia
leads fleets, advises monarchs, fights battles, governs a king-
dom— Gorgo saves her father in the hour of temptation, and
becomes tlie fitting bride of the gallant and patriotic Leonidas.
Still neither character is a mere simjile 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
i^ historian. Herodotus never condescends to describe a character.
i His men and women act and speak for themselves, and thereby
i leave an impression of life and individuality on the reader's
\ mind, Avhich tlie most skilful word-painting would have failed of
ij 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 Avriters, 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 I'sammenitus
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 Lyco|)hrun silently and sadly enduring every-
thing rather than hold converse with a father who had slain his
^ Ilerod. vii. ad fin. ^ Mure, p. 500. » Ibid. iii. 14.
^ Ibid. iii. 119. » Ibid. iii. 50-3.
Weitings. TKAGIC POWER. Ill
mother, 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 degi-ee in the stories of
the siege of Xanthus,^ of Torayris,"* of (Eobazus,^ 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 " clever sayings " are
thought to be " not only devoid of true wit, but among the most
insipid of his anecdotical details." The correctness of tliis 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 occiu'rence : 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
Alcmseon'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. ^ ji^jj^ j^_ 108-113.
3 Herod, i. 17(3. ^ Ibid. i. 21'2-4. ^ Mure, p. 5oS.
* Ibid. iv. 84. ^ i\^i^ y^^ 39-40. ^ See the Symposium of Plato, suh fin.
112 THE LUDICROUS— THE HUMOROUS. Life and
first place packed as mucli as he could inside bis buskins be-
tween tliem and bis legs, after wbicb be filled tbe breast of bis
tunic quite full of gold, and then sprinkling some among bis
hair, and taking some likcAvise in bis mouth, came forth from
tbe treasure-bouse scarcely able to drag bis legs along, like any-
thing rather than a man, with bis mouth crammed full, and bis
bulk increased every way."- Tbe laughter of Croesus at the
sight is echoed by the reader, Λvho has presented to him a most
ridiculous image bit 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 tbe comic if
he bad confined himself to this single exhibition of it.
As a specimen of broad humour the instance here adduced is
probably tbe most striking that can be brought forward from
tbe pages of our author.^ But many anecdotes will be fomid
scattered through them, in which the same quality shows itself
in a more subdued and chastened form. It will Jbe 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,'' tbe quaint remark of Megacreon,^ the cool observation
of Dieneces, and the two answers given by the Spartans to tbe
envoys of Samos.^ Besides these anecdotical displays of a
humorous vein, Herodotus often shows bis sense of the comic in
bis descriptions of the manners and customs of barbarous na-
tions. A striking example is bis account of the Scythian mode
of sacrificing in the fourth book, where he concludes his notice
with tbe remark that " by this plan your ox is made to hoil him-
self, and other victims also to do tbe 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 tbe tract in which the huge serpents are found,
and tbe lions, the elephants, tbe bears, tbe aspicks, and tbe
horned asses. Here, too, are tbe dog-faced creatures, and the
creatures without beads, whom the Libyans declare to have
- Herod, vi. 1'25. story " insipid," but most readers are
3 Other instances of a broad and some- amused by the liglitheartedness which
whatcoarsehumouraretobefoundinthe could make a joke out of a cahunity.
story of Artaphernes' reply to Ilistiaius The other "good saying" with which
(vi. 1), and ol the message which Amasis he finds fault (that of Megabazus con-
sent to Apries by Patarbemis (ii. 1(32). cerning the site of Byzantium, iv. 144)
'Herod, vi. 129. * Ibid. i. 141. is not recorded by Herodotus as a witty,
^ Ibid. i. 27; vii. 162 ; and viii. Γ25. but as a judicious remark.
7 Ibid. vii. 120. Col. Mure finds this « Herod, vii. 226. " Ibid. iv. 61.
Wbitings. variety IN HIS NARRATIVE. 113
their eyes in their breasts, and also the Avild 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
εφί to become in most writers. Of this nature is his remark
when speaking of the Padasans, who put persons to death as
soon as they were attacked by any malady, to prevent their
flesh from spoiling, that " the man protests he is not ill in tJie
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 j)revents 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, naturahst, mythologer, moralist, anti-
quarian, he leads us from one subject to another, —
' From grave to gay, from lively to severe, -
never pursuing his main naiTative for any long time without
the introduction of some agreeable episodical matter, rarely
carrying an ejiisodical digression to such an extent as to be any
severe trial to our patience. Even as historian, the resj)ect 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, corn-tiers, 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 religious, graphic
descriptions of countries, elaborate portraitures of the extremes
of savage and civilised life, striking moral reflections, curious
antiquarian and philosophical disquisitions, legends, anecdotes,
^ Ibid. iv. 191. in the last chapter of book i., where the
2 Ibid. ill. 99. Compare the descrip- humour is iar more subdued, but still
tion of cannibalism among the Massagetae 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 Avithout 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 Eliampsinitus.* 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 i)0\vcr, 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 hist(jrical form, and then• 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
^ Herod, i. 8-12. ■• Ibid. i. 212-4. 80-2), must be excepted from this com-
* Ibid. vi. 75. ^ Ibid. iii. 75. mendation. Thuy are uot above the
^ Ibid. i. 45. * Ibid. i. 108-122. average of sophistical tiiemes on the
^ Ibid. ii. 121. ^0 Ibid. i. 24. subject, aud tliey are wholly unsuited
" Ibid. iv. 71-2. to the characters and ciruuuistances 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, aud monarchy respectively iii.
Writings. POWER OF PICTOEIAL DESCKIPTIOX. 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
descrij^tions 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. Gryges in the bed-
cliamber 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 pictiu-es 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,' tlie 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 Artybius,^" 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 Avhich
seems to require special notice, is his simplicity. The natural
flow of narrative and sentiment throughout his Avork, 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 iuit.
the temple of Belus at Babylon (i. 181), * Ibid. vi. 125. See the last page,
tlie pyramids (ii. 124, 127, 134), the '' Ibid. vi. 112.
labyrinth (ii. 148^, and the bridge of ^ Ibid. vii. 21l)-2 ; 223-5.
Xerxes (vii. 30,. " Ibid. iii. 78. i" Ibid. v. 111-2.
2 Herod, i. 9-10. ^ jbid. i. 24. " Ibid. viii. 87. ^ Ibid. ix. 22-3.
1-2
116 SmrLICITY. LiFEAKD
leads liim, 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 hibourod 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 aifects his language and mode of
expression, 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, wdiere
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 afiectation, or
undue intrusion of his own thoughts and opinions ; it is the
mere result of his not thinking about himself, and is as far
* See Arist. Rhct. iii. 9. Aristotlo \(Ύ6μ(νον τ€λ€ΐωθ7;\
defines the λί'|υ (Ιρομίνη, or " coiiti- - Tlie only exception is in the account
nuous style," as "that which has in of Egypt, where religious scru])les oc-
itself no tenoiuation, iinless the matter casionally interfere to check his usual
iindeniarration be terminated"— (ΐιαύδί;/ openness.
(χίΐ TcAos καθ' αυτΊ]ν, tiv μη rh -πρΰ,Ύμα
Writings. STYLE. 117
removed from the ostentatious display of Xenoj)lion ^ 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 λvith
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 Λve 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- language these two races difFer but little;
{orth. passim. and to this day they borrow from one
■* Hecatceus of Miletus commenced his another no few words, like the lonians
historical work, the 'Genealogies,' as and the Dorians."
follows: — Another, which is probably very close
"Thus saith Hecatteus the Milesian: to his phraseology, is the following; —
That which I write, I write as the truth " The Magians marry their mothers
seems to me. For the stories which the and then' daughters. They hold it law-
Greeks tell ai'e many, and to my mind ful also to man-y their sisters. Their
ridiculous." wives are common property ; and when
The longest of his extant fragments one wishes to take the wife of another,
is thus translated by Col. Mure (Lit. of they use no fraud nor Λ'iolence, but the
Greece, vol. iv. p. 161): — thing is done by consent."
" Orestheus, son of Deucalion, arrived Of Charon of Lampsacus we possess
in iEtolia in search of a kingdom. Here a passage of some length, which may be
his dog jiroduced him a green plant, given in the translation of Col. Mure
Upon which he ordered the dog to be (vol. iv. pp. 169-170) : —
buried in the eai'th; and from its body "The Bisaltians \vaged war against
sprang a vine fertile in grapes. Hence the Caj-dians, and were victoi'ious in a
he called his son Phytius. The son of battle. The commander of the Bisal-
Phytius was ffineus, so named after the tians was called Ouaris. This man,
vine-plant. For the antient Greeks called when a youth, had been sold as a slave
the vine CEna. The son of Qiueus was in Cardia, and had been made by his
iEtolus." master to work at the trade of a barber.
The fragments of Xanthus are very Now tliere was an oracle current among
brief, and of these only one is cited in the Cardians, that about that time they
his exact words. It shows no gi'eat ad- should be invaded by the Bisaltians ; and
vance on the style of Hecatajus : — this oracle was a frequent subject of con-
" From Lydus descend the Lydians, versation among those who frequented
from Torrhebus the Torrhebians. In the barber's shop. Onari^, having ef-
118
FATHER OF HISTORY.
the style of writing: customary in his day, from which the
modern reader may form a tolerable estimate of the interval
Avhicli separated Herodotus, as a writer, from those who had
preceded him — an interA-al so great as to render the style of
composition which he invented a sort of new art, and to entitle
him to the honourable app(dlation, which prescription has made
indisputably his, of the " Pather of History."
fected his escape home, persuaded his
countryuien to invade Cardia, and was
liimself appointed leader of the expedi-
tion. But tlie Cardiaus were accustomed
to teach their horses to dance to the
sound of tlie tiute 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
caused to accompany him in his march
against the Cardians. As soon as the
engagement commenced, he ordered the
flute-players to strike up those times to
which the Cardian horses were used to
perform. And no sooner had the horses
heard the music than they stood up on
their hiud-legs and began to dance. But
the chief force of the Caixiians was in
cavalry ; and so they lost the battle."
Even Hellauicus, who outlived Hero-
dotus, falls sometimes into the cramped
and bald style of the old logographers,
as the subjoined specimens will .show :^
(1.) "From Pelasgus, the king of
these men, and Menip[)e', the daughter
of Peneus, was borfi Phrastor ; from him
sprang Amyntor; from him, Teutami-
das; from him, Nanaa. 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,
Λvhen both parties approved the judg-
ment, the Athenians assigned it to the
ninth generation after Mars and Neptune
pleaded in the cause of Halirrhothins.
Then, six generations later, Cephalus,
the son of Deioneus,wlio married Procris,
the daughter of Erechtheus,and slewher,
was condemned by the court of Areopa-
gus, and sufFei-ed banishment. After
ttie trial of Dajdalus for the treacherous
slaughter of his sister's son Talus, and
his flight from justice in the third gene-
I'ation, this Clytemuestra, the daughter
of Tyndarus, who had killed Agamem-
non and herself been killed bj' Orestes,
caused Orestes to be brought to trial by
the Eumenides ; he, however, i-eturnert
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 Ai'istotle, where he quotes the pas-
sage (Rhet. ill. 9), has Thuriuiu iu 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 iu 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 HeeatiBus commenced with
the words, ΈκαταΓοϊ Μιλήσιο$ ωδί μυ-
θΐΐται. (Miiller's Fragm. Hist. Gr., vol. i.
Fr. 332.) And the practice is followed
by Thucydides.
- By the Erythraean Sea Herodotus
intends, not our Red Sea, Λvhich he calls
the Arabian Gulf {koKttos Άράβωί), but
the Indian Ocean, or rather both the In- .
dian Ocean and the Persian Guif, which |
latter he does not consider distinct from j
the Ocean, being ignorant of its shape, j
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 Phcouicia
Proper and a number of places about ι
the Persian Gulf, whose very names have •
been thought to indicate their Phceuieian j
origin. The chief of these were Tyrus,
or Tylus, and Aradtis, two islands in the
Gulf, where, according to Eratosthenes
(ap. Strabou. xvi. p. ]09υ, 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
jjresent day called Arad. There is also
a Sidodumi, and a Suir, 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 ]\[ctlitcrrauean aucl settled in tlie 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 niorchandiso, and traded with the natives for five
or six days ; at the end of which time, Avhen 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,
airreeinir in tin's Avith 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
Avere seized and carried off. lo herself was among the captives.
The Phoenicians put the women on board their vessel, and set
sail for Egypt. Tims 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 cok)nies
fiOm them. Seetzeu and Heeren incUne
to the latter view (Heeren's As. Nat.
vol. ii. pp. 231, 415, E. T.). In favour
of the foi-mer, however, is, in the first
place, the double tradition, tliat of the
Phoenicians of Phojnicia Proper men-
tioned by Herodotus, and that of the
inhabitants of Tyrus and Ai-adus, re-
corded by Eratosthenes, who probably
follows Andro.sthenes, the naval officer
of Alexander ; and secondly, what may
be called tbe argument from general
probability. Lower Babylonia, the coun-
try about the mouths of the Tigi'is and
Euphrates, is the original seat of Semitic
power, whence it spreads northward and
westward to the Euxiue and to the Me-
diten-anean. (Cf. Api^endix, Essay xi.
§ 3.) Asshur goes forth out of the land
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 (iulf towards the Mediterranean.
Everything 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 uettlemeuts 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,
confii'ms 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.
^ For an account of the trade of the
Phoenicians, see Heeren's Asiatic Na-
tions, vol. ii., ' Phrcnicians,' chap. iii.
■* The ancient sujjeriority of Argos is |
indicated by the position of Agamemnon /
at the time of the Trojan war (compare '
Thucyd. i. 9-lU), 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 generic way.
Tiie absence of any general ethnic title
during the earlier ages is noticed by
Thucydides (i. 3). He uses the same
expression as Herodotus— ή νυν Έλλά?
καΚουμίνΎ) — previously (i. 2).
* It is hardly possililc that the Per-
sians, properly so called, coidd have had
any indejjendent knowledge of the myth
of lo, for at the pei-iod of historytoi
which the legend refers, the Arlim triHei^ [
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 BAEBAEIANS.
123
thus commenced, according to their authors, tlie series of out-
rages.
2. At a later period, certain Greeks, with whose name they
are unacquainted, but who woukl 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, Avere guilty of a second violence.
They manned a sliip 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. SaryoH, indeed, who in the
Cuneiform Inscriptions first mentions
the Greeks, — haring in about B.C. 7U8
i-eceived tribute in Babylon from the
Greek colonists of Cj'prus, — speaks of
them as "the seven kings of the Yaha
tribes of the country of ΥιΐΐΊΐαη (or
Υίιηαη), 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 Chaktea, from the re-
motest times," &c. ac. Sec. It is at the
same time far from improbable that this
name of Yaha, which the Assyrians ap-
plied to the piratical Greeks of Cyprus,
may have suggested the memory of the
buccaneering stories Λvhich 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 brought
before us in its Asiatic form, may per-
haps furaish an .istrouomical solution
for the entire fable ; for as the wander-
ings of the Greek lo have been often
compared \\dtli the erratic course 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 ChaldiBan title being
represented by a Cuneiform sign, which
is phonetically Ai, as in modern Tui'k-
ish.— [H. C. K.]
^ Since no other Greeks were thought
to have possessed a navy in these early
times, Compare Thucyd. i. 4 — MtV&is
ιταλοίτοτοϊ ών aKofj Χσμΐν ναυτικόν ΐκττ]•
σατο.
'' 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 remembering 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
gi-eat Cushite or Scythic race, their con-
nexion with Colchis and Phoenicia being
marked by the myth of Jfi'dea in one
quarter, and of Androme(/(( in the other.
So too all the ancient Scythic monu-
ments of Northern Media and Armenia
ai-e referred by Strabo to the Argonauts,
Jason, as the husband of Medea, being
the eponymous hero of the race. Indeed
the famous mountain of Demaweud in
the Elburz above Teheran, where Zohak
the great antagonist of the Arian race
Λν38 supposed to be imprisoned, was
known to the Greeks by the name of
mount Jmoni'is as late as the time of
Ptolemy.— [H. C. R.]
124 ΕΑΡΕ OF HELEN— TROJAN WAR. 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
ill 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
measm-es, 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 oif 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. a. Men of sense care nothing for such Avomen, 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 Laceda3monian 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
β Aristophanes in the Acharuiaus (488- " This was nothing,
494) very wittily parodies tlie opening Smacking too much of our accustomed manner
, /- 1 1. > 1 J. T. I• • i 1 0 give offciico. But lieit•, sirs, was the rub:
ot Herodotus S history. Professing to Some sparlis of ours, hot «iilitliegiape, had stol'n
give the causes of the Peloponnesian A mistress ol'lhe game Sima-tlia named —
war he says: From the Mcgurlans: her doughty townsmen
' ^ ' (For the deed moved no small extent of auger)
Και ταϋτα μίι/ δτ) σμικρά κάττιχώρια• licveng'd th(• afl'ront upon Aspasia's train,
πόρνην Si -^.ιμαίθαν Ιόΐ'τίς MeyapaSe And liore away a brace of her fair damsels.
,, ■ 1- a ■ ο All Greece aiiiin cave note of martial prelude.
,.,.,. .... , . Audwhalthecauseot war? marry, three women.
καΗ οι Aleyop))i οουΐ'αι? π^ψυσιγγωμίΐΌΐ MitcHKLI, d. "0-2.
άντίξίκλ(\Ι)αν 'Ασπασίας ηόρνα &ύο' mi • • τ • ι-
κά..τ£ύβ6^ αρχή τον πολέμου κατ^ρράγη This 18 the earhest inchcation of a
Έλλτ,σι ττάσιι/ e/c τριώ./ λαικαστριώ!/. knowledge of the work of Herodotus on
■1^8-494. the part of any other Greek writer.
Chap. 3-5. PHCENICIAN VERSION OF THE STORY OF 10.
125
own; but Europe and the Greek race tliey 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 Phoenicians, 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 Λvith 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 Λvere formerly great,
have most of them become insignificant ; and such as are at
present powerful, were weak in the 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 yeai-s, at
a time when Persia was a tributary na-
tion to Media. (See Herod, iv. 1 and
118-9.)
1 It is curious to observe the treat-
ment which the Greek myths met with
at tlie hands of foreigners. The Oriental
mind, quite unable to appreciate pt)etry
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
Ai'ian. 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 exuberant, 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, kc. His spirit is
too reverent, and, if we may so say, cre-
dulous. The supernatural never shocks
or startles him. It is a mistake of Pau-
sanias (ii. xvi. § 1) to call tliis story of
lo's passage into Egypt "the way in
which Herodotus says she Λvent there."
Herodotus is only reporting what was
alleged by the Persians.
The legend of lo forms a beautiful
episode in the Prometheus Vinctus of
^schylus (.572-9115). 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 MyeeuiC had dwindled
compared with its former power (i. luj.
126
CECESUS THE LYDIAN.
Book 1.
fore discourse equally of both, convinced that human happiness
never continues long in one stay.
6. Croesus, son of Alyattes, by birth a I.ydian, Avas lord of
all the nations to the west of the river Halys.^ This stream,
which separates Syria ^ from Paphlagonia, mns 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 jfEolians, lonians, and Dorians of Asia, and made a
treaty with the Lacedgemonians. Up to that time all Greeks
had been free. For the Cimmerian attack upon Ionia, Avhich
was earlier than Croesus, was not a conquest of the cities, but
only an inroad for plundering.
7. The sovereignty of Lydia, wliich had belonged to the
Heraclides, passed into the family of Croesus, who were called
the Mermnadas, in the manner which I Avill now relate. There
Herodotus would have remarkable ex-
amples of decline in his owu ueighbour-
hood, both when he dwelt in Asia Minor,
and after he removed to Italy. Phocsea
in the former country, and Sybaris in
the latter, near the ruins of which Thu-
rium rose, would be notable instances.
3 If the name of the Halys be derived
from a Semitic source, we may compare
the roots >1Π in Hebrew, or ^L^^ in
Arabic, signifying " to be twisted," and
suppose the epithet to refer to the tor-
tiions course of the river. There are
names indeed in the early Cuneiform
inscriptions, Κ hi In and A'hulii/a, which
must either refer to this river or to the
upper course of the Euphrates. They
are probably also connected with Χολο-
βητήί/η {Kh'il of Bitdii , the latter term
being the ancient Assyrian name of Ar-
meuiaj and with the Hul of Scripture,
Gen. X. 2.) ; see Bochart's Phaleg. lib. ii.
c. 9.— [H. C. 11.]
■* By Syria Herodotus here means Cap-
padocia, the inhabitants of which he
calls Syrians (i. 72, and vii. 72), or
Cappadocian Syrians {Ί,υρίουί Καππα5ό-
Kas, i. 72). Strabo called them "white
•yrians" (xii. p. 788, Oxf. ed.). For
wguments in favour of their Semitic
origin, see Prichard's Researches, vol. iv.
pp. .5tj0, 5»j1.
Herodotus regards the words Syria
aud 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
ea.st by Armenia and the desert ; and on
the south by Egypt. Assyria is the
upper portion of the Mesopotauiiau val-
ley, bounded on the north by Armenia,
on the west by the desert, on the south
by Babylonia, and on the east by the
Medes and Matieni. [The only true
word is Assyria, from Ass/mr. Syria is
a Greek corruption of the genuine term.
-H. C. E.]
* It has been thought (Larcher, vol. i.
p. 17:>) that Herodotus placed the source
of the Halys in the range of Taurus,
near Icouium, the modern Κύηύι, and
regarded the river as having from its
soui'ce to its embouchure a uniform di-
rection from so\ith to north ; but from
the more elaborate description in ch. 72
of this book it appears that this \vas not
his belief. He there i)laces 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 flmcs with n nurth
cowAC between the countries of Paphla-
gonia and Cappadocia. Thus his state-
ments are reconcilable with those of
Arnan (Peripl. Pont. Eux. p. 127), and
with the reul course of the Kizil-Irtnak.
Chap. 6, 7.
EARLY HISTORY OF LYDIA.
127
was a certain king of Sard is, Candaiiles by name, whom tlie
Greeks called ]\[yrsilus.^ He was a descendant of Alcaius, son
of Hercules. The first king of this dynasty was Agron, son of
Ninus, grandson of Belus, and great-grandson of Alcaeus ; 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 HeracHdes, 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
β 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 \ve possess
in favour of the Lydian origin of the
Etruscans. — H. C. li.]
7 The best and latest authorities seem
to be now agreed on the Semitic descent
of the Lydians (see Movers's 'die Pho-
nizier,' i. 475 ; and Ottf. Miiller, ' Sandon
und Sardauapal,' 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 eitsy to believe,
if the intervening countries of Cilicia
and Cappadocia were peojiled 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 strTing argu-
ment against the Semitic origin of the
Lydians, and to whatever race the Hera-
cleids belonged, among whom are found
the Assyrian names, in a later age, at
any I'ate, the language of the Lydians
was most certainly Lido- Germanic ; for
the famous Xauthuslrasleft it on record
that Sardis in the vernacular dialect of
his day signified " a year " (being given
as an honorary epithet to the city "wpbs
Ti/iV Ηλίου" ); 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 (Π. ii. 864-6). Xanthus j
spoke of the Lydians as obtaining the
name at a comparatively late period in
their history (Fragra. 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 Apj)endix, Essay i.
§5.)
^ Jardanus was the husband, or, ac-
cording to some accounts, the father, of
Omphale. Hercules, while in her ser-
vice, was said to have formed an intimacy
with one of her female slaves, by name
Malis, Λvhobo^•e him a son, Acelus (Hel-
lanicus, Fragm. 102, ed. Didotj. Hero-
dotus seems to suppose her to have been
also the mother of Agron.
1 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 ι vide infrh,, chaps. 14,
19, 46, ac. ). It would be interesting to
kno\v that the intercourse had begun in
the 13th century B.C.
- Herodotus professes to count three
generations to the century (ii. 142 \ thus
making the generation 331 years. In I ,
this case the average of the generations 1 1
128 LEGEND OF GYGES. Book I.
the whole of which period, from Agrou to Candaules, the crown
descended in the direct line from father to son.
8. Now it happened that this Candaules was in love with his
own wife ; and not only so, but tlionght her the fairest woman
in the Avhole world. This fancy had strange consequences.
There was in his body-guard a man whom he specially favoured,
Gyges, the son of Dascylus. All affairs of greatest moment
were entrusted by Candaules to this person, and to him he was
wont to extol the surpassing beauty of his wife. So matters
went on for a while. At length, one day, Candaules, who
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 ολνη.' I hold thy
wife for the fairest of all womankind. Only, I beseech thee, ask
me not to do wickedly."
9. Clyges thus endea\^oured to decline the king's jiroposal,
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 M'ill
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
\nlt 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 turned on thee, be it thy care that she see thee not as 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 2.T years. There is no need, bow- for Herodotus does not here calculate,
ever, to alter the text aa Larcher does, but intends to state facts.
Chap. 8-12. LEGEND OF GYGES. 129
iug-chamber, and a moment after the queen followed. She
entered, 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 tlie apartment.
As he was passing out, however, she saw him, and instantly
divining what had happened, she neither screamed as her shame
impelled her, nor even appeared to have noticed aught, purposing
to take vengeance upon the husband who had so affronted her.
For among the Lydians, and indeed among the barbarians
generally, it is reckoned a deep disgrace, even to a man, to be
seen naked.^
11. No sound or sign of intelligence escaped her 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 Avith him, and he M^as
accustomed to come to her at her call. He therefore obeyed
the summons, not suspecting that she knew aught of Avhat had
occurred. Then she addressed these words to him : " Take thy
choice, Gyges, of two courses which are o])en 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 ajrain,
obeying all behests of thy master, behold what is not lawful for
thee. It must needs be, that either he perish by whose counsel
this thing w^s done, or thou, who sawest me naked, and so didst
break our usages." At these words Gyges stood awhile in mute
astonishment ; recovering after a time, he earnestly besought
the queen that she Avould 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 will 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 shown naked to you, and let the assault be made Avhen he
is asleep."
12. AH was then prepared for the attack, and when nio-ht
3 The contrast between the feelings of (τί> ττάΧαι και ey τω Όλυμπιακφ α-γώνι
the Greeks and the barbarians on this διαζώματα exovres irept το οΐδοΓα οί αθλη-
point is noted by Thiicydiiles(i. iJ), whero ταΐ η-γωνίζοντο, κα\ ου πολλά ίτη
we learn that the exhibition of the naked e π e ι δ ή π e π ο κ τ u ι),
person was recent, even with the Gi teks
VOL. I. Κ
loO ACCESSION OF GYGES. , Book I.
fell, Gygcs, soeiug that lie had no retreat or escape, but must
absolutely either slay Candaules, or himself be slain, folloAved
liis mistress into the sleeping-room. She jjlaced a dagger in
his hand, and hid him carefully behind the self-same door.
Thi'ii Clyges, when the king was ftillen asleep, entered privily
into the chamber and struck him dead. Thus did the wife and
kingdom of Candaules pass into the possession of Gyges, of
whom Arehilochus the Parian, λυΙιο lived about the same time,*
made mention in a poem written in Iambic trimeter verse.
lo. Gyges w^as afterwards confirmed in the possession of the
throne by an answer of the Delphic oracle. Enraged at the
inurder of their king, the people flew to arms, but after a while
the partisans of Gyges came to terms Avith 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 λυΙιΙοΙι neither the Lydians nor their
princes took any account till it was fulfilled. Such was the
Avay in which the Mcrmnadae 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 Aveighing altogether
■• The age of Arehilochus is a disputed have outlived Call inus. It seems better
point. Mr. Clinton places him B.C. 708- to raise our date for the Cimmerian
ΰ6Γ) (F. H. vol. i. 01. 18. 2;5, 2. &c.). invasion, which (in Mr. Grote's Λvords)
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 Λνΐιίοΐι is not fixed to
Greece, vol. iii. p. 3:5;!, note -). There any particular part of his long reign of
are sti'ong grounds for believing that Ar- 49 years, than to disregard all the au-
ehilochu.s was later than Callinua (Clin- thorities (Herodotus, Cicero, Clemens,
ton, vol. i. 01. 17), who is proved by Tatian, Cyril, iElian, Proclus, &c.) who
Mr. 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 Arehilochus, in which men-
what time in the reign of Ardys this tion was made of Gygcs, has been pre-
invasion happened. Arehilochus may served — Ου μυι τά rU7eco του πολυχρύσου
have been contemporary both with Gy- μ4\(ΐ (Ar. Rliet. iii. 17, Pint. IMor. ii.
ges and Ardys. The Cimmerian inva- p. 47(t, C). If it had been spoken in his
sion may have been early in the reign of own person, it would have settled the
tile latter prince, say ii.c. G75. Archilo- question of his date, but we learn from
chus may liave flourished r..c. .708-βΐ)5, Arist(jtle that it wa.s put in the mouth
and yet have witnessed the great inva- of one of his characters,
fciiou, and (as Strabo and Clement argue)
Chap. 12--1δ.
OFFEllINGS TO DELPHI.
131
tliirty talents, wliicb stand in the Corinthian treasury, dedicated
l)y him. I call it the Corinthian treasury, though in strictness
of speech it is the treasury not of the whole Corinthian people,
but of Cypselus, son of Eetion.^ Excepting Midas, son of
Gordias,•• king of Phrygia, Gyges was the first of the barbarians
whom Ave know to have sent offerings to Delphi. Midas dedi-
cated the royal throne 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 Cj-ges
dedicated, after the name of the donor, Gygian.'
As soon as Gyges ^vas 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 successor in the
kingdom, Ardys.
15. Ardys took Priene ^ and made war upon Miletus. In his
^ The offerings of Cypselus to Delphi
aud other shrines are spoken of by seve-
ral writers. (Pausan. V. ii. v} 4 ; Plut.
Sept. Sap. Agaclyt. ap. Phot, in Κυψελί-
owu ανάθημα.) See note on book ii. ch.
167, ad fin. That the Corinthians in
later times sought to substitute in tlie
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 Arcesilaiis.
Every Phrygian king mentioned in an-
cient hi.story is either Midas, son of
Gordias, or Gordias son of Midas. Bou-
hier (Dissertations, ch. viii.) reckons four
kings of PhrjTgia named Midas, each the
son of a Gordias. Three of these are
mentioned iu Hei'odotus. (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 Ihjmila, near K^taya (Cotyaeum). in
the ancient Phrygia; and has two in-
scriptions, which may be read thus : —
1. Are? ApKcaiFa? ακ€ΓαΐΌγαΡθί Mtfiat γαΡΛγτα€ΐ
Fai'aK7et €t5ae?.
2. Βαβα MeMcFiiS ΠροιταΡοί κΐί yai'aFfyos
Σικε,ααΐ' €δαες•
See Texier's Asie Mineure, vol. i. p. 1,5.5;
and compare the Essay *' On the Ethnic
Affinities of the Nations of \^'estern
Asia," J-lssay xi. § lii, where these and
some other Phrygian inscriptions are
considered. [It is quite possible that
Mihi, king of Mnsk!, (.J^'O) who reigned
over a people inhabiting the plateau of
Asia Minor, contemporaneously with
Sargon, may liave been a Midas, king of
Phrygia.— H. C. P.]
'' Theopompus (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 Lyclian History. The Smyr-
nicans seem to have been hard pressed,
but by a stratagem, which they 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 SmyniEpans rose up and
expelled them. (Pausan. iv. xxi. § 3.)
Mimnermus, the elegiac poet, celebrated
the event in one of his pieces. (Ibid.
IX. xxix. § 2.)
^ Mr. Grote says, " This possession
cannot have been maintained, for the
city apjjears afterwards as autonomous "
(History of Greece, vol iii. p. 3U1): but
I have been unable to find any autho-
rity for the latter statement. No Ionian
Κ 2
132 ArxDYS— SADYATTES— ALYATTES. Book I.
reijin the Cimmerians, driven from tlieir homes by the nomades
of tScythia, entered Asia andeaptured Sardis, all but the citadel/
He reigned forty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son,
Sadyattes, who rcig-ned twelve years. At his death his son
Alyattes mounted the throne.
16. This prince waged war Λvitll the Modes under Cyaxares,
the grandson of Dei'oces,^ drove the Cimmerians out of Asia,
conquered Smyrna, the Colophonian colony,^ and invaded Cla-
zomenai. 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 will now proceed to give an account.
17. Inheriting from his father a Avar 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 IMilesians 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 lower, 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 represented respectively the
1 For an account of this and the other Lydian and Phrygian musical scales, as
inroads of the Cimmerians, see Appen- Larcher conjectures (note on the pas-
dix, lissay i. sage, vol. i. p. 19'-'). If this Λvere tlie case,
■■^ Υ\άα infra, chaps. 73-4. however, the male flute would be the
•* Vide infra, ch. 150. Phrygian, the female flute the Lydian:
■• Aulus (Jellius understood the " male for the Lydian musical scale was moi'e
and female flutes," as flutes played by highly pitched than the Phrygian. Lar-
men, and flutes j)layed 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 ctoit grave, et les
are intended. (See the essay of Ijuttiger, I'hrygienes, qid avoieut le son aigu."
' Ueber die Lydische Dojjijeltliite,' in (See the article on Greek Music in
"Wieland's Attisch. Mus. vol. i. part ii. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, con-
p. 'o'.ii.) The flutej the pitch of which tributed by Professor Doukiu.j
Chap. 15-21. ALYATTES CONSULTS THE ORACLE. 133
terrible blows ; one in tlieir own country in tlie district of Lime-
neium, the other in the plain of the Mieander. During six of
these eleven years, Sadyattes, the son of Ardys, who first lighted
the fianies 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 Erythrie.
19. It was in the tAvelfth 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. Alyattes, tlie moment that the words of the oracle were
reported to him, sent a herald to jMiletus m 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
way ; but meantime Thrasybulus had been apprised of every-
thing ; and conjectming what Alyattes would do, he contrived
this artifice. He had all the corn that was in the city, whethei-
belonging to himself or to private persons, brought into the
market-jjlace, and issued an order that the Milesians should
134 rnorOSALS FOR A TRUCE. Rook T.
bold themselves in readiness, and, Avlien he gave the signal,
shonld, 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 uj[)on the ground, and all the city given up to festivity,
would infonn Alyattes of it, which fell out as he anticipated.
The herald observed the whole, and Avlien he had delivered his
message, went back to Sardis. This circumstance alone, as I
gather, brought about the peace Avhich ensued. Alyattes, who
had hoped that there was now a great scarcity of corn in ]\Iiletns,
and that the people were worn down to the last pitch of suffering,
when be heard from the herald on his return from ]\Iiletus
tidings so contrary to those he had exjiected, 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 Avar 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 rvpavvos. (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 tratida•.) So long as the king is not
Niebuhr's History, vol. ii. p. 550, E.T.). recognised as de jure, hut ονΛγ as dc facto.
It was not recognised in Greece. Pericles king, he is τυράΐ'ίΌϊ, not /3α(Γΐλ€υϊ. This
proposed that, if necessity required, the was the case at Corinth. Vi<l. inf. v. 92.
Athenians should make use of Athene''s '' The invention of the iJithyranib, or
golden ornaments, and afterwards re- Cyclic chorus, was asci'ibed to Arion, not
place them with ornaments of ei/wai value only by Herodotus, but also by Aris-
(μή ΐλάσσω. Thucyd. ii. 1.3). Un- totle, by Hellanicus, by Dica;archus, and,
doubtcdly 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-
which seem to indicate that the myth of dar. ad Olymp. xiii. 25), who said it was
Tyrscnus and Lydus has in it some invented at Corinth. Dio (Orat. xxxvii.
germ of truth. j). 455, A.) and Suidas agreed with this.
•^ B'iihr says, (Not. ad loc.) Periander Clement of Alexandria and others attri-
was tyrant in the ancient sense of the biited the invention to Lasus of Her-
Λν(ηχΙ, in which it is simply equivalent to mione. (Strom, i. p. .')u5, Schol. ad
the Latin "rex" and the Greek έίι/αξ, or AristojA. Av. 1403.) This is undoubt-
^aaiKfvs; because he inherited the crown edly erroneous. It has been questioned,
from his father Cypselus. Rut it would however, if the Dithyramb was not more
rather seem that the word bears here its ancient than .Vrion. A fragment ascribed
usual sense of a king who rules with a to Archilochus is preserved in Athemeus
usurped and unconstitutional authority. (Deijinosoph. xiv. vi. p. i)2S), where
There might be a dynasty of τύραννοι as the dithyramb is spoken of, and whicli
Chap. 21-24. LEGEND OF ARION. 135
name, and to recite in it at Corinth, was carried to Tsenarum on
the back of a dolphin.
24. He had lived for many years at the court of Periander,
when a longing came npon 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 Avere 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 npon 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 sea.
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. Delio-hted 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 Tienarum, where he went
has itself a dithyrambic character. The chorusses, thereby making it anti-stro-
SchoHast on Pmdar, 01. xiii. 25, informs phic, and substituting the accompaui-
us that 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 Thebes. Larcher thinks called kukAios xopos; and Arion was
the dithyramb was so ancient a form of mythically said to be the son of Cyclon
composition that its inventor was not or Cycleus.
kno\vn (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.
jHOved the dithyramb (Plehn in Les- p. 109).
biac. p. 11)8). s 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
circumstaucesof whose birth the word is Chrysostom (De Regno, p. 1, B.), and
somewhat fancifully connected (Eurip. the Scholiast on Aristophanes (Acharn.
Bacch. 526). It was sung by a κώμο?, 16). According to the last authority,,
or band 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
Avas to adapt it to the system of Doric spirited air.
13G
DEATH OF ALYATTES.
Book I.
a.^hore, and tlionoe prdcccdod to Corintli in his musician's dress,
and told all that had happened to liim. Periander, however,
disbelieved the story, and put Arion in ward, to prevent his
leaving; Corinth, while he watched anxiously for the return of
tlie 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 tliat he was alive and in good health
in Italy, and that they had left him at Tareutum,^ where he
Avas 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 Tajnarum, an oftering 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 IMilesians to a close,
and reigned over the land of Lydia for fifty-seven years, Alyattes
died. He Avas the second prince of his house λυΙιο 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
Λνΐιο first invented the art of inlaying steel.^
1 In memory of this legend, the Ta-
rentiues 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-sailinj^
vessel, which happened to have a dolphin
for its figure-head, and ariivod at Co-
rinth before the ship from wliich ho had
been ejected came into port (Hcrodote,
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. 1. p. 217).
The truth seems to be, that the le-
gend grew out of the figure at Tfcnarum,
which was known by its inscription to
be an ofiering of Arion's (See Creuzer's
Dissert, de mythis ab artium operibus
profectis, § 2). It may have had no
other gi'oundwork.
The figure itself remained at TsDna-
rum more than seven hiuidred years. It
was seen by ^liau in the third century
after Christ, when it bore the following
inscription : —
*\θαΐ'άτωΐ' ττομττακηΐ' 'Λριονα,ΊννίίλοΐΌς uibr,
Έκ SiKcAou jreAa-yous σωσ€ν όχημα τόδε.
3 It is questionable whether by κό\-
\Tjffis 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
iu opposite directions. Pausanias gives
as its peculiarity that the various por-
tions were not fastened together by nails
or rivets, but luiited by welding (X. xvi.
§ 1); AtheniL'us, that it was covered
with rei)resentations of plants and ani-
mals (l3eipnosoj)h. v. 1:5, p. 210). Lar-
cher's i-easoniug in favour of inlaying ia
Chap. 24-27. ACCESSION OF CECESUS. 137
26. On tlie death of Alyattes, Croesus, liis son, λυΙιο was
thirty-five years old, succeeded to the throne. Of the Greek
cities, Ephesus was the first that he attacked. The Ephesians,
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,* Λvhich was distant from the ancient city, then
besieged by Croesus, a space of seven furlongs.^ They Avere, 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 was 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. KM).
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. Αιθάλη) against the con- of Croesus and that of Herodotus. It
current testimony of all other ancient is curious 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 ses'en stades
ral priority of Samos in matters of art. from the city (Ephes. i. 2). Afterwards
(Vide infn i. 51; iii. 42 and GO; iv. 88, the temple drew the population to it.
&c.) The building seen by HeiOdotus Avas
* An analogous case is mentioned by that burnt by Eratostratus, B.C. 356.
Plutarch (Solon, c. 12).^ The fugitives " The story 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. Through 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- Polvicn. Strateg. vi. 50) to be entitled
cated the island of liheueia to the Deliaa to much consideration.
138
CRCESUS" DESIGNS AGAINST THE ISLANDERS. Book I.
hear thou art about to build ships and sail against them, than to
catch the Lydiaus at sea, and there revenge on them the wrongs
of their brothers upon the mainland, whom thou boldest in
slavery ? " Croesus was charmed with the turn of the speech ;
and thinking there was reason in what was said, gave up his
ship-building and conelnded a league of amity with the lonians
of the isles.
28. Crcesus afterwards, in the course of many years, brought
under his sway almost all the nations to the west of the Ilalys.
The Lycians and Cilicians alone continued free ; all the other
tribes he reduced and held in subjection. They were the
following : the Lydians, Phrygians, IMysians, IMariandynians,
Chal\bians, Paphlagonians, Thynian and Bithynian Thracians,
Carians, lonians, Dorians, ZEolians and Pamphylians.^
29. AVhen all these conquests had been added to the Lydian
empire, and the prosperity of Sardis Avas 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
tribes see the map of Western Asia. It
is not quite correct to speak of the Cili-
cians as dwelling v.iithin(,i.e., west of) the
Halys, for the Halys in its upper course
ran through Cilicia (δια Κιλίκων, ch. 72),
and that country lay chiefly south of the
I'iver.
Lycia and Cilicia would be likely to
maintain their independence, boiug both
countries of great natural streiigtli. They
lie upon the high mountain-range of
Taurus, which runs from east to west
along the south of Asia Minor, witbin
about a degree of the shore, and sends
down from the main chain a series of la-
teral branches or spurs, which extend
to the sea along the whole line of coast
from tlie Gulf of Makri, opposite Khodes,
to the ])lain of Tarsus. Tlie mountains
of the interior are in many parts covered
with snow during the whole or the great-
er part of the year. (See Beaufort's Ka-
ramania.)
* Solon's visit to Croesus was rejected
as fabulous before the time of Plutai-ch
(Solon, c. 27j, on account of chronolo-
gical difficulties, which it has been pro-
posed to obviate by the hypothesis of
the association of Crccstis in the govern-
ment by his father, some considerable
time before his death. (See Lareher in
loc. ; aud Clinton, F. II. vol. ii. p. '-Wb.)
The improbability of this hypothesis is
shown in the Crit. Essays (Essay i. sub
fin.). There is no necessity for it, in
order to bring Solon and Croosus into
contact during the reign of the latter.
Croesus most probably reigned from Ι).0.Λ
01)8 to 15. c. .'i.')4. Solon certainly out-
lived the first usurpation of the govern-
ment at Athens by Pisistratus, Avhich
was B.C. 5G0. Some writers spoke of
his travels as commencing at that time.
(Laert. i. 5(1; Suidas in voc. 'S.iXaiv.) It
is possible that he travelled twice, once
before and once after tlie commence-
ment of the tyranny of Pisistratus. And
what happened on the latter occasion
may have been transferred to the former, f
Or he may have started on his first tra- j
vels a few years later tlian Clinton con- '
jectures, B.C. 571, instead of is.C. 575;
and his visit to Croesus may have been ,
in the last of the 1υ years ii.c. 5(31. 1
-'tS l£'
>(5
Chap. 27-31. LEGEND OF SOLON". 13'J
sanction the Athenians could not repeal them, as they had
bound themselves under a heavy curse to be governed for ten
years by the laws which should be imposed on them by Solon.^
30. On this account, as well as to see the Avorld, Solon set out
υροη his travels, in the course of which he went to Egypt to the
court of Amasis,^ and also came on a visit to Croesus at Sardis.
Croesus 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, Croesus 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.
^ The travels of Solon are attested by Solon might sail from Athens to Egypt,
Plato (Tim. p. 21) and others. Various theuce 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 according 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, 4κ5-ημ-ησαί ό :^ό\ων es [Ay-
be plunged (Solon, c. '-'5). The view of yvrrrov αττικά το, κ αϊ 8η και ey
Herodotus has prevailed, notvvithstand- 2άρδυ.
iug its intrinsic improbability. * Vide infra, vi. 125.
1 Amasis began to reign B.C. 569.
140 LEGEND OF SOLON. Book L
λνΐιοη lio had cndcil, Croesus inqnirod a second time, who after
Telhis seemed to him the liappiest, expecting that at any rate,
he would be given the second place. " Cleobis and Bito," Solon
answered ; "they were of Argive race ; their fortune Avas enough
for their wants, and they were besides endowed witli 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 from 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 Avliich 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 sliowed forth most evid(nitly, how much better a thing for
man death is than life. For the Argive men, who stood around
the car, extolled the \'ast strength of the youths ; and the
Argive women extolled the mother who 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 oJHered sacrifice and
partook of the holy banquet, after which the two you.ths 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, Avhich they gave to
the shrine at Del[)hi."
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, tliat 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
power above us is full of jealousy,'' and fond of troubling our
' Cicero (Tusc. Disp. i. 47) and destroyed the oxen, which contradicts
others, as Servius (ad Virg, Georg. iii. Hei'odotus. Otherwise the tale is told
532) and the author of the Platonic with fewer varieties than most ancient
dialogue entitled Axiochua (367. C), stories. The Argives had a sculptured
relate that the ground of the necessity representation of tlie event in their
Λνα8 the circumstance that the youths' temple of Apollo Lycius to the time of
mother \v(m priestess of Juno at tlui I'ausanias. ( Pausau. ii. xx. § 2.)
time. Servius says a pestilence had •* In tlie original, φθ ο ν e phv ihu τό
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 round 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
θΐΊον. The φθόΐΌΒ of God is a leading
feature in Herodotus's conception of the
Deity, and uo doubt is one of the chief
moi-al conchisions which he drew from
his own survey of human events, and
intended to impress on us by liis history.
(Vide infra, iii. 4υ, 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. 4υ ), 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 φθονΐ-
pos Bfds is not simply the " Deus idtor "
of religious Romans, much less the
" jeahus God" of Scripture, to which
Dahlmaun 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
wath 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 curious mis-
take whereby the solar year is made to j
average 375 days. That Herodotus \
knew the true solar year was not 375,
but more nearly 365 days, is clear from i
book ii. eh. 4. It is also clear that he i
must be right as to the fact that the 1
Greeks were in the habit of intercalating J
a mouth every other year. This point
is confirmed by a passage in Ceusorinus
(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 pli.ce he makes
Solon count his months at 30 days each,
whereas it is notorioiLs 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 j
TpisTTjpls 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 inscrtiun
of an additional mouth every fourth
year (τρΐ(τ•ηρΙ$ ?) is substituted for its
omission.) These two corrections would
reduce the number of days to the
proper amoimt.
142 LEGEND OF SOLON". "Rook L
happiness than he Avho has what suffices for his daily needs,
unless it so hap that luck attend u])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 boar 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,
hapjtv 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 hap])y.
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 the most ; so no single human
being is complete in every respect — something is always lack'ing.
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. T]w
king saw him depart Avith much indifference, since he thought
that a man must be an arrant fool who made no account of
present 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- imknown, and it is uncertain whether
phrase cette sentence de Solon dans son the passage in Herodotus was part of
CEdipe Roi" (vol. i. p. 2:V2). But it the original history, or one of the addi-
might be argued with quite as much tions wliich he made at Thurium, it is
probability that Herodotus has here impossible to say wliich writer was the
borrowed from Sophocles, since Hero- plagiarist. Pei-haps the -γνώμη 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 it.c. 42") Csee the introductory Essay, favourite roiros of Greek tragedy. See,
p. ;i3), and Sophocles exhibited as early liesides the passages in Sophocles f(Ed.
a.s r,.c. 468. As the exact date of the T. 1195, and 1ό28-:ϋι), Eurip. Andro-
publicatiou of the CEdipus Tyrauuus is mach. liJii, Troius, 513, &c. &c.
Chap. 32-35. SEQUEL TO THE LEGEND. 143
God, came upon Crcesus, to pnnisli him, it his likely, for deeming
himself the happiest of men. First he had a dream in the
night, wliich foreshowed him truly the evils that were about to
Lefal 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
Aveapon. AVhen 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 spears and javelins, and
Aveapons used in the Avars, 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 ftxll 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,
Avho 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,
stranger, and from what 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. Tap. Phot. Bibl. cod. 19o, p. 472); but
Adrastus is -'the doomed" — "the man the discoveries of Hephrestion in such
unable to escape." Atys is " the youth matters are a severe trial to tlie modern
under the iiiHuence of At6 " — " the man reader's credulity.
judicially blind." (See Mnre's Litera- ^ Here the legend has forgotten that
ture of Greece, vol. iv. p. 326.) Phrygian independence was at an end.
HephaBstion gave the name of the We might, indeed, get over the difficulty
brother as Agathon, and said that he of a Phrygian royal house, and a King
144 STOEY OF ADRASTUS. Book I.
slialt want for iiotliing so long as tliou abidost in my dominions.
Bear thy misfortune as easily as thou mayest, 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, wliieh went forth
often from tliis mountain-country, and wasted the corn-fields of
the ]\[ysians. Many a time had the IMysians 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. Kow therefore we
beseech thee to let thy son accompany us back, Avith some
chosen youths and hounds, that we may rid our country of the
animal." Such was the tenor of their prayer.
But Crcesus bethought him of his dream, and answered, " Say
no more of my son going with 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 Avill charge those whom I send
to use all zeal in aiding you to rid your country of the brute."
37. With this reply the l^Iysians Avere 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 tiling for me to frequent the wars
and hunting-parties, and w in myself glory in them ; but now
thou keepest me away from both, although thou hast never
behold in me either cowardice or lack of spirit. AVliat fiice
meanwhile must I weax as I walk to the forum or return from
it? What must the citizens, what must my young bride
tliink of me ? AVhat 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. 287), that Phrygia and the independence of Phrygia seems
had become tributary while retaining clearly implied in the proviso, "thou
her kings : but the language of Crcesus shalt want for nothing so long as thou
is not suitable to such a supposition, abidest in my dominions" (μίνων iv
Equality ay)pears in the plu-iise, "thou η ^er t povj. Phrygia is not under
ai-t the ofii^pring of a lumse 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, ΛYarued 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, Avhose hearing is destroyed, I regard
as if he were not."
39. " Ah ! father," returned the youth, " I blame thee not for
keeping watch 0Λ"er me after a di'eam 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 wield ? Yet this is what thou fearest
for me. Had the dream said that I should die pierced by a
tusk, then thou hadst done well 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 wdtli them."
40. " There thou hast me, my son," said Crcesus, " 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 may est malie thyself famous by noble deeds.
They are the heritage of thy family, and thou too art so stalwart
and strong."
42. Adrastus answered, " Except for thy request. Oh! king,
I would rather have kept away from this hunt ; for methinks it
ill beseems a man under a misfortune such as mine to consort
Avith his happier compeers ; and besides, I have no heart to it.
On many grounds I had stayed behind ; but, as thou urgest it,
VOL. I, * L
146 DEATH OF ATYS. Cook T.
and I am LouikI to pleasure tlioe (for truly it does behove me to
requite thy good oiliecs), I am content to do as thou wishest
For tliy son, whom tliou givest into my charge, be sure thou
shalt receive him back safe and sound, so far as dc^pends upon a
guardian's carefulnes?."
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 th(^
animal ; lie Avas soon found, and the hunters, drawing round
him in a circle, hurled their weapons at him. Then the stranger,
the man who had been i)urified of blood, whose name was
Adrastus, he also hurled his spear at the boar, but missed his
aim, and struck Atys. Tlius was the son of Cra^sus slain by the
point of an iron Aveapon, 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
tlie 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 Avhat he had suffered at the
stranger's hands. Afterwards he invoked the same god as
Jupiter Ephistius and Hetoereus — using tlie 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 liim upon the body of his son — " his
former misfortune was burthen enough ; now that he had added
to it a second, and had ))rought ruin on the man wlio purified
^ Jupiter was Catharaius, the god of the piu'ified person contracted an ob-
puritications, not (as Biihr says) on ligation towards his purifier. Coui-
account of the resembhxnce of the rites pare, on the general princi))le, Eustath.
of j>iiriiication witli those of Jupiter ad Horn. Od. xvi. 4'29, " 'Itrreov Se δ'τ£
Μ€ΐλίχιοϊ, but simply in the same way /uapri/s λί'γίται τοΓϊ ίκί'ταΐϊ ό Zfvs καθα
tliat he was Ephistius and Hetteroiis, και rois traipois, "fa ws fv elSbis καϊ
god of hearths, and of companionship, (πιτιμι^τωρ, ποιητικώ$ ίΐ-πΐΐν, 'ύστερον rols
because he presided over all occasions of αμαρτάνουσι yiyvoiTo." — See also Note A
obligation between man and man, and at the end of this Lookj
ΓπΑΡ. 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 the 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 occasion. 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
Avretch Avhom 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. AVith this design he resolved to make instant
trial of the several oracles in Greece, and of the one in Libya.^
So he sent his messengers in different directions, some to
Delphi, some to Abie in Phocis, and some to Dodona ; others to
the oracle of Amphiaraiis ; others to that of Trophonius ; others,
again, to Branchidae 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
- " The one in Libya" (Africa) — that Lebadeia, in Boeotia (infra, viii. 134).
of Aramon, because Egypt was regarded That of Amphiaraiis is generally thoudit
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. Bahr's
Egypt there were numerous oracles Index, vol. iv. p. 450.) It appears, how-
(ii. 83). ever, to have been really at, or rather
^ The oracle at Abse seems to have near, Oropus (Pans. i. xxxiv. § 2; I,iv.
ranked next to that at Delphi. Compare xlv. 27. Dicacarch. Fi-. 59. § 6). Tlie
Sophocl. (Ed. Tyr. 897-899. Ουκ ίτι passage of Herodotus which has been
rhv άθικτον el/xt yai eV ύμφαλον σίβων, supposed to fix it to .Thebes (viii. 134 ,
ούδ' is TOf Άβαισί ναόν, where the leaves the locality uncertain. It only
Scholiast has absurdly, "Αβαι, tottos appears that Mys visited the shrine
AvKias. It is again mentioned by Hero- while he was staying at Thebes, which
dotus, viii. 134. \Yith respect to the he might easily do, as Oropus was but
oracle of Dodona — " the most ancient of about -0 miles from that city,
all in Greece" — vide infra, ii. 52. The The Orientals do not appear to have
oracular shrine of Trophonius was at possessed any indigenous oracles.
l2
148 CECESUS CONSULTS THE DELPHIC GEACLE. Look L
tost 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 do^vn 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 eai's 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, Λvith the flesh of a lamb, in a cauldron, —
Brass is the vessel below, and brass the cover above it."
48. These words the Lydians Avrote down at the mouth of the
Pythoness as she prophesied, and then set off on their return to
Sardis. AVhen 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, tliat 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
■•εϊτό μί'γαρον. Larcher and Beloe "ΛαιΖ asked" this question, he would
translate — "the temple of Delphi" — have said 4τηφώτ7ΐσαν. For a similar
" le temple de Delphes" — incorrectly, use of the imperfect, vide infra, i. 68.
The μί'γαρυν 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 " iis cher seems to be precluded, not less by
Schweighaniser renders the word (cf. these words than by probability. He
iufia. ii. 141, 143, 169, &c.). supposes that Croesus had determined
* Here Schweighffiuser has missed the what he Λvould do before he sent his
sense equally with Beloe and Larcher. emb;xssies, and had confided his inten-
AU render iireipareov, " had asked," tiou to one of the ambassadors, who
instead of " were 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 «ίσηλθο^, lo the Quincey, in his Essay on the Pagan
imperfect ^weiptiiTeuv, to mark a change Oracles (Works, vol. viii. pp. 196, 197).
in the action. Had ho meant that they It we allow Croesus to have possessed
Chap. 46-50. GRATITUDE OF CRCESUS, 149
came, he acted as lie liad 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 Λvhich the Lydians who went to
the shrine of Amj)hiaraus and performed the customaiy 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 Kr-qvea τα θύσιμα πάντα τρισχίλια.
question as the nature of the ancient Cf. infra, iv. 88. MavSpoK\ea (δωρ-ησατο
oracles, which has had volumes written ττΰσι δ4κα. ix. 70. ΤΙαυσανίγ πάντα δίκα
upon it, within the limits of a note. I ΐξαφίθ-η. Although Larcber had rightly
will only observe that in forming our rendered the passage, "trois mille vic-
judgmeut on the subject, two points times de toutes les espoces d'animaux
should be kept steadily in view: 1. qu'ilestpermisd'ofFrirauxDieux," Beloe
the fact that the Pythoness (παιδίσκη missed the sense, and translated " three
Tts ίχουσα ττνΐΰμα ΥΙΰθωνο 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 iwssessed renders ω$ 5e e/c ttjs θυσίηε iyeveTo,
by an evil spirit, Avhich St. Paul cast out, καταχ€άμ(νο5 χρυσύν άπλίτοι/, τιμι-π-χίν-
thereby depriving her masters of all θια (ξ αϋτοΰ ίξ-η\αυνΐ, " as at the conclu•
their hopes of gain (Acts xvi. lG-19): sion of the abure ce/'cmo?!?/ a considerable
and 2. the phenomena of Mesmerism, quantity of gold had run tojicfhcr, he
In one or other of these, or in both of formed of it a number of tiles ;" and eirj
them comViined, will be found the μΐν τα μακρότΐρα ποίΐχν εξαπάλαιστο,
simplest, and probably the truest ex- 4π\ δ( τα βραχντΐρα, τρίττάλαιστα — "the
planation, of all that is really maiwellous laiyer of t/wse icere six palms long, tlie
in the responses of the oracles. smaller thi'ee."
150
HIS OFFERINGS.
Book I.
The niiinbor of ingots was a hundred and seventeen, four beinp:
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 Aveight of which was
ten talents. At the time wh(>n the temple of Delphi was burnt
to the ground,'" this lion fell from the ingots on which it Avas
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 tliese works Croesus sent them away
to Delphi, and with them two bowls of an enormous size, one of
2:old, 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 mina3 ; the silver one stands in the corner
of the ante-chapel, and holds six hundred amphorae." This is
known, because the Delphians fill it at the time of the Theo-
phania.'^ It is said by the Deljihians 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 τρίτον ημιτάλαντον sug-
gested by Matthice, and adopted by
Schweighseuser, Gaisford, and Biihr,
seems to be required instead of the τρία
ΊΐμηάΚαντα of the MSS., not only be-
cause Herodotus must have known pure
gold to be heavier than alloyed, but
also because he is not in the habit of
reckoning by half talents. He would
not be more likely to say of a thing,
" it weighed three half-talents," than a
modern to say, " it weighed three half-
pounds." With respect to the weight
of these ingots, it has been calculated
(Biihr in loc.) from their size, that those
of pure gold Aveighed 3'25 lbs. (French),
and therefore those of pale or alloyed
gold 2(;0 lbs. To this result it is ob-
jected that it produces a talent not else-
where heard of, viz. one of 130 lbs.
(French). Herodotus, however, would
be a better judge of the size of the
ingots than of their weight. He pro-
bably measured them with his own
hand, but he must have taken the word
of the Delphians as to what tliey weighed.
Tlie Delphians are not likely to have
understated their value.
'" Vide infra, ii. 180, v. 62. It wa-s
burnt accidentally — αυτομάτωί κυ.τ(κάιη.
" Above 5000 gallons (cf. iv. 81).
'- There is no need of the correction
of Valckeuaer {Qeo^evioiai for &eo(pa-
νίοισι), since both in Julius Pollux (i.
i. ;u3 and in Philostratus (Vit. Apoll.
Tyan. iv. 31) there is mention of the Theo-
phania, as a festival celebrated by the
Greeks. No particulars are known of it.
^'•^ Vide infra, iii. 42. Pausanias as-
cribed to Theodore of Samos the inven-
tion of casting in bronze, and spoke of
him also as an architect (iii. xii. § 8;
VIII. xiv. § 5). Pliny agreed with both
statements (Nat. Hist. xxxv. 12), and
described also certain minute works of
his making. It has been suggested that
there were two Theodores, both Sa-
mians; the first, the architect and in-
ventor of casting in bronze, who flou-
rished before B.C. GOO: the second, the
maker of this bowl, and also of the ring
of Polycrates (cf. Biilir ad loc). The
genealogy of the family is thus given by
K. O. Miiller—
Rhcecus (ab. B.C. 640)
Thcodorus.
Tclecles (bc. 600)
I
Theodorus (d.c. SCO)
Chap, 50-53. FURTHER INQUIRIES AXD REPLIES. 151
casks, which are in the Corintlnaii treasury, and two histral
vases, a goklen and a silver one. On the former is inscribed the
name of the Lacedasmouians, 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 Lacedajmonians. His name is knov.u to me, but I
forbear to mention it. The boy, through whose hand the \vater
runs, is (1 confess) a LacediBmonian 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, Avhich is said by the
Delphians to be the statue of his bakiug-w oman ; 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, Avith 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 Ismeuian
Apollo.
53. The messengers who had the charge of conveying these
treasm-es 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, Avhen 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 M'hether he shall go to Avar 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 Cra?sus attacked
the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire, and a recom-
1 For the story of Amphiaraus, cf. at Thebes but at Oropus. Tlie Thebans,
Pausan. i. 34•, ii. 13, § 6. iEschj'l. Sept. ere they lost Oropus to Attica, might
contr. Th. 564 et seqq. The " misfor- have carried away the most valuable of
time " is his being eugulfed near Oropus, its treasures to their own city. Indeed
or. (as some said) at Harma iu Ba3otia. 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 Herodotus at Thebes, not at Thebes. For, liad it been, why
does not militate against the position should the shield and sjjear have been
maintained in a former note, that the in the temple of Ismeuian Apollo, and
orbicular shrine of Amphiaraiis was not not at the shrme itself ?
152 SPARTA AND ATHENS THE TWO MOST Book I.
mciulation to Lim to look and sec who were tlie most powerful
of the Greeks, and to make alliance wdth them.
54. At the receipt of these oracular replies Croesus was over-
joyed, and feeling sure now that he Avould destroy the empire of
the Persians, he sent once more to Pytho, and presented to the
Delphians, the numher of Avhom he had ascertained, two gold
staters apiece.'-^ In return for this the Delphians granted to
Cra3sus 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
Avhereto 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, thoii delicate Lydiau, away to the pebbles of Hermus ; ^
Haste, oh ! haste thee away, uor blush to behave like a coward."
50. Of all the answers that had reached him, this pleased him
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 Avas the most powerful of the Grecian states.
His inquiries pointed out to him two states as pre-eminent above
the rest. These were the Lacedoemonians 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
which the Hellenes dwelt, but under Dorus, the son of Helleu,
- For the value of the stater see note clares that there is now no place of the
on Book vii. ch. '28. name (Asie Miueure, vol. iii. p. 17). It
3 The Hermus is the modern Kod'is or Avas situated iu the valley of the Her-
Ghiediz Chat, which rises in the Morad mus, at the point where the I'actolus, a
mountains and runs into the sea near brook descending from Tmolus, joined
Smyrna. Sardis was till recently a vil- the gi'eat stream,
lajje known as Sart ; but M. Texier de-
Chap.
POWERFUL STATES OF GREECE.
153
they moved to the tract at the base of Ossa and Olympus, which
is called Histioeotis ; forced to retire from that region by the j
Cadmeians,* they settled, under the name of Macedni, in the ι
chain of Pindus. Hence they once more remo\^d and~came to |
Dryopis ; and from Dryopis having entered the Pelopounese ^ in
tliis 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 HellesjDont, who had pre-
viously dwelt for some time with the Athenians,'' — or those, in
short, of any other of the cities which have ch'opped 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-
Phoerdcian race (their name merely sig-
nifying "the Easterns"), who in the
ante-Trojau times, occupied the coun-
try which was afterwards called Bocotia.
Hence the Greek tragedians, in plays of
which -ancient Thebes is the scene (-^sch.
Sept. c. Theb. Sophocl. CEd. R. and Au-
tig. Eurip. Phceniss.), invariably speak
of the Thebans as Κα5μΐωι, KaS/xeios
Aecis. The Bceotians of Arue' in Thes-
saly exjjelled the Cadmeians from the
region histoi-ically known as Boiotia,
some time (60 years) after the Trujan
war (Thucyd. i. 12). The Cadmeians
fled in various directions. They ai-e
found at Athens (infr. v. 57), at Sparta
(inf. iv. 147), and in Asia Minor (inf. i.
1 -16 ) . Some may have fled to Histiaiotis,
the north-western portion of Thessaly,
a mountain tract 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 (Paus. v. iii. 5,
and Apollodoi-us, ii. viii. § 3).
^ Kiebuhr (Hist, of Home, i. p. 34,
note 89) would read Κρότωνα for Κρη-
στωνα here, and understand Croton or
Cortona in Etruria. It is certain that
Dionysius so read and understood (cf.
Dionya. Ant. Rom. i. '26, p. G9, Reiske).
And the best MSS., Niebuhi• 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 Biihr,
(in loc.) oppose this view, and maintain
the reading Κρηστώνα. There certainly
were Crestouiaus, 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
Λvith the Crestonians. Niebuhr denies
that there was any city of Creston in
these parts, but in this he contradicts
Stephen (ad voc. Κρ-ηστων).
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 jiar-
ticular part of Greece in which the Pe-
lasgic population of Etruria lived before
they occupied Itah', 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 TELASGL Book I.
barbarous language." If this wore really so, and the entire
Pelasgic race spoke tlie same tongue, the Athenians, avIio were
certainly Pelasgi, must have changed their language at the
game 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 tliev 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 Httle 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 Avonderful prodigy
happened to him. As be 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 Λ-erb used
nation from the Hellenes: their language is the simple σχίζίσθαι. See ii. 17.
was peculiar, and not Greek: this asser- σχίζεται τριφασία^ oSovs [δ NeiAos]. iv.
tion, however, must not be stretched to 39. σχίζεται τα στόματα του "Ιστρου.
imply a difference like that between the The assertion of Herodotus therefore
(Jreck and the Hlyrian or Thracian. is, that the Hellenes branched fnnn 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
^■till speak so as not to be mutually un- ii Pelasgico genere " of Schweigha'user
derstood; and this is what Herodotus sufficiently express this meaning,
has in his eye." CNiebuhr's Kom. Hist. ^ Thucydides explains further, that
vol. i. p. 27. J the various tribesi of Pelasgi became
^ αττοσ χίσθ^ν από του Yle\aσyι- Hellenized by the voluntary placing
κοΰ. 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 stream from the would thereby accrue to them (Tliucyd.
main current of a river. Vide infra, iv. i. Ii. ΐπα•γομ(νων αύτου$ ^τ' ώφίΚία 4s
oti. "Έ,βζομοί δί Τίβ^οί ττοταμόί άττί- ras &\\as woKeis, καθ' (κάστου! t)Sj) τρ
σχισται μΐν από τοΰ Bopvireiveos, κ. δμι\ία μα\\ον καλεΓσΟαι ' Ελληνοϊ).
τ. λ. When the river divides into two
Chap. 57-59. CONDITION OF ATHENS— PISISTEATUS. 155
overflowed tlie pots. Cliilon 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
u time when there was civil contention in Attica between the
}!arty of the Sea-coast headed by Megacles the son of Alcmaeon,
and that of the Plain headed by Lycurgus, one of the Aristola'ids,
formed the project of making himself tyrant, and with this view
created a third party.^ Gathering together a band of j^artisans,
and giving himself out for the protector of the Highlanders, he
contrived the following stratagem. He wounded himself and
his mules, and then diOve 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 Λvhich he had gained when
he led the attack upon the Megarians, and took the town of
Xissea,^ 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 Avent. Tims
strengthened, Pisistratus broke into revolt and seized the citadel.
In this way he acquired the sovereignty of Athens, Avhich he
continued to hold Avithout disturbing the previously existing
oflSces or altering any of the laAvs. He administered the ^tate
according to the established usages, and his arrangements Avere
wise and salutarv.
2 There can be no doubt that these gislation, i. e. before B.C. 594. Mr. Grote
local factions must also have been poli- justly observes that distinction gained
tical parties. Indeed one of them, that five and thirtj^ years before would have
of the Highlanders (ύτΓ€ράκριοι], is iden- availed Pisistratus but little in the j^arty
tified by Herodotus himself with the conflicts of this period. The objection
demus or Democratical jiarty. The two that he could not, when so young, be
others are ccnuected by Plutai-ch (Solon, said with any propriety to have cajjtured
c. 13), and on grounds of probability, NisKa is not so well founded, for a young
with the Oligarchical and the Moderate officer 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 \vould be said to have captured the
Athens and Megara, under the conduct place. The chief scene of this Avar was
of Solon, in which Pisistratus was said Salamis. (See Mr. Grote's history, vol.
to have distinguished himself 'Solon, c. iii. p. 205, notej.
S), as having occurred before Solon's le-
15G riEST EXrULSIOX OF PISISTRATUS. Book I.
60. However, after a little time, the partisans of Megacles
and tliose of Lycurgus 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 tlie 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
foolish 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 Avas in tlie Pasanian district a woman named Phya,^ whose
height only fell short of four cubits by three fingers' breadth,
and Avho 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 efiect : " 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 througliout the country districts that ]\Iinerva 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 certaiu 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. U»5). He might have compared also
very improbable. {See Clitodem. Fr. the story of the gigantic phautom-wai•-
24.) rior at Marathon who smote Epizelns
Mr. Grote has some just remarks upon witli 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 Del])hi, whom the
presence upon earth of the Gods. Mr. Delphians recognised for their local lie-
Grote refers to the well-known a2)pear- roes, I'hylacus and A^touoiis (viii. o8-'Jj.
Crap. 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
Alcmseonidae 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
Avith 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 retm-n home. They made
the coast of Attica, near Marathon, wdiere they encamped, and
were joined by their partisans from the capital and by numbers
from the country districts, vfho loved tyranny better than free-
dom. At Athens, while Pisistratus was obtaining funds, and
even after he landed at IMarathon, 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
were 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 aftei" he had, by a pledge to
Plut. Solon, c. 12. The curse rested ou spare their lives, induced them to leave
them upon account of their treatment of the sacred precinct of Minerva in the
the partisans of Cyl,on. The archon of Acropolis, but also slew a number at
the time, Megacles, not only broke faith the altar of the Eumeuidea.
108
IIIS FINAL RETUEN TO rOWEH.
Book I,
Pisistratus, wliicli liad broken \ψ from ]\[aratlion, meeting tlieir
adversaries near the temple of the l*allenian IMinerva,'' pitched
tlieir 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 beeu made, the net is out -spread in the water,
Through the mooushiuy 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.^
^ Palloue was a village of Attica, near
Gargcttus, which is the modern (jarito
(Leake, Demi of Attica, p. 45j. It was
famous for its temple of Minerva, which
was of such magnificence as to be made
the subject of a special treatise by The-
mison, whose book, entitled PaUcnis, is
mentioned by Athenaius (vi. 6, p. 235).
The exact site of the ancient village
seems to be a place about l-J miles
south-west of Gariio, where there are
extensive remains (Leake, ibid.).
'' Valckenaer proposed to read ό Άκαρ-
vevs (Ionic form of 'Axapyeiis) the Achnr-
iiiun, fur ό Άκαρναν, the Acanumiaii. Lar-
cher argued in favour of this reading,
while Gronovius considered that ό Ακαρ-
καν might have the meaning of "the
Acharnian." So too Schweighieuser,
\vho renders "Acaruan, site poti'is Achar-
neriiis." The vicinity of Acharuse to
Pallcne is a circumsatnce of some weight
on this side of the question. And it is
certain that Plato calls Amphilytus a
compatriot fTheag. p. 124), and that
Clement calls him an Athenian (Strom.
1. i. p. 398;. But on the other hand
Acarnania was famous for soothsayers,
especially at this period. It is only ne-
cessary to mention Megistias, the Acar-
naniau soothsayer, at Thermopyhe, and
Hij^pomachus, the Leucadian (Leucas
was on the coast of Acarnania) at Pla-
tsea. (Vide infra, vii. 221, and ix. 38.)
^ Mr. Grote is of opinion that "the
proceedings " throughout this struggle
"have altogether the air of a concerted
betrayal " (Hist, of Greece, vol. iv. p.
143). Such, however, is clearly not the
opinion of Herodotus. And as the Alc-
mreonida) were undoubtedly at the head
of affairs, and knew that they had no-
thing to hope, but everything to fear,
from the success of Pisistratus, it seems
quite inconceivable that they should
have voluntarily betrayed the state into
his hands. It is prejudice to suppose
that the popular party alone can never
lose ground by its own fault, or without
a betrayal. The fact seems to have been
that at this time, before the weight of a
tyraimy liad been felt, many, as Hero-
dotus says, " loved tyranny better than
freedom," and the mass were indifferent.
Chap. 62-65.
HIS AFTER MEASURES.
159
64. Upon this lie set himself to root his power more fii-mly, by
the aid of a numerous body of mercenaries, and by keeping up
a full exchequer, j)artly 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-
ing 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 wdth the son of
Alcmaeon.
65. Such was the condition of the Athenians when Croesus
made inquiry concerning tliem.^ Proceeding to seek informa-
Besides, 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. 5-1-. ΆθτιναΙουί
€ΐκβΧΤΤΎΐν ττρασσόμΐνοι των "γι-γνομένων),
\ή pari 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
apparentlyeijiher of landg, or jmiues lying
near the Sirymon', and belonging to him
probably in his private capacity. That
p;u't of Thrace was famous for its gold
and silver mines (iufr. Λ'. 17, 1.'3, vi. 4(3;
Thucyd. iv. 105; Strab. vii. p. 481).
Mr. Grote has, I think, mistaken the
meaning of this passage (vol. iv. p. 145,
note ^). "Herodotus," he says, "tells
us that Pisistratus brought mercenary
soldiei's from tiie Strymon, but thcJ ue
ifevied the money to pay them in Attica:
4βρίζω(Γΐ r7]V τυραννίδα ΐτικούροίσί re
■ΤΓολλοΓσι, /col χρ-ημάτων συνόδοισι, των
μΐν αυτόβΐν, των δέ οττό 2,τρνμονο$ πο-
ταμού συνίύντων." The arguments by
which he defends his translation (vol. vii.
App. pp. 5ii8, 569, 3rd Edition) seem to
me beside the point. The yenitice, των . .
συνιόντων, cannot possibly refer to ' the
dative ΐττικούροισι.
1 It is difficult to reconcile this ac-
count of the establishment of Lygdamis J
in Nasos with the statements of Aris- i
totle on the subject. According to Aris- ;
totle, the revolution Λvhich placed him ',
upon the throne was of home growth, "i
and scarcely admitted of the interference t
of a foreigner. Telestagoras, a man be- 1
loved by the common people, had been ^
grossly injured and insulted by some
youths belonging to the oligarchy which
then ruled Nasos. 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 oligarch}', and
made Lygdamis king. (See the Frag-
ments of Aristotle in iVIiiller's Frag. Hist...
Gr. vol. ii. p. 155, Fr. 1ΰ8, 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.
- Compare Thucyd. iii. 104.
^ Tlie embassy of Croesus cannot pos-
sibly have been subsequent to the final
establishment of Pisisti-atus at Athens,
which was in B.C. 542 at the earliest.
(See Clmton's F. H., vol. ii. pp. 252-4.)
It probably occurred dm-ing his first
term of power.
IGO CONDITIOX OF SPARTA— LYCURGUS. Book I.
tion concerning the LacedcTnionians, lie 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 Jjace-
dienionians, successful in all their other wars, suffered continual
defeat at the hands of the Tegeans. At a still earlier period
they had been the very worst governed people in Greece, as
Avell 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 : — Lvcurgus, 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 Sj)artans.
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 Avhatever appertained
to war, establishing the Enomotise, Triacades, and Syssitia,®
* Since Labotas was, in all probability, ti-uth seems to be that Herodotus has
noways I'elated to Lycurgus, being of simply made a mistake,
the other royal house, and Lycurgus is * Aristotle was of this opinion (Polit.
said by Aristotle (Polit. ii. vii. § 2) and li. vii. § 1). καϊ yap eoi/ce καΙ Keye-
most ancient writers to have been regent rai St τα πλεΓσ-τα μζμιμΎ\(τθαι τ^ν
for Charilaiis, it has been pi'oposed (Mar- Κρ7]'ηκτ]ν ττοΧιτΐΙαν ή των Αακώνων . . .
'sham. Can. Chron. p. 4'JcS") to read — Λυ- καί yap τον hvKovpyov, 'ύτΐ t))v ^τητρο-
Koi'pyov (τητροπΐύσαντα άδελψιδίΌυ μίν ■π^ία.ν τ-!;ΐ' \αριΚαου τον βαίΤίλίοιί καταΑι-
ίωντοΰ, βασιΧΐνοντο^ 5e '2,ιταρτ'ητ4ων πίΐιν άττεδήμησί, τ(ίτ€ Thv πλεΐστοί/ δία-
Α(ωβώτ€ω. Larclier aj)proves of tliis τρίψαι xpouou irep] την Κρ-ητην.
emendation, and translates accordingly. " That the (νωμοτίαι were divisions of
Clinton also is satisfied with it. (F. II. tlie Spartan cohort {\όχο5) is proved by
vol. i. p. 144, note ''.) But in the first the concurrent testimony of Thucydides
place the reading in Herodotus is at least (v. (38) and Xenophon (liellcn. vi. iv.
as old as Pausanias, wlio says, "Hero- § 12; Rep. Lac. xi. § 4). Thucydides
dotus in his discourse of Croesus asserts says the \όχο$ contained four pente-
that Labotas in his boyhood had for costyes and 512 men, the pentecostys
guardian Lycui-gus the lawgiver." (Pans, four enomoties, and 128 men. Xeno-
III. ii. § 'Λ.) And secondly, the altera- phon gives but two pentecostyes to the
tion would not remove the difficulty. λ.όχο5, and two enomoties to tlie 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 WAR. 161
Ijesides which he instituted the senate/ and the ephoralty.^
Such Avas the way in which the Lacediemonians became a well-
i^overned 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 meaaui'ing line mete out the glorious champaign."
When the Lacediemonians 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.
ΐνωμοτία implies tbat its members were Compare the history of Rome under the
liound together by a common oath. Cf. last Tarquin. Lycurgus appears to have
Hesych. in voc. ΐνωμοτία. — τάξΐϊ ris δια made scarcely any changes in the c(»v<ti-
σψαγίων ένώμοτοί. tution. What he did was to alter the
Of the τριηκάδίί nothing seems to be customs and habits of the people. Witii
known. They may have been also divi- regard to the senate, its institution was
sions of the army — but divisions con- primitive, and we can scarcely imagine
fined to the camp, not existing in the that it had ever dropped out of use. Ac,
field. however, the whole Spartan constitution
The word συσσίτια would seem in this was considered to be the work of Lycur-
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." iiscribed to Lycurgus by Xenophon (De
In Sparta itself, each "mess" usually Kep. Laced, viii. H), Satyrus (ap. Diog.
consisted of 15 persons. This was pro- Laert. i. G8), and the author of the let-
bably the case also in the camp, civil ters ascribed to Plato (Ep. viii.y 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.
Tpi-rjKas may have contained two messes. These conflicting statements are best re-
'' It is quite inconceivable that Lycur- conciled by considering that the ephorg
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-establishment to Greece, vol. i. p. :•!ό4, and see the Essays
royal, or (jr^iaii-royal authority. Nothing appended to Book V. Essay i.)
VOL. I. Μ
162 LEGEM) OF THE BONES OF OEESTES. Book T.
tofrethor in a string, measured tlie Tegeau 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 Alca.^
67. Throughout the whole of this early contest with the
Tegeans, the Lacedsemonians met with nothing but defeats ; but
in the time of Crffisus, 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
tlieir 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 tliscover his burial-place,
they sent a second time, and asked the god where the body of
tJie hero had been laid. The following was the answer they•
received : —
" Level and smooth is the plain where Arcadian Tegea standeth ;
Thei-ejtwo 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 Lacediemonians 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- ^ n jg ditiicult to reconcile this pas-
gea. Her temple at Tegea was particu- sago with tlie statement of Xenophon
larly magnificent. See the description concerning the mode of election of the
iu I'ausanias (VIII. xlvii. § 1-2). The knights (iJe Rep. Laced, iv. 3.). Xeno-
name Alcn does not appear to be a local phon says the ephors choose three tir-
appellative, like Assesia (supra, ch. 19), iraypirai, who each selected a hundred
Pallenis (ch. 52), &c., but rather a title, youths, which seems at first sight to
fiignifying ' protectress ' — lit. " she who imply that the whole body of the knights
gives r:r<ij)(•." was renewed annually. It is impossible
' (Compare the removal of the bones to suppose tluit no more than five retired
of Tisamenus from Helice' to Sparta each year. Such an arrangement would
(Pausan. λ•ιι. i. § 3) ; of Theseus from have soon made the knights a body of
Scyros to Athens (ib. iii. iii. § <3); of old men. Possibly the Ephors of each
Rhesus from the plain of Troy to Am- year appointed Ilippagreta; who drew
phipolia (Polya-n. Strateg. vi. 53); and out the list of knights afresh, having
Chap. 66-68. LEGEND OF THE BONES OF ORESTES. 163
68. Lichas was one of tins body wlien, 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 foroino; some iron. As he stood marvellinoj
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
AVonderfuUy surprised if you had seen what I have, since you
make a marvel even of the working 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 the 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 scratch off the roll such as they 3 Herodotus means to represent that
thought luiworthy, and to place others the forging of i/vn was a novelty at the
upon it, the five senior members only time. Brass was known to the Greeks
being incapable of re-appointment. The before iron, a.s the Homeric poems suffi-
greater number of the knights would ciently indicate. Cf. also Hcsiod. Op.
xisually be re-appointed, but besides the et Dies, 1όυ-1.
five eldest who necessarily reth'ed, the
Hippagretaj would omit any whom they '""'f ^'. ^ζ. X"^''^,^ f'^•' ""X^"• X<^\«^°' ¥ '^^ ?'''°'•
thought unfit lor the service. All ac- σιδηροί.
counts agi'ee in representing the knights
I as the picked ijuiUh of Sparta. (Xenoph. and Lucretius,
j ore." PKiarcnyc.^ C. 25. Eustath. ..p,,;^^ ^^.^ ^^^. ^ ,^^i ^^^-^^^ ^^„3 „ ^,. jag,).
[_ ad II. Θ. 2.'i.) Ihe substitution oi older
'; men by Leouidas before Thermopyla; Hence smithies were termed χαλκίΊα,
I {infra, vii. "205, and note ad Ivc.) was ex- χαλκ-ηϊα, as in this instance, — and smiths
'3 ceptional. χαλκίΓϊ.
' Μ 2
164 EMBASSY OF CRCESUS TO SPARTA. Book I.
in it. Then lie oi)ened 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 Avere masters of most
of the Peloponuese.
69. Croesus, informed of all these circumstances, sent mes-
seniiers 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 : —
" Crcesus, 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, knowmg 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 Avhich Croesus sent by his heralds.
The Lacedajmouians, who were aware beforehand of the reply
given him by the oracle, Avere full of joy at the coming of the
messengers, 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 Thornax in Laconia,' when Croesus, hearing of the matter,
gave them as a gift the gohl Avhich they wanted.
70. This was one reason why the Lacediemonians were so
willing to make the alliance : another was, because Croesus had
chosen them for Ins 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 huge vase made in bronze, covered with figures of animals
* Paiifanias declares that the gold ob- explanation cannot be given of the paa-
tained of Croesus by the Laceda-nionians sage of Theoponipus (Fr. 219.), which
was used in fact upon a statue of Apollo distinctly asserts that the original object
at Ainyclffi (III. x. § lU). Larcher, and of the Lacediemonians was to buy gold
Siebelis (ad I'ausan. 1. s. c.) remark that for the Aniyclaian 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,
gnist'S, while the latter gives in addition 4ό feet high, according to Pausauias (ill.
their act. xix. § 2).
This is no doubt true. But the same
Chap. 68-71. CECESUS 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 Lacediemonian 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 offermg of it at the slmne 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. AYliile 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 ; wdio 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 Avilt 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, thougli it was true
enough ; for before the conquest of Lydia, the Persians pos-
sessed none of the luxuries or delights of life.
* Vide infra, ii. 182.
β For a description of the Persian dress, see note on ch. 135.
166
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF CAPPADOCIA. Book I.
72. The Cappadociaiis are known to the Greeks by tlie name
of Syrians.^ Before the rise of the Persian poAver, 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 >vas the river Halys. This
stream, which rises in the mountain country of Armenia, runs
first through Cili(;ia ; afterwards it flows for a while with fhe;
Matieni on the riglit, 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 Avhole
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,
vn. 72-3), and the Matieni on the Bouth.
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. ΘΊβ; Eustatb.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. ofil ; 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-
oia is mentioned imder the name of Ka-
tiipatuka, and appeared to be assigned
wider limits than those given in Hero-
dotas. (See Col. Itawlinson's Memoir
on the Behistun Inscription. Vol. II.
p. 95. ) No countries are named between
Armenia and Ionia but Capj^xdocia 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 l)a-
rivLS (pages 197, 280, and 294 of the fii-st
volume of Col. llawlinsou's Memoir), and
compare the notes on the Babylonian
text I vol. iii. p. xix.).
* Herodotus tells us in one place (iv.
101) that he reckons the day's journey
at 200 stadia, that ia at about 'Ζ'ό of our
miles. If we regard this as the measure
intended here, we must consider that
Herodotus imagined the isthmtis of Na-
tolia to be but 1 15 unless across, 165 miles
short of the tinith. It must be observed,
however, that the ordinary day's jour-
ney cannot be intended by the 6S6s
e ΰ ζω ν (^ avSp't. The avijp ίϋζωνο^ is not
the mere common traveller. He is
the lightly-equipped pedestrian, and his
day's journey must be estimated at some-
thing considerably above 200 stades-
Major Kennell, in his comiuents on the
passage (Geogr. of Herod, p. 19o), made
an allowance on this account, and reck-
oned the day's journey of the "active
Avalker " at about 130 miles. Even tlius,
however, the error of Herodotus remain-
ed very considerable — a mistake of 130,
instead of 1(35, 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 (Hei-od. vi. 10(J) proves that
the trained runners (7]μ(ροδρόμοι) of the
period could travel from 50 to Oij miles
a day, and supposes Herodotus to allude
to certiiin known ciises in which the
isthmus had been traversed in five days.
But 1. it does not seem correct to regaxd
tlie auijp (ϋζωνοί iis the same with the
■τιμίρο5ρόμο5, and 2. Herodotus appears
to speak not of ajiy partioulav c;iso or
ciuses, but generally of all lightly ecjuip-
ped pedestrians. He cannot thei'efora
bo riglitly regarded as free from mistake
in the matter. Probably he considered
the isthmus at least 100 miles narrower
than it really is.
It renders such a mistake tlmless aur»
prising to find that Pliny, after all the
Chap. 72, 73. CHIEF MOTIVE OF CRCESUS. 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 distm-bance, 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 themselves with all speed to
Sardis, to the court of Alyattes, the son of Sadyattes. The plan
Avas 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 KasiJ, or
expedition of Alexander and the Roman foot- messenger of the present day, who,
occupation, estimated the distance at no in tine weather and over a tolerably easy
more than 200 Koman, or less than 190 country, ought to accomplish 50 miles
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 regular range of Taurus and its bi-anches, if the
caravan stage performed by loaded ca- most active Kiisid could pass from Tar-
mels or mules, and is correctly enough es- sus on the Mediterranean to Samsoon
timated at 2oU Olympic stadia. The on the Euxine— estimated by Ei-ato-
average length of such a stage at the pre- stheues ( Strab. ii. 1) at :5U00 stadia— in
sent day is 6farsoJ;/)g, or about 22^ English less than 10 days. — H.CK,]
miles. The ήμΐροΒρόμοί, on the other
1G8
WAR OF ALYATTES AVITH CYAXARES.
Book I.
74. Afterwards, on the refusal of Alyattcs 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
Medes gained many victories over the Lydians, and the Lydians
also gained many victories over the Medes. 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 whicli, just
as tlie 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 whicli 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 uomadic 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 different 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 the 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.")
• 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
Oltuiauns from the newest astronomical
tiibles, and more 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 tlio
still more recent calculations of Mi•. Hind
and Mr. Airey.
That Tludes predicted this eclipse was
asserted by Aristotle's disciple, Eudemus
(Clem. Alex. 1. 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 was said
to have foretold the fall of an aerolite
(Arist. Meteorol. i. 7).
[Tlie 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
Chaldx'aus, and that the science of these
astronomers, although sufticient 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 ti-ack of the sun's shadow
along a particular line over the surface
of the earth — may be inferred from our
finding that in the astronomical canon
of Ptolemy, which was compiled from
the Chalda;an 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. § 25; iEschyl. Pers.
324. It has been supposed not to be
really a name, but, like Pharaoh, a title.
Cf. Biihr in loc.
[The Cuneiform inscriptions do not
assist us iu determining whether Syen-
Chap. 74.
ECLIPSE OF THALES.
169
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 was
nesis was a title or a proper name. The
only cuneiform name wliieh has any re-
semblance'to it is tliat of SienI, who was
king of Dai/an, a province contiguous to
Cilicia, under the first Tiglathpileser of
Assyria, in about B.C. 11 .iu. The kings
of Cilicia mentioned by the Greeks are of
a much later date, being the respective
contemporaries of Cyaxares, Darius,
Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Muemon. —
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 again.st Amhris, the
son of Khuliya, who was hereditary chief
of Tnlial (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 (^Kldlali) as
the dowry of his daughter Mamk. Am-
hris, 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 MumIi and Vani-
rat (Meshech and Ararat, or the Moschi
and Armenia), who were in revolt against
Assyi'ia, and thus drew on himself the
hostility of the great king. His chief
city, BIt-Barutm, was taken and sacked,
and he himself was brought a prisoner
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 Chaldsan, Aramrean, Sy-
rian, and Armenian captives, in buildhig
that famous palace of which the ruins
have lately been excavated at Koyuujik.
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 Tthal (Tubal of Scripture).
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
hoistile contact of the Greeks and Assy-
rians recorded in the inscriptions, 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 conquest of Sidon. A city at
any rate named after Esarhaddon, was
built at this period with the assistance
of the kings of Phajuicia and the Greek
kings of Cyprus, on the shores of the
Mediteri-aneau, 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 i-eferriug to the expe-
dition in question is too defective to be
turned to much historical account.
Bochart supposes the name of Cilicia
to be derived from the Hebrew root Ρ?Π,
and to have been given to the country
on account of its rugged and stony cha-
racter; but the Hebrew Klfilih, although
applied to "stones," signifies properly,
" to be smooth " or " polished," and is
thus singularly inapplicable to Cilicia.
There are, indeed, 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 neighbouring races of Me-
shech and Tubal.- H.C.R.]
•* The Babylonian monarch at this
time was either Nabopolassar or Nebu-
chadnezzar. (See the Astronomical Ca-
■ non.) Neither of these names is properly
Helleuized by Labynetus. Labynetus
is undoubtedly the Nabunahid of the in-
scriptions, the Nabonadius of the Canon,
the Nabonnedus 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. 006. If the name here be
170 MAERIAGE OF ASTYAGES AND ARYENIS. Book!.
they who advised that Alyattes shoiihl give liis daughter
Aryenis in marriage to Astyages the sou 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 i)eople in the same way as by the Greeks,
except that they make a slight flesh wound in their arms,
from M'hieh each sucks a j^ortion of the other's blood.^
75. Cyrus had ca})tured tliis 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 semich'cle,
so that it might pass to rearw^ard 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- ai'e more likely to have been of the mo-
netus must have been a prince of the deru 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, artvan-
Nabopola.ssar. tage being taken of its separation into
* Vide infra, iv. 70, and Tacit, Annal. two chaimels. This is the case now at
xii. 47. Bafra, on the route between Samsun and
^ The Halys {Kixil IrmaK) is fordable Siuope', which is not unlikely to liave
at no very great distance from its mouth been the point at which Cra3sus 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. -J!)?, 411). These are of a very about Tiiales.
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-
ing from bank to bank, without any pa- .standing the opposition of Herodotus,
rapet. Bridges with stone piers have It is spoktni of as an indisputable fact
existed at some former jieriod iib. p. 32ti), 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. CRCESUS PASSES THE HALYS. 171
of the army, and afterwards fall again into the ancient bed. In
this Avay the river was split into two streams, Avhich 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 SinojDe ^ upon
the Euxine, and is the strongest position in the whole country
thereabouts. Here Crcesus 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 leAaed 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-
acity, as Larcher supposes (not. ad loc). dian city, and to the acropolis of Baby-
Its capital ( " the city of the Pterians " ) Ion. iSteph. 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
Πτ€ρία), but this is uncertain. The site of the Milesians, founded about B.C. 630
cannot possibly be &tBoijha:-Kein, 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 PKODIGY OF THE SERPENTS. Book I.
the spring. He meant to call on the Egyptians to send liim
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
Avould, as soon as the winter was past and springtime come,
march once more against the Persians. With these intentions
Crcfisus, 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 ca})ital, and let them
depart to their homes, never imagining that Cyrus, after a battle
in Avhich 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 kiug, however, the last of the Baby-
would suffice to account for the hostility 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, aud thus does not
2 Undoubtedly the Nabonadius of the enable us to ascertain what part he took
Canon, and the Nabunahid of the nionu- in the contest between Cyrus aud Croe-
ments. The fact that it was with this sus. — H. C. R.]
monarch that Crccsus made his treaty ^^-Ί^ι-ββ distinct cities of Asia Minor are
helps greatly to fix the date of the fiiU called by this name. One of them —
of Sardis; it proves that that event c<m- more properly spelt Termessus — was in
not hare /idjtpvncd enrlicr than B.C. 554. Pisidia. (See Arrian. Exp. Alex. i. 27, 28,
For Nabunahid did not ascend the throne where the form used is Ύ(λμισσ65 ; and
till B.C. 555 (Astron. Can.) and a full compare Strab. xiii. p. 952; Ptol. v. 5;
year nmst be allowed between the con- I'ulyb. xxii. 18, § 4.) Another was in f «i \
elusion of the treaty aud the taking of Caria, seven miles (liO stades; from Ha- V ^
the Lydiau capital. licarnassus (Polemon, Fr. ;S5), to which
[As Neljuchadnezzar 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- r^
over all Western Asia, reasserting the mous was, properly speaking, in Lycia; ^vl? i
ancient Assyrian supremacy over the but it was so near the confines "OTCJaria I
countries which touched the Mediter- as to be sometimes assigned te~tiialrcdun- t
ranean, there is no improbability in the try. (Steph. Byz. ad voc. Τ(\μισσ6$•, I
existence of political relations between compare Plin. H. N. v. 27 ; Liv. xxxvii. I
CrcesuB and Nabunahid. The history of lu; and Pomp. Mel. i. 15.; It has been I
Chap. 77-79. ADVANCE OF CYEUS. 173
to consult them upon tlie matter. His messengers reached the
city, and obtained from the Tehnessians 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, Croesus
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.
Λ 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 which of the last two was the ten Telm^ssiis, not Telm/ssus, as in Ar-
city 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. 240), 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 160-178.)
SSuidas, Etym. Magn., <S:c.) are unani- On the celebrity of the Telmissian di-
\inous 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.
(ΌβΌίΛΛί.41) and Clement of Alexan- According to Clement of Alexandria,
driaTTSirom. i. p. 400 j place the pro- their ^yx'ciVi/ 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'iTlheir reputation still con-
(See Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman tiuued in his own day. (Cohort, ad Gent.
Geography, vol. ii. p. 1122, and MUller's § 3; p. 40.)
Fr Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 394.) ■• Mr. Grote has some good obsei-va-
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.. Tlie Lydians did
partly native Lycian. In the Greek in- not become άβροΒίαιτοι (.iEsch. Pers. 40)
ecriptions at this place the name is writ- until after the Persian conquest.
174
BATTLE IX THE PLAIN BEFORE SAUDIS.
Book 1.
fightino; was on horseback ; they carried k)Ug lances, and were
clever 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 nnmber of
other striMims, which all flow into one larger than the rest,
called the Ilermus.^ This river rises in the sacred mountain of
the Dindymenian IMother/ and falls into the sea near the town
of Phoca.'a.''
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
ι 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 Hermu.s, 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.
oh. Ixxiv. p. 289.) Strabo appears to
have intended this by his " plain of
Cyru.s," which adjoined Fhri/giit (xiii. p.
929). See Rennell's Geography of West-
ei'n Asia, vol. i. p. 383.
There is a second more extensive and
still richer plain below Sardis, of which
Strabo also speaks ' ΰττοκΐΊταί rfi πόλΐί
' Sardis ι τό τ€ SapSiat'or nehloi/, καΐ τό
τοΰ "Ερμου, κα\ τό Καϋστρίανόν, συνεχή
Te οντά καΙ πάντων άριστα π f -
S/oii/j. This jilain 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
afterwards 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 directly across from Manser.
. . . The land is excellent, and I scarcely
saw a stone during the first eighteen
miles. Cotton and corn grow luxuriantlii,
but thei-e are /<-"• trees fcomjiare Hero-
dotus's \\ii\<iv) except the willow and
pollard poplar." (Fellovvs' Asia Minor,
p. 201 .) This must certainly be the plain
intended by Herodotus: τό ire^iov το
■nr ρ 6 τοΰ άστίοε τοΰ 'XapOirjvod ... δια
5e αύτοΰ ■ποταμοί piovTes κα\ &\λοι
κ α\ "twos συββηΎνΰσί es τόν μ4•γι-
στον, κα\ζόμ(νον δί "Ζρμον. But it is
scarcely possible that the battle can
really have taken jjlace 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 by his oZpos Μητρί)? Αίν5υμ•ηνη$.
The interior of Asia Minnr 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 range of Morad,
which is a branch from the great chain
of Taurus, forming the water-shed be-
tween the streams which tiow westward
into the yEgean, and those which run
northward into the Euxine. The chief
source of the two is not, as Col. Leake
thought (Asia Minor, j). 169), that which
rises near the modern (Ihiediz or Kodiis
(the Κάδο/ of Strabo), but the stream
flowing from the foot of Morad I>ai//i,
wliich has perhaps some claim to be re-
garded as the Mount Hindymene' of
St»abo (xiii. p. 897) and our author.
See Hamilton's Asia Minor, vol. i. p.
108.
' The Hermus (GJiiedic-Cliai) now falls
into the sea very much nearer to Smyrna
than to Phocioa. Its cnurse is perpe-
tually changing (Chandler, vol. i. ch.
xxi.i, and of late years its embouchure
lias been gradually approaching Smyrna,
whose harbour is seriously tlireatened by
the extensive shoals which advance op-
posite tiie S<mjiac Kaleh, formed of the
mud brought down by the Hermus.
(See Hamilton's Asia Minor, vol. i. p.
45.)
Chap. 79-82. CRCESUS DEFEATED, 175
order of battle on this plain, fearful of the strength of their
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 caiTy the provisions and
the baggage, and taking oif their loads, he mounted riders upon
them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance
in front of his other troops 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 sjjare Croesus and not kill him, even if
he should be seized and offer resistance. The reason Avhy 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 aAvay. The
Lydians, however, behaved manfully. As soon as they under-
stood Avhat was happening, tliey leaped off their horses, and
engaged with the Persians on foot. Tlie 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
tlie 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 Lacediemon.
82. It chanced, however, that the Spartans were themselves
^ It is said that in one of the great that the horses of the enemy might be
battles between the Servians and the frightened bj^ 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- recourse to stratagem. (Frontier Lauds
nerals proposed that the camels should of the Christian and the Tui'k, vol. ii.
be placed in front of the army, in order p. o80.)
176 WAR OF SPARTA WITH ARGOb. Book I.
just at this time engaged in a quarrel with the Argives about a
place called Tliyrea,** Avhich was within the limits of Argolis,
l)ut had been seized on by the Laeediemonians. Indeed, the
whole country Avestward, as far as Cape Malea, belonged once to
the Argives, and not only that entire tract upon the main-
land, but also Cytliera, 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 Avith whom the victory rested.^ It Avas stipulated also
that the other troops on each side should return home to then•
respective countries, and not remain to Avitness 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
tAvo 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, Avhen
night put a stop to tlie fight, of the Avhole six hundred only
three men remained alive, two Argives, Alcanor and Chromius,
and a single Spartan, Othryadas. The two Argives, regarding
themselATS 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 retui-ned 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 Muller's Dorians,
district called Cyuuria, the border ter- vol. i. p. 154. Compare the Fragment
ritory between Laconia and Argolis (of. of Ephoriis (Ι.•), ed. Didot), " συμπράτ-
Thucyd. V. 41). The Cynurians were Teiv St καϊ Αακΐ5αιμ.ονίουί, eire ψθυνί]-
a remnant of the ancient population of aavras rfi δια tV ΐΐρ-ηνην (ίιτυχία,
the Pelo])onnese befoi-e the Dorian con- etre και avuepyoh^ e^eiv νομ.Ισαντα$ ττρύ?
quest. Tliey called themselves lonians, rd καταλΰσαι rov Φε/δωι/α αψγ prj μ4-
aud claimed to be ούτί^χθοι/εϊ (vide infra, voy avrovs την 7]y f μο y la ν τ ώ ν
viii. 73). The convent of Λ'ίλ" seems to Π e λοπ ov yr] σ ίων , ^y (κΰνοι irpoi-
mark the site of the ancient town. Here κτηντο."
on " a tabular hill covered with shrubs ^ Thucydides confirms this fact (v.
and small trees, and having a gentle de- 41). The Argives, IMU years afterwards,
scent towards the river of Lakn," are proposed the insertion of a clau.se 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 Thucy- ωσπΐρ κάΙ ττρότίρόν ποτί. The Si)artans
dides 'iv. hi), as the river has brought thought the proposal ί•ιίΙιι, so much had
down large deposits. opinion changed iu the interval.
^ In the time of I'heidon the First,
Chap. 82-84. CRCESUS ASKS AID FKOM 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, Avhereas the two men of the other side
ran away ; but at last they fell from words to blows, and a battle
Λvas fouglit, 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 cm'se,
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 ahvays 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, notwithstandino•,
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 Avhich 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 j^lace where
no guards were ever set. On this side the rock was so pre-
■' Plutarch asserts tbat there Avas uo gone; he then crawled forth, erected a
second battle, but that an appeal was trophy, and \vrote a superscription Avith
made to the Amj)hictyons, who decided his blood; when he had done this, he
in favour of Sparta (Moral, ii. p. 3()6, fell dead (Suidas in voc. Όθμυάέτΐί).
Β.). He cites as his authority a certain According to another storj•, he survived
Chrysermus, who had written a book en- the occasion, and was afterwards slain
titled ΠΐΚυποννησιακά. by Perilaiis, son of Alcanor, one of the
* Vaiious 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. (37) he was mortally ject with the epigram writers. (See
wounded in the fight, upon Λvhich he Brunck's Analecta, vol. i. pp. l.iO, 496;
hid himself under some of the dead bo- vol. ii. p. '2.)
dies till the two Argive survivors were
yOL. I. Ν
ITS
FALL OF SAIJIMS.
Book I.
fi])it()us, and the citadel (as it soemed) so improo-n.-iblo, tliat no
fear was entertained of its being• carried in this place. Hero
Avas the only portion of the circuit round which their old king
Meles^ did not carry the lion whi(di his Ionian bore to him.
For when the 'J'elniessians had dechired that if the lion were
taken round the defences, Sardis would be impregnable, and
]\[eles, in consequence, cai'ried it round the rest of the fortress
where the citadel secMiied 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. HyroBades, 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 number
had mounted to the top. Thus was Sardis taken,^ and given up
entirely to pillage.
85. With respect to Croesus himself, this is Avhat 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 ])rosperity Crccsus 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
5 Two Lydian kings of this name are
mentioned by Nicolas of Damascus (Fr.
24), who probably follows Xanthus.
One is said to have been a tyrant, and
to have been deposed by a certain Moxus,
who succeeded him on the throne. I'he
other immediately preceded Myrsus, the
father of Candaules. He is noticed by
luisebius, who improperly malies him
the immediate predecessor of Candaules
fEnscb. Chrou. Can., Part n. p. 32'J).
Tlie former of these two kings is pro-
bably tlie " old king Meles " of Hero-
dotus.
•• Sardis was taken a second time in
almost exactly the same way by Lagoras,
one of the generals of Antiochus the
Great fPolyb. vii. 4-7).
Three stories were current as to the
mode in which the capture by Cyrus
was effected. — 1. This of Herodotus,
wliich Xenophon followed in its princi-
pal featui-es (Cyrop. viii. ii. § l-i:5j.
—2. That of Ctesias, reported also by
I'oly.-pnus (Stratcg. vii. vi. § 10 i, which
made Cyrus take Sardis by the advice
of (Ebares, who suggested to him to
alarm the inhabitants by placing figures
of men on long poles, and elevating
them to the top of the walls (Persic.
Excerpt. § 4).— ;5. The following, given
also by Polyainus (ib. § 2)— on \vliat
authority it is impossible to say, possi-
bly that of Xanthus. Cyrus, it Λvas
said, assented to a truce, and drew off
his army, but the night following he
roturiied, and, finding tlie walls un-
guarded, scaled them with ladders. This
bust seems likely to have been the Ly-
dian version.
Few people will hesitate to prefer the
narrative of Herodotus to the other ac-
counts. That of Ctesiivs is too puerile
to deserve a moment's consideration.
The other, which rests on no authority
but that of Polyaonua, makes Cyrus
guilty of a foul piece of treachery, which
is completely at variance with the cha-
racter borne by him alike in Oriental
and in Grecian stor^'.
Chap. 84^86. DANGER AND ESCAPE OF CRCESUS. 179
on his behalf. The answer Avhich he had received from the
Pythoness ran thus: —
" Lj'dian, wide-ruling monarch, thou wondrous simjjle Croesus,
Wiah not ever to hear in thy palace the voice thou hast prayed for,
Uttering intelligent sounds. Far better thy son should he silent!
Ah ! woe worth the day when thine ear shall first list to liis accents."
When the town was taken, one of the Persians Avas just
going to kill Croesus, not knowiug 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 was voiceless,
beholding the Persian as he rushed towards Crcesus, 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 Avord, 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 fuliil the oracle, Avhich 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 A'ast pile had been raised by his orders, and Croesus, laden
with fetters, was placed upon it, and Avith him twice seven of
the sons of the Lydians. I know not Ashether Cyrus Avas
minded to make an offering of the first-fruits to some god or
other, or Avhether he had voAved a vow and was performing it,
or Avhether, as may Avell be, he had heard that Croesus was a
holy man, and so Avished to see if any of the heavenly powers
Avould appear to save him from being burnt alive. HoAvever it
might be, Cyrus was thus engaged, and Croesus Avas already on
the pile, Avhen it entered his mind in the depth of his Avoe that
there Avas a divine Avarning in the AA^ords which had come to
him from the lips of Solon, " No one Avhile he lives is happv."
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 Avho it AA'as he called on. They
drew near and asked him, but he held his peace, and for a long
time made no answer to their questionings, until at length,
forced to say something, he exclaimed, " One I Avould give
much to see converse Avith every monarch." Not knoAving
Ν 2
^
180 TvEMARKABLE DELIVERANCE OP CRCESUS. Book I,
Avliat lie meant by tliis reply, the interpreters bef^ged 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
lio-ht of it ; and how whatever ho had said to him had fallen out
exactly as he foreshowed, although it was nothing that e^pedally
(•(incorned him, but applied to all mankind alike, and most to
those who seemed to themselves happy. ]\[eanwhile, as he thus
li spoke, the pile was lighted, and the outer portion began to
blaze. Then Cyrus, hearing from the interpreters what CroDsus
had said, relented, bethinking himself that he too was a man,
and that it \vas 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.
S7. 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 Avith 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 with 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 lieads 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 Greeks, who encouraged me to begin the war. No one is so
foolish as to prefer to peace war, in which, instead of sons
■^ The later romancers regarded this in- Clironology and History of Lydia. Tlie
eident as over-marvellous, and softened words of the original are, "χαμών δ'
down the miracle considerably. See the «τυχβ ttJj/ τιμίραν (Ktivriv e'l tjoCs, ου
fragment of Nicolaiis Daniasceuus trans- μ^ν vtros ye."
lated at the close of the Essay on the
Chap. 86-89. CR(ESUS GIVES ADVICE TO CYRUS. 181
burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. But the gods
Avilled it so." "^
88. Thus did Croesus speak. Cyrus then ordered his fetters
to be taken ofi", and made him sit down near himself, and paid
liim much respect, looking upon him, as did also the coiu'tiers,
with a sort of Avonder. Croesus, wrapped in thought, uttered no
word. After a while, happening to turn and perceive the Persian
soldiers engaged in plundering the toAvn, 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 advantao-e, to
show it to thee. J'hy subjects, the Persians, are a jjoor 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.
Ho wilt thou escape the hatred they would feel if the plunder
•* Modern critics seem not to have Λνΐιοΐβ system of Zoroaster, It may be
lieen the fii'st 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-
sians did not allow the burning of hu- tiou of the Persian religion (seethe Cri-
luau beings (vide infra, iii. 1(1). The tical Essays, Essay v.).
objection had evidently been made be- Ctesias, in his account of the treat-
fore the time of Kicolas of Damascus, ment of Cyrus, omitted all mention of ^
who meets it indirectlj• 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 Crcrsus mira-
the precepts of Zoroaster, and allowed culously struck off, after which Cyrus
his ordinances with respect to tire to treated him with kindness, assigning him
fall into desuetude. The miracle where- the city of Bareuo (Barc(i of Justin, i. 7)
by Crousus was snatched from the flames for his residence. See the Persica of
i-eminded them of their ancient creed, Ctesias (Excerjit. § 4).
and induced them to re-establish the
182 CRCESUS KKPliOACHES THE (JliACLE. Γ.οοκ 1.
were taken away from tliem by force ; and tliey, seeing• tliat
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 Cra3sus highly, and
gave orders to his body-guard to do as he had suggested. Then,
turning to Crcesus, he said, "Oh! Croesus, I 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."
CroL'sus 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 inquii-ed 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
Lini liow it was the encouragement given him by the oracle
Avhich 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 Avar with Persia, of which such
Avcre the first-fruits ? " As they said this they were to p(nut to
the fetters ; and further they were to inquire, " if it Avas the wont
of the Greek gods to be ungrateful ? "
91. The Lydians Avent to Delphi and delivered their message,
on Avhich 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 i'or the sin of his fifth ancestor," Λνΐιο, 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 lifetime 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
* 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 arc left to be understood
supreme goddesses or hyper-goddesses — as the unseen stunihling-ldock in cases
for the gods themselves must submit to of extreme incomprehensibility ; and it
Chap. 89-92. liEl'LY OF THE I'YTHONESS. KSo
willing to allow lie took and gave to Croesus. Let Crcesus
Icnow that Apollo delayed the taking of Sardis three full years,
and that he is thus a prisoner three years later than Avas his
destiny. IMoreover it was Apollo λυΙιο saved him from the
burning pile. Nor has Croesus any right to complain with
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 Avas 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, Λνΐιο, though 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. Such was
the way in which Ionia was first conquered, and so was the
empire of Croesus brouglit to a close.
92. Besides the offerings wdiich 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
iJelphi, 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 Branchidte in Milesia, equal in
weight, as I am informed, and in all respects like to those at
is difficult clearly to determiue where ^ The 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 sovereiijnty of was called Minerva Prouaia (δια τό ττρό
the Marw, and the subordinate agencij of the rod uaov 'ώρΰσθαι, as Harpocration
i/ods,<(re unequivoealli/ set forth" {iliat. oi says). Vide infra, viii. o7. Pausanias
Greece, vol. iv. p. 262). mentions that the shield was no longer
' The river Ismenius washed the foot there iu his day. It had been carried
of the hill on which this temple stood off by Philomelas, the Phocian gene-
(Paus. ix. 10, 2); hence the phrase "Is- ral in the Sacred War iPaus. x. viii.
menian Apollo." Compare l\dLiu<ui Mi- § 4).
uercn (supra, cii. G2j.
184
VAKIOUS OFFElihNGS OF ClitFSUS.
EooK T.
Delphi. The Delphian presents, and those sent to Amphi-
araiis, came from his own private property, being the first-fruits
of tlu! fortune which he inherited from his father ; his other
oiVei-iniis came from the riches of an enemy, avIio, before he
mounted the throne, headed a party against him, with the view
of obtaining the crown of Lydia for Pantaleon. This Tantaleon
was a son of Alyattes, but by a different mother from Cro'sus ;
for the mother of Croesus was a Carian woman, but the mother
of Pantaleon an Ionian. AVhen, by the appointment of his
i'atlier, Croesus obtained the kingly dignity,^ he seized the man
who liad plotted against him, and broke him upon the wheel.
His property, which he had previously devoted to the service of
tlie gods, Croesus applied in the way mentioned above. This is
all I shall say about his offerings.
9.3. Lydia, unlike 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 Eo-ypt^ and Bal)ylon. Tliis is the tomb of Alyattes,^ the
^ This has been siipposed to mean
that Alyattes associated Croestis with
liini in the government (see Wessoling
and ]5iilir in loe. Also Clinton's F. H.
v(tl. ii. p. 'M>-i). But there are no suffi-
cient grounds for such an opinion. Asso-
ciation, common enough in Egypt, was
very rarely 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
;i joint-reign with his father, Croesus
should have treated the partisan of his
bi'other with such severity. Herodotus
undoubtedl}^ intends to speak of the
iioiniiiiitiou of Croesus by Alyattes as his
successor upon the throne. The verb
used is the same as that which occurs
below (ch. 208), where thC nomination
of Cambyses by Cyrus is mentioned.
^ The colossal size of the moniiments
in Egypt is sufficiently known. They
increased in size as the power of Egyjjt
advanced. Tlie great importance of pro-
jjortion 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 09 ft. ό in. high,
with the abacus and plinth, and the
lateral ones (once Γ22 in number) being
45 ft. 8 in. high— they have a pleasing
as well as a grand effect. AVithout that
most important feature, proportion (now
best understood in Italyj, they would be
monstrous and disagreeable. The taste
for colossal statues is often supposed to
be peculiarly Egyptian; but the Greeks
had some as lai-ge as, and even larger
than, any in Egypt, that of Olympian
Jove being (iO ft. high, and the Colossus
of lihodes lu5 ft. (SeeFlaxman, Lect. ix.
p. 219.) I'ausanias (iii. 19) mentions
one of Apollo oO 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 tlie an-
cient Sardis, is given by Mr. Hamilton
(Asia Minor, vol. i. jjp. 145-6): —
" One mile south of this spot we
i-eached the principal tumulus, gene-
rally designated as the tomb of Haly-
attes. It took us about ten minutes to
I'ide round its base, which would give
it a circnmfo'cnce 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 structiu-e. The ujiper
portion is sand and gravel, apparently
brought from the bed of the liermus.
Several deep ravines have been Λνοι-η by
time and weather in its sides, particu-
larly on that to the south: we followed
Chap. 92, 93.
TOMB OF ALYATTES.
185
father of Croesus, the base of which is formed of immense blocks
of stone, the rest beinii^ a vast mound of earth. It was raised
Tomb of AlyattfS. Sepulchral Chambi
'I'oiiib of Alyaltes. Ground-pluii, showing excavations.
one of these as aflFordiug 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 nortli of which was a
Imge circular stone, ten feet in diametei•,
with a flat bottom and a raised edge or
lip, evidently placed there as an orna-
ment on 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 on
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
18G
CUSTOMS OF THE LYDIANS.
]5o()K I.
by tlie joint labour of the tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and
courtesans of Sardis, and had at the top five stone piUars, which
remained to my day, with inscriptions cut on them," showing
liow 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 jjortions. 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", and is a conspicuous
object ou all sides."
Recently the mound has been more
exactly measured by M. Spiegenthal,
Prussian Consul at Smyrna, who has
also carefully explored the interior.
His measurements strikingly agree with
the rough estimnte 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
agrt^at quantity of bones, partly human,
partly tliose of a)iimals; 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 sei,nilture.
Hence the 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 sepulchral cham-
ber of Cyrus. (See note to book i. ch.
2 1 4. ) 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 liy M.
Texier. (See Texier's Asie Minein-e,
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 Wisseuschaften zu
Berlin, Dec. 1854, pp. 7(iO-7u2.)
Besides the baiTow of Alyattes there
are a vast number of ancient tumidi on
the shoi-es of the Gygioan lake. Three
or four of these are scarcely inferior in
size to that of Alyattes (see Chandler's
Tour in Asia Minor, ch. 78, p. 3(i2).
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 Mycena) is
also sujip(ised 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
oZpoi oh 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
caimot escape censure. — G. W.]
■^ This is thought to be a very early
mention of writing. Alyattes died li.c.
5()8; but even the Greeks had lettei's
long before that time. — [G. W.]
CiiAP. 93, 94.
THEIR INVENTIONS.
187
plethra. Close to the tomb is a large lake, which the Lydiaiis
say is never dry.** They call it the Lake Gyga3a.
94. The Lydians have very nearly the same customs as the
Greeks, with the exception that these last do not bring np their
girls in the same Avay. 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 Avith
the Greeks. These they declare that they invented about the
time when they colonised Tyrrheuia, 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 aflliction patiently,
but finding that it did not pass away, they set to Avork 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 iu the scene. (Hamilton's Asia
Mmor, i. p. 145; Fellows, p. 290.) It
is mentioned by Homer (II. xs. 392;.
^ This statement was made also by
Xenophanes of Colophon (Pollux, ix.
vi. § 83), and is repeated by Eustathius
(ad Dionys. Perieget. v. 8-tU). Other
writers asci'ibed the invention to Phei-
dgn I. king of Argos (Etym. Magn. ad
voc. οβΐλίσκοί; Pollux, 1. s. c.j. 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 Phrygians (a tradition men-
tioned in Pollux, l.s.c, made the latter
people the inventors of coming i. Phei-
don, who is also said to have introduced
the ^ginetan 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 Λ 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 sou. Crete
had its Minos; India its J/r(»'t,• Germany
its first Man, Maanng ; and ti-aces 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 iu Egypt, as
Plato says. It is mentioned by Homer
(Od. viii. 372), and it was known in
Egypt long before his time, iu the
twelfth dynasty, or about 2000 B.C., as
were the π^σσοϊ, ψηφοί, latnincult, 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, "πεττίία").
Athenieus (Deipn. i. 10, p. 19j reproves
Herodotus for ascribing the invention
of games to the Lydians. The Greek
board, aj3a|, or abacus, had five lines,
sometimes twelve, like that of the Ro-
mans, whence diiodecim scripta was the
name they gave to their alvciis, or board,
and the moves were sometimes decided
by dice.
Greek dice, κύβοί, tesc/xc, were like
our own, with six numbers — G and 1,
5 and 2, 4 and 3, being generally on the
opposite sides. Instead of two, they
threw three dice, whence rpls εξ, "three
sizes," and κύβοί was the "ace." They
were probably at first only niuubered
on four sides, whence the name, cor-
rupted from τίσσαρα. This was the case
with some astniiiiili, the 2 and 5 bein"•
omitted (Jul. Poll. Onom. ix. 7), but
these were usually without numbers,
and were simply the original knuckle-
bones of sheep. They were also called
188
COLONISATION OV ΤΥΙίΙίΗΕΝΙΛ.
Book I.
games were iuveiitcd, exei^pt tables, the invention of vvliieL• tliey
do not claim us 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
aftiiction continued and even became more grievous. So the
kin<r 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 continui^ to reign over those whoso lot it
should be to remain behind ; the emigrants should have his S(m
Tyn-henns 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 tixed their residence.
'I^icir former name of I^ydiaus they laid aside, and called
"tali," and in playing Avere generally
five (whence 7Γ6;/ταλιθί{'6ίΐ/), a number,
like the five lines on the old Greek
abacus, taken from the fingers of tlie
hand. Sometimes astragali Avere 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 fmmd at Herculaneum, and
in sculpture; and Pliny 'xxxiv. 8) men-
tions a famous group in bronze by I'oly-
cletus, of two naked boys^ called the
(Htruijalizuntes, 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 tall and tessera• were chiefly
confined to children, women, and old
men (Cic. de Senect. 16, ed Par.). That
of odd and even, '^par et iinpar," was
thought still more puerile, and is com-
pared by Horace to riding on a stick, or
"arundine longa " (Sat. ii. iii. 247.)
Beans, mits, almonds, or coins were
xised in jjlaying it; and another game
is mentioned by J. Pollux (ix. 7) of
throwing coins or bones within a ring,
or into a hole, called τρόπα. Odd and
even, and tlie incxleru Italian ηιο/•α, were
very ancient Egyptian games. lu the
latter the Komans were said " ndcarc
άίιμίίϋ." Cicero, de iJiv. ii. says, " cpiid
euim sors est ? idem propemodum (juotl
micare, quod talos jacere, qiiod tesse-
ras; " and in Off", iii., that one vrith w/miii
" in tenehris niices," for an honest man,
had become a proverb. — [G. W.]
^ Heereu undei'stands this passage to
assert that the Lydians obtained vessels
from the Greeks of Smyrna, and builds
upon it the conclusion tliat the Lydians
were at no time a seafaring people.
(Asiat. Nat. Vol. i. p. Iu6. E. T.) But
μ-ηχανασθαι has never the sense of pro-
curing from another. Wliere it means
procuring at all, it is always procuring
by one's own skill and enterprise. (Cf.
Sophocl. Phil. 'J'JJ. Xeu. Cyrop. in. ii.
§ 15.^
•* The Umbria of Herodotus, as Nie-
buhr observes (Hist, of Home, 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 Umbriaus tliat
the Alpis and the Car[iis 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 pax-t of their country.
Herodotus knows of no Italian nations
except the Tyrrhenians, the Uuilirians,
the Venetians (Henetij, the CEnotriaus,
and the Messapiaus.
Chap. 94-96. RISE OF THE MEDIAN EMPIRE. 189
themselves after the name of the king's son, who led the colony,
Tyrrhenians.^
95. Tims 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 j)aramount 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 Medes 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 Avith 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 Avhole 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 Mede 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 Medes at that time dwelt in scattered villao-es
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 jjractice 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 gained such credit with his fellow-citizens as to attract
5 The whole story of the Lydian colo- exact) 526 of Berosiis. (Fr. 11.) The
nization of Etruria is considered in the entire subject of Assyrian Chronology
first Essay aj^peuded to this book. is discussed in the Critical Essays, Essay
*" The 020 yeai's of Herodotus in this vii.
place undoubtedly represent the (more
l!l(> DEIOCER. Book I.
the attention of those wlio hved in tlie suriOuiuhno• villages.
They had lonp; been sulTering from unjust and oppressive
jndoments; so that, when thvv licard of the singular uprightness
of Deioees, 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.
1)7. The number of complaints brought before him continually
increasing, as people learnt more and more tin; fairness of his
judgments, Deioees, 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 in regulating other men's affairs
to the neglect of his own." Hereupon robbery and laAvlessness
broke out afresh, and prevailed through the country even more
than heretofore ; wherefore the Medes assembled from all
quarters, and held a consultation on the state of affairs. The
speakers, as I think, were chiefly friends of IJcioces. "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. AVhen this debate began the claims of Deioees and his
praises Avere 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 ]\redes complied, and built him a
strong and lai-ge palace,^ on a spot which lie 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 Ilurodotus presents
said bj' 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 disens-
cumference (x. xxvii. 9); buthisdescrip- sion which the historian ascribes to the
tion refers probably to the capital of seven Persian conspirators, previous to
Media Matjita, rather than to the (so- the accession of iJarius, whether they
called) city of Deioees. sliall adopt an oligarchical, a democra-
* 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 Cyropiedia of Xenophon, who beauti-
real history of Deioees we cannot be fully and elaborately works out an ideal
«aid to know anything; for the inter- wliich Herodotus exhibits in brief out-
Chap. 96-98.
AGBATANA.
11)1.
he further required them to biiikl a single great city, and, dis-
regarding the petty towii.s in which they had formerly dwelt,
make the new capital the object of their chief attention. The
Medes 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 justice, ' 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
desf)otism 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 Deioce.s 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 inscriptionsj is Hagma-
tana. (Behistun Inscrip. Col. II. 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 Hagmatan, according to
the analogy of the modern Isfidian, Te-
heran, Hamadan, Behistun, &c. Yet
the Greeks said Agbatana, as is evident
both from the quantity and the accent of
the word. It is written ' hy^arava, not
Ά'γβατάνα, and in the poets the last
three syllables are short. Cf. .tEsch.
Pers. 16. Aristoph. Acharn. 64.
[There is every reason to believe that
the original form of the name Hellenised
as Άγβάτα^α or 'Έ.κβάτανα, was Hag-
matan, and that it was of Arian etymo-
logy, having been first used by the
Arian Medes. It woidd signify in the
language of the country " the place of
assemblage," being compounded of ham
" with," and (μιηιη " to go." The Chal-
dsean form of Akhmatha, ΧΠΰΠΧ which
occurs in Ezra (vi. 2), may thus be
regarded as a corruption of the Arian
name. It may further be of iiiterest to
note that there is no trace of such a
name among tlie Median cities enume-
rated in the inscriptions of Sargon, or
in those of his successors, so tliat 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. — Η C. R.]
Two descriptions of the town are
Λvorth comparing witli tliat of Hero-
dotus. In the second Fargard of the
Vendidad, Jemshid, it is SHid, '' erected
a Var or fortress, sufficiently 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
fortli 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." (Zendavesta. 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 cubit? 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, aa hundred cubits '
high, and the breadth tliereof in the
foundation sixty cubits : and he made
the gates thei'eof, even gates that were
raised to the height of seventy cubits,
and the breadth of them 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-
mau, in Media Atropatene. The nature
of the situation, and its geographical
position, are far more in accordance
with the notices of Agbatana contained
192
TLAN OF THE CITY.
Book T.
rising• in circles one within tlio otlier. The plan of the
place is, that each of the walls shonhl 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 ch-cles
is seven, the royal palace and the treasuries standing within
the last. The circuit of the outer Avail is very nearly the same
with that of Athens. Of this Avail 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 Eusine, 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,
Λvhiell 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 koXwvos, and wliich
does not admit of being fortified in the
mode described by Herodotus : Λvhereas
the conical hill of Takhti-Sole'iman with
its remains of walls and other ruins,
very nearly corresponds to the descrip-
tion of ovir author. (See the svibjoined
plan.) The whole subject is fully treated
in Λ paper communicated by Colonel
Rawlinson to the Geographical Society,
and published in their Journal. Vol. x.
Part i. Art. i.
Kxl'IANATtOX.
1 . Ueniains of a I'lre-Templc. 5. Cemetery.
2. Ituhied Mosque. G. Kidge of Rock called " llie nrngon."
:!. Ancient Buildinprs with shafts and capitals, 7. nill called '" Tawilah," or '• ilie Stable.'
4. Unins of the Pidaoe of Abakai Khan. 8. Ruins of Kalisiah.
9. Rocky liill fif Zindani-.Sole'inian.
[One of the most important argu-
ments in favour of the identification of
Takhti-Solei'nnin λνΐίΐι the ancient Agba-
tana, is the fact that Moses of Choreuc,
in .speaking of the city which then occu-
pied the site in question, and which
was usually named Ganxac Sliahusdan,
calls it specifically " the second Ecba-
tana, or the seven-walled city." Mos.
Chor. ii. 84._H. C. R.]
• "This is manifestly a fable of Sa-
bican 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 th(3 next black, of the third scarlet, of the foiirtli bhio, of
the fifth orange ; all these are coloured with paint. The two
^r -^ '.-^Z -^^
liirs jSiimud, Babylon.
revolve. Thus Nizami, in his poem of
the Heft Peiher, describes a seven-bo-
died palace, built by Bahraui Giir, nearly
in the same terms as Herodotus. The
palace dedicated to Saturn, he says, was
black — that of Jupiter orange, or ηκη-β
strictly sandal-wood colour 'Sandali; —
of Mars, scarlet — of the sun, golden — of
Venus, white— of Mercury, azure — and
of the moon^„_gjL:gen — a hue which is
applied by the Orientals to silver."
(Joui-nal of Geogr. Soc. Vol. x. Part. i.
p. 127.)
The great temjile of Nebuchadnezzar
at Borsippa (the modern Birs-i-Nimnid)
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 tliat dependent
on the jdauetary distances, " black,
orange, scarlet, gold, Avhite, 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 scarlet 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 jiresent,
this system of horai'y 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
Ο
104
ARliANGEMENT OF THE CEllEMONIAL.
Book I.
last have their battlements coated respectively with silver and
gold.-
ll!>. All these fortifications Deioces caused to bo raised for
himself and his own palace. The people were required to build
their dwelliuirs outside the circuit of the walls. When the
town was finished, he proceeded to arrange the ceremonial. He
alh)wed 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 Avould be
pained at the sight, and would therefore be likely to conspire
against liini ; 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 justice
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 jilanet who hap-
pened to be the regent of tlie first hour.
If we assign then tlie first hour of the
first day to the Moon, we find that the
(list hour, which commenced the second
day, belonged to the 5th planet, or
Mars; the l'21st hour to the 2nd, or
Mercury; the 181st to the 6th, or Jupi-
ter; the '241st to the :ii-d, or Venus;
the .'iOlfit to the 7th, or Saturn ; and the
.'it) 1st to tlie 4th, or the Sun. The po-
pular belief (which first appeal's in Dion
Ciissius; 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 Chahhuans 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 GO was adopted by both
races.— II. C. K.]
'- 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 notej 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 Poly bins relates that, at the
southern Agbatana, the capital of Media
Magna, the entire woodwork of the
royal palace, including beams, ceilings,
and pillars, was covered Avith plates
either of gold or silver, and that the
whole building was roofed witli silver
tiles. The temple of Anaitis was adorned
in a similar way. (Polyb. x. xxvii.
§ 10-12.) Conseipieutly, tliough Darius,
when ho i-etreatod before Alexander,
carried off from Media gold and silver
to the amount of 7o0U talents (more
than 1,7ΰιι,ϋ(ΐυΖ.1, and though the town
was largely plundered by the soldiers
of Alexander and of Seleucus Nicator,
still there remained tiles and i)latiug
enough to produce to Antiochus tlie
Great on his occupation of the place a
sum of very nearly 4ΰπθ talents, or
97ό,υΟθ/. sterling! (See Arriau. Exp.
Alex. iii. ly. Polyb. 1. s. c.)
Chap. 98-103. PHRAORTES CONQUERS PERSIA. 195
writing, and sent in to the king, who passed his judgment upon
the contents, and transmitted his decisions to tlie parties con-
cerned : besides which he had spies and eavesdroppers in all
parts of his dominions, and if he lieard 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 Medes into a nation, and
ruled over them alone. Now these are the tribes of which they
consist : the Busoe, 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
Avith a dominion which did not extend beyond the single nation
of the ]\Iedes, 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 witli 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 Medes
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 coincidinj in UHinher with the been slain iu battle with the Assyrians,
fortified circles in tite town of Agbatana, are the sole giOunds 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 siir-
each for a distinct tribe (Hist, of Greece, prised to find critical writers at the pre-
vol. iii. p. 30(3). But the number of the sent day treating as serious (See Clin-
Median tribes is not seven but s/.c ; and ton's F. H., vol. i. p. 275; Bosanquet's
the circles are not in the town, but Fall of Nineveh, p. 1 β.) The following
around the palace. Herodotus says ex- are a few of the anomalies which con-
pressly that the people dwelt outside deniu it.
the outermost circle. The Jews are recently returned from
■• Herodotus intends here to distin- the captivity (ch. iv. ver. 13, 18-19).
guish the Assyrians of Assyria Proper Joacim (Joiakim) is the Hio-h Priest,
from the Babylonians, whom he calls He was the sou of Jeshuah, and contem-
also Assyrians (i. 17.S, 188, &c.j. Against poraiy 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 manus. Yet, 1. Nineveh is standing,
Judith. A fanciful resemblance be- and is the capital of Nabuchodonosor's
tweeu the names, and the fact that kingdom (i. I). 2. Assyria is the great
Phraortes is the only Median monarch monarchy of the time (i. 7-10). 3. Per-
02"
196
CYAXARES ATTACKS NINEVEH.
Book 1.
tlie throne. Of him it is reported that he was still more war-
like than any of his ancestors, and that he was the first wlio
gave organization to an Asiatic army, dividing the troops into
companies, and forming distinct bodies of the spearmen, the
archers, and the cavalry, who befoi-e his time had been mingled
in one mass, and confused together. He it Avas 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 deieat, 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.
1 04. The distance from the Palus Maiotis to the river Phasis
and the Colchians is thirty days' journey for a lightly-equijiped
traveller.^ From Colchis to cross into Media does not take lontr
sia is subject to Assyria (i. 71. 4. Egypt
is also subject (i. 9-10). Media, liow-
evei', is an independent kingdom under
Arphaxad, who as the builder of the
walls of Ecbataua should be Deioces or
Cyaxares.
The book appears to be the work of
a thoroughly Hellenized Jew, and eould
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 ehaplet of oliv€ (ch. xv. ver. 1'•ί).
I'robably 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
Madycs, was a Cimmerian prince who
drove the Treres out of Asia (i. p. 91).
The true nature of the Scythian Λvar of
Cyaxares is considered in the Critical
Essays, Essay iii. § 9. [The Sacrc or
Scytliiana, who were termed fh'iniri (the.
tribes?) by their Semitic neighbours,
first appear in the Cuneiform inscrip-
tions as a substantive people under Esar-
Haddon in about n. C. G84. They were
at that time in the Kurdish mountains,
and wei'e ruled over by a king, Tensjia,
whose name betrays his Arian descent.
The Gimiri had considei'al)ly increased
in power under the reign of Esar-Had-
don's son, (about H. C. 670), and seem
to have been already tiireatening the
Assyrian frontier. — H. C. R.]
" From the mouth of the Palus
Mfcotis, or Sea of Azof, to the rivoi•
Kiiin, (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 οϊ fin• days for a lightly equii)ped
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. lie 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 diflicultics of the
route, is not improbable. It is ques-
tiouMblc whether the coast line can ever
Chap. 103-105. SCi'THIANS MASTERS OF ASIA.
107
— there is only u 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 riglit.^ 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 Egyjit. 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,
tiie communication must have been cir-
cuitous, and have included the passage
of the Caucasus, either by the well-
known Pylie Caucasege between Tifli»
and• Mozdok, or by some unknown pass
west of that i-oute, of still greater alti-
tude and diiBculty. 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 Matieui
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 occujiied
the upper valleys of the Km• (Cyrus)
\ and its tributary streams, or nearly the
\ modern Russian province of Georgia.
\ Hitter (Erdkuude von Asien, vol. vi.
, p. 92) conjectures 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
S'lijiiri to be the true form. CXaweipoi,
'Σίβίΐροί, "ΐβηροι.) They probably be-
longed, ethnically, to the same fiimily
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 Daghcstiin, along the shores of the
Caspian. He does not seem to have
been a\vare of the existence of the Pylac
Caucaseaj. 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 Pylic.
It is always to be box-ne in mind that
there are but tico 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 Casjjian, which,
according to De Hell, is " much more
impracticable than that by Mozdok."
(Travels, p. 323, note. Eng. Tr.) This
latter assei'tion may, however, be ques-
tioned.
2 According to Herodotus, Psamme-
tichus was engaged for 29 years in the
siege of Azotus lAshdod), 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 Egjrpt 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.]
•* Ascalon was one of the most ancient
cities of the Philistines (Judges i. 18,
xiv. 19, &c.). According to Xauthus it
was founded by a certain Ascalus, the
general of a Lydian king iFr. 23>; but
this is very improbable. It lay on the
coast between Ashdod and Gaza, and
was distant about 4u miles from Jeru-
salem (cf. Scyl. Peripl. p. 102 ; Strab.
xvi. p. 1079 ; Pliu., H. N., v. 13, &c.).
By Strabo's time it had become a place
198
THE SCYTHIANS EXPELL*ED.
Book I.
greater part of them went tlieir way without donig any damage ;
but some few who higged 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 Phccnieians,
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
Those who suffer from it are called Euarees.'^
is
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 Avith v,ine, after wliich 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 Ιιολυ in another history ^ — and conquered
of small consequence. At the era of the
Crusades it revived, but is now again
little more than a village. It retains
its ancient name almost unchanged.
[Ascalon is first mentioned in cunei-
form inscriptions of the time of Sen-
naclierib, having been reduced by him
in the famous campaign of his third
year.— H. C. R.]
'' Herodotus probably intends the Sy-
rian goddess Atergatis or Derceto, who
was worshipped at Ascalon and else-
where in Syria, under the foi-m of a
mermaid, or figure half woman half fish
(cf. Xanth. Fr. II, Plin. H. N., v, 2:5,
Strab. xvi. p. 10G2, 1113, &c,). Her
temple at Ascalon is mentioned by Diod.
Sic. (ii. 4). She may be identified witli
Astarte, and therefore with the Venus
of the Greeks (cf. Selden, Ue Diis Syris,
Syntagm. II. ch. in.).
^^ This malady is thus described by
Hippocrates, a younger contemporary
of Herodotus, wlio liim.self visited Scy-
thia:— " (υνουχίαι yivovrai, και yvvai-
i<f7a (ρ-γάζονται, και ci5s αί ywaiKes δια-
λίγοι/ταί τ6 δμοίωΒ κα\(ΰνταί Τ6 οί roiov-
ΎΟί avavBpif'is." (Uc Aer. Αΐ[. et Luc.
ch. vi. § 108.) This impoteucy Hippo-
crates ascribes to venesection, but he
mentions that the natives believed it to
be a judgment from the gods. It is
said that traces of the disease are still
found among the inhabitants of Southern
Russia. See I'otock (Histoire Primitive
des Peuples de la Russie, p. 175) and
Reineggs (Allgem. topograph. Beschreib.
d. Caucas. I. p. 269).
^ Biihr (in loc.) regards this word as
Gi'eek, and connects it with έναίρω and
ϊναρα, giving it the sense of " virilitate
spoliati ;" but I agree with Larclier and
Blakesley that it is in all probability
Scythic.
'' The question whether tlie ' λσσϋ-
pioi λίίγοι, promised liei'e, aud again in
chapter 1S4, wore ever written or no,
has long engaged the attention of the
learned. Isaac Voss, Des Vignoles,
Bouhier (Recherches, ch. i. p. 7), and
Larcher (in loc), have maintained the
affii-mative ; Biihr, Fabricius, Gerard
Voss, Dahlmann, and Jiiger (Disput,
Herodot. ]). I.")) tlio negative. The
passage of Aristotle (Hist. An. VIII.
xviii.) which affirms that Herodotus, in
Chap. 105-10^
ASTYAGES.
199
all Assyria except the district of Babylonia. After this Cyaxares
died, having reigned over the JMedes, 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 Avas named IMandane, concerning whom
he had a Avonderful dream. He dreamt that from her such a
stream of water flowed forth as not only to fill his capital, but to
flood the Avliole 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 iuU, whereat he was greatly terrified. On this
account, when his daughter was now of ripe age, he would not give
his accoimt of the siege of Niueveh, re-
preseuted an eagle as drinking, would
be decisive of the question if the reading
were certain. But some MSS. have
" 'HaioSos riyvoei τοντο." 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 Λvriter of his age, composed poems
on historical subjects, o. There is no
known work of Hesiod in which such a
subject as the siege of Nineveh could
\vell 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 'HpoSoros
to that of Ήσίοδοε 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 Lareher ajipears right in
concluding from this that the woi'k pe-
rished early, probably, however, not be-
fore the time of Cephaliou (b.c. 1"20),
who is said by Syncellus (i. p. 815, ed.
Dindorf.j to have followed Hellanicus,
Ctesias, atid Hervdutns in his Assjuian
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,
liut do not ajipear in the work of Hero-
dotus which has come down to us.
iSince the first edition of this volume
was published, another scholar, whose
opinion possesses great weight, has pro-
nounced against the reading of Ήρόδοτοϊ
in the passage of Aristotle above quoted.
Admitting fully that the reading Ήσίο-
^os 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.
hi.) The entire passage in Aristotle
runs as follows : — αλλ' Ήρ(ίδοτο$ rjyvo^i
tovTO' TrevotrjKe yap τον Trjr μαντΐίαί
πρόΐ5ρον αΐτον iv τ-ρ Snjyrjaei τ-ρ π€ρΙ
Tr/v -ποΚίορκίαν την Νίνου πίνοντα. Sir C
Lewis thinks that the word πεποίη/ίβ,
and the expression Thv τη$ μαντεία!
irpoeSpov ''imply a quotation from a
poet," and he suggests that the poet
actually named by Aristotle was Chceri-
lus (Xoipi'λos'. It is of course pusaihle
that the name originally written may
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 ΐΓίΤΐοΙ•ηκ€ in this place of
a prose writer, in the sense of '■'f allied"
or "represented /'-i6i;/o»i(y." (See Sca-
ligei''s note on the place.) And the ex-
pression, μαντΐίαί -rrpoeSpov, is certainly
not more poetical than many which He-
rodotus uses in his '' Histories," even in
the plain narrative; besides which it
may have occun'ed in an oracle. It is
worthy of notice that Aristotle else-
where takes the trouble to correct a
mistake made by Hex-odotus in Natural
History, (see note on Book iii. ch. 1U8),
evidently regarding the assertions of so
painstaking an obserΛ'er as worth notice ;
but he v.-ould scarcely make it his busi-
ness to correct the endless misstate-
ments of poets upon such matters.
* Nicolas of Damascus assigns this
dream ts Argoste, Λvho, according to
him, was the mother of Cyrus. (Fragm.
Hist. Gr. III. p. 399, Fr. 60.)
200
LEGEND OF CYRUS.
1>()UK I.
lier in iiiarriaiic to any of the Medes who wore of suitable rank,
lest the dreaiu should be accomplished ; but he married her to a
Persian of good family indeed,'' but of a quiet temper, whom ho
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 whicli, in the very
first year, Astyages saw another vision. He fancied that a vine
(n-evi from the womb of his daughter, and overshadowed the
^\•hole of Asia. After this dream, which he submitted also to
the interpreters, he sent to Persia and fetched away Mandane,
who 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
i)f 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 sulyect to the Medes,
still retained its line of native kings,
the descendants of Achtemenes (Hakha-
manish). In the Behistun Inscription
(^col. 1, par. 4) Darius carries up his ge-
nealogy to Achiemeues, and asserts that
" eight of his race had been kings before
himself — he Λvas the ninth." Cambyses,
the father of Cyrus, Cyrus himself, and
Cambyses the sou of Cyrus, are probably
included in the eight. Thus Xenophon
(Cyrop. I. ii. I) is right, for once, when
he says, " TlaTphs Xiyfrai δ Kvpos yeve-
σθαί Καμβύσου, ΤΙ f ρ σ ώ ν βασ ιλ4 ω s"
[An inscription has been recently
found upon a brick at Scuhcrcli in lower
Chaldfca, in which Cyrus the Great calls
himself "the sou 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 Acluc-
nienian 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
" Ach;cmenid;c " hi ch. 125.— H.C.li.]
When/Escliylus (Pers. 7Gr)-78.D)makes
Diuius tlie sixth of his line, lie counts
fnna Cyaxares, the founder of the great
luonarcliy co-vxtctisive tcilh Asia (eV ai^dp' ^
άττάστ}? ΆσίΒο! μηΚοτρόφυυ Tuyuv),
to which Darius had succeeded. Tlie
first king (MriSos — δ wpuros r]ye^uiv
στρατού) is Cyaxares, the next (e/ceiVoi;
TTOLs) Astyages, the third Cyrus, the
fourth [Κυροΰ ttols) Cambyses, the fifth
Smerdis the Mage (MapSos — αισχύνη
πάτρα). There is no discrepancy at all
(as Mr. Grote apf)ears to imagine, vol. iv.
p. '248) between the accounts of iEschy-
lus and Herodotixs.
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 Avould
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 Nitotis, a
daughter of Apries (vid. infr. iii. 2); or
as both the Egyptians and the later Per-
sians did with regard to Alexander, wlio
was called by the former the son of
Nectanebus (Mos. Clior. ii. 12); and
who is boldly claimed by the latter, in
the SIiah-Nameh, as the sou of Dai'ab,
king of Persia, by a daugliter of Failakus
'Φίλιττιτοϊ, Φίλικκοϊ, Failakus) king of
Macedon. Tlie vanity of tlie couipiercd
race is soothed by the belief that the
concjuoror is not altogether a foreigner.
Chap. 107-110. HARPAGUS. 201
pagus, a man of liis own lionse and the most faitlifiil of the
Medes, to whom he was wont to entrust all his affairs, and
addressed him thus — " Harpagus, I beseecli tliee neglect not
the business with Avhich I am about to charge thee ; neither
betray thou the interests of thy lord for others' sake, lest thou
bring destruction on thine own head at some future time. Take
the child born of IMaudane my daughter ; carry him Avith 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 that 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 Λvork
his Avill, or lend a helping hand to such a mmxler 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 Avhen 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 kmd ?
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
'- Xenophon (Cyrop. I. iv. § 20) gives certain Atradates, a Mardian, whom po-
Astyages a sou, whom he calls Cyaxares. verty had driven to become a robber.
The inscriptions tend to confirm Hero- audof Argoste (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 sou 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 faii'ly be considered
doubt that the long narrative in Nicolas to be a mere Median synonym for the
of Damascus (Fragm. Hist. Gnec, vol. Persian Mitradates — the name signi-
iii. p. ;>97-4U(); came from him. Ac- fyiug " given to the sun," and ,1ί/•,ί or
cording to this, Cyrus was the son of a Adar (whence AtropatCne) being equi-
202 CYIUTS ΤΛΚΕΧ HOME BY THE HERDSMAN. Book I.
lie knew to bo the fittest for liis purpose, lying as they did
arnons: mountains infested Avitli wild beasts. This man was
married to one of the king's female slaves, Avliose IMedian name
was Spaco, Avhich is in Greek Cyno, since in the IMedian 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 })art of Media which borders on the
Saspirians. is an elevated tract, very mountainous, and covered
with forests, Mliile the rest of the IMedian 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, Avliere 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 Avay he had come till he reached the
folds. There, providentially, his wife, who 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 liusband 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 why Harpagus had sent for him
in such a hurry. " AVife," 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 would 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 whim})ering, and all covered with gold, and wra])ped 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 iu Median, as a title of that lumi- Zeud, in Russian under the form of
uaiy (or of tire, \vhich was the usual " sabac," and iu some parts of modern
emblem of his worship) to the Persian Persia as "aspaka." The word seems
Mitni ov Mihr. — II.C. li.] to be an instance of onomato[)(cia.
•• Λ root "spak" or "svak" is com- (Compai-e the English " bow-wow " and
m on for "dog" in the Indo-European "bark.")
languages. It occurs iu Sanscrit and
Chap. 110-113. SAVED BY THE HERDSMAN'S WIFE. 203
off, and what was I to do vfith him, tliink you? Why, to hxy
him in the mountains, where tlie 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 sou of Cyrus ; and that the king orders
him to be killed ; and look, here the child is."
112. W^ith this the herdsman uncovered the infant, and
showed him to his Avife, 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 Avas 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 Avhich 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 loss
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 taldng 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 GYRUS MADE KING IN PLAY. Book Γ.
the firmest reliance, to view the body for liiin, and, satisfied with
their seeing it, gave orders for the funeral. Tims was the
herdsman's child buried, and the other child, λυΙιο Λvas afterwards
known by the name of Cyrus, was taken by the herdsman's wife,
and brought up under a different name.^
114. AVhen the boy was in his tenth year, an accident which
1 will now relate, caused it to be discovered Avho 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 who were playing with him chose the cowherd's son,
as he was called, to be their king. He then i)roceeded 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, Avho 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 was 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 Avhich 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 Τ
" My lord," replied the boy, " I only treated him as he deserved.
I was 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. 10.34) says that the corruption of Atra(lates,his/(ii/itv's name
original name of Cyrus was Agradates, according to Nic. Dauiaac. (See the last
but this would suein to btj merely a note but one.)
Chap. 113-117. ASTYAGES' SUSPICION. 205
clue reward. If for tliis I deserve to suffer punishment, here I
am ready to submit to it."
116. "While the boy was yet speaking Astyages Avas struck
with a suspicion Avho he was. He thought he saw something in
the character of his face like his own, and there Avas a nobleness
about the answer he had made ; besides which his age seemed
to tally Avith the time Avhen 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
xVrtembares, 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 Avhere 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 AA'as
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 re})licd as folloAvs : — " Sire, when thou gavest the child
into my hands I instantly considered with myself how I could
contrive to execute thy wishes, and yet, whih^ guiltless of any
unfaithfulness towards thee, avoid imbruing my hands in blood
Avhich was in truth thy daughter's and thine own. And this was
hoAV I contrived it. 1 sent for this cowherd, and gave the child
over to him, telling him that by the king's orders it was to be
]iut to death. And in this I told no lie, for thou hadst so com-
206 BAXQQET OF HARrAGUS ON HIS OWN SON. Book I.
niandcd. IMoreover, Avlioii I gave liim the child, I enjoined him
to lay it somewhere in the Avilds of the mountains, and to stay
near and watch till it was dead ; and I threatened him with all
manner of pmiishment 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 (Mmuchs, who
vieAved the body for me, and then I had the child buried. This,
sire, is the simple 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
Avith saying, " So the boy is alive, and it is best as it is. For the
child's fate Avas a great sorrow to me, and the rej^roaches 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 ncAV comer, and to-night, as 1 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 hap})ened. Astyages, meanwhile, took the son of Harpagus,
and slew him, after which he cut him in pieces, and roasted some
portions before 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 Huipagus, 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
Har[)agus seemed to have eaten his fill, Astyages called out to
him to know hoAv 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 CO^'SULTS WITH THE MAGI. 207
his son, and bade him open it, and take out what he pleased.
Harpagus accordingly uncovered the basket, and saw within it
the remains 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 flesh it Avas that he had been eatino;, he
answered that he knew very well, and that whatever the king
did was agreeable. After this reply, he took Avitli 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
Avith Cyrus, his grandchild, he sent for the Magi, who formerly
interpreted his dream in the way which alarmed him so much,
and asked them how they had expounded it. They answered,
without varying from Avhat 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 tlie 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 λυθ bid thee
cheer up, and feel no more alarm on his account. He will not
reign a second time. For we have found even oraclls 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 ciumsel me the
best you can for the safety of my house and your ΟΛνη 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 would 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 Ave to
forecast well for thee and for thy sovereignty. If then Ave saAV
any cause for present fear, be sure Ave would not keep it back
208 CYRUS SENT TO rEPiSIA. P.OOK I.
iVom tlioo. r>ut truly wo are jxM-snadcd that the dream has liad
its aecouiplishment in this lianidess way ; and so our own fears
Leino- at rest, Ave recommend thee to banish thine. As for the
hoy, our advice is, that tliou send liim away to Persia, to liis
father and mother."
121. Astyag-es heard their answer witli pleasure, and callin<i
Cyrus into his presence, said to him, " My cliiid, I was led to do
thee a wrong by a dream Avhich has come to nothing : from that
wrono• thou wert saved by thy own good fortune. Go now with
a lig-ht heart to Persia; I will provide thy escort. Go, and
when thou gettest to thy journey's end, thou Avilt 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, Avho, 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 ho
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 h(?r praises; in all that he had to tell them about
himself, it Avas 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 si)ecial provi-
dence in liis preservation, spread the report that Cyrus, when he
was exposed, was suckled by a bitch. This was the sole origin
of the nnnour."
123. Afterwards, when Cyrus grew to manhood, and became
known as the bravest and most popular of all his compeers,
" Mr. (irote observes with reason that which carried Belleropliou was a sliip
"the miraculous story is the okler of named Pegasus " (vol. iv. p. '24(J, note),
the two," and that the common• place A somewhat different mode was found
version of it preferred by Herodotus is of rationalising the mytli of Roiimlu.s
due to certain " rationalising Greeks or and Remus, suckled, according to the
Persians " at a subsequent period. In old tradition, by a sho-wolf, which may
the .same spirit he remarks "the ram be seen in Livy (i. 4): — "Sunt, (|ui
which carried Phryxus and Helle across l>arentiain, vulgato corporo. lupam inter
the Hellespont is represented to us as pastures vocatam putent ; iudo locum
having been in realitij a man n'lmcd Krius, fabulic et miraculo datum."
who aided their flight — the winged horse
Chap. 120-125. REVENGE OF HARPAGUS. 209
Harpagiis, 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 saAv Cyrus, whose
wrongs were so similar to his own, growing up expressly (as it
were) to be the avenger whom he needed, he set to Avork to
procure his support and aid in the matter. He had already
paved the way 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-
pagns 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
Avay. 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 tlie
hare to one of his most faithful slaves, disguising him as a
hunter with nets, and sent him off to 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 watch over thee, or never
wouldst thou have passed through ,thy many wonderful adven-
tures— now is the time when thou mayst avenge thyself upon
Astyages, thy murderer. He willed thy death, remember ; to the
gods and to me thou owest that thou art still alive. I think
tliou 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 ηολν to me, and obey my
words, and all the empire of Astyages shall be thine. Eaise the
standard of revolt in Persia, and then march straight on IMedia.
Whether iVstyages appoint me to command liis forces against
tliee, or whether he appoint any other of tlie princes of the
jMedes, all will go as thou couldst wish. They will be the first
to fall aAvay from him, and joining thy side, exert themselves to
overturn his power. Be sure that on our part all is ready ;
wherefore do thou thy part, and that speedily."
125. Cyrus, on receiving the tidings contained in this letter,
VOL. I. . Ρ
210
REVOLT OF C;YRUS,
15ooK I.
set himself to consider how ho might best persuade tlie Persians
to revolt. Aft(>r much thought, lu.' hit on the following• as the
most expedient course : he wiOte what he thought proper upon
a roll, and then calling an assembly of the Pei-sians, he unfolded
the roll, and read out of it that Astyages 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 Modes,
were the principal ones on Avhich all the others are dependent.**
These are the Pasargadse,^ the Maraphians,^ and the Maspians, of
^ According to Xenophon the number
of the Persian tribes was tn-eke (Cyrop.
I. ii. § 5), accordiug 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. Not only are the tribes twelve,
and the superintendents 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 well known.
Many Arab tribes are looked down
upon with contempt by the Bedoweens.
Among the Mongols the dominion of
superior over inferior tribes is saifl to
be carried to the extent of a very cruel
tyranny (Pallas, Mongol. Volker, vol. i.
p. 185). The Scythians in the time of
Herodotus were divided, very nearly as
the Persians, into three grades, Royal
Scvthiaus, Husbandmen, and Nomads.
(Vid. inf. iv. 17--20.)
" Pasargadic was not only the name of
the principal Persian tribe, but also of
the ancient capital of the counti'v (Strab.
XV. p. 1035.) Stephen of Ryzantium
(iu voc. Παίτσαργάδαι) translates tlie
word "the encamjiment of the Per-
sians." If we accept this meaning, we
must regard Pasargada; as a corruption of
/-'iirsagadse, a form which is preserved in
Quintus Curtius (V. vi. § 10, X. i. § 22.).
According to Anaximenes (ap. Steph.
Byz. 1. 3. c.) Cyrus founded Pasargadic;
but Ctesias appears to have represented
it as already a place of importance at
the time when (Jyrus revolted. (Sec
the newly-discovered fragment of Nic.
Damasc. iu the Fragm. Hist. Grscc. vol.
iii. pp. 405-(J, 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 Λνβ
learn from Ctesias (Pers. Exc. § 9),
Arrian (vi. 29 1, and Strabo (xv. p. 1035).
It was afterwards the place where the
kings wei-e inaugurated (Plutarch, Artax.
c. 3), and was placed under the special
protection of the Magi. Hence Pliny
sjioke of it as a castle occupied by the
Magi (" inde ad orientem Magi obtinent
Pasargadas castellum," vi. 2G).
It seems tolerably certain that the
modern Mmy-dub is the site of the an-
cient Pasargadie. Its position with res-
pect to Persepolis, its strong situation
among the mountains, its remains bearing
the marks of high antiquity, and, above
all, the name and tomb of Cyrus, which
have been discovei-ed among the ruins,
mark it for the capital of that monarch
beyond nil reasonable doubt. The best
account of the present condition of the
ruins will be foimd in Ker Porter's Tra-
vels (vol. i. pp. 485-510). Murg-aub is
the ouli/ place in Persia at which inscrip-
tions of the age of Cyrus have been
discovered. The ruined buiklings bear
tlie following legend: — "Adam Kurush,
khshayatliiya, nakhamanishiya " — "I
[am] Cyrus the king, the Achiemenian. "
For an account of tlie tomb of Cyrus,
vide infra, note on eh. 214.
^ Only one instance is foimd of a
Maraphian holding an important office.
Amasis, theconunanilcr whom Aryandes
sent to tlie relief of Piieretima, was άνηρ
Μαράφίοί (iv. lO?). In general the
conmianders arc Achajmenians, ηολν and
then they are called simply Pasargadio.
Chap, 125.
THE PEESIAN TRIBES.
211
whom the Pasargacte are the noblest. The AchfemenidaB,^ from
Avhich spring all the Perseid kings, is one of their clans. The
rest of the Persian tribes are the following : ^ the Panthialaans,
the Derusia3ans, the GermaniauSj who are engaged in hus-
bandry ; the Daans, the Mardians, the Droj)icans, and the
Sagartians, who are Nomads.*
* The Acbsemenidaj were the royal
family of Persia, the descendants of
Achajmenes (Hakhamanish ), who was
probably the leader under whom the
Persians first settled in the country
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 appears in
the Behistun inscription twice (col. 1,
par. 2, and Detached Inscript. A.) In
each case it is asserted that the name
Achicmenian attached to the dynasty
on account of the descent from Achaj-
meues. " Awahya rtidiya wayam Hak-
hiimanishiya thiityamahya" — "Ea ra-
tione' iios Achaemenenses 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?meuiaus. Darius
in the first paragraph styles himself an
Aehsemeiiiau ; in the second, he shows
his right to this title by tracing his pa-
ternal ancestry to Aclucmenes; in tlie
third, he goes on to glorify the Achte-
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
iu the fourth paragraph he further ex-
plains that eight of the Ach;cmenian
family have thus already filled the
throne of Persia, and that he is the
ninth of the line Avho 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 merely enumerated iu order
to establish his claim to Achremenian
descent, and are in no case distinguished
by the title of /Jis/uii/at/iii/ii, or " king."
So clear indeed and fixed was the tradi-
tion of the royal family in this respect,
that both Artaxerxes Jlnemon and Ar-
taxerxes Ochus (see Journal of the Asiat.
Soc, vol. X. p. 3-t'2, and vol. xv. p. 159),
may be observed, in tracing their pedi-
gree, to qualify each ancestor by the
title of king vp to Jhirius, but from that
time to drop the roj^al 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 Achajmenes to Darius, without
including Bardius or the true Smerdis,
and he appears to have been slain before
his brother left for Egypt. The other
names will undoubtedly be Cambyses,
Cyi-us the Great, Cambyses his father,
Cyi-us (Herod. i. 111). Cambyses (whose
sister Atossa married Pharnaces of Cap-
padocia, Phot. Bibl. p. 1158), Teispes
(Herod. Λ'ϋ, 11); and Achsemenes. In
preference, perhaps, to inserting Bardius
at the commencement of this list, I
would suggest that the ninth king among
the pi'edecessors of Darius may have
been the father of Achaemenes named by
the Greeks ^Egeus, or Perses, or some-
times Perseus, being thus confounded
with the eponymous hero of the Persian
race. The name Achtemenes, although
occupying so 2>rominent a position in
authentic Persian histoiy, is unknown
either iu the antique traditions of the
Vendidad, or in the romantic legends of
the so-called Kaianiau dynasty, probably
because Achsemenes lived after the com-
pilation of the Vendidad, but so long
before the invention of the romances that
his name \vas forgotten. The name signi-
fies " friendly " or " possessing friends,"
being formed of a Persian word, /ki/Ji,},
corresponding to the Sanscrit ^^fT
saldia, and an attributive affix e(|uivalent
to the Sanscrit mut, which foj-nis the
nominative in inun. M. Oppcrt thinks
that we have another trace of the Per-
sian word hakha in the 'λρταχαί-ηί of
Herodotus (vii. 63). See the Journal
Asiatique, 4""^ se'rie, torn, xvii ρ '^tJ8
— H. C. R.J
Acha}menes 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 always be an
Ρ 2
212 CYRUS EXCITES THE TERSIANS TO EEYOLT. Book I.
120. Wlien, in obedience to tlio orders which they had
received, the Persians came with tlieir reapino-liooks, Cyrus led
them to a tract of ground, about eighteen or twenty furlongs
eacli way, covered Avith thorns, and ordered them to clear it
before the day was out. 'rhoy accomplislied their task ; upon
which he issued a second order to them, to take the bath the day
foUowin'»•, and again come to him. Meanwhile he collected
toaetlier all his father's flocks, botli sheep and goats, and all his
oxen, and slanghtcred them, and made r(^ady 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
u})on the grass, and enjoy themselves. After the feast was
over, he requested them to tell him "Avhich they liked best,
to-day's work, or yesterday's?" They answered that " tlie
contrast was indeed strong: yesterday brought tliem nothing
but wliat was bad, to-day everything that was good." Cyrus
instantly seized on their reply, and laid bare liis purpose in
these words : " Ye men of Persia, thns do matters stand with
you. If you choose to hearken to ray 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 tliere-
fore follow my bidding, and be free. Por myself I feel that I am
destined by Providence to undertake your Hberation ; arid you,
I am sure, are no whit inferior to tlie Medes in anything, least
of all in bravery. Revolt, therefore, from Astyages, without a
moment's delay."
127. The Persians, Avho 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 tlie doings of Cyrus, sent a messenger to summon liim
to his presence. Cyrus replied, "Tell Astyages that I sliall
appear in liis presence sooner than lie will like." Astyages,
wlien lie rccoived tliis message, instantly armed all his subjects,
important element in the population of great importance in a militarj' 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- Tliey were contained in the 14th Sa-
half (Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 44), tra])y (iii. 9.3) and furnished SOOO
or at the least one-fourth (Morier, Juvu•- horsemen to the army of Xerxes (vii.
iial of Geograph. Soc, vol. vii. p. 230) 85), Vvho were armed with daggers and
of tlie entire population. Tliey are of lassoes.
Chap. 126-129. ASTYAGES AND HAEPAGUS. 213
and, as if God had deprived him of his senses, appointed Har-
pagus to be their general, forgetting how greatly he had injured
him. So Avhen the two armies met and engaged, only a few of
the Medes, 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 flight 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, wlio had persuaded
him to allow Cyrus to escape, and impaled them ; after which,
he armed all the Medes λυΪιο had remained in the city, both
young and old ; and leading them against the Persians, fought
a battle, in Λνΐιίοΐι he Avas utterly defeated, his army being
destroyed, and he himself falling into the enemy's hands.^
129. Harpagus then, seeing liim 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 Pasargadie. Astyages fled,
repeatedly been made, as in all pro- The pi-ovinces fell off, and ackuow-
bability containing the account Λνΐύοΐι ledged the sovereignty of Persia. Fi-
Ctesias gave of the conquest of Astyages nally Cyrus went in pursuit of Astyages,
by Cyrus, not fewer than five great bdt- 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. The last but one
place near Pasargadaj, the national is called by Strabo the final struggle as
stronghold, \vhere 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- gadae.
ants. In the fourth, which Wiis fought Tiie narrative of Plutarch (De Virtut.
on the day following the third, and on Mulier. p. '_'-4-ϋ. A.) belongs to the fourth
the same battle-ground, they gained a battle, and doubtless came from Ctesias.
great victory, killing 60,0(J0 of the As there is less improbability, and far
enemy. iStill Astyages did not desist less poetry, in the narrative of Nicolaiis
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-
fragmeut. It evidently, however, took standing the untrustwortliiuess of Cte-
place in the same neighbourhood (cf. sias, probably his sole authoritv.
214
DURATION OF THE ΕΜΓΙΕΕ OF THE MEDES.
Book I.
ill Ill's power to put the cvown on his own head, as it must
assuredly liavo been, if the rcvtjlt was entirely liis doing, he had
placed it on the head of another ; tlie most unjust, if on aceount
of that supper he had brought slavery on the Medes. For,
su})p()siiig• 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 Medes, 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 liundred 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 τταρίξ -^ 'όσον οί 'Χκύ-
θαί ήρχον, 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 (128 + 28 = ) 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 τταρέξ ^ seems
lightly explained by Valckenaer and
Clinton as, not " besides," but "ej-cept."
" 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 oil
this point the ' Rerum Assyriarum tem-
pora einendata' of Dr. Brandis, pp. fi-8.)
This would make their rule begin in the
twenty-third year of Deioces.
Niebidir (Denkschrift d. Berl. Ac. d.
Wisaeuschaft, 1820-1, pp. 49-50) sus-
pected that the passage was corrujit,
and propo.sed the following reading —
ap^avTfs TTJs avoi" AXvos ττοταμοΰ 'Aa'irjs
in' 6Τ€α TTevT-l} κοντά και ίκατυν,
■παρίξ ΐι 'όσον οΐ '2,κύθαι ήρχον, τρι-ηκυντα
Svwv SuivTa. Tlii.s would leiiiove .soiuo,
l)ut not all, of the dillicuities. It is
moreover too extensive an alteration to
be received against the authority of all
the MSS.
' It has been usual to regard tliis out-
break as identical with the revolt re-
corded by Xenophon (Hell. i. ii. ad
fin.) in almost the same Avords. Biihr
(in loc. ) and Dahlmaim (Life of Herod,
p. .33, Engl. Tr.) have argued from the
passage that Herodotus was still em-
ployed upon his history as late as n.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 1 50 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. Rawlinson the year
before his fourth volume appeared,
wlierein a long and elaborate account is
given of a Median revolt whicli occurred
in the tliird year of tlio reign of Darius,
and was put down with dilliculty. Col.
Chap. 129-131. CUSTOMS OF THE PERSIANS. 215
time of Astyages, it was the Persians who under Cyrus revolted
from the Medes, and became thenceforth the rulers of Asia.
Cyrus kept Astyages at his court during the remainder of his
life, without doing him any further injury. Such then were
the ch'cumstances of the birth and bringing up of Cyrus, and
such were the steps by which he mounted the throne. It Avas
at a later date that he was attacked by Crcesus, 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 folloAving. 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 tlieir not believing the gods to have the
same nature Avith men, as the Creeks imagine. Their wont,
however, is to ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and
there to offer sacrifice to Jupiter, \\'hich is the name they give to
the whole 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 w4iose 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 Assy-
Rawlinsou gives the general outline of Greece, vol. iv. App. G.), but, not I
tlie struggle as follows: — think, successfullJ^
•' A civil war of a far more formidable ^ On the general subject of the Reli-
character broke out to the uoi'thward. 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 independence. They adopt foreign customs, eveu 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 partisans of figured on next page (Figs. 1, 2, 3), con-
this powerful chief and the troops which sistiug of a winged circle with or λυϊϊ^
were employed by Darius, under the out a human figure rising from the cir-
command of three of his most distin- cular space. This emblem is of Assy-
guished generals, unfavourably it must lian 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-
intlie third year of his reign, re-ascended telligence, the wings signify omnipre-
from Habylon 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 Ecbataua" (Behist. Inscrip. to have done, as early as the time of
vol. i. pp. 188-9). Darius, imivcrsall•/ (see the sculptures at
Col. Mure, I observe, though aware Pei-sepolis, Nakhsh-i-Rustam, Behistun,
of this discovery, maintains tlie view &c.). It is quite a mistake to conclude
of Bahr and Dahlmann (Literatm-e of from this, as Mr. Layard does (Nineveh,
216 WOKSHIP OF MYLITTA. Book I.
rians. IMylitta' is the name by which the Assyrians know this
Fig. 2,
vol. ii. chap. vii.),that they adopted the
Assyi-iau 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 circle (Fig. 4), which
has been supposed to represent a triune
god, but this mode of i-epresentation
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
Mnrii-iiiib (Pasargadic ), which closely re-
sembles a Avell-knowu Egyptian form.
The Persian sculptui-e is of the time of
Cyrus. Figs. 5 & 6.
5. Egyptian.
ti. IVrsiun .
1 For a full notice of this goddess, see Assyrians and Babylonians.' The tiue
below, Essay x. ' On the Religion of the explanation of the Herodotean nomcn-
Chap. 131, 132. MODE OF OFFERING SACRIFICE.
217
goddess, whom the Arabians call Alitta,^ and the Persians
Mitra.^
132. To these gods 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 been so much dis-
cussed, seems to be, that Molis (as Nic.
Damasc. gives the name, Fragm. Hist.
Gr., vol. iii. p. 30 1, uote 1(3) is for Mul,
wliicli was au okl Babyloniau word equi-
valent to Bel ov Nin, aud merely signify-
iug "a Lord," and that iu Mylitta we
have the same uame with a feminine
ending. It is possible, however, that Mo-
lis or Volis may be a corruption of Golis,
the (/ and ;; being, as is well known, per-
petually liable to confusion iu the Greek
oi-thography of proper names, and Gnla
iu the primitive language of Babylonia,
which is now ascertained to be of tlie
Hamitic, aud not of the Semitic family,
signified "great," being either identical
with Gal (the more ordinary term for
" great" — compare Ner-gal, Qa^yaK, Gal-
lus, &c.), or a feminine form of that
word, — answering iu fact to the Giida of
the Galla dialect of Africa. T'he Gula
or " great goddess " of the inscriptions is
the female priucijjle of the sun, aud
thus nearly answers to the Mithra of
the Persians ; but the uame is never ap-
plied to the supreme Goddess Beltis,
who was the Alitta of the Arabians. —
[H. C. R.]
MylUta, the "Great Godiloss " of the Assyrians.
(From Layiird.)
2 Alitta, or Alilat (iii. 8), is the Se-
mitic root 7N, "God," with the femi-
nine suffix, Π or ΝΠ, added.
^ This identification is altogether a
mistake. The Persians, like their Vedic
bi'ethreu, worshipped the sun under the
name of Mithra. This was a portion of
the religion which they brought with
them from the Indus, aud was not
adopted from any foreign nation. The
name of Mithra does not indeed occur
in the AchBemenian inscrij)tious until
the time of Artaxerxes Muemon (Jour-
nal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. part i.,
p. 160), but there is no reason to ques-
tion the antiquity of his worship iu Per-
sia. Xenophou is right in making it a
part of the religion of Cyrus (Cyrop.
VIII. iii. § VI, and vii. § 11).
The mistake of Herodotus does not
appear to have been discovered by the
Greeks before the time of Alexander.
Xenophou, indeed, mentions Mithras
(Cyrop. VII. v. § όο ; Οϊοοη. iv. 24),
and also the Persian sun-worship (Cy-
rop. 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 Avith the fact
(Vit. Alex. 0, 30), which thencefoi-th
becomes generally recognised. (See the
inscriptions on altars, deo soli invicto
ΜΙΤΗΚ.Έ, &c., and cf. Suidas, Hesy-
cbius, &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 ^Itiemon (b.c.
405 at the earliest) that her statue was
set up publicly iu the temples of the
chief cities of the empire (Plut. Ar-
taxerx. c. 27). The inscfiptiou of Mue-
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 Ai'taxerxes Ochus
(Beros. ap. Clem. Alex. Protr. i. 5).
218 • CKLEBllATrON OF THEIR BIRTHDAY. Book I.
there calls upon tlie name of the god to whom he iiitoiuls to
offer. It is usual to have the turban encircled Avith a wreath,
most connnonly of myrtle. The sacrificer is not allowed to pray
for blessings on himself alone, but he prays for the Avelfare 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 tlie llesh, he lays it out upon the tenderest herbage that
he can find, trefoil especially. When all is ready, one of the
Magi conies forward and chants a hymn, which they say recounts
the origin of the gods. It is not lawful to offer sacrifice miless
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, Avhen
they eat, leave off hungry, having nothing Avorth mention served
* At the secret meetings of tlie AH indeed, owing to the precaution \vliich
Allaliis of Persia, wliich in popular be- the Ali Alhihis take to extinguish their
lief have attained an infamous notoriety, lights on the approach of stranfjers that
but which are in reality altogether inno- they have acquired the name of C'/iera</h
cent, are practised many ceremonies that kiis/tun, or "lamp-extinguishers," and
bear a striking resemblance to the old that orgies have been assigned to them
Magian sacrifice. which wei'e only suited to darkness. A
The Feer or holy man λνΐιο 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 Λνϋΐονν ; 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 nut which remains with
abound; he chaunts mystical lays re- him; he is called sir supurdcli, or "he
garding the nature, the attributes, and who lias given over his head," and is
the manifestations of the Godhead. A bound during his noviciate implicitly to
sheep is slaughtered as an exjjiatory follow the behests of his leader. After a
sacrifice, and the carcase is boiled upon prol)ationary discipline of several years,
the spot ; the bones are cai'efully ex- never less than three, he is admitted to
tracted, and the peer then distributes a meeting, resigns his nutmeg, partakes
the flesh among his disciples, wlio creep of the sacrifice, and henceforward as-
up upon their knees from their respec- sumes a place among the initiated. —
tive i^laces 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. !it the present day, to roast sheep whole.
It is only the initiated who are admitted even for an ordinary n'jiast ; 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.
FORMS OF SALUTATION.
219
up to them after the meats ; wliereas, if they had more put
before them, they would not stoj) eating•." Tliey are very fond
of wine, and drink it in large quantities.'' To \Omit or obey
natm-al 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 di'unk ; and then on the morrow^ when
they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before
is j)ut 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 ease they always reconsider the matter
under the influence of wine."
134. When they meet each other in the streets, you may
knoΛV if tlie persons meeting aie 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 i^resent day, among tlie
"bous vivants" of Persia, it is usiial 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 Λvine-drinking is as
marked among the Persians of the pre-
sent day, notwithstanding the prohibi-
tions of the Prophet, as it was in the
time of Herodotus. It is quite ap})all-
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 delibei-ating on
peace and war under the influence of
vfine, reserving their determination for
the morrow. He gives the reasons for
the practice, of which he manifestly ap-
proves:— " De pace deuiquo et bello
plerumqxie in conviviis consultant, tau-
quam nidlo magis tempore ad niagnas
coaritationes incalescat aniuuis. Gens
non astuta, nee callida, aperit adhuc se-
creta pectoris, licentia joci. Ergo de-
tecta et nuda omnium mens, jjosterd
die retractatur ; et salva utriusque teni-
poris ratio est. Deliberant, dum fiu-
gere nesciunt : coustituuut, dum errare
non possunt." — ;Germ. '22.) It does
not appear that the Germans reversed
the juOcess.
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 Iberians, and the Carthagi-
nians (Book I. p. <i3?, E). Duris of
Samos declared that once a year, at the
feast of Mithras, the king of Persia was
bound to be drunk. (Fr. 13.^
^ The Persians are still notorious for
their rigid attention to ceremonial and
etiquette. In all the ordinary pursuits
of life, paying vissits, 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 the cheek),
and prostration on the ground ; but
there are also several intermediate
forms, which he has not thoujiht it
220
PEOGRESSIVE SCALE OF ADMINISTRATION. Book I-
nations, they honour most their nearest neighbours, wliom they
esteem next to themselves ; those who live beyond these they
honour in the second degree ; and so Avith the remainder, the
further they are removed, the less the esteem in Avhicli they hold
them. The reason is, that they look upon themselves as very
greatly sujierior in all respects to the rest of mankind, regarding
others as approaching to excellence in proportion as they dwell
nearer to them ;^ whence it comes to pass that those who are the
farthest off must be the most degraded of mankind.^ TJnderthe
dominion of the Modes, the several natit)ns 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 Modes, has a progressive scale of admi-
nistration and government.
135. There is no nation Avhich so readily adopts foreign
customs as the Persians. Thus, they have taken the dress of
the Medes,^ considering it suj^erior to their own ; and in war
worth while to notice, of obeisance,
kissing bauds, &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. II.]
' In an eai'ly stage of geographical
knowledge each nation regards itself as
occupying the centre of the earth. He-
rodotus tacitly assumes that Greece is
tlie centre by his theory of βσχατι'αι
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
woi"ld " {ycis ομφα\ό$. Soph. fEd. T.
898 ] Find. Pyth. \i. o, &c.). Even
Aristotle expresses himself to the same
effect, and regards the happy tempera-
ment of the Greeks as the result of their
interniedudc position (Polit. vii. tj). Our
own use of the terms '■'the Etist," " tlie
West," is a trace of the former exis-
tence of similar views among ourselves.
- It is quite inconceivable that there
should have been any such system of
government either in Media or Persia, as
Herodotus here indicates. With respect
to Persia, we know that the most distant
satrapies wt^ve held as directly of the
crown as the nearest. Compare the
stories of Orcctes (lii. 126-8) and Ary-
andes (iv. lOtJ). The utmost that can
be said with truth is, that in the Per-
sian and Mediaii, as in the Roman em-
pire, there were ilnre grades ; iirst, tlie
ruling nation ; secondly, the conquered
])rovinces; thirdly, the nations on the
frontier, governed by their own laws
and princes, but owning the supremacy of
the imperial power, and reckoned among
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 tunic and trousers of leather.
Tlie Median costume, according to Xe-
no])h()U (Cj'rop. viii. i. § 40) Avas of a
nature to conceal tlie form, and give it
an ajjpearance of grandeur and elegance.
It wouhl seem therefore to have been a
flowing robe. At Persepolis and Hehis-
Chap. 134-136.
NUMBER OF SONS.
221
they wear the Egyptian breastplate.* As soon as they hear of
any hixury, they instantly make it their own : and hence, among
other novelties, they have learnt unnatural 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
[)roof of manly excellence, to be the father of many sons.^
Every year the king sends rich gifts to the man Avho can show
' the largest number : for they hold that number is strength.
t\in the representations of the monarch
and his chief attendants have invariably
a hing 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
high shoe (B). It seems probable that
the costume (A) is that which Hero-
dotus and Xenophon call the Median,
while the close-fitting dress (B) is the
old Persian garb.
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
B. (IVrsian.)
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 chiefs " hearthstone," as it was
said, " was dark," he lost all respect,
and hence arose the now universal prac-
tice of adoption.— [H. C. R.j
222 OFFENCES.— LAW OF LEPROSY. Book L
Their sons are carefully instructed from theii- fifth to their
twentieth year/' in three things alone, — to ride, to draw the
bow, and to speak the truth." Until then• 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 wise rule, as also is the following —
that the king shall not put any one to death for a single fault,
and that iiono of the Persians shall visit a single fault in a slave
Λvith any extreme penalty ; but in every case tlie 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 puuishment.**
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.
131*. They hold it unlawful to talk of anything which it is
unlaAvful 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
catioH 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 jieriod 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 I'ersian became exhorted not to cherish, but to cast into
a full citizen (reAeios). In all this, it utter perdition, "the man who may bo
is evident, we have oulj' the philosojjhic a lidr, or who may be an evil doer " (ib.
notions of the (ireeks. I'erhaps 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 histoiy. He does not ap- which* he has set up has been " fahelji
pear to have ti'avellcd in Persia Proper, related," and he even abstains from nar-
' The Persian regard for truth has rating certain events of his reign "lest
been questioned by Larcher on the to him who may hereafter peruse the
strengtli of tlie speech of Daiins in tablet, tiie many deeds that have been
Book iii. (chap. 72). This speech, how- done by him may seem to be falacly
ever, is entirely uuliistoric. The special recorded" (ib. Par. (i and 8).
estimation in which truth was held " Vide infra, vii. 1 94.
among the Persians is evidenced in a '' In the original, two kinds of lepi-osy
remarkable manner by the inscriptions are mentioned, the AeVpa and the λίΐίκτ;.
of Darius, where I'/in;) is taken as the There does not apjjcar by the description
representative of all evil. It is the great which Aristotle gives of the latter (Hist.
calamity of the usurpation of the pseudo- Animal, iii. II) to have been any essen-
Smerdis, that " then the lie became tial difference between them. The λ(ύκ-η
abounding in the land " (Behist. las. was merely a mild form of leprosy.
Chap. 136-140.
THE MAGI.
223
or to have any dealings with the other Persians ; he must, they
say, have sinned against the sun. Foreigners attacked by this
disorder, are forced to leave the country : even Avhite pigeons
are often driven away, as guilty of tlie 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 to do so, as
they have a great reverence for rivers. There is another pecu-
liarity, Avhich the Persians themselves have never noticed, but
Avhich has not escaped my observation. Their names, which
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 wlio 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 Avith 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 bh-d
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.
4ϋ. 2 Kings vii. 3. xv. 5. Luke xvii.
1 It is ajipareut 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 Λvorldly possessions. See
the list of Persian names occiu'ring in
Herodotus and other writers in the notes
appended to Book vi. — [H. C. R.]
- The Phccnician alphabet, from which
the Greeks adopted theirs (infra, v. 58),
possessed botli mn (Heb. s/iin) and xiijiii'i
(Heb. isamcch). The Greeks, not having
the sound of nh, did not need the two
sibilants, and therefore soon mei-ged
them in one, retaining however both
in their sj'stem of numeration, till they
replaced dijnin by xi. The Dorians
called the sibilant which was kept mm,
the lonians sigma ; but the latter use
prevailed. The letter came to be gene-
rally known as stjina, 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 Persian names of men which ter-
minate with a consonant end indeed in-
variably with the letter n, or rather s,'i,
as Kuiush (Cyrus), Ihirf/ucns/i (Darius),
Chishpaish (Teispes), Ιία/ώάηιαηϊα/ι, &c.
( Achsemenes). [The sh in sucli cases is
the mere nominatival ending of the 2nd
and 3rd declensions ; i. e. of themes
ending in i and u. — 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
Vashtasp («), Hystaspes — Aivhain (a)
Arsames — Arii/aruuum (rt) Ariaramnes
— Banliij {a) Bardius or Smerdis — (ϊ((//-
inat (a) Gomates — ■ Gi(ubrt!w{(i) Gobryas
— &c. &c. The sigiiui in tliese cases is
a mere conventional addition of the
Greeks.
•* Agathias (ii. p. Gu) and Strabo (xv.
p. 1042 J also mention this strange
custom, which still prevails among
the Parsees Λvherever they are found,
whether 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 high,
224 FABLE OF CYEUS TO THE lOXIANS AND /EOLIANS. Book I.
for tlioy practisG it witlioiit any concealment. The dead bodies
are covered with wax, and tlien buried in the ground.
The Magi are a A^ery peculiar race, diftering entirely from
the Egyptian priests, and indeed from all other men Avhatsoever.
ΊΊιο ]^]gyptian priests make it a point of religion not to kill any
live animals except those which they offer in sacrifice. The
IMagi, 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 Hying 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 ^olian 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 Avas
a certain piper," he said,. " Avho was walking one day by the sea-
side, Avhen 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 Avas 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, Mhen he urged them by his messengers to
revolt from Cra3sus, they refused ; but now, when his work was
done, they came to offer their allegiance. It Avas 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
]\Iilesians, with whom Cyrus had concluded a sei)arate treaty,
by which he allowed them the terms they had formerly ob-
ΛνΗΙιοηΐ any dooi'way or other entrance, where there is an open space left for the
Here the Guebres deposited their dead purpose.
by means of a ladder, and left them to * The dog i.s represented in the Zen-
be devoured by tlie crows, which were davesta as tlie special animal of Onnazd,
to be seen in farge numbers about the and is still regarded with peculiar reve-
place. (Voyage en Perse, torn. ii. p. 186.) reuce by the Parsees. On one of the
Such towers exist throughout India, magnificent tombs at the Chelil-Minar,
wherever the Parsees are numerous, of Λvhich Chardin has given an accurate
The bodies are laid on iron bars sloping drawing (phite GS), a row of dogs is the
inwards. When the llesli is gone, the ornament of the entablature,
bones sli|) through between the bars, or ^ Infra, cli. 148, note ■*.
sliding down them fall in at the centre,
Chap. 140-142.
IONIAN DIALECTS.
225
tained from Crcesus. The other lonians resolved, with one
accord, to send ambassadors to Sparta to implore assistance.
142. Now the lonians of Asia, who meet at the Panioninra,
have built their cities in a region where the air and climate are
the most beautiful in the 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 either the climate is
over cold and damp, or else the heat and drought are sorely
oppressive. The lonians do not all sjjeak the same language,
but use in different places fom- different dialects. Towards the
south tlieir 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,
Lebechis, Teos, Clazomenai, and Phociea.^ The inhabitants of
these towns have none of the peculiarities of speech wliieh
belong to the tlu-ee 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 ujion the mainland,
which is Erythrae. Of these Chios and Erythrae have the same
dialect, while Samos possesses a language peculiar to itself.^
Such are llie four varieties of which I spoke.
^ Miletus, Myiis, and Priene all lay
near the mouth of the Mieauder (the
modern Mendere). At their original
colonisation they were all maritime
cities. Miletus stood at the northei-n
extremity of a promontcry formed by
the mountain-range called Grius, coni-
maudiug the entrance of an extensive
bay which washed the base of the four
mountains. Grins, Latnuis, and Titanus,
south of tlie Mieander, 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
Micander poured its waters, and the
consequence was tlie perpetual forma-
tion of fresh land. (Vide infrh, ii. 10,
where Herodotus notes the fact.)
Priend, by the time of Strabo, was
40 stadia (4^ miles) from the sea (xii.
p. 8'27). Myus had been rendered un-
inhabitable V)y the growth of the allu-
vium, forming hollows in its vicinity,
VOL. I.
where the stagnant water generated
swarms of mosquitoes (Strab. xiv. p.
912; Pausan. vii. ii. § 7). Since the
time of these geographers the changes
have been even more astonishing. The
soil brought down by the Mieander 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 ό
miles seawards. Lade, and the other
islands which lay off the Milesian shore,
are become part of tlie continent, rising,
like the rock of Dumbarton, from the
marshy soil. The soutliern portion of
the gidf 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 difi'erence between the
ancient and modern geography will be
best seen by comparing the charts. {>Sce
pp. 22(;, 227.)
^ These cities are enumerated in the
order in which they stood, from south
to north. Erythraj lay on the coast
opposite Chios, between Teos and Cla-
zomenfc.
'-' According to Suidas, Herodotus
emigrated to Samos from Halicarnas-
<)
22(5
WEAKNESS OF THE IONIC RACE.
riooK T.
143. Of the loniaus at this period, one people, tho J\rilcsiaiis,
were in no danger of attack, as Cyrus had received them into
alliance. The islanders also had as yet nothini; to fear, since
I^iai-nicia Avas still independent of Persia, and the Persians
themselves were not a seafaring people. The ]\[ilesians had
separated from the common cause solely on account of tlu^ 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
Avas 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 iar
in their dislike of the name as actually to lay it aside ; and
Ancient.
sus on account of the tyranny of IjVlc-
damis, gnuid.son of Aiteinisia, and tliero
exclianged liis native Doric for the Ionic
dialect in wliich he composed his his-
tory. If this account be true, we must
consider that we have in the writings
of Herodotus the Samtan variety of the
Ionic dialed•.. But little dependancc
can be placed on Suidas.
' The old Pela.sgic tribe.s, when once
Hellenised, were apt to despise their
proper ethnic appellation.s. As with
the Jonians, so it was with the Dryo-
piaus, who generallj- contemned their
name, as Pausanias tells us (iv. xxxiv.
§ 6). Here again, however, there was
an exception, Asinaans, unlike other
Dryopians, glorying in the title (ib.).
- Tlie Triopiuni wa.s built ou a jiro-
montory of the same name within the
tei-ritory of the Cuidians. It has been
usual to identify the promontory with
Chap. 143, U4.
DORIC HEXAPOLIS.
227
even at the present day the greater niiniher of them seem to me
to he ashamed of it.^ But the twelve cities in Asia have always
gloried in the appellation ; they gave the temple which they
built for themselves the name of the Panioninm, and decreed
that it should not be open to any of the other Ionic States ; no
State, however, except Smyrna, lias 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
Mandelc/uJ or
Asyn hah
the small peninsula (now Cape Krio)
which, according to Strabo (xiv. p. 938),
was once an island, and was afterwards
joined by a causeway to the city of
Cuidus. (See Ionian Antiq. vol. iii.
p. 2. Beaufort's Karamania, Map, app.
p. 81. Texier, Asie Mineure, vol. lii.
plate 159.) But from the notice con-
tained in Scylax (Peiipl. p. 91), and
from tlie nai'i-ative in Tliucvdides (viii.
οό), it is evident that the Trio])ian cape
was not Cajjc Krkt, on Avhieh stood a
part of the town of Cnithis (Strab.
1. s. c), but a promontory further to
the north, probably that immediately
above Cape Krlu. No remains of the
ancient temple have yet been found,
but perhaps the coast has not been
sufficiently exploi-ed above Cnidus.
Q 2
228
TWELVE CITTES OF ACILEA.
Book I.
which were anoiontly coh'bratod in lionour of the Tno})inii
Apollo,'' the prizes <;ivou to the victors yvero tripods of brass ;
and the rule was that these tripods sliould not be carried away
from the temple, but should tlien and there be dedicated to the
god. Now a man of Halicarnassns, wliose name was Agasidcs,
being declared victor in the games, in open contem})t of the
law. took the tripod home to his ΟΛνη 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, Haliearnassus, of the right of entering the temple.^
145. The lonians founded twelve cities in Asia, and refnsed
to enlarge the number, on account (as I imagine) of their
having been divided into twelve States when they lived in the
Pr. Tviopitiin' ^^SSff'
\':,i ^ΐΐ^"' G"!/'^
3 An inscription found at Cnidus
mentions a -yv^viKhs σ.η(ύν as occuiTing
every fifth year. (See Hamilton's Asia
Minor, vol. ii. p. 4f30.) The games ai-e
said to liave been celebrated in honour
of Neptune and the Nymphs, as well as
of Apollo. (Schol. ad Theocr. Id. xvii.
■• 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 Haliearnassus wore
on the mainland, the former near to
the Ti'iopium, the latter on the north
shore of tiie Ceramic 'Julf, on the site
now occupied by Boodroom. These six
cities formed an Amphictyouy, which
held its meetings at the temple of
Apollo, called the Triopium, near Cni-
dus, the most central of the cities.
(Scliol. ad Theocrit. 1. s. c.)
There were, as Herodotus indicates,
m.any other Doric settlements on these
coasts. The jn-incipal appear to have
been Myndus and lassus to the north,
and I'liaselis to the east, upon the con-
tinent, Carpathus and Symii, on their
respective islands. Concerning the site
of Phixselis, vide infra, ii. 178, note.
CiiAP. 144-146. ORIGINAL POPULATION OF IONIA. 229
Peloponnese ; ^ just as the Achseans, who drove them out, are at
the present day. The first city of the Achieans after Sicyon, is
Pelleue, next to which are ^Egeira, JE^ve 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 Achaean invaders, — ^gium, Khypes,
Patreis, Phareis, Olenus on the Peirus, which is a large river, —
Dyma and Tritseeis, all sea-port towns except the last two,
which lie up the country.
146. These are the twelve divisions of what is now Acha^a,
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 lom'ans in
name ; and, besides, there were mixed up with the emigration,
Minyae from Orehomenus, Cadmeians, Dryopians, Phocians from
the several cities of Phocis, Molossians, Arcadian Pelasgi,
Dorians from Epidaunis, and many other distinct tribes.^
Even those λυΙιο 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 Acliwans, expelled by the Doi-ians southwards) formed their later cou-
from Argolis, Laconia, and Messenia, federacy of the same number of cities
at the time of the return of the Hera- as their earlier (Livy, v. 3;i).
cleids (B.C. 1104 in the ordinary chro- ^ The Orchomenian Minyse founded
uology), i-etired northwards, and ex- Teos (Pausan. vii. iii. § 7), the Pho-
pelled the lonians from their country, cians Phoceea (ibid.). Abantians from
which became the Achtea 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 Prieno, 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 refuse
been argued by Kaoul-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 Jlinor, 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 AVhen a colony took its departure, the
AchiOa 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 Pi'ytaneum
to constitute a perfect Amphictyony. of the new .settlement.
In the same way tlie Etruscans in Italy
23υ
lONIANS A MIXED liACK.
1)00K I.
witli thcin to the new country, but niavried Carian girls, wliosc
fathers tliey had slain. Ilenco these women made a law, which
they bound tliemselves by an oath to observe, and which they
handed down to their daughters after them, " That none should
ever sit at meat with her husband, or call him by his name ;"
because the invaders slew their fathers, tlieir Inisbands, and their
sons, and then forced them to become their wives. It Mas 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 IMelanthus ; or else from
both those families. But since these lonians 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 Mycali^, facing the north,
ι See Horn. II. ii. 876.
2 The Caucons are reckoned by Strabo
among the earliest inhabitants of Greece,
and associated with the Pela.sgi, Leleges,
and Dryopea (vii. p. 465). Like their
kindred tribes, they were veiy widely
spread. Their chief settlements, how-
ever, appear to have been on the north
coast of Asia Minor, between the Mariau-
dynians and the river Parthenius (Strab.
xii. J). 7S5), and on the west coast of the
Peloponnese in Messenia, Elis, and Tri-
phylia. (Strab. viii. pp. 49ί3-7; Arist.
Fr. l;)5.) In this last ))osition they
are mentioned by Homer ( Od. iii. MGfl)
and by Herodotus, both here, and in
Book iv. ch. 148. Homer 2>i'fhably
alludes to the eastern Caucons in II. x.
4'J9, and xx. o29. They continued to
exist under the name of Cauconittc, or
CauconiatDD, in Strabo's time, on the
Parthenius (comp. viii. p. 501, and xii.
p. 78i)), and are even mentioned by
Ptolemy (v. 1) as still inhabiting the
same region. From the Peloponnese
the race had entirely disappeared when
Strabo Avrote. but had left their name
to the river Caucon, a small stream in
the north-western corner of the penin-
sula. (Strab. viii. 496.)
■' The Apaturia (a' = αμίχ) ττατυρια)
was the solemn annual meeting of the
phratries, for the purpose of register-
ing the children of tlie preceding year
whose birth entitled them to citizen-
ship. It took place in the month
Pyauepsion (November), and lasted
three da^-s. On the first day, called
Λορπία, the members of each plu-atry
either dined together at the Phratrium,
or were feasted at the house of some
wealthy citizen. On the second day
(ανάρρυσίί), solemn sacrifice wvs offered
to Jupiter Phratrius. After these pre-
liminaries, on the third day (κουρΐώτΐ5 )
the business of the festival took place.
Claims were made, objections were
heard, and the registration was effected.
(See Larcher's note, vol. i. pp. 42ii-2,
and Smith's Diet, of Antiquities, in voc.
Άπατούρία.)
■' Under the name of Panionium are
included both a tract of ground and a
temple. It is the former of Avhich
Hei'odotus here speaks particularly, as
the place in whicli 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, thi'ee stadia
(about a tlnrd of a mile ) from the shore
f Strab. xiv. p. 916). The modern vil-
lage of Tchangli is supposed, with reason,
to occupy the site. It is the only place
on tliat steep and mountainous coast
where an opening for a temple occurs;
and here in a churcli on the sea-shore
Sir W. Gell found an inscription in
which the word " Pa.niuuium " occurred
Chap. 146-150. TWELVE CITIES OF THE .EOLIANS.
231
which was chosen by the cominon voice of the lonians and made
sacred to Heliconian Neptune,^ Mycale itself is a piOmontory
of the mainland, stretching ont westward towards Samos, in
which the lonians assemble from all their States to keep the
feast of the Paniouia.** The names of festivals, not only among
the lonians but among all the Greeks, end, like the Persian
jn-oper names, in one and the same letter.
149. The above-mentioned, then, are the twelve towns of the
lonians. The iEolic cities are the following : — Cyme, called
also Phriconis, Larissa, Neonteichus, Temnus, Cilia, Notium,
ji]giroessa, Pitane, JEgsese, Myrina, and Gryneia.' These are
the eleven ancient cities of the ^olians. Originally, indeed,
they had twelve cities upon the mainland, like the lonians, but
the lonians deprived them of Smyrna, one of the number. The
soil of ^-Eolis is better than that of Ionia, but the climate is less
agreeable.
150. The following is the way in which the loss of Smyrna
happened. Certain men of Colophon had been engaged in a
•r -;^w
twice. (Leake's Asia Minor, p. 260.)
The Pauionium was in the territory of
I'riene, 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
Pt'loponnese (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.
Pausanias calls It ayiwraTov (vii. xxiv.
§ 4-). The temple at Mycale' in the
new Amjjhictyony occupied the place
of that at Heiice in the old. (Comp.
Clitophon, Fr. 5.)
* It is remarkable that Thucydides,
writing so shortly after Herodotus,
should speak of tlie Pan-Ionic festiA'al
at Mycale' as no longer of any im-
portance, and regard it as practically
superseded by the festival of the Ephe-
sia, held near Ephesus (iii. 104). iStill
the old feast continued, and was cele-
brated as late as the time of Augustus
(ytrabo, xiv. p. Vtl(i).
'In this enumeration Herodotus does
not observe any regular order. Pro-
ceeding 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,
Neonteichus, Larissa, Cyme, -^gaj,
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,
C[uoting him. Heiodotus, on the other
liand, omits Ehca, near the mouth of
the Caicus, which Strabo and Stephen
mention as one of the principal iEolian
cities. Possibly therefore -5igiroessa is
another name for Elica.
yEolis, according to this view, reached
from the mouth of the Evenus (the
modern Kosak) 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
bet\veen Smyrna and Cyme'. Still in all
probability the territory was continuous
inland, reaching across the plain of tlie
Hermus; Larissa to the north and Tem-
nus to the south of the Hermus forming
the links which coimected Smyrna with
the rest of the Amphictyony. (See
Kiepert's Supplementary Maps, Berlin,
iy.31.)
The territory was a narrow strip along
the shores of the Elantic Gulf, but ex-
tended inland considerably up the rich
valleys of the Hernuis and Caicus ; Per-
gamus in the one valley, and Magnesia
(under Sipylus) in the otlier, being in-
cluded witliin the limits of vEolis.
232 IONIAN KMIUSSY TO Sl'AKTA. Book I.
sedition tliere, and being the weaker party, were driven by the
others into banishment. The Smyrnncans received the fugitives,
who, after a time, watching their opportunity, while tlio inhal)i-
tants were celebrating a feast to liacchus outside tlie walls, sliut
to the gates, and so got possession of the town.^ The ^olians
of the other States came to their aid, and terms were agreed on
between the parties, the lonians consenting to give up all the
moA'Cables, and the ^olians making a surrender of the place.
The expelled Smyrnaians were distributed among the other
States of the ZEolians, and were everywhere admitted to citizen-
ship,
lul. These, then, were all the iEolic 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 Vi^hich 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 ^olians decided in their common assembly
to fellow the lonians, whatever course they should pursue.
152. 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, Pythermus, a Phocaian, to be their spokes-
man. In order to draAV 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 tlie assistance of his countrymen, but they
were not to be persuaded, and A^oted against sending any
succour. The deputies accordingly went their way, while the
Lacediemonians, notwithstanding the refusal Avhich they had
^ Such treachery was not without a a vast number of cities, of which
parallel in ancient tiiue.s. Herodotus Assus and Antandrus wore 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; Sti-abo,
the Zancla-ansto join them in colonising xiii. pp. 885, 892.)
Cale Acte, finding Zaucle undefended, i The five Lesbian cities were, Myti-
seized it, and took it f(n' their own lene, Methymna, Autissa, Eresus, and
(infra, vi. 23;. Pyrrha. (Scylax. Peripl. p. 87; Strabo,
" The district hero indicated, and xiii. pp. 885-7.)
commonly called the Troad, extended ^ TJiese islands lay off the promon-
from Adramyttium on the south to tory which separated the bay of Atar-
Priapus on the north, a city lying on neus from that of Adiamyttiuni, oppo-
the Propontis, nearly due north of site to the northern part of the island
Adramyttium. It was much larger of Lesbos. They are said to be nearly
tlian tiio proper MoUh, and contained forty in number. (Biiln• in loc.)
Chap. 150-153. CYRUS AND THE SPARTAN HERALDS.
233
given to the prayer of the deputation, despatched a pente-
couter ^ to the Asiatic coast with certain Spartans on board, for
the purpose, as I think, of watching Cpus and Ionia. These
men, on their ari'ival at Phocoea, sent to Sardis Lacrines, the
most distinguished of their number, to prohibit Cynis, in the
name of the Lacedaemonians, from offering molestation to any
city of Greece, since they woukl 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
Lacedaemonians 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
ncA'^er 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 Avords as
a reproach against all the Greeks, because of their having
market-places where they 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 •ννί11ι fifty representation is from the palace of
rowers, twenty-five of a side, who sat that monarch at Kouyunjik. Triremes
ou a level, as is customary in row- are said to have been invented about
boats at the present day. Biremes a century and a half before Cyrus by
(Sippets), trii-enies (τριήρει$), &c,, were tlie Corintliiaus (Tliucyd. i. 13), but
ships iu which the rowei's sat in ranks, were for a long time very little used.
some above the others. Biremes were The navy of Polycrates consisted of
probably a Phoenician invention. They penteconters. (Vide infra, iii. 59.)
were certainly knowu to the Assyrians ■* Compare v. 7•'5 and lUo.
in the time of Sennacherib, pi-oliaL)ly ''' ]\Iarkets in the strict sense of the
throuLih that people. Tlie sul)joincd word are still unknown iu the East,
234 REVOLT OF SARDIS. Book I.
After this interview Cyrus (|uittecl Surdis, leaving• the city
under the charge of Tabahis, a Persian, but appointing Pactyas,
a native, to collect the treasure belonging to Croesus and the
other Lydians, and bring it after him." Cyrus himself ^iro-
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 P>abylon, the Bactrians, the SaCcC," 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 than
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 \i\) in the citadel.
155. When Cyrus, on liis way to Agbatana, received these
tidings, he turned to Croesus and said, " Where will all this end,
Croesus, thinkest thou ? It seemeth tliat these Lydians will not
cease to cause trouble both to themselves and others. I doubt
where the bazaars, which are collections their subjection as taking place between
of shojis, take their place. Tiie Persians 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 SaciC (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. 1 042, ayopcis ούχ άπτονται' οϋτΐ lay beyond Bactria. Probably the six-
yap ττωλονσιν οϋτ' ώνοΰνται. ) Those of teen years which intervened between
lower rank would buy at the shops, the capture of Sardis (n.C. 554) and the
which were not allowed in the Forunx, taking of Babylon (n.C. 538) were occu-
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 Hei'at, Sarangians, Chorasmiaus. Gan-
native satrap, and dates the division darians, &c. (as well as the Bacti-ians
of offices, which obtained in later times, and the Saca>), were brought under the
from the very beginning of the con- Persian yoke. At least there is no
(piests of Cyrus. But it does not appear reason to believe the.se tribes to have
tliat Pactyas had any permanent office, formed any part either of the ancient
He was to collect the treasures of I'ersiiin kingdom (supra, ch. 125) or of
the conquered people, and bring them the Median empire.
(κομΊζ(ΐν) with him to Echatana. 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
7 Ctesias placed the conquest of the Caucasus (/va/ls/wiw, in the district of
P>actrians and the Sacsc before the ca])- Kohintun, north of Cabiil), by Cyrus in
ture of Croesus (Persic. Excerpt. § --4). one of ids expeditions to the eastward.
Herodotus appears to Iiave regarded — H. C. K.]
CiiAP. 153-157. CRCESUS' ADVICE. 235
me if it were not best to sell them all for slaves. Metbinks
what I have now done is as if a man were to ' kill the father
and then spare the child,' * Thou, who Avert 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 Croesus
liis 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 jninishment. Grant, then, forgiveness to the Lydians,
and to make sure of their never rebelhng 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."
15G. Croesus 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
danger which now pressed, the Lydians at some future time
might revolt from the Persians and so bring themselves to ruin.
The advice pleased Cyrus, who 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
Croesus' discourse. Further, he commanded liim 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 a])proach of the
* The licence bywhich Cyrus is made ferred to, see Aristot. Rliet. ii. "Jl, and
to ([note tlie Greek poet Stasiuus i-s Clem. Al. Strom, vi. j). 747.)
scarcely 'lerensible. (For the line re-
23(3
MAZAIiES QUELLS THE INSURRECTION.
Rook I.
army sent agaiust him, fled iu terror to Cyme. Blazares,
therefore, the IMcdian general, who had marched on Sardis witli
a detachment of the army of Cyrus, finding on his arrival that
Pactyas and his tro()i)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) theii'
entire manner of living.*-* Next, he despatched messengers to
Cyme, and required to have Pactyas delivered up to him. On
this the Cymaians resolved to send to Branchidie and ask the
advice of the god. Brauchidai^ is situated in the territory of
l\Iiletus, above the port of Panormus. There was an oracle
there, established in very ancient times, which both the lonians
and /Eolians were wont often to consult.
158. Hither therefore the Cymaians 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 w^re ready to
° Mr. Grote (voL iv. p. 2G8) observes
with reason, that "the couversation
here reported, and the dehberate 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 iu fame." This is far better
than, witli 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 Branchidse
and the i^ort Panormus still remain.
Tlie former is twelve mdes from Miletus,
nearly due south. It lies near the shore,
about two miles inland from Cape ΛΙυηυ-
dcndri. It is a magnificent ruin of Ionic
architecture. Dr. Chandler says of it:
*' The memory of the pleasure which
this spot afforded me will not be suon
or easily erased. The colunmsyet en-
tire are so exquisitely fine, the marble
mass so 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-
ueure, vol. ii. oi)p. p. ■i-O), and a tole-
rable one iu the Ionian anticpiities pub-
lushed 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. o4S.) Only
three of the pillars are now standing.
(Texier, vol. i. p. 45.)
Plan of the 'I'emple.
TiCngth, j()4 leet ; breadth, 165 feet.
The port of Panormus was discovered
by Dr. Chandler in tlie vieiuitj^ of the
temple. " In descending from the moun-
tain toward the gulf," he says, "I had
remarked iu the sea something white, —
and going afterwai'ds 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, antl tthoiit nil- feet in diameter, extend
from near the shore, where arc traces
of buildings." (ib. p. 173.)
Chap. 157- IGO. ARISTODICUS AND THE ORxVCLE. 237
surrender him accordingly ; but as they were preparing 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 rej)orted it falsely ; until at
last another embassy, of which Aristodicus himself made part,
was despatched, to repeat the former inquiry concerning
Pactyas.
159, On their arrival at the shrine of the god, Aristodicus,
speaking on behalf of the whole body, thus addressed the
oracle : '•' Oh I king, Pactyas the Lydiau, 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, though w^e greatly dread the Persian power, yet
have we not been bold to give up our siippliant, till we have
certain knowledge of thy mind, Avhat thou wouldst have us to
do." The oracle thus questioned gave the same answer as
before, bidding them surrender Pactyas to the Persians ;
whereupon Aristodicus, who had come prepared for such an
answer, proceeded to make the circuit of the temple, and to
take all the 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 Avords : " 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, " Oli, king, art thou so ready to protect
thy suppliants, and dost thou command tlie Cymaeans to give
up a suppliant ? " " Yes," returned the god, " I 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 liarljour him, sent Pactyas away" to Mytilene. 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 Avith certainty how large, as the bargain
was not completed), when the Cymgeans, hearing what the
Mytilena^ans were about, sent a vessel to Lesbos, and conveyed
away Pactyas to Chios. From hence it w^as that he was
surrendered. The Chians dragged him from the temple of
238 PACTYAS SUKKENDEREl) Γ.Υ THE CIIIANS. Book I.
IMinorva Poliucliiis^ and o-ave liim up to tlie Persians, on con-
dition of receiving the district of Atarnens, a tract of JMysia
o})|)osite to Lesbos,^ as the price of the surrender/ Thus did
Pactyas fall into the hands of his pursuers, Avho kept a strict
watch upon him, that they might be able to produce him before
Cyrus. For a long time afterwards none of the Chians 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.
101. Meanwhile IMazares, 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 Mieander and the district of Magnesia,^ both
of which he gave up for pillage to the soldiery. He then sud-
denly sickened and died.
162. Upon his death Harpagus Avas sent down to the coast to
succeed to his command. He also was of the race of the Modes,
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 tlie enemy to shut themselves up witliin their defences,
he heaped mounds of earth against their walls,*' and thus carried
- That is, " Minerva, Guardian of the loo.), to dispute the veracity of Charon,
citadel," which was the ttoKis {κατ' Charou wrote— "Pactyas, when he heard
ΐξοχην) of each city. Not only at of the approacli of the Persian army, fled
Athens, but among the Ionian cities first to Mytilcne, afterwards to Chios,
generally, there was a temple of Minerva Cyrus however obtained possession of
{'Αθηνη) 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 Ilium. (Iliad, vi. 297.) Crete's note (vol. iv. p. 270).
3 Atarneus lay to the north of the •'' Λ''υf Magnesia mder Sijv/Ins, but
iEolis of Herodotus, almost exactly op- Magnesia on the ibvandcr, 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 Mwander, about one mile
the story of Herinotimus, viii. lOG, and and a half from it, and tldrtij miles from
cf. Scylax. Peripl. p. 88.) the sea. (Leake, pp. 243-245.)
•* 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. H;>9), and quotes Charon of Lampsacus Syrians, by whom it had long been prac-
as conclusive against its truth. Put the tised. (2 Kings xix. •'(2. Isaiah xxxvii. 38.
silence of Charon proves nothing, and Layard's Nineveli and Habyhui, pp. 73,
the passage quoted from him is quite con- 14ii, &c.) A detailed account of this
sisteut with the statements made by He- mode of attack and the way of meeting
rodotus. There is no need, with Biihr (in it, is given by Thucyd. (ii. 7Γι-(5).
Chap. 160-164. HAEPAGUS LAYS SIEGE TO PHOC.EA. 239
tbe towns. PhociOa was the city against which he directed his
first attack.
1G3. Now the Phocaeans were tlie first of the Greeks who
performed long voyages, and it was they who made the Greeks
acquainted with the Adriatic and with Tyrrhenia, with Iberia,
aud the city of Tartessus." The vessel which they nsed in their
voyages was not the round-built merchant-ship, but the long
penteconter. On their arrival at Tartessus, the king of the
country, whose 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 Phoca3ans 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 gi-eat in
their neighbourhood, he gave them money to build a wall about
tlieir town, and certainly he must have given it with a bountiful
hand, for the town is many furlongs in circuit, and the wall is
built entirely of great blocks of stone skilfully fitted together.^
The Avail, then, was built by his aid.
161. Harpagus, having advanced against the Phocaeans with
his army, laid siege to their city, first, however, offering them
terms. "It would content liim," he said, "if the Phoca3ans
would agree to throw doAAoi one of tlieir battlements, and
dedicate one dwelling-house to the king." The Phocfeans,
sorely vexed at the thought of becoming slaves, asked a single
' The Iberia of Herodotus is the rate compared to the Illyriaii Dando,
Spanish Peninsula. Tartessus was a co- who (Plin. ib.) lived 500 years. — [G.W.]
lony founded there very early by tbe Phlegou of Tralles also mentioned the
Phoenicians. It was situated beyond 150 years of Arganthonius in his tract
the straits at the mouth of the Ba3tis concerning long-lived persons (Uepl
(Guadalquioir), near the site of the mo- μακρόβιων). Except the Erythrajan
dern Cadiz. (Strabo, iii. p. 199.) Tar- Sibyl, who had lived a thousand years(!j,
sus, Tartessus, Tarshisb, are variants of it was, he said, tlie estremest case of
the same ■yvord. [Tarshish, in the Ha- longevity upon record. See his frag-
mitic tongue, which probably pre\'ailed ments in Miiller's Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol.
on the coast of Phojuicia when the first iii. p. 610. Fr. 29.
colonists sailed for Spain, meant " the * It is evident from this that, despite
younger brother"— a very suitable name the two destructions by Harpagus, and
for a colony.- H. C.R.] the generals of Darius (infn
^ Pliny (vii. 48) says Anacreon gave the old Phocira continued to exist m
him a life of 150 year.s, and mentions the time of Tlerodotus. It does not
other reigns of 16υ and 200, which he seem certain when the new city within
thinks fabulous; but he considers the the Smyrnean Gulf (^Vc»' Fo/ira) super-
80 years of Arganthonius certain. He seded the old city in the bay of Cyme,
calls him king of Tartessus, and of of which some traces still remain at
Gades, as Cicero does (de Senect. 19}. Pakm-Fogaa. (Chandler, i. p. 88.)
In point of ago Arganthonius was mode-
240 CONDUCT OF ΤΙΙΚ PllOC.EANS. Book I.
day to deliberate on tlio answer tliey slionld return, and
besought Harj)agus during tliat day to draw off his forees from
the walls. Harpagns replied, " that he understood well enough
wliat they were alwut to do, but nevertheless he would grant
their request." Accordingly the troops Avere A\uthdrawn, and
the l^hocajans 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 theh• return, took possession of
an empty town.
165. Arrived at Chios, the Phoca^ans made offers for the
purchase of tlie islands called the Qinnssfe,^ but the Chians
refused to part with them, fearing lest the PhocaDans should
establish a factory there, and exclude their merchants from the
commerce of those seas. On their refusal, the Phocaeans, 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, whicli was
called Alalia. Before they set out, however, on this voyage,
they sailed once more to Phocaja, 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'tlie sea, swore never
to return to Phocsea till that mass reappeared upon the surface.
Nevertheless, as they were preparing to depart for Cynras, more
than lialf of their number were seized with such sadness and so
great a longing to see once more their city and their ancient
• The CEiiussiO lay between Chios and nexiouwith this last passage, Herodotus
the main-land, opposite tlie northern lets fall a remark whieh shows that it
extremity of that island (Lat. MS-' 3U'j. was almost the invariable practice to
They are the modern Spalmadori, 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,
ments of Pliny and Stephen of Byzan- "neither took counsel of the oracle at
tium, that QEuus.sa3 was au idand. There Delphi, as to the place whereto he should
is an excellent liarbour. go, nor observed any of the customary
- A most important influence was usages." (οί/τε τω iv ΑΐλψοΙσι χρη-
exercised by the Greek oracles, e-spe- στηρίφ χρησάμίΐΌ5, i? ι^ντινα yyfv κτίσων
cially tliat of Delphi, over the course of hj, ούτι ■π-οί7)σαί ovSfv των νομιζο-
H ellenic colonisation. Further instances μ4 uwv .)
occur, iv^l. ')."), 107, l."i9 ; v.4'2. In con-
Chap. 164-lG•;. PHOC.EANS SAIL TO COESICA.
241
homes, that they broke the oath by which they had bound
themselves and sailed back to Phocfea.
166. The rest of the Pliocffians, Avho kept their oath, pro-
ceeded without stopping upon their voyage, and Avhen they
came to Cyrnus esfalSIisTied^thBSseTv^^ with the earlier
settlers at Alalia and built temples in the place. For five years
they annoyed their neighbom-s 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 Phocseans, 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.'^ Tliey lost forty ships in the battle, and the twenty
Avhich remained came out of the engagement Avith beaks so
bent and blunted as to be no longer serviceable. The Phocai'ans
therefore sailed back again to Alalia, and taking their Avives and
children on board, with such portion of their goods and chattels
as the vessels could bear, bade adieu to Cyrnus aud sailed to
Rheffium.
^ The naval iiower of the Tyrrhe-
nians was about this time at its height.
Populonia and Civre (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. γ). 310 and vi. p. 385. Died. Sic. xv.
14; Ephorns .52, ed. Didot; Aristid.
Rhod. ii. p. 798). Corsica probabh'was
under their dominion before the Pho-
Cicans made their settlement at Alalia.
Its foundntion would be a declaration
of hostilities. The after-coming of a
fresh body of emigrants, with a power-
ful navy, would still further exasperate
the Tyrrhenians. Hitherto tliey had
shared the commerce of the AVestern
half of the Mediterranean with the Car-
thaginians. The Phocffian voyages to
Tartessus, which had for security's sake
to be performed in ships of war instead
of merchantmen (supra, ch. Iti.i), cannot
have interfered much with tlieir mer-
cantile operations. It Λναβ different
when PliocKa attempted to set itself
up a.s a third poWer in the seas, which
the Tyrrhenians regarded as their own,
or at least as theirs conjointly witli the
Carthaginians. 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 n.c. 600
(Scymnns Chius, 21.5-8). 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 ι
maritime powers upon the interloper. '
Tlie Phocteans were swept away, and ',
the Tyrrhenians resumed their former \
position and conduct, till Hiero of j
Syracuse, provoked by their piracies 1
and pillage of Greek cities, broke theiri |
power in the great battle of which. ,'
Pindar sings (Pyth. i. 137-41). This! I
\vas B.C. 474. (Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. j
p. 36.) I
■* A Cadmeian victory Λvas one from <
which the victor received more hurt
than profit (Suidas in voc. KaSjiceia
νίκη). Plutarch derives the proverb
from the combat between Polynices
and Eteocles (De Amor. Frat. p. 488,
A. ) ; Eustathius fi-om the victory of
the Thebans over the Seven Chiefs,
which only produced their after defeat
by the Epigoni (ad Horn. 11. iv. 407).
Arrian used the phrase in an entirely
diiferent sense. (Fr. 66.)
242
PHOC.EANS SETTLE AT ELEA.
Book I.
Q 1()7. Tho Cartliagiuians and l^yrrlienians, who had got into
r their hands many more tlian th(^ j^hocreans from among the
crews of the iorty- vessels that wei-c destroyed, hmded their
captives upon tlie 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
i'liocreaus 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
rvthoness required them to institute the custom, Avhich they
still observe, of honouring the dead Phocieans with magnificent
funeral rites, and solemn games, both gymnic and equestrian.
Such, then, was the fate that befel the Phoctean prisoners.
The other Phocfeans, Avho had fled to Ehegium, became after a
while the founders of the city called Vela,*^ in the district of
j CEnotria. 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 Phoca?a in
Ionia. They of Teos ^ did and suffered almost the same ; for
^ Niebulir draws two conclusions of
some importance from this narrative —
first, that A<^'ylla liad not yet been con-
j quered by the Etruscans, but was purely
I Tyrrhenian, i. c. (according to liis notion)
' Pelasgic. Otherwise, he says, they would
have been content with their own hanis-
■picji, and would not have sent to Delphi.
Secondly, that in this war the Agyllreans
were not assisted by any of their neigh-
bours, since the divine judgment fell
on them alone (Rom. Hist. vol. i. p.
l'J4. E. T.). But if the massacre took
place on their territory, as it evidently
did, the judgment, being attached to
the scene of the slaughter, could only
aflect to any extent the inhabitants of
\ the district.
I •* .This is the town more commonly
! called Velia or Elea, where soon after-
' wards the great Eleatic school of phi-
losophy at ose. It is conjectured that
, the Phocfcans were "joined by other
exiles from Ionia, in particular by
tlie Colophonian philosopher and poet
Xenophanes." (^Grote's History of
Greece, vol. iv. p. 27tj.) There seems
to be no doubt that Xenophanes was
one of the founders of tho scliool (Plat.
Sophist, ad init. Clem. Alex. Strom, i.
p. oOl) ; but the time at which he lived
is very uncertain. (Cf. Clinton's F. H.
Λ'οΐ. ii. pp. 15, οό.)
'' This is the place now known as
Pd'stuiu, so famous for its beautiful
ruins. (See Strab. v. p. 361.)
" Cyrnus was a son of Hercules
(Servius ad Virg, Eclog. ix. 30).
'-• Teos was situated on the south side
of the isthmus which joined the penin-
sula of Erythrtc to the main land, very
nearly opposite Clazomenie (Strab. xiv.
p. 9-'-). It was the birthplace of
Anacreon, and according to Sti'abo
(ibid.) of Hecaticus the chronicler.
Considerable remains of it, especially
a temple of Baccluis and a theatre, still
exist near Sii/hfijik. ( Chandler' .s Travels,
ch. xxvii. p. Ill; Leake's Asia Minor,
p. 300.)
A certain number of the Tcians re-
turned to their native city (Strab. 1. s. c),
which rose from its ruins and became
once more an important place. In the
Ionian revolt the Teians furnislied seven-
teen ships to the combined fleet (infra,
vi. 8), when the Phocieans could only
fiu'uish three.
Chap. 167-170. SUBMISSION OF THE OTHER STATES. 243
they too, when Harpagiis had raised his mound to the height of
tlieir defences, took ship, one and all, and sailing across the sea
tQ Thrace, founded there the city of Abdera.^ The site was one
which Tiniesius of Clazomenoe 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 Avho 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 mad(i
terms with Cyrus, and so continued at peace. Thus was con-
tinental Ionia once more reduced to servitude ; and Avhen the
lonians of the islands saw their brethren upon the mainland
subjugated, they also, dreading the like, gave themselves up to
Cyi-us.^
/ 170. It Avas 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 haj)piest 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 Mould escape from
slavery and rise to great fortune, being masters of tl.e largest
island in the world,^ and exercising dominion even beyond its
1 For the site of Abdera, vide infra, ^ Herodotus appears to have been
vii. 109. entirely convinced that there was no
^ This statement appears to be too island in the world so large as Sardinia,
general. Samos certainly maintained He puts the assertion into the mouth
her independence till the reign of of Histiteus (v. 106), and again (vi. 2)
Darius (vide infra, iii. I'JU). The rejjeats the statement, witliout express-
eiforts of the Cnidiaus to turn their ing any doubt of the fact. He thus
peninsula into an island (infra, ch. 174) appears to have been entirely ignorant
would show that an insular position of the size of the British Islands (the
Avas still regarded as a security. Pro- Cassiterides, with Avhich the Cartha-
bably Rhodes and Cos continued free, ginians traded, iii. 115), as well as of
The ground which Herodotus had for Ceylon (the Ophir of Solomon). It has
his statement appears to have been the been generally said that he also showed
fact that Lesbos and Chios came to ignorance in making Sardinia larger than
terms, acknowledging the Persian hege- Sicily ; but Admiral Smyth lias recently
mony. They did so to preserve their declared that he is right in so doing,
possessions upon the main-land. (Supi-a, See his '' Memoir on the Meditei-ranean,"
ch. 160; infra, V. 9+.) pp. 28-9. On the fluctuations of opinion
244 HARrAOrS ATTACKS THE CAPJANS. Book I.
Itoiinds ; wherea>^ if tlioy stayed in Ionia, he saw no prosjioct of
their over recovcM-inii their lost freedom." Such was the connsel
wliieli Bias gave the lonians in their affliction. Before their
misfortunes began, Thales, a man of IMiletus, of Phoenician
desci^it, liad 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
tlieir own laws, just as if they were independent states." This
also was good advice.
171. After conquering the lonians, Harpagus proceeded to
attack the Oarians, the Caunians, and the Lycians. The lonians
and ^7^]olians were forced to serve in his army. Noav, 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 ]Minos, and went by the name of Leleges,^ dwelling among
the isles, and, so far as I liaA-e 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
Avas a gTcat 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
witli respect to the relative size of these them in Caria (ib. Fr. 1; Strab. xiv.
two islands, consult note on Book v. p. 945), in Mount Ida (Nymph. Fr. 10),
ch. loO. in Samos (Menodot. Fr. 1), in Chios
■' 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. "Αμυροί), in
Thvicydides (i. 8 ), who adduces as proof Megara (Pausan. iv. xxxvi. § 1), in
the fact that when the Athenians puri- B(cotia (Arist. Fr. lO;^), in Locris (ib.
tied Delos by the removal of all corpses nud Fr. 127), in .^tolia (Fi•. 1'27), 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, I
the Carians from the Leleges (Horn. Strab. xiv. p. 945.) They seem to have !
11. X. 428-9; Pherecyd. Fr. Ill; Phi- approached far more nearly to the Pe-,'
lipp. Theang. Fr. 1 ; Strab. vii. p. 4Go). lasgic character than the Carians, who I
The latter appear to have been one of belonged rather to the Asiatic type,
tlio chief of those kindred races, gene- Wlien the Carians, driven from the I
rally called Pelasgian, which finst peo- islauds of the ^ligean by the Greeks,
pled Greece. They are 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 couv^ucred and reduced to the con-
in early times from Lycia to Acarnania. dition of serfs. (Strab. 1. s. c. ; Philip.
Besides these two countries, where they Tlieang. Fr. 1.)
are placed by Aristotle (Frag. 127) and " See note to Book iv. cli. 180.
Philip of Theangela (Fr. 3), we iind
Chap. 170, 171.
THE CAIMANS.
245
shields, and they also invented handles for shields.' In the
earlier times shields were Λvitllout 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 difierently. 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 Avhich the Mysians and Lydians have the right of Avorshipping,
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.
^ Alcffius spoke of the \o(pos KaptKos,
and Anacreon of the ΰχανον 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. I'J,)). This may be an anachro-
nism.
The υχανον must be distinguished
from the πόρπαξ. The former was a
bar aci-oss the middle of the shield,
through which the arm was put. The
latter Λvas a leathern thong near the
rim of the shield, which was grasped
by the hand. The annexed illustration
shows clearly the difference.
'■• It seems jimbable that^the Carians,
who Λvere a kindred nation to the
Lydians and the Mysians (see the Essay,
" On the Ethnic Affinities of the Nations
of Western Asia"), belonged originally
to the Asiatic continent, and thence
spread to the islands. AVhen the (ilreek
colonisation of the islands began, tlie
nahive Carian population ΛνουΜ natu-
rally fall back upon; 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, \vas the son of Jupiter
and Toi-rhebia; he was taught music
by the Kymphs, and communicated
the knowledge to the L.ydians. (Fr. ■_'.)
The Λvorship of Carius in the district
of Lydia called Torrhebia, is mentioned
by Stephen, (ad voc. Τόρ^ηβο^).
- Mylasa was an inland town of Caria,
about '20 miles from the sea. It was
the capital of the later Carian kingdom
(B.C. u85-3a4). The name still con-
tinues in the modern Jle/assa (Chandler,
vol. i. p. 234; Leake, p. 230), wliere
there are extensive remains (Fellows 's
Lycia, pp. (36-75).
24(ί THE CAUNIANS— THE LYCIANS. Book T
172. The Caunians,•'' in my judgment, are aboriginals ; but by
their own account they came ironi Crete. In their hmguage,
either they have approximated to the Carians, or the Carians to
tlicm — on this point I cannot speak with certainty. In their
cnistoms, however, they differ greatly from the Carians, and not
onlv 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 Avould 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 with
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 Avhich of them should be
king, Minos, whose party prevailed, drove Sarpedon and his
followers into banishment. The exiles sailed to Asia,^ and
^ The Cauniaus occupied a small dis- he had discovered the true site 20 miles
trict on the coast, Avhich is usually said east of the Calbis, in a mountainous
to intervene between Cai-ia and Lycia tract near the gulf of Makri (Account of
(Scyl. Peripl. p. 92; Strab. xiv. p. 932). Discoveries, pp. I(i3, 104). These ruins
Their coins and architectui-e 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, 0). Cauuus, 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, connecttheGreeks with Lycia. One thing
p. 1 58), was situated on the right bank is clear, namely, that the real Lj'ciau
of a small stream (now the Koi-ijez), people of history were an entirely dis-
which carries oiF 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 sjjccimens in the Bri-
ing some walls of Cyclopiau masonry, tish Museum, bears undoubtedly in its
Tlie general localities are correctly given general character a considerable reseni-
in Kiepert's Supplementai-y Maps (Ber- blance to the Greek. But the sculptm-es
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 rersepolitau (Fellows's Lycia, p. 173).
other (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 Ι><ιΙ/υιηοιΐ, of Pericles. Certainly the language of
Chili, the Indus or Calbis. But no the Lycians, from whicli their ethnic type
traces of ruins have been found on tliat can best be judged, is utterly vuilike the
stream (see the Geograpli. Journ. xii. Greek. It is considerably different in
p. 162). Sir C Fellows believed that its alphabet, nearly half the letters being
ΓιΐΛΓ. 172, 173. THE MILY.E, ONCE CALLED SOLYML
247
landed on the Milyau territory. Milyas was the ancient name
of the country now inhabited by the Lycians : '^ the MilyiB of the
present day were, in those times, called SolymiJ So long as
Sarpedon reigned, his followers kept the name which they
brought with them from Crete, and Avere called Termilse, as the
Lycians still are by those who live in their neighbourhood."
peculiar. In its general cast 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 i-emote
from that of the Greeks as any two
branches that can be named of the com-
mon stock. The Indo-European tongue
to Λvhich 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. 4'27 et seqq. ; and compare Forbes
and Spratt, vol. ii. App. i.)
^ Milyas continued to be a district
of Lycia in the age of Augustiis (Strabo,
xiii. pp. 904-5). It Λvas then the high
jjlain (inclosed by Taurus on the north.
Climax and Solyma on the east, Mas-
sicytus on the south-west, and two
lower ranges, one joining Taurus and
Massicytus on the north-west, and the
other Massicytus and Solyma on the
south-eastj in which stands the modern
Almali, the lai-gest town in Lycia, and
almost the lai-gest in Asia Minor. It is
a table land about 4000 feet above the
sea-level, and has no exit for its waters,
which form 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
Μιλυάϊ occurred. The remainder of
the inscription was unfortunately il-
legible.
The Milyans were undoubtedly an
entirely distinct peojile from the Ly-
cians. There are no Lycian remains in
their country. (See Fellows's Lycian
Coins, Map.). Bochart derives their
name from "^Ν^νΟ, which is xised by the
Talmudical writers for "mountainous
places." ((Jeograph. Sac. p. 3()4, 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. Prajp. Ev.
ix. 9). He placed them among hills
of the same name along the shores (jf
a broad lake, which Col. Leake conjec-
tures to have been that of Egerdir
(Geograph. Journ. xii. p. 105). 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 peojjle
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. Πισιδία). The same people
left their name in Lycia to Moimt
Solyma. Here we seem to have a trace
of a Semitic occupation of these coun-
tries preceding the Indo-European.
(Comp. Horn. Π. vi. 184.) For adcU-
tional particulars of the Solymi see
Bochart's Geogi•. Sacr. part ii. book i.
ch. 6.
* It would seem by the Lycian in-
scriptions that Termiltc (written Tra-
mele, ΤΡΧΜΕΛ^; compare the Tpe-
μίλαί of Hecatajvis, Fr. 304, and the
Tp6^i\eis of Stephen) Avas 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 Λικία and Λίκιοί) are
found in the Greek portious 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
fi'equent occurrence, and even lingers
in the country at the present day.
Thei'e is a village called Tremili in the
mountains at the extreme north of the
ancient Lycia, not far from the lake of
Ghieul Hissar. (See Geograph. Journ.
vol. xii. p. 156; Spratt and Furbes's
Lycia, vol. i. p. 206.)
Sir C. Fellows thinks that the Lycians,
whose real ethnic title is unknown to
248 SUBMISSION OF THE CAlirANS. Τ.οοκ Τ.
But after Lyons, the son of Pandion, banished from Athens by
liis brother ^-l^iieiis, had found a refuge with Sarpedon in the
country of these TermiLne, they came, in course of time, to be
caUed from him Lycians.•' Their customs are partly Cretan,
})artly Carian. They have, however, one singular custom in
Avliich they differ from every other nation in the world. They
tak(^ the mother's and not the father's name. Ask a Lycian
who lie is, and he answers by giving his own name, that of his
mother, and so on in the female line. IVIoreover, if a free woman
marry a man who is a slave, their children are full citizens ;
but if a free man marry a foreign woman, or live Λνΐίΐι a con-
cubine, even though he be the first person in tlie 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 Avere the Cnidians, colonists from Lacedfemon, 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 boimded on the
north by the Ceramic Gulf, and on the south by the channel
towards the islands of Syme and Rhodes.^ Wliile Harpagus was
engaged in the conquest of Ionia, the Cnidians, Avishing to make
their country an island, attempted to cut through this narrow
lis, were divirled into three tribes, the name of Triopium to the whole of that
Tranielic,theTroes,audtheTekkefpo(?), long and narrow peninsula which lies
whom he identifies with the Caunians of between the gulfs of Cos and Symd,
Herodotus. The Tramekio were the most projecting westward from the tract
important tribe occupying all southern called by Hei'odotus "the Bybassian
Lycia from the gulf of Adalia to the Chersonese," which is also a peninsula,
valley of the Xauthus. Above them on joined to the mainland by an isthmus
the east Avere the districts called Milyas not more than in miles across from the
and Cibyratis, iidiabited by tribes not Gulf of Cos to that of Marmoricc.
Lycian; while the upper part of the The isthmus which unites the Triopian
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, imd traces are
of the Calbis, Avas 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 Tekkefic. Minor, vol. ii. p. 78.) Most writers
(See the Essay on the Coins of Lycia, make the Triopium a mere cape or
London, 1855.) promoutoiy {ακρωττ^ριον) in this tract.
" This may possibly be so far true (Scylax. p. 91 ; Schol. Theocr. xvii. GO ;
that the Greek fancy to call the Ter- Thuc. viii. 35. ^ The rendering of tlie
miUc Lycians may have originated in passage {α.ρ•γμΐνΐί\$ e'/c τηϊ Χίρσοντισον
the emigration of a certain Jiycus, at rfjs Βυβασαίηί) pro])osed by Larcher
the head of a band of malcontents, into and adopted by Biihr, is quite inad-
these regions. missiblo.
' Herodotus is singular in giving the
Chap. 173-176. REDUCTION OF THE PEDASIANS. 249
neck of laud, which was no more than five furlongs across from
sea to sea. Then- 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
imusual and unnatural 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 : —
" Feuce not the isthmus off, nor dig it through —
Jove would have made au island, had he wished."
So the Cnidians ceased digging, 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 theh- 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 Avere 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 iu 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 Clieena or Marsyas asiserted by Stephen (ad voc. "Apva),
(Discoveries, p. 2(51), note). But this and confirmed by the monuments of
seems too far from H.alicarnassus. Kie- the country. Arina (ΑΡϊΝΑ) appears
pert is probably right in placing Pedasus upon some of the Lycian coins, whicli
within the Ceramic peninsula. (Mapxx.) show no word resembling Xanthus till
Lida is the coast range along the north- the purely Greek or Post-Alexandrine
ern shore of the Ceramic gulf. Aris- j^eriod, and the same name occurs uiore
totle in his History of Animals (iii. 11) than once on the great inscribed obelisk
notices the fact (!) that the Cai-ian from Xanthus, now in the British Mu-
priestesses grew a beai'd occasionally seum (north side 1. lo. 20). Xanthus
(^nfra, viii. 1U4). 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 Uzlau to Sirbes (Strab. xiv. p. 9."il ; Panyasis ap.
Patara, and from four to five miles Steph. Byz. ad voc. ΎρΐμίΚη; Eustath.
deep, from the coast to the foot of the ad Hom. II. xii. p. 9u7.oU), a Semitic
mountains. The city stands near its word signifjdug "yellow" (Bochai't,
upper extremity, on the left bank of Geog. Sacr. Part ii. i. 6). Naming a
the river. river from its colour is very common
250 EEDUCTION OF THE LYCTANS, AND CAUNIANS. Book I.
him in the fiehl : thougli but α small band iipjainst a numerous
host, they en«^aged in battle, and performed many glorious
exploits. Overpowered at last, and forced Avithin their Avails,
they collected into the citadel their Avives 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 cb-eadful oaths, and sallying Ibrth 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 Cauniis fell in like manner into liis hands ;
iu the East. Hence the number of
Kara-Sus, or •" Black waters ;" theKizil-
Irmak, " Red River;" 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, aud that previously it was called
Koprlle (Coins of Lycia, p. 12), a Avord
which appears far oftener than any other
on the Lycian coins. But he seems to
forget that Ariua is on the obelisk,
which is of the time of Artaxerxes
Longimauus. Perhaps Koprlle (KO-
ΓΡΛΛΕ) 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 APf,
and on the reverse ΚΟΓΡΛΛ.)
•'' 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 Caii'cas),
the son of Harpaijvs (Greek Inscr., lines
5 and 12 ; I.ycian Inscr. S. W. side,
line 25), who appears to have been the
ruler of the country in the time of
Artaxerxes Longimanus. The deeds of
the same prince are represented upon
the trophy-monument in tiie Museimi,
whei'e he appears as an Oriental chief,
aided by Greek mercenaries. It has
been thought that the curious symbol,
known as the frtqueira, occurring upon
the Lycian coin.s, is emblematic 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 /atr-
'I'viijuftrii.
pngo, the Greek αρτνη, or αριτάγη. Such
a play upon words is not uncommon in
a rude age. The crook itself appear.*!
on the coins of ΚνγΑ in Apulia, in
manifest allusion to the name of the
tow^n. And our more ancient ai'morial
bearings have constantly the same cha-
racter.
The obelisk prince, "Caias, son of
Harpagus," must not be regarded a.s
the actual son, but as a descendant of
the conqueror. Eighty-seven years in-
tervene between the conquest auil the
battle of the Eurymedon, to Avhich the
obelisk is j)osterior. This Avould allow
two generations between the founder of
the family and the builder of the obelisk,
which may be filled up thus : —
Harpagus (the con- ii.c. B.C.
ηικτοι) 55:i to .')43 . . . lOyearS.
Caias(.') his son . . . . .^i:! to ."JIO . . .33 years.
Haiiiagus, his son . . . 5IUto477 . . . 33 years.
Caias, liis son 4Ϊ7 to 444 . . .33 years.
There is one objection to this view.
The commander of the Lycian ships in
the navy of Xerxes is nut Harpagus, the
son of Caias, but Cybcruiscus, tl)e sou
of Sicas (^infra, vii. O.S^. Cyberniscus
should certainly ropreseut tiie chief ruler
Chap. 176-178.
WAE ON THE ASSYRIANS.
251
for the Caiuiians in tlie main followed tlie example of the
Lycians.
177. λΥίύΙβ the lower parts of Asia were in this way brought
under by Harpagus, Cyrus in person subjected the upper regionsT
coiiqiiering 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. \Vheu 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 gi-eat part of Cyprus. Pos-
sibly the words "son of Harpagus" ou
the monument mean only " descendant
of Harpagus," and the true succession
may have been — Harpagus, Sicas, Cyber-
uiscus, Caias. Or there may have been
an interrujition in the line, consequent
upon the Cauniau rebellion, which may
have brought Harpagus II. into disgrace
(v. 103), since Caunus was included in
Lycia (supra, ch. 172, note ^j, and if the
tr/qnetra may be taken for a sign, was
under the government of the Harpagi.
I ^ Herodotus includes Babylonia in
Assyria (vide supra, ch. 106). He seems
to have conceived the Median conquest
ί of NineΛ'eh quite differently from either
i Ctesias or Berosus. He regards Cy-
j axai-es as conquering a portion only of
Assyria, and suj^poses a transfer of the
j seat of government, without (appa-
I rently) any change of dynasty, to Baby-
/ Ion. This is evident from ttie next
I 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
{Nimrnd), DurSargina {KhcrsKbad), Tar-
bisa {Sherifklu'm), Arbel {Arhil), Khazeh
{Sltwnaniek), and Asshur {S/iir<iat). Lower
down, the banks of the Tigris exhibit
an almost unln'okeu line of ruins from
Tekrit to Baghdad, while Babylonia and
Chaldiea are throughout studded with
mounds from north to south, the re-
mains of those great capitals of which
Λνβ read in the inscriptions. The prin-
cipal sites are Sittace' (a doubtful posi-
tion), Opis {Khafaji), Chilmad {h'al-
ivadha), Duraba (Akkerhnf), Cutha {Ibm-
hiiii), Sippara (the modern Sum near
Babylon), Babylon and Boi-sippa (the
modern Babel anaDirs), Calueh {Niffer),
Erech — Hw-uk of the inscriptions —
( Warka), Larancha [Senkereh), Ur of the
Chaldees {Mngheir), 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
Λvhole country covered with artificial
mounds, the remnants of cities belonging
to the early Assyrian period (Nineveh
and Babylon, pp. 241, 243, 245, kc).
"As the evening crept on," he says, " I
watched from the highest mound the
sun as it gi-adually 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 the deserted
sands. At my feet there was a busy
scene, making more lonely the unbroken
solitude which reigned in the vast plain
around, where the only things having
life or motion were the shadows of the
lofty mounds, as they lengthened before
the declining sun. Above thi-ee years
before, when watching the approach of
night from the old castle of Tel Afer, I
had counted nearly one liundred ruins;
now, when in the luid.st of them, no less
than double that number were .seen
from Tel Jemal."
ί>-.ν.ς/<Λ^'-^ C^^
2Γ)2
DESCRIPTION OF BABYLON.
Book
the most renowned and strongest at this time was Babylon,
whitlior, after the fall of Nineveh, the seat of government had
been removed. The following is a description of tlie place : —
The city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a
hundi-ed and twenty furlongs in length each way, so that the
entire circuit is four hundred and eighty furlongs." While such
is its size, in magnilicence 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 -
9 According to Ctesias (ap. 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. Cui-t. V. i. § 26). Clitarchus re-
ported ;>ti5 stadia ; Q. Curtius, 3G8;
Avhile Strabo, who had access to Aiisto-
bulus, gave 385. The vast space en-
closed within the walls of Babylon is
noticed bj' Aristotle. (Polit. iii. 1, siib
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 Gi'eeks.
The measure of Nebuchadnezzar's new
or inner city is given in the India House
Tablet as 4000 ammns (or cubits; comp.
the Jewish Π?2ϊί) each side, which would
yield a circumference of about 44 stades,
or no moi-e than 5 English miles. But
the extent of the old Babylon is nowhere
recorded. — H.C.R. j
1 This, by far the most surprising
fact connected with these M'alls, is to
some extent coupi mcd 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
gi-eat width and height of the walls
are noticed in Scripture ('.Tereni. Ii. 53.
58). There can be no doubt that the
Eabjdonians and Assyrians surrounded
their cities with walls of a height which,
to us, is astounding. The sober and
practical Xenophon (Anal), ii. iv. § 12,
and III. iv. § 10) reports the height of
the so-called Median \va]l at lou 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 e(μlal to
the cubit. The measure indeed of
50 fathoms or 200 royal cubits for the
walls of a city in a ])lain 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 Λvalls of Nineveh opposite
Mespila at 1 50 feet, he gives the aggre-
gate of the river bank, the colossal
mound (modern Koi/unji/:) on the top of
the bank, and the wall ou 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. R.]
- The Greek metrical system was
closely connected with the Babylonian.
It is of course more in the divisions and
general ai-rangement 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, tlie
opyvLO. is foiuid to contain 6 feet, tlui
κάλαμοί lo, the &μμα 60, the τΚίθρον
loo, and the στάδιον (iOO ; — the alterna-
tion in the series of 6 and 10 occurring
precisely as in the well-known Baliylo-
nian notation — now abundantly verified
from the inscriptions — of the Svs, the
Ncr, and the S<ir. With regard to the
positive relationship of the Greek and
Babylonian measures of length, it is
difficult as yet to form a decided opinion.
Bockli (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 Athenajum
Fran(;ais, 1854, p. 370), has also valued j
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, 179.
DESCRIPTION OF BABYLON.
:^;)ο
is longer by three fiugers' breadth than the common
cubit.)^
179. And here I may not omit to tell the nse 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
tiie soil Avhich they got from the cutting was made into bricks,
and Avhen a sufficient number were completed they baked the
bricks in kilns. Then they set to building, and began w^ith
bricking the borders of the moat, after which they proceeded to
construct tlie 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 fronr ΐηδ Is, a small stream
Avhich flows into the Euphrates at the point where the city of
the same name stands,^ eight days' jom-ney from Babylon.
Lumps of bitumen are found in great abundance in this river.
A
7
the ordinary Babylonian foot to have
been less than the Greek — less even
than the English foot. It may per-
haps have been identical with the
Egyptian or Samian, the exa'jt value
of which, obtained from the Nilometer,
is Il-8ii8o2"i84 English inches, but I
would prefer comparing the Roman
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
.". hands of 5 fingers each, or 15 fingers
(Athenajum Fran<;ais, 1850, p. 370); the
cubit 5 such hands, or 2Γ) fingers. If
then we accept the statement of He-
I'odotus, the Royal Babylonian cubit
must have contained 28 fiugers, 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 Babjdoniau
foot nearly equalled the English, the
common cubit would have been 1 foot
8 inches, and the Royal cubit 1 foot
10-4 inches. The Herodotean height
of the walls, according to this estimate
would be ;i73 ft. 4 in., or i:') 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 eveiy ββ/ι or sirth layer of brick,
to a thickness of two inches." (See
Portei-'s Travels, vol. ii. p. 278.) In the
Mujelibe, or ancient temple of Belus at
Babylon, "the sti-aw line runs its un-
broken length between the ranges of
every siiujle 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 Hyinar, Ak-
kerkuf, the upper walls of Rich's Mu-
jellibeh, Mokhattat, Zibliyeh Shishobar,
and the walls of SeleuciaandCtesiphon.
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 tribute paid to Thothmes III. at
Karnak, from Nineveh, Shiuar, Meso-
+ Vk
(Τ>0(
'Xt-'tv. r'-'-<C--C
^^
254
DESCRIPTION OF BABYLON.
Book I.
180. Tlie city is divided into two portions by the river whicli
runs through the midst of it. This river is tlie Euphrates, a
broad, deep, swift stream, Avliich 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 Avail, there is carried along each bank of the river
a fence of bm-nt bricks. The houses are mostly three and four
stories high ; the streets all run in straight lines, not only those
parallel to the rWer, but also the cross streets Avhicli lead down
to the water-side. At the river end of these cross streets are low
gates in the fence that skirts the stream, which are, like the
great gates in the outer wall, of brass, and open on the water.
181. Tlie outer wall is the main defence of the city. There
is, however, a second inner Avail, 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 wall of great
potamia, and Babel, &c., under the
name of " /s/," the chief of which
hrought 2040 mina3 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. 'Λ) means
pitch, bitumen (sift), and incense also.
(See Birch's letter in Otia .^gyptiaca,
p. 80, etc.).— [G. W.]
Is is indubitably the modern Jiit,
where the bitumen is still abundant.
The following quaint desci-iption is given
by an old traveller: —
" Having spent thi'ee days and better,
from the ruins of Old Babylon we came
\mto a town called Ait, inhabited only
by Arabians, but very ruinous. Near
unto which town is a valley of pitch
very marvellous to beliold, and a thing
almost incredible, wherein are many
springs throwing out abundantly a kind
of black substance, like unto tar and
jiitch, which serveth all the countries
thereabouts to make staunch their barks
and boats, every one of which springs
maketli a noise like a smith's forge in
puffing and blowing out the matter,
which never ceaseth night nor day, and
the noise is lieard a mile off, swallowing
up all weighty things that come upon it.
The Moors call it 'the moutli 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
Σ hi, or, with a distinctive epithet at-
tached, Ihidiikira, meaning " the bitu-
men spring." In the Is of Herodotus
we have Ilii with a Greek nominatival
ending. The same place is probably
indicated in Ezra viii. 15, 21, 31, where
we have the Hebrew orthography of
Nini<, or, in the English version, Ahava.
Isidore of Charax writes the name as
'hi'iTToMs in his Parthian stations (p. 5).
Ptolemy has Ίδικάρα (v. 20), and the
Talmud Ν1"•ρΐΧ\η> {Ikidakim) as . the
most northerly town of Babylonia.
Zosimus also writes Αάκφα (iii. p. 1 u5),
and Ammiauus, Diacira (xxiv. 2). Hit
is probably tlie 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 1(5,000 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, cliiefly of the finest
kind. On it stand some remarkable
ruins to whicli the name A'asr is specially
applied. Its single tree Λvhich Rich
tliDUght strange to the country, and a
remnant of the hanging-gardens of
Nebuchadnezzar, still grows on one of
the ridges, but is not iound to de.servc
Chap. ISO, 181.
GREAT TEMPLE OF BELUS.
255
strength and size : in the other was the sacred precinct of Jnpiter
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 eiglit. The ascent
to the top is on the outside, by a path which winds round all the
towers. AVhen 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 single native woman, who,
as the Chaldseans, the priests of this god,^ affirm, is chosen for
himself by the deity out of all the WOmen of the laud.
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. 11.]
8 The Babylonian worship of Bel is
well known to us from Scripture (Isaiah
xlvi. I ; Jerem. 1. 2 ; Ai>oc. 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 I'dpias, &c.) It has
been usual to suppose that Bel and
Baal are the same word, and there-
fore that the Λvord Bel means simply
" Lord." But this is very uncertain.
Bel is ?2 in the original, while Baal is
7y3. These mcuj be distinct roots.
[There are some points of consider-
able difficulty connected with the wor-
ship of Bel at Bab^don. In the inscrij)-
tious 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 divmity 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 Chaldajau Empire, Niffer was the
cliief seat of the worship of Bel, and
the city was named after him, an expla-
nation being thus afforded of the many
traditions \vhich point to Niffer, or the
city of Belus (Calueh of Genesis), as
the primitive capital of Chaldwa. 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. K.]
^ Ctesias appears to have agreed with
Herodotus in this statement. Diodorus,
whose Assyi'ian history seems to have
been entirely taken from Ctesias, com-
pares the Chalda\ans 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 oi-iginally the
appellation seems to have been ethnic.
[It is only recently that the darkness
which has so long enveloped the history
256
GREAT TEMPLE OF BELUS.
Book I.
182. They also dcolaro — but I for ray part do not credit it —
that tlie god comes down in jiei-son 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 Avoman always
passes the night in the temple of the Theban Jujjiter.^ 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 Chaldscans has been cleared up,
but we are now able to pi-esent a tole-
rablj• clear account of them. The Chal-
dteans then appear to have been a branch
of the gx'eat 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 ALkad 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 tlie
other. It stands indeed somevv'hat in
the same relation as the Egyptian to the
Semitic languages, belonging as it would
seem to the great parent stock fi'om
which the trunk-stream of the Semitic
tongues also sprung, before there Vv'as a
ramification of Semitic dialects, and
before Semitism even had become sub-
ject to its peculiar organisation and
developments. In this ριΊηιίΙίλ'ε Akka-
dian tongue, which I have been accus-
tomed generally to denominate Scythic
fr(>m its near connexion with the Scythic
dialect of Persia, were preserved all tlie
scientific treatises known to tlie 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. AVhen Semitic
tribes established an empire in As.syi-ia
in the llith century B.C. they adopted
the alpliabet of the Aklanl, and with
certaui modifications applied it to their
own language ; but during the seven
centuries which followed of Semitic
dominion at Nineveli ami I'abylou, tliis
Assyrian language was merely used for
liistorical records and official documents.
The mythological, astronomical, and
other scientific tablets foimd at Nineveh
are exclusively in the Akkadian lan-
guage, and are thus shown to belong
to a priest-class, exactly answering to
the Chaldajans of pi-ofane history and
of the book of Daniel. We thus see
how it is that the Chaldeans (taken
generally for the Ahhid) are spoken of
in the prophetical books of Sci'ipture
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 depositai'ies
of science. It may further be inferred
that these Chaldtean Ahhul descended
into Babylonia in very remote times
from the Kurdish mountains, for in the
inscriptions of Sargon the geogi-aphical
name of Akkad is sometimes applied to
the mountains instead of the vernacular
title of I'ariind or Ararat — an excellent
illusti'atiiin being thus affbrded of the
notices of Chaldajans in this quarter by
so many of the Greek historians and
geographers. This subject is further
examined in Essay iii., appended to
Book vii.
' This faille of the god coming per-
sonally into his temple was contrary to
the J'^gyptian belief in the nature of the
gods. It was only a figurative exjjres-
sion, similar to that of the Jews, who
sjieak 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 ou Book ii.
ch. ;?5.)— [G. W.]
- The Tlieh(m Jupiter, or god Λvor-
s]iii)ped as the Su}>reme Being in the
city of Thebes, was Amnion (Amun).
Herodotus says the Tliehan. rather than
the Egyptian Jupiter, because various
gods were woi"shii>pcd in various parts of
Egypt as supreme: Khem at Cheminis,
Plitha at Memphis, Ka at Heliopolis. &c.
■* Patara lay on the shore, 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 likcAvise of
gold. The Chalda.'ans told me that all tlie 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 Chaldijeans burn the frankincense, which is oiFered to
the amount of a thousand talents' weight, every year, at the
festival of the Grod. In the time of Cyrus there was likewise in
this temple a figure of a man, twelve cubits high, entirely of
solid gold. I myself did not see this figure, but I relate what
the Chaldaeans 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 forl)ade 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 Xanthus (Strabo xiv.
p. 951; Ptol. v. 3). Scylax (Peripl.
p. 9:>) seems to place it some distance
up the stream, but his text is probably
corrupt in this i)lace. Tlie site is fixed
with certainty bj^ ruins and inscriptions
(Beaufort's Kai-amania, 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 JEu. iv. 143)
Apollo delivered oracles here during the
six winter montlis, 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 dcstroi/ed the
temple on his x-eturn from Greece (vii.
17; comp. Strab. xvi. p. 1049). It is
likely that the revolt was connected
with the disasters of the Grecian exjie-
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 tui'ued during the siege. But
tlie κατίσκα^ΐν of Arrian is too strong
a word. It may be remarked that Strabo
uses the milder term κατίσπασΐν.
VOL. J.
5 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 na.med' Miijellihe/i by Rich, but
to which the Arabs universally apply
the title of Uabi/. 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 tΛvo different sites ; his
measurement of a stade square 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 tlie
insci-iptions of Nebuchadnezzar 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 jiile, 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 temples is given from the Cunei-
form Inscriptions at the close of Book
iii., "On the Topography of Babylon,"
to which accordinglv the reader is re-
ferred.—[H. C. R.] "
4
258 SUVEIIEIUNS OF BABYLON— SEMIRAMIS. Γκ-οκ 1.
184. j\Iany sovereigns have rnlcd over this city of Bal»yloii,
and lent their aid to tlie building• of its walls and the adornment
of its temples, of \Nhom I shall make mention in my Assyrian
liistory. Among them two were women. Of these, the earlier,
called Semirarais, held the throne five generations before the
later princess." She raised certain embankments wefl worthy of
inspection, in the plain near Babylon, to control the river, Avhich,
till then, used to overflow, and flood the whole country round
about.
185. The later of tlie two queens, whose name w^as 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 Medes, who had taken so large a
nundjer of cities, and among them Nineveh, and expecting to be
attacked in her turn, made all possible exertions fo increase the
defences of her empire. And first, Avhereas the river Euphrates,
which traverses the city, ran formerly with a straight course to
iJabylon, 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 day, they who
Avould go from our sea to Baliylon, on descending to the river
touch three times, and on three different days, at this very place.
She also made an embankment along each side of the Euphrates,
wonderful l)oth for breadth and height, and du^• a basin for a
lake a great way above Babylon, close alongside oTflie streani,
which was sunk everywhere to the point where they came to
Avatci•, and was of such l>readth that the whole circuit measured
four linndi'cd 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
l)(trdered with them the entire margm of the reservoir. These
two things yvere done, the river made to wind, and the lake
excavated, that the stream might be slacker by reason of the
*> Scaliger proposed to read "//ίί/ gene- '' Ardericca is probably the modern
rations " instead of " five." Vitringasng- Ahhcrhnf. which was on the line of the
gested "fifteen." Both Avished to identity original N(tlii• ΜαΙοΙκι, or Royal River,
the Seniiramis of Herodotns with that of ;i eanal 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 Merodotus can ever have existed. —
pended to this volume, Essay viii., " On [H. C. R.]
the History of the later Babylonians."
Chap. 1S4-187. NITOCEIS— HER GREAT WORKS. 259
mimber of curves, and the voyage be rendered cii'cuitoiis, and
thnt 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.
186. While the soil from the excavation Λvas being thus used
for the defence of the city, Nitocris 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
hevving_jDf immense blocks of stone, and"'wTieu they were~rea3y
and the iBasih'was excavated, she turned the entire stream of
the Euphrates into the cutting, and thus for a time, while the
basin Avas filling, the natural channel of the river was left dry.
Forthwith she set to work, and in the first place lined the banks
of the stream Avithin the city with quays of burnt brick, and also
bricked the landing-places opposite the river-gates, adopting
throughout the same fashion of brickwork whicli had been used
in the town w^all ; after Avhich, 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 platfoi-ms
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 filled the cutting, and the bridge
was finished, the Euphrates 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 Avas made, and the inha-
bitants, by help of the basin, obtahied the advantage of a bridge.
187. It Avas this same princess by Avhom 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
lieads of the passers by, with this inscription cut upon it : — " If
s 2
260 ΕΧΓΚΡΓΠΟΧ OF CYRUS AGATNST BABYLON. Book I.
there lie one amouo• i^y successors on tlie throne of Babylon
wlu) is in want of treasure, let him open my tomb, and tahe as
mnt'li as he cliooses, — not, however, unless he be truly in want,
for it will not be for his p:ood." 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 gate's of
the town, and that a sum of money should "be lying idle, and
moreover inviting his grasp, and he not seize ujion 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
tlie tomb ; but instead of money, found only the dead body, and
a Avriting 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 was 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 Avhich 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-
** Herodotus probably regards this meutions both names. But these two
Labynetus as the sou of the king men- writers are probably mistaken in re-
tioned in chap. 74. garding the Eulscus and Choaspes as
'•' For a description of the situation different rivers. The term Eulasus (Ulai
and present state of Susa, see note on of Daniel) seems to have been apjilied
]?ook iii. ch. G8. There is no doubt to the eastern branch of the Kcrkluth,
that the Choaspes is the modern 7ν6'//:/ί'//ί. which, leaving the main stream at Pai-
(See Journal of the Geograph. Soc, vol. I'ld, joined the Shapur, and flowed into
ix.,part i. pp. 88, 89.) the Karun s.t Ahuxiz. (See Loftus, Chal-
1 This statement of Herodotus is dsea and Susiana, pp. 424-430.) The
echoed by various writers (Plutarch, de water of both the Kurun and the Kerkhah
Exil. vol. ii. p. 601, D; Athenfcns, ., is said at the present day to be excellent,
Deipnosoph. ii. Ί'λ, p. 171; Solinus, Γο- and the natives vaunt the superiority of
lyhist. xli. p. 83; Eustath. ad Dionys. those two rivers over all other streams or
i'erieg. 1073, &c.). Some add to it, that springs in the world (Journal of Geogr.
no one but tlie king (Solin. 1. s. c), or Society, vol. ix. part i. p. 89).
no one but the king and his eldest son ^ The Gyndes is undoubtedly the
CAgathocles, Fr. .")), might drink the Dti/alah, since, ■ — firstly, — there is no
Clioaspes water. What most say of the other nnvhiahle stream after the lower
Choaspes, Strabo reports of the Eulajus Zab on the road between Sardis and
(xv. p. 1043), and Pliny (H. N. xxxi. 3) Susa (vide infra, v. 5'2); and secondly.
Chap. 187-189.
DISPERSION OF THE GYNDES.
261
tains, ^ runs throngh the coimtiy of the Dardanians,* and empties
itself into the river Tigris. "Jlie Tigris, after receiving the Gyndes,
flows on by the city of Opis/ and discharges its waters into the
Erythroean sea. When Cyrus reached this stream, which could
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 shoiud cjoss it
easily without Avettiug their knees. Accordingly he put off for
a time his attack on Babylon, and, dividing his army into two
no other rivei• of any consequence could
have to be crossed between the moun-
tains and the Tigris on the march from
Agbatana to Babylon. Wei-e it not for
these circumstances the i-iver Ganglr,
which is actually divided at Mendaili
into a multitude of petty streams, and
completely absorbed in irrigatiou, might
seem to have a better claim (Jour, of
Geogr. Soc. nt sup. p. 46).
■' These Matieni are not to be con-
founded with the Matieni of Asia Minor,
who may have been of the same race
(query, Medes ? the d of Mada passing
into t, as in Hauvo-innffr), but were a
distinct people. Herodotus seems to
assign to these Matieni the whole of the
mountain range from the sources of the
Diyiilah near Hamadiin to those of the
Arati (Arases) near Erzeroum in Upjier
Armenia (vide infra, ch. '2υ2).
[The term Matieni may perhaps be a
mere generic word for ' ' peojile." The
Babylonian word, at any rate, which is
used for a country may be read as ιηαίΐί
in the singular, and matii/a or imdcin in
the plural, being in fact identical with
the Hebrew and Chaldee ΠΏ.-Η.Ο.Κ.]
* No other writer mentions Darda-
nians in these parts. It has been pro-
posed to read δια Δαραΐων, — δι' 'Αρμε-
νίων,— and δίά Ααρνίων. The only va-
rious reading in the MSS. favours the
last emendation. It is SiapSavewv, which
has all the letters of δια Ααρνίων with a
single dislocation. The ruins of iJunich
still exist on the banks of the Zamaciiu
before it joins the Diyalah, and before
the united rivers issue from the moun-
tains into the plain of Sliithri-.ur.
[It must be confessed, however, that
Darnell lias not been a place of any con-
sequence either in the ancient or modern
geogr.aphy of tLe counti-y. It was mei'ely
selected by the Kurdish emirs for their
residence about five centuries back on
account of the strength of the position.
AapZaveoi may very well mean " the
holders of the passes," and thus exactly
apply to the tribes along the banks of
the upper />(',<</((/;.— H.C.R.]
•' This is the plain meaning of Hero-
dotus, Λvho has therefore been accused
of ignorance by Rennell (Geography of
Herod. § 9, p. 202). But the situation
of Opis is uncertain. Strabo, by calling
it an empoi'ium (xvi. p. 1051) might
lead us to imagine that its position was
low down the river. Xenophou's nan-a-
tive (Anab. ii. iv. 13-2.')), 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 Tigris
at Sittace', which was on the road from
Babylon to Susa, we can hardly fail of
identifying the Βίι/ύ/(ΐίι with the "physcus
of Xenophon (Anab. ii. iv. 20), and thus
recognising Opis in the ruins OiKliafoji,
near the confluence of the two rivers.
The name of I'hyscus probably conies
from Ilipushi,i\\e title in the inscriptions
of the district of .■^'n/iiiumiefi, 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 li'/jnun, and I ratiier
think that Khupijl is a mere corrui)tion
of the original u;une. The name of Sit-
tace, or, more itioperly, Psittace, seems
to be written in the inscriptions as I'at-
silii, Avithout 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.]
2(52
ADVANCE OP CYRUS.
Γ)θοκ I.
parts, ho marked out by ropes one linndred and oi2;hty trenches
on each side of the Gyudes, leading off from it in all directions,
and setting liis army to dig, some on one side of the river, some
on the other, he accomplished his throat by the aid of so groat a
number of hands, but not without losing thereby the whole
summer season.
190. HaA-ing, however, thus wreaked his vengeance on the
Gyndes,•^ by dispersing it through tln-ee hundred and sixty
channels, Cyrus, with the first approach of the ensuing spring,
marched forward against Babylon. The Babylonians, encamped
® Rennell sensibly remarks (p. 202)
that the story of Cyrus's dividing the
Gyndes is a very childish one, in the
manner in idtich 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 sculptm-es
show, could have been constructed ra-
pidly. Even if it had been necessary to
divide the Gyndes, in order to make it
fordable, there would have been no need
of entirely dispersing it, and so wasting
a whole summer. And if this was the
only means by which Cyrus could pass
the compai-atively small stream of the
Diyahili, 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 nccessaiy to practise his
army in the art of draining off the waters
n\>m 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 tlie neglect which converted a
means of defence to the assailed into a
convenience to the assailing party.
It is remarkable that Mr. Grote ac-
cepts the narrative of Herodotus as it
stands, appai-eutly 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 Λvith regard to the origin of the
great hydraulic works on the Diijalah
below the Hamaran hills, where the
river has been dammed across to raise
tlie 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 {Βαράσροθ in Theoj)hanes, and
Baraz rud, or " hog river," of the
Arabs), is apparently of extreme anti-
quity, the stream liaviug worked itself
a bed in the alluvial soil nearly 50 feet
below the level of the country. There
are fully 300 streams of water derived
from the Jjit/alah, 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 uppu
Babylon by the high road leading from
the Persian mountains, he would have
had no occasion to cross the iJiijalah at
all. The direct route must have fol-
lowed the li;ft bank of the river to
Opis, near which av;is the passage of the
Tigris.
The name of the river Gyndes is pi'o-
bably derived from the cuneiform Khu-
dun, a city and district on the banks of
the river adjoining Ifi'.pn.^ka, whicli is
mentioned in the annals of Sardana-
palns. It is at any rate ΛVO^*thy of re-
mark that all tlu; names by which this
river has been known in modern times,
Tdinerra, SIdrnan, Ntdincan, and Bii/dln/i,
are those of cities on its banks, and the
same system of nomenclature may very
Λν^Ι be supposed to have existed in an-
tiipiity.— H.C. 11.]
Chap. 189-1'Jl. CAPTURE OF BABYLON BY THE PERSIANS. 263
Mithout their walls, a^γaited liis coming. A battle Mas fouo-ht 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 themseh-es up, and made light
of his siege, having laid in a store of ^jrovisious for many years
in preparation against this attack; for Avhen 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 o"stress
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 to>An 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,
A\here 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 api)rised of what Cyrus was
about, or had they noticed their danger, they Avould never have
allowed the Persians to enter the city, but Avould have destroyed
them utterly • for they would have made fast all the street-gates
which gave upon the river, and mounting upon the walls alono•
both sides of the stream, Avould 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 scnne reservoir — es τ i] y \i-
another reservoir aud another caual of μν-ην — which was at the time a marsh
commuuicatiou to be dug, by means — 4οΰσαν «λοϊ. And indeed, had
of which he drew off the water of the he done otlierwise, he would have ex-
Euphrates " (vol iv. p. 285). But He- peuded time aud labour very unueces-
rotlotus says that he turned the river sarily.
264
WEALTH AND RESOURCES OF ASSYRIA.
l>ooK I.
learnt the capture but too certainly. Such, then, were the cir-
cumstances of the first taking of Babylon.**
192. Among many proofs Avhich I shall bring forward of the
power and resources of the Babylonians, the following is of
special account. The whol'e country under the dominion of the
Persians, besides paying a fixed tribute, is parcelled out into
divisions, wliich liave to supply food to the Great King and his
army during different portions of the year.^ Now out of the
twelve months wliich 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 Avhole of Asia. Of all the Persian govern-
ments, or satrapies as they are called by the natives,^ this is by
far the best. AVhen Tritantaechmes, 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 chcenixes
more than the medimnus of the Athenians. He also had,
^ Herodotus intends to contrast this
/fV.sf capture with the second capture by
Darius Hystaspes, of λvhich 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 Babj'ldu had been taken by an enemy.
^ See the Essay appended to Book iii.,
'• On the Persian System of Adminis-
tration and Govei-nment."
1 The native orthography of the word,
which the Greeks wrote σατράττηχ, is
" khshatrapii." It is found twice in the
Behistun inscription (Col. in. 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 fur "crown"
or "empire," \ve can scarcely be mis-
taken in regarding " khshatrapa " as
formed of the two x-oots "khshatram,"
and " pa." The latter word signilies in
Sanskrit "to preserve, uphold," whence
it appears that a Satrap is " one who
upholds the crown." (Cf. Col. Bawlin-
son's Vocabulary of the ancient Persian
language, pp. 116-7.)
- AVe hear of a Ti-itantajchme.s, " son
of Artdhait'is, brother of Darius Hystas-
pes," in Book vii. ch. 82, from which
place it might appear that this passage
should be coiTected. 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-
tantajchmes here mentioned was Satrap
of Babylon at the time of Herodotus's
visit (about is.C. 450), in which case it;, is
scarcely possible that he should have
been the same person v/ho oO years be-
fore was one of the six superior genei-als
of the army of Xerxes.
[The name of Tritantrechmes 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
"thi'ee-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. C. K.]
•* Tliis is the same name as the ardeb
of modern ligypt, and, like the medininns,
is a corn niea.sure. The ardeh is nearly
five English bushels, and contains 8 /;«■</.
This, too, is the Latin niodins, which last
was equal to one-sixth of the Greek me-
dtinnits. But the ardeb differs in quan-
tity from the artaba.
1 incdiinmts = 4:S chwnices, or 6 Latin nKxlii
1 iiiDilinszifi chamiccs.
1 iirlab((=: Ttl cJmnices (48+3).
1 artahii = little more than (i^ nwdii.
1 i/wf/i'/.s = nearly 1 peck, Eniclish.
1 artahn = about IJ bushel.- [G.W.]
Chap. 191-193. STUD OF TRITANT.ECHMES— EAIN.
205
belonging to his own i)rivate stud, besides war-borses, eight
hundred stallions and sixteen thousand mares, twenty to each
stallion. Besides which he kept so great a number of Indian
hounds,•* tbat four large villages of the plain Avere 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 tlie 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.
Models 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 \vith the name of the
dog, which is connuonly a word indica-
tive of their hunting prowess. The sub-
joined representation of an Indian dog
is from a terra-cotta fragment found by
Col. Rawlinson at Babylon.
hidian Hound. (From a Babylunian tablet).
* Rain is very rare in Babylonia during
the summer months, and productiveness
depends entirely on irrigation. During
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, when 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.]
266
FRUITFULNESS OF BABYLONIA.
Book I.
For the river does not, as in Egypt, overflow the corn-lands of
its own accord, Imt is spread over tliem by the hand, or by the
help of engines.^ The whole of Ijabylonia is, like Egypt, inter-
sected Avitli 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 Avhich the town of Nineveh formerly stood.'-* Of all
the countries that we know there is none which is so fruitful in
It makes no pretension indeed of growing the fig, the
rrain.
olive, the vine, or any other tree of the kind ; but in grain it is
so fruitfiu as to yield commonly two-hundred-fold, and when the
production is the greatest, even three-hundi-ed-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 liave been the common hand-
swipe, to which alone the name of κ-ηλω-
ν-ηϊον 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 ujiright
jwsts. Accounts of this process will be
found in the works of Col. Chesney
(Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. p. G5o),
and Mr. Layard (Nineveh and its Re-
mains, Part I. ch. X.). Occasionally,
however, the hand-swipe is used. Col.
Chesney says: — '' When the bank is too
high to throw up the water in this man-
ner" (viz. with a. basket) "it is raised
by another process equally simple. A
wooden lever, from lo to 15 feet long,
is made to revolve freely on the top of
a post ο or 4 feet high, about two-thirds
of the length of the lever projecting
t>ver the river, with a leather bucket or
closely madi; basket of date-branches,
suspended from the extremity: this is
balanced when fvdl of water by means
of a bucket of earth or stones at the
other end, and this simiilc machine is so
well contrived that very slight manual
exertioiAvill 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
Layard's Nineveh and liabylou, p. lU'J).
Representations of hand-swipes have
been found on the nionumeuts.
Hand-swipe. (From a slab of Sennacherib.)
8 This probably refers to the original
Nalir Malcha, the great Avorli, of Nebu-
chadnezzar, which left the Euphrates at
the modern Felugia, and entered tlie
Tigris in the vicinity of the embouchure
of the (iyndes {J)i;/nlu/i). This canal
has, however, repeatedly changed its
course since its original construction,
and the ancient bed cannot be now con-
tinuously traced. — [H. C. R.]
" Beloc translates ((τίχα 4s τον Tlyptf,
παρ" t)V ΝΓιό$ ττόλΐϊ οίκητο, " is con-
tinued to th((t jiiwt of the Tigris where
Nineveh >.<(»i</s;" thus placing the canal
in Assyria, above the alluvitun, where
no canal is possible, and giving the im-
pression that Nineveh was standing in
the time of Herodotus !
1 The fertility of Rabylonia is cele-
brated by a number of ancient writei's.
Thc()[»hr;istus, 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
frnit, and this fruit sup})lies them with bread, wine, and honey.
They are cultivated like the fig-tree in all respects, among others
in this. The natives tie the fruit of the male-palms, as they are
called by the Greeks, to the branches of the date-bearing palm,
to let the gall-fly enter the dates and ripen them, and to prevent
the fruit from falling oft'. The male-palms, like the wild fig-
trees, have usually the 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). Berosus (Fr. 1) says that the
laud produced naturally wheat, barley,
the pulse called ochrys, sesame, edible
roots named </o>iii(r, palms, apples, and
shelled fruits of variovis kinds. Strabo,
apparently following Herodotus, men-
tions the 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.
Rich says: — "The air is salubrious, and
the soil extremely fertile, producing
great ipiantities 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, ()03) remarks, — " Although
greatly changed by the neglect of man,
those portions of Mesoj)otamia 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."
- Mr. Layard informs us that this is
still the case with respect to the people
of the plains (Nineveh, Part ii. eh. vi.).
The olive is cultivated on the flanks of
Mount Zrtgros, but Babylonia did not
extend so far.
* " As far as the eye can I'each 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. ;ϊ•35.) There is reason to believe that
anciently the countrj'^ was veiy much
more thickly wooded than it is at present.
The i^alm will grow wherever water is
brought. In ancient times the whole
country between the rivers, and the
gi-eater 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
api^earance of the country, which after-
wards so much excited the admiration
of the Arabs, are particularly noticed
by Ammianus and Zosimus in their de-
sci-iptions of the march of Julian's army
across Mesopotamia from the l^uphrates
to the Tigris. A forest of verdure, says
Ammianus, extended from this point as
fixr as Mescne and the shores of the sea.
Compare Amm. Marc. xxiv. 3, with
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 histoi-iau. All
that is required for fructification, they
tell us, is, that the pollen from the
blossoms of the male palm should come
into contact Avith the fruit of the female
palm or date-tree. To secure this, the
practice of which Herodotus speaks is
still observed.
268
BOATS.
13οοκ I.
hulls, a covering of skins is stretched outside, and thus the heats
are made, without either stem or stern, quite round like a shield.
They 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 tlie wood of
the palm-tree.^ They are managed by two men who stand
upright in them, each plymg an oar, one pulling and the other
pushing.•^ The boats are of various sizes, some larger, some
smallei•; the biggest reach as high as five thousand tajents'
burthen. ]^ach 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 which the men break up
their boats, sell the straw and the frames, and loading thtiir asses
with the skins, set off on their way back to Armenia. The
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 retm-n to xirmenia they build fresh boats for the next
voyage.
^ Col. Chesuey and Mr. Layard,
adopting the conjecture of Valla (φοινι-
κΎΐ'ίου for (poiviKri'iovs), speak of the (luan-
tity of paliH-idne 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 licjuor which can be dis-
tilled from that fruit ; and the mountain
tract of Armeuia could not produce it.
It was no doubt grnpe-icine that Babylon
imported from the regions higher up
the river, though perhaps scarcely from
Armenia, which is too cold for the
to cover the bottom Λvith bitumen."
(Col. Rawlinson, however, doubts the
existence of " kufas ctmercd vitk shins,"
which he has never seen, and of which
he has never heard, on eitlier river.)
[Grape wine is now brought to Bagh-
dad from Kerhuk, but not from Armeuia,
whore the vine does not grow.— H.C.R.]
•* Boats of this kind, closely resem-
bling coracles, are represented iu the
Nineveh sculptures, and still ply on
the Euphrates. " The Kufa." we read
iu Ker Porter, "is of close ii:ilIow woi'k,
\vell coated with the bituminous sub-
stance of the counti'y — perfcctl;/ circular,
it resembles a large bowl on the surface
of the .stream." (Travels, vol. ii. p.
2tj0.) Mr. Layard adds, that these boats
are "sometimes covered irif/i ski)is, over
which the bitumen is smeared." (Nine-
veh, Part II. ch. v.) Col. Chesuey also
says, (vol. ii. p. 640), "In some in-
stances, though but rarely in the pre-
sent day, the basket-work is corcred with
tcatlicr . . . but the common method is
Kufa. (From Col. Chcsney.)
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. " When
the rafts have been mdoaded they are
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 AIosul or Tekrit, where the
men employed in the navigation usually
reside." (Layard's Nineveh, Part i. ch.
xiii.)
Chap. 194. 195.
DRESS.— SEALS.
269
195. The dress of the Babylonians is a linen tunic reaching to
the feet, and above it another tunic made in wool, besides wliicli
they have a short wliite cloak thrown round them, and shoes of
a peculiar fashion, not unlike those worn by the Boeotians.
They have long hair, Avear turbans on their heads, and anoint
their whole body with perfumes.^ Every one carries a seal,'^
"^ The• dress of the Babylonians ap-
peal's 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 χλαν'ώων or short
cloak of Hei'odotus. The long petticoat
would be his κιθων ποδηΐ'ΐκη^ Xiveos.
The upper woollen tiuiic may be hidden
by the tippet or χΚανίδιον.
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 ;
the most usual are a low cap or turban,
from which two curved horns branch
out, and a high crown or mitre, the ap-
pearance of \vhich is very remarkable.
It is uncertain which of these is the
μίτρα of Herodotus.
The Λvoodcuts annexed will illus-
trate the above.
^ The Babylonian cylinders 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 tliey have
been found of amethyst, rock crystal,
coi'nelian, agate, blood-stone, chalce-
dony, onyx, jasper, serpentine, pyrites,
&c. They are hollow, being pierced
from end to end; either for the pui-pose
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 Xineveli and Babylon, pp.
602-609.)
[The inscription on the cylinders is
270
SALE OF DAMSELS FOR WIVES.
Book L
and a -walkiug-stick, carved at the top into the form of an a))ple,
a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something similar ; " for it is not their
habit to use a stick withont an ornament.
IIK». Of their enstoms, 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 eacli village the maidens of ago
nsiuilly the name of the owner, with
tliat 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 —
even on the cylinders found at Nineveli
— the language and character ai-e Chal-
dajan Scythic, and not Assyrian Semitic,
though when mere names and epithets
occur it is difficult to distinguish be-
tween them. — H. C. R.]
'^^^m
lial),yloni;ui Seals.
1. I'.xtt'nijil viuw. 2. Section.
^ Upon the cylinders the Babylonians
are frequently, but not invariably, re-
presented with sticks. In the Assyrian
sculptui'es the officers of the court have
always sticks, used apparently as stiives
of office. The heads of these are often
elaborately wrought. At Persepolis the
officers of the Persian com-t 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 tlie
Babylonian cities.
' 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 Antcnor after the
fall of Troy, and were I'aphlagonians.
Niebuhi• tl links tjiey could not have
been lllyrians, or I'olybius would have
noticed the fact (Hist, of Rome, vol. i.
p. 164, Engl. Tr.), and conjectures that
they were Liburnians, quoting Virgil as
authority.
" Aiitciior potuit
lllyiicoi* iienetrare sinus atque intlma tutus
Itcgiia Liburnnrum." — yE)i. i. 243-5.
]jut may not 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 (Enotus,
an Illyrian.
Chap. 195-197. TREATMENT OF THE SICK. 271
to marry were collected all togetber into one place ; while the
men stood round them in a circle. Then a herald called np
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 wives. 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 vf'ith
marriage-portions. For the custom was that when the herald
had gone through the whole number of the beautiful damsels,
-he shoidd 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 assie:ned to him.
The marriage-portions were furnished by the money paid for
the beautiful damsels, and thus the faii-er 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 Avithout finding bail really
and truly to make her his Avife ; 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
fallen 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, whicli is to
bring up their daughters to be courtesans. This is now done by
all the poorer of the common people, Avho since the conquest
have been maltreated by their lords, and have had ruin brought
upon their families.
li)7. 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
square, 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
liim to do whatever they found good in their own case,
or in the case kuoAvn to them ; and no one is allowed to
" Writers of the Augustan age (Strabo, their day. The latter testimony, coming
xvi.p. 10o8;Nic. Danaasc.p. 15'2;Orelli) from a nat^Λ'e of Damascus, is iiarticu-
mention this custom as still existing in larly valuable.
979
PRECINCT OF VENT\S.
T'ooK T.
pass the sick man in silence withont asking him wliat his ail-
ment is.
198. Tli(>ybnry their dead in honey,^ and have funeral lamen-
tations like the Egyptians. When a Babylonian has consorted
Avitli his wife, he sits down before a censer of burning incense,
and the woman sits opposite to him. At dawn of day they
Avash ; for till they are Avashed 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 Avoman born in the conntry must once in her life go and
sit down in the precinct of Yenns, and there consort with a
stranger. J\[any of the Avealthier sort, who are too prond to
mix with the others, drive in covered carriages to the precinct,
^ Modern researclies show two modes
of burial to have prevailed in ancient
Babylonia. Ordtnarili/ the bodies seem
to have been compressed into nrns and
baked, or burnt. Thousands of funeral
urns are found on the sites of the ancient
cities. Coffins ai'e also found, but rarely.
These are occasionally of wood (Kich's
First Memoii-, pp. ill -2), but in general
succession of the same cemeteries, that
there is some difficulty in ascertaining
to what jiarticular age and nation the
various modes of sepulture that have
been met with belonged. The burial-
places, however, of the primitive Hamite
Chaldaeans haΛ'e 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 are
sometimes found laid out in brick
vaults, but more generally reposing on
a small brick platform, Avith a pottery
cover over them, A'ery like a modern
dish-cover. Some of these covers are
i^Jj^•^'
li ili\ loni m Coffin anfl Lid. (ΤΛ,νηηΙ.)
of the same kind of ])i)ttery as the urns.
Specimens brought from Warka may be
seen in the British Museum; they re-
.semble in shape the Egyptian mummy-
cases. These cofiins might have Ijeen
filled with honey, but they arc thought
to belong to a conijinratively I'ccent pe-
riod.
[So many races have successively in-
habited Babylonia, and made use in
now in the liritish Mustuun. The
coffins from AVarka, of green glazed
pottery, and shaped like a slipper-
bath (represented above), belonged i)ro-
bablj' to the Clialdajans of the I'ar-
thian age, the iigures 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, wliich 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 cord 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 lap, and takes her wdth 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 fu'st 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
wliich are to be found in hundreds of
thousands in every Babylonian ruin, are,
I believe, of all ages, from the earliest
Chaldpean 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 simce, 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
the possibility of the «"anium passing in
or out; so that either the clay jar must
have been moulded over the corpse, and
then baked, which \vould 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 ICHTHYOrilAGI.
Book I.
who are ugly liavo to stay a long• time before they ean fulfil the
law. Some have waited three or four years in the precinct.*
A custom very much like this is found also in certain parts of
the island of Cyprus,
200. >Sueh are the customs of the Babylonians generally.
There are likewise tliree 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 througli a linen sieve.
Some prefer to make cakes of this material, while others bake
it into a kind of bread.
201. When Cyrus had achieved the conquest of the Babylo-
nians, he conceived the desire of bringing the Massagetai under
his dominion. Now the Massagetfe are said to be a great and
warlike nation, dwelling eastward, toward the rising of the sun,
corpse being laid at full length instead
of being compressed into a small com-
pass, \vith tlie 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. 4;5):— "The women also
with cords about them, sitting in the
ways, burn bran for perfume; but if
any of tliem, drawn by some that
passeth by, lie with him, she reproaches
luT fellow, that she was not thought
;v! worthy a.s herself, nor her cord
broken." Sti'abo also speaks of it (svi.
p. 1058).
^ The inhabitants of the marshes in
lower Babylonia, ag.ainst whom the As-
syrian kings so often make war (Layai-d's
Monuments of Nineveh, L'nd series,
plates 2.5, 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 herd.s of
buffaloes, which form the chief wealth
of the inhabitants (see Mr. Layard's
Nineveh and Babylon, ch. xxiv. pp. .5.53,
554).
Chap. 199-202. THE RIVER ARAXES. 275
beyond the river Araxes, and opposite the Issedonians.*^ By
many they are regarded as a Scythian raceJ
202. As for the Araxes, it is, according• to some accounts,
hirger, 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 ^γho inhabit them feed dm'ing the summer
on roots of all kinds, Avhich they dig out of the ground, while
they store up the fruits, which they gather from the trees at
the fitting season, to serve them as food in the winter-time.
Besides the trees Avhose fruit they gather for this purpose, they
have also a tree which 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 bmiiing, they
grow drunk, as the Greeks do with wine. More of the fruit is
then throw^n 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 Araxes, like the Gyndes, wliich Cyrus dispersed
into thi-ee hundred and sixty channels, has its source in the
country of tlie Matienians. It has forty mouths, whereof all,
except one, end in bogs and swamps. These bogs and swamps
are said to l)e 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 Λvith 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 he The Araxes, which rises in the Matienian
east of tlie Argippa3ans (iv. 25) and mountains, whence the Gyndes flows, can
south of the Arimaspi (ib. 27). Rennell 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 Calmuck 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, wliich separates
were the same. Dr. Donaldson brings the counti-y of the Massagetac (who dwelt
an etymological argument in support to the east of the Caspian, ch. 204) from
of the identity (Varronianus, p. 29). the empire of Cyrus, would seem to be
According to him the word Scyth is either the Jaxartes (the modern Syhim)
another form of Goth, and the Massa- or the OsMS_J^Jyhiin). The number of
getaj, Thyssagetie, &c. are branches of mouths and great size of the islands
the Gothic nation, Massa-Goths, Thyssa- correspond best with the former stream,
Goths, &c. 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
Τ 2
276
DESCKIPTION OF THE CASI^IAN.
Book I.
203. The Caspian is a sea by itself, having- no connexion Avitli
any other.^ The sea frequented by the (Ireeks, that beyond
the Pilhivs of Hercules, which is called the Atlantic, and also
the Erytliranin, are all one and the same sea. But the Caspian
is a distinct sea, lying by itself, in length fifteen days' voyage
with a ]-()\v-boat, in breadth, at the broadest part, eight days'
voyage.' Along its western shore runs tlie chain of the Cau-
casus, the most extensive and loftiest of all mountain-ranges.^
Many and various are the tribes by Avhich 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 Avhich,
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 \^'ash out, but last as though
they had been inwoven in the cloth from the first, and Avear as
long as the garment.
204. On ihe west then, as I have said, the Caspian Sea is
bounded by the range of Caucasus. On the east it is followed
To increase the perplexity, we are
told (iv. 11) that when the Massagetie
dispossessed the Scythians of this tract
east of the Caspian, the latter people
" crOi:scd the At-axes, and entered the
land of Cimmeria," where the Wolga
seems to be intended. (See Wesseliug
ad loc.) 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
true position of an inland sea.
' It is impossible to make any exact
comparison between tlio actual size of
the Caspian and the estimate of He-
i-odotus, since we do not know wliat
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
sailiii'i vessels (iv. 8(>).
It is possible, however, to compare
the proportion';. Let it then be observed
that Herodotus makes the length a little
less than double of the ijreatest breadth.
He is careful to say the i/reatrsf, not the
areraije breadth (rfj (υρυτάτη ttrrl avrij
iojuTTjs). Now in point of fact the
Caspian is 7δ(> miles long from north
to south, and about 40li miles across in
the broadest part from east to west.
These numbers, which are certainly
near the truth, are exacthj in the pro-
portion given by Hei-odotus of 15 to 8.
There seems to be great reason, there-
foi'e, to question the conclusions of
Bredovv 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 Ai-al
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 Zagi-os, 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 2(»,000 feet.
Chap. 203-207. CYRUS MAKES WAR ON QUEEN TOMYRIS. 277
by a vast plain, stretching out interminably before the eye,^
the greater portion of which is possessed by those .Massagetee,
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 Avas impossible for that people to escape.
205. At this time the Massagetee 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, Avith
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 Avhich were to be used in the
passage.
206. AVhile the Persian leader was occupied in these labours,
Tomyris sent a herald to him, Avho said, " King of the Medes,
cease to press this enterprise, for thou canst not know if what
thou art doing will 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 desirous of meeting the
Massagetae 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 ofter, 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 liis 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 Kliaresm, Kizilkoum, &c., the most southern portion of the
Steppe region.
278 CRCESUS' ADVICE TO CYRUS. Book I.
of the cliicfs, 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 tlie best of my i)OAver, avert im-
pending danger from thy house. Alas ! my own sufferings, by
their very bitterness, liave 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 tliat its movement forbids
the same man to be always fortunate. Now concernmg tlie
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 theroAvith thy Avhole kingdom is lost. For assuredly,
the Massagetie, 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 Avert 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. Rout their
army on the other side of the rivei•, and thou mayest push at
once into the heart of their country. JMoreover, Avere it not dis-
grace intolerable for Cyrus the son 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 Avith the good things on Avhich
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 Avithout stint, and the Avinecups be filled
full of noble liquor, and let all manner of dishes be prepared :
then leaving behind us our Avorst troops, let us fall l)ack towards
the river. Unless I very much mistake, when they see the
good fare set out, they Avill forget all else and fall to. Then it
will remain for us to do our parts manfully."
2U8. Cyrus, when the two plans Avere thus placed in contrast
before him, changed his mind, and preferring the advice Avhicli
Croisus had given, returned for ansAver to Tomyris, that she
should retire, and that he Avould 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 sou Cambyses (whom he had appointed to
succeed him on the throne), with strict charge to pay him all
resj)ect and treat liim well, if the ex])edition 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 Eiu-ope
with the other. Now Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, was of
the race of the Achsemenida;,* and his eldest son, Darius, was
at that time scarce twenty years old ; Avherefore, 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 Avatch OA^er 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 ujion 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 Massagetie, 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
cbeam, which was sent by Clod to forewarn him, that he was
to die then and there, and that his kingdom was to fall at last
to Darius.
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 annoimced that my son is practising against thee, lo, I
* For the entire genealogy of Darius, son of Hystaspes ( Vashtiispa) and grand-
see note on Book vii. eh. 11. It may be son of Arsames (ArsLama). He traced
observed bere tbat the inscriptions con- bis descent tbi'ougli four ancestors to
firm Herod(jtuu thus far. Darius was Acbremenes (Hakbamauisb).
280 STRATAGEM OF ^JTIE PEliSIANS. Book I.
resign him into thy luiiids to deal with as thou wilt." Hystaspes,
when he had thus answered, recrossed the Araxes and hastened
hark to Persia, to keep a watch on his son Darius.
211. j\[ean\vhile Cyrus, having advanced a day's march from
the river, did as Cra3sus had advised him, and, leaving the
worthless portion of his army in the camp, drew off Avith his
good troo})s towards the river. Soon afterwards, a detachment
of the Massagetae, 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 ofl. their
resistance put them to the sword. Then, seeing the banquet
prepared, they sat down and began to feast. λ\' hen they had
eaten and drunk their fill, and Avere now sunk in sleep, the
Persians under Cyrus arrived, slaughtered a great midtitude,
and made even a larger number prisoners. Among these last
Avas Spargapises himself.
212. When Tomyris heard what had befallen her son and
her army, she sent a herald to Cyrus, who thus addi-essed the
conqueror : — " Thou bloodthirsty Cyrus, pride not thyself on
this poor success : it was the grape-juice — which, Avhen 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 overcamest him,
not in fair open fight. Now hearken what I advise, and be
sure I advise thee for thy good. Ivestore my son to me and
get thee from the land unharmed, triumphant over a third part
of the host of the IMassagetse. Kefuse, and I swear by the sun,
the sovereign lord of the Massageta?, bloodthirsty as thou art,
I will give thee thy fill of blood."
213. To the words of this message Cyrus paid no manner of
reo^ard. As for Spargapises, the son of the queen, when the
wine went off, and ho 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 liis hands were free, he destroyed himself.
* The iflentity of this name with the father" — which Avould be the meaning
*' Spargapitheri,'"' mentioned as a Soy- of the name in Sanscrit -is an nnsatis-
thian king in book iv. (ch. 7G), is of im- factory compound. And, besides, the
]ii)rtance towards determining the etlmic sc of the Sanscrit invariably changes to
i'amily to which the Miissagctac are to be an aspirate or guttural in the Zend,
assigned. The Arian derivation of the Persiiin, and otlier cognate dialects —
word (Svarga, pita) is remarkable. scania in fact becoming lihenij or </un<i, as
[The Arian etymology is perhaps moro in the famous ijaii'/diz or Paradise of
apparent than real. At least "Heaven Persian romance. — H.C.R.]
Chap. 210-214. BATTLE, AND DEATH OF CYRUS.
281
214. Tomyris, when she found that Cyrus paid no heed to
her advice, collected all the forces of her kingdom, and gave
him battle. Of all the combats in which the barbarians have
engaged among 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 jMassagetee j)revailed. The
. greater part of the army 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 Cyrus, 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 with guile ; but thus I make good my threat,
and give thee thy fill of blood." Of the many different accounts
Avhich are given of the death of Cyrus, this which I have
followed appears to me most worthy of credit.•^
" It may be questioned whether the
account, which out of many seemed to
our author most Avorthy of credit, was
ever really the most credible. Unwit-
tingly Herodotus was drawn towards the
most romantic and poetic version of each
story, and what he admired most seemed
to him the likeliest to be true. There
is no insincerity or pretence in this. In
real good faith he adopts the most per-
fectly poetic tale or legend. He does
not, like Livy, knowingly falsify his-
tory.
With respect to the particular matter
of the death of Cj'^rus, the fact of the
existence of his tomb at Pasargada;,
vouched for by Aristobulus, one of the
companions of Alexander (much better
reported by Arrian, vi. 29, than by
Strabo, XV. p. 103ΰ), seems conclusive
against the historic truth of the narra-
tive of Herodotus. Larcher's supposi-
tion that tlie tomb at Pasargadie was a
cenotaph (Histoire d'He'rod., vol. i. p.
.'juy) is contradicted by the whole rela-
tion in Arrian, where we hear not only
of the gold sarcophagus, but of the body
also, whereof, after the tomb had been
violated, Aristobulus himself collected
and interred the remains. The inscrip-
tion too (" I am Ci/rus, the sou of Cam-
byses, who founded the empire of the
Persians, and ruled over Asia. Grudge
me not then this monument ") could
scarcely have been placed on a cenotaph.
There can be no reasonable doubt that
the body of Cyrus was interred in the
tomb described, after Aristobulus, in
Arrian.
According to Xenophon, Cyrus died
peacefully in his bed (Cyrop. viii. vii.);
according to Ctesia.s, he was severely
wounded in a battle which he fought
with the Derbices, and died in camp of
his wounds (Persic. Excerpt. § (J-S). Of
these two authors, Ctesias, 2)erhaps, is
the less untrustworthy. On his autho-
rity, conjoined with that of Herodotus, it ';
may be considered certain, 1 . That Cyrus f
died a violent death; and 2. That he 1
received his death-wound in fight ; but i
against Avhat enemy must continue a \
doubtful point.
There is much reason to believe that
the tomb of Cyrus still exists at Murg-
^'Λ, the ancient Pasargada;. On a square j
base, composed of immense blocks of
beautiful white marble, rising in steps,
stands a structure so closely resembling
the description of Arrian, that it seems
282
DRESS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MASSAGETJi.
Book I.
215. Ill their dress aud mode of living the Massagetse resemble
the Scythians. They fight both on horseback and on foot,
neither method is strange to tliem : they use bows and lances,
but their favoimte weajjon is the battle-axe." Their arms are
all either of gold or brass. For their spear-points, and arrow-
heads, 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
gold about the reins, the bit, and the cheek-plates. They use
Tomb of Cyrus.
scarcely possible to doubt its beiiig 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, aud 8 high. There are
holes in the marble floor, which seem to
have admitted the fnstenings of a sarco-
phagus. The tomb stands iu 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 Achscme-
nian." A full account, with a sketch of
the structure (from which the accompa-
nying view is taken), will be found 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 i^some doubt as to the nature
of the weapon known to the Greeks as
the σά-yapLs. It has l;een taken for a bat-
tle-axe, a bill-hook, and a short curved
sword or scymitar. Biihr (ad loc.) re-
gards it as identical with the ακινακηί,
but this is impossible, since it is men-
tioned as a distinct weapon in book iv.
(ch. 70.) The expression, αξίναΐ σα-
yapis, in book vii. (ch. G+) seems to point
to the battle-axe, which is called »iu;r iu
Armenian. (Compare the Latin «riw/s.)
[Tile aayapis is in all probability the
khan-j(tr of modern Persia, ashoi-t, curved,
double-edged dagger, almost luiiversally
worn. The original form of the word
was probably svagar. — II.C.R.]
Chap. 215, 216. DRESS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MASSAGET^, 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 Massagetee and not of the Scythians, as
the Greeks wrongly say. Human life does not come to its I
natural close with this people ; but when a man grows very old, j
all his kinsfolk collect together and offer him up in sacrifice ;
offering at the same time some cattle also. After the sacrifice
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 f)
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 the swiftest of all mortal creatures.•'
^ Both the Ural and the Altai ntoun- found iu the tumuli which abound
tains abound iu gold. The i-ichness of throughout the steppe region,
these regions iu this metal is indicated '^ So Ovid says of the Persians —
(book iv. ch. 27) by the stories of the
gold-guarding Grypes, and the Arimaspi " ^^^^e^dXr ceieri vkMrnffa^Seo'''^^'"'"'
who plunder them (book iii. ch. IKi).
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. 136). The present produc- Armenians (Anab. iv. v. § 35). Horse
tiveness of the Ural mountains is well sacrifices are said to prevail among the
known. Ciold utensils are frequently modei-n Parsees.
APPENDIX TO BOOK I.
ESSAY I.
ox THE KWILY CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF LYDIA.
1. Date of the taking of Sard! s by Cyrus — according to the common account, h.c.
546. 2. Accoi'ding to Volney and Heeren, B.C. 557. 3. Probible actual date,
B.C. 554•. 4. Fii'st or mythic period of Lydian history — dynasty of the Atyadse.
5. Colonisation of Etruria. 6. Conquest of the Mieoniaus by the Lydiaus —
Torrhebia. 7. Second period — dynasty of the Ileraclidte, B.C. l^J'-iJ to B.C. 724
— de-scent of Agron. 8. Scantiness of the historical data for this period,
9. Lydiaca of Xauthus. 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. !;>. 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. 2(1. Reign of
Croesus, B.C. 568-554 — ^ his enormous wealth. 21. Powerful effect on the Greek
mind of his revei'se of fortune — his histoi-y 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, Grotc, Biilir, and
most recent chronologers, following the authority of Sosicrates '•
and Solinus, place the capture in the third year of the 58tli
Olympiad, B.C. 546. As Sosicrates flourished in th6 2nd century
n.c, and Solinus in the time of the Antonines, no great value, as
Mr. Oroto allows,'^ can bo attached to their evidence. It is cer-
tainly confirmed, in some degree, by Dionysius of Ilalicarnassus,
1 Altliough Sosicrates is referred to by before the death of Croesus; but it is quite
Mr. (irote (vol. iv. p. 264, note ') and by possible that lie may have meant to refer to
Mr. Clinton, under the year B.C. 546, as an his accession. The followini; synopsis of
authority for placiiii; the capture of Sardis the dates given in aiR-it'nt writers for the
in that year, yet tiie passage in Diogenes accession of Gyges will show the muertainty
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 nx!•
vear B.C. 546, but the following year, B.C. [«"''.V-'iws Halicarnas. (in one passage) . 718
-, , . ,, . , . .•' . , CtTtaiii authors roleried to by limy . 717
o45. It IS, perhaps, more miportixnt to oil- Susiciatcs (>) . . . . . . . 715
sei-ve that Sosicrates smvs notiiing at all of I'liny ;iiu\ Clemens Ale.\aiulr 7«8
the taking of Sardis, but only aliirms that KuscbUis uB9
Pe.iander died in the last year of the 48th ^^'"">•-*"'« "''"car. (in anolher passage) 098
01yni]iiad, forty-one years before Crcesus. ^ Ilistoiy of Greece, part ii. ch. xxxii.
He can scarcely have meant, as we should (vol. iv. ji. 265, note).
naturally have undei'stood from the passage,
Essay I. DATE OF THE FALL OF SARDIS. 285
who, in one passage,^ expresses himself in a way which wonld
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 Avriter,"* it might be gathered that he ivould 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. o4G for the end of the Lydian monarchy.*
2. Volne}'",'' 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 usiially
assigned : —
The conquest of Astyages by Cyrus is determined b}^ the general
consent of chronologers to fall within the space B.C. 501-558. 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 Astyages detennined
Croesus to attack C3'rus before he became still more poweiful ; and
that he immediafcJy began the consultation of the oracles," on which,
it would seem, the war followed within (at most) a 3'ear 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 with Sparta, Egypt, and Babylon.^ No
one can read the narratiΛ'^e in Herodotus and imagine that he meant
to represent more than a very few years as intervening between the
conquest of the Medes V/ Cyrus, 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, Ave
leave but two years for all the earlier CA'ents of his reign, a single
one of which, the mourning for his son, is stated to haA'e occupied
^ Do Thuc}-!!. Charact. c. 5. 'Ηρόδοτο? ^ Recherches sur I'Histoire Ancienne,
— άρ|άμ€Γ0$ από rf/s των Λυδώΐ' ^υνα- vol. i. pp. 306-9.
<mias, μ^χρι rod ΤΙ^ρσικοΰ ττολΐμου Kare- '' Manual of Ancient Hist., book i. p. 29
βίβασΐ T7]v Ιστορίαν, iraffas rots eV τοΓϊ (ling. Translation, Talboys), and Appendix.
τΐσσαράκοντα κοά διακόσιοι? ereffi y^vo- ^ Ή Άσ-τυάγεοϊ τοΰ Κυαξάρβω vy^-
μέναί irpa^fLS — τηριΚαβών. As Herodotus μονίη καταιρΐθ^ΐσα b-rrh Κΰ ρου τοΰ Καμ-
concludes his history with the year B.C. βύσ^ω, κα\ τα, τών Π^ρσίων πρη-γματα
479, the commencement of the Lydian αίιξανόμΐνα, izivQtos μ^ν ΚροΊσον ά.π(-
history would be, according to this passage, παυσ€• iVe'/Sijffe Se is ψροντ'ώα, ei koos
B.C. 718, Λvhich would give (718-170) B.C. 5ύναίτο, π ρϊ ν ;u, € γ " ^ " "^ ^ yeviadai
548 for the end of the monarchy. τ ο υ s ΤΙ 4 ρ σ a s, καταλαβ^Ίν αυτών αυζα-
* Epist. ad Cn. Pompeium, c. Ά (p. νομίνην ti]v 5ύναμιν. Μετά ών τή^ Sta-
77ο). 'HpoSoTos 5(, aπh Trjs Αυ5ών βασι- νοΊαν ταΰτ-ην αύτίκα απίπαρατο των
\eias αρξάμ(νο$ — δίΐξ(\θών τ6 πράξει? μαντ-η'ί'ων, κ.τ.Χ. ( Herod. Ι. 4G.) So Stral)0
'Έ.\\-ηνων καϊ βαρβάρων ίτΐσιν δμοΰ Sta- says, Π4ρσαι a<p' ob κατΐλυσαν τα Μηδωι/
KOfflois κα\ (Χκοσι, κ.τ.Χ. (υθυ$ κα\ Αυδων (κράτ-ησαν {\\.\i. 1044j,
* Chronic. Canon, Pars ii. p. 333. ■' Herod, i. G9 and 77.
286 CnEONOLOr.Y OF LYDIA. App. Book T.
that full period of time.' It may be argued, indeed, that just as the
coiKj^uests of Croesus and his interview Avith Solon Avere (according
to some writers-) anterior to the fcnirtcon 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 xVtys, may have preceded the decease of Alyattes ; hut
even though the former view should he 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 AtyadiC anterior to 1221
2nd Dynasty Heraclid» .. .. b.c. 1221 to 716
3rd Dynasty Mermnadae—
1. Gyges .. b.c. 716 to 078
2. Ardys .. „ tJ78 to 629
3. Sadyattes „ G29 to 617
4. Alyattes .. „ 617 to 560
5. Ci'cesus .. ,, 560 to 546
According to the chronology of A^olney, Avhich is adopted by
lleeren, the several dates will be as follows : —
B.C.
1st Dynasty Atyadsc .. .. .. anterior to 1232
2nd Dynasty Heraclidse .. .. B.C. 1232 to 727
3rd Dynasty Mermnadae — •
1. Gyges .. B.C. 727 to 689
2. Ardys .. ,, 689 to 640
3. Sadyattes „ 640 to 628
4. Alyattes .. ,, 628 to 571
5. Croesus .. ,, 571 to 557
3. The dates assumed in the present Avork are slightly different
from these last. The accession of Croesus is regarded as having
happened in the year B.C. 5G8, and the fall of Sardis in B.C. 5Γ)4.
This is in part the necessary consequence of an alteration of the
date of Cyrus's victory over Astyages, Avhich A'Olney and ITceren
place in b.c. 561. As the astrononiical canon of Ptolemy fixes the
^ Ibid i 46 Year ofCrocsus.
, τ "i ' »T i TT 1 ■ 0^7 /- 1 • I Continues the war witli the Greeks of
2 Larcher. Note on Herod, i. 27 (vol. i. j^^, ^^,^^,^ ,,„^ afterwards conquers
p. 210). Clinton F. H. vol. ii. pp. 362-6. 2-6./ the whole countrj' within the Halys
It will be proved in its proper place that j (chaps. 2Ϊ, 28). Atys takes part in
tl,ore are no suir,cient ,vo,,n.ls tor believing , ^ VisZTf Solt (ch'a?).^^''• ''^-
that Alyattes associated Lrccsus m tlie go- 1 Croesus's dream. Marriageof Atys at the
vernment, or that any of the events ascribed 8. <J age of i.s or 2n (clmps. 31, 35). Atys
by Herodotus to the fourteen years of | killed by Adrastus (chaps. 36-45).
ri 11 i. lu • e Ai„„t4.„„ I Croesus moums for Atys (eh. 45, end).
Crffisus belong to the reign of Alyattes. ^_-^^ } jj^^^^^ ^j. ^,^^ ^,^.^^^^^ ^^ Astyages
The following would seem to have been the | (ch. 46).
view taken by Herodotus of the reign of ,,.,ο ( Cncsus sends to Delphi and the other
p,.fp„,<.. "■ / oracles (chaps. 40-56).
^ " ,3 ( Alliances concluded with Sparta. Baby-
' ■',?""• . „, , ,. „„v „„ ' ■ ■) Ion, and EfTS-pt (chaiis. G9 and 77).
Croesus, at .i5 years of age (eh 26), sue- ^^^ ^^^_^^,^ „„. ,',^,, ^^^ ^j,^^^^
cced... his father. (H.s son A ys might 14. ^ ^ ^ ^
he 10 or 12 vears old.) Attacks and ^ ,τ 1
takes Kphesus (ch. 26). ΙΙριιμΙ. 1, 26.
Essay I. DATE OF THE FALL OF SARDIS. 287
death of C^iiis to b.c. 529, and Herodotus ascribes but twenty -nine
years to the reign of that prince, it has been thought best to regard
B.C. 558 as the first year of C'3'rus in Media.* In order, therefore,
to preserve the same interval between the defeat of Astyages and
the fall of Sardis, which Volney gathers from the narrative of Hero-
dotus, the latter event would have to be assigned to the year B.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 Croesus'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 be 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
conclusiA^e 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, advanced 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 Atyadge anterior to 1229
2ncl Dynasty Heraclidae .. .. B.C. 1229 to 724•
3rd Dynasty Mei'mnada) —
1. Gyges .. B.C. 724 to 686
2. Ardys .. ,, 686 to 637
3. Sadyattes „ 637 to 625
4. Alyattes.. ,, 625 to 568
Γ). 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, Chronologie des
higher than that of the writers who give Rois Lydiens, pp. 307, 308.
the other numbers — Justin, Dino (ap. Cic. '' Tlie Parian marble, in the only date
Div. i. 23), and Eusebius give 30, Severus tiearing on the point which is legible, that
and the ecclesiastical writers generally, 31 of the embassy sent from Croesus 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. Round 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, ai-e Delphi in B.C. 557, the last in the year fol-
the sole authority for the 31 years (Syncellus, lowing.
288 CIIHONOLOGY OF ΤΛ'ΠΤΑ. App. Book T.
the accession of the dynasty called by Herodotus Ileraclidaj, it
seems riglitly termed by A'olney and Ileeren/ " uncertain and
fabulous." The royal genealogies of the Atyada^ (as it has been
usual to call them), beyond Avhich there is scarcely anything be-
longing to the period that even claims to be history, have the
appearance, with which the early Greek legends make us so familiar,
of artificial arrangements of the heroes epoH?/H«' of the nation. The
Manes, Atys, Lydus, Asies, Tyrsenus of Herodotus and Dionysius,
and even the Tory bus (or Toi'rhebus) and Adraraytes of Xanthus
Lydus, stand in Lydian history where Ilellen, l*elasgus, Ion. Dorus,
Achanis. .iEolus, stand in Greek. Only two names are handed down
in the lists of this period, Avhicli 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 Avas long ago observed by
Freret, the eponymus of the Mteonians.^ -^.tys giA'Cs his name to
the royal race of Atyadse, 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 Torybia,
Adi-amytes to the town of Adramyttium. And the complete gene-
alogy referred to above, of which the notices in Herodotus seem to
be fragments, is, if not an additional proof of the mythical chai'acter
of these personages, yet a sufficient 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
'' Heercu's Manual of Ancient Hist., Ap- It is curious that Freret should positively
pendix, iii. (p. 478, Eng. translation, Tal- assert (Jle'moires de I'Acad. des Inscr., torn,
boys). V. p. 307), and Grote maintain as ])iObal)lfi
** 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 //-awi Xanthus. This
Zeus and Terra.
L__^_J
Manes ^ Callirho'd, daughter of Ocoanus.
L_^_J
Cotys = Halie, duuiililer of Tyllus.
L-i:^
Atys — Callitlica, daiiglitor of Cliora^us.
"Ί
Lydus. Tyrsenus.
The tlirce notices in Herodotus (i. 7, i. 94, is quite impossi})le, since Dionysius contrasts
and iv. 45) harmonise perfectly with this the opinion of Xantluis with that of Uie
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 morco\-er 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.
' Memoires de I'Academie des Inscrip-
Mancs. x- » .jno i> i, '
I tions, torn. \. p. uOb. 1 erhaps, novvever,
^^yg Cotys. '^^ '^ rather the equivalent of Menes in
I 1 I Kgypt, Menu in India, Minos in Crete,
Ii.V<lus. Tyrscniip. Asies. Mannus in Germany, &ο., — a mere first?»'/».
Essay I.
COLONISATION OF ETRURIA.
289
to wife Halie, daughter of Tyllus, by wliom he has two sons, Asies,
who gives name to Asia, and Atys, his successor upon the throne.
Atys marries Callithea, daughter of Choraeus, 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 whicla ascribed the origin of the great Etruscan nation
to a colony which Tyrrheuus, 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 Tyn-henus, 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 difterence 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
Sid generis/ and quite unconnected, so far as appears, with any of
^ Herod, i. 84. I regard the Meles of
Herodotus, whose wife gave birth to a Hon,
as a very dift'erent and far more ancient
personage than the Meles of Eusebius who
reigned shortly before Candaules. Both
kings are noticed by Nicolaus Damascenus
(Frag. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 371 and 382).
* Larcher, Histoire d'Herodote, note on
i. 94 (vol. i. p. 352) : " On pourrait re-
pondre cependant que ce n'est qu'un argu-
ment negatif, qui n'a aueune force contre
un fait positivement e'nonce par un histo-
rien grave," &c. Creuzer, in Symb. ii. p.
828, not. Bahr's Herod. Excurs. ii. ad
Herod, i. 94.
3 Xanthus ap. Dionys. Hal. "Arvos 5e
noiSas yev^ffBai Xiyfi Avdhv κα\ Ύόρυβον,
Tovrovs Se μΐρισαμίνου^ την ττατρ^αν
αρχ^ν, iu 'Ασία καταμΰναι άμφοτ^ρουί,
καϊ ToiS (dveoLV ων ?ιρ^αν, 4π' ίκΐίνων φησ'ι
τΐθΤιναι ras ονομασία?, Xiywv ώδ^• άπί)
Λυδοΰ μ(ν yίvovτaι Αυ^ο\,άττ)) Se Ύορύβου,
Ύόρυβοι. Cf. Steph. Hy;:. in voc. Τόβ^ηβο?.
Ύόρ^7ΐβθ5 irOKis Av5ias,a-Kh Ύο^^-ηβου του
"Άτυοε.
* Ant. Rom. lib. i. (vol. i. pp. 21-24,
Oxf. Ed.)
* History of Rome, vol. i. pp. 38-39
(Engl, translation, edition of 1831).
VOL. I.
^ Ibid. ib. p. 109. It has been said
(Creuzer, in Symb.) that Xanthus might
have concealed intentionally what was dis-
creditable to his countrymen ; but could the
founding of so great a nation as the Etrus-
can be viewed in that light? Xanthus
must have known the story, which Hero-
dotus received from certain Lydians {ψασΧ Se
αύτοϊ Αυ^οΙ, i. 94), and understood it, as
Herodotus himself undoubtedly did, to asseil
the Lydian origin of the existing Etruscan
people. It seems now to be tolerably certain
that Niebuhr's attempted distinction between
the words Tyrrhenian and Etruscan is ety-
mologically unsound (Donaldson's Varroni-
anus, ch. i. § 11); and so the tradition,
literally taken, could mean nothing but the
Lydian origin of the Etrusci. Against this
I understand Xanthus to protest. He need
not be considered as pronouncing against
the connexion, spoken of below, between
the Pelasgi whom the Etruscans conquered,
and the Maonians whom the Lydians drove
out.
7 The attempt made by Mr. Donaldson,
in his Varronianus (pp. 101-136', to con-
nect the Etruscan with the other Italic lan-
guages, is not generally regarded by compa-
rative phiiologers as successful.
U
290 STORY OF TOliiniEBUS. App. BooKl.
the dialects of Asia ]Minor. The Lydians, on the other hand, who
were of the same family Avilh the Carians,^ Λνΐιο 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 tlie Italic element in the population.
Indeed, if the tradition conceal any fact (and perhaps there never
yet wag a Avide-spread tradition that did not), it would seem to be
this, that a kindred popidation 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 Maeonians, whom they conquered ;
and the mythus may represent the flight of the Masonians westward
on the occupation of their country by the Lydians. But then it
should be remembered that Tyrrhenus 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 mythi;s, namely, that at the time
when one part of the Masonians 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 Tori-hebus 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 lirother of Car (Herod, habitants of Italy and their Etruscan con-
i. 171). queroi-s. I regard all the tiibes of the
^ Kapfs — T<i τταλαώι/ eovres Mifo: τ€ West coast of Asia Minor as akin to the
κατηκοοί κάί καλΐόμΐΐΌί AfAeyes. — Herod. Pelasgi. See the chapter on the I'elasgi, in
ib. Ct'. Strabo, vii. p. 49.j. the Appendix to Book vi.. Essay ii. § '2.
' See the Appendix to this Book, Essay xi. ^ Xanthus in l)i(inys. Hal. τούτων (sc.
§ 12. AvSwu και Ύυρύβων) 7] -γλωασα bkiyov
* History of Rome, vol. i. p. 108. Nie- ■παραψίρα, κα\ uvv ίτι σνΑονσιν άλλήλουϊ
buhr seems to consider that the Lydians βήματα ουκ ολίγα, ωσπΐρ "Iwves και
aiid the Maioniaus were races as uncon- ΛωρίΐΊί.
nected and opposed, as the old Pelasgic in-
Essay I. SECOND DYNASTY OF HERACLID^. 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 Mieonians.** This people was
conquered by the Lydians, and either fled westward across the sea,
or submitted to the conquerors ; or possibl}^, 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 \Velsh to the English, or,
still more exactly, as the Norwegians to the Swedes.
7. In entering on Herodoti;s'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, Alca^us, 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. ^Vhile
Hercules, with his son Alcseus, and the name Heraclidte, 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 iSinus, the reputed founder of
Nineveh,* summon us away to the far regions of Mesopotamia, and
sitggest an Assyrian conquest of the co^^ntry, 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 Alcieus, 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 Niebuhi•,"
* 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 Mseonians 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" («j/
makes express mention of Ninus as founder ayp^). — Larcher on Herod, i. 7, note 21.
of NineΛ'eh, but we can scarcely be mistaken 7 Histoire d'Hdrodote, λόΙ. i., notes on
in considering that this name, occun-ing as Book i. ch. vii.
it does in connexion with that of Belus, in- ^ Kleine Schriften, p. 371.
dicates that personage, so generally regarded
u 2
292 GENEALOGY OF ^ΓΗΚ HERACLTDE KINGS. App. Book I.
with tho 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 Alcseus 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 V'olney has di-awn from it, that Kinus, 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 Lydia. Herodotus
expressly limits the empire of the Assyiians to Asia above (i. e.
to the east of) the Halys f'^ and no trustworthy author extends theii•
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 dynasty, 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 Avitli Hero-
dotus in representing their influence in this quarter as confined to the
nations immediately bordering ιτροη Armenia.^ Moreover, the
narrative of Herodotus is inconsistent with the notion founded upon
it, that Kinus conquered Lydia and placed his son Agron upon the
throne. For Herodotus rej^resents the Heraclidte as previously
subjects of the Atyada^, put by them in offices of trust, and so
seizing the supreme power, like the Mayors of the I'alace 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 JMesopotamia,
but he certainly did not conceiΛ'^θ of Kinus 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, Alcaius, 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
^ Rocherchcs, &c., Chronologie d'Hero- chapter " On the Ethnic Artinitios of the
dote, vol. i. p. 419. Nations of Western Asia," § 6 and § 12.
^ In Diod. Sic. ii. 2. " Book i. ch. 9.5. * See the Commentary on the Cunoifomi
^ Ctesias includes anions; the conquests of Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria, by
Ninus, besides Lydia, the whole of Asia Col. l.'awlinson, published in 1851.
Minor, Armenia, Media, Susiana, Persia, <■ Herod, i. 7. πάρα. τούτων Se Ήρο-
Babylonia, Coelesyria, Phcenicia, Egypt, and κλ^Γδαί iiTirpa<pQevT(s ίσχον tV αρχήν
Bactria! 4κ θΐοττρο-πίου. 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 account which Herodotus proceeds to give of his
second Lvdian 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^so 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 Avould have
been greatly the gainer, if we may take the fragments of Xanthus
Avhich 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 _^iHis was not altogether nn-
Dahlmann (Herod, p. 99), V'oluey (SuppL known to the inhabitants of the western
d THerod. de Larcher), Bahr (Herod. voL i. Asiatic coast. i Herod, i. 12, end.
p. 23). * This passage is preserved by Athenjeus
8 It has not always been observed that (x. 8, p. 17).
Myrsnsmust, by the narrative of Herodotus, ^ Xanth. ap. Steph. Byz. in voc. Άσκά-
have been king. Eusebius places Meles im- \ων. 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 Laud (JuJg. 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 Crcesus 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
silus, 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 c;illed Athenieus (viii. 37, p. 277) of the drowning
Myrsilus." ofAtergatis 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, iu one of his re-
Servius, Servilius; Manius, Manilius; Quinc- cently discovered fragments (Frag. Hist,
tius, Quinctilius, &c., seeming to show that Gr., vol. iii. pp. 380-6), professes to give
294
LEGEND OF CAXDAULES.
App. Book I.
10. One conchtsion maybe 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 Mermnadas. 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
d_>Tiasty, I^ydia was, it is probable, but one out of the many petty
states or kingdoms into which Lower Asia was parcelled out, and
Λvas fiir 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 really predominant state Λvas 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 otferings to the oracle at Delphi." Lj'dia, 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, se\^eral very different 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, Adyattes Π., Meles, and Myrsus.
In the order, and in the names of four of
these, Adyattes, Ardys, Adyattes II., and
Meles, he nearly agrees with Eusebius, v/ho
gives " Ardysus Alyatta>, annis 36 ; Aly-
attes, annis 14; Meles, annis 12" (Chrou.
Can. part i. c. xv.), as the immediate pre-
decessors of Candaules. In the fiftli name
he agrees with Herodotus, fnim wliom Euse-
bius differs, since he entirely omits Jlyrsus.
These coincidences seem to entitle the list to
some consideration. It may possibly have
come from X;mthus, or from Dionysius of
Mytilene, who wrote histories in Xanthus's
name (Athen. xii. xi., p. 415). The follow-
ing is the seuealogical tree according to this
authority : —
Adyattes.
Catlys
Ardys.
I
Adyattes I J.
Melea.
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 Heraclidie ;md the Mermnadae,
λvhich will be spoken of hereafter, and with
a long story (Oncerning 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. « Ibid. c. 28.
7 See, for proofs of this, Grote's History
of Greece, part ii. ch. xvi. (^vol. iii. jip.
284-291).
^ Herod, i. 14.
3 ixepub. ii. § o. Mr. Grote well sums
up this legend : — According to the legend in
Plato, <!yges 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 v<ist horse
of brass, hollow and partly open, wherein
there lies a gigantic corpse with a golden
ring. This ring lie carries away, and dis-
covers unexpectedly that it possesses the
miraculous proj)erty of rendering him in-
Λ•isible at pleasure. Being sent on a message
to the king, he makes the magic ring avail-
able to his ambition : ho first jiossesses him-
self of the person of the queen, then with
hei• aid assassinates the king, and finally
seizes the sceptre." — History of Greece, voL
iii. p. 298.
Essay I.
THIRD DYNASTY OF MERMNAD^E.
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
Heraclidaj had their partisans, who took arms against the r;surper,
and showed themselves ready to maintain in the field the cause of
their legitimate sovereigns. Gyges was imwilling 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 efiusion of blood, Λvas 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
^ The legends of Plato and Herodotus
ap-ee 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 <>yges, 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-
elides in the person of the ββΚ descendant
from Gyges." The Mermnadae, 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 curses 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 II., Meles, and Myrsus, the feud con-
tinued, the descendants of Dascylus living in
exile. A vain attempt was made by Meles
to expiate 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
iuvited 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
fiither, 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 before the two pai'ties came to blows.
iws ol Λυδοί δΐΐνόν ^ποκΰντο τό KuvSav-
λίω πάθοί, κάΙ iv οπλοισι ήσαν, avve-
βησαν ο'ί re του Γύ•γ€ω στασιώται καϊ οΐ
λοιποί ΑυδοΙ, i. 13.) That the oracle was
open to pecuniary influence is evidenced by
Herodotus himself (v. (33, vi. 66).
3 Herod, i. U.
296 REIGN OF GYGES. App. Book I.
the same precious metal, besides silver ornaments, snch 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 Avhat it contains and for what it ex-
cludes. We learn from it the important fact that this king engaged
in Avar Avitli the Greeks of the coast, Avho had hitherto, so far as we
can gather from the scanty notices which remain to us, preserved
friendlv relations Avith the native inhabitants of the country on
Avhich 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
recei\'ed with favour by the natives, and, with few exceptions, to
have maintained Avith them unbroken amity." Gyges \vas 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 tiie 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, Avas 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. Tvyris rvpavvevffas οττίπί/χψε of the Greeks to inteiinix with the Asiatic
αναθήματα es AeA(poi/i ούκ o\lya• αλλ' tribes.
'όσα μ^ν apyvpov αναθ-ηματα taji oi τ Xil- 'I agree with Bahr on the sense of He-
στα ev Α(λφο7σι• ττάρίζ Se του apyupov, rnilotiis in the passage itrefiaXf μ(ν νυν
^^pvffhv 6.•π\ίΎον — κα\ Kp7)T7)pts οί στρατίην fs T( Μίλητου και (s ^μύρνην,
αριθμίν e| χρύσ€θί ανακλάται. καΐ ΚολοφώίΌϊ τό άστυ ΐΊ\( (i. 14, end).
^ The (! reeks took Lycian kings (Herod, i. Tlie contrast is between the territories of
147). The Lycians are said to have taken Smyrna and Miletus, and the touii itself of
even their name from a Greek (ibid. 17li). Colophon. In the construction iaefiaXe
In most of the Greek towns the population στρατίην ts Μίλητον, the word Μίλητου
seems to have been mixed, partly Greek, can only stand tor Μι\ησίην. Mr. (iiote
partly Asiatic. The best-evidenced case is seems to prefer the more usual explanation,
that of Teos (Pausan. VII. iii. § 3 ; Boeckh's that &στυ is the town, minus the citadel
Corp. Ins., No. 30ΰ4). (Hist, of Greece, vol. iii. p. 300).
^ Of course the colonies were not ori- * Herod, i. 14. αλλ' oiiSfv μiya epyov
ginally established without bloodshed. (See απ' αύτοΰ &λλο tyevfro, βασιΚ(ύσαντο5,
Herod, i. 146; Mimnenn. ap. Strahon. xiv, κ.τ.Κ.
p. 634, where the violence employed at the ^ Mr. Grote (Hist, of Greece, vol. iii.
founding of Miletus and Colophon is nc- 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 aie exceedingly of the beautit'ul 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 reiiuceto 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 riowing locks: in revenge for
of the Greek towns, partly by the readiness which outrage on his favourite, the lover
Essay I.
ACCESSION OF ARDYS,
297
could have possessed himself of the Avhole 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 poAver 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 G3'ges, Λvho 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 fiom 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. Dainasc.
p. 52 Orell.). But the expression of Hero-
dotus, quoted above, seems to be conclusive
against the authenticity of this hist(Jiy.
Were it otherwise, the authority of Nicolaus
Dam;iscenus, 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 Sibijl to the assistance of
Croesus upon the pyre, and who ascribes
the Persian respect tor 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 authority,
where he stands alone, without the strongest
expression of distrust. At any rate,
Mr. (Jrote 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. iii. 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 beeu noticed by Niebuhr in
his Roman history, and is cerfciinly 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
Ju])iter Capitolinus, so his progenitor and
prototype must vow it and lay its founda-
tions (ibid. ;ϊ8 and 55) ; as the great sewers
and the massive stone seats in the Circus
Maximus were undoubtedly the works of
the one, so must they also, or works of a
similar character, be ascribed to the other
(ibid. 35 and 38). In the same \vay is as-
signed to Ninus the whole series of conquests
made by subsequent Assyi ian kings (Ctesias
ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 2). Sometimes an entire
war is repeated, as that with Fidenas 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.
^ Eusebius limited his reign to 38 years
(Chron. Canon. 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, λόΙ. iii. p. 301), unless it
be on the expression of Herodotus, that
" before the sovereignty of Croesus all the
Greeks were free " (i. 6). But this only
seems to mean that no Greek country —
neither Ionia, jEolis, 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 signalised by two
events, both of considerable moment to the
Asiatic Greeks, — the invasion of the Cimme-
rians, and the first approach to collision fat
least the first of which we have any histo-
rical knowledge) between the inhabitants of
Lydia ami those of Upper Asia under the
Median kings," What is this "first ap-
298 CIMMERIAN INROAD. Api>. Book I.
he would liave signali.sed liis reign by i'mtlier successes, but for the
iuvasion 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 centuiy B.C., or to the first ίηλ^α-
sions of the Roman Em])tre by the Goths and Huns.
14. Who the Cimmerians were, whence they came, Avith what
races they were ethnically connected, Avill be considered hereafter,
in the notes to the Fourth Book. "With regaid to their occupation
of Asia Minor at this time, it is im])ortant to observe, that Avhereas
Herodotus, throughout his whole histor}^^ 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 wliich 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 thiee 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, coA'ering, without any considerable
intervals, a space of ΐλνο hundred and sixty years.' Still it Avould
be rash to reject altogether the distinct assertions of Strabo, con-
firmed as they are by the fact, of Avhich there is ample evidence,*
that in the minds of the Greeks upon the coast, Cimmerians and
Treres were confounded together, Avhich 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? νίσθαι των (1. τ^ν) μίχρι rrjs Alo\iSos
The collision came, iis he notices a few pages και rrjy 'Iwvius.
after (p. 310), in the time of Alyattes, ** Chron. Canon. Pars Post. (p. 303, ed.
grandson of Ardys. What " historiail know- ]\Iai).
ledge" have we of any collision, or " approach ^ Herod, i. fi. irph δί rrjs ΚροΙσον
to collision," earlier than this ? άρχηϊ navrts "EWrjues ήσαν 4\(ύθΐροι.
^ Herod, i. ΰ, 15, 16, 103; iv. 1, 11, rh yap Κίμμΐρίων στράτευμα rh
12 ; vii. 20. eir] την Ίωνίαν άπικόμ€νον — ου κατα-
" Strab. i. p. 90 fOxf. ed.V o'l re Κιμ- ατροφη eyeVero των πολιών, αλλ' ^| int-
μ^ριοι, 0&S καϊ Tpijpwvas ονομάζουσιν, ■^ δρο/xfys αρπαγή.
(Κΐ'ίνων τι (θνο$, τΓ ο λ λ ά κ ί S (π4δραμον ' Clinton's Fasti Hell. vol. i. p. 214. 01.
τα 5e|ia μίρη του Πόντοι/, και τα συνίχτ] 4Π, 4.
aUToTj, ΤΓ0Τ6 μίν fVl WacpXayovas, πυτε '^ The contemporary poet, Callinus, spoke
δ6 κα\ Φρύγαί (μ^αΧόντ^ί. both of Treres and of Cimmerians (Strabo,
7 Stral). i. p. 9 (Oxf. ed.). oi Κιμμέριοι xiv. p. 927, O.xf. ed.). Callisthenes said that
καθ' "O μτ] pov ^ μικράν irph αϋ- the Treres and Lycians took Sardis f Strab. xiii.
τοϋ μί'χρίϊ 'loicias ίττίΖραμον τήι/ 'y)]v t))v p. 627). Strabo, in a passage (pioted above,
iK Βοσπόρου π a. σ a v. And :igain, iii. nses the words, ΚιμμΐρΊου$, otis κα\ Τρή-
]>. 'JilO; καθ' "Ομηρον fj πρϊ) αΰτηΰ μικphv ρωνα$ ονομάζουσιν. Cf. also Kustath. ad
λίγουιτί την των Κιμμίρίων (ψο5υν γί- Horn. Od. xi. 14.
Essay I. FORMER CIMMERIAN RAVAGES. 299
Thracian Bosphoriis. But from all these occasional incursions,
which Herodotus may have regarded as Thracian, not Cimmerian
ravages, the one great Cimmerian invasion, of vi^hich he so often
speaks, is to be distinguished. In this, if it came, according to the
xmdoubting conviction of our author, from the east, no Thracians
would participate.^ It Avould have a right to be called " the Cim-
merian attack." It would be a thing sai 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 C-immerian inroad, and he Avould 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 Kome and overran
Italy, were fugitives from the Spanish peninsula, retiring before
the increasing strength of the Iberian race.* The barbarians who
destroj'ed the Western Empire had for the most part been dispos-
sessed of their own countries by nations of superior strength. On
their first ariival in Asia Minor the Cimmerians seem to have swept
before them all resistance. Like the bands of Gauls,^ which at a
later date rax'aged 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 Mithriilates when
the Cimmerians on this occasion came by the he passed through the κλίΓθρα 'Ζκυθών on
■western side of the Euxine, and across the his flight from Pompey (Appiau. 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,
space of two hundred years; especially as 1. s. c).
there were contemporary wi-iters, Callinus, •'' History of Rome, vol. i. pp. 506-509.
Archilochus, and others, some of whom, we (Kngl. trausl.)
know, spoke of the Cimmerian attack. With ^ I-ivy, xxxviii. 16. It wUl appear here-
regard to the alleged difficulties of the route, after that these two great invasions of Asia
we may grant the impracticiibility 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 Λvhy may we " On the Cimmerians of Herodotus and the
not suppose the Cimmerians to liave en- Migrations of the Cymric Race.")
tared Asia by the Caucasian gates, through 'i Eustath. ad Horn. Od. xi. 14. This is
which the great military road now runs the event alluded to in Euseb. Chron. Can.
from Mosdok to TiflLs? This must always Pars Post. 01. 21, 2 (p. 324), and by
have been a very practicable route, and was Strabo, i. p. 90 (Oxf. ed.).
300
DEFEAT OF LYGDAMIS.
Apr. Book I.
except only the acropolis; in Ionia they ravaged the valley of the
Cayster, besieged Ephesiis, and, according to some accounts, burnt
the temple of Diana in its vicinity;^ after which they are thonght
to have proceeded southward into the plain of the Mteander, and to
have sacked the city of ]\Iagnesia.^ 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 f
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. ΕΛ'βη then,
it is a mistake to say that they were driven out of Asia.* Just as
the Gallic maraxxders 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 Antandiiis, which, according to Aristotle,*
8 Hesych. in voc. Aύy5aμιs. Λυγδα^αΐϊ
ovTOS (Kuvffe rdv vaov τη$ 'Αρτ4μιΒθ5.
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 : " Callimaque a pre-
tendu que ce fut en punition du sacrilege
qu'ils avaient commis en mettant le feu au
temj)le de Diane." (Dissertations, &c. ch.
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 Horn. Od. xi. 14) by
many writers. If they invested Ephesus, as
we should certainly gather from Callimaclius,
they could sc;ircely tiul 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" fHist. of (Jreece, vol. iii. p. S35).
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 Hesychius, where he certainly must
forget the situation of the temi)le.
'■' It is very doubtful whether this event
really belongs to the great Cimmerian inva-
sion. Kust.'ithius apjiears to have thought
so. Τώΐ' Κιμμερίων αττίμοιρα Xiytrai
ΤΓΟΤί >Tpr]p(s hi φασιν (καλοΰντο , πολλών
τηΓ Άσίαϊ κατα5ραμ(Ίν, καΐ rets 'SapSfis
i\(2i/• καϊ των ίΛα-γνητων δί troWovs
au(\e7v των κατά Thv MaiavSpov ΐμβαλ-
Xetv Se και ΐπΐ UacpXayouas καί Φρύγα!'
οτΐ καϊ Μίδα? λί-/ίται αίμα ταύρου ιτιών
fls τί) χρΐών απΐλθίΊν. (Comment, ad
Hom. Od. 1. c. s. ) But if Callinus was con-
temporary with the taking of Sardis men-
tioned by Herodotus, :is I agree Avith Mr.
(irote in considering to be nearly cei'tain
(Hist, of Greece, \o\. iii. p. 333, note ^), the
fall of Magnesia 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. (Cf.
Eustath. in loc. s. c.,and Strab. xiv. p. 927.)
1 Strabo, i. p. 90.
2 Callim. Hymn. ad. Dian. 248-260.
€vpv θίμΐθΚοί',
Τω pa κα\ -ηΚαίνων αλαπαζ^μΐν r]nei\rj(T€
"Πγαγε Κιμμ€ρίωΐ'^ ψαμάθω ίσον, οι ρα παρ' αύτου
Κεκλιμένοι ΐ'αι'ουσι βοος πόροι' ' Ιναχιώντι^; .
^ Λ. δέΐλόξ βασιλεωί' όσον ηλίτζΐ'• ου yap ζμ.€λ\€ν
Οϋτ' αύτο5 ^κνθίηΐ'δ^ τταλιμττετεί, ούτε τις άλλοϊ
"Οσσωΐ' tV λειμωΐΊ Καϋστρι'ω €σταν αμαξαι,
Νοστησειΐ'* Έψεσου γαρ αεί τεά το'^α πρόκβιται.
^ ΚιμμΐρΙουί eK ttjs Άσίαϊ ^|ήλασ6
(Herod, i. 15). As Lydia was still conrincd
within its original limits, a Lydian prince
Λνοηΐιΐ have neither the wish nor the power
to do this. There is also distuict proof that
they continued in possession of parts of Asia.
See the I'ollowing notes.
' Λ [I. Sti'liii. livz. in voc. ''AvTavSpos.
Άριστοτίλη? φ-ησί ταύτην ωνομάσθαι . . .
Κιμμ(ρίδα, Κιμμΐρίων ϊνοικούντων ίκατ}>ν
ίΤΤ).
• Essay I. liEIGN 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 from 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 Ardj's, 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 wdiole 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 Mermuadte, suc-
ceeded in maintaining her independence for half a century longer.
* Herod, iv. Γ2. Φαίνονται δε oi Κιμ- that Sarah was Iscah, as assumed by Cliuton,
μΐρίοί (pevyovres is την Άσί-ην tovs F. H. vol. i. App. ch. v. p. 290, note),
2κύθα$, καϊ την Χίρσόνησον κτίσαντί$, of Cambyses (Herod, iii. 31), and Herod
iv τη νυν 2,ινωπη ττόλι$ 'EWas οϊκισται. Agrippa (Juv. vi. 157) are well known.
6 Herod, i. 10. 9 Herod, i. 17-22. Mr. Grote says that
' Ibid. 18. τρώματα μΐγάλα ζίψάσία Sadyattes carried on this war for seven, and
Μίλησίων eyev€To. Alyattes for five years; but Herodotus di-
* Here the authority of Nicolas of Da- A'ides the war as above. ΐπολ€μ€( erea
mascus is supported by that of Suidas (in 'ίνδίκα .... τα μ^ν νΰν Ι'| trea των
VOC. Ά\υάττ7ΐΒ) aud Xenophilus (ap. Anon., fvSeKa SaSuaTTTjs ό "Ap^vos ΐτι Αυ5ών
quoted in the Frag. Hist. Gr., vol. i. p. 42). ^ρχΐ, υ και ΐσβάΚΚων τηνικαίτα is τ'ήν
Marriages with Aa//-sisters have been fre- Μιλησιην t\)v στρατίην τα 8e TreVre των
queut in the East from the days of Abraham ξτίων τα ίττόμΐνα τοίσι e| Άλυάττηs
downwards. The aises of Abraham himself 4πο\ίμΐΐ . . . . τ<^ δί δυωδΐκάτψ 4τ(ϊ,
(Gen. XX. 12; there is no evidence to show κ. τ. λ.
302 REIGN OF ALYATTES. App. Ιϊοοκ I.
The order of the other events of the reign of Alyattes cannot be
detenuined with any certainty. Besides his war with ]\liletus, ho
was engaged (we know) in four separate contests. He drove the
Cimmerians beyond his boundaries, attacked and took Smyrna, made
an attempt upon Clazomenai, but was defeated with gi'eat 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 Ave have good reason to believe he is
following Xanthus, is of no authority.' The last war, if it took
place at all, happened late in his reign, 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 considerations, viz. B.C. 615-610.
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. Kow 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 hand of men {ά\η
άΐ'ίρών) 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 liordes, 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
^ Nicolas of Damascus. TJie question of taken place B.C. 625 (Recherches, &c., vol. i.
his credibility luis been treated above (p. p. 342). Clinton places it B.C. 603 ( F. H.
296, note ^j. vol. i. p. 419). Ideler considers that no
'■' Croesus in the tale is represented as eclipse about this period fulfils the necessaiy
already governor of Thobe' and Adramyt- conditions except that of B.C. 610 (Haud-
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 n.c. 585 (Bosiinquet, Fall
belong to the last ten or twelve years of his of Nineveh, p. 14). It may be doubted
life. Mr. (irote 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 j-esults as the basis of a chro-
rj)(cred CiXTia. (Nic. Uam. p. 54, ed. Orelli ; nological system.
Clinton's F. H. vol. ii. p. 363 ; Crete's Hist. * ixa Mr. Grote'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 nimibcr 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 U]"»per Asia as far
as the banks of the llalys,^ might well conceive the design of adding
to his empire the further tract of country between the Halys and
the Egean sea. \\ hat 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 Q\ei\ 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 suboixlinate 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 circiimstances of the
ancient world. Labynetus, at least, must haΛ'e been upon the spot,
^ Hevod. i. 103. ^ Ibid. i. 74. the modem diplomatic sense of the phrase.
7 I Ginnot conceive it possible that a The words of Herodotus (1. 74) are ambi-
monarch, whose dominions lay a thousand guous, but I conceive we are to uudersfcind
miles oii", would have felt him.^elf 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 paiticipation in the previous strife,
between the courts of Sanlis and Ecbatana in
304 PEACE EETWEEN LYIUA AND MEDIA. App. Book 1.
and if so, then the presence tif Syennesis seems to follow as a matter
of course ; and his presence would indicate the j)robal)le })resence of
the other minor powers of AVestern Asia, the Pani})hy]ians, the
Phrygians, the Lycians, the Oarians — perhajis also the I'aphlagonians
and Bithynians, avIioso liberties Avoxdd certainly ]\a\o been more
endangered by the success of the attack than those of the hardy and
valiant occupants of the mountainous Cilicia, whom even Cyrns does
not appear to have reduced to subjection. It seems therefore
pi-obable 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 may have been, his real object in crossing
the Ilalys Avas to add the whole of Lower Asia to his dominions.
The warlike inhabitants nnited to resist him, and maintained for six
years a dc)ubtful and bloody struggle. At length, when both parties
were growing weary of the protracted contest, accident aft'orded 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. Probabl}^ 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 i)owers
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 Clazomense. The latter portion of his reign seems, hoAvevei•, to
have been a period of remarkable tranquillity. The supposition
that towards the close of his life he conquered iEolis and Caria,^
founded upon a single passage in Nicolas of Lamascus, which does
not even bear out the deductions made from it,^ and contradicted by
^ Clinton's Fasti Hell., λ•ο1. ii. p. 363. which is not the fact. They lay within the
(ApjwndLx, ch. χλ'ϋ.) limits usually assigned to the piovime of
'■' Nicolaus Damascenus says that Croesus, IMysia (Rennell's Geography of ^\'eΛtern
who had already been made governor of Asia, λ•ο1. i. p. 371), but it seems pniliable
Adraniyttium and the plain of Thebe, accom- that from a Λ'ery early date they had formed
panied his father in an expedition into a part of the dominions of the Lydian kings.
Caria. From this Mr. Clinton makes two The boundaries between the several provinces
deductions, 1, that yEolis must have been of Asia Minor were at no time very exactly
already subjei'ted ; and 2, that Caria was determ.ined, and Adramyttium seems to have
conquered in this amipaii;n. 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
unti-ue (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 vEolis, person a-< the Adramytes of Xanthus (Frag.
Essay Τ.
TOMB OF ALYATTES.
305
the express words of IlerocTotiTS, who ascribes these conquests to his
son,' seems scarcely worth considering. AVe 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 Λvhich Herodotus, ivho had seen it, compares for
magnificence with the constructions of Egypt and Babj'lon,^ and
Avhich 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 modem 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 haA-e
been in height, for the area of the base, which alone our author's
statements determine, is abo\^e one-third greater than that of the
Pyramid of Cheops.* As, however, the construction Avas 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 Stcph.
Byz. and Hesychius in voc. Άδραμυττειοι/).
Aristotle certainly spoke of its having been
founded by an Adramytes, son of Alyattes
and hrotlier of Croesus (Fr. 191); but of
this person, who cannot be the ancient Eiivj
of Xanthus, Λνβ 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 Λνϋΐ allow us to fix for the expe-
dition spoken of by Nicolas.
3 Herod, i. 93.
■* See Chandler's Travels, vol. i. p. 304.
" 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 Ijefore. Its
measurements, which we were not prepared
to take, deseiwe 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 bise, which would give it a circumference
of nearly half a mile It rites 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-
VUL•. I.
ments of M. Spiegenthal agree remarkably
Avith this rough estimate. (See note ^, on
Book i. ch. 93.)
* Dr. Chandler alters the measurements
of Herodotus by a conjectural emendation of
the text in the true spirit of a critic of the
eigliteenth 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), whereas the area of the Great
Pyramid of Gizeh is determined to be no
more tlum 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 b;ise of the latter to be a parallelo-
gram) in the pro})ortion of (about) 19 to 26i
If the base were oval or elliptical, the dif-
ference would be stiU more in favour of the
Lydian monument. At present the base
appears to be, as nearly as possible, circular.
306 SUPPOSED JOINT C.OA'ERNMENT OF CRffiSUS. App. Book I.
of Kgypt, and Avoiild indicate a less degraded condition of the people
Avho raised it than that of the Egyptians in the time of the pyramid-
hnilders. Still the λ'ίοΛν of Htrabo is most certainly correct, that
" the multitude of the city" mnst have been employed upon it.* It
was an artificial monntain, and perhaps owed its small celebrity, as
compared Avith the constructions of Egypt and Babylonia, not so
much to any absolute inferiority as to the character of the district
in \vhich it was placed. λΥΙηΙο the colossal works in those countries
hixxe the advantage of standing iipon 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 tlie Hermus.
Engaged in this work,' the Lydian king abstained in all proba-
bility fiom warlike enterpiises. The arts of war and peace rarely
flourish together ; and the hands which, if he had engaged in wars,
Avould have been required to draw the sword and pull the bow, were
Avanted for the homelier occupations of digging and wheeling soil.
The expulsion of the Cimmerians and the alliance with the Mede.i
had secured him from molestation on the 2:)art 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 Gi'eek towns on the coast, Alyattes ajipears to have given himself
up Avithout reluctance to a life of inacti\'ity.
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 Avhich
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. τό 7rAf;0o$ ttjs though Crossus reigued only fourteen years,
iroKews. 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 lai-ge. During this period of joint-
in Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 304), is contrary to go\ernment many of those things might have
the whole tenor of ancient history, which been transa('ted wliich are ascribed to Ci'Cesus
furnishes no insfcmce of such filial piety, /im/ of Lydia."
Munarchs Ijuilt their own tombs not only in Biihr and Wosseling were of the same
Egypt, but through the East generally (cf. opinion. I'Sce Biihr's Herodotus, note upon
Herod, i. 187, on the sepulchre of Nitocris). i. 92 ; and Wesseliug'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.
Jiakhsh-i-Kustam (Sir H. H;iwhnson's Cu- i Notwitlistanding the calmness with which
neiform Ins(;riptiuns, vol. i. p. 290). Larcher ;issumes the frequency of this prac-
^ Larcher, vol. i. p. 211. "On sait que tice ("on suit (pie la plupdrt des Princes do
la plupart des Princes de I'Orient associoient I'Orient a.ssocioient au trone leur tils aine"),
au trone leur fils aine. Quoique nous I am inclined to think it was of e.xceediugly
n'ayons aucune preuve directe qu'Alyattes rare occurrence. In Eg)'pt association was
ait associe Cresu^, on doit cependant le pre- undoubtedly very frequent, iis the monu-
eumer." ments testify, and possibly the exaggeration
Clinton's Fast. Hell. vol. ii. p. 302. " Λ1- of numbers in Egyptian chronology may de-
Essay I. KEIGN OF CRCESUS. 3U7
tlie association in the government of the heir-apparent by the
reigning monarch, hut of that very ordinary proceeding on the jiart
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 Pantaleon,
one of the half-brothers of Crcesus, which caused no little alann 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 Cambysesas his successor by Cyrus,
on the eve of his attack upon the Massagetee.^
20. The order of eΛ'ents in the reign of Croesus has been already
considei'ed. The events themselves receive but little light from
sources extraneous to Herodotus.* "With respect to the enormous
wealth for Λvhich this king was chieiiy 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 piecious metal
which probably existed in the neighbouring mountains^ — in part to
the tribute which he derived 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 w^hicli preceded his own accession.® Its reality
pend in some measure on the great extent to says, S 6 ντο s τον ττατ ph s, Εκράτησβ
which it was practised. But among the rrjs άρχη? ό KpoTffos ; in the second ( i. 2U8),
early Oriental nations I know of only a Kvpos 5f Κροίσοι' is tus χ^Ίραί iaOds τω
single well authentiiated instance 'that of ίωυτοΰ παιδί Καμβυστ), τ ωττ e ρ την βα-
BoLshazzar; see the Essay " On the History σιΚη'ίην iSiSov . . . διε/έαιίΈ, κ.τ.λ.
of the later Babylonians," § 25) of the asso- This gift of the crown is beyond a doubt the
elation of a sou in the government during same as the appointment s])oken of in the
the lifetime of his father, a custom Avhich case of Xerxes — ws Se? μιν, air o5 4 ξαν τ a
belongs to countries and times where the sue- βασιλέα, κατά Thu Τΐ€ρσ((ύν νόμοι', ούτω
cession is very precarious, and certainly not στρατ^ύΐσθαι , . . . δ Aapi7os βασιλέα μιν
to those states in Avhich it is regarded as a άπβ'δβξε (vii. 2, 3).
right inherent in the reigning monarch to •* .Elian (V. H. iii. 26), Suidas (in λόο.
nominate a successor from among his sons, as Άρίσταρχοί), and Polyoenus (vi. 50) have
is the case usually in the East. Wr. Grote, certain tales which admit of being introduced
■with the correct ajipreciation of the probalile into the history of the reign of Crcesus as
v/hich distinguishes him, understands the delivered by Herodotus ; but their authority is
passage aright (vol. iii. p. 344). too slight, and the tales are too insignificant,
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 offerings at Delphi and at the shrine
nominates Xerxes (vii. 3). In connexion of AmphiaraiLs are declared by Herodotus to
Λνΐϋι the latter case Herodotus speaks of the have been wholly from tliis source, and may
practice as " a law of the Persians" (κατά in some degree indicate its amplitude. They
t6v Ύίΐρσίων νόμον). It has always pre- were the prst-fruits (απαρχή) of his inhe-
vailed in the East. See 1 Kings, i. 12-40 ritauce ; the ew^Ve sum obtained by conlisca-
(where, however, there is something more tion was laid out in ofleriugs, and from
like an installation than is usual in such hence were derived the gifts at Branchid.T. at
c-.ises), and Ockley's History of the Saracens Ephesus, and at the temple of Jui)iter Isme-
(Bohn's e.lit.), pp. 138, 430, 452. nius m Thebes (Herod, i. 92).
2 In the first passage (i. 92j Herodotus
X 2
308 HIS ENORMOUS WEALTH. Arr. Γ.οοκ I.
cannot be qncstioncd ; for Herodotus had himself seen the ingots of
solid gold, six palms long, three broad, and one deep (the size of a
tall folio A'olume, of about the usual thickness), Avhicli, to the number
of one hundred and seventeen, were laid up in the treasury at Delphi
— proof at once of the riches and of tlie munificence of the princely
donor. lie had also beheld in various parts of Greece the following
oflerings, all in gold, Avhich had been deposited in the Greek temples
by the same opulent monarch : a figure of a lion, probably of the
natural size ; a wine-boAvl 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 different
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 Branchidaj, which had been carried
off by the Persians on the occasion of the Ionian revolt, were similar
in character and e(iual 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 Avliich
these materials have been Avorked 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 Avas 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 laAdsh
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 ihe warrio]--prince, at
the head of his unvan(|uished bands, had crossed the Halys to attack
his unknoAAai enemy. And they had been specfatoi's 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 stor}^ of (Jrcesus
seems to have become to the romancers * of the period what the old
7 See Herod, i. 50, 51, and 92. depended on their beins; aj)plied to niilitiiiy
^ Tct iV Βρα-γχίζγσί ryai ΜίλησΙων ])ur])os(',s (Herod, v. 3G).
αναθήματα Κροίσο;, ws εγώ ττυνθάι/υμαι, ^ Although the \oyoirowl of the Greeks
Ϊ σ a τΐ σταθμυν κ a\ δμοΊα τοΊσι niny not exactly correspond to the romnncers
4v Αΐ\φυΐσι (llerod. i. 92). They of the middle ages or of more recent times,
were of such Aaiue that, at the breaking out since they certainly aflected somewhat more
of the Ionian revolt, it was thought by one of an historic character, yet the notices whicih
of the wisest of the (Jreeks, Hecatajus the remain to us seem to indicate that tiieir
Milesian, that the success of the struggle writings in reality jjartock fir more of the
Essay Ι.
STORY OF CR(ESUS PARTLY MYTHIC.
309
heroic tale of QEdipus 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 Avriter deemed appro-
priate, and the whole gradually took the perfect form which delights
us in Herodotus. The Λvaming of Solon — even, it maj' 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 fTineral pyre, the reproach addressed to Apollo and his leply —
all these seem to be subsequent additions to the original historic
outline, Avhereby 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 OΛved 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 Avhich
the Herodotean legend was formed. [Α.]
[Note Α.]
The tale in Damascenus runs as
follows : —
" Cyrus pitied Croesus, but the Per-
sians were augry with him and raised a
mighty funeral pyre at the foot of a
lofty hill, from which 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 Lydiaus ; then
there burst from the multitude of the
city a piercing cry — 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 hai-d
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 thiugs take their course, in hopes
tliat some touch of compassion would
move the hearts of the Persians. Now
Λvhen Croesus came opposite to the place
where Cyrus sat, he cried to tlie king
with a loud voice entreating to be
allowed to see his sou — it was his son
who had been dumb and had recovered
his sjieech whom he wished to see — who
now spake readily and was a youth of
nature of romances than of historical narra-
tives. (See ThucyJ. i. 21.)
1 Note the correspondency between the
lines with wliich Sophocles concludes the
(Edipus Tyrannus and the words of warning
addressed by Solon to Croesus (Herod, i. 32).
* Phiygia, at the time when Adrastus flies
to Sardis for protection, is already a province
of the Lydiau empire (Herod, i. 28). The
story makes it iudupendeut. 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 Merm-
nadae.
310
LATEST FORM OF THE
A pp. Book L
sense and feeling. Cyrus ordered him
to be brought, and presently he ai-rived
with a goodly company of his companions
following after him. Then Croesus was
no longer himself, but for the fii-st time
began to weep. The youth, with many
tears and cries, fell on liis father's neck,
and said sobbing, ' Alas ! father, for thy
piety 1 will the gods never succour us ?'
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, 'Thousayest
not true, son; 'tis I alone Λvho 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 Croisus,
' 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 I 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
di-esses and all manner of rich orna-
ments, whicli the Lydiau 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 o\itstretchcd towards heaven,
prayed thus: — ' 0! King Ajiollo, 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
Civst liimself also upon the pj're, but his
friends laid liold of liim and prevented
him. In the mean time, just as Crci'sus
was going up, the Sibyl Wius observed
descending from an eminence and coming
towards the place to see Λvhat was
happening. Straightway a murunu• ran
through the crowd that the projiheteas
was approaching, and they were all
asape 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: —
' AVretchcs, -wlicrerore so hot upon mischief that
will not be suffered?
Jove the supreme, and Phoebus forbid it, and
Amphiaraiis.
Hark to the truth-speaking voice of the seer,
and beware of offending
Heaven by your fully, 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 exj^ress 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 pyro
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 ΛνΙΙΙ 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 Aj^ollo
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, tlie air grew siuldenly dark, and
clouds collected together from all quar-
ters, with much thunder and lightning,
and such a storm of rain burst forth
that, Avhile 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 thimder, and struck by tlie hoofs
of the liorses, which were rendered restiff
by the storm, they trembled with affright :
and as they thought of the warning of
tiie Sibyl and of the oracles of Zoroaster,
they called yet more loudly upon Cyrua
Essay I.
STORY OF CECESUS.
\n
to spare Croesufs, and, prostrating them-
selves upon the ground, besought the
gods to pardon them. Some say that
Thales had foi-eseen, 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
Zoroa-ster, which forbade the biu-ning of
dead bodies, or any other pollution of
the element of fire; and so the ancient
ordinance, \vhich had been neglected,
was established among them. Cyrus
after this took Crcesus with him to his
palace, and comforted 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 \var on thee
in the confident hojie of victory, only to
gain such first-fruits as these' (here he
pointed to his fetters), 'and wherefore
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 pilace if he had not been
fearful of his rebelling."
312
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oU GEOGRArnY OF ASIA MINOR. Αγρ. Book I.
ESSAY 11.
ON TIIK THYSICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA JIINOR.
1. Plivsical Geography of Asia Minor — Shape, dimensions, and boundaries.
2. Great ceiitrul Plateau. 3. Division of Plateau — Lake region — Northern
flat — Kiverswliich drain the latter — (i.) The Yechil-Innah, or Iris — (ii.) The
' ΚιζιΙ-ΓηηηΙί, or Halys — (iii.) The Sakkariyeh, or Saugai'ius. 4. Coast tracts
outside the Plateau: (i.) Southern — (ii.) Northern — (iii.) Western. 5. Its
rivers. 6. Its general chai-acter. 7. Political Geography. 8. Fifteen nations:
(i.) Phrygians — (ii.) Matieni — (iii•) Cilicians — (iv.) Pamiihylians — (v.)
Lycians — (vi.) Caunians — (vii.) Carians — (viii.) Lydians — (ix.) Greeks —
(x.) Jlysiaus — (xi.) Thraciaus — (xii) Mariandynians — (xiii.) Paphlagouians
(xiv.) Chalybes — (xv.) Cappadocians. 9. Comparison of Herodotus with
Ephorus.
1. Asia Minor, or the Peninsula of Anatolia, is in form an irregular
]iarallelogram, facing the fonr cardinal points, in length from Avest
to east about 650 miles, in aA'erage breadth from north to south
;]50 miles. It is bounded on the north by the Euxine {Black Sea)
;ind Propontis (Sea of Marmora) ; on the west by the ^gean ; on
the south by the Mediterranean ; on the east by an imaginary line,
bearing N.N.E. from the north-eastern angle of the gidf of Issus
(Meiiderun) to Ordou (long. 37^ 52', lat. 40^ 57') on the Euxine.'
Its feize 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 elcA'ation, which
branches from the Georgian Caucasiis, and under various names
nms across the ]ieninsula from east to Avest, at an average distance
of 50 or 60 miles from the shore, joining the Mysian Olympus,
between Xica^a (Isnik) and Doryla3um (Eski Shaher), in lat. 40^,
long. 80''. A lateral ridge, rising but slightly above the level of
the plateau, connects Mount Taurus Avith the Mysian Olympus, and
forms the western boundaiy of the elevated tract in (question. This
ridge may be regarded as commencing near Biddiir (lat. 88•^, long.
80° 20'), and running in a direction a little west of north to Kud-
shalak, a small village about half-way between Prusa (Briissa) and
Cotyajum {Kididdyeh). On the cast 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
^ It ha.s been customary to reckon the and Kerasunt, in the ancient country of the
isthmvLs ΆΑ lying between the gulfs of Issus eastern Chalybians. According to the mai)s,
and Amisus {Smisoun) ; but recent observa- Ordou seems to be about the nearest point,
tions have shown tliat the shortest line from (See Kennell's Geography of Western Asia,
se;i to sea is from tiie north-east angle of the vol. i. p. 337, and the Maps of Mr. Hamilton. )
gulf of Issus to some point between Fatsa
Essay Π. DIVISIONS OP 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 Avhole of this region forms
a single plain. On the south-east and south, niimerous high ridges,
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 Avhich
end in lakes that have no outlet.^ Such are the plains of Egerdir,
Ak-Shekr, JIgJmn, Kouiyeh, Bei/Shehr, Erkle, Karahissar, &c.^ Such
again is the great central plain, wherein is situated the vast salt
lake of Touz-Ghieul, the ancient Talus Tattsea. 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 Avaters into the Euxine. These
are the Yechil-Innak (the ancient Iris), the Kizil-Irmak (or Halys),
and the Sakkariyeh (or Sangarius).
(i.) The Yechil-Innak 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 princiiml streams, the largest of which, the ancient Lycus,
descends from the Armenian mountains, and does not belong pro-
jDerly to the region under consideration. The other two, the central
2 Colonel Leake thus describes one of these level, and the peculiarity of their extendins;,
tracts, the plain of Iconium {Kontyeh): without any prenous slope, to the foot of the
" Soon after we had quitted this spot, we mountains, which rise from them lii;e 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 Korda. On the descent from this ridge country from Balwudim to Karainan, a dis-
Λνβ 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-Sliehr, Ilghtin, Kouiyeh, and Knssaba, to
middle of it ; and we saw the city with its the northern foot of Taurus, near Karainan.
mosques and ancient walls, still at a distance He foimd reason to believe that the same sort
of 12 or 14 miles from lis. To the north- of country extended to the north-east as far as
east nothing appe;ired to interrujjt the vast Mount Arga^us {Erdjish), and to the west as
expanse but two very lofty summits covered far as Buldur. (See his map, prefixed to the
with snow, at a great distjuice. They am be Travels in Asia Minor.) His opinions have
no other than the summits of Bloimt Argaius been confirmed by more recent travellers,
above Kesaria, and are consequently α hun- (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 tluis describes the coimtrv
plains extend as far as the mountains of near Cotya?um : " We continued the ascent
Karamau (Taurus) We were much for an hour, and I fully exjjected to find mv-
struck with the apj)earance of a remarkable self on a barren summit ; but what was my
insulate! mountain called Karadagh surprise, on reaching the top, at seeing before
It is about 00 miles distant, and beyond it are me meadows and cultivated land for twenty
seen some of the summits of the Karaman wiiVt's.' " (pp. 125-6.) These table-lands con-
range, which cannot be less than ninety miles tinned 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-
Afterwai-ds he observes : " A characteristic dun to Karaman (TraΛ•els in Asia Minor, pp.
of these Asiatic plains is the exactness of the 45, 96, 97, kc).
316 lUVEPiS. Αγρ. Eook I.
one, rejiartlecl by the ancients as the Upper Iris, and the western,
which was called the Scylax, carry off the waters from a tract which
lies, as it were, Avithin the basin of the Kizil-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 Iuzil-Irmak,\ or ancient
Halys. Its real source is in Armenia, near the city of Stwas (Sebaste),
whence it floAvs with a Avestern or south-Avestern course, receiving
many tributaries on its Avay, as far as Kesuriyeli (the ancient Cajsarea-
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 Argajus, near Kesariyeh,
passes to the north of Lake Tatta, and there sinks into the plain.
The augmented stream then proceeds northward by a bold SAveep
towards the west, and, forcing its Avay through the northern range
near Osmanjik, runs into the Euxine within aboxit 40 miles of the
YechU-Jnnak. The basin drained by this stream is thus about 300
miles in its greatest Avidth, and 175 miles from north to south, be-
tween Mount ArgcEus and the gorge at Osmanjik.
(iii.) The third river, the Sahkariyeh, or Sangarius, like the Iris,
has three principal branches. The easternmost, called at present
the Eugnri Su, rises bej'ond Ancyra (^Enguri), but a fcAv leagues
from the banks of the Halys. After running about 70 miles Avith
a course nearly diie Avest, it joins the central stream, Avhich is re-
garded by the Turks as the main riA^er, and called the Sakkariyeh.
This branch springs from the flanks of the great mountain, Emir
Dagh, near Bulwudun, and flows north-east to the point of junction.
FiOm thence, until its union Avith the third stream, the Farsek, or
ancient Thymbrias, the course of the Sakkariyeh is A^ery imperfectly
known. Its general direction is still AvestAvard, but after receiving
the Pursek, or river of Kutahiyeh, from the Avest, it turns nortliAvard
making (like the Kizil-lrmak) a bold Avesterly sweep, and pierces
the northern mountain-chain near IShiighat, after AA'hich 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 Avest of ( V)tya3um, and 100 miles
from north to south, betAveen the range of Emir-Dagh and the Bithy-
nian Olympus.
4. Outside the high central plateau, Avhich has been described,
on three sides, southward, westward, and noilliAvard, lie strips of
territory. These tracts ro(piire separate consideration.
(i.) The range of Taurus, Avhich bounds the central plateau on
the side of the Mediterranean, like the European mountain-ranges
whose direction is the same, presents its steep side to the south.
From the summit of the chain, distant in general about 00 or 70
miles from the coast, the descent into the valleys of Lycia, Pam-
phylia, and Cilicia, is rapid and precipitous. These A'alleys, Avhich
arc narrow and numerous, and ha\'e a general direction from north
* Hamilton's Travels in Asia Minor, Poa- I •* Calleilalso the Atoe, or Atoc-Su. Kuil-
tas, and Armenia (vol. i. pp. 344-305J. j Irmak is merely " lied Iliver."
Essay II. COAST TRACTS OUTSIDE THE PLATEAU, 317
to south, are separated from each 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 whole southern coast do the
valleys expand into plains — at Adalia (the ancient Attalia) in I'am-
phylia, and near Tersoos (or Tarsus), where the vast alluvium,
formed by the three streams of the Cydnus {Tersoos Chai), the Sarus
(iSV/πί/ί), and the Pyramus {Jylmii), lias created the extensive flat
which gave to the eastern portion of Cilicia the name of Cilicia
Cwnpestris.^ Elsewhere, along the whole line of coast, the moun-
tains descend abruptly into the Mediterranean, except where the
small streams, which carry oft' the waters from the south side of
Taurus, reach the sea.
The principal of these streams is the Calycadnus, or Ghiuh-Sooyou,
which 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 W., 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 finall}^ 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 moiantainous in the extreme, forming a
portion of the ancient Cilicia Trachea. Numerous 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 nariOw
and somcAvhat 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 500 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 βΙβΛ'ηΙίοη of Mount Taurus is not Campus Aleius). But the fact is that the
Teiy great. The highest peaks are said to be \•\\ά• 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 jiromontory 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 luid Kj-pros. Compare Beaufort's Kara-
5000 feet. Mount Takhtalu, a continuation mania, j)p. 285-8.)
of Climax, on the eastern coast of Lyeia, is ^ Called incorrectly by Major Rennell a
7800 feet. (See Beaufort's Karamania, second ridge, parallel to Taiu'us (Geography
p. 57.) of Western Asia, vol. ii. pp. 78-9). Kie-
* The Jyhun (Pyramus) falls 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 Greenwich).
318 EIVERS OF THE WESTERN REGION. App. Book I.
Bitliynia, modem Europeans have but a xerj scanty lvnoΛvleclge.
It appears, from such notices as are procurahle, to be, in its central
parts, between the Iris and Sangarius, a level and fertile country,
well-Avatered and Avell-Avooded, but not possessing any very marked
or striking features. EastAvard of tlie Iris, and AvestAvard of the
Sangarius, the character of the region is sonicAvhat difierent. The
rivers rini in narrow valleys, or ravines, and tlie intermediate
countr}'• is wild and rocky, scarcely admitting of cidtivation, AVest-
Avaid 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 Avhich the coast-line forms the base, while its apex is near iSan-
dukli, above the head-streams of the iMa^ander. The base extends
about 100 miles, from the Gulf of Adramyttium to that of Maralehjeli,
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, Gohek, JJeenair, j\/enzil, &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 betAveen 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 \-alleys of the Caicus, the
I Hermus, the Cayster, and the Maeander. These mountain-ranges
are the Kestaiieh-JJagh, or Messogis, which separates between the
Maiander and the Caj'ster ; tlie JusilJa-musa-Dagh, or Tmolus, which
divides the basin of the Cayster from that of the Hermus 1 and the
extension of the Demirji range, known to the ancients as Pitnaeus
and Sardene, Avhich intervenes between the basins of the Hermus
and the Caicus. The general direction of these mountain-ranges,
and also of the four great streams wliich they separate, is from east
to Avcst. To the north and south the triangle is enclosed by the
Demirji- Dag h, or Temnus, and the Jkiha-lJugh, or Cadmus, both
brandies from the transverse ridge Avhich connects Taurus with the
northern mountain-chain.
5. Of the four streams Avhich \\iWQ, been mentioned, tAvo, the
Ma;ander and the Hermus, are of a size far exceeding that of the
others. Both have their sources on the flanks of the gi'eat 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 Suiu/ukli Chai, and the Deenair river, unite to form the
M;Oander (^Mendere), wliich 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 riA'crs, the Demirji Chai, the Aimh Chai, and the Ghiediz Chai,
' These are the Tchoruh Su or I.ycus, the Kara Su or Harpasus, and the Chccna Chai
or llarsyas.
Essay Π. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA MINOR. 319
and is afterwards augmented by the two great streams of tlie Coga-
mus, and tlie Hyllus or Phrygius.* The Cayster and the Caiciis,
the latter above the Hermns, the former between it and the Maaander,
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 Marauder and the Hermus are
Λ-ast alluviums, which have grown immensely since the time of
Herodotus, and which every year augments.•* The Cayster and the
Ca'icus have large though less extensive deltas. The vallej's, 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 ι
Hermus, which is at the junction of that stream with the Phrygius ; s
that of Sardis^ where the Cogamus joins the Hermus ; that of Per- J
gaious, where the Ceteius unites with the Ca'icus ; and that of the \
Cayster, where that river receives the Phyrites, near Ephesus. i
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 e\en less adapted for cultivation.
The middle region, which abounds in traces 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 Euxiue, the Thracians, Marian-
dynians, Paphlagonians, and Cappadocians ; three, finally, dwelt
in the interior, the Phrygians, the Chalybes, and the MatiOni.
(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 boundary, as Herodotus expressly testifies f and there
* Sometimes a larger stream than the 207). Sir C. Fellows follows in the same
Hermus betbre the junction. See Fellows's track (Asia Minor, p. 16).
Asia Minor, p. 20. * Fellows's Asia Minor, p. 2G.
3 Strabo, xiii. 901-2. ^ The Caunians are mentioneil as a distinct
■* Heroilotns notices the increase of land at people in ch. 172. lu the enimieration
the mouth of the ]\Ia;ander (ii. lu). 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. λ•. 29). Chandler remarks whom' they in fact belonged. (See note ^ to
the further accumulation of soil in both book i. ch. 172.) Scykix, however, reckons
places (vol. i. pp. 86 and 201-20G), and Caunus to Caria. (Peripl. p. 92.)
speculate.s on future changes of a still more '' Heiod. i. 72.
extraordmary character (ib. p. 88 and p.
320 FIFTEEN NATIONS OF HEEODOTUS. Apr. Book T.
is no reason to donbt that their limits northΛΛ'arcls and soiithAvards
coincided nearly Avith 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 Avhich lies westAA'ard
of that Avatershed, and is drained by the head-sti-eams of the Ilermus
and the JMajander. Colossal, on the Lyons before its junction witli
the Micander, is reckoned to I'hrygia;" and Strabo even jilaccs the
boundary yet further to the Avest." The Catakecaiimene is, however,
always regarded as beyond the l*hrygian territory.'
(ii.) The table-land, immediately east of the Halys, appears to
be assigned by Herodotus to the MatiOni, a people not mentioned
among the inhabitants of the peninsxila by the geographers, but
occasionally alluded to by writers of the age of Herodotus,* The
Halys has the Matieni on the right, Avhile 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 Termilaj.
Cilicia extended indeed considerably to the north of Taurus, unless
we regard Herodotus as altogether mistaken with resjiect to the
course of the upper Halys.* It occupied the eastern portion of the
south coast, opposite Egypt.^ Its western boundar}^ is not fixed by
Herodotus, btit we know that in after times it was jilaced at (?ora-
cesium^ (Alayci). 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
coastline, that it extended from Coracesium to PhasGlis {Tekrova),
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 Phiygia. He is not acquainted with the
8 Xenoph. Anab. i. li. 6. supposed that Horodotus was unacquainted
3 At Carnra, below the junction of tlie witb the main source of the Halys, and
Lyons with the W;eander (xii. p. 837). iniat;iued tlie stream to ilow from the
' The doubt was whether it belonged to northern flanks of Taurus, and to run during
Mysia or Lydia. See Strabo, xiii. p. 900. its whole course nearly from south to north.
2 As Hecaticus, 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 gi-eat stream, easily
enumeration of the inhabifcmts of the peuin- mistaken for the leal Halys, in these regions,
sulafFr. 80). and witli tliis direction. (Biihr ad Herod.
^ Herod, i. 72. Elsewhere, however, Cap- i. 72 ; liennell's (leography of Western Asia,
padocia appe;u-s to include the Matieni. The vol. i. p. 352.) Mr. Hamilton's travels have
road frora Sardis to Sus;i piussed through shown that there is no such river. The range
Lydia, Phrygia, Cnppculocia, and Cilicia. of hills wliich extends from Cresarea {Kesa-
Ko Matieni are mentioned upon this part of riijeli) to the north of Lake Tatta ( Touz
the route (v. 52). Gliieul) is nowhere above 30 miles from the
'' The ui)i)er Halys flows δίά ΚιΧΊκων Halys, and no stream from the south pierces
(i. 72). If we regard Herodotus as ac- it. (Compare note * to book i. cli. (3.).
quainted with the re;il course of the river, * Herod, ii. 34.
this expression will extend Cilicia to the * Strabo, xiv. p. 953.
:')9th parallel, a whole degree north of the 7 Herod, v. 52.
Taurus range. Modern geographei-s have ^ Kennell's Western Asia, vol. ii. p. 71.
Essay Π. LYCIA, CARIA, AND LYDIA. 321
Pisidia of more recent writers,' whicli was a mountain-tract, lying
inland, and separating Pampliylia from Plirygia, thus boimding
Pampliylia to the north. Probably he reckoned this tract partly
to Phrygia, partly to Pampliylia.
(v.) Lycia lay next to Pampliylia upon the south coast. It
extended from Phaselis on the east to the valley of the Calbis on
the west, Avhere the territory of the Cannians bounded it. Inland
it reached to the mountain-ranges of Taurus and Dajdala. It appears
to have been divided into three portions — Lycia Proper, or the
country of the Troes and Termilae, which included the Avhole of the
coast, being the tract lying south of Da^dala, Massicytus, and the
range which connects Massicytus with Mount Takhtalu ; Mil^-as, the
high plain about Lake Avelan, in which stands the large town of
Almali ; and Cabalia, the central plain of Safala * (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 ivestern coast was occupied ancientl}' 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 (JJol-
lomon Cha'i) to the Ehodian Chersonese. Inland the Caunians may
have reached to the mountain-ranges of Lida and Salbacon, beyond
which was certainly Caria. No Avriter but Herodotus speaks of the
Caunians as a distinct people.
(vii.) Caria Avas anciently the whole country from Caunus on the
south to the mouth of the Maeander on the west coast. It extended
inland at least as far as Carura, near the junction of the Lycus with
the Maiander. Th^ chain of Cadmus {^Baha Dagli) 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, Λvho 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 El^eitic Gulf,*
where it adjoined on Mysia. Eastwards it bordered on Phrygia,
but the line of demarcation between the two countries cannot be
^ The Pisidinns seem to be first mentioned the time when they made their settlements,
as a distinct people by Xenophon (A nab. X. Mysia, however, was on the decline from that
ii. 1, &c.). Kphorus reckoned them an period; and there is reason to think that, by
inland people (Frag. 30). the age of Croesus, Lydia had extended itself
1 Called &'chdehter, by Mr. Hamilton on :is fiir north as the Gulf of Adramyttium.
his map. Adramyttium is spoken of uniformly as a
^ The early Greek settlers seem to have Lijdian city. (Xic. Damasc. p. 5-1-, Oielli.
extended Jlysia as tar south as the promon- Aristot. ap. Steph. Byz. in voc. Άδραμύτ-
toiy of Cane', and probably this was true of τΐΐον.)
VOL. J, y
322 MYSIA AND BITHYNIA. A pp. Book Γ.
fixed. The ancients themselves regarded it as a matter of uncer-
tainty.* There is almost equal difliculty in separating between
Lydia and Mysia. The BemirjiYiingG, with its continuation, the low
line of hills wliich separates the basin of the Ca'icus from tliat of the
Hermus, is conjectured rather than proved to be the boundary.*
(ix.) The coast-lino of this region seems to have been almost
entirely in the possession of the Greeks, the lonians extending con-
tinuously f]-om the lAIteander to Smyrna, and again to tlie north of
the llermus, occupying the I'hocaian peninsula, while the ^Tiolic
Greeks were settled at Smyrna itself, and tlience 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 iEgean washed it on the
west, the Hellespont and Propontis upon the north. Its eastern
boundary Avas probably the range of hills which forms the water-
shed between the Sangarius and the Rl^yndacus {TauschanU Chat).
Here it bordered on Bithynia. It formed the western extretnity
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 Adramyttitim (AdrdinijH).
(xi.) EastAvard of Mysia was Bithynia, or (according to Hero-
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 Jzmid
(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 Bilheus, Xenophon the city of Hera-
clea (^Kregli), the boundary. Herodotus appaiOntly differs from all;
for as the Mariandynians lay between the Sangarius and Horaclea,
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 U])per streams of the BilliBus (or Fih/as),
intervening between the MariandN'uians and riiiygia. Their
eastern boundary was Cape JJaba (Posideivnn) near Eregli (Ileraclea
Pontica).
(xiii.) Paphlagonia succeeded, extending from Capo Baha to the
' Strab. xiv. p. 9G7. note '' on Book i. ch. 149.)
'' See Reunell's Ueography of Western ^ Herod, vii. 7.5.
A.sia, vol. i. p. 1303. 7 So liennell (Geography of Western Asia,
* Their occupation of the coast wa-s inter- vol. ii. p. 114) ; but I have fiiiled to find any
rupted at the Pho(;a;an peninsula; but they authority for the a-ssertion. Pliny (H. N.
appear to have had a connected territory v. 32) makes the Thynians the inhai)itants of
inland, extending fiom Smyrna across by the whole sea-coiust of Bithynia: " Teuent
Tenwuts to Cyme, and thetice along the co;uit uram oinnem Thyui, interiora Bithyui."
far into the Gulf of Adramyttium. fSeo " 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 BilhBus on the west, the Euxine on the north, the Ilalys 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 Innak or Costambol 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 Chalj'bes 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 peaiasala (της Χερρονησυυ), 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
White 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
Fisidiatis, the Mysians, the Chalybians, the Phrygians, and the
Milyans." * This catalogue is identical with that of Herodotus,
* Mela, i. 21. merians were afterwards expelled from Alia
1 Scymn. Ch. 938. Ephor. ap. Strab. (i. 16) by Alyattas. Even if it be granted
xiv. p. 9(36. Strabo blames him ou this that this passage may be an over-statement,
account. 'Εφόρου yap τοντο irpcoTou άποι- there is nothing heyouil the vicinity to Sinope
reTv ΐχρ-ην, τι 5η τοϋ$ Χά\υβαί τίθησιν connecting the Chalybes of Herodotus and the
euros τη? Xeppoprjaov, τοσούτον αφίστώ- Cimmerians. ΧάΚυβοί "^,κυθαιν άποικοί
ταϊ καΐ 'Ζινώττηί καϊ Άμισοΰ irphs βω ; (vEsch. 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. Chalylies not with Cimmerians but with
^ See the Atlas von Hellas, Blatt iii. Scythians. The (i reeks do not appear to me
Mr. G rote (vol. iii. p. 336) somewhat fuici- to have made the confusion, which Mr.
fully connects these Chalyljes with the Cim- Giote 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.
Υ 2
324 NATIONS OF ASIA MINOR. App. Book I.
excepting that it inclndes tlie Trojans, Pisidians, and ]\Iilyans,
Avliile it omits the MatiOni, the Cappadocians, the Cannians, 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 tlie fiict that Ephorns regards
the peninsula as equivalent to Asia within the llalys. A different
principle causes the omission of the Caunians and the mention of
the Trojans, the Pisidians and the jMilya^. Ephorus is dividing the
inhabitants of Asia Elinor, not politically, but eflmicalhj. Herodotus
himself informs us that the Milyie were a distinct race from the
Lycians (Termilai''), and a peculiar ethnic character may have
attached to the Trojans and Pisidians. By the Trojans are γγο-
bably intended those inhabitants of Lycia who were neither Milyaa
nor Termilte, the Trououes of the Lycian inscriptions, and the
Trojans (Trees) mentioned in the Iliad as brought from Lycia by
Pandarus." This race, though Lycian, 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 pure 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.
Pamnhvlians iPamphyliaus.
ir-amplij nans tPisidiaus.
τ . Λ ί Lycians.
Lycians | Im•^ •
^•^ . > <lroians.
Caunians I Ιλτ•ι
'' (Alilyans.
Carians Carians.
Lydians Omitted accidentally.
Mysians Mysiaus.
Thracians { 2!^^^'^;^°^} •• •• Bithynians.
Mariandynians INIariandynians.
Paphlagonians Paphlagouians.
Clialybes Clialybes.
Phrygians Phrygians.
ii^oliansl i^olians.
loniaus > Greeks <Ioniang.
Dorians ) (Dorians.
® Book siv. p. 967. ^ See the last Essav of tlie Appendix —
7 Herod, i. 173. » Horn. II. ii. 824-827. " On the Ethnic Affinitiw of the Nations of
3 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 conuexion 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 Assyi-iaus. 7. Establishment of the independence : (i.)
Account of Ctesias — (ii.) Account of Herodotus. 8. Cyasares the real founder
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.
1. That the 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 Avhich brought their
ancestors from Aria,^ would, jierhaps, alone suffice to establish this
ethnic afiSnity. Other proofs, however, are not wanting. The
Medes are invariably called Arians 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 appertains 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
^ Herod, vii. 62. Oi Se Μηδοι 4κα- language of a completely distinct fiimily. It
\eovTo πάλαι irphs πάντων "Apioi. is, however, now pretty generally allowed
2 In the first Fargard of the Venchdad, the that tlie term Median, as apphed to this
primeval seat of the Persians, whence their particular form of language, is a misnomer,
migrations commence, is called Airyanem retained in use at present for convenience'
vaejo, " the source or native land of the sake. The language in question is not Bledic
Arians." (Cf. Prichard's Natural History but Scythic, and inscriptions were set up iu
of Man, p. 165 ; MUller'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. (See Sir H. Rawlinson's
mfere's Histoire des Mongols, torn. i. p. 241, Commentary 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 imiversally of
of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. x. part ui. 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.
yeries militate against the notion of an identity Among the ancients, Nearchiis and Strabo
of language, since undoubtedly the (so-called) (xv. p. 1030, Oxf. ed.) maintained that the
Mi»(liaii talilets are written not only in a Jledian and Persian tongues only diliereJ as
dill'erent language from the Persian, but in a two dialects of the same Lxnguage.
326 MEPES AND PERSIANS NEARLY ALLIED. Arr. Book I.
expressions, botli in sacred and profane OTifers, which M'onld be
altogether inexplicable if, as has sometimes been supposed," the
Medes had been of an ethnical family entirely distinct from the
I 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
d nations, indicated by their position in the lists,® the common use of
I the terms " the Mede," " Medism," " the Median war," in connexion
' with the Persian attacks upon Greece,' the oft-repeated formula in
the boolc of Daniel " according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
\ which altereth not,"* — these and similar expressions and facts be-
/ come instinct with meaning, and are no longer strange but quite
i intelligible when once we recognise the ethnical identity of Medes
I and Persians, the two pre-eminent branches of the Arian stock. W c
see how natural it was that there should be an intimate luiion, if not
an absolute fusion, of two peoples so nearly allied ; how it was likely
\ that the name of either should apply to both : Ιιολυ they Avould have
i one law and one dress as well as one religion and one language, and
I would stand almost, if not qiiite upon a par, at the head of the other
I nations, who in language, religion, and descent wei'e aliens.
13. 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 ci'iticism need not doubt, remote though
it be, and obscurely seen through the long vista of intei-\'ening
centuries. AVhere 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 deriΛ'ations tion ou the tomb of Darius (Sir H. liawlinsou's
of the word Ecbat<ma, seem to imply that Pers. Cuu. Inscr. vol. i. p. 292), or at least
they look on the Medes as a Semitic race. one portion of it, as in that at Behistun.
^ Hai^jjagus, the conqueror of the Asiatic The only case in which any other provini«
Greeks, of Caria, Cauniis, and Lycia, is a takes positive precetleuce of Media is in the
Mede (Herod, i. 162). So is Datis, the joint list at Pcrsepolis, 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 Malia second (ib. p. 280).
Harmamithras and Titha!us, sons of Datis, the ^ Herod, i. 103; iv. 165, 197; vi. 64,
(■«mmauders of Xerxes's aivalry (ib. vii. 88). &c. Thucyd. i. 14, 18,23, &c. jEschyl.
In the inscriptions we find Intaphres, a Mede, Pers. 787 (ed. Scholefieki). Aristoph. Ly-
mentioned as reducing Babylon on its second sistr. 615. Thesm. 316. Pax, 108, &c.
revolt from Darius (Beh. Ins. col. iii. par. 14). * Dan. vi. 8, 12, 15. The precedency of
And Camaspates, another Mede, is employed the Medes over the Pei-sians, which is found
to bring Sagartia into subjection (ibid. a)l. ii. not only in this formula, but also in the pro-
par. 14). No foreigners except Medes are so phetic announcement, " Thy kingilom is
employed. divided and given to the Medes and Per-
" Herod, i. 135, and \n. 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, possi w. "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.) Cyruu the Persian.
When there ia a complete cnumerationj Media
Essay ΙΙΓ. FIRST HISTORIC NOTICES OF MEDIA. 327
indicated,' it seems impossible to suppose either coincidence or col-
lusion among the Avitn esses. In such a case we may feel sure that
here at length among the bewildering mazes of that mythic or semi-
mythic literature in Λvhich the first origin of nations almost invariably
descends to later ages, vre have come uj^on 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 Babj-lonian story
of a Median d3'nasty at Babylon above 2000 years before the CUiristian
era,'' although referring be3^ond a doubt to some real eΛ'ent, will yet
aid us little in determining tlie time of the Arian emigration. For
it is not unlikely that Berosus, in using the term " Mede," is guilty
of a prolepsis, applying the name to the iScyths, who in the early times
inhabited the region known in his own days as Media — just as if a
wiiter were to call the ancient Britons Engliu, or say that in the
age of Camillus the FremA 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 first falls in Avith the
3Iedes (about b.c. 880), he seems to find the emigration still in
progress, and not yet complete.*
4. The Medes {Mad) occupy the region south of the Caspian,
between the Kurdish mountains, which are in possession of the
Naiari (Scyths), and the country called Biknior 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 l)y 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 the time when the Medes of
BeiOsus, probablj' a different race, conquered Babylon,
5. All that can bo said, therefore, of the emigration is, that, at
whatever time it commenced,^ it Λvas 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 Prichai'd's Natural History of ]\Ian. was only in progress at the time of the con-
p. 1(35. The Imlian tradition is found in the quests recorded on the obelisk.
Institutes of Menu (l»ok ii. chaps. 17, 18), ^ Perhaps the Vcekeret of the Vendidad.
the Persian in the first Fargard of the Yen- (Notes on Early History of Babylonia, p. 29,
didad. note ■^.)
* Berosus ap. Polyliistor. (Euseb. Chron. 7 In the list of the Vendidad no position
Can. pars i. c. iv. p. 17, ed. Mai). west of Rhages [R/mi/<i) can be clearly iden-
* See Sir H. Rawlinson's Commentary on tified. Varene may be the ca})ital of Jleilia
the Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia, pp. Atropatcne, which was Killed Veva, or Baris,
42-3. Although the emplacements there sug- by the (ϊ reeks; but this is very uncertain,
gested are not regarded by Sir H. Kawlinson (Ibid. p. 34, note ^.)
as certain, yet he justly remarks, " It would * As the Medes are not mentioned in the
be difficult, according to any other explana- annals of Tiglath-Pileser I., who reigneil
tion, to bring the tribes and countries indi- about B.C. 113((,and warred in tlie eountrias
cat«d into geograjihieal relation "(note, p. 43). east of Zagros, it is probable that they had
The ])assage certainly furnishes very strong not then reached Media Magna,
grounds for thinking tliat the Arian migratiou
328
MEDL•^. UNDER THE ASSYEIANS.
App. Book L
.(,
Avliicli tlie main seat of Median power was the country south of the
Caspian. In the first portion of this period the Medes were free
and unassailed ; but from an early date in the 9th century is.c. they
"becauie exposes! to the aggressions of tlie growing Assyrian empire.
The first king" Λvho menaced their independence was the monarch
whose Adctories are recorded upon the hlack obelisk in the British
Museum. This king, who was a great con((ueror, having reduced to
subjection the Sc3'thic races Avhich occupied Zagros, in the twenty-
fourth year of his reign entered the territoiy of the Medes. He met
ap})arently with little opposition ; but it may be doubted whether
his invasion Avas 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
15. 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 Avere at least a portion of the Israelites,
whom six years before he had carried into ca])tivity from Samaria.^
In the great palace Avhich ho built at Khorsabad, Media Avas reckoned
by him among the countries which formed a portion of his dominions,*
being represented as the extreme east, while .Judaea Avas regarded
as forming the extreme west of the cm]iire. Media, however, does
not seem to h.?^\e e\er 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 great 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 Avas probably
' As this king does not tax the Medes
■with rebellion, it is probable that he was the
first Assyrian monarch who reLoiveJ their
submission.
1 Shftinas- Vul, the succe.<sor of Shal-
maneser (the black obelisk king), made an
invasion of Media, and e.\acted a lar;^e tri-
bute. Tiglnth-lMe.<er II., the founder of the
Lower Assyrian dyaa.sty, \vas freijuently
engaged in wars with them.
^ The king of Assyria Λvho led Samaria
into cjiptivity (2 Kings xvii. 6, xviii. 11)
appears from the cuneiform in.scriptions to
hiu-e been S;irgon, not, as had generally been
supposed, Shalmane.ser. (Scrij)ture does not
give the name of Sargon in this connexion,
but says simply " the king of As.syria :"
Sargon, however, is mentioned elscwhoro in a
way which shows him to have warred in
these parts about this time, Isa. xx. 1.) He
is siiid in his annals to have conquered Siimaria
in his first, and reduced the Medes in his
seventh year. The Israelites were perhaps
first planted in Halah and Habor, but after-
\vards transfL>rred to the new towns Avhich
Sargon built in the Median countiy.
■' See Sir H. Kiiwlinsou's Commentary, p.
61.
* For ."^ennacherib, see Grotefend's Cy-
linder, line 1-54. For Esarhaddon, see British
Museum Series, p. 24-, 1. 10, and p. 25,1. 22.
* Com|iare the condition of .ludaa, from the
reign of Hezekiah to the caijtivity, in its
dependence, first on Assyria, and then on
Babylon. See e.sj)ecially 2 Kings xviii.
lo-21, xxiv, 1 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 13.
EssAT III.
MEDIA BECOMES INDEPENDENT.
329
seldom paid unless enforced by the presence of an army. Media
was tlironghout governed by lier own princes, no single chief exer-
cising any paramount rule, but each tribe or district acknowledging
its ΟΛνη 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 AVestera 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 befoie the accession of Astyages, or about the year B.C. 875.'
According to Herodotus it began 167 years later, in B.C. 708." Each
wi-iter 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
accoTints are reconcilable and alike true, or at least that in one or
the other we must jiossess the real Median history.
It is scarcely necessary to enter into an examination of the various
attempts which have 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 chieftnins are meutioned
as giving tribute to EsarhadJou.
7 Ctes. ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 32-4. The
number 282 is the sum of the years assigned
by Ctesias to the reio-ns of his several kings.
8 Herod, i. 95-106.
* The list of Ctesias is as follows : —
Y.-ars.
1. Arbaces 28
2. Mandaucas 50
3. Sosarmus 30
4. Artias 50
5. Arbianes 22
6. Arta;us 40
1. Artynes 22
8. Astibaras 40
282
9. Aspadas or Astyages —
Herodotus gives : —
Veara.
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 Herodotus, and the former part an
interpolation, or a list of tributary Bledian
mouarchs. Others, as Heeren (Manual of
Ancient History, p. 27, E. T.), and Mr.
Dickenson (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol.
viii. art. 16), have argued that it is a distinct
contemporary dynasty. The monuments
lend no support to either view.
^ The list of Ctesias bears fi'aud upon its
face. The 7-ecun-ence of numbers, and the
predominance of round numbers, would alone
make it suspicious. Out of the eiff/i t numbers
given, five 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. Tlie 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 chronologiciil 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, Λvere invented, who
represent Cyaxares and Phraortes o^•er again.
In confirmation of this view, let it be noticed
that the war with the Sacaj (Scyths) of Asti-
baras is a repetition of the Cadusian war of
Artreus, and that both alike represent the
Scythian war of Cyaxares. Next the reign
of Deioces, stated in round numbers at 50
years instead of 53, was assigned to a king
DATE OF MEDIAN INDEPENDENCE. App. Book I.
was derived no doubt from native sources, but Median vanity seems
to baΛ■e palmed \λ\)οϊ\ liim a tictitious narrative.
(ii.) irerodotns was infonned tliat 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
indepeiulence, and, having experienced tor some time the evils of
anai-chy, set up their first natiA'c king Deioces, 179 years before the
death of Cyrus.* This would make thoir reA^olt a little anterior to
B.C. 708.* But it has been shown already from the monimients that
this was the very time when the subjection of the Medes to the
xVssyrians first began, and it cannot therefore possibly bo the time
when they recovered their independence. It Avould seem as if the
Median informant of Herodotus, desirous of hiding the shame of his
natiA'c land, purposely took the A'ery date of its subjection, and
represented it as that of the foundation of the monarchy.
There are strung grounds for suspecting that the establishment of
the Median monarchy did not precede by any long interval the nain
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 Avas established can therefore scarcely
have been earlier than the latter half of the 7th centiiry B.C.,' Avhich
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 siuk into fictitious
personages, indicating perhaps certain facts or periods, but impro-
Artias or Artycas, wlio was made to precede
Arbianes ; and the period of the interregnum,
estimated at a generation (30 years), was
given to another imaginary monarch, So-
sai-mus. This done, the process of iteration
was again brought into play, and in Arbaces
and Mandauciis we were given the duplicates
of Sosarmus and his successor, Artyciis. The
number 28 was substituted for 30, as the
Herodotus.
Interregnum a; years..
Deioces 53 years .
Phraortes 22 years..
Cyaxares 40 years..
Astyages 35 years..
3 The number is obtained by adding to-
gether the years assigned by Herodotus to
the kings in question : —
Ycare.
Dclocos 53
J'hraortcs 22
Cya.\arcs 40
Astyages 35
Cyrus 29
179
length of the reign of Arbaces, to give some-
what more of an historical air to the c;ita-
logue, the fact of its occurrence in the Median
history of Herodotus determining the vari-
ation in that direction and to that extent.
The list of Ctesias is therefore formed from
that of Heroilotiui, and is to be connected
witli it tlius: —
Ctesias.
Arbacr-s
.^MMMilaucus.
.XSipsamius .
\.\rlycas .
Ailiiaiics .
./Art.-us .
.^Artyiics
NAst'lbaras .
. Aspadas
• •^ϊ''" (21^) .years.
. .-^''U years.
. .\22 years.
..Xk) years.
X years.
■• The first year of Cambyses, according to
the Astronomical Canon, ;uid the general
consent of the Greek writers, was B.C. 5'29.
TJie calculations of Herodotus would thus
place the accession of Deioces in B.C. 708.
(5•2ί» + 179 = 708.)
^ Asshur-hnni-pal, the son of Esarhaddon,
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.
Essay ΠΙ. FIRST TWO KINGS UNHISTORICAL. 331
perly introduced into a dynastic series among kings wlio are strict! j
historical.
The improbability of the circumstances related to us of Deioces,
their thoroiighly Greek character, and inconsistency with Oriental
ideas, has been pointed out by a recent writer.* Another has noticed
that the Yeryname is suspicious, being a mere repetitionof the 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 I'hraortes, whose name is one that Medes certainly bore,
and the events of whose life have nothing in them intrinsically
imjirobable. But other suspicions attach to him. If I'hraortes had
really lived and established, as Herodotus represents," a vast Median
empire, Cvaxares 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 IMedia had been governed for twenty
years before the accession of C'yaxares 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 ]\Iedian
name (appearing in the inscrij)tions under the form Frawartish), and
not mythic; or representative, yet there are circumstances connected
with the name Avhich confirm the vieΛv 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 Avhole there are strong grounds for believing that the
great Median kingdom was first established by Cyaxares, about the
year b.c. 633. 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, λοΙ. iii. jjp. * Herod, i. 102.
307-8. 3 He was so regarded in Media, in Sagartia,
' See Sir H. Puawlinson's 'Notes on the and in Greece before the time of Heiodotus.
Early History of Babylonia,' p. 30, note '. (See below, § 8.)
Astyages is Aj-dahak, " the biting snake ; " ' See Essjiy vii. § 33.
Deioces is Daltah, the " biting." Both ^ Cf. Behistim 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 invatlers had a long and violent in the famous lines of jEschylus (Persa,
contest. When the Medes conquered the 761-764):
.Scyths, and blended with them, they adopted Μήδο? yap ?,v ο πρώτο? ήγ^μώ^ στρ.τοΟ
tlie Nythic emblem. See Mos. Chor. i. 29. άλλος &' «eiVou παΓ? τά&' ipyov ηνυσί-
" Quijipe vox Astyages in nostra lingua dra- τρι'τοϊ δ' απ' αύτοϋ Kipos, κ.τ.λ.
couem signiiicat."
332 CYx^XAIiES FOUNDS THE MONARCHY. Arr. Book I.
of name in the misstatement of Diodoriis,^ "that, according to Hero-
dotus, Cyaxares founded the dynasty of Median kings." C3'axares
Avas i-egardi.'d as the iii\st king of the IMedes, not by Herodotus, but
by the Greeks generally, till his time ; and the Orientals seem never
to have entertained any other notion. \\'hen pretenders sought to
disturb the Achieinenian 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,^ Avhich lay east of the Caspian, towards Sog-
diana and Bactria. No other king dit^putes with Cyaxares this pre-
eminence.
The C'inclusion thus established brings the Median kingdom into
much closer analogy with other Oriental empires than is presented
by tlie 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 np an enormous power,
which, resting on no stable foundation, almost immediately falls
away. ^Mlether the great Median prince began his career from the
country about lihages and the Caspian gates, Avliere 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 np 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 Avest into Media, where, after a fierce struggle,
they established their supremacy over the Scyths, partly blending
with them, and partly precipitating them u})ou the Assyrians, whose
power was thereby greatly weakened, if not wholly overthrown.*
This Avas piObably the origin of that Scythian disturbance in ^\'estem
Asia which Herodotus erroneously connects with the Cimmerian
invasion of Asia JMinor.
From the time of Cyaxares authentic Median history may be con-
sidered to commence, and from this period Herodotus may be
accepted as a tolerabl}' trustworthy guide. AVe must not indeed
even here defer too implicitly to his unsupported authority; but
AV'heiO the events which he relates are probal)le, or Avheie Ihey have
a sanction from independent writei's, we may fairly regard them as
in tlie main correctly stated. Tlie general outline of tacts, at any
rate, could not but have been notorious, and from the time that the
* Dioil. Sic, ii. 32. forward a similar pica. (Il)iil. ceil. ii. par.
^ The claim of Frawartish to the Median 14.)
throne wa•^ expressed in these words: " I am * See the Notes ou the I'^irly History of
Xathrites, of the race of Cy;ixares — I am king Babylonia, p. 30, note*. Comi)are p. 38,
of Media." (Beh. Ins. tol. ii. par. .').) stih Jin.
' CVii7/Y(/a',7imr(, the Saijartian rebel, whom '■* See below, Ess;iy vii. § 3-i.
Darius ckistised about the same time, put
Essay III.
SCYTHIC WAE OF CYAXAEES.
Medes came into contact with the Assyrians a contemporary lite-
rature would check the licence of mere oral tradition.
9. That Cyaxares, then, Avas engaged in a long contest Avith Scyths
— that he besieged and took Isineveh, and destroyed the empire of the
Ass^a-ians — and that he penetrated as far west as Lydia, and warred
there with Ah'attes, the father of Crcesus — may be regarded as
certain. The nature and duration of the struggle with the Scythians,
the circumstances of the y^arious wars, and even the order of their
occurrence, are points to which no little doubt attaches. It is not
altogether clear Avhat order Herodotus himself intends to assign to
the several events ' — whether, for instance, he means to place the
war with Alyattes before or after the taking of Nineveh ; nor can we
positively detennine the order from other sources.* Probability is
our best guide ii^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 pait of his reign in a
struggle with Scyths. Scythic races occupied Media and the whole
chain of Zagros until this period, and it Avas only by their being-
subdued or expelled that the Arians could obtain possession. It is
possible that the Scythic Avar of Herodotus represents nothing biit
this struggle. It is possible, on the other 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 AA'cre tiiie, to contain some notice of an incursion Avhich
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, Avhich it is supposed may have been settled on this occasion.
But the connexion Avhich 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 favoui•.*
^ Mr. Grote regards the language of
Herodotus as marking his intention to place
the war with Alyattes before even the first
siege of Nineveh. (Hist, of Greece, vol. iii.
p. 312, and note.) But this is certainly not
correct. The notice of the Median war in
Book i. ch. 103, is parenthetic, and nothing
can be gathered from it with regard to the
time when the war occiu'red.
^ The date of the capture of Nineveh
seems now to be pretty well determined to
the year B.C. C25. That of the great buttle
with Alyattes has been considered fixed on
astronomical grounds to the year B.C. 610.
But all astronomical ciilculations are imoer-
tain, since they assume the imifoimity of the
moon's motion, which is a very doulitful
point. The latest lunar tables, calculated by
Mr. Airy, have been held to give B.C. 585
for the probable year of this eclipse. (See
Bosanquet's Profane and .Sacred Chionology,
pp. 14, 15.) [I am informed that certain
irregularities in the moon's movements have
been discovered since Mr. Airy made liis cal-
culations for Mr. Bosanquet. — 18(51.3
3 See Herod, i. 105.
* Pliny, who alone professes to give tiie
origin of Sc)'thopolis, ascribes its foundation
to Bacchus! (H. N. v. 18.)
334 ASSYRIAN ΛΥΑΕ OF CYAXARES. Αγρ. Book I.
It is not certain that Scythopnlis Avas really inhabited by Scyths ;*
and if it Avas, as this part of Asia swarmed Λvith Scythic ti-ihes," they
may haA'c come in at any time and from any quarter. Thus this
su]iposed 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 gi'eatly exagge-
rated tlic importance of the Scythic troubles. They ΛΛ'cre 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 Avhich can be accurately dated, took place in the year B.C. 625.
The attack probably commenced some years earlier. Cyaxares 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 Avhich he sent to oppose the
progress of the enem}^ Unluckily, he proA'ed false, rebelled against
his royal master, and went over to the side of the Median monarch,
who gladly received his overtui'es and consented to an alliance
betAveen his daughter Amyitis (or Amyhia) and Nebuchadnezzar,
the son of the rebel general.* The combined armies then invested
the toAvn, which, after a prolonged resistance, was taken and razed
to the ground.
* Reland sn2;grsts that 'Σ,κυθότΓολι$ is a spect to the positive argumcDt founded on
corruption of 2υκιιθ(ίπολυ, and that the first Book i. ch. 185, it may be observed that
element of the word is merely the Hebrew Herodotus is there spealdng of tlie feelings of
niSD iSuccoth) in disguise. the Babylonians more than 50 yeai's later.
6 See below, Essay xi., <0n the Ethnic '^'^e authorities for the statement in the
Affinities of the Nations of Western Asia,' text are Abydenus rap. Euseb. Chron. p. i. c.
s 5 ix.), Josephus (Antiq. X. v. § 1), and the
'•'If we allowed the period of twenty-eight l^ok of Tobit (xiv. 15). The List is not
years for the duration of the Siythic troubles, I'^iHy wl'^»* 't professes to be— a document
we should have to suppose that they inter- oi the time- but still it is a work of interest,
fered very little with the regular course of Probably of tlie Alexandrian age. It is not
aflairs among the more settled nations. In surprising that it should substitvite the cele-
tliat case, analogies to the state of circum- ^^ated Nebuchadnezzar m the place of his
stances at the time might be found in the ™"'"e obscure father.
cont^-mporary condition of Asia Minor under ' '^'he passi.ge of Abydenus is given entire
the Cimmerians, and in that of Italy from "i the l•:ssay on the Chronology and History
B.C. 385 to li.C. :!25 under the Gauls. "* Assyria, § 34, note.
* See the next pace. " '^''"*' ™"tract of marriage is mentioned
9 It has been Observed that Herodotus «l* by Polyhistor (Eusel). Chron. p. i. c. v.
makes no mention of this alliance, and con- § '-^l wlio followed Berosus. (See Muller s
eluded from his silence that he conceived of ^'ragrn. Hist. Gv. m. p. 2(19.) ^/myitis is
the cnT)turc of Nineveh a.s accomplished by evidently the " Median princess for wliom
the Me:les alone. fOrote'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- I'ages) is of no consequence, for Astyages
ject of a separate work, makes it rash to pre- {Aj-ilahak) is a title, not a name,
siuue much from liis mere silence. With re-
Essay ΠΙ. HIS SIEGE OF NINEVEH. 335
The details of tlie siege are nowhere authentically preserved to tis.
Beyond the brief notice of Abydenus already quoted, we have abso-
lutely no mention by any ancient writer of repute of anything more
than the bare fact that Nineveh was taken by the forces of the com-
bined nations. That notice, however, brief as it is, by informino- 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 pervei-ted 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 mei-ely 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 tlie 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 kino- ; 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
ofiensive ; that they attacked and routed the Assyrian army, which
took shelter Avithin 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 owin»•
to an exti-aordinary 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
^ "Reomni cognita, rex Saracus regiam 28): ttjj/ ττόΚιν [ό Άρβάκη^Λ els
Evoritam (?) iiiHammabat." (Abyd. 1. s. c). eS αφ ο s κατίσκα\\ΐΐν.
* The only writer, so tar as I am aware, "^ Diodorus makes them fly to these moun-
who has iu some degree anticipated this view, tains after their second detkit, but sends them,
is Jackson. He, however, does not carry it after their third, " to the mountains of Baby-
out to any extent. (See his Chronological Ionia." The junction of the Bactrians con-
Antiquities, vol. i. p. 307.) tradicts this— and, besides. Babylonia h;is no
* Belesis indeed is repre.sented as receiving mountains.
the satrapii 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, perliaps, the result of his own ignorance,
be an independent sovereign. (Diod. Sic. ii. His authority, Ctasias, probably siid " the
27.) . - , river." This remarkable circumstance in the
^ Diod. Sic. ii. 7. ttjs NiVou /core- siege seems to be obscm-ely hinted at in the
σκαμμένη s vwb Μηδων ore κατάλυσαν prophecies of Nahum (see ch. ii. ver. 6, and
rijy Άσσυρίων βασιλΐίαΐ'. And again (ii. ch. iii. ver. 13),
336 FALL OF XINEVEH. App. Book I.
enemy, Cyaxaics may liavc then completed tlie destruction of the
city by mining the Avails and pnhlie huildings.' These circum-
stances are all sufficiently prohable. and chime in Avith knoAvn facts.
It seems, therefore, far from unlikely that Ctesias, Avhile distorting
names and dates, may have preserved in his account of the fell of
Nineveh a tolerably correct statement of the general outline of the
event.
(iii.) The fall of Nineveh produced a complete revolution in the
1 condition of >\"estern 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 Medes 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 part in
the expeditions undertaken for the aggi-andisement of the other.*
These were for the most part successful ; but in one instance, that
of Lydia, the at^sailants were baffled and forced to conclude a peace
which secured the independence of the menaced territory.
(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;* for with that country unsubdued, and pressing as
a thorn into the side of JMedia, 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. 610.
"\\ ithout intending any special deference to the astronomical con-
siderations which have been regarded as fixing that date with exact-
ness,^ or \iewing it as more than an approximation to the truth, we
may assume it here for convenience' sake as certainly not involving
any important error.
^ The complete destruction and desolation mines nothing as to his notion of the order of
of Ninereh is confirmed by the descrijition of events. Hei'odotus, 1 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 [οίκητο, i. 193. ing out of the Lydian war indicate a period
See note ad loc). When Xenojihon j)asscd later than the Si vthic troulilcs, Avhich were
its site, the very memory of the name was over before the fall of Nineveh ; 2. The con-
gone (Anab. III. iv. 10-12). tract of marriage between the son of Cyaxares
2 Herod, i. 10:5. OvtOs [o Kiio^aprjs] and the daughter of Alyattes marks a tolera-
'στιν δ τήί/ "AKvos πόταμου &νω Άσίην My advanced period in the reigns of those
πΐίσαν συστίισα! (ωυτφ. These conipicsts kings; and 8. Herodotus cannot have con-
would naturally ijrccede the attack on l.y.lia. ccived of Babylon as under an independent
' Xebuchadiiciizar is sjiid to have been as- prince and in alliance with C'yaxar&s until
sisted by the Me les in his exi)edition against after Nineveh had fallen (see i. lOti, 178).
Jehoiachim (Polyhist. Fr. 24). ^ By Volney (Rocherches, vol. i. p. 342);
■• Essay i. § 17. Hceren (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. Η 12, note) ; Brandis (Herum Assyriarum
parenthetic passage in Book i. ch. 103 deter- Tempora Emendata, j). 3ό^; 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 years/ 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 part}^ having gained any decided advantage, the great battle
took place which Avas 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 occiirrence 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 Diagon race of Median
monarchs with the ancient and wealthy Mermnadaj.
(Λ^) 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. Medes 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 j\Iedian 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
Ast^^ages 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. AVe are
perhaps justified in concluding, from the all but universal silence of
antiquity,* that the reign of Ast^-ages, 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 siafiering came, an interval of profound repose. The I
three great monarchies of the East, the Lydian, the Median, and the |
BaBj'Tohiah, connected together by treaties and royal intermai-riages,
respected each other's independence, and levied war only against the {
lesser powers in their neighbourhood, which were absorbed without I
' Herod, i. 74. aud 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 king ^ Polyhistor, ap. Euseb. Prief. Ev. e. (See
conquered by Cyrus. That father and son Miiller's Fragmenta Hist. Gr. iii. p. 229.)
bore the same name he st;ites elsewhere (i. Cyaxares is called Astibaras, as by Ctesias
188). This was not really the c^ise, nor was (ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 34).
the father of that Labynetus a king or per- ^ 2 Kings sxiv. 12. Or the seventh year,
sonage of distinction. The real leader of the B. C. 598, according to Jeremiah (Iii. 28).
Babylonian di\'ision in the army of Cyaxares * See Note A. at the end of the Essay,
would be likely to be either IS'abopolassar or ■* Hence the assertion of Aristotle, that
Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus despised Astyages, liecause his troops
^ Josephus says, " Necho, the Egyptian had seen no service, and he himself was suuk
king, collected an army ;md marched towards in luxury. (Pol. v. 8.)
the Euphrates, to make war upon the Medes
VOL, I. Ζ
338 PEACEFUL EEIGN OF ASTTAGES. App. Book 1.
inuch difficulty. For a space of nearly half a century, from the
conclusion of the peace Avith Lydia to the Persian outbreak, this
tranouillity prevailed, — as in tlie natural, so in the political Avorld,
a calm preceding the storm.
11. One circiimstance alone attaches interest to the name and
person of Astyages. It is thought that lie may possibly he the
monarch spoken of as Darius the Mode 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 with
the real possession of the chief power. This would be the more
likely if Astyages were, as Herodotus maintains, his grandfather.
\\ hen 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 Babylon — more
especially if he was left there to exercise the kingly office, while
Cyrus pursued his career of conquest. 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
theory are, first, the silence of Herodotus, and indeed of all other
ancient wi-iters ; * and, secondly, the age of Darius the Mode at his
accession, according to the book of Daniel. As the fall of Babylon
is fixed with much certainty to the year B.C. 538, and Darius Modus
was then in his ()2nd year,* he must have been born b.c. COO, which
is only seven years before the latest date that can well be allowed
^ Syneellus, p. 427. Syncellus indeeil adds " the biting snake," was a title which had
to this identification a further one, which is been borne by all the old Scythic kings of the
quite imiwssible. He considers Darius Asty- country, and from them it seems to have been
ages, as he «ills him, to be identical with the adopted by the Median monarchs (see Mos.
Isabonadius of the Astronomical Canon, who Chor. i. 25 and 29). But it \vould be a
is the Labynetus II. of Herodotus. But the phi'ase 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 \'ery we;ik.
^ The passage is in the apocry])hal portion ^ On this view, the reign of Darius the
of the book of Daniel. In the Vulgate it Mede flills within the nine ye;irs assigned by
concludes the thirteenth chapter (the story of the Astronomiciil Canon to Cyrus.
Susannah), but in the Greek copies, which our ' Besides Herodotus, Xenophon (Cyropsed.
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 can be Polyhistor (;ip. Kuseb. Chron. Can. i. 5),
no doubt, I think, that the name Astyages Al>ydenus (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 10),
represents the Darius Medus of the former and Megasthenes (ap. Euseb. Prap. 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 khig.
cOuld not liave been his name. Aj-dahak, ^ Dan. v. 31; Joseph. Antiq. Jud. x. 11.
Essay ΠΙ. MEDIA BECOMES A PERSIAN SATRAPY. . 339
for the accession of Astyages. If therefore Astyages be Darius
Medus, he miist have ascended the thi-one at the tender age of
seven, v^rhich 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 difiiculty, 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. 610, 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 his 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 tip 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 Modes to sub-
mit to him.' Again, in the reign of Darius Nothus 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 eflbrt 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 extreme perplexity to critics and commentators.
Herodotus 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- Beliistun Inscription, vol. i. pp. xxx.-xxxii.
nies positively that Astyages had any male ® Xen. Hell. i. ii. § 19.
issue. He wiui &παι$ epaefos yovov, i. 109. ^ See Herod, i. chaps. 102, 106, 130.
Ζ 2
340 DIEFICULTIES OF IIEEODOTUS' CHROXOLOGY. Apr Book I.
also states that the jMedian empire over tipper Asia lasted for 128
years, inchiding• in that time the pei'iod of the Scythic troiihles.' If
therefore Ave assume the year B.C. 558 as,^accordii)g to hmi,^ the first of
Cyrus in Persia, avc shall have B.C. 086 for the first year of the
empire, b.c. 708 for the accession of the first king Deioces, and n.c.
055 for that of liis son and successor, I'hraortes. 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 A'cry plain and clear statement, that " Deioces was ruler of
the Medes only," and that it was " Phraortes who first brought
other nations under subjection." *
\'^arious modes of explaining this difiiculty 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 (Onringius ■* and Bouhier,* regards the 28 years of the
Scythic troubles as not included in the 1 28 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.^ AVith regard to this ex-
planation, it is sufficient to say, first, that the passage in question
Avill not bear tlie 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 τριηκοΐ'-α
καί.^ Kiebuhr suggested the substitution of πεντήκοντα for τριή-
κηντα, in the first instance, and the transference of the words τριη-
κυντα €νω}' ΰίοντα to the end of the sentence.^ Recently 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
1 Herod, i. 130. Μηδοι ΰτζΐκν^αν Πίρ- pora Einendata, pp. 6-8) has sliown this
στισι Sia τ^ν τούτου πίκρότητα, & ρ ^ay - with great clearness. Th^ same view of the
T6S τ fj s &νω "AXvos ποταμού meaning of the passage is taken by Schweig-
'AfftTjs 6τγ' erea τρί-ηκοντα καΐ eKarhv ha'user (Lex. Herod, ad Λ'Οϋ. ττάρΕξ), and by
SvtSv δίοντα, ΐΓαρ€ξ i) όσον οί 'Σκνθαι Scott and Liddell (Lexicon ad voc. irape'/c).
ήρχον. * Chronolog. Antiq. voL i. p. 4'2'2.
- Cyrus died B. C. 529 (see the Astrono- ^ In the Denksrhrift d. BurL Ac. d. Wis-
mical Canon). According to Hcrodoti'.s, he senschaft for 1820-1 (pp. 40, 50). See the
reigned 29 years (i. 214). Tliis woukl pkico fut)t note on the passage in question,
his accession m B. c. 558. * Kerum Assyriarum Tenijiora Emendata,
^ Herod, i. 101, 102. p. 8. Dr. Brandis supposes the Avords to
* See Conrhigii Adversaria, p. 148. have licen jilaced in the margin by a reader
' Bouhier, Kecherches sur Herodote, p. 39. who intended to note the period of the Scythic
^ Manual of Ancient History, p. 27, and occupation.
Appendix, γι. 476, Ε. Τ. Besides Conringius, 2 j),•. Brandis l)rings forward two signs of
Bouhier, and Heeren, this view numbers corruption — the use of eVl before an exact
among itsadvoaites Volney (Recherches, tom. number, and the position of the words δυφν
i. p. 418), and Hupfeld (Exercitat. Herodot. δέοντα, after, and not before, the main num-
Sj)ec. ii. p. 56, et seq.). ber. But ίπϊ is often used I)efore exact
' Dr. Brandis (Kerum .\ssyriarum Tem- numbers by Herodotus (i. 7, 94; iv. 163,
Essay III. PROBABLE 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 be said to belong to any of the pro-
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
found in our author. It is, howeΛ'^er, quite possible to account for
it. A single mistake or misconception on his part, and tliat 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 Avhich exists would follow. That
Herodotiis did not discover the contradiction is no more surprising
than that he did not see how impossible it was that Anysis should
live more than 700 years before Amyrtaeus,^ and Moeris less than
900.* It may be doubted whether Herodotus ever tabulated his
dates, or in 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. Occasionally he became
confused, 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 first year of Phraortes, the
j)rince who, according to Herodotus, began the Median conquests.
That 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 bring 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 beginning 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 {^υφν Seoura) tions of 75 yeai's each by the accession of
not even always prefixed to a simple, is '^I Cyaxares. These portions are again in each
think) most natmally suffixed to a compound case subdivided systematically. The later
number. period of 75 yeai's is divided between Cy:uares
^ Herod, ii. 140. * Ibid. ii. 13. and Astyages in the simplest possible way :
* See the Essay of Dr. Brandis, p. 9. the former is divided so as to produce, de-
^ Its main numbers are a century and a half ducting the 28 years of Scythic rule, a Me-
for the entire dm-ation of the Median kingdom, diau empire of a centmy. This period of 28
and a centmy for the period of empire. The yoiu-s is the only number in the whole scheme
longer term is divided exactly into two por- wliich cannot be distinctly accouute<^l for.
ip.c (22 years .. Deioces.
^5 y^»" 153 years .. Phraortes 1
140 "years .. Cyaxares .. Scythsl („„.,,,„„ , .
75 years i rule for 38 yeai's. Π 128 - 28=100 years of empire.
[ 35 years . , Astyages J
342
ΟΟΜΓΛΕΑΤΙΥΕ TABULAR STATEMENT. Αρι•. Eook Ι.
Choosing to represent fhc IMedes as mled 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 Scyihic 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 ΟΛνη 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 Chronologek.
Heeodotus.
True Chkonologt.
B.C.
Mi'Jos at war with As-
syria
Media eouquercd by As- j
Syria 710
Media generally subject
to Assyria, but often
in revolt
Cyaxares begins Ijis con-
quests 633 (?)
Wars with Scyths. .
Takes Ninevcli . . 625
' Wars with Lydia . .
Aids Nebuchadnez-
zar 597
Astyages or Aspadas . . 593
Conquered by Cyrus.. 558
Revolt of the Medes
'Deiocps (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
Astyages (35 yrs.) 593
Conquered by Cy-
■" rus 558
Revolt of the Medes . .
Deioces (53 yrs.) . . . . 708
lliraortes (22 yrs.) . . 655
Conquers Persia, &c.
Cyaxares (40 yrs.) .. 633
Attacks Nineveh . . 632
Drives out the Scyths 604
Takes Nineveh . . . . C03
Attacks Halyattes .. 6(i2
Makes peace . . . . 596
Astyages (35 jts.) . . 593
Conquered by Cyrus. . 558
Note A (referred to at p. 337).
The only ancient writer who assigns
important and stirring events to the
i-eigu of Astyages is the Armenian his-
torian, Moses of Chorcne'. According
to the authorities which this writer fol-
lovped, 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 thotight he saw
the Armenian monarch lidiug upon a
dragon and coming throiigh 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, demautled 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 failing through
her sagacity, the mask was thrown oif,
and preparations for Λvar 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-
gvdshed, sinceTigranesfearedhis 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 about a decisive
engagement, and after a conllict which
for a long time waa doubtful, the Median
army was comjdetely defeated, and As-
tj-ages fell by the hand of his brother-in-
law. Cyrus is not re2)reseuted as taking
Essay ΠΙ. NOTE— ASTYAGES AND TIGRANES. 343
any part in this war, though afterwards lian writer of the 2nd centm-y before
he is mentioned as aiding Tigranes in the our era, who professed to have found it
conqnest of Media and Persia, which are in the royal libraiy of Nineveh, where
regarded as forming a j)art of the domi- it was contained in a Greek book pur-
nious of the Armenian king. (See Mos. porting to be a translation made by or-
Chor. i. 23-30.) It is needless to observe der of Alexander from a Chaldee origi-
that this narrative is utterly incompati- nal. {ΓΙηιί. oh. 8.) Possibly it may
ble witli the Herodotean story. It rests contain an exaggerated account of some
on the authority of a certain Maribas actual war between Astyages and an
(Mar-Ibas or Mar-Abas) of Catiua, a Sy- Armenian prince.
/"
I f.. 33.1)
a^i.**-*^ 4 -^ v^
3^ ^Jj^^ 4..^^ ^'^^-^^"^ '^^'
f?^,. (^^<.c h.L•. fUicf^ '
w««— «""""^ ^~"~~ I . ) f
344 ON THE TEN TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS. App. Book I.
ESSxVY IV.
ON THE TEX TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS.— [II. C.R.]
1. Eminence of the Pasarp;adpe — modern parallel. 2. The Maraphians and
Maspians. 3. The Panthialaians, Derusiaus, and Germauiaus. 4. The nonmde
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
the 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
Erythrajan sea. The Pasargadai, among the other tribes of Per-
sia, were like the Durranees among the Afghans : they enjoyed
especial advantages, and kept themiselves qnite distinct from the
hordes by whom they were surrounded. Tlieir 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 Pasargadix), were
probably cognate races, Avho accompanied them in their original
immigration. Possibly the old name of the former ^ is to be recog-
nized in the title of Mofee, which is borne by a Persian tribe at
the present day, acknoAvledged to be one of the most ancient tribes
in the country. Of the Maspii Ave knoAv nothing, but their appella-
tion probably includes the word as})a, " a horse."
;5. The name of Panthialican 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. (Kerman^. *
^ On the site of Pasargada:, see note ^ on as the general rim of sucli spoculatious in the
Book i. eh. 125. Niebuhr, following Sir W. grammarians. Tlie city jVIarrli;isium in Pto-
Ouselcy and others, decieds tliat 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 that Steplien of By-
ruins of the two are forty miles apart, and zantium read " I'uuthiache " for "Pantiiiah-ci."
ancient writers carefully distinguish them. There is, liowever, no exiihuiation of either
(See below, Essay x. § 10, iii. note.) The term. (Cf. Steph. Byz. sub voc. Αηρου-
PasargadiB are not often distinguished as a σάΐοι.)
tribe by ancient autliors ; but tlioy apjjear to * St(ii)]ion (1. s. c.) substitutes the word
have been mentioned as suih by Apollodorus Καρμάνιοι for the Τ^ρμάνιοι of our author,
(cf. Steph. Byz. ad voc.) Λvhere lie is professedly quoting fi-om him.
- The fancy wliich derived tlic Maraphians The position of Carmania on the eastoi-n bor-
from a certain Maraphius, the son of Menelaus ders of Persia Proper is marked in Strabo
and Helen (cf. Steph. Byz. ad voc. Μαρά- (xv. p. 1029, &c.), Pliny (H. N. vi. 23),
φιοι ; Eustivtii. .ad Horn. II. iii. 175; Por- Ptolemy (Geograph. vi. b), and othei's.
phyr. (^ia.st. Horn. 13^, is iis httle felicitous
Essay IV. ON THE TEN TEIBES OF THE PERSIANS. 345
4. Witli the nomade tribes we are more familiar. The Dahi,
whose name is equivalent to the Latin " Enstici," 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 Όρχόη), of Babylon, of Susa, and of Elam.* The Mardi — the
heroes, as the name may be interpreted — were also established in
most of the moiantain -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 verj^ well understood to have emigrated to
the southward simultaneously. The Sagartians are expressly stated
by Herodotus to be of cognate origin Λνΐίΐι the Persians,* and the
name of Chiti-atakhma, a Sagartian chief, who revolted against
Darius,® is undoubtedly of Persian etymology, signifying " the
strong leopard." — [H.C.E.]
' Ezra iv. 9. p. 761). According to Nicolas of Damascus,
* Arrian Exp. Ales. iii. 24. The Mardi Cyi-us was by birth a Mardian. (Fr. 66.)
were mentioned by ApoUodorus (cf. Steph. ^ Cf. Ctes. Pers. Exc. § 6-8 ; Steph. Byz.
Byz. ad voc. MtipSot). They -were thieves ad voc, &c.
and archers. Their expertuess 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 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT PERSIANS. Am Book I.
ESSAY V.
ON THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT PERSIANS.
1. Difficulties of the common view. 2. Dualism and elemental worship two
diSerent systems. 3. Worship of the elements not the original I'ersiau
religion. 4. Their most ancient belief pui-e Dualism. 5. Elemental worship
the religion of the Magi, who were Scyths. G. 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 Λvith the authentic
historical notices contained in the Achcemenian monuments. In
the one case, we have a religion, the special characteristic of
Avhich 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,
Ormazd and Ahriman. Attempts have been made from time to
time to represent these two conflicting systems as in reality har-
;nonious, 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 Vendidad, 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 modern
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 unmistakeabl}^ to one or other of the two types. Through-
out Herodotus wo 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 firo,
earth, water, and the winds or air.^ Conversely, in the inscriptions
there is nothing elemental ; but the Avorship of one Supi'eme God,
under the name of Ormazd, with perhaps an occasional mention of
an Evil Principle.*
' For a collection of the fragmeuts of Dino, ■* See tlie Behistun Inscription, col. 4, par.
see Muller's Fragmenta Historicorum ura;co- 4, § ;?, ΛνΙκΊ-ο, in the Scytliic version, the false
rum, vol. ii. pp. 90-1. religion Λvhich Darius displaced is s;iid to hare
- By Brissou (De liegio Persarum Princi- been esfciblished by the " god of lies." It need
jiatu, book ii. pp. 203-'238), Hyde (De Holi- surj)ri.se no one that notices are not more fre-
gione Veterum Persarum), Heerea (Asiatic quent, or that the name of Ahriman does not
Nations, vol. i. pp. 374-392), and otliers. occur. The public documents of modern
•* Herod, i. 131. Comjiare iii. IG. countries make no mention of Satan.
Essay V. 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 beyond 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 tirged, 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 qi;estion is not really a modification of the Vedic ci'eed,
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 wasjn fact the Dualistic heresy which separated
the Zend, or Persian branch oL• the ArianSj from their Vedic
brethren, and compelled^them. to migrateJ;o_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 \^endidad, the whole series of Arian
triumphs and reverses is depicted as the efiect of the struggle
between Ormazd and Ahriman. Elemental worship nowhere ap-
pears, and there is not even any trace of that reverential legard of
the sun and moon, which was undoubtedly a part, though a sub-
ordinate one, of the ancient religion. Similarly, in the Acbaeme-
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, when his name occi;rs in a
single inscription in conjunction with Tanat, or Anaitis.^ Nothing
is more plain than that the faith of the early Achaimenian kings
* Frs. 5, 8, and 9. but the Scythic is thought to mention " the
^ Cf. Strabo, xv. pp. 1039-41 ; Agathias, god of lies." (See note ad loc.)
ii. pp. 62-3 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6. ^ In the inscription of Artaxei-xes Mne-
'' See Sir H. Rawlinson's Notes on the mon, discovered at Susa. (See Mr. Norris's
Early History of Babylonia, p. 37. paper in the Jom-nal of the Asiatic Society,
^ Behist. ins. col. iv. par. 4. The Persian vol. rv. part i. p. 159 ; and Mr. Loftiis's
transcript seems to speak only of Ormazd; Chaldaa and Susiana, p. 372.)
348 EELIGIOX OF THE MAGI ELEMENTAL. App. Eook I.
was mere Dualism, witliout the sliglatest admixture of fire-worsliip
or elemental religion.
5. If then it be asked, how Herodotus came to describe the Per-
sian religious system as he did, and Avhence 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 iScythic tribes,
who were thickly spread in early times over the Avhole 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 acconjplished by
the jMagian 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 ΟΛνη
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, Avhence
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-worshi}) 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; ^ Avhile a multitude of ancient tra-
ditions identify him with the patriarch Ham,^ the great progenitor
^ 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 The words of Darius are as follows : * In tlie element-worsliip there were no
" The tem])les which Gomates the Mngian had temjjles, images, or emblems, but only /ire-
destroyed I rebuilt. I restored to the nation altars on the high mountains for siicrifice.
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. § G-9.
Gomates the Magian had deprived them '' ^ Cephalion ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. c. x\:
(col i. par. 14). Berosus ap. Mos. Chor. Hist. Arm. i. c. 5.
' Hero<l. i. 1:51-2. Note the mention of Justin i. i. Arnobius, i. c. 5 and 52.
the M:igi :ls necessarily beai'ing a part in every ^ Sec Bochart's Phaleg, book iv. ch. 1,
sacriiico oil'cred to the elements. where a collection of these traditions is made.
Essay V. MAOISM TEMPOEAEILT ASCENDANT. 349
of the Turanians, or Allophylians. Scythic tribes too seem clearly
to have intermixed in great numbers with the Arians on their ar-
rival in A\'estern Asia, and to have formed a large, if not the pre-
ponderating element in the population of the AcliEemenian 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 atiected 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 j)eople.
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 worshipped the sun and moon,
tinder the names of llithra 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, w'herewith they hoped
to gain the favour and protection of Ormazd and the good spirits
nnder 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 mysterioiis 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
Medes, who had settled in Azerlijan, 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 Sc3'thic 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 Scj'thic appears as the vernacular 2 Compare Behist. Inscr., col. ir. par. 4.
in the Behi.stim luscription. The sculptor ^ 'phe 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 ])retenders 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, \vho formed
* See Herod, i. 135. Έ^ίνικα δέ νόμαια a distinct Median tribe, the Budii may be
ΤΙΐρσαι προσίΐνται άντρων μάλιστα. Com- recognized as Scyths. They are the Butiya
pare 131, ad tin., where this jilastic character of the Persian, and the Ilndii of the Babylo-
is shewn to extend to the subject of religion, nian inscriptions, and may veiy j)robably be
1 Mithia is invoked in an inscription of identified with the Fhut of Scripture. (Cf.
Artaxerxes Mnemon, 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 ])ortions of the of the Medes, beromes Afrasiab, king of
Zendavesta. The worship of them was com- Turcm, who is conquered and taken prisoner
mon to the Arians with their Indian brethren, by Kai Khusru,
350
THE TWO EELIGIONS AMALGAMATED. Arp. Book I.
shortly arose bet-ween tlio 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 Magisra and all other beliefs were tolerated. After a single
unsuccessful eiftjrt to recover the sujjremacy/ resulting in a fierce
persecution, and the establishment of the amiual ΜαγυφόΐΊα, Ma-
gism submitted ; but proceeded almost immediately to corrupt the
faith with Avhich it could not openly contend. A mongrel religion
grow 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 Avhich
Ilerodotus describes, the real Arian or Achaemenian 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 worship of
Mithra and Homa, or of the sun and moon,
had been cherished by the Arian colonists
since tlieir departure from Knrukhshetra ;
their religious cliaunts corresponded with the
Yedic hymns of their brethren beyond the
Sutlej. The antagonism of Ororaazdes and
Arimaues, or of light and darliness, was
their own peculiar and indeix,'ndent insti-
tution. On the other hand the origin of all
things from Zerwanv,-as essentially a Magian
doctrine; the veneration paid to fii'e and
λ\:ι(<η• came from the same source ; and the
barsam of the Zendavesta is tlie Magian di-
vining-rod. The most important Magian.
modification, however, Λvas the personification
of the old heresionym of the Scythic race, and
its immediate association with Oromazdes.
Under the disguise of Zara-tliushtra, 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 cleai'ly marks
the epoch from which it was designed that
reformed Magism should date, an ejxich se-
lected doubtless out of deference to the later
Achicmenian kings, who derived their royalty
from D;irius." (Notes on the Eai'ly History
of Babylonia, pp. 40, 41.)
Essay YI. EAELY HISTOKY OF BABYLONIA. 351
ESSAY VI.
ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF BABYLOMA.— [H. C. R.]
1. Obscurity of the subject till a recent date — contradictoiy accounts of Berosus
and Ctesias. 2. The progress of cuneiform discovery confirms Berosus. •'>.
The Babylonian date for the great ChaldEuan Empire which preceded the
Assyrian, viz. B.C. 2234, is probably historic. 4. The earliest known kings,
Uruhh and Ili/i. 5. Kndnr-inabuk connected with the Chedor-laomer of Scrip-
ture. 6. ismi-dai/on extended the Chaldican 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. Rim-Sin and Zar-Sin. 10. Dwri-
galazu. 11. Pnniic-pnrii/as. 12. Khainmurahi and Sitmshn-ibma. 13. Table of
kings. Incompleteness of the list. 14. Urukh and Ilfi belong probably to
the second historical djmasty of Berosus — the other kings to the third. 15.
General sketch. Rise of the fii'st Cushite dynasty. 16. Cuneiform wi-iting.
17. Nimrod — Unikh — /(./(. 18. Babylon conquered by immigi'ants from
Susiana. 19. Second dynasty established by K'uhir-mabuk, B.C. 197*3. 20.
Activity of Semitic colonisation at this time. Phojnicians — Hebrews — settle-
ments in Arabia, Assyria, and Syria. 21. Kings of the 2nd djTiasty — 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.
1. Until quite recently, the most obscure chapter in tlie 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 Λvas nothing authentic
to satisfy, or even to guide, research. So little, indeed, of positi\'e
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, we were content to fill up the interval
from the first dawn of history to the commencement of the Greek
Ol^'mpiads, 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 Chaldaia, 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
Chaldsea, and that Nineveh did not rise to metropolitan conse-
quence till long afterwards. The chronology, which we obtain
352
CHRONOLOGY OF BEROSUS.
App. Book I.
from the Cuneiform inscriptions for this early empire, hannonises
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 Chalda^an king, Avhose name occurs on the brick legends
of LoAver Babylonia, to the first half of the nineteenth century B.C.
AVe 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 Jsmi-dagon, all the other
early kings Avhosc brick legends have been discoA• ered in ( 'haldiea ;
and as we thereby obtain a list of about twenty royal names,
I'anging over a large interval of time both before and after the fi.xed
date of B.C. 1861, it is evident that the chronological scheme of
Berosus (which assigns to the primitive Chalda3an 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
Cbalda3an (?j do
11 do.
(258) do.
2234 to 1976
Clialdfean do.
49 do.
458 do.
1970 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.
G do.
87 do.
625 to 538
^ The sequence in question is the following, him to have rebuilt a temple in the city of
First, an inscription of Sennacherib at Baviiin Asshur, which had been taken down 60 years
commemorates the recovery in hLs 10th year previously, after it had lasted for 641 years
of certain gods which had been carried to from the date of its first foundation by 57ί((?ησ5-
Babylon Viy Merodach-iddin-akhi after his Vul, son of Tsmi-da(]on. The uilculation,
defeat of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, 418 then, by which we obtain the date of /svm-
years previously. And, secondly, a record dai/on's accession to the throne may be thus
of this same King Tiglath-Pileser, inscribed e.xhibited : —
on tlie famous Shei'gat cylinders, declares
Date of Bavian inscription (lOtli year of SeniKichcrib) 692
iJefeat of Tiglatli-Pileser by Mcrodacli-iddin-alvlil 41 s years previously.
Interval between the defeat luid the rebuilding of tlie temple (say) 10 years.
Jicmolition of the temple 60 years previously.
I'eriod daring which tiie temple had stood 6tl years.
Allow for two generations (Sharaas-Phul and Ismi-dagon) . . ,. 40 ye;u-s.
Date of Ismi-diigon's accession B.C. 1861
- See a pamphlet by Dr. Brandis, entitled preserved by Berosus, and two ol)tained from
' Rerum Assyriarum Tempora Emendata ' the Canon of Ptolemy and other sources. See
(Bonn, 1853), p. 17. The ingenuity of the the tabular scheme subjoined.
)-estoration consists in the discovery of a nvn-ivt,•. κΐη^-β. ν™™.
numl)er for the second hi.storicjd dynasty of ChaMaan .. «6 .. 34,οηπ'\
Bero.sus (defective in the MS.), \vhich not (Ciiauia^an) !! 11 !! (2hl)\
only coincides with the Baliylonian date <if (Jh.ildaMn .. 49 .. 45,si ^'-''"°^"^•
Cnllisthenes, but which also makes up the Arabian .. 9 .. 2 1.-•. I
cyclic aggregate of 36,000 years for the ^^'^.^|;"η ;; "'g ;; f.^ij
entire chronological scheme of the ChaldauUis, Chaldajan .. 6 ! ! «7 ί Ι''°1<^™^• ^*^•
this .scheme emljracing one mythical and seven
historical dynasties — five of the latter being 36,000
E.^SAY VI. DATE OF THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 353
Now leaving out of consideration the first or Median dynasty,
which probably represents the sovereignty of a Scythic race from
the Eastward, who ruled in Babylonia before the Hamites,* we have
here a fixed date of B.C. 2234 for the commencement of that great
(Jhaldean empire, which was the first paramount power in \Yestem
Asia. And this, it must be remembered, is the same date as that
obtained by Callisthenes from the Chaldeeaus at Bab} Ion for the
commencement of their stellar observations, which would naturally
be coeval with the empire ; 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 Bab^don 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 centuides above the first Olympiad.*
In the cuneiform inscriptions we have not lighted as j'et 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 scA^eral
which contain notices of kings who Avere certainly anterior to Is7ni-
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 Chalda3a are two kings, father and son, whose names are
doubtfully read upon their monuments as Urukh and IJgiJ' The
former wuuld seem to have been the founder of several of the «Teat
' See the last Essay in this vohime, ' On •* The primitive Babylonian era, as ohtainei
the Ethnic Affinities of the Nations of from these various authorities, may be thms
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 Ooelo, lib. ii. p. 123.) B.C. 22.34
Greek era of Phoroneus (See Clinton's F. H. vol. i. p. 139) B.C. 1753
Observations at Babylon before that time, according 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. ΒαβυΚών.') 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. cliaracters are, however, in all probability
XV. p. 7 et sqq. ideographs. Still it is very possible that the
* In the absence of all assistance from name of the first known king [ Urukh) sur-
Greek or Hebrew orthography, the least vives in the lines of Ovid : —
possible dependance can be plai ed on the " Rexit Achiemenias 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. 1. 2 A
354
EAELIEST KNOWN KINGS OF CUALDMA. Arr. Book I.
Chaldaean capitals: for the basement platforms of all the most
ancient buildings at Mitghcir, at Warka, at ISenhereh, and at Nijfer, are
composed of bricks stamped Avith liis name,* while tlie upper stories,
built or repaired in later times, exhibit for the most part legends
of other monarelis. The territorial titles assumed by rVifA7i are
king of Bur and Kingi Akkad, the first of these names referring to
tlie primcA^al cajiital whose site is marked by the ruins of Mugheir,
and the se(!ond being ajipai-ently an ethnic designation peculiar to
the nomade jiopnlation of llabylonia.' The gods to avIkjiu Urukh
dedicates his temples, are Bolus and Beltis, and the Sun and Moon.*
The relics of llgi 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. The 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 llgi, is
one whose name appears to have been Kudur-mahuk, and who, being
further distinguished by a title which may be translated " Kavager
of the West," " has been compared with the C'hedor-laomer of Scrij)-
ture. It is difficult to form a decided opinion on this interesting
point. On the one hand, the general resemblance oi Kadur-mabuk's
^ The legends on the bricks of Urukh and
Jlgi are in rude but very bold characters,
and contrast most remarkably, in the sim-
])licify of the style of writing and the general
archaic type, with the elaborate and often
compli«itai 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 sipnet cylinder.
The figures and inscri[)tion on this cylinder
;ire represented in ' Porter's Travels,' (vol. ii.
PI. 79. ϋ,) and have been often copied in
other works, but it is not known what h;us
become of the original relic. I'late 1 of the
'Historical Inscriptions' recently published
luidcr the authority of the Trustees of the
British Museum, exjiibits 9 difterent inscrip-
tions of Urukh, and in Plate 2 there are 4
inscriptions of his son ΙΙ'β.
'' Kiruji is stated in the bilingual vocabu-
laries to be equivalent to the Semitic mat,
signifying " a country " or " people." The
jjroper name, therefore, is that which was
known to the Assyrians and other Semitic
nations as Akkad (13N of Gen. x. 10), but
of which the vernacular rendering was pro-
bably Bnrbur or Berber. The people were
(«rtainly of the Turanian race, ;md came from
the Armenian mount;iins, the geographical
names of Ararat and Burbur (or Akkad)
lieing used indifferently in the later in-
scriptions.
* The ancient cities of Babvlonia and
Chalda-a were each dedicated to a particular
god, or sometimes to a god and goddess
together. Thus Hur or Mtujhcir 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 Suu " and " Anunit "
(Apollo and Diana of the Greeks) ; Cutha
to " Nergal," &c.
* This epithet is probably to be icad as
" apda. Martu," the first word being perhaps
derived from a root corresponding to the
Hebrew ΤΠΧ, and the second heicg the
Hamite term which designated " the West."
Whatever doubt, indeed, may attach to the
explanation of apda, there can be no question
about Martu. It usually occurs in the in-
scriptions as the last of the four cardinal
pointvS, and is translated in the vocabularies
by the Semitic term akharra (compare "ΠΠΝ
" behind " or " the West "). It \vas also
applied by the primitive Hamite Chaldajaoe
t(i PJKenicia, from the geograj)hical position
of tliat country in regard to Babylonia, and
has been preserved in the Greek forms of
Bpadv and Μάραθοϊ. Under the Semitic
empire of Assyria the old name of Martu
was still sometimes used for Pha^nicia, but
the title was more usually translated into its
synonym of Akharru. — See the Assyrian
Inscriptions, p:issim.
Essay VI. TRADITION RELATING TO KUDUR-MABUK.
355
legends to those of the ordinary Chaldsean monarchs is i;n ques-
tionable; on the other hand, it is remarkable that there ai'e 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 prtinounce at present on the identifica-
tion in question.* A son of Kudur-mabiik's, 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 Kudiir-mahuk' s death, however, he ruled
over both cities, and further styles himself king of the peojjle of
Akkad.^
β. In succession to Kudur-mahnk and his son, but probably after a
considerable interval of time, we must place Jsmi-dago)t, w-hose
approximate age is ascertained from the inscriptions of Assyria to
^ An element, khak, occurs iu the name of
Sinti-shil-khak, Kudur-mahnk's father, which
is otherwise ηηΙνηοΛνη in the Babylonian no-
menclature, but which appears in another
royal name {Tirkhak) found on the bricks of
Susa. This latter name hiis a singular re-
semblance to that of the Ethiopian king,
Tirhakah, mentioned in Scripture (2 Kings
xix. 9) ; but the recent discovery of the
cuneiform orthogi-aphy of the Ethiopian name
shows that there is no etymological con-
nexion between them. It may be further
noticed that this title of Khak, common to
the Susian and Babylonian kings, is not im-
probably the same term, νκ or ok, 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 Xayav 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 Baby-
lonian kings the latter portion is often
dropped. Thus Vul-litsh becomes Phul or
I'ul ; Merodach-hal-adan becomes Mardo-
cempad, &c. Kudur-mnbtik might therefore
^become known as Kudur simply. The
epithet " el Ahmar," which means " the
Red," may afterwards have been added to the
name, and may have been corrupted into
L<mnier, which, as the orthograjihy now
stands, has no apparent meaning. Kcdar-el-
Ahtaar, or " Kedar the Ked," is in fact a
famous hero in Arabian tradition, and his
history bears no inconsiderable resemblance
to the Scripture narrative of Cheilor-laomer.
[The jirogress of cuneiform discoveiy 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 races and
nearly contemporaneous. Lagmner is now
ascertained from the inscriptions of Asshicr-
bani-pal to be the name of one of the chief
national divinities of Susiana, and the title
Chedor-laomer (or Kudur-Lnrjamer, compare
the 'Κ.ο'8ο\-\ο'/ομορ 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 Laganier," precisely
as another Royal Susian name Kwlfir-Na-
khiinta signifies " the servant of Nakhnnta."
Kndnr is a woi'd probably of Susian origin,
signifying " servitude " or the " tax " which
was paid in token of servitude, 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 \vriting the name of Nabokodrossor
{Nubu-kudarri-uzur or " Nebo is the protec-tor
of (his) servants "), and that we find the
orthography οι Kvdar 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
Mab)ik is unknown, but it certainly is not the
name of a God, as the word is written without
tlie divine determinative sign. It may be
added that neither Sinti-shil-khak nor Kadiir-
■inubuk take the title of " king," though the
latter must apparently have reigned in the
lower country from the temples which he
built in the city of Hur, and also from his
son being named " king of Laiva." — H. C
R. 1861.]
3 Arid-Si)i is mentioned as " king of
Larsa" on the bricks of Α'Μ(/ί«•-/η(ΐ6!ί^. See
Hist. Ins. Plate 2, No. II., Is. 14 and 15,
and a long independent inscriptiun of (he
same king is given iu Plate 5, No. X^ 1.
2 A 2
356 LATER ORDER OF SUCCESSION UNCERTAIN. Apr. Book T.
1)6 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, Avhile during the earlier period, the seats of Chaldaeau
empire were exclusively confined to the southern portion 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
Juleh Shergat by Shuvuis- Vul, a son of Jsmi-dagon, it seems probable
that the latter king extended his power very considerably to the
northward, and was in fact the first Chaldtwan monarch who esta-
blished a subordinate government in Assyria.
7. The names of the son and grandson of hmi-dagon are also found
auiong the Chahhean ruins. The son, whose name is very doubt-
fully read as Ibil-anii-dama, does not take the title of " king," but
merely styles himself "governor of Ilur." 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.
jVaram-ain,^ and his father, whose name is unfortunately lost in
■• In tlie Hist. Ins. a king whose name is general series as tlie sou rather than the
unfre juent, but whom we may provisionally graniLson of fsmi-d •ιριι. On further con-
axW Niir-ph<il\!i\y\in;eaheiOr(t Isini-dagoti. See siJei'ation, however, ami especially in re-
Hist. Ins. Plate 2, No. IV. Such an arrange- ference to Plate 2, No. VI., 2, where there
meiit, however, has in reality very little to is absolutely no other grouj) but that which
support it. is doubtfully reail a:5 [bil-unn-d'imi, to re-
^ This city had originally the same name present the name of the sou of Ismi-dagoti,
as the god Belus, and is perhaps the ΒίΚβη the triple distinction appears preferable. At
of Ptolemy. There are groumLs for believing the siime time the relationship of ibil-anu-
that .it was the first northern cipital, and dnina to Gimi/una remains obscure, as the
that the Greek traditions of the foundation sign which indicates filiation is wanting,
of a great city on the Euphrates by Belus ^ It was at one time thought that ;is the
may refer to tliis place rather than to Baliy- Baliylouian legends contain two moiles of
Ion. The later Semites gave to the city the writing the name of tlie Moon-god — one
name of Nipur, which, under the corrupted more archaic and proper to Babylonia, the
form of Nijfer, the ruins retain to the other identiail 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 a.sstmied universallij as a
Semitic supremacy ; and it may therefore be mark of superior antiquity. But this view
conjectureil that the Belidian gates of Nebu- is disproved by an inscrii)tion of Nabonidus
chadnezzar's city (Herol. iii. 155-8), were at Miujheir, where tlie priority of Nararii-
so named, because through them passed the sin — in whose name, on the alal)aster vase,
road from Baljylon to tlie city of Belus. the Moon-god {^Sin) is writt<;n with the
* See Hist. Ins., Plate 2, No. VI., 1 and 2. Assyrian group — to Ditrri-jjalazu, in whose
In the arrang(;ment of thcie inscriptions it legends the more archaic fonu occui-s, is
is doubte I whether Ibil-anH-dnma be an clearly establislied.
independent name at all, or whether it is not " The student must he. warned against
rather a mere epithet of Gnwiuna or Gnr- trusting implicitly to these readings. In
guaa. Gunguna in fact is given in the many cases wheie \ariant orthographies
Essay VI.
MONABCHS OF THE SIX SEEIES.
357
the only inscription which speaks of him, were perhaps not much
later than the time of hmi-dagon and his descendants. Nararn-sin,
though he only takes the general title of king of Kipraf,^ certainly
reigned in Babylon, since not only has an alabaster vase, inscribed
with his name, been diseoA-ered in the rnins of that city, but 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-shac/a, Avhose bricks are fonnd in the gjcat rnin termed
Bowarieh - at Warha, must be placed high in the list of kings, perhaps
even before JSfannn-sin. In his time, and in that of his father, whose
name cannot be phonetically rendered, Warka * 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
Zur-sin, whose bricks are also found at Mugheir,* but who is better
occur (as in the first element of this Λ-ery
name, Narmn-sin), the pronunciation can be
ascertained positively ; but it is, on the other
hand, impossible to determine at present if
the Hamit« Chaldees used the same names
for 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 sjjecial
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, hoΛveΛ'er,
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
Chaldifcan monarchs.
9 Kiprcd or Kiprat-arhat is a name which
seems to be applied in a general way to the
great Mesopotamian A'alley. It may be
suspected to mean " the four races " or
" tongues," and to refer to some very early
ethnic classification.
1 For the legend of Xaram-sin on the
Alabaster vase, see Hist. Ins., No. VII., and
for the notice of his work at Sijipara, 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 S(ya-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
same as the temple of Ulmas of Sippara,
dedicated to the goddess Aivinit of the other,
and the image of the goddess in that temple
which was originally set up by the father of
Naram-sin is distinctly said to have borne
the name on it of Saga-saltiyas. The termi-
nation of these Babylonian names in as, or
rather ats, (compare Saga-saltiyas, Pnrna-
puriyas, Kara-dnniyas') is identical with the
Armenian termination in Astevats for God,
Ashkcnaz, &c., thus adding another link to
the chain of connexion between ancient Baby-
lonia and ancient Armenia.
2 The Boicarieh mound, which is the
principal ruin at Warka, marks the site of
two ancient Chaldaean temples — one dedii^ited
to Ann, and the other to Beltis.
3 Warka was probably the Erech of
Genesis (x. 10), and the Όρχόη of the
Greeks. The Scythic monograms which re-
presented the name of Warka probably
merely signified " the city " κατ' ΐξ,οχήν,
the same group being u.sed for the names of
Larsa or Scnherch, and Hnr 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, tlie phonetic reading of Huriik is given
as the Semitic equivalent of the Scythic
monogram for the city in question, and it is
the more importiint to be thus able to dis-
tinguish positively between Hur and Hiiruk,
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 Όρχότ) of the
Greeks and the ΠΌ^ΊΙΝ Uri/tut of the
Talmud.
■* See Hist. Ins., Nos. X., XII., and XIX.
In Nos. XII. and XIX. it is not quite certain
that the groups Avhich are provisionally
o'ot
DURRI-GALAZU AND rURNAPURlYAS. App. Book I.
known as the fonnder of the Chaldican city, Avhose ruins bear at the
present day the title of A/>a Sharein."
10. Passing over some imperfect names, which likewise contain
the element iSin,^ we may next notice a monarch called Durngahzu,''
relics of Avhom 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, Avhose ruins are
to be seen near liaghdad, bearing at present the name of Akkerkiif,
and ascribed in the jiopular tradition to Isimrud. Uurri-galazu also
repaired temples both at Mugheir or Hur, and at Sippara.^
11. From the near resemblance of the legends of Furnapunyas \o
those of the king last mentioned, we are authorised in connecting-
very closely the two monarchs. There is no evidence, however, to
show Avhetiier one was a descendant of the other, or which of the
two was the more ancient.^ The bricks of Purnapurv/as are found in
the ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Senkereh,^ Avliich in an inscrip-
tion of Nabonidus is said to have been repaired by his orders.*
12. The only other ancient Chaldaian kings whose names are at
read as Z'trsin represent the proper name
of the king, })ut the identification is given ί\α
highly probable.
^ The cuneiforra name of this city has
not yet been identified, and it Ls therefore in
vain to search for its rejjre.-entative in Greek
geography. — For a description of the ruins
see ' Journal of the Koyal Asiatic Society,'
vol. XV. p. 404.
* The legends of these monarchs are given
in Nos. IX., XL, and XX. of the 'Hist,
luscr.' There is a general resemblance in
the geographical title.s of all the kings of the
Sin series, but the identity is not so complete
as to connect them in one family chain.
^ The name (if this king nray reasonably
be compared with the AepKv\os of Ctesias'a
Assyrian list ; not that the (ireek writer ciin
be suppose<^l to have been directly acquainted
with the title of the old Chald;ean monarch,
but that in framir.g his catalogue of the
lower dynasty of Ninex'eh, he .--eems to have
drawn his names princij)ally fiom the geo-
graphical nomenclature of the country, and
he may thus have perpetuated the title of
the king Durri-galiuu through the city
Λvhlch was called after him. At imy rate,
it (Άϊΐ hardly be accidental that Otesia.s,
towards the close of his list, should have at
lea.st five geographi(jil nanies, viz., Άρο-
firjKos, Χάλαοϊ, AtpKv\os, 'Ocpparaios, and
'ΛκραΎάνηί.
* For JJurri-fjalazu's inscriptions stie No.
XIV., 1, 2 anil 3, and No. XXI. of the
'Hist. Ins.• and aLso Plate G9, col. 2, line 32.
' The signet-ring of King Darri-f/cditen
has been since found at Baghdad, and a copy
of the legend engraved on it ha-s been sent to
England, from which it appears that Purnu-
puriyas was the father and Durri-galazu the
son. The legend is printed in the fcible of
contents of the new volume of ' Historiad
In.scrijitions.'
' The Chaldajan name of Senkereh is pho-
netically given in the inscriptions as Lnrsa,
w liich may be supposed to be the true form
both of the ΊΟ'ΡΝ (Kll.usiir) of Genesis fxiv. 1)
and of the Ααράχων of Berosu.s. The old
Greek tradition that Teutamus of Assyria,
who sent Memnou to the siege of Ti-oy, held
his court at Larissa (Apollod. II. iv. § 54),
may have had a similar origin. The Arabian
geogra])hers corrui)ted the name to A'arsa.
"^ There is a mutilated passige in the in-
scrii)tion of Nabonidus (Hist. Ins., Plate tjit,
end of 1st and lieguining of 2nd column")
which undoubtedly contains chronological
numbers, and which if it were complete
might thus enable us to fix the exact date of
the reign of Fiirnapiirii/as. It .--eems to
say that the image of the Sun-god w^hich
Puninpuriyns set uj) in the famous temple
at Larsa or Senkereh, remained luidisturbed
for 700 years, when K/uvmir undertook its
restoration. Now Kliamzir is of coui-se the
Xirfipoy of the Canon, who ascemled the
throne of Babylonia in n.c. 721, and if the
numbers, given in the fragment, are lightly
a]i])lied, I'iirniij>iirii/iis would be thus shown
to have liveil in the l.'jth century It.c. The
conjectural scheme heretofore adopted for
Baliylonian chronology has placed him about
two centuries earlier.
Essay VI. PROPOSED TABLE OF CHALDEAN KINCxS. 359
all legible on the monuments hitherto discovered,^ are Kliammurahi
and Samshu-ilnna. The former has left memorials in many places :
at Siiikereh, where he repaired the Temple of the Sun : at Khuhcadha,*
near Baghdad, where he erected a palace ; at Tel Sifr, Avhere man)-
clay tablets have been found dated from the reigns of Khammurahi
and his son, and at Babylon itself, Avhere a stone tablet is said to
have been obtained, on which are his name and titles.' Samshu-iluna
the son of Khanimurabi, is only known from the Tel Sifr tablets.''
lo. The following table exhibits these kings in their proposed
order of succession, with the approximate dates of their respective
reigns : —
B.C.
1. Urukh 1 , „.-,,,„
ο ^^ ■ η ■ \ } &0. 2200.
2. llgi (nis son) f
3. Sinti-shil-khak )
4. Kudur-mabuk (his son) > ab. 1976.
5. Ai'id-sin (his son) )
6. Ismi-dagon 1861.
7. Ibil-auu-duma (his son) ) , ,ο,-,λ
8. Gurguua ( his son) J
9. Naram-sin ab, 1750.
10. Sin-shada ab. 1700.
11. Rim-sin ab. 1650.
12. Zur-sin ab. 1625.
13. Puma-puriyas ab. 1600.
14. Durri-galazu (his son) ab. 1575.
15. Khammurabi "1 uirrA
1^ ο V -1 > ab. 1550.
16. Samshu-iluua j
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, howe\-er, more or * Khalicadha was traditionally the city of
less imperfect, will be found in the series of Hermes (Abul-Faraj. Hist. Dyn. p. 7), and
Chalctean kings, given in the recently pub- was supposed to have originated the name of
ILshed ' Historical Insci'iptions.' No. ΧΫΙΠ. Chalda;an (Massoudi in Not. des JIan. 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 geographical title Babylon (Yacut in voc).
otherwise unknown. In No. ΧΧΠΙ., 1 and 2, * This tablet, which has been lying for
it is doubtful whether we have the name of many yeai's almost unnoticed in the British
a king or merely of a governor, as the title Museum, is believed to ha\'e been brouglit
employed is merely that of I'ntetsi, 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 Κ hamrwirahi
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 Anu 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
still another ancient Babylonian king named the Louvre.
Tsibir, who is mentioned in the Annals of * The Tel Sifr tablets have not yet been
Sardauapalus, 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-ilunn
lieeu yet discovered, and it is useless there- to Khammurabi altogether satisfactory,
fore to speculate on his probable date.
360 INCOXGLUSTVE TESTIMONY "OF BErxOSUS. App. Book L
information is confined, altliongh, as the interval to he filled np is
something more tlian 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 tAvo separate dynas-
ties are noticed ; the first, which is nameless, comprising eleven
kings, and the second, which is called Chalda3an, 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 ethnic diftcrence 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, ΛΛ-hose monuments are found in
ancient ChaldaBa, used the same language, and the same form of
A\Titing ; they 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 Avere repaired
and adorned by a long series of monarchs even doAvn to the time of
the Semitic Nabonidus.*' With this evidence of the close connexion
between the earlier and later kings, Λνο are obliged either to refer
the whole series excliisively to the great Chaldiean dynasty of
Berosus, the third in his historical list, commencing B.C. It'TG, in
which case it is difficult to find room for the predecessors of Ismi-
diff/ou, whose date is little more than a century later (b.c. 1801); or
else to suppose, Avhich is f;ir more probable, that the two dynasties
of Berosus folloAving u])on the (so called) Medes, both belonged to
the llamite tamily, and were equally entitled to the geographical
epithet of Chaldaian from the position of their chief cities in the
plains of Southem ("haldaia.
1"). 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 tlic nnmbei-s which have come down c. 4), undoubtedlr from that nuthor. But
to ns ill the Armenian Eiisebius as those of they belong to the mythic dynasty of the
lierosus 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 i-ather
B.C. 22:34 and B.C. 1518 no fewer than sixty be sought in the Pantheon,
kings. As, however, this would allow not ^ ^^ passage on the Cylinder of Nabonidus
quite twelve years on an average to each discovered at Mu<iheir seems to signify that
king's reign, the historical correctness of the he found "in the annals of Urukh and Iliji"
assigned number may be questioned. a notice of the original buildingof the temple
* The seven names of Chalda?an kings, of the Moon-god at that ])lace, which he
which Syncellus (p. 169) gives from Afri- himself repaired and beautified. Awording
canus, come probably from Berosus, for two to the chronological scheme hei'e fbjloweii,
of them, Evechius and Chomasbelus, wore the liuilding of this temple must have taken
given by Polyhistor (Euseb. Chron. parti, place at leiust 1500 years previously.
Essay YL PtISE OF THE FTEST CUSHITE DYNASTY.
361
both of Arabia and of the African Ethiopia, may be supposed to
ha\'e first risen into importance.' Delivered from the yoke of the
Zoroastrian Medes, Avho 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 Avhich the capitals were at Mugheir,
at Warka, at Senkei'eh, and at Niifer, and introducing the worship
of the heavenly bodies, in contradistinction to the elemental worship
of the Magian Medes. In connexion Avith 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 hsive continued unintcnupted to the days of Callisthenes
and Berosus.
AVith regard to the use of letters, which Pliny connects with
^ Without pretending to trnce np thesp
early Babylonians to their original etnnic
source, there are reasons of some weight for
supposing them to have passed from Ethiopia
to the Λ'3ΐΐ6γ 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 Egyjit — in many cases, indeed,
there is an absolute identit)' between the two
alphabets. Thus the Egyptians tormed a rude
parallelogi'am for a house I _J, and called
it e; while the Hamite Baliylonians used
almost the same form, j |, and gave the
character the same phonetic power (in later
times the Semites introduced the synonym of
bit, Π3, and a third equivalent, nutl, 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 Biblical genealogies, Cush and
Mizraim are brothers, Avhile from the former
sprang Nimrnd, the eponym of the Chaldrean
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
Araliian 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 rescmliles 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 haΛ•e
probably the puiest motlern specimens in the
Malira of Southern Arabia and the Galla of
Abyssinia.
iv. All the traditions of Baljylonia and
Assyria point to a connexion in very early
times betΛveen Ethiopia, Southern Arabia,
and the cities on the Lower Euphrates. In
the geographical lists the names of Mirukh
and Makkan (or Meporj and Ma/iiVr;) 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 reter to a tradi-
tion of the primaeval leader Ijy 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, stiU apphed by
the Arabs to the planet Mars, Λvith which
the God of War has been always identified,
is Mirikh ; and this is the exact vernacidar
title in the inscriptions of the country of
Ethiopia, corrupted by the Greeks into
Μΐρόη.
And, V. In further proof of the connexion
between Ethiopia and Chalda>a, we must re-
member the Greek traditions both of Cepheus
and Jlemnon, 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 Chalda;a, both
in the Bible and in the inscriptions of Darius.
362 HIEROGLYPHIC AND CUNEIFOEM CHAEACTERS." App.BookI.
these primfeval Babylonian observations, so great is the analogy
between the first principles of the science, as it appeals to have
been pursued in Chalcl;Oa and as Λνβ can actually trace its progress
ill Egypt, that wo can hardly hesitate to assign the original inven-
tion to a period before the liainite 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 Isile
from Ethiopia, but 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 Chtildaea 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 Λvas nearly similar to that which prevailed
in Egypt. '
IG. In one particular it is true there is a marked difference in the
respectiA'e employment of hieroglyphic and cuneiform characters.
In the former alphabet each character has but one single vahie,
while in the latter the variety of sounds Λνΐηοΐι the same letter may
be used to express is (juite perplexing ; but this discrepancy of
alphabetic employment does not argue a diversity of origin for the
system of writing ; it merely indicates a difi'erence of ethnological
classification in the nations among whom the science of writing
was dcA^eloped. As the inhabitants of the valley of the ISile 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 hieiOgly])h had thus
one single phonetic value ; but in the valley of the Euphrates the
Hamite nation seems to have been bioken up into a multitude of
distinct tribes, who spoke languages ideutical or nearly identical in
organization and giammatical 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 diiierent sections of the nation."
- On a fragment of a tablet recently dls- 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 vo«il)ulary of the very earliast
primitive fomis of natural objects, from jxiriud, thus showing either that in tliat
whicli the Cuneiform characters were sub- remote age tiieie must have been an Arian
ijcijuently elaborated. race dwelling on tlie 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 which immediately succeeded the Medes of
Berosns, and which is represented probably in the Bible by the race
of Nimrod, the son of Cusli and grandson of Ham, the two earliest
of the monumental kings, Urukh and llgi, may be perhaps assigned.
These kings at any rate were the founders, as it would seem, of
those cities Λvhich in Genesis are said to have formed the kingdom
of Ximrod. According to Berosus the chronological limits of the
dynasty are from B.C. 223-i 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 Chaldseans who seem to have
emigrated i'lom Susiana to the banks of the Euphrates. There is
no doubt considerable 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 " Chaldgean," 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
Isoah, with Asshur and Aram among the children of Shem, while
the inscriptions of Susa are to all appearance Hamite,* like the early
inscriptions of Chaldaja. There Avas not perhaps in the very
earliest ages that essential linguistic difference 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 respectively
belonged. Although, for example, the Hamite language of Babylon,
more probable) the distinction between A riau, Ionia, with whom to a certajn extent tbey
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 Chalda;a, but that the words then in to the early ethnography of the country. At
use passai indifferently at a subsequent any rate, although the great mass of the phi-
period, and under cerfciin modifications, into lological tablets recovered from the Royal
the three gre;it families among which the Library at Nineveh are mere bihngual vo-
lauguages of the world were divided. It is cabularies and grammars of the languages
at any rate cerfciin that the Cuneiform cha- respectively used by the Semitic iuliabitimts
racters have usually one Ariau power — 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 tlie object represented. Comixire p'lr, trilingual tablets, the third or extra column
" a son," I'isand itir, " a man" κατ ΐξοχην, being devoted, as it would seem, to the pri-
(the primitive root being is or iV, and the ν mitive Cushite vocabulary, which was proper
and 71 being Hamite preformatives, which to the country prior to the Scythic immigra-
Avere adopted both by Semite and Arian na- tion. The grammatical construction, however,
tious as radicals ; as in Latin, vir, vis ; Sans, of the earliest historical iuscnptions is Acca-
nri ; Assyr., nis, &c.) ; also mal, " a house ;" dian rather than Cushite.
ras, " a road," &c. &c. To this it must lae ■* The inscriptions of Sa>=a for the most part
added that the Akkad tribe, who, although belong to the 8th century B.C., the kings
not, as I believe, the primitive colonists of named in the legends being contemporary
Babylonia, exercised no doubt a very great with Sennacherib, Sargou, and their imme-
iuriuence on the vernacular language of the diate predecessors. There is, however, what
country, were almost certainly of Tunuiian appears to be a date iu the long inscription of
origin as distinguished from the Hamite or Suti-uk-Nahhunta on the broken obelisk at
Cushite stock. It would seem indeed that Susii — two sets of numbers occurring which
when the Akkad or Burbiir first cjxme down may be read as '2455 :md 24(35. If these
from Ararat they must have found a Cushite numbers are really chronological, the era
liopulatiou already iu possession of Baby- referred to wall be nearly 32UU years B.C.
364 CONQUEST BY CHALD.EAX ELAMITES. Apr. Book T.
in the nsc of post-positions and particles, and pronominal snifixes,
approaches to the character of a Scythic or Turanian rather than a
Semitic tongue, yet a large portion of its Yocabulary is absolutely
identical with that which was afterAvards continued in Assyrian,
Hebrew, Arabic, and the cognate dialects, and the A'crbal forma-
tions, moreover, in Hamite Babylonian and in Semitic Assyrian
exhibit in many respects the closest resemblance. We must be
cautious, therefore, in drawing direct ethnological inferences from
the linguistic indications of a xcry early age. It will be far safer,
at anv rate, in these early times to folloAv the general scheme of
ethnic affiliation Avhich is given in the tenth chapter 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 b.c, who spoke a Hamite dialect more nearl}^ 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 history, we
must be content to know that the original Hamite tribes λυΙιο
Avrested 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 C'halda?an empire of Berosus.
19. Of these immigrant Chaldajan 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
when he invaded ChaldEea. There would be no historical improba-
bility then in the Kaditr-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 Iliji, for these monarchs take the title of
sis appears as Tidnl is rendered in the Sept- " liing of Kingi Akkad," and they use
uagint by QapyaX, the second letter having moreover the Accadian language in their in-
been read as ~\ rather than "], and the J? being scriptions, while the subordinate position of
regarded as a guttural. Now Thur-ifal is Tidal in the confederacy under Chedor-laomer
]>uie Awadian signifying, " the great Chief," shows that the Turanian nomades were at
and we i-wi hanliy doubt, therefore, but that that ])eriod no longer the dominant race in
the 0"Ί3 of the Hebrew text, rejjresent the 'the country. It is proposed then, i)ending
Aklcad of the inscriptions. The real diliiculty further research, to identify the Medes who
then seems to lie to decide at what period held sway in Babylonia from u.C. '24.[)8 to
the Akkad immigration into Babylonia took 2234 with the Burbur or Akhad of the in-
place; ifit wasin very remote antiquity — and scrijitions, and to attribute to these northern
the occurrence of the name of Accad in fiene- colonists the first civilization of the countiy.
sis among the cities of Nimrod is strongly in They may have found jiicture writing already
favour of such a su[)position — then these established among the primitive Cushite in-
Sythic immigrants may very well be held hatiitants, but to the Accad immigrant.s from
to represent the Zoroa-strian Medes of Berosus, the Armenian mountains must no doul)t be
who preceded the Chaldicans. It is manifest assigned the Tuianian character of tlie
indeed that the Akkad tribe must have been language which jirevailed in Babylonia, until
established in Babylonia long before the age gradually rejilaced by a Semitic dialect from
of the two earliest monumental kings UraiJi Assyria.
EssAV ΥΙ. ACTIVITY OF SEMITIC COLONIZATION. 365
the 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 Kudur-mabuk 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
interruption 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 Chaldtean 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 deA^eloped, 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
Phosnicians removing from the Persian Gulf to the shores of the
Mediterranean, and the Hebrew Patriarch marching with his house-
hold from Chalda3a 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 qiaes-
tion, gradually displacing the old Cushite inhabitants of the Ai-abian
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 foi'ming 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 puipose 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 Kmhir-mahuk.
Little is to be learnt from the inscriptions with regard either to
their foreign or their domestic history. They assume in their brick
® Ethnologevs are ηολν agreed that in esfci))lishment of the Jews in Palestine.
Arabia there have been three distinct pliases '' When tlio Aramsans are first mentioned
of colonisation — first, the Cushite occupa- in tlie cuneiform inscriptions, about B.C. 1120,
tion, recorded in Genesis x. 7 ; secondly, the they are foimd to be settled along the banks
settlement of the Joktjinides, described in of the tluphrates, from Babylon to Carche-
verses li6-3u of the same chapter ; ami, mish, and this would appear to have been
thirdly, the entrance of the Ishmaelites, which their true habitat throughont the entire
must have been nearly synchronous with the period of the Assyrian Empire.
366 CONDITION OF ASSYPJA AM) SUSTANA. Apr. Book T.
legends a great A^ariety of territorial titles; but the nomenclature
belongs almost exclusively to Chaldrea and Babylonia. Among the
names used, the most common are Kiprat arba, or the four races (?) "
2. Jiar (Ur of the Chaldees, or Mugheir.') 3. Larsa (Ellasar, or
Senkereh). 4, Uuvuk (Erech, or Warka.^ 5. Khigi Ahkad (Accad
of CJenesis). 6. liahil, or Babylon ; and 7. Nipxu\ or the city of
Belus (the Greek Β/λβ»?, and modern Nifer). Assyria is not men-
tioned in one single legend, nor are there any names of cities or
districts Avhich can be supposed to belong to that proA'ince. Except
indeed for the notice preserved on the Cylinders of Tiglath Pileser
I., that the temple of Ann and Vid at Asshur, or Kileh tShergaf, had
been originally founded by Shamas-Vul, son of Jsmi-dar/on ,^ we
sliould have been without any direct evidence that the Chaldfean
kings had ever extended their sway over the countr}' Λvhich adjoined
Babylonia on the north. Such an extension of poAver may ηοΛν be
assumed ; but, so far as our present information reaches, it Avoiild
seem as if Assyria during the long period of Chaldaean supremacy
had occupied a very inferior position in the political sj'stem 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 Chaldcean monarchs
with one of their I'oyal titles.
22. The state of Susiana on the opposite frontier of Chakhea must
also be taken into the account in estimating the power of the great
Hamite empire on the lower Euphrates. There Ave ha\'c 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 ( 'haldajan of the early
bricks, but the language seems to resemble the Scythic of the
Acluemenian trilingual tablets rather than the Babylonian primitive
( 'haldee. Perhaps, if the Hamite languages really came from
Ethiopia, they bifurcated at the mouth of the Euphrates, the
Western branch as it passed ihroiigh 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
Chaldica Proper, have been passed over by Berosus as unworthy of a
" Tlie four races which thus (•οΓη])Γκο(1 tlic! '' This Slmmas-Vnl may he thus pre-
rirly li<'])ulation of Bahylonia were prohably sr.meil to have been a younger brother of
Hamite, Turanian, Arian, and Semitic, and Ihil-nnn-duma, viho ^vcaeaaa I^mi-diigon on
the four kings in (ienesis xiv. may thus per- the throne of Chalda'a.
haps represent the four dillerent nationalities, ' Bricks have been found at Kileh-
Chedor-hiomer being the king of Susiana who S/icrgat, which record tlie names and titles
first estiiblished Hamite or Cushite royalty in of four of these tributary satraps. The
Babylonia, Amra])hel and Arioch, as their legends, as might be expected, are of the
names respectively denote, being the leaders B;ibylonian ratlier than of tiie As.syrian
of the Semites and Arians, and Tidal (or type, and ttie titles belong to the more
Titn/ol) being the chief of the Turanian humble cl;iss of dignities.
Akkad.
Essay VI.
ARABIAN DYNASTY OF BEROSUS.
36T
place in his historical scheme ; yet, if we may judge from the works of
which the citadel of Susa is an example, or from the extent of country
o\"er which the Snsian monuments are found,^ they could hardly have
been inferior either in power or civilisation to the Chaldaeaus who
ruled on. the Euphrates.^
On the subject of the Arabian dynasty, which, according to
Berosus, succeeded the Chaldasans 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 afSnity 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 Chaldean to those of an
Arabian tribe was accompanied, as Ave 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 Sasian type,
and bearing Scythic legends, have been found
amid the ruins of Riskire (near Bnskire) and
Tanrie [Siraf of the Arabs), and in all pro-
bability the line of mounds wliicli may be
traced along the whole extent cif the eitstern
shores of the Persian Gulf contain similar
relics.
^ It is particularly Avorthy of remark
that throughout the series of legends which
remain to us of the kings of Hur and
Akkud, 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 Chaldaans had no
existence in the country during the age in
question, but thus much is certiiin, that they
could not have been the dominant race at
the time, and that Berosus, therefore, in
naming the dynasty Chalda\an, must \\&\q
used that term in a geographical rather
than an ethnological sense. The name of
Kaldai for the ruling tribes on the lower
Euphrates, is first met with in the Assyrian
inscriptions which 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 Chalda;an is ap-
])lied throughout these notes to the Cushite
trite which is supposed to have emigrated
from Susiana to the banks of the Euphrates
in the 20th century B.C.
[Although the name of Chaldfean is never
mentioned in the earlier 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 inhabitimts of the city of Bar,
and simply meaning " the Moon race," so
called from their special Λvorship of the
moon. KlialJi in the Armenian Pantheon,
which was that of the Akkad prior to their
migration to the south, was the same god as
Eur in Hamite, Sin in Assyrian, and
Kamar in Arabian mythology ; and all
these names seem to have been indiflerently
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 Euphrates. Eupolemus, indeed,
as he is quoted by Eusebius, appears to have
been aware that Kamarina, Uria, and
Chalda?a were synonymous terms, though he
Avas ignorant of the lunar etymology. Com-
pare the passage in Cory's Frag. p. 57 : —
iV iroXii TTJs 'ΆαβυΧωνΙα^, Καμαρίνη, τ/ΐν
Tiyas Xsyeiv τόΚιν Ουρίιην, dvai 5e μΐθερ-
μ-ηνΐυομΐνηΐ' Χαλ5αιων πό\ιν. χ. τ. λ.
See also Book vii. Essay iii., note on
§ 4.— H. C. R. 1861.]
* Syncellus gives these kings in immediate
succession to the seven primitive Chakteans,
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 JMerodach and Nebo, the
tutelary gods respectively of Babylon and
Borsippa. — See Cory's Ancient Fragments,
p. 68.
368 ARABIAN ELEMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA. App. Book L
may distinguish, it from the general Chaldsean series, and may thus
favour its attribution to the Arabian dynasty, occurs upon a brick
(ηοΛν in the l»ritish ^Museum) that Avas found by Ker Porter at
Hijmar, which Avas in all probability in ancient times a suburb of the
cit}• of Babylon.* The king, avIiosc name is too imperfect to be
read, is there called "King uf Babylon," nearly after the titulary
formula of the old Chaldaian monarchs, but the invocational passage
refers to a new deity, and the grammatical structure of the phrases
seems to differ from that Avhich is folloAved in the other legends.
The ^Viabians, 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 Euphi-ates ; and under the later kings of Nineveh, the
Yabbur (modern Jibhur^, and the Gumbulu (modern Jmnbuld), who
held the marshy country to the south, appear to have been scarcely
inferior to the Chaldaians 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 e5:tent 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 eft'ect must therefore be received with caution.
At the close then of the Chalda^an period, or possibly after an
interval of Arabian supremacy, the seat of empire w'as transferred
to Assyria (ab. u.c. 1273), and the ncAv period commenced, con-
cerning Avhich it is proposed to treat in a separate chapter. —
[H. C. E.]
[^ See Hist. Ins. No. XXII. The inscrip- poraiy 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. Tiie king's name in this inscription brick seems to be named Irha-Merodacli,
«uiunot be distin<;tly read on the brick, owing and in the Duck Inscription published by
to the bad condition of the only specimen tliat Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, page 600),
has been yet found, but the groups c:ertaiuly the name of Babylon in the title given to
bear a singular resemlilance to a royal name, this same king Irba-Mcrodach is expressed
otherwise known both from the Inscription by mouograiiw which never apply to the
PI. (jG, No. 2, and from the famous Bavian city in ijuestion in the earlier records. Per-
luscription, not yet published. The king in haps, indeed, the same title is found with the
question w;i.s Meroditch-ialin-akhi (" Mero- modern re;iding for Baliylon in the donljtful
dach gives brothers"), who was contem- groups of line 7 of >io. XVII. — H. C. R.
porary with the 1st Tiglath-Pileser of As- 18(jl.]
Syria ('B.C. 1110), iuid who was thus Syncell us h;is given a series of Jlerodach
posterior, not merely to the C'halda;an, but kings at the head of his Arabian dynasty
even to the Arabian dynasty of Berosus. (Cory's Frag. p. 68 i, and the names we are
If this identification should be correct, now discussing may ))ossibly belong to the
serious doubt will be thrown on the whole sjime family, but in that case the chronology
chronological scheme ;vs put forwaid in this of Berosus, from which Syucellus evidently
essay ; for the brick in question, which drew, must lie faulty.
conie-s from the Bowarieh ruin at Warka, is "^ Tliis may help to explain the stiitement
to all appearance of equal antiquity with of Herodotus (ii. 141), of which Josephus
those of Khammurahi or Puni'ipuriyas, complains (Ant. X. i. § 4), that .Sennacherib
or even with those of the Sin series of kings Λν;ΐί " King of the Arnbians and Assyrians,"
who jjreceded. A further argument in as well as the yet more remarkable pausage
favour of the attribution of the legend No. wiiere his army is termed exclusively "the host
XMI. to Mcrodack-iddin-ukld, the contem- oi' the Arabians" {rhv Άραβίωι/ στράτον).
Essay VII. 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
As.syrian independence. 6. Earliest kings — Bel-lush, Pndil, Vul-lush, and
Shitliiui-sur. 7. Series of kings from the Tiglath-Pileser Cylinder. 8. Tiglath-
Pileser I. 9. His son, Ass/wr-bani-pal. 10. Break in the line of kings. Later
monarchs of this dynasty, Asdmr-idclin-ak/n and his descendants. 11. Sarda-
napahis the conqueror. 12. His j^alace 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-V'ul. 18. Campaigns of Shamas- Viil. 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. Keign of Tiglath-Pileser II. 23. Shalmaneser II. — his .siege of Samaria.
24. Sargou — 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. Asshur-hi mi-pal II. — his hunting palace. 34. Asshur-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. 4(i. 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 the 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 Chaldtean Empire in B.C.
2234 to its close about B.C. 1273, 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. Eeasons 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
cuneifoi-m discovery ; it was connected in his writings with a forged
list of between thirty and forty kings, whose names for the most
^ See the Introductory Essay, ch. iii. pp. 61-C3.
VOL. I. 2 Β
o70 WANT OF EXACTNESS IN HEKODOTUS. App. Book I.
part betray tlieir unreal character;* and it is entirely deA'oid of
confirmation from any really independent Avriter. It may therefore
safely be discarded as a pure and absolnte fiction ; and the shorter
chronology of l•Ierodotns and Berosns may be followed. The scheme
of these Avi-iters is in tolerable liarmony with the JeAA-ish 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 I0O6 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 elisewljere
his numbers are incomplete, and we cannot do more than ajrproxi-
mnte to the opinion which his researches led him to entertain on
the subject. As it happens, howcA'cr, that in this case he furnishes
lis Avith 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 Avhat the
view was which he really held, though it is nowhere distinctly
expressed in his extant Avritings/
Herodotus evidently connected in his own mind tlie foundation
of the Lydian and the Assyrian monarchies. Had the name of
Kinus, or that of Belus, occurred singly and separately in the
g'enealogy of Agron, Ave should not perhaps have been justified in
assuming that the Kinus or the Belus of other historical \vriters
vi^as intended. But the occurrence of both names in combination
in that remarkable list,* remoAX^s 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 Kinus who Avas
the mythic founder of A'ineveh.® Now it has been already
- The Avian names of Arius, Xerxes, Am- History " of Herodotus (see note' on Book i.
raniithres or Armamithres, Mithra'iis, &c;., ch. 10')), we should not be left to form eon-
can liave little business in a list of Assyrian jectures or cal(;ulations on this point. I'Ynv
monarchs. Etjually out of place are the of the ravages of time are so deeply to Ijc
Greek names of Amyutas and Laosthenes. lamenteil as the almost tot;il loss of this in-
still more plainly fictitious are the goo- valuable work.
graphic appellatives — Arabelus, Chalaiis, ^ Herod, i. 7. fComp. Ess;iy i. § 7.)
Jtercylus, Ophrata'us, and Aoraganes. (See * Nin ap]jears to have been synonymous
Kssay v\. § 11, note.) [Jt has recently in the Scythic of Babylon with Bel in the
been asserted that Ctesias was indebte<l for >Semitic of Assyria, l)oth terms signifying
the greater number of his names to a Per- generally " a lord," and being apjjlied, with
sian Pharmacopeia, as they rej)resent for the some specific qualificative adjunct, to several
most part well-known Orient;\l 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 telief. — H. C. R.] with the other two names, and for su])posing
^ Cf. Diod. Sic. ii. 21, where, however, it to have been a titleiif Bcl-JIcrodach, in;i>-
the MS.S. give the number of years as 13i)U; much as the great mound of Baliel 'Rich's
but this is to be corrected from Syncellus A/tijcllihe/i), which we know from the in-
(]>. 359, C.) and Agathias (ii. 25). scriptions to have b<!eu a tem])le dedicated
* Herod, i. 95. * Beros. Fr. 11. to ISIerodach l)y Neljuchadnezzar, beiu-s in
" Introductory P>say, ch. iii. p. 89. . the early Talmudic WTitings the remarkable
^ JS'o doubt, did we possess the " Assyrian designation of Tcl-Hagru7neh, or the Wound
Essay VII. CONCLUSIONS DEEIVED FROM HIS HISTORY. 371
shown ' that, according to the views of Herodotiis, Agi'on mounted
the thiOne in abont the year B.C. 1229. Ninus, therefore, his father,
should have begun to reign a generation earlier, or e.g. 1262.*
Thus the 520 years would ajjpear 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 unestimated interΛ'^al
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,^ whoso
reign in the narrative of Herodotus seems to represent that of
Kebuchadnezzar.^ 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 IS ebucliadnezzar, 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 believed the Great Assyrian
Empire to have been foimded in the earlier haK 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, ]iowe\-er, 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 l;ist established. All
1 See Essay i. § 3. these changes put together seem to require a
2 Dr. Braudis assumes that Ninus would toleraldy long space.
be placed by Herodotus 52 years befoi'e ^ Herod, i. 184.
Agron, because that was the number of ^ jS'itocris is the wife of a Laliyuetus,
years assigned to the reign of Xinus by who probably represents Nebuchadnezzar
Ctesias (Ker. Assyr. Temp. Emend, p. 3j. himself; and Herodotus perhaps regards 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 kis decease. Her great works in-
fered in almost all their dates, would ha\'e dicate a long and prosjjerous reign, such as
agreed in this. no monarch enjoyed between Nebuchadnezzar
3 Cf. Essay iii. § 7, note ■•. and Nabonidu.s.
* The Jledes first experience for some con- 7 Herodotus always reckons inclusiΛ'ely,
siderable time the evils of anarchy — Deioces and would therefore only place three genera-
then sets himself to get a character for tious 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 ^ .See jiis Fragments in Miiller's Fragm.
degrees he becomes the arbiter of all qiuu- Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 503, Fr. 11.
2 Β 2
372 CHEONOLOGT OF BEROSUS. Arr. Book T.
52t'> years witli the accession of Phulus or Γηΐ, wliom Enselnus
identifies with the Γηΐ of iScriptm-e." The date of Pul is deter-
mined hy the synchronism of Menahem,' to about B.C. 770-760.
If Tolyhistor then has rightly reported Berosns, he woidd seem to
have phieed tlie 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 hoAvever Λvhether Polyhistor has not
misreported Perosus, or Eusebius misreported Polyhistor. There
is a considerable amoimt 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
hiin in this light, and included his reign in the 526 years of his
seventh dynasty. In this case the chronological views of the Grecian
and Babylonian historians must have agreed very closely 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 fi.ve
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 entii'e 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 work 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 Avriters 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, \'iz. B.C. 747, the " era of Nabonassar."
5. Concerning the origin of Assyrian independence, nothing can
^ Chron. Can. I. v. p. 18, ed. Mai. It ίνεφΰτίυιτε yivn ews is '2ap5avaira\ov.
is curious to find Ful called "king of the Agatii. ut sujira). Tims tiicy know υί only
Chaldaans" (Chaldscorum rcgem), when he one groat change of tlynasty in ^\ssyria, 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. 7ϋ0 record tlie name of his father, a sure indica-
(F. H. vol. i. pp. .'525-6). I do not con- tion that he was the founder of a new dy-
sider that the Scriptural dates cm be fixed nasty. For further evidence on this point
with minute accuracy, or that the numbers see the letter of Sir H. Kawlinson in the
have always come down to us uncorrupted ; Athenanmi, No. 1377.
but there is no reason to doubt that Mona- •* Tiglath-l'ileser records his taking tri-
hem reigned ncarli/ at this period. liutc from .'^amaria in /lis eighth year (vide
^ Bion and Polyhistor placed the e.xtinc- infra, p. 384). Now this event ap])cars to
tion of the line of Ninus under Bolous have preceded by a very short interval the
(Agath. ii. 25, p. 119), who is undoubtedly cons])iracy of Hoshea, which seems to be re-
the Belochus of Syncellus and Eusebius. lated as its result (2 Kirgs xv. 30). Hoshea's
They sjiid that he w;is succeeded by Bele- conspiracy was in B.C. 737 or 738 (Clinton's
fciras (in whose name may perhaps be traced F. H. vol. i. p. 32(j, App.). If we place
the second element of Tiglath-Pileser), and the invasion of Tiglath-l'ileser two years
th.at the crown continued in his family till earlier (B.C. 740), the first of Tiglath-Pi-
Sardiuiapalus (r^jv βασΙΚααμ τψ οίκ(ίψ leser would be B.C. 747.
Essay YII. ORICtIN OF ASSYIilAN INDEPENDENCE. 373
be said to be kuoT\ai. We seem to liave evidence of the inclusion
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 hj an
Arabian conquest of Chaldsea and Babylonia, towards the close of
the sixteenth century B.C., the Assyrians found an opportunity of
throwing oif their subjection, and establishing a separate soΛ'e-
reignty. However this may be, it is at any 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 M'hat 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 Jukh-Sherghat,
on the right bank of the Tigris, sixty miles south of the later
capital, Kineveh. At this place have been found the bricks and
fragments of vases bearing the names and titles of (apparently)
the earliest kno"«Ti Assyrian kings, as well as bricks and pottery
inscribed with the names of satraps, Avho seem to have i"uled the
country during the time of Bab^-lonian ascendancy.* This too is
the city at Avhich Shamas- Vul, the son of the Babjdonian king,
Jsmi-dagon, erected (about B.C. 18-10) a temple to the gods Ami
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
Assj'rian tradition at all, but as inventions of the Greek writers.'^
The Bab^donian 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 SΛvay in Assyria at a time when its con-
nexion with Babjdonia had not long ceased. These kings, whose
names are read A^ery doubtfully as Bel-lush, Piidil, 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 ha\'e covered
with their reigns the space between b.c. 1273, and b.c. 1200.^ Is ο
* Herod, i. 95. between this name and the Scriptural Nini-
* Supra, Essay vi. § 21, note'. rod. Semiramis is a possible name for an
^ Ibid., § 2, notei, and § 6. [There is Assyrian Queen; but the only known Semi-
no positive evidence that the Igmi-dagon of ramis of Assyrian history is the wife of Vul-
Kileh-Sherijhat is the same with the Ismi- lush III., whose date corresponds fairly
dagon of Mngheir, but there is much enough Λvith that of the Semiramis of Hero-
to render the identifiuxtion probable. — dotus. (Vide infra, p. 382.)
H. C. R.] 8 Fr. 11.
' Concerning the word Ninus, see above, ^ The legends of these kings liave been
page 370, note *. No real connexion exists published iu the new series of British IMu-
374 EAliLY LISTS OF KINGS. App. Eook L
historical events can be distinctly assigned to this period.' The
kings are ΙνηοΛΛ-η only by their legends upon bricks and vases,
which have been found at bnt one single place, λπζ., Kileh-Sherghat,
and Avhich are remarkable for nothing but the archaic type of the
Avriting, 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, Avhen 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, \^:hen Babylonia once more made her power
felt in Assyria, a Chaldtean monarch defeating the Assyrians in
their own countiy, and carrying olf 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 Kikh-^lierghat
cylinder,* the earliest document of a purely historical character
Avhich has as yet been reco\'ered 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 tlie foui-th degree. The few
particulars which are gi\'en in this slight sketch, form almost the
whole that is known at j^resent of the kings in question, whose
names it is proposed to read as Ninip-pal-lmra, Asshur-daha-U, J\Iutaggil-
nahu, and Asshur-ris-iUm. 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
troups 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, Asshnr-duha-il, besides " holding the
sceptre of dominion," and " ruling over the people of Bel," is only
said to have " obtained a long and jirosperous life." Later, however,
in the same inscription, it is mentioned that this king took down
the great temple of Ami and Vul at luleh-i^hergluit , Avhich was at the
time in an unsornid condition.'' Of the third king, Mataggil-nabu,
nothing more appears than that he " was established in strength in
the government of Assyria ;" but of the foiirth, Asshur-ris-ilim, the
father of Tiglath-Pileser I., it is recorded that he was, like his son,
a conqueror. Asshur-ris-ilhn is " the powerful king, the subduer of
seum Cuiieifoim Inscriptions, edited by Sir ' Supra, Elssay λ'ϊ. § 2, note '.
H. liawliniion, I'l. 6, Nos. III. and IV. ^ Of this cylinder, or to speak more
1 A king called Shulmanu-sar, or S/taJ- strictly, octagonal prism, sevei'al dupliaitcs
mann-ris {query, Shalmaneser ?), is men- have been found, the inscription being the
tioned as the founder of Calah {Nimrucl) in same on all with unimjiortant Λ-ariations.
a late inscription. This may perhaps Ijc See the new British Wuseum series, I'lates
the 4th monarch of the Λ7/ί;Λ-67ί(.'/•(//ί«ί series, 'J to 1(!.
Avhose name is almost, though not t^uite, the •• See Essiiy vi. § 2, note '.
same.
Essay YIL ANNALS OF TIGLATH-riLESEK I. 3iO
foreign coimtnes, lie who reduced all the lands of the Magian (?)
world " — expressions which are no donbt exaggerated, hut which,
contrasted with the silence of the inscription Avith respect to any
previous conquests, would seem to indicate that it Λvas this monarch
who first began those aggressinns upon the neighliouring nations,
which gradually raised Assyria from the position of a mere ordinaiy
kingdom, to tliat of a miglity and floiirishing empii-e.^
8. The annals of Tiglath-lMleser I., which furnish this account of
his ancestry, extend (as has been already observed) over the space
of fiA^e years. During this period, besides rebuilding the temple,
Avhieh 60 years preAaously had been taken down by his great-
grandfather, he claims to have extended his conqxiests over a largo
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 Ncnri. 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 Aramaiaus, Avhom he subdued, dwelt along the course of the
Euphrates from Tsukha (the Shoa of Scripture*), which was on the
confines of Babylon, to C'avchemish, Avhich was near the site occupied
in later times by the city of Mahog, or Hierapolis. The Armenian
mountains appear, as in the later inscriptions of Sargon, under the
name of Muzr (Misraim), thereby perhaps corroborating the testi-
mony of Herodotus as to the connexion of the Colchians \vith 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 AA'hose acts λνβ 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- ktiueil a prosperous and long life —
ment: — " The beloved son of Niuip-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.
the 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 aud the Sohenc
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 Bavi;ui inscription as a different mon-
world — arch from the Tiglath-Pileser of the .Shergliat
" The grandson of Mutaggil-nxibu, whom Cylindei"s. He gives the succession tlius : —
Asshui• the great lord aided according to the Tiglath-Pileser I., Sardanapalus I. (As*7i«r-
wishes of his heart, and established in strength bani-pul), Tiglath-Pileser II., &c. (I\;\pport
in the government of Assyria — a son Excellence M. le Ministre de I'lnstruc-
"The glorious oflspring 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 hiuids aud the deeds of his life placed
376 BREAK IN THE LINE OF KINGS. App. Book T.
the discoA'ered 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 n.c. 1273 for the first year of the monarchy, Λνβ
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-iddin-ahlii, king of
Balndon, his defeat of Tiglath-Pileser, and his triumphant removal
of the images of certain gods fiOm Assyria to his own capital. We
learn from this record that Babylon not only continued, to the
close of the 12th century, indejiendent of Assyria, but Avas still the
stronger power of the two — the power Avhich was able to take the
offensive, and to ravage and humiliate its neighbour.
9. Tiglath-Pileser 1. was succeeded by his son, Asshar-bard-pal I.
No particulars are known of the reign of this prince, of Avhom one
single record only has been as j^et discovered, which is a dedicator}'•
inscription containing his name, together with that of his father,
Tiglath-Pileser, and his grandfixther, As.sJmr-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. A^shnr-iddin-akhi, the next known king to
Asshur-bani-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 Kilch-Sherghat, which con-
tinued to receive additions from monarchs who were his successors,
and probably his descendants. These monarchs, whose names may
be giA^en as Asshur-dan-il, Vul-hish II., and Ti</idti-Nijiip, 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
rejjair the buildings at Kileh-Sherghat, but have left no evidence of
conquests or greatness."
11. Tigulti-Ninip, the last of the Kdch-Sherghat series, was succeeded
by his son, Asshur-idanni-pal, or Sardanapalus, who appears to h.a,\e
transferred the seat of empire from Kileh-Sherghat, which had been
* M. Oppeit voiitiucs to fill up tho break cession of the kings as recorded on conteni-
with the names of Tiglath-Pileser II., Belo- porary nionumeuts ; but M. Oppert am
chasj., Belitaras, and Shalmaneser I., whom hardly be said to have offered a very satis-
he represents as reigning from B.C. 1122 to factory e.\-planation of the discrepant ac-
B.C. 1050. He applies the narrative of counts. (See tho Kapport, &c., pp. 44, 45.)
Agathias concerning Belochus and Belitara-s 9 Tii/iilti-Ninip, liowever, is mentioned
to this period, identifying tho latter with a with Tiglath-Pileser I. in the annals of the
certiin Bel-kapi (or, according to him, Bel- great Sardanai)alus on the NimVud mono-
kat-irassou), Λvho is mentioned in an iuscrip- lith, among the wailikc ancestors of that
tion of the great Vul-lush as " the founder king who had airried their arms into the
of the empire." This inscription presents Annenian mounfciins, and there set up steles
certainly consideralile difficulties, since it to commemorate their conquests. — [H. C. K.j
differs greatly from the apparent actual sue-
Essay ΥΠ. GRANDEUR OF SARDANAPALUS. 377
tlie Assyrian capital hitherto, to Calah,^ the modern Almrud, a posi-
tion abont 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 Asshw-
idannl-paJ, who seems to be the warlike Sardanapalus of the Greeks,
Avas a great conqueror. In his annals, which have come down to
ns in a very complete condition,^ it is apparent that he carried his
arms far and wide through Western Asia, from Babylonia and
Chaldeea 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, Avho 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 A'otive
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 Avhose grandeur we are able to judge by the
remains of extensive buildings and sculptures which have come
down to us. He was the founder of the Korth-West Palace at
Nimrud, which, next to that of Sennacherib at Koyunjik, is the
largest and most magnificent of all the Assyrian edifices. A large
portion of the sculptures now in the British Lluseum 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 fa9ade 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 Avere of cedar,
broiight 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, sri. p. 361.
p. 374, note i) hj a certain Shalmanusar, or * See the plan of Mr. Layard (Nineveh
Slialmanuris, 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. facmg p. 67.)
2 See the British Museum Series, Plates * hayard, p. 356. The wood discovered
17 to 26. in this palace was almost all cedar. (Ibid.,
■* See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, ch. p. obi.)
o78 SHALMAXESEP. THE BLACK OBELISK KING. App, Book L
plaster. The smallei• chambers Avcre frequently dark ; the larger
ones were lighted either by openings in the roof, or by apertures in
the npper part of the Avall near the ceiling. The flooi's Avere paved
with slabs of stone, often coΛ'ered Avith inscriptions. A close
analogy has been pointed out between this style of building and the
great ediiices of the Jews, as described in Scripture '^ and by Jose-
phus,^ the Jewish kings having in all probaliility 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
Kineveh itself, which however had not yet reached to the dignity of
a metropolitan city. This temple was dedicated to Beltis, a deity
AV(.)rshippcd 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 giΛ'en upon the obelisk, the details being apparently
leserved for the colossal bulls, which seem to have been the usual
dedication after a victory. These expeditions do not f;xll into any
regular order, nor do they seem to result in actual conquest. They
arc 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 Chald^a,
on the very borders of the Southern Ocean ; at another in Eastern
Armenia and the vicinity of the Caspian ; frequently they are in
S3'ria, and toiich the confines of Palestine ; occasionally they are in
Cappadocia, in the country of the Tnplai (Tibareni). Armenia,
Aze}bijan, great portions of Media Magna, the line of Zagros,
Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, I'hoenicia, the chain of Amaniis 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 Assyi'ian successes are throughout attributed, after the
favour of Asshur and Merodach, to their archers.
14. The picture furnished by the inscriptions of the general cou-
^ See 1 Kings, chs. vi. and vii. ; and palaces did not greatly exceed.
2 Chron. eh. iii. ^ The in.scrij)tion also on the lirokcn ohe-
'' Joseph. Ant. Jud. viii. 2. Compare lisk in the British Museum (Historical In-
Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh, p. 229, and scriptions, PI. 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 e.\i)loits in Syria and the exten-
long and 75 feet broad, thus covering a sive I'cpairs which he executed at Asshur or
space little more than one-tenth of that Ktle/i-Sherghat.
covered by the palace of Sardanapalus, anil ^ Called Dikxt-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 Dul^lin University Magazine for Octo-
was 45 feet, which perhaps the Assyrian ber, ItSJ.'i, pp. 422, 425, and 426.
Essay YIL STATE OF ASIA AT THIS PERIOD. 379
dition of Western Asia at this period (b.c. 900 — 860) is perhaps the
most interesting feature of all which they present to us. At the
extreme Λvest appear the Phcenician 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 imited in the same alliance are their neighbours, the
Kliatti, 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 " king« of the sea-coast," who
are probaldy the Phcenician ])rinces. 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 eastAvard 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 Ραάαη-Α.ΤΆ\α of Scripture, and
the Bataiidda, 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 Na'iri
or Nayari, adjoining upon the Armenians, who reach from about
Diarbekr to the basin of Lake Urumiyeh, which belongs to the
Ilannai (who are the Minni of Scripture).'' Southward along the
line of Zagros, are, first, Kharkhar, about Lake \'an ; next Hapusha,
reaching south to Holwan and the Gates of Zagros ; and then the
country of the Tsimri, reaching as far as Susiana,^ east of which dΛvell
the Medes and (perhaps) the Persians.^ Below Assyria is Babylonia,
• The importance of Hamath at this early liable to be confounded in Hebrew, a.s they
period is strongly marked in Scripture, first, are in the name HadaJezer, 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 flistrict north of the Holy Land ; se- Univ. Mag. p. 422, note. Twelve kings of
condly, by what is related of the dealings of the southern Hittites are mentioned in
David with Toi (2 Sam. viii. 9, 10; 1 Chi'on. several places. Compare the expressions in
xviii. 9, 10); and tliirdly, by the manner Scripture, "for all the kin:/s of the Hittites
in which the Asspian envoy, liabshakeh, did they bring chariots out" (1 Kings x.
speaks 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, 4j, 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. h. 27 : " Call together against
xiv. 28). Hamath at this time was the her (Babylon) the kingdoms of Ararat,
capital of Ccele-Syria, and occupied the site Minni, and Ashkenaz."
of the modern Hamah. "^ This name h;is been hitherto read as
* This king was recognised independently X<(mri, but the reading of Tsimri is to be
both by Dr. Hincks and Sir H. liawlinson. preterred. Compare Jer. χχλ•. 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 'Ttoy "Αδβρ for [H. C. K.]
Ben-hadad (1 Kings xx. 1, &c.), and the d ^ The first appearance of the Medes in
and r, from their similarity, are const;\ntly the As-iyrian inscriptions is in the 24th year
380 SHALMANESER'S SYRIAN CAMPAIGNS. App. Book I.
the more northern portion of which is the eoiiBtry of the Accad,
while the more southern, reaching to the coast, is Chalda3a — the land
of the Kaldai. KhoxQ Jialjylonia, on both sides of the Etiphrates,
are the Tsii/;hi, perhaps the Shiihites of Scripture.^ Finally, in
Cappadocia, above the northern Ilittites, and west of the Euphrates,
are the Tuplai, or Tibarcni, 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 Gth, 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 Avhose wars
Avith Ahab and Jehoram, and Avhose minder by Hazael, are related
at length in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.^ Benhadad, who
had strengthened himself by a close league with the llamathites,
Hittites, and I'hocnicians, 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) 16,000 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 ϋ,νβ epigraphs on the black obelisk records the
tribute which Yahiia, the son of Khumri — i. e. Jehu, the son of Omri *
of Shalmaneser I., about n.C. 880. Their own accession — if we regard CHnton's date
exact locality cannot lie fixed, but they for Hazael :is sufficiently ascertained — must
clearly dwell east of the Tsimn who inhabit fall between B.C. 904 and B.C. 900. As we
the Kurdish mountains. It is uncertain have his annals for thiity-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 contemi>orary 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 Israelitish mon-
number of chiefs, as many ;us twenty-seven arclis Ahab, Ahaziah, .Jehoram, and Jehu,
bringing tribute to the Assyrian monai'ch * Dr. Hincks siiys : "This title (son of
on one occasion. In the reign of Senna- Omri) is equivalent to King of Samaria, the
cherib they appear, iis 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. 42G.) But is it not
^ Job ii. 11, &;c. See page 375, note ^. rather a claim^])ossil)ly 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 iu 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 Ximshi (2 Kings ix. 2 and 14). But he
Shalmaneser 1. may be fi.\ed with a near may ha\'e 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 without any ground
year, when he wai-s with Benluidad, ;ind his of right. The Assyrians wouM of course
18th, when he contends with Hazael, his sinii)ly accept the title which he gave himself.
Essay VII. CAMPAIGNS OF SHAMAS-VUL. 381
— brought to the king who set it up, consisting almost entirely of
gold and silver, and articles manufactured from gold. It was
perhaps this act of submission which provoked the fierce attack of
Hazael upon the kingdom of Israel in the reign of Jehu, when he
" smote tbem 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. Slidmaneser dwelt indiiferently 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 B.C. ϋΟΟ to
B.C. 860 or 850.«
17. Shahnaneser 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, Ass/mr-davin-pal,
his eldest son, had raised a revolt against his authority, which was
with difficulty put down by Shamas- i ul, the young brother. Twenty-
seven strong places, including Asshi/r, 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, M'hich were taken by Shamas- 1 id, one after another. Asshur-
dardii-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- Vid 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- Vid, and of his son and successor, Vul-h'ish J J J. In these
four years Shamas- Vid undertook expeditions against the tribes of
the Na'iri 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, λ•ο1. xvi. part i. Annual
logy, which, jilacing the final capture of Report, p. xii. et seq.
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in n.C. 588, * That is, if we connect the accession of
and following the line of the kings of Judah, Tiglath-Pileser Λvith the era of Nabonassar,
according to the years assigned them in the n.C. 747. There is no doubt a great difficulty
Hebrew test, obtains for the Hrst of Kehoboam in supposing that the three consecutive reigns
the year B.C. 975 or 97ΰ. (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. A pp. Book T.
on Armenia to the south and east, against the l\Iedes beyond Zagros,
and finally against the Babylonians. This last campaign is the
most important. In it Shamus- Vul declares that he took above 200
toAvns, and defeated a combined army of Chaldasans, 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-luah, the third prince of that name, was the son and
successor of Shama.s- \ id. lie is, perhaps, the Pul of the Hebrew
Scriptni-es, the riialoch of the Septnagint, and the I'elochiis of
EiiscV)ius and others. He built some chambers in the centi-al
palace at (^ilah, which had been originally erected by his giand-
fatlier, and which Λvas afterwards des})oiled by Esarhaddon. The
records of his time which have been hitherto disco\'ered are scanty,
but possess a peculiar interest. One of them is a pavement slab '
from the upper chambers at A^imrud (Calah), Avherein is noticed his
reception of tribute frum the Medes, Partsu, Miuni, and Kairi on
the north and east, from the country of Khumri, or Samaria, from
Tyre, Sidon, Damascus, Idumasa, and Palestine on the Western Sea —
a relation Avhich 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 isebo,* 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. I ul-lmh ill. certainly seems to have been in an
especial Avay connected with Babylonia. He appears to style him-
self " the king to wliose 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 Avhich he had taken Damascus, he proceeded
to Babylunia, where he received the homage of the Chaldteans, and
sacrificed in Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha, to the respective gods
of those cities, Bel, Kebo, and Kergal. It is possible that Semi-
ramis was a Babylonian piincess, and that Vul-hiah 111., in right of
his wife, became sovereign of Babylon, where, he may have settled
his son Kabonassar. The history of this period is however shrouded
in an obscurity which we vainly attempt to penetrate ; and it can
(mly 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.
Atlieuaium, No. 1476, p. 174. - The statue, which is now in tlie British
^ 2 Kings XV. 19, 20. The amount of Museum, is dedicateJ l)y the artist to " his
Meuahem's tribute is not stilted in the inscrip- lord Vul-lush, ami 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 Martha, certainly belongs to the time of ^'ul-lush III.,
king of Damascus, Vul-lush took at this time and not to cither of the two earlier mouarchs
2:500 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 chrouolugy of the
kings of the period ; — -
B.C.
1. Bel-lush ab. 1273.
2. Pudil 1
3. Vul-lush .^ [ ab. 1200.
4. Shalma-sar (or Slialma-ris) )
5. Nin-pal-kura • • • • j ab. 1 1 60.
6. Asshur-daha-il (his son) )
7. Mutaggil-nabu (his son) 1 ab. 1130.
8. Asshur-ris-ilim (his son) j
9. Tiglath-Pileser I. (his son) ab. 1110.
10. Asshur-bani-pal I. (his son) ab. 1080.
*****
11. Asshur-adan-akhi ab. 1050.
12. Asshur-dan-il (his son) ab. 1025.
13. Vul-hish II. (his son) ab. 1000.
14. Tiglathi-Ninip (his son) ab. 960.
15. Asshur-idaiini-pal (his son) ab. 930.
[ 16. Shalmaneser (his son) ab. 9ii0 to 850.
17. Samsi-Vul (his son) ab. 853 to 800.
18. Vul-lush III. (his son) ab. 800 to 747.
21. The circumstances wliich brought the first Assyrian dynasty
to a close, and placed upon the throne a king of a different fomily,
are neither recorded in the inscriptions, nor by an}^ writer of much
authority.* Tiglath-Pileser II., Λvho appears to have succeeded
Pul,* has left no record of the means by which he obtained the
cro\\ai. His inscriptions however support the notion of a rcA'olution
and change of dynasty in Assyria at this point of its history. Con-
trary to the universal practice of previous monarchs, he omits all '
inention 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 Avith Pul,
whom Berosus is said to have made the first king of the second
period.^ ^^'ith respect to the exact time at which Tiglath-Pileser
mounted the throne, it must be admitted that some doubt exists.
The dates derived from the succession of the HebreΛv 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 ha\^e been contemporary both
with Tiglath-Pileser and with Pul,* the former of Avhom expressly
3 Bion and Polyhistor are said to have perhaps disguise the transactions of this pe-
related that Tiglath-Pileser, whom they called rioii.
Beletaras. was the former king's gardener, ■* Such is the impression which we receive
and crained the crown in some extraordinary from Scripture (2 Kings, x\•. 19-29). It
way {ΐκαρττώσατο παραλό-γω^ τί]ν βασι- would be neaily certain if we could feel sure
Χΐίαν, Awath. ii. 25, § 15). But Agathias, that Tiglath-Pileser really took trihute //-ow
wlio is the a\ithority for this, does not inform Menahem in his eighth year. (See the next
us of any details. The war between Belimns page, note ''.)
and Perseus in Cephalion (Fragm. 1), and * Vide supra, p. 372.
that between Sardanapalus and Perseus in ® 2 Kings xv. 19.
Pausanias (see the Paschal CluOnicle, p. 68),
384 BEIGX OF TIGLATH-PILESER II. App. Book t
states that he took tiihuto fioiu him in his eighth yearJ It is doubt-
ful however if complete dependeuce 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 Avhich led to the establishment in that year of the
celebrated era of Nabonassar. Herodotus connects the rex'olution
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
— Avhich would rest probably upon information obtained at Babylon
— may Avell have been the revolt of Babylonia on occasion of Tig-
lath-l'ileser's accession, which his informants magnified into a
general defection on the part of the Assyrian feudatories. The con-
nexion of Semiramis Avith Pul on tlie one hand,* and with the esta-
blishment of Babylonian independence on the other,^ confirms the
synchronism in question, which is agreeable to the nmnbers of the
Septuagint," and from which the date derivable from the Hebrew
Scriptures difters at the utmost by a period of twenty years.^
22. The annals of I'iglath-Pileser II. extend over the space of
seventeen j'ears. They exist only in a very fragmentary state,
having been engraved on slabs which were afterwards defaced by
" As Miiuahcm only reigneil 10 y&irs, 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. ioprwv Se αυτονόμων
lath-Pileser necessarily falls (unless there is a πάντων ανά Thv ^π e ipov .
mistake of the name) into Menahem's second " Compare ch. 102.
or third year. There are however strong ^ Nothing is more ])l;un from Scripture
grounds 'for suspecting that Menahcm in the than the riourishing comlition of Assyria in
inscription is mentioned bij mistake for I'ehali. the reigns of Tiglath-l'ileser, Shalmaneser,
He is coupled with Keziu, 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 jieriod. Assyria absorbs the
of Tiglath-Pileser seems to be almost certainly kingdoms of Syi-ia and Israel, overruns Judaea
that of which an account is given in the book and Philistia, and invades Kgypt. At the
of Kings (2 Kings xvi. 5-9; cf. 1 Chron. v. same time she holds Media (2 Kings xvii. 6)
2(5), Λvhich 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
fciken 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 infra, Essay viii. § 2.
his campaign with the Syrians and Israelites ^ By assigning 35 years, instead of 55, to
ΛνοαΜ veiy conveniently fall into his eighth the reign of Manasseh, the LXX. reduces all
year (b.C. 740 — the second year of Aliaz, anil the earlier dates by exactly 20 years,
the eighteenth of Pekah). 7 That is to s;iy, if we regai'd the syn-
* The Hebrew numbers sometimes diifer 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 EEZIK 385
Sargon or his descendants, and which were finally torn from their
places and used by Esarhaddon as materials for the buildings
which he erected at Ximrud — the ancient Calah. They give at
some length his wars in Upper Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Media :
but the most remarkable events recorded in tliem 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 Nebo-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 Idumseans.
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 twice : 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 iuAdtation 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 found himself hard pressed by
the combination against him of I'ekah 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 οίϊ into captivity the two tribes and a-half by whom this
β It does not seem possible that this name Assyria, saying, / am thy se)-vant and thy
can represent Nabonassar, although the tirst 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
8 Compare the Hiram of 1 Kings v. 1-12, found in the house of the Lord, and in the
and the Siromus or Eircimus of Herodotus treasures of the king's house, and sent it for
(vii. 98, and note ad loc). ' a present to the king of Assyria." (2 Kings
1 See Ml•. Vance Smith's Exposition of the svi. 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
^ Ibid. xvi. 5-9. Compare Isa. vii. and viii. pattest 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 SHALMANESEE IL App. Book I.
country was peopled : " after which it is probable that Pekah 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 de!stro}'ed — the first in-
stance that occurs of dii'^ct contact betAveen the Jews (propeily so
called) and the Assyrians.
23. Of Shalmaneser 11., 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 j-et 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. 2G, and compare Isa.ix. 1. ' 2 Kings xvii. 4. Tliis king, who is called
" 2 Kings xvi. 10. So, or rather Seveh, N"|D in the Hebrew text,
^ It is probable that his monuments were but Scgor (2ηγώρ) in the Septuagint, has
purposely destroyed by Sargon. commonly been identified with Sabaco I., the
2 This asseition depends on the assumption founder of the 25th (Ethiopian) dynasty ; but
that Tiglath-Pileser began to reign B.C. 7-47. there are certiiin objert'ons to this. Hosea
As 1 7 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 ;is 15.C. 72:5 ; but the Egyptian
B.C. 7;i0. Sargon began to reign B.C. 721. monuments prove Tirhakah to have ascended
Thus the greatest possible lengtli of Shalma- the throne B.C. G90, and Manetho assigned
neser's reign is nine years. If Tiglath-Pileser the two Sabacos 22 or 24 years, which gives
held the throne more than 17 yefU's, which is B.C. 712 or 714 for the accession of Sabaco I.
very 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, wiioin he c;ills / irhii, whic'li is perhaps
perhaps belong to Shalmaneser, but in both Pharaoh, or ])erhaps Bocchai'is. Two or three
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 I'^gypt to Meioe or Ethiopia.
ofSamaria ; the other speaks of a son of Kezin. ^ 2 Kings xvii. 5, and xviii. 10. " At the
* The accounts which Menander gave (ap. end of three years they took it."
Joseph. Ant. .Jud. ix. 14) of expeditions con- ^ " 'phe kjug of Assyria" in 2 Kings, ch.
ducted by Shalmaneser against Plioenicia and xvii. ver. 6, is not necessarily the same mo-
Cyprus are probably unhistorical. Hehasap- narch as " the king of Assyria" of the pre-
[)arently confused Shalmaneser with his succes- ceding verse. Our translators correctly regard
sor Sai gon, by whom exped.tions agamst these ver. (i as beginning a new paragraph. In the
places seem to have been really undertaken. other passage (xviii. 10) we ha\'e the yet moi'C
* 2 Kings XV. 30. ^ 2 Kings xvii. 3. vague expression, " they took it."
EssAT VII. S ARGON 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 I'seudo-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 only from later records that we may perhaps be able
to supply this deficiency.* His reign covered a space of nineteen
years, fur fifteen of which we possess his annals. It appears that in
his fii-st year, after Samaria had fallen and the bulk of the inhabit-
ants had been brought as captives to Assyria,•* he pioceeded 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
Damasciis,* the people of Arpad, and others, Sargon again marched
to the west. Having defeated the rebels at Gaigaru (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 liaphia, 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
Sai'gon returned in triumph to his own country. Five yeai's 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-Balatlan out of Babylon after very doubtful.
he had rehjned tvelve years. It follows that * 2 Kings χ\•ϋ. 6, and sviii. 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. six. 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. Raw- ^ See Nehem. ii. 19 ; Ί\, 7 ; vi. 1-6.
linson, the name of Nebosiphuni occurs in a
2 c 2
388 SARGON REMOVES ΤΠΕ SEAT OF EMPIRE. App. Book I.
bute in gold, horses, camels, &e. 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 Ipper
Syria, Cappadocia, and Armenia. He overran Hamath ; defeated
Amhris the king of Tubal (the Tibaieni), on whom he had pre-
viously bestowed the province of Khilah (Cilicia), but Λvho had
re\'Olted in conjunction with the kings of Meshech (the Moschi) and
Ararat (Armenia) ; invaded this last named country, and fought
several battles Avith its king, Urza ; took tribute from ihe Na'iri ; and
carried back Avith him to Assyria a host of prisoners, Avhom he
replaced bj' 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) Avith 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 Minikha, 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 Chaldasans. It
was at this period that he seems to have first receiA^ed tiibute from
the Greeks of Cyprus,* into which country he perhaps afterAvards
made an expedition.* This expedition, if it took place at all, must
haA'e occurred later than his fifteenth year, as it is not recorded in
the Khorsabad annals. The statue of Sargon noAv in the Berlin
Museum, which Avas 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 Kineveh, and built
in the neighbourhood of that city * the mag-nificent palace Avhich
® Supra, pp. 377, 378, 381, 382, &c. this time is strongly marked throughout the
' See 2 Kingsxvii. 6,and xviii. II. "The 20th chapter of Isaiah. If Sabaco I. ascended
king of Assyria did carry away Israel into the throne B.C. 71-1-, his submission to Sai'gon
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 Cy])rian Greeks are described as
cities of the Medes." " seven kings of the Yaha-nage tribes of the
^ Cf. Isa. XX. 1. " In the year that Tartan country of Yacnan (or Yunan), i. e. Ionia."
came unto Ashdod (when Sargon the king of They dwelt " in an island in the midst of the
As.syria sent him), and fought against Ashdod, sea, at the dist<ance 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-
kings of Assyria freqiiently identified -them- lium does not prove the prescn(;e of the As-
selves with their generals. (See Col. l!aw- 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 Umv. Magazine for passage of Menander, which .Josephus refers
October, 1853, p. 425, note). Egyptians to Shalmaneser (Ant. Jml. ix. 14, § 2), we
and {'Ethiopians seem to have been among the must suppose tliat Cyprus had been previously
defenders of Ashdod (Isa. .xx. 4, 5) on this subject to Phcenicia, and that she did not re-
occasion, linquish her hold without a sharp struggle.
- The connexion of Jj^gypt with Ethiopia at * Sargon speaks of his palace as built " near
Essay ΥΠ. 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, coloiired
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 gieat 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-akhi-irha),
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 Chaldaja and Aramaea
(Syi'ia) on the one side, and from Aiinenia and Cilicia on the
other, and used their forced labour for his constmctions, employing
on the repairs of the great palace alone as many as 360,000 men.
A portion Avere engaged in making bricks ; others cut timber in
Chaldaea and in Mount Hermon, and brought it to Kineveh ; 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. Piawlinson's Commentary, p.
N. by E. of Koyunjik, wliich marks the site 19, note ".
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
polls Restored, p. 22:5, where a cornice upon be assigned to Kgypt, 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, which Mr. ^ Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 182-190.
Layard notes (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 131), 2 Xhjs jg niade 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 afterwai'ds.
be another indication of Egyptian influence.
390 CAMPAIGNS OF SENNACHEEIB. App, T3ook I.
ancient aqnediicts conveyinc; spring-water to tlie city from a dis-
tance were made capable of tlieir original use. Kot 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 Avith elaborate
sculptures in commemoration of his various expeditions. This
edifice, which was excavated by Mr. Layard, and which is known
as the great Koyunjik palace, is on a larger 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-
A^ated portion of it covers an area of nearly 40,000 i-quare yards, or
above eight acres. Besides this great Λvork, Sennacherib built a
second palace in Nineveh, on the mound noAV called Nebbi-Yunus,
and a temple in the city of Tarbisi (the modern Shereef Khaii) 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 siiccessful, 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 \ΐάη. Sennacherib meanwhile entered the j)lun-
dered Babylon, destroyed 79 Chaldasan 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 Avorthy of our confidence.
On his way back from Bab^'lonia Sennacherib ravaged the lands
of the Aramaean tribes upon the Tigris and Euphrates, among
Avhom are mentioned the Nabatu (Nabataians), and the Hagaranu
(Ilagarenes), carrying into captivity from this quarter more than
200,000 persons. He then, in his second year, b.c. 701, attacked
the mountain ti'ibes 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 Sj'ria. Here he
first chastised Luliyd, king of Sidon (apparently the Elula?us of Me-
nander*), driving him to take refuge in Cyprus, and giving his
' Sec the cxti-act from Polyhistor in Euseb. jam tertium regnante, Senacheribus i-o.x Assy-
Chron. Can. pais i. c. 4. " Postquam regno riorum copias adversum Babylonios coutra-
defiinctus est Senacheribi pater et post Hagisaj hebat, pralioque cum iis conserto superior
ill Babylonios dominationcm, qui quidem non- evadebat," «fcc.
dum expleto trigesimo die a Marudacho I'al- ■* Aj). Joseph. Ant. Jud. ix. 14. It was
dane inteiemj)tus est, Marudachus ipse Bal- piobalily after chastising this prince that Sen-
danes tyrannidem invasit mensibus 6, dunec naclierib set up liis tablet at the Nahr el
cum sustulit vir qnidam, nomine Elibu!<, qui Kelb.
et in rcijnum successit. Hoc postremo annum
Essay VII.
HIS INVASION OF JUDAEA.
391
throne to another. He then received tribute from the rest of the
Pho3nician cities, as well as from the kings of Eclom 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. ^V'ar 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 Judtea, where he
took 46 fenced cities, and carried off as captives abo\'e 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 Avhich 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.
26— η The " kings " mentioned are evi-
'-'^^ ' dently 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 his reign he " smote the Philis-
tines, even unto Gaza " (2 Kings rviii. 8).
'' Demetrius, the Jewish historian, ascribed
the gre;\t 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
Avt'll explained by Mr. Layard (Nineveh and
Babylon, p. 148).
1 See 2 Kings r\'iii. 13-16 : " Xow 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
oHended : return from me ; that wliich thou
puttest upon me I will bear. And the king
of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of
Judah 300 talents of silver, and 30 talents of
gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver
that was found in the house of tiie Lord, and
in the treasures of the king's house. At that
time did Hezekiah cut oti 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 oar 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 DUExVTION OF SENNACHERIB'S REIGN. xVpp. 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 tnmed his
anxm against the south, and proceeded into liabylonia, Avhere the
party of jMcrodach Baladan Avas still powerfnl. After defeating a
Chaldiean 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 doAvn the
Tigris, and manned with Phoenician sailors. The annals break off
at his eighth year.
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. (380, precisely 22 years after the accession of P)elibus, whom
Sennacherib placed over Babylon in the same j^ear 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) haΛ^e followed rapidly on his fiivst 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 ciicumstance
favours a late date for the expedition, since Tirhakah seems not to
have ascended the throne of Egypt before B.C. G90.*
Chronolofry, pp. 59-ΓιΟ), and Mr. \^ance ■• Since his '22ud year has been found on a
Smith ( Prophecies on Nincveli and the Assy- clay tablet.
rians. Introduction, § 4), assume the two ex- * 2 Kings six. 8., 9 ; Isa. xxx\-ii. 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 ? σσ ha^nng l)y Herodotus and Mani-tho, his accession must
become vs) of the Canon, and is a distinct have occurred in li.c. 569. Now an Apis
person from the Asaridanus (Ivsar-haddon) stela shows that only 72 years inten'ened
who ascends the throne of Babylon nineteen lietween the 35th year of Amasis (B.C. b'Ab)
years afterwards. Perhaps Polyhistor, when and the 3rd of Neco. Neco's accession must
he called the former prince Asordanes (ap. therefore be j)laced in B.C. 610. Allowing
Euseb. Chrou. Can. pars. i. c. 4), confounded Psammitichus the 54 years assigned him both
him with his brotlicr. The dcjKisition of by Manetho and Herodotus, we obtain for his
Belibus liy Sennacherib in his third year, and acx'cssion the date n.C. 064. Another Apis
the establishment on the throne of a hon of the stela shows that Tirhakah immc't/ia<(?(y ] ire-
conqueror, were mentioned by that writer. ceded Psammitichus, and that he reignecl 26
Essay VII.
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 very 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 arm}'• 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, whiA
Λvas 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 /iWi./
of Ethiopia, before he became king of Egypt.
'' The grounds whereon I determine in
favotir of a second expedition, which Mr.
Vance Smith (Prophecies, Introd. § 4, p. 54-)
and others positively reject, are the following :
1. The apparent sepaiation of the expeditious
in Kings (2 Kings r\'iii. 13 and 17) and
Chi'onicles (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 impi obability ι as it seems
to me) of national vanity going to the length
of seeking to conceal an enormous disaster
under 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
atlbrds 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 narratn-e with
the Inscriptions. Scripture places only eight
years between the fall of Samana and the first
invasion of Jud»a 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 assigning the first attack on Hezekiah to
Sennacherib's third year, put an interval of
at least 18 years between the two events.
Further, a comparison of Ptolemy's Canon
Avith 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 moie of the Scriptural num-
bers. The least change is, to substitute in the
1 3th verse of 2 Kings xviii. the tiretity-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 Baliylon, 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 ΧΛ'ίϋ. 17.
1 Ibid. ver. 21 and 24.
" Isa. XXX. 2, xxxi. 1-3.
* This seems implied in the e.xpression " he
had heard that he was departed from Lachish "
(2 Kings six. 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 llezekiah, \vhile 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 dj'nasty, were reigning at
Thebes ; and probably it was as the two armies lay encamped
0])pusite 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, Avith 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 tAvo 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 destniction of his army by the Cyrena3ans.''
But there are no sufficient grounds for tliis belief, which is contrary
to the impression left by the Scriptural narrative ; ' audit is far more
probable that Sennacherib outliA'ed his discomfitui-e 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 by the decorated chambers there — addi-
tions, as it would seem, to the original structure.
31. As Sennacherib was not succeeded by his eldest son, Asshu7'-
nadin-*, the viceroy of Babylon, 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 Λνβ find by the Canon that he was succeeded on the
throne of Babylon by Eegibelus. His untimely death made way
for Esarhaddon (^Asshur-ak/i-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
* Sethos. (See Herod, ii. 141, and com- » Herod, ii. IGl, iv. 159.
pare " Historical Notice of Egypt " ia the ^ It is said, both in the second book of
Appendix to Book ii. ch. viii. p. 380.) Kings (xix. 36) and ni Isaiah (χχχλ'ϋ. 37),
* 2 Kings xLx. 35. that Sennacherib " departed, and went and
' Herod, ii. 141, ad fin. If the statue returned, «ftc/ rficeii at Nineveh," which gives
shown to Herodotus was really ei'ected to the imjiression of some consideiable length of
commemorate the discomfiture of Sennacherib, residouce. The statement of tiie book of Tobit
the mouse must have been an emblem of (i. 21), that he was murdered 55 days after
destruction. The tradition of tlie gnawing of his return from Syria, «mnot be considered to
the bowstrings would arise from tlie figure, possess any autliority.
(See note on book i. ch. 24.) - Supra, p. 392.
* See Clinton, V. II. vol. i. Λ pp. ch. 4.
Essay VII. ESAR-HADDON SUCCEEDS HIS FATHER. 395
historical inscriptions,^ and those of his son, that he carried his
arms over all Asia between the Persian Gnlf, the Armenian moun-
tains, and the Mediterranean, penetrating in some directions further
than any previous Assj-rian monarch/ He warred in Eg^-pt, 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 Kimrud, " 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 Gimiri or Sacse,*
the land of Tubal, parts of Armenia, Media, and Bikni, Chaldsea,
Edom, and many other less Λvell-known countries. In Susiana he
contended with a son of Merodach-Baladan, and he boasts that in
spite of the assistance Avhich this prince received fiom the Susia-
nian monarch, he was unable to save his life. On another son, who
became a refugee at his court, he bestoAved 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 reviA^al of a policy introduced
by his grandfather, Sargon, who is suspected to be the Arceanus
(Άρκ,ε'ηΐ'οο) of the Canon.^ But the identification 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 h\\\\t a palace at Babylon, bricks from
which, bearing his name, have been discovered among the ruins at
Hillah : a Baloylonian 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 coiintry. It is probable that he held his court
sometimes at the Assyrian, sometimes at the Babylonian capital f
and hence it happened that when his captains cai'ried Manasseh
away captive from ,Jeri;salem, 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.
published, 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). (liapport, p. 48) and Mr. Bosanquet (Sacred
* His Median conquasts are said to haΛ'e and Profane Chronology, p. GG).
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.
tUities are recorded against tribes " who from 53.) It may be gathered from 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.
(?»wi are mentioned. The same name occurs " See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 :" Wherefore the
in the Babylonian column of the Behistun and Lord brought upon them the captains of the
other inscriptions, where it represents the kintj of Assi/ria, which took Manasseh among
Saka (Sacee) of the Persian. the thorns, and boimd him with fetters, and
396 ESAK-HADDOX'S MAGNIFICIENT BUILDINGS. App. Book I.
expedition, nor of the peopling of Samaria by colonists draAvn
cliiefly from Babylonia/ which was in later times ascribed to this
monarch.*
o2. 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 Avith silver and
gold, as splendid as the sun."* Besides repairing warious palaces
erected by foi-mer 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, wliich was constructed of mate-
rials derived from the palaces of the former monarchs λυΙιο had
reigned at that place, for whom, as not belonging to his own
family, Esar-haddon seems to ha\'e entertained small respect.
The plan of this palace is said to diifer from that of all other
Assyrian buildings.* 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 yet dis-
covered, to the descriptions in the Bible of the palace of Solomon."*
Another of Esar-haddon's palaces was erected at >.'ineveh on the
spot now marked by the mound at Nehhi- Yunus.^ This is probably
the building of Avhich he boasts that it Λvas " a palace such as
the kings, his fathers, who Avent before him, had never made," and
Avhich on its completion he is said to have called " the jmlace of
the pleasures of all the year." '' It is described as supported on
Λνοοιίοη columns, and as roofed with lofty cedar and other trees ;
sculptures in stone and marble, and abundant images in siWer,
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 S/iereef-Khaii, for his son ; but this was apparently a very inferior
building."*
In the construction and ornamentation of his palaces Esar-
carried him to Bahfjion." Scriptui'e does not Sepliarvaim 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 2.
ries, their sons would naturally be the same ; * Ezra iv. 2. Perhaps the "great and
and '2. Esar-haddon mentions Manasseh among noble Asnapper " of ver. 10 is the otHcer who
the kings who sent him workmen for his great actually led the colony into Samaria,
buildings. See note ^ on the next page. ^ " Assyrian Texts," p. 16.
1 2 Kings xvii. 24: "The king of Assyria * Nineveh and Babylon, ch. sxvi. p. 654.
brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, * Ibid. p. 655. ^ Ibid. ch. xxv. p. 598.
and from .Ava, and fiom Hamath, and from '' See Mr. Fox Talbot's pamphlet, pp. 17,
Sepharvaim, and placed tlicm 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. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S PASSION FOR HUNTING. 397
haddon made use of the services of Syrian, Greek, and Plioenician
artists. The princes of Syria, Manasseh king of Judah, the Hel-
lenic monarch of Idalium, Citinm, 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 inust have reigned at least 13 3• ears ; but he cannot
have reigned much longer.' He was certainly succeeded by his
son, Asshur-baiii-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. \\ith Asshur-bani-pal II., the Sardanapalus of Abj'denus,
appears to have commenced the decadence of Assyria. He con-
tinued the war Avith 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. Himting appears
to have been his passion. A palace Λ\'hich he erected at Nineveh,
in the immediate vicinity of that built hy Sennacherib, was orna-
mented throughout with sculptured slabs representing him as
engaged in the pursuit and destruction of wild animals.* The arts
flourished imder 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 An'gour 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 wliich the ascended the throne of Babylon during his
following names occur ; — Eldstuzi of Edial father's lifetime, of which there is no atom of
(^Mg\si\\\\soilaa\mTa), Fisuaguraoi Kittldm 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-Dm/an of Berosus gave him 28 years in Assyria (Rev.
Pappa {Ithoaagon oi Faphos), Erieli o( Tsillu Assyi•. Temp. Emend, p. 41) ; but of this I
(Euryalus of Soli), Dainatsii οϊ Kuri (De- see no satisfactory proof.
mo - - - of Curium), Rummizu of Tamizzi - Supra, p. o9'2, note ^.
(* * * of Tamissus), Danntsi οι Amti-Kha- ^ See the Athenanmi of August IG, 1860,
dasti (Demo of Ammo-chosta), Huna- and compare a paper read by Sir H. Kawlin-
zigqutsu of Liminni ( Onesi of Limenia), son before the Royal Society of Literature in
and Puhali of Upridissa (* * * of Aphro- March, 18(31.
disiaV * These slabs, which were recovered by
1 Polyhistor (according to Eusebius, Chron. Sir H. Rawlinsou, ai'e now in the British Mu-
Can. pars l,p. 20) 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
Tiews of Berosus, made Esar-haddon reign 13 Koyuujik.
398 ΓχΑΡΙϋ DECLINE OF ASSYRIA. App. Book I.
interfered to chock the rising civilization, Assyria might in many
respects have anticipated the improved art of the Greeks.
34. Asfiliur-liani-pal may he supposed to have reigned from B.C.
G67 to ahout B.C. 64U. lie was succeeded by a son, whose name is
read somewhat doubtfully as Asshur-emit-ili, the last king of whom
any records have been as yet discovered. I'nder him the decline
of Assyria seems to have been rapid. No military expeditions can
be assigned to his reign, and the works which he cunstructed are
of a most inferior character. A palace built by him on the great
platform at Nimrud or Calah — the chief moninnent of his I'eign
Avhich 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 rediaced
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 Modes, who were
now growing into ]n-ominence,^ 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 destroj^ed. These disasters preceded the last attack of
Oyasares, and prepared the way for the fall of the mighty power
Avhich had so long been dominant in Western Asia. It is uncer-
tain whetlier the last war with the Modes and final destruction of
Nineveh fell into the reign of Asshur-emit-ili, 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 Asshur-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-emit-ili may have been the last
king but one, and Saracus (perhaps his brother) have succeeded
him.'
• SeeLayard'sNinevehandBabylon, p. 655. ^ Cf. Essay lii. § 9, pp. 410-2.
'' Herodotus assigns the first attack of the ^ The name of Saracus is not found [in tlie
Medes on Nineveh to the last year of Phraortes, actual fraginents of Berosus, but comes down
or B.C. 634. He repiesents 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 n.C. 63;i. The final him. (See MUUer's Fragm. H. G. vol. iv.
invasion he would, apparently, have placed as p. 'J79.)
late as P..C. 60:^. Between li.c. β'Λ'2 and 603 ^ It must be noted, however, that Aby-
(according to him) the Si y ths were dominant denus from whom the name of Saracus comes,
throughout Western Asia. mentioned two kings only — Sardanapalus and
Essay VII.
SAEACUS 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, Avhose Λ■ery 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 Medes under
Cyaxares, and perhaps at the same time by the ChaldtBans and
Susianians,'^ he made Xabopolassar, 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
Sai-acus — as successors of Esai'-haddon — his
Axerdis. This tends to identify Saracus with
Asshtif-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 Heroilotus. We do not krwr,
however, that either Herodotus or Aristo-
phanes, intended theh- Sardanapalus for the
last king.
' On the weakness of Ctesias as an autho-
rity see the Introductory Essay, eh. iii. pp.
77-9.
* There are writers who endeavour to find
the name Saracus in Sardanapalus (see Bran-
dis, pp. 32-'ό), and others who consider that
Sardanapalus is a fair Greek equivalent for
the actual name of the last monumental king,
which they read as Asshar-dan-il (Oppert,
Rapport, table opp. p. 52). But these views
seem forced and overstrained. Nothing can
bejmore 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 " a!th," which, however, will not make a
name without a third element.
* See the famous fragment of Abydenus :
" Post quem (Sardanapalum) Saracus impe-
ritabat Assyriis : qui quidem certior factas
turmarum vulgi collectitiarum quae h. mari
adversus se adventarent, continue Busalusso-
rum (i. e. Nebupalussorumj militia ducem
Babylonem mittebat. Sed enim hie, capto
rebellandi consilio, Amuliiam, Asdahagis Me-
dorum principis filiam, nato suo Kabucho-
drossoro despondebat ; moxque raptim contra
Ninum, seu Ninivem urbem, impetum facie-
bat. Re omni cognita, rex Saracus regiam
Evoritam inflammabat. Turn vero Nabu-
chodrossorus, summae rerum potitus, firrais
mceniis Babylonem cingebat." (Ap. Euseb.
Chron. Can. pars i. c. 9.) And compare
Polyhistor (ap. eund. c. 5) : " Post Sammu-
ghem imperavit Chaldaiis Sardanapalus annos
21. Hie ad Asdahagem, qui erat Medicse
gentis praeses et satrapa, copias auxiliares
misit, videlicet ut filio suo NabuchodrossoiO
desponderet Amuhiam e filiabus Asdahagis
unam." So Syncellus says of Nabopolassar :
OUToy arparrjyhs vnh '^αράκου του Χαλ-
Sa.iaiv βασιλίού? ffraXels, κατά του αυτοΰ
2αρα/ίοιι ei's ΝΐΐΌν ΐττιστρατίύΐΐ• Ου τ^ν
(φο^οΐ' ■π■τoηθΐ\s 6 ^άρακοί eai/rbr ffvu
τοΊβ jSaffiAeiois ίΐ'ίπρησΐ, καΐ την apxijv
Χαλδαί'ϋΐ/ καΐ Βαβυ\ώνο$ ταρίΚαβΐν δ
αυτοί Ναβοπαλάσαροί ( ρ. 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 Assh'tr-'xmi-pal. They can
scarcely have been Scythians, as Brandis (fol-
lowing Niebuhr) supposes (Rev. Ass. Temp.
Emend, p. 31).
400
DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH.
App. Book I.
capital for a while, but at last, despairing of success, withdrew to
his palace, and, tiring- it λνϊύι his οΛνη hand, perished, Avith all
belonging to him, in the conflagration/
'3b. 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 portiou
of the city Avall, 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 coiupleted
the ruin of the once magnificent capital, by razing the walls and
delivering the whole city to the flames.* iSineveh ceased to exist;
and at the same time probably the other royal cities, or at least
their palaces, were \vasted with fire,^ the proud structures raised
by the Assyrian kings being reduced at once to that condition of
ruined heaps which has been the eftectual 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 iinder 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 Cauuians (Herod, i. 176).
* Supra, Essay iii. § 9, pp. 335-6.
9 A p. Diod. Sic. h. 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 tlood " wherewith God should " make
an end of the place," in xer. 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 be throu-n open, and the
palace shall be dissolved " (ii. 5, 6).
" Behold, thy people in the midst of thee
are women : the (jates of thy tand shall be set
■wide open unto thine enemies : the fire shall
devour thy bars " (iii. 13).
* The recent excavations have shown that
fire was a chief agent in the destruction of the
Kincveh 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 I.ayard's
Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 71, 103, 121, kc,
and comp. Ν ahum 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 Kemams, vol. i. pp.
12, 27, 40, &c. ; Nine\-eh and Babylon, pp.
351, 357, 359, &c. ; Vanx's Nineveh and
Persepolis, pp. 196-8 ; Botta, Letter ii. p. 26,
Letter iii. p. 41, &ο.
■• So Nahum had prophesied : " Thy people
is scattered upon the mountains, and no man
gathereth them. There is no hcaliiuj of thy
bruise" (iii. 18, 19).
* Sec Essay iii. § 12.
β The legend CoL. NiNiVA CLAUD. (Co-
lonia ^'iniva Claudiopolis), which is found on
coins of Trajan and Jhiximin, seems to show
that Claudius, who established many colonies
in the I'iist, founded one on or near the site of
Nineveh. A passage in Herodotus (i. 193)
distinctly indiaites that no town of Nineveh
existed in his day. From the silence of Xe-
nophon and the historians of Ale-xander, 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. CHRONOLOGY OF THE LATER KINGDOM.
401
deprived the i:)eople of a rallying point, and probably contributed
to render them that which they appear in their later historj^ — 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.
Asstkia.
CONTEMPORARY KINGDOMS.
B.C.
Babtlon.
Egypt.
JUDAH.
Israel.
HI
Tiglath-rUeser.
Invades Babylon.
Nabonassar.
in
..
Ahaz.
740
Takes tribute from
Pekah. (?)
Defeats Eezin.
131
..
Pekah slain.
733
. .
Nadius.
731
Chinzinus and Porus.
730
Shalnlaneser.
729
Hoshea.
726
Makes Hoshea tribu-
tary. (?)
Elulaeus.
.. ..
Hezekiah.
723
Besieges Samaria.
«
721
Sargon (takes Samaria).
Merodach-Baladan i ....
Samaria
Invades Babylon.
(Mardocempalus).
taken.
720
Invades Kgypt.
715
Invades Kgypt 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 Alerodach-
Baladan, and makes
Belibus king of Ba-
bylon.
Belibus.
Sabaco II.
700
Makes Hezekiah tri-
butary. Wai-swith
Egypt.
. . . .
First attack of
Sennacherib.
699
Displaces Belibus.
Asshur-nadin-*
(Assaranadius).
698 (?)
Loses his army by
miracle.
.. ..
Second attack.
697
• . . .
Manasseh.
693
Regibelus.
692
Mesesimordachus.
690
Tlrhakah.
688
Interregnum.
680
Esar-haddon (\V\s son).
Manasseb brought to
him oi L'abylon.
Esar-haddon
(Asaridanus).
667
Asshur-bani-pal (his
son).
Saosduchinus.
664
. .
Psammetlchus.
647
Ciniladanus.
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 than (at the utmost) five centuries. It commenced
with Tiglath-Pileser I., about B.C. 1110, and it terminated Avith
Asshur-bani-pal II., about B.C. 640. The limits of the dominion
vai'ied greatly during this period, the empire expanding or con-
tracting according to the circiimstances 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 princes, who held the throne from B.C. 721 to about
B.C. ()G7. During this interval Assyria was paramount over the
portion of Western Asia included between the Mediterranean and
the llalys on the one hand, the Caspian and the great Persian desert
on the other. Southwards the boinidary 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 beyond 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,
Chald^a, Babylonia, Media, Matiene, or the countr}^ of the Namri,
Armenia, Mesopotamia, parts of Cappadocia and Cilicia, Syria,
Phoenicia, Palestine, Idumaja, and for a time Lower Egypt. Cyprus
also was for some years a dependency. On the other hand, Persia
Proper, Bactria, and Margiana, even ITyrcania, were beyond the
eastern limit of the Assyrian sway, which towards the north upon
this side did not reach farther than about the neighbourlioud 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 (so fiir as appears) penetrated beyond Cilicia or crossed the
Halj^s.
88. 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 modem 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 b;/ year " (ver. 25) ; and that the amount of
Essay 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 Chron.
for the complete organisation of the empire, ix. 13-28, and Ps. bcxii. 8-11.
see ch. x., where it appears that the Itings * 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-
knoAvledge 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 Avhen summoned,' unless they
have a reasonable excuse, must there salute him as a superior, and
otherwise acknowledge his rank ;" above all, they must pay him
regularly the fixed tribute which has been imposed upon them at
the time of their submission or subjection, the unauthorised w^ith-
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 tliis kind in the
inscriptions. The most remarkable is that of
Esai'-haddon, who " assembled at Nineveh
twenty-two kings of the land of Syria, and of
the sea-coast, and of the islands of the sea,
and passed them in review before him " (Fox
Talbot, p. 17). Perhaps the visit of Ahaz to
Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings xvi. 10) was of this
chai-acter.
2 Cf. Ps. Ixxii. 11 : " AU kmgs shall faU
down before him." This is said primarily of
Solomon. The usual expression in the inscrip-
tions is that the subject kings " kissed the
sceptre " of the Assyrian monarch.
^ See 2 Kings r\-ii. 4, and the inscriptions
passim.
* Josiah seems to have perished in the per-
formance of this duty (2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; 2
Chi-on. XXXV. 20-23).
^ In some empires of this tyi^e, the subject
states have an additional obligation — that of
fui'nishing contingents to swell the armies of
the dominant power. But there is no clear
evidence of the Assyrians having raised troops
in tins way. The testimony of the book of
Judith is \vorthless ; and perhaps the circum-
stance that Nabuchodonosor is made to collect
his army from all quarters (as the Persians
were wont to do) may be added to the proofs
adduced aliove (note ^ on Book i. ch. 103) of
the lateness of its composition. We do not
find, either in Scripture or in the Inscriptions,
any proof of the Assyrian armies being com-
posed of others than the dominant race. Mr.
Vance Smith assumes the contrary (Prophe-
cies, &c., pp. 92, 183, 201); but the only
passage which is important among all those
explained by him in this sense (Isa. xxii. 6)
is very doubtfully referred to an attack on '
Jerusalem by the Assyrians. Perhaps it is
the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar
which forms the subject of the prophetic vision,
as Babylon itself has been the main figure in
the preceding chapter. The negative of course
cannot be proved, but there seem to be no
grounds for concluding that " the various
subject races were incorporated into the As-
syrian army." An Assyrian army, it should
be remembered, does not ordinarily exceed one,
or at most two, hundred thousand men.
^ This is an expression not uncommon in
the Inscriptions. We may gather from a
passage in Sennacherib's annals, where it oc-
curs, that the Assyrian tribute was of the
2 D 2
404 REMEDIES FOR REBELLION. App. Book I.
and the better to secure the favottr 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 phiced at the disposal of the dominant power ;" and
skilled workmen ' are readily lent for the service of the court, Avho
adorn or build the temples and the royal residences, and transplant
the luxuries 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 Avhich
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 sloΛv and uncertain, where the empire has continuall}'
to be built up again from its foundations, and where at any
time a day may undo the work Avhich 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. Kot only 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
nature 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 neighbouring princes, the is sometimes brought to Nineveh from " the
Assyrian king tells us that " according as he land of Chalda^a " (Fox Talbot, pp. 7, 8, &c.).
increased the dominions of the other chiefs, so ^ The most striking mstauce of this is con-
he augmentetl the amount of tribute which tained in the inscription mentioned above (p.
tliey were to pay to the imperial treasury." 397, note ^), where tlie princes of Cyprus,
' It is not always easy to separate the tri- Greek and Semitic, leud 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 tlie Tigris and to
case of Hezekiah we may clearly di-aw the navigate them.
distinction, by comparing Scripture witli the ' The numbers are often marvellous. Sen-
account given by Sennacherib. The tribute nacherib in one foray drives off 7200 horses,
in this instance Λvas "300 talents of silver 11,000 mules, 5230 camels, 120,000 oxen,
and 30 talents of gold " (2 Kings xviii. 14); and 800,000 sheep! Sometimes the sheej)
the additional presents were, 500 talents of and oxen are said to be " countless as the
silver, various mineral products (probably st<us of heaven."
coal and crystal and marbles), thrones and - The usual modes of punishment are be-
beds, and rich furniture, the skias and horns heading and impaling. Asshur-idanni-pal
(if beasts, coral, ivory, and amber. impales on one ocaision " tliiity liands of
* The Assyrian kings are in the habit of captives ; " on another he behciuls 600 war-
cutting cedar aud other timber in Lebanon, riors, and at the same time impales bands of
Essay ΥΠ. GENEEAL EEVIEW. 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 vei'y 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. Chaldgeans 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 eifectual 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
C3^axares, 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 impoA^erishment, the
captives on every side of the rebellious city ; labours, under taskmasters, upon the monu-
in a third instance he impales the whole gar- ments.
rison. Compare the conduct of Darius (He- ^ See the annals of Asshir-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). off in vast numbers, and become the wives of
"• It has been noticed (supra, p. 391) that the soldiery.
Sennacherib carried into captivity from Judaea ^ By Sargon and Sennacherib, pp. 389, 390.
more than 200,000 persons, and an ajual or ^2 Kings ΧΛ•ϋ. 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, Chalda>ans, 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 " Gen. xiv. 1-12.
406 EELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE WAES. App. Book I.'
exhaustion, and the consequent disaffection of the subject states.
Ελ'6ι• 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 difti-
culty in extending itself throughout regions divided and siibdivided
among hundreds of petty chiefs,* incapable of union, and singly
quite unable to contend with the forces of a largo and jDopulous
country. Frequently endangered by revolts, yet always triumph-
ing over them, it maintained itself for five centuries, gradually
adΛ'ancing its influence, and was only overthrown after a tierce
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 diy records of the Assyrian monarchs, while
the broad outlines of the government are well mai'ked, it is difficult
to distinguish those nicer shades of system and treatment which no
doubt existed, and in which the empire of the Assyrians diftered
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 bo made at least to diffuse everywhere a knowledge and
recognition of the Gods of Assyria. Kothing is more uniΛ•ersal
than the practice of setting up in the subject coimtries " 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 ho has " established
his religion and laws over all the men λυΙιο dwell in every land ;" ^
but the history of Judaea is enough to show that the continiumce
3 Babylonia and Susiana are the only large of a groat immigration from the East, most
countries bordering upon Assyria which ap- proliably led by Cyaxares. (See Essay iii.
pear to have been in any degree centralised. § 8.)
But even in Babylonia there arc constantly ^ Tiglath-Pileser I. comnKinly " attaclies "
found cities which have independent kings, conquered countries " to the worship of As-
and Chaldffia was always under a number of shur" (Inscription, pp. 38,40, &c.). Asshur-
chieftains. idanni-pal says : " I established true religious
"* In the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser I. worship and holy rites throughout the land
and Asshur-idanni-pal, each city of Mesopo- of Tmklii. 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 Chaldsea, who were contemners and
kings of the Tibareni [Tubal), and twenty- revilers of my religion, I crucified and slew
seven kings of the y^arisK, are mentioned iiy them" (Fox Talbot, p. '2'.{). Sennacherib:
Shahnaneser I. The Phoenician and Phihs- " The men of the city of Khkmi, 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 sul)mit 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 perhaps less divided : still it is And again : " I marched with my army
not permanently under a single king. against tlie people of Bisiya and Yaril)bi-rebla,
* Although Assyria avme into contact with impious heretics " (p. 4). So Esar-haddon,
Median tribes as early as the reign of Shal- p. 11.
maneser I. (b.c. 850), yet the Median king- "^ See the opening sentence of Belliuo's
dom which conquered Assyria must be re- Cylinder (Fox Talbot, p. 1).
garded as a new formation — tlie consequence
Essay VII. CIVILISATION OP THE ASSYEIANS. 407
of the national worship was at least tolerated, though some formal
acknowledgment of the presiding deities of Ass_yria 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 govemors.
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 secixre 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 ZagiOS
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 heavy 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 foiTaer ages. ΊΌ 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 oftan
* It is probable 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, 1 1 ,
pattern to Jerusalem (2 Kings xvi. 10), was 16, &c.
Assyrian rather than Syrian, and that he * See note * on Book i. ch. 181.
adopted tlie worship coimected \vith it in de-
408 ASSYEIAN AET. App. Book I.
most accurate and exact. The laws of representation, as λυο under-
stand them, arc sometimes departed from, but it is always to impress
the spectator with ideas in accordance with truth. Thus the colossal
bulls and licms 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 Eaphael'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 e"\'ery stitch in the
embroider}' 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 ti'eated 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 ti'ue 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 gi'owing
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 eveiy 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 i)ractice 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 SΛvay ; and plunder, tribute, and commerce Avould unite to
enrich them Avith the choicest products of all civilised counti'ies.
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 bo of home growth. Hence wo may fairly
2 Supra, p. 397.
Essay YII. 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 Ximriid,
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 the}»• 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 inv^entions 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 rude
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.
^ Quarterly Keview, No. clxvii., pp. "^ Long before the discovery of the Nim-
150, 151. rud lens it had beeu concluded that the As-
* 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, l-t 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- " See Mr. Layard's plates in his Nineveh
Ion, p. 191, and App. iii.) and Babylon, opposite to pages 110 and
* See above, p. 389. 112.
^ Layard, p. 197. The lens was of rock- ^ Nineveh and Babylon, p. 196.
crystal, with one plane and one convex face. ■* Nineveh and its Remains, vol. 1. 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 LATER HISTOIIY OF BABYLONIA. App. Book I.
ESSAY VIII.
ON THE HISTORY OF THE LATEli BABYLONIANS.
1. Subordiuate position of Babylonia from B.C. 1273 to B.C. 747. 2.
Nabonassar, b.c. 747 — connexion of Nabonassai• with Semiramis.
Era of
3. Suc-
cessors of Nabonassar — Merodach-Baladan conquered by Sargon — Arceanus
— Merodach-Baladan's second reign — invasion of Sennachei'ib. 4. lleign of
Belibus. 5. Reigns of As^hur-nadin-ailin, Regibelus, and Mesesimordachus — ob-
scure period. 6. Esar-haddon assumes the crown of Babylon — his successors,
Saosduchinos 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 Avith Apries. Kj. His seven years' lycanthropy. 17. Short reign of
Evil-Merodach. 18. Reign of Neriglissar, the " liab-Mag.'" 19. Change in
the relations of Media and Babylon. 20. Reign of Laborosoarchod. 2 1 . 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 history of Babylon during the 526 years which Berosus
assigned to the Upper dynasty of Assyria is, with few exceptions,
a Hank. 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 trxith that the condition of Babylonia was that of a mere
subject-kingdom. We know that at least on one occasion, within
the pei-iod bere 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 Nabona-ssar liad 3 Supra, Essay vi. p. 352, note ^ and
collected all the records of former kings, and Essay vii. p. 37t3.
purposely destiOyed them, in order that the ■* It is to be remarked tliat the king.s of
Baljyloniaus might reckon from him (Fr. Assyria of the u])per 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 quoqne narrat qua; imperavit gaged in wars with the Babylonian kings,
Asstjriis" (Fr. 11). It is confirmed by the Babylon being in the earher times the as-
evident identity of the 526 yeiu-s of the sailant, but in the later suffering invasion,
next dynasty with the 520 of Herodotus. Tiglath-Pileser I. wars with Mcrodach-iddin-
Essay VIIT. NABONASSAR AND SEMIRAMIS. 411
Although diminished in power by the independence of her former
vassal, and even thrown into the shade by that Λ'assaΓs 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 Nabonassar (b.c. 747),
which has no astronomical importance, must be regarded as belong-
ing to histoiy, 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 j)ersonally
concerned in the movement, though in what capacity it is difficult
to determine. The conjecture that she was a Medo-Armenian
princess, sister of ArJhista, 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 Ass3a-ia under Tiglath-Pileser IT.,
she descended upon Babylon either as a refugee or a conqueror, and
there reigned conjointly with iSabonassar, 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 throAV 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.
aklii ; Savdanapnlus I. {Asshnr-idanni-pal') ^ This appears to be generally admitted.
with Nebu-bahtilm ; Shalmaneser I., in his Compare Clinton (F. H. λ^οΙ. i. p. 279,
eighth year, with Merodach-nadin-adin and note f), Volney (Recherches, part iii. p. 79),
his brother ; Sliamas-Vul, with Merodach- Larcher (Herodote, vol. i. p. 4-68), Bosan-
* * . The Babylonians are in no case quet (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv.
spoken of as rebels. part li. p. 280), and Vance Smith (Pro-
^ Supra, Essay vii. p. 382. phecies, pp. 66-7). It rests mainly oiv the
® Herod, i. 184- ; Strab. ii. p. 120 ; Diod. synchronism between tlie date of Herodotus
Sic. h. 7-10. for Semiramis (5 generations before Nitocris,
' See the communications of Sir H. Rawlin- or about B.C. 740), and the acknowledged
son to the Athenajum, 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 Balsylonia between Nabonassar,
from Nineveh by Tiglath-Pileser ? who Λvas certainly independent (Beros. Fr,
412
MERODACH-BALADAN.
App. Book I.
Of these foiir reigns scarce anvthinp; is known beyond llie term of
their duration. ' Kabonassar himself reigned fourteen years, after
him Nadins two, thou Chinzivus '-^ and i'orus conjointly five, and
finally ilul;«us (or Eluheus) the same number. Tlacse 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. λΥ'β gather from the foiTaer, that he was attacked by
Saro-on 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 sons,' the Arceaniis of the Canon. From Scripture we leara
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. θα the
other the rapid succession of the kings would
look like a change of viceroys.
1 Mr. Bosanquet (Fall of Nineveh, p. 40)
identifies the llulajus or Eluheus of the
Canon with the king of Tyre of the same
name, who is mentioned by Josephus follow-
ing Menander (Ant. Jud. ix. 14, § 2), and
wlio appears to be the Luliya, king οι 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." Xo-
thing can well be more improbable than the
government of Babylon by a Phcenician
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 foundation
by Purnapuriyas. (See above, Essay vi.
p. 358, note 2.)
^ As from the close of the reign of Ar-
ceanus to the accession of Aparanaduis, and
again between Mesesimordachus and Esar-
haddon. *
■* The coiTection of Mardoc-empalus for
Mardoc-empadus (ΜΑΡΔΟΚΕΜΠΑΑΟΤ for
ΜΑΡΔΟΚΕΜΠΑΔΟΤ), which was first
made by Buuseu (Egypt's Place in Univ.
Hist. vol. i. p. 726), fully deserves acceptr
ance.
^ Chevalier Bunsen (1. s. c.) con-ectly
explains the mode by which the word Mero-
dach-Baladan became Mardoc-empal, viz., by
the omission of the hist element, adan, and
the substitution of mj) for b, as more neiu'ly
equivalent to it in sound than the Greek β,
which was pronounced like t". The identity
of Merodach-Baladan with Mardoc-empalus
is proved by the inscriptions of Sargon,
Λvhich, 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 referred 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 YfUjina"•
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 tlian descen-
dant (see 2 Kings tx. 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 is'imshi
and yet the son of Jehoshaphat. The father
of Merodach-Baladan may perhaps appear in
Ptolemy's Canon under the name of Jugneus,
if that is tlie true reading instead of Elu-
la'us.
^ The name of Άρκίανοί in the Canon
is regarded as representnig the word Sargon
or Sargina, the s having dropped, and the k
replacing the g. This is of course phoneti-
cally jxissible, but there is no instance of an
initial s having dropped from any other As-
syrian name.
'' Polyhistor spoke of a " brother of Sen-
nacherib ' as king of 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
Assyi-ia, and I \vill defend this city for mme
Essay VIII. CONQUEEED BY SARGOX. 413
wonder which had been observed in Judaea in connexion with
Hezekiah's ilhiess, 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 \vhich a hundred and fifty years later was formed
by Croesus against Ihe 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 sovereignt}^. 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 e.g. 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.c. 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 II., 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
inquire of the wonder that was done in the Senecheribi frater, et post Hagisai in Baby-
land." lonios dominationem, qui quidem nondum
1 This would explain Hezekiah's " show- ex]3leto 30™° imijerii die a Marudacho Bal-
ing his treasures " (2 Kings xx. 13-5) ; th^y dane interemptus est, Marudachus ipse Bal-
were the proof of his ability to support the danes tyranuidem invasit mensibus sex,
expense of a war. Compare the conduct of doueu 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 Cylinder (Fox Talbot, pp. 1, 2).
414 ESAE-HADDON KING OF BABYLOl•:. Api•. Book T.
gO"vemment to an Assyrian named Bdih or Bclibns, the son of an
officer of his court ^ — the same undoubtedly who is mentioned by
Polyhistor under the name of Elibus, and who appears under his
proper designation in the (Janon of I'tolemy.
4. Belibus, the Assyrian, ruled Babylon for the space of three
years — from B.C. 702 to b.c. 699. I'olyhistor 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 Siisub,
king of the Susianians, to have again become formidable. This led
to a second invasion of Babylonia by Sennacheiib, in his fourth
year, B.C. 699, when Susiih was defeated, the cities which still
adhered to Merodach-Baladan destroyed, Belibus apparently re-
moved, and a more poAverful governor established in the person of
Asshur-uadin-* the eldest son of the Assyrian monarch.
5. Asshur-nadm-* , 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 Kegebelns,
or Irigebelus, who reigned for a single year, after which a king
named MesGsemordachus held the throne for the space of four years.
It is uncertain whether these monarchs were viceroys, like Belibus
and Asahur-nadin-* , holding their crowns under iSennacherib ; 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 occasionallj'•,
in Babylon, where many records, of his rule have been discovered.
He administered the go\'ernment for thirteen years — from B.c. 680
to B.C. 667 — and it must have been within this sjiace 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 «ills liim " the son of him bfought ujion them the captains of the king
who was governor over the young men edu- of Assyria, wliich took Manasseh among the
cateil within his (.Sennacherib's) palace." tliorns, and bound him Avitli fetters, and
Compare Polyhistor's " vir quidam nomine carried liim to Babylon. And when he was
EUbus." in atlliction he besought the Lord his God,
" See above, note *. ;uk1 humbled himself greatly before the (iod
" Essay vii. p. 395. of his fathers ; and prayed untx) him, and he
' 2 Chron. sxxiii. 11-13: "The Lord was entreated of him, and heard liis suiipii-
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-
daroukia ί*), 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.g. 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 Ivineveh 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 (JSiabu-pal-uzur'), while he him-
self remained at Nineveh to meet the greater danger. Nabopolassar,
cation, and brought liim again to Jerusalem known, whom we may suppose to have
into his liingilom.' reigned a few weeks or a few days, and then
* Fox Talbot, p. 12. to have fallen a inctim to Sennacherib's mur-
3 M. Oppert suggests that the real name derer, Adrammelech (Abydenus' Adram-
of this king was iShdmas-clar-oukin (Rap- meles). Axerdis, who puts Adrammeles to
port, p. 50). It is not yet exjjlained why death, is Esar-haddon, Aurer representing the
Polyhistor called him Sammughes (see Euseb. element Asshur, and dis the element adin.
Chron. Can. pars i. c. 5, § 2). The glorious reign assigned to Axerdis, who
■• Polyhistor placed between Esar-haddon ruled Lower Syria and Egypt, t<aUies with
and Nebuchadnezzar the following kings : — this \-iew. Sardanapalus, the next king, is
Sammughes, who reigned 21 years. Asshur-bani-pcd, 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-
rru i.L 1 ■ 1 i_ 1 i J.I atrreement of name. (See above, Essav vli.
Ihese three kmgs clearly coi'respond to the jq i ν V ^ "• > ""'^J
under-named in the Canon : — "' ^ ,-,'' "'^ i• i . , λ , ,i
^ borne light may hereatter be thrown on
Saosduchinus, who reigned 20 years. this sulyect by the annals of Asshur-bani-
Ciuiladanus 22
pal, which exist, but have not yet been de-
ivabopolasar 21 „ cypheral. It appears from them that war
The kings of Abydenus, sometimes identified still continued to be waged between Assyi-ia
with these (Clinton, F. H. vol. i. App. ch. on the one hand, and Lower Chaldaa, assisted
iv. p. 278 ; Bosanquet, Fall of Nineveh, by Susiaua, on the other. Asshur-bani-pal
p. 41), are an entirely distinct list. They opposes the grandsons of Merodadi-Baladan.
are Assyrian, not Babylonian. Nergilus is ^ See Essay iii. p. 334.
a brother of Sennacherib, not otherwise ^ Essav vii. p. 399.
416 COMMENCEMENT OF ΤΠΕ EMPIRE. App. Book I.
however, proved foithless to the trust reposed in him, and on
receiving his appointment, determined to take advantage of the
position thns gained to further his own ambitious ends, lie entered
into negotiations Avith Cyaxares, the Median monarch by whom
Assyria Avas 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
considerabl}' 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, Avho raised it to its highest pitch of gloiy, and Nabonadius,
or Lab}Tietus, 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 anus \Aath those of the Median
king, and gave him eti'ectital 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
® Abydenns is the gi-eat authority for els ^!7νον eir ιστ par ev e ι (1. s. c).
these statements. His words have been - The active part which. the Babylonians
ah-eady 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. .Tud. 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 makas no mention of it.
* So Syncellus gives the name (p. 396), ^ I 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. (333 to B.C. 593 ; 3. be-
pra;ses et satrapa, copias auxiliares misit " cause his name corresponds with the Assuerus
(ap. Euseb. i. c. 5, § 3). Abydcnus, on the of the book of Tobit (xiv. 15). The fact
other hand, represented him as commanding that Polyhistor and Abydenus both speak of
them in person : " contra Ninevem urbem Asdaliages (Astyages), is to be explained by
impetmn facieliat." So Syncellus, ovros the use of that term (« α iiife by the Median
aTparriyhs virh 'Σαράκου τοΰ XaKSaiov 0a- kings generally. (See Essay iii. p. 331,
σιΚίωΒ σταΚΐϊί, κατά τοΰ αύτοΰ 'Σαράκου note '', and p. 338, note ^.)
Essay VIII. POWEE OF NABOPOLASSAR. 417
under the sceptre of the king of Babylon.* Jiidgea was at this
time governed by 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 shoi'tly arose between the two powers,
wars which were xerj 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 Kineveh Avas 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. Is abopolassar 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 Keco. 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 Ν eco, which was in B.C. 609
or 608. Whether Is abopolassar was engaged in the war from its
commencement, or only sent troops when the Modes had been
several times defeated,** it is impossible to deterniine. Nothing is
knoA\Ti, 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.^
Whether this prince was Nabopolassar himself, his son Nebuchadnez-
zar, or another son, of whom there is but this mention, mi;st be re-
garded as imcertain.' This is, however, a matter of small consequence.
■• This appears sufficiently in Scripture, ^ See Diod. Sic. ii. 7 and 2S ; Herod, i.
where the Babylonian monarchy succeeds to 193 ; Ezek. xxsi. 11-17 ; Nahum iii. 18,
the Assyrian as paramount over Judaa. It &c.
is distinctly declared hj Berosus, Λvho says '' See Essay iii. p. 33G.
that Egypt, Ccele-Syria, and Phoenicia were ^ Herod, i. 7-1-.
ruled by a satrap receiving his 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. probaljle supposition is that Herodotus has
i.-vi.) perhaps refer to this time ; but they made a mistake in the name. His Baby-
are j>rophetic, not historical. Ionian history is exceedingly incorrect] and
VOL. I. 2 Ε
418 HIS LYDIAN AND EGYPTIAN WARS. App. Book I.
What is important is to find that the alliance between the Baby-
lonians and the JMedes continued, and that it was now for a second
time brought into active operation. Ko fear or jealousy was as yet
entertained; " Babylonia Avas ready to help Media, as Media will be
found a little later quite ready in her tiu-n to lend assistance to
Babjdon.
The Egyptian Avar of Xabopolassar seems to have commenced in
his 17th year, b.c. 609, by a sudden invasion of his territory on
the part of iseco, the son of Psammetichus. Josiah, king of Judah,
moved by a chivalrous sentiment of fidelity, and not regarding the
warnings of Keco 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 Avell-appointed host of the Egyptians. Naturally enough he
was defeated, and the Egyptian king pressed forward through
Syria towai'ds the Euphrates, Avhich he made the boundar}^ betAveen
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 j'ounger son of Josiah,
whom, the Jews had made king in the lOom of his father, and
gave the croAvn 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 suflering from ill health.' Neco
appears to have 2-etained 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-
impei'fect. (See the Introductory Essay, old when lie hcgan to )-eign, and reigned
eh. li. p. 53.) three months in Jerusalem " (2 Kings sxiii.
- Herodotus teUs us that a strong feeling 31). " Jehoiakim was twenty and five
of jealousy was entertained in the time of years," wlien, immediately upon his bro-
Kitocris, who, according to him, was the ther's dejiosition, he was appointed to suc-
mother of the last king (i. 185). ceed him (ibid. Λ-er. 36).
^ 2 Chron. xxxv. 22: "He (.Josiah) •* See Herod, ii. 159, and compare J erem.
hearkened not unto the words of Necho from xlvii. 1, where we are informed that a Plia-
the rivmtJi of God." raoh, who is almost certainly Pharaoh-
'' That is, in the sense that Caiaphas is Necho, " smote (iaza."
said to have " prophesied," when he urged ^ Ού ζυνάμΐνοί en κακοπαθ(7ν is the
upon the Jews that it was " e.\"pedient that expression of 13erosus (Fr. 14).
one man should die for the people " (John i Jer. xlvi. 2 : " The army of Pharaoh-
xi. 50-1). Necho king of Egypt, which was by the
* 2 Kmgs xxiv. 7. i-iver Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebu-
* I suspect that Neco himself is the person chadnezzar king of Habylon smote in the
whom Berosus represented as satrap of fourth yeai• of Jclioiakim." Tliis is pro-
Egypt, Co'le-Syria, and Phoenicia, receiving bably the liattlc to whicli P.oiosus alludes
his authoi'ity from Nabopolassar. In the when he says : '2,υμμΙξα5 Si 'Ναβουχοίο-
same way Polyliistor made Cyaxares (Asda- voaopos τω άττοστάττι καί τταραταξάμΐνοί
hages) satrap of Media (Euseb. Chron. Can. αύτοΰ re ίκράτ-ησΐ, καΐ την χώραν L•
pars i. c. v. § 3). ταύττ]$ ttjs ο.ρχ7ι$ virh τήν αύτοΰ βα-
'' " Jehoaliaz W!is twenty and three years σι\ύαν ίπυιησατο (1. s. c).
Essay VIII. FORTIFICATIONS OF THE CAPITAL. 419
torious. Xeco "fled apace"* — Nebiichadnezzar advanced — Jehoi-
akim submitted to him and was allowed to retain his throne^ —
the whole countiy 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 Xabopolassar died at Bab3don (e.g. 604), after
having reigned one and tΛventy years/ ISebuchadnezzar,® who was
in Egypt or upon its borders when the news reached him, hastily
arranged affairs in that quarter, and returned with all speed, ac-
companied only by his light troops, to the capital. He appears
to haΛ^e felt some anxiety about the succession, which, however,
proA'ed needless, as he found the throne kept vacant for him by the
Chalda?ans. The bulk of his army and his numerous captives —
Jews, Phoenicians, Syrians, and Egyptians — arrived later, having
followed the usual roxite, while Nebuchadnezzar had crossed the
desert — probably by Avay 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 ivorks, 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
2 Jer. xlvi. 5. ments of Stiabo, which probably came fi-om
^ 2 Kmgs xxiv. 1. ■* Ibid. ver. 7. Aristobiilus. If we were to accept the
* Beros. Fr. I-i. The cuneiform remains statement of Herodotus with respect to the
of Xabopolassar are very scanty, consisting circumference of Babylon, Λve should have to
only of a few tablets — containing orders on raise the area of tlie city from 130 to 200
the imperial treasury — which were found at square miles.
Warl<a (Loftus, p. 221-2), and are now in ^ Grote, History of Greece, τοί. iii. p.
the British Museum. Nothing is xerj re- 397, note.
markable in them except that he takes the - 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 thoms, or 200 ordinary cubits, somewliat
orthography, however, is Nabu-hiduri-nznr, 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-"i»X"lT!D-'133) of Ezekiel and Je- had been destroyed by Cyrus (Beros. Fr. 14),
remiah, and tlie Nabucocirossor of Abydenus and by Darius (Herod, iii. 159). But pro-
and Meo-asthenas. bably'they had only been breached by these
7 These particulars are all recorded by kings. Herodotus and Ctesias speak of them
Berosus (Fr. 14). as existing in their day (vide infra, p. 432,
8 Grote's History of Greece, vol. iii., p. note ') ; and Abydenus expressly states that
4Q1_ the waU raised by Nebuchadnezzar con-
9 This calculation is based on the measure- tinned to the conquest of Alexander (τείχίσαί
2 Ε 2
420
GREAT AVORKS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. App. Book I.
wall of Cliina.^ Inside it ran a second, somewhat less tliick, but
almost as strong/ the exact dimensions of which are nowhere
given.* Nebuchadnezzar appears to have built 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 ho constructed an entirely new palace — the ruins of
which remain in the modern Kasr — 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 foi'med aque-
ducts,* and constructed the wonderful hanging gardens at Babylon ;*
δέ ανθί$ Ναβουχο5ονόσορον rh μ4 χρ ι
τ η S ΜακΐΒυνΙων α ρχτ] s 5 ι α-
μβΊναν ihv χαλκόπυλον. Λρ. Euscb.
Chron. Can. pars i. c. 10, § 2.)• No doubt
the wall grachially sank in height from want
of repah's, and hence a portion of it, which
Xenophon saw (Anab. ii. iv. § 12), was in
his day no more than a hundred feet, while
by the time of Alexander tiie general height
was perhaps 75 feet. (Cf. tjtrab. xvi. p.
1048.)
' The gi-eat wall of China is 1200 miles
long, fiOm 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 emj^ire put together
(Transactions of Asiatic Soc, vol. i. p. 0,
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 " on ch. 181.)
^ Tris fvSov TTOAfoos. Beros. Fr. 14.
7 The old wall was ascribed to the mytliic
founder Belus. Abydenus says : Aeyerai
.... Βηλον .... Βαβυλώνα Τ(ίχ(ΐ irtpi-
βαΚΐΐν' rb δί χρόνω τφ Ικνΐυμίνψ άφανι-
σθηναι• Τ€ΐχίσαι 5f aZdis ΐ^αβουχοδονό-
σορον, κ. τ. λ. (Euscb. Chron. Can. pars i.
c. 10, § 2.) The Standard Inscription also
speaks of the great wall as rebuilt.
* This fact (?) is recoi-ded in the Standard
Inscription, and was mentioned also by Be-
vosus. (See Fr. 14. κα\ τΐΐχίσα$ a^ioAOyws
TJji/ iroKiv, καΐ robs ττυλώναί κοσμ•ησα$
κροπρΐπΰί, ττροσκατΐσκΐύασΐ toIs ποτ-
piKOLS βασι\(Ίοΐ5 erepa βασίλΐΐα (χόμΐνα
αυτών ων rh μ^ν ανάστημα καΐ την
λοιπην πο\υτ€λ(ΐαν TTfpiaahv Χσω$ tiv
εϊη Kiyeiv πλην ds οντά μ«7"λα κάϊ
υπερήφανα, συν^τΐΚίσθη ημΐρα75 π^ντί-
καΊ5(κα.) Some waiters exaggerated this
feat, and said that all the fortitications were
completed in fifteen days. (Abyden. Fr. 9.)
^ Strab. xvi. p. 1052.
1 Sir H. Kawlinson has traced the course
of this canal, which is now entirely choked
up, from Hit almost to the bay of Uraine.
2 The fact of his rebuilding Babylon is
vouched for by Berosus (ap. Joseph. 1. s. c),
Tr/i' ύπάρχουσαν e| αρχη5 πόλιν καϊ ίτίραν
ΐ^ωθΐν πρυσχαρίσάμ^νοί καϊ αν ακ α ι-
v'laas. It is tliis which enables Nebu-
chadnezzar to say, in tlio book of Daniel,
" Is not this great Babylon that I have
built T' (Dan. iv. 30). The other cities ai-e
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.
aj). 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 natural hills ; he then
planted the whole with trees of different
kinds, and thus constructed what is called
the hanging garden ; all which he did t«
Essay VIII. NEBUCHADNEZZAE'S SIEGE OF TYEE.
421
he raised the huge pyramidal temple at Borsippa, which still re-
mains in the Birs-i-Nimnid/ together with a vast number of other
shrines not hitherto identified f he formed the extensive reservoir
near Sippara, l-tO 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, Judasa rebelled, expecting
(according to Josephus *) to be assisted by the Egyptians ; and
Phoenicia appears about the same time to have thrown off the
3^oke.* Nebuchadnezzar, having called in the aid of Cj^axares,
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
iu Media, and delighted in the scenery of
mountain regions." Ctesias appears to have
furnished the dimensions of the hanging
garden which are foiuid in Diodorus (ii. 10).
According to this winter it was a square of
400 feet.
* The inscribed bricks of this building
bear his name. Its construction and dediia-
tion is described in the cylinders which Sir
H. Piawlinson found in it (see Loftus's Chal-
dsea, pp. 29-30), and noticed in the Standard
Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, 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
Avas built in stages, and covered au 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 Abydenus ap. Euseb. (Pra>p. Evang. is.
41). 'ΎτΓΐρ TTJs ^ίππαρηνών ττόλιοϊ \ακ-
κον 6ρυξάμΐνο5, ττ^ρίμΐτρον μίν τίσσαρα-
κοντα ΊταρασαΎΎίων, βάθοε Si opyvUoiv
ΐϊκοσι, κ. τ. λ. It was constructed lor pur-
poses of irrigation.
^ Abyden. ap. eund. (1. s. c). Έπε-
τβίχίσε δέ καϊ ttjs "Ερυθρηί θα\άσσ•η$
την (ττΊκλυσίΐ'.
8 If we might presume that Nitocris was
the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and that tlie
works ascribai to her were really for the
most part his (Heeren's As. Res. vol. ii. p.
179), then the gi'eat 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 character ; 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 Λvhich Sir H.
Kawlinson has found to date ft-om the time
of NebucliaJnezzar. (See the Assyrian
Commentary, p. 77, note.)
1 Berosus ap. Joseph, (cohtr. Ap. i. 20).
Aiirhs Se (o Ναβουχο^ονόσοροί) airb των
e/c τον -κολίμου λάφυρων τό re Βήλοιι
iephv καΐ τα λοιπά κόσμησαν ψιλοτίμωί,
κ. τ. λ. The Standard Inscription also men-
tions the restoration. The remains of the
temple of Belus still exist iu the mound
called the Mujelibe by Rich, but now known
to the Arabs universally as Babil. This is
an immense pile of brick, in shape an oblong
square, facing the four cardinal points, 730
yards in cii'cumference, and from 100 to
140 feet high. (See Rich's Fh-st Memoh•, 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.
^ Antiq. Jud. s. 6.
^ Josephus says that Nebuchadnezzar be-
gan the siege of Tyre in the seventh year of
his reign (contr. Apion. i. 21). It Λvas in
this or the following year (compare Jer. lii.
28, with 2 Kings xxiv. 12) that he invaded
Judaa 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 cavaby, and 180,000 infantry (Fr.
24).
422
JECOXIAH MADE KING AND DEPOSED. App. Book I.
rebels.* He immediately invested Tyre, tlie 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 Avith death,
establishing Jeconiah his son as king in his room.^ Shortly after-
wards, hoΛvever, 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 captiλ-e with him to Babylon, and put Zedekiah, uncle to
Jeconiali, upon the throne." Tyre meanwhile continued to resist
all the efforts that Avere 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. xsxvi. 6.
^ In this arrangement of tlie events of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign, I difier from Mr.
Kenrick (Phoenicia, pp. 385, 386). He
considers it " e\'ident " 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 yeiir " (B.C. 586),
"in the first day of the month, that the
word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son
of man, because tiiat Tyrus hath said against
Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the
gates of the people, she is turned unto me ;
I shall be replenished now that slie 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 stiU unsuklued."' And, 3. The
inconsistency between the statement of Jo-
sephus that the siege began in Nebuchad-
nezzai''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. Tliat Ezek. xxvi. certainly
shows that the cupture 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 in\a<ler advancing from
Babylon through Cojle-Syria against Tyre,
but Tyre is in the rear of one Λνΐιο advances
upon Jerusalem. And, 3. That tlie years
given by Josephus from the Tp-ian annals
are calculated to the accession of Cyrus in
Persia, as is evident in the passjtge itself
(contr. Ap. i. 21, iirX τούτου — scil. Έ,Ιρώ-
μου — Kvpos Tie ρσ ω u eS vy άστ fv-
(Te u) , and that i/iey ex'wtli/ fill up the
interval, if we make a single correction fiom
the AiTDcnian 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 mouths
of Abbaal, the 6 years of My tgon and Geras-
tartus, the 1 year of Balator, the 4 years of
Merbal, and the/o)W' (not fourteen) years of
Hirom, — in all o9 years and 3 months.
' Josejih. Ant. Jud. x. 7 ; Jer. xxii. 18,
and x.\xvi. 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.
^ Josephus, citing the Tyrian histories
(τάϊ Toiu Φοινίκων avaypatpas), says ί'πο-
Χίόρκησΐ Ναβουχοδοι/ίίσοροϊ την Ύύρον
4π (τη δΐκατρία. He also quotes Philo-
stratus to tlie same eilect (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
conti-adicted 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
sucli positive terras that we cannot question
the fact without denying the inspiration of
the propliet, and by implication that of Scrip-
ture generally. Nor is tlie passnge in the
29th chai)ter at all inconsistent with tlie no-
tion that Tyre had been taken. It may only
mean that Nebuchadnezzar had obtainwl no
sufficient recompence for the toil and expense
of the siege. Mr. Kenrick thinks that the
continental Tyre (Pala'tyrus) was taken, but
that the island Tyre escajied. He rightly
rejects Jerome's account of a mole or dam
thrown by Nebuchadnezzar across the strait,
but he very insufficiently meets the suggestion
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 Pha-
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 Kebuchadnezzar 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 Jen;salem 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 Babjdonian 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 TUider the rule of Aj)ries. Here again, his arras triumphed.
Josephus relates that he put the reigning monarch to death, and
set up another king in his room ;* 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 Phcenicia, would have a strong naval enquire of me : Behold Pharaoh's army, which
force, aud 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 land."
prophecy can remain luifulfilled (Plicenicia, "^ 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, &c.). lii. 12). Tyre was invested in liis seventh
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah (2 Kings year, and besieged thirteen years. This would
XXV. 1 ; Jer. xxxix. 1, &c.), three years before bring its captme into Nebuchadnezzar's twen-
the fall of Tyre. . tieth year.
2 Jer. xliv. 30. ^ 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 might give him horses aud much Herodotus tells that Apries marched an army
people." to attack Sidon, and fought a battle with the
■* Jer. χχχΛ'Ιϊ. 5; Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 9. king of Tyre by sea (ii. Itil). These acts
* Antiq. Jud. x. 9. ΛνοηΜ have constitutal an aggression upon
β Jer. xxxvii. 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 tlie humilia-
the Chalda'ans that besieged Jerusalem heard tion of Phrenicia by Nebuchadnezzar, .and the
tidings of them, they departed from Jeru- Λvithdrawal of tlie Babylonian forces after the
salem. Then came tiie word of the Lord unto fall of Tyre.
the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the - Antiq. Jud. 1. s. c.
Lord, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to ^ The strongest passage is the well-kno^\-n
424 LYCANTHROPY OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. App. Book I.
probably fled into some stronghold, wbile Xebncbadnezzar ravaged
the open coimtry, and took many of the towns. It does not hoΛV-
ever appear that he made any permanent conquest of Egypt, which
ten or twelve years afterwards is found acting as an antonomous
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 sufSciently resented the affront which
had been offOred 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 Avhich he had commenced in various
parts of his kingdom, maj^ 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), wliere Apries is in liis " Kleine Schriften" (vol. iii. pp. 157
nientioued by name. " Behold, I will give et seqq.) : " Die Lycanthropie ein Aberglaube
Phaiaoh-Hophra, king of Egypt, into the und 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 Aj)-
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 Xebuchadnezzar, 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 tlie year assigned for the ac-
even less determinate. cession of each, which, both in Scri]5ture 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. Fo)•,
Nebuchadnezzar, which was B.C. 582. The as the 1st year of Jehoiachin's aiptivity was
expedition of Apries against Cyrene was B.C. the 8th of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxiv. 12),
571 or B.C. 570. the 37th year of his captivity would liave been
* It may be suspected that Nebuchadnezzar the 44th of Nebuchadnezzar, if lie had lived so
invaded I'^gypt a second time about B.C. 570 long. But he died after a reign of 43 years,
(Ezek. χ-χιχ. 17-20), when he deposed Apries according to the Canon (contirmed 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 Mcgasthenes — who made Nebu- Illoaruckmus. Scripture exjiressly 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). Piobably the name Illoaru-
his cajitives on the shores of the Euxiue (Er. damns (ΙΛΛ0ΑΡ0ΤΔΑΜ02) has lieen <Or-
22) — are not to be regarded as histoiy. rupted from llloamordachus (lAAOAMOP-
' See on tills subject the pai)er of Welcker ΔΑΧ02).
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 Kerigassolassarus, or Keri-
glissar ; whom Berosus ' and Abydenus * represent to have been
the husband of his sister. According to these writers Keriglissar
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 Tseriglissar {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 " Kergal-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 officers 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 Chaldasan"
said by Berosus " to have watched over the kingdom between the
death of Xabopolassar and the return of Nebuchadnezzar from
Egypt to assume the government. Some remains, not very ex-
tensive, have been found of a palace which Xeriglissar 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, coutr. Apion. i. 21), him of the king, a daily rate for every day,
Abydenus (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 10), all the days of his life."
Polyhistor (ap. eund. i. 5), Josephus (Ant. * Perhaps, however, the Babylonians might
Jud. X. 11). regard such unwonted clemency as a dej)arture
' Berosus says expressly, Εύβιλ/χαράδουχοϊ from their usages.
ΐΐΓΐβουλΐυθ€ΐ5 ΰπδ του την adi\(t>r}u ΐχον- ^ Jerem. xxxix. 3 and 13-4. Gesenius
Tos αύτοϋ Νηριγλισσοόρου ανιψΐθη. (Αρ. (Lex. p. 388, Ε. Τ.) understands hj Bab-Mag
Joseph, cout. Αρ. 1. s.c.) " " the chief of the Magi," but this interpreta-
2 Abydenus calls Neriglissar less definitely tion is very doubtful,
the κηδεστηϊ of Evil-merodach. (Ap. Euseb. '' The title in the mscriptions reads as
Pra>p. Ev. ix. -tl.) Eitbu eniga. It is of Hamite origin, and ap-
^ Προστά5 των πρα-γμάτων ανόμων καϊ pears m some of the earliest legends. The
afffAyws. meaning is in all probability " chief priest."
*• 2 Kings XXV. 27-30. " And it came to — [H. C. R.]
pass in the seven-aud-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, shoidd probably be read as " Bei-
of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, mu-ingar," the meaning of which is, " 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. ΐΙαραΧαβων δέ (ό Να)3ουχο-
throne above the throne of the kings that Λvere ^ovoaopos) τα πράγματα διοικούμενα ijirh
with him in Babylon, and changed his prison των Χαλδαίων καϊ διατ-ηρουμίνην την βασι-
garmentis : and he did eat bread continually \fiav vwh του βΐΚτίστου αυτών,
before him all the days of his life. And his κ. τ. λ.
allowance was a continual allowance given ' If we identify him with the Nergalshar-
426 LABOROSOAECflOD. App. Book I.
years and a-lialf,* dying a natural death in B.C. 556, and leaving
the ΟΓϋΛνη to his son, Lahorosoarchod, or Labossoracns ; who, though
a mere boy, appears to have been allowed quietly to assume the
sceptre.*
19. Neriglissar, during his brief reign of less than four years,
must have witnessed the commencement of that remarkable revo-
lution Avhich was in a short time to change completely the whole
condition of AVestern Asia. The year following his accession is
mo.st likely that in which Cynis dethroned Astyagcs,'' 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 liabylonia 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 Aveakened.* 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 >■ 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 o\^er her from the moment when
king Astyages succumbed to the superior genius of Cyrns.
20. Laborosoarchod,^ the son of Aeriglissar, 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 m at 558.
least 30 when he held high office at the siege ^ Broken, if Cyras was no relation to As-
of Jerusiilem (B.C. 586), he must have been tyages, as Ctesias said (Pei-s. Exc. § 2) ; greatly
at least 57 at his aaiession. weakened, if he was grandson of Astyages on
2 TheninemonthsofLaborosoari'hod, which the mother's side (Herod, i. 108).
are omitted from the Canon, must be deducted *^ The true reading of this name is A^ery
from the adjoining reigns to obtciin their real doubtful. It has not been found upon the
length. monuments. Josephus gives it in one jtlace
^ 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 tlio accession of (see tlie next note), as Laborosoarchodus. Ac-
Cambyses is fixed by the Canon of Ptolemy, cording to the Greek Eusebius (Pra'p. 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 Lalx)ssoracus (Chron. Can. pars i. c. 10).
will dejjend upon the length of the reign of The uuifoi-mity with which the initial L i-
Cyrus. This is given at 29 (Herodotus), 30 used tells against ^.'iebutir's view, that λμ
(Ctesias and Dino), and 31 years (Syncellus, have in Laborosoarchod "the same rixits" as
&c.). The authority of Herodotus far out- in Nebuchadrezzar (Lectures on Anc. Hist. vol.
\veighs that of Ctesias and Dino ; besides i. p. 38, E. T.). M. Oppert conjectures the
which his is an exact, theii-s may be only a native form to have been frib-a/ihi-mardoc
ro!i>i</ number.• The accession of Cyrus nnist (Rapport, p. 51).
thus be regarded an falling into the year u.C.
Essay VIII.
NABONIDUS— WORKS OF NITOCEIS.
427
Yoked the resentment of his friends and connexions. A conspiracy
was formed against him among his courtiers, and he was put to a
crnel 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 Xabonidus, or Kabonadius,® the last
king, the Labj'netus 11. of Herodotus.
21. The accession of Xabonadius (^Nahu-nit or Nabu-nahif), B.C. 555,
nearly synchronises with the commencement of the war between
Cyrus and Croesus. It v/as 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
Xabonadius was scarcely seated upon the throne before he was called
upon to join in a league Avith Egypt and Lydia, whereby it was hoped
to offer effectual resistance to the common enemy.' The Babylonian
prince entered readily into the scheme. Re 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, Kitocris — the mother, according to him, of
the last Babylonian monarch ^ — have handed her name down to all
^ Λαβοροσοάρχο5θί sKvpievae μ^ν rrjs βα-
σίλ;ι'ο^παίϊ &>ν,μτιναί ivvia' ΐτηβου\ΐυθύ$
δέ δια Tt) τΓολλά ίμφαίνΐίν κακοτ^θη, iirh
των φίλων απΐτυμπανίσθη. Berusus ap.
Joseph, ooatr. Αρ. i. 21. Abydenus agrees
(Frs. 8 aud 9), but is briefei•.
^ The expression used by Berosus is " a
certain Nabonuedus, a Babylonian " (Na-
βόνν7)565 Tts των 4κ 'Βαβυλωνο5). Aby-
deniis remarked that he was not related to
his piedeuessor (ap. Euseb. Preep. Ev. ix. 41).
It has generally been supposed that Herodotus
regarded liim as the son of his first Labyuetus,
the prince who assisted Cyaxares against the
Lydians (Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 372-3 ;
Jackton, Chron. Ant. vol. i. p. 421); but
there is no proof of tlus. Herodotus merely
asserts that he w;is the son of a Labyuetus (i.
188). He does not state the rank of his father,
or say anything to identify him with the for-
mer Labyuetus. And there would be a diffi-
culty in his supposing the son of that monai'ch
to be contemporary with the great-grandson
of Cy;tau-es. By the monuments Nabu-nahit
appears to ha\e been the son of a certain
Nabti-* *-dirba, who is called " Rab-Mag,"
like Neriglissai•, and was therefore a person
of considerable olHcial rank.
^ There are two distinct forms of this
prince's name, both in classical Avriters aud in
the Inscriptions. In the latter his name is
ordinarily jS/nhit-nit, or, as it is now reail,
Xahu-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 Labyuetus- — the latter may be traced in
the Xaljamiidochus of Abydenus (Fr. 9), and
the Naboandelus (Naboandechus ? ) of Jose-
phus (Ant. Jud. s. 11, § 2). \_Nabn-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 indiflerently. The meaning
is, " Xebo blesses " or " makes prosperous."
— H. C. R.]
1 Herod, i. 77.
^ The Nitocris of Herodotus still figures in
history upon his sole authority. She was evi-
dently imrecognised 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 no))les
marrying an Egyptian captive. The theories
which regard her as the wife of Evil-mero-
dach (VVessehng 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 difliculties. Herodotus
distinctly connects her with his second Laliy-
netus, and only indistinctly with any former
king. Perhaps on the whole it is most pro-
bable that he regarded lier as at once the wife
of his first Labyuetus (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. A pp. Book L
later ages. These defences, which Herodotus speaks of as con-
structed against the I\ledes,* were probably made reall}^ against
Cyrus, Λνΐιο, upon his concpiest of the IMedian empire, appears to
have fixed his residence at Agbatana,•* Irom λλΊιϊοΙι quarter it was
that he afterwards marched upon Babylon.* They belong, in pai-t
at least, to the reign of Xabonadius, as is evident botli from a state-
ment of the native historian, and from the testimony of the inscrij^-
tions. The river walls, one of the chief defensive works which
Herodotus ascribes to his Kitocris, are distinctly assigned by Berosus
to Kabunahit ;* 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 Avinding
channel dug for the Euphrates at some distance above Babylon,*
and the contrivance for laying under water the whole tract of land
towards the north and west of the city ^ — no traces a]>pear 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 endeaA^oured to obstruct the adA'ance
of an enemy towards Babylon, b}^ 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-
phou^ is regarded as a buhvark 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 Avail 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
^ Hei-od. i. 185. '' Herod, i. 153. ' calls a reservoir {(λυτρον) seems really to
* Otherwisehewouldnot have beeu brought have had this object. He allows that in its
into contact with the Gyndes (the modern ordinary condition it was empty (i. 191).
Diyalah) on his road to Babylon. ^ See note '' on Book i. ch. 185. The tra-
^ Έπί τούτου (Nabonnedus) τα ττΐρΐ rhv vellers from whom Herodotus got his account
■κοταμόν τίίχη ttjs Βαβυλωνίων πόλβαΐϊ of the winding course of the Euphrates above
e| (Wttjs πλίνθου και ασφάλτου κατίκο- Babylon, may have been deceived by passing
σμ-ηθη. Berosus, ap. Josepli. coutr. Ap. 1. s. c. several villages of the name of Ardericca, and
'' AtheniEum, 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 ^ gge Heeren's Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. p.
Euphrates to Babylon" (Grote's Hist, of 132 jGrote's Greece, vol. iii. pp. 394- and 404.
Greece, vol. iii. p. 404, note ^), in \vhich case ^ Anab. i. vii. § 15.
his description \vould be authoritative. He "• See a paper road before the Geographical
speaks rather as if his information came Society by Sir. H. l\<iwlinson in 1851.
from others — the travellers (merchants ?) \vho ^ Twenty parasangs, or 600 stades, are a
Avere wont to pa-ss from the Mediterranesm little more than 69 miles. If Xenophon's
U> the Eui)hrates, and then to descend tlic river informants meant this for the circuit of Baby-
to Babylon. Ion, tlioy went even beyond Herodotus, who
" Ibid. 1. s. c. The work wliich Herodotus made the circuit 480 stades (i. 178;.
Essay YIII. CONQUESTS OF CYRUS. 429
wall across the tract between the two streams ; for the streams are
not more than 20 or 30 miles apart, from the point where the
Euphrates throws οίϊ the Saklawiveh canal — more than a degi-ee
above Babylon — to the near vicinity of the city ; and such a work
as the supposed " wall of Media " \vould naturally have been car-
ried across where the distance between the rivei's was the shortest.®
Herodotus too would scarcely haΛ^e ignored such a bulwark, had it
really existed, or have failed to inform us how Cyrus overcame the
obstacle.^ ^V' e 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 ajjpears to have
been content ; and he awaited probably without much fear the
attack of his powerful neighbour.
22. Within two years of the time Avhen 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 ilill 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 — Xabonadius 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 Λvas taken — Croesus was a prisoner, and the Persian
empire was extended to the Egean. Probably Xabonadius set to
work with fresh vigour at his defences, and may even ha\'e 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.*
β Mr. Grote (Hist, of Greece, vol. iii. p. have been visible enough fifty yecars earlier.
394) speaks of the wall as situated " a little ^ The passage of Berosus, where 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 ajipears to refer to some former occasion
But if we accept Xenophon's measurement, on wiiich the city had been besieged, and taken
we cannot place the wall lower than between or injured by means of tlie ri\'er. {irphs τι)
Hit and Samara, which is more than a degree μη κ ir ι δύνασθαι tovs πολιορκουνταί
above the point where the streams approach rhv ττοταμόν auaarpi^ovras έττ\ t))v πόΚιν
the closest. κατασκΐνάζΐΐι/, ΰπΐρΐβάλΐτο rpus μίν rris
"^ Mr. Grote sees this difficulty (p. 404, iv^ov irOAews π^ρφόλουε, Tpe7s δέ ttjs
note ^), but puts it aside with the remark that e|co τούτων. Αρ. 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 - lb. i. 190. 2ίτία (τίων κάρτα
hundred feet high in Xenophon's time, it must π ο \\ ων .
430 CYRUS ATTACKS BABYLON. App. Book T.
23. A pause of fifteen years gave certainly every opportunity for
completing snch arrangements as Avere necessary for the defence of
the ίΟΛΛτι. It may he thought that even the ten-itory 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 artifieial obstructions, consisting of canals, dykes,
and embankments with Avhicli the whole country was covered. The
j)reservation of the capital, hoAvever, seems to have been all that
was attempted. This is evidenced by the nature of the defences
oonstmcted 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 baffle 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
wliich 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 effoits 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 Avhen the victory declared for the
Persians, the Babylonians very contentedly retired Avithin their de-
fences, and thought to defy their enemy.•* Thenceforth " the mighty
men of Babylon forebore to fight— they remained in their holds." *
\\e are not informed how long the siege lasted, but no second effort
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
anny had perhaps gained an experience which it was important for
them to acquire before attempting to deal Avith the far mightier
stream of the Euphrates, wdiere any accident — the weakness of a
floodgate, or tlie disruption of a d^die — might not onl^- have discon-
certed the scheme on which the taking of Babylon depended, but
haAC destroyed a large portion of the i'ersian army. The exact
mode by which Cyrus drained the stream of its water is uncertain.
Herodotus relates that it was by turniiig the river into the receptacle
exca\'ated by Kitocris, when she made the stone piers of the bridge
3 It must 1)0 borne in mind that the walls ovSeva).
of Babylon, like those of most Oriental towns, * Herod, i. 190. Berosus agreed in speaking
enclosed rather populous distrii-ts than cities, of a single battle (ap. Joseph, contr. Ap. l.s.c).
It is quite impossible that a tract containing * Jer. li. 30.
above 130 square miles should have been one- ^ The Gyndes is identified, almost to a
half cwered with houses. On the other hand, certainty, with the Diyalah, by the fact that it
it is highly probable that as mm-h 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 Diyilah 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 (Ίχον rr\s iroXiopKias
Essay VIII. BABYLON TAKEN BY STRATAGEM. 431
within the town.'' Xenojihon records a tradition that, it was by
means of two new cuttings of his ΟΛνη, 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 which 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 watergates, 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 shoAV 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 Avhen 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
previousl}^ he had associated \vith 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 thi-ew himself, for some unexplained
reason, into Borsippa, which was undoubtedly a strong fortress, and
was also one of the chief seats of ('haldajan learning,* but which
assuredly could not compare, either for magnificence or for strength,
with Bab3dun. 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 sufiered 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. Cjrop. vii. v. 10. someother daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Bel-
^ Herod. 1. s. c. ; Xen. Cyrop. Vii. v. 15. shazzar may thus h.xva been grandson of Ne-
^ '^n.s iv KvpTTj. 2 Jer. li. 31. hachadaezzar on the mother's side. It is some
* Na^ovPT^Sos ηττηθύί τγ μάχρ συν€- confirmation of these probabilities, or possibi-
κλύσθ-η els την Βορσιττιτηνων ττόΚιν (ap. lities, to find that the name of Nebuchadnezzar
Joseph, contr.' Ap. i. 21). Avas used as a family name by Nabu-nahit.
* Ch. Λ-. Two dilficulties 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 stancls 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, 1.3, 18, Darius the Mede in Babylon, some remarks
&e.) ; 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 iii. § 11).
respect to the first of these, it may be re- ^ Strab. xvi. p. 1050. Strabo also says
marked tliat 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. τυχΐ7ν yap σφι
very probably was. Nabu-nahit, on seizing iodffav όρτ-ην. 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, ami praised
daughter of the great king, whose son, son- i/tei/ocisof gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron,
in-law, and grandson had successively held &c." (verse 4-).
the throne. He may have taken to wife
432 LATEE SIEGES OF BABYLON. App. Book T.
it indicates novertlicless tlie self-indulgent temjier of the king, who
conld give himself so entirely np to merriment at such a time.
λΥΜΙο 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, Avho would have i-espected his
rank had they perceived it/ was struck down by an unknoAvn hand,
and lost his life with his kingdom.
26. Cyiias then, having given orders to ruin the defences of the
city,' proceeded to the attack of Borsippa, Avhere Nabonadius still
maintained himself. But the loss of his capital and his son had
subdued the spirit of the elder prince, and on the approacli of the
enemy he at once surrendered himself.^ Cyras treated him with
the gentleness shown commonly by the Persians to those of royal
dignity,^ and assigned him a residence and estates in Carmania,
forming a sort of j)rincipality, which has been magnified into the
gO\'ernment of the province.* Here, according to Berosus, he ended
his days in peace. Abydenus, however, states that he gave oifence
to Darius, who dej^rived 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 upon the during that of Xerxes (Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 22).
taking ofhis capital by assault, but \vas 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). Λνι-ites 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). Ctesiiis 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 (συντάξαϊ τα e|co rijs wOKfus rh ίίψοϊ άπιστον rois άκούουσιν, &s φτ^σι
τείχη κατασ κάψαι , Fr. 14, sub fin.). Κτησία? δ Kv'iSios). Abydenus, it must be
Herodotus makes Darius remove the wall and remembered, expressly declared that the wall
tear down the gates, adding that Cyrus had of IS ebuchaduezzar continual to the Macedo-
left them standing {rh τ^Ίχοε ττίρΐίΐλΕ, καϊ nian conquest (see above, page 419, note 2),
τάϊ ττύλαϊ άτΓί'σπασε• rh yap -πρότΐρον and St. Jerome says that the old walls of Ba-
ίλων Kvpos την Βαβυλώνα iwoiriae του- bylon had been repaired and served as the
των ού5(Τΐρον, iii. 159). Λ nian tells us enclosure of a park in his day (Comment, in
that Xerxes razed to the ground (κοτίσκαψε) Esaiam. xiv. vol. iii. p. 115).
the temple of Belus (Exp. Alex. vii. 17 ; com- - Beros. Fr. 14 sul) fin.
pare iii. 16). In every ca.se there is un- ^ See Herod, iii. 15, and note ad loc,
doubtedly an exaggeration. The conqueror * 15(>rosus only said — χρησάμίνο! Kdpos
was satisfied to dismantle the city, without φιλανθρώπωε lτhv'f^!aβόvvη5ov), καϊ Sot/s
engaging in the enormous and useless labour οίκητ-ηριον ah τ ω Καρμανίαν,
of demolition. He broke, probably, large ίξεττε/ιψεν e'/c ttjs ΒαβυλωνΙαε. But .\by-
breaches in the walls, which sufficed to ren- deiuis declared — Thv 8e \,Ναβαννί5οχον)
der the place defenceless. When a revolt Κΰροί eKuiv Βαβυλώνα, Καρμανίηί riye-
occuiTed, these breaches were hastily repaired, μονίτι δωρείτοι {i'"r. 9;.
and hence Babylon could stand repeated sieges ^ Ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. pars I. c. x.
Essay VIII. GKADUAL DECAY AND EUIX. 433
and eacli 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 Ν abonadius 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 Achfemenian kings
it appears to have attracted a far larger share of his regai'd 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 Avas frustrated
by his death ; and the disputes among his successors transferred the
seat of government, even for the kingdom of the Seleucidce, 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 Chaldtean 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 ordinarj^ houses rapidly disappeared ; the
6 Behist. Inscr. Col. I, Par. 16-19; Col. » Cf. Arrian. Exped. Alex. vii. 17, 19,
Π. Pai•. 1 ; Col. III. Par. 13-1. 21 ; Strab. xvi. p. 1049.
'' The Behistun Inscription is conclusive, ^ Plin. H. N. vi. 30. ^ jgi•. jj. 37.
as far as negative evidence can be, against ^ jg^. xiii. 19-'22 : " And Babylon, the
the details of the siege given in Herodotus, glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chal-
After a aireful 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 Xaditabirus, with the horsemen, his from generation to generation : neither shall
well-wishers, fled to Babylon. / both took the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall
Babylon and seizetl that Nailitabirus " (Col. the shepherds make theu• 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 Dai-ius ; then• houses shall be full of doleful creatures ;
since the city was 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, tlierefore, that if any islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and
such circumstances as those related by Hero- 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. liawlinson sees reason to shach taken ! and how is the praise of the
doubt the whole tale. (Note on the Beh. whole earth surprised ! how is Babylon be-
Inscript. p. xvi.) come an astonisliment among tlie nations !
^ See Brisson, de Regn. Pers. i. pp. 58-9. The sea is come up upon Babylon ; she is
VOL. I. 2 F
434
PRESENT CONDITION OF BABYLON. App. Book I.
walls sank, being either used as quarries^ or cnimbling into the
moat from Avhich 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 riui off.* I'erhaps 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 suftered 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 liich ' 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
modem tomb of Amram-ibn-'Ali. Upon the western bank of the
covered wth the multitude of the waves
thereof. Her cities are a desolation, a diy
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 ujwn her waters, and they shall be di'ied
up ; tor it is the land of graven images, and
they are mad upon their idols. Therefore
the wild beasts of tlie 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 (Nin. 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
amals fret the country iike natur;il i'i<li:os of
hills. Some have been long choked with
sand ; others still carry the waters of the
river to distant Anllages and palm-gi'oves.
On all sides, fragments of glass, mai'ble,
pottery, and inscribed brick, are mingled
\vith that peculiar nitrous and blanched soil,
wliich, l)red from the remains of ancient
habitations, cliecks 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 fui-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 sm-prised at the
disappearance of the walls of Babylon, re-
marks that " they would have been the first
object to attract the attention of those Avho
searched for bricks " (First Memoir, p. 44).
* See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, pp.
492-3 ; and compare 1-oftus's Chalda;a, p. 18.
Captain Selliy 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 tlie 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. 50ΰ).
Essay VIII.
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. Lajard'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 Kasr,
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. Kot far from this edifice is the well known block
of basalt, lOughly cut to represent a lion standing 0Λ'•er a human
figure. This, together with a fragment of frieze, are the only
instances of bas-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 Nimrud in the south-west, across the
Euphrates, rise from the surrounding plain like two mighty 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 tlie palace of
Kerighssar (supra, p. 425).
^ Loftus's Chaldsea and Susiana, pp. 17-
20.
2 F 2
436
BABYLONIAN CHEONOLOGY.
App. Book L
CHEONOLOGY OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIEE.
Babylonia.
CONTEMPOKAKT KINGDOMS.
B.C.
Media.
Egypt.
Ltdia.
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.
Peaxie made.
608
Attacked by Neco.
..
Invades Syria.
Defeats Josiah.
••
Jehoahaz 3 m.
Jehoiakim.
.605
Sends Nebuchadnezzar
•• • .
Defeated at Car-
Submits to Nebu-
against Neco.
cbemlsh by Ne-
buchadnezzar.
chadnezzar.
604
Nebuchadnezzar.
602
Kebels.
598
Besieges Tyre.
59Ϊ
Besieges Jerusalem.
Assists Nebuchad-
nezzar.
..
..
Jehoiachin 3 m.
Zedekiah.
594
. .
Psamatik Π.
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
..
1 • • .
Amasis.
568
. •
Croesus.
561
Evil Merodach.
..
..
Jehoiachin released.
559
Neriglissar.
558
..
Deposed by Cyrus.
556
Laborosoarchod.
555
Nabonidus. Alliance
..
Makes alliance
Alliance with
with Crcesus.
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. Eiver-system of Western Asia — (i.) Continental rivers — Syhim — Jyhuu —
Helinend, &c. — Ktu Aras — Sefid-Bitd — Aji-Su — Jayhctu, &c. — Barada —
Jordan — (ii.) Oceanic rivers — Euphrates — Tigris — their affluents, viz.
Greater Zah, 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 cf 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 — Chaldfea, &c. — (iv.) Mesopotamia Projoer.
10. Countries of the mountain region — (i.) Armenia — Divisions — (ii.) Media
— (iii.) Persia Proper — Paraetacene, Mardyene, &c. — -(iv.) Lesser mountain
countries — Gordifea — Uxia, &c. 11. ^^ountries 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 mountain-chister
of AiTQenia 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 ninning 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 comparatiΛ'^ely 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
^ 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 Exjiedition, vol. i. p. 411): that of Djedur,
Zagros, or the Kvu'dish Hills, which forms which sti'etches eastward from the foot of
the modern boundary between Turkey and the Anti-Lebanon to the Arabian desert, at
Persia. atout 2000 feet (ibid. p. 501).
2 The plain between Aleppo and the
438 GENERAL DIVISIONS— THE TLAIN. App. Book T.
and strcamless, consisting of the Syrian and part of the Arabian
desert, a country never more than thinly inhabited by a nomad
population, and with diiiicnlty tiaversed, except near its npper
angle, by well-appointed caiavans carrying with them abundant
supplies of water. The other or eastern tract is the great ]\iesopota-
mian valley. It is formed b}^ the divergent streams of the Tigris
and Euphrates, which, lising from diti'erent 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
beloAv 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 Kantara and Al Khmir, the great rivers once more flow
towards one another, and uniting at Kurnah, 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 I'ersian 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
coimtry, Avhich 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 nmnerous
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 Airmenia 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 guaid the low region f while eastward,
in Kurdistan* and Luristan,' besides ranges of hills, three, four,
3 Sec Col. Chesney's Euphrates Expedi- e.xplored by the cntorpri.so of British travel-
tion, vol. i. ch. iv. pp. (;7-70. Icrs, particularly Sir H. Iiawlinson and Mr.
* Sec the Journal of the Geographical Layard. (Sec the Journal of the tieogiai)h.
Society, vol. xi. p. 21. Society, vol. ix. part i. art. 2 ; vol. x. part i.
* 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 MOUNTAIN-REGION.
439
or five moimtain-cliains are to be traced, intervening between the
great plain and the high region of Persia. On the side of Meso-
potamia tliese ridges are for the most part bare and stony, but
in the interior of Kurdistan and in the north of Armenia their
flanks are clothed with forests of walmit 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-line, and are believed occasionally to attain au
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 occiirrence
in it of lajge 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 Talestine 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 Van 5400 feet above the same. The waters
of all (excepting Tiberias, through which the Jordan ilows) are of a
very similar character; they are heavily impregnated with salt,
which so greatly raises their specific gravity that they are little
afiected by storms, and possess extraordinary buoyancy."
The parallelism of the ranges is ex]:>ressly
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
Km-distan " (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,
furnishhig an unlimited supply for commerce
or war. ... In spring the choicest tlowers
perfume the air, and luxuriant creepers clothe
the limbs 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
are 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, IMr. Layard crossed several
passes on which the snow lay in August, and
which exceeded 10,000 feet. He estimates
the Το>ίί•α Jclu, " probably the highest
mountain in central Kurdistan," at " not
under, if it be not above, 1 5,000 feet " (p.
430). Farther south the Evwatuluz 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 smnmits are " trequently
Λvitllin 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 Alut Khan, as all above the
snow line (Euphrates Exp. vol. i. p. 69).
^ These properties have long been noticed
as attiichmg to the Dead Sea (Tacit. Hist. v.
6) : " Lacus immense ambitu .... neque
vento impellitur, neque pisces aut suetos
aquis volucres patitur. Incertai undie 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 tile extraordinary buoyancy, see Dr.
Kobinson's Biblical Researches, λ-ο1. 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
indeed that the prince's vessel, of 100 tons
burthen, when loaded, is not expected to have
440 THE GREAT PLATEAU OF IRAN. A pp. Book I.
4. Eastward of the lofty cliain of Zagros, which, running in a
direction nearly from north-west to south-east, shuts in the great
plain of AVestern 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 high plateau or table-
land, possessing an average elevation of above 4000 feet,^ and seldom
sinking beloAV 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
Elhurz, which runs eastward from Armenia, and, passing south of the
Caspian, joins the Hindoo Koosh above Cabul, the eastern b}'• the
Siiliman and Hala 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 I'ersia
and Beloochistan, from Bushire to Kurracliee. 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 /f(??me«c/^insignificant, and their waters almost
always lose themselves, after a course proportioned to their volume,
in the sands of the interior. Only three, the Hebnend, the BendamiVj
and the river of Gluizme, 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 tlian 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 l;\ke 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. Ex]•). 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 Oeogr. 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 ((ieograph. Journ. vol. iii. p. 11 2).
marked. The water in some places is "quite ^ See Chesney's Euphrates Exp. vol. i. p.
salt " (Brant in Geograph. Juurn. vol. x. p. 78. The " Great Salt Desert " is said to
384), in others only " slightly brackish " extend 400 miles from Kiishan 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 fisli ; Mazanderan. The Sandy Desert of Sijistan
whereas in Lake Urumiyeh and in the Dead is reckoned at from 4u() to 450 miles in its
Se;i no living creatures are found excei>ting gre;»te.st length, and in its greatest width at
Z(»phytes (ibid. λόΙ. χ. 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 Empii'e, pp. 20
E. T. ; Wagner's Keise, 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 considerable
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 back
towards their sources — the 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 MesoiDotamian 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 Kashaii to lake Zerrah or Dharrah in western Aftghan-
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.'
δ. 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 river, given by Kinneir of Lieutenant Pottinger's
which rises near Nushky, in lat. 29° 40' journey (Persian Empire, pp. 216-218). But
long. (35° 5', and faUs into the sea near see also Pottinger's Travels (pp. 132-8, &c.),
Gwattur, 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. siv. pp.
everything 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 particl&s are scarcely palpable. It
abundant crop are so pai'ched and burnt is raised by the wind into longitudinal Avaves,
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 Λvhicll the wind lilows a gradual slope
passing stranger might conclude that a from the base, but on the other side rise per-
harvest was unknown in that apparently pendicularly to the height of 10 or 20 feet,
ban-en 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. ** Ibid. p. 217. Compare the " Geogi'a-
^ Aft'ghauistan and Beloochistan Proper, phical Notes " of Mr. Keith Abbot (Geograph.
(See Chesuej, vol. i. ch. vui., and Kinneii•, Jouru. vol. xxv. art. 1).
p. 211.) ' Chesney, vol. i. p. 79; Terrier's Cara-
' This appears sufficiently from the account van Journeys, p. 403.
442 ELBURZ. App. Book I.
grandeur; forests of walnut, oalc, asli, and plane thickly clothe the
ranges of parallel hills, along the sides of which arc terraces culti-
vated Avith rice, Avheat, 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 every Avhere leaping
fiOm the rocks and giving life and fj-eshness to the landscape/
ToAvards 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 higli plains in this
quarter, wdth snoΛv-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
Zerijau,^ in long. -18°, 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 deejily
scari'ed transverse A'allej's.'' In places, hoAve\"er, this range too
breaks into two or more parallel lines of hills, between which streams
are found (like the ^<hak Hud and the Sefid Hud), in which case its
character approaches to the richness of the Zagros district." On
the northern tianks overhanging Ghilan and MazaiKkmn 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,
wliile here and there still loftier peaks arise, like the volcanic cone
of Demnvend, 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 20i) miles,^ and is divided longitudinally into ridges,
separating valleys which communicate with each other by passes or
defiles, and are rich, Λνοΐΐ inhabited, and well cultivated.^ This cha-
? See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon (pp. height the Massula mountains (Geograph.
367-1575), Chesney's Enphrat. Exp. (vol. i. Journal, vol. .\. part i. γ. lil).
pp. 122-3), and the communicatious of Mr. '' Sec Kcr Porter's Travels, vol. i. p. 357.
Ainsworth, the Baron de Bode, Mr. Layard, ^ ggg (Jeograph. Journal, vol. viii. p. 102,
and Sir H. I\;iwlinson, in the Journal of the and vol. x. part i. p. 62.
Gecigraphical 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 i-ecent ascents of Mount Demavend,
^ Journal of Geograph. Society, vol. x. made liy members of the British Embassy at
part i. p. 22. Teheran, seem to have jjroved this v;ist ele-
* Ibid. ])p. 15 and 30. * Ibid. p. 20. vation, which \v;is first discovered by Mr. li.
^ Col. Chesney makes the Massula range F. Thomson and Lord Schomberg Kerr in the
the commencement of tliis chain (Euphr. autumn of 1858.
Exp. p. 73), but it was found by Sir H. ^ yg^ Geograph. Journ. vol. viii. p. 308.
Kiuvlinson that the ridge between Zenjan ^ Ibid., and comp. pp. 313, 314.
and the Sefid End considerably exceeded in
Essay IX. LOW COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE PLATEAU. 443
racter continues 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 Atak, or " the SJiirt," 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 lotig. 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 sotithern tract, which commences from the river Tab or
Hiadyan, about a degree north of Bushire, is a thin strip of territory,
varying along the shores of the Persian Gulf from GO 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 (Jhoubar — almost suffeiing 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 άνγ, 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, hoAvever, 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 \'olume.)
eastern portion of the range " Where it has ^ Journal of Geograph. Society, vol. iii.
been examined, the formation is sandstone, p. lol, and vol. sdv. 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, protluce the i See Col. Chosney'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. 20o.
^ This is the estimated height of the Takht- ^ Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. p. 2.
i-Suliman, the loftiest peak of the chain. Kinneir, γι. 70.
(See Col. Chesney's map at the end of his ■♦ Kinneir-, pp. 203, 20-i.
444 THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN TRACTS. App. Book I.
(ii.) The tract of coimtiy outside the northern mountain lino
divides itself into two distinct and strongly contrasted districts.
Beginning upon the west, it consists in the iirst place of a narrow
belt of rich alluvial land along the sonthein 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
iij 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.* iv ature, however, has accompanied
these advantages with certain drawbacks ; the low countries suflfer
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-
deraii, and Astemhad about the most unhealthy in Persia.^ Eastward
of the belt of land thus characterised, the low country suddenly
acquires new and quite difterent 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 Mougliojar hills, and eastward an equal distance to the
neighbourhood of Balkh. This vast tract, void of all animal life,
Avithout 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 Eussian steppes and the
country of Khomswi, and lies like a broad dry moat outside the
ram])art of the Elburz range. It is sandy and salt;^ and is scarcely
inhaliited 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. .'5'26). 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 Mazanderaa phical Journal, vol. iv. pp. H05-311.)
(Geograph. Journ. vol. viii. pp. 102-4). ^ See Geograph. Journ. vol. xii. p. 278.
^ Chesney, p. 80; Geograph. Journ. vol. ^ Hjicj. yol. iv. pp. 309-310, &c.
viii. p. 103. •* ThaJijIinn and Syhun (ancient Ojois and
^ Kinneir, p. 166 ; Chesney, p. 216 ; Jaxartesj are almost the only rivers of this
Fniser's Travels near the Caspian Sea, p. 11. tract which succeed in maintaining themselves
^ Mouravielf (quoted by De Hell) says of against the absorbing power of the desert,
it: " This country exhibits the image of d(>ath, The Mnrgaub, the Ileri Jiud, the river of
or rather of the desolation lefl 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 Kohih, or river of Bokhara, tenninates
nor vegetation cheers the sight, except here in a small lake (Lake Demiir).
and there at long intervals some spots on ^ Tlie Delfci of the Indus, in the Avidest ex-
Avhich 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 ue;u• Kurra-
Essay IX. EIVEK-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 Eunn of
Cutch nearly to the vicinity of Ferozepoor, a distance of above oOO
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 Kile 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 Ciitcki 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 Alittun Kote begins the well-known
country of the Funjaub, another triangle — equilateral, or nearly so ^
— betAveen the points of Gumpier at the junction of the Chenah 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 Kiver-System of 'v\ estern Asia, like its other geographical
features, is peculiar. North 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 Kuen Lun above Laduk, 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
Km- and Aras, the Koiinia, the Terek, the Sefid Rud, the Jem, and the
Attruk ; while the latter is produced by the combined streams of the
Jyhiin (Oxus) and the Syhun or Sir (Jaxartes). Thus into these
two reservoirs — recently one, according to Humboldt " — are drained
chec. The true Delta, between the Pitce and ^ See the Journal of the Geographical So-
MuK mouths, is 70 miles (Geograph. Journ. ciety, vol. xiv. p. 198, and compare Kinneh•,
Λ'οΐ. iii. p. 115). For the rapid changes in p. 213.
the Delta and in the course of the river, see ^ The b;use, from Gumpier to Bulaspoor,
Geograph. Journ. vol. viii. ai-t. 25 ; and vol. is about 390 miles ; the eastern side, from
X. p. 530. F/ulaspoor to Attack, 320 ; and the western
* See Kinueir, p. 228, and Burnes's Memoir side, from Attock to Gumpier, 380 miles,
on the Indus (Geograph, Jom-n. vol. iii. p. " Asia Centrale, vol. ii. p. 296.
113, et seqq.).
446 CONTINENTAL rJYEKS— THE SYHUN. App. Book I.
the waters of a basin 2000 miles in leiigtli, from the sonrce of the
A\Olga to that of the Sir or iSi/hun, and 1800 miles in breadth from
the head-streams of the Kaama in northern Russia to those of the
Setid Jind, in Knrdistan. Jn the deserts beyond the Si/Jmii,^ in the
highhmd of Thibet,' and in tlie great Iranic plateau, are a number
of simihir but smaller salt-lakes, while thiOUghout these regions the
phenomenon of the gradual disappearance of a river in the sands,
either Λvith 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, AN'estern 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 niay be named the Tchoruk or river of Batum, the llioa
or ancient Phasis, the Orontes, the Litany, the Jerahie, the Tab
or Hindyan, the Dusee or Bougwur, and the Furalee or Beila 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 λ\ estern Asia those of
the greatest importance are, the Syhun, the Jyhnn, and the Helmend
on the east ; on the west, the Kur, the Aras, and the Sefid liud.
The Si/hun rises from two sources on the northern ilank of the Thian-
shan mountain-chain, the more easterly of which is in long. 77°. It
flows at first nearly due west between the G'akhal and Alatau ranges,
but near Kokand (in long. 69° 50') it bends soutliAvard, and, making
a complete sweep by Khojend, pursues a northern course for above
two degrees "( 1 40 miles), after Avhich it turns north-west, and then
still more west, finally reaching the sea of Aral riear 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 northeni
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, ΛΛ-here it reaches
the sea, it is diminished to one-half of the breadth Avhich it had
before qiiitting 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 Bolor 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.
Tclckoul in lat. 45°, long. G6°, and Lake ■* Mr. Keith Johnston estimates the length
Aksakal in lat. 47° 50', long. 63° 50'. of the Syhun at 1208 miles (Phys. Atl.
' Lakes Temourton and Jjjh are the most ' Hydrology,' No. 5, p. 14).
western of these. Eastward they continue at ^ Lieut. Wood found tlie elevation of Lake
intervals along the whole tract between the iSiV-i-ZioMo be 15,G00 feetfiieograph. Journ.
Kien-lun and the Thian-shan to the fi'ontiers λόΙ. χ. p. 53(3) ; which is higher th;in that of
of (.'hina. the sacred lakes of Mannsa and Ravanahadra
^ See Mr. Keith .Tohnston's Atlas of Phy- in the loftiest region of Middle Thibet, whose
sical Geog^-aphy, ' Hydrology,' No. 5, γ. 13. level is barely 15,000 feet. (See Humboldt's
* This description is chiclly drawn from the Aspects of Nature, vol. i. p. 82, E. T.)
Essay IX, THE JYHUN, HELMEND, &c. 447
l(jng. 73° 50'. After a rapid descent from tlie high elevation of
the lake, during whicli 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 Jj'hun
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 latiti;de of Balkh till it crosses the 4Uth
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
comer by three branches. It is increased by a multitude of small
streams from the right, and by some from the left, until it passes
lulaf, when it fairly enters upon the plain, across which it runs
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-
nislies in breadth, but increases in depth, till in the latter part of
its 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 Helmejul, or Etymandrus, rises between Bamian and Cabul
fiom the south-western angle of the Hindoo Koosh, and flows in a
sliglitly waving line from north-east to south-west across Afghan-
istan, a distance of oOO miles, to Palaluk, 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 Urghaiidah and the Turnuk, the two
rivers between which lies the city of Kandahar. The Helmend is
from 00 to 90 yards wide at GirisJi, 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 Hamadaa — the ancient Ecba-
tana— the Zendarud, 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 floAv 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 Khash 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.
towards 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 Mmymib, or river of Merv ; the 9. The average depth of the Helmend in the
Heri-nul, or river of Herat ; and the Kohik, latter part of its course is from 1^ to 2 flithoms
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 Avhere culti-
vation depends so gi-eatly upon irrigation.
The Α'ίί;• and Ants, which unite at DJavat, are, together with the
Sefid Rnd, the streams which carry off the drainage of the mountain-
country lying between the western shore of the Caspian and a ridge
which may he 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 ΑοΛν at first in nearly opposite directions, the Kar 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 Arpatchai. Both have numerous tributaries, the Kur
receiving a number of impoiiant streams from the flanks of the
Caucasus, of which the chief are the Aragbor, and the united Alazani
and Yovi 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 affluents'' 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 lioman
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 ]\loghan,
2 See Col. ChcsEey's Euphrates Expedition, enumei-vted by Colouel Chesney (ICupliiat.
vol. i. p. 10. Some regard the Bmjol-Su as Exp. vol. i. pp. 8-lOj.
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 thy season averages 93 yards at Titlis, in
^ Chesney, jij). 10 and 12. This estimate, the time of the floods expands to 233 yards,
however, includes the lesser windings of the ^ Cf. Virg. yEn. viii. 728, " Indomitique
streams. Daha?, et pontein indignatus Araxes," and
* Ibid. p. 10. compare his imitators (Claudian. Rufin. i.
* 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, Avhen he crossed it in 1810 041, fo;.
(Persian Empire, p. 321). - Col. Chesney mentions three bridges over
•* Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 640. tlie Aras, one, that of Shah Abbas, north of
' Twenty-one tributaiues of the Aras are Tabriz; another at Kopri Kieui ; and the
Essay IX. THE SEFID-EUD AND AJI-SU. 419
a distance of 110 railes,Ho the Caspian, which the main stream
enters in lat. 39° 50'.
The Sefid-Rud 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 Proper, in lat. 35° 45', long. 46° 45' nearly,
where it is knoAvn as the Kizil Uzen. It proceeds with a general
direction of X.E. by E. to the Caspian Sea, but makes one enormous
bend in its coiirse betAveen long. 48° and 49° 15', running first K.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 lOund sud-
denly, flows south-east between that range and the Massula hills to
MenJH in lat. 36° 40', long. 49° 15'); after which it resumes its
original direction, forces a way through the Massula chain, and runs
towards the N.E. across the low country of (ΐΜΙαη. 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 (Jrumiyeh,
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
Sevilaa (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 norih of west for
50 miles further, where a large 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 Tabieez, and leaving that city on its left bank
at about flve miles' distance ; after which it bends rather more to
the south, and enters the lake of Urumiyeh in the i-emarkable 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 sxiperior 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 Ν.Κ.λ\\ 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 Saruk or river of Takhti-
Suleiinan, the northern Ecbatana; and has a course of 130 or 140
miles. The I'atau is a smaller river descending from the district of
third at Hassan Ealeh (Euphrat. Exp. vol. stream rises fiom Mount Sevihm ; and its
i. p. 11). valley, which sloj)es Avestward, is interposed
* Chesney's Euph. Exp. vol. i. p. 11. between the -S't'/dA'/K? and ^4ms basins, whose
* Tlie basin of Lake Urumineh intervenes slant is towards the Caspian,
partially between the basins of the Aras and ^ Vide supra, § 5.
the ^ββίΐ L'ml. Two rivers principally feed ^ See Col. Chesney's Euphrat. Exp. vol. i.
this lake, the Jar/hetH, which enters it from pp. 190, 191, and compare Ueograph. Journ.
the south, and the Aji, or river of Tabriz, vol. iii. part i. p. 11, and vol. x. part i.
which flows in fiom the east. This latter p. u-t.
VOL. I. 1! G
4δ0 THE BAEADA. App. Book I.
SardasJit Its earlier course is north along the line of the 46th de-
gree of longitude, which it quits in lat. 8(3^ 54', bending away to
the north-west, and lea\'ing l)etween its stream and the Jaghcfu the
fertile plain of Μύ/αηώιΙι. it falls into the lake at its south-eastern
angle, and has a course of 80 or 90 miles/
Still furtlier to the west, and separated altogether from the great
region of continental streams wdiich we have been considering, is a
small tract lying veiy nearly upon the Syrian coast, the waters of
Avhich, equally Avith those of Iran and of Central Asia, are land-
locked, and fail of reaching the sea. This tract, which extends
from the source of the Barada (in lat. 32° 50') upon the noi'th. to the
shores of the Dead Sea on the soiath, consists of the two strongly con-
trasted vallej'S 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 valley exjiand-
ing gradually into a plain, across which it proceeds to run, seeming
as if it would force its w^ay through the desert, and fall into the
Persian Gulf or the Eixphrates, For this, howeΛ'er, its force is in-
snfScient. It is greatly Aveakened hj being divided into a number
of different channels above Damascus,* which are used for irrigation,
and fertilise the extensive gardens around that town. Although
these streams leunite beloAv the town, and the Barada flow^s once
more for a short distance in a single stream, though moieover it
receives in this part of its course two considerable tributaries from
the south-west, the Nahr-d- Berde and the Aiaiadj, yet in spite of all
it shortly after loses itself in the extensive marsh Avhich, under the
name of Jkdir-el-Merdj, spreads eastward toAvards 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 Cieograpli. 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-
(P^uphrat. 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 farther siitidivide, hut passes in and the Awandj flows, not into the Barada,
a single channel along the northern side of but into a lake or marsh of its own. This
the city. This branch has porha})s a right traveller also sfcvtes that in lieu of a single
to be considered as the ancient Pharj)ar. (S(>e lake there are thi-ee distinct lakes, two foimed
Benjamin of Tudela, as quoted by Col. by the Barada, and the other, a.s above stated,
Che.sney.) The other branch, which may be by the Awaadj. Perhaps this change is
regarded as the Abana, is further subdivided «lused by a continuance of dry seasons,
into eight channels, which jiass cither through ' Mount Hormon 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 graphic descri|)tion of the plain of Stanley, frontisj)icce). Its top ascends high
I'am;u*us, see Maundrell's Journey, pp. 122, above the line of perpetual snow.
123 (quoted by Dr. Stiuiley in his 'Sinai and
Essay IX. THE JORDAN. 451
springs flowing cliiefl}' from the main cliain, λλΊιϊοΙι here takes a
direction almost due south, but in part also from the western pro-
longation of the Anti-Lebanon, which skirting the valley of the Litany,
runs on from thence through Palestine and Iduma^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, w^hich rises in the fork of the Anti-Lebanon, where the two
chains separate, in lat. 83° 40', long. 35° 50' nearly, runs at first
with a south-westerly course down a deep and rocky goi'ge, but
gradually bends towards the south, and entering upon the plain near
Laish (Tel-el-Kadi), floAvs somewhat east of south through a marshy
tract into the lake of Merom (now Bahr-el-HuIeh). Another stream,
more usually regarded as the true Jordan, rises from two copious
sources— one at Dan or Laish, the other at Cassarea Philippi or
Paneas (now Banias)^— and, running parallel to the Ifasbeya thro^^gh
the flat, enters Merom a little to the east of the other feeder. From
Merom, which is a mountain tarn, seA'en miles long and six broad
at its greatest width ■* — the Jordan issues in a single stream and
begins that remarkable descent which distinguishes it ii\)m 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-Avest 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 Joixlan again issues forth with the same sui;thern
direction along the still lower depression which unites the sea of
Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Here the descent of the stream be-
comes compai-atively gentle, not much exceeding three feet per
2 Stanley, p. 386. feet — the distance, following the cui've of the
* A mimite de.scription of these two sources stream, between 11 and I'J miles. As the
is given by Dr. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, ri\-er 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. 16 miles. This would give an average fall of
Stanley (ibid. p. 382). Col. Chesney says from 44 to 50 feet. Taking into account the
" the waters seem to have preserved the tact that for 2i 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. Petermanu
serves that- the dimensions depend on the calculated it to exceed 116 feet (Geograph.
time of year, the wetness or diyness of the Journ. vol. xviii. p. 103); but he regarded
season, &c., and vary continually (Geograph. tlie 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 passing Jacob's ^ See Dr. Stanley's work, p. 362. Col.
bridge, 2^ miles from the lake, it is said to Chesney makes the length 12, and t lie greate-it
become a sort of " continuous waterfall " breadth 5 miles (Euphrat. Exp. vol. i. p.
(Geograph. Journ. 1. s. c). 400).
* The fall between the t\\"o lakes is 702
2 G 2
452 OCEANIC STREAMS OF WESTERN ASIA. App. Book I.
mile ; for tlionoli tlie tlirect distance between the two seas is loss
than 70 miles, and the entire fall 660 feet, which would seem to
give a descent of nearly 10 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 tlian above indicated. Still it
is sufficient to produce as many as twenty-seven ra])ids, 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-Maudhnr, or ancient Hieromax,
Avhich drains a huge district east of the main chain descending
from Anti-Lebanon — the ancient Itura^a and Trachonitis, the modern
JJdnran. Again, about midway between the two seas, another
affluent of almost etpial size joins it, the Jahhok, or river of Zurha,
Avhich descends through a deep ravine from the ancient country of
the Ammonites. The Avhole course of the Jordan from the most
northern soiirce — that of the Hasbei/a — 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 tlie lower part of its course is from
CO to 100 feet, Avhile its depth varies from four to nine feet.' It is
calculated to pour into the L)ead Sea about 0,090,000 tons of Avater
daily.^
(ii.) The principal oceanic streams of ^^'estern Asia are the
Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Indus. The general course of the
Euphrates and Tigiis has been already given f but a more particular
description seems to be proper in this place.
The Euphrates or Frat rises from tAvo chief sources in the
Armenian mountains, one of them at Dovui* 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 Diyadiii,
and not far from Mount Ararat. The former, or northein Euphrates,
has the name Drit from the first, but is known also as the Kara-su ;
the latter, or southern Euphrates, is ahvays called the Murad-chai,
but is in reality the main stream, and real source of the river.*
Both branches flow at fii'st with a general direction of \\.S.\\'.
through the wildest mountain-districts of Armenia towards the
IMediterranean, 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-chai runs north of west to meet it, and a
junction is formed near A'ehban Maden ; after Avhich the augmented
stream proceeds by a tortuous course southwaid to Jialis, wliero the
river finally gives up its struggle to reach the Mediterranean,'^ and
^ The 70 miles of actual length are in- depth 8 or 9 feet (Geojiraph. Journ. vol.
creased by the midtitudinous Λvinding.s to xviii. p. 9.")).
200 (rieograph. Journ. vol. xviii. p. 94, - Chesuoy's Eiiiihrat. Κχ]ηί1. vol. i. p. 401.
note; Stanley, p. 277). * .Stanley, p! 27•3. * Supra, § 2.
1 Dr. Stanley says the width is from GO * See Hamilton's Travels, vol. i. p. 178.
to 100, the depth from four to six feet. * See Geograph. Journ. vol. vi. part ii. ]>.
But as the river is fordahle in very few 204-, vol. x. j). 418, and compare Chesuey's
])laces, this is clearly too low an estimate. Euph. Hxj). vol. i. p. 42.
Mr. A. Petermann rails the average Avidth * The Iciust distance of the Euphrates from
below the Sea of Tiberias 90 feet, and the tlio ^Me iiterraneau would seem by the map
Essay IX.
THE EUPHRATES.
ttirns eastward, pursuing from this point an almost uniform south-
easterly direction, till it joins the Tigris and passes into the Persian
Gulf by the Shat-el-Arab and the Buh-a-Mishir. The course of the
Mnrad-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 country, receiving one or two important
tributaries from the vvcst,^ till between the 37th and 38th parallels
it forces its way through the last and principal raTige of Taurus,
and enters upon a comparatively low but hilly district a little
above ISwndsat (Samosata), Avhence it is navigable without any
serious interruption for nearly 1200 miles to the sea.' The hills
continue till a little above Rakhih, where they lecede, and the
Euphrates enters on a flat country, through Avhich it meanders for
about 80 miles, when it comes upon a chain of hills kno\^^l as the
Sinjar range, which stretches across Mesopotamia from Mosul to this
point,* and hence traverses the Arabian desert to Palmyra. Through
this barrier the jiver makes its way in a A'er}' remarkable manner,
floAving in a smooth channel, 250 yards wide and seA-en fathoms
deep, between beetle-browed precipices, which rise from 300 to
500 feet above the water's edge.^ Kinety miles lower do"s\Ti the
Euphrates receives its last tributary, the Khabur, 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 throAvs oft" 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 beloAv
to be about 100 miles, from Baijas in tlie
Gulf of Issus [Ishemle/im) to a point a few
miles above Bir upon the river. Tlie dis-
tance from Bir to the month of the Orontes,
which was traversed by the Euphrates expe-
dition, is by the road 1-iO, in a direct line
133 miles (Chesney, vol. i. p. 47).
7 ('hesney, vol. i. pp. 42 and 43.
8 Ibid. p. 44.
* It is one of the peculiarities of the Eu-
phrates that it leceiA'es 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 Ghamurli S>i
and the Tokhmah Sa from the west, from
the east the Belik and the Khabur rivers.
' Chesney, vol. i. p. 45.
- Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, ch. xi.
Chesney, vol. i. pp. 48-9.
^ Chesney, vol. i. pp. 48-9.
•• The gradual diminution in the size of
the Euphrates will be best seen from the sub-
joined table, constructal from data furnished
bj' Col. Cliesney ; —
Euphrates, from its junction with the Khahour to Werdi
, , from Werdi to Anah
, , at Hadisah
,, iTom Hadisah to Hit
, , from Hit to FnUijalt
,, ίτοτη Fcliijah tu Hillah
, , at JJiicaniyah
, , at Lamlun
, , at Al Kh u Ir
, , from Al Khudr to Sheilch-el-Shuyiikh . .
, , from Sheikh-el-Shuyukh to Kwyiak
Average vidth
in yards.
400
350
300
350
250
200
160
120
200
250
250
Miles.
806 to 731
639
536
•J59
3fiS
3(12
284
234
170
107
454 THE TIGRIS. App. Book I.
Lamhin some of the canals reunite ΛΛ'ΐίΙι tlie main sti-eam, wliich at
Al Khudr is again 200 yards Lroad, and farther on increases to 250
yards, Avhich is its aA'erage for the hundred miles from .1/ Klmdr to
Kuniah. At Kurnah the Euphrates and Tigris join, forming the
Shat-cl-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 GOO yards Avith a
depth of 21 feet above JJusrah, 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 Diyadin to the embouchure of the Shat-el-Arab/ The
qiiantity of Λvater discharged by it at Hit has been found to bo
72,840 cubic feet per second.^
The Tigiis, like the Euphrates, has two principal sources. The
western is in lat. o8° 10', long. o9° 20', a little south of lake
Goljik,^ and a feΛV miles only from the Euphrates where it bursts
through the outer barrier of Taurus, and descends upon the lower
country near Smiiehat. This stream at first Hows north-east along
a deep valley at the foot of ]\Iount Kizan, but after running about
25 miles in this direction, it sweeps round to the south and descends
by Arghani Bladen upon Diarbekr, receiving a tributary on each side
from the mountains, and emerging upon a comparatively open
country in lat. 37° 50', through which it flows with a course almost
due east to Osmaii 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 Tagh (the ancient Xiphates), and
runs S.S.\V. by Myafarekbi to Osmau Kieui, collecting on its Avay the
waters of a laige 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 somcAvhat more than 150
miles, Avhile that of the Myafarekia stream flills short of 100 miles.*
The Tigris, a little beloAV the junction, and before receiving its next
great tributary, is 150 yards wide and from three to iowv feet
deep.' It continues to flow towards the east as far as Til (in lat.
37° 45', long. 41° 30'), Avhere 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 Julamerik, 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 20th parallel, to Sert,
which it leaves a little upon the right; thence flowing south-west
to its junction with the JSitlis Choi (in lat. 37° 55', long. 41° 35'),
* See Chcsney, vol. i. pp. 60, (51. The p. G2.
recent ex))G(litioii to the I'ersian (iulf has ** Journal of Geograph. Society, vol. vi. p.
sliowu that great alterations have taken 208, and x. p. 3(55.
place in the course and soundings of the * Chesney, vol. i. p. 17.
lower Euphrates since the survey of Col. ' Journal of Geogiaph. Societj•, vol. viii.
Cliesney. Such changes are no doubt per- part i. p. SO.
petual. 6 See Chasney, vol. i. p. 40. * See Rich's Kurdistsn, vol. i. p. 378;
^ By Mr. Ronnie. See Chesney, \oI. i. Layard's Nineveh and Bahylon, p. 41 U, &o.
Essay IX. THE ϋΡΓΕΕ OE GEEAT ZAB. 455
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 rivers are said to
be of nearly equal size at their jiuiction.'* From Til the Tigris runs
southward fur 20 miles through a long, narrow, and deep gorge,
at the end of Avhich it emerges upon the Ιολυ 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 Kuruah, where it joins the
Euphrates. Along this part of its course it continiies to receive nume-
rous and important tributaries which flow into it from the Zagros
range, whereof the principal are the eastern Khahur, the Greater
and Lesser Zabs, and the iJiyaleh or ancient Gyndes. These rivers
are all of large size, and by the addition of their waters the Tigris
is rendered in its lower course a stream of gi"eater 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 4^ 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
114(3 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 Kliabur
and the Adhem, 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 aie
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 Mowanduz, 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 pei'sonal ri\'er ((Jeograph. Journ. vol. xi. part i. p.
observations of Mr. Layard, who was the 70). His stiitements 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.). * Mr. Ainsworth speaks of a third great
■• Layard, p. 49. aflfluent, the Berdizawi, or " Little Zab,"
* See Col. Chesney's Euphrates Exp. vol. Λvhich joins the Great Zab from the north-
i. p. 62. Λvest, nearly in latitude 37° (Geogi-aph.
^ 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 ΖΑΒ, DIYALEH, AND KEEKHAII. Arp. Book L
places,• bnt 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 KiA^er." *
The LoAver or Lesser Zab (Zah AsfaJ) 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 Avay into the IMesopotamian valle3^ '^^^^ 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 tlie
valleys nmning 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 Shinatn, of
which the Shiru-an is the more important. This branch rises from
the most easterly range of Zagros, in lat. 34° 45', long. 47° 40', and
floAvs at fii'st w^est and somewhat north of west, parallel with the
main chain, as far as Mount Auroman, where it turns a little south
of Avest, and being increased (like the Lesser Zab) by tributaries
from the longitixdinal valleys, bursts through the last mountains at
Semiram, and floAvs S.W. by S. across an open country to its junction
with the Holwan river, and thence S.W. and S.S.W. to the Tigris.'
The Avhole 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 Kerkkah (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 Ehv<uid (Orontes), the mountain behind Ha-
madan (the southern Ecbatana), and receives on the right, after a
course of about 30 miles, the northern or Singur branch, and 10
miles further on the southei-n or Giiran branch, which is known by
the name of the Gamamh. The river thus formed floAvs wcstwai'd
to Behistun, after Mdiich it bends to the south-west, and then to
the south, receiving tributaries on both hands, and Avinding among
the mountains as far as the ruined city of liadbar. Here it bursts
throTigh the outer barrier of the great range, and receiving the
large stream of the lurrind from the N.\V'. floAvs S.S.E. and S.E,
along the foot of the range between it and the Kebir Kith, till it
meets the stream of the Ahi-Zal, when it finally leaves the hills, and
flows through the plain, pursuing a S.S.E. direction to the ruins of
' See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, pany his route from Tabriz to Ghilan, in the
p. 169. Journal of the Geograph. Society (vol. x.
^ Chesney, vol. i. p. 24. jiart i., opposite p. 108).
2 Ibid. p. 22, note 3. 5 chasney, vol. i. p. 25.
3 Cfograph. Journal, vol. x. part i. p. 31. * Ceograph. .Journ. vol. x. part i. p. 11.
* See Sir H. liawlinson's map to uecom- 7 Chesney, vol. i. p. ϋΰ.
Essay IX, THE KARUX. 457
Siisa, M'hich lie upon its left bank, and thence running S.S.W., and
falling into the Shat-el-Arab, δ miles belo\v Kurnah.^ Its course is
estimated at above 500 miles,* and its M'idth at some distance above
its jimction with the Abi-Zal is from 80 to 100 yards.*
The last and largest of the Mesopotamian affluents is the Karun,
vsrhich is formed of two considerable streams, the Dizfiil river and
the Karun ji roper, or river of IShusfer. The JJizful 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 Avestvvard,
and passing Dizfid, approaches to within 7 or 8 miles of the Kerkhah
in the immediate vicinity of Sas (Susa), thence returning eastward,
and almost touching the 49th degree once more, Avhere 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.^V. by S. to
Shuster, where it is artificially divided into two channels, which
jiass 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 1 50 miles,
in a general direction of iS.S.W., to the Shat-el-Arab, which it
enters near Mohamrali by an ai tificial cut, thrown off at Sablah, and
now forming the main channel of the river.^ The river formerly
ran direct from Sablah into the Persian Gulf, and its ancient channed
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-Arab and
the Bah-a-Mishir. The course of the Karun, measuring by the Diz-
ful branch, is from its source in the Bakhti^-ari mountains to its
junction with the Shat-el-Arab about 430 miles.' Its coui-se, mea-
sured by the Shuster river, would fall short of this by about 1 00
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. vol. 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. ] 93-5) adds nothing ^ Capt. Selby ascended it to Shuster. (See
to this account. 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 b"ee the map attached to Sir H. liawlin- 1 Ibid. p. 199. ^ n,i(j_ pp_ 197.000.
son's journey, and compare Col. Chesney 's
^58 THE INDUS. App. Book 1.
pvobiiLly be found to lie between tlie 82nd and 83rd degrees of
lungitiule, and nearly in latitude 81°.* The «trcam maybe regarded
as formed by three sepai'ate rivers, the Sha;/ok or northern Indus,
which rises near the pass of Juira-korum, in lat. o5° 20', long. 78°,
the i^enge Khahap or middle Indus, which rises in Sevc] Tot within
the space above indicated, and the Tsarap or sonthern Indus, which
rises in lat. 32° 30', long. 77° 55', on the northern slope of the Parar
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 Avhich point it appears as if it would force its way
into the Oxus {.lyhun') 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 Adio, where
it leaves Western Thibet, to AUock, where it receives the river of
Kabul, is very imperfectly known f but it is believed to pursue,
with only small Avindings. a iiniform 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 Bug/i,^ where it bursts through the last hills — tliose
of the Jangher range — and this coui'se it keeps till Dera Jsmael Khan
(in lat. 31° 50'), wlien for two degrees it runs due south along the
line of the 71st meridian, after which it resvnnos its former bearings,
and i-uns S.S.W. to its junction Avith the Chenab, and then S.W. to
Dadarah. From Dadarah (in lat. 27°, long 68°) the course is once
more south to be3'ond 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 Tutta it once more reaches the (iSth degree of longitude. Five
miles below Tatta, and (30 miles from the sea, the river divides into two
great arms, which are known as the Buggaar 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 kiata branch, one of which is thrown off
^ For the best account of the Thibetian the Paralasji, the Bolor, and the Ural). See
Indus, see Capt. Strachcy's paper in the liis Aspects of Nature (vol. i. p. 94, E. T.)
23rd volume of the Geographiail Journal 2 ggg Capt. H. Strachey's map in the
(art. 1, pp. 1-G9). Major Cunningham, iu 23rd vol. of the Geographicjil .lournal, and
his woik on Ladak (p. SG), places the " true compare Lieut. Wood's memoir on the Indus
source" of the Indus iu lat. 31° 20', long, in the third volume of Burnes's Cabul, pp.
80° 30'. ;;05, et se^.i•
' Humboldt divides the grciit mountain ■'* During this part of its course the Indus
chains of Central Asia into those *' coinciding runs in a contracted bed between mountains,
with parallels of latitude" (the Altju, 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. 3o7 j.
meridians" (the (ihauts, the Sulcinmu iliain,
Essay IX. EIVERS OF THE PUXJxiB. 459
αΙίΟΛ'ο 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 greatly. At Tatta it
is only 700 yards across, but at Hyderabad it is 880, while between
Sehwan and Bukker (lat. 21° 40') it approaches to three-quarters of a
mile, and between Bukker and Mittuu Kote it considerably exceeds a
mile.*' Further north, especially between Dera Ghazee Khan and
Kola 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 Indiis 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 JlJunchur') near Sehwan. The
river also sends off on its left bank several important branches
which run towards the sea. Of these the princijial are the JS^arra,
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 leaΛ'es the Indus at Muttaree, and flowing by Hyder-
abad to the south-east, is consumed in irrigation ; and the Pinjaree,
which branching oif 15 or 20 miles above Tatta, proceeds duo
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 40,8G0 feet.*
The four rivers which, together with the Indus, have given the
name of Punjab to the tract between the great sandy desert and
the mountains of Affghanistan, are the Jelum or Hydaspes, the
Cheuah or Acesines, the Uauee or Hydraotes (Brivata), and the Sutlej^
or Hyphasis. Of these the Sutlef is the principal. It rises from
the sacred lakes of Manasa and Ravanahrada or Jiaican Ehud,^ 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 for a degree above
the Indus Delta is continually changing. In Dera Ghazee Khan, than in any other part
1837, Lieut. Car less found the Buijijaur 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 whole account see especially
Tol. viii. p. 328). It is clear that the Burnes's Memoir on the Indus in the third
Koree mouth was at one time the main Λ•olume of the Geographical Journal, and
channel of the river. Wood's Memoir in Burnes's Cabool, pp. 305,
* By Mr. JCeith Johnson (Physical Atlas, et seqq.
' Hydrology,' No. 5, p. 14). Major Cun- ' Wood's Memoir, p. 30G.
ningham's estimate is 1977 miles (Ladak, ^ Called now more commonly the Gharra
p. 90). (Chesney, vol. i. p. 370).
^ Geograph. Journal, vol. iii. pp. 125-35. ^ jhe affluence from these lakes is said
7 I have not found this stated, but in the not to be peruianent (Geograph. Journ. vol.
460 THE SUTLEJ, CHEXAB, &c. App. Book T.
great distance from the sources of the Indus, and runs at first
tlirough a remarkable plain, 120 miles long, and in places CO broad,
Avhich is eleA'ated more than 1 5,000 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 thr(-ugh the Himalaya
range between the 32nd and 31st parallels, and debouches upon the
plain (after passing Simla) about half Avay between that place and
Loodiana. It is a stream of large volume even in its upper course,*
and vi^here it falls into the Chenah is 500 yards in width.* It is
here as large as the stream formed by the junction of the Jdum,
Chenah, and Ravee, but being less swift than that stream is regarded
as a tributary, and merges its name in the appellation of Chenab,
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 Avith the Sutlej : it receives the Jehtm
in lat. 31° 10',« and the liavce 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 Avith the Indus takes place the Chenab is
the broader, though the Indus is the 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 Avill 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 recpiire description
before the conclusion of this bi-anch of our subject.
The Jiion or ancient I'hasis is frequently mentioned by Hero-
dotus,* and was in ancient times a riΛ'er to which peculiar interest
attached from the place Avhich it occupied in tlie commercial system
of those days. It appears to be certain that Alexander found a
regular line of trafidc between India and Europe to pass from
Bactra (Balkh) down the Oxus tjo the Caspian, and thence up the
Kur and across a small neck of land to the I'hasis, Λvhich 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 Cluihar ^ Ibid. p. 148.
(White Kiver). which descends from the ' Ibid. p. 141.
mountains on the south, and the Ser-Cku 2 Wood's Jlemoir, p. 354.
(Gold Kiver). which Hows from the ridge ^ ggg i. 2, and 104; ii. 103; iv. 37, 45,
separating between the Upper Sutlej and tlie 86 ; kc. Herodotus made the Phnsis the
rpper Indus (ibid.). boundary between Europe and Asia (iv. 45).
■* Geograph. Journ. vol. xxi. pp. 02-3. ■* This interesting fact rests on very unex-
* Ibid. vol. xxiii. p. 44. ceptionable evidence. Three witnesses who
* Ibid. vol. iii. p. 141. visited throe diderent i)arts of the route be-
7 The name Punjab, Λvhich is given in twecn tlie time of Alexander and the dose of
our maps, is unknown in the country (ibid, the Mithridatic war, gave substantially the
I>p. 141, 142, and compare Wood's Memoir in same account, namely, Aristobulus, the com-
Essay IX. EISE 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 Poiiipey.* The Eion,
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 KutaU 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° 6'. Its course, exclusive of meanders, appears
to be about 170 miles.
The Orontes, or Nahr-el-Asi (the " Eebel " stream), and the Litany
or river of Tyre, although unmentioned by Herudotus, 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 pi-esent review. The long
valle}" intervening between the two mountain-chains Avhich 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 or 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-Avest 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 nariow 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), δίο tt)v σκολιότητα, καταΡ^ΐΙ τραχυ$
Patrodes, the governor of the Caspian pro- καί βίαιο$, κ. τ. λ.
vinces under Seleucus Nicator (Fr. 7), and '' The site of Baalbek has been baro-
Pompey the Great. (See the p;issage which metrically estimated at 3810, and again at
Pliny quotes from Varro, H. N. vi. 17.) 3729, feet above the level of the sea. These
Aristobulus was acquainted with Bactria, observations give a medium result of 37G9-5
Patrocles with Hyrcania and the Caspian, feet. (See the Geogr. Journ. vol. xviii.
Pompey with the countries between the p. 87.)
Caspian and the Euxine. The positive men- '* For further particulars, see Chesney's
tion of the Phasis first occurs in the account Euphrat. Exped. vol. i. p. 398 ; Stanley's
given of Pompey 's investigation. Sinai and Palestine, pp. 398-9 ; and Col.
* Varro, ap. Phn. H. N. loc. cit. Wildenbruch's article in the Geographical
^ See Strab. xi. p. 730. δ Φασυ yecpu- Journal, vol. xs. art. 15, p. 231.
pais (Karou καϊ (ϊκυσι ireparhs •γ(ν6μΐνο$
4G2 CHANGES IX THE THYSICAL ΟΕΟΟΕΑΓΠΥ. Apr. Book I.
the slope. Its most remote source is at the foot of Anti-Tjcbanon,
distant about 10 miles from Baalbek in a north-easterly direction.
This stream, called the river of Leinceh from a village on its banks,
rims for about 15 miles towai'ds the north, Avhen 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 Bahr-d-Kades — a lake about
six miles long and two broad — approaches Hems, Λvhich it leaves
upon its right bank. From this point the course of the river is
northerly to near Hamah, Avhei'e, in forcing its way through a
mountain-barrier thrown across the A-alley, it makes a gi'eat bend to
the east, and then enters the rich pasture country of El-Ghab, along
which it floAvs north-westward as far as lat. 35° 30', when the north-
ern direction is resumed and continued nearly to Jisr-Iladid, in lat.
36° 14'. The Orontes, then, prevented from continuing its northern
course l)y the great range of AmauTis, suddenly sweeps round to the
west through the plain of Umk, and after receiving from the north
a large tributary called the Jutm-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 steej) and
Avooded hills, and then across the maritime plain with a fiill of 14.3
feet per mile, and with a large volunie of Avater, until it finally
falls into the bay of Antioch in lat. 3'3° 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 ccmsider briefly the question of
Avhat 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, throwing great
difficulties in the Avay of the comparative geographer, have occun-ed,
and considerable difference of opinion exists as to the nature and
extent of them. The scenes of important physical variation are
three chiefly, viz., the valley of the Indus, the lower or alluvial
portion of the Mesopotamia η plain, and the desert country cast of
the Caspian.
(i.) It is with regard to this last-mentioned district that the most
opposite views prevail among scientific geographers. A long series
^ Col. Chesney says " Anti-Lebauon " from the foot of Anti-Lebanon to tlie "great
(Euphrat. ExpeiL vol. i. p. 394) ; but I source " of the Orontt^s. ((Jeogi-aph. Jour,
gather from the pa])er of liis authority, Mr. vol. xxvi. p. 5:{.) See the maps of Syria in
Burckhardt Barker (Geoiir. Journ. vol. vii. the Library Atlas of the Useful Knowleilge
parti, pp. 99-100), that the triangular basin Society (maps 84 and 85), where this is the
of which he s()eaks as the j)rincipal source view taken.
is on the western side of the valley. So ' See Chesney. vol. i. pp. 395-7.
Mr. Porter spe;iks of " crossing the plain " ^ Stanley, p. 400.
EssAT IX. GEOLOGICAL CHANGES NEAR THE CASPIAN. 463
of writers,* ending Avith the illiistrious Baron Humboldt,'* have
maintained that in the time of Herodotus, and for several ages after-
Avards, the Caspian Sea extended itself A^ery 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 JNIacedouian 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 TOO feet below the level of the
Aral, and which is sujiposed to be still 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 gnlf running into the land
eastward from the Caspian between the 3iith 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 centuiy.^ 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 difierent
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. \vays a most insecure basis for geography.
p. 638, French Tr.) ; De Lamalle (Ge'ogra- 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.); Bredow (Geographias et Ura- termarches which he made in the Transosi-
nologia; Herodot. Spec. p. xxviii.) ; and Klap- anian provinces. It \vas then, apparently,
roth (quoted by Humboldt, Asie Centrale, that the idea arose of the Caspian communi-
vol. ii. pp. 250-'259j. 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 plan (i. 203, and see note ' ad loc), which
the Sea of Aral, and make the Jaxartes corresponds Λvith its present shape; 2. his
(Sy/Mii) faU into the Caspian, no less than the mention of the swamps into which the Mas-
Oxus (jijlMn). (See Eratosth. ap. Strab. xi. sagetic Araxes fell by several mouths (i. 202),
p. 739 ; Strab. xi. p. 743 ; Arrian. Hxp. Alex, which seems a reference to the Aral (cf. Hum-
iii. 30; Pom. Mel. iii. 5; Ptolem. vi. 14.) bfildt's Asie Centrale, vol. ii. p. 269); and,
Ptolemy also seems certainly to have regarded 3. the notice in Ptolemy of a Palus Oxiana
the length of the Caspian as from east to west, (Χ'ιμνη Ώξιαι/ή. Geograph. vi. 12), repre-
which it would be if it inchuled the Aral, sented as formed by a tributary stream, but
(See Eustath. :id Dionys. Perieg. 718.) But which from its name should indicate a lake
these testimonies are of no great weight, since into which the O.nts fell.
they do not proceed from actual observation, * See the Geograph. Journal, vol. xiv. pp.
but from the reports of ignorant natives, al- Ixxiii.-i^'.
464 PEOGEESS OF DESICCATION. App. Book I.
him there was once a shallow mediterranean sea of brackish water,
separated entirely from the existing Mediterranean, and extending
from the foot of the hills which branch fiOm 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 phitcau of Ust-Urt,^ by \vhich the separation of
the Aral and tlic Caspian Avas effected. Subsequently, another ele-
vation of surface took pkice toAvards the west, the tract north of the
Caucasus being raised by vulcanic agency, and the Caspian thereby
separated from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof. All this was
done in the period Avbich 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 etiected in ante-
historic times. It is still a question, howe\'er, 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 Sinus Srythicus of IMela. His view
here a})pears 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 Avhole of its waters into
the sea of Aral, may piobably, when Herodotus wrote, have flowed
entii-ely into the Caspian. Kot only is this the unanimous declara-
tion of ancient writers,* but they add a corroborative circumstance
of gieat weight, which at least proves that the Oxus connnunicated
with that sea ; namely, that the regular course of the tiade between
India and Eurojie Avas through Bactra (Balkh^, down the Oxus into
' Portions ofthis plateau are 700 feet above vol. xiv. p. Ixxii.)
the level of the Caspian (Geograph. Joui-n. - Asie Centrale, vol. ii. p. 274.
1. s. c). ' As of Aristobulr.s, the companion of
^ The Sea of Aral, it must be remembered, Alexander (ap. Strab. xi. p. 742), of Erato-
is nearly on a level with the Euxine, while the sthenes (ibid. p. 7.'i9), of Strabo (ibid. p. 743),
Caspian is above 100 feet below it. This of Pliny (H. N. vi. 17), of Arrian (lixped.
certainly looks like desiccation. W. llommaire Alex. iii. 29), of Dionysius Periegetes (1. 748),
de Hell Ijciieved that tlie proce.ss w;ts going on of Mela ( De Sit. Orb. iii. 5), and of Ptolemy
rapidly. (See the nddrpss ofSir K. Miirchi.son ((jeograph. vi. 14).
in the Journal of the Geogiaphical tjociety,
Essay IX. ALTERATIONS OF THE RIVER COURSES. 4G5
the Caspian, and thence by the Kw (Cja-us) and Eton (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 folloΛved till
about the middle of the 15th centur}*, 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 Jj-hun flows on and disembfigues 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 Avas pioduced
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 KuU 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-Koum.^ 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 Heiodotus.'
(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 tAvo 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 tiatlej, whose ancient channel may be traced from
the vicinity of Harrekee 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 alx)ve. note "*, page 4ϋΰ. ^ See Meyendorfs Voyage k Bokhara, pp.
^ This passage is taken from a valuable 239-41.
Arabic MS. in the possession of Sir H. iiaw- ' Ibid. pp. 61-64, &c.
linson. The fact recorded has been hitherto ^ See note ^ on Book i. ch. 202.
tmknown. ^ See Geogi-aph. 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 tlie altars of
229). Alexander (Arrian. Exp. Alex. v. 29).
VOL. I. 2 Η
466 CHANGES IN THE VALLEY OF THE INDUS, App. Book I.
north 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 A'iolent and exten-
sive changes seem to have taken place. The Indus brings down
annually to the sea more than 10,000,000,000 cuhic feet of mud.*
Tliis 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 np, minor channels become the
main ones, or entirely new channels, often crossing the old courses,
are formed ; ships ai'c 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 aitificial cuttings made at varit)us times for
the purpose of irrigation. It appears 1hat anciently the Eu])hrates,
tlie Tigris, and the Karun, all emptied themselves into the Per-
sian gulf by distinct channels." The three great streams \yA\G>
now converged, perhaps through the gτΌΛvth of tlie alluvium," which
must have filled up to a considerable extent the inner I'ecess
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 reiuiited
^ Chesney, Euph. Exp. vol. ii. p. 370. ® See a paper by Sir H. Rawlinson in the
'' The fiimous city of Brahmunabad, where Journal of the (Jeograph. Society, vol. xxvii.
exiavations liave been recently made, is si- p]). 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-Mi^/iir 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. pj). 373, 374, and Euphrates joins the Tigris seems to be a na-
compareCeograph. Journal, vol. viii. p. 348, tural one.
and vol. x. p. 530. > Compare Arrian (Expod. Alex. vii. 7,
' The Euphrates enters upon the alluvium ouToiy is ου ττοΚυ ΰ5ωρ ό Ενψράτη? τ€-
a little below Hit, in latitude 33° 40' (Ches- KevTwv, καΐ Τΐνα•γώ5ηί is τοΰτο, ovtws
iiey, vol. i. p. 54) ; but the Tigris comas ujjon άττοπανΐταί). and I'liny, dcscriljing the state
it earlier, viz. at Tekrit (Layard's Nineveh of tilings iu liis own day (vi. 27, " sed longo
and Babylon, p. 240 and p. 4()9), in lat. tempore Euphratem pracluscre Orcheni, et
34'-' 35'. accoiie agros rigautes, uec nisi per Tigrin de-
* For the separation of the Tigris and Eu- I'ertur in mare " ).
phrates, compare Herod, i. 185, vi. 20 ; Strab. ^ Arrian (1. s. c), Strab. xv. ]>. 1033, &o.
xi. pp. 758-9 ; Plin. H. N. vi. 27. For the Some of these channels were artificial, others
distinct channel of the A ar«n (Euheus) to the natural. Of tlio former kind were, 1 . the
sea, see Arrian (Exped. Alex. vii. 7). original " royal river," the Ar ΛΙαΙοΙια of
Essay IX. AND IN LOWER MESOPOTAMIA. 467
with the main stream,' most of which are now cLy. 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
Zagi'os range, abundantly Avatered 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, Avas divided from A^ery ancient
times into three principal countries, all nearly equally favoured
by nature, and each in its turn the seat of a poAverful monarchy :
■ — Assyria, Susiana, and Babylonia. The highlands overlooking
this region upon the east and north, being occupied by three prin-
cipal races, were likcAvise regarded as forming three great countries :
— Armenia, Media, and Persia. ^\est of the Mesopotamian plain,
intervening between it and the Mediterranean, Avere, first, a portion
of Arabia, and then Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Further oif,
both on the north and on the east, Avere numerous petty tribes, the
exact 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 and considerable length. — [H. C. R.]
9; Armalchar of Pliny. H. N.vi. 'J6 ; βασι- ^ Three such streams were thrown off to
λικτ/ Βιώρυξ of Polybius, v. 51; Narmacha the right 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 foUoweil the line of the marshes (Sea of Xedjef), whence the water
modern Saklaiiiyeh canal, passing by Akker- flowed in part to the sea, in part back to the
kuf, the Ardericcaof Herodotus (i. 185), and Euphrates by a channel which entered it near
entering the Tigris below Baghdad; 2. the Hanuvrah. — [H. C. K.]
Mahr Alulcha of the Arabs, which branched * The description of A rrian is very exact : —
ft'om the river at Ridhitaniyeh, and ran across δ μ\ν Tiyp7}s πολύ re Taireivoripos ρίων
to the site of Seleucia ; and, 3. the Nahr τον Εύφράτον, 5ιώρυχά5 re πολλάϊ 4κ
Kutha, which, starting from the Euphrates του Εύφράτου is axnhv δί'χεται, καί ττολ-
about 12 miles above Mosinb (the ancient \oiis aWovs ^τoτaμoυs -παραλαβών, κα\
Sippara), passed through Kutha, and fell into e| αυτών αΰζηθη5, ΐσβάΚΧΐΐ is rhv Τΐόν-
the Tigris 20 miles below Seleucia. Of the τον rhv ΤίΐρσίΚί'ν μ4yas τΐ καϊ ούξαμοΰ
latter kind was the stream called by Ptolemy Sίaβaτυs fsre iirl την iκβo\ηv, καθότι ου
Ma-arses, which branched from the main river καταναλίσκΐται αύτοΰ ούδ(ν is την χώραν.
above Babylon, and ran across to Apamea "Ειττι yap μίπωροτίρα η ταύτη γή τοΰ
(now Naamiinii/eh) on the Tigris which city vSaros .... Ό δε Evφpάτηs μΐτΐοιρόί
it di\nded into two portions. This bninch re pe7, κα\ ΙσοχίίΚηί πανταχού τη yij, και
may be distinctly traced^ passing north of the Siwpvxts re πολλαΐ απ' αντοΰ π(ποΊηνται,
great mound of Babylon, and circling round κ. τ. λ. (vii. 7).
the walls of the inner enceinte; it runs to- * The Choaspes f^cv7;/ia/i) bifuraited above
wards Hymar, and is the Zab of the geogra- Susa: the light arm kept the name of Cho-
phers, and the modern A'iY 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 Tigris in lat.
towards the west or right. To exhaust the ai-" to ;!2'^ ; tlie left arm was called the
subject ofthecomparativehydrography of this Kuheus, and tlowing to the south-east, joined
district would require a separate essay of the Karun (Pasitigris) at A/nrnz. — [H.C.R.]
2 II 2
468 POLITICxiL GEOGTiArHY— GENERAL DIVISIONS. Αγρ. BookL
into tlie extent of the Persian em})iiO under Darius and Xerxes ;
at present Ave are concerned only with Mesopotamia and the regions
immediately adjacent.
In treating of the boundaries and extent of the countries above
mentioned, it Λ\•ί11 not be possible to be very exact and j^^'ecise,
since the boundaries themselves w^ei'e 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 Avhich occupied the Mesopo-
tamian plain, Assyria was the northernmost. It conmienced 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 I'roper.* This name Avas
applied to the region lying directly south of Taurus in the i-emark-
able bend of the Upper Euphrates, where its distance from the
Tigris is the greatest. It ma}^ be considered to haA'e extended as
flxr as the land Avas 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 i-ather
more than 150 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 Avas Adiabene, not
called from a town, but probably from the Zab riA^ers," between
which it lay. This ti'act was the richest and most fertile portion
of Assyria ; and its pre-eminence Avas such that the name, Adia-
bene, was sometimes taken to signify the entire country, a use
^ Mesopotamia Proper is very distinctly Alex. iii. 7) ; but the thoroughly Assyrian
indicated by Ptolemy (GeograjA. v. 18). He ruins at Kileh-Shen/hnt, Ahii-h'hnmeerd,
regards it as bounded on tlie north by the and 7t7-7i;-OT(i/i (see Layard, Nineveh, part i.
chain of Taurus, on the west by the Eu- eh. xii. ; Nineveii and Babylon, pp. 241, 243)
phratcs, on the east by the Tigris, and on the prove the Assyrian occujjation to have ex-
.south by the Euphrat&s and Babylonia, tcndwl to the west of the river. Pliny says,
Strabo's view appears to be similar, but it is " Me.soimtnmia totn Assyrioruni fuit" (vi. 2(5).
far less distinctly cxiJn'.ssiHl (xvi. ]). 1(159). •* Ptolrmy enumerates e'ght such districts,
It is remarkable that neither Ileroilotus nor viz., Arrapacliitis, Adiabene, the (iaramasan
Xenophon use the word. Xenophon extends country, Apolloniatis, Arbelitis, the country
Syria across the Euphrates (Anab. i. iv. 19). of the Sambatas, Calacine. and .Sittacenti
Polybius and Pliny give a very wide sense to (vi. 1). Strabo gives a still larger number
the teiTn Me.sojiotamia. (xvi. ad init.).
' Some authorities bound Assyria ))y the ' See Ammian. Marcell. xxiii. '20.
Tigris (Ptolem. (Jeogr. 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 Royal Eoad 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 Avest by the
Tigris.* It Avas thus a long and somewhat narrow strip intervening
between the mountains and the river, reaching probably from about
Zangawan or Sirican in Mah Sahadan to the mouth of the Tah or
Hiadyan, a distance of nearly 300 miles. In width it varied from
150 to .50 miles, averaging perhaps 90, which ΛνοηΜ make its size
somewhat less than that of Assyria. Its inhabitants seem to have
been partly Elyma>ans (Elamites), partly Cissians or Cossaeans
(Cushites), the Elymreans occupying both the coast tract and the
hill country towaids Persia.® The capital, Susa, Avhence the pro-
vince derived its later name, was situated between the two arms of
the Kerkhah (Choaspes), in lat. 32° nearly. Its position .was very
central ; from the Tigris it Avas distant about 00 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 beloAV 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
canals and river-coiirses.^ Its sea-coast extended from the mouth
1 See Plin. N. H. v. 12: " Adiabene, 759, 762, &c. ; xvi. p. 1056). Ptolemy's
Assyria ante dicta," and compare Nahum Elym;eans are upon the coast, and the recrion
ii. 7 : " And Huzzab (Π•'!ίΠ) shall be carried above them is Cissia (Geograph. vi. 3). Pro-
away captive ;" where, however, it is very ^'^^^J there were Elymasans in both situ-
doubtful if n-Vn is a proper name. atious (compare Plin. H. N. vi. 26 and 27).
., -T 1 ""νη ίΤΛ, τ,, .• ι '' An artificial channel leaves the Euphrates
^ Herod. V. 52. The Matieni, however, , „.. ,τ s ,, ., i- •<■ ί τ? u i •
,,,,,,',, . X at Hit (Is), the northern limit ot Babylonia,
are o-enerally regarded, both by Herodotus , ^ Λ ., , e i.\, t. ι.- ϊ-
, ",, •'., " ■ , , -i χ•^ ί- .1 . •π and runs aloncr the edge of the tertiary for-
and other writers as mhabitant« of the hills ^^^^.^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^,^^^^^ ^jj ^j^^^.^.^^ ^j^^
(Herod. 1. 189, 202 ; ^^γ^• ^-VV- 7-t«. .,,Κι,.;^ΐ valley of the Euphrates on the west
7οΰ &c. ; Dionys. Per.eg. 1. 100, ). throughout its whole extent, and falling into
3 It has been usual to regard Elam (D^^V) ^^^ ^-^ ^^ ^j^^ j^^.^^} ^f ^^^ ^„,^ . ,^ '^^.^^^
as Persia, but this is a misfcike. Elam is ^^^,^^^. oQ miles west of the Shat-el-Arab.
the Scriptural name of the province whereof j^jg stream is called by the Arabs the Kere/i
Susa is the capital (see Dan. viii. 2, and ^ς-,,^,/^/^ or canal of Sindeh, and is ascribed
comp. Ezra iv. 9, where the Elamit«s are |,y ^}^ρ„^ ^o a wife of Nebuchadnezzar. It is
coupled with the Susanchites), and is repre- doubtful, however, whether the work is
sent*-d by the Elymais of the geographers. g.^j.^g,. t^an 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-
iStrab. XV. p. 1031.
Strabo places the Elyma;ans in the
Zagros mountains towards Media (xi. pp. and ran into a great lake in the neighbour-
^ teee rtolem. Oeograpn. vi. ό, ana com- , „ ^ , ττ , .L^n
pare Strab. xv. p. 1031. Opa. '•^•' ^«n»! of Opa (comp. Heb. 3^5),
Strabo places the Elyma;ans in the left the Euphrates ne;uly at yippara(J/bs(ii6),
470
CHALDiEA— MESOPOTAMIA.
A pp. Book T.
of the Tigris to the island of Biibian ; from whicli point it was
bounded on the south and west by the Great Desert of Arabia." Its
length mixy be reckoned at six degrees (more than 400 miles) along
the course of tlie rivers; its average breadth approached 100 miles.
It was thus somewhat larger than either Susiana or Assyi-ia.
The southein portion of Babylonia, bordering on Arabia and
on the Persian gulf, was knoAvn in all times by the special name of
Chalda^a.* This was the earliest seat of Babylonian power, and
here were the primitive capitals of Hnr or Ur (the modern 3Ivg-
heir), Erech (the Όρχόη of the Greeks, now ^\'aι•ka), and Lama
(P]llasar of Genesis, and the Greek Λαράχωΐ' or Λ('/|0(σα«, ηοΛν Sen-
kereh). Upper Babylonia was sometimes divided into two districts,
which were known respectively as Auranitis and Amoidacia.' Of
these, Auranitis seems to have been the more northern ; Amor-
dacia being the country about the great marshes into which the
Euphrates ran.
(i\'.) To these thi-ee 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 Jcavs, a country which
was not subject to the early Assyrian kings, and which, thijugh
reckoned to Assyria about the time of Herodotus, Avas 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 Avest ; Assyria upon the
east ; Babylonia, and in part Arabia, upon the south. The no] thern
hood of Boisippa (Bu-s-i-NimrvxI), whence
the lauds south-west of Babylon were irri-
gated. In Alexander's time, through negleet
of the mouth of this canal, which required
careful watching, as the Euphrates has a
tendency to run off to the south, almost all
the water of the Euj)hrates passed by it, and
found its way to the sea through a series of
marshes (Arrian. I'Lxped. Alex. vii. 21). This
canal is cidled by the Arabs Λ'αΛ/• Abha
(queiy, Nahr 0])a?), and is regarded by
them as the oldest in the country. It was
probably made or re-opeuetl by Nebuchad-
nezzar.— [H. C. K.]
^ See Ptol(!m. Geograph. v. 20.
^ See the inscriptions passim, and com-
pare Strab. xvi. p. 1050 ; Ptolem. 1. s. c.
' See Ptolem. v. 20. The second of these
words, which the Latin inteipreter renders
by Mardoccea, recalls the name of the Baby-
lonian god, Mardoc, or Alerodac/i, to whom
Nebuchadnezzar dixliaited so many of his
t<'m])lei>, and especially the great temple at
Babylon known to the Greeks as the tem]ilo
of Belus. Auranitis is perhaps connected
with the modern Khainran or Kliavran, the
name of an imporUmt Arab tribe on the
Euphrates.
- In Scripture, Aram-N'ihnraim (Syria of
the two rivers) is clearly distinguished fioin
Assyria or Assliur. (Seo Gen. xxiv. 10,
XXV. 18; 1 Chron. v. 26, xix. 6.) The po-
sition of the one is marked by the city Haran
(Gen. x.xiv. 10, xxvii. 43), of the other by its
being the country touards which the Tigris
ran eastward (Gen. ii. 14, marginal transla-
tion). Aram-Naharaim is nearer to .ludaa,
and the Jews come in contact with it long
before they come in contact with Assyria.
(See Judges iii. 8-10; 1 Chron. v. 26;
2 Kings XV. 19, &c.) In Herodotus, as has
been already observed, there is no mention of
Meso}X)tamia ; and the only question that
can be raised is whether he included the tract
so called in Assyria or in Syria. A careful
comparison of all the passages bearing on the
subject leads me to the tbrmer conclusion.
Xenophou. however, in Anab. i. iv. 19, cer-
tainly makes Syria extend across the Eu-
phrates— at least if the reading in the place
be sound, and should not rather be δια ttjj
' Ασσυρία!, as I strongly incline to susix,'ct.
(Compare .Anab. vil. viii. 25, where Assyria
is mentioned as one of the tOuntries traversed
by the Ten Thousand.) From the time of
Alexander, Me.soiX)t;unia «une to Ik? regarded
by the Greeks as a distinct country from
Assyria. (Cf. Eratosth. »]>. Stiab. lHH)k ii. ;
Arrian. Exped. Alex. iii. 7; Dexij)]>. Vr. 1 ;
Strab. xvi. 1046, 1059, &c. ; Ptolem. v. 1»,
vi. 1, &e.)
Essay IX. ARMENIA— ITS GENERAL FEATURES. 471
part of this region was inhabited in early times by the almost count-
less tribes of the Nairi ; '^ while the southern was in the possession of
the Lehka and other unimportant nations. At a later date we find
Arabs established on the left bank of the Euphrates, and hence a
portion of IMesopotamia is reckoned to Arabia."* It did not form,
like the other three countries, the ordinary seat of a powerful
monarchy ;* on the contiary, it was always either split up among a
number of petty kings, like most part of the country betAveen the
Euphrates and Egypt f or else was merely a province of some
great empire. Its chief towns were Nisibis (^Nisibin), Carrge (the
HebreAv Charan, now Harran), and Amida (^Dinrbekr').
10. The three countries of the highlands immediately overlooking
the Mesopotamian plain — Armenia, Media, and Persia — haΛ'^e now
to be briefly considered.
(i.) Armenia lay directly to the north of the plain. It was 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 lOO wide, flow
down in four directions to three ditferent 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 Sumnsat (Samosata) on the Euphiates 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 intei'vene 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. AVest-
3 See especially the great Cylinder of Tig- Persian Gulf— viz. the Cokhians. Sapirians.
lath-Pileser, col. iv. Hues 56-83, where no Medes, and Persians— clearly shuts off Ar-
f'ewer than thirty-nine of these tribes are menia from tlie 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. 7(55). Pliny
* See Xen. Anab. I. v. 1, and compare appears to make the Massuln mountains the
Strab. i. p. 59, xvi. pp. 1060, 1061. eastern boundaiy, thus bringing Armenia
^ We he:ir of no conquering king of Meso- within sight of the Caspian Sea, but still
potamia either in sacred or profane history, assigning the coast tract (now Talixh) to the
except Chushan-rish-athaim, who oppressed people whom he calls Caspians (H. N. v'l. 9
Israel for eight years (Judges iii. 8-10). and 15). Mela, iu 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 he;id." — H. C. R.] south of the Araxes (J/y/s). See the Armenian
^ Compare on this point Essay vii. § 40. Geography ascribed to Moses Chorenensis, p.
7 Geograph. v. 10. 357, et seqq., and compai'e Mos. Chor. ii.
^ Herodotus, by placing four nations only 50, p. 167.
between the Euxine and the Erythraean Sea or
472 MEDIA. App. Book I.
ward HeroclotTis extends Armenia further than most Greek writers,
since he places the sources of the Ilalys in that country.^ An
ill-defined and variable line separated Armenia on this side from
Cappaducia, and according to Herodotus trom 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
knoΛvu as the Aase/i Tagli, TekeH 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 betAveen 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 Malatiijeh, 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 niimber of
petty provinces,^ of which the most important Avas 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 Kwr
(CyiTis) on the north to the vicinity of Isfahan on the south, was
Media, divided (like Armenia) into two provinces, ]\ledia 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 .4r«N(Araxes) and the Sefid Rud, and the low countries
of Talish 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 ArnKmians themselves (see Armen. (ieogr. § (55-80.
the (ieography, p. 355). He is also followeil * This division was of course not made
by Dioiiysius (1. 786). Most writers, how- nnder these names till the time of Alex;inder,
ever, like Strabo (xii. 791), regard the Hnlys when the Persian satrap, Atropates, the
as rising in Cappadocia. Some even make commander of the Median contingent at the
the Euphrates the western boundary of Ar- battle of Arbela (Arrian. Exp. .-Vlex. iii. 8),
menia. (Agathemer, ii. 6.) ('ontrived to make himself indejjendent ia
1 Herod, v. 49 and 52. Upjier Media (Strab. xi. p. 76U ; Died. Sic.
2 Compare Herod, iv. 37 ; Strab. xi. pp. xviii. 3), which Avas thence called Metlia
726-30; Plin. H. N. vi. 5 and 10; Pttilem. Atroiiatend or the Media of ^^trojiates. But
V. 10-11. there are grounds for believing that the two
^ See Strab. xi. p. 758, &c. ; Plin. vi. 8 ; j)rovinces — each with its own Kclnitana — had
Ptolem. V. 7 and 13 ; Armen. Geograph. I)een from the earliest ^Median occupation
§ 57-9. more or less distinct. (See Sir H. liiwlinson's
* Pliny goes farther, and says of the Cap- memoir on the site of the Atro]iateni:m Ecba-
padocians : " Longissim^ ha:c Ponticarum tana in the tenth volume of tiie Cieographi-
omniiim [gentium] introrsiis reccKlens, mi- cal .lournal.)
norem Ai meniam iiiajoremque lasvo suo latere '' 1*Όι• 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 altogether Lake S])auta of Strabo, xi. p. 760), see Geo-
from Ca]>padocia (v. 13), appears to include giaph. Journ. vol. x. pp. 5-15, and 28-31.
the Lesser within it (v. 6 and 7).
Essay IX. PERSIA. 473
spending with the modem province oi Azer'lijan. From hence Media
Magna extended eastward to the Caspian Gates near Moimt Dema-
vend, following the line of Elburz, and being separated from the
Caspian by a portion of Hyrcania, now ]\Iazanderan. On the west,
the Assyrian plain formed the boundary, Media here lying along
Zagros, and reaching soiithwards to about the o2nd parallel, where
Persia adjoined upon it. Eastward Media was bounded by the
Great Salt Desert, which extends across Iran from lat. 'ob° to lat.
80°. The entire country was thus eight degrees (550 miles) long,
and from 250 to 300 miles broad.
(iii.) Below Media was Persia, nearly coinciding Λvith the
modem province of Fars. On the west it was bounded by Susiana,
on the soiith by the Persian Gulf, on the east by Carmania (A'erman),
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 unpioductive
plain, Ij'ing partly between the mountains and the sea, jiartly 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, howeA^er, Avhich seems to be the mountain country north-west
of Isfahan, formed a debateable ground betAveen 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. λΧβ may perhaps recognise in the Mardyeiie of Ptolemy,^
which lay upon the sea-coast, the country of the Mardi, mentioned
by Herodotus among the Persian tribes,* and in bis Taocene, the
country of the Taochi or modern JJalaki, Avho dAvell north-east of
Bushire on the Khist river. Pasargadai, the earlier, and Persepolis
the later capital, were the two principal towns.* Their position is
clearly marked by the tomb of Cyius at Murg-Auh,^ and the ruined
palace of Darius near htakher.^ Both were fairly central, being
situated in the mountain-region half way between the low coast
tiact and the elevated desert country towards Yezd, and being
* See Kinneir's Persian Empire, pp. 59-C4-. themselves are probably equivalents, but the
® Ptolein. vi. 4. two cities were Lertainly distinct. They are
' Herodotus calls the Paretaceni a Median carefully distinguished by Strabo (xv. p.
tribe (i. 101), and Stephen makes Para;taca 1035), Pliny (H. N. vi. 20), Arrian (Exped.
a Median city (ad voc). Ptolemy distinctly Alex. vii. 1, ad init.), Ptolemy (Geograph. vi.
assigns Para;taceuo to Persia (1. s. c). Era- 4), and others. In point of fact they were
tosthenes (ap. Strab. ii. p. 11(J), Strabo (xi. more than 40 miles apart, Munj-Aub, the
pp. 759, 762, &c.), Pliny (H.N. vi. 20), and site of Pasargadre, being 42 miles almost
Arrian (Exped. Alex. iii. It»), seem to regard due nortli of tlie Cheld-Minar, or Palace of
tlie country of the ParatiKeni, or Para;tac£e, tiie Forty Pillars, imdoubtedly the ruins of
as separate both fiom Persia imd Media. the later ca])it;d. (See Kinneir's Routes in
2 Geograph. vi. 4. tlie Appendix to his ' Persian Empire,' p.
^ Herod, i. 125. 401.)
^ Some writers, as Sir. W. Ouseley (Tra- ' See note * on Book i. ch. 214.
vels, vol. ii. pp. 310, et seqq.) and Niebuhr ^ 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, pi>. 115 and 102, E.T.), vol. i. pp. 570-(i83; and Kinneir's Persian
have regarded Persejiolis and Pasargadaj as Empire, pp. 70, 77.
two names of the same place. The names
474 KURDISTAN. App. Book I.
about, eqiiidiistaut from the eastern and western boinulavies of the
province.
Persia was the smallest, as Media was tlie lai-gest, of the three
great mountain comitries ; 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 cha])ter 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 tlie most part the hill-sides are bare, the \'alleys mere
ravines, and tlie level tracts arid and sandy.'
(iv.) Although it Avas usual to regard the three countries of
Armenia, INledia, and Persia as dividing among them the entire
mountain-tract north and east of the Mesopotamian valley, yet it
seems as if there had been at all times a number of tribes, not
really either Armenian, Median, or Persian, avIio 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,'' Oithocorybantians,* Utians,
and Mycians^of Herodotus, the Carduchi of Xenophon/ the Gor-
diasans and Uxians of Strabo" and Ariian,* the Cordueni, Mizaii,
Saita3, Hyi, &c. of Pliny.' Of these AMrious tribes the one of tlie
greatest name and note — which may be traced uninterruptedly from
the time of Xenophon to the present day, and Avhich has apparently
absorbed almost all the others — is that which ancient writers desig-
nate under the slightly varied appellations of Carduchi, Gordiaii,
Cordueni,^ and perhaps Cardaces^and Cyrtii (Ki/prtot),'' and which
still holds the greater portion of the region between Armenia and
' T)]v yap ΐκτΊ]μΐθα oKiyi)v (Herod, ix. as Wesseling conjectured long ago (ad Diod.
122). Sic. xiv. 27). Pliny (H. N. vi. 15) identifies
* Avnpi)v . . . τρηχετ/ι/ (it)id.). Compare the Cardiuhi and Cordueni. Strabo's Gor-
Xen. Cyrop. Vii. v. § 07. Tlepaas roy dyeno (Γορδι/ήνη, 1. s. c.) links together
οϊκοι . . . (ΤΓίπονώτατα ^ώί/ταϊ δια rrjv rijy Gordiau and Cordueni. The ethnic title,
Xwpas τραχύτητα. whichever form we give it, is probably to be
' Kinneir, p. 55. connected with the Assyrian term Karadi,
1 See note to Book ix. ch. 122. which is the only word used throughout the
2 Herod, i. 189. inscriptions for the " warlike youth " of a
' Ibid. ch. 202 ; and compare V. 49 and 52. nation. Stral»o observes (xv. ji. 1041) that
■* Ibid. iii. 92, and vii. 68. C'arda meant τι» avSpoiiSes καϊ ■πυ\(μικόΐ'.
* Ibid. iii. 92. ® Ibid. vii. 68. ^ This identilicatiun rests chietly on the
' Anab. IV. i. 8, &n. similarity of sound. It receives some sui)])ort
* Strab. xi. 762 ; xvi. pp. 1038, 1060, &c. from the occurrence of Cardaces in the mixed
* Kxped. Alex. iii. 7 and 17. army of Antiochus (Polyb. v. 79), where we
1 H. N. vi. 15 and 27. seem to have a right to look for Kurds.
- Strabo (xvi. p. lOiiO) identifies the Car- ■• The Κύρτιοι are mentioned by Stralx)
duchi and fiordia.'i with sutHcient clearness, only, I believe. He spe;iks of them as scat-
even according to the reading of the MSS. tered about Zagros and Niphat«s, and parti-
1 have no doubt, however, that he wrote, cularly as dwelling both in northern Media
Tiphs δί τφ Τίγρίΐ τα των Γ ο ρ5 υ αΐ ω ν (xi. ρ. 7(>1) and in Persia Proper (ibid., and
χωρία, otis ol πάΚαι Καρ^υνχονί f\fyuv, compare xv. p. IOjI).
Essay IX. ARABIA. 475
Luristan 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 neighboui-hood of Sevt and
Bitlis (in long. 42°) to the vicinity of Eowanduz (in long. 44° 50').*
Sometimes, however, we find, instead of this country, that Gordyene
or Gordia^a is regarded as the mountain-chain north of Mesopotamia,
which Strabo calls M(junt Masius,'' and which lies directly south of
tlie Tigris where it runs east between Diaibekr 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 pei'haps 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/an mountains, from
long. 49° to 51°, is pretty plainly indicated by Strabo' and Arrian."
II. 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, S^'ria, and Phoenicia. A brief notice of these well-known
tracts Avill 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.'* Othei's, 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 \'icinity
of Aleppo, extend Arabia northwards to the 37th 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 Arriau's Gordyan (Exped. Alex. iii. 7), and Ionia.
of Pliny's Cordueni, who bonier on Adiabene ^ Strabo places the sources of both the
(H. N. vi. 15). It is also the Gordyene of Clioaspes ami the Pcwitigris in the country of
Ptolemy (\•. 13). Whether Strabo intends the Uxians (xi. pp. 1032 and 1034). He
to place any (iordia;ans on the letl bank of also makes the Uxians border on the Ely-
the Tigris is perhaps doubtful. He /«κ^ mean m;eans (p. 1038).
to do so in book xvi. p. 1059-10(30. - See the Exped. Alex. iii. 17, and compare
^ Strab. xi. p. 750, and p. 76(3. the (ieograph. Journ. vol. xiii. pp. 108-112.
"^ This is certainly Strabo's ordmary view. ^ Chesuey, vol. ii. p. 44-8.
See xi. pp. 759 and 7(39 ; xvi. p. 1046, &c. * As the elder Niebuiir. See his " Descrip-
* See Strab. xi. p. 761, xv. p. 1031, and tiou 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.
(ieograph. Journ. vol. ix. part i. pp. 105 and
476 DIVISIONS OF ΛΓνΑΒΙΛ. Arr. Book L
desert coimtry,^ and came at least as low as Tliapsacns {FA-Hammarri)
on the Euphrates/ Ancient Arabia therefore may best be regarded
as an irregular rectangle," Avith the angles facing the cardinal points,
bonnded on the soutll-Λvcst by the Ked Sea, on the .south-east by the
Indian Ocean, on the north-east by that ocean, by the I'ersian Gulf,
and by the valley of the Kuythrates as far as Thapsacus," and on the
north-west hyaline draA\Tifrom the inmost recess of the Gulf of Suez
past the southern shores of the Dead Sea,* and thence by Bozrah
(Boatra) and Palm^Ta to the Euphrates in the vicinity of El-Hamtnam.
Its length from north-west to south-east is about 1500 miles ; its
gi-eatest breadth, which is along the shores of the Indian Ocean from
Gape Babelmandel to the lias-el- Hadd, exceeds 1200 miles.
The formal division of Arabia into three i-egions — the Happy, the
Stony, aud the Desert — which has descended to us from the later
Gi'ceks and Romans, is first found in J'tulemy."^ 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,'* i'liny,* and Mela f 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 beloΛv a line drawn from Bubian to Ahabah.
" 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 la}' above Arabia
Felix to the east ; it was the tract which bordered the Mesopotamian
valley from Thapsacus downwards, and which extended westAvard to
Palmyrene and Arabia Petrasa.* The teiius Petraja 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 I'lin. H. N. v. 24,25 ; Ptolem. v. 15 ; siana. (See Sir H. Rawlin.son's Commentory
Sf('iili. Byz. ad voc. Πάλμυρα, &c. on the Assyrian Inscriptions, p. 61, note ^.)
'' Xeii. Anab. i. 4; Tht'oiiomp. Fr. 53; ' Accordint; to Heioilotiis (iii. 5), Arabia
riin. H. N. V. 24 ; Ptolem. v. 15. in this part touclied the Mediterranean for a
•* The most violent irregularity is the le- short distance, but herein he diliers i'rora
markable projection at the mouth of the Per- most other writers. Pliny seems to agree
sian Gulf, separating between it and the In- with liim (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, ^ Ap. Strab. xvi. pp. 1089 and 1091.
the projection in question forming the animal's ■* Strab. xvi. pp. 1U88-9.
head. Putting this aside, it must also be noted ^ H. N. v. 11, 24, ad tin.; vi. 28.
that the breadth of Arabia gradually contracts ^ De Sit. Orb. i. 10.
towards tlie north, thedistiince from tlie Ked '' Geograph. ii. 6.
Se^i to the Persian Gulf below Buhrcin being ^ Compare § 83, 85, and 80.
800 miles, wliile the distance from Suez to ^ These are the views of Ptolemy, who
Tliapsacus is less than GOO miles. alone draws the limits with any attempt at
" Xenophon, as lias been alreiidy remarked exactness.
(sxij)ra, p. 471), extends Arabia across tlie ' Herodotus included Cappadocia in Syria,
Euphrates (Anab. I. v. § 1), and Strabo no- thus extending it to tin• Kuxine (i. Ο, 72, &e.).
tices the fact that Arabians occupied a por- Xenophon, if the reading in Anab. I. iv. § 19
lion of Mesojiotamia (xvi. pp. lOGU-1). They be correct, regardcnl it as stretching across the
sometimes even extended themselves into Su- Euphrates. Strabo (xvi. p. 1003), Pliny (H.
Essay IX. PALESTINE. 477
Euphrates from the place where it breaks through jVIount Taurus
to Thapsacus, and extending thence in a direction a little vcest of
south to the borders of Egypt. It is bounded on the north and
north-Avest by part of Taurus and by Amanus (Alma Ta^/i and Jawur
Tagh), on the west by the Mediterranean and Phoenicia,'^ on the south
by Arabia Petriea, 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 Eiver of Egypt ( ]Vadi/-el-Arish)
is somewhat more than 400 miles ; the breadth A^aries 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 (Jommagene,
a name found under the fonn of Qummakh 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 betAveen the Gulf of Issus and the Euphrates ; it was some-
times reckoned to Seleucis,® which may be regarded as the whole
country between Commagene and Coele-Syria, extending from about
Aia-Tnh, in lat. ο 7°, nearl}^ to the sources of the Orontes in lat. 34°.
In Seleucis were included, besides Cynhistica, 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. ΒοΙοΛν Seleucis Avas the country called
Ccele-Syria, which was propeily the valley of the Litany, or the
hollow (κ•οιλία), between Libanus and Anti-Libanus,' but Avhieh 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 Phomicia in Coele-Syria, Juda-a, and Phceuicia (1. s. c).
Syria. Pliny (1. s. c.) intlines to do the same, Pliny includes Cyrrhistica in Cuele-Syria.
but notes that some (qui snbtilins dividunt) Ptolemy makes it separate from both,
made them distinct countries. Herodotus ' Chalybon is probably the Helbon of Scrip-
(iii. 5), Scylax (Peripl. p. 98), Mela (i. 11- ture. so famous for its excellent wine. (Coui-
12), and Ptolemy, regard them as separate. pare Ezek. xxvii. 18, with Strab. xv. p. 1043,
•* Col. Chesney gives the area ;is 53,762| and Athen. i. 22.)
square geo;pr(phical miles, or more than * Hamath (the modern Ifcimnh) Λvas the
60,000 square statute miles, but his e-stmiate capital of a considerable kingdom in northern
includes the island of Cyprus and Phuenicia. Syria from the time of David to that of Sen-
(See Euphrat. E.xped. vol. i. p. o84.) nacherib (2 Sam. viii. 9 ; 2 Kings xix. 1'Λ,
* The Qumiiiukh of the inscriptions does &c.). It is frequently mentionei,! in the Assy-
not, hovveλ"er, answer in position to Comma- rian inscriptions of this period. (See Sir H.
geno. It consists rather of the southern skirts Riwlinson's Commentai y, pp. 35, 39,40, &c.)
of Taurus, from the Euphrates at SwiicLiat * Cf. Strab. ΧΛ'ί. p. 1075. Κοίλησυρία
to the Tigris at Diarbekr. — [H.C.R.] καλεΓται iSiais ή τψ Αιβάνφ κάΙ Άί'τιλι-
* Strab, .xvi. p. 1003 ; Ptol. ν, 15; Pliu. βάνψ άψωρισμένη.
478 PHCENICIA. Αγρ. Book 1/
made to include also the valley of the Chrysorrhoas (Barada) east of
Anti-Lihamis, and the country abont Damascus,' one of the richest
regions of Asia.^ South of (^oele-Syria lay Palestine, extending from
the sources of Jordan and jNIount ITennon on the north to the Kiver
of Egypt ( Wadiz-el-Arish') on the south, and containing the well known
provinces of Galilee, Samaria, Judasa, and Iduma3a, west of the Jordan
valley, Ituraja and I'eraea, 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-Ledjaj3ina Jebel-
Jiamrtn 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, 1 90 miles in length from north
to south, and ne\^er so much as 20 miles, sometimes little moi'e 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 comities — 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 Bargylus (^Jehd-Nosairi), 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
• Strab.xvi. pp.1074,1075; Ptolem.v.15. Ahind or the Eas-en-Nahhora (Sinai and
2 See Chesnoy's Euphrat. Exped. λ•ο1. i. Palestine, p. 262). I have deferred to the
p. 527. autliorities of Pliny and Ptolemy.
^ For a full account of these countries the ^ Scyliix, Peripl. p. 99. ίνιαχη 5e οϋδβ
reader is referred to the excellent woik of k-rn ffTaSiovs ί rh ττλάτοϊ.
Proftssor Stanley (" Sinai and Palestine in '■ It is perhaps not a mere fancy to connect
connexion Λvith their History " London, Mur- ^j^^ ^^.^^^ n4\ayos with the Hebrew i^Q
riiy, lS.5t;), which is a model of descriptive
m.Qgraphy. pcleg, "separation." (See Scott and Liddell's
* The limits of Phcenicia are not very Lexicon, άΛ voc. πί'λογοϊ.) At any rate,
clearly marked either to the north or to the whether the etymolouy holds or no, the fact
south. Scylax (Peripl. p. 98) makes Phoe- remains that the sea in early times was not,
nicia the entire se;iboard of Syria. Strabo a-s now, the uniter, but the di;-ider of nations,
regards it as commencing at Habala {Jeliili), Mr. Stanley rightly observes (Palestine, p.
a little south of Laodicea {Ladikii/ch), and n:i), " When Israel first settled in Palestine,
extending to Pelusium (xvi. p. 1070, and p. the Mediterranean was not yet the thorough-
1π7δ). Pliny (H. N. v. 19 and '-'O) makes fare — it was rather the boundary and the
it beo-in with Aradus (Euad), and end a little terror of the eastern nations."
below Mount Carmitl. Ptolemy (v. 15) ' The tide of invjision would almost always,
atrrees as to the southern limit, but makes as a matter of course, How along the con-
tiie northern the river Eleutherus {Nahr-el- nected valleys of the Orontes and Litany. On
Kehir lat. 1)4° 42'), which Strabo says was the right of the.se valleys the chains of A'osniVi
often considered as the boundary (p. 1071). and Lilman (Lebanon) rise abru))tly to a
Mr. Stanley, regarding Aco or Ekron (now height varying from 1000 to 7000 teet. (See
^Uy; or ^cre) aspioperly uPhilistian town, Chesneys Euphrat. Exped. vol. i. pp.387,
makes Phanicia terminate at tlie Eiw-cl- 388.)
Essay IX. TOWNS OF ΓΗΟΕΝΙΟΙΑ. " 479
early date, whose influence upon the world's history was little pro-
portioned to the restricted limits of their territoiial 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 \\'est (^Ereh or Europe)
beyond themselves, to which they were Cadmonim or Cadmeians,
that is, Easterns.' Here western commerce and navigation began,.
and hen(;e 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 countries of
Ach^a, 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 Akzib), Tyre, Sarepta, Sidon, Berytus (now Beyrooi)
Byblus (the Hebrew GebaL and Assyrian Gubal, now Jebeil), Tripolis,
and Aradus (Assyrian and Hebrew Arvad, now Ruad). Of these
Tyre and Aradus originally occupied islands : the others lay close
upon the shore. Sidon, Tyre, Byblus, and Aradus, which succeeded
to the still earlier ]\larathus,' Λvere 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
{Jebili) to the river Eleutherus ;■* that of the other towns cannot be
fixed with exactness.
1 2. 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. Rawlinson's note on Essay vi. rally " before," and thence " the east.
§ 5. — H. C. R.]
8 Vide infra, Book ii. ch. 44, note. ^ Perhaps the native name was Mahal-
1 Marathus — πόXLs αρχαία Φοινίκων ac- liba ; at least this town appears among the
cording to Strabo — mny be regarded asairlier Phccnician cities both in the annals of Sarda-
than Aradus, 1. 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) , o. Yet no trace of such a name is found in classic
from its absorption into Ar.ulus (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 Ε7ΓίΤίίχισ/ιί)ϊ by Steph. Byz. ad voc. TpiVoAis. Scylax says
an unfriendly power. \_M<irtu (or Marathus) that Tripolis was really three 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 countiy. 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. Iu70, 1071.
in the Semitic languages Kidem signified lite-
480 BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION. App. Book L
ESSAY X.
ON THE KELIGIOX OF THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYPJANS.— [H. C. R.]
1. General cluu-acter of the Mythology. 2. Babylonian and Assyrian Pantheons
not identical. 3. Thirteen chief deities, (i.) Asshur, the supreme God of
Assyria — the Asshiir 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 vvith him. (id.) Bt'l-Ximrod (?), second God of the Triad
— his wife, Mylitta or Beltis — his right to tlie name of Nimrod — his titles,
temples, &c. (iv.) Hen, third God of the Triad — his correspondence with
Neptune — his titles — extent of his worship, (v.) i?i7ia (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.)
S/iamas or San, the Sun-God — his titles — antiquity of his worship in
Babylonia — associated with Gnla, 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. ) Ntnip orA'iii, his various
titles and emblems — his stellar character doubtful — the Man-Bull his
emblem — his name of Bar or Bar-s/wm — Nin, the Assyrian Hercules —
his temples — his relationship to Bel-Nimrod — Beltis both his mother and his
wife — his names Burzil and Sanda. (x.) Bcl-Merodach — his worship ori-
ginally Babylonian — his temple in Babylon called that of Jupiter Belus —
his wife, Zirhanit or Succoth-Benoth. (xi.) A'cn/id — his titles — his con-
nexion with Nin — his special worship at Cutha — his symbol, the Man-Lion
— his temples, &c. (xii.) Islitar 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 — Allata, Bd-Zirpa, &c. 5.
Vast numbers of local deities.
1. Tin•: ancient religion of Babylonia and Assyria — whatever may
have been its esoteric character — bore the appearance outwardly
of a ver}• gross polytheism. We may infer from the statements of
Berosii.s, that it did involve in its origin ideas sufficiently recondite
with respect to the cosmogony and the generative fimctions of
nature,' and we further know, that many of the most celebrated
sages of Greece, such as Thales, Pythagoras, and Democritus,
borroAved 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 fi'om the later Semitic dialect of Assyria — which might
enable us to verify tin; high pretensions of the Chaldasans iu regard
to natund religion, from modem materials.*
' See the acnMint of the Baliylonian cos- doubt confaiin all that we could desire to
niojrony, given Ijy I'olyliistor from Bcrosus, know with regard to the niacliineiy of the
and quoted hy Eu.sebius ; SyucoUus, p. 23 ; Babylonian religion, and probably also treat
an<l Aufher's Eusebius, vol. i. p. 22, sqq. to some extent of its mysteries. Thcs*; tablets,
^ The reference is to the mythological clay ΙιοΛνονβΓ, are comjMjseil• in Baliylonian, which
tablets found in the royal lil)rary at Nineveh, was the sacred and literary language, and in
and now dqKisiteJ in the Biifish Museum, veiy few instimces are furnislied even with a
whiili are in great nuintjers, and which no gloss or explanation in As.syrian, su that,
Essay Χ. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE MYTHOLOGY. 481
Of all the branches indeed of cuneiform inquiry, an explaualion
of the Babj'lonian mythology is undoubtedly the most difficult, 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 which he is indifteiently designated, and being fun her 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 difi'erent temples of the
chief cities of Assyria and Babylonia, the student is bewildered by
an endless A^ariety of names, which, if they really indicated difterent
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 lestricted 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 Eoine. The
same general grouping is to be recognised ; the same genealogical
succession is not unfrequently to be ti-aced ; 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 pnobable
that among the primitive tribes who dwelt on the Tigris and
Euphrates when the cuneiform alphabet uas invented, by reducing
pictures to phonetic signs, and Avhen such writing was first applied
to the purposes of religion, a Scythic, or Scytho-Aiian 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 Assyria 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 acco\uit. The Assyrian sources ^ Among such objects may be enumerated
of infoimation, again, which consist of invo- the system of notation, divisions of time, the
cations to the whole Pantheon, or to parti- planets and stars, animals, met<ds, colours,
cular gods, prefixed to historical records, or &c. &c.
inscril)ed upon the mystic figures of the gods '' It is hardly safe, perhaps, from our
themselves, are for the most pait restricted present cuueifojm materials, to draw any
to a long catalogue of obscuie epithets and general conclusions witli icgard to ρr.mltiΛ•e
VOL. I. i 1
482 THE SUPEEME GOD, ASSHUE. Arr. Book I.
2. The ranthecms of Babylon and Nineveh ought in strictness to
be considered separately, for in man}' 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 onr knoAvledge,
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 Avhich they occupy in their respective
systems.
It is quite clear that the mythology originated in Babylonia, and
at a time Avhcn several distinct languages were spoken by the
])eople using the cuneiform character ; for the Museum tablets A^ery
often exhibit the names of the gods in tluee parallel columns, all
Λvritten in the primitive Scythic of Babylonia, and Avithout any
attempt to give the Semitic equivalents of Assyria expressed
phonetically. It is indeed of extreme rarity to find any jilumetic
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 ideogi'aphs, or monograms,*
applied to such terms their own vernacidar Semitic equivalents ;
but it is only inferentialh', for the most part, that we can detei mine
how these equivalents were pronoimced.
In most, but not all, of the invocations which preface the his-
torical insci-iptions 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 l^abylonia by a distinct deity
J I or lia ; 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 Λνίκι was wife of
Jupiter and mother of the gods. The next group is that which
Bevostis describes as άστρα (.οί ijXwt' καΐ σεληνην, but which more
strictly answers to ^ΈίΙιβΓ, the sun and the moon, and the remaining
five deities must be the τους πέντε πλάΐ'ητας 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 moie projieily apper-
tains to the second deity of the governing triad. His special
etlinolngy ; yet it is impossible to ,ιλ•οΪ(1 re- that tlie PelM^gians must have belonged to
inrukiiig, in regard to Greek and lionian the Assyrian family, and the Etruscjuis to
mytiiology, that, in addition to the Arian tiie Babyloniiin.
clement which forms the basis of both systems, * The only cuneiform signs in the mytho-
tliere is a prevailing Semitic character in the logical voaibiilary, which are at all deserving
one, and a Scythic character in the other, of the name of ideograplis or monograms, are
Tims, in Greek mythology, the following tlie abbreviations, where tiie initial character
names are of un<i(uibted Semitic origin, stands for the entire word; as in As for
Κρ(!ίΌϊ, "Έρί/βοϊ, Κυβ-ηΚη, Κάβ(ΐροι, Κάδ- As-shor, San for San-si, Pa for I'ahu, &c. ;
/Ltoy, &c. ; wliilst in Latin tlie names of and even in tliese cases we c^innot be sure but
.Saturn, Dis, Vulcan. &c., may he suspected that tlie monosyllable was the primitive term,
to be Si-ythic. If this distinction, then, be and the full name a later comjiound.
admitte 1, tiie inference would seem to be, ^ See Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 2G.
Essay Χ. HIS WORSHIP CONFINED TO ASSYrjA. 483
attributes are those of sovereignty and power : he is thus called
" the giver of the sceptre and crown," " he who establishes empire,"
" be 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 np for the purpose of explaining
the Babylonian mythology to the Assyrians, he is never mentioned,
and we are thus unable to determine his sj-nonyms. 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 Klii (?), which in the lists is attributed
to Arui. It is not easy to determine the period of the introduction
into Assyria of the worship of Asahur under that name ; foi' although
the kings of Ur, Ismi-dagon and Shamas- \'ul, who founded a temple
on the Upper Tigris in the 19th centur}^ B.C., are stated in the
inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser I. to have been followers of Asshur ;
yet on the bricks οι Shamas- \'ul, which are still found in the ruins
of Juleh-Sherghdt, the deity whom he honouied is entitled Ashit,
which there is good reason to believe was the primitive C'haldsean
form of the name." It is further remarkable that, with the excep-
tion of this temple at Kileh-Sherghat , 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 patron deity of
the nation, he also imposed his name on the capital city of Asshur
(modern /{ileh-Sherghaf) which was the seat of empire appai'entlj
befwre the building of Kineveh : 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 iduls that have been hitherto examined, nor
is Bit- Asshur mentioned amongst the temples either of ISineveh or
of Calah {Nimrud). The Assyrian kings, however, from the earliest
limes evidently regarded Asshur as their special tutelary divinity.
They constantly \ised his name as an element in their own titles ;
they invoked him on all occasions which referred 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 Λvhich 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 ϊηΛΌί-<ιΜοη of Sardanapalus, Hamite names, of which the later Semitic
tOmmencing his annals. 2. The invocation equivalents are alone given in the Hebrew,
of his son Siialinanubw on the Black Obelisk, uses Astun for Asshur, the termination in vn
3. Sargon's dalic<ition of the four gates of being in all probability the Araliic participial
his city to eight of the principal gods. 4. nominative. The sub.stitution of Astun for
An invocation on a tablet of Asshur-hani- Asshur may perhaps, however, be more im-
pal's ; and, 5. The mythological clay tablets mediately compaied with the Pehlevi forms
generally. For Babylonian materials the of Mituii for Mihr or Mithra. Ati'in for
various Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar, Ne- Adar or At/iro, '• nre," shatiin for sluthar,
rigliisar and ^Jaboaidus have all been con- " a city " &c., where the η everywhere takes
suited. the plt.ce of /•.
2 I 2
484
MALE AND FEMALE DEITIES.
A pp. Book I.
liis name Avas almost mikuown beyond the limits of Assyria Proper.
In Aimenia his place was taken by a national divinity named
Λ7ίαΜ( whence, perhaps, the people were confounded by the Greeks
Avith the Kaldees of the South, though the cuneiform names are
entirely distinct)," while in Babylonia the first place is generally
given to 11 or lia, who was possibly of Egyptian origin, and who
Avas 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 sec(jnd 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 Π. offered
sacrifices after his conqiiest 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
8hinar and founded the Assyrian empire. The pagan Greeks were
acquainted with the same tradition, and thus derive the name of
Assyria, ίπτυ Άσοΰρυν, τοΰ ΣΖ/αου,' and in later ages we have also that
\'aluable notice of Damascius on the Babylonian mythology, where
he speaks of the primiBval pair Άσσωρος and Μισσαρή,* and of the
" The Triad invokiul in all the Armenian
inscriptions ;vre Khaldi, the Sun, and .Ether:
and when Sargon boiusis of having carried oft'
the Armenian gods as trophies from the great
city Mukhatsir, the same deity is mentioned.
"Αλδοϊ, according t« the Etymologicum Mag-
num, was an epithet of the Jupiter wor-
shipped at Gaza (called by St. Jerome and
others Afarncis, " the lord of men ") ; but
that term is probably Semitic, while we
must look for Armenian etymologies in the
jirimitive Stythic of Babylonia, the name of
Akkad, which denotes Northern Babylonia,
being sometimes applied in the inscriptions to
Ararat or Armenia. TliLs ethnic connexion,
which is also to a cert;iin extent to be traced
ill the language, would suggest a more direct
explanation for the double use of the term
(Jhaldee ; but the Chaldees of the Soiitii were
certainly Semites, while those to tiie Nortli
were to all appearance Scytlis, or at any rate
Scytho-Arians. The early Syrian fathers
seem to have applied the name Chalda;an to
the Yezidi heretics (as-oeiating them, :ls they
do, with the Marcionites and Manicha^ans) ;
and the same people are calleil A'asdim by
the Mesopotamian Jews to the present day.
If this be the case, however, the name has
again shifted in modern times, for Kuldaiii
is now adopted liy the whole Nestorian race
as their proper national title, while the
(!hurch restricts the name to Nestorian con-
Λ'f-l■ts to Catholicism. [The Armenian Kluildi
i.s now found to correspond, not to Asshur,
but to Sin, the Moon-God, See above, Essay
VL, p. 367, note ».— H. C. R. 1861.]
1 This god is more pai-ticularly known as
the deity from which Babylon derived its
name. Bnb-il, a.s the cuneiform name is
written, signifies " the gate of //," and is the
Semitic translation of a Hamite term, A'a-ra,
which must have been the original title of
the place. The name was ])robably given iu
allusion to the first establisliment 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. Ka suggests
an Egyptian origin altho'igh there is no evi-
dence that the Babylonian god W'as iu any way
connected with "the sun." On the contrary,
we may infer from the voaibularies, where
Ιί<ι is translated liy [I, and joined with sur,
'• a king," that it simply meant " a god," or
rather perhaps '-the god" κατ' ίξόχήν.
Sanchoniathon says tliaflAoy was the same
as Kp6vos ; but in all the Semitic languages
the term has been ever used for " a god "
generally.
- The name is otherwise written Shcruya ;
but the goddess thus entitled, although in-
clu(le<l in the general lists, does not api^eiir of
that rank which should entitle her, as the
wit'e of Ass/ii/r, to Ije placed at the head of
the Pantheon.
•' S(ie Etymologicum Magnum, in voc.
Άσσυρία.
* .l/iss«/v; (or Κκτσαρτ], a.s the name is
written in some MSS.) may very well be a
Essay Χ. ASSHUR'S EMBLEM THE \V1NGED CIRCLE. 485
triad springing from them 'Aror, "LWhoc, and Άύς, who haΛ'e their
respective representatiA^es in the inscriptions.
At an early period of cuneiform in<pTiry it was conjectured that
the Nisroch of Scripture, whose name is written Άσοράχ 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 Asahur had no temple at
Nineveh in λυΙιΙοΙι Sennacherib could have been worj-ihipping when
he was slain by his rebellious sons. Nisroch, whom the Talmudists
identify with Saturn, is still shrouded in obscurity ;^ but it may be
permitted to conjecture that since the god Asshur^ in company Avith
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 hoA^ering
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 t(j have resiimed its old title of
Χαλάσαρ : ' 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 ηοΛν consider the triad which in the Assyrian lists
usually follows Asshur, and in Babjdonian mythology heads the
Pantheon, or is only preceded by Ra or II.
(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 universal employment in Assyrian and Baby-
signifying: merely *• the queen." See Cory's Ionian geography, had the true Semitic pro-
Iragments, p. 318. nunciation of Kar ; but it would seem almost
^ This (or according to some MSS. Νασα- certam that this word must have been cor-
ραχ) is the orthography used in Is. xxxvii. rupted very early to Kal or Khal. from the
.S8. In 2 Kings xix. '.VI the name is written constant occurrence of that prefix in the
by the LXX. as Μεσοράχ. Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic correspondents of
* See Selden, De Diis Syris, p. 32.". The the old Babylonian names. Thus we have
only cuneiform title at all resembling Nisroch Χα\-άσαρ or " the fort of Asi:httr ;" Χολ-
is one which applies to Nebo, and signifies άι/νη, the Septuagint name for Calneh ;
'■king of the soul," reading * * * ruk/ii ; ,^^Λ^ Khal-Nevo, a famous Babylonian
but it is very doubtful if Nis was ever used >
ibr '• king " (though the sign which indicates temi)le mentioned in the Talmud ; 1Ό7'Ζ,
'• a king" has that power); and it is still Chilmad of Scripture, or xiLXT Kalwad-
more doubtful if Nebo had any temple at j ,,</•./• .u λ τιγ- j j^ ■ ; " i
... , , ,, , i-iM «-• ι • » /ic'/i, " fort of the god Wad ov Mad; also
Nmeveh. In all probability Λ isracw is not a "
genuine reading. Χαλταπητίϊ of Susiana; ,1^λ2»> -/^a^wa/i;
■ 7 Hudson's Geographi Minores, vol. ii. ^ud numerous other geographical titles, com-
!'■ „■ , , . ^ , . , • ^, pounded of the prefix of locality and one of
« The locative prefix which occurs in the [,^^ ^j^ ^^^^ ^^\^^ Babylonian eock.
cuneiform name, and which is oi almost
4S6 THE GOVERXIXG TRIAD. An•. Book T.
clearly defined, nor can the greater part of his titles be explained
except conjecturally. One class of epithets refers undoubtedly tt>
'•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 Πλοΰ-ων, " the
layer up of treasures " and " the Lord of the earth " or " mountains "
(from whence the precious metals w^ere extracted). A very exten-
sive class of synonj'ms, however, extending to about twenty names,
which are found on the tablets, are quite unintelligible except on
the supposition that they refer to the infernal regions. Theie seem
to be such titles as " King of the loΛver 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 Ami (or Ann) in the
nominative, Ani 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," κατ ί'ξοχηρ, and was no
doubt in use among the primitive Babylonians from the Λ-ery earliest
times. There is further a very singular link of connexion, in regard
to this god, between Babylonian and classical mythology. It is
well known that numbers among the early Chaldeans were supposed
to be invested with mystic poweis ; and in this view probably the
system of notation was brought into immediate contact Avith the
Pantheon, the 6 integers in the cycle of GO being referred to the
two triads of the Pantheon.' The first triad is thus represented by
GO, 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 BabA'lonian 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
nime of the god. Further, tlie second city of Babylonia — that
which is -mentioned in the Bible after Babel, or "the Gate of.//,"
anil which was especially dedicated to Ana, the god next to // in
the Babylonian mj'thology — was named ηΐΝ, 'Ορέχ in the Septu-
agint version, ΠΟ^ΙΙΝ I'nkut in the Talmud, and niudeni Warka or
Urka. This city Avas the great necropolis of Babylonia. λ\ hole
mountains of coffins are still to be found there, and it was emphati-
cally " a city of the dead." ^ Can the coincidence then be merely
'•• Traces of this name are probably to be in his paper on the Assyrian Mythology in
found in the ' PiVvi\dwros of lierosus, which the Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
appisirs to have been an epithet ai)plied to demy. vol. .vxiii. p. 405.
Cannes, signifying "given by Ami ;" and in 2 |>y \\^^, Greek geographers the city in
the Phoenician nymph ΆνωβρΙτ, whose question is named 'Ορχόη. For a desciip-
iiame means "beloved by Anu." tion of the ruins us tiiey exist at present, see
' The clay tiiblet which contains this Loftus' ChaldiLa and iiusiana, p. Iu2, et
curious a])plication of numbers to the Baby- sem.
loiiian gods, was iirst noticed by Dr. liincks
Essay Χ. ANU — GODS ASSOCIATED WITH HIM. 487
accidental between Dis^ the Lord of Urka, the city of the dead, and
Dis, the King of Orcus or Hades?
Whatever may be thotight 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
Bowarieh, 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 WarL•, 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
afterAvards repaired by Tiglath-Pileser I. in the 13th century B.C.,
was dedicated to Ana and his son Vul ; and it was jirobably on this
account that the city obtained the name of Τελάλη (Mound of A)iu),
equally with its national designation of Asshiir.^ Ann appears to
have been without any special temples either at Nineveh, or Calah,
or even at Babylon ; but Sai-gon, at Dur-Sargina, evidently had him
in gieat honour, and thus dedicated to him, in conjunction with
Astarte, the western gate of the city.''
Ana is usually found in ci injunction with the other two mem-
bers of the triad, precisely as Ave have Anus, Illinus, and A us
associated by Damascius ; but the name sometimes occurs in
union with another single god, where the connexion cannot be so
certainly explained. Thus Sardanapahis calls himself simply,
"he who honours Απη" or more frequently, "he who honours
Aau and Dagon ; " and the same association of the two names is
also found on the obelisk of Shamas- Vul. Who the god Dagon
is, hoAvever, 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 extremel}^ doubtful if the name
Dagon has anything to do with Π, "a fish," or with the Pha3-
nician Jin ; for in one passage of the inscriptions the pair are men-
tioned— Da-Gan for the male, and Da-Las for the female — as if both
the names Avere compounds ; and the explanation attached Avovild
seem to show that the titles appertained to the great gods Belus
and Beltis.
Sargon again, who appears to \\Ά\ϋ had Anu in esjiecial 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 list, however, there is a name
Assyria dwelt before the building of Nineveh, refening to the water-god in his character of
and can thus, it would seem, only answer to " the sentient fish," which reads Dmjqana-
Asshur. sisi, but has no connexion apjiarently with
■• It should be added that one of the piin- Da-Gan. The Phcenician Dagon indeed is
cipal metals, either " lead " or " tin," was translated by Sanchoniathon Si'twj', 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 L
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 Ami and Asturfe, though that goddess was cer-
tainly not his wife, nor was she in any way niythologically con-
nected Avith him. His wife is named in the lists Anafa 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, connnencing with ^argana, 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 tliese 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
Anil. Another god, who is well known in Assyrian and Babylonian
mythology as Martu, is also stated on many cjdinder-seals to be
the son of Aim. 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 Erih (original of"Ep£/3oc), which refers directly to " the
setting sun," and tropically both to "the Avest" and " darkness."
It may be added that the name Martu is further applied to
Phoenicia in cimeiform geography, as the extreme western point
with which the Babylonians were acquainted (compare Βραβν 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 compai-ed 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 caii be little
doubt that in his cliaracter and position he ansAvers 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. J η the only known proper names where Bel occurs
* Ereb signifies in Assyrian " setting," ain be no doubt, therefore, of its representing
that is " the west," and hent« '■ darkness." It a geographical name.
is a cognate teitn with Eiiropa, whi(;li 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 Hen ; on another tablet his title is
' It is thus translated in the \-0(abularies J/ii/iz-A' //«rri's, perhaps " the lord of arrhi-
by alihdrru, the Hebrew "1ΠΧ ; and the teeture." His wife is the lady of Tigcjanna.
latter name is applied in the inscriptions to Tiglath-Pileser I. erected a temple to him at
I'hfpnicia, " the western country," indif- Calah in conjunction with Bel- Vara {Kileli-
ferently with Martu. Skeriiliat Cylinder, col. ϋ, line 88); but the
* Brat/iH is joined in Sancliniiiatlum with name is not often met with in other historical
Cassius, Libanus, and Anti-Likuius, and there inscriptions.
Essay Χ. BEL-NIMROD, SECOND GOD OF THE TKIAD. 480
as an element {Nadiuta-Bil at Behistun, and Bil-shar-uzur for Bel-
shazzar), the god's name is written with the sign signifying Bil,
a lord, preceded by the determinative of divinity, II or An, hut icith-
out any adjunct. The same orthograiih}^ 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 actualh' 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 Άος
and ^ανκη, 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 Pnl, " a lord," and a qualificative adjunct, either
simple or compound, on which the whole mj^stery 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
Avith the sign of locality affixed, instead of the deteiminative of
divinity prefixed — is translated in Semitic by Nipur. It may tben
fairly be assumed that the gi-eat god in question was in Semitic
named Bilu-Nipru, and that the great goddess, the mother of the
gods, who is always associated Avith him as his wife, was entitled
Bilta-Niprut. Before pointing out the veiy 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 Euu, Euuta, and Mvl, MuJta. W ith
the latter are no doubt to be compared the ΙΜόλις of Kicolaus * and
the ΜύλίΓΓα of Herodotus^ and Hesychius ; ^ and the former term,
Ena or (with the antecedent determinative pronounced) Jl-enn, is
probably the original of the"I\\i)Oc of Damascius. Other Babylonian
names of the god, such as Bi C^yEli, Asinir, &c., are of less moment.
We will now consider the terms Nipru and NiprutJ" It is im-
possible to oveilook the similarity of these titles, especially the fe-
minine Niprut, to the Greek 'ϋεβρώΒ ; and the more Ave 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
1° As on the tablet so often quoted, which tha, " genetrix ;" but it is vei τ doubtful if
applies " numbers " to tlie gods of the P;m- the root lb\ common to all the other Se-
theon. mitic languages, was known to the Assyrian.
1 The ordinary Assyrian rendering of this At any rate Jhdta, as the teminine of Mul,
adjimct is Zir, which means " Supreme." — jg a far more satisfactory etymology.
i^*3\. 5 j(. must be understood that in no case.
2 See Miiller's Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. aie these titles, phonetiailly written, attached
p. 301, note 16. Miiller alters the reading to the names of Belus and Beltis. They are
to Μΰλίττο, very unnecessarily. merely assumed as the Semitic equivalents of
3 Herod, i. 131 and 199. the abbreviated Hamite adjuncts which qualify
" Hesychius in voc. writes ΜυΚηταν. It the terms " Lord " and " Lady " in these
has hitherto been customary to compare the names.
JVJylitta of Herodotus with the Syriac Mulid-
490 CONNEXION OF BABYLON WITH BEL-NIMROD. App. Book I.
connexion can be verified from natiA'^e 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-Xi'pru :^ and the inner and outer city, even as late
as the days of Nebuchadnezzar, were known as the Nimat Bilu-
Nipni and the Ingur JUIu-NipraJ 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 Kimrod'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-JMerodach.
But the most interesting evidence is to be found in relation to the
sister capital of Niff^r. This place, which had the same name as
the god, is called jVipur in iSemitic ciuieifurm. The 'Talmud calls
it Nuphei\ and identifies it with Calneh, one of NimiOd's capitals.*
Calno 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 refe-
rence to the tower, if anything is to be found in the inscriptions, it
can onl}^ be the notices of a most famous temple, Kharris-Nipra,
which was an object of intense veneration to the Assyrian kings ;
which Avas the especial dwelling-place of Bihi-Nipru,^ and which
seems moreover to have been in the city of Kifer, that city indeed
being especially dedicated to the god and goddess BUn-Nipru and
Biltd-Niprat, who respectively bore the titles of Lord of Nipra and
Lady of Nipra, 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 traditi(jn, certainly ante-Islamic, that NifierAvas
the original Babylon,"^ and (in allusion to the tower) that it was
* See Khors. Inserip. 151, 11, 4. The names* of many temples, in allusion to the
construction however in this passage is not workmanship or architecture of the huild-
quite clear, and cannot be im])licitly relieil on. ings. If iV'i/)/vi should be the true reading,
' These titles, which are probably of we can hardly doutit its conni>xion with
Hamite rather than Semitic origin, are first A'iprit and Nipw•, although tlie latter term.s
met with in an inscription of Esar-haddon. are Semitic, and the former to all a])pearance
It also appears from the mythological fciblets, 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 watch over it. however, may be re-ad Shatra or Kurrit,
" The tract quoted is the Ytniia, whi('li is equally as well ius Kipra. and there are geo-
of very respectable antifjuity, dating probably graphical arguments in favour of either of
from the 2nd century. those readings. The cuneiform word for " a
" The j)honetic reading of the second ele- horse " is written in jjrecisely the same way
ment 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
(«rtain. For its being the dwelling-place of tlie ])honetic reading is uncertain.
Bel- Nimrod, see Khors. Ins. i;}l, 19; and ' The name of iV'ywa is of double employ-
for general allusions to its wealth, its si)len- ment in c»nnexion with Bel-Nimrwl arid
dour, and its antiquity, compare Tigiath- I'eltis ; that is, as a country of which they
Pileser Cylinder, col. 1. 1. 26 ; Brit. Mus. were the patrons, and a.s the name of a
series, p. 70, 1. 23; (S'/tawiS- !'*</ Obelisk, tenqjle in which they dwelt, the temple of
col. 1, 1. ,32, &c. The second element may Ni/tnt lieing indeed to all appearance a dis-
maan " the left hand country," or that where tinct place from the temple of Klmrris-
Shem settled. It is the special geographical Nipra, alre;idy spoken of.
title t;iken by Bel-Nimrod anil Beltis on the " This is given on the authority of Ihn
bricks exciivated from their tfiuiples at ,<4/;/i6'/•- /v'a//»/, who was oni' of the oldest and most
hif ΆΤΐά νν'«/•/;α, but is otherwi.se unknown, trustworthy of the Arab traditionists.
Kharris (compare f "ΙΠ) is preli.\ed to the
Essay Χ. ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD NIMROD. 491
the scene of Nimiud'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 Nipnit than
" the hunter " and " huntress." The root napar, although un-
known in Hebrew, means in Syriac " to pursue," or "make flee ;"
and the word ipi^at, used in the vocabularies in reference to
" waters," with the sense apparently of '* swift-running," must
come from the neuter verb ajxir, 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 Aveapon of the chace) "'■ j)ursnes after'"
(or "hunts") "the people of Bilu-Nipru ;" and again speaks of
his ancestor, Asshur-dalia-il, as "the holder of the mace of power;
the pursuer after the people of Bila-Xipru." * Sargon also speaks of
" the 350 kings from remote antiquity, who ruled o\'er Assyria and
pursued after the people of JMlu-Nipru,'" the verb napar being used in
each passage, and the allusion apparently being to the original
Nipru, or isimrod, having proved his power as "a mighty hunter "
(of men) " before the Lord." As far as the actual chace of wild
animals was concerned, BUu-Nipru, in the Assyrian period, had
ceased to be regarded as its patron. He had abdicated his func-
tions in favour οι Nergal, with whom, as will be afterwards explained,
he was also, it would appear, ethnically confounded ; but his wife,
the great goddess, Bilta-Niprut, continued to the latest period to
preside over " the chace ;" and in her character of " Lady of the city
Nipur" where she was perhaps worshipped exclusively as " the great
huntress," was regarded as the wife of another god, Kin, λυΙιο 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 Kimrod, and not Nipru, and that the terras
are not orthographically convertible, so that, notAvithstanding the
series of extraordinary coincidences that have been noticed, we must
still remain in doubt if the Biblical isimrod 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) musteshir, " the director," is used for
where many other interesting notices ai-e vnltnnppiru, '■'■ ύ\& \)VLVsixer."
given of Nilibr from the early authors. '' There are, no doubt, inconsistencies in
* See Sherghat Cylinder, col. 1, 1. 32, and the employment of the cuneiform gi'oup 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 mak(! it most difficult to distinguish between
Cylinder, 1. 35. The use of the terms val- Bel-Nimrod and Bel-Merodach. Thus in the
taiippini and titan tpparu 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-Nimrod
ing passage of an inscription of Nebuchad- as a separate god is ignored, and the com-
uezzar (Sir T. Phillips's Cylinder, col. 1, pound group which represents the name is
492 HEA, THE THIRD GOD OF THE TRIAD. Aw. Book I.
the procreator," also, " the Lord, king of all 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 castem gate at Khor-
sabnd, 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 Ana, and some-
times with his son Ni)i.
His temples do not seem to have been A^ery numerous. He
had four arks or "tabernacles," but the only temple recoidcd as
belonging to him in Assyria was at Calah, and e\'en in Babylonia
we only know of the great shrine of Khanis-Nipra, supposed to have
been situated at Niifer, and of a smaller edifice raised to him at
Akkarkufhy the earl}^ king Durri-galazu.
Of his officers and relatives there are many incidental notes.
His throne-keepers were Bd-Nugi and t%ezir, and scores of other
unknown names are connected with him. Nin or Hercules was
Tindoubtedly his son, and Sin, " the moon," is also sometimes in-
cluded in the same categoiy. In fact, as the father of all the gods,
he might claim an almost infinite paternity.
His numerical s3-mbol was 50, the next integer to the Soss, which
denoted Ann, but the phonetic riddle involved probably in the
numeral has not been discovered, nor is there any sculptured figure
Avhich can be reasonably supposed to represent him.
(iv.) The ord god of the triad, who thus answers to Neptune or
Ποσειίώΐ', Avas jirobably named Hea or Hoa. His titles are numerous,
and his character is as clearly defined as we could desire. Although
corresponding with Keptune as the third member of the triad, and
in many resi)ects exercising the same functions, he Avas not, strictly
speaking, " the God of the Sea." That title is never found amongst
his epithets, but applies rather to Λΐιΐ, who unites to his maritime
sovereignty the somewhat incongruous attributes of Hercules and
Saturn. The two gods, indeed, Be'a and ΛΊη, although in reality
quite distinct, seem to have been identified by Berosus, and are to
a certain extent even confounded in the inscriptions. Ilea or Nca
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 Λ-arieties
as a mere epithet of Merodach's, and with of the group indicating Bcl-Ninirod. employed
the meaning of " a lord ;" whilst in the independently, as if they were distinc't 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, 1. 3) reads " he who guides or directs, of expression, was to the List degree lax and
the people of Bel-Nimrod, the Sun and Mero- Huctiiating.
dach," the two Bels being thus clearly dis- ^ The Babylonian term translated by " the
tinguished. Again, on all the small Baby- deep " or " the abyss " may be read Zap,
Ionian cylinders of the Achamenian j>criod which certainly recals to mind the epithet
j)ublished by Crotefend, in the names of the PjlD, applied in Scripture not only to the
witnesses, the gi'oup for Bel is invariably lied Sea, as is generally suppo.scd, but also to
used without the adjunct, in allusion appa- the ocean, and used likewise with the same
rent ly to Mcrodach, and with the .souml of universal application in the books of the Men-
Bilu ; but on the Warka tablets of the Se- daans ; but the phonetic equivalents of Zap
leucian period, the name of Werodach is dis- are stated in the vocabularies to be Ap~u or
Essay Χ. HIS STELLAR NAME, KIMMUT. 493
is called " the King, the Chief, the Lord, the Euler of the Abyss,"
also '' the King of Rivers," but never " the King of the Sea." 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 Oamies
of Berosus, although the Chaldean annalist would seem to have
borroAved the pictorial representation from the other god NiiiJ The
name of "Ω?;, 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 Hea or JJoa ; and there can be little doubt
but that Damascius, under the form of'Aoc, intends to represent
the same appellation. There are no means at present of determining
the precise meaning of the cuneiform Hea, which is Babylonian
rather than Assyrian, but it may reasonably be supjiosed to be
connected with the Arabic i^•*-*, 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 veiy stiong 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 Kimnmt,
which recalls to mind the n?D'*D 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 Kivmiut was the constellation Draco, and
that the god Hea 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 sj'nonyms indicating this god. The greater part of these
lelate either to " the abyss " or to knowledge ; but we also find Hea
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
Αρζύ, 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 fiom Helladius in Phot,
compared with the Hebrew DCX, " an estre- Biblioth. (cclxxis. p. 1 594). The description
mity," in allusion to the circumambient oeejiii; 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 {'α4<ρθυν ^ It would be most interesting to trace the
.... TTjs yris τα. ίσχατα καΐ παρόρια και connexion between this early adoration of the
χ^/αύοντα τη$ θαλάσσης, Plut. dc Is. et Osir., serpent, " the most subtle of the beasts of the
ii. p. 36(3); 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 i.s of Hamite oi igin.
404 EXTENT OF THE WOT^STlir OF HEA. App. Book I
layer-υρ of treasures," a character Avliicli properly belongs to Ann.,
'• loixl of the lower world ;" while at Khornabad, where the southern
gate is dedicated to him, in concert with liilat-lli, the ex]iression
relating to him is, " he who regulates the aqueducts," although
aqued'icts, 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, refeis to his relationship Avith
the other gods. Λ'ία or Hercules is well known, from Michaux's
stone and other sources, as the sou of Bel-Nimrod, and on the
S/iamas- ]'id obelisk, which is dedicated to him, this descent is again
distinctly stated ; but in all the invocations to the same god at
( 'alah, descent is claimed in a similarly constructed passage from
the star Almmut, as if the real father of Nin had been the lesser
Bel-Nimrod, rather than the greater one. The god Nebo, 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 Sei pent, the source of all knowledge, appears
to be only natural. It would seem, indeed, that both these gods,
Hea and Νώο, are indift'erentl}' symbolised by "the wedge" or
" arrow-head," the essential element of cuneiform Avriting, 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 //e'a'.s, from his position in the mythological
lists, is Bel-Merodach, the mother of this deity being named
Dav-Kina, and a remarkable A'erification being thus obtained of
tlie statement of Damascius, τοϋ Η Άοΰ κα\ Δ,αύκης vlur γειέσΒαι τον
Βζ/λο)'.'
'lliis god M'as very extensively worshipped. As his name is
found on a very ancient stone tablet from Ur {Mugheir), Avhieh in
those early times was probably the maritime emporium of the
I'orsian Gulf, he may be presumed to have had a shrine in that
city, aJid temples were also dedicated to him both at Asshnr ( Kileh-
She.rgh('it)i\\\(\ atCalah.* There is a remarkable phrase in an insci iption
of tSardanapalus on the great bulls in the British Museum, in which
the king himself takes the titles of Hea. He says, '' I am Sarda-
napalus, the intelligent priest, the sentient guide (or fish);^ the
' Dav-kina is constantly given on the tiib- of Babylon ; and tlu• use of Khal as a loiative
lets !is the wife of /Mr, and she has for piefix lias been already noticed (]>. 485,
tlie most part tiie same titles as her bus- note ').
band, with a mere distinction of gender. The •* The use of the same signs which rej)re-
naine probably signiiies " the first lady," or sent a fish, and which with that meaning
*' the chief lady," dav or dan being a Hamite would be pronounced in Assyrian as nun, as
name for "lady." titles of honour, is very remarkable, and can
■■' On several of the tablct.s it is stated that only be explained as a relic of the mythical
lira was the tutelar god of tlie city of A'/m/- tiadilions of Jf<'a and Cannes. The famous
/,/iii, but there is no clue to the identiliratidu title of ruljii ι'ιιιιμι (the 3D3"1 of .Scrijiture) is
of the site. The name, iiukvd, may simply one of thefe hybrid e)]ithets, and might per-
mean " the shrine of the fish," for the cunei- haps be translated "the Magian fish" (or
form character ibrmcil of the figure of a fish, " the fish who instructs in magic"), as well
and indicating that object, has the phonetic as "tlie chief priest." iJelden (I'e Diis Syris,
value of kha, which is thus shown to have \). 197) has collected avast number of Greek
signified "a tlsh " in the priiniti'.e language notices with regard to the sacred character of
Essay Χ. BELTIS, THE WIFE OF BEL-NIMROT). 495
senses of speaking, hearing, and imdeistanding, wliicli Ήία allotted
to the whole 40UU 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, hoΛveΛ'er, in his
more material capacity as " the patron of the deep." \\ hen Senna-
cherib, in his second expedition against the fugitive Meiodach-
Baladan brought doΛvn a flotilla of boats to the month of the Eu-
phrates and di'ove his enemy from the islands to seek shelter with
the king of Susiana. he ottered sacrifices for his \'ictory to Hea upon
the sea-shore, 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, otherAvise 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 Avas named after
the god in question is that famous one which contained the bitumen
pits near to Babylon. This city is termed "Ις by Herodotus,^ with
the Greek nominatiΛ'al ending. In Isidore it has the title of Άύ-
τΓολις, or Bea's cit}'. Later an adjunct alluding to the bitumen pits
Avas added to the proper name Hea, and we have thus ΊΕικάρα in
Btolemy ; Ihi da kiva (Nl^p'T^n'') in the Talmud, and Dacira alone
in the historians of Julian.* In its present form of Hit it nearly
I'etains the old name of the god, augmented Λviίh the feminine end-
ing of locality.
(v.) With the preceding triad mtist be joined the stipreme 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 I'antheon as they occur in the inscriptions,
owing to the ver}^ 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 Euufa in
Babylonia, and Bilta ov Bilta-Nipruta in Semitic Assyrian. In MaUta
and Bilta we have of course the Μύλι-τα and ν>ηλτις or B»/\-5i/s• of
the Greeks,'^ the signification of bothΛvords being simply " the lad}' "
or " queen," κατ (ίοχην. The special feature of her name, how-
ever, that which distinguishes her from the other "ladies" and
" queens " of the Pantheon, is the qualifieative adjunct which has
already been discussed under the head of Bel-Kimrod. Her ordi-
nary titles are " wife of Bel-Kimrod" 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 Alpur," she also
appears as the wife of Λ'ί,ι, 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 \'eiy strikingly ^ See note * on Book i. ch. 1 79.
illustrated from the inscriptions ; but it is a * According to Hesychius, Βηλθ-ηί was
mere w;iste of ingenuity to seek to connect either Juno or Venus. In another jiassa^e,
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 "Αδα, which has not yet been
Adir Duija. recognisc<i in the inscriptions.
496 EXTENT OF THE WOKSIIIP OF BELTIS. Δγρ. Cook I.
Dea Syria v-'ho was worshipped at Tlicrapolis, and tlie Syriac name
of that city, '' JJahog," is a simple Persian transhition of her favour-
ite epitliet, "mother of the gods." The great diflicuUy in the in-
scriptions is to distinguish her from Jshtar 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 Boxoarieh, at Warka, for the most part bear her superscription,
although the temple to which they belong was especially called Bif-
A)ia, or " the House of Ann," 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-
Aiia" 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 \vith 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 Koyu'.ijik ; and she thus, both in name and character, niay
be compared to the Αιμιητηρ of the Greeks. She had temples botJi
at Ur (iVlugheir) and in the city now marked by the ruins of Zerghul ;^
and of the great capital of Nipur {Niffer), named after her husband,
she was the especial patroness, though, as " the lady of Nipur,'" she
is every where spoken of as the wife of NinJ' In Assyi'ia she was
equally well known as in Babylonia ; but it is less easy to distinguish
her. In the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser, where her temjile is
noticed at Asshur (^Sherghat), she is named the wife of the god Asshur,
in allusion prohal)ly to her })lace at the head of the l^antheon. It is
again impossible to distinguish wheiher the gieat temple at Nimnul
(Calah), fi'om which was l)rought the ojien-mouthed lion now in the
British Museum, belonged to her or to Islitar ; for although the
name on the lion, and which is repeated in reference to the same
temple in other inscriptions of Sardanapalus, ]-epresents Beltis or
Mylitta, being simply " queen of the land," ' still the epithets, " the
* The legend on the bricks of rsmidaqon, of Nipur," was in reality Beltis, and not an
from the raoimd south of the big ruin at independent di\'iuity, is jiroved not merely hj
J/w/AeiV, terminates with an address to Beltis, the name of the place, but by an inseription
as if she was the presiding deity of the place, on a black stone among the ruins of NiHier,
though her temple is not specitically named, which contains an invocation to Beltis, the
The s;ime evidence of her local worship is name of the goddess being given iu its most
afforded by the legends on the bricks and day ordinaiy and certain form.
cOnes of Zeighui; and in addition to this ' The title translated " queen of the land "
testimony we have the statement of Senna- is of rare occurreui'e, and of doubtful signifi-
chenb on the Nebbi Yunm stone, that in his cation. Wheie tiie title occurs on Michaux's
Baliylonian campaign he carried otfas trophies stone, in immediate union with the three
Beltis of \Var/;u and Beltis of liubesi, the great gods, /Inx, Bel-Nimiod, and //e», it «in
latter name applying to the city of which the only apply to Beltis in her character of " wife
ruins are now cidled Zert/kul. of Bel-Nimrod " and " mother of the gods;"
' Λ further description will be given of but tjie invocation on the open-mouthed Hon
Beltis, in her character of " lady of Nipur," fas 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 cerfciinly addressed to the wife
Essay Χ. SECOND GROUP OF THREE. 497
great goddess," " the beginning of heaven and earth," " iLe qnecn
of all the gods," and especially " goddess of war and battle," are
the particular titles of Jshtar^
At Nineveh (Koyuiijik) 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 Asshnr-
haid-pal after his successful campaign in Susiana. On these slabs
the goddess is indicated indifferently by the name of Bilta Niprut,
and by the number 15, either expressed in figuies or by the sign
Mi ; and it might be presumed, therefoie, that when Esar-haddon
invokes the goddess XV. of Kineveh, 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 foimded 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. Avith the day of the full moon ; nor peihaps is it anything
more than accidental that the Babylonian word which ansAvers to
15, and by which the goddess is commonly known, Bi, should so
nearly resemble the 'Via of the Greeks. The same goddess must
have been worshipped in Armenia, as the sign Hi Λvith 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 ivill be to give her the name of Mulita in
Babylonia, and of Beltis in Assyria.'
(vi.) We now come to the group composed of ^ther, the Sun,
and the Moon. The reading of the name of the god who represents
the sky, or yEther, continues to be the chief phonetic difficulty of
cuneiform mythology. The evidence upon Avhich the name has
been hitherto read Fhid 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. Tliey were
these discrejjancies of usage is by supixising both goddesses of war, but were Λvorshipped
Beltis to have had two distinct characters ; as such at diti'erent periods of History,
one in which she was " the wife of Bel-Nim- 3 'phe Mylitta of Herodotus has been gene-
rod," and the other in which she was " the n ^ , , L
wife of Xhi," being worshipped under the ^«"^ leterrod to the root 1^^ and translated
former character at Warka, and under the " g^etrLX, but no derivative from such a
latter at Nilier. The Assyrians, imperfectly ^'«o*^ '^ ^VV^'""^ to the » Great Goddess " m the
acquainted, perhaps, with the Babylonian ascriptions. Mid is constantly given on the
system, seem of the two characters to have "'ythological tiiblets as the exact equivalent
made two distinct goddesses. «^ ^'''' ^"'^ ^^^"''^« "ΐ='>' *^^"^ ^« considered the
The application of the same epithets to ^'""'te correspondent to the Semitic Bilta,
Ishtnr and to the wife of λ'ίη must not be " ^ ^'^"^ί•
VOL. I. 2 κ
498 YUL, THE .ETHER OF THE GREEKS. App. Book T.
Greek chronologers. If this identification fail — and it has never
heen anything more than a conjecture — the reading of Phul or Vid
ninst fall with it. In that case we might adopt the reading of Ben,
becaiTse the name of the god in question forms the first element of
a royal Syrian title which seems to belong to the king Ben-hndad of
Scripture, or, following the normal phonetic value of the sigTi Avhich
represents the god — and this, as far, at least, as Babylonian mytho-
logy is concerned, must always be considered — we might be con-
tent Avith the alphabetic power lea or Eca, and might recognise
the title in the many Babylonian and Assyrian words containing
this syllable (comp. ΈυΙιγιος, Εΰείώρεσχος, Ει/ίδω^ος, Έΐ'ίύ-γημος,
Ένίΰβουλος, 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
Avell-knowTi tenns Bel, Mul, Nin, Sar, Bui», &c., but it is at present
impossible to select any one of these synonyms with more confidence
than another, as the phonetic correspondent of the name. If, on
the other hand, we looked to mere local tiadition, a more probable
reading would seem to be Atr or Aiir, well-known gods of the Men-
da^an Pantheon, who presided over the firmament; and we might
then compare the Greek Ουρανός (Aur-aii, the god tV) as a cognate
title, and might further explain the Όροτάλ of Herodotus as a com-
pound term, inchiding the male and female divinities of the mate-
lial hea\'en.'' In the midst of such uncertainty, the form of Vul
has been adopted as a provisional reading, in default of any better
nomenclature.^
No complete list has been found of the titles of Vnl, but his cha-
3'acter and functions can be sufficiently ascertained from the A^arious
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 difiusing irrigation and rendering the lands
* This explanation of the term Όροτάλ name of the king who has been hitherto iden-
( i7/-and Tu!) is only hazarded on the jKissible tified with the /((/of Scripture some MSS. of
assumj)tion that the latter name applies to the the Septuagint verb have Φολώϊ, instead of
goddess of the sky ; but it is almost cert;iin Φαλώχ in 1 Chron. v. 35 ; and Ica-lush, if
that Tal is an erroneous reading, and that that be the true form of the king's name, is
the true form of the name is Shaln. not very diHereut from the foriner reading.
* There is, however, some additional evi- Admitting, however, tliis explanation to be
dence in favour of tiie ])honetic reading of correct, tliere will still be a dilliculfy about
lea : — 1. The name of the son of Ismi-dat/on tlie name of King Ben-hadad, wliich can in-
is sometimes written with a final va, as if it deed only be solvwl by supposing the god of
might be read either Shamas-Iva or Shamus- the air to have hail ditlerent names in Syria
Ic-ca. '2. There is some ground for suspecting and Babylonia. Dr. Hincks at one time
an identity between a Babylonian city named coiiuidereil the evidence of the name of Ben-
after this god, and the Αναοΐ Irak of Scrip- hadad t/) be uniuiuwerablc, and even ventured
ture. 3. The Arabic word for " the air " to ciimjjare the term lien which he thus
. ,, I . , 1 i.1 ■ 1. I• assigned to the god with tiie initial element
IS actually i»^, hcva, and the msbmces of i• . ν ^ ■ .i • i • • i l j
J ly^i » ot vvii-tus ; but m this he certauily pushed
analogy between the Arabic (originally a his etymological speculations too far, rcnhts
(Jiisldte dialectj and the Babylonian are too being of course cognate with the terms vdt,
dire';t and numerous to be at all subject vad, and had, which denote the wind in tlie
to doubt. Fuither, with rei^ard even to the ludo-Ariau dialects.
Essay Χ. TITLES OF VUL. 499
fit for CTxltivation, 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 Κ ebuchadnezzar 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 m}^ 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 Vul" and " sweeping a country as with the
whirlwind of Vul." 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
countrj'• ;" 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 corn, &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 Kimrud, and also upon
some of the clay tablets (their titles being misharu and sharrat or king
and queen),'' is Shala or Tala ; but her epithets, of which an incom-
plete list has been found, are obscure."
* The importance of the god Vul in the Ionian A'^enus, we are certainly justified in
Pantlieon of Babylonia, as contrasted with believing the entire sj^tem to have been in-
the position of Oiipavhs, or of iEther, in troduced from the banks of the Euphrates,
classical mythology, constitutes one of the ' The title mishant assigned to this god
chief differences between the two systems ; recals to mind the term Mvaaphs. which
the reason of the distinction no doubt being Berosus applies to Cannes (Fr. β), although
that atmospheric influences were of so much there is otherwise no apparent connexion be-
more consequence in the toiTid regions of the tween the two. If misharu, however, simply
East than either in Greece or Home. The mean "king," as is most probable, it will
conspicuous part which Aiar plays under his suit Hea, the real Cannes, 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 " attaclicd to his
Thales di'ew his theory of the origin of all name.
things from the watery element in nature. " The true form of this name is almost
Viii 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 'Σαλαμβώ and '2,ακάμβα5. is ap-
countries in various directions. Thus the plied in Hesychius and the Etyinol. Mag. to
triad invariably invoked in the Armeni;in the Babylonian ^'enus. The second element
inscriptions of Van, &c., are Klmldi, " the of the name, if this explanation be correct.
Sun," and F«/ ; and again, as we find on the will then be " amma," or " vmma," a
Indo-Scythic coins of the '2nd and 3rd cen- '" mother;" a term which, under the form of
turies distinct evidence of the worship of the 'A;U;uas, Hesychius also applies to the Baby-
Sun, of the Moon, of Vato or " the Wiiul " Ionian Jimo.
(answering to Vul). and of ΝαπΊ, the Baby-
2 Κ 2
500 UIS WORSHIP IX EABYLONIxi. App. Book T.
The ρ,'οά Val nmst have been knoAvn in Babylonia from the earliest
times, as the son oi Jsvtiddi/oii of (r, who i'oiuided temidcs at Asshur
in the I'Jth century n.c, has a name compounded of tlie titles of this
god and of the sun. \\g know, indeed, from the inscriptions of
Tiglath-Pilescr I., that one of the temples tlius founded Avas dedi-
cated to^/iwand his son IW, and this temple continued to the latest
times to command I'espect in Assyria. The name of the god, how-
ever, as far as our present experience goes, is unknoyvn upon the Baby-
Ionian 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 Simla, but no
trace has been recovered of a similar shrine at Nineveh. The object
whicli 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 sAvord." 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 Λ'ίιι or
Hercules.
The numerical symbol 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 \ ul 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 inditferently, 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 β Avere admitted as the real symbol
of Vul, some further weight would be attached to the possible
Mendaian reading of the name of the god, as one of the phonetic
values of that character is nr 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 Sait and Saiisi, before his title took the definite Semitic
form of Shamas,^ by which he is known in Assyrian and in all the
^ See Kileh-Sherghat CyVuvlur, col. G,l. 15, " five," we have Kliansa, " fifty"), and San
and col, 8, 1. 8M. would then stand for Sunai, as As tor Asshur;
^ It would be more convenient no donlit but against this it must be ai'guetl that i^ainas
to regard Samas as the original title, tormiiig or Shanins is never founil in the old Baby-
o'uKSi in the construct state (as i'lom A7u(//i(;>, Ionian, and that it would bu ungranimutiad
Essay Χ. SAN OR SHAMAS, THE SUN-GOD. 501
languages of that family. He seems to have been consideTed " the
great mover," the motive agent in fact of everytliing, and lience he
is connected with expeditions, and generally with the active func-
tions of royalty. His nsnal titles in the inA'ocation' passages are —
" the regent of the heavens and earth," " he who sets everything in
motion." He is also " the destroyer of the king's enemies." and
" the breaker itp 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. Thi;s Tiglath-Pileser 1. 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-
dauapalns, in the standard inscription of the north-west palace at
Kimrud, names Asshur and the sxm-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 ni}' reign, dui-ing the first year, when the " sun-
god," the regent of all things, had cast his motive influence over
me, seated in majestj^ 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 Λνΐιο has acquired dominion
for me ;" and the epithet employed by Nebuchadnezzar in noticing
the temple of the sun-god at Babylon, is perhaps " the siipreme
ruler who casts a favourable eye on my expeditions." The idea no
doubt of the motive infli;ence of the sun-god in all human aflairs,
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 SenkereJi),^ and the other at Sippara (modern Mosaih^ —
in both of Avhich he was associated with his wife Anunit, or Gula.
From the former temple, which was perhaps named Βιί-Ραιτα,^ λυθ
have niimerous bricks of the early Chalda?an kings, Khammurabi,
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 geograj)hical Sun," as that of Hur signified " the cit}- of
name of }D''3, Bisan (Scythopolis of the the Moon;" but in the former case we cannot
(ireeks, and formerly |C Π*3, 1 Sam. xxxi. trace any phonetic connexion.
10, 12, &c.), which is explained in Huge- ' Hardy etymologists might be inclined to
sippus to mean " the house of the Sun." connect I'arra with the Egyptian Phra or
Compare alsu'^nSe θανών κΐΐται Tmv ov Δία pi-ra, " the Sun ;" and it is certiiiuly re-
κικλ-ησκουσι. Porphyr. in Vit. Pythag. markaUe 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 ]ihouetic
Shainas to Savas, or 2άωΓ. See Hesychius power of San and Far, as if both these
in Toc. terms had been projier names of the Sun
~ It is not quite certain if the Semitic Λvheu the cuneiform writing was invented,
name of this city should be re<ad as Larrak For a notice of the Senkereh Temple see Sir
or Lartsa. The former oi'thography is T. Phillips's Cylinder, col. 2, 1. 42, and the
adopted (there being cuneiform authority for bricks and cylinders of Nebuchadnezzar esca-
the readmg), in order to assimilate the name vated by Mr. Loftus from the ruins of the
with Λαράγχαι, a primitive Chalda^an capital building,
mentioned by Berosus. (See Cory's Frag-
502 HIS WORSHIP IN ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. App. Book T.
Funm-pHri>/ns, &c. ; and Nebuchadnezzar has furthei• loft 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 antedihxvian traditions
of Berosus, having in fact given the name of Ileliupolis to Sippara,
Λvhere Xisuthnus is siqiposed to have buried his records before going
into the ark.^ This temple, Avhich was also named Bit Farra, was
repaii-ed and adorned by many of the ancient kings, but more
especially by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus, though the last-
named king devoted his particular care to an adjoining temple
named Hit-Uhnis, which was in the same city of Sippara or Agaiia,
but which was exclusively dedicated to Anunit, who thus took the
title of Lady of AganaJ" The male and female powers of the sun,
whose worship at Sippara was celebrated throughout the East, were
with more than their usual accuracy identified by the Greeks with
the Apollo and Diana of their οΛνη 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," ecliru and gamilu, "the arranger" and "bene-
factor" being epithets which together are frequently applied to the
gods, and which are sufficiently applicable to "the sun." Aiiam-
vii'lech, for the female sun, cannot be explained unless it be con-
nected with the name Anunit. Idols of the sun-god are also not
Tuifrequently 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 different 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 aAvait further research. It may be stated however that he
* See Aucher's Eusebius, p. 33, sqi^. lu Sippara." This is the same city where in
the extracts t'lom Berosus the name of Helio- after ages was established the famous Jewish
])ohs is a])plieil to the city, and Sippari to the academy.
inhabitants ; but in the inscriptions (see B. * This is all expLiined at length on the
M. Ser. PL 52. 1. 5, &c.) the full title is large barrel cylinder of Nabonidus. Agnnrt
given of Tsipar sha Shamns, " Sippara of was perhaps on the right bank of the river
tiie Sun." The name of Sippara is sui)po;-ed opjiosite to Sippara, and was so (vvllcd from
to have been given from these very writings being at the head of the great lalic (N^33X
deposited by Xisuthrus (comp. 1DD, "a in Chaldec). It represents the ' Ακράκανον
writing") but there is nothing to coun- uirep τηϊ '2,ι•κ•πιρτ)νών iroKios of Abydeuus,
tenance such a derivation in the inscriptions ; Acrctcan being given at full length in the
on the contrary, as the cuneiform sign for Sanhedrim, fol. oS, 2, as NiOJX'TNIpN,
" the Sun" is the distinguishing element of A/a-a dc Agama, " the fort of tlie lake."
the Hamite names both i()r this city and ^ 2 Kings xvii. 31. The dual form
Larancha, and as the same element occurs in D"'T1BD is used in allusion probably to the
T.-iipdr, it is most natural to regard that term double city on each side of the river, precisely
as a translation of the Hamite name, and ;vs ;is the older Arab geographers employed the
bavins immediate reference to the Sun wor- „ ^ ι • i i r I
,• "n /.^.- 1 ,11 form of , ,i,»>^ mstead of ),M0•
ship. 1 he name of feippara bei-ame gradually (^1Λ7^ Ijy
corrupted to i^i'iva ami iSi/j-a, and the Kuphrates '' Sennacherib carried off the idol of the
at Babylon is thus always named by the Arab sun-god from Larancha in his great Baby-
geographers " the river of Sara" precisely as Ionian expedition,
in the inscriptions it Ls named " the river of
Essay Χ. GULA, THE SUN-GODDESS. 503
is called " the lord of fire," " tlie light of the gods," " the ruler of
tlie day," and " he Avho 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 Kis
and Man ; and from the analogy of the names Dis and Ana, apper-
taining to Anu as equivalents of his numerical symbol of 00, we
might very Avell argue that these terms must also be names for the
sun in some of the ancient dialects of Babylonia. At present, ΙιΟΛν-
ever, the conjecture is unsupported by evidence.^
It has already been stated that the female power of the sun is
named Gula 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 worshiji with
the sun.^ It is possible that At, Gula, and Anunit may represent the
female power of the sun in his three different 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 Gitla, at any rate, which is the best known of
the three forms, and which simply means in primitive Babylonian
" the great," * being thus identical Λvith the Gadlat of the later
Chaldsean 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. Gala, 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 lihorsabad, where
she is joined with Hea, is " she who multiplies life," and in the
inscriptions of Sennacherib is distinctly called " the goddess pre-
^ The Mendteans still use the old Assyrian was unknown in Assyrian. Gula, translated
word Shamas for the Sun, and the snnie in the vocabularies by rahu, and kindreii
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-
SabiEnns of Harran worshipped the Sun as pared with the Galla quda, " great," and the
Helshamin, " the Lord of Heaven," and at many ancient Oriental names compounded of
a later period they used the Greek name Gallus must be leferred to the sjtme root.
of "Ηλιοί. See "Asseman. Bib. Orient. '■* Gadlat and Tarata (Atiirgati'^ or Der-
vol. i. p. 327, and Ssabier vind der Ssabis- ceto) are given by St. James of Se ■ j as the
mus, vol. ii. p. 32. tutelary goddesses of Harr;m in the 5th
^ See Sir T. Phillips's Cylinder, col. 2, century of Christ (Asseman. Bil Orient.
Is. 40 and 42, where the temples of Sippara vol. i. p. 327), but these names see.iQ 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 Sabwans.
god and Ai. (See Ssabier und der Ssabismus, vol. ii.
1 Gula may possibly be connected with p. 39.)
7^3, but only indirectly, as the latter term 3 ^^^ Michaux's Stone, col. 4, 1. 5.
50-1 TITLES OF GULA. App. Book I
siding ΟΛ'ΟΓ births." * It may be added, that in a list of the 41 titles
of Jiilat Jli, on a tablet in the British Miisenni, Gala is given as a
recognised sj-nonym ; yet, on the other hand, as far as present
research goes, there is no examj^le of connexion between Bilat Jli
and the sun-god. W'ith regard to the relationship of Irilat Tila Avitli
Quia, the former name Avonld seem to signify "tlie mistress of life,"
and the temples of Gnla at Borsippa are respectively named Bit
Gala, Bit Tila, and Bit Ziha TikiJ" With the single exception, more-
over, of the enumeration of Gala, Bilat Hi, and Jiilat Tila as distinct
idols in the temple of Bel-Merodach, there is no other list, it is
belicA^ed, 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, Avith the exception of the heading, which is " the female
sun," The same may be said of the 41 titles of Bilat Hi; and even
Gala'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, Λvhere 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 i-a3's 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 IShamas, and the eight-rayed
orb being the emblem of Ai, Gula, or Aniuiit.
(viii.) The ord god of this triad is " the moon," Λvho was named
Sin by the Assyrians, as he is by the Mendaians 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.^
* 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 ideu-
Bilat Nini, of which Bilat Hi is the Assy- tify the god in question Λvith Jupiter,
rian translation. On one tablet she seems to Sin is not only a recognized term for the
lie indiciited by the number 2, but her moon at the present day in Syriac and Men-
epithets are not intelligible, nor even are her d;eau, but it is the name given to the moon-
local titles lor the most part to be recognised, god in St. .lames of Seruj's list of the idols
•"> Bilat Tila is probably the same as the of Harrau already quoted ; and it also stands
Eahh'd-at-Til of the Sabasans of Harran, to ior Monday in the ttxble of the days of the
whom belonged the sacred goats, which weie week used by the Sabieans as late as the 9th
kept as victims, but which no pregnant centuiy. (See Norberg's Onoma-sticon, p. 108 ;
woman dareil to oi?er in sacrifice, or even to Chwolsohn'sSsabierund der Ssabismus, vol.ii.
approach. (See Ssabier und der Ssabismus, p. 2"2, and Asscman. loc. cit.) Hcsychius,
vol. ii. p. 40.) likewise, seems to have stated the tiut cor-
" These names are as follows: — "The rectly ; for there can be no real doubt that
(^ucen of the St;irs" (Venus); Kippata ; for tlie 'Σίντην, σΐμνην, Βαβυλώνιοι, of the
Martu ; "the Queen of the Chace;" Gula; MSS., we must read 2/»', riif σίληνην, Βα-
Paniri (?) ; Gunnra ; Kilili ; Tsaliliirtu ; βυΚώνιοι.
iiiVrti Prt/e (or " the Queen of Time (?;"; and * /Λί/•, which is the Ilamite power of the
J'as/iirta. (luieiform sign answering to the Semitic
'' It is most surprising that Dr. Hincks n<ii<it• "1V3, " to protect," may perhaps be
in his pa]ier on the Assyrian mythology comjiared with the root IIJ?, which has pro-
should have overlooked the existence of the duced "l"'y, ' Ir, " a watcher,"' applied to
Essay Χ. THE MOON-GOD, SIN. 505
The titles of the god are for the most pai-t too vague to indicate the
attributes with Avhich 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 Babylon thus speaks of him as "the strenglhener
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 (Hurki') 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,"
Avhich especially belonged to Sin as the Babylonian god of archi-
tecture.'" One of the most ordinary titles oi 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 JT
'• 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 difterent kings, but all bearing evidence to the
Avorship of the moon-god. Nabonidus, indeed, λυΙιο seems to have
been an especial votary of Sin's, 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 elt-ment 3rd month, sacred to Sin, is always trans-
is given repeatedly in the vociibiilaries, and lated in the vociibularies by the actual word
may be regarded therefore as quite certain. liban. It may also fliirly be surmised that
" This passage commences at line 47 of the " goddess, or fabulous queen of Assyria,
the Cylinder Inscription. It is left out Tilhin, derived her name fiom the same
altogether in the nearly similar inscription source." (See the quotation from Eutychius
on tlie Bulls which has alone as yet been in Chwolsohn's Ssabier und der Ssabismus,
published. vol. ii. p. 295.)
'" The direct connexion thus established , j^ ;, ^.^j „„ ^^^ tablets that the full
between the god a»t and "bricks for build- ^|^]^ „f β,ι.Ι,,^,, j, f,,,„„,^ but the form is
,ng would seem to explam the use m Hebrew ,,,t,,i„iy authentic. Tlie root zanan, it may
of Π33? for " the moon " (Is. xxiv. 23 and be added, is commonly used in Asbyriau tui•
XXX. 2<jj, more satisfactorily than by a building.
506 SIN, THE SON OF BEL-NIMROD. App. Book I,
covered in Babylonia) a I'ecorcl that he had commenced the temple
in question, but had left the completion of it to liis son Ilgi ;* and
the shrine, therefore, must have lasted throughout the entire period
of the liabylonian monarchy, fr<jm its foundation to the time of
C/yrus. 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 iShishaki,^ and a possible explanation is thus obtained of
the iSheshech of Scripture (used for Bar) Λνΐιΐοΐι 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 Eu])olemus, Καμαρίνη, the name being derived appa-
rently from y^ Kamar, an Arabic term for the moon.* Besides
the temples to »SV/i already noticed at Hur, at Babylon, at Borsippa,
and at Khorsabad, another shrine is mentioned at Calah ; and the
god was also Avorshipped under the same name at Harran as late as
the 6th century of the Christian eia/ >Vu 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
haA'e 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 Mugknr 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 hh or Eah, which should thus likewise
appertain to the moon-god in some of the old dialects. The
identity of this number 80 with the days of the month, OA^er 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 oyhuders of word. See also the frequent notices of Sin
Naboiiidus excavated by Mr. Taylor from in " Ssabier und der Ssabismus."
the tour corners of the tower or zigtjurat of '' This goddess was associated with Sin as
the Temple of the Moon at Muglieir. tutelary divinity of the city «f Har, and a
3 That is, the cuneiform sign which in particuLar portion of the sji'eat temple at that
the sense of " protecting" must be read as jilace was dedicated to her, the legends on
Har 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 invo(';ition to lier. Both she and
Shish in one language and Alihu in the other, her husband Sin had ari\s or tabernacles,
* Jer. XXV. 2ΰ and li. 41. probably deposited in this temple, the one
* Euseb. Prscp. Evaug. 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 he;xd of the second Triad,
Harran through Sin and Bal-shcniin ; i.e. which was his ])i'oper place in the Pantheon,
" the moon" and " the sun." Assemani, though he is here for convenience sake put
however, in translatuig the passjige (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,
name of the moon, and read Besin as a single Sin follows next after the three great gods
Essay Χ. THE FIVE MINOR GODS. 50T
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 Saigon, where he alludes to the conquest of
Korthern 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 S<//),' 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 Όμύρωκα and GaXarS•, because there is a gloss added in
the Greek, that the Chalda^an word Thalatth, Avhich answers imme-
diately to θάλασσα, "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 ap]:)arent
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 θάλασσα.* AVith regard to Ό^ιόρωκα or
Όμόκρα, the most probable explanation seems to be Um-urha, '* the
mother or lady of Urka" * 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.) We 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 Chaldajan system. In regard to four of the gods in question
the identification is certain, because the Menda?ans 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-Telitct, Λτιά
sometimes interposed), and he is therefore which is no donbt the @αΚάθα of Ptolemy,
misplaced in this Essay. placed by him near the mouth of the river.
' See Khorsabad Inscriptions, pi. 151, 2'2, "* See particularly Sir T. Phillips's Cy-
and 153, 2. linder, 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 quite unintel- of Bit Ana by Nebuchadnezzar,
ligible at Khorsjibad, but is illustrated by a ^ >'ee Aucher's Eusebius, λ^οΙ. i. p. 23.
Λ'ariant reading on the Cyprus stone. The goddess commemorated on this tablet,
2 See the quotation irom Syncellus in and to whom king Ihji builds a temple at
Cory's Fragments, p. 25. Tel Eyd, is called " the Lady of Alarki," or
* She is the goddess of the Bar (pro- Warki, and a suspicion thus arises that the
, ,, . , ■ 17^ 1 ■ 1 • ^, name Warki is after all nothinir more than
bably Arabic y^j, bahar), which is the xi i ■ i• c i\ i^i r ..i μ
■' >^• ' the phoneiic reading of the title ot 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 oilen mentioned,
508 NIN-IP OR NIN— HIS EriTHETS. App. Book I.
as the proper names of the gods, and in the case of the remaining
god a coincidence may be inferred, thongh λλ^θ cannot at present
find a cuneiform cori-espondent for the Syriac name. This doubtful
god then will be first examined. His ordinary names, if i-ead
phonetically, are Jkir and Nia-ip, but he had also the earlier Jjaby-
luniun titles of Va-Jua and Va-daua, which are quite rmintelligible.
Tliere is no god indeed in the J'antheon, Λvhose proper name is
subject to so much doiibt, while at the same time we liaA'e such an
extensive series of his descriptive epithets. A fcAv of these epithets
selected from the dedications to the god, recorded by Sardanapalus
and Shamas- Vul at Calah,® as well as fiom 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 folloAvers ; " and again, "the destroyer of enemies," "the
reducer of the disobedient," " the exterminator of rebels," " Avhose
sword is good." In more general teims 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 Λνΐιο wields the
thunderbolts of the gods," " he who sjireads Ids 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," " ho 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,
Avhich 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 hitndred ; but they are still sufficient to
show the great variety of the god's supposed functions. Many of
these functions can further be verified frum other sources. Thus in
the inscriptions he is constantly said to excite the king to iinder-
take his various expeditions buth for war and hunting ; he accom-
panies him to the field ; he watches over the couibat, 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 anned with the thunderbolt Λνΐιο 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 v;tst number of mural slabs is different, and less detailed, prefaces the
bcloiv^ing to the great temple at Calah, and king's annals upon the obelisk, also found at
is also prerixed to the king's annals on the Calah, and now in the British ]\luseum.
pavement slabs belonging to the sjime build-
Essay Χ.
HIS STELLAR CHARACTER DOUBTFUL.
509
of character, both of the above-named mythical creatures are
intended to represent the god under ditierent attributes/
Not less difficult, however, is it to reconcile the Cannes, 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-
Meroduch, Nergal, Ish/ar, and Nebo, 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 \vithout any great
violence of etymology, the name which Saturn bears in Mendaian,
and perhaps also in Scripture," Kivan, might also be compared with
the Greek Ώάΐ'νης ; 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, tlie Temple of Zira,
dedicated to tlie god of war, which was the
principal sacred edifice at Calah. The so-
called pyramid at Nimrad was the ziijgnrat
or " tower " attached to this temple,
and, jiidgmg from experience, at Kileh-
Sherghat, at Muglieir, and at Birs Nimrud,
historical cylinders of Sludnumeser are yet
to be found in the four corners of the
stone walls of the various stages of this
building which have not been hitlierto
exploied.
^ The allusion is to the \vord jT^S in
Amos V. 26, which we, following the Vul-
gate, translate by a "st;itue," but which the
LXX. and all other translators have regarded
as a proper name. The LXX., mistaking
the initial letter, give the name as 'Ραιφάν
(whence we have 'Ρΐμφαν in Acts vii. 43),
but the Syrian version retains the reading of
Kivan, which was the name for Saturn in
that langLiage. The assimilation of Kivan
and 'CiavvTis supposes that Berosus repre-
sented the Babylonian guttural by a Greek
aspirate, which is, to say the least of it, im-
probable. As Helladius (Phot. Bib. cdxxix.
p. 1594) uses the name "Ώη for the same
fabulous being, a more natural explanation
of Cannes would be as a compound of Hea
or Hon, and an " a god." Hyginus in his
274tli fable probably used the orthography
of Εύάνηε.
^ M. Kaoul 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
Orient;il point of view, has accumulated
abundant evidence to show that Hercules
Wits commonly confounded in the East with
Saturn. Damascius (de Princip. in Wolff's
Analecta, iii. p. 254) thus quotes a tradition
on the authority of Hellanicus and Hierony-
mus, the Peripatetic, that from 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, Θ(θΰ πρόσωπον, 'Ω,νομάσθαι
Sf "Κμόνον αγηρατον καΧ ΉρακΧΤια rhv
αυτόν. Athenagoras (Legat. pr. Christ.
S. XV. 6, p. 3, edit. Lindner.) repeats the
tradition, stating, however, still more clearly
ονομαΉρα.κΚΎΐ$ koL Xpovos. John Lydus
(de Blens. iv. 46, p. 220, ed. Roetli) also
says, Ήρακλη! Be 6 Xpovos πάρα τψ 'Νικό-
μαχο/ ΐίρ-ηταί. The visage of God, with the
symbolical figures of the bull and lion, a: e
strikingly illustrative of the Nineveh sculp-
tures of " tlie god and goddess of war," and
the expression χρόνον a.yr]parov, " 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 (Phonizier, i. 292), refers
to the name of Kivan. This he supposes to
be the same as the Greek κίων 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 Χών 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 )V3 or Kivan. (See luioul Eo-
chette's Memoir, p. 50.)
liaoul Rochette further quotes many epi-
thets, such as μάντίί, (pvaiKOs, ψίλόσοφοί,
τίλίστήϊ, &c., applying to Hercules as the
god of knowledge, and he explains this
apparent incongruity by referring to tlie
'HpaKKeovs στηλαί, iuscribed with mystic
510 THE MAN-BULL HIS EMBLEM. App. Book L
indications indeed in the various invocations to Bar point to the
moon, and recall the connexion which both in Greek and Egyptian
mythology existed betAveen the moon and llercnles; Avhereas in the
Stellar Tablets it is clearly established that the god in question
must re])resent the constellation Taurus, in virtue, probably, of his
connexion with the man-bull, Avhich, as the impersonation of
strength and poAver, was dedicated to him. As the celestial Bull,
Jiar or Nin-ip, had the title apparently of T'hihhi, 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 oftered, however, as a possible solution
of the difficult}': — In the mythical names of the East, the termina-
tion in ait. may be usually recognised as a mere dialectic develop-
ment. The true name of the planet Satura then, instead of Kivan,
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 under the zodiacal sign of Taunis, 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 ■^1t^^ .»j or niD, raupor, and to
the ΖίΌ of the old Hebrew calendar, which may very well stand for
Gio, as Zam-zummim stands for Gamgummi, &c.•"' In our present state.
characters, and perhaps the same as tlie aute- dynasty instead of an individual, answer to
diluvian columns of I'lato and Joseph us, as the Zend K<iva, "royal" (in Kava Us,
well as the κόσμου Kiovas, which contained &c.), if that be really a genuine ancient
all the secrets of nature, and which Atlas term. At any rate Gait, " a bull " in old
gave to Hercules, according to Herodorus, . Persian, is a distinct word, as in Gaubaruwa
quoted by Clemens (Strom. I. 15, S. To, for Γωβρύα$. It is at the same time curious
p. 300) ; but a more siitisfactory explanation to remariv, in reference to this subject, that
of the Creek 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 Gob/um, Latin name
science, being typified at Niinnul by the Gobanits, modern Goicun, the same termi-
man-iish, which, according to Berosus, was nation reappearing as in Kivan and Vivan.
tlie figure assigned to the other deity. Kemark too that the god whose claim to the
' The connexion, however, between the name of Κίναη we are now considering is
names of Giv and Gav is very doubtful, actually the god of iron, and thus "the
The name of Giv, which belongcil to the ¥.u\\\.\\" par excellence. We need never in-
fathcr of Ootarzes (at Behistun ΓΠΤΑΡΖΗΟ deed be startled at finding Arian analogies
ΓΕΟΠΟΘΡΟΟ j, seems to be the same as in examining the old Babylonian terms, lor
tile Viran of the gieat inscription of Darius, there is abundant evidence of a primitive
while Gav or Gnva, the name of the famous Arianism, anteiior probably to the develop-
blacksmith of Isfahan, who drove out Zohak meiit of the ^aIlscrit, in the construction of
(the Scythians), and restored Arian supre- the cuneiform alphabet,
macy, must rather, according to the early ^ The identity of Thurn-vahir with the
Arab historians, who ap))ly the title to a 'Jnd mouth of the year, named Ziv in the
Essay Χ.
OTHER NAMES OF NIN-IP,
511
however, of uncertainty as to whether the Mendsean name Kkan for
Saturn is really of the same antiquity as the other six planetary
names, Bel, Nerig, Shamas, Ishfar, 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
Mendaean 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 he to attend to the other names of Nin-ip
and Bar. Now with regaid 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," κατ έΕοχήν, 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 ivinus,^ being
entitled by the Armenian historians Bar-shevi, that is " Bar by name,"
or " the lord or master," κατ' ίΕ,ο-χήΐ'* 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 insin-iption, and helps to esta-
blish the fact that the old year commenced
as at present with Nisan.
^ If we compare the 13th chapter of the
1st book of Moses of Chorene with the Pas-
chal Chronicle (ed. Dindorf. vol. i. p. β8),
we shall be quite satisfied that the same
tradition of ancient Assyrian mythology is
related by both authorities. In eitlier 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 liar (or Brirsani)
in the one tradition, is named ΘούρΙ>αί in
the other, a conriimation being thus obtained
of the identity of £ar and iVwi with tlie
constellation Taurus, and with the man- bulls
of Nineveh. The tradition too in the I'us-
chal Chronicle is of tlie more importance
that it is given on the authority of 'Σΐμηρώ-
i/ios δ Βα/3ι/λώίΊ05, Tlepa-qs. A further
proof that the Θούρμαί, or T/iiir of this
passage, really represents the Assyrian Her-
cules, typihed by the man-buli, 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
autlienticated fact than that the Homans
belie\ed this star, according to the Chalda-an
mythology, to be sacred to Hercules. (See
the various passages cited by liaoul Kochette
in his Memoir, p. 46, from the Etym.
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 @ovpas, who
was also named Ares, and who fii'st raised
a στ-ηΚ-η or " column " for worship.
* There is however another explanation
of the naine Bar-sam, or Bar-sheiii, of
which some notice must be taken. It has
been already stated tliat if the Noachide
Triad be compaiel with the Assyrian, Ann
will correspond with Ham, Bel-Niinrod with
Shem, and Ιίώι with Japhet. The Arme-
nian Bar-snm may then vei y well be " the
son of Shem," alluding to the descent of
Nin or Hercules from Bel-Nimrod or Jupi-
ter ; and it is not a little in favour of this
explanation that the Paschal Chronicle gives
the name of Zajur/s to the father of Qovp-
βα$, a natne which may very well stand
for Sara or Shem. That Bur-shdin was a
genuine title may further be inferred from
the name of ΝΠ"1ίίί'"13, Parshandnta in
Esther i.x. 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 KxVME OF BAE-SIIEM Αιτ. Book I.
of "iD3''3 Xir/pi, which the Tahnnd applies to JVcpher or jVifer, in
allusion probably to the patron-gcxhless of the city being the wife of
JVin-ip or Hercules: but that the same name, or at any rate its
essential element J\lii, must also have been used in Assyria, 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 Hercules and Saturn. Thus
the kings of Hatra (modern Hadhr, \V. of Kileh-Sherghat) who fought
with the Eomans — both with Trajan and Severus — are always
named by the Greek historians Βαρσημωί,^ 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
tiatrun ; Dhizan, which was known to the Arabs as the name of an
ancient idol, being apparently the same term as Oe.sanaus,'^ which,
according to Eusebius, was an eastein name for Hercules, and Satrun
(or Saturn), which, although stated hy the Arabs to signify " a
king," is not of any known Semitic etymology, being a remnant
pei'haps, like Dis, of a primitive Scytho-Arian nomenclature, which
afterwards through the Etruscans penetrated to Pome.'
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-
lar}' god of the Assyrian kings. His temple in the Assyrian capital,
described by Tacitus (Annal. xii. 13), is perhaps the very building
at Ninirud which adjoined the pyiamid, and the accoinit of his
exploits in the nocturnal chace, which is given in the same passage,
is in exact accordance Avith his character in tlie inscri])tions, as tho
god who excites and directs the various hunting expeditions of the
king. There were, hoAvever, two temples at Galali 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 Saidanapalus and the various figures and invocations to Nin ; and
the other Jnt Kara (?), at the S. E. corner of the mound Avhich con-
tained the obelisk of S/uanas - Vul, a monument also dedicated to the
* See Ilerodian. III. i. 11. available Arabic and Syriac authority to
β Desanaiis 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 Διωδάν. 'I'he people ing to identify the liadhr of Satrun with
who used the name are said to be Plia;ni- the Syriac Chetra supposed by Ephraem
cians, Cappadocians, and Ilians, all more or Syrus to mark the site of the Calah of
less Arabs. See Seld. de Diis Syris, p. (ienesis. Tliis latter city was on tlie Tigris
113. between Samarra and Tekrit, ami was famous
7 Pocock in his Specimen Hist. Arab, r •. r • i i τ^ i• • ι I /κ t
( i/>.)N c- i. ■ 1• X J *v,• 1- i ^ tor its Jewish colony. Itadjouieil Lfl)^.Ai35
(p. 10.5) first mvestigated this sulyect, fe- •' •' (J y••
cognising the apparent identity of Satrun Tlrhan, also a very ancient site, and the
and Saturn, but being unable to find a cor- TliaiTana of the Feutingerian Table. The
respondent for Dhizan. Chwolsohn (Ssabier Sitnthirs of Chetra cannot therefore be con-
und Λ^γ Ssabismus, vol. ii. p. G9;3; hiis since nected with Satrun of Hadhr.
carried on the inquiry, accumulating all
Essay Χ. NINIP, THE ASSYRIAN HERCULES. 513
same deity ; and it was in reference to these temples tliat lie took
the titles Pal-Zira and Fal-Kum (the son of Zira and the son of
Kara), which we find in the respective roj'al names of Tiglath- I'ileser
and Nin-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 Niifer, the Nopher Ninpi of the Talmud,®
because, in the first place, "the Queen of Niynir" was his wife, and
in the second place the " Herculis ari^" of the geographers, which
Ptolemy makes the southern limit of Mesopotamia," and places in
the immediate vicinity of Apamsa (modern ruins of Sakherieh'),^ can
only by possibility refer to Kifi'er. 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 deity, 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 ordiuary
epithets of Hercules.^
That this god, Niii or Bar, was the son of BeJ-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 Kitmnut or Bea,^ as if there were a dis-
tinction between Pal-Zira and Pal-Kura, or between the god Nia or
Hercules, as worshipped in the two great temples of C'alah. It is
also clearly stated on one tablet that this same god Kiu or Nia-ip,
with the title of " Khalkhalki, 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 Nipiir" " the lady of ParziUa," of " Kur Euhana,''
and of other places equally unknown. On her own monuments at
Nifer, however, she bears the ordinary title of Bilat Nipriit, and is
thus proved to be Beltis, the wife of Belus. May not this evidence
^ This very remaikable epithet occurs in ^ The identity of the two Apamreas
the Joma, and was thus probably in use as (upper and lowej•. or the Babylonian and
late as the 2ud or 3rd century of Christ. Jlesenian) with Naumanii/a and Sekherieh,
^ Ptolemy places the 'Hpa/cAeous βωμον respectively, can be determinately proved by
in long. 80 and lat. 34•20 and Apamaa iu a comparison of the Greek and Latin notices
long. 79'50 and lat. 34-20. The I'eutin- of those towns with the Arab geographers,
gerian map also gives a route from Tiguba and especially witli the Talmudic tiact Kid-
(Outha) " ad HercLdem," in which almost dushin.
every station may be identified. In the ^ This figure, with the name of the god
Periplus of Marcian (Hudson's Geogrnp. attached, is given in Mr. Layard's last
Min. vol. i. p. 18j the 'HpaiiAeous στηλοι work.
are assigned apparently to the extreme X.W. ^ 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 Niii'er sufficiently well. The said altars on the /S'/iamrtS- Fi/i 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 Kiminnt, however, is joined
Assyria, inscribed Λvith the annals of the in the lists with the hsser Bel-Nimrud as
king, but also bearing an invocation to titles applied iudili'ereutly to Hea.
Hercules.
VOL. I. 2 L
514
BARZIL AND SANDA, NAMES OF NINIP, Apr. Look L
then that "the great Qtieen " ® was hoth the mother and wife of Nin
explain the tradition of the incestnons intercourse of Semiramis
Avith her οΛνη offspring, though it does not at present appear from
whence the Greeks couhi have introduced the name of Semiramis at
such a very early period of the Assyrian mythology.
Tlie numerical sjnnbol 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 by the man-
bull, and Avhich, moreover, always heads the group wherever, as on
tJie pavement-slab of Sardanapalus and on the monolith of Shamas-
Jva, 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
cimeiform name of ll-har and the Hebrew ^p3 Barzil, which is
used for hvn in that language, though of very obscure etymology.
AVhether the term Barzil can be connected with Abnil, the " stone
god," who Avas a deity w^orshijiped 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 Σάνόης, which is applied by
Agathias to the Assyrian Hercules, on the authority of Berosus.
I'his 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
eevtain that the goddess called " the queen
of the land (?)," the invocation to whom is
inscribed across the open-mouthed liou now
in tlie British Museum, must be the wife
of Nin, and the same deitv 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 (jueen of all the gods : the heroine
Λνΐιο is celebrated 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 dcmghter of Ami; illustrious
amongst the gods ; the queen of strangers (?) :
she who precedes me ; she who brings rain
upon the lands and hail u])on the forests
the goddess of war and battle ;
ΛνΗο is alone honoured in the temple of Bit-
Zira ; she who refines the laws (?) and pro-
tects the hearts of \vomen (?) ; who elevates
society and blesses companionship .... the
goddess of proi)he(y f?); the storm rider (?) ;
the guardian who takes care of the heavens
and the earth for the benefit of all races of
mankind; of auspicious name; the arbiter
of life anil 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 Anu,
which however requires confirmation.
In support of the argument that the
" queen or mistress of the land " is really
Beltis, we may compare Jlichaux's stone,
col. o, 1. 10, where the supreme g(xldess is
similarly designated and associated with the
great gods Ann, Bel-Nimrod, and Ileii ; and
on the tablet where her tw'clve titles are
enumerated a corresponding form is used.
It appears 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 Ninirud 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 goiidess of war.
7 M. Kaoul-Rochette has most elaborately
examined this subject in his memoir already
referred to, and h;is sought to connect this
name of Sai^Siji, not only with varieties of
the s;une title used by other authors (Sundtn
by Aniinianus, 'Σάνδα by Basil of Seleucia,
and 2αί'δαιΐ' by Jolm Lydus), but also with
Essay Χ. MERODACH. 515
then, to add that Bar is explained in one of the Babylonian voca-
bularies by Zindu, as if the one name meant " the binder with chains,"
and the other " the binder to the yoke," " and both being sufiSciently
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 Baladans, who was called Nahit Marduk,^ but
there is no evidence whatever to show that this was the same deity
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-Bahdan, is represented both in Assyrian
and Babylonian b}^ three independent groups of characters, which
read respectively as Su, Sit, and Amarut (or possibly Zurut').^ Mero-
dach Avas, in all probability, a mere qualiiicative epithet like Nipru,
Avhich 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 eaily period, he was in great
estimation in that province, the Babylonian kings being very
generally named after him,* his worship does not appear to have
the Dasanaus or AtwSau of Etisebius. In dnk instead of Amarut (compare 'Αμορ5ακία
regard however to the latter identification of Ptolemy;, bat there is nothing to prove
his arguments are not conclusive, Dhiznn such a reading at present. Whether this be
offering a sufficient explanation for Desanaus, the ca^e, or whetlier the phonetic representa-
without the necessity of correcting St. Je- tive of Merodaih is still to be discovered, it
rome"s orthography. is pretty clear that the name is Hamite, and
* There is no indication however that that it is useless therefore to seek foi• its
the Hamite word Bar thus explained really meaning in the Hebrew language,
represents the name of the god. If that ^ jf t^gse epithets are rightly rendered, the
had been the c<ise, the determinative of Assyrian Bel-Merodacli will answer to the
divinity would have been probably prefixed. Βελιθάν of the Phoenicians, i. e. rrT-N hi,
9 See B. M. Ser. pi. 22, 1. 33. " the old Bel" (Damasc. ap. Phot. p. 34o),
^ It seems quite impossible, if Marduk t•. ti ." »
were really the phonetic reading of the name ^ ^®^ '''^ ^^ the ^)jjj) ^y^wiJ J^'
of the god Merodach, that form should never " Bel, the grave old man" of the Saba?ans
be once used in expressing the name of the of Harran (see Chwolaohu, vol. ii. p. 39),
Babylonian king .Merodach-Baladan, a name and especially to p"lV , which is the Hebrew
for which there are at least half-a-dozen name for the planet Jupiter as the star of
A'ariant orthographies. « .Justice."
2 That is, the initial character of the old * One of the primitive Chaldiean kings
Hamite name generally used for Merodach whose bricks are found at \Varka vv-as named
may be pronounced either amar or zur, Merodach-i/ina. Another king of Babylon
according to the vocabidaries. It is just contemporary with Tiglath-Pileser I. w.is
possible that this name itself may read -ι4//ία;•- ceiled Mcrudach-adin-aklii, and the names
2 L 2
510 MEPtODACH MOST WORSIIirPEl) AT BABYLON. Arp. Book Γ.
"been cordially adopted in Assyria until the time of Γηΐ, and Avas
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. Pal at any rate sacrificed to Ikl
(Mero(Uch), Nebo, and Nergal in their respective high seats at Babylon,
Borsippa, and Cutha;^ and he took credit to himself for having
first prominently ]ilaced Merodach in the Pantheon of Assyria."'
Saigon, 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 iMerodacli his acquisition of the croAvn of Babylon. It is
muler 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 supiemacy
o\'er 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 xnider the later Babylonians,
and especially under Nebuchadnezzar, Bel-Mei'odach 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 Bantheon,
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-Nimnid and Bel-Merodach, but a few
remaiks on the same subject require still to be added., The great
Temple of Babyh^n which had the old Ilamite name of Bit Saggath,
was the high place of the worsliip of Bel-Merodach, and it is in
refei'ence apparently to the particular idol of the god which was
exhibited in tliis tem]ile tliat the term T*el 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 Bid, Tiglath-Bileser and
of the two rival monarchs of Babylon whoso Ionia was a sort of holi/ laiul to tlie Assy-
wars are recorded on tlie hlack obelisk of rians. Every king «ho penetrates into the
iShaliatinubar each contained Merudach as province olliirs sacniices to the gods at their
the initial element. respective shrines, and the Baljylonian idols
* During the Assyrian peiiod tliese were seem to have been the mo>t valuaV)le trophies
apparently the three high places of god- that the victorious monarch could cany back
Λvorsl^ip ni Babylonia, for they are sixici- to Nineveh.
finally mentioned both by Shalmannhar and ^ See B. JI. Ser. pi. 70, 1. 17.
Pul as the scones of tlioir sacrilice. Notliing '' In the famous doaunciation of Isaiah
indeed can be more evident than that Baby- against Babylon, chap. xlvi. ver. 1, Bel and
Essay Χ. HIS WIFE ΖΙΠ-ΒΑΝ1Τ, OR SUCCOTE-BEXOTH. 517
Sargon frequently speak of Merodach as an Assyrian god, tliey use
the term Bel alone, and withotit any adjunct, when they notice the
particular idol in the temple of Beth Saggafh, to whom in conjunction
Avith his wife Zir-hanit 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 voydl Babylonian nomen-
clature, as for instance in the names of Merodach- Β alada η and Bel-shar-
uzur, or Bel-shazzar. The Gi eeks, as it is well known, are unanimous
in ascribing the great Temple at Babylon to Jupiter Belus;" 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 Meudasans.'
Bel-3Ierodach is frequently mentioned on the tablets as the son of
Hea and Davhina, in exact accordance with the statement already
quoted of Damascius ; and he is everywhere associated with his
wife Zir-baiiit,^ wdio 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-hanit 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 offspring ;" but fiom
a passage in the great inscription of Xebuchadnezzar, where the
goddess is as usual associated with Merodach, it is evident that Zir
must be a proper name, and that banit, " genitrix," is the mere
feminine of banu, which is one of the standard epithets of Merodach.
The name, as written in the passage referred to, is Zir Um-banifii/a,
or " Zir the mother who bore me;" ^ and it is almost certain that in
Kebo are spoken of as the two gi-eat objects of Sargon refeiTing to his conquest of Baby-
of worship, precisely as Sargon, who was the Ion ; cirdly, on Sir T. Phiilipss 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 Xebuchad-
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 1m 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-hanit, 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 temple leading o( Ziru, compare B. M. Ser. pi. 12,
of Bit Sagged, of which Nebuchadnezzar 1. 10, with pi. 87, 1. 17, and for the indif-
has left so curious an account. It had been feient orthography of this same word Zir
made of silver liy an earlier king, but was with the hard or soft Z, comp. Sir 'Γ. Phil-
overlaid with plates of gold by Nebuchad- lips's Cyl. col. 3, 1. 1, with Birs-Nimrud
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 Sabaeans of Harran not be required.
called the 5th day of the week after Bil, in It may be added that Dr. Ilincks prefers
allusion to the planet Jupiter. (Chwolsolm, regarding the name Zirbanit or Zirpanit as
vol. ii. p. 22.) a feminine adjective from a root Zirb, which
1 Examples of this association occur, 1st, also occurs in the name of the god Bil Zirhu.
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, 1. 15); 2udly, in all the inscriptions if the Zir-Umbanit of the great Nebuchad-
518 NERGAL. ' App. Book L
this title we must look for the original form of the Succoth Iknoth of
Scripture, the goddess worshi])ped hy the Babylonian colonists in
Samaria. AVhether, however, Succoth is a Hamite term equivalent
to Zir, imported by tbe colonists into Samaria, or Avhether, as may
be suspected, it is not rather a Semitic mistranslation of the name
— Zirat, " supreme," being confounded with Zarat, " tents," — is a
jjoint we may hardly venture to decide.
There is but one notice of a temple to Zir-hanit in the inscriptions,
which was at Babylon, and probably attached to the temple of
Bit-Saggath ; * but as the name of Zir-funieh is applied in Arabic
geography to a town on the Tigris, near the site of the ancient
Apamsea, 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
unfortimately erased, and there are no means at present of recognising
the emblems either of the god or of his wife Zir-hanit.
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-shar-uzur , the Νίριγλί/σαρος of the Greeks ; and,
secondly, because the deity in question can be positively identified
with the Kergal 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-gaJ, signiiied probably " the great hero," the fi.i'st element having
a peculiar adjunct attached to it to distinguish Nir, " a man or hero,"
from Nir, "an animal," and the second element gal, being a dialectic
variation of gula, " great." The name is sometimes indicated by the
use of the fi^rst element alone,* as has already been observed in the
case of As for Asshur, San for Sansi, Pa for I'akn, &c. Another title
by which is ergal 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 heiald," bxit rather as " an ancestor." Other names which
equally apply to Ner-gal are " the brother," and " the great brother," *
nezzar inscription l)e really the same god- of Zir-hanit is not given, but it mny be
dess, Dr. Hincks's proposed derivation must presumorl to be the same building as the
fall througli. Bit Zir of the K. I. H. Ins. col. 4, 1. 14,
In the later Persian or Magian mythology though that eililici! is explained to be tiie
iu _ ί -y• i•• I• I• 1 i " tt'mplo of the "rod of ;l/M/-/;/ia/vis," which,
the name or Zirfan , ,Ls,*, wa.s ai)plied to j. . ^Γ . , ι . ,•^, ;.
•' (i -J-J accorduig to the tablets, was a title oi
the moon. See Hyde, JJe Rcl. Vet. Pers. Martus.
P• 2fiO. * As on the notation tablet so often re-
» See Sir T. Phillips's Cyl. col. 1, 1. 32. ferred to.
In this passage the proper name of the temple '•• lu the iu;icription of Sargon at Nimrud^
JlssAY Χ. NEEGAL, THE GOD OF HUNTING. 519
tliongli neither the phonetic reading of such names, nor the allusion
they contain, is very clear. His epithets are not Λ'ery numerous,
but they are for the most part sufficiently 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
lie 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 Nin 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 Scripture, as the god of Cutha or Tiggaha. ^ On Sir Thomas
Phillips' cylinder, Nergal and Laz are the gods of the temple of Miduva
in the city of Tiggaha. On a tablet in the Museum, Nergal is said to
live in Tiggaba. Ful sacrifices to Nergal in Tiggaha, 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 countiy,
CutJia 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 Abi'aham into tlie 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-Khalil. The shrine,
* See the annals of Sardanapalus through- which still exists, and is yearly visited by
out, and more particularly the legends on crowds of pilgrims, is one of the holiest
the hunting slabs of Asshur-bani-pal. spots in the country. The table 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, with on a mistranslation of the name of 11X, Ur,
pi. 91, 1. 82. The city was named Διγουα dates from the 3rd century of our era, and
by Ptolemy, Digba by Pliny, and Tigubis may very possibly have been engendered in
in the Peutingerian map. The ruins of the neighbouriug Jewish academies of Su)-a
Cutha, distant about twelve miles from Ba- and Pombeditlia, but no reason can be
1)ylon, were first discovered by Sir H. Raw- assigned for transferring the scene of the
linson in 1846, 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 Kamil, quoting from Nergal at the latter place. In Arabic his-
contemporary authority, states that Saad, tory the seat of Kimrud's empire is always
the Arabian general in a.h. 16, after taking placed at Cutha.
520 HIS SYMBOL, THE J^IAX-LION. App. Book I.
ordinary term to denote " a lion,"" both of the phrases meaning, as
it would seem, " the great animal," or " the noble animal." We
might thus infer, that ^^e)yal being amongst the gods as the lion
amongst animals, was represented in the Assyrian sculptures by
the fi<nire of the Man- Lion, as his associate ΛΊη. was by the figure of
the Man-JhiU, 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 "Αρης, becomes a legitimate object of
incpiiry.•
The only temple with which we are acquainted as belonging to
Nergal besides the famous shrine at Tiggaha, is a small edifice that
was lately opened on the mound of Sherif Khan, near Nineveh, the
slabs and bricks of \vhich bore legends stating that " Sennacherib,
king of Assyria, had raised a temple named Gallumis, in the city of
Tarliiz, to his lord the god Nergal.'"
Of Laz, the supposed wife of Xergal, 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 fur the planet Mars to the present day.
It remains to consider whether the name of Ahnil — a god w-ho was
worshipped in Assyria as late as the 4th century, Jovian having
destroyed his temple at Nisibis ^ — applies to Nergal or Nin. As Abnil
and jiarzil 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
Abnil 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 Ninimd, and thus record-
ing, it may be presumed, the guardian deity of the spot, wliom we
know to have been Hercules, has been read Auhn-Iia,'' Avhich is the
same as Aubn-il or Abidl, 11 and lia for "a god" being used indif-
' This remarkable variant occurs in the xx. 2, § 1.
Ins., No. 14, from i>;\\\e, 10. ^ The father of the famous Ephr.aem S3rrus
' The nioie especially as the iVetiim states was a priest of this temple. (Asseman. Bib.
that the Saba-ans of HaiTan still applied the Orient, vol. i. p. 26.)
„ . I X ii .-, , 1 !• * Bard or Harz in Kurdish is precisely
name or Ares, , yukj ,1' to the cJru day oi ., „ ,^ν, ■ τ τ , if η
' \jf*T-J •' the same as pis in Helirew, and traces of
the week, or Dies Martis. (Ssabier imd der the old Hamile Babylonian are constiuitly to
Ssabismus, vol. ii. p. 22.) It may be worth be recognised in that and the otlier mountain
while also to notice the trailition preserved dialects.
by Mas.soudi that the Assyrian kings took * Mr. Birch, in his paper on the Nimrud
the name of Arian, or " the Lions," which ivories in the Journal of tlie Royal Society of
was the same as Nimrud. (Notices des Ma- Literature, has translated this name " the
nuscrits, torn. 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 Assyri;m and
in the name of 'A^epviiptyos, king of Spa- Ιία in Babyloni;m for " a god."
sijii Cbirax, mentioned by Josepluis, Ant.
Essay Χ. ISHTAR OR ASTARTE. 521
ferently in tBe ancient Babylonian : but on the other hand, in the
passage upon the cylinder of Keriglissar, where we have the actual
cuneiform name of Abn lia, 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 {N'ergal-shar-uzur meaning " Nergcd
protects the king"), Avhilst 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 : — " Aha lia^ the
champion of the gods, has given him his shield," which of course
may applj^ equally to either deitj^ 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, 12,
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 "Αστάρτη 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 different,
the one answering to the Ehea or Cybele of the Greeks, and the
other to Venus. Jshfar was probably in its origin an Assyrian
term rather than a Babylonian, but in process of time it came to be
used in both coiintries, as a generic name fur a goddess, precisely
as Asshur was also used in Assyrian for a god.•* \\ 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 knoAvn period however of Babylonian history,
the name of N'aiia, phonetically written, is everj^where used to
denote the goddess in question. As far as our present experience
goes, the local name of Nana 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 N^ana to be absolute
synonyms — and the more especially as the two names are actually
in use at the present time, Ashtar in Mend8ean,'*and iA^c/»?' in Syrian,^
to denote the planet Venus, — were it not that in some of the lists
of the idols belonging to the different temples, Ishtar and Λ\ηια are
given as independent deities. Perhaps, however, even in this case,
* So in Scripture Baalim and Ashteroth the fifteen titles applied to the planet Yemis
(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 louud in any Arabic poetry or his-
18 with 1 Sam. Λ'ϋ. 12.) tory that is now extant. The Elymsean
' In the E. 1. House Inscription, col. 5, temple of Venus, as it is well known, is
Is. 47 and 54, where this monogi-am is used called the Temple of ΝανοΓα 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
he Nana. well as their letters from the banks of the
^ See Norberg's Onomasticon, p. 20. Euphrates. I'laces also which still bear the
^ The name of Nani is given by the Sy- name of Biid Λ'άηΐ, or "the lady Venus,"
riau lexicogiapher Bar Bahltd, as one of are not imcommon in Afghauistiin.
522 TITLES AND SHRINES OF ISIITAR. App. Book I.
the distinction may only be that Jahtar is the Babylonian, and Λ'^αιια
the Assyrian Venus. The epithets ap])lied 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
Asurah, "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 Ami as the
patroness of the Avestcrn 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 hiuiting legends of Asshur-baiii-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 Koyanjik, 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 Arbela by Asshur-ham-pal , in whose historical inscriptions
she is moreover usually called " the Lady of Arbela." There 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 Ri, ought to indicate the
other female goddess, Beltis.* Ishtar is occasionally spoken of even
in the inscriptions of Assyria, 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 haΛing sacrificed in Babylonia to Nana the Lady of Babylon,
together Avith four other pairs of deities — Asshur and Sheruha, Bel
(Merodach) and Zir-baidt, Nebo and Varamit, and Nergal and Laz ;
and Sennacherib also relates how he carried off as trophies from
his Babylonian expedition the sun-god of Larancha, Beltis of liubesi,
and Beltis of Warka ; Nana, Bilat Tila (or the Queen of Life ?),
Bidinnu, Bishit, and Nergal.
On one mythological tablet, containing equiΛ'alent 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 Jii for 15 is probably Beltis, for the 6th day of the weeii, or " Dies
cognate with the I'ehlevi lie for 20, and the Veneris." (See Ssabier und der Ssabismus,
term may perhaps have been used indiscri- vol. ii. p. 22.)
minatcly for " a s^oddess," which would * This may be observed in the inscription
a<«ount for its iudiffeient application both to on the baclc of the slab from Ncijub, near
VmMm and Ishtar. Another proof of the Ninirud, which has not yet been pub•
a)nfusion between these goddesses is in the lishejl.
Sabasm use of the name of ,,αΧ^ι Belthi or
.Essay Χ. NEBO. 523
Tirki .-^ and with another deity, " the queen of the stars," evidently
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 uji, 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 giA'en of Neho and
jSlana and Nebo and I aramit, 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 certaiuly against the identity.
Varamit, otherwise of great celebrit3% is never once mentioned in
the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar, full as they are of information
with regard to the temples of Babylonia : she was evidently there-
fore out of favour with that monarch, and N'ana 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 m}'thology, that it cannot be admitted without direct proof.
Ishtar is left Avithout 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 jninor gods is Nebo, or Mercury.
This god was also of Babylonian rather than Assyrian origin, and
had the primitive names of Paku (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 Babirush of the
Babylon, must have been read Oin-Tirki, Persian text.
,.-,..„,.,, i Λ • \ * Nabiu or Λ\ύϊν has been hitherto be-
am, " a city, being the root ot <3uj Va». τ j * v • i i ^•
•" =■ " j"*^' lieved to be a mere irregular phonetic ren-
and the final Μ being the mere affix of dering of the name; but the vocabularies
locality ; what the meaning of Tir, how- show that Nabia was Hamite and Nabu
ever, may liave 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 Χ33,
histoiy, 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
52-4 TEIilPLES OF KEBO. Αγρ. Book I.
tcctioii, calls liim " the inspector over the hcaA^cns and earth, who
has given the sceptre of power into my hand for the guardianship
of mankind ; " and again, " the lord of the constellations (?) Avho
has granted me the sceptre of power for the guidance of m^' people."
So also Keriglissar — " Kabu, the eldest son, has given the sceptre
of poAver into my hand, to guide mankind and to regulate the
people." There are many other epithets which seem to refer to
A'ebo, as the god of learning, or rather of letters, but it would
hardly be safe to ti'anslate them. It may, however, be remarked,
that on the numerous tablets of Asshur-baiii-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, N'abu and Warmita, in evident allusion to their
character as the divinities who presided ολ'ογ knowledge.*
The statues of isebo in the British Museum were found in a
chamber at the south-east corner of the moimd at Kimrud, which
chamber must have belonged to a temple called J3{t Sw/gil, as the
god is named in the inscription Pal- Bit Saggil, "the son of the
temple of Saggil," in the same manner as Nin 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 yet been
found. This temple indeed of Isebo 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
Saggafh, containing the aik of Merodach, is fully described in the
inscriptions of Kebuchadnezzar ; 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 Btt Zida at Bor-
sippa, AA'hich contained the ark or tabernacle of Xebo, 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 liirH NimrudJ
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 tlic two
art, but further research is necessary before signs employed to represent Nebo υη the
they can be satisfactoiily explained. often-ciuoted notation tablet are those which
β 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. Norljcrg,
at the very close of the invocation passages, howevei•, under the head Ncho, in his Ono-
;us the la.4 of the n)inoi• goils. Pul indeed masticon, p. 'JS, remarks of Mercury, " So-
appears to have first brought Nebo promi- latiis et perustus, (•πηι ceteris ))lanetis soli
nently 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 foraied of brick burnt into slag, and exhibit-
the phrase "inventor ofthewiiting of the ing the blue colour which wa;s sacred to
royal tablets."— H. C. K. 18U1.1 hini.
Essay Χ. NEBO, THE GOD OF LEAENING. 525
in no other inscription of Nebuchadnezzar's is there any allnsion to
such a union. There was a part of Babylon apparently called after
Nana "protecting her votaries,"" but she has no temple in Kebu-
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 I aramit
being the wife of Kebo.^
There is another interesting circumstance connected with Kebo's
patronage of learning. In an interior chamber of the Birs Ninirud,
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 Λvriting, 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 hardl}^ be fortuitous. The name alluded to is
Tii\ 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,
callhig it Ίερίιϋων^ or Δφ/οωπε, "given to Mercury." In the Men-
diean 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 Chalda^an
oracles.* There was an old Syriac legend that Hermes was buried
8 See E. I. H. Ins. col. 5, Is. 47 and 54. "•' As the name of this city im-olves some
9 The leading of Varnmit or Urmit is not very important ethnohigical consiilerations,
quite certain, nor is there any etymology for it may be as well to note that the faet of its
the name which appears paiticularly appli- foundation by Nebuchadnezzar is given by
cable, for a derivation from D1"l " to be Jlegasthenes from Abydenus, on the autho-
liigh," 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
A7i(/OTj/iami'i (and there is authority for thus time of Alexander is further proved by the
A'aluins; the initial sign) a far more interest- occurrence of the name of Δφι'δαιτυ, which
ing field would be opened for comparison has precisely the same meaning in .Xrrian.
with Aiabic and Meudwan names. de Reb. Ind. p. 588. See all the authorities
1 It is here taken for granted that Nebo for Teredon and Diridotis in Cell. Geog.
is the planet Mercury. The identification vol. ii. pp. 041, 642. The name of Tiridates,
indeed is proved both by the books of the so well known in later history, is of cognate
]Menda;ans and by the calendar of the Sa- derivation.
bajans of Harran, in which the 4th day of ^ The Persians pretended that the planet
, , ,T^. •., ..> ■ , •• • Mercury received the name of Tir, "an
the week (Dies Mercuni) was named o^xJ, .^,,^.,,,^/' fi^m the swiftness of its movement.
Kehnk, with the guttural termination which (See Hyde de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 242.)
was so often added alter a long rowel. "* See the various notices of this Hermes
526 THE REMAINING GODS. App. Book Γ.
at Kalwadha,* the city from whence the Chaldpeans perhaps took
their name ; ® but no particular connexion has been yet detected in
the inscriptions between that city and Kcbo. The high place of the
latter was Borsippa/ and it was no donbt in the colleges attached
to this shrine of the god of learning that the Borsippene Chaldceans
obtained snch 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 oi Kmmut, the astronomical
name of Nea, and there is doubtless in their functions a general
resemblance between the two gods. In this respect, however,
Bab3donian 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. Allata, a god-
dess named independently, as if of some importance, and pi-obably
therefore identical with the Άλίττα 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 Sei-apis in whose temple at Babylon Alexander's
officers held their vigils in his last fatal illness, praying for the
life of their lord. 'ό. Idak and his wife Belat 3/uk, gods of the
Tigris ; and Siipidat of I 'addida, Lord of the Euphrates. 4. Kant-'
sura, who had a temple at Cutha.^ 5. Kurrikh of Hit Akkd, a goddess
who is very frequently mentioned on the tablets. 6. Sarrakhu and
Mumit, Lord and Lady of Kis (Κισσία of Herodotus). 7. Zaniali of
Khupshan, also of great celebrity in the old Chaldtean time, being
mentioned on Porter's Hymer brick. 8. Lagamal, who is perhaps
the same god a.5 Ip, to whom Nebuchadnezzar raises a temple in the
town of Asbi.* 9. Wada or Nhi- Wada of Tarmaz, whose name pro-
bably occurs in Kalwadha, answering to the Scriptural Chdmad.^
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 Ehikh,
Zarik, Zalmu, Miskhara, Gasran, Vara or Bel Vara (to whom Tiglath-
collected by Chwolsolin in " Ssabier und der ' It is curious that on one tablet Kimisura
Ssabismus," also Smith's Biograph. Die. in should be assigned to Cutha, and Nergal
\-oc. Trismegistus. should be called king of Larancha, in oppo-
* Abulfarage has preserved this tradition sition to all other autliorities which, as far as
in his Histoiia Dynastiarum (p. 8). Babylonia is concerned, pretty well confine
' See tlie cjuotatiou from Massoudi's Terv- Neigal to Cutha or Tiggaba.
Uh in Not. des IVIan. tom. viii. p. 158. " See Sir T. I'hillip>'s Cyl. col. 2, 1. 46.
' Nahn is thus especially named on the Axhi is said in the vocabularies to be equi-
tablets the Lord of Barsip oi• Borsijjpa. A'alent to Nabu, and the town on the tablets
* Stralx), lib. xvi. § (5, p. 509. is ;u>sociated with Borsippa, as if in its im-
' Babel and Bursif are repeatedly named mediate vicinity,
together in the Mendaan Sidr precisely as , ,,^ ,, ,.„ ,. , ,
n' , , , D • ■ i 1 ■ ii ( "j; W(tad, i» , was stdl worshipped by
/i'iifei and iiwsi are associated ni the Λί-'οαΛα ' .? n j
Sura, but the worship of Bel and Kebo the Arabs up to tlie time of the Prophet, and
seems to have expired at tliese places before is denounced in tlie Koran. (See i'ococke's
the former work was written. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 95.)
Essay Χ. VAST MULTITUDE OF DEITIES. 527
Pileser I. raised a temple at Asshur), Shashit, Narud, Kippat, Paniri,
Guiiura, Kilili, Sakhirta, Fashirta, &c.*
5. Every town and village indeed throiigliout Babylonia and
Assyria appears to have had 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 Mendseans, 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. R.]
■* In this brief abstract of the names of tonic Herman or Arminius on the other,
some of the gods mentioned in the mytholo- Another Elymiean god was Humha, and a
gical tablets the foreign deities are not city was called after him near the mouth of
included, though some of their names are of the Euphrates, which seems to be the "Αμπη
considerable interest. The tutelar god of of Heiodotus. On the cylinder indeed of
Susa, for instance, was named Armannit, Asshnr-hani-pal there is a list of twenty
which would seem to be connected with gods whom the king carried oft' as trophies
Ai'imanes on the one side and with the Teu- from Susa.
528 ETHNIC AFFLXITIES. App. Book I.
ESSAY XL
ON THE ETHNIC AFFIN1TH:S OF THE NATIONS OF WESTERN ASIA.
1. Intermixture of races in Western Asia. 2. Earliest population Turanian.
3. Development of Hamitisra and Semitism. 4. Indo-European family. 5.
Turanian races: (i.) Parthians— (ii.) Asiatic Ethiopians — (iii.) Colchians —
(iv.) Sapeiri — (v.) Mosclii and Tibareni -(vi.) Early Armenians— (vii.) Cap-
padocians — v'iu.) Susianians — (ix.) ChaldiEans — ■ (x.) Nations probably
Turanian. 6. Semitic races: (i.) Cilicians — ■ (ii.) Solymi — (iii.) Lydiaus
not Semitic — (iv.) Cappadocians and Himyaritic Arabs not Semitic —
(v.) Other Semitic races. 7. Division of the Semitic races into groups:
((() Eastern, or Assyro-Baby Ionian group — (6) Western, or Hebraio-PhcKnician
group — (c) Central or Arabian group. 8. Small extent of Semitism. !). Late
appearance of the Indo-Europeans historically. 10. Spread of the race from
Armenia, threefold. 11. Northern migration, into Eui'ope. 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.)
Ariaus of Herat — (vii.) Hyrcanians — ( viii. ) Sagartians — (ix. ) Choi'asmians
• — (x.) Sarangians — (xi•) Gandarians, &c. 15. Tabulai* view.
1. In Western Asia, the cradle of llie Imnian race, the several
ethnic branches of the human fiuuily 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 la}^ 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 genei'ally intelligible, had to })ut it out, not only in three
diffei'cnt languages, but in three languages belongiug to the three
])rinci])al divisions of human speech. Hence the trilingual in-
scriptions of Behistun, I'crsepolis, &c., which consist of an Indo-
European, a Tatar, and a Semitic colinun. 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 necessaiy in many places to employ three
tongues, ix'presentatives of the three families, the I'ersian, the
Arabic, and the Turkish, in proclamations addressed generally to
tlie irihal>itaTits. Indo-European and Semitic races continue as of
old the principal occupants of the territory. The Tatar clement is
present now, as then, in a less proportion than the others. Ilie
only dilfeience is, that fi-om 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 AUo))h//h'an, 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 A^arious
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, nider, 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 f 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
betAveen 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 Mas Μ tiller says, " The third The Turanian numerals and pronouns point
family is the Turanian. It comprises all to a single original .-ource ; yet here again
languages spoicen in Asia or Europe not the tenacity of these nomadic dialects cunnot
included imder the Arian or Semitic families, he compared with the tenacity ot the poli-
with the exception perhaps of the Chinese tical languages of Asia and Europe (the
and its dialects. Tliis is, indeed, a very wide Semitic and the Arian) : and common roots,
range ; and the ckaracteristic marks of discovered in the most distant nomadic
uniwi ascertained for this immense varieti/ idioms, are mostly of a much more general
of lamiuages 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 Se;it of War, p. 88. )
Semitic and the Arian." (Languages of the ■* Thus explained by Professor Miiller:
Seat (if War, p. 86, 2ud ed.) "Agglutination. This means not only that
■^ Dr. Prichard. in their grammars pronouns are glued to the
^ " The most necessary substantives, such verbs in order to form the conjugation, or
as fother, 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 ditierent 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 tal^en to
though md 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 Μ
530 THEIR EARLY PREVALENCE. A pp. Γ,οοκ L
marked characteristic, seems almost a necessary feature of any
language in a constant state of flux and change, ahsohitely 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
Avhich we see ; and at any rate vre are not justified in assuming
the same original ethnic unity among the various nations whose
lano-uage is of the Turanian type, which presses upon the mind as
an absohite 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 Avhole
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. \\'ithin this district the
Aimenians (?), the Susianians or Elymasans, the early Babylonians,
the inhabitants of the south coast of Arabia, the original people
of the Great Jranic plateau and of the Kiirdish 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, tliey are still Baliylonian language in its allinity with tlie
felt as modificatory syllables, and distinct Susianian, the second col'iniu of the cunei-
fiom the words to which they are added." form trilingual inscriptions, the Armenian
(Languages of the Seat of War, p. 90.) cuneiform, and the Mantehoo Tatar on the
•' The original occupation of Asia by Tu- one hand, with the Galla, the (iheez, and the
ranian races is proved in the text, and is ancient Egyptian on the other, may be c:itcd
generally admitted ; the peopling of Europe as a proof of the original unity between the
in primeval times by tribes having a similar languages of Afi-ica and Asia ; a unity sutK-
form of speech, which yielded everywhere to ciently shadowed out in Cenesis (x. 6-20),
the Indo-European race<, and wei-e either and contirmed by the manifold traditions
absorbed or driven into holes and corners, is concerning the two Ethio])ias, the Cushites
a]>]iarent fi'om the jiosition of the Laps, Fins, above Egypt, and tlie Cushites of the Persian
Esths, and Ba^cjues, whose dialects are of the (!ulf Haniitism, then, although no doubt
Turanian type. Africii, where the Hamitic the form of speech out of which Scmitism
character ot speech prevails, might seem to be was developed, is itself rather Turanian than
an excejjtion, more especially since Hamitism Semite ; and the triple division correspontl-
is represented by the best modern Ethnolo- ing to the sons of Noah, whi('h the earlier
gers (Bunsen's Philosojdiy of Universal His- cthnolngers adopted, may still be retained,
toiy, vol. i. ch. vi. ; Max Miillci's Lan- tlic Turanian being (dassed with the Hamitic,
guages of the Seat of War, p. 'J4, 2nd ed.) of which it is an earlier stage.
as a form of Semitisin, and distinct altogether '^ Eor the (letail of the pi(X)f, vide infra,
from the Turanian family. But the early j>p. 5:3•'3-539.
Essay XI. HAMITISM AND SEMITISM. 53 1
day, the language of foiir-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 ont Semitism. It is impossible 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
Eg3'pt. From the Egyptians, the children of Mizraim, it naturally
spread to the other Hamitic races — then peihaps 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, Tj^re, and the country 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, Λvhich 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 lingixistic type to the upper Tigris, and middle Euphrates,
to Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and the borders of Eg3-pt. Asshur
probably " went forth " at this time out of Babylon into Assyria,'
while the Aram^ans 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 ^V'estern Africa, on the other.
4. The origin of the Indo-European tongue is iuA^lved in com-
plete obscuiity. Whether it was from the first a form of language
7 Egypt is κατ' (ζοχην the " land of Hamitic races can diverge to Ethiopia, Ara-
Ham " (Ps. Ixxviii. 51; cv. 23, 27; cvi. bia, Babylonia, Palestine, and the Syrian
22), theiefore perhaps called Chenii, its only coast. (ISee the £;eue;dogy of the children of
title upon the monuments. Ham probably Ham, Gen. x. 6-20.)
took up liis alioile there, and his name pa-s^ed ** Siijjrh, 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 tirst seat of civilisa- pare the Essay appended to Book vii., ' On
tiou in Egypt. Egypt too furnishes tlie the Early Migrations of the Phoenicians.'
natural centre from which the ditlerent
2 Μ 2
532 TURANIAN RACES. " Αι•ρ. Book I.
distinct from the Turanian, or wlietlier, like Semitism, it was a
development, Λνβ have no linguistic records left us to determine.
It is perhaps most philosophical to suppose that one law produced
hoth the Semitic and Indo-European types ; and as the former can,
it is thought, be proved to have been developed from the primitiA^e
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 Avas 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
mountain region one line may be supposed to have passed into
Asia Minor, and thence floΛved 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 Afighanistan, and
settled upon the Indus.
5. Of the original period of Turanian preponderance — the period
designated by the term Σκυβισμος in early Christian Avriters* — •
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 Scythic
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 everywhei'e 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 Acha?menian monuments,
wherever set up, contain in one column a Scythic dialect,^ which
would certainly not have Ijecn 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. Foioign Office. (Journal of the Asiatic Soci-
" Paschal Chronicle (p. 49, a) ; Epipha- ety, vol. xv. part i.)
uius (adv. Ha'res. i. 5-7); John of Malala ^ II. Bun.sen produces a wrong impres-
(Chronogr. p. 25-26). sion when he speaks of the Scythic transla-
* Beros. Fr. 11. tion as intended "for the Transoxnnian or
•^ Justin, i. l,andii. 1-4-. Scythian pii])ulatioiis " (I'hilos. of Univ.
^ Herfxl. i. ΤΛ, 1(ΐ4-(3; iii. 93; vii. 64. Hist. i. γ. 11)4). They could only be in-
' This w;us first asserted by Sir H, Raw- tendeil for the Scythian population of the
liiison (Uch. Inscr. i. p. 34). It has since places where they were set up.
beeu abundantly proved by Mr. Norris of the
Essay XI. PAETHIANS. 533
in Persia proper — at Kakhsh-i-Eustam and Pasargadae. They can
only be accounted for by the supposition, that before the great im-
migration of the Arian races from the East, Scythic or Tatar 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 countr}-. The Sacai of
Herodotus, and 8aka of the inscriptions, distinguished into Snka
JJumaicarga,^ and Saka Tigrakhtda, are remnants of this description ;
and, taken in conjunction with the Armenians (?), Susianians,
C'haldfeans, 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 imder
the former head — besides the Sacae — the Parthians, the Asiatic
Ethiopians, the Colchians, the Sapeiri, the Tibareni, and the
Moschi ; under the latter the Armenians, the Cappadocians, the
Susianians, and the Chalda^ans 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 Arsacidie, 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 I'arthians, 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 Achfemenian 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 //«ma- [Justin's etymology, however, if true, would
warga are clearly identical with the Άμνρ- be Arian. His reference is to the Sanscrit
yioi of Herodotus (Λ'ϋ. 64) and Hellanicus «v^
(Fr. 171). The 7'<;,//-a/.7i?iffa are proved by ^Τ'^^ίΤ J>rtrc?es, "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, sli. 1-4; Far,'" another." — H. C. R.]
Arrian. Fr. 1. 3 Arrian expressly asserted this (Fr. 1).
2 Strabo speaks of their customs as εχοι/τα He is followed by Syncellus (p. 248, b),
τΓολυ μΐν τί> βάρβαρον κα\ rh Sicu- Zosimus (i. 18), Moses of Chorene (ii. 1),
θ ι κ ό V. Justin says, '' armorum patrius &c. Strabo makes Arsaces a king of thie
ac Scythicus mos" (xli. 2). The latter Dahx who conquered Parthia (1. s. c.) ; but
writer derives their name from a Scythic he allows that some authore spoke of him as
Λvord (" Stythico sermone Parthi ' exules ' leailing a Parthian i-evolt.
dicuntur," xli. 1), ami says their language '' Justin, i. 2; xli. 1. So Arrian: nap-
was a mixture of Scythic and Median (xli. 2). dovs 4πϊ Ίΐσώστρώο? τοΰ Ρα-γυπτίων βα-
He represents them, like the Calmucks and σιλίωί . . . airh των σψων χώραε'Σκυθία!
other Tatars, as always on horseback (ch. 3). fis tV vvf μΐτοικησαι (Fr. 1). John of
534
ASIATIC ETHIOriANS — COLCHIANS. Λργ. Book L
on account of their locality, Avith Arian races — tlie Chorasmians,
Sogdians, Avians of Herat, Zarangians, Sagartians, &c.* — must be
considered a remnant of the early popiilation, ccnKpiered 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 Avithin the limits of the Tersiau
empire.
(ii.) Tlie Asiatic Ethiopians, by their very name, which con-
nects them so closely with the Cushite people inhabiting the
country above Egypt, 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, dAvelling
along the shores of the Southern Ocean, from India to the })illars
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 fa(;t 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 Se.iostris brought them from
Scythia aud settled them in Persia (p. 26).
It is strange that Moses of Chorene' should
suppose that they were descendants of
Abraham by Keturah (ii. 65), and therefore
a Semitic race.
' i-ee Herod, iii. 93 ; Λ'ϋ. 66. Beh. Inscr.
col. i. par. 6, Persep. Ins. iv. par. 2 (i. p. 42,
Lassen), Nakhsh-i-Kust. Ins. vi. par. 3 (NK.
p. 81, Lassen).
^ Their language became (as Justin says)
partly Median, and we may see that they
affecteil Arian names. The Kmpcror Julian
says, Οίαίτώί^ουσι καϊ άπομίμυννται τά
Πΐρσικα, ουκ a^iovvTes, 4μοϊ δοκεΓ, Παρ-
θυάΐοι νομίζΐσθαι, Π4ρσαι 8e elvai ττροσ-
ττοιούμίνοι. (Or. de Coustiint. gest. ii.
p. 6.•}, A.)
^ Cf. Horn. Od. i. 2.',. Ephor. Fr. 28.
Strab. i. ])p. 48-51. Stra))o calls this view
" the ancient opinion concerning the Ethio-
pians"''τ ή j» παλαιοί' rrepl rfjs Αίθιο-
irias δόξαν).
^ For the traditions concerning Memnon
see note on Book v. ch. 54. liecent lin-
guistic discoveiy tends to show that a Cush-
ito or Ethiopian race did in the earliest times
extend itself along the shores of the Southern
oceau from Abyssinia to India. The whole
Peninsula of India was peopled by a race of
this character before the influx of the Arians :
it extended from the Indus along the sea-
coast through the modern Beloochistiin and
Kennan, which \v;i.s the proper country of
the Asiatic Ethiopians ; the cities on the
northern shores of the Persian Gulf are
shown by the brick inscriptions found among
their ruins to liave belonged to this race ; it
was dominant in Susiana and Babylonia,
until overpowered in the one country by
Arian, in tlie other by Semitic intrusion; it
can be traced, both by dial«:t and tradition,
throughout the whole south coast of the
Arabian peninsula, and it still exists in
Abyssinia, whore the language of the princi-
pal tril)o (the Guild) furnishes, it is thought,
a cine to the cuneiform inscriptions ot
Susiana and Elymais, which date from a
})eriod probably a thousand years befbre our
era.
9 Herod.
ii. 104.
1 Agath.
ii. 18,
P•
103.
. Ρ
roc
. de B. G.
. 2. vol. i
. p. 566
. C.
I).
'' MiiUer
's Lang.,
&c
. p.
12G.
2nd chL
Essay XI. SAPEIRI — MOSCHl AND TIBARENI. 535
grapliers,^ λυΗο were certainly Scytlis, and who may fairl}' 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 Meskech 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 M^th 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 Λνΐιοΐβ, to the " Turanian family of speech.""
(λ^) The Moschi and the Tibareni, always coupled together by
Herodotus," and constantly associated, under the names of Muskai
and Taplui, 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 distinctly referring
either of them to a particular branch, we may assume the same of
the other. Now the Muskai (or Μοσχοί of the Greeks) are regarded
on very sufficient grounds as the ancestors of the Muscovites, who
built Moscow, and who still give name to Eussia throughout the
East ; and these Muscovites \\άχο, been lately recognised as be-
longing to the Tchud or Finnish family," which the Sclavonic
Kussians conquered, and which is a Avell known Turanian 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.^
' See note^ to Book i. ch. 104. The con- addition of the words κα\ 'Σαρμάτων, since
necting links between the two names are the Sarmatians were certainly luJo-Eu-
found in writers of the time of the Byzantine ropean, being the ancestors of the Slavonic
empire, as Menander Protector, Prisons 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 Sabeiri, tantly connected with any other idiom," and
Sabii-i, and sometimes, though more rarely, the people to be " a particular race" (Phys.
Abeires. (Ibid. Fr. 42 ; comp. Steph. Byz. Hist, of Mankind, vol. iv. p. 2i38) ; but the
2άπ£ίρ€$ ot νΰν Ktya^evot '2,a0€ipes.) progi'ess of philological science enables Pro-
•* See Prichard's Physical Hist, of Man- tessor Miiller to deteimine that the Georgian
kind, Λ'οΐ. iv. p. 262. The Armenians still and other Caucasian dialects form " one of
«ill the Georgians by the name of Virk, 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 ; vLi. 78.
j)eopl€ dwelling on the Kur or Cyrus river. ^ Gen. x. 2 ; Ezek. xxvii. 13 ; xxxii. 26 ;
^ Strab. xi. p. 728. Ή Μοσχικη τρι- sxxviii. 2-3,
μερήϊ icTTf τί) μ€ν yap ίχουσιν avT-qs " See a paper by M. Osann in the Philo-
Κίίλχοι, rh δ€ "I/STjpes, rh δέ Άρμίνιοι. logus, λ'οΐ. ix. art. ii.
* Ibid. p. 730. ^ Scholiast, ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1010.
'' Ibid. "Σκυθών Βίκην ^ώ;'Τίϊ καΐ 2αρ- ΎιβαρηνοΙ, ίθνο$ ΣκυθΙαί. If we hold,
μάτων, ωντηρ καΙ 'όμοροι κα\ avyyevtis with Herodotus, that the Colchians were of
flaiv. This testimony is weakened by the the same race with the Hamites of Egypt,
536 THE ARMENIANS AND CArPADOCIANS. Arp. Book I.
(vi.) That the early inhabitants of Armenia were Turanian, may
be inferred from the inscriptions of A"an, Avhich are written in a
hingnap;e identical, in many rcsjiects, with the old Hamitic dialect
of ('haidixia. At Λvhat time these primitive inhabitants gave Avay 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 imcertain ; but probably
the two ethnic elements were blended together in the country from
a very ancient date ; and it may be suspected that the ΛvestΛvaΓd
movement of the Arians in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.
Avas connected with the transfer of poAver. The Annenian 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 Tartar 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 gi'ounds for assigning
the movement to about the close of the seventh centruy 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 diihculties, and
at the present stage of the inquiry it is impossible to offer more
than a pi-obable 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 ΛΛ'hole 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 Tdiud or Fin-
nish family,' having ascended the mountain-chain of Syria on being
thon the close connexion of the Moschi and Byz. ad voc. Άρμΐνία).
Tibaieni, especially the former, with tlie ^ 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 r^cytliic character. For of the Venetians fiom the Medes (v. 9).
this connexion, which tnai/ however be one of " ^^ee Prichard, vol. iv. jip. 557-.")<31.
mere locality, comp. Hecat. Fr. 188 (^Μόσχοι, ^ See the hut page. A trace of the occu-
(θνο$ ΚόΚχων), and iStrab. 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
Ig.'jtj. Cffisarea — which was Mazaca. Josephus
* Prichard's Phys. Hist. vol. iv. pp. 2a8-9. speaks of this town as foundeil by Meschech,
Miiller's Languages of the Se;it of War, p. the son of .laphet, whom he niaiies the jiro-
o4, 2n(l ed. genitor of the Mosocheni or IMoschi ; and he
'"' Ili'rod. vii. 7:i. expressly asserts that this )]eople came after-
^ T^ ψωι/ρ iroWa φρν/'ίζουσι (Steph. waids to be called Cappadocians (Ant. Jud*
Essay XT. THE PRIMITIVE 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 inliabitants, and forming a mixed Scytho-Arian
race, such as we have examples of in the present day in the im-
metliately contiguous nations of the Armenians and Georgians, in
the language of one of which the Scythic element predominates,
in the other the Arian. At anj' late this appears to be the only
possible mode of reconciling the following array of incongruous
ethnic evidence. 1. The Cappadocians are always called " Sjnians,"
or " White Syrians," by the Greeks,^ in allusion to the country
from whence they moΛ-ed 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 Chald^ean monarchs, as
Avell 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 mx;st 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 Phainaspes,
king of Cappadocia, who married Atossa, sister of a Cambyses king
of Persia (probably the great-grandfather of Cyrus the Great), and
Avho 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 Pei-sians, 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 Vakman, Anandates Amendat (the Pehlevi form of Amerdad),
and Anaitis, the Anohifa whose worship was first introduced into
Babylon from Persia by Artaxerxes Mnemon.* The Cappadocian
months also, Avhich occur in the Hemerology of the Florence
Library, have all Persian names. — H. C. E.]
(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
mixtme of races followed the Persian conquest of the country,
i. 6). Moses of Choiene calls the founder * Strab. xv. pp. 1039-1042.
Mesacus, and makes him the son of Aram, ^ Έι> rfj Καππαδοκία πολύ 4στι τί»
and contemporai-y with Abraham (i. 13, των M.aya>u <pvKov .... πολλά δί καϊ
p. 39). των Περσικών θ(ών Upa, xv. p. Iu40.
2 See note ' to Book i. ch. 72. " Beiosns, Fr. 15.
3 See DioJ. Sic. ap. Phot. Bibl. cod. p. ' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
1150. vol. XV. part 1.
5oS THE AKKAD OR CIIALDEES OF BABYLON. App. Book I.
ΛνΙΐΘΐι the Arians fi-oin Pevsia ΓΐΌρβι- de.scendcd the flanks of Zagros
and spread tlicmselves into the fertile plain at its base, deserting
for this region their own poorer country, and transferring the seat
of empiie from the outlying cities of I'asargadas 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
I'ersia," and its inhabitants almost lost any s])ecial appellation. ' In
the time of Herodotus, however, the absorption was only in pro-
gress, and the name of Cissian {Κίσσιυι), which was in use in his
day, and w-hich is a mere variant for Cush or Cushite,* sei'ves to
show that the Scythic descent of the inhabitants was, at least tacitly,
recogTiised, and their connexion with the Egyptian, 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 jS'ebuchadnezzar. The most ancient historical records found in
the country, and many of the religiotis and scientific documents to
the time of the conqueror of Judasa, 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 w^as spoken,
Avhose principal tribe M^as the Akkad, may be regarded as repre-
sented by the Chalda^ans of the Greeks, the Casdim (D"'"nb'3_) of the
Hebrew writers.* This race seems to haA'e gradually developed
the t^^e 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 Chalda^ans of later
times. Akkadian colonies also Λvere transported into the wilds of
Armenia by the Assyrian kings of the Lower Empire, and strength-
ened the Hamitic element in that quarter.*
^ Strab. XV. p. 1031. SxeSbi» 5e' τι καΧ Susiana or an adjoining district must be
71 2oii(rls μίρο$ yeyivrirai τ^$ Πίρσίδοϊ. intended. The eastern Ethiopians of Hero-
Compare SoUn. c. 58 ; Hustatli. ad L)iou. 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 PHny (H. N. vi. 26), Persian empire. (Supra, p. 534.)
and Ptolemy ({Jeogr. \\. 3-4). 2 gge Sir H. liawlinson's note on Book 1.
"^ So Bochart, Geograph. .Sac. iv. 12. eh. 181. It must not, however, be sup-
' Cush is the son of Ham, and brother of posed that there is any etymologii'al con-
Misraim (Gen. x. 6). In the Hebrew Scrip- nexion between the words Akkad and Casdim.
tures the word Cush (ET-IS) is used fre- 'J"'» la^^r term is represented by the cunei-
quently in an ethnical sense, and ordinarily f"'™ Kaldai, Λvhich is found in the .same
TMt&m the Ethiopians. In Numbers xii. 1, inscriptions with Akkad, and is a completely
however, it seems to designate the Midian- Ji'li-'ient word. The Knldai appejir to have
ites, a people of Southern Arabia, which was l'e«n the hading tribe of the AJaad.
origimilly occupied by Cushites (Gen. x. 7), •* This is possibly the true explanation
who thus extended from the country above of the occurrence of Chalda?ans among the
Egypt through Arabia to the shores of the mountain-tribes of Aniienia (so often foimd
Indian ocean. In Ezek. xxxviii. 5, where Cush in the (ireuk historians and geographers,
occurs in connexion with Phut and Elam, Xeu. Auab. IV, iii. § 4; Vii. viii. § 25 j
Essay ΧΙ. 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, thongh not the later, Cilicians.*
Local position, constant association with tribes knoAvn to have been
Turanian, peculiarity of nomenclature, and other reasons, seem to
incline the balance in these comparatiA'ely obscui-e cases in favour
of a Tatar or Scythic origin for the nation in prefereDce 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 jDrocess 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., loug subsequently
to the time when Hamitic kingdoms were set up on the banks of
the Kile and the Euphrates. Commencing in Babylonia among
the children of Ham, but specially adopted and perhaps mainly
forwarded by those of Shem, Mdio 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 great
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 Jcavs, the
Cyprians, the Cilicians, the Solymi, and the northern Arabians.
The Babylonians also, as distinct from the Chaldgeans, may be
joined to this group, for in the time of the later empire they had
fully adopted the Semitic character and speech.
(i.) λ\ 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
ΧολδαΓοί. Eusfcith. ad Dionys. Perieg. 768, the Essay on the Religion of the Ancient
&c.), wliich led to the ν,-'Λά theory of Gese- Persians, and that of the Budians may be
nius, Heeren, and others, that the Chalda?ans concluded from their probable identity with
of Babylonia were a colony from the northern the Phut of Scrij>ture (vide supra, page 349,
mountains, settled in tliat country by some note *). The early Cilicians are so closely
one of the later Assyrian kings. Or perhaps connected with the Moschi and Tibareni in
the name Chalda;an was widely spread among the Assyrian inscriptions, that they must be
the Hamitic inhabitants of Western Asia, regarded as belonging to the same race. (See
before the development of Semitism in the note ^ on Book i. ch. 74.)
Mesopotamian Λ'alley 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 wa-s 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 Avith the lan-
noeci, and Mares are always joined with the guage of the northern or Joktanian Arabs.
Aloschi and Tibareni (iii. 94 ; vii. 78 ; Xen. (See Bunsen's Philosophy of Universal Hia-
Anab. vii. viii. § 25), and are said to have tory, vol. i. pp. 231-233.) •
been armed as the latter. The Scythic
540 CILICIAXS AND SOLYMI. " Αγρ. Eook I.
fliversitv of opinif)n amons; etlmoloircrs. They are for the most
part inclined to extend somewhat further the limits of the etlinic
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
argiunents are of little Aveight against the positive testimon}' of
historians supported by the evidence of facts. Herodotus' and
Apollodorus " witness to the traditional connexion of Cilicia with
riicvnicia, and Bochart' proves a community of names and customs
which even alone would be decisive of the point. Besides, if the
Solymi of Herodotns and the Pisidians of later wi-iters, are granted
to be of I'hoenician, i. e. of Semitic origin, the intermediate conntry
of Cilicia can scarcely be assigned to a different race. Jt is likely
enoTigh that the first occupants of Cilicia were Turanian ; ^ but when
the maritime power of the Phoenicians grew np on the adjoining
coast, Cilicia naturally fell rmder their influence, and the ^J^iranians
were absorbed or diiven to the mountains. It is granted that at
least the later coins of Cilicia have all Phoenician legends,* Avhicli
Would not have been the case unless the population had been a
kindred people. Cilicia during Persian times always maintained a
position of rywaw'-independence, and was quite separate from Phoe-
nicia, which even belonged to a different satrapy.*
(ii.) The ethnic character of the Solymi depends mainly npon the
assertion of Chairilus^ that they spoke a Phcenician dialect. It is
confirmed by their name, which connects them very remarkably with
the Hebrew Ώ7ψ and C?!;i'-11j {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
Avhole 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 Scripturaj Linguaque Phoenicia! * Herod, iii. 90, 91.
Moiuimenta, p. 11. 5 ^p, ]^^eh. Prsep. Ev. Lx. 9, and Josepli.
** Herod, vii. 91. Ουτοι (KiAt/ces) ^π1 c. A]>. i.
Κίλι/foy του 'AyTjvopos avS pos Φ ο i- " Tzetzes (Chil. vii. Hist. 149) says that
viKos, ΐσχον r)]v ιπωνυμίτην. Compare tliey were τροχοκουράδίϊ, " shorn all round
Arrian. Ir. 69. their heads," a custom ascribed by Herodotus
^ Bibliothec. iii, i. § 1. Apollodorus to the Arabs (iii. 8), and mentioned in Scrip-
makes Agenor the brother of Behis, and ture as practised by the Etlomites, Jloabit«s,
gives him three sons, Cadmus, riioeiiix, and ami Ammonites (Jer. i.x. 20), who were all
Cilix. Another account made Cilix the son Semitic tribes.
of^ Phoenix. (Schol. ad Αρυΐΐυη. lUiod. ii. ' Plut. de Def. Orac. ii. p. 421, D.
^ 1^)• * As the mountains Solyraa, Phoenix, and
I I'lwleg. part ii. book i. ch. 5. Massicytus (comp. Heb. p-ISD, "steep"):
' bee the last page, note ••, and compare , ^
note 3 on Book i. ch. 74. Were the Cili- ^^^ district Cabalia (Heb. 733 as in Psalm
cians of• the Λv^tel■n t«ist of Asia Miuor bixxhi. 7 Arabic, Gebel, al'in Gebcl al
(Horn. Π. v.. 397 ; Strab. xni. pp. 878-88UJ -farif, " Gibraltar "), &c. And see Bochart,
a remnant of the siime race ? ρ,,,/ϋ. ^ook i. .h. 6.
^ Gesenuis, 1. s. c.
Essay XI.
THE LYDIANS NOT SEMITES.
541
tlie mountains. The Milyans, according to Herodotns '' 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
Chimera denotes the valour and agility of the mountaineers. '*''
(iii.) It may peihaps be thought that in thus bringing a Semitic
people as far into Asia Minor as the confines of Caria, the way is
pre]mred for extending them still furthei•, and an increased pro-
bability imparted to the theory of the Semitic origin of the Lydians.
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. Testing 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 Avhich 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
Agrcjn, the son of Ninus and grandson of Belus, founder of a Lydian
dynasty, on the other he may be quoted as distinctly opposed to
the view, since he derives Agron and his dynasty from the Grecian
9 Herod, i. 173.
1 Strab. xiv. p. 952.
2 Ibid. xiii. p. 904-.
3 H. N. V. 27.
■• Ad voc. Πισιδία.
*^ The term Shalnmn was used by the
Assyrians for the West, in alhision to the
Sun's retiring to rest — and this may be the
origin of the name of the Solymi. It is
at any rate from this word Shalam, " the
West," that the name of Sehn is deriΛ'ed,
who ruled over the western division of the
dominions of Feriduu. — [H. C. R.]
' See Bunsen's Philosojihy of Universal
History, vol. ii. p. 10 ; Movers, Phouizier,
i. 475 ; O. Muller, S;uidon and Sardanapal.
p. .38 ; Priehard, Phys. Hist, of Mankind,
vol. iv. p. 562 ; Lassen, Ueber die Sprachen
Kleinasiens, pp. 382, 383.
^ See Bunsen, 1. s. c, who refers to an
essay by P. Boetticher, entitled ' Kudimenta
Mythologiae Semitica',' published at Berlin
in the year 1848, where Sadyattes is ex-
plained by ''t2n •ΊΠΰ', " poteus per Atti-
dem," and Alyattes by *LSn '••I^V, " elevatus
per Attidem " Γρ. 15) ; on which it is enough
to observe that the Lydian form of the god's
name was not Attes or Attis, like the Phry-
gian (Dem. de Cor. 324 ; I'ausan. vii. xvii.
§ 5, and XX. § 2 ; Polyhist. Fr. 47 ; Diod.
Sic. iii. 57), biit Atys (Herod, i. 7, 34, 94;
vii. 27, 74 ; Xauth. Fr. 1 ; Diouys. Hal.
A. R. i. 28).
' The Arian derivation of Candaules (from
Sanscr. JJ c| = Gr. κΰων, Lat. cams, Germ.
hund, and '2' dii, " to tear "') is witnessed
by Hippouax (Fr. 1), a poet of the time of
Croesus, in the famous line, Έρμη κυνάγχα
Μ-ρονιστΙ KaySavAa, whence Tzetzes 'Chil.
vi. 482) h:\s his explanation : rh Se Kav-
ζαύ\η$ AvdiKws τόν σκυΚοιτνίκτην Ktyti
(Chil. vi. Hist. 54). That Sardis in Lydian
meant " the year " was declared by Lydus
(de Mensibus, iii. 14) ; and a similar word
with that meaning is found in Sanscrit,
Zend, Ai-menian, and Achaimenian Persian
(see note '' on Book i. ch. 7). Ma was the
LydLm term for Rhea, " the great Mother "
(Steph. Byz. ad voc. Μάστουραι ; and
ηι/ιηρ/κτ (νύμφαι) was the Lydian name for
the Muses (Dionys. Rhod. Fr. 11). Perhaps
the supposed connexion of Atys with Sttj
(Etym. Magn. ad voc. *Άτη$ ; cf. Clem. Al.
Cohort, ad Gentes, p. 10) was not purely
imagin-iry.
'^ Priehard, 1. s. c.
542 THE CANAANITES. App. Book T.
Herciilcs, and connects the Lydian race with the Mysians and
Caiians/ the latter of whom he considers actual Leleges.* The
Lydians therefore must he regarded, unless additional evidence
can be produced, as an Indo-European people, and the Semites of
the continent must he 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, which are here excluded
from it, are the C'appadocians 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 Himyavitic Ai-abs are excluded because it is
believed that their language, admitted to be closely akin to the
Ethiopian, is C'ushite ; 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 countiy they had by some
means been Semitised, since all the Canaanitish names of the time
are palpably Semitic* I'l-obably the movements from the country
about the i'ersian Gulf, of which the history of Abraham furnishes
an instance, had been in progress for some time before he quitted
Ur ; 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 ;* 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 arj-ange-
ment here made requires the reduction of the number to three, the
southern or Ekkhili Arabic being assigned to the Turanian division.
8 By making Car and Mysus brothers of Babylonian language, see Sii• II. liawlinson's
I.yilus (i. 171). Memoir (As. Soc. Journal, vol. .\iv. part i.) ;
' Ibid. Rapes . . τυ παλαιοί/ (ovres on that of the Assyrian, see his ' (Vmimen-
Mij/co τ€ κατ-ηκοοι καΐ καΚΐ 6 μ( ν οι fciry ' (pp. 10-16) ; on the Semitic character
A β λ ί γ 6 s. of the Pha'nician remains, see Gesenius (Scrip-
2 Supra, ])p. 536, WM . tune Linguieque l'htenici:L- Monnmentii) ; on
* (jen. X. 6 and 15-20. the Sinaitic rock-inscriptions, compare Bun-
* As Melchizedek (DnV's'?» "king of ^^■" (M'ilosophy of Univ. Hist. vol. ii. pp.
" •••••• •: - " 2:il-'.'39).
righteousness "), Abimelech (η^Ο'^ηΧ " a "^ As in the case of the Arabic and the
■ "■ Syriac, which is continued in the Chaldee.
king is my father"), Salem (D^tJ* "peace"), ' Priclianl, I'hvs. Hist, of Mankind, vol.
. " '' iv. p. 55(') ; Uunsen, Philos. of L'uiv. Hist.
* vol. i. pp. 193-245.
'' On the Semitic character of the later
Essay XI. CONCENTEATION OF THE SEMITIC FAMILY. 543
(a.) The eastern group consists of the nations inhabiting the
Mesopotamian Λ^ alley, extending northward to Armenia, and west-
ward to the mountain-chain of Lebanon. It comprises the Assyrians,
the later Babylonians, and the Aramaeans or Syrians, whose language
seems to be continued in the modern Chaldee.
(6.) The western group is formed of the nations on the coast of
the Mediterranean from the borders of Egj'pt to I'amphylia, 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 I'hoenicians, the Cilicians (with whom may be
classed the Pisidians and the Solymi), the Cypriots, and the Poeni
of Africa. Eemnants of this race remain 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 occu])ied 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. Under the stimulus of religious fanaticism, the Arabs
in the seventh century of our era burst from the retirement of the
desert, and within a hundred j-ears 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
* See the Essay of Gesenius, entitled dedly Semitic than the Egyptian (Miiller,
' Versuch iiber die Maltische i^prache,' pub- p. 24), which is probably the result of
lished at Leipsic in 1810. Other writers Carthaginian intluence, or even admixture,
call the Maltese "a corrupt Arabic" (Miil- Phcenician inscriptions are found in the heart
ler's Languages of the Seat of War, p. 2ΰ). of Numidia, and the coins of Juba have Phce-
' The Berber language is far more deci- nician legends.
544 INTELLECTUAL ENERGY OF SEMITISM. App. Book L
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 sliorter 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 Chalda?ans 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 aftecting 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 world'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
\A'estern Asia, as an important element in the population, is con-
siderably subsequent to the rise of the Semites. At Avhat exact
time the Indo-European type of speech was originally developed, it
is indeed impossible to determine; and no doubt Ave must assign a
very early date to that primitive dispersion of the varioiis sections
of this family, of which a slight sketch has been already given,*
and which may possibly have been anterior to the movements
whereby 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 tlie somewhat doubt- rical) Chaldaean dynasty ffiom about B.C.
ful cases above mentioned of the Berbers and 2458 to B.C. 2234•), are not to be rej^arded
the Maltese. as ludo-luiroiieans, but as Turanians of the
2 Gen. ix. 27. primitive tyjx;. (See above, Kssay iii. ]>. 327,
3 The West has known two gre;»t revo- and vi. p. 353.) It is doubtful whether the
lutions, conversion to Christianity and the name Mede is originally Arian, or whether
Reformation. Tiie East hm only expe- it was not adopteil 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, fiom the Semitic race, however, it be considered strictly Arian, we
Even the lieformation, which we are apt to may sujjpose Berosus to have meant that
consider the mere fruit of Teutonic Kexson, Babylon wa-s in these early time-; held in
may be ti'aced back to the sjiirit of imjuii-y siibje('t'on 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 supi)osition ;
studious persons to physical science, and for I cannot imagine that, if there had been
made Aristotle intelligible by means of trans- leidly a jwwerful race of Medes in these
lations and commentaries. parts, they would have disjipjieared altogether
■* Supra, page 532. from history for fifteen hundred ye;vrs, and
•■' The Meles, who ''according to Berosus) then reappeared stronger than ever,
reigned in Babylon before tlie first (histo-
Essay XI. SPREAD OF THE INDO-EUEOPEAN 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 pei-haps allowable to conjecture that
the Massa-geta3 and Thyssa-getge (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 \^arious 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 Taunis, and extending them-
6 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. po])\ilation. (Compare the ΧάΧυβοε 2κυ-
i. 28; vii. 75), the Mariandyni, and the βώι/ &ποίκο5 of iischylus, Sept. c. Th.
Taphlagones (see Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 72j).
ii. 181; Strab. viii. p. 501; and xii. 785;
VOL. I. 2 Ν
546 NORTHERN AND AVESTERN MIGRATIONS. App. Book I.
selves at the expense of the Turanians, who wore thinly spread over
the peninsula. After a while the harrier was surmounted by the
more enterprising^ peo})le, and the Indo-Europeans 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 Pisidai. The nations of this migration are the Pelasgi,
the Phrygians, the Lydians, the Carians, the Mysians, the Lycians,
and ( 'auuians, and perhaps the Matieni.* These last form a con-
necting link between Armenia, the country whence the migration
issued, and Plirygia, that into which it was dii'ected 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 with-
out conqiiesf,^ 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
wTiether the language of the Pelasgians differed from Gi'eek 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 eai"ly 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 obs(;rver as in any way
allied to the tongue in its later form. Anglo- Saxon is a barbarian
or foreign tongue 1o 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 Ave may
confidently pronounce on the Indo-European character of tlie latter
from the fact that the language of the former belongs to this family.
^ The Matieni intended are those on the must bo remembered that the Ionian» (in-
Halys, for whose existence Herodotus is our eluding in them the Athenians), the /Eolians,
chief authority (see i. 72, and vii. 72). and the Acha;aus were all originally Pelasgic
They are unnoticed by the later geographers, tribes (Herod, i. 5G ; vii. 95 ; Stnib. viii.
but seem to be the Matieni spoiieu of by p. 485).
Xauthus (Fr. '■'>) and Hocataius (Kr. 189). ^ History of Clreece, vol. ii. p. 35G, note.
^ Even if the grammatic;il forms of the ^ fj^g I'elasgic, according to the view
Latin language are traceable rather to the tiiljen in the text, differed from the Greek,
Oscan than to the Greek, as Lassen thinks as Gothic from (ierman ; the Latin stood to
{lihcinische Museum, 18:5;5-4), yet the large the Greek more as English to German,
number of roots common to the Latin and * Herod, i. 57.
(ireek would seem to be bast explainel by a * History of Rome, vol. i. p. 27. E. T.
Pelasgic admixture in the fonner ))ooplo. ^ History of Greece, vol. i. p. 5(j.
' See Herod, i. 58, and Thucyd. i. 3. It < Dorians, vol. i. p. G, E. T.
Essay XI.
PELASGI AND HELLENES.
547
Tlie Pelasgi scarcely appear as a distinct people in Asia at the
period when Herodotus Λvrites. 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.
^ 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 Miil-
ler's Dorians, vol. i. p. 9, note '. E. Ϊ.) It
has been copied by several travellers, among
others recently by M. Texier, and is found
(according to him; to run as follows : —
Here the characters, 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) Memefa'is, son of Prajtas,
... 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 marked by -as, -es,
(=ijs), is, and os — in one instance by o.
(Compare vf<p(\7iyepeTa, (ύρυόττα, Ιππότα,
κ. τ. λ.) the gen. by -afos (compare vaos,
ypais, yripaos, κ. τ. λ.), the dative by -α
and -fi. The verb, which is probably in past
time, seems to have the augment [e-Saes) ;
■while the third pers. sing, is marked by the
ancient suffix s (retained in δίδωσι, τίθησι,
κ. τ. λ.) The word Βαβα connects with
the Greek ττάππαϊ, ZeCs Παπίοϊ, and the
like ; while favaKni is within a letter of
άνακτί, and fSaes suggests a variant of
ζίμω, indicated likewise by the Latm word
cedes. The loctvtive termination -μαν (if the
word Ι,ικΐμαν 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 world 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
j)liilulogists. It is written in the manner
called βουστροφ-η5όν, and is unfortunately
somewhat illegible in the latter portion.
Texier gives it thus ; —
2 Ν 2
This
548
LYDIANS AND CARIANS.
App. Book I.
(iii.) That tlie Ljdians "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 consiilting the
Hellenic oracles' WOuld seem to show that their religion could
not have been very diiferent. 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 : —
Κηλοκηϊ ffvafrw afras ματερεϊ
" Celoces sepulchrum suae matris
exstriisit matris Ephetexetis ex Ofetinone.
"Βονοχ, AKevavoyafos,
Bonok, qui Aceiianogafus erat,
Ivauaiv, AKfvavoyafos,
Inaaon, Aceuaaogaf'us,
ματ€ραι> αρΐίταστιν '
matrem amatam.
tpeKvv reXaros σοστυτ '
hordeum sacrificii obtulit.
λαχιτ ya
Sortita est Tellus
In this archaic Phrygian, while the forms
and words in general resemble the Greek,
there are some which ditier from tliose upon
the tomb of J\Iidas, and are more akin to the
Latin. The third pers. sing, of the Λ-erb is
marked by the teiTnination -τ instead of -s,
as in σοσΐσαϊτ, λαχιτ, and (probably)
σοστυτ. (Compare the (!reek passive ter-
minations -ται, -TO, and for the t; in σοστυτ
comjiare δ^ίκνυμι, ζeύyvυμt, &c.) The
augment is wanting, being replaced in one
instance (σοσ€σαϊτ) by a retluplication.
The accusative has the termination -av
where the Latins have -em, the (ireeks only
-o. Again the genitive, ματ(ρ-€ί, is more
like the Latin " matr-is " than the Greek
μητΐρ-05. Some expressions, however, are
thorouglily Gieek : afras /xaTipes is almost
exactly avTrjs μητ4ρο5 — λαχιτ ya ματΐ-
pav αρισασην is («^λαχβ y-q μ-ητίρα (pa-
arrju (or άρίστην). Tlie rare Ibrm of the
letter χ deserves special notice. It is written
almost like a capit;d Ψ, as in the alpliabet of
the Theraans.
The probable connexion of tlie Phrygian
β(κυ5, " bread," with the Germ. Imcken
and our " bake," is noticed in the foot-notes
to the second book. The Phrygian words
for " fire," " wafer," "dog," and many
other common terms, were so like the (Jreek
as to attract the attention of the Greeks
themselves (Plat. Cratyl. p. 410 Α.). The
terms mentioned are most of them widely
spread in the Indo-European family. Eire
is in Greek ττΰρ, in high German viuri,
in low German filr, in Armenian hur.
Water is Sansc. uda, Lat. unda, Greek ΰδαιρ
or rather fvSuip, Phrygian βΐ5υ, Slav, voda,
Goth, vato, Engl, wntcr, Germ, icasser,
Celtic dour or dwr. Dog is Sansc. ςναη,
Greek κΰων, Lydian καν, Lat. canis, Armen.
shun, Germ, hnnd, Engl, hound. The moon
is Greek μ-ην-η, Phrygian μΊ]ν, Germ, mond:
compare Lat. men-sis and our month. God
was in Phrygian ΒογοΓοί (Hesych. ad voc),
in old Persian Ixii/a, in Zend baijha, Λνΐιϋβ
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 hahe, and Phrygian βίκ. The few
words said to be Phrygian, which appear
to be Semitic I'athcr than Indo-European
(Βαλή;/> "ASajf, Άδαγοΰϊ), are either late
importations, or assigned upon very weak
grounds to the Phrygian language.
3 .'^ee p. .')41, note 7, and compare Boet-
ticher's Rudiment. Myth. Semit. i)p. 13, 14.
* Herod, i. 171 ; Strab. xiv. p. 943,
* According to Herodotus (1. s. c), the
native Carian tradition made Lydus and
]\Iysus the brothers of Car.
•• Αΐίδοί . . νόμοισι μίν παραπ\7)σΙοισι
χρίωνται καΐ "ΕΚ\•ην(5 (Herod, i. 94).
Compare vii. 74 : Λυδοί . . άγχοτάτω των
Έλ\ΐ]νίκων (Ίχον 8πλα. And see also
i. 35.
7 Herod, i. 14, 19,46, 55, &c.
β Herod. L 171.
Essay XI. MYSIANS AND LYCIANS. 549
ment which is probably beyond the truth,' but which he coiild
scarcely have made (having been born and bred up on the Carian
coast) unless the two races had been connected by a very near
aflSnity. 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 tliie 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 fi-om the labours of Sir C. Fellows
* See, for a summary of the arguments, and Mr. Daniel Sharpe. Bilingual inscrip-
Thirlwall's History of Greece, vol. i. pp. tions, in Creek and Lycian, upon tombs
42-45, and Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, vol. i. rendered the work of decipherment com-
pp. 31-34. paratively easy. The most imiwrtant speci-
2 See Bliiller's Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. mens are given at the end of this Essay.
p. 475 (Fr. 2), ή γλώττα των Καρών . . These inscriptions are sufficient to show
πλεΓστα ΈλΧηνικα ονόματα ίχ^ι κατά- that in syntactical arrangement and inflex-
μ,ΐμΐΎμίνα. ional rules and forms the Lycian language
3 Strab. xiv. p. 947 ; Herod, vii. 93. is Indo-European, coinciding, as it often does,
* Horn. II. ii. 867. almost word for word with the Greek : e. g.,
* This at least is the explanation which Ewiiinu itatu mene prinafutu
Strabo (1. s. c.) gives of the Homeric epithet. τοΰτο (rh) μνήμα [δ] ^ρ-γάσαντο
Lassen admits its truth (Ueber die Sprachen Polenida Jlolleweseu se Lapara
Kleinasiens, p. 381), while maintaining the Άπολλωι/ίδτΐϊ MoWicrios κα\ AaTtapas
Semitic character of the Carians. Polenidau Porewemeteu prinezoyewe
β Herod, i. 171. Strab. siv. p. 943. 'Αττολ\ωνΙζου Ώυριμάτιθ5 οίκΐΐοι
' Xanthi Fragm. ap. Miiller (Fr. 8), t^jv urppe lada epttewe s5
[twv Μυσών^ διά\(κτον μιξο\ύ5ιόν πωϊ eVi (rais) "γυναΐξίν (ταΓϊ) ΐαυτών καΙ
ΐϊναι καΐ μιξοφρύγιον. tedeeme..
^ Professor Lassen of Bonn has recently (τοΙϊ) 4γγόνοΐ5.
published an account of these inscriptions The roots, however, are for the most part
(Ueber die Lykischen Inschriften, and Die curiously imlike those in any other Indo-
Alten Sprachen Kleinasiens, von Professor European language : the most certainly
Christian Lassen, published in the Zeitschrift known, tedeeme (child), p7-iiuifu (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 Eurojiean tongues. Lada
This, however, had long been sufficiently (wife) may perhaps compare with " lady "
550 EASTERN MIGRATION. App. Book Ϊ.
Lycians resembled the Carians and the people of Crete, and their
art has niidonbtudly a Grecian character ; but these are points npon
which it is not necessary to lay any great stress, since their ethnic
affinity is sufficiently decided by their language.
(vii.) The JMatieni are added to this group conjccturally, on
account of their position and name ; ^ but it -must be admitted that
these are merely grounds aftbrding a very slight presumption.
The term itself may not be a real ethnic title ; it is perhaps only a
Semitic word signiiying " mountaineers,"^ and may not have been
really borne by the people. It certainly disa})pcars altogether
from this locality shortly after the time of Herotlotus, while even
in Mount Zagros it vanishes after a while before that of the Gor-
dia^i 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 haA'^e 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 I'elasgian, Lydo-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 A'arious
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 tAvo other kindred streams began to ilow, the one northward
across the Caucasus, the other westward o\^er 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 Avatered by the Upper
Indus, and becoming straitened for room began to send out colonies
eastward and westAvard. On the one side their movements may be
traced in the hymns of the Eig-Veda, where they are seen adA-ancing
step by step along the rivers of the Ptmjab, engaged in constant
wars with the primitive Turanian inhabitants, Avhom 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
(althoucjh Lassen questions this, p. 348), (xi. p. 748) : his chief inhabitants of Mount
and the pronouns have some analogy to the Zagros are the Gordia;i (xi. p. 7(39, 772,
Zend, xvi. p. 104(), 10(30, &c.). In Pliny the
^ Their position as a connecting link be- Mattiani are found only east of the Caspian
tween Armenia and Phrygia, has been (vi. 16). la Ptolemy they disappear alto-
already noticed (supra, p. 54(5). Their gotlier.
name seems to connect them Avith the Medes ^ See Muller's Essay on the Bengali Lan-
(^Mada). Comp. Sauro-/?wito. gunge in the Report of the British Asso-
' See note 3 on Book i. ch. 189. ciation for 1848, p. 329; and Bimsen'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. 1(»8, xi. 364.
742), but he barely mentions tho Mattiani
Essay XI. NATIONS OF THE ARIAN STOCK. 551
the ZendaA^esta, the sacred book of the western or Medo-Persic
Arians. Leaving their Yedic 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 Herat),
Hyrcania, Arachosia, Ehagiana, Media Atropatene (Azerbijan),*
were successively occupied by them, and they thus extended them-
selves in a continuous line from Aftghanistan 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 langTiage spoken by the moi'e 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 sufSce 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
Yaejo of the Vendidad. (See Hupield"s admixtux-e of later forms. 2. The Acha?me-
Exercitat. Herod. Sjiec. Diss. ii. p. 16.) nian Persian, or language of the Ciineifonn
" 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 '.) eties of Pehlevi (a.d. 226-601), known to
^ 'Έ.ιηκτ€ΐνΐται 5e τοϋνομα ttjs ''Aptavrjs us from rock inscriptions, legends on coins,
μίχρι μ(ρου5 Ttvhs και nepauf κάΙ Mr)- and the sacred books of the Parsees. 4. The
5ων, καΐ ίτι ιών irphs άρκτων Βακτρίων Pazend or Parsi, preserved to us in the
καϊ 'ZoySiavouV fiff't yap irccs καϊ όμό- commentaries on the Zend texts, and recently
yλωττoι πάρα μικρόν. iStrab. xv. p. 1026. criticiilly treated by M. Speiijel. And, 5.
' See Miiller, 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 chietiy Arian both in its
of the Zentlavesta, the earliest type of the grammar and its roots.
552 MEDES AND CARMANIANS. Αιτ. Book I.
Europe. As tliis point is one on which cthuologers are completely
agreed,' it is not necessary to adduce any further proof of it.
(ii.) That the Medes of history Avere Arians, closely akin to the
Persians, has heen already argued in the Essay " On the Chrono-
logy and History of the Great Median Empire."* ^\ hether the
name originally belonged to the Scythic races inhabiting the
country imuicdiately east of Armenia and Assyria, and was from
them ado}) ted by their Arian conquerors — as that of Pashtu or
Pushtu is said to have been by the Atighans,'' and as that of Britons
has certainly been by the Anglo-Saxons — or whether it is a true
Ai-ian sectional title first brought into that i-egion 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 Ven-
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 modern people of Ker-
1 See Prichard's Phys. Hist. vol. iv. ch. x. πλβϊιττο t θη /col τ)]Ρ ^ιάΧΐκτον rwv Kop-
Bunsen's Philosophy of History, vol. i. pp. μανιτών ΠίρσΊκά re κσΧ Μη5ικα (ίρηκΐ.
110-127 ; Miiller's Languages of the Seat ^ See uote •* on the preceding page, where
of War, p. .'52. the passage is quoted.
2 Suprii, pp. 325-327. * See the analysis of the Persian and.
3 Miiller's Languages of the Seat of War, Median nanias 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 : Aj-dahak [Aiitya.ges),(nom.
parts may be urged, 1. The belief of Berosus Ajis Daluiko), which is used .symlHiiically
in a Median dynasty at Babylon before for the Jledian nation througliout tiie Zend
B.C. 2234 (Fr. 11). 2. The Cireek myths Avesta, and means literally in Zeud "the
of XnAvomeda and Medea, whidi connect biting snake ;" being, moreover, still used
the Medes with the early (Scythic) Phccni- 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 inscrip * See note ', 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.) u.si'd by Herodotus is G cnnanians {Tfp-
* Herod, vii. 62. Oi Μήδοι ίκαΚίοντο μάνωι) ; a word which may teach us cau-
ποίλαι TTphs ττάντων "Άριοι, Compare Mos. tion in basing theoiies of ethnic allinity on a
Chor. i. 28. mere name.
* Ap. Strab. xv. p. 1053. ϋίαρχο5 τί ■* See above, note ^.
Essay XI. SOGDIANS, BACTEIANS AND HERATEES. 553
man, spoke a distinct dialect allied to Persian uj) 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 \^endidad 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 Avith Bactria^ would alone
render it tolei'ably 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'Aptoi and the'Apftot ;' and a still wider diti'erence 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 Airy a {Airymiem vaejo), the later Aria is
Haroyu. Similarly in the inscriptions of Darius, Arian in its Avider
sense is Ariya,^ Aria (the province) Harkal^ The initial aspirate,
which was lost by the Greeks,* but which still maintains its place
in the modem 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 Jehanpri, pre- 308) is probably a fictitious name,
face), quoted by Prichard (I'hys. 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 Kcnnani. — H. C. It.] Ins. col. i. par. 6 ; Persep. Ins. par. 2 :
^ See note ^ on the last page. ApoUodorus Kakhsh-i-Rnstam Ins. par. 3). The Bac-
of Artemita had included Bactria in Ariana trians and Sogdians are closely i^iited by
before Strabo. (Strab. xi. p. 752). Strabo in many places (ii. p. 107, 169 ; xi.
7 Book vii. ch. 64. 752-3, &c.). Compare Arriau (Exp. Alex.
^ As the Koxana and Oxyartes of Ai-rian, iii. 8 ; iv. 1 ; λ•. 12, &c.).
which are Persian (comp. Arrian, Exp. Alex. ' This is the name given to the Arians of
ύΊι. 4, with Ctes. I'ers. Exc. § 12), and his Herat in Book iii. ch. 93. In Book vii.,
Spitamenes, which is on a Persian type. Com- however, the ditlerence is overlooked, and
pare the Median names Spithobates (Diod. both they and the true Ariaus are called
Sic), Spitamas, Spitaces, Spitades, (Ctesias), "Apiot. (Comp. chs. 62 and ύ6).
the initial element in all these names being - Nakhsh-i-Uustam Ins. pai•. 2, ad fin. ;
the Zend Suenta or Spenta, " Sacred," and Behist. Ins. (Scythic version), col. i. par 5.
the lapse of the nasal before the dental being a ^ Behist. Ins. col. i. par. 6; Persep.
peculiarity of Persian articulation; and for Ins. (I. Lassen) par. 2. The Nakhsh-i-
the termination rncncs compare Acha;menes, Kushim inscription is imperfect.
Hieramenes (Thucyd.), Phradasmenes (Ar- ■* By Hellanicus (Fr. 168), Strabo and
I'ian), &c. Teuagou in jEschylus (Pers. Ptolemy, as well as by Herodotus.
554 HYRCANIANS, SAGARTIANS, & CHORA SMI ANS. Αγρ, Book I.
has no correspondent in tlie other word. The eastern Arians therefore
ζ'Αρεωι) are not to be assigned to the Medo-Persic or Iranic family
on accovint of their name. They are, however, entitled to a place in
it from the occurrence of their country in the Zendavesta among the
jirimitive Arian settlements, as well as from their being constantly
connected with races whose Arian character has been already
proΛ'ed.* Herodotus also, it is worthy of notice, mentions that in
their arras and equipments they resembled the Medes and liactrians.*
(vii.) The country of the Ilyrcanians (called Vehrkana) appears
in the Zendavesta among those occujiied by the Arians. Their
equipment in the army of Xerxes exactly resembled that of the
Persians.^ A name too mentioned 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
countiy 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 (Herat^, Margiana {Mevv), and Sogdiana
i^Saghd). The word itself is probably of Aiian etymology,^ and the
Chorasmians are almost always found conjoined Avith 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 Bactriaus. In Herodotus they are under Chitrataiilinia, and its reduction, Da-
])iaced with the Sogdians and the Choras- rius concludes by saying " this is what was
mians fiii. 93, sub fin.). done by me in Media" (ibid, par. 15).
•^ Herod, vii. (JtJ. ^Apiot Se τόξοισι μίν * Herod, vii. 8.'). ί'πίτίτάχατο [οί 2α-
(σκΐυασμίνοι -ήσαν ΜηδίκοΊσι, τα. δι άλλα -γάρτίοι] is roiis Tlep<Tas.
κατάπΐρ Βάκτρωι. '' In the fourth Fargard. See Burnoufs
' Herod, vii. 62. 'Ύρκάνιοι κατάττΐρ Commentaire sur le Ya^na, p. 108.
Πΐρσαι (σΐσάχατο. ' Burnouf derived it from khairi, " nou•
** Artasyras, Persic. Exc. § 9, Compare, rishnient," and zeino, " lami," 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, l\;iwlinson suggests a connexion with the San-
the Sanscrit sunja, " light," or " the sun." isi^rii swarga, " heaven." (Vocabulary, p. 91.)
3 It may be added that the name Hyr<a- " Herodotus joins them in the same
nians signifies " the wolves" in Zend, and is satrapy with the Sogdians and Arians of
exactly represented by the modern Persian Herat (iii. 93). In the army of Xerxes he
Gnrgiin. — [H. C. K.] unites them with the Sogdians and Ganda-
'" Herod, vii. 85. 'Sayaprwi . . . eOvos rians, noticing that they wore the same
Πΐρσικόν rrj ψωνγ. arms with the Biu:tiians (vii. βϋ). In the
' Ibid. 'Zaya.pTioi . , . σκίκήι/ μ(ταξυ cuneiform inscriptions they are conjoined
ίχουσί ττΐτΐοι^ημίνην t^s t6 X\(pσικrιs κα\ with the Arians and the Bactrians (Beh.
τη$ Ποκτι/ϊκηί. Ins. col. i. par. 6), with the Sogdians and
" For the Arian character of this name, see Sattagydians (Persep. laser.), and with the
Sir H. Kawlinson's Vocjibuiary of the Ancient Sogdians and Sarangians (Nakhsh-i-Kustam
Persian Language, pp. 143-5; and compare Inscr.).
the note on Tritantachmcs (siiprii, i. 192.) * Pharasmanes (Arrian, Exp. Alex. iv.
3 Beliist, lus. col. ii. par. 14. 15). Compare the Pharismanes of the
Essay XL
SAEANGIANS AND GANDAEIANS.
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 Etymandnis * (modem Hehne) id), is dis-
tinctly noticed among the earliest settlements of the Arians/
(xi.) The Gandarians, whose country {Sindhu Gandhara) lay upon
the Upper Indus, ^ have not been included among the Arians of this
migration, since they appear to have been (as Hecatieus 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 Dadicee, 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.
' Herod, vii. 67.
- With the Sagartians (Herod, iii. 93) ;
with the Arians of Herat (Beh. Ins. and
I'ersep. Ins.) ; with the Chorasmians and
Arachotians (Nakhsh-i-Rustam Ins.).
3 Strab. XV. pp. ] 023-1026 ; Arrian.Exp.
Ales. iii. 21, '28; vii. 10, &c ; Ptol. vii.
19 ; Steph. Byz., &c.
* Strab. XV. p. 1027. Ot Apayyai
■πΐρσίζοντΐ s τάλλα κατά τόν βίον
οϊνου στΐανίζουσι.
* The reasons for regarding the Saran-
gians as the inhabitants of the countiy callal
in the Zendavesta Haetumat ai'e given by
Kitter. (Erdkunde, West-Asien, ii. pp.
64-66.)
β 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. Τάν^αραι, Ίν^ων
eSfos ; and for his knowlalge of their location
upon the Upper Indus, compare his Κασττά-
■πυροί, iroKts Γανδαρικ-η (Fr. 179) with
Herod, iv. 44,
^ The Gandarians appear as Indians in
Sanscrit history (Wilson's Arian Antiq. p.
131, et seqq. ; Lassen's Indisch. Alterthums-
kunde, p. 422, &c.), and are commonly
joined with the Indians in the Inscriptions.
(Persep. Ins. and Nakhsh-i-Rust. Ins.)
1" Gandarians (Candari) ai-e found on the
northern frontier of Sogdiana in Pliny (H. N.
vi. 16), and Ptolemy (vi. 12). Compare
Mela (i. 2). Isidore of Chai-ax has a town
Gadar in Khorassan (p. 7).
1 Herod, iii. 91.
* The Gandarians and the Dadicse 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-RusUim inscriptions.
556
TABLE OF RACES.
App. Book I•
/ΊΙαηιΙΙΙο or Cushite
/ TURANIAK
.Scythic or Tatar
' A ssyro-Baby Ionian
Semitic \ Hebraeo- Phoenician
\. Arabian
'Lydo-Phrygian
> iNDO-EUBOrEAN
iSouthorn or Hlmyaritic Arabs
Canaan ilos (early).
Clialda'ans (early).
Susianians (early).
Ethiopians of Asia.
'Cappadocians (early).
Cilk-ians (early).
Armenians (early).
Sapirians.
Colchians.
Moschi.
Tibereui.
( Alarodii (?).
Rlacroiies (.')•
Mosynoeci (.').
Mares (.>).
Budii.
aiagi.
Saca;.
Parlhians.
I Assyrians.
i Babylonians.
( Syrians.
(Canaanites (later).
1 Hebrew».
I Phoenicians.
ί Cyprians.
I Cilicians (later).
I Solyml.
' Pisida;.
I Joktanian Arabs.
I Ishmaelite Arabs.
Γ Phrygians.
Lydians.
I IVlysians.
I Carians.
Pelasgi.
Greeks.
Lycian il.ycians.
•' ( Caunians
Thracian
Western Arian or Medo-Perslc \
Eastern Arlan or Indie . .
fThynians.
Bithynians.
Mariandynians.
Paphlagonians.
[Chalybes(?).
Persians.
Medes.
Bactrians.
Sogdians.
Arians of Herat.
Hyrcanians.
Chorasniians.
Sarangians.
Sagartians.
Carmanians.
Armenians (later).
Cappadocians (later).
I Indians.
Gandarians.
Sattagydians (?).
Dadica; (.>).
Essay XI. BILINGUAL INSCRIPTIONS. 557
(L) At Limyra.
eweeya erafazeya mete
prinafatu Sedereya Ρδ . . .
f^t-f : TPΔ'^EME -i'PrrEtT/\£ti"BEit
neu tedeemo urppe etle euwe se
lade euwe s§ tedeeme Ρ . . ,
A^lt TOM^HMATOAEED
leye το μν-ημα roSe iir•
01ΗΣΑΤ0ΣΙΔΑΡΙ0ΣΠΑΡΜΕ
οιησοτο 'SiSapios ΤΙαρμί-
^TOΣYIO^EAYTS>IKΛITHHΎ^
VTOS vlos (αυτψ και ττ] •γυν•
AlKIKAIYIQirVBlAAHl
αικι και νίψ IlujSioAj;.
55S
BILINGUAL INSCKIPTIONS—
App. Book I.
Ul
OQ
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Essay XI.
LYCIAN AND GEEEK.
559
^
LU
?
Hj
>-
L-
Η
UJ
Lli
>-
>-
ο
^
< J
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IN
ς:
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UJ
560 EPITHETS OF JUPITER. A γρ. Book I.
NOTE (A).
ON THE VARIOUS TITLES OF JUPITER.
Herodotus, in cli, 44 (p. 33), invokes Jupiter tinder three names,
illustrative of the subdivision of the Deity, mentioned in notes on
ch. 131, B. i. App. and on ch. 4, B. ii. App. Cicero (de Nat. Deor.
b. iii.) mentions three Jupiters : one the son of JEther, 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 Romans, as Ijy the Greeks. (Cp. Aristot. de Mundo, 7.)
He often took the place and office of other Gods, as of Keptune,
^olus, 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. zEschy-
lus, however, makes him subservient to Fate, and this accords with
the reply of the oracle of Delphi to Croesus, that i' 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
Λvas 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 ])iv. 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 πρόνοια, 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 1 am indebted to the kindness of the
liev. 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, particulaiJy of the Greeks, which
we may hope will some day be given to the public : —
" As tlie giver of success and failure he is called Zeus ^τηδ<5τηϊ, Pausan. viii.
9. 2; Z. xapiUr-r]s, Plut. Op. Mor. 1048 C. ; Z. reAeios, yEsch. Ag. 97:3, Eum.
28, Pausan. viii. 48, 0, Athen. 1GB.; Z. κτήσιοί, Deuiosth. xxi. j). 5.'il, Antii)h.
i. p. 113; Isicus, viii. p. 70, Harpocrat. s. v. κτησίου Ai(5s. Add Zevs σωτηρ,
which is frequent in Attic writers, and in Pausauius, yEsch. Suppl. 27, Eur. Her.
F. 48.
" .lupiter presides more especially over celestial phenomena, lightning, clouds,
and rain: hence Zfvs vertos, Pausan. ii. 19, 8, ix. :i9, 4; ΰμβριοε, Plut. Op. Mor.
1 J8 E., Pausan. i. 32, 2. Also Z. οΰριοι, ./Esch. Suppl. 094, Cic. in Verr. iv. p.
Note Α. GKEEK SURNAMES OF ZEUS. 561
465 Elzev. ; Z. ίυάνίμο!, Pausan. iii, 13, 8. He also presides over the seasons:
hence Ztvs ΙκμαΊοί, Αρ. Rhod. ii. 522, and Sch. ; Z. μόριο$, Soph. CEd. C. 705 ;
Z. etriKapirios, Plut. Op. Mor. 1048 C.
"The principal attendants upon Jupiter were Themis, λvith her two daughters.
Δίκη and Ευνομία: hence he presides over ayopal, and hence Zeus ayopaios,
Herod, v. 46, ^sch. Eum. 973, Eui•. Heracl. 40, Aristoph. Eq. 410, 500, Plut.
Op. Mor. 789, D. 792, F. Pausan. iii. 11, 9, v. 15, 4, ix. 25, 4 (cf. Zevs ττανομ-
φαΐοί, II. e. 250) ; Zevs βουλαΊοί, Antiph. vi. 146, Plut. Op. Mor. 801 E. (cf. 802
B., Pausan. i. 3, 5).
"We find Zfhs woXifhs, Plut. Vit. Demetr. 909, Op. Mor. 789 D., 792 F.,
Pausan. i, 24, 4, in which office his temple would be in the Acropolis; so Zeus
ύ'ποτοϊ, Plut. Op. Mor. 1065 E., Pausan. iii. 7, 6, and viii. 14, 7, ix. 19, 3;
ύ'ψίο-τοϊ, Pausan. ii. 3, 1, v. 15, 5, ix. 8, 5. We find Zfvs ;8οσιλευϊ. Ran. 1278
and elsewhere. Plat. Ale. ii. p. 143, Pausan. ix. 34, 4; for Zeus fiaa-iXevs and
Z. ΎΐΎΐμΐΰν, see especially Xen. Cyrop. and Anab. We find from Homer and
Hesiod that Jupiter especially protected kings and generals, and determined the
event of battles : hence Zeus τροπαίου, Enr. El. 671, Heracl. 867, 936 (cf. Phcon.
1250, 1473\ Pausan. iii. 12, 9; Zeus crpUTLos, Herod, v. 119, Strab. xiv. 659,
Plut. Vit. Eum. 594.
"In adjurations and invocations Jupiter is often called by an appropriate
surname: see especially Herod, i. 44, Luc. Tim. 98, 152, Schol. Aristoph. Eq.
500, and Ran. 756, Schol. Eur. Hec. 345 : such are Zeus alSolos, Jisch. Suppl.
192 (cf. CEd. Col. 1267); Zeus Ρΐμ-ητωρ, Sep. Theb. 485, and κ\άριο%, Jisch.
Suppl. 360, Pausan. viii. 53, 9; Z. apaios. Soph. Philoct. 1181, and Sch.; Z.
€'•7r(ΐψios, Ap. Rhod. ii. 1124, 1132; Z. irarJwTTjs, ^sch. Suppl. 139; ιτανΒορκ4τη$,
Eur. El. 1177; <i)u|ios, Ap. Rhod. ii. 1147, iv. 119, Pausan. ii. 21, 2, iii. 17, 9.
So, in the comedians, Z. 5ιόιτΎ-ί)$ koL κατότΓτη5, Aristoph. Ach. 435, and Sch.;
Z. όμομαστίΎίαί, Ran. 756.
"Zeus eraipfios, see Sup. and Athen. xiii. 572 D. E., x. 446 D.; Z. f<p4(TTios,
Jisch. Ag. 704, Soph. Aj. 492, and Sch.; Z. Ικίσιο^, iEsch. Suppl. 346, 616,
Soph. Philoct. 484, Eur. Hec. 345, Ap. Rhod. ii. 215, 1131 sqq., Pausan. i. 20,
7; also the forms Ικΐτ^ισιο$, Od. v. 213; αφίκτωρ, .iEsch. Suppl. 1; ίκταΐοε,
^sch. Suppl. 385; ίκτ^ρ, ^sch. Suppl. 478; Z. ^fvios, II. v. 625, Od. i. 270;
ξ. 284, 389 (cf. Od. 2, 207, and ξ. 57); Pind. 01. viii. 28, Nem. v. 61, xi. 9;
^sch. Ag. 61, 362, 748, Suppl. 627, 672, Eur. Cycl. 357, Xen. Anab. iii. 2, 4,
Plat, de Legg. v. 730, viii. 843, xii. 953 (cf. ix. 879, xii. 965), Plut. Vit. Arat.
1052, Op. Mor. 766 C. (cf. 158 C), Pausan. iii. 11, 11, Athen. xv. 696 D.
"Zeus όμοΎνιοε, Eur. Andr. 921, Ai-istoph. Ran. 750, 756, and Sch., Plat. Legg.
ix. 881; so Zeus συναιμοί. Soph. Antig. 658 (cf. Trpos ae θΐών δμογνίων, Soph.
CEd. Col. 1333, and Ruhnk. Lex. Tim. 3. v.); so Z. πατρψοί. Nub. 1468 (cf.
Plut. Op. Mor. 758 D., which epithet has frequently a different signification); deol
■πατρψοι, ^Esch. Sep. Theb. 1018, and elsewhere; Z. πατpφ■os, Plat. Rep. iii. 391,
Euthyd. 302, de Legg. ix. 881 ; see Herod, v. (iQ and 61.
"Zeus (pparpios, Demosth. xliii, 1054, Athen. xi. 460 F. ; Z. 6μόφυ\ο$, Plat.
Legg. viii. 843; Z. yevieXLOs, Pind. Pyth. iv. 298, Plut. Vit. Alex. M. 682,
Op. Mor. 166 D. 1119 E. ; here the epithet signifies πατρφο5, but it denotes
presiding over birth, Pind. 01. viii. 20 (cf. xiii. 148, cf. also ^sch. Eum. 7, 293,
Soph. CEd. C. 972) ; and protecting parents, Plut. Op. Mor. 766 C, (cf. ^sch.
Choeph. 912).
"Zei;s 'apKios, Soph. Philoct. 1324, Eur. Hippol. 1025, Plut. Vit. Eum. 594 (cf,
^schin. i. 16, add Pausan. v. 24, 9).
" Zeus (pi\ios, 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 Zeus ep/ceios, Eur. Troad. 17, Plat. Euthyd. 302, and
Sch. Pausan. ii. 24, 3, iv. 17, 4, v. 14, 7, viii. 46, 2, x. 27, 2 ; Zeus ΐλ(νθΐριοε,
Pind. 01. xii. 1, Herod, iii. 142, Eur. Rhes. 358, Plut. Vit. Aristid. 331, and
Pausan. x. 21, 5 and 6; Zeus 'opios, Plat. Legg. viii. 842 im., Demosth. vii. 86,
Polyb. ii. 39 ; also in expiation of murder, Zei»s jueiAi^ios was invoked."
Zeus was put for tlie heaven (Hor. 1 Od. i. 25, "Manet sub Jove
frigido venator"). He was said "to rain;" and Clemens (Strom.
V. p. 571) says, " Jove's tears signify rain." Atlienaius, x. p. 430a,
VOL. I. 2 Ο
562 GOD IX SAMARITAN AND HEBREW. Αγρ. Book L
Paiisiin. ii. 19 ("sec Ιίτιος above, Ep. Wot.) Δαπεη/ς "was also applied
to the Nile (see note on cli. 19, b. ii.) Cp. Clem. Strom, v. p. (i03.
His name Dicspiter is the Indian Diuspiter, " Snn-fatlicr," or
" Heavenly light ; " and perhaps 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 jngmu.
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), Ίηβε, according to Theodoret (the β being a v) ; the Greeks
Ίάω. Clemens very properly says the name is "of four letters,"
nin^ (Ihoh). It sig-niiied "is," or "will be." "lah" is n^ (Ih).
I'he Eoyal Scythians called Jupiter Papseus (Herod, iv. 59). For
Jupiter's patronage of kings, cp. ϋωτρεψέωΐ' βασιΧίμϋν. (See note on
ch. 4, B. ii. App, eh. iii. § 19.)— [G. W.]
Note Β. INVENTION OF COINING. 563
NOTE (B).
ON THE INVENTION OF COINING, AND THE EARLIEST SPECIMENS
OF COINED MONEY.
The question of tlie first invention of coined money is one of those
wliich it is impossible to solve, and on Avliich wo can only hope at
best to arrive at a probable opinion. There can be no doubt that
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
Λvhether the practice of stamping certain masses of them with a
government mark, as a guaiantee of their being of the professed
weight and purity, arose in one place only, and then spread from a
single centre gradually over the knoAvn world ; or whether the idea
occurred separately to several nations, will perhaps 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
Λνβ 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 asseilimi is limited to the nations of which
himself and his countrymen had knoAvledge. By this we are not to
understand, as has been argued (Edinburgh EevicAV, No. 211, p.
170), Ihe states of Asia Minor only, Avith which he was from his
birth and breeding most familiar, ' but the various countries and
kingdoms through which he h;id travelled, or of Avhich he had
gained authentic information, extending from India on the east to
Sicily and Italy on the Avest, 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 Kaucratis, and from Trapezus to Mas-
silia. The expression used is the one constantly occurring through-
out the Avhole work for knowledge of the most general kind, and
which is applied to nations as little known as the Scythians (iv. 46),
the 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, notAvith the Egyptians,
Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Phrygians, or Greeks, but Avith
the Lydians, who were the 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 trutli of this assertion which requires considera-
2 Ο 2
5G4 ABSENCE OF ANCIENT EASTERN COINS. Αγρ. Book T.
tion, tlio question being one of mncli interest in itself, and important
in its bearing npon tlie general character of Lydian civilisation.
Now it is certainly most remarkable, tliat among the numeroxis
remains of Egyptian and Assyrian antiipiity 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. 1G6), and the Greeks afterwards, had to introduce their own
monetary systems there, at the time of their respective conquests.
Had Assyria or Babylonia possessed a coinage, it is almost im-
possible that the researches recentl}^ pursued with so much success
throughout Mesopotamia, should have failed to bring to light a
specimen. Clay tablets, commemorating grants of money specified
by weight, 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 iuA'cntion 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 Avith his own stamp " (1 Maccab.
XV. G), and that their first knowledge of the invention seems to
have been derived from the I'ersians. (See Gesenius' Lex. Heb. ad
voc. ίΐ2"!"1Χ). Previous to the captivity it would appear that the
commercial dealings of the HebreΛvs were entirely transacted after
the model of that primitive purchase recorded in Genesis, Avhen
Abraham bought the field of Machpelah of Ephron the Hittite, and
" imghed to him the silver Λvhich he had named in the audience of
the sons of Ileth, four hxindred 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 I'ccord ascri])es to theiu the invention, which,
had it been theirs, would probably (like that of letters) have been
conceded to them at least by some A\Titers. The probable fact
noticed above, that the Jews derived their first knowledge of coined
Note Β. COINING NOT A THCENICIAN INVENTION. 5G5
money at the time of the 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 giv^e 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. A pp.), 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, is. 83; Etym. Mag.
ad voces Eυβόi^:όu νόμισμα, and οβελίσκος. 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 haΛ'e 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. Prolog., 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 be
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 mndi more likely
passage, in the Journal of Classical and Sacred that, as commerce and civilisatinn advance i,
Philology (vol. iv. pp. 243, 244), maintains a weight imprinted with the ΐττ'ισ-ημον of
his former view, and adduces in its support the city should have been ased 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 Empire (!), or divided into
Greeks ; and secondly, the fact that Pheidon seini-harbarous states, deriving their degree
lived before Gyges, whom he calls "the of civilisation from Phcenicia or Assyria,
founder of the Lydian monarchy." He has where, as far as pie?eut evidence extends,
aj)parently forgotten that the Lydian mon- nothing existed in monetary transactions but
arcliy was several centuries older tli;in Gyges, the use of the precious metals." For my
who changed the dynasty, but had notliing own part, I regard the question as one to be
to tlo witli the foundation of the kingdom, determined by evidence more than by proba-
Under the head of proljability he urges that, bility ; but, if probabilities are to be weighed,
considering "the position of Greece amidst 1 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 European
small indejiendent communities, many of Greeks, and I should altogether, demur to
5U(J
CLAIMS OF THE LYDIANS AND GREEKS. Λγρ. Book I.
Modern research lias not succeeded in lliroAving any considerablo
light on this disputed point. It is doubtful Avhether any of the
coins hitherto discovered date within some centuries of the original
invention. But in the opinion of many excellent judges the cha-
i-acter 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 Encyclopaedia Aletiopolitana, and
compare Humphreys' Ancient Coins and Medals, p. ;U.) 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 incuswn, 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, Avhile 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
diΛ'ided into compartments, and then ornamented
with a pattern, until gradually it became a second
device, retaining hoΛvever to a late date its original
square shape. In the Lydian coins the quadra-
tum 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 Avith later forms Λνϋΐ show cleai'ly its rude
and j^rimitive character.
The device upon the Lydian coins is either a croAvned figure of a
king, armed with a bow and quiver — the pattern apparently from
which the Persians took the emblem upon their Larics
— (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 byCrcesus.
The lion appears from Herodotus to have been a Ijydian embleui.
Croesus sent the image of a lion to Delphi, among his other presents
the statement tliat the Lydian civihsation and I.ycians, was of lionie growth, entirely
was deriveil from either Phcenicia or As- imeonnecteil witli that of Assyria, and only
Syria. So far ;i.s we can tell, the civilisation, slightly alli'fted liy the contemporaneous
.such as it was, of the I.yilians, Phrygians, civilisation of the Phrenician cities.
Note Β. DEVICES OX LYDIAN AND GREEK COINS. 567
(Herocl, 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, λ'. 102.
Cf. Sophocl. Philoct. 391—402),
and who is generally represented
as drawn by lions. (Comp. Orphic
Hymn, τανροψόΐ'ων ζεύξασα ταχ^ύίρομον άρμα Χεύντων. Sophocl. 1. S. C.
Lucret. ii. 602. 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 Lj'dian
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 Phocgeans 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, where the wild boar, the lion's scalp, the Avinged 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 loc).
Before the introduction of coined money into Greece by Pheidon,
it had been customary to use for commercial purposes, pieces of
metal called όβελοϊ, or οβελίσκοι, 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 they 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 οραχμη, or handful, Avhich
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, which 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 λεττον,
or fifty-sixth part of an obol, to the τετράΐραχμον, or piece of the
568 COINAGE OF THE GEEEKS. Arr. Book I.
value of four draclims,^ continued to form the Greek ciirrency down
to the ]ioman conquest. Minaj and talents were not coins, but
sums, or money of accoi;nt. Copper Avas veiy 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"
{ίίργνρος, άργυ/αοί' — comp. the French use of argent^ ; and money-
changers Avere called άργνραμοφοί ; money-chests, αργνροθηκαι ;
coiners, αργνροκοπιστήρες, or άργνροκόποι ; robbers, άργυροστερείς ;
ships employed in collecting money, άργνρολόγοι ντΊες, &c. A gold
coinage existed, however, among the Asiatic Greeks from an early
date, as at Phoca?a, Cyzicus, Lampsaciis, Abydos, &c. It was copied
from the Lydian, to which it conformed in weight and general
character. The name stater (^στατηρ), which was attached in the
time of Herodotus to the ordinary gold coin of AVestern Asia,
whether Persian (iii. 180 ; 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 " (στατηρ γ^ρυσονς),
Avhence, by the usiial process of abbreviation, the coin came to be
called indifferently, ararijp, and ■χρυσούς. (Compare with the last
the Latin aureus.) Double staters Avere also coined occasionally.
Subdivisions of the stater, sixths (εκται), and twelfths (ημίεκτα), were
likewise in use, Avhich 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 known to the Greeks
as "Croesians" (Κρο£σε7οι, Pollux), and were probably of peculiar
purity. Those of Cyzicus were highly valued, and were current at
Athens and elsewhere. Hence perhaps the proverb — βονς ίττ\
■γλωσσιι — the bull being the device of the Cyzicenes. The staters
of Phocaea were in bad repute (Hesj-ch. ad voc. Φωκαίς) ; they seem
to have been light in Aveight and of debased metal. (See upon the
whole subject of ancient coins, Col. Leake's Kumismata Hellenica ;
Eckhel's Loctrina Nummoruni Veterum ; Mionnet's Description de
Medailles Antiques ; Humphreys' Ancient Coins and IVIedals ; and
Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. Argentum, Aurum, Hecte,
Kummus, and Stater.)
* Decadrachms, or pieces of ten ilraclims, silver picie of tliis size, struck by Alexander
were also occasionally coined. Sir H. K;i\v- the Great at Babylon, which is now in the
liusou recently brought from the East a British Museum.
END OF VOL. T.
LO.NL>0N : ralMIED BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMJFOKD STKEET,
AND αίΑΙίΙΚΟ CltOSS,
Note Α. GREEK SURNAMES OF ZEUS. 561
465Elzev.; Z. (υάνΐμο$, Paiisan. iii, 13, 8. He also presides over the seasons:
hence Zei/s ϊκμσ.1ο$. Αρ. lihod. ii. 522, and Sch. ; Z. μ6ριο$, Soph. CEd. C. 705 ;
Z. ΐΐτίκάρπιο5, Plut. Op. Mor. 1048 C.
" The principal attendants upon Jupiter were Themis, -with her two daughters,
Αίκη and Ευνομία: hence he presides over ayopal, and hence Zeus ayopalos,
Herod, v. 46, ^sch. Eum. 973, Eur. Heracl. 40, Aristoph. Eq. 410, 500, Plut.
Op. Mor. 789, D. 792, F. Pausan. iii. 11, 9, v. 15, 4, ix. 25, 4 (cf. Zeiis ιτανομ-
(patos, II. Θ. 250) ; Zeus fiovKaios, Antiph. vi. 146, Plut. Op. Mor. 801 E. (cf. 802
13., Pausan. i. 3, 5).
"We find Zihs ττολίβί/ϊ, Plut. Vit. Demetr. 909, Op. Mor. 789 D., 792 F.,
Pausan. i. 24, 4, in which office his temi^le would be in the Acropolis; so Zehs
vTraros, Plut. Op. Mor. 1065 E., Pausan. iii. 7, 6, and viii. 14, 7, ix. 19, 3;
iJ^ia-Toy, Pausan. ii. 3, 1, v. 15, 5, ix. 8, 5. We find Zei/s βασίΚΐϋί, Ran. 1278
and elsewhere, Plat. Ale. ii. p. 143, Pausan. ix. 34, 4; for Zei/s βασιλ^υί and
Z. 7)'γ(μων, see especially Xen. Cyrop. and Anab. We find from Homer and
Hesiod that Jupiter especially protected kings and generals, and determined the
event of battles : hence Zei/s rpo^aios, Eur. El. 671, Heracl. 867, 936 (cf. Pho3n.
1250, 1473\ Pausan. iii. 12, 9; Zei/s arparios, Herod, v. 119, Strab. xiv. 659,
Plut. Vit. Eum. 594.
"In adjurations and invocations Jupiter is often called by an appropriate
surname: see especially Herod, i. 44, Luc. Tim. 98, 152, Schol. Aristoph. Eq.
500, and Ran. 756, Schol. Eur. Hec. 345 : such are Zei/s aiSoios, .^Escb. Suppl.
192 (cf. (Ed. Col. 1267); Zei/s νίμ-ητωρ, Sep. Theb. 485, and κλάριο$, ^..sch.
Suppl. 360, Pausan. viii. 53, 9; Z. apa7os, Soph. Philoct. 1181, and Scli. ; Z.
eπ<ίψ^os, Ap. Rhod. ii. 1124, 1132; Z. πα^'όπτ^7s, -<3isch. Suppl. 139; παν5ορκίτ-ηε,
Eur. El. 1177; φύξιο!, Αρ. Rhod. ii. 1147, iv. 119, Pausan. ii. 21, 2, iii. 17,9.
So, in the comedians, Z. δίόπτη! καϊ κατόπτη5, Aristojjh. Ach. 435, and Sch.;
Z. δμομαστΐΎία5, Ran. 756.
" Zei/s iraipeios, see Sup. and Athen. xiii. 572 D. E., x. 446 D.; Z. 4φΐστιο5,
Msch. Ag. 704, Soijh. Aj. 492, and Sch.; Z. ϊκέσιο^, Msch.. Suppl. 346, 616,
Soph. Philoct. 484, Eur. Hec. 345, Ap. Rhod. ii. 215, 1131 sqq., Pausan. i. 20,
7: also the forms ίκ€τ•ησιο^, Od. v. 213; άψΊκτωρ, ^sch. Sujipl. 1; ίκταΊοί,
JEsch. Suppl. 385 ; Ικτ^ρ, ^sch. Suppl. 478 ; Z. ^eVios, II. v. 625, Od. i. 270 ;
ξ. 284, 389 (cf. Od. 2, 207, and ξ. 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. 965), Plut. Vit. Ai-at.
1052, Op. Mor. 766 C. (cf. 158 C), Pausan. iii. 11, 11, Athen. xv. 696 D.
"Zet/s δμόγνιοί, Eur. Andr. 921, Aristoph. Ran. 750, 756, and Sch., Plat. Legg.
ix. 881; so Zei/s σύναιμοί, Soph. Antig. 658 (cf. Trpos «re θΐών δμοΎνίων, Soph.
(Ed. Col. 1333, and Ruhuk. Lex. Tim. s. v.); so Z. iraTp^os, Nub. 1468 (cf.
Plut. Op. Mor. 758 D., which ej)ithet has frequently a different signification); Otol
■πατρώοι, .^E.sch. Sep. Theb. 1018, and elsewhere; Z. πατpώos, Plat. Rep. iii. 391,
Euthyd. 302, de Legg. ix. 881 ; see Herod, v. 66 and 61.
" Zei/$ φράτριοί, Demosth. xliii. 1054, Athen. xi. 460 F. ; Z. δμόφυΚοί, Plat.
Legg. viii. 843; Z. yeviOAios, Pind. Pyth. iv. 298, Plut. Vit. Alex. M. 682,
Op. Mor. 166 D. 1119 E. ; here the epithet signifies πατρψο$, but it denotes
prcsidini] over birth, Pind. 01. viii. 20 (cf. xiii. 148, cf. also .^Esch. Eum. 7, 293,
Soph. (Ed. C. 972) ; and protecting j)arents, Plut. Op. Mor. 766 C. (cf. .^Esch,
Choeph. 912).
"Zei/s 'όρκιοί. Soph. Philoct. 1324, Eur. Hippol. 1025, Plut. Vit. Eum. 594 (cf.
JSschin. i. 16, add Pausan. v. 24, 9).
" Zei/s φίλιοί, 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 epKetos, 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 eAeuflepios,
Pind. 01. xii. 1, Herod, iii. 142, Eur. Rhes. 358, Plut. Vit. Aristid. 331, and
Pausan. x. 21, 5 and 6; Zei/s 'opios, Plat. Legg. viii. 842 im., Demosth. vii. 86,
Polyb. ii. 39 ; also in expiation of murder, Zei/s μΐίλίχιο5 was invoked."
Zens was put for the heaven (Hor. 1 Od. i. 25, "Manet sub Jove
fiigiclo venator"). He Avas said "to rain;" and Clemens (Strom.
V. p. 571) says, " Jove's tears signify rain." Athenasus, x. p. 4o0a.
VOL. I. 2 υ
562 GOD IN SAMARITAN AND HEBREW. App. Book I.
Pausan. ii. 19 (see νέηος above, Ep. AVet.) Διιττετί/ς was also applied
to the Kile (sec note on cli. 19, b. ii.) Cp. Clem. Strom, v. p. (303.
His name Diespiter is the Indian Diuspiter, " Sun-father," or
" Heavenly light ; " and perhaps 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 zugon and jugum.
Tlie old Latin name was Jovi or Jovis. Cp. the Assyrian God Jav.
The Samaritans called Ihoh or Ihoah (Icngthencid by us into Jeho-
vah), Ίηβε, according to Theodoret (the β being a v) ; the Greeks
Ίάω. Clemens very properly says the name is "of four letters,"
ΓΤΙΠ^ (Ihoh). It signified "is," or " Avill be." "lah" is Π* (Ih).
'ilie lioyal Scythians called Jupiter Papasus (Herod, iv. 59). For
Jupiter's ])atronage of kings, cp. ϋωτρεψέωΐ' βασίλίμον. (See note on
ch. 4, B. ii. App. ch. iii. § 19.)— [G. \V.]
Note Β. INVENTION OF COINING.• 563
NOTE (B).
ON THE INVENTION OF COINING, AND THE EARLIEST SPECIMENS
OF COINED MONEY.
Thr question of tlie first invention of coined mone}^ is one of those
which it is impossible to solve, and on Avhich we can onl}' hope at
best to arrive at a probable opinion. There can be no doubt that
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 their being of the professed
weight and purity, arose in one place only, and then spread from a
single centre gradually over the knoAA'n world ; or whether the idea
occurred separately to several nations, λνΐϊΐ perhaps 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 CAUdent that
we can entertain but slight hopes of ever settling the question of
priority of discovery. AVith 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 Avhich
himself and his country-men had knoAvledge. By this we are not to
understand, as has been argued (Edinburgh Beview, No. 211, p.
170), the states of Asia Minor only, with which he was from his
birtlx and breeding most familiar, but the various countries and
kingdoms through which he had traA'elled, or of which he had
gained authentic information, extending from India on the east to
Sicily and Italy on the Avest, and including Persia, Media, Babylon,
Egypt, Phoenicia, Phrj-gia, as well as the numerous Greek states
scattered over the countries bordering the Mediterranean and its
tributary seas, from Olbia to Kaucratis, and from Trapezus to Mas-
silia. The expression used is the one constantly occurring through-
OTit the whole work for knoAvlcdge of the most general kind, and
which is applied to nations as little known as the Scythians (iv. 46),
the Neuri, Λνΐιο dwell above them (iv. 17), and the Atarantcs of the
African desert (iv. 184). Herodotus then, it appears, was convinced
that the practice of coining mone}- originated, not Avith the Egyptians,
Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Phrygians, or Greeks, but Avitli
the Lydians, who were the 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 Avhich requires considera-
2 0 2
5G4 ABSENCE OF ANCIENT EASTERN COINS. Arr. Book I.
tion, tlao question being one of mncli interest in itself, and important
in its bearing upon the general character of Lydian civilisation.
Now it is certainly most remarkable, that among the mxmerons
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 hicroglyphical discovery, that there was at no
time a native coinage ; and it appears that the Persians first (Herod,
iv. 1G6), and the Greeks afterwards, had to introduce their own
monetary systems 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
1)1/ 'Weight, 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 Avould 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 \'iew 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^iil). Previous to the captivity it would appear that tho
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 wi'itten 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 tho most extensive description from a very earl}' time —
possessing either actually or through their colonists almost tho
entire carrying trade of Asia and Africa — tho Phoenicians could not
but bo 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 Avriters. The probable fact
noticed above, that tho Jews derived tlicir first knoAvIodgc of coined
Note Β. COINING NOT A PHCENICIAN INVENTION. 565
money at the time of the 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. lo ; Pollux, ix. 83; Etym. Mag.
ad voces Ehfiokoi' νόμισμα, and οβελίσκος. 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, Avithout conscioiis 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 iintouched. 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 be
said, that authority and probability are alike in favour of a Lydian
rather than a Grecian origin of the invention.*
^ Colonel Le<ake, 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 4ττίσ-ημον 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 Empire (!), 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 Phcenicia 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 I should question the grounds on which the
the surrounding countries, its geological eon- Lydians of the eighth century B.C. are re-
struction and coiLsequent subdivision into garded as less civilised than the European
small independent communities, many of Greeks, and I should altogether demur to
5GG
CLAIMS OF THE LYDIAX.S AND GREEKS. Apr. Book I.
Modern research has not siiccceclcd in throwing any considerable
light on this disputed point. It is doixbtful whether any of the
coins hitherto discovered date within some centuries of the original
invention. But in the opinion of man}' excellent judges the cha-
ivicter 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 Encyclopaedia ]\Ietropolitana, and
compare Humphreys' Ancient Coins and Medals, p. 31.) Within a
circuit of some thirty miles roxmd Sardis, the ancient capital of
Lydia, a number of gold and sih^er coins have been found of a
peculiar type, and of the rudest character and execution. These
coins hiive a device on one side only, the other being occupied by
the punch mark, or quadratum incusimi, Avhich 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 b}»• 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 hoΛvever to a late date its original
square shape. In the Lydian coins the r/uadra-
tum wcusum 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 Avill show clearly its rude
and primitive character.
I'he device upon the Lydian coins is either a crowned figure of a
king, armed with a bow and quiver — the pattern apparently fi-om
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) suj)posed by Mr. Borrell to have
been struck by(hocsus.
The lion appears from Herodotus to ΙκαΛ^ο been a Lydian emblem.
Croesus sent the image of a lion to Delphi, among his other presents
the statement that the Lydian civilisation ami Lycians, was of home growth, entirely
was, derived from either Phirnicia or As- unconnected with that of Assyria, and only
Syria. So far as we can tell, the civilisation, sliglitly allccted hy the contemporaneous
such a-s it was, of the Lydians, Phrygians, civilisation of the Phoenician cities.
Note Β.
DEVICES ON LYDIAN AND GREEK COINS.
56'
(Herod, 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. Philoct. 391—402),
and who is generally represented
as drawn by lions. (Comp. Orphic
Hymn, ταυροψόΐ'ων ^ίΰ^οσα τα^ΰΐρομον άρμα λεόίτω»'. Sophocl. 1. s. c.
Lucret. ii. 602. Virg. ^n. iii. 111—113.)
While the Persians, on their conquest of Lvdia, 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, Avhich 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 I'hoca^ans that of
the seal {Phoca) ; the Clazomenians that of the Avinged 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, where the wild boar, the lion's scalp, the Λvinged 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
compai-atively 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 όβελοί, or όι^ελίσκοι, literally, " spits," or " skewers."
These are thought by Col. Leake (Xum. Hellen. p. 1, App.), to have
been "small pyramidal pieces of silver;" but the more general
opinion is that they 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 A-alue (three-halfpence of our money), combined
with the fact that six of them made the ύραχμή, 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, which 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 ft-om the λιπτον,
or fifty-sixth part of an obol, to the τετράΕραχμον, or piece of the
568 COINAGE OF THE G KEEKS. Αιτ. Book T.
vahxe of foTir clrachms,* continued to form the Greek enrrency down
to the lioman conquest. Minas and talents were not coins, but
sums, or money of account. Copper was ver}'^ 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"
(άργυρος, άργνριοί' — comp. the French use of argent') ; and monc}'•-
cliangers Avere called άργυραμοιβοί ; money-chests, άργυροθηκαι ;
coiners, ΰργυρπκοττισττΊρίς, or αργνροκόττοι ; robbers, άργυροσηρείς ;
ships employed in collecting monej^ άργυρολύγυι νηες. &c. A gold
coinage existed, however, among the Asiatic Greeks from an early
date, as at Phocasa, Cyzicus, Lampsaciis, Abydos, &c. It was copied
from the L^-dian, to which it conformed in Avcight and general
character. The name stater (στατηρ), which was attached in the
time of Herodotus to the ordinary gold coin of Western Asia,
whether Persian (iii. 1;10 ; vii. 28), Lydian (i. 54), or Greek (Boeckh,
Corp. Ins. 150 ; Thuc. iv. 52), and \vhich 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 " (στατηρ χρυσούς),
whence, by the usual process of abbreviation, the coin came to be
called indifferently, στατηρ, and χρυσούς. (Compare with the last
the Latin aureus.) Double staters were also coined occasionally.
Subdivisions of the stater, sixths (ίίκται), and twelfths ({ιμίεκτα), were
likewise in use, Avhich were made of electrum, a natui-al amalgam of
gold and silver, common in Asia (Soph. Antig. 1038 ; I'lin. H. N.
xxiii. 4), and which seem to have been largely in circulation among
the Ionian cities. The staters of Croesus Avere known to the Greeks
as "Croesians" (ΚροισεΤοί, Pollux), and were probably of peculiar
purity. Those of Cyzicus were highly vahied, and were cunent at
Athens and eliscAvhere. Hence perhaps the proverb — βοϋς ΐπΐ
γλωσσίι — the bull being the device of the Cyzicenes. The staters
of Phocaja were in bad repute (Ilesych. ad voc. Φωκα'ις) ; 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's Doctrina Ktimmonim Veterum ; Mionnet's Description de
Medailles Antiques ; Humphreys' Ancient C*oins and Medals ; and
Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. Argentum, Aurum, Hecte,
Kummus, and Stater.)
■•^ Decadnichms, or pieces of ten diiRlmis, silver piece of tliis size, struck by Alexander
were also occjisionally coined. Kir H. l-tiiw- tlie Great .-it Babylon, which i» now in the
Imson recently brought from the East a British Museum.
END OF VOL. I.
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