Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/436

 338 NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. approach the subjects of their investigation with greater interest as it may confidently be anticipated ; while, such an outline may prove not devoid of amusement to those who have not time for the more laborious task of separate investigation. One thing, ai all events, the author hopes that he will have succeeded in showing — the labours with which the travellers have had to contend, and the slender aid which they have received from those in their own countries, who might naturally have been expected to have co-operated most warmly and most readily with them — in his own words, he states that " It will at least give the reader some idea of the nature of the countries themselves, and some insight into the physical difficulties with which the travellers have had to contend in their adventurous career. It may serve to elevate their labours to a higher place in the estimation of the public, and to show that such pursuits may have a value in themselves which well deserves the honour they have at all times received from men of science and letters. It will, moreover, show with what rare exceptions the results of such exertions have been due to anything but individual enterprise and exertion, and how seldom the nations, which have reaped the fruit of such inquiries, have in any way contributed to their advancement or success." In pursuance of his scheme, the author gives, first, a sketch of the early history of Assyria, and mentions all that is known about Ximrod from the Bible and profane tradition ; showing that there is some ground for imao^ining that he is typified under the Greek name Ninus ; that the legendary stories of the latter apply really to the former ; and that we may infer, from the prominence given to his name in the brief and scanty historical record of Holy Scripture, that he was in his days an illustrious chieftain. The position, and probable extent of his empire, are then discussed, and the natural reasons for the early celebrity of Babylon, and of the long permanence of her name and power, are deduced from the character and energy of her people, and her peculiar geological and geographical position. Some remarks are, at the same time, offered on the relation of Babylon and Nineveh to one another, as regards their size and their importance ; and reasons are given why Nineveh, though so great a city, was probably never at any time so celebrated, or so mighty as its sister, Babylon, From this slight sketch of early Assyrian history our author proceeds to develope that of the early Jewish people, and of the trade established in Judea during the prosperous reign of Solomon ; and then continues his historical narrative through the better-known reigns of Tiglath Pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib, till he comes to the final overthrow of Nineveh, and the union of all Mesopotamia, Western Asia, and Syria, under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar the author makes a diffression, in order to take in tlie history of the Chaldeans, ancient and modern, and with a view of putting together all that is known about them. He appears to have been induced to do so mainly from the interest which has been lately laid round them ; first, by Dr. Grant's book on the Nestorians, in which he claims the modern inhabitants of the mountains of Kurdistan as the descendants of the lost Ten Tribes : and, secondly, by the accounts of the visits lately paid to these tribes by Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. Layard. Our author difi'ers entirely from Dr. Grant's views, which he considers at once hasty and unsupported by any reasonable evidence ; and concludes, with the latest travellers, that they are an original race, who, once occupying both mountain and plain, have since retreated to their native