Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/263

 and Clitarchus, go to establish the fact that the ancients believed in two Sardanapoli — one, a war-like prince who was reigning when the Medes revolted, and who seems to correspond with the Scriptural Esarhaddon; and the other, named Saracus by Abydenus, but by Ctesia, Sardanapalus, who was luxurious and effeminate in his habits, but who, when his capital was attacked, made a gallant defence, and was burnt in his palace, on the capture of his city. The Bible, as we have seen, does not mention the name at the king who was on the throne at the time of the fall of Nineveh. Again, it appears from Alexander Polyhistor and the Astronomical Canon, that Babylon had always kings of her own from the earliest times: that they were sometimes subject to the Assyrians, and sometimes independent — and that they never acquired extensive dominion till the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The same view is confirmed as we hare seen from the narrative in the Bible (2 Kings xvii. 24.; Ezra iv. 2).

It may be remarked, that Clinton, agreeing with Usher and Prideaux, attempts to distinguish between what he and they call the Assyrian Empire and the Assyrian monarchy, supposing that the first terminated in the revolts of the Medes, but that the latter was continued to the time of the final destruction of Nineveh. We confess that we see no advantage in maintaining any such distinction. It is clear that an Assyrian Royal house continued exercising great power till the fall of Nineveb, whether we term that power an empire or a monarchy; and we are not convinced that there is any statement of weight in any ancient author from which it may be satisfactorily inferred that there was any change in the ruling dynasty. One great impediment to the correct comparison of the account in the Bible with those in profane authors, is the great variety of names under which the Assyrian rulers are named — add to which the strong probability that at the period of the compilation of the records of the Bible, the name Assyria was not used with its proper strictness, and that some rulers who are there called kings of were really chief governors of Babylonia or Mesopotamia.

The late remarkable discoveries in Assyria, many of them, as may fairly be presumed, upon the site of its ancient capital Ninus, have thrown an unexpected light upon the manners and customs of the ancient people of that land. The world are greatly indebted to the zeal with which the excavatians in that country have been carried on by Mr. Layard and M. Botta, and it is probably only necessary that the numerous inscriptions which have been disinterred should be fully decyphered, for us to know more of the early history of Assyria than we do at preset of any other Eastern nation. Already a great step has been made towards this end, and Col. Rawlinson, who has been so honourably distinguished for his remarkable decypherment of the Rock Inscriptions of Dareius the son of Hystaspes, with other scholars in England and France, has made considerable progress in determining the correct interpretation of the Assyrian Cuneiform records. It is premature here to attempt to lay before the public the results of their investigations, as the constant discovery of new inscriptions tends almost necessarily to change, or at least to modify considerably, previous statements, and earlier theories. It may, however, be stated generally, that all that has yet been done appears to show that the monuments of ancient Assyria ascendto a very early period; that many towns, known from other sources to have been of very ancient foundation, have been recognised upon the inscriptions, and that it is quite clear that the ruling city Ninus and the kings resident in it possessed a very extensive empire at least as early as the 15th century B.C. Those who wish to consider the bearing of the discoveries of the inscriptions will find all that has yet been done in Rawlinson, ''Journ. of As. Soc.'' vol. xii. pt. 2, vol. xiv. pt 1; Hincks, Ibid. vol. xii. pt. 1; Botta, ''Mem. sur l'Ecriture Assyr.'', Paris, 8vo. 1848; Löwenstein, ''Essai de dechiffr. de l'Ecrit. Assyr.'' Paris, 4to. 1850.

 ASTA, a considerable city in the interior of Liguria, on the river Tanarus, still called Asti. It is mentioned both by Pliny and Ptolemy; the former reckons it among the "nobilia oppida" of Liguria, while the latter assigns it the rank of a colony. It probably became such under the emperor Trajan. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 7; Ptol. iii. 1. § 45; Zumpt, de Coloniis, p. 408.) We learn from Pliny that it was noted for its manufacture of pottery (xxxv. 12. s. 46). Claudian alludes to a victory gained by Stilicon over the Goths under the walls of Asta, but we have no historical account of such an event (De VI. Cons. Honor. 204.) It appears, however, to have been a place of importance in the latter ages of the Roman empire, and we learn from Paullus Diaconus, who terms it "Civitas Astensis," that it still continued to be so under the Lombards. (P. Diac. iv. 42.) The name is corrupted in the Tabuk to Hasta or Hasia. The modern city of Asti is one of the most considerable places in Piedmont, and gives the name Astigiana to the whole surrounding country. It is an episcopal see, and contains a population of 24,000 souls.

 ASTA (: Astensis: Ru. at Mesa de Asta), an ancient city of the Celtici in Hispania Baetica, on an aestuary of the Gulf of Cadiz, 100 stadia from the port of Gades. (Strab. iii. pp. 140, 141, 143.) The Antonine Itinerary (p. 406) places it on the high road from Gades to Hispalis and Corduba, 1 6 M. P. from the Portos Gaditanus, and 27 from Ugia. Mela (iii. 1. § 4) speaks of it as procul a litore. It was the ancient and usual place of meeting for the people of the territory of Gades (Strab. p. 141), and its importance is confirmed by its very antique autonomous coins. The old Spanish root, found also in , , , , , is supposed to signify a hill-fortress.

Under the Romans, Asta became a colony, with the epithet Regia, and belonged to the conventus of Hispalis. (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3; coin with epigraph P. COL. ASTA. RE. F.) It is mentioned twice in Roman history. (Liv. xxxix. 21, B.C. 186; Bell. Hisp. 36, B.C. 45.)

Its ruins, and the remains of the old Roman road through it, are seen on a hill between Xerez and Tribugena, which bears the name of Meta de Asta. Some place it at Xeres, which is more probably the ancient ). (Flores, Esp. S. xii. p. 60, ''Med. Esp.'' ill 98; Eckhel, vol. i. p. 15; Ukert, ii. 1, p. 866.)

 ASTABE'NE (, Isid. Charax: Eth. Astabeni;, or , or , Ptol. vi. 9. § 5, vi. 17. § 3). according to Isidore, a district between Hyrcania and Parthia, containing twelve villages and one town of note called Asaac, or, more probably, Arsacia. It seems doubtful