Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/23

Rh indebted were designated by the people with reverent epithets, the Euphrates being called the "Soul of the Land" (Napšat Mâti) and the Tigris the "Bringer of the Flood" (Babilat Nuḫši ). Southern Babylonia alone had no part in this canal system. This region lying along the Persian Gulf remained a marsh, and was a favorite lurking place for retreating hosts.

Herodotus gives scanty accounts of the geography of Babylonia. We observe that our historian by (I., 178) designates not merely the country of Assyria, but the Tigris and Euphrates valleys. Among the towns of Assyria he enumerates Babylon. The name Ninos, for Nineveh, seems somewhat remarkable as contrasted with the common phonetic writing in the cuneiform documents—i. e., Ninua or Ninâ. In the Greek writers Ninos is also the name of the husband of the half-mythical queen Semiramis. The name of the king was applied to the town. The name Ninâ is the original non- Semitic form of the word of which Ninua is a Semitic modification. According to Delitzsch the last part of this word, nâ, is explained through K. 4629 as meaning "resting place." What the first part, Ni, means is not so clear.

The chief city of Babylonia is called, by Herodotus and other Greek writers,. The phonetic spelling of this name in the cuneiform inscriptions of the oldest period was either Babilu or Babili ("Gate of