Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/112

 8o Outlines of European History Chaldeans and Medes divide the Assyrian Empire Nebuchad- nezzar de- feats Egypt Reign of Nebuchad- Section 15. The Chaldean Empire: the Last Semitic Empire With the fall of Nineveh (606 B.C.) we enter upon the third and final period of Semite power in western Asia^ — a power which had begun over two thousand years earlier under Sargon of Akkad. The Kaldi, or Chaldeans, the new group of desert wanderers, now held possession of Babylonia. They made Babylon their capital and gave their name to the land, so that we now know it as " Chaldea " (from Kaldi). The whole moun- tain region of the north and on the east of the Tigris was at the same time in possession of the Medes (p. 93). The Chal- deans were therefore obliged to divide the Assyrian Empire with the Medes, and the Chaldean share was the south and west. But in order to hold their western possessions the Chal- deans were obliged to fight Egy^pt. The Chaldean crown prince Nebuchadnezzar - beat off Egs^pt, and thus Assyria was followed by Chaldean Babylon as lord of Syria and Palestine (605 B.C.). At Babylon Nebuchadnezzar now began a reign of over forty years — a reign of such power and magnificence, especially as reflected to us in the Bible, that he has become one of the great figures of oriental history. Exasperated by the obstinate revolts prompted by Eg}^pt in the west, Nebuchadnezzar punished the western nations, especially the little Hebrew kingdom of Judah. He finally carried away many Hebrews as captives to Babylonia and destroyed Jerusalem, their capital (586 B.C.), having pre- viously defeated the Eg}'ptian army of relief, on which the Hebrews had depended. 1 The three great ages of Semite power in western Asia are : 1. Early Babylonia (Sargon I about 2750 b.c, Hammurapi about 2100 b.c; there was an interval of Sumerian power between these two great Semitic kings). 2. The Assyrian Empire (about 750 to 606 B.C.). 3. The Chaldean Empire (about 606 to 539 b.c). We might add 2i fourth period of Semite supremacy, the triumph of Islam in the seventh century a.d., after the death of Mohammed (sections 58-59). 2 The monuments show that the real spelling of this name was " Nebuchad- rezzar," but to avoid confusion the old BibUcal spelling has been retained.