Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/46

 ASSYRIA history is impressed upon three clay cylinders found by Layard at Kileh-sherghat, the ear- lier Asshur, one of the capitals, the only one situated on the right bank of the Tigris. It forms the records of King Tiglatli-pileser I., whose date is by other records fixed at about 1130 B. C. From this and other monuments it appears that for many centuries there were in the lands on the Tigris and Euphrates two rival kingdoms, Babylonia and Assyria, each in turn superior to the other; and that about 1250 Assyria had come to be a pow- erful and compact kingdom, under a single monarch, surrounded on the north and east by scattered tribes, who sometimes coalesced into temporary alliances, but were one by one beaten down and rendered tributary. The Assyrian capital was at Kileh-sherghat, the old Asshur, some 60 m. below Nineveh, and on the opposite bank of the Tigris. On the west it reached the Euphrates; on the south was the rival kingdom of Babylonia. For the next two centuries the history of Assyria is almost a blank. During this period a compact king- dom of Israel was founded by David. The do- minion of David and Solomon stretched beyond the range of Lebanon, nominally reaching quite across the desert to the banks of the Euphra- tes ; but it is clear that neither David nor Sol- omon ever came into contact with the Assyrian power. This power seems indeed to have then become enfeebled ; and when, after the sepa- ration into Israel and Judah, the Hebrews were pressed back within their old limits, the new kingdom of Damascus had arisen. When our record is resumed, the residence of the Assyrian kings had been removed 40 m. up the Tigris to Calah (now Nimrud), on the E. bank of the river. At the angle formed by the junc- tion of the Upper or Greater Zab, Calah was only 20 m. below the site now recognized as that of Nineveh, and possibly was considered a part of that great city. The monarch whose reign was from 886 to 858 appears on the in- scriptions as Asshur-nasir-pal (or, according to other readings, Asshur-izir-pal or Asshur- idanni-pal), "the great king, the powerful king, king of hosts, king of Assyria." He overran the mountain region of Armenia and Kurdistan, and his furthest expedition was through Lebanon and the valley of the Orontes to the Mediterranean shore, where he received the submission of the chief cities of Phoenicia. From Lebanon he brought back the cedar which was used to ornament his palace at Calah or Nimrud. The sculptures from this palace are among the most striking of all the Assyrian remains. He was succeeded by his son Shalmuneser II., whose reign lasted from 858 to 823. He is known as the "black obelisk king," from an obelisk 7 feet high and 22 inches wide, now in the British museum, upon the four sides of which is portrayed, pictorially and literally, the history of his 27 campaigns. These were carried on upon the middle Euphrates, in Babylonia, in the moun- tains of Kurdistan and Armenia, upon both slopes of Lebanon, down the valley of the Orontes, and in the kingdom of Israel. Among the prostrate figures is one described as Jehu the son of Omri, the king of Israel. The As- syrian king moved down the Mediterranean coast, leaving Judah on his left untouched, but receiving tribute from the Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblus. Five years before his death Shalmaneser was dethroned by a revolt headed by his eldest son. This revolt was put down by a younger son, Shamas- iva, who reigned 13 years (823-810), carried his arms into Media and Babylonia, and was succeeded by his son Iva-lush, who married Sammuramit, a Babylonian princess who, as the only female ruler recorded in Assyrian history, furnished the Greek fabulists with the name of Semiramis. Babylonia and Assyria seem now to have been formally united ; the govern- ment of the former being specially put into the hands of a member of the royal Assyrian family, who acted as viceroy. Nineveh, the main ruins of which are now visible at Koyun- jik and Nebbi-Yunus, opposite Mosul, had now become the Assyrian capital. The book of Jonah, who is believed to have lived dur- ing this period, is of historical value from the glimpse which it affords of the extent of that great city in its palmiest days. If we assume that the 120,000 persons who " knew not their right hand from their left," that is, children, is an approximation to the census, the population of the city would be about 600,000. It is mentioned as a city of three days' journey, containing also " much cat- tle " ; other authorities say it was 17 in. long and 10 broad. The probability is that Nineveh, like Babylon, was a district, about as large as our District of Columbia, enclosed with high walls, containing pastures, fields, and gardens, besides several strongly fortified points. Three other reigns fill up the interval from 781 to 745. With the last of these the reigning dynasty seems to have come to a close ; for in 745 we find Tiglath-pileser II., apparently a usurper, on the throne, with his capital at Calah. The duration of the new dynasty, known as the lower monarchy, is variously estimated at 120 or 139 years 745 to 625 or 606. The names of five out of the seven kings of the last dynasty are familiar from their oc- currence in the Hebrew records. The first of these was Tiglath-pileser II. His accession (745) coincides closely with one of the great eras of history. The first Greek Olympiad began a generation earlier (776); Rome was, according to her traditions, founded eight years before (753) ; the Babylonian era of Nubonassar is synchronous within two years (747). Thus the last and most splendid age of the Assyrian empire coincides with the in- j fanoy of Greek and Roman civilization. The records of this Tiglath-pileser are fragment- ary, for Esar-haddon, his fourth successor, un- i dertook to destroy all the palaces of his pre-