There are choice meats, hare, and game-birds, and an abundance of mixed wine in the huge vases from which the busy attendants fill the beakers of the guests. Afterward the king invites the queen from her seclusion in the beautiful harem to sup with him in the garden. At this banquet the luxurious Asshurbanipal reclines on a couch, leaning his left elbow on a cushioned pillow, and holding in his hand a lotus, here, as in Egypt, the sacred flower. A table with dishes of incense stands by his couch, at the foot of which sits his handsome queen. Her tunic is fringed and patterned in the elaborate Assyrian style, and she is resplendent with jewelry. A grape-vine shelters the royal pair, and behind each of them stand two fan-bearers with long brushes, scattering the troublesome flies. Meantime the king and queen sip wine from their golden cups; the attendants bring in fresh fruits; the harpers play soft music; and, to complete the triumph of the feast, from a neighboring tree surrounded by hungry vultures dangles the severed head of the king's newly conquered enemy. ASSYRIAN KING AND 4. SUMMARY. 1. Political History.-Our earliest glimpse of Chaldea is of a Turanian people in temple cities. Later come the Semites, a nomadic people, who migrate northward, and finally build the Assyrian cities upon the Tigris. Henceforth war rages between the rival sections, and the seat of power fluctuates between Babylon and Nineveh. About 1300 B. c. Babylon is overwhelmed, and for nearly 700 years Nineveh is the seat of empire. Here the Sargonida-Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Asshurbanipal-develop the Golden Age of Assyrian rule. The Babylonians, however, continue to revolt, and in 747 B. c. Nabonasser ascends the Babylonian throne, destroys the records of all the kings before his time, and establishes a new era from which to reckon dates. In 606 B. C. Nineveh is finally overthrown by the Babylonians and the Medes, and Nabopolasser establishes the second Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar subdues the surrounding nations, humiliates Egypt, captures Tyre, crushes Judea, and with his captives brought back to Babylon makes that city the marvel of all eyes. It is, however, the last of her glory. Within the next quarter of a century Babylon is taken by the stratagem of Cyrus the Great, Belshazzar is slain, and the mighty city falls, never again to rise to her ancient glory. 2. Civilization.-The Early Chaldeans build vast temples of sundried brick cemented with bitumen; write in cuneiform characters on clay tablets; engrave signet cylinders; use implements of stone, flint, and bronze; manufacture cloth; make boats and navigate the sea. They are learned in astronomy and arithmetic; discover the equinoctial precession (Steele's Astronomy, p. 121); divide the day into twentyfour hours; draw maps, record phenomena, invent dials, and calculate a table of squares. They place their houses on high platforms, make their furniture of date-wood, and use tableware of clay or bronze. The palm-tree furnishes them food. Their dead are buried in large clay jars, or in dish-covered tombs, or are laid to rest in arched brick vaults. The Assyrians, their Semitic conquerors, are a fierce, warlike race, skillful in agriculture, in blowing glass and shaping pottery, in casting and embossing metals, and in engraving gems. They dye, weave, and are superior in plastic art. They build great palaces, adorning them with sculptured alabaster slabs, colossal bulls and lions, paved courts, and eagle-headed deities. They, too, write upon clay tablets, and cover terra-cotta cylinders with cuneiform inscriptions. Their principal gods are the heavenly bodies. They do not worship animals, like the Egyptians, but place images of clay, stone, or metal in their temples, and treat them as real deities. Magic and sorcery abound. There is no caste among the people, but all are at the mercy of the king. Women are not respected as in Egypt, and they live secluded in their own apartments. Clay books are collected and libraries founded, but most of the learning comes from the conquered race, and the Chaldean is the classic language. The Babylonians are a luxurious people. Industries flourish and commerce is extensive. Babylonian robes and tapestries surpass all others in texture and hue. Far below Assyria in the art of sculptured bas-relief, Babylonia excels in brick-enameling, and is greatly the supe rior in originality of invention, literary culture, and scientific attainment. From her Assyria draws her learning, her architecture, her religion, her legal forms, and many of her customs. "In Babylonia almost every branch of science made a beginning. She was the source to which the entire stream of Eastern civilization may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Babylon, real civilization might not even yet have dawned upon the earth, and mankind might never have advanced beyond that spurious and false form of it which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Peru, contented the aspirations of the people."-Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies. READING REFERENCES. Rawlinson's History of Ancient Monarchies.- Fergusson's History of Architecture, and Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored.-Layard's Monuments of Nineveh, and Nineveh and its Remains.-Records of the Past (New Series).-Sayce's Babylonian Literature; Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People; and Fresh Lights from Ancient Monuments.-Perrot and Chipiez's History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria.George Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis (Revised); Assyrian Discoveries; and Early History of Assyria.-Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.-Also the General Ancient Histories named on p. 44. PHOENICIA. The Phoenicians were Semites. They inhabited a bar ren strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, not more than one hundred and eighty miles long and a dozen broad. The country was never united under one king, but each city was a sovereignty by itself. A powerful aristocracy was connected with these little monarchies, but the bulk of the people were slaves brought from foreign countries. The principal cities were Sidon and Tyre,1 which successively exercised a controlling influence over the others. The chief defense of the Phoenicians lay in their naval power. Situated midway between the east and the west, and at the junction of three continents, they carried on the trade of the world.2 The Mediterranean became the mere highway of their commerce. They passed the Strait of Gibraltar on one hand, and reached India on the other. They settled Cyprus, Sicily, and Sardinia. In Spain they founded Gades (now Cadiz); and in Africa, Utica and Carthage, the latter destined to be in time the dreaded rival of Rome. They planted depots on the Persian Gulf and the Geographical Questions.-Bound Phoenicia. Locate Tyre; Sidon. Name the principal Phoenician colonies. Where was Carthage? Utica? Tarshish? Gades? The Pillars of Hercules? 1 Tyre, which was founded by Sidonians, has been called the Daughter of Sidon and the Mother of Carthage. 2 Read the 27th chapter of Ezekiel for a graphic account of the Phoenician com merce in his day. Red Sea. They obtained tin from the British Isles, amber from the Baltic,1 silver from Tarshish (southern Spain), and gold from Ophir (southeastern Arabia). In connection with their maritime trade they established great commercial 1 Over their land trade routes. Amber also existed near Sidon. They carefully concealed the source of their supplies. An outward-bound Phoenician captain once found himself followed by a Roman ship. To preserve his secret and destroy his follower, he ran his own vessel on the rocks. The government made up his loss. |