14

A. R. B. C. named Belesis, established the kingdom of 7 747 Babylon, where he is known by the name af Nabonassar. Hence the æra of Nabonassar, famous with Ptolemy and the ancient astronomers, who reckoned their years from that prince's reign. It is proper here to take notice, that the word Æra signifies a number of years, beginning at a certain period distinguished by some great event. 740 Ahaz, an impious and wicked king of Judah, being sore pressed by Rezin king of Syria, and by Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, instead of having recourse to God, who raised up those enemies to punish him, sent for Tiglath-pileser, the first king of Assyria, or of Nineveh, who reduced the kings of Israel to the lowest extremity, and totally ruined that of Syria; but at the same time he ravaged the kingdom of Judah, which had implored his assistance. Thus the kings of Assyria learned the road to the Holy Land, and resolved on the conquest of it. They began with $ 721 the kingdom of Israel, which Shalmana

ser, the son and successor of Tiglath-pile-
ser, utterly destroyed. Hoshea, king of
Israel, had relied on the aid of Sabacon,
otherwise named Sua, or So, king of Ethi-
opia, who had invaded Egypt. But that
mighty conqueror was not able to deliver
him out of the hand of Shalmanaser.
ten tribes, among whom the worship of God
was extinguished, were carried away to
Nineveh; and being scattered among the
Gentiles, were so lost, that there is now
no vestige of them to be found. Some

The

39

721

715

40

714

few were left behind, who were mixed with A. R. B. C. the Jews, and made a small part of the 33 kingdom of Judah. At this time happened the death of Romulus. He was always at war, and always victorious; but in the midst of wars he laid the foundations of religion and the laws. A long peace afforded Numa his successor an opportunity of finishing the work. He formed the religion, and civilized the savage manners of the Roman people. In his time colonies from Corinth, and some other cities of Greece, founded Syracuse in Sicily, Crotona, Tarentum, and perhaps some other cities in that part of Italy, to which former Grecian colonies, who had overspread the whole country, had already given the name of Great Greece. Meanwhile Hezekiah, the most pious and righteous of all the kings who succeeded David, reigned in Judea. Sennacherib, the son and 44 successor of Shalmaneser, besieged him in Jerusalem with an immense host, which was cut off in one night by the hand of an Angel. Hezekiah, delivered in so wonderful a manner, served God, with all his people, more faithfully than ever. But after that prince's death, and under his son Manasseh, the ungrateful people forgot God, and fell into many disorders. The popular state was then forming among the Athenians, and they began to elect the annual Archons, the first of whom was Creon. While impiety increased in the kingdom of Judah, the power of the kings of Assyria, who were to be its scourges, advanced under Esar-haddon, the son of Sennacherib. He

D

56

67

710

698

697

78

1

73

17

681

677

A. R. B. C. united the kingdom of Babylon with that of Nineveh, and equalled in the Greater Asia the empire of the first Assyrians. Under his reign the Cuthites, a people of Assyria*, afterwards called Samaritans, were sent to inhabit Samaria. These joined the worship of God to that of idols, and obtained from Esar-haddon an Israelitish priest, who taught them the service of the God of the country, that is, the ceremonies of the law of Moses. God was not willing that his name should be utterly abolished in a land which he had given to his people, and left his law there for a testimony ; but their priest gave them only the books of Moses, which the ten revolted tribes had retained in their schism. The Scriptures composed afterward by the prophets, who sacrificed in the temple, were had in detestation among them; for which reason the Samaritans receive only the Pentateuch to this day.

While Esar-haddon and the Assyrians were so powerfully establishing themselves in the Greater Asia, the Medes began also to render themselves considerable. Dejoces their first king, named Arphaxad in Scripture, founded the stately city of Ecbaton, and laid the foundations of a great empire. They had placed him on the throne to crown his virtues, and to put an end to the disorders which anarchy occasioned among them. Conducted by so great a king, they

* 2 Kings, xvii. 24 Ezr. iv. 2.

27, 28,

&c.

Herod. lib. i. c. 27.

↑ 2 Kings, xvii,

77

677

$3

671

supported themselves against their neigh- A. R. B. C. bours, but did not extend their dominion. Rome was advancing, though feebly. Under Tullus Hostilius her third king, and by the famous combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, Alba was conquered and destroyed. Its citizens, incorporated in the victorious city, considerably enlarged and strengthened it. Romulus was the first who had practised this method of augmenting the city, into which he admitted the Sabines and other conquered nations. They forgot their defeat, and became affectionate subjects. Rome, by extending her conquests, trained up her soldiery; and under Tullus Hostilius she began to learn that excellent discipline which rendered her afterward mistress of the world. The kingdom of Egypt, weakened & by its long divisions, was recovering under Psammeticus. This prince, who owed his own safety to the Ionians and Carians, allowed them to settle in Egypt, which till then was shut against strangers. On this occasion the Egyptians entered into commerce with the Grecians; and from this time likewise the history of Egypt, till then mixed with pompous fables through the artifice of the priests, begins, according to Herodotus, to have some degree of certainty*. Meanwhile the kings of Assyria were growing more and more formidable to all the East. Saosduchin, son of Esar-haddon, called Nabuchodonosor in the book of Judith, defeated, in a pitched battle, Ar

Herod. lib. i. c. 95.

670

97

98

112

657

656

A. R. B. C. phaxad king of the Medes. Flushed with his success, he undertook the conquest of the whole earth. With this design he passed the Euphrates, and ravaged all before him as far as Judea. The Jews had provoked God, by giving themselves up to idolatry, after the example of Manasseh; but they repented with that prince, and God took them also into his protection. The conquests of Nabuchodonosor and Holofernes his general, were stopped, all at once, by the hand of a woman.. Dejoces, though beaten by the Assyrians, left his kingdom in a condition to advance under his successors. While Phraortes his son, and Cyaxares the son of Phraortes, subdued Persia, and pushed their conquests in the Lesser 642 Asia, as far as the banks of the Halys, Judea beheld the detestable reign of Amon, the son of Manasseh: and Josiah the son of Amon, wise from a child, laboured to rectify the disorders produced by the impiety of the kings his predecessors. Rome, whose king was Ancus Martius, subdued some of the Latins under his conduct; and continuing to make citizens of her enemies, shut them up within her walls. The people of Veii, already weakened by Romulus, suffered new losses. Ancus pushed his conquests as far as the neighbouring sea, and built the city Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber. At this time the kingdom of Babylon was invaded by Nabopolassar. That traitor, whom Chinaladan, also called Sarac, had made general of his armies against Cyaxares king of the Medes, joined Asty

113

128

641

$26