tle, mighty, . . . smiting the land of the enemy, . . . the deity who changes not his purposes, the light of heaven and earth, a bold leader on the waters, destroyer of them that hate [him], a spoiler [and] Lord of the disobedient, dividing enemies, whose name in the speech of the gods no god has ever disregarded, . . . to him, in the reverence of my heart for his mighty Lordship, I founded a temple, where I caused to be made an image of Ninip himself in mountain-stone and brilliant gold."

From an Inscription of Sargon, upon a Palace.

...

"I built in the city palaces covered with skins, with woodwork of sandal, tamarisk, cedar, and cypress, palaces of incomparable magnificence for the seat of my royalty. . . . There I wrote up the glory of the gods. . . . I made a spiral staircase like that of the great temple in Syria. . . . Between the doors, I placed eight double lions of massive bronze. . . . I placed over them architraves of gypsum stone of great dimensions. . . My palaces contain gold, silver, vessels of these two metals, precious stones, iron, bronze, blue and purple stuffs, . . . amber, sealskins, pearls, sandal and ebony wood, horses from Egypt, oxen, mules, camels. These are the tributes I asked for the gods."

From Sennacherib.

...

...

"In the first campaign I conquered. . . the King of Chaldea. .. I opened his treasure house, I seized gold, silver, his furniture, his robes, his wife, his men, his courtiers, his male and female slaves, his domestics of the palace, his soldiers; I brought them out and sold them for slaves. . . . But Hezekiah, king of Judah, did not submit. There were forty-six walled towns, and an infinite number of villages that I fought against, humbling their pride, and braving their anger. By means of fire, massacre, battles, and siege-operations, I took them; I occupied them; I brought out 200,150 persons, great and small, men and women, horses, asses, mules, camels, oxen, and

sheep without number, and carried them off as booty. As for himself I shut him up in Jerusalem, the city of his power, like a bird in its cage. . . . Then the fear of my majesty terrified Hezekiah; . . . He sent messengers to me . . . with thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, metals, rubies, pearls, great carbuncles, seats covered with skins, thrones ornamented with leather, amber, sealskins, sandal wood, and ebony, the contents of his treasury, as well as his daughters, the women of his palace, his male and female slaves. . . . By my care I caused the uprising of springs in more than forty places in the plain; I divided them into irrigating canals for the people of Nineveh, and gave them to be their own property. To obtain water to turn the flour-mills, I brought it in pipes. . . to Nineveh, and skilfully constructed water-wheels. I brought down the perennial waters of the river Kutzuru from the distance of three miles and a half, into those reservoirs, and covered them well.

"That I might conquer my powerful enemies, I prayed to the gods my protectors, to Assur, the Moon, the Sun, Bel, Nebo, Nergal, Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arbela. They heard my earnest prayers, and came to my assistance. my heart I vowed a thank-offering for it.”

Of Assur-bani-pal.

From

"Those men who uttered the curses of their mouth, against Assur my god, and against me, the prince his worshipper, had devised evil; their tongues I pulled out, their overthrow I accomplished. The rest of the people I threw alive among the stone lions and bulls. Their cut-off limbs I caused to be eaten by dogs, bears, . . . birds of heaven, and fishes of the deep. By these things, . . . I satisfied the hearts of the great gods my lords."

From Nebuchadnezzar's Description of a Temple built by him at Babylon.

"I employed for the woodwork of the chamber of oracles the largest trees I had caused to be transported from the summit of

Lebanon. I covered with pure gold the enormous beams of cypress, employed for the woodwork of the chamber of oracles; the lower portion of the woodwork I incrusted with gold, silver, other metals, and gems. I had the vault of the mystic sanctuary incrusted with glass and gems, so as to represent the firmament with the stars. The wonder of Babylon, I rebuilt and restored it it is this temple of the base of heaven and earth whose summit I raised of bricks, and covered it externally with a cornice of copper."

From a Prayer at the Death of a Righteous Man.

"To the Sun, greatest of the gods, may he ascend! and may the Sun, greatest of the gods, receive his soul into his holy hands!"

From an Assyrian Ode.

"O Fire, great Lord, who art the most exalted in the world, O Fire, with thy bright flame in the dark house thou dost cause light. Of all things that can be named, Thou dost form the fabric! Of bronze and of lead, Thou art the melter! Of silver and of gold, Thou art the refiner! . . . Of the wicked man in the night-time; Thou dost repel the assault! But the man who serves his god, Thou wilt give him light for his actions."

STUDY ON I AND 2.

What were the two centres of power in the Tigro-Euphrates valley? What gave men power and greatness in this valley? Make a list of the arts and sciences known to the Assyrians and Babylonians. Of industries. What right had they to be called civilized? How were they not civilized? On whom were they dependent for all the civilization they had? With what or whom was the king identified? Who were thought to aid him, and for whom did he fight? Which deities were better, those of Assyria, or Egypt? Prove it. What was the ambition of an Assyrian or Babylonian king? Which of these kings do you consider greatest, and why?

What did the Assyrio-Babylonians believe about the number and nature of the deities? About the future existence of the soul? How were their gods reached, and how pleased? What made fire seem

divine? What proves that they believed in the interference of the gods in the human affairs?

What did the Assyrians seem to admire in art? What was the purpose of such a winged, colossal figure as is represented on p. 19?

C. STUDY ON PHOENICIA.

Chief contemporary authorities: Hebrew scriptures and a few scattered inscriptions; other original authorities: notices of the Greek writers, and Josephus.

Chief modern authorities accessible in English: Kenrick, Heeren, Rawlinson Lenormant, Duncker.

PERIODS OF HISTORY.1

1500(?)-1100(?), -Sidonian power greatest.

1100(?) to about 850,

Tyrian power greatest.

850 onward, Phoenicia for the most part subject to foreigners.

-

1. Leading Events, Works, and Names of the Phoenician History.

ABOUT 1025.

Hiram, king of Tyre, builds and restores splendid temples; constructs a new harbor, lines the old one with quays, and protects all by a strong dyke; sends an exploring expedition through the Red Sea to India (Ophir).

776.

The Phoenicians establish colonies in Cyprus, BEFORE Rhodes, and the Greek Archipelago; on the coasts of Greece itself, in Sicily, Spain, and Northern Africa; the most famous are Paphos, in Cyprus, — Lilybæum and Panormus, in Sicily,-Utica and Carthage, in Africa, Tartessus and Gades (Cadiz), in Spain. They obtain British tin and Baltic amber, probably by

1 All dates B.C.

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an overland trade, at the mouths of the Rhine and Po; from the Red Sea they reach India, and bring thence its carved ivories, its wrought metals, and finely-woven stuffs; they cause the gold and silver mines of Greece to be opened and worked.

They adapt the Egyptian characters to the phonetic alphabet, which becomes the basis of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and following European alphabets.

2. Extracts Illustrative of Phoenician Civilization. Description of Tyre.

"Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees: .. they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. Of . . . oaks . . . have they made thine oars; the company of the Asshurites (Assyrians), have made thy benches of ivory. . . . Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners : thy wise men, O Tyrus (Tyre), that were in thee, were thy pilots. . . . Tarshish (Tartessus) was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead they traded in thy fairs. . . . Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat, . . . and honey, and oil, and balm. . . . Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats." Ezekiel xxvii.

The prophet also names, among articles of merchandise, the "persons of men,' ," "vessels of brass," horses, horsemen, mules, "precious horns of ivory and ebony," wine, white wool, iron, cassia, "precious clothes for chariots."