perhaps extended it into _Assyria_: but this Kingdom was but of small
extent, if compared with the Empires which rose up afterwards; being only
within the fertile plains of _Chaldæa_, _Chalonitis_ and _Assyria_, watered
by the _Tigris_ and _Euphrates_: and if it had been greater, yet it was but
of short continuance, it being the custom in those early ages for every
father to divide his territories amongst his sons. So _Noah_ was King of
all the world, and _Cham_ was King of all _Afric_, and _Japhet_ of all
_Europe_ and _Asia minor_; but they left no standing Kingdoms. After the
days of _Nimrod_, we hear no more of an _Assyrian_ Empire 'till the days of
_Pul_. The four Kings who in the days of _Abraham_ invaded the southern
coast of _Canaan_ came from the countries where _Nimrod_ had Reigned, and
perhaps were some of his posterity who had shared his conquests. In the
time of the Judges of _Israel_, _Mesopotamia_ was under its own King,
_Judg._ iii. 8. and the King of _Zobah_ Reigned on both sides of the River
_Euphrates_ 'till _David_ conquered him, 2 _Sam._ viii, and x. The Kingdoms
of _Israel_, _Moab_, _Ammon_, _Edom_, _Philistia_, _Zidon_, _Damascus_, and
_Hamath_ the great, continued subject to other Lords than the _Assyrians_
'till the days of _Pul_ and his successors; and so did the house of _Eden_,
_Amos_ i. 5. 2 _Kings_ xix. 12. and _Haran_ or _Carrhæ_, _Gen._ xii. 2
_Kings_ xix. 12. and _Sepharvaim_ in _Mesopotamia_, and _Calneh_ near
_Bagdad_, _Gen._ x. 10, _Isa._ x. 9, 2 _Kings_ xvii. 31. _Sesac_ and
_Memnon_ were great conquerors, and Reigned over _Chaldæa_, _Assyria_, and
_Persia_, but in their histories there is not a word of any opposition made
to them by an _Assyrian_ Empire then standing: on the contrary, _Susiana_,
_Media_, _Persia_, _Bactria_, _Armenia_, _Cappadocia_, &c. were conquered
by them, and continued subject to the Kings of _Egypt_ 'till after the long
Reign of _Ramesses_ the son of _Memnon_, as above.
_Homer_ mentions _Bacchus_ and _Memnon_ Kings of _Egypt_ and _Persia_, but
knew nothing of an _Assyrian_ Empire. _Jonah_ prophesied when _Israel_ was
in affliction under the King of _Syria_, and this was in the latter part of
the Reign of _Jehoahaz_, and first part of the Reign of _Joash_, Kings of
_Israel_, and I think in the Reign of _Mœris_ the successor of _Ramesses_
King of _Egypt_, and about sixty years before the Reign of _Pul_; and
_Nineveh_ was then a city of large extent, but full of pastures for cattle,
so that it contained but about 120000 persons. It was not yet grown so
great and potent as not to be terrified at the preaching of _Jonah_, and to
fear being invaded by its neighbours and ruined within forty days: it had
some time before got free from the dominion of _Egypt_, and had got a King
of its own; but its King was not yet called King of _Assyria_, but only
King of _Nineveh_, _Jonah_ iii. 6, 7. and his proclamation for a fast was
not published in several nations, nor in all _Assyria_, but only in
_Nineveh_, and perhaps in the villages thereof; but soon after, when the
dominion of _Nineveh_ was established at home, and exalted over all
_Assyria_ properly so called, and this Kingdom began to make war upon the
neighbouring nations, its Kings were no longer called Kings of _Nineveh_
but began to be called Kings of _Assyria_.
_Amos_ prophesied in the Reign of _Jeroboam_ the Son of _Joash_ King of
_Israel_, soon after _Jeroboam_ had subdued the Kingdoms of _Damascus_ and
_Hamath_, that is, about ten or twenty years before the Reign of _Pul_: and
he [345] thus reproves _Israel_ for being lifted up by those conquests; _Ye
which rejoyce in a thing of nought, which say, have we not taken to us
horns by our strength? But behold I will raise up against you a nation, O
house of _Israel_, saith the Lord the God of Hosts, and they shall afflict
you from the entring in of _Hamath_ unto the river of the wilderness_. God
here threatens to raise up a nation against _Israel_; but what nation he
names not; that he conceals 'till the _Assyrians_ should appear and
discover it. In the prophesies of _Isaiah_, _Jeremiah_, _Ezekiel_, _Hosea_,
_Micah_, _Nahum_, _Zephaniah_ and _Zechariah_, which were written after the
Monarchy grew up, it is openly named upon all occasions; but in this of
_Amos_ not once, tho' the captivity of _Israel_ and _Syria_ be the subject
of the prophesy, and that of _Israel_ be often threatned: he only saith in
general that _Syria_ should go into captivity unto _Kir_, and that
_Israel_, notwithstanding her present greatness, should go into captivity
beyond _Damascus_; and that God would raise up a nation to afflict them:
meaning that he would raise up above them from a lower condition, a nation
whom they yet feared not: for so the _Hebrew_ word מקם signifies when
applied to men, as in _Amos_ v. 2. 1 _Sam._ xii. 11. _Psal._ cxiii. 7.
_Jer._ x. 20. l. 32. _Hab._ i. 6. _Zech._ xi. 16. As _Amos_ names not the
_Assyrians_; at the writing of this prophecy they made no great figure in
the world, but were to be raised up against _Israel_, and by consequence
rose up in the days of _Pul_ and his successors: for after _Jeroboam_ had
conquered _Damascus_ and _Hamath_, his successor _Menahem_ destroyed
_Tiphsah_ with its territories upon _Euphrates_, because they opened not to
him: and therefore _Israel_ continued in its greatness 'till _Pul_,
probably grown formidable by some victories, caused _Menahem_ to buy his
peace. _Pul_ therefore Reigning presently after the prophesy of _Amos_, and
being the first upon record who began to fulfill it, may be justly reckoned
the first conqueror and founder of this Empire. For _God stirred up the
spirit of _Pul_, and the spirit of _Tiglath-pileser_ King of _Assyria__, 1
_Chron._ v. 20.
The same Prophet _Amos_, in prophesying against _Israel_, threatned them in
this manner, with what had lately befallen other Kingdoms: _Pass ye_, [346]
saith he, _unto _Calneh_ and see, and from thence go ye to _Hamath_ the
great, then go down to _Gath_ of the _Philistims_. Be they better than
these Kingdoms?_ These Kingdoms were not yet conquered by the _Assyrians_,
except that of _Calneh_ or _Chalonitis_ upon _Tigris_, between _Babylon_
and _Nineveh_. _Gath_ was newly vanquished [347] by _Uzziah_ King of
_Judah_, and _Hamath_ [348] by _Jeroboam_ King of _Israel_: and while the
Prophet, in threatning _Israel_ with the _Assyrians_, instances in
desolations made by other nations, and mentions no other conquest of the
_Assyrians_ than that of _Chalonitis_ near _Nineveh_; it argues that the
King of _Nineveh_ was now beginning his conquests, and had not yet made any
great progress in that vast career of victories, which we read of a few
years after.
For about seven years after the captivity of the ten Tribes, when
_Sennacherib_ warred in _Syria_, which was in the 16th Olympiad, he [349]
sent this message to the King of _Judah_: _Behold, thou hast heard that the
Kings of _Assyria_ have done to all Lands by destroying them utterly, and
shalt thou be delivered? Have the Gods of the nations delivered them which
the Gods of my fathers have destroyed, as _Gozan_ and _Haran_ and _Reseph_,
and the children of _Eden_ which were in _[the Kingdom of] Thelasar_? Where
is the King of _Hamath_, and the King of _Arpad_, and the King of the city
of _Sepharvaim_, and of _Hena_ and _Ivah__? And _Isaiah_ [350] thus
introduceth the King of _Assyria_ boasting: _Are not my Princes altogether
as Kings? Is not _Calno [or _Calneh_]_ as _Carchemish_? Is not _Hamath_ as
_Arpad_? Is not _Samaria_ as _Damascus_? As my hand hath found the Kingdoms
of the Idols, and whose graven Images did excel them of _Jerusalem_ and of
_Samaria_; shall I not as I have done unto _Samaria_ and her Idols, so do
to _Jerusalem_ and her Idols?_ All this desolation is recited as fresh in
memory to terrify the _Jews_, and these Kingdoms reach to the borders of
_Assyria_, and to shew the largeness of the conquests they are called _all
lands_, that is, all round about _Assyria_. It was the custom of the Kings
of _Assyria_, for preventing the rebellion of people newly conquered, to
captivate and transplant those of several countries into one another's
lands, and intermix them variously: and thence it appears [351] that
_Halah_, and _Habor_, and _Hara_, and _Gozan_, and the cities of the
_Medes_ into which _Galilee_ and _Samaria_ were transplanted; and _Kir_
into which _Damascus_ was transplanted; and _Babylon_ and _Cuth_ or the
_Susanchites_, and _Hamath_, and _Ava_, and _Sepharvaim_, and the
_Dinaites_, and the _Apharsachites_, and the _Tarpelites_, and the
_Archevites_, and the _Dehavites_, and the _Elamites_, or _Persians_, part
of all which nations were led captive by _Asserhadon_ and his predecessors
into _Samaria_; were all of them conquered by the _Assyrians_ not long
before.
In these conquests are involved on the west and south side of _Assyria_,
the Kingdoms of _Mesopotamia_, whose royal seats were _Haran_ or _Carrhæ_,
and _Carchemish_ or _Circutium_, and _Sepharvaim_, a city upon _Euphrates_,
between _Babylon_ and _Nineveh_, called _Sipparæ_ by _Berosus_, _Abydenus_,
and _Polyhistor_, and _Sipphara_ by _Ptolomy_; and the Kingdoms of _Syria_
seated at _Samaria_, _Damascus_, _Gath_, _Hamath_, _Arpad_, and _Reseph_, a
city placed by _Ptolomy_ near _Thapsacus_: on the south side and south east
side were _Babylon_ and _Calneh_, or _Calno_, a city which was founded by
_Nimrod_, where _Bagdad_ now stands, and gave the name of _Chalonitis_ to a
large region under its government; and _Thelasar_ or _Talatha_, a city of
the children of _Eden_, placed by _Ptolomy_ in _Babylonia_, upon the common
stream of _Tigris_ and _Euphrates_, which was therefore the river of
Paradise; and the _Archevites_ at _Areca_ or _Erech_, a city built by
_Nimrod_ on the east side of _Pasitigris_, between _Apamia_ and the
_Persian Gulph_; and the _Susanchites_ at _Cuth_, or _Susa_, the metropolis
of _Susiana_: on the east were _Elymais_, and some cities of the _Medes_,
and _Kir_, [352] a city and large region of _Media_, between _Elymais_, and
_Assyria_, called _Kirene_ by the _Chaldee_ Paraphrast and _Latin_
Interpreter, and _Carine_ by _Ptolomy_: on the north-east were _Habor_ or
_Chaboras_, a mountainous region between _Assyria_ and _Media_; and the
_Apharsachites_, or men of _Arrapachitis_, a region originally peopled by
_Arphaxad_, and placed by _Ptolomy_ at the bottom of the mountains next
_Assyria_: and on the north between _Assyria_ and the _Gordiæan_ mountains
was _Halah_ or _Chalach_, the metropolis of _Calachene_: and beyond these
upon the _Caspian_ sea was _Gozan_, called _Gauzania_ by _Ptolomy_. Thus
did these new conquests extend every way from the province of _Assyria_ to
considerable distances, and make up the great body of that Monarchy: so
that well might the King of _Assyria_ boast how his armies had destroyed
all lands. All these nations [353] had 'till now their several Gods, and
each accounted his God the God of his own land, and the defender thereof,
against the Gods of the neighbouring countries, and particularly against
the Gods of _Assyria_; and therefore they were never 'till now united under
the _Assyrian_ Monarchy, especially since the King of _Assyria_ doth not
boast of their being conquered by the _Assyrians_ oftner than once: but
these being small Kingdoms the King of _Assyria_ easily overflowed them:
_Know ye not_, saith [354] _Sennacherib_ to the _Jews_, _what I and my
fathers have done unto all the People of other lands?--for no God of any
nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out
of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of
mine hand?_ He and his fathers therefore, _Pul_, _Tiglath-pileser_, and
_Shalmaneser_, were great conquerors, and with a current of victories had
newly overflowed all nations round about _Assyria_, and thereby set up this
Monarchy.
Between the Reigns of _Jeroboam_ II, and his son _Zachariah_, there was an
interregnum of about ten or twelve years in the Kingdom of _Israel_: and
the prophet _Hosea_ [355] in the time of that interregnum, or soon after,
mentions the King of _Assyria_ by the name of _Jareb_, and another
conqueror by the name of _Shalman_; and perhaps _Shalman_ might be the
first part of the name of _Shalmaneser_, and _Iareb_, or _Irib_, for it may
be read both ways, the last part of the name of his successor
_Sennacherib_: but whoever these Princes were, it appears not that they
Reigned before _Shalmaneser_. _Pul_, or _Belus_, seems to be the first who
carried on his conquests beyond the province of _Assyria_: he conquered
_Calneh_ with its territories in the Reign of _Jerboam_, _Amos_ i. 1. vi.
2. & _Isa._ x. 8, 9. and invaded _Israel_ in the Reign of _Menahem_, 2
_King._ xv. 19. but stayed not in the land, being bought off by _Menahem_
for a thousand talents of silver: in his Reign therefore the Kingdom of
_Assyria_ was advanced on this side _Tigris_: for he was a great warrior,
and seems to have conquered _Haran_, and _Carchemish_, and _Reseph_, and
_Calneh_, and _Thelasar_, and might found or enlarge the city of _Babylon_,
and build the old palace.
_Herodotus_ tells us, that one of the gates of _Babylon_ was [356] called
the gate of _Semiramis_, and than she adorned the walls of the city, and
the Temple of _Belus_, and that she [357] was five Generations older than
_Nitocris_ the mother of _Labynitus_, or _Nabonnedus_, the last King of
_Babylon_; and therefore she flourished four Generations, or about 134
years, before _Nebuchadnezzar_ , and by consequence in the Reign of
_Tiglath-pileser_ the successor of _Pul_: and the followers of _Ctesias_
tell us, that she built _Babylon_, and was the widow of the son and
successor of _Belus_, the founder of the _Assyrian_ Empire; that is, the
widow of one of the sons of _Pul_: but [358] _Berosus_ a _Chaldæan_ blames
the _Greeks_ for ascribing the building of _Babylon_ to _Semiramis_; and
other authors ascribe the building of this city to _Belus_ himself, that is
to _Pul_; so _Curtius_ [359] tells us; _Semiramis Babylonem condiderat, vel
ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur_: and _Abydenus_, who
had his history from the ancient monuments of the _Chaldæans_, writes,
[360] Λεγεται Βηλον Βαβυλωνα τειχει περιβαλειν· τωι χρονωι δε τωι
ικνευμενωι αφανισθηναι. τειχισαι δε αυθις Ναβουχοδονοσορον, το μεχρι της
Μακεδονιων αρχης διαμειναν εον χαλκοπυλον. _'Tis reported that _Belus_
compassed _Babylon_ with a wall, which in time was abolished: and that
_Nebuchadnezzar_ afterwards built a new wall with brazen gates, which stood
'till the time of the _Macedonian_ Empire_: and so _Dorotheas_ [361] an
ancient Poet of _Sidon_;
Αρχαιη Βαβυλων, Τυριου Βηλοιο πολισμα.
_The ancient city _Babylon_ built by the _Tyrian Belus__;
That is, by the _Syrian_ or _Assyrian_ _Belus_; the words _Tyrian_,
_Syrian_, and _Assyrian_, being anciently used promiscuously for one
another: _Herennius_ [362] tells us, that it was built by the son of
_Belus_; and this son might be _Nabonassar_. After the conquest of
_Calneh_, _Thelasar_, and _Sippare_, _Belus_ might seize _Chaldæa_, and
begin to build _Babylon_, and leave it to his younger son: for all the
Kings of _Babylon_ in the Canon of _Ptolemy_ are called _Assyrians_, and
_Nabonassar_ is the first of them: and _Nebuchadnezzar_ [363] reckoned
himself descended from _Belus_, that is, from the _Assyrian_ _Pul_: and the
building of _Babylon_ is ascribed to the _Assyrians_ by [364] _Isaiah_:
_Behold_, saith he, _the land of the _Chaldeans_: This people was not 'till
the _Assyrian_ founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness, _[that is,
for the _Arabians_.]_ They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the
palaces thereof_. From all this it seems therefore that _Pul_ founded the
walls and the palaces of _Babylon_, and left the city with the province of
_Chaldæa_ to his younger son _Nabonassar_; and that _Nabonassar_ finished
what his father began, and erected the Temple of _Jupiter Belus_ to his
father: and that _Semiramis_ lived in those days, and was the Queen of
_Nabonassar_, because one of the gates of _Babylon_ was called the gate of
_Semiramis_, as _Herodotus_ affirms: but whether she continued to Reign
there after her husband's death may be doubted.
_Pul_ therefore was succeeded at _Nineveh_ by his elder son
_Tiglath-pileser_, at the same time that he left _Babylon_ to his younger
son _Nabonassar_. _Tiglath-pileser_, the second King of _Assyria_, warred
in _Phœnicia_, and captivated _Galilee_ with the two Tribes and an half, in
the days of _Pekah_ King of _Israel_, and placed them in _Halah_, and
_Habor_, and _Hara_, and at the river _Gozan_, places lying on the western
borders of _Media_, between _Assyria_ and the _Caspian_ sea, 2 _King._ xv.
29, &: 1 _Chron._ v. 26. and about the fifth or sixth year of _Nabonassar_,
he came to the assistance of the King of _Judah_ against the Kings of
_Israel_ and _Syria_, and overthrew the Kingdom of _Syria_, which had been
seated at _Damascus_ ever since the days of King _David_, and carried away
the _Syrians_ to _Kir_ in _Media_, as _Amos_ had prophesied, and placed
other nations in the regions of _Damascus_, 2 _King._ xv. 37, & xvi. 5, 9.
_Amos_ i. 5. _Joseph. Antiq._ l. 9. c. 13. whence it seems that the _Medes_
were conquered before, and that the Empire of the _Assyrians_ was now grown
great: for _the God of _Israel_ stirred up the spirit of _Pul_ King of
_Assyria_, and the spirit of _Tiglath-pileser_ King of _Assyria__ to make
war, 1 _Chron._ v. 26.
_Shalmaneser_ or _Salmanasser_, called _Enemessar_ by _Tobit_, invaded
[365] all _Phœnicia_, took the city of _Samaria_, and captivated _Israel_,
and placed them in _Chalach_ and _Chabor_, by the river _Gozan_, and in the
cities of the _Medes_; and _Hosea_ [366] seems to say that he took
_Arbela_: and his successor _Sennacherib_ said that his fathers had
conquered also _Gozan_, and _Haran_ or _Carrhæ_, and _Reseph_ or _Resen_,
and the children of _Eden_, and _Arpad_ or the _Aradii_, 2 _King._ xix. 12.
_Sennacherib_ the son of _Shalmaneser_ in the 14th year of _Hezekiah_
invaded _Phœnicia_, and took several cities of _Judah_, and attempted
_Egypt_; and _Sethon_ or _Sevechus_ King of _Egypt_ and _Tirhakah_ King of
_Ethiopia_ coming against him, he lost in one night 185000 men, as some say
by a plague, or perhaps by lightning, or a fiery wind which blows sometimes
in the neighbouring deserts, or rather by being surprised by _Sethon_ and
_Tirhakah_: for the _Egyptians_ in memory of this action erected a statue
to _Sethon_, holding in his hand a mouse, the _Egyptian_ symbol of
destruction. Upon this defeat _Sennacherib_ returned in haste to _Nineveh_,
and [367] his Kingdom became troubled, so that _Tobit_ could not go into
_Media_, the _Medes_ I think at this time revolting: and he was soon after
slain by two of his sons who fled into _Armenia_, and his son _Asserhadon_
succeeded him. At that time did _Merodach Baladan_ or _Mardocempad_ King of
_Babylon_ send an embassy to _Hezekiah_ King of _Judah_.
_Asserhadon_, [368] called _Sarchedon_ by _Tobit_, _Asordan_ by the LXX,
and _Assaradin_ in _Ptolomy_'s Canon, began his Reign at _Nineveh_, in the
year of _Nabonassar_ 42; and in the year 68 extended it over _Babylon_:
then he carried the remainder of the _Samaritans_ into captivity, and
peopled _Samaria_ with captives brought from several parts of his Kingdom,
the _Dinaites_, the _Apharsachites_, the _Tarpelites_, the _Apharsites_,
the _Archevites_, the _Babylonians_, the _Susanchites_, the _Dehavites_,
the _Elamites_, _Ezra_ iv. 2, 9. and therefore he Reigned over all these
nations. _Pekah_ and _Rezin_ Kings of _Samaria_ and _Damascus_, invaded
_Judæa_ in the first year of _Ahaz_, and within 65 years after, that is in
the 21st year of _Manasseh_, _Anno Nabonass._ 69, _Samaria_ by this
captivity ceased to be a people, _Isa._ vii. 8. Then _Asserhadon_ invaded
_Judæa_, took _Azoth_, carried _Manasseh_ captive to _Babylon_, and [369]
captivated also _Egypt_, _Thebais_, and _Ethiopia_ above _Thebais_: and by
this war he seems to have put an end to the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ over
_Egypt_, in the year of _Nabonassar_ 77 or 78.
In the Reign of _Sennacherib_ and _Asserhadon_, the _Assyrian_ Empire seems
arrived at its greatness, being united under one Monarch, and containing
_Assyria_, _Media_, _Apolloniatis_, _Susiana_, _Chaldæa_, _Mesopotamia_,
_Cilicia_, _Syria_, _Phœnicia_, _Egypt_, _Ethiopia_, and part of _Arabia_,
and reaching eastward into _Elymais_, and _Parætacene_, a province of the
_Medes_: and if _Chalach_ and _Chabor_ be _Colchis_ and _Iberia_, as some
think, and as may seem probable from the circumcision used by those nations
'till the days of _Herodotus_, we are also to add these two Provinces, with
the two _Armenia's_, _Pontus_ and _Cappadocia_, as far as to the river
_Halys_: for [370] _Herodotus_ tells us, that the people of _Cappadocia_ as
far as to that river were called _Syrians_ by the _Greeks_, both before and
after the days or _Cyrus_, and that the _Assyrians_ were also called
_Syrians_ by the _Greeks_.
Yet the _Medes_ revolted from the _Assyrians_ in the latter end of the
Reign of _Sennacherib_, I think upon the slaughter of his army near _Egypt_
and his flight to _Nineveh_: for at that time the estate of _Sennacherib_
was troubled, so that _Tobit_ could not go into _Media_ as he had done
before, _Tobit_ i. 15. and some time after, _Tobit_ advised his son to go
into _Media_ where he might expect peace, while _Nineveh_, according to the
prophesy of _Jonah_, should be destroyed. _Ctesias_ wrote that _Arbaces_ a
_Mede_ being admitted to see _Sardanapalus_ in his palace, and observing
his voluptuous life amongst women, revolted with the _Medes_, and in
conjunction with _Belesis_ a _Babylonian_ overcame him, and caused him to
set fire to his palace and burn himself: but he is contradicted by other
authors of better credit; for _Duris_ and [371] many others wrote that
_Arbaces_ upon being admitted into the palace of _Sardanapalus_, and seeing
his effeminate life, slew himself; and _Cleitarchus_, that _Sardanapalus_
died of old age, after he had lost his dominion over _Syria_: he lost it by
the revolt of the western nations; and _Herodotus_ [372] tells us, that the
_Medes_ revolted first, and defended their liberty by force of arms against
the _Assyrians_, without conquering them; and at their first revolting had
no King, but after some time set up _Dejoces_ over them, and built
_Ecbatane_ for his residence; and that _Dejoces_ Reigned only over _Media_,
and had a peaceable Reign of 54 years, but his son and successor
_Phraortes_ made war upon his neighbours, and conquered _Persia_; and that
the _Syrians_ also, and other western nations, at length revolted from the
_Assyrians_, being encouraged thereunto by the example of the _Medes_; and
that after the revolt of the western nations, _Phraortes_ invaded the
_Assyrians_, but was slain by them in that war, after he had Reigned twenty
and two years. He was succeeded by _Astyages_.