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A HISTORY
OF BABYLONIA
FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE MONARCHY
TO THE PERSIAN CONQUEST
BY
LEONARD W. KING, LITT.D., F.S.A.
Assistant Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum
Professor of Assyrian and Babylonian Archæology in
the University of London
WITH MAP, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
1915
PREFACE
In the first volume of this work an account was given of the early
races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the
monarchy. It closed at the point when the city of Babylon was about
to secure the permanent leadership under her dynasty of West-Semitic
kings. The present volume describes the fortunes of Babylonia during
the whole of the dynastic period, and it completes the history of
the southern kingdom. Last autumn, in consequence of the war, it
was decided to postpone its publication; but, at the request of the
publishers, I have now finished it and seen it through the press. At
a time when British troops are in occupation of Southern Mesopotamia,
the appearance of a work upon its earlier history may perhaps not be
considered altogether inopportune.
Thanks to recent excavation Babylon has ceased to be an abstraction,
and we are now able to reconstitute the main features of one of the
most famous cities of the ancient world. Unlike Ashur and Nineveh, the
great capitals of Assyria, Babylon survived with but little change
under the Achæmenian kings of Persia, and from the time of Herodotus
onward we possess accounts of her magnificence, which recent research
has in great part substantiated. It is true that we must modify the
description Herodotus has left us of her size, but on all other points
the accuracy of his information is confirmed. The Lion Frieze of the
Citadel and the enamelled beasts of the Ishtar Gate enable us to
understand something of the spell she cast. It is claimed that the
site has been identified of her most famous building, the Hanging
Gardens of the royal palace; and, if that should prove to be the case,
they can hardly be said to have justified their reputation. Far more
impressive is the Tower of Babel with its huge Peribolos, enclosing
what has been aptly described as the Vatican of Babylon.
The majority of the buildings uncovered date from the Neo-Babylonian
period, but they may be regarded as typical of Babylonian civilization
as a whole. For temples were rebuilt again and again on the old lines,
and religious conservatism retained the mud-brick walls and primitive
decoration of earlier periods. Even Nabopolassar's royal palace must
have borne a close resemblance to that of Hammurabi; and the street
network of the city appears to have descended without much change from
the time of the First Dynasty. The system which Hammurabi introduced
into the legislation of his country may perhaps have been reflected in
the earliest attempt at town-planning on a scientific basis. The most
striking fact about Babylon's history is the continuity of her culture
during the whole of the dynastic period. The principal modification
which took place was in the system of land-tenure, the primitive
custom of tribal or collective proprietorship giving place to private
ownership under the policy of purchase and annexation deliberately
pursued by the West-Semitic and Kassite conquerors. A parallel to
the earlier system and its long survival may be seen in the village
communities of India at the present day.
In contrast to that of Assyria, the history of Babylon is more
concerned with the development and spread of a civilization than with
the military achievements of a race. Her greatest period of power was
under her first line of kings; and in after ages her foreign policy was
dictated solely by her commercial needs. The letters from Boghaz Keui,
like those from Tell el-Amarna, suggest that, in keeping her trade
connexions open, she relied upon diplomacy in preference to force.
That she could fight at need is proved by her long struggle with the
northern kingdom, but in the later period her troops were never a match
for the trained legions of Assyria. It is possible that Nabopolassar
and his son owed their empire in great measure to the protecting arm of
Media; and Nebuchadnezzar's success at Carchemish does not prove that
the Babylonian character had suddenly changed. A recently recovered
letter throws light on the unsatisfactory state of at least one section
of the army during Nebuchadnezzar's later years, and incidentally it
suggests that Gobryas, who facilitated the Persian occupation, may be
identified with a Babylonian general of that name. With the fall of
Media, he may perhaps have despaired of any successful opposition on
his country's part.
Babylon's great wealth, due to her soil and semi-tropical climate,
enabled her to survive successive foreign dominations and to impose her
civilization on her conquerors. Her caravans carried that civilization
far afield, and one of the most fascinating problems of her history
is to trace the effect of such intercourse in the literary remains of
other nations. Much recent research has been devoted to this subject,
and the great value of its results has given rise in some quarters to
the view that the religious development of Western Asia, and in a minor
degree of Europe, was dominated by the influence of Babylon. The theory
which underlies such speculation assumes a reading of the country's
history which cannot be ignored. In the concluding chapter an estimate
has been attempted of the extent to which the assumption is in harmony
with historical research.
The delay in the publication of this volume has rendered it possible
to incorporate recent discoveries, some of which have not as yet
appeared in print. Professor A. T. Clay has been fortunate enough
to acquire for the Yale University Collection a complete list of
the early kings of Larsa, in addition to other documents with an
important bearing on the history of Babylon. He is at present preparing
the texts for publication, and has meanwhile very kindly sent me
transcripts of the pertinent material with full permission to make use
of them. The information afforded as to the overlapping of additional
dynasties with the First Dynasty of Babylon has thrown new light on
the circumstances which led to the rise of Babylon to power. But these
and other recent discoveries, in their general effect, do not involve
any drastic changes in the chronological scheme as a whole. They lead
rather to local rearrangements, which to a great extent counterbalance
one another. Under Babylon's later dynasties her history and that of
Assyria are so closely inter-related that it is difficult to isolate
the southern kingdom. An attempt has been made to indicate broadly
the chief phases of the conflict, and the manner in which Babylonian
interests alone were affected. In order to avoid needless repetition, a
fuller treatment of the period is postponed to the third volume of this
work. A combined account will then also be given of the literature and
civilization of both countries.
I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to Monsieur F.
Thureau-Dangin, Conservateur-adjoint of the Museums of the Louvre, for
allowing me last spring to study unpublished historical material in his
charge. The information he placed at my disposal I found most useful
during subsequent work in the Ottoman Museum at Constantinople shortly
before the war. Reference has already been made to my indebtedness
to Professor Clay, who has furnished me from time to time with other
unpublished material, for which detailed acknowledgment is made in the
course of this work. With Professor C. F. Burney I have discussed many
of the problems connected with the influence of Babylon upon Hebrew
literature; and I am indebted to Professor A. C. Headlam for permission
to reprint portions of an article on that subject, which I contributed
in 1912 to the _Church Quarterly Review._
To Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge my thanks are due, as he suggested that I
should write these histories, and he has given me the benefit of his
advice. To him, as to Sir Frederic Kenyon and Mr. D. G. Hogarth, I
am indebted for permission to make use of illustrations, which have
appeared in official publications of the British Museum. My thanks
are also due to Monsieur Ernest Leroux of Paris for allowing me to
reproduce some of the plates from the "Mémoires de la Délégation en
Perse," published by him under the editorship of Monsieur J. de Morgan;
and to the Council and Secretary of the Society of Biblical Archæology
for the loan of a block employed to illustrate a paper I contributed to
their Proceedings. The greater number of the plates illustrating the
excavations are from photographs taken on the spot; and the plans and
drawings figured in the text are the work of Mr. E. J. Lambert and Mr.
C. O. Waterhouse, who have spared no pains to ensure their accuracy.
The designs upon the cover of this volume represent the two most
prominent figures in Babylonian tradition. In the panel on the face of
the cover the national hero Gilgamesh is portrayed, whose epic reflects
the Babylonian heroic ideal. The panel on the back of the binding
contains a figure of Marduk, the city-god of Babylon, grasping in his
right hand the flaming sword with which he severed the dragon of chaos.
L. W. KING.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY: BABYLON'S PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY
Babylon as a centre of civilization--Illustrations
of foreign influence--Babylon's share in the origin
of the culture she distributed--Causes which led to
her rise as capital--Advantages of her geographical
position--Transcontinental lines of traffic--The Euphrates
route, the Royal Road, and the Gates of Zagros--Her
supremacy based on the strategic and commercial qualities
of her site--The political centre of gravity in Babylonia
illustrated by the later capitals, Seleucia, Ctesiphon,
and Baghdad--The Persian Gulf as barrier, and as channel
of international commerce--Navigation on the Euphrates and
the Tigris--Causes of Babylon's deposition--Her treatment
by Cyrus, Alexander, and Seleucus--The Arab conquest of
Mesopotamia instructive for comparison with the era of
early city-states--Effect of slackening of international
communications--Effect of restoration of commercial
intercourse with the West--Three main periods of Babylon's
foreign influence--Extent to which she moulded the cultural
development of other races-Traces of contact in Hebrew
religion and in Greek mythology--Recent speculation on the
subject to be tested by the study of history
CHAPTER II
THE CITY OF BABYLON AND ITS REMAINS: A DISCUSSION OF THE
RECENT EXCAVATIONS
The site of Babylon in popular tradition--Observations of
Benjamin of Tudela and John Eldred--Exaggerations of early
travellers--The description of Herodotus--Modern survey and
excavation--Characteristics of Babylonian architecture--The
architect's ideal--Comparison of Babylonian and Assyrian
architectural design--Difficulties of Babylonian
excavation--The extent of Babylon and the classical
tradition--Remains of the ancient city--The Walls of
Babylon--The Outer City-wall--The Mound Bâbil--The Ḳaṣr--The
Inner City-wall--Imgur-Bêl and Nimitti-Bêl--Quay-walls and
fortifications--Nebuchadnezzar's river-fortification--Change
in the course of the Euphrates--Palaces of Nabopolassar
and Nebuchadnezzar--The official courts of the
palace--Al-Bît-shar-Bâbili--The Throne-Room and its
enamelled façade--The private palace and the women's
apartments--The Hanging Gardens of Babylon--The Ishtar Gate
and its Bulls and Dragons--Later defences of the Southern
Citadel--The Lion Frieze--The Procession Street--Temples
of Babylon--E-makh, the temple of Ninmakh--Altars in the
Babylonian and Hebrew cults--The unidentified temple--The
temple of Ishtar of Akkad--Religious mural decoration--The
temple of Ninib--E-sagila and the Tower of Babylon--The
Peribolos or Sacred Precincts--E-zida and the Temple-tower
of Borsippa--The Euphrates bridge--Merkes and the street
net-work of Babylon--Strata of different periods--Early
Babylonian town-planning--Material influence of the
West-Semitic Dynasty--Continuity of Babylonian culture
CHAPTER III
THE DYNASTIES OF BABYLON: THE CHRONOLOGICAL SCHEME IN THE
LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERIES
Chronology the skeleton of history--Principal defect
in the Babylonian scheme--The Dynasties of Nîsin,
Larsa and Babylon--Discovery of a List of the kings of
Larsa--Introduction of fresh uncertainty--Relationship
of the kings of Babylon and Nîsin--Absence of
synchronisms--Evidence of date-formula?.--A fresh and
sounder line of research--Double-dates supply the missing
link for the chronology--The Nîsin era--Explanation of the
double-dates--The problem of Rîm-Sin--Method of reconciling
data--Another line of evidence--Archæological research and
the Second Dynasty of the Kings' List--Date-formulæ of
Hammurabi, Samsu-iluna and Iluma-ilum--Methods of fixing
period of First Dynasty--Ammi-zaduga's omens from the planet
Venus--Combinations of Venus, sun, and moon--Possibility of
fixing period of observations--Alternative dates in their
relation to historical results--The time of harvest in
farming-out contracts of the period--Probable date for the
First Dynasty--Re-examination of chronological notices in
later texts--The Dynasties of Berossus and the beginning of
his historical period--Effect of recent discoveries on the
chronological scheme as a whole--Our new picture of the rise
of Babylon
CHAPTER IV
THE WESTERN SEMITES AND THE FIRST DYNASTY OF BABYLON
Original home of the Amurru, or Western Semites--Arabia
one of the main breeding-grounds of the human race--The
great Semitic migrations and their cause--Evidence
of diminution of rainfall in Arabia--The life of the
pastoral nomad conditioned by the desert--The change
from pastoral to agricultural life--Successive stages of
Canaanite civilization--The neolithic inhabitants and
the Amorite migration--Canaanites of history and their
culture--Eastern Syria and the middle Euphrates--Recent
excavations at Carchemish and its neighbourhood--Early
Babylonian cylinder-seals on the Sajûr--Trade of Carchemish
with Northern Babylonia--West Semitic settlements on
the Khâbûr--The kingdom of Khana--The Amorite invasion
of Babylonia--The Dynasties of Nîsin and Larsa--Recent
discoveries at Ashur--Proto-Mitannians--The Western
Semites in Babylon and their conflict with Assyria--Early
struggles and methods of expansion--The Elamite conquest
of Larsa--The three-cornered contest of Nîsin, Elam and
Babylon--The fall of Nîsin and the duel between Babylon and
Elam--Hammurabi's defeat of Rîm-Sin and the annexation of
Sumer by Babylon--Extent of Hammurabi's empire--Hammurabi
the founder of Babylon's greatness--His work as law-giver
and administrator
CHAPTER V
THE AGE OF HAMMURABI AND ITS INFLUENCE ON LATER PERIODS
The energy of the Western Semite and his perpetuation of a
dying culture--His age one of transition--Contemporaneous
evidence on social and political conditions--The three
grades in the social scale of Babylon--The nobles a
racial aristocracy--Origin and rights of the middle
class--Condition of slaves--Pastoral and agricultural
life in early Babylonia--Regulations sanction
long-established custom--The _corvée_ for public
works--Canals and fishing-rights--Methods of irrigation
and their modern equivalents--Survival of the Babylonian
plough and grain-drill--Importance of the date-palm
and encouragement of plantations--Methods of transport
by water--The commercial activities of Babylon and the
larger cities--Partnerships for foreign trade--Life in the
towns--Family life in early Babylonia--The position of
women--Privileges enjoyed by votaries--The administration
of justice--Relation of the crown and the priestly
hierarchy under the Western Semites--The royal regulation
of the calendar and the naming of the year--System of
administration--Changes in the religious sphere and
revision of the pantheon--Literary activity--The complete
semitization of the country unaccompanied by any break in
culture--Babylon's later civilization moulded by Hammurabi's
age
CHAPTER VI
THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST DYNASTY OF BABYLON AND THE KINGS FROM
THE COUNTRY OF THE SEA
Condition of the empire on Samsu-iluna's accession--Early
Kassite raid the signal for revolt, assisted by Elamite
invasion--Resources of Babylon strained in suppressing
the rebellion--Rise of an independent kingdom in the
Sea-Country on the littoral of the Persian Gulf--Capacity
of the Sea-Country for defence and as a base for offensive
operations--Sumerian elements in its population--Babylon's
loss of territory and her struggle with the Sea-Country
kings--Symptoms of decadence under the later West-Semitic
kings of Babylon--The deification of royalty and increased
luxury of ritual--Evidence of Babylon's growing wealth
and artistic progress under foreign influence--Temporary
restoration of Babylon's power under Ammi-ditana--Renewed
activity of the Sea-Country followed by gradual decline of
Babylon--The close of the West-Semitic dynasty brought about
or hastened by Hittite invasion--Period of local dynasties
following the fall of Babylon--Continued succession of the
Sea-Country kings
CHAPTER VII
THE KASSITE DYNASTY AND ITS RELATIONS WITH EGYPT AND THE
HITTITE EMPIRE
The Kassite conquest of Babylonia--The Kassites
probably Aryans by race and akin to the later rulers
of Mitanni--Character of their rule in Babylon--Their
introduction of the horse into Western Asia--The
Kassite conquest of the Sea-Country and its annexation
to Babylon--Gap in our knowledge of the Kassite
succession--The letters from Tell el-Amarna and
Boghaz-Keui--Egypt and Western Asia at the close of
the fifteenth century--Diplomacy and the balance of
power--Dynastic marriages and international intercourse of
the period--Amen-hetep III. and Kadashman-Enlil--Akhenaten
and his policy of doles--Babylon's caravans in Syria--The
correspondence of Burna-Buriash and Akhenaten--Egypt's
loss of her Asiatic provinces--Rise of the Hittite
Empire--The Hittites and their civilization--Their capital
of Khatti--Their annexation of Mitanni and the Egyptian
war--The relations of Khattusil with Kadashman-turgu
and Kadashman-Enlil II.--Character of the Hittite
correspondence--The growth of Assyria and her relations
with Babylon--First phase in the long struggle of the two
kingdoms--The later members of the Kassite Dynasty--Its
fall to be traced to Elamite invasion--Economic conditions
in Babylonia under the Kassites--Kudurru-inscriptions or
boundary-stones--Their evidence on the Babylonian system of
land-tenure--Gradual disappearance of tribal proprietorship
as a result of West-Semitic and Kassite policy--Transition
from collective to private ownership
CHAPTER VIII
THE LATER DYNASTIES AND THE ASSYRIAN DOMINATION
Spoils at Susa from the Elamite invasion--Recovery
of her territory by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar
I.--Renewal of conflicts and treaties with Assyria--The
devastation of Babylonia by the Sutû--Ephemeral
Babylonian dynasties--The state of Sippar typical
of the condition of the country--Renaissance of
Assyria--The conquests of Ashur-uasir-pal and Babylon's
abortive opposition--Babylonian art in the ninth
century--Intervention of Shalmaneser III. in Babylonian
politics--His campaign in Chaldea--The kingdom of Urartu
and its effect on Assyrian expansion--Independence
of provincial governments during a relaxation of
central control--Temporary recovery of Babylon under
Nabonassar--Gradual tightening of Assyria's grasp
upon the southern kingdom--Character of her later
empire--Tiglath-pileser IV.'s policy of deportation and its
inherent weakness--The disappearance of Erartu as a buffer
state--Sargon and Merodach-baladan--Sennacherib's attempt
to destroy Babylon--Esarhaddon's reversal of his father's
policy--The Assyrian conquest of Egypt--Ashur-bani-pal and
the revolt of Shamash-shum-ukîn--The sack of Susa--Babylon
under the Sargonids--The policies of encouragement and
coercion--Effect of their alternation
CHAPTER IX
THE NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE AND THE PERSIAN CONQUEST
Nabopolassar and his nascent kingdom--The Scythian invasion
and its effects--The sons of Ashur-bani-pal--Nabopolassar
and the Medes--The fall of Nineveh--Division of Assyrian
territory--Babylon's conflict with Egypt--Nebuchadnezzar
II. and the Battle of Carchemish--Capture of Jerusalem
and deportation of the Jews--Occupation of Phoenicia
and siege of Tyre--Nebuchadnezzar's later campaign
in Egypt--Babylon and the Median suzerainty--Lydia
under the successors of Ardys--Conflict of Cyaxares
and Alyattes on the Halys and the intervention of
Babylon--Nebuchadnezzar as builder--Condition of the
Babylonian army in Nebuchadnezzar's closing years and under
his successors--Gubaru, the general, and the governor of
Gutium--Death of Neriglissar--Character of Nabonidus--The
decaying empire under Median protection--The rise of
Cyrus--His ease in possessing himself of Media, and the
probable cause--His defeat and capture of Croesus and
the fall of Lydia--His advance on Babylon--Possibility
that Gobryas was a native Babylonian--His motive in
facilitating the Persian occupation--Defeat and death of
Belshazzar--Popularity of Cyrus in Babylon--Tranquillity
of the country under Persian rule--Babylon's last bids for
independence--Her later history--Survival of Babylonian
cults into the Christian era
CHAPTER X
GREECE, PALESTINE, AND BABYLON: AN ESTIMATE OF CULTURAL
INFLUENCE
Influence of Babylon still apparent in the modern world--The
mother of astronomy, and the survival of her ancient system
of time-division--The political and religious history of
the Hebrews in the light of Babylonian research--Echoes
from Babylonian legends in Greek mythology--The Babylonian
conception of the universe--The astral theory and its
comprehensive assumptions--Was Babylonian religion
essentially a star-worship?--Application of historical
test--Evolution of the Babylonian god--Origin of divine
emblems and animal symbolism--World Ages and the astral
theory--Late evidence and the earlier historical
periods--The astral ages of the Twins, the Bull and the
Ram--Suggested influence of each age upon the historical
literature of antiquity--The Old Testament and the Odyssey
under astral interpretation--Astronomical defects of the
astral theory--The age of Babylonian astronomy--Hipparchus
of Nicæa and the precession of the equinoxes--Hebrews
and Babylonian astrology--Contrast of the Babylonian and
Hellenic temperaments--Mesopotamia and the coast-lands of
Asia Minor--Tales that are told
APPENDICES
I. A COMPARATIVE LIST OF THE DYNASTIES OF NISIX, LAKSA, AND
BABYLON
II. A DYNASTIC LIST OF THE KINGS OF BABYLON
INDEX
LIST OF PLATES
I. Merodach-baladan II., King of Babylon, making a grant of
land to Bêl-akhê-erba, governor of Babylon _Frontispiece_
II. (i) The temple-tower of E-zida at Borsippa. (ii) The
Lion of Babylon on the Ḳaṣr Mound
III. The Throne Room in Nebuchadnezzar's palace at Babylon,
showing the recess in the back wall where the throne once
stood
IV. Eastern Towers of the Ishtar Gate, the portions
preserved having formed the foundation of the final gateway
V. Trench showing a portion of the Sacred Way of Babylon, to
the east of the Peribolos
VI. Two views of the Temple of Ninib in course of excavation
VII. Brick of Sin-idinnam, King of Larsa, recording the
cutting of a canal and the restoration of the Temple of the
Moon-god in the city of Ur
VIII. Hammurabi, King of Babylon, from a relief in the
British Museum, dedicated on his behalf to the West Semitic
goddess [Ash]ratum by Itur-ashdum, a provincial governor
IX. Brick of Warad-Sin, King of Larsa, recording building
operations in the city of Ur
X. The Citadel Mound of Carchemish from the north-west
XI. Upper portion of the Code of Hammurabi, engraved with
a scene representing the king receiving his laws from the
Sun-god
XII.(i) Bronze cone and votive figure, (ii) Stone cylinder
with a votive inscription of Warad-Sin, King of Larsa
XIII. Portion of the text of Hammurabi's Code, Columns 6-8
XIV. A modern gufa, a form of coracle described by Herodotus
and represented on the monuments
XV. (i) A small kelek on the Tigris at Baghdad, (ii)
Ferry-boats on the Euphrates at Birejik
XVI. Impressions of Babylonian cylinder-seals, engraved with
mythological subjects
XVII. Impressions of Kassite cylinder-seals 198
XVIII. Brick of Sin-gashid, King of Erech, recording the
building of his palace in that city 210
XIX. Head of a colossal statue of Amen-hetep III
XX. Hittite hieroglyphic inscription at Carchemish
XXI. Kassite kudurrus, or boundary-stones, set up in the
reigns of Meli-Shipak II. and Nazi-maruttash
XXII. Divine emblems on the upper part of akudurru, or
boundary-stone, engraved with a charter of privileges
granted by Nebuchadnezzar I
XXIII. Memorial-tablet of Nabû-aplu-iddina, King of Babylon,
recording his restoration of the Sun-temple at Sippar
XXIV. Shalmaneser III. receiving the submission of the
Chaldeans, from the bronze sheathing of his Gates in the
British Museum
XXV. Ashur-bani-pal, represented carrying a builder's
basket, as the restorer of E-sagila, the temple of Marduk at
Babylon
XXVI. Bronze door-step from E-zida, the temple of Nabû
at Borsippa, inscribed with the name and titles of
Nebuchadnezzar II.
XXVII. (i) Baked clay foundation-cylinder of Nabonidus,
referring to the defeat of Astyages by Cyrus, (ii) Baked
clay foundation-cylinder of Cyrus, recording his entry into
Babylon "without battle and without fighting"
XXVIII. Impressions of Neo-Babylonian and Persian
cylinder-seals
XXIX. Limestone statue of the god Nabû at Nimrûd
XXX. Divine emblems sculptured on the lower portion of the
boundary-stone engraved with a charter of Nebuchadnezzar
I.(cp. Plate XXII.)
XXXI. Two views of a clay model of a sheep's liver with the
surface divided up and labelled for purposes of divination
XXXII. A Neo-Babylonian treatise on astronomy, inscribed
with classified lists of the principal stars and
constellations, heliacal risings and settings, culminations
in the south, etc.
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
1. Diagram to illustrate the political centre of gravity in
Babylonia
2. Map of the neighbourhood of Babylon and Birs-Nimrûd;
after the India Office Map
3. Plan of the ruins of Babylon; after Koldewey and Andrae
4. Ground-plan of part of the outer city-wall; after
Koldewey and Andrae
5. Conjectural restoration of the Southern Citadel; after
Andrae
6. Plan of the Southern Citadel; after Koldewey, Reuther,
and Wetzel
7. Ground-plan of quay-walls and fortification-walls in the
north-west corner of the Southern Citadel; after Koldewey
8. Section of the quay-walls and fortification-walls along
the north front of the Southern Citadel; after Andrae
9. Plan of the Throne Room of Nebuchadnezzar II. and part of
the private palace; after Koldewey
10. Design in enamelled brick from the façade of the Throne
Room
11. Plan of the north-east corner of the palace with the
Vaulted Building; after Koldewey
12. Bull in enamelled brick from the Ishtar Gate
13. Dragon in enamelled brick from the Ishtar Gate
14. Ground-plan of the Ishtar Gate; after Koldewey
15. Section of the Ishtar Gate; after Andrae
16. Diagram to show the arrangement of the beasts of the
Ishtar Gate; after Koldewey
17. Enamelled fragment of the Ishtar Gate still in position
18. Plan of the later defences of the Citadel upon the
north, showing the walls with the Lion Frieze and the Ishtar
Gate
19. Lion from the frieze of the Sacred Way to the north of
the Ishtar Gate
20. Ground-plan of E-makh, the temple of the goddess
Ninmakh; after Andrae
21. Conjectural restoration of E-makh; after Andrae
22. Gold plaque, with architectural design, from a
Neo-Babylonian burial; enlargement after photo, by Koldewey
23. Ground-plan of the unidentified temple known as "Z";
after Andrae
24. Conjectural restoration of the unidentified temple known
as "Z"; after Andrae and Koldewey
25. Ground-plan of the temple of Ishtar of Akkad; after
Reuther
20. Ground-plan of the temple of Ninib; after Andrae
27. Ground-plan of E-temen-anki and E-sagila; after Wetzel
28. Conjectural reconstruction of E-temen-anki and E-sagila;
after Andrae
29. Ground-plan of E-zida and the temple-tower of Nabû at
Borsippa; after Koldewey
30. Rough engraving of a temple-tower upon a boundary-stone
31. Plan of the Merkes Mound, showing part of the street
network of Babylon; after Koldewey
32-33. Arabs of the seventh century B.C., from a sculpture
in the Nineveh Gallery of the British Museum
34. Head of an archaic limestone figure from Ashur
35-30. Heads of archaic figures from Ashur and Tello
37-39. Examples of archaic sculpture from Ashur and Tello,
exhibiting the same convention in the treatment of woollen
garments
40. The Old Babylonian form of plough in use; after Clay
41. Assyrian kelek on the Tigris; after La yard
42. The Assyrian prototype of the gufa; from a bas-relief in
the British Museum
43. Assyrian raft of logs on the Tigris; from a bas-relief
in the British Museum
44. Swamp in Southern Babylonia, or the Sea-Country; after a
bas-relief at Nineveh
45. The zebu or humped oxen of the Sea-Country; after a
bas-relief from Nineveh in the British Museum
40. Akhenaten, with his queen and infant daughters, on the
balcony of their palace; after N. de G. Davies
47-48. Representations of Hittites in Egyptian sculpture;
after Meyer
49. Hittite foot-soldiers at the Battle of Kadesh; after
Meyer
50. Hittite chieftain, a captive of Rameses III.; after Meyer
51. Figure, probably of a Hittite king, from the Royal Gate
at Khatti; after a photo, by Puchstein
52. The Royal Gate of Khatti, the capital of the Hittites,
viewed from the outside; after Puchstein
53. Conjectural restoration of a Hittite gateway viewed from
outside; after Puchstein
54. Longitudinal section of the Lower Western Gateway at
Khatti; after Puchstein
55. Transverse section of the Lower Western Gateway at
Khatti; after Puchstein
56. One of the two sacred boats of Khonsu, the Egyptian
Moongod, who journeyed into Cappadocia to cast out a devil
from a Hittite princess; after Rosellini
57. Rameses II. offering incense to one of the boats of
Khonsu before he started on his journey; after Rosellini
58. Scene representing Nabû-mukîn-apli sanctioning a
transfer of landed property
59. Marduk and his dragon from a votive offering of
Marduk-zakir-shum; after Weissbach
60. The Assyrian army in Chaldea, 851 B.C.; from the Gates
of Shalmaneser in the British Museum
61. A Chaldean town of the ninth century B.C.; from the
Gates of Shalmaneser
62-63. The tribute of the Chaldeans; from the Gates of
Shalmaneser
64. Bas-relief of Shamash-rêsh-usur, governor of the lands
of Sukhi and Mari; after a photo, by Weissbach
65. The god Adad from a votive offering dedicated in
E-sagila by Esarhaddon; after Weissbach
66-68. The weather-god and two goddesses from an Assyrian
bas-relief; after Layard
69. Figure of deity in portable shrine; after Layard
70. Sumerian harp, with the sound-case surmounted by the
figure of a bull
71. The guardian lions of the Eastern Gate of Heaven, from
the impression of a cylinder-seal in the Louvre; after Heuzey
72. Winged monster on enamelled frieze at Persepolis; after
Dieulafoy
MAPS AND PLANS
I. Diagram to illustrate the political centre of gravity in
Babylonia (Fig. 1)
II. Map of the neighbourhood of Babylon and Birs-Nimrûd
(Fig. 2)
III. Plan of the ruins of Babylon (Fig. 3)
IV. Ground-plan of part of the outer city-wall (Fig. 4)
V. Plan of the Southern Citadel (Fig. 6)
VI. Ground-plan of quay-walls and fortification-walls in the
N.W. corner of the S. Citadel (Fig. 7)
VII. Plan of the Throne Room of Nebuchadnezzar and part of
the private palace (Fig. 9)
VIII. Plan of the N.E. corner of the palace with the Vaulted
Building (Fig. 11)
IX. Ground-plan of the Ishtar Gate (Fig. 14)
X. Plan of the later defences of the Citadel upon the N.,
showing the walls with the Lion Frieze and the Ishtar Gate
(Fig. 18)
XI. Ground-plan of E-makh, the temple of the goddess Ninmakh
(Fig. 20)
XII. Ground-plan of the unidentified temple known as "Z"
(Fig. 23)
XIII. Ground-plan of the temple of Ishtar of Akkad (Fig. 25)
XIV. Ground-plan of the temple of Ninib (Fig. 20)
XV. Ground-plan of E-temen-anki and E-sagila (Fig. 27)
XVI. Ground-plan of E-zida and the temple-tower of Nabii at
Borsippa (Fig. 29)
XVII. Plan of the Merkes Mound, showing part of the street
network of Babylon (Fig. 31)
XVIII. Map of Babylonia, Assyria and Mesopotamia. Inset: Map
of Western Asia
A HISTORY OF BABYLON
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY: BABYLON'S PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY
The name of Babylon suggests one of the great centres from which
civilization radiated to other peoples of the ancient world. And it
is true that from the second millennium onwards we have evidence of
the gradual spread of Babylonian culture throughout the greater part
of Western Asia. Before the close of the fifteenth century, to cite a
single example of such influence, we find that Babylonian had become
the language of Eastern diplomacy. It is not surprising perhaps that
the Egyptian king should have adopted the Babylonian tongue and method
of writing for his correspondence with rulers of Babylon itself or
of Assyria. But it is remarkable that he should employ this foreign
script and language for sending orders to the governors of his Syrian
and Palestinian dependencies, and that such Canaanite officials
should use the same medium for the reports they despatched to their
Egyptian master. In the same period we find the Aryan rulers of
Mitanni, in Northern Mesopotamia, writing in cuneiform the language of
their adopted country. A few decades later the Hittites of Anatolia,
discarding their old and clumsy system of hieroglyphs except for
monumental purposes, borrow the same character for their own speech,
while their treaties with Egypt are drawn up in Babylonian. In the
ninth century the powerful race of the Urartians, settled in the
mountains of Armenia around the shores of Lake Van, adopt as their
national script the writing of Assyria, which in turn had been derived
from Babylon. Elam, Babylon's nearest foreign neighbour, at a very
early period had, like the Hittites of a later age, substituted for
their rude hieroglyphs the language and older characters of Babylon,
and later on they evolved from the same writing a character of their
own. Finally, coming down to the sixth century, we find the Achæmenian
kings inventing a cuneiform sign-list to express the Old Persian
language, in order that their own speech might be represented in royal
proclamations and memorials beside those of their subject provinces of
Babylon and Susiania.
These illustrations of Babylonian influence on foreign races are
confined to one department of culture only, the language and the system
of writing. But they have a very much wider implication. For when
a foreign language is used and written, a certain knowledge of its
literature must be presupposed. And since all early literatures were
largely religious in character, the study of the language carries with
it some acquaintance with the legends, mythology and religious beliefs
of the race from whom it was borrowed. Thus, even if we leave out of
account the obvious effects of commercial intercourse, the single group
of examples quoted necessarily implies a strong cultural influence on
contemporary races.
It may thus appear a paradox to assert that the civilization, with
which the name of Babylon is associated, was not Babylonian. But it is
a fact that for more than a thousand years before the appearance of
that city as a great centre of culture, the civilization it handed on
to others had acquired in all essentials its later type. In artistic
excellence, indeed, a standard had been already reached, which, so far
from being surpassed, was never afterwards attained in Mesopotamia.
And although the Babylonian may justly be credited with greater system
in his legislation, with an extended literature, and perhaps also with
an increased luxury of ritual, his efforts were entirely controlled
by earlier models. If we except the spheres of poetry and ethics, the
Semite in Babylon, as elsewhere, proved himself a clever adapter,
not a creator. He was the prophet of Sumerian culture and merely
perpetuated the achievements of the race whom he displaced politically
and absorbed. It is therefore the more remarkable that his particular
city should have seen but little of the process by which that culture
had been gradually evolved. During those eventful centuries Babylon had
been but little more than a provincial town. Yet it was reserved for
this obscure and unimportant city to absorb within herself the results
of that long process, and to appear to later ages as the original
source of the culture she enjoyed. Before tracing her political
fortunes in detail it will be well to consider briefly the causes which
contributed to her retention of the place she so suddenly secured for
herself.
The fact that under her West-Semitic kings Babylon should have taken
rank as the capital city does not in itself account for her permanent
enjoyment of that position. The earlier history of the lands of
Sumer and Akkad abounds with similar examples of the sudden rise of
cities, followed, after an interval of power, by their equally sudden
relapse into comparative obscurity. The political centre of gravity
was continually shifting from one town to another, and the problem we
have to solve is why, having come to rest in Babylon, it should have
remained there. To the Western Semites themselves, after a political
existence of three centuries, it must have seemed that their city was
about to share the fate of her numerous predecessors. When the Hittite
raiders captured and sacked Babylon and carried off her patron deities,
events must have appeared to be taking their normal course. After the
country, with her abounding fertility, had been given time to recover
from her temporary depression, she might have been expected to emerge
once more, according to precedent, under the aegis of some other
city. Yet it was within the ancient walls of Babylon that the Kassite
conquerors established their headquarters; and it was to Babylon, long
rebuilt and once more powerful, that the Pharaohs of the eighteenth
Dynasty and the Hittite kings of Cappadocia addressed their diplomatic
correspondence. During Assyria's long struggle with the southern
kingdom Babylon was always the protagonist, and no raid by Aramean or
Chaldean tribes ever succeeded in ousting her from that position. At
the height of Assyrian power she continued to be the chief check upon
that empire's expansion, and the vacillating policy of the Sargonids
in their treatment of the city sufficiently testifies to the dominant
_rôle_ she continued to play in politics. And when Nineveh had fallen,
it was Babylon that took her place in a great part of Western Asia.
This continued pre-eminence of a single city is in striking contrast
to the ephemeral authority of earlier capitals, and it can only be
explained by some radical change in the general conditions of the
country. One fact stands out clearly: Babylon's geographical position
must have endowed her during this period with a strategical and
commercial importance which enabled her to survive the rudest shocks
to her material prosperity. A glance at the map will show that the
city lay in the north of Babylonia, just below the confluence of the
two great rivers in their lower course. Built originally on the left
bank of the Euphrates, she was protected by its stream from any sudden
incursion of the desert tribes. At the same time she was in immediate
contact with the broad expanse of alluvial plain to the south-east,
intersected by its network of canals.
But the real strength of her position lay in her near neighbourhood
to the transcontinental routes of traffic. When approaching Baghdad
from the north the Mesopotamian plain contracts to a width of some
thirty-five miles, and, although it has already begun to expand again
in the latitude of Babylon, that city was well within touch of both
rivers. She consequently lay at the meeting-point of two great avenues
of commerce. The Euphrates route linked Babylonia with Northern Syria
and the Mediterranean, and was her natural line of contact with Egypt;
it also connected her with Cappadocia, by way of the Cilician Gates
through the Taurus, along the track of the later Royal Road.[1] Farther
north the trunk-route through Anatolia from the west, reinforced by
tributary routes from the Black Sea, turns at Sivas on the Upper Halys,
and after crossing the Euphrates in the mountains, first strikes the
Tigris at Diarbekr; then leaving that river for the easier plain, it
rejoins the stream in the neighbourhood of Nineveh and so advances
southward to Susa or to Babylon. A third great route that Babylon
controlled was that to the east through the Gates of Zagros, the
easiest point of penetration to the Iranian plateau and the natural
outlet of commerce from Northern Elam.[2] Babylon thus lay across the
stream of the nations' traffic, and in the direct path of any invader
advancing upon the southern plains.
That she owed her importance to her strategic position, and not to any
particular virtue on the part of her inhabitants, will be apparent from
the later history of the country. It has indeed been pointed out that
the geographical conditions render necessary the existence of a great
urban centre near the confluence of the Mesopotamian rivers.[3] And
this fact is amply attested by the relative positions of the capital
cities, which succeeded one another in that region after the supremacy
had passed from Babylon. Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Baghdad are all
clustered in the narrow neck of the Mesopotamian plain, and for only
one short period, when normal conditions were suspended, has the centre
of government been transferred to any southern city.[4] The sole change
has consisted in the permanent selection of the Tigris for the site of
each new capital, with a decided tendency to remove it to the left or
eastern bank.[5] That the Euphrates should have given place in this way
to her sister river was natural enough in view of the latter's deeper
channel and better water way, which gained in significance as soon as
the possibility of maritime communication was contemplated.
Throughout the whole period of Babylon's supremacy the Persian Gulf,
so far from being a channel of international commerce, was as great
a barrier as any mountain range. Doubtless a certain amount of local
coasting traffic was always carried on, and the heavy blocks of diorite
which were brought to Babylonia from Magan by the early Akkadian king
Narâm-Sin, and at a rather later period by Gudea of Lagash,[6] must
have been transported by water rather than over land. Tradition, too,
ascribed the conquest of the island of Dilmun, the modern Bahrein,
to Sargon of Akkad; but that marked the extreme limit of Babylonian
penetration southwards, and the conquest must have been little more
than a temporary occupation following a series of raids down the
Arabian coast. The fact that two thousand years later Sargon of
Assyria, when recording his receipt of tribute from Upêri of Dilmun,
should have been so far out in his estimate of its distance from the
Babylonian coast-line,[7] is an indication of the continued disuse of
the waters of the gulf as a means of communication. On this supposition
we may readily understand the difficulties encountered by Sennacherib
when transporting his army across the head of the gulf against certain
coast-towns of Elam, and the necessity, to which he was put, of
building special ships for the purpose.
There is evidence that in the Neo-Babylonian period the possibilities
of transport by way of the gulf had already begun to attract attention,
and Nebuchadnezzar II. is said to have attempted to build harbours
in the swamp at the mouths of the delta.[8] But his object must have
been confined to encouraging coastal trade, for the sea-route between
the Persian Gulf and India was certainly not in use before the fifth
century, and in all probability was inaugurated by Alexander. According
to Herodotus[9] it had been opened by Darius after the return of the
Greek Scylax of Caryanda from his journey to India, undertaken as one
of the surveying expeditions on the basis of which Darius founded
the assessment of his new satrapies. But, although there is no need
to doubt the historical character of that voyage, there is little
to suggest that Scylax coasted round, or even entered, the Persian
Gulf.[10] Moreover, it is clear that, while Babylon's international
trade received a great impetus under the efficient organization of
the Persian Empire, it was the overland routes which benefited. The
outcrops of rock, or cataracts, which blocked the Tigris for vessels
of deeper draft, were not removed until Alexander levelled them; and
the problem of Babylon's sea-traffic, to which he devoted the closing
months of his life, was undoubtedly one of the factors which, having
now come into prominence for the first time, influenced Seleucus in
selecting a site on the Tigris for his new capital.[11]
But that was not the only cause of Babylon's deposition. For after
her capture by Cyrus, new forces came into play which favoured a
transference of the capital eastward. During the earlier periods of her
history Babylon's chief rival and most persistent enemy had lain upon
her eastern frontier. To the early Sumerian rulers of city-states Elam
had been "the mountain that strikes terror,"[12] and during subsequent
periods the cities of Sumer and Akkad could never be sure of immunity
from invasion in that quarter. We shall see that in Elam the Western
Semites of Babylon found the chief obstacle to the southward extension
of their authority, and that in later periods any symptom of internal
weakness or dissension was the signal for renewed attack. It is true
that the Assyrian danger drew these ancient foes together for a time,
but even the sack of Susa by Ashur-bani-pal did not put an end to their
commercial rivalry.
During all this period there was small temptation to transfer the
capital to any point within easier striking distance of so powerful a
neighbour; and with the principal passes for eastward traffic under
foreign control, it was natural that the Euphrates route to Northern
Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean coast should continue to be the
chief outlet for Babylonian commerce. But on the incorporation of the
country within the Persian empire all danger of interference with her
eastern trade was removed; and it is a testimony to the part Babylon
had already played in history that she continued to be the capital
city of Asia for more than two centuries. Cyrus, like Alexander,
entered the city as a conqueror, but each was welcomed by the people
and their priests as the restorer of ancient rights and privileges.
Policy would thus have been against any attempt to introduce radical
innovations. The prestige the city enjoyed and the grandeur of its
temples and palaces doubtless also weighed with the Achæmenian kings in
their choice of Babylon for their official residence, except during the
summer months. Then they withdrew to the cooler climate of Persepolis
or Ecbatana, and during the early spring, too, they might transfer the
court to Susa; but they continued to recognize Babylon as their true
capital. In fact, the city only lost its importance when the centre of
government was removed to Seleucia in its own immediate neighbourhood.
Then, at first possibly under compulsion, and afterwards of their own
freewill, the commercial classes followed their rulers to the west bank
of the Tigris; and Babylon suffered in proportion. In the swift rise of
Seleucia in response to official orders, we may see clear proof that
the older city's influence had been founded upon natural conditions,
which were shared in an equal, and now in even a greater degree, by the
site of the new capital.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE POLITICAL CENTRE OF GRAVITY IN BABYLONIA.
The circle marks the limits within which the capital shifted from the
period of the First Dynasty onwards. It was only under the abnormal
conditions produced by the Moslem conquest that Kûfa and Basra became
for five generations the twin capitals of 'Irâk; this interval presents
a parallel to the earlier period before the rise of Babylon.]
The secret of Babylon's greatness is further illustrated by still
later events in the valley of the Euphrates and the Tigris. The rise
of Ctesiphon on the left bank of the river was a further result of
the eastward trend of commerce. But it lay immediately opposite
Seleucia, and marked no fresh shifting of the centre of gravity. Of
little importance under the Seleucid rulers, it became the chief city
of the Arsacidæ, and, after the Parthian Empire had been conquered by
Ardashir I., it continued to be the principal city of the province and
became the winter residence of the Sassanian kings. When in 636 A.D.
the Moslem invaders defeated the Persians near the ruins of Babylon
and in the following year captured Ctesiphon, they found that city
and Seleucia to which they gave the joint name of Al-Madâin, or "the
cities," still retaining the importance their site had acquired in the
third century B.C. Then follows a period of a hundred and twenty-five
years which is peculiarly instructive for comparison with the earlier
epochs of Babylonian history.
The last of the great Semitic migrations from Arabia had resulted
in the conquests of Islam, when, after the death of Mohammed, the
Arab armies poured into Western Asia in their efforts to convert the
world to their faith. The course of the movement, and its effect upon
established civilizations which were overthrown, may be traced in the
full light of history; and we find in the valley of the Tigris and
Euphrates a resultant economic condition which forms a close parallel
to that of the age before the rise of Babylon. The military occupation
of Mesopotamia by the Arabs closed for a time the great avenues of
transcontinental commerce; and, as a result, the political control of
the country ceased to be exercised from the capital of the Sassanian
kings and was distributed over more than one area. New towns sprang
into being around the permanent camps of the Arab armies. Following on
the conquest of Mesopotamia, the city of Basra was built on the Shatt
el-'Arab in the extreme south of the country, while in the same year,
638 A.D., Kûfa was founded more to the north-west on the desert side of
the Euphrates. A third great town, Wâsit, was added sixty-five years
later, and this arose in the centre of the country on both banks of
the Tigris, whose waters were then passing along the present bed of
the Shatt el-Hai. It is true that Madâin retained a measure of local
importance, but during the Omayyad Caliphate Kûfa and Basra were the
twin capitals of 'Irâk.[13]
Thus the slackening of international connections led at once to a
distribution of authority between a north and a south Babylonian
site. It is true that both capitals were under the same political
control, but from the economic standpoint we are forcibly reminded of
the era of city-states in Sumer and Akkad. Then, too, there was no
external factor to retain the centre of gravity in the north; and
Erech more than once secured the hegemony, while the most stable of
the shifting dynasties was the latest of the southern city of Ur. The
rise of Babylon as the sole and permanent capital of Sumer and Akkad
may be traced, as we shall note, to increased relations with Northern
Syria, which followed the establishment of her dynasty of West-Semitic
kings.[14] And again we may see history repeating herself, when Moslem
authority is removed to Baghdad at the close of the first phase in
the Arab occupation of Mesopotamia. For on the fall of the Omayyad
dynasty and the transference of the Abbasid capital from Damascus to
the east, commercial intercourse with Syria and the west was restored
to its old footing. Basra and Kûfa at once failed to respond to the
changed conditions, and a new administrative centre was required. It
is significant that Baghdad should have been built a few miles above
Ctesiphon, within the small circle of the older capitals;[15] and
that, with the exception of a single short period,[16] she should have
remained the capital city of 'Irâk. Thus the history of Mesopotamia
under the Caliphate is instructive for the study of the closely
parallel conditions which enabled Babylon at a far earlier period to
secure the hegemony in Babylonia and afterwards to retain it.
From this brief survey of events it will have been noted that Babylon's
supremacy falls in the middle period of her country's history, during
which she distributed a civilization in the origin of which she played
no part. When she passed, the culture she had handed on passed with
her, though on Mesopotamian soil its decay was gradual. But she had
already delivered her message, and it has left its mark on the remains
of other races of antiquity which have come down to us. We shall see
that it was in three main periods that her influence made itself felt
in any marked degree beyond the limits of the home-land. The earliest
of these periods of external contact was that of her First Dynasty of
West-Semitic rulers, though the most striking evidence of its effect is
only forthcoming after some centuries had passed. In the second period
the process was indirect, her culture being carried north and west
by the expansion of Assyria. The last of the three epochs coincides
with the rule of the Neo-Babylonian kings, when, thanks to her natural
resources, the country not only regained her independence, but for a
short time established an empire which far eclipsed her earlier effort.
And in spite of her speedy return, under Persian rule, to the position
of a subject province, her foreign influence may be regarded as
operative, it is true in diminishing intensity, well into the Hellenic
period.
The concluding chapter will deal in some detail with certain
features of Babylonian civilization, and with the extent to which
it may have moulded the cultural development of other races. In
the latter connexion a series of claims has been put forward which
cannot be ignored in any treatment of the nation's history. Some of
the most interesting contributions that have recently been made to
Assyriologieal study undoubtedly concern the influence of ideas, which
earlier research had already shown to be of Babylonian origin. Within
recent years a school has arisen in Germany which emphasizes the part
played by Babylon in the religious development of Western Asia, and,
in a minor degree, of Europe. The evidence on which reliance has been
placed to prove the spread of Babylonian thought throughout the ancient
world has been furnished mainly by Israel and Greece; and it is claimed
that many features both in Hebrew religion and in Greek mythology can
only be rightly studied in the light thrown upon them by Babylonian
parallels from which they were ultimately derived. It will therefore
be necessary to examine briefly the theory which underlies most recent
speculation on this subject, and to ascertain, if possible, how far it
may be relied on to furnish results of permanent value.
But it will be obvious that, if the theory is to be accepted in whole
or in part, it must be shown to rest upon a firm historical basis, and
that any inquiry into its credibility should be more fitly postponed
until the history of the nation itself has been passed in review. After
the evidence of actual contact with other races has been established
in detail, it will be possible to form a more confident judgment
upon questions which depend for their solution solely on a balancing
of probabilities. The estimate of Babylon's foreign influence has
therefore been postponed to the closing chapter of the volume. But
before considering the historical sequence of her dynasties, and the
periods to which they may be assigned, it will be well to inquire what
recent excavation has to tell us of the actual remains of the city
which became the permanent capital of Babylonia.
[Footnote 1: Cf. Hogarth, "The Nearer East," pp. 212 ff., and Ramsay,
"The Historical Geography of Asia Minor," pp. 27 ff. Herodotus (V,
52-54) describes the "Royal Road" of the Persian period as passing
from Ephesus by the Cilician Gates to Susa, and it obtained its name
from the fact that all government business of the Persian Court passed
along it; the distances, given by Herodotus in parasangs and stages,
may well be derived from some official Persian document (cf. How and
Wells, "Commentary on Herodotus," II, p. 21). But it followed the track
of a still earlier Royal Road, by which Khatti, the capital of the old
Hittite Empire, maintained its communications westward and with the
Euphrates valley.]
[Footnote 2: At the present day this forms the great trunk-road across
the highlands of Persia, by way of Kirmanshah; and, since the Moslem
conquest, it has been the chief overland route from the farther East
for all those making the pilgrimage to Mecca.]
[Footnote 3: Cf. Hogarth, _op. cit.,_ p. 200 f.]
[Footnote 4: See below, pp. 9 ff.]
[Footnote 5: It is not improbable that the transference from one bank
to the other was dictated by the relations of the ruling empire with
Persia and the West.]
[Footnote 6: See "Sumer and Akkad," p. 242.]
[Footnote 7: Cf. Delitzsch, "Paradies," pp. 178 ff., and Meyer,
"Geschichte des Altertums," 1., ii.; p. 473.]
[Footnote 8: See below, Chap. IX., p. 280.]
[Footnote 9: IV., 44.]
[Footnote 10: Cp. Myres, "Geographical Journal," Mil. 1896, p. 623, and
How and Wells, "Commentary on Herodotus," Vol. I., p. 320.]
[Footnote 11: See Bevan, "House of Seleucus," I., pp. 242 ff., 253.]
[Footnote 12: Cf. "Sum. and Akk.," p. 149.]
[Footnote 13: As such the two cities were known as 'Al-'Irâkân, or
Al-'Irâkayn, meaning "the two capitals of 'Irâk"; cf. G. Le Strange.
"The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate," p. 25.]
[Footnote 14: See further, Chap IV. The fact that from time to time
other cities of Akkad had secured the leadership, suggests that the
forces which eventually placed Babylon at the head of the country were
already beginning to be felt. They were doubtless checked in no small
degree by the absence of an internal administration of any lasting
stability during the acute racial conflict which characterized the
period.]
[Footnote 15: The city was founded by the second Abbasid Caliph in 762
A.D.]
[Footnote 16: For a period of fifty-six years (336-392 A.D.) the
Caliphate was removed to Sâmarrâ. The circumstances which led to the
transference may be traced directly to the civil war which broke out on
the death of Harûn-ar-Rashîd; cf. Le Strange, _op. cit.,_ p. 32.]