ESARHADDON.
Sennacherib had been compelled to retire from Syria before the Egyptians
and Ethiopians, before the army of Tirhaka. If he did not seek to
compensate this failure by new campaigns to Syria, if he omitted to
attempt the subjugation of Syria a second time, the reason obviously lay
in the fact, that his arms were occupied nearer home by the rebellion of
Babylonia, the attitude of Merodach Baladan in South Chaldæa, and his
combination with Elam. We are acquainted with the series of rebellions
and struggles which Sennacherib had to meet here, till in the year 694
B.C. he finally succeeded in overcoming the confederates leagued against
him in a great battle, and capturing the city of Babylon (p. 118). Yet
even after these important successes, Sennacherib's armies, so far as we
see, never appeared again in Syria. The Books of the Hebrews tell us
nothing of any further attacks of Sennacherib on Judah: they merely say:
"Sennacherib afterwards remained in Nineveh." The accounts preserved in
the inscriptions of the campaigns of Sennacherib do not go beyond the
capture of Babylon: the account which reaches furthest down is dated 691
B.C. Of the next ten years, during which Sennacherib continued to sit on
the throne of Assyria, we have no connected information. Even the
inscriptions which collect the acts of Sennacherib, the inscription of
Nebbi Yunus, and the inscription of Bavian, end their account of his
military deeds with the battle of Chaluli and the capture of Babylon.
Indications lead to the conclusion that Sennacherib, even in this last
decade of his reign, was so actively engaged in contests on the lower
Euphrates and against Elam, that he was compelled to leave Syria to her
fate. The fragment of an inscription speaks of Sennacherib's wars
against a queen of the Arabs; in an inscription of his successor also we
hear of a conquest of Sennacherib in Arabia.[314] Tiglath Pilesar had
fought against Samsieh, the queen of the Arabs, Sargon had received
tribute from her, and Sargon and Tiglath Pilesar had also received the
tribute of the Sabæans.[315] Herodotus, as we saw (p. 141), calls
Sennacherib the king of "the Arabians and Assyrians," from which we may
conclude that in the tradition of Egypt, on which this account given by
Herodotus of Sennacherib was based, he was a ruler to whom a
considerable part of Arabia was subject. In the inscriptions of the
successor of Sennacherib, we find at his accession Nabuzir, a son of
Merodach Baladan, in possession of Bit Yakin, the land of the sea, the
old domain of his race.[316] He must, therefore, have won it back in
Sennacherib's time, and though he may have had to pay tribute he must
have maintained his conquest. Lastly, we hear that Halludus, the
successor of Uman Minanu of Elam, made a vigorous resistance to
Sennacherib, and that Sennacherib won from him Bit Imbi, a border
fortress.[317]
Sennacherib's inscriptions repeatedly inform us that he caused trees to
be felled on Mount Amanus, _i.e._ in the neighbourhood of Cilicia, for
his buildings.[318] Inscriptions from the third and ninth years of
Sennacherib also mention the fact that captive Cilicians were compelled
to work at these buildings (p. 107), and in the inscription of Nebbi
Yunus, the mention of the Syrian campaign of Sennacherib is followed by
the statement, that he reduced the Cilicians, who inhabited the forests,
and destroyed their cities.[319] Sennacherib, therefore, must have
maintained by repeated contests the dominion over the Cilicians, which
Sargon had already gained (p. 103). Polyhistor tells us that Sennacherib
in Assyria heard of the landing of a Grecian army in Cilicia; he
hastened thither and defeated the Greeks, after losing many of his own
people; in remembrance of this victory he caused his image to be set up
there, with an inscription in Chaldæan letters, as evidence of his
bravery and skill, and built the city of Tarsus after the model of
Babylon. In the somewhat different account of Abydenus, Sennacherib,
after subjugating Babylon, defeated a fleet of the Greeks in a naval
battle off the coast of Cilicia, founded the temple of Anchiale, set up
brazen pillars with an inscription of his achievements, and built the
city of Tarsus after the model of Babylon, so that the Cydnus flowed
through Tarsus in the same manner as the Euphrates through Babylon.
Hellanicus had already told the Greeks that Tarsus and Anchiale had been
built by a ruler of Babylon, and the companions of Alexander of Macedon
saw near the walls of Anchiale the picture of a king of Assyria, with
the right hand raised.[320]
After an eventful reign of 24 years, Sennacherib came to an end even
more miserable than the end of his father (681 B.C.[321]). "When
Sennacherib was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god," so we find
in the Books of Kings, "his sons Adramelech and Nergal Sarezer slew him
with the sword. They escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his
son reigned in his stead."[322] According to Polyhistor, Ardumuzanes,
the son of Sennacherib, was the treacherous assassin of his father; in
Abydenus Nergilus succeeds Sennacherib; Nergilus was slain by his son
Adrameles, who was killed by his brother Axerdis, and his army driven
back to the city of Bizana (in Armenia).[323] The canon of the Assyrians
merely mentions at the year 681 B.C., "Assur-akh-iddin (Esarhaddon)
ascends the throne."[324] Sennacherib's inscriptions told us that after
the campaign in which he had driven Merodach Baladan out of Bit Yakin,
he had placed his eldest son, Assurnadin, as regent over Babylon (p.
115). Of this Assurnadin we only know this fact: we hear nothing of his
later fortunes. On a tablet, Sennacherib states that he has set apart
golden chains, ivory, and precious stones, a mina and a half in weight,
for his son Esarhaddon.[325] Esarhaddon, therefore, a fourth son of
Sennacherib, wrested from his brothers, Adramelech and Nergal Sarezer,
the murderers of his father, the fruit of their evil deeds, and became
Sennacherib's successor.
The acts of Esarhaddon show that he was a prince of energy, and knew how
to guide the reins with a strong hand. His father's reign had not been
poor in results, but still he had not been able to maintain the dominion
of Sargon in its full extent: he had been compelled to give up Syria.
Esarhaddon was not only able to recover this loss, he raised Assyria to
a height which she had never attained before. Shalmanesar II. had
trodden Syria, received the tribute of Israel, and reduced the west of
Iran to submission; Tiglath Pilesar II. had seen Arachosia, received the
homage of Judah, and ruled over Babylonia; Sargon had held sway over
Syria and Babylonia, Cilicia and Media; Esarhaddon kept the west of Iran
in submission; he not only extended the dominion of Assyria further to
the north than any of his predecessors; he reduced Babylon to certain
obedience, his armies passed far beyond the borders of Syria, and of
Asia towards the south-west.
According to a cylinder found at Kuyundshik and much injured at the
beginning, Esarhaddon with his army hastened to Nineveh; Asshur, Samas,
Bel, Nebo, and Istar, had fortunately placed him on the throne of his
father. In Nineveh he heard that Nabu-zir, the son of Merodach Baladan,
the lord of Bit Yakin, had attacked the faithful overseer of Ur
(Mugheir), had smitten him with the sword, and refused homage.
Esarhaddon sends his troops against Nabu-zir, who flies before them to
Elam: Nahid Merodach, the brother of Nabu-zir, comes from Elam to pay
homage to Esarhaddon; he receives the land of the sea-coast, the
inheritance of his brother. "Without fail," we are further told, "he
came each year to Nineveh, with rich presents to kiss my feet."[326] The
inscription of a second cylinder, found at Nebbi Yunus, mentions the
same event. "Nabu-zir," we are told, "trusted in Elam, but he did not by
that means save his life. I requested his brother Nahid Merodach to do
homage to me. He hastened from Elam to Nineveh, and kissed my feet; the
whole of the sea-coast I gave to him."[327] "Samas-ibni, prince of Bit
Dakkur in Chaldæa, took land in possession which belonged to the sons of
Babylon and Borsippa. I gave it back to them, and put Nabu-Sallim, the
son of Balasu, on the throne, who became my servant."[328] On a third
cylinder (Aberdeen) Esarhaddon says: "At the beginning of my reign, on
my first warlike enterprise, I established myself firmly on the seat of
my dominion." He marches to Babylon, makes prisoners, assembles the
warriors, and all the tribes of the inhabitants of Kardunias, assumes
the crown, and bids the chiefs prostrate themselves before him.[329]
That Esarhaddon bore the crown of Babylon is told us in the current
title of his inscriptions: "King of Asshur, king of Babel, king of Sumir
and Accad (king of Kardunias)." According to the astronomical canon,
Asaridinus (Assur-akh-iddin) reigns over Babylon from the beginning of
the year 680 B.C. to the end of the year 668 B.C. Over Assyria
Esarhaddon reigned from 681 to 668 B.C.
Esarhaddon appears to have adopted a different method from his fathers
for securing his dominion over Babylonia. So far as we can see, he
attempted to pacify and win the Babylonians by mild regulations, by
setting up the temples destroyed by his father, and restoring the city.
A tablet of Esarhaddon narrates in detail the wars which Sennacherib
carried on against Babylonia, and then mentions the destruction of the
city in order to conclude with the enumeration of the buildings which
he, Esarhaddon, erected in Babylon.[330] According to the cylinder
Aberdeen, Esarhaddon, at his coronation in Babylon, liberated the
prisoners whom he had taken; according to the cylinder of Nebbi Yunus,
he restored, as already mentioned, to the sons of Babylon and Borsippa
the land which Samas-ibni of Bit Dakkur had taken from them. The
cylinder Aberdeen tells us that Esarhaddon fixed the year and the day
for the building, _i.e._ for the restoration of Bit Saggatu--it was the
chief temple of Babylon, the sanctuary of Bel Merodach, the protecting
deity of the city (I. 295)--that he had bricks made for this building,
that he restored the injured temples of the gods, and the walls of
Babylon, Imgur-Bel, and Nivit Bel.[331] Bricks of the ruin-heaps of
Amram Ibn Ali, on the site of the ancient Babylon, bear the stamp: "To
the god of Merodach, his lord, Esarhaddon, king of Asshur, king of
Babel, begun and built the altars of Bit Saggatu."[332] On the cylinder
of Nebbi Yunus, Esarhaddon says: "When Samas, Bel, Nebo, Istar of
Nineveh, and Istar of Arbela had given me the victory over my enemies,
out of the booty of foreign lands, which my hand reduced by the aid of
the great god, my lord, I built (36 great) temples in the cities of
Assyria and Babylonia, covered them with silver and gold, and made them
to shine as the day."[333]
Of Esarhaddon's relations to Elam, the inscriptions only tell us that he
strongly fortified a border-city against Elam.[334] The tribes of the
Arabs were reduced far and wide. The cylinder of Nebbi Yunus mentions
the city of Adumu, the fortress of the Arabs, which Sennacherib
took;[335] he, Esarhaddon, made Tabua, a woman brought up in his palace,
queen of the Arabs, and increased by 65 camels the tribute paid to his
father. When Hazael, the prince of another Arabian tribe, died,
Esarhaddon put his son Yahlu on the throne, and raised the tribute paid
by Hazael by 10 minæ of gold, 50 camels, and payments of other
kinds.[336] The distant land of Bazu had been trodden by none of his
forefathers; he advanced thither; six princes of this region, Kisu,
Akbaru, Mansaku, Habizu, Niaru, Habanamru, and two queens, Yapah and
Bailu, he slew; their gods, their possessions, and their people, he
carried off to Assyria; the king of the Gambul, who dwelt in the marshes
and waters (in the region at the mouth of the Euphrates), submitted, and
brought presents and tribute.[337]
In the East, Esarhaddon kept the tribes of the Medes in subjection. The
cylinder of Nebbi Yunus says: "The land of Patusarra, a region in the
neighbourhood of ----, in the midst of the distant land of Media, on the
border of the land of Bikni, of the copper-mountains--this land none of
the kings, my forefathers, had subjugated. Sitirparna and Iparna, the
princes of the strong places, had not bowed before me; I carried them to
Assyria, with their subjects, horses, chariots, oxen, sheep, asses, as
rich booty." "Arpis, Zanasana, Ramatiya, the princes of the cities of
Partakka, Partukka, and Uraka-Zabarna in the land of Media, the position
of which was distant, who in the days of the kings, my forefathers, had
not trodden the soil of Assyria,--the fear of Asshur my lord threw them
down; they brought for me to my chief city, Nineveh, their great beasts,
copper (?), the product of their mines, bowed themselves with folded
hands before me, and besought my favour. I placed my viceroys over them,
who united the inhabitants of those regions with my kingdom; I laid upon
them burdens, and a fixed tribute."[338]
Of Esarhaddon's acts in the North, we learn that he drove out the
inhabitants of the land of Van from their dwellings, that he trod down
the inhabitants of the land of Chilaki (Cilicia), and the Duha who dwelt
in the forests of the land of Tabal. Twenty-one fortresses, and the
small places round them, he took and burnt down; and carried away the
inhabitants. Tiuspa of the land of Gimirai (Cimmeria), which lay in the
far distance, submitted to him.[339]
The most important achievements of Esarhaddon were accomplished in the
West. On the cylinder of Kuyundshik, the expulsion of Nabu-zir, and the
establishment of Nahid Merodach his brother in Bit Yakin, to which the
cylinder of Nebbi Yunus adds the subjugation of Bit Dakkur, is followed
by a campaign of Esarhaddon to Syria, which must, therefore, fall in the
year 679 or 678 B.C. Sennacherib had dethroned Elulæus of Sidon in the
year 701 B.C., and put Ithobal in his place (p. 125.) Ithobal was no
longer at the head in Sidon. Esarhaddon tells us, that Abdimilkut of
Sidon, and Sanduarri, a king in the mountain-land (therefore, no doubt,
a prince of Lebanon), united against him. "Abdimilkut trusted in his
position by the great sea, and threw off my yoke."[340] "The great city
of Sidon," so we are told on a cylinder of Nebbi Yunus, "which lies on
the sea, I attacked; all their places, fortresses and dwellings, I
destroyed; I threw them into the sea. Abdimilkut, who had fled before
the face of my warriors into the middle of the sea, I seized like a
fish, and cut off his head. His possessions, gold, silver, and precious
stones, the treasures of his palace, his innumerable people, oxen,
sheep, and asses, I carried away to Assyria. The princes of the land of
Chatti (Syria) I collected. I caused a new city to be built, and called
it the city of Esarhaddon. The people which my bow had taken in the
lands and on the sea of the rising sun (_i.e._ the inhabitants carried
away from Bit Yakin), I settled there, and placed my viceroys over them.
I caught Sanduarri like a bird in the midst of the mountains, and caused
his head to be cut off. The heads of Sanduarri and Abdimilkut I hung up
beside the heads of their chiefs, and marched to Nineveh."[341]
The overthrow of Sidon, and the terrible example which Esarhaddon had
made by this execution of the conquered princes, appears to have
frightened all Syria into obedience. To this, at any rate, the
assembling of all the princes of Syria, of which the cylinder speaks,
points; and we learn further, without any mention of new contests in
Syria, that the princes of Cyprus paid homage to Esarhaddon. After the
cylinder has narrated the achievements of Esarhaddon against the Arabs,
the Medes, and the Cilicians, which he accomplished down to the close of
the year 674 B.C. (the cylinder bears the date of the year of Atarilu
_i.e._ of 673 B.C.), it proceeds to the description of the buildings of
Esarhaddon. In Nineveh he built at the smaller edifice of his father to
the south of the Khosr, and at the great palace of Sennacherib to the
north of it (p. 106). The description of the buildings begins with the
mention of an embassy of Esarhaddon to the princes of Syria and Cyprus,
and their assembling; they have to provide the material and adornment of
these palaces by taxes and contributions. Twelve kings of the Chatti
were called upon: Baal, king of Tyre; Manasses, king of Judah (_Minasi
sar ir Jahudi_); Kausgabri, king of Edom; Musuri, king of Moab;
Zilli-Bel, king of Gaza; Mitinti, king of Ascalon; Ituzu, king of Ekron;
Milkiasap, king of Byblus; Matanbaal, king of Arvad; Abibaal, king of
Samaria; Puduil, king of Ammon; Achmilku, king of Ashdod. No mention is
made of a prince of Sidon; as the inscriptions told us above, that city
was under a viceroy of the king. In addition to these twelve kings, a
summons was sent to "ten kings of Yatnan (Cyprus), in the midst of the
sea:" Ikistusu (Aegisthus) king of Idalium (Idial); Pisuaguru
(Pythagoras), king of Kitrusi (Chytrus?); ----, king of Salamis
(Sillumi); Ituandar (Eteandros), king of Paphus (Pappa); Iriil
(according to another reading Eresu), king of Soli (Sillu); Damasu
(Damasus), king of Kurion; Rumisu, king of Tamasus; Damusi, king of
Amtihatasti (Amathus?); Unasagusa, king of Limenia (Limini); Buhli, king
of Aphrodision (Upridissa). "In all, I called upon 22 kings of the land
of the Chatti on the sea coast and in the sea."[342]
But in spite of this obedience of the princes of Syria and Cyprus,
Esarhaddon had to undergo contests in Syria after this time, _i.e._
after the year 674 B.C., which brought him beyond the borders of Syria.
In the year 697 B.C. Manasses succeeded his father Hezekiah in Judah; he
was then a boy of 12 years of age.[343] But when he came of age he did
not follow in the steps of his pious father; therefore, we are told in
the Chronicles, Jehovah caused the captains of the army of the king of
Assyria to come upon him; they took Manasses prisoner with thorns, and
bound him in chains, and carried him to Babel. And when he was in
distress he besought Jehovah, and humbled himself before the God of his
fathers, and Jehovah heard his prayer, and caused him to return to
Jerusalem, to his kingdom.[344] The Books of the Hebrews further tell us
that Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, settled people from Persia, Erech and
Babel, from Susa and Elam, in Samaria.[345] The carrying away of
Manasses, and strengthening of the foreign population in Israel, can
only have been caused by attempts at rebellion in the kingdom of Judah
and land of Israel. These attempts must have taken place after 674 B.C.,
with which year the cylinders close, which narrate the deeds of
Esarhaddon down to this point, without any mention of such rebellions;
on the contrary, we saw that these cylinders at the close of this epoch
describe Manasses of Judah and Abibaal of Samaria as among the obedient
and tributary vassals of Esarhaddon. The fragment of an inscription of
Esarhaddon, which narrates the events of his tenth campaign, and which
we cannot place before the year 673 B.C., as there is no mention of the
campaign in the inscriptions dated from that year, informs us of a
rebellion of Baal, king of Tyre, who was mentioned at the close of the
inscriptions previously quoted at the head of the vassals of Esarhaddon
in Syria. We can assume the more certainly that Judah and Samaria joined
this rebellion, as the fragment adds: King Baal of Tyre "threw off the
yoke of Assyria, trusting in king Tarku (Tirhaka) of Cush."[346]
It must have been the interference of Egypt, the hope in Egypt and
Ethiopia, which urged a portion of the Syrians to renewed attempts at
rebellion. Tirhaka, as we have seen, fought against Esarhaddon's father
in the year 701 B.C., by no means without success, at Eltekeh; after the
battle Sennacherib abandoned Syria. The restoration of the supremacy of
Assyria, which took place after the overthrow of Abdimilkut of Sidon,
was calculated to drive the ruler of Egypt and Ethiopia to an attempt to
prevent the establishment of Assyria on his borders. In the hope of such
assistance, Tyre, which stood at the head of Phoenicia, after the
defeat of Sidon, may have taken up arms; Judah and Samaria may have
joined her. The fragment of another inscription of Esarhaddon tells us
that he sent out his forces "to fight against Tarku, the king of Cush,
against the men of Egypt, and the allies of Tarku" (_i.e._ no doubt,
against Tyre, Judah and Samaria). The Assyrian army won the victory.
Tarku fled.[347] The return of Tirhaka was followed by the subjugation
of Judah and Samaria, the carrying away of Manasses to Babel
(Esarhaddon built, as we saw, at Babel, and then, no doubt, resided
there), and the settlement of inhabitants from the East in Samaria, in
order to secure the obedience of this land. We may put these events in
the year 673 B.C. As Tyre on her island continued her resistance,
Esarhaddon marched to break this down, on his tenth campaign, in the
early spring, in the month of Nisan, crossed the swollen waters of the
Euphrates and Tigris, caused fortifications to be thrown up against
Tyre, cut them off, as he says, from water and food, and directed his
march against Muzur (Egypt) and Miluhhi (Napata). From Aphek in Samaria
he set out southwards against Raphia (Refah near Gaza), where his
grandfather Sargon had defeated Sabakon (Seveh) of Ethiopia and Egypt
nearly 50 years before (p. 88). On the march through the desert the army
suffered from want of water; but Merodach came to the aid of
Esarhaddon's warriors, and saved their lives,--as the inscription tells
us, which breaks off at the point where it is telling of the first
conflict with the enemy. After the indubitable successes of Esarhaddon
against Tirhaka, Tyre submitted: the king Baal was pardoned; we find him
again at the head of the city under Esarhaddon's successor. In the same
way, after the subjection of Tyre, or some time later, when no one in
Syria could any longer found hopes on Egypt, Manasses again became king
of Judah, as the Hebrews state. In the list of the subject princes of
Syria after the death of Esarhaddon, the king of Judah follows
immediately after Baal of Tyre; unfortunately the name (in any case
Manasses) is broken off.
Either on the campaign, of which the first incidents have been already
related in the fragment last mentioned, or on a campaign immediately
following, Tirhaka was not only defeated, but driven out of Egypt, back
to his own native land. Esarhaddon became lord of Egypt. A fragment of
Abydenus says: "Esarhaddon obtained the lower portions of Syria and
Egypt by conquering them."[348] On that rock of the Phenician coast at
the mouth of the Nahr el Kelb, between Byblus and Berytus, where
Sennacherib had caused his picture and inscription to be engraved beside
the sculptures of Ramses II., Esarhaddon also caused his image to be
engraved, after he had become master of Egypt. In its damaged condition
the inscription only allows us to ascertain that victories over Tirhaka,
the capture of Memphis, the conquest of Egypt, are mentioned in them. At
the close the inscription speaks of Tyre, and again mentions 22 kings,
_i.e._ it records the second complete submission of Syria.[349]
Esarhaddon's successor informs us: his father had marched to Egypt, and
forced his way to the midst of Egypt. "He defeated Tirhaka, the king of
Cush, and destroyed his power. He conquered Egypt (Muzur) and Cush, and
carried away innumerable prisoners. He subjugated the land throughout
its whole extent, and annexed it to Assyria. The earlier names of the
cities he altered, and gave them new names; his servants and viceroys he
entrusted with the dominion over them; the payment of tribute he imposed
upon them."[350] The list of the 20 viceroys or princes which Esarhaddon
placed over Egypt after the expulsion of Tirhaka, allows us to see that
the greater number of the reigning families in the districts of Egypt,
who had maintained themselves under the dominion of the Ethiopians,
must have recognised the dominion of Esarhaddon in the place of the
dominion of Tirhaka, and passed from vassalage to him into vassalage to
Assyria. But not all. Many of them may have shared Tirhaka's fortunes.
In the place of those who did not adapt themselves to the new rule, came
others who thought to rise as adherents of Assyria. The prince who
received from Esarhaddon the regions of Sais and Memphis, and
consequently the most important position, Niku (Necho), was certainly a
man who had vigorously supported the new government.[351] Sarludari is
said to have governed the canton of Zitinu; Pakruru, the land of
Pisaptu; Putubasti, the land of Tanis (Zanu, Zoan); Harsiesu
administered the land of Zabnuti (Sebennytus); Tapnachti (Tnephachtus),
the canton of Bunubu; Sushinqu, the land of Busiris (Pusiru); Ziha, the
land of Siut; Lamintu, the land of Chimuni; Ispimatu, the land of Taini
(Thinis); Muntimianche, the land of Thebes (Niha).[352] According to
this, Esarhaddon made those princes of the districts in Egypt who,
though they had hitherto obeyed Tirhaka, were willing to submit to him,
his vassals, so far as he did not replace them by Egyptians, whom he
considered more trustworthy, and here and there by Assyrians. To Necho
he handed over or continued the important districts of Memphis and Sais.
As Necho of Sais came to the throne, according to the statement of
Manetho, eight years before Psammetichus, and Psammetichus, according to
the date of the Egyptians, became king in 664 B.C., Necho's accession
falls in 672 B.C., and the conquest of Egypt by Esarhaddon may be placed
in this year. The conquest of Cush, _i.e._ of the land of the South, is
due to the exaggeration of Esarhaddon: we find Tirhaka soon after in
possession of Napata. The slabs of reliefs which Esarhaddon caused to be
made for the adornment of the new palace which he began to build at
Chalah after the conquest of Egypt, bear on the reverse the inscription:
"Palace of Esarhaddon, king of Asshur and Babel, king of Muzur (Lower
Egypt), king of Patrus (Patores, Upper Egypt), of the land of Miluhhi
(Meroe), and of the land of Cush."[353]
This new palace at Chalah was built by Esarhaddon in the south-west
corner of the terrace on which rise the royal fortresses of this city,
to the west of the building of Tiglath Pilesar II. In extent it comes
nearest to the palace of Assurnasirpal in the north-west corner (II.
311). But it was not completed, though Esarhaddon did not hesitate to
take the reliefs from the palace of Tiglath Pilesar and use them for his
new building (p. 14). A broad staircase leads to the south front, to a
double portico guarded by lions and sphinxes. The sphinxes are recumbent
lion-bodies, with wings; the human head bears the Assyrian tiara
surrounded by horns. These forms, not elsewhere found in Syria, prove a
certain imitation of Egyptian models, which the Assyrians must have
become first acquainted with on the Nile.[354]
FOOTNOTES:
[314] G. Smith, "Assyr. Canon," p. 139. The fragment must speak of
events subsequent to the year 691 B.C., since the cylinder Taylor, which
dates from this year, does not mention this war.
[315] Above, p. 11.
[316] E. Schrader, "K. A. T.," s. 227.
[317] G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 207, 247. Ménant, "Annal." p. 291.
[318] _e.g._ Nebbi Yunus in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 233.
[319] Nebbi Yunus in Ménant, p. 231.
[320] Alexander and Abydenus in Euseb. "Chron." I. p. 27, 35, ed.
Schöne. For templum Atheniensium, it is obvious that we must read
Anchialensium.
[321] Private documents from the reign of Sennacherib on the sale of
houses, vineyards, slaves, debts, are in existence from the years 699,
695, 694, 692, 687, 683, Oppert et Ménant, "Doc. juridiq." p. 169 ff.
[322] Kings xix. 37. The statement of Josephus ("Antiq." 10, i. 5) rests
only on this passage. In calling Adramelechus and Saraserus the elder
sons of Sennacherib, and representing them as fleeing before the
Assyrians to Armenia, he can scarcely have any other authority than this
passage, although immediately before he quotes a passage of Berosus.
[323] Bizana is a conjecture of Von Gutschmid for in Byzantinorum urbem.
[324] G. Smith, "Assyr. Canon," p. 39.
[325] Sayce, "Records of the Past," 7, 138.
[326] Talbot, "Records of the Past," 3, 104-106.
[327] Talbot, _loc. cit._ 3, 114.
[328] Talbot, _loc. cit._; Ménant, "Annal." p. 243.
[329] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 248.
[330] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 314.
[331] Ménant, p. 248.
[332] Ménant, p. 247.
[333] Talbot, "Records of the Past," 3, 119; Ménant, p. 245.
[334] Talbot, _loc. cit._ p. 118.
[335] G. Smith, "Assyr. Canon," p. 137.
[336] Talbot, "Records," 3, 116.
[337] Talbot, _loc. cit._ p. 106, 116, 117.
[338] So E. Schrader translates.
[339] Vol. I. p. 547; Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 242.
[340] Talbot, "Records," 3, 106.
[341] G. Smith, "Assyrian Canon," p. 137, 138.
[342] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 228; G. Smith, "Assyrian Canon," p.
139; Talbot, "Records," 3, 108; the name of Eteander of Paphus is also
read on golden armlets, found at Kurion. Cf. G. Smith, "Assurbanipal,"
p. 31.
[343] The year 697 is obtained for the accession of Manasses, by
calculating the reigns of the kings of Judah from the date of the taking
of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, _i.e._ from the year 586 B.C. As
Hezekiah must have ascended the throne in 728 B.C. (p. 17, _n._), he
reigned no doubt two years longer than the Books of Kings allow, which
allot to him a reign of 29 years.
[344] Chron. xxxiii. 11-13.
[345] Ezra iv. 2, 9.
[346] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 212.
[347] G. Smith, "Assyr. Canon." p. 141.
[348] In Eusebius, "Chron." I. p. 35, ed. Schöne.
[349] Oppert, "Mémoires de l' Acad. des Inscript.," 1869, 1, 578. G.
Smith, "Assyrian Canon," p. 169.
[350] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 212.
[351] Psammetichus begins to reign in the year 664, according to the
Egyptian reckoning, as will be shown below. The list of Manetho allots
eight years to his father Necho. Necho, therefore, began to reign in 672
B.C., _i.e._ in the year in which Esarhaddon conquered Egypt. Nechepsus
and Stephinates, whom Manetho places six and seven years before Necho,
belong to the family of Psammetichus. Perhaps they were at the head of
Isis, under Tirhaka; then Necho, the son of Nechepsus, would have made
himself noticed by Esarhaddon by going over to him.
[352] G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 20 ff. Haigh, "Zur aeg. Sprache,"
1871; s. 71 ff. The Muntimianche of Thebes may be the Month-em-ha of the
inscription of the temple of Mut at Thebes, the pious foundations of
which it enumerates; in a slab found in this temple he is called:
"Hereditary lord, prince of Patores, prophet of Ammon." Brugsch, "Hist,
of Egypt," II. 270.
[353] Ménant, "Annal." p. 249.
[354] Private documents on the sale of lands, slaves, on loans from the
time of Esarhaddon, are in existence, belonging to the years 680, 677,
676, 674, 671. Oppert et Ménant, "Docum. jurid." Cf. G. Smith, "Disc."
p. 415 ff.