THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD BY GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A. Author of " The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World,'' 1 etc. NEW YORK LOVELL, CORYELL & COMPANY 43, 45 AND 47 EAST TENTH STREET ~R CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Present fashion of speculating on the origin of things The aim of this work to collect facts, not to construct a "Science of Religion " Religion one of the most instructive and interest- ing branches of historical study These pages deal with the religious tenets and practices of the eight principal nations of antiquity The religion of the Jews purposely omitted . page 11 CHAPTER I. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. Polytheism existed in three forms : 1, Synthetic; 2, Analytic; 3, Mixed Egyptian polytheism of the last named kind Early classification of the gods The principal divinities Ammon Khem Kneph Phthah Ra Osiris Neith or Net Wor- ship of the sun and moon Malevolent deities Local triads Animal worship The Apis bulls Temples and ceremonies Belief in a future life Treatment of the dead Egyptian " natural theology " No ground for supposing Egyptians acquainted with the doctrine of the Trinity .... page 14 CHAPTER II. THE RELIGION OF THE ASSYKIANS AND BABYLONIANS. Assyrians believed in fewer gods, and worshipped the heavenly bodies more than the Egyptians Had no esoteric religion An account of their religion is hence a description of their pantheon Asshur and II or Ra The first triad, Ann, Bel and Hea or Hoa The second triad , Sin, Shainas, and Yul The six goddesses, Anata, Beltis , Dav-kina, Gula, Shala or Tala, and " the Great Lady " The five astral deities The Assyrian Nin The Babylonian Merodach Nergal Ishtar Nebo Religious buildings of the Assyrians Their ritual CONTENTS. Their view of a future life Their superstitions Their sacred legends The Chaldean legend of creation as given by Bero- sus and the monuments The Chaldean legend of the Del- uge The descent of Ishtar into Hades page 35 CHAPTER III. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. Early home of the Iranians The origin of their religion anterior to the birth of Moses Zoroaster, its founder Persia its abid- ing home The Zendavesta Dualism the great characteristic Ahura-Mazda and Angro-Mainyus Signification of these names Attributes of the two deities Their respective bands of inferior spirits The Amesha-Spentas The spirits subor- dinate to Angro-Mainyus The symbol of the winged circle Mithra, the genius of light Man created by Ahura-Mazda; bound to obey him, and oppose Angro-Mainyus The purity of the Iranians Their industry Veracity Views on a future life Belief in a resurrection of the body not found in earlier parts of Zendavesta Translation of a Gatha ascribed to Zoroaster A specimen from the Yasna or Book on Sacri- fice Introduction of Magism, or worship of fire, air, earth, and water The Magian priesthood Their strange treat- ment of the dead Nature of the late and mixed religion . page 63 CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGION OF THE EARLY SANSKBITIC INDIANS. Early Indians polytheistic Traditions point to an early condi- tion of extreme hardship, in which the belief in one God may have been generally lost The religious instinct in the Hindoos manufactured deities Growth of Vedic polytheism The chief deities, Varuna, Mitra, and Indra Agni, the god of fire Dyaus and the other nature-gods Ushas. the dawn Surya, the sun Vayu, the wind "Dyaus and Prithivi Soma worshipped as the moon, and also as the genius of a certain plant Indian worship simple in form Their hymns Their offerings Their views on the future life Immortal- ity as hinted at by Vedic poets Speculations on the deeper problems of human and divine existence Translation of a Vedic poem page 83 CHAPTER V. THE RELIGION op THE PHOSNICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS. Our knowledge on this subject has to be gleaned from few and scattered notices The Phoenician a narrow polytheism The names of the gods indicate a knowledge of the personal- CONTENTS. 5 ity of the Supreme Being They point to an original mono- theism The female deities mere modes of the male ones Baal Ashtoreth Melkarth Dagon Adonis or Taminuz El The sun-worship Shamas Molech Baaltis Sadyk Eshtnun The Kabiri Foreign deities Licentious rites Human sacrifice No images in the temples Asherahs General tendency of the worship to lower and debase men. . IOC THE RELIGION OF THE ETRUSCANS. Known to us chiefly from references in Greek and Latin -writers Etruscan languages not yet mastered Religion held a lead- ing place in the thoughts and feelings of the nation Twofold objects of worship, deities and Lares Three classes of deities, of heaven, of earth , and of the infernal regions Chief deities of Heaven Tina or Tinia Cupra Menrva or Menrfa Usil and Losna The three elemental gods The Novensiles The prominent place assigned to the gods of the infernal regions Mantus, Mania, and Charun Attributes of these deities and their attendants Etruscans sought to learn the will of the gods in three ways: 1, by thunder and lightning; 2, by the flight of birds; and 3, by the inspec- tion of entrails The priesthood a race of soothsayers Sacri- fices were both animal and human The true temple was the home, the real object of worship the Lares Etruscan tombs The Etruscan a depressing, superstitious, and debasing worship paye 12C CHAPTER VII. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. In what sense a worship of Nature Multitudinous character of the polytheism Classes of gods Gradations in rank and power The six gods of the first order ; Zeus Poseidon- Apollo Ares Hephaestus Hermes The six female Olyni- pic deities : Hera, Athene, Artemis, Aphrodite?, Hestia, Demeter Worship of Dionysus Leto Persephone Char- acteristics of Greek worship The festivals The dark side The Furies Human sacrifice The "mysteries" ... 131 CHAPTER VIII. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. The Roman quite distinct from the Greek religion The twelve Di majores : Jupiter Juno Minerva Mars Bellona Vesta Ceres Saturnus Ops Hercules Morcurius Nep- trunus Five groups of subordinate deities The worship supported by the state Several orders of priests The three CONTENTS. chief collegia; I, Salii Palatini; 2, Salii Collini; and 3, Vir- gines Vestales The learned corporations : 1, the Pontifices; 2, the Augurs ; 3, the Fetials ; 4, the Duumviri sacrorum The public worship of the State The private worship of the people Roman religion dull and tame, as compared with the Greek Doctrines of expiation Mythological fables foreign to the spirit of the Romans page 156 CONCLUDING REMARKS. The time has not yet come to construct a " Science of Religion," but certain results seem to follow from this review, viz. : 1. It is impossible to trace to any one fundamental conception the various religions. 2. From none of them could the Hebrew religion have originated 3. The sacred books of the Hebrews could not possibly have been derived from the sacred writings of these nations 4. This review gives no countenance to the theory of Comte 5. The facts point to a primitive religion, of which monotheism and expiatory sacrifice were parts, gradually corrupted and lost except among the Hebrews. page 174 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. OBELISK OF USURTASEN AT HELIOPOLIS . . (Frontispiece) AMMON' 18 PHTHAII 19 RA 20 THOTH 22 TKIAD OF SAVAK-RA, ATJIOK, AND KHONS .... 23 THE JUDGMENT HALL OF OSIRIS 27 MUMMY AND DISEMBODIED SPIRIT ...... 29 ASSHUR 38 Six . 43 VUL 45 NIN 46 NERGAL 49 WINGED CIRCLE 70 FOUR-WINGED FIGURE AT MURGAB 69 TOMB OF DARIUS 71 FIRE ALTARS 77 MAGIAN PRIEST 79 ASTARTE 106 THE SUN HO COIN OF COSSURA H3 COIN OF GrAULOS H4 SACRED TREE ASHERAH 118 PREFACE. THIS little work has originated in a series of papers written for the Sunday at Home in the years 1879 and 1881, based upon Lectures delivered in the University of Oxford, from the chair which I have the honor to hold. During the twenty-one years that I have occupied that chair, I have continually felt more and more that the real history of na- tions is bound up with the history of their religions, and that, unless these are carefully studied and accurately known, the inner life of nations is not apprehended, nor is their history understood. I have also felt that the desire to generalize upon the subject of ancient religions, and to build up a formal " Science of Religion," as it is called, has outrun the neces- sarily anterior collection of materials on which generaliza- tion might be safely based. I have, therefore, in my lect- ures to students, made a point of drawing their attention, from time to time, to the religious beliefs and practices of the various races and nations with whom my historical teaching has been concerned, and of exhibiting to them, as well as I was able, at once the external features and the in- ternal characteristics of " The Religions of the Ancient World." But the voice of a Professor, speaking ex cathedrd rarely reaches far, nor do modern academical reforms tend in the direction of enlarging professorial influence within Univer- sities. It thus becomes necessary for Professors, if they wish to advance the studies in which they feel especial in- terest, to address the world without through the Press, and this I have. accordingly done from time to time, and shall pi'obably continue to do, while life and strength are granted to me. Of the shortcomings of the present work no one can be ]0 PREFACE. more conscious than its author. I have represented myself towards its close (p. 173) as having done no more than touched the fringe of a great subject. Should circumstances permit, and sufficient encouragement be received, the sketch of Ancient Religions here put forth may not improbably receive at some future time such an expansion as may render it more porportionate to the vast matter of which it treats. It is impossible to make acknoAvledgments to all those whose works I have consulted with advantage. But my obligations to Professor Max Mtiller's dissertations upon the Vedas, to Dr. Martin Haug's " Essays on the Parsee Religion," and to Mr. Dennis's " Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria " seem to require special recognition. Apart from the works of these writers, three of the " Religions " could not have been so much as attempted. If I have ventured sometimes, though rarely, to differ from their conclusions, it has been with diffidence and reluctance. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. INTRODUCTION. " Religio est, quse superioris cujusdam, naturae, quam Divinam vocant, curam cserimoniamque affert." Cic. De Inventione, ii. 53. IT is the fashion of the day to speculate on the origins of things. Not content with observing the mechanism of the heavens, astronomers discuss the formation of the material universe, and seek in the phenomena which constitute the subject-matter of their science for " Vestiges of Creation." Natural philosophers propound theories of the " Origin of Species," and the primitive condition of man. Comparative philologists are no longer satisfied to dissect languages, com- pare roots, or contrast systems of grammar, but regard it as incumbent upon them to put forward views respecting the first beginnings of language itself. To deal with facts is thought to be a humdrum and commonplace employment of the intellect, one fitted for the dull ages when men were content to plod, and when prog- ress, development, " the higher criticism " were unknown. The intellect now takes loftier flights. Conjecture is found to be more amusing than induction, and an ingenious hy- pothesis to be more attractive than a proved law. Our "ad- vanced thinkers" advanced to the furthest limits of human knowledge, sometimes even beyond them ; and bewitch us with speculations, which are as beautiful, and as unsubstan- tial, as the bubbles which a child produces with a little soap and water and a tobacco-pipe. 12 THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. Nor does even religion escape. The historical method of inquiry into the past facts of religion is in danger of being superseded by speculations concerning what is called its " philosophy," or its " science." We are continually in- vited to accept the views of this or that theorist respecting the origin of all religions, which are attributed either to a common innate idea or instinct, or else to a common mode of reasoning upon the phenomena and experiences of human life. While the facts of ancient religions are only just emerging from the profound obscurity that has hitherto rested upon them, fancy is busy constructing schemes and systems, which have about as much reality as the imagina- tions of a novelist or the day-dreams of an Alnaschar. The patient toil, the careful investigation which real Science re- quires as the necessary basis upon which generalization must proceed, and systems be built up, is discarded for the " short and easy method" of jumping to conclusions and laying down as certainties what are, at the best, " guesses at truth." It is not the aim of the present writer to produce a " Science of Religion," or even to speculate on the possi- bility of such a science being ultimately elaborated when all the facts are fully known. He has set himself a more pro- saic and less ambitious task that, namely, of collecting materials which may serve as a portion of the data, when the time comes, if it ever comes, for the construction of the science in question. A building cannot be erected without materials ; a true science cannot be constructed without ample data. Careful inquiries into the real nature of historical relig- ions are necessary preliminaries to the formation of any general theories on the subject of religion worth the paper upon which they are written. And such inquiries have, moreover, a value in themselves. " The proper study of mankind is man ; " and the past history of the human race possesses an undying interest for the greater portion of edu- cated human kind. Of that past history there is no branch more instructive, and few more entertaining, than that which deals with religious beliefs, opinions, and practices. Re- ligion is the most important element in the thought of a nation ; and it is by studying their religions that we obtain the best clue to the inner life and true character of the vari- ous peoples who have played an important part In the drama of human affairs. INTRODUCTION. 13 In the ensuing pages the religious tenets and practices of eight principal nations of antiquity are passed in review the nations being those with which ancient history is chiefly concerned the Egyptians, Assyrians and Baby- lonians, Iranians, Sanskritic Indians, Phrenicians, Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans. The religion of the Jews has been omitted, as sufficiently well known to all educated persons. The religions of an- cient barbarous races have been excluded, as not having come down to us in any detail, or upon ufficiently trust- worthy evidence. The eight nations selected lave, on the contrary, left monuments and writing.., more or less exten- sive, from which it has seemed tc be possible to give a tolerably full account of their religion., beliefs, and one on which a fair degree of dependence may be placed. No doubt, as time goes on, and fresh discoveries are made of ancient documents, or an increased insight obtained into the true meaning of their contents, we shall come to know much more than we know at present on the subject here handled ; but it is confidently believed that further research and study will only supplement, and not contradict, the views which are here put forward. The author will gladly see the sketch which he here attempts filled up and completed by Others. Aofe/cv &v navTbf e'lvai irpor.yayeiv icai diapdpuaai TO. ica/.uf l^niTa ry irepiypaQij , KOI 6 xp6 v S T id. pp. 150, 100 and 163. |J Sir Rawlinson in the Author's " Herodotus," vol. L p. 055. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 49 in their warlike expeditions, and helps them to confound and destroy their enemies. Nor is he above lending them his assistance when they indulge in the pleasures of the chase. One of his titles is " the god of hunting," * and while originally subordinated to Kin in this relation, ultimately he outstrips his rival, and becomes the especial patron of hunters and sportsmen. Asshur-bani-pal, who is conspicuous among the Assyrian kings for his intense love of field sports, uniformly ascribes his successes to Nergal, and does not even join with him any other deity. Nergal's emblem was the human-headed and winged lion, which is usually seen, as it were on guard, at the entrance of the royal palaces. NERGAL. Ishtar, who was called Nana by the Babylonians,! cor- responded both in name and attributes with the Astart6 of the Phoenicians and Syrians. Like the Greek Aphrodit6 and the Latin Venus, she was the Queen of Love and Beauty ! the goddess who presided over the loves both of men and * Sir H. Rawlinson in the Author's " ITerodotus," 1. s. c. t " Records of the Past," vol. iii. pp. 7, 10, 11. 18, 14, etc.; vol. v. pp. 1'2, S3, 102, etc. 50 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLOYIANS. animals, and whose own amours were notorious. In one of the Izdubar legends, she courts that romantic individual, who, however, declines her advances, reminding her that her favor had always proved fatal to those persons on whom she had previously bestowed her affections.* There can be little doubt that in Babylon, at any rate, she was worshipped with unchaste rites,t and that her cult was thus of a corrupt- ing and debasing character. But besides and beyond this soft and sensual aspect, Ishtarhad a further and nobler one. She corresponded, not to Venus only, but also to Bellona ; being called " the goddess of war and battle," " the queen of victory," " she who arranges battles," and " she who defends from attack." The Assyrian kings very generally unite her with Asshur, in the accounts which they give of their ex- peditions ; t speaking of their forces as those which Asshur and Ishtar had committed to their charge ; of their battles as fought in the services of Asshur and Ishtar and of their triumphs as the result of Asshur and Ishtar exalting them above their enemies. Ishtar had also some general titles of a lofty but vague character ; she was called, " the for- tunate," " the happy," " the great goddess," "the mistress of heaven and earth," and " the queen of all the gods and goddesses." In her stellar aspect, she presided over the planet Venus ; and the sixth month, Elul, was dedicated to ner. Nebo, the last of the five planetary deities, presided over Mercury. It was his special function to have under his charge learning and knowledge. He is called "the god who possesses intelligence," || " he who hears from afar," "he who teaches," and "he who teaches and instructs." IT The tablets of the royal library at Nineveh are said to con- tain " the wisdom of Nebo." ** He is also, like Mercury, " the minister of the gods," though scarcely their messenger, an office which belongs to Paku. At the same time, as has often been remarkcd,ft Nebo has, like many other of the " Records of the Past," vol. ix. pp. 125-128. t See Herod, i. li)U; of Barucli, vi. 4J-5, and Strabo, xvi. p. 1058. } "Records of the Past," vol. i, pp. Gy-8G; vol. iii. p. 45, etc. Ibid. vol. vii. p. 109. |j "Records of the Past," vol. v. pp. 113, 122, etc. I " Anciant Monarchies," vol. i. p. 91. " Records of the Past," vol. i. p. 58. tt Sir H. Rawlinson in the Author's "Herodotus," vol. i. p. 661; " Ancient Monarchies," 1. s. c. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 51 Assyrian and Babylonian gods, a number of general titles, implying divine power, which, if they had belonged to him alone, would have seemed to prove him the supreme deity. He is " the lord of lords, who has no equal in power," " the supreme chief," "the sustainer," "the supporter," "the ever ready," " the guardian of heaven and earth," " the lord of the constellations," "the holder of the sceptre of power," " he who grants to kings the sceptre of royalty for the governance of their people." It is chiefly by his omission from many lists, and by his humble place, * when he is mentioned together with the really " great gods," that we are assured of his occupying a (comparatively speaking) low position in the general pantheon. The planetary gods had in most instances a female com- plement. Nebo was closely associated with a goddess called Urmitor Tasmit, Nergal with one called Laz, and Merodach with Zirpanit or Zirbanit. Nin, the son of Bel and Beltis, is sometimes made the husband of his mother, t but other- wise has no female counterpart. Ishtar is sometimes coupled with Nebo in a way that might suggest her being his wife, J if it were not that that position is certainly oc- cupied by Urmit. Among other Assyrian and Babylonian deities may be mentioned Xusku, a god assigned a high rank by Asshur- bani-pal ; Makhir, the goddess of dreams, || Paku, the divine messenger, IF Laguda, the god of a town call Kisik;** Zamal, Turda, Ishkara, Malik, deities invoked in curses ; ft Zicmn, a primeval goddess, said to be "the mother of Ann; and the gods," $$ Dakan, perhaps Dagon, Martu, Zira, Idak, Kurrikh, etc. Many other strange names also occur, but either rarely, or in a connection which is thought to indicate that they are local appellations of some of the Nebo's place varies commonly from the fifth to the thirteenth, and is generally about the seventh. Nebuchadnezzar, however, puts him third. (" Records of the Past," vol. v. p. 122.) t " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. p. 87. J "Ancient Monarchies," vol. 1. p. 91. " Records of the Past," vol. i. pp. 57, 58, 71, 77, 94, 93, etc.; vol. ix. pp. 45, 61, etc. II Ibid. vol. ix. p. 152. 1 Ibid. vol. v. p. 165. * Ibid. vol. ix. pp. 3 and 15. It Ibid. p. 101. Jt Ibid. p. 14(5, and note. Ibid. vol. iii. p. 40; vol. v. p. 117 ; voL vii. pp. 11, 27, etc. 52 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. well-known deities. No more need be said of these per- sonages, since the general character of the religion is but little affected by the belief in gods who played so very in- significant a part in the system. The Assyrians and Babylonians worshipped their gods in shrines or chapels of no very great size, to which, how- ever, was frequently attached a lofty tower, built in stages, which were sometimes as many as seven.* The tower could be ascended by steps on the outside, and was usually crowned by a small chapel. The gods were rep- resented by images, which were either of stone or metal, and which bore the human form, excepting in two instances, Nin and Nergal were portrayed, as the Jews, perhaps, portrayed their cherubim, by animal forms of great size and grandeur, having human heads and huge outstretched wings.f There was nothing hideous or even grotesque about the representations of the Assyrian gods. The object aimed at was to fill the spectator with feelings of awe and reverence ; and the figures have, in fact, universally, an ap- pearance of calm and placid strength and majesty, which is most solemn and impressive. The gods were worshipped, as generally in the ancient world, by prayer, praise, and sacrifice. Prayer was offered both for oneself and for others. The " sinfulness of sin " was deeply felt, and the Divine anger deprecated with much earnestness. " O ! my Lord," says one suppliant, "rny sins are many, my trespasses are great; and the wrath of the gods has plagued me with disease, and sickness, and sorrow. I fainted, but no one stretched forth his hand ; I groaned, but no one drew nigh. I cried aloud, but no one heard. O Lord, do not Thou abandon thy servant. In the waters of the great storm, do Thou lay hold of his hand. The sins which he has committed, do Thou turn to right- eousness." t Special intercession was made for the As- syrian kings. The gods were besought to grant them " length of days, a strong sword, extended years of glory, pre-eminence among monarehs, and an enlargement of the bounds of their empire." It is thought that their happi. As at Borsippa (Birs-i-Nimrod), where a portion of each itage remains. t Ezek. x. H-22. " Records of the Past." vol. iii. p. 136. II Ibid. p. 1:58. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 53 ness in a future state was also prayed for.* Praise was even more frequent than prayer. The gods were addressed under their various titles, and their benefits to mankind commemorated. " O Fire ! " we read on one tablet, 4 } " Great Lord, who art exalted above all the earth ! O ! noble son of heaven, exalted above all the earth. O Fire, with thy bright flame, thou dost produce light in the dark house ! Of all things that can be named, thou dost create the fabric ; of bronze and of lead, thou art the melter ; of silver and of gold, thou art the refiner ; of ... thou art the purifier. Of the wicked man, in the night-time, thou dost repel the assault; but the man who serves his God, thou wilt give him light for his actions." Sacrifice almost always accompanied prayer and praise. Every day in the year seems to have been sacred to some deity or deities, and some sacrifice or other was offered every day by the monarch,'}: who thus set an example to his subjects, which we may be sure they were not slow to follow. The principal sacrificial animals were bulls, oxen, sheep, and gazelles. Libations of wine were also a part of the recognized worship, || and offerings might be made of any- thing valuable. It is an interesting question how far the Assyrians and Babylonians entertained any confident expectation of a future life, and, if so, what view they took of it. That the idea did not occupy a prominent place in their minds ; that there was a contrast in this respect between them and the people of Egypt, is palpable from the very small number of passages in which anything like an allusion to a future state of existence has been detected. Still, there certainly seem to be places in which the continued existence of the dead is spoken of, and where the happiness of the good and the wretchedness of the wicked in the future state are indicat- ed. It has been already noticed, that in one passage the happiness of the king in another world seems to be prayed for. In two or three others, prayer is offered for a depart- *FoxTa11)ot in the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology." vol. i. p. 107. t " Records of the Past," vol. iii. pp. 137, 138. t See the fragment of a Calendar published in the "Records of the Past." vol. vii. pp. 159-168. Pnd. pp. 137, 159, and 101; " Ancient Monarchies," vol. il p. 56. " Records of the Past," vol. iii. p. 124; vol. vii. p. 140. 54 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. ing soul in terms like the following : " May the sun give him life, and Merodach grant him an abode of happiness," * or, " To the sun, the greatest of the gods, may he ascend ; and may the sun, the greatest of the gods, receive his soul into his holy hands." t The nature of the happiness en- joyed may be gathered from occasional notices, where the soul is represented as clad in a white radiant garment^ as dwelling in the presence of the gods, and as partaking of celestial food in the abode of blessedness. On the other hand, Hades, the receptacle of the wicked after death, is spoken of as "the abode of darkness and famine," the place "where earth is men's food, and their nourishment clay; where light is not seen, but in darkness they dwell ; where ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings, and on the door and the doorposts the dust lies undisturbed." Different de- grees of sinfulness seem to meet with different and appro- priate punishments. There is one place apparently, a penal fire reserved for unfaithful wives and husbands, and for youths who have dishonored their bodies. Thus it would appear that M. Lenormant was mistaken when he said, that, though the Assyrians recognized a place of de- parted spirits, yet it was one " in which there was no trace of a distinction of rewards and punishments." || The superstitions of the Assyrians and Babylonians were numerous and strange. They believed in charms of various kinds ; IT i omens,** in astrology, in spells, and in a miraculous power inherent in an object which they called "theMamit." What the Mamit was is quite uncertain.tt According to the native belief, it had descended from heaven, and was a " treasure," a " priceless jewel," infinitely more valuable than anything, else upon the earth. It was or- * " Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," vol. II p. 32. t Ibid, p, 81. t " Records of the Past," vol. iii. p. 135. "Transactions," etc.. vol. i. p. 113. It " Records of the Past," vol. i. p. 143. T Ihlfl. vol. ill. p. 142. Among the remains of Assyrian and Babylonian literature are tables of omens derived from, dreams, from births, from an inspection of the hand, or of the entrails of animals, and from the objects a traveler meets with on his journey. Dogs alone furnish eighteen omens (JhM. vol. v. pp. lflH-170). tt See a paper by Mr. Fox Talbot In the " Transactions of th Society of Biblkal Archeology," vql. ji. pp. 35-42. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 55 dinarily kept in a temple, but was sometimes brought to the bedside of a sick person, with the object of driving out the evil spirits to whom his disease was owing, and of so re- covering him. Among the sacred legends of the Babylonians and As- syrians the following were the most remarkable. They be- lieved that at a remote date, before the creation of the world, there had been war in heaven. Seven spirits, created by Ami to be his messengers, took counsel together and resolved to revolt. "Against high heaven, the dwelling- place of Ann the king, they plotted evil," and unexpectedly made a fierce attack. The moon, the sun, and Vul, the god of the atmosphere, withstood them, and after a fearful struggle bent them off.* There was then peace for a vihile. But once more, at a later date, a fresh revolt broke out. The hosts of heaven were assembled together, in number five thousand, and were engaged in singing a psalm of praise to Aim when suddenly discord arose. " With a loud cry of contempt " a portion of the angelic choir " broke up the holy song," uttering, wicked blasphemies, and so " spoiling, confusing, confounding the hymn of praise." Asshur was asked to put himself at their heivl, but " refused to go forth with them." f Their leader, who is unnamed, took the form of a dragon, and in that shape contended Avith the god Bel, who proved victorious in the combat, and slew his adversary by means of a thunderbolt, which he flung into the creature's open mouth. J Upon this, the entire host of the wicked angels took to flight, and was driven to the abode of the seven spirits of evil, where they were forced to remain, their return to heaven being prohibited. In their room man was created. The Chaldasan legend of creation, according to Berosus, was as follows : " In the beginning all was darkness and water, and therein were generated monstrous animals of strange and peculiar forms. There were men with two wings, and some even with four, and with two faces ; and others with two heads, a man's and a woman's, on one body ; and there were men with the heads and horns of goats, and men with * " Records of the Past," vol. v. pp. 103-160. t Ibid. vol. vii. pp. 127, 128. t Ibid. vol. ix. pp. 137-139. Ibid. vol. vii. p. 127. 56 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. hoofs like horses ; and some with the upper parts of a man joined to the lower parts of a horse, like centaurs; and' there were bulls with human heads, dogs with four bodies and with fishes' tails ; men and horses with dogs' heads ; creatures with the heads and bodies of horses, but with the tails of fish ; and other animals mixing the forms of various beasts. Moreover, there were monstrous fishes and reptiles and serpents, and divers other creatures, which had bor- rowed something from each other's shapes, of ail which the likenesses are still preserved in the temple of Belus. A woman ruled them all, by name Omorka, which is in Chaldee Thalath, and in* Greek Thalassa (or ' the sea 7 ). Then Belus appeared, and split the woman in twain ; and of the one half of her he made the heaven, and of the other half the earth ; and the beasts that were in her he caused to perish. And he split the darkness, and divided the heaven and the earth asunder, and put the world in order, and the animals that could not bear the light perished. Belus, upon this, seeing that the earth was desolate, yet teeming with productive powers, commanded one of the gods to cut off his head, and to mix the blood which flowed forth with earth, and form men therewith, and beasts that could bear the light. So man was made, and was intelli- gent, being a partaker of the Divine wisdom. Likewise Belus made the stars, and the sun and the moon, and the five planets." * The only native account which has been discovered in part resembles this, but in many respects is different. So far as at present deciphered, it runs thus : " When the upper region was not yet called heaven, and the lower region was not yet called earth, and the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms, then the chaos of waters gave birth to all ; and the waters were gathered into one place. Men dwelt not as yet together; no animals as yet wandered about ; nor as yet had the gods been born ; not as yet had their names been uttered, or their attributes [fixed] Then were born the gods Lnkhmu and Lakhamu ; they were born and grew up .... Asshur and Kissluu were born and lived through many days Ann (was born next). ***** Borosus ap. Euseb. "Chron. Can." i. 2; Syncell "Chrono- graphia," vol. i. p. 5:J. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 57 " He, (Anu ?) constructed dwellings for the great gods ; he fixed the constellations, whose figures were like animals. He made the year into portions ; he divided it ; twelve months he established, with their constellations, three by three. And from among the days of the year he appointed festivals ; he made dwellings for the planets, for their ris- ing and for their setting. And, that nothing should go wrong, nor come to a stand, he placed along with them the dwellings of Bel and Hea ; and he opened great gates on all sides, making strong the portals on the left and on the right. Moreover, in the centre he placed luminaries. The moon he set on high to circle through the night, and made it wander all the night until the dawning of the day. Each month without fail it brought together festal assemblies ; in the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night, shooting forth its horns to illuminate the heavens, and on the seventh day a holy day appointing, and commanding on that day a cessation from all business. And he (Anu) set the sun in his place in the horizon of heaven."* The following is the Chaldsean account of the Deluge, as rendered from the original by the late Mr. George Smith : f " Hea spake to me and said : ' Son of Ubaratutu, make a ship after this fashion .... for I destroy the sinners and life .... and cause to enter in all the seed of life, that thou mayst preserve them. The ship which thou shalt make, .... cubits shall be the measure of the length thereof, and .... cubits the measure of the breadth and height thereof ; and into the deep thou shalt launch it.' I understood, and said to Hea, my Lord ' Hea, my Lord, this which Thou commandest me, I will perform : [though I be derided] both by young and old, it shall be done.' Hea opened his mouth, and spake ' This shalt thou say to them .... (hiatus of six lines) .... and enter thou into the ship, and shut to the door ; and bring into the midst of it thy grain, and thy furniture, and thy goods, thy wealth, thy servants, thy female slaves and thy young Mien. And * " Records of the Past," vol. ix. pp. 117-11& t Mr. Smith's paper, read on Dec. 3. 1872, was first published in the " Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," in 1874. It was afterward revised, and republished in the " Records of the Past," vol. xii. pp. 135-141. The translation is taken mainly from this second version. f>8 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. I will gather to thee the beasts of the field, and tha animals, and I will bring them to thee; and they shall be en- closed within thy door.' Hasisadra his mouth opened and spake, and said to Hea, his Lord ' There was not upon the earth a man who could make the ship .... strong [planks] I brought .... on the fifth day .... in its circuit fourteen measures [it measured] ; in its sides four- teen measures it measured .... and upon it I placed its roof and closed [the door]. On the sixth day I embarked in it : on the seventh I examined it without : on the eighth I examined it within ; plants against the influx of the waters I placed : where I saw rents and holes, I added what was required. Three measures of bitumen I poured over the outside : three measures of bitumen I poured over the inside .... (five lines obscure and mutilated) Wine in receptacles I collected, like the waters of a river; also [food], like the dust of the earth, I collected in boxes [and stored up.] And Shamas the material of the ship completed [and made it] strong. And the reed oars of the ship I caused them to bring [and place] above and below. .... All I possessed of silver, all I possessed of gold, all I possessed of the seed of life, I caused to ascend into the ship. All my male servants, all my female servants, all the beasts of the field, all the animals, all the sons of the people, I caused to go up. A flood Shamas made, and thus he spake in the night: 'I will cause it to rain from heaven heavi!>. Enter into the midst of the ship, and shut thy door.' *' The command of Shamas is obeyed, and then " The raging of a storm in the morning arose, from the horizon of heaven extending far and wide. Vul in the midst of it thundered : Nebo and Saru went in front : the throne- bearers sped over mountains and plains : the destroyer, Nergal, overturned : Ninip went in front and cast down : the spirits spread abroad destruction : in their fury they swept the earth : the flood of Vul reached to heaven. The bright earth to a waste was turned : the storm o'er its sur- face swept : from the face of the earth was life destroyed : the strong flood that had whelmed mankind reached to heaven : brother saw not brother ; the flood did not spare tho people. Even in heaven the gods feared the tempest, and sought refuge in the abode of Ami. Like dogs the gods crouched down, and cowered together. Spake Jshtar, THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 59 like n child uttered the great goddess her speech : " When the world to coiTiiption turned, then I in the presence of the gods prophesied evil. When I in the presence of the gods prophesied evil, then to evil were devoted all my chil- dren, I, the mother, have given birth to my people, and lo ! now like the young of fishes they fill the sea.' The gods were weeping for the spirits with her ; the gods in their seats were sitting in lamentation ; covered were their lips on account of the coming evil. Six days and nights passed ; the wind, the flood, the storm overwhelmed. On the seventh day, in its course was calmed the storm ; and all the tempest, which had destroyed like an earthquake, was quieted. The flood lie caused to dry ; the wind and the deluge ended. I beheld the tossing of the sea, and mankind all turned to corruption ; like reeds the corpses floated. I opened the window, and the light broke over my face. It passed. I sat down and wept ; over my face flowed my tears. I saw the shore at the edge of the sea ; for twelve measures the land rose. To the country of Nizir went the ship : the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship : to pass over it was not able. The first day and the second day the mountain of Nizir, the same ; the third day and the fourth day the mountain of Nizir, the same ; the fifth and sixth the mountain of Nizir, the same ; in the course of the seventh day I sent out a dove, and it left. The dove went to and fro, and a resting-place it did not find, and it returned. I sent forth a swallow, and it left ; the swallow went to and fro, and a resting-place it did not find, and it returned. I sent forth a raven, and it left ; the raven went, and the corpses on the waters it saw, and it did eat : it swam, and wandered away, and returned not. I sent the animals forth to the four winds : I poured out a libation : I built an altar on the peak of the mountain : seven jugs of wine I took ; at the bottom I placed reeds, pines, and spices. The gods collected to the burning : the gods collected to the good burning. Like sttnipe (?) over the sacrifice they gathered.' " One more example must conclude our specimens of the legends current among the Assyrians and Babylonians in ancient times. As the preceding passage in myth based upon history, the concluding one shall be taken from that portion of Assyrian lore which is purely and wholly imagi- 60 RELIGION OF ASSTEIANS AND BABYLONIANS. native. The descent of Ishtar to Hades, perhaps in search of Tammuz, is related as follows * : " To the land of Hades, the land of her desire, Ishtar, daughter of the Moon-god Sin, turned her mind. The daughter of Sin fixed her mind to go to the House where all meet, the dwelling of the god Iskalla, to the house which men enter, but cannot depart from the road which men travel, but never retrace the abode of darkness and of famine, where earth is their food, their nourishment clay where light is not seen, but in darkness they dwell where ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings, and on the door and the door-posts the dust lies undisturbed. " When Ishtar arrived at the gate of Hades, to the keeper of the gate a word she spake : " O keeper of the entrance, open thy gate ! Open thy gate, I say again, that" I may enter in ! If than openest not thy gate, if I do not enter in, I will assault the door, the gate I will break down, I will attack the entrance, I will split open the portals. I will raise the dead, to be the devourers of the living ! Upon the living the dead shall prey.' Then the porter opened his mouth and spake, and thus he said to great Ishtar : ' Stay, lady, do not shake down the door ; I will go and inform Queen Nin-ki-gal.' So the porter went in and to Nin-ki-gal said: 'These curses .thy sister Ishtar utters ; yea, she blasphemes thee with fearful curses.' And Nin-ki-gal, hearing the words, grew pale, like a flower when cut from the step ; like the stalk of a reed, she shook. And she said, * I will cure her rage I will speedily cure her fury. Her curses I will repay. Light up consuming flames ! Light up a blaze of straw ! Be her doom with the husbands who left their wives ; be her doom with the wives who forsook their lords ; be her doom with the youths of dishonored lives. Go, porter, and open the gate for her ; but strip her, as some have been stripped ere now.' The porter went and opened the gate. ' Lady of Tiggaba, en- ter,' he said : ' Enter. It is permitted. The Queen of Hades to meet thec comes.' So the first gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the great crown was taken from her head. * Keeper, do not take off from me the crown that is on my head.' ' Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the * The translation of Mr. Fox Talbot, as given in the " Transactions of th Society of Biblical Archaeology," vol. iii. pp. 110-124, and again In " Records of the Past," vol. i. pp. 14:*-140, is here followed. THE RELIGIONS OF TUE ANCIENT WORLD. 01 Land insists upon its removal.' The next gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the ear-rings were taken from her ears. ' Keeper, do not take off from me the ear- rings from my ears.' ' Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon their removal.' The third gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the precious stones were taken from her head. ' Keeper, do not take off from me the gems that adorn my head.' 'Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon their removal.' The fourth gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the small jewels were taken from her brow. * Keeper, do not take off from me the small jewels that deck my brow.' ' Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon their removal.' The fifth gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the girdle was taken from her waist. ' Keeper, do not take off from me the girdle that girds my waist.' * Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon its removal.' The sixth gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the gold rings were taken from her hands and feet. ' Keeper, do not take off from me the gold rings of my hands and feet.' * Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon their removal.' The seventh gate let her in, but she was stopped, and there the last garment was taken from her body. * Keeper, do not take off, I pray, the last garment from my body.' 'Excuse it, lacTy, the Queen of the Land insists upon its removal.' "After that Mother Ishtar had descended into Hades, Nin-ki-gal saw and derided her to her face. Then Ishtar lost her reason, and heaped curses upon the other. Nin-ki- gal hereupon opened her mouth, and spake : ' Go, Namtar, . . . . and bring her out for punishment, . . . afflict her with disease of the eye, the side, the feet, the heart, the head' (some lines effaced) .... " The Divine messenger of the gods lacerated his face before them. The assembly of the gods was full. . . . The Sun came, along with the Moon, his father, and weeping he spake thus unto Ilea, the king : ' Ishtar has descended into the earth, and has not risen again ; and ever since the time that Mother Ishtar descended into hell, the master has ceased from commanding ; the slave has ceased from obeying.' Then the god Hea in the depth of his mind formed a design ; he modeled, for her escape, the figure of a man of clay. ' Go to save her, Phantom, present thy- 62 RELIGION OF ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. self at the portal of Hades ; the seven gates of Hades will all open before thee ; Nm-ki-gal will see thee, and take pleasure because of thee. When her mind has grown calm, and her anger has worn itself away, awe her with the names of the great gods ! Then prepare thy frauds ! Fix on deceitful tricks thy mind ! Use the chiefest of thy tricks ! Bring forth fish out of an empty vessel ! That will astonish Nin-ki-gal, and to Ishtar she will restore her clothing. The reward a great reward for these things shall not fail. Go, Phantom, save her, and the great as- sembly of the people shall crown thee ! Meats, the best in the city, shall be thy food ! Wine, the most delicious in the city, shall be thy drink ! A royal palace shall be thy dwelling, a throne of state shall be thy seat ! Magi- cian and conjuror shall kiss the hem of thy garment ! ' " Nin-ki-gal opened her mouth and spake ; to her messenger, Namtnr, commands she gave : ' Go, Namtar, the Temple of Justice adorn ! Deck the images ! Deck the altars ! Bring out Anunnak, and let him take his seat on a throne of gold ! Pour out for Ishtar the water of life ; from my realms let her depart.' Namtar obeyed ; he adorned the Temple; decked the images, decked the altars; brought out Anunnak, and let him take his seat on a throne of gold; poured out for Ishtar the water of life, and suffered her to depart. Then the first gate let her out, and gave her back the garment of her form. The next gate let her out, and gave her back the jewels for her hands and feet. The third gate let her out, and gave her back the girdle for her waist. The fourth gate let her out, and gave her back the small gems she had worn upon her brow. The fifth gate let her out, and gave her back the precious stones that had been upon her head. The sixth gate let her out, and gave her back the ear-rings that were taken from her ears. And the seventh gate let her out, and gave her back the crown she had carried on her head." So ends this curious legend, and with it the limits of our space require that we should terminate this notice of the religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 63 CHAPTER III. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. 'A/^ff-oreAtff J]al 6vo rear' aiiTovz elrat ap^ag, ayadbv 6ai/J,ova /cat Hanoi ialfiova. DioG. Laert. Proem, p. 2. THE Iranians were in ancient times the dominant race throughout the entire tract lying between the Suliman mountains and the Pamir steppe on the one hand, and the great Mesopotamia!! valley on the other. Intermixed in portions of the tract with a Cushite or Nigritic, and in others with a Turanian element, they possessed, neverthe- less, upon the whole, a decided preponderance ; and the tract itself has been known as " Ariana," or "Iran," at any rate from the time of Alexander the Great to the present day ! * The region is one in which extremes are brought into sharp contrast, and forced on human observation, the summers being intensely hot, and the winters piercingly cold, the more favored portions luxuriantly fertile, the re- mainder an arid and frightful desert. If, as seems to be now generally thought by the best informed and deepest investigators,! the light of primeval relation very early faded away in Asia, and religions there were in the main elaborated out of the working upon the circumstances of his environment, of that " religious faculty " wherewith God had endowed mankind, we might expect that in this peculiar region a peculiar religion should develop itself a religion of strong antitheses and sharp contrasts, unlike that of such homogeneous tracts as the Nile valley and the Mesopotamian plain, where climate was almest uniform, * Strabo, who is the earliest of extant writers to'use " Ariana " In this broad sense, probably obtained the terra from the contempo- raries of Alexander. It was certainly used by Appollodvrus of Artemitafab. B.C. 130). t See Max Miiller, " Introduction to the Science of Religion," Lecture I. pp. 40, 41. 64 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. and a monotonous fertility spread around universal abun dance. The fact answers to our natural anticipation. At a time which it is difficult to date, but which those best skilled in Iranian antiquities are inclined to place before the birth of Moses,* there grew up, in the region whereof we are speaking, a form of religion marked by very special and unusual features, very unlike the religions of Egypt and Assyria, a thing quite sui generis, one very worthy of the attention of those who are interested in the past history of the human race, and more especially of such as wish to study the history of religions. Ancient tradition associates this religion with the name of Zoroaster. Zoroaster, or Zarathrustra, according to the native spelling, f was, by one account, J a Median king who conquered Babylon about B. c. 2458. By anothei-, which is more probable, and which rests, moreover, on better authority, he was a Bactrian, who, at a date not quite so remote, came forward in' the broad plain of the middle Oxus to instil into the minds of his countrymen the doctrines and precepts of a new religion. Claiming divine inspiration, and professing to hold from time to time direct conversation with the Supreme Being, he delivered his revelations in a mythical form, and obtained their general acceptance as divine by the Bactrian people. His religion gradually spread from "happy Bactra," " Bactra of the lofty banner," || first to the neighboring countries, and then to all the numerous tribes of the Iranians, until at last it became the established religion of the mighty empire of Persia, which, in the middle of the sixth century before our era, established itself on the ruin* of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms, and shortly afterwards overran and subdued the ancient monarchy of the Pharaohs. In Persia it maintained its ground, despite the shocks of Grecian and Parthian conquest, until Mohammedan intolerance drove it out at the point of the sword, and forced it to seek a refuge further east, in the peninsula of Hindustan. Here it still continues, in Guzerat and in Bombay, the creed of * Haug, " Essays on the Religion, etc., of the Parsees," p. 255. t See " Zendavesta," passim. | Berosus ap. Syncell " Olironographia," p. 147. Hermipp. ap. Amob. " Adv. (Jentes," i. 52; Justin, i. 1; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6; Mosrs Choreii. " Hist. Arinen." i. 5. li " Vondidad," Furg. ii. s. 7. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 65 that ingenious and intelligent people known to Anglo* Indians and may we not say to Englishmen generally ? as Parsees. The religion of the Parsees is contained in a volume of some size, which has received the name of "the Zenda- vesta." * Subjected for the last fifty years to the searching analysis of first-rate orientalists Burnouf, Westergaard, Brockhaus, Spiegel, Haug, Windischmann, Htibschmann this work has been found to belong iu its various parts to very different dates, and to admit of being so dissected f as to reveal to us, not only what are the tenets of the modern Parsees, but what was the earliest form of that religion whereof theirs is the remote and degenerate descendant. Signs of a great antiquity are found to attach to the lan- guage of certain rhythmical compositions, called Gathas or hymns ; and the religious ideas contained in these are found to be at once harmonious, and also of a simpler and more primitive character than those contained in the rest of the volume. From the Gathas chiefly, but also to some extent from other, apparently very ancient, portions of the Zenda- vesta, the characteristics of the early Iranian religion have been drawn out by various scholars, particularly by Dr. Mar- tin Haug ; and it is from the labors of these writers, in the main, that we shall be content to draw our picture of the religion in question. The most striking feature of the religion, and that which is generally allowed to be its leading characteristic, is the assertion of Dualism. By Dualism we mean the belief in two original uncreated principles, a principle of good and a principle of evil. This creed was not perhaps contained in the teaching of Zoroaster himself, t but it was developed at so early a date out of that teaching, that in treating * Anquetil Duperron introduced the sacred book of the Parsees to the knowledge of Europeans under this name; and the word thus introduced can scarcely be HOW displaced. Othersvise " Avesta-Zend " might be recommended as the more proper title. ki Avesta" means "text," and "Zend"' means ''comment." "Avestau Zend," or " Text and Comment " is the proper title, which is then contracted into " Avesta-Zend." t Haug, "Essays," pp. 136-1:38; Max Miiller, "Introduction to the Science of Religion," pp. 20-29. t See the Author's " Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii. pp. 51. The Second Fargard of the "Vendidad," which from internal evidence may be pronounced earlier than B. c. 800, is as strongly Dualistic as any other portion of the volume. 66 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. generally of the Iranian religion we must necessarily regard Dualism as a part of it. The Iranians of historic times held that from all eternity there had existed two mighty and rival beings, the authors of all other existences, who had been engaged in a perpetual contest, each seeking to injure, baffle, and in every way annoy and thwart the other. Both principles were real persons, possessed of will, intelligence, power, consciousness, and other personal qualities. To the one they gave the name of Ahura-Mazda, to the other that of Angro-Mainyus. Here let us pause for a moment, and consider the import of these two names. Names of deities, as Professor Max Miiller has well pointed out,* are among the most interest- ing of studies ; and a proper understanding of their mean- ing throws frequently very considerable lighten the nature and character of a religion. Now, Ahura-Mazda is a word composed of three elements : " Ahura," " maz," " da." The first of these is properly an adjective, signifying, " living ;" it corresponds to " asura " in Sanskrit, and like that passes from an adjectival to a substantival force, and is used for "living being," especially for living beings superior to man. Perhaps it may be best expressed in English by the word " spirit," only that \ve must not regard absolute immateri- ality as implied in it. " Maz " is cognate to the " maj " in major, and the "mag" or " meg " in " magnus " and /^/f ; it is an intensitive, and means "much." "Da " or "dao" is a word of a double meaning ; it is a participle, or verbal adjective, and signifies either " giving " or " knowing," being connected with the Latin "do," "dare" (Greek 8.">. t " Vendidad." Farg. 8-11, and 16, 17. t " Yasna." xxxiii. :. Herod, i. 130. !l 4i Yasna," xxxv. .**. U Sir H Rawlinson, " Cuneiform Inscriptions," vol. i. pp.200, 944, 245, etc-. 74 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. basest, the most contemptible, and the most pernicious of vices. If it be asked what opinions were entertained by the Zoro- astrians concerning man's ultimate destiny, the answer would seem to be, that they were devout and earnest believers in the immortality of the soul, and a conscious future existence. It was taught that immediately after death the souls of men, both good and bad, proceeded together along an ap- pointed path to the " bridge of the gatherer." There was a narrow road conducting to heaven, or paradise, over which the souls of the good alone could pass, while the wicked fell from it into the gulf below, where they found them- selves in the place of punishment. The pious soul was as- sisted across the bridge by the angel Serosh, " the happy, well-formed, swift, tall, Serosh," who went out to meet the weary wayfarer, and sustained his steps as he effected the difficult passage. The prayers of his friends in this world much availed the deceased, and helped him forward greatly on his journey. As he entered the angel Vohu-mano rose from his throne, and greeted him with the words " How happy art thou, who hast come here to us, exchanging mortality for Immortality! " Then the good soul went joy- fully onward to the golden throne, to paradise. As for the wicked, when they fell into the gulf, they found themselves in outer darkness, in the kingdom of Angro-Mainyus, where they were forced to remain in a sad and wretched con- dition.* It has been maintained by some that the early Iranians also held the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, f Such a doctrine is certainly contained in the more recent portions of the Zendavesta ; and it is argued that there are expressions in the more ancient parts of that work which imply it, if they do not actually assert it. But a careful examination of the passages adduced makes it evident, that no more is in reality asserted in them than the continued existence of the soul ; and Spiegel comes to the conclusion that, even so late as the time when the " Vendidad " was written, " the resurrection of the body was not yet known to the Parsees," J or Persians. The original religion of the Iranians was Dualism of a * "Vendidad," xix. :}0-.>2; Hang, " Essays," p. 166. t Hang, "Essays." p. 2tM$. J Spiegel, " A vesta." vol. ii. p. 248, 249. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 75 very pronounced type, assigning, as it did, to Angro-Mainyus complete independence of Ahura-Mazda, and equal eternity ivith him, with almost equal power. It verged upon poly- theism by the very important position which it assigned to certain of the ahuras or angels, whom it coupled with the Principle of Good in a way which derogated from his supreme and unrivalled dignity.* In its morality it main- tained a high tone ; but it imposed on its followers a bur- densome yoke of ceremonial observances. It taught a future life, with happiness for the good and misery for the wicked ; but unfortunately inclined to identify goodness with orthodoxy, and wickedness with a rejection of the doctrine of Zoroaster. It may help the reader to understand the inner spirit of the religion, if we give one or two specimens of the hymns which constituted so important a part of the Zoroastrian worship. The following is one of the Gathas, and is by some assigned to Zoroaster himself f : " Now will I speak and proclaim to all who have come to listen Thy praise, Ahura-Mazda, and thine, O Vohu-mano. Asha! I ask that thy grace may appear in the lights of heaven. Hear with your ears what is best, perceive with your minds what is purest. So that each man for himself may, hefore the great doom cometh, Choose the creed he prefers. May the wise ones be on our side. These two Spirits are twins; they made known in times that are bygone That good and evil, in thought, and word, and action. Rightly decided between them the good; not so the evil. When these Two came together, first of all they created Life and death, that at last there might be for such as are evil Wretchedness, but for the good a happy blest existence. Of these Two the One who was evil chose what was evil; He who was kind and good, whose robe was the changeless Heaven, Chose what was right; those, too, whose works pleased Almra* Mazda. * Pusey, " Lectures on Daniel," p. 535, note 9. t Hiibschtnann, "Ein Zoroastrisches Lie d. mil Riicksicht auf die Tradition, ubersetzt und erklart." Miinchen, 1872. Compare Max Miiller, "Lectures on the Science of Religion," pp. 237-239. 76 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. They could not rightly discern who erred and worshipped the Ijevas : They the Bad Spirit chose, and, having held counsel together. Turned to Rapine, that so they might make man's life an affliction. But to the good came might; and with might came wisdom and viitue; Annaiti herself, the Eternal, gave to their bodies Vigor; e'en thou wert enriched by the gifts that she scattered, O Mazda. Mazda, the time will come when the crimes of the bad shall be punished; Then shall thy power be displayed in fitly rewarding the right- eous Them that have bound and delivered up falsehood to Asha the Truth-God. Let us then be of those who advance this world and improve it, O Ahura-Mazda, O Truth-God bliss conferring! Let our minds be ever there where wisdom abideth! Then indeed shall be seen the fall of pernicious falsehood; But in the house where dwell Vohu-mano, Mazda, and Asha Beautiful house shall be gathered forever such as are worthy. O men, if you but cling to the precepts Mazda has given, Precepts, which to the bad are a torment, but joy to the righteous, Then shall you one day find yourselves victorious through them." Our other specimen is taken from the " Yasna," or "Book on Sacrifice." and is probably some centuries later than the great bulk of the Gdthas* : " We worship Ahura-Madza, the pure, the master of purity: We worship the Amesha-Spehtas, possessors and givers of bless- ings: We worship the whole creation of Him who is True, the heavenly. With the terrestrial, all that supports the good creation. All that favors the spread of the good Mazd-Yasnat religion. "\Ve praise whatever is good in thought, in word, or in action, Pastor future; we also keep clean whatever is excellent. O Ahura-mazda, thou true and happy being! Haug, " Essays," pp. 162, 163. t " Mazd-yasna" means " Ahura-mazda worshipping." Mazdisn was used commonly to designate the orthodox, under the Sassanians, THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 77 We strive both to think, and to speak, and to do whatever is fittest Both our lives * to preserve, and bring them both to perfection. Holy Spirit of Earth, for our best works't sake, we entreat thee, Grant us beautiful fertile fields aye, grant them to all men, Believers and unbelievers, the wealthy and those that have nothing." The religion of the early Iranians became corrupted after a time by an admixture of foreign superstitions. The fol- lowers of Zoroaster, as they spread themselves from their original seat upon the Oxus over the regions lying south FIRE ALTARS. and south-west of the Caspian Sea, were brought into con tact with a form of faith considerably different from that to which they had previously been attacked, yet well adapted for blending with it. This was Magism, or the worship of the elements. The early inhabitants of Armenia, Cappadocia, and the Zagros mountain-range, had, under circumstances that are unknown to us, developed this form * The two lives are "the life of the soul " and " the life of the body" (Hang, "Essays," i. s. c.). t . e. "our agricultural labors " (ibid.). 78 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. of religion, and had associated with its tenets, a priest-caste claiming prophetic powers, and a highly sacerdotal character. The essentials of the religion were these : the four ele- ments, fire, air, earth, and water, were recognized as the only proper objects of human reverence. Personal gods, and together with them temples, shrines, and images, were rejected. The devotion of the worshippers was paid, not to any powers presiding over the constituent parts of nature, but to those constituent parts themselves. Fire, as the most subtle and ethereal principle, and again as the most powerful agent, attracted especial regard ; and on the fire- altars of the Magians the sacred flame, generally regarded as kindled from heaven, was kept uninterruptedly burning from year to year, and from age to age, by bands of priests, whose special duty it was to see that the sacred spark was never extinguished. To defile the altar by blowing the flame with one's breath was a capital offence, and to burn a corpse was regarded as equally odious. When victims were offered, nothing but a small portion of the fat was consumed in the flames. Next to fire, water was reverenced. Sacrifice was offered to rivers, lakes, and fountains, the victim being brought near to them and then slain, while the utmost care was taken that no drop of their blood should touch the water and pollute it. No refuse was allowed to be cast into a river, nor was it even lawful to wash one's hands in one. Reverence for earth was shown by sacrifice and by abstention from the usual mode of burying the dead. * The Magian priest-caste held an exalted position. No worshipper could perform any rite of the religion unless by the intervention of a priest, who stood between him and the Deity as a mediator, f The Magus prepared the victim and slew it, chanted the mystic strain which gave the sacri- fice all its force, poured on the ground the propitiatory libation of oil, milk, and honey, and held the bundle of thin tamarisk twigs, the barsom (baresma) of the later Zend books, the employment of which was essential to every sacrificial ceremony. \ Claiming supernatural powers, they explained omens, expounded dreams, and by means of a certain mysterious manipulation of the barsom, or bundle * The chief authorities for this description are Herodotus (1. 132), Straho (xv. :}, 18, 14), and Agathias (ii. 24). t Herod. J. s. c. ; Amm. Marc, xxiil. 6. t Strabo, 1. s. c. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 79 of tamarisk-twigs, t arrived at a knowledge of future events, which they would sometimes condescend to communicate to the pious inquirer. With such pretensions it was natural that the caste MAGI AN PRIEST. should assume a lofty air, a stately dress, and an environ, merit of ceremonial magnificence. Clad in white robes, and bearing upon their heads tall felt caps, with long lap- pets at the sides, which (we are told ) concealed the jaw and even the lips, each with his barsom in his hand, they marched in procession to the fire-altars, and standing round them performed for an hour at a time their magical incan- tations. The credulous multitude, impressed by sights of this kind, and imposed on by the claims to supernatural Dino, Fr. 8; Schol. ad. Xic. Ther. 613. t Strabo, xv. 3, 15; Diog. Laert. "Proem." 80 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. powers which the Magi put forward, paid them a willing homage ; the kings and chiefs consulted them ; and when the Iranians, pressing westward, came into contact with the races professing the Magi an religion, they found the Magian priest-caste all-powerful in most of the western nations. Originally Zoroastrianism had been intolerant and ex- clusive. Its first professors had looked with averson and con- tempt on the creed of their Indian brethren ; they had been fierce opponents of idolatry, and absolutely hostile to every form of religion except that which they had themselves work- ed out. But with the lapse of time these feelings had grown weaker. The old religious fervor had abated. An impressible and imitative spirit had developed itself. When the Zoroas- trians came into contact with Magism, it impressed them favorably. There was no contradiction between its main tenets and those of their old religion; they were com- patible, and might readily be held together; and the result was, that, without giving up any part of their previous creed, the Iranians adopted and added on to it all the prin- cipal points of the Magian belief, and all the more remark- able of the Magian religious usages. This religious fusion seems first to have taken place in Media. The Magi be- came a Median tribe,* and were adopted as the priest-caste of the Median nation. Elemental worship, divination by means of the barsom, dream-expounding, incantations at the fire-altars, sacrifices whereat a Magus officiated, were added on to the old dualism and qualified worship of the Amesha- Spentas, of Mithra, and of the other ahuras; and a mixed or mongrel religion was thus formed, which long struggled with, and ultimately prevailed over, pure Zoroastrianism.f The Persians after a time came into this belief, accepted the Magi for their priests, and attended the ceremonies at the fire-altars. The adoption of elemental worship into the Iranian system produced a curious practice with regard to dead bodies. It became unlawful to burn them, since that would be a pollution of fire; or to bury them, thereby polluting enrth ; or to throw them into a river, thereby polluting * Herod, i. 101. t See Westergaard's " Introduction to the Zendavesta," p. 17; and compare the Author's " Essay on the Religion of the Ancient Persians" in his " Herodotus," vol. i. pp. 414-419, 3rd edition. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 81 water; or even to place them in a sepulchral chamber, or a sarcophagus, since that would cause a pollution of air. What, then, was to be clone with them? In what way were they to be disposed of ? Some races of men, probably moved by these scruples, adopted the practice, which they regarded as eminently pious, of killing those who, they suspected, were about to die, and then eating them.* But the Iranians had reached that stage of civilization when cannibalism is held to be disgust- ing. Disinclined to devour their dead themselves, they hit on an expedient which, without requiring them to do what they so much disliked, had the same result transferred, that is, the bodies of their departed friends into those of other living organisms, and so avoided the pollution of any element by their decaying remains. Immediately after death they removed the bodies to a solitary place, and left them to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey, crows, ravens, vultures, wolves, jackals, and foxes. This was the orthodox practice, f was employed by the Magi themselves in the case of their own dead, and was earnestly recom- mended to others ; but as it was found that, despite all exhortations, there were some whose prejudices would not allow them to adopt this method, another had to be devised and allowed, though not recommended. This was the coating of the dead body with wax previously to its deposi- tion in the ground. || Direct contact between the corpse and the earth being in this way prevented, pollution was supposed to be avoided. The mixed religion thus constituted, though less elevated and less pure than the original Zoroastrian creed, must be pronounced to have possessed a certain loftiness and pic- turesqueness which suited it to become the religion of a great and splendid monarchy. The mysterious fire-altars upon the mountain-tops, with their prestige of a remote antiquity the ever-burning flame believed to have been kindled from on high the worship in the open air under the blue canopy of heaven the long troops of Magians in their white robes, with their strange caps, and their mystic vands the frequent prayers, the abundant sacrifices, the Herod, i. 216; iit. 99. t Strabo, xv. 3, 20. Compare Herod. 1. 140. J " Vendidad," Farg. v. to viii. Herod. 1. s. c. ; Strabo, 1. s. c. 82 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. low incantations the supposed prophetic powers of the priest-caste all this together constituted an imposing whole at once to the eye and to the mind, and was calcu- lated to give additional grandeur to the civil system that ehould be allied with it. Pure Zoroastrianism was too spiritual to coalesce readily with Oriental luxury and mag- nificence, or to lend strength to a government based on the principles of Asiatic despotism. Magism furnished a hierarchy to support the throne and add splendor and dig- nity to the court while it overawed the subject class by its supposed possession of supernatural powers and of the right of mediating between man and God. It supplied a picturesque worship, which at once gratified the senses and excited the fancy. It gave scope to man's passion for the marvellous by its incantations, its divining-rods, its omen- reading, and its dream-expounding. It gratified the relig- ious scrupulosity which finds a pleasure in making to itself difficulties, by the disallowance of a thousand natural acts, and the imposition of numberless rules for external purity. At the same time it gave no offence to the anti-idolatrous spirit in which the Iranians had always gloried, but upheld and encouraged the iconoclasm which they had previously practiced. It thus blended easily with the previous creed of the Iranian people, and produced an amalgam that has shown a surprising vitality, having lasted above two thou- sand years from the time of Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspis (u. c. 485-465) to the present day. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 83 CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGION' OF THE EARLY SAXSKRITIC IXDIAXS. ** Le panthe'isnie naturaliste et le polytheisme, sa consqe'uence inevitable, s'etaient graduellement iutrocluits dans les cioyances des Aryas." LEXORMANT, Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne, vol. iii. p. 309. THE religion of the early Indians, like that of the Egyptians, and like that of Assyrians and Babylonians, was an extensive polytheism, but a polytheism of a very peculiar character. There lay behind it, at its first formation, no conscious monotheism, no conception of a single supreme power, from whom man and nature, and all the forces in nature, have their origin. If we hold, as I believe we do right to hold, that God revealed Himself to the first parents of the human race as a single personal being, and so that all races of men had at the first this idea as an inheritance handed down to them traditionally from their ancestors, yet it would seem certain that in India, before the religion which we find in the Vedas arose, this belief had completely faded away and disappeared ; the notion of " God " had passed into the notion of "gods;" a real polytheism uni- versally prevailed, even with the highest class of intellects ;* and when, in the course of time, monotheistic ideas showed themselves, they sprang up in individual minds as the re- sults of individual specufation,t and were uttered tentatively, not as doctrines, but as hypotheses, as timid " guesses at truth," on the part of those" who confessed that they knew little or nothing. If it be asked how this forgetfulness came about, how the idea of one God, once possessed, could ever be lost, See Max Miiller, "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," pp. 528, 52ft t/&id.p. 559. 84 SELIGIOX OF THE EAliLY SANSKUITIC INDIANS. perhaps we may find an answer in that fact to which the traditions of the race and some of their peculiar expres- sions * point back, that for many centuries they had been located in one of the crudest regions of the earth, a region with " ten months of winter and two months of summer," f where the struggle for existence must have been terrible indeed, and all their energies, all their time, all their thought, must have been spent on the satisfaction of those physical needs for which provision must be made before man can occupy himself with the riddle of the universe. At any rate, however we may account for it, or whether we can account for it or no, the fact remains ; somehow or other the Sanskritic Indians had ceased to " retain God in their knowledge ; " t they were for a time " without God in the world," they had lost the senses of His " eternal power and Godhead ; " they were in the condition that men would be in who should be veritable " children of the soil," springing into life without inheritance of ancestral notions. But there was one thing which they could not be with- out. God has implanted in all men a religious faculty, a religious instinct, which is an essential portion of their nature and among the faculties which most distinguish man from the brutes. No sooner was the tension produced by the severe character of their surroundings relaxed no sooner did the plains of the Punjab receive the previous dwellers in the Hindu Rush than this instinct asserted it- self, perceived that there was something divine in the world, and proceeded to the manufacture of deities. Nature seemed to the Hindoo not to be one, but many ; and all nature seemed to be wonderful and, so, divine. The sky, the air, the dawn, the sun, the earth, the moon, the wind, the storms, fire, the waters, the rivers, attracted his atten- tion, charmed him, sometimes terrified him, seemed to him instinct with power and life, became to him objects of admiration and then of worship. At first, it would appear, * As the expression, " a hundred winters," used for a hundred years. (See H II. Wilson's " Introduction to the Rig- Veda," vol. i. p. xlii.) t See the description of " Aryanem vaejo " the old home of the Aryans in the Frst Fargard of the " Vendidad " (" Ancient Monar- chies," vol. ii. p. 119). J Romans i. 28. Ibid., i. 20. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 8!i the objects themselves were adored ; but the objects re. ceived names ; the names were, by the laws of Indian grammar, masculine or feminine ; and the named objects thus passed into persons, * the nomina became numina, beings quite distinct from the objects themselves, presiding over them, directing them, ruling them, but having a sepa- rate and another kind of existence. And now the polytheism, already sufficiently extensive through the multiplicity of things natural, took a fresh start. The names, having become persons, tended to float away from the objects ; and the objects received fresh names, which in their turn were exalted into gods, and so swelled the pantheon. When first the idea of counting the gods presented itself to the mind of a Vedic poet, and he subjected them to a formal census, he found them to amount to no more than thirty-three. f But in course of time this small band swelled into a multitude, and Visvamitra, a somewhat late poet, states the number at 3,3394 One of the features most clearly pronounced in the Vedic polytheism is that which has been already noticed as obtaining to a considerable extent both in the Egyptian and Assyrian religions, the feature which has been called " Kathenotheism " or " Henotheism." A Vedic wor- shipper, for the most part, when he turned his regards towards any individual deity, forgot for the time being that there was any other, and addressed the immediate object of his adoration in terms of as absolute devotion as if he were the sole God whom he recognized, the one and only Divine Being in the entire universe. "In the first hymn of the second Mandala, the god Agni is called 'the ruler of the universe,' ' the lord of men,' ' the wise king, the father, the brother, the son, the friend of man ; ' nay, all the powers and names of the other gods are distinctly assigned to Agni." || Similarly, in another hymn, Varuna is " ' the wise god,' the ' lord of all,' 'the lord of heaven and earth,' ' the * Max MUllcr, "Lectures on the Science of Religion," pp. 54-56. t Rig-Veda, viii. 30. (See Max Miiller's "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 531.) } " Rig-Veda Sauhita" ( translation of H. H. Wilson), vol.iii. p. 7. See above pp. 40 and 56. H Max Miiller, "Chips from a German Workshop," voL i. p. 28: "Science of Religion," p. 141. T " Chips," 1. s. c. 86 RELIGION OF THE EARLY SANSKRIT1C INDIANS. upholder of order,' ' he who gives to men glory.' * It is the same with Indra he is ' the ruler of all that moves,' the ' mighty one,' ' he to whom there is none like in heaven or earth : ' " t " the gods," it is said, " do not reach thee, Indra, nor men ; thou overcomest all creatures in strength." The best authority tells us that " it would be easy to find, in the numerous hymns of the Veda, passages in which almost every important deity is represented as supreme and absolute."^ At the same time there is no rivalry, no com- parison of one god with another, no conflict of opinion between the votaries of different deities ; each is supreme and absolute in hi turn, simply because " all the rest dis- appear for a moment from the vision of the poet, and he only who is to fulfil their desires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers." Among the various deities thus, in a certain sense, equalized, there are three who may be said to occupy, if not the chief, at any rate the oldest place, since their names have passed out of the sphere of mere appellative, and have become proper names, the designations of distinct persons. These are Varuna, Mitra, and Indra originally, the Sky, the Sun, and the Storrn (or, perhaps, the Day) but, in the Vedic hymns, only slightly connected with any particular aspects of nature, and not marked off by any strong differences the one from the other. Indra, indeed, is the main object of adoration ; more than one-third of the hymns in the earlier part of the Rig-Veda are addressed to him. || He is "the sovereign of the world," "the all-wise," " the abode of truth," " the lord of the good," " the anima- tor of all," " the showerer of benefits," " the fulfiller of the desire of him who offers praise ; " H" and, with more or less of reference to his original character, " the sender of rain," "the giver of food," "the lord of opulence," and "the wielder of the thunderbolt." ** Varuna is more sparingly * " Ancient Sanskrit Literature." pp. 536, 537. t Ibid. p. 540. J " Chips from a German Workshop," p. 28. Ibid. ll Forty-five in the first Astaka, out of 121; 39 in the second, out of 118; 48 in the third, out of 121 ; and 40 in fourth, out of 140 alto- gether 178 out of 502. (See the " Introduction " of Prof. H. H. Wil- son to his " Translation of the Rig- Veda Sanhita.") t Rig- Veda, vol. ii. pp. 30, 145, 283; vol. iii. pp. 157, 159, and 10ft ** Ibid. vol. ii. p. 283; vol iii. pp. 157 and 100. THK RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 87 addressed ; but, when addressed, is put quite upon a par with Indra, joined with him in such phrases as "sovereign Indra and Varuna," " Indra and Varuna, sovereign rulers," " divine Indra and Varuna," " mighty Indra and Varuna,"* etc., and entreated to afford the worshipper, equally with Indra, protection, long life, riches, sons and grandsons, happiness. Mitra is the usual companion of Varuna, shar- ing with him in the fifth Mandala eleven consecutive hymns,f and elsewhere joined with him frequently ;$ they are " observers of truth," " imperial rulers of the world," u lords of heaven and truth," " protectors of the universe," " mighty deities," " far-seeing," " excelling in radiance ; " they " uphold the three realms of light," " scatter foes," " guide men in the right way," " send rain from heaven," " grant men their desires," || "procure for them exceeding and perfect felicity."1T They ride together in one chariot, which " shines in the firmament like lightning ; "** they sustain the sun in his course, and conjointly cause the rain to fall; they are "possessed of irresistible strength,"!! ind uphold the celestial and terrestrial worlds."!! It can scarcely be doubted that Mitra was once the sun, as Mithra always was in Persia ; but in the hymns of the Rig-Veda he has passed out of that subordinate position, and has become a god who sustains the sun, and who has a general power over the elements. His place as the actual sun-god has been taken by another and distinct deity, of whom more will be said presently. Next to these three gods, whose character is rather general than special, must be placed Agni the Latin ignis who was distinctly the god of fire. Fire presented itself to the early Indians under a twofold aspect ; || || first, as it exists on earth, on the hearth, on the altar, and in the con- * " Rig Veda," vol. \. p. 40; vol. ill. pp. 63, 201, 203, etc. t Ibid. vol. ill. pp. 347-357. J As in vol. i. pp. 7, 117, and 230; vol. ii. pp. 3-6, 5:3-55, 59. etc. Wilson's " Introduction," vol. iii. pp. 349-354. II Wilson's " Introduction," vyl. iii. pp. 354-356. If Ibid. p. 349. * Ibid. p. 348. tt Ibid. pp. 353, 354. . tt Ibid. p. 356. See the Author's " Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii. p. 49; vol. ii. pp.421 and 423. !!ll Wilson says " a three-fold aspect" (' : Introduction to Rig- Veda," vol. i. p. xxvii.), distinguishing between the region of the air and that of the sky; but ths'Vedic poets scarcely make this distinction. gg RELIGION OF THE EARLY SAN8KRITIC INDIANS. flagration ; secondly, as it exists in the sky, in the shape of lightning, meteors, stars, comets, and light generally, so far as that is independent of the sun. The earthly aspect of fire is most dwelt upon. The Vedic poet sees it leaping forth from darkness on the rapid friction of two sticks in the hands of a strong man. It is greedy for food as it steps forth out of its prison, it snorts like a horse as with loud crackle it seizes and spreads among the fuel. Then for a moment its path is darkened by great folds of smoke ; but it overcomes, it triumphs, and mounts up in a brilliant column of pure clear flames into the sky. * As culinary fire, Agni is the supporter of life, the giver of strength and vigor, the imparter of a pleasant flavor to food, | the diffuser of happiness in a dwelling. As sacrificial fire, he is the messenger between the other gods and man ; the interpreter to the other gods of human wants ; the all-wise, who knows every thought of the worshipper ; the bestower of all bless- ings on men, since it is by his intervention alone that their Offerings are conveyed, and their wishes made known to any deity. As conflagration, Agni is " the consumer of forests, the dark-pathed, the bright-shining." t " White-hued, vociferous, abiding in the firmament with the imperishable resounding winds, the youngest of the gods, Agni, purifying and most vast, proceeds, feeding upon numerous and sub- stantial forests. His bright flames, fanned by the wind, spread wide in every direction, consuming abundant fuel ; divine, fresh-rising, they play upon the woods, enveloping them in lustre." Occasionally, instead of consuming forests, he devours cities with their inhabitants. When the Aryan Indians prevail over their enemies and give their dwellings to the flames, it is Agni who "destroys the ancient towns of the dispersed," || and " consumes victorious all the cities of the foe and their precious things." 1f Hence, he is constantly invoked against enemies, and exhorted to overthrow them, to give their cities to destruction, to " burn them down like pieces of dry timber," || to chastise them and " consume them entirely." In his celestial character, Agni, on the See Max Miiller, " Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 547, note. t Rig- Veda. vol. iii. pp. 184, 247, etc. t Rig-Veda, p. 891. Ibid. vol. iii. Compare pp. 136, 254, 385, etc. I! Ibid. p. 388. H Ibid. p. 1. ** Ibid. p. 120. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 89 other hand, is, comparatively speaking, but rarely recognized. JStill, his frequent association with Indra * points to this aspect of him. Both he and Indra are " wielders of the thunderbolt ; " f they occupy a common car ; J they are joint "slayers of Vitra ; " and Agni is described in one place as " the agitator of the clouds when the rain is poured forth," he who, " moving with the swiftness of the wind, shines with a pure radiance ; " whose " falling rays, accom- panied by the moving storms, strike against the cloud," which thereupon "roars," after which "the shower conies with delightful and smiling drops, the rain descends, the clouds thunder." || After Agni we may place in a single group, Dyaus, "the heaven ; " Suiya, or Savitri, " the sun ; " Soina, " the moon ; " Ushas, "the dawn ;" Prithivi, "the earth;" Vavu, "the wind ; " Ay, " the waters ; " Nadi, "the rivers ; and the Martus, " the storms." These are all nature-gods of a very plain and simple kind, corresponding to the Greek Uranus, Heelios, Selene, Eos, Ge, or Gaia, etc., and to the Roman Ccelus, Apollo, Luna, Aurora, Tellus, -^Eolus etc. Of all these the Marus are the most favorite objects of worship, having twenty-four hymns devoted to them in the first six Mandalas of the Rig-Veda. IF Next to these may be placed Ushas, who has eleven hymns ; then Dyaus and Prithivi, who share seven hymns ; after these Surya, who has six ; then Vayu, who has two ; then Soma, who has one ; and lastly, Ap and Nidi, who are not worshipped separately at all. Ushns, the dawn, is perhaps the most beautiful creation of the Vedic bards. " She is the friend of men ; she smiles like a young wife ; she is the daughter of the sky. She goes to every house ; she thinks of the dwellings of men ; she does not despise the small or the great ; she brings wealth ; she is always the same, immortal, divine ; age cannot touch her ; she is the young goddess, but she makes men grow old."* Born again and again, and with bright unchanging hues, * Mandala i. 21, 108; Mandala iii. 12; Mandala v. 14: Mandala vL 59: etc. t Rig-Voda,vol. iii. p. 500. t Ibid. p. 501. Ibid. vol. iii pp. Ill, 603, etc. II Ibid. vol. i. p. 202. ISee Wilson's ''Introductions" to the several volumes of th Rig-Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. 15; vol. iii. p. 7. ** Max Miiller, "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 561. 90 RELIGION OF THE EARLY SAXSKRITIC INDIANS. she dissipates the accumulated glooms, anoints her beauty as the priests anoint the sacrificial food in sacrifices, bright- shining she smiles, like a flatterer, to obtain favor, then lights up the world, spreads, expanding westward with her radiance, awakes men to consciousness, calls forth the pleasant sounds of bird and beast, ai'ouses all things that have life to their several labors.* Sometimes a mere natural appearance, more often a manifest goddess, she comes before men day after day with ever young and fresh beauty, challenging their admiration, almost forcing them to worship her. The lazy inhabitants of so-called civilized lands, who rarely leave their beds till the sun has been up for hours, can scarcely understand the sentiments with which a simple race, that went to rest with the evening twilight, awaited each morning the coming of the rosy-fingered dawn, or the ecstatic joy with which they saw the darkness in the eastern sky fade and lift before the soft approach of some- thing tenderer and lovelier than day. Surya, " the sun," does not play a prominent part in the Vcdic poems. f Out of the five hundred hymns in Wilson's collection, only six are devoted to him exclusively.! His presentation is nearly that of Heelios in the Greek, and Phoebus Apollo in the Roman mythology. Brilliant, many- rayed, adorable, he yokes each morning his two, or seven, |j swift coursers to his car, and mounts up the steep incline of heaven, following Ushas, as a youth pursues a maiden, and destroying her.H Journeying onward at incredible speed ** between the two regions of heaven and earth, lie * Rig- Veda, vol. i. pp. 230-238 and 298. 299. t Wilson, " Introduction to Rig-Veda," vol. i. p. xxxii. ! Mandala i. Suktas 50 and 115; Mandala ii. Sukta 38; and Mandala v. Suktas 81 and 82. Surya has also a part in Mandala i. Sukta 35; Mandala v. Suktas 40 and 45; and Mandala vi. Sukta 50. Rig- Veda, vol. i. u. 98. II Ibid. p. 133. IT Ibid. p. 304. Compare Max Miiller's " Ancient Sanskrit Liter- ature," pp. 529, 530, where the following comment of an Indian critic is quoted:" It is fabled that Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, did violence to hlfl daughter. But what does it mean? Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, is a name of the sun; and he is called so because he protects all creatures. His daughter, Ushas, is the Dawn. And when it is said that he was in love with her, this only means that, at sunrise, the sun runs after the dawn, the dawn being at the same time called the daughter of the bun, because she rises when he approaches." Ibid. vol. i. p. 132. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 9J pours down his quickening, life-bestowing, purifying rays on all, dispels diseases,* gives fertility, and multiplies wealth. f Having attained the summit of the sky, he commences his descent, and traveling on a downward path, conducts his car with safety to the far limits of the west, carrying off with him all the diffused rays of light,J and disappearing, no one knows whither.! Vayu, the "wind," generally coupled with Indra, as a god of heaven, has only two whole hymns, || and parts of five others, devoted to him in Wilson's collection. What is chiefly celebrated is his swiftness ; and in this connection he has sometimes ninety-nine, sometimes a hundred, IF some- times a thousand steeds,** or even a thousand chariots,ft assigned to him. The color of his horses is red or purple. |J He is "swift as thought," he has " a thousand eyes," and is " the protector of pious acts." As one of the gods who "sends rain,"|| || he is invoked frequently by the inhabitants of a country where want of rain is equivalent to a famine. Dyaus and Prithivi, " heaven " and " earth," are mostly coupled together, and addressed in the same hymns ; but, besides the joint addresses, Prithivi is sometimes the sole subject of a sacred poern.lFIT Dyaus has occasionally the epithet of jritar, or " father,"*** and thus, so far as the name goes, undoubtedly corresponds with the Jupiter or Dies- piter of the Romans. But he is cei-tainly not in the same way the " father," or creator, of the other gods. Rather, some individual poets, in their craving after divine sym- pathy and communion, have ventured to bestow on him the name of "father" exceptionally, not with any intention of making him the head of the Pantheon, but as claiming to themselves a share in the Divine nature, and expressing the same feeling as the Greek poet when he said, " For we are also his offspring." ff f * Rig- Veda, vol. i. pp. 99 .and 134. t Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 307, 309, etc. I Ibid. vol. i. p. 305. Ibid. p. 99. II Mandalaii. Sukta 134; and Mandala vi. Sukta 48. 1 Rig- Veda, vol. iii. p. 211. * Ibid. pp. 210 and 212. Compare vol. ii. p. 49. tt Ibid. vol. ii. p. 313. Jt Ibid. p. 46. Ibid. vol. i. p. 55. III Ibid. vol. iii. p. 487. 11T Mandala v. Sukta 83, *** Max Miiller. "Science of Religion," p. 172. ttt Acts xvii. 28. St. Paul, as is well known, quoted Aratus. 92 RELIGION OF THE EARLY SANSKR1TIC INDIANS. It is unnecessary to detain the reader with a complete account of the rest of the thirty-three gods. Some, as Aditi, Pushan, Brahmaspati, Brihaspati, Panjaniya, seem to be mere duplicate or triplicate names of deities already mentioned. Others, as the Aswins, Ai-yaman, Rudra, Vishnu, Yama, belong to a lower grade, being rather demi- gods or heroes than actual deities. Others, again, are in- distinct, and of little importance, as Saraswati, Bhaga, Twashtri, Parvata, Hotra, Bharati, Sadi, Varutri, and Dhishana. Special attention must, however, be called to Soma. By a principle of combination which is quite inscrutable, Soma represents at once the moon or moon-god, and the genius presiding over a certain plant. The assignment of a sacred character to the Soma, or Homa plant (Sarcostema viminalis),* was common to Indie with the Iranian religion, though the use made of it in the two worships was different. According to the ordinary spirit of the Indie religion, a deity was required to preside over, or personify, this im- portant part of the nature, and the god chosen was the same that had the moon under his protection. Hence arises, in the hymns to Soma, a curious complication ; and it is often difficult to determine which view of the god is present to the mind of the poet. The notion of the plant is the predominant one ; but intermixed with it in the strangest way come touches which can only be explained by referring them to Soma's lunar character.! The worship of their gods by the Indians was of a very simple kind, consisting of prayer, praise, and offerings. It was wholly domestic, that is to say, there were no temples or general places of assembly ; but each man in his dwell- ing-house, in a chamber devoted to religious uses, per- formed, or rather had performed for him, the sacred rites which he preferred, and on which he placed his dependence for material and perhaps for spiritual blessings. An order of priests existed, by whom alone could religious services be conducted ; and of these a goodly array officiated on all occasions, the number being sometimes seven, at other times as many as sixteen. $ It was not necessary for the wor- shipper to appear personally, or to take any part in the * H. H. Wilson, in notes to the Rig- Veda. vol. i. p. 6, note a. t Ibid. p. 236, note a. J See Wilson't " Introduction " to vol. i. p. xxiv. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 93 ceremony, enough was done if he provided the chamber, the altar, and the offerings. The chamber had to be spread with the Kusa, or sacred rushes ; the fire had to be lighted upon the altar ;* and then the worship commenced. Pr\ests chanted in turn the verses of the Mantras or sacred hymns, which combined prayer with praise, and invited the presence of the deities. At the proper moment, when by certain mystic signs the priests knew the god or gods invoked to have arrived, f the offerings were presented, the divine favor secured, the prayers recited, and the ceremony brought to a close by some participation of the ministering priests in the offerings. The praises, with which the hymns generally commence, describe the power, the wisdom, the grandeur, the marvel- lousness, the generosity, the goodness of the deity addressed, adding in some instances encomiums on his personal beauty j and the splendor of his dress afid decorations. Occasion- ally, his great actions are described, either in general terms, or with special reference to certain exploits ascribed to him in the mythology.] When he has been thus rendered favorable,, and the offerings have been made in the cus- tomary way, the character of the hymn changes from praise to prayer, and the god is implored to bestow blessings on the person who has instituted the ceremony, and sometimes, but not so commonly, on the author or reciter of the prayer. It is noticeable that the blessings prayed for are, predom- inantly, of a temporal description. If The worshipper asks for food, life, strength, health, posterity ; for wealth, es- pecially in cattle, horses, and cows ; for happiness ; for protection against enemies, for victory over them, and some- times for their destruction, particularly where they are * It has been questioned whether the fire was not kept burning continually, as in the Persian Fire Temples (Wilson, " Introduction " to vol. i. of Rig- Veda, p. xxiii.); but the constant allusions to the production of fire by friction make it clear that, ordinarily, a fresh, lire was kindled. t Haug, "Essays on the Sacred Language, etc., of the Parsees," p. 248. t Wilson, " Introduction," vol. i. p; xxiv. See also Mandala i. Sukta 9, 3; Sukta 42 10; etc. Rig-Veda, vol. i. p. 223. II This is especially the rase in hymns addressed to Indra. (Rig Veda, vol. i. pp. 85-93, 136-109, etc. ). T Wilson, "Introduction" to vol. i. of Rig- Veda, p. xxv. ; Max Muller, " Chips from a German Workshop." vol. i. p. 27. 94 RELIGION OF THE EARLY SANSKRITIC INDIANS. represented as heretics. Protection against evil spirits is also occasionally requested. There is, comparatively speak- ing, little demand for moral benefits, for discernment, or improvement of character, or forgiveness of sin, or repent- ance, or peace of mind, or strength, to resist temptation. The sense of guilt is slight.* It is only " in some few in- stances that hatred of untruth and abhorrence of sin are expressed, and a hope uttered that the latter may be re- pented of or expiated." f Still such expressions do occur. They are not wholly wanting, as they are in the utterances of the ancient Egyptians. " Deliver us this day, O gods, from heinous sin," is the concluding petition of one Sukta. $ "May our sin be repented of," is the burthen of another. " Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we have committed with our own bodies," is the prayer of a third. || ' ; Varuna is merciful, even to him who hast committed sin," is the declaration of a fourth. H Now and then we even seem to have before us a broken-hearted penitent, one who truly feels, like David or the Publican, the depth to which he has fallen, and who, " out of the depths," ** cries to God for forgiveness. " Let me not yet, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay," i. e. the grave, says a Vedic worshipper ; tf " have mercy, almighty, have mercy. If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind, have mercy, almighty, have mercy. Through want of strength, thou sti-ong and bright god, have I gone wrong ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy. Thirst came upon the worshipper though he stood in the midst of the waters ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy. Whenever we men, Varuna, commit an offence before the heavenly host, whenever, we break the law tlwough thoughtlessness ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy." The offerings wherewith the gods were propitiated were either victims or libations. Victims in the early Wilson, 1. a. c. Max Miiller says, on the other hand, that " the consciousness of sin is a prominent feature in the religion of the Veda " (" Chips," vol. i. p. 41). He means, probably, a noticeable feature, not prominent in the sense of its occurring frequently. t These are Prof. Wilson's words; and they are quite borne out by the text of the Rig- Veda. J Mandala i. Sukta 115, 6. Mandala i. Sukta 97. || Mandala vii. Sukta 80, 5. IT Mandala vii. Sukta 87, i 7. ** Psa. cxxx. 1. tt Max Muller, "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 540, THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 95 times appear to have been but rarely sacrificed ; and the only animals employed seem to have been the horse and the goat.* Libations were of three kinds : ghee, or clarified butter, honey,f and the expressed and fermented juice of the soma plant. The ghee and honey were poured upon the sacrificial fire ; the soma juice was presented in ladles i to the deities invoked, part sprinkled on the fire, part on the Jiusa, or sacred grass strewed upon the floor, and the rest in all cases drunk by those who had conducted the ceremony. It is thought by some modern critics that the liquor offered to the gods was believed to intoxicate them, and that the priests took care to intoxicate themselves with the remainder ; || but there is scarcely sufficient evidence for these charges. No doubt, the origin of the Soma cere- mony must be referred to the exhilarating properties of the fermented juice, and to the delight and astonishment which the discovery of them excited in simple minds. H But exhilaration is a very different thing from drunkenness ; and, though Orientals do not often draw the distinction, we are scarcely justified in concluding, without better evidence than any which has been adduced as yet, that the Soma cere- mony of the Hindoos was in the early ages a mere Bacchana- lyin orgy, in which the worshippers intoxicated themselves in honor of approving deities. Exhilaration will sufficiently explain all that is said of the Soma in the Rig-Veda ; and it is charitable to suppose that nothing more was aimed at in the Soma ceremony. The offerings of praise and sacrifice, and especially the offering of the soma juice, were considered not merely to please the god, who was the object of them, but to lay him under a binding obligation, and almost to compel him to grant th'e requests of the worshipper. " The mortal who is strenuous in worship," it is said,** " acquires an authority" over the object of his religious regards an authority which is so complete that he may even sell the god's favor to an- * On the sacrifice of these, see Rig- Veda, vol. ii. pp. 112-125. t ^loney is not common. On its use. see Max Miiller, " Ancient SansKrit Literature," pp. 535 and 5.37. J Rig-Veda, Mandala i. Snkta 116, 24. Wilson, " Introduction " to vol. i. of Rig- Veda, p. xxiii. II Hans? "Essays on the Sacred Language, etc., of theParsees," pp. 247, 248. 7 Wilson, " Introduction, "p. xxxvil. ** Mandala iv. Sukta 15, 5. gg RELIGION OF THE EARLY tiANSKIUTIC INDIANS. other person, in order to enable him to attain the object of his desires, " Who buys this my Indra," says Vamadeva, a Vedic poet,* " with ten milch kine ? When he shall have slain his foes, then let the purchaser give him back to me again ; " which the commentator explains as follows :| "Vam adeva having by much praise got Lidra into his possession or subjugation, pi-oposes to make a bargain when about to dispose of him ; " and so he offers for ten milch kine to hand him over temporarily, apparently to any person who will pay the price, with the proviso that when Indra has sub- dued the person's foes, he is to be returned to the vendor ! The subject of a future life seems scarcely to have pre- sented itself with any distinctness to the thoughts of the early Indians. There is not the slightest appearance in the Rig- Veda of a belief in metempsychosis, or the transmigra- tion of human souls after death into the bodies of animals. t The phenomena of the present world, what they see and hear and feel in it, in the rushing of the wind, the howling of the storm, the flashing of the lighting from cloud to cloud, the splash of the rain, the roar of the swollen rivers, the quick changes from day tonight, and from night to day, from storm to calm and from calm to storm, from lurid gloom to sunshine and from sunshine to lurid gloom again ; the interesting business of life, the kindling of fire, the lighting up of the hearth ; the performance of sacrifice ; the work, agricultural, pastoral, or other, to be done during the day, the storing up of food, the acquirement of riches, the training of children ; war, the attack of foes, the crash of arms, the flight, the pursuit, the burning of towns, the carrying off of booty these things, and such things as these, KO occupy and fill the minds of this primitive race, that they have in general no room for other speculations, no time or thought to devote to them. It is only occasionally, in rare instances, that to this or that poot the idea seems to have occurred, " Is this world the whole, or is there a here- after? Are there such things as happiness and misery be- yond the grave? Still, the Rig-Veda is not altogether with- out expressions which seem to indicate a hope of immortality and of future happiness to be enjoyed by the good, nor en- tirely devoid of phrases which may allude to a place of * Mandala, iv. Sukta 24, 10. t Wilson, Rig-Veda, vol. iii. p. 170, note 2. J Max Miiller, "Chips from a German Workshop," vol. i. p. 45. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 97 future punishment for the wicked. " He who gives alms," Bays one poet,* " goes to the highest place in heaven ; he goes to the gods." "Thou, Agni, hast announced heaven to Manu," says another ; which is explained to mean, that Agni revealed to Manu the fact, that heaven is to be gained by pious works. f "Pious sacrificers," proclaims a third, J " enjoy a residence in the heaven of Indra ; pious sacrificers dwell in the presence of the gods." Conversely, it is said that " Indra casts into the pit those who offer no sacrificc," and that "the wicked, who are false in thought and false in speech, are born for the deep abyss of hell." || In the fol- lowing hymn there is, at any rate, clear evidence that the early Vedic poets had aspirations after immortality : " Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is placed, In that immortal, imperishable world, place me, O Soma. Where King Vaivaswata reigns, where the secret place of heaven is, Where the mighty waters are, there make me immortal. Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, Where the worlds are radiant, there make me immortal. Where wishes and desires are, where the place of the bright stin is, Where there is freedom and delight, there make me immortal. Where there is happiness and delight, where joy and pleasure reside. Where the desires of our heart are attained, there make me im- mortal." IF As thus, occasionally, the deeper problems of human existence were approached, and, as it were, just touched by the Vedic bards, so there were times when some of the more thoughtful among them, not content with the simple and childish polytheism that had been the race's first instinct, attempted to penetrate further into the mystery of the Divine existence, to inquire into the relations that sub- sisted among the various gods generally worshipped, and even to search out the origin of all things. " Who has Mandala i. Sukta 125, 5. t Wilson, " Kig-Veda," vol. p. 80, note a. J Ibid. vol. ii. p. 42. Mandala i. Sukta 121, 13. I! Wilson's " Rig- Veda," vol. iii. p. 129, compared with Max Muller ("Chips," vol. i. p. 47). If The translation is Prof. Max Miiller's (" Chips," vol. i. p. 4(5). 38 RELIGION OF THE EARLY SANSKRITIC INDIANS. Been," says one,* " the primeval beiug at the time of hig being born, when that which had 110 essence bore that which had an essence ? Where was the life, the blood, the soul of the world ? Who sent to ask this from the sage that knew it? Immature in understanding, undiscerning in mind," he goes on to say, " I inquire after those things which are hidden even from the gods. . . . Ignorant, I inquire of the sages who know, who is the Only One who upheld the spheres ere they were created ? " After a multi- tude of speculations, he concludes "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, then he is the beautiful-winged heavenly Garutmat : that which is one, the wise give it many names they called it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." f An- other is still bolder, and plunges headlong in to the deepest vortex of metaphysics. The following is a metrical version of his poem: % " A time there was, when nothing that now is Existed no, nor that which now is not; There was no sky, there was no firmament. What was it that then covered up and hid Existence ? In what refuge did it lie ? Was water then the deep and vast abyss, The chaos in which all was swallowed up ? There was no Death and therefore nought immortal. There was no difference between night and day. The one alone breathed breathless by itself: Nor has aught else existed ever since. Darkness was spread around ; all things were veiled In thickest gloom, like ocean without light. The germ that in a husky shell lay hid, Burst into life by its own innate heat Then first came Love upon it, born of mind, Which the wise men of old have called the bond 'Twixt uncreated and created things. Came this bright ray from heaven, or from below ? Female and male appeared, and Nature wrought Below, above wrought Will. Who truly knows, Who has proclaimed it to us, whence this world Came into being ? The great gods themselves Were later born. Who knows then whence it came ? Wilson's "Rig-Veda," vol. ii. pp. 127, 128. Compare Max Mil HIT, " Lectures on the Science of Religion, "p. 46. t Max Muller, " Chips from a German Workshop," vol. i.p 29. J I have followed as closely as possible the prose translation of Max Muller, given with an intermixed comment in his " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," pp. 559-568. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 99 The Overseer, that dwells in highest heaven, He surely knows it, whether He himself Was, or was not, the maker of the whole, Or shall we say, that even He knows not ? " This poem, and the other prayers above quoted, are suffi- cient to show that among the Vedic poets there were at any rate some who, by God's grace, had raised themselves above the murky atmosphere in which they were born, had " sought the Lord, and felt after Him," * had struggled out of polytheism into a conscious monotheism, and al- though they could not without revelation solve the problem of existence, had gone far to realize the main points of true religion ; the existence of one eternal and perfect Being, the dependence of man on Him, the necessity of men leading holy lives if they would please Him, and the need, which even the best man has, of His mercy and foi> giveness. * AcUxvii.27. 100 RELIGION OF THK EARLY SAXSKH1TW INUIANS. CHAPTER V. THE RELIGION OF THE PHOENICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS. " Le dieu des Phc'niciens, comuie de tous les pantheismes asia- tiques, etait a la fois un et plusieurs." LENORMANT, Manuel d'His- toire Ancienne, vol. iii. p. 127. IN discussing the religion of the Phoenicians and Car- thaginians, we have to deal with a pi*oblem far more diffi- cult than any which has yet occupied us. No " sacred book," like the Rig- Veda the Zendavesta or the " Ritual of the Dead," here spreads before us its stores of knowledge, requiring little more than patient study to yield up to us the secret which it is the object of our inquiry to discover. No extensive range of sculptures or paintings exhibits to our eyes, as in Assyria, Greece, and Egypt, the outward aspect of the worship, the forms of the gods, the modes of approaching them, the general character of the ceremonial. Nor has even any ancient author, excepting one, treated ex- pressly of the subject in question, or left us anything that can be called in any sense an account of the religion. It is true that we do possess, in the " Evangelical Preparation " of Eusebius, a number of extracts from a Greek writer of the first or second century after Christ bearing on the matter, and regarded by some moderns * ns containing an authentic exposition of the Phoenician teaching on a number of points, which, if not exactly religion, are at any rate con- nected with religion. But the work of Philo Byblius, from which Eusebius quotes, is so wild, so confused, so unintel- ligible, that it is scarcely possible to gather from it, unless by a purely arbitrary method of interpretation, t any dis- tinct views whatsoever. Moreover, the work is confined entirely to cosmogony and mythology, two subjects which Especially Baron Bnnscn. (See " Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. iii. pp. 102-287.) I Bunftttti assumes that Philo's work contains three cosmogonies, quite distinct, of which the second and third contradict the first. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 101 are no doubt included in " religion," as that term was un- derstood in the ancient world, but which lie so much upon its outskirts, and so little touch its inner heart, that even an accurate and consistent exposition would go a very short way towards acquainting us with the real character of a re- ligious system of which we knew only these portions. Add to this, that it is very doubtful whether Philo of Byblus reported truly what he found in the Phoenician originals which he professed to translate, or did not rather import into them his own philosophical notions, and his own theories of the relation borne by the Phoenician theology to that of other countries. If upon these grounds, we regard the fragments of Philo Byblius as untrustworthy, and as only to be used with the utmost caution, we are reduced to draw our knowl- edge of the Phoenician and Carthaginian religion from scattered and incidental notices of various kinds from the allusions made to the subject by the writers of portions of the Old Testament, from casual statements occurring in classical authors, from inscriptions, from the etymology of names, and from occasional representations accompanying inscriptions upon stones or coins. Such sources as these " require," as has been well said,* the greatest care before they can be properly sifted and successfully fitted together ;" and they constitute at best a scanty and imsatisfactory foundation for a portraiture which, to have any value, must be drawn with some sharpness and definiteness. One of the most striking features of the Phoenician polytheism especially striking when we compare it with the systems which lay geographically the nearest to it, those of Egypt and Assyria is its comparative narrowness. If we make a collection of the divine names in use either in Phoenicia Proper or in the Phoenician colonies, we shall find that altogether, they do not amount to twenty. Baal Ash- toreth, Melkarth, Moloch, Adonis, Dagon, Eshmun, liadad, El, Eliun, Baaltis, Or;ca, Shamas, Sadyk, the Kabiri, exhaust pretty nearly the list of the native deities; and if we add to these the divinities adopted from foreign countries, Tanith, Hammon, (=Ammon), and Osir (=Osiris), we shall still find the number of distinct names not to exceed eighteen. This is a small number compared even with the * Max Muller, " Science of Religion," pp. 117-118. 102 THE RELIGION OF THE PH(ENICIANS. pantheon of Assyria ; compared with that of Egypt, it is very remarkably scanty. It may be added that there are grounds for doubting whether even the eighteen names above given were regard- ed by the Phoenicians themselves as designating really so many deities. We shall find, as we proceed, reason to be- lieve, or to suspect, that in more than one case it is the very same deity who is designated by two or more of the sacred names. The general character of the names themselves is remark- able. A large proportion of them are honorific titles, only applicable to real persons, and indicative of the fact that from the first the Phoenician people, like most other Semitic races, distinctly apprehended the personality of the Supreme Being, and intended to worship, not nature, but God in nature, not planets, or elements, or storm, or cloud, or dawn, or lightning, but a being or beings above and be- yond all these, presiding over them, perhaps, and working through them, but quite distinct from them, possessing a real personal character. El signified " the strong," or " the powerful," * and in the cognate Hebrew took the article, and became ha-El, " the Strong One," He who alone has true strength and power, and who therefore alone deserves to be called " strong " or " mighty." Eliun is the " Exalted," " the Most High," and is so translated in our authorized version of Genesis (xiv. 18), where Melchizedek, King of Salem, the well-known type of our blessed Lord,f is said to have been " the priest of the most High God," which is in the original, "priest of El-Eliun." Again, Sadyk is "the Just," " the Righteous," and is identical with the Zedek occurring as the second element in Melchizedek, which St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews (vii. 2), translates by " King of righteousness." Baal is " Lord," or " Master, an equivalent of the Latin dominus, and hence a term which naturally requires another after it, since a lord must be lord of something. Hence in Phoenician inscriptions t we find Baal-Tsnr^ Lord of Tyre," Baal- Tsidor, "Lord of Zidon," Baal- Tars, " Lord of Tarsus," and the like. Hence also we meet with such words as J3aal-berith, " Lord of Max Mailer, " Science of Religion," p. 177. t See Psa. ex. 4: Heb. vil. 1-24. J Gesenius, "Scriptures Linguseque Phoenicia Monuraenta," pp. 96, 277, etc. Num. xxv. 3, 5; Judg. viii. 33; ix. 4; 2 Kings i. 3, . THE I:KLH:I(>\X OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 103 treaties," H'<>r, " Lord of Peor " (a mountain), Baal- zebub, " Lord of flics," and Beel-samin, * " Lord of Heaven." Adonis, or more properly Adoni, for the the S is merely the Greek nominatival ending:, has nearly the same meaning as Baal, being the Phoenician equivalent of the Hebrew Adonai, the word ordinarily rendered "Lord " in our version of the Old Testament. Adoni, however, takes no adjunct, since it is most properly translated "my lord," "lord of me,"f and thus contains in itself the object of the lordship. Moloch is melck, " king," the initial element in Melchizedck ; and it is this same word which appears a second time, with an adjunct, in Melkarth, which is a contraction of rnelek-kereth or rather melek-qereth,$ which means " king of the city." Baaltis or Baalti, is the feminine form of Baal, with the suffix found also in Adoni, and has the meaning of "my lady." The Greeks expressed the word most commonly by Beltis, but occasionally by Beltres, and, though a con- fusion of the kindred labials in and b, by Mylitta.|| The Kabiri are " the Great Ones," from kabbir, " great," which makes kabbirim in the plural. It may be suspected, though it cannot be proved, that these various names, excepting the last, were originally mere epithets of the One Eternal and Divine Being who was felt to rule the world, and that, whatever may have been the case elsewhere, the Phoenicians at any rate began with the monotheistic idea, whether that idea originated in the recesses of their own hearts or was impressed upon them from without by revelation. If El, Eliun, Sadyk, Baal, Adoni, Moloch, Melkarth, were all one, may not the same have been true of Dagon, Hadad, Eshmun, Shamas, i-tc.? nay, may not even the foreign gods, Hammon and Osir, have been understood to be simply additional epithets of the Most High, expressive of his attributes of inscruta- bility a no omniscience? A primary objection may seem to lie against this view in the fact that the Phoenicians recognized not only gods, but goddesses, the name Ashtoreth 1[ belonging to the religion * Philo Byblius in the " Fragmenta Historicorum Gnscorum," vol. iii. p 505. t Gesenius, p 400. t Gesenius p. 96. Hesycli. ad voc. /SiyMw- II Herod, i. 131, 199. IT Baal and Ashtoreth appear first dintinctly as Phoenician gods in 1 Kings xi. 5; but we may suspect that they bear the same characte* 104 THE RELIGION OF THE PHCENICIANS. from the very earliest time to which we can trace it back, and Baaltis being placed by the side of Baal, apparently aa a distinct and separate personage. But it has been argued that "the original conception of female deities differs among Semitic and Aryan nations," and that the feminine forms among the Semites " were at first intended only to express the energy or the collective powers of the deity, not a separate being, least of all a wife." * And this view is con- firmed by passages in ancient insci'iptions which seem to identify Phoenician gods and goddesses, as one in the in- scription of Mesa, which speaks of Chemosh-Ashtar as a single deity, another in an inscription from Carthage in winch Tanith is called Pen-Baal, or " the face of Baal,"t and a third, on the tomb of Eshmunazar, King of Sidon, where Ashtoreth herself is termed Shem-Baal " the name of Baal."J If Ashtoreth and Tanith were merely aspects of Baal, if the Pho3nician Supreme God was "androgy- nous,"! the fact that the religions system of the people admitted goddesses as well as gods, Avill not militate against its original monotheism. A more vital objection may be taken from the two nnmes, Eshmun and Kabiri. The Kabiri were the sons of Sadyk ; they were seven in number ; || they were actual deities, the special gods of sailors ; images of them adorned the prows of vessels. And Eshmun, the name of their brother, is a word signifying " eight," or the "eighth." It seems clear from this that the Phoenicians ultimately recognized at least eight gods ; and if so, we must pronounce them poly- t heist s. At any rate, whether or no they were poly t heists from the first, it cannot be doubted that they 1 ecrme such. When the Carthaginian introduced by Plantus into his " PoMiulus " commences his speech H with the words "Yth alonim v'alonuth siccarthi," which Plant us rightly renders where they are mentioned in Judges ii. 10 : x. 0. They appear ns Syrian pods in the hieroglyphical inscriptions r.s early as 1'aineses II. (about B. <:. 1450). * Max Miiller. "Science of Religion," p. 18:3. t De Vogue", iu tin; "Journal Asiatique" for 1867, p. 138. \ Max Wilier, "Science of Religion," p. 184. " Speaker's Commentary," vol. i. p. 732. II " Phllo Byblius,'' c. ~>, |8; Damascius ap. Phot. " Bibliothec." p. 573. t Plaut. "Po-nul." Act v. 1. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. lOfi nlonim v'alonuth siecarthi," which Plautus rightly renders by "Decs deasque veneror," or, " I worship the gods and goddesses," he expresses a genuine Pho3iiician sentiment. Baal and Ashtoreth, if originally one, were soon divided, were represented under different forms, and were worship- ped separately. El, Eliun, Sadyk, Adonis, Melkarth, drifted off from their original moorings, and became dis tinct and separate gods, sometimes with a local character.* Dagon, Eshmun, Shamas, had perhaps been distinct from their first introduction, as had been the Kabiri, and perhaps some others. Thus a small pantheon was formed, amount- ing, even including the Kabiri, to no more than about fifteen or twenty divinities. At the head of all clearly stood Baal and Ashtoreth, the great male and the great female principles. Baal, "the Lord" par excellence, was perhaps sometimes and in some places taken to be the sun ; t but this was certainly not the predominant idea of any period ; and it may be questioned whether in the original seats of the nation it was ever enter- tained until after the Roman conquests. As Bel in Baby- lonia was completely distinct from Shnmrs,| so was Baal in Ph pantheon,ft and the special god of Babel, or Babylon, which is expressed by Bab-il, "the gate of II," in the in- scriptions. t$ * Gesenius, " Script. Phcen. Mon." p. 400. * Ezek. viii. 14. J Euseb. " Vit. Constantin. Magn." iii. 55. Compare Kenrick, '" I'hanicia," vol. i. p. 311. Philo Bybl. c. iv. 2: 'HAov rbv xal Kpovov. Compare 10 and 21. II Philo Bybl. c. vi. 3. 7 Hanni-el occurs in a Pho?nician inscription (Gesen. p. 133). Kadmil is given as one of the Kabiri by the Scholiast on Apollonius Cluxlius (i. 917). Enyl is mentioned as a king of Byblus by Arrian (' Exp. Alex." ii. 20). >* Philo Bybl. 1. s. c. tt See above, p. 47. It Sir H. Rawlinson in the Author's Herodotus," vol. i. p. 613. 110 THE RELIGION OF THE PHCENIC1ANS. THE SUN. That Shamas, or Shemesh, " the sun," was worshipped separately from Baal has been already mentioned. In Assyria and Babylonia he was one of the foremost deities ; * and his cult among the Phoenicians is witnessed bv such a name as Abed-Shemesh, which is found in two of the native inscriptions.! Abed-Shemesh means " servant of Shemesh/'' as Obadiah means " servant of Je- hovah," and Abdallah " servant of Allah " ; and is an unmistakable evidence of the worship of Shemesh by the people who employed it as the parallel names are of the wor- ship, respectively, of Jehovah and Allah, by Jews and Mohammedans. The sun-worship of the Phoenicians seems to have been accompanied by a use of " sun-images," $ of which we have perhaps a specimen in the accompanying figure, which occurs on a votive tablet found in Nu- midia, although the tablet itself is dedicated to Baal. There was also connected with it a dedication to the sun- god of chariots and horses, to which a quasi-divine charac- ter attached, || so that certain persons were from their birth consecrated to the sacred horses, and given by their parents the name of Abed-Susim, "servant of the horses," as we find by an inscription from Cyprus.Tf It may be suspected that the Hadad or Hadar of the Syrians ** was a variant name of Shamas, perhaps connected with adir, " glorious," and if so, with the Sepharvitc god, Adrammelech.ft Adodus according to Philo Byblius, was in a certain sense "king (melefc) of the gods." These latter considerations make it doubtful whether the Moloch or Molech, who was the chief divinity of the The Author's " Herodotus," vol. i. pp. 631-634. * Gesenius, Script. Phcen. Mon." pi. 9. t This is given in the margin of 2 Ghron. xiv. 5 and xxxiv. 4, as the proper translation of khammanim, which seem certainly to hav been images of some kind or other. Gesenius, " Script. Phom. lion." pi. 21. || See 2 Kings xxiii. 11. T Gesenius, p. 130, and pi. 11, No. 0. * Found under the form of Adodus in Philo Byblius (c. v. I). * 2 Kings xvii. 31. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOELD. Ill Ammonites,* and of whose worship by the Phoenicians there are certain indications,! is to be viewed as a separate and substantive god, or as a form of some other, as of Shamas, or of Baal, or of Melkarth, or even of El. Holeeb, meaning simply "king" is a term that can naturally be applied to any "great god," and which may equally well designate each of the four deities just mentioned. Rites like those of Molech belonged certainly to El and to Baal ; J and the name may be an abbreviation of Melkarth, or a title the proper title of Shamas. The fact that Philo has a Melich, whom he makes a distinct deity, || is of no great importance, since it is clear that he multiplies the Phoeni- cian gods unnecessarily ; and moreover, by explaining Melich as equivalent to Zeus Meilichios, he tends to identify him with Baal. If Upon the whole, Moloch seems scarcely en- titled to be viewed as a distinct Phoenician deity. The word was perhaps not a proper name in Phoenicia, but re- tained its appellative force, and may have applied to more than one deity. A similarly indefinite character attaches to the Phoeni- cian Baaltis. Beltis was in Babylonian mythology a real substantive goddess, quite distinct and separate from Ishtar, Gula, and Zirbanit ; ** but Baaltis in Phoenicia had no such marked character. We hear of no temples of Baaltis ; of no city where she was specially worshipped. ft The word does not even occur as an element in Phoenician proper names, and if in use at all as a sacred name among the Phoe- nicians, must almost certainly have been a mere epithet of Ashtoreth,!! who was in reality the sole native goddess. Lydus expressly states that Blatta, which is (like Mylitta) * See 1 Kings xi. 7. t The names Bar-melek, Abecl-melek, and Mclek-itten, which occur in Phoenician inscriptions (Gcsenius, pp. 105, 130, 135), imply a god who has either the proper name of Moloch, or is worshipped as "the king/' J Diod. Sic. xx. 14; Porphyr. " De Abstinentia," ii. 50; Gesen. "Script. PhttMi. MOM." p. 153. Melkarth is frequently abbreviated in the Pluenician inscrip- tions, and becomes Mclkar, Mokarth, and even Mokar. Hesychius says that at Amathus Hercules was called Malika. I! Philo Bybl. c. Hi. U. If Since he calls Baal Zeus Belus (c. iv. 17). ** See above, p. 61. ft Philo makes her a 'queen of Byblus" (c. v, 5) but says nothing of her worship there, it See Kenrick's "Phoenicia," p. 301. "De Mensibus." i. 10. 112 EELIGION OF THE PHOENICIANS. a corruption of Baalti, was " a name given to Venus of the Phoenicians." Sadyk again, whom we have mentioned as a distinct deity on the strength of statements in Philo Byblius and Damascius,* scarcely appears as a separate object of worship, either in Phoenicia or elsewhere. The nearest approach to such an appearance is furnished by the names Melchi-zedek, and Adoni-zedek,f which may admit of the renderings, " Sadyk is my king," " Sadyk is my lord." Sadyk has not been found as an element in any purely Phoenician name ; much less is there any distinct recognition of him as a god upon any Phoenician monument. We are told that he was the father of Eshmun and the Kabiri ; J and as they were cer- tainly Phoenician gods we must perhaps accept Sadyk as also included among their deities. From his name we may conclude that he was a- personification of the Divine Justice. Eshmun is, next to Baal, Ashtoreth, and Melkarth, the most clearly marked and distinct presentation of a separate deity that the Phoenician remains set before us. He was the especial god of Berytus (Jieirut), and had characteristics which attached to no other deity. Why the Greeks should have identified him with their Asclepias or ./Esculapius, || is not clear. He was the youngest son of Sadyk, and was a youth of great beauty, with whom Ashtoreth fell in love, as she hunted in the Phoenician forests. The fable relates how, being frustrated in her designs, she afterwards changed him into a god, and transported him from earth to heaven. IT Thenceforth he was worshipped by the Phoenicians almost as much as Baal and Ashtoreth themselves. His name became a frequent element in the Phoenician proper names ; ** and his cult was taken to Cyprus, to Carthage, and to other distant colonies. * Philo Byblius, c. iii. 13; c. iv. 16; etc. Damasc. ap. Phot. 'Bibliothec,"p. 573. t See Gn. xiv. 18, and Josh. x. 1. J Philo Byblius, c. iii. 14; c. iv. 16. See Damascius ap. Phot. " Bibliothec." p. 573. || This is done by Philo of Byblus (c. v. 8), by Damascius (1. s. c.), by Strabo (xvii. 14), and others. IT Damascius, 1. s. c. ** I-M i in 1 1 n -:i/:i r, whose tomb lias been found at Sidon, Is the best known instance; but the Plm:nician inscriptions f;ive also Bar* Eshmun, Ilan-Eshmun, Netsib-Eshmun, Abed-Eshmun, Eshmun- il'.en, and others. (See Gesenius, " Script. Phoen. Mon."p. 136.) THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 113 COIN OP COSSURA With Eshmun must be placed the Kabiri, who in the mythology were his brothers,* though not born of the same mother, f It is doubtful whether the Kabul are to be re- garded as originally Phoenician, or as adopted into the re- ligion of the nation from without. The word appears to be Semitic ; t but the ideas which attach to it seem to belong to a wide-spread superstition, whereby the discovery of fire and the original working in metals were ascribed to strong, misshapen, and generally dwarfish deities, like Phthah in Egypt, Hephaistos and the Cyclopes in Greece, " Gav the blacksmith" in Persia, and the gnomes in the Scandinavian and Teutonic mythologies. According to Philo Byb- lius || and Damascius, H the Phcenician Kabiri were seven in number, and ac- cording to the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, ** the names of four of them were Axierus, Axiokersus, Axi- okersa, and Cadmilus or Casmilus. Figures supposed to represent them, or some of them, are found upon Phcenician coins, as especially on those of Cossura,tt which are exceedingly curious. The Kabiri were said to have in vented ships ; It and 't is reason- able to regard them as represented by the Patasci of Herod- otus, which were pigmy figures placed by the Phoenicians on the prows of their war-galleys, no doubt as tutelary divinities. The Greeks compared the Kabiri with their own Castor and Pollux, who like them presided over navig- ation. mi * Damascius, 1. s. c. ; Philo Byblius, c. v. 8. t Philo Bybl. c. iv. 16. } See above p. 150. Mr. Kenrick questions the derivation from fiabhir ("Egypt of Herodotus," p. 287); but almost all other writers allow it. See Mr. Kenrick's 'Notes on the Cabiri," in the work above mentioned, pp. 264-287. II Philo Byblius, c. v- 8. T Damascius, 1. s. c. ** Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. " Argonautica," i. 915. tr See Gesenius, " Script. Pluen. Mon." pi. 3U. it Philo Byblius, c. iii. 14. Herod, iii. 37. OH Horat. " Od." i.8, 2; iii. 29, 64. 114 THE RELIGION OF THE PHCENICIANS. Besides their original and native deities, the Phoenician* acknowledged some whom they had certainly introduced into their system from an external source, as Osiris, Ammon, and Tanith. The worship of Osiris is represented on the coins of Gaulos,* which was an early- Phoenician settlement ; and ' Osir " (=Osiris s ) occurs not unfrequently as an element in Phoenician names, f where it occupies the exact place else- where assigned to Baal, Melkarth, and Ashtoreth. Ammon is found under the form Hammon in votive tablets, but does not occur independently ; it is always attached as an epithet to Baal.J Whether it determines the coi^ OF GAULOS. aspect of Baal to that of a " sun-god " may be question ed, since the original idea of Ammon was as far as possible remote from that of a solar deity. || But, at any rate, the constant connection shows that the two gods were not really viewed as distinct, but that in the opinion of the Phoenicians their own Baal corresponded to the Ammon of the Egyptians, both alike representing the Supreme Being. Tanith has an important place in a num- ber of the inscriptions, being given precedence over Baal himself. 1| She was worshipped at Carthage, in Cyprus,** by the Phoenician settlers at Athens ff and elsewhere ; but we have no proof of her being acknowledged in Phoenicia it- self. The name is connected bv Gesenius with that of the Egyptian goddess Neith,:ft or fcet ; but it seems rather to represent the Persian Tanata, who was known as Tanaitis or Tanaiis, and also as Ariaitis or Aneitis to the Greeks. Whether there was, or was uot, u, remote and original con- Geseuius, pi. 40, A. t'lfcicZ. pp. 1W, 100, 130 etc. 1 Ibid, pp 108, 108, 174, 175, 177, and Davis " Carthage and her Remains," pi. opp. p. 25(W, 2nd edition. I! In the Theodosian Code it was provided that no one should any longer worship his Inr with fire (" nullns Larem igne veneretur "), or, in other words, continue to sacrifice to him. (See Keightley's " Mythology," p. 470.) THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 120 and are furnished with cushions carved in stone ; and imi- tations of easy-chairs and footstools are carefully hewn out of the rock. Everything, in short, is arranged as if the dead were reclining at a banquet in their accustomed dwell- ings. On the floor stand wine-jars ; and the most precious belongings of the deceased arms, ornaments, and mirrors hang from the roof, or are suspended on the walls. The walls themselves are richly decorated, usually being painted with representations of festive scenes ; we see figures in gaily-embi'oidered garments reclining on couches, while at- tendants replenish the goblets, or beat time to the music of the pipers. Nothing is omitted which can conduce to the amusement or comfort of the deceased. Their spirits were evidently believed to inhabit these house-tombs after death, just as in life they inhabited their houses."* The tombs were not permanently closed. Once a year at least, perhaps oftener, it was customary for the surviving relatives to visit the resting-place of their departed dear ones, to carry them offerings as tokens of affectionate regard, and solicit their favor and protection. The presents brought included portrait-statues, cups, dishes, lamps, armor, vases, mirrors, gems, seals, and jewellery.! Inscriptions frequently accompanied the offerings ; and these show that the gifts were made, not to the spirit of the tomb, or to the infernal gods, or to any other deities, but to the persons whose re- mains were deposited in the sepulchres. | Their spirits were no doubt regarded as conciliated by the presents ; and, practically, it is probable that far more value was attached to the fostering care of these nearly allied protectors than to the favor of the awful gods of earth and heaven, who were distant beings, dimly apprehended, and chiefly known as wielders of thunderbolts. As a whole, the Etruscan religion must be pronounced one of the least elevating of the forms of ancient belief. It presented the gods mainly under a severe and forbidding aspect, as beings to be dreaded and propitiated, rather than loved and worshipped. It encouraged a superstitious re- gard for omens and portents, which filled the mind with Taylor " Etruscan Researches," pp. 40-48. t Ibid. pp. 271, 306, etc. J Without accepting all Mr. Taylor's renderings of the funeral inscriptions, I am of opinion that he has succeeded in establishing this point. 130 RELIGION OF THE ETRUSCANS. foolish alarms, and distracted men from the performance of the duties of every-day life. It fostered the pride and vanity of the priestly class by attributing to them superhuman wisdom, and something like infallibility, while it demora- lized the people by forcing them to cringe before a selfish and arrogant hierarchy. If it diminished the natural tendency of men to overvalue the affairs of this transitory life, by placing prominently before them the certainty and import- ance of the life beyond the grave, yet its influence was de- basing rather than elevating, from the coarseness of the rep- resentations which it gave alike of the happiness and misery of the future state. Where the idea entertained of the good man's final bliss makes it consist in feasting and carousing,* and the suffering of the lost arises from the blows and wounds inflicted by demons, the doctrine of future rewards and punishment loses much of its natural force, and is more likely to vitiate than to improve the moral character. The accounts which we have of the morality of the Etruscans are far from favorable ; f and it may be questioned whether the vices whereto they were prone did not receive a stimu- lus, rather than a check, from their religion. * See Dennis, " Cities and Cemeteries," vol. i. p. 294: " They (the Etruscans) believed in the materiality of the soul; and their Elysium was but a glorification of the present state of existence ; the same pursuits, amusements, and pleasures, they had relished in this life they expected in the next, but divested of their sting, and enhanced by increased capacities of enjoyment. To celebrate the great event, to us so solemn (i. e., death), by feast'ng and joviality, was not with them unbecoming. They knew not how to conceive or represent a glorified existence otherwise than by means of the highest sensual enjoyment." (Compare pp. 443-448. ) t See the Author's " Origin of Nations," pp. 129, 130. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 131 CHAPTER VII. RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. " The Greek religion was the result of the peculiar development and history of the Grecian people." DOLLIXGER, Jew and Gentile, vol. i. p. C8. THAT " in general the Greek religion may be correctly described as a worship of Nature ; and that most of its deities corresponded either to certain parts of the sensible world, or to certain classes of objects comprehended under abstract notions," is a remark of Bishop Thirlwall * in which most critics at the present day will acquiesce with readiness. Placed in a region of marked beauty and variety, and sym- pathizing strongly with the material world around him, the lively Greek saw in the object with which he was brought into contact, no inert mass of dull and lifeless matter, but a crowd of mighty agencies, full of a wonderful energy. The teem- ing earth, the quickening sun, the restless sea, the irresistible storm, every display of superhuman might which he beheld, nay, all motion ami growth, impressed him with the sense of something living and working. He did not, however, like his Indian brother, deify (as a general rule) the objects themselves ; or, at any rate, if he had ever done so, it was in a remote past, of which language alone retained the trace ; f he did not, in the times in which he is really known to us, worship the storm, or the sun, or the earth, or the ocean, or the winds, or the rivers, but, by the power of his imagination, he invested all these things with personality. Everywhere around him, in all the different localities, and departments, and divisions, and subdivisions of the physical world, he recognized agencies of unseen beings endued with " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 217. t Zeus may have been once Dyaus, "the sky" (Max Miiller, , "Chips from" a German Workshop," vol. ii. p. 72); but the word very early " became a proper name " and designated a person. 132 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. life, volition, and design. Nature was peopled for him with a countless multitude of such invisible powers, some inhabit- ing the earth, some the heaven, some the sea, some the dark and dreadful region beneath the earth, into which the sun's rays could not penetrate. " Of such beings," as Mr. Grote observes,* " there were numerous varieties, and many grada- tions both in power and attributes ; there were differences of age, sex, and local residence, relations, both conjugal and filial, between them, and tendencies sympathetic as well as repugnant. The gods formed a sort of political com- munity of their own, which had its hierarchy, its distributions of ranks and duties, its contentions for power, and occa- sional revolutions, its public meetings in the agora of Olympus, and its multitudinous banquets or festivals. The great Olympic gods were, in fact, only the most exalted amongst an aggregate of quasi-human or ultra-human person- ages daemons, heroes, nymphs, eponymous genii, identified with each river, mountain, cape, town, village, or known cir- cumscription of territory, besides horses, bulls, and dogs, of immortalbreed and peculiar attributes, monsters of strange lineaments and combinations 'Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chinueras dire ' and besides ' gentile and ancestral deities,' and 'peculiar beings whose business it was to co-operate or impede in the various stages of each trade or business.' Numerous additions might be made to this list. Not only had each mountain chain and mountain-top a separate presiding god or goddess, but troops of Oreads inhabited the mountain regions, and disported themselves among them ; not only was there a river-god to each river, a Simois and a Scamander, an Enipeus and an Achelotis, but every nameless stream and brooklet had its water nymph, every spring and fountain its naiad ; wood-nymphs peopled the glades and dells of the forest regions ; air-gods moved in the zephyrs and the breezes ; each individual oak had its dryad. To the gods proper were added the heroes, gods of :i lower grade, and these are spoken of as " thirty thousand in number, guardian da>mons, spirits of departed heroes, who are continually walking over earth, veiled in darkness, watching the deeds of men, and dispensing weal or woe." f It is this multiplicity of the objects of worship, together " " History of Greece," vol. i. pp. 403-466. t Thirlwall, " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 235. Compare Hesiod, " Works and Days," 1. 250 THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 133 with their lively active personality, which forms the first striking feature of the ancient Greek religion, and naturally attracts the attention of observers in the first instance. Nowhere have we such a multitudinous pantheon. Not only was the multiplicity of external nature reflected in the spiritual world as in a mirror, but every phase, and act, and circumstance of human life, eveiy quality of the mind, every attribute of the body, might be, generally was, personified, and became a divine being. Sleep and Death, Old Age and Pain, Strength, Force, Strife, Victory, Battle, Murder, Hunger, Dreaming, Memory, Forgetfulness, Lawlessness, Law, Forethought, Afterthought, Grief, Ridicule, Retribu- tion, Recklessness, Deceit, Wisdom, Affection, Grace, were gods or goddesses, were presented to the mind as persons, and had their place in the recognized Theogonies,* or sys- tematic arrangements of the chief deities according to supposed relationship and descent. Similarly, the facts of Nature, as distinct from her parts, were personified and worshipped, Chaos, Day, Night, Time, the Hours, Dawn, Darkness, Lightning, Thunder, Echo, the Rainbow, were persons "persons, just as much as Zeus and Apollo "f though not perhaps, so uniformly regarded in this light. Another leading feature in the system is the existence of marked gradations of rank and power among the gods, who fall into at least five definite classes,:}: clearly dis- tinguished the one from the other. First and foremost come the Olympic deities, twelve in number, six male and six female, but not as a rule connected together in pairs Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hera, Athen6, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hestia, and Demeter. Next in order are the great bulk of the gods and goddesses, Hades, Dionysus, Cronus, Uranus, Hyperion, Helios, Nereus, Porteus, ./Eolus, Leto, Dione, Persephone, Hecate, Selen6, Themis, Harmonia, the Graces, the Muses, the Fates, the Furies, the Eileithyia), the Oceanids, the Nereids, the Nymphs, the Naiads, and the like. In the third rank may be placed the deities who act as attendants on the greater gods, and perform services for them, Iris, the messenger of Jove, Hebe, his cup-bearer, Kratos and Bia, the servants of Hesiod. " Theogon." 11. 114-264; Apollodorus, "Bibliotbeca," i. l-. t Grote, " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 2. J Ibid., vol. i. pp. 14, 15. 134 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. Hephaestus,* Boreas, Nortus, etc., subordinates of JEolus, the Hours, handmaids of Aphrodite, etc. Fourthly, we may name the more shadowy gods and goddesses, Night, Day, Ether, Dawn, Darkness, Death, Sleep, Strife, Memory, Fame, Retribution, Recklessness, etc., who do not often ap- pear as deities except in poetry, and are perhaps rather personifications consciously made than real substantive divinities. Finally must be mentioned the monstrous births ascribed to certain divine unions or marriages, e. g., the Cyclopes, and Centimani, the off spring of Earth and Heaven (Gaea and Uranus) ; the Harpies, daughters of Thaumas and Electra, one of the Oceanidae ; the Gorgons and Graea, children of Phorcys and Ceto ; Chrysaor and Pegasus, born of the blood of Medusa, when she was slain by Perseus ; Geryon and Echidna, sprung from Chrysaor and Callirrhoe ; Orthros, the two-headed dog of Geryon, born of Typhaon and Echidna; Cerberus, the dog of Hades, with fifty heads; Scylla and Charybdis ; the Lernaean Hydra, the Sphinx of Thebes, the Neiriean Lion, the Dragon of the Hesperides, the Centaurs, the Chimaera, etc., etc. The chief interest naturally attaches to the gods of the First Order, those commonly denominated " Olympic ; " and, in a work like the present, some account must neces- sarily be given of the twelve deities who constituted the Olympian council. ZEUS. At the head of all, occupying a position quite unique and unlike that of any other, stood the great Zeus. Zeus is " the God, or, as he is called in later times, the Father of the gods, and the God of gods. When we ascend to the most distant heights of Greek history, the idea of God, as the Supreme Being, stands before us as a simple fact."f " Zeus," said an ancient poet, " is the beginning ; Zeus the middle ; out of Zeus have all things been made." Zeus was " the lord of the upper regions, who dwelt on the summits of the highest mountains, gathered the 'clouds about him, shook the air with his thunder, and wielded the light- ning as the instrument of his wrath. From elements drawn from these different sources his character, a strange com- See ^schyl. "Prom. Vinct." sub init. t Max Muller, " Chips," vol. ii. p. 158. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 135 pound of strength and weakness, seems to have been formed by successive poets, who, if they in some degree deserved the censure of the philosophers, seem at least not to have been guilty of any arbitrary h'ctions ; while, on the other hand, by establishing his supremacy they introduced (?) a principle of unity into the Greek polytheism, which was not perhaps without influence on the speculations of the phil- osophers themselves, though it exerted little on the super- stitions of the vulgar. The Olympian deities are assembled round Zeus as his family, in which he maintains the mild dignity of a patriarchal king. He assigns their several provinces, and controls their authority. Their combined efforts cannot give the slightest shock to his power, nor retard the execution of his will ; and hence their wayward- ness, even when it incurs his rebuke, cannot ruffle the inward serenity of his soul. The tremendous nod, wherewith he confirms his decrees, can neither be revoked nor frustrated. As his might is irresistible, so is his wisdom unsearchable. He holds the golden balance in which are poised the destinies of nations and of men ; from the two vessels that stand at his threshold he draws the good and evil gifts that alter- nately sweeten and embitter mortal existence. The eternal order of things, the ground of the immutable succession of events, is his, and therefore he himself submits to it. Human laws derive their sanction from his ordinance ; earth- ly kings receive their sceptre from his hand ; he is the guardian of social right ; he watches over the fulfilment of contracts, the observance of oaths ; he punishes tieachery, arrogance, and cruelty. The stranger and the suppliant are under his peculiar pi'otcction ; the fence that encloses the family dwelling is in his keeping ; he avenges the denial and the abuse of hospitality. Yet even this greatest and most glorious of beings, as he is called, is subject, like the other gods, to passion and frailty. For, though secure from dissolution, though surpassingly beautiful and strong, and wanned with a purer blood than fills the veins of men, their heavenly frames are not insensible to pleasure and pain ; they need the refreshment of ambrosial food, and inhale a grateful savor from the sacrifices of their worshippers. Their other affections correspond to the grossness of these animal appetites. Capricious love and hatred, anger and jealousy, often disturb the calm of their bosoms ; the peace of the Olympian state might be broken by factions, and even 136 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS by conspiracies formed against its chief. He himself cannot keep perfectly aloof from their quarrels ; he occasionally wavers in his purpose, is overruled by artifice, blinded by desires, and hurried by resentment into unseemly violence. The relation in which he stands to Fate is not uniformly represented in the Homeric poems, and probably the poet had not formed a distinct notion of it. Fate is generally described as emanating from his will, but sometimes he ap- pears to be no more than the minister of a stern necessity, which he wishes in vain to elude." * And Zeus bears to man the relation of " father." Each mortal who has a supplication to make to him, may address him as lev ndrep, " God (our) Father." He bears, as one of his most usual titles, the designation of " Father of gods and men." As St. Paul says, f quoting a Greek poet, " we are his offspring." The entire passage where these words occur is remarkable, and very instructive on the Grecian idea of Zeus. " With Zeus begin we let no mortal voice Leave Zeus unpraised. Zeus fills the haunts of men, The streets, the marts Zeus fills the sea, the shores, The harhors everywhere we live in Zeus. We are his offspring too; friendly to man, He gives prognostics; sets men to their toil By need of daily bread: tells when the land Must be upturned by ploughshare or by spade What time to plant the olive or the vine What time to fling on earth the golden grain. For He it was who scattered o'er the sky The shining stars, and fixed them where they are Provided constellations through the year, To mark tlie seasons in their changeless course. Wherefore men worship Him the First the Last Their Father Wonderful their Help and Shield." } A pantheistic tinge pervades this description ; but still in parts it approaches to some of the most beautiful and sublime expressions of Holy Writ. It presents Zeus to us Thirlwall. " History of Greece," vol. 1. pp. 217-219. t Acts xvii 28. t Aratus, Phenomena," 11. 1-15. Compare " everywhere we live in Zeus " with " in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts xvii. 28) the provision of constellations with Gen. i 14 the term " Wonderful" with Isa. ix.6 "the First, the Last" with Rev. i. 8, 11, etc." "their Help and Shield " with Psa. xviii. 2; xlvi. 1, etc. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 137 as omnipresent, beneficent, worthy of perpetual praise, our father, our help and defence, our support and stay. It sets him forth as " wonderful," or rather " a mighty wonder" ptya iJai)/i a being beyond our power to comprehend, whom we must be content to reverence and admire. It recognizes him as having hung the stars in the blue vaul to heaven, and having set them there " for signs, and for sea- sons, and for days, and years." It calls him " the First " the Last " the Alpha and the Omega of being. Such is the strength of Zeus, according to the Greek idea ; but withal there is a weakness about him, which sinks him, not only below the " Almighty " of Scripture, but even below the Ormazd of the Persians. He lias a material frame, albeit of an ethereal and subtle fibre ; and requires material sustenance. According to some of the myths, he was born in time ; according to all, he was once a god of small power. Heaven had its revolutions in the Greek system : and as the sovereignty of Olympus had passed from Uranus to Cronus and from Cronus to Zeus in former times, so in the future it might pass, and according to some, was doomed to pass, from Zeus to another.* Nor was he without moral defect. A rebellious son, a faithless husband, not always a kind father, he presented to the moral con- sciousness no perfect pattern for man's imitation, but a strange and monstrous combination of wickedness with high qualities, of weakness with strength, of good with evil.f POSEIDON. Poseidon is reckoned as the second of the Olympic gods, rather as being, in the mythology, the brother of Zeus, than from any superiority of his own over the rest of the Olympians. t He is viewed as especially the god of the sea, and is worshipped chiefly by maritime states and in cities situated on or near the coast ; but he has also a con- siderable hold upon the land, and is " earth-shaking " and M earth-possessing," quite as decidedly as sovereign ruler of * ^Eschyl. " Prom. Vinci." II. 939-959. t Compare Sir. Gladstone's remarks in his " Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. pp. 186-190. t Poseidon claims in the " Iliad " an authority within his own domain independent of Zeus (" Iliad," xv. 174 et eqq-), but exer- cises no right of rule over any other god. 138 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. the seas and ocean. His worship is ancient, and in many places has given way to an introduction of later and more fashionable deities. It has traces of a rudeness and rough- ness that are archaic, and stands connected with the more grotesque and barbarous element in the religion. " Among his companions are wild Titans and spiteful daemons," * human sacrifices are offered to him ; horses are buried alive in his honor. Polyphemus the Cyclops, whom Ulysses pun- ishes, is his son ; and his offspring generally are noted for huge size and great corporeal strength. f It has been main- tained that his cult was of foreign origin, having been in- troduced among the Greeks by the Carians,t or by the Lib- yans ; but there are no sufficient grounds for these refine- ments, or for separating off Poseidon from the bulk of Olympic deities, admittedly of native growth, and having a general family resemblance. If Poseidon is cast in a ruder and rougher mould than most of the others, we may account for it by the character of his element, and the boisterous- ness of sailors, who were at all times his principal worship- pers. Poseidon's roughness is compensated for by a solidity and strength of character, not too common among the Grecian deities ; he is not readily turned from his pur- pose ; blandishments have little effect upon him ; failure does not discourage him ; lie is persistent, and generally, though not always, successful. His hostility to Troy, arising from his treatment by Laomedon, conduced greatly toward that city's destruction ; and the offence which he took at the decision of Erechtheus led to the final overthrow of that hero's family. On the other hand, his persecu- tion of Ulysses, on account of the chastisement which he had inflicted on Polyphemus, does not prevent the final return of that much-enduring wanderer to Ithaca, nor does his opposition succeed in hindering the settlement of ./Eneas, with his Trojan companions, in Latium. For" grandeur and sublimity of character and position Poseidon cannot compare with Zeus, whom however, he sometimes ventures to beard ; || in respect of moral conduct he is in no * Curtlus, " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 56. t Hom. "Odyssey," xi. 505-520. t Curtius, vol. i. p. 298: "The Carlans introduced [into Greece] the worship of the Carian Zeus, and of Poseidon." Herod, ii. 50; iv. 188. Hom. "Iliad," xv. 175. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 139 way Zeus's superior ; in respect of intellectual elevation he falls decidedly below him. APOLLO. The conception of Apollo as the sun is a late form of Hellenic belief, and must be wholly put aside when we are considering the religion of the ancient Greeks. Apollo seems to have been originally, like Zeus, a representation of the one God, originating probably in some part of Greece where Zeus was unknown,* and subsequently adopted into the system prevalent in Homeric times, and in this system subordinated to Zeus ER his son and interpreter. Com- pared with Zeus, he is a spiritualized conception. Zeus is the embodiment, of creative energy and almighty power : Apollo of divine prescience, of healing skill, and of musical and poetic production. " In Apollo Hellenic polytheism received its harmonious completion, and the loftiest glorifi- cation of which it was, capable."! Apollo rises on the vision of one familiar with Greek antiquity as almost y. pure conception, almost an angelic divinity. To a fo'-^n of ideal beauty, combining youthful grace and vigcr with the fullest perfection of manly strength, he added unerring wisdom, complete insight into futurity, an unstained lite,t the magic power of song, ability and will to save and heal, together with the dread prerogative of dealing out at his pleasure destruction and death. Com- passionate on occasions as Mercy herself, he shows at times the keen and awful severity of a destroying archangel. Ekebolos, " striking from afar," he speeds his fatal shafts from his unfailing bow, and smites whomsoever he will with a deathstroke which there is no escaping. Never offended without cause, never moved by caprice, he works the will of Zeus in all that he does, dispenses retributive justice, and purifies with wholesome fear the souls of men. Partaker of nil the counsels of his father, and permitted to use his discretion in communicating them to the denizens on earth, he delivers his oracular responses from the various spots Curtius suggests Lycia or Crete (" History of Greece," vol. i. p. 59). t Ibid. t See this point discussed in Mr. Gladstone's "Homer and the Homeric Age," (vol. ii. pp. 106-111). 140 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. which he has chosen as his special abodes, and, though sometimes his replies may be of doubtful import, seldom sends away a votary unsatisfied. The answers which he gives, or at any rate is supposed to give, determine the decisions of statesmen,* and shape the course of history. War and peace, treaties and alliances, are .made and un- made, as the Delphic and other oracles inspired by him advise ; and the course of Hellenic colonization is almost entirely determined by his decrees. f Poet, prophet, physician, harper, god of victory and angel of death in one, Apollo is always on the side of right, always true to Zeus, and not much inferior to him in power. It is, perhaps, a fanciful analogy which has been traced between him and the Second Person of the Christian Trinity ; t but the very fact that such an analogy can be suggested is indicative of the pure and lofty character of the god, which equals at any rate, if it does not transcend, the highest idea of divinity that has hitherto been elaborated by unassisted human wisdom. ARES. It has been well said that Ares is " the impersonation of a passion." That combative propensity, which man pos- sesses in common with a large number of animals, was re- garded by the Greeks, not only as a divine thing, but as a thing of such lofty divinity that its representative must * Herod, vii. 140-143. t Ibid. iv. 150-159; v. 42, etc. J Friedriech says: " This triad of Zeus, Athene and Apollo bears an unmistakable analogy to the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : Zeus answering to God the Father, Athene to the Holy Ghost, and Apollo to the Son of God, the Declarer of the will of hi* Heavenly Father " (" Die Realien in der Iliacle und Odysspp." part iii. pp. 035 and 089). Mr. Gladstone came independently to the same conclusion, and says: "In Apollo are represented the leprndn^ anticipations of aperson to come, in whom should be combined all the f;reat offices in which God the Son is now made known to man, as the Light of our paths, the Physician of our diseases, the Judge of our misdeeds, and the Conqueror and Disarmer, but not yet Abolisher, of Death," (" Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. p. 132). Profes- sor Max Miiller, on the other hand, thinks that " it seems blasphemy to consider the fables of the heathen world as corrupted and mis- interpreted fragments of a divine revelation once granted to the whole of mankind" ("Chips from a German Workshop," vol. il. p. 13). THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 141 have a place among the deities of the first class or order. The propensity itself was viewed as common to man with the gods, and as having led to " wars in heaven," wherein all the greater deities had borne their part. Now that peace was established in the Olympian abode, it found a vent on earth, and caused the participation of the gods in the wars carried on among mortals. Ares was made the son of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of heaven. He was repre- sented as tall, handsome, and active, but as cruel, lawless, ami greedy of blood. The finer elements of the warlike spirit are not his. He is a divine Ajax,* rather than a divine Achilles ; and the position which he occupies in the Olympian circle is low. Apollo and Athene are both en- titled to give him their orders; and Athene scolds him, strikes him senseless, and wounds him through the spear of Diomed.f His worship is thought to have been derived from Thrace, t and to have been introduced into Greece only a little before the time of Horner. It was at no time very widely spread, or much affected by any Grecian tribe or state, the conception being altogether too coarse to attract the sympathies of a refined people. HEPHAESTUS. Hephaestus is the god of fire, and especially of her in connection with smelting and metallurgy. He dwells in Lemnos, where he habitually forges thunderbolts for Zeus, and occasionally produces fabrics in metal of elaborate and exquisite construction. Among the most marvellous of his works are the automatic tripods of Olympus and the bronze maidens, whom he has formed to be his attendants on account of his lameness. He is the armorer of heaven, and provides the gods generally with the weapons which they use in warfare. The peculiarity of his lameness is strange and abnormal, since the Greeks hate deformity, and repre- sent their deities generally as possessed of perfect physical * Mr. Gladstone says, " not so much an Ajax as a Caliban " (" Homer and the ilomeric Age," vol. ii. p. 228); but is not this too harsh a view, even of the Homeric conception of Ares ? t Horn. "Iliad," v. 885-887; xv. 110-142, etc. t Dollinger, Jew and Gentile," vol. i. p. 88. Gladstone, " Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. pp. 22- 231. 142 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. beauty. It has been accounted for on the supposition that he is a Grecized Phthah,* introduced from Egypt, directly or indirectly,t and that his deformity is a modification of Phthah's presentment as a pigmy with the lower limbs mis- shapen. But the features common to Hephaestus with Phthah are few; the name of Hephaestus is probably of pure Greek etymology, connected with <*? and ^ at'vw ; and, on the whole, there would seem to be no evidence that He- phasstus is a foreign god more than any other. Rather j it is characteristic of the many sidedness of the Greeks, and con- sequent upon the anthropomorphism which makes the Olympic community a reflection of earthly things, that there should be even in this august conclave something provoca- tive of laughter, a discord to break the monotony of the harmony, an element of grotesqueness and monstrosity. Hephffistus in the Olympic halls is like the jester at the court of a medieval monarch, a something to lighten the seriousness of existence, to provoke occasionally a burst of that " inextinguishable laughter," without which life in so sublime an atmosphere would be intolerable. The marriage of Hephaastus to Aphrodit6 is conceived in the same spirit. There was a keen sense of humor in the countrymen of Aristophanes ; and the combination of the clumsy, Irme, and begrimed smith with the Queen of Beauty and Love pleased their sense of the ludicrous, and was the fertile source of many an amusing legend. " The Lay of the Net," where- with Demodocus entertains both gods and men,* is a suffi- cient specimen of this class of lively myth, and shows that the comic features of ill-assorted marriage, on which modern playwrights have traded so freely, were fully appreciated by the Greeks, and were supposed well-suited to provoke the gods to merriment. The modern moralist will regret this unworthy representation of divine beings; t but it is quite in accord with the general character of the Greek religion, which reflected back upon deity all that was weak, as well as all that was strong, in man. Sir G. \yilkinson in Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 139, note (3rd edition). t Mr. Gladstone regards him as introduced from Phoenicia (" Homer and the Homeric Age," vol ii. p. 255). I Horn. " Odyss." v. iii. 2(50-300. " iloiner and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. pp. 401-463. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 143 HERMES. Hermes is the impersonation of commercial dealings, and hence a god who gives wealth and increase, a god of inventive power, and a god of tricks and thievery. He is u the Olympian man of business," * and therefore employed in embassies and commissions, and even sometimes in the simple carrying of messages. As turup f auv, f "the 'giver of comforts," he secures his votaries all manner of worldly prosperity. He is industrious and inventive, constructs the seven-stringed lyre before he is a day old, t afterward invents the pan's-pipes, and ultimately becomes a god of wisdom and learning generally. His thievishness must be taken to show that commercial fraud is pretty well as ancient as commerce itself, and that " the good old times " were not, as sometimes represented, an age of innocence. It has been said that he is more human than any other Olympian god ; and that " he represents, so to speak, the utilitarian side of the human mind," being active, ener- getic, fruitful in resource, a keen bargainer, a bold story- teller, and a clever thief. His admission into the number of the Olympians is the strongest possible indication of the inferiority of the moral standard among the Greeks. The special regard paid to him by the Athenians is, how- ever, perhaps the mere consequence of their addiction to the pursuits of commerce. Hermes is commonly represented as a youth just at- taining to manhood. The wings which adorn his head and ankles indicate the celerity of his movements. His ttdaceus is perhaps the golden rod of wealth given to him by Apollo in exchange for the lyre. It represents also the staff commonly borne by heralds, and in this point of view had white ribbons attached to it, which in later times became serpents. Sometimes he holds a purse in his hand, to mark his power of bestowing riches. The six female Olympic deities Hera, Athene, Artemis, * Dollinger, " Jew and Gentile," vol. i. p. 74. t Horn. " Odyss. viii. 335. Compare " Iliad," xiv. 490. t Horn. " Hym. Merc." 1. 16. "Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. p. 242. 144 . EELIGION OF THE ANCIENT G SEEKS. Aphrodite, Hestia, and Demeter have now to be con sidered. HERA. The anthropomorphism which was so main an element In the Greek religion made it requisite that motherhood, as well as fatherhood, should be enthroned in the Olympic sphere, that Zeus should have his consort, heaven its queen, and women their representative in the highest celestial position. Hera was, perhaps, originally Era, " the Earth ; " * but this idea was soon lost sight of, and in Greek mythology, from first to last, she is quite other than the principle of mundane fecundity, quite a different being from the ori- ental earth-goddess, called indifferently Cybele, Dindymene, Magna Mater, Rhea, Beltis, Mylitta, etc. Hera is, pri- marily, the wife of Zeus, the queen of the Olympic court, the mistress of heaven. She is "a reflected image of Zeus" t Jind exercises all her husband's prerogatives, thun- ders, shakes Olympus, makes Iris her messenger, gives her orders to the Winds and the Sun, confers valor, and the like. As the personification of maternity, she presides over child-birth ; and the Eileithyia3, her daughters, act as her ministers. She does not present to us an elevated idea of female perfection, since, despite her exalted rank, she is subject to numerous feminine infirmities. Mr. Grote notes that she is "proud, jealous, and bitter." J Mr. Gladstone observes that she is passionate, wanting in moral elevation, cruel, vindictive, and unscrupulous. Her myth- ological presentation was certainly not of a nature to improve the character of those women who might take her for their model ; since, although she was possessed of certain great qualities, passion, fervor, strong affection, self-command, courage, acuteness, yet she was, on the whole, wanting in the main elements of female excellence, gentleness, softness, tenderness, patience 1 , submission to wrong, self-renunciation, reticence. She was a proud, * See Mr. Gladstone's *' Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. p. 190. Others suggest a connection with heron, herus, hera, and so with the German /terr, and our air t " Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii p. 194. | " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 50. " Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. pp. 190-196. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 145 grand, haughty, powerful queen ; not a kind, helpful, per- suasive, loving woman. The mythology of Greece is in few points less satisfactory than in the type of femalo character which it exhibits at the head of its pantheon. ATHENK. If Hera is below the level of female excellence which we might have expected refined heathens to have repre- sented in a chief goddess, Athene is above the level. She has a character which is without a flaw. Originally, as it would seem, a conscious impersonation of the divine wis- dom, and therefore fabled to have sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus, she became a distinct and substantive deity at a very early date, and was recognized as the "god- dess of wisdom, war, polity, and industrial art." * Homer places her, together with Zeus and Apollo, on a higher platform of divinity than the other deities,f and makes her even oppose Zeus when he is in the wrong, thwart him, and vindicate right and truth in his despite.J It has been said that she is " without feminine sympathies the type of composed, majestic, and unrelenting force ; " and this is so far true that she has certainly little softness, absolutely no weakness, and not many distinctly feminine character- istics. But she was recognized, like her Egyptian counter- part, Xeith, as the goddess of good housewifery, " patron- izing handicraft, and expert at the loom and spindle," \\ no less than as the wise directress of statesmen and warriors. Undoubtedly, the atmosphere in which she removed was too cold, calm, and clear for her ever to have attached to herself any very large share of human sympathy; but she oxrivised an elevating influence on the nobler spirits of both sexes, as combining the three attributes of purity, strength, and wisdom in the highest possible degree, and so furnishing at once a model for imitation, and a support and stay for feeble souls in the spirit world, where they had otherwise little on which they could place any firm reliance. * " Homer and the Homeric Age." vol. ii. p. 59. t Horn. " Iliad," ii. 371; iv. 288; vii. 132, etc.; " Odyss." iv. 341; xv. ii. 132, etc. t " Iliad," viii. 30-40, $ (Jrote, " History of Greece," vol. i. p. 47. D bid., I vol. p. 47. 146 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. The universally-received myth of Mentor and Telemachui acted as a strong reinforcement to the power of conscience, which the young Greek felt might be the voice of Athene speaking within him, advising him for his true good, and pointing out to him the path of honor and duty. Athene's special connection with Athens and Attica added much to her importance in the Greek religious system, since it brought the best minds and most generous natures of Hellas peculiarly under the influence of a thoroughly high and noble religious conception. ARTEMIS. Artemis is altogether a shadowy divinity. She is a " pale reflection of her brother," * Phoebus Apollo, whose attributes she reproduces in a subdued form, being, like him, majestic, pure, chaste, a minister of death, and a dexterous archer. Nothing is peculiar to her except her presidency over hunting, which determined her general presentation to the eye by the Greek artists. She embodied and personified that passion for the chase which was common to the Hellenes with most energetic races. It was supposed that she dwelt mainly upon earth, haunting the forests and the mountains, dressed as a huntress, and accompanied by her favorite hounds. Her connection with the moon Avas an afthcr-thought in the Greek mythology, as was that of Apollo with the sun. It arose mainly from the fact that hunters, to be successful, had to commence their operations by night, and needed the light of the moon in order to make their arrangements. The Artemis of Ephesus was the embodiment of a dif- ferent idea.| She took the place of the great Asiatic Nature-goddess Cybele, Rhea, Magna Mater, Beltis, Mylitta and had nothing in common with the Artemis of Hellas proper but the name. ' Her image, shaped like a mummy, was. of black wood ; the upper part of the body was orna- mented with the breasts of animals, the lower with figures of them. "| She was a mere impersonation of the principle of fecundity in nature "a Pantheistic deity, with more of an Asiatic than Hellenic character." * " Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. p. 1-18. t Grote, "History of Greece," vol. i. p. 48. J Dollinger, " Jew and Gentile," vol. i p. 86. Idid. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 147 APHRODITE. Aphrodite is the antithesis, and in some sort complement, of Athene. She is the impersonation of all that is soft and weak and erring in female nature, as Athen6 is of all that is high and pure and strong. Goddess of beauty and love, not, however, of love in its more elevated form, but rather of sensual desire, she was received by the Greeks probably from an Asiatic source, but so transmuted and Hellenized as to have become, when we first meet with her, a com- pletely national divinity.* Hellenic in the whole character of her beauty, she is well described by a living English poetf in a passage which is eminently classical : "Idalian Aphrodite beautiful, Fresh as the foam, new bathed in Paphian wells, With rosy slender fingers backward drew From her warm brow and bosom her deep hair Ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat And shoulder : from the violets her light foot Shone rosy white, and o'er her rounded form, Between the shadows of the vine-branches, Floated the golden sunlight as she moved." Nothing so lovely in form and color and texture and combination of rare charms, graced the splendid chambers of the Olympian court nothing so ravishing had ever pre- sented itself to the vision of painter or poet. But the beauty was altogether physical, sensuous, divorced alike from moral goodness and mental power. Silly and childish, easily tricked and imposed upon Aphrodite is mentally con- temptible, while morally she is odious. Tyrannical over the weak, cowardly before the strong, frail herself, and the persistent stirrer up of frailty in others, lazy, deceitful, treacherous, selfish, shrinking from the least touch of pain, shf repels the moral sentiment with a force almost equal to that wherewith she attracts the lower animal nature. Hence the Greek cannot speak of her without the most violent eontlict of feeling. He is drawn to her, but he detests her; he is fascinated, yet revolted ; he admires, yet he despises * Mr. Gladstone takes a different view. He regards the Aphro- dite" of Homer as scarcely a Greek divinity, ("Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. pp. 244, 245). But to me it seems that, even in Homer, her character is as thoroughly Greek as her uame. t See Tennyson's " (Euone," 11. 170-173. 148 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. and condemns ; and his condemnation, on the whole, out- weighs his admiration. He calls her. " A goddess verily of many names Not Cypris only, but dark Hades, too, And Force resistless, and mad, frantic Eage, And sheer untempered Craving, and shrill Grief." * He allows, but he rebels against her power over him ; he protests even when he surrenders himself ; and hence, on the whole, Aphrodite exercises a less corrupting influence in Greece than might have been anticipated. That the pantheon should contain a goddess of the kind was of course to some extent debasing. Bad men could justify themselves by the divine example, and plead powerlessness to resist a divine impulse. But their conscience was not satisfied ; they felt they sinned against their higher nature ; and thus, after all, the moral standard was not very seriously affected by the existence of the Cyprian goddess among the Olympic deities. HESTIA. Hestia is still more shadowy than Artemis. She is, in part, the femine counterpart of Hepha?stus, the goddess of fire ; but she is principally the impersonation of the sacred character of each hearth and home, whether domestic, tribal, or national. Hestia presided over the private hearths and homesteads of all Greeks, over the Prytaneia of cities, and over the altars kept ablaze in the temples which were centres of confederacies. She invested them with a sacred character, watched over them, protected them. Her per- sonality was but slightly developed. Still she seems to have been regarded as possessing, to a remarkable extent, the qualities of holiness and purity ; and thus to have prac- tically maintained in Greek domestic life a high and pure stan- dard, such as has scarcely been much exceeded among Chris- tians. She was fabled to have vowed perpetual virginity ; and it is clear that, together with Athene and Artemis, she upheld among the Greeks the idea of virginal purity as a tran- scendental phase of life, a moral perfection whereto the best and purest might not only aspire, but attain, as the re- sult of earnest endeavor. * Sophocl. Fragm. xxiii. (ed. Brunck.) THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 149 DEMETER. Demeter, " Earth-Mother," was an original Greek con- ception, corresponding to one common among the Oriental nations, the conception personified by Mant in Egypt, Beltis or Mylitta in Babylon, Cybele in Phrygia, etc. The earth on which man lives, and from which he derives the food that sustains him, was viewed as a kind and bountiful parent the nurse, the feeder, the supporter, the sustainer of mankind.' Personified as a goddess, she demanded the worship and gratitude of all, and was hence a universal deity, though specially honored in certain places. In the Greek religion Demeter was closely connected with agri- culture, since the earth in Greece did not support men without toil. She made the Greeks acquainted with the growing of cereals, the operations of tillage, and bread- making. Moreover , as agriculture was " the foundation of all social and political ordinances, and inseparably connected with the introduction of peaceable and orderly ways of life, Demeter, under her title of Thesmophoros, was the ennobler of mankind, the founder of civilization and law-giving." She was thus more in Greece than she was in Asia. Her position in the greatest of the mysteries the Eleusinian was probably owing to this double function, this combina- tion of a Natui*e-goddess with a deity of law and order, the power that led man on from the simple nomadic condition to all the refinements and complications of advanced polit- ical life. " These were the prime in order and in might; The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Th' Ionian gods, of Javan's issue held Gods, yet confess'd later than heav'n and earth, Their boasted parents: Titan, Heav'n's first-born, With his enormous brood, and birthright seiz'd By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove, His own and Ileah's son. like measure found: So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Crete And Ida known, thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air. Their highest heav'n ; or on the Delphian cliff, Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds Of Doric land ; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields, Aud o'er the Celtic roaiu'd the utmost isles. 150 EELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve Got them new names; till wand'ring o'er the earth, Through God's high suff' ranee for the trial of man, By falsiti es and ies the greatest part Of mankind they corrupted to forsake God their Creator, and th' invisible Glory of Him that made them to transform Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And devils to adore for deities : Then they were known to men by various names, And various idols through the heathen world." Among the deities external to the Olympic circle, the most important were Dionysus, Leto, Persephone, and Hades or Aidoneus. Dionysus is generally admitted to have been derived from an Oriental source. The word probably meant originally " the judge of men," * and re- ferred to a special function of the god, who was thought to pass sentence on the departed when they reached the other world. Essentially, however, Dionysus was the god of inebriety, the deification of drunkenness, as Ares was of violence, and Aphrodite of sensual desire. He was viewed as -the crea- tor of the vine, or at any rate as its introducer into Greece ; the teacher of its culture, and the discoverer of the exhilara- ting properties of its fruit. The worship of Dionysus was effected by taking part in his orgies, and these were of a furious and ecstatic character, accompanied with exciting music, with wild dances, with shrieks and cries, and some- times with bloodshed. Both men and women joined in the Dionysiac rites, the women outdoing the men in the vio- lence of their frenzy. "Crowds of females, clothed with fawn-skins, and bearing the sacred thyrsus, flocked to the solitudes of Parnassus or Cithaeron or Taygetus, during the consecrated triennial period, passed the night there with torches, and abandoned themselves to demonstrations of frantic excitement, with dancing and clamorous invocation of the god. The men yielded to a similar impulse by noisy revels in the streets, sounding the cymbals and tambourine, and carrying the image of the god in procession." f Every sort of license and excess was regarded as lawful on these * See the " Transactions, of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," vol. II. pp. 33. 81. t Grote, " History of Greece," VQ}. {. p. 20. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 151 occasions, and the worship of the deity was incomplete un- less the votary reached an advanced stage of intoxication. Dionysiac festivals were fortunately not of frequent recur- rence, and were not everywhere celebrated in the same way. At Athens women took no part in the Dionysia ; and with men intellectual contests, and the witnessing of them, held 'he place of the rude revels elsewhere too common. Still the influence of Dionysiac worship on Greece generally must be regarded as excessively corrupting, and Dionysus must be viewed as, next to Aphrodite, the most objection- able of the Greek divinities. Leto, or Latona, as the Romans called her, when they adopted her into their pantheon, was, on the contrary, one of the purer and more elevating influences. She is wife of Zeus by a title quite as good as that of Hera,* and is a model of motherly love and wifely purity. Separate and peculiar function she has none, and it is difficult to account for her introduction among the Olympians. Perhaps she is to be regarded as ideal womanhood. Silent, unob- trusive, always subordinating herself to her children, majes- tic, chaste, kindly, ready to help and tend, she is in Olyrn- Kus what the Greek wished his wife to be in his own home, er very shadowiness according with the Greek notion of womanly perfection.! Mr. Gladstone suggests that she is a traditional deity, representing the woman through whom man's redemption was to come; J but there scarcely seems sufficient foundation for this view, which is not supported by any analogies in the mythologies of other nations. Persephone, the Roman Proserpine, was the queen of the dead ; far more than her shadowy husband, Hades, the real ruler of the infernal realm. She was represented as severely pure and chaste, even having become a wife against her will, and as awful and terrible, but not cruel. She oc- cupied no very important post in the religion, since her sphere was wholly the nether world, which only very sliirhtly engaged the attention of the Hellenes. Hades, or Aidoneus, had a high rank, as the brother of Zeus, and in * Hesiod says that she hecame the wife of Zeus before Hera ("Theogony,"!!. 918-221). t Cyinpare the line of Sophocles ' O woman, silence is the woman's crown." (Aj ax, I 293.) } " Hoiner and the Homeric Age," vol. ii. p. 153. 152 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. some sort his co-equal ; but he was as shadowy as the realm over which he presided, and to most Greeks was simply magni nominis umbra " the shadow of a great name," which they must reverence when they heard it, but not a deity, who to any extent occupied their thoughts, or received their worship.* It would be easy to occupy many more pages with the Greek minor deities, but our limits compel us to refrain, and to turn at this point from the objects to the character of the worship, and to the real practical influence of their religion upon the Greek race. In the main, the Greek worship was of a joyous, pleas- ant, and lightsome kind. The typical Greek was devoid of any deep sense of sin thought well of himself did not think very highly of the gods, and considered that, so long as he kept free from grave and heinous offences, either the moral law or against the amour-propre of the deities, he had little to fear, while he had much to hope, from them. He prayed and offered sacrifice, not so much in the way of expiation, or to deprecate God's wrath, as in the way of natural piety, to ask for blessings and to acknowledge them. He made vows to the gods in sickness, danger, or difliculty, and was careful to perform his vow on escape or recovery. His house was full of shrines, on which he continually laid small offerings, to secure the favor and protection of his special patron deities. Plato says that he prayed every morning and evening, and also concluded every set meal with a prayer or hymn. But these devotions seem not to have been very earnest or deep, and were commonly hurried through in a perfunctory mannery. Practically, the religious worship of the Greeks consisted mainly in attendance on festivals which might be Pan-Hel- lenic, political, tribal, or peculiar to a guild or phratria. Each year brought round either one or two of the great panegyric* the festivals of the entire Greek race at Olym- pia and Delphi, at Ncmea and the Isthmus of Corinth. There were two great Ionic festivals annually, one at Delos, and the other at the Panionium near Mycale. Each state and city throughout Greece had its own special festivals, Compare Pollinger, ".Tow and Gentile," vol. i. p. 03: " The people did not trouble themselves much about Hades, and they saw no altars dedicated to him. There was one image of him at Athens, but he had hardly anywhere a regular worship." THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 153 Dionysia, 'Eleusinia, Panathenaea, Carneia, Hyakinthia, Apaturia, etc. Most of these were annual, and some lasted several days. A Greek had no " Sunday " no sacred day recurring at set intervals, on which his thoughts were bound to be directed to religion ; but so long a time as a week scarcely ever passed without his calendar calling him to some sacred observance or other, some feast or ceremony, in honor of some god or goddess, or in commemoration of some event important in the history of mankind,* or in that of his race, or of his city. And these festivals were highly attractive to him. Generally they were joyful oc- casions from first to last, celebrated with music, and pro- cessions, with gymnastic or orchestral competitions, or with theatrical contests. Ordinarily they include sacrifice, and feasting upon the victims sacrificed. Even when they were professedly of a mournful character, like the Spartan Hyak- inthia, the opening days of which were days of sadness and of gloom, they commonly concluded with a more genial time a time of banqueting and dancing. Accordingly, the Greek looked forward to his holy days as true holidays, and was pleased to combine duty with pleasure by taking his place in the procession, or the temple, or the theatre, to which inclination and religion alike called him. , Thou- sands and tens of thousands flocked to each of the great Pan-Hellenic gatherings, delighting in the splendor and excitement of the scene, in the gay dresses, the magnificent equipages, the races, the games, the choric, and other con- tests. " These festivals," as has been well observed, f " were considered as the very cream of the Greek life, their periodical recurrence being expected with eagerness and greeted with joy." Similarly, though to a minor extent, each national or even tribal gathering was an occasion of enjoy- ment ; cheerfulness, hilarity, sometimes an excessive ex- hilaration, prevailed; and the religion of the Greeks, in these its most striking and obvious manifestations was altogether bright, festive, and pleasurable. But, just as sunshine cannot exist without shadow, so even the Greek religion, bright as it was, had its dark side. Calamities befel nations, families, or individuals, and were * E. ; Servius (" Cornm. ad. Virg. Georg." i <>), and Macrobius (''.Saturn." i. 18) from crco. t Schmidt, in Smith's " Diet, of G^eek and Roman Biog." voL iii. p. 720. THE I;KLK;IONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 103 OPS. "With Saturn must be placed Ops, who was sometimes called his wife, and whose worship certainly stood in a very flose connection with his. Ops was properly the divinity of field-labor (opus, opera) ; but as such labor is productive of wealth, Ops came to be also the goddess of plenty and of riches, and her name is the root-element in such words as "litmus, opulentus, inops, and the like. She was generally worshipped together with Saturn, and had temples in com- mon with him ; but still she had her own separate sanctuary on the Capitoline hill,* where honors were paid to her apart from any other deity. Her festival, the Opalia, fell on December 19th, or the third day of the Saturnalia, and was thus practically merged in that of the god of agriculture. Ops, like Ceres is sometimes confounded with Tellus, but the three goddesses were to the Latin mind distinct, Tellus bring a personification of the earth itself, Ceres of the pro- ductive power in natnre, which brings forth fruits out of the earth, and Ops of the human labor without which the pro- ductive power runs to waste, and is insufficient for the susten- ance of human life. HERCULES. The near resemblance of Hercules to Heracles led, almost necessarily, to the idea, everywhere prevalent until recently, that the two gods were identical, and that therefore either Hercules was an ancient deity common to the Latins with the Hellenes before the former migrated into Italy, or else that he was an importation from Greece, introduced at a comparatively late period. Recently, however, the etymo- logical connection of the two names has been questioned, and it has been suggested f that Hercules is, like Ceres, and Saturn, and Ops, and Mars, and Minerva, a genuine Italic god, quite unconnected with Heracles, who is a genuine Hellenic divinity. The root of the name Hercules has been found in hercus ( ipx^ ) " a fence " or " enclosure," whence Liv. xxxix. 22. t Momuisen, "History of Rome," vol. i. p. 174. 164 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. hercere or arcere, " to ward off," "keep back," "shield." Hercules, whose worship was certainly as ancient at Rome as that of any other deity, would thus be " the god oi property and gain."* He was regarded as presiding ovei faith, the basis of the social contract, and of all dealings between man and man, and hence was known as J)eusjidiits, *' the god of good faith," who avenged infractions of it. In the early times he seems to have had no temple at Rome ; but his Great Altar in the cattle-market was one of the most sacred sites in the city ; f oaths were sworn there and contracts concluded; nor was it unusual for Roman citizens to devote to it a tenth part of their property, for the purpose of obtaining the god's favor, or for the fulfil- ment of a vow. The worship of Hercules was not exclu- sively Roman, not even Latin, but Italic. He was ".rever- enced in every spot of Italy, and had altars erected to him everywhere, in the streets of the towns as well as by the roadsides."| MERCTJRIUS. Mercurius was the god of commerce and traffic generally. As trade was not looked upon with much respect at Rome, his position among the " great gods " was a low one. He had no very ancient temple or priesthood, and, when allowed the honor of a temple in the second decade of the Republic, his worship seems to have been regarded as plebeian and of an inferior character. Connected with it was a " guild of merchants " || (collegium mercatorum), called aftewards, " Mercuriales," who met at the temple on certain fixed days for a religious purpose. The cult of Mer- cury was, like that of Hercules, very widely diffused ; but it was affected chiefly by the lower orders, and had not much hold upon the nation. NKPTUNIS. The Latin Neptune is reasonably identified with the * Mommsen, " History of Rome," vol. i., p. 74. t See Liv. i. 7; ix. 2i). t Mommsen, 1. s.o. Liv. ii. 27. |i Niebuhr, " History of Rome," vol. i. p. 589, note, E. T. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 165 Etruscan Nethuns,* who was a water god, widely wor- shipped by that seafaring people. The word is probably to be connected with the root nib or nip, found in V'ITTTU, VUTTTJP, xrp-vt&-a, f. r. A. There is not much trace of the worship of Neptune at Rome in the early times, for Livy's identification of him with Consus,| the god honored in the Consualia, cannot be allowed. We find his cult, however, fully established in the second century of the Republic,:): when it was united with that of Mercury, the mercantile deity. In later times he had an altar in the Circus Flam- inius, and a temple in the Campus Martius. A festival was held in his honor, called Neptunalia, on the 23rd day of July, which was celebrated with games, banquets, and carousals. The people made themselves booths at this time with the branches of trees, and feasted beneath the pleasant shade of the green foilage. Roman admirals, on quitting port with a fleet, were bound to sacrifice to Neptune, and the entrails of the victims were thrown into the sea. After the Greek mythology became known to the Romans, Nep- tune was completely identified with Poseidon, and became invested with all his attributes. Amphitrite became his wife, and the Nerieds his companions. In succession to the twelve deities of the first rank may be placed the following important groups : 1. The gods of the country : Tellus, or Mother Earth ; Silvanus, god of the woods ; Flora Pomona, goddess of orchards ; Pomona, goddess of flowers; Faunus ("favoring god"), pi'esiding over flocks and heixls; and Vertumnus, god of the changing year (verto). 2. The State gods : Terminus, god of the boundary ; Census, god of the State's secret counsels ; Quirinus, god of the Quirinal and of the Quirites, or Roman people ; and the Penates, god of the State's property (penus). 3. The personifications of abstract qualities : Pietas, goddess of piety ; Fides, of faith ; Spes, of hope ; Pax, of peace abroad ; Concordia, of peace at home; Libertas, of liberty; Fortuna, of good luck; Ju- ventas, of youth ; Salus, of health ; Pudicitia, of modesty ; Victoria, of victory ; Cupid, god of desire ; Pavot, of fright ; Pallor, of paleness ; and the like. 4. The Nature gods j Ccelus, Terra, Sol, Lunus, or Luna, ^Esculanus, Argentinus, etc. And 5. The divinities introduced from Greeco : * Taylor, "Etruscan Researches," p. 138. t Liv. i. 0. J Ibid. v. 13. Hor. Od.iii. 28, 1. 10. 166 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. Apollo, Bacchus, Latona, Pluto, Plutus, Proserpine, Castor, Pollux, ^Esculapius, Priapus, ./Eolus, the Fates, the Furies, etc. To this brief sketch of the chief objects of worship among the ancient Romansj it follows to add some account of the character of the worship itself. The worship of most of the. gods was specially provided for by the State, which established paid priesthoods, to secure the continual rendering of the honors due to each. The highest order of priests bore the name of Flamines, which is thought to mean " kindlers of fire," * i.e., offerers of burnt sacrifice. The Flamines were of two classes, Majores and Minores, the former of whom were always taken from the patrician order. These were the Flamen Dialis, or " priest of Jove," the Flamen Martialis, or " priest of Mars," and the Flamen Quirinalis, or " priest of Quirinus." Among the Flamen Minores, many of whom were of late in- stitution, we find those of Vertummis, Flora, Pomona, and Vulcan. | The Flamen was in each case the principal ^sacrificing priest in the chief temple of the god or goddess, and was bound to be in continual attendance upon the shrine, and to superintend the entire worship offered at it. In addition to the Flamen, or in his place, there was attached to all temples a collegium, or body of priests, which might consist of all the male members of a particular family, as the Potitii and Pinarii,$ but was more commonly a close cor- poration, limited in number, and elected by co-optation, i.e., by the votes of the existing members. Amongst the most important of these corporations were the two collegia of Salii, or " dancing priests," which were attached to the temple of Mars upon the Palatine hill, and to that of Quirinus upon the Quirinal. The former Salii Palatini had the charge of the ancilia, or sacred shields, one of which was believed to have fallen from heaven, and to be fatally connected with the safety of the Roman State. In the great festival of Mars, with which the year opened, they marched in procession through the city, bearing the ancilia on their shoulders, and striking them from time to time, as they danced and sang, with a rod. The Salii of Quirinus Salii Collini or Agonales were a less important college. Their duties connected them with the worship of * Mommsen, " History of Rome," vol. i. p. 175. t Ennius ap. Varrouein, " De Ling. Lat," vii 44, i Liv. i. T THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 167 Quirinus, who is believed by some to have been the Sabine Mai-s,* Jind with the festival of the Quirinalia. Like the other Salii, they no doubt performed war-dances in honor of their patron deity. A third collegium, or priestly corpora- tion of high rank, was that of the six Vestal Virgins, at- tached, as their names implies, to the worship of Vesta, arid regarded with peculiar veneration, as having vowed them- selves to chastity in the service of the nation. Other collegia of some importance, but of a lower rank, were that of the Fratres Arvales, a college of twelve priests attached to the cult of Ceres, who celebrated a festival to her as the Dea dia (divine goddess) in the early summer time ; and that of the Luperci, or " wolf-expellers," a shifting body of persons, whose chief business it was to conduct the Lupercalia, a festival held annually on the 15th of February, in honor of Lupercus, or Faunas. The Sodales Titii had duties similar to those of the Fratres Arvales ; and the Flamines Curiales, thirty in number, offered sacrifices for the preservation of the thirty curies of the original Roman people. From these collegia of priests, we must carefully dis- tinguish the learned corporations, " colleges of sacred lore," as they have been called,* who had no priestly duties, and no special connection with any particular deity. There were four principal colleges of this kind those of the Pontifices, the Augurs, the Fetials, and the Duumviri sacrorum. The Pontifices, originally four (or five, if we include the pontifex maximus), but afterwards raised to nine, and ultimately to sixteen, had the general superintendence of religion. They exercised a control over all the priests, even the Flamens. They were supposed to be thoroughly ac- quainted with all the traditions with regard to the appro- priate worship of each divinity ; to tinderstand the mysteries of numbers, and to be deeply versed in astronomy whence th'-y settled the calendar, determining when each festival \v.is to be held, and what days -were fasti or nefasti, i.e., days suitable for the transaction of business, or the contrary. All prodigies and omens had to be reported to them ; and with them it lay to determine what steps should be taken to appease the gods in connection with each. They had to furnish the proper formula on all great religious occasions, * Mommsen, vol. i. pp. 87 and 175. 168 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. as the dedication of a temple,* the self-devotion of a general,] and the like. There was no appeal from their decisions, un less in some cases to the people ; and they could enfora obedience by the infliction of fines, and, under certain cir cumstances, of death. The Augurs, originally four, like the Pontiffs, and raised like them, first to nine and later to sixteen, were regardec as possessed especially of the sacred lore connected \vitl birds. Augural birds were limited in number, and were believed to give omens in three ways, by flight, by note, 01 by manner of feeding. The Augurs knew exactly what coil' stituted a good, and what a bad, omen in all these ways, They were consulted whenever the State commenced any important business. No assembly could be held, no election could take place, no war could be begun, no consul could quit Rome, no site for a new temple could be fixed on, unless the Augurs were present, and pronounced that the birds gave favorable omens. In war, they watched the feed- ing of the sacred chickens, and allowed or forbade engage- ments, according as the birds ate greedily or the contrary. Divination from celestial phenomena, especially thunder and lightning, was, at a comparatively late date, added to their earlier functions. As their duties enabled them to ex- ercise a veto upon laws, and very seriously to influence elections, the office was much sought after by candidates for political power, and was regarded as one of the highest digni- ties in the State. $ The Fetials, a college of (probably) twenty persons, were the living depositary of international law and right. All the treaty obligations of Rome and her neighbors were supposed to be known to them, and it was for them to determine when a war could be justly undertaken, and what reparation should be demanded for injuries. Not only did they furnish the forms for demanding satisfaction, declar- ing war, |! and making peace,1F but their own person'nl inter- vention was requisite in every case. Invested with a sacred character, they were the intermediaries employed by the State in making complaints, proclaiming war, and seeing that treaties were concluded with the proper formalities. In the conclusion of such engagements they even acted as Liv. I. 40. t Ibid. v. iii. 9; x. 28. J Cic. T)e Leg. ii. 12. L,v. i. 32. || Ibid. T Ibid. i. 24. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOULD. 169 veritable priests, slaying with their own hands the victims, by offering which a sacred character was driven to treaty obligations. The Duumviri sacrorum were the keepers, consulters, and interpreters of the Sibylline books, a collection of pretended prophecies, written in Greek, and no doubt derived from a Greek source. They were, as their names implies, a colle- gium of two 'persons only,* and in the early times were re- quired to be Romans of a very high rank. As such persons, not unfrequently, were very ignorant of the Greek, the State furnished them with two slaves well acquainted with the language. It was customary to consult the Sibylline books in case of pestilence, or of an extraordinary pi'odigy, and to follow scrupulously the advice which they were thought to give in reference to the occasion. Such was the learned colleges of ancient Rome. Though exercising considerable political influence, they never became dangerous to the State, from the circumstance that they could in no case take the initiative. Their business was to give answers to inquirers ; and, until consulted, they were dumb. Private persons as well as public officers might appeal to them ; and calls were frequently made on them to bring forth their secret knowledge into the light of day by the magistrates. But it was of their essence to be con- sultative, and not initiative, or even executive bodies. Hence, notwithstanding the powers which they wielded, and the respect in which they were held, they at no time became a danger to the State. Sacerdotalism plays no part in Roman history. " Notwithstanding all their zeal for religion, the Romans adhered with unbending strictness to the principle, that the priest ought to remain completely powerless in the State, and excluded from command, ought, like any other burgess, to render obedience to the humblest magistrate." f The public religion of the Romans consisted, mainly, in the observance by the State of its obligation (relif/io) to provide for the cult of certain traditional deities, which it did by building temples, establishing priesthoods, and se- curing the continuance of both by endowments. Further, the State showed a constant sense of religion by the posi- tion which it assigned to augury, and the continual need of * The office was subsequently expanded into that of the decemviri acris faciundis, who ultimately became quindecimviri. t Mommsen, " History of Rome," vol. i. p. 180. 170 EELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. . " taking the auspices " on all important civil occasional 111 declaring war, religious formula? were used ; in con- ducting it, the augurs, or their .subordinates, were fre- quently consulted ; in bringing it to an end and establishing peace, the fetials had to be called in, and the sanction of religion thus secured to each pacific arrangement. The great officers of the State were inducted into their posts with religious solemnities, and were bound to attend and take their part in certain processions and sacrifices. In times of danger and difficulty the State gave orders for special religious ceremonies, to secure the favor of the gods, or .avert their wrath. The religion of the mass of the people consisted princi- pally in four things: 1. Daily offerings by each head of a household (paterfamilias) to the Lares of his own house. The Lares were viewed as household gods, who watched over each man's hearth and home, each house having its own special Lares. In theory they were the spirits of an- cestors, and their chief, the Lar familiaris, was the spirit of the first ancestoi-, the oi-iginator of the family ; but practically the ancestral idea was not prominent. In re- spectable houses there was always a lararium,* or "lar- chapel," containing the images of the Lares ; and each re- ligious Roman commenced the day with prayer in this place, accompanying his prayer, upon most occasions, with offerings, which were placed before the images in little dishes (patella^). The offerings were continually renewed at meal-times ; and on birthdays and other days of rejoicing the images were adorned with wreaths, and the lararia were thrown open. 2. Occasional thank-offerings to par- ticular gods from persons who thought they had been favored by them. These were carried to the temples by the donors, and made over to the priests, who formally offered them, with an accompaniment of hymns and prayers. 3. Vows and their performance. To obtain a particular favor from a god supposed to be capable of grant- ing it, a Roman was accustomed to utter a vow, by which he bound himself to make the god a certain present, in case he obtained his desire. The present might be a tem- * The Emperor Alexander Sevonis had two lararia, and included amongst the Lares of the one, Abraham, Orpheus, Alexander the Great, and Christ; amongst those of the other, Achilles, Cicero, and Virgil. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 171 pie, or an altar, or a statue, or a vase, or any other work of art, but was almost always something of a permanent character. The Roman, having made his vow, and got his wish, was excessively scrupulous in the discharge of his obligation, which he viewed as of the most binding char- acter. 4. Attendance at religious festivals the Carmen- talia, Cerealia, Compitalia, Consualia, Floralia, Lemuralia, Lupercalia, etc. This attendance was in no sense obligatory, and was viewed rather as pleasure than duty the festivals being usually celebrated with games (ludi) and other amuse- ments. Upon the whole, the Roman religion, as compared with others, and especially with that of the Greeks, strikes us as dull, tame, and matter-of-fact. There is no beauty in it, no play of the imagination, and very little mystery. It is "of earth, earthly." Its gods are not great enough, or powerful enough, to impress the mind of the worshipper with a permanent sense of religious awe they do not force the soul to bow down before them in humility and self-abasement. The Roman believes in gods, admits that he receives benefits from them, allows the duty of grati- tude, and, as a just man, punctually discharges the obliga- tions of his religion.* But his creed is not elevating it does not draw him on to another world it does not raise in him any hopes of the future. Like the Sadducee, he thinks that God rewards and punishes men, as He does nations, in this life ; his thoughts rarely turn to another ; and if they do, it is with a sort of shiver at the prospect of becoming a pale shade, haunting the neighborhood of the of the tomb, or dwelling in the cold world beneath, shut out from the light of day. If the Roman religion may be said to have had any- where a deeper character than this to have been mys- terious, soul-stirring, awful it was in connection with the doctrine of expiation. In the bright clime of Italy, and in the strong and flourishing Roman community, intensely conscious of its own life and vigor, the gods could not but be regarded predominantly as beneficent beings, who showered blessings upon mankind. But occasionally, under special circumstances, a different feeling arose. Earth- quakes shook the city, and left gre.at yawning gaps in its * Note the idea of obligation as predominant in the word " religion, " from re and U-yo or liyo, " to bind " or " tie." 172 RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. streets or squares ; the Tiber overflowed its banks, and in. undated all the low regions that lay about the Seven Hills ; pestilence broke out, destroying thousands, and threatening to carry off the entire people ; or the fortune of war hung in suspense, nay, even turned against the warrior nation. At such times a sense of guilt arose, and pressed heavily on the consciences of the Romans ; they could not doubt that Heaven was angry with them ; they did not dare to dispute that the Divine wrath was provoked by their sins. Then sacrifice, which in Rome was generally mere thank-offering, took the character of atonement or ex- piation. The gods were felt to require a victim, or victims ; and something must be found to content them something of the best and dearest that the State possessed. What could this be but a human sacrifice ? Such a sacrifice might be either voluntary or involuntary. Enhanced by the noble quality of patriotic self-abnegation, a single victim sufficed more especially if he were of the best and noblest a young patrician of high promise, like Marcus Curtius,* or an actual consul, like the Decii.f Without this quality there must be several victims either a sacred and com- plete number, like the thirty, once offered annually at the Lemuralia, whereof the thirty rush dolls thrown yearly into the Tiber were a reminiscence, or else an indefinite num- ber, such as the gods themselves might determine on, as when a " ver sacrum " was proclaimed, and all offspring, both of men and of sacrificial cattle, produced within the first month of opening spring (Aprilis, were devoted to death and sacrificed to avert God's wrath from the na- tion. J The mythological fables in which the Greeks indulged from a very early date were foreign to the spirit of the Romans, who had no turn for allegory, and regarded the gods with too much respect and fear to invent tales about them. No traditional accounts of the dealings of the gods one with another gave a divine sanction to immorality, or prevented the Romans from looking up to their divinities as at once greater and better than themselves. The moral law was recognized as an accepted standard with them, and its vindication whenever it was transgressed rested Liv. vii. 0. t Ibid. vii. 0; x. 28. 4 See Festm, sub vor. " Ver sacrum," and compare Liv. xxiii. 9, 10; xxxiv. 44; Servius ad Virg. ^En. vii. 790, etc. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 1/3 with the deity within whose special sphere the offence was conceived to fall. Hercules avenged broken faith ; Ops and Ceres punished the lazy cultivator ; ill-conducted ma- trons incurred the anger of Juno ; the violation of parental or filial duty fell under the cognizance of Jupiter. When- ever conduct was felt to be wrong, yet the civil law visited the misconduct with no penalty, the displeasure of the gods supplemented the legal defect, and caused the offender in course of time to meet with due punishment. Their belief on this head was, in part, the effect, but it was also, in part, the cause of those profound moral convictions which distinguished the Romans among ancient nations. They were deeply impressed with the reality of moral dis- tinctions, and convinced that sin was in all cases followed by suffering. The stings of conscience received inereased force and power from the belief in a Divine agency that seconded the judgments of conscience, and never failed to punish offenders.* It is not the object of the present work to trace the changes which came in course of time over the Roman rc- ligiou, or even to note the corrupting influences to which it was exposed. The subject of " Ancient Religions " is so large a one, that we have felt compelled to limit ourselves in each of our portraitures to the presentation of the re- ligion in a single aspect, that namely, which it wore at the full completion of its natural and national development. To to build the Tower of Babel, and represents him as the prime mover in that impious enterprise. The Moham- junliins have a tradition that he lived somewhat later, and was brought into contact with Abraham, whom he at- tempted to burn to death in a furnace of fire. In Arabian astronomy he appears as a giant who at his decease was translated to heaven, and transformed into the constellation which the Arabs called El Jabbar, " the Giant," and the Greeks Orion. These tales have, of course, but little value in themselves ; they are merely important as showing how large a space this monarch occupied in the imaginations of the Eastern races, a fact only to be accounted for by his having once filled a prominent position. That position is declared in the " Nabathojan Agriculture," an Arabic work of great antiquity, to have been the position of a king the founder of a dynasty which long bore sway over the land. Another sign of the reality of Nimrod's rule is to be found in the attachment of his name to various sites in the Meso- potamian region. The remarkable ruin generally called Akkcrkuf, which lies a little to the south-west of Baghdad, is known to many as the " Tel-Nimrud ; " the great dam across the Tigris below Mosul is the " Sahr-el-Nimrud ; " one of the chief of the buried cities in the same neighbor- hood is called " Nimrud " simply ; and the name of " Birs- Nitnrud " attaches to the the grandest mass of ruins in tho lower country. * *See Rich's " Journey to Babylon," p. 2. note. 10 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The fourth fact that Nimrod, and therefore probably his people, was of Cushite origin, has been strenuously denied by some, even among modern critics.* But ancient classical tradition and recent linguistic research agree in establishing a close connection between the early inhabitants of the lower Mesopotamian plain and the people, which, under the vari- ous names of Cushites, Ethiopians, and Abyssinians, has long been settled upon the middle Nile. Memnon, king of Ethiopia, according to Hesiod and Pindar, led an army of combined Ethiopians and Susianians to the assistance of Priam, king of Troy. Belus, according to the genealogists, was the son of Libya (or Africa) ; he married Anchinoe, daughter of Nilus, and had issue JEgyptus. Names which are modifications of Cush have always hung about the lower Mesopotamian region, indicating its primitive connection with the Gush upon the Nile. The Greeks called the Susi- anians " Kissii," and a neighboring race " Kossaei." The early Babylonians had a city, " Kissi," and a leading tribe in their country was called that of the " Kassu." Even now the ancient Susiania is known as " Khuzistan," the land of Khuz, or of the Cushites. Standing alone, these would be weak arguments ; but weight is lent them by the support which they obtain from the facts of language. Sir Henry Rawlinson, the first translator of primitive Babylonian docu- ments, declares the vocabulary employed to be " decidedly Cushite or Ethiopian," and states that he was able to inter- pret the inscriptions chiefly by the aid which was furnished to him from published works on the Galla (Abyssinian) and the JVIahra (South Arabian) dialects. f " The .whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the cast [eastward, marg.], that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make hrick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let iis make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the lower, which the children of men huilded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language ; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them * See Bunsen's "Philosophy of History, " vol. Hi., pp. 100, 191. t See the author's " Herodotus," vol. i., p. 441. NOTICES IN GENESIS. H abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth ; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." GE*T. xi. 1-9. We have here the scriptural account of the meaning of the name " Babel," the jmmitive term which the Greeks converted into " Babylon," but which remains even now attached to a portion of the ruins that mark the site of the great city, almost in its original form.* The etymology was not accepted by the Babylonians themselves, who wrote the word in a way which shows that they considered it to mean " the Gate of God." This has been regarded by some as a contradiction of the scriptural account ; but we may recon- cile the two by supposing either that the name was first given in scorn, and that afterwards a better meaning was found for it, or (more probably) that the word, having been intended by the Babylonians themselves in the sense of "the Gate of God," was from the first understood in a different sense by others, who connected it with the " confusion " of tongues. The word is capable of both etymologies, and may from the first have been taken in both senses by different persons. The account of the origin of the name is connected with an historical narrative, of which the following are the chief incidents: 1. A body of men, who had occupied the plain of Shinar, disliking the idea of that dispersion which was continually taking place, and scattering men more and more widely over the earth, determined to build a city, and to adorn it with a lofty tower, in order that they might get themselves a name, and become a centre of attraction in the world. 2. The materials which they found to their hand, and which they employed in building, were burnt brick and "slime," or bitumen. 3. They had built their city, and raised their tower to a certain height, when God interfered Avith their Avork. By confounding the language of the Avork- meu, He made it impossible for them to understand each other's speech, and the result Avas that the design, for the. time at least, fell through. The people " left off to build the city," and the mass of them dispersed, and "were scat- tered abroad upon the face of the earth." * The northernmost of the three gre.-.t mounds which mark th ruins of Babylon is called by the Arabs Babil. 12 EGYPT AND BABYLON. It would not hare been surprising if profane history had contained no notice of this matter. It belongs clearly to a very remote antiquity, a time anterior as it might have been supposed to records, and lost in the dark night of ages. But the fact seems to be that the Babylonians either recorded at the time, or at any rate bore in memory, the transaction. Two Greek writers, who drew their Baby- lonian histories from native sources, noticed the occurrence, and gave an account of it, which is in most respects very close to the biblical narrative. Alexander Polyhistor said, that " Once upon a time, when the whole race of mankind were of one language, a certain number of them set to work to build a great tower, thinking to climb up to heaven ; but God caused a wind to blow, and cast the tower down, at the same time giving to every man his own peculiar speech. On which account the city was called Babylon." Abydcnus, a somewhat later historian, treated the subject at greater length. " At this time," he said, " the ancient race of men were so puffed up with their strength and tallness of stature, that they began to despise and contemn the gods, and la- bored to erect that very lofty tower, which is now called Babylon, intending thereby to scale heaven. But when the building approached the sky, behold, the gods called in the aid of the winds, and by their help overthrew the tower, and cast it to the ground. The name of the ruins is still called Babel ; because until this time all men had used the same speech, but now there was sent upon them a confusion of many and diverse tongues." These passages have long been known, and have been ad- duced as probable evidence that the native Babylonian records contained a notice respecting the tower of Babel and the con- fusion of human speech. But it is only recently that such a record has been unearthed. Among the clay tablets brought from Babylonia by Mr. George Smith, and deposited in the British Museum, is one unfortunately much mutilated, which seems clearly to have contained the Babylonian account of the matter. The main portions of this document are as follows : "Babylon corruptly to sin wont, and Small and great wens mingled on the mound ; Babylon corruptly to sin went, and Small and great were mingled on the mound. * * NOTICES IN GENESIS. 13 Their work all day they builded; But to their stronghold in the night Entirely an end God made, la His anger also His secret counsel He poured forth, He set His face to scatter; He gave command to make strange their speech; Their progress He impeded. * * * * In that day He blew, and for [all] future time The mountain (was demolished ?); Lawlessness stalked forth abroad ; And, though God spake to them, Men went their ways, and strenuously Opposed themselves to God. He saw, and to the earth came down; No stop he made, while they Against the gods revolted * * * * Greatly they wept for Babylon; Greatly they wept." * " It came to pass in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations, that these made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim. which is the salt sea. Twelve years tlTey served Chedorlaomer." GEX. xiv. 1-4. The chief fact relating to Babylon, which this passage contains, is its subjection in the time of Abraham to a neigh- boring country called here Elam. Amraphel, the king of Shinar, the country whereof Babylon was the capital (Gen. x. 10 ; xi. 2-9), is plainly, in the entire narrative (Gen. xiv. L-17), secondary and subordinate to Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. The conquered monarchs " serve " Chedorlaomer (ver. 4), not Amraphel ; Chedorlaomer leads both expedi- tions, the other kings are " with him " (vers. 5, 17), as sub- ordinate allies, or, more probably, as tributaries. This is an inversion of the usual position occupied by Babylonia towards its eastern neighbor, of which, until recently, there was no profane confirmation. Recently, however, traces have been found of anElamitio conquest of Babylon, and also of an Elamitic dynasty there at an early date, which show that there were times when the more eastern of the two countries which lay side by side upon the Lower Tigris had the greater power, and exercised do- minion over the more western. Asshur-bani-pal, the son of * See " Records of the Past," vol. viL, pp. 131, 132. 14 EGYPT AND BABYLOtf. Esar-haddon, relates that in his eighteenth year (B ; c. 651) he restored to the Babylonian city of Erech certain images of gods, which had been carried off from them as trophies of victory 1635 years previously by Kudur-Nakhunta, king of Elam, to adorn his capital city of Susa. The primitive Babylonian monuments also show a second conquest of Babylon from the same quarter, and the establishment of a dynasty there, which is known as " Elamite," * about n. c. 1600, or a little later. This dynasty consisted of two kings, Kudur-Mabuk and Rim-agu (a name which has been compared with "Arioch"). It is thus evident that Elam was, in the early period of Babylonian history, a country of about equal power with Babylon, and one which was able from time to time to ex- ercise dominion over her neighbor. It appears also that its kings affected, as one of the elements in their names, tho word "Chedor" or " Kudur," which is believed to have meant " servant," Chedorlaomer (or Chedor-Lagamer, as the word might be transliterated) being "the servant of Lagamer," a Susianian god, Kudur-Nakhunta, " the servant of Nakhunta," another god ; and Kudur-Mabuk, " the servant of Mabuk," a goddess. We may add, that " Amor " (Amra in " Amra-phel ") appears also as a root in the early Baby- lonian titles, f while Arioch is perhaps identical with the name of Rim-agu (or Eriaku), Kudur-Mabuk' s son and suc- cessor. Thus the notice in Gen. xiv. 1-4, without being directly confirmed by the monuments, is in close harmony with them, both Linguistic and historical. * George Smith's " History of Babylonia," pp. 11, 74. t Ibid., p. 10. NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 15 CHAPTER II. NOTICES OF BABYLON" IX THE BOOKS OF KINGS AND CHRONICLES. SCRIPTURE is silent on the subject of Babylon through the whole period from Genesis to Kings.* Israel, during the sojourn in Egypt, the wanderings in the wilderness, the time of the Judges, and the greater part of the time of the Kings, was never brought in contact with Babylonia or Babylonians ; and Scripture, which traces the religious history of the people of God, has therefore no occasion to mention the southern Mesopotamian power. Another power has interposed itself between Israel and Babylon the great empire of Assyria and has barred the path by which alone they could readily communicate. It is not till Assyria, nncTer the Sargonida3, is seriously threatening the independ- ence of both countries, that a common danger brings them together, and Babylon once more claims the attention of the sarrrd historians. The first notice of Babylon in the Books of Kings is the following : " At that time " [the time of Hezekiah's illness] " Berodach- Baladan, the sou of Baladan, King of Babylon, sent letters and a pres- ent unto Hczekiah : for he had heard that llezekiah had been sick. And Hczekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures : there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not." 2 Kings xx., 12. 13. The same circumstance is related, almost in the same words, by the prophet Isaiah, in one of his historical chap- ters. Isaiah says " At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king cf Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah ; for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah teas ylad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold," etc. ISA. xxxix. 1, 2. * The " Babylonish garment " coveted by Achan ( Josh.vii. 21) scarcely constitutes an exception. 16 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The author of Chronicles, without relating the circum- stance, makes a short comment upon it. After describing the riches, honor, and prosperity of Hezekiah, he adds " Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart." 2 CHRON. xxxii. 31. The reign of a Babylonian monarch, called Merodach- Baladan, at about the period indicated the latter part of the eighth century B. c. is recorded in the famous " Canon of Ptolemy," which assigns him the years between B. c. 722 and B. c. 710. That the same monarch, after being deprived of his throne, was restored to it, and had a second reign of six months' duration, is related by Alexander Polyhistor, the friend of Sulla.* This latter reign appears to have belonged to the year B. c. 703. So much is known to us from the classical writers. From the Assyrian monuments we learn that the relations between Babylonia and Assyria, during the reign of Merodach-Baladan, were hostile. Sargon re- lates that he attacked this king, whom he viewed as a rebel, in his first year, t defeated his ally, the king of Elam, and ravaged his territory, but without coming into contact with the Babylonian monarch himself. After this, troubles else- where forced him to leave Merodach-Baladan in peace for eleven years; but in his twelfth year he again invaded Babylonia, took Babylon, and made Merodach-Baladan apris- oner.t Five years after this, as we learn from Sennacherib's annals, on the death of Sargon, Babylonia revolted. Mero- dach-Baladan, escaping from the custody in which he was held, hastened to Babylon, r.nd re-established his authority over the whole southern kingdom. But Sennacherib at once marched against him, defeated his forces, recovered Babylon, and drove him to take refuge in the marshes of southern Chaldaea ; whence, after a short time, he fled across the Persian Gulf to southern Elam, where he died in exile. The embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah falls, by Archbishop Usher's chronology, which is here founded xipon Ptolemy's Canon, into the year B. c. 713. It would thus * Ap. Euseb. " Chron. Can." pars, i., c. 5. Both reigns are noticed In a recently deciphered Babylonian tablet. ("Proceedings of the Society of Bibl. Archreology " for 1884, pp. 169-8.) t George Smith, " History of Babylonia, p. 116. J Ibid., p. 123. Ibid., p. 125. NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 17 have taken place between Sargon's first and second attack, very shortly before the latter. The monuments do not mention it ; but they show that at this time Merodach-Bala- d:in \vas expecting the Assyrians to invade his country, was looking out for allies, and doing his best to strengthen his position. Under these circumstances it would be natural that he should seek the alliance of Hezekiah, who, at the op- posite end of the Assyrian dominions, had " rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not " (2 Kings xviii. 7). That he should cloak his design under the double pre- text that his object was to congratulate the Jewish king on his recovery from a dangerous illness (Isa. xxxix. 1), and to inquire concerning the astronomical " wonder done in the land " (2 Chron. xxxii. 31), is intrinsically probable, being consonant with. diplomatic practice both in the East and in the West. An astronomical marvel, such as that of the go- ing back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz (2 Kings xx. 11 ; Isa. xxxviii. 8), would naturally attract attention in Baby- lonia, where the phenomena of the heavens were observed with the utmost diligence from a very remote period. It must not be concealed that there is one important dis- crepancy between the scriptui-al narrative and the history of Merodach-Baladan, as recorded upon the Assyrian monu- ments. Merodach-Baladan is stated, both by Isaiah and by the compiler of the Book of Kings, to have been " the son of Baladan" on the monuments he is always called " the son of Yakina," or " Yakin." Mr. George Smith has sug- gested that Yakin was the name of the tribe whereto Merodach-Baladan belonged ; * but it can scarcely be argued that he was called " son of Yakin " on this account. Yakin must have been a person ; and if not the actual father of Merodach-Baladan, at any rate one of his progenitors. Per- haps the true explanation is, that Yakin was a more or less remote progenitor, the founder of the house, and Baladan (Bel-iddina ?) the actual father of Merodach-Baladan. By the former designation he was popularly known, by the latter in his official communications. " The Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, to carry him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself " History of Babylonia," p. 113. 18 EGYPT AND BABYLON. greatly before the God of his fathers ; and he prayed unto Him, and He was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom." 2 CHBON. xxxiii. 10-13. It appears by this passage, 1. That Manasseh, after hav- ing provoked God by a long course of wicked conduct, was attacked and made prisoner by the generals of a king of Assyria, who " took him among the thoras," or rather " took him with hooks," and bound him with fetters and so carried him with them to Babylon ; 2. That after hav- ing suffered captivity for a time, and repented of his wickedness, he was allowed by the king of Assyria to quit Babylon, and return to Jerusalem, where he was once more established in his kingdom. Three things are especially re- markable in this narrative : (a) the generals of the Assyrian monarch conduct Manasseh to their master, not at Nineveh, but at Babylon (b) they bring him into the royal presence " with hooks" and fettered ; \c) by an act of clemency, very unusual in the East, the Assyrian king pardons him. after a time, and goes so far as to reinstate him in his gov- ernment. We have to consider what light profane history throws upon these facts. And, first, how comes a king of Assyria to hold his court at Babylon? Nineveh is the Assyrian capital, and ordinarily the court is held there. If not there, it is held at Dur-sargina, where Sargon built himself a palace, or at Calah (Nimrud), where were the palaces of Asshur-izir-pal, Shalmaneser II., and Tiglath-Pileser II. What has caused the anomaly of a transfer of the court to the capital of another country? The Assyrian records fully explain this circumstance. Sen- nacherib, Hezekiah's contemporary, was succeeded by his son, Esar-haddon, who would thus be Manassch's contempo- rary. The Assyrian monuments tell us that this monarch inaugurated a new policy with respect to Babylonia. ]\Iost Assyrian kings who found themselves strong enough to re- duce that country to subjection, governed it by means of a native or Assyrian viceroy ; and this was the plan adopted by Sennacherib, Esar-haddon's father. But Esar-haddon, when he came to the throne, acted differently. He assumed the double title of " King of Assyria and Babylonia," ap- pointed no viceroy, but, having built himself a palace in Babylon, reigned there in person, holding his court some- times at the northern, sometimes at the southern capital. Towards the end of his life, he relinquished Nineveh alto- NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 19 gcther to his eldest son, Asshur-bani-pal, and contented him- self with ruling the southern kingdom from his palace in Babylon.* The anomaly is thus fully explained, and what once apeared a difficulty turns out a confirmation. What our translators intended to be understood by the expression, " which took Manasseh among the thorns," is perhaps doubtful. But they convey to most minds the idea of a caitiff monarch endeavoring to hide himself from his pursuers in a thorny brake, but detected, and dragged from his concealment. The words in the original have no snch meaning. D'HiPl (kMIthim), the term translated " thorns," is indeed capable of that rendering ; but it has also another sense, much more suitable to the present context. Gesenius f explains it as " instrumcntum ferreum, circulus vel hamus, in mod urn spinas, aucleatrc quo olim captivi figebantur, et quo Turcje suos captivos dctincnt vinctos." In the singular number the word is translated " hook" in Job xli. 2 ; and a term nearly identical, khdkh has the same rendering in 2 Kings xix. 28 ; Isa. xxxvii. 29 ; Ezek. xxix. 4 ; xxxviii. 4, etc. These passages sufficiently fix the meaning of the phrase used in Chronicles. The captains of the king of Assyria " took Manasseh away with hooks" (comp. Amos iv. 2), and hav- ing also " bound him with fetters," brought him into the presence of Esar-haddon. The practice of bringing prisoners of importance into the presence of a conquering monarch by means of a thong at- tached to a hook or ring passed through their upper or their under lip, or both, is illustrated by the sculptures both of Babylonia and Assyria. Sargon is seen in his palaces at Khorsabad receiving prisoners whose lips are thus perforat- ed ; | and one of the few Babylonian sculptures still extant shows us a vizier conducting into the presence of a monarch t w.i captives held in durance in the same way. Cruel and barbarous as such treatment of a captured king seems to us, there is no doubt that it was an Assyrian usage. To put a hook in a man's mouth, and a bridle in his jaws (2 Kings xix. 28), was no metaphor expressive of mere defeat and capture, but a literal description of a practice that was com- mon in the age and country a practice from which their royal rank did not exempt even captured monarchs. * G. Smith, " History of Babylon," pp. 141, 142. t " Hebrew Lexicon," ad voc. fTl!"! } See " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., pp. 155, 187, note 30. Ibid., vol. Hi., p. 7. 20 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The pardon extended by Esar-haddon to Manasseh, little consonant as it is with general Oriental practice, agrees well with the character of this particular monarch, whose rule was remarkably mild, and who is proved by his inscriptions to have been equally merciful on other occasions. When a son of Merodach-Baladan, who had been in revolt against his authority, quitted his refuge in Susiana, and presented him- self before Esar-haddon's footstool at Nineveh, that mon- arch received him favorably, accepted his homage, and ap- pointed him to the government of a large tract upon the Persian Gulf, previously ruled by his father, and afterwards by his elder brother.* Again, when the chief of the Gam- balu, an Aramasan tribe upon the Euphrates, after revolt, submitted himself, and brought the arrears of his tribute, together with a present of buffaloes, Esar-haddon states that he forgave him, strengthened his city with fresh works, and continued him in the government of it.f " Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem ; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. Against him came up Nebu- chadnezzar, king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them iu his temple at Babylon." 2 CHROX. xxxvi. 5-7. With this notice may be compared the following, which relates to the same series of occurrences : " In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god." DAX. i. 1, 2. In these passages we have brought before us, 1. The in- dependence of Babylon, which, when last mentioned (2 Chron- xxxiii. 11), was subject to the king of Assyria ; 2. Its govern- ment by a prince named " Nebuchadnezzar," or, as Ezckiel transliterates the word from the Babylonian, " Nebuchad- re/./.ar" (Ezek. xxvi. 7) ; 3. The fact that this prince nimlr a freat expedition into Palestine in the third year of Jrlioi;i- im, king of Judah, besieged Jerusalem, and took it, and made Jehoiakim a prisoner ; 4. The further fact, that he * " Ancient Monarchies," vol i., p. 409. t Ibid., p. 471. NOTICES IN KINGS AND CUEONICLES. 21 carried off from the Jewish temple a certain portion of the holy vessels, conveyed them to Babylon, and placed them there " in the house of his god." With respect to the first point, profane history tells us by the mouth of a large number of writers,* that toVard the dosr of the seventh century B.C. the Assyrian empire came to an end, Nineveh was destroyed, and Babylon stepped into a position of greatly augmented power and authority. The i-xact date of the change is undetermined ; but it was cer- tainly not earlier than B. c. 625, and not later than B. c. 606. The third year of Jehoiakim seems to have been B. c. 605. Thus the independence of Babylonia, distinctly implied in the above passages, was beyond' all doubt a fait accompli at the time mentioned. The second point the government of Babylonia at this exact time by a prince named Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchad- rezzar is to some extent a difficulty. The name indeed is abundantly confirmed. Nine-tenths of the baked bricks found in Babylonia bear the stamp of 2fafai-fatdurri4&ur t the sou of Nabur-pal-uzur, king of Babylon." And Berosus, Abydfiius, and Alexander Polyhistor, all give the name with little variation. But Babylonian chronology made Nebu- chadnezzar ascend the throne, not in B. c, 605, biit in B.C. 604 ; and Berosus expressly stated that the first expedition conducted by Nebuchadnezzar into Syria, Palestine and the north-eastern parts of Egypt, fell into the lifetime of his father, Nabopolassar, and preceded his own establishment on the Babylonian throne. f The difficulty is sometimes met l>y the supposition that Nebuchadnezzar was associated in the kingdom by his father before setting out upon his expe- dition (and association was certainly a practice not unknown to the Babylonians) ; but the more probable explanation is, that the sacred writers call Nebuchadnezzar " king of Baby- lon," on first making mention of him, because he became -ueh : just as we ourselves might say, " King George the fourth received the allied sovereigns on their visit to Eng- and after Waterloo;" or, " The Emperor Louis Napoleon s long a prisoner in the fortress of Ham;" although 'or;ro the Fourth received the sovereigns as prince regent, 'l Louis Napoleon was not emperor till many years after As Herodotus (i. 106, 178), Polyhistor, Abydcnus, the writer of ;he Book of Tobit (xiv. 13), and others, t Berosus, Fr. 14. 22 EGYPT AND BABYLON. his imprisonment was over.* Or, it may have been assumed by the Jews that the leader of the great expedition was the king of the people whom he led against them, and the sacred writers may have received no directions to correct the popu- lar misapprehension. The expedition itself, and its synchronism with Jehoia- kim's third year, is generally allowed. Berosus related, that in the last year of Nabopolassar's reign, which by the Canon of Ptolemy was B. c. 605, he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to crush a revolt of the western provinces. Nebuchadnezzar was successful, conquered Syria and Phoenicia, and had in- vaded Egypt, when news of his father's death reached him, and forced him to return to his own capital. The fourth point one of comparative detail receives very curious illustration from the Babylonian monuments. Nebuchadnezzar is said to have placed the holy vessels which he carried off from Jerusalem in his temple at Babylon," " the house of his god" and to have brought them into the treasure house of his f/od" These expressions are at first Bight surprising, considering that the Babylonian religion was polytheistic, that Babylon had many temples, and that the kings, as a general rule, distributed their favors impar- tially among the various personages of the pantheon. It is, however, an undoubted fact that Nebuchadnezzar formed an exception to the general rule. He was a devotee of Merodach. He calls Merodach " his lord," " his gracious lord," " his maker," " the god who deposited his germs in his mother's womb," " the god who created him, and assigned him the em- pire over multitudes of men." One of the foremost of his own titles is " Worshiper of Merodach." He regards*Mcrodach as " the great lord," " the lord of lords," " the chief of the gods," " the king of heaven and earth," " the god of gods." Even on the cylinders which record his dedication of temples to other deities it is Merodach whom he principally glorifies.* Sir II. Rawlinson says : " The inscriptions of Nebuchad- nezzar arc for the most part occupied with the praises of Merodach, and with prayers for the continuance of his favor. The king ascribes to him his elevation to the throne : 'Mero- dach, the great lord, has appointed me to the empire of the world, and lias confided to my care the far-spread people of thi earth ; ' * Merodach, the great lord, the senior of the * See Dr. Puscy's " Daniel," p. 400. t See " Records of the Past," vol. vii. ? pp. 71-78. NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 23 gods, the most ancient, has given all nations and people to my care,' etc. The prayer also to Merodach, with which the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar always terminate, invokes the favor of the god for the protection of the king's throne and empire, and for its continuance through all ages to the end of time." * The temple of Merodach at Babylon is properly called ' Nebuchadnezzar's temple," because he completely rebuilt and restored it. It was the great temple of Babylon, and known to the Greeks as the "temple (or tower) of Belus." To its ruins the name of " Babil " still attaches. Ncbuchad- nez/ar describes his restoration of it at great length in his " Standard Inscription ; " f and his statement is confirmed by the fact that all the inscribed bricks which have ever been found in it bear his name. Special mention of the " treasure-house " attached to the temple has not been found in the Babylonian remains ; but it was probably the building at the base of the great tower, which is described by Hero- dotus as a " second temple," and said to have contained furniture and figures in solid gold, together with many other offerings.^ * Rawlinson, " Herodotus," vol. i., p. 652 (3d edition). t See " Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 116-120. I Herod., i., 183. 24 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER III. FURTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN THE BOOKS OF KINGS AND CHRONICLES. THE numerous expeditions of the Babylonians against Jerusalem, subsequently to the first attack in B. c. 605, re- ceive no direct confirmation from the cuneiform monuments, probably owing to the fact that no general historical inscrip- tion descriptive of the events of Nebuchadnezzar's reign has been as yet discovered. The records of his time which modern research has unearthed, consist almost entirely cither of invocations addressed to the gods, or of descriptions and measurements connected with his great works.* Alexander Polyhistor, however, noticed an expedition of Nebuchad- nezzar's into these parts, which appears to have been that conducted in the year B. c. 597, against Jehoiakim, whereof we have the following notice in the Second Book of Kings : "The Lord sent against him" (l.e. Jehoiakim) "bands of the Chaldecs, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ainmon, and sent them against Jnduh to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which lie spake by His servants the prophets." 2. KIXGS xxiv. 2. Polyhistor tells us f that the expedition was one in which Nebuchadnezzar called in the aid of his allies, among others, of the Median king called by him Astibaras, who seems t< represent Cyaxares. The number of troops employed was unusually great, amounting, according to the same authority, to ten thousand chariots, one hundred and twenty thousand * Until the year 1878, no historical inscription of Nelmchadin-/- zai's had come to light. In that year a small and mutilated cylinder, giving an account of some events belonging to his thirty-seventh yar, wan purchased by the British Museum. Further reference will be made to this cylinder in a future chapter. t Fragm. Hist. Gr., vol. iii., p. 229, Fr. 24. NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 25 horsemen, and one hundred and eighty thousand infantry. These numbers imply an army gathered from many nations, ami account for the expressions, " bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon," in the passage of Kings, as well as for the followin in Ezekiel : " Then the nations set against him on every side from the prov- inces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit." EZKK. xix. 8. The context of this passage shows that the monarch in- tended is Jehoiakim. On passing from the reign of Jehoiakim to that of Jchoiachin, the author of Kings makes the following re- mark : "And the King of Egypt came not again anymore out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt." 2 Ki.\<;*, xxiv. 7. This remark, though interposed at this point, belongs, so far as it bears on Babylon, to an anterior time. The king of Egypt, the writer intends to say, did not at this time lend any help to Jehoiakim against Nebuchadnezzar, did not even set foot beyond his borders, because some years previously the Egyptians had been worsted in an encounter with the Babylonians, and had lost to them the w r hole of their Asiatic dominions -the entire tract between the tor- rent (nakJtal) of Egypt, or the Wady el Arish, and the Euphrates. The event glanced at is among the most im- portant in the history of the East. When Necho, king of (Egypt, in B. c. 608, carried the Egyptian arms triumphantly from the Nile valley to the Upper Euphrates, it seemed as if the old glories of the Thothmeses and Amenhoteps were about to be renewed, as if Egypt was about to become once more the dominant power in western Asia, and to throw the hordes of Asiatic invaders back upon their own continent. A permanent advance of Egypt, and retrocession of Babylon, at this time would greatly have complicated the politi- cal problem, and might seriously have checked that aggres- sive spirit which was already moving Asia to attempt the conquest of Europe. When Nabopolassar, therefore, in the last year of his reign, sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to 26 EGYPT AND BABYLON. challenge Necho to a trial of strength, and the hosts of Africa and Asia met in battle array at the great frontier fortress of Carcheraish (Jer. xlvi. 2.) the issue raised was of no small importance, being nothing less than the question whether African power and influence should not maintain itself in Syria and the adjoining regions, should or should not establish its superiority over the power of Asia, should or should not step into a position which would have brought it shortly into direct contact with the civilization of the Greeks. The battle of Carchemish, as it is called, decided these questions. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh- Necho met in the vicinity of Carchemish (now Jerablus), in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, which was the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar, and contended in a great battle, wherein ultimately the Babylonians wei-e victorious. The battle is prophetically, but very graphically, described by the prophet Jeremiah : " Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle," he says; ''harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen" (or rather, " mount, ye chariotmen "), " and stand forth with your helmets; fur- bish the spears; put on the brigandines. Wherefore have I seeu them dismayed and turned away back ?' Their mighty men are beaten down, and are lied apace, and Jook not back ; for fear was round about, saith the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape, they shall stumble and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. "Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters toss to and fro as the rivers ? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are tossed to and fro like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth ; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses; and rage ye chariots ; and let the mighty men come forth, Ctish and Phut that handle the shield, and Lud that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that lie may avenge Him of His adversaries ; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Kgypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shall not be cured. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land : for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both, together. " JEK. xlvi. 3-12. A fierce struggle is here indicated, a hardly contested battle, terminating in a complete defeat. Egypt is not sur- prised not taken at disadvantage. She has ample time to call together her armed force of natives and auxiliaries, Cush and Phut and Lud. Her chariots are marshaled in their gallant array, together with her horsemen: she "rise* NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 27 op like a flood," bent on conquest rather than on mere resistance. But all is in vain. " It is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance." By the river Euphrates the mighty men stumble and fall they are dismayed and beaten down ; in a short time they are compelled to fly they " flee apace, and look not back." The mighty man hath met a mightier ; the forces of Asia have proved too strong for those of Africa ; the Nile flood is swept back on its own land. Profane history, while touching the struggle itself only in a single sentence,* amply signalizes the result. With the battle of Carchemish, Babylon, for long ages oppressed and held in subjection, springs up to notice as an empire. Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, hitherto threatened alternately by Egypt and Assyria, now find a new foe in the great city on the lower Euphrates, and become fiefs of the Babylonian crown. Egypt's attempt to recover, under the Psamatiks, the Asiatic dominion which had been hers under the Thoth- meses and Amenhoteps, is rudely checked. Her own terri- tory is invaded, and she becomes for a time a " base king- dom," the subject-ally and tributary of another. Babylon is recognized as one of the "great powers" of Asia, sends her armies within the Cilician gates, wastes Tyre, destroys Jeru- salem, makes alliances with Media and Lydia. The general position of affairs in Western Asia for the next sixty years was determined by the events of that campaign, wherein " the king of Babylon took from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained unto the king of Egypt." " They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jeru- salem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with lire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof : and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia." 2 CIIKOX. xxxvi. 19, 20. The complete destruction of Jerusalem, and. transfer of its inhabitants from Palestine to Babylonia, momentous events as they were in the history of the Jewish nation, and in that discipline of severity which was to purge out its dross from the people of God, and fit them to hold up the torch of truth to the nations for another half millennium, did not greatly attract the attention of the world at large, or even obtain record generally at the hands of the historio- graphers who were engaged in chronicling the events of the * Beros. ap. Joseph., Contr. Ap. \. 19, 2. 28 EGYPT AND BABYLON. time. In Babylon, indeed, it must have been otherwise. There, if nowhere else, the final capture and ruin of so great, so renowned, so ancient a city, after a siege which lasted eighteen months, must beyond a doubt have been entered upon the records, with the view of its being handed down to posterity. But, unfortunately, it happens that at present, as already observed, Nebuchadnezzar's historical inscriptions remain undiscovered ; and consequently we are still deprived of such light as a Babylonian account of the capture of Jerusalem would naturally have thrown on the whole sub- ject. The fragments of Berosus might have been expected to supply the deficiency ; but, at the best, they are scanty, and for the time of Nebuchadnezzar they furnish nothing but a bare outline. They do just state that Nebuchadnezzar made an expedition into Palestine and Egypt, carried all before him, and, after burning the temple at Jerusalem, bore away into captivity the whole Jewish people, and settled them in different places in Babylonia; but they give no further particulars. Not even is the name of the Jewish king mentioned, nor that of the general to whom Nebuchad- nezzar entrusted the execution of his orders for the destruc- tion of the city. Direct illustration of the destruction of Jerusalem, and captivity of the Jewish people, is therefore at present im- possible. Still history may be said to illustrate indirectly this portion of the sacred records by the examples which it sets forth of parallel instances. The complete destruction of a great city by the powers which conquer it is a rare event, requiring as it docs a dogged determination on the part of the conqueror, and a postponement of immediate gain to prospective advantage. But the complete destruction of Nineveh, which is abundantly attested, had taken place not very long before, and must have been fresh in the minds of men at the time, furnishing a precedent for such extreme severity, while a sufficient motive may be discerned in the important position of Jerusalem, and the persistency of the rebellious spirit in its inhabitants. Transplantations of conquered nations arc unknown in modern warfare, and scarcely belong to the history of the West. But in the East they wore common anciently, and are still not wholly unknown. The Kurds, who protect the north-eastern frontier of Persia against the raids of the Turk- omans, were transported thither by Nadir Shall, after a NOTICES IN KINGS AND CXKONICLES. 29 revolt in Kurdistan, being thus transferred from the extreme west almost to the extreme east of his empire. Sargon transported the Samaritans to Gozan and Media ; Senna- cherib carried off 200,000 Jews from Judsea; Esarhaddon placed Elamites, Susianians and Babylonians in Samaria. Darius Hystaspis brought the nation of the Pa^onians from Europe into Asia Minor,* removed the BarcaBans to Bactria f and the Eretrians to Ardericca, near Susa.t The forcible removal of large populations from their native countries to a remote region was a portion of the system under which great empires were administered in the oriental world from the time of Sargon downwards, and was regarded as especially suited for the case where a race distinguished itself by per- sistence in revolt. " It came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judab, in the twelfth month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-AIerodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reiyn, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison; and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon ; and changed his prison garments : and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life." 2 KINGS xxv. 27-29. Evil-Merodach was mentioned as the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar by Berosus and Abydcnus. His name has also been found on no fewer than eleven Babylonian contract tablets, and is transliterated by the best authorities, " Avil-Marduk." There can be no doubt of the position of this king in the Babylonian list between Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar, or Nergal-sar-uzur. Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the eighth year of his reign (2 Kings xxiv. 12), and Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-three years, according to Berosus, Ptolemy, and the tablets commencing his reign in ir. c. 605, and ending it in B. c. 562 the " seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin" would exactly coincide with the first regnal year of Evil-Mcrodach, which was B.C. 561. The mild treatment of a rebel, whom Nebuchadnezzar had kept in durance for so many years, was perhaps regarded by the Babylonians as a wrongful departure from their cus- toms. At any rate, we learn from Berosus that within two years of his accession Evil-Merodach was put to death by * Herod., v. 17. t Ibid., iv. 204. J Ibid., vi. 118. 30 EGYPT AND BABYLON. his subjects, on the charge of ruling in a lawless and intem- perate fashion. As Jchoi.ichin " did eat bread continually before Evil-Merodach all the days of his (*. e. Jehoiachin's) life," we must suppose that he died within less than two years from his release. He would have been at the time between fifty and sixty years of age. " Those that had escaped from the sword carried ho " (i.e. Nebu- chadnezzar) "' away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and Ms sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; to fulfil the word, of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." 2 CIIBOX. xxxvi. 20, 21. The statement that the Israelites, " were servants to Nebuchadnezzar and his sons" is at first sight contradictory" to the Babylonian history, as delivered to us by profane authors. According to them, Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by one son only, viz., Evil-Merodach, after whom the crown fell to a certain Neriglissar, or Ncrgal-sar-uzur, who was not a blood relation. Neriglissar, however, had married a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and having thus become a son- in-law, may conceivably be termed a " son." He was suc- ceeded by his own son, Laborosoarchod, probably a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, who would come under the term " son " by the ordinary Hebrew usage. The successor of Laboroso- archod was, we are told, " in no way related " to the family of Nebuchadnezzar. There are some reasons, however, for believing that he, too, married a daughter of the great mon- arch ; so that he, too, may have been regarded as " a son " in the same sense with Neriglissar. The seventy years of the captivity, during which the land lay waste, and " enjoyed its sabbaths," may be counted from different dates. In this place the year of the final destruction of Jerusalem seems to be taken as the terminus a quo. This was n. c. 580, the nineteenth year of Nebuchad- nezzar (2 Kings xxv. 8-8; Jer. lii. 0-12), and the passage would therefore seem to point to B. c. 510 as the termina- tion of the captivity period. Now n. c. 510, the sixth of Darius Hystaspis, was, in fact, the close of the period of de- pression and desolation, so far as the temple was concerned (Ezra vi. 15). But the personal captivity, the desolation of the land through loss of inhabitants, both began and ended earlier. Jeremiah evidently intended his " seventy years" to count from the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebu- NOTICES IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES. 31 chadnezzar (Jcr. xxv. 1-12), which was in B. c. 605 ; and Daniel must have counted from the same date when he felt, in B. c. 538, that the time of release was approaching (Dan. ix. 2). It is questionable, however, whether the full term of the prophetic announcement, thus understood, was actually reached. If Nebuchadnezzar carried away his first captives from Jerusalem in B. c. 605, and Cyrus issued his edict for the return in his first year (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22 ; Ezra, i. i), which was B. c. 538, the seventieth year had certainly not then commenced. Even if the captives did not take im- mediate advantage of the edict, but made the journey from Babylonia to Palestine in the year following the proclama- tion, B. c. 537, which is not improbable, still the captivity had not endured seventy years, but only sixty-eight. It is usual to meet the difficulty by the supposition that the first year of Cyrus in Scripture is really the third year from his conquest of Babylon, Darius the Mede having been made viceroy of Babylon under Cyrus during the first two years after the conquest. This is, no doubt, a possible explana- tion. But it is perhaps as probable that the round number " seventy," in the prophecy of Jeremiah, was not intended to be exact, but approximate, and that the actual duration of the captivity fell short by a year or two of the threatened period. That " the reign of the kingdom of Persia " immediately succeeded to that of Babylon, which was swallowed ui> by the great Aryan power within seventy years of the acces- sion of Nebuchadnezzar, is declared with one voice by the classical historians, and has been recently confirmed by more than one native document. Two inscriptions, brought from Babylonia within the last decade, describe the circumstances under which the great empire of Babylon collapsed before the arms of Cyrus the Great, and was absorbed into his dominions. The details of the subjection will have to be considered hereafter, when we comment on those passages of Scripture which treat directly of the fall of the city. At present we desire simply to note the confirmation by the monuments of the Persian conquest, effected by Cyrus the Great, in the seventeenth year of Xabonidus, which was the sixty-eighth year after the accession of Nebuchadnezzar and his first capture of Jerusalem. * * SCR the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, ToL Vi., pp. 47-01. 82 GYFT AJD SABTLOJK. CHAPTER IV. NOTICES OF BABYLON IN DANIEL. THE history of the chosen people during the period of the Babylonian captivity is carried on in a book which we are accustomed to regard as prophetical, but in which the historical element decidedly preponderates. The first six chapters of Daniel contain a continuous and most important narrative. The scene of the history has been transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon. We are introduced into the court of the great King Nebuchadnezzar, and shown his grandeur, his pride, his cruelty, his relentings, his self-glorification, his punishment. We find the Jews his captives, scattered in various parts of his territories (ch. ix. 7), without organiza- tion or national life, a mere herd of slaves, down-trodden and oppressed for the most part. At the court, however, it is different. There four Jews, of royal, or at any rate noble blood, occupy a position of some importance, take rank among the courtiers, hold communication with the monarch, and are called upon to advise him in circumstances of difficulty (ch. i. 17-20). After a time they rise still higher in the king's favor, and are promoted to some of the chief govern- mental offices in the hingdom (ch. ii. 48, 49). One, the writer of great part of the book, if not even of the whole, becomes the very first person in the kingdom next to the king, and lives and prospers under four monarchs, called res ]i< ctively, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus, and Darius We have thus a considerable body of Babylonian history in this (so-called) prophetical book ; and numerous points pre- sent themselves on which some illustration of the history from profane sources is possible. Let us take, first, the character of Nebuchadnez/iu-'s court. It is vast and complicated, elaborate in its organiza- tion, careful in its etiquette, magnificent in its ceremonial. Among the most important personages in it are a class who profess to have the power of expounding dreams, and gene*- rally foretelling future events by means of magic sorcery, and NOTICES IN DANIEL. 33 astrology (ch. ii. 2, 10, 27, etc.). Next to these are the civil ad- ministrators, " princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, councilors, sheriffs, and rulers of provinces" (ch.iii. 2), who are specially summoned to attend in full numbers on certain grand occasions, The king is waited on by eunuchs, some- times of royal descent, who are subjected to a three years' CM refill training, and are under the superintendence of a " master of the eunuchs," who is an officer of high position (ch. i. 35). The monai'ch has, of course, a "body-guard," which is under the command of a "captain" (ch. ii. 14), another high official. Music is used at the court in ceremo- nials, and is apparently of an advanced kind, the bands com- prising performers on at least six different musical instru- ments (ch. iii. 5, 7, 10, etc.). The Babylonian and Assyrian remains amply illustrate most of these particulars. Magic holds a most important place in both nations, and the monarchs set a special value on it. Their libraries contained hundreds of tablets, copied with the utmost care, on which were recorded the exorcisms, the charms, the talismans and the astronomical prognostic*, which had come down from a remote antiquity, and which tvere implicitly believed in. The celestial phenomena were constantly observed, and reports sent to the court from the observatories, which formed the groundwork of confident predictions.* Eclipses were especially noted, and, according to the month and day of their occurrence, were regarded as portending events, political, social, or meteorological.! We give a specimen from an astronomical calendar : " In the month of Elul (August), the 14th day, an eclipse happens; in the north it begins, and in the south and cast it ends ; in the evening watch it begins, and in the night watch it ends. To the king of Mul- lias a crown is given. . . . There are rains in heaven, and in the channels of the rivers floods. A famine is in the country, and men sell their sons for silver. " An eclipse happens on the 15th day. The king's son murders his father, and seizes on the throne. The enemy plunders and devours tin- land. "An eclipse happens on the 10th day. The king of the Ilittites plunders the land, and on the throne seizes. There is rain in heaven, and a flood descends in the channels of the rivers. " An eclipse happens on the 20th day. There are rains in heaven, and Hoods in the rivers. Country makes peace with country,- and keeps festival. * " Records of the Past," vol. i., pp. 150-157. t Ibid., pp. 158-101. 34 EGYPT AND BABYLON. " An eclipse happens on the 21st day. The enemy's throne does not endure. A self-appointed king rules in the land. After a year th Air god causes an inundation. After a year the king does not remain. His country is made small." * The application of the ethnic term " Chaldaean " (Kns* dim) to the learned caste, or class, which occupied itself with the subjects of magic and astrology, so frequent in Dnniel (ch. ii. 2, 4, 5, 10 ; v. 11), is found also in profane writers, as Strabo, Diodorus, Cicero, and others,f who distinguish be- tween Chalda3ans and Babylonians, making the latter term the ethnic appellative of the nation at large, while they reserve the former for a small section of the nation, distin- guished by the possession of abstruse and recondite learning. The distinction seems to have originated in the later period of the empire, and to have been grounded on an identification of the Chaldeans with the Akkad, and on the fact that the old Akkadian language and learning was in the later times the special possession of a literary class, who furnished to the nation its priests, astrologers, magicians, a*d men of science. What the real connection was between the Chaldaeans and the Akkad is still uncertain ; but some ethnic affinity may be regarded as probable. The division of the learned class into three distinct bodies, devoted to different branches of the mystic lore in which all participated, receives illustration from the native remains, where the literature of magic comes under three principal heads : (1). Written charms or talismans, which were to be placed on the bodies of sick persons, or on the door-posts of afflicted houses ; \ ('!). Formula) of incantation, which had to be recited by the learned man in order to produce their proper effect; and (3). Records of observations, intended to serve as grounds for the prediction of particular events, together with collections of prognostics from eclipses or other celestial phenomena, regarded as having a general ap- |ilic:ibility.|| The preparation of the written charms or talismans was probably the special task of the "magicians," or k/H'rtummim, whose name is formed from the root kheret^ "Records of the Past," vol. i., p. 100. t Diod. Sic. ii. 29; Strab. xvi. 1, 0; Cic. 7>e Z>i. i. 1, 2;42, 93; riin. II. N. vi. 30, 128. etc. J See " Records of the Past," vol. iii., p. 142. Ibid., vol. iii., pp. 147-1^2, and xi., 128-138. II Ibid., vol. 1., pp. 153-103. NOTICES IN DAtflElC. 35 which signifies " an engraving tool," or " stylus." The com- position and recitation of the formulae of incantation belonged to the ashshaphim or mecashaphim, the " astrologers " and " sorcerers " of our version, whose names are derived from the root ashaph, or eashaphj which means " to mutter." * The taking of observations and framing of tables of prognos- tics is probably to be assigned to the gazerim or " dividers," in our version "soothsayers" who divided the heavens into constellations or " houses " for astronomical and astrological purposes.f The attention paid to dreams (ch. ii. 1^46 ; iv. 5-27) by the Babylonian monarch is quite in accordance with what we know of the state of opinion, both in Babylonia and Assyria, about the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The Assyrians had a " dream deity," whom thev called Makhir, and regarded as " the daughter of the Sun," and to whom they were in the habit of praying, either beforehand, to send them favor- able dreams, or after they had dreamed, to " confirm" their dream, or make it turn out favorably to them.J A late Assyrian monarch records that, in the course of a war which he carried on with Elam or Susiana, one of his " wise men " dreamed a remarkable dream, and forthwith communicated to him the particulars. " Ishtar," he said, " the goddess of war had appeared to him in the dead of night, begirt with flames on the right hand and on the left ; she held a bow in her hand, and was riding in a chariot, as if going forth to war. Before her stood the king, whom she addressed as a mother would her child. . . . ' Take this bow,' she said, ' and go with it to the battle. Wherever thou shalt pitch thy camp, I will come to thee.' Then the king replied, * O queen of all the goddesses, wherever thou goest, let me ac- company thee.' She made answer, ' I will protect thee, and march with thee at the time of the feast of Nebo. Mean- while, cat meat, drink wine, make music, and glorify my divinity, until I come to thee and this vision shall be ful- filled.' " Rendered confident by this dream, the Assyrian monarch marched forth to war, attacked the Elamites in their own country, defeated them, and received their sub- mission^ Not very long after the time of Nebuchadnezzar, Nabo- Furst, " Concordant," p. 133. t "Ancient Monarchies." vol. ii., p. 207. t " Records of tlie Past," vol. ix., p. 152. Ibid.,v ol. vii., p. 08. 36 EGYPT AND BABYLON. nidus, one of his successors, places on record the following incident : " In the beginning of my long reign," he says, " Merodach, the great lord, and Sin, the illuminator of heaven and earth, the strengthener of all, showed me a dream. Merodach spake thus with me : ' Nabonidus, king of Baby- lon, come up with the horses of thy chariot ; bxiild the walls of Ehulhul ; and have the seat of Sin, the great lord, set with- in it.' Reverently I made answer to the lord of the gods, Merodach, ' I will build this house of which thou speakest.' The Sabmanda destroyed it, and strong was their might.' Merodach replied to me, ' The Sabmanda of whom thou speakest, they and their country, and the king who rules over them, shall cease to exist. In the third year he (i.e., Mero- dach) caused Cyrus, king of Ansan, his young servant, to go with his little army : he overthrew the wide-spreading Sabmanda ; he captured Istumegu (i.e., Astyagesj, king of Sabmanda, and took his treasures to his own land."f The civil organization of the Babylonian kingdom is very imperfectly known to us. Neither sacred nor profane autho- rities furnish more than scattered and incomplete notices of it. We gather from Daniel merely that it was elaborate and complicated, involving the employment by the crown of numerous officers, discharging distinct functions, and possess- ing different degrees of dignity. The names given to the various officers by Daniel can scarcely be those which were in actual use under the Babylonian monarch, since they are in many cases of Aryan etymology. Most likely they are the equivalents under the Medo-Peric system, which was estab- lished before Daniel wrote his book, of the Babylonian terms previously in vogue. Still in some instances the names suf- ficiently indicate the offices intended. The "princes" (liter- ally " satraps") of Dan. iii. 2, 3, 27, can only be governors of provinces (compare ch. vi. 1), chief rulers under the mon- arch of the main territorial divisions of his empire. Such persons had been generally employed by the Assyrian kings in the government of the more settled part of their do- minions, and were no doubt continued by the Babylonians when the territories of Assyria were divided between them and the Modes. Gedaliah held the office in ,Tuda?a imme- diately after its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxv. 22-25; Jer. xl. ft). Another such Babylonian governor is * " Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arcluclogy," November, 1HH2, p. 7. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 37 actually called a " satrap " Iby Berosus.* Babylonian wit- nesses to contracts still in existence often sign themselves " governor," sometimes " governor " of a province, which they mention. f The sayans (" governors " in our version) may be " governors of towns," who are often mentioned in the inscriptions as distinct from governors of provinces. The "judges" (literally "noble judges ") are no doubt the heads of the judicature, which was separate from the executive in Babylonia, as in Persia.^ They, too, appear in the inscrip- tions^ as do "treasurers "and " captains." || It is not in- tended to assert that the correspondence between Daniel's account of the civil administration and that indicated by the Babylonian remains is very close or striking, but the general features certainly possess considerable resemblance, and there is as much agreement in the details as could fairly be expected. The employment of eunuchs at the Babylonian court, under the presidency of a " master of the eunuchs," is analo- gous to the well-known practice of the Assyrians, where the president, or " master," bore the title of rab-saris, or " chief eunuch " (2 Kings xviii. 17). It also receives illustration from the story of Nanarus, as told by Nicholas of Damascus, a writer whose Asiatic origin makes him a high authority upon the subject of Oriental habits. Nanarus, according to him, was one of the later Babylonian monarchs, a successor of the Belesis who appears to represent Nabopolassar. His court was one in which eunuchs held all the most important positions ; and the head eunuch, Mitraphernes, was the chief counselor of the king. IT The delight of the Babylonians in music, and the ad- vanced condition of the art among them, is confirmed and illustrated by the same story of Nanarus. Nanarus, accord- ing to Nicholas maintained at his court no fewer than a hundred and fifty female musicians, of whom some sang, while others played upon instruments. Among the instru- ments indicated are three of those mentioned in Daniel the flute, the cithern ("harp," A.V.), and the psaltery. Sculpt- ure does not readily lend itself to the representation of so *Ap. Joseph.. Contr. Apion., i., 19. t " Records of the Past," vol. ix., pp. 34, 02, 98, 107. J Herod, iii. 31. " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 120; vol. xi., 103. II Ibid., vol. ix., p. 104; vol. xi., p. 103. TSee the Fraym. Hist. Gr. vol. iii., pp. 359-363. 38 EGYPT AND BABYLON. large a crowd, but we see in a bas-relief of a date a little anterior to Nebuchadnezzar a band of twenty-six performers.* At least eight or nine different instruments were known to the Assyrians,! an d we can therefore feel no surprise that six were in use among the Babylonians of Nebuchadnezzar's time. Considerable difficulty has been felt w*ith respect to the names of several of the Babylonian instruments. These names have a Greek appearance ; and it has been asked by critics of reputation, " How could Greek musical instruments have been used at Babylon late in the seventh, or early in the sixth century before our era?" A searching analysis of the words themselves has thrown a good deal of doubt on several of the supposed Greek etymologies. Kama and jipac, kitlieros and x^P 1 ^ sabkah and ca^xn are no doubt connected ; but one of them is a root common to Semitic with Aryan, while the other two passed probably from the Orientals to the Greeks. The Chaldee karna is Hebrew keren, and is at least as old in Hebrew as the Pentateuch ; kitheros in Persian sitareh, Greek X<^P^I German zither, modern Arabic koothir ; sabkah is from sabak, a well-known Semitic root, and is an appropriate name for a " harp " in Hebrew ; t whereas aa/i/Svxq is an unmeaning name in Greek. To derive mashrokitha from obpiyZ requires a very hardy ety- mologist. The two words may conceivably be derivatives from one root ; but neither can possibly have been the direct parent of the other. Even pesanterin and surnphonyah though so near to ^aXTt/ptov and uv/upuvia^ are not allowed by all critics to be of Greek origin. Supposing, however, that they arc, and that they imply the use by the Baby- lonians of Greek instruments, which brought their names with them from their native country, as " pianoforte " and " concertina " have done with us, there is nothing extraor- dinary in the circumstance. The Assyrians and the Greeks carne into contract in Cyprus as early as the reign of Sar- gon,|| whose effigy has been found at Idalium. Esar-haddon obtained building materials from several Cyprian kings with Greek names.H As the inheritress of Assyrian luxury and * "Ancient Monarchies," vol i., p. 311. t Ibid., pp. 305-810. t Pusey's " Daniel," p. 24, note 9. Ibid., pp.27-30. II " Ancient Monarchies." vol. ii., p. 150. IT " Records of the 1'ast," vol. Hi., p. 108. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 39 magnificence, Babylon would necessarily have some connec- tion with Greeks. We hear of a Greek having served in Nebuchadnezzar's army, and won glory and reward under his banners.* Direct intercourse with Hellenes may thus have brought Hellenic instruments to Babylon. Or the in- tercourse may have been indirect. The Phoenicians were eng.-iged in a carrying trade between Europe and Asia from a time, anterior to Solomon ; and their caravans were con- tinually passing from Tyre and Sidon, by way of Tadmor and Thapsacus, to the Chaldaean capital. Nothing would be more natural than the importation into that city, at any time between B. c. 605 and B. c. 538, of articles manufac- tured in Greece, which the Babylonians were likely to appreciate. The position of the king in the Babylonian court, as abso- lute lord and master of the lives and liberties even of "the greatest of his subjects, able to condemn to death, not only individuals (ch. iii. 19), but a whole class, and that class the highest in the state (ch. ii. 12-14), is thoroughly in accord- ance with all that profane history tells us of the Babylonian governmental system. In Oriental monarchies it was not always so. The writer of the Book of Daniel shows a just appreciation of the difference between the Babylonian and the Medo-Persian systems, when he makes Darius the Mede influenced by his nobles, and compelled to do things against his will by a " law of the Medes and Persians, which altered not" (ch. vi. 14-17) ; while Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian is wholly untrarnmeled, and does not seem even to consult his lords on matters where the highest interests of the state are concerned. Babylonian and Assyrian monarchs were absolute in the fullest sense of the word. No traditional " law " restrained them. Their nobility was an official no- bility, like that of Turkey at the present day. They them- selves raised it to power ; and it lay with them to degrade its members at their pleasure. Officers such as the tartan, or " commander-in-chief," the rabshakeh, or " chief cup- bearer," and the rab-saris, or "chief eunuch," held the high- est positions (2 Kings xviii. 17) mere creatures of the king, whom a " breath had made," and a breath could as easily " unmake." The kings, moreover, claimed to be of Divine origin, and received Divine honors. " Merodach," says Nebu- * Strab. xiii. 3, 2. 40 EGYPT AND BABYLON. chadnezzar, " deposited my germ in my mother's womb." * Khammurabi claims to be the son of Merodach and Ri.f He was joined in inscriptions with the great gods, Sin, Sha- mas, and Merodach, during his lifetime, and people swore by his name.! Amaragu and Naram-sin are also said to have been deified while still living. It was natural that those who claimed, and were thought to hold so exalted a position, should exercise a despotic authority, and be unre- sisted, even when they were most tyrannical. * " Records of the Past," vol. v., p. 113. t Ibid., vol. i., p. 8. t Ibid., vol. v., p. 108. See note on Dan. vi. 7, in the Speakers' Commentary." NOTICES IN DANIEL. 4,1 CPIAPTER V. FURTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN DANIEL,. THE character of Nebuchadnezzar, as depicted in the Book of Daniel, is confirmed as fully as could be expected, considering the nature of the materials that have come down to us from profane sources. These materials are scanty, and of a peculiar character. They consist of a very few brief notices in classical writers, and of some half-dozen inscriptions belonging to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar himself, and ap- parently either composed by him or, at least, put forth under his authority. These inscriptions are in some cases of con- siderable length,* and, so far, might seem ample for the pur- pose whereto we propose to apply them ; but, unfortunately, they present scarcely any variety. With the exception of one, which is historical, but very short and much mutilated,f they are accounts of buildings, accompanied by religious invoca- tions. It is evident that such records do not afford much opportunity for the display of more than a few points of character. They can tell us nothing of those qualities which are called forth in action, in the dealings of man with man, in war, in government, in domestic intercourse. Thus the confirmation which it is possible to adduce from this source can only be partial ; and it is supplemented only to a very small extent from the notices of the classical writers. The most striking features of Nebuchadnezzar's charac- ter, as portrayed for us in Scripture, and especially in the Book of Daniel, will probably be allowed to be the follow- ing : 1. His cruelty. Not only is he harsh and relentless in his treatment of the foreign enemies who have resisted him in arms, tearing thousands from their homes, and carrying * One of them consists of ten columns, with an average of sixty- two lines in each, and in the " IJecords of the Past" occupies twenty- three pages (vol. iii., pp. 113-135). t See the "Transactions of the Society of Bibl. Archseology," vol. vii., pp. 218-222 42 EGYPT AND BABYLON. them off into a miserable and hopeless captivity, massacring the chief men by scores (2 Kings xxv. 18-21), blinding rebel kings (ver. 7), or else condemning them to perpetual im- prisonment (ver. 27), and even slaying their sons before their eyes (ver. 7) ; but at home among his subjects he can condemn to death a whole class of persons for no fault but inability to do what no one had ever been asked to do be- fore (Dan. ii. 10-13), and can actually cast into a furnace of fire three of his best officers, because they decline to worship an image (iii. 20-23). 2. His pride and boast-fulness. The pride of Nebuchadnezzar first shows itself in Scripture in the contemptuous inquiry addressed to the " three children" (Dan iii. 15), " Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands ? " Evidently he believes that this is beyond the power of any god. He speaks, as Sennacherib spoke by the mouth of Rab-shakeh : " Hearken not to Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Harmath and of Arpad ? Where are the gods of Sephnr- vaim, Hen a, and Ivah ? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand ? Who are they among the gods of the coun- tries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand ? " (2 Kings xviii. 82-35.) The event shows him that he is mistaken, and that there is a God who can deliver his ser- vants, and " change the king's word " (Dan. iii. 38), and then for a time he humbles himself ; but, later on, the be- setting sin breaks out afresh ; " his heart is lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride " (ch. v. 20), and he makes the boast which brings upon him so signal a punishment : " Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of my kingdom, l>;/tfie rnif/ht of mi/ power, and for the honor of'tny ////{/'<*/_///"' The punishment inflicted once more humbled him, and lie confessed finally that there was one, " the King of heaven, all whose works were truth, and His ways judg- ment ; " and that " those who walk in pride he was able to abase" (ch. iv. 37). 3. His religiousness. The spoils which Nebuchadnezzar carried off from the Temple at Jerusalem he did not convert to his own use, nor even bring into the national treasury; but " put them in his temple at Babylon " (1 Chron. xxxvi. 7), and " brought them into the treasure/, house of his god" (Dan. i. 2). When Daniel revealed to NOTICES IN DANIEL. 43 him his dream and its interpretation (ch. ii. 27-45), he at once confessed, " Of a truth your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret." The image which he made, and set up on the plains of Dura, was not his own image, but an image of a Babylonian god (ch. iii. 12, 14, 18), to whom he was anxious that all his subjects should do honor. His anger against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego was not so much because they resisted his will, as because they would not " serve his god." When the fiery furnace had no power on them, he accepted the fact as proving that there was another God, whom he had not known of previously, and at once commanded that this new God should be respected through- out his dominions (ch. iii. 29). But his religiousness culmi- nates in the last scene of his life that is presented to us in Scripture. After his recovery from the severe affliction whereby his pride was punished, he at once " lifted up his eyes to heaven," and " blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him that liveth forever " (ch. iv. 84), and made a proclamation, which he caused to be published throughout the length and breadth of his vast dominions (ver. 1), ac- knowledging his sin, and declaring that he " honored and extolled the King of heaven" (ver. 37), and "thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God had wrought toward him " (ver. 2), since His signs were great, and His wonders mighty, and His kingdom an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion from generation to generation " (ver. 3). A fourth and special characteristic of Nebuchadnezzar, peculiar to him among the heathen monarchs brought under our notice in Scripture, is the mixed character of his religion, the curious combination which it presents of monotheism witli polytheism, the worship of one God with that of many. Nebuchadnezzar's polytheism is apparent when he addresses Daniel as " one in whom is the spirit of the holy ffods " (ch. iv. s, 9, 18), and again when he calls the figure which he sees walking with the " three children " in the furnace " a son of the fiod8Vrh$C^&bc(r-eWi'in(v\\. iii. 25), and still more plainly when he rcVo'gnizes the God who has delivered the ''children" as a God, "their God " (ver. 28), and declares his belief that" no other fjod can deliver after this sort" (ver. 29). His monotheism shows itself though not made apparent in our version when he sets up a single image, 44 EGYPT AND BABYLON. and calls on the people to worship " his god " (ch. iii. 14), when he recognizes Daniel's God as " a Lord of kings and God of gods " (ch. ii. 47), and most conspicuously when in his last proclamation he acknowledges " the high God" Wfyy Xrh^eldhd 'illdyd, ch. iv. 2), "the Most High " T ( ver. 34 T ), T "'the King of heaven" (ver. 37), Him that " liveth for ever " (ver. 34), and " doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth," and " whose hand none can stay, nor can any say unto Him, What doest thou ? " (ver. 35.) Either he fluctuates between two beliefs, or else his polytheism is of that modified kind which has been called " Kathenotheism," * where the worshiper, on turning his regards to any par- ticular deity, " forgets for the time being that there is any other, and addresses the object of his adoration in terms of as absolute devotion as if he were the sole god whom he recog- nized, the one and only divine being in the entire universe."! Limiting ourselves, for the present, to these four charac- teristics of the great Babylonian monarch his cruelty, his boastful pride, his religiousness, and the curious mixture of two elements in his religion let us inquire how far they are confirmed or illustrated by his own inscriptions, or by the accounts which profane writers have given 0*1 him. And first, with respect to his cruelty. Here, it must be confessed, there is little, if any, confirmation. The one brief historical inscription of Nebuchadnezzar's time which we possess contains no notice of any severities, nor is the point touched in the few fragments concerning him which are all that classical literature furnishes. Berosus mentions the numerous captives whom he carried off to Babylonia in bis first campaign,! but does not seem to regard their fate as exceptionally wretched. Josephus gives us in some detail the various cruelties recorded of him in Scripture, and adds others, as that he put to death a king of Egypt whom he conquered ; but Josephus is scarcely an unprejudiced wit- ness. Abydenus, who tells us more about him than any other classical writer except Berosus, is bent on glorifying him, and would not be likely to mention what was to his discredit. If, however, we have no confirmation, we have abundant illustrations of Nebuchadnezzar's cruelties in the * Max Muller, " Chips from a German Workshop," vol. i., p. 28. t See the author's " Koli^ions of the Ancient World," American . ins. : A p. Joseph. ,Ant. Jut., x. 11, 1. AI>. Joseph.. Ant. ./>/., x. 5), 7. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 45 accounts given us of their own doings by the Assyrian mou- archs to whose empire Nebuchadnezzar had succeeded. Assyrian monarchs transport entire nations to distant lands, massacre prisoners by scores or hundreds, put captive kings to death, or mutilate them, cut men to pieces,* and even burnt them to death in furnaces, f The recorded cruelties of Xebuchadnezzar pale before those which Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, who lived less than a century earlier, mentions as commanded by himself, and executed under his orders.}: Nebuchadnezzar's pride and boastfulness were noted by Abydenus, who spoke of him as superbia tumidus and fastu elatus. His own inscriptions not only accumulate on him titles of honor and terms of praise, but seem alto- gether composed with the object of glorifying himself rather than the deities whom they profess to eulogize. Among the titles which he assumes are those of "glorious prince," "the exalted," or " the exalted chief," " the possessor of intelli- gence," " he who is firm, and not to be overthrown," " the valiant son of Nabopolassar," "the devout and pious," "the lord of peace," " the noble king," and " the wise Mage." || Nebuchadnezzar declares that " the god Merodach deposited his germ in his mother's womb," that " Nebo gave into his hand the sceptre of righteousness," that Sin was " the strengthcner of his hands," that Shamas "perfected good in his body," and Gula " beautified his person." H" lie boasts that he is "the eldest son of Merodach," who has made him " the chosen of his heart ; " ** he, for liis part, is " the reioicer of the heart of Merodach." ft "Merodach has made him a surpassing prince ; " he "has extended Merodach's power ; "$$ owing his own exaltation to Merodach and Nebo, he has ex- alted them in turn ; and the impression left is that they have had rather the better of the bargain. Other Babylo- nian kings are moderate in their self-praise compared with Nebuchadnezzar, as may be seen by his inscriptions and those of Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The religiousness of Xebuchadnezzar is even more con- * " Records of the Past," vol. ix., p. 57. t Ibid., vol. i., p. 77; vol. ix., p. 5<>, etc. t Ibid., vol. i., pp. 57-102. " Fr. Hist. Gra?c.. vol. iv., p. 283, Fr. 8. n "Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 113, 114; vol. vii , pp. 71, 75. 1 Ibid., vol. v., pp. 113, 114, 122, 123. ** Ibid., p. 125. tt Ibid., p. 134. }t Ibid., p. 134. 46 EGYPT AND BABYLON. spicuous in his inscriptions than his pride. Not only waa he, as a modern writer expresses it, " faithful to the ortho- doxy of his day," * but a real devotion to his gods seems to have animated him. His own name for himself is "the heaven-adoring king." f he places some god, generally Mero- dach, in the forefront of every inscription ; acknowledges that his life and success were the fruit of the divine favor ; labors to show his gratitude by praises and invocations, by the presentation of offerings, the building and repair of tem- ples, the adornment of shrines, the institution of processions and the proclamation of each god by his proper titles.^ He speaks of Merodach " accepting the devotion of his heart ; " and there is no reason to doubt that he speaks sincerely. He looks to his deities for blessings, beseeches them to sus- tain his life, to keep reverence for them in his heart, to give him a long reign, a firm throne, abundant and vigorous off- spring, success in war, and a record of his good deeds in their book. || He hopes that these good deeds are acceptable to them, and are regarded with satisfaction : whether he ex- pects them to be rewarded in another life is not apparent. The peculiar character of Nebuchadnezzar's religion at one time polytheistic, at another monotheistic is also evidenced by his inscriptions. The polytheism is seen in the distinct and separate acknowledgment of at least thir- teen deities, to most of whom he builds temples, as well as in his mention of " the great gods," IT and the expressions " chief of the yods" king of yods" and " god of yods" which are of frequent occurrence. The monotheism, or at least the " kathenotheism," discloses itself in the attitude assumed toward Merodach, who is " the great Lord," " the (iod his maker," " the Lord of all beings," " the Prince of the lofty house," " the chief, the honorable, the Prince of the gods, the great Merodach," " the Divine Prince, the Deity of heaven and earth, the Lord God," " the King of gods and Lord of lords," " the chief of the gods," " the Lord of the gods," " the God of gods," and " the King of heaven and earth." Nebuchadnezzar assigns to Merodach a pre-eminence which places him on a pedestal apart from and * G. Smith, "History of Babylonia, p. 1(57. t " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 78. J " Ibid., v., pp.113, 114, etc. Ibid., p. 114. II Ibid., vol. vii., pp. 72-77. f " Records of the Past," vo.. v, p. 120; " Trans, of Bibl. Arch Soc., vol. vii., p. 219. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 7 above all the other deities of his pantheon. lie does not worship him exclusively, but he worships him mainly : and when engaged in the contemplation of his greatness, scarcely takes into account the existence of any other deity. Xo other Babylonian king is so markedly the votary of one !;od :is Nebuchadnezzar ; though, no doubt, something of ;> similar spirit may be traced in the inscriptions of Kham- murabi, of Neriglissar, and of Nabonidus. Besides the main traits of character, of which we have hitherto spoken, there are certain minor features in the biblical portraiture which seem entitled to mention. Nebu- chadnezzar is brave and energetic. He leads his armies in person ('2 Kings xxiv. 1, 10 ; xxv. 1 ; Jcr. xxi. 2 ; xxiv. 1 ; xxxiv. 1, etc.), presses his enterprises vigorously, is not easily discouraged or rebuffed, has the qualities of a good general, is brave, " bold in design, and resolute in action."* His own inscriptions so far agree, that they represent him as making war upon Egypt,! as desiring " the conquest of his enemies' land," $ and as looking forward to the ac- cumulation at his great Babylonian temple of " the abundant tribute of the kings of nations and of all people." Profane historians go far beyond this ; they represent him as one of the greatest of conquerors. Berosus ascribes to him the con- quest of Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, ami Arabia ! || Abydenus says that he was " more valiant than Hercules," and not only reduced Egypt, but subdued all Libya, as far as the Straits of Gibraltar, and thence passing over into Spain, Conquered the Iberians, whom he took with him to Asia, and settled in the country between Armenia and the Caucasus ! H Menander and Philostratus spoke of his thir- teen-years-long siege of Tyre ; ** and Megasthenes put him on a par with Sesostris and Tirhakah.tt The religion of Nebuchadnezzar was, as might have been expected, tinged with superstition. We are told in Script- ure that on one occasion a " king of Babylon," who can be 110 other than he, in one of his military expeditions, u stood * G. Smith, " History of Babylonia," p. 166. t " Transactions of Society of Bibl. Archaeology," vol. vii.. p. 220. } " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 77. Ibid., vol. v., p. 135. |j ''See the fragments of Berosus in the ''Fr. Hist. Or.," vol. ii, fr. 14. 1 Ibid., vol. iv., p. 283, Fr. I). ** Ap. Joseph.. Ant. Jud., x. 11. 1, mibfn. tt Ap. Strab., xv. 1, (5. 48 EGYPT AND BAB YL ON. at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He made his arrows bright (or rather, ' he shook his arrows') ; he consulted with images ; he looked in the liver. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem " (Ezek. xxi, 21, 22). That is to say, having come to a certain point on his march, where the road parted, leading on the right hand towards Jerusalem, and on the left towards Rabbath of Ammon, instead of deciding on his course by military considerations, he employed divination, and allowed his campaign to be determined by a use of lots and a consultation of the entrails of victims. He showed an equal superstitiousness when, as we read on the Borsippa cylinder,* he could not allow himself to commence the work of restoration, which the great temple of the Seven Spheres so imperatively needed, until he had first waited for " a fortunate month," and in that fortunate month found an " auspicious day." Then, at length, " the bricks of its wall, and the slabs that covered it, the finest of them, he collected, and rebuilt the ruins firmly. Inscriptions written in his own name he placed within it, in the finest apartments (?), and of completing the upper part he made an end." f It has been said that all Babylonian kings were equally supersti- tious, and even that " the Babylonians never started on an expedition, or commenced any work, without consulting the omens," $ but no proof has been given of this assertion, and certainly neither Neriglissar nor Nabonidus relate that they waited for " fortunate days " to commence their works of restoration. No doubt there are points in the character of Nebuchad- nezzar with respect to which neither his own inscriptions nor the remains of classical antiquity furnish any illustration. His hasty and violent temper, quick to take offence, and rushing at once to the most extreme measures (Dan. ii. 9, 12; iii. 13, 19), is known to us only from the Book of Daniel, and the writers who follow that book in their account of him ; e.g., Josephus. His readiness to relent, and his kindly impulse to make amends (ch. ii. 40, 49 ; iii. 26-80), are also traits unnoticed by profane authors, and unapparent in hii inscriptions. But no surprise ought to be felt at this. We could only expect to find evidence of such qualities in in- scriptions of a different character from those which havo " Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's " Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 586. t " Kecords of the Past," vol. vii., p. 77. J Ibid.," vol. v , p. 58. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 49 come down to us. Should the annals of Nebuchadnezzar ever be recovered, and should they be on the scale of those left by Asshur-bani-pal, or even those of Sennacherib, Sargon, and other earlier Assyrian kings, we might not improbably meet with indications of the great king's moods and tempera- ment. The one historical inscription which we have is insufficient for the purpose. As originally written, extended only to thirty lines, and of these there is not one which is not mutilated.* Xor are the remains of the profane histo- rians who treat of his time such as naturally to supply the deficiency. Of the account which Berosus gave of him, we possess but one considerable fragment; of Abydenus, we nave two shorter ones ; the remaining writers furnish only a few sentences or a few lines. It is unfortunate that this should be so ; but so it is. Had the " Babylonian History " of Berosus come down to us complete, or had kind fate permitted that Antimenides, the brother of Alcaeus, should have written, and time have spared a record of his Babylonian experiences, the slighter details and more delicate shades of the monarch's character might have been laid open to us. At present we have to content ourselves with treating the broader features and more salient points of a character that was not without many minor tones and some curious com- plications. See " Transactions of Soc. of Bibl. Arch," vol. vii., pp. 218-222. 50 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER VI. FTJBTHER NOTICES OF BABYLOX IX BAXIEL. " The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I hav< built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty '? " Dan. iv. 30. WHEX we think of the enormous size of Babylon, ac- cording to the most trustworthy accounts, it seems a most audacious boast on the part of any one man, that he had built the whole of it. According to Herodotus,* who rep- resents himself as having visited the city about B. c. 450, the walls formed a circuit of 480 stades, or fifty-five miles, enclosing a square space, which was 120 stades, or nearly fourteen miles each way. Strabo reduced the circuit to 385 stades, | Quintus Curtius to 368, % Clitarchus to 365, and Ctesias to 360. || If we accept the smallest of these estimates, it will give us a square of above ten miles each way, and con- sequently an area of above a hundred square miles. This is a spacefour times as great as that of Paris within the enceinte, and fully double that of London within the bills of mor- tality. No doubt it is true that only a portion of this immense area was covered by buildings. The district-within the walls represented a vast entrenched camp, more than what we now mean by a city.H Aristotle remarks with respect to it : " It is not walls by themselves that make a town. Otherwise one would only have to surround the Peloponnese with a wall [in order to constitute it a city]. The case is the same with Babylon and all other towns, the walls of whicli enclose rather a nation than a body of citizens."** Large portions of the space enclosed were occupied by gardens, orchards, and palm groves; some part of it was even devoted to the culti- vation of corn. It was calculated that, in case of a siege, * Herod., i. 178. t Strab., xvi. 1, 5. J Vit. Alex. Magn., v. 1. Ap. Diod. Sic., ii. 7, 3. || Ibid If Lenonnant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 220. * Aristot. Pol., ill., 1, sub. fin. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 51 the inhabitants might, by making the best use of all the unoccupied ground, raise grain sufficient for their own con- sumption.* Still, the area devoted to buildings was very large. The royal quarter, or palatial inclosure, as arranged by Nebuchadnezzar, seems to have extended some miles, both in length and breadth. Outside this was the city proper, laid out on a regular plan, in streets cutting each other at right angles, f like Manheim and most American cities. The extent of this can only be guessed, for " the ninety stadcs " of Curtius is excessive as a diameter, insufficient as a circumference. The height and massive character of the buildings was as remarkable as the area that they covered. Even the ordinary houses of the inhabitants were, in many instances, three or four stories high.J The solidity and strength of the walls was most extraordinary. Herodotus estimates their width at fifty, their height at two hundred cubits. He adds that the cubit of which he speaks is otae of unusual length. IHodorus Siculus, who folknvs Ctesias, agrees almost exactly as to the height, which he makes fifty fathoms, || or three hun- dred ordinary feet. Pliny, IF and Solinus ** reduce the three hundred feet of Diodorus to two hundred and thirty-live; while Strabo, who may be supposed to follow the historians of .Alexander, makes a further and still greater reduction, estimating the height at no more than seventy-five feet. ft Even this low figure implies a mass of brickwork amounting to thirteen hundred and ninety millions (1,390,000,000) of square feet, and would have required for its construction at 1 . -i three times that number of the largest bricks known to the Babylonians. If we accept the estimate of height given by Pliny and Solinus, we must multiply these amounts by three ; If we prefer that of Diodorus, by four ; if that of Herodotus, by four and a half. On the supposition that Herodotus has correctly reported the dimensions of the wall in his day, to build it would have required eighteen thousand seven hundred and sixtv-five millions (18,765,000,000) of the largest Babylonian bricks known to us. The royal quarter, or palatial enclosure, of Nebuchad- nezzar's time, comprised three, or according to some, ft four * Q. Curt., 1. s. c. t Herod., i. ISO. t Herod., i. 180. Ibid., i. 178. II Diod. Sic. ii. 7, 3. 1 //. -Y., vi. 26. ** " Polyhist." (10. tt Strab.. xvi. 1. 5. Jt Op pert, "Expedition Scientitique en Mesopotamie," vol. L, Plau of Babylon- 52 EGYPT AND BABYLOJT. principal buildings. These were the old palace, the palace, the hanging gardens, and (ifi we allow it to have been a sort of adjunct to the palace) the great temple of Bel- Merodach. It was also guarded by a wall, which Herodotus declares to have been " very little inferior in strength " to the outer wall of the city ; * and it contained further a vast artificial reservoir. f Some account must be given of these various buildings and constructions before we can appreciate fully Nebuchadnezzar's greatness as a builder. The " old palace " seems to be represented by the modern " mound of Amram." This is a huge mass of ruins, almost triangular in its present shape, occupying the more southern portion of the ancient " royal city." It is about a thousand yards along its south-western or principal side, which faced the river, and has perhaps been washed into its present re- ceding line by water action. The northern face of the mound measures about seven hundred yards, and the eastern about eight hundred, the triangle being thus scalene, with its shortest side, facing northward. $ The mound is deeply furrowed with ravines, worn by the rains in the friable soil ; its elevation above the level of the plain is nowhere very considerable, but amounts in places to about fifty or sixty feet. Excavators have driven galleries into it in various directions, but have found little to reward their labors ; no walls or distinct traces of buildings of any kind have pre- sented themselves. A few bricks, belonging to early kings of Babylon, are all that it has yielded, enough, perhaps, to confirm the conjecture that it represents the site of the " old palace," but otherwise uninteresting. The huge mass seems to be, in reality, less a palace than a mound the basis or substratum on which once stood a royal edifice, which has now wholly disappeared. It was no doubt purely artificial ; but whether originally constructed of unbaked bricks, or merely of the natural soil of the country, may be doubted. At present it consists wholly of a soft and friable mould, interspersed with a few fragments of bricks. The mound covers a space of about thirty-seven acres. || If the " mound of Amram " represent the " old palace " Herod., i. 181. t See the " Standard Inscription of Nebuchadnzzar " in the author's " Herodotus," vol ii., p. 587. | See the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., p. 179, 180. Rich, " Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon," p. 61. II Oppert, "Expedition Scientifique," vol. i., p. 157. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 53 of the Babylonian kings, the " new palace," which adjoined it,* can scarcely fail to be correctly identified with the " great mound " which immediately succeeds the Ami-am mound towards the north, and, according to some writers, is connected with it by a broad causeway.f The name Turn-, or " palace," still attaches to this mass of ruins. The " Kasr mo\md"is an oblong square, about seven hundred yards long by six hundred broad, with the sides facing the cardinal points. $ Like the Amram hill, it is wholly of artificial origin, but is composed of somewhat better material, as loose bricks, tiles, and fragments of stones. It contains at least one sub- terranean passage, which is seven feet high, floored and walled with baked bricks, and roofed over with great blocks of sandstone, which reach from side to side. This passage may have been either a secret exit or a gigantic drain more probably the latter. On the summit of the mound (which is seventy feet above the level of the plain), not very far from the centre, are the remains of the palace proper, from which the mound is named. This is a building of excellent brick masonry, in a wonderful state of preservation, consist- ing of walls, piers, and buttresses, and in places ornamented with pilasters, but of too fragmentary a character to furnish the modern inquirer with any clue to the original plan of the edifice. Probably it did not greatly differ from the palaces of the Assyrian monarchs at Nimrud, Koyunjik, and Khor- sabad, consisting, like them, of a series of courts, great halls, galleries, and smaller apartments, ornamented throughout with sculptured or painted. figures, and with inscriptions in places. Fragments of the ornamentation have been found. One of these is a portion of a slab of stone, representing a frieze, where the abacus was supported by a series of figures of gods, sculptured in low relief, with their names attached to them. The remainder are, for the most part, fragments of bricks, one side of which was painted in bright colors, and covered with a thick enamel or glace. "The principal col- ors are a brilliant blue, red, a deep yellow, white, and black." | Portions of the figures of men and animals have been de- tected upon these fragments, which are so numerous as fully * Berosus, ap: Joseph, " Ant. Jud." x. 11, 1. t Rich, p. 62. t "Ancient Monarchies." vol. ii., p. ITS. "Ancient Monarchies." vol ii., p. 194. || Layard, " Nineveh and Babylon^' p. 507. 34 EG YP T AND BA B YL ON. to bear out the statement of Diodorus,* that the palace walls were artistically adorned with colored representations of war scenes and hunting scenes, wherein the kings, and sometimes the queens, were depicted on horseback or on foot, contending with leopards or with lions, and with spear or javelin dealing them their death stroke. Such were the " men portrayed upon the wall," which the Jewish captives saw at Babylon, and on which they doted ; " the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilljon, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Baby- lonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity" (Ezek. xxiii. 14, 15). The palace is said to have been further ornamented with statues ;f and the figure of a colossal lion, which stands upon the mound, north-east of the Kasr building, may lend a certain support to this statement. The "hanging gardens" were regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. $ They were said to have been constructed for the delectation of a Median princess, who disliked the flat monotony of the Babylonian plain, and longed for something that might remind her of the irregularities of nature in her own country. The construction is described in terms which are somewhat difficult to understand ; but, by comparing the several accounts, || we gather that the structure was a square, 400 feet each way, elevated to the height of at least 150 feet, and consisting of several tiers of arches, superimposed one upon another, after the manner employed by the Romans in the construction of their amphi- theatres. The building was divided into as many stories as there were tiers of arches, the number of these being uncer- tain, and was supported by internal walls of great thickness. In these stories were many palatial apartments, where visit- ore rested on their way to the upper terrace ; and in the uppermost story was a room containing hydraulic machinery, whereby water was raised from the Euphrates to the level of the garden itself. This was superimposed on the uppermost tier of arches, and was a flat surface composed of four layers ; first, one of reeds mixed with bitumen ; next, one of brick- work, then one of lead, and finally a thick layer of earth, * Diod. Sic., li. 8. t Ibid. J Ahydcnus, Fr. 0. ad fin.; Strab., xvi. 1, 5. Berosus, Fr. 14. II Those of Diod. Sic. (ii. 10). Strabo (xvi. 1, 5). aud Q. Curtiua (* 1). NOTICES IN DANIEL. 55 affording ample depth for the roots of the largest trees. The garden was planted with trees and shrubs of various kinds, and possibly with flowers, though they are not mentioned. A spacious pleasure-ground was thus provided as an adjunct to the palace, where royalty was secure from observation, and where the delights of umbrageous foliage, flashing fountains, gay llower-beds, and secluded walks could be obtained at the cost of mounting a staircase somewhat longer than those of our great London and Paris hotels. The great temple of Bel-Merodach is probably identified with the massive ruin which lies due north of the Kasr mound, at the distance of about a mile. This is a vast pile of brickwork, of an irregular quadrilateral shape, with pre- cipitous sides furrowed by ravines, and with a nearly flat top.* Of the four faces of the ruin, the southern seems to be the most perfect. It extends a distance of two hundred yards, or almost exactly a stade, and runs nearly in a straight line from east to west. At its eastern extremity it forms a right angle with the east face, which runs nearly due north for about one hundred and eighty yards, also almost in a straight line. The other two faces are very much worn'away, but probably in their original condition corresponded to those already described. . The building was thus not an exact square, but a parallelogram, with the shorter sides propor- tioned to the longer as nine to ten. The ruin rises towards its centre, where it attains an elevation of nearly one hun- dred and forty feet. It shows signs of having been enclosed within a precinct. Beyond a doubt, it is the edifice which Herodotus describes as follows : " In the other division of the town was the sacred precinct of Jupiter Belus, a square enclosure two stades each way, with gates of solid brass ; which was also remaining in my time. In the middle of the precinct there was a tower of solid masonry, a stade both in length and in breadth, upon which was raised a second tower, and upon that a third, and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, by a path which winds round all the towers. When one is about half-way up, one finds a rest- ing-place and seats, where persons are wont to sit some time on their way to the summit. On the topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch of unusual size, richly adorned, with a golden table by its side * See li Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., pp. 177, 178. 56 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The temple contains no image." * Herodotus adds : " Below, in the same precinct, there is a second temple, in which is a sitting figure of Jupiter, all of gold. Before the figure stands a large golden table ; and the throne whereon it sits, and the base on which the throne is placed, are likewise of gold. The Chaldeans told me that all the gold together was eight hundred talents in weight. Outside this temple are two altars, one of solid gold, on which it is only lawful to offer sucklings ; the other a common altar, but of great size, on which the full-grown animals are sacrificed." f The lower temple has disappeared, as have the altars and the upper stages of the Great Temple tower; but the massive basis remains a solid piece of brickwork containing about four millions of square feet, and requiring for its construction at least twelve millions of the largest bricks made by the Baby- lonians. If the upper stages at all resembled those of the Great Temple of Borsippa, the bricks needed for the entire building must have been three times as many. The artificial reservoir attached to the new palace is often mentioned in the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar.! It was called the Yapur-Shapu, and was probably of an oblong square shape, with sides protected by a massive facing of burnt brick. If we accept the identification of its site suggested by Sir H. Rawlinson, we must assign it a width of about a hundred yards, and a length of nearly a mile. Among the other marvels of Babylon, according to the ancient writers, were a tunnel and a bridge. The tunnel was carried under the bed of the Euphrates, and was an arched passage, lined thi-oughout with baked brick laid in bitumen, the lining having a thickness of twenty bricks. The width of the tunnel was fifteen feet, and its height, to the spring of the arch, twelve feet.|j The length was about a thousand yards, or considerably more than half a mile. The bridge was a structure composed of wood, metal, and stone. In the bed of the Euphrates were built a number of strong stone piers, at the distance of twelve feet apart, which presented to the current a sharp angle that passed gradually into a gentle curve. The stones were massive, and fastened Herod., 1. 181. t Ibid., i. 183. | " Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 125, 126, 130, etc. See the author's " Herodotus," vol. Hi., p. 580. || Diod. Sic., ii. 9. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 57 together by clamps of iron and lead.* From pier to pier was stretched a platform of wood, composed of cedar and cypress beams, together with the stems of palms, each platform being thirty feet in width. f The length of tne bridge, like that of the tunnel, was a thousand yards. t We have now to consider to what extent these variom constructions may be regarded as the work of Nebuchad- nezzar, and how far therefore he may be viewed as justified in his famous boast. First, then, we have it distinctly stated both by Berosus and by himself, || that the nw palace, which adjoined the old, was completely and entirely built by him. The same is declared, both by Berosus IF and Aby- denus, ** of the " hanging gardens." The former of these statements is confirmed by the fact that the bricks of the Kasr are, one and all of them, stamped with his name. The old palace he did not build ; but, as he tells us, carefully re- paired, ft The Yapur-Shapu, was also an ancient con- struction ; but he seems to have excavated it afresh, and to have executed the entire lining of its banks. Jt With respect to the great Temple of Bel-Merodach, if we may believe his own account, it had gone completely to ruin before his day, and required a restoration that was equivalent to a rebuild- ing^ Here, again, we have the confirmation of actual fact, since the inscribed bricks from the Babil mound bear in every instance the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar. Eight other Babylonian temples are also declared in his inscriptions to have been built or rebuilt by him. || || But his greatest work was the reconstruction of the walls. We have seen their enor- mous length, breadth, and thickness, even according to the lowest estimates. Nebuchadnezzar found them dismantled and decayed probably mere lines of the earthen rampart, such as enclose great part of the ruins to-day. Pie gave them the dimensions that they attained dimensions that made them one of the world's wonders. It is this which is Ins great boast in his standard inscription : " Imgar-Bel .UK! Ximiti-Bel, the great double wall of Babylon, I built. Butresses for the embankment of its ditch I completed. Two * Herod., i. 186. t Diod., Sic., ii. 8. J Ibid. Ap. Joseph., " Ant. Jud., x. 11, 1. II "Kecords of the Past,'' vol. v., pp. 130, 131. T Berosus, 1. s. c. ** Abydenus, Fr. 9, sub fin, tt Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's "Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 588. it Ibid., p. 587. " Records of the Past," vol. v., p. 119. III! Ibid., pp. 122, 123 58 EGYPT AND BABYLON. long embankments with cement and brick I made, and with the embankment which my father had made I joined them. I strengthened the city. Across the river, westward I built the wall of Babylon with brick." * And again, " The walls of the fortress of Babylon, its defence in war, I raised ; and the circuit of the city of Babylon I have strengthened skil- fully." t Nebuchadnezzar, it may be further remarked, did not confine his constructive efforts to Babylon. Abydenus tells us, that, besides his great works at the capital, he excavated two large canals, the Nahr-Agane and the Nahr-Malcha ; J the latter of which is known from later writers to have been a broad and deep channel connecting the Tigris with the Euphrates. He also, according to Abydenus, dug a huge reservoir near Sippara which was one hundred and forty miles in circumference, and one hundred and eighty feet deep, furnishing it with flood-gates, through which the Avater could be drawn off for purposes of irrigation. Abydenus adds, that he built quays and break-waters along the shores of the Persian Gulf, aud at the same time founded the city of Tereclon, on the sea coast, as a defence against the incur- sion of the Arabs. The inscribed bricks of this great monarch shows a still more inexhaustible activity. They indicate him as the com- plete restorer of the temple of Nebo at Borsippa, the mighti- est of all the ruins in Mesopotamia, by some identified with the biblical " tower of Babel." They are widely spread over the entire country, occurring at Sippara, at Cutha, at Kal-wadha (Chilmad?^ : n the vicinity of Baghdad, and at scores of other sites. It is a calculation of Sir Henry Rawlin- son's, that nine-tenths of the bricks brought from Mesopo- tamia are inscribed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar. " At least a hundred sites," says the same writer, " in the tract immediately about Babylon, give- evidence, by bricks bearing his legend, of the marvelous activity and energy of this king." || His inscriptions add, that, besides the great temple of Ibid., p. 125. Compare the author's "Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 587. t " Records of the Past." vol. v., pp. 183, 134. J Abydenus, 1. s. c. t Compare his inscription, " Records of the Past," vol. vil, pp. 75-78. !j " Commentary on tin- Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria. p. 7b. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 59 Nebo, or of the Seven Spheres, at Borsippa, he built there at least live others,* together with a temple to the Moon- god at Beth-Ziba,f and one to the Sun-god at Larsa, or Sen- kareh.J Altogether there is reason to believe that he was one of the most indefatigable of all the builders that have left their mark upon the world in which we live. He covered Babylonia with great works. He was the Augustus <;' Babylon. He found it a perishing city of unbaked clay ; he left it one of durable burnt brick, unless it had been for human violence, capable of continuing, as the fragment of the Kasr has continued, to the present day. * " Records of the Past," vol. v., p. 123. * Ibid., p. 124. J Ibid., vol. vil, pp. 71, 72. 60 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER VII. NOTICES OF BABYLON IN JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL. THE Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel contain numerous allusions, some prophetic, others historic, to the wars in which Nebuchadezzar was engaged, or was to be engaged. A certain number of these notices refer to wars, which are also mentioned in Chronicles or Kings, and which have conse- quently already engaged our attention.* But others touch upon campaigns which Kings and Chronicles ignore, either on account of their lying outside the geographic range of the ' writer's vision, or from their being subsequent in point of time to the event which they view as constituting the close of their narratives. The campaigns in question are especi- ally those ' against Tyre and Egypt, which are touched by both writers, but most emphatically dwelt iipon by Ezekiel. I. The war against Tyre. Ezekiel's description of this war is as follows : "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Ncbu- chadre/zar, king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north with horses and witli chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field ; and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thcc, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets : he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches and make a prey of thy men linn - dise; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasure houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease ; and the sound of thy harp shall be no more heard. And I will make S;e above, ch. ill. NOTICES IN JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL. 61 thee like the top of a rock ; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon ; thou shalt be built no more, for I, the Lord, have spoken it, saith the Lord God." EZEK. xxvi. 7-14. It is evident, from the entire character of the descrip- tion, that the city attacked is mainly, at any rate not the island Tyre, but the ancient upon the continent, Palaityrus, as the Greeks called it, which occupied a position directly opposite to the island, upon the sea-shore. Nebuchadrezzar, as he is correctly named,* fully established in his empire, not merely a " king of Babylon," but a " king of kings," comes with such an army as Polyhistor described him as bringing against Judaea,f to attack the Phoenician town. He brings " horses and chariots, and horsemen- and companies, and much people." Polyhistor gives him, on the former occasion, ten thousand chariots, one hundred and twenty thousand horsemen, and one hundred and eighty thousand footmen. He proceeds to invest the city after the fashion commonly adopted br the Assyrian monarchs, and inherited from them by the Babylonians. Having constructed a mov- able fort or tower, such as we see in the Assyrian bas-reliefs,t he brings it against the walls, while at the same time he "raises a mount" against them, from which to work his engines and shoot his arrows with the better effect. His men " lift up the buckler," as the Assyrians do while they mine the walls or fire the gates ; while his " engines " ply their strokes, and -his bravest soldiers, "with axes," or rather "swords" often used by the Assyrians for the purpose || seek to "break down the towers." His efforts are successful, and a breach is made ; the horsemen and chariots, as well as the footmen, enter the town ; there is the r.sual carnage and plundering that accompany the storming of a stronghold ; and, finally, there is a destruction or dismantling of the place, more or less complete. It is remarkable that the siege and capture of the island city obtain no distinct mention. Some have supposed that it was not taken ; but this is scarcely compatible with the words of the " Lament for Tyre," or with the " isles shak- ing at the sound of her fall" (Ezek. xxvi. 15, 18). Probably the two cities were so bound together that the conquest of Nebuchadrezzar exactly corresponds to the Nabu-kudurri-uzur of the inscriptions. t Alex. Polyhist., Fr. 34. f "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. p. 274. Ibid., p. 275. Ulbid. 62 EGYPT AND BAB YL ON. the one involved the surrender of the other, and Nebuchad. nezzar, master of the Old Tyre, experienced no resistance from the New. The annalists of Tyre, though little disposed to dwell upon a passpge of history so painful to patriotic men, were forced to admit the fact of the siege by Nebuchadnezzar, and even to give some account of it. They stated that it took place in the reign of a certain Ithobalus (Eth-Baal), and that the Tyrians offered a resistance almost without a parallel. They were besieged continuously for thirteen years. * The brief extracts from their works, which are all that we possess of them, do not say whether the siege was successful or the contrary ; but it is scarcely conceivable that the great monarch would have allowed his efforts to be baffled, and it is certain that he carried a large number of Phoenician captives to Babylonia, whom he settled in various parts of the country, f The fact of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Tyre having lasted thirteen years, throws considerable light on another passage of Ezekiel. In the twenty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin (B. c. 573), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, saying : " Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus ; every head wan made ba(d, and every shoulder was peeled ; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service he had served against it. Therefore thus saitli the Lord God : Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor where- with lie served against it, because they wrought for Me, saith the Lord God." EZEK. xxix. 18-20. The extraordinary length of the siege, in which men grew old and wore themselves out, explains the phrase, "Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled ; " and at the same time accounts for the fact that Nebuchadncxzar was considered to have received no wages, .., no sufficient wages, for his service, which had been very inadequately repaid by the plunder found in the exhausted city. * Menand. Ephes. ap. Joseph. Contr. Ap. i. 21; Philostrat. ap Joseph. Ant. Jnd., \. 11. 1. t Berosus. ap. Joseph., Ant. Jud., 1. s. c. NOTICES IX JEREMIAH AND KZKKIEL. 63 II. A great campaign in Egypt. In the year of the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah prophesied as follows : " Then came the Word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes. saying. Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in 1 he hriek-kihi. which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of .Tuclah; and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebu- chadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread his royal pavil- ion over them. And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Kii.vpt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword. And 1 will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire." JEK. xliii. 8-13. Some time afterwards he delivered another prophecy (xlvi. 13-26) equally explicit, in which Migdol, Xoph (Memphis), Tahpanhes (Daphnae), and Xo-Ammon (Thebes) were threatened ; and the delivery of the entire country and people into the hand of Xebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, ami into the hand of his servants, was foretold. Ezekiel delivered seven prophecies against Egypt, all of them having more or less reference to Babylon as the power which was to bring ruin upon the country, and two of them mentioning Nebuchadrezzar by name, as the monarch who was to inflict the chastisement (Ezek. xxix. 18, 19; xxx. 10). These prophecies arc too long to quote in full. They are chiefly remarkable as declaring the complete desolation of Egypt, and as fixing a term of years during which her degradation should continue. In chap. xxx. we find among the places which arc to suffer, Sin or Pelusium, Zoan or Tanis, On or Heliopolis, Xoph or Memphis, Tahpanhes or Daphne, Pibcseth or Bubastis, and Xo-Ammon or Thebes. In chap. xxix. an even wider area is included. There we are told that the land of Egypt was to be " utterly waste and desolate from Migdol to Syene,* even unto the border of Ethiopia" (ver. 10). The time of Egypt's affliction is fixed at "forty years" (vers. 11-13), after which it is to recover, * There is no doubt that this is the proper rendering. " From the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia " would have no leaning, since Syene bordered on Ethiopia. 64 EG YP T AND BAB YL ON. but to be a " base kingdom, " " the basest of the kingdoms " (ver. 15), no more " exalted above the nations," no more a ruler over nations external to itself. By the date of one of Ezekiel's prophecies (chap. xxix. 17-20), which is B. c. 573, it is evident that the great invasion prophesied had not then taken place, but was still impending. Nebuchadnezzar's attack must consequently be looked for towards the latter part of his long reign, which terminated in B. c. 562, according to the Canon of Ptolemy. Until recently it would have been impossible to adduce any historical confirmation, or indeed illustration, of these prophecies. They were quoted by sceptical writers as proph- ecies that had been imfulfilled. Herodotus, it was remarked, knew nothing of any invasion of Egypt by the Asiatics dur- ing the reigns of either Apries or Amasis, with whom Nebu- chadnezzar was contemporary, much less of any complete devastation of the entire territory by them. It was true that Josephus, anxious to save the reputation of his sacred books, spoke of an invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar later than the destruction of Jerusalem, and even made him kill one king and set up another. * But he placed these events in the fifth year after the fall of Jerusalem, that is in B. c. 581, whereas Ezekiel's date, in his twenty-ninth chapter, showed that they had not happened by B. c. 573. Moreover, he con- tradicted Egyptian history, which gave no change of sove- reign till ten years after the time mentioned, or B. c. 571. It was difficult to meet these objectors formerly. Within the last few years, however, light has been thrown on the subject from two inscriptions one Egyptian, which had been long known, but not rightly understood ; the other Babylonian, which was not discovered till 1878. The Egyp- tian inscription is on a statue in the Louvre, which was originally set up at Elephantine by a certain Nes-Hor, an official of high rank whom Apries, the Egyptian monarch called in Scripture " Pharaoh-IIophra," had made " Governor off the south." This officer, according to the latest and best interpretation of his inscription, f writes as follows : " I have caused to be made ready my statue ; my name will be perpetuated by means of it ; it will not perish in this temple, inasmuch as I took care of the house, when it was " Ant. Jud." x. 9, 7. t See Dr. Wiedemann's paper in the "Zeitschrift fur -(Egypt Sprache " for 1878, p. 4. NOTICES IN JEREMIAH J\.ND EZEKIEL. 65 injured by the foreign hordes of the Syrians, the people of the north, the Asiatics, and the profane [who intended evil] in their heart ; for it lay in their heart to rise up, to bring into subjection the upper country. But the fear of thy majesty was upon them ; they gave up what their heart had planned. I did not let them advance to Konosso, but I let them approach the place v^here the majesty was. Then thy majesty made an [expedition] against them." It results from this inscription, that, while Apries was still upon the throne, there was an invasion of Egypt from the north. A host of Asiatics, whom the writer calls amu, i.e. Syrians, or, at any rate, Semites from the direction of Syria, poured into the country, and, carrying all before them, advanced up the valley of the Nile, threatening the subjection of the ; ' upper country." Memphis and Thebes must have fallen, since the invaders reached Elephantin6. Apparently they were bent on subduing, not only Egypt, but Ethiopia. But Nes-Hor checked their advance, he prevented them from proceeding further, he even forced them to fall back towards the north, and brought them into contact with an army which Apries had collected against them. The result of the contact is not mentioned ; but the invaders must have re- tired, since Nes-Hor is able to embellish and repair the great temple of Kneph, which they have injured, and to set up his statue in it. The other inscription is, unfortunately, very fragmentary. The tablet on which it was written was of small size, and allowed space for only thirty not very long lines. All the lines are more or less mutilated. Of the first and sec- ond one word only remains ; of the twenty-fifth and twenty- eighth, only one letter. The twenty-ninth is wholly obliter- ated. The termination alone remains of the last seven. Some lacunae occur in all the others. Still, the general purport is plain. Nebuchadnezzar addresses Merodach, and says, "My enemies thou usedst to destroy; thou causedst my heart to rejoice ... in those days thou raadest my hands to capture ; thou gavest me rest ; . . . thou causedst me to con- struct ; my kingdom thou madest to increase. . . . Over them kings thou exaltedst ; his warriors, his princes, his paths, like ... he made ... to his army he trusted . . . he hastened before the great gods. [In the] thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar king of the country [of Babylon, Nebuchad- nezzar] to Egypt to make war went. [His army Ama]sis, 66 EGYPT AND BABYLON. king of Egypt, collected, and . . . [his soldiers] went, thej spread abroad. As for me (?).... a remote district, which is in the middle of the sea .... many . . . from the midst of the country of Egypt .... soldiers, horses, and chariots (?) . . . for his help lie assembled and ... he looked before him .... to his [army] he trusted and . . . iixed a command." * Nebuchadnezzar, evidently, in this inscription, speaks of an expedition which he personally* conducted into Egypt, as late as his thirty-seventh year, which was j*. c. 568, five years later than the d'ate of Ezekiel's dated prophecy. The king, however, against whom he made war, was not Apries, whose name in Egyptian was Ua-ap-ra, but apparently Amasis, his successor, since it ended in -su, probably in -asu.^ This may seem to be an objection against referring the two inscriptions to the same events, since Apries was still king when that of Nes-Hor was set up. But a reference to Egyptian history removes this difficulty. Amasis, it appears, ascended the throne in B.C. 571; but Apries did not die until n. c. 565. "For six years the two monarchs inhabited the same palace at Sais,t and both bore the royal title. An Egyptian monu- ment distinctly recognizes the double reign ; the expedi- tion of Nebuchadnezzar, being in . c. 568, exactly falls into this interval. It was natural that Nebuchadnezzar should mention the active young king, who had the real power, and was his actual antagonist ; it was equally natural that Nes- Hor, an old employe under Apries, should ignore the upstart, and seek to do honor to his old master. Other wars of Nebuchadnezzar are thought to be glanced at in Scripture, as one with Elam,|| to which there may be allusion in Jer. xlix. 35-38, and Ezek. xxxii. 24; one with the Moabites, perhaps in Ezek. xxv. 8-11; and one with Anunon, touched upon in Ezek. xxi. 20, 28-32, and xxv. 4-7. Josephus relates it as a historical fact, that he reduced both the Moabites and the Ammonites to subjection ; H" and there are some grounds for thinking that he also made himself master of Elam ; but it cannot be said that these events r.re either confirmed or illustrated by profane writers, who inako " Transactions of Soc. of Bihl. Arch., vol. vii., pp. 218-222. t See the inscription in the " Transactions of Bibl. Arch. Soc.," vol. vii., p. 2_M, reverse, line 1. \ IInro.1.. ii. 1 <.'.. $ Champollion, " Monuments de I'Esypte," vol. iv., p. 443, No. 1. II (I. Smith. ' History of Babylonia." pp. 157, 158. 1 Joseph., " Ant. Jnd.," x. 0, 7. IX JFAtEMIAH AND EZEKIEL. 67 no distinct mention of any of his wars, except those with the .lews, the Phoenicians, and the Egyptians. It was, however, widely recognized in antiquity that Nebuchadnezzar was a great general. His exploits* were enormously exaggerated, since he was believed by some * to have conquered all North Africa and Spain, as well as the country between Armenia and the Caspian. But there was a basis of truth underlying the exaggerations. Nebuchad- nezzar, at a comparatively, early age, defeated Pharaoh- Nccho at the great battle of Carchemish, conquered Coele- syria, and reduced Juda?a to vassalage. Somewhat later he engaged in the difficult enterprise of capturing Tyre, and ex- hibited a rare spirit of persistence and perseverance in his long siege of that town. Ifis capture of Jerusalem, after a siege of eighteen months ('1 Kings xxv. 1-4), was creditable to him, since Samaria, a place of far less strength, was not taken by the Assyrians until it had been besieged for three years ('1 Kings xvii. 5). The reduction of Elam, if we may ascribe it to him, redounds still more to his honor, since the Islamites were a numerous and powerful nation, which had eonuMided on almost even terms with the Assyrians from the tinif of Sargon to the close of the empire. The judgment of a good general was shown in the subjugation of Moaband Ammon, for it is essential to the security of Syria and Pales- tine that the tribes occupying the skirt of the great eastern desert shall be controled and their ravages prevented. In Egypt Nebuchadnezzar probably met his most powerful ad- versary, since under the rule of the Psammeticlii Egypt had recovered almost her pristine vigor. Thus in this quarter the struggle for supremacy was severe and greatly prolonged. He contended with three successive Egyptian kings Necho, Apries or Ilophra, and Amasis. From Necho he took the whole tract between Carchemish and the Egyptian frontier. Apries feared to meet him, and, after a futile demonstration, gave up the interference which he had meditated (Jer. xxxvii. 7). Amasis, who had perhaps provoked him by his expedition against Cyprus,! which Nebuchadnezzar would naturally regard as his, he signally punished by ravaging his whole territory, injuring the temples, destroying or carrying off the images of the gods, and making prisoners of many of the inhabitants. It is possible that he did more than this. * As Megastbencs and Abydeuus. t Herod, ii. 182. 68 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Egypt's degradation was to last for a long term of years.* It is not unlikely that Amasis became the vassal of Nebu- chadnezzar, and his peaceful reign, and the material pros- perity of his country,! were the result of a compact by which he acknowledged the suzerainty of Babylon, and bowed his head to a foreign yoke. *" Forty years" (Ezek. xxix. 11-13); but "forty years," in pro* phetic language, is not to be taken literally, t Herod., ii. f 177. . NOTICES IN EZEKIEL. 69 CHAPTER VIII. FURTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN EZEKIEL. " A land of traffick ... a city of merchants." EZEK. xvii, 4. THIS allusion to the commercial character of Babylon does not stand alone and unsupported in Scripture. Isaiah speaks of the Babylonian " merchants " (Isa. xlvii. 15). and describes the Chaldaeans as persons " whose cry is in their ships" (chap, xliii. 14). Ezekiel mentions Canneh (Calneh), and Chilmad, Babylonian towns, among the- places that carried on commercial dealings with Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 23. In the Revelation of St. John the Divine, Babylon is made the type of a city, which is represented as eminently com- mercial, as dealing in the " merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and the souls of men " (Rev. xviii. 12, 13). The object of the present chapter will be to show that the notices of Babylon in profane writers and in the in- scriptions fully bear out the character thus assigned to her, showing that she was the centre of an enormous land and sea commerce, which must have given occupation to thou- sands of merchants, and have necessitated the employment of numerous ships. Nothing is more evident in the Babylonian inscriptions, and also in those of Assyria which treat of Babylonian af- fairs, than the large amount of curious woods, and the quan- tity of alabaster and other stone, which was employed in the great constructions of the Babylonians, and which must necessarily have been imported from foreign countries. 70 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Babylonia being entirely alluvial is wholly destitute of stone and the only trees of any size that it produces are the cypress and the palm.* We find the Babylonian raonarchs employ- ing in their temples and palaces abundant pine and cedar trees, together with many other kinds of wood, which it is impossible to identify. Mention is made of " J2abil-wood," " iimritganctr-wood" "ummafcana-wood" " n'-wood," " ikki- wood," " swmcm-wood," " awwAw-wood," " musritkanna- wood," and " mesukcm-vrood." f Modern exploration has shown that among the building materials employed was teak,| but whether any one of these obscure names desig- nates that species of timber is uncertain. What seems plain is that all these woods must have been imported. The teak must have come either from India, or possibly from one f the islands in the Persian Gulf ; thei-e is evidence that the cedars and pines, together with the Babil-wood, were imported from Syria, being furnished by the forests that clothed the sides of Mounts Libanus and Amanus ; || there is no evidence with respect to the remainder, but they may have been derived from either Armenia, Assyria, or Susi- ana. Among the kinds of stone commonly used in building which must necessarily have been imported, were " alabaster blocks," " zamat stone," " durmina-turda and kamina-turda stone, zamat-hati stone, and lapis lazuli." *[[ Xenophon speaks of the importation of " millstones " in his own day ; ** and, as Babylonia could not furnish them, they must always have come in from without. Sandstone and basalt, which are found in some of the ruins, could have been obtained from the adjacent parts of Arabia; but the alabaster, which has been also found, and the lapis lazuli, which was especially nlTccted for adornment, must have been brought from a greater distance. Stones of the rarer and more precious kinds were also imported, to serve either as seals or. as ornaments See the author's " Ancient Monarchies," vol. Hi., pp. 220-221. " Records of the Past." vol. v., pp. 117-133; vol. vii., p. 75. J " Journal of the R. Asiat. Society," vol. xv. , p. 204. As ITeeren thinks, on the strength of a passage of Theophrastus ("As. Nat.," vol. ii., pp. 258, 25fl). 1 " Records of the Past," vol. v., p. 119; vol. ix., p. 10; "Trans- actions of Bibl. Arch. Society," vol. vii., p. 154. f " Records of the Past," vol. v.,pp. 121, 125-127; vof vii., p. 76, etc, *Xen., "Anab.," i. 5, 5. NOTICES IN EZEKIEL. il of the person. Herodotus tells us that " every Babylonian carried a seal ; " * and the remains tend to confirm his testi- mony, since Babylonian seals, either in the shape of signet rings or of cylinders, exist by thousands in European mu- seums, and are still found in large numbers by explorers. They are chiefly made of onyx, jasper, serpentine, meteoric stone, lapis lazuli, and chalcedony, all substances that must have been introduced from abroad, since no one of them is produced by Babylonia. Babylonia must also have imported or else carried off from foreign countries, the whole of its metals. Neither gold, nor silver, nor copper, nor tin, nor lead, nor iron are among the gifts which Nature has vouchsafed to the south- ern Mesopotamiaii region. No doubt her military successes enabled her to obtain from foreign lands, not by exchange but by plunder, considerable supplies of these commodities ; but besides this accidental and irregular mode of acquisition, there must have been some normal and unceasing source of supply, to prevent disastrous fluctuations, and secure a due provision for the constant needs of the country. Every im- plement used in agriculture or in the mechanical trades had to be made of bronze, f the materials of which came from afar ; copper perhaps from Armenia, which still produces it largely, tin from Further India, or from Cornwall, through the medium of the Phoenicians.}: Every weapon of war had to be supplied similarly ; all the gold and silver lavished on the doors and walls of temples, on images of the gods or the dresses in which the images were clothed, |j on temple tables, altars, or couches, IF on palace walls and roofs, ** on thrones, sceptres, parasols, chariots, and the like, ft r on bracelets, armlets, and other articles of personal adornment, had to be procured from some foreign land and to be con- veyed hundred or thousands of miles before the Babylonians could make use of them. Another whole class of commodities which the Babylo- nians are believed to have obtained from foreign countries * Herod., i. 195. t Iron was not absolutely unknown in ancient Babylonia; but al- most all the weapons and implements found are of bronze, t Heroh.. iii. 115. "Records of the Past," vol. v.. pp. 117-120; vol. vii., p. 75. i Ibid., vol. 'vii.. pp. 5, 0. II Herod., i. 181, 183; Diod. Sic. li. 9. * " Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 131, I'M. ft Ibid, vol. ix., p. 15. 72 EG YP T AND BAB YL ON. comprises the raw materials for their clothes, and for the greater part of their fabrics.* Babylonia was not a country suitable for the rearing of sheep, and, if it produced wool at all, produced it only in small quantities ; yet the Babylonian wore ordinarily two woolen garments,! and some of their most famous fabrics were of the same material. Their other clothes were either linen or cotton ; but, so far as is known, neither flax nor the cotton plant was cultivated by them. Spices constituted another class of imports. In theii religious ceremonies the Babylonians consumed frankincense^ on an enormous scale ; and they employed it likewise in purifications^ They also used aromatic reeds in their sacri- fices, || as did the Jews who were brought into contact with them. IT Whether they imported cinnamon from Ceylon or India,** may perhaps be doubted ; but the spices of Arabia were certainly in request, and formed the material of a regular traffic. ft All the wine consumed in Babylonia was imported from abroad. Babylonia was too hot, and probably also too moist, for the vine, which was not cultivated in any part of the country. J$ A sort of spirit was distilled from dates, which the Greeks called " palm-wine," and this was drunk by the common people. But the wealthier classes could be content with nothing less than the juice of the grape ; || || and hence there was a continuous importation of real wine into the country, 1T1T where there prevailed a general luxuriousness of living. The trade must consequently have been considerable, and is not likely to have been confined to a single channel. There were several vine-growing countries not very remote from Babylon ; and a brisk commerce was in all probability carried on with most of them. Among other probable imports maybe mentioned ivory and c'bony, for the construction of rich furniture, pearls for personal adornment, rare woods for walking-sticks, dyes, Indian shawls, musical instruments, Phoenician asses, Indian dogs, and Persian greyhounds. Ivory and ebony which were brought to Solomon as * Heeren, " Asiatic Nations," vol. ii., p. 199. t Herod., i. 195. t Herod., i. 183. Ibid., i. 198. || " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 140. IF Jer. vi. 20, ** As Heeren supposes ("As. Nat.," vol. ii., p. 240). tt Strabo, xvi. 1110. J| Herod., i. 193. Ibid. till Dan. i. 5; v. 1. Iffl Herod., i. 194. NOTICES IN BABYLON. 73 early as B. c. 1000 (1 Kings x. 22), and which Tyre im- ported from Dedan, on the Persian Gulf, in the time of Ezekiel (Ezek. xxvii. 15), can scarcely have been unknown to the Babylonians, through whose territory the Phosnician trade with Dedan must have passed. Pearls, which were worn by the Assyrians,* and supplied to Western Asia generally from the famous fisheries of Bahrien and Karrak, in the Persian Gulf,f were doubtless as much appreciated by the Babylonians as by other Asiatics ; and the pearl mer- chants can scarcely have been permitted to carry their pre- cious wares into the interior without leaving a fair share of them to the country whereto they must have brought them first of all. Rare wood for walking-sticks is mentioned as grown in Tylos,t another island in the Gulf, and would naturally be transported to the neighboring country, where walking-sticks were in universal use. The dyes which gave to Babylonian fabrics their brilliant hues came probably from India or Kashmir, and were furnished by the Indian lava or the cochineal insect. || With their dyes the Indians would probably send their shawls, an early product of Hindoo in- dustry, and one from time immemorial highly valued in the East. IT The importation of musical instruments may be regarded as proved, if we allow any of the names used in Daniel to be derived from the Greek, since the Greek name could only reach Babylon together with the instrument where- to it belonged. Phoenician asses are expressly mentioned, as sold by one Babylonian to another, on one of the black contract stones found at Babylon,** as are "greyhounds from the East," which were most probably Persian. A large dog, most likely an Indian hound, is represented on a tablet brought by Sir H. Rawlinson from the same site,tf and the representation is a fairly good proof of the importation of the animal portrayed. It is impossible for a country to import largely unless it also exports largely, either its own products or those of other regions. In the long run exports and imports must balance each other. Babylonia seems to have exported chiefly its own manufactures. Large weaving establishments existed "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 322 t Heeren. "As. Nat.," vol. ii., pp. 235-237. } Theophrast., " Hist. Plant.," v. 6. Herod., i. 195. II See Heeren, p. 200. 1 See Heeren, p. 209. ** " Records of the Past," vol. ix., p. 105. tt See the author's " Herodotus," vol. i. p. 314. 74 EGYPT AND BABYLON. in various parts of the country ;* and fabrics issued from the Babylonian looms which were highly esteemed by foreign nations. The texture was exquisite ; the dyes were of re- markable brilliancy ; and the workmanship was superior. The " Babylonish garment " found among the spoils of Jericho when the Israelites entered the Holy Land, and coveted by Achan,| is an evidence at once of the high esteem in which such fabrics were held, and of the distance to which, even thus early, they had been exported. Fringed and striped robes of seemingly delicate material appear on Babylonian cylinders | as early as the Proto-Chaldasan period, or before B. c. 2000. We cannot fix their material ; but perhaps they were of the class called " sindones," which appear to have been muslins of extreme fineness, and of brilliant hues, and which in later times were set apart for royal use. The carpets of Babylon acquired a peculiar reputation. || Carpets are one of the principal objects of luxury in the East, where not only are the floors of the reception-rooms in all houses of a superior class covered with them, but they even form the coverlets of beds, couches, divans, and sofas, and are thus the main decoration of apartments. The car- pets of Babylon were made of fine wool, skilfully woven, exquisite in their colors, and boasting patterns that gave them a character of piquancy and originality. They bore representations of griffins and other fabulous animals,1[ which excited the wonder and admiration of foreigners, who did not know whether they beheld mere freaks of fancy or portraits of the wonderful beasts of Lower Asia. Besides their dresses, carpets, and other textile fabrics, it may be suspected that Babylonia exported rich furniture. Whom the Assyrian monarchs invaded a foreign territory, and obtained any considerable success, they almost universally carried off, on their return to their own land, great part of the furniture of any royal palace that fell into their hands, as the most valued portion of their booty. In their Babylonian expeditions alone, however, do they particularize the several objects. There we find mention of: " the golden throne, the golden parasol, the golden sceptre, the silverchariot," ** and other articles that cannot be identified. There, too, we find Strab., xvi., p. 1074. t Josh. vii. 21. J " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. p. 62. Theophrast., " Hist. Plant.," iv. 9. !! Arrian, "Exp. Alex., vi. 29. f Athen. Deipn., v., p. 197. ** " Records of the Past," vol. ix., p. 15. NOTICES IN EZEK1EL. 75 that when a foreign prince needed persuading in order to make him render assistance, and a " propitiatory offering " had to be sent to him, " a throne in silver, a parasol in silver, i\ j'lixn-r in silver, and anirmaktu in silver" were the objects sent.* It would only have been going a short step further to offer articles so highly appreciated to foreign customers generally. It is uncertain whether the Babylonians exported grain, or dates, or any of the other produce of the palm.f Enormous quantities of wheat, barley, millet, and sesame were raised in their country,:): while the date palm grew so thickly in the lower parts of the territory as to form almost a continuous forest. The natural wealth of the country consisted mainly in the abundance of these products, and it is scarcely pos- sible that use was not made of the overplus beyond the wants of the inhabitants to maintain the balance of trade, which in so luxurious an empire must always have tended to declare itself against such great consumers.. But ancient writers are rarely interested in such matters as trade and commerce, while the problems of political economy are wholly unknown to them. Hence they unfortunately leave us in the dark on numerous points which to us seem of primary importance, and force us to attempt to grope our way by reasonable conjecture. We shall pass now from the consideration of the prob- able objects of traffic between Babylonia and other countries to that of the nature of the traffic, and the probable or certain direction of its various lines. Now the traffic was, beyond all doubt, carried on in part by land and in part by sea, the Babylonians not only having dealings with their continental neighbors, but also carrying on a commerce with islands and countries which were reached in ships. The laud traffic itself was of two kinds. Caravans com- posed of large bodies of merchants, with their attendants and followers, proceeded from Babylon in various directions across the continent, carrying with them, on the backs of camels or asses, the native commodities which they desired to sell, and returning after a time with such foreign produc- tions as were needed or desired by the Babylonians. Regular * " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 45. t The palm Pas was said to furnish the Babylonians with bread, wine, vinegar, honey, groats, string and ropes of all kinds, and a mash for cattle (Strab., xvi. 1, 14). J Herod., i. 193. Amin. Marc., xxlv. 3. 76 EG YPT AND BA B YLON. routes were established which these traveling companies pursued ; and it is not unlikely that stations, or caravansarais, were provided for their accommodation at intervals.* The mass of the persons composing the caravans would travel on foot : but the richer traders would be mounted on camels, or even sometimes on horses. It would be necessary to be well armed in order to resist the attacks of predatory tribes, or organized bands of robbers ; f and the caravans would re- quire to be numerous for the same reason. There would be no great difference between these ancient companies and the caravans of the present day, except to some extent in the commodities conveyed, and in the absence of any other than a commercial motive.! Other traders preferred to convey their goods along the courses of the great rivers, which, intercepting Mesopotamia either as main streams or tributaries, from natural channels of commercial intercourse with the neighboring countries, at any rate, for a considerable distance. Boats and rafts readily descended the Tigris, the Euphrates, and their affluents, and transported almost without effort the produce of Com- magene, Armenia, and Media to the lower Mesopotamia!! territory. It was possible by the use of sails and by track- ing to mount the rivers in certain seasons ; and this we know to have been done on the Euphrates as high as Thapsacus.|| Water-carriage was especially convenient for the conveyance, of heavy goods, such as stone for building or for statuary, obelisks, and the like, Both the monuments and profane writers indicate that it was employed for these purposes.lT The principal lines of land traffic seem to have been five. One, which may be called the Western, was along the course of the Euphrates to about lat. 34 3', when it struck across due west to Tadmor, or Palmyra, and thence proceeded by way of Damascus to Tyre and Sidon. Traces of the em- ployment of this route are found in Ezekiel (chap, xxvii. 18, 23, 24). Along it would be conveyed the whole of the Phoe- nician trade, including the important imports of tin, Tyrian purple, musical instruments, asses of superior quality, and * See Herod., v. 52, who, however, speaks of Persian times, t See Ezra. viii. 22. t The religious motive of pilgrimage to certain shrines swells the iize of modern caravans. Herod., i. 194. II Strab., xvi. 8, 18. T "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 200; Diod. Sic., ii. 11. NOTICES IN EZEKIEL. 77 possibly wine of Hebron, together with the exports of rich stuffs, dresses, and embroidery. Another kept to the line of the Euphrates throughout, and may be called the North-Western route. It connected Babylon with Upper Mesopotamia and Armenia. Along this was conveyed wine, and probably copper ; perhaps also other metals. It was a route used by Armenian merchants, who descended the stream in round boats, made of wicker- work covered with skins, and, having sold their wares, broke up the boats, and returned on foot to their own country. * It was used also by the Babylonian colonists of the Persian Gulf, who mounted the stream as far as Thapsacus, and thence carried their goods by land in various directions.f The third route was towards the North. It connected Babylon with Assyria, and probably followed mainly the line of the Tigris, which it may have struck in the vicinity of the great mart of Opis. The trade between the two countries of Babylonia and Assyria was, in the flourishing times of the latter country, highly valued ; and we find frequent provision made for its restoration or continuance in the treaties which from time to time were concluded between the two powers. | The alabaster blocks which the Babylonians sometimes em- ployed in their buildings came probably by this line, and the two countries no doubt interchanged various manufactured products. A fourth line of land trade, and one of great importance, was that toward the North-east, which may be called the Medo-Bactrian. This line, after crossing Mount Zagros by the way of Holwan and Behistun, was directed upon the Median-capital of Ecbatana, whence it was prolonged, by way of Rhages and the Caspian Gates, to Balkh, Herat, and Cabul. The lapis lazuli, which the Babylonians employed extensively, can only have come from Bactria, || and probably arrived by this route, along which may also have traveled much of the gold imported into Babylon, many of the gems, the fine wool, the shawls, the Indian dyes, and the Indian dogs. The fifth line w*s toward the East and South-east. At first it ran nearly due east to Susa, but- thence it was de* * Herod., i. XM. t Strab., 1. i c. t Records of the Past," vol. iii-, pp. 34, 35; vol. v., p. -j. Hesreu, " Asiatic Nations," vol. ii., pp. 203, 209-211. fi Ibid., p. 206. 78 EGYPT AND BABYLON. fleeted, and continued on to the south-east, through Perse- polis, to Kerman (Carmania). Wool was probably imported in large quantities by this route, together with onyxes from the Choaspes,* cotton, and the " greyhounds of the East."f The sea trade of the Babylonians was primarily with the Persian Gulf. Here they had an important settlement on the southern coast, called Gerrha, which had. a large land traffic with the interior of Arabia, and carried its merchan- dise to Babylon in ships. The " ships of Ur " are often mentioned in the early inscriptions, and the latter ones show that numerous vessels were always to be found in the ports at the head of the gulf, and that the Babylonians readily crossed the gulf when occasion required. || It is uncertain whether they adventured themselves beyond its mouth into the Indian Ocean ; but there is reason to believe that by some means or other they obtained Indian commodities which would have come most readily by this route. The teak found in their buildings, the ivory and ebony which they almost certainly used, the cinnamon and the cotton, in the large quantities in which they needed it, can only have come from the peninsula of Hindustan, and cannot be supposed to have traveled by the circuitous road of Cabul and Bactria. Arabian spices were conveyed by the Gerrhffians in their ships to Babylon itself, and the rest of the trade of the Gulf Avas probably chiefly in their hands. Perfumes of all kinds, pearls, wood for ship-building and walking-sticks, cotton, gems, gold, Indian fabrics, flowed into the Chaldaean capital from the sea, and were mostly brought to it in ships up the Euphrates, and deposited on the quays at the merchants' doors. ^Eschylus calls the Babylonians who served in the army of Xerxes " navigators of ships."1[ Commercial deal- ings among the dwellers in the city on a most extensive scale are disclosed by the Egibi tablets ; ** " spice mer- chants " appear among the witnesses to deeds.tt Their own records and the accounts of the Greeks are thus in the com- pletest agreement with the Prophets when he describes Babylon as " a land of traftick ... a city of merchants." * Dionys. Perieg., II. 1073-1077. t See above, p. 100. J Strab. xvi. 4, 18; Aiiathemer, " De Mar. Erythr.," 87. Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 12; note 51. II Records of the Past," vol. i., pp. 40, 43, 73; vol. vii., p. 6.3; vol. lx.. p. 60. t " ^Eschyl Pers., 11, 52-55. * Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," vol. vii., pp. 1-78. tt " Records of the Past," vol. vi.. p. 94. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 79 CHAPTER IX. FURTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN DANIEL. " Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father. Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concu- bihes, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of Ood that was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concu- bines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." DAN. v. 1-4. THE main difficulties connected with the Book of Daniel open upon us with the commencement of chapter v. A new king makes his appearance a king unknown to profane historians, and declared by some critics to be a purely ficti- tious personage.* We have to consider at the outset who this Belshazzar can be. Does he represent any king known to us under any other name in profane history ? Can we find a trace of him in the inscriptions ? Or is he altogether an obscure and mysterious personage,of whose very existence we have no trace outside Daniel, and who must therefore always constitute an historical difficulty of no small magnitude? Now, in the first place, he is represented as the son of Nebuchadnezzar (vers. 2, 11, 13, 18, 22). The only son of Nebuchadnezzar of whom we have any mention in profane history is Evil-Merodach,t who succeeded his father in B. c. 562, and reigned somewhat less than two years, ascending the throne in Tisri of B. c. 562, and ceasing to reign in Ab of B.C. 560. $ It has been suggested that the Belshazzar of Daniel is this monarch. * See I)e Wette, "Einleitung in das Alt. Test., p. 255 a. t Mentioned by Berosus, Fr. 14; Polyhistor lap. Euseb., " Chron. Can." i. 5), and Abydenus (ap. Euseb. i. 10). He appears in the Babylonian dated tablets as Avil-Marduk. J 4i Transactions of Bibl. Arch. Soc.," vol. vi., pp. 25-26. So Iliipfeld and Havernick. 80 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The following are the chief objections to this theory : (a) There is no reason to suppose that Evil-Merodach ever bore any other name, or was known to the Jews under one designation, to the Babylonians under another. He aj> pears in the Book of Kings under his rightful name of Evil- Merodach (2 Kings xxv. 27), and again in the Book of Jeremiah (Jer. lii. 31). Unless we have distinct evidence of a monarch having borne two names, it is to the last degree uncritical to presume it. (b) The third year of Belshazzar is mentioned in Daniel (ch. viii. 1). Evil-Merodach is assigned two years only by Ptolemy, Berosus, and Aby- denus ; the latest date upon his tablets is his second year ; he actually reigned no more than a year and ten months, (c) Evil-Merodach was put to death by his brother-in-law, Nerig- lissar, in B. c. 560. Babylon was at this time under no peril from the Medes and Persians, to whom the death of Belshaz- zar appears to be attributed (vers. 31). (d) The identification of Belshazzar with Evil-Merodach involves that of " Darius the Median " ver. 31) with Neriglissar, who was not a Mede, and had a name as remote as possible from that of Darius. If Belshazzar be not Evil-Merodach, can he be Neriglis- sar? Here the name is not so great a difficulty. For, in the first place, the two words have two words have two ele- ments in common. Neriglissar is in the Babylonian, Ner- galsar-uzur, while Belshazzar is Bel-sar-uzur. Moreover, it was not an unknown thing in Babylonia and Assyria to substitute in a royal designation the name of one god for another.f But, per contra (d) Nergal was a god so distinct from Bel, that we can scarcely imagine such a substitution as Bel for Nergal having been allowable, (b) Neriglissar was the son-in-law, not the son, of Nebuchadnezzar, (c) He appears to have died peaceably, and to have been suc- ceeded by his son, Labasi-Merodach (Labossoracus),! instead of being " slain " suddenly, and succeeded by a Darius. It seems therefore impossible that the Belshazzar of Daniel can be Neriglissar. Is he, then, as Josephus supposed, Nabonidus ? Na- bonidus, according to Ptolemy and Berosus, was the last na- tive king. The Medes and Persians destroyed his kingdom, and made him prisoner ; after which, in a little time, he * Ptol., " Mag. Syntax.," v. 14; Beros., 1. s. c., Abyden., 1. s. c. t " Transactions of Bib. Arch. Soc.," vol. vi., p. 28. t Berosus, 1. s. c. Joseph., "Ant. Jud., x. 11, 2, NOTICES IN DANIEL. 81 died. On his capture the Medo-Persian rule was established, and continued thenceforth uninterruptedly except for one or two revolts. Here, again, (a) the name is an insuperable difficulty : nothing can well be more unlike Belshazzar than Nabunahid. But, further, () Nabu-nahid is distinctly said to have been in no way related to Nebuchadnezzar.* (c) Also his mother died in the ninth year of his reign, | eight years before his own capture and decease ; but it is the mother of Belshazzar probably who comes into the banquet house at the time of his fcast.J (, 16) ; Jonadab the Herod,, f. 190. t Fox Talbot, in " Records of the past." vol. v., p. 144. J Ibid. See the author's " Bsmpton Lectures," Lecture N., pp. 184 135. and note. 84 EGYPT AND BABYLON. son of Rechab, the friend of Jehu (2 Kings x. 15), is the " father " of the Rechabites, contemporary with Jeremiah (Jer. xxxv. 6) ; and Jehoram, king of Judah, is the father of tlzziah (Matt. i. 8), his fourth descendant. The rationale of the matter is as follows : Neither in Hebrew nor in Chaldee is there any word for " grandfather " or "grandson." To express the relationship it would be necessary to say, "fath- er's father " and "son's son." But "father's father" and " son's son " are, by an idiom of the language, used with an idea of remoteness to express distant ancestors or de- scendants. Consequently they are rendered by usage unapt to express the near relationship of grandfather and grand- son ; and the result is that they are very rarely so used. As Dr. Pusey has well observed,* "A single grandfather, or forefather, is never called ' father's father,' always 'father' only." This is so alike in early and in late Hebrew ; and the Chaldee follows the idiom. Jacob says, " The God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac " (Gen. xxxi. 42). God says to Aaron, " The tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father" (Num. xviii. 2). The confession to be made at the offering of the first-fruits began, " a Syrian, ready to. per-ish, was my father " (Deut. xxvi. 5) ; and in the same sense, probably, Moses says, " the God of my father " (Exod. xviii. 4). David said to Mephibosheth, " I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore to thee all the land of Saul thy father " (2 Sam. ix. 7). And Asa is said to have " removed Maachah, his mother, from being queen," though it is said in the same chapter that she was the mother of Abijam, his father (1 Kings xv. 2, 13). Maachah herself, who is called " daughter of Absalom " (1 Kings xv. 2), was really his grand-daughter, he having left only one daughter, Tamar (2 Sam. xiv. 27), and her own father being Uriel (2 Chron. xiii. 2). Ag:iin it is said, " Asa did right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father" (1 Kings xv. 11), and in like way of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 3). Contrariwise, it is said that " Ahaz did not right like David his father " (xvi. 2) ; that " Amaziah did right, yet not like David his father ; he did according to all things as Joash his father did " (xiv. 3). Here, in one verse, the actual father and the remote grand- father are alike called " his father ; " as before the father and grandfather of Mephibosheth were called, in the same verse, See his " Lectures on Daniel/' Lecture VII.. pp. 405, 406. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 85 " his father." "Josiah," it is said, "walked in the way of David his father ; he began to seek the God of David his father " (2 Chron. xxxiv. 2, 3). In Isaiah there occur " Jacob thy father " (Isa Iviii. 14) ; " thy first father " (xliii. 27) i. e^ Adam; and to Hezekiah he said, "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father " (xxxviii. 5V So, on the other hand, there is no Hebrew or Chaldee word to express " grandson." In laws, if the relation has to be expressed, the idiom is "thy son's daughter" (Lev. xviii. 10), or thy "daughter's daughter " (Ibid.) ; or it is said, "Thou shalt tell it to thy son's son " (Exod. x. 2) ; " Rule thou over us, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son " (Judg. viii. '!->. The relation can be expressed in this way in the abstract, but there is no way in Hebrew or Chaldee to mark that one person was the grandson of another, except in the way of genealogy "Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi." And so the name " son " stands for the " grand- son," and a person is at times called the son of the more re- markable grandfather, the link of the father's name being omitted. Thus Jacob asked for "Laban, the son of Nahor" (Gen. xxix. 5), omitting the immediate father, Bethuel ; Jehu is called "the son of Nimshi" (1 Kings xix. 16; 2 Kings ix. 20), omitting his own father, Jehoshaphat. The prophet Zechariah is called " the son of Iddo " (Ezra v. 1 ; vi. 14), his own father being Berachiah (Zech. i. 1). Hence the Rechabites said, as a matter of course, " Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us ; we have obeyed in all things the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father" (Jer. xxxv. 6, 8) ; although Jonadab lived some one hundred and eighty years before (2 Kings x. 15). And re- ciprocally God says, " The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, are performed " (ver. 14) ; and " Because ye have obeyed the commandments of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts " (ver. 16). But, it is objected, all this may be true ; yet it proves nothing. Nabonidus was not in any way related to Nebu- chadnezzar he was " merely a Babylonian nobleman." * How, then, should his son be even Nebuchadnezzar's grand- son? This, too, has been answerod,f and it is curious that the answer should be ignored. Belshazzar, it has been ob- * Fox Talbot, in " Records of t.liP Past," vol. v. p. 144. t See the author's " Broiupton Lectures," Lecture V., note 21. 86 EGYPT AND BABYLON. served^ may have been the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar on the mother's side. His father, Nebonicus, may have married one of Nebuchadnezzar's daughters. It must be granted that we have no proof that he did. We have, however, some indications from which we should naturally have drawn the conclusion independently of the Book of Daniel. Two pretenders to the throne of Babylon started up during the reign of Darius Hystaspis, both of whom called themselves "Nebuchadnezzar, son of Naboni- dus." * It is certain from this that Nabonidus must have had a son so called, for no pretender would assume the name of a person who never existed. How, then, are we to ac- count for Nabonidus having given this name to one of his sons ? Usm-pers, as a rule, desire not to recall the memory of the family which they have dispossessed. The Sargonidae discarded all the names in use among their predecessors. So did the Egyptian monarchs of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. So, again, did those of the twenty-first, and the Psammetichi. Nabonidus must have intended to claim a family connection with the preceding Babylonian monarchs when he thus named a son. And if he was indeed " no way related to Nebuchadnezzar," the connection could only have been by marriage. The probability, therefore, is that the principal wife of Nabonidus, the queen (or queen-mother) of Dan. v. 10, was a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and that through her Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar's grand-son. But further: it is objected that "the Book of Daniel gives not the slightest hint of Belshazzar having a father alive, and still upon the throne/' f In reply it may be said, in the first place, that, were it so, no surprise need be felt; since, if the circumstances were as above supposed, if Nabo- nidus after a shameful flight was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy, and Belshazzar was conducting the defence alone, any distinct allusion to the captured king would be improb- able. But, secondly, it is not true that there is "no hint." Belsha/zar makes proclamation that, if any one can read and interpret the writing miraculously inscribed upon the wall, "he shall be clothed with scarlet x and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom" (v. 7) ; and when Daniel has read and interpreted the words, See the " Behistun Inscription," in the author's " Herodotus," vol. ii.. pp. 5fH5, o. t Fox Talbot, In "Records of the Past," 1. s. c. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 87 the nets promised are performed " they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom " (ver. 29). It has been suggested that to be the " third ruler " was to be one of the three presidents who were subsequently set over the satraps (vi. 2) ; but neither is this the plain force of the words, nor was the or- ganization of chap. vi. 1, 2 as yet existing. To be " the third ruler in the kingdom " is to hold a position one degree lower than that of " second from the king," which was conferred upon Joseph (Gen. xli. 40-44), and upon Mordecai (Esth. x. 3) ; it is to hold a position in the kingdom inferior to two persons, and to two persons only. That the proclamation ran in this form is a " hint," and more than a hint, that the first and second places were occupied, that there were two kings upon the throne, and that therefore the highest position that could, under the circumstances, be granted to a subject was the third place, the place next to two sovereigns. If we compare the two nearly parallel cases of Joseph and Morde- cai subjects whom their despotic master "delighted to honor " with that of Daniel at this time, we shall find it scarcely possible to assign any other reason for his being promoted to the third place in the kingdom than the fact that the first and second places were already occupied by the son and father, Belshazzar and Xabonidus. EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER X. FURTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN DANIEL. "'Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom." DAN. v. 31 ; vi. 1. THE reign of " Darius the Median " over Babylon is the second great historical difficulty which the Book of Daniel presents to the modern inquirer. According to Herodotus,* Berosus,f and the Canon of Ptolemy, the immediate successor of Nabonidus (Labynetus) was Cyrus no king intervened between them. The Babylonian reords are in accord. Two contemporary documents $ declare that Cyrus defeated Nabo- nidus, captured him, and took the direction of affairs into his own hands. One of them contains a proclamation, issued by Cyrus, as it would seem, immediately after his conquest, in which he assumes the recognized titles of Babylonian sovereignty, calling himself "the great king, the powerful king, the king of Babylon, the king of Sumir and Akkad, the king of the four regions." Who, then, it has to be asked, is this "Darius the Median," who "took the kingdom," and made arrangements for its government, immediately after the fall of the native Babylonian power, and its suppression by that of the Modes and Persians ? All that Scripture tells us of "Darius the Median," besides the points already mentioned, is that he was the son of Ahasuerus, that he was an actual Mede by descent (" of the seedot the Medes," Dan. ix. 1), that he advanced Daniel to a high dignity (ch. vi. 2), and that afterwards he cast Herod., i. 188, 191. t Berosus, Fr. 14. t See the " Cylinder Inscription of Cyrus," published in the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," vol. xii., pp. 85-9 ; and " Transactions of Bibl. Archreol. Society," vol. vii., pp. 153-169. " As. Soc. Journ., vol. xii., p. 87. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 89 Daniel into the den of lions and released him. The first and second of these facts seem conclusive against a theory which has been of late years strongly advocated viz., that he i? really " Darius the son of Hystaspis," * the great Darius, the only Darius mentioned in Scripture, except Codomannus, whose name occurs in one place (Neh. xii. 22). We know not only the father, but the entire descent of Darius Hys- taspis, up to Achaemenes, the founder of the Persian royal family ; f and we find no " Ahasuerus " the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha, the Greek Xerxes in the list. There is the strongest evidence that he was of pure Persian race, and not an atom of evidence that he had any Median blood in his veins. It is among his proudest boasts that he is " an Aryan, of Aryan descent, a Persian, the son of a Persian." t He was a member of the Persian royal family, closely akin to Cyrus. The Medes revolted against him, and fought desperately to throw off his authority and place them- selves under a real Mede, Frawartish, who claimed to be "of the race of Cyaxares." Cyrus might with better reason be called a Mede than Darius, for some high authorities gave Cyrus a Median mother ; || but there is no such tradition with respect to Darius, the son of Hystaspis. Another extraordinary theory, recently broached, identi- fies " Darius the Mede " with Cyrus. If Darius, it is said, may be in Daniel, not a name, but a title. Etymological ly, the name would mean " holder," or " firm holder," and it may therefore have been a synonym for king or ruler. Daryavesh Madaya (in Dan. v. 31) may mean, not "Darius the Mede," but only ", the king or ruler of the Medes, a fit title for Cyrus " ! But how does this conjectural explanation suit the other passages of Daniel" where the name of Darius occurs? We read in ch. vi. 28, " So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in tfie reign of Cyrus the Persian.' 1 '' Does this mean, he prospered " in the reign of Cyrus, and in the reign of Cyrus ? Again, we read, in ch. ix 1, of " Darius, the Bon of Ahasuerus." How can this apply to Cyrus, who was Particularly by Mr. Bosanquet ("Transactions," etc., voL vL, pp. 84, 100, 130. t See the Author's " Herodotus," vol. iv., 254-5. t See the Author's "Herodotus," vol. iv., p. 250. Ibid., vol. ii.. pp. 598-602. II Herod., i. 108; Xen. " Cyrop.." i. 2, 1. I "Transactions," etc., vol. vi., p. 29. 90 EGYPT AND BABYLON. the son of Cambyses? Further, how are we to understand the expression " King Darius," which occurs in ch. vi. 6, 9, 25 ? Does it mean " king, king " ? "We will not insult our readers' intellects by continuing. We will only add one less obvious argument, an argument which may further our quest and give us perhaps some help in determining, not only who " Darius the Median " was not, but who he was. It is said in ch. v. 31, that " Darius the Median took the kingdom," and in ch. ix. 1, that he " was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans." Neither of these two expres- sions is suitable to Cyrus. ' The word translated " took " means " received," " took from the hands of another ; " and the other passage is yet more unmistakable. " Was made king " exactly expresses the original, which uses the Hophal of the verb, the Hiphel of which occurs when David makes Solomon king over Israel (1 Chron. xxix. 20). No one would say of Alexander the Great, when he conquered Darius Codomannus, that he " was made king over Persia." The expression implies the reception of a kingly position by one man from the hands of another. Now Babylon, while under the Assyrians, had been almost always governed by viceroys, who received their crowns from the Assyrian monarchs.* It was not unnatural that Cyrus should follow the same system. He had necessarily to appoint a governor, and the " Nabonidus Tablet " tells us that he did so almost imme- diately after taking possession of the city. The first gover- nor appointed was a certain Gobryas, f whose nationality is doubtful ; but he appears to have been shortly aferwards sent to some other locality.}: A different arrangement must have been then made. That Cyrus should have appointed a Mede, and allowed him to take the title of " king," is in no way improbable, lie was fond of appointing Medes to high office, as we learn from Herodotus. He was earnestly de- si runs of conciliating the Babylonians, as we find from his cyliiider.|| It was not many years before he gave his son, ( 'imibyses, the full royal power at Babylon, relinquishing it himself, as appears from a dated tablet.1l" The position of * " Ancient Monarchies," vol. iii., p. 42. t So at least I understand the passage ("Transactions," etc., vol vii., p. 166, 1. 20). J Ibid., p. 167. 1. 22. The reading is uncertain. Herod., i. lofl. 1<2. II " Journal of Royal Asiallc Society." vol. xii., pp. 87-8. T " Transactions, etc., vol. vi., p. 489. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 91 ' Darius the Median " in Daniel is compatible with all that we know with any certainty from other sources. We have only to suppose that Cyrus, in the interval between the brief governorship of Gobryas and the sovereignty of Cambyses, placed Babylon under a Median noble named Darius, and allowed him a position intermediate between that of a mere ordinary " governor " and the full royal authority. The position of Darius the Median, as a subject king set up by Cyrus, has been widely accepted, but critics have not been content to rest at this point. Attempts have been made to identify him further with som,e person celebrated in his- tory ; and it has been suggested that he was either Astyages, the last Median monarch,* or his supposed son Cyaxares.f Neither identification can be substantiated. The very exist- ence of a second Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, is more than questionable. t The names are, in both cases, unsuitable. The age of Darius when he " took the kingdom " falls short of the probable age of Astyages. It seems best to acquiesce in the view of those who hold that " Darius the Mede is an historic character," but one " whose name has not yet been found except in Scripture. " It is in no way surprising that, on being set over the realm of the Chaldees, Darius should have occupied himself in giving it a new organization. We are scarcely entitled to assume, from the expression used inDan.vi. 1, that he called his new officers " satraps ; " but still it is quite possible that he used the word, which had not yet received a technical sense, and only meant etymologically " supporters of the crown." The number, one hundred and twenty, is more than we should have expected, and can receive no support from the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus (Esth. i. 1), who ruled from Ethiopia to India, whereas Darius reigned only over the realm of the Chaldees ; we must view it either as resulting from Oriental ostentation, or as an anticipation of the maxim, Divide et impera. Each " satrap " must have ruled over a comparatively small dis- trict. They may have been the head men of tribes, and if so, it is pertinent to remark that the tribes of the Euphrates * So Syncellus, Jackson, Marshani, and Winer, t So Josephus, Prideaux, Hales, Hengstenbcrg, Von Lengerke, and others. t Herodotus declares that Astyages had no male offspring (i., ".Speaker's Commentary" on Dan. v. 31. 92 EGYPT AND BABYLON. valley were exceedingly numerous. Twenty-four tribes of Lower Babylonia collected on one occasion to assist Susub ;* in the middle region Tiglath-Pileser II. claims to have re- duced thirty-four tribes ; | the upper regions had at least as many. An ancient geographical list seems to divide Baby- lonia proper into seventy-three districts. If Cyrus intrusted to Darius the Euphrates valley up to Carchemish, and the regions of Co3lesyria and Phoenicia, we can quite understand the number of the " princes " (i.e., satraps) being a hundred and twenty. " Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." DAN. vi. 8. " Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no degree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed." Ver. 15. The inviolability of Medo-Persian law, and the moral impossibility that the king, having signed a decree, or in any way pledged his word to a matter, could afterwards retract, or alter it, which are so strongly asserted in these passages, and again so markedly implied in the Book of Esther, receive illustration from two narratives which have come down to us on the authority of Herodotus. " Cambyses," he tells us,* " the son of Cyrus, was anxious to marry one of his sisters ; but, as he knew that it was an uncommon thing, and not the custom of the Persians previously he summoned a meeting of the royal judges, and put the question to them, whether there was any law which allowed a brother, if he wished it, to marry his sister? Now the royal judges," he remarks, " are certain picked men among the Persians, who hold their office for life, or until they are found guilty of some misconduct. By them justice is administered in Persia, and they are the interpreters of the old laws, all dis- puted cases of law being referred to their decision. When ('.mibyses, therefore, put his question to these judges, they gave him an answer which was at once true and safe 'they did not find any law,' they said, ' allowing a brother to take his sister to wife ; but they found a law that the king of the Persians might do whatever he pleased.' And so they " Records of the Past," vol. i., p. 47 t Ibid., vol. v.. p. 101. J Ibid., vol. v., pp. 105-7. Herod., ili. 31. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 93 neither warped the law through fear of Cambyses, nor ruined them selves by over-stiffly maintaining the law ; but they brought another quite distinct law to the king's help, which allowed him to have his wish. Cambyses, therefore, married the object of his love ; and no long time afterwards he took' to wife also another sister." Still more closely illustrative of the perplexity of Darius, and his inability to escape from the entanglement in which he found hinself, is the following anecdote concerning Xerxes, one of the most selfwilled and despotic of all the Persian monarchs : " Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, having a cause of quarrel, as she thought, against the wife of a Persian prince named Masistes, determined to com- pass her death. She waited, therefore, till her husband gave the great royal banquet a feast which took place once every year in celebration of the king's birthday, and then made request of Xerxes that he would please to give her, as her present, the wife of Masistes. But he at first refused ; for it seemed to him shocking and monstrous to give into the power of another a woman who was not only his brother's wife, but was likewise wholly guiltless in the matter which had enraged Amestris ; and he was the more unwilling inas- much as he well knew the intention with which his wife had preferred her request. After a time, however, he was wearied by her importunity, and, feeling constrained by the law of the feast, which required that no one who asked a boon that day at the king's board should be denied his request, he yielded, but with a very ill will, and gave the woman into her power." * Amestris, as he had expected, caused the woman to be put to death, first mutilating her in a most barbarous manner. It is indicative of the complete knowledge that the writer has of the change which Babylon underwent when she passed from the nncontroled despotism of the old native kings to the comparatively limited monarchy of Persia that he exhibits to us Nebuchadnezzar and Belsha/zar as wholly unrestrained by those about them, or admitting, at the most, domestic counsels, while he represents Darius as trammeled by Medo-Persian law, a passive instrument in the hands of his councilors, forced to do an act against which his soul revolted, and only venturing upon a vindication of his own authority when he had been the witness of a stupendous miracle (ch. vi. 14-24). * Herod., ix. 110, 111. 94 EGYPT AND BABYLON. " The king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions ? " DAN. vi. 20. " Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel : for He is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end, He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven, and earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." DAN. vi. 25-27. As the Medo-Persic kings introduced some novelty into the political situation when they became the rulers of Baby- lon, so they further introduced a more considerable religious change. The ordinary Babylonian system is sufficiently in- dicated in the account of Belshazzar's feast. It was grossly polytheistic and idolatrous. It recognized a hierarchy of gods as ruling in the heavenly sphere,* and it worshiped them under the form of images f in gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and wood, and stone (eh. vi. 4, 23). The religion of the Medo-Persians Vas very different. It ad- mitted of no use of images. | It did not absolutely reject the employment of the word god in the plural ; but it ac- knowledged one god as infinitely superior to all others, and viewed him as alone truly " living," as alone the fount and origin of all life, whether earthly or spiritual. The Ahura- Mazda of the Medes and Persians was a god of a very spiritual and exalted character. He had made the celestial bodies, earth, water, and trees, all good creatures, and all good, true things. He was good, holy, pure, true, the holy god, the holiest, the essence of truth, the father of all truth, the best being of all, the master of purity. He was su- premely happy, possessing every blessing health, wealth, virtue, wisdom, immortality. || These facts, which are known to us especially through the Zendavesta, the sacred book of the ancient Modes and Persians, throw considerable light on the picture drawn of the religion of the Babylonian court under Darius the Mede, compared with that of the same court almost immediately before, under Belshazzar. Belshazzar allowed that "the spirit of the holt/ gods" might be in Daniel, and that there, " Ancient Monarchies." voL i. pp. 70-92; vol. ii., pp. 224-230. t Ibid., vol ii., p. 226. t Herod., L 131. See Pusey's " lectures on Daniel," pp. 529-539. U "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., pp. 46-7. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 95 fore his words might be deserving of attention. He praised " the gods," and recognized the duty of worshiping them as embodied in their images of wood and stone and metal. In the account given of Darius the Mede, idolatry has, on the other hand, no place. Polytheism of a kind just makes its appearance in the expression, " Whosoever shall ask a petition of any god" (ch. vi. 7. 12) ; but monotheism is pre- dominant. Darius, before knowing if a miracle has been performed or no, recognizes Daniel as a " servant of the liv- ing God" (ver. 20) ; and afterwards, when assured of Daniel's deliverance, praises and exalts "the living God " as one "who is steadfast forever and ever," whose " kingdom shall not be destroyed," but shall continue " even unto the end ; " " who delivereth and rescueth," and " worketh signs and wonders in heaven and earth " (vers. 26, 27). These words, which would seem strange in the mouth of most heathens, are natural enough in those of a Zoroastrian, who, while allow- ing a certain qualified worship of the sun, and of the gods presiding over his own family,* would recognize as infinitely above these, placed in a category apart and by himself, the great giver of life, Ahura-Mazda the true " living God," the Creator, the Preserver, the Deliverer from evil, the Supreme Spirit, to whom all others were subordinate, the one and only ruler of heaven and earth. It does not interfere with this view that Cyrus, and as his vice-gerent, Darius, tolerated nay, even patronized to some extent the Babylonian religion. f This they did as politic rulers over subjects likely to be disaffected. But in their courts, among their privy-councilors, they would act differently. There they would show their true feelings. Even in a proclamation addressed to all their subjects, as that of Darius was (ver. 25), thev would not scruple to show their own feelings as Darius Hystaspis and his successors did in all their rock-inscriptions so long as they abstained from any direct disparagement of their subjects' gods, and merely required the acknowledgment of an additional deity besides those of the popular Pantheons. *"Behist. Inscript.," col. iv., par. 12, 13; Pusey's "Daniel," p. 631. note 8. t " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," vol. xii., pp. 88-d. 96 EGYPT AND BAB YL ON. CHAPTER XI. NOTICES OF BABYLON IX DANIEL, ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, AND EZEKIEL. IT is proposed in the present chapter to bring together the scattered notices in Scripture bearing upon the general condition of Babylon, the character of its government, and the manners and customs of its people ; and to inquire how far profane history confirms or illustrates what Scripture tells us on these matters. A certain number of the points have necessarily been touched in some of the earlier chapters of the present volume, and thus it will be impossible to avoid a certain amount of repetition ; but the endeavor will be made to pass lightly over such topics as have been already put. before the reader, and thus to reduce the repetition to a minimum. We have noticed indirectly, in connection with its com- merce, the great wealth of Babylon. Isaiah calls it emphat- ically " the golden city " (Isa. xiv. 4), or " the exactress of gold," as the passage may be rendered literally. Jeremiah compares Babylon to " a golden cup in the hand of the Lord " (Jer. li. 7), and calls her " abundant in treasures " (ib. ver. 13), declaring moreover that, at her fall, all those who par- took of her spoil should be " satisfied " (ib. 1. 10). In Daniel the Babylonian kingdom is typified by the " head of gold " ( Dan. ii. 38), and the opulence of the monarch is shown by the enormous size of the image, or rather pillar, of gold which he set up, a pillar ninety feet high by nine feet wide (ib. iii. 1 ). The inscriptions are in accordance. Nebu- chadnezzar tells us that he brought into the treasury of Merodach at Babylon " wares, and ornaments for the women, silver, molten gold, precious stones, metal, umritgana and cedar wood, a splendid abundance, riches and sources of NOTICES IN DANIEL, ISAIAH, ETC. 97 joy." * The temple of Merodach he " made conspicuous with fine linen, and covered its seats with splendid gold, with lapis lazuli, and blocks of alabaster."! Its portico " with brilliant gold he caused men to cover ; the lower threshold, the cedar awnings with gold and precious stones he embell- ished.'^ And the rest of his sacred buildings were adorned similarly.! The primary source of the wealth of Babylon was its agriculture. Herodotus tells us that the yield of grain was commonly two hundred-fold, and in some instances three hundred-fold. || Pliny asserts that the wheat-crop was reaped twice, and afterwards afforded good keep for beasts.^ When Babylonia became a province of the Persian Empire, it paid a tribute of a thousand talents of silver,** and at the same time furnished the entire provision of the court during one third of the year.ff Notwithstanding these calls upon them, its satraps became enormously wealthy. $t To the wealth obtained by agriculture is to be added that de- rived from commerce, and from conquest. Both of these points have already engaged our attention, and we have seen reason to believe that the gains made were in each case very great. Scripture makes allusion to the agricultural wealth of the country, when it enumerates among the chief calamities of the final invasion the " cutting off of the sower, and of him that handled the sickle in the time of harvest " (Jer, 1. 16) ; and again when it makes special mention of the " opening of the granaries " as a feature in the sack of the city (ib. ver. 26). The commercial wealth is implied in the description of Babylon as " a city of merchants " (Ezek. xvii. 4), and of Babylonia as " a land of traffick " (ib) . The wealth derived from conquest receives notice in the statement of Habakkuk, " Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee " (Hab. ii. 8), and is illustrated by the narrative of Kings (2 Kings, xxv. 13-17). Nebuchadnezzar alludes to it when he says, " A palace for my royalty in the midst of the city of Babylon I built . . . tall cedars for its porticoes I fitted . . . Avith silver, gold, and precious stones I overlaid its gates . . . I valiantly collected spoils; as an adornment of the house were they arranged * "Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 116-7. t Ibid., p. 117. J Ibid., pp. 119-20. Ibid., vol. vii., pp. 72, 75-6. II Herod., i. 193. T Plin. H.N., xviii. 17. ** Herod., iii. 92. tt Herod., i. 192. tt Ibid. 98 EGYPT AND BABYLON. and collected within it ; trophies, abundance, royal treasures, I accumulated and gathered together ; " * and again, " Gath- erings from great lands I made / and, like the hills, I up- raised its head." f Among the spoil which was regarded as of especial value were scented woods, more particularly cedars, and perhaps pines, from Lebanon and Amanus. Isaiah, in describing the general rejoicing at the fall of the Babylonian Empire, remarks, " The whole earth is at rest and is quiet ; they break forth into singing : yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us " (Isa. xiv. 7, 8). The cuneiform inscriptions show that the practice of cutting timber in the Syrian mountains and conveying it to Mesopotamia, which had been begun by th6 Assyrian monarchs (2 Kings xix. 23), was continued by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar ex- pressly states that " the best of his pine-trees from Lebanon, with tall babil-wood, he brought ; " % and Nabonidus tells us that, in his third year, he went to " Amananu, a mountainous country, where tall pines grew, and brought a, part of them to the midst of Babylon." The great size of Babylon, and the immense height and thickness of its walls, have been dwelt upon at some length in a former chapter. || Jeremiah is particularly clear upon these points, though, naturally, he enters into no details. ' " Though Babylon should mount up to heaven" he says, " and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord" (Jer. li. 53) ; and again, " The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire " (ib. ver. 58) ; and, with respect to the size of the city, " One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end " (ib. ver. 31). The government of Babylon by a despotic monarch, the sole source of all power and authority, and the absolute master of the lives and liberties of his subjects, which the Babylonian notices in Scripture set before us consistently, and which appears most markedly in Daniel (ch. ii. 12, 48, " Records of the Past." vol. v., p. 181. t Ibid., p. 133. \ Ibid., vol. v., p. 119. " Transactions of the Bibl. Archeeolog. Society," vol. vii., p. 164 || See above, cb. vi. NOTICES IN DANIEL, ISAIAH, ETC. 99 l 49 ; iii. 6, 15, 29), is in complete accordance with all that pro- fane history teaches on the subject. Nebuchadnezzar claims in his inscriptions to rule by Divine right. The sceptre of righteousness is delivered into his hand that therewith he may sustain men.* From him alone commands issue ; by him alone all works are accomplished. No subject obtains any mention as even helping him. The inscriptions of Neri- glissar and Nabonidus are of nearly the same character. And the classical accounts agree. It is clear that in Semitic Babylon, prior to the Medo-Persic conquest, there was no noble class possessing independent pow r er, or any right of controling the king. There was, however, a learned class, which possessed a certain distinction, which furnished priests to the chief temples, and claimed to interpret dreams and omens, and to foretell the future by means of astrology. Herodotus f and Diodorus $ give this class the name of " Chaldasans," a nom- enclature with which the Book of Daniel may be said to agree, if we accept the identification of " Chaldajans " with Casdim. At any rate, the book testifies to the exist- ence of the class, and to the functions which belonged to it, as also does Isaiah, when he says of Babylon, "Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things which shall come upon thee " (Isa. xlvii. 13). The title Rab-Mag, which may be suspected to have belonged to the chief of the Chalda?an order, is found both in Scripture (Jer. xxxix. 3, 13) and in the inscriptions. It has been translated " Chief of the Magi ; " $ but there seems to be no reason to believe that Magianism was in any way recognized by the Babylonians of the independent empire. There was also in Babylonia a numerous class of officials a " bureaucracy," as it has been called whereby the government of the country was actually carried on. In some places, the native sovereigns were indeed allowed to retain their authority for a time (2 Kings xxiv. 1, 17), and the Baby- lonian monarch could thus be called with propriety a "king of kings " (Dan. ii. 37 ; Ezek. xxvi. 7 ) ; but the general system was to replace kings by " governors " (2 Kings xxv. 22, 23; Berosus, Fr. 14) or " princes" (Dan. ii. 2), and to " Records of th*Past," vol. v., p. 114. t Herod., i. 181, 183. } Diod., Sic., ii. 29i Speaker's Commentary on Jeremiah, xxxix. 3. 100 EGYPT AND BABYLON. employ under these last a great variety of subordinate* The Babylonian contract tablets show at least eight or ten names of officers under government, of different ranks and gradations,* correspondent (in a general way) to the " princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, and rulers of provinces " of the Book of Daniel, and thus in- dicate sufficiently the bureaucratic character of the govern- ment. The general character of the Babylonian court, as depicted in Daniel, and its agreement with what we know from other sources, has been already noticed. But the following illus- trations may be added to those already given. The high position of the queen-mother at the court of Belshazzar re- ceives illustration from the mention of " the mother of the king " in the tablet of Nabonidus, and from the fact that at her death there was a court mourning of three days' dura- tion.! The polygamy of the monarchs (Dan. v. 2, 3) accords with what we hear of the " concubines " of Saul-Mugina.J The employment of eunuchs (2 Kings xx. 10 ; Dan. i. 3) agrees with Herod, iii. 92; that of music (Isa. xiv. 11 ; Dan. iii. 5, 7) with passages in the Assyrian inscriptions, which speak of musicians and musical instruments as in vogue at the courts of other neighboring kings ; that of " sweet odors " in the way of religious service (Dan. ii. 46) with what Herodotus relates of the burning of frankincense on sacrificial occasions. || The long detention in prison of of- fenders against the dignity of the crown, of which Isaiah speaks, when he says of the Babylonian monarch that he " opened not the door of his prisoners" (Isa, xiv. 17), and which is exemplified by the confinement of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar for the extraordinary term of thirty- seven years (2 Kings xxv. 27), receives illustration from the story of Parsondas, as told by Nicholas of Damascus. Par- sum las was a Mede, who desired to become king of Babylon under Artaeus, and obtained from him a promise of the king- dom. Nannarus, the actual monarch, hearing of it, got Par- sondas into his power, and kept him a prisoner at his court for seven years, even then releasing him, not of his own free- will, but on the application of Artaeus, and under the appre- "Records of the Past," vol. ix., pp. 91-108; vol. xi., pp. 91-8. t " Transactions of the Bib. Archueolog. Society," vol. vii., pp. 158-9. | " Records of the Past," vol. i., p. 77. II 'Ibid., vol. ix., pp. 54, 55. Herod., i. 183. NOTICES IN DANIEL, ISAIAH, ETC. 101 tension that, if he refused, Artaeus would make war upon him, and deprive him of his sovereignty.* One of the most surprising points in the representation of Babylonian customs which the Scriptural account of the people brings before us is the severity and abnormal charac- ter of the punishments which were in use among them. To burn men to death in a furnace of fire, as Nebuchadnezzar proposed to do with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego (Dan. iii. 15-23), is . so extraordinary a proceeding as to seem, at first sight, well-nigh incredible. To have men " cut to pieces," which was the threat held out by the same monarch on two occasions (Dan. ii. 5 ; iii. 29), is almost as remarkable a mode of executing them. It might mitigate, perhaps, the feeling of incredulity with which the ordinary European hears of such terrible punishments to call atten- tion to the punitive systems of other Oriental kingdoms. Take, for instance, the practice of the Persians : " We may notice as ablot upon the Persian system and character" (I have elsewhere ohserved) "the cruelty and barharity which was exhibited in the regular and legal punishments which were assigned to crinu s and offences. The criminal code was exceedingly severe. The modes of execution were also, for the most part, unnecessarily cruel. Prisoners were punished by having their heads placed upon* broad stone, and then having their faces crushed, and their brains beaten out, by repeated blows with another stone. Kavishers and rebels were put to death by crucifixion. The horrible punishment of 'the boat' seems to have been no individual tyrant's conception, but a recognized and legal form of execution. The same maybe said also of burying alive. And the Persian secondary punishments were also, for the most part, exceedingly barbarous." t But, besides this, there is direct evidence that the actual punishments mentioned as in use among the Babylonians of Nebuchadnezzar's time were known to the Mesopotamians of the period, and were upon occasions applied to criminals. Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, declares, with re- spect to Saul-Mugina, his own brother, whom he had made king of Babylon, but who had revolted against him " Saul- Mugina, my rebellious brother, who made war with me, in the fierce, burning fire they threw him, and destroved his life." t Of another rebel, Dunanu, chief of theGambalu, he also states " Dunanu in Nineveh, over a furnace they placed him, and consumed him entirely " Nay, so natural does he consider it that rebels should, when taken, suffer death *Nic. Dam.. Fr. 11. t " Ancie'nt Monarchies. "vol. ii., p. 364. | " Records of the Past," vol. i., p. 77. Ibid., vol. ix., p. 56. 102 EGYPT AND BABYLON. in this way, that, when he has to notice the escape of a cen tain number of Saul-Mugina's adherents, who had betaken themselves to flight, he expresses himself thus " The people, whom Saul-Mugina, my rebellious brother, had caused to join him, and who, for their evil deeds, deserved death . . . they did not burn in the fire with Saul-Mugina their lord " * implying that, if they had been caught, this would have been the mode of their execution. Again, of other rebels, kept apparently in some stone-quarries from the time of Sennacherib, his grandfather, Asshur-bani-pal tells us, " I threw those men again into that pit ; I cut off their limbs, and caused them to be eaten by dogs, bears, eagles, vultures, birds of heaven, and fishes of the deep." f The liberty and publicity allowed to women in Baby- lonia, so contrary to usual Oriental custom, which appears in the Book of Daniel (ch. v. 2, 3, 10), is illustrated by the traditions concerning Semiramis and Nitocris, and also by the account, which Herodotus gives, of certain Babylonian customs of a very unusual character. " Once a year," Herodotus tells us, " the marriageable maidens of every vil- lage in the country were required to assemble together into one place, while all the men stood round them in a circle. Then a herald (cf. Dan. iii. 4) called up the damsels one by one and offered them for sale . . . All who liked might come even from distant villages and bid for the women." J Again he says, "The Babylonians have one most shameful custom. Every woman born in the country must, once in her life, go and sit down in the precinct of Venus and there consort with a stranger. Many of the wealthier sort, who are too proud to mix with the others, drive in covered car- riages to the precinct, followed by a goodly train of atten- dants, and there take their station. Where they sit there is always a great crowd, some coming and others going. Lines of cord mark out paths in all directions ; and the strangers nass along them to make their choice. . . . Some women r. ave remained three or four years in the precinct." The .statements of Herodotus on these points are confirmed by other writers, and there is ample reason to believe that the seclusion of the sex, so general in other parts of the East, was abhorrent to Babylonian ideas. j| " Records of the Past.vol. i., 1. s. c. t Ibid., p. 78. t Herod., i., 106. Ibid., i. 19ft II See the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., p. 223. NOTICES IN DANIEL, ISAIAH, ETC. 103 The free use of wine in Babylonia, not only at royal banquets (Dan. v. 1-4), but in the ordinary diet of the upper classes (ib. 1. 5-16), is what we should scarcely have ex- pected in so hot a region, and one wholly unsuited for the cultivation of the vine. Yet it is quite certain from profane sources that the fact was as represented in Scripture. Herodotus tells us of a regular trade between Armenia and Babylon down the course of the Euphrates, in which the boats used were sometimes of as much as five thousand talents burden.* He declares that the staple of the trade was wine, which, not being produced in the country, was regulasly imported from abroad year after year. In the story of Parsondas we find Nannarus abundantly supplied with wine, and liberal in its use.f The Chaldaean account of the Deluge represents Hasisadra as collecting it " in recept- acles, like the waters of a river," for the benefit of those who were about to enter the ark,J and as pouring "seven jugs" of it in libation, when, on the subsidence of the waters, he quitted his shelter. Quintus Curtius relates that the Babolonians of Alexander's time were fond of drinking wine to excess ; their banquets were magnificent, and generally ended in drunkenness. || The employment of war-chariots by the Babylonians, which is asserted by Jeremiah (Jer. iv. 14 ; 1. 37), in marked contrast with his descriptions of the Nedo-Persians, who are represented as " riders upon horses " (ib. ver. 42 ; com- pare ch. li. 27), receives confirmation from the Assyrian in- scriptions, which repeatedly mention the chariot force as an important part of the Babylonian army,1[ and is also noticed by Polyhistor, ** Their skill with the bow, also noted by the same prophet (ch. iv. 29 ; v. 16; vi. 23; li. 3), has the sup- port of JEschyhis,ft and is in accordance with the monu- ments, which show us the bow as the favorite weapon of the monarchs. Jt The pronounced idolatry prevalent in Babylon under the later kings, which Scripture sets forth in such strong terms * Herod., i. 194. t See Nic. Dam., Fr. 11. J " Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 137. Ibid., p. 140. II Q. Curt., v. 1. V Records of the Past," vol. i., p. 22; vol. vii., p. 59; vol. xi., p. 55. ** See the " Fragm, Hist. Gnec." of C. Muller, vol. ii. tt yEschyl " Pers.," 1, 55. tl See " Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., p. 199; vol. ii., p. 214. 104 EGYPT AND BABYLON. (Jer. 1. 2, 38 ; li. 17, 47, 52 ; Dan. v. 4), scarcely requires the confirmation which is lent to it by the inscriptions and by profane writers. Idolatrous systems had possession of all Western Asia at the time, and the Babylonian idolatry was not of a much grosser type than the Assyrian, the Syrian, or the Phoenician. But it is perhaps worthy of remark that the particular phase of the religion, which the great Hebrew prophets set forth, is exactly that found by the remains to have characterized the later empire. In the works of these writers three Babylonian gods only are particularized by name Bel, Nebo, Merodach and in the monuments of the period these three deities are exactly those which obtain the most frequent mention and hold the most prominent place. The kings of the later empire, with a single exception, had names which placed them under the protection of one or other of these three ; and their inscriptions show that to these three they paid, at any rate, especial honor. Merodach holds the first place in the memorials of their reigns left by Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar ; Bel and Nebo bear off the palm in the inscriptions of Nabonidus. While " the great gods " obtain occasional but scanty notice, as " the holy gods " do in the Book of Daniel (Dan. iv. 8, 9), Bel, Nebo, and Merodach alone occur frequently, alone seem to be viewed, not as local, but as great national deities, alone en- gage the thoughts and receive the adoration of the nation. NOTICES IN ISAIAH AND JEEEMIAH. 105 CHAPTER XII. FTJBTHER NOTICES OF BABYLON IN ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH. THE complete destruction of Babylon, and her desola- tion through long ages, is prophesied in Scripture repeatedly, and with a distinctness and minuteness that are very re- markable. The most striking of the prophecies are the fol- lowing : " Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' ex- cellency/shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come; and her days shall not be prolonged." ISA. xiii. 19-22. " I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylpn the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water ; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." ISA. xiv. 22, 23. " Chaldea shall be a spoil; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced. O ye destroyers of My heritage; because ye are grown fat, as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed ; behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate ; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sin- ned ag?.inst the Lord. Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen, her irallx are thrown down ; for it is the vengeance of the Lord; take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, do unto her." JER. 1. 10-15. " A drouf/ht is upon her waters ; and they shall be dried up : for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. There- fore the wild beauts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the island*,, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein ; and it shall be no 106 EGYPT AND BABYLON. more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neigh- bor cities thereof, saith the Lord, A) shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein." Vers. 38-40. ''Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and / will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions; they shall yell as lions' whelps. In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sUep a perpetual ^leep, and not wake, saith the Lord. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he- goats. How is Sheshach taken ! And how is the praise of the whole earth surprised ! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations ! The sea is come up upon Babylon ; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any sen of man pass thereby." JEK. li. 36-43. The general accuracy of these descriptions has been fre- quently noticed, scarcely a traveler from the time of Pietro della Valle to the present day having failed to be struck by it. But it seems worth while to consider, somewhat in detail, the principal points on which the prophetical writers insist, and to adduce upon each of them the testimony of modern observers. First, then, the foundations of Babylon were to fall, her lofty and broad walls were to be thrown down (Jer. 1. 15), and she was not to present the appearance of a ruined city at all, but simply to " become heaps " (ch. li. 37). It is the constant remark of travelers that what are called' the ruins of Babylon are simply a succession of unsightly mounds, some smaller, some larger " shapeless heaps of rubbish," ' "immense tumuli," t elevations that might easily be mis- taken for natural hills, and that only after careful examina- tion convince the beholder that they are human construc- tions, t The complete disappearance of the walls is parti- cularly noticed ; and the visitor, || who has alone attempted to conjecture the position which they occupied, can mark no * Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 491. t Ker Porter, " Travels," vol. ii., p. 294. t Ker Porter speaks of the ruins as " ancient foundations, me resemblintj natural hills in appearance, than mounds covering the re mains of former great and splendid edifices " ("Travels," vol. ii., p. 297). Layard, " Nineveh and Babylon," pp. 493, 494. I! Oppert, " Expedition Scientifique en Mcsopotamie," vol. i., pp. 220-234. NOTICES IN ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH. 107 more than some half-dozen mounds along the line which he ventures to assign to them. One main portion of the ruina is known to the Arabs as the Mujellibe, or " the Overturned," from the utter confusion that reigns among the broken walls and blocked passages and deranged bricks of its interior. Only a single fragment of a building still erects itself above the mass of rubbish whereof the mounds are chiefly com- posed,* to show that human habitations really once stood where all is now ruin, decay, and desolation. When Babylon was standing in all its glory, with its great rampart walls from two hundred to three hundred feet high, with its lofty palaces and^templc-towers, with its " hang- ing gardens," reckoned one of the world's wonders, and even its ordinary houses from three to four stories high, f it was a bold prophecy that the whole would one day disappear that the edifices would all crumble into ruin, and the decom- posed material cover up and conceal the massive towers and walls, presenting nothing to the eye but rounded hillocks, huge unsightly " heaps." It may be that such a fate had already befallen the great cities of Assyria, which had been destroyed nearly a century earlier, and which, from the nature of their materials, must have gone rapidly to decay. But the lessons of the past do not readily impress them- selves on men ; and it must have required a deep conviction of God's absolute foreknowledge on the part of the Hebrew prophets to publish it abroad, on the strength of a spiritual communication, that such a fate would overtake the greatest city of their day " the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency "(Isa. xiii. 19) the city "given to pleas- ure " that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and none else besides me ; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children " (ch. xlvii. 8). The second point specially to be noted in the prophecies concerning Babylon is the prediction of absolute loss of inhabitants. The positions of important cities are usually so well chosen, so rich in natural advantages, that population clings to them ; dwindle and decay as they may, decline as they may from their high estate, some town, some village, some collection of human dwellings still occupies a portion of the original site ; their ruins echo to the sound of the human voice ; they are not absolute solitudes. Clusters of Arab * Layard, " Nineveh and Babylon," p. 484; Rich, " First Memoir," p.25. t IJerod., i. 180. 108 EGYPT AND BABYLON. huts cling about the pillars of the great temples at Luxo* and Karnak ; the village of Nebbi Yunus crowns the hill formed by the ruins of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh ; Memphis hears the hum of the great city of Cairo ; Tanis, the capital of Rameses II. and his successor, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, lives on in the mud hovels of San ; Damascus, Athens, Rome, Antioch, Byzantium, Alexandria, have re- mained continuously from the time of their foundation towns of consequence. But Babylon soon became, and has for ages been, an absolute desert. Strabo, writing in the reign of Augustus' could say of it that " the great city had become a great solitude." * Jerome tails us that the Persian kings had made it into one of their " paradises," or hunting parks. f Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Bagdad, successively took its place, and were built out of its ruins. There was " no healing of its bruise." When European travelers began to make their way to the far East, the report which they brought home was as follows : " Babylon is in the grete desertes of Arabye, upon the way as men gone towards the kyngdome of Caldee. But it is fulle longe sithe ony man neyhe to the towne ; for it is alle deserte, and fulle of dragons and grete ser- pentes." $ The accounts of modern explorers are similar. They tell us that " the site of Babylon is a naked and hideous waste." "All around," says one of the latest, "is a blank waste, recalling the words of Jeremiah ' Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass there- by.' "|| No village crowns any of the great mounds which mark the situations of the principal buildings ; no huts nestle among the lower eminences. A single modern building shows itself on the summit of the largest tumulus ; it is a tomb, empty and silent. Isaiah intensifies his description of the solitude by the statement, " Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, nei- ther shall the shepherds make their fold there " (ch. xiii. 20). If the entire space contained within the circuit of the ancient walls be viewed as " Babylon," the words of the prophet will not be literally true. The black tents of the Zobeide * Strab., xvi. 1, 5: 'H peydA? ir6?u<; fityakr) 'OTIV * " Comment, in Esaiam," vol. v., p. 25, C. J Maundeville's Travels (1322), quoted by Ker Porter, vol. ii., p. 336. Layard, 1. s.c. || Loftus, " Chaldaea and Susiana," p. 20. NOTICES IN ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH. 109 Arabs are often seen dotting the plain green in spring, yel- low in autumn which encircles the great mounds, stretch- ing from their base to the far horizon. Much of this space was no doubt included within the walls of the ancient city ; and this is traversed by the Arabian from time to time flocks are pastured there, and tents pitched there. But if the term " Babylon " be restricted to the mass of ruins to which the name still attaches, and which must have constituted the heart of the ancient town, then Isaiah's words will be strictly true in their most literal sense. On the actual ruins of Babylon the Arabian neither pitches his tent nor pastures his flocks in the first place, because the nitrous soil pro- duces no pasture to tempt him ; and secondly, because an evil reputation attaches to the entire site, which is thought to be the haunt of evil spirits. A curious feature in the prophecies, and one worthy of notice, is the apparent contradiction that exists between two sets of statements contained in them, one of which attrib- utes the desolation of Babylon to the action of water, while the other represents the waters as " dried up," and the site as cursed with drought and barrenness. To the former class belong the statements of Isaiah, " I will also make it a pos- session for the bittern, and pools of water " (ch. xiv. 23) ; and "The cormorant (pelican?) and the bittern shall possess it" (ch. xxxiv. 11) ; together with the following passage of Jeremiah, " The sea is come up upon Babylon ; she is cov- ered with the multitude of the waves thereof" (ch. li. 42) ; to the latter such declarations as the subjoined, "A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up " (Jer. 1. 38) ; "I will dry up her sea " (ch. li. 36) ; "Her cities are a des- olation, a- dry land, and a wilderness " (ver. 43) ; " the hin- dermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert," (ch. 1. 12); "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon " (Isa. xlvii. 1). But this antithesis, this paradox, is exactly in accordance with the condition of things which travelers note as to this day attaching to the site. The dry, arid aspect of the ruins, of the vast mounds which cover the greater buildings, and even the lesser elevations which spread far into the plain at "All the people of the country." says Mr. Rich, "assert that it is extremely dangerous to approach this motincl (the Kaxr] after nightfall, on account of the multitude of evil spirits by which it is haunted " (" First Memoir," p. 27). Compare Ker Porter's " Travels," vol. ii. r p. 371. 110 EGYPT AND BABYLON. their base, receives continual notice. "The whole surface of the mounds appears to the eye," says Ker Porter, " noth- ing but vast irregular hills of earth, mixed with fragments of brick, pottery vitrifications, mortar, bitumen, etc., while the foot at every step sinks into the loose dust and rubbish."* And again " Every spot of ground in sight was totally barren, and on several tracts appeared the common marks of former building. It is an old adage that ' where a curse has fallen grass will never grow.' In like manner the decomposing materials of a Babylonian structure doom the earth on which they perish to an everlasting sterility." f On all sides," says Sir Austen Layard, " fragments of glass, marble, pottery, and inscribed brick are mingled with that peculiar nitrous and blanched soil which, bred from the remains of ancient habitations, checks or destroys vegetation, and renders the site of JBabylon a naked and hideous waste." % On the other hand, the neglect of the embankments and canals which anciently controled the waters of the Eu- phrates, and made them a defence to the city and not a danger, has consigned great part of what was anciently Babylon to the continual invasion of floods, which, stagnating in the lower grounds, have converted large tracts once included within the walls of the city into lakes, pools, and marshes. "The country to the westward of Babylon," writes Ker Porter, " seemed very low and swampy. . . . On turning to the north, similar morasses and ponds tracked the land in various parts. Indeed, for a long time after the annual over- flowing of the Euphrates, not only great part of the plain is little better than a swamp, but large deposits of the waters are left stagnant in the hollows between the ruins." " From the summit of the Birs Nimroud," observes Layard, " I gazed over a vast marsh, for Babylon is made ' a possession for the bittern, and pools of water.' " || Of the space immediately about the chief ruins, Ker Porter notes, "This spot contains some cultivation, but more water, which sapping element may well account for the abrupt disappearance of the two parallel ridges at its most swampy point. "IF Even some of the minor features of the picture, which Ker Porter. " Travels," vol. ii . p. 372. t Ibid., vol. ii., P- 391, J Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 484. Ker Porter, "Travels," vol. ii., p. 389. II " Nineveh and Babylon," p. 300. I Ker Porter, " Travels," vol. ii., p. 351. NOTICES IN ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH. HI one might naturally have regarded as the mere artistic filling up of the scene of desolation, which he had to de- pict, by the imagination of the prophet, are found to be in strict and literal accordance with the actual fact. " The daughters of the owl shall dwell there, "says Isaiah (ch. xiii. 21), and Jeremiah, " The owls shall dwell therein " (ch. 1. 39). " In most of the cavities of the Babil mound," remarks Mr. Rich, " there are numbers of bats and owls" * Sir Austen Layard goes further into particulars. " A large gray owl," he tells us, " is found in great numbers frequently in flocks of nearly a hundred in the low shrubs among the ruins of Babylon. "f The " owl " of the prophets is thus not a mere flourish of rhetoric, but a historical reality an actual feature of the scene, as it presents itself to the traveler at the present day. " Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there " (Isa. xiii. 21) ; " the wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the islands, shall dwell there " (Jer. 1 . 39). So it was prophesied, and so it is. Speaking of the Babil mound, Mr. Rich observes, " There arc many dens of wild beasts in various parts, in one of which I found the bones of sheep and other animals, and perceived a strong smell, like that of a lion." $ " There are several deep excavations into the sides of the mound," remarks Ker Porter. " These souter- rains are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrances are strewn with the bones of sheep and goats ; and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den." On a visit to the Birs Nimroud, the same traveler observed through his glass several lions on the summit of the great mound, and afterwards found their foot-prints in the soft soil of the desert at its base.|| This feature of the prophecies also is therefore literally fulfilled. The solitude deserted by men, is sought the more on that account by the wild beasts of the country ; and the lion, the jackal, and probably the leopard, have their lairs in the substruction of the temple of Belus, and the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. No doubt there are also features of the prophetic an- nouncements which have not at present been authenticated. It is impossible to say what exactly was intended by the * Rich, " First Memoir," p. 30. t Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 484, note. J Rich, " First Memoir." pp. 29. 30. Ker Porter, "Travels," vol. ii , p. 342. H Ibid., pp. 387-8- 112 EGYPT AND BABYLON. " doleful creatures " and the " satyrs " of Isaiah, which were to haunt the ruins and to have their habitation among them. Literally, the " satyrs " are " hairy ones," * a descriptive epithet, which is applicable to beasts ' of the field generally. The " dragons " of Isaiah (ch. xiii. 22) and Jeremiah (ch. li. 37) should be serpent, which have not been noted recently as lurking among the " heaps." Sir J. Maundeville.f how- ever, tells us that in his day the early part of the fourteenth century the site of Babylon was " fulle of dragons and grete serpentes, " as well as of " dyverse other veneymouse bestes alle abouten." It is possible that the breed of ser- pents has died out in Lower Mesopotamia ; it is equally possible that it exists, but has been hitherto overlooked by travelers. % On the whole, it is submitted to the reader's judgment whether the prophetic announcements of Holy Scripture, as to what was to befall Babylon, are not almost as import- ant evidence of the truth of the Scripture record as the historical descriptions. The historical descriptions have to be compared with the statements of profane writers, which may or may not be true statements. The prophetical declara- tions can be placed side by side with actual tangible facts facts which it is impossible to gainsay, facts whereto each fresh observer who penetrates into Lower Mesopotamia is an additional witness. Travelers to the site of Babylon, even when in no respect religious men, are, if they have the most moderate acquaintance with Scripture, penetrated with a deep feeling of astonishment at the exactness of the agree- ment between the announcements made two thousand five hundred years ago and the actual state of things which they see with their eyes. The fate denounced against Babylon has been accomplished, not only in all essential points, but even in various minute particulars. The facts cannot be disputed there they are. While historical evidence loses force the further we are removed from the events recorded, the evidence of fulfilled prophecy continually gains in strength as the ages roll on in their unceasing course ; and the modern searcher after truth possesses proofs of the trustworthiness of the Word of God which were denied to those who lived at an earlier period. " hairy, rough." t Quoie'd'by Ker Porter ("Travels," vol. ii., p. 336). J If the true Interpretation of the word used be (as some think) " jackals," the statement made would be one of those fulfilled most clearly. NOTICES IN GENESIS. H3 CHAPTER Xin. KOTICES OF EGYPT IN GENESIS. "The sons of Ham : Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan " (Gen. x. 6). "And Mizraim begat Ludira, andAnanim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Casluhiin (out of whom came Philistim), and Caphtorim." Vers 13, 14. THESE are the first notices of Egypt which occur in Holy Scripture. The word Mizraim, which is here simply trans- literated from the Hebrew (DHVP), ^ s elsewhere, except in 1 Chfon. i. 8, uniformly translated by " Egypt," or " the Egyptians." It undoubtedly designates the country still known to us as Egypt ; but the origin of the name is obscure. There is no term corresponding to it in the hieroglyphical inscriptions, where Egypt is called " Kam," or "Khem," " the Black (land)," or " Ta Mera," " the inundation country." The Assyrians, however, are found to have denominated the region " Muzur," or " Musr," and the Persians "Mudr," or "Mudraya," a manifest corniption. The present Arabic name is " Misr " ; and it is quite possible that these various forms represent some ancient Egyptian word, which was in use among the people, though not found in the hieroglyphics. The Hebrew "Mizraim" is a dual word, and signifies "the two Mizrs," or "the two Egypts," an expression readily in- telligible from the physical conformation of the country, which naturally divides itself into " Upper " and *' Lower Egypt," the long narrow valley of the Nile, and the broad tract, known as the Delta, on the Mediterranean. We learn from the former of the two passages quoted above that the Egyptian people was closely allied to three others, viz., the Cushite or Ethiopian race, the people known to the Hebrews as " Phut," and the primitive inhabitants of Canaan. The ethnic connection of ancient races is a matter rarely touched on by profane writers ; but the connection of the Egyptians with the Canaanites was asserted by Eupole- n 4 EGYPT AND BABYL ON. mus,* and a large body of classical tradition tends to unite them with the Ethiopians. The readiness with which Ethio- pia received Egyptian civilization f lends support to the theory of a primitive identity of race; and linguistic research, so far as it has been pursued hitherto, is in harmony with the supposed close connection. From the other passage (Gen. x. 13, 14) we learn that the Egyptians themselves were ethnically separated into a number of distinct tribes, or subordinate races, of whom the writer enumerates no fewer than seven. The names point to a geographic separation of the races, since they have their representatives in different portions of the Egyptian territory. Now this separation accords with, and explains, the strongly marked division of Egypt into "nomes," having conflicting usages and competing religious systems. It suggests the idea that the "nome" was the original territory of a tribe, and that the Egyptian monarchy grew up by an aggregation of nomes, which were not originally divisions of a kingdom, like counties, but distinct states, like the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. This is a view taken by many of the historians of ancient Egypt, derived from the facts as they existed in later times. It receives confirmation and explanation from the enumeration of Egyptian races not a complete one, probably which is made in this passage. " Abraham went down into Egypt, to sojourn there . . . And it came to pass that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyp- tians beheld the woman (Sarai) that she was very fair. The princess also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And lie entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels. And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, Wliat is this that thou hast done unto me, ? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife ? Why saidst thou, She is my sister ? So I might have taken her to me to wife ; now therefore beho'd thy wife, take her. and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." GEX. xii. 10-20. The early date of this notice makes it peculiarly interest- ing. Whether we take the date of Abraham's visit as circ. B.C. 1920, with Usher, or, with others,! as a hundred and See a fragment of Eupolemus quoted byPolyhistor in C. Miiller't " Fr. Hist. Graec.," vol. Hi., p. 212, Fr. 3. t Herod, ii. 30. | As Mr. Stuart Poole {" Diet, of the Bible," vol. 1., p. 508). NOTICES IN GENESIS. 115 sixty years earlier, it seems almost certain that it must have fallen into the time of that " old Egyptian Empire " which preceded the great Hyksos invasion, and developed at that remote date the original Egyptian civilization. Does then the portraiture of the Egypt of this period resemble that of the ancient empire, as revealed to us by the monuments ? No doubt the portraiture is exceedingly slight, the main object of the writer, apparently, being to record an incident in the life of Abraham wherein he fell into sin. Still certain points are sufficiently marked, as the following: 1. Egypt is a settled monarchy under a Pharaoh, who has princes (sarim) under him, at a time when the neighboring countries are oc- cupied mainly by nomadic tribes under petty chiefs. 2. Reports are brought to Pharaoh by his princes with respect to foreigners who enter his country. 3. Egypt is already known as a land of plenty, where there will be corn and forage when famine has fallen upon Syria. 4. Domesticated animals are abundant there, and include sheep, oxen, asses, and camels, but (apparently) no horses. What has profane history to say on these four points? First, then, profane history lays it down that a settled government was established in Egypt, and monarchical in- stitutions set up, at an earlier date than in any other country. On this point Herodotus, Diodorus, and the Greek writers generally, are agreed, while the existing remains, assisted by the interpretation of Eanetho, point to the same result. It is not now questioned by any historian of repute but that the Egyptian monarchy dates from a time anterior to >.o 2000, while there are writers who carry it back to B. c. 5004.* The title of the monarch, from a very remote antiquity,! was " Per-ao," or " the Great House,"! which the Hebrews would naturally represent by Phar-aoh (JljTltJ). He was, from the earliest times to which the monuments go back, supported by powerful nobles, or " princes," who were hereditary landed proprietors of great wealth. Secondly, a scene in a tomb at Beni Hassan clearly shows that, under the Old Empire, foreigners on their arrival in the country, especially if they came with a train of at- * So Leuormant, following Mariette ("Manuel d'llistoire Anci enne," vol. i., p. 321). t See Canon Cook in the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. i. p. 478. } Compare the phrase "The Ottoman Porte." Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," pp. 44, 64 etc. 116 EGYPT AND BABYLON. tendants, as Abraham would (Gen. xiv. 14), were received at the frontier by the governor of the province, whose secre- tary took down in writing their number, and probably their description, doubtless for the purpose of forwarding a " report " to the court. Reports of this character, belong- ing to later times, have been found, and are among the most interesting of the ancient documents. It was regarded as especially important to apprise the monarch of all that hap- pened upon his north-eastern frontier, where Egypt abutted upon tribes of some considerable strength, whose proceed- ings had to be watched with care. Thirdly, there is abundant evidence that, under the Old Empire, Egypt was largely productive, and kept in its granaries a great store of corn, which was available either for home consumption, or for the relief of foreigners on oc- casions of scarcity. In the time of the twelfth dynasty state- granaries existed, which were under the control of over- seers appointed by the crown, who were officials of a high dignity, and had many scribes, or clerks, employed in carry- ing out the details of their business.* Even private per- sons laid up large quantities of grain, and were able in bad seasons to prevent any severe distress, either by gratuitous distributions, or by selling their accumulations at a moderate Fourthly, the domesticated animals in the early times include all those mentioned as given to Abraham by the Pharaoh with whom he came into contact, except the camel, while they do not include the horse. It was once denied J that the Egypt of Abraham's time possessed asses ; but the tombs of Ghizeh have shown that they were the ordinary beast of burden during the pyramid period, and that some- times an individual possessed as many as seven or eight hundred. No trace has been found of camels in the Egyptian monuments, and it is quite possible that they Avcre only em- ployed upon the north-eastern frontier ; but the traffic be- tween Egypt and the Sinaitic peninsula, which was certainly (tamed on by the Pharaohs of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and twelfth dynasties, can scarcely have been conducted in any other way. For Abraham, a temporary sojourner in the Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 63. t " Records of the Past," vol. xii., pp. 63, 64. J By Von Bohleu in his " Die Genesis erlautert." Compare Gen. xxxvii. 25. NOTICES IN GENESIS. 117 land, about to return through the desert into Palestine, camels would be a most appropriate present, and thus their inclusion in the list of animals given is open to no reasonable objection, though certainly without confirmation from the remains hitherto discovered in Egypt. The omission from the list of the horse is, on the contrary, a most significant fact, since horses, so abundant in Egypt at the date of the Exodus (Exod. ix. 3 ; xiv. 1. 23 ; xv. 1, 21), were unknown under the early monarchy,* having been first introduced by the Hyksos, and first largely used by the kings of the eigh- teenth dynasty. "They lifted up their eyes, and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt . . . and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver : and they brought Joseph into Egypt . . . and sold him into Egypt unto Poti- phar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard." GEN. xxxvii. 25-36. The first thing here especially noticeable is that Egypt requires for its consumption large quantities of spices, and is supplied with them, not by direct commerce with Arabia across the Red Sea, as we might have expected, but by caravans of merchants, who reach Egypt through Gilead and Southern Palestine. Now the large consumption of spices by the Egyptians is witnessed by Herodotus, who tells us that, in the best method of embalming, which was em- ployed by all the wealthier classes of the Egyptians, a large quantity of aromatics, especially myrrh and cassia, was necessary, the abdomen being not only washed out with an infusion of them, but afterwards filled up with the bruised Bpices themselves. f The Egyptian monuments show that aromatics were also required for the worship of the gods, es- pecially Ammon. Not only do we continually see the priests with censers in their hands, in which incense is being burnt, but we read of an expedition made to the land of Punt for the express purpose of bringing frankincense and frankin- cense trees " for the majesty of the god Ammon," to " honor him with resin from the incense-trees, and by vases full of fresh incense."J It is observable, however, on this partic- ular occasion, the spicery imported came from Arabia, and * Birch, pp. 42, 82; Chabas, " Etudes sur 1'Antiquite" Historique," p. 421. t Herod, ii. 86. J " Records of the Past," vol. x., pp. 18, 19. 118 EGYPT AND BABYLON. reached Egypt by sea, which may seem at first sight to be an objection to the existence of a caravan spice trade. But a consideration of the dates deprives this objection of all force. The expedition to Punt, which is spoken of as the first that ever took place, was sent by Queen Ilatasu, and belongs to the eighteenth dynasty the first of the New Empire. Joseph was sold into Egypt under the Middle Empire, and according to tradition,* was prime minister of Apepi, the " shepherd " king. The sea-trade with Punt for spices not being at that time open, the spices of Arabia could only be obtained by land traffic. The passage further implies the existence in Egypt at this time of a traffic in slaves, who were foreigners, and valued at no very high rate. The monuments prove slaves to have been exceedingly numerous under the Ancient Em- pire. The king had a vast number ; the estates of the nobles were cultivated by them ; and a large body ot hieroduli, or " sacred slaves," was attached to most of the temples. For- eign slaves seem to have been preferred to native ones, and wars were sometimes undertaken less with the object of con- quest or subjugation than with that of obtaining a profit by selling those who were taken prisoners in the slave market.f We have no direct information as to the value of slaves at this period from Egyptian sources, but from their abundance they were likely to be low-priced, and " twenty shekels " is very much the rate at which, judging from analogy, we should have been inclined to estimate them. " The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man ; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake ; and the bless- ing of the Lord was upon all that lie had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not aught he had. save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife. Be- hold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in * Syncellus, " Chronocraph." p. 62, B. t Brugsch, " Hist, of Egypt," vol. i. p. 161. NOTICES IN GENESIS. 119 this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because them art his wife; how then can I do this great wicked- ness, and sin against God ? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that lie hearkened not to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me; and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his gar- ment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them saying, See he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, ami I cried with a loud voice; and it came 10 pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. And she laid up his garment by her until his lord came home. And she spoke unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to mock me; and it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me and fled out. And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying. After this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison." GEN. xxxix. 2-20. It has often been observed that this picture ia in remark- able harmony with the general tone of Egyptian manners and customs. The licentiousness of the women provoked the strictures of the Greek historians, Herodotus and Dioclorus.* The liberty which they enjoyed of intermixing and convers- ing with men, so contrary to the general Oriental practice, is fully borne out, by the tales of the Egyptian novelists, and by the scenes represented upon the monuments. The life of an Egyptian noble, at once a royal official and a landed pro- prietor, with much to manage " in the field " (ver. 5) as well as in his house, is graphically sketched. The one garment of the slave is casually indicated by the expression, so often repeated, " he left ///* garment in her hand." The extra- ordinary dependence placed upon " overseers," or stewards, who had the entire management of the household, the ac- counts, and the farm or estate a very peculiar feature of Egyptian life is set forth with great force. But, besides these isolated points, the whole narrative receives most curU ons illustrations from one of the tales most popular among the Egyptians, which has fortunately descended to our day. In the 'story of " The Two Brothers," written by the illus- trious scribe Anna, or Enna, for the delectation of Seti II., Herod, ii. Ill; Diod. Sic. i. 59. 120 EGYPT AND BABYLON. when heir-apparent to the throne, we have a narrative which contains a passage so nearly parallel to this portion of Joseph's history, that it seems worth while quoting it in extenso. " There were two brothers," said the writer, " children of one mother and one father the name of the elder was Anepu, the name of the younger Bata. Anepu had a house and a wife ; and his younger brother was like a son to him. He it was who provided Anepu with clothes, he it was who attended upon his cattle, he who managed the ploughing, he who did all the labors of the fields ; indeed, his younger brother was so good a laborer, that there was not his equal in the whole land. " And when the days had multiplied after this, it was the wont of the younger brother to be with the cattle day by day, and to take them home to the house every evening ; he came laden with all the herbs of the field. The elder brother sat with his wife, and ate and drank, while the younger was in the stable with the cattle. The younger, when the day dawned, rose before his elder brother, took bread to the field and called the laborers together to eat bread in the field. Then he followed after his cattle, and they told him where all the best grasses grew, for he understood all that they said ; and he took them to the place where was the goodly herb- age which they desired. And the cattle which he followed after became exceediugly beautiful. And they multiplied exceedingly. " Now when the time for ploughing came, his elder brother said to him, ' Let us take our teams for ploughing, because the land has now made its appearance [i.e, the inun- dation has subsided], and the time is excellent for plough- ing it. Come thou then with the seed, and we shall accom- plish the ploughing.' Thus he spake. And the younger brother proceeded to do all that his elder brother told him ; and when the day dawned they went to the field with their [teams?], and worked at their tillage, and enjoyed them- selves exceedingly at their work. "But when the days were multiplied after this, they were in the field together, and the elder brother sent the younger, saying, ' Go and fetch seed for us from the village.' And the younger brother foundvthe wife of the elder one sit- ting at her toilet ; and he said to her, ' Arise, and give me ieed, that I may go back with it to the field, because my elder NOTICES IN GENESIS. 121 brother wishes me to return without any delay.' And she said to him, 'Go, open the bin, and take, thyself, as much as thou wilt, since my hair would fall by the way.' So the youth entered the stable, and took a large vessel, for he wished to take back a great deal of seed ; and he loaded himself with grain, and went out with it. And she said to him, ' How much have you [on your arm] ? ' And he an- swered, 'Two measures of barley, and three measures of wheat in all, I have five measures on my arm.' Then she spake to him saying, ' What great strength is there in thee ! Indeed, I notice thy vigor every day' . . . Then she seized upon him, and said to him, ' Come and let us lie down for an instant' . . . The youth became as a panther with fury, on account of the shameful words which she had addressed to him. And she herself was alai-med exceedingly. He spake to her, saying, ' Verily, I have looked upon thee in the light of a mother, and on thy husband in the light of a father. What great abomination is this which thou hast mentioned to me ! Do not repeat it again, and I will not speak of it to any one. Verily, I will not permit a word of it to escape my mouth to any man.' " He took up his load, and went forth to the field. He rejoined his elder brother, and they accomplished the task of their labor. And when the time of evening arrived, the elder brother returned to his house. His younger brother [tarried] behind his cattle, laden with all the things of the field. He drove his cattle before him, that they might lie down in their stable. " Behold, the wife of the elder brother was alarmed at the discourse which she had held. She made herself as one who had suffered violence from a man ; for she designed to say to her husband, ' It is thy younger brother who has done me violence.' " Her husband returned home at evening, according to his daily wont. He came to his house, and he found his wife lying as if murdered by a ruffian. She did not pour water on his hands, according to her wont ; she did not light the lamp before him ; his house was in darkness. She was lying there, all uncovered. Her husband said to her, ' Who is it that has been conversing with thee?' She replied, 'No one has been conversing with me except thy younger brother. When he came to fetch seed for thee he found me sitting alone, and he said to me, " Come and let us lie down 122 EGYPT AND BABYLON. for an instant." That is what he said to me. But I did not listen to him. " Behold, am I not thy mother ; and thy elder brother, is he not as a father to thee ? " that is what I said to him. Then he became alarmed, and did me violence, that I might not be able to report the matter to thee. But if thou lettest him live, I shall kill myself.' . . . Then the elder brother became like a panther ; he made his dagger sharp, and took it in his hand. And he put himself behind the door of his stable, in order to kill his younger brother, when he returned at even to bring the cattle to their stalls." * It is unnecessary to pursue the story further. Anepu is bent on killing his brother, but is prevented. Potiphar, with a moderation which seems to argue some distrust of his wife's story, is content to imprison Joseph. Innocence in both cases suffers, and then triumph in the Egyptian tale is effected by repeated metempsychosis, and therefore diverges altogether from the Mosaic history. Still, it is conceivable that the Egyptian novel, written several cen- turies after Joseph's death, was based upon some traditional knowledge of the ordeal through which he had passed un- scathed, and the ultimate glory to which he had attained as ruler of Egypt, f * See " Kecords of the Past," vol . ii., pp. 139-142. t Bata, after his many transmigrations, is finally reborn as the child of an Egyptian princess, and rules Egypt for thirty years (Ibid., p. 151). NOTICES IN GENESIS. 123 CHAPTER XIV. FURTHER NOTICES OF EGYPT IN GENESIS. THE history of Joseph in Egypt after he was thrown into prison by Potiphar, which occupies the last eleven chapters of Genesis, is delivered to us at too great length to be con- veniently made the subject of illustration by means of coru- meiit on a series of passages. We propose therefore to view it hi the mass, as a picture of Egypt at a certain period of its history, to be determined by chronological considerations, and t/hen to inquire how far the portraiture given corre- sponds to what is known to us of the Egypt of that time from profaue sources. The time of Joseph's visit to Egypt is variously given by chronologers. Archbishop Usher, whose dates are followed in the aiargin of the English Bible, as published by authority, regards him as having resided in the country from B. c. 1729 u> B. c. 1635. Most other chronologers place his so- journ earlier: Stuart Poole* from B. c. 1867; Clinton f from K. c. 1862 to B. c. 1770 ; Hales t from B. c. 1886 to B. c. IV 92. Even the latest of these dates would make his arrival anterior to the commencement of the New Empire, which was certainly not earlier than B. c. 1700. If we add to this the statement of George the Syncellus, that all writers agreed in making him the prime minister of one of the shepherd kings, we seem to have sufficient grounds for the belief that the Egypt of his time was that of the Middle Empire or Hyksos, an Asiatic people who held Egypt in subjection for some centuries before the great rising under Aahmes, which re-established a native dynasty upon the old throne of the Pharaohs. * " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. i., p. 508. t "Fasti Hellenici," vol. i., pp. 300, 320. I "Ancient Chronology," vol. i., p. 104, et seq. " Chronographia," p. 62. B. 124 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Does then the Egypt of the later chapters of Genesis correspond to this time? It has been argued that it does not, because, on the whole, it is so like the Egypt of other times. We have the king depicted in all his state, with his signet ring upon his finger (Gen. xli. 42), with chariots to ride in (ib. 43), and gold chains to give away, possessed of a " chief butler" and a "chief baker" (ch. xl. 9, 16), able to imprison and execute whom he will (ib. 3, 22), with "magicians" and "wise men" for counselors (ch. xli. 8), rich in flocks and herds (ch. xlvii. 6), despotic over the people (ch. xli. 34 ; xlvii. 21), with no fear or regard for any class of his subjects but the priests (ch. xlvii. 22, 26). We have the priests as a distinctly privileged class, supported by the monarch in a time of famine, possessed of lands, and not compelled to cede to the king ariy right over their lands. We have mention of the " priest of On," or Heliopolis, as a magnate of the first class, with whom Joseph did not disdain to ally himself after he had become grand vizier, and was the next person in the kingdom to the king (ch. xli. 45, 50). We have the Egyptian contempt for foreigners noted in the statement that " the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews " (ch. xliii. 32), and their special aversion to herds- men touched on in the observation that " every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians " (ch. xlvi. 34). We see agriculture the main occupation of the people, yet pasturing of cattle carried on upon a large scale in the Delta (ch. xlvii. 1-6). We find embalming practised, and a special class of embalmers (ch. 1. 2) ; and it appears that embalmed bodies are placed within coffins (ib. 26). Chariots and horses are tolerably common, for when Joseph goes from Egypt to Canaan to bury his father, there goes up with him "a very great company, both chariots and horsemen" (ib. 9), while "horses," no less than cattle and asses, are among the do- mesticated animals exchanged by the Egyptians generally for corn (ch. xlvii. 17). But, though horses are in use among the people, especially the official classes and the rich, asses are still the main beasts of burden, and are alone employed in the conveyance of commodities between Egypt and Canaan (ch. xlv. 23). Wheeled vehicles are known, and are used for the conveyance of women and children (ib. 19-21). Such are the leading features of the Egypt depicted by the writer of Genesis in these chapters. The description is said to be too thoroughly Egyptian to be a true representation NOTICES IN GENESIS. 125 of a time when a foreign dynasty was in possession, and the nation was groaning under the yoke of a conqueror. * The general answer to this objection seems to be that, as so often happens when a race of superior is overpowered by one of inferior civilization, the conquerors rapidly as- similated themselves in most respects to the conquered, affected their customs, and even to some extent adopted their prejudices. M. Chabas remarks that the Hyksos, or shepherd kings, after a time became " Egyptianized." f " The science and the usages of Egypt introduced themselves among them. They surrounded themselves with learned men, built temples, encouraged statuary, while at the same time they inscribed their own names on the statues of the Old Empire, which were still standing, in the place of those of the Pharaohs who had erected them. It is this period of civilization which alone has left us the sphinxes, the statues, and the inscriptions which recall the art of Egypt ; the man- ners of the foreign conquerors had by this time been sensibly softened." $ And again, " Apepi, the last shepherd king, was an enlightened prince, who maintained a college of men skilled in sacred lore, after the example of the Pharaohs of every age, and submitted all matters of importance to them for examination before he formed any decision." The Pharaoh of Joseph, according to the Syncellus, || was this very Apepi, the last shepherd king, the predecessor of the Aahmes, who, after a long and severe struggle, expelled the Hyksos, and re-established in Egypt the rule of a native dynasty. Thus, it was to have been expected that, if Joseph lived under Apepi, or indeed under any one of the later shepherd kings, a description of the Egypt of his day would greatly resemble any true description of that country either in earlier or later times, and possess but few distinctive features. Still some such distinctive features might have been expected to show themselves, and it must be our object now to inquire, first, what they would be ; and secondly, how far, if at all, they appear in the narrative. First, then, what distinctive features would there be sep- arating and marking off the Second Empire from the First, Canon Cook in the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 449. t " Les Pasteurs en Egypte," p. 30. t Ibid., p. 33. Ibid., p. 31. Brugsch and Lenormant take the same view. || " Chronographia," p. 62, B. 126 EGYPT AND BABYLON. the Hyksos rule from that of the old Pharaohs who built the Pyramids, set up the first obelisks, and accomplished the great works in the Fayoum ? In the first place, their resi- dence would be different. The pyramid kings lived at Mem- phis, above the apex of the Delta, in the (comparatively speak- ing) narrow valley of the Nile, before the river enters on the broad tract which it must have gradually formed by its own deposits. The great monarchs of the obelisk and Fayoum period those assigned by Manetho to his eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth dynasties lived at Thebes, more than three hundred miles further up the coui-se of the Nile, in a region from which the Delta could only be reached by a lengthy and toilsome journey along the river bank, or by a voyage down its channel. The Hyksos monarchs, on the other hand, fixed their residence in the Delta itself; they selected Tanis an ancient Egyptian town of considerable importance for the main seat of their court.* While maintaining a great fortified camp at Avaris, on their eastern frontier, where they lived sometimes, they still more favored the quiet Egyptian city on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, where they could pass their time away from the sound of arms, amid ancient temples and sanctuaries dedicated to various Egyptian gods, which they allowed to stand, if they did not even use them for their own worship. The Delta had never previously been the residence of Egyptian kings, and it did not again become their residence until the time of the nineteenth dynasty, shortly before the Exodus. A second peculiarity of the Hyksos period, belonging especially to its later portion, is to be found in the religious views professed, proclaimed, and enjoined upon subject princes. Apepi, according to the MS. known as " the first Sallier papyrus," made a great movement in Lower Egypt in favor of monotheism. Whereas previously the shepherd kings had allowed among their subjects, if they had not even practised themselves, the worship of a multitude of gods, Apepi " took to himself" a single god " for lord, refusing to srve any other god in the whole land." f According to the Egyptian writer of the MS., the name under which he wor- s*iped his god was " Sutech " ; and some critics have sup- jr* ed that he chose this god out of the existing Egyptian * Bruasch, " History of Egypt," vol. i., pp. 236-7, 1st edition. T See " Records of the Past," vol. viii., p. 3. NOTICES IN GENESIS. 127 Pantheon, because he was the god of the North, where his own dominion especially lay.* But Sutech, though undoubt- edly he had a place in the Egyptian Pantheon from very- ancient times, t seems to have -been essentially an Asiatic god, the special deity of the Hittite nation, t with which there is reason to believe that the shepherd kings were closely con- nected. Apepi, moved by a monotheistic impulse, selected Sutech, we should suppose, rather out of his own gods than out of the Egyptian deities, and determined that, whatever had been the case previously, henceforth he would renounce polytheism, and worship one only lord and god, long known to his nation, and to his own ancestors, under the name above mentioned. There is reason to believe that he did not identify him with the Egyptian god, Set, or Sutech, but rather with some form or other of the Egyptian sun-god, or else with their sun-gods generally, since he appointed sacri- fice to be made to Sutech, " with all the rites that are per- formed in the temple of Ka-IIarmachis," || who was one of these gods, and required the vassal king of Thebes, Ra- Sekenen, to neglect the worship of all the other gods honored in his part of Egypt, excepting Ammori-Ra, who was another of them. Sutech, among the Hittites, seems to have been equivalent to Baal, and was certainly a sun-god,1[ probably identified with the material sun itself, viewed as having also a spiritual nature, and as the creator and sustainer of the universe. Apepi's great temple of Sutech at Tanis was the natural outcome of his exclusive worship of this god, and showed forth in a tangible and conspicuous form the earnest- ness of his piety. Among the changes in manners and customs belonging to the Middle Empire, there is one which cannot be gainsaid the introduction of the horse. The horse, which is wholly absent from the remains, written or sculptured, of the Old Empire, appears as well known and constantly employed in the very earliest records of the New, and must consequently have made its appearance in the interval. Hence it has been argued by those best acquainted with the ancient remains that the military successes of the Hvksos, and especially * Chabas, "Lcs Pasteurs en Egypte," p. 35. t Marietta, " Lettre k M. le Vicomte de Rouge"," in the Revue Archeologique, vol.v., p. 303. t " Records of the Past," vol. iv., p. 31. Ibid., p. 36. II Ibid., vol. viii., p. 3. T " Records of the Past," vol. iv., p. 28, par. a 128 EGYPT AND BABYLON. their conquest of Egypt, were probably the result to a con- siderable extent of their invading the country with a chariot force and with cavalry at a time when the Egyptians fought wholly on foot. Neither horses nor chariots, nor even carts, where known under the Pharaohs of the Old Empire; they were employed largely from the very beginning of the New Empire, the change having been effected by the empire which occupied the intervening space. Before proceeding further, let us consider how these characteristics suit the Egypt of Joseph. First, then, the indications of Genesis, though not very precise, decidedly favor the view that the king is residing in the Delta. He receives in person the brethren of Joseph on their arrival in the land, even has an interview with the aged Jacob him- self (Gen. xlvii. 7-10), whom his son would certainly not have presented to him if the court had not been near at hand. Goshen, the eastern portion of the Delta, is chosen for the residence of the family, especially because, dwell- ing there, they will be " near to Joseph " (ch. xlv. 10), who must have been in constant attendance on the monarch. " All the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt " (ch. 1. 7) would scarcely have accompanied the body of Jacob to the cave of Mach- pelah unless the court had been residing in Lower Egypt. Bishop Harold Browne, who writes as a common-sense critic, and not as an Egyptologist, well observes, " Joseph placed his brethren naturally on the confines of Egypt nearest to Palestine, and yet near himself. It is probable that Memphis or Tanis was then the metropolis of Egypt?" 1 * But both be- fore and after the shepherd kings the capital for many hun- dred years was Thebes. Secondly, there are indications in the later chapters of Genesis that the Pharaoh of the time was a monotheist. Not only does he make no protest against the pronounced mono- theism of Joseph (ch. xli. 16, 25, 32), as Nebuchadnezzar does against that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, when he draws the conclusion from their escape that " no other yod can deliver after this sort," but he uses himself the most decidedly monotheistic language when he says to his nobles, " Can we find such a one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is? " ib. 38), and again when headdresses "Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 215. NOTICES IN GENESIS. 129 Joseph as follows : " Forasmuch as God hath showed thee act ehis, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art " (ib. 39). No such distinct recognition of the unity of God is ascribed either to the Pharaoh of the Old Empire who re- ceived Abraham (ch. xii. 15-20), or to those of the New Empire who came into contact with Moses (Exod. i-xiv.). The contrast between the Egypt of Abraham's time and that of the time of Joseph in respect of horses has of ten been noticed. As the absence of horses from the list of the presents made to Abraham (ch. xii. 16) indicates with suffi- cient clearness the time of the Old Empire, so the mention of horses, chariots, and wagons in connection with Joseph (ch. xii. 43 ; xlvi. 29 ; xlvii. 17 ; 1. 9) makes his time either that of the Middle Empire or the New. The fact that the possession of horses does not seem to be as yet very com- mon points to the Middle Empire as the more probable of the two. Certain leading features, moreover, of the narrative, which have been reckoned among its main difficulties, either cease to be difficulties at all, or are reduced to comparative insigni- ficance, if, in accordance with tradition and with the most probable chronology, we regard Joseph as the minister of a shepherd king. The native Egyptian monarchs had an extreme jealousy of their Eastern neighbors. The East was the quarter from which Egypt lay most open to invasion, and from the later times of the Old Empire down to the twentieth dynasty in the New there was continual fear, when a native dynasty sat tipon the throne, lest immigrants from these parts should by degrees filch away from Egypt the possessions of the Delta. Small bodies of Asiatics, like those who came with Abraham, or the thirty-seven Amu under Abusha,* might occasionally be received with favor, to sojourn or to dwell in the land ; but larger settlements would have been very distasteful. An early king of the twelfth dynasty built a wall " to keep off the Sakti," as the Asiatics of these parts were called,f and such powerful monarchs as Seti I. and Kamescs II. followed his example. The only kings who were friendly to the Asiatics, and likely to receive a large body of settlers with favor, were the Hyksos, Asiatics themselves, whom every such settlement strengthened against the revolt, which always Brugsch, " History of Egypt," vol. i. , p. 157. t "Records of the Past," vol. vi., p. 135, 130 EGYPT AND BABYLON. threatened, of their Egyptian subjects. Now the family and dependants of Jacob were a large body of settlers. Abra- ham had three hundred and eighteen adult male servants born in the house (Gen. xiv. 14). Jacob's attendants, when he returned from serving Laban, formed " two bands " (Gen. xxxii. 10), literally "two armies." The number of those who entered Egypt with Jacob has been reasonably calculated at " several thousands."* To place such a body of foreigners " in the best of the land " (ch. xlvii. 6, 11), on the eastern frontier, where they could readily give admission to others, is what no king of either the Old or the New Empire would have been likely to have done ; but it is exactly what might have been expected of one-of the Hyksos. Again, the sudden elevation of a foi-eigner from the slave condition to the second place in the kingdom, the putting him above all the Egyptians and making them bow down to him (ch. xli. 43), and the giving him in marriage the daughter of the high-priest of Heliopolis (ib. 45), though perhaps within the prerogative of any Egyptian king, who, as a god upon earth, " son of the sun," could do no wrong, are yet exceedingly unlikely things, if Egypt were in its normal condition. It is far from paralleled by the "story of Saneha," even if that story is a true one, and not a novelette ; for Saneha's rise is very gradual ; he is a courtier in his youth ; he commits an offence, and flies to a foreign land, where he passes the greater part of his life ; it is not until he is an old man that his pardon reaches him, and he returns, and is restored to favor; nor does he rise even then to a rank at all equal to that of Joseph. f Joseph's history would have been " incredible " if Egypt had never had foreign rulers.} But a Hyksos monarch would be trammeled by none of the feelings or restraints natural to an Egyptian. A foreigner himself, he would be glad to advance a foreigner, would not be very careful of offending a high-priest, and would feel more confidence in committing important affairs to a stranger wholly dependent upon himself than to a native who might at any time turn traitor. Our limits will not allow us to treat this point at greater length. It is necessary, however, before concluding this chapter, to notice briefly two objections which Genesis - Kurtz, " History of the Old Covenant," vol. ii., p. 149, E. T, t " Records of the Past." vol. vi., pp. 135-150. J Stuart Poolo in Smith's " Diet of the Bible," vol. i., p. 509. NOTICES IN GENESIS. 131 is supposed to offer to the traditional view of Joseph's place in Egyptian history. The first is the designation of Goshen in one passage (ch. xlvii. 11) as " the land of Kameses." Now Rameses is a name which first appears in Egypt under the New Empire, and a land " of Rameses " is not likely to have existed until there had been a monarch of the name, which first happened under the nineteenth dynasty. But it is quite possible, as Bishop Harold Browne suggests, that the writer of Genesis may have used the phrase, " land of Rameses," by anticipation,* to designate the tract so called in his day. This would be merely as if a modern writer were to say that the Romans under Julius Ccesar invaded England, or that Pontius Pilate, when recalled from Judaea, was banished to f ranee. The other objection is drawn from the statement that in Joseph's time " every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians " (ch. xlvi. 34). This is said to be " quite conclu- sive" against the view that the Pharaoh of Joseph was a shepherd king.f But it is admitted that the prejudice was anterior to the invasion of the Hvksos, and appears on the monuments of the Old Empire. It would certainly not have been lessened by the Hyksos conquest, nor can the shepherd kings be supposed to have been ignorant of it. If it was a caste prejudice, it would have been quite beyond their power to put down ; and nothing would have been left for them but to bear with it, and make the best of it. This is what they seem to have done. When men of the nomadic races were feasted at the Hyksos court, they were feasted separately from the Egyptians (ch. xliii. 32) ; and when a nomad tribe had to be located on Egyptian territory, it was placed in a position which brought it as little as possible into contact with the natives. Pharaoh had already put his own herds- men in Goshen (ch. xlvii. 6), with the view of isolating them. In planting the Israelite settlers there, he did but follow the same principle. Like a wise ruler, he arranged to keep apart those diverse elements in the population of his country which were sure not to amalgamate. "* "Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 221. t Ibid., vol. i. p. 449, note "33. 132 EGYPT AMD BABYLON. CHAPTER XV. THE NOTICES OF EGYPT IK EXODUS. " Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew no< Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the chil- dren of Israel are more and mightier than we; come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters, to afflict them with their hurdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Kaamses." EXOD. i. 8-19. THE question of the period of Egyptian history into which the severe oppression of the Israelites, and their " exodus " from Egypt, are to be regarded as falling, is one of no little interest, and at the same time of no little diffi- culty. In the last chapter we saw reason for accepting the view that the Pharaoh whom Joseph served wasApepi, the last king of the seventeenth (shepherd) dynasty. In order, however, to obtain from this fact any guidance as to the dynasty, and still more as to the kings, under whom the events- took place which are related in the first section of the Book of Exodus (chs i.-xiv.), we have to determine, first of all, what was the length of the Egyptian sojourn. But here we find ourselves in the jaws of a great controversy. Taking the Authorized Version as our sole guide, we should indeed think the matter plain enough, for there we are told (ch. xii. 40, 41), that "the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years; and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty i/cars, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." If we consult the Hebrew original, the plainness and certainty seem increased, for there we find that the words run thus : " The sojourn- ing of the children of Israel, which they sojourned in NOTICES IN EXODUS. 133 vf as four hundred and thirty years," which seem to leave no loophole of escape from the conclusion that the four hundred and thirty years mentioned are those of Israel's stay in Efjupt. And it is quite admitted that thus far if this were all the evidence there could, be no controversy upon the subject. Doubt arises from the fact that in the two most ancient versions of Exodus that we possess the passage runs differently. We read in the Septuagint, " The sojourning of the children of Israel, which they sojourned in Egypt and in the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years ;" and in the Samaritan version, " The sojourning of the chil- dren of Israel and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." Xor is this the whole. St. Paul, it is observed, writing to the Galatians (ch. iii. 17), makes the giving of the law from Mount Sinai "four hundred and thirty years after," not the going down into Egypt, but the entering into cove- nant with Abraham. And it is further argued that the gene- alogies for the time of the stay in Egypt are incompatible with the long period of four hundred and thirty years, and require the cutting down of the time to the dimensions im- plied by the Septuagint and Samaritan translations. This time is two hundred and fifteen years, or exactly half the other, since it was two hundred and fifteen years from the promise made to Abraham until the entering of the Israel- ites into Egypt. t Now, if the Exodus was but two hundred and fifteen years after any date in the reign of Apepi, it must have fallen within the period assigned by Manetho and the monuments to the eighteenth dynasty. But if we are to substitute four hundred and thirty years for two hundred and fifteen, it must have belonged rather to the latter part of the nine- teenth. Let us consider, therefore, whether on the whole the weight of argument is in favor of the shorter or the longer term of years. First, then, with regard to the versions. The Hebrew text must always be considered of paramount authority, un- less there is reason to suspect that it has been tampered with. But, in this case, there is no such reason. Had the clause inserted by the LXX. existed in the Hebrew original, there is no assignable ground on which we can imagine it left out. There is, on the other hand, a readilv conceivable ground for the insertion of the clause by the LXX. in their anxiety to 134 EGYPT AND BABYLON. harmonize their chronology with the Egyptian system preva- lent in their day. Farther, the clause has the appearance of an insertion, being irrelevant to the narrative, which is naturally concerned at this point with Egypt only. The Samaritan version may appear at first sight to lend the Sep- tuagint confirmation ; but a little examination shows the contrary. The Samaritan translator has the Septuagint before him, but is dissatisfied with the way in which his Greek predecessor has amended the Hebrew text. His version is an amendment of the Greek text in two points. First, he sees that the name " children of Israel " could not properly be given to any but the descendants of Jacob, and therefore he inserts the clause " and of their fathers." Secondly, he observes that the LXX. have inverted the historical order of the sojourns in Egypt and in Canaan, placing that in Egypt first. This he corrects by a transposition. No one can sup- pose that he derived his emendations from the Hebrew. He evolved them from his inner consciousness. He gave his readers, not what Moses had said, but what, in his opinion, he ought to have said. Secondly, with respect to St. Paul's statement to the Gal- atians, it is to be borne in mind that he wrote to Greek- speaking Jews, whose only Bible was the Septuagint Version, and that he could not but follow it unless he was prepared to intrude on them a chronological discussion, which would in no way have advanced his argument. His argument is that the law having been given long after the covenant made with Abraham, could not disannul it ; how long after was of no consequence, whether four hundred and thirty or six hundred and forty-five years. Thirdly, the genealogies of the period, as given in the Pentateuch, contain undoubtedly no more than six names in fact, vary between four and six which, taken by itself, is doubtless an argument for the shorter period. But (a) the Jews constantly abbreviated genealogies by the omission of a portion of the names (Ezra vii. 1-5 ; Matt. i. 2-16 ; comp. 1 Chron. ix 4-19 with Neh. xi. 4-22) ; and (b) there is one geneology belonging to the period, given in 1 Chron. vii. 22-27, that of Joshua, which contains ten names. The Hebrews, at this portion of their history, and indeed to a considerably later date, reckoned a generation at forty years, so that the ten generations from Jacob to Joshua, who was fully grown up at the time of the Exodus (Exod. xvii. 9-13), NOTICES IN EXODUS. 135 would cover four hundred years, or not improbably a little more. Another argument in favor of the longer date is derivable from the terms of the announcement made to Abraham with respect to the Egyptian servitude : " Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years ; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge ; and afterward shall they come out with great sub- stance " (Gen. xv. 13, 14). In this prophecy but one land is spoken of, and but one people ; this people is to afflict Israel for four hundred years ; it is then to be judged; and, after the judgement, Israel is to " come out," to come out, more- over, with great substance. Nothing is said that can by any possibility allude to the Canaanites, or the land of Canaan. One continuous affliction in one country, and by one people, lasting in round numbers four hundred years, is announced with the utmost plainness. But the crowning argument of all, which ought to be re- garded as completely settling the question, is that derivable from the numbers of the Israelites on entering and on quitting Egypt. Their numbers, indeed, on entering, cannot be defi- nitely fixed, since they went down to Egypt "with their households " (Exod. i. 1), and these, to judge by that of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 14), were very numerous. Still no writer has supposed that altogether the settlers exceeded more than a few say two or three thousands.* On quitting Egypt, they were, at the lowest estimate, two millions. What time, then, is required, under favorable circumstances, for the ex- pansion of a body (say) of two thousand persons into one a thousand times that number? There are writers who have argued that population may double itself in the space of fifteen, nay, in that of thirteen years. f But I know of no proved instance of the kind where there has not been a large influx through immigration. No increase, or, at any rate, no important increase, of the Israelites in Egypt can be assigned to this cause. They mul- tiplied, as is distinctly implied in the narrative, in the ordi- nary way, without foreign accretion. It is reasonable, * Kurtz (" History of the Old Covenant." vol. ii., p. 149) uses the vague expression, "several thousands." Dean Payne Smith, in his " Bramnton Lectures " (p. 89), suggests three thousand- t Clfnton, " Fasti Hellenici," vol. i.. p. 294 136 EGYPT AND BABYLON. therefore, to apply to them Mr. Malthus's law for the natural increase of population by descent under favorable circum- stances. Now this is a doubling of the population, not every thirteen, or every fifteen, but every twenty-five years.* By this law two thousand persons would, in two hundred and fifteen years, have multiplied to the extent, not of two mil- lions, but of less than one million. The law, moreover, only acts where population is scanty, where the sanitary circum- stances are favorable, and where the means of subsistence are wholesome, and readily obtained. Long before the time that the Israelites reached a quarter of a million, most of the artificial checks which tend to keep down the natural increase of population would have begun to operate among them. The territory assigned them was not a very large one, and they were not its sole inhabitants (Gen. xlvii. 6 ; Exod. iii. 22, xii. 31-36). It would soon be pretty densely peopled. The tasks in which they were employed by their Egyptian lords, from the time that the severe oppression began (Exod. i. 13, 14), could not be favorable to health. They were no doubt sufficiently well fed, as slaves usually are, but not on a very wholesome dietary (Num. xi 5). The rate of increase would naturally fall under these circumstances, and it may ere long have taken them fifty years to double their numbers, which is about the rate now existing among ourselves. Supposing them to have been two thousand at the first, and to have doubled their numbers at the end of the first twenty-five years, but to have required five years longer for each successive du- plication until the full term of fifty years was reached, it would have taken them four hundred and twenty-five years to reach the amount of two millions. Altogether it is perfectly clear that an increase which is abnormal, and requires some explanation, if it be regarded as occupying the space of four hundred and thirty years, must be most unlikely, if not impossible, to have occurred in half that time. If then we- take four hundred and thirty years from the early part of Apepi's reign, and follow the line of the Egyptian kings, as we find it in Manetho, or in the monu- ments, we are carried on beyond the time of the eighteenth dynasty into that of the nineteenth, and have to look for the monarchs mentioned in Exodus among those who reigned "Essay on Population," vol. i., p. 8 ; " Encyclopaedia Britan nica," vol. xviii., p. 340. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 137 / in Egypt between the close of the eighteenth dynasty and the commencement of the twentieth. Before proceeding, however, with this inquiry, it seems natural to ask, Is there no tradition with respect to the time of the Exodus in Egyptian history, as we found that there was with respect to the time of Joseph ; and if there is any such tradition, what is it ? The Egyptian tradition was delivered at great length by Manetho, whose account is preserved to us in Josephus.* it was also reported more briefly by Chseremon.f It placed the Exodus in the reign of an " Amenophis," who was the son of a " Rameses," and the father of a " Sethos." Each of these two facts belong to one " Amenophis " only out of the four or five in Manetho's lists, and we have thus a double certainty that he intended the monarch of the nineteenth dynasty, who was the son and successor of Rameses II ., commonly called " Rameses the Great," and was himself suc- ceeded on the throne by his son, Seti-Menephthah, or Seti II., about B. c. 1300, or a little earlier. There is no other Egyptian tradition, excepting one reported by George the Syncellus,* which is wholly incompatible with the univer- sally allowed synchronism of Joseph with Apepi, and quite unworthy of consideration ; viz., that the Exodus took place 'under Amasis (Aahmes), the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, who was probably contemporary with the later years of Joseph himself. Manetho's tradition then, harmonizing, as it does, with the chronological considerations above adduced, which would place the Exodus tmcards the end of the nineteenth dynasty, seems to deserve our accedtance, and indeed has been ac- cepted by the great bulk of modern Egyptologists, as by Brugsch, Birch, Lenormant, Chabas, and others. Allowing it, we are able to fix definitely on the three Pharaohs especi- ally concerned in the severe oppression of the Israelites, and thus to give a vividness and realism to our conception of the period of history treated of in Exod. i.-xiv. which add greatly to the interest of the narrative. * Joseph., " Contra Apion," i. 26. t Ibid., 32. } " Chronographia, p. 62, B. See Brugsch, " History of Egypt," vol. ii. p. 125; Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 133; Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne de 1'Orient," vol. ii., p. 292, edition of 1882; Chabas, "Re- cherches pour servir a 1'histoire de la Xixme Dynastie," p. 157. 138 EGYPT AND BABYLON. If Menephthah I., the son and successor of Rameses II., was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it follows necessarily that his father, the great Rameses, was the king of Exod. ii., from whom Moses fled, and after whose death he .was directed to quit Midian and return into Egypt for the purpose of de- livering his brethren (eh. ii. 23 ; iv. 16). But as Moses was eighty years old at this time (ch. vii, 7), it is evident that the Pharaoh from whom he fled cannot be the same with the one who, more than eighty years previously, gave the order for the destruction of the Hebrew male children (ch. i. 22). The narrative of Exodus must speak of three Pharaohs, of the first in ch. i., of the second in ch. ii., and of the third in chs. v.-xiv.. In the second of these is Rameses II., the father of Menephthah I., the first must be Seti I., the father of Rameses II. Now, it happens that Seti I. and Rameses II. are among the most distinguished of all the Egyptian monai-chs, great warriors, great builders, setters-up of numerous inscriptions. We know them almost better than any other Egyptian kings, are familiar with their very countenances, have ample means of forming an estimate of their characters from their own words. Seti I. may well be the " new king, which knew not Joseph." He was the second king of a new dynasty, un- connected with either of the dynasties with which Joseph had been contemporary. He came to the throne at the time when a new danger to Egypt had sprung up on the north- eastern frontier, and when consequently it was natural that fear should be felt by the Egyptian ruler lest, " when any war fell out, the people of Israel should join unto Egypt's enemies, and fight against the Egyptians, and so get them up out of the land" (ver. 10). The Hittites had become masters of Syria, and were dominant over the whole region from Mount Taurus to Philistia. " Scarcely was Seti settled upon the throne, when he found himself menaced on the north-east by a formidable combination of Semitic with Turanian races, which boded ill for the tranquility of his kingdom." * He was occupied in a war with them for some years. At its close he engaged in the construction, or reparation, of a great wall for the defence of the eastern frontier. It would be natural that, in connection with this wall, and as a part of his general system for the protection * Rawlinson, " History of Ancient Egypt," vol. ii., p. 287. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 139 of the frontier, he should build " treasure-cities" (ver. 11), or more properly " store-cities," i.e., arsenals and magazines. That he should name one of these after a god whom he was in the habit of honoring,* and the other after his father, or after his son, whom he early associated, is not surprising. The ardor for building which characterized him would ac- count for his employing the Israelites so largely " in mortar, and in brick " (ver. 14), and in the construction of edifices. The severity of his oppression is quite in accordance with the cruelty which he exhibited in his wars, and of which he boasts in his inscriptions.! Rameses II. was associated on the throne by his father when he was ten or eleven years of age. The two kings then reigned conjointly for about twenty years. Rameses outlived his father forty-seven years, and probably had the real direction of the government for about sixty years. There is no other reign in the New Empire which reaches nearly to the length of his. He was less of a warrior than his father, and more of a builder. Among his principal works was the completion of the city of Rameses (Pi- Ramesu), began by his father, and made by Rameses the residence of the court, and one of the chief cities of the em- pire. He appears also to have completed Pithom (Pi-Turn), and to have entirely built many other important towns. All his works were raised by means of forced labor ; and for the purpose of their construction he required an enormous mass of human material, which had to be constantly em- ployed under taskmasters in the most severe and exhausting toil, under a burning sun, and with few sanitary precautions. M. Lenormant says of him and his "great works" t : " Ce n'est qu'avec un veritable sentiment d'horreur que 1'on peut songer aux milliers de captifs qui durent mourir sous le baton des gardes-chiourmes, ou bien victimes des fatigues exces- sives et des privations de toute nature, en 61cvant en qualite de forpats les gigantesques constructions auxquelles se plaisait 1'insatiable orgueil du monarque egyptien. Dans les monuments du regne de Ramses il n'y a pas une pierre, pour ainsi dire, qui n'ait coute une vie humaine." Such was the character of the monarch under whom the Israelites are said to have " sighed by reason of their bondage," and to * Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 119. t " History of Ancient Egypt," vol. ii., pp. 288-291. } " Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. i. 423. 140 EGYPT AND BABYLON. have " cried " so that " their cry came up to God by reason of their bondage ; and God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob ; and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them " (Exod. ii. 25-25). Besides his suitability in character to be the Pharaoh who continued the severe oppression begun by Seti I., Rameses II., by the great length of his reign, exactly fits into the requirements of the Biblical narrative. The narra- tive requires for its second Pharaoh a king who reigned at least forty years, probably longer. The New Empire furnishes only three reigns of the necessary duration, those of Thoth- mes III. (fifty-four years), Rameses II. (sixty-seven years), and Psammetichus I. (fifty-four years). Psammetichus, who reigned from B. c. 667 to 613, is greatly too late ; Thothmes III is very much too early ; Rameses II. alone verges upon the time at which the severe oppression must necessarily be placed. It can scarcely be a coincidence that Egyptian tra- dition should point out Menephthah I. as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and that, the Biblical narrative assigning to his pre- decessor an exceptionally long reign, the monuments and Manetho should agree in giving to that predecessor the ex- ceptionally long reign of sixty-six or sixty-seven years. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 141 CHAPTER XVI. FURTHER NOTICES OF EGYPT IN EXODUS. THE portraits of the first and second Pharaohs men- tioned in the Book of Exodus are only faintly and slightly sketched. That of the third monarch "the Pharaoh of the Exodus," as he is commonly .termed is, on the contrary, presented to us with much clearness and distinctness, though without effort or conscious elaboration. He is an oppressor as merciless as either of his predecessors, as deaf to pity, as determined to crush the aspirations of the Hebrews by hard labor. To him belongs the ingenious device for aggravating suffering, which has passed into the proverbial phraseology of modern Europe, the requirement of bricks without straw (ch. v. 7-19). He disregards the afflictions of his own coun- trymen as completely as those of his foreign slaves, and con- tinues fixed in his determination not to " let Israel go," until he suffers the loss of his own first-born (ch. xii. 29-32). When finally he has been induced to allow the Hebrews to withdraw themselves from his land, he suddenly repents of his concession, pursues after them, and seeks, not so much to prevent their escape, as to destroy them to the last man (ch. xv. 9) To this harshness and cruelty of temper he adds a remarkable weakness and vacillation he will and he will not; he makes promises and retracts them ; he "thrusts the Israelites out " (ch. xi. I ; xii. 31), and then rushes after them at the head of all the troops that he can muster (ch. xiv. 5-9). Further and this is most remarkable unlike the generality of Egyptian monarchs, he seems to be deficient in personal courage ; at any rate, there is no appearance of his having imperilled himself in the attack made on the Israelites at the Red Sea, " the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen" (ch. xiv. 23) ; but not, so far as appears, Pharaoh himself. This, indeed has 1 42 EG YP T A ND BAB YL ON. been disputed, and Ps. cxxxvi. 15 ; has. been quoted as a positive proof to the contrary ; * but the expression of a poet who wrote some centuries after the event would be very weak evidence with respect to the fact, besides which his statement is, not that the Pharaoh was killed, but that he was " overthrown." Neither the narrative in Exod. xiv. nor the song of rejoicing in the following chapter contains the slightest allusion to the Pharaoh's death, an omission al- most inconceivable if he really perished with his warriors. f Further, the Pharaoh of the Exodus seems to have been grossly and abnormally superstitious, one who put real trust in magicians and sorcerers, and turned to them in times of difficulty rather than to statesmen and persons of experience in affairs. What, then, does profane history tell us of the Men- ephthah whom we have shown to be at once the traditional " Pharaoh of the Exodus " and the king pointed out by chronological considerations as the ruler of Egypt at the period ? M. Lenormant begins his account of him by observ- ing, "Moreover, he was neither a soldier nor an adminis- trator, but one whose mind was turned almost exclusively towards the chimeras of sorcery and magic, resembling in this respect his brother, Kha-m-uas." "The Book of Ex- odus," he adds, " is in the most exact agreement with his- torical truth when it depicts him as surrounded by priest- magicians, with whom Moses contends in working prodigies, in order to affect the mind of the Pharaoh." Later on in his history of Menephthah, M. Lenormant has the following passage. || He is describing the great in- vasion of Libyans and others which Menephthah repulsed in his fifth year. " The barbarians advanced without meet- ing any serious resistance. The terrified population either fled before them, or made its submission, but attempted nothing like a struggle. Already had the invading army reached the neighborhood of Pa-ari-sheps, the Prosopis of * Canon Cook in the " Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 309. t That the Pharaoh did not perish is maintained by Wilkinson ("Ancient Egyptians," vol. i., p. 54), Chabas ( "Recherchcs pour scrvir a 1'histoire de 1'Egypte," pp. 152, 1(11), Lenormant ("Manuel d'His- toire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 292, edition of 1883), and others. | ' Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 281 (edition of 1883) Ibid. II Ibid., p. 289. Compare "Records of the Past." vol. iv., pp. 41-44. NOTICES 7A T KJfODrs. 143 the Greeks; On (Heliopolis) and Man-nofri (Memphis) were seriously threatened. Menephthah assembled his army in front of these two towns, in order to cover them ; he drew from Asia a number of mercenaries, to supply the lack of Egyptian soldiers of sufficient experience ; at the same time he fortified the banks of the middle branch of the Nile, to prevent the enemy from crossing it, and to place in safety, at any rate, the eastern half of the Delta. Sending forward in advance, first of all, his chariot-force and his light-armed auxiliaries, the Pharaoh promised to join the battle array with the bulk of his troops at the end of fourteen days. But he was not personally fond of actual 'fight, and disliked ex- posing himself to the chance of defeat. An apparition of the god Phthah, which he saw in a dream, warned him that his lofty rank required him not to cross the river. He there- foresent his army to the combat under the command of some of his father's generals, who were still living." Two features of Menephthah's character, as represented in Scrip- ture, are here illustrated : his want of personal courage and his habit of departing from his promises with or without a pretext. The apparition of the god Phthah in a dream is clearly a convenient fiction, by means of which he might at once conceal his cowardice and excuse the forfeiture of his word. The Egyptian monuments thus confirm three leading features in the character of Menephthah, his superstitious- ness, his want of courage, and his weak, shifty, false temper. They do not, howevor, furnish much indication of his cruelty. This is, perhaps, sufficiently accounted fur by their scanti- ness. Menephthah is a king of whom it has been said * that he "belongs to the number of those monarchs whose memory has been with difficulty preserved by a few monu- ments of inferior value, and a few inscriptions of but little importance." We have, in fact, but one inscription of any considerable length belonging to his reign. f It gives mainly an account of the Libyan war, in which he was not person- ally engaged. A tone of pride and arrogance common to the autobiographical memoirs of Egyptian kings pervades it, but it contains few notices of any severities for which the * Brugsch. " Histoire d'Egypte," p. 175. t This inscription will be found translated in " Records of the Past," vol. iv.,pp. 39-48. and in M. Chabas' " Recherches pour servir 1'histoire de 1'Egypte," pp. 84-94. 144 EGYPT AND BABYLON. monarch himself can be regarded as responsible. That htf made slaves of the prisoners taken in the Libyan war* merely shows that he acted like other monarchs of the tinm He speaks, however, of having in a Cushite war " slaughtered the people, and set fire to them, and netted, as men net birds, the entire country." f This last expression reminds one of a cruel Persian practice, whereby whole populations were exterminated, or reduced to slavery ; $ the preceding one, if it is to be taken literally, implies a still more extreme and more unusual barbarity. It was not to be expected that the general series of events related in the first fourteen chapters of Exodxis should obtain any direct mention in the historical records of Egypt. As M. Chabas remarks, " events of this kind were not entitled to be inscribed on the public monuments, where nothing was ever registered except successes and triumphs." The court historiographers would naturally refrain from all mention of the terrible plagues from which Egypt suffered during a whole year, as well as from any record of the disaster of the Red Sea ; and the monarch would certainly not inscribe any account of them upon his edifices. Still there are points of the narrative which admit of comparison with the records of the time, and in which an agreement or disagreement with those records would almost of necessity show itself ; and these it is proposed to consider in the remainder of this chapter. Such are (1) the employment of forced labor in Egypt at this period of its history, and the method of its employment ; (2) the inclusion, or non-inclusion, of the Hebrews among the forced laborers; (8) the construction at the period of " store- cities," and the names of the cities ; (4) the military organi- zation of the time ; (5) the untimely loss of a son by the king under whom the Exodus took place ; and (6) the existence or non-existence of any indication in the records of such ex- haustion and weakness as might be expected to follow the events related in Exodus. The use of forced labor by the Egyptian monarchs of the time, especially by Set! I. .and Rameses II., is abundantly witnessed to by the monuments. The kings speak of it as a matter of course; the poets deplore it; the artists repre- sent it. " It was the custom of the Egyptians to subject * " Records of the Past," vol. iv., p. 47, 1. 03. t Ibid., 1. 67. } Herod, iii. 149 ; vi. 31. " Recherches," etc., p. 152. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 145 prisoners of war to this life of forced labor. A tomb of the time of Thothmes III. has furnished pictures which rep- resent Asiatic captives making bricks, and working at build- ings under the rod of task-masters pictures which are a figured commentary on the verses of Exodus (ch. i. 11-14) which we have just cited. But under Rameses II. the un- precedented development of architectural works rendered the fatigues to which such wretches were exposed far more overwhelming." * Gangs of laborers were placed under the charge of an overseer armed with a stick which he applied freely to their naked backs and shoulders on the slightest provocation. A certain definite amount of task-work was required every day of each laborer. Some worked at brick- making, some at stone-cutting, some at dragging blocks from the quarries, some at erecting edifices. Food was pro- vided by the Government, and appears not to have been insufficient ; but the hard work, and the exposure to the burning sun of Egypt, were exhausting in the extreme, and rendered their life a burden to those condemned to pass it in this sort of employ. Whether the monuments indicate, or do not indicate, the inclusion of the Hebrews among the forced laborers of this period depends on our acceptance or non-acceptance of a suggested identification.! Are we, or are we not, to regard the Hebrews as the same people with the Aperu or Apuriu ? In favor of the identification, there is, in the firs tplace, the close resemblance of the words. M. Chabas, indeed, over- states the case when he says$ that the Egyptian Aperu is " the exact transcription of the Hebrew ." It is not so really, since the exact transcription would be " Aberu " ; but it is a very near approach to an exact transcription. It falls short of exactness merely by the substitution of a p for a 6, the two letters being closely cognate, and the ear of the Egyptians for foreign sounds not very accurate. In the next place, it is found that Rameses II. employs the Aperu in the building of his city of Rameses (Pa-Ramesu), which is exactly one of the works ascribed to the Hebrews in Exodus (ch. i. 11). Further, we must either accept the * Lenormant, " Manuel d'Histoire Ancieime," vol. ii., p. 269, edition of 1883. t On this identification, see Chabas, " Recherches pour servir k Phistoire de 1'Egypte," pp. 142-150 ; " Melanges Egyptologiques," 2me Serie, p. 108, et seq. \ " Recherches," p. 142. 146 EGYPT AND BABYLON. identity of the Hebrews with the Aperu, or we must suppose that the kings of this period had in their service at this time two sets of forced laborers quite unconnected, yet with names almost exactly alike. Against the identification, almost the sole point that can be urged, is the fact that Aperu are found still to be employed by the Egyptian kings after the Exodus is a thing of the past, as by Rameses III. and Rameses IV. But this objection seems to be sufficiently met by M. Chabas. " It is quite certain that, spread as the text of Scripture de- clares that they were over the whole of Egypt, the Hebrews could not by any possibility respond universally to the appeal of Moses ; perhaps some of them did not even wish to do so. Such was doubtless the case with those [Aperu] whom we find enrolled in regiments in the reigns of Rameses III. and Rameses IV." * The construction of " store-cities " at the required period has received recent illustration of the most remarkable kind. The explorers employed by the " Egypt Exploration Fund" have uncovered at Tel-el-Maskoutah, near Tel-el-Kebir, an ancient city, which the inscriptions found on the spot show to have been built, in part at any rate, by Rameses II., and which is of so peculiar a construction as to suggest at once to those engaged in the work the idea that it was built for a " store-city."t The town is altogether a square, enclosed by a brick wall twenty-two feet thick, and measuring six hun- dred and fifty feet along each side. The area contained within the wall is estimated at about ten acres. Nearly the whole of this space is occupied by solidly built square cham- bers, divided one from the other by brick walls from eight to ten feet thick, which are unpierced by window or door, or opening of any kind. About ten feet from the bottom the walls show a row of recesses for beams, in some of which de- cayed wood still remains, indicating that the buildings were two-storied, having a lower room, which could only be en- tered by means of a trap-door, used probably as a store- house or magazine, and an upper one, in which the keeper of the store may have had his abode. Thus far the discovery is simply that of a "store-city," built partly by Rameses II., * " Recherches," p. 103. t See an article in the British Quarterly Review for July, 1883, pp. 110-115 ; and compare the letters on the same subject in the Academy for February 24th, March 3d and 17th, and April 7th of the same year. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 147 but it further appears, from several short inscriptions, that the name of the city was Pa-Turn, or Pithom ; and there is no reasonable doubt that one of the two cities built by the Israelites has been laid bare, and answers completely to the description given of it. Of the twin city, Ramescs, the re- mains have not yet been identified. We know, however, from the inscription, that it was in the immediate vicinity of Tanis, and that it was built perhaps in part by Seti I., but mainly by his son Ranieses II. It lends additional interest to the discovery of Pithom that the city is found to be built almost entirely of brick. It was in brick-making that the Israelites are said in the Book of Exodus (ch. i. 14 ; v. 7-19) to have been principally employed. They are also said to have been occupied to some extent " in mortar " (ch. i. 14) ; and the bricks of the store-chambers of Pithom are " laid with mortar in regular tiers." * They made their bricks " with straw " until no straw was given them, when they were reduced to straits (ch. v. 7-19). It is in accordance with this part of the narrative, and sheds some additional light upon it to find that the bricks of the Pithom chambers, while generally con- taining a certain amount of straw, are in some instances destitute of it. The king's cruelty forced the Israelites to produce in some cases an inferior article. The military organization of the Egyptians at the time of the Exodus is represented as very complete. The king is able, almost at a moment's warning, to take the field with a force of six hundred picked chariots, and numerous others of a more ordinary description, together with a considerable body of footmen. It does not appear that he has any cav- alry, for the word translated " horsemen " in our version probably designates the riders in the chariots. Each squad- ron of thirty chariots is apparently under the command of a " captain " (ch. xiv. 7). The entire force, large as it is, is ready to take the field in a few days, for otherwise the Israelites would have got beyond the Egyptian border before the Pharaoh could have overtaken them. It acts promptly and bravely, and only suffers disaster through cir- cumstances of an abnormal and indeed miraculous character. Now it appears by the Egyptian monuments that the mili- tary system was brought to its highest perfection by Seti I. British Quarterly Review, July 1883, p. 110. 148 EGYPT AND BABYLON. and Rameses II. It is certain that, in their time, the army was most carefully organized, divided into brigades,* and maintained in a state of constant preparation. The chariot force was regarded as of very much the highest importance, and amounted, according to the lowest computation, to several thousands. It is doubtful whether any cavalry was employed, none appearing on the monuments, and the word so translated by many writers f being regarded by others as the proper designation of the troops who fought in chariots. $ Infantry, however, in large well-disciplined bodies, always attended and supported the chariot force. Under Menephthah the system of his father and grandfather was still maintained, though no longer in full vigor. He required a fortnight to collect sufficient troops to meet the Libyan invasion. He had then, however, to meet an army of trained soldiers, and had no need to hasten, since he occupied a strong position. Under the circumstances of the Exodus, it was necessary to be more prompt, and sufficient to collect a much smaller army. This he appears to have been able to do at the end of a few days. It was scarcely to be expected that the Egyptian records would present any evidence on the subject of Menephthah's loss of a son by an untimely death. Curiously, however, it does happen that a monument, at present in the Berlin Museum, contains a proof of his having suff ered such a loss. || There is no description of the circumstances, but a mere in- dication of the bare fact. The confirmation thus lent to the Scriptural narrative is slight ; but it has a value in a case where the entire force of the evidence consists in its being cumulative. Three results would naturally follow on the occurrence ot such circumstances as those recorded in Exodus. Egypt would be for a time weakened in a military point of view, and her glory, as a conquering power, would suffer tempo- * " Records of the Past," vol. ii., p. 08. t As generally in the " Records of the Past," and by M. Chabas in his " Recherches pour servir," etc., pp. 86, 88, 89, etc. J M. Lenormant almost always replaces the "cavalry "of other translators by the expression " des chars" (Manuel d'llistoire Ancienne," vol. ii., pp. 255, 256. etc.) He observes in one place, "The military education of the Egyptians did not include teaching men to ride, since they fought in chariots." " Records of the Past." vol. iv., p. 43. || Brugsch, " Histoire d'Egypte," p. 176. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 149 rary eclipse. The royal auhtority would be shaken, and encouragement afforded to the pretensions of any rival claimants of the throne. The loss of six hundred thousand laborers would bring to an end the period of the construction of great works, or, at the least, greatly check their rapid multiplication. Now this is exactly what all historians of Egypt agree to have been the general condition of things in Egypt in the later years of Menephthah and the period im- mediately following. Military expeditions cease until the time of Rameses III., a space of nearly forty years. The later years of Menephthah are disturbed by the rise of a pretender, Ammon-mes, who disputes the throne with his eon, and according to Manetho,* occupies it for five years. Seti II., or Seti-Menephthah, has then a short reign ; but another claimant is brought forward by a high official, and established in his place. Soon afterwards complete anarchy sets in, and continues for several years, f till a certain Set- nekht is made king by the priests, and tranquility once more restored. The construction of monuments during this period almost entirely ceases ; and when Rameses III. shows the desire to emulate the architectural glories of former kings, he is compelled to work on a much smaller scale, and to content himself with the erection of a comparatively few edifices. / * Ap. Syncell., " Chronographia," p. 72. C. t See the " Great Harris Papyrus," translated by Dr. Eisenlohr in the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," vol L. P 359, et *eq. 150 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER XVII. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN EXODUS AND NUMBERS. " The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth." EXOD. xii. 37. *' It came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not [through] the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near . . . But God led the people about [through] the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea . . . And they tooK their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edga of the wilder- ness." EXOD. xiii 17-20. " Speak unto the children of ftrael, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal- Zephon; before it shall ye encamp by the sea." EXOD. xiv. 2. " These are the journeys of Hie children of Israel, .which went f orlh out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord : and these are their jour- neys according to their goings out. And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month . . . And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-Zephon : and they pitched before Migdol. And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the 'wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. And they removed from Mai ah, and came unto Elim . . . And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea." NUMB, xxxiii. 1-10. ALTHOUGH the geographical problems connected with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt cannot be said to be as yet completely solved, yet the course of modern research has shed considerable light upon the route followed by tin; flying people, and the position of their various resting-place* The results arrived at may be regarded as tolerably assured, since they have not been reached without very searching criticism and the suggestion of many rival hypotheses. The boldest of these, started in the year 1874 by one of the first NOTICES IN EXODUS AND NUMBERS. 151 of modern Egyptologists, Dr. Brugsch,* for a time shook to its foundation the fabric of earlier belief. The authority of its propounder was great, his acquaintance with the ancient geography of Egypt unrivaled, and his argument conducted with extreme skill and ingenuity ; it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that his views obtained for a time very general credence. But researches conducted subsequently to the enunciation of his views, partly with the object of testing them, partly without any such object, have shown his theory to be untenable! 5 and opinion has recently reverted to the old channel, having gained by the discussion some additional precision and detiniteness. We propose in the present chapter to consider the Exodus geographically, and to trace, as distinctly as possible, the " journeys " of the Israelites from their start on the day following the destruction of the first-born to their entrance on the " wilderness of Etham " after their passage of the Red Sea. The point of departure is clearly stated both in Exodus (ch. xii, 37), and in Xumbers (ch. xxxiii. 3. 5) to have been " Rameses." What does this mean? We hear in Scripture both of a " land of Rameses " (Gen. xlvii. 11), and of a city " Raamses," or Rameses. It is not disputed that these two words are the same ; nor does it seem to be seriously doubt- ed that the land received its name from the town. From which, then, are we to understand that the Israelites made their start ? It has been argued strongly that " the land " is intended ; $ and with this contention we are so far agreed, that we should not suppose any general gathering of the people to the city of Rameses, but a movement from all parts of the land of Rameses or Goshen to the general muster at Succoth. Succoth seems to us to have been the first rendezvous. But a portion of the Israelites, and that the leading and guiding portion, started probably from the town. Menephthah resided at Pa-Ramesu, a suburb of Tanis. Moses and Aaron held communication with him * The views of Dr. Brugsch were first propounded at the Interna- tional Congress of Orientalists, held in 1S74. They were afterwards published in the English translation of his " History of Egypt," Lon- don, 18TU. t See Mr. Greville Chester's papers in the " Quarterly Statements" of the Palestine Exploration Fund, July, 1880, and April, 1881; and Mr. Stanley Poole's paper in the British Quarterly Bedew for July, 1883. t See Dr. Trumbull's " Kadesh-Barnea " (New York, 1884), p. 382. 152 EGYPT AND SAB YL ON. during the night, after the first-born were slain. They must, therefore, have been in the town or in its immediate neigh- borhood. They received permission to depart (Exodus xii. 31), and, as soon as morning broke, they set off with the other Israelites of the neighborhood. It is this start from the town of Rameses which the historian has in his eye ; he needs a definite terminus a quo from which to begin his account of the journeying (Numb, xxxiii. 5), and he finds it in this city, the seat of the court at the time. Rameses was in lat. 31, long. 32, nearly, towards the north-eastern corner of Egypt, about thirty miles almost due west of Pelu- sium, from which, however, it was separated by a great marshy tract, the modern Lake Menzaleh, Avhich in long. 32 20' penetrates deep into the country, and renders a march to the south-east necessary in order to reach the eastern frontier of Egypt. The rendezvous must, consequently, have been appointed for some place in this direction ; and it is in this direction that we must seek it. This place is termed both in Exodus (ch. xii. 87 ; xiii. 20) and in Numbers (ch. xxxiii. 5. 6) " Succoth " i.e., " Tents " or " Booths " an equivalent of the Greek 2*7wr, which is often used as a geographical designation. It has been pro- posed to identify Succoth with an Egyptian district called " Thuku " or " Thukut," * and more recently with the newly- discovered town of Pithom t (Tel-el-Maskouteh). There is no evidence, however, that Pithom was ever called Succoth, nor would Tel-el-Maskouteh have been a convenient rendez- vous for two millions of persons, with their flocks and herds. The Wady Toumilat offers but a thin thread of verdure along the line of the fresh-water canal, and though a con- venient route for those who came from the more southern part of the " land of Goshen," would have been very much out of the way for such as started from the more northern portion, as from Taiiis, or from the town of Goshen (Qosem) itself. But the district of Thukut, if it lay where Dr. T rum- bull places it,* north and north-west of Lake Timseh, would be a very convenient place for a general muster, affording a wide space and abundant pasture in the spring-time, and easily reached both from south-west and north-west in the * Brugsch, " History of Egypt," translated by Philip Smith, 2d edit., p. 370-4. t Stanley Poole in the firitish Quarterly Review, July, 1883, p. 113. J See " Kadesh-Barnea," pp. 302-5. NOTICES IN EXODUS AND NUMBERS. 153 one case by the "VVady Toumilat, in the other by way of Tel- Dafneh and the western shore of Lake Ballah. This posi- tion for Thukut seems indeed to be definitely fixed by the discovery of the ruins of Pithom, the capital of Thukut, at Tel-el-Maskouteh, combined with the statement in an Egyp- tian text,* that Thukut was a region just within the Egyptian frontier, suited for grazing, and in the vicinity of some lakes. Dr. Brugsch's location of it on the southern shores of Lake Menzaleh became impossible from the moment that Tel-el- Maskouteh was proved to mark the site of Pithom. It may, perhaps, be objected to the location of Succoth on the north and west of Lake Timseh, that the distance is thirty-five miles from Rameses (Tanis), and therefore could not have been traversed in a day. But nothing is said in Exodus, or elsewhere in Scripture, with respect to the length of time occupied by the journey between any two stations mentioned, except in one instance, when the time occupied was "three days" (Exod. xv. 12; Numb, xxxiii. 8). It took a month for the multitude to reach the wilderness of Sin from their starting-point (Exod. xii. 18 ; xvi. 1) ; dur- ing this time we have only six stations mentioned ; it took above a fortnight for them to move from the wilderness of Sin to the plain before Sinai (ch. xvi. 1 ; xix. 1) ; along this route are mentioned only three stations (Numb, xxxiii. 12-15). Thus there is every reason for supposing that the journey from station to station occupied, in most cases, several days. The children of Israel " took their journey from Succoth and encamped in Etham," or " at Etham, in the edge of the wilderness" (Exod. xiii. 20). No name resembling Etham is to be found in the geographical nomenclature of Egypt, either native or classical. Hence it is suspected that the word is rather a common appellation than a proper nnme. " Khetam " in Egyptian meant " fortress " ; and various khetamu are mentioned in the inscriptions one near Pelu- sium, called the " khetam of Zor " ; another near Tanis ; a third, called the " khetam of King Menephthah," within the region of Thukot.t The eastern frontier was, in fact, guarded by a scries of such fortresses, perhaps connected * Brugsch, " History of Egypt," vol. ii., p. 133. t Trumbull, " Kadesh-Barnea," p. 320 ; Brugsch, " History of Egypt," vol. ii., p. 380. 1 54 "EGYPT AND BAB TL ON. together by a wall or rampart ; and especially the routes out of Egypt were thus guarded and watched. It was prob- ably to one of these " khetaras " that which guarded the way out of Egypt, known to the Hebrews as the " way of Shur " (Gen. xvi-7) that the march of the Israelites was directed from Succoth. The khetam lay " in the edge of the wilderness," and may perhaps be identified with that of King Menephthah. It was probably not far from the Bir Makdal of the maps, situated about ten miles east of the Suez Canal, east by north of Ismailia. The multitude must have supposed that they were now about to enter the wilderness. They were " in its edge." Their leaders had doubtless brought with them the king's permission to pass the frontier fortress. The expectation must have been that on the morrow they would quit Egypt forever. But here God interposed. Had the Israelites passed out of Egypt at this point, the march would natu- rally have been across the desert some way south of Lake Serbonis to the Wady El Arish, and thence along the coast of the Mediterranean to Gaza and the low tract of the Shef- eleh. But the nation was not yet in a fit condition to meet and contend with the warlike people of that rich and val- uable region the Philistines. God accordingly, who guided the march by the pillar of the cloud and of fire (ch. xiii. 21, 22), "led them not the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said, Lest the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt : but God led the people about, the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea" (ib. 17, 18). Moreover, a direction was given through Moses to the people, " that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal- Zephon" (ch. xiv. 2). it is clear that at this point the direction of the march was changed ; and so far all are agreed. But was the " turn " towards the left or towards the right? Was the "sea "by which they were command- ed to encamp the Mediterranean or the Red Sea? It is the main point of Dr. Brugsch's theory that he holds "the sea" to nave been the Mediterranean. He pro- fesses to find in this direction a Migdol, a Pihahiroth, and a Baal-Zephon. The Migdol is twenty miles from the Pi- hahiroth, and the Pi-hnhiroth twenty-five from the Baal- Zephon, which is thus forty-five from the Migdol, for the three are nearly in a straight line. The Pi-hahiroth and the NOTICES IN EXODUS AND NUMBERS. 155 Baal-Zephon are not visible the one from the other.* Still, though these particulars of distance and position ill accord with the expressions used in Exod. xiv. 2 and Numb, xxxiii. 7, which imply proximity and the being within view, it would have been a most curious circumstance had there been on this side of the Isthmus of Suez, and also on the opposite one, three places similarly named within a moderate distance of each other. But on examination it appears that only one of the three names is attached to any locality on the north side of the Isthmus otherwise than by conjecture. Dr. Brugsch does not profess to have found in the remains of ancient Egypt any place called Pi-hahiroth or any called Baal-Zephon. He finds in Egyptian a word khirot, signify- ing " gulfs," and he finds in Diodorus a mention that there were pdpadpa, " pits," at the western end of Lake Serboriis. Out of these two facts he constructs an Egyptian Pi-khirot,f which he thinks may have been the original of the Pi-hahi- roth of the Hebrews. Baal-Zephon he finds only mentioned in Egyptian documents as a God, he conjectures his iden- tity with Zeus Kasios, and upon this pure conjecture locates his temple where one stood, erected to Zeus Kasios, in post- Alexandrine times. If we put aside these two mere conjectures, there remains only a Migdol, which has a proved existence in these parts, though its exact emplacement is un- certain. Migdol, however, is a generic term, meaning " a watch- tower." There are likely to have been many " Migdols" on the eastern frontier of Egypt, and it is maintained J that there are traces of at least three. One of these, called by the Greeks Magdolos, was certainly towards the north, not far from Pelusium ; another, central, has left its name to Bir Makdal ; a third, towards the south, is represented by the existing Muktala. This last may well be the Migdol of Exodus. Dr. Brugsch's theory that Lake Serbonis is the true " Yam Suph^" or " Sea of Weeds," wrongly understood by the Septuagint translators as "the Red Sea," has been com- * Mr. Greville Chester in the "Quarterly Statement of the Pales- tine Exploration Fund," July, 1880, p. 154. note. t ' History of Egypt," vol. ii., p. 393. The real Egyptian original of Pi-hahiroth seems to have been " Pi-keheret," which is mentioned on a tablet of the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, found at Tel-el- Maskouteh. J Trumbull, " Kadesh-Barnea," pp. 374-& 156 EGYPT AND BABYLON. pletely disposed of by Mr. Greville Chester, who shows, first, that Lake Serbonis is almost wholly devoid of vegetation, either marine or lacustrine ; * secondly, that the spit of land between it and the Mediterranean is not continuous, but in- terrupted at the eastern extremity of the lake by a deep sea- channel ; f thirdly, that there is no isthmus opposite El Gelse dividing the lake into nearly equal portions, $ as Dr. Brugsch supposed ; and, fourthly, that the spit of land is above fifty miles long, and takes a lightly-equiped traveler three days to tra verse, instead of being passable in the course of a night. It may be added that, as the term " Yam Suph" is allowed by all, including Dr. Brugsch, to designate the Red Sea in Exod. xiii. 17 and Numb, xxxiii. 10, 11, it is in- conceivable that the same writer should in the same narra- tive use it also of another far-distant sheet of water (Exod. xv. 4, 22). The propriety of the name " Yam Suph," as applied to the Red Sea, has been well illustrated by Dr. Trumbull,|| " Suph " in Hebrew means at once " seaweed " (Jonah ii. 5), and "rushes" or "sedge." (Exod. ii. 3, etc.). The Red Sea is famous for the number and variety of its marine growths. " Weeds and corals are to be seen in such profu- sion and beauty at many places along the shores of Red Sea, and again below its surface, as disclosed at low water, as almost to have the appearance of groves and gardens." IT Again, " the jtincus acutus arundo CEyyptiaca, or arundo Isaica, grows commonly on the shore of the Red Sea, so that at this day a bay of the same is called Ghubbet-el-b-fis^ or ' Reed Bay.' " ** The observing naturalist, Klunzinger, says that, " Where the soil of the desert along that coast is kept moist by lagoons of sea water, the eye is gladdened by spreading meadows of green verdure. The coast flora of the desert, which requires the saline vapor of the sea, is peculiar. A celebrated plant is the shora (Avicennia offici- nalis), which forms large dense groves in the sea, these being laid bare only at very low ebb. Ships are laden with its wood, which is used as fuel, and many camels live altogether * " Quarterly Statement " of Palestine Exploration Fund for July, 1880, p. 155. t Tbid., p. 157. t Ibid., p. 154. Ibid., pp. 152-157. II " Kadesh-Barnea," pp. 353-356. I Laborde, " Voyage de 1'Arabie Pe'tre'e," p. 5. ** Stickel, " Der Israelite!! Auszug aus -fligypten " in "Studien und Kritiken " for 1850, p. 881. NOTICES IN EXODUS AND NUMBERS. 157 on its laurel-like leaves." He divides, indeed, the shore line of the Red Sea into the " outer shore zone " or the reef line, and the "inner shore or sea^grass zone." Even in the outer shore zone there " flourish also in many in- lets of the sea thickets of the laurel-like shora shrub," as above described ; and there are " sea-grass pools." In the inner shore zone, " among the rocks, which are either bare or covered with a blackish and red mucilaginous sea-weed," there " grow green phanerogamous grasses of the family of the Naiadeae."* But if the sea intended in the directions given to Moses (Exod. xiv. 2) was the Red Sea, Migdol, Pihahiroth, and Baal-Zephon must be sought towards the south ; and the " turn " in the journey (ibid, and Numb, xxxiii. 7), of which we have spoken, must have been a turn to the right. It was to some extent a " turning back" as the Hebrew word used implies, a " return " into Egypt when the frontier had been reached, and might have been crossed. It looked like hesi- tation and doubt, like the commencement of an aimless, purposeless wandering. Hence the Pharaoh took heart, and made preparations for a pursuit at the head of an army (ch. xiv. 3, 59). If the " bitter lakes" were (as supposed by manyf) con- nected at the time with the northern end of the Red Sea, as a marshy inlet, overflowed at high water, and Pi-hahiroth were near Muktala, the Israelites, to reach it, must have skirted the northern extremity of the lakes, and have pro- ceeded southward along their western shores. A march of three days would bring them into the plain north-west of Suez, at the western edge of which the station Muktala (Migdol) is found. The Israelites " encamped between Migdol and the sea," for which there would be abundant room, as the distance is above ten miles. They were " be- side Pi-hahiroth and before Baal-Zephon " (ch. xiv. 9). These conditions would be sufficiently answered if Pi-hahi- roth were at Ajrud, which is thought to retain a trace of the name,t and Baal-Zephon were on the north-eastern flank of * Quoted from Dr. Trumbull's " Kadesh-Barnoa," pp. 355-6. t As Kurtz, Sliarpe. Stanley Poole. Reginald Stuart Poole, Canon Cook, Lieutenant Conder, Burton, Villiers Stuart, Gratz, and others. *So Ebers ("Gosen zum Sinai." p. 520), Kurtz ("Hist, of Old Covenant," vol. ii., p. 323), Keil and Delitzsch ("Bible Comment. "on Exod. xiv. 2), etc. 158 EGYPT AND BABYL ON. Jebel Atakah. Baal-Zephon is not necessarily a Phoenician name, for the Egyptians had adopted "Baal " as a god long before the time of Menephthah, and Zephon (Zapouna or Typhon) was altogether Egyptian. There is no proof be- yond the notices in Exodus that he had a temple, or a town named after him, in this quarter ; but neither is there any proof of his having had one in any part of Egypt. It has been argued that the position on Jebel Ataka would be one exactly adapted to such a god as Baal-Zephon ; f but we scarcely know enough of the Egyptian religion to be sure of this. We can only say that here, on the western coast of the Gulf of Suez, would be ample room for the encampment of the entire Israelitish host ; that in this position it might well seem that " the wilderness had shut them in " (ch. xiv. 3) ; and that the host would be " before a Migdol " (Numb, xxxiii. 7), and perhaps " beside a Pi-hahiroth " (Exod. xiv. 9). The sea in front was but two or three miles across, and might easily have been passed in a night ; the bottom was such as would naturally clog the Egyptian chariot wheels (ver. 25), and the further shore was destitute of springs, a true " wilderness " (ch. xv. 22), where the Israelites may well have gone " three days without water." t Trumbull, " Kadesh-Barnea," p. 421. NOTICES JJV EXODUS. 159 CHAPTER XVIII. FURTHER NOTICES OP EGYPT IN EXODUS. IN considering the Biblical notices of Egypt contained in the Book of Exodus, we have hitherto confined ourselves almost entirely to the main narrative, and indeed to such points of it as are capable of illustration from historical docu- ments, monumental, or literary. But the full force of the illustration which profane sources are capable of lending to the scriptural accounts cannot be rightly estimated, unless we add to this some consideration of those various minor matters, incidentally touched upon, which constitutes the entourage of the main narrative, and render it altogether so graphic and life-like. These touches must be either the natural utterances of one familiar with the country at the time, as Moses, the traditional Author of Exodus would have been, or the artful imitation of such utterances by a later writer, unfamiliar with the time, and probably with the scene, drawing upon his imagination or his stock of antiqua- rian knowledge. In the former case, a general agreement between the Biblical portraiture and the facts as otherwise known to us might be confidently looked for ; in the latter, there would be sure to appear, on examination, repeated con- tradictions and discrepancies. It will be the object of the present chapter to show that there is a close accord between the Scriptural notices and the facts as otherwise known to us in respect of almost all the minor matters of which we have spoken. These may be summed up under the following principal heads : (a) the climate and productions of Egypt, (b) the dress and domestic habits of the people, (c) the ordinary food of the laboring classes, (cl) customs connected with fanning and cattle-keep- ing, and (#) miscellaneous customs. The climate of Egypt is touched upon mainly in con- nection with the seventh plague, in ch. ix. We find there 160 EGYPT AND BABYLON. heavy rain (ver. 33), hail, thunder and lightning mentioned as occurring in early spring, and doing great damage to the crops. The particular visitation is spoken of as miraculous in coming at the command of Moses (ver. 23), and as ex- traordinary in its intensity (ver. 24), but not as a thing previously unknown. On the contrary, it is implied that similar visitations of less severity were not unusual. Objec- tion has been taken to the narrative on this account ; and it has been represented as indicative of a great want of acquain- tance with the climatic circumstances of the country, since rain and hail are, it has been said, unknown in Egypt. But the only ground for such a statement is the authority of the classical writers. Herodotus regarded rain in Upper Egypt as a prodigy, * and Mela goes so far as to call Egypt gener- ally " a land devoid of showers." f But the observation of modern travelers -runs counter to such views, $ and sup- ports the credit of the author of Exodus. In Upper Egypt, indeed, " very heavy rain is unusual, and happens only about once in ten years. Four or five showers fall there every year, after long intervals." But in Lower Egypt, rain is as com- mon in winter as it is in the south of Europe. Storms of great severity occur occasionally, more especially in February and March, when snow, hail, thunder and lightning are not uncommon. The Rev. T. H. Tooke " describes a storm of extreme severity, which lasted twenty-four hours, in the middle of February," || as high up the valley as Bern-Hassan. Other travelers, as Seetzen and Willmann, speak of storms of thunder and hail in March. " The ravines in the valley of the kings' tomb near Thebes, and the precautions taken in the oldest temples at Thebes to guard the roofs against rain by lions' mouths, or gutters, for letting off the water from them," IT prove sufficiently that there was no great difference between ancient and modern times in respect of the rainfall of the Nile valley. Among the cultivated products of Egypt mentioned in Exodus, the principal are, wheat, barley, flax, and rye, or spelt Herod. Hi. 10. t Pomp. Mel., " De Situ Orbis," I. 9; " jEgyptus terraexpers im- briuin." I See the passages collected by Hengstenberg, " Egypt and the Books of Moses," pp. 117, 118. Williamson in llawlinson's " Herodotus, " vol. ii., p. 409, note 4. || " Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 285. 1 Wilkinson, 1. s. c. Compare " Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 420. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 163 (ix. 32), to which may be added from the Book of Numbers (xi. 5) cucumbers, melons, onions, garlick, and leeks. Grains of wheat have been found abundantly in the coffins contain- ing mummies, and " mummy wheat " is said to have been raised from such grains in various parts of Europe. The monuments, moreover, represented to us in numerous in- stances the growth of wheat, the mode in which it was cut, bound into sheaves, or gathered into baskets, and threshed by the tread of cattle on a threshing-floor. * Barley does not appear to be represented, f but its growth is manifest. It is mentioned as the ordinary food of the Egyptian horses, | and as one of the chief materials used in the making of bread. It was also largely employed in the manufacture of beer. || Flax was likewise cultivated on an extensive scale to furnish the linen garments necessarily worn by the priests, and pre- ferentially by others, and needed also for mummy-cloths, corselets, and various other uses. Spelt, like wheat, is rep- resented on the inonuments,1T and according to Herodotus, was the grain ordinarily consumed by the Egyptians,** as is the doora probably the same plant at the present day. Herodotus also witnesses to the cultivation of onions and ot garlick,ft while that of cucumbers is attested by their being frequently figured in the tombs. The leeks of Egypt had the character of being superior to all others in the time of Pliny, tt which would imply a long anterior cultivation. Mel- ons are among the most abundant of the modern products, but their growth in ancient times seems not to be distinctly attested. The abundant use of personal ornaments by the Egyptians, and especially of ornaments in silver and gold, implied in the dii-ection given to the Israelites to " borrow " such things of their neighbors and lodgers before their departure from Egypt (ch. iii. 22), and in the " spoil " which they thus ac- quired (ch. xii. 36), is among the facts most copiously attested by the extant remains. Ornaments in gold and silver have been found in the tombs, not only of the great and opulent, but even of comparatively poor persons ; they were frequently * Sec Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol. 5i., pp. 418-427. t The Egyptian wheat being bearded, it is not easy to say in some cases whether barley or wheat is represented. | " Records of the Past," vol. ii., p. 75. Ibid., vol. viii., p. 44. || Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 42. 1" Ibid., p. 427. * Herod . ii. 36 tt Herod., ii. 125. tt Plin-, " H.X." xix. 33. 1G2 EGYPT AND BABYLON. worn by the men, and probably few women were without them. Among the articles obtained from the tombs are " rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, earrings, and numerous trinkets belonging to the toilet." * Most of these articles were common to the two sexes ; but ear-rings were affected especially, if not exclusively, by the women. Egyptian men of the upper class carried, as a matter of course, " walking-sticks." f Hence the " rod " of Aaron was naturally brought into the presence of Pharaoh (ch. vii. 10) ; and the magicians had also " rods " in their hands (ib. ver. 12), which they " cast down " before Pharaoh, as Aaron had cast his. These " rods," or rather " sticks," are continually represented on the monuments : no Egyptian lord is with- out one ; t at an entertainment there was an attendant whose especial duty it was to receive the sticks of the male guests on their arrival, and restore them at their departure. The Egyptians employed "furnaces" (ch. ix. 8) for vari- ous purposes, " (ch. viii. 3) for the baking of their bread, " kneading-troughs " (ibid,) for the formation of the dough, and " hand-mills " (ch. xi. 5) for the grinding of the corn into flour. " Their mills," says Sir Gardner Wilkinson, " were of simple and rude construction. They consisted of two circular stones, nearly flat, the lower one fixed, while the other turned on a pivot, or shaft, rising from the centre of that beneath it ; and the grain, descending through an aper- ture in the upper stone, immediately above the pivot, gradually underwent the process of grinding as it passed. It was turned by a woman, seated and holding a handle fixed perpendicularly near the edge. . . . The stone of which the hand-mills were made was usually a hard grit." || Sir Gard- ner adds in a note that he draws these conclusions from the fragments of the old stones discovered among the ancient remains. The same writer witnesses to the use by the ancient Egyptians of furnaces, ovens, and kneading troughs.lF One curious custom of an Egyptian household obtains incidental mention in the account of the first plague, viz., * Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians." vol. ii., p. 236. t Ibid., vol. ii., p. 28; vol. Hi., p. 447. J Birch, " Kgypt from the Earliest Times," p. 45: "The Egyptian lord . . . carried a warn! or walking-stick as a sign of dignity or au- thority." Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol. i., pi. xi., fig. 10. II Ibid., vol. i., p. .%. i Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians." vol. ii., pp. 34, 192. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 163 the storing of water in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone " (ch. vii. 19). Water being exceedingly abundant in Egypt by reason of the Nile, with its numerous branches, natural and artificial, which conveyed the indispensable fluid almost to every house, " storing" would have been quite un- necessary but for one circumstance. The Nile water during the period of the inundation is turbid, and requires to be kept for a considerable time before it becomes palatable and n't for use by the muddy particles sinking gradually to the bottom, and leaving pure water a\ the top. To produce this effect, it has always been, and still is, usual to keep the Nile water in jars, or stone-troughs, until the sediment is deposited, and the fluid rendered fit for drinking.* Another still more remarkable custom is brought under notice by the narrative in ch. i. " When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women," says the Pharaoh to Shiphrah and Puah, " and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him," etc. The incident is one which its delicate nature unfits for representation, and the monu- ments thus fail to confirm it ; but a modern practice, peculiar, as far as we know, to Egypt, is probably the direct de- scendant of the ancient one, and at any rate lends it illus- tration. " Two or three days before the expected time of delivery," says Mr. Lane, in his account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, "the layah (midwife) conveys to the house the 'kursee elwilddeli, a chair of a peculiar form, upon which the patient is to be seated during the birth." f The ordinary food of the Israelites during the time of their sojourn in Egypt is stated in one place (Exod. x-vi. 3) to have consisted of " bread " and " flesh." But from an- other we can learn that it embraced also "fish " in abundance, and likewise the following vegetables : " cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic" (Numb. xi. 5) That bread was its staple may be gathered from the institution of the feast of unleavened bread (ch. xii. 15-20), as well as from the mention of "dough" (ibid. vers. 34, 3D) as the only provision that they took with them, besides their beasts, when they quitted the country. Now " bread " was certainly " the staff of life " to the Egyptian nation, and the food on which they,. * Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 428. Compare Pococke, " Travels," vol. i., p. 312. T Lane, " Modern Egyptians," vol. iii., p. 142. 164 EGYPT AND BABYLON. would naturally nourish their slaves. We find a king stating that he offered in a single temple loaves of three distinct kinds, viz., " best bread," " great loaves of bread for eating," and " loaves of barley bread," to the amount of 6,272,431.* He also offered to the same temple 5,279,552 bushels of corn.f "Bread" is the ordinary representative of food in Egyptian speech. The good man gives bread to the hungry " ; $ artisans labor for " bread " ; " bread " is taken out to the rustics who work in the fields, || and is brought for the repast of young maidens. IF Flesh, on the other hand, thoiigh largely consumed by the rich, was generally beyond the means of the poor ; and the Israelites longing after the " ileshpots " of Egypt can only be accounted for by suppos- ing that the king nourished his laborers on a more generous diet that was obtainable by the working classes generally. It is not likely, however, that they received flesh often. We have probably in Num. xi. 5 the main constituents of their dietary in addition to bread. Fish, which they "did eat in Egypt freely," was undoubtedly one of the principal articles of food consumed by the lower orders. Herodotus says that a certain number of the poorer Egyptians " lived entirely on fish." ** It was so abundant that it was necessarily cheap. The Nile produced several ki-nds, which were easily caught ; and in Lake Moeris the abundance of the fish was such that the Pharaohs are said to have derived from the sale a re- venue of above 94,000 a year.ff Lake Menzaleh also, and the other lakes near the coast, must have yielded a con- siderable supply. The fishermen of Egypt formed a numerous class,$$ and the salting and drying of fish furnished occupa- tion to a large number of persons. The quantity of vege- table food which the poorer Egyptians consumed is noted by Diodorus. || || and Herodotus makes out that the laborers whom Khufu (Cheops) employed to build the great pyramid subsisted mainly, if not wholly, on radishes, onions, and garlic. HIT Cucurbitaceous vegetables are at present among * " Records of the Past," vol. viii., p. 44, line 5. t Ibid., vol viii., p. 45, line 12. } Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 46. " Records of the Past," vol. viii., p. 150. II Ibid., vol. ii., p. 139. T Ibid., vol. vi., p. 151. Herod, ii. 92. tt Ibid. ii. 149. tt Herod. 11. 92, 95 ; " Records of the Past," vol. viii., p. 153. Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., pp. 115-8. III! Diod. Sic. i. 80. 1TT Herod, ii. 125. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 165 the most abundant productions of the Egyptian soil, and the monuments frequently exhibit them.* On the whole, there- fore, the dietary assigned to the Israelites in Egypt may be pronounced subh as the country was well capable of furnish- ing, and such as agrees in most particulars with the ordinary food of the Egyptian laboring class. The customs connected with farming and cattle-keeping noticed in Exodus and the later books of the Pentateuch in- clude, besides the cultivation of certain cereals already men- tioned, (a) the comparative lateness of the wheat and doora harvest(ch. ix. 31, 32) ; (>) the leaving of stubble in the fields after the gathering in of the crops (ch. v. 12) ; (c) the general cultivation of the land after the fashion of a garden (Deut. xi. 10) ; (d) the employment of irrigation in such a way that the " foot " could direct the course of the life-giving fluid (ibid.) ; (e) the cultivation of fruit-trees (Exod. ix. 25 ; x. 15) ; and (f\ the keeping of cattle, partly in the fields, partly in stalls, or the sheds, where the were protected from the weather (ch. ix. 19-25). With respect to the first of these points, it may be observed that there is exactly the same difference now as that which the writer of Exodus notes, " Barley ripens and flax blossom about themiddle of February, or, at the latest, early in March," f while the wheat harvest does not begin till April. There is thus a full month between the barley and the wheat harvest. $ The doora is also a late crop. The mode of reaping wheat which prevailed in ancient Egypt is amply represented upon the monuments, and ap- pears to have been such as to leave abundant stubble in the fields, as implied in ch. v. 12. Not more than about a foot of the straw was cut with the ear, two feet or more being left. The barley was probably reaped in the same way. It is not, perhaps, quite clear what is meant in Deut. xi. 10 by the land of Egypt being cultivated " as a garden of herbs " ; but most probably the reference is, as Wilkinson suggests, || to the ordinary implement of cultivation, the plough being largely dispensed with, and a slight dressing with the hoe, if even so much as that, nsed instead. Hero * Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians," vol iii., pp. 419, 431. t Canon Cook in the '' Speaker's Commentary," vol. i., p. 280. t Birch in Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 42, note, Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 418-4:27. y Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptiajis," vol. ii., p. 389, note. 1 66 EG TP T AND BAB YL ON. dotus witnesses to the pi'evalence of this method of cultiva- tion,* and the monuments occasionally represent it. The absolute necessity of irrigation, and the nature of the irrigation, implied in the expression, " where thou sowedst thy seeds, and wateredst it with thy foot " (Deut. xi. 10), receive illustration from the pictures in the tombs, which show us the fields surrounded by broad canals, and inter- sected everywhere by cuttings from them, continually dimin- ishing in size, until at last they are no more than rills banked up with a little mud, which the hand or " foot " might readily remove and replace, so turning the water in any direction that might be required by the cultivator. Fruit-trees are represented on the monuments as largely cultivated and much valued. Among them the vine holds the foremost place. A sceptical critic was once bold enough to assert that the statements in the Pentateuch which implied the existence of the vine in Egypt were distinct evidence of " the late origin of the narrative." f But the tombs of Beni- hassan, which are anterior to the Exodus, contain " represen- tations of the culture of the vine, the vintage, the stripping off and carrying away of the grapes, of two kinds of wine- presses, the one moved by the strength of human arms, the other by mechanical power, the storing of wine in bottles or jars, and its transportation into the cellar.":): No one now doubts that the vine was cultivated in Egypt from a time long anterior to Moses. The fig and the date-bearing palm were likewise grown for the sake of the fruit, grapes, figs and dates constituting the Egyptian lord's usual dessert, while the last-named fruit was also made into a conserve,! which diversified the diet at rich men's tables. The breeding arid rearing of cattle was a regular part of the farmer's business in Egypt, and the wealth of individuals in flocks and herds was considerable. Three distinct kinds of cattle were affected the long-horned, the short-horned, and the hornless. H " During the greater part of the year they were pastured in open fields, on the natural growth of the rich soil, or on artificial grasses, which were cultivated for the purpose ; but at the time of the inundation it was * Herod, ii. 14. t Von Bohlen, " Die Genesis historisch-critisch erlautert, 373. t Chainpollion, quoted by Hengstenberg, "Egypt and the Books of Moses," p. 15. Birch, "Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 46. II Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii., p. 43. IT Ibid. NOTICES IN EXODUS. 167 necessary to bring them in from the fields to the farmyards or the villages, where they were kept in sheds or pens on ground artificially raised, so as to be beyond the reach of the river."* Thus the cattle generally had " houses " (Exod. ix. 20), i.e., sheds or stalls, into which it was possible to bring them at short notice. Among " miscellaneous customs " the following seem most worthy of notice : (a) the practice of making boats out of bulrushes (ch. ii. 3 ; compare Isa. xviii. 2), and (b) the position occupied by magic at the court of the Pharaohs. On the former point Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks f : " There was a small kind of punt or canoe made entirely of the papyrus, bound together with bands of the same plant the ' vessels of bulrushes' mentioned in Isa. xviii. 2." On the latter M. Maspero makes the following statement $: " Magic was in Egypt a science, and the magician one of the most esteemed of learned men. The nobles themselves, the prince Khamuas and his brother, were adepts in the super- natural arts, and decipherers of magic formularies, in which they had an entire belief. A prince who was a sorcerer would nowadays inspire a very moderate sentiment of es- teem. In Egypt the profession of magic was not incompati- ble with royalty, and the sorcerers of a Pharaoh had not uncommonly the Pharaoh himself for their pupil." The magical texts form a considerable portion of the MSS. which have come down to us from ancient times, particularly from the nineteenth dynasty; and the composition of some of them was ascribed to a divine source. * "Rawlinson, " History of Ancient Egypt," vol. i., pp. 171, 172. t In Rawlinson 's "Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 154, note, t Quoted by M. Lenormant, " Manuel d'Histoire Aucienue." vol iL, pp. 126-7. 168 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER XIX. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. IT is, at first sight, surprising that there is no mention of Egypt in connection with the history of the Israelites be- tween the Exodus and the reign of Solomon. The interval is one of, at least, three hundred perhaps of four hundred years. During its earlier portion, and again about a cen- tury before its close, the Egyptian monarchs conducted ex- peditions into Northern Syria, if not even into Mesopotamia, which might have been expected to have brought them into contact with the Hebrew people ; but the Hebrew records of the time are entirely silent on the subject, and indeed only mention Egypt retrospectively, as the place where Israel had once suffered affliction.* Perhaps the earlier ex- peditions those of Rameses Ill.f may have taken place while Israel was still detained in the " Wilderness of the Wanderings," in which case there would naturally have been no collision between the two peoples ; while those of Rame- ses XII4 and of Herhor (about B. c. 1130-1100), having Syria rather than Palestine for their object, may have been conducted along the coast route by way of Philistia and Phoenicia into Code-Syria, and so have left the Israelite terri- tory untouched, or nearly untouched. The main explanation, however, of the disappearance of Egypt from the narrative, is to be found in her general depression and weakness during the period in question, which prevented any real conquests from being made, or any large armies sent into Western Asia, as in the earlier times of Thotmes III., Amcnhotep II., Seti, and Rameses II., or in the later ones of Sheshonk andNeku. This depression is very marked in the Egyptian remains, Josh. 1. 10 : xxiv. 4-7, 14, 17; 1 Sam. ii. 27: vi. 6 ; x. 18; xii. 6-8. f Ilrugdch, " History of Egypt," vol. ii , p. 152. t Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 184-7 ; Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," ?p. 141M53. Birch, p. 154. NOTICES IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 169 which show no really great or conquering monarch between Ramescs III. and Sheshonk I. During this space, which is that of the judges and first two kings in Israel, Egypt really ceased to be an aggressive power. The Scriptural notices of Egypt belonging to the reign of Solomon are the following: 1. "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David." 1 KINGS iii. 1. 2. " Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Cauaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife." 1 KINGS ix. 16. 8. " Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn ; the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for a hundred and fifty : and so for all the kings of the Hittities, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means." 1 KINGS x. 28, 29. 4. "The Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom. For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab, the captain of the host, was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom, . . . that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomitesof his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt, Hadad being yet a little child ; and they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran ; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land . And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen; and the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath, his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household, among the sons of Pharaoh." 1 KINGS xi. 14-20 5. "Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak, . . . unto the death of Solomon." 1 KINGS xi. 40. There is nothing surprising in the willingness of a Pharaoh of the twenty-first dynasty to give a daughter in marriage to the foreign monarch of a neighboring country Even in the most flourishing times the kings of Egypt had been willing to form matrimonial alliances with the Ethio- pian royal house, and had both taken Ethiopian princesses for their own wives* and given their daughters in marriage to Ethiopian monarchs. The last king of the twentieth dynasty married a " princess of Baktan " f a Syrian or * Birch, " Egypt from the Earliest Times," pp 81, 107, etc. t " Records of the Past," vol. iv., p. 57. 170 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Mesopotamian ; and even the great Rameses married a Hittite. * According to 1 Chron. iv. 18, there was one Pharaoh who allowed a daughter of his to marry a mere ordinary Israelite. To "make affinity" with a prince of Solomon's rank and position would have been beneath the dignity of few Egyptian monarchs ; it was probably felt as a highly satisfabtory connection by the weak Tanite prince whose daughter made so good a match. With which of the Tanite monarchs it was that Solo- mon thus allied himself is uncertain. M. Lenormant fixes definitely on Hor-Pasebensha,f or Pasebensha II., the last king of the dynasty ; but an earlier monarch is more prob- able. Solomon's marriage was early in his reign (1 Kings iii. 1), and he reigned forty years (ch. xi. 42), during the last five or ten of which he would seem to have been con- temporary with Saishak (ch. xi. 40). When he ascended the throne, and the king who reigned in Egypt was probably either Pasebensha I. or Pinetem II. Unfortunately these monarchs have left such scanty remains, that we know next to nothing concerning them. The conquest of Gezer by this Pharaoh, whoever he was, and its transference to Solomon as his wife's dowry (ch. ix. 16), though it cannot be confirmed from Egyptian history, may be illustrated from Assyrian. Sargon tells us in one of his inscriptions that, having conquered the country of Cilicia with some difficulty, on account of its great natural strength, he made it over to Ambris, King of Tubal, who had married one of his daughters, as the princess's dowry.t The establishment of commercial relations between Pal- estine and Syria on the one hand and Egypt on the other (ch. x. 28, 29) is exactly what might have been expected to follow on the matrimonial alliance concluded between Solo- mon and his Egyptian contemporary. When Rameses II. allied himself with the Hittite royal house, interchange of commodities between Egypt and Syria is the immediate consequence. Corn is sent by sea from the valley of the Nile to the Syrian mountain tract for the support of the " children of Heth," who doubtless made a return in timber, or some other products of their own soil. In Solomon's * Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 264. tlbid., vol. ii., p. 329. t " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 442, note 383. " llecords of the Past," vol. iv., p. 42, 1. 24. NOTICES IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 171 time the Egyptian commodities imported by the Western Asiatics were different. Long practice had perfected in Egypt the manufacture of chariots, and these had become indispensable to the Hittite and Syrian kings for the main- tenance of their independence against the encroachments of Assyria. Each king of these peoples and there were several kings of each * maintained a war force of several hundred chariots,! for .each of which were needed two well-trained horses. These Egypt supplied, together (if our translators are right) with " linen yarn," also a commodity known to have been produced largely in that country 4 The story of Hadad's flight to Egypt and hospitable re- ception by an Egyptian Pharaoh, whose queen's name was Tahpenes, admits of no illustration from profane sources. We do not know the names borne by the queens of the later monarchs of the twenty-first dynasty, and we have thus no means of identifying the Pharaoh intended. No doubt Egypt was at all times open as a refuge to political exiles ; but there must have been special reasons for the high favor shown to Hadad. Perhaps he was already connected by blood with the Tanite monarchs ; perhaps Edom had been in alliance with Egypt before David conquered it. Jeroboam's flight to Shishak brings before us an Egyptian monarch who is fortunately unmistakable. Hitherto the sacred writers have been content, when mentioning Egyptian kings, to speak of them by their recognized official title of " Pharaoh. Now for the first time is this habit broken through, and the actual proper name of an Egyptian mon- arch presented to us. The Hebrew Shishak (ptjpB') repre- sents almost exactly the Egyptian name ordinarily written " Sheshenk," but sometimes " Sheshek," || and expressed in the fragments of Monetho by Sesonchis, (Seauy^f ).1f This is a name well known to Egyptologists. Wholly absent from all the earlier Egyptian monuments, it appears sud- denly in those of the twenty-second (Bubastite) dynasty, where it is borne by no less than four monarchs, besides * " See 2 Sam. viii. 3-12 ; x. 6-16 ; 1 Kings x. 29 ; 2 Kings vii. 6 ; and the Assyrian inscriptions passim. T " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 409, note 209. J Hf-rod. ii. 37, 182; iii. 47; Plin., " H. N." xix. 1. See above, cli. xiii. || Lepsius, " Ueber die XXII. ^Egyptische Konigs dynastic," pp 267, 289. 1 Syncellus, " Chronographia," pp. 73o, 74D. 172 EGYPT AND BABYLON. occurring also among the names of private individuals. This abundance would be somewhat puzzling were it not for the fact that one only of the four monnrchs is a warrior, or leads any expedition beyond the borders.* The records of the time leave no doubt that the prince who received Jeroboam was Sheshonk I., the founder of the Bubastite line, the son of Namrot and Tentespeh, the first king of the twenty-second dynasty. " It came to pass in tbe fifth year of King Kehoboam that Shishak, Icing of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures^ the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all; arid he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made." 1 KINGS xiv. 25, 26. With this may be compared 2 Chron. xii. 1-9 ; "And it came to pas!, when Rehoboam had established the king- dom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him; and it came to pass, that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt the Lubims, and the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. Then came Shemaiah the. prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken Me, and therefore also have I left you in the hand of Shishak. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and they said, the Lord is righteous. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jeru- salem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treas- ures of the king's house: lie took all; he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made." The Palestinian expedition of Sheshonk I. forms the subject of a remarkable bas-relief,t which, on his return from it, he caused to be executed in commemoration of its complete success. Selecting the Great Temple of Karnak, Lenormant, " Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 340. t For a representation of this monument, see the " Denkmaler " of Lcpsius, part iii. pis, 252 and 253 o. NOTICES IN THE FIXST BOOK OF JCINGti. 173 at Thebes, which Seti I. and Rameses II. had already adorned profusely with representations of their victories, he built against its southern external wall a fresh portico of colonnade, known to Egyptologists as " the portico of the Bubastites," and carved upon the wall itself, to the east of his portico, a memorial of his grand campaign. F'irst, he represented himself in his war costume, holding by the hair of their heads with his left hand thirty-eighty captive Asiatic chiefs, and with an iron mace uplifted in his right threatening them with destruction. Further, he caused himself to be figured a second time, and represented in the act of leading captive a hundred and thirty-three cities or tribes, each specified by name and personified in an individual form, ac- companied by a cartouche containing their respective names. In the physiognomies of these ideal figures the critical acumen or lively imagination of a French historian sees rendered " with marvelous ethnographic exactness" the Jew- ish type of countenance ; * but less gifted travelers do not find anything very peculiar in the profiles, which, whether representing Jews or Arabs, are almost exactly alike. The list of names contained in the record is very much more interesting than the array of countenances accompany- ing them. They have been carefully transcribed, and com- pared with those which occur in the Hebrew Scriptures, both by Mr. Reginald Stuart Poolef and by Dr. Brugsch.J It re- sults from the comparison, first, that of the ninety names which are legible about forty or forty-five may be pretty certainly identified either with Palestinian towns or districts or with Arab tribes of the neighborhood ; secondly, that the Arab tribe names are in several instances repeated ; and thirdly, that the Palestinian town names are divisible into three classes : (a) cities of Judah proper, (b) Levitical cities within the limits of the kingdom of Israel, and (c) Canaanite cities within the same limits. To the first-class belong Adoraim (called Aduruma), Aijalon (called Ayulon), and Shoco (called Shauke), which were among the " fenced cities'* that Rehoboam fortified in anticipation of Sheshonk's attack ('2 Chron. xi. 5-10); alsoGibeon (Kebeana), Alemeth (Beith- almoth), Beth-Tap] mah (Beith-Tapuh) Telem (Zalema), * Lenormant. "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., pp. 340, t See the article on SHISHAK in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. iii. t "Geschichte ^Egyptens unter den Pharaonen," pp. 660-662. 174 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Azem (Aauzamaa), and Lebaoth (Libith). To the second class may be assigned Taanach (Ta'ankau), mentioned as a Levitical city in Josh. xxi. 25 ; Rehob (Rehabau), mentioned in Josh. xxi. 31 and 1 Chron. vi. 75 ; Mahanaim (Mahunema), mentioned Josh. xxi. 38, 1 Chron. vi. 80 ; Beth-horon (Beith-Huaron), mentioned Josh. xxi. 22, 1 Chron. vi. 68 ; Kedemoth (Kademoth), mentioned Josh. xxi. 37, 1 Chron. vi. 79 ; Bileam (Bilema), mentioned 1 Chron. vi. 70 ; Gol- an (Galenaa), mentioned Josh. xxi. 27, 1 Chron.. vi. 71 ; and Anem (Anama), mentioned in 1 Chron. vi. 73. As belonging to the third class we can only fix positively on Beth-shan (Beith-shan-ra) and Megiddo (Maketu) ; but Rab- bith, Shunem, Hapharaim, and Edrei, which are also con- tained in Sheshonk's list of his conquests, may be suspected of having retained a Canaanite element in their population. This list is remarkable both for what it contains and for what it omits. The omission of most of those strongholds towards the south, which Rehoboam fortified against Egypt, as Hebron, Lachish, Azekah, Mareshah, Gath, Adullam, Beth- zur, and Tekoa (2 Chron. xi. 6-10), is perhaps to be explained by the illegibility of twelve names at the beginning of the list, where these cities, as the first attacked, would most probably have been mentioned. The omission of Jerusalem might also be accounted for in the same way. Or the fact may have been that Jerusalem itself was not taken. Like Hezekiah, on the first invasion of Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii. 13-16), Rehoboam may have surrendered his treasures (1 Kings xiv. 26) to save his city from the horrors of capture. This was, perhaps, the fulfilment of God's promise by the mouth of Shemaiah " I will grant them some deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak " (2 Chron. xii. 7). The Egyptian mon- arch, on receiving the treasures and tie submission of Rehoboam (ibid. ver. 8), may have consented to respect the city. But, as he could not mention Jersusalem among his actual conquests, he supplied the place where the name would naturally have occurred with an inscription of a peculiar kind. The cartouche borne by one of the earlier of the ideal figures contains the epigraph " YUTeH MALeK," in which Egyptologists generally recognize a boast either that the king or the " kingdom of Judah " made submission to the conqueror. " Yuteh Malek " is, we think, most properly read NOTICES IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 175 as " Judah, a kingdom." By introducing the words, Sheshonk wished to mark that besides subduing cities and districts and tribes, he had in one case conquered a country which was under the government of a king. The fact that a large proportion of the towns mentioned as taken are in the territories not of Rehoboam, against whom Sheshonk " went up " (1 Kings xiv. 25), but of Jero- boam, his protege and friend, whom his expedition was doubtless intended to assist, and the further fact that these towns were chiefly Levitical or Canaanite, would seem to show that Jeroboam, in the earlier part of his reign, had considerable opposition to encounter within the limits of his own kingdom. The disaffection of those Levites whose possessions lay within his territories is sufficiently indicated in Chronicles by the account which is there given (2 Chron. xi. 13, 14) of a number of them leaving their possessions and " resorting to Rehoboam throughout all their coasts," It is probable that such as remained were equally hostile, and that Jeroboam used the arms of his ally to punish them. At the same time, he was enabled by Egyptian aid to reduce a few Canaanite cities which still maintained their indepen- dence, as Gezer had done until conquered by the Pharaoh who gave his daughter to Solomon (2 Kings ix. 16). The army with which Sheshonk invaded Palestine is more numerous than we should have anticipated, and some corruption in the numbers may be suspected. It is com- posed, however, exactly as the monuments would have led us to expect, almost wholly of foreign mercenaries (2 Chron. xii. 3), Libyans, Ethiopians, and others. The Egyptian armies at this time consisted, for the most part, of Maxyes and other Berber tribes from the north-west, and of Ethiopians and negroes from the south.* Sheshonk, who was himself of foreign descent, placed far more dependence on these foreign troops than on the native Egyptian levies. " Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears. . . . And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto Mare- shah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord, . . . and the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar ; and the Ethiopians were over- thrown, that they could not recover themselves." 2 CHIK>N. xiv. 9-l:J. Lenorrnaut, " Manuel d'Histoire Anclenue," vol. ii., pp 340, 341. 176 EGYPT AND BABYLON. The Egyptians do not record unsuccessful expeditions, and thus the monuments contain no mention of this attack on Asa. It appears to have been provoked by Asa's rebellion, which is glanced at in 2 Chron. xiv. 6. The Egyptian monarch who sent or led the expedition was probably Osor- chon (Uasarkan) II., whose name the Hebrews contracted into Zerach . He was, perhaps, an Ethiopian on his mother's side. Asa's defeat of his vast army is the most glorious victory ever obtained by a Israelite monarch, and secured his country from any Egyptian attack for abova three centuries. NOTICES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 177 CHAPTER XX. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN THE SECOND BOOK OP KINGS. " In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began Hoshea, the son of Elah, to reign in Samaria. . . . Against him came up Shal- maneser, king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for lie had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison." 2 KINGS xvii. 1-4. IT is not very easy to identify the " king of Egypt " here mentioned, as one with whom Hoshea, the son of Elah, sought to ally himself, with any of the known Pharaohs. " So " is a name that seems at first sight very unlike those borne by Egyptian monarchs, which are never monosyllabic, and in no case end in the letter o. A reference to the He- brew text removes, however, much of the difficulty, since the word rendered by " So " in our version is found to be one of three letters,j^0all of which may be consonants. As the Masoretic pointing, which our translators followed, is of small authority, and in proper names of scarcely any authority at all, we are entitled to give to each of the three letters its consonant force, and, supplying short vowels, to render the Hebrew JODby " Seven. Now " Seven. " is very near indeed to the Manethonian " Sevech-us," whom the Sebennytic priest makes the second monarch of his twenty- fifth dynasty ; and " Sevech-us" is a natural Greek equiva- lent of the Egyptian " Shebek " or Shabak," a name borne by a well-known Pharaoh (the first king of the same dynasty), which both Herodotus and Manetho render by " Sabacos." It has been generally allowed that So (or Seveh) must re- present one or other of these, but critics are not yet agreed which is to be preferred of the two.* To us it seems that both the name itself and the necessities of the chronology * The general opinion is in favor of Shabak; but some, like Hekek- yan Bey ("Chronology of Siriadic Monuments," p. 100), prefer Shabatok. 178 EGYPT AND BABYLON. point to the first king rather than to the second ; and wa consequently regard Hoshea as having turned in his distress to seek the aid of the monarch whom the Egyptians knew as Shabak, and the Greeks as Sabacos of Sabaco.* The application implies an entire change in the con- dition of political affairs in the East, and in the relations of state to state, from those which prevailed when Egyptian monarchs last figured in the sacred narrative, two hundred or two hundred and fifty years earlier. Then Egypt was an aggressive power, bent on establishing her influence over Palestine, and from time to time invading Asia with large armies in the hope of making extensive conquests. f She was the chief enemy feared by the petty kingdoms and loosely aggregated tribes of South-western Asia, the only power in their neighborhood that possessed large bodies of disciplined troops and an instinct of self-aggrandizement. But all this was now altered. Egypt, from the time of Osarkon II., had steadily declined in strength ; her monarchs had been inactive and unwarlike, her policy one of absten- tion from all enterprise. The inveterate evil of distintegra- tion with which her ill-shaped territory was naturally threat- ened, and which had from time to time shown itself in her history, once more made its appearance. There arose a practice of giving appanages to the princes of the royal house, which tended to become hereditary, and trenched on the sovereignty of the nominal monarch. " Egypt found herself divided into a certain number of principalities, some of which contained only a few towns, while others extended over several adjacent cantons. Ere long the chiefs of these principalities were bold enough to reject the suzerainty of the Pharaoh ; relying upon their bands of Libyan mercenaries, they not only usurped the functions of royalty, but even the title of king, while the legitimate reigning house, relegated to a corner of the Delta, with difficulty preserved a remnant of its old authority." $ By the close of the twenty-second dynasty, " Egypt had arrived at such a point of distintegra- tion as to find herself portioned out among nearly twenty princes, of whom four at least assumed the cartouche and the other emblems of royalty." * Herod, ii. 139; Manetho ap. Syncell. " Chronograph.," p. 74, B. t Chron xii. 3; xiv. 9. J Lenormant, " Manuel d'Histoire Ancieune," vol. ii., p 341. jj Ibid., p. 342. NOTICES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 179 Meanwhile, as if to counterbalance the paralysis and clis> crepitude of the Egyptian state, there had arisen on the other side of Syria and Palestine a great power, continually increasing in strength, with the same instinct of aggrandize- ment which had formerly possessed Egypt, and with even greater aptitudes for war and conquest. Assyria, from about B. c. 880, or a little earlier, began to press westAvard upon the nations dwelling between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, and to threaten them with subjugation. Asshur-nazir-pal took Carchemish, conquered Northern Syria, and forced the Phoenician cities to make their sub- mission to him.* His son, Shalmaneser II., engaged in wars with Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria ; defeated Benhadad, Hazael, and Ahab ; and made Jehu take up the position of a tributary.! The successors of these two war- like princes "fairly maintained the empire which they had received," $ and even pushed their expeditions into Philistia and Edom. After a lull in the war-storm, which lasted from about B. c. 780 to 750, it recommenced with increased fury. Tiglath-Pileser II. crushed the Kingdom of Damascus, and greatly crippled that of Samaria, besides which he reduced the Philestines and several tribes of Arabs. He was suc- ceeded by Shalmaneser IV., the monarch mentioned in 2 Kings xvii. 3. The situation was thus the following. The petty states of Palestine and Syria had been suffering from the attacks of the Assyrians for a century and a half. On.e after another, the greater part of them had succumbed. First they were made tributaries; then they were absorbed into the con- quering state and became mere provinces. Hoshea found his kingdom threatened with the fate which had befallen so many others. He had the courage to make an effort to save it. Casting an anxious glance over the entire political position, he thought that he saw in the Egyptian monarch of the time a possible deliverer. For there had been quite recently a revolution in Egypt. The weak and indolent native monarchs had been thrust aside, and superseded by a stronger and fiercer foreign race from the neighboring Ethiopia. " So," or Shabak, was one of these foreigners, and wielded the resources of two countries, his adopted and * "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 400. t Ibid., pp. 102-106. I Sayce " Ancient Empires of the East." p. 375. 180 EGJ-PT AND BABYLON. his native one. It was reasonable to expect that he would see the danger which menaced Egypt from the new masters of Western Asia, and the desirability of maintaining the barrier between his own dominions and the Assyrian, which the still unconquered tribes and kingdoms of Syria, and Pal- estine were capable of constituting. There were others besides Samaria ripe for revolt.* It would have been a wise policy on the part of the Egyptian monarch to have fomented the disaffection, and supported with his full force the movement in favor of independence which was in pro- gress. Hoshea's " messengers," under these circumstances, sought the court of Shabak, which appears to have been fixed at Memphis, in Lower Egypt.f It would seem that they were received with favor, and that material aid was promised, since Hoshea almost immediately broke into open revolt by witholding the tribute due to his Assyrian suzerain. "With the utmost promptness Shalmaneser marched against him, seized his person, and carried him off to Nineveh. Shabak made no effort in his defence. The first attempt of the people of God to " call to Egypt " (Hos. vii. 11) thus proved a most disastrous failure : the king, who had " trusted upon the staff of the bruised reed " (2 Kings xviii. 21), was ruined by his misplaced confidence, and within a few years his capital was taken (ibid. ver. 6), and his people carried into captivity (ibid). " And Rabshskeh said. . . . Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saitli the great king, the king of Assyria. What confidence is this wherein thou trustest ? Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me ? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it : so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt unto all that trust on him " (ch. xviii. 19-21 ). "When he" (i.e. Sennacherib) "heard say of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee, lie sent messen- gers again to Hezekiah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying. Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria" (ibid., vers. 9, 10). Another act in the drama has been opened. The king- * As Tyre, which actually revolted a year or two later; and Hamath, Arpad, Simyra, and Damascus, which revolted fi'm Sargou in u.c. 721. t Kawlinsoa, " History of Ancient Egypt" voL ii., p. 440. NOTICES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 181 dom of Samaria having been conquered and absorbed by the terrible Assyrians, it is Judaea's turn to be threatened with a similiar fate. Not that she is now threatened for the first time. Before Samaria had fallen, Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, placed himself voluntarily under the Assyrian suzerainty, consenting to become the vassal of Tiglath-Pileser ('2 Kings xvi. 7-10). Hezekiah threw off the Assyrian yoke (ch. xviii. 7) ; but it was reimposed upon him first, as it would seem, by Sargon,* and again (about B. c. 701) by Sennacherib (ibid., vers. 13-16). The Jewish monarch was, however, at no time a submissive or willing vassal ; and he had no sooner bowed his neck to Sennacherib's yoke, than he began to make preparations for recovering his independence. Like his brother monarch in Samaria, he thought that he saw in Egypt his best ally and protector. We may gather from Sennacherib's reproaches in this chapter, as well as from passages in the prophecies of Isaiah, that a formal embassy was sent either to Tirhakah at Xapata, or to his representative in Lower Egypt, with an offer of alliance and a request for armed assistance, especially chariots and horse- men (ibid., vers. 23. 24). As in the former instance, the answer received was favorable. Tirhakah was an enterpris- ing monarch who left a name behind him which marks him as one of the greatest of Egypt's later kings. f He saw the wisdom of upholding the independence of Judaea, and ac- cepting the alliance proffered by Hezekiah, probably gave an assurance of help, should Sennacherib attempt to punish his revolted vassal. The occasion for fulfilling his promise soon arrived. Sennacherib, in B. c. 700 or 699, once more proceeded into Palestine,! and, sending a general to frighten Hezekiah into submission (ibid., ver. 17), himself marched on towards the south. He had received information of the alliance that had been concluded between Judaea and Egypt (vers. 21, 24), and regarding Tirhskah as his chief enemy, pressed forward to encounter his troops. Tirhakah, on his part, re- * Sargon claims in his inscriptions to have conquered Jerusalem (see Mr. Cheyne's " Isaiah," vol. i.,p. 69). Various passages of Isaiah are thought to have reference to this conquest. t Megasthenes, Fr. 80. J M. Lenonnant considers that the embassy of Rahshakeh and de- struction of Sennacherib's host fell in the same year as his first inva- sion ("Manwl d'Histoire Ancienne." vol. ii.. p. 361); but it seems to me more probable that they were separated by a short interval. 182 EGYPT AND BABYLON. retained faithful to his ally, and put his army in motion to meet Sennacherib (ch. xix. 9). This boldness is quite in accordance with Tirhakah's character. He was an enterprising prince, engaged in many wars, and a determined opponent of the Assyrians. His name is read on the Egyptian monuments as Tahark or Tahrak ; and his face, which appears on them, is expressive of strong determination. The Assyrian inscriptions tell us that, in the later part of his life, he caried on a war for many years with Esar-haddon and his son, Asshur-bani-pal.* If his star ultimately paled before that of the latter, it was not from any lack of courage, or resolution, or good faith on his part. He struggled gallantly against the Assyrian power for above thirty years, was never wanting to his confederates and, if he did not quite deserve the high eulogies of the Greeks, was at any rate, among the most distinguished monarchs of his race and period. " In his " (Josiah's) " days of Pharaoh-Nechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him; and he slew hhu at Megiddo, when he had seen him. . . . And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. . . . And Pharaoh-Nechoh put him in bands at Kiblah, in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh-Nechoh made Eliakirn, the son of Josiah, king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there " (ch. xxiii. An interval of ninety years separates this notice from the one last considered. The position of affairs is onec more com- pletely changed. Although the present passage, taken by itself, does not give any indication of what had occurred, it is quite certain that, in the interval between Tirhakah's war with Sennacherib and " Pharaoh-Necho's " invasion of Palestine, the empire of Assyria had come to an end. Necho was on his way " to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates " (2 Chron. xxxv. 20) with " the house wherewith he had war " (ibid.) ; and that house was not the old one of the Sargonidte, wherewith Tirhakah had contended, but a new " house " which had recently come into power, and which held its court, not at Nineveh, but at Babylon (Isa, "* G. Smith, " History of Asshur-bani-pal," pp. 15-47. NOTICES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 183 xlvi. 2). The exact year of the fall of Assyria is indeed un- certain ; * but all authorities agree that it had taken place before the date of Necho's expedition, which was in B. c. G08. By " king of Assyria," in ver. 29, we must therefore understand king of Babylon, just as in Ezra vi. 22 we must understand by " king of Assyria " king of Persia. The Babylonian monarch, Nabopolassar, had taken a share in the great war by which the empire of the Assyrians was brought to an end,f and had succeeded to Assyria's right in Western Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. He was probably regarded by Josiah as his suzerain, and therefore entitled to such help as he could render him. While these changes had taken place in Asia, in Africa also the condition of affairs was very much altered. The Ethiopian dynasty, after its long struggle against Assyria, had been forced to yield, had given up the contest, and re- tired from Egypt altogether.! Assyria had for a time held Egypt under her sway, and acting in the spirit of the maxim, " Divide et impera," had split up the country among no fewer than twenty, princes. Of these some had been Assyrians, but the greater part natives. A Necho (Xeku), the grandfather of the antagonist of Josiah, had held the first place among the twenty, being assigned the governments of Memphis and Sais, together with almost the whole of the Western Delta. He had been succeeded after a time by his son Psamatik, the Psammetichus of the Greeks, who had taken advantage of the growing weakness of Assyria during the later half of the seventh century to raise the standard of revolt, and had succeeded, by the assistance of Gyges, king of Lydia, and of numerous Greek and Carian merce- naries, in establishing his own independence and uniting all Egypt under his sway. A period of great prosperity had then set in. Psamatik I., a prudent, and at the same time a brave and warlike, prince, raised Egypt from a state of extreme depression to a height which she had only previously reached under the Osirtasens, the Thothmeses, and the Kames- sides. During the rapid decline and decay of Assyrian power which followed upon the death of Asshur-bani-pal (B. c. 626), he extended his sway over Philistia and Phoe- nicia, thus resuming the policy of aggression upon Asia * The opinion of scholars varies between B. c. 625 and B. c. 610. t ' Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. pp. 499, 500. J Leuorniant, "Manuel d'Histoire Aucienne," vol. ii., pp. 377, 37& 184 EGYPT AND BABYLON. which had been laid aside, at any rate from the time of Sheshonk. The opportunity seemed good for re-establish- ing Egyptain influence in this quarter, now that Assyria was approaching her end, and Babylon not yet established as her successor. The " Pharaoh-Necho " of the present notice is undoubt- edly Neku II., the son and successor of Psamatik I. and the grandson of the first Neku. He succeeded his father in B. o. 611 or 610, and held the throne till B. c. 595 or 594. He left behind him a high character for courage and enterprise. " We must see in him," says Dr. "Wiedeniann,* " according to the narratives of the Greek historians, one of the most enterprising and excellent sovereigns of all Egyptian an- tiquity." After two or three years of preparation for war, he led his forces into Palestine by the coast road commonly followed by his predecessors, through Philistia and Sharon to Megiddo, on the high ground separating the plain of Sharon from that of Esdraelon. Here, on a battle-field celebrated alike in ancient and in modern times, he was con- fronted by Josiah, the Jewish monarch, who had recently united under his sway the greater portion of the two king- doms of Israel and Judah.f Necho, according to the author of Chronicles, endeavored to avoid engaging his troops, first by assuring him that his quarrel was not with him, but with the royal house of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 21), and then by urging that he had received a Divine commission to attack his enemy. Assertions of this kind were probably not un- usual in the mouths of Egyptian princes, who regarded them- selves as the favorites of Heaven, sons of the sun, and under constant Divine protection. We have an example in Piankhi, one of the Ethiopian monarchs of Egypt, who, when march- ing against the native princes that had revolted from him, declares, $ " I am born of the loins, created from the egg, of the Deity. ... I have not acted without His knowing : lie ordained that I should [so] act." Neither argument had any effect on the resolution of the Jewish king ; he prob- ably deemed himself bound, as faithful vassal, to bar the way of his suzerain's enemy ; and Necho, finding him thus resolved, was compelled to engaged his forces. The battle, *" Gesbichte JEgyptens von Psammetich I. bis auf Alexander den Grossen." p. 147. t 2 Kings xxiii. l. r >-19; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 6-9. J "Records of the Past," vol. ii., p. 91, 1. 69. NOTICES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 185 commonly known as that of Megiddo, seems to be men- tioned by Herodotus* as the battle of Magdolurn, wherein he says that Neko (Xecho) defeated the " Palestinian Syrians," which appears to be his name for the Jews. There is reason to believe that the chief adversaries of the Jews on this occasion were the Greek and Carian mercenaries in the Egyptian service, since Necho was so pleased at their be- havior that he sent the arms which he had worn in the battle as an offering to a Greek temple in Asia Minor. The success of Necho in detaching Syria from the Babylonian empire, and attaching it to his own, implied in the narrative of Kings, and in Jer. xlvi. 2, is alluded to in a fragment of Berosus.f Berosus, as a Babylonian, ignores Necho's independent position, and speaks of him as the " satrap " of the western provinces, who had caused them to " revolt." He regards the " revolt " as extending to Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia, and as lasting until, in B. c. 605, Nebuchadnezzar was sent by his father to re-establish the dominion of Babylon in the far west. * Herod, ii. 159. t Beros. in the " Frugm. Hist. Gr." of C. Muller, vol. ii. Fr. 14. 186 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER XXI. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN ISAIAH. " The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against hia neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hands of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts Surely the prince s of Zoan are fools ; the coun- sel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish ; how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings ? Where are they ? where are thy wise men ? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are de- ceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof." ISA. xix. 1-13. IT was a principal part of the mission of Isaiah during the reign of Hezekiah to dissuade the Jews from placing their dependence on Egypt in the struggle wherein they were engaged, with the prophet's entire consent and appro- val, against the Assyrians. Egypt, it was revealed to him, was no sure stay, no trustworthy ally, no powerful protector; she would fail in time of need, either unwilling or unable to give effectual help. (See ch. xx. 6 ; xxx. 3, 7 ; xxxi. 1-3). Nor was this the worst. So long as king and people put their trust in an " arm of flesh," and did not rely upon God, God's arm was straitened, and he could not work the mirac- ulous deliverance, which he was prepared to work, 'be- cause of their unbelief." Isaiah's prophecies with respect to Egypt are thus, almost entirely, depreciatory and denun- ciatory. He is bent on showing that she is a power on whom no dependence can be wisely placed, in the hope that NOTICES IN ISAIAH. 187 he may thereby prevent Hezekiah and his princes from contracting any alliance with the Egyptian monarch. In this first prophecy he announces two calamities as about to befall Egypt, either of which is sufficient to render her an utterly worthless ally. The fii-st of these calamities is civil war. The Egyptians are about to "fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor: city against city, arid kingdom against kingdom." It is a remarkable illustration of this prophecy to find, as we do, from an inscription of Piankhi-Merammon,* that about B. c. 735 Egypt was divided up among no fewer than twenty- two princes, of whom four bore the title of " king," and that a civil war raged among them for some considerable time. Tafnekht, prince of Sais, began the disturbance by a series of skilfully arranged encroachments upon his neigh- bors. During several years he laid siege successively to the fortresses which were held by the independent military chiefs and the petty princes of the western portion of Lower Egypt. Once master of all the territory to the west of the middle branch of the Nile, Tafnekht, respecting the domin- ion of the dynasty of Tanis over the Eastern Delta, pro- ceeded to mount the stream, in order to make himself master of Central Egypt, and even with the intention of essaying the conquest of Upper Egypt, which was in the possession of the Ethiopian kings of Napata at this period. The stronghold of Meri-tum, now Meydoum, the district of Lake Mceris, the city of Heracleopolis, with its king Pefaabast, and that of Hermopolis, with its king Osorkon, recognized his authority as sovereign. He also made himself master of Aphroditopolis, and, pursuing his career of success, was in course of conquering the canton of Ouab, with its capital, Pa-matsets, when the chiefs of the upper and lower country who had not yet bowed their heads to his yoke invoked the aid of the Ethiopian monarch." f Piankhi gladly responded to the call, and in the course of one or two campaigns suc- ceeded in despoiling Tafnekht of all his conquests, and in restoring Egypt to tranquility. He then reigned for some years in peace ; but at his death disturbances broke out afresh. Bocchoris, or Bok-en-ranf, who succeeded Tafnekht at Sais, had a reign as troubled as his predecessor's. It "See "Records of the Past," vol. ii., pp. 81-104; and compare Brugsch, " Geschichte ^Egyptens," pp. '682-707. t Lenormant, *' Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii. p. 344. 188 EGYPT AND BABYLON. was, says M. Lenormant,* " an incessant struggle against the petty princes, a continuous series of wars, first for the sub- jection of the Delta and Central Egypt, nay, even tempo- rarily of the Thebaid, and then for the preservation of his conquests, and the maintenance with much difficulty of a precarious dominion." In the end Bocchoris succumbed to Shabak, the successor of Piankhi, who punished his rebel- lion, as he considered it, by burning him alive. f A third occasion of civil war, belonging to a somewhat later date, is mentioned by Herodotus. Psammetichus, the founder oi the twenty-sixth dynasty, had to contend, according to this author, t with eleven of his brother princes before he suc- ceeded in uniting all Egypt under his sceptre. Briefly, it may be said that Egypt from about B. c. 735 to B. c. 650, suffered from a continued series of civil wars, which ren- dered her exceptionally weak, and caused her to fall an easy prey alternately to the Ethiopians and the Assyrians. The other calamity prophesied is that of conquest by a foreign king of a fierce and cruel temper. " The Egyptians will I give over into the hands of a cruel lord ; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord " (ver. 4). The Egyptian and Assyrian records show that, between the years B. c. 750 and B. c. 650, Egypt was conquered at least five times, and was ruled by at least eight foreign monarchs. The first conquest that of Piankhi Merammon was cer- tainly not a subjection to a " fierce and cruel lord," for Piankhi was a remarkably mild and clement prince, who did not even punish rebellion with any severity. Shabak, the next conqueror after Piankhi, was cruel ; but he can scarcely be the monarch intended, since he was accepted as a legitimate Pharaoh ; the " princes of Zoan and Noph " were his counselors ; and, if the prophecy touches him at all it is as the deceived and misled Pharaoh of ver. 11, not as the "fierce king "of ver. 4. The same may be said of his successors, Shabatok and Tirhakah, who were closely con- nected with Noph (Xapata), and were recognized as legitimate Pharaohs. It is to an Assyrian, not to an Ethio- pian, conqueror that the prophecy must refer, and hence doubtless the introduction of Assyria by name into the later Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Anclenne," vol. ii., p. 349. t Manetho ap. Syncell., ''Chronograph," p. 74, B. I Herod., ii. 152. Kacwlinson, " History of Ancient Egypt," vol. ii., p. 443. NOTICES IN ISAIAH. 189 part of the prophecy, which in a certain sense balances the earlier vers. 23-25). Two successive Assyrian monarchs conquered Egypt, Esar-haddon and Asshur-bani-pal. Either of the two would correspond well to the description of the "fierce king and cruel lord." Esar-haddon, who had Manas- seh brought bafore him with a hook passed through his jaws (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11), who broke up Egypt into twenty gov- ernments and changed the names of the towns,* who usually executed rebels, and is said by his son to have appointed governors over the various provinces of Egypt for the ex- press purpose of slaying and plundering its people, f was certainly a severe and harsh monarch, who might well answer to the description of Isaiah ; and Asshur-bani-pal, his successor, who riveted the Assyrian yoke on the reluc- tant country, was a yet more cruel and relentless tyrant. Asshur-bani-pal burnt alive his own brother, Saul-Mugina, caused several of his prisoners to be chained and flayed, tore but the tongues of others by the roots, punished many by mutilation, and was altogether the most cruel and blood- thirsty of all the Assyrian monarchs of whom any record has come down to us.J It is probably his conquest of Egypt in B. c. 668-666 which Isaiah s prophecy announces, though it is quite possible that Isaiah may have himself expected an earlier accomplishment of the prediction. " Iu the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him, and fought against Ashdod, and took it, at the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot, and the Lord sa.d, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, And the Ethio- pians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape ?" ISA. xx. l-<5. The general warning contained in Isaiah's "burden of Egypt " failed altogether of its intended effect. In Israel * G. Smith, " History of Asshur-bani-pal," pp. 34, 35. t G. Smith, " History of Asshur-bani-pal," p. 16. t See "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 480. As Mr. Cheyne supposes: " Comment on Isaiah," voL i., pp. 112, 113. 190 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Hoshea, about B. c. 724, entered intb alliance with Shabefc (So), and thereby provoked the ruin which fell both on him- self and his country. The lesson was lost on Hezekiah and his counselors, who, as the attitude of the Assyrians became more and more threatening, inclined more and more to follow Hoshea's example and place themselves under the protection of Egypt. Egypt was at this time, as already explained, closely connected with Ethiopia, which under Pian- khi, Shabak, Shabatok, and Tirhakah, exercised the rights of a suzerain power, permitting, however, to certain native Egyp- tian princes a delegated sovereignty. Hence the close con- nection in which we find Ethiopia and Egypt placed in the present prophecy. In the year that the Assyrian Tartan, or commander-in-chief, took Ashdod, having been assigned the task by Sargon, king of Assyria, the successor of Shal- maneser IV., and father of Sennacherib probably the year B. c. 714 Isaiah was directed to renew his warning against trust in these African powers. They had become the " glory " and the " expectation " of his countrymen, whither they were ready to "flee for help" (vers. 5, 6). In orderto impress the Jews with the folly of their vain hopes, Isaiah was instructed to announce a coming victory of Assyria over combined Egypt and Ethiopia, the result of which would be a great removal of captives, belonging to both nations, from the banks of the Nile to those of the Tigris, to the great " shame " of the conquered and the great glory of the conquerors. To arrest the attention of his nation, he was to take the garb of a prisoner himself, and to go barefoot and " naked." i. e., clad in a single scant tunic, for three years, at the end of which time his prophecy would be accomplished. The prophecy seems to have had its first accomplishment when, in B. c. 711, Ashdod revolted from Assyria, under promise of support from the Ethiopian Pharaoh of the period, and was captured, with its garrison, which is likely to have consisted in part of Egyptians and Ethiopians. We are expressly told that the prisoners were on this occasion transported into Assyria, their place being supplied by captives taken in some of Sargon's eastern wars.* Ten years later, in the reign of Sennacherib, there was another occasion of collision between Assyria and Egypt in "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i., p. 440. NOTICES IN ISAIAH. ]t,( a war provoked by the revolt of Ekron. In the battle of Eltekeh (B. c. 701) both Ethiopians and Egyptians are ex- pressly declared to have been engaged, and many prisoners of both nations to have been taken.* These were, no doubt, carried off by the conqueror. Later, in the wars of Esar-haddon and Asshur-bani-pal with Tirhakah, there must have been numerous occasions of a similar kind.t The entire course of the struggle be- tween Assyria on the one hand and Ethiopia and Egypt on the other was adverse to the latter peoples until the strength of Assyria collapsed at home, and she (about B. c. 650) with- drew her forces from Egypt to the defence of her own territory. " Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt ! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambas- sadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame and also a re- proach. The burden of the beasts of the south : into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose ; therefore have I cried concern- ing this, Their strength is to sit still." ISA. xxx. 1-7. " Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help ; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horse- men, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord ! . . . Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is helper shall fall down, and they all shall fall together. For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me. Like as the lion and the young lion roaringon his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himself for the noise of them; so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem ; ... He will preserve it." ISA. xxxi. 1-5. Matters have now progressed a stage. Isaiah's warnings are not only unheeded, but set at nought. Alarmed at the " Records of the Past," vol. i., pp. 36, 37. t See Mr. George Smith's " History of Asshur-banI pal," pp. 16, 19, 23, 54, etc. 192 EGYPT AND BAB YL ON. advances that Sennacherib has made and is making, con. vinced, not perhaps without reason, that the policy of As- syria is to leave him the mere shadow of independence, Hez- ekiah has taken the final plunge. Declining to ask counsel of God's prophet (ver. 1), he has sent ambassadors of high rank (ver. 4), accompanied by a train of camels and asses, laden with rich presents (ver. 6), to the court of the vassal Pharaoh to whom is committed the government of Lower Egypt. " His " (i. e., Hezekiah's) " princes are at Zoan " (Tunis) ; " his ambassadors have come to Hanes." He has made application for a force of chariots and cavalry (ch. xxxvi. 9). He has probably sent a prayer to the Ethiopian suzerain of the country, requesting him to move to his relief. The thing is done, and cannot be undone ; and it remains only for the prophet to make a declaration, first, that it hcs been done against God's will (vers. 1, 9, 12), and secondly, that it will be of no avail nothing will come of it the Egyptians will give no effectual help (vers. 5, 7). The his- torical chapters of Isaiah, especially chapters xxxvi. and xxxvii., are the sequel to this intimation. They show that Hezekiah received no help at all from the subordinate Pharaoh, who was probably Shabatok, and that though Tirhakah did move on his behalf (ch. xxxvii. 9), yet that he neither engaged the forces of Sennacherib, nor seriously troubled him. The relief of Hezekiah, and the relief of Egypt itself whose subjection to Assyria was thereby de- ferred for a generation came from another quarter. When Hezekiah gave up his trust in any arm of fiesh, and made his appeal to God, spreading before Him the blasphemous letter of Sennacherib (ibid., vers. 14-20), then Isaiah was commissioned to assure him of a miraculous deliverance. " Then" ("that night," 2 Kings xix. 35) "the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses ' r (Isa. xxxvii. 30). The deliverance itself, and its miraculous, or at anv rate its marvelous character, was acknowledged by the Egyptians, no less than by the Israelites. When, two hundred and fifty years afterwards, Herodotus visited Egypt, he was informed that " Sennacherib, king of the Arabi- ans and Assyrians, having marched a great army into Egypt, was met at Pelusium by the Egyptian monarch. As the two hosts lay there opposite one another, there came in the night NOTICES IN ISIAIAH. 193 a number of field-mice, which devoured all the quivers and bow strings of the enemy, and ate the thongs by which they managed their shields. Next morning they commenced their flight, and great multitudes fell, as they had no arms with which to defend themselves." * " In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts ; one shall be called th city of destruction. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt : for they shall cry unto the Lord le- oause of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be en- treated of them, and He shall heal them." ISA. xix. 18-22. This prophecy has been called a mere expression of Isaiah's earnest wish for the conversion of Egypt to the wor- ship of the true God,f but it is at any rate a wish which had a remarkable fulfilment. About the year B.C. 170, Onias, the BOH of Onias III., the high-priest, quitted Palestine, and sought refuge with Ptolemy Philometor,who readily protected him on account of the hostility between the two royal houses of Egypt and of Syria. While a refugee at his court, Onias, regarding the position of his brethren in Palestine, oppressed by Antio- chus Epiphanes, as well-nigh hopeless, conceived the idea of founding and maintaining a temple in Egypt itself, which should be free from the corruptions then creepingin at Jerusa- lem and should be a rallying-point to the Jewish nation, should the temple on Mount Zion be destroyed or made a heathen fane. Under these circumstances he made appeal to Ptolemy and his wife Cleopatra for the grant of a site. " In the dis- trict of Heliopolis, a part of Egypt already consecrated by the memory of Moses (Gen. xli. 45), he had observed a spot where a sanctuary of Bubastis (Pasht),a goddess of the country, was languishing among the thousand other Egyp- tian sanctuaries. This place he requested for himself, and it was reported that Ptolemy granted it with the jesting re- mark that he wondered how Onias could think of making a * Herod, ii. 141. * Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," Am. Ed., voL ill., p. 223. 194 EGYPT AND BABYLON. sanctuary out of a spot which, though inhabited by sacred animals, was yet in the Judaean sense polluted, for the animals were among those reckoned unclean by the Judaeans. In the sanctuary itself was placed an altar resembling that at Jerusalem. Instead of the seven-lighted candle-stick, which seems to have been regarded as too holy to be imitated, n single golden lamp was suspended in it by a golden chain. The sacred house was built somewhat in the form of a tower" the general style of the building being apparently not Jewish, but Egyptian* " the fore-court was enclosed with a wall of brick and gates of stone, and the whole of the forti- fied little town, with the district which gathered round the temple, was probably called Oneion."t This temple continued to exist from B. c. 170 to B. c. 73, when it was destroyed by the Romans. It was greatly venerated by the bulk of the Egyptian Jews, who brought thither their sacrifices and their offerings. Jews flocked to the towns in its neighborhood ; and it may well be, though the actual fact cannot be proved, that then at least " five cities in the land of Egypt spoke" ( Hebrew) " the language of Canaan," one of them being Ir-ha-kheres, " the city of the sun," the ancient Heliopolis.J At the same time the great synagogue of Alexandria, at the extreme " border " of the land, where it was most commonly approached by strangers, stood " as a pillar " (ch. xix. 19) " for a sign and for a wit- ness unto the Lord of hosts," showing that Jehovah was worshiped in the land openly, and with the goodwill of the Government, and indicating that Egypt so long Jehovah's enemy had been at least partially, converted to His ser- vice. Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church." Am. Ed., vol. Hi., p. 222. t Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v., p. 356, E. T. Compare Joseph, " Ant. Jud.," xiii. 3, 2. J See Mr. R. S. Poole's article on IE-HA-HEKES in Smith's " Diet, of the Bible," vol. i. p. 870. NOTICES IN JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL. 19ft CHAPTER XXII. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN JEREMIAH AXD EZEKIEL. THE prophecies of Jeremiah have suffered greatly by dis- arrangement ; and the historical notices which they contain, more especially those that concern Egypt, are wholly out of their proper chronological order. We propose, therefore, to follow the actual order of time rather than that of Jeremiah's chapters according to our translators' arrangement,* and we consequently commence with one of the latest of his notices, namely, that contained in the earlier portion of his forty- sixth chapter : " The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles, against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh- Is echo, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carche- inish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. Wherefore have I seen them dis- mayed and turned away back ? and their mighty onts are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith. the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble and fall towards the north, by the river Euphrates. Who is this that coineth up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers ? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers, and lie saith, I will go up and cover the earth; I will de- stroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses, and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries ; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain shalt thou use many medi- cines: for thou shall not be cured. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land ; for the mighty man hath Our translators follow the Hebrew. The Septuagint arrange* ment is quite different 19G EGYPT AND BABYLON. Btumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together." JEB. xlvi. 1-12. In this passage we have the fullest account that has come down to us of one of the most important among the " decisive battles of the world," The contending powers are Egypt and Babylon, the contending princes Neko (Pharaoh Necho), the son of Psamatik I., and Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar the founder of the second empire of the Chaldasans. We have already seen* how Neko, having (in B. c. 608) defeated Josiah, king of Judah, at Megiddo, on the border of the great plain of Esdraelon, pressed forward, to meet the " house with which he had war at Carchemish by Euphrates" (2 Chron. xxxv. 20). Complete success for the time attended his expedition. lie made himself master of the whole tract of territory intervening between the " river of Egypt " (Wady-el-Arish) on the one hand and the river Euphrates on the other (2 Kings xxiv. 7). Syria in its widest extent, Phoenicia, Philistia, and Judasa submitted to him. It seemed as if the days of the Thothmeses and Amenhoteps were about to return, and Egypt to be once more the predom- inant power in the Eastern world, the " lady of nations," the sovereign at one and the same time of Africa and of Asia. Had Babylon acquiesced in the loss of territory, her prestige would have been gone, and her empire would probably have soon crumbled into dust. Egypt and Media would have stood face to face as the two rivals for supremacy; and possibly the entire course of the world's later history might have been changed. But Nabopolassar appreciated aright the importance of the crisis, and before Egypt had had time to consolidate her power in the newly conquered provinces, resolved on making a great effort to recover them. In the year B. c. 605 three years after Neko's great success having collected his troops and made his preparations, he sent his son and heir, Nebu- chadnezzar, at the head of a large army, to reconquer the lost territory. Nebuchadnezzar marched upon Carchemish, the strong frontier fortress near the Euphrates, which had origin- ally been the capital of the early Hittitc kingdom, and the site of which is now marked by the ruins called " Jerablus " or " Jerabus."* Here he found Neko encamped at the head See p. 271. t Sayce, " Ancient Empires of the East," American Edition, p. 214. NOTICES IN JEREMIAII AND EZEKIEL. 197 of a considerable force, in part, no doubt, Egyptians, but mainly Ethiopians, Libyans, and Greco-Carians from Asia Minor, perhaps the " Lydians " of Jeremiah (ver. ) 9.* The battle poetically described by Jeremiah was fought. The Kgyptian force of foot, horse, and chariots was completely hus, who ascribes the execution of Apries to Nebuchad- nezzar.t That monarch may not improbably have borne Apries a grudge on account of the aid which he gave to Zed- okiah, and also of his aggressions upon the Phoenician cities,^ and, though the adversary with whom he contended in the field may have been Amasis, he may yet have let his main vengeance fall upon Apries, whom he no doubt looked on as a rebel, as he had looked npon Neko. Amasis may have obtained easier terms of peace by the surrender of his fellow- king, or may even have been allowed to retain the throne in consequence of his complaisance. Most probably he ac- cepted the position of a vassal monarch, a position which he may have retained until Nabonidus was threatened by Cyrus (B. c. 547), or even until the fall of Babylon in B. c. 538. During this period Egypt was a " base kingdom" (Ezek. xxix. 14), " the basest of the kingdoms " (ibid. ver. 15), if its former exaltation was kept in view, t Herod., ii,, 169. t " Ant. Jud." x. 9, 7. J Herod., ii. 161; Diod. Sic,, i. 68. Berosiu, Fr. 14. 204 EGYPT AND BABYLON. CHAPTER XXIII. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN DANIEL. THE notices of Egypt in the Book of Daniel have the peculiarity that they are absolutely and entirely prophetical. Daniel is not individually brought into any contact with Egypt ; nor does Egypt play any part in the stirring events of the time wherein he lives. Egypt has, in fact, fallen to the rank of a very second-rate power after the battle of Car- chemish (B. c. 605), and counted for little in the political struggles of the time, which had for their locality the great Iranian plateau, together with the broad valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Daniel, who was contemporary, as he tells us (chs. i.-vi.), with Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Great, must have died about B. c. 534, or at any rate before B.C. 529 the year of Cyrus' decease. His notices of Egypt belong to a date more than two centuries later. It is given him to see in vision a sort of sketch of the history of the world from his own time to the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah ; and in this " Apocalyptic Vision," or rather series of visions, the future of Egypt is placed before him, in some detail, during a space of some century and a half, from about B. c. 323 to about B. c. 168. It is scarcely necessary to say that the genuineness and authenticity of the entire Book of Daniel have been fiercely assailed, both in remote times and in our own day. But the arguments of the assailants have never been regarded as of any weight bv the Church ; and the Book has maintained its place in the Canon through all ecclesiastical ages and throughout Christendom. It is impossible in a volume like the present to enter into this great controversy, which has employed the pens of more than twenty critics of reputo during the present century, and which cannot be said to NOTICES IN DANIEL. 205 have been set at rest even by the admirable labors of Auber- len, Hengstenberg, and Pusey. We shall here, of necessity, assume the genuineness and authenticity of the Book, and especially of the chapter (ch. xi.) which bears upon the his- tory of Egypt ; we shall regard it, not as a vaticinium post cventum the composition of a nameless author in the time of Antiochus Epiphanjes but as the genuine utterance of Daniel himself in the years to which he assigns it " the first year of Darius the Mede" (ch. xi. 1), or B.C. 538-7. As the prophecy is too long to be conveniently treated as a whole, we shall break it up into portions, and endeavor to show how far its various parts are confirmed or illustrated by profane authors. " Now I will shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will, and when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to the dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those." DAX. xi. 2-4. This first section of the prophecy has no direct bearing upon Egypt. Its object is to bridge the interval between the date of the vision and the point at which the history of Egypt is to be taken up. The date of the vision is B. c. 538-7, the first year of Darius the Mede in Babylon, and the first of Cyrus (by whom Darius had been set up) in Persia. Egyptian history is to be taken up from B. c. 3*23, at which point, after a long period of subjection to Persia, Egypt be- came once more an independent and important kingdom. What are to be the main events, the great land-marks, of the interval ? The angel who speaks to Daniel thus enume- rates them. (1) There will be three kings in Persia, followed by a fourth richer and stronger than any of them, who will lead a great expedition into Greece. ('2) A mighty king will stand up, greater apparently then even the Persian kings, who will " rule with great dominion, and do according to his will." (3) After this king has " stood up " for a while, his kingdom will be broken, " divided toward the four winds of heaven," not descending to his posterity, either as a whole, or in any of its fragments, but falling into the hands of " others beside those, i.e., of persons not his descend- 206 EGYPT AND BABYLON. ants. Now, profane history relates * that three kings ruled in Persia after Cyrus the Great, viz., Cambyses (from B. c. 529 to B. c 522), Bardes or Smerdis during seven months of B. c. 522, and Darius, the son of Hystaspes (from B. c. 521 to B. c. 486) ; and that these were then followed by Xerxes, the son of Darius, f under whom Persia was at the height of its power and prosperity, until in his fifth year he " stirred up all against the realm of Grecia," and made that great expedi- tion, which still remains one of the most marvelous events in the world's entire history. This expedition fell into B. c. 480, and was followed by a gradual diminution of Persian power, and by wars of no great moment, until, in B. c. 335, a " mighty king " stood up, viz., Alexander the Great, who ruled a greater dominion than had been held by any previous monarch, since it reached from the Adriatic to the Sutlej, and from the Danube to Syene. The wide sovereignty and autocratic pride of Alexander are well expressed by the words " that shall rule with great dominion and do accord- ing to his will" (ver. 3) ; for Alexander brooked no restraint, and was practically a more absolute despot than any Persian king had ever been. At his death, as is well known, his kingdom was " broken up." Though he left behind him an illegitimate son, Hercules, and had also a posthumous child by Roxana, called Alexander, yet neither of these ever suc- ceeded to any portion of his dominions. These fell at first to the ten generals, Ptolemy, Pithon, Antigonus, Eumenes, Leonnatus, Lysimachus, Menander, Asander, Philotas, Lao. medon, and ultimately to Ptolemy, Seleucus, Antipater, Antigonus, Eumenes, Clitus, and Cassander. " And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes [and he] shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement; but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm ; but she shall be given up and they that brought her, and he that be- gat her, and he that strengthened her in these times." (DAN. xi, 5, 6.) That the King of Egypt is meant by " the King of the South " might be presumed from the fact that Egypt formed See especially Herod., ii. 1; iii. 07, 88, confirmed by the Behis- tun inscription. t Herod., vii. 4 et seqq. ES IX DANIEL. 20? the most southern portion of the dominions of Alexander ; * but it is placed beyond dispute or cavil by the mention of Egypt as the country to which the King of the South carried his captives, in verse 8. Profane history shows us that,' after the death of Alexander (B. c. 323), Ptolemy Lagi, who had governed Egypt as Alexander's lieutenant, from its con- quest (n. c. 332) assumed the regal authority, and after a little time the regal name, in that country, and ruled it from n. c. 323 to B. c. 283 a space of forty years. t He is justly characterized as " strong," since he was able to enlarge his original territories by the addition of Phoenicia, Palestine, Cyprus, and the Cyrenaica ; and, though he was sometimes defeated, he was upon the whole one of the most warlike and successful of the princes among whom Alexander's kingdom was partitioned. Another, however, of the princes is truly said to have been " strong above him." The Syrian was undoubtedly the greatest of the kingdoms into which the Macedonian monarchy became broken up ; and Seleucus Kicator, its first ruler, was a more powerful sovereign than Ptolemy Lagi. Seleucus ruled from the Mediterranean to the Indus and from the Jaxartes to the Indian Ocean, having thus a territory five or six times as large as that of Ptolemy. His dominion was emphatically " a great dominion." It was the representative in Western Asia of the Great Mon- archy which had existed in that region from the time of Nimrod, and exceeded in dimensions every such monarchy except the Persian. Seleucus and Ptolemy Lagi maintained on the whole friendly relations ; arid the struggle between the kings of the north and of the south was deferred to the reigns of their successors. Daniel's statement that " in the end of years " the kings of the north and of the south " shall join themselves together " implies a previous rupture and struggle, which is found to have taken place in the reigns of Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus) and Antiochus Soter. A permanent jealousy, and many occasional causes of quarrel, set the two powers in hostility the one to the other ; and in B. c. 209 Antiochus made an ex- * The mouths of the Indus are about parallel with the most southern portion of Egypt, but though visited by Alexander, they can hardly be regarded as within his permanent dominions. t Grote, "History of Greece," voL viii., p. 633; Heeren, " Manuel of Ancient Ilistory," p. 249. 208 EGYPT AND BABYLON. pedition against Egypt, which resulted in complete failure.* leaving a stain on the Syrian arms which it was regarded as necessary to efface. Antiochus II. (Theus) consequently re- newed the war in B. c. 260, and a long contest followed with- out any very decided advantage to either side, until, in B. c. 250, negotiations for peace were set on foot the two kings " associated themselves " (marginal rendering), and in the following year (B. c. 269) it was arranged that Ptolemy II. should give his daughter, Berenice, in marriage to Antiochus Theus, who repudiated his previous wife, Laoclice, in order to make way for her.f The wedding took place ; and thus " the king's daughter of the south came to the king of the north to make (i. e., cement) an agreement " (verse 6). But the well-meant attempt at peace failed. In B. c. 247, on the death of Ptolemy II., Antiochus Theus repudiated his Egyptian wife, and recalled Laodice, who shortly poisoned her husband, and caused Berenice also to be put to death. $ Thus the princess " did not retain the power of the arm " (i. e., the secular authority) ; neither did her husband retain his power, or "stand." The attempted arrangement entL-ely fell through. Berenice herself and her son (" he whom s,ne brought forth," marginal rendering) suffered death ; and the entire party concerned in the. transaction were discredited and placed under a cloud. " But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the south, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail; and shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall con- tinue more years than the king of the north." (DAN. xi. 7, 8.) There are some errors of translation in this passage which require to be removed before its statement can be properly compared with those of profane historians. Modern criticism thus renders the. passage : " But a branch of her roots shall rise up in his place, which shall come against the host, and enter into the strong places of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail ; and shall also carry captive into Egypt their gods, with their images, and * Heeren, p. 236; Smith, " Diet, of Greek and Roman Biography," vol. Hi., p. 586. t Hieronym. ed. Dan. xl. 6; Polyb. v, 18, 10; Athen. "Deipn." ii., p. 45. t Heeren. 1. s. c. See the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. vi., pp. 374, 375. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 209 with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, and [then] for some years he shall stand aloof from the king of the north." History tells us that a branch from the same roots as Berenice, her brother Ptolemy Euergetes, in the year after her murder (u. c. 245), made war upon Seleucus II. (Callini- cus), the son of Antiochus Theus and Laodice, who was im- plicated in the bloody deed, and, having invaded Syria, made himself master of various " strong places " in the country, as especially of Seleucia near Antioch, a most important- city.* He " prevailed " in the wars most completely, captur- ing Antioch, and reducing to temporary subjection the whole of the Eastern provinces Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Media, and Persia.f He stated in an inscription which he set up at Adule, that among the treasures which he carried off from Asia were holy relics (itpa) removed from Egypt by the Persians, J and no doubt, together with these, he would, like other conquerors, include in his booty the " gods and images " of the defeated nations. After the war had lasted four years, Euergetes " stood aloof " from the king of the north, consenting, on account of some internal troubles in his own dominions, to conclude a truce with Callinicus for ten years. " But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through; then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress. And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north : and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given in- to his hand. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands; but he shall not be strengthened by it." (DAX. xi. 10-12.) The construction of the Hebrew is such as to render it uncertain, whose sons are intended in the opening clause of this passage, whether those of the king of the north or of the south. The nexus, however, of the clause with those that follow makes it tolerably clear that the attack this time is on the part of the northern monarch, against whom the king of the south " comes forth, moved with choler " (verse 11), anxious to repel what he regards as an unprovoked as- sault. Now Calliuicus had two sons, who reigned one after * Polyb., v. 58, 11. t See the "Inscription of Adule'," quoted by Clinton ("Fasti Hellimci," vol. iii., page 333, note). . J Ibid. 210 EGYPT AND BABYLON. the other Seleucus III. (Ceraunus) from B. c. 226 to 223, and Antiochus III. (the Great) from B. c. 223 to 187. Of these the elder, Seleucus, is said by Jerome * to have invaded Egypt in combination with his brother, Antiochus, and to have waged a war with Euergetes ; but the silence of pro- fane historians throws some doubt on this statement. " One " of the sons, however, Antiochus the Great, most " cei'tainly," " came, and overflowed, and passed through " the territories of Egypt, attacking Ptolemy Philopator, the son of Euergetes with great vigor in B. c. 219, and in B. c. 218 repeatedly de- feating his forces, and conquering the greater part of Pales- tine, including Samaria and Gilead.f From these conquests he " returned " for the winter to " his fortress " of Ptolema'is,t whence he made great efforts to have everything in readi- ness for a further attack upon his adversary in the ensuing year. In the spring he set forth on his march southward, passed through Gaza, and encamped at Raphia (now RefaJi), a small town near the coast, on the road to Egypt. Mean- while Philopator, " moved with choler," had quitted Alex- andria, at the head of an army of 75,000 men, supported by seventy-three elephants, and had marched to Pelusium, whence, after resting a few days, he proceeded along the coast to Rhinocolura, and thence toward Raphia, where he encamped over against the army of Antiochus. The Syrian forces were somewhat less numerous than his own, amount- ing to only 68,000, but they were stronger in cavalry and in elephants. After some unimportant skirmishing, the two hosls engaged each other; and though the Syrian right de- feated the Egyptian left, and the Asiatic elephants of Antio- chus proved greatly superior to the African ones of his adversary, yet the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Egyptian, who slew ten thousand of the enemy, and took above four thousand prisoners. || The Syrian "multitude " was thus " given into Ptolemy's hand," and a portion of it " taken away " into Egypt. His victory naturally " lifted up " Ptolemy's " heart ; '" he was greatly elated, and is said after the battle to have " abandoned himself to a life of licentiousness." 1f No real advantage resulted to him from his having " cast down many ten thousands ; " the Syrian kingdom remained more powerful than his own, and was " Comment, in Dan.," xi. 10. t Polyb.. v. 69-70. | Ibid., v. 71, 11. Ibid., v. 80, 4. y Polyb., v. 81-80. t Speaker's Commentary," vol. vi., p. 376. NOTICES IN DA NIEL . 1> 11 certain to revenge the defeat of Raphia when a favorable opportunity offered. " The king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multi- tude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. And in those times shall there many stand .up against the king of the south; also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come and cast up a mount and take the most fenced cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him ; and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole king- dom, and upright ones with him; thus shall lie do; and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her^ but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." (DAN. xi. 13-17.) In B. c. 204, thirteen years after the battle of Raphia, Antiochus the Great "returned" to the attack upon Egypt. Having made alliance with Philip III. of Macedon,* he in- vaded Caele-Syria and Palestine with a great army,f and with the good will of the inhabitants, whom the cruelties and ex- actions of Philopator had disgusted, occupied the entire region to the borders of Egypt "the robbers (rather "captains") of the Jewish people joining with him to establish the vision." A turn in the war subjected these rebels to the vengeance of Ptolemy, who recovered Jerusalem in B. c. 200, and took severe measures against the inhabitants, t Two years later Antiochus once more gathered his forces, and marched south- ward. One after another the strongholds of Syria and Palestine fell into his hands. " The arms of the south " were not able to " withstand " him. At Paulas, near the sources of the Jordan, he entirely defeated Seopas,.the chief general of the Egyptian monarch; || after which he besieged him in Sidon, which he took, and a little later re-took Jerusalem. lie then "completely established himself in Palestine," oc- cupying the glorious land," which was no doubt " consumed " by having to furnish supplies for his army. But he did not press forward into Egypt. He "set his face" to establish * Polyb. xv. 20: Liv. xxxi. 11. t Smith, " Diet, of the Hible," vol. i., p. 74. j Joseph., " Ant. Jud.," xii. 3, 3. Appian. "Syriaca," 1; Liv. xxxiii. 19. |i Polyb., xvi. 18, 2; 159, ;); Joseph. 1. s. c. 212 EGYPT AND BABYLON. " equal conditions" (verse 17, marginal rendering). He ar, ranged a marriage between his daughter, Cleopatra, and Ptolemy Epiphanes, who had succeeded his father, Philopa- tor, pledging himself to give over Caele-Syria and Palestine to Egypt as her dowry.* He had no intention, however, of fulfilling this part of the contract. The provinces were not made over ; and Epypt was rather exasperated than amelio- rated by the transaction. Cleopatra herself, instead of main- taining her father's interests, opposed them. Declining to " stand on his side," or " be for him," she maintained her husband's rights, and joined with him in looking to Rome for their vindication and establishment. * Polyb., xxviii. 17, 7; Appian, " Syriaca," 4. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 213 CHAPTER XXIV. FUBTHER NOTICES OF EGYPT IN DANIEL. " After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, aiid shall take many : but a prince for his oVu behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom ; but within few diiys he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle." (DANIEL, ch. xi., verses JS-20.) IN the prophetical Books of the Old Testament, and even in some of the historical ones (Gen. x. 5 ; Esth. x. 1), the expression translated " the isles " or " the islands," designates primarily the shores and isles of European Greece the " maritime tracts " which invited the colonist and the conqueror to brave the terrors of the deep, and journey westward from Asia in search of " fresh woods and pastures new " Antiochus the Great, shortly after concluding his peace with Philopator, undertook an aggressive movement in this direction.* Crossing the Hellespont in B.C. 197, he took possession of the Chersonese with its city of Lysimachia. Five years later, having made alliance with the (Etolians, he moved into central Greece, landing at Demetrias, and soon afterwards making himself master of Chalcis, thereby throwing out a challenge to the Romans, which they were not slow to accept. Rome could not allow the establish- ment of an Asiatic power in Europe ; and her " prince " for the time being, the consul M. Acilius Glabrio, soon " caused the reproach " which Antiochus had " offered " the Romans, " to cease," turning it back upon Antiochus him- self f by the decisive victory of Thermopylae. t Antiochus See Liv. xxxv. 23, 48: Polyb. xviii. 32. t This seems to be the true meaning of the last clause of verse 18. (See "Speaker's Commentary," vol. vi., p. 379.) i Liv. xxxvi. 18, 19. 214 EGYPT AND BABYLON. was forced to quit Greece in haste, * and " turned his face toward the fort " (i. e. the various strongholds) " of his own land," whither he reti'eated in the autumn of B. c. 191. But Rome followed up her advantage. The Roman admiral, JEmilius, swept the fleet of Antiochus from the sea.f Her generals, the two Scipios, Asiaticus and Africanus, invaded Asia in force ; and in B. c. 190 was fought the great battle of Magnesia,:}: which at once and forever established the predominance of the Roman arms over those of the Syrian kingdom, and made Rome arbiter of the destinies of the East. At Magnesia Antiochus " stumbled and fell " with a fall from which there was no recovery, either for himself or for his kingdom. It did not suit Rome at once to enter into possession ; but from the date of the Magnesian defeat Syria lay at her mercy and was practically her vassal. Shortly afterwards (B. c. 187) Antiochus " was not found." He made an expedition into the Eastern provinces, to collect money for the payment of the Roman war contribution, and never returned from it. Rumor said that his exactions provoked a tumult in the distant Elymais, and that he fell a victim to the fury of the plundered people. || He was succeeded by his son, Seleucus IV. (Philopator), who seems to be called " a raiser of taxes " on account of the burdens which the weight of the Roman indemnity compelled him to lay on his subjects, and "the glory of the kingdom " in derision. 1[ He was a weak and undistinguished monarch, whose short reign of eleven years was wholly uneventful. His treasurer, Heliodorus, murdered him treacherously in cold blood,** not having any grievance against him, but simply in the hope of succeeding to his dominions. Thus he was " destroyed, not in anger, nor in battle," by an ambi- tious subject. " And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood * Ibid., xxxvi. 21. t Ibid., xxxvii. 30. J Polyb. xxi. 13; xxii. 8; Liv. xxxvii. 42; Appian, " Syriaca," 33-37. Prophyr. ap. Euseb. ''Chron. Can." I. 40, 12. II Justin, xxxii. 2; Strab. xvi., p. 744. IT Our version gives " in the glory of the kingdom;" but the word " in " is wanting in the original. ** Appian. " Syriaca," 45. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 215 shall they be overflown before him; yea, also the prince of the cove- nant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time," (DAN. xi. 21-24.) Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded his brother, Seleu- cus IV., is almost certainly intended by the " vile person " of this passage. Pie was a man of an extraordinary char- acter. Dean Stanley calls him one of those strange characters in whom an eccentricity touching insanity on the left and genius on the right combined with absolute power and law- less passion to produce a portentous result, thus bearing out the two names by which he was known Epiphanes "the Brilliant," and Epimanes "the Madman."* He was " a fantastic creature, without dignity or self-control, who caricatured the manners and dress of the august Roman magistrates, startled young revelers by bursting in on them with pipe and horn, tumbled with the bathers on the slippery marble pavement, and in the procession which he organized at Daphne, appeared riding in and out on a hack pony, playing the part of chief waiter, mountebank, and jester." f He was not the legitimate heir to the throne ; and " the honor of the kingdom " was in no way formally conferred on him. Nor did he establish himself by force of arms. On the contrary, he " came in peaceably," under the auspices of Eumenes of Pergamos,t and " obtained the kingdom " by bribes, cajolery, and " flatteries." He courted the favor of the Syrian lower classes, of Rome, and of the Hellenizing party among the Jews. At a later date " with the arms of a flood " he " overflowed," and carried all before him, sweej>- ing through Ca4e-Syria and Palestine into Egypt, and receiving the submission of Jason, || the High-Priest of the Jews, or " prince of the covenant," who " made a league " with him, engaging to support his interests in Judiea, and to pay him an annual tribute of 440 silver talents. Anti- ochus, however, after this league, " worked deceitfully," transferring the High Priesthood from Jason to his brother * Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," Am. Ed., vol. iii., p. 254. t Ibid. t Appian, 1. s. c. 1 Mac. i. 17; Appian, "Syriaca," 66. II 2 Mac. iv. 7-10. 216 EGYPT AND BABYLON. Menelaus on receipt of a bribe, and forcing Jason to become a fugitive from his country.* After this he was able, through the support of Menelaus, to " become strong " in Palestine, without maintaining there more than a " small " army. He entered peaceably upon the " fattest places of the province," his authority being generally recognized throughout the fertile tract between Syria Proper and Egypt, though it belonged of right to Ptolemy. That he maintained his influence in the tract by means of a lavish expenditure of money, though not distinctly stated by pro- ' fane historians, is probable enough, since it was certainly the method by which he soon afterwards maintained it in Egypt.f " And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him. and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain. And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be al the time appoint- ed." (DAN. xi. 25-27.) Epiphanes invaded Egypt several times during the earlier portion of his reign. The prophetic vision vouch- safed to Daniel did not very clearly distinguish between the several attacks. If the present passage is to be assigned to any particular year, it must be to i?. c, 171, when Epiph- anes " entered Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, and 'horsemen, and with a great navy " (1 Mac. i. 17). Egypt was then under the sovereignty of Ptolemy VI. (Philometor), who, however, was still a minor, under the tutelage of Eulojus and Lennseus, who received the royal authority as regents. t These chiefs collected as large a force as they could to resist the Assyrian monarch ; but the result of the battle which took place near Pelusium, was the complete defeat of the Egyptians, and the tempo- rary subjection of the larger part of Egypt to the authority of Antiochus. Ptolemy Philometor fell into his enemy's hands, but was honorably treated, the policy of Antiochus being to cajole Philometor into believing that he was his 2 Mac. iv. 23-26. t Polyb. xxviii. 17. | Polyb. xxviii. 17; Hieronym. ed. Dan. xi. Liv. xliv. 1U ; 1'olyb. xxvii. 17. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 217 friend, bent on supporting his authority against that of his brother, Physcon, who had a strong party in the country, especially at Alexandria. We have no full account, in any profane writer, of the history of the period ; but it is quite possible that the loss of the battle of Pelusium was owing to treachery on the part of some of Philometor's ministers (verse 26) ; and it is certain that in the intercourse between him and Epiphanes each king was trying to deceive and over-reach the other (verse 27). Nothing decisive was accomplished, however, as yet ; " the end " was reserved for " the time apointed " (ibid.). "Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits; and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter" (rather " it shall not be at the latter time as the former"). ' For the ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved and return, and have indignation against the holy cov- enant. (DAK. xi. 28-30. ) That Epiphanes on his first invasion of Egypt obtained a considerable booty, which he carried off into Syria, is con- firmed by the First Book of Maccabees (i. 19). That on his return, or soon after, his "heart was against the holy cove- nant " appears both from 1 Mac. i. 20-24 and from 2 Mac. v. 11-21. That after one or two years, he "returned, and once more came toward the south," is also certain, as likewise that he did not fare this time so well as previously, since, though success attended his arms, he w r as " compelled by the ambassadors of various northern kingdoms," supported by the " ships of Chittim " *'. e., the fleets of Rome and Rhodes, to surrender against his will almost all the advantages that he had gained. * This time he returned from Egypt in ex- treme ill temper, and vented his spleen on the Jews by renewed attacks and oppressions. " And at the time of the end shall the. king of the south push at him; and the king of the north shall come against him," (i.e., against the king of the south,) '' like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. And he shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown ; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth also his hand upon * Ewald, " History of the Jews," vol. v., p. 2D7. 218 EGYPT AND BA 13 YL O.V. the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore shall he go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain: yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." (DAJf. xi. 40-45;. The closing scene of the war between the kings of the north and of the south Epiphanes and the brothers Philo- nietor and Physcon came in B. c. 168. Epiphanes having withdrawn into Syria for the winter, leaving his supposed ally, Philometor, at Memphis, and his open enemy, Physcon, in Alexandria, was staggered by tho information, that, dur- ing his absence, the hostile brothers had made up their dif- ferences, and that Physcon had agreed to receive Philometor into Alexandria,* at which place the reconciled enemies were now holding their courts conjointly. An embassy, which met Epiphanes, at Rhinocolura, politely suggested to him, that the end for which he had been waging war the estab- lishment of Philometor' s authority was accomplished, and that nothing remained for him but to sheath his sword and return home. This was felt by Antiochus as a deadly blow struck at his schemes a " push " on the part of the " king of the south," which required to be met by the promptest and most energetic measures. He at once broke up his camp, and marched into Egypt as an open enemy. With the speed of a " whirlwind," he advanced upon Pelusium, " with char- iots, and with horsemen, and with many ships " (verse 40) ; thence, in a more leisurely fashion, he proceeded to march upon Alexandria. Egypt generally submitted to him. The " treasures of gold and silver," and " all the precious things of Egypt " were placed at his disposal by the inhabitants contingents of Egyptian troops were pressed into his service, f and "the Libyans and the Ethiopians," long employed as auxiliaries by ihemonarchs of Egypt, whether native or for- eign, were (as a matter of course) " at his steps " (verse 43). He was drawing near Alexandria with the intention of renew- ing the siege, and with an almost certain prospect of re- ducing the place within a few months, when an unexpected obstacle was interposed. The prophetic vision speaks of " tidings out of the east and out of the north." The " tidings " * Llvy, xlv. 11. \ Ibid., xlv. 12. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 219 told of the near approach of a small body of Romans. These proved to be ambassadors. At their head was a man, who has left an imperishable name in history, C. Popillius Loenas. This bold and haughty envoy, approaching with his small retinue, the master of countless legion held out to him a small tablet, containing a short senatorial decree. " Read this," he said, "at once." The cautious Greek cast his eye over the document, and perceived that it was a positive com- mand to him to desist from hostilities against those who were "the friends of the Roman people.'' Unwilling to seethe prize of victory snatched from his grasp at the moment of success, and hoping to temporize, Antiochus replied, that he would consult his friends on the senatorial proposals and let the envoys have an answer. Popillius had a wand in his hand, the emblem of the ambassadorial office. Hastily tracing with it a circle on the sand round Antiochus, " Consult," he said, "and give your answer before you overstep this line." The Syrian monarch was so astonished and so dismayed that he replied, with the utmost meekness, " I will do as the Senate decrees." * Thus were baffled and confounded the ambitious designs of the " great king," who regarded him- self as the successor of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, and the living representative of Alexander the Great. A brief sentence uttered by a Roman civilian brought a great war to an end and prohibited its renewal. Epiphanes retired from Egypt in greater dudgeon than ever, " deeply grieved and groaning in spirit," as Polybius says,f and sought a species of consolation in increased seve- rity towards the Jews. It was now that he accomplished his last acts of impiety and cruelty upon that unfortunate people, sending against them "Apollonius, that detestable ringleader, with an army of two and twenty thousand, com- manding him to slay all those who were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort " ('2 Mac. v. 24), and soon afterwards polluting the temple in Jerusalem, and wholly forbidding the exercise of the Jewish religion. It was this issue to the wars between the " kings of the north and of the south " that gave to them their great importance in the theocratic history, and rendered them a fitting subject for so long a prophecy as that which we have been considering. * Polyb. -xxix. 11, 1-6; Liv. xlv. 12. * uoj.EVo iv nai auvuv xxix. 11, 8. 220 EGYPT A ND BA B TL ON. Their entire result was, to bring out, more strongly than it had ever been brought out before, the Roman influence over the affairs of the East, to intensify the antagonism between Rome and Syria, to place Egypt under a permanent Roman protectorate, and make Rome the natural ally and defender of every petty nationality which had any inclination to assei't itself against Syria, and could do so with the least hope of success. The close connection between the Roman and Jew- ish people, which, beginning with the embassy of Judas Mac- cabasus in B. c. 161 (1 Mac. viii. 17-32) terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in A. D. 70, was the con- sequence of the Syro-Egyptian struggle, and especially of the war between Epiphanes and Philometor, which there- fore worthily occupies a very considerable space in the pro- phetical synopsis of Daniel. The ultimate fates of Egypt and Babylon, as represented to us in Scripture, offer a remarkable contrast. Babylon is to " become heaps " (Jer. li. 37) ; to be " wholly desolate " (ib. 1. 13) ; " not to be inhabited " (Isa. xiii. 20) Egypt is to be a " base kingdom " (Ezek. xxix. 14) " the basest of the kingdoms " (ib. verse 15) ; but still to remain a kingdom. It is not " to exalt itself any more above the nations ; " it is to be " deminished " it is no more to have " any rule over the nations " (ib.), or to be " the confidence of the house of Israel." But it is to maintain a certain position among the powers of the earth, a certain separateness, a certain low con- sideration. Now this is exactly what has been the general position of Egypt from her conquest by Cambyses to the pres- ent day. Under the Persians she was a sort of outlying kingdom, rather than an ordinary satrapy. She frequently revolted and established a temporary independence, but was soon coerced into subjection. During the earlier portion of the Ptolemaic period, she rose to considerable influence and prosperity ; but still she was never more than a second-rate power. Svria always, and Macedonia sometimes, was supe- rior to her in extent of dominion, power and importance (Dan. xi. 5). Rome made her a province, but a province with a certain separateness, under regulations which were peculiar.* Under the Mohammedans, whether Arabs, Saracens or Turks, she has still for the most part been secondary, either an actual dependency on some greater state, or at any rate over- Tacit " Ann." ii. 59. NOTICES IN DANIEL. 221 shadowed by rivals of superior dignity. A veil hangs over the future ; but, so far as human sagacity can forecast, there seems to be little likelihood of any vital change in her posi- tion. With peculiar characteristics and an isolated position, she must almost of necessity maintain her separate and dis- tinct individuality, even though she become a dependency on a European power. On the other hand, she has exhibited under recent circumstances no elements of greatness, and remains emphatically " a base kingdom " if not even " the basest of the kingdoms." there seems to be no elements out of which her revival and reconstitution as a great king- dom could be possible. THE EWD. INDEX. Abydenus, Greek historian 12 Amilius, Roman general 214 defeat of Antiochus 214 Agriculture of Babylon 96 Ahura-Mazda, Medo-Persian god 94 Akkadian language 34 Akkerkuf , remarkable ruin 9 Alexander the Great, despotism of 206 division of his dominions . 206 Amasis, Egyptian monarch 6(3 Amestris, wife of Xerxes Q3 Amram, mound of, 52 Anepu, identity witli Potiphar 120 Anna, illustrious scribe 119 Antiochus II (Theus,) 208 Antiochus the Great, invasion of Egypt 210 invades Csele-Syria and Palestine 211 concludes peace with Philopator 212 aggressive movement toward Greece 213 death 214 Antiochus Epiphanes, character 215 succeeds Seleucus IV 215 invades Egypt , 216 severity toward the Jetfs 219 Apepi, the last shepherd king 125 monotheistic impulse 127 Apollonius, leader in army of Antiochus 219 proceeds against the Jews 219 Apries, Egyptian monarch 64 Pharaoh of Egypt 200 ally of Zcdekiah 200 reverses and ni utiny 202 Arabia, spices of 72 Aromatics in worship of gods 117 Ashdod revolts from Assyria 190 Asia, Western, idolatry 104 Asses, use in Egypt... 124 Asshur-bani-pal, Assyrian monarch 183 tyranny and cruelty 189 Assyria, relations with Babylonia 16 growing ]x>wer 179 struggle with Egypt and Ethiopia 191 Assyrian Court, transfer to Babylon 18 treatment of captives 19 Empire, ond in 7th cent B.C 21 conquests of Egypt 189 INDEX. 223 Assyrians, early contact with Greeks 38 Astibaras, Median king 24 babel, origin of name 11 tower of native records 12 Babylon, subjection to Eiam 13 first notice in Kings 15 temple of Merodach 23 rising power 27 astronomical calendar 33 learned class 34 governmental system 3J intercourse with Greeks 39 divine origin of kings 39 enormous size ; 50 the " hanging gardens " 54 commercial character. .< 69 building stone used.. 70 reign of Darius 88 great wealth 96 scattered Scripture notices 96 great size 98 destruction prophesied 105 ultimate fate. . . . ." . : 220 Babylonia, ancient cities 7 early cities 8 relations toward Syria 16 importation of metals 71 cultivation of the vine 72 exports 73 grain products 75 laud and water traffic 75-78 liberty allowed to women 102 free use of wine . 103 Babylonian kingdom, early 8 documents, primitive 10 religion 22 expeditions against Jerusalem '. 24 kingdom, civil organization 36 seals 71 court, general character 100 punishments 101 Bata, identity with Joseph 120 Bel Merodach, great temples of [...1....... '. '. 55 Belshazzar, identity of 79 rewards Daniel ! ','. !."".'"!.'!!!.'"].'!!!.'"! 86 defence of Babylon 8(5 Belus, son of Libya (or Africa) 10 Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II 208 Berosus, account of Nebuchadnezzar 197 Birs-Nimrud 9 Bocchoris, successor of Taf reklit 187 Boken-en-ranf. SEE Bocchoris. Bread, Egyptian term for food 164 Brick-making in Egypt 147 Brugsch, Dr ., Egyptologist 151 views of Exodus 151 C. Popilins Lcenas, Roman envoy 219 presents decree to Antiochns 219 Callinicus. SEK Seleucus II 209 224 INDEX. Cambyses marries his sister 92 Camels in the desert 117 Carchemish, decisive battle of 26,196 Carian mercenaries in Egyptian service . 185 Carpets of Babylon 74 Chabas, M., quoted 144 Chaldsean, application of term 34 Chariot force of Egyptians 148 Cleopatra, marriage with Ptolemy 212 Clothing worn by Babylonians . 72 Cyrus, attack upon Babylon 82 assumes Babylonian Sovereignty 88 connection with Darius 89 Daniel, account of Babylon 32 interprets writing upon the wall 86 Book of, authenticity 204 Darius the Median 88 etymology of the name 89 trammeled by Medo-Persian law 93 Ebony imported by Babylon 72 Egypt fails to recover Asiatic dominion 27 a great campaign in 63 invaded from the north 65 notices in Genesis 113 agricultural products ; 116 domesticated animals 116 state-granaries 116 traffic in slaves 118 in time of Joseph 123 as described in Genesis 124 shepherd kings 125 residence oi" pyramid kings 126 obelisk and Fayoum period 126 introduction of the horse 127 in the time of Joseph 128 in Abraham's time 129 notices in Exodus 132 oppression and exodus of Israelites 132 number of Israelites 135 employment of forced labor 144 construction of store-cities 146 political effect of the Exodus 149 accord between Scripture and fact 159 climate 159 cultivated products 160 abundance of water 168 agricultural customs 165 cultivation of fruit 166 stork-raising 1(>6 matrimonial alliances with Ethiopia 169 refuge for political exiles 171 menaced by Western Asia 180 series of civil wars 187.188 prophecies of Daniel 205 and Syria, matrimonial alliance 208 temporary subjection to Antiochus 216 ultimate fate 220 Egyptian Monarchy, antiquity 115 reception of foreigners 115 INDEX. 225 noble life of 119 women, licentiousness 119 monarehs, native, jealousy 129 tradition of the Exodus 137 Egyptians, ethnology of 143 military organization in Pharaoh's time 147 Elamitic conquest of Babylon 13 Eltekeh, battle of, (B. C/701) 119 Embalming among Egyptians 117 Enna. SEE Anna. Epiphanes. SEE Antiochns Epiphanes 216 Ezar-haddon-Assy rian monarch , 189 policy toward Babylonia 18 character and rule 20 Ethiopia, matrimonial alliances with Egypt 616 Ethiopian primitive identity with Egyptians 134 dynasty ends in Egypt 183 Eunuchs at Babylonian court 37 Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar 29 Exodus, date of 133 geographical problems 150 Ezekiel, prophecies of 63 Fish, abundant in Egypt 164 Flax for manufacture 161 Furnaces used by Egyptians 162 Gaza, city in Syria 199 Genesis, notices of Egypt 113 Gerrha, Babylonian settlement 78 Gezer, conquest by Pharaoh 170 Goshen, eastern portion of Delta ""."!.".'."!.".'!'.!."."". 128 "the land of Rameses" "!!."!.".""..!!."!!!. 131 Greece invaded by Autiochus '. 213 Greek mercenaries in Egyptian service 185 Greeks in Babylon 39 Hebrews, identity with the Aperu. . 145 Hezekiah, miraculous deliverance 192 alarmed at advances of Sennacherib 192 Hieroduli, sacred slaves 1 18 Hittites, masters of Syria 138 Hor, restoration of temple of Kueph 202 Horses in Egypt 124-127 Hoshea seeks aid of Shabalc 178 Hyksos, an Asiatic people 123 period, religious views 126 monarchs, residence 126 Inscription, Egyptian, in the Louvre 64 Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar 64-66 Isaiah, mission of 186 prophecies regarding Egypt 186 Israelites, oppression and exodus " ordinary food 163 Jacob, family and dependants 130 Jason, High Priest of the Jews 215 submission to Antiochus 215 Jeremiah describes battle of Carchemish 2tt disarrangement of prophecies 195 Jeroboam's flight to Shishak 171 Jerusalem, Babylonian expeditions against destruction by Babylonians 27 226 INDEX. Jews, position in Banylon 33 Joseph, time of visit to Egypt 123 history of 130 Josephtts, account of Nebuchadnezzar 44 Kasr mound 53 Kathenotheism defined 44 Kadytis, city in Syria. SEE Gaza Khetam, Egyptian term for fortress 153 Klmfu (Cheops) builder of great pyramid 164 Klunzinger, naturalist, quoted 156 Leuormaut, M., account of Menephthah 142 Libyan war, monument account 143 Magdolum. SEE Megiddo 185 Magic in Babylon and Assyria 33 Magicians in Babylon 34 Magnesia, battle of (B. C. 190) 214 Makhir, dream deity of Assyrians 35 Manasseh, capture and reinstatement 18 Manetho, tradition of the Exodus 137 Manufactures of Babylon 73 Medo-Persian government 39 law, inviolability 92 religion 94 Megiddo, battle of 185 Memnon, King of Ethiopia 10 Menephthah I, Pharaoh of Exodus 140 Menzaleh, lake in Egypt 153 Merodach-Baladau, reign of 16 exile and death 16 records of Assyrian monuments 17 alliance with Hezekiah 17 Mesopotamia, geographical position 7 Migdol, generic for watch-tower 155 Mills for grinding grain 162 Mizraim, origin of name 113 Monotheism in Egypt 126 " Mummy wheat " 162 M usic at Babylonia court 33 Musical instruments in Babylon 37 " Nabathrean Agriculture" 9 Nabonidus, dream of 35 deserts his capital 82 Nanarus, the story of 37 Nebuchadnezzar, reign of 21 chronological discrepancies 21 expedition against the Jews 21-22 holy vessels at Jerusalem 22 his exceptional religion - 22 temple at Babylon 23 "Standard Inscription " 23 expedition against Jehoiakim 24 conflict with Necho 26 capture of Jewish people -8 descendants of 30 successors of -''0 character of liis court 315 character 41-41) mixed character of religion 43-46 constructive works 68 INDEX. 227 siege of Tyre 61-04 wars G6-tJ9 invasion of Egypt 200 Necno, king of Egypt 25 detaches Syria from Babylonia 185 Nekn II, sou of Psamatik I 184 leads forces into Palestine 184 Nes-Hor, Egyptian official 64 Nile, middle, inhabitants of 10 valley, rainfall 160 water of 163 Nimrod, Babylonian monarch t 7 Cushite origin 7-10 identity of 9 Nineveh, the Assyrian capital 18 Obelisk period, monarchs of 12ti Oneion, temple of 194 Onias seeks refuge with Ptolemy Philometor 193 Ornaments, personal 161 Palestine and Syria, commercial relations 170 Parsondas, story of 100 Pelusium, battle of 216 Pentateuch, genealogies 134 Per-ao, title of Egyptian monarch 115 Persians, royal judges 92 Pharaoh of Joseph, "the 125 of the Exodus, character of 141 Pharaoh-Xeeho, SEE Neku 11. Philopator defence against Antiochus 210 Physcon, brother of Philometor 217 PianUhi-Merammon, inscription of 187 Piahairoth, meaning and location 154-158 Pithom, ancient Egyptian city 147 Polyhistor, Alexander, Greek writer 12 Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezeltiel 60 Psamatik I. king of Egypt 183 Ptolemy succeeds Alexander in Egypt 207 Ptolemy Euergetes, war upon Seleucus II 209 Punt, Expedition to 118 Pyramid kings of Egypt 126 " Rameses the Great " 137-139 constructive works 139 employment of forced labor 139-144 Rameses. geographical position 152 Kaphia(Refah), Syrian defeat at 210 Roman protectorate over Egypt 220 Rome resents Autiochus's invanion of Greece 213 demands withdrawal of Antioclius from Egypt 219 Sahr-el-Nimrud 9 Saneha, the story of 130 Sargon, king of Assyria 190 Saul-Mngina, punishment of 101 Scopas, Egyptian general 221 Seleucus, dominion of 207 Seleucus II. war with Ptolemy Euergetes 209 Seleucus IV, son of Antiochus 214 Sennacherib, recovery of Babylon 16 expedition into Palestine 181 Serbonis, Lake 155 228 INDEX. Seti I, Egyptian monarch 138 war with Turanian and Semitic races 138 Seven Spheres, restoration 48 Sheshonk I, founder of Bubastite line 172 Palestinian expedition 172 addition to Great Temple of Karnak! '. 173 Shinar, geographical position Shora, celebrated Egyptian plant 156 Slaves, Egyptian traffic 118 value of 118 Spices imported by Babylonia 72 Store-cities, construction of 146 Storms, severe, in Egypt 160 Succoth, rendezvous of Israelites 152 Superstition of Babylonia Kings 48 Susiania, the ancient 10 " Sutech," god of Apepi 126 Syria, Egyptian expeditions 168 commercial relations with Palestine 170 submission to Neko 196 and Egypt, matrimonial alliance 208 Syro-Egyptian struggle 216 Tafuekht, prince of Sais 187 sieges in Lower Egypt 187 Tahark or Tahrak, SEE Tirhakah Tanis, ancient Egyptian town 126 Tel-el-Maskoutah, ancient city at 146 Tel-Nimrud. SEE Akkerkuf "The Two Brothers "a story 119 Thermopylae, battle of 213 Thukut, an Egyptian district 152 Transportation of conquered nations 28 Turhakah, king of Egypt," 181 Tyre, war against 60 Ur, the ships of .s 78 Vine culture in Egypt 166 \V~ady-el-arish, " river of Egypt" 196 Walking-stick of Egyptian? 162 War-chariots in Babylonia 103 Wheat, mummy 161 Wine, varieties used in Babylon 72 free use in Babylonia 103 Woman of Babylon 102 Egyptian, licentiousness. 119 Woods, curious, in Babylon 69 Xerxes, anecdote of 5).'? Yapu r-Shapu 56 Tarn-Soph, name applied to Red Sea 156 Zedekiah, last King of Judah, 200 Zendaveata, the 91 17G14 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. CENTRAL UNIVERS^ University of Cali r