The World's Greatest Books - Volume 11 Part 3

_II.--To the Destruction of Babylon_

Events proved that, at this period at any rate, the decadence of a.s.syria was not due to any exhaustion of the race or impoverishment of the country, but was owing Mainly to the incapacity of its kings and the lack of energy displayed by their generals. The a.s.syrian troops had lost none of their former valour, but their leaders had shown less foresight and skill. As soon as Tiglath-pileser a.s.sumed leadership, the armies regained their former prestige and supremacy.

The empire still included the original patrimony of a.s.sur and its ancient colonies on the Upper Tigris, but the buffer provinces, containing the tribes on the borders of Syria, Namri, Nairi, Melitene, had thrown off the yoke, as had the Arameans, while Menuas of Armenia and his son Argistis had by their invasions laid waste the Median territory. Sharduris III., son of Argistis, succeeded to the throne of Armenia about 760, and at once overran the district of Babilu, carrying by storm three royal castles, 23 cities, and 60 villages. He also captured the castles of the mountaineers of Melitene. Crossing Mount Taurus about 756, he forced the Hitt.i.tes to swear allegiance.

It was in the middle of this eighth century B.C., in the days of Tiglath-pileser III. of a.s.syria, and Sharduris III. of Armenia, that Israel, under Jehoash, and his son Jeroboam II.; inspired by the exhortations of Elisha the prophet, was rehabilitated for a season, winning victories over the Syrians and taking vengeance on Damascus, and then attacking the Moabites. The sudden collapse of Damascus led to the decline of Syria, but though Jeroboam II. seemed to be firmly seated as king in Samaria, the downfall of Israel and Judah alike, as well as of Tyre, Edom, Gaza, Moab, and Ammon, was foretold by the prophet Amos, while from the midst of Ephraim the priest-seer, Hosea, was never weary of reproaching the tribes with their ingrat.i.tude and of predicting their coming desolation.

Ere long, Tiglath-pileser began his campaigns against them by attacking the Arameans, dwelling on the banks of the Tigris. He overthrew them at the first encounter. Nabun.a.z.ir, then king in Babylon, bowed before him and swore fidelity to him, and he visited Sippar, Nipur, Babylon, Borsippa, Kuta, Kishu, Dilbat and Uruk, Babylonian "cities without a peer," and offered sacrifices to all their G.o.ds--to Bel Zirbanit, Nebo, Tashmit, and Nir-gal. This settlement took place in 745 B.C.

His next exploit was the rapid conquest of the mountainous and populous regions on the sh.o.r.es of the Caspian. And now he ventured to try conclusions with Armenia and to attack the famous kingdom of Urartu in the difficult fastnesses round Lakes Van and Urumiah. Crossing the Euphrates in the spring of 743 B.C., he captured Arpad, and soon afterwards marched forth to meet the great army of Sharduris. The rout of the latter was complete, and he fled, after losing 73,000 men. The victor was covered with glory; yet the triumph cost him dear, for the forces left him were not sufficient to finish the campaign, nor to extort allegiance from the Syrian princes who had allied themselves with Sharduris.

After spending the winter in Nineveh, reorganising his troops, the a.s.syrian inaugurated a campaign which ended in the subjugation of Northern Syria and its incorporation in the empire. Only one difficulty foiled Tiglath-pileser. He failed to capture the impregnable fortress of Dhuspas, in which Sharduris had taken refuge. This capital of Urartu held out against a long siege, and at length the a.s.syrian army withdrew.

Sharduris remained king as before, but he was utterly spent, and his power had received a blow from which it never recovered. Since then, Armenia has more than once challenged fortune, but always with the same result; it fared no better under Tigranes in the Roman epoch than under Sharduris in the time of the a.s.syrians.

As for Egypt at this period, it was ruled over by what is known as the Bubast.i.te dynasty, so called from the city of Bubastis, in the Delta, where the Pharaohs of the time, Osorkon I., his son Takeloti I., and his grandson, Osorkon II., for an interval of fifty years chiefly resided, abstaining from politics, so that the country enjoyed an interval of profound peace. But the old cause brought about the fall of this dynasty also. Military feudalism again developed and Egypt split up into many petty states. The sceptre at length pa.s.sed to another dynasty, this time of Tanite origin. Petubastis was the first of the line, but the power was really in the hands of the priests, one of whom, Auiti, actually declared himself king, together with Pharaoh.

Sensational events followed. The weakness of Egypt tempted an uprising of the Ethiopians, who overran a great part of the country. And it was at this period that Tiglath-pileser crushed the kingdom of Israel, King Pekah being compelled to flee from Samaria into the mountains, while the inhabitants of Naphtali and Gilead were carried into captivity.

Nabon.a.z.ir, King of Babylon, who had never swerved from the fidelity he had sworn to his mighty ally after the events of 745, died in 734 B.C., and was succeeded by his son Nabunadinziri, who at the end of two years was a.s.sa.s.sinated in a popular rising, and one of his sons, Nabushumukin, who was concerned in the rising, usurped the crown. He wore it for two months and twelve days, and then abdicated in favour of a certain Ukinzir, an Aramean chief.

But Tiglath-pileser gave the new dynasty no time to settle itself firmly on the throne. The year after his return from Syria he marched against it. After two years of fighting Ukinzir was overcome and captured.

Tiglath-pileser entered Babylon as conqueror, and caused himself to be proclaimed King of Sumir and Akkad within its walls. Many centuries had pa.s.sed since the two empires had been united under one ruler. His Babylonian subjects seem to have taken a liking for him; but he did not long survive his triumph, dying after having reigned eighteen years over a.s.syria, and less than two years over Babylon and Chaldaea.

The next great a.s.syrian name is that of Sargon II., whose origin is not clear. And the incidents of the revolution which raised him to the throne are also unknown. The first few years of his reign, which commenced in 722 B.C., were hara.s.sed by revolts among many of the border tribes, but these he resolutely faced at all points, inflicting overwhelming defeats on the Medes and the Armenians. The Philistines were cowed by the storming of Ashdod, and Sargon subdued Phoenicia, carrying his arms to the sea. This great monarch, while wars raged round him, found time for extensive works of a peaceful character, completing the system of irrigation, and erecting buildings at Calah and Nineveh, and raising a magnificent palace at Dur-Sharrukin.

And here he intended in peace to build a great city, but he was, in 105 B.C., a.s.sa.s.sinated by an alien soldier. Sennacherib, his son, fighting on the frontier, was recalled and proclaimed immediately. He either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.

Instead of conciliating the vanquished, he ma.s.sacred entire tribes, and failed to re-people these with captive exiles from other nations. So, towards the end of his reign--which terminated in 681 B.C.--he found himself ruling over a spa.r.s.ely inhabited desert where his father had left him flourishing and populous cities. Phoenicia and Judah formed an alliance with each other and with Egypt. Sennacherib bestirred himself and Tyre perished. The a.s.syrian invader then attacked Judah and besieged Jerusalem, where Hezekiah was king and Isaiah was prophesying. Whatever was the cause, half the army perished by pestilence, and Sennacherib led back the remnants of his force to Nineveh.

The disaster was terrible, but not irreparable, for another and an equal host could be raised. And it was needed to quell a great Babylonian revolt led by Merodachbaladan, who had given the signal of rebellion to the mountain tribes also. After a series of terrible conflicts, Babylon was taken. And now Sennacherib, who had shown leniency after two previous revolts, displayed unbounded fury in his triumph. The ma.s.sacre lasted several days, none being spared of the citizens. Piles of corpses filled the streets. The temples and palaces were pillaged, and finally the city was burnt.

In the midst of his costly and absorbing wars we may well wonder how Sennacherib found time and means for building villas and temples; yet he is, nevertheless, the a.s.syrian king who has left us the largest number of monuments.

His last years were embittered by the fierce rivalry of his sons. One of these he nominated his successor, Esarhaddon, son of a Babylonian wife.

During his absence from Nineveh, on the 20th day of Teleth, 681, his father, Sennacherib, when praying before the image of his G.o.d, was a.s.sa.s.sinated by two other sons, Sharezer and Adrammelech. Esarhaddon, hearing of this tragedy, gathered an army, and in a battle defeated Sharezer and established himself on the throne.

_III.--The Crisis of the a.s.syrian Power_

Esarhaddon was personally inclined for peace, for he delighted in building; but unfortunate disturbances did not permit him to pursue his favourite occupation without interruption, and, like his warlike predecessors, he was constrained to pa.s.s most of his life on the battlefield. He began his reign by quelling an insurrection of the Cimmerians in the territories on the border of the Black Sea. Sidon rebelled ungratefully, although his father had saved her from desolation by Tyre. He stormed and burnt the city. The Scythian tribes came on the field in 678 B.C., but they were diplomatically conciliated.

Now followed a memorable event. Babylon was rebuilt. Esarhaddon used all the available captives taken in war on the foundations and the fabrication of bricks, erected walls, rebuilt all the temples, and lavishly devoted gold, silver, costly stones, rare woods, and plates of enamel to decoration. The ca.n.a.ls were made good for the gardens, and the people, who had been scattered in various provinces, were encouraged to return to their homes.

But fresh foreign complications arose through the support given continually to recalcitrant states in the south of Egypt. Esarhaddon was provoked to undertake the first actual invasion of Egypt in force by a.s.syria for the purpose of subduing the country. Over a great combination of the Egyptians and Ethiopians he won a crushing victory.

Memphis was taken and sacked. Henceforth, Esarhaddon, in his pride, styled himself King of Egypt, and King of the Kings of Egypt, of the Said, and of Ethiopia. But he was not very long permitted to enjoy the glory of his triumph; a determined revolt of the conquered country demanded a fresh campaign. He set out, but was in bad health, and, his malady increasing, he died on the journey in the twelfth year of his reign.

Before starting on the expedition, he had realised the impossibility of a permanent amalgamation of a.s.syria and Babylon, notwithstanding his personal affection for Babylon. Accordingly, he designated as his successors his two sons. a.s.surbanipal was to be King of a.s.syria, and Shamash-shumukin King of Babylon, under the suzerainty of his brother.

As soon as Esarhaddon had pa.s.sed away, the separation he had planned took place automatically, the two sons proclaiming themselves respectively kings of a.s.syria and Babylon. Thus Babylon regained half its independence. But the a.s.syrian Empire was now at its zenith. Egypt was quelled by the army of Esarhaddon, and to a.s.surbanipal submitted in va.s.salage the nations of the Mediterranean coast.

Now followed years of exhausting warfare and of victory after victory, which fatally wasted the strength of a.s.syria. Never had the empire been so respected; never had so many nations united under one sceptre. But troubles acc.u.mulated. Mutiny in Egypt called for another expedition, which led to the capture and sacking of Thebes. Next came a war with Elam, ending in its subjection to a.s.syria, for the first time in history.

But with success. a.s.surbanipal grew arrogant in his att.i.tude to his brother, the King of Babylon, and a fratricidal war resulted in the defeat and death of Shamash-shumukin and the capture of the rival capital. But a.s.syria was now near one of its recurrent periods of exhaustion, and foes were rising for a formidable attack.

_IV.--Fall of Media and Chaldaea_

At the very height of his apparent grandeur and prosperity a.s.surbanipal was attacked by Phraortes, King of the Medes, who paid for his temerity with his life, being left dead, with the greater part of his army, on the field. But the sequel was unexpected, for Cyaxares, son of the slain Mede, stubbornly continued the conflict, patiently reorganising his army, until he won a great victory over the a.s.syrian generals, and shut up the remnant of their forces in Nineveh.

a.s.surbanipal, after a reign of forty-two years, died about 625 B.C., and was succeeded by his son, a.s.suretililani. Against his brother and successor, Sinsharishkin, the standard of rebellion was raised by Nabopola.s.sar, the governor of Babylon, who declared himself independent, and a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of king, but his reign not long after ended with his death, in 605 B.C. Nebuchadrezzar was proclaimed king in Babylon.

His reign was long and prosperous, and, on the whole, a peaceful one.

The most notable event in the career of Nebuchadrezzar II., was the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, in consequence of a revolt of Tyre and Judea. The unfortunate king, Zedekiah, saw his sons slain in his presence, and then, his eyes having been put out, he was loaded with chains, and sent to Babylon.

Nebuchadrezzar died in 562 B.C. after a reign of fifty-five years. His successors were weak rulers, and their reigns were brief and inglorious.

The army was suffered to dwindle, and the dynasty founded by Nabopola.s.sar came to an end in 555 B.C., when Labashi-marduk, the last of the line, after reigning only nine months, was murdered by Nabonidus, a native Babylonian. This usurper witnessed the rapid rise of the new Iranian power which was to destroy him and Babylon. In 553 B.C., Cyrus, a Persian general, revolted against Astyages, defeated him, and destroyed the Median Empire at one blow.

The only army that was a match for that of Cyrus was the Lydian host under King Croesus. A conflict took place between the two, ending in the defeat of the most powerful potentate of Asia Minor. But Cyrus treated Croesus with consideration, and the Lydian king is said to have become the friend of the mighty Persian. From that day neither Egypt nor Chaldaea had any chance of victory on the battlefield. Nabonidus became a mere va.s.sal of Cyrus, and lived more or less inactively in his palace at Tima, leaving the direction of power at Babylon in the hands of his son, Bel-sharuzu.

At length the Babylonians grew weary of their king. Nabonidus had never been popular, and the discontent of the people at length called for the intervention of the suzerain. In 538 Cyrus moved against Babylon, and Nabonidus now retreated into the city with his troops, and prepared for a siege. But Cyrus, taking advantage of the time of the year when the waters were lowest, diverted the Tigris, so that his soldiers were able to enter the city without striking a blow. Nabonidus surrendered, and Belsharuzur was slain. With him perished the second Chaldaean Empire.

The sagacious conqueror did not pillage the city, and treated the citizens with clemency. Cyrus a.s.sociated his son Cambyses with himself, making him King of Babylon. Nothing in Babylon was changed, and she remained what she had been since the fall of a.s.syria, the real capital of the regions between the Mediterranean and the Zapcos. The Persian dominion extended undisputed as far as the Isthmus of Suez. Under Cyrus took place the first return of the Jews to Jerusalem.

According to Xenophon, the great Persian, in 529 B.C., died peaceably on his bed, surrounded by his children, and edifying them by his wisdom; but Herodotus declares that he perished miserably in fighting with the barbarian hosts of the Ma.s.sagetae, on the steppes of Turkestan, beyond the Arxes. He had believed that his destiny was to found an empire in which all other ancient empires should be merged, and he all but accomplished the stupendous task. When he pa.s.sed away, Egypt alone remained to be conquered. Cambyses succeeded, took up the enterprise against Egypt; but after a series of successes met with reverses in Ethiopia, which affected his mind, and he is said to have ended his own life. Power fell into the hands of a chief of one of the seven great clans, the famous Darius, son of Hystaspes, whose rival was Nebuchadrezzar III., then King of Babylon.

Once more, in his reign, Babylon was besieged and fell, Nebuchadrezzar being executed. He was an impostor who had pretended to be the son of the great Nebuchadrezzar. And now approached the last days of the greatness of the Eastern world, for the eve of the Macedonian conquest of the Near East had arrived.

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS

The Antiquities of the Jews

Josephus's "Antiquities of the Jews" traces the whole history of the race down to the outbreak of the great war. He also wrote an autobiography (see Lives and Letters) and a polemical treatise, "Flavius Josephus against Apion." His style is so cla.s.sically elegant that critics have called him the Greek Livy. The following summary of the "Antiquities of the Jews"

contains the substance of the really valuable sections, other portions being little else than a paraphrase of the histories embodied in the Old Testament.

_I.--From Alexander to Antiochus_

After Philip, King of Macedon, had been treacherously slain by Pausanias, he was succeeded by his son Alexander, who, pa.s.sing over the h.e.l.lespont, overcame the army of Darius, King of Persia, at Granic.u.m. So he marched over Lydia, subdued Ionia, overran Caria and Pamphylia, and again defeated Darius at Issus. The Persian king fled into his own land, and his mother, wife, and children were captured. Alexander besieged and took first Tyre, and then Gaza, and next marched towards Jerusalem.