1. the chaldean monarchy was the first in order of time. it seems very likely that the first settlement which, in the slow development of the earliest races, finally produced an organized kingdom on the lower part of the euphrates, was made somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 years before the christian era. it is, however, a matter of dispute between the best authorities whether it can be placed so far back. the monuments of that age are difficult to decipher, but it seems pretty certain that a scythian or turanian government preceded that which the traditions of ancient history, the statements of the bible, and the indications of the ruins unite in placing at 2234 b. c. the founder appears as nimrod, or bilu-nipur. many indications render it fairly certain that the early formative stages of a kingdom had already passed, and that nimrod merely changed the capital. the first people had learned to subdue their soil, had begun to build and to bring language and art to some degree of order, when it appears that a hamitic race, more advanced than they, and showing strong likeness to the early egyptians, mingled with them. in the first inscriptions the language is turanian, but the character hamitic, or egyptian. so far as can be judged, the displacement was peaceful and gradual. about the time above named, a man of great genius, nimrod, a hamite, or cushite, as he is termed in the mosaic record, a “mighty hunter,” as his name implies, founded a kingdom farther up the euphrates, and on the plain which lay between the rivers euphrates and tigris.
[48]
2. the existence of the first empire is dimly made out, and that is all. nimrod had clearly a foundation to build on, and he made a great impression on his own times. after his death he was deified under the name of bel, and became the favorite among the fifteen or sixteen principal deities of the early chaldeans. these gods and goddesses seem to represent the heavenly bodies; while the earlier turanian worship was a veneration of the powers of nature. nimrod’s dynasty appears to have covered a period of about two hundred and fifty years, including the reigns of eleven kings. they made great advancement in draining the marshy valley and regulating the supply of moisture to the growing crops. they became expert in the manufacture of cloths and in building with bricks which are covered with inscriptions. the priesthood acquired a strong development at this time, as appears in the ruins and inscriptions of their temples. the kings do not appear to have been very warlike, or to have extended their dominion far.
3. a second chaldean kingdom was founded about 1976 b. c. it is called elam in the bible, and furnishes the first known example of what was afterward so often seen in that region—an extensive kingdom formed by a series of rapid conquests, that fell to pieces again as soon as a vigorous hand failed to uphold it. the kingdom continued till about b. c. 1500. kudur-lagamer, the chedor-laomer of the mosaic account, overran a territory one thousand miles in length by five hundred in width. in one of his incursions into palestine his forces were defeated by abraham, which ended a control over that region lasting twelve years. there is no indication that the following sovereigns exerted authority beyond chaldea and babylonia.
there, however, they grew rich and civilized, extending their commerce to india and egypt, becoming famous and envied for their splendor and luxury. a single small dwelling house of that period has been preserved in the ruins of chedor-laomer’s capital “ur of the chaldees,” south of[49] babylon. it was built on a platform of dried bricks, the walls of great thickness, with two arched doors, and, apparently, lighted from the roof. the rooms were long and narrow. iron was at that time unknown. all implements were of stone or bronze. religion seemed to increase in its grossness, apparently under the policy of the priesthood, who laid the foundation of astronomical science and began to acquire the reputation for hidden knowledge for which they became famous in after centuries. nothing of any importance is related of the kings of this monarchy except the one conqueror. despotism and priestly craft kept most of the feeble tendencies to political improvement curbed—waiting for better times. that arrived with the advent of the assyrian empire, about b. c. 1500.
4. it appears that for a long time before, a family, or tribe, of shemites had been settled in chaldea, where they acquired its civilization and arts, and some time about b. c. 1600 emigrated north, settling on the river tigris. they were a strong race, physically and mentally, quite too fierce and resolute to be held in leading-strings by the chaldean priesthood. the country they occupied was higher and more varied, abundantly supplied with stone, which was wanting in babylonia and chaldea.
here, in process of time, the most vigorous and progressive race that had yet been seen among the families of man, built up a succession of cities within a small circuit, each of which was, at different times, the capital, and which were all finally united and made the famous nineveh of the greek historians, and the immense “city of three days’ journey,” visited by the jewish prophet, jonah. within a few years these ruins have been examined by competent men of science with great care, and have been found to confirm the bible narrative, in all essential points, and most of the glowing descriptions of profane historians; while their higher style of art and greater vigor and pride of achievement led them to build monuments[50] and engrave records that promise to make us very intimately acquainted with their social, political and moral life.
5. they seem to have acquired the habit in chaldea of raising a vast elevated mound for their more important buildings. the largest mound is found to be nearly one hundred feet high, and to cover an area of one hundred acres, and on the summit of this were placed their temples and the palaces of their kings. this immense foundation, it is said, would require the labor of twenty thousand men for six years. after this were to be constructed their vast buildings, covered with sculptures and adorned with statues. another mound, higher but embracing a smaller area—about forty acres—served the same purpose.
they were extremely religious in their way, but the vigor of the kings appears to have overshadowed the priesthood much more than in chaldea. it seems to have been about three hundred years after the establishment of this enterprising stock in assyria that they became famous for foreign conquest. babylon had been gradually rising in importance, often in subjection, more or less nominal, to the growing northern power, but retaining its own kings and habits.
6. the reign of shalmaneser i., about 1290 b. c., was distinguished by his building a new city and improving his kingdom; and his successor, in 1270, signalized his reign by establishing, for a time, a complete sovereignty over babylon, and the historical assyrian empire is commonly dated from that event. for a century and a half there are few important records. tiglath-pileser i., in b. c. 1130, commenced a series of efforts to extend his dominions by conquest, which his success led him to describe with unusual detail. it embraces five campaigns and a description of the conquest of all the neighboring people. he established a compact and powerful empire, which was surrounded by wild tribes whose conquest was of little honor or value, and whom it was difficult to hold long in subjection. in a return from a campaign against babylon, which he had conquered, he suffered a great reverse,[51] losing the images of his gods which he kept in his camp for protection and assistance in his enterprises; and they were carried to babylon, remaining there, it is said, 400 years. a long period of apparent quiet was followed, after more than two hundred years, by another warlike king who pushed his conquests to the mediterranean sea. his public works were larger and more magnificent than those of any of his predecessors. he has recorded ten successful campaigns.
7. his son, shalmaneser ii., increased the number, extent and thoroughness of the conquests of his father. still, most of the countries conquered retained their laws and government, simply paying an annual tribute, and the conquest set lightly on them. babylon seems to have retained comparative independence. in the following reign, babylon was captured and remained some time tributary to assyria and the ninus, or iva-lush iv., whose wife was the celebrated semiramis, still further extended assyrian power. the wonderful tales related by grecian historians of semiramis are not confirmed by the monuments. she appears to have been an energetic babylonian princess, the principal queen of ninus, who ruled conjointly with him. the novelty of a female ruler in that rude age, and the splendor of the empire at the time, seem to have originated the fabulous tales related of her.
8. at this time the development of the people of all the western parts of asia was so great, and the wars as well as peaceful intercourse of different nations had so stimulated them all, that improvement kept a tolerably even step. multitudes of populous cities and kingdoms existed in all directions. the magnificence of solomon belongs to this period, the jewish monarchy having reached the height of its glory and power, too high to be long endured by the proud and enterprising assyrians. commerce filled the east with activity and manufactures flourished, in some directions reaching a high degree of excellence. a true progress marked the general course of human effort. the psalms of david show to what a lofty point the religious ideas of that age were[52] capable of being carried. industrial pursuits and agriculture reached, in the next hundred and fifty years, the highest development they ever attained in some regions.
9. in the midst of this busy industry nineveh rose, peerless in grandeur, enriching herself with the tribute and spoils of all countries, beautified by the master race, which was wise enough not to dry up the sources of their prosperity by the destruction of cities and kingdoms. the common policy, up to nearly the close of her splendid career, was to leave the real resources of all conquered nations untouched. after defeating her opposer in a battle, she received the submission of the king, imposed a heavy tax, or forced contribution, and an engagement to pay a definite annual tribute, and went on her way to subdue another nation to a like formal control. with misfortune, or a change of rulers in the dominant kingdom, the subject-kings would withhold tribute, raise an army, and the whole work of conquest had to be repeated.
thus the empire consisted of a stable nucleus, assyria, and a vast floating mass of half independent kingdoms, states and cities which were now submissive and now in revolt. we may easily conceive how this comparatively mild mode of warfare would contribute to the general advance of the whole population. this mingling and clash of armies, surging to and fro of vast bodies of men, and the knowledge and culture received from the great and wealthy capital made the school of that period for the education of humanity.
10. the assyrian annals show a continued growth in splendor and power and extent of dominion until the very eve of its fall. in the course of that time egypt was invaded and partially subdued for the first time; and, in the impatience of frequent revolt, the practice commenced of removing whole nations from their original homes, supplying their place by others. thus the ten tribes were transported from their homes in samaria, and other nations brought to occupy their places.
the last king of assyria inherited an authority that[53] extended farther and over larger numbers than had ever before been known. the vigorous governing race were perhaps corrupted and weakened by a thousand years of power and success; but various extraordinary circumstances united to bring on a sudden catastrophe. a considerable part of the central kingdom was devastated by an irresistible host of scythians, immediately after which the medians, who were as fierce and warlike as the assyrians in their best days, attacked assyria. a large army, sent by the king to meet the invaders, went over to the enemy by the treachery of its general, nabopolassar, and the combined armies laid siege to nineveh, which fell, the king burning himself and his family in his palace. nineveh was destroyed, and nabopolassar received as his reward the kingdom of babylonia, and the assyrian conquests in the south and west. he founded the
11. babylonian empire, which has made a greater impression on posterity than nineveh. he was a man of great energy and resources. the treasures and captives of that mighty city, that fell to his share, were employed in rebuilding and improving babylon. during his reign of twenty-one years, and the forty-three years of his still more illustrious son and successor, nebuchadnezzar, that city was made the wonder of the world. each side of it was fifteen miles in length, the river euphrates passing through its center. they repaired the wall, which was eighty-seven feet thick and more than three hundred feet high. this wall was so immense as to contain more than twice the cubic contents of the great wall of china, which is 1,400 miles in length, and the vast enclosed space was filled with palaces, temples, hanging gardens, and all the impressive evidences of boundless power and resources in which the gross ambition of that period delighted. a second wall was built within the first, the river was, for a time, turned out of its bed and its bottom and sides paved with masonry, and huge walls erected on either bank; canals and aqueducts, for agricultural purposes, of the most stupendous character, were constructed all over the broad valley. the[54] wealth and energies of the richest and most populous part of asia, as then known, were employed to build up the great capital and improve the central province.
12. the jews were kept there, as captives, for seventy years, all the treasures of their city and temple, and the accumulated wealth of their nation, were poured into the babylonian treasury, and their people employed, with other countless multitudes, in the construction of its walls and buildings, and the cultivation of its fields. tyre, the most renowned commercial city of ancient times, was taken, after a siege of thirteen years, and much of egypt was reduced.
it was the culmination of the centralizing system of the assyrians and chaldeans which had lasted for two thousand years.
13. a dominion so resting on physical force, and gorged with booty wrested from others, with no moral power or national spirit underlying it, could not last long. a more vigorous and warlike power rose by the union of the persians and medes under the persian warrior, cyrus, who, after a series of conquests farther north and west, in asia minor, turned his arms against babylon. the walls were impregnable, but the river proved a source of weakness. it had been once diverted from its course to pave its bed within the city; the hint was accepted, and, on a night of feasting and carelessness, it was again turned aside to give free entrance to the besiegers, and the babylonian empire fell in the very height of its pomp and glory. we find a regular progress in organization, in most institutions, from the first chaldean to the last babylonian empire. in popular religion alone was there an increasing grossness, which reached its limit about this time by the fall of the chaldean priesthood, purer practices and ideas were circulated by the jews in their captivity, and the magian religion was reformed by zoroaster.
14. the medo-persian empire lasted for 200 years. those nationalities were both of the aryan or indo-european race. they had long been maturing on the highlands bordering the[55] north and east of chaldea and assyria, with which their connection was close enough to communicate the general value of the growing organization, but too slight to drag them down to its level. they brought now, to the common stock of progress, the freshness of youth and the healthy habits and pure blood of the mountaineer. they had a higher capacity for organization, by which the experience and progress of the older nations, for more than two thousand years, was prepared to profit. they had already subdued asia minor and their vast empire soon extended from india to the sea that washed the shores of greece. a complicated civil and military organization consolidated this extensive region more perfectly than before by armies and governors located in each nation and principal city; a system of easy communication was introduced; and the preparation for the higher greek models of thought, and the severe regularity of roman institutions went on apace.
15. babylon fell gradually into decay, being only occasionally the capital of the persian empire; the love of the sovereigns of that race for their native highlands leading them to build splendid capitals in the borders of their own country. a reform of great significance occurred about this time in the persian national religion, which gradually displaced the debasing superstitions and gross idolatry of all the nations of the empire.
the government was still despotic, somewhat relieved by the more humane and independent habits and traditions of a hardier race. a number of changes of dynasty by violence occurred, but they were merely revolutions of the palace. the vast wealth and power inherited from the subject empires gradually corrupted the conquerors. their armies became vast crowds of comparatively undisciplined troops, who were accustomed to bear everything before them by their irresistible weight. their conquests on the northern and eastern coasts of asia minor brought them in conflict with the greeks, who had many colonies long settled in that region, and the persians[56] soon undertook to subdue that intelligent and independent people. their signal failure had the effect to greatly stimulate the development of the greek national spirit, and to awaken its intellectual enthusiasm, and the mighty armies of the persians were destined to be annihilated by the small but resolute forces of the little republics.
16. thirteen sovereigns ruled during the continuance of the persian empire. except the conquest of egypt, they did not very greatly extend the boundaries formed by cyrus; but the national features of the subject peoples were gradually effaced, and the whole brought to the common level of civilization. when alexander, the great grecian soldier, appeared with his army of 35,000 men he scattered the hosts of the persian king, darius, as the wind drives the leaves of the forest; and the vast empire, so long accustomed to bow to the fate of battles, became the unresisting heritage of the conquerer.
these five great monarchies were continuous—in part on the same soil—the centre having always been the fertile valleys of the euphrates and the tigris; the successor stepping into the place and carrying out the general plans of his immediate predecessor, but on a broader scale and in an increasingly enlightened manner. through all these long centuries a mysterious, and, apparently, still more ancient race had occupied egypt, only occasionally interfering with, or being disturbed by, the surging sea of strife that raged and foamed so near them, which at length forced them from their seclusion and bore them on in the general tide of improvement.
17. the egyptian monarchy presents many very curious and difficult problems. possessing the most perfect organization in the earliest times of which we have any knowledge, the traces of its beginnings quite fail us, although, more than any other nation, it loved to build great and impressive monuments and record on them, in the most minute manner, the singular habits and monotonous daily life of its people. the first of those monuments, which, by many signs, must date very nearly as far back in the remote past as the earliest dawn of[57] organization among any other people of whom we can gather any certain traces, indicate a long settled state, a high degree of organization, considerable culture and great resources.
18. the first king, who is called menes by several independent and very ancient authorities, made his reign memorable by a system of vast and useful public works. it is conjectured that the previous rulers were the sacerdotal class and that, up to that time, they had no kings. the habits of the people were quiet and peaceful, and they seem to have been first gathered around temples. in all stages of their history, down to the time when foreign intrusion by force disorganized their peculiar institutions, the priesthood was the most influential element in their constitution, and their sway seems to have been, in some respects, singularly mild and beneficent. except for the extreme inflexibility and minuteness of their regulations, which repressed all spontaneous growth, and the gross and absurd worship of animals which they introduced, they might be considered an unmixed blessing to those early times. it is certain that they were successful in controlling men and moulding them to their own views without producing discontent or revolt.
19. everything in egypt was remarkable—its river, its country, and the institutions and habits of its people. the egyptians dwelt in the valley of the nile for a space of 500 miles above its mouth; but this valley was so narrow that the habitable part of it contained only about 6,000 square miles in all. it was shut in by the red sea on the east and by trackless deserts on the west, and a fall of rain was so rare as to be considered a prodigy. in june each year their mysterious river, whose sources are yet almost unknown, began to rise till it covered the whole valley like a vast sea. the rise and fall occupied the summer months and to the middle of october. the waters left a rich coating of mud and slime, which rendered the valley fertile beyond measure. the productive season occupied the remainder of the year, and their agricultural resources were only limited by their skill in spreading and[58] husbanding the fertilizing waters. vast canals and reservoirs covered the whole valley. lake moeris, a reservoir partly natural and partly artificial, was said by the first greek historian, herodotus, to have been 400 miles in circuit. when the waters had reached their highest point, the cisterns, canals and lakes were filled and the waters kept in reserve for late periods of the year, and a succession of crops.
20. the mysterious character of the river seems to have deeply impressed the nation with awe and reverence for unseen powers, and contributed to the influence of the priestly caste. their peculiar source of wealth and the amount of leisure periodically afforded, perhaps led to the construction of the temples and palaces, whose gloomy strength is as mysterious as their river, or the origin of the people. far back in the twilight of time, thebes, the “city of a hundred gates,” was a colossal capital. its vast temples and palaces were built on a scale of grandeur that seems almost superhuman; yet, before history begins its narrative in greece, thebes had had its youth, its long period of splendor and glory, its hoary age, and was already a thing of the past, and nearly in ruins; not by violence or conquest, but by the natural transfer of the center of activities to another region. considering the small extent of egypt, its always overflowing population, and the tenacious habits of the egyptians, nothing could more impressively show its great age.
21. egyptian sculpture was descriptive of religious ceremonies on the temples, and on the palaces of domestic life and general habits, and furnishes us with details of the whole social structure and all their industrial pursuits, as well as the events in the campaigns of their few warlike monarchs. add to these the minute delineation of their temple service and religious teachings, and its ruins describe the entire round of its ancient life.
the people were divided into classes, or castes, the son being obliged to follow the occupation of the father; and all branches of business and industry, public and private, were arranged in[59] the most methodical manner. the priest, the soldier, the husbandman, the artisan of whatever branch, was so because his ancestors had been such for numberless generations. a king could be selected either from the priestly or the soldier caste; but he must previously have been initiated into all the mysteries of the priesthood, and therefore moses, the acknowledged heir of the throne, “was learned in all the wisdom of the egyptians.” otherwise, not belonging to the priestly caste, he must have remained in ignorance. with this exception, the priest alone had the key of knowledge, and all the employments requiring intellectual studies, or scientific culture, as we should now say, were filled from that class. they kept all records, measurements, and apportionments of land; prescribed the times, seasons, and conduct of all public transactions; were the constitutional advisers of the king; they were physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and guides of the people in every respect. they alone did the thinking, and they guarded their prerogative with the most jealous care.
22. a people are debased and gross in proportion to their ignorance, and the ignorant masses of egypt were amused with the greatest possible multiplication of gods, and their leisure and simple minds fully occupied in religious ceremonies and absurd fictions. but the priests were as wise and moderate as they were crafty and persistent. their discipline was extremely judicious and well administered, and was laid on the king as well and sternly, as to his general life, as on the lowest peasant. the priesthood were as absolute, as impartial, and as unvarying from age to age as it is possible to conceive. their services to humanity were very great. they laid the foundation among men, of unvarying law, of diligence in the employment of time, of exactness in the division of labor, and inculcated, in an effective way, the idea of divine justice and of immortality.
23. their “wisdom” was the highest and the most fruitful that was, perhaps, possible in their times; their fame was wide-spread, and their influence on the legislation of other[60] lands has laid all ages under great obligations. the political economy of the jews was the product of one of their most intelligent disciples, and the fact that he was so probably added greatly to his influence and success with his own people; and all the great legislators, philosophers, and historians of greece went to them to complete their education. in after times, when the nation lost its liberty and became the province of a distant kingdom, they sunk the priest in the scholar, and egypt had the largest libraries and the most eminent philosophers in the world. after greece was carried, as it were, bodily, to rome, far down into the christian era, alexandria was the university of the world.
the history of egypt is thus entirely peculiar, being mainly that of its own influential class. they impressed a peaceful, generally virtuous, laborious, as well as monotonous character on its history, and, besides the vast monuments which the patient industry they inspired reared up, and the names of their interminable list of kings, there was, perhaps, little to record.
24. the entire number of their dynasties of kings, as they have handed them down to us, is thirty-two, the last being the ptolemies, founded by a greek general of that name, after the death of alexander the great, which lasted more than three hundred years, closing b. c. 44. the first twelve dynasties are called the old empire, whose period it is impossible to determine accurately. the five following dynasties are ascribed to the reign of foreigners, called “shepherd kings,” who are supposed to have established their authority between the times of joseph and moses, and are called the middle empire; while thirteen dynasties, including the royal families that reigned down to the time of the conquest of egypt by the persians, comprise the new empire. they were generally exclusive, shut up within themselves, too much absorbed in exact observance of the endless routine prescribed by their priests to be inclined to the ambition of foreign conquest; but several of their kings gathered large armies and invaded[61] palestine and syria, or made a trial of strength with the assyrians or babylonians. they never made permanent conquests in that direction. some of the later kings became friendly to the greeks, and employed them in their armies, to the great disgust of their subjects, the soldier caste retiring, almost in a body, to ethiopia, and refusing to return. the kingdom soon after fell into the hands of foreigners, and the accumulated discipline, knowledge and wealth of that wise people became the inheritance of humanity.
nebuchadnezzar was the first who made a conquest of egypt, but the country soon regained its independence. it was not till after the death of cyrus, and when the details of the new medo-persian kingdom had been settled, that cambyses, the son of cyrus, subdued the whole of egypt, and made it a persian province, in which condition it remained most of the time to the grecian invasion.
25. about twenty-five hundred years before the time of alexander the great, the cities of sidon and tyre were founded, in phenicia, on the eastern shore of the mediterranean sea. their territory extended only twenty miles back, from the sea. they were of the semite race, and their enterprising spirit led them to build ships and become at first pirates and then merchants. they were thrifty and grew rich, improved their vessels and became famous for their commerce. they at length planted colonies for trading purposes on the northern coasts of africa, in sicily and in spain.
one of those colonies, carthage, became more wealthy and powerful than the parent state. the merchandise they gathered from distant countries they distributed through asia by a land trade, and their caravans reached nineveh, babylon and persia, and, for long periods, were almost the only link that joined egypt to the rest of the busy and growing world. they learned many useful things among the egyptians, among others the invention of letters, or at least hints on which they improved. many flourishing cities were built up by this internal commerce in places surrounded by desert regions, as[62] baalbek and palmyra in syria, and petra in arabia, a city excavated in the rocks, which, lying between syria and phenicia in the north and the rich districts of arabia in the south, and between babylon and persia on the east and egypt on the west, became a great mercantile depot. the phenicians were the busiest and most enterprising people of ancient times. their vessels reached the shores of england, where they had valuable mines of tin, as of silver in spain; they visited the northwest coasts of africa and the madeira islands, and brought the rich products of india and gold from eastern africa to the markets of the world. the amount of their contributions to civilization and progress by making known the discoveries and arts of distant nations to each other, by causing roads and inns to be built, and facilitating communication, was immense; as well as by awakening the love of gain and turning the activities of a part of mankind from warlike to more peaceful and useful pursuits. the arts and inventions that have done the most, in the long run, for the improvement of men, as shipbuilding and writing, were communicated from one nation to another. their commercial routes were the highways over which the intelligent and inquiring greeks traveled in search of the knowledge which they used for the education of their people. tyre was destroyed by alexander b. c. 332; but he replaced it the same year by building alexandria, at the mouth of the nile.
26. we have thus seen nations and institutions gradually unfolding, passing through a period of youth, of vigorous organic action, and finally decaying, to give place to another of higher order which inherited all its general gain and proceeded to carry still further the banner of civilization. as this process continues the field widens, and with the increasing number and variety of the elements engaged in acting upon one another, the product becomes more valuable, the organization more complete and the institutions more useful.
the institutions purely political, however, the modes of[63] government and the style of administering them, are imperfect, at best. they are too arbitrary, too restrictive; the masses are too large and too closely crowded to permit free play to the component parts. the mingling of the whole was, at first, evidently necessary to prevent the crystalizing of the separate nationalities and the arrest of progress; but when that process was stopped and a plastic condition and progressive tendency assured, the absolute despotism of the king and the priest stood in the way of advance. they had educated society and developed its resources until a power of vast combination had been gained; then a change must be introduced, or the entire resources of the civilized world would be employed to repress its further advancement, the fountains of wealth would be exhausted and the springs of activity dried up. this barrier against a destructive centralization had long been preparing among the grecian states.
