Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 24 (1/2)
Images of himself were erected on the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean in token of his victories, and cities and palaces were built at home out of the spoils of the conquered lands. Elam and the northern part of Mesopotamia were also subjugated, and rebellions were put down both in Kazalla and in Babylonia itself. Contract tablets have been found dated in the years of the campaigns against Palestine and Sarlak, king of Gutium or Kurdistan, and copper is mentioned as being brought from Magan or the Sinaitic peninsula.
[Sidenote: Naram-Sin.]
Sargon's son and successor, Naram-Sin, followed up the successes of his father by marching into Magan, whose king he took captive. He a.s.sumed the imperial t.i.tle of ”king of the four zones,” and, like his father, was addressed as a G.o.d. He is even called ”the G.o.d of Agad[=e]” (Akkad), reminding us of the divine honours claimed by the Pharaohs of Egypt, whose territory now adjoined that of Babylonia. A finely executed bas-relief, representing Naram-Sin, and bearing a striking resemblance to early Egyptian art in many of its features, has been found at Diarbekr.
Babylonian art, however, had already attained a high degree of excellence; two seal cylinders of the time of Sargon are among the most beautiful specimens of the gem-cutter's art ever discovered. The empire was bound together by roads, along which there was a regular postal service; and clay seals, which took the place of stamps, are now in the Louvre bearing the names of Sargon and his son. A cadastral survey seems also to have been inst.i.tuted, and one of the doc.u.ments relating to it states that a certain Uru-Malik, whose name appears to indicate his Canaanitish origin, was governor of the land of the Amorites, as Syria and Palestine were called by the Babylonians. It is probable that the first collection of astronomical observations and terrestrial omens was made for a library established by Sargon.
[Sidenote: Ur dynasty.]
Bingani-sar-ali was the son of Naram-Sin, but we do not yet know whether he followed his father on the throne. Another son was high-priest of the city of Tutu, and in the name of his daughter, Lipus-Eaum, a priestess of Sin, some scholars have seen that of the Hebrew deity Yahweh. The Babylonian G.o.d Ea, however, is more likely to be meant. The fall of Sargon's empire seems to have been as sudden as its rise. The seat of supreme power in Babylonia was s.h.i.+fted southwards to Isin and Ur. It is generally a.s.sumed that two dynasties reigned at Ur and claimed suzerainty over the other Babylonian states, though there is as yet no clear proof that there was more than one.
It was probably Gungunu who succeeded in transferring the capital of Babylonia from Isin to Ur, but his place in the dynasty (or dynasties) is still uncertain. One of his successors was Ur-Gur, a great builder, who built or restored the temples of the Moon-G.o.d at Ur, of the Sun-G.o.d at Larsa, of Ishtar at Erech and of Bel at Nippur. His son and successor was Dungi, whose reign lasted more than 51 years, and among whose va.s.sals was Gudea, the _patesi_ or high-priest of Lagash. Gudea was also a great builder, and the materials for his buildings and statues were brought from all parts of western Asia, cedar wood from the Ama.n.u.s mountains, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from northern Arabia, gold and precious stones from the desert between Palestine and Egypt, dolerite from Magan (the Sinaitic peninsula) and timber from Dilmun in the Persian Gulf. Some of his statues, now in the Louvre, are carved out of Sinaitic dolerite, and on the lap of one of them (statue E) is the plan of his palace, with the scale of measurement attached. Six of the statues bore special names, and offerings were made to them as to the statues of the G.o.ds. Gudea claims to have conquered Anshan in Elam, and was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu. His date may be provisionally fixed at 2700 B.C.
This dynasty of Ur was Semitic, not Sumerian, notwithstanding the name of Dungi. Dungi was followed by Bur-Sin, Gimil-Sin, and Ibi-Sin. Their power extended to the Mediterranean, and we possess a large number of contemporaneous monuments in the shape of contracts and similar business doc.u.ments, as well as chronological tables, which belong to their reigns.
[Sidenote: Khammurabi.]
After the fall of the dynasty, Babylonia pa.s.sed under foreign influence.
Sumuabi (”Shem is my father”), from southern Arabia (or perhaps Canaan), made himself master of northern Babylonia, while Elamite invaders occupied the south. After a reign of 14 years Sumuabi was succeeded by his son Sumu-la-ilu, in the fifth year of whose reign the fortress of Babylon was built, and the city became for the first time a capital. Rival kings, Pungun-ila and Immerum, are mentioned in the contract tablets as reigning at the same time as Sumu-la-ilu (or Samu-la-ilu); and under Sin-muballidh, the great-grandson of Sumu-la-ilu, the Elamites laid the whole of the country under tribute, and made Eri-Aku or Arioch, called Rim-Sin by his Semitic subjects, king of Larsa. Eri-Aku was the son of Kudur-Mabug, who was prince of Yamutbal, on the eastern border of Babylonia, and also ”governor of Syria.” The Elamite supremacy was at last shaken off by the son and successor of Sin-muballidh, Khammurabi, whose name is also written Ammurapi and Khammuram, and who was the Amraphel of Gen. xiv. 1. The Elamites, under their king Kudur-Lagamar or Chedor-laomer, seem to have taken Babylon and destroyed the temple of Bel-Merodach; but Khammurabi retrieved his fortunes, and in the thirtieth year of his reign (in 2340 B.C.) he overthrew the Elamite forces in a decisive battle and drove them out of Babylonia. The next two years were occupied in adding Larsa and Yamutbal to his dominion, and in forming Babylonia into a single monarchy, the head of which was Babylon. A great literary revival followed the recovery of Babylonian independence, and the rule of Babylon was obeyed as far as the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean. Vast numbers of contract tablets, dated in the reigns of Khammurabi and other kings of the dynasty, have [v.03 p.0104] been discovered, as well as autograph letters of the kings themselves, more especially of Khammurabi. Among the latter is one ordering the despatch of 240 soldiers from a.s.syria and Situllum, a proof that a.s.syria was at the time a Babylonian dependency. Constant intercourse was kept up between Babylonia and the west, Babylonian officials and troops pa.s.sing to Syria and Canaan, while ”Amorite” colonists were established in Babylonia for the purposes of trade. One of these Amorites, Abi-ramu or Abram by name, is the father of a witness to a deed dated in the reign of Khammurabi's grandfather. Ammi-ditana, the great-grandson of Khammurabi, still ent.i.tles himself ”king of the land of the Amorites,” and both his father and son bear the Canaanitish (and south Arabian) names of Abesukh or Abishua and Ammi-zadok.
One of the most important works of this ”First Dynasty of Babylon,” as it was called by the native historians, was the compilation of a code of laws (see BABYLONIAN LAW). This was made by order of Khammurabi after the expulsion of the Elamites and the settlement of his kingdom. A copy of the Code has been found at Susa by J. de Morgan and is now in the Louvre, The last king of the dynasty was Samsu-ditana the son of Ammi-zadok. He was followed by a dynasty of 11 Sumerian kings, who are said to have reigned for 368 years, a number which must be much exaggerated. As yet the name of only one of them has been found in a contemporaneous doc.u.ment. They were overthrown and Babylonia was conquered by Ka.s.sites or Kossaeans from the mountains of Elam, with whom Samsu-iluna had already come into conflict in his 9th year. The Ka.s.site dynasty was founded by Kandis, Gandis or Gaddas (about 1780 B.C.), and lasted for 576 years. Under this foreign dominion, which offers a striking a.n.a.logy to the contemporary rule of the Hyksos in Egypt, Babylonia lost its empire over western Asia, Syria and Palestine became independent, and the high-priests of a.s.sur made themselves kings of a.s.syria. The divine attributes with which the Semitic kings of Babylonia had been invested disappeared at the same time; the t.i.tle of ”G.o.d” is never given to a Ka.s.site sovereign. Babylon, however, remained the capital of the kingdom and the holy city of western Asia, where the priests were all-powerful, and the right to the inheritance of the old Babylonian empire could alone be conferred.
_Rise of a.s.syria_.--Under Khammurabi a Samsi-Hadad (or Samsi-Raman) seems to have been va.s.sal-prince at a.s.sur, and the names of several of the high-priests of a.s.sur who succeeded him have been made known to us by the recent German excavations. The foundation of the monarchy was ascribed to Zulilu, who is described as living after Bel-kapkapi or Belkabi (1900 B.C.), the ancestor of Shalmaneser I. a.s.syria grew in power at the expense of Babylonia, and a time came when the Ka.s.site king of Babylonia was glad to marry the daughter of a.s.sur-yuballidh of a.s.syria, whose letters to Amenophis (Amon-hotep) IV. of Egypt have been found at Tell el-Amarna. The marriage, however, led to disastrous results, as the Ka.s.site faction at court murdered the king and placed a pretender on the throne.
a.s.sur-yuballidh promptly marched into Babylonia and avenged his son-in-law, making Burna-buryas of the royal line king in his stead. Burna-buryas, who reigned 22 years, carried on a correspondence with Amenophis IV. of Egypt.
[Sidenote: Shalmaneser I.] After his death, the a.s.syrians, who were still nominally the va.s.sals of Babylonia, threw off all disguise, and Shalmaneser I. (1300 B.C.), the great-great-grandson of a.s.sur-yuballidh, openly claimed the supremacy in western Asia. Shalmaneser was the founder of Calah, and his annals, which have recently been discovered at a.s.sur, show how widely extended the a.s.syrian empire already was. Campaign after campaign was carried on against the Hitt.i.tes and the wild tribes of the north-west, and a.s.syrian colonists were settled in Cappadocia. His son Tukulti-In-aristi conquered Babylon, putting its king Bitilyasu to death, and thereby made a.s.syria the mistress of the oriental world. a.s.syria had taken the place of Babylonia.
For 7 years Tukulti-In-aristi ruled at Babylon with the old imperial t.i.tle of ”king of Sumer and Akkad.” Then the Babylonians revolted. The a.s.syrian king was murdered by his son, a.s.sur-n.a.z.ir-pal I., and Hadad-nadin-akhi made king of Babylonia. But it was not until several years later, in the reign of the a.s.syrian king Tukulti-a.s.sur, that a reconciliation was effected between the two rival kingdoms. The next a.s.syrian monarch, Bel-kudur-uzur, was the last of the old royal line. He seems to have been slain fighting against the Babylonians, who were still under the rule of Hadad-nadin-akhi, and a new dynasty was established at a.s.sur by In-aristi-pileser, who claimed to be a descendant of the ancient prince Erba-Raman. [Sidenote: Tiglath-pileser I.] His fourth successor was Tiglath-pileser I., one of the great conquerors of a.s.syria, who carried his arms towards Armenia on the north and Cappadocia on the west; he hunted wild bulls in the Lebanon and was presented with a crocodile by the Egyptian king. In 1107 B.C., however, he sustained a temporary defeat at the hands of Merodach-nadin-akhi (Marduk-nadin-akh[=e]) of Babylonia, where the Ka.s.site dynasty had finally succ.u.mbed to Elamite attacks and a new line of kings was on the throne.
[Sidenote: a.s.sur-n.a.z.ir-pal III.]
Of the immediate successors of Tiglath-pileser I. we know little, and it is with a.s.sur-n.a.z.ir-pal III. (883-858 B.C.) that our knowledge of a.s.syrian history begins once more to be fairly full. The empire of a.s.syria was again extended in all directions, and the palaces, temples and other buildings raised by him bear witness to a considerable development of wealth and art.
Calah became the favourite residence of a monarch who was distinguished even among a.s.syrian conquerors for his revolting cruelties. [Sidenote: Shalmaneser II.] His son Shalmaneser II. had a long reign of 35 years, during which the a.s.syrian capital was converted into a sort of armed camp.
Each year the a.s.syrian armies marched out of it to plunder and destroy.
Babylon was occupied and the country reduced to va.s.salage. In the west the confederacy of Syrian princes headed by Benhadad of Damascus and including Ahab of Israel (see JEWS, -- 10) was shattered in 853 B.C., and twelve years later the forces of Hazael were annihilated and the amba.s.sadors of Jehu of Samaria brought tribute to ”the great king.” The last few years of his life, however, were disturbed by the rebellion of his eldest son, which well-nigh proved fatal. a.s.sur, Arbela and other places joined the pretender, and the revolt was with difficulty put down by Samsi-Raman (or Samsi-Hadad), Shalmaneser's second son, who soon afterwards succeeded him (824 B.C.). In 804 B.C. Damascus was captured by his successor Hadad-nirari IV., to whom tribute was paid by Samaria.
[Sidenote: Nabu-n.a.z.ir.]
With Nabu-n.a.z.ir, the Nabona.s.sar of cla.s.sical writers, the so-called Canon of Ptolemy begins. When he ascended the throne of Babylon in 747 B.C.
a.s.syria was in the throes of a revolution. Civil war and pestilence were devastating the country, and its northern provinces had been wrested from it by Ararat. In 746 B.C. Calah joined the rebels, and on the 13th of Iyyar in the following year, Pulu or Pul, who took the name of Tiglath-pileser III., seized the crown and inaugurated a new and vigorous policy.
[Sidenote: Tiglath-pileser III.]
_Second a.s.syrian Empire._--Under Tiglath-pileser III. arose the second a.s.syrian empire, which differed from the first in its greater consolidation. For the first time in history the idea of centralization was introduced into politics; the conquered provinces were organized under an elaborate bureaucracy at the head of which was the king, each district paying a fixed tribute and providing a military contingent. The a.s.syrian forces became a standing army, which, by successive improvements and careful discipline, was moulded into an irresistible fighting machine, and a.s.syrian policy was directed towards the definite object of reducing the whole civilized world into a single empire and thereby throwing its trade and wealth into a.s.syrian hands. With this object, after terrorizing Armenia and the Medes and breaking the power of the Hitt.i.tes, Tiglath-pileser III.
secured the high-roads of commerce to the Mediterranean together with the Phoenician seaports and then made himself master of Babylonia. In 729 B.C.
the summit of his ambition was attained, and he was invested with the sovereignty of Asia in the holy city of Babylon. Two years later, in Tebet [v.03 p.0105] 727 B.C., he died, but his successor Ulul[=a], who took the name of Shalmaneser IV., continued the policy he had begun. Shalmaneser died suddenly in Tebet 722 B.C., while pressing the siege of Samaria, and the seizure of the throne by another general, Sargon, on the 12th of the month, gave the Babylonians an opportunity to revolt. [Sidenote: Merodach-baladan.] In Nisan the Kald[=a] prince, Merodach (Marduk)-baladan, entered Babylon and was there crowned legitimate king. For twelve years he successfully resisted the a.s.syrians; but the failure of his allies in the west to act in concert with him, and the overthrow of the Elamites, eventually compelled him to fly to his ancestral domains in the marshes of southern Babylonia. Sargon, who meanwhile had crushed the confederacy of the northern nations, had taken (717 B.C.) the Hitt.i.te stronghold of Carchemish and had annexed the future kingdom of Ecbatana, was now accepted as king by the Babylonian priests and his claim to be the successor of Sargon of Akkad acknowledged up to the time of his murder in 705 B.C.
[Sidenote: Sennacherib.] His son Sennacherib, who succeeded him on the 12th of Ab, did not possess the military or administrative abilities of his father, and the success of his reign was not commensurate with the vanity of the ruler. He was never crowned at Babylon, which was in a perpetual state of revolt until, in 691 B.C., he shocked the religious and political conscience of Asia by razing the holy city of Babylon to the ground. His campaign against Hezekiah of Judah was as much a failure as his policy in Babylonia, and in his murder by his sons on the 20th of Tebet 681 B.C. both Babylonians and Jews saw the judgment of heaven.
[Sidenote: Esar-haddon.]
Esar-haddon, who succeeded him, was of different calibre from his father.