Part 27 (2/2)

Pileser | built into the S W | | Palace, Nion | Khorsabad; Nimroud; | 722 B C

| Karamless, &c, &c | | | 14 Sennacherib | Kouyunjik, &c | 703 B C

(Son of preceding) | | | | 15 Essarhaddon | S W Palace, Ni) | Nebbi Yunus; Shereef-Khan | | | 16 Sardanapalus III (R) | Kouyunjik; Shereef-Khan | Ashurakhbal (H) | | (Son of preceding) | | | | 17 (Son of preceding) | S E Edifice, Nimroud | | | 18 Shamishakhadon (?) (H)| Black Stone, in possession | | of Lord Aberdeen |

TABLE II--NAMES OF KINGS, COUNTRIES, CITIES, &c, mentioned in the Old Testament, which occur in the A Inscriptions

Jehu, Omri, Menaheon, Sennacherib, Essarhaddon, Dagon, Nebo, Judaea, Jerusalem, Samaria, Ashdod, Lachish, Damascus, Hamath, Hittites (the), Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, Ekron, Askelon, Arvad, Gubal (the people of), Lebanon, Egypt, Euphrates, Carchemish, Hebar or Chebar (river), Harran, Ur, Gozan (the people of), Mesopotaris, Nineveh, Babylon, Elaarenes, Nabathaeans, Aramaeans, Chaldaeans, Meshek, Tubal, assyria, assyrians, Pethor, Telassar

TABLE III--Names of THIRTEEN GREAT GodS OF assYRIA, as they occur on the upright tablet of the King, discovered at Ni of the Circle of the Great Gods

2 ANU, the Lord of the Mountains, or of Foreign Countries

3(?) [Not yet deciphered]

4 SAN

5 MERODACH (? Mars)

6 YAV (? Jupiter)

7 BAR

8 NEBO (? Mercury)

9 (?) Mylit (or Gula), called the Consort of Bel and the Mother of the Great Gods (? Venus)

10 (?) Dagon

11 BEL (? Saturn) Father of the Gods

12 SHAMASH (the Sun)

13 ISHTAR (the Moon)

Although no mention appears to be ned before the twelfth century B C, this is by no means a proof that the e before that tiree with those ould limit the foundation of both to that period The supposition seems to me quite at variance with the testimony of sacred and profane history The existence of the nayptian dynasty is still considered alyptian scholars I have in my former work quoted an instance of it on a tablet of the ti of the fourteenth century B C[261] Mr Birch has since pointed out to ypt, which co been also known as early as the eighteenth dynasty They occur at the foot of one of the colue of Amenophis III, or about the ures, with their arms bound behind, represent Asiatic captives, as is proved by their peculiar features and head-dress, a knotted fillet round the te with that seen in the Nineveh sculptures Each cartouche contains the naht The first is Patana, or Padan-Aram; the second is written A-su-ru, or assyria; and the third, Ka-ru-ka-mishi+, Carchemish On another column are Saenkar (? shi+nar or Sinjar); Naharaina, or Mesopotamia; and the Khita, or Hittites The uous one to the other, proves the correctness of the reading of the word assyria, which ht have been doubted had the name of that country stood alone

Mr Birch has detected a still earlier notice of assyria in the statistical tablet of Karnak The king of that country is there stated to have sent to Thothmes III, in his fortieth year, a tribute of fifty pounds nine ounces of so blue It would appear, therefore, that in the fifteenth century a kingdom, known by the name of assyria, with Nineveh for its capital, had been established on the borders of the Tigris Supposing the date now assigned by Col Rawlinson to the monuments at Nimroud to be correct, no sculptures or relics have yet been found which we can safely attribute to that period; future researches and a more complete examination of the ancient sites may, however, hereafter lead to the discovery of earlier reeneral sketch of the contents of the inscriptions, it may not be out of place to make a few observations upon the nature of the assyrian records, and their importance to the study of Scripture and profane history In the first place, the care hich the events of each king's reign were chronicled is worthy of reular annals, and in soress during a can appears to have been described al illustration of the historical books of the Jews There is, however, this marked difference between the but a dry narrative, or rather register, of ns, spoliations, and cruelties, events of little importance but to those immediately concerned in them, the historical books of the Old Testament, apart from the deeds of war and blood which they chronicle, contain theof private episodes, and the most sublime of moral lessons It need scarcely be added, that this distinction is precisely e ht have expected to find between theive to it a due weight

The monuments of Nineveh, as well as the testimony of history, tend to prove that the assyrian h Eastern despot, unchecked by popular opinion, and having complete power over the lives and property of his subjects--rather adored as a God than feared as a eneral obedience in virtue of his reverence for the national deities and the national religion It was only when the Gods themselves seemed to interpose that any check was placed upon the royal pride and lust; and it is probable that when Jonah entered Nineveh crying to the people to repent, the king, believing him to be a special minister from the supreme deity of the nation, ”arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes”[262] The Hebrew state, on the contrary, was, to a certain extent, a liuided by, the opinion of their subjects The prophets boldly upbraided and threatened thes and menaces were usually received with respect and fear ”Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,”

exclaimed Hezekiah to Isaiah, when the prophet reproved him for his pride, and foretold the captivity of his sons and the destruction of his kingdom;[263] a prophecy which none would have dared utter in the presence of the assyrian king, except, as it would appear by the story of Jonah, he were a stranger It can scarcely, therefore, be expected that any history other than bare chronicles of the victories and triu all allusion to their reverses and defeats, could be found in assyria, even were portable rolls or books still to exist, as in Egypt, beneath the ruins

It is remarkable that the assyrian records should, on the whole, be so free froniloquent royal titles, which are found in Egyptian documents of the sans I have already pointed out the internal evidence of their truthfulness so far as they go We are further led to place confidence in the statements contained in the inscriptions by the very ive the aistrars, ”the scribes of the host,” as they are called in the Bible,[264] being seen in alht to them by the victorious warriors,--the heads of the slain, the prisoners, the cattle, the sheep,[265] the furniture, and the vessels offrom an examination of the assyrian records relates to the political condition and constitution of the empire, which appear to have been of a very peculiar nature The king, we may infer, exercised but little direct authority beyond the immediate districts around Nineveh The assyrian dominions, as far as we can yet learn from the inscriptions, did not extend much further than the central provinces of Asia Minor and Arh probably to the Caspian To the east they included the western provinces of Persia; to the south, Susiana, Babylonia, and the northern part of Arabia To the west the assyrians may have penetrated into Lycia, and perhaps Lydia; and Syria was considered within the territories of the great king; Egypt and Meroe (aethiopia) were the farthest li to Greek history, however, a ned to assyrian influence, if not to the actual assyrian empire, and we may hereafter find that such was in fact the case

I a to the evidence afforded by actual records as far as they have been deciphered

The empire appears to have been at all times a kind of confederation fors were so far independent, that they were only bound to furnish troops to the supreme lord in time of war, and to pay him yearly a certain tribute Hence we find successive assyrian kings fighting with exactly the same nations and tribes, some of which were scarcely ates of Nineveh

The Jewish tribes, as it had long been suspected by biblical scholars, can now be proved to have held their dependent position upon the assyrian king, fro before the tie in Scripture Whenever an expedition against the kings of Judah or Israel is mentioned in the assyrian records, it is stated to have been undertaken on the ground that they had not paid their customary tribute[266]

The political state of the Jewish kingdom under Solomon appears to have been very nearly the same as that of the assyrian eain furnish us with an interesting illustration of the Bible The scriptural account of the power of the Hebrew king resereat inscriptions at Nidoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life He had doion on this side the river, fros_ on this side the river”[267]