HISTORICAL COMPEND.

CHAPTER I.

ASSYRIA.

BRIEF HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE,* FROM ITS

FOUNDATION TO THE REIGN OF NINYAS.

THE history of the world, for the first eighteen centu ries, is nearly buried in oblivion. From the creation to the deluge, little more has reached us, than the genealogy of the patriarchs, together with a brief account of the vices of the antediluvians, and of the ruin which they incurred.

The first dawn of the light of civil history, extends not beyond the foundation of the ancient kingdom of Babylon, or Assyrian empire: and even there, it shines with faint and dubious beam.

(Nimrod laid the foundation of the city and of the kingdom of Babylon. The beginning of his kingdom, says the sacred historian, was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Nimrod was the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great grandson of Noah. The era, in which the foundation of this first of empires was laid, is fixed, by the concurrence of most chronologers, in the year of the world 1800, about a century and a half after the deluge, and 2204 years before the birth of Christ.

There is nothing known respecting the character and government of Nimrod, excepting what we find in the writings of Moses; and the account there given is very concise. He is called a mighty hunter, and is said to have had a kingdom, the beginning of which was Babel or Babylon. The probability is, that Ham and his sons, who The Assyrian empire is here considered the same, as the Babylonian empire. Ed.

founded Babylon and Egypt, early rebelled against Noah, the great patriarchal head and natural chief of the whole race; whereupon Noah, and such of his descendants as adhered to him, moved eastward, crossing Persia, India and China, to avoid the fury of this unnatural rebellion.

Noah would be most likely to emigrate, or to settle, with one of his sons, on whom his prophetic benediction rested, and especially with Shem, whom he considered in the line of the Messiah. Elam, the eldest son of Shem settled in Persia, and it is highly probable, that Noah himself went still further east. The great antiquity of the Chinese empire, their original character and manners, and the peculiarity of their language, both written and spoken, are proofs, that they are one of the most ancient nations and governments, and that their founders were among the wisest of the human race. To this, if we add the abundance of their traditions concerning the flood, and of things which with little alteration will apply to Noah, and to him only, we can scarcely doubt, that either that patriarch, or some of his descendants near his time, founded that empire. To all this, if we add the silence of Moses' history concerning Noah after the flood, we shall be confirmed in the belief, that he actually retired from western Asia, the general scene of that history; and, for reasons equally strong, shall see no room to conjecture, that he moved northward into the cold inhospitable wilds of Europe. That region was left to be explored and settled by some of his more hardy, enterprising sons.

The career of government began with simple monarchy. It was no doubt first suggested, by the authority, which nature gives the parent over his child; for, no sooner did experience show the utility of combining the strength of a multitude in one exertion, than the importance of a centre of union, was seen. To give energy and system to any combination, to render it durable, wieldly and effective, there must be a directing head.

A discerning, ambitious man, clothed with patriarchal authority, might soon see numberless ways of extending his prerogative, and strengthening the nerves of his power. Indeed, before parental authority was amenable to a higher court, it is not easy to conceive of a monarchy more unlimited. In a number of particular families, the chief of each house would form a subordinate rank. They would naturally give place to the heads of tribes, and each of

them unite in one patriarch, or grand chief. Such, probably, was Nimrod. By what other means, less laudable, he raised himself to power, is only matter of conjec

ture.

We have already said, that Nimrod's achievements are not particularly known. He first employed his arms successfully against wild beasts, and became, as Moses styles him, a mighty hunter. He next made war upon his own species, and founded his empire in blood. But we remain ignorant of the extent of his dominions, or the duration of his reign. His son and successor was Ninus, whose name, together with that of Semiramis, is rendered famous by the exploits they are said to have done. Ninus built, or rather enlarged, the city of Nineveh, which is said to have been 60 miles in circumference, inclosed by a wall 100 feet high, and fortified with 1500 towers 200 feet high. Ninus engaged in many wars, and enlarged his dominions on every side, particularly eastward, for he is said to have led armies into India. Semiramis, his queen, who survived him many years, and reigned in great glory, rendered her name immortal, by an extraordinary course of splendid actions. Many superb structures and works of magnificence about Babylon, are ascribed to her; in the building of which she employed two millions of men.

If historians deserve credit, ancient Babylon was the noblest city ever built by man. It stood on a fertile and beautiful plain, watered by the river Euphrates, which passed through the midst of the city. Its walls, which were carried to the astonishing height of 360 feet, were 87 feet in thickness, and inclosed an exact square, whose side was 15 miles; so that the city was sixty miles in circuit. There were fifty grand streets, that is, twenty-five running each way, on right lines parallel to each other. They were 150 feet wide, and crossing each other at right angles, they all terminated in four streets, which lay round next to the wall on every side of the city, 200 feet wide. Thus the city was laid into 676 squares of 100 rods on each side. These squares were lined with numberless edifices beside houses generally three or four stories high; and within the squares were innumerable delightful plantations; pleasure grounds and gardens. But this must be understood of the city rather as it was in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, or Nitocris his daughter-in-law, than as it was in the days of Semiramis.

Though the city stood on a plain, yet the celebrated hanging gardens overlooked the walls. They raised a square of buildings four hundred feet on each side, internally supported by arches raised on arches, and without by a massy wall many yards in thickness. These works were carried up to the height of the wall, and over all a platform was laid four hundred feet square, formed by flat stones of an amazing size, over which were layers of reeds, then bricks cemented, and plates of lead, and then the earth for the garden, in such thickness as to support trees of the largest size. They were watered by an engine from the bed of the Euphrates. Brevity forbids, that we give a description of the tower of Babel, forty rods square at the bottom, and upwards of 600 feet high, or the moat which encompassed the walls, the bridge over the Euphrates, the palaces and the subterraneous ways.

Many of these wonderful edifices, are supposed to have been built by Semiramis. She carried her arms far into Ethiopia, and still farther into India, where she was at last defeated with a total overthrow by an Indian king. These early conquests were far different, both in their nature and consequences, from those afterwards made by the Greeks and Romans. They were more easily gained and lost. Indeed, the progresses made by Semiramis, Sesostris, and others, through Asia and Africa, were little more than excursions of discovery. They moved at the head of an immense multitude, without order, or much resistance, and lived upon rapine and hunting. In these times, not only fortification, but the military art was unknown. Of course, wherever they went, they carried conquest; which was generally holden by no other band of security, than the. weak and savage state of the conquered.

But the accounts we have of those early times, are, in sundry respects, exaggerated, especially with regard to the greatness of their cities and conquests. Herodotus affirms, however, that Babylon maintained her conquests 500 years.

Semiramis, after a reign of 42 years, abdicated her gov ernment to her son Ninyas. Few females have been more famous for their masculine virtues. Perhaps no one ever stood higher on the list of heroes and conquerors. As to those virtues which beautify and adorn the female character, historians have little to say of her.

Ninyas succeeded his mother. In what year of the city, it is not ascertained; nor is it a matter of consequence, since, from this period, the history of the Assyrian empire, is utterly lost for more than a thousand years. Tradition has scarcely reported the names of the succeeding monarchs. They were extraordinary for nothing, but luxury, sloth, idleness and the most horrid tyranny.

The provinces of the empire during that period, had little more than a mere nominal subjection to those detestable tyrants; probably for the most part, none at all; and without doubt, the pomp of universal empire, was generally confined to the proud capitals, Babylon and Nineveh. The Trojan war took place some time after the middle period of the Assyrian empire. But Homer makes no mention of the Assyrian greatness; a fact, which, had it existed, could not have escaped his pervading mind, nor wanted a place in his historical, geographical and martial poem. As the universal conquests of Sesostris, king of Egypt, are said to have happened a little before the Trojan war, Babylon and Nineveh must have lain central in his sweep of conquest, and it is not likely, he passed them by, but that his eastern career of victory, was begun by the reduction of those proud cities. Would he go to the conquest of India, and leave the Assyrian empire in his rear, powerful, independent and hostile? The misfortune of the case is, that the glory and conquests of Sesostris, are as dubious, as those of the Assyrians; and they certainly could not have existed together. The Assyrian empire, first and last, was probably less in fact, than it is in history.

CHAPTER II.

THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, FROM THE REIGN OF NINYAS TO THE FALL OF NINEVEH.

THE successors of Ninyas, the son of Semiramis, are little known in history. The seat of their government, or rather of their enormities, was alternately at Babylon and Nineveh. About 1450 years after the empire was founded by Nimrod, we find Sardanapalus reigning at Nineveh. If we may suppose, that the line of succession was unbroken, from the warlike Semiramis to him, he was the last of that