god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead." Placed as it is immediately after the story of his disaster, this would lead us to suppose that the assassination took place immediately after his return from Palestine. "BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON" As a matter of fact, however, something like twenty years elapsed between the one event and the other; and in the interval Sennacherib had fought many battles and made many conquests. Once more, like Sargon, he had conquered Babylon, and had utterly destroyed that ancient city, turning the waters of a canal across its site; while it was he who really made Nineveh the focus of Assyrian power, and so identified it with the fortunes of the nation that to name Assyria is to bring up the thought of Nineveh. He left Nineveh, indeed, "that great city." The circuit of its massive walls was about seven miles, while outside the walls of the fortress-town itself the city suburbs stretched far into the country. The walls themselves were 100 feet high and averaged 50 feet in thickness, while at the gates this was doubled. Eighteen mountain streams poured their waters into the town, insuring a constant supply. Even today the palace of Nineveh has only been partially explored; but the 71 rooms which have been excavated show that Sennacherib's splendid home was the greatest of all Assyrian palaces, while the artistic excellence of the wall sculptures is remarkable. All this greatness came, however, to a disastrous end in 681 B. C., when, like so many Assyrian monarchs, Sennacherib fell before the sword of the assassin. King Ashurbanipal twenty years later made an end of Egypt's pretensions to rivalry with Assyria. Even Thebes, the great sacred city of the land, never before violated by the tread of foreign foes, fell before the irresistible Assyrian army, and Ashurbanipal and his troops returned in triumph "with full hands," as he says, to Nineveh. THE FALL OF THEBES The fall of Thebes made a profound impression upon the ancient world. Egypt's ancient fame had cast a glamour upon men's minds, which still obsessed them long after her real power had passed away. Nobody believed that she could ever be actually conquered, and when the impossible happened, and Thebes fell before the Assyrians, the whole world was amazed. You catch the reflection of the general astonishment in the words of the prophet Nahum (iii: 8). Prophesying the fall of Nineveh, he compares her with Thebes, which had so lately fallen. "Art thou better," he says, "than No-Amon (Thebes), that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were ASHURBANIPAL AND HIS QUEEN ENJOYING A CUP OF WINE Ashurbanipal was a sort of a Napoleon of the ancient world-a warrior who took pride in his service to literature and art (see page 155) her strength and it was infinite. Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains." Such was the miserable fate of the greatest of ancient capitals in those cruel days. Such before long was to be the fate of Nineveh herself. FROM WAR TO WAR From slaughter in Egypt Ashurbanipal turned cheerfully to slaughter in Babylonia. A great war arose with the old enemy Elam, and, in a fierce battle at Tulliz, the Elamite King Teumman wast beaten and slain. The famous reliefs representing the principal events of the battle give us the clearest possible pictures of Assyrian warfare, with all its ghastly cruelty. We see the stress of the conflict-the Elamite King making his final despairing stand and shooting his last arrow against his triumphant foes. Then follows all the brutal savagery of victory. The King's head is hacked off with a dagger and borne in triumph before his conquerors. And then we have a picture of Ashurbanipal feasting with his wife and attendants in the garden of his palace, while from a tree before him hangs the ghastly head of the dead Elamite King, blackening in the sun. Such was an Assyrian conqueror and such were his pleasures. Yet withal Ashurbanipal was one of the most enlightened of Assyrian monarchs. He had a great taste for literature, and in this respect we owe him an infinite debt. His scribes were commanded by him to make copies of the annals of Babylonia and Assyria from the libraries of all the most important cities in the land, and it is from these copies, made on clay tablets and preserved in the library of the king's palace, that the bulk of what is known of Assyrian and Babylonian history and religion has been learned. By the year 640 B. C. his campaigns were over. Henceforth he devoted himself to a life of literature, hunting, and luxury. A MANY-SIDED MONARCH Of all Assyrian monarchs he was by far the most splendid. His triumphs in the chase are recorded in magnificent reliefs, which remain for all time among the artistic treasures of the human race (see pages 154 and 202); his library was the greatest of ancient days, and its very wrecks are beyond comparison precious. to us (see page 167). It was his luxury, however, that chiefly impressed the world of his time. The fame of it crystallized at last into the well-known Greek tradition of how Sardanapalus, last of the kings of Assyria, lived a life of incredible luxury and selfindulgence, and how, at last, when besieged in his palace and hopeless of relief, he closed his career by erecting a vast and priceless funeral pyre, on which he Photograph from Prof. Albert T. Clay PAY-ROLL OF WOMEN WHO WERE CONNECTED WITH THE TEMPLE SERVICE FOR TWO MONTHS The first two columns record the monthly payments, in grain; the third contains the total, and the fourth the name. The holes in the second and third columns are check marks. Only what is checked off was paid, as the sum total shows (see Professor Clay's article, pages 162-216). These tablets are in the University of Pennsylvania Collection. burned himself to death with all his harem and his personal attendants. Sardanapalus is certainly meant for Ashurbanipal, seen through Greek spectacles; but he met with no such end. So far as we know, he did what few Assyrian kings managed to do-he died peacefully in his own palace. The Greek tradition has merely confused his fate with that of his second son, Sin-shar-ishkun, the last king of Assyria, who did burn himself in his palace after defeat. All the same the reign of Ashurbanipal closes the glories of Nineveh. The great bully who had bestridden the ancient world for five centuries, slaughtering, torturing, robbing, and boasting, was now to fall, and to fall irremediably. For generations the Assyrian had boasted. himself master of the world. ISAIAH'S INDICTMENT Isaiah has summed up his bluster and braggart spirit in a couple of verses (Isaiah x 13, 14): "For he saith: By the strength of my hand I have done it; and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man; and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth, or chirped." "Shall the axe," cries the prophet, "boast itself against him that heweth therewith?" The time had come for the axe to be broken and cast aside. Photograph from Prof. Albert T. Clay A WOMAN TAKING A MAN'S PLACE 3,200 YEARS AGO RECEIVED A MAN'S SALARY This tablet gives the temple pay-roll for seven months, belonging to the fourteenth century B. C. Another, almost identical, was found written two years later. Three changes had taken place-one man's salary was raised, that of another was reduced, and a woman had taken a man's position, receiving the same salary that he had enjoyed. Babylon, once the greatest city of the East, now for long trodden under the heel of Assyria, was stirring for her brief renaissance under a new dynasty. Her king, Nabopolassar, allied himself with Cyaxares, king of the Median highlanders, who were now descending from their mountains eager for conquest. Sin-sharishkun and his Assyrians were hopelessly defeated in the field, and after a desperate defense of Nineveh, lasting two years, the last Assyrian king shut himself up in his palace, with his wives and children, and perished in its blazing ruins. The whole world held its breath for awhile. The news seemed too good to be true; and then everywhere one universal pæan of joy went up from the nations. BABYLON'S TRIUMPH OVER EGYPT Then Nabopolassar sent against the Egyptians his son Nebuchadrezzar, better known to us as Nebuchadnezzar, the last outstanding specimen of the great race of fierce and ruthless soldiers that this land produced. Jeremiah has left a most vivid picture of the beaten Egyptian army streaming down in rout through Palestine. "Go up," he cries (xlvi: 11, 12), "into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together." JERUSALEM'S SURRENDER Shortly after his great victory Nebuchadnezzar succeeded his father as king in Babylon. Jehoiakim of Judah became his vassal, but rebelled after three years. He died before the punishment of his folly had come upon the land, and when Nebuchadnezzar appeared before Jerusalem, his successor Jehoiachin surrendered himself to save his people. Nebuchadnezzar deported him and 10,000 of the chief people of the land. Finally, the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, after almost nine years of his reign had passed, tempted, as of old, by the vain promises of the Egyptian Pharaoh Haaab-ra (Hophra); did the most insane act he could, by breaking faith with the great King of Babylon. Of course it was sheer madness, and |