About the twenty-eighth year of his reign an interregnum happening in the kingdom of Babylon, he laid hold of the opportunity and united that neighbouring state to his dominion*. Having fully fettled his authority in Babylon, he began about five years after to fet his thoughts on the recovery of what had been loft to the empire of the Affyrians in Syria and Palestine, on the destruction of his father's army in Judea. Having therefore affembled a powerful army, he marched against the Syrians, the remnant of Ifrael, and the kingdom of Judah. Having quite expunged Ifrael and Syria from the lift of nations, by tranfplanting the few remaining inhabitants, and in their ftead introducing a fupply of foreigners, he proceeded to the reduction of the kingdom of Judah to its former ftate of dependance, and taking Manaffeh their king prifoner, bound him in chains, and fent him captive to Babylon. He is now fuppofed by fome to have carried his arms into Egypt, and to have conquered that country; but others rather think that the reduction of Egypt by the Affyrians, which was foretold by Ifaiah, happened in the reign of Sennacherib. A few years after Pfammitichus making himfelf mafter of all Egypt, not only afferted the independency of his kingdom, but even endeavoured to expel the Affyrians from Palestine in his neighbourhood, which occafioned a long war between the two nations, Pfammitichus being engaged no less than 29 years in the fiege of Azotus or Afhdod. In the third year of this war Efarbaddon died, after he had reigned with great felicity thirty-nine years over the Affyrians, and thirteen over the Babylonians. Saofduchi- He was fucceeded by his fon Safduchinus, who in the book nus, B. Ch. of Judith is called Nebuchodonofor. The Medes, a few years af667. ter his acceffion to the throne, having, under their king Phraor tes or Arphaxad, extended their dominion confiderably, invaded Affyria. Nebuchodonofor raifed a powerful army to oppose them, not only fummoning the whole force of his extenfive empire, but inviting other nations of the caft to his affiftance. Tho' moft of the nations he fummoned received his embaffadors with contempt, yet he took the field in the 12th year of his reign, with what forces he could affemble, and engaging Phraortes in the great plain of Ragau, totally defeated his army, and purfuing him to the adjacent mountains, took him and put him to death. Making the beft advantage of this victory, he reduced many of the cities of Media, ftormed the famous capital Ecbatana, and levelled it with the ground. Upon his return to Nineveh he feasted and revelled with thofe who had attended him in this expedition for the fpace of 120 days. After this time of feafting was over, he called his officers, nobles, and chief counsellors together, to take an account of what tributary countries and provinces had refufed to fend auxiliaries in the war, and finding that none of the western countries had paid * Canon. Ptol. any any regard to his commands, he made a decree that Holofernes, the chief captain of his army, fhould go forth to execute the wrath of his lord upon them for their disobedience. This general accordingly the following year marched weftward with an army of 120,000 foot, and 12,000 horfe, where he ravaged and deftroyed several nations with great cruelty, till at length coming into Judea, and laying fiege to Bethulia, he was there destroyed, and all his army cut in pieces, as is fully related in the book of Judith. Saofduchinus was fucceeded by Chynalydan or Sarac. In his Chynalyreign the Medes under Cyaxares the fon of Phraortes, a young dan. and warlike prince, not only recovered what the Affyrians had lately taken from them, but utterly defeated them in a pitched battle, and obliged them to fhelter themselves in Nineveh, which they befieged. But they were foon obliged by the irruption of the Scythians to abandon the enterprize, and employ their arms. in the defence of their own country. Sarac in the mean time having rendered himself contemptible to his fubjects, by his effeminacy, and the little care he took of his dominions, Nabopalaffar, a Babylonian, and commander of the troops in Chaldea, revolted from him, and feized on the kingdom of Babylon for himself. Having foon after ftrengthened himself by an alliance with Cyaxares the Median, they marched in conjunction with a powerful army against Nineveh, which they at length made themselves mafters of and utterly deftroyed, Chynalydan He burns in defpair having fet fire to his palace, and confumed him- his palace felf with all his treasures in the flames *. In this deftruction and himof Nineveh were fulfilled the prophefies of Jonah, Nahum, and felf, B. Ch. Zephaniah against that impious city. ********************************* CHA P. II. The HISTORY of the BABYLONIANS. SECT. I. A defcription of the country, and an account of the religion, customs, laws, &c. of the inhabitants. N the most antient times, and even fo late as the captivity 626. The I of the Jews, this country was known by the name of Shi- names of naar t. As for the name of Babylon it is univerfally fuppofed this counto have been borrowed from that of the tower of Babel, and try. the name of Chaldea from the Chaldæans or Chafdim. Chaldæa is ufed by the facred writers for the whole country, and Babylon or Babylonia generally fpeaking by the profane. By Babylonia is fometimes meant the country more immediately in the neighbourhood of the city of Babylon, and by Chaldea, that which extends fouthward to the Perfian gulf. It lies between 30 and 35 degrees of north latitude, and was bounded, ac ap. Herod. 1. 1. c. 106. Polyhift. ap. Syncel. p. 210. & Eufeb. in Chron. VOL. II. C cording Its fitua tion, cording to Ptolemy, on the north by Mefopotamia, on the east by the Tigris, on the weft by Arabia Deferta, and on the fouth by the Perfian gulf, and part of Arabia Felix. In the province properly called Babylonia were the following cities, Babylon, the metropolis, Vologefia or Vologefacerta, built on the Euphrates, by Vologefis king of the Parthians, in the time of Vefpafian; Barfita, probably Strabo's Borfippa, famous in his time for a woollen manufacture; Idiceara on the Euphrates; Coche on an ifland of the Tigris; Sura and Pombeditha. In the province of Chaldæa, Ptolemy places the following cities, Spunda, Batracharta, Shalatha, Altha, and Teridon, all on the Tigris. In the inland country he mentions feveral, all now unknown. In antient times the Babylonian name comprised all or the greater part of the provinces fubject to the Babylonian, empire: but as we have already defcribed fome of thofe countries, and fhall fpeak of the others in their proper places, we have confined ourfelves here to Babylonia and Chaldea, properly fo called. Tempera- This country enjoys an air very temperate and wholesome ture, for the most part, though extremely noxious at fome seasons of the year. The heats are fo extraordinary, that the richer fort were ufed to fleep in tubs and cifterns of water, which pernicious practice is ftill continued. At fome feafons the country is expofed to a dangerous peftilential wind, which inftantly deftroys every living creature in its way. Rains fall here very feldom, and generally for eight months in the year there is a continued drought, nay fometimes there has been no rain for two years and a half together, and the inhabitants reckon that if it does but rain twice or thrice in the year it is enough for their purpose. To fupply the want of rain the inhabitants are at great labour and trouble in watering their lands, the engines and wheels they make ufe of for that purpose, being fo numerous on the banks of the Euphrates, as fometimes to hurt the navigation of that river. The foil being rich, the climate in general excellent, and the induftry of the inhabitants what it ought to be, this country for fertility used to vie with any other fpot on the face of the earth. Herodotus compared it to Egypt for its fertility, owing to artificial watering, which is even much practifed on the banks of the Nile. The fouthernmost parts of it between the Tigris and Euphrates may be particularly compared with the Delta of that country, it being like that made up of endless iflands, fome formed by nature and fome by art, and is befides almoft under the fame parallel of latitude. Herodotus thought that what he could fay concerning its fruitfulness would appear incredible to fuch as had not, like himself, been eye witneffes of its fertility. He adds, that for the plenty of its productions it was reckoned to be a third part of Afia, that is, of the Perfian empire; and that in the fame year it yielded 300 fold, but 200 most commonly. and fertility. Being a country well watered, and for the most part low and fat, it abounded with willows, and hence it came to be called Plut. Sympof. 1. 3. Rauwolf. trav. Purch. Pilgr. v. I. the The artis ficial ca nals. the valley of willows, as Prideaux would interpret the text of Ifaiah, ch. xv. 7. The palm alfo here flourished naturally, and chiefly that of the date kind, which afforded them food, wine, and honey, though the vine, the olive, and the fig tree were what this country could not boast of. For grain it exceeded every other land; the millet and the fefame thot up here to the fize of trees, and the leaves of the barley and wheat were ufually four good fingers broad. The fefame afforded them oil instead of the olive, and the palm wine instead of the grape. This fertility was probably in a great measure owing to the inundations of the river Tigris and Euphrates, which happened annually in the months of June, July, and Auguft, by the melting of the fnow on the mountains of Armenia, Thefe inundations however frequently proving very detrimen tal, the inhabitants guarded against them by numbers of artificial rivers and canals, by which the waters were diftributed, the country in general benefited, and an eafy communication effected between different places. Some of thofe canals had the appearance of rivers, and were fo large as to be navigable. The river Chebar, mentioned by Ezekiel, is fuppofed to have been one of them. In the Greek verfions it is called Chobar, which moft interpreters fuppofe to have been borrowed from Gabaris or Gobryas, the name of the governor, who, Pliny fays, was appointed to overlook the work †, and probably the fame Gabryas, who afterwards revolted from the Babylonians to Cyrus. The river Euphrates, from which many channels were cut in the plain of Babylon, has its fource in the mountains of Armenia, and after washing the eastern skirts of Syria, and dividing phrates. Arabia from Mefopotamia, it proceeds foutheaftward, and mixing with its fellow-traveller the Tigris, falls at length into the Perfian gulf. This great river is flow for the moft part in its course, and not well adapted throughout for navigation, fome parts of it being fhoal, and fome rocky. Some think it might eafily be made navigable, even for great barks quite to the Tigris, only by clearing the channel of the ftones with which it is choaked up in fome places. Tho' it is not, as we have obferved, rapid in its courfe, its water nevertheless is fo continually foul, that there is no drinking it till it has settled for a time, or been paffed thro' a cloth or ftrainer, and then it is lighter and preferable to any other in thofe parts, whence the river is known to the neighbouring people, by a name which fignifies the water of defire. The antient way of navigating this river has fomething very fingular and extraordinary in it. The veffels they ufed were round, without diftinction of head or ftern, and no better than great wicker baskets, coated over with hides, and guided along with two oars or paddles. Thefe vellels were of different fizes, and fome of them capable of carrying a burden of merchandize to the weight of 5000 talents, having, according to their fize, a number of affes on board. When The Eu they Antiquity of the Babylonians. they had thus fallen down the river to Babylon, and unloaded their cargo, they fold the veffel; but kept the hides and loading their affes with them, returned home by land, the veffels, by their aukward make, being unable to proceed against the moft gentle current. It is highly probable that the Euphrates at firft emptied itself into the fea by a mouth of its own; and Pliny tells us, that its mouth was formerly diftant from that of the Tigris, according to fome twenty-feven miles, and according to others only feven miles, and that both rivers were navigable. This river now difembogues itself into the Tigris, below Bagdad; and the river made up of these two joined in one, is called by the Arabs Schat-al-Arab, that is, the river of the Arabs. This country is particularly remarkable for having inclosed within its limits, according to the most rational opinion, great part of Paradife. Babel is the firft kingdom we find mentioned in fcripture, and in point of antiquity was prior to that of Affur. It was founded by Nimrod; but for many ages it evidently appears to have remained a petty royalty, till the Affyrians paved the way to the empire it attained. Allowing that even under Nimrod it rofe to any height of power, nothing feems more natural than to conclude, that it fuddenly fell down to a level with its neighbours, and even below fome of them, particularly the famous and antient kingdom of Elam or Perfia, whofe king, fo early as the days of Abraham, was attended in his wars by the king of Shinaar, as his tributary. The fcripture makes no mention of any king of Babylon from this king of Shinaar, till the days of Merodach Baladan, who was cotemporary with Hezekiah. By the feveral hiftories of the nations already spoken of in this work, it is alfo plain that no Babylonian prince awed any of them till many years after Merodach Baladan. So that tho' this be allowed to be the moft ancient kingdom of the world, yet it appears not to have attained the imperial dignity till a great number of ages after its firft foundation. The Babylonians or Chaldeans however laid claim to a moft extravagant antiquity, unwilling to be behind hand with the Egyptians or any other nation. They pretended to have registered the transactions of 150,000 years according to fome, or 473,000 years according to others, reckoning down to Alexander, from the time they firft began to observe the stars. A monftrous fable, which needs no refutation. The government of this nation appears, from the character Their go- generally given to Nimrod, to have been in its very infancy vernment. tyrannical and defpotic. But after him it certainly fell to a level with the petty kingdoms of thofe parts, till the Affyrians, in procefs of time, laid the foundation whereon it afterwards exalted itfelf as queen of the east. Its government, doubtless, like that of Affyria, was haughty and defpotic, the whole centering in the perfon of the king, and all decrees iffuing from his mouth. To render the fubmiflion of their fubjects more abfolute and refpectful, their kings affected even deity and divine worship, and kept themfelves retired from the view of their fub |