likewife built a bridge across the Euphrates, and accom plished several other works, which were afterwards afcribed to Nebuchadnezzar *. Philoftrates, in defcribing this bridge, tells us, that it was built by a queen, who was a native of Media1; whence we may conclude this illuftrious queen to have been by birth a Mede. Nitocris is faid to have placed her tomb over one of the most remarkable gates of the city, with an inscription to the following effect,

IF ANY KING OF BABYLON AFTER ME SHALL BE IN DISTRESS FOR MONEY, HE MAY OPEN THIS SEPULCHRE, AND TAKE OUT AS MUCH AS MAY SERVE HIM; BUT IF HE BE IN NO REAL NECESSITY, LET HIM FORBEAR, OR HE SHALL HAVE CAUSE TO REPENT OF HIS PRESUMPTION.

This monument and infcription are faid to have remained untouched till the reign of Darius, who confidering the gate was useless, no man caring to pafs under a dead body, and being invited by the hopes of an immense treafure, broke it open: but, inftead of what he fought, is faid to have found nothing but a corpfe; and another infcription, to the following effect,

HADST THOU NOT BEEN MOST INSATIABLY AVARIT IOUS, AND GREEDY OF THE MOST SORDID GAIN, THOU WOULDST NEVER HAVE VIOLATED THE ABODE OF THE DEAD m.

Herodotus mentions a Labynitus, whom in two places, he calls the king of the Babylonians; and a Labynitus, whom he ftyles emperor of Affyria, and reports to have derived his name from his father. It was, according to him, under this Labynitus that Babylon was taken. As for the Labynitus, who reconciled the Medes and Lydians, he could be no other than Nebuchadnezzar.

Of the reduction of this proud metropolis of the East, in the reign of Nabonadius, Labynitus, or Belshazzar, authors gives the following account. Cyrus, having fubdued the feveral nations inhabiting the great continent, from the Ægean fea to the Euphrates, and likewise Syria and Arabia, entered Affyria, and directed his march. towards Babylon. Nabonadius, hearing that he was advancing to his metropolis, marched out to give him battle;

* Herodot. lib. i. cap. 185, 186, 188. Apol. lib. i. cap. 18,

1 Philoftrat. in Vit. Herodot. lib, i. cap. 187. Ff2

but

bylon.

but, being put to flight, he returned to Babylon, where Cyrus lays he was immediately blocked up, and closely befieged by ege to Ba- Cyrus. The fiege of this important place was no eafy enterprize. The walls were of a prodigious height, the number of men to defend them very great, and the city ftored with all kinds of provisions for twenty years. However thefe difficulties did not difcourage Cyrus from profecuting his defign; but, defpairing of being able to take the place by ftorm, he caused a line of circumvallation to be drawn quite round the city, with a large and deep ditch, reckoning that, if all communication with the country were cut off, the more people there were within the city the fooner they would be obliged to furrender. That his troops might not be overfatigued, he divided his army into twelve bodies, appointing each body its month for guarding the trenches. The befieged, thinking themfelves out of all danger, by reafon of their high walls and magazines, infulted Cyrus from the ramparts; and looked upon all his operations, as fo much unprofitable labour".

Cyrus, having spent two years before Babylon, without gaining any confiderable advantage, at length refolved upon the following ftratagem, which put him in poffeffion of it. He was informed that a great annual folemnity was to be kept in the city; and that the Babylonians, on that occafion, were accustomed to spend the whole night in drinking and debauchery. This he thought a proper time to furprise them; and accordingly fent a ftrong detachment to the head of the canal leading to the great lake, which had been lately dug by Nitocris, with orders, at an appointed time, to break down the great bank which was between the lake and the canal, and to turn the whole current into the lake. At the fame time he appointed one body of troops at the place where the river entered into the city, and another where it came out, ordering them to march in by the bed of the river, which was two ftadia in breadth, as foon as they fhould find it fordable. Towards the evening he opened the head of the trenches on both fides the river above the city, that the water might discharge itself into them, and by thefe means, and the breaking down of the great dam, the river was foon drained. Then the two above mentioned bodies of troops, according to their orders, entered the channel, one commanded by Gobryas, and the other by

Herodot, lib. i. cap. 178 & feq. & Cyropæd. ib.

Gadates.

Gadates. Finding the gates left open, in confequence of the general disorder of that riotous night, they penetrated into the very heart of the city without oppofition. Meeting at the palace, according to their agreement, they furprifed the guards, and cut them in pieces. Those who were in the palace, opening the gates to know the cause of this confufion, the Perfians rufhed in, took the palace, and killed the king, who, fword in hand, came out to meet them. The king being killed, and those who were about him put to flight, the reit fubmitted, and the Medes and Perfians became masters of the place. The reduction of Babylon put an end to the Babylonian empire, and fulfilled the prophecies which the prophets Ifaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel had uttered against that proud metropolis P. On that very night, while the king entertained a thousand of his lords at a great banquet, in which he used the facred veffels, which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerufalem, he faw a hand appear and write an unknown infcription upon the plaifter of the wall. Alarmed at this phenomenon, he confulted his fages and foothfayers, who owned it was above their comprehenfion. Then recourfe was had to the prophet Daniel, who read the inscription in these words: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN; and gave the following interpretation; "God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in the ballance and found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Perfians." A dreadful denunciation of vengeance which was immediately executed 9 (D).

• Idem, ibid. p Ifai. xiii. xiv. xxi. xliii. xlvi. xlvii. Jerem. xxv. 1. li. Dan. v. 21. xi. 8. 12. 15. q Dan. v. 15, &c.

(D) As the whole hiftory of Babylon, from the death of Nebuchadnezzar to the reduction of that city by Cyrus, is overcast with an impenetrable mift, writers are strangely puzled to find out Daniel's Belfhazzar among the laft kings that reigned there, and equally at a lofs concerning his Da

rius the Mede, who was in that kingdom fucceeded by Cyrus. Thofe who want to fee what has been conjectured on the fubject, in order to reconcile the facred and profane hiftorians, (a task hitherto found impracticable) may confult the following authors (1).

(1) Berof. apud Joseph Antiq. lib. x. cap. 11. Megasthen. apud Eufeb. Præp. Evang. lib. ix. Scaliger in Not. ad Fragm. Veter. Græcor. Select. de Emendat. Temp. lib. vi. cap. de Regib. Babyl.

Afia Proper.

CHA P. XI.

The Hiftory of the Ancient Phrygians, Trojans,
Lycians, Lydians, &c.

TH

SECT. I.

A Brief Account of Afia Proper.

HE different and various acceptations of the word Afia, have created a great deal of confufion among writers, and often led readers into confiderable mistakes. There is a feeming contradiction between the facred and profane writers, as to the provinces comprehended under the name of Afia, which cannot eafily be reconciled. That vaft continent, which was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Afia, was divided by the ancient geographers firft into the Greater and Leffer Afia. The Leffer, commonly termed Afia Minor, comprehended a great many provinces; but that which included Phrygia, Myfia, Caria, and Lydia, was named Afia Proper, or Afia properly fo called. Tully, enumerating the regions contained in Afia Proper, makes no mention of

olis or Ionia, though undoubtedly part of Afia Proper, becaufe they were comprehended partly in Lydia, and partly in Myfia. Lydia, befide the inland country, commonly known by that name, contained alfo Ionia, lying on the fea-fide, between the rivers Hermus and Mæander; and Æolis, extending from Hermus to the river Caicus, or to the promontory Lectum', the ancient boundary between Troas and the fea-coaft of the Greater Myfia. Afia Proper comprehended Phrygia, Myfia, Lydia, Caria, Æolis, and Ionia. This tract was bounded, according to Ptolemy, on the north, by Bithynia and Pontus, extending from Galatia to Propontis; on the caft, by Galatia, Pamphilia, and Lycia; on the fouth, by part of Lycia and the Rhodian Sea; on the weft, by the Hellefpont, by the Ægean, Icarian, and Myrtoan Seas. It lies between the 35th and 41ft degree of north latitude, and extends in longitude from 55 to 62 degrees.

Cic. in Orat. pro Flacco. lib. xii. p. 393.

's Ptol. lib. v. c.

2. • Strabo

As

As Afia Proper is but a part of Afia Minor, fo the Ly- The Lydian dian Afia is only a part of Afia Proper (E). Afia, in this Afa. acceptation, comprehends Lydia, olis, and Ionia; and

is that Afia whereof mention is made in the Acts, and St. John's Revelation 3. Ariftotle tells us, that Smyrna was at firft poffeffed by the Lydians; and Scylax Coryandenfis reckons it among the cities of Lydia; as alfo Ephefus, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Thyatira, are reckoned by Ptolemy among the cities of Lydia, as is Laodicea by Stephanus ".

: The Proconfular Afia, fo called because it was governed The Proby a proconful, according to the diftribution of the pro- confular vinces of the empire made by Auguftus, comprehended Afia. Lydia, Ionia, Caria, Myfia, Phrygia, and the Proconfu lar Hellefpont. By the fame emperor Pontus and Bithynia, were made a prætorian province, and Afia a confular, containing all that part of Afia which lay on this fide the river Halys and mount Taurus. In the time of Conftantine the Great, the Proconfular Afia was much abridged, and a distinction brought in between the Proconfular Afia, and the Afiatic Diocefe; the one being governed by the proconful of Afia, and the other by the vicarius, or lieutenant of Afia. The Proconfular Afia, according to the description which Ennapius gives us of it *, feems to have been much the fame with the Lydian Afia above mentioned. In the reign of Theodofius the Elder, who fucceeded Valens, the Confular Hellefpont was taken from the vicarius of Afia, and added to the Pro

s Acts xvi.

Ariftot. lib, de Poetica apud Plutarch. in
"Steph. de Urbib. x Eunap.

lib. de Vita & Poefi Homeri. in Vita Maximi.

(E) That in ancient times Lydia was called Mæonia, and the Lydians Mæonians, is manifeft from Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Dionyfius Afer, Strabo, Pliny, Stephanus, and others and that Mæonia was called Afia, is no lefs plain from Callinus, who flourished before Archilochus, from Demetrius Scepfius, contemporary with Crates, and Ariftarchus the grammarian, from Euripides, Suidas, the great etymologift, &c. nay, that Lydia was formerly called Afia, is

exprefsly affirmed by the ancient fcholiaft of Apollonius Rhodius. From whence Lydia borrowed the name of Afia, is altogether uncertain; fome deriving it from a city of Lydia, feated on mount Tmolus; others from one Afias, king of Lydia, who, according to the Lydians, communicated his name to the whole continent. But, be that as it will, it is certain, that Lydia has a better claim to the name of Afia, than any other part of that continent.

Ff4

confular