G. Maspero - History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of 12)

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[Illustration: Spines]

[Illustration: Cover]

HISTORY OF EGYPT CHALDEA, SYRIA, BABYLONIA, AND ASSYRIA

By G. MASPERO, Honorable Doctor of Civil Laws, and Fellow of Queen's
College, Oxford; Member of the Institute and Professor at the College of
France

Edited by A. H. SAYCE, Professor of Assyriology, Oxford

Translated by M. L. McCLURE, Member of the Committee of the Egypt
Exploration Fund

CONTAINING OVER TWELVE HUNDRED COLORED PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Volume VIII.

LONDON

THE GROLIER SOCIETY

PUBLISHERS

[Illustration: 001.jpg Frontispiece]

Arab Family at Dinner

[Illustration: Titlepage]

[Illustration: 001.jpg PAGE IMAGE]

_SENNACHERIB (705-681 B.C.)_

_THE STRUGGLE OF SENNACHERIB WITH JUDAEA AND EGYPT--DESTRUCTION OF
BABYLON_

_The upheaval of the entire Eastern world on the accession of
Sennacherib--Revolt of Babylon: return of Merodach-baladan and his
efforts to form a coalition against Assyria; the battle of Kish (703
B.C.)--Belibni, King of Babylon (702-699 B.C.)--Sabaco, King of Egypt,
Amenertas and Pionkhi, Shabi-toku--Tyre and its kings after Ethbaal II.:
Phoenician colonisation in Libya and the foundation of Carthage--The
Kingdom of Tyre in the time of Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon:
Elulai--Judah and the reforms of Hezekiah; alliance of Judah and Tyre
with Egypt, the downfall of the Tyrian kingdom (702 B.C.)--The battle of
Altaku and the siege of Jerusalem: Sennacherib encamped before Lachish,
his Egyptian expedition, the disaster at Pelusium._

_Renewed revolt of Babylon and the Tabal (699 B.C.); flight of the
people of Bit-Yakin into Elamite territory; Sennacherib's fleet and
descent on Nagitu (697-696 B.C.)--Khalludush invades Karduniash
(695 B.C.); Nirgal-ushezib and Mushesib-marduk at Babylon (693-689
B.C.)--Sennacherib invades Elam (693 B.C.): battle of Khalule (692
B.C.), siege and destruction of Babylon (689 B.C.)--Buildings of
Sennacherib at Nineveh: his palace at Kouyunjik; its decoration with
battle, hunting, and building scenes._

[Illustration: 003.jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER I--SENNACHERIB (705-681 B.C.)

_The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of
Babylon._

Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or
lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the
energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against
him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the
adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage
successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway.

* The two principal documents for the reign of Sennacherib
are engraved on cylinders: the Taylor Cylinder and the
Bellino Cylinder, duplicates of which, more or less perfect,
exist in the collections of the British Museum. The Taylor
Cylinder, found at Kouyunjik or Usebi-Yunus, contains the
history or the first eight years of this reign; the Bellino
Cylinder treats of the two first years of the reign.

He lacked the wisdom to conciliate the vanquished, or opportunely to
check his own repressive measures; he destroyed towns, massacred entire
tribes, and laid whole tracts of country waste, and by failing to
repeople these with captive exiles from other nations, or to import
colonists in sufficient numbers, he found himself towards the end of
his reign ruling over a sparsely inhabited desert where his father had
bequeathed to him flourishing provinces and populous cities. His was
the system of the first Assyrian conquerors, Shalmaneser III. and
Assur-nazir-pal, substituted for that of Tiglath-pileser III. and
Sargon. The assimilation of the conquered peoples to their conquerors
was retarded, tribute was no longer paid regularly, and the loss of
revenue under this head was not compensated by the uncertain increase
in the spoils obtained by war; the recruiting of the army, rendered more
difficult by the depopulation of revolted districts, weighed heavier
still on those which remained faithful, and began, as in former times,
to exhaust the nation. The news of Sargon's murder, published throughout
the Eastern world, had rekindled hope in the countries recently
subjugated by Assyria, as well as in those hostile to her. Phoenicia,
Egypt, Media, and Elam roused themselves from their lethargy and
anxiously awaited the turn which events should take at Nineveh and
Babylon. Sennacherib did not consider it to his interest to assume the
crown of Chaldaea, and to treat on a footing of absolute equality a
country which had been subdued by force of arms: he relegated it to the
rank of a vassal state, and while reserving the suzerainty for himself,
sent thither one of his brothers to rule as king.*

* The events which took place at Babylon at the beginning of
Sennacherib's reign are known to us from the fragments of
Berosus, compared with the Canon of Ptolemy and Pinches'
Babylonian Canon. The first interregnum in the Canon of
Ptolemy (704-702 B.C.) is filled in Pinches' Canon by three
kings who are said to have reigned as follows: Sennacherib,
two years; Marduk-zakir-shumu, one month; Merodach-baladan,
nine months. Berosus substitutes for Sennacherib one of his
brothers, whose name apparently he did not know; and this is
the version I have adopted, in agreement with most modern
historians, as best tallying with the evident lack of
affection for Babylon displayed by Sennacherib throughout
his reign.

The Babylonians were indignant at this slight. Accustomed to see their
foreign ruler conform to their national customs, take the hands of Bel,
and assume or receive from them a new throne-name, they could not resign
themselves to descend to the level of mere tributaries: in less than
two years they rebelled, assassinated the king who had been imposed upon
them, and proclaimed in his stead Marduk-zakir-shumu,* who was merely
the son of a female slave (704 B.C.).

* The servile origin of this personage is indicated in
Pinches' Babylonian Canon; he might, however, be connected
through his father with a princely, or even a royal, family,
and thereby be in a position to win popular support. Among
modern Assyriologists, some suppose that the name Akises in
Berosus is a corruption of [Marduk-]zakir[shumu]; others
consider Akises-Akishu as being the personal name of the
king, and Marduk-zakir-shumu his throne-name.

This was the signal for a general insurrection in Chaldaea and the
eastern part of the empire. Merodach-baladan, who had remained in hiding
in the valleys on the Elamite frontier since his defeat in 709 B.C.,
suddenly issued forth with his adherents, and marched at once to
Babylon; the very news of his approach caused a sedition, in the midst
of which Marduk-zakir-shumu perished, after having reigned for only one
month. Merodach-baladan re-entered his former capital, and as soon as
he was once more seated on the throne, he endeavoured to form alliances
with all the princes, both small and great, who might create a diversion
in his favour. His envoys obtained promises of help from Elam; other
emissaries hastened to Syria to solicit the alliance of Hezekiah, and
might have even proceeded to Egypt if their sovereign's good fortune had
lasted long enough.* But Sennacherib did not waste his opportunities in
lengthy-preparations.

* 2 Kings xx. 12-19; Isa. xxxix. The embassy to Hezekiah has
been assigned to the first reign of Merodach-baladan, under
Sargon. In accordance with the information obtained from the
Assyrian monuments, it seems to me that it could only have
taken place during his second reign, in 703 B.C.

The magnificent army left by Sargon was at his disposal, and summoning
it at once into the field, he advanced on the town of Kish, where the
Kalda monarch was entrenched with his Aramaean forces and the Elamite
auxiliaries furnished by Shutruk-nakhunta. The battle issued in the
complete rout of the confederate forces. Merodach-baladan fled almost
unattended, first to Guzum-manu, and then to the marshes of the Tigris,
where he found a temporary refuge; the troops who were despatched in
pursuit followed him for five days, and then, having failed to secure
the fugitive, gave up the search.*

* The detail is furnished by the _Bellino Cylinder_. Berosus
affirmed that Merodach-baladan was put to death by Belibni.

His camp fell into the possession of the victor, with all its
contents--chariots, horses, mules, camels, and herds of cattle belonging
to the commissariat department of the army: Babylon threw open its gates
without resistance, hoping, no doubt, that Sennacherib would at length
resolve to imitate the precedent set by his father and retain the royal
dignity for himself. He did, indeed, consent to remit the punishment for
this first insurrection, and contented himself with pillaging the
royal treasury and palace, but he did not deign to assume the crown,
conferring it on Belibni, a Babylonian of noble birth, who had been
taken, when quite a child, to Nineveh and educated there under the eyes
of Sargon.*

* The name is transcribed Belibos in Greek, and it seems as
if the Assyrian variants justify the pronunciation Belibush.

While he was thus reorganising the government, his generals were
bringing the campaign to a close: they sacked, one after another,
eighty-nine strongholds and eight hundred and twenty villages of
the Kalda; they drove out the Arabian and Aramaean garrisons which
Merodach-baladan had placed in the cities of Karduniash, in Urak, Nipur,
Kuta, and Kharshag-kalamma, and they re-established Assyrian supremacy
over all the tribes on the east of the Tigris up to the frontiers of
Elam, the Tumuna, the Ubudu, the Gambulu, and the Khindaru, as also over
the Nabataeans and Hagarenes, who wandered over the deserts of Arabia to
the west of the mouths of the Euphrates. The booty was enormous: 208,000
prisoners, both male and female, 7200 horses, 11,073 asses, 5230 camels,
80,100 oxen, 800,500 sheep, made their way like a gigantic horde of
emigrants to Assyria under the escort of the victorious army. Meanwhile
the Khirimmu remained defiant, and showed not the slightest intention
to submit: their strongholds had to be attacked and the inhabitants
annihilated before order could in any way be restored in the country.
The second reign of Merodach-baladan had lasted barely nine months.

The blow which ruined Merodach-baladan broke up the coalition which he
had tried to form against Assyria. Babylon was the only rallying-point
where states so remote, and such entire strangers to each other as Judah
and Elam, could enter into friendly relations and arrange a plan of
combined action. Having lost Babylon as a centre, they were once more
hopelessly isolated, and had no means of concerting measures against the
common foe: they renounced all offensive action, and waited under
arms to see how the conqueror would deal with each severally. The
most threatening storm, however, was not that which was gathering over
Palestine, even were Egypt to be drawn into open war: for a revolt of
the western provinces, however serious, was never likely to lead to
disastrous complications, and the distance from Pelusium to the Tigris
was too great for a victory of the Pharaoh to compromise effectually
the safety of the empire. On the other hand, should intervention on the
part of Elam in the affairs of Babylon or Media be crowned with success,
the most disastrous consequences might ensue: it would mean the loss
of Karduniash, or of the frontier districts won with such difficulty by
Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon; it would entail permanent hostilities
on the Tigris and the Zab, and perhaps the appearance of barbarian
troops under the walls of Calah or of Nineveh. Elam had assisted
Merodach-baladan, and its soldiers had fought on the plains of Kish.
Months had elapsed since that battle, yet Shutruk-nakhunta showed no
disposition to take the initiative: he accepted his defeat at all events
for the time, but though he put off the day of reckoning till a more
favourable opportunity, it argued neither weakness nor discouragement,
and he was ready to give a fierce reception to any Assyrian monarch
who should venture within his domain. Sennacherib, knowing both the
character and resources of the Elamite king, did not attempt to meet him
in the open field, but wreaked his resentment on the frontier tribes
who had rebelled at the instigation of the Elamites, on the Cossoans,
on Ellipi and its king Ishpabara. He pursued the inhabitants into the
narrow valleys and forests of the Khoatras, where his chariots were
unable to follow: proceeding with his troops, sometimes on horseback,
at other times on foot, he reduced Bit-kilamzak, Khardishpi, and
Bit-kubatti to ashes, and annexed the territories of the Cossoans and
the Yasubigalla to the prefecture of Arrapkha. Thence he entered Ellipi,
where Ishpabara did not venture to come to close quarters with him in
the open field, but led him on from town to town. He destroyed the
two royal seats of Marubishti and Akkuddu, and thirty-four of their
dependent strongholds; he took possession of Zizirtu, Kummalu, the
district of Bitbarru, and the city of Elinzash, to which he gave the
name Kar-Sennacherib,--the fortress of Sennacherib,--and annexed them
to the government of Kharkhar. The distant Medes, disquieted at his
advance, sent him presents, and renewed the assurances of devotion they
had given to Sargon, but Sennacherib did not push forward into
their territory as his predecessors had done: he was content to have
maintained his authority as far as his outlying posts, and to have
strengthened the Assyrian empire by acquiring some well-situated
positions near the main routes which led from the Iranian table-land to
the plains of Mesopotamia. Having accomplished this, he at once turned
his attention towards the west, where the spirit of rebellion was still
active in the countries bordering on the African frontier. Sabaco, now
undisputed master of Egypt, was not content, like Pionkhi, to bring
Egypt proper into a position of dependence, and govern it at a distance,
by means of his generals. He took up his residence within it, at least
during part of every year, and played the role of Pharaoh so well that
his Egyptian subjects, both at Thebes and in the Delta, were obliged to
acknowledge his sovereignty and recognise him as the founder of a
new dynasty. He kept a close watch over the vassal princes, placing
garrisons in Memphis and the other principal citadels, and throughout
the country he took in hand public works which had been almost
completely interrupted for more than a century owing to the civil wars:
the highways were repaired, the canals cleaned out and enlarged, and
the foundations of the towns raised above the level of the inundation.
Bubastis especially profited under his rule, and regained the ascendency
it had lost ever since the accession of the second Tanite dynasty; but
this partiality was not to the detriment of other cities. Several of the
temples at Memphis were restored, and the inscriptions effaced by time
were re-engraved. Thebes, happy under the government of Amenertas and
her husband Pionkhi, profited largely by the liberality of its Ethiopian
rulers. At Luxor Sabaco restored the decoration of the principal gateway
between the two pylons, and repaired several portions of the temple of
Amon at Karnak. History subsequently related that, in order to obtain
sufficient workmen, he substituted forced labour for the penalty of
death: a policy which, beside being profitable, would win for him a
reputation for clemency. Egypt, at length reduced to peace and order,
began once more to flourish, and to display that inherent vitality
of which she had so often given proof, and her reviving prosperity
attracted as of old the attention of foreign powers. At the beginning of
his reign, Sabaco had attempted to meddle in the intrigues of Syria, but
the ease with which Sargon had quelled the revolt of Ashdod had inspired
the Egyptian monarch with salutary distrust in his own power; he had
sent presents to the conqueror and received gifts in exchange, which
furnished him with a pretext for enrolling the Asiatic peoples among
the tributary nations whose names he inscribed on his triumphal lists.*
Since then he had had some diplomatic correspondence with his powerful
neighbour, and a document bearing his name was laid up in the archives
at Calah, where the clay seal once attached to it has been discovered.
Peace had lasted for a dozen years, when he died about 703 B.C., and his
son Shabitoku ascended the throne.**

* It was probably with reference to this exchange of
presents that Sabaco caused the bas-relief at Karnak to be
engraved, in which he represents himself as victorious over
both Asiatics and Africans.

** One version of Manetho assigns twelve years to the reign
of Sabaco, and this duration is confirmed by an inscription
in Hammamat, dated in his twelfth year. Sabaco having
succeeded to the throne in 716-715 B.C., his reign brings us
down to 704 or 703 B.C., which obliges us to place the
accession of Shabi-toku in the year following the death of
Sargon.

[Illustration: 011.jpg clay seal with cartouche of sabaco]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard.

The temporary embarrassments in which the Babylonian revolution had
plunged Sennacherib must have offered a tempting opportunity for
interference to this inexperienced king. Tyre and Judah alone of all the
Syrian states retained a sufficiently independent spirit to cherish any
hope of deliverance from the foreign yoke. Tyre still maintained her
supremacy over Southern Phoenicia, and her rulers were also kings of
Sidon.* The long reign of Eth-baal and his alliance with the kings of
Israel had gradually repaired the losses occasioned by civil discord,
and had restored Tyre to the high degree of prosperity which it had
enjoyed under Hiram. Few actual facts are known which can enlighten us
as to the activity which prevailed under Eth-baal: we know, however,
that he rebuilt the small town of Botrys, which had been destroyed in
the course of some civil war, and that he founded the city of Auza in
Libyan territory, at the foot of the mountains of Aures, in one of the
richest mineral districts of modern Algeria.**

* Eth-baal II., who, according to the testimony of the
native historians, belonged to the royal family of Tyre, is
called King of the Sidonians in the Bible (1 Kings xvi. 31),
and the Assyrian texts similarly call Elulai King of the
Sidonians, while Menander mentions him as King of Tyre. It
is probable that the King of Sidon, mentioned in the Annals
of Shal-maneser III. side by side with the King of Tyre, was
a vassal of the Tyrian monarch.

** The two facts are preserved in a passage of Menander. I
admit the identity of the Auza mentioned in this fragment
with the Auzea of Tacitus, and with the _Colonia Septimia
Aur. Auziensium_ of the Roman inscriptions the present
Aumale.

In 876 B.C. Assur-nazir-pal had crossed the Lebanon and skirted the
shores of the Mediterranean: Eth-baal, naturally compliant, had loaded
him with gifts, and by this opportune submission had preserved his
cities and country from the horrors of invasion.*

* The King of Tyre who sent gifts to Assur-nazir-pal is not
named in the Assyrian documents: our knowledge of Tyrian
chronology permits us with all probability to identify him
with Eth-baal.

Twenty years later Shalmaneser III. had returned to Syria, and had come
into conflict with Damascus. The northern Phoenicians formed a league
with Ben-hadad (Adadidri) to withstand him, and drew upon themselves the
penalty of their rashness; the Tynans, faithful to their usual policy,
preferred to submit voluntarily and purchase peace. Their conduct
showed the greater wisdom in that, after the death of Eth-baal, internal
troubles again broke out with renewed fierceness and with even more
disastrous results. His immediate successor was Balezor (854-846 B.C.),
followed by Mutton I. (845-821 B.C.), who flung himself at the feet of
Shalmaneser III., in 842 B.c., in the camp at Baalirasi, and renewed
his homage three years later, in 839 B.C. The legends concerning the
foundation of Carthage blend with our slight knowledge of his history.
They attribute to Mutton I. a daughter named Elissa, who was married
to her uncle Sicharbal, high priest of Melkarth, and a young son named
Pygmalion (820-774 B.c.). Sicharbal had been nominated by Mutton as
regent during the minority of Pygmalion, but he was overthrown by
the people, and some years later murdered by his ward. From that time
forward Elissa's one aim was to avenge the murder of her husband.
She formed a conspiracy which was joined by all the nobles, but being
betrayed and threatened with death, she seized a fleet which lay ready
to sail in the harbour, and embarking with all her adherents set sail
for Africa, landing in the district of Zeugitane, where the Sidonians
had already built Kambe. There she purchased a tract of land from
larbas, chief of the Liby-phoenicians, and built on the ruins of the
ancient factory a new town, Qart-hadshat, which the Greeks called
Carchedo and the Romans Carthage. The genius of Virgil has rendered
the name of Dido illustrious: but history fails to recognise in the
narratives which form the basis of his tale anything beyond a legendary
account fabricated after the actual origin (814-813 B.C.) of the great
Punic city had been forgotten. Thus weakened, Tyre could less than ever
think of opposing the ambitious designs of Assyria: Pygmalion took no
part in the rebellions of the petty Syrian kings against Samsi-ramman,
and in 803 B.C. he received his suzerain Ramman-nirari with the
accustomed gifts, when that king passed through Phoenicia before
attacking Damascus. Pygmalion died about 774 B.C., and the names of his
immediate successors are not known;* it may be supposed, however, that
when the power of Nineveh temporarily declined, the ties which held Tyre
to Assyria became naturally relaxed, and the city released herself from
the burden of a tribute which had in the past been very irregularly
paid.

* The fragment of Menander 'which has preserved for us the
list of Tyrian kings from Abi-baal to Pygmalion, was only
quoted by Josephus, because, the seventh year of Pygmalion's
reign corresponding to the date of the foundation of
Carthage,--814--813 B.C. according to the chronological
system of Timssus,--the Hebrew historian found in it a fixed
date which seemed to permit of his establishing the
chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah on a trustworthy
basis between the reign of Pygmalion and Hiram I., the
contemporary of David and Solomon.

The yoke was reassumed half a century later, at the mere echo of the
first victories of Tiglath-pileser III.; and Hiram II., who then reigned
in Tyre, hastened to carry to the camp at Arpad assurances of his
fidelity (742 B.C.). He gave pledges of his allegiance once more in 738
B.C.; then he disappears, and Mutton II. takes his place about 736 B.C.
This king cast off, unhappily for himself, his hereditary apathy, and as
soon as a pretext offered itself, abandoned the policy of neutrality to
which his ancestors had adhered so firmly. He entered into an alliance
in 734 B.C. with Damascus, Israel and Philistia, secretly supported
and probably instigated by Egypt; then, when Israel was conquered and
Damascus overthrown, he delayed repairing his error till an Assyrian
army appeared before Tyre: he had then to pay the price of his temerity
by 120 talents of gold and many loads of merchandise (728 B.C.). The
punishment was light and the loss inconsiderable in comparison with
the accumulated wealth of the city, which its maritime trade was daily
increasing:* Mutton thought the episode was closed,** but the peaceful
policy of his house, having been twice interrupted, could not be
resumed.

*[For a description of the trade carried on by Tyre, cf.
Ezelc. xxvi., xxvii., and xxviii.---Tr.]

** Pygmalion having died about 774 B.C., and Hiram II. not
appearing till 742 B.C., it is probable that we should
intercalate between these two Kings at least one sovereign
whose name is still unknown.

Southern Phoenicia, having once launched on the stream of Asiatic
politics, followed its fluctuations, and was compelled henceforth to
employ in her own defence the forces which had hitherto been utilised
in promoting her colonial enterprises. But it was not due to the foolish
caprice of ignorant or rash sovereigns that Tyre renounced her former
neutral policy: she was constrained to do so, almost perforce, by the
changes which had taken place in Europe. The progress of the Greeks, and
their triumph in the waters of the AEgean and Ionian Seas, and the rapid
expansion of the Etruscan navy after the end of the ninth century, had
gradually restricted the Phoenician merchantmen to the coasts of the
Western Mediterranean and the Atlantic: they industriously exploited
the mineral wealth of Africa and Spain, and traffic with the barbarous
tribes of Morocco and Lusitania, as well as the discovery and working of
the British tin mines, had largely compensated for the losses occasioned
by the closing of the Greek and Italian markets. Their ships, obliged
now to coast along the inhospitable cliffs of Northern Africa and to
face the open sea, were more strongly and scientifically built than any
vessels hitherto constructed. The Egyptian undecked galleys, with stem
and stern curving inwards, were discarded as a build ill adapted to
resist the attacks of wind or wave. The new Phoenician galley had a long,
low, narrow, well-balanced hull, the stern raised and curving inwards
above the steersman, as heretofore, but the bows pointed and furnished
with a sharp ram projecting from the keel, equally serviceable to cleave
the waves or to stave in the side of an enemy's ship. Motive power was
supplied by two banks of oars, the upper ones resting in rowlocks on
the gunwale, the lower ones in rowlocks pierced in the timbers of the
vessel's side. An upper deck, supported by stout posts, ran from stem to
stern, above the heads of the rowers, and was reserved for the soldiers
and the rest of the crew: on a light railing surrounding it were hung
the circular shields of the former, forming as it were a rampart on
either side.

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