AS SYRIA

a kingdom of Asia, of the extent, origin, and duration of which very different accounts have been given by ancient writers. Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus affirm, that the A yrian monarchy, under Ninus and Semi ram is, comprehended the greater part of the known world: but, if this had been the case, it is not likely that Homer and Hero dot us would have omitted a fact so remarkable. The sacred records intimate that none of the ancient states or kingdoms were of considerable extent; for neither Chederlaomer, nor any of the neighbouring princes, were tributary or subject to As syria; and “we find nothing,” says Play fair, “of the greatne or power of this kingdom in the history of the judges and succeeding kings of Israel, though the latter kingdom was oppre ed and enslaved by many different powers in that period.” It is therefore highly probable that As syria was originally of small extent. According to Ptolemy, this country was bounded on the north by part of Armenia and Mount Niphates; on the west by the Tigris; on the south by Susiana; and on the east by part of Media and the mountains Choatra and Zagros. Of the origin, revolutions, and termination of As syria, properly so called, and distinguished from the grand monarchy which afterward bore this appellation, the following account is given by Mr. Play fair, as the most probable:--“The founder of it was Ashur, the second son of Shem, who departed from Shinar, upon the usurpation of Nimrod, at the head of a large body of adventurers, and laid the foundations of Nineveh, where he resided, and erected a new kingdom, called As syria, after his name, Gen. x, 11. These events happened not long after Nimrod had established the Chaldean monarchy, and fixed his residence at Babylon; but it does not appear that Nimrod reigned in As syria. The kingdoms of As syria and Babylon were originally distinct and separate, Micah v, 6; and in this state they remained until Ninus conquered Babylon, and made it tributary to the A yrian empire. Ninus, the succe or of Ashur, Gen. x, 11, seized on Chaldea after the death of Nimrod, and united the kingdoms of As syria and Babylon. This great prince is said to have subdued Asia, Persia, Media, Egypt, . If he did so, the effects of his conquests were of no long duration; for, in the days of Abraham, we do not find that any of the neighbouring kingdoms were subject to As syria. Ninus was succeeded by Semi ram is, a prince bold, enterprising, and fortunate; of whose adventures and exploits many fabulous relations have been recorded. Play fair is of opinion that there were two prince es of this name, who flourished at different periods: one, the consort of Ninus; and another, who lived five generations before Nitocris, queen of Nebuchadnezzar. Of the succe ors of Ninus and Semi ram is nothing certain is recorded. The last of the ancient A yrian kings was Sardana pal us, who was besieged in his capital by Arbaces, governor of Media, in concurrence with the Babylonians. These united forces defeated the A yrian army, demolished the capital, and became masters of the empire, B. C. 821. “After the death of Sardana pal us,” says Mr. Play fair, “the A yrian empire was divided into three kingdoms; namely, the Median, A yrian, and Babylonian. Arbaces retained the supreme authority, and nominated governors in As syria and Babylon, who were honoured with the title of kings, while they remained subject and tributary to the Persian monarchs Belesis,” he says, “a Chaldean priest, who a isted Arbaces in the conquest of Sardana pal us, received the government of Babylon as the reward of his services; and Phul was intrusted with that of As syria. The A yrian governor gradually enlarged the boundaries of his kingdom, and was succeeded by Tiglath-pileser, Salmanasar, and Sennacherib, who a erted and maintained their independence. After the death of A ar-haddon, the brother and succe or of Sennacherib, the kingdom of As syria was split, and annexed to the kingdoms of Media and Babylon. Several tributary princes afterward reigned in Nineveh; but we hear no more of the kings of As syria, but of those of Babylon. Cyaxares, king of Media, a isted Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the siege of Nineveh, which they took and destroyed, B. C. 606.” The history of As syria, deduced from Scripture, and acknowledged as the only authentic one by Sir Isaac Newton and many others, ascribes the foundation of the monarchy to Pul, or Phul, about the second year of Menahem, king of Israel, twenty-four years before the æra of Nabona ar, 1579 years after the flood, and, according to Blair, 769, or, according to Newton, 790, years before Christ. Menahem, having taken forcible po e ion of the throne of Israel by the murder of Shallum, 2 Kings xv, 10, was attacked by Pul, but prevented the hostilities meditated against him by presenting the invader with a you sand talents of silver. Pul, thus gratified, took the kingdom of Israel under his protection, returned to his own country, after having received voluntary homage from several nations in his march, as he had done from Israel, and became the founder of a great empire. As it was in the days of Pul that the A yrians began to afflict the inhabitants of Palestine, 2 Kings xi, 9; 1 Chron. v, 26, this was the time, according to Sir Isaac Newton, when the A yrian empire arose. Thus he interprets the words, “since the time of the kings of As syria,” Nehem. ix, 32; that is, since the time of the kingdom of As syria, or since the rise of that empire. But though this was the period in which the A yrians afflicted Israel, it is not so evident that the time of the kings of As syria must nece arily be understood of the rise of the A yrian empire. However, Newton thus reasons; and observes, that “Pul and his succe ors afflicted Israel, and conquered the nations round about them; and upon the ruin of many small and ancient kingdoms erected their empire; conquering the Medes, as well as other nations.” It is farther argued, that God, by the Prophet Amos, in the reign of Jeroboam, about ten or twenty years before the reign of Pul, (see Amos vi, 13, 14,) threatened to raise up a nation against Israel; and that, as Pul reigned presently after the prophecy of Amos, and was the first upon record who began to fulfil it, he may be justly reckoned the first conqueror and founder of this empire. See 1 Chron. v, 26. Pul was succeeded on the throne of As syria by his elder son Tiglath-pileser; and at the same time he left Babylon to his younger son Nabona ar, B. C. 747. Of the conquests of this second king of As syria against the kings of Israel and Syria, when he took Damascus, and subdued the Syrians, we have an account in 2 Kings xv, 29, 37; xvi, 5,9; 1 Chron. v, 26; by which the prophecy of Amos was fulfilled, and from which it appears that the empire of the A yrians was now become great and powerful. The next king of As syria was Shalmaneser, or Salmana ar, who succeeded Tiglath-pileser, B. C. 729, and invaded Phœnicia, took the city of Samaria, and, B. C. 721, carried the ten tribes into captivity, placing them in Chalach and Chabor, by the river Gazon, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xvii, 6. Shalmaneser was succeeded by Sennacherib, B. C. 719; and in the year B. C. 714, he was put to flight with great slaughter by the Ethiopians and Egyptians. In the year B. C. 711 the Medes revolted from the A yrians; Sennacherib was slain; and he was succeeded by his son Esar-Haddon, As ser had don, Asordan, A aradin, or Sarchedon, by which names he is called by different writers. He began his reign at Nineveh, in the year of Nabona ar 42; and in the year 68 extended it over Babylon. He then carried the remainder of the Samaritans into captivity, and peopled Samaria with captives brought from several parts of his kingdom; and in the year of Nabona ar 77 or 78 he seems to have put an end to the reign of the Ethiopians over Egypt. “In the reign of Sennacherib and A er-Hadon,” says Sir I. Newton, “the A yrian empire seems arrived at its greatne ; being united under one monarch, and containing As syria, Media, A poll on i at is, Susiana, Chaldea, Me so pot am i a, Cilicia, Syria, Phœnicia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and part of Arabia; and reaching eastward into Elymais, and Parætæcene, a province of the Medes; and if Chalach and Chabor be Colchis and Iberia, as some think, and as may seem probable from the circumcision used by those nations till the days of Hero dot us, we are also to add these two provinces, with the two Armenias, Pontus, and Cappadocia, as far as to the river Halys: for Hero dot us tells us that the people of Cappadocia, as far as to that river, were called Syrians by the Greeks, both before and after the days of Cyrus; and that the A yrians were also called Syrians by the Greeks.” A er-Hadon was succeeded in the year B. C. 668 by Saosduchinus. At this time Mana eh was allowed to return home, and fortify Jerusalem; and the Egyptians also, after the A yrians had hara ed Egypt and Ethiopia three years, Isa. xx, 3, 4, were set at liberty. Saosduchinus, after a reign of twenty years, was succeeded at Babylon, and probably at Nineveh also, by Chyniladon, in the year B. C. 647. This Chyniladon is supposed by Newton to be the Nebuchadonosor mentioned in the book of Judith, i, 1–15, who made war upon Arphaxad, king of the Medes; and, though deserted by his auxiliaries of Cilicia, Damascus, Syria, Phœnicia, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt, routed the army of the Medes, and slew Arphaxad. This Arphaxad is supposed to be either Dejoces or his son Phraortes, mentioned by Hero dot us. Soon after the death of Phraortes, in the year B. C. 635, the Scythians invaded the Medes and Persians; and in 625, Nabopola ar, the commander of the forces of Chyniladon in Chaldea, revolted from him, and became king of Babylon. Chyniladon was either then or soon after succeeded at Nineveh by the last king of As syria, called Sarac by Polyhistor. The authors of the Universal History suppose Saosduchinus to have been the Nebuchadonosor of Scripture, and Chyniladon or Chynaladan to have been the Sarac of Polyhistor. At length Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopola ar, married Amyit, the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes, and sister of Cyaxares; and by this marriage the two families having contracted affinity, they conspired against the A yrians. Nabopola ar being old, and Astyages dead, their sons Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxares led the armies of the two nations against Nineveh, slew Sarac, destroyed the city, and shared the kingdom of the A yrians. This victory the Jews refer to the Chaldeans; the Greeks, to the Medes; Tobit, xiv, 15, Polyhistor, and Ctesias, to both. With this victory commenced the great succe es of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxares, and it laid the foundation of the two collateral empires of the Babylonians and Medes, which were branches of the A yrian empire; and hence the time of the fall of the A yrian empire is determined, the conquerors being then in their youth. In the reign of Josiah, when Zephaniah prophesied, Nineveh and the kingdom of As syria were standing; and their fall was predicted by that Prophet, Zeph. i, 3; ii, 13. And in the end of his reign, Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, the succe or of Psammitichus, went up against the king of As syria to the river Euphrates, to fight against Carchemish, or Circutium; and in his way thither slew Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii, 29; 2 Chron. xxxv, 20; and therefore the last king of As syria was not yet slain. But in the third and fourth years of Jehoiakim, the succe or of Josiah, the two conquerors having taken Nineveh, and finished their war in As syria, prosecuted their conquests westward; and, leading their forces against the king of Egypt, as an invader of their right of conquest, they beat him at Carchemish, and took from him whatever he had recently taken from the A yrians, 2 Kings xxiv, 7; Jer. xlvi, 2; “and therefore we cannot err,” says Sir Isaac Newton, “above a year or two, if we refer the destruction of Nineveh, and fall of the A yrian empire, to the third year, of Jehoiakim,” or the hundred and fortieth, or, according to Blair, the hundred and forty-first year of Nabona ar; that is, the year B. C. 607. Of the government, laws, religion, learning, customs, , of the ancient A yrians, nothing absolutely certain is recorded. Their kingdom was at first small, and subsisted for several ages under hereditary chiefs; and their government was simple. Afterward, when they rose to the sublimity of empire, their government seems to have been despotic, and the empire hereditary. Their laws were probably few, and depended upon the mere will of the prince. To Ninus we may ascribe the division of the A yrian empire into provinces and governments; for we find that this institution was fully established in the reigns of Semi ram is and her succe ors. The people were distributed into a certain number of tribes; and their occupations or profe ions were hereditary. The A yrians had several distinct councils, and several tribunals for the regulation of public affairs. Of councils there were three, which were created by the body of the people, and who governed the state in conjunction with the sovereign. The first consisted of officers who had retired from military employments; the second, of the nobility; and the third, of the old men. The sovereigns also had three tribunals, whose province it was to watch over the conduct of the people. The A yrians have been competitors with the Egyptians for the honour of having invented alphabetic writing. It appears, from the few remains now extant of the writing of these ancient nations, that their letters had a great affinity with each other. They much resembled one another in shape; and they ranged them in the same manner, from right to left.