The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 35

After he had finished this prodigious work, he resumed his expedition against the Bactrians. His army, according to the relation of Ctesias, consisted of seventeen hundred thousand foot, two hundred thousand horse, and about sixteen thousand chariots armed with scythes. Diodorus adds, that this ought not to appear incredible, since, not to mention the innumerable armies of Darius and Xerxes, the city of Syracuse alone, in the time of Dionysius the Tyrant, furnished one hundred and twenty thousand foot and twelve thousand horse, besides four hundred vessels well equipped and provided. And a little before Hannibal's time, Italy, including the citizens and allies, was able to send into the field near a million of men. Ninus made himself master of a great number of cities, and at last laid siege to Bactria, the capital of the country. Here he would probably have seen all his attempts miscarry, had it not been for the diligence and a.s.sistance of Semiramis, wife to one of his chief officers, a woman of an uncommon courage, and peculiarly exempt from the weakness of her s.e.x. She was born at Ascalon, a city of Syria. I think it needless to recite the account Diodorus gives of her birth, and of the miraculous manner of her being nursed and brought up by pigeons, since that historian himself looks upon it only as a fabulous story. It was Semiramis that directed Ninus how to attack the citadel, and by her means he took it, and thus became master of the city, in which he found an immense treasure. The husband of Semiramis having killed himself, to prevent the effects of the king's threats and indignation, who had conceived a violent pa.s.sion for his wife, Ninus married her.

After his return to Nineveh, he had a son by her, whom he called Ninyas.

Not long after this he died, and left the queen the government of the kingdom. She, in honour of his memory, erected a magnificent monument, which remained a long time after the ruin of Nineveh.

I find no appearance of truth in what some authors relate concerning the manner of Semiramis's coming to the throne.(976) According to them, having secured the chief men of the state, and attached them to her interest by her benefactions and promises, she solicited the king with great importunity to put the sovereign power into her hands for the s.p.a.ce of five days. He yielded to her entreaties, and all the provinces of the empire were commanded to obey Semiramis. These orders were executed but too exactly for the unfortunate Ninus, who was put to death, either immediately or after some years' imprisonment.

(M157) SEMIRAMIS. This princess applied all her thoughts to immortalize her name, and to cover the meanness of her extraction by the greatness of her enterprises.(977) She proposed to herself to surpa.s.s all her predecessors in magnificence, and to that end she undertook the building of the mighty Babylon,(978) in which work she employed two millions of men, which were collected out of all the provinces of her vast empire.

Some of her successors endeavoured to adorn that city with new works and embellishments. I shall here speak of them all together, in order to give the reader a more clear and distinct idea of that stupendous city.

The princ.i.p.al works which rendered Babylon so famous, are the walls of the city; the quays and the bridge; the lake, banks, and ca.n.a.ls, made for the draining of the river; the palaces, hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus; works of such a surprising magnificence, as is scarce to be comprehended. Dr. Prideaux having treated this subject with great extent and learning, I have only to copy, or rather abridge him.

I. _The Walls._-Babylon stood on a large plain, in a very fat and rich soil.(979) The Avails were every way prodigious. They were in thickness eighty-seven feet, in height three hundred and fifty, and in compa.s.s four hundred and eighty furlongs, which make sixty of our miles. These walls were drawn round the city in the form of an exact square, each side of which was one hundred and twenty furlongs,(980) or fifteen miles, in length, and all built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime arising out of the earth in that country, which binds much stronger and firmer than mortar, and soon grows much harder than the bricks or stones themselves which it cements together.

These walls were surrounded on the outside with a vast ditch, full of water, and lined with bricks on both sides. The earth that was dug out of it made the bricks wherewith the walls were built; and therefore, from the vast height and breadth of the walls may be inferred the greatness of the ditch.

In every side of this great square were twenty-five gates, that is, a hundred in all, which were all made of solid bra.s.s; and hence it is, that when G.o.d promises to Cyrus the conquest of Babylon, he tells him,(981) that he would break in pieces before him the gates of bra.s.s. Between every two of these gates were three towers, and four more at the four corners of this great square, and three between each of these corners and the next gate on either side; every one of these towers was ten feet higher than the walls. But this is to be understood only of those parts of the wall where there was need of towers.

From the twenty-five gates in each side of this great square went twenty-five streets, in straight lines to the gates, which were directly over-against them, in the opposite side; so that the whole number of the streets was fifty, each fifteen miles long, whereof twenty-five went one way, and twenty-five the other, directly crossing each other at right angles. And besides these, there were also four half streets, which had houses only on one side, and the wall on the other; these went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and were each of them two hundred feet broad; the rest were about a hundred and fifty. By these streets thus crossing each other, the whole city was cut out into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, that is, two miles and a quarter in circ.u.mference. Round these squares, on every side towards the street, stood the houses (which were not contiguous, but had void s.p.a.ces between them,) all built three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner of ornaments towards the streets.(982) The s.p.a.ce within in the middle of each square, was likewise all void ground, employed for yards, gardens, and other such uses; so that Babylon was greater in appearance than reality, near one half of the city being taken up in gardens and other cultivated lands, as we are told by Q.

Curtius.

II. _The Quays and Bridge._-A branch of the river Euphrates ran quite cross the city, from the north to the south side;(983) on each side of the river was a quay, and a high wall built of brick and bitumen, of the same thickness as the walls that went round the city. In these walls, over-against every street that led to the river, were gates of bra.s.s, and from them descents by steps to the river, for the conveniency of the inhabitants, who used to pa.s.s over from one side to the other in boats, having no other way of crossing the river before the building of the bridge. The brazen gates were always open in the daytime, and shut in the night.

The bridge was not inferior to any of the other buildings, either in beauty or magnificence; it was a furlong in length,(984) and thirty feet in breadth, built with wonderful art, to supply the defect of a foundation in the bottom of the river, which was all sandy. The arches were made of huge stones, fastened together with chains of iron and melted lead. Before they began to build the bridge, they turned the course of the river, and laid its channel dry, having another view in so doing, besides that of laying the foundations more commodiously, as I shall explain hereafter.

And as every thing was prepared beforehand, both the bridge and the quays, which I have already described, were built in that interval.

III. _The Lake, Ditches, and Ca.n.a.ls, made for the draining __ of the River._-These works, objects of admiration for the skilful in all ages, were still more useful than magnificent.(985) In the beginning of the summer, on the sun's melting the snow on the mountains of Armenia, there arises a vast increase of waters, which, running into the Euphrates in the months of June, July, and August, makes it overflow its banks, and occasion such another inundation as the Nile does in Egypt. To prevent the damage which both the city and country received from these inundations, at a very considerable distance above the town two artificial ca.n.a.ls were cut, which turned the course of these waters into the Tigris, before they reached Babylon.(986) And to secure the country yet more from the danger of inundations, and to keep the river within its channel, they raised prodigious banks on both sides the river, built with brick cemented with bitumen, which began at the head of the artificial ca.n.a.ls, and extended below the city.(987)

To facilitate the making of these works, it was necessary to turn the course of the river, for which purpose, to the west of Babylon, was dug a prodigious artificial lake, forty miles square,(988) one hundred and sixty in compa.s.s, and thirty-five feet deep, according to Herodotus, and seventy-five, according to Megasthenes. Into this lake was the whole river turned, by an artificial ca.n.a.l cut from the west side of it, till the whole work was finished, when it was made to flow in its former channel.

But that the Euphrates, in the time of its increase, might not overflow the city, through the gates on its sides, this lake, with the ca.n.a.l from the river, was still preserved. The water received into the lake at the time of these overflowings was kept there all the year, as in a common reservoir, for the benefit of the country, to be let out by sluices, at convenient times for the watering of the lands below it. The lake, therefore, was equally useful in defending the country from inundations, and making it fertile. I relate the wonders of Babylon as they are delivered down to us by the ancients; but there are some of them which are scarce to be comprehended or believed, of which number is the vast extent of the lake which I have just described.

Berosus, Megasthenes, and Abydenus, quoted by Josephus and Eusebius, make Nebuchadnezzar the author of most of these works; but Herodotus ascribes the bridge, the two quays of the river, and the lake, to Nitocris, the daughter-in-law of that monarch. Perhaps Nitocris might finish what her father left imperfect at his death, on which account that historian might give her the honour of the whole undertaking.

IV. _The Palaces, and Hanging Gardens._(_989_)-At the two ends of the bridge were two palaces, which had a communication with each other by a vault, built under the channel of the river, at the time of its being dry.

The old palace, which stood on the east side of the river, was thirty furlongs (or three miles and three quarters) in compa.s.s; near which stood the temple of Belus, of which we shall soon speak. The new palace, which stood on the west side of the river, opposite to the other, was sixty furlongs (or seven miles and a half) in compa.s.s. It was surrounded with three walls, one within another, with considerable s.p.a.ces between them.

These walls, as also those of the other palace, were embellished with an infinite variety of sculptures, representing all kinds of animals, to the life. Amongst the rest was a curious hunting-piece, in which Semiramis on horseback was throwing her javelin at a leopard, and her husband Ninus piercing a lion.

In this last palace, were the hanging gardens, so celebrated among the Greeks.(990) They contained a square of four hundred feet on every side, and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above another, till the height equalled that of the walls of the city. The ascent was from terrace to terrace, by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained by vast arches, raised upon other arches, one above another, and strengthened by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid large flat stones, sixteen feet long, and four broad; over these was a layer of reeds, mixed with a great quant.i.ty of bitumen, upon which were two rows of bricks, closely cemented together with plaster. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, upon which lay the mould of the garden.

And all this floorage was contrived to keep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches. The earth laid hereon was so deep, that the greatest trees might take root in it; and with such the terraces were covered, as well as with all other plants and flowers, that were proper to adorn a pleasure-garden. In the upper terrace there was an engine, or kind of pump, by which water was drawn up out of the river, and from thence the whole garden was watered. In the s.p.a.ces between the several arches, upon which this whole structure rested, were large and magnificent apartments, that were very light, and had the advantage of a beautiful prospect.

Amytis, the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, having been bred in Media, (for she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of that country,) had been much delighted with the mountains and woody parts of that country.(991) And as she desired to have something like it in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to gratify her, caused this prodigious edifice to be erected: Diodoras gives much the same account of the matter, but without naming the persons.

V. _The Temple of Belus._(_992_)-Another of the great works at Babylon was the temple of Belus, which stood, as I have mentioned already, near the old palace. It was most remarkable for a prodigious tower, that stood in the middle of it. At the foundation, according to Herodotus, it was a square of a furlong on each side, that is, half a mile in the whole compa.s.s, and (according to Strabo) it was also a furlong in height. It consisted of eight towers, built one above the other, decreasing regularly to the top, for which reason Strabo calls the whole a pyramid. It is not only a.s.serted, but proved, that this tower much exceeded the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt in height. Therefore we have good reason to believe, as Bochart a.s.serts,(993) that this is the very same tower which was built there at the confusion of languages; and the rather, because it is attested by several profane authors, that this tower was all built of bricks and bitumen, as the Scriptures tell us the tower of Babel was. The ascent to the top was by stairs on the outside round it; that is, perhaps, there was an easy sloping ascent in the side of the outer wall, which, turning by very slow degrees in a spiral line eight times round the tower from the bottom to the top, had the same appearance as if there had been eight towers placed upon one another. In these different stories were many large rooms, with arched roofs supported by pillars. Over the whole, on the top of the tower, was an observatory, by the benefit of which the Babylonians became more expert in astronomy than all other nations, and made, in a short time, the great progress in it ascribed to them in history.

But the chief use to which this tower was designed, was the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.d Belus or Baal, as also that of several other deities; for which reason there was a mult.i.tude of chapels in different parts of the tower. The riches of this temple in statues, tables, censers, cups, and other sacred vessels, all of ma.s.sy gold, were immense. Among other images, there was one forty feet high, which weighed a thousand Babylonish talents. The Babylonish talent, according to Pollux in his _Onomasticon_, contained seven thousand Attic drachmas, and consequently was a sixth part more than the Attic talent, which contains but six thousand drachmas.

According to the calculation which Diodorus makes of the riches contained in this temple, the sum total amounts to six thousand three hundred Babylonish talents of gold.

The sixth part of six thousand three hundred is one thousand and fifty; consequently six thousand three hundred Babylonish talents of gold are equivalent to seven thousand three hundred and fifty Attic talents of gold.

Now seven thousand three hundred and fifty Attic talents of silver are worth upwards of two millions and one hundred thousand pounds sterling.

The proportion between gold and silver among the ancients we reckon as ten to one; therefore seven thousand three hundred and fifty Attic talents of gold amount to above one and twenty millions sterling.

This temple stood till the time of Xerxes;(994) but he, on his return from his Grecian expedition, demolished it entirely, after having first plundered it of all its immense riches. Alexander, on his return to Babylon from his Indian expedition, purposed to have rebuilt it; and in order thereto, set ten thousand men to work, to rid the place of its rubbish; but, after they had laboured herein two months, Alexander died, and that put an end to the undertaking.

Such were the chief works which rendered Babylon so famous; the greater part of them are ascribed by profane authors to Semiramis, to whose history it is now time to return.

When she had finished all these great undertakings, she thought fit to make a progress through the several parts of her empire;(995) and, wherever she came, left monuments of her magnificence by many n.o.ble structures which she erected, either for the conveniency or ornament of her cities; she was particularly careful to have water brought by aqueducts to such places as wanted it, and to make the highways easy, by cutting through mountains, and filling up valleys. In the time of Diodorus, there were still monuments to be seen in many places, with her name inscribed upon them.

The authority this queen had over her people seems very extraordinary, since we find her presence alone capable of appeasing a sedition.(996) One day, as she was dressing herself, word was brought her of a tumult in the city. Whereupon she went out immediately, with her head half dressed, and did not return till the disturbance was entirely appeased. A statue was erected in remembrance of this action, representing her in that very att.i.tude and undress, which had not hindered her from flying to her duty.

Not satisfied with the vast extent of dominions left her by her husband, she enlarged them by the conquest of a great part of aethiopia. Whilst she was in that country, she had the curiosity to visit the temple of Jupiter Ammon, to inquire of the oracle how long she had to live. According to Diodorus, the answer she received was, that she should not die till her son Ninyas conspired against her, and that after her death one part of Asia would pay her divine honours.

Her greatest and last expedition was against India; on this occasion she raised an innumerable army out of all the provinces of her empire, and appointed Bactra for the rendezvous. As the strength of the Indians consisted chiefly in their great number of elephants, she caused a mult.i.tude of camels to be accoutred in the form of elephants, in hopes of deceiving the enemy. It is said that Perseus long after used the same stratagem against the Romans; but neither of them succeeded in this artifice. The Indian king having notice of her approach, sent amba.s.sadors to ask her who she was, and with what right, having never received any injury from him, she came out of wantonness to attack his dominions; adding, that her boldness should soon meet with the punishment it deserved. Tell your master (replied the queen) that in a little time I myself will let him know who I am. She advanced immediately towards the river(997) from which the country takes its name; and having prepared a sufficient number of boats, she attempted to pa.s.s it with her army. Their pa.s.sage was a long time disputed, but after a b.l.o.o.d.y battle she put her enemies to flight. Above a thousand of their boats were sunk, and above a hundred thousand of their men taken prisoners. Encouraged by this success, she advanced directly into the country, leaving sixty thousand men behind to guard the bridge of boats, which she had built over the river. This was just what the king desired, who fled on purpose to bring her to an engagement in the heart of his country. As soon as he thought her far enough advanced, he faced about, and a second engagement ensued, more b.l.o.o.d.y than the first. The counterfeit elephants could not long sustain the shock of the real ones: these routed her army, crus.h.i.+ng whatever came in their way. Semiramis did all that lay in her power to rally and encourage her troops, but in vain. The king, perceiving her engaged in the fight, advanced towards her, and wounded her in two places, but not mortally. The swiftness of her horse soon carried her beyond the reach of her enemies. As her men crowded to the bridge, to repa.s.s the river, great numbers of them perished, through the disorder and confusion unavoidable on such occasions. When those that could save themselves were safely over, she destroyed the bridge, and by that means stopt the enemy; and the king likewise, in obedience to an oracle, had given orders to his troops not to pa.s.s the river, nor pursue Semiramis any farther. The queen, having made an exchange of prisoners at Bactra, returned to her own dominions with scarce one-third of her army, which (according to Ctesias) consisted of three million foot, and five hundred thousand horse, besides the camels and chariots armed for war, of which she had a very considerable number. I have no doubt that this account is highly exaggerated, or that there is some mistake in the numeral characters. She, and Alexander after her, were the only persons that ever ventured to carry the war beyond the river Indus.

I must own, I am somewhat puzzled with a difficulty which may be raised against the extraordinary things related of Ninus and Semiramis, as they do not seem to agree with the times so near the deluge: I mean, such vast armies, such a numerous cavalry, so many chariots armed with scythes, and such immense treasures of gold and silver; all which seem to be of a later date. The same thing may likewise be said of the magnificence of the buildings, ascribed to them. It is probable, the Greek historians, who came so many ages afterwards, deceived by the similarity of names, by their ignorance in chronology, and the resemblance of one event with another, may have ascribed such things to more ancient princes, as belonged to those of a later date; or may have attributed a number of exploits and enterprises to one, which ought to be divided amongst a series of them, succeeding one another.

Semiramis, some time after her return, discovered that her son was plotting against her, and one of her princ.i.p.al officers had offered him his a.s.sistance. She then called to mind the oracle of Jupiter Ammon; and believing that her end approached, without inflicting any punishment on the officer, who was taken into custody, she voluntarily abdicated the throne, put the government into the hands of her son, and withdrew from the sight of men, hoping speedily to have divine honours paid to her according to the promise of the oracle. And indeed we are told, she was wors.h.i.+pped by the a.s.syrians, under the form of a dove. She lived sixty-two years, of which she reigned forty-two.

There are in the _Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres_(998) two learned dissertations upon the a.s.syrian empire, and particularly on the reign and actions of Semiramis.

What Justin(999) says of Semiramis, namely, that after her husband's decease, not daring either to commit the government to her son, who was then too young, or openly to take it upon herself, she governed under the name and habit of Ninyas, and that, after having reigned in that manner above forty years, falling pa.s.sionately in love with her own son, she endeavoured to induce him to comply with her criminal desires, and was slain by him: all this, I say, is so void of all appearance of truth, that to go about to confute it would be but losing time. It must however be owned, that almost all the authors who have spoken of Semiramis, give us but a disadvantageous idea of her chast.i.ty.

I do not know but that the glorious reign of this queen might partly induce Plato to maintain, in his Commonwealth,(1000) that women as well as men ought to be admitted into the management of public affairs, the conducting of armies, and the government of states; and, by necessary consequence, ought to be trained up in the same exercises as men, as well for the forming of the body as the mind. Nor does he so much as except those exercises, wherein it was customary to fight stark naked, alleging(1001) that the virtue of the s.e.x would be a sufficient covering for them.

It is just matter of surprise to find a philosopher so judicious in other respects, openly combating the most common and most natural maxims of modesty and decency, virtues which are the princ.i.p.al ornament of the female s.e.x, and insisting so strongly upon a principle, sufficiently confuted by the constant practice of all ages, and of almost all nations in the world.

Aristotle, wiser in this than his master Plato, without doing the least injustice to the real merit and essential qualities of the s.e.x, has with great judgment marked(1002) out the different ends to which man and woman are ordained, from the different qualities of body and mind, wherewith they are endowed by the Author of nature, who has given the one strength of body and intrepidity of mind to enable him to undergo the greatest hards.h.i.+ps, and face the most imminent dangers; whilst the other, on the contrary, is of a weak and delicate const.i.tution, accompanied with a natural softness and modest timidity, which render her more fit for a sedentary life, and dispose her to keep within the precincts of the house, and to employ herself in the concerns of prudent and industrious economy.

Xenophon is of the same opinion with Aristotle;(1003) and in order to set off the occupation of the wife, who confines herself within her house, agreeably compares her to the mother-bee, commonly called the queen-bee, who alone governs and has the superintendence of the whole hive, who distributes all their employments, encourages their industry, presides over the building of their little cells, takes care of the nourishment and subsistence of her numerous family; regulates the quant.i.ty of honey appointed for that purpose, and at fixed and proper seasons sends abroad the new swarms in colonies, to ease and disburthen the hive of its superfluous inhabitants. He remarks, with Aristotle, the difference of const.i.tution and inclinations, designedly made by the Author of nature between man and woman, to point out to each of them their proper and peculiar offices and functions.

This allotment, far from degrading or lessening the woman, is really for her advantage and honour, in confiding to her a kind of domestic empire and government, administered only by gentleness, reason, equity, and good nature; and in giving her frequent occasions of concealing the most valuable and excellent qualities under the inestimable veil of modesty and submission. For it must ingenuously be owned, that at all times, and in all conditions, there have been women, who by a real and solid merit have distinguished themselves above their s.e.x; as there have been innumerable instances of men, who by their defects have dishonoured theirs. But these are only particular cases, which form no rule, and which ought not to prevail against an establishment founded in nature, and prescribed by the Creator himself.

(M158) NINYAS.(1004) This prince was in no respect like those from whom he received his birth, and to whose throne he succeeded. Wholly intent upon his pleasures, he kept himself shut up in his palace, and seldom showed himself to his people. To keep them in their duty, he had always at Nineveh a certain number of regular troops, furnished every year from the several provinces of his empire, at the expiration of which term they were succeeded by the like number of other troops on the same conditions; the king putting a commander at the head of them, on whose fidelity he could depend. He made use of this method, that the officers might not have time to gain the affections of the soldiers, and so form any conspiracies against him.

His successors for thirty generations followed his example and even surpa.s.sed him in indolence. Their history is absolutely unknown, there remaining no footsteps of it.

(M159) In Abraham's time the Scripture speaks of Amraphael, king of s.h.i.+nar, the country where Babylon was situated, who with two other princes followed Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites, whose tributary he probably was, in the war carried on by the latter against five kings of the land of Canaan.

(M160) It was under the government of these inactive princes, that Sesostris, king of Egypt, extended his conquests so far in the East. But as his power was of a short duration, and not supported by his successors, the a.s.syrian empire soon returned to its former state.

(M161) Plato, a curious observer of antiquities, makes the kingdom of Troy, in the time of Priam, dependent on the a.s.syrian empire.(1005) And Ctesias says, that Teutamus, the twentieth king after Ninyas, sent a considerable body of troops to the a.s.sistance of the Trojans, under the conduct of Memnon, the son of t.i.thonus, at a time when the a.s.syrian empire had subsisted above a thousand years; which agrees exactly with the time, wherein I have placed the foundation of that empire. But the silence of Homer concerning so mighty a people, and one which must needs have been well known, renders this fact exceeding doubtful. And it must be owned, that whatever relates to the times of the ancient history of the a.s.syrians, is attended with great difficulties, into which my plan does not permit me to enter.

(M162) PUL. The Scripture informs us, that Pul, king of a.s.syria, being come into the land of Israel, had a thousand talents of silver given him by Menahem, king of the ten tribes, to engage him to lend him a.s.sistance, and secure him on his throne.(1006)

This Pul is supposed to be the king of Nineveh, who repented, with all his people, at the preaching of Jonah.

He is also thought to be the father of Sardanapalus, the last king of the a.s.syrians, called, according to the custom of the eastern nations, Sardanpul, that is to say, Sardan, the son of Pul.

(M163) SARDANAPALUS. This prince surpa.s.sed all his predecessors in effeminacy, luxury, and cowardice.(1007) He never went out of his palace, but spent all his time amongst a company of women, dressed and painted like them, and employed like them at the distaff. He placed all his happiness and glory in the possession of immense treasures, in feasting and rioting, and indulging himself in all the most infamous and criminal pleasures. He ordered two verses to be put upon his tomb, which imported, that he carried away with him all that he had eaten, and all the pleasures he had enjoyed, but left all the rest behind him.