History of Egypt, Chald?a, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of 12)

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, Project Gutenberg, A.H. Sayce, M. L. Mcclure

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• Publié par: arde
• Nombre de lectures: 28
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chald a, Syria, � Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of 12), by G. Maspero This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: History Of Egypt, Chald a, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of� 12) Author: G. Maspero Editor: A.H. Sayce Translator: M.L. McClure Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17328] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT, CHALD A� *** Produced by David Widger [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 JUD �A 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, Sh b -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 B t-Yak �n into Elamite territory; Sennacherib's fleet and � descent on Nagitu (697-696 B.C.)--Khalludush invades Karduniash (695 B.C.); Nirgal-ushezib and Mushes b-marduk at Babylon (693-689 � B.C.)--Sennacherib invades Elam (693 B.C.): battle of Khalul (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 Jud a 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 Chald a, 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-z kir-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-z kir-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-]z kir[shumu]; others � consider Akises-Akishu as being the personal name of the king, and Marduk-z kir-shumu his throne-name. � This was the signal for a general insurrection in Chald a 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-z kir-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