Chapter VII: Part 7

Historians [325] agree that _Menes_ Reigned in _Egypt_ next after the Gods, and turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_: he built _Memphis_ over-against the place where _Grand Cairo_ now stands, called by the _Arabian_ historians _Mesir_: he built only the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, and his successors _Ramesses_ or _Rhampsinitus_, _Mœris_, _Asychis_, and _Psammiticus_ built the western, northern eastern, and southern portico's thereof: _Psammiticus_, who built the last portico of this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of _Asa_ over _Zerah_, and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred years in building, or that any _Menes_ could be King of all _Egypt_ before the expulsion of the Shepherds. The last of the Gods of _Egypt_ was _Orus_, with his mother _Isis_, and sister _Bubaste_, and secretary _Thoth_, and unkle _Typhon_; and the King who reigned next after all their deaths, and turned the river and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the Temple of _Vulcan_, was _Memnon_ or _Amenophis_, called by the _Egyptians_ _Amenoph_; and therefore he is _Menes_: for the names _Amenoph_, or _Menoph_, and _Menes_ do not much differ; and from _Amenoph_ the city _Memphis_ built by _Menes_ had its _Egyptian_ names _Moph_, _Noph_, _Menoph_ or _Menuf_, as it is still called by the _Arabian_ historians: the necessity of fortifying this place against _Osarsiphus_ gave occasion to the building of it.

In the time of the revolt of the lower _Egypt_ under _Osarsiphus_, and the retirement of _Amenophis_ into _Ethiopia_, _Egypt_ being then in the greatest distraction, the _Greeks_ built the ship _Argo_, and sent in it the flower of _Greece_ to _Æetes_ in _Colchis_, and to many other Princes on the coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas; and this ship was built after the pattern of an _Egyptian_ ship with fifty oars, in which _Danaus_ with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from _Egypt_ into _Greece_, and was the first long ship with sails built by the _Greeks_: and such an improvement of navigation, with a design to send the flower of _Greece_ to many Princes upon the sea-coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas, was too great an undertaking to be set on foot, without the concurrence of the Princes and States of _Greece_, and perhaps the approbation of the _Amphictyonic_ Council; for it was done by the dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs for the welfare of _Greece_, and therefore knew of this expedition, and might send the _Argonauts_ upon an embassy to the said Princes; and for concealing their design might make the fable of the golden fleece, in relation to the ship of _Phrixus_ whose ensign was a golden ram: and probably their design was to notify the distraction of _Egypt_, and the invasion thereof by the _Ethiopians_ and _Israelites_, to the said Princes, and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt from _Egypt_, and set up for themselves, and make a league with the _Greeks_: for the _Argonauts_ went through [326] the Kingdom of _Colchis_ by land to the _Armenians_, and through _Armenia_ to the _Medes_; which could not have been done if they had not made friendship with the nations through which they passed: they visited also _Laomedon_ King of the _Trojans_, _Phineus_ King of the _Thracians_, _Cyzicus_ King of the _Doliones_, _Lycus_ King of the _Mariandyni_, the coasts of _Mysia_ and _Taurica Chersonesus_, the nations upon the _Tanais_, the people about _Byzantium_, and the coasts of _Epirus_, _Corsica_, _Melita_, _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, and _Gallia_ upon the _Mediterranean_; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to _Afric_, and there conferred with _Euripylus_ King of _Cyrene_: and [328] _Strabo_ tells us that _in _Armenia_ and _Media_, and the neighbouring places, there were frequent monuments of the expedition of _Jason_; as also about _Sinope_, and its sea-coasts, the _Propontis_ and the _Hellespont_, and in the _Mediterranean__: and a message by the flower of _Greece_ to so many nations could be on no other account than state-policy; these nations had been invaded by the _Egyptians_, but after this expedition we hear no more of their continuing in subjection to _Egypt_.

The [329] _Egyptians_ originally lived on the fruits of the earth, and fared hardly, and abstained from animals, and therefore abominated Shepherds: _Menes_ taught them to adorn their beds and tables with rich furniture and carpets, and brought in amongst them a sumptuous, delicious and voluptuous way of life: and about a hundred years after his death, _Gnephacthus_ one of his successors cursed him for it, and to reduce the luxury of _Egypt_, caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of _Jupiter_ at _Thebes_; and by this curse the honour of _Menes_ was diminished among the _Egyptians_.

The Kings of _Egypt_ who expelled the Shepherds and Succeeded them, Reigned I think first at _Coptos_, and then at _Thebes_, and then at _Memphis_. At _Coptos_ I place _Misphragmuthosis_ and _Amosis_ or _Thomosis_ who expelled the Shepherds, and abolished their custom of sacrificing men, and extended the _Coptic_ language, and the name of Αια Κοπτου, _Aegyptus_, to the conquest. Then _Thebes_ became the Royal City of _Ammon_, and from him was called _No-Ammon,_ and his conquest on the west of _Egypt_ was called _Ammonia._ After him, in the same city of _Thebes_, Reigned _Osiris_, _Orus_, _Menes_ or _Amenophis_, and _Ramesses_: but _Memphis_ and her miracles were not yet celebrated in _Greece_; for _Homer_ celebrates _Thebes_ as in its glory in his days, and makes no mention of _Memphis_. After _Menes_ had built _Memphis, Mœris_ the successor of _Ramesses_ adorned it, and made it the seat of the Kingdom, and this was almost two Generations after the _Trojan_ war. _Cinyras_, the _Vulcan_ who married _Venus_, and under the Kings of _Egypt_ Reigned over _Cyprus_ and part of _Phœnicia_, and made armour for those Kings, lived 'till the times of the _Trojan_ war: and upon his death _Menes_ or _Memnon_ might Deify him, and found the famous Temple of _Vulcan_ in that city for his worship, but not live to finish it. In a plain [330] not far from _Memphis_ are many small Pyramids, said to be built by _Venephes_ or _Enephes_; and I suspect that _Venephes_ and _Enephes_ have been corruptly written for _Menephes_ or _Amenophis_, the letters _AM_ being almost worn out in some old manuscript: for after the example of these Pyramids, the following Kings, _Mœris_ and his successors, built others much larger. The plain in which they were built was the burying-place of that city, as appears by the Mummies there found; and therefore the Pyramids were the sepulchral monuments of the Kings and Princes of that city: and by these and such like works the city grew famous soon after the days of _Homer_; who therefore flourished in the Reign of _Ramesses_.

_Herodotus_ [331] is the oldest historian now extant who wrote of the antiquities of _Egypt_, and had what he wrote from the Priests of that country: and _Diodorus_, who wrote almost 400 years after him, and had his relations also from the Priests of _Egypt_, placed many nameless Kings between those whom _Herodotus_ placed in continual succession. The Priests of _Egypt_ had therefore, between the days of _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_, out of vanity, very much increased the number of their Kings: and what they did after the days of _Herodotus_, they began to do before his days; for he tells us that they recited to him out of their books, the names of 330 Kings who Reigned after _Menes_, but did nothing memorable, except _Nitocris_ and _Mœris_ the last of them: all these Reigned at _Thebes_, 'till _Mœris_ translated the seat of the Empire from _Thebes_ to _Memphis_. After _Mœris_ he reckons _Sesostris_, _Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Rhampsinitus_, _Cheops_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_ again, _Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, and _Psammenitus_. The _Egyptians_ had before the days of _Solon_ made their monarchy 9000 years old, and now they reckon'd to _Herodotus_ a succession of 330 Kings Reigning so many Generations, that is about 11000 years, before _Sesostris_: but the Kings who Reigned long before _Sesostris_ might Reign over several little Kingdoms in several parts of _Egypt_, before the rise of their Monarchy; and by consequence before the days of _Eli_ and _Samuel_, and so are not under our consideration: and these names may have been multiplied by corruption; and some of them, as _Athothes_ or _Thoth_, the secretary of _Osiris_; _Tosorthrus_ or _Æsculapius_ a Physician who invented building with square stones; and _Thuor_ or _Polybus_ the husband of _Alcandra_, were only Princes of _Egypt_. If with _Herodotus_ we omit the names of those Kings who did nothing memorable, and consider only those whose actions are recorded, and who left splendid monuments of their having Reigned over _Egypt_, such as were Temples, Statues, Pyramids, Obelisks, and Palaces dedicated or ascribed to them, these Kings reduced into good order will give us all or almost all the Kings of _Egypt_, from the days of the expulsion of the Shepherds and founding of the Monarchy, downwards to the conquest of _Egypt_ by _Cambyses_: for _Sesostris_ Reigned in the Age of the Gods of _Egypt_: being Deified by the names of _Osiris_, _Hercules_ and _Bacchus_, as above; and therefore _Menes_, _Nitocris_, and _Mœris_ are to be placed after him; _Menes_ and his son _Ramesses_ Reigned next after the Gods, and therefore _Nitocris_ and _Mœris_ Reigned after _Ramesses_: _Mœris_ is set down immediately before _Cheops_, three times in the Dynastys of the Kings of _Egypt_ composed by _Eratosthenes_, and once in the Dynasties of _Manetho_; and in the same Dynasties _Nitocris_ is set after the builders of the three great Pyramids, and according to _Herodotus_ her brother Reigned before her, and was slain, and she revenged his death; and according to _Syncellus_ she built the third great Pyramid; and the builders of the Pyramids Reigned at _Memphis_, and by consequence after _Mœris_. Now from these things I gather that the Kings of _Egypt_ mentioned by _Herodotus_ ought to be placed in this order; _Sesostris_, _Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Menes_, _Rhampsinitus_, _Mœris_, _Cheops_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_, _Nitocris_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_ again, _Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, _Psammenitus_.

_Pheron_ is by _Herodotus_ said to be the son and successor of _Sesostris_. He was Deified by the name of _Orus_.

_Proteus_ Reigned in the lower _Egypt_ when _Paris_ sailed thither; that is at the end of the _Trojan_ war, according to [332] _Herodotus_: and at that time _Amenophis_ was King of _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_: but in his absence _Proteus_ might be governor of some part of the lower _Egypt_ under him; for _Homer_ places _Proteus_ upon the sea-coasts, and makes him a sea God, and calls him the servant of _Neptune_; and _Herodotus_ saith that he rose up from among the common people, and that _Proteus_ was his name translated into _Greek_, and this name in _Greek_ signifies only a Prince or President. He succeeded _Pheron_, and was succeeded by _Rhampsinitus_ according to _Herodotus_; and so was contemporary to _Amenophis_.

_Amenophis_ Reigned next after _Orus_ and _Isis_ the last of the Gods; he Reigned at first over all _Egypt_, and then over _Memphis_ and the upper parts of _Egypt_; and by conquering _Osarsiphus_, who had revolted from him, became King of all _Egypt_ again, about 51 years after the death of _Solomon_. He built _Memphis_ and ordered the worship of the Gods of _Egypt_, and built a Palace at _Abydus_, and the _Memnonia_ at _This_ and _Susa_, and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_ in _Memphis_; the building with square stones being found out before by _Tosorthrus_, the _Æsculapius_ of _Egypt_: he is by corruption of his name called _Menes_, _Mines_, _Minæus_, _Mineus_, _Minies_, _Mnevis_, _Enephes_, _Venephes_, _Phamenophis_, _Osymanthyas_, _Osimandes_, _Ismandes_, _Imandes_, _Memnon_, _Arminon._

_Amenophis_ was succeeded by his son, called by _Herodotus_, _Rhampsinitus_, and by others _Ramses_, _Ramises_, _Rameses_, _Ramesses_, [333] _Ramestes_, _Rhampses_, _Remphis_. Upon an Obelisk erected by this King in _Heliopolis_, and sent to _Rome_ by the Emperor _Constantius_, was an inscription, interpreted by _Hermapion_ an _Egyptian_ Priest, expressing that the King was long lived, and Reigned over a great part of the earth: and _Strabo_, [334] an eye-witness, tells us, that in the monuments of the Kings of _Egypt_, above the _Memnonium_ were inscriptions upon Obelisks, expressing the riches of the Kings, and their Reigning as far as _Scythia_, _Bactria_, _India_ and _Ionia_: and _Tacitus_ [335] tells us from an inscription seen at _Thebes_ by _Cæsar Germanicus,_ and interpreted to him by the _Egyptian_ Priests, that this King _Ramesses_ had an army of 700000 men, and Reigned over _Libya_, _Ethiopia_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Bactria_, _Scythia_, _Armenia_, _Cappadocia_, _Bithynia_, and _Lycia_; whence the Monarchy of _Assyria_ was not yet risen. This King was very covetous, and a great collector of taxes, and one of the richest of all the Kings of _Egypt_, and built the western portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_.

_Mœris_ inheriting the riches of _Ramesses_, built the northern portico of that Temple more sumptuously, and made the Lake of _Mœris,_ with two great Pyramids of brick in the midst of it: and for preserving the division of _Egypt_ into equal shares amongst the soldiers, this King wrote a book of surveying, which gave a beginning to Geometry. He is called also _Maris_, _Myris_, _Meres_, _Marres_, _Smarres_; and more corruptly, by changing Μ into Α, Τ, Β, Σ, YΧ, Λ, &c. _Ayres_, _Tyris_, _Byires_, _Soris_, _Uchoreus_, _Lachares_, _Labaris_, &c.

_Diodorus_ [336] places _Uchoreus_ between _Osymanduas_ and _Myris_, that is between _Amenophis_ and _Mœris_, and saith that he built _Memphis_, and fortified it to admiration with a mighty rampart of earth, and a broad and deep trench, which was filled with the water of the _Nile_, and made there a vast and deep Lake for receiving the water of the _Nile_ in the time of its overflowing, and built palaces in the city; and that this place was so commodiously seated that most of the Kings who Reigned after him preferred it before _Thebes_, and removed the Court from thence to this place, so that the magnificence of _Thebes_ from that time began to decrease, and that of _Memphis_ to increase, 'till _Alexander_ King of _Macedon_ built _Alexandria_. These great works of _Uchoreus_ and those of _Mœris_ savour of one and the same genius, and were certainly done by one and the same King, distinguished into two by a corruption of the name as above; for this Lake of _Uchoreus_ was certainly the same with that of _Mœris_.

After the example of the two brick Pyramids made by _Mœris_, the three next Kings, _Cheops_, _Cephren_ and _Mycerinus_ built the three great Pyramids at _Memphis_; and therefore Reigned in that city. _Cheops_ shut up the Temples of the _Nomes_, and prohibited the worship of the Gods of _Egypt_, designing no doubt to have been worshipped himself after death: he is called also _Chembis_, _Chemmis_, _Chemnis_, _Phiops_, _Apathus_, _Apappus_, _Suphis_, _Saophis_, _Syphoas_, _Syphaosis_, _Soiphis_, _Syphuris_, _Anoiphis_, _Anoisis_: he built the biggest of the three great Pyramids which stand together; and his brother _Cephren_ or _Cerpheres_ built the second, and his son _Mycerinus_ founded the third: this last King was celebrated for clemency and justice; he shut up the dead body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused her to be worshipped daily with odours: he is called also _Cheres_, _Cherinus_, _Bicheres_, _Moscheres_, _Mencheres_. He died before the third Pyramid was finished, and his sister and successor _Nitocris_ finished it.

Then Reigned _Asychis_, who built the eastern portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_ very splendidly, and among the small Pyramids a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud dug out of the Lake of _Mœris_: and these are the Kings who Reigned at _Memphis_, and spent their time in adorning that city, until the _Ethiopians_ and the _Assyrians_ and others revolted, and _Egypt_ lost all her dominion abroad, and became again divided into several small Kingdoms.

One of those Kingdoms was I think at _Memphis_, under _Gnephactus_, and his son and successor _Bocchoris_. _Africanus_ calls _Bocchoris_ a _Saite_; but _Sais_ at this time had other Kings: _Gnephactus_, otherwise called _Neochabis_ and _Technatis_, cursed _Menes_ for his luxury, and caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of _Jupiter_ at _Thebes_; and therefore Reigned over _Thebais_: and _Bocchoris_ sent in a wild bull upon the God _Mnevis_ which was worshipped at _Heliopolis_. Another of those Kingdoms was at _Anysis_, or _Hanes_, _Isa._ xxx. 4. under its King _Anysis_ or _Amosis_; a third was at _Sais_, under _Stephanathis_, _Nechepsos_, and _Nechus_; and a fourth was at _Tanis_ or _Zoan_, under _Petubastes_, _Osorchon_ and _Psammis_: and _Egypt_ being weakened by this division, was invaded and conquered by the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_, who slew _Bocchoris_ and _Nechus_, and made _Anysis_ fly. The Olympiads began in the Reign of _Petubastes_, and the _Æra_ of _Nabonassar_ in the 22d year of the Reign of _Bocchoris_, according to _Africanus_; and therefore the division, of _Egypt_ into many Kingdoms began before the Olympiads, but not above the length of two Kings Reigns before them.

After the study of Astronomy was set on foot for the use of navigation, and the _Egyptians_ by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars had determined the length of the Solar year of 365 days, and by other observations had fixed the Solstices, and formed the fixt Stars into Asterisms, all which was done in the Reign of _Ammon_, _Sesac_, _Orus_, and _Memnon_; it may be presumed that they continued to observe the motions of the Planets; for they called them after the names of their Gods; and _Nechepsos_ or _Nicepsos_ King of _Sais_, by the assistance of _Petosiris_ a Priest of _Egypt_, invented Astrology, grounding it upon the aspects of the Planets, and the qualities of the men and women to whom they were dedicated: and in the beginning of the Reign of _Nabonassar_ King of _Babylon_, about which time the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_ invaded _Egypt_, those _Egyptians_ who fled from him to _Babylon_, carried thither the _Egyptian_ year of 365 days, and the study of Astronomy and Astrology, and founded the _Æra_ of _Nabonassar_; dating it from the first year of that King's Reign, which was the 22d year _of Bocchoris_ as above, and beginning the year on the same day with the _Egyptians_ for the sake of their calculations. So _Diodorus_ [337]: _they say that the _Chaldæans_ in _Babylon_, being Colonies of the _Egyptians_, became famous for Astrology, having learnt it from the Priests of _Egypt__: and _Hestiæus_, who wrote an history of _Egypt_, speaking of a disaster of the invaded _Egyptians_, saith [338] that _the Priests who survived this disaster, taking with them the _Sacra_ of _Jupiter Enyalius_, came to _Sennaar_ in _Babylonia__. From the 15th year of _Asa_, in which _Zerah_ was beaten, and _Menes_ or _Amenophis_ began his Reign, to the beginning of the _Æra_ of _Nabonassar_, were 200 years; and this interval of time allows room for about nine or ten Reigns of Kings, at about twenty years to a Reign one with another; and so many Reigns there were, according to the account set down above out of _Herodotus_; and therefore that account, as it is the oldest, and was received by _Herodotus_ from the Priests of _Thebes_, _Memphis_, and _Heliopolis_, three principal cities of _Egypt_, agrees also with the course of nature, and leaves no room for the Reigns of the many nameless Kings which we have omitted. These omitted Kings Reigned before _Mœris_, and by consequence at _Thebes_; for _Mœris_ translated the seat of the Empire from _Thebes_ to _Memphis_: they Reigned after _Ramesses_; for _Ramesses_ was the son and successor of _Menes_, who Reigned next after the Gods. Now _Menes_ built the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, _Ramesses_ the first portico, and _Mœris_ the second portico thereof; but the _Egyptians_, for making their Gods and Kingdom look ancient, have inserted between the builders of the first and second portico of this Temple, three hundred and thirty Kings of _Thebes_, and supposed that these Kings Reigned eleven thousand years; as if any Temple could stand so long. This being a manifest fiction, we have corrected it, by omitting those interposed Kings, who did nothing, and placing _Mœris_ the builder of the second portico, next after _Ramesses_ the builder of the first.

In the Dynasties of _Manetho_; _Sevechus_ is made the successor of _Sabacon_, being his son; and perhaps he is the _Sethon_ of _Herodotus_, who became Priest of _Vulcan_, and neglected military discipline: for _Sabacon_ is that _So_ or _Sua_ with whom _Hoshea_ King of _Israel_ conspired against the _Assyrians_, in the fourth year of _Hezekiah_, _Anno Nabonass._ 24. _Herodotus_ tells us twice or thrice, that _Sabacon_ after a long Reign of fifty years relinquished _Egypt_ voluntarily, and that _Anysis_ who fled from him, returned and Reigned again in the lower _Egypt_ after him, or rather with him: and that _Sethon_ Reigned after _Sabacon_, and went to _Pelusium_ against the army of _Sennacherib_, and was relieved with a great multitude of mice, which eat the bow-strings of the _Assyrians_; in memory of which the statue of _Sethon_, seen by _Herodotus_, [339] was made with a Mouse in its hand. A Mouse was the _Egyptian_ symbol of destruction, and the Mouse in the hand of _Sethon_ signifies only that he overcame the _Assyrians_ with a great destruction. The Scriptures inform us, that when _Sennacherib_ invaded _Judæa_ and besieged _Lachish_ and _Libnah_, which was in the 14th year of _Hezekiah_, _Anno Nabonass._ 34. the King of _Judah_ trusted upon _Pharaoh_ King of _Egypt_, that is upon _Sethon_, and that _Tirhakah_ King of _Ethiopia_ came out also to fight against _Sennacherib_, 2 _King._ xviii. 21. & xix. 9. which makes it probable, that when _Sennacherib_ heard of the Kings of _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_ coming against him, he went from _Libnah_ towards _Pelusium_ to oppose them, and was there surprized and set upon in the night by them both, and routed with as great a slaughter as if the bow-strings of the _Assyrians_ had been eaten by mice. Some think that the _Assyrians_ were smitten by lightning, or by a fiery wind which sometimes comes from the southern parts of _Chaldæa_. After this victory _Tirhakah_ succeeding _Sethon_, carried his arms westward through _Libya_ and _Afric_ to the mouth of the _Straits_: but _Herodotus_ tells us, that the Priests of _Egypt_ reckoned _Sethon_ the last King of _Egypt_, who Reigned before the division of _Egypt_ into twelve contemporary Kingdoms, and by consequence before the invasion of _Egypt_ by the _Assyrians_.

For _Asserhadon_ King of _Assyria_, in the 68th year of _Nabonassar_, after he had Reigned about thirty years over _Assyria_, invaded the Kingdom of _Babylon_, and then carried into captivity many people from _Babylon_, and _Cuthah_, and _Ava_, and _Hamath_, and _Sepharvaim_, placing them in the Regions of _Samaria_ and _Damascus_: and from thence they carried into _Babylonia_ and _Assyria_ the remainder of the people of _Israel_ and _Syria_, which had been left there by _Tiglath-pileser_. This captivity was 65 years after the first year of _Ahaz_, _Isa_. vii. 1, 8. & 2. _King._ xv. 37. & xvi. 5. and by consequence in the twentieth year of _Manasseh_, _Anno Nabonass._ 69. and then _Tartan_ was sent by _Asserhadon_ with an army against _Ashdod_ or _Azoth_, a town at that time subject to _Judæa_, 2 _Chron._ xxvi. 6. and took it, _Isa._ xx. 1: and this post being secured, the _Assyrians_ beat the _Jews_, and captivated _Manasseh_, and subdued _Judæa_: and in these wars, _Isaiah_ was saw'd asunder by the command of _Manasseh_, for prophesying against him. Then the _Assyrians_ invaded and subdued _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_, and carried the _Egyptians_ and _Ethiopians_ into captivity, and thereby put an end to the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ over _Egypt_, _Isa._ vii. 18. & viii. 7. & x. 11, 12, & xix. 23. & xx. 4. In this war the city _No-Ammon_ or _Thebes_, which had hitherto continued in a flourishing condition, was miserably wasted and led into captivity, as is described by _Nahum_, chap. iii. ver. 8, 9, 10; for _Nahum_ wrote after the last invasion of _Judæa_ by the _Assyrians_, chap. i. ver. 15; and therefore describes this captivity as fresh in memory: and this and other following invasions of _Egypt_ under _Nebuchadnezzar_ and _Cambyses_, put an end to the glory of that city. _Asserhadon_ Reigned over the _Egyptians_ and _Ethiopians_ three years, _Isa._ xx. 3, 4. that is until his death, which was in the year of _Nabonassar_ 81, and therefore invaded _Egypt_, and put an end to the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ over the _Egyptians_, in the year of _Nabonassar_ 78; so that the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_, and his successors _Sethon_ and _Tirhakah_, Reigned over _Egypt_ about 80 years: _Herodotus_ allots 50 years to _Sabacon_, and _Africanus_ fourteen years to _Sethon_, and eighteen to _Tirhakah_.

The division of _Egypt_ into more Kingdoms than one, both before and after the Reign of the _Ethiopians_, and the conquest of the _Egyptians_ by _Asserhadon_, the prophet _Isaiah_ [340] seems allude unto in these words: _I will set_, saith he, _the _Egyptians_ against the _Egyptians_, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and the Spirit of _Egypt_ shall fail.--And the _Egyptians_ will I give over into the hand of a cruel Lord _[viz. _Asserhadon_]_ and a fierce King shall Reign over them.--Surely the Princes of _Zoan_ _[Tanis]_ are fools, the counsel of the wise Councellors of _Pharaoh_ is become brutish: how long say ye unto _Pharaoh_, I am the son of the ancient Kings.--The Princes of _Zoan_ are be come fools: the Princes of _Noph_ _[Memphis]_ are deceived,--even they that were the stay of the tribes thereof.--In that day there shall be a high-way out of _Egypt_ into _Assyria_, and the _Egyptians_ shall serve the _Assyrians__.

After the death of _Asserhadon_, _Egypt_ remained subject to twelve contemporary Kings, who revolted from the _Assyrians_, and Reigned together fifteen years; including I think the three years of _Asserhadon_, because the _Egyptians_ do not reckon him among their Kings. They [341] built the Labyrinth adjoining to the Lake of _Mœris_ which was a very magnificent structure, with twelve Halls in it, for their Palaces: and then _Psammitichus_, who was one of the twelve, conquered all the rest. He built the last Portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_, founded by _Menes_ about 260 years before, and Reigned 54 years, including the fifteen years of his Reign with the twelve Kings. Then Reigned _Nechaoh_ or _Nechus_, 17 years; _Psammis_ six years; _Vaphres_, _Apries_, _Eraphius_, or _Hophra_, 25 years; _Amasis_ 44 years; and _Psammenitus_ six months, according to _Herodotus_. _Egypt_ was subdued by _Nebuchadnezzar_ in the last year but one of _Hophra_, _Anno Nabonass._ 178, and remained in subjection to _Babylon_ forty years, _Jer._ xliv. 30. & _Ezek._ xxix. 12, 13, 14, 17, 19. that is, almost all the Reign of _Amasis_, a plebeian set over _Egypt_ by the conqueror: the forty years ended with the death of _Cyrus_; for he Reigned over _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_, according to _Xenophon_. At that time therefore those nations recovered their liberty; but after four or five years more they were invaded and conquered by _Cambyses_, _Anno Nabonass._ 223 or 224, and have almost ever since remained in servitude, as was predicted by the Prophets.

The Reigns of _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, and _Psammenitus_, set down by _Herodotus_, amount unto 146½ years: and so many years there were from the 78th year of _Nabonassar_, in which the dominion of the _Ethiopians_ over _Egypt_ came to an end, unto the 224th year of _Nabonassar_, in which _Cambyses_ invaded _Egypt_, and put an end to that Kingdom: which is an argument that _Herodotus_ was circumspect and faithful in his narrations, and has given us a good account of the antiquities of _Egypt_, so far as the Priests of _Egypt_ at _Thebes_, _Memphis_, and _Heliopolis_, and the _Carians_ and _Ionians_ inhabiting _Egypt_, were then able to inform him: for he consulted them all; and the _Cares_ and _Ionians_ had been in _Egypt_ from the time of the Reign of the twelve contemporary Kings.

_Pliny_ [342] tells us, that the _Egyptian_ Obelisks were of a sort of stone dug near _Syene_ in _Thebais_, and that the first Obelisk was made by _Mitres_, who Reigned in _Heliopolis_; that is, by _Mephres_ the predecessor of _Misphragmuthosis_; and that afterwards other Kings made others: _Sochis_, that is _Sesochis_, or _Sesac_, four, each of 48 cubits in length; _Ramises_, that is _Ramesses_, two; _Smarres_, that is _Mœris_, one of 48 cubits in length; _Eraphius_, or _Hophra_, one of 48; and _Nectabis_, or _Nectenabis_, one of 80. _Mephres_ therefore extended his dominion over all the upper _Egypt_, from _Syene_ to _Heliopolis_, and after him, _Misphragmuthosis_ and _Amosis_, Reigned _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, who erected the first great Empire in the world: and these four, _Amosis_, _Ammon_, _Sesac_, and _Orus_, Reigned in the four ages of the great Gods of _Egypt_; and _Amenophis_ was the _Menes_ who Reigned next after them: he was Succeeded by _Ramesses_, and _Mœris_, and some time after by _Hophra_.

_Diodorus_ [343] recites the same Kings of _Egypt_ with _Herodotus_, but in a more confused order, and repeats some of them twice, or oftener, under various names, and omits others: his Kings are these; _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Juno_, _Osiris_ and _Isis_, _Horus_, _Menes_, _Busiris_ I, _Busiris_ II, _Osymanduas_, _Uchoreus_, _Myris_, _Sesoosis_ I, _Sesoosis_ II, _Amasis_, _Actisanes_, _Mendes_ or _Marrus_, _Proteus_, _Remphis_, _Chembis_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_ or _Cherinus_, _Gnephacthus_, _Bocchoris_, _Sabacon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, * * _Apries_, _Amasis_. Here I take _Sesoosis_ I, and _Sesoosis_ II, _Busiris_ I, and _Busiris_ II, to be the same Kings with _Osiris_ and _Orus_: also _Osymanduas_ to be the same with _Amenophis_ or _Menes_: also _Amasis_, and _Actisanes_, an _Ethiopian_ who conquered him, to be the same with _Anysis_ and _Sabacon_ in _Herodotus_: and _Uchoreus_, _Mendes_, _Marrus_, and _Myris_, to be only several names of one and the same King. Whence the catalogue of _Diodorus_ will be reduced to this: _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Juno_; _Osiris_, _Busiris_ or _Sesoosis_, and _Isis_; _Horus_, _Busiris_ II, or _Sesoosis_ II; _Menes_, or _Osymanduas_; _Proteus_; _Remphis_ or _Ramesses_; _Uchoreus_, _Mendes_, _Marrus_, or _Myris_; _Chembis_ or _Cheops_; _Cephren_; _Mycerinus_; * * _Gnephacthus_; _Bocchoris_; _Amasis_, or _Anysis_; _Actisanes_, or _Sabacon_; * twelve contemporary Kings; _Psammitichus_; * * _Apries_; _Amasis_: to which, if in their proper places you add _Nitocris_, _Asychis_, _Sethon_, _Nechus_, and _Psammis,_ you will have the catalogue of _Herodotus_.

The Dynasties of _Manetho_ and _Eratosthenes_ seem to be filled with many such names of Kings as _Herodotus_ omitted: when it shall be made appear that any of them Reigned in _Egypt_ after the expulsion of the Shepherds, and were different from the Kings described above, they may be inserted in their proper places.

_Egypt_ was conquered by the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_, about the beginning of the _Æra_ of _Nabonassar_, or perhaps three or four years before, that is, about three hundred years before _Herodotus_ wrote his history; and about eighty years after that conquest, it was conquered again by the _Assyrians_ under _Asserhadon_: and the history of _Egypt_ set down by _Herodotus_ from the time of this last conquest, is right both as to the number, and order, and names of the Kings, and as to the length of their Reigns: and therein he is now followed by historians, being the only author who hath given us so good a history of _Egypt_, for that interval of time. If his history of the earlier times be less accurate, it was because the archives of _Egypt_ had suffered much during the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ and _Assyrians_: and it is not likely that the Priests of _Egypt_, who lived two or three hundred years after the days of _Herodotus_, could mend the matter: on the contrary, after _Cambyses_ had carried away the records of _Egypt_, the Priests were daily feigning new Kings, to make their Gods and nation look ancient; as is manifest by comparing _Herodotus_ with _Diodorus Siculus_, and both of them with what _Plato_ relates out of the Poem of _Solon_: which Poem makes the wars of the great Gods of _Egypt_ against the _Greeks_, to have been in the days of _Cecrops_, _Erechtheus_ and _Erichthonius_, and a little before those of _Theseus_; these Gods at that time instituting Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves. I have therefore chosen to rely upon the stories related to _Herodotus_ by the Priests of _Egypt_ in those days, and corrected by the Poem of _Solon_, so as to make these Gods of _Egypt_ no older than _Cecrops_ and _Erechtheus_, and their successor _Menes_ no older than _Theseus_ and _Memnon_, and the Temple of _Vulcan_ not above 280 years in building: rather than to correct _Herodotus_ by _Manetho_, _Eratosthenes_, _Diodorus_, and others, who lived after the Priests of _Egypt_ had corrupted their Antiquities much more than they had done in the days of _Herodotus_.

* * * * *

CHAP. III.

_Of the _ASSYRIAN_ Empire._

As the Gods or ancient Deified Kings and Princes of _Greece_, _Egypt_, and _Syria_ of _Damascus_, have been made much ancienter than the truth, so have those of _Chaldæa_ and _Assyria_: for _Diodorus_ [344] tells us, that when _Alexander_ the great was in _Asia_, the _Chaldæans_ reckoned 473000 years since they first began to observe the Stars; and _Ctesias_, and the ancient _Greek_ and _Latin_ writers who copy from him, have made the _Assyrian_ Empire as old as _Noah_'s flood within 60 or 70 years, and tell us the names of all the Kings of _Assyria_ downwards, from _Belus_ and his feigned son _Ninus_, to _Sardanapalus_ the last King of that Monarchy: but the names of his Kings, except two or three, have no affinity with the names of the _Assyrians_ mentioned in Scripture; for the _Assyrians_ were usually named after their Gods, _Bel_ or _Pul_; _Chaddon_, _Hadon_, _Adon_, or _Adonis_; _Melech_ or _Moloch_; _Atsur_ or _Assur_; _Nebo_; _Nergal_; _Merodach_: as in these names, _Pul_, _Tiglath-Pul-Assur_, _Salman-Assur_, _Adra-Melech_, _Shar-Assur_, _Assur-Hadon_, _Sardanapalus_ or _Assur-Hadon-Pul_, _Nabonassar_ or _Nebo-Adon-Assur_, _Bel Adon_, _Chiniladon_ or _Chen-El-Adon_, _Nebo-Pul-Assur_, _Nebo-Chaddon-Assur_, _Nebuzaradon_ or _Nebo-Assur-Adon_, _Nergal-Assur_, _Nergal-Shar-Assur_, _Labo-Assur-dach_, _Sheseb-Assur_, _Beltes-Assur_, _Evil-Merodach_, _Shamgar-Nebo_, _Rabsaris_ or _Rab-Assur_, _Nebo-Shashban_, _Mardocempad_ or _Merodach-Empad_. Such were the _Assyrian_ names; but those in _Ctesias_ are of another sort, except _Sardanapalus_, whose name he had met with in _Herodotus_. He makes _Semiramis_ as old as the first _Belus_; but _Herodotus_ tells us, that she was but five Generations older than the mother of _Labynetus_: he represents that the city _Ninus_ was founded by a man of the same name, and _Babylon_ by _Semiramis_; whereas either _Nimrod_ or _Assur_ founded those and other cities, without giving his own name to any of them: he makes the _Assyrian_ Empire continue about 1360 years, whereas _Herodotus_ tells us that it lasted only 500 years, and the numbers of _Herodotus_ concerning those ancient times are all of them too long: he makes _Nineveh_ destroyed by the _Medes_ and _Babylonians_, three hundred years before the Reign of _Astibares_ and _Nebuchadnezzar_ who destroyed it, and sets down the names of seven or eight feigned Kings of _Media_, between the destruction of _Nineveh_ and the Reigns of _Astibares_ and _Nebuchadnezzar_, as if the Empire of the _Medes_, erected upon the ruins of the _Assyrian_ Empire, had lasted 300 years, whereas it lasted but 72: and the true Empire of the _Assyrians_ described in Scripture, whose Kings were _Pul_, _Tiglath-pilesar_, _Shalmaneser_, _Sennacherib_, _Asserhadon_, &c. he mentions not, tho' much nearer to his own times; which shews that he was ignorant of the antiquities of the _Assyrians_. Yet something of truth there is in the bottom of some of his stories, as there uses to be in Romances; as, that _Nineveh_ was destroyed by the _Medes_ and _Babylonians_; that _Sardanapalus_ was the last King of the _Assyrian_ Empire; and that _Astibares_ and _Astyages_ were Kings of the _Medes_: but he has made all things too ancient, and out of vainglory taken too great a liberty in feigning names and stories to please his reader.

When the _Jews_ were newly returned from the _Babylonian_ captivity, they confessed their Sins in this manner, _Now therefore our God, ---- let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our Kings, on our Princes, and on our Priests, and on our Prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the Kings of _Assyria_, unto this day_; _Nehem._ ix. 32. that is, since the time of the Kingdom of _Assyria_, or since the rise of that Empire; and therefore the _Assyrian_ Empire arose when the Kings of _Assyria_ began to afflict the inhabitants of _Palestine_; which was in the days of _Pul_: he and his successors 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: but of these conquests _Ctesias_ knew not a word, no not so much as the names of the conquerors, or that there was an _Assyrian_ Empire then standing; for he supposes that the _Medes_ Reigned at that time, and that the _Assyrian_ Empire was at an end above 250 years before it began.

However we must allow that _Nimrod_ founded a Kingdom at _Babylon_, and perhaps extended it into _Assyria_: but this Kingdom was but of small extent, if compared with the Empires which rose up afterwards; being only within the fertile plains of _Chaldæa_, _Chalonitis_ and _Assyria_, watered by the _Tigris_ and _Euphrates_: and if it had been greater, yet it was but of short continuance, it being the custom in those early ages for every father to divide his territories amongst his sons. So _Noah_ was King of all the world, and _Cham_ was King of all _Afric_, and _Japhet_ of all _Europe_ and _Asia minor_; but they left no standing Kingdoms. After the days of _Nimrod_, we hear no more of an _Assyrian_ Empire 'till the days of _Pul_. The four Kings who in the days of _Abraham_ invaded the southern coast of _Canaan_ came from the countries where _Nimrod_ had Reigned, and perhaps were some of his posterity who had shared his conquests. In the time of the Judges of _Israel_, _Mesopotamia_ was under its own King, _Judg._ iii. 8. and the King of _Zobah_ Reigned on both sides of the River _Euphrates_ 'till _David_ conquered him, 2 _Sam._ viii, and x. The Kingdoms of _Israel_, _Moab_, _Ammon_, _Edom_, _Philistia_, _Zidon_, _Damascus_, and _Hamath_ the great, continued subject to other Lords than the _Assyrians_ 'till the days of _Pul_ and his successors; and so did the house of _Eden_, _Amos_ i. 5. 2 _Kings_ xix. 12. and _Haran_ or _Carrhæ_, _Gen._ xii. 2 _Kings_ xix. 12. and _Sepharvaim_ in _Mesopotamia_, and _Calneh_ near _Bagdad_, _Gen._ x. 10, _Isa._ x. 9, 2 _Kings_ xvii. 31. _Sesac_ and _Memnon_ were great conquerors, and Reigned over _Chaldæa_, _Assyria_, and _Persia_, but in their histories there is not a word of any opposition made to them by an _Assyrian_ Empire then standing: on the contrary, _Susiana_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Bactria_, _Armenia_, _Cappadocia_, &c. were conquered by them, and continued subject to the Kings of _Egypt_ 'till after the long Reign of _Ramesses_ the son of _Memnon_, as above.

_Homer_ mentions _Bacchus_ and _Memnon_ Kings of _Egypt_ and _Persia_, but knew nothing of an _Assyrian_ Empire. _Jonah_ prophesied when _Israel_ was in affliction under the King of _Syria_, and this was in the latter part of the Reign of _Jehoahaz_, and first part of the Reign of _Joash_, Kings of _Israel_, and I think in the Reign of _Mœris_ the successor of _Ramesses_ King of _Egypt_, and about sixty years before the Reign of _Pul_; and _Nineveh_ was then a city of large extent, but full of pastures for cattle, so that it contained but about 120000 persons. It was not yet grown so great and potent as not to be terrified at the preaching of _Jonah_, and to fear being invaded by its neighbours and ruined within forty days: it had some time before got free from the dominion of _Egypt_, and had got a King of its own; but its King was not yet called King of _Assyria_, but only King of _Nineveh_, _Jonah_ iii. 6, 7. and his proclamation for a fast was not published in several nations, nor in all _Assyria_, but only in _Nineveh_, and perhaps in the villages thereof; but soon after, when the dominion of _Nineveh_ was established at home, and exalted over all _Assyria_ properly so called, and this Kingdom began to make war upon the neighbouring nations, its Kings were no longer called Kings of _Nineveh_ but began to be called Kings of _Assyria_.

_Amos_ prophesied in the Reign of _Jeroboam_ the Son of _Joash_ King of _Israel_, soon after _Jeroboam_ had subdued the Kingdoms of _Damascus_ and _Hamath_, that is, about ten or twenty years before the Reign of _Pul_: and he [345] thus reproves _Israel_ for being lifted up by those conquests; _Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought, which say, have we not taken to us horns by our strength? But behold I will raise up against you a nation, O house of _Israel_, saith the Lord the God of Hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entring in of _Hamath_ unto the river of the wilderness_. God here threatens to raise up a nation against _Israel_; but what nation he names not; that he conceals 'till the _Assyrians_ should appear and discover it. In the prophesies of _Isaiah_, _Jeremiah_, _Ezekiel_, _Hosea_, _Micah_, _Nahum_, _Zephaniah_ and _Zechariah_, which were written after the Monarchy grew up, it is openly named upon all occasions; but in this of _Amos_ not once, tho' the captivity of _Israel_ and _Syria_ be the subject of the prophesy, and that of _Israel_ be often threatned: he only saith in general that _Syria_ should go into captivity unto _Kir_, and that _Israel_, notwithstanding her present greatness, should go into captivity beyond _Damascus_; and that God would raise up a nation to afflict them: meaning that he would raise up above them from a lower condition, a nation whom they yet feared not: for so the _Hebrew_ word מקם signifies when applied to men, as in _Amos_ v. 2. 1 _Sam._ xii. 11. _Psal._ cxiii. 7. _Jer._ x. 20. l. 32. _Hab._ i. 6. _Zech._ xi. 16. As _Amos_ names not the _Assyrians_; at the writing of this prophecy they made no great figure in the world, but were to be raised up against _Israel_, and by consequence rose up in the days of _Pul_ and his successors: for after _Jeroboam_ had conquered _Damascus_ and _Hamath_, his successor _Menahem_ destroyed _Tiphsah_ with its territories upon _Euphrates_, because they opened not to him: and therefore _Israel_ continued in its greatness 'till _Pul_, probably grown formidable by some victories, caused _Menahem_ to buy his peace. _Pul_ therefore Reigning presently after the prophesy of _Amos_, and being the first upon record who began to fulfill it, may be justly reckoned the first conqueror and founder of this Empire. For _God stirred up the spirit of _Pul_, and the spirit of _Tiglath-pileser_ King of _Assyria__, 1 _Chron._ v. 20.

The same Prophet _Amos_, in prophesying against _Israel_, threatned them in this manner, with what had lately befallen other Kingdoms: _Pass ye_, [346] saith he, _unto _Calneh_ and see, and from thence go ye to _Hamath_ the great, then go down to _Gath_ of the _Philistims_. Be they better than these Kingdoms?_ These Kingdoms were not yet conquered by the _Assyrians_, except that of _Calneh_ or _Chalonitis_ upon _Tigris_, between _Babylon_ and _Nineveh_. _Gath_ was newly vanquished [347] by _Uzziah_ King of _Judah_, and _Hamath_ [348] by _Jeroboam_ King of _Israel_: and while the Prophet, in threatning _Israel_ with the _Assyrians_, instances in desolations made by other nations, and mentions no other conquest of the _Assyrians_ than that of _Chalonitis_ near _Nineveh_; it argues that the King of _Nineveh_ was now beginning his conquests, and had not yet made any great progress in that vast career of victories, which we read of a few years after.

For about seven years after the captivity of the ten Tribes, when _Sennacherib_ warred in _Syria_, which was in the 16th Olympiad, he [349] sent this message to the King of _Judah_: _Behold, thou hast heard that the Kings of _Assyria_ have done to all Lands by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered? Have the Gods of the nations delivered them which the Gods of my fathers have destroyed, as _Gozan_ and _Haran_ and _Reseph_, and the children of _Eden_ which were in _[the Kingdom of] Thelasar_? Where is the King of _Hamath_, and the King of _Arpad_, and the King of the city of _Sepharvaim_, and of _Hena_ and _Ivah__? And _Isaiah_ [350] thus introduceth the King of _Assyria_ boasting: _Are not my Princes altogether as Kings? Is not _Calno [or _Calneh_]_ as _Carchemish_? Is not _Hamath_ as _Arpad_? Is not _Samaria_ as _Damascus_? As my hand hath found the Kingdoms of the Idols, and whose graven Images did excel them of _Jerusalem_ and of _Samaria_; shall I not as I have done unto _Samaria_ and her Idols, so do to _Jerusalem_ and her Idols?_ All this desolation is recited as fresh in memory to terrify the _Jews_, and these Kingdoms reach to the borders of _Assyria_, and to shew the largeness of the conquests they are called _all lands_, that is, all round about _Assyria_. It was the custom of the Kings of _Assyria_, for preventing the rebellion of people newly conquered, to captivate and transplant those of several countries into one another's lands, and intermix them variously: and thence it appears [351] that _Halah_, and _Habor_, and _Hara_, and _Gozan_, and the cities of the _Medes_ into which _Galilee_ and _Samaria_ were transplanted; and _Kir_ into which _Damascus_ was transplanted; and _Babylon_ and _Cuth_ or the _Susanchites_, and _Hamath_, and _Ava_, and _Sepharvaim_, and the _Dinaites_, and the _Apharsachites_, and the _Tarpelites_, and the _Archevites_, and the _Dehavites_, and the _Elamites_, or _Persians_, part of all which nations were led captive by _Asserhadon_ and his predecessors into _Samaria_; were all of them conquered by the _Assyrians_ not long before.

In these conquests are involved on the west and south side of _Assyria_, the Kingdoms of _Mesopotamia_, whose royal seats were _Haran_ or _Carrhæ_, and _Carchemish_ or _Circutium_, and _Sepharvaim_, a city upon _Euphrates_, between _Babylon_ and _Nineveh_, called _Sipparæ_ by _Berosus_, _Abydenus_, and _Polyhistor_, and _Sipphara_ by _Ptolomy_; and the Kingdoms of _Syria_ seated at _Samaria_, _Damascus_, _Gath_, _Hamath_, _Arpad_, and _Reseph_, a city placed by _Ptolomy_ near _Thapsacus_: on the south side and south east side were _Babylon_ and _Calneh_, or _Calno_, a city which was founded by _Nimrod_, where _Bagdad_ now stands, and gave the name of _Chalonitis_ to a large region under its government; and _Thelasar_ or _Talatha_, a city of the children of _Eden_, placed by _Ptolomy_ in _Babylonia_, upon the common stream of _Tigris_ and _Euphrates_, which was therefore the river of Paradise; and the _Archevites_ at _Areca_ or _Erech_, a city built by _Nimrod_ on the east side of _Pasitigris_, between _Apamia_ and the _Persian Gulph_; and the _Susanchites_ at _Cuth_, or _Susa_, the metropolis of _Susiana_: on the east were _Elymais_, and some cities of the _Medes_, and _Kir_, [352] a city and large region of _Media_, between _Elymais_, and _Assyria_, called _Kirene_ by the _Chaldee_ Paraphrast and _Latin_ Interpreter, and _Carine_ by _Ptolomy_: on the north-east were _Habor_ or _Chaboras_, a mountainous region between _Assyria_ and _Media_; and the _Apharsachites_, or men of _Arrapachitis_, a region originally peopled by _Arphaxad_, and placed by _Ptolomy_ at the bottom of the mountains next _Assyria_: and on the north between _Assyria_ and the _Gordiæan_ mountains was _Halah_ or _Chalach_, the metropolis of _Calachene_: and beyond these upon the _Caspian_ sea was _Gozan_, called _Gauzania_ by _Ptolomy_. Thus did these new conquests extend every way from the province of _Assyria_ to considerable distances, and make up the great body of that Monarchy: so that well might the King of _Assyria_ boast how his armies had destroyed all lands. All these nations [353] had 'till now their several Gods, and each accounted his God the God of his own land, and the defender thereof, against the Gods of the neighbouring countries, and particularly against the Gods of _Assyria_; and therefore they were never 'till now united under the _Assyrian_ Monarchy, especially since the King of _Assyria_ doth not boast of their being conquered by the _Assyrians_ oftner than once: but these being small Kingdoms the King of _Assyria_ easily overflowed them: _Know ye not_, saith [354] _Sennacherib_ to the _Jews_, _what I and my fathers have done unto all the People of other lands?--for no God of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?_ He and his fathers therefore, _Pul_, _Tiglath-pileser_, and _Shalmaneser_, were great conquerors, and with a current of victories had newly overflowed all nations round about _Assyria_, and thereby set up this Monarchy.

Between the Reigns of _Jeroboam_ II, and his son _Zachariah_, there was an interregnum of about ten or twelve years in the Kingdom of _Israel_: and the prophet _Hosea_ [355] in the time of that interregnum, or soon after, mentions the King of _Assyria_ by the name of _Jareb_, and another conqueror by the name of _Shalman_; and perhaps _Shalman_ might be the first part of the name of _Shalmaneser_, and _Iareb_, or _Irib_, for it may be read both ways, the last part of the name of his successor _Sennacherib_: but whoever these Princes were, it appears not that they Reigned before _Shalmaneser_. _Pul_, or _Belus_, seems to be the first who carried on his conquests beyond the province of _Assyria_: he conquered _Calneh_ with its territories in the Reign of _Jerboam_, _Amos_ i. 1. vi. 2. & _Isa._ x. 8, 9. and invaded _Israel_ in the Reign of _Menahem_, 2 _King._ xv. 19. but stayed not in the land, being bought off by _Menahem_ for a thousand talents of silver: in his Reign therefore the Kingdom of _Assyria_ was advanced on this side _Tigris_: for he was a great warrior, and seems to have conquered _Haran_, and _Carchemish_, and _Reseph_, and _Calneh_, and _Thelasar_, and might found or enlarge the city of _Babylon_, and build the old palace.

_Herodotus_ tells us, that one of the gates of _Babylon_ was [356] called the gate of _Semiramis_, and than she adorned the walls of the city, and the Temple of _Belus_, and that she [357] was five Generations older than _Nitocris_ the mother of _Labynitus_, or _Nabonnedus_, the last King of _Babylon_; and therefore she flourished four Generations, or about 134 years, before _Nebuchadnezzar_ , and by consequence in the Reign of _Tiglath-pileser_ the successor of _Pul_: and the followers of _Ctesias_ tell us, that she built _Babylon_, and was the widow of the son and successor of _Belus_, the founder of the _Assyrian_ Empire; that is, the widow of one of the sons of _Pul_: but [358] _Berosus_ a _Chaldæan_ blames the _Greeks_ for ascribing the building of _Babylon_ to _Semiramis_; and other authors ascribe the building of this city to _Belus_ himself, that is to _Pul_; so _Curtius_ [359] tells us; _Semiramis Babylonem condiderat, vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur_: and _Abydenus_, who had his history from the ancient monuments of the _Chaldæans_, writes, [360] Λεγεται Βηλον Βαβυλωνα τειχει περιβαλειν· τωι χρονωι δε τωι ικνευμενωι αφανισθηναι. τειχισαι δε αυθις Ναβουχοδονοσορον, το μεχρι της Μακεδονιων αρχης διαμειναν εον χαλκοπυλον. _'Tis reported that _Belus_ compassed _Babylon_ with a wall, which in time was abolished: and that _Nebuchadnezzar_ afterwards built a new wall with brazen gates, which stood 'till the time of the _Macedonian_ Empire_: and so _Dorotheas_ [361] an ancient Poet of _Sidon_;

Αρχαιη Βαβυλων, Τυριου Βηλοιο πολισμα.
_The ancient city _Babylon_ built by the _Tyrian Belus__;

That is, by the _Syrian_ or _Assyrian_ _Belus_; the words _Tyrian_, _Syrian_, and _Assyrian_, being anciently used promiscuously for one another: _Herennius_ [362] tells us, that it was built by the son of _Belus_; and this son might be _Nabonassar_. After the conquest of _Calneh_, _Thelasar_, and _Sippare_, _Belus_ might seize _Chaldæa_, and begin to build _Babylon_, and leave it to his younger son: for all the Kings of _Babylon_ in the Canon of _Ptolemy_ are called _Assyrians_, and _Nabonassar_ is the first of them: and _Nebuchadnezzar_ [363] reckoned himself descended from _Belus_, that is, from the _Assyrian_ _Pul_: and the building of _Babylon_ is ascribed to the _Assyrians_ by [364] _Isaiah_: _Behold_, saith he, _the land of the _Chaldeans_: This people was not 'till the _Assyrian_ founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness, _[that is, for the _Arabians_.]_ They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof_. From all this it seems therefore that _Pul_ founded the walls and the palaces of _Babylon_, and left the city with the province of _Chaldæa_ to his younger son _Nabonassar_; and that _Nabonassar_ finished what his father began, and erected the Temple of _Jupiter Belus_ to his father: and that _Semiramis_ lived in those days, and was the Queen of _Nabonassar_, because one of the gates of _Babylon_ was called the gate of _Semiramis_, as _Herodotus_ affirms: but whether she continued to Reign there after her husband's death may be doubted.