Bible Atlas: A Manual of Biblical Geography and History

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

THE GREAT ORIENTAL EMPIRES.

The history of the Bible is so interwoven with that of the East, that a view of its great empires is necessary. All the lands between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean were united at different periods under one government, and formed an empire which was constantly changing according to the power or weakness of its dominant state; for in the Oriental world there never has existed anything like a confederation of states on an equality. At different periods Ur, Babylon or Nineveh conquered all the surrounding lands; or at other periods a single race, as the Medes and Persians, obtained supremacy. The empire thus arose and fell, to be succeeded by a similar empire with another centre. During the Old Testament history, between the days of Abraham and of Ezra, more than 1,500 years, four successive empires appeared in the East. These were:

I. The Early Babylonian Empire. B.C. 2280-1120.

II. The Assyrian Empire. B.C. 1120-626.

III. The Babylonian Empire. B.C. 606-538.

IV. The Persian Empire. B.C. 538-330.

I. The Early Babylonian Empire began about 3000 B.C., with several states, each having a city as its capital. Among these were Ur (Mugheir), Lagesh (Shirpurta), and Isin. These separate kingdoms were united in an empire, of which Babylon was the capital, in the reign of Hammurabi (the Amraphel of Gen. 14:1), about 2280 B.C. It lasted, with varying fortunes, for 1,000 years. A map of this empire, in the time of Abraham, is given on [page 34].

AN ASSYRIAN PALACE.

II. The Assyrian Empire arose from the small country Asshur, about 25 square miles in extent, lying east of the Tigris and north of the lower Zab. Its capital was the city Asshur, now called Kileh Sherghat, 60 miles south of Nineveh. The city rose to power in the 14th century B.C., when, under Tukulti-ninib, Babylon was captured and the Babylonian empire became the Assyrian. Afterward Nimrud, 20 miles south of Nineveh, became the capital. Not until 702 was Nineveh made by Sennacherib the royal residence. It soon surpassed the earlier capitals in size and magnificence, and became one of the largest cities of the East. It then included four cities, surrounded by one wall, and forming a parallelogram, as shown on the plan on [page 96]. The greatest kings of this empire were: Shalmaneser, who made war on Samaria, and erected the "Black Obelisk," which now stands in the British Museum, and by its inscriptions furnishes the best record of the kingdom down to its own age; Sargon, who completed the conquest of Samaria, and otherwise added to the empire; Sennacherib, who enlarged and beautified Nineveh, warred from Babylon to Egypt, and extorted tribute from Hezekiah, king of Judah; and Esar-haddon, son of the preceding, who saw the empire at its height, embracing, besides Assyria, Armenia, Media, Babylonia, Elam, Mesopotamia, Syria, Israel, Judah, and the northern portion of Egypt. These lands, however, for the most part retained their own rulers, customs and government, but recognized themselves as vassals to the "Great King," as he is styled in the inscriptions. Esar-haddon took Manasseh, king of Judah, captive to Babylon, and repopulated Samaria with colonists from other lands. His son, Asshur-bani-pal, witnessed his kingdom declining, and was the last of the great kings, though he built a vast palace at Nineveh. There was no coherence or unity in the empire, whose provinces were held together only by the strong arm of the king; and, on the death of Asshur-bani-pal, a general revolt took place among the subject nations, his son perished, and Nineveh was utterly destroyed, never again to appear in history.

The boundaries of the Assyrian empire are given upon the map according to the best authorities. On the north they were the Armenian Mountains, the river Cyrus (now called the Kur), north of the Araxes, and the northern range of Mount Taurus; on the east, the Caspian Sea and the great salt desert; on the south, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian desert and Upper Egypt; on the west, the Mediterranean and the river Halys.

III. The Babylonian Empire, B.C. 606-538. This period has been more correctly termed that of the "four kingdoms," since the East was not then, as during the Assyrian period, under one government. The destruction of Nineveh had been wrought by the union of the Medes and Babylonians, under their kings, Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, and these peoples succeeded to most, but not all, of the conquests of Assyria.

1. Media won its own independence, and obtained possession of Armenia, Assyria Proper (north of the Tigris), and Elam. Persia had already been conquered, so that the largest, though less important, portion of the Assyrian empire now belonged to Media.

2. Babylonia obtained Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. Most of these countries had claimed their independence on the fall of Assyria; and their conquest occupied the reign of Nabopolassar, and his greater son, Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the important parts of the Bible world were nearly all under the rule of Babylon.

3. A new kingdom arose in Asia Minor, that of Lydia, embracing all the lands between the Ægean Sea and the river Halys; destined, however, to a short history, for it formed one of the earliest conquests of Cyrus the Great.

4. Cilicia also appears for the first time upon the map, being situated between the Euphrates and Lydia, north of Syria, and south of the Halys river, and retained its independence until the close of the Babylonian period, when it was annexed to Persia, though even then it retained its own kings.

5. To these might be added Egypt, though outside of the Asiatic world. It soon shook off the yoke of Assyria, and resumed its independence; but, endeavoring to contest with Babylon the empire of the East, was defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, and compelled to retire from Asia. Some suppose that it was conquered by Babylon; and it is possible that for a few years Egypt may have recognized the supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar by paying tribute, but it was never a part of his empire.

The map of the Oriental world, as thus reconstructed, lasted about a century, though with varying boundary lines; as, for instance, Elam, or Susiana, sometimes formed a part of Babylonia, and at other times of Media. During this period Babylon was the metropolis of the East. It was raised to greatness by Nebuchadnezzar, who finished the Tower of Belus, raised the Hanging Gardens, and built great palaces. Two-thirds of the bricks unearthed in the ruins of Babylon bear his name. The city formed a square, on both sides of the Euphrates, covering an area of 130 miles, about that of the city and county of Philadelphia. It was surrounded with double walls, one of which is said to have been 300 feet high, and so wide that six chariots could be driven abreast along its summit. The greatness of the city was short-lived. It was taken by the Medes and Persians, B.C. 536, and soon began to decline, though it remained, in a decaying condition, for nearly 1,000 years afterward.

IV. The Persian Empire, B.C. 538-330. As the Babylonian power arose with Nebuchadnezzar, the Persian began with Cyrus the Great. He was the hereditary king of the Persians, and headed a revolt against the Medes, which resulted in reversing the relations of the two races, so that the Persians became dominant. He then led his united people westward, and conquered Crœsus, the king of Lydia, thus extending his dominion from the Persian Gulf to the Ægean Sea. The power of Babylon began to fall on the death of Nebuchadnezzar, whose successors were weaklings, and in B.C. 538 Cyrus took the city of Babylon. His dominions were now larger than those of the old Assyrian empire; and under his successors the conquests of Persia were pushed both eastward and westward, until, under Darius the Great, they embraced all the lands from the Indus to the Nile. The map represents the empire of Persia at this period, with the twenty satrapies, or provinces, into which it was divided by Darius. This empire lasted for 200 years, until its conquest by Alexander the Great, B.C. 330, when the sceptre of the East passed into European hands, and Greece gave law to Asia. In the extent of its territory, in the strength of its dominion, and in the consolidation of its conquests, Persia was far greater than either Assyria or Babylon. It will be observed that the scale of all the maps of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian Empires, is the same, so that their relative proportions may be seen.

The map of the Persian Empire represents the political state of the Oriental world at the conclusion of the Old Testament period. When Ezra and Nehemiah were at Jerusalem, and Haggai and Malachi were the prophets of Judah, all the lands were under the dominion of Persia, and were governed from "Shushan the palace," or Susa.

BABYLON.