THE POSITION OF ASIA MINOR IN HISTORY
By WILLIAM J. HAMILTON
From his work Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia
No country in the world presents, perhaps, more interesting associations to the geographer, the historian, and the antiquary than Asia Minor. It is no exaggeration to say that there is scarcely a spot of ground, however small, throughout this extensive peninsula, which does not contain some relic of antiquity, or is not more or less connected with that history, which, through an uninterrupted period of more than thirty centuries, records the most spirit-stirring events in the destinies of the human race, and during which time this country attracted the attention of the world as the battle-field of powerful nations.
Other countries and other people have flourished for a time, and may have left behind them a stronger feeling of interest in the thought and speculations of mankind. But this remarkable difference exists between them, that, while they have attracted paramount attention for a century or more, having risen to eminence only to fall into a greater depth of barbarism, Asia Minor has continued to be a main point of interest and attraction from the very beginning of the historic period.
It may indeed be true, when we turn over the first pages of the annals of the world, that Asia Minor was only of secondary importance when the dynasties of Pharaoh ruled in Egypt. When the sons of Israel went down to buy corn of the Egyptian kings, we read not of the civilisation of Asia Minor, nor did she produce at any period such structures as the pyramids, or the temples of the Nile, to record the talents of her architects or the perseverance of her people; it may be that the student of history will hardly find, during the most flourishing periods of the Ionian commonwealth, a galaxy of talent, patriotism, and courage equal to that which spreads its brightness over the palmy days of Athens, when science, literature, and art flourished under the ægis of Minerva, and the greatest of her military heroes did not disdain to take lessons from philosophers, or to superintend the labours of the sculptor, the painter, and the architect.
Again, if we look to the history of ancient Rome, and consider the events which occurred there during a thousand years, we might possibly find more to admire and to attract our attention than anything which the history of Asia Minor can afford. The systematic legislation and constitution of the Roman republic, the unrestrained power of the emperors, the schemes of conquest carried on under both forms of government, and the boundless wealth amassed in the first years of the empire, are some of its characteristic features which have never been repeated elsewhere.
And to mention but one instance more, even Syria itself was also an object of greater interest than any other district in the universe ever was, either before or since. The birth of our Saviour, and the events which took place at Jerusalem during His abode on earth, have stamped upon that part of Syria a degree of interest and lofty associations which bears no parallel.
The interest of Asia Minor attaches, in a greater or less degree, to all ages, from the first dawn of history, through the classic periods of the Greek republics, and the darker ages of Byzantine misrule, down to the very times in which we live. Without pretending to give even a faint sketch of its history, I shall here refer to a few of the most interesting points by which this part of the world has been distinguished.
Here was the scene of those remarkable events which the learning or imagination of the early poets have attributed to the Heroic age. The Argonautic expedition, starting from the coast of Thessaly, proceeded through the Propontis and the Euxine, and along the shores of Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus, visiting various nations, the descriptions of which have been handed down to us with an accuracy worthy of admiration. But a still more interesting locality is presented to us on the shores of Asia Minor. Between the Simœis and Scamander, and on the plains of Troy, we may visit the spot where, in the imaginations of the poet, the gods of antiquity descended from the Olympus and joined in the sport and contests of mankind. As we approach the period of classic history, the importance of the country increases. The town of Sardis was built near the confluence of the gold-bearing Pactolus and the Hermus; and we are dazzled by the accounts of the wealth of Crœsus, which attracted the arms and fell under the bravery of the Persians, who, having crossed the Halys, established their seat of government in Sardis, in the year 548 B.C. Here they reigned for upwards of two hundred years, during which period Sardis was sacked by the troops of Athens; and the myriads of Darius and Xerxes in vain attempted to revenge the insult of putting chains on a band of freemen.
After this came the expeditions of the younger Cyrus, and the retreat of the Ten Thousand; and numerous Greek cities, chiefly on the coast of Ionia, Æolis, and Caria, founded by emigrants and exiles from the parent state of Greece, had in the meantime sprung up, flourished, and increased,—at one period independent, at another subject to Persian rule, but ever sending forth a supply of learned men, who, in the pursuits of philosophy, music, history, sculpture, painting, and architecture, were no mean rivals of their European instructors.
But Asia Minor became again the scene of war and conquest. The battle of the Granicus was an auspicious commencement of the career of Alexander, and his conquest of the peninsula was secured by the battle of Issus. But the empire which he founded, fell to pieces when the hand which had formed it no longer governed. His conquests fell into the hands of rival generals, and the plains of Asia Minor were amongst the prizes for which they fought. Antigonus Eumenes and Lysimachus established themselves in various parts with various success, but a line of kings reigned at Pergamus in uninterrupted succession until Attalus Philopator, in 133 B.C., bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people.
Another element of discord was thus introduced into this country. Many years intervened before Rome could be said to have obtained quiet possession of the bequest. Since the death of Alexander a rival power to that of the kings of Pergamus had been silently growing up in the distant province of Pontus, the last king of which, Mithridates Eupator, exerted all his extraordinary energies, and the resources of his people, in opposing, for a long time with success, the advance of the Roman arms. In Cappadocia and in Pontus, in Isauria and in the mountainous districts of Cilicia, the rocky and almost impenetrable nature of the country enabled the native tribes long to resist the invader; and it was not until the time of Julius Cæsar and his successor, that the whole peninsula became an integral portion of the territories of the Mistress of the World. The accounts of these long-contested engagements form some of the most interesting pages in the works of the writers of the Augustan age.
Another and a brighter epoch was now to dawn upon this portion of the world; every province and every district felt the high civilisation and luxurious habits of Rome during the first years of the imperial government. New towns owed the splendour and magnificence of their public buildings to the protection of the emperors, while those which had suffered during the wars were rebuilt and enriched by the same liberal hands. New honours and privileges were granted to them, and the products of a favoured clime received fresh encouragement from universal peace. Even those convulsive throes of nature which, during this period, destroyed many of her cities and temples, were but incentives to renewed acts of liberality, as is attested by the coins and the inscriptions, which the traveller meets with in almost every part of this peninsula.
But this prosperity was of short duration; the luxury and the extent of the Roman empire brought with them the accompanying cankers of weakness and dissolution. Rebellion at home, and insurrection on the frontiers attended by military insubordination, soon changed the fair features of peace into the distorted aspect of war; plenty gave way to misery and religious zeal lent its hand to increase the evil. Asia Minor could not be expected to escape the calamity—indeed, an undue proportion of wretchedness seems to have been her lot; for the establishment of the first Christian churches in her territory added fuel to the contests between the pagans and Christians; and while the latter destroyed the temples of paganism, regardless of the beauty of the work or the skill of the builder, they met with personal cruelties and suffered worse persecutions at the hands of their idolatrous enemies.
A vain prospect of better days appeared, when Constantine, after fighting under the cross and conquering Maxentius, laid the foundations of Constantinople on the site of Byzantium, the seat of the future Empire of the East. During this period the early history of the church is intimately associated with that of Asia Minor. It is enough to allude to the celebrated council of Nicæa and its creed, and to mention the names of George of Cappadocia, Gregory of Nazianzus, Eusebius, and St. Basil of Cæsarea. The illusion soon vanished: the apostate Julian, carried along by a love of speculation, and fond of the philosophy of the pagans, led the way by his liberalism, to the establishment of those sects which long agitated the Eastern empire, and shed their baneful influence over the Christians of the West. Amidst these calamities, the same hordes of barbarians who had sacked the plains of Italy and Thrace, carried desolation and ruin into the other parts of the empire, and while the nations of the West were falling into the hands of successive northern chieftains, Asia Minor could not escape the ravages which overwhelmed the eastern provinces.
The annals of the Byzantine empire contain a melancholy list of facts of violence, intrigue, oppression, and vice. In Sapor, king of Persia, a powerful and determined enemy came to the aid of these domestic foes, and a warfare was carried on against him with various success; the conquest or defence of Asia Minor was the rich prize for which they fought. But it is most painful to reflect that some of the greatest cruelties and miseries which were suffered during the fifth century were owing to the dissensions of the Christian sects, in which the names of the two patriarchs, Nestorius of Constantinople and Cyril of Alexandria, were most conspicuous, and the city of Ephesus was the scene of their disgraceful quarrels.
In the reign of Justinian the contests with Persia still continued, and the gold-mines of Trebizond became a subject of dispute between the Greeks and Chosroes I. During his reign the name of Turk first appears in the page of history. Having driven the Avars from their northern wildernesses, they reached the Caucasus, from whence they sent ambassadors to the emperor. Mutual interest dictated the alliance between them and Justinian against the Persians. This did not, however, long avail to protect the Empire of the East against the power of the Great King.
Heraclius ascended the throne A.D. 610, and in the following year Chosroes II invaded the empire; after the conquest of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, his troops marched from the Euphrates to the Thracian Bosporus, devastating the seacoast of Pontus, sacking Ancyra and taking Chalcedon by storm. The heroism of Heraclius, which shone forth during the middle portion of his reign, saved the capital and the empire. Conveying his army by sea to the Gulf of Issus, and carrying the war into the enemy’s country, he compelled the Persians to evacuate Asia Minor and hasten to the defence of Dastagerd and Ctesiphon; and the battle of Nineveh (A.D. 627) reduced the haughty Chosroes to the state of a fugitive.
In the eighth century a new incentive to crime and folly burst upon the Eastern world. The worship of images, which had crept into the practice of the church, now began to be looked upon as idolatry; and the vacillating Greeks were visited by this imputation on the one hand, or by the accusation of impiety on the other, if they renounced the practice. In the year 718 an adventurer from the mountains of Isauria, who had the command of the Anatolian legions, taking the name of Leo III, ascended the throne of Constantinople. The energy with which he adopted the views and directed the measures of the popular party, soon gained for him the name of the Iconoclast. The dispute ceased in 842, on the final establishment of the worship of the images by the Empress Theodora.
Now a fiercer and more lasting enemy had made his appearance; unrelenting efforts were directed against the whole Christian world, from Jerusalem to the Pillars of Hercules and the shores of the Atlantic; and the plains of Asia Minor fell an easy prey to valour and numbers. Mohammedanism had, during the last century, spread rapidly along the southern shore of the Mediterranean; and the worshippers of the Koran had recruited the ranks of the army of the Faithful with hosts of Arabs, Saracens, and Moors. The Caliph Harun al-Rashid twice crossed the plains of Phrygia and Bithynia to invest the heights of Scutari and the Pontic Heraclea, and compelled Nicephorus I to pay him an annual tribute. Theophilus, son of Michael II, avenged these insults and on his fifth expedition penetrated into Syria; but the Caliph Mutazzim again ravaged the plains of Phrygia and directed his efforts against Amorium, the birthplace of Michael. The imperial army was routed and pursued to Dorylæum, which fell into the hands of the conqueror.
It is not necessary here to dwell upon the rise and progress of the Turkish nation, or to show how Toghrul Bey, the grandson of Seljuk, became their leader after the defeat of Mahmud of Ghazni. Alp Arslan, the nephew of Toghrul, completed the conquest of Armenia and Georgia; but having penetrated into Phrygia, his troops were driven back to the Euphrates by the emperor, Romanus Diogenes, a brave soldier, whom the Empress Eudocia had espoused for the safety of the state. The battle of Malaskerd was, however, imprudently fought and lost by the emperor, in August 1071, when the power of the house of Seljuk was established; and the Asiatic provinces of Rome, now lost to Christendom, were soon after overrun by the five sons of Kutulmish, a prince of the house of Seljuk, who established their camp at Kutahiyah. On the death of Alp Arslan by the hand of an assassin, he was succeeded by his son, the celebrated Malik Shah.
On his death, in 1092, his empire, extending from the Black Sea to the confines of Syria, and from the Euphrates to Constantinople, was divided amongst his five sons, the youngest of whom invaded the Roman provinces of Asia Minor, and after several years of treachery and folly on the part of the Greek commanders, the sultan Solyman [Sulaiman] erected his palace and his fortress at Nicæa, the capital of Bithynia, and the seat of the Seljukian Dynasty of Rum was planted within a hundred miles of Constantinople.
The general historian supplies ample details of these interesting events: Jerusalem, the holy city, the object of veneration and of pilgrimage, soon fell into the hands of these Seljukian Turks. The hollow alliance between the emperor and the sultan of Nicæa was burst asunder; a thrill of horror vibrated from Constantinople to the distant shores of Britain at the conduct of the Infidels, and a band of warriors rushed from every part of Christendom to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and to release the emperor of Byzantium from the iron grasp of his Turkish conqueror.
In the first crusade their success began with the siege and conquest of Nicæa, and the plains of Asia Minor became again the battle-field of nations. Here the chivalry of Europe met the horsemen of the sultan, and withstood their shock, and Dorylæum became the second time the scene of a decisive battle; the cities of Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium recruited the crusaders, after an exhausting march through the bare and arid plains of Phrygia. Thence they crossed the mountain barrier of Taurus, and descending into Cilicia, proceeded to the conquest of Syria and the Holy Land. The establishment of the Genoese at Constantinople, and in numerous places along the coast and in the interior, followed the march of the Crusaders, and the Greek emperor received an insidious foe into his confidence, instead of an open enemy at his door, whilst in the course of the ensuing half century the Seljukian Turks had again invaded Asia Minor, and re-established the flourishing kingdom of Iconium.
But soon a new power appeared on the stage of the war. In the beginning of the thirteenth century Jenghiz Khan led his Mogul followers from their native deserts to the conquest of the world. Their progress was not checked by his death in 1227, for under his sons and grandsons their power extended over China, Persia, Hungary, Russia, and Syria; and when checked in Egypt they spread themselves over Armenia and Asia Minor. Here the Sultans of Iconium offered some resistance to their progress until Ala-ud-Din sought refuge in Constantinople. But when at length the tide of Mogul conquest rolled back towards the East, the Seljukian Dynasty of Iconium was extinct; Orthogrul, one of the followers of Ala-ud-Din, the last of their sultans, pitched his camp of four hundred families at Surghut on the banks of the Sangarius; and his immediate descendants, having penetrated into Bithynia in 1299, established themselves soon after in the city of Brusa. The division of Anatolia amongst the Turkish emirs was the immediate result of this conquest; the remaining Asiatic provinces, with the seven churches of Asia, were finally lost to the Christian emperor, and the Turkish rulers of Lydia and Ionia still trample on the ruins of Christian monuments.
For above 150 years the Turks of the Ottoman line held possession of Anatolia, and the frequent contests which took place between them and the naval forces of the Christians only tended to increase the power of the Ottomans, to facilitate their passage into Europe, and to bring about their establishment in Thrace and in the neighbourhood of Adrianople. With the exception of the kingdom of Trebizond, Bajazet I had conquered all the Asiatic provinces of the emperor, and only a small extent of ground in the neighbourhood of Constantinople remained to him in Europe. From the imperial residence at Brusa were issued commands almost to the Indus, and Constantinople itself appeared to be within the grasp of Bajazet. Already he had prepared his expedition, and the capital of the empire was about to become his prey, when a temporary relief appeared from a new quarter, and Bajazet himself was overthrown by a stronger arm.
This rival power had sprung up in the wilds about Samarcand, and the world was again to be conquered by an army of Tatars and Moguls, under the command of Timur, or Tamerlane. Persia, Tatary, and India had already yielded to his arms before he turned them against the Ottoman empire, influenced by the quarrels and dissensions which had arisen between Bajazet and his Christian neighbours. The genius of Tamerlane prevailed in the memorable battle of Angora; the sultan lost at once his kingdom and his liberty, and the conqueror established himself at Kutahiyah. The sea put a limit to his progress, and, without the means of transporting his army into Europe, he meditated at Smyrna the conquest of China, but died on his march to the Celestial empire.
Brusa became again, in 1403, the capital of the Ottoman empire, and shared with Adrianople the honours of imperial residence; but Anatolia was distracted for nearly forty years by the civil wars of the sons and descendants of Bajazet, until Muhammed II ascended the throne, in 1451, to close the existence of the Byzantine empire. Weakened and exhausted in each successive reign, and having lost one by one those rich and fertile provinces which formed the brightest gems in the imperial diadem, Constantinople was reduced to the last stage of misery, even before the Turkish host had surrounded its triple fortifications. It still breathed with convulsive throbs, like a trunk deprived of its limbs, suffering under the last pulsations of life. Some Greeks displayed at the last moments an unavailing courage, even after the enemy had scaled the walls, but it only served to exasperate the cruelty of their conquerors.
The fall of Constantinople, in 1453, and the loss of Trebizond in 1461, concluded the history of the Empire of the East. Since that period, subject to the rule and grasp of Turkish despots, the towns of Asia Minor have lost their trade and commerce, her population has been exhausted, and her fairest and richest plains have been left without care or culture. The authority of the janissaries, the despotism of the porte, and the revolts of the local governors have kept up, until within a few years, a system of hostility between the different provinces, while the uncertain tenure of their command, and their jealousy of each other, prevented the chiefs who were well disposed from checking the incursions of the nomad tribes of Turkomans and Kurds, who had settled in her central plains. These combined causes paralysed also, for many years, the energies of European travellers. Dangers and difficulties, which could neither be anticipated nor prevented, rendered a great part of the interior of Asia Minor a sealed book to the inquirer; and her many interesting records of antiquity, towns, temples, citadels, and sepulchral monuments, in various stages of decay, were long unknown. During this dark period the avarice and bigotry of the Turks systematically destroyed them, or consigned them to the chisel or the limekiln.
But there is a dawn, however faint, of happier days in the East. The bigotry of the Turk has yielded to a more frequent intercourse with the Christians, and many of the former difficulties are removed by the establishment, for a time at least, of the authority of the Porte throughout the Asiatic provinces, from the Euxine to the shores of Caramania, and from the coast of Ionia to the eastern confines of Cappadocia, and the effect of this partial improvement is visible in the crowds of eager and enterprising travellers who direct their steps to the shores of Ionia and Caria, and penetrate into the districts of Phrygia, Lydia, and Galatia.
HISTORY IN OUTLINE OF THE MINOR KINGDOMS OF WESTERN ASIA
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE SWEEP OF EVENTS, AND A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY
THE HITTITES
An important Mongoloid tribe of Asia Minor descended by tradition from Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham. They were one of the seven principal Canaanite tribes. In the days of their might their power extended over the greater part of Asia Minor, and perhaps into northern Syria. The extension of Egypt’s power during the XVIIIth Dynasty soon brought the Pharaohs into contact with the Hittites, or Kheta, as the Egyptians called them.
1528 B.C. The Hittites fight against Tehutimes III at the battle of Megiddo.
1400 The power of the Hittites begins to be formidable. They threaten the Egyptian provinces in Syria, and join their forces with those of Babylonia and Naharain. They make their southern capital at Kadesh.
1360 Hittites attacked by Seti I at Kadesh.
1341 Mau-than-ar, son of Maro-sar, murdered by his brother Kheta-sar, who succeeds to the throne.
1340 Battle of Kadesh. Great victory of Ramses II over the Hittites and their allies.
1325 Treaty of peace between Kheta-sar, king of the Hittites, and Ramses II.
1110 The Hittites, or Khatti, as the Assyrians called them, are overcome by Tiglathpileser I.
882 The Hittites pay tribute to Asshurnazirpal III, who carries their princes into captivity.
876 Carchemish, once the Hittite capital, now the capital of the petty state of Sangara, is entered by Asshurnazirpal.
854 Hittites enter into the alliance formed by Ben-Hadad II of Damascus. They suffer in the defeat at Qarqar. Most of the states are annexed to Assyria.
717 By this time Sangara is the sole state of the former Hittite empire that has retained independence. Pisiris, its king, joins with Mita of Moschi to refuse payment of tribute to Assyria. Sargon II proceeds against him. The people of Carchemish are transported to Assyria, and the city is populated with Assyrian colonists. This is the end of the last remnant of the Hittite empire. Many monuments of the Hittites have been discovered of recent years—most important of all, ruins and sculpture in Cappadocia east of the Halys. The art exhibited on these works is of a rude, primitive character, although it was influenced in succession by Babylonian, Egyptian, and Assyrian culture.
THE KINGDOM OF MITANNI
One of the important kingdoms of antiquity was Mitanni (called Naharain by the Egyptians, and Aram-Naharaim in the Bible), but at present we have no connected account of its history. “The kingdom of Mitanni,” says Rogers, “must take its place among the small states which have had their share in influencing the progress of the world, but whose own history we are unable to trace.”
1580 Tehutimes I of Egypt reaches the kingdom of Mitanni in his Asiatic campaign. In a battle fought on the borders, the king of Mitanni is defeated. From this time forth there is constant intercourse between the Nile and the Euphrates.
1522 Tehutimes III extends his conquest as far as Mitanni, which is made tributary to Egypt.
1470-1400 From the Tel-el-Amarna letters we know that Artatana, Artashuma, Sutarna, and Dushratta are the names of some of the ruling kings at this period. Between these and the Pharaohs there are family ties, since several of the Egyptian rulers married princesses from Mitanni. This shows that the kingdom is now of some importance.
1400 We find from now on the forces of Mitanni in alliance with those of the Hittites, and they doubtless play an important part in the Hittite conquests. In the last years of the XVIIIth Egyptian Dynasty, they are instrumental in driving the Egyptians from the land of the Amorites. The power of Mitanni is increasing. It is constantly allied with the Canaanitish and Babylonian princes against Egypt.
1225 Cushan-rish-athaim, king of Mitanni, overruns Syria and holds the Israelites in bondage for eight years. After this we find Aleppo, Hamath, and even Damascus in the hands of the Aramæans. Out of this occupation came the kingdoms of Damascus, Hamath, Zobah, etc. Mitanni and the other Aramæan states in Mesopotamia begin to lose their power as that of Assyria increases.
1120 Tiglathpileser I conquers much of their territory, and by the time of Asshurnazirpal III it has become practically incorporated in the Assyrian dominions.
THE ARAMÆANS
The Aramæans were a people of Semitic race, language, and religion, who came from northern Arabia and settled in the region between the western boundaries of Babylonia and the highlands of Western Asia.
THE KINGDOM OF DAMASCUS
The Aramæan conquests in Syria gave rise to a number of small states, among them Zobah, Hamath, Patin, and Damascus. The latter is the only one that attained world-historic importance, and is that country referred to in the Bible as the kingdom of Syria. The kings of Damascus first appear in history in the reign of David.
1000 David makes the king of Damascus pay tribute.
950 Damascus becomes independent of Solomon. Rezon is king. He is succeeded probably by Hezion, and then by the latter’s son, Tabrimon, whose names are known to us only through the Bible (1 Kings xv. 18), although there is every reason to believe that Hezion is identical with Rezon.
900 Ben-Hadad I succeeds to the throne of Damascus. Asa of Judah purchases, by means of the temple and palace treasures, the alliance of Ben-Hadad, in his war against Baasha of Israel. Ben-Hadad invades Israel and brings the conflict to a close.
870 Ben-Hadad II (Hadad-idri of the Assyrian monuments). The kingdom of Damascus now becomes the active enemy of Israel. Omri and Ahab ally themselves with Phœnicia to resist it. Ben-Hadad besieges Samaria, but is driven off by Ahab. The following year the siege is resumed and Ben-Hadad is again defeated in a battle near Aphek. Ahab suddenly changes his policy and makes a friendly alliance with Ben-Hadad to resist the growing power of Assyria.
854 Ben-Hadad is the head of the alliance of Damascus, Israel, and Hamath, and other states to resist Shalmaneser II, who invades Hamath. Battle of Qarqar and defeat of the allies. The alliance is broken and Damascus and Syria again go to war.
849 Ben-Hadad and Irkhulina of Hamath oppose Shalmaneser, who has again invaded the latter country. The result seems to have been undecisive.
846 Shalmaneser invades Hamath a third time and is prevented from any decisive conquest by Ben-Hadad.
845 Hazael succeeds his father Ben-Hadad; probably murdered him.
842 Hazael, deserted by his former allies, resolves to fight alone Shalmaneser, who had proceeded against Syria for the fourth time. Siege of Damascus, with no decisive result.
839 Shalmaneser again attacks Damascus, but is still unable to subjugate it completely. Damascus now takes the offensive against Israel. By the end of the century the land east of Jordan and north of the Arnon has been annexed by Hazael and his successor Ben-Hadad III. But a fresh onslaught from Assyria gives the Israelites an opportunity to recover their lost territory.
806-797 Adad-Nirari III makes expeditions to the west and Damascus, under King Mari, who has succeeded Ben-Hadad III,[10] is compelled to pay heavy tribute in 797.
773 The king of Assyria (either Asshur-dan III or Shalmaneser III, probably the former) makes a campaign against Damascus. The kingdom of Damascus is now in a thoroughly weak condition. Its decline has been rapid. Besides its subjection by Assyria, it has probably been forced to become tributary to Israel, now at the height of its power. It is probably on account of this connection that
735 Pekah forms an alliance with Rezin (the successor though not the immediate one of Mari or Ben-Hadad III) against Ahaz of Judah, who is attacked. The Syrio-Ephramitic war begins. Ahaz appeals to Tiglathpileser III for aid, which is willingly given.
734 Tiglathpileser marches into Syria and defeats Rezin, who shuts himself up in Damascus.
732 Fall of Damascus. Rezin slain. The inhabitants deported. The kingdom of Damascus is merged into the Assyrian empire.
HAMATH AND ZOBAH
There were two of the Aramæan kingdoms of Syria, whose existence was more or less contemporaneous with Damascus, although they never attained the power of the latter state. Zobah lay in northeastern Syria, and probably arose out of the ruins of the Hittite and Mitannian kingdoms. It seems to have been in conflict with Hamath. Its last king, Hadad-ezer, leads the Syrian forces against David, but is overthrown (about 1000 B.C.) and Zobah becomes part of the kingdom of Judah.
Hamath lay to the west of Zobah. Ramses III mentions taking the land among his conquests about 1200 B.C. It seems to have been then in Hittite hands, but later on passed to the Aramæans.
1000 B.C. Before David’s conquest we find Toi, king of Hamath, in conflict with Hadad-ezer of Zobah. After the latter’s overthrow we find Hamath always in friendly relations with Judah. Toi’s son Joram succeeds him.
854 Irkhulina, king of Hamath, joins the Syrian alliance against Shalmaneser II. The latter invades Hamath, in which country the battle of Qarqar is fought.
849-468 Shalmaneser II invades Hamath in these years, but the combined efforts of Irkhulina and Ben-Hadad II prevent any decisive Assyrian success. After this, Hamath remains the faithful ally of Assyria, but not a part of the empire.
720 A national party objects to the payment of tribute to Assyria. The king of Hamath, Eni-el, is deposed, and a usurper, Il-ubidi or Ya-ubidi, put on the throne. He prepares to resist Assyria, aided by Hanno of Gaza. Other states join the confederation. Sargon II immediately invades Syria. The city of Hamath is taken, and the kingdom becomes part of the Assyrian empire.
Among the other states of Western Asia deserving, at least, of mention are Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. It is impossible to give any connected account of their history.
The children of Esau settled in Edom, driving the Horites out. They come under the sway of Judah, but make a few attempts to regain their independence.
About 743 Tiglathpileser III makes King Kaush-malik of Edom tributary. In Esarhaddon’s time Kaush-gabri is king. Sennacherib makes Malik-rammu pay tribute. In Nebuchadrezzar’s time Edom is attacked by the Babylonians. During the captivity the Edomites move into portions of Judea.
Moab has the same origin as Israel. It is incorporated into David’s kingdom, but recovers its independence in a degree after his death. Thereafter the more powerful kings of Israel make war upon it. About 890 Omri makes Sichon, king of Moab, pay tribute, and sacks the capital Heshbon. About 885 Kammush-gad succeeds Sichon, and he, in turn, is succeeded by his son Mesha (ca. 855), whose inscription, known as the “Moabite” stone, is one of the most famous monuments of antiquity, and the oldest in the Semitic alphabet. He shakes off the yoke of Israel, and is afterwards shut up in Kir-Haresheth by the allied forces of Judah and Israel, but the assailants retire without a victory. Later the Moabite king pays tribute to Assyria. Some of them as mentioned doing so are Shaman, Kammush-nadab, and Mussari. Nebuchadrezzar subjects the Moabites in his expedition to Egypt.
The history of Ammon, whose capital was Rabbath or Rabbath Ammon, is similar to that of the other petty kingdoms with whose names it is constantly allied. After the Exodus the Israelites find the Ammonites driven out of their ancient territory, and settled east of the upper Jabbok. Here they develop a spirit of intense hostility towards the Israelites, and unite with the Moabites and Philistines against them.
In the days of Uzziah and Jotham they pay tribute to Judah, and assist Nebuchadrezzar against Jehoiakim. They continue to exist always inimical to Jewish power, at least until the time of Justin Martyr, who mentions them.
The origin of the Philistines is unknown, though it is supposed that they came from the Egyptian Delta, or perhaps from Crete. Their principal cities were Askalon, Ashdod, Gaza, Gath, and Ekron. During the XVIIIth Egyptian Dynasty they belonged to Egypt. The Philistines may have recovered their independence after Khun-aten’s death (ca. 1400), but in Ramses II’s time they are again under Egyptian rule. But with Ramses III the Philistines join the other enemies of Egypt against him. Saul has a long struggle with them now at the height of their power and is killed in a Philistine victory. David conquers them after an arduous struggle. In Jehoram’s time, 845 B.C., they and the Arabians invade Judah and attack Jerusalem. In 797 Adad-nirari III receives tribute from Philistia, which is a new conquest. In 734 the Philistine cities are taken by Tiglathpileser III. Hanno, king of Gaza, flees to Egypt. In 720 Hanno and Il-ubidi of Hamath form a confederation against Sargon, but are badly defeated at Raphia. Hanno is captured and borne off to Assyria. Philistia becomes an Assyrian province.
THE LESSER PEOPLES OF ASIA MINOR
PHRYGIA
So far as we know, the Phrygians were of a race closely akin to some of the tribes of Macedonia and Thrace. Their country lay on the central plateau of Asia Minor and extended east to the river Halys. The date of the origin of the kingdom is unknown, but Greek tradition tells of rulers at Gordium, on the Gangerius, among whom the names of Gordius and Midas are common. In the ninth century B.C. its power was at its greatest. About the end of the eighth century B.C. Midas, king of Phrygia, is said to have married Damodice, daughter of Agamemnon, the last king of Cyme. After this time the power of Phrygia declines before that of Lydia. About 660 B.C. the Cimmerians sweep over Phrygia, and Midas the king commits suicide. The Cimmerians hold the country until the end of the seventh century, when it comes under Lydian rule, the matter being definitely fixed by the treaty of 585. After this the country is ruled by native princes under subjection to Lydia until the fall of Crœsus in 546, when it becomes part of the Persian empire.
Phrygian culture is distinctly non-oriental in character and bears a distinct resemblance to that of early Greece.
Alexander the Great placed Phrygia under the command of Antigonus; then it passed to Seleucus. The western half of the country was included in the kingdom of Pergamus. Under the Roman Empire Phrygia formed part of the province of Asia.
LYCIA
The Lycians were a small nation in the southwest of Asia Minor, between Caria and Pamphylia. They alone among the peoples of this region preserved their independence against the Lydian kings, but they succumbed to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, in 545 B.C.
After a while they recovered their independence, and in a degree maintained it by joining the Athenian Maritime League. Alexander had no difficulty in conquering this people, and in his empire they were ruled sometimes by the Ptolemies and sometimes by the Seleucidæ. Nevertheless, they managed to preserve their federal institutions, even when subject to and controlled by Rome. Not until the time of Claudius was Lycia formally annexed to the Roman Empire.
MYSIA
The Mysians were a race allied to the Lydians. They formed part of the conquests of Alyattes and Crœsus, and passed with Lydia into the Persian empire.
At Alexander’s death the country was annexed to the Syrian monarchy, of which it formed part until the defeat of Antiochus the Great. The Romans transferred the country to the dominions of Eumenes of Pergamus as a reward for his services during the war. Pergamus was the most important city of Mysia, and under Alexander’s successors became the seat of a flourishing Greek monarchy. It became prominent under Attalus I in the third century B.C. The successor of Attalus, Eumenes II, greatly extended and beautified the city. When Attalus III died, 133 B.C., he bequeathed the kingdom to Rome, and thus all Mysia became a portion of the province of Asia.
CAPPADOCIA
The Cappadocians were originally a Semitic people. They absorbed a portion of the invading Cimmerians in the eighth century B.C.
Our real knowledge of them goes back only to the Persian conquest in the middle of the sixth century. It was included in the third satrapy of Darius’s empire, although the satraps succeeded in making themselves virtually independent. Ariarathes I maintained himself on the throne after the conquest of Alexander. But at the latter’s death Perdiccas took him prisoner and put him to death. His son regained the throne, and his descendants ruled more or less in full possession of the kingdom. They fought against the Romans and afterwards with them, taking part in the struggles in Bithynia and Pontus. On the death of Archelaus (17 A.D.) the kingdom of Cappadocia was reduced to a Roman province.
CILICIA
The Cilicians, like the Cappadocians, were a Semitic or Aramæan people, ruled by a king with the title of Syennesis as early as the time of Alyattes of Lydia (about 600 B.C.). Cilicia passed successively into the Persian and Macedonian empires and formed part of the Seleucid dominions. Owing to loose government the western portion of Cilicia became the stronghold of a great pirate confederation which was stamped out by Pompey in 66 B.C. Cicero governed the country as proconsul 51-50 B.C., but it did not formally become a province until the time of Vespasian.
PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDIA
The peoples of these countries first appear in history in Xenophon’s Anabasis. In fact, Cyrus the Younger gave as his excuse for raising the army with which he tried to seize his brother’s throne the necessity of putting down the Pisidians, who were constantly harrying their neighbours. At the time of Alexander the Great they made a determined but unsuccessful resistance to the progress of the great conqueror. They passed tranquilly to Roman dominion, though they continued to be governed by their petty chiefs.
CARIA
Of the origin and early history of the Carians there is practically nothing known. They passed with little resistance under the Persian yoke, but joined the Ionic revolt, and were only reduced again with difficulty. Until the Macedonian conquest, although subject to Persia, the country had rulers of its own at Halicarnassus, who came strongly under the influence of Hellenic civilisation. The last native prince was Pexodarus, and after his death Orontobates, a Persian, seized the throne and offered a vigorous resistance to Alexander. The latter bestowed the country upon Ada, a native princess, but it soon became a portion of the Macedonian empire, ruled by Syria and Pergamus. At the extinction of the Pergamanian kingdom, Caria became a part of the Roman province of Asia.
BITHYNIA
Bithynia was first populated by a tribe of Thracian origin, first subdued by Crœsus, and then taken into the Persian empire when the country formed part of the satrapy of Phrygia. When the Seleucid monarchy fell into decay, the kingdom of Bithynia arose. Nicomedes I, the first king, founded Nicomedia during his long reign (278-250 B.C.). His successors were Prusias I, Prusias II, Nicomedes II, and Nicomedes III. This last king was unable to hold out against Pontus, and was sustained on his throne by the Romans. At his death (74 B.C.) he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome.
PAPHLAGONIA
The Paphlagonians play little part in history, although they were one of the most ancient nations of Asia Minor, and in all probability belonged to the same Semitic race as the Cappadocians. Under the Persian dominion they are said to have had a prince of their own, and were not dependent upon the Satraps. At Alexander’s death the country was assigned with Cappadocia to Eumenes, but was still governed by native rulers until it was absorbed by Pontus (183 B.C.).
GALATIA
The original Galatians were a body of Gauls that invaded Asia Minor about 277 B.C. It had formed part of Brennus’ army, but separated from him, crossed into Asia Minor, and ravaged its western portion. Attalus of Pergamus defeated this people in 239 and compelled them to settle in Galatia, where they maintained an independent existence and gave the Romans much trouble in the wars against Antiochus. But an army was sent directly against them, and they were completely subjected to Rome, 189 B.C. At first the native chiefs held power under tetrarchs. This system did not hold, and soon there was only one ruler. One of the single tetrarchs, Deiotarus, was styled King by the Roman Senate for the assistance given in the Mithridatic wars. Galatia was afterwards united with Lycaonia, Isauria, and their adjoining districts under a king named Amyntas, and when he died (25 B.C.) the country became a Roman province.
LYCAONIA
The Lycaonian tribes inhabited the interior of Asia Minor in a district bounded by Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Phrygia, and Pisidia. The country is first mentioned by Xenophon. The people seem to have been a wild and lawless race of freebooters, practically independent of the Persian and Macedonian empires. They became, however, subjects of the king, Amyntas, who ruled in Galatia, and at his death passed with the latter country into the Roman Empire.
ISAURIA
Isauria lay to the west of Lycaonia. It does not appear in the early history of Asia Minor, but its people were undoubtedly similar in manners and customs to the Lycaonians. Their sole prominence in ancient history is due to the fact that they took so active a part in the war of Rome against the Cilician pirates that P. Servilius, the proconsul, found it necessary to pursue them into their own country and reduce them to submission, which earned him the title of Isauricus.
PONTUS
Pontus lay in the northeast corner of Asia Minor, bordering on Armenia and Colchis. It was originally that part of Cappadocia known as “Cappadocia on the Pontus,” and its existence as a separate territory did not begin probably until after the time of Alexander the Great. Under the Persian empire the province was governed as a satrapy, although virtually independent. Finally the satraps began to call themselves kings. The first was Ariobarzanes, about the middle of the fourth century B.C. His successor, Mithridates II, the first really independent monarch, began his reign 337 B.C. Then came a line of kings mostly called Mithridates, who managed to rule independent of the Macedonian monarchs, and extended their dominions along the shores of the Euxine or Black Sea. When Sinope fell (183 B.C.), captured by Pharnaces I, Bithynia became the western boundary of the land, and under Mithridates VI “the Great” nearly the whole of Asia Minor acknowledged the sceptre of the powerful monarch. Pontus plays a part in world history only in the wars of Mithridates and Rome, a full account of which struggle will be found in the history of the latter country. When Pompey finally subdued Mithridates (65 B.C.), Pontus was confined to its original limits, and afterwards united with Bithynia as a Roman province. Mark Antony placed the government of a portion of the province in the hands of a Greek rhetorician named Polemon, whose descendants continued to rule until the time of Nero, when it was finally annexed to the empire.
ARMENIA
This was the Urartu of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Ararat of the Bible. It seems originally to have been one of the countries of Nairi, and gradually gained superiority over the others. It extended northward from Lake Van, between the Upper Euphrates and Media. The Assyrians began their assaults on Urartu at the time of Tiglathpileser I (ca. 1100 B.C.). Asshurnazirpal marched through its southern districts, but made no attempt to annex it to his dominions. Shalmaneser II laid the first plan for conquest. In 860 and 857 he invaded Urartu while Arame was king, defeating that monarch and bringing his dynasty to an end. A new house came to the throne, founded by Sarduris I, son of Lutipris. He immediately extended his borders by conquest and strengthened his kingdom, so, when the Assyrians came again in 850, 833, and 829, they went home without making any real progress in the north and west. Shalmaneser III (782-773) made six ineffectual campaigns against Urartu, which was now a real menace to the Assyrian empire. Argistis of Urartu wrested considerable territory from the Assyrians, and his successor, Sarduris II, continued the conquest of adjacent territory, and, forming a coalition of northern princes, started on a conquest of Syria. At this moment the prospects of Armenia becoming a great world-power were very bright, but Tiglathpileser III, of Assyria, having the same ambitions, encountered Sarduris and badly defeated him. The boundaries of Urartu were gradually narrowed to their original limits by the Assyrian conqueror about 735 B.C. The capital, Turuspa (Van), was besieged, but not taken; the spirit of Urartu was now completely broken. Ursa or Rusas succeeded Sarduris. Sargon II, of Assyria, had many conflicts with him, and when his son, Argistis II, came to the throne, he had only a small territory around Lake Van left to rule over. Tigranes I was the contemporary of Cyrus. After the fall of Assyria Armenia became a portion of the Persian empire. Alexander the Great conquered it with the defeat of King Vahi, but the Macedonian yoke was thrown off in 317 B.C. Ardvates was chosen king, but at his death the Seleucidæ again gained possession. When Antiochus the Great was defeated by the Romans, Artaxias, the governor of Greater Armenia, made himself independent. It was with this prince that the exiled Hannibal found refuge. Zadriades, in Lesser Armenia, followed the example of Artaxias, and his descendants maintained their position until the time of Tigranes II, when this country was annexed to Greater Armenia.
About 150 B.C. the Parthians stepped in, and Mithridates I established his brother Valarsaces in Armenia. Thus a new branch of the Asarcid dynasty was founded.
Tigranes II gave promise of making a great empire, but his father-in-law, Mithridates of Pontus, brought him in collision with the Romans. Pompey allowed him to keep Armenia, and made a new kingdom of Sophene and Gordyene, but another son, Artavasdes, tried to free himself from Rome, and Mark Antony carried him prisoner to Alexandria, where he was beheaded by Cleopatra (30 B.C.).
THE LYDIANS
The territory of Lydia was originally confined to the Plain of Sardis at the foot of Tmolus and Sipylus. Later it extended to include the Troad and became a maritime as well as an inland power. The coast of Ionia came under its dominion and at the time of Crœsus all Asia Minor west of the Halys, with the exception of Lycia, composed the Lydian kingdom.
B.C. The Lydian rulers traced their origin back to the sun-god Hercules, but there was an earlier dynasty which, however, is purely mythical, founded by Attys, another form of the sun-god. The Heraclid Dynasty shows Hittite or perhaps Semitic influence, and was founded by a son of Ninus and a descendant of Hercules and Omphale. About the end of the thirteenth century B.C. Lydia was conquered by the Hittites, and the Heraclid Dynasty seems to have arisen with the decline of the Hittite rule. It is said to have lasted 505 years and 690 come to an end with Sadyattes—the Candaules of Herodotus—who is slain by one of his herdsmen, Gyges, with the connivance of the queen. Gyges founds the dynasty of the Mermnadæ.
660 The kingdom is overrun by the Cimmerians. They capture Sardis. Gyges appeals to Asshurbanapal for aid. The latter beseeches the gods Asshur and Ishtar to aid Gyges, who gains a great victory over the invaders. But Gyges turns against Asshurbanapal. He sends aid to Psamthek against the Assyrians (655 B.C.).
652 The Cimmerians return, retake Sardis, and Gyges is slain in battle. His son Ardys succeeds. He at once gives allegiance to Assyria.
617 Sadyattes succeeds his father Ardys. He ends an eleven years’ war with Miletus.
612 Alyattes succeeds his father Sadyattes. Under him Phrygia is conquered, and the Greek cities of the coast are taken. The latter pay heavy duties to the Lydian king, and he thus becomes the richest monarch of the time.
585 Treaty with the Phrygians fixing boundaries of the two countries. Lydia is now threatened with the growing power of the Manda or eastern Scythians, and a six years’ struggle is ended by the marriage of Alyattes’ daughter, Aryenis, to Astyages, king of the Manda. The two kingdoms become friendly.
560 Crœsus ascends the throne on the death of his father Alyattes. He makes friends with Miltiades, the tyrant of the Thracian Chersonesus.
546 Crœsus heads an alliance with Aahmes II of Egypt, Nabonidus of Babylon, and the Spartans against Cyrus of Elam, who has overthrown his suzerain Astyages of the Manda. He enters Cappadocia on his way to meet Cyrus, is defeated in two battles and retires to Sardis. The allies do not send aid and the city falls. Lydia is absorbed into the Persian empire and then into the Greek. At Alexander’s death Lydia passed to Antigonus; then Achæus made himself king of Sardis, but Antiochus put him to death. Eumenes presented the country to the Romans, and subsequently it formed part of the province of Asia.
FOOTNOTES
[10] [There still exists an uncertainty as to the chronological order of these two kings. Meyer places Mari first, although the Biblical narrative would indicate the reverse to be the true order.]
