2. The existence of the first empire is dimly made out, and that is all. Nimrod had clearly a foundation to build on, and he made a great impression on his own times. After his death he was deified under the name of Bel, and became the favorite among the fifteen or sixteen principal deities of the early Chaldeans. These gods and goddesses seem to represent the heavenly bodies; while the earlier Turanian worship was a veneration of the powers of nature. Nimrod’s dynasty appears to have covered a period of about two hundred and fifty years, including the reigns of eleven kings. They made great advancement in draining the marshy valley and regulating the supply of moisture to the growing crops. They became expert in the manufacture of cloths and in building with bricks which are covered with inscriptions. The priesthood acquired a strong development at this time, as appears in the ruins and inscriptions of their temples. The kings do not appear to have been very warlike, or to have extended their dominion far.
3. A second Chaldean kingdom was founded about 1976 B. C. It is called Elam in the Bible, and furnishes the first known example of what was afterward so often seen in that region—an extensive kingdom formed by a series of rapid conquests, that fell to pieces again as soon as a vigorous hand failed to uphold it. The kingdom continued till about B. C. 1500. Kudur-Lagamer, the Chedor-Laomer of the Mosaic account, overran a territory one thousand miles in length by five hundred in width. In one of his incursions into Palestine his forces were defeated by Abraham, which ended a control over that region lasting twelve years. There is no indication that the following sovereigns exerted authority beyond Chaldea and Babylonia.
There, however, they grew rich and civilized, extending their commerce to India and Egypt, becoming famous and envied for their splendor and luxury. A single small dwelling house of that period has been preserved in the ruins of Chedor-Laomer’s capital “Ur of the Chaldees,” south of Babylon. It was built on a platform of dried bricks, the walls of great thickness, with two arched doors, and, apparently, lighted from the roof. The rooms were long and narrow. Iron was at that time unknown. All implements were of stone or bronze. Religion seemed to increase in its grossness, apparently under the policy of the priesthood, who laid the foundation of astronomical science and began to acquire the reputation for hidden knowledge for which they became famous in after centuries. Nothing of any importance is related of the kings of this monarchy except the one conqueror. Despotism and priestly craft kept most of the feeble tendencies to political improvement curbed—waiting for better times. That arrived with the advent of the Assyrian Empire, about B. C. 1500.
4. It appears that for a long time before, a family, or tribe, of Shemites had been settled in Chaldea, where they acquired its civilization and arts, and some time about B. C. 1600 emigrated north, settling on the river Tigris. They were a strong race, physically and mentally, quite too fierce and resolute to be held in leading-strings by the Chaldean priesthood. The country they occupied was higher and more varied, abundantly supplied with stone, which was wanting in Babylonia and Chaldea.
Here, in process of time, the most vigorous and progressive race that had yet been seen among the families of man, built up a succession of cities within a small circuit, each of which was, at different times, the capital, and which were all finally united and made the famous Nineveh of the Greek historians, and the immense “city of three days’ journey,” visited by the Jewish prophet, Jonah. Within a few years these ruins have been examined by competent men of science with great care, and have been found to confirm the Bible narrative, in all essential points, and most of the glowing descriptions of profane historians; while their higher style of art and greater vigor and pride of achievement led them to build monuments and engrave records that promise to make us very intimately acquainted with their social, political and moral life.
5. They seem to have acquired the habit in Chaldea of raising a vast elevated mound for their more important buildings. The largest mound is found to be nearly one hundred feet high, and to cover an area of one hundred acres, and on the summit of this were placed their temples and the palaces of their kings. This immense foundation, it is said, would require the labor of twenty thousand men for six years. After this were to be constructed their vast buildings, covered with sculptures and adorned with statues. Another mound, higher but embracing a smaller area—about forty acres—served the same purpose.
They were extremely religious in their way, but the vigor of the kings appears to have overshadowed the priesthood much more than in Chaldea. It seems to have been about three hundred years after the establishment of this enterprising stock in Assyria that they became famous for foreign conquest. Babylon had been gradually rising in importance, often in subjection, more or less nominal, to the growing northern power, but retaining its own kings and habits.
6. The reign of Shalmaneser I., about 1290 B. C., was distinguished by his building a new city and improving his kingdom; and his successor, in 1270, signalized his reign by establishing, for a time, a complete sovereignty over Babylon, and the historical Assyrian empire is commonly dated from that event. For a century and a half there are few important records. Tiglath-Pileser I., in B. C. 1130, commenced a series of efforts to extend his dominions by conquest, which his success led him to describe with unusual detail. It embraces five campaigns and a description of the conquest of all the neighboring people. He established a compact and powerful empire, which was surrounded by wild tribes whose conquest was of little honor or value, and whom it was difficult to hold long in subjection. In a return from a campaign against Babylon, which he had conquered, he suffered a great reverse, losing the images of his gods which he kept in his camp for protection and assistance in his enterprises; and they were carried to Babylon, remaining there, it is said, 400 years. A long period of apparent quiet was followed, after more than two hundred years, by another warlike king who pushed his conquests to the Mediterranean sea. His public works were larger and more magnificent than those of any of his predecessors. He has recorded ten successful campaigns.
7. His son, Shalmaneser II., increased the number, extent and thoroughness of the conquests of his father. Still, most of the countries conquered retained their laws and government, simply paying an annual tribute, and the conquest set lightly on them. Babylon seems to have retained comparative independence. In the following reign, Babylon was captured and remained some time tributary to Assyria and the Ninus, or Iva-lush IV., whose wife was the celebrated Semiramis, still further extended Assyrian power. The wonderful tales related by Grecian historians of Semiramis are not confirmed by the monuments. She appears to have been an energetic Babylonian princess, the principal queen of Ninus, who ruled conjointly with him. The novelty of a female ruler in that rude age, and the splendor of the empire at the time, seem to have originated the fabulous tales related of her.
8. At this time the development of the people of all the western parts of Asia was so great, and the wars as well as peaceful intercourse of different nations had so stimulated them all, that improvement kept a tolerably even step. Multitudes of populous cities and kingdoms existed in all directions. The magnificence of Solomon belongs to this period, the Jewish monarchy having reached the height of its glory and power, too high to be long endured by the proud and enterprising Assyrians. Commerce filled the east with activity and manufactures flourished, in some directions reaching a high degree of excellence. A true progress marked the general course of human effort. The psalms of David show to what a lofty point the religious ideas of that age were capable of being carried. Industrial pursuits and agriculture reached, in the next hundred and fifty years, the highest development they ever attained in some regions.