[6]. The word Nineveh is made up of signs which mean city, coach and Nana respectively, all of which means the resting place of the chief god, Nana. (E.A. Budge.) The great commerce of Nineveh—the fact that her merchants were greatly “multiplied”—is illustrated by the large collection of contract tablets in the British Museum.
[7]. The problem of the relative value of gold and silver had been solved to a certain extent in this ancient kingdom, a silver shekel being one-tenth the value of a gold shekel, and the silver half shekel one twentieth of the value of the gold shekel. The drachma, or silver half shekel, is supposed to be the most ancient type of the English shilling, as one-twentieth of the English gold sovereign.
[8]. For the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, the records of the Egebi family are invaluable—dated deeds extending, year by year, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of that of Darius Hystaspes.—Sayce, An. Emp., p. 105.
[9]. Sayce—An. Emp., p. 195.
[10]. Astarte or Ashtaroth.
[11]. Jer. li, 47; Isa. xxi, 2-9.
[12]. Ezekiel xxvii, 10; xxxviii, 5.
[13]. The Persians called wine Zeher-e-kushon, or “delightful poison.”
[14]. Scarcely a century has elapsed since the burnished shields and helmets of ancient Persian royalty were laid aside for the lighter military accoutrements of modern Europe.
[15]. Ezra vi, 1.