* The name which is written Sheshbazzar in the Hebrew text
of the Book of Ezra (i. 9, 11; v. 14, 16) is rendered
Sasabalassaros in Lucian’s recension of the Septuagint, and
this latter form confirms the hypothesis of Hoonacker, which
is now universally accepted, that it corresponds to the
Babylonian Shamash-abaluzur. It is known that Shamash
becomes Shauash in Babylonian; thus Saosdukhînos comes from
Shamash-shumukîn: similarly Shamash-abaluzur has become
Shauash-abaluzur. Imbert has recognised Sheshbazzar,
Shauash-abaluzur in the Shenazzar mentioned in 1 Chron. iii.
8, as being one of the sons of Jeconiah, and this
identification has been accepted by several recent
historians of Israel. It should be remembered that Shauash-
abaluzur and Zerubbabel have long been confounded one with
the other.
The returning exiles at first settled in the small towns of Judah and Benjamin, and it was not until seven months after their arrival that they summoned courage to clear the sacred area in order to erect in its midst an altar of sacrifice.*
* The history of this first return from captivity is
summarily set forth in Ezra i.; cf. v. 13-17; vi. 3-5, 15.
Its authenticity has been denied: with regard to this point
and the questions relating to Jewish history after the
exile, the modifications which have been imposed on the
original plan of this work have obliged me to suppress much
detail in the text and the whole of the bibliography in the
notes.
They formed there, in the land of their fathers, a little colony, almost lost among the heathen nations of former times—Philistines, Idumasans, Moabites, Ammonites, and the settlers implanted at various times in what had been the kingdom of Israel by the sovereigns of Assyria and Chaldæa. Grouped around the Persian governor, who alone was able to protect them from the hatred of their rivals, they had no hope of prospering, or even of maintaining their position, except by exhibiting an unshaken fidelity to their deliverers. It was on this very feeling that Cyrus mainly relied when he granted them permission to return to their native hills, and he was actuated as much by a far-seeing policy as from the promptings of instinctive generosity. It was with satisfaction that he saw in that distant province, lying on the frontier of the only enemy yet left to him in the old world, a small band, devoted perforce to his interests, and whose very existence depended entirely on that of his empire. He no doubt extended the same favour to the other exiles in Chaldæa who demanded it of him, but we do not know how many of them took advantage of the occasion to return to their native countries, and this exodus of the Jews still remains, so far as we know, a unique fact. The administration continued the same as it had been under the Chaldæans; Aramæan was still the official language in the provincial dependencies, and the only change effected was the placing of Persians at the head of public offices, as in Asia Minor, and allowing them a body of troops to support their authority.*
* The presence of Persian troops in Asia Minor is proved by
the passage in Herodotus where he says that Orotes had with
him 1000 Persians as his body-guard.
One great state alone remained of all those who had played a prominent part in the history of the East. This was Egypt; and the policy which her rulers had pursued since the development of the Iranian power apparently rendered a struggle with it inevitable. Amasis had taken part in all the coalitions which had as their object the perpetuation of the balance of the powers in Western Asia; he had made a treaty with Croesus, and it is possible that his contingents had fought in the battles before Sardes; Lydia having fallen, he did all in his power to encourage Nabonidus in his resistance. As soon as he found himself face to face with Cyrus, he understood that a collision was imminent, and did his best in preparing to meet it. Even if Cyrus had forgotten the support which had been freely given to his rivals, the wealth of Egypt was in itself sufficient to attract the Persian hordes to her frontiers.
A century later, the Egyptians, looking back on the past with a melancholy retrospection, confessed that “never had the valley been more flourishing or happier than under Amasis; never had the river shown itself more beneficent to the soil, nor the soil more fertile for mankind, and the inhabitated towns might be reckoned at 20,000 in number.” The widespread activity exhibited under Psammetichus II., and Apries, was redoubled under the usurper, and the quarries of Turah,* Silsileh,** Assuan, and even those of Hammamât, were worked as in the palmy days of the Theban dynasties. The island of Philæ, whose position just below the cataract attracted to it the attention of the military engineers, was carefully fortified and a temple built upon it, the materials of which were used later on in the masonry of the sanctuary of Ptolemaic times. Thebes exhibited a certain outburst of vitality under the impulse given by Ankhnasnofiribri and by Shashonqu, the governor of her palace;*** two small chapels, built in the centre of the town, still witness to the queen’s devotion to Amon, of whom she was the priestess. Wealthy private individuals did their best to emulate their sovereign’s example, and made for themselves at Shêkh Abd-el-Gurnah and at Assassif those rock-hewn tombs which rival those of the best periods in their extent and the beauty of their bas-reliefs.****
* A stele of his forty-fourth year still exists in the
quarries of the Mokattam.
** According to Herodotus, it was from the quarries of
Elephantine that Amasis caused to be brought the largest
blocks which he used in the building of Sais.
*** Her tomb still exists at Deir el-Medineh, and the
sarcophagus, taken from the tomb in 1833, is now in the
British Museum.
**** The most important of these tombs is that of Petenit,
the father of Shashonqu, who was associated with
Ankhnasnofiribri in the government of Thebes.
Most of the cities of the Said were in such a state of decadence that it was no longer possible to restore to them their former prosperity, but Abydos occupied too important a place in the beliefs connected with the future world, and attracted too many pilgrims, to permit of its being neglected. The whole of its ancient necropolis had been rifled by thieves during the preceding centuries, and the monuments were nearly as much buried by sand as in our own times.