3. Persia was originally a small province on the Persian Gulf, still known as Fars. But Persia Proper included, besides the sandy plain on the gulf, a mountainous plateau north of it, and was bounded by Media on the north, by Carmania on the east, by the Persian Gulf on the south, and by Elam on the west. Its people were of the Aryan race, and at first subject to the Medes. They revolted under Cyrus the Great, and became the controlling power in the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar's dominion. The Persian empire arose to greatness at the fall of Babylon, B.C. 536, conquered and ruled over all the lands from India to Ethiopia, and was by far the greatest of the great Oriental monarchies. It was subjected by Alexander the Great, B.C. 330. The capital of the Persian empire was Susa, called in the Bible "Shushan the Palace" (Esther 1:2); which was, however, situated not in Persia Proper, but in Elam. The most important places in the province were Persepolis (its capital at one period), Pasargada, and Mesambria, none of which are named in the Bible.
II. LANDS OF THE PLAIN.
Of these, two are situated mainly between the Zagros chain of mountains and the Tigris river, Assyria and Elam; two are between the Tigris and Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Chaldea; and one is the vast Arabian desert.
1. Assyria, in the Hebrew everywhere Asshur, was properly the province now called Kurdistan, lying on the western slope of the Zagros Mountains, and extending across the Tigris to the Sinjar hills and the border of the Mesopotamian desert. The mountains separate it from Armenia; and the line of division from Elam, on the southeast, was near the place where the Tigris and Euphrates approach nearest before their separation. The land was occupied by people of various races, of which the Semitic were predominant. The earliest city was at Asshur, supposed to be Kileh Sherghat, where a dynasty of kings began to rule about 1800 B.C., while the Israelite tribes were in Egypt. The seat of government was afterward transferred to Calah, or Halah (Nimrud), north of Asshur; and finally a permanent location of the capital was made at Nineveh, which became the centre of the great Assyrian empire. This will be described more fully with the map of that empire, on [page 91]. The Assyrian kingdom was long in its duration, but passed through many vicissitudes, several times ruling all the lands of the Euphrates, and again, in a feeble condition. Its principal cities, besides Nineveh, were Calah, Resen (which may have been at Selamiyeh, three miles south of Nineveh), and Rehoboth. There is reason to believe that all the four cities named in Gen. 10:11, 12, were combined in the walls of Nineveh.
2. Elam, called Susiana by the Greeks, lay southeast of Assyria and west of Persia Proper, between the Zagros chain of mountains and the Tigris river. It included both a mountainous and a lowland tract, the latter very fertile. Shushan (Susa), the capital of the Persian empire, lay within this province, and was its principal city. The earliest conqueror named in the Bible, Amraphel, was the king of Elam, and held dominion over most of the lands as far west as Canaan. (See the map of his empire, on [page 34].) This kingdom was not of long continuance as an independent state, but soon fell under the power of Assyria, though maintaining its own organization as a vassal state until the Persian period, when it became a province of the empire.
3. Mesopotamia, called in Scripture Aram-naharaim, or "Syria of the two rivers," was a land of indefinite boundaries. The name means "between the rivers," and hence it was often applied to all the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates, including even Chaldea and a part of Assyria. A more frequent use of the name restricts it to the northwestern portion of the region between the rivers, above the place where they approach and separate again. The Sinjar hills, crossing, divide it into two sections, a higher and a lower, the former mountainous, and the latter mostly a great desert. The upper section contained the cities of Orfa (Edessa), formerly supposed to be the birthplace of Abraham; Haran, the patriarch's resting place on the way to Canaan; Nisibis and Amida, now Nisibin and Diarbekr. The only time when Mesopotamia appears in Bible history as a kingdom was a brief interval during the period of the Judges. (Judg. 3:8.) Earlier it had been occupied by separate and warring tribes; later it was a part of Assyria.
4. Chaldea is also called Shinar and Babylonia. The name Chaldea, in its most accurate sense, belongs to the southern portion of the province, but is generally used with reference to all the Mesopotamian plain south of Baghdad. It is perfectly level, and by nature one of the most fertile places on the whole earth. Its earliest inhabitants, at least the ruling portion of them, were Cushites, of the stock of Ham. An early Oriental kingdom began at Ur (Mugheir) about B.C. 3900. It lasted, with varying fortunes, until B.C. 538. Babylon afterward became the capital, and in a later period was the greatest city of the East. (See diagram on [page 93].) Other cities of Chaldea were Erech (Orchoë), Calneh, and Sepharvaim. Further details of its political history are given in the account of the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar, on [page 92].
5. The desert of Arabia occupies more than half of the map of the Old Testament World. That portion of it included upon the map is a vast triangle, having for its base the 28th parallel of latitude, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, the Euphrates on its northeastern side, and the border of the Lebanon chain of mountains for its western. It is called in the Bible "the land of Kedar." It is a high, undulating, dry plain, with few oases, and almost impenetrable to travelers. From the days of Abraham until the present, the caravans have gone around it upon the north, following up the Euphrates to Tiphsah (Thapsacus), and then turning southward rather than face its terrors. Only once in history is it related that an army crossed it. This was when Nebuchadnezzar, while ravaging Palestine, learned of his father's death, and crossed this great desert by the most direct route, in order to take possession of the throne.
III. LANDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.
These lands will receive more extended treatment in connection with other maps, so that we give them only a brief mention here.