B. C. 647-625.

35. The reign of his son, Asshur-emid-ilin, called Saracus by the Greeks, was overwhelmed with disasters. A horde of barbarians, from the plains of Scythia, invaded the empire, and before it could recover from the shock, it was rent by a double revolt of Media on the north, and Babylonia on the south. Nabopolassar, the Babylonian, had been general of the armies of Saracus; but finding himself stronger than his master, he made an alliance with Cyax´ares, king of the Medes, in concert with whom he besieged and captured Nineveh. The Assyrian monarch perished in the flames of his palace, and the two conquerors divided his dominions between them. Thus ended the Assyrian Empire, B. C. 625.

36. The Third Period was the Golden Age of Assyrian Art. The sculptured marbles which have been brought from the palaces of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Asshur-bani-pal, show a skill and genius in the carving which remind us of the Greeks. A few may be seen in collections of colleges and other learned societies in this country. The most magnificent specimens are in the British Museum, the Louvre at Paris, and the Oriental Museum at Berlin. During the same period the sciences of geography and astronomy were cultivated with great diligence; studies in language and history occupied multitudes of learned men; and modern scholars, as they decipher the long-buried memorials, are filled with admiration of the mental activity which characterized the times of the Lower Empire of Assyria.

Kings of Assyria.

For the First and more than half the Second Period, the names are discontinuous and dates unknown. We begin, therefore, with the era of ascertained chronology.

Kings of the Second Period.
Asshur-danin-il IdiedB. C.909.
Hu-likh-khus IIIreigned”909-889.
Tiglathi-nin II””889-886.
Asshur-nasir-pal I””886-858.
Shalmaneser II””858-823.
Shamas-iva””823-810.
Hu-likh-khus IV””810-781.
Shalmaneser III””781-771.
Asshur-danin-il II””771-753.
Asshur-likh-khus””753-745.

Kings of the Third Period.
Tiglath-pileser II, usurper,[7]B. C.745-727.
Shalmaneser IV,”727-721.
Sargon, usurper,”721-705.
Sennacherib,”705-680.
Esarhaddon,”680-667.
Asshur-bani-pal,about”667-647.
Asshur-emid-ilin,”647-625.