| ALEXANDER DISCOVERING THE BODY OF DARIUS, | Gustave Doré | [12] |
| GENEROSITY OF SCIPIO, | Schopin | [20] |
| MARIUS ON THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE, | John Vanderlyn | [32] |
| THE IDES OF MARCH, | Carl Von Piloty | [36] |
| THE LAST GLADIATORIAL CONTEST, | J. Stallaert | [58] |
| CLOVIS PUNISHING A REBEL, | Alphonse De Neuville | [62] |
| BELISARIUS RECEIVING ALMS, | Jacques-Louis David | [68] |
| CHARLES MARTEL AT TOURS, | Charles Steuben | [72] |
| PEPIN AFTER THE MURDER OF DUKE WAIFRE, | Th. Lybaert | [74] |
| A NORSE RAID UNDER OLAF, | Hugo Vogel | [84] |
| WILLIAM AT HASTINGS, | P. J. De Loutherbourg | [94] |
| GODFREY DE BOUILLON ENTERING JERUSALEM, | Carl Von Piloty | [104] |
| SALADIN, | Gustave Doré | [108] |
| EDWARD III. AND THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS, | Berthelemy | [118] |
| BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN, | Alphonse De Neuville | [128] |
| HUNIADES AT BELGRADE, | Gustave Doré | [146] |
| YORK AND LANCASTER—THE RED AND WHITE ROSES, | [148] | |
| PIZARRO EXHORTING HIS BAND AT GALLO, | Lizcano | [158] |
| HENRY IV. OF FRANCE AT HOME, | J. D. Ingres | [176] |
| RALEIGH PARTING FROM HIS WIFE, | E. Leutze | [188] |
| DEPARTURE OF THE MAYFLOWER, | A. W. Bayes | [192] |
| WALLENSTEIN'S LAST BANQUET, | J. Scholz | [198] |
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
Sleep, soldiers! still in honored rest
Your truth and valor wearing:
The bravest are the tenderest.
The loving are the daring. —Bayard Taylor
NEBUCHADNEZZAR[1]
By Clarence Cook
(645-561 B.C.)
With the death of Sardanapalus, the great monarch of Assyria, and the taking of Nineveh, the capital city, by the Medes, the kingdom of Assyria came to an end, and the vast domain was parcelled out among the conquerors. At the time of the catastrophe, the district of Babylonia, with its capital city Babylon, was ruled as a dependent satrapy of Assyria by Nabopolassar. Aided by the Medes, he now took possession of the province and established himself as an independent monarch, strengthening the alliance by a marriage between the Princess Amuhia, the daughter of the Median king, and his son Nebuchadnezzar.
In the partition of Assyria, the region stretching from Egypt to the upper Euphrates, including Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine, had fallen to the share of Nabopolassar. But the tribes that peopled it were not disposed to accept the rule of the new claimant, and looked about for an ally to support them in their resistance. Such an ally they thought they had found in Egypt.
Egypt was the great rival of Babylon, as she had been of Assyria. Both desired to control the highways of traffic connecting the Mediterranean with the farther East. Egypt had the advantage, both from her actual position on the Mediterranean and her nearer neighborhood to the coveted territory, and she used her advantage with audacity and skill. No sooner, however, did Nabopolassar feel himself firm on his throne than he resolved to check the ambition of Egypt and secure for himself the sovereignty of the lands in dispute.
The task was not an easy one. Pharaoh Necho had been for three years in possession of the whole strip along the Mediterranean—Palestine, Phœnicia, and part of Syria—and was pushing victoriously on to Assyria, when he was met at the plain of Megiddo, commanding the principal pass in the range of Mount Carmel, by the forces of the petty kingdom of Judah, disputing his advance. He defeated them in a bloody engagement, in which Josiah, King of Judah, was slain, and then continued his march to Carchemish, a stronghold built to defend one of the few fordable passes of the upper Euphrates. This important place having been taken after a bloody battle, Necho was master of all the strategic points north and west of Babylonia.