Thus the history of Babylonia closes peaceably upon the noble figure of Cyrus, the Achæmeniad prince, who commands our warmest sympathies. Planted in Babylonian soil at the beginning of time, the primitive civilisation of the Sumerians was brought to the flower by the Babylonian Semites, then further developed and transplanted to Asshur and Nineveh. There the conditions grew ripe under which Assyria became the ruling power of the world. After the fall of her empire, the ancient mother-country became for a brief season the centre of the civilisation which had taken its rise there two thousand years before, and this civilisation now passed on as a legacy to the Persians, not to die among them, but to revivify and educate, even as, on the other hand, it drew fresh strength from the youthful vigour of the Indo-Germanic race, untutored as yet, but abundantly endowed with all intellectual gifts.[b]
FOOTNOTES
[29] [The authorities seem to be in dispute as to Nabonidus’ place of residence. Professor Rogers says (History of Babylon and Assyria, Vol. II, p. 361), “He [Nabonidus] did not reside at Babylon at all, but at Tema, probably an insignificant place, with no other influence in history.”]
Bas-relief of Eunuch Warriors in Battle
(Found at Nimrud) (Layard)