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CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ASSYRIA.

UNDER this section, the reader will find all the principal places mentioned in the sacred writings, and by profane writers, as belonging to the empire of Assyria. We commence with those mentioned in the inspired volume, Gen. x. and xi.

TOWER OF BABEL

After the deluge, it appears from the sacred writings, that the children of Noah congregated, in their first emigration, upon the banks of the Euphrates, in "the land of Shinar," and in that part of the land which has been defined under the term Babylonia. While there, they consulted together, to build a very lofty tower. "Go to," said they, "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth," Gen. xi. 4. The plan was put into execution, the tower was reaching towards heaven, when the work was stopped by the Almighty. He confounded the language of the builders, and, by this new dispensation, scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth, ver. 5-9.

We should take a narrow view of the works of the Almighty, if we supposed that he looked with jealousy on this impotent attempt. Although the works of man may appear fair and magnificent in his own eyes, yet to Him they are nothing; for in his sight

"The nations are as a drop of a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust of the balance:

Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."-Isa. xl. 15.

It was not the building but the object, which was displeas

slender petioles, with few leaves; the appearance, however, is supposed by some to have been produced by a scanty supply of water and great age, from whence they argue that it may belong to the common species. Curtius says this tree was eight cubits, near fifteen feet in girth. The tree bears every mark of antiquity in appearance, situation, and tradition. By the Arabs it is regarded as sacred, from a tradition that it was preserved by the Almighty from the earliest times, to be a refuge in after ages for the khalif Ali, who, fainting from fatigue at the battle of Killah, reposed in security beneath its shade. It must have been more than 1,000 years old at the reputed time of the engagement, so that it may be supposed a germ from the royal gardens at Babylon.

The willow and the poplar appear in Babylonia, but they rather resemble shrubs than trees, and are more rare than the former plants. The willow was doubtless more abundant on the banks of the Euphrates, in ancient times; for the Hebrews, in their captivity,

"High on the willows, all untuned, unstrung,

Their harps suspended."

Isaiah speaks of Babylonia as "The brook of the willows," or, as Prideaux and Bochart would render it, "The valley of the willows," Isa. xv. 7. Ainsworth says, however, that the weeping willow, Salix Babylonica, is not met with in Babylonia, and that a poplar, Gharab, with lanceolate and cordate leaves on separate parts of the same branch, has been mistaken for a willow.

Tradition states that the castor oil plant once grew luxuriantly in the plains of Babylonia, but there is only one specimen existing, and that grows as a tree on the site of ancient Ctesiphon. The Asclepias Syriaca is tall and abundant in some places, and when young, though deemed by us poison, it is eaten by the Arabs. The Carob plant sometimes attains the height of six or seven feet. Camel-thorn is very common and the Arabs express a sweet juice from it, and eat the leaves as we do spinach. Among other plants which grow in this desolate region, are a rare species of rue, colacynth, chenopodium, macronatum; a beautiful species of mesembrianthemum, carex, alopecarus, centaurea, lithospermum, heliotrope, lycium, and a beautiful twining species of solanum. The marshes near the Tigris are thickly covered with the blossoms of the white floating crowfoot. Of the cultivated fruit trees, near the towns, the date palm is the most important, as

it contributes largely to the subsistence of the population. Grapes, figs, pomegranates, quinces, etc., are good; but apples, pears, oranges, etc,, are of inferior size and quality. Melons, cucumbers, onions, and other plants of this family are abundant and excellent. But these only grow, as stated before, in certain parts of the district. The plains of Babylonia, for the most part are characterized, according to the sure word of prophecy, by desolation, as the reader will discover more at large in the ensuing pages.

CLIMATE.

Babylonia, generally speaking, enjoys a salubrious and wholesome air, though at certain seasons, no air can be more dangerous. Plutarch relates, that the heats were so extraordinary, that the rich were accustomed to sleep in cisterns of water. The country is exposed to a pestilential wind, called the Samiel. This wind is popularly considered to prevail during forty days, but its actual duration is often twice as long. During this period, it commonly rises about noon, or somewhat earlier, and continues until three or four o'clock in the afternoon. It is felt like a fiery breeze which has passed over the mouth of a lime-kiln. It seldom or never rains in Babylonia, during the space of eight months; and it has been known not to rain for two years and a half. Rauwolf says, the inhabitants reckon, that if it rains two or three times in the year, it is sufficient for their purpose. An idea may be gathered of the temperature of the air of the plains of Babylonia from the following table, which was taken at Bagdad, situated in its vicinity, in the years 1830 and 1831.

Room.

Open Shade.

Sun.

Lowest. Highest. Lowest. Highest. Lowest. Highest.

1830. April

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June

87

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134

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104

87

119

95

140

September 88

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October

70

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November 59

77

45

84

54

102

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At three in the afternoon, during the heat of the summer, it was found that the temperature in inhabited cellars was two or three degrees less than it had been in the ordinary rooms at eight o'clock in the morning of the days when it was taken.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ASSYRIA.

UNDER this section, the reader will find all the principal places mentioned in the sacred writings, and by profane writers, as belonging to the empire of Assyria. We commence with those mentioned in the inspired volume, Gen. x. and xi.

TOWER OF BABEL

After the deluge, it appears from the sacred writings, that the children of Noah congregated, in their first emigration, upon the banks of the Euphrates, in "the land of Shinar," and in that part of the land which has been defined under the term Babylonia. While there, they consulted together, to build a very lofty tower. "Go to," said they, "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth," Gen. xi. 4. The plan was put into execution, the tower was reaching towards heaven, when the work was stopped by the Almighty. He confounded the language of the builders, and, by this new dispensation, scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth, ver. 5-9.

We should take a narrow view of the works of the Almighty, if we supposed that he looked with jealousy on this impotent attempt. Although the works of man may appear fair and magnificent in his own eyes, yet to Him they are nothing; for in his sight

"The nations are as a drop of a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust of the balance:

Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”—Isa. xl. 15.

It was not the building but the object, which was displeas

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