ceived with the hospitality and kindness becoming a civilized nation; and when he left Egypt, to return to his own country, the ruling monarch dismissed him and all his people, "rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."

11. Nearly a hundred years before the time of Abraham's visit to Egypt, Lower Egypt had been invaded and subdued by the Hyc' sos, or Shepherd Kings, a roving people from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, probably the same that were known, at a later period, in sacred history, as the Philistines, and still later as the Phoenicians. Kings of this race continued to rule over Lower Egypt during a period of 260 years, but they were finally expelled, and driven back to their original seats in Asia. During their dominion, Upper Egypt, with Thebes its capital, appears to have remained under the government of the native Egyptians. A few years after the expulsion of the Shepherd Kings, Joseph was appointed governor or regent of Egypt, under one of the Pharaohs; and the family of Jacob was settled in the land of Goshen.1 It was during the resi dence of the Israelites in Egypt that we date the commencement of Grecian history, with the supposed founding of Argos by In' achus, 1856 years before the Christian era.

IV. ASIATIC

HISTORY.

12. During the early period of Egyptian history which we have described, kingdoms arose and mighty cities were founded in those regions of Asia first peopled by the immediate descendants of Noah. After the dispersion of mankind from Babel, Ashur, one of the sons of Shem, remained in the vicinity of that place; and by many he is regarded as the founder of the Assyrian empire, and the builder of Nineveh.

But

1. "The land of Goshen lay along the most easterly branch of the Nile, and on the east side of it; for it is evident that at the time of the Exode the Israelites did not cross the Nile. (Hale's Analysis of Chronology, i. 374.) "The land of Goshen' was between Egypt and Canaan, not far from the Isthmus of Suez, on the eastern side of the Nile." (See Map, p. 15.) (Cockayne's Hist. of the Jews, p. 7.)

2. The early province or kingdom of ASSYRIA is usually considered as having been on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, having Nineveh for its capital. But it is probable that both Nineveh and Babylon belonged to the early Assyrian empire, and that these two cities were at times the capitals of separate monarchies, and at times united under one government, whose territories were ever changing by conquest, and by alliances with surrounding tribes or nations. 3. The city of Nineveh is supposed to have stood on the east bank of the Tigris, opposite the modern city of Mosul. (See Map, p. 15.) Its site was probably identical with that of the present small village of Nunia, and what is called the "tomb of Jonah;" which are surrounded by vast heaps of ruins, and vestiges of mounds, from which bricks and pieces of gypsum are dug out, with inscriptions closely resembling those found among the ruins of Babylon. Of the early history of Nineveh little is known. Some early writers describe it as larger than Babylon; but little dependence can be placed on their statements. It is believed, however, c. 1872 B. C. d. 1863 B. C.

a. 2159 B. C.

b. 1900 B. C.

others' ascribe this honor to Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, who, as they suppose, having obtained possession of the provinces of Ashur, built Nineveh, and encompassing Babel with walls, and rebuilding the deserted city, made it the capital of his empire, under the name of Babylon,"

that the walls included, besides the buildings of the city, a large extent of well-cultivated gardens and pasture grounds. In the ninth century before Christ, it was described by the prophet Jonah as "an exceeding great city of three days' journey," and as containing more than six score thousand persons that could not distinguish between their right hand and their left." It is generally believed that the expression here used denoted children, and that the entire popu lation of the city numbered seven or eight hundred thousand souls.

Nineveh was a city of great commercial importance. The prophet Nahum thus addresses her: "Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven." (iil. 16.) Nineveh was besieged and taken by Arbaces the Mede, in the eighth century before Christ; and in the year 612 it fell into the hands of Ahasuerus, or Cyaxares, king of Media, who took great "spoil of silver and gold, and none end of the store and glory, out of all her pleasant furniture," inaking her "empty, and void, and waste." (Map, p. 15.)

1. According to our English Bible (Genesis, x. 11), "Ashur went forth out of the land of Shinar (Babylon) and builded Nineveh." But by many this reading is supposed to be a wrong translation, and that the passage should read, "From that land he (Nimrod) went forth into Ashur, (the name of a province,) and built Nineveh." ("De terra illa egressus est Assur et ædificavit Nineveh." (See Anthon's Classical Dictionary, article Assyria. Sec, also, the subject examined in Hale's Analysis of Chronology, i. 450-1.)

2. Ancient Babylon, once the greatest, most magnificent, and most powerful city of the world, stood on both sides of the river Euphrates, about 350 miles from the entrance of that stream into the Persian Gulf. The building of Babel was probably the commencement of the city, but it is supposed to have attained its greatest glory during the reign of the Assyrian queen, Semir'amis. Different writers give different acccounts of the extent of this city. The Greek historian Herod' otus, who visited it in the fourth century before Christ, while its walls were still standing and much of its early magnificence remaining, described it as a perfect square, the walls of each side being 120 furlongs, or fifteen miles in length. According to this computation the city embraced an area of 225 square miles. But Diodorus reduces the supposed area to 72 square miles;-equal, however, to three and a half times the area of London, with all its suburbs. Some writers have supposed that the city contained a population of at least five millions of people. Others have reduced this estimate to one million. It is highly improbable that the whole of the immense area inclosed by the walls was filled with the buildings of a compact city.

The walls of Babylon, which were built of large bricks cemented with bitumen, are said to have been 350 feet high, and 87 feet in thickness, flanked with lofty towers, and pierced by 100 gates of brass. The two portions of the city, on each side of the Euphrates, were connected by a bridge of stone, which rested on arches of the same material. The temple of Jupiter Belus, supposed to have been the tower of Babel, is described by Herod' otus as an immense structure, square at the base, and rising, in eight distinct stories, to the height of nearly 600 feet. Herod'otus says that when he visited Babylon the brazen gates of this temple were still to be seen, and that in the upper story there was a couch magnificently adorned, and near it a table of solid gold. Herod' otus also mentions a statue of gold twelve cubits high,-supposed to have been the "golden image" set up by Nebuchadnezzar. The site of this temple has been identified as that of the ruins now called by the Arabs the "Birs Nimroud," or Tower of Nimrod.

Later writers than Herod' otus speak of a tunnel under the Euphrates-subterranean banqueting rooms of brass-and hanging gardens elevated three hundred feet above the city; but as Herod' otus is silent on these points, serious doubts have been entertained of the existence of these structures.

Nothing now remains of the buildings of ancient Babylon but immense and shapeless masses of ruins; their sites being partly occupied by the modern and meanly built town of Hillah, on the western bank of the Euphrates. This town, surrounded by mud walls, contains a mixed Arabian and Jewish population of six or seven thousand souls. (Map, p. 15.)

about 600 years after the deluge, and 2555 years before the Christian era. After his death, Nimrod was deified for his great actions, and called Belus: and it is supposed that the tower of Babel, rising high above the walls of Babylon, but still in an unfinished state, was consecrated to his worship.

13. While some believe that the monarch Nínus was the son of Nimrod, and that Assyria and Babylon formed one united empire under the immediate successors of the first founder; others regard Nínus as an Assyrian prince, who, by conquering Babylon, united the hitherto separate empires, more than four hundred years after the reign of Nimrod; while others still regard Nínus as only a personification of Nineveh. During the reign of Nínus, and also during that of his supposed queen and successor, Semir' amis, the boundaries of the united Assyrian and Babylonian empires are said to have been greatly enlarged by conquest; but the accounts that are given of these events are evidently so exaggerated, that little reliance can be placed upon them.

14. Semir' amis, who was raised from an humble station to become the queen of Nínus, is described as a woman of uncommon courage and masculine character, the main object of whose ambition was to immortalize her name by the greatness of her exploits. Her conquests are said to have embraced nearly all the then known world, extending as far as Central Africa on the one hand, and as far as the Indus,' in Asia, on the other. She is said to have raised, at one time, an army of more than three millions of men, and to have employed two millions of workmen in adorning Babylon-statements wholly inconsistent with the current opinion of the sparse population of the world at this early period. After the reign of Semir' amis, which is supposed to have been during the time of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, little is known of the history of Assyria for more than thirty generations.

1. The river Indus, or Sinde, rises in the Himmaleh mountains, and running in a south-westerly direction enters the Arabian Sea near the western extremity of Hindostan.

a. Niebuhr's Ancient Hist. i. 55.

CHAPTER II.

THE FABULOUS AND LEGENDARY PERIOD OF GRECIAN

HISTORY:

ENDING WITH THE CLOSE OF THE TROJAN WAR, 1183 B. C.

ANALYSIS. 1. Extent of Ancient Greece. Of Modern Greece. The most ancient name of the country.-2. The two general divisions of Modern Greece. Extent of Northern Greece. Of the Morea. Whole area of the country so renowned in history.-3. The general surface of the country. Its fertility.-4. Mountains of Greece. Rivers. Climate. The seasons. Scenery. Classical associations.

5. GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY, the proper introduction to Grecian history.-6. Chaos, Earth, and Heaven. The offspring of Earth and U'ranus. [U' ranus; the Titans: the Cyclópes.]—7. U' ranus is dethroned, and is succeeded by Sat' urn. [The Furies: the Giants: and the Melian Nymphs. Venus. Saturn. Júpiter. Nep' tune. Pluto.]-8. War of the Titans against Sat' urn. War of the Giants with Jupiter. The result. New dynasty of the gods.-9. The wives of Júpiter. [Juno.] His offspring. [Mer' cury. Mars. Apol' lo. Vul' can. Diána. Miner' va.] Other celestial divinities. [Céres. Ves' ta.]-10. Other deities not included among the celestials. [Bacchus. Iris. Hebe. The Muses. The Fates. The Graces.] Monsters. [Harpies. Gor'gons.] Rebellions against Jupiter. [Olym' pus.]-11. Numbers, and character, of the legends of the gods. Vulgar belief, and philosophical explanations of them.

12. EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF GREECE. The Pelas' gians. Tribes included under this name.-13. Character and civilization of the Pelas' gians. [Cyclópean structures. Asia Minor.]-14. FOREIGN SETTLERS IN GREECE. Reputed founding of Ar'gos. [Ar' gos. Ar'golis. Océanus. In'achus.] The accounts of the early Grecian settlements not reliable.-15. The founding of Athens. [Attica. Ogy' ges.] The elements of Grecian civilization attributed to Cécrops. The story of Cécrops doubtless fabulous.-16. Legend of the contest between Miner va and Nep' tune.-17. Cran' aus and Amphic'tyon. Dan'aus and Cad' mus. [Bœótia. Thebes.]-18. General character of the accounts of foreign settlers in Greece. Value of these traditions. The probable truth in relation to them, which accounts for the intermixture of foreign with Grecian mythology. [Ægean Sea.]

19. The HELLENES appear in Thessaly, about 1324 B. C., and become the ruling class among the Grecians.-20. Hellen the son of Deucalion. The several Grecian tribes. The Æolian tribe. -21. The HEROIC AGE. Our knowledge of Grecian history during this period. Character and value of the Heroic legends. The most important of them. [1st. Hércules. 2d. Theseus. 3d. Argonautic expedition. 4th. Theban and Ar'golic war.]-22. The Argonautic expedition thought the most important. Probably a poetic fiction. [Samothrace. Euxine Sea.] Probability of naval expeditions at this early period, and their results. [Minos. Crete.]-23. Opening of the Trojan war. Its alleged causes. [Troy. Lacedæ' mon.]-24. Paris,-the flight of Helen, the war which followed.-25. Remarks on the supposed reality of the war. [The fable of Helen.-26. What kind of truth is to be extracted from Homer's account.

COTEMPORARY HISTORY.-1. Our limited knowledge of cotemporary history during this period. Rome. Europe. Central Western Asia. Egyptian History.-2. The conquests of Sesos' tris. [Libya. Ethiopia. The Ganges. Thracians and Scythians.] The columns crected by Sesos' tris.-3. Statues of Sesostris at Ipsam' boul. Historical sculptures.-4. Remarks on the evidences of the existence of this conqueror. The close of his reign. Subsequent Egyptian history.-5. The Israelites at the period of the commencement of Grecian history. Their situation after the death of Joseph. Their exodus from Egypt, 1648 B. C.-6. Wander. ings in the wilderness. Passage of the Jordan. [Arabia. Jordan. Palestine.] Death of

Moses. Israel during the time of Joshua and the elders.-7. Israel ruled by judges until the time of Saul. The Israelites frequently apostatize to idolatry. [Moabites. Canaanites.]-8. Their deliverance from the Mid'ianites and Am'alekites. [Localities of these tribes.]-9. Deliverance from the Philistines and Am' monites. [Localities of these tribes.] Samson, Eli, and Samuel. Saul anointed king over Israel, 1110 B. C.-10. Closing remarks.

I. GEOGRAPHI

1. GREECE, which is the Roman name of the country whose history we next proceed to narrate, but which was called CAL DESCRIP by the natives Hel' las, denoting the country of the TION. Hellénés, comprised, in its most flourishing period, nearly the whole of the great eastern peninsula of southern Europe -extending north to the northern extremity of the waters of the Grecian Archipelago. Modern Greece, however, has a less extent on the north, as Thes' saly, Epírus, and Macedónia have been taken from it, and annexed to the Turkish empire. The area of Modern Greece is less than that of Portugal; but owing to the irregularities of its shores, its range of seacoast is greater than that of the whole of Spain. The most ancient name by which Greece was known to other nations was Iónia,—a term which Josephus derives from Javan, the son of Japhet, and grandson of Noah: although the Greeks themselves applied the term Iónes only to the descendants of the fabulous I' on, son of Xúthus.

2. Modern Greece is divided into two principal portions:-Northern Greece or Hel' las, and Southern Greece, or Moréa-anciently called Peloponnésus. The former includes the country of the ancient Grecian States, Acarnánia, Etólia, Lócris, Phócis, Dóris, Boeotia, Euboea, and At' tica; and the latter, the Peloponnesian States of E' lis, Acháia, Cor' inth, Ar' golis, Lacónia, and Messénia; whose localities may be learned from the accompanying map. The greatest length of the northern portion, which is from north-west to south-east, is about two hundred miles, with an average width of fifty miles. The greatest length of the Moréa, which is from north to south, is about one hundred and forty miles. The whole area of the country so renowned in history under the name of Greece or Hel' las, is only about twenty thousand square miles, which is less than half the area of the State of Pennsylvania.

3. The general surface of Greece is mountainous; and almost the only fertile spots are the numerous and usually narrow plains along the sea-shore and the banks of rivers, or, as in several places, large basins, which apparently once formed the beds of mountain lakes. The largest tracts of level country are in western Hel' las, and along the northern and north-western shores of the Moréa.