plain. These probably were the range of buildings that formed the exterior circuit of the square in which the tower and temple stood, according to Herodotus, confirming the accuracy of his account: while the clear and level ground outside, proves that a great part of the area within the walls of the city was originally unbuilt, consisting of large parks and fields; and it is highly probable, that not more than a third of the whole enclosure was ever built upon; according to the conjecture of Major Rennel; whose ingenious remarks respecting the population of Babylon, as probably not exceeding that of Nineveh, or Seleucia; from the local circumstances of its situation, bounded by deserts on the west, and at a considerable distance from the sea, cutting off, or limiting, its supplies of provisions; with many other curious particulars, may be found in his 14th section, on Babylon, p. 335–388.

3. The celebrated hanging gardens, also contiguous to the royal palace, were built by Nebuchadnezzar to gratify his wife, who was a native of Media, a mountainous country, with the resemblance of her own, in the level country of Babylon. According to Diodorus, they formed a square of 400 feet, (about 31 acres) supported by 20 walls, eleven feet asunder, and 50 cubits high, commanding an extensive view over the walls. Trees of various kinds were planted therein, some of considerable size; not less than eight cubits in girth, according to Curtius. And Strabo mentions a contrivance to prevent the large roots from injuring the superstructure, by building vast hollow piers, which were filled with earth to receive them. These trees, modern travellers inform us, have been perpetuated in the same place, notwithstanding the sinking of the terraces, by the mouldering of the piers that supported them. And Niebuhr observed there trees of a particular kind, some very ancient, which have been left untouched by the inhabitants; whereas, from the gulf of Persia to that neighbourhood, no other kinds are to be found than date and fruit trees.

The territory round Hellah at the present day, is composed chiefly of plains, whose soil is rich, and the river banks are bordered with willows. This circumstance reminds us of the pathetic mourning of the captive Jews :—

"By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,

When we remembered thee, O Sion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows,

In the midst thereof. For there,

They that carried us away captive required of us

A song; and they that wasted us, required

Mirth: Sing us one of the songs of Sion.'

How shall we sing THE LORD's Song in a strange land!"-Psalm cxxxvii,

Babylon rapidly declined during the Persian dynasty: Darius Hystaspes broke down the walls, and took away the gates, which Cyrus had spared. Alexander the Great designed to rebuild the temple of Belus, which had gone to decay; and actually employed ten thousand labourers for two months, in removing the rubbish; but the attempt was rendered abortive, by his premature death, in the flower of his age, and pride of conquest. Seleucus Nicator, his successor in the kingdom of Syria, dismantled and spoiled Babylon, to build Seleucia in its neighbourhood, to which he transplanted the inhabitants; and in Strabo's time, about the Christian Era," the greater part of Babylon was become a desart:" which the Parthian kings converted into a park, in which they took the recreation of hunting, in Jerom's time, A.D. 340.

Thus were gradually fulfilled the predictions of Scripture :

"Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, shall become as Sodom and Gomorrah, which God overthrew. It shall never be re-established, neither shall it be inhabited from generation to generation. The Arab shall not pitch his tent there, nor shall the shepherd make his fold there: the wild beasts of the desart shall lie there, and howling monsters shall fill their houses:-for her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." Isaiah xiii. 17—23.

MEDIA.

Media Proper was bounded by Armenia and Assyria Proper, on the west; by Persia, on the east; by the Caspian provinces, on the north; and by Susiana, on the south. It was an elevated and mountainous country, and from its midland situation between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulph, derived its name; forming also a kind of pass between the cultivated parts of eastern and western Asia. And thus, both from its geographical position, and from the temperature, verdure, and fertility of its climate, Media was one of the most important and interesting regions of Asia.

Into this country, the ten tribes, who composed the kingdom of Israel, were transplanted, in the Assyrian Captivity, by Tiglath-pilesar and Shalmanassar. The former prince, B.C. 740, carried away the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, on the east side of Jordan, "to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan." And his successor, B.C. 719, carried away the remaining seven and half tribes, to the same places, which are said to be “cities of the Medes, by the river of Gozan.” Compare 1 Chron. v. 26; 2 Kings xvii. 6.

The ingenuity and skill of Major Rennel has traced these places by their present names. In the remote northern district of Media, towards the Caspian Sea, and Ghilan, he found a considerable river, named Ozan, separating Media Major, or Al Jebal, from Media Minor, or Aderbigian; but Ozan is evidently a variation of Gozan.

On a branch of this river there is found a city named Abhar, or Habar, which is reputed to be exceedingly ancient *: evidently Habor.

Bordering on the river itself, is a district of some extent, and of great beauty and fertility, named Chalcal, having in it a remarkably strong position of the same name, situated on one of the hills adjoining to the mountains, which separate it from the province of Ghilan. Allowing for the change of spelling and pronunciation in so many ages, this name is not far removed from Halah, or Chalach.

There is also a district named Tarom, or Tarim, bordering on the Ozan, and occupying the intermediate space between those of Abhar and Chalcal. This also is but little removed from Hara.

The geographical position of Media was wisely chosen for the distribution of the great body of the captives: for, 1. It was so remote, and so impeded and intersected with great mountains and numerous and deep rivers, that it would be extremely difficult for them to escape from this natural prison, and return to their own country; and 2. They would also be opposed in their passage through Kir, or Assyria Proper, not only by the native Assyrians, but also by their enemies, the Syrians, transplanted thither before them. And 3. The superior civilization of the

*Sir John Chardin notices Abhar as a small city, situated in a delightful country, well watered; where Persic is the first spoken in coming from the west; from thence eastward to India, all is Persic; to the west of it, Turkish.

Israelites, and their skill in agriculture, and in the arts, would tend to civilize and improve those wild and barbarous regions. And 4. They could safely be allowed more liberty, and have their minds more at ease, than if they were subject to a more rigorous confinement nearer to their native country.

A similar policy seems to have actuated the Russian Monarch, Peter the Great, in modern times. This sagacious politician transplanted the Swedish prisoners, taken at Pultowa, into the far distant region of Siberia, in order to civilize and improve it, by their superior knowledge and information; while the dreary and inhospitable desarts between, cut off all hope of escaping, and returning to their own country.

Major Rennel thinks, and with great reason, that both in the Assyrian, and also in the Babylonish captivity of the two remaining tribes, which composed the kingdom of Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar, the whole mass of the people was not carried away, but only the principal inhabitants, the nobles, soldiers, and artisans, the merchants, and men of letters, who might be dangerous if left behind, by creating disturbances; and who could be useful in their new settlements, by bringing with them their superior knowledge and skill in arts and manufactures. The labourers, and the poorer classes in general, who composed the great body of the people, must have been left behind; as the maintenance of them, through a great desart of 600 miles across, must have been impracticable, without a miraculous supply of provisions. And that some of the captives rose to high rank and estimation, even at Nineveh, Babylon, Ecbatana, and Rages, the seats of government in the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Median empires, is evident from the books of Daniel and Tobit. See Rennel's Herodot. sect. 15, for a fuller detail of the preceding remarks.

Nine years after the final destruction of the kingdom of Israel, the Medians revolted, and shook off the Assyrian yoke, B.C. 710. Upon this occasion, we may presume, the Jewish exiles contributed not a little to this revolution, by assisting the Medes; and thus retaliating upon their conquerors.

Dahak, or Dejoces, the first king of the Medes, after his election, built the celebrated city of

ECBATANA, NOW HAMADAN.

This lay near the north-west end of Media, and was remarkable for the coolness of its temperature; for which it was afterwards chosen to be the summer residence of Cyrus, and the succeeding kings of Persia. Della Valle, in his travels, observes, that the ink froze in the room in which he was writing; a sure proof of the great elevation of the soil, in the latitude of only 35 degrees; which is further proved from the great mountain Elwend, the Orontes of the Greeks, only a league distant, being constantly covered with snow. Rennel's Herodot. p. 178, 397.

RAGES, OR REY.

This was also formerly a great city in that quarter of Media ; where many of the captive Jews resided, Tobit i. 14, remarkable for the defeat and death of Arphaxad, or Phraortes, son of Dejoces, by Nabuchodonosor, king of Assyria, B.C. 641, in the plain of Ragau, or Rages. Judith i. 5.

PERSIA.

This country was bounded on the west by Media and Susiana; on the south, by the Persian Gulph; on the north, by the great desart that lay between it and Parthia Proper; and on the east, by another still greater, that lay between it and the river Indus. Until the time of Cyrus, and his succession to the Median empire, it was an inconsiderable country, always subject to the Assyrians, Babylonians, or Medes. Its capital city was Persepolis, now Chelminar; lat. 30 degrees. In the neighbourhood of which, to the south-east, was Passagarde, where was the tomb of Cyrus.

The ruins of Persepolis are remarkable, among other things, for the figures, or symbols, to be seen on the walls and pillars of the temple. Sir John Chardin observed there Rams' heads with horns, one higher, and the other lower, exactly corresponding to Daniel's vision of the Medo-Persian empire: the lower horn denoting the Medes, the higher, which came up last, the Persians. Dan. viii. 3. A winged Lion, with a crown on his head; alluding, perhaps, to the symbolical representation of the