DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0188
152
BABYLONIA AND ASSYEIA.
Pakt I.
by a Chaldean race for a long time before the Median invasion, he
places that event 2458 b.c. His table of dynasties then runs thus :—-
Years.
B.C.
II.
8 Medes .
224 ..
commencing
.. 2458
III.
.. 11 Clialdeans
258 ..
.. 2234
IV.
.. 49 „ .. ..
458 ..
.. 1976
V.
9 Arabians
245 ..
.. 1518
VI.
45 Assyrians
526 ..
95
.. 1273
VII.
.. 8 „ .. ..
122 ..
?5
.. 747
VIII.
.. 6 Chaldeans
87 ..
625
Persian conquest ..
.. 538
As every advance that has been made, either in deciphering the
inscriptions or in exploring the ruins since this reading was pro-
posed, have tended to confirm its correctness, it may fairly be assumed
to represent very nearly the true chronology of the country from
ISTimrod to Cyrus. Assuming this to be so, it is interesting to observe
that the conquest of Babylonia by the Medes only slightly preceded the
invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos, and that the fortification of Avaris
“ against the Assyrians was synchronous with the rise of the great
Chaldean dynasty, most probably under Nimrod, B.c. 2234. If this
is so, the whole of the old civilisation of Egypt under the pyramid-
building kings had passed away before the dawn of history in Baby-
lonia. The Theban kings of the 12th dynasty had spread their con-
quests into Asia, and thus it seems brought back the reaction of the
Scythic invasion on their own hitherto inviolate land, and by these
great interminglings of the nations Asia was first raised to a sense of
her greatness.
’YVhat we learn from this table seems to be that a foreign invasion
of Medes—whoever they may have been—disturbed the hitherto
peaceful tenor of the Chaldean kingdom some twenty-five centuries
before the Christian era.
They, in their turn, were driven out to make place for the Chaldean
dynasties, which we have every reason to suppose were those founded
by Nimrod about the year 2235 b.c.
This kingdom seems to have lasted about seven centuries without
any noticeable interruption, and then to have been overthrown by an
invasion from the west about the year 1518 b.c. Can this mean the
Egyptian conquest under the kings of the great 18th dynasty 1
The depression of the Chaldeans enabled the Assyrians to raise
their heads and found the great kingdom afterwards known as that
of JNineveh, about the year 1273. Eor six centuries and a half
they were the great people of Asia, and cluring the latter half of
that period built all those palaces which have so recently been
disinterred.
‘ Jusophus coutra Apion,’ i. 14.
BABYLONIA AND ASSYEIA.
Pakt I.
by a Chaldean race for a long time before the Median invasion, he
places that event 2458 b.c. His table of dynasties then runs thus :—-
Years.
B.C.
II.
8 Medes .
224 ..
commencing
.. 2458
III.
.. 11 Clialdeans
258 ..
.. 2234
IV.
.. 49 „ .. ..
458 ..
.. 1976
V.
9 Arabians
245 ..
.. 1518
VI.
45 Assyrians
526 ..
95
.. 1273
VII.
.. 8 „ .. ..
122 ..
?5
.. 747
VIII.
.. 6 Chaldeans
87 ..
625
Persian conquest ..
.. 538
As every advance that has been made, either in deciphering the
inscriptions or in exploring the ruins since this reading was pro-
posed, have tended to confirm its correctness, it may fairly be assumed
to represent very nearly the true chronology of the country from
ISTimrod to Cyrus. Assuming this to be so, it is interesting to observe
that the conquest of Babylonia by the Medes only slightly preceded the
invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos, and that the fortification of Avaris
“ against the Assyrians was synchronous with the rise of the great
Chaldean dynasty, most probably under Nimrod, B.c. 2234. If this
is so, the whole of the old civilisation of Egypt under the pyramid-
building kings had passed away before the dawn of history in Baby-
lonia. The Theban kings of the 12th dynasty had spread their con-
quests into Asia, and thus it seems brought back the reaction of the
Scythic invasion on their own hitherto inviolate land, and by these
great interminglings of the nations Asia was first raised to a sense of
her greatness.
’YVhat we learn from this table seems to be that a foreign invasion
of Medes—whoever they may have been—disturbed the hitherto
peaceful tenor of the Chaldean kingdom some twenty-five centuries
before the Christian era.
They, in their turn, were driven out to make place for the Chaldean
dynasties, which we have every reason to suppose were those founded
by Nimrod about the year 2235 b.c.
This kingdom seems to have lasted about seven centuries without
any noticeable interruption, and then to have been overthrown by an
invasion from the west about the year 1518 b.c. Can this mean the
Egyptian conquest under the kings of the great 18th dynasty 1
The depression of the Chaldeans enabled the Assyrians to raise
their heads and found the great kingdom afterwards known as that
of JNineveh, about the year 1273. Eor six centuries and a half
they were the great people of Asia, and cluring the latter half of
that period built all those palaces which have so recently been
disinterred.
‘ Jusophus coutra Apion,’ i. 14.