The city of Arpad stood in the way of a.s.syrian progress and since it refused tribute, it was besieged. The plucky town held out for two long years, but when finally taken, was laid waste with great slaughter. All neighboring tribes hastened to send tribute, and were incorporated into the a.s.syrian empire.
Heretofore we have seen people brought under tribute and some faint efforts made to hold them. Now we have reached the imperial period of a.s.syrian development when the government, established at home, sought to increase its actual possessions abroad, and to bind them to the original kingdom with strong ties.
An alliance had been made among the sea-coast states, with Judah at the head. This had been formed, of course, to stay the western tide of a.s.syrian power. Notwithstanding, the king of Samaria yielded the moment the a.s.syrian army drew near, paying the tribute with no display of force. Judah alone seems to have remained unyielding and undisturbed.
Thirty thousand captives were brought into these districts to find new homes, while many of the natives were deported to make room for them.
Several methods were employed by a.s.syria to make conquests lasting. If a tribe or city acknowledged the a.s.syrian king as conqueror, no recourse was made to arms; an annual tribute was usually imposed and an a.s.syrian governor placed in the territory to hold revolts in check and to generally represent the empire, of which the province was now a part.
The native king was frequently allowed to rule over the people, even though his main duty in some instances seems to have been to raise the required tribute. If, on the other hand, a tribe or city resisted, a war or siege followed. One battle might reduce a tribe to submission; in the case of a city, all supplies were shut off, and eventually the inhabitants would be starved into surrender, whereupon, the city was often made "land for the plough" by the exasperated king, and the people subjected to all sorts of cruel punishments.
When a kingdom was conquered, it was thought desirable to destroy its old patriotism by removing all chances for its development. With that end in view, some of its citizens would be sent out of the country to seek homes in other lands, while those from distant regions would be brought in to take their places. Naturally the newcomers knew nothing of the traditions of their newly found country and cared not at all to fight for them. In this way, nations ceased to retain their venerated customs, but as the kings often record: "I made them all to speak one language"--and that a.s.syrian. One far-reaching effect of this policy was that when a revolt did break out in some district, it no longer spread like wildfire in all directions, but the governor of the province was himself able to put down any uprising, and the colonists recently imported, caring nothing for the older inhabitants, could be depended upon to help him.
Tiglath-Pileser III. turned now to Gaza, whose king fled to Egypt there to get aid in behalf of his state. Deserted, the city soon surrendered and the a.s.syrian king, having sent the old G.o.ds home to a.s.syria, installed a.s.syrian G.o.ds in the temples. Thence he marched to Palestine.
He who had held out against a.s.syria before was dead and a weak king now ruled in Judah. Had the kings of Samaria and Damascus formed an alliance with Judah, the power of a.s.syria might yet have been broken; instead they united their forces to invade Judah and appropriate the territory of the weak king for themselves. Isaiah, the great statesman of the Hebrews, counselled the ruler in vain. To protect himself against his aggressive neighbors he appealed to a.s.syria for help. This drew Tiglath-Pileser III. to Samaria and Damascus, while Judah, sending gifts, was not at this time molested. The Samarians themselves rose up against their king. Having killed him, they asked the a.s.syrian ruler to allow Hoshea to rule over them as an a.s.syrian va.s.sal. This sifted the opposition down to Damascus, which city prepared for a siege. Some five hundred outlying towns were laid waste and their inhabitants sent into other districts. Not all the army being constantly required to guard the besieged town, part of the troops marched into Arabia, demanding tribute and receiving it. In 732 B.C. Damascus fell and became an a.s.syrian province.
By this time, Babylonia was in a state of turmoil. Under a.s.syrian government the people had at first been free to develop their arts of peace, and literature had flourished. Then the Chaldeans to the south, established originally in the region around the gulf, known once as Chaldea--tried again to rule the land. In 726 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser III.
marched into Babylonia, where, taking the hands of the G.o.d Marduk, he was crowned king of Babylonia. According to the ancient custom, he who wore this crown must return each year and celebrate this same ceremony.
Two years later Tiglath-Pileser having again performed the rites, died before the year elapsed.
During the short reign which followed interest again reverted to the west. Hoshea refused to pay tribute in 725 B.C., looking to Egypt for help. He was taken captive and Samaria made ready for a siege. Strange to say, the town held out for three years and the king of a.s.syria died before it was taken. Sargon II. at once succeeded. (722-705 B.C.) He again was not of royal blood and he too chose a popular crown name.
Samaria soon fell, and quite possibly neither the besieging army or the stricken town knew of any change in rulers. Twenty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety of the inhabitants of Samaria--the flower of the land,--were deported to the Median mountains, while colonists were brought in from Babylonia and other provinces to take their places. This loss it was impossible to retrieve. a.s.syrian governors were set over the land, now merely an a.s.syrian province.
In 721 B.C. attention focused once more in Babylonia, where the Chaldeans had again usurped the crown. In the battle Sargon waged, the result was so indecisive that neither side gained much. The usurpers were simply checked.
Suddenly an alliance was formed in the west, made up of stricken Samaria, Damascus and Gaza. Sargon marched rapidly west before their armies were ready, and defeated them separately and carried "the ten tribes into captivity." Now again more strangers were brought in, and more citizens sent out. It is little wonder, after all these mixtures of peoples, that in later years the Jews regarded the Samarians as not of their kin, but an inferior race, so that in the time of Christ one could say: "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans!"
It was during this campaign that the Hitt.i.te king was taken prisoner and his kingdom, once so powerful, was merged into the a.s.syrian Empire.
Not long after, Hezekiah, king of Judah, attempted to stir up an opposition to the a.s.syrian tribute payment. Isaiah, the far-seeing statesman, again counselled against it,--vainly to be sure, yet constantly, for this was an unfavorable moment. As might have been foreseen, the coalition was short-lived.
Sargon"s work in time of peace was extensive. He built a palace, like his predecessors, but outdoing them, he constructed a royal city for its location. This was a custom new in a.s.syria, but we have seen that it was usual in Egypt, during the Middle and New Empires. Choosing a spot not far from Nineveh, at the base of a mountain, he had a rectangular area laid out, its corners pointing to the four cardinal points. First temples were built to the G.o.ds, whose favor he sought in every possible way, even going to the length of paying for the site of the city, and compensating those who asked no money. After the temples, the palace itself arose--built of ivory, palm-wood, cedar, cypress, having gates of wood overlaid with bronze. The eight gates of the city were named for the eight leading divinities, the walls for a.s.shur, and the ramparts for Niveb. An invocation was inscribed to the G.o.ds: "May a.s.shur bless this city, and this palace! May he invest these constructions with an eternal brightness! May he grant that they shall be inhabited until the remotest days! May the sculptured bull, the guarding spirit, stand forever before his face! May he keep watch here night and day, and may his feet never move from this threshold!" The palace is said to have contained "twenty-four bulls in relief and two miles of sculptured slabs." Since the work was only begun in 712 B.C., and he came to reside within in 707 B.C., he was apparently able to command a large army of workmen. This was the palace whose ruins Botta unearthed in 1846, and each part remaining appeared to be as perfect as workmanship could make it.
The new city was peopled in a unique way. "People from the four quarters of the world, of foreign speech, of manifold tongues, who had dwelt in mountains and valleys, ... whom I, in the name of a.s.shur my lord, by the might of my arms had carried into captivity, I commanded to speak one language and settled them therein. Sons of a.s.shur of wise insight in all things, I placed over them, to watch over them; learned men and scribes to teach them the fear of G.o.d and the King."
It is supposed that Sargon II. was murdered in 705 B.C. and his son Sennacherib succeeded to the throne. He had observed his father"s difficulties in keeping order in Babylonia, and had concluded before ever he came to the throne that to indulge the pride of Babylon by longer conforming to her venerated custom of crowning her king each year--thus requiring his annual appearance,--was mere folly. He believed that Babylonia, whatever her history, was now an a.s.syrian province, and hence the king of a.s.syria was her king. So he himself did not go at all to Babylon, but was merely crowned in Nineveh as King of a.s.syria. Now the Babylonians, far from submitting to this train of logic, in course of a brief time, crowned their own king. Thereupon the Chaldeans, ever watchful for an opportunity to re-establish their power, set up a ruler in the same country, farther south. In 702 B.C., because of this confusion, Sennacherib marched to Babylon, laid waste many Chaldean cities, deported 200,000 people and crowned as king a young n.o.bleman, Babylonian by birth but educated at the a.s.syrian court. Having so vigorously a.s.serted his strength, he was soon needed in the west.
The situation there was critical. Hezekiah, king of Judah, had successfully conducted a war against the Philistines, and was therefore regarded by his subjects as a great and mighty warrior. There was a strong faction in the kingdom who opposed the annual payment of tribute to a.s.syria and who believed that against them also Hezekiah might a.s.sert himself and free them from this hated tribute service. Isaiah, understanding the vast difference in the resources of the two countries, counselled against a war, but it remained for future generations to discern the clear, far sighted reasoning of this statesman, and the king, even had he chosen to heed good counsel, was shortly plunged into a war which was the popular demand of his people. Jerusalem prepared for a siege, and water was brought into the city from some distance by an aqueduct. Egypt promised aid, for the Ethiopian king who ruled that country and the native princes who were struggling to regain the throne, all felt that an opportunity opened in this way to win glory in Asia which should serve as a lever to them at home. Judah had yet to learn how fallen was this ancient state and how incapable of giving material a.s.sistance.
The rebellion spread, for freedom was dear to nations in those days when submission meant at least heavy tributes, and often deportation and a dismantled country. In the city of Ekron the people, stirred by a hope of independence, seized the a.s.syrian governor and led him captive to Hezekiah. As usual, the a.s.syrian king made forced marches and appeared before he was expected and before the armies were ma.s.sed, so he had the less difficult task of defeating each nation separately. Tyre, one of the rebel cities, was first attacked. It was not possible to materially injure her, since her defenses on the sea were strong; Sidon surrendered and an a.s.syrian ruler was set over the city; now many of the allies were consumed with fear and dropped out of the coalition, sending tribute with all haste. In Ekron those who had led the rebellion were killed or deported. As had long been the case, the a.s.syrian king was meeting with brief resistance. Judah held out, however. Hezekiah watched for re-enforcements from Egypt, but before they drew near, Sennacherib opened battle, winning with heavy losses. Hezekiah withdrew his forces into Jerusalem to undergo a siege, while the a.s.syrian army turned to meet Egyptian allies and captured the leaders. Forty-six cities around Jerusalem were taken, and when it seemed futile to longer hold out, Hezekiah sent an emba.s.sy to Sennacherib to ask for terms of peace. A sum of money approaching $1,000,000 in our money, was demanded, and although it was raised with difficulty in Judah, it was paid over to the conqueror. However, Hezekiah did not come out to meet Sennacherib and acknowledge him as overlord, and the a.s.syrian king, feeling that his victory was yet indecisive, dispatched his most trusted generals to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. Meanwhile he marched with the great ma.s.s of a.s.syrian forces to intercept more Egyptian armies now approaching. Encamping at Pelusium, a place noted for its plagues before that day and since, the army was stricken in the night. In a few days only a remnant of the great force remained and a homeward march was begun at once.
The Hebrews, according to their custom, interpreted this issue to signify direct intervention of Providence in their behalf. Instead of being led captives of a.s.syrian provinces and having their land devastated, they gained fame and glory by the expedition. The Egyptians also claimed a victory--all because of the pestilence.
The two accounts of the campaign, the Hebrew version of the story as chronicled in the Old Testament, and the a.s.syrian version, as translated from their tablets, are both so interesting that we quote them at length. Such differences as they show are easily explained in view of the standpoints of each writer.
Returning home, Babylonia was found to be in a state of insubordination, having once more a.s.serted her independence. Sennacherib now placed his own son on the throne, but still difficulties multiplied. At last the Babylonians united with the Chaldeans, their long-sworn enemies, against a.s.syria. At this juncture, in 689 B.C., Sennacherib determined to strike at the root of the trouble. He marched into the land and set fire to the city of Babylon, after plundering its temples and palaces. Over the desolate site of the city he then turned a ca.n.a.l, converting the region into a swamp.
It is almost staggering even at this remote time to think of the pride and glory of Babylonian life, the splendor of its palaces, the wonder of its temples, being thus wantonly destroyed. Long periods of peace in the kingdom had given opportunity for art and literature to develop, and there can be no question that countless records of priceless worth were destroyed by the deed of this fierce a.s.syrian. The culture of Babylonia had indeed succ.u.mbed to the barbarism of a.s.syria. The inhabitants--scholars, artists, artisans, were taken captives, and deported to various points of the empire.
The following reign saw all that was possible done to atone for this reckless act, but far beyond what we can now calculate, the loss was irreparable.
HEBREW ACCOUNT OF THE WAR WITH a.s.sYRIA.
"Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of a.s.syria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear." And the king of a.s.syria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
"And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king"s house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of a.s.syria.
"And the king of a.s.syria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller"s field. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joan the son of Asaph, the recorder.
"And Rab-shakeh said unto them: Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of a.s.syria: What confidence is this wherein thou trusteth? Thou sayest (but they are vain words) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
"Now, behold, thou trusteth upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, unto all that trust on him.
"But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our G.o.d: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
"Now, therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of a.s.syria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master"s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for hors.e.m.e.n? Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
"Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joan, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews" language in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?
hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall? Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews" language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of a.s.syria: Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of a.s.syria: Harken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of a.s.syria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine and every one of his own fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil, olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and harken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the G.o.ds of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of a.s.syria? Where are the G.o.ds of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the G.o.ds of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the G.o.ds of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king"s commandment was, saying, Answer him not....
"And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, ... O Lord our G.o.d, I beseech thee save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord G.o.d, even thou only.... Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of a.s.syria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David"s sake.
"And it came to pa.s.s that night that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the a.s.syrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.
"So Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, departed, and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh."--_II. Kings, 18 and 19._
CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF JUDAH: FROM AN a.s.sYRIAN TABLET.
"But as for Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke, forty-six of his strong walled cities and the smaller cities round about them, without number, by the battering of rams, and the attack of war-engines, by making breaches by cutting through, and the use of axes, I besieged and captured. Two hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty people, small and great, male and female, horses, mules, a.s.ses, camels, cattle and sheep, without number, I brought forth from their midst and reckoned as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem, his royal city. I threw up fortifications against him, and whoever came out of the gates of his city I punished. His cities, which I had plundered, I cut off from his land and gave to Mitinti, King of Ashdod, ... and made his territory smaller. To the former taxes, paid yearly, tribute, a present for my lordship, I added and imposed on him.
Hezekiah himself was overwhelmed by the fear of the brilliancy of my lordship, and the Arabians and faithful soldiers whom he had brought in to strengthen Jerusalem, his royal city, deserted him. Thirty talents of gold, eight hundred talents of silver, precious stones, ... couches of ivory, thrones of elephant skin and ivory, _ushu_ and _urkarinu_ woods, of every kind, a heavy treasure, and his daughters, his palace women, male and female singers, to Nineveh, my lordship"s city, I caused to be brought after me, and he sent his amba.s.sador to give tribute and to pay homage."
CHAPTER VIII.
LAST YEARS OF a.s.sYRIAN GREATNESS.
"And it came to pa.s.s, as Sennacherib was worshipping in the house of Nishroch his G.o.d, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." Thus did the Hebrew chronicle the death of Sennacherib, and since a.s.syrian tablets recounting the dire plot have long since been destroyed, we are thrown wholly upon the fact as stated without explanation or detail.
Esarhaddon, who succeeded to the throne in 680 B.C., had already acted as regent in Babylonia, and had there acquired deep veneration and love for the Babylonian past, as well as for its life and culture. He wished to win the favor of its people, scattered though they were, and so in addition to being crowned king of a.s.syria, he had himself proclaimed viceroy of Babylonia, for this office would not require his annual presence in celebration of the yearly rites. Thus had his grandfather done, and Sennacherib only had ruthlessly thrust aside the national prejudice. His father had laid Babylon waste, changing its very site into a swamp and scattering its proud people to the four winds.
Esarhaddon immediately planned to rebuild the city and so far as possible, bring those departed back to their old homes.