Two deities who had temples in the city seem to have been worshipped in E., namely, Ishtar and Nana. The temple dedicated to Ishtar (Venus, as the evening star) was called E-ulma§ ' the house of the oracle ' ; the other, dedicated to Nana (the goddess whose image was carried off by the Elamite king, Kudur-nankhundi, B.C. 2280, and only restored to its place 1635 years later by Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria), was called E-ana ' the house of heaven,' and is now represented by the Buwariyya mound.
Among the inscribed and stamped bricks found in Erech are many of the time of the historical kings — Dungi, Ur-Bau, Gudea, Sin-gasid, Merodach- baladan I., etc. Tablets of the reigns of Nabopo- las.sar, Nebuchadrezzar, Nabonidus, Cyrus, Darius, and some of the Seleucidse, have been excavated in the site. In the ruins of tlie town and the country around, a large number of glazed earthenware coflins and other receptacles, used no doubt for the burial of the dead, mostly of the Parthian period, has been found, showing that part of the town and its neighbourhood must have been used as a necro- polis.
LiTERATxntB. — Schrader, KA T^ 94 f. ; Loftus, Chaidtea and Stuiana, 162 1. ; Delitzsch, Parodies, 221 1. ; Smith, Chaldaan Genent, 194 ; Sayce. Uib. Led. on liel. of Anc. Babyloniant, 1841., HCM 102; Hommel, jlnc Ueb. Trad. 122 n., 129, 168, 177, also art. BABTiiOiiu, p. 224>>.
I A PiXCHKS
ERI (ny 'watcher'). —Son of Gad, Gn 46", Nu 26", P. Patronymic, Erites, ib.
• Thia apparently re(er« to the great tower there, in aevea •tages, similar to the tower ot Babel. It wag called E-gipar iminaCW^/u. 50. 20)
ESAIAS
ESAU
733
ESAIAS.— The familiar AV spellinj: of Isaiah in Ajiocr. and NT is retained by RV only in
ESAR-HADDON (I'ln-lCX, ^axepSorit, 'A(ropSiy).— Esar-hadiioii, in Assyr. Assur-aKh-iddina, ' Assnr hasj:iven aijrother.'st'eras to have heen the favourite sou of Sennacherib, bj- whom his name was chan;,'ed to Assur-etil-yukin-abla, ' Assur, the hero, has established the son.' Sennacherib bequeathed to him golden bracelets, necklaces, and otlier valu- ables, li manehs, 2^ shekels in wei<;;ht, wliich were stored up in the house of a certain Amuk, and probably intended him to be his successor. In B.C. G81 Esar-haddon was at the head of the Assyr. army fi^'hting a^'ainst Erimenas of Ararat (Van), when Sennacherib was murdered by his sons Adrammelech (or rather Arad-malik) and [NcrgaJ-] sharezer (2 K 19", Is 37^") on the 20th of Tebet (December). For forty-two days the conspirators held the capital, but on the 2nd of Adar (Januarj') they were compelled to fly to the Armenian king. Esar-haddon met his brothers and the army of Ararat near Malatiyeh on the 12th of lyyar (April); the veterans of Assyria won the battle, and at the end of it saluted Lsar-haddon as king. Eusebius quotes from Abydenus tliat the battle- field was at ' the city of the Byzantines,' which von Gutschmidt correct-s into Bizana on the Caimu- docian frontier. After the victory Esar-haddon returned to Nineveh, and on the 8tli of Sivan (May) was crowned king.
He was an able general, and by his conciliatory policy prevented such rebellions as had troubled nis father's reign. His first care was to rebuild Babylon, which Sennacherib had de.stroyed (in B.C. •589), and to make it the second capital of his •imrire. Manasseh of Judah became liLs vassal, and wail called upon, along with the other kings of the west, including those of Cyprus, to furnish timber and stone for the palace of their Assyrian lord. The statement in 2 Cli 3.3", that he was carried prisoner to Babylon after his revolt from Assyria, is explained by the fact that Babylon had bepome one or the residences of Esar-haddon.
The early part of Esarhaddon's reign was occupied in defending his kingdom against the hordes of (Jiniirra or Kimmerian.s, called Gomer in OT, and inchided by the Assyrians under the general title of iManda or 'Nomads,' who were now pouring into Western Asia. For a time the issue seemed doubtful, anil a hundrpd days of humiliation and piayer to the gods were ordered that the empire might bo protected against the Kimmerians and their allies, Kastarit of Kar- ka-ssi, Maniitiarsu the Mede, the Minni, and the people of Saparda (Sfpliarad) and Asguza (Ash- Kcnaz). At last Teuspa the Kimnierian was overthrown in a decisive battle on the northern frontier of Assyria, and driven westward into Asia Minor. Then came a campaign against the Medes.
In B.C. <!77 Sidon revolted, but was promptly captured and destroyed, and another city, called 'the city >>f Esar-haadon,' was built in i)lace of it, and colonized with captives from Elam and Baby- lonia (see Ezr 4^). Tlie following year the kin^' of Sidon and his ally, a Cilici.an prince, were belieadeil, and their heads sent to Nineveh. In the autumn Esar-haddon marched into the heart of Arabia, through a waterless desert, a distance of more than (idO miles, and conquered the eight kings of Ba/u and Khazu (the Buz and Hazo of Gn 22-'-'"). In B.C. t)74 he invaded Egy|>t, and the invasion was repeated in the February of the following year. In 1)72 his wife died on the ."itli of Adar, and in (>70 came the final atlnck on I'-gyjit. The Egyptian forces were driven before tlie .\.ssyr. army (from thn 3rd to the ISth o( Tammuz or.lune) all the w.ay