dwellings of the mass of the population, either collected in groups, or scattered singly in the midst of fields, or- chards, and gardens. There are still sufficient indica- tions in the country around of the sites of such habi- tations. The fortified enclosures, while including the residences of the king, his family or immediate tribe, his principal officers, and probably the chief priests, may also have served as places of refuge for the inhab- itants of the city at large in times of danger or attack. According to Diodorus (ii, 9) and Quintus Curtius (v, 1), there was land enough within the precincts of Bab- ylon, besides gardens and orchards, to furnish corn for the wants of the whole population in case of siege ; and in the book of Jonah, Nineveh is said to contain, be- sides its population, "much cattle" (iv, 11). As at Bab- ylon, no great consecutive wall of enclosure comprising all the ruins, such as that described by Diodorus, has been discovered at Nineveh, and no such wall ever ex- isted, otherwise some traces of so vast and massive a structure must have remained to this day. The River Gomel, the modern Ghazir-Su, may have formed the eastern boundary or defence of the city. As to the claims of the mound of Kalah Sherghat to represent the site of the primitive capital of Assyria called Asshur, they must rest entirely on the interpretation of the in- scriptions. This city was founded, or added to, they are supposed to declare, by one Shamas-Iva, the son and viceroy, or satrap, of Ismi-Dagon, king of Babylon, who reigned, it is conjectured, about B.C. 1840. As- syria and its capital remained subject to Babylonia until B.C. 1273, when an independent Assyrian dynasty was founded, of which fourteen kings, or more, reigned at Kalah Sherghat. About B.C. 930 the seat of govern- ment, it is asserted, was transferred by Sardanapalus (the second of the name, and the Sardanapalus of the Greeks) to the city of Kalkhu or Calah (Nimrud), which had been founded by an earlier monarch named Shal- manubar. There it continued about 250 years, when Sennacherib made Nineveh the capital of the empire. See Assyria. These assumptions seem to rest upon very slender grounds; and Dr. Hincks altogether re- jects the theory of the Babylonian character of these early kings, believing them to be Assyrian (Report to the Trustees of the Brit. Mus. on Cylinders and Terra- Cottas). It is believed that on an inscribed terra-cot ta cylinder discovered at Khalah-Sherghat the foundation of a temple is attributed to this Shamas-Iva. A royal name similar to that of his father, Ismi-Dagon, is read on a brick from some ruins in Southern Babylonia, and the two kings are presumed to be identical, although there is no other evidence of the fact (Rawlinson, //f?-ot7. i, 456, note 5) ; indeed the onlj' son of this Babylonian king mentioned in the inscriptions is read Ibil-anu-du- ina, a name entirely different from that of the presumed viceroy of Asshur. It is by no means an uncommon occurrence that the same names should be found in royal dynasties of very different periods. The Assj'rian dynasties furnish more than one example. It may be further observed that no remains of sufiicient antiquity and importance have been discovered at Khalah Sher- ghat to justify the opinion that it was the ancient capi- tal. The only sculpture found in the ruins, the seated figure in black basalt now in the British Museum, be- longs to a later period than the monuments from the north-west palace at Nimrud. Upon the presumed identification above indicated, and upon no other evi- dence, so far as we can understand, an entirely new sys- tem of Assyrian history and chronology has been con- structed, of which a sketch has been given under the title Assyria (see also Rawlinson's Herod, i, 489). It need only be pointed out here that this system is at va- riance with sacred, classical, and monumental history, and can scarcely be accepted as proven until the Assat- ian ruins have been examined with more completeness than has hitherto been possible, and until the decipher- ment of the cuneiform inscriptions has made far greater progress. It has been shown how continuously tradi-
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tion points to Kincveh as the ancient capital of Assyria. Tlicre is no allusion to any other city which enjoyed this rank. Its name occurs in the statistical table of Karnak, in conjunction with Naharaina or Mesopota- mia, and on a fragment recently discovered by M. Ma- riette, of the times of Thotmes III, or about B.C. 1490 (Birch, Trans, of R. Soc. of Lit. ii, 345, 2d series) ; and no mention has been found on any E^^yptian monument of such cities as Asshur and Calah. Sir H. Kawlinson, in a paper read before the Koyal Society of Literature, has, however, contended that the Naharain, Saenkar, and Assuri of the Egyptian inscriptions are not Meso- potamia, Singar, and Assyria, and that Nin-i-iu is not Nineveh at all, but refers to a city in the chain of Tau- rus. But these conclusions are altogether rejected by Egyptian scholars. Further researches may show that Sennacherib's palace at Kuyunjik, and that of Sarda- napahis at Nimrud, were built upon the site, and above the remain;; of very much earlier edifices. According to the interpretation of the inscriptions, Sardanapalus himself founded a temple at "Nineveh" (Rawlinson, Herod, i, 4G2), yet no traces of this building have been discovered at Kuyunjik. Sargon restored the walls of Nineveh, and declares that he erected his palace '• near to }sineveh" {ibid. p. 474), while Sennacherib only claims to have rehuiil the palaces, which were " rent and split from extreme old age" {ibid. p. 475), employing 360,000 men, captives from Chaktea, Syria, Armenia, and Cili- cia, in the undertaking, and speaks of Nineveh as found- ed of old, and governed by his forefathers, -'kings of the old time" (^Fox Talbot, on Bellino's cylinder, Joiirn. of (he As. Soc. vol. xviii). Old palaces, a great tower, and ancient temples dedicated to Ishtar and Bar Muri, also stood there.