odach,
who would probably have maintained his father's alliances, had survived
him but two years: he had been murdered in B.C. 559 by a brother-in-law,
Nergalsharezer or Neriglissar, who ascended the throne in that year and
reigned till B.C. 555. This prince was consequently on the throne at
the time of Astyages' need. As he had supplanted the house of
Nebuchadnezzar, he would naturally be on bad terms with that monarch's
Median connections; and we may suppose that he saw with pleasure the
fall of a power to which pretenders from the Nebuchadnezzar family would
have looked for support and countenance.

In conclusion, a few words may be said on the general character of the
Median Empire, and the causes of its early extinction.

The Median Empire was in extent and fertility of territory-equal if not
superior to the Assyrian. It stretched from Rhages and the Carmanian
desert on the east to the river Halys upon the west, a distance of
above twenty degrees, or about 1,300 miles. From north to south it
was comparatively narrow, being confined between the Black Sea, the
Caucasus, and the Caspian, on the one side, and the Euphrates and
Persian Gulf on the other. Its greatest width, which was towards the
east, was about nine, and its least, which was towards the west, was
about four degrees. Its area was probably not much short of 500,000
square miles. Thus it was as large as Great Britain, France, Spain, and
Portugal put together.

In fertility its various parts were very unequal. Portions of both
Medias, of Persia, of Armenia, Iberia, and Cappadocia, were rich and
productive; but in all these countries there was a large quantity of
barren mountain, and in Media Magna and Persia there were tracts of
desert. If we estimate the resources of Media from the data furnished by
Herodotus in his account of the Persian revenue, and compare them with
those of the Assyrian Empire, as indicated by the same document, we
shall find reason to conclude, that except during the few years when
Egypt was a province of Assyria, the resources of the Third exceeded
those of the Second Monarchy.

The weakness of the Empire arose chiefly from its want of organization.
Nicolas of Damascus, indeed, in the long passage from which our account
of the struggle between Cyrus and Astyages has been taken, represents
the Median Empire as divided, like the Persian, into a number of
satrapies but there is no real ground for believing that any such
organizatio