nd she becomes his wife. On his death she succeeds to the
throne, and undertakes the conquest of India, but is defeated." These two
sovereigns built Nineveh on a grand scale, as well as added to the
edifices of Babylon.

This king was the founder of the northwest palace of Nineveh, three
hundred and sixty feet long and three hundred wide, standing on a raised
platform overlooking the Tigris, with a grand facade to the north fronting
the town, and another to the west commanding the river. It was built of
hewn stone, and its central hall was one hundred and twenty feet long and
ninety wide. The ceilings were of cedar brought from Lebanon. The walls
were paneled with slabs of marble ornamented with bas-reliefs. The floors
were paved with stone. (See Rawlinson's Herodotus.)

(M164) All this is tradition, but recent discoveries in cuneiform
literature shed light upon it. From these, compared with the fragments of
Berosus, a priest of Babylon in the third century before Christ, and the
scattered notices of Scripture history, we infer that the dynasty which
Belus founded reigned more than five hundred years, from 1272 to 747
before Christ. Of these kings, Sardanapalus, the most famous, added
Babylonia to the Assyrian empire, and built vast architectural works. He
employed three hundred and sixty thousand men in the construction of this
palace, some of whom were employed in making brick, and others in cutting
timber on Mount Hermon. It covered an area of eight acres. The palaces of
Nineveh were of great splendor, and the scenes portrayed on the walls, as
discovered by Mr. Layard, lately disinterred from the mounds of earth,
represent the king as of colossal stature, fighting battles, and clothed
with symbolic attributes. He appears as a great warrior, leading captives,
and storming cities, and also in the chase, piercing the lion, and
pursuing the wild ass. This monarch should not be confounded with the
Sardanapalus of the Greeks, the last of the preceding dynasty. His son,
Shalmanezer, was also a great prince, and added to the dominion of the
Assyrian empire. Distant nations paid tribute to him, the Phoenicians, the
Syrians, the Jews, and the Medians beyond the Tagros mountains. He
defeated Benhadad and routed Hazael. His reign ended, it is supposed, B.C.
850. Two other kings succeeded him, who extended their conquests to the
west, the last of whom is identified by Smith with Pul, the reigning
monarch when Jonah visited Nineve