of Syria, and, if we rightly
interpret the scanty information we possess, seemed in a fair way to
bring about that unification of the country which neither Hittites,
Philistines, nor Hebrews had been able to effect. Situated nearly
equidistant from Raphia and Carchemish, on the outskirts of the
cultivated region, the city was protected in the rear by the desert,
which secured it from invasion on the east and north-east; the dusty
plains of the Hauran protected it on the south, and the wooded cliffs of
Anti-Lebanon on the west and north-west. It was entrenched within these
natural barriers as in a fortress, whence the garrison was able to
sally forth at will to attack in force one or other of the surrounding
nations: if the city were victorious, its central position made it easy
for its rulers to keep watch over and preserve what they had won; if it
suffered defeat, the surrounding mountains and deserts formed natural
lines of fortification easy to defend against the pursuing foe, but
very difficult for the latter to force, and the delay presented by this
obstacle gave the inhabitants time to organise their reserves and bring
fresh troops into the field. The kings of Damascus at the outset brought
under their suzerainty the Aramaean principalities--Argob, Maacah, and
Geshur, by which they controlled the Hauran, and Zobah, which secured
to them Coele-Syria from Lake Huleh to the Bahr el-Kades. They had taken
Upper Galilee from the Hebrews, and subsequently Perasa, as far as the
Jabbok, and held in check Israel and the smaller states, Amnion and
Moab, which followed in its wake. They exacted tribute from Hamath, the
Phoenician Arvad, the lower valley of the Orontes, and from a portion
of the Hittites, and demanded contingents from their princes in time
of war. Their power was still in its infancy, and its elements were not
firmly welded together, but the surrounding peoples were in such a
state of weakness and disunion that they might be left out of account as
formidable enemies. The only danger that menaced the rising kingdom was
the possibility that the two ancient warlike nations, Egypt and Assyria,
might shake off their torpor, and reappearing on the scene of their
former prowess might attack her before she had consolidated her power by
the annexation of Naharaim.

END OF VOL. VI.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria,
Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 6 (of 12), by G. Maspero