epted without reserve; but they are approximate to the truth,
and are, at any rate, greatly preferable to those of Ctesias.

The chronology of Berosus was, apparently, not very different from that
of Herodotus. There can be no reasonable doubt that his sixth Babylonian
dynasty represents the line of kings which ruled in Babylon during the
period known as that of the Old Empire in Assyria. Now this line, which
was Semitic, appears to have been placed upon the throne by the
Assyrians, and to have been among the first results of that conquering
energy which the Assyrians at this time began to develop. Its
commencement should therefore synchronize with the foundation of an
Assyrian Empire. The views of Berosus on this latter subject may be
gathered from what he says of the former. Now the scheme of Berosus gave
as the date of the establishment of this dynasty about the year B.C.
1300; and as Berosus undoubtedly placed the fall of the Assyrian Empire
in B.C. 625, it may be concluded, and with a near approach to certainty,
that he would have assigned the Empire a duration of about 675 years,
making it commence with the beginning of the thirteenth century before
our era, and terminate midway in the latter half of the seventh.

If this be a true account of the ideas of Berosus, his scheme of
Assyrian chronology would have differed only slightly from that of
Herodotus; as will be seen if we place the two schemes side by side.

[Illustration: PAGE 371]

In the case of a history so ancient as that of Assyria, we might well be
content if our chronology were vague merely to the extent of the
variations here indicated. The parade of exact dates with reference to
very early times is generally fallacious, unless it be understood as
adopted simply for the sake of convenience. In the history of Assyria,
however, we may make a nearer approach to exactness than in most others
of the same antiquity, owing to the existence of two chronological
documents of first-rate importance. One of these is the famous Canon of
Ptolemy, which, though it is directly a Babylonian record, has important
bearings on the chronology of Assyria. The other is an Assyrian Canon,
discovered and edited by Sir H. Rawlinson in 1862, which gives the
succession of the kings for 251 years, commencing (as is thought) B.C.
911 and terminating B. C. 660, eight years after the accession of the
son and successor of Esarhaddon. These two documents, which harmonize
admirably,