carry up an exact Assyrian chronology almost from the close
of the Empire to the tenth century before our era. For the period
anterior to this we have, in the Assyrian records, one or two isolated
dates, dates fixed in later times with more or less of exactness; and of
these we might have been inclined to think little, but that they
harmonize remarkably with the statements of Berosus and Herodotus, which
place the commencement of the Empire about B.C. 1300, or a little later.
We have, further, certain lists of kings, forming continuous lines of
descent from father to son, by means of which we may fill up the blanks
that would otherwise remain in our chronological scheme with approximate
dates calculated from an estimate of generations. From these various
sources the subjoined scheme has been composed, the sources being
indicated at the side, and the fixed dates being carefully distinguished
from those which are uncertain or approximate.

[Illustration: PAGE 372]

It will be observed that in this list the chronology of Assyria is
carried back to a period nearly a century and a half anterior to B.C.
1300, the approximate date, according to Herodotus and Berosus, of the
establishment of the "Empire." It might have been concluded, from the
mere statement of Herodotus, that Assyria existed before the time of
which he spoke, since an empire can only be formed by a people already
flourishing. Assyria as an independent kingdom is the natural antecedent
of Assyria as an Imperial power: and this earlier phase of her existence
might reasonably have been presumed from the later. The monuments
furnish distinct evidence of the time in question in the fourth, fifth,
and sixth kings of the above list, who reigned while the Chaldaean
empire was still flourishing in Lower Mesopotamia. Chronological and
other considerations induce a belief that the four kings who follow
like-wise belonged to it; and that, the "Empire" commenced with
Tiglathi-Nin I., who is the first great conqueror.

The date assigned to the accession of this king, B.C. 1300, which
accords so nearly with Berosus's date for the commencement of his 526
years, is obtained from the monuments in the following manner. First,
Sennacherib, in an inscription set up in or about his tenth year (which
was B.C. 694), states that he recovered from Babylon certain images of
gods, which had been carried thither by Meroclach-idbin-akhi, king of
Babylon, who had obtained them in his war